Sovalis Posted March 1 Report Share Posted March 1 2 Quote Past Challenges: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 Current Challenge: #17 “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Link to comment
Scaly Freak Posted March 2 Report Share Posted March 2 9 hours ago, Harriet said: Okay something cool happened. I went to do my jump-to-negative for the pull-ups (I am so far away from being able to do a full pull up) and I was able to pull myself up a couple of cm (after the jump) to the top of my ROM. That has never happened before--the direction has always been jump to straight down. Every other rep was the same as usual, only the first rep involved a tiny bit of upward pull. Still, it was a pleasant surprise. 2 1 Quote The Great Reading Thread of 2024 “I've always believed that failure is non-existent. What is failure? You go to the end of the season, then you lose the Super Bowl. Is that failing? To most people, maybe. But when you're picking apart why you failed, and now you're learning from that, then is that really failing? I don't think so." - Kobe Bryant, 1978-2020. Rest in peace, great warrior. Personal Challenges, a.k.a.The Saga of Scalyfreak: Tutorial; Ch 1; Ch 2; Ch 3; Ch 4; Ch 5; Ch 6; Intermission; Intermission II; Ch 7; Ch 8; Ch 9; Ch 10; Ch 11; Ch 12 ; Ch 13; Ch 14; Ch 15; Ch 16; Ch 17; Intermission III; Ch 18; Ch 19; Ch 20; Ch 21; Ch 22; Ch 23; Ch 24; Ch 25; Intermission IV; Ch 26; Ch 27; Ch 28; Ch 29; Ch 30; Ch 31; Ch 32; Ch 33; Ch 34; Ch 35; Ch 36; Ch 37; Ch 38; Ch 39; Ch 40; Intermission V; Ch 41; Ch 42; Ch 43; Ch 44; Ch 45; Ch 46; Ch 47; Intermission VI; Ch 48; Ch 49; Ch 50; Ch 51; Intermission VI Link to comment
Jarric Posted March 3 Report Share Posted March 3 On 2/29/2024 at 4:43 PM, Harriet said: Interesting... I thought the only correct way to do a heavy lift is with the valsalva manoeuvre? I mean, I could breathe during a squat or deadlift, but I'd have to go a lot lighter and it would destabilise my back. I was more thinking about how I breathe during the rest. I don't breathe during an actual lift. Isn't the valsalva manoeuvre the thing where you hold your nose and breathe out to equalise pressure when swiming? And no, I don't breathe during a squat/deadlift rep either, I was just talking about taking in air to brace your core before the start of the lift. 1 Quote Level 21 Wood Elf Ranger STR: 18 - CON: 22 - CHA: 11 - SAN: 19 - INT: 17 IAgreeWithTank™ "Shit is going down, but I am not." - iatetheyeti Don't say "I don't have enough time", say instead "that's not a priority right now" and see how that makes you feel. Current Challenge: Get going! External: Epic Quest - Instagram - Strava Spoiler Previous Challenges: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 Old Stuff: Battle Log - My Introduction - 2017 Road Map - 2018 Road Map - 2019 Road Map - 2021 Road Map - 2022 road map/wrap-up Link to comment
Harriet Posted March 4 Report Share Posted March 4 20 hours ago, Jarric said: Isn't the valsalva manoeuvre the thing where you hold your nose and breathe out to equalise pressure when swiming? And no, I don't breathe during a squat/deadlift rep either, I was just talking about taking in air to brace your core before the start of the lift. Ah, gotcha. The woman who trained me (just a couple of sessions, then covid ?) wanted me to breathe in through my nose first, then finish with a bit of extra air through my mouth. Valsalva is what we do for the big lifts: breathe in, then "exhale" against a closed glottis to create abdominal pressure. You don't really exhale because the air cannot escape, but you let it push outward/upward. 2 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
Harriet Posted March 21 Report Share Posted March 21 Pull up jump-to-negatives continue to improve in quality, despite my improbably low workload. Yay! 6 1 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
Jarric Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 19 hours ago, Harriet said: Pull up jump-to-negatives continue to improve in quality, despite my improbably low workload. Yay! Congratulations! Keep it up! Also reminded me of an article I read recently: What’s the least amount of training you need to make solid strength gains? In particular, this paragraph caught my eye at the super low volume end: Quote Lastly, we also found that powerlifters can potentially perform as little as 1-3 singles per powerlift per week and still make some strength gains, albeit less likely to be meaningful. 1 1 Quote Level 21 Wood Elf Ranger STR: 18 - CON: 22 - CHA: 11 - SAN: 19 - INT: 17 IAgreeWithTank™ "Shit is going down, but I am not." - iatetheyeti Don't say "I don't have enough time", say instead "that's not a priority right now" and see how that makes you feel. Current Challenge: Get going! External: Epic Quest - Instagram - Strava Spoiler Previous Challenges: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 Old Stuff: Battle Log - My Introduction - 2017 Road Map - 2018 Road Map - 2019 Road Map - 2021 Road Map - 2022 road map/wrap-up Link to comment
