***The 2020 Gym Rats Thread*** ᕦ( ͠°◞ °)ᕥ

[dirtychinchilla]

Last year seemed to be nothing but time off and injuries. This year, so far, I'm as good as I get and really looking forward to getting some consistent training in.

I'm going to try Reiyushin's beginner program (Thank you!), minus the front squats as I don't have the mobility for them. It's more volume than I've done before but has been good so far. Just need to try and balance it with the amount of climbing I'm doing though.

Don't have the mobility? Do you mean in your arms? If this is the case, try attaching a strap to the bar and then holding the tail of it. This means your arms don't have to stretch so far forward. I did this for a while until I stopped front squatting.

 

[ShortWarning]

Just ask your rolling partner to put you to sleep

Good shout. Quick 10 second power nap.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Last year seemed to be nothing but time off and injuries. This year, so far, I'm as good as I get and really looking forward to getting some consistent training in.

I'm going to try Reiyushin's beginner program (Thank you!), minus the front squats as I don't have the mobility for them. It's more volume than I've done before but has been good so far. Just need to try and balance it with the amount of climbing I'm doing though.

The 'beginners' program. It has worked well for me over the years, but you have to dig deep and start with a sensible (and ideally slightly lower 1RM than you actually have) to give you some overhead for progression. My shoulder can also only take bench once a week, but with 6 days training I don't have room for another day anyway. I also can't front squat, so that bit is out, I just do leg extensions instead and it hasn't harmed my squat progress too much.

 

[opethdisciple]

The 'beginners' program. It has worked well for me over the years, but you have to dig deep and start with a sensible (and ideally slightly lower 1RM than you actually have) to give you some overhead for progression. My shoulder can also only take bench once a week, but with 6 days training I don't have room for another day anyway. I also can't front squat, so that bit is out, I just do leg extensions instead and it hasn't harmed my squat progress too much.

What about hack squat?

 

[mrthingyx]

Low bar squats on the other hand have no competition

That's like claiming to have proof the world is flat: firstly, it's only possible in one's own head; secondly, it's also wrong.

 

[LiE]

I do like low bar, but my super tight pecs/shoulders say no. High bar / hybrid style it is.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Apparently I’m meant to use an EZ bar for overhead extensions. It has never felt comfortable, so I reverted to a full barbell. Gets a great stretch and pump and felt far more comfortable.

 

[neoboy]

First day back at the gym today, just a little bit of everything so my muscles don't completely forget what it's like.

January is very busy for me at the moment so proper regime starts in Feb. Diet started already though so not enjoying that

 

[opethdisciple]

In the strong lifts routine the deadlift is done for 1 set of 5 for reasons of it is tough when the weight is too heavy to do more sets on the same day you do squats.

Thats all fine and dandy, but at what weight are we talking it is expected to be lifting to decrease it down to just 1 set of deadlifts?

I am pulling around 60kg using a trap bar. I doubt at that weight thats heavy enough to warrant just one set of deadlifts surely?

 

[GiraffePencils]

In the strong lifts routine the deadlift is done for 1 set of 5 for reasons of it is tough when the weight is too heavy to do more sets on the same day you do squats.

Thats all fine and dandy, but at what weight are we talking it is expected to be lifting to decrease it down to just 1 set of deadlifts?

I am pulling around 60kg using a trap bar. I doubt at that weight thats heavy enough to warrant just one set of deadlifts surely?

It's often agreed you should do 3x5 as it's a bit light on the deadlifts

 

[Somnambulist]

Working up to a single heavy set is probably ok for a complete beginner, but you aren't a complete beginner for very long and beginners usually have lousy work capacity anyway, so moarrrrr sets.

Makes no difference that it's a trap bar, other than that piece of equipment allows you to make it a bit more squatty or a bit more hingey depending on your positioning, so pick one (preferably the latter due to already doing a squat variation) and aim to be consistent with it.

 

[tom_e]

Nearly 18st...Should probably get back to the gym

 

[Avenged7Fold]

Christmas lurgie saw me drop weight and strength. Clawing it back now, dont want it to get to cutting time and I find ive gained sweet FA lean mass.

 

[blairw]

Picked up a 35KG Rubber Atlas Stone... incorporated it into this workout... jesus was it punishing! I almost got the heavier one, thank god I didn't!

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of:
Atlas Stone Over The Shoulder 35 kg
Box Jump
Dumbbell Snatch 22.5 kg

Finished in 17:23... will be a good benchmark to run again in a few months

 

[mrthingyx]

Nearly 18st...Should probably get back to the gym

Would still get my arms around that.

 

[tom_e]

Would still get my arms around that.

Surprisingly I'm still holding half decent shape but I feel horrible carrying that sort of weight. Even at my fattest butter ball size I was never above 110kg

 

[mrthingyx]

Surprisingly I'm still holding half decent shape but I feel horrible carrying that sort of weight. Even at my fattest butter ball size I was never above 110kg

Keep talking dirty...

 

[CaptainRAVE]

It was worth scaling back my bench 8 weeks ago and building back up. Comfortably hit PBs for reps today.

 

[Somnambulist]

Got into the habit now on my first exercise of the day each session of working up to a heavy single at about RPE 8-8.5 before dropping back to my working sets... felt unusually strong on OHP and my single ended sticking 84% of bodyweight up pretty nicely (other than seeing stars from bracing so hard)... hopefully this year I can acquire holy grail 'can strict press 100% of bodyweight overhead' status.

 

[mrthingyx]

Got into the habit now on my first exercise of the day each session of working up to a heavy single at about RPE 8-8.5 before dropping back to my working sets... felt unusually strong on OHP and my single ended sticking 84% of bodyweight up pretty nicely (other than seeing stars from bracing so hard)... hopefully this year I can acquire holy grail 'can strict press 100% of bodyweight overhead' status.

Similar in principle to Bulgarian weightlifting methodology: find a training max and use it as a guide for loading range.

The guy who adapted it for Squat Nemesis was also talking about doing it for deadlift ING and bench, so my guess would be it would apply to all compounds...