*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

[richjs]

Thats exactly why being at uni is fantastic for me ^ The gym is literally 3 minutes walk from my house, cant ask for better than that.

Indeed, first year on campus was amazing for that, gym whenever although I didn't really make many gains due to poor diet and following others workouts who had vastly different goals. Unfortunately at Uni. Sussex after first year most people live in central Brighton, ie. around 4 miles from the Sussex gym making it far more effort.

This second year has been fantastic, I'm far leaner and quite a bit bigger than before, having gone out a ton and still enjoyed it to the full (just worked extra hard to make up for it and taken alcohol breaks throughout the holidays such as now). As soon as I addressed my diet a tiny bit around a month ago, the fats been falling off.

Just wish I'd taken before and after pics, will post some at some point but the before ones wont be in poses unfortunately, just pulled off facebook or something.

 

[Brumboy]

3 meals a day is fine if you have the right things.
The eating more theory was debunked not long ago and is really only for people that are eating serious amounts of food, by eating it more often it makes it easier to consume.

Ross - a 4 or 5 day routine won't really work out as much more time in the gym, it would just be splitting things down a bit more so that less is done in each session.

Intensity is what matters, not how long you spend in the gym

Ah great that's what I was hoping to read. It's not like my diet is bad or anything.

For breakfast I normally have 4 eggs and a protein shake with a multivitamin tablet and a green tea tablet which comes to about 100G of protein plus all the vitamins I'm getting and fat.

For lunch I normally have a can of tuna with some mustard which is about 32G protein. And another protein shake which is 75G protein so 107G of protein for lunch.

For dinner it's basically different variations of chicken with vegetables and salad. Some days I'll have lentils too. I'm guessing that's around 50G protein?

So in total almost 250G of protein per day. Is that diet decent enough of do I need to add anything to it?

 

[[TW]Sponge]

Ah great that's what I was hoping to read. It's not like my diet is bad or anything.

For breakfast I normally have 4 eggs and a protein shake with a multivitamin tablet and a green tea tablet which comes to about 100G of protein plus all the vitamins I'm getting and fat.

For lunch I normally have a can of tuna with some mustard which is about 32G protein. And another protein shake which is 75G protein so 107G of protein for lunch.

For dinner it's basically different variations of chicken with vegetables and salad. Some days I'll have lentils too. I'm guessing that's around 50G protein?

So in total almost 250G of protein per day. Is that diet decent enough of do I need to add anything to it?

Seems similar to mine, would add some new potatoes in the dinner though (depending on what time dinner is in relation to bed time) And why not drink green tea instead of supplement it? And what protein shake is 75g protein? unless you have 2.5 scoops?

 

[Brumboy]

Why new potatoes?

I normally eat dinner between 6PM - 7PM and go to sleep at 12PM - 1AM.

Just forget to be honest, the green tea tablets are from Myprotein. I take one per day.

And I have Myprotein Unflavoured Whey Protein. I bought 15KG a few weeks ago before the price rise. I have 3 scoops of that (90G of powder but 75G of actual protein) with 300ML of milk.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

So just trained at my new gym i'll be using till september

Nothing special but damn its nice to train with no distractions, no bicep monkeys and no general idiocy.

I object to the pussy pad and could do with a full size bar but in reality they can take all the weight i need plus i'm using it for free so can't complain

does the guy have a bar fetish? im counting at least 10 bars in the first pic, i have 3 and even then 1 of them never see's any use, i bought it in case someone else ever wanted to train with me whilst i was doing something else.

cant complain for free though but it does look cramped and untidy.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Edit: @PS - no chance, I'll be taking whatever I can get second hand, unless I find a killer summer job...

a full set of second hand dumbells cost me roughly £1.5K and brand new would have easily been £3K (2.5kg to 45kg in 2.5kg increments), ironmasters on the other hand are like £500 to start you off then you can upgrade the kit to 55kg later on for a little more.

http://www.valleyfitness.co.uk/Adjustable Dumbbell/quicklock-adjustable-dumbbell

that's the most affordable way to buy dumbells for the home, unless you want to go spin lock and standard plates, which becomes extremely hard when you want to use like 30kg+ as the plates either dont fit or get in the way.

olympic dumbell handles are a waste of time and unsafe imo.

tbh if money is an issue, i would stick with a barbell and forget dumbells altogether from a home gym point of view.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

What is the general consensus on the 'IIFIYM' (If It Fits In Your Macros) mantra over here? I keep seeing it crop up and think it's a growing approach to a lifters diet but not sure if i believe all the hype around it... Josef Rakich is the best example as he insists he has a mcdonalds meal every day, and just fits the fats/protein/carb macros in with the rest of his diet, and remains lean all year round (~8%) with this approach.

