*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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ganesh said:
How much worse is muscle/strength gain going to be if i can only do bench pressing and squats on a smith type machine? Annoyingly my gym doesn't have any cages, so i'm forced to use the machine. It's one of these generic crappy gyms with loooads of cardio machines and only a small weights area.
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They got dumbbells? Bench with those instead of the smith.

Squatting on a smith is not all bad. Certainly not as beneficial as free weight, but there are ways to get better out of them in places like yours where you have no choice :)

The most important point I can make though is when/if you do get to squat free weight, please don't assume that you'll be able to squat the same weight as you can on the smith. :)
 
Dj_Jestar said:
They got dumbbells? Bench with those instead of the smith.

Squatting on a smith is not all bad. Certainly not as beneficial as free weight, but there are ways to get better out of them in places like yours where you have no choice :)

The most important point I can make though is when/if you do get to squat free weight, please don't assume that you'll be able to squat the same weight as you can on the smith. :)
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Yeah there are dumbbells going from 12-30kg in 2kg increments, surely bench pressing with those is going to be a lot harder, as i'll be forced to go up in 4kg increments? At the moment i try to increase by 2.5kg, so 4kg might be a step too far.
 
Lower bar to chest, find the grip width that gives makes your forearm 90deg to the floor. Sorted. Too narrow you'll be sub 90 to wide you'll be over.

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Something like that. The main difference between a 'bodybuilders' bench (brbwrecking shoulders) and powerlifting benching (assuming no vest) is elbow angle, keep your elbows relatively tucked in and lower the bar towards your lower chest.


Long but worth it :p.
 
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ganesh said:
Yeah there are dumbbells going from 12-30kg in 2kg increments, surely bench pressing with those is going to be a lot harder, as i'll be forced to go up in 4kg increments? At the moment i try to increase by 2.5kg, so 4kg might be a step too far.
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It'll be better than benching on a smith, you just may need a little longer at each increment.
 
Damn it, this gym sucks. It has a heap of weight machines, but only two benches, i consider it very lucky that they even have an olympic bar to deadlift with. As for not benching with a smith, is that because you won't be using any stabilizing muscles?
 
ganesh said:
As for not benching with a smith, is that because you won't be using any stabilizing muscles?
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Partly but also you have to follow the path of the Smith Machine (i.e. vertical) which unless your action is a bit odd will not mimic your natural path of motion - as I understand it the ideal movement is typically describing a slight arc at the top so say the bar at the bottom of the movement is across your nipples then at the top of the movement it's somewhere between the tops of your shoulders and your chin (give or take as people are different).
 
Exactly as SPW says.

A smith isn't as bad for mass building as it is for strength, but you're still going through a strange range of motion which is more likely to cause imbalances and possibly injury.
 
The Smiths are my place are actually pretty good, just found out they are actually rather comically named "Jones" machines (google will show you what i mean).
 
toxic said:
That to me is the biggest load of pooop. The chest is stongest when grip is fairly narrow..with hands usually just wider than shoulder width. This also puts most of the load on the chest and takes less strain of the shoulders. Wider grips put far more load on the shoulders and is usually pretty much the most common injury issue associated with lifting. Usually only bodybuilders use really wide grip...but if you look at the most powerful ones..they will bech with grip i descibed and it puts most load on chest for development of pecs amd gives less potentail injury issues.
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I personally dont agree, but obviously i cant argue too vehemently as your one of the best built on here. My argument is that shoulder injury's can often be attributed to a structural weakness in the pec-shoulder intersect. By building my bench up from safe weights with a very wide (yet natural feeling) grip i am as strong as many my size on the bench but i feel i have a better musculature arond the front delts and outer pectorals.

The difference with me is that of course i will rotate grip styles to keep an even chest, and YES im a bodybuilder not a powerlifter. But i think most gym rats need to bag their ego's drop the weight and get some wide grip reps on the go.
 
I've suddenly gone from fitting in 36" Relaxed jeans (legs being the limiting factor) to now fitting in 34" Straights :(. feelsbadman.jpg. I've always kind of taken my legs for granted assuming they would stay big ish because I walked around at 21stone for years, apparently not :(.

In other news, for those considering IF it is the only thing that has given me consistent weekly fat loss. Before I would sit at a weight for a month or more then drop 3kg in a week, now I'm frequently dropping 1-2lbs a week and have gained a teeny bit of strength.
 
UE - the difference going on a wider grip on bench is that you'll be focusing more on the pectoralis minor rather than hitting the pectoralis major.
Bench = 90 angle at the bottom of the press.
 
I would think parallel dips would take care of the pectoralis major though? I'm more concerned with retaining tricep strength while still pushing large weight on flat bench. There is no 'right' answer here though is there? I don't need convincing that narrowing my bench grip would alter the Target musculature I simply feel new trainers can benefit from using lower weights and wider grips to build support infrastructure.
 
Weighed myself at the gym today and I appear to be putting weight on, so hopefully that continues!

Briefly considered getting some scales at home but then I don't want to get into a habit of checking weight everyday.... :o
 
Deception said:
wow, that is a good price for the Pea Protein after the price increases (having to settle for unflavoured whey @ £37 after using ironscience for price beater)

Might have to give it a go or atleast get a sample. Does anyone have anymore tips or anything that can be combined with it to give a good taste? (I normally just chug it down in one go anyway :D)
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I tried adding all sorts of flavourings, some people even recommend spices! However I'm yet to find something that can mask it sufficiently. Instead I add a megadose of vitamin B5 which makes it taste even worse, psyllium husks as mentioned before and some cinnamon (purely for its fat loss effects, though I guess it helps a little with the taste as a side effect), then just man the **** up!

Honestly, holding your breath while you eat or drink makes most things tasteless so I just do that for the 10 seconds it takes to down the shake.
 
Chris1712 said:
I've suddenly gone from fitting in 36" Relaxed jeans (legs being the limiting factor) to now fitting in 34" Straights :(. feelsbadman.jpg. I've always kind of taken my legs for granted assuming they would stay big ish because I walked around at 21stone for years, apparently not :(.

In other news, for those considering IF it is the only thing that has given me consistent weekly fat loss. Before I would sit at a weight for a month or more then drop 3kg in a week, now I'm frequently dropping 1-2lbs a week and have gained a teeny bit of strength.
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the reason why your legs were big is because they had a lot of fat on them and they used to be worked constantly carrying about all that weight.

if you want big legs get squatting.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
"IF"?
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Intermittent Fasting

you basically dont consume anything with calories in it for a set period of time every day.

e.g.

start your eating window at 2pm, finish your eating window at 7pm, then from 7pm until 2pm the next day (19 hours) you can only drink water or tea (no sugar, no milk), basically anything with zero calories or practically zero calories.
 
But it's also worth mentioning that it encourages working out in a fasted state, ie like 7am. There are other routines built around working out in the evening, but I THINK it'd be more effective in the morning.
 
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