What you did today

[Guard Dog]

I have the day off, and intend to relax, play videogames, and see if the GF wants to go out when she gets home.

 

From what to what?

I'm currently on track to receive a BA in economics by 2016(sooner if I quit my current 30+ hour a week job), but I'm not sure that a career as an analyst or in business is something I want.

 

 

Well, I'd say give engineering a try but until very recently my own endeavors in that field have been underwhelming. The hours are long and the money is not what you'd expect.

[alanschu]

Jury duty?

 

RoboCop!

[Woldan]

What does "8-6 reps" mean? I get the weight and I get the sets but I cant puzzle out the reps.

Reps = repetition. 6 sets / stints of 8 repetitions = total of 48 repetitions.

But if I ever were to try and activate one movement like that, I'd tear that muscle probably. :S

 

Impressive stuff you do. Do you intend to give Arnie a run for his money or something? =D

Thanks!

I'll never reach Arnies physique because I don't give a damn about weight gain shakes or food supplements, I also find risking my health with roids just for some extra muscles extremely uninteresting. Not to mention roid muscles look bloated and ugly, they don't have that ''hard'' natural look you get when you are exercising naturally.

 

In my military service time there was that guy in my squad who took roids, always flexing and laughing at the weights I was lifting. He was at least 1/3 bigger than me!

A couple of months later he got dismissed from service because he suddenly had to pay the price for drug abuse - his joints were ruined permanently and he was in severe pain, he couldn't perform the physical tasks he was required to do (obstacle course, different firing positions) and -I'm really not kidding- he left the barracks in a wheel chair.

 

Roids aren't worth it. Who would have thunk it?

[Raithe]

Heh, when I was around 15-16 I started hitting gym regularly with a couple of friends. Established the whole routine, 3 nights a week doing 2-3 hours, specific muscle groups on each day. By the time we were in our twenties one of the guys had the incredibly toned bruce lee physique, one went overboard and literally could not cross his arms properly due to the size of his biceps and pecs, and I just had better stamina without any significant change to my body shape.

 

Funny thing is that one of them has stopped doing any weights work and has started learning gymnastics exercises, which he says are incredibly harder and he's surprised at how difficult it is to do what are supposed to be "simple" gymnastic exercises compared to regular weights.

[Woldan]

Funny thing is that one of them has stopped doing any weights work and has started learning gymnastics exercises, which he says are incredibly harder and he's surprised at how difficult it is to do what are supposed to be "simple" gymnastic exercises compared to regular weights.

 

There are definitely some wicked gymnastic exercises.  My sister goes to a belly dance course and she showed me some of the gymnastic exercises they do, I tried them for fun once and man, those were hard! You need a lot of muscle control and flexibility when performing them.

 

But there's also some crazy body weight exercises, pistol squats for example are extremely demanding and you need a good balance to do them properly. But the hardest exercise I know is this one: 

 

 

 

I know, doesn't look that impressive but I tell you, I squat a lot of weight but I can't do even one rep of this exercise. I also don't know anybody who can do it properly. Give it a try!

[alanschu]

Well, the hamstrings will mostly just be stabilizers on a squat, whereas that exercise is going to be a lot of focus (and isolation) on the hamstrings.  Couple in some punitive leverage (which will be accented the bigger your upper body is), I'm not too surprised that it's a hell of a workout.

 

Even looking past the hamstring aspect, to do it safely is still going to require a lot of core strength to keep everything straight.

[Woldan]

I do a lot of barbell lunges as well which are great for improving my behind and hamstrings, dead lifts too. While my upper body is stronger I'm not lacking core strength or hamstrings. 

But this exercise is still a miracle to me. Maybe its only possible to do when you either have monster-hamstrings, really short legs or when you don't weigh a lot? 

[Raithe]

I know there can be little quirks. No matter what I did, I could not improve my barbell shoulder press. Everything else I did improved over the years, but that one exercise just..

[alanschu]

 

 

I do a lot of barbell lunges as well which are great for improving my behind and hamstrings, dead lifts too. While my upper body is stronger I'm not lacking core strength or hamstrings. 

But this exercise is still a miracle to me. Maybe its only possible to do when you either have monster-hamstrings, really short legs or when you don't weigh a lot?

 

 

I'm certainly not disputing the strength of your hamstrings.  More just putting forth that different exercises will work things in a different way and there could be biomechanical predispositions to doing an exercise like that effectively.  It's not an exercise I would likely ever do because I would probably require knee pads in order to do them.

 

In terms of leverage, I was actually more thinking overall height (a 6'8" man with broad shoulders is going to need much stronger hamstrings than a 5'3" ectomorph), and in terms of core strength, I was more just meaning that despite the motion being similar to fairly vanilla leg curl, you'll still be doing that on top of keep your core/glutes/shoulders tight in order to keep your body fairly rigid, so it'll be a lot more taxing than a standard leg curl.

 

 

I see no problem with attempting the exercise, but I wouldn't take it as a personal sleight if you struggle with it.  Does that type of curl have a more specific name?  Admittedly I am years past most of my active working out, but I'm curious if literature has anything to say about it.

[Hurlshort]

I took my daughter to swimming, then we picked up our RV from the shop, then I took my daughter to tutoring, and then I went to the gym.  Pretty busy day, now I have a delicious pot pie cooking in the oven.