Harriet Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 3 hours ago, Jarric said: Congratulations! Keep it up! Thank you! 3 hours ago, Jarric said: Also reminded me of an article I read recently: What’s the least amount of training you need to make solid strength gains? In particular, this paragraph caught my eye at the super low volume end: That's incredible! It seems the minimum is really considerably lower than the maximum we can do. They say: "If you are not really fussed about maximizing strength gains, you could, in theory, train for the rest of your life using the above guidelines while adding an extra set or exercise whenever things start to feel way too easy or monotonous." This is kind of what I'm doing now: trying to slow down a lot and add a rep first, and then only add to the load if I get outside my rep range. It's not that I don't care about strength gains, it's just that I am sick of crashing and setting myself back. If I only add reps, then sets, as needed, I can lift happily ever after, I hope. 4 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
ViperN7 Posted March 22 Report Share Posted March 22 On 3/21/2024 at 1:04 PM, Harriet said: Pull up jump-to-negatives continue to improve in quality, despite my improbably low workload. Yay! Huzzah! Well done! It's nice to know that our bodies are still capable of things even when we don't have the workload we desire/think we should/think we need, isn't it? 5 hours ago, Jarric said: Also reminded me of an article I read recently: What’s the least amount of training you need to make solid strength gains? Oooo I'll be checking that out! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Jarric Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 On 3/22/2024 at 4:10 PM, Harriet said: This is kind of what I'm doing now: trying to slow down a lot and add a rep first, and then only add to the load if I get outside my rep range. It's not that I don't care about strength gains, it's just that I am sick of crashing and setting myself back. If I only add reps, then sets, as needed, I can lift happily ever after, I hope. Sounds like a good plan to avoid injury and burnout to me. There were some bodyweight workout progressions that I was doing for a while which started at 3 sets of 3, and you kept adding reps until you got to 3 sets of 8 before before going on to a more difficult variation. That kind of programming is probably more necessary for bodyweight stuff because you can't increase the load by 1lb at a time like you can with a barbell, but there's no reason why it shouldn't also work for weight training. 2 Quote Level 21 Wood Elf Ranger STR: 18 - CON: 22 - CHA: 11 - SAN: 19 - INT: 17 IAgreeWithTank™ "Shit is going down, but I am not." - iatetheyeti Don't say "I don't have enough time", say instead "that's not a priority right now" and see how that makes you feel. Current Challenge: Get going! External: Epic Quest - Instagram - Strava Spoiler Previous Challenges: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 Old Stuff: Battle Log - My Introduction - 2017 Road Map - 2018 Road Map - 2019 Road Map - 2021 Road Map - 2022 road map/wrap-up Link to comment
Harriet Posted March 23 Report Share Posted March 23 22 hours ago, ViperN7 said: Huzzah! Well done! It's nice to know that our bodies are still capable of things even when we don't have the workload we desire/think we should/think we need, isn't it? Thank you, and yes, it is very nice. Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
Artemis Prime Posted April 4 Report Share Posted April 4 Was starting to get a bit bored with the Stronger by Science free programming, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for it, only to discover that the whole bundle is only $10. About a half hour of messing with spreadsheets means I now have my training planned out until September, with convenient tweaking options if I change my mind about anything between now and then. 5 Quote "For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline". - 2 Timothy 1:7 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Gandalf Link to comment
Harriet Posted April 4 Report Share Posted April 4 12 minutes ago, Artemis Prime said: Was starting to get a bit bored with the Stronger by Science free programming, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for it, only to discover that the whole bundle is only $10. About a half hour of messing with spreadsheets means I now have my training planned out until September, with convenient tweaking options if I change my mind about anything between now and then. Noice! It looks like the bundle has options for different scenarios. Can you customise for your own circumstances? Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
