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Post by Graham on Mar 25, 2020 15:19:55 GMT
A full refund for flights and accommodation appeared on my Credit Card over the weekend. Good to hear. I'm also sorry that you didn't get to go to Barbados. That seems like it would be a great place to ride this out (from a sunshine and warm weather perspective, if not so much a healthcare options perspective). I'm glad that the weather has been rather good here this week. The temperature is a third of what it would be in Barbados but it has been sunny and dry. This has been good overall (I hate the rain and very much enjoy the kind of mild spring weather we currently have) and especially useful for the garage gym build where we've had to drag stuff in and out of the garage.
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Post by Graham on Mar 25, 2020 15:28:19 GMT
Nice to read that you got your money refunded. Some folks I know are not as fortunate, including my cousin who was hosting a destination 80th b'day party for him, his wife, children, and grandchildren. My kids, who planned a trip to Machu Picchu for April, are not sure the tour company is going to refund, but the airlines have; negotiations are ongoing with the former. It's one of the benefits of booking a package holiday especially one covered by schemes such as ATOL and ABTA in the UK which protect elements of package bookings. We may have been less fortunate if we had booked the elements separately. I didn't actually check if the flight went ahead although I expect it didn't. The booking of the package meant that if any one element of the holiday was not provided I was eligible for a refund. I've tended to favour packages for long-haul destinations as they add complexity to arrangements if there are disruptions however, for my scheduled short-haul trip to Alabania and North Macedonia in late June the elements are separately booked. I have booked accommodation on a refundable or pay on arrival basis though.
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Post by Graham on Mar 25, 2020 15:30:38 GMT
Good to hear you got a refund. Hopefully you will get to Barbados some day. It is a lovely island. I'm sure we will. We're hoping to get there this time next year if possible.
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Post by Graham on Mar 26, 2020 13:47:59 GMT
2020 Session 29 - Isolation Workout Session 1:
Squat 110kg/242lbs x 5, 5, 5
Press 45kg/99lbs x 5, 5, 5
Chin-Ups 10, 10, 10
I had thought that my purchase of an Olympic Barbell set had been a waste of money (it's sat in a garage, boxed-up for four or five years) but I'm so glad that I've got it.
A short workout, which nether the less took a long time as I was still adapting the space to fit and un-boxed my barbell set as I went along. Also needed to check where J-hooks and safety spotters needed to be located to be comfortable. I'm having to do my Squats barefoot as my previous set-up had the J-Hooks too high (I must now have a lower bar position), lowering them put them too low unless I took off my shoes.
I'm going to try a 4 day per week Wendler 5/3/1 program from now for a 4 week cycle to begin with and then assess from there. With the Garage gym setup I'll be able to continue this whether or not the gym re-opens/my partner returns to work. It actually gives me a lot of extra flexibility to fit in the extra workouts. I'll be attempting the first workout this afternoon.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2020 14:24:50 GMT
I had thought that my purchase of an Olympic Barbell set had been a waste of money (it's sat in a garage, boxed-up for four or five years) but I'm so glad that I've got it. Glad that the barbell was put to use. I am stuck in a flat with dumbbells, pull up bar and resistance bands. Still, there must be many good exercises with them, just gotta improvise.
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Post by M@ on Mar 26, 2020 18:32:33 GMT
I had thought that my purchase of an Olympic Barbell set had been a waste of money (it's sat in a garage, boxed-up for four or five years) but I'm so glad that I've got it. Seriously. The combination of supply-chain disruption and demand for home fitness equipment has made it pretty difficult to get at this time. I have seven items for my home gym that have been sitting around on an Amazon list and they have all had status changes to currently unavailable over the past couple of days.
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Post by Graham on Mar 26, 2020 19:55:42 GMT
2020 Session 30 - Isolation Workout Session 2: 5/3/1 Session 1: Main Lift: Squat 75kg x 5, 85kg x 5, 95kg x 15 Accessory: Deadlift 70kg 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 Accessory: Abs works: Leg Raise 2 x 10, Crunches 2 x 10, Side Bends 8kg x 10 I enjoyed that. 35 to 40 minutes. Super-setting the Deadlifts and Abs work. Ended the session not tired but definitely warm with a light sweat. I may not have got the weights spot on but they felt pretty good and it's always worth starting a program a little on the light side. A description of the basics of 5/3/1 here: www.t-nation.com/workouts/531-how-to-build-pure-strength
This is the basic template that I'll be following: Day One Squat – 5/3/1 Deadlift – 5 sets of 10 reps Abs – 5 sets Day Two Bench Press – 5/3/1 Press – 5 sets of 10 reps Lat work – 5 sets of 10 reps Day Three Deadlift – 5/3/1 Squat – 5 sets of 10 reps Abs – 5 sets Day Four Press – 5/3/1 Bench Press – 5 sets of 10 reps Lat work – 5 sets of 10 reps I might be working some overtime this weekend. It's being offered. I'll be popping into my workplace tomorrow to learn the role we're going to be performing in the coming weeks (I can't do the overtime if I don't know what I'm doing). I'll hopefully kill two birds with one stone as I need to go into town to pay some cheques/checks into the bank. That will be easier and cheaper to do if I can park at work for free. The time I spend at work tomorrow will also be time I can get back as holiday time.
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Post by seltzer on Mar 26, 2020 21:17:40 GMT
I've done a similar, if not the same program, and it's very effective.
