GordyR's Beginners Guide to Bodybuilding

What are the benefits, if any, of doing front squats instead of back squats?
It's a different exercise and hits the quads and upper body more than a squat with the bar on your shoulders.

As a general exercise I don't think it has any benefit over the back squat unless you specifically want to target the front of your legs.

Personally I don't like it because I always end up hurting my delicate little wrists once the weight gets heavy.
 
As a general exercise I don't think it has any benefit over the back squat unless you specifically want to target the front of your legs.

Front squats are an excellent precursor to the more explosive olympic lifts.

There's not a huge benefit to it, though it does hit the posterior chain, and can help with deadlift.

For people with tight wrists it can be a nightmare. If your goals are general, I wouldn't recommend the exercise 'just because'.
 
Hello there!

Post work out shakes...i am a big fan of The Protein Works so always have a look through there. I am a beginner out but noticing signiciant changes over the past 3 weeks (Heading to thegym 5 days a week on a push/pull/legs routine plus diet is on point)

I use their 'breakfast fuel' shake in the morning but for the post workout they seem to have a few options....one is low carb and one is a 2:1 ratio so more carb heavy. I am trying to cut as my bodyfat is high so i would assume a high protein one would be suitable?

https://www.theproteinworks.com/whey-protein-360

Or

https://www.theproteinworks.com/recovery-protein

Thankyou :)
 
Hello there!

Post work out shakes...i am a big fan of The Protein Works so always have a look through there. I am a beginner out but noticing signiciant changes over the past 3 weeks (Heading to thegym 5 days a week on a push/pull/legs routine plus diet is on point)

I use their 'breakfast fuel' shake in the morning but for the post workout they seem to have a few options....one is low carb and one is a 2:1 ratio so more carb heavy. I am trying to cut as my bodyfat is high so i would assume a high protein one would be suitable?

https://www.theproteinworks.com/whey-protein-360

Or

https://www.theproteinworks.com/recovery-protein

Thankyou :)

If you're dieting then the most important thing is calories, followed by sufficient overall protein intake (since this in combination with resistance training helps to retain as much muscle mass whilst losing weight), so a plain whey shake is going to be more conducive to this goal as it's the lowest in calories. Just remember there's no reason to prioritise shakes over food or neck one as soon as you finish training, but if it helps hit your protein target in combination with plenty of high volume, low calorie whole foods then it's all good.
 
I'm looking for inspiration for a workout routine, I currently do a 4-day split of:

Back / Bis
Chest / Tris
Shoulders
Legs

I don't have hours to spend in a gym, and end up having to go late due to child-care and work so really looking for something like hour and half to incorporate workout + Cardio. I've been reading on up Push / Pull / Legs routines but after some feedback as to who uses it and what do they think?
 
I'm looking for inspiration for a workout routine, I currently do a 4-day split of:

Back / Bis
Chest / Tris
Shoulders
Legs

I don't have hours to spend in a gym, and end up having to go late due to child-care and work so really looking for something like hour and half to incorporate workout + Cardio. I've been reading on up Push / Pull / Legs routines but after some feedback as to who uses it and what do they think?

If you do PPL then understand each session is meant to be repeated every 3-5 days with the standard being a 6 day a week PPLPPLx, or a cycle that ignores the 7 day working week like PPLxPPLx... or PPLxxPPLx) - the reason being that for non drug-assisted individuals, training the same muscle every 3-5 days yields better results than once every 7 days.*

*(Sidenote - it's better to lay it out like legs, push, pull or pull, push, legs because the back fatigue from the pull day can spill over to leg day (w/things like squats or RDLs which tax the back isometrically).

I personally do a 5 day routine somewhat based off this template - although rather than follow the wave-loaded progression model I'm using my own auto-regulated RPE/RIR scheme. What you're doing atm is not that different, just that you have a separate shoulder day (back+bis = pulling, chest+tris = pushing), which IMO is largely unnecessary unless you're an IFBB pro on loads of gear, because the front and rear delts get worked by all forms of pressing and it's only the side delts that get neglected unless some form of lateral raise/upright row variation is included.

