An Idle Dad

My back wasn't twitchy today, but I still went easy and only jumped back to 70kg squats. PB on OH Press! 42.5kg (92 lbs) - coming from injury, I can't believe I can do this! Failed on Deadlift 105kg (231 lbs) today (but hey, really pleased to be at 105!). I feel like it's my grip that is the problem. The skins really pinches. So I have questions: 1) Gloves? Yes or no? 2) Grip strengthening ideas? 3) Alternative hand grips? Love to hear thoughts...

My back was a bit twitchy this morning, so I eased back on the squat - just did 60kg. But the most excellent news is I have two new PBs for Bench Press and the Bent Over Row: 60kg on both!

Current stats: Weight 125.9kg Deadlift: 100kg Squat: 87.5kg Bench: 57.5kg Row: 55kg OH Press: 42.5kg

Great to see your progress in weights! I think we're pretty much lifting identical weights at the moment. I just started my second six week challenge in Recruits, so you can see my progress over there.

Hi All, My first Recruit 6 week challenge pulled up just short of completing when I injured myself in the final week - a small hernia, which was pretty painful I can tell you! Anyway, I've worked back from there to actually complete my original goals this week! 100kg Deadlift, Squat 80kg, 60kg bench press, 40kg OH press. I'm far more comfortable with those weights and far stronger than I was in Jan/Feb. I'm really, really happy about that. You have no idea. I'm 40 years old, and very very overweight. My plan two years ago was to get under 100kg (220 lbs) and to do that I needed to drop 40kg (88 pounds). In my first year I lost 10kg (22 lbs) and was on track to lose another 10kg this year, but since I injured myself in Feb, my weight has crept up 5kg - back to my weight over ten months ago. So furious with myself. So - this challenge is perfect timing. Now my Jan-Feb challenge strength goals are complete, it's time to focus on the other parts of wellbeing - fitness & weightloss. Main goal: Lose 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) a week for six weeks. I will accomplish this by completing my side goals: Continuing 5x5 Stronglifts program each week. I have no lifting goals, just focus on form and increase as it feels good. Gym twice a week for 30 minutes cardio - I'm thinking 10 minutes bike, 10 minutes cross-trainer/ellipsis thingy, 10 minutes rowing. 10,000 steps on the weekend. An hour's walking at the local park will get me across the line on Saturday and Sunday VB6 - I know Paleo is popular here, but I find sticking to Vegan Before 6pm as much easier guide for me. Essentially, no meat or dairy before 6pm, and a sensible dinner. I'm a family guy with a budget, so dinner can't be prime steak with fresh veggies every night - rice or potato has prime spots on our plates and gets eaten my all four kids. Don't injure myself. Listen to my body, back off when appropriate. I am aware 'losing weight' is considered a cop-out crap goal here at Nerd Fitness but I figure when you are as overweight as I am, it is still a valid target. I already go to the gym three days a week and have only slipped weight recently. I'm responsible of course, but I've had a dramatic shift of work hours (12 hours days locked in meetings for around six weeks), including eating work supplied in-meeting food (a grazing table, the worst kind) for lunch - and dinner - over bringing my own lunch. Plus Easter chocolate. Life side quest: Finish Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe. I have obviously read Starting Strength (which led me to 5x5 Stronglifts) and now I've hit reasonable weights (at least, reasonable for me) I want to see how to keep progressing over time. In six weeks, literally two days after this challenge finishes, my wife and I are off on a cruise of some South Pacific Islands. This challenge will make sure I have get-up-and-go to play and swim and snorkel with my two eldest kids that are coming with us - and do those activities all day long. I can't wait. It's also why side goal number 5 - don't injure myself - is so important. For the last two years I've injured my shoulder, achilles heel (jogging) and had a hernia. I have no desire to mess up during the lead up. Anyway, perfect timing NF once again - here goes Recruit six week challenge number two!! Chris

Great! I'm back training too, good luck!

