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Fit Club ahoy! Where men are bros and women are also bros!


OceansAndrew
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I've been too shy to post here, but I'm into fit. I do fit a lot and try to enhance my fit.

Unfortunately I prefer cardio over lifting. Over the years, running has become the most effective therapy for me physically and mentally. Plus with lifting, I haaaate going to the gym and don't have enough home equipment.

Alas my yologainz are limited.

No need to be shy, brah! Why exactly do you hate going to the gym? Is it the lifting you hate, or the gym atmosphere, being bothered to travel to the gym...?

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The gym atmosphere. There's only one squat rack, one this or that, and the people I see are jacked. They're territorial, It's a ritzy area and roids/rich kids are common.

The only thing I miss about the small town I'm from is the nice gym :/ It was never too crowded and had mostly older people.

I completely understand. That was one of my biggest hurdles in getting to where I am now. I hated the looks of amusement I got from bigger guys when I would load up for bench presses or something similar.

Though they would never admit it, lots of those territorial roid ragers enjoy having less experienced lifters around them because it makes them feel more jacked (unless you're incorrectly using equipment or taking up space for no reason). You'll eventually get to a point where you don't give a damn what those guys think/do, because you'll start to realize how much of their progress is due to a needle instead of determination.

Example in my own gym today: massive guy doing super-heavy concentration curls, who is pretty obviously juicing. Tall skinny guy about 20 feet away, doing barbell front squats. Guess which one had my respect and admiration?

It also helps a lot to get to know the people who work there. A LOT. Most of them are there to help people like us. Also, if possible, experiment with different times of day to workout. Gyms can have entirely different atmospheres at different times of day due to the variance in people who are there. Can you get a workout buddy? Take your favorite music along with you. The more you can make the gym 'your own' environment, the easier it gets. Hopefully this doesn't come across as a mindless ramble, but I have SO walked this trail. It sucks and it's lonely, but it's walkable.

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Can you get a workout buddy?

This would help a lot, but the one lifter I knew real well moved to Florida. I'd like to find someone interested in lifting and buddy up. Also, I can't workout without music, so you're spot on about the "creating your personal environment" thing.

In the meantime I bummed some weights (not enough) off a friend. Out of necessity because If I keep running, the wind erosion will evaporate me.

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How much work did you do on the free squat? I'd be interested to know if you felt any different than normal afterward and the following day, considering your stablization muscles probably took a pounding that they aren't used to. Glad to hear you'll be working the barbells in more!

I feel good today. My butt is a little sore, everything else less so. Overall, I'm fine. No actual pain or anything.

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Fitness/hippie/gaming related question - I like nerd swag that I can use practically that isn't just pins or shirts. My hair is also getting too long to work out without it slapping me in the eyes. Do you guys know a place I can get sweet gaming/nerd/anime sweatbands? I've checked thinkgeek, but I'm not up to snuff on good places to buy that kind of stuff...

Oh, in fitness related news, I got invited to become a parkour instructor. Woot! Now I have FIVE jobs!

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I decided to get rid of my leg lifts and put my pallof press back in. I always do the leg lifts right before crunches but this was the first time I didn't. My GOD! After 240 crunches (6 sets of 40) I wasn't feeling it at all! The last 5 of each set I hold for a count of 4 and I usually feel it after about 10 reps but without the leg lifts.... I can't believe how much strength I've gotten.

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Fitness/hippie/gaming related question - I like nerd swag that I can use practically that isn't just pins or shirts. My hair is also getting too long to work out without it slapping me in the eyes. Do you guys know a place I can get sweet gaming/nerd/anime sweatbands? I've checked thinkgeek, but I'm not up to snuff on good places to buy that kind of stuff...

Oh, in fitness related news, I got invited to become a parkour instructor. Woot! Now I have FIVE jobs!

When do you SLEEP?!?!?

I'm proud to say that the new place I moved into has a gym downstairs. I go at least once a week, and they have weights, cardio, and some basic equipment. I'm going to try and build some upper-body muscles. Any recommended exercises?

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When do you SLEEP?!?!?

