I done bought me some dangle-hoops

[wafter]

I have to say I'd never think to do dips in the bath...

I've got a set of powerblocks, a little step which is just big enough to double as a small bench, and a mat. Takes up hardly any space in my tiny flat and I can do everything I need to. Powerblocks take a bit of getting used to and you have to modify some of the movements cos of the shape, but for size and convenience I'm really happy with them. It all just tucks away into a corner.

Actually I think dips in the bath is probably a bad idea as they're analagous to bench dips where your hands are pretty rearward and mass out front) which apparently aren't great for shoulder health as it loads them up in a less-than-ideal direction... so I'll be passing on that idea.

I'll take a look at powerblocks since I'm in a similar space-limited environment


While I'm here I might as well cast some more inconsequential ramblings into the void. I've been doing less on the rings recently for a number of reasons. Most irritatingly I have a couple of lingering injuries - one being some discomfort in my left upper pec / below my clavical when hanging.. OK with some muscle engagement but obvious in a dead hang, which is irritating. The other is some discomfort in my right shoulder at the front.

I've been trying to do more press ups as I think these give more focus on the pecs than the support holds on the rings, although I can only do them with a wide hand position which I think might not be doing the shoulder issue any good.

If Im careful on the rings it seems that none of the exercises directly exacerbate these problems so I'm trying to persist. Over a year in and progress is very, very slow but at least present.

Last time I managed a best of 1:15 then 1:00 and 0:45 on the support hold, and perhaps more importantly have seen tangible improvements in my form. When I started I could support myself, although looking back it was the bare minimum with little muscle engagement and everything just sagging. With experience and hopefully improvements in physique I've learned to keep my upper body and core engaged; pushing down into the rings to keep myself as taught and upright as possible rather than just slouching from the shoulders down.

My form on the ring rows has also improved; although I've only recently learned of the importance of engaging my scapula and am still struggling to actively achieve this - the best way I can manage currently is to try and push my upper chest up towards the rings.

Finally I'm down on the number of knee raises I can do from peak, although I think this is due to the better core engagement in the support holds adding fatigue in this area.


While all a bit nebulous, as posted in the weight watchers thread I think I've definitely gained a modest amount of muscle mass. Comparing my measurements to when I was last of comparable mass back in 2020 I'm now around 2kg heavier for the same waist measurement or around 2cm less on the waist for the same mass... so taking waist measurement as a reflection of body fat (since this is where it accumulates most) this would suggest I'm up by around 2kg of muscle.

Of course how accurate this is, along with how much is due to work on the rings versus other stuff (such as bulk on the legs from cycling) is open to question.. however I was also doing a lot of riding in 2020 so perhaps my legs weren't so different then.

 

[wafter]

Last session I managed a PB of (IIRC) 90 / 60 / 45 seconds on the support hold, so today attempted to progress from the neutral hold with hands maybe 4" from my sides to a proper RTO (rings turned out) stance with the hands rotated outwards by 90 degrees from being neutral / parallel.

While this seems like a miniscule difference the step-up in difficulty is immense. I got close but couldn't manage it; hands shaking all over the place and my elbows feeling like they might travel over centre and snap off if I pushed it too far.. A reasonable compromise was about halfway there / hands at 45 degrees outward and held just on the brink of becoming unstable.

This is more than I've done before (previously any small attempt at outward rotation failed) and I managed this for 45 / 30 /30 seconds which has really punished my arms. I'm not 100% convinced this is all muscle discomfort and not some joint pain; so I'll have to tread carefully as my joints are crap and I don't want to collect another injury.. I'm hoping with time muscles will adapt to this new format and help stabilise the joint; although I may have to accept it's something I'll just have to avoid.

Speaking of injuries, I managed to avoid any complaints from the current two and am feeling more comfortable with the scapula engagement on the ring rows - my form feeling (relatively speaking) really tight and controlled, which is rewarding.

Finally hammered out a few more knee raises than in recent times - IIRC 30 on the first set, 25 on the second and 25 on the third (each set has various differences to challenge different areas.

