*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

Fnirrrrrr. Gyms second weight room is closed for refurbishment, so the one thats open is twice as full. Had to improvise and use the machines/cables until I got a bench just before closing and squeezed in my incline DB. And to top it all off my weight loss has absolutely stalled @ ~110kg. Consuming 1800cals a day, 140g ish protein, 170 carbs and about 60g fats.

What do?
 
Fnirrrrrr. Gyms second weight room is closed for refurbishment, so the one thats open is twice as full. Had to improvise and use the machines/cables until I got a bench just before closing and squeezed in my incline DB. And to top it all off my weight loss has absolutely stalled @ ~110kg. Consuming 1800cals a day, 140g ish protein, 170 carbs and about 60g fats.

What do?

Cardio? and lots of it
 
Whats the training type called when doing 3x8 lol. I been doing that since I started at the gym so for about 3 months now. I do 3x8 for EVERY exercise with about 30 seconds rest between sets. When should I change it up?
 
need some help on making some home gym decisions,

i have a power rack, lat pulley attachment, 12.5 - 25 kg rubber hex dumbells, and a commercial bench with preacher curl and leg developer. 235kg of weight and a 7ft olympic bar.

i now have the chance to purchase all of the following cheaply - due to gym closure

dumbells from 2.5kg to 45kg (excluding 12.5 - 25). (york barbell - one piece all metal)
kettlebells 2 x 8 kg, 2 x 12kg and 2 x 16kg (gymratz)
another 7 foot olympic bar (gymratz)
medicine ball set and rack (5 balls) (gymratz)
dumbell rack for new dumbells (york 3 tier)
190kg of olympic weight @ £1 per kg (bodymax)
commercial adjustable bench (gymratz)


i know i will get use of the dumbells, olympic bar and olympic weights and they are a definite buy.

do you think the kettlebells, medicine ball and another bench is worth getting? the reason why i was thinking of the bench was its a lot smaller and easily manouverable than my current bench, although my current bench cost a lot of money, i was thinking of using my current bench for dumbell and attachment work and using this gymratz one solely for the powerack (benching mainly), it also means 2 people could workout together (although nobody ever trains with me, my bro is 14 and im hoping he may start in a few years).

is there any point in buying 2 kettlebells of the same weight? or would i be better off with 1 @ each weight? or no point in them at all due to how light they are?

also the dumbell rack he is trying to sell me is priced at £200 (£255 brand new), york's stuff is well overpriced, obviously i will be haggling but surely its only worth about £100 second hand @ max?

also if anyone is in the glasgow area and is interested he has gymratz power racks, squat racks, etc for sale also.
 
Fnirrrrrr. Gyms second weight room is closed for refurbishment, so the one thats open is twice as full. Had to improvise and use the machines/cables until I got a bench just before closing and squeezed in my incline DB. And to top it all off my weight loss has absolutely stalled @ ~110kg. Consuming 1800cals a day, 140g ish protein, 170 carbs and about 60g fats.

What do?

Increase the intensity in the gym. And throw in some HIIT. You're possibly getting to a stage where your ability and fitness are starting to meet.
 
You could just do the interval setting on the machines for 30 minutes, the amount of calories you burn off that setting is ridiculous, but it really does force you to put a lot of effort into it and i recommend doing that setting only twice per week. Also, do supersets, they work a treat. You could also grab some EAA's and take 5 capsules before training and 5 capsules afterwards, that way, you're pretty much working out on an empty stomach and the EAA's will prevent your body using muscle as fuel.
 
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Tabata intervals on the rower followed by 40 minutes incline walk @ 10 degrees / 5km/h has seen me drop 2lbs.

I'd recommend some Tabata/Intervals.

Psycho_Sonny: I typed a reply but lost it :( grab extra bars & plates, they'll come in handy when your brother gets into his lifting. Also means if you ever have to sell them you won't loose anything on them.
 
Tabata intervals on the rower followed by 40 minutes incline walk @ 10 degrees / 5km/h has seen me drop 2lbs.

I'd recommend some Tabata/Intervals.

Psycho_Sonny: I typed a reply but lost it :( grab extra bars & plates, they'll come in handy when your brother gets into his lifting. Also means if you ever have to sell them you won't loose anything on them.

he also had a rower machine i was going to get that for full body cardio. all of his stuff seems to be top of the line, which means his asking price is extremely high although at a discount.

so you reckon the kettle bells and medicine balls aren't worth it then? what about the bench?
 
he also had a rower machine i was going to get that for full body cardio. all of his stuff seems to be top of the line, which means his asking price is extremely high although at a discount.

so you reckon the kettle bells and medicine balls aren't worth it then? what about the bench?