A joke but... five jobs will come back to bite in the ass, I guarantee it. That will wear any man down in no time.

I have begun my pre-workout workout routine. It includes jogging/elliptical, 40 weighted jumping jacks, 20 chair dips, 50 crunches, 20-40 bicycle crunches, 20 lunges, 40 dead lifts of 30lbs as I do not own heavier weights, 50 fake jump rope jumps and 20-40 sissy pushups to build me back up to doing the real ones - 3 times a week.

It has been difficult as I had unanticipated near-crippling knee pain after my very first one, and I have yet to see my energy really recover for it, but I am making some progress, and I am getting used to the taste of my protein supplement shake.

Edited by Meteo Xavier
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A joke but... five jobs will come back to bite in the ass, I guarantee it. That will wear any man down in no time.

Well, yeah, but I still finish everything by about 5-6 PM every day. Trust me, I know what it's like to flirt with burn-out and lose. I'm only working 15 hours/week for my "day job" which really isn't my day job any more.

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I can't stomach protein shakes. I've tried different flavors, milk vs. water, etc. It's just gross. Then again I don't drink anything except pure water normally.

Try hemp protein. It just sorta tastes nutty. It's *almost* kind of good, actually :P Plus, it's a whole food, just ground up hemp seeds. It's one of the few seeds with a beneficial omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acid ratio, too. And it has a ton of fiber.

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lol, water and a spoon, just eat the whey chunks like a true bro! (>^-^)7

True. If you mix a shake too well, your body doesn't have to work as hard to digest it, so you're not getting in optimal muscle work. Just barely stir it so you have to chew the chunks, making your digestive system and muscles work harder to extract the protein from the particle matrix. More gains. Fact.

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I don't need 'em. I can hit 140-150g of protein per day without shakes. Plus based on a few studies and summaries I've read, 1g/pound is actually way more than is actually needed. Something like Even .7g/lb is on the high end.

^ Truth. Sounds like we've read the same studies for once, haha ;P It isn't necessary by any means, but it does help in almost all cases unless there's a major, major excess of protein. Basic chemical equilibrium suggests that the more a reagent is pumped into a reaction, the higher the tendency for the formation of product is, and that's definitely the case with muscle synthesis. It's not totally clear where the point of diminishing returns is, though. I was eating around 180-200 g of protein per day when I was lifting, and I had really good results.

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Since I can't really afford to see my PT for a while, I decided to branch out a bit on the equipment I have at home. My PT recommended these to me and they came in today. I used resistance bands like this during his workouts and this set really is nice for doing most of that at home.

http://www.blackmountainproducts.com/p-1-stackable-resistance-band-set.aspx

I also picked up a set of pushup bars which makes doing them more comfortable and you use more of your back.

http://goo.gl/utKtkz

All in all, this wasn't very costly for me to dive into and it adds to the kettle bell and dumb bell stuff I can do. They also don't take up a ton of room when not being used. Just some food for thought if you're looking to broaden what you can do at home in a small space.

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Since I can't really afford to see my PT for a while, I decided to branch out a bit on the equipment I have at home. My PT recommended these to me and they came in today. I used resistance bands like this during his workouts and this set really is nice for doing most of that at home.

http://www.blackmountainproducts.com/p-1-stackable-resistance-band-set.aspx

I also picked up a set of pushup bars which makes doing them more comfortable and you use more of your back.

http://goo.gl/utKtkz

All in all, this wasn't very costly for me to dive into and it adds to the kettle bell and dumb bell stuff I can do. They also don't take up a ton of room when not being used. Just some food for thought if you're looking to broaden what you can do at home in a small space.

Push up bars are fantastic, and bands are even better. There's almost no body part you can't train with a band. Have fun!

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Push up bars are fantastic, and bands are even better. There's almost no body part you can't train with a band. Have fun!

Yeah, I learned a lot of various things that you can do with bands from my PT. The guide that these come with actually show most of the ones I already know which is good. The bands are probably the most fun piece of exercise equipment that I know of that's effective. They're also quite portable for when you're traveling and such too!

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