*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Delvis said:
Indeed, if your core is weak then yeah...Poor lifts basically :p

Sadly I don't have a hyper extension bench...Any other way of doing these do you think?
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I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but aren't 'Goodmornings' pretty much the same thing?

They'll suffice if you can't do hyperextensions.

Edit - just re-read the thread and UE has already mentioned this.
 
I had a taster session today. It's all looking good. Felt tired but I was still squatting 3 plates for reps :)

Also met a new gym rat today, we were squatting and doing cleans. Quality dude! His squat and power cleans were top notch in form!

LiE said:
The way I would do a cut is continue to lift heavy, make sure I do HIIT each session and eat a lower amount of calories. I haven't actually done a cut, but that's how I'd do it.
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Ditto. But I'm hoping to take a slightly different approach this time. I'd be interested in experimenting a little.

Psycho Sonny said:
since you already fast, why not try Intermittent Fasting, makes sense lol.

leangains.com for more info, other websites also have a dummies guide to it, so google it as well, leangains can be a bit of a handful to navigate to get the real info you need.
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That's what I've been looking at. It's interesting. I haven't read enough but I'm not quite sold yet.

Any experiences in trying it? I know Benny attempted this - would be interested to hear his thoughts.
 
Buckster said:
btw- how satisfying is it as you go up the weights :)

only 3 weeks ago - on my flat benchpress 28s felt VERY heavy for the 5 reps I had to do -and I could only just about manage the 8-10 "light" reps with the 20s

today - 24s felt quite easy for the 8-10 light reps, and the alternate low rep 5s - with the 30s also felt relatively easy :)-

32kg dumbells end of next weeks the target :)
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well- ahead of schedule (see my previous post above)

got someone to spot me - and I managed 3 reps of 32kg dumbells on flat bench today - didn't feel too difficut either - pleasing as its above my body weight

and re previous comments on pec fy - I've gone a bit lighter but concentrating on form now
 
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Right. I suppose now is as good a time as any to make a big ass post.

Last year i joined the gym in october time sitting at around 65kg, and by may had gained roughly 12-15kg, give or take. Since then i've been busy with uni work and not had decent consistent access to a gym so i've been eating at maintenance and stayed the same weight. Maybe lost a bit of muscle/gained some fat but marginal. Now i move back to uni in a week(finally!!) so i want to set myself up to make as much progress as possible this coming year.

My goal is to keep adding lean muscle till 85-90kg, currently at 79, then cut from there. Really i just need to look at what program would be best suited for me. I made all my previous gains on a 3 day split; chest+tris, back+bi's, legs + shoulders and that seemed to work pretty well but i'm open to suggestions and advice and definitely wouldn't mind trying something new.
Diet wise will probably start back on 3000kals and go from there. 350/250/100 c/p/f roughly.

I think once i have everthing sorted i will start a new thread logging my progress every week, workouts pictures etc as i keep note of it all anyway so it might be of use to someone :D


Oh and mobility is going to play a huge part this time around. ATG squats here i come
 
icecold said:
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I'm going to recommend HST :cool:
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Just spent a while reading up on that. Seems very interesting and i would love to give it a go. So i would spend my first week figuring out maxes for 15/10/5 reps, take a week off, then spend 2 weeks doing 15s with increasing weights, repeat for lower rep ranges?
 
Headed to the gym on my bike but started raining so detoured to my mates house, then cycled home and got wet again! Got in 11 miles and just did some push ups and dips at home!
 
icecold said:
Nope! ;)

I haven't done them in years as they don't aid my goals.

Just keep the same very slight bend in your elbow throughout the ROM, and my intuition would be to slightly emphasise bringing "pinky finger" (official gym parlance) side of the DB up to avoid being internally rotated. Nice slow eccentric until you get a stretch in your pecs, then a fast but controlled concentric movement.


Some random thoughts about DB pullovers...

