Dani Chats: Fitness, Rants, Hobbies

Awwwww. So nice!!! :smiling_face:

And thank you for the recommendations; we might have to add that to the “Stuff YOU Like” section and credit you.

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I think it might be common, but a lot of people just don’t realize they’re connected!

There’s a “hip airplane” drill that Squat University teaches (and I think Mind Pump also did a video on it), and if I’m not mistaken, it kinda fires up your hips and helps eliminate knee pain. They say to do it between sets of squats… which for the life of me I can’t remember.

I bet I’m doing something similar to you when squatting. Ha!

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Upper-ish Body Day

So this was mainly just chest and shoulders because the pinchy pain between my right scap and spine started up again, and my chest and shoulders were feeling ready for work!

A1. Machine lateral raise
A2. Banded shoulder external rotation thing

(If someone can tell me the name of A2, you’ll get 10 bonus points because I have no clue what that’s officially called.)

B. Reverse cable flyes: 4 drop sets to failure

C. Hammer strength chest press 4x10 with 10 partials at the top after full ROM set

“If you don’t do the big lifts every workout, you’ll never build muscle!”

Bummer.

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I bet you don’t even know your 1RM bench press. How are you ever going to look strong if you don’t lift things one time? :smiley: Kidding, I respect powerlifters. But some can get a little dogmatic.

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I love this! I agree with so many things that you’ve mentioned here and you’re not doing anything “wrong”.

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This is the story of my life now… something always hurts but I find a way to work around it.

You look great!!! What you’re doing is clearly working for you. I’m happy I stumbled across this thread… I’m one week late to the party so I have some reading to do to catch up.

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This right here is exactly the right mentality. I always tell my clients that I don’t want them to walk around hungry, and if that’s the case we need to play with things until we figure out how to change that. The goal is to be satisfied, not stuffed and not starving. They can do that without obsessively counting calories, tracking macros and weighing/measuring everything. There’s so much more to life, and how you eat needs to sustainable, not miserable - because we all know that in most cases, “gutting it out” is only going to last so long before it’s right back to Big Macs and Oreos.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your training and nutrition philosophies. I feel like, in another life, maybe we were the same person - or at least sisters. lol

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How do you teach clients to find that sweet spot?

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I try to give them some balance - it’s not all or none. I always have them tell me their “must-haves” - this ranges from chocolate and “dessert coffees” for some and chips and salsa and pizza for others and then we work those things in, in healthy moderate amounts. I also give them ways to estimate healthy portions and equip them with strategies for when things get tough - like, when they’re tired, don’t want to cook, having cravings, go out with friends, etc. And I tell them that I don’t expect perfect and neither should they, but I do expect honesty. When they slip, they tell me and we work together to make a plan to avoid the same situation in the future.

Long story short, I give them tools to put in their tool boxes, it’s then up to them to use those tools and not to choose a hammer for something that could easily be solved with a screwdriver. :slight_smile:

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Ah! I’m stoked to hear that. It just seems like there’s so much black-and-white thinking among people who resistance train. It’s often very tribalistic too. And they get so caught up in their one and only correct form of lifting that they often lose site of what matters: results, health, overall life improvement.

If one form of lifting makes your life less good than another form, why keep at it? :sweat_smile:

My heart aches hearing that you’ve been going through some painful stuff.

You’re such an experienced and smart athlete that I think your body is going to tell you exactly what you need to be doing.

Taking the gentler route doesn’t always feel “hard core” but it’ll pay off long term. :heart:

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We’re on the exact same page! I know many people who take the counting approach and love it. They seem to thrive with that strategy. Good for them!

But I also know people who will never make tracking a lifestyle. I did it for a couple years, and it was time consuming, mind consuming (if that makes sense), and it made cooking more of a hassle than it needed to be. Measuring and looking up all the calories and macros in each ingredient of a multi-ingredient meal will force you to make cooking pretty plain or do a lot of math in order to just eat.

That will always be weird to me. LOL

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That cookie looks delicious asf, did @Chris_Shugart get any?

When I was experiencing some fibromyalgia symptoms in my early 30s, I was forced to take time off. I was in so much pain that exercise was not an option. Leaving the house wasn’t even an option on certain days.

The good thing that came out of that? Learning to not worry about a missed workout here or there. I can just get back in the gym when possible and carry on like normal. And here’s a mental hack: when life gets weird for an extended period, and you can’t exercise normally, just look for the silver lining. (I know, so disgustingly cheesy, but it’s true!)

Can’t lift right now? Maybe this means your achy elbows will finally have time to heal. Or maybe it’d be the perfect time to dial in your diet. Or maybe you can make dramatic progress in another area of life.

