* The 2011 Gym Rats Thread *

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 13:19

Well, lets start a new one for this year as it's going to be a good year for those who are interested in this thread imo.

We have members who will be competing in various comps, from powerlifting to strongman and a couple of posing pouch wearing, creosote spraying bodybuilders to boot.

As always this thread is here for advice, bragging rights and plenty of banter!

There is already a resolutions thread here but if you want to post your goals feel free.

BennyC was the biggest spammer of last years rather massive thread, he posted 942 times (13%!!!)!!

One more thing, I know there are a few people who view this forum but are a little scared to post questions for various reasons (I am sure i'm not the only one who has received emails from members). If you would like to ask some questions but don't want to post, feel free to email me (email in trust) and I'll post up your question anonymously for the others to have a look

So, onto a great year, lets make all our goals be achieved and hope you all stay injury free

The 2010 thread has been archived here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18100958

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 13:20

Make that 943 posts from Benny

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 13:35

Yes definitely, nobody knows everything and given science is changing constantly some people are more up to date with things than others. This thread is for the old and the new

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 14:23

Gangster said:
Hey Guys

Looking to build a home gym (finally). Wanted to ask if any of you guys know anywhere selling weights cheap? I know they can be found second hand, but also wondered if any of you had any links to a good site (theres loads with big fluctuation in prices).

Starting the stronglifts routine, so want to have a decent setup and would rather spend a bit more to get what I need (rather than buying a 'kit' and then it having too little weights and buying addons - in the long run costing me more).

Looking forward to 2011 gym wise . Thanks

Before today the best I could find in terms of price was powerhouse fitness (when on sale), strengthshop uk (postage is costly though) and gymratz

You will need more than 50kg, it might not all be needed for 1 exercise yet, but its best to have extra weight on different bars so that you aren't messing around swapping plates over etc.

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 14:25

ergonomics said:
I'll kick this thread off with a question!

Any ideas on how i can give my weight a kick up the arse? I'm still floating around 12-12.5 stone. I train hard with a bodybuilder style split (4 day a week) which involves around 12 sets for a major bodypart (e.g. chest) and 6 sets for the supplementary muscle group on that day (e.g. tricep).

I sweat a lot, i always have an elevated body temperature (few people know me as 'the radiator'), coupled with my hard training sessions i seem to believe my BMR is a lot higher than i've calculated it to be (2800 - 5 foot 11, 12 stone, a job that requires me to be on my feet all day making teas/coffees and going on oddjobs around central london).

Is that feasible? Would body temperature have an effect on my metabolism that much? I find it hard to believe i'm not eating enough because i pound food back all the time..

Typical day:

Breakfast.. 1 scoop whey, 1 scoop oats in a shake. 3 eggs fried in walnut oil.
Snack.. 250kcal of blanched almonds and 1 pint whole milk
Lunch.. whole chicken and rice, 1 pint whole milk
Snack.. 1 tin mackerel
Dinner.. homemade chicken curry without rice, 1 pint whole milk.
Before bed.. 1 tablespoon natty peanut butter and cottage cheese.

So my daily calories are hitting around 3600 if not more (questionable whether my digestion of milk is as good as id like it to be). What am i doing wrong?!

Trying to grow?
As mad as it sounds for a 12 stone name, eat even more! Also make sure you are getting some quality sleep at night, as much as you can

Know what you mean about being a radiator, I could happily have a window open at night even when its freezing outside, helps me keep cool!

Morba · 1 Jan 2011 at 19:14

oddjob62 said:
Agreed... always feel free to email Morba

Ha! Git

Morba · 2 Jan 2011 at 00:06

liamgo said:
i really need to lose some weight and concentrate on putting on more muscle, i struggle with a routine though.

currently just do dumbells at home but would like to start a gym, just a little shy.

any good dumbell routines that can be done to bulk up arms and upper body?

there are, but you also need to work your core and your legs and lower back. otherwise you might find yourself falling over

do you have a bench or a swiss ball that you can do presses on?

