Jon Lifts Some Stuff

[Seminarian]

After being a Washingtonpost watcher and then a regular lurker here, I am at long last starting a training log.

My goals are generally: get better at eating, learn to cook some, up cardio, improve general strength

My goals are specifically: work on overhead pressing strength, improving form and quantity; up functional leg strength (as measured by reps and by stairclimbing); exercise 7 days a week in some form (lifting at least 4), and lose 30 pounds over six months. The hardest thing for me will be consistency in eating.

Because I'm abroad, I have somewhat limited tools. At a little nearby gym I do have: simple weight machines (a pulldown, bench, and leg extensions, but nothing like squats), a basic barbell that would let me do overhead for reps (but not lots of weights), and good cardio machines. At home I have a 30 pound dumbbell, a jumprope, a wheel of death, and now a 50-60 lb sandbag.

I want to workout at the gym 2x a week and workout at home 2x a week. I'll aim for walking at least 30 minutes a day on these days, and shoot for longer cardio on two of the three other days.

I hope that makes sense. I'm excited to have the incentive of this board. I feel like I have okay health now, but want to take it up a level during the next six months. After that I will be back in the States and then I will hit deadlifts and squats.

Jon

[childresspta]

Good luck Jon,

We will be anxiously watching your progress.

Jerimiah

[ms_irreverent]

Sounds good, Jon. Incidentally, you can do squats with just dumbbells or plates if there's no rack/cage/whatever. Or just do them without any sort of weight at all--you can work on perfecting your form.

[Bobcat]

you can do squats with just dumbbells or plates . . . Or just do them without any sort of weight at all

Right! You can also do them with a barbell loaded only to a weight you can easily press or jerk overhead--and set down on your shoulders. (That's how I started squatting; I used an exercise bar loaded to 50 pounds.) Sandbags lend themselves to both front and back squatting--and it's harder than the weight of the sandbag might suggest.

Here's an idea. Start with bodyweight squats. Progress to light dumbbells. Then use a barbell with a weight you can easily press or jerk overhead. Then progress to sandbag squats.

You can also deadlift with your sandbag.

[Tom]

Brooks Kubik holds forth here
http://brookskubik.com/tip11.html
that the dumbbell clean and press is the secret exercise of the old-time strongmen.

I'm not sure if it's all that, but it's a good exercise. Do a squat clean for each rep and it'll really get the blood pumping.

Actually, you ought to take a look around Brooks' site -- there are lots of tips there about training with sandbags, dumbbells, odd objects, and that sort of thing. He has a pretty good book called "Dinosaur Training" that's got more of the same. I think it's pretty cheap, and you can find it in the ironmind.com bookstore.

[Gogiants]

Dino Training is a good book, but it is definetly about lifting heavy weights. He does address sandbags some, but I thik Semenarian would be better served with doing 100 dumbellswings followed by body weight squats and than abs. Perhaps Pavel's K-bell book would serve better.

[Seminarian]

Thanks everyone! I think high reps and good form is what I want to work on the next few months. I made tonight a gym night and I did cycles of overhead press, pulldowns, and lunges. This took about 20+ minutes and then I did about 20 minutes of cardio. For overhead press I did sets of 5-7 reps at what I think was ~120-130 lbs (kilo conversion plus bar of unknown weight). This will be my easiest exercise to quantify how/if I am progressing.

I liked Tom's suggestions on clean and press. Actually, I have done this some intermittently. I like it because a spotter is not necessary, and it feels like it does triceps better than bench and is more natural on the shoulders.

I also bought a sandbag Friday (should have mentioned that). The main exercise that day was carrying it home! Haha. Maybe I should just buy one sandbag every other day and carry it home.

The hard thing for me will be consistency. But I know that if I get on a schedule--and have some accountability like this--it will help. Thank you all for the encouragement. I've learned a lot here. I appreciated the suggestions about Dino training too. Jon

[ironeagle6]

Welcome and good luck Jon. With a name like that you have to be alright in my book. BTW, my first name is Jon! :lol: , but I go by middle "David"

[Seminarian]

Thanks David--actually I have a brother named David too. My name is short for "Jonathan."

Today I did 5 sets of 20 reps for squats: 1 set with bodyweight and then 4 with the sandbag (the last one was a little iffy). I also tried dumbbell swings: 1 set of right and left arm for 15 each side and then a second set with 10 reps each side.

Now I am sweating! I'm actually pretty excited about this. I think the key for me is variety, so I am going to go hard on sandbag and my one dumbbell with swings for a while and then try something else in a month or two (maybe more cardio).

Thanks again for all the input.

Interestingly--I didn't really know what swings were exactly until today when I googled them online. They felt pretty natural.

