*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

Well, I disagree - I think eating your biggest meal of the day late at night is daft. A lighter meal with a pre-bed snack is fine though. Your metabolism doesn't work like that, it would much rather have smaller portions of food throught the day than all the of the calorie requirements in 1 sitting - that's just the way our bodies work, we're cyclical beings, it's just the way it is I'm afraid :(

Personally, I get 3/4s if not more of my nutrition in before I even get to the gym, let alone by dinner time. The problem is when people just eat a large meal, with lots of bad fats and simple carbs before bed. It's not ideal - sure you're not going to be a heffer as a result, but it's not the most efficient way of supplying your body with nutrition.

Slow release proteins, and maybe around 30g of carbs before bed does indeed help improve and potentially lower fat intake (and in my case stops me waking up at 3am for some food!), but still at least an hour before bed. It is, however, an absolute mistake taking the majority of your cals at night. Your body is trying to repair and fix itself at night, especially after a hard session, by loading it with food, it detracts from that, and furthermore doesn't metabolise the food as efficiently owing to the high level of non stimulating hormones (i.e. dopmaine, seratonin etc...) that you experience at night.

Furthermore, about a half hour after you fall asleep, your body releases a huge amount of growth hormone in one big spike. Unfortunately, high glucose levels (from carbs generally) will halt production of this growth hormone spike. Because of this, it's why I say that one should leave carbs out of your late night meal (though it has shown that a little dose can help induce a deeper sleep). However having 40 to 60 grams worth of protein before bed doesn't interfere with that spike, and that does contribute to a decent meal more often than not.

In order to slow the release of your protein, either make sure it's casein based, or take some fats with it, i.e. avocado, flaxseed oil or even some good organic peanut butter can work together. You can also choose to have a slow digesting protein like cottage cheese. However if your dinner consists of some lean meat or fish and lots of veggies, and you're not far off going to bed after your last mouthful then adding extra protein isn't required. If you dine at 7, but sleep at 11pm then I'd suggest the extra protein before bed.

Personallu, I eat good quality proteins and lots of veg before bed, but I try and keep it a minimum of 1.5hrs before bed.
 
Banana and a cuppa is fine, but you need to make sure you had a big decent meal as soon as you get home.

Just to re-itterate, I'm not saying don't have a wholesome healthy dinner, just don't stuff yourself excessively right before bed, and make sure you minimise the carbs and have a nice healthy mix of proteins and fats, with a lot of veggies. By the time you get to bed your stomach should be clear of bulk and the nutrients should be entering the digestive tract ready for absorption which will be aplified by the GH spike. If you miss that spike and your food is still in your belly, you won't absorb the nutrients as readily, and seems a bit of a shame - I agree you won't get fat though.

If you start to do bigger weights, see how you feel and see if you run low on energy or not. Until then you'll just have to play it by ear. :)
 
Ben - sounds to me like your diet is fine and it's not as if you're eating directly before bed, 1.5-2hrs is more than enough time for your body to have readily digested a lot of the food. Certainly if it's high in protein and veg. :)

I completely agree that morning training is definitely reflective on what you've had the previous day - that's just pure logic rather than science, since you will have absorbed all the nutrients ready to be used - however the post work out meal is all the more imperative.

My argument for smaller meals is owing to optimised protein synthesis and carb manipulation for greater insulin response - which is a bit more advanced and slightly off the topic of before bed.

I think we had misunderstood one another and slightly talking at cross purposes - as long as you're sensible with what you eat and don't eat so late as to be sleeping on a full stomach then we're agreed it's not a massive issue.
 
Well I'm relieved I've got some hardcore DOMs at the moment. I know they don't represent extra growth or muscle development, but it's such a nice feeling. I hadn't done high reps of heavy squats for a while - ok it's not as heavy as I can go but for 8-10 reps below // I'm chuffed. Surprisingly my back is suffering from them, even then it was only pull ups with 5kg for 8-10 reps but with good tempo.

I'm REALLY starting to get my strength back, I'll be back to repping 180 squats and benching 130-140 for reps in no time at this rate.

You know when you just feel good about your training? I have many moments when I feel decidedly "meh". Whilst I don't "feel" like I'm doing well, the numbers speak for themselves really. I just wish I could train more and not have to go to work :p

I just wish my gym had better equipment and more dumbells as it's starting to become a limiting factor for me now. :(
 
Thanks. :) Considering I've been training for about 3.5 years now (I think) being sub 18% @ 220lbs is not bad considering I was sub 16% @ 182lbs when I started. I remember struggling with 60kg bench, 100kg deadlift, and 80kg squats. Now they're hardly even warm up sets! :eek: As you say, just thinking about this very second after your comments, has made realise how much I've come along.