Morba · 2 Jan 2011 at 00:36

there arent many places i the world where you would get laughed at, in fact in most gyms there are people like in this forum, happy to help someone if they want or need it

It might be worth getting into doing some hard cardio then moving onto HIIT. this will give you a better base level of fitness. don't shun the weights until then though, get on them from the start.
Do the basic compound exercises (deadlift, squat, bench press, over head press) and maybe a couple of curls and overhead tri extension supersets. that will start giving all of your muscles a good workout

Morba · 2 Jan 2011 at 19:56

Since when is 15-20%bf 'fairly high'?

lol

Morba · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:06

I'm probably about 50% after last year lol!
*posted while sat on static bike making up for last year!

Morba · 2 Jan 2011 at 23:59

Why curls and ab wheel on it's own day? Might as well do it on another day and have the full weekend off

Morba · 3 Jan 2011 at 00:09

I'd put ab wheel on a cardio day and curls on back day. Though bench then cardio and overhead and cardio isn't really 2 exercises

Personally I'd do bench and overhead on same day then do a day of cardio.
Also, what's made up in your exercises? Bench but what?

For squats, do you do same intensity on both days or do speed lifts one day and max weight the other?

Morba · 3 Jan 2011 at 01:47

Ken said:
Squat - 10 reps bar, 10 reps 60 then 5x5 of my the max rep weight which increases approx every 1 or 2 weeks

Deadlift - 10 reps 60, 5x5 of rep weight

Bench - will do flat bench on one week using 5x5 with 10 reps of 40kg warm up. The 2nd week will be 5x5 of incline and decline.

That is what I have planned anyway for this new year. My aim is strength producing bigger numbers on the big 3 lifts over time but figured I include some other exercises for the following reasons...

Pull ups to work the back
Curls to build biceps and prevent a stall on tricep growth due to imbalance
COC to complement the deadlift
etc.

Haven't considered speed lifts. I have a habit of sticking to a basic routine and increasing weight over time but can see how variety and speed can help in terms of going past walls. For example, I've never benched more than 70kg since owning my Powertec rack for over 2 years so have decided to go for incline and decline too on the bench.

Woah long post. Went on a bit there lol.

lol

speed reps can be very useful, a lot of powerlifters do a routine where they do 1 day of speed work, another day do max effort, seems to work very well for them.

Something like that could do you good, or look to do front squats one day (or split squats or something other than normal back) and back squats on another day.

For bench, it would be really beneficial to work the opposite muscles on your back, so an exercise like bent over rows / pendlay rows could be good.
I've found that a lot of people seem to bench with more strength coming from tris and delts rather than chest, this could be because of form issues or strength imbalances where the chest is lagging. It might be worth popping to a gym to have someone look over your form if you think that might be a problem.

Hope that helps

Morba · 3 Jan 2011 at 15:06

Hehe, the new year rush is always fun! I might be signing the family up at the local esporta soon, depends on what deal I can work out

Morba · 3 Jan 2011 at 20:11

Still only £180, if it's half decent and not always full then that's a stunning price

Morba · 3 Jan 2011 at 22:29

davetrace1 said:
wow 90 second break, Iv'e been taking 30 seconds breaks! maybe thats why im so exhausted lol

30 secs is very short, are you doing circuit style training or strength/mass?

Morba · 4 Jan 2011 at 08:26

I'm the same, generally have longer breaks. That's no bad thing though as more fresh blood gets back into the muscles

Morba · 4 Jan 2011 at 10:13

Yeah, like anything in this game, there are arguments for the black and the white things, so very contradictory.
too short would kill me though and make me lift less, thats not good in my book

Morba · 5 Jan 2011 at 01:42

Psycho Sonny said:
how do you know it was for him? he could have kids or it was for someone else? or maybe he was having a cheat day? or maybe he always has a chippy that day.

Indeed, there was some days that i would hit maccy d's after a heavy workout. i find that a 1/4lber meal and 5 chicken selects offer the right combination of carbs, fat and protein = lots of each! lol

Morba · 5 Jan 2011 at 12:57

-Ad- said:
If your arms don't burn after each set then you arn't doing it hard enough!

Arms are where I feel the burn more than any other muscle. Doing a good tri or bi set makes me sweat like ****!

*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

* The 2011 Gym Rats Thread *