Having trouble getting as much cardio into my routine as I had originally planned for the year because life is chaotic and I've had to drop a lot of personal stuff to make room for dealing with family emergencies. But starting to make room for myself again this past week and moving into the future.
On the bright side, I'm keeping up with the strength training better than ever since that's less time-intensive, and I'm now lifting the same as or more than Tom in a lot of exercises.
Also making progress on my goal to be able to do unassisted pull-ups by my 30th birthday, and seeing a little movement in the right direction on the scale after adjusting to a higher-protein diet and paying more attention to macros overall. Just gotta stay consistent.
Nicole Suddard said:
Also making progress on my goal to be able to do unassisted pull-ups by my 30th birthday...
Have you tried doing neutral grip pull ups? My wife found those easier and more comfortable than other grips, and is really what has helped her unlock the ability to now do multiple pull ups in a set.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Thanks for bringing this up again. Since I found it to be pretty accurate while resting or walking, I hadn't thought about the fact it may be inaccurate during other activities. I went out looking, and Garmin pretty much admits that it can get inaccurate. I went back and compared my upper body versus lower body workouts, and found that upper body workouts resulted in pretty high heart rate counts in line with doing my reps.
False Heart Rate Detection
Changes in blood volume are not always caused by changes in heart rate. Your vascular system is like a balloon, so the movement of your body or flexing of large muscle groups can affect the level of blood volume in the wrist area, which make it challenging to detect heart rate among the presence of other signals that have a much larger magnitude and that change more dynamically.
Plateaued a bit this month, but still got some progress. I may have to take shake things up a bit.
In reply to Beer Baron :
I've been training a mix of grips, including neutral. Unfortunately no one of them is easier than the others for me.
I can now do five deadlift reps in a row using 255 without having my left hand grip fail while using double overhand. Hook grip is still not working as well as I'd like, though, but I'm still trying. I'm going to incorporate some dedicated grip strength exercises again, I probably shouldn't have stopped, to be frank.
Mixed grip or straps increase the weight substantially, but I'm trying not to depend on those as much.
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:
I can now do five deadlift reps in a row using 255 without having my left hand grip fail while using double overhand. Hook grip is still not working as well as I'd like, though, but I'm still trying. I'm going to incorporate some dedicated grip strength exercises again, I probably shouldn't have stopped, to be frank.
Mixed grip or straps increase the weight substantially, but I'm trying not to depend on those as much.
People make this grip strength argument about deadlifts regularly, and I think it's a bit silly.
Do you do pull ups on a spinning bar? Or do you do them on a bar that stays fixed? When you pick up a couch or a fridge, does it roll in your hands?
Deadlifts are about training your body to pick up heavy things off the ground. There are separate exercises for grip strength.
Even training grips strength usually doesn't mean a spinning bar. I train my grip for climbing. I use hangboards and campus boards and have an extra-fat pullup bar. All of them stay static.
Plus, you can get basically the same exercise by doing your warmup reps double-overhand until your grip can't manage anymore, and then switching to mixed or straps for your heavier lifts.
I felt better about my grip strength when I saw Larry Wheels using straps for his top sets, deep into a workout.
https://youtu.be/Kd9CorRKoZ0
Beer Baron said:
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:
I can now do five deadlift reps in a row using 255 without having my left hand grip fail while using double overhand. Hook grip is still not working as well as I'd like, though, but I'm still trying. I'm going to incorporate some dedicated grip strength exercises again, I probably shouldn't have stopped, to be frank.
Mixed grip or straps increase the weight substantially, but I'm trying not to depend on those as much.
People make this grip strength argument about deadlifts regularly, and I think it's a bit silly.
I get your point about the bar spinning, and hadn't considered it. That certainly makes it more difficult, and it's probably why I notice grip weakness most when doing dead lifts.
In my case, my grip strength was devastated by injury, and still isn't back to pre-injury levels. I'm actively working to get it back. For example, my left grip starts to fail before my right on pull ups, where the bar is static, towards the end of my set. Before the breaks, both hands would fail about the same time, which was 3after a while of hanging on the bar after muscle failure on the pull up reps. I should start doing that again, too.
I am a big proponent of maximizing grip strength whenever possible. I usually don't do pull ups on a free-spinning bar (maybe I should start doing that again) but I do use one for inverted rows. I also train my forearms directly before my boxing workouts and regularly use a grip strength squeezy thing when I'm not at the gym. Having greater grip strength helps in all athletic pursuits as well as life in general.
There are better exercises to train grip strength.
There isn't a more complete hip-hinge exercise than the deadlift.
If you allow the grip to be the limiting factor, you will not completely train all the muscles in the posterior chain.
I partially agree. Near my 1rm I use a mixed grip, (or a hex bar) but for rep work below 60% or so of my 1rm I use double-overhand, no hook. I don't use any grip exclusively, I like to change things up.
In reply to The_Jed :
Totally. That's basically what I do.
Use double overhand until you can't. Then switch it up. But don't let grip strength be the limiting factor of deadlifts.
Anyone doing the Murph on Memorial day?
I might do one on the rower, unweighted.
I am kind of looking forward to it in a perverse sort of way. I plan to do the second run only with weight, but I reserve the right to say f that if needed.
In terms of grip, I picked up a GD Iron 90 grip exerciser back around Black Friday. I do a mix of static holds for time as well as reps in different rep ranges. The combination seems to have improved my grip overall, and it's convenient because I can perform the exercises while I'm on a Zoom call.
I was feeling it today and got 315 up on the dead lift (with straps). While this is a current personal record, it was after doing squats, and I was feeling a bit beat already. I may be able to get more.
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
Nice! Get it!
Are you not using a belt? Or is it just hidden under your shirt?
In reply to Beer Baron :
Thank you!
I'm not using a belt. Should I be?
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
IF your back is straight it just shows how strong you are my dude 
In reply to Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) :
Congrats - that's a great lift!
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:
In reply to Beer Baron :
Thank you!
I'm not using a belt. Should I be?
*Shrug* Depends.
You will be able to lift more and train harder if you wear a belt and use it properly.
It's debatable on if they help decrease the risk of injury or anything. For me, I feel like they help me keep my back more solid. It provides a proprioception cue that I find very useful.
Hitting 315 with no belt is more impressive.
Nice work!
I use a belt if I am going heavier - probably 5 rep max or more (weight). Both squat and deadlift. Agreed on the cue.
I'm going to look into the proper use of a belt. I figure it can't hurt.
