For the gym rats

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Freefaller said:
Nope - just you ;)

Yes I have over indulged, but I've just kept the intensity of the training high ;)
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Cheeky :D Would have liked to carry on but the local Gym shuts for 2 weeks over Christmas. What would be best to get rid of the excess fat, just carry on with the normal routine Cardio / Weights?
 
Back to the gym tomorrow for me too, don't expect my weight has budged as I've not gone crazy but damn I've missed the stability of a working day. It's so damn hard eating properly when I'm home all day, plus I'll tend not to go to the gym whilst I'm off work....

Here's to hoping I'm well enough to do a bit more cardio now tho :(
 
Mirage said:
Back to the gym tomorrow for me too, don't expect my weight has budged as I've not gone crazy but damn I've missed the stability of a working day. It's so damn hard eating properly when I'm home all day, plus I'll tend not to go to the gym whilst I'm off work....

Here's to hoping I'm well enough to do a bit more cardio now tho :(
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Definetely a little harder when the structure of a work day is gone to stick to eating routine.

I've done pretty well but a couple of days got up later than usual so not enough time to pack all the meals in - back in the office tomorrow and back to normal !
 
OoOverclockaoO said:
Today

Hammer Curls
12 x 9kg
10 x 11.5kg
4 x 14kg
8 x 11.5kg

CGBP
12 x 30kg
10 x 40kg
10 x 50kg
7 x 55kg << PB

Barbell Curl
12 x 20kg
10 x 25kg
6 x 30kg
8 x 25kg

Skull Crushers
12 x 20kg
10 x 25kg
8 x 27.5kg << PB
10 x 25kg

Calf Raises
12 x 70kg
12 x 100kg
12 x 120kg
12 x 120kg
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Hows your form on the skull crushers? and what sort of grip and bar do you use?

I'm not trying to be annoying just that I find with my arms fully back using full ROM I use about the same weight as you.. (yet I CGBP 75kg*ish for 6)

:)
 
gareth.e said:
Hows your form on the skull crushers? and what sort of grip and bar do you use?

I'm not trying to be annoying just that I find with my arms fully back using full ROM I use about the same weight as you.. (yet I CGBP 75kg*ish for 6)

:)
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pah theres lots of oddities with skullcrushers, using an ez bar i can skullcrusher 55 kilos or so for 8-10 reps with good form. that doesnt mean i can cgbp 150 kilos.

You cant equate cgbp and skullcrusher simply becase they are both seen as tricep intensive exercises. The importance of other muscle groups should not be underestimated, neither of these performed without a machine is an isolated movement.

The close grip bench press will be heavily influenced by your normal bench muscle groups like the pectorals and the delts, so much so that i would predict everyone to have a CGBP that is clearly representative of their full bench. Looking deeper still it would be appropriate to assume that the percentage difference between your close grip and your full benches would be a great estimation of your overall tricep dominance in pressing movments. Thus the closer your CGBP is to your flat bench (assuming you do CGBP on a flat bench too) The more tricep dominant you are and the more focus you should put on building your pectorals and deltoids.

Skullcrushers are much more of an isolated movement and as such do represent tricep strength in isolation rather well. However there is still one critical flaw with less experienced trainee's. Raw, deadlifting power. No i'm not going to hypothesise some ridiculous posterior chain function that translates to correct elbow flexion in the lateral plane (although healthy joints may well play a role), I'm referring to GRIP. The two main components of stability in performing skullcrushers correctly is isometric strength in the supporting musculature (namely the lats, traps and deltoids) and the isometric strength of the forearm. When a weakness occurs in any auxillary muscle group during an exercise, all strength in other areas is NATURALLY (read, automatically) reduced severalfold to compensate and protect the body. Try it yourself, hang from a chinning bar.... no problem, delts back biceps and grip all working together to hold your weight off the ground. Now do it with a 3 fingered grip (or 2 if you weigh less than a remote control battery) Not so easy eh? You've got the same lats and the same delts and biceps holding you up but you have created an instability at a point in the chain that causes the whole system to break down, you feel incredibly heavy and your muscles are unable to exert normal force. This is why although a skullcrusher is one of the most isolated tricep movments available with free weight, it is not a true isolation as it requires isometric strength in many other areas.

Both these examples highlight why, in weight training, it is important to look at the body as a whole machine, tackling the weak links first. Anyone into car mechanics will know that although, with enough air and petrol, you can make a normal road car go very much faster than it does as stock, you will need to make all the little rods and pistons and gears stronger first to be able to utilize the new horsepower without breaking down. The human musculature is only as strong as its weakest muscle, to some degree we are literally all only as strong as our own little fingers!
 
in close grip bp how close your hands meant to be. tried it the other day with hands touching each other that right or should be slightly more wide for greater balance so can add more weight?
 
etom said:
in close grip bp how close your hands meant to be. tried it the other day with hands touching each other that right or should be slightly more wide for greater balance so can add more weight?
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In full honesty its whatever width you feel hits the right muscles. However strictly speaking its shoulder width or a little narrower than. If you have an olympic bar it is as close in as you can on the gripped area so about shoulder width. Ironically this is how most newbies bench press normally and why most people have massive tricep dominance on the bench and often fail to build a good chest from it. A standard bench would be performed with either your little fingers touching the rings on the oly bar (small smooth sections that denotes a 'snatch' width grip for olympic lifting) or your middle fingers. Personally i prefer a super wide maximum width grip as this places heavy emphasis on the chest and shoulder interactions as i prefer to get true tricep work from CGBP, press downs, dips and skullcrushers.
 
gareth.e said:
Hows your form on the skull crushers? and what sort of grip and bar do you use?

