*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

Just a little update. I went to gym after my dinner (not the brightest idea, but if I didn't go, I never was and I'd already had a couple of days off!) and played around a little as the gym was quieter.

These are what I did last time:

Nix said:
Weight = 80kg (just shy of 12.5 stone)
Height = 6.1" ish.
Running = 4.0 km on treadmills in 20mins on a good day, 23-25mins on a bad.
Benching = 60kg @ 5x5 via Smith
Back squatting = 60kg @ 5x5, doing the first couple of sets at 40kg.
Deadlifting = 40kg @ 5x5
Leg extension = 40kg through to 60kg @ 5x5
Bicep curls = 20kg per arm @ 5x5
Tricep cable pull-downs (don't know the name) = 4-second negatives, 40-50kg @ 5x5
Chest press (machine) = 35 through to 50kg @ 5x5, repeating last twice.
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This is what I managed tonight:

  • Benching via Smith = 40kg, 60kg x 4 (failed on last set).
  • Back squatting = 5x5: 40kg, 60kg, 70kg x3 (I think I could push for 80kg quite easily once I'm more confident. Your assumption of ~90kg seems to be about right actually FF. Hopefully I'll hit that within a month once I've got the confidence and practice with the rack in. I'm sure I'll be in triple figures with the squat very soon.
  • Deadlifting = 45kg @ 5x5 (I didn't struggle with this at all). I did one more set of 10 @ 45kg and felt a lot of work in my lower-back).
  • Tricep cable pull-downs @ 4-second negatives = 40kg, 45kg, 50kg, 55kg, 60kg (last set really stung my forearms).
  • Chest Fly (machine) = 5x5: 40kg, 45kg, 50kg, 55kg x2 (failed on the last set).

All this was on a 'bad' day too as I was feeling quite drained and tired. Hopefully we'll see the weights jump up again as my confidence and form improves. I think I'm going to start including dips on my 'other' days now too. My right shoulder is a little sore and bruised from the 70kg squat though as the barbell clonked it a little when I moved back. I think I'll stick to cardio and a little HIIT on the rowers again tomorrow.
 
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Looking for a bit of advice regarding improving my chest.

Background: Started at gym about 6 months ago to try and lose the unwanted abdominal weight but have quite hooked on lifting at the moment. I at 6" tall and weight 95kg, I've made good progress with my 4 day split of back/bi, chest/tri, legs and shoulders/traps with abs every session. I'm lifting 130kg on squats at moment and 160kg on deadlift but am only managing 50-60kg on flat bench depending on the day. Feel like a girl when I'm doing my chest days. Any advice welcome.
 
Did a bit of work for my parents company in their warehouse today, lifting and moving cartons of industrial batteries for labeling to pass customs. Over 1400 batteries in all, somewhere around 450 cartons, each weighing between 6 and 10 kgs. Took 6 hours.

The bit where my pec connects to the shoulder feels like someone is digging in a hot knife and twisting :(

feelsbadman.jpg
 
Killswitch said:
Looking for a bit of advice regarding improving my chest.

Background: Started at gym about 6 months ago to try and lose the unwanted abdominal weight but have quite hooked on lifting at the moment. I at 6" tall and weight 95kg, I've made good progress with my 4 day split of back/bi, chest/tri, legs and shoulders/traps with abs every session. I'm lifting 130kg on squats at moment and 160kg on deadlift but am only managing 50-60kg on flat bench depending on the day. Feel like a girl when I'm doing my chest days. Any advice welcome.
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My advice for one would be not to see the flat bench press as a chest exercise. There is a reason powerlifters focus on their triceps so heavily and that is coz flat bench is more about tris and lats then pectorals.

If you want to improve your bench then heavy tricep work is the way to go.. CGBP, heavy skulls, JM Press, Rolling DB extensions etc along with heavy rows, i find overloading on BORs has a good carry over to the bench, just dont go mad if you dont have the sort of back that can hand 1.5-2x BW GMs.

If you want to add mass to your chest then dip...dip.. add some weight..and dip some more... then when you fall off the dip station... go do some incline and decline pressing :)
 
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This is what I was thinking as I never really feel the chest press in my chest, I feel in in my tri's and struggle to get it the first small distance off my chest when you are really using your tri's.

Should I be training tri's before chest on my chest/tri split? At the moment I've been doing 1 week of chest then tri and 1 week of purely tri as I felt they were what was lacking. Did need/feed on Tri's last night and really felt the burn.
 
Killswitch said:
This is what I was thinking as I never really feel the chest press in my chest, I feel in in my tri's and struggle to get it the first small distance off my chest when you are really using your tri's.

Should I be training tri's before chest on my chest/tri split? At the moment I've been doing 1 week of chest then tri and 1 week of purely tri as I felt they were what was lacking. Did need/feed on Tri's last night and really felt the burn.
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Try not to think of your gains on 1 lift coming from training 1 muscle group mate. A good bench press involves your Lats, Triceps, Delts, Quads, Abs... and a wee bit of Pecs :)

You will gain more on your bench from Squatting and Deadlifting than you will from doing Flyes, crossovers, kickbacks or any other 'chest' or 'tricep' exercises you can find in Men's Health.

