*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

Status
Not open for further replies.
I will try and get some updated pictures tomorrow. I don't think I have put on much fat either I have been eating prety clean.

At first it felt like I had lost fat but I think that was just filling out.

Just checked my log and on 2.2.11 it says I was 76.5 so ignore 75, I took that from my other post which must have been an estimate.
 
So any more tips on my diet/routine? 29th Jan I weighed 75 kg, just weighed myself and tonight im 80.4kg

Weigh yourself at the same time and same scales? Weight can be out massively if not kept strict. A good day eating and holding a lot of water I can weigh a lot more between 2 points in the same day.

Be interested to see what you look like as I weigh 80kg with quite low BF.
 
I use bio oil on the prone areas, unfortunately once you have stretch marks you can never make them go away totally, but they will fade and go light.

Thanks for that, that are just quite red and very obvious kind of looks like i used to be 25 stone and then suddenly lost lots of weight
 
Thanks for that, i think i might invest in some and take a picture of them and then see if can see any difference after using it :), Does £9.99 for 200ml seem a reasonable price?
 
Added to my Favourites :)

Good man!

Did some stuff for my glutes and inner groin/hamstring area. While it may have looked like I was trying to hide the medicine ball somewhere, the tissues feel amazing.

Thanks for the advice mate.

I've dropped a bicep routine and incorporated squats now.

- I just cant seem to drop my ab routines, been doing them for 6 weeks and theyve really come along - complimented with my jujitsu training i think in another 6 weeks they should look nicely visible.

Cheers.
Why can't you seem to drop them :confused: I don't understand, are they somehow done for jujitsu? Either way, I assure you they are next to pointless. What determins when your abs show is when you get your bodyfat low enough, something which no ab routine will ever achieve, fact.

I don't disagree with the abs, I have just started to train mine because I need to improve my squat form a bit. You just need to train them the right way so avoid things like sit ups, weighted twists and basically anything a teenage boy would do. Things like planks are the best thing for your abs, you just need to do them correctly which is closing the gap between your ribs and your pelvis by really squeezing your stomach and tensing your glutes hard to rotate your hips towards the floor. Then if that is too easy start doing them with one leg off the floor, hold and then swap. I can guarantee that if you do them properly they we no longer be an easy exercise.

In essence with abs anything that is resistive, so you have to work to stop something moving, including preventing rotary motion is good. Crunches and leg raises are fine but if you do other things properly they will become redundant.

@icecold's link, thanks bro going to be reading that before todays deadlift sesh :)

That link again, because it's so awesome: http://www.mobilitywod.com/

But you are a freak example where your back actually over powers your abs. Regular joe gym boy should be focusing on other things. Although I don't dispute your point about anti-rotation and stabilisation, but you (as you know) don't get these from sit-ups, cruches, roman chair, leg raises, etc etc.

The windmills Benny mentions are also good for the reasons you mentioned.
 
Took a few quick pics, it's way harder than it looks to photo yourself with a phone!

Before pic one

Before pic two

After pic one

After pic two

After pic three

After pic four

Doesn't look like much difference!

2 months is nothing, you are okay to take pics every month, but it takes roughly 6 months of hard work before any small changes can be seen. even then they wont be major, that takes years.
 
Some comments in red

Firstly,,,, Appologies to Morba I was skim reading on my lunch break!

My Diet.

7am 3/4 scrambled eggs and 2 scoops of inner armor gainer ( I know I could do with some wholegrain toast but tbh I hate it, makes me sick all morning and I get a big dose of carbs from the shake anyway)
Not sure you need the "gainer" shake to be honest

9am 1 scoop of pharma whey

11 Chicken lettuce and wholemeal pasta with some piri piri sauce.
lettuce? Try spinach instead, has a lot more benifits

1 Big chicken wrap with lettuce and peppers.

3.30 Tuna and brown pasta and lettuce
spinach

4.45 1 scoop of pharma whey

5.20 work out.

After gym 2 scoops inner armor again

8 Whatever my family are having but nearly always a good protein source and green veg.

EDIT FORGOT -

11 - Half pint of skimmed milk with scoop of whey and spoonfull of boditronics peanut butter.
why skimmed milk? To be honest I'd avoid milk here anyway, big insulin spike before bed isn't idea

Also snack on cashew nuts in between meals.

I train 3 days a week, I have listed my core workout but sometimes a few exercises will get changed around, also they are not in order I always start with the heaviest compound. On average I'm in the gym about 45 mins, I like to get in do my thing and leave.

Monday - Chest and Tris

Stick to 6 excercises 8x3

I would order it like this:
1 DB bench 10, 8, 6 you could try seeing how you get on with a different rep scheme
Tricep extensions - not needed
2 Incline DB bench 3x8
5 Tricep Pulldown 3x10
4 Cable flies/DB flies. 3x8
3 Close grip bench BB. 2x10

But as I said earlier if I feel I have had a really bad bench session Ill try to do some dips at the end.

