*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

Status
Not open for further replies.
Just had a terrible session :p squat rack was in use so couldn't squat first as I normally do. Beasted off 57.5kg bench press (5x5) when I struggled with 55kg last week. Then did 3x5 pull ups. Going well, you think. Did my side raises as normal, then came to squats as it freed up - feeling pretty tired now. On Monday, I did 5x5 @ 100kg - hard, but doable. This time I did 102.5kg, first set, fine but hard. Second set I got to rep 4, struggling. Got to the bottom and.... Stayed there :D couldn't get it back, had to use the catchers for the first time ever!

Did two sets of 10 with 62.5kg refusing to feel down about it thou, just one of those things. 45kg BORs (5x5) after, then Cleans to Push Press at 45kg for 3x5 :) just didn't have the oomph in my legs tonight I feel!
 
It's amazing how much difference it makes not doing squats first isn't it :p

I had a pretty great session. Started with some standing press as i felt i needed a 'big' exercise to get going. 10x20kg, 10x40kg, 7x40kg. Then some db shoulder press, delt super set front-rear-side, BW+15kg dips for 10,8,5 then a fair bit of bicep and tricep spam.
Was going to take a couple of pictures in gym lighting but i couldn't bring myself to do it in a busy gym :p
 
Had a good session today. Did triceps/back/chest. Managed to increase my pathetic bench by 3KG from last week (the week before that I increased it by another 3KG) so I must be doing something right :D!

Even though I'm not very strong it's still incredibly fun and satisfying to see my strength increase quite quickily. Hopefully I can keep this up until I've put on about 20 pounds of muscle!

By the way how many days do you guys leave your muscles to rest? because I'm tempted to train my muscles every 3 days instead of 7 days or is that not a good idea?

My muscles recover quite fast, the supplements I take are BCAA/protein shakes/multivitamin/fish oil (omega 3/6/9) and green tea tablets.

The main reason for wanting to training every 3 days instead of 7 is because my muscles honestly feel fine and I want to put on some good muscle mass in the next few months.
 
Last edited:
I'm gonna try get it done again before heading home although it will be with calipers instead of the funky ultrasound device so will be less accurate i guess. Although i won't expect it to be any more than a % or 2 more, somehow not put much fat on at all during my bulk :o Shoulder striations apparent today and that big vein in the bicep is getting better :D

Forgot to add, got a couple of compliments today in uni. Wore quite a close fitting tshirt, not dickishly tight but not baggy and i guess they hadnt seen me not in a jumper in ages :cool: It's funny, when i look at myself i'm nowhere near happy and am infact more self concious than before i started lifting but i guess that's just the nature of the sport.

@Ross, i train monday, wednesday, friday and feel fine each time.
 
Last edited:
Skillmister said:
I'm gonna try get it done again before heading home although it will be with calipers instead of the funky ultrasound device so will be less accurate i guess. Although i won't expect it to be any more than a % or 2 more, somehow not put much fat on at all during my bulk :o Shoulder striations apparent today and that big vein in the bicep is getting better :D

Forgot to add, got a couple of compliments today in uni. Wore quite a close fitting tshirt, not dickishly tight but not baggy and i guess they hadnt seen me not in a jumper in ages :cool: It's funny, when i look at myself i'm nowhere near happy and am infact more self concious than before i started lifting but i guess that's just the nature of the sport.

@ross, i train monday, wednesday, friday and feel fine each time.
Click to expand...

But do you train the same muscles every 3 days?

My routine which I would like to do is:

Bicep & shoulders = Saturday & Tuesday

Tricep, Chest & Back = Sunday & Wednesday

Instead of just Saturday & Sunday. For the past few months my muscles have recovered (at least I feel like they have) within 2/3 days but my mates keep telling me that I should only train a muscle once a week otherwise it will effect my progress? With all the supplements I'm taking I would expect my muscles to recover within 2/3 days anyway but I would rather get some advice from you guys first!
 
Rossuk89 said:
By the way how many days do you guys leave your muscles to rest? because I'm tempted to train my muscles every 3 days instead of 7 days or is that not a good idea?
Click to expand...

That will be fine. Most people would find it very difficult to overtrain, that word is bandied about far too much.

I train the same muscle groups ever other day and it's absolutely fine, and that's on a calorie deficit! My routine looks like this:

Back, legs & chest = Mon, Wed & Fri
Back, legs & shoulders = Thur & Fri

In fact as you can see from that I train my back and legs 5 consecutive days of the week with no measurable adverse effects.
 
Last edited:
Ah I see, that's good to know. I've just done a quick google and most articles recommend once a week for beginners. Then twice a week for optimum progress but that's for semi-experienced trainers.

I'm a bit annoyed now, I feel like I've wasted the past few months training everything once a week when I could have trained them twice a week and probably gained a lot more muscle! better late than never I guess!
 
Everyones different. I spent ~1 year training in a 3 day split so each bodypart once a week. Still made decent enough progress and doubt i would have made it much faster without special sauce.
 
Increasing frequency doesn't always, in fact rarely does, lead to proportional increases is gains. If I had time to absolutely exhaust a particular muscle group each session I'd probably train them less frequently. However, I rarely have the time for such training sessions so it makes sense to hit everything moderately but frequently.

What it really comes down to is the style of training you most enjoy. Would you prefer smashing 1 muscle group every workout or hitting multiple but with less intensity? I prefer full body workouts as I feel like I've achieved more by the end of it than if I'd have just worked my shoulders, for example.
 
Crap crap crap.

Damn vaccinations in each shoulder today and they properly ache tonight so can't put my shoulders back. No Chest/Tri session tonight.

Argh!
 
My legs are fine for the time being, I do them every so often but not weekly.

I can handle tricep/back/chest in one session. I have quite a few compound exercises so I can hit 2/3 muscles at the same time which helps.
 
:confused:

Have you trained your legs already?

Your body is one entity, why would you want to neglect half of it? You're neglecting the biggest muscles in your body. :o
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom