Soldato
I'll give it a go in the gym tomorrow. Been doing that ankle mobility thing quite a lot and it has made a difference. No pain in my ankle at all now when running it just gradually feels 'different', hard to describe 
*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***
- Thread starter Psymonkee
- Start date
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I am I am!
At the end of the day, my poundages have gone up, and they're going up each session on the big lifts, so i'm seeing progressJust wish my body would physically change a tad
Bodies never change I'm sure of it!
The only thing I ever see changing is my delts and chest, everything else just seems to stay the same.
As I said earlier in this years thread, I've only recently started again after a ~5 month break. Started squatting the other week again, gym was always too busy come the day I wanted to do legs, and wow 3 day doms are horrible! Got some in last night and no doms today, need to lift heavier next week
I always struggle with legs for some reason though, with deadlifts I always want to keep going and get annoyed when I am knackert and know I shouldn't lift anymore always seem to keep wanting to do more. But with squats I always just want to quit, I don't know if its because I don't have a training partner at the moment and scared that I can't get back up or if I'm just being lazy!
Same with chest, I love doing chest I find massive gains in my chest pretty quickly but I'm scared of the bar. Am I hindiring progress by using dumbells? I acctually quite enjoy dumbells more than the bar though, but obviously I can't lift as much as I can with the bar due to stability givin with it.
Soldato
I think I need a form check with moving around! Did weights in the morning fine, came home from work and basically moved stuff around and now it feels like I've pulled something in my lower right back. Looks like im going to be balling it all weekend and hope that helps.
Soldato
Form check. Before SMed says anything ( 
), I do find this a challenging weight for 3x8, although could still maybe add another 10kg or so on. This was 90kg and my first 3x8 set in a good 6 months or so, so the volume was a shock!
The last rep was a cheat rep - cheat rep as in, apparently I just decided not to do it
Tried to keep shins a lot more vertical, although as Steed's has pointed out, my ass seems to drop low again for reps 2 and 6, but I think that's 'cause I've only just started being aware of it.
), I do find this a challenging weight for 3x8, although could still maybe add another 10kg or so on. This was 90kg and my first 3x8 set in a good 6 months or so, so the volume was a shock!The last rep was a cheat rep - cheat rep as in, apparently I just decided not to do it
Tried to keep shins a lot more vertical, although as Steed's has pointed out, my ass seems to drop low again for reps 2 and 6, but I think that's 'cause I've only just started being aware of it.
Man of Honour
Looks pretty solid to me. Need more weight comfortably. I personally prefer a reset at the bottom, but that's because of the weight used.
Man of Honour
Caporegime
Looking good Monke. Only thing I would suggestion is on the reverse RDL the weight and drop it straight down, you're having to take the bar round your knees. Also, be more explosive! I know you can lock that out faster, really use the glutes to power through.
Take a look at my vid, notice how I'm almost humping the bar at the top and 'snapping' into lock out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tkFUDuzzT4
Take a look at my vid, notice how I'm almost humping the bar at the top and 'snapping' into lock out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tkFUDuzzT4
Agreed with FF and LiE.
One thing I'd like to mention is with regards to grip and chalk use. I know a lot of beginners will think they don't need chalk or can get away with a double-overhand grip, but I'd just like to say that is wrong. If you're using the weakest possible grip, you are dramatically limiting the amount you can lift. This might seem obvious, but it's a little more complicated than what it seems.
Your grip has direct proprioceptive feedback to your brain which regulates how much strength you can produce. Your brain will literally limit how much force production you can voluntarily generate, based on how much grip you have. You'll only have enough strength for what you can hold. So even a light weight, that is a bit less grippy, will feel very heavy. Take the same weight, use chalk or straps, and it will feel as if someone took off 20kg from the bar.
Another way you can experience this, is trying to grip and lift an immovable object. You can pull as hard as you want, but you won't really be able to pull to the point where your grip breaks, and that's because your brain stops you from being able to pull harder.
With a better grip, you are literally stronger. By limiting your grip, you're turning the deadlift into a grip exercise instead of the full body compound lift that it's supposed to be.
