*** The 2013 Gym Rats Thread ***

Thecenturion are you progressively stepping up the weights each time you go in the gym? Are you doing stronglifts or something else?

I have to agree with skills here that you should have made much more progress on your squat by now. Your form has come on leaps and bounds but I would have expected you to be repping 50kg by now at least.

I would put the finding 35kg difficult compared to 40kg earlier in the week entirely down to food and rest. These two things can play such a massive part in how you perform.


What's your current routine, and what time of day do you train?
 
Um, yeah...

One (male) ought to be able to squat 50kg or so even without ever having trained once in their whole life. Even a small woman with a few months decent training would be lifting more than 40kg. Most men with a few months training under their belts can usually handle at least 75-80kg. Struggling at 35kg is simply bizarre. (Even opethdisciple can overhead press those sorts of weights).

There might be something pathological going on here.
 
TheCenturion said:
Doing stronglifts but it's been a bit all over the place (eg had to stop benching for a while because of my shoulder blade). Tend to train anytime, either in the morning or in the evening.
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There in lies part of the problem, inconsistent training and inconsistent time of training as well. If you can get that fixed and make it to the gym 3 times per week without impacting life outside of the gym ;) you will make progress
 
Skillmister said:
I know that. But is a form issue really going to stop someone benching more than 30kg? :X Can't see it myself.
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Probably not as even with bad form reps can still be ground out.

That said TheCenturion has a very slim frame without much mass (no put down intended).

It's good that he is concerned with form to some degree as having a high standard is important for longevity but at the same time sometimes you just need to lift heavier and adjust as you go.

Not directly related to TheCenturion at all but you would be surprised by the physical weakness some of the general public possess that and the appalling level of fitness. These don't apply to TheCenturion at all but what you're saying to some degree is like a powerlifter wondering why average Joe can't clean 100KG. It's all relative. While you may not be the most experienced or perfected lifted you undoubtedly have more experience and time under the bar.
 
BennyC said:
Probably not as even with bad form reps can still be ground out.

That said TheCenturion has a very slim frame without much mass (no put down intended).

It's good that he is concerned with form to some degree as having a high standard is important for longevity but at the same time sometimes you just need to lift heavier and adjust as you go.

Not directly related to TheCenturion at all but you would be surprised by the physical weakness some of the general public possess that and the appalling level of fitness. These don't apply to TheCenturion at all but what you're saying to some degree is like a powerlifter wondering why average Joe can't clean 100KG. It's all relative. While you may not be the most experienced or perfected lifted you undoubtedly have more experience and time under the bar.
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You make some good points. I think there plainly is something strange going on with the degrees of weakness seen in the general public. Frankly I find much of it hard to understand. Pretty old school tried-and-tested strength standards prediction statistics, for men and women alike, just don't seem to be holding up.

E.g. for an 80kg male, one ought to be able to squat more than 50kg without ever having even touched an Oly and it should only take a few months of training at the most to be able to perform one squat repetition at 100kg. On the contrary, these days we're seeing people hit the gym for years, and barely able to perform reps at 75kg.
 
I was lucky to have played at a decent level of rugby and had some good strength coaches which helped me learn. Should be a lot further along than I ever got but since I'm only an amateur and have a life lifting was never a priority for me. Added to that that I spent 6 years of my life travelling for work so wasn't conducive foe regular training or improvement.

I wouldn't have done my life any differently other than perhaps focus more on some proper training/mobility when a gym wasn't available.
 
BigPecsPeter said:
Um, yeah...

One (male) ought to be able to squat 50kg or so even without ever having trained once in their whole life. Even a small woman with a few months decent training would be lifting more than 40kg. Most men with a few months training under their belts can usually handle at least 75-80kg. Struggling at 35kg is simply bizarre. (Even opethdisciple can overhead press those sorts of weights).

There might be something pathological going on here.
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Thanks for the mention dude...

Not sure if thats good or bad. :p

My lifts arent that bad. 2 months of progress: OHP from 30kg to 36kg and Bench from 40kg - 55kg. For a notorious underlifter thats good going!

I'm confident my bench will carry on increasing, but OHP is tough going. How far do you think I can go by the end of the year on the OHP? I would be absolutly over joyed with 45kg OHP and 70kg bench by end of year!

I'm trying to crack 37.5kg on the OHP, but only managed 4 reps on Thursday, which was two more than last I tried!

I plan to do a 5-6 week quick fat loss diet. (Due to holiday coming up) I lost a lot of weight prior to bulk, but now Im back to being a little bit tubby. :o

After I get back from holiday I will bulk for as long as I can stand the fat gain.... and try and get my weights as high as possible, before going on a fat loss drive again.

Am I right when I say 'you are only as big as the weights that you lift'?

As long as I keep making small incremental progress ie, more reps than last time or small weight increases, I'm heading in the right direction?

Cant belive I'm sitting at 140kg on the leg press. Around Jan - Feb, 100kg was just way too much for me. Training it twice a week has just blown that out of the water.

