*** The 2010 Gym Rats Thread ***

My goals over the next year are to tighten up my training and eating.
So far (since march) I have gone from 15st 2lb to 11st 8lb.
Then did stronglifts for 10 weeks and put on just under a stone and improved my lifting.

Didnt think I looked much fatter and would have been happy continuing and tweeking, but I have booked a holiday in florida for march.

Now trying to drop the fat I have ready for that.
When I get back it will then have been a year since I started and will hopfully be ready mentaly and physically to go all out.

Dont really have any true goal in terms of weight I want to reach, I just want to make sure that I am training and eating correctly.
 
Freefaller said:
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
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Its very nice looking back after a couple of bad sessions and really look back upon how far you've come over time.

Well done in the weights aswell, hopefully see some videos then yeah?:cool:
 
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!).
 
First leg session for a month tonight so thought I'd do a bit of volume work to get myself up and running again.

Squats
100K x 20
115K x 20
130K x 20

Deadlifts
100K x 10
115K x 10
130K x 10

Leg Press
100K x 20
120K x 20
140K x 20

Calf Raises
100K x 20
120K x 20

I'm going to cry tomorrow.
 
Cor knackered now.

Combatted my shin splints now, which originally started with the treadmill.. by using a treadmill. Serious incline and there's no pain, so that's good. Did 1.5 (not sure if miles or KM as helpfully the old machine didn't mention this crucial detail.) in about 12mins. Not sure if this is good or bad. :P Still didn't wear me out too much, was more for a warm up and I get much warmer doing that than rowing or cycling.


Did 2 sets of BB complexes with a 30KG Barbell.

The complex was as follows, without putting the bar down or resting and at a high tempo.
10x military press.
10x hang clean
10x bent over row
10x back squat
15x calf raise
10x front squat.

On the second time round i lowered the 10s to 6reps as I was shattered, and had to pause before the last squat-calf-squat section because I was so out of breath. :o


Then followed this with:

BB bicep curl
2x6 30kg
--> one set of 6 BW chins interspersed
1x5 32.5kg (heaviest I've done so far, so was please with that)
--> another set of 5BW chins
1x5 30kg

DB Bench press
3x8 23kg. (normally do 5x5 with 22.5kg, and a 25kg set in the middle, but this gym has 20s, 23s and 27s.. weird numbers :P)
It was all feeling pretty heavy by now and I only managed 7 reps for the last set.

Lat pull wide
just a little of this as the machine is crap.
3x5 75kg.

DB shrugs
3x8 32.5kg/hand


cycle home.

shattered.


edit: ^lol brave man pigeon killer!
 
PAz said:
That gym I was in the other day had a pair of 70kg dumbells :eek:
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bigeek.gif
 
Hehe mine does but I was the unlucky bod who had to pass them to one on my mates to do and incline bench press. I'd forgotten how awkward they are to handle. :(

Edit: List of pet hates for this year begin with teaming up with powerlifters-hate having to help them get their first rep off the ground (so-to-speak).
Smacking an Olympic bar into the support hooks on your last rep with no spotter around. Heard my wrist snap on impact and amazingly managed to get the bar back under control after nearly dropping it on top of me.
 
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1st time I have trained my legs in months tonight and I got no squat rack at present so done.

back squat ( had to press to position) - 52.5kg * 10 3 sets
sldl 52.5kg * 10 3 sets
front squat 52.5kg *6 3 sets ( wrists hurt)
calf raises 52.5kg *30 sets
bb curl 40kg * 10 2 sets


I would love to get a rack so i can squat some proper weight I used to squat 120kg*10 when I had gym membership, but I prefer to train at home now due family commitments.
 
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Freefaller said:
Well I'm relieved I've got some hardcore DOMs at the moment.
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so you like them? :eek:

Trained legs on Saturday, I can barely walk properly today, although it's still quite painful to go down on stairs. I for one really hate them, I have a decent diet and the rest of the bodyparts recover decently, but the legs... oh my. The pain is that I have to walk a lot during the day so my pain is more or less felt every moment.:o
 
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.
 
'Wes said:
Overtrained I reckon if they still ache from last Saturday.
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Possibly. A thorough warm up and quick bit of mobilisation followed by some stretching 2-3 hours post workout can help to minimalise it.

My chest, particulary the upper is still aching from a chest session on Tuesday. Considering it was my regular chest workout (although I haven't done just a chest workout in about 6-7 weeks).

(I'm guessing) sometimes when you recruit fibres that aren't always used you get that feeling when you've never worked a muscle before and it aches for considerably longer. This is why GVT aches like a mo'fo'.
 
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. :)
 
Two weight training days i do per week, so Monday and Wednesday for example, the following week would have Wednesday's workout on a Monday and Mondays workout on a Wednesday and would change again the following week, keeps my muscles guessing.
 
So aching in places you've never ached before ,if you regulary train hard, means you've managed to recruit fibres in different areas or trained with a higher intensity than ever before which is good :)

FF - when you do step ups, what exactly do you do. Obviously the exercise is quite explanitory. Do you just grab one of those fitness boxes and use that, or do you do it quite high onto a bench?
 
Benny06 said:
FF - when you do step ups, what exactly do you do. Obviously the exercise is quite explanitory. Do you just grab one of those fitness boxes and use that, or do you do it quite high onto a bench?
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One of these step platforms and 4-5 of the blocks each side gives you a decent height for it although obviously it depends how tall you are, I think I'm right in saying you want your knee to be forming a 90 degree angle at the point of stepping up or maybe just less than that. You can superset it with squats if you're feeling like punishing yourself but I wouldn't do that at the moment, I need to focus more on getting my squats right for the Stronglifts programme.
 
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.
 
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