Weight Lifting

[scw2]

After having not lifted consistently for several years, I started up Starting Strength doing their novice program and am a few weeks in. It has been a good program to get started on as it's pretty straight forward, you see tangible progress session to session as a beginner, and it is fairly efficient in terms of time spent in the gym. If you're like me and tended to do less stuff like deadlifts in the past, it's also a good opportunity to learn and build that base.

FWIW, I recalled Larry Lindenman recommending his opinion that a decent baseline for strength could be 1x body weight for bench press, 1.25x BW for squat and 2x BW for DLs, so that's what I'm going to aim for. The DLs will be the big one for me since I never really did those regularly in the past so that's probably the intimidating one for me.

As far as cardio goes, his Long Slow Distance (LSD) program was really effective for me, though it's super boring if you do it on cardio machines. Podcasts, audio books or streaming movies are your friend there. Build your cardio base with LSD, then you can layer in sport specific stuff or HIIT after.

[rd62]

Am I taking this the right way: so you are saying as long as I am reasonably fit, I can start BJJ, as long as I make sure I don't roll with innapropriate sparring partners? Basically I can go ahead "now"? That's good if so. I've identified a potential dojo in our new location, which I was going to make an appointment at some point next year. I might move that earlier if so.

Back to the weight training: thanks @BobM for the reference to Starting Strength. I watched one of their "how to start" videos from YT last night, very simple, clear advice. I liked it. I've been allocated a small cache of funds for our new place if I want to put a home gym in the garage, and there were several good suggestions for a rack / weights etc. Apparently where we are moving also has a fitness center so I'll be checking that out as well.

Thanks all for the great input! I appreciate it.

A good dojo should bot have you rolling for some time and even then should have an emphasis on education over injury. The point is to learn and improve through training and practice. That's difficult to do effectively if you are injured. I'd caution you to keep your ego in check. I think its easiest to get injured when you're new and too proud to admit your opponent has you penned. Failing to submit in a timely manner can lead to injury. Otherwise, get after it!

[Rocky Racoon]

T

As far as diet... yeah. I don't eat garbage but I do eat a lot. Like lunch might be half a loaf of bread and half pound of sandwich meat... lol... my coworkers do NOT appreciate the side effects of consuming that much protein.

I would respectfully disagree. Half a loaf of bread (carbs and sugar) and sandwich meat is pretty garbage.

[orionz06]

I would respectfully disagree. Half a loaf of bread (carbs and sugar) and sandwich meat is pretty garbage.

Fact

[TheNewbie]

I would respectfully disagree. Half a loaf of bread (carbs and sugar) and sandwich meat is pretty garbage.

The bread isn’t great, but meat isn’t much of an issue.


Usually I avoid much bread but I made the mistake of buying some sour dough. Man it’s good, and I may have to throw it away.


One of my favorite things my wife makes is taking deli meat, rolling it with cheese inside, lightly breading it and then cooking it on a skillet. Super healthy? No, but it’s good and it’s better than much of what people eat.

It’s really less about what you eat vs how much. Which is probably obvious to all. My mom lost 100 pounds in her 60s without meds, by exercising and eating less. She still ate much of what she wanted, but less of it.

My cousin did the Atkins diet about 15 years ago. Almost no exercise, just 20 carbs a day, a pack of smokes and diet soda. In 2-3 years he lost 230 pounds. From 365-the 130s. So low carb and smoking did work for him.

[TheNewbie]

Do any of guys like doing rack pulls?

[_JD_]

Still plugging away at it @ planet fitness. Have had some Rona related and other setbacks but have recently adopted the starting strength method vs chasing random sets etc and am now benching 220 for 3 sets of 5 and deadlifing 385 for 3 sets of 5.

Not doing overhead presses or squats as much as the snith machines I have available seem to suck for those lifts.

Have a squat rack / cage on order and am kitting up a home gym.

Got a decent bench and some dumbbells and snagged a used Ohio bar locally. Just need to wait until plates / bumpers are in stock.

I should finally br able to hit my 500lbs 1RM for deadlifts by March.


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[TheNewbie]

@_JD_

Good job man! Are those lifts on the smith or the barbell? Either way that's awesome! You're looking pretty fit and appear to have less body fat than I do. Keep up the good work, no doubt you can hit that 500.




This week has been a bit intense gym wise. Wednesday, I did OHP, Squat, Bench, and Deads each for 6 x 10s in about 50 minutes. Friday, I was even more pressed for time, and in less than 45 minutes I did 4 x 8 of OHP, Bench, and Squats. This is not a smart way to lift, and not something I do all the time. It just happened that I had time constraints, and I wanted to push myself. Today I did 4 x 8 on dead lift, and did ok considering how unrested I am.

[_JD_]

Currently all on the Smith machine.

When I started a while ago I could periodically get on free weights but access to those dried up but at the time I didn't feel much difference between 350 on a barbell and 350 on a smith, but I'll know for sure when I get my plates.

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[Bio]

For you serious lifters, at what point do you increase weight for a given exercise? Is it just a feel thing? Is it when you can do a certain number of reps or sets with a certain weight?