Witness the Fitness
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on May 13, 2015, 7:20 p.m. by Epochalyptik
A thread about lifting, eating, running, or whatever else you do to get or stay in shape.
Share your accomplishments, strategies, tips, and questions. Set a new PR that you want to share? Go ahead! Got a favorite protein shake? Give up the recipe! Want to figure out how to get off the couch? Ask away!
If you don't want to buy one and you only plan on using it for stuff like climbing, pull ups, and push ups, you can also just put books in a backpack. I used to do that. The only drawback is that the weight shifts, which is great for your core, but rules out any kind of dynamic work.
June 3, 2015 7:54 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
I've been doing green smoothies (85g kale, a banana, half cup water, tsp. chia seeds) in the mornings with some 2% cottage cheese.
I can't even fathom drinking that stuff, though, Apple. That sounds like the kind of thing you drink at the end of the day. And only if you don't want to experience another day. It's theoretically good on paper, though.
I'm all about that capsaicin, though. Been eating it all my life, and I'm pretty sure it's one of the relatively few things responsible for me not becoming obese in the last eight years.
June 3, 2015 7:56 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
You guys could always get a MOLLE vest and some bar weights.
June 3, 2015 7:56 p.m.
Epochalyptik: I could, yes :P
The ones I have been looking at are actually adjustable, so they basically are what you're talking about. The problem is, by the time I've bought the vest and the weights I'd pay about the same as a proper weight vest with all the kit.
June 3, 2015 8:04 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
True, but MOLLE vests are infinitely adaptable and useful for other applications.
June 3, 2015 8:09 p.m.
Now all I can imagine is a MOLLE vest compatible EDH deckbox...
June 3, 2015 8:14 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #9
Well, I just got back from a run and then watched that video. I kind of sort of want to go out again and run after watching it.
But shit, I went to a cardio strength extreme class this morning at 8 and did my own core workout afterwards then sat around all day. I got bored and felt bad about sitting around all day and decided to go out and run. I haven't felt so good on a run since cross country. I told myself that I was going to beat the rain and it started raining as soon as I got to my driveway, so I'm like, super excited right now. Ended up running 3.5 miles at an average of 6:30. And now I want go run again thanks to Caligula.
June 4, 2015 8:54 p.m.
Hahaha, I was so amped watching that video, I'm definitely going to watch it before my workout tomorrow. All the pre-workout I could ever need in that video.
June 4, 2015 8:58 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #13
I didn't know about the guy until that video, so thanks for sharing that! I don't really know any famous lifters outside Arnold and maybe a couple others. Personally I find inspiration in Bruce Lee. What about you guys? Does anyone inspire you to lift, workout, or do something of that nature? If not a person, then what inspires you?
June 4, 2015 9:12 p.m.
Bruce Lee is the man.
Why does chuck Norris have jokes and Bruce Lee doesn't?
Because Bruce Lee is no joke.
But seriously, Mike Rashid, Big Rob, Chris Albret, Tee Popoola, CT Fletcher, Furious Pete and Ronnie Coleman are people that I look up too and follow.
June 4, 2015 9:26 p.m.
And I'm going to single out Tee Popoola in there because he exemplifies power bodybuilding.
And another power body builder is Stan Efferding who goes by the nickname white rhino because the dude is a beast.
I forgot to mention Mike O'Hearn too.
All you in this forum should look him up too. Dude is probably the closest thing a human could be to looking like superman.
June 4, 2015 9:33 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #17
I've been following Mike Rashid and CT Fletcher. Fletcher's arm videos (featuring the legendary Bulo) are great.
Haven't really looked at many of the other YouTubers. Rich Piana is alright; he's hardcore on eating real food with a no-bullshit approach to bulking. Kali Muscle is fucking huge. Dom Mazzetti has a half-satire-half-straight-comedy bodybuilding channel that I go to for amusement.
June 4, 2015 9:53 p.m.
I'm not personally a fan of the whole bulking up thing. Though the video was some good motivation (with a bit of extrapolating of course). If you want some other cool videos (incluing some tutorials), check this guy out:
Its mostly martial arts based (taekwondo) but there is some kick boxing, parkour and just general fitness stuff.
June 4, 2015 10 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #20
I'm with enpc. I'm just not really into the whole bulking thing. I looked up some of those guys and shit they were huge. I can't imagine myself being that big. I think Bruce Lee best fits what I want. Maybe something a bit different, but he fits the bill.
