*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Ultra_Extreme said:
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.
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OK...so it wasnt totally pooo :) Just bechining with super wide grip I think can be dangeous for some, and really not sure if its the best way for chest development as it uses a lot more shoulder force. But doing wide grip and narrower will certainly give the best of all worlds...so probably good to mix it up. In my case...Once you have had a rotator cuff problem for a long time....really wide grip bench is usualy a scary thought!
 
sigma said:
You're at the same stage as me though aren't you? Just starting out?

Just lift big and heavy!

All I do for chest is DB chest press, it's heavy enough that it's a struggle to get the last few reps out.

I wouldn't worry about hitting specific muscles, we're not at that stage yet.

It'll be interesting to see how we both progress at the same time. I'm just sticking to compounds as much as possible.

Today all I did was:

Lunges
Slow neg chins
Assisted chins
Good mornings
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Legs and back? Different

Well yes, i'm kinda just starting out, although I used to do it a year ago and some more before then...but never properly got in to it....However as long as the pay rise i'm getting gives me enough to comfortably enjoy my life then I will be able to keep using the onsite gym :)
 
DevilsAdvocate said:
Trained legs alone today and figured i'd just stay within my comfort zone. Didn't really last too long. Managed to knock out a PB of 70KG on my squats for 3 sets, my first goal really as thats me able to squat my own body weight :)

Well chuffed. Next target...100KG.
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Excellent, did 60KG on Monday, way too sloppy though, so need to hammer 50/55kg acouple of times before I try again...

I can't wait to get 100kg on all three :) Currently i'm:

Squat: 60KG
Bench: 50KG
DL: 80KG

Still happy though...That is however presuming we have proper Oly bars, they seem right anyway

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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Aye, if I go 'too' wide my shoulders will just snap...Especially my right one as thats knackered anyway. As I said though, they are practically on the rings on the bar, and seem to be okay so far.
 
Good to see some squat numbers similar to mine!
I'm having some difficulty over the past couple of weeks getting past 70kg with good form! Have the issue with my knees buckling in on the way up, I presume its weak adductors?
 
Delvis said:
Legs and back? Different

Well yes, i'm kinda just starting out, although I used to do it a year ago and some more before then...but never properly got in to it....However as long as the pay rise i'm getting gives me enough to comfortably enjoy my life then I will be able to keep using the onsite gym :)
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I'm loosely following the stronglift routine so that means legs every session. :cool: Seems to be working too, pretty much a full body session all the time. :)

I tried hitting the gym a couple of years ago and a few years before that. Never managed to go longer than 8-10 weeks though but this time I am buzzing with excitement and 100% committed. Bring me that time machine so I can zoom a year ahead though please!
 
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chrisstevens said:
Good to see some squat numbers similar to mine!
I'm having some difficulty over the past couple of weeks getting past 70kg with good form! Have the issue with my knees buckling in on the way up, I presume its weak adductors?
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Well...It's a case of making sure you push your knees 'out' so to speak sub-conciously...However it is easier to bend them inwards, the problem you then have is getting in to bad habbits which will eventually lead to worse problems. So get out of it!

sigma said:
I'm loosely following the stronglift routine so that means legs every session. :cool: Seems to be working too, pretty much a full body session all the time. :)

I tried hitting the gym a couple of years ago and a few years before that. Never managed to go longer than 8-10 weeks though but this time I am buzzing with excitement and 100% committed. Bring me that time machine so I can zoom a year ahead though please!
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Fair enough, i'd be a constant cripple if I did legs three times a week :p
 
Last "A" day of the 10 rep phase of HST. This means going for a silly 10 rep squat PB of 175kg. For perspective, this is more than my 1rm from exactly a year ago (170kg). Really didn't think I'd get this, but I wanted to push myself. If I got it, it would also mean that the Smolov weights that I calculated would be easy.

Warmup took ages because I got to the gym and realised I was very dehydrated, the resulting fluid intake made squatting with my belt a dangerous business so I had to wait for my stomach to empty :/

Eventually got there, like so... (warning: contains excessive grunting!)
(yes my spotter is wearing... unusual shorts, they split in this session so he made some alterations so they were equally loose everywhere...hah!)

First set I wasn't driving perfectly with my glutes, but I corrected this in the second set which was actually seems a little faster. I think my stance has narrowed slightly as well, so I'll take a look at this when I move onto the next phase.

During the second set I seemed to develop tourettes, so only watch it for the lolfactor. At one point I'm pretty sure I saw jesus... Never again! (probably a lie) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_9TElXRY2s

I almost died, but I did it. Definitely up there with the hardest things I've done in the gym.
 
Delvis said:
Well...It's a case of making sure you push your knees 'out' so to speak sub-conciously...However it is easier to bend them inwards, the problem you then have is getting in to bad habbits which will eventually lead to worse problems. So get out of it!
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I do aim to keep pushing them out but I think I may need to drop the weight slightly and build up again. I hear box squats are meant to be good to remedy this but I'm trying to follow rippetoes so I am not sure if I should change.
 
chrisstevens said:
I do aim to keep pushing them out but I think I may need to drop the weight slightly and build up again. I hear box squats are meant to be good to remedy this but I'm trying to follow rippetoes so I am not sure if I should change.
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push them out or it will lead to serious problems.


well done icecold, i have now worked my way up to 170kg x 10 (pb is 180kg x 10). i have been taking it easy though, i could have broken 200kg if i pushed myself, but due to my knee issues, i have been taking it easy.

170kg actually felt light and on the warm up at 120kg, i accidentally managed to throw the bar up of my back, due to the explosive force of coming back up, luckily i was holding onto the bar tightly so it never flew off, just an inch.

i need to get a video up, but there is nobody available when i train at home
 
I'm going to sing it's praises again, but SizeOn is so frickin' good!

Anyone looking for an intra workout supplement to try, please just try this! I guarantee you won't be disappointed. It also seems to have the only creatine that's ever worked for me
 
Thanks guys!

Yep, I like using Disturbed and similar (Slipknot on the first vid) on big lifts, but angry music + Jack3d = bonus sound effects :D

The first set actually felt more limited by my conditioning, so I would potentially try a little more weight next week if I wasn't doing HST. The second set was another story though...

My Smolov weights, when I get round to doing it, will be:

Week 1
Day 1: 4x9x157.5 Day 2: 5x7x170 Day 3: 7x5x180 Day 4: 10x3x192.5
Week 2
Day 1: 4x9x167.5 Day 2: 5x7x180 Day 3: 7x5x190 Day 4: 10x3x202.5
Week 3
Day 1: 4x9x172.5 Day 2: 5x7x185 Day 3: 7x5x195 Day 4: 10x3x207.5

Still going to be brutal, but at least I will have done all of the reps at those weights now.
 
Looking super strong icecold. :eek:

Steedie said:
Anyone looking for an intra workout supplement to try, please just try this! I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
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Does it make much difference?

I've always thought that as a 'beginner' I need to avoid supplements but if they help me lift more then surely I'd be mad not to try them?

Had KFC earlier today :o Was a boneless fillet meal and I can't really say I enjoyed it, it was pretty salty and I didn't eat many of the so-called chips. I'll think of it as a treat to myself for ending the second week of my diet but would have preferred a big ass chocolate tbh. :p
 
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