*** The 2013 Gym Rats Thread ***

DL 120 x 3 tonight, never done that before!

After all over body paining from 80 minutes at loose head on Saturday, I'm impressed with myself and what I managed. Working through the DOMS really works!
 
Just an update on my Stronglifts progress, started a few months back, had to take a couple of weeks off (once on a sailing trip and once for sinusitis) but quite pleased so far. Bodyweight gone up from 70kg to 72kg, mostly muscle I hope.

Squats: 82.5kg
Bench: 62.5kg
Pendlay Row: 62.5kg
OHP: 50kg
DL: 95kg

Also doing 3x10 10kg weighted dips/pullups and 3x90s planks or 3x10kg weighted reverse crunches. I also run 10km on Tues & Thurs and 15-20km on Sunday and usually do 10-15 minutes of rowing after workouts.

OHP has pretty stalled a few times, planning to drop back to 40kg and see if that helps. Other lifts are progressing quite well so not planning to change off Stronglifts at the moment (is that a mistake?).

I'm nowhere near most of you but enjoying it and hoping I can get up to some semi-respectable numbers towards the end of the year :)
 
You don't need to do weighted crunches if your doing them right ;)

Very good progress! Aslong as you enjoy it those gainz will come
 
Begbie said:
You don't need to do weighted crunches if your doing them right ;)

Very good progress! Aslong as you enjoy it those gainz will come
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Doh, I'm an idiot, I meant 10kg weighted crunches, I sometimes do unweighted reverse crunches as I'd heard they were better for your neck/back. Brain wasn't 100% focused when posting as our 2 year old was trying to "help" me type :)
 
Cool, I was doing the reverse crunches without any weights (Stronglifts suggests weighted but they mean holding a weight to make it easier). I've done a few sets of leg raises and tried doing dragon flags but can't do those with decent form so have settled for easier stuff at the moment.

I'll switch to reverse crunches and look at some options for adding weight to my legs to make them harder :)
 
Ricky1981, noticed you mention 90s planks... to get the most benefit from plank it should be an active exercise where you squeeze the holy **** out of your core, should only be able to last at a very maximum 30s. There was a recent discussion about this on here, give it a search and a read.
 
King Damager said:
So true.

I used my rings for the first time today. I managed one dip, and then spent about a minute with my arms just straight, trying to find stable balance.

For now, I'm just going to try using it to help stabilise.

kd
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Just to jump in as a bit of a lurker here...

I find that rings are a massive compliment to weights. The strength/stability I have gained from using rings is pretty huge (relative to me at least) and I cannot recommend them enough.

They smash my core and bring in some serious strength. I started doing moves in isolation, such as dips, push ups, rows, pullups etc. Now I feel a bit more advanced, the best (or most fun) thing is to bring it all together into a longer move - i.e muscle up into a static hold for 5 seconds, 5 dips, drop down, round into a german hang for 5 seconds, back round into an 5 second L Sit and then 5 pullups if your feeling frisky. Do that 5 times and it ends up being quite a good workout....

While I am dialing up my weights at the moment, I will always keep one day a week on rings. If nothing else, swinging about like a monkey on rings is just plain good fun.
 
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tom_nieto said:
DL 120 x 3 tonight, never done that before!

After all over body paining from 80 minutes at loose head on Saturday, I'm impressed with myself and what I managed. Working through the DOMS really works!
Click to expand...

Do you play prop often? Would have thought most props would be able to do a bit more than 120kg for reps :p
 
OK first workout this morning from CBL (Though really it's Carb FRONT Loading with fasted training, amirite?) - observations so far.

The latter period of the low carb period was a bit meh, had a solid headache pretty much all afternoon. I noticed I lost all vascularity in my forearms and generally was in DYEL mode. But the light at the end of the tunnel of the massive carb pile waiting for me got me through.

Last night I had approx 1700kcals 50/240/50 consisting of a Deep Pan Pizza (first one I've had in YEARS!), foam bananas (HHHHRRRNNNNGGGGHHHHH and all dextrose) and a creme egg ;). It was glorious. During & after this I was getting rather toasty (had to take my socks off lol) and after about 20 minutes of finishing all dat dere vascularity was back and I felt normal again. Then about an hour after finishing I was super sleepy. I'm guessing this is all good pointing at a big spike and drop in insulin/blood sugar.

Workout this morning was great for the first 45-60 minutes. Felt strong and energetic, I was also sweating like a peado in a playground. After about an hour I had a bit of hypoglycemia, but it passed after 10 mins or so. I'm not sure what triggered this, but pretty certain it was hypo though not severe (Mums diabetic, I've seen a lot of them).
It MIGHT be related to my pre-workout BCAA's (bringing this across from IF). BCAAs cause an insulin spike without the accompanying blood sugar rise so maybe my body was gearing up for some sugar but there was none there, which hurt me a bit. I will try skipping the BCAA pre and just having Whey & Leucine post on Friday.


So far, I get the protocol but would like some explanation on his fasted training answers tbh.
The whole point of CBL can really be distilled into..... wait until your 'fat' insulin sensitivity is at it's lowest (time based) AND your 'muscle' insulin sensitivity it highest (post-workout, tGLUT etc.) and FILL UP. Fasted training still does the first point but not necessarily the last. Intredastng.

TLDR:
First CBL.
Loved the carb up, made me hot then sleepy.
Workout was good for first hour or so, then small bout of hypo (possible BCAA pre related)
Not 100% convinced on his fasted protocol. (Or rather CBL in general for fasted training)
 
Tried replying in your log but my phone was havinf a full on dribbling seizure from the GIFs.

Very interested to see how you get on with CBL bro, I had the same thoughts with regards to morning training but it should be pretty good anyway - working for syla at least. Gonna have to get me on this bandwagon as the more I read the more I start hating eating "normally".
 
I read the book last night and it has my attention, effectively being a modified form of IF. It appeals in the same way as it's quite controversial (to all the effective bro science) and my training times appear to be optimal too.

That said I'm not particularly sure what the methods are when everyday life gets in the way of particular protocols but I'm sure I'll find answers for my questions in due course.
 
My main concern would be eating the different foods, ie the backload days and the non-backload days. My foods pretty standard during the day so I'll probably struggle with the different foods
 
I just vehemently disagree with eating all that sugary crap and processed/refined carbs. Else it all seems legit science wise - but why eat all that crap in the first place?
 
Morba said:
Do you play prop often? Would have thought most props would be able to do a bit more than 120kg for reps :p
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That's the frustrating thing! I've played prop plenty, although this was only my second game this season. I've always struggled with "gym strength", even when I was 17 stone and playing two games a week. Give me a few weeks... I've only just got into doing proper training for me legs, I'm sure it'll come.
 
hehe :D

I just don't have a sweet tooth - savoury all the way for me! :cool: Even still, I just don't enjoy eating food I know isn't "good" - I actually feel rubbish afterwards - though at the time I enjoy it - I regret it afterwards. </psychological bashing>
 
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