Weightlifting, in vain?

[J. Darko]

I've been thinking whole sunday about this until midnight, so I decided to open a topic about it. I encountered thousands of problems that make me lose my motivation to work out.

You see, recently, I've been thinking about what I want from life and I don't know what it is, which is problematic by itself. But, I'm thinking about travelling a lot and persuing extreme things, like the military, climbing, surviving, fighting. However, that way, I can't be lifting weights all the time. What's more, is that I can't decide wether I should be powerlifting, weightlifting, or just building mass. Weightlifting seems like a lot of fun compared to benching, squatting and deadlifting all the time, but it won't build much mass I think. I can't combine all those things, because my body seems only to be responding to highly specialized work outs. For example, if I'm good at rope skipping, I suck at running. If I don't do chin ups every other day, the number of chin ups I can do regresses. If I work out with a skipping rope one day and run the next, neither activities progress very fast.

And to make matters worse, naturally I'm a really skinny guy and I've noticed that I lose strength and mass fast, really fast. I haven't been deadlifting for over two weeks because I ruptured the muscles in my ankle. Today I tried my best and it was a mere 120 kg. That's 40 kg less than over 2 weeks ago and yes, I did eat enough.

So I feel like I'm doomed to be skinny and weak and stuck to lifting weights almost every day for the rest of my life, making me highly immobile for doing adventurous things.

 

[deNominator]

Priorities. Obviously being in shape and weightlifting is important to you, but in reality it shouldn't control your life. If you want to get adventure and go out and do things, do it! Even if it's at the cost of some strength. You know how to get it back and you will. At the very least you can do body weight exercises on the go. Weightlifting is just another part of enjoying your life, not the entirety of it. My opinion, kind sir.

Don't join the military.

 

[J. Darko]

I know man, I know I'm becoming way too obsessed with this sht. Grrr..........I just can't resist the urge of this whole over analsing thing. I analyse way too much because I want to do everything perfect.

 

[zekko]

So I feel like I'm doomed to be skinny and weak and stuck to lifting weights almost every day for the rest of my life, making me highly immobile for doing adventurous things.

You probably know this, but you shouldn't lift weights every day.
Your muscle needs rest in between in order to grow.
Or you could get injured.

 

[J. Darko]

You probably know this, but you shouldn't lift weights every day.
Your muscle needs rest in between in order to grow.
Or you could get injured.

Yeah I know...but I'm way to bull headed. I don't lift in the weekends though, but it would be healthier if i just stick with 3 days as week.

 

[itishe]

What is the point of working out if you can't enjoy your body and it's capabilities?

 

[maqnetik]

sounds like youre overtraining and you also need to focus on those weak points more.

 

[Jitterbug]

Weightlifting seems like a lot of fun compared to benching, squatting and deadlifting all the time, but it won't build much mass I think.

These guys aren't very muscular at all, are they?

http://www.ptcfrankston.com/doc/newsletter/86/11.jpg

Those are the lighter weights. Look up photos of some 100kg class weightlifters.

All of your "thousands of problems" is just a problem of priorities. If your number one priority - which trumps everything else - is to NOT be skinny and weak, you'll find your motivation to work out.

And it's not meant to be easy. You're whining about losing some mass & strength cos you didn't train for a few weeks or not eating enough... I know guys in the lifting game who are battling cancer and other serious illnesses, or who are disabled, while being skinny hard-gainer. Every kg they put on the bar is a struggle, yet they don't quit, and they're far far stronger than you.

You may be weak physically now, but don't be weak mentally.

 

[Jitterbug]

Not bench press, but they do a lot of overhead pressing.

 

[Jitterbug]

Maybe, but that's not the norm. I've been to several weightlifting centers and there's no bench at all to do bench press. Just row after row of squat racks and lifting platforms. Most of the pressing I've seen is done overhead - strict press or push press - and the only other type I've seen is dips. Any BP done is outside of their normal training program in their own time.

