Bro, do you even lift? POAL!

[BUTCH1]

Since my job involves lifting bulk beef boxes, (some over 100lbs) and I help out in the warehouse twice a week I get plenty of "lifting" 5 days a week LOL.

 

[EliteRetard]

I'd be willing to bet that less than 1% of the adult male population could bench 200lbs for 10 reps.

The average healthy male shouldn't weigh 200lbs. More like 150-175lbs depending on height.

Benching your own weight 10 times shouldn't be that hard. Obviously I've become to fat and lazy for my own good. I basically sit around all day almost every day, I can't imagine many people are even more lazy than that...and I can still do 4x 200lbs, I don't expect it will take long to get the rest of the way. And if I'm this fat and lazy and can do this, a healthy male weighing 175 shouldn't struggle much to bench his weight 10x.

I'm quite determined now to meet my own standards. I knew I had gotten much weaker, but surprised I have gotten this weak. I thought I was maintaining basic strength doing a few simple exercises occasionally. I'm going to work towards getting 10x 200lbs, and then will try to maintain at least that much each day (and a variety of pull ups). Even if I drop to a healthier weight, wont hurt to have a little "spare" strength.

 

[edro]

I'd be willing to bet that less than 1% of the adult male population could bench 200lbs for 10 reps.

Definitely agree.

 

[vi edit]

I do a lot more pushing/pulling than lifting. Pull ups, pushups, ab work. A lot isometric stuff. Oh and run A LOT. I'm 4 weeks out from my next half marathon. High amounts of muscle mass don't tend to work well for distance running. I'm sitting right around 175 pounds and 6' tall. Much more weight and it really kills my knees and feet.

 

[purbeast0]

this thread is a perfect example of why you shouldn't ask for lifting/health advice on ATOT and should go to HAF instead.

 

[IronWing]

I've lifted a few months at a time off and on, mostly off. Two reasons for quitting: 1) I do build muscle pretty fast and I reach a point fairly quickly when my wife can no longer safely spot for me. 2) I can't get past the boredom of it.

 

[edro]

Proximity to gym, schedule, etc make a big difference too.
I worked next to a gym for 6 years and lifted 3-4 days a week, after work.

I then changed jobs and was located in the middle of nowhere for about 5 years.
Those years were difficult to get to the gym because it was 15min out of the way and I really just wanted to go home.

New job for last year and a half has a gym 1mi away, so I go at lunch.
It is so nice to have a gym close enough to go at lunch. It is just part of my routine.
They also have a cafe, so I get a protein shake for lunch instead of eating out.
Cheaper, quicker, no family time lost, better for you, part of routine, etc.
It's a win all around.

I have dropped ~20lbs and got back to my original lifts +some from 5-6 years ago.

 

[dank69]

I lift things up and put them down.

 

[vi edit]

this thread is a perfect example of why you shouldn't ask for lifting/health advice on ATOT and should go to HAF instead.

Meh. Even then there's still a wide range of reasons on *WHY* people lift. General health, vanity, personal goals, ect.

It's no different than me with running. There's a certain threshold where you are running for more than the health benefits. I'm well past that point and do it for personal goals and competitive reasons. That's why I race.

Even in HAF you are going to get advice from people with different goals than your own. What works for one person won't work for another. And the motivation behind it makes a big difference in the approach you take to it.

 

[Ackmed]

Not a religion to me, but I do several times a week. But I get paid by my job 2.25 hours a week to go to the gym so not too bad. There are other reasons why, many of which are listed here already. Plus it's good time with the wife.

 

[KMFJD]

 

[purbeast0]

Meh. Even then there's still a wide range of reasons on *WHY* people lift. General health, vanity, personal goals, ect.

It's no different than me with running. There's a certain threshold where you are running for more than the health benefits. I'm well past that point and do it for personal goals and competitive reasons. That's why I race.

Even in HAF you are going to get advice from people with different goals than your own. What works for one person won't work for another. And the motivation behind it makes a big difference in the approach you take to it.

i'm talking about all of the misinformation that comes from people in these types of threads in ATOT.

 

[child of wonder]

Got into doing push ups, crunches, bicep curls, squats, etc. at home with a pair of dumb bells at kept at it for about 4 months. Did notice bigger arms and pecs and was able to go from only a couple push ups at a time to 40+ so there was definitely improvement.

It's been 7 months now. Really should start back up. Wasn't getting big visible improvements but the progress in how much I could lift or the number of reps I could do was fulfilling.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I used to when I had my old job. I used to go to the gym so I could do squats fueled by pure anger and frustration.

With my new job, I find myself too mentally exhausted to lift. I need to go back in for the summer and refirm up.

 

[DrPizza]

I lift a couple of 50lb hay bales daily. Does that count?

It's not a lot most of the year, though a daily chore. But during the summer time... It's a good workout to walk a couple miles, following the tractor and wagon, picking up bales and tossing them onto the wagon (when the bale kicker isn't working, which is how it usually goes.) Then, you get to look forward to unloading them from the wagon, and stacking them in the barn.

 

[vi edit]

It's not a lot most of the year, though a daily chore. But during the summer time... It's a good workout to walk a couple miles, following the tractor and wagon, picking up bales and tossing them onto the wagon (when the bale kicker isn't working, which is how it usually goes.) Then, you get to look forward to unloading them from the wagon, and stacking them in the barn.

Bonus cardio when you find the random bumble bee nest in the bale stack and go running away in terror.

