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Comments
Sorry, that was the "terrible typo" that I edited. OTL
It would be best to observe and learn the proper form then. I think a big reason for your low bench number might be improper form, as it's unusually low even among untrained men(provided proper form was used). For instance, when benching your feet should be firmly rooted on the ground to help support your upper body and not doing this would mean putting too much stress on your shoulder blades and other relatively vulnerable parts of your upper body, hence the stabby pain. In addition, your legs should be exerting enough force for you to arch your back while keeping your glutes firmly on the bench. Few realize this, but the bench press is more of a full-body endeavor than it seems. Realizing this helped me put on significant weight on my bench immediately.
As for the row, were you doing bent-over ones with no support? If you do this in addition with a bent lower back, it will put a lot of strain on your spine. Even with a tight, muscle supported lower back though, I personally find it that I spent too much effort trying to make sure the lower back stays tight for me to really focus on training the upper back while rowing. Anyway, if this is the case, try using a bench or a table at home as support when you do dumbbell rows.
EDIT: Mountain climbers, if you're talking about the exercise, is very good for cardio, especially if you wish to do high-intensity type cardio. For strength though, I find that there are more straightforward ways to approach training.
Someone hasn't seen how small my arms are. I have easily some of the scrawniest arms in my school.
But I didn't know the part about actually exerting force with the feet while benching. I'll keep that in mind. For rows, I used the side of my bed for support, actually. Still kinda heavy.
The mountain climbers were for cardio, yeah. The morning workout's just five-minute cardio, because I already had to wake up at 6 to get ready for the day before starting it, and I woke up at 5:45 today to get it in. There's no way I'm waking up earlier than that to incorporate strength training.
Key for mastering compound exercises in general is to focus on keeping the parts of the body that aren't doing the actual lifting motion tight.
Depending on how firm your bed is, it might feel a little awkward to use it as support. Is the weight light enough that you can hold the contracted position for at least one second for your first rep? If not, then maybe the actual weight really is the issue and you need to work up to it from a lower weight.
Ah, then it sounds quite fine. Yeah, it's probably not practical to wake up earlier than that. It's good to split up cardio and strength training by the way, so you can go all out on both instead of on neither.
The weight isn't the issue, I think; back during swim season, I might have even been up to 30, on the row, and I can hold up the 20 for a little while before I feel I'd be better off dropping it.
As for the mountain climbers, I felt a burn yesterday when I was just trying out the new exercise, but I think I might have been doing it wrong this morning, because I didn't really feel anything. That's strange.
EDIT: I think I have the proper form for squats, but that's gonna be a bitch to do, as well.
Hmm, I see. Sounds like best thing to do would be to try a firmer support then.
Despite what the bro-types say, feeling the burn isn't all there is to an exercise. That burn is a consequence of doing a new exercise and not the goal. If you can do mountain climbers longer or faster each session before you feel like you have to rest, you're progressing well with it.
For the record, this is what I'm working with.
Sorry about the redundancy with Puerto Rico on the mirror, as well as the shirt; that just happened to be the shirt I was wearing today, and the sticker's been on that mirror forever.
Oh, right, did I ever take a before picture? I should if I haven't
Yeah, that's a good idea, as it will give you a more accurate assessment of your progress.
I've been trying to get back on track, albeit in a different way. I decided to retackle it by changing my diet first. With a changed diet, I should have more energy and should find it easier to stick with exercising
So far, even if that turns out to be false, reducing my intake to one sugary drink - including pop, Kool-Aid, hot chocolate, etc. to once a week (excluding certain outings, but even then I'm not craving the drinks like I used to) and reducing my junk intake to that same level (currently reduced to twice a day - yes, I was bad enough that twice a day is a huge IMPROVEMENT - should take a month before I get down to once a week) is going to do wonders on my health as it is
Main issue with the exercise currently is getting myself out there. I love the feeling of biking, it feels great. And I love dancing around and doing various movements (I should get back into Tae Kwon Do - I find myself going back to doing some of those movements). The issue is motivating myself to STICK with it x.x
Ok, note to self: I do not have any self control around cotton candy
Any
At all
How can you like cotton candy
it's so horribly sweet it's not even funny
^ I like it, ok? :<
~~~~~
Finally getting back on track for exercise. Came back from a 20 minute bike ride. I just could not sit still and had to get rid of my energy somehow
My legs still felt like rubber, but unlike usual, I was able to walk without an issue despite that, so... Yay?
I'm no expert, but I'd say gain for muscles and endurance and stuff, but a loss for the heart.
To an extent. I'm not sure if that's the best way to increase your blood pressure, but it is a way.
Not a fitness expert, so why would you want higher blood pressure?
^Extremely low blood pressure can be unhealthy too. There's a range where it's supposed to be.
^ Especially good to raise it in my case as my meds also lower it
So naturally low blood pressure plus meds that make it lower PLUS I'm normally at rest = My diet was high in sodium for a reason
Ah, okay. Yeah, that's fair then.
Though there are still probably better things to eat to raise it.
Guess I'll try to find another source of meat (the butcher shop on my bike path is where I get the jerky, so there is probably something healthier I can get. The issue is the remaining 15 minutes of the ride. On a hot day, carrying the meat around would... Yeah)
Having another one of those days where I'd like to be able to get fit, but I'm pretty sure I can't due to hating working out and having such small taste in food that my diet is shit. Still curling a measly 20 lbs. I think I was up to 30 during swim season, but, well, it'll be tough enough to get myself back to the pool just to pick up paychecks, let alone swim, let alone swim at the same intensity level as I would be during swim season.
Well, more shadow boxing, I guess.
How "measly" a weight is depends on how long you do it for and whether you want to bulk or tone (that is, gain muscle mass or gain muscle density). Doing a whole lot of 20lb curls can make you pretty damn strong, it's just a case of doing the right length and amount of sets.
Also, everyone can do pushups in their room. Them and squats. If you want to become stronger, you can do most of it just based on those two exercises.
^^ Well, keep it up!
^ That implies two things:
1) That the person has enough room in their room
2) That the person can do a pull pushup x.x Never in my life, even when I was doing Tae Kwon Do, was I ever strong enough to complete a single pushup
Also, whee my bike is stuck in the shop until Wednesday. x.x At least walking is good exercise, right...?
My floor is too smooth for push-ups, and I always find myself slipping and losing rhytm. I can do push-ups with no problem on less slick surfaces, though.
I should see if I can do pushups given my still-wonky wrist.
^ I'd advise against it, until you're absolutely sure your wrist is healed. There's no shame in taking it easy when you have an injury, even one that's mostly better. There's a decent chance you'll throw your wrist out again.
As for pushups in general, I advise doing them with wide arms and slowly. Most of the strain should be when you push yourself up, so ease down slowly and push upwards more quickly. At the top of my game, I could do 35 of these slow, wide ones without stopping, although it's been about a year since then and I haven't kept up. The trick is to find out the sweet spot that lies after you want to stop and before you put yourself at risk of injury, because you absolutely must push yourself to increase fitness.
That said, my endurance is still pretty mediocre. Never been good with that.
^^Just because you can, but it doesn't mean you should.
I've heard that Dance Dance Revolution is a good way to work out. Worth looking into?
For cardio, I'm pretty sure it is.