*** The 2013 Gym Rats Thread ***

mrthingyx said:
No worries! Just bear in mind your post was full of things that make people with any gym experience whatsoever go "hmmmm..." including:

- Fat into muscle (not physiologically possible);
- Only wanting to work arms and chest (that's not going to help you look good or be strong);
- lower back strength does not equal belly muscles (would you use your toes to bicep curl? ;) );
- machines are for people that don't know what they're doing and are happy in their willful ignorance.
- Training for size and strength are two different things (as a noob, however, you can get the benefits of both for a few months).

These cover around 90% of your post, so you can see why people (including myself) may be wary of your questions. ;) :D

If you have any further questions (other than "that's all great, I've done all my reading, but how do I get bigger arms?"), then there are a lot of very experienced lifters and even strength/conditioning coaches (and recently the U105 UK Strongman Champion) on here, so you can get a lot of help if you're willing to learn. :)
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I have missed this reply...

ok I'm a noob in terms of exercise and am not claiming otherwise - just jumping on me wasn't necessary.
It is isn’t ignorance, just lack of knowledge. And possibly, I have asked wrong questions..anyhow...

I have added link you provided to bookmarks and went through it – googled named of exercises to see what and how..
Gym which I have access to doesn’t have necessary equipment to do all exercises on the list :(

I don’t expect to get huge arms in a week ;) just want to get some at some point ;)
Improving general strength and condition is more important than making huge arms.

In general I have weak lower back and belly muscles.
I have started to row and can’t keep straight posture for long enough making me ‘curl’ my back which is not good for rowing. That’s the reason I need to improve lower back muscles.

I do cycle so my legs aren’t too bad and will get better in time – still do squats to improve.

What else…I do use skipping rope – that beats carp out of me! Constant jumping kills me..at the moment around 1min of pretty fast skipping is maximum….but last week it was 30secs.

So is there I should be looking in first place to improve general condition ?
I do squats and sit-up’s, cycle, skipping rope. Rowing not so much due to weather but that is changing now so should be coming back to it sooner than later.


Hopefully this time, it was clearer (?) and makes more sense…
Thanks
 
semi-pro waster said:
Don't let idiots put you off - he's got different goals to you so I'd suggest you just ignore him. You can be polite about it and explain that you're following a plan that suits you or just flat out ignore him until he goes away but I'd suggest if you want to achieve your goals you'll need to be able to tune out people who aren't helping.

Another option is to challenge him to do his apparent 200kg squat ATG and while he's stuggling about with that go off and do your own thing.
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Yeah, I've realized that this is what needs to happen for me to achieve my goals. Cheers for the advice buddy. I'm just going to have to ignore him as I told him I was strength training but, was having none of it.
 
Why can't people stick to anything. Had another training partner quit the gym today. This is the 4th guy in three years. All of them said they're 'not seeing any change' and 'it's too hard' :rolleyes: Take into account that they missed 50% of our training sessions anyway. And all of them asked ME if they could come train with me. Funny thing is, I don't even train hard and heavy any more. Weights I can handle for a good 15-20 reps and perfect form. So did they.

Think I'm going to fly solo from now on and not take anyone serious any more when they say they want to change their fitness/body shape/training habits. All I hear year in and year out is excuses.
 
MM-Seat said:
Furious this morning. Started the 5x5 program and have been following it religiously. Today, I start my squats and a guy comes up to me and starts talking about my form. I was grateful for this until he showed me his squat and it looked nothing like what I had seen elsewhere.

I then told him that I was following a strength training program called stronglifts 5x5 to which he replied that "that won't get you big, you need to do a major then a minor then a major etc, etc.

After I'd done my squats, I went to the bike to wait for him to go. 20 minutes later He had gone. thus, I started my overhead press. He stood next to me with weights for bicep curls and said "major, minor!" so I told him that I was leaving.

I went to the bike again to wait but, within a minute he had come up to me and "told me the bike won't make you big" so I left the gym.

All my mates say interrupts their own routines some of which, have been going for years. He was really annoying and has ruined my day.

Forgot to mention that he reckons he squats 200KG. He must have weighed around 60KG. So annoyed.
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Call him out on his BS, or say 'thanks for the advice but I am going to do it my way'. Never let this happen again or it will happen every time.
 
MM-Seat said:
Furious this morning. Started the 5x5 program and have been following it religiously. Today, I start my squats and a guy comes up to me and starts talking about my form. I was grateful for this until he showed me his squat and it looked nothing like what I had seen elsewhere.

I then told him that I was following a strength training program called stronglifts 5x5 to which he replied that "that won't get you big, you need to do a major then a minor then a major etc, etc.

After I'd done my squats, I went to the bike to wait for him to go. 20 minutes later He had gone. thus, I started my overhead press. He stood next to me with weights for bicep curls and said "major, minor!" so I told him that I was leaving.

I went to the bike again to wait but, within a minute he had come up to me and "told me the bike won't make you big" so I left the gym.

All my mates say interrupts their own routines some of which, have been going for years. He was really annoying and has ruined my day.