June 4, 2015 11:04 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #21
And then there's me being a girl. Bulking is hard mkay. The struggle is real.
June 4, 2015 11:49 p.m.
just do more pushups. Always more pushups. Pushups fix everything.
June 4, 2015 11:55 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #23
I ran varsity track in high school and do just enough to maintain myself.
If anyone wants our workouts that we used to do, I'll gladly walk you through them. Super fun, super hard, but dat body afterwards... mmm.....
June 4, 2015 11:56 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #24
I don't know, enpc, the middle school kids seem to love the assisted pull up and triceps dip machine. I actually have a couple of stories about that machine. One involves me bleeding from the head.
ThisIsBullshit: so as long as you don't become that one person at the gym who uses the same machine doing the same workout for an hour, I think you'll get there. We have 3 or 4 of those people at mine. To make things worse, they come in groups and let no one use the machine/area.
June 5, 2015 12:01 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #25
You could always make your own preworkout of powdered Moxen and pleb tears.
June 5, 2015 12:03 a.m.
Those guys just inspire me to be stronger. That's all I want, I want to be strong no matter the outcome and to me, those guys just exemplify it in and out of the gym. They drive me to just be a better person too.
Obviously there is strongmen, but that is a whole other level of strength and strain that I do not need. But all the respect to guys like Hafthor Bjornsson.
Dudes are just giants in strongman competitions.
June 5, 2015 12:05 a.m.
I think the biggest thing to take away from all of those strongmen is their drive and dedication to what they're doing.
NoPantsParade: but pushups are awesome. And you need a machine to do dips? We just use a bench.
June 5, 2015 12:13 a.m.
NoPantsParade says... #28
It's a machine with some sort of pad that goes down with you as you go down and comes back up, helping you go up. There's also two handles above that you can pull forward and grab to do assisted pull ups with the pad. However, you can move the pad all the way down and just do regular dips and pull ups. The bar above explains how I started bleeding from the head. It's rather funny. I asked a guy if I could work in with him. He was doing pull ups and I was doing dips both without the support pad. I forgot he had the pull up bar pulled forward, and I launched myself up into the bar. I get down rub my head and there's some blood on the fingers. He just kind of looks at me. I laugh and just walk out with no shame. But I have seen too many kids go to that machine and think they can pull up their body weight plus 200+ pounds with only their pinkie finger.
I just move the pad thing all the way down so that there's no support. I do my dips by finding two handles reasonably spaced apart and going up and down. I sometimes use a bench if I feel like shaking things up a bit.
June 5, 2015 12:30 a.m.
NoPantsParade says... #29
enpc: for lack of a good description, it's something similar to this.
June 5, 2015 12:43 a.m.
NoPantsParade: that'll do it. I can't say I know that exact pain but I have had simialr ones of headbutting/kneeing/smashing my shins on/punching climbing pieces. One of the worst ones was a 25 climb (hardest colour, basically every move is pain). I'm in this awkward splits thing holding onto the wall with a pinch grip about the size of a 9V battery. All my weight is being loaded on my fingertips so I'm trying to move quickly. I go to shift my leg up and full on knee another piece (about the size of a rockmelon).
I knee'd the piece so hard the sound it made drew the attention of probably 10 people around who all just stopped and stared as I fell off the wall (I had a top rope to catch me) because there was no way I was finishing that climb.
You know that ache pain thats so bad all yo ucan do is laugh because it hurts so much? yeah, that one. Not my finest moment.
June 5, 2015 12:46 a.m.
@ThisIsBullshit, the only real disadvantage to women when it comes to bulking is the lower testosterone level which just means you have to work a little harder to achieve the same results (there's gotta be a social commentary in there somewhere... or an Andro-gel plug). The good thing is, adding lean mass to your body is mostly nutrition-based. Eat the right stuff at the right time, and more importantly, eat calories in excess of your daily maintenance threshold (with a large portion of them immediately post-workout), and you'll gain just like anyone else - your body can't add new mass if you're consuming negative calories each day, you'll just recycle what you already have. It'll add tone, and if you've got some excess body fat, it'll break some of that down to add muscle. But to really bulk, you have to eat like a bull so your body has resources to apply to muscle building.
