Hey, have you been working out?

[Al B. Sure!]

holy crap my hip flexors are so sore. I can barely walk.

[Az]

I have started shrugging too late.

[MOBIUS]

My five a side football yesterday was awesome! Felt like I was 20 years younger and scored 3 reasonably skillful goals, including a left foot half volley. And I kept up with the 20-somethings and even showed them a thing or two in terms of pace!

Basically, I've massively upped the cardio dimension of my workout programme at the gym and go through the burn my the legs cycling to/from work, instead of slowing down. Also, doing quite a lengthy, but not too taxing, cardio session the day before 5 a side kept me nice and fresh!

I finally seem to have pushed past what had felt like a long plateau and, surprisingly enough, it was because I pulled my finger out and stopped being a lazy fat arse...

[Provost Harrison]

To me, you'll never stop being a lazy fat arse

[MOBIUS]

You know me so well...

[MOBIUS]

Suddenly I have this curious desire to exercise in a hotel in Malaysia...

[Al B. Sure!]

Squat 3x5x220
Bench 3x5x175
Deadlift 1x5x245

Did 5-6 sets of 12 pullups. Getting kind of tough. I think I'll drop back down to 11 for this week.

[Jon Miller]

Wasn't so good of day today, not sure why. Was still sore in the legs, and ate too much chocolate this morning.

5/3/3 chinups
6/4/6 lunges (27/27/24)
5/4/4 pullups
15/15/15 back extensions
2 sets of cable row
2 sets of dumbbell bicep curls

I am still where I was when this thread started, and roughly where I have been for the last 3 years (4 years?). I will probably try something else in a bit. Maybe lift just two days a week (full days or split days) and focus on running? I had good improvement in my running until I stopped doing intervals (they really kill me though).

JM

[Al B. Sure!]

Maybe you should specifically try a specific program? There's thousands out there. Bill Starr's 5x5, Rippetoe's Starting Strength, etc.

[Jon Miller]

I have tried one before. As far as I could tell, I got weaker. Since part of the reason I do this is for numbers to go up, that wasn't acceptable (it may have been that I wasn't getting the right numbers, but still, the standard lifts I did like dumbbell press went down...).

JM

[Al B. Sure!]

Not if you did the program right and the program wasn't retarded. One thing people forget to do is eat. You need to bump up your food intake if you want to get stronger. I posted on here a little while back about how to manage to take in 4000 calories a day and people here thought it so absurd. If you want to get stronger, you need to eat AT LEAST 3000 calories a day, adjusting accordingly for your present height and weight and the intensity of your exercise (even more if you run).

There may be some structural issues like I think I have with weak hip flexors holding back my squat, but regardless, it shouldn't make you weaker unless you don't eat enough and don't have enough recovery.

If you do something like Bill Starr's program, sleep 8+ hours a night, and eat the appropriate number of calories, it would be impossible to get weaker. At worst, I would suppose you would just not improve.

[Jon Miller]

The one time I did get a little improvement was when I ate, but I gained like 15 lbs for just a small improvement (but the only improvement over what I consider 'the usual' in the last 4 years) which disappeared when I tried to drop down intensity a bit.

And my problem with the books is they say "Do this". I say OK, and do it. Then they say "do this", and I do it. Then after a while they say 'do this' and I can't. And I stay there, and nothing changes.

I don't think it is a good idea for someone who has ~20% BF to be increasing in weight anyways. If you think that the food intake needs to go up, then that is another argument for focusing on running for a while and see if I can lose 5 kg.

I like lifting because it enables me to burn my calories when I am sitting on my ass/etc. And it feels good. And I want to get stronger. But my prime consideration is being 'fit'.

And I do eat ~3000 calories a day.

JM

[Al B. Sure!]

Well if you're at around 20% BF, then it wouldn't kill you to focus on losing some weight. Then in that case, you shouldn't be so focused with getting strength gains. Honestly, the 'boot camp standard' of pushups, pullups, and running will shed some fat and keep you fit with respect to bodyweight.

Then, if you want to get stronger, pick a devoted full body program and go at it.

Or alternatively, you could do the reverse... concentrate on getting stronger even if it means you put on weight and some fat and then when you have a bit more muscle, cycle back down your weight by doing more running and less intense weightlifting.

I don't know. It's strange. Some people improve so rapidly while others constantly hit brick walls in their training. The simplest explanation though is that something is wrong. The most common being...

Either you're not doing the program right (which may be something as innocent as you just are not doing things with the proper form required of the movement which will always stall someone)
You're not getting enough rest and recovery (ie- you're not recovering enough between workouts; not getting enough sleep; doing too much volume of exercise)
You're not getting enough food.
You have a structural weakness like a weak rotator cuff or weak hip flexors or weak wrists or something that is limiting your gains.

[Provost Harrison]

Wasn't so good of day today, not sure why. Was still sore in the legs, and ate too much chocolate this morning.

5/3/3 chinups
6/4/6 lunges (27/27/24)
5/4/4 pullups
15/15/15 back extensions
2 sets of cable row
2 sets of dumbbell bicep curls

I am still where I was when this thread started, and roughly where I have been for the last 3 years (4 years?). I will probably try something else in a bit. Maybe lift just two days a week (full days or split days) and focus on running? I had good improvement in my running until I stopped doing intervals (they really kill me though).

JM

I plateau very quickly. Strength or physical fitness I can acquire very quickly but weight loss is nigh on impossible for me beyond a certain point. And I've been trying to get rid of this excess weight for years.

[Jon Miller]

I haven't really lost the weight that I put on when I tried to gain last time (although I haven't tried too hard). And it is really hard to gain much muscle when you are near 20% BF and have been in that area most of your life.

And to be honest I went to the doctor almost a month ago and he diagnosed me with lack of thyroid hormone (which I have started taking pills for).

JM