My fitness / training blog

[speedmachine]

So, I've been into sports and weight lifting for years and am always boring friends and family with talk about excercise. A while ago, a friend of mine suggested that I start a blog about training. So a finanlly did. At the moment I just blog about training related topics that I'm interested in but hopefully soon I'll try to add some sort of structure with more sections. Even thinking of trying to add some sort of car related section too

Anyway, take a look and feel free to let me know what you think. I'd appreciate it if we can keep any criticism constructive

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/

Try not to laugh at the name, I couldn't think of anything and seeing as I'm trying to get stronger I thought it may as well be a project!

Admin guys, I don't think I'm breaking any posting rules and am not trying to sell anything but feel free to let me know if I am.

Thanks

[smiffy180]

speedmachine said:

So, I've been into sports and weight lifting for years and am always boring friends and family with talk about excercise. A while ago, a friend of mine suggested that I start a blog about training. So a finanlly did. At the moment I just blog about training related topics that I'm interested in but hopefully soon I'll try to add some sort of structure with more sections. Even thinking of trying to add some sort of car related section too

Anyway, take a look and feel free to let me know what you think. I'd appreciate it if we can keep any criticism constructive

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/

Try not to laugh at the name, I couldn't think of anything and seeing as I'm trying to get stronger I thought it may as well be a project!

Admin guys, I don't think I'm breaking any posting rules and am not trying to sell anything but feel free to let me know if I am.

Thanks

Pretty good, are you a powerfully built director?

[garrykiller]

looks great, i will have a read through now!

[speedmachine]

smiffy180 said:

Pretty good, are you a powerfully built director?

lol haha, I should put that on there! But no, I'm not a powerfully built director I've always been into sports and weight training and just want to improve myself. Hopefully, will get some videos up too when I get a chance to make some.

[speedmachine]

garrykiller said:

looks great, i will have a read through now!

Thanks mate. At the moment it's pretty much just whatever thoughts were rattling around in my head. I'm trying to get into the habit of updating it during my spare time such as on weekends or when work is quiet!
I want to create a journal for my training on there but need to be serious when I start because I don't want to be updating it in a year with no improvements!

[goldblum]

A good stab at it.

However the shoulder is a ball and socket (synovial) joint - the same as the hip.

The shoulder is prone to injury because, unlike the hip, the top of the long bone (humerus) does not actually 'sit' in a bone cup like the hip (acetabulum). Instead it is held in place by a collection of muscles and tendons (rotator cuff) which is why it is inherently weak.

[speedmachine]

goldblum said:

A good stab at it.

However the shoulder is a ball and socket (synovial) joint - the same as the hip.

The shoulder is prone to injury because, unlike the hip, the top of the long bone (humerus) does not actually 'sit' in a bone cup like the hip (acetabulum). Instead it is held in place by a collection of muscles and tendons (rotator cuff) which is why it is inherently weak.

Thanks for that. I'll go back later today and try to put a a better explanation of the shoulder. Going forwards I think I'm going to stick to blogging about my training anf things that work for me.

[speedmachine]

Been a bit busy with work but managed to right a blog about pull ups. The idea for the article occured to me when my firends excuse for not doing pull ups was that he was heavier than me! I accept that doing pull ups will be harder for the bigger guys, but I also think that being able to do body weight excercises is important.

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/2012/10/0...

Feel free to let me know what you think. Still need to go and improve the pervious article too!

[garrykiller]

hey, yeah i read it when your emails came out. some simple but effective stuff, its what i tell the lads who i train with who dont do pull ups, none of them do it becuase they say they feel like idiots.

[pilchardthecat]

You forgot the two most important things about pullups -
1 - Range of movement - it's not a rep unless your chin is well over the bar at the top, and your arms are 99% straight at the bottom. I see lots of people doing pullups in the gym..... but only 1 in a hundred of them are actually doing them properly.
2 - don't go beyond failure doing pullups and chin-ups - stop the set as soon as either (a) your last rep wasn't as high as the previous rep, or (b) you have slowed down significantly on the way up.

[speedmachine]

garrykiller said:

hey, yeah i read it when your emails came out. some simple but effective stuff, its what i tell the lads who i train with who dont do pull ups, none of them do it becuase they say they feel like idiots.

I always thought pull ups make you look really cool! Try super setting pull ups and dips. Gives such an amazing upper body pump. Yup, trying to keep it simple. It amazing how many people really over think thing when it comes to working out.

[speedmachine]

pilchardthecat said:

You forgot the two most important things about pullups -
1 - Range of movement - it's not a rep unless your chin is well over the bar at the top, and your arms are 99% straight at the bottom. I see lots of people doing pullups in the gym..... but only 1 in a hundred of them are actually doing them properly.
2 - don't go beyond failure doing pullups and chin-ups - stop the set as soon as either (a) your last rep wasn't as high as the previous rep, or (b) you have slowed down significantly on the way up.

Thanks, I'll add a comment about the range of motion. But why shouldn't you go to failure on pull ups? I don't go to absolute failure but do carry on going once I've slowed down on the way up.

