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When getting Back in the gym after time off from it, can’t really get into heavy lifting right away…

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While it does feel real good to get back in a gym after time off from it due to pandemic, I really shouldn’t go crazy with the heavy lifting right away and I haven’t been. I’ve been going slightly lighter. It’s good to do that ’cause if you go wicked heavy right when you go in, you’re gonna feel so sore the next day you wouldn’t be able to walk around well… haha… knowing from my own experience. So I’m gonna take it easy for two weeks before I get back into serious lifting and strength training.

Yeah, I did lose a little bit of muscle probably but I can get it back. I’m back into powerlifting training on the big three: bench, deadlift and squat but like I said, taking it easy at first. Not gonna do any crazy heavy lifting just yet. I just gotta take some time to get used to the gym again, ya know?

When I do get back into serious strength training in powerlifting, I’m gonna really spend a lot of time trying to build up my pr numbers on the big three. Doing a lot of reading on powerlifting, I read that the secret to making quick progress is “never” missing a lift. You’re not gonna make progress by missing lifts all the time in powerlifting. I gotta stop missing lifts and maybe I’ll get somewhere soon.

If it wasn’t for this stupid pandemic, my powerlifting numbers would have had a major improvement but I’m gonna work on that for the rest of the year and all of next year. Focus on powerlifting. I’ll do still bodybuilding like always of course, I’ll never ignore hypertrophy training ’cause that’s important. I’m still gonna do those heavy sets and few reps on the big three.

I really want my pr numbers to go up and improve. I’m hoping to go over 300 lbs. on deadlift, hoping to get up to 200 lbs. on squat and bench too. Maybe a little more if I can.

I miss powerlifting training though and glad to get back into it finally. I really miss competing in powerlifting meets too as I didn’t get to do that this year. I wanted to compete for Albany Strength and wanted to compete for a USAPL meet since I registered for them but now all this pandemic shit happened. Someday I will compete in a powerlifting meet ’cause I love those. Maybe in 2021???? Cross fingers for now.

Kev

Health and Fitness, Politics/war

Looks like I’m gonna be without a gym for a while longer thanks to douchebag Cuomo…

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Everybody kept thinking that gyms were going re-open in NY ’cause of Phase 4 but Gov. Cuomo was never clear or not on if gyms were a part of phase 4 re-opening in NY state. Then Cuomo responds claiming that gyms are not part of Phase 4 which is bullshit since Phase 4 clearly falls under education, recreation, arts and entertainment. I mean, you would think that “gyms” would fall under “recreation”, right? Then Cuomo claims that’s not he what he meant, huh??? This also includes malls and movie theaters staying closed that would fall under “arts” and “entertainment” in Phase 4.

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/06/30/omitted-from-phase-four-reopening–gym-owners-gear-up-to-sue

I’m not gonna lie that NY being without gyms during this stupid lockdown is getting to me a little bit. I am going a little crazy, honestly ’cause if it weren’t for this stupid lockdown, I would have been going to the gym all summer continuing to get those bodybuilding gains and bringing up pr’s in powerlifting.

As you can see in the article I posted above, 100’s of gym owners are angry about it too and they’re suing the state to fight back… hoping to get the gym’s re-opened.

There’s no reason to keep gyms closed ’cause it’s all about control and power, in my opinion. Keeping gyms closed and forcing people to not get any exercise is not cool. A lot of us can’t have our own home gym ’cause of no space or can’t afford our own home gym.

This really sucks for weightlifters. Not being able to lift weights and lose all your progress and lose all of your years of hard work? Ugggggghhh… I’m not ready for that. It would suck that we had to go without gyms for the rest of the year but we can get gyms back open… we just gotta keep pressuring Cuomo so I’m glad all those NY gym owners filed lawsuit and fighting back.

I hope the gyms get back open this year ’cause as soon as it does, I’m going right back on the first day and I’ll be working harder than ever on the weightlifting. Yeah, I probably lost some muscle and strength but I’ll work really hard to get it all back.

There really is no reason to keep gyms closed as long as masks and social distancing works. Lefties can go out there and protest and destroy things but we can’t get in a good workout??? Yup, you can’t get covid-19 rioting and looting but you can get it going to the gym. Fucking unreal. Liberalism is getting more and more insane.

I miss the gym badly though ’cause it’s like my 2nd home really. My home away from home. It’s what I do to get away from everything. Weightlifting my passion.