Chalk is cheap, only a couple of pounds. Use alternate grip for your work sets, and double-overhand for your warm ups. You can even use straps if you want to I suppose, but that's not advisable. But I'd rather see significantly heavier strapped-deadlifts than very light chalkless DOH deadlifts.
One thing I'd like to mention is with regards to grip and chalk use. I know a lot of beginners will think they don't need chalk or can get away with a double-overhand grip, but I'd just like to say that is wrong. If you're using the weakest possible grip, you are dramatically limiting the amount you can lift. This might seem obvious, but it's a little more complicated than what it seems.
Your grip has direct proprioceptive feedback to your brain which regulates how much strength you can produce. Your brain will literally limit how much force production you can voluntarily generate, based on how much grip you have. You'll only have enough strength for what you can hold. So even a light weight, that is a bit less grippy, will feel very heavy. Take the same weight, use chalk or straps, and it will feel as if someone took off 20kg from the bar.
Another way you can experience this, is trying to grip and lift an immovable object. You can pull as hard as you want, but you won't really be able to pull to the point where your grip breaks, and that's because your brain stops you from being able to pull harder.
With a better grip, you are literally stronger. By limiting your grip, you're turning the deadlift into a grip exercise instead of the full body compound lift that it's supposed to be.
Chalk is cheap, only a couple of pounds. Use alternate grip for your work sets, and double-overhand for your warm ups. You can even use straps if you want to I suppose, but that's not advisable. But I'd rather see significantly heavier strapped-deadlifts than very light chalkless DOH deadlifts.
Caporegime
Yea chalk is awesome. I get sweaty hands quickly in the gym so chalk up from the start, no reason not to. Also the liquid chalk has alcohol in it, so it's sterilizes your hands from all the gym germs
Man of Honour
Just bathe in chalk. It's awesome. 
Caporegime
Need to get some chalk soon, can see deadlifts being an issue soon.
Oh, and when you do get chalk (and you will
Obviously if you hook grip it's the other way so chalk the back of your thumb.
Man of Honour
Hook grip hurts
Hook grip hurts
Agreed
Man of Honour
Long term though, is it the way forwarD?
Hook grip hurts
Yeah, but I've never been able to convince anyone to seriously try hook-grip. I don't know if I just have weirdly shaped thumbs or what, but hook-grip isn't too bad for me. It hurts, but it's not debilitating. It only really hurts when you let go though, not during the pull.
During =
After =
Soldato
Cheers for the advice all.......
I'll whack the weight up to 100kg next week I think. Any suggestions on how much I should progress after that, 5kg per week?
LiE, by RDL down, do you mean just pivot at the hips so that you clear where your knees will be, then drop?
SMed, I'll give mixed grip a go next time - I've no idea if my gym allows chalk, can't recall seeing anyone ever use it.
I'll whack the weight up to 100kg next week I think. Any suggestions on how much I should progress after that, 5kg per week?
LiE, by RDL down, do you mean just pivot at the hips so that you clear where your knees will be, then drop?
SMed, I'll give mixed grip a go next time - I've no idea if my gym allows chalk, can't recall seeing anyone ever use it.
Yeah 5kg is a nice rate of progression on deadlift.
As for chalk, just get one of these little cheap climbers' chalk balls and keep it in plastic boxed container. Be liberal with it on your hands, but try not to get it all over the place and making a big mess. If your gym isn't used to chalk, they may ban it for that reason. If you've got a scruffy gym bag, just leave the chalk container in the bag and keep your hands in there when applying chalk. This should minimise the mess.
Alternatively, you can use liquid chalk. This is basically alcohol hand sanitising gel that has chalk powder mixed in. Put it on your hands, wait for the alcohol to evaporate and you should be left with some chalk on your hands. I've heard it's not as good as normal chalk, but I've never tried it so can't really comment.
I'm pretty liberal with my chalk. I use it for almost everything.
I put it across my back for heavy squats. I put it on the bench to keep my upper back from sliding up during benching. It doesn't really leave a mess on the bench, because it's wiped away when benching. And I just use it on my hands for all barbell lifts. The tighter you can get, the stronger you will be.- Status