*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

Freefaller said:
You need to increase your volume I reckon - you've got all the good movements now, your form is good... up the volume - you need to do moooooooooooooooooooooooooooore! :mad: :D
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Cheers. You just want to see me suffer though like you've done. :p Maybe I'll go for it in the next month or two, I want to do a bit more of the Stronglifts programme then I'll probably be ready to change.

BennyC said:
Volume is where it is at! Easiest way to pack on volume is by tricking your CNS. Bang out your heavy sets and then drop the weight by 20-30KG and rep out :D Dropping 60KG makes it feel like feathers. Dropping a further 30KG makes it feel like your floating :cool: Pushing your lactate threshold isn't pritty though!
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I'm slowly getting convinced it's worth a shot, I do need to change relatively soon.
 
^TANK^ said:
Good man keep em coming, how often do you up the weight?
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It's all to do with how I'm feeling really. It was my first time benching since being back at school after easter and I really felt I had made solid progress in my tricep strength over the last month so I thought I'd give a max a go (+5kg on my PB).

For my working 5 rep sets for bench, I look to up the weight by 2.5kg every couple of weeks, but primarily I listen to my body: if I'm feeling it I'll up the weight, I just make sure I never get stuck in a rut at the same weight, if that sort of makes sense.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Cheers. You just want to see me suffer though like you've done. :p Maybe I'll go for it in the next month or two, I want to do a bit more of the Stronglifts programme then I'll probably be ready to change.



I'm slowly getting convinced it's worth a shot, I do need to change relatively soon.
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I'm not suggesting you do AGVT, but increasing the workload would be sensible - you're doing 5x5 at the moment, so that's only 25 reps for a body part. Doing a push / pull split, or a classic, chest/bi, back/tri, leg / shoulder split, with around 60-70 reps per body part will be much more interesting!! :) Heck even only doing 50 reps per body part would be doubling your volume! ;)
 
Set a perosnnal best on squats today :D so pleased with my progress, after doing 5x5 on my squats upping by 2.5 every session till i reached 100 kg (didnt stall once) i managed to get 2 reps at 110kg today which is 1.5 my BW. Am dead chuffed with myself

It went as follows

60 x10
80 x10
90 x10
100 x5
110 x2
90 x6
70 x8
60 x8

Dropping the weight was so nice after it just felt so nice
 
Ok, so I haven't been working out for ages (about a year :( ) the motivation didn't stick - now I've moved away and have a bit more free time so looking to start again.

Also, I have a gym downstairs now which is nice - and seems to have most things apart from a squat rack.

Could someone come up with a simple 3 day split? Using the equipment available to me - previously I only had a bench and a rack at home so not familiar with any of the machines. For cardio side of things I'll be using the bike (don't like running!) , or go for a swim

Thanks in advance!




 
Cheers guys :)

Zip said:
What does dropping the weight after your max rep end up achieving?:confused:
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dropping the weight quite considerably after going really heavy will trick your CNS and keep your body guessing, helping to add on mass :) not to mentioned the added volume to your legs makes all the help
 
Decided it was time to go for a cut. Have been using for the last week PHD Diet Whey stacked with PHD Lean Degree.

Currently consuming the following;

1421 Calories
19.9g of Fat
180.4g of Protein
133.1g of Carbs

This is me eating often but little.

I am worried my Calories are far to low as i was on around 3,000 during my Bulk.
 
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ConTRo13R said:
Cheers guys :)



dropping the weight quite considerably after going really heavy will trick your CNS and keep your body guessing, helping to add on mass :) not to mentioned the added volume to your legs makes all the help
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So is it just a trick to put on mass? Or will you gain Strength and/or endurance out of it as well?
 
Ironic Namesake said:
Ok, so I haven't been working out for ages (about a year :( ) the motivation didn't stick - now I've moved away and have a bit more free time so looking to start again.

Also, I have a gym downstairs now which is nice - and seems to have most things apart from a squat rack.

Could someone come up with a simple 3 day split? Using the equipment available to me - previously I only had a bench and a rack at home so not familiar with any of the machines. For cardio side of things I'll be using the bike (don't like running!) , or go for a swim

Thanks in advance!
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Doesn't appear to be any barbells in the 4 images, is that correct? Or is it hiding somewhere?
 
kai said:
Decided it was time to go for a cut. Have been using for the last week PHD Diet Whey stacked with PHD Lean Degree.

Currently consuming the following;

1421 Calories
19.9g of Fat
180.4g of Protein
133.1g of Carbs

This is me eating often but little.

I am worried my Calories are far to low as i was on around 3,000 during my Bulk.
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Your body will go into harvest mode very quickly. It's not good to just drop calorie intake suddenly. Do it progressively - it's much better for the body.
 
Zip said:
So is it just a trick to put on mass? Or will you gain Strength and/or endurance out of it as well?
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Strength and mass pretty much go hand in hand, more strength means more muscle.

