***The 2020 Gym Rats Thread*** ᕦ( ͠°◞ °)ᕥ

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I’ll give the chest press sit-up a go, perhaps at the end of my chest session. I’ve been building the oblique twist for 5 sets of 10 for a few weeks and it is a killer - great exercise though! I tend to keep my feet more planted than him though.
 
What's up gym bros?

Back to the gym tomorrow!

Thought I would check in and show my lockdown progress before I start my second bulk and get chubs again.

The pic below was taken mid June. I started the cut early April. I didn't have tons of weight to lose as it was really just fat from my first winter bulk. Consisted of daily walks and whatever exercises I could improvise and of course careful nutrition. I can imagine planning 5 to 6 nutritionally functional meals a day around walks and exercise would have been difficult but I was on furlough and there were no festivals/pubs to ruin it all.

Its been a fantastic learning experience. Hopefully next year I will have a bit more bulk to cut down to.

For those interested, I went from 74kg to 63kg.

(Don't judge my use of gloves, they protect my delicate keyboard hands from my improvised gym rack:o)
Screenshot-20200724-163801-Instagram.jpg
 
Uncle Petey said:
Good stuff!
Don't fall for that 'gloves are for pussies' macho BS.
Click to expand...

My wife very kindly bought me some at christmas. They haven't come out of the bag. Not because I'm afraid of what people think (I lift at home for a start). I just haven't figured out what need they are meeting. Deadlifts I like chalk and sometimes use straps. Everything else I don't feel like grip is an issue. What's the idea with gloves? Grip or stopping calusses?
 
To stop your hands becoming calloused mainly. They can be useful in a home gym in winter when bars are so cold they numb your hands.
 
Skidder said:
My wife very kindly bought me some at christmas. They haven't come out of the bag. Not because I'm afraid of what people think (I lift at home for a start). I just haven't figured out what need they are meeting. Deadlifts I like chalk and sometimes use straps. Everything else I don't feel like grip is an issue. What's the idea with gloves? Grip or stopping calusses?
Click to expand...

For me, it's mainly because I have very large, yet slim hands. This means that most bars feel too thin and I can't get a proper grip.
This can be pretty painful with folded skin and load being transferred to the fingers, especially with heavy pulling excercises, so the added padding thickens up the grip and lets me get on with it. It doesn't completely eliminate callouses, but I'm not bothered about them anyway.

Regular sized people, or those with thick hands have their own reasons, I guess.

Not sure why it ever became an alpha bro thing...
 
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Uncle Petey said:
For me, it's mainly because I have very large, yet slim hands. This means that most bars feel too thin and I can't get a proper grip.
This can be pretty painful with folded skin and load being transferred to the fingers, especially with heavy pulling excercises, so the added padding thickens up the grip and lets me get on with it. It doesn't completely eliminate callouses, but I'm not bothered about them anyway.

Regular sized people, or those with thick hands have their own reasons, I guess.

Not sure why it ever became an alpha bro thing...
Click to expand...

The issue is to do with the interfaces between the bar and your skin. My calluses form because the skin on my palms gets trapped in the first knuckle during any pulling exercises... And it hurts for the first few weeks.

However, introducing a interstitial layer between skin and bar means the calluses don't ever form *properly* based on how you lift because the glove is changing how the force is applied. This makes it less likely you will develop the grip required to deadlift to your maximum, and more likely you will get shearing of your skin as the weights get heavier.

For a lot of lifters who lift below their potential it can be an alpha thing, but there are actual reasons for not using gloves to lift.

It is a bit like wearing really squishy trainers to run because your feet hurt after the first week of C25K: it will stop it hurting as much, but make things like collapsed arches, knee and hip problems more likely because the body doesn't adapt "properly" to the load being applied.

Nothing intrinsically wrong with either gloves or squishy trainers, but the compromises and potential issues as you progress will be greater.
 
That's all fair and accurate advice, but I rarely deadlift, nor am I into purely functional/strength training :) I know, disgraceful, right? :D

Oh, and here's da claw for reference.
20200725-123151.jpg

EDIT: I should also mention that I had a serious double fracture on my left wrist way back in the day, and it severely limits the grip with that hand.
Gloves with wrist wrap/supports usually have to be used on heavy pushing excercises, along with real concentration to avoid the right side taking over.
 
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Basic question alert!

For incline and flat db press...

Is 3x8 "okay" as a set/rep routine?

Not done it since gyms shut down but have done a lot of push ups during lockdown so excited to see what i can do.
 
SideWinder said:
Basic question alert!

For incline and flat db press...

Is 3x8 "okay" as a set/rep routine?

Not done it since gyms shut down but have done a lot of push ups during lockdown so excited to see what i can do.
Click to expand...

It is great.

Uncle Petey said:
That's all fair and accurate advice, but I rarely deadlift, nor am I into purely functional/strength training :) I know, disgraceful, right? :D

Oh, and here's da claw for reference.
20200725-123151.jpg

EDIT: I should also mention that I had a serious double fracture on my left wrist way back in the day, and it severely limits the grip with that hand.
Gloves with wrist wrap/supports usually have to be used on heavy pushing excercises, along with real concentration to avoid the right side taking over.
Click to expand...

Well, snap! I had a car accident nearly nine years ago and whilst it was only single I had a boatload of physio for it.

To be fair, I told the physio I wanted to get back to normal...
 
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