Kev

Health and Fitness

So gyms are closed… don’t worry about losing muscle and strength for a few weeks…

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So a lot of gyms all across America are closing left & right and before you know it, all gyms will be closed. If your gym is closed, I’m sure you all are freakin’ out about it… you’re probably like, “Oh no, I’m going to lose all my muscle and strength. Lose all my hard work and gains!”.

Um, no you won’t. A lot of gyms out there are only going to be closed for a few weeks and you won’t lose muscle in a few weeks. If you’re not working out, yes, your muscle will start to atrophy but that’s not gonna happen right away.

Not too long ago when I took a month off to heal a leg injury, I came back from the gym and didn’t really lose any strength at all. I’ve noticed that. I didn’t lose my bench press, deadlift and squat numbers at all. I was still doing 40 lb. dumbbell arm curls too. So I would assume that it takes a few months for muscle to start to atrophy.

Years of hard work, you won’t lose even if you take a little break from it.

It’s funny, ya know. I took a little break from the gym not too long ago to heal a leg injury but looks like I’ve got to take a little break from working out again due to all the gym closures.

Anyhow, if you still feel the need to work out, you can do a bunch of body weight workouts at home like all the workouts Arnold just posted on his instagram for example. You just gotta be creative and think. Do bodyworkouts, do yoga and all kinds of stretching. Lots of possibilities. If you don’t have access to a gym, you can workout anywhere.

I’m not gonna lie that I’m pretty bummed about gym closings too but what are ya gonna do, ya know? It’s only for a few weeks, I hope. When gyms get back open, I’m gonna get back to training real hard all Summer long.

Also, think of as gyms closing down as an opportunity to rest and heal. Your body and cns probably needs a little break and if you have injuries, it’s a good opportunity to heal all injuries too ’cause I know you’re probably hiding a few minor injuries, lol.

You don’t always need a gym to workout in. If you need your cardio, forget all those cardio machines in the gym… you can go for a walk outside and ride your bike. Walking outside and riding bike is not cancelled so go for it.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Still got that left leg injury but going to physical therapy for it next week…

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For the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to get back to doing lower body work but I’ve been trying to get back into it lightly and carefully since I still got that left leg injury. I went to the doctor last Thursday afternoon and the left leg injury is not that serious thankfully. The doctor said the injury would be healed in two to four weeks easily. So thankfully I won’t be needing surgery on this left leg… that’s definitely a big sigh of relief for sure.

The doctor recommended that I go to Physical Therapy and I will do that next week. So back to no lower body lifting at all. I want the injury gone completely and gone forever so I can go back to my powerlifting training for the lower body. It’s holding back my powerlifting training and it’s not good.

I also want the left leg injury gone so I can feel good walking and standing for a long time ’cause I shouldn’t be feeling that.

I took a couple of months off of no longer body lifting hoping it will heal on its own but since it didn’t, I could no longer ignore it and finally decided to see a doctor about it. Glad he recommended Physical Therapy. Physical Therapists are smart and they know their stuff. They can probably fix me up real fast and the injury will be gone quick before you know it hopefully.

I want to get back to big deadlifting ’cause I love deadlifting. Doing deadlifts is my favorite lift and workout of them all. This injury is holding back my deadlift numbers but thankfully, I haven’t lost any deadlift strength. Just last week, I smashed an easy 280 lb. single so I believe I still have the 300 lb. deadlift pr. Haven’t lost it at all and still got it. If you take time off due to an injury you won’t lose strength right away so nothing to worry about.

I’ll get back to big deadlifting very soon, hopefully in March. I need to get back to serious squatting so I can improve my numbers on that too. I want to get back to strength training for powerlifting but gotta get rid of this leg injury.

I’ve gotten back into heavy bench pressing again ’cause my upper body is all good. I’m pretty clear of injuries on the upper body so for now I’ll just do upper body work in the gym only for the time being. I haven’t lost bench strength either as I still got that too.

Soon I’ll get back into deadlifting and squatting again, very soon.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Tnation article: 6 Gym villains you love to hate…

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Earlier today, I just read this entertaining T-nation article and it’s a good read. I agree with it all and have seen it all at public gyms over the years. Yeah, going to a public gym maybe a lot of fun and you go there to have fun and get a good workout in but sometimes the gym makes you want to hate people… seriously.

