Lifting for gainzzz

spoffle · 16 Jan 2014 at 00:42

14/01/2014

I've been lifting on and off for a few years, nothing serious just messing about for fun, but for 2014 I've decided to take my lifting seriously, I'm mainly going for maximum strength, but I am losing body fat and gaining muscle too.

I go over to a friend's to get some liftin' on, I wasn't expecting much, especially from bench since my arms, chest and shoulders were already aching quite a bit, and I was running on about 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours, but I didn't do too badly.

100x10 for my warm up
110x10 for a slightly harder warm up
120x10 for a working set, I was going for volume due to my sore upper body

I tried a few singles and doubles with 140, which didn't feel too bad, but it wasn't a big benching night that night, I'm going to give myself a few days off for my upper body to recover so I can get back to doing sets with 140

After trying 140 a few times, I finished off bench press with:

100x10x6 for volume and endurance work.

I moved on to squats afterwards;

140x3 for a warm up

160x3 for another warm up

180x3x3 for a working set, though it felt quite light

200x3, I hadn't tried this before as I usually felt rubbish when it came to squats, it didn't feel much different, except my calves had started to ache a bit

220x1 I haven't tried this at all before, so I did a single to see how it felt, it didn't feel too bad but I didn't want to burn myself out, and my calves were aching more at this point, so I used a foam roller on my right leg for a few minutes before I finished off with

180x3x2

It was a good session, and I could feel dem endorphines afterwards.

I finished my session off by going to Asda with my friend, getting a few sirloins and making some gainz steaks with a veggie omelet (mushrooms, spring onions, red peppers and sweetcorn).

mrthingyx · 16 Jan 2014 at 06:25

Boom! Nice lifting!

All killed by the veggie omelette, however, regardless of the steak. :eek:

spoffle · 16 Jan 2014 at 06:29

What's wrong with veggie omelettes? Dat nutritional content though

Oh and thanks

I've got some videos from the session that I'll post up as soon as I can get them off my friend.

icecold · 16 Jan 2014 at 23:17

Nice session!

Videos?

spoffle · 17 Jan 2014 at 03:15

These are on my friend's account (he posts on these forums occasionally)

toxic · 17 Jan 2014 at 08:47

did i actually just read this correcty???

I've been lifting on and off for a few years, nothing serious just messing about for fun,

120x10 for a working set, I was going for volume due to my sore upper body

100x10x6 for volume and endurance work

180x3x3 for a working set, though it felt quite light

200x3, I hadn't tried this before as I usually felt rubbish when it came to squats, it didn't feel much different

220x1 I haven't tried this at all before, so I did a single to see how it felt, it didn't feel too bad

WTF..have i been wasting my time at the gym for all those years?? :eek:

BennyC · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:09

120Kg x 10 squats is not volume

125KG x 20 is :cool:

Shifting some decent weight there. Room for improvement on form though.

Razor-BladE · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:17

toxic said:
did i actually just read this correcty???

WTF..have i been wasting my time at the gym for all those years??

Exactly what I was thinking! I had to re-read it just to make sure I read it correctly!

Deception · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:19

BennyC said:
120Kg x 10 squats is not volume 125KG x 20 is

Volume.. I'll just leave this here..

spoffle · 17 Jan 2014 at 13:56

BennyC said:
120Kg x 10 squats is not volume 125KG x 20 is

Shifting some decent weight there. Room for improvement on form though.

That was my bench pressing...

As for form, my biggest issue is my lower back, top of glutes insertion point/bottom of erector spinae muscles, which have caused me some issues over the years and get in the way of my squat and deadlifts.

spoffle · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:03

toxic said:
did i actually just read this correcty???

WTF..have i been wasting my time at the gym for all those years??

Razor-BladE said:
Exactly what I was thinking! I had to re-read it just to make sure I read it correctly!

Haha. I'm fairly large because I tend to put weight on quite easily. People are usually very surprised at just how much I weigh, I don't think my numbers are particularly impressive, though they are telling for where I could end up, so I've decided to actually take it seriously and try to get stronk.

Syla5 · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:07

Would mind putting some numbers to the numbers so to speak?

How old are you, hieght, weight etc? how long have you not been training seriously for but actually still been training??