I'm not trying to be annoying just that I find with my arms fully back using full ROM I use about the same weight as you.. (yet I CGBP 75kg*ish for 6)

:)
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I'm currently using a standard oly bar - haven't got an EZ curl bar at the moment but looking to get one soon.

It's strange as on bench I only manage 6 x 60 kg yet close grip 7 x 55 kg :confused:
 
Skull crushers if done right (i.e. pivot about elbow and not just go up and down) are bloody hard work as they are hitting the tris in a very isolated manner. I haven't done them in a while but 45kg on an EZ bar is around my rep range - I'm sure I've hit 60kg for 1 or 2. Yet CGBP I'm over 100kg for reps - so it's an odd one. Yet again dips, I'm at 40kg+BW for reps - so it really does depend on your strength and weaknesses.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
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I do them with my palms facing my head.. Which does make it harder than palms away.. It's very interesting what you said about pullups as I often wondered why when trying to grip on to the edge of door frames it was so bloody hard :D

My grip is reasonably strong (imo) I've never had issues with deadlifts and have currently gone as high as 162.5kg also I've done towel pullups before and managed 12 reps then 10 reps then 8reps then 7reps.. Which I think is reasonably good.. They really do strain your grip though!

as for cgpb comparison.. I know there are differences but with my shoulders being (very) weak I thought It was a reasonable comparison to make..
 
gareth.e said:
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Well using an inverted grip will definately put more strain on the wrists, hell just try bicep curling with a reverse grip (although unless you curl over 40kg's it may not be as noticable). If i was you id use a standard grip.

Good grip would be considered someone who could hold a 200kg bar fairly solidly, i wouldnt say i have good grip as such but i can hold 200kg for around 10 seconds. Remember estimating grip from bodyweight exercises is not a good idea as its based on what you weigh which might be bugger all lol

CGBP and skulls just aren't relative m8 tbh its a bit like comparing your bent over row to your bicep curl
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Well using an inverted grip will definately put more strain on the wrists, hell just try bicep curling with a reverse grip (although unless you curl over 40kg's it may not be as noticable). If i was you id use a standard grip.

Good grip would be considered someone who could hold a 200kg bar fairly solidly, i wouldnt say i have good grip as such but i can hold 200kg for around 10 seconds. Remember estimating grip from bodyweight exercises is not a good idea as its based on what you weigh which might be bugger all lol

CGBP and skulls just aren't relative m8 tbh its a bit like comparing your bent over row to your bicep curl
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I used standard grip for a long time.. But when using palms facing I feel it the area above my elbow, where as most tri movement i feel hit the mid section or upper..

I agree with you about grip strength but I comparison with my other lifts I expect it's ahead.. I think I could hold 200kg and may well give some lockouts ago :D (the reason I haven't held any more is because I haven't deadlifted any more lol)

that is with bw at 85kg but I know what you're saying lol.. It's just most people I know struggle with towel pullups regardless of weight

I don't entirely agree with you're barbell row and bicep curl relativity though..
CGBP is meant to hit you're tris mainly with chest and shoulders supporting where as bb rows are meant to hit you're back mainly with your bis supporting
 
Was training in Poland today with a local powerlifter (he's 42 years old as well!).

Was good fun and he had some interesting ideas about training.

Got 4 reps on bench at 105kg though so I was pleased :D Although I was having about 4 minutes rest between sets (his idea). He was deadlifting as well but I didn't fancy it with the hernia, so my workout was basically Pull ups, bench, chins up and then some dodgy pull down machine.

Will hopefully get some pictures / vids this week.
 
PAz said:
Was training in Poland today with a local powerlifter (he's 42 years old as well!).

Was good fun and he had some interesting ideas about training.

Got 4 reps on bench at 105kg though so I was pleased :D Although I was having about 4 minutes rest between sets (his idea). He was deadlifting as well but I didn't fancy it with the hernia, so my workout was basically Pull ups, bench, chins up and then some dodgy pull down machine.

Will hopefully get some pictures / vids this week.
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coool :D
 
Thought I'd finally chip in with my lifts. They're nothing compared to most guys on here but I'm quite proud. PB for each exercise today. Progress has been slow as I've had a niggly back for quite a while, and I don't train for strength either.


Squats:

10 x 60kg
10 x 70kg
8 x 80kg
6 x 85kg
2 x 90kg - PB
8 x 70kg

Calf Raises:

15 x 120kg
15 x 130kg
13 x 140kg
13 x 142.5kg - PB
15 x 130kg

RDL:

8 x 80kg
6 x 90kg
6 x 100kg
4 x 105kg - PB
6 x 90kg

Could probably push for a few more on the RDL, felt quite good, especially if I do them before squats. Could definately do more on the calves but balance is the main problem at the minute, I have the balls of my feet on a 5kg plates so I can get a better ROM but this makes it a bit harder to balance.

Squats are a real problem for me though, I really struggle getting deep (get to parallel but nothing more) and find myself bending over too much. Think I need to work on my flexibilty.
 
Some squats today ... bit of a step back since last session (managed 3 x 100kg :) ) but the day after didn't rest legs and cycled again . Did a 5 mile cycle today also before which probably made it worse.

Back
12 x 50kg
10 x 70kg
10 x 85kg
8 x 85kg
10 x 70kg

Front
10 x 40kg
8 x 50kg
6 x 55kg
6 x 60kg

DB Lunges
3 x 10 x 48kg (total)

Will try to calm down the cycling and see how I get on next week.
 
Had a decent chest session today, managed 100k x 16, and 130k for 6 flat bench. Hopefully i can hit the magic 3 plates soon for 6 reps, i will be happy then:)
 
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