For those who are too lazy to read articles but read titles only… here are the 6 Gym Villains this article wrote about…:

  1. Fake MMA Guy
  2. Locker Room Selfie Guy
  3. Weight-belt fashion statement guy
  4. Half Repping Noisy Guy
  5. The Talker
  6. Girl Who Doesn’t Want Attention But Really Does

https://www.t-nation.com/opinion/6-gym-villains-you-love-to-hate?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article8746&fbclid=IwAR3oiaDmMya9hB_uyiiu-cR32QgZk496Pyb5W4W3JB4c58pfwj-ImzqvYYY

Yup, I have seen it all except… I am guilty at taking locker room selfies of myself before but I try not to do it too much. I don’t think I’ll do it anymore.

As for the fake MMA guy goes, you see it all the time… this guy who uses a commercial gym instead of a more appropriate MMA styled gym which are all over America. The same goes for boxers too, they don’t need to be using a public gym to go all over the place. I’ve seen fake MMA fighters/boxers shadowboxing with dumbbells before and it’s funny. I’ve also seen fake fighters fighting by himself in front of a mirror a lot. It’s funny to see really. They also do all these weird workouts like bench steppers, arm band stuff, box jumping and all that crap. Really? Go find a boxing gym to do all that stuff with ’cause they are all over the place. Now that MMA is legal in NY State, I’m sure there are MMA schools all over.

As for the weightbelt wearing guy, I’ve seen other guys wear that for every workout. It’s okay to wear a weightbelt for deadlifting and squatting, yes but wearing a belt throughout the day? Lmao!!!!

As for the Half-Repping Noisy Guy, I’ve seen that all the time as well. I’ve seen meatheads trying to lift heavy weights with half-assed range of motion and they’re grunting and sometimes screaming. It’s a big problem at the gym I go to, I see it all the time, it’s laughable.

The Talker pisses me off too… at every gym you go to there will always be this chatty person who talks to everybody and they will talk to each other for hours and hours between their sets. Not good for the body and muscles. When I go to the gym, I’m always listening to music with earphones on so I can give people a hint to leave me alone but of course, someone always tries to chat me up. It’s freakin’ annoying.

Now the girl who doesn’t want attention but really does, yes, that is a problem with women absolutely. Women pretend to not want attention at gyms by wearing a ballcap pull down to cover their face, listening to music to give men a hint to leave them alone but their gym attire sometimes, though… they wear things that show too much skin and even cleavage… when in-shape women look like this you can’t help but check her out and I’m guilty of this sometimes… checking out the good looking women with toned bodies…. how can you not want to look away? Of course they want attention with the guys, don’t let ’em fool ya’.

I thought this was a great article and thought I would share.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Leg injury is getting way better now that I stopped the lower body lifting for a long long while…

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I guess I might not need a doctor after all ’cause my upper left leg injury (or the hip flexor is what they call it) is feeling way better lately since I’ve giving my legs a much longer break. I’ve taken two months off of lower body lifting and no deadlifting at all whatsoever. I’m not 100% yet but pretty close to it. I may be able to get back to lower body lifting again real soon. I should give it a few more weeks, maybe I don’t know.

My left leg is feeling good, though. Maybe I can go back to doing legs again, just lift light ’cause light lifting is not gonna hurt it. I could probably go back to doing legs and deadlifting again but lift real light. I’ll give it a shot.

I may have  lost some muscle on the legs due to no lifting but I’ll get it all back once I’m 100%. I might have lost some deadlift strength “again” and probably can’t lift the 300 lb. deadlift anymore but I’ll get that back as well. We’ll see how it goes.

I do miss the heavy deadlifting and I want to get back into that pretty badly ’cause I love the deadlift. It’s my favorite lift out of everything I do. I’ll never give up the deadlift. When I get back from injury, I’m gonna be training harder than ever and hope to get my 300 lb. deadlift back. My goal this year in 2020 is hopefully hit pr’s on deadlift that are over 300 lbs. I hope to do 300 lbs. for reps pretty soon. I’m gonna work my way up to a 400 lb. pr on deadlift this year but first I gotta get healed up from this injury.

Injury setbacks suck. Injuries can take forever to heal depending on how bad it is. I guess this injury was pretty good since it’s taking me more than two months to heal but it’s gotten way better now, though.

I don’t blame deadlifting and squatting for this injury. I got it from the leg press which is what I don’t like and I’ll probably end up ditching the leg press from my program completely, not sure yet. I probably won’t do leg press anymore. To workout my quads, I’ll probably just do the leg ext. machine and do barbell squats. I could also probably workout the legs doing stuff with dumbbells like Goblet Squats or Lunges… I’ll probably end up doing that instead of the leg press.

