favorite lifts

[saansaturday]

I am neither a top fitness bloggers nor a strength coach (yet) but hell, I haven't been writing here at all and thinking about this half-inspired me to post. So, my three favorite (not necessarily most effective) exercises:

1. The deadlift. Could you have guessed? I love deadlifts because they allow me to lift more weight than any other exercise (255 lbs. was my last heavy deadlift and 300 lbs. is my short-term goal). I feel like a badass standing there with that much weight in my hands (no straps, no belt, no equipment whatsoever). Additionally they have made my back thick and heavily muscled, and I do love the aesthetics of a muscular back on either a man or woman. I will take new back photos by March, which would be one year since the photo in the icon. I'm lazy about taking photos but I'm looking forward to seeing what another year of heavy deadlifting has added to what I think was a pretty damn good foundation.

2. Pullups (all the variations I can do, which is currently just chins or parallel-grip). I don't think I've had a moment in the gym as exhilarating as my first chinup. Again, I love these because they make me feel like a badass. I've just installed a pullup bar in the doorway to my rec room and am going to start doing them several times a day. Hopefully the frequency will help me work back up to sets of 5-10, even though I weigh fucking 75 kg. Yes, I can only do sets of two right now. :-P

3. Overhead press. It was tough to decide which lift to include last; there are so many which have endeared themselves to me. But I had to go with overhead press because I'm still riding the exhilaration of the 100 lbs. overhead press I got in Nov. I did sets of five with 90 lbs. last week! So my one rep max is clearly over 100 lbs. now. Even though I knew overhead strength was supposed to be a particular challenge for women, how many times did I tell myself, "I'm not truly strong until I can lift 100 lbs. over my head?" I will most certainly continue to keep this lift a priority.


4. The power snatch from hang. I love the power of this lift. It feels awesome to hurl the bar over my head and I like to stomp my feet as loud as possible when I catch it.

5. Weighted dips. Because even most men don't do them full range of motion with a 45 lbs. plate strapped on. But I can.

6. Back squat. The lift I love to hate.

7. Overhead shrugs. Because I got to know what it feels like to hold 100+ lbs. over my head long before I was able to press it up strictly. Because it takes so much mental strength to do sets of 12 while your brain is yelling "OMG you're holding so much weight over your head and it's hard to stabilize and don't fucking drop it on you head fuck!" I think these really helped me get my overhead press strength up.


What are your three favorites?

Comments

[spider88.livejournal.com]

Oh my. I can't even do dips without weights in half-range motion. :)

I don't know what a power snatch from hang is but it sounds fun!

[saansaturday]

Yeah, I think I have some kind of genetic predisposition that makes me good at dips because my strength there is way out of proportion to my other lifts.

Power snatch from hang--I'm more explosive than he is but then I don't use anything like heavy weights with this one yet.

I remember you said you gained muscle easily--if you can find someone to teach you, you might enjoy some of the explosive Olympic-style lifts. You get to be strong and powerful but they are not known for adding as much muscle mass as the bodybuilding or pure strength lifts.

[maramaye.livejournal.com]

So far I like deadlifts best too, but that's perhaps because they're easier to do with a backpack than most other lifts are.

[ivy]

1. Rowing. Full body workout, coordination, hypnotic rhythm possible, and being on the water is one of the most beautiful and Zen states of mind possible.

2. Bakasana. Strength. Balance. A feeling of accomplishment. Body awareness.

3. Trapeze. Core workout, and you get to fly.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

[here via thewronghands; from one fitness freak to another, "hello!" also, I covet your back :-) ]

- Snatch (or power clean from floor); for exactly the same reasons you mention from the hang, that whole rush.

- Kettlebell snatch or clean and press; these are just fun to do.

- Weighted pull-ups; nothing shuts up the other guys at my office gym like strapping a big weight (36 or 54#) on the belt and knocking out five or ten of these, when they're struggling to do them at bodyweight and getting cocky with their other lifts.

[saansaturday]

Hi there and thanks for the compliment on my back. That would be the results of all my deadlifting. :)

I've been learning the power clean recently and am really enjoying it. I still haven't had a chance to play around with kettlebells but I've been wanting to.

I would *love* to be able to do weighted pullups; that's on my list of goals right now. Five or ten with the weights you mention is badass.

[saansaturday]

Also, I'm going to friend you. I need more fitness freaks on my friends list. :)

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

also here from thewronghands

deadlifts are funnnnnnnn.

in fact, at the XFT gym, tomorrow is max effort 5-rep deadlifts. i'm hoping for at least what i did before (365) if not maybe 400+ (wishful thinking, but it's been 2 months+), it's ONLY 35 pounds more. yes, yes, keep thinking that :) :) :)

#

[saansaturday]

Hey there, I somehow missed this comment with my travels. Did you get your 400? How long have you been training? 400 is a pretty good deadlift.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

started in feb or so, but didn't get to deadlifts at ALL (no bars with weights for the first month)... they train us in a lot of ways, that make you stronger, so... not specifically training for any one thing.

then, well, a few months? i can get exact dates from log, but not that long.

the next major attempt was with a crossfit routine that include 5x of each lift to a potential working maximum... though the warmup was a 1x version to get to a good starting weight. the last weight series i did with deadlift, actual number:

Max Effort 5-Rep Deadlifts (08.10.2009)
Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5
235 / 265 / 295 / 315 / 335 lbs

i tried 375 after those and it didn't feel doable, tried 355 and that was better.

so, no crossfit for me the last 4 weeks... sprained my knee in a fall. waiting until it went from *SCREAM* to pain to sore to tolerable. i'm all for full healing for this injury. i think i'm ready for monday. i hope :)

400 seems doable, but i'm not identifying as a lifter, and am not very goal oriented with regards to records per se, just logging the progress, and seeing where we get.

#

can I just say?

[bigherman.livejournal.com]

You are fucking hot. Like the way that Shakespeare's Titus is hot. Badass. You make my pulse jump. Thank you thank you thank you. When you're in my 'hood, give me a call and I'll take you climbing and you'll find the pull-ups and deadlifts are useful in an entirely new way.

Personally, I'm doing the 100 pushups thing. If it works, I'll use the same format for 100 pullups. The closest I've gotten to my goal is twenty (in a row), and that was after a semester doing weight training where I knew how to use none of the equipment and figured I couldn't hurt myself on a pull up bar.

But my three favorite exercises? Pull ups, where your arms are reaching out like Jesus on the cross to grab the slanted ends of the bar. Upside down or slanted sit ups, Goku-style, where you feel that full, whole-core clenching. And that machine, where the padded arms rest on your shoulders, and you push with your legs like Atlas holding up the world. Easy or effective? To me, the most important part is feeling strong, feeling like holy-shit-I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that. Feeling people watch me, and re-evaluating who they think I am. Nothing hits harder than watching the skinny, WASP blonde crank it out. God, how I love being the sweet-faced foul mouth, the bench-pressing stick figure. There is a perverse delight in not being what people think you are.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_maldorora/]

came across this quite randomly. i adore cooking, harry crosby & coil therefore i added you. i don't expect reciprocation but didn't want to just intrude without an introduction of sorts.

[saansaturday]

And your lj name is M.A.D. Queen of Malak Ta'us! If Coil and Harry Crosby speak to you, I'm quite willing to reciprocate.