*** The 2014 Gym Rats Thread ***

Need some advice here I'm about to move onto week 4 (reload) is this always recommended or should I shuffle the numbers slightly based on the first 3 weeks and start again?

Here are the 90% numbers used to calculate the reps for each week
Squat 96
Bench 76
Deadlift 131
Shoulder press 50

And here are my max reps for each week

Week 1 (3 x 5+)
Squat 7
Bench 9
Deadlift 7
Shoulder 9

Week 2 (3 x 3+)
Squat 7
Bench 9
Deadlift 5
Shoulder 9

Week 3 (1 x 5, 1 x 3, 1 x 1+)
Squat 4
Bench 7
Deadlift 4
Shoulder 5

As always, advice is much appreciated!

Does the Wendler spreadsheet not outline this for you?
 
Yeah it gives me numbers to work with well in advance. I was a bit unsure about the starting weights (too heavy/light) so I was hoping for some advice based on my rep maxes to see if I need to make any adjustments before the next 4 week cycle.
 
After training for 2 hours a day and making excellent gains I've decided to try a different split to hopefully cut down a lot of time, started a upper lower split and atm I'm aching and spending only 60-75mins a session in the gym so it's feeling good and I get to catch abit of the sun for a change :p
 
Yeah it gives me numbers to work with well in advance. I was a bit unsure about the starting weights (too heavy/light) so I was hoping for some advice based on my rep maxes to see if I need to make any adjustments before the next 4 week cycle.

Keep going, see how your reps go next cycle.
 
Need some advice from the esteemed gym rats thread :)

So prior to ramadhan I was running Wendlr's 531 after a cycle of SL (not ideal I know, but circumstances with time and gym forced the change). My stats were:

Height - 1.68m
Weight - 80.5 kg
BF - 20% (damn!)

Lifts
Squat - 140kg x 5
DL - 180kg x4
Bench - 80kg x 5
OHP - 50kg x 5

Pretty impressed with the 531 program but I'm looking to run somethng different after ramadhan. Taking into account a moderate loss of strength, I was thinking of starting a cycle of SL again? I would like to add a bit more definition to my body (happy with the strength gains) and loose the BF, so was also looking at something with more volume such as ICF 5x5.

I'm on summer break at the moment so can use the local gym and spend as long as needed in the gym. However, next semester is going to be killer (we'll be studying +4 more units than the undergrads) and the gym in Leicester is crap, so something that takes 2 hours to complete might not be ideal.

TL; DR - need advice on a new program starting from August. Previously ran 531, liked the gains but was at BF 20%. Would prefer something that I can help get rid of moobage to.

Thanks :)
 
I'm really only starting out with weights but can already see development there.

One question I have is why my chest doesn't seem to be building evenly. The outer area of my pecs is developing quite rapidly but the inner area just isn't. I'm not sure I want to go too much further if there's nothing I can do about that and reading online it seems like some bodies are just built that way. Some people do say that it's possible but typically get shot down.

I just wondered what your thoughts were. I know there's a lot of misinformation online.
 
I'm really only starting out with weights but can already see development there.

One question I have is why my chest doesn't seem to be building evenly. The outer area of my pecs is developing quite rapidly but the inner area just isn't. I'm not sure I want to go too much further if there's nothing I can do about that and reading online it seems like some bodies are just built that way. Some people do say that it's possible but typically get shot down.

I just wondered what your thoughts were. I know there's a lot of misinformation online.

Are you training the centre of your chest as well as i'm guessing doing standard barbel bench presses etc? Do some flys, cable flys, pec deck, lower cable chest raises and emphasise the inner chest more see how it goes.

I'd say my inner chest took a lot longer than the outer of my chest for sure, if your already doing the above then i'm not sure, maybe that's just how you are genetically.
 
I'm really only starting out with weights but can already see development there.

