Weightlifting for Kiwis - Discussion and support regarding the art of swole

Treadmills and cardio devices have their use like if you use them to warm up before doing any other sport (gyms with climbing walls etc.) .
Wondering if there's any good PT shoes that are not just lazily mould-in pancakes?
 
Feels like Im getting gains cucked by my lack of cardio. Did a 30 min walk to maintain a level 2 heart rate after my sets and for a couple days after I felt a lot more energized during my rests for a few days after. If only it wasnt so fucking boriiiing
 
Jerk Sausage said:
Since we're on the topic of cardio, I started rucking recently as my primary form of cardio/conditioning. I wake up 5:30am, throw a pack on (25lbs right now, will add 5lbs every week or so until hopefully 65lbs), and walk a trail where I get to hear ducks, geese, frogs, see foxes, etc. The sun is up by the time I'm done, I've walked 4+ miles, and I'm just alone hearing nature and thinking about the day ahead. It's nice. Then I do my barbell stuff, and start the work day.

My quads are sore and knees a bit tender after doing it a few days in a row, so I'll probably only do it 3-4 times a week. But it solves a few problems I've had:
  • I wasn't doing any form of cardio, only strength training. I'm not terribly overweight but could lose some belly fat.
  • I wasn't getting outside enough.
  • I wasn't spending enough quiet time alone with my thoughts during the day. I don't walk with headphones so I get to just process life and have some quiet before jumping into straight into work.
I hate running so it's like Walking++.
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Rucking fucks. I've heard you're not really meant to exceed 50lbs though. A lot of people use military loadouts as a frame of reference but forget that the military does not give a fuck about your knees or the rest of your body, and supposedly the US military itself did some research not too long ago that found 50lbs is about the sustainable limit, but that's just what I heard through The Comfort Crisis so I don't know how true it is. It's also very contextual; my backpacking pack is usually around 35lbs and on flat ground at low elevation it doesn't even get me into zone 2, but on trails in the rockies I'm in and out of zone 5.

I'd recommend getting a decent heart rate tracker (the kind that goes around your chest) and working backward from your goals. From what I've heard zone 2, low-intensity steady state cardio is best for fat loss, but high-intensity interval training is better for actual cardiovascular insult and adaptation. If you're mainly after fat loss, pick a flat route and add weight until you're consistently in zone 2; if you want to really train cardio health, go lower weight on a trail with a lot of elevation changes. Natural HIIT dictated by your environment, you work hard on the way up and relax on the way down.

I also hated running until I started trail running which I now love, for the reasons you mentioned and also because trails are softer than pavement and easier on your joints + spine, and because the irregular nature of trails keeps you mentally engaged and adapting and not just repeating the same movement thousands of times.

Rucking is also just a good fucking skill to have or at least be familiar with. Sometimes when I don't want to exercise I think of an image somebody posted that just says "You are hated. Train like it." which sounds like cringe edgelord bullshit but then I remember the tweet that said "Charlie Kirk got killed for holding my views and he didn't even hold them" and I remember that yeah a lot of these people probably wouldn't think twice about shooting me, so every hour spent navigating the woods with a pack is preparation for surviving the gay retarded IDPOL proxy civil war.

But then I forget about that and enjoy myself because nature is cool.

a-Lager said:
If only it wasnt so fucking boriiiing
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Get an audiobook. Civilize the mind but make savage the body, etc.
 
Kiwi Bros, I want to share something with you all.

My growth had stagnated for a bit. I thought at this point I'd have to start blasting gear to see meaningful change.

Nope! Instead a friend of mine pointed out that for as long as I've been training I've never truly pushed it hard.

He suggested I use 2 or 3 sets per muscle group or movement, taking at least the last set to failure.

Dudes, you have to try this! First, you'll find out you're so much stronger than you think and the human body is capable of way, way more than we know. Second, I thought I knew pain from training. I had no fucking clue. Third, lifts and body parts began to grow! Not as much as a geared lifter or newbie gains but much, much faster than I've seen for years.

Go get it, bros. Don't waste your prime lifting years half-assing it the way I did.
 
