*** The 2013 Gym Rats Thread ***

DarkShadow said:
Dear Rats,

The last 6 months have been bad. Without going into details - I've lost most of the things I cared about in such a short period of time. Training was my source of outlet. Unfortunately I can no longer turn to that since my surgery. Although I've returned to training 4 * a week I can only lift between 5%-50% of what I could.

The year I put into a second transformation has been mostly undone. I constantly feel low in energy and losing the will to stick it out.

Despite all the challenges I'm a half glass full guy and happy go lucky but I'm not quite sure where to go from here. I fully understand that the real challenge is in stand back up but I can't.

What's a bro to do?
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Damn this is a shame to hear, you had made some awesome progress and got to a decent place!
How long has it been since your surgery? Also what is your expected full recovery time?

If you can still lift but only lighter weights i would suggest really focus on the power/explosiveness of the movements, as if/when you can get back to lifting heavy this will really help.

Take advantage of your time in the gym for mobility/flexibility/soft tissue work. These areas will unlock new found gains again for when you get back to lifting heavy.

I would also suggest make a log in the new logs sub forum. You will be able to use this as a measure of progress and this should help as inspiration. Count this as Dark_Shadows third coming if you will! An interesting log to check out will be DjDom56's as he had to dial things right back after he got injured.
 
OK Bro's, need some help, i need to get measurements on a lifting Log and a yoke. Anyone good at diagrams for engineering be very helpful, anyone has either kit would appreciate the measurments. M8 of mine is engineer he is gonna make me up some kit.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
OK Bro's, need some help, i need to get measurements on a lifting Log and a yoke. Anyone good at diagrams for engineering be very helpful, anyone has either kit would appreciate the measurments. M8 of mine is engineer he is gonna make me up some kit.
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The strengthshop logs are small and light, you want to make something close to the IFSA standard 12" log as most comps will use something close to this.

For a yoke, adjustable height is a must with a nice thick bar to sit on your back. Width, not sure. I'll measure ours for you when I'm back up the gym tomorrow :)

Our stuff came from here http://atlasstones.co.uk/3.html , quality well made stuff, though expensive
 
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Shoulder feels like all the muscles around it have shortened by 2cm, with bands wrapped all around it.

Need to attack it when i get home tonight.
 
Ultra_Extreme said:
Thanks for the input guys really really useful, love that PDF random, amazing. Morba any measurments you can get be amazing.

By way of reward here is me lifting wore weight overhead than you can :D

https://vimeo.com/57315147
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Next time you'll start the rep from your shoulders rather than chin right? :p
Cracking press fella, I'd be well happy with a 110kg strict press :)
 
Morba said:
Next time you'll start the rep from your shoulders rather than chin right? :p
Cracking press fella, I'd be well happy with a 110kg strict press :)
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lol honestly the bar sits there even when i loaded 120 for an attempt it wouldnt sit on chest, shoulder flexion = pooor!

(its cos all the back muscle o course!)
 
Captain Planet said:
Did some mobility work today.

Jebus, my groin is throbbing!
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Looks exhausting!

I don't know what the **** is going on.Got down to 16 stone exactly few days ago.Yesterday i was 16.2 and today i'm 16.3.Been on calories deficit of around 1300 - 1600 lately and doing 60 mins cardio > ontop of my weights session.

Today i had a fry up at my parents involving 2 eggs, sausages and bacon and a roll with beans.An hour later i went for a 10k run and just got back from gym after doing hiit for 45 mins and weights.All i have had since this morning is 2 25g shakes.How can i be putting on weight?
 
King Damager said:
Don't worry about it, it'll be water weight or something along those lines.

The real issue will be if the trend continues for a few weeks.

kd
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Roger, I think it may also have something to do with with that toxic crap I took and the fact that I upped my carbs lately.But yea defo sounds like water weight is the biggest culprit.

Will make a log during the week to save from boring/ annoying you guys to death :D

Cheers
 
I want to start a new routine tomorrow and I've been mulling over it all afternoon.

I've recently started carb back loading and I'll finish the preparation stage on Wenesday. CBL requires you to hit it pretty hard to justify the 'feast' of carbs post workout. The problem is, most routines require you to drop it down low and build up to some extent. I was considering a hypertrophy but realised I wanted to focus more on the 'big lifts'. Being bored of Wendler, I wanted to start a stronglifts routine - but the first several weeks wouldn't be workouts that overly justified the carb feast.

So it's a compromise between not undermining the routine, but working out hard enough so you can actually make the diet work for you.

I've settled on a hybrid stronglift 5x5 routine, spreadsheet stolen from stronglifts.com. I'm going to skip ahead the first two weeks to make it hard enough for the CBL and I intend to slam out the last 2 sets on high reps to make sure I'm killed off to justify the feast, at least until I start to struggle on the 5x5s. This means I should be reaching my current maxes after my fourth week - sooner than ideal I know, but that's the compromise.

Thoughts / comments? Seems a solid enough approach from my eyes taking into account it's going to be a bit of a hovis best of both. The other way of doing it would be start from the start of the stronglifts 5x5 routine and relatively hold back on the carbs post workout until 5-6 weeks time. But seriously, **** you, no carbs is rubbish :p
 
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I've always done the same with SL, skip the first month or so that the spreadsheet generates. Maybe do the last set of everything as a Wendler style + set aswell? Where do you train Nitefly, Bristol amirite?
 
Chris1712 said:
I've always done the same with SL, skip the first month or so that the spreadsheet generates. Maybe do the last set of everything as a Wendler style + set aswell? Where do you train Nitefly, Bristol amirite?
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Yep, anytime fitness on the triangle, Clifton. It's quite good because it's got 4 olympic bars and 3 cages. It's also 24 hour. You get told off for chalk and no shoes, but you can just be sneaky!
 
Nitefly said:
Yep, anytime fitness on the triangle, Clifton. It's quite good because it's got 4 olympic bars and 3 cages. It's also 24 hour. You get told off for chalk and no shoes, but you can just be sneaky!
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That is so ****ing annoying. Decent equipment yet no understanding of why people would make use of it.
No shoes is wrong? Ah because a fashion trainer would stop a 20kg plate crushing your toes and keep you stable while lifting?!
No chalk? Muppets. A broom clears chalk and just tell people to use a respectable amount!
 
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