Strength / Weight Training

Cheers!

The gym has been open for a few weeks, but we are renovating a house.

Current workout scheme: The rubble bucket farmers walk, the crappy furniture down the stairs lift, the 5 meter throw it into the skip event and the overhead claw hammer/chisel polystyrene ceiling removal press push :p

My legs are fine, the arms are complaining as they aren't endurance trained at all.

Functional strength innit 😂

Haha yes 😂

Trying to avoid the ceiling plasterboard clean and press but since we had a few surprises, might have to do a lot ourselves.

The info no one asked for: whey protein isolate is far superior to the cheaper alternative, if only because I don’t produce the worst farts known to man when I have it.

Success.

😂 That's a definite win in my books

Speaking of supps...

Bulk Powders (now bulk.com) bag 'o' shite last year cost me £x and now it costs £2x.

Whether true or not I'm blaming this squarely on Brexit and the spanners that voted for it.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a small foldable bench I could use for bench pressing at home? I just need a bench as I’ll be using dumbbells. Cheers!

I came close to buying one of these

Not sure though, any suggestions guys? I would be interested in options too!

Not the answer to your question but I spent ages looking for a bench to fit in a limited space before being encouraged by somebody to just dumbell presses from the floor.

It doesn't work your chest quite as well but adds load to your triceps. I did that for a out a year before moving on to a bench. Getting a bench demonstrated how the floor press hadn't quite been doing the same job but even so, Iade a load of progress without a bench.

Tldr; if you're not a perfectionist, you might decide you don't need a bench.

My biggest concern has been how to end the sets. How to put the weights down esp at the heavier numbers. Home equipment and being in a flat means it's not industrial designed DBs. I don't normally drop weights (almost never) but it's still not good to be heavy handed with more delicate adjustable weights in a flat. Almost need large crash mats to put them down on.

My biggest concern has been how to end the sets. How to put the weights down esp at the heavier numbers

Good point. My approach only really worked for me because I was starting out and lifting more reps of lighter weights. By the time I started getting stronger, starting and finishing sets started to become a problem.

Yeah, the weight of the dumbbells is a point. Maybe I’ll stick to push ups and try harder variations.

Every few months I post a photo of someone doing swiss ball dumbbell bench.
I've done this for years and have no complaints. There is surely a weight limit above which the ball will burst. But with an Everlast ball I am benching roughly my body weight and I am still alive to post another pic in this thread.

Maybe I’ll stick to push ups and try harder variations.

I've been using one of these as part of my recovery from a rotator cuff problem. Highly recommended. I often do a set of ten reps of each position....quite a burn!

This is pretty cool. Being on the ball means you can get the full range of motion for a press.

I wouldn't exaggerate the benefits. Like claiming that the ball gives you more core strength or something like that. It's basically very close to a normal bench, except cheaper and takes slightly up less space.

and I am still alive to post another pic in this thread.

Youre alive until youre dead.

Also, good pic of you doing it.

Yeah, the weight of the dumbbells is a point. Maybe I’ll stick to push ups and try harder variations.
You can still do DBs on the floor as @Stonehedge said.

Also, im speaking of upper weight on DBs for your strength.

@Dammit - how you getting on with your bench and DBs? You doing DB presses?

Figure 8 straps have made a big difference- thanks for the recommendation. Entertainingly the ones I got are available in medium, intermediate, large and extra large. Small men get a mild confidence boost when ordering.

My right forearm is still blocking progress though. Hopefully my upcoming holiday will fix it.

What's that called? Have you a link?

Still at the "functional strength" of building renovation.

My hip is barely complaining now as suspected a sitting job makes it worse. A few hours of extra exercise a day sorts it.

Half put my arm out of joint hammering though, more injury prone than weights if you ask me 😁

Pulling floors is surprisingly tiring (rotted floorboards, all for the bin, sad face...)

My partner chunkers force wins over my tiny technical strength in any renovation event. But I can lift and not hurt myself so all the lifting does help with everything :)

I tried bench with an exercise ball but didn't get on with it at all, using a bar rather than dumbells through. Could see the stability/core benefits for sure though.

But with an Everlast ball I am benching roughly my body weight

The potential for this to go very very wrong makes me uncomfortable. 😅