Dean Pentel said:
Kiwi Bros, I want to share something with you all.

My growth had stagnated for a bit. I thought at this point I'd have to start blasting gear to see meaningful change.

Nope! Instead a friend of mine pointed out that for as long as I've been training I've never truly pushed it hard.

He suggested I use 2 or 3 sets per muscle group or movement, taking at least the last set to failure.

Dudes, you have to try this! First, you'll find out you're so much stronger than you think and the human body is capable of way, way more than we know. Second, I thought I knew pain from training. I had no fucking clue. Third, lifts and body parts began to grow! Not as much as a geared lifter or newbie gains but much, much faster than I've seen for years.

Go get it, bros. Don't waste your prime lifting years half-assing it the way I did.
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The problem of using reps-in-reserve training summed up in one post:
 
dick brain said:
I'd recommend getting a decent heart rate tracker
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Not a fan. I have a Polar chest strap. Strapping it on, making sure it pairs, needing my phone on me, etc. It's all just extra work to do for information which amounts to useless noise. Any extra work is another excuse to not do something. Socks, shoes, shirt/shorts that won't chafe. Go.

That said, the time when I did use the chest strap trained me to know what zone 2 feels like, and I'm definitely not going into zone 3 heart rate on my rucks. Kind of like counting calories; I found it useful to do it consistently for a period in life, but after learning how to guesstimate, I don't benefit from being precise about it.
dick brain said:
I've heard you're not really meant to exceed 50lbs though.
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I'm going by the rule of 1/3rd bodyweight max (180lbs is my lean weight), but I'm not jumping above 50lbs anytime soon. 65lbs is just a long term goal. It's pretty surprising how just 20lbs feels now. It feels like nothing during the walk, but the effects are felt for days.

But overall yea I'm not looking at rucking from the military, punish myself into fitness, David Goggins aspect. It's a nice walk with some added benefit. I'm not doing it to make my nipples and feet bleed.
 
I ended my cut squatting 140 3x5 and actually giving up on squats because it was so agonizing and I finally decided to start squats again and I was squatting 185 out of the gate, crazily enough. Must be because my deadlifts really high too. I went 1x5 45->95->115->135->155->175->185 and was still going pretty good. 190 felt a bit scary but I chalk it up to fatigue. Will try 195 3x5 next time around.

Hopefully now that I'm in a surplus and not in a 9 month extreme holocaust squatting won't be as bad and I can hit the 315 baseline pretty quick. Bulk is ending pretty soon so I might just barely miss a 315 1RM.

Thank you for reading my blogpost.:mutted:
 
CrunkLord420 said:
>CARDIO
PLAY BASKETBALL NIGGA
SHOOT THE BALL
INTO THE HOOP
SWISH
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I'm of the idea that anything is good for cardio as long as you enjoy it, you are not a pro athlete so there is no need to min/max it, I knew of a guy that got amazing cardio because he was playing basketball in the park all day, doing a sport hard is better than going on a run IMO because you get the benefits of doing the sports, Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu got me just as tired as tired as running but I get the benefit of training a martial art,
 
Anime Waifu NFT collector said:
I'm of the idea that anything is good for cardio as long as you enjoy it, you are not a pro athlete so there is no need to min/max it,
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More people should also adopt this mindset when it comes to lifting. The best exercises are the ones you enjoy doing and won't quit in the long run, instead of the ones that give you "optimal hypertrophy" or whatever the fuck science-based lifters are trying to peddle nowadays.
 
The Stranger said:
The problem of using reps-in-reserve training summed up in one post:
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There's nothing wrong with RIR as long as you know what failure is. I generally push to failure the last set of every exercise except a few dangerous ones. Also the last week before a deload week I take every single working set to failure or beyond failure if it's possible to do with the exercise. This allows me to accurately gauge what failure and 1-3 RIR feels like so I don't train like a pussy. There's a right way and a wrong way to do everything. If you have never trained to failure then RIR is pointless because you have no reference. If you know what failure feels like leaving 1-3 RIR can be great for pacing yourself, your exercise and your progression. Especially as you start lifting heavier.
 
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