The biggest advantage of this PPL (or LPP!) is even though it's more days in the gym, it's less time spend in the gym per session - e.g. I always get the push and pull days done in an hour, where as my upper day takes 1.5 hours.

The other alternative is to do a push/pull full body split 4 days a weeks, which might be something like:
1 - squats, leg extensions + bench, pushdowns, side delts
2 - RDL, leg curls + rows, curls, core
3 - off
4 - repeat (or have another day off first)
 
how is it going? i am about to embark on a mission to keep myself fit... saw the first page and would try his if you got good results?
so sorry but don't log in here much, I got pretty good results from this, I would say to try and vary some of the excercises now and again but this is a very good base.
The main thing for me was food, ensure you are getting enough of it otherwise you will see little to no gains
 
My hip flexors are really really painful when I get to the 90degree/bottom part of a squat, so much so that it's the only stopping factor for putting anymore weight on the bar. I've tried front squat/back squat, constant flexibility and foam rolling etc.

Any suggestions? It's like a 'pinch' horrible pain. Tried wide foot/close foot etc.
 
My hip flexors are really really painful when I get to the 90degree/bottom part of a squat, so much so that it's the only stopping factor for putting anymore weight on the bar. I've tried front squat/back squat, constant flexibility and foam rolling etc.

Any suggestions? It's like a 'pinch' horrible pain. Tried wide foot/close foot etc.

 
My hip flexors are really really painful when I get to the 90degree/bottom part of a squat, so much so that it's the only stopping factor for putting anymore weight on the bar. I've tried front squat/back squat, constant flexibility and foam rolling etc.

Any suggestions? It's like a 'pinch' horrible pain. Tried wide foot/close foot etc.

Make sure you're not performing "stripper squats". I was and since trying to keep my back more neutral (instead of over flexing my back) it's helped with the pain in my hip flexors. It hasn't gone completely but it's much better.

I am possibly the most inflexible human in existence which doesn't help with these things. :p
 
Make sure you're not performing "stripper squats". I was and since trying to keep my back more neutral (instead of over flexing my back) it's helped with the pain in my hip flexors. It hasn't gone completely but it's much better.

I am possibly the most inflexible human in existence which doesn't help with these things. :p

What the hell is a stripper squat :eek: lol
 
What's happening with a stripper squat, also more kindly called a good morning squat (named after the hip hinge movement) is that when you start coming up from the bottom of a squat, your body wants to get the weight back up the easiest way, and due what is typically down to weak quads or perhaps just a poor movement pattern, the knees shift backwards, which sends the hips backwards and you end up more tipped over and use your back and hips to get the weight up.

The goal with a squat/set of squats is for your ascent to match your descent as far as positioning goes, so it's important when squatting to use weights where you can do this and build from there, and when deviation starts to happen focus on getting the hips back under the bar to keep the load on the legs.
 
Just started doing some dumbell free weights recently, been a long time since I was in to this. Around 12 years. Do people still have pre workout supplements either a protein shake or something else? Also, before sleeping do any of you have some protein via say cashews/cottage cheese or peanut butter?
 
Just started doing some dumbell free weights recently, been a long time since I was in to this. Around 12 years. Do people still have pre workout supplements either a protein shake or something else? Also, before sleeping do any of you have some protein via say cashews/cottage cheese or peanut butter?

If you're just starting out, I really wouldn't worry about pre-workout. I never liked the stimulant types anyway,;you become too reliant.
I
a long time since I've been able to do any of this, but iirc BCAAs showed promise in studies for pre and mid workout, if you really want to.

Post workout if you want to have a protein shake go for it, but all you need to do at the moment is focus on a good diet. This will have far more impact than anything you can shake up into a milky goop.

They're called supplements for a reason ;)
 
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