Glad I don't go to Planet Fitness

[villnius]

@Destroyer_of_Worlds

@ohai

Do you kick a coconut tree to harden your shins?

I do. But only on the advice from some hardass old man out in the Asian jungle. When I decided to avenge the crippling of my brother many years ago in the underground kickboxing circuit, one thing I realized was that over time, kicking a hardwood tree until my shins scarred over with the hardness of a Pachycephalosaurus skull provided an extreme advantage in the ring with mean-looking, jacked Asian dudes with a bandana wrapped around their mullet. What was great and highly unexpected about it was that I didn’t actually break my tibia doing it, which was awesome.

As an aside, I enjoy hanging out on abandoned temple grounds while listening to eagles scream in the background while I meditate. Occasionally, I air-kickbox there while a 1980’s power ballad plays and I flashback to my brother getting his ass kicked. It is really motivating.

I bet you like to wear uncomfortably tight tanktops with cargo pants and drunkenly dance homo-erotically at riverside jungle asian bars while that same hardass old man looks on with a shit eating grin knowing the ruckus you are about to cause with the locals.

[itera]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

Well, I go to a lot of hardcore rock shows and like to headbang really hard. If you don’t train your neck for that kind of activity you’re likely to get whiplash. Also, all you need a nicely developed neck to fill out dress shirts properly. Maybe a pencil neck works if you’re a quant Phd, but for most guys you need a thick, bull neck.

LOL. whatever you say man

[itera]

@Greenman72

Now I’m an accountant who sits at a desk all day long. The only neck exercises I get are when I go back and forth from monitor 1 to monitor 2. And the only shin conditioning is when I accidentally run into a desk.

Believe it or not, I’m okay with this. I don’t plan on having to fire out and hit a defensive lineman, nor do I plan on getting into mortal kombat anytime soon.

Agreed.

[brain_wash_your_face]

I’m just sayin’ you you don’t spend at least one day a week purely on forearms then you’re going to look like a poindexter nerd. Your wife will stop loving you.

[higgmond]

@former_trader

You’d be surprised how big biceps attract HCBs. I used to have close to 18 inch biceps and the attention I received during the summer was something else. I noticed everytime a woman would be touchy, she would grab my bicep and squeeze it. As if she felt more protected with a guy that had big guns. For some reason, my pecs and biceps grew 10 times faster than my shoulders and back.

Hence the term “beach exercise”

[whatsyourgovt]

@isildurrr

^ Do you really enjoy the gym so much?

I have to drag myself there everyday, hate it. That one hour can be spent doing exercise which is far more fun.

I do, and yet, what I truly enjoy is the accomplishment of ST or LT goals. For weight training, it may be hitting a pr, for combat sports, learning a new move or take down. I think I would enjoy it much less if i didnt have objectives that i needed to clear bc at the end instead of feeling worn out but proud, you i would just feel worn out.

[whatsyourgovt]

@Greenman72

@whatsyourgovt

take a towel and put a 25lb weight through it and bite down on the two ends of the towel. Your neck and your wife will love me for this,

Okay.

I took a towel, and ran it through the hole in the middle of a 25 lb weight and set the weight on my desk. Then I gnawed on the end of the towel.

Nope. Don’t feel anything. Except I now have a wet towel on the end where I slobbered on it.

atta boy, great work. Salt tablet and hit the showers.

[bodhisattva]

@ohai

Do you kick a coconut tree to harden your shins?

No, just a bag about 1000 times a week each leg. Alot of people think they need to deaden their nerves but hitting something harder but in the end its ineffective/counterproductive. The sport evolved as a way for subsitance farmers to earn cash to feed their families so they will compete every week, given that it is critical to try and avoid injuring yourself so you can continue to train.

Some of that cuutre does get lost in North America though as you have knuckleheads that try and kill each other when they are sparring and hitting their legs with sticks.

[bodhisattva]

@whatsyourgovt

take a towel and put a 25lb weight through it and bite down on the two ends of the towel. Your neck and your wife will love me for this,

no that will fuck your teeth up. if you want to strengthen your neck these two excesizes are better.

Get a harness like this and run it through a pully connected to a wall running to the weights, so you can do side to side and lateral head movements while you are standing.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2002/seatedheadharness1.jpg

Or do neck bridges with while throwing a medicine ball to a partner.

kind of like this guy

http://www.win-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sandbag-pullover-1.jpg

[brain_wash_your_face]

Yeah, it should be noted that most of what and whatsyogov posted is sarcastic and/or joking.

[ohai]

What is a good routine for core/abs workout? I am looking for something more difficult than the exercise ball, planking, etc. that people always do.

[krnyc2008]

@ohai

What is a good routine for core/abs workout? I am looking for something more difficult than the exercise ball, planking, etc. that people always do.

Pilates.

And before you laugh at me, go to a decent studio (not a gym class) and take an intermediate/advanced/open level mat (not machine) class.

[whatsyourgovt]

@brain\_wash\_your\_face

Yeah, it should be noted that most of what and whatsyogov posted is sarcastic and/or joking.

In this specific case, i have to admit i am not joking. I do spend time weekly strenghtening my neck. Bod knows, you get into the clinch you better have a strong neck or you’re going to die.

[Greenman72]

I’d rather not strengthen my neck and stay away from the clinch.

[lxwarr30]

How strong of a neck do you need? I mean if you’re bench pressing 45s w/ the bar easily I’d say your good on chest. What is a good neck number?

[Destroyer_of_Worlds]

@lxwarr30

I mean if you’re bench pressing 45s w/ the bar easily I’d say your good on chest.

Wait wait wait wait…so let me get this straight – bench pressing a 45 on each side of the bar means you’re “good on chest?” That’s only 135 pounds. That is absolutely a pee-wee amount of weight, bro, and I would visibly be seen laughing at such a man in the gym, if that was his whole chest routine. When I started lifting at the age of 14, me and all of my friends, who were not abnormally big, were already lifting this kind of weight.

A good standard for a grown man, for starters, is to be able to bench press your body weight once for a one-rep max. So I mean, if you are 135 pounds, I guess that works…

[former_trader]

^ I thought the same when I read that. 45 on each side is beginner level.

[thommo77]

You should be able to bench your body weight one set of 10 repetitions. If you cannot do that you are lacking in strength and need to lift more. This is a baseline level of strength in my opinion. I am 185 and can pretty comfortably do a set of 10 at this weight.

[former_trader]

^ You have to factor in age though. I am also 185 and used to bench 225 lbs easily. Now at 32, my limit is 165. You just don’t produce the same amount of testosterone anymore.

[Destroyer_of_Worlds]

@former_trader

^ You have to factor in age though. I am also 185 and used to bench 225 lbs easily. Now at 32, my limit is 165. You just don’t produce the same amount of testosterone anymore.

Agreed. I would also submit that the “bench your own weight” rules of thumb are nonlinear in nature. For instance, I believe that it will be easier for a man under 200 lbs to push 10 or more reps at his own bodyweight than it will be for a 300 pound man to do the same - even if the two individuals are comparable in muscularity. The one rep at your bodyweight that I suggested is to serve as a general rule of thumb as a beginner; I am not advocating to stop getting stronger once you are at that level.