Im not sure of your training history but if you are fairly new to training (up to 2 years or so) then id say give a strength specific program like stronglifts 5x5 a go. Youll be amazed at how much you can gain from this. Resist the temptation to fiddle with the exercises or rep ranges and you'll see not just your bench fly up, but your enitre body strength.
 
I'll give it a go, I downloaded the 5x5 ebook yesterday so it was my intention to check it out anyway. I'm currently just working on split traing program from the Muscle & Fitness magazines I subscribed too.
 
Killswitch said:
Looking for a bit of advice regarding improving my chest.

Background: Started at gym about 6 months ago to try and lose the unwanted abdominal weight but have quite hooked on lifting at the moment. I at 6" tall and weight 95kg, I've made good progress with my 4 day split of back/bi, chest/tri, legs and shoulders/traps with abs every session. I'm lifting 130kg on squats at moment and 160kg on deadlift but am only managing 50-60kg on flat bench depending on the day. Feel like a girl when I'm doing my chest days. Any advice welcome.
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My chest has improved a lot since changing my benching to sets of

12,10,8,6,4

I add 2.5kg each set (so for example start at 60kg for 12reps, end up on 70kg for 4 reps)

I have noticed good size and strength gains from this (i was doing 3x8 before)
 
FocusST57 said:
Try not to think of your gains on 1 lift coming from training 1 muscle group mate. A good bench press involves your Lats, Triceps, Delts, Quads, Abs... and a wee bit of Pecs :)

You will gain more on your bench from Squatting and Deadlifting than you will from doing Flyes, crossovers, kickbacks or any other 'chest' or 'tricep' exercises you can find in Men's Health.

Im not sure of your training history but if you are fairly new to training (up to 2 years or so) then id say give a strength specific program like stronglifts 5x5 a go. Youll be amazed at how much you can gain from this. Resist the temptation to fiddle with the exercises or rep ranges and you'll see not just your bench fly up, but your enitre body strength.
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+1 agree with all of that!
 
p4radox said:
What are the benefits of ascending pyramids, over say a 3x8 split?
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Ascending pyramids offer a wider range of variety for both weight & rep count.

For example you might do something like:

50% x 12, 60% x 10, 70% x 80, 80% x 6, 90% x 4 (of 1RM)

As opposed to just doing

70% x 8 x 3.

So you get some hypertrophy & strength rep ranges and a progressively increasing load. So you're not doing lots of sets @ 90% but you do get a big variety which the body should adapt (grow) to.

Both are good it really depends what works for you and how you've plateaued.

Ascending pyramids are something I'm currently using as I used them when I first started training as a rookie. You can do descending (starting with heaviest weight first & lower reps working towards a lighter weight with lots of reps) or full so you go up & down with both reps & weight.

Ascending seem the most logical though.
 
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Quick question lads:

If you're aiming to lose fat and running 25-50 miles a week strictly restraining your calorie intake to around 2000-2500 a day, is there any point whatsoever in combining this with a weights routine? Will doing weights preserve muscle or is muscle loss inevitable in this scenario? I'm still getting as much protein as possible into the restricted calorie intake.

In other words I'm happy with the size of my arms, chest (all defined) but I'm trying to lose the tiny bit of fat around my stomach which is preventing the abs from showing... completing the beach body!

Cheers
 
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Killswitch said:
Looking for a bit of advice regarding improving my chest.

Background: Started at gym about 6 months ago to try and lose the unwanted abdominal weight but have quite hooked on lifting at the moment. I at 6" tall and weight 95kg, I've made good progress with my 4 day split of back/bi, chest/tri, legs and shoulders/traps with abs every session. I'm lifting 130kg on squats at moment and 160kg on deadlift but am only managing 50-60kg on flat bench depending on the day. Feel like a girl when I'm doing my chest days. Any advice welcome.
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I'll also add that bench form is just as important as deadlift and squat form. I think a lot of people neglect this, if you work on technique you'll probably see an instant improvement.

The second thing to say is that you have to be patient! If you're consistent and constantly trying to add weight you'll see improvements. The reason your squat and deadlift are so much larger is natural; remember 90% of everyone you see benching 80kg+ probably don't even bother to train their lower body and have spent years inefficiently doing every bench variant under the sun to get where they are! You've only been lifting for 6 months!

And do 5x5 because it's super cool and all the people in the gym will give you made respect once they see your rep scheme. :D
 
scott212 said:
Quick question lads:

If you're aiming to lose fat and running 25-50 miles a week strictly restraining your calorie intake to around 2000-2500 a day, is there any point whatsoever in combining this with a weights routine? Will doing weights preserve muscle or is muscle loss inevitable in this scenario? I'm still getting as much protein as possible into the restricted calorie intake.

In other words I'm happy with the size of my arms, chest (all defined) but I'm trying to lose the tiny bit of fat around my stomach which is preventing the abs from showing... completing the beach body!

Cheers
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In my experience that kind of mileage would be pretty exhausting if you were to lift weights too. I've been running about 20 miles per week, lifting 3 times a week and eating ~1800 calories for the last 4 weeks and it's pretty taxing - and I was already running and lifting before that (just with more calories).

Personally I'd cut the mileage and lift instead, you want your body to want to keep as much muscle as possible.

Curiously how much are you running at the moment (mileage wise)? If you're just going to start running with no prior conditioning you'll probably injure yourself!
 
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