[Tom]

Also, you might check out http://www.crossfit.com
They have a lot of bodyweight-only workouts (check their FAQ for a list of a bunch of these) and have a lot of variety. Just another option to give you some workout ideas.

[Seminarian]

Crossfit looks great and I just saw Tom's post on other sandbag techniques at another website.

I was out of town for two days so I took some nice walks but felt out of shape lifting today. I think I will have to push the next few weeks to get in a routine and then it should go a little easier.

Today I did some bodyweight legwork and then sandbags. I did two sets of one leg squats off of a chair (from Pavel). Felt so-so--it's hard to do it straight rather than rock. I did two sets of lunges and four sets of squats with sandbag.

Squats I usually feel pretty strong in but I've had (for a few years) a slight click noise in my right knee, especially if I don't get back far enough. Never any pain--but it makes me nervous. The advice I get on squats is so hard to gauge. I feel like short legs/long torso make them an awkard exercise for me. They felt a little more comfortable holding the bag in front. When I did squats on the smith machine they felt great because I could place my legs up farther. Any advice? I love what they do for me and they are very efficient, and I've never had even a moderate injury in any training I've done (well, one stretched toe 12 years) ago. Should I just ignore the noise? Am I being wimpy? Do you all have advice? Probably bodyweight and/or one sandbag for reps is as safe as it gets...

[Seminarian]

I should say I don't really mean "wimpy," but in my family the tendency is definitely towards "take it easy" and passivity rather than pushing ourselves athletically. I don't want to make excuses and I'm trying to figure what'll give me best fitness long term.

[Tom]

Short legs, long torso is pretty much the ideal build for a squatter. It makes it easier to stay upright while keeping your center of gravity over your feet. With long legs and a short torso, you either have to squat really wide or lean pretty far forward to get the same effect.

Re: knees. I'd suggest getting it checked out by a doctor (preferably an orthopedist who works with sports injuries). That way you'll know for sure if it's anything to worry about or not. Odds are it's probably nothing (especially since you're not feeling pain from it), but if you're concerned, you ought to find out for sure.

[childresspta]

I agree with Tom, I would get that click checked out. It is probably nothing serious yet, but if it is a muscle imbalance or patellar tracking problem it will develop into a problem. Both are a pretty simple fix for any decent PT if caught early.

Jerimiah

[Seminarian]

Thanks Tom and Jeremiah. I did discuss it at a check-up a year or two ago, and he basically said "it's probably nothing unless it's something." So go figure... I think for me the challenge is to get back far enough. I keep hearing about box squats--something like that sounds appealing. For now I will probably do front squats with the sandbag for reps since that seems to give me better balance (and is actually a harder workout).

Today I did a gym night. I did overhead presses: a warmup set than three sets: 5 reps, 8 reps (both at 52kg plus the bar), and 12 reps (40 plus the bar). I also did three sets of pulldowns and three sets of machine bench. Non-ideal but felt good. 20 minutes on the bike.

I am feeling stressed now and I find that when this happens I either drop exercise altogether or make it a daily feature--I'm hoping for the latter. Thanks for the encouragement and advice.

Jon

[Tom]

Exercise is good for coping with stress. It clears your mind, and I think that getting the blood pumping clears the stress hormones out of your body.

For me, the squat is the trickiest of the "big 3" lifts. Here are some suggestions that may help.

For squats, think of sitting _back_ before sitting _down_. Somebody once suggested that you should think of the way you sit down on a toilet. Here's an article by Louie Simmons on how he does the squat:
http://www.deepsquatter.com/strength/archives/ls32.htm
Now, he's oriented towards squatting in a powerlifting suit, so some of that stuff isn't applicable, but I think he does a good job of describing how to sit back into the squat.

Ed Coan's squat tape is another excellent resource in learning the squat. You can order it from http://www.quadsgym.com.

Marty's suggestion for beginners, though, is to just do rock-bottom unweighted squats for repititions, until you can do 100 straight. He says that once you can manage that, you'll have worked out any stance issues for yourself.

Hope some of this helps.

[Seminarian]

I was out of town for a few days... Before I left Friday night I hiked home (about 30 mins, includes 500 steps up a mountain). I also did a sandbag routine--mostly overhead presses. Saturday was a lot of walking. Sunday I went to a nature park--hiked about 15k; when I got home I did 50 bodyweight squats. Yesterday I did only about 30 minutes of walking and then 3 sets of 20 pushups (the last reps were weak).

I am staying fairly active. I think the light knee clicking is probably unavoidable when I go low and is non-painful, but I am still going to watch it. I may move to lunges, leg extensions, and straightleg deadlifts or sandbag front squats. I think my pressing ability is coming up--usually even with rest I couldn't do more than one set of 20 pushups (usually it goes 20/15/10/10...). So three sets felt pretty good.