My physio told me that the cartilage and the ends of your ribs and around your sternum doesn't actually fuse until your mid 30s. This apparently means that the "chest expanding" pullovers in the Squats and Milk program actually have some merit. This *could* mean that pullovers are actually a really useful, especially for people with shallow chests or that struggle with chest activation.

Also, given that you do them hanging off a bench and end up with a DB at the end of outstretched arms I can see them being useful for freeing up some thoracic mobility.



Also, kenmare, I haven't forgotten about your program. I stop being busy next week...
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No problem mate, work take precedence!

Thanks!
 
Skillmister said:
Just spent a while reading up on that. Seems very interesting and i would love to give it a go. So i would spend my first week figuring out maxes for 15/10/5 reps, take a week off, then spend 2 weeks doing 15s with increasing weights, repeat for lower rep ranges?
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Basically yes. Me and BennyC have done write ups of an HST cycle (I think Benny might have done a couple in his log) so it might be worth reading through them.

If not, the single most important lesson is to not be too aggressive with the weights. It's the progression that's important rather than pushing to lift massive weights (although I expend on that slightly in my thread as I made some adjustments to increase strength at the expense of hypertrophy).

kenmare said:
No problem mate, work take precedence!

Thanks!
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Some of the stuff is probably going to seem really boring, but it all has a purpose. Hopefully other people will find it useful, I know I'll be showing it to a friend of mine with some similar postural problems. I'll start a thread when it's done so you see it, expect it towards the end of next week or early the week after.


Had a very quick session today, mostly mobility stuff. Hugely improved the tightness in my quads/front of my hips, and with some help did loads of soft tissue work on the anterior of my shoulders/pec as well. Results: squatting felt amazingly good, external rotation in my shoulders almost completely restored and my overhead position was massively improved. Also got a comfortable 10rep bench PB of 100kg, even after brutalising my pec and shoulder. Not bad for a days work :)
 
Just got 2kg of fresh salmon fillets off the fish counter at Tesco for £2.50, apparently it was reduced by mistake but they can't put it back at full price

WIN
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Cheets, m8 please tell me that you didn't just say you missed the gym because it was raining.

Starting to think I'm losing it here
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All my stuff got wet in my bag and I was soaking wet, I wasnt going to the gym with sopping wet trainers and clothes!

Hence going to my mates house. I don't have excuses but I am not going to work out in wet clothes/trainers!
 
cheets64 said:
All my stuff got wet in my bag and I was soaking wet, I wasnt going to the gym with sopping wet trainers and clothes!

Hence going to my mates house. I don't have excuses but I am not going to work out in wet clothes/trainers!
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im gonna have to tut for at least a week over that one, you couldnt train cos you were wet, jesus christ.
 
Guys I need some advice.

I'm torn between trying to get rid of the spare tyre or just trying to pile on the muscle then get rid of fat in time for next summer.

As we all know, either choice is going to be long and hard but I can't decide whether I need more calories or less. :|
 
What will make you happier m8? Look at it objectively and imagine yourself at 10% BF will you look like a skinny oik? problem you might have is if you cut down, based on what little i know about you, you will need to eat a lot to bulk back up and you might find this mentally difficult after getting your BF down.

My personal opinion is its better to get some good muscle on first, makes the cut worthwhile.
 
Well I am skinny @ 5'10" and 63kg but the stomach ****s me off big time. It crept up slowly over the course of about 14 months, my previous weight was 59kg.

To most people I'm still a skinny oik but to me it's disgusting.

I think Kai is of similar natural body type to myself and it took him 2 years to bulk and I think 9 months to get to low bodyfat. I'm prepared to put in the time and effort but I do not want a belly come next summer.

You last line does make a lot of sense but I doubt I'll see huge gains by say Christmas which is when think that I'd have to start 'cutting'. I've done the usual cut all crap out of diet and eat solid healthy meals but I don't think my weight has dropped at all, my BF doesn't seem to have changed much although the chest does feel a bit less flabby, it's been about 4 weeks now so I'm wondering whether to increase calories or reduce because I think I am in a pretty good routine with the diet.
 
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