Artemis Prime Posted April 4 Report Share Posted April 4 14 minutes ago, Harriet said: Noice! It looks like the bundle has options for different scenarios. Can you customise for your own circumstances? The spreadsheet is fairly overwhelming, but there is a document full of instructions that walks you through customizing programs. You input your 1RM, select which primary exercises you want to do, which auxiliary ones you want, the intensity of your workouts, and how much you want to increase or decrease weight from workout to workout. And then it gives you options for working out for everything from twice to six times per week. I still have to play with it a lot more, but I think it might be one of those things that looks confusing at first, but if you just follow it one step at a time, it makes sense. 3 Quote "For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline". - 2 Timothy 1:7 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Gandalf Link to comment
Artemis Prime Posted May 1 Report Share Posted May 1 Guys! Guys! Guys! I joined a gym! It is tiny and cheap and 5 minutes away from my office, so I can walk there on my lunch break and get some lifting done in the middle of my day. I'm very excited about this! 2 4 Quote "For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline". - 2 Timothy 1:7 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Gandalf Link to comment
Scaly Freak Posted May 2 Report Share Posted May 2 Very nice! Convenient location is one of the most important factors when picking a gym. I hope you enjoy every moment you spend there! 1 Quote The Great Reading Thread of 2024 “I've always believed that failure is non-existent. What is failure? You go to the end of the season, then you lose the Super Bowl. Is that failing? To most people, maybe. But when you're picking apart why you failed, and now you're learning from that, then is that really failing? I don't think so." - Kobe Bryant, 1978-2020. Rest in peace, great warrior. Personal Challenges, a.k.a.The Saga of Scalyfreak: Tutorial; Ch 1; Ch 2; Ch 3; Ch 4; Ch 5; Ch 6; Intermission; Intermission II; Ch 7; Ch 8; Ch 9; Ch 10; Ch 11; Ch 12 ; Ch 13; Ch 14; Ch 15; Ch 16; Ch 17; Intermission III; Ch 18; Ch 19; Ch 20; Ch 21; Ch 22; Ch 23; Ch 24; Ch 25; Intermission IV; Ch 26; Ch 27; Ch 28; Ch 29; Ch 30; Ch 31; Ch 32; Ch 33; Ch 34; Ch 35; Ch 36; Ch 37; Ch 38; Ch 39; Ch 40; Intermission V; Ch 41; Ch 42; Ch 43; Ch 44; Ch 45; Ch 46; Ch 47; Intermission VI; Ch 48; Ch 49; Ch 50; Ch 51; Intermission VI Link to comment
Artemis Prime Posted May 2 Report Share Posted May 2 15 hours ago, Scaly Freak said: Very nice! Convenient location is one of the most important factors when picking a gym. I hope you enjoy every moment you spend there! Thanks! Convenience definitely won out here. There's another gym just a tiny bit more per month that has more and better equipment, but it's just enough farther away that I think I'd feel rushed on my break, which I could see leading to me skipping it a lot of days. Added bonus - because it is so small and limited, it's not a very popular gym. I had the place all to myself yesterday and think that will be the case more often than not. 3 Quote "For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline". - 2 Timothy 1:7 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Gandalf Link to comment
Sovalis Posted May 16 Report Share Posted May 16 @Artemis Prime How's the new gym treating you? Quote Past Challenges: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 Current Challenge: #17 “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Link to comment
Artemis Prime Posted May 16 Report Share Posted May 16 8 hours ago, Sovalis said: @Artemis Prime How's the new gym treating you? Really well! It's working great to run over on my lunch break. It does mean I have to keep an eye on the time, but I'm finding a good routine where I have time to do 2 main lifts and an accessory circuit. Still figuring out what my preferred exercises are now that I have many more options, but that's part of the fun. Today's workout is squats, cable fly, db press, and shrugs. (Might do scapular retractions instead, but I think the pull up grip might be too wide for me.) Thus far that has been my biggest problem with the gym: the machines appear to have been built for much bigger people, but I'm finding ways to make it work. Thanks for asking! 4 Quote "For God did not give us a spirit of fear; but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline". - 2 Timothy 1:7 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." -Gandalf Link to comment
Harriet Posted May 17 Report Share Posted May 17 On 5/16/2024 at 3:05 PM, Artemis Prime said: Really well! It's working great to run over on my lunch break. It does mean I have to keep an eye on the time, but I'm finding a good routine where I have time to do 2 main lifts and an accessory circuit. Still figuring out what my preferred exercises are now that I have many more options, but that's part of the fun. Today's workout is squats, cable fly, db press, and shrugs. (Might do scapular retractions instead, but I think the pull up grip might be too wide for me.) Thus far that has been my biggest problem with the gym: the machines appear to have been built for much bigger people, but I'm finding ways to make it work. Thanks for asking! Very nice that you have something nearby and convenient. I also find the machines are too big It's worst for upper body machines. Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
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