In no hurry to leave afterwards I took my time with the stretches and left feeling pretty nice; if very obviously having given myself a pretty thorough beating

 

[wafter]

Third session attemping RTO yesterday; managing 60 / 30 / 30 seconds with hands at 45-ish degrees - I think I can manage more rotation on the left which is unsurprising as that side's noticeably stronger. Still questions over the state of my joints but they don't feel obviously terrible today.

I watched a video recently that suggested 45 degrees is about as good as it gets ( I've seen people manage the whole 90 although pehaps they're the exception) so maybe I'm closer to the ideal than I though..

With the number of knee-raises I can do progressing well I tried a few straight-leg raises, however couldn't get close to 90-degrees to my torso (let alone the shins-to-ears achieved by German chap with the superior man bun enviously witnessed a few weeks ago) so I went back to the bent knees.. The limiting factor seems to be my quads; not sure if this is a strength or flexibility problem but either way probably not helped by a day's cycling..

The session felt like a good going-over with arms burning by the end and most relevant bits aching today; and as my form has improved it feels more like I'm actually properly working the relevant muscle groups.

Interestingly this was the first session I'd done since I started supplementing with creatine, which in addition to all the widely-touted benefits is also suggested to be a good energy source for high intensity work on low-carb diets; two things that usually don't play well together. Today's session was undertaken having eaten pretty much no carbs all day yet saw some progress; perhaps supporting this hypothesis

Another nice little discovery recently was had when using the indespensible omni-towel carried in my panniers to dry off the bars after some rain. The towel slung over the bar and each end gripped in my hands it makes a convenient way of hanging / lifting with a vertical, rather than horizontal grip - placing more emphasis on grip strength than when curling fingers over the bars. I've read this has benefits so perhaps something to to work into the routine..

 

[lazybloke]

A few years ago, on the island of Koh Chang, a friend had some travel hoop thingies that he attached to a tree on the beach, and was doing some pull-ups and things with them.
Now then, he's a lot younger and fitter than me, but undeterred I had to prove that I could do a bit on the hoops. Really straining, I managed several pull-ups, but no lie I had pains in my forearms for many months afterwards. Silly me.

Moral of the story - don't try to compete with someone half your age

Sounds like me last week when I became strangely competitive and "had" to do pull-ups on, of all things, a 48U server cabinet.
Okay, half a pull-up.

 

[Webbo2]

Sounds like me last week when I became strangely competitive and "had" to do pull-ups on, of all things, a 48U server cabinet.
Okay, half a pull-up.

Similar here I heard from my daughter that my son in law who is 30 years younger, had bought a pull bar to train so he could pass his army fitness test. I think they have to do 5.
So after I had been climbing for an hour and half I put my 20 lb weight belt on and managed a reasonably good one.

 

[wafter]

Another scintillating update..

Last visit was Wednesday, a full week after the previous one for various reasons. Managed 45/45/30 seconds on the RTO support hold; the first feeling like properly good form. In addition my arms felt less like they were going to snap like twigs at the elbows; managing a comfortable amount of rotation outward before my right elbow area started to protest.

As usual the session was punishing but afterwards it felt much like the muscles directly above and below my elbows had taken the beating rather than the joints themselves; which is encouraging.

Rows passed with now-standard good form if little progression so little to report. Knee-raises hit a PR of 34 on the first set, diminishing on subsequent. This is especially rewarding since I've not changed this program (unlike the support hold where I've gone through three successively harder iterations) so it shows good progress from when I started and could barely do 10. Ultimately the limiting factor is my abs, however my quads also protest and progressively limit the height to which I can raise my knees as the set progresses.

I'm still trying to identify which groups I'm not hitting as much as the others - forearms, core and back seem pretty good; biceps, triceps, pecs (lower especially) and maybe some aspects of the shoulders need more work. With this comes picking through available exercises that my crap joints will tolerate / body weight stuff that I can actually achieve.

