*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Training has switched over to the morning, so this shouldn’t be a factor. My normal evening timeline is something as follows eat dinner between 17:00 and 19:00 watch tv, catchup with the wife, browse the net etc as evening relaxation after my daughter is in bed, normally 19:00. Around 20:30 – 21:00 I will cook up and eat my bedtime omelette and peanut butter, then normally head to bed around anywhere from 21:00-10:00 as advised.

Its not that I am feeling tired or exhausted, I am just looking to get the most out of going to the gym, recovery, putting on mass etc.

Reading a good old fashioned book defiantly makes me very sleepy and used to work a treat, but now I try to sleep on my back as soon as I close the book and turn over I seem to become a little more alert again 

Maybe I should switch back to sleeping on my front, although I have concerns that this isn’t good for posture, should I just ignore this and focus on the sleep, or is sleeping on my back a good idea?
 
Sleeping on your front isn't great if you've got a super soft mattress - but I'm not an expert. Sleep as to how you feel comfortable - you will undoubtedly be rolling on your back and sides whilst you sleep anyway.
 
I tried sleeping on my back a few times, it was horrible so switched back to my on the side which isn't great for my shoulders but I like sleeping :)
 
That's why I do a lot of shoulder mobility work - sleeping on my side isn't great, but at least I get to sleep - and I can try and fix the issues by keeping it mobile.
 
LiE said:
I tried sleeping on my back a few times, it was horrible so switched back to my on the side which isn't great for my shoulders but I like sleeping :)
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Sleeping on my side leaves my shoulders feeling destroyed but it's either that or no sleep :o
 
For the peeps doing the ring stuff, check out gymnasticbodies.com - it's got a great forum for info, especially on progressing from zero strength to elite athlete movements. Especially important for those of us who weightlift because we overestimate the strength of our tendons on these type of movements because we're used to throwing a lot of weight about. They have great pre-requisites for ring training and some good techniques for joint/tendon health. My parallettes should be here by the weekend so hoping to get working on the L sit progression! Will post a pic when I get them
 
Skillmister said:
Rings arrived :D
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Simply combine with bright red 10kg oly bar and voila!
KEHg7.jpg


Ring dips are ****ing hard :o
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Sweet as.

Can the straps be adjusted at all? So the rings are higher?
 
LiE said:
I tried sleeping on my back a few times, it was horrible so switched back to my on the side which isn't great for my shoulders but I like sleeping :)
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I find sleeping on my right shoulder (the one with issues) gets well naff if I do :(

I try to sleep on my back normally, then switch over in the middle of the night. Certainly need to learn how to switch my mind off properly.

My issue is I tend to cook my food for the next day at 9pm onwards, or wash up something (bowls, pans etc) so end up waking up. My bodys daft in the sense that as soon as I move, I wake up. If I feel tired on the sofa, by the time I've got up, cleaned teeth and gone to bed, im wide awake again
 
icecold said:
Why are you doing plate pinch shrugs?
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Mainly for my grip and to help with my climbing.

Climbing mainly focuses on fingers/wrists/forearms/shoulders strength. If you go too mad though; there is a risk of damaging your tendons.

Pull-ups and plate shrugs make for some good grip and strength exercises and it's helped me enormously to incorporate those in to my workout.

But I'm still learning.

On an aside, I would really like some gymnastic rings, but I have nowhere to put them.

Cheers,

David
 
Syla5 said:
Around 20:30 – 21:00 I will cook up and eat my bedtime omelette and peanut butter, then normally head to bed around anywhere from 21:00-10:00 as advised.
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This very well could be your problem. Protein just before bed is a very bad idea. There have been several studies showing that having high protein lunch will keep you more awake, more alert and less sleepy than having a low-protein high carb lunch. Carbs on their own make you sleepy, but adding protein neutralises that effect. A quick google will throw up some of these studies, but if you're having trouble I'll see if I can find a good one for you.

Stop having eggs and peanut butter before bed. If you must eat something, have something that is mostly carbs, and low in protein.
 
Good session today.


Deadlift:
60x5
100x4
140x3
160x2
170x1
185x5 (PB)
202.5x1 (PB)
210x1 (PB)
212.5x1 (PB)

Bench:
50x5 (elbow still hurting)
60x5
70x1 (stopped from elbow pain)

Pushdowns:
60x15x3

Curls:
30x15x3



Was only going to go for 185x5 for deadlift, but they were really easy. Had another 2 or 3 reps there maybe. So thought, **** it, while I'm feeling good let's see what I've got today. 202.5 flew up, 210 flew up. 212.5 was finally getting a little slow. 215 was possibly there, but I left it. Next week I'll try for 220. Really happy with that.
 
Sort of related to my last post, has anyone tried rice bucket work for wrist/hand strength and health? I know a lot of different coaches advocate it in sports that use a lot of grip e.g. below


(Not sure if that worked but go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdT69yFTvaM )

Wouldn't mind hearing if anyone here has had experience of it. I suffer from arthritis so was thinking it might help me with my dodgy wrists anyway but particularly now that I want to do some basic gymnastic type training
 
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Gamefreak501 said:
Mainly for my grip and to help with my climbing.

Climbing mainly focuses on fingers/wrists/forearms/shoulders strength. If you go too mad though; there is a risk of damaging your tendons.

Pull-ups and plate shrugs make for some good grip and strength exercises and it's helped me enormously to incorporate those in to my workout.

But I'm still learning.

On an aside, I would really like some gymnastic rings, but I have nowhere to put them.

Cheers,

David
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Do plate pinches and shrugs separately if you must, by combining the 2 you're not able to use anywhere near enough weight to get a decent shrug out of it.
 
Recently signed up to the gym (last Friday) and have been in everyday since to do a combo of cardio and light weightwork to get in shape a bit more.

I hugely struggle to lift DB weights over 10KG (3 sets of 10 reps) but have no problem doing 8/10 pull/chin ups in a row.

Guessing I just need to keep at the weights until I get comfortable/strong enough to lift more.
 
wozza2k said:
Recently signed up to the gym (last Friday) and have been in everyday since to do a combo of cardio and light weightwork to get in shape a bit more.

I hugely struggle to lift DB weights over 10KG (3 sets of 10 reps) but have no problem doing 8/10 pull/chin ups in a row.

Guessing I just need to keep at the weights until I get comfortable/strong enough to lift more.
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just means you are very light lol. Get a program of work started dont just wander in and do whatever.Then you will start to progress.

People who decide "i dont look like a mens health model, better join a gym and go every day" dont get very far as you will get bored of not being a mens health model within months. Start a program.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
just means you are very light lol. Get a program of work started dont just wander in and do whatever.Then you will start to progress.

People who decide "i dont look like a mens health model, better join a gym and go every day" dont get very far as you will get bored of not being a mens health model within months. Start a program.
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I am actually 85kg and about 5ft 9 so I wouldn't say I am that light, but yeah I am not on a proper program but I am doing different muscle sets on daily basis with a friend who have been going for a fair few years.
 
ok well thats good, 85kg isnt light so pretty strange you having trouble with 10kgs or are you talking about curls? Because 10kg is totally reasonable as a curl for a beginner. Ive got 17.5in arms and for repping id be kicking off on 15's and maybe going around 20's to 25's max with any form. Not that i do bro curls of course
 
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