Strength / Weight Training

I get much better results from benching with dumbells than a bar. A bit of an extra stretch makes a difference.

Yeah i like doing that too and single arm versions but getting a 45kg dumbell up safely on your own is probably beyond a lot of folks

single leg dead lifts should also be feasible with one of those

Ha, I only full deadlift 50kg.

But I've only been lifting for a few weeks.

For chest hypertrophy I would go as far as to say DB bench is just strictly better than barbell bench.

Before I drop some £££ on new, anyone looking to sell a squat or power rack, 6ft international barbell and/or plates?

Me too. We gave up after two days just didn’t seem worth it.

My wife said just hold two dumbbells in each hand. I can’t deny I did consider this.

not selling but i can tell you what I just bought which is all at the affordable end of the market and a couple weeks into ownership i'm very happy with.

flooring: (had a june 25% discount code which still seems to be working for the moment at least, auto applied at checkout)
https://www.gym-flooring.com/products/20mm-sprung-pro-gym-flooring-highest-rated-in-uk-heavy-duty?variant=43744544620742

rack:
https://www.gymmaster.co.uk/product/gm2-half-power-squat-rack-cage-with-optional-weight-storage-spotters/
has a decent amount of attachments you can add on. the GM3 power rack is more expensive but way more versatile. build quality is very decent for the money i think.

bar: (short on space so got one my gf and I can use that's not full 7') use NWS15 code off top of page for 15% off.
https://www.networldsports.co.uk/womens-olympic-barbell.html
note: under 6'6" international it wont fit on most racks I looked at.

plates: (i got 100kg set)
https://strongway.co.uk/collections/bumper-weight-plates-packages/products/50kg-70kg-100kg-olympic-bumper-weight-plates-set?variant=41722224279751

I paid for everything with paypal option as i was worried i'd be screwed if any of them weren't legit paying by debit card but they all delivered on time with no issues.

This is epic, this has shaved £100s off what I'd been pricing up, thank you! That flooring is a nice upgrade on the cheap stuff I'd considered.

That rack looks to be excellent value. I've been on the hunt for a folding wall mounted (e.g. this) but would be annoying to spend the extra for a fold only to never use the feature

forgot the bench i picked too...

https://www.gymmaster.co.uk/product/gm2-fully-adjustable-flat-incline-decline-fid-weight-bench-gunmetal-with-wide-backrest-and-nonslip-cushions/

it's all about as cheaply priced as i think i'd be willing to go before i'd worry about quality so it's all very entry level stuff and you'll find nicer stuff out there for a bit more but so far it's all been great.

i also picked up 2x 1.25kg and 2x2.5kg for filling in the gaps in the weight combinations and the barbell and accessory plates holders for the gm2 rack. their shipping gets expensive as it's fixed amount per item but it also means you don't really have to buy all the extras at once as you wont save money combining postage anyways. their site is cheaper than what they sell it on amazon and ebay for so that helps.

everything was pretty easy delivery wise. the flooring comes on a pallet on a tail lift luton so they used a pallet jack to put it on my drive but it's not massive just 1x1m still and i had to lug them round the back by hand myself one by one which was fine. there's a mildish rubber smell for a few days but i don't notice it at all now. the weights all come boxed separately in pairs except the 20kg which are 1 per box so easy to move around individually and other than pissing off the courier not a tricky delivery.

assembly you'll want two 17mm sockets or wrenches to do the bolts as they need holding in place while tightening as they spin freely but otherwise it's pretty simple stuff

Simply amazing work Ciq! Good shopping advice!

cheers.

making some progress with my back squat barbell flexibility now too. realised today it's actually more comfortable with hands closer in with thumb over the top now than wider grip with just fingertips which was all i could manage last week so in a lot more of a proper positioning and a lot more stable

still getting soreness in my lower bicep up until i re-rack the bar so i have to gingerly unfurl myself slowly but it's nowhere near as bad and improving session on session.

feel much less concerned about it now.

https://www.gq.com/story/why-is-everyone-on-steroids-now

I broke my hand a while ago. Cast is now off and the Dr recommended some light exercises to physio my hand.

I’ve been looking at stress balls and they look fine but I was wondering if there’s anything not plastic available.

Speaking as a climber.
Could go for chinese medicine balls (metal/stone)
Finger rolls https://stevenlow.org/finger-rolls-for-climbing-hand-strength-and-hangboard/
Also could consider using elastic bands (or even light theraband) which you likely already have where you can to extensor (wrap round fingers and spread apart) or contractor work (hold in other and and do curls).
Could look up the rice bucket method which I've never tried but some seem to rate for conditioning hands.

