*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

Originally Posted by Freefaller
160kg for 5 is good squatting dude!! To parallel I trust though?
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I go past parallel, I get my bum really close to the floor...again this is one of those things where over the years I've seen 50% of people online say go to parallel and the other 50% say get your bum as close to the floor as possible so I go really deep, allot further then parallel, over years I've only really seen one guy in gym who seemed hardcore and he can deadlift and squat more then me but hes been going 2 years more then me but I've almost caught upto him coz hes squatting 200 and deadlifting 230/240.

Anyways I used to work with him aswell at my old job and he's always watched me do my squats over the years because if we go back a year ago, I wasn't even going parallel coz I was a newbie but then he told me to get myself into gear and where to position my hands and feet and how deep to go, so I ended up taking some of the weight off, doing light sets for a few months at 100kg and then going back up slowly.

So now I think I've made what was once my hardest exercise into one of my best exercises and I'd rather get the form right and lift slightly lighter then before. Because before I just tried to go too heavy too fast and didnt really give form a second thought.

I see guys all the time in my gym squatting 40kg and they dont even go parallel and I kinda want to say sommat to them but then I think I better not coz might sound arrogant.
 
I know this sounds really weird but I had a proper look at my thighs in a long time in the mirror and wow. I'm seriously impressed with myself. Seems the squatting has been paying off!

Proper meat wheels :cool:
 
Did chest/tris today, alright session. Completely crashed when I got in from ~5pm to 7pm.

Also got delivery of a new jacket today, nice jacket but too tight around the back/arms :(. Feels bad but feels good man :p.
 
Well guys, you know how i asked about gaining weight, well seems i've gone and lost 1/2lb somewhere sigh, and im supposed to be bulking, least most of it will be fat i suppose.

But anyway i'll tweak the diet further, and dial down the cardio a bit, work being chaos isn't helping one bit mind.
 
hux said:
Well guys, you know how i asked about gaining weight, well seems i've gone and lost 1/2lb somewhere sigh, and im supposed to be bulking, least most of it will be fat i suppose.

But anyway i'll tweak the diet further, and dial down the cardio a bit, work being chaos isn't helping one bit mind.
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In what period of time? I wouldn't worry about it. Also wouldn't dial down the cardio if you're not doing much as is, you should aim to keep as lean as possible while gaining.
 
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Hmm yeah just frustrating, period of time id say a week.

Yeah i'll stick with the cardio, i'll up the healthy fats and see if that does it, perhaps add a dollop of pb to my shakes.

I will be switching to mp oats which are much finer than bulk powders, so it should make it easier to bump it up, i hate feeling bloated.
 
Well my gym "Virgin Active kirkstall" has totally gone down hill as of today, I know this isn't a proper hardcore bodybuilding gym and that it's just a chain gym for regular people but when I went in today like 5 machines maybe more were gone, included my all time favourite Leg Press machine, all the regular, dedicated members were complaining and the staff were saying things like "we've got rid of them because it's not that kind of gym" and "we've had complaints and some members have left"...and they were also saying "some people are leaving 12 plates on each side of leg press and not putting them away".

So am like wth man, I'm a diamond member, I'm paying £45.95 a month, and they're taking stuff away, its just stupid and wrong...and it's obvious they're targetting just the bigger guys and I think the gym has 400 members come through the door each month they said today and out of them there's prob 20 people who're hardcore into bodybuilding and out of them theres only really me and 3 other guys that I'd class as big. And it seems like they're just targetting us. Everyone in gym today was saying they're going to leave and joined Flex's gym, its meant to be a hardcore bodybuilding gym, was in bramley but think its moved now, when you type in "best gyms in leeds" in search engine Flex gym is usually there in top 5 in leeds or sometimes in top 3.

TBH I didn't even use the other machines that went, there was a shoulders one and a chest one that I know of, I just used leg press machine but everyone else used em and they're proper mad about this.

It kinda seems wierd to me that the gym has done this, I don't know who made the decision the manager or whatever, I dont even see the manager coz he works till 5 and I'm always gone by then.

