*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

[Psycho Sonny]

It's useful to weigh/calculate a few things once so you have an idea, doesn't take long. You don't have to weigh everything each time, you can guesstimate once you know a base value.

You don't want to wonder why you haven't lost as much fat as you'd expected after 2 months because you underestimated the calorific value of some foods. My sister's mate did this by eating too much fruit because she thought "well fruit is healthy right? what could go wrong!"

fruit is a funny one though simply due to the amount of sugar involved, it is a good sugar though, but essentially a lot of carbs. then the govt telling you to eat at "least" 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. people can be misguided, it is healthy for you though, so long as you dont go overboard on it. much like most things, overeating is the main problem

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

fruit is a funny one though simply due to the amount of sugar involved, it is a good sugar though, but essentially a lot of carbs. then the govt telling you to eat at "least" 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. people can be misguided, it is healthy for you though, so long as you dont go overboard on it. much like most things, overeating is the main problem

mornings and after trains otherwise i would avoid fruit keep up insulin sensitivity. Also blairw u guessing that 20-25% bf? Because unless your pretty darn big or maybe real tall 20% or even 25% at 228lbs is fairly optimistic. Although as i say without pics or measurements you could be spot on

 

[blairw]

Yeah to be fair I shall be closer to 30 I'd imagine, every time I've had it measure at a gym it's been < 25% but I have very little faith in their measurements. I will say for 228lbs I carry what fat I do have a hell of a lot better than people I know who are a good 20-30 lbs lighter.

I'm starting a thread tomorrow as I am following a 12 week 'transformation' plan is a sort of kickstart to a healthier lifestyle and I intend on posting here everyday recording my progress. I'd really appreciate your input through out it as I enjoy you non nonsense approach and it's something that will spur me on.

 

[Ultra_Extreme]

Yeah to be fair I shall be closer to 30 I'd imagine, every time I've had it measure at a gym it's been < 25% but I have very little faith in their measurements. I will say for 228lbs I carry what fat I do have a hell of a lot better than people I know who are a good 20-30 lbs lighter.

I'm starting a thread tomorrow as I am following a 12 week 'transformation' plan is a sort of kickstart to a healthier lifestyle and I intend on posting here everyday recording my progress. I'd really appreciate your input through out it as I enjoy you non nonsense approach and it's something that will spur me on.

ha thats a first! Psycho sonny will be thrilled im sure. Stats dependent i would think youll have to cut your cals pretty low from the outset and really attack that % get it down to a real 20% then maybe lean bulk for a while as a change of pace. Then once your getting pretty big really attack it for the 15% or less you probably 'want'

 

[blairw]

My aim is to drop as much body fat over a 12 week period. Ill post up my days diet tomorrow but it is going to be pretty low carb with high protein and high to medium fat. Once I have dropped a bit of body fat I will be able to evaluate where I am a lot better and perhaps look to add lean mass over a 4 month period leading me into a summer cut.
I have a fairly decent grasp of what I need to be doing, and the reason for doing so, and have squated up to 150kg for reps and benched over 70kg as recently as the start of the year, I just lack focus and drive. That's why I'm going to be posting each day here! I just hope to god my legs don't get much bigger, I already have to wear 36" jeans to fit my thighs in resulting in a pretty loose waist!

 

[Psycho Sonny]

My aim is to drop as much body fat over a 12 week period. Ill post up my days diet tomorrow but it is going to be pretty low carb with high protein and high to medium fat. Once I have dropped a bit of body fat I will be able to evaluate where I am a lot better and perhaps look to add lean mass over a 4 month period leading me into a summer cut.
I have a fairly decent grasp of what I need to be doing, and the reason for doing so, and have squated up to 150kg for reps and benched over 70kg as recently as the start of the year, I just lack focus and drive. That's why I'm going to be posting each day here! I just hope to god my legs don't get much bigger, I already have to wear 36" jeans to fit my thighs in resulting in a pretty loose waist!

those ratios have been taken from a pro lifter yet scaled down to a point where they make no sense, your lying


















blair if your unaware check post your pics thread

 

[blairw]

I am aware but to be honest mate I don't want any part of the little argument thats been brewing between you both, I'm sure when Freefaller returns from holiday he will aim to put an end to it

My lifts are as such due to the fact I played squash and tennis to a fairly high level in my early teens, I enjoy my leg workouts a fair bit more than upper body, I feel I have a weak upper body and I played five a side football 3 times a week pretty competitively at 16 stone!

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I am aware but to be honest mate I don't want any part of the little argument thats been brewing between you both, I'm sure when Freefaller returns from holiday he will aim to put an end to it

My lifts are as such due to the fact I played squash and tennis to a fairly high level in my early teens, I enjoy my leg workouts a fair bit more than upper body, I feel I have a weak upper body and I played five a side football 3 times a week pretty competitively at 16 stone!

i believe your lifts, you dont need to justify them to me, because i am in the same boat as you, strong squat and weak bench, im not arguing, im just trying to prove that it is possible to not adhere to "ratios"

 

[blairw]

Yeah I'm appreciate that mate, I was just using figures from my spreadsheet back in feb to get a grip where I was lifting wise. I reckon now that I haven't been training that well I'll have lost strength in both, which may or may not bring them more in line with each other. I am not a fan of barbell bench at all really, but do enjoy moving up the weights in db bench as I find it more satisfying! Hopefully this routine will bring me up over the 40kg dumbbells over the next year as I have always admired the guys lifting them in the gym.