I wouldnt say endurnace though as endurance is to do with slow twitch fibres in the muscles whereas strength is fast twitch which are what give you the mass, look at the difference between a marthon runner and a sprinters legs
 
Zip said:
So is it just a trick to put on mass? Or will you gain Strength and/or endurance out of it as well?
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It's a trick to your CNS. Your body only understands load the amount of weight (whether it be 80KG or 180KG) is irrelevant to it. Lifting really heavy and then dropping load substancially allows you to see what you're really capable of at a set weight. I'm considering letting my partner decide what weights I burn out at next time. So I'll get under the bar without seeing what he's put on and then just give it my all and see what was on there at the end!

On my up pyramid 100KG x 10 feels heavy and am glad to get it re-racked. On the way back down after 150/160 it feels a lot light and I can get double the reps out.

Pushing your lactate threshold is good and it'll also help to increase your VO2 max. Legs don't need to be smashed heavy every single workout, but heavy sets with a mixture of low/medium & high volume all work.

You'll put on some serious size with high rep sets. As I mentioned I have a reasonably respectable set of legs and use this sort of method a lot!

OT:

Heavy chest session today: Rests 60-120 seconds - I get impatient and find waiting really tough!

Flat Bench
60KG x 15
80KG x 5

100KG x 5
105KG x 5
105KG x 4 (5th rep spotted to get the negative out)
105KG x 4 (")
105KG x 3 (4th & 5th ")

Inc DB Press @ 20degrees

40KG x 5
40KG x 5
40KG x 5
40KG x 5
40KG x 5

Dips + 30KG

x 5
x 5
x 4
x 3
x 3

(used some cheat reps & negatives ontop of the achieved reps)

Incline DB Flyes
22.5KG x 5 x 3

Decline Cable Flyes
22KG x 5 x 3

FST7 Tricep /\ bar pushdown
26KG x 15 x 7 (30-45 seconds rest)

FST7 Pec Dec Fly
54KG x 15 x 7 (30-45 seconds rest)
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Job done. Next chest session will be 12 x 3 with 3 second negatives and then back to heavy the one after that. Off C-mono today, bit to early to notice any drop I think. Long days in the workshops too *yawn*

On a good note the finger is now minimally tender so I can regain my full grip :D Back on the grippers tonight and then a RAW back day tomorrow! Time to make up for it with DL's *GGRRRRRR RAAAAAWR!*
 
Very nice Benny!

My back session had the similar numbers to your bench today. :p

I'm glad I took a light week on the weights to recover. I can only now see how in bits my body was from 2 weeks of over 2.6 bodyweight lifts and lack of sleep.

Proper recovery is 100% essential or you can just lose all strength gains, and do up an injury.

Bodyweight WidePull ups was a struggle.
BW x8
BW x8
BW x8

Lateral Cablemachine
70kg x8
70 x8
70 x8

BORs
40kgx10
60x10
60x10
60x10
60x10

DL's
60x10
90x10
110x10
90x10
70x10
70x10
70x10

ChinUps
BW x8
Bw x8
Bw x8

The only supplement I've also been on is ON Serious Mass, which I take as a PostWorkout shake, and at my 11:00 fifteen minute break.

I've also been far hungrier than I usually am, so much so that every two hours after eating, I feel extremely hungry and after another 30 minutes I feel light headed.

Seems my body is trying to tell me something, I've also been exhausted at night, so i've been going to bed at like 10.

Hopefully after this week I'll be all set for proper lifts again and ready for my finals starting next Friday :D
 
Nice back workout. Simple but all the main ingredients for a thick back there *thumbs up*

Yeah listening to your body is very important. I usually go to bed around 10PM, very rarely later than 11PM and usually get up between 7Am & 8AM. Don't care what people think if I'm tired then I'll go to bed. Seems silly to put all the effort in with diet and training and to then muff it up by not doing something so easy as going to sleep and allowing yourself to recover!

Deffinatley agree the light week would have done you the world of good. During my cut I was doing tripples @ 90% of my 1rm squat every 3rd day. Was about 3 weeks before I was ruined!

If you're body is telling you it's hungry, feed it :) Provided it's hunger pains and not cravings shovel it down you son!
 
Oh I'm eating constantly, nice and healthy aswell of course. :D

But I think from now on I'll have a light week once a month. I don't want to have the same thing happen again.

The ligament in my right arm has no more pains or problems anymore at least. So that's a massive possitive, just the left back oblique/lower lat is still a little sore when I compress or stretch it.
 
G-MAN2004 said:
Hmm, might do that Mark Rippetoe strength workout. 8 pints of milk a day is a killer though!
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Ive always thought this complete overdose on calories seems unnecessary, its just going to gain you unwanted fat :confused:.

Anyone tried HST? http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_notes.html
I'm currently looking to lose a bit of body fat and would be doing cardio 2-3 times a week (30-60mins running ~60-80% hrm) as well.
Currently I'm doing a 4 day split and have never really tried an all over body routine, could be interesting... Thoughts?

Also what kind of rest times should be used? 60-90s? Could be killer :p
 
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