Weird. I actually currently go to the LA Fitness on University, which has no issues with people using chalk; I figured since a commercial gym like that didn't have a problem others like you mentioned wouldn't either. In addition, my trainer does strongman and actually brought in some of his own equipment that's available to use, so I must have gotten lucky that my particular LA Fitness is cool with it. I'm likely going to switch to Los Campeones once my LA Fitness contract is up since, aside from the fact that it's a better place for what I do, Los Campeones is also located only 8 or so blocks from where I work, which is extremely convenient.
I know the owner well. He's a good guy. We've competed against each other in strongman contests on a number of occassions. I don't train there anymore because it's like a 45 min drive for me and I train in private gyms (and have my own at home), but if I had to pick a gym to train at, it would be that one. Who is your trainer at LA Fitness?
I know some people on here do some forms of martial arts. What have you guys found are the best for getting a good workout and ones that you can get into quickly? And what should I be looking for when deciding if a place is good or not?
If you don't care much about practicality in a real fight I'd go with either a northern style of Kung fu or Tae Kwan Do. Both should give you better flexibility than most martial arts while providing a pretty kick ass work out. Also, the rate of injury is pretty low, this is something I value highly. Things to look out for: - How are the black belts? If the school has a lot of slow, poor flexibility black belts that's a sign it's a shit school. - How high pressure is the sales pitch? If you feel like you're being pitched something by a greasy used car salesman, walk away. - Do they like to have fun? This may seem unimportant to you, but if you want to commit yourself to this long term, you're probably going to want to go to a place that will mix in some fun stuff for workouts and not be too narrowly focused all the time. - On the flip side, do they try to do too much? My favorite (fun wise) Tae Kwan Do school tried to get us good at everything. It was a blast trying out something new pretty much every time I went to class, but at the end of the day we were so unfocused that no one really progressed their skill set, we may as well have been doing Pilates or cardio kick boxing. If you care about practicality in a real fight you'll probably want to do something like Muy Thai, BJJ or kickboxing. I don't have enough experience to make strong recommendations. I've only been to two schools, but there's generally a lot less bullshit in these styles. Big thing though, you will almost definitely suffer a serious injury if you really get into one of see, that's the price of admission. It would probably help if you rank what you want most (be it strength, flexibility, speed, etc...) so we can give more specific recommendations.
Thanks a lot for the replies. Was expecting two sentence answers so that was good. I played soccer growing up and ran track in college so I have always had something to train for when working out. I made it about six months of going to the gym but have been braking routine a lot lately and think I need something more along the lines of this in order to gt myself back into wanting to stay in shape. i wrestled a bit when I was younger and really liked the being able to "fight" in a controlled environment where it's not a bar with two people trying to kill each other but two people testing their skills against each other. And I've wanted to get into that again at some point. (I don't know if that is worded correctly to explain what I mean) Probably the least of all the reasons is that although I'm not tiny, but 5'8 and hovering between 160 and 170 I feel like I should just have some basic knowledge of how to fight in case the situation ever arose that I needed to. (Trying to make sure that doesn't sound like the day I learn this stuff I'm going to go around trying to start fights at random.) I had been looking at bjj, from my somewhat brief research it seemed like it meets what I'm looking for. Is it just a fad that is growing lately or is bjj actually good for what I am looking for?
Really really depends on what you do and how McDojo the place is. Fair warning, but BJJ is fucking expensive if you go that route. Most MMA gyms are pretty expensive as well. TKD, Shotokan, and other traditional schools can really vary. Look for places that offer a month free and no long term contracts. Those are usually pretty good signs that you aren't going to get ripped off.
Missed this part. BJJ from my research is exactly what you are looking for, but it is really expensive and most schools keep the not advancing people quickly thing to heart (and you want a school like that). Good BJJ schools take their lineage pretty seriously and you should be able to easily figure out the path back to which Gracie started the black belt chain. Keep in mind that in BJJ it is pretty damn hard to get a black belt, so if you see one make sure you know it is legit. I would not rule out Judo either. Focuses a lot more on throws, but you can find schools with strong newaza (ground fighting) focus and since Judo is the basis art for BJJ there are a lot of similarities. Traditionally Judo schools are much cheaper than BJJ schools and you can get to a black belt faster, but since they have a Dan system that first black belt means a lot less than subsequent Dan's in the belt. (To make it easy for comparison a Judo Black Belt and a BJJ Purple Belt take about the same time with the same focus and amount of training.) Hope some of that helps.
