Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

findo it sounds like your hybrid approach is working for you!

Boo, Closet - hope you're feeling better soon. And hope you're better now too, Just. Like the sound of Bath St Pure! 5 Squat racks! Every so often I dither about joining the Edinburgh Uni gym - they've got lots of equipment but they're more expensive than Pure and their opening hours are slightly awkward.

Bench this morning. I've decided that Monday shall be my heavy bench day, as I'll have had two lifting-free days prior to that over the weekend, plus usually a lot of food as well. Bench is the lift I'm most interested in progressing but there's a lot of conflicting advice out there. Some people say if you want to get better at any lift, you need to do it more frequently - which makes intuitive sense and for a while that's what I did. Other people recommend dropping the frequency and spending the other days doing well targeted accessory exercises. Currently I do something in between - a heavy bench day, a volume bench day, (also with things like incline D/B presses thrown in) and a shoulder day, and that seems to be working out OK actually - slow but steady progress. So today was 3 x (4 x55kg), then 2 x (3 x 55kg), which is the best I've done in a long while.

Margo I shifted some blubber recently, I think mostly by being in a calorie deficit but also added in two cardio days, one steady state and one more HIIT, the overall result was that I lost a stone, but hard to say how much the extra cardio helped.

Bleurgh. I’d been doing so well but came down with a horrible sore throat three days ago that just won’t budge. It really hurts and I feel very sorry for myself, not least because I can’t go to the gym and lift heavy shit

Hello!

I'm staying in Glasgow for this week. The PureGym on Bath street is fantastic. They have two Olympic platforms and FIVE squat racks. Very tidy it was, too, this morning.

Just checking in on the thread to keep it up the list on "I'm on". Sorry to hear about your week Oogle.

Starting to feel a little stronger again after my long summer break. My shoulder presses are still pathetic but slightly less weedy than a month ago.

I'm trying to shift some blubber so I do 20 mins HIIT 4 times a week as well as the weights. Any tips for this?

I'm not feeling great this week. I'll get my shoulders done tomorrow and so will hit everything 1x this week.

how's everyone?

Did some fast (for me) touch-and-go deadlifts this morning, 6 x 10 x 70kg. Had to have a little sit down afterwards.

Otherwise felt a bit tired and meh - but! - did feel pretty natty in my new gym vest, which is one of those 'muscle vest' types that the young people seem to like. I didn't realise it was quite so cutaway when I ordered it off Sports Direct for £4. I'm increasingly rocking a neon 80s aerobic look these winter mornings at the gym: today it was bright blue leggings, purple leg warmers, hi-top turquoise Pony sneakers, and this baggy vest thing with sturdy sports bra partially on show.

Oogle how about hiit type stuff. I used to do videos from YouTube (Fitness blender are good), or it's pretty easy to devise your own workout using whatever equipment you have available (or none at all).

I hate long/ slow cardio. It's a reaction, I think, to my days of doing endurance sport (triathlon) years ago. Now, I want cardio to be short sharp and effective! It means I don't have the lung capacity I used to (as demonstrated yesterday when I uncharacteristically decided to go out for a run - god that hurt!), but as I'm not planning on doing any endurance events ever again I don't suppose that matters.

Oogle, I am sorry about your friend. I am new to all this and hate cardio too. I do small circuit-type HIT classes that have weights, bodyweight and cardio in and have also just started doing boxing which is loads of cardio but I don't notice it so much because I am concetrating so hard on remembering which side is left on the activity! No idea whether that is "enough" but I seem to be getting fitter. Might some classes work for you if you have access to them?

Thank you. I went to the gym on Tuesday for a session with my PT and really enjoyed it. Upper body this week and pleased that I managed to increase the weights on everything again. We finished with sprints on the bike (20sec followed by 10sec rest) and I am still ridiculously unfit. My PT admitted that my strength training is going really well but I need to add more cardio in (I don't want to do that with him, I don't want to pay him to watch me on a treadmill) but I really hate cardio, how do I learn to enjoy it? I'd much rather be lifting!!

I'm so sorry. Look after yourself Oogle. x

I haven't made it to the gym. Friend died early yesterday and then my son ended up in hospital at 8am (he's fine, he couldn't put any weight on his leg at all but he's fine today). Today I've woken up full of cold again. Writing this week off and starting afresh on Tuesday.

Sorry to hear about your friend, Oogle. Hope your sessions at the gym help to take your mind off things.

I haven't been to the gym since Tuesday. I've had some bad news about a dear friend and I just want to curl on the sofa and cry. I've decided not to go this afternoon but instead get up early and go tomorrow before taking my toddler out for the day. Husband has said he'll take him out on Sunday so I can go to the gym two days in a row, guilt free! Yay! Going for a complete cardio session tomorrow and legs on Sunday. I know it's upper body with my PT on Tuesday.

My head is a complete foggy mess as I've cried so much the last few days so I'm going to use tonight to sort myself out. I think if I went to the gym now, I'd just be staring at the equipment, without a routine in mind and it wouldn't be a good session. I'm cross with myself for not going today, but life gets in the way sometimes.

No gloves here either. I've really struggled with my grip and find my hands slip easy - I end up with my thumb touching my index fingernail and this makes me feel quite sick. This week I changed my grip to one hand over, one hand under (after weeks of telling my PT that I absolutely could not lift in that grip. Turns out I can ) if that makes sense? I found it much easier.

I'm coping with the callouses. I don't like them, but they're a great reminder of what I can do.

Got some good ideas here... thanks! Will check out hooks and liquid chalk...Yes, it's mainly for deadlifts. The callouses really irk me, especially when they get dry and start cracking off.

Same, no gloves here. Your grip should improve as your overall strength improves. Straps or hooks as Just suggests are good for heavier sets - I was using straps for heavier RDL sets but I've lost one now so I'm having to go without.

Liquid chalk is a wonderful thing if you haven't tried it. It's allowed in most gyms because it's not as messy as powder chalk and it helps my grip no end.

I don't use gloves, although I do use hooks for deadlifts.

I have callouses and I don't really mind them. But I have never really cared about my hands being pretty. I do sometimes take a pumice stone to the callouses.

That should say I don’t bother

Hi EssCee. I don’t both with gloves. But I’m quite a weightlifting newbie. I’m sure someone more experienced will give a more informed opinion.

Hello! I'm wondering where you all stand on weightlifting gloves / pads? I've tried various ones but can't find any to suit me. I have small hands and wearing gloves seems to massively affect my grip.

No lifting for me today, my back is complaining after my first run post surgery! Pilates class instead

Just that's one of the reasons I decided to switch to the SLT programme as I found the upper/lower split 3 times a week I was doing before meant that my shoulders were also getting a bit tweaked.

Findo he says 2-3 minutes between sets. So, basically I was sitting around for more than I was lifting. I suppose because it was chest/ shoulders I wasn't really getting the heart rate up that much, even though I was lifting as heavy as I could. I agree that I feel I need more rest on the bigger compound moves like squats and DLs.

Anyway, my arms and upper chest are properly sore today, so I guess I was doing something!