Forgot to mention that he reckons he squats 200KG. He must have weighed around 60KG. So annoyed.
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Some options:

Just start throwing plates at him until he stops talking to you.

Offer to spot him and get close enough so that he can feel your breath on his neck.

After he starts talking to you, do your next set using the pantsdown method.

Start screaming.

Ask him what his pelvic floor routine is. Then offer to spot him.

Kick him in the throat.

Kiss him.
 
At the age of 25 and weighing 12 stone I played my last game of competitive football. Tomorrow, 8 years on and around 6 stone heavier, I put on the boots once more. I am going to die, literally :(

RIP all future gym gains.
 
regulus said:
Why can't people stick to anything. Had another training partner quit the gym today. This is the 4th guy in three years. All of them said they're 'not seeing any change' and 'it's too hard' :rolleyes: Take into account that they missed 50% of our training sessions anyway. And all of them asked ME if they could come train with me. Funny thing is, I don't even train hard and heavy any more. Weights I can handle for a good 15-20 reps and perfect form. So did they.

Think I'm going to fly solo from now on and not take anyone serious any more when they say they want to change their fitness/body shape/training habits. All I hear year in and year out is excuses.
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You live in north london don't you? What gym are you going too? :-)
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
At the age of 25 and weighing 12 stone I played my last game of competitive football. Tomorrow, 8 years on and around 6 stone heavier, I put on the boots once more. I am going to die, literally :(

RIP all future gym gains.
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youll be fine :D...wouldnt fancy being on the opposite team if your a defender though :eek:
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
At the age of 25 and weighing 12 stone I played my last game of competitive football. Tomorrow, 8 years on and around 6 stone heavier, I put on the boots once more. I am going to die, literally :(

RIP all future gym gains.
Click to expand...

At a similar age and weight (alright, a few years older) I played rugby for the first time in 6 months 24 hours ago on a very hard pitch. If you do die, consider yourself lucky... it has to be better than how I feel today!
 
exploitah said:
At a similar age and weight (alright, a few years older) I played rugby for the first time in 6 months 24 hours ago on a very hard pitch. If you do die, consider yourself lucky... it has to be better than how I feel today!
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Surely, considering the size of you, the other guys feel a whole lot worse :p.
 
Won the game 4-1 but only played 50 minutes, 25 minutes either side of half time. Still got a surprising amount of pace for my size but my stamina cost me a few times. Opposition seemed to put two of their younger players on me when they saw me plodding on so I kicked one and they stayed away :D

Quads are now on fire so tomorrows gym session will now take place on Tuesday :o

exploitah said:
At a similar age and weight (alright, a few years older) I played rugby for the first time in 6 months 24 hours ago on a very hard pitch. If you do die, consider yourself lucky... it has to be better than how I feel today!
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Size and rugby go hand in hand, you had it easy :p
 
Last edited:
bastic said:
I have missed this reply...

ok I'm a noob in terms of exercise and am not claiming otherwise - just jumping on me wasn't necessary.
It is isn’t ignorance, just lack of knowledge. And possibly, I have asked wrong questions..anyhow...

I have added link you provided to bookmarks and went through it – googled named of exercises to see what and how..
Gym which I have access to doesn’t have necessary equipment to do all exercises on the list :(

I don’t expect to get huge arms in a week ;) just want to get some at some point ;)
Improving general strength and condition is more important than making huge arms.

In general I have weak lower back and belly muscles.
I have started to row and can’t keep straight posture for long enough making me ‘curl’ my back which is not good for rowing. That’s the reason I need to improve lower back muscles.

I do cycle so my legs aren’t too bad and will get better in time – still do squats to improve.

What else…I do use skipping rope – that beats carp out of me! Constant jumping kills me..at the moment around 1min of pretty fast skipping is maximum….but last week it was 30secs.

So is there I should be looking in first place to improve general condition ?
I do squats and sit-up’s, cycle, skipping rope. Rowing not so much due to weather but that is changing now so should be coming back to it sooner than later.


Hopefully this time, it was clearer (?) and makes more sense…
Thanks
Click to expand...

Read the first post n this thread, as it as all the stickies you will need.

And don't do sit ups. ;)
 
Haven't posted/been on OcUK in a good year or so except for one or two quick browses. I started working out last summer. You can see my fitocracy profile here. I usually do compound lifts.

Working out is definitely something I recommend for everyone. It's transformed my life in more ways than I first imagined. It's a great de-stresser and brings a bit of routine to my life.
 
KNiVES said:
Haven't posted/been on OcUK in a good year or so except for one or two quick browses. I started working out last summer. You can see my fitocracy profile here. I usually do compound lifts.

Working out is definitely something I recommend for everyone. It's transformed my life in more ways than I first imagined. It's a great de-stresser and brings a bit of routine to my life.
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Negative Ghost Rider.
 
I'm going to be deadlifting tomorrow. Instead of doing the deadlift at normal speed, would it be worth doing it really slowly instead to make my form perfect and then gradually speed it up?
 
Lower the weight instead, if you perform the rep slower you would have to lower the weight anyway to accommodate the longer time under tension.
 
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