*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

[Delvis]

i think it was delvis who i gave some info about building a home gym.

thought i would upload some shots of mine.


a good sound system is an integral part of my workout. major lazer - pon de floor is a good track to blast when really going for it.

Sweet, i'm hopefully saving up for a rack / bench rack, although im wondering if i should as i dont know how long ill be in this house for, then i dont know if we'll stay here or not ..and i train in the garage, so you see my predicament

 

[Buffman]

FAO Ipod touch/iphone users:

Fitness builder app which apparently is normally ~£10 is free for 72 hours!

Im downloading it atm (100mb though so best to get it off your computer )

 

[Skull]

I saw a guy squatting 220kg today! I'm pretty sure he got a full 8 inches of motion, I think that's enough to call it a 1/6th squat, right?

 

[MoNkeE]

Cheers Craig. I use iFitness but I'll give this one a download as well and compare the two. Will post on here if anyone I'd interested.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Cheers Craig. I use iFitness but I'll give this one a download as well and compare the two. Will post on here if anyone I'd interested.

+1

i use iFitness too, its such a cheap and useful app, anyone with an iphone/itouch should get it.

will get this app and compare

 

[Buckster]

I use Ifitness too very good

I also personally like SixPack App Pro, what I like about that app in particular is for each exercise it gives a list of "gotchas" - mistakes many people make - I find them invaluable personally

that app thats free for 72 hrs - the "in-app" stuff, presumably its no easy to make a mistake and subscribe to something inside is it ? just some of the options are like 117 for the year !

I've been eating a bit more this last week - as more keen on sustaining weight now rather than loosing and it seems to be having quite an impact on my weights - I'm still doing lots of cardio, (40k or so a week) but pushing myself much harder on the weights - eating more seems to be helping the weights, just last week I was struggling with pyramids up to 65kg (I weight 66kg) of 2 reps, 2 off (only just) been stuck on this for about a month, then a few days ago I was up to about 8 sets of 3 reps of 65kg, and tonight managed about 8 sets of 2 reps of 70kg - just seem to be feeling stronger. Before though to loose weight I was really reducing my calories, so I think that was adversely affecting and strength gain (lost 3 stone in 6 months)

any tips please on best foods etc to transition any remaining fat to muscle - and to get stronger, without putting weight/bulk on ? I'm already at the highest point of "normal" BMI wise as I'm short - 5'4.

I assuming any protein/way shakes etc are a no-no if I don't want to gain weight ?

thanks

 

[Dj_Jestar]

Chest tonight:

Bench 5x5@100kg
Dips 5x5@BW (110kg)
Incline DB press 5x5@36kg
Arnold press 5x5@24kg
Fly 5x5@84kg (machine)
Cross Cable Fly 5x5@35kg (each side)
Underarm Cross Cable Fly 5x5@25kg (each side)

Total: 10,350kg.

Bench felt very comfortable. If it feels as good as it did today, will try pushing a set at 110kg for PB! Trying to get as much ROM as I can these days, too. So increasing the variations on things, as well as the volume.

Oh, and incase you haven't noticed, am loving 5x5!

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Sweet, i'm hopefully saving up for a rack / bench rack, although im wondering if i should as i dont know how long ill be in this house for, then i dont know if we'll stay here or not ..and i train in the garage, so you see my predicament

i'll be moving house next year, its going to be a pain moving the rack and lat attachment, im hoping it fits into a van on its side, as i dont want to take it apart. worst comes to worst, i'll see if i can get a big van and put it in there as upright as possible.

luckily i have lots of friends/family with vans, so i'm sure i will be able to do it without hiring anything specially for it.

my equipment is in the garage too, the only downside to this is coldness in winter is unbearable at times. in our next house, im going to convert the garage into a gym, so it still looks like a garage from the outside, but is fully insulated and bricked up so it cant be used as a garage.

I saw a guy squatting 220kg today! I'm pretty sure he got a full 8 inches of motion, I think that's enough to call it a 1/6th squat, right?

my knee is busted so i don't do full motion squats, i probably get about 12 inches of movement, im going to try full motion next time in 2 days and lower the weight significantly and see how my knee feels, but some people just cant do full motion squats. i get severe doms too in my thighs from my 12 inches of movement, so it must be working, maybe not to the same extent but its still working.

