*** The 2011 Gym Rats Thread ***

Status
Not open for further replies.
For shoulders you need to make sure you hit the Anterior Deltoid, Medial Deltoid and Posterior Deltoid, because as an example, from what I've seen in my gym, some people work front and side shoulders but they dont do the back of their shoulders, and they say in bodybuilding this is one of the worst mistakes people do and really common coz if you dont work all 3 parts of your shoulders your body shape looks all wrong.

I hope I'm explaining this ok, so you can look online for exercises to make sure you hit all 3 parts, thats all I was trying to say. If your already doing that though then cool. I just dont remember names of exercises very well.

The rear head of the shoulder extends and rotates the arm outward. Back training such as rows, chin ups, and pull ups involve the rear delts more than most other exercises. Reverse flyes are considered an isolation movement for the rear delts.

It seems like "reverse dumbbell flyes" is the best exercise to do for rear delts though as an isolation exercise. I do it by leaning over a bench some people just bend over but I find it uses too much of your core to do it that way, but coz of my stomach it makes it more difficult for me also, think slimmer guys can do it no problem but if you do it leaning forward on a bench at a slight incline then you only have to focus on your shoulders instead of keeping your back straight and thinking about your core, and also leaves you with more energy for the exercise.
 
Against an inclined bench is how I used to do them. That or use a cable cross over from the floor.
 
Originally posted by Chris1712:


I think we do pretty much same exercises for legs accept I do calf raises with olympic bar standing on one of those things that lifts you off the ground if you know what I mean, I think its the hardest way to do em, and I always try to go the hardest route.

Just out of curiosity you wrote some of the weights as lbs for legs and then some as kgs, does your gym do both? mine just has everything in kg.

And how much do you weigh because you mentioned your trying to lose weight? got any pics in the pictures thread?

I think your routine though is spot on, seems like your doing all the right exercises for legs but I think you might be missing something for shoulders? I cant think of the names of the exercises I do, but are you sure your hitting all 3 sections of your shoulders?

EDIT: I've got this stuff wrote down in my journal am gona post back in a second when I've checked for the ones I do, always forget the names lol

Currently weigh around 105, though weight in tomorrow with any luck will be down. I started the year at 128kg and took about 6 months off training June-Nov. All the machines/cables in my gym are lbs, free weights kgs. Annoying I know but its only a small gym.

I *think* I need some rear delt work, so was looking at the kind of bent over raises which I'll look to incorporate next week. My legs are only strong because I've probably been over 100kg since about 14/15 so just wandering around/football etc. with that much weight on top I guess they develop on their own!

You are doing a lot of sets and quite a few exercises. Break it down a bit.
Also, do you do squats last?

Try something like:

Squats
SLDLs or RDLs
Calf raises (see my post on calves!)

You can swap out squats for leg press now and then if you want, just for variation.

I really enjoy leg day so I like to smash them as much I can! I would love to incorporate deadlifts but there is really no where to do them in the gym, hopefully after I finish uni I'll move to somewhere with a proepr platform or at least the space for deadlifts. There is one gap in the old weights room where they've removed the rack that was there, but it'd mean hauling all the weights and the bar through the corridor and machine room to get to it! Not apprecieacted by the staff I'm sure!

I generally do all my leg work bar squatz, then shoulders then squatz. Give my legs a breather befoer doing what is a very new excercise to me.

Will have a read through your calves post Morba, thanks.

EDIT: Thinking about it I could probably DL with my back to the squat racks, now theres a whopping 3 available I won't annoy people so much hogging one for DLs. What are RDL's?
 
Last edited:
Also earlier morba when I mentioned going the hardest route, part of that is my mentality, arnold had some good advice when he said dont not do something, because you think it's hard, like for example some people will say, I'm not gona do squats, they're too hard, and years ago I was one of those people but then I decided, no, am not gona let it beat me, and am going to make legs day my favourite day! and then eventually legs became my favourite workout and squats became natural to me.

I think it's good advice, not to be afraid or to give in too easy, to always challenge yourself and to push to be the best. I think this positive attitude is the way to be to progress your body. Some people think arnolds attitude was all wrong and he was arrogant and cocky, I read some of the reviews on youtube videos and this is what people say, but I think he had it all right and thats why he achieved so much in bb and his life in general. It goes for anything in life, my mum says the same, she's a manager....and am going off track here but one of the coaches that teaches her works for england football team! he used to train david beckham, thought that was cool, I dont know anything about football and cant remember his name but I could ask her and find out if anyone is interested....anyways back on track lol...she says the same stuff as arnold, and thats why she's done so well in her career, its this positive way of thinking and making your weak points your strong points and always settings small goals, short term goals, and long terms goes and this overall positive way of thinking.

And you mentioned calves, I've always worked calves 3x a week and if I had to choose the best part of my body now in bodybuilding terms, I'd say its my calves because they're 18" and seriously hard and defined, I'm really happy with them, I just wish my arms were as good because I got spaghetti arms as loui ferigno's dad says in pumping iron about arnie lol.

EDIT: I'd agree with morba's post that people need to work on their calves more, I've always done calves and forearms 3x a week and both are progressed nicely because they're only small muscles and dont seem to need allot of time to recover. Most guys in my gym were long jogging bottoms to cover up there legs, theres probably only me and a couple other people that wear shorts and its because everyone has skinny legs. I know one guy that his top half is twice as big as his bottom half and he's same height as me and his legs are three times smaller, seriously, looks strange. I think it's the way it is in gyms these days. Can't see it ever changing.
 
Last edited:
Oh one other thing, If I owned a gym I would try help people and tell them to train legs more and explain the reasons for doing so.

