Workout: What did you do today?

[FETCHER.]

Sorry in advance if I come of as too critical or even smug and obviously I don't know either your trainer or yourself but some points to consider:
-the hamstring crosses two joints, the knee and the hip, with only one of the multiple muscle heads crossing the knee. So if you don't train any hip hinges, you're missing out on a lot of hamstring development, especially on exercises training the loaded stretch, which is especially hypertrophic. A leg day with  with 7 quad/glute focused exercises and only one minor hamstring exercise seems unbalanced, unless you have another hamstring focused leg day in the week somewhere.
-the fact that your trainer has done some badass stuff doesn't mean that he is a good trainer. Some people are just talented or have a good mindset or genetics or all of that but that doesn't mean they know how to train people besides themselves. Plus all of his achievements are in the realm of endurance but strength and hypertrophy are quite different endeavors.
-a lot of trainers know better but still give clients programs that seem interesting or badass or whatever because clients might be expecting that and might be motivated by that. This seems like such a case plus he might be simply biased due to his endurance background.

Not at all, I appreciate all comments. Every day is a school day.

I do a 6 week rotation on my plans and my previous plan had glute bridges, Romanian deadlifts, kettlebell swings and goblet squats. All of which google advises are hip hinge movements, could it be possible on a 6 week rotation he has lay off of them to focus on other muscle groups in the legs?

In fairness to him, I don't really mind if he isn't the best his plan has been working for me so far with weight loss and he has been working towards changing my mindset which is the main goal at the moment.

I do of course want to learn to educate myself because I won't always be with him so I do appreciate your comments and I'm always willing to learn new things in fitness. My previous PT was a body builder and her plans bored the shit out of me. While they may have been more balanced in terms of muscle groups, I would rather have gouged my eyes out than go to the gym and do her plan. It was very regimental and if couldn't do 3 days at the gym because I spent a full day in hospital with my mother in law she would tell me it wasn't good enough 😂. I'm just trying to find a nice balance.

[grindy]

Not at all, I appreciate all comments. Every day is a school day.

I do a 6 week rotation on my plans and my previous plan had glute bridges, Romanian deadlifts, kettlebell swings and goblet squats. All of which google advises are hip hinge movements, could it be possible on a 6 week rotation he has lay off of them to focus on other muscle groups in the legs?

In fairness to him, I don't really mind if he isn't the best his plan has been working for me so far with weight loss and he has been working towards changing my mindset which is the main goal at the moment.

I do of course want to learn to educate myself because I won't always be with him so I do appreciate your comments and I'm always willing to learn new things in fitness. My previous PT was a body builder and her plans bored the shit out of me. While they may have been more balanced in terms of muscle groups, I would rather have gouged my eyes out than go to the gym and do her plan. It was very regimental and if couldn't do 3 days at the gym because I spent a full day in hospital with my mother in law she would tell me it wasn't good enough 😂. I'm just trying to find a nice balance.

Such a rotation can make sense if one wants to really focus on one muscle but I assume you want to bring up everything. Not to mention that you are most likely doing too much for quads with the current program, so why not skip a few quad exercises and add one for hamstrings.
Changing one's program every six weeks isn't a particularly good idea anyway, but I guess he's just trying to keep you entertained.
As for weight loss, lifting doesn't burn that many calories anyway. You'd be better of focusing on your diet and maybe some cardio and using lifting for muscle and strength gains.
A program like this feels very effective because there's a lot of burn and you're out of breath and sweating and all that but the actual muscle effort is pretty low and you're most likely stopping exercises due to being out of breath or generally fatigued not because the muscle is close to failure, which would be necessary for actual progress. It's obviously better than nothing and as a beginner you'll notice some changes anyway but such programming won't lead to long term progress and you could get similar or even better results in less time.

[DJChameleon]

@FETCHER. I would only change program every 6  weeks if I felt like I was getting bored with the program all the time. Consistency is better than being entertained imo. I know you hated the female bodybuilder PT you had but her stuff was probably a bit better for consistency sake.

That one you posted looked like a leg day and I would for sure cut back on some of it. If you want like grindy says add in the hamstring or do fewer and mix in a different body group to get some variation. So do legs with something else.

What I currently do is legs and shoulders together, So I will do a leg exercise then a shoulder one then back to leg until I'm finished with my workout that day.

[jimmy jazz]

Stairmaster - 10mins

Barbell Squat - 3 sets of 10
Barbell sumo squat - 3 sets of 10
Dumbbell reverse lunge - 3 sets of 10
Leg extension - 10 reps no rest reduce weight by 3 pins and continue til failure
Hamstring curl - 10 reps no rest reduce weight by 3 pins and continue til failure
Leg press - 10 reps no rest reduce weight by 3 pins and continue til failure
Dumbbell step ups - 3 sets of 12
Dumbbell Bulgarian split squats - 3 sets of 12
 

How long do you spend in the gym doing this, Fetch?

[FETCHER.]

