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Weight lifting and leather jackets

navetsea

I'll Lock Up
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6,868
Location
East Java
maybe choose for full action back with side/ waist adjuster in thick leather, more expansion room without affecting the front panel, and with some shoulder slope to accommodate any growth there around your neck and shoulder otherwise the jacket would pull at the armpit, and maybe some pleats on the lining too to be more flexible.
 
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17,508
Location
Chicago
Tell me about it! I am almost 59 and despite "eating clean" year round and working out 6 days per week, I cannot easily get down <13% in bodyfat these days.

Interestingly, most of the top pro (Mr Olympia level) bodybuilders these days are around 5'5" - 5'9" and compete at bodyweights in the 240 - 265# range! Even the 212# class guys are usually around 5'3" - 5'5". It is very unusual to find tall top ranked bodybuilders these days. Even top powerlifters are short. Ed Coan (arguably the greatest powerlifter of all time) was 5'6" and competed in the 220# class. His totals were usually higher than 240# and some 275# lifters! In the 90's "Captain" Kirk Karwoski squatted >1000# at a bodyweight of 275# at 5'7".
This comment reminds me of watching the worlds strongest man contests on TV as a kid....and watching Franco Columbu's leg snap like a chicken wing carrying that fridge.
 

Gromulus

Practically Family
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573
Location
NE Ohio, USA
This comment reminds me of watching the worlds strongest man contests on TV as a kid....and watching Franco Columbu's leg snap like a chicken wing carrying that fridge.

I remember that 1977 contest vividly - the very first WSM!. At 190# I believe he was in 3rd place before the fridge incident. (Lou Ferrigno was in that contest as well). Franco (the "bat") was a monster. He was a boxer and powerlifter in Europe before Arnold convinced Joe Weider to bring him over to America.

I was down in Columbus this weekend at the Arnold Classic. Pretty hard to find a strongman under 300# these days. Brian Shaw won the contest again, all 6'8"/400# of him. When Arnold gave him the trophy he looked like a child standing next to Brian.

How times have changed.
 

Guppy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,338
Location
Cleveland, OH
i had typed a response but read what @ProteinNerd wrote first. What he said. Exactly what he said!
Plus, now we all know why he calls himself @ProteinNerd. :)

I'll add my $0.02, by saying about 6 years ago, I started exercising as part of physical therapy after a bicycle accident left me with a broken arm, herniated disc in my lower back, and sciatica. After rehabilitating the arm to where it was useful, I started doing aqua jog classes at my local Y, and eventually switched to swimming laps. I don't lift weights much (hardly ever) but did gain about an inch in the chest, and my shoulders have filled out considerably, leading me to have to replace much of my clothes.

I used to be a L/42 in a shirt, and now I'm somewhere between an L/XL and a 42-44. It sucks sometimes because stuff I'd worn for years no longer fit well, and a lot of my old jackets have gotten too tight in the chest/shoulders, so over the last 2-3 years I've replaced a lot of them with stuff that fits better, and have been working on selling off the stuff that no longer fits, as well as the stuff that didn't work out for me.

What really sucks is that to a lot of clothing manufacturers, apparently "XL" means "tubby" and I'm not, I just have bigger chest/shoulders and need the room there, not around my midsection. Also a lot of XL clothes have longer sleeves than I need, so it's gotten harder to find stuff that fits well. A lot of the time, it's a matter of choosing a loose/baggy XL that sortof fits, but looks sloppy, or a tight-fitting L that feels restrictive up top.

On the other hand, I love the way my body feels with the extra strength I have, and in most respects I feel better physically now than I felt 10 years ago, when I didn't do anything for exercise.
 
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10,181
Location
Pasadena, CA
Herniated discs. Sciatica. Pool exercises are great for this.
Yeah, it sucks. It's like the next step is bingo at the church. Hard to come to grips with it.
But there is no doubt in my mind that thinner looks better in regards to clothing.
Those 90s jackets just made it easier to be lazy. In my case. I thought I looked good but no, it's just not true.
It's not healthy either. And I need to get back on the wagon.
 