1 mc donalds meal is the equivalent to a normal person's RDA, so does he not eat much if anything for the rest of the day?

i call BS on that one, nobody can eat mc donalds every day and stay 8% bodyfat all year round, hell try and eat as healthy as possible and stay 8% all year round, if it was that easy we would all have 6 packs and look like we are chiselled out of solid granite.

eat as healthy as you can and have a cheat meal once a week or a cheat day once a month.

 

[Skillmister]

does the guy have a bar fetish? im counting at least 10 bars in the first pic, i have 3 and even then 1 of them never see's any use, i bought it in case someone else ever wanted to train with me whilst i was doing something else.

cant complain for free though but it does look cramped and untidy.

Like i said, he bought it all in one auction on ebay. No point taking less than he paid for. It's actually pretty useful especially when theres 2-3 people training in there which happens sometimes, no need to change weights on the bars which takes quite a while with the spin locks.

Not bothered how it looks, im there to train not to enjoy the view

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Like i said, he bought it all in one auction on ebay. No point taking less than he paid for. It's actually pretty useful especially when theres 2-3 people training in there which happens sometimes, no need to change weights on the bars which takes quite a while with the spin locks.

Not bothered how it looks, im there to train not to enjoy the view

i just prefer to be in a tidier environment when i am "working", helps me focus better, i just re-arranged my home gym due to new mats arriving, i'll post some pics up soon when i take them

 

[Skillmister]

1 mc donalds meal is the equivalent to a normal person's RDA, so does he not eat much if anything for the rest of the day?

There is a total of 990 calories in a Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal that includes a medium portion of French fries and a medium (400ml) Coca-Cola.

Since when is 1000 calories a normal persons RDA?

 

[GarethSouthgate]

OK so having no problems with getting to the gym and working out etc but having problems with the diet

Seem to be eating at most, 3 meals a day, probably averaging 2 - I just don't feel hungry or can't eat much.

Apparently I might be stressed? :\ I always used to eat a fair bit, especially when I was working out previously.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Since when is 1000 calories a normal persons RDA?

If you're a todler that'll make you fat.

 

[Messiah Khan]

Pretty pleased with today's workout. Did 5x5 95Kg deadlifts, which is close to my 1RM a few months ago. Going for 5x5 100Kg next time.

My weight is heading the right way as well. Started at 83Kg in January, then cut down to 77.5Kg in April, now I am back up to 82Kg. My target is to hit 90Kg by March next year, which is when I set off on my 6 months hike across America. This will likely to take it's toll, and I will loose quite a lot of weight despite eating 5000Kcal each day, so I want enough reserves to cut into.

On another note, what are the best tricep isolation exercises? I seem to be reaching a plateau with my stronglifts at the moment, so I am going to do some more isolation work and mix it up a bit to keep it interesting, then come back to the stronglifts.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Dips and Skullcrushers = painful tricep doms.

 

[[TW]Sponge]

Dips and Skullcrushers = painful tricep doms.

I did those y'day and I have doms in my triceps for once! Never had it there before. Feels good though

 

[N19h7m4r3]

I did those y'day and I have doms in my triceps for once! Never had it there before. Feels good though

Remeber to try and push your elbows together on the skullscushers to help isolate the Tricep.

So push elboes together when coming down and pushing back up.

 

[Delvis]

OK so having no problems with getting to the gym and working out etc but having problems with the diet

Seem to be eating at most, 3 meals a day, probably averaging 2 - I just don't feel hungry or can't eat much.

Apparently I might be stressed? :\ I always used to eat a fair bit, especially when I was working out previously.

As has been said, 3 meals a day is fine...What are you eating in the mornings etc?

Just need to get your metabolism going, that'll soon make you hungry

 

[tom_e]

Also I'm sure you're not but make sure you're not mistaking mild tendon pain around the elbow area as DOMS, I suffer massively from it if I do skull crushers but have no problems with anything else

 

[[TW]Sponge]

Remeber to try and push your elbows together on the skullscushers to help isolate the Tricep.

So push elboes together when coming down and pushing back up.

You can push your elbows against eachother?

 

[N19h7m4r3]

You can push your elbows against eachother?

Just about, I have trouble touching my shoulders with my hands though. I can just about make my thumb touch.