Such a rotation can make sense if one wants to really focus on one muscle but I assume you want to bring up everything. Not to mention that you are most likely doing too much for quads with the current program, so why not skip a few quad exercises and add one for hamstrings.
Changing one's program every six weeks isn't a particularly good idea anyway, but I guess he's just trying to keep you entertained.
As for weight loss, lifting doesn't burn that many calories anyway. You'd be better of focusing on your diet and maybe some cardio and using lifting for muscle and strength gains.
A program like this feels very effective because there's a lot of burn and you're out of breath and sweating and all that but the actual muscle effort is pretty low and you're most likely stopping exercises due to being out of breath or generally fatigued not because the muscle is close to failure, which would be necessary for actual progress. It's obviously better than nothing and as a beginner you'll notice some changes anyway but such programming won't lead to long term progress and you could get similar or even better results in less time.

If I'm completely honest at this stage and being overweight I don't really care much for working on specific groups 😂. Sure, I like feeling stronger and more confident but when you are fat I find it hard to care how swole my muscles are.

Yeah I do tend to start evading my plan if I have it for much longer than 6 weeks. I start getting lazy on the harder parts because I know they are difficult or I lose the motivation to get to the gym altogether and stay at home.

We will agree to disagree on what lifting does for fat loss because I think it's more important to find the types of exercise you enjoy. So it could be anything really, whatever works best for you. If you don't enjoy it you're not going to succeed.

@FETCHER. I would only change program every 6  weeks if I felt like I was getting bored with the program all the time. Consistency is better than being entertained imo. I know you hated the female bodybuilder PT you had but her stuff was probably a bit better for consistency sake.

That one you posted looked like a leg day and I would for sure cut back on some of it. If you want like grindy says add in the hamstring or do fewer and mix in a different body group to get some variation. So do legs with something else.

What I currently do is legs and shoulders together, So I will do a leg exercise then a shoulder one then back to leg until I'm finished with my workout that day.

Yeah that was my leg day, I also do push, pull and abs days. I'm pretty happy with my plan and it is helping me reach my goals so if it ain't broke don't fix it 😉.

Consistency may be better than being entertained but what if being entertained is keeping me consistent 😅? Lol

How long do you spend in the gym doing this, Fetch?

The first time I do them I'm usually a bit longer while I find my feet but on average I'm about an hour and 10mins.

[DJChameleon]

Yeah that was my leg day, I also do push, pull and abs days. I'm pretty happy with my plan and it is helping me reach my goals so if it ain't broke don't fix it 😉.

Consistency may be better than being entertained but what if being entertained is keeping me consistent 😅? Lol

Yeah what works for you is definitely best no matter what advice we give. You are correct if it ain't broke don't fix it.

If being entertained keeps you consistent then go with that. I also agree with you. When you are starting out or just big overall and want to lose weight.

Min Maxing body parts isn't that big of a deal. That's more for people that have been working out for a while and they want to cut and focus on specific muscle groups. You aren't at that stage yet, hell I'm not at that stage either. I feel like that's more the level that grindy and Jimmy are at.

I missed the hour and 10 mins comment.

You are better than me. I could NEVER do that. When I hit the 40 min mark on workouts, I'm usually so exhausted by that time I just want it to end and my PT usually wraps it up by then.

My normal workouts with my PT is 30 mins but sometimes we will go to 40 mins.  Near the end, I'm just so exhausted overall it doesn't matter what I do, my body just tells me I'm done for the day.

[grindy]

If I'm completely honest at this stage and being overweight I don't really care much for working on specific groups 😂. Sure, I like feeling stronger and more confident but when you are fat I find it hard to care how swole my muscles are.

Yeah I do tend to start evading my plan if I have it for much longer than 6 weeks. I start getting lazy on the harder parts because I know they are difficult or I lose the motivation to get to the gym altogether and stay at home.

We will agree to disagree on what lifting does for fat loss because I think it's more important to find the types of exercise you enjoy. So it could be anything really, whatever works best for you. If you don't enjoy it you're not going to succeed.

Yeah that was my leg day, I also do push, pull and abs days. I'm pretty happy with my plan and it is helping me reach my goals so if it ain't broke don't fix it 😉.

Consistency may be better than being entertained but what if being entertained is keeping me consistent 😅? Lol

The first time I do them I'm usually a bit longer while I find my feet but on average I'm about an hour and 10mins.

It's not really an agree to disagree thing, weightlifting does really burn relatively few calories so diet will always be more effective, although even the few calories burned by lifting can have a somewhat noticeable effect over a long period of time.
As for building muscle, it's just a healthy thing to do and more muscle helps with staying lean due to muscle being metabolically more demanding. But  I understand that losing weight and staying generally active is more of a priority for you right now and it's definitely a good and important thing so good luck with it!

[grindy]

Yeah what works for you is definitely best no matter what advice we give. You are correct if it ain't broke don't fix it.

If being entertained keeps you consistent then go with that. I also agree with you. When you are starting out or just big overall and want to lose weight.