So I feel that I am making progress. My goal is to stick with at least four workouts a week (2 home/2 gym) plus lots of walking up and downhill. Sometime here I need to tackle eating. But I'm not quite up for it yet...

[Seminarian]

Today was a gym day. I did overhead press: 5x100; 5x130; 5x140; 5x145. I did one set of light behind the neck presses (8x100), since I'd been reading about them here. 1 set of upright rows. I did machine bench several sets; pulldowns; and then cardio stairstepper.

I'm going to try to keep taking up the overhead presses. I feel that I'm getting a bit leaner. Tomorrow should be sandbag squats and some presses.

[Seminarian]

I just did some sets of front squats holding the sandbag. They actually felt really good. I went wider stance and went super deep with pauses. I only did two sets of 20, since I know working into new leg exercises can be challenging. I also did a set of lunges, and all of this was after taking the aforementioned 500 steps home. Good workout! I could feel my heart beating the whole time.

I'm going to stick with this for leg workouts. I felt more balanced, like I could go deeper, and my knee made the little noise only one time. So I think this is a keeper. I'm hoping it'll put me in a good place for squats and presses when I get back home.

[childresspta]

Way to go Jon,

Sounds like a good plan and sounds like you are finding your groove.

Jerimiah

[Seminarian]

Well, after a looooooooooooong hiatus, I am mostly on track, which is to say that I continue to exercise and am ready to step into a more regular exercise pattern.

During the rest of my time in Taiwan I stayed active, but there wasn't a lot I could do weightlifting-wise. I kept using the local gym and the sandbag.

I returned in August and, lacking a gym, did one-arm dumbbell work. This was actually very good and I might repeat it here. One day I did 100 90-pound one-arm deadlifts (broken into sets). My overhead pressing improved, and I could do several clean reps with 70 pounds. I also tried swings, which were great exercise (wish I could afford kettlebells).

My new goal is to deadlift, squat (I don't have a true rack, just a smith machine and a leg press machine at the small campus gym), and work on overhead pressing and some bench.

Tuesday I did back. 6 sets of deadlift (2 warmup and 4 sets of 5 reps of 275). I like deadlift and will work hard on this. I also did t-bar, pull-downs, and some overhead presses (several sets of 8x135).

Squatting felt awkward. I don't love the smith machine, but I started with several sets of 10x185. I followed it with leg presses, some lunges, and that was about it.

Tonight I worked out at home. I did push-ups, which I hate but must be good for me. I did 110 pushups in sets of 10.

I have a long way to go, but feel pretty happy about it. I continue to be grateful for this website and its very fine community, which is always a good motivator.

[ms_irreverent]

Have you considered dumbbell squats instead of the Smith?

Oh, and welcome back! Nice to see you again.

[Seminarian]

I like the dumbbell squats idea. For days when I don't go to the gym I may do that. I have 2 45 pound dumbbells and some weights I could put in a backpack. I don't know which is better: higher weight and lower reps on the smith rack or higher reps with more natural movement with dumbbells.

Today was my deadlift day. I did:
1x5x135
1x5x225
1x5x275
1x5x295
2x4x305
By the time I got to the 305s, I could only do four reps. I did these sets fairly fast, but my goal is to keep adding 5-10 pounds, as long as I can make 3-5 reps. This was a very quick workout, barely 25 minutes.

I also did 2 sets each of t-bar and pulldowns. If all goes well I'll hit squats of some sort tomorrow. I'm still sore from the pushups and dumbbell flyes I did the other day, so that's a good sign.

[ms_irreverent]

Natural movement wins every time. IMO, anyway.

[Seminarian]

I'm still working out, though I let myself get delayed by school. I've been taking lots of long walks with my wife and have done some home workouts (mostly dumbbells).

I'm still trying to figure out squats. With dumbbells it becomes cardio, because I don't have any really heavy dumbbells. I think the smith machine is coming along though. I widened my stance a little past shoulderwidth, pointed my toes out just a bit, and kept my legs directly underneath me (instead of in front a foot).

It came out: 1x10x135; 1x10x185; 1x10x235, 1x10x255. The last set was a little hard. I gave myself fairly long rests, which helped me make the last two sets where poundage went up. I followed it with leg presses, which I actually like. I am thinking in the future I will do smith machine squats, but then add some other free weights, probably dumbbell lunges and straight leg deadlifts.

I've also ordered a kettlebell. It was $10 off and shipping was half of what I saw elsewhere. I think the company is reputable, so I am hoping it makes it here in the next couple of weeks. It would let me add something new, and I have a dumbbell of the same weight, so I could use it for non-ballistic exercises (lunges, squats, deadlifts) also.

[Seminarian]

Today I did bench and deadlifts.