ProteinNerd

My Mail is Forwarded Here
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3,902
Location
Sydney
Plus, now we all know why he calls himself @ProteinNerd. :)

Actually that is where the name comes from lol. Back in the days when the internet was just starting out (so it must be around 1998ish) when I was managing the gym, that was my nickname amongst some work colleagues because I was so into the nutrition aspect of fitness. I had to come up with a username for various websites so that was it and I still use it today....damn thats a long time ago now!

after a bicycle accident left me with a broken arm, herniated disc in my lower back, and sciatica.

Thats a HELL of a bicycle accident! What did you do? Ride into a tank?
 

Guppy

I'll Lock Up
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4,338
Location
Cleveland, OH
Thats a HELL of a bicycle accident! What did you do? Ride into a tank?

I locked the front brake while going downhill, trying to emergency stop, flipped over the handlebars, and went straight down into the pavement, landing on my shoulder.

The immediate injury was the broken arm, six weeks of inactivity lead to the sciatica flare up. I'd already had some lower back problems, but laying around while on painkillers, sleeping much of the day, resulted in the back problem getting worse, and after I was able to return to normal activity, I was generally out of shape and weak.

I've made as close to a full recovery as you can expect to get, though. The arm is stronger than it's ever been, I had a very minimal loss in range of motion, and the back problem is more of an aging thing than due to injury.
 

2wheelgrplr

A-List Customer
Messages
425
Location
NYC & South Asia
Not really the same situation, but i do BJJ and lift, and have to cut weight to compete. I usually walk around 6'2 180-185lbs, and pre comp will cut to 170-175lbs.

Folks, please don't mind me side-tracking the conversation a bit ... Carlos, where do you train BJJ in London? I've trained a little bit when I used to live in New York - Renzo Gracie - but am a forever-white-belt. Now I live halfway round the world so only get to train BJJ when I travel to bigger cities where they have gyms. Have done a bit more judo, but here too stuck in kyu-level forever. Tearing both rotator cuffs haven't helped matters ...

Now I'm in my mid-40s, not as muscular as I used to be 10 years ago when I was training hard in Judo & BJJ. Clothes from then are a bit too big on me now, necessitating quite a wardrobe change in recent years. Slowly working my way back into some sort of shape now. I know if I get bigger upper arms, chest & shoulders that super-nice Thedi cafe racer ain't gonna fit me anymore ... but losing this gut will make my Aero Fontana cafe racer jacket fit better!!!!
 
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16,842
I locked the front brake while going downhill, trying to emergency stop, flipped over the handlebars, and went straight down into the pavement, landing on my shoulder.

Been there but since I was practicing some martial art at the time, the... ukemi, that thing they teach you how to break a fall, literally saved me. What it didn't save was my fearlessness of cycling down hills which is something I no longer do that easily.

Bicycle accidents can be surprisingly lethal, things happen even when you're absolutely sure nothing can go wrong. My friend caught a traffic bollard with a pedal. We couldn't have been going more than, I don't know, 10-12 mph and were talking at that moment and I'll never forget how it just... rocketed him into the air, he was spinning over and over like he was a rag doll or something. Literally everything from his pockets flew out and both of his sneakers got knocked off. I remember thinking at that moment how that was it for him. He 'only' broke his arm, collar bone and dislocated his shoulder.
 

Carlos840

I'll Lock Up
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4,944
Location
London
Folks, please don't mind me side-tracking the conversation a bit ... Carlos, where do you train BJJ in London? I've trained a little bit when I used to live in New York - Renzo Gracie - but am a forever-white-belt. Now I live halfway round the world so only get to train BJJ when I travel to bigger cities where they have gyms. Have done a bit more judo, but here too stuck in kyu-level forever. Tearing both rotator cuffs haven't helped matters ...

Now I'm in my mid-40s, not as muscular as I used to be 10 years ago when I was training hard in Judo & BJJ. Clothes from then are a bit too big on me now, necessitating quite a wardrobe change in recent years. Slowly working my way back into some sort of shape now. I know if I get bigger upper arms, chest & shoulders that super-nice Thedi cafe racer ain't gonna fit me anymore ... but losing this gut will make my Aero Fontana cafe racer jacket fit better!!!!


Been training at the London Fight Factory since i started 6 years ago, purple belt since last year.
I am a bit bias, but it is one of the best BJJ gyms on the country!
 

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