 

[icecold]

Without getting into it again PS, what's unusual about your lifts is how your deadlift compares to your squat as they both rely on similar mechanisms.

UE's point about pro lifters is that the powerlifters who lift the most weight have similar ratios between they squat and deadlift, but that's generally because a squat suit can add something like 50+kg to a squat (I think I've read 80kg in some cases) but a deadlift suit gives more in the region of 20-30kg at best. There are probably biomechanical limitations too.

But really, let's leave it alone. At least until you post your videos

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Yeah I'm appreciate that mate, I was just using figures from my spreadsheet back in feb to get a grip where I was lifting wise. I reckon now that I haven't been training that well I'll have lost strength in both, which may or may not bring them more in line with each other. I am not a fan of barbell bench at all really, but do enjoy moving up the weights in db bench as I find it more satisfying! Hopefully this routine will bring me up over the 40kg dumbbells over the next year as I have always admired the guys lifting them in the gym.

if your looking to lose bodyfat, you may find your lifts dont increase much at all and may even decrease depending on how much you lose. its easier to lift bigger weights when you weigh more.

e.g.
a 70kg guy squatting 140kg is impressive, a 100kg man squatting 140kg, not so much.

so dont be too angry if your not progressing as much as you would like whilst cutting bodyfat. you have set a good target, i have not reached 40kg dumbells yet. i have done 35kg ones though.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Without getting into it again PS, what's unusual about your lifts is how your deadlift compares to your squat as they both rely on similar mechanisms.

UE's point about pro lifters is that the powerlifters who lift the most weight have similar ratios between they squat and deadlift, but that's generally because a squat suit can add something like 50+kg to a squat (I think I've read 80kg in some cases) but a deadlift suit gives more in the region of 20-30kg at best. There are probably biomechanical limitations too.

But really, let's leave it alone. At least until you post your videos

i have a really poor grip strength, even with mixed grip.

may be down to weak/small wrists (have fractured and buckled them in the past) and im sure the many years of boxing didnt do them any favours either, the reason why you use wraps is to protect the wrist first then your knuckles.

i could probably deadlift a lot more with lifting straps, but im happy with 150kg tbh.

i aim for muscle mass not strength.

 

[DarkShadow]

I must admit I also find your stats quite bizarre Psycho Sonny.

Having based my entire training regime/period around squats/deadlifts and spending a lot of time with experience and the not so experienced lifters. It doesn't add up.

Icecold has raised some of the main points.

Why don't you just put up a video? Its very easy and nowadays you can post directly from a mobile phone. It would then just clear up what you're saying

Even if you do aim for mass and strength it's odd. A 180KG squat is very impressive. But deadlifting 150KG at 100KG BW? There's no correlation. By the time I was squatting that amount at 70KG BW, I was deadlifting 150KG for 10 reps raw.

 

[oddjob62]

i could probably deadlift a lot more with lifting straps, but im happy with 150kg tbh.

i aim for muscle mass not strength.

Why don't you use straps then? Surely lifting heavier will build more muscle mass.

 

[Delvis]

Why don't you just put up a video? Its very easy and nowadays you can post directly from a mobile phone. It would then just clear up what you're saying

He has already states why he does not want to

If he wishes I could try blurring out his face etc, but then again it's entirely up to him if he wants to post the video or share it to anyone anyway

Why don't you use straps then? Surely lifting heavier will build more muscle mass.

Depends where he wants to be, if he feels he is progressing enough on the body front then why?

Everyone has different goals

 

[Delvis]

Leg day...Time to rip my hand apart as the blister is still open. Awesome

 

[MoNkeE]

Can't see why you would, your hands only really need to balance the bar on a leg day, not grip it particularly hard. I sometimes find myself using my wrists to keep the back on my back rather than gripping it

 

[Psycho Sonny]

my fiancee is coming round on thursday/friday i will have a few video's recorded by then. wont be posting them publicly though, will link icecold and delvis to them, because i want feedback from icecold and i picked delvis because he is a nice friendly guy and wouldnt lie to anyone.

those are my lifts, i cant think of any reason why i would lie about them. because as you guys say the bench and deadlift is poor, if i was saying i was benching 250kg and deadlifting 300kg fair enough, but im posting poor stats lol.

 

[Delvis]

Can't see why you would, your hands only really need to balance the bar on a leg day, not grip it particularly hard. I sometimes find myself using my wrists to keep the back on my back rather than gripping it

True...Problem is it's right in the middle of my hand , so it's going to get stretched or something, ah well!

Cheers Psycho, look forward to it

 

[p4radox]

im going to go back to strong lifts, but focus on back and shoulders more. something like.

Session A

Squat 5 x 5
Bench 5 x 5
Overhead press 5 x 5
Lat Raises 5 x 5
Front Raises 5 x 5

Session B

Squat 5 x 5
Barbell Row 5 x 5
Deadlift 5 x 5
Lat Pull Down 5 x 5
Low Row on Pulley 5 x 5

hopefully this makes my bench and dead lift increase as they are poor in comparison to my squat. Squat is 180kg, Bench is 80kg and Deadlift is 150kg.

Then after a few months go back to isolation stuff to make the arms grow bigger.

To me that looks like more of a push/pull split. The advantage of SL 5x5 is that every session is a full body workout with both presses and pulls. Your "A" day has two presses but no rows, and your B day has several rows/pulls but no presses. There's nothing wrong with this, but having done both SL5x5 and a push/pull split, I made the best progress when I did a true full body workout similar to SL5x5.