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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31752 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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I just do 5 sets of 5 with the heaviest weight I can do. Which at the moment is 70#. I try to get them in 2 or 3 times a week. I rest as long as I need to between sets.

My wife also complains that she gets nothing out of them, but she does them with 25#. IMHO, they only become beneficial once you are doing them with a heavy enough weight that it challenges you at every stage of the exercise. It should be a weight heavy enough that you feel worked from the tips of your fingers maintaining the grip to the tips of your toes anchored to the floor. Your shoulders should burn by the 5th rep from the maintained tension. Your core should be solid as it remains rigid while you push yourself into the one armed position. Your glutes should strain up from the kneeling position.

I've committed to TGU's for about 10 years or so, and have worked my way up to doing them with 88# on occasion. They have essentially set the strength floor for every part of my body. All the little stabilizing muscles machines ignore.

Contrasted with my wife, who dabbles in them occasionally with low weights, there is always a weak point keeping her from experiences the full benefits. Maybe her shoulder can only handle 25# of TGUs, while her core and glutes could probably have handled 50#. Or her back is all fucked and can only handle 15# at certain parts of the exercise. This results in reps done sloppily as many parts of her body can get away with poor form, with little actual improvement on the weak muscles.

TGUs for me are very much a case of "Go big or go home". There is a possibly apocryphal story about how if you wanted to be a strongman back in the early 1900's, they'd just teach you the TGU and tell you not to come back until you could do it with 100#. I don't know if that story is true, but it's my guiding light in doing them.

Thanks for the reply! Do you use kettlebells or dumbbells or a mix?

Just kettlebells. I like the simplicity of doing my entire workout with a 70# kettlebell and nothing else. I'm also the kind of guy who can eat the same thing for breakfast every day, enjoy the same whiskey for years, and this extends to doing largely the same workout with the same tools for a decade.

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