Wed - Back and Bis

Deadlift
BOR
PULLUPS
Concentration Curls
EZ bar curls

If I feel my pullups have been crap Ill try and do some lat pull downs at the end. good

Fri

Legs and Shoulders

Squat
Calf Raise - definitely do these after lunges. good order otherwise
Walking lunges
Overhead press DB
BB Shrugs
DB Lat Raise
nothing for the rear of your shoulder? Facepulls :)do them on weds if you want

I am having some good gains in strength and muscle I think on all other areas, apart from my chest which leads me to believe it is prety much all down to the form. I will take your advice and start small again, found some good videos to watch for form.

As for the last point yes I agree but I try to do my research and actually follow advice. If I wanted strength I would be on a 5x5 program. I am not trying to go massive but enjoying a nice steady progression on all lifts apart from my bench which is very disheatening. Also I don't want to end up out of proportion!
Good, like I said it wasn't a dig at you, just a very common problem.
Progression > weight lifted
Diet is pretty good, although from looking at your pics you've definitely put on a little bit of fat. Can you work out what your macros are (carbs, protein and fat)? I've guessed you're getting just over 200g of protein, but I don't know what's in your mass gainer shake. Either way you haven't put on huge amounts of fat, so well done :)

How strong are your shoulders? What are your reps, sets and weights here?
 
You get a discount, I get some points :) Myprotein is good and cheap though so everyone wins.

There are a lot of good flavours, but tbh unflavoured is a good way to go as you get the flexibility to do whatever you want with it (also nesquik powder is cheap). If you want flavoured I've used
banana :(
choc mint :)
choc smooth :)

But I think I've heard good things about choc nut, cookies and cream... I'm sure people will offer some other recommendations.

What do you mean by "working everything"? Are you using machines or free weights, how many exercises, what reps and set etc. This might sound a little in depth to begin with but it will save you time in the long run to get it right.

Realised I ordered from them 2 years ago so cant get the discount on the first order.

Maybe I could try a new email address and get £1 off?

Went to the gym today, did 5 miles to the gym on the bike down hill then just had a swim and jaccuzi and steam room, could not lift anything didnt want to due to Tuesday work out, then biked 5 miles home up hill, hammered it home, just kept it above 16 mph on the flats and 10 mph on hills, eating up the miles on the bike felt my legs hurting from the weights on them on Tuesday, just going all out, going to ruin every muscle, get the heart going, having a rest day today then going back on Friday, my triceps feel like someone has took them out and kicked them around a football pitch and put them back, pecks are tender, oh well in it for the long run.
 
Last edited:
I applied bio-oil to my stretch marks on the fronts & backs of my shoulders, across my chest and top part of my biceps.

It made them less 'raw' and less striking. The real difference was when I stopped using pump supplements which were partly responsible for them.

They've faded massively over the last 5/6 months for about 2 of which I applied oil and then stopped using pump/pre workout supplements.
 
What's the point of pump sups? I have a tub of Jack3d which I use if I have to work out after work rather than before, but I typically use that to get myself buzzed rather than achieve a big pump. Is it just a mental thing (bigger pump makes you feel better?) or is it a case of pseudo science? Bigger pump = enlarged blood vessels = more protein absorbed directly to the muscle?
 
What's the point of pump sups? I have a tub of Jack3d which I use if I have to work out after work rather than before, but I typically use that to get myself buzzed rather than achieve a big pump. Is it just a mental thing (bigger pump makes you feel better?) or is it a case of pseudo science? Bigger pump = enlarged blood vessels = more protein absorbed directly to the muscle?

More a case of the later. But to also stretch tight muscle facsias which can retsrict growth. The training programme FST-7uses the principle of heavy load for working sets and then at the end higher volume light work to hammer nutrients in to the muscle and to stretch facsia. (7 sets of 10-15 reps with 30 second rests combined with stretching in the rest period & also drinking lots of water to volumise blood)

You get the best of both really with FST-7. You can train heavy and then you get to finish up with a nice pump. I *think* Jay Cutler (or some other IFBB pro's) have used it to [Borat] great succcess [/Borat]
 
I'm going to be doing Chest, Biceps tonight.

Thinking Dips, slight decline on the Bench for Chest

Biceps I'll do Preacher Curls and Dumb-bell Curls

Followed by 10 mins of Cardio and 10 mins in the Steam & Sauna Rooms.

Training alone today though
 
Doesn't look like enough to me.

Chest for me is:
Incline DB Press
Weighted Dips
DB Flyes
Chest Press Machine

and biceps when I used to do them with chest was:
Barbell Curls
Concentration Curls
Cable Half-curls
Cable Hammer Curls

Recently I've been doing biceps with back so I've dropped Cable Half-curls.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom