*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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2 days ago did a huge legs session with a little triceps thrown in after. This is the first heavy session I've done since spraining my ankle some time ago and god I can't walk now. I'm in constant fear of just stacking it as I walk down the street. I got chest and biceps today and I'm not sure I'm even going to make it to the gym with these legs.

Thankfully now it's getting near deadlines the gym is clearing out. I can actually get in the cage woooo! I need to try and turn this years training around as it has been nothing but epic fail since Christmas.
 
I need to work a lot harder.

I was talking with my Brother who has been bodybuilding a number of years and he pointed out that I should be doing my sets to failure and working a lot harder.

I made an awful effort at the Gym today, squated 40kg+20kg Bar 12/10/8 times (not even to failure), calf raises, 40kg+20kg bar 12/12/12, I didn't bother with Leg Press (because I didn't feel like it) and did 55kgx10, 65kgx8, on the Leg Extension and 55kgx10, 65kgx8 and 75kgx6 on the Leg Curl.

Aside from that I managed 12/10/10/8 reps on the Captains Chair where my stomach started killing me.

Although I felt a bit dodgy walking back to the Car and back from my Garage, I felt I could have worked a lot harder. My mind just wasn't in it today and I'm very annoyed at myself :(

I can't even get extra calories down me, and I'm desperate to - so I might try the GOMAD thing and start off at half a gallon of milk a day and go up to a full US Gallon to see if that forces me to get extra calories.

Every workout seems like a mountain because I just don't have enough energy reserves or drive. :(

Edit: When I compare my Upper body to my Lower body I do seem to have good Leg 'Genes' as they are growing, but my Upper Body still makes me look like a pansy...
 
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Going to go against your brother and say that every set doesn't need to be to failure. Training to failure is exhausting and increases your recovery times significantly and will also have a negative effect on the rest of your workout.

Lift heavy by all means. But stop the set when it feels good on a decent rep. I started doing this shortly before starting HST and found my workouts were so much more enjoyable and I had so much more energy.

Since doing HST where only 1 workout in 2 weeks and where only 1 set for each bodypart is to failure (over a 6 week block). I've made my best size & strength gains.

Failure has it's place but isn't the be all and end all.
 
Cheers for the advice BennyC & Cristian.

I get roughly 7 and a half hours of sleep Tues-Thurs and around 9 hours the rest of the week. It's not enough, and I'm not eating enough either still :(
 
To bang on a bit more. Sets don't need to be failure they just need to be of a progressing load in order for muscles to hypertrophy/increase in strength. Pushing the same weight over and over won't do much. Increasing the weights systematically over a few weeks and then dropping them down to just above what they were before and working your way back up again to more than what you finished on will progressively overload your muscles and cause them to grow. Even if the increase in load is only small over the 3/4 week period. (Reps will decrease as load increases slightly obviously)

Eg:

week 1: 70KG x 10
week 2: 72.5KG x 9
week 3: 75KG x 7
week 4: 72.5KG x 10
week 5: 75KG x 8
week 6: 77.5KG x 6

Then you might need to slow a bit and do two weeks at a certain weight:

week 7: 75KG x 9
week 8: 77.5KG x 8
week 9: 77.5KG x 9
week 10: 75KG x 10
week 11: 77.5KG x 10
week 12: 80KG x 7

High frequency and low volume has worked the best for me in regards to increasing strength. It really does force the body to adapt.

You still need to train hard though. Just not to the point it's leaving you exhausted and is affecting your personal life.
 
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So my 120kg squats have been shot to bits!

A good friend, toke me to make sure I was squatting ok. No injuries etc, and I was doing it completly wrong.

Feels like am starting all over again!
 
Not sure if this is the right place, but can someone advise if these levels are OK:

6'3", 26yo, 102KG -> trying to lose BF.

Taking in ~1820 calories/day net:

125-150g Carbs
50-70g Fat
170-190g Protein

Running 15 minutes each day.
Alternating days some weights/strength training.
 
less carbs, more fats and protein imo.

you are eating the equivalent of about 15 slices of bread a day (in carbs), thats quite a bit.

15 mins isnt much really, unless you are doing HIIT then you wont be burning many kcals
 
Morba said:
less carbs, more fats and protein imo.

you are eating the equivalent of about 15 slices of bread a day (in carbs), thats quite a bit.

15 mins isnt much really, unless you are doing HIIT then you wont be burning many kcals
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After doing some reading it does seem quite high. Here is a typical day food:

Morning: 3 egg omlette with ham (30g) & cheese (20g) + Innocent smoothie
Mid-morning: Protein shake
Lunch: Branflakes and milk
Mid Afternoon: Apple & Protein shake
Supper: Lean mince / 2 can tomatoes / 60g wholewheat spaghetti

Maybe I should swap the cereal with a can of tuna or something?

I am going to look over the figures this afternoon, I am using myfitnesspal.com for tracking.
 
Izi said:
After doing some reading it does seem quite high. Here is a typical day food:

Morning: 3 egg omlette with ham (30g) & cheese (20g) + Innocent smoothie
Mid-morning: Protein shake
Lunch: Branflakes and milk
Mid Afternoon: Apple & Protein shake
Supper: Lean mince / 2 can tomatoes / 60g wholewheat spaghetti

Maybe I should swap the cereal with a can of tuna or something?

I am going to look over the figures this afternoon, I am using myfitnesspal.com for tracking.
Click to expand...

Eat your carbs in the morning. Eat more vegetables too. 250grams of mixed veg is about 50 calories IIRC.
 
Got my dipping belt today, going to head down to B&Q in a bit to upgrade the chain. I think 1 meter should be fine?
 
LiE said:
Got my dipping belt today, going to head down to B&Q in a bit to upgrade the chain. I think 1 meter should be fine?
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1 meter is what I have on mine and I have about 15-20 cm of that not being used as the clips are on slightly further down the chain from each end.
 
All sorted, can't wait to try it out tonight :)

IMG_20110316_152841.jpg
 
Have been on a rebound diet for the last 6 weeks after dieting down to get a fair bit of fat off.

All is going well so far, sitting at 15st currently and manged to hit 140k x 3 on the bench monday, which im very pleased with. I have benched that weight before but when I was 2.5st heavier.

Seems like the diet has done me good, and keeping my diet good during my rebound faze is deffinetly helping.

I have also for the firs time started using a pre workout supplement. I started using Hemo Rage black by Nutrex, and its brilliant:) I reccomend eveyone on here give it a try
 
Over the years I have tried many different shaker bottles, most of them are crap. Seems like such a simple thing to pull off. Sometimes they would leave chunks, or some left over at the bottom (dried), others would spill out the sides etc.
Well PROBLEM SOLVED :D
BlenderBottle - seriously if you haven't got one, get one. So simple and easy to use and cost all of $4-5 or so. Has worked perfectly every time. It's the simple things that impress me :p
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