*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

BennyC said:
I witnessed somebody holding the 'catch' lever that adjusts the seat on the leg press in today. So he was effectively just sliding back and forth on the seat :rolleyes: still seemed to be struggling too!:eek:

Free fruit at the gym this week as part of healthy campus week :D
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Haha, I was in there this morning at about 8.45 doing calf raises on there, but I'm pretty sure I was lifting weight and that there was nobody behind me, did make me question myself for a minute though lol!:p

And free fruit? I didn't see any of that this morning :(
 
BennyC said:
Yup you've got that constant tension. It's much better I find. If you need to raise the bench up on boxes so you can get a big stretch. Using a courner cable unit will yeild different results to a cross over as with a cross over there's more resistance at the top of the rep as the cables are more horizontal to the ground. Where as on a courner unit they're more vertical/45 degrees so you get a greater resistance at the bottom of the rep. Keep those arms as straight as possible with a slight bend, locked and you're onto a winner. Pushing your chest out too help for a big squeeze and will remove some shoulder recruitment from the exercise.
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Yup, I was basically trying to just isolate my chest as much as possible.
I really prefer it to dumbbells.

Takes some getting use to make use your stance is right aswell. Specially so you don't lean to much forward, otherwise it just feel like you're using your shoulders and back to get some momentum going.

But I'll really keep this up for a while.

I could really feel the squeeze in my chest when I brought my arms together.
 
Robbie G said:
Sounds like he was possibly just using the leg press machine for calf raises.

Although if that's the case I have now idea why he was sliding on the deat...are you sure he had depressed the latch as opposed to just holding it? No weight was going up and down on the machine?
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Nope. Stack was dead still. Didn't move once. Plus you don't bend your knees for calf raises ;)

Jonny L said:
Haha, I was in there this morning at about 8.45 doing calf raises on there, but I'm pretty sure I was lifting weight and that there was nobody behind me, did make me question myself for a minute though lol!:p

And free fruit? I didn't see any of that this morning :(
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Yeah I arrived at 4pm ish and nothing, on my way out there was a box full of pears, banana's & apples :)

N19h7m4r3 said:
Yup, I was basically trying to just isolate my chest as much as possible.
I really prefer it to dumbbells.

Takes some getting use to make use your stance is right aswell. Specially so you don't lean to much forward, otherwise it just feel like you're using your shoulders and back to get some momentum going.

But I'll really keep this up for a while.

I could really feel the squeeze in my chest when I brought my arms together.
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Yeah you can do standing flat flyes (leaning foward), incline low to high, decline standing. I personally like doing them with a bench too. So you're lying flat as if it were a dumbell flye but using the cables instead. Much much tougher than a standing cable flye. Obviously incline can be done too with a bench. As can flat, incline & shoulder presses.
 
BennyC said:
Nope. Stack was dead still. Didn't move once. Plus you don't bend your knees for calf raises ;)
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I know that, but you didn't mention that he was bending his knees also. Strange. Warming up after a previous knee injury? I guess I'm just a sucker for giving people the benefit of the doubt!
 
Robbie G said:
I know that, but you didn't mention that he was bending his knees also. Strange. Warming up after a previous knee injury? I guess I'm just a sucker for giving people the benefit of the doubt!
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You're too nice!

Tbh there's probaly little difference from holding the catch in and just pressing with a 5KG stack. Amazing how little attention people pay during their inductions. When I'm working in the industry I'm going to make a habit of getting people to 'teach me' how to set each machine up :p time permitting ofc!
 
I think my shoulder has healed touch wood, had a nice shoulder session tonight and felt good no tightness or aching:). Really glad I can get cracking on with my routine as I've been really miserable.
 
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Speaking of the Leg Press, I popped to the gym earlier and managed 5x5 140kgs without too much difficulty. I think 150kgs is probably what I should be working at but I'm worried I'll injure my lower stomach as it's been a little funny once or twice from using the machine.

I really wanted to give squats and deadlifts a try today but the gym was ridiculously busy! At the moment, I think I'll have to pick a very unsocial hour and see if I can get the weight's room to myself to have a play.

Anyway, if that leg-press routine gives you a rough idea of where I'm at with my legs, what should I ideally be aiming for in terms of arms and chest development?

At the moment I'm working around this level (all 5x5):

Chest Press: 45kgs
Chest Fly: 40kgs (really hurt on the last rep today though!)
Arm Extension: 40kgs
General Arm/Bicep work-out: 40-50kgs.
 
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Well i know how all you guys feel now when i read you complaining about injurys. Tore 2 ligaments in my ankle about 10 days ago and in just getting back to walking without too much of a limp.

Just lost all motivation to get down the gym and do what i can manage on upper body :(
 
getting injured sucks....i did my shoulder a week before my PGCE interview...stress+no gym = unfun to live with :p

your motivation will come back..you just need to be carful not to go crazy...all you do is hurt urself again.
 
