Form > Figures

Rising through the ranks on Fitocracy has been a fun way to get a little bit of extra motivation exercise, but there's a few things I don't like about it. Since Fitocracy, awards points based on weight and for duration exercises, speed, it puts extra emphasis on upping weight and doing many sets with few reps. But doing low rep sets with near max weight is a great way to break down your form and increase the chances of injury.

I've decided to generally avoid doing lifts at weights that I can't do for at least 4-5 reps and focus on form to avoid injury. The one exception is deadlift, which is just an exercise that works well with high reps. I keep my reps between 2 and 5 for deadlifts, but have been avoiding 1 rep maxes.

Pulling back a little on my max lifts and not seeing any new max PRs is a little disheartening, but I feel a lot safer and I don't have any real problems with my muscles or joints. I also feel that in the long run, avoiding near max level lifts will allow for greater progression.

I am the 1%

I've been keeping up with my workouts for the past couple months aside from a bit of time off for Christmas and taking a week off to get over the flu. I've moved into the top 5000 on Fitocracy with just under 300,000 points, which puts me in the top 1% of accounts. It doesn't mean too much since 90% of accounts are probably inactive and points values are arbitrary but it's still fun to feel like I'm part of a semi-exclusive group.


My lifting has been coming along pretty well since my last post. My deadlift max has increased to 415lbs and my overhead press is up to 137.6. I haven't been upping my squats and bench press weight due to lack of proper equipment and spotting; I've been benching 225 for 5 reps and squatting 225 to 265 for 5 to 8 reps. I feel fairly comfortable that I can remain safe keeping my lifts at those weights and adjusting reps ad necessary to get a good workout. I am not planning to move weight up on those lifts unless I get a proper squat rack or have happen to have a spotting available for bench.


I've been doing more weighted bodyweight exercises lately as well. I can do about 5 parallel grip pull ups and 8 dips with 90 lbs. It's remarkable how light you feel doing bodyweight-only lifts after working with a weight belt.


I still try to run at least 2 days a week, once on the weekend and once on Tuesday. I usually run 3 to 4 miles at around 7mph. My Thursday cardio session has kind of crumbled away because I started doing deadlifts on Thursdays to keep my Wednesday workouts from lasting too long. I'd like to figure out a way to do cardio and deadlifts in the same workout, but I'm not sure that is possible, since cardio leads to sweat which makes the bar difficult to grip. It's hard enough keeping a solid grip on the bar without sweaty hands. Hand chalk can only do so much.


My toe is feeling pretty good these days. I usually only notice it if I try running too fast or wear the wrong types of shoes. I may do another marathon someday if I can keep it feeling good with higher mileage.

Fitocracy

I joined a social networking site called Fitocracy last week as extra motivation to get workouts in and vary my activities. Fitocracy provides tools for you to log your workouts, which are shared publicly with other users. You can "follow" other users and get followers of your own, so you can get a sense of the types of workouts other people are doing. You can also give "props" (basically "like") workouts are make comments. The site awards points for each workout based on the difficulty of the exercises you perform, duration, weight and sets. As you gain points you also gain levels, which gives you something to work toward over time. Although logging workouts with a lot of different exercises takes some time, it’s a nice way to create a log to remember what you've done. The public aspect of the site and the gaining of experience and levels is good for motivation. It also keeps track of your personal bests on all the exercises you log, so you'll know when you hit a new max.


My main gripe with the site so far is the point system. It gives huge rewards for lifting a lot of weight and relatively piddly rewards for cardio activity and certain low weight exercises. For instance, I ran 2.75 miles in about 24:10 last week which netted me around 330 points, I noticed someone else had logged 1 squat with 500 pounds for around the same amount of points. I feel like the points should be adjusted so that cardio and lifting are equal and rewards should take into account other factors like weight, gender and personal bests.


Despite its flaws, it has been fun to track workouts and it has motivated me to incorporate more types of exercises into my routine to grub for points.

Time Flies

Wow. I can't believe it’s been almost three years since I made a post! Time for a recap.



I finished the 2010 twin cities marathon with a not-that-great time somewhere around 4:40. I continued running and trained harder for the 2011 marathon, but I ran out of body salts about 2/3 of the way through and ended up walking 6-7 miles to avoid a total cramp up situation. My toe was and continues to be a nagging issue and some other concerns, mainly creaky knees, have crept up a bit. I decided to skip the 2012 marathon and have yet to sign up for or train for 2013. At the moment I run about once, maybe twice a week at the most and do other supplement my cardio with other things that aren't quite as hard on my foot like biking, swimming, miscellaneous aerobics and using a heavy bag.



My old Teva sandals have just about hit the end of their useful life. I still refuse to get rid of them, even after 2500+ miles and a right heel that is worn down into the soft padding. They have served me well, and I still slip them on for yard work sometimes, like mowing the lawn. I have since replaced them with a pair of modern Tevas that are somewhat looser and less comfortable overall, but they have, at least, allowed me to walk and run to some extent without the same discomfort produced by normal shoes.



I continue to lift 3 days a week, focusing on body-weight exercises. My typical regimen is a two sets each of 30 pull ups, 30 parallel chin ups, rotator cuff exercises, 15 handstand pushups and then some miscellaneous ab exercises, one set of 30 dips and a set of 65-75 elevated foot pushups. At the moment I'm doing lat pull downs with a resistance band instead of my normal pull ups due a bicep injury in my right arm, but I'm still able to do parallel bar chins. I've been doing this same work out consistently with a few variations here and there for last 3.5 years or so. It’s been effective at keeping me in good overall shape, although I've not been progressing at all.



The reason I decided to post again after so long is that I'd like to begin running a bit more and getting in better shape and there's nothing like an imaginary Internet readership to keep you motivated! If I can even boost my exercises by 5 reps or get one more cardio workout in a week, that would be a victory.




Let's turn up the heat!