All interesting to know. The numbers are still impressive for someone who hasnt been taking it seriously.

spoffle · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:20

I am 24, 5"11,as for weight, I'm curious as to what weight bracket you'd honestly put me in from those videos (I know it can be hard to tell, but I'm just curious as to what people say).

I'm not sure how long I've been lifting for properly, the first time I tried lifting I was 17/18 though it was just a few sessions.

Then a few years later a friend got me a gym membership for my birthday, so I went with him for a few months.

Then nothing much for a few years, just the occasional trip to a local gym once every few months.

Then in December 2011 I got myself some weights from power house fitness (a squat rack, bench, 2 bars and a few hundred Kilos of Olympic weights) I used them off and on for a few months but they were taking up way too much space, so moved them in to another room to get the space back and used them a hand full of times over an 18 month period. They were still taking up too much space, so I cleared out the room they were in so I had more space to do squats and have been taking it seriously since mid December 2013.

BennyC · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:20

spoffle said:
That was my bench pressing...

Not bad jeff.

As for form, my biggest issue is my lower back, top of glutes insertion point/bottom of erector spinae muscles, which have caused me some issues over the years and get in the way of my squat and deadlifts.

In all seriousness it's probably because you're not using them when you lift...

icecold · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:21

Impressive weight for sure, but there is a lot going on there.

First, the safety issues.

Seeing this confirms what I was saying in the gym rats thread regarding your shoulders. You are missing a LOT of external rotation, which is most likely due to tight pecs and has nothing to do with your size. As you come out of the hole it looks like your wrists are going to snap off. There are instructions on how to fix this in the mobility thread.

You have the bar in a HIGH bar position, and yet because of your shoulders you don't even start with your elbows under the bar. You have poor, rounded/collapsed thoracic positioning at the top of the rep, which is exacerbated by your forward head position. Because of the amount of forward lean you get as you descend (not ideal for high bar), the weight tends to move up towards your neck. This is causing upper back rounding, which is compounded by general spinal instability. From the bottom of the rep, your unstable lumbar is evident. I looks like you're having to straighten your spine to lock out, and if this is happening here then it's definitely happening on your deadlifts.

It's also bad practice to drop into the bottom of the rep like that, particularly when you have the above problems. People do this to develop bounce out of the hole to make it easier, but without the right positions there is a price to pay. This is also why your calves were hurting.

Secondly, and I'll only say this tentatively due to the difficulty of judging from that camera angle, but you don't even look to be going that deep. It seems like your 180 set is perhaps at parallel, but then it gets progressively worse. I didn't expect that given your previous comments, although it is clear why you need weight on the bar to get to the depth you train at.

spoffle · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:23

BennyC said:
Not bad jeff.

In all seriousness it's probably because you're not using them when you lift...

I use my glutes for definite, as I get glutes pumps from squatting, my lower back, I'm not do sure. Though I do get lower back DOMS much stronger than in my legs.

It's a lot more prominent in my deadlift, where my friend pointed out that it looks like I'm shrugging to compensate for my weak lower back.

BennyC · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:24

Deception said:
Volume.. I'll just leave this here..

And I'll leave these here:

BennyC · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:25

spoffle said:
I use my glutes for definite, as I get glutes pumps from squatting, my lower back, I'm not do sure. Though I do get lower back DOMS much stronger than in my legs.

It's a lot more prominent in my deadlift, where my friend pointed out that it looks like I'm shrugging to compensate for my weak lower back.

I'm sorry but you are dropping in to lumbar flexion on your squats.

tom_e · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:25

spoffle said:
I'm curious as to what weight bracket you'd honestly put me in from those videos (I know it can be hard to tell, but I'm just curious as to what people say).

From a quick look I'd say you're somewhere around the 20st mark

icecold · 17 Jan 2014 at 14:30

spoffle said:
I use my glutes for definite, as I get glutes pumps from squatting, my lower back, I'm not do sure. Though I do get lower back DOMS much stronger than in my legs.

It's a lot more prominent in my deadlift, where my friend pointed out that it looks like I'm shrugging to compensate for my weak lower back.

Your issue is not a weak lower back. It's that your spine moves, putting load far more load on your erectors/lower back muscles than should be present.