I think it’s easy for people, who are consistent with any exercise, to start turning it into an identity. Being a “lifter” or “runner” or “crossfitter” or “bodybuilder” or whatever is so common, and these labels probably increase our adherence and make us more consistent at first.

But what sucks about them is when something happens, and you can’t do the activity that defines you. Who are you, then? That mentality can mess you up.

So that’s why I’ve reframed all forms of exercise as a hobby, or a brushing-your-teeth-type activity that you do because it’d feel gross not to. Sure, lifting in particular is super beneficial with perks that pay off long-term, but kinda just a hobby to me nonetheless.

And I’m okay if that means I’m not hard core or super dedicated. But there are plenty of other identities that matter more to me: wife, daughter, employee, disciple, Christ follower, etc. I haven’t been perfect at these things, but I would rather make my life more about them than moving a piece of metal from one location to another for multiple repetitions.

Today’s missed workout brought to you by contractor in the house and dog’s vet appointment! :joy:

EDIT: I do use the term lifter on occasion… because one who lifts is a lifter. But it’s not an identity, just an activity. Kinda like teeth-brusher.

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He did! But I probably ate more to be honest. Thanks for the kind words; wish I could send you some virtually.

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Stuart McRobert in Brawn said something like (I’m paraphrasing/shortening):

Put in the years to build the physique you desire THEN move into a maintenance routine that brings energy, joy and a maintained physique. I’m 58 with 37 years of lifting/fitness under the belt. Never been one to put emphasis on singles, always used rep ranges of 5-15 depending on goals. 20-40 minute sessions 2 or 3 times a week gets it done for me now.

Sounds like you have instinctually/experientially hit on McRobert’s advice!

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I love your lifting style! (And your name is awesome too.)

Yes, Stuart McRobert has some really different and cool approaches to weight training! It’s been exciting to have him writing articles on here now. Thank you for the kind words!

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You are seriously my hero. Everything you post here - I feel hard. Your mentality is so healthy and positive. I try to live this every day, but sometimes the mind games take over. Hearing that it’s okay to not be super hardcore and hard charging from someone that’s living it too goes a long way in helping me believe I’m on the right path. Your log is such great therapy!

Just, THANK YOU!! :heart:

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Well thank YOU for the feedback! Finding out that my rambling confessions are actually helpful to someone means a lot!

I wasn’t sure about keeping a log here since I didn’t feel like my style of lifting would be worth sharing, but it’s been awesome to connect with like-minded people, like you!

:tada::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Lower Body

I went to the gym with knees feeling great but kinda short on time, so the plan was to pick three exercises: one to emphasize quads, one to emphasize hams, and one to emphasize glutes. So I just made the most of my current faves.

Leg Press

• 100 controlled reps - no weight
• EMO2M: 4 sets of 6 slow reps with 45 lbs on each side

I’ve been thinking about an article Coach Thibaudeau wrote a while back: The 100-Rep Method For Big Legs and decided to give it a shot this morning. I actually had to pause every 25 reps at the top. I didn’t re-rack or anything but just took about 5-10 seconds to let the burning ease up. Hopefully with time my legs will tolerate it better.

The thing is, I got mixed up and had the impression that you do these 100 reps just on leg days. NO SIR. You do it at the beginning of every workout. This sounds like the perfect dose of masochism for me right now.

So I’m all in now! 100 reps of the leg press at the beginning of every workout! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The 4 sets of 6 afterward actually felt fine! But instead of adding more weight than the 45 on each side, I chose to just slow down the reps in case my knees started acting up again. Maybe next time I’ll use more weight.

Abductor Machine

• 3 Burning, searing drop sets: 15 reps of the first weight, 10 reps of the second weight, 5 reps on the third weight, then partials if possible. Repeat two more times!

Swiss Ball Ham Curl

• 4 sets of 10 reps (with an isometric hold at the end of each set)

When I discovered how powerful this exercise is, I never went back to the lying ham curl machine.

From an outsider’s perspective, it looks like you’re not doing anything hard. But your upper hammies will beg to differ. Your legs will even shake if you’re contracting hard enough and going slow enough.

If you can’t feel it working, tweak your form a bit. I try to push my hips toward the ceiling because they start wanting to dip as fatigue hits. Though there is a version where you keep your hips low on purpose.

Make it harder by using one leg on the eccentric, or slowing each rep down significantly, or pausing at the hardest part and squeezing those leg muscles as hard as possible. Bradford Cooke demonstrated the coolest variations here: The Toughest Bodyweight Leg Exercise EVER

Anyone want to try the 100 leg press reps (every workout) with me?

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I’m in!! This is going to be AWFUL!!!

On that note, how long are we doing this for? lol

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