[sodslaw]

speedmachine said:

pilchardthecat said:

You forgot the two most important things about pullups -
1 - Range of movement - it's not a rep unless your chin is well over the bar at the top, and your arms are 99% straight at the bottom. I see lots of people doing pullups in the gym..... but only 1 in a hundred of them are actually doing them properly.
2 - don't go beyond failure doing pullups and chin-ups - stop the set as soon as either (a) your last rep wasn't as high as the previous rep, or (b) you have slowed down significantly on the way up.

Thanks, I'll add a comment about the range of motion. But why shouldn't you go to failure on pull ups? I don't go to absolute failure but do carry on going once I've slowed down on the way up.

I was a pullup pro.. And it doesnt matter how fast or slow you are going as long as you are still going and with full range of motion.

Heavy weighted pullups mean you often end up pulling quite slow after a few reps

[pilchardthecat]

sodslaw said:

speedmachine said:

pilchardthecat said:

You forgot the two most important things about pullups -
1 - Range of movement - it's not a rep unless your chin is well over the bar at the top, and your arms are 99% straight at the bottom. I see lots of people doing pullups in the gym..... but only 1 in a hundred of them are actually doing them properly.
2 - don't go beyond failure doing pullups and chin-ups - stop the set as soon as either (a) your last rep wasn't as high as the previous rep, or (b) you have slowed down significantly on the way up.

Thanks, I'll add a comment about the range of motion. But why shouldn't you go to failure on pull ups? I don't go to absolute failure but do carry on going once I've slowed down on the way up.

I was a pullup pro.. And it doesnt matter how fast or slow you are going as long as you are still going and with full range of motion.

Heavy weighted pullups mean you often end up pulling quite slow after a few reps

I've found that if i quit the set before as soon as failure of form/tempo occurs, that's the only way i can manage to crank out more reps over time. I dont understand the science of it, but there are quite a few books and other web resources that say the same thing based on a lot of empirical evidence

[sodslaw]

pilchardthecat said:

I've found that if i quit the set before as soon as failure of form/tempo occurs, that's the only way i can manage to crank out more reps over time. I dont understand the science of it, but there are quite a few books and other web resources that say the same thing based on a lot of empirical evidence

I'd agree with that.. Although depends how what sort of tempo we are talking

For me I started out going up to 50 reps in as few sets as possible until it got easy ish (3 sets) then gone for heavy weighted pullups where its more about a "1 set wonder" which zaps all my strength before loosing the all the weight and doing fun 'freestyle' stuff like muscle ups or them in circular motions, high rep stuff etc

[speedmachine]

Been busy with work stull since last week so haven't had a chance to keep adding to the blog. I recently started a new leg routine so thought it would make a good topic to write about.

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/2012/10/1...

Gonna start putting some videos up soon too once I figure out the easiest way to create, edit an upload them.

[speedmachine]

Managed to write a new entry on the blog. Trying to keep it personal and using the things I do myself as topics. I've started to do car pushing to help improve my conditioning. I find cardio on machines too boring and don't really enjoy long distance cardio outdoors either. I've become addicted to car pushing though. It hurts like mad but at the same time it's a good laugh and really feels like you've achived something at the end of session!

I've just noticed a few typos I need to go back and correct. I had originally inteded to write a blog entry daily but I'm finding that it's not that easy, especially with work commitments. So going to change it to weekly entries as a minimum. If anyone has suggestions on how to improve it, feel free to let me know!

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/

[Maxf]

Back in the dim and distant past when I was a rower, we were short of boats (or men) and instead pushed a car around the lake - maybe 4.5km total. Still to this day I cite that as the hardest Ive worked out and the most sore I've felt the days after a workout. There were 5 of us basically taking it in turns to push and rest.

Hell, but good fun looking back.

[speedmachine]

Maxf said:

Back in the dim and distant past when I was a rower, we were short of boats (or men) and instead pushed a car around the lake - maybe 4.5km total. Still to this day I cite that as the hardest Ive worked out and the most sore I've felt the days after a workout. There were 5 of us basically taking it in turns to push and rest.

Hell, but good fun looking back.

Yup, it hurts like anything at the time but great fun. It's practical too. My brothers car brokedown near my house last night so we had to push it around 30/40 meters up hill to get it back to my street. There were two of us pushing the car and it very nearly came to a stop on the steepest part of the hill. But I think the training helped me get through!

Edit to add, 4.5km?!!! that is crazy even with 5 of you! I managed to push the car about 70 meters and then about 40 meters back (we were beside a 100m track) and had to take a good few minutes to recover before doing another push!

Edited by speedmachine on Wednesday 24th October 15:41

[speedmachine]

Added a few more entries to the blog. Wrote an article on helping to improve bench press technique and posted a video of me shoulder pressing. I know the weight I'm lifting doesn't make me a 'well built company director' but it's a step in the right direction!

http://strongmuscleproject.wordpress.com/