Min Maxing body parts isn't that big of a deal. That's more for people that have been working out for a while and they want to cut and focus on specific muscle groups. You aren't at that stage yet, hell I'm not at that stage either. I feel like that's more the level that grindy and Jimmy are at.

I missed the hour and 10 mins comment.

You are better than me. I could NEVER do that. When I hit the 40 min mark on workouts, I'm usually so exhausted by that time I just want it to end and my PT usually wraps it up by then.

My normal workouts with my PT is 30 mins but sometimes we will go to 40 mins.  Near the end, I'm just so exhausted overall it doesn't matter what I do, my body just tells me I'm done for the day.

Tbh it's not about min-maxing something for me, I just want to be generally strong and developed when it comes to the major movement patterns and muscle groups. But I don't really care if at the end some body part might look a bit better and some worse, as long as I see some general progress.

[FETCHER.]

Yeah what works for you is definitely best no matter what advice we give. You are correct if it ain't broke don't fix it.

If being entertained keeps you consistent then go with that. I also agree with you. When you are starting out or just big overall and want to lose weight.

Min Maxing body parts isn't that big of a deal. That's more for people that have been working out for a while and they want to cut and focus on specific muscle groups. You aren't at that stage yet, hell I'm not at that stage either. I feel like that's more the level that grindy and Jimmy are at.

I missed the hour and 10 mins comment.

You are better than me. I could NEVER do that. When I hit the 40 min mark on workouts, I'm usually so exhausted by that time I just want it to end and my PT usually wraps it up by then.

My normal workouts with my PT is 30 mins but sometimes we will go to 40 mins.  Near the end, I'm just so exhausted overall it doesn't matter what I do, my body just tells me I'm done for the day.

Aw really? I have always done an hour with various PT's over here, I don't think they even offer less time. It can be tiring though and I usually go to the gym before work so that can be hard when you know you still have a full shift to do 🤢.

Sometimes my body tells me the same and I just wrap up early and leave. I was supposed to be in the gym this morning but I felt I needed the rest instead so I might have a leisurely cycle on the flat instead to loosen my legs off a bit.

It's not really an agree to disagree thing, weightlifting does really burn relatively few calories so diet will always be more effective, although even the few calories burned by lifting can have a somewhat noticeable effect over a long period of time.
As for building muscle, it's just a healthy thing to do and more muscle helps with staying lean due to muscle being metabolically more demanding. But  I understand that losing weight and staying generally active is more of a priority for you right now and it's definitely a good and important thing so good luck with it!

Yeah I know, you can't out train a bad diet! My diet has been spot on apart from the last couple of days so that's not a huge issue for me. I haven't struggled much with the gym unless I start to get too used to my plan.

Yeah it definitely is the most important thing, I just want to keep moving and make lifestyle changes. They don't happen overnight so any progress is a bonus no matter how long it takes to get there. I haven't posted it in here because it's not been hugely relevant but I have fluid in my lung so that's stopping me doing a lot of the things I usually would do in addition to my plan. Running, swimming, hiking etc. I'm pretty much stuck with walking and weight lifting just now. I do enjoy a wider variety of things but I'm practically breathing out my arse climbing the stairs so any form of cardio/HiiT right now isn't advisable.

[Guybrush]

Bah!

Bad workout today 😅

Dumbbell push, I did 7 x 4 with some failure at the very end last Tuesday. Today, same weight and I'm at 7/5/5 😐 AND I got a new ache in my left shoulder.

Most things I do seem to be hard on shoulders, even when I'm not lifting weights. Yesterday, I did Ab-wheel workout (tough on shoulders) and a power yoga workout that's basically 10-12 minutes doing plank variations (also tough on shoulders).

Maybe focusing more on pullups and chin-ups will be better rather than flys and pushes.

I also didn't get to do my squats yet.

[jimmy jazz]

Is it like a dull, throbbing ache? Also you've not had a deload yet have you?

[Guybrush]

Is it like a dull, throbbing ache? Also you've not had a deload yet have you?

No, it's more like a nerve pinch that happens when I hold my left arm in a certain position or just high up.

I was gonna do shoulder flys, did one rep and was like.. nope! That's not good.

And I haven't had a proper deload, though I did skip a day when I went on a cabin trip, so.. that was like 4 consecutive rest days or thereabouts. I may have exercised some, but at least not weights. That's my longest rest period in about 9 weeks or so.

BTW, I had a fantastic workout after those 4 days.

[jimmy jazz]

Keep an eye on it mate let us know if it gets worse or better.

[Guybrush]

I pushed yesterday's workout to today and had a great time. I increased weight on me squats and increased reps on dumbbell press.

Some ache in my shoulder still, but it wasn't too bad. I avoided shoulder and chest flys as those seem the worst for my shoulders and the dumbbell press seems more benign to shoulders than the barbell bench press.

I think my earlier suspicion is pretty much confirmed. I'm getting stronger, lifting a little heavier, trying to get the failures in. It's probably just a bit much for my 40s aging bod and I may need just a little more restitution time.

[jimmy jazz]

Shit workout today.

Just not that into it.

Might be time for a break. See how it goes rest of the week.