Just be aware that the bulking phase of bodybuilding also adds a considerable amount of fat to your body, which you then have to cut to remove.
June 5, 2015 11 a.m. Edited.
NoPantsParade says... #32
So it's about time for a new protein powder supplement after going through my first one. However, while I was buying one, my mom saw that I was buying it, and I'm not allowed to buy a new one because my acne got worse. I was on Acutane while using the supplement and my acne pretty much disappeared. But after going off the Acutane, my acne slowly came back. I remember my acne first started when I took up lifting as a sophomore, 16 years old. I'm not sure if that's coincidental or the link between (minor) acne and lifting or just my hormones going out of whack. As of now, I'm 18 years old and heading off to college. Anyways, she believes that the whey supplement caused my acne to come back. The thing is is that skin problems run through my mom's side of the family, so that's something to consider. I would like to keep using the supplement because I saw significant results, but she forbids me because of the acne thing. She suggested going on a paleo diet, but not strictly paleo - perhaps something like borderline paleo, if that makes sense. My protein intake is already rather high due to other sources, but the shake helped reach my daily value that I needed. I've done some research and the evidence for whey causing acne seems true. I have yet to read much against the case. But I want to get more opinions from others. What are your experiences with using a supplement and acne? I can't really speak for myself since I was on Acutane while taking the supplement. Acutane's one hell of a drug.
Part of my argument is that it's my money and I should be able to do whatever I want with it - to a limit, of course. But my parents did spend money on the whole Acutane treatment.
halp
June 5, 2015 2:22 p.m.
Honestly, this is out of my wheelhouse. I didn't get into hardcore nutrition until well after high school. Back when I wrestled in high school, and did the lifting that entailed, I just ate lots of lean meats.
I've never experienced any hormonal imbalances or skin conditions when using whey. To be honest, I'm a little surprised it has that affect. Soy protein I'd understand as soy wreaks havoc on your hormones, but to my knowledge anyway, whey doesn't affect them. Maybe there's something else in your supplement that affecting hormone levels? I know there's lots of natural androgens in foods that convert to testosterone in your system, albeit temporarily. I wouldn't be surprised if some supplements included that stuff.
I know sugar is also a big acne culprit. Is your whey supplement high in sugar? A lot of them are to promote fast absorption. You might try a sugar free whey for a while to see if your skin issue resolve. Like I recommended for Euph, Isopure makes a really awesome sugar free whey powder that I use daily (for Ketogenic reasons).
June 5, 2015 2:32 p.m.
Yeah I've never had any skin problems using my protein and I actually use gold standard myself, I find itthe best in the market for an overall protein supplement and isn't overkill on they whey protein itself (about 24grams of protein compared to others on the market which are around the 26-32 grams per serving range) because your liver can only process so much isolate at a time and people usually over do it on the protein powders.
Try different proteins, any supplement store will give out samples for you to try, another thing that might just help you is taking antioxidants with your supplement, cranberry extract is amazing and I find taking a pill once a day I feel really good and feel internally refreshed. Especially after eating a big meal or something heavy.
June 5, 2015 2:48 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #35
I'm in a bit of a rut, friends.
The past couple of workouts have been unfulfilling. I feel like I should have done more, but muscle fatigue prevents me. Is this common with you?
Also, how do you all build mind-muscle connection? I feel like mine could use some work.
June 10, 2015 7:03 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #36
I listen to music to get in the zone. Also demotivation helps me get going for some reason. Not sure if that answers your question.
Also, I'm going to the doctor next week, so I'll see what he says about the acne and protein powder stuff.
June 10, 2015 7:07 p.m.
First, if you don't use creatine and you can afford it, I highly recommend it. It'll make you feel like a superhuman, definitely helps you put in a lot more effort by preventing muscle fatigue and allowing you to go longer before your natural creatine stores are burned up and your muscles start running on their back up energy sources, the product of which is lactic acid. There's tons of good information on creatine online if you're the type like likes to soak up every bit of research on something before you use it like me.
For the mind-muscle connection thing, I've only just recently started experimenting with this, but it totally works. Do your lifts with your eyes closed, or if you're at home and no one will make fun of you, wear a blindfold. There's been some studies that show by removing visual distractions, your nervous system is able to allocate more focus to the exercise itself which increases the quality of the lift, or for things like pull ups, might buy you an extra one or two just on good form alone.