The place I just checked out is $145/month and they have muay thai, BJJ, wrestling and boxing, plus a few others I think. Unlimited access. Is that reasonable?
Me personally, I'd advice you to stay away from judo if you're just starting out and haven't been heavily into martial arts most of your life. Heck, I'd advise you to stay away unless you're planning on competing heavily. Judokas get the piss beat out of them, simply because of the nature of the sport. I know of guys that are shot by the time they hit their 30's. If you're doing it just for exercise and challenge I'd stick with BJJ or a stand up.
Best part is during the stone lift when a bro is walking behind him probably thinking he was big in his cutoff shirt before seeing Derek. His face just screams "awwwww, man..."
Ugh. My workouts are all fucked up. For the past month I've had this frustrating weakness in my left shoulder & pectorial that's preventing me from meaningfully benching or OHPing; the weight I have to use in order to get through my sets is so down (about 65% of my 1RM) from my normal weight that my right side throws the weight up like it's nothing while my left is struggling. It's not a meaningful injury; I went to my doctor to see if I fucked up my shoulder and he didn't find anything, and I can push my shoulder hard through the discomfort and I don't pay for it the next day. It's so frustrating that it won't go away and I can't figure out what's wrong. Next on my list of problems is my left leg has gotten weaker since my surgery. I squat and get almost zero glut engagement from my left leg so my right leg ends up picking up the slack. It's also gotten ridiculously tight, which isn't helping matters. Adding split squats back to my routine to hopefully get this shit straightened out. Finally my deadlifts are still way behind where I was at pre-injury. With that it's pretty much all mental; I'm still worried about reinjuring my back so I don't go all out and have a tendency to bail as soon as I feel strain on my lower back. It's stupid; I know exactly how I injured by back in the first place (got too ambitious with a weight & rep increase, got fatigued, had a bad pull and tried to un-round my back mid-lift) and had a trainer I trust form check me - form is great - yet there's still that worry in the back of my mind. Makes me dread going to the gym right now.
I wanted to share this, because it's greatly reduced my laziness: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.bodbot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bodbot.com/</a> It's a free service that designs workouts for you based on a few, brief inputs from you. If I'm ever not motivated, I tend to use this as a "light" workout just to say I did something that day. I'm not sure if it has an app, but I'm sure it's coming. Based on my settings, I get an email in the morning with a workout description, which works out perfectly. I can't comment on the quality of the exercises, but I haven't seen any curls recommended yet, and most of them are compound, so it appears to be decent.
We are built to move. One of my favorite bloggers, Go Kaleo (gokaleo.com), emphasizes this. I did a lot of reading from miscellaneous sources, blogs, online nutrition info, etc while I lost weight over the past fall. I found her blog a couple months ago, and she puts together a lot of things that I read snippets of in different places that make perfect sense. One of her biggest things is the emphasis on movement. Yes, you can lose weight without exercise and with a restricted diet, but movement is what helps us stay healthy. Consistency is arguably better than intensity. Health is more than just your weight. Plus, she is a very supportive person. Reading her stuff makes me feel good about myself. She doesn't tell me that I am imperfect or flawed, she encourages her readers to be proactive and to love themselves. Can't hate on that.
Need a little help. In my weight loss goals I decided to set myself a challenge. I joined a Muay Thai gym. I started going 3 times a week. Then I realized how crap I was at the first half hour of class because I couldn't run a 5k without stopping multiple times. SO then I started running 3 or 4 times outside of class to build up my stamina. This is going well. My times consistently fall every time I run and I'm getting better. I can keep up with the guys without looking like a bitch. Now for the next hurdle - I'm 33 and while I'm not as out of shape as I was, I'm still out of shape. I cannot increase the amount that I go to class (I'd like to go 5 days a week) because my body doesn't recover from the pounding it takes going 7 or 8 rounds a night either with bags, calisthenics and mitt work and then another 3 rounds sparring. The next day I am inevitably in pain and I have been slacking on the morning runs. This is frustrating to no end. My goal is to be able to do an amateur fight in the next 8 months. No way I'd be ready without a daily grind. So - How do I recover quicker?
How much protein are you consuming? You might want to track your calories and macronutrients for a week to see. Also, are you stretching after you work out? That helps me be less sore the next day.