 

I also realized at some point in our travels the antenna dish on top of our RV got ripped off.  It wasn't a big deal with our old TV because it couldn't pick up digital air channels, but our new TV can and now I need to replace the dish.  I have on idea when it came off, crazy.  Nothing else is damaged on the roof, so I think it just shook loose on its own.

[Woldan]

I know there can be little quirks. No matter what I did, I could not improve my barbell shoulder press. Everything else I did improved over the years, but that one exercise just..

Have you tried drop sets? Works wonders to break those dreaded plateaus! With drop sets I got over my chest-plateau fairly easily, those work wonders.

Just use your standard weight barbell and do one normal set of shoulder presses, then when you are finished don't make a break but grab a barbell 20% lighter than the one you just lifted and do as many reps as possible. If you're really motivated do a second drop set with a barbell again weighing 20% less. Drop sets hurt but are more effective than anything else.

 

Does that type of curl have a more specific name? Admittedly I am years past most of my active working out, but I'm curious if literature has anything to say about it.

I don't know if this is the official name of that exercise but I've got a couple of results with '' leg reverse curl''. Here is a link to a short basic description of said exercise: http://www.muscleandfitnesshers.com/training/legs/reverse-leg-curl

Edited July 25, 2013 by Woldan

[alanschu]

Nice, I was curious if it was an eccentric contraction or not.  Those always seemed to be murder (but hella effective) when I tried them.

 

It's interesting because some research has shown that eccentric contractions can be good for muscle fiber alignment (at least, unless it's been debunked since 2008 ).  I was struggling with a pulled hamstring rehab for a long time, and the physiotherapist put me on some light weight, eccentric leg curls, and the progress was almost immediate.  Very fast results.

[BruceVC]

I took my daughter to swimming, then we picked up our RV from the shop, then I took my daughter to tutoring, and then I went to the gym.  Pretty busy day, now I have a delicious pot pie cooking in the oven.

 

I also realized at some point in our travels the antenna dish on top of our RV got ripped off.  It wasn't a big deal with our old TV because it couldn't pick up digital air channels, but our new TV can and now I need to replace the dish.  I have on idea when it came off, crazy.  Nothing else is damaged on the roof, so I think it just shook loose on its own.

 

"Pot Pie" yummy,

 

What was in the pie?

[Nepenthe]

You know you've played Skyrim too much if you catch yourself automatically looking up every time you walk outside!

 

I used to get this with Deus Ex and looking for credit chits.

[mkreku]

I once played GTA: San Andreas so much that the grafitti in my real life town started to make sense. It's just not right.

[Rosbjerg]

I'm usually reluctant about going clubbing on a wednesday, usually because they just go completly crazy.. Tonight went a little crazy, but luckily just a good night out.

To illustrate, the buddy I went out with just returned from London, where a rich 20something playboy (he met last Wednesday) had paid for his planeticket and had taken him to all the exclusive clubs for week straight.. So he had been partying with supermodels and billionaires all week.

 

Man I need to find me a buddy billionaire too.

[Woldan]

Man I need to find me a buddy billionaire too.

 

Like a rich gay sugar daddy? 

[Rosbjerg]

Wait you're telling me I have to put out? .. damn

 

So a rich billioanire Buddy'ine then.

[Amentep]

 

I took my daughter to swimming, then we picked up our RV from the shop, then I took my daughter to tutoring, and then I went to the gym.  Pretty busy day, now I have a delicious pot pie cooking in the oven.

 

I also realized at some point in our travels the antenna dish on top of our RV got ripped off.  It wasn't a big deal with our old TV because it couldn't pick up digital air channels, but our new TV can and now I need to replace the dish.  I have on idea when it came off, crazy.  Nothing else is damaged on the roof, so I think it just shook loose on its own.

 

"Pot Pie" yummy,

 

What was in the pie?

 

Isn't it obvious from the name? Pots.

[Orogun01]

New Avatar? Looking good!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm usually reluctant about going clubbing on a wednesday, usually because they just go completly crazy.. Tonight went a little crazy, but luckily just a good night out.

To illustrate, the buddy I went out with just returned from London, where a rich 20something playboy (he met last Wednesday) had paid for his planeticket and had taken him to all the exclusive clubs for week straight.. So he had been partying with supermodels and billionaires all week.

 

Man I need to find me a buddy billionaire too.

I dunno, I've always enjoyed the "seedier" side of life. Joining a playboy's entourage probably wouldn't give me time to enjoy that.

[Malcador]

Got into work as so far reading - http://chrishernandezauthor.com/2013/07/09/working-with-the-french-army/ - has been the only interesting thing.

[Amentep]

New Avatar? Looking good!

 

20s & 30s actress Louise Brooks

[Rosbjerg]

I dunno, I've always enjoyed the "seedier" side of life. Joining a playboy's entourage probably wouldn't give me time to enjoy that.

 

 

True and it's always cooler being the "boss" rather than being the entourage.. Still, it looks so alluring.

[Walsingham]

 

I dunno, I've always enjoyed the "seedier" side of life. Joining a playboy's entourage probably wouldn't give me time to enjoy that.

 

 

True and it's always cooler being the "boss" rather than being the entourage.. Still, it looks so alluring.

 

 

Many many years ago I got taken around by a millionaire's son (school connection). I felt like a pirate's parrot. Not cool.