 

[SlitheryDee]

It's not a lot most of the year, though a daily chore. But during the summer time... It's a good workout to walk a couple miles, following the tractor and wagon, picking up bales and tossing them onto the wagon (when the bale kicker isn't working, which is how it usually goes.) Then, you get to look forward to unloading them from the wagon, and stacking them in the barn.

You know I hear this kind of thing fairly regularly, about how hard labor can be a substitute for actual targeted exercise. In terms of cardiovascular health maybe it's true, but I never see anything approaching a respectable physique in people who engage in that kind of work and nothing else. Usually they'll just be very thin people with no appreciable musculature, or perhaps "average" sized people with the same slight paunch and doughy definition as any person who does nothing more than eat reasonably well with no exercise.

That's people who do hard work in the hot sun for endless hours, and they get essentially no aesthetic benefit from it. I don't doubt that they are able to eat more than most people without worrying about gaining weight, but in 4.5 hours a week I can realize more tangible physiological benefits than they can in 40 hours of back breaking labor. If that doesn't demonstrate the power of exercise for it's own sake I don't know what does.

 

[Jeff7]

this thread is a perfect example of why you shouldn't ask for lifting/health advice on ATOT and should go to HAF instead.

Well, to be fair, the OP was only asking "do you lift" and nothing beyond that.

But I suppose your point is still quite valid. 😀

 

[deadlyapp]

You know I hear this kind of thing fairly regularly, about how hard labor can be a substitute for actual targeted exercise. In terms of cardiovascular health maybe it's true, but I never see anything approaching a respectable physique in people who engage in that kind of work and nothing else. Usually they'll just be very thin people with no appreciable musculature, or perhaps "average" sized people with the same slight paunch and doughy definition as any person who does nothing more than eat reasonably well with no exercise.

That's people who do hard work in the hot sun for endless hours, and they get essentially no aesthetic benefit from it. I don't doubt that they are able to eat more than most people without worrying about gaining weight, but in 4.5 hours a week I can realize more tangible physiological benefits than they can in 40 hours of back breaking labor. If that doesn't demonstrate the power of exercise for it's own sake I don't know what does.

I would disagree. While they may not have some targeted muscle groups that bodybuilders would work on (eg abdominals, chest, etc) the guys I know that work in warehouses moving weight are quite muscular, and provided they keep their weight down, are aesthetic monsters.

There's a reason that "functional movement" is a big part of most trendy programming.

 

[stlc8tr]

Benching your own weight 10 times shouldn't be that hard. Obviously I've become to fat and lazy for my own good. I basically sit around all day almost every day, I can't imagine many people are even more lazy than that...and I can still do 4x 200lbs, I don't expect it will take long to get the rest of the way. And if I'm this fat and lazy and can do this, a healthy male weighing 175 shouldn't struggle much to bench his weight 10x.

Operative word being "healthy". There's a reason that you see so many articles about how Americans are fat and out of shape.

Benching your own weight 10X is a good baseline for being in-shape but it's actually very hard to do if the person doesn't exercise regularly. (And we're talking about "real" reps, not the super shallow "Jurassic" reps that you sometimes see at the gym. 😀)

 

[DrPizza]

I've never quite understood meat heads' (no offense meant) fascination with how many pounds they can bench press. Why? Why is the bench press the metric? It's completely useless functionally, unless you're going to crawl under a car and push it up while someone's changing a tire. I go to the store and pick up two 50 pound bags of dog food - I don't even consider getting a shopping cart - I just toss them up on my shoulder. At home, when I'm carrying grain, I don't waste my time with fewer than 3 50 pound bags at a time - and that's relatively effortless to do. During hay season, I'm picking up 50 pound bales of hay and throwing them 10 feet up, else 20 or more feet across the barn for hours on end. But, there's no way in hell that I could bench press my own weight - that seems to only be the domain of people who spend time at the gym, most of whom would give up if they were doing hay, within 20 minutes or so.

 

[stlc8tr]

It's one metric. You could use another one if you want. Deadlifts or squats.

Heck, throw in a strongest man reference like how thick of an iron bar you can bend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke2XFIuSqRw

(And unless you're 350+ lbs, I don't believe you about benching your own weight. If you can toss a 50# bale of hay 20+ feet, you should be able to bench your own weight.)

 

[Charmonium]

But, there's no way in hell that I could bench press my own weight - that seems to only be the domain of people who spend time at the gym, most of whom would give up if they were doing hay, within 20 minutes or so.

If you work out properly, by which I mean you hit all of the major muscle groups, tossing around 50lbs is nothing. The only reason someone might not be able to do it all day is that they haven't built up their aerobic capacity. But that's easy enough to do by tossing in some cardio.

 

[Paladin3]

Then he says to me, "Give me a situp".
I said, "Oh, Nay Nay!"
I don't do "Ups" I told him that when I signed up. I don't do "Ups".
I do "Downs".
Sit down, lay down, Black-Jack I'll double-down...
Give me a cheeseburger I'll wolf it down.
Put on a little music, I'll boogie down.
But I don't do "Ups"!
Ups defy gravity...
Gravity is a law...
I obey the law...

 

[Jeff7]

I've never quite understood meat heads' (no offense meant) fascination with how many pounds they can bench press. Why? Why is the bench press the metric? It's completely useless functionally, unless you're going to crawl under a car and push it up while someone's changing a tire.
...

Well come on now, you surely must appreciate the usefulness of having a unified measurement system in order to simplify comparisons, a system of metrics, if you will. Boiling point of water at some pressure, speed of light in a vacuum, lifting of a mass while resting upon some form of bench located within a defined gravitational field.....all are somewhat arbitrary in their own way.
😀