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I am actually looking forward to my fat loss plan. Mostly becuase I want to do something cardio based. I can't run, cycle as that hurts my knee and causes inflammation, so swimming is the functional all body excersise I am looking forward to pushing myself through my comfort level and in the process losing some weight. Kind of like something that will tie together all the strength and muscular gains I have been making.

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One of the issues I may have on the OHP is I do do it on the same day as my bench. Maybe eventually as the weights get heavier, that will become an ever increasing problem.

Actually at the moment, doing Bench and OHP is already detrimental to my dips. I am completly wasted by the time I start dipping. I should probably take another look at the organisation of the routine.

My routine is organised thusly:

Routine A on Monday and Thursday and Routine B on Tuesday and Friday:

Routine A:

Bench Press @55kg
OHP @36kg
Dips @5kg added to BW
SLDL @47.5kg
Ab work

Routine B:

Leg Press @140kg
Pull Ups @BW
Dumbell Bent over Rows @24kg
Barbell Curls @35kg
Calf Raises

All done 5x5 except for Ab and Calf stuff.

I was thinking of switching OHP with Barbell curls. However would this not over tax the triceps as they would inadvertently get hit 4 times a week?

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Actually scrap that. Lookin at it again, it seems it makes most sense if I am going to swap something to swap the leg press with the OHP. Otherwise if I if I hit biceps on routine A, then routine B suffers.
 
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opethdisciple said:
One of the issues I may have on the OHP is I do do it on the same day as my bench. Maybe eventually as the weights get heavier, that will become an ever increasing problem.

Actually at the moment, doing Bench and OHP is already detrimental to my dips. I am completly wasted by the time I start dipping. I should probably take another look at the organisation of the routine.
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Not really. Some people do full body routines every session and don't suffer. OH NOES OVERTRAININ!!1
 
Captain Planet said:
Not really. Some people do full body routines every session and don't suffer. OH NOES OVERTRAININ!!1
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High frequency training delivers the best results for me, I prefer full body and occasionally a push/pull. I just can't train on a split anymore as after 1/2 exercises that bodypart is totally shagged.

As long as your adjust your volume to compensate there are no issues.

My first 2 cycles of HST I was OHP'ing & benching 3 times a week and made very good progress on both these lifts and many others too.
 
I am actually really enjoying my training at the moment. Being consistent and seeing my weights going up, is enough of a pay back for me to justify the amount of time and effort this gym nonsense requires....

It's a total chore but an enjoyable one... :rolleyes:

If I wasnt going to the gym as often as I am now, I wouldnt know what to do with my self. I have even programmed my self to go gym on the Friday BEFORE I go out for the evening. Before I used to skip Friday and just go out. Then try and train on Saturday wth a hang over......

Not any more!

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I think my goals of reaching say 10-12% bf are on hold at the moment. My body didnt want to go so low last time I tried, so the idea is to increase my muscle mass over the next 6 months and see if that helps me achive my goals.
 
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BennyC said:
High frequency training delivers the best results for me, I prefer full body and occasionally a push/pull. I just can't train on a split anymore as after 1/2 exercises that bodypart is totally shagged.
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I'm hearing this more frequently of late, though on almost every occasion it's coming from people who are either, A: working out fasted first thing in the morning, or B: people who insist on not eating a substantial amount of carbohydrates PRE-training. Almost anybody I know who's taking in 80-100g carbs pre-workout is managing insane volume per body part.

Just sayin'.
 
BigPecsPeter said:
I'm hearing this more frequently of late, though on almost every occasion it's coming from people who are either, A: working out fasted first thing in the morning, or B: people who insist on not eating a substantial amount of carbohydrates PRE-training. Almost anybody I know who's taking in 80-100g carbs pre-workout is managing insane volume per body part.

Just sayin'.
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So you say it's a lack of carbs pre workout?

My preworkout food is, 1 medium sweet potato & either a chicken breast or tin of tuna and a banana one hour before, then 5 mins before I eat another banana and a espresso shoot or two.

(Prior to this, I have already eaten, a huge bowl of porridge at breakfast and four peices of bread at lunch. So I am actually force feeding my self this food)

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I suppose I should experiment and try a different pre workout food set up. My freind keeps saying he is having great success eating a huge bowl of allbran and prunes pre workout.
 
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BennyC said:
High frequency training delivers the best results for me, I prefer full body and occasionally a push/pull. I just can't train on a split anymore as after 1/2 exercises that bodypart is totally shagged.

As long as your adjust your volume to compensate there are no issues.

My first 2 cycles of HST I was OHP'ing & benching 3 times a week and made very good progress on both these lifts and many others too.
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You where OHP'ing & benching in the same session?
 
I'm finding patience is the hardest thing with SL 5x5 I think. I have some form issues and need to correct a lot and come down a little while I do that on DL and OHP.

But my squat and bench is going up every session like it should and I think it is working for me at the moment so just need to stick with the program. So need to resist the temptation to do more exercises, different exercises or skip a few weights ahead.
 
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