Comment by nlawalker | Hacker News Reader

Comment by nlawalker | Hacker News Reader

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Thanks for this! Do you (or does anyone) have any suggested resources for transitioning out of powerlifting into something more maintenance/lifestyle?

I got a good base of coaching in high school and later in life came back to lifting through Starting Strength. Recently I’ve gotten a lot out of Stronglifts 5x5 and a modest garage barbell setup to reach kind of a local maxima. I could keep going with it, and it would be nice to continue taking advantage of the simplicity of that program to stay in shape (or move to madcow, or something similar) but there’s no value to me in getting any bigger/stronger - I’d rather “diversify” a bit into other activities and avoid the injuries that come with heavy weights, but I would like to maintain what I’ve got.

I’m not sure if the answer is simply “just stop increasing weights” or if there’s something better I can do that would further reduce chance of injury, conserve energy for other activities, save time etc.

Well, one of the easiest paths is to stop doing oly lifts and start using DBs instead of a bar where possible. If you don't think you might have great form with DBs, just spend a few sessions at the beginning with a coach. The one thing it's hard to emulate with DBs are heavy deadlifts. For that, I built myself a resistance band platform similar to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/homegym/comments/kx57ho/i_made_a_re...

My experience is that it becomes equally fun for a data driven person to start tracking aerobic performance (rowing was where I started because we have a C2 at home, and then diversified into running and biking).

Can you define the technical terms? Oly, DB, C2?

I'm guessing DB is dumbbell (and bar is barbell).

Oly - The competitive sport of Olympic weightlifting, which has 2 lifts, the snatch (bar from floor to overhead in one explosive movement)and the clean and jerk (from floor to chest height and from there to overhead).

Those who do it tend to just refer to it as weightlifting (one word), but we sometimes say Oly weightlifting when talking to others to avoid confusion with the more general weight lifting/lifting weights, which encompasses powerlifting(another competitive sport consisting of bench press, squat and deadlift), weightlifting and general resistance training.

Weightlifting is more dynamic and requires a lot of skill to control the timing and momentum, whereas powerlifting is closer to a test of raw strength(not that it doesn't require some technique).

not that any of this is common parlance:

Oly is Olympic weightlifting, a set of weightlifting movements/lifts. In various workouts, like in dieting, some folks decide on a subset of all the things (movements, food) which is good (or bad) and focuses on them. Powerlifting is another opinion of a good set of movements which focuses on weightlifting abilities.

DB is indeed dumbbell, yes

C2 is apparently Concept2, a rowing machine

Oly, the Olympic weightlifting lifts. C2 is a brand of rowing machine

I’ve found Marcus filly to be a great starting point for “functional bodybuilding”. He is an ex cross fitter with amazing physique but after rehabbing many injuries his programs and youtube videos emphasizes functional movements as a key foundational principle to all workouts.

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