I don’t want to get injured like this again and I’ll be more careful next time.

I’ve been going to the gym 3 days a week for a while now. Skipping leg days for two months. I’m gonna go back to 4 days a week soon. I might go back to 4 days this week. Do leg day this week but go in lightly.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Gonna have to get my left leg injury a look at by a doctor soon, still got it unfortunately…

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Welp, I’m gonna have to get my upper left leg injury a look at by my doctor pretty soon as I’ll be having an appointment in a few weeks. After a month off of the gym, I still got the upper left leg injury (or the hip flexor is what they call it).

I’m gonna go get it checked out by a doctor in a few weeks to make sure nothing is torn so hopefully nothing is torn. I’m pretty sure nothing’s torn ’cause if it was torn you would know by seeing some nasty discoloring… I’m not seeing anything like that. I probably just got a nasty muscle pull or something.

I’ve gone back to the gym this week but no lower body lifting and no deadlifting for a long while, unfortunately. Hopefully I won’t be needing surgery on this leg or won’t be walking on crutches or anything like that. If so then so be it, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of this leg pain forever.

I’m sure the doctor could figure out what it is real quick and hopefully they can give it something to make it go away faster, that’s what I’m hoping the most. My powerlifting training will be on hold as of this moment.

Injury setbacks sucks. I’ve done pretty good staying injury free for the most part until now. I just want this leg pain to go away completely so I can go back to serious powerlifting training ’cause it’s holding back my numbers.

Injuries suck and yes, I do get ’em once in a blue moon. Not very often. I’m always very careful in the gym.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Left leg injury update: feeling way better this week after deciding to take a full month off of the gym for good!

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Well, my upper left leg injury is feeling really good this week. Feeling way better after decided to take a gym hiatus. I vowed to take a full month off lifting completely for the month of Dec. and ’cause of that all minor injuries seem to be gone.

My upper left leg is no longer feeling pain and no cramps after standing a long time, hip has gotten better and no longer feeling left-shoulder weakness so it’s all looking good. I’m still gonna take this week off the gym to give them even more time and I maybe good enough to start going back to the gym next week.

I’ve also been battling a nasty sinus infection for over a week and feeling better with that today.

Ugggh, gym setbacks suck but I’ve had them before. I think I’ll be good enough to go back to the gym next week to go back to some serious lifting on both bodybuilding and powerlifting ’cause I miss that.

Like I said before, it’s okay to take time off from the gym only if you’re either injured or sick. You can’t take time off just because you want to. If you’re injured gotta stop training ’cause working out through an injury is not gonna make it better.

I’ll probably go back to the gym next week, we’ll see. Goal for the gym in 2020 is to keep going through a full year without getting injured and I’ll be careful next time.

I want to go back to powerlifting training. Go back to heavy lifting on the big three: bench, squat and deadlift. Hope my numbers on those three lifts didn’t go down but if they did, oh well. I’ll go back training a lot harder than ever before! I’ll build my “pr’s” back up in 2020.

Kev

Health and Fitness

Leg injury update, still got it a little bit but I can feel it going away though…

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Thought I would give you a little injury update on my left leg… since I took three weeks off of lower body lifting, I can feel the left leg getting better. Still not 100% yet but getting there. I don’t want to get back into lower body lifting again ’cause if I did, I would re-injure it and it would come back and that’s what I don’t want. I can’t go back to lower body lifting at all until it heals 100%. I predict that it could take a couple of more weeks to heal fully… maybe like 2 or 3 weeks, we’ll see how it goes. If it takes a whole month off to heal the injury all the way, I’ll take it.

My left shoulder is bothering me again a little bit so I guess no upper body lifting for a while as well, lmao. That means I gotta stay away from weightlifting altogether if I want my minor injuries to heal completely.

I know these injuries are going away ’cause I can feel them. Even though I can’t get back into weightlifting at all, I won’t stop going to the gym, though. I can go to the gym and just walk the treadmill for an hour but that’s about all I can do. I did end up taking a full week off of the gym last week so that helped a lot.

Like I said, it’s completely okay to take time off from the gym if you’re hurting ’cause that’s what you gotta do. I don’t think anything is torn ’cause if something was torn you would see some nasty discoloring and I don’t have any of that. I think these minor injuries are just a strain or a pull or something, nothing that bad. I want them gone forever so no lifting until they are gone. I’ll take a full month off or more than a month, whatever it takes.