One thing that annoys me as well is they let people into the gym and they dont explain the basics...for example they dont tell them how to load a bar, and to use clips, I know those two things are common sense, but I've seen people flip bars loads of times because they loaded all the weight on one side, and I've seen people benching and the weight slide off one side because they didnt use clips?

It would take all of 20 seconds for a member of staff to tell the person joining how to do this on day one? So why dont they do it?

Over last few years I've seen all this happen a few times but only ever one time did I come close to getting hit in the head by a bar once when this guy flipped it next to me, we have two squat wracks side by side but luckily I wasnt squatting in the moments this happened as I'd just finished my set and was resting, stood up, leaning on the bar, and even though both squat wracks are side by side his wrack was about 3 feet backwards from mine if you know what I mean, so when the bar flipped sideways it missed me by like 3 feet, I didnt really know what to say, I was kinda in shock and the guy said he'd been training over 10 years and it had never happened before, part of me wanted to go mental, but I ended up just letting him off. It had about 60kg on one side and nothing on the other side when it happened and it flipped so fast, am not sure if that would have killed me or just knocked me out or what? Now I always find myself watching people to make sure they're taking the weight off correctly, especially when am near em.
 
...so to sum up, you're saying you choose the hardest route because you think it's best to always push yourself to the maximum extent. What's the opposite of concise? :P

TBH I don't think that is always the case, doing the hardest thing without being mindful of your goal is silly. As a really surface level example, doing a proper set of 20 rep breather squats is arguably harder than doing a 5x5, but if my goal is strength the 5x5 would be the better choice. As Morba also, a primary goal for everybody is probably also safety, but efficiency is high on the list as well.
 
Also earlier morba when I mentioned going the hardest route, part of that is my mentality, arnold had some good advice when he said dont not do something, because you think it's hard, like for example some people will say, I'm not gona do squats, they're too hard, and years ago I was one of those people but then I decided, no, am not gona let it beat me, and am going to make legs day my favourite day! and then eventually legs became my favourite workout and squats became natural to me.


I think you might be taking what he said a bit too far really.
You are right that people don't want to do things like deads or squats because they are deemed too hard. However, the payoff for doing them is them being the best exercises to do. Making it worth it.
Standing with a barbell on your back to do calf raises, when there are plenty of other options available to you, just because you want to say 'Im doing it because its hard' is not the same thing. There is no payoff from it :p
 
I dont do it with the bar on my back, I do it with the bar in my hands down at my groin area, not sure how to explain it?

it's on ronnie colemans DVD anyways.
 
Been reading about female bodybuilders, seems like they're having a hard time being accepted, I think its pretty tight really and even though I dont like women with muscles I think they should get the same wages as the guys do and should get the same treatment in the magazines etc. You have to respect their decision and dedication so just as most people think the male bodybuilders are freaks and now think the women are freaks too both should be treated equal.

Here's an article I read about it all, it's got allot of interesting facts:
http://www.billdobbins.com/PUBLIC/pages/coolfree/MsOlympia05-finals.htm

I just think for the women's side of it, they wont stay like that all the time will they, so maybe in offseason some of them look nice and they might only do bb for a few years and then turn back into a normal person so it would prob make them healthy for life and could look hot when they gain more fat and cover up some of the muscle in the future.

Oh and I read the record holder for biggest female arm ever is 20", thats just amazing lol, she's called "renee Toney".

here's a video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvTLAcZRMKQ not sure how to embed?
 
Last edited:
Welcome to capitalism. There is a bigger demand for articles, pictures, etc. of Male bobybuilders than there is Female. Demand = income.
 
Welcome to capitalism. There is a bigger demand for articles, pictures, etc. of Male bobybuilders than there is Female. Demand = income.

That and choice.
People generally dont want to see huge women. Its not feminine and its so far from the extreme that its just wrong for 99.9% of people out there.
Fitness is a more acceptable level to be training for, for both men and women.
 
Did some Leg Work Yesterday, I was being a weakling on the Smith though:

55kg x 10, 55kg x 5; Deep Squats [Smith];

100kg x 10, 120kg x 10; Calf Raises [Smith];

75kg x 10, 85kg x 10, 95kg x 10; Calf Extension Machine;

Then I did a bunch of stuff on this Power Plate thing - Press ups, Tricep Dips, sit-ups. It was very hard - I think I did 15/12/10 pressups on it, then 15/12 Tricep Dips on it and a load of leg stretches, which really burned -but I think it did a lot of good.

Kind Regards,
 
Going back to talking about male bodybuilding for a 2nd, the reason am thinking about this is because of that article I read on the female bodybuilders, and I think they need to seriously sort out the judging in the IFBB and olympia etc and should just start giving the title to people like dexter jackson who has better abs and smaller stomach then the rest and they should start bringing back under 200lb category etc coz otherwise we're never gona get the Frank Zanes and the Franco Columbo's of the future, because the sport is sort of making under 200lbs gain more muscle and fat and get to 250+ so its sort of ruining their bodies and shapes and potential, just doesnt seem fair.

I dont know how things got this messed up.
 
I agree on the judging. Sometimes its like people win things 'because they have paid their dues' rather than on proper merit.
That's not gonna change though. Things would need to die and be reborn before that happens.
 
I think freefaller or someone other day said theres a natural competition where they're drug tested, I did a search and found two leagues, but can someone give me the name of the worlds best natural man in any of those natural leagues? I found a british one and a USA one, not sure if theres more, and not sure how old these two articles are that I found, coz sometimes I find an articles and then after reading for hours I workout that the article if 10 years old lol.

So just thought if you could give me the name I could type it into youtube and then have a look at how big a natural bodybuilder really is?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom