The New Fitness & Martial Arts Thread

[Rocsteady]

That's cool, I'm currently weighing up the option of marketing for a muay thai/boxing gym in Thailand. Would mean living out there for a few months from January but would get unlimited free classes, free accommodation and three meals a day for nothing.

You think you'll go back?

I reckon so. The gym is five minutes from my house, and they do beginner classes I can make it to on two evenings in the week, and one on a Saturday. I must have been the oldest student in the room by about a decade, though.

It's a little pricey, £50/month, but they provide all your gear and a uniform for you, and there's no contract or joining fee. It probably makes your first month where you get all your gear great value, and the rest less so. The instructor seems like a decent guy, and the place has some great write ups from people online.

They ended the class with some tabata sprints, 20s on, 10s rest, for three rounds, and I felt like I was going to hurl with that topping off a solid hour of pad work I was totally new to.

Thats cool man, fair play! Hardest part of any martial art, just getting in the door. Once you do that, everything else is easy. 50 a month sounds about right, sadly any martial art thats in use in MMA is pricey as strawberry float nowadays. My first BJJ gym was €90 a month, (now its up to 110 last i heard, and thats about the average). The only reason my current gym is only €50 a month is cause our instructor is "only" a purple belt. Is it your first martial art? I tried MMA striking before but i really dont like getting punched in the face so i did BJJ instead I loved all the workouts tho, loved padwork and the conditioning, but the frist time someone clocked me on the jaw i knew it wasnt for me haha

Ian if youre looking to do muay thai in Thailand, you should watch this first, just so you know what youre getting yourself into

Finally got round to watching that this morning, was surprisingly pretty great. Thought it'd be the typical American douchebags having never heard of that show before but they seemed pretty respectful and willing to learn.

Looks tough as strawberry float though, maybe I'll just stick to the yoga section of the camp

[Brerlappin]

That's cool, I'm currently weighing up the option of marketing for a muay thai/boxing gym in Thailand. Would mean living out there for a few months from January but would get unlimited free classes, free accommodation and three meals a day for nothing.

You think you'll go back?

I reckon so. The gym is five minutes from my house, and they do beginner classes I can make it to on two evenings in the week, and one on a Saturday. I must have been the oldest student in the room by about a decade, though.

It's a little pricey, £50/month, but they provide all your gear and a uniform for you, and there's no contract or joining fee. It probably makes your first month where you get all your gear great value, and the rest less so. The instructor seems like a decent guy, and the place has some great write ups from people online.

They ended the class with some tabata sprints, 20s on, 10s rest, for three rounds, and I felt like I was going to hurl with that topping off a solid hour of pad work I was totally new to.

Thats cool man, fair play! Hardest part of any martial art, just getting in the door. Once you do that, everything else is easy. 50 a month sounds about right, sadly any martial art thats in use in MMA is pricey as strawberry float nowadays. My first BJJ gym was €90 a month, (now its up to 110 last i heard, and thats about the average). The only reason my current gym is only €50 a month is cause our instructor is "only" a purple belt. Is it your first martial art? I tried MMA striking before but i really dont like getting punched in the face so i did BJJ instead I loved all the workouts tho, loved padwork and the conditioning, but the frist time someone clocked me on the jaw i knew it wasnt for me haha

Ian if youre looking to do muay thai in Thailand, you should watch this first, just so you know what youre getting yourself into

Finally got round to watching that this morning, was surprisingly pretty great. Thought it'd be the typical American douchebags having never heard of that show before but they seemed pretty respectful and willing to learn.

Looks tough as strawberry float though, maybe I'll just stick to the yoga section of the camp

Yeah I thought the same, then I watched one episode, and another, and another, next thing I knew id binged the entire 2 seasons Its an awesome show and the 2 hosts are genuinely cool and always super respectful, even when you can tell they think the art theyre doing is a little bullshido-ey. Jimmy is a commentator for bellator now, and doug is a tattoo artist believe it or not

[Grumpy David]

I have always come up against a brick wall when working on my bench press, even years back when I was taking Starting Strength seriously.

The most I have ever been able to bench is 92.5kg for 3x3 and 95kg for 2x3.

I did some work on lower weight/higher reps last night and managed 3 sets of 7, 6 and 5 reps of 82.5kg. I've just never had much success at breaking through this top end. As soon as I go over 85kg I find it impossible to compete a set of 5 reps.

What do you weigh and do have really long arms?

Bench 3x a week. The weight will go up. Creatine too.

I went from bench pressing 60KG 3x5 to 100KG 3x5 in about 4 months. Admittedly, I wasn't new to weightlifting but I hadn't been inside a gym for 4 years and had lost a huge amount of strength. I even managed to get my 1RM to 120KG earlier in the year and that was at a lighter bodyweight too compared to 6 years ago when I did 112.5KG.

Also, pull ups are amazing. I was so terrible at them but stuck with them every workout. I can 3x9 super strict form wide grip pull ups easily when I would struggle to do 1 a few years ago.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

I have always come up against a brick wall when working on my bench press, even years back when I was taking Starting Strength seriously.

The most I have ever been able to bench is 92.5kg for 3x3 and 95kg for 2x3.

I did some work on lower weight/higher reps last night and managed 3 sets of 7, 6 and 5 reps of 82.5kg. I've just never had much success at breaking through this top end. As soon as I go over 85kg I find it impossible to compete a set of 5 reps.

What do you weigh and do have really long arms?

Bench 3x a week. The weight will go up. Creatine too.

I went from bench pressing 60KG 3x5 to 100KG 3x5 in about 4 months. Admittedly, I wasn't new to weightlifting but I hadn't been inside a gym for 4 years and had lost a huge amount of strength. I even managed to get my 1RM to 120KG earlier in the year and that was at a lighter bodyweight too compared to 6 years ago when I did 112.5KG.

Also, pull ups are amazing. I was so terrible at them but stuck with them every workout. I can 3x9 super strict form wide grip pull ups easily when I would struggle to do 1 a few years ago.

Currently weighing around 75kg, arms in proportion to my height as far as I'm aware!

I don't like to neglect pulling lifts and I don't normally mix push/pull in the same session. Do you think I should just bench every session anyway?

[Grumpy David]

Currently weighing around 75kg, arms in proportion to my height as far as I'm aware!

I don't like to neglect pulling lifts and I don't normally mix push/pull in the same session. Do you think I should just bench every session anyway?

I wanted to get better at bench press and I found the easiest way to do this was to bench press more often. Simple idea, but effective. I got great at squats because I basically did it 3x a week for 3 years, I didn't progress at bench at a similar pace because I didn't train it frequently.

Also, do it as the first lift in the gym.

Maybe just do more Face Pulls to counteract the additional bench work. It's pretty much the opposite to bench.

You could look into VRI: Volume, Rest, Intensity as a method to break through the plateau.

Although at 75kg, you're benching comfortably more than you weigh anyway, so I wouldn't argue it's a weak lift of yours.

[Brerlappin]

Jesus strawberry float I can't OHP to save my life. Every exercise in stronglifts has been fine so far, but OHP was the first one to break me. I generally don't count the bar in stronglifts, so for the squat and BP I was putting on the required weight + bar, but trying to do 20kg OHP, I put 20kg on the bar & I couldn't do 5 reps. I had to do 10kg + the bar in the end to get the full set done.

[Brerlappin]

Dp

[Knoyleo]

I generally don't count the bar

[Brerlappin]

I generally don't count the bar

.... are you supposed to?

[That's not a growth]

Well, are you lifting the bar?

[Brerlappin]

Well, are you lifting the bar?

Sometimes, yes..

I weighed the bar when I was just doing deadlifts, but when I started stonglifts the weight seemed very low (beginning squat is 20kg for example) so I said strawberry float it and just put 20kg on the bar cause I knew I wouldn't have much trouble with it. It was only the OHP that absolutely strawberry floating rekt me

[Knoyleo]

If it's a proper Olympic bar like most gyms should have, it'll be 20kg.

[Grumpy David]

You count the bar! It weighs 20KG. That's not an insignificant amount of weight that you just ignore it.

Smith machine bars are sort of anti weighted but I won't respect any lifts achieved using them.

Overhead press is always the toughest lift to progress on. I struggle to get past 65KG 3x5 and find without regular training of it, the strength rapidly vanishes from me.

[Brerlappin]

If it's a proper Olympic bar like most gyms should have, it'll be 20kg.

Yeah its a proper bar alright. I get that the beginning of SL is obviously ramping up to bigger weights but doing a 20kg squat with just the bar is just too easy, it feels like literally nothing which is why I put the 20kg on top of that.

Grumpy David yeah I avoid the smith machine like the plague. Ive only ever used free weights.

[Knoyleo]

If it's a proper Olympic bar like most gyms should have, it'll be 20kg.

Yeah its a proper bar alright. I get that the beginning of SL is obviously ramping up to bigger weights but doing a 20kg squat with just the bar is just too easy, it feels like literally nothing which is why I put the 20kg on top of that.

From the stronglifts website :

Your starting weights depend on your strength and experience. Download my spreadsheets and apps, they’ll calculate your starting weights for you. Here’s the basic idea…

If you’ve done these exercises before, with proper form, then start with 50% of your max. So if you can Squat 5x100kg/220lb, start with 50kg/110lb. This will be easy but within two months you’ll be Squatting 110kg/245lb for 5×5 – more than you started with.

If you’ve never done these exercise or haven’t lifted in years, then start with the empty bar. You may look ridiculous for a while, but the weight will increase each workout. Within three months you’ll be Squatting 100kg/220lb for 5×5 – more than most people.

Deadlift and Barbell Row you don’t start with the empty bar. You can’t do these exercises with the bar in the air. Each rep must start from the floor. Start with 40kg/95lb on DL and 30kg/65lb on Row (bar weight included). Use full diameter plates so the bar starts at your mid-shin on each rep.

Read more https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

[Brerlappin]

Cheers Knoyleo

[Knoyleo]

No worries. I really enjoyed SL when I did it a while back.

[Brerlappin]

No worries. I really enjoyed SL when I did it a while back.

Yeah I'm really enjoying it so far. Its a nice change form my usual workout. Tho ive been doing cardio after I finish SL, which probably negates the strawberry floating lifting

[BTB]

Joined a new gym, induction tomorrow. As it is near work, I think i'll most likely be going 3 times a week. So going to switch to a 3 day split.

Do you guys find it is best to keep the groups separate for 3 days splits, or mix them? e.g. do Back/Biceps, Chest/Triceps & Shoulders/Legs or do each workout covering each body part? I've seen suggestions for both, but undecided. Also going to try and go in the morning before work, should be fine whilst the sunlight is here in the mornings, but winter may be more difficult...

[That's not a growth]

I currently do push pull legs and it's working pretty well for me. I don't really do legs enough though, but that's on me.