*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Man of Honour
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Had to give up on my deadlift PB today again, something is a little funky in my medial hamstrings :( The good news is that I've managed to drop a kilo in bodyweight.

HOWEVER, some of the guys were doing some high rep squats so I decided to join in. Ended up getting 41 because people messed up the counting :o

Completely fried afterwards, had to sit down for 5-10 mins. I'm now living in fear of hamstring cramp!

Got ridiculous pump in my quads, and combined with the blood from my deadlifting I decided it was a kodak moment:
dVrok.jpg
 
Soldato
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is pyramiding the best method to progress ?

for instance on incline bench (machine) - I did about 5-6 weeks of 85kg, now progressed to 90kg - but in the following matter

so 5-6 weeks were:

2x75
2x85
2x85
4x80
4x80
5x75
etc etc downto about 60

now I've progressed to
2x75
2x90
2x90
3x85
etc etc

same with biceps:
2x22kg (concentrated curl)
2x22kg
2x22
5x20
5x20
5x20
5x20
5x20
8x18

etc etc etc -

each progression in weights - be it bicpes or chest seems to take about 5 weeks or so - I move up when I can manage the heaviest weight at 4-5 reps or so.

I've been putting weight on last 4 weeks (about 4lbs or so) -which is good if its muscle mass - but not if its not lol!! - 4-5 sessions in gym a week (1 hr - weights only) - 3-4 10k runs a week in evenings - hoping its not fat anyway!:(
 
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Associate
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I'd focus on losing fat first then, but just eat as much protein as possible (literally) and you should avoid muscle wastage and may grow some muscle.

Either way, long bouts of steady state cardio are not ideal for fat loss.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online...raining_performance/the_hierarchy_of_fat_loss

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online...cardio_four_complexes_for_a_shredded_physique

Had a read through this earlier and thought i'd give the complexes a try, I normally just do running/bike for fat loss. I was almost sick after 2 sets of the Waterbury submission complexes, though I did enjoy doing them! Need to get me a barbell and some more weights to give some of the others a go :)

Thanks for the links Icecold
 
Soldato
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Is there anything I can do to speed up my recovery (DOMS) after a session? Especially squats, I feel like a cripple everytime I try to use my legs the day after squatting. :(

Correct nutrition is a must.
You can supplement that with L-Glutamine and a slow digesting protein like casein at night just before bed.

That way yoy body does not enter a catabolic state during your sleep and has the needed proteins to repair muscles.
 
Soldato
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23 and under mate :)

Not if you mean for powerlifting, it would be under 23 in that case.

Plans a' brewing DS??
Could anyone verify this? I'm referring to powerlifting.

Icecold - lets say I'm thinking about it. I'm starting to knock on, I turn 23 in August. The record for unequipped 67.5KG squat is 180KG on gbpf. I've hit 190KG. The record for all 3 lifts is 485kg. I've done 510KG. I can confidently smash most of them.

A part of me wants to really give it a crack. However, it is somewhat too late.
 
Soldato
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Location
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So I managed a PB best today at deadlifts:

5x 60kg
5x 60kg
4x 80kg
1x 90kg
1x 100kg.....
1x 110kg..... :D :D :D!!!!


I'm sure to a lot of you 110kg isn't anything....but I weigh 75kg...thats 1.5times my own body weight, and was also a target of mine! It was really hard, the bar nearly slipped out of my hand but I managed to keep hold and lower it safely!

I'm totally ruined now though, no energy, but i'm soooooooo happy :D!!

Still extremely skinny and weedy with no muscle mass, but my targets of 1rep 80kg bench and 1rep 1.5times body weight deadlift achieved :D!!

Now to increase my targets?!?
 
Soldato
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Location
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This is going to be a sad 3 months for me.

All these little upstarts are improving and I don't have enough weight at my new gym to even get close to my current max deadlift and squats.

I'll still have the standing press though, even if the bar is only 5 foot long haha.
They have a nice plate loaded leg press so I'll get into that.

Also the finest swimming pool in the county, so that's something at least. Drop complexes and start swimming on the odd days.

It seems I'll have to do more mass oriented training given my lack of weight. A true pity they never got a 7 foot olympic bar in or the squat/bench rack they wanted.

I'm going to have to start using all those machines, cept for the shoulder presses at least.
 
Man of Honour
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Could anyone verify this? I'm referring to powerlifting.

Icecold - lets say I'm thinking about it. I'm starting to knock on, I turn 23 in August. The record for unequipped 67.5KG squat is 180KG on gbpf. I've hit 190KG. The record for all 3 lifts is 485kg. I've done 510KG. I can confidently smash most of them.

A part of me wants to really give it a crack. However, it is somewhat too late.
I say go for it, I am :D

Only problem is that it's slightly more complicated. Because the weight classes have been changed all of the old records are invalid and now there are either new records or "standards". Where there are standards it means you have to equal it to set the record. For example, 66kg weight class under 23 standard is 187.5kg, and the 74kg weight class is 202.5kg. Still both doable for you imo. Even if you wait, the opens for 66kg and 74 are 212.5kg and 225kg, which I'm sure you could get given a little time. The totals are a little more challenging in each case, also bearing in mind that it's unfortunately probably the case that you haven't been squatting to full comp depth (the judges can be BRUTAL about this) and also your bench won't have been paused with commands. You could definitely do it, but you'd need some prep time.

My situation is slightly more extreme, the old squat record at 82.5 was 222.5kg which I've already beaten. But the new standard for 83kg is 247.5kg :eek:
 
Soldato
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Another wonderful complexes session :D

Deadlifts
SLDL
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Push Press
Squat
8 reps

Did a set with just the bar, then 3 lots of 30kg and another with just the bar. Gym was beyond hot, was dripping with sweat by the end getting funny looks from all the cardio folks plodding away on the bikes with no effort... :cool:
 
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