*** The 2012 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Soldato
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Link I wholly see what you mean, my approach has just come from the fact I don't have the patience for it anymore. When I'm cutting I'll be meticulous and worry about getting the most out of it.

For now, I'd rather eat more and gain 100% of what I can in terms of muscle and strength, then cut down after. I've learnt I'm far better at cutting than bulking!

Yeah that's all good. If my diet didn't fit my lifestyle then I would bulk in a more carefree way, but seeing as keeping it strict is actually really easy for my day to day life I figure why don't I stick to it :)

This next cycle of HST will see if my strength gains are being held back by my diet :)
 
Soldato
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Nothing wrong with mega calories as long as your not putting on mega fat, as has been clearly covered previously your muscle gains are only going to be X and the amount you need to eat to support that growth will be Y. So if you eat Z ( and Z > Y ) then surely the excess is only going to go towards fat building? Hence why I am trying to make the difference between Y and Z as small as possible.
Maybe a bigger gap between Y and Z will give you more energy for training, but If the body is already building muscle at maximum capacity then it does it matter how much harder you train, new muscle won't be added, hence why fat levels increase?
 
Man of Honour
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4000 a day?! Holy crap. Surely most of that gets turned to fat?

Not really. My BMR required 2900 calories when I was 82kgs. I'm 91kg now, and I lift more.

My problem will manifest itself once I finish up here in the States as it's doughnuts, 'cupcakes' and chocolate a-go-go in the office atm. :eek:

That, and the huge amount of cortisol I am currently churning out. Jetlag sucks.
 
Associate
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Looks like I'll be doing the competition after all! :D Owner of the club has offerd to buy me the singlet I need so all I have to worry about is membership costs at the moment. Hate being skint :(

Gave me a little more motivation for my squats tonight, worked my way up to a nice clean 130. Tried out some knee wraps after that and got 140 but it was a real struggle. Still a PB and have finally reached 3 plates a side!

Then tried my luck at dead's. worked my way to 180 then 190. Tried 200 again but failed :( Managed to get it a few inches of the floor then it just stopped. I swear to god I'll get it next week or I'll be ashamed of myself...

Then went back to doing light squats with a very nice looking lady ;) She also got a PB tonight 102.5 on dead's and 3x70 on squats. Very good for a woman who just picked up the big three a month ago.
 
Associate
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Stiv if you want to get stronger you should do less singles :)
Also I'd stay away from knees wraps unless you need them for some reason.

Yeah I know but with this comp coming up in a few weeks its hard not practice what I can max but stay within the rules. Going to take it easier and work on my 5 and maybe 3 rep PB's
 
Associate
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Squat:
60x5
100x5
130x3
150x1
167.5x3x2 (failed to do a 4th rep)

Bench:
60x5
70x3
80x2
92.5x4f (failed 5th but still a PB)
92.5x3f

Rack Holds:
220x10secs
240x10secs (barely hung on, worse than last time)

Chin-ups:
BWx10
BWx5x2

Pushdowns:
80x10x3
 
Soldato
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Cheers for advice guys specifically Morba.

First time doing squats

First off went and did squats with just the bar.
Then 60Kg x 8
then did 80Kg x 5
and then did 1 rep of 100Kg just to see if I could.

And I could quite easily however didn't feel very confident with my balance so I'll just have to build myself up more.

Also got very close to lifting 70 on the bench which I'm happy with. Next week I'll get it, got my right hand up but not my left which was around 70% up.
Want to be able to bench my bodyweight and atm I'm 100Kg so have no chance. I think that hopefully if I lose 10Kg and end up benching 90Kg at 90Kg I'll be happy.
 
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Soldato
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Had a nice legs day

Leg press: 80kgx12x3
Straight Leg Dumbbell Deadlift: 30kgx12x3 - Still need to fix my form on this as it also used a lot of my lower back
Leg Curl: 40kgx10x3
Leg extention: 40kgx12x3
Standing calf raise: 40kx12x3
Calf Press on Leg Press: 30kgx10x3

Legs are not to bad today, guess I'm starting to get used to this all now :D.
 
Soldato
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Did some early this week, trying to keep it fresh, I can squat 40kgx12x3 now but its really just not stable enough. It just that I injured my right leg 3 years ago and I didn't use it for 1 year. Bad football injure were I fractured my bone, which ripped into 2 pieces, completely removed my knee from the socket, ripped all my legiments and tendons. Somehow I can walk and even run now but it was a long 3 years to get here, just scared to injure something again.
 
Caporegime
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If you can leg press then you can squat. It will help rebuild all those muscles :)
Leg press has flexion of the ankle, knee and hips just like a squat, but it doesn't work anything that balances or stabilises you.
So while you are still trying to rehab yourself back into shape work all the muscles you can, it might actually help you better :)
 
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