Other than that, I'd recommend deep breathing exercises both on their own and during workouts to increase blood oxygen levels for energy and reduce unnecessary system stress.
June 10, 2015 7:16 p.m. Edited.
NoPantsParade says... #40
I do that eye closing thing at the Y with a lot of other people around. Never thought about people making fun of me, nor did I think about it helping. It's just something I kind of did involuntarily. That's neat.
Isn't creatine bad for you? At least for your liver?
June 10, 2015 7:18 p.m.
That's mostly an urban myth. In large amounts, just about anything is bad for your liver. Creatine occurs naturally in your muscles, and in the muscles of things you eat. The most common source of dietary creatine for most people is meat, especially red meat. I used to use it all the time and never had any issues with it. I don't really need it any more as my training is substantially less intense these days.
The eyes closed/blindfolded thing really does work though. The caveat being, you probably don't want to do it for things that require you to maintain balance like squats and stuff. But for pull ups, push ups, bench press, etc, it works great.
June 10, 2015 7:21 p.m. Edited.
This one explains in a little more detail exactly how creatine benefits your workouts. Essentially, it bridges the gap between burning ATP for fuel and glycogen for fuel, allowing you to get more reps or more weight in before running out of fast-burning energy.
June 10, 2015 7:35 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #44
Today was actually my first day using creatine supps. Bodybuilding.com had a lightning deal on some very highly rated bpi creatine, so I did a buy-one-get-one-free. Unfortunately, I don't know if there was a drastic difference because I haven't lifted in a while; I was moving furniture a few days ago, so I took a temporary break from the gym.
As for demotivation, I definitely leverage it in my workout. If I notice myself underperforming, I'll push extra on my next set or throw in a quick superset to shock myself.
I'll have to experiment with the blindfold thing. I've struggled to establish the mind-body connection, and, while I have been progressing, I can't help but feel that I'm not maximizing on my workouts.
I've also been trying some L-glutamine, L-arganine, and L-carnitine supplements this past week.
@Khanye: I appreciate it. I'll take a look in a bit.
June 10, 2015 7:46 p.m.
Creatine takes a good week of loading (twice a day instead of one, usually one in the morning and one post-workout) before it really takes affect. Once it's kicking, you'll notice it for sure. Sets that used to be a struggle will seem much easier. If you stalled at 5 reps on the bench, you might be able to comfortably push 6 or 7 now. You'll see, it's awesome. Plus it stuffs a ton of water into your muscles so you look bigger lol.
Being in the right mindset really does make a difference. If you're not feeling it, you'll still benefit from going through the motions, but if you're in the zone, it's much better. Maybe try starting your workout with some high intensity anaerobic cardio to get your adrenaline pumping, stuff like sprints (if you have the place to do them) or wailing on the heavy bag for a few minutes. If all else fails, drink a cup of coffee about 45 minutes before you workout to spike your cortisol levels.
June 10, 2015 7:51 p.m.
Also, L-Theanine, the stuff in green tea increases mental acuity and focus. Taurine too.
June 10, 2015 7:52 p.m.
Gingko Biloba is a great natural supplement to help clear/focus the mind @ Epochalyptik
Mike O'Hearn is amazing at talking about the mind muscle connection. I'll have to find the video I just watched with him in it, but he walks through some powerlifiting techniques and talks about that connection and how it really helps him isolate muscle groups.
June 11, 2015 10:27 a.m.
And guys! I learned a powerlifiting bench technique.
Elbows in. All day, when your retracting the bar to your chest pretend that your bending the bar in towards your legs (on a horizontal plane) and it forces your chest muscles to engage more than your shoulders. Also, helps build more explosive muscle. Anatomically it's better for your body too, when you're keeping your Elbows in and digging your heels in the ground your body can coil up naturally like a spring and can assist in the explosiveness.
I'll link the video I learned it from here when I get a break at work
June 11, 2015 10:32 a.m.
I'd like to see that video, I'm having trouble visualizing it. I know keeping your elbows in for most chest exercises tends to isolate your triceps more than your chest. Wide grip usually isolates the pecs. I'm curious to see how it works!
enpc says... #1
Ok, good to know. I have been toying with the idea of getting a weight vest for a while now. Without doing any freeweight stuff, I feel like my strength trainging is plateauing a bit. Its more just endurance now.
June 3, 2015 7:53 p.m.