Workout: What did you do today?

[DJChameleon]

Taking the day off from the gym. Went to NYC and walked 16k steps on Saturday and 29k steps on Sunday. Super tired from all that walking.

[Guybrush]

Cycling, pullups, situps with side crunches and reverse situps today. Progress across the board, yo!

I think I may have to temporally separate situps and reverse situps as both exercises engage the lower back.. At least when I do them from an incline which is my usual method.

Doing situps after reverse situps, my lower back starts squealing before my stomach does.

[jimmy jazz]

I don't do any ab work tbh. I should to improve core strength but I don't care about having visible abs. It's the only thing I skip on. They do get trained doing other stuff but I should really do something.

Have you tried Bulgarian Split Squats yet @Guybrush? Give them a go and report back 😲

[DJChameleon]

I don't do any ab work tbh. I should to improve core strength but I don't care about having visible abs. It's the only thing I skip on. They do get trained doing other stuff but I should really do something.

Have you tried Bulgarian Split Squats yet @Guybrush? Give them a go and report back 😲

I'm the same. I don't work on abs either but I do plank every once in awhile. That does cover abs.

[Guybrush]

Have you tried Bulgarian Split Squats yet @Guybrush? Give them a go and report back 😲

Not yet, but I haven't forgotten them 🙂

I wanted to stick to a smaller set of exercises first basically just to see if/how I progress.

I'll give it a try after compound day tomorrow!

[jimmy jazz]

Not yet, but I haven't forgotten them 🙂

I wanted to stick to a smaller set of exercises first basically just to see if/how I progress.

I'll give it a try after compound day tomorrow!

Good luck. Go easy, keep it to 10 reps no more than 3 sets and report back.

You should feel it 😲

[jadis]

Gonna go to the gym tonight after a four day break, the longest break I've taken since mid May.

Not working out sucks so much. Feeling low energy, sluggish, don't have a sense of mental clarity.

Working out is literally the most important thing in my life these days.

[jadis]

Did the leg press yesterday without proper warmup and pulled a muscle in my knee. A slightly atypical jadis L because normally I'm careful about this kind of thing. Googling "is it safe to work out on ibuprofen" 

[DJChameleon]

Thursday, I worked out with my trainer again and we focused on arms today. I felt super weak more than usual, but I haven't really been training with him lately. He just got back from vacation, and I haven't touched arms much by myself. I was struggling. Today (Friday) I'm going to keep it light and just do some cardio. There is a new elliptical machine that lets you do wider strides. I'm going to try that one out again. IT makes me sweat so much that it reminds me of working out on the Stairmaster. I can do the newer elliptical for less time and get more sweat results than if I did my normal 20 mins on my regular elliptical.

[jimmy jazz]

What do you guys usually do for warm ups?

For me I will do a few sets with very light weight and gradually build up to the big weight for any compound exercise I do. With RDLs I will stretch first and then work up.

I always start with compounds and finish with isolations so I don't bother warming up for those.

I just did dips last night and then finished with trícep extensions.

[jadis]

A few minutes of stretches and then an acclimation set of 50% of the max weight before every exercise. Yesterday I did the acclimation set but not the stretches and I feel like it's important to stretch your legs before you do something like leg press, where the weights are pretty serious

There are people on YT saying you shouldn't do stretches, like c'mon 

[Guybrush]

So far, I've just jogged a bit for warmup mostly. On Thursday, I did some easy yoga stretching to get started as it was mobility day.

Btw, I forgot to do those special squats! Sorry JJ. I'll try and remember again for Sunday.

About my progress; Squat strength is steadily improving. I'm up to about 45 kgs and may have to add more, but it becomes a practical problem when I don't have a rack. I'll focus instead on making each rep as tough as it can be, I guess.

Ab strength is increasing. Back strength is increasing. Pull-up strength is increasing.

BUT! I'm not making much improvement with benching. There's some, of course, but it feels slow, weak and pitiful compared to my progress in these other exercises.

Is this just me or is slower progress with bench presses a common thing? 🤔 I may have to Google it.

[jimmy jazz]

How much progress have you made in bench mate? It's probably normal tbh.

[jadis]

So far, I've just jogged a bit for warmup mostly. On Thursday, I did some easy yoga stretching to get started as it was mobility day.

Btw, I forgot to do those special squats! Sorry JJ. I'll try and remember again for Sunday.

About my progress; Squat strength is steadily improving. I'm up to about 45 kgs and may have to add more, but it becomes a practical problem when I don't have a rack. I'll focus instead on making each rep as tough as it can be, I guess.

Ab strength is increasing. Back strength is increasing. Pull-up strength is increasing.

BUT! I'm not making much improvement with benching. There's some, of course, but it feels slow, weak and pitiful compared to my progress in these other exercises.

Is this just me or is slower progress with bench presses a common thing? 🤔 I may have to Google it.

I'd take it a bit slower. Progress in terms of weights is very very gradual and not the most important thing. It's more important to feel the mind-muscle connection and make sure you do everything safely. If you feel like a certain weight is easy for you then sure, but don't rush it.

[Guybrush]

How much progress have you made in bench mate? It's probably normal tbh.

I'd have to check the notes to be sure, but I think I started at 30 kgs x 8 reps, then added 5 kg and went down to 3 x 7 reps (no real improvement). All I've improved since then is form, so those 7 x 3s are working nicely  now, so will increase reps to 3 x 8.

I'll admit I'm at that weight because I started squatting around there and found it dull to switch the weights around. For squats, I started 3 x 8, then steadily increased to 3 x 12 and have added an extra 10 kgs.

I probably started a bit easy with squats and a bit heavy (for me anyways) with bench 🤔 dropping 5 kgs and aiming for more reps might be better?