I did post vids of my 180x3 squats a while back, I haven't posted vids of my 150 bench or 220 deadlift though. I have posted vids of 110kg powercleans though, and I think I had a vid of an "ok" form 200kg deadlift (was still a bit ignorant back then!).
 
I love DOMs - it's good pain. I also like the lactic acid burn that's telling my body that it's being pushed.

Lots of Vit C, anti oxidants (green leafy veg as well works very well), and good proteins with decent amino acid profiles will minimise DOMs.
 
Correct - recruiting fibres and utilising tendons to an extent that goes beyond their threshold often causes prolonged DOMs. i.e. doing an exercise you've never done before (not necessarily the gym, but any sport or activity) can bring on musculatory pain - it's only normal. They will have been traumatised to a higher level that normal.

Let's say you only did squats, after a while your DOMs would be very localised and whilst they may never disappear they'll be reduced.

Suddenly you start doing step ups or go running vigorously for a prolonged period of time you will suffer greater DOMs as you will be recruiting fibres that are not used to performing that movement to the volume/stress that you are putting them under. Hence why variation of routines is so important in the gym. It gives tendons time to recover, allows you to recruit new fibres and minimises excessive DOMs. :)
 
You've got to balance it though - you need to stimulate them enough to actually achieve some gains from it as well. It's a fine balance - repeat stimulation on the same muscle groups is vital. My example was just an extreme example to help my explanation. :)
 
Yeah I use the fitness boxes as they are more stable. Use a BB with some decent weight and step up so that my leg is heading towards perpendicular as I step up - 90 degrees is maximum. Then once I explosively step up, I bring the trailing leg up to 90 degrees in front of me (too many trainers just leave the leg dead by the other - no point in that at all for core and stability development) and hold for a 1/2 second then back down. Keep your chest out, back neutral, looking ahead, not down or up and don't round your shoulders forward - you want to present a big open chest when pushing up on the platform. You should only ever have one foot in contact with the platform.

Aching in places you haven't ached before potentially can signify muscle fibre tears, though it could just be tendon inflammation too. Hence why I load up on fruit and veg, water, and fish oils as well as fish based food if I'm suffering from sever DOMs.

The strongman meet developed lots of new DOMs for me which was rather pleasant! :D

Training on DOMs has no negative aspect to hypertrophy or continuing development. By the time you feel DOMs the fibre regeneration process has long begun.
 
Bang on about bringing the leg up. It really hits your core and glutes hard. But is fantastic for quad development and to a certain extent hams too.

The eccentric motion recruits more muscle fibres and as such would give you a greater amount of DOMs. So that makes complete sense.

Cristi, as above, if doing GVT, your negatives will be 4s (or at least they should be!) and if you haven't trained legs in a while, it will undoubtedly cause a lot of trauma to the muscle fibres (but also potentially tendons too) - no wonder you're feeling it. :)

Go swimming and eat lots of fish oils, maybe think of taking some EEAs along with vit c they really help clear up DOMs (almost over night for me!). :)
 
Yup that'll be 330mg and 220mg.

So if you have a 1000mg with 18% and 12% it'll be 180mg / 120mg, ergo the ones Benny posted are better. :)

Dosage depends on body size, muscle mass etc... but also more importantly your diet. However there is a lot of debate on how much you should take. Some say no more than 2-3g per day some say it's fine to take up to 10g and more. I personally take 6g. Do your research, understand how fish oils (DHA/EPA) work and how they interact with your body and make your mind up from there. I of course know, but you need to make up your own mind owing to the polar opposed opinions on this. :)
 
There are many supplement sites out there some better than others. Some people have loyalty to MP some to others. I don't buy from MP as I'm not a fan of their stuff however it's not poor quality or bad. Just not a fan. BSD are good as are a lot of sites out there. The key is sweetners. Sucralose is fine but just buy whey which doesn't have any sweetners? Also ensure you have a good amino acid profile and good protein percentage! Ultimately it's what you like. But there are better and worse qualities out there. Do your research. Link to it and we'll advise on the quality. Furthermore you may well find a hidden gem which you can share with us. :)


Just been to a virgin active gym in west London (gf lives here) and my god the 20kg plates are tiiiiiiny. I had to use step platforms to raise the bar to a decent height for deads! Needless to say it drew a lot of attention :/ and queue lots of people trying to over do it. Other than that it's a not bad gym but I'd never pay to be a member there too gimicy.
 
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