 

[J. Darko]

Yeah got to stay tough and focused.Need a serious ass kicking for whiing too much. I saw those chinese weightlifters, there's a documentary about them on youtube as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3AO1mUsjB0

I'm wondering if it's just good genetics though...And btw...I saw the dutch championship of weightlifting and these guys are horribly skinny, have poor form and only snatch like...80 kg. I guess that´s the best a Dutch man can do...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUV7RLmxvk0



I decided to train like this:

Back Squat / Front Squat
Bench Press / various grips
Clean and jerk / Power Clean and jerk
Snatch / Power Snatch
Chin ups / Pull ups

This way, I can get the best of both worlds. I squat ATG, my deadlift is low because I lack grip strength. If I can´t hold the bar, I can´t lift it. I´m working on yoga stuff as well in order to get more flexible for the lifts. Can´t get my arms behind my head and my back rounds at the bottom of the squat.

 

[Jitterbug]

I'm wondering if it's just good genetics though...

A lot of weightlifters (not those Chinese ones in particular - I don't really know them) got into the sport because they were sick weedy kids who wanted to become strong. Read up the biography of Tommy Kono, who was an American weightlifting and bodybuilding world champion for an example.

my deadlift is low because I lack grip strength. If I can´t hold the bar, I can´t lift it.

Use chalk, work on your grips with something like Captain Crush Grippers or Fat Gripz, grip harder on the bar as if your life depends on it.

I have terrible grip leverage - soft & short sausage fingers and sweaty palms. I've never let that hold back my deadlift. No guy should fail a deadlift around 160kg because of weak grip. Most guys I've seen at the gym who fail a low deadlift because of grip are simply not being intense enough.

 

[maqnetik]

Maybe, but that's not the norm. I've been to several weightlifting centers and there's no bench at all to do bench press. Just row after row of squat racks and lifting platforms. Most of the pressing I've seen is done overhead - strict press or push press - and the only other type I've seen is dips. Any BP done is outside of their normal training program in their own time.

most weightlifters dont want anyone to know how much they bench. with or without STEROIDS.

:nono:

 

[Jitterbug]

Are you retarded or something?

The BP is not a contested lift in weightlifting, nor does it have any carryover whatsoever to their contested lifts.

Nice work there with the steroid tag on those stronger than you.

 

[J. Darko]

I should definately get some chalk to enhance my grip strength. I do think almost everyone uses steroids these days, but I also believe in hard work to get what you want. I don't want to make excuses. The different opinions are confusing though and it makes me wonder how these weightlifters develop big tits without the bench press. I thought that the jerk would only develop their shoulders and their upper chest.

Also, I've read into sport specific training for kickboxing and it seems that there are two schools of research: on the one hand researchers say that nothing is sport specific, even power development is only specific to a particular movement. so olympic lifts are not necessary. On the other hand research says that sport specific training might not be sport specific, but olympic lifts do teach your muscle fibers to develop more power which can carry over to things like kickboxing.

Also, researchers recommend not to simmulate sport specific movement, like boxing with dumbbells, because it's never the exact same movement and therefore will teach you bad habits. And...researchers recommend for a lot of sports a minimum of training time, with just the clean, the squat, the push press, pull ups, and some explosive movement with a dumbbell. So...ditch the bench press for sport specific training and more time and energ for the push press,or will m chest be underdeveloped if I do that...


Shocking thing is...research kind of points in the direction of what Rocky Balboa does. In the latest movie he's also cleaning, push pressing, kettlebell snatching, squatting. He does bench presses as well though.

 

[Jitterbug]

I do think almost everyone uses steroids these days, but I also believe in hard work to get what you want.

Why are you so sure? In my powerlifting gym, there are national champions who are tested regularly and they're clean. Strong is strong. Don't assume that people who are strong are automatically on drugs. Before steroids and all these super vitamins were invented, there were some insanely strong fellas, some still stronger than what we have today. Did they take drugs too?