 

[B1C3P]

Chest tonight:

Bench 5x5@100kg
Dips 5x5@BW (110kg)
Incline DB press 5x5@36kg
Arnold press 5x5@24kg
Fly 5x5@84kg (machine)
Cross Cable Fly 5x5@35kg (each side)
Underarm Cross Cable Fly 5x5@25kg (each side)

Total: 10,350kg.

Bench felt very comfortable. If it feels as good as it did today, will try pushing a set at 110kg for PB! Trying to get as much ROM as I can these days, too. So increasing the variations on things, as well as the volume.

Oh, and incase you haven't noticed, am loving 5x5!

35 sets for chest lol? Cut it back, your doing 5x5, 5 reps you should be burst tbh, so unless you've popped a few amphetamines theres no way you can be pushing yourself thru all that. I don't do 5x5 tend to stick to 8 reps max. But as little as 2 sets. My chest workout this week was incline bench, incline flye 6 sets, no more then 8 sets generally.

 

[kylew]

Anybody a member of a www.thegymgroup.com gym?

There's one opened up here in Leicester and im thinking of moving to it.

£20 joining fee and £16 per month. No yearly contract and its open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Looks like its got loads of kit. Only downside I can see is it might be too busy/full of eejits 'cos its right in the city centre.

I'm a member of the Liverpool one. I like it, it's pretty good and the price is great. I keep away from there during the day time, up to about 10PM as it's always full then, but after 10PM it gets quiet. Downside for the Liverpool one is the lack of plates, as there's only about 300KG worth of plates to be shared across 1 easy-curl bars, a tricep bar, 2x 7 foot olympic bars, 1x 5 foot bar, and a smith machine. There's only 2 squat racks/power cages as well.

So it's a bit of a pain on heavy days when there's a few people around as you have to wait for plates. Outside of all that though, it's a decent gym, good price and the machines there are okay, though if one breaks it seems to take them a while to fix it.

 

[kylew]

i'll be moving house next year, its going to be a pain moving the rack and lat attachment, im hoping it fits into a van on its side, as i dont want to take it apart. worst comes to worst, i'll see if i can get a big van and put it in there as upright as possible.

luckily i have lots of friends/family with vans, so i'm sure i will be able to do it without hiring anything specially for it.

my equipment is in the garage too, the only downside to this is coldness in winter is unbearable at times. in our next house, im going to convert the garage into a gym, so it still looks like a garage from the outside, but is fully insulated and bricked up so it cant be used as a garage.


my knee is busted so i don't do full motion squats, i probably get about 12 inches of movement, im going to try full motion next time in 2 days and lower the weight significantly and see how my knee feels, but some people just cant do full motion squats. i get severe doms too in my thighs from my 12 inches of movement, so it must be working, maybe not to the same extent but its still working.

I'm pretty sure that the parallel position is when your knee is under the most shear stress through out the whole squatting motion.

 

[kylew]

I'm sad so sad. I was laughed at in the gym today.

It's my light week aka arm rehab week, so I only do 50-60% of my max weight.

I was doing 25kg skull crusher when these two bicep boys where snickering behind me since I'm soo small and can't do much.

So they go and do some BW dips all while snickering in my direction and talking just loud enough so I can hear them.

Then I did what Skull said I should do. I just staired at them, got my dipping belt grabbed 3 10kg plates and proceeded to dip 10 reps, while staring at them.

Haha, I've never seen someone's face drop like that before.

Although I found it impossible to not break eye contact.

Didn't seem to have any problems with the elbow though, but it was worth it to shut them buggers up.
People like that annoy the hell out of me so much, those high and mighty types that can't even do a proper pullup and don't know what a squat or deadlift even look like. GRRR

I think the only time it's okay to snigger at some one is when you see them doing half or less reps, and then ask them "how come you're doing half reps?" and they go " 'cause it's too 'eavy for me like". Like their manicity is at risk if they drop the weight or something.

I've started asking people out of interested now when I see them doing half reps, and the response 100% of the time is "It's too heavy to do from my chest" No one's ever said "I'm trying to break through my sticking point" or something along those lines.

Some people actually converse about it though, while others pull a face that says nothing other than "uhh butthurt" and walk off. The rest do talk about it though and actually attempt proper bench presses. I did have some one up to my and my friend tonight though and go "why are you benching there, why don't you use the smith machine? ". We were benching loose.