A final challenge wrap-up post - how'd I do? Goals:1) Continue 5x5 Stronglifts program I give myself a pass on this one. I did miss one whole week following my hernia, but it's better to safe than stupid and lift on a fresh injury! Also, I've returned to the gym regularly since (just with lighter weights and care around the effected area) - so I am taking that pass and running with it! 2) By 15 Feb, success will beBench 50kg (110 pounds) - Passed! I got to 55kg during the challenge window.Squat 80kg (176 pounds) - So close! I got to 77.5kg when I injured myself.Deadlift 100kg (220 pounds) - So close! I got to 95kg when the injury occurred. My specialist appointment is Monday 2nd March - and they'll set a date for surgery. So I'll be skipping the current six week challenge because I am expecting to be unable to lift for up to six weeks following the surgery I expect to receive. Never fear (I know you are fearful) I will return for April 20 to May 31 which is perfect dates, because then I'm off on a nine day cruise with my wife and kids to various Pacific Islands! Since I didn't actually finish this challenge, my next challenge will also be in the Recruit area, not the Warriors. I'm not sure deserve to post in that thread yet. Good luck everyone and see you soon!

Compared to the list of twelve or fourteen exercises my instructor keeps giving me when I ask them for a routine, only doing a few compound lifts does feel weird at first. When I was increasing my lifts during most of this challenge, I'd come in, do the 5x5 Stronglifts and be gone in 45 minutes feeling great. But anyway, it has been a while since I popped in - looks like you're doing great! Enjoy!

Good luck Manolito! Get strong!

Hey Manolito, I took last week off to recover and sleep and I'm back this week - albeit squatting 60kg lighter than I was just two weeks ago. I'm doing a combination of light 5x5 plus shoulder focussed dumbbell plus HIIT. The HIIT is on a stationary bike, I'm enjoying it. Man, I sweat! While I totally failed all my goals for the six week challenge, I'm still glad I did it. It's forced me to go and confront some ongoing physical aliments. I guess I was not acknowledging them and thought (or hoped) maybe I'd finished with physio with 2014 but it looks like some of 2015 will be doing more of it. :/ I't been almost two years now since I started to attempt to get fitter and while setbacks are disappointing, there's no going back. I know now that I love lifting and I'll be back running sometime in the next two years too. I'll have to work out how to formulate my next six week challenge...

Since I'll be dropping squats and (shortly) deadlifts from my routine until I've seen the Doctor, I think my new routine will be this: Bodyweight squats (while listening very carefully to my body) Bench press Rows (Inverted Monday, inverted underhand Wednesday, bent over barbell Friday) OH Press Barbell lying triceps extension (basically, lying on my back holding the barbell straight armed above my shoulders, then lowering it behind my head then back to starting position) 10 mins HIIT on bike Thoughts?

Third tri-weekly update: Squats: 0/0/0/0/0 - just leaving this for the moment. I did try out some body weight squats, I might keep these in my routine. Overhead Press: 40kg 5/5/5/5/4 - SO CLOSE! Deadlift: 95kg: Hot damn, so close to my 100kg target. Once I hit it (hopefully next week) I'm going to leave off these too for a little while. While I don't get the pain (as you don't squat all the way down) I don't want to aggravate anything. I did follow through on my plan to do my first pull up, with bodyweight inverted rows: 8/8/8 - I set the bar at height setting 7 as an exploratory trial, it was really easy, so on Monday I'll drop this down to height setting 8 to increase the difficulty (Monday will be inverted underhand rows, as per the plan on the NF article "How to do a pull up finally". Then I added 10 minutes of HIIT on the stationary bike. Change is as good as a holiday, they say, and since I'm looking at around 10-12 weeks before I can return to 5x5 Stronglifts, I may as well enjoy the holiday! Get strong!

Specialist booked in for March 2. They estimate surgery to fix within one to two weeks, and four weeks no squats afterwards. Which means I'm free to start working towards something awesome: pull ups and chin ups! Will incorporate body weight pull ups, keep up on bench press, see what else helps. Bring on the next challenge!