Besides, drugs aren't magic mushrooms that make you strong overnight. Plenty of guys at the average commercial gym take drugs but they lift like a bunch of girl scout.

The different opinions are confusing though and it makes me wonder how these weightlifters develop big tits without the bench press.

Super heavy dips, which usually are a part of a weightlifting routine to support overhead pressing / jerking. It happens to develop chesticles even better than the bench press. Theirs aren't that developed though compared to bodybuilders or powerlifters, but they're very lean athletes so they look impressive.

 

[J. Darko]

Why are you so sure? In my powerlifting gym, there are national champions who are tested regularly and they're clean. Strong is strong. Don't assume that people who are strong are automatically on drugs. Before steroids and all these super vitamins were invented, there were some insanely strong fellas, some still stronger than what we have today. Did they take drugs too?

Besides, drugs aren't magic mushrooms that make you strong overnight. Plenty of guys at the average commercial gym take drugs but they lift like a bunch of girl scout.



Super heavy dips, which usually are a part of a weightlifting routine to support overhead pressing / jerking. It happens to develop chesticles even better than the bench press. Theirs aren't that developed though compared to bodybuilders or powerlifters, but they're very lean athletes so they look impressive.

Of course, I do believe that there are very strong people who don't take drugs, but if you consider that the entire Bulgarian weightlifting team gets suspended, if you consider that the entire Chinese lympic women's swim team gets disqualified, ifyou consider that Ben Johnson was disqualified after he won the 100m sprint...

...you got to wonder who else is using drugs. Is winning not a matter of who gets caught and who doesn't...




Chesticles... Got to love that word.

 

[maqnetik]

They would still be the strongest in the world if steroids were never invented. Not only are they born with the potential that 99.9% of the rest of the population isn't, they also work their asses off. The steroids just let them train even harder.

true for some but not all

 

[maqnetik]

There are ways around the tests. And sometimes they do get caught. IIRC, the entire Bulgarian weightlifting team was disqualified from the Olympics one year because they all tested positive for steroids.

just because theyre clean when tested doesnt mean theyre clean when they train

 

[maqnetik]

I've been thinking whole sunday about this until midnight, so I decided to open a topic about it. I encountered thousands of problems that make me lose my motivation to work out.

You see, recently, I've been thinking about what I want from life and I don't know what it is, which is problematic by itself. But, I'm thinking about travelling a lot and persuing extreme things, like the military, climbing, surviving, fighting. However, that way, I can't be lifting weights all the time. What's more, is that I can't decide wether I should be powerlifting, weightlifting, or just building mass. Weightlifting seems like a lot of fun compared to benching, squatting and deadlifting all the time, but it won't build much mass I think. I can't combine all those things, because my body seems only to be responding to highly specialized work outs. For example, if I'm good at rope skipping, I suck at running. If I don't do chin ups every other day, the number of chin ups I can do regresses. If I work out with a skipping rope one day and run the next, neither activities progress very fast.

And to make matters worse, naturally I'm a really skinny guy and I've noticed that I lose strength and mass fast, really fast. I haven't been deadlifting for over two weeks because I ruptured the muscles in my ankle. Today I tried my best and it was a mere 120 kg. That's 40 kg less than over 2 weeks ago and yes, I did eat enough.

So I feel like I'm doomed to be skinny and weak and stuck to lifting weights almost every day for the rest of my life, making me highly immobile for doing adventurous things.

when you dont use steroids your body needs more time to grow in your down-time than those around you who ARE juicing. alot of people lie about taking steroids-- even skinny guys with great cuts. your strength will diminish while your bodys trying to heal and thats totally normal. when you DO come back to the gym youll be much stronger and your gains will be much more substantial. sounds to me like youve hit a wall and youre bodys trying to tell you it needs a break. take a month off and rest.