Bench: 1x5x135; 1x5x155; 1x5x175; 1x5x185; 1x4x195; 1x2x205. 205 is the heaviest I've ever benched. I actually have not done a bench routine in a long time, but I think the overhead presses have paid of and are transferring. Also, in Taiwan (when I was mostly using machines) I started bringing lats in, which is something I'd heard about on this bulletin board. So I'm pretty happy about making 205 and hope that it goes up (I tend to stall easily on bench).

Deadlift: 1x5x135; 1x5x225; 1x5x275; 1x5x325; 1x10x225.
I've deadlifted 335 before, but I'm pretty psyched about making 5 reps on 325. In Taiwan I mostly did walking, weightless squats, sandbags and the like. Payoff seems to be that I am healthy and active with better flexibility, which is transferring well :) (Sadly, being a bit heavier is probably also helping move heavier weights.)

I probalby should set a 60 day goal (Dec. 1). I am thinking bench 235; deadlift 375 for reps; and squat 300 for reps (on smith).

[Seminarian]

Today I did smith squats:
1x10x135 (super deep)
1x10x225
3x10x275
The last three sets were tough. I used my hands some to stabilize near the end, but I did make all ten reps each time. To be honest, I did not want to do all the reps or all the sets--it was one of those workouts. But I know that squats are one of the most effective/efficient exercise and hope they help me out. I did throw in some machine leg exercises, but I was actually pretty wiped out after just the squats.

Other good news... My kettlebell arrived today. It is a 60lb Power Systems Kettlebell. It was ~$65 +20 for shipping, which made it about half of dragondoor. The surface is probably not as nice, but the price was right and it has gotten good reviews. I can clean and press it, and will probably use it mostly for swings as a recovery day/cardio exercise.

[Seminarian]

Bench and deadlift today. Bench went up surprisingly, deadlift felt weak.

Bench
5x135, 5x195, 5x215, 2x225
I think part of my bench going up was fewer warm-up sets and enough rest time. I'm surprised bench is going up and this is a personal record by 20 pounds.

Deadlift
5x135, 5x225, 2x4x315
Deadlift my grip felt week. It may be because I've started playing with the kettlebell. I am hoping that longterm kettlebell will help me up gripstrength.

[ms_irreverent]

Nice going on the PR!

[Seminarian]

Thanks Ms I, I am hoping I can keep it up. My goal is try to to get in 3-4 heavy weight workouts for the next few weeks and then go to higher reps and a cleaner diet for a month or two. The bench really surprised me today, because it's always been the hardest lift for me to make progress in. Thanks for the encouragement!

[Seminarian]

So, tonight I did some light dumbells, then kettlebell, then exercise bike. I think it was a good recovery night--mostly I wanted a change of pace but didn't feel like walking.

KB was fun. I did four sets of 20 two arm swings with 60 pounds, with 10 one-arm swings on each arm in the middle--so 100 swings total. It got my heart up and when I did the 20 minutes of cycling it stayed at between 150-170.

I am highly averse to cardio, but this was pretty fun. I am still getting into KB, mostly reading articles on the web, watching youtube examples, etc. Presses are still a bit awkward and jerks are not quite going.

The goal is tomorrow or Saturday will be a heavy squats day.

[Seminarian]

Today I did a very quick workout.
Bench 1x5x135; 1x5x225 (a little help on last rep); 1x8x185. I had someone else benching tonight who helped me. I think that one warm up set was enough, and helped me make more reps on 225. I'm planning strategy for the next time...

I did leg presses in sets of 20, 15, 10 with increasing poundage. Squat rack was busy and just did not feel like it tonight. I took a 45 minute walk tonight. (The last two days I did kettlebell, which I'm also liking a lot; I'm going slow since it's still very new.)

I'm hoping to do deadlift tomorrow or the next day. Diet has gone from extremely bad to mildly good the last week. I'm cooking a lot more which is making my wife happy and is helping me to eat healthier.

[Seminarian]

Deadlifts:
Warmup set with 135; 5x225; 5x315; 3x335; 2x5x225
Military Press: 1x5x135; 1x4x145
4 sets of pulldowns

It was a short workout today and I was not feeling 100%. Progress on deadlift is feeling slower lately...

[Seminarian]

I have been exercising, though I haven't posted. I think I was evening out and ready for something new. I had a squat day that was so-so and my last set of deadlifts felt iffy. I've mostly been doing kettlebells and cardio. I've started jogging again, which I have not done in a while (today was beautiful). Cardio and diet are hard for me to do without a lot of concentration and focus.

My goal for the next month is: (1) low carb, very clean diet (2) at least 4 sessions a week of 45+minutes hard cario and (3) 2 days lifting, moderately heavy. I'm hoping to cut some weight for the next month or two, and then maybe hit heavy weights and a more fun diet in the new year.