Getting injuries suck as I have had them before and they do take forever to heal. Yeah, you may lose a little muscle and a little strength during recovery but like I said, don’t worry… you’ll get it all back pretty quick. I do miss the deadlifting already and I want to get back into it pretty badly but not until I’m 100%.

I don’t regret taking time off from the gym for these injuries, though ’cause it’s almost at the end of the year and it’s a good time to heal anyways ’cause once I do heal fully… I’m gonna get back into kicking ass in the gym in 2020.

When I look in the mirror, though… I couldn’t believe how big my arms and my shoulders are getting, though. Hate to brag about myself but my arms are getting impressive.

I’m getting better… just gotta stop lifting for a while longer. I know it sucks but that’s what I gotta do. I want to get back into strength training for powerlifting real soon but not right now. Hopefully I’ll be 100% in the month of Dec.

Kev

Health and Fitness

The only time you should be taking time off from the gym is when you’re either injured or sick… but taking time off from the gym ’cause you don’t want to workout is not good…

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If you want to get real strong and get real muscular in bodybuilding & powerlifting, you gotta stay consistent. You can’t give it up. That means you gotta keep going all year round. You’re not gonna get strong and muscular by slacking from the gym. Too many lifters slack from the gym from time to time. Slacking, their way of saying that they stopped going to the gym and taking time off from the gym just because they don’t want to workout or don’t feel like it which is bad. A lot of lifters do that from time to time, take a long break and then they come back to the gym admitting they’ve been slacking.

There are people who only work out at certain times of the year. It’s mostly during Spring/Summer where public gyms get real busy but during the Fall/Winter that’s when a lot of people would stop.

You see, I don’t do that. I like to workout in the gym all year-round. Stay in shape all-year round. I keep going to the gym all year round even throughout the Fall-Winter. This is what you must do if you want to have the body of your dreams and get real strong for powerlifting. The more you take time off, the more your body starts to atrophy… meaning that you’ll lose muscle. You won’t get strong and you won’t build muscle by not working out and not lifting weights. You won’t keep the muscle when you take a lot of time off from the gym. Sorry but that’s just the sad truth. That’s why you gotta stay consistent and not give it up.

This is why I feel I’ve gotten bigger in size. It’s why my arms are getting bigger and it’s why I’ve gotten some pretty serious chest gains ’cause I’ve been hitting the gym non-stop throughout the 4 seasons all year round. I’m committed and dedicated to this.

I rarely take time off from the gym except for one or two times a year. The only time you should take time off from the gym is when you’re either very sick or injured.

I haven’t been doing lower body lifting for the past two weeks ’cause I’m trying to make my left leg injury go away for good. I may have to give it another week this weekend ’cause I still got it just a little tiny bit. It’s feeling a lot better now but I still got it just a little. I should take the whole month of Nov. off of the gym ’cause my body feels beatup. It’s a good idea for me to take Nov. off of lifting so I can heal and recharge. My left shoulder still feels a little weak admittedly so I guess no upper body lifting for a few weeks as well.

I want to heal all the way so I can get back into strength training for powerlifting hopefully in Dec. I just want these injuries gone for good. It’s okay to take time off from the gym if you’re hurting, though ’cause that’s what you gotta do. You won’t get rid of injuries faster if you keep training that hurt body part. When you don’t put weight on it, the injury will go away faster but if you train that hurt body part again, it’ll come back or will get worse. That’s why you gotta stop training as soon as possible.

This sucks ’cause I want to get back into heavy lifting again so I can prepare for my first USAPL meet whenever that will be. I don’t think I’ll do a USAPL meet this year but I think 2020 will be my year for sure.

During injury recovery, I might lose a little bit of muscle and strength but I’ll get it back. Injuries are frustrating and annoying but once I heal completely, I’ll be more careful so I won’t get ’em ever again.

Nov. is a great time for me to settle down on the lifting in the gym, though. Sometimes you need that so you can heal and recharge. I do know that when I get back into heavy lifting, my body will be sore after but that’s good.

I want to get back into big deadlifting again ’cause I’m missing that already. I could if I wanted but if I did then my left leg injury would come back and don’t want it to come back. It’s just about getting better right now so I think I’ll give it two more weeks. No doctor needed. I can heal it all on my own.

Kev