I'm still half-arsedly doing pressups (good for pecs / shoulders) and bicep curls on off-days, while dips tick the pecs / anterior shoulders box although I can't do these for toffee on the rings. Historically I've never had much luck on bars either; however I think recently a combination of revised posture, lighter body mass and a bit more strength have improved things and today I've managed to do two sets of two shakey efforts on the local bike hoops / racks

I'm not sure how good the range of motion was (went from the "bars" being just below hand height while standing to my knees nearly touching the floor; so a bit less than shin / foot length) but it definitely feels like progress. Left side feels like it's done more work so the usual asymmetry remains present.

Progress continues to be undoubtedly slow and I probably have less muscle mass than many take for granted when doing zero exercise, but it's rewarding to see some gains, while slowly adding in new routines to round out the exercise and new stretches to temper the after-effects and hopefully improve flexibility.

It took a couple of days for the DOMS to kick in and on Thursday night I went to sleep feeling really content with seemingly every part of me gently buzzing with that warmth that follows a good thrashing and suggests something positive is occurring

On one final positive note the twinge across my chest below my clavicle seems to have gone after trying to be a bit more gentle / controlled whilst hanging, the crispyness in my right shoulder also appears to have done one too.

 

[Webbo2]

Just bought my self a lifting pin. Apparently the way forward for finger strength is not deadhanging but is lifting weights off the floor single handed with your portable finger board.
First session today and my forearms felt well worked but I did climb first which was a bit of a battle given it was 26 degrees in the garage.

 

[wafter]

Just bought my self a lifting pin. Apparently the way forward for finger strength is not deadhanging but is lifting weights off the floor single handed with your portable finger board.
First session today and my forearms felt well worked but I did climb first which was a bit of a battle given it was 26 degrees in the garage.

I guess that figures although personally doesn't sound like a lot of fun! I passed a guy casually scaling the interior wall of the A40's bridge over the canal the other day - it's amazing what some people can get up (which I suspect is related heavily to finger strength).

 

[wafter]

Last visit was on Monday evening, with a bit more progress

Only got 30 seconds on the first go of the support hold due to over-zealous outward rotation of the hands causing my right elbow to protest. Managed about 45 on the second set and a bit over 30 on the third so the total time was about the same as the last session.

Rows were much the same although I think my form is still improving somewhat, which is rewarding.

Managed one more rep on the initial set of knee raises at 35, can never remember what I can get on the latter two but think I got a few more in on the last set which includes raises to each side to target the obliques; which seems to be working nicely from the gentle complaints from that part of me on subsequent days and modest definition in that area

Arguably the best bit came at the end; managing three dips - a whole one more than last time - on the bike racks. This is great since it seems like big progress from literally not being able to do any not so long ago, while also knowing I'm properly targeting my chest which I think has been neglected with the regime I've been following to this point.

The only pain with this is the location of the racks, which are well away from the monkey bars I use with the rings so I'm not really able to integrate the dips into the circuits that involve the other exercises. I could do them at the beginning although they're pretty punishing so probably not great to be going into cold, while doing them at the end would require returning to the bars for the customary dead-hangs I use to stretch everything out.

I do try to visit the bars on off-days for a few pullups and a hang, so perhaps I'll look to do some dips then, although I'm not sure how frequently I'll be visiting given other potential commitments and the descent into winter..

I keep seeing frames for sale that allow pullups, dips etc and could easily fit one in the garden. On the face of it this seems like a great idea and would probably give me more of an incentive to continue over the winter if it was just a case of popping down the side of the flat rather than an 8 mile round trip to the park; however I'm not sure how such apparatus would fare if left out in all weathers. Perhaps something to research further... as if I didn't already have enough to investigate.

Finally I visited a suit shop in town yesterday and caught a proper glimpse of myself from unfamiliar angles thanks to the numerous mirrors in the changing rooms showing me more than the usual cropped frontal I can get at home. I've not seen myself from anything other than this limited view since I started on the strength training and tbh I was quite pleasantly surprised by the amount of definition and lumpy bits in my back; if tempered by some saggy skin above the waistline at the rear, the familiar stubborn remnants of my belly / moobs at the front and of course my old and increasingly haggered face.

Still, better than this time last year