 

[Skull]

my knee is busted so i don't do full motion squats, i probably get about 12 inches of movement, im going to try full motion next time in 2 days and lower the weight significantly and see how my knee feels, but some people just cant do full motion squats. i get severe doms too in my thighs from my 12 inches of movement, so it must be working, maybe not to the same extent but its still working.

He then went on the leg press and used full range of motion.

 

[MoNkeE]

He then went on the leg press and used full range of motion.

I honestly don't blame him, my DOMs are worse today than they were yesterday after my leg workout on Tuesday Saying that, I do proper deep squats, as low as I can so my hammy's are resting on my calfs, then push back up. And I resist the temptation to "bounce" my way back up!

 

[Freefaller]

I ask people why they are doing half reps, and very occaisionally they give me a good reason. However so many people just don't do things properly! :/

 

[Freefaller]

I'm pretty sure that the parallel position is when your knee is under the most shear stress through out the whole squatting motion.

Possibly, though some argue it's a couple of inches before parallel, however, it's a good reason to go below parallel - it deloads the knee completely making it safer!

 

[MoNkeE]

I ask people why they are doing half reps, and very occaisionally they give me a good reason. However so many people just don't do things properly! :/

Pull ups and Chin ups are something I see people cheat on. Most never return to a dead hang between reps. Even I could knock off a couple of sets if I did that, but surely the first half of the rep is the part that really engages your back muscles?

 

[BennyC]

Figured why I was fatiguing very quickly yesterday appart from having just switched from volume training.

Being down a pint of blood from Monday probaly wasn't helping! Haven't a clue how long it takes the body to produce a pint of blood?

Edit: Volume takes 24 hours but for red blood cells to replenish is 4-8 weeks!

 

[N19h7m4r3]

I think the only time it's okay to snigger at some one is when you see them doing half or less reps, and then ask them "how come you're doing half reps?" and they go " 'cause it's too 'eavy for me like". Like their manicity is at risk if they drop the weight or something.

I've started asking people out of interested now when I see them doing half reps, and the response 100% of the time is "It's too heavy to do from my chest" No one's ever said "I'm trying to break through my sticking point" or something along those lines.

Some people actually converse about it though, while others pull a face that says nothing other than "uhh butthurt" and walk off. The rest do talk about it though and actually attempt proper bench presses. I did have some one up to my and my friend tonight though and go "why are you benching there, why don't you use the smith machine? ". We were benching loose.

I ask people why they are doing half reps, and very occaisionally they give me a good reason. However so many people just don't do things properly! :/

Pull ups and Chin ups are something I see people cheat on. Most never return to a dead hang between reps. Even I could knock off a couple of sets if I did that, but surely the first half of the rep is the part that really engages your back muscles?

That's very true on partial reps. One of the guys that was snickering at me was there last night doing squats. I my friend and I saw him do "140", moved 4-5 inches at most!

Then he loaded up to 160kg, which is my max. I just stopped my complexes to sit and watch this. He lifted the bar off, got into position and as soon as he started going down, he lost control and went down fast. He got about 2 oe 3 inches before his legs completely gave out.

If it wasn't a smith's machine I'm sure we'd have seen an Ambulance there. Then he gets up deloads the bar and his friends' and him are all like " AHH YEAH! Light weight".

I just don't understand some people.

On pullups and chin ups, people have asked why I go all the way down and have like a brief pause before going back up. I tell them it engages the muscles more. I get a confused look and people go "well I doubt it, I can already do 15 reps". Then they go and do half reps.

The instructors here don't seem to tell people about these things.

 

[Freefaller]

Pull ups and Chin ups are something I see people cheat on. Most never return to a dead hang between reps. Even I could knock off a couple of sets if I did that, but surely the first half of the rep is the part that really engages your back muscles?

Absolutely, it puts your tendons and muscles at full stretch meaning you get a fuller ROM as a result. If you start to fail to get your chin above the bar, that's absolutely fine, if you're trying to squeeze those last few out - but it is important to get that full ROM. Tempted to put a vid of how do one

Partials do count for something and they are useful, but it's those that think they;'re doing squats properly whilst doing partials that really makes me think WTF?!