It's horrid. :( I cannot stand not being able to do exercise (of any form). I get very very unpleasant to be around if I haven't done any exercise at all :p
 
^TANK^ said:
I think my shoulder has healed touch wood, had a nice shoulder session tonight and felt good no tightness or aching:). Really glad I can get cracking on with my routine as I've been really miserable.
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Good stuff :)

I've always had rotator cuff problems as you know I've mentioned them a few times. I've just started playing with Turkish Get Ups & Dumbell Windmills. It works the shoulder quite a lot though there is very small, possibly, no ROM. Time under tension is high and Ant has said it works the rotator cuff too.

Need to be reasonably flexible to pull off the DB windmills.

My shoulders feel a bit more secure in that I can no longer sublux them by pressing my inner elbow down on my desk. I don't think it's entirely down to the TGU's & Windmills but they've probaly helped.

Might be a RC/Conditioning exercise you could consider Tank.
 
Nix said:
Anyway, if that leg-press routine gives you a rough idea of where I'm at with my legs, what should I ideally be aiming for in terms of arms and chest development?

At the moment I'm working around this level (all 5x5):

Chest Press: 45kgs
Chest Fly: 40kgs (really hurt on the last rep today though!)
Arm Extension: 40kgs
General Arm/Bicep work-out: 40-50kgs.
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I'm hardly a classic example, but in my case I bench press 22Kg dumbbells for 4 x 8, so comparable to yourself, but my leg press is only 110Kg 4 x 8. I'm not sure it's helpful for you to be gauging what your press should be by comparing to other people's leg lifts, as different people will have different strengths, which could distort your expectations. For example, my legs in particular are weak as sugar, having hardly done anything with them since football in uni days. Someone else might come along and say that they bench 100Kg and only leg press 120Kg, so really it comes down to you as an individual pushing your own limits.

What I would say though is that your chest fly and bicep curl weights are massive compared to your bench press. Are you sure you're doing them properly :p?
 
Nix said:
Speaking of the Leg Press, I popped to the gym earlier and managed 5x5 140kgs without too much difficulty. I think 150kgs is probably what I should be working at but I'm worried I'll injure my lower stomach as it's been a little funny once or twice from using the machine.

I really wanted to give squats and deadlifts a try today but the gym was ridiculously busy! At the moment, I think I'll have to pick a very unsocial hour and see if I can get the weight's room to myself to have a play.

Anyway, if that leg-press routine gives you a rough idea of where I'm at with my legs, what should I ideally be aiming for in terms of arms and chest development?

At the moment I'm working around this level (all 5x5):

Chest Press: 45kgs
Chest Fly: 40kgs (really hurt on the last rep today though!)
Arm Extension: 40kgs
General Arm/Bicep work-out: 40-50kgs.
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Depends from person to person, but I do this:

Leg Press: 200kg (the 45 degree http://www.greatweightlifting.com/Legs/images/LegPress/LegPress1.JPG one) This was a long time ago as it was at an older gym.
Deadlift for reps 110kg (double over hand grip, mostly limited by grip)
Squat for reps 100-120kg

then for upper body
I bench with a mixture of 22.5kg to 30kg DBs
I Bicep curl 32.5kg
I then do tricep extension with 42.5kg on cables.


I definitely work my legs more, and have done in the past though so they might be relatively higher.
 
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Robbie G said:
Someone else might come along and say that they bench 100Kg and only leg press 120Kg, so really it comes down to you as an individual pushing your own limits.
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This is true, my dead is only about 10% more than my squat, I'm pretty sure I should be able to dead a lot more, but I'm finding it tough! Guess it might have to do with grip strength?
 
finally set my bench up at home only after 2years of not using it, did about 8 sets of 12 with 30kg weights, its a start, aches a little today but not to bad, nice to feel its worked :)
 
I very rarely train arms heavily. And don't tend to curl more than 30-35KG on the occasion I do. I find slow negatives & supersets to be the most effective.

Whilst arms shouldn't be neglected I find they're one of the areas that can take considerable time to see & make progress with. Which is why I generally tend to spend about half an hour total per week isolating biceps and triceps. Despite this my arms hover around 16".

I'd much rather spend the time performing compounds that give me more mass and functional strength as opposed to a really strong elbow flexion & extension.
 
Kappa said:
This is true, my dead is only about 10% more than my squat, I'm pretty sure I should be able to dead a lot more, but I'm finding it tough! Guess it might have to do with grip strength?
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Are you dropping it? Then it's grip strength, train your grip. If you're not dropping it but your deadlift is low, you just have to work harder on the deadlift. My squat is 50% of my deadlift (50Kg and 100Kg for 4 x 8 respectively) :(.
 
Even if you aren't dropping it, having to focus on the grip as it's weak can make your body think the weight is too heavy, despite it actually being able to cope.


Eg: if I DL 140 double overhand, I can hold it but I struggle and can't lift it; if I mix grip it, I can do it ok (well a massive effort but you get the picture ;) )

Grip strength training is useful for everything.

If your grip starts to fail whack out some straps as you can't just stop a workout for it, but it means you are able to carry the weight with your hands, albeit not for reps. It'll help get the grip strength up if you don't use straps all the time, but only when it limits you.
 
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