* The 2012 Gym Rats Thread *

MoNkeE · 23 Apr 2012 at 18:56

Day 3 of walking around like Batman has resulted in me liberally applying Deep Heat to my traps tonight. Feelsbadman.jpg - think I'm actually on fire!

Zefan · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:05

Chong Warrior said:
Certainly you should not be able to smell anything from them in the capsules. If you pop the capsule you will know it's fish oil but again it shouldn't have a strong smell or taste. You'll know if the oil isn't very good when you take them as they will repeat on you with fish burps all day, nasty.

The reviews seemed to say the smell is noticeable for a long time on your hands after handling them, and that you get the fish burps too. Not sounding good!

Chong Warrior said:
I only use the high strength fish oils now that are at least 60% EPA/DHA, I don't touch the cheap 30% versions. Or I use the higher quality Krill Oil but it's expensive.

Can you recommend any particular products? I've had a look at some of the sites and I can see the cheapest are what you're suggesting to avoid, and there's more expansive stuff normally called "super omega". Just an example of what you mean would be great, I'm not really down with all the EPA and percentage terminology. New to this oils game

LiE · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:09

Good squatting SM, nice tap dancing shoes you have there

SMed · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:15

LiE said:
Good squatting SM, nice tap dancing shoes you have there

Dude, they're disco bowling shoes.

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:24

Back in the gym and feeling refreshed. Gonna stick with 5/3/1 BBB for my upper body and change to The Triumvirate for lower. Hopefully I won't burn out as quick this time.

LiE · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:26

Good call PK, you'll love it all over again now.
Time for some new PRs

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:32

122.5 x 11 for bench was a PB tonight although the 11th rep was hellish. Might've had a few more with a spotter.

Meant to up my squat and deadlift by 5kg but only going to up it 2.5 and see how it goes.

LiE · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:35

Do you normally use a spotter to force a few more reps? I think it's bad practice with 531 and can make progress hard to track.

122.5x11 is beast mode though! I only managed 9 on that weight myself.

Pigeon_Killer · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:42

Only use a spotter to help me unrack and for piece of mind. Never use one to help me get reps I would otherwise fail. If the bar's touched it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned

Reason for the help with the unrack is body tightness. If I unrack myself my shoulder blades usually roll forward which increases the ROM and decreases tightness.

Syla5 · 23 Apr 2012 at 19:43

Well I have sorted out my next set of goals and decided on a routine. As LiE has said I have jumped on the 5/3/1 band wagon.

So a few reasons for this, my current goal is to cut the fat I have been carrying since before starting the gym, while maintaining strength. The reason for choosing 5/3/1 is it fits in nicely with 4 days a week and is also time efficient.

So my current stats are 5'7.5" 80kg (12st 9lb, 177lb), BF% about 20%. Current lift maxes

Squat 140 (est based on 130x4 with some missing depth)
Deadlift 150
Bench 100
OHP 67.5

Workout plan
Day 1
Squat wendler
GHR's 3x10
Leg press 3x10
RDL's 3x10
Hiit
( will be dropping one assistance exercise and upping sets, using today as a test)

Day 2
Bench wendler
Dips (weighted) 4x10 (5x5 if going heavy)
CGBP 4x10
Ab work out (ab wheel, leg raises)
Mobility work

Day 3
Deadlift wendler
Pull ups (weighted) 4xF
BOR
Hiit

Day 4
OHP
Reverse flys/face pulls 4x10
Seated shoulder press 4x10
Ab work out (ab wheel, planks, reverse crunches)
Mobility work

My hiit is based on an 8 week program as follows

Week 1-2 ratio 1:4 (hiit to rest) (15sec/60sec) 13.5mins
Week 3-4 ratio 1:2 (30sec/60sec) 16mins
Week 5-6 ratio 1:2 (30sec/30sec) 16mins
Week 7-8 ratio 2:1 (30sec/15sec) 15.5mins

Week 1 +sets
Squat 107.5kg
Bench 77.5kg
Deadlift 115kg
OHP 52.5kg

So day 1 today and it was brutal but fun! Managed 107.5kgx10, a little disappointed with form but I over pushed on a warm up set! To used to more reps lol

My + set

LiE · 23 Apr 2012 at 20:32

I think you could definitely benefit with hitting the hamstrings hard with mobility.

Disco Boy · 23 Apr 2012 at 20:42

Zefan said:
Seems the other way around or am I missing something?

lol whoops.

Syla5 · 23 Apr 2012 at 20:50

LiE said:
I think you could definitely benefit with hitting the hamstrings hard with mobility.

Just waiting to order my resistance band from a certain company lol, said they would be in stock in April, now not in till may

Somnambulist · 23 Apr 2012 at 21:01

icecold said:
Silly Rippetoe.

Regardless of what that article seems to be implying (I haven't read all of it), it would be remiss to neglect proper core training - I'm saying this in spite of training with some heavy barbells. Funny, eh?

To clarify, it's 'stability' core training (like swiss ball bench presses) he's ragging on, because the people that generally employ that kind of training completely avoid barbell squats/deads which do the same thing but better. I don't think he has any issues with direct ab work with the intention of getting a mutant-looking six pack, at least if one has developed all-round fundamental size/strength via the big lifts that happen to work the core as well (in the same way in Starting Strength he tells beginners to forgot about 'working on their bicep peak').

EDIT - he talks about direct ab work here https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&pli=1

GarethSouthgate · 23 Apr 2012 at 21:01

Think I might be putting some weight on :cool:

not sure if it's fat or muscle though

Buffman · 23 Apr 2012 at 21:59

icecold said:
The bar shouldn't be on your shins for a hang clean

Ah, I meant I tend to give in due to shin bleeding on power cleans

. Techniques improving on hang cleans at least anyways, heres hoping for 100kg by the end of year!

Unfortunately I cant seem to squat of late as my knee is giving me grief. Fuller depth helps I think so today did front squat 60x3x8.

Fireskull · 23 Apr 2012 at 22:40

Decent chest session tonight.

Benchpress
12x50
8x70
9x70
9x70
10x60

Flys
10x18
8x18
8x18

Incline benchpress
3 sets of 10x50
This felt much easier this week so will up the weight next time and see what feels good..

Straight-Arm Pullover
3 sets of 10x20kg

Chong Warrior · 23 Apr 2012 at 22:45

Zefan said:
Can you recommend any particular products? I've had a look at some of the sites and I can see the cheapest are what you're suggesting to avoid, and there's more expansive stuff normally called "super omega". Just an example of what you mean would be great, I'm not really down with all the EPA and percentage terminology. New to this oils game

http://www.bulksupplementsdirect.co.uk/khxc/super-omega-3.html
http://www.simplysupplements.net/product/275/omega-3-triple-strength-1000mg-sale---10-off/

They are decent for the money, not the best but good bang for your buck and much better than the cheapo's. There's almost twice as much EPA/DHA in each capsule and less of the other gunk you don't want.

To get better the price starts to rise steeply. If you want the best start looking at Krill Oil but your wallet will go :eek:

icecold · 23 Apr 2012 at 23:53

SMed said:
Dude, they're disco bowling shoes.

Those are... bloody beautiful.

Pigeon_Killer said:
122.5 x 11 for bench was a PB tonight although the 11th rep was hellish. Might've had a few more with a spotter.

Meant to up my squat and deadlift by 5kg but only going to up it 2.5 and see how it goes.

Back on it in style!

Syla5 said:

Depth depth depth!

If you're struggling due to flexibility then fair enough, but if not you really need to be hitting depth on these lighter weights or it will be even harder when you get heavy.

Somnambulist said:
To clarify, it's 'stability' core training (like swiss ball bench presses) he's ragging on, because the people that generally employ that kind of training completely avoid barbell squats/deads which do the same thing but better. I don't think he has any issues with direct ab work with the intention of getting a mutant-looking six pack, at least if one has developed all-round fundamental size/strength via the big lifts that happen to work the core as well (in the same way in Starting Strength he tells beginners to forgot about 'working on their bicep peak').

EDIT - he talks about direct ab work here https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://startingstrength.com/articles/abs_rippetoe.pdf&pli=1

Ah, fair enough!

I still don't entirely agree with him, though. He can be a little narrow minded with some things, and beyond a certain point a don't think he's useful for most people. For example, in this instance, some people NEED stability work. I remember reading something else like, "if your squatting more and losing weight, you're squatting higher", which I found a little disappointingly stupid tbh.

The Craig said:
Ah, I meant I tend to give in due to shin bleeding on power cleans . Techniques improving on hang cleans at least anyways, heres hoping for 100kg by the end of year!

Unfortunately I cant seem to squat of late as my knee is giving me grief. Fuller depth helps I think so today did front squat 60x3x8.

100kg would be seriously impressive.

What sort of knee grief?

Good seesion tonight!

Back on full Smolov for squats, very really easy. No sign of the weirdness from last wednesday apart from a slight feeling of some muscles sliding slightly strangely over each other :confused:

I did manage to not wear shorts though, resulting in pair 3 of my tracksuit trousers meeting an early grave. RIP.

152.5kgx9x4 - already feel recovered!

Some good benching too:
110kgx3x10

Felt like I could gone for several reps (I don't want to say 10, but I do...) on the first few sets. Got a little tired at the end, but wasn't going to fail.

To finish, ab wheel with 1 chain 8x2, 5x2 NEXT LEVEL AB TORTURE!

Deception · 24 Apr 2012 at 06:08

Zefan said:
First day back on SL 5x5. Was good! I'm not falling of the wagon again... not this time. NO. I WILL NOT.

Got some supplementy stuff in the post from bulkpowders, never used them before so looking forward to chocolate cookies goodness and also trying fish oil for the first time... apparently the ones I'm getting taste quiiite strong

I'm mainly posting this here mainly so that people will see if I fall off the wagon again and call me a retard.

Please do this.

Don't worry, you can count on us. See what we put poor Delvis through

*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***

* The 2012 Gym Rats Thread *