It's like ages ago aswell I asked can we have bigger DB's that go upto 60kg coz they currently only go upto 40kg and they said "no because we dont want it to be that sort of gym" and they also said "some of the bigger guys throw weights around and scare the other members and that some members had left"...

I don't know, half of me is angry about it, but the other half is like well, I guess I always knew it was a chain gym, and now a bodybuilding gym, maybe I will have to find a new gym, go to that Flex's or sommat, but I liked it here for now and would have stayed maybe another year or two.

I don't get how it can be right, or legal for them to take stuff away when we're paying so much, its quite an expensive gym I think, I've heard of other gyms costing £90 so obviously its not the most expensive in the country but its not the cheapest either, I was paying £30 before at LA fitness, which was crap haha! This is the best and biggest gym I been to so far and had all the right equipment I needed to get the job done.

What do you guys think about this? Had similar problems? What kinda gyms do you go to?

I guess I'll have a word with manager at some point but doubt it will do any good, if anything it will prob make me more mad, haha, also they had put up signs on the mirrors which said "can you please put the DB's away", that annoyed me aswell lol. I really wanted to put my hand through the mirror and rip of the sign and shove it down their throat, then rip out their god damn spine!!!!

Sweet jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Have a look at your local council gyms(if any). You'd be surprised, some offer a nice array of both hardcore free weights and all those shiny new machines. I have two within 6 miles which I can go between.
 
Freefaller said:
Virgin active isn't a gym - it's for bicep boys and pink fluffy girly weights! :D
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The one I visited over in Watford had 2 full height power cages, a power rack, squat rack, battling ropes, 2 & 2.5" oly bars. 700KG of plates, axle bar (3") with tyres, bumper plates, 3 lifting platforms, atlas stones, kegs, powerbags and lots of other stuff for grip work. Plus a climbing frame with oly rings and a special area for MMA down the end. Proper hardcore underground gym. No showers. Come, train, **** off home.:cool:
 
SkScotchegg said:
rant
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Try out a Leeds council gym. I was using the John Smeaton gym (near Cross Gates) for about 2 months this summer and it was actually very good. I paid just over £20 per month for off-peak membership and they had a good selection of stuff. The best part was that I was the only person who ever used the squat rack so I never had to wait.
 
TommyV said:
cheers FF/BennyC, will go with this, seems like less volume than I'd normally do, but hitting that 1RM is my ONLY goal for deadlifting this evening, am already pumped :D
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So i ended up doing this in lb's (all the plates are lb at my gym bar a few 25kg ones)

tried 405lb (4 plates a side) 184kg - got half way up and my grip gave way
tried 385lb 175kg - got a maybe 7/8's of a rep and grip gave way

My back strength is not struggling with the weight, it's purely grip, even with the damn straps!!!

Will get to some grip training and I WILL make the lift before Xmas, determined to do it!!

Thank you for the reccomendations in terms of volume, they worked out just fine

On the plus side, managed to match my old PR from a couple of weeks ago, so it's all definetly progress.
 
Your grip shouldn't really fail with straps unless your using them wrong. The mechanics of a strap is that when used correctly it should be almost impossible for your grip to slip.

But good lifting never the less :)
 
You might be using the straps wrong. If you're doing overhand grip when you put the strap on you need to wrap it under the bar, up and back around towards you, not wrap it over the bar and away from you.

Benny is right in saying it's almost impossible for it to slip, I can pick up 140kgs with straps on and take my ring and little finger and thumb off and it still holds on.
 
Okay so I did dips for the first time last night, leaning right forward to feel it more on the chest......... Holy ****ing King Leonidas they're brutal! Definitely be doing them more often! :D
 
BennyC said:
The one I visited over in Watford had 2 full height power cages, a power rack, squat rack, battling ropes, 2 & 2.5" oly bars. 700KG of plates, axle bar (3") with tyres, bumper plates, 3 lifting platforms, atlas stones, kegs, powerbags and lots of other stuff for grip work. Plus a climbing frame with oly rings and a special area for MMA down the end. Proper hardcore underground gym. No showers. Come, train, **** off home.:cool:
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I retract my comments! :o
 
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