Thanks 👍🏼

Putting an update here as a statement of intent to get my numbers back up - around May-ish I started getting back on the bike more which impacted some of my lifting progress, I put that down to insufficient rest between activities and carried on with lighter weights / more reps to maintain a bit of form with the intention of losing a bit of weight over summer...

My (all inclusive) summer holiday helped massively with the weight loss, I caught some wild food poisoning bug resulting in my guts (and many, many bathrooms) being wrecked over the last 6 weeks. Once I started eating normally* again, I decided to track my calories / food intake to try & make sure I was getting enough calories, and work out what upset my guts.

Having lost 5kg in as many weeks I was determined to keep most of that off, so I kept tracking calories to keep the motivation up & make sure i'm getting enough protein now i'm back training again - roughly aiming for 1.5g protein / kg bw... turns out i'm usually quite a bit off that, and likewise was probably nowhere near that when I was lifting heavier / cycling more, but at least I know that now & can try and increase my intake to see how it effects recovery & general progress.

Still determined i'll bench 100kg this year - this morning I (just) managed 3x3 at 80kg so there's plenty of work to do, but hopefully it'll come back eventually (strangely, my squats are still pretty good)

*still can't stomach anything too rich / greasy and one or two pints of weak cooking lager is my limit- so my diet is probably much healthier now...

Onwards & upwards

I find I get headaches and a killer hangover from two beers if I go too mad on the protein but probably hit around 1-1.2g per kg/day. I took a break from creatine in case my kidneys just needed a rest too.
My game changer this year was to have four eggs for lunch every day. For what ever reason, my body just seems to metabolise them well with no sluggish post meal dip. My cholesterol is probably through the roof.

Also whilst I'm posting for accountability, I'm trying to up my gym visits from 3 to 5 per week. We've finally settled on a family routine which unfortunately means 6am starts but I can feel a difference already. ie. I'm fucking knackered (in a good way).

My whole summer has been rife with groin and hamstring strains. Beyond infuriating as I'm desperate to get doing a little more than some light Apple Fitness workouts

I'm partial to a standard issue 3 egg omelette myself, would probably do them most days if I worked from home - i know what you mean about the absence of the afternoon dip, always associated that with carb heavy meals.

Toying with the idea of going tomorrow morning too - did bench / squat / row & a few set of pull-ups today so not sure how much use a few random sets of accessories would be the day after a fairly heavy one or if I'll have tired out enough of the main muscle groups today for it to be any benefit

Anything is better than nothing - some things you just need to let heal properly then work back in gradually & try not to lose interest completely, keep in there!

Ah mate, I feel your pain. I've pulled my left calf in the same place three times this year by trying to get back into running. Just when I thought it was safe to up either up the distance or time on feet, it would go ping. The gods are telling me to run less, cycle more.
I've even had to get on the cross trainer which I feel very self-conscious using...!

That sounds brutal, especially it happening on holiday! Glad you've found a silver lining though.

Good luck with the 100kg goal, it's a solid milestone.

Aye, couple of days into the second week it was game over - I had weighed myself on the body composition scales before I went to see how much i'd put on, came back 3kg down & the rest has came off since then as I really wasn't eating properly until a week or so ago, 5kg off in 5 weeks is pretty wild so i'm determined to keep most of that off.

Some will go back on in water weight as glycogen is restored & i've started taking creatine again but i'll be keeping an eye on my fat mass / % over the next few months - been maintaining a slight defecit recently but with ~1.5g protein / kg it should be enough to keep going in the right direction.

Gonna aim for 140kg on the squat too - 3x3 at 120kg felt fine yesterday with no belt or knee wraps, (was previously doing 130) so i'll start creeping that up too... in hindsight I could have probably hit that and a 100kg bench in April/May but i'm wary of injuries, would rather have it comfortably than risk any setbacks

Sounds like a full 1/2/3/4 plate goal in the works 👀

(60kg ohp, 100kg bench, 140kg squat, 180kg deadlift)

Started some proper stretching and rehab work on my knees around 3 months ago based on knees over toes guy on YouTube and it's worked absolute wonders for me. Walking down stairs, sitting on toilet, squatting and deadlifting almost completely pain free.

Hit 220kg for 3 on deadlift last night and 170kg for 3 on squat at the weekend (with knee wraps) so things are developing well on lower body front. I really need to just laser focus on my upper body work cause it's so behind my lower body lifts. When August is over and I'm less busy I'm going to think about implementing some proper upper body focussed programming.