I'd mentioned them in my reply that was lost due to server issues :rollseyes:

You can use two at a time for cleans, press etc. Great for CV and conditioning and usually they don't come cheap. 12-20KG will be sufficient for swings and just general coniditoning imo.

Medicine balls I've never really used so can't really rate but are good for some exlosive work like throwing them against walls or slamming them into the ground or throwing them up way high.

The bench would be worth it. If you're doing some pre/post exhaustion or drop/tri/giant-sets you don't want to be wheeling the bench in and out of the rack so you can do your flyes for example.

Would snap up all I could providing I had the money, need and space of course. :)

If he had the Gymratz plate loaded leg press I'd bite both his hands off for it. Despite not having anywhere to put it! :p
 
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Benny the workout plan you suggested is working really well. Do you bother doing any dedicated abs work and if yes how would you fit it in?

I seem to have ended up with growth on my arms and legs over the last few months but absolutely no abs, and my body-fat is pretty low. Or will they show after a pre-summer cutting phase?
 
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Benny the workout plan you suggested is working really well. Do you bother doing any dedicated abs work and if yes how would you fit it in?

I don't do any isolation, I do for short periods of time but haven't really stuck with anything.

Hanging leg raises
Dumbell Windmills
Dumbell pull ins
Planks
Crunches(occasionally)

I seem to have ended up with growth on my arms and legs over the last few months but absolutely no abs, and my body-fat is pretty low. Or will they show after a pre-summer cutting phase?

Your abs will really pop out the lower your bodyfat but you'll need some mass too. Most of mine has come from big compounds, squats, deadlifts, overhead press, pull ups etc.

I carry most of my water/fat on my stomach and as I usually sit around 15/16% bodyfat I refrain from direct ab isolation as I don't want my 'belly' pushed out any further :p

Whilst on my cut when I reached 12% bodyfat my abs were starting to look reasonable (for me) quite large and bulky. Train your abs HEAVY and hard just like any other muscle. 8-12 reps, 3-5 sets for example. The rectus abdominal, internal/external obliques and transverse abs are made up of exactly the same fibres as any other muscle in your body so won't magically grow with 1000 reps.

Unfortunatley abs aren't a priority for me so I can't give too much advice with training them as I don't really have a lot of experience!
 
^Imo abs are genetic. I find that smaller people in height have pretty good abs large and blocky, whilst taller not the same. Im fairly tall at 6ft my waist is tiny so I have a full six pack (under the flab :P) but my abs are pretty small not large and blocky. Imo it can't really be altered as such, you can strengthen them and make them slightly bigger but it's down to genetics and body fat imo. My good mate who i'll be honest he never goes to the gym rarely anyway as he works a lot. Eats healthy tho but his body fat is very low but his arms and shoulders and back are nothing to write home about, his abs are INSANE. Ripped to shreds and blocky as hell. He never really goes to gym tho and has no set diet, eats roughly anything but quite healthy.

I don't really train abs either, Im always saying i'll do it after my workout but i never do lol.
 
^Imo abs are genetic. I find that smaller people in height have pretty good abs large and blocky, whilst taller not the same. Im fairly tall at 6ft my waist is tiny so I have a full six pack (under the flab :P) but my abs are pretty small not large and blocky. Imo it can't really be altered as such, you can strengthen them and make them slightly bigger but it's down to genetics and body fat imo. My good mate who i'll be honest he never goes to the gym rarely anyway as he works a lot. Eats healthy tho but his body fat is very low but his arms and shoulders and back are nothing to write home about, his abs are INSANE. Ripped to shreds and blocky as hell. He never really goes to gym tho and has no set diet, eats roughly anything but quite healthy.

I don't really train abs either, Im always saying i'll do it after my workout but i never do lol.

I think thats quite true. I have a friend who's a dancer, very slim, fit but skinny from moving so much. Very lean with little mass but his abs are so pronounced it's insane to the point that the 'six pack' image is actually lost because his abs aren't that shape anymore (or more so the tendons over the rec.abdo aren't)

I used to pop Ab work on at the end too, along with calves. But I prefer to just put more effort into my actual workout and see more gains there :)

Big shoulders & big back will catch more eyes than washboard abs. Unless your walking around holding your shirt up. Assuming you want to catch eyes...:p
 
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Thanks for the suggestions guys, looks like I'll be cranking up the cardio after christmas.
I'm home from Uni from this week so gotta really watch my diet when I'm home as exercise will be pretty minimal, gonna be taking the dog for LOTS of walks methinks!
 
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