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Post by Graham on Mar 27, 2020 21:58:45 GMT
2020 Session 31 - Isolation Workout Session 3: 5/3/1 Session 2: Main Lift: Bench 47.5kg x 5, 55kg x 5, 60kg x 8 Accessory: Press 25kg 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 Accessory: Chin-ups 10, 9, 6, 6, 6 Frustrating session today. Worked out my lifts whilst at home and then forgot to take my workout sheet with me. Had a stab at the proscribed weights and got pretty close (the spreadsheet I was working off called for 46kg, 53kg and 60kg so actually very close). As I didn't have my workout sheet with me I ended up making my workout notes on the back of an off-cut of skirting board that I found (I did have a pencil with me). More frustrating still was the reminder of what I dislike about my weights bench. It's got attached rollers at the end of the bench (for hooking your legs over/under). These mean that when Benching my legs have to be very wide to clear the rollers and I get tremendous cramp in my hip. I had to spend time removing the rollers. Then there's the U-Shaped foot at the end of the bench which I've found here; www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/body-solid-flat-incline-decline-bench-2.html which limits foot placement. Further the bench is approx two inches too high for me. Overall, I spent a lot of time messing about with the set-up which was frustrating. I think I may come to build a platform the height of the U-Shaped foot to fit around it as a platform for my feet. Once the benching was done though, I turned up some music ( a little too far my partner informed me afterwards) and knocked out the accessory exercises fairly quickly. I did end up going to work today. What I though would be a short run through of the work we will be doing for at least the next couple of weeks turned out to be 5 hours so a good proportion of a full-days work. That will, at least be deducted from my holiday. Tomorrow I'll be working overtime from 10 am to 3 pm which isn't too bad a time to be at work. Unfortunate that I could work on Sunday instead as the weather is due to be better tomorrow.
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Post by macdiver on Mar 28, 2020 21:44:44 GMT
531 is a great routine. Once you get your kit sorted, you'll make good progress with it.
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Post by Graham on Mar 30, 2020 20:21:28 GMT
2020 Session 32 - Isolation Workout Session 4:
5/3/1 Session 3:
Main Lift: Press 27kg x x, 32.5kg x 5, 35kg x 15
Accessory: Bench 35kg x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Accessory: Abs works: Leg Raise 2 x 10, Crunches 2 x 10, Side Bends 10kg x 10
Not only a frustrating workout again but it didn't need to be. I realised that for some reason I've put the Bench/Press workout next to the Press/Bench workout in the rotation rather than alternating with the Squat/Dead and Dead/Squat workout. Need to re-arrange the workouts.
Workout dragged out to 90 minutes as I tried to get comfortable benching. Turned the front feet around on the bench so they now face backwards. Gets them ount of the way but the bench is simply too high. Getting my feet down to the floor to drive myself along the bench feels like I'm stretching too far and feels like it's causing pain/cramp in my back. Putting a board on the floor at the end of the bench feels comfortable but I'm concerned about it slipping when benching heavy. Might be able to try a board each side of the bench with the end of the board in contact with the opposite wall to prevent them slipping. The slight annoyance with that remedy is the board will then need to be moved after each set to do my abs work. Space is limited so I have to do the abs work directly in front of my rack.
I'm strongly considering following the program without the Barbell bench if I can't get comfortable. What to replace it with?
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Post by Graham on Mar 31, 2020 21:47:18 GMT
Should have been doing a Deadlift/Squat workout today but abandoned it after setting up in the gym.
Thought of going to the supermarket after work but abandoned the idea due to a long queue. Got home and realised I'd left my keys at work (at least I hope that's where they are). Went to my partner's home to get her key,headed back home to change and back to hers for the gym. I made the mistake of deciding to give one more try on the bench to see if I could get comfortable. It's not going to work, it doesn't feel safe for heavy lifting and causes significant discomfort. I'm disappointed as I was looking forward to 5/3/1. By this point I wasn't in the mood to lift so gave up on the idea.
I might disassemble the bench to move it out of the way (no point having to shift it around if it's not usable).
I guess I could just do the program and focus on the Squat/Deadlift/Press.
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Post by seltzer on Apr 1, 2020 1:24:27 GMT
The only alternative I can think of for your benching dilemma is to break with the protocol of the program for this exercise and lift lighter, but do more reps.
Was the supermarket queue do to the amount of people, restrictions on the numbers allowed in the store, or both?
Hope you find your keys.
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Post by Graham on Apr 1, 2020 8:56:19 GMT
The only alternative I can think of for your benching dilemma is to break with the protocol of the program for this exercise and lift lighter, but do more reps. Was the supermarket queue do to the amount of people, restrictions on the numbers allowed in the store, or both? Hope you find your keys. Key were in the keyhole of my desk drawer. It's where I thought they would be. I'm looking at the possibility of substituting floor presses, dips, press-ups. The bench is just too uncomfortable that if I get it disassembled and out of the way, I could perform some really intense workouts. The supermarket queue was, I'm sure, due to the limit on the number of people in store at any one time. I went to another store this morning where I'm able to skip the queue by showing my work pass. It feels a bit cheeky but the work I'm doing now has to be carried out in business hours so I have to do any shopping in a limited number of hours. I'm also currently working six days per week which limits time for shopping.
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Post by seltzer on Apr 1, 2020 16:34:57 GMT
Glad you found your keys.
Are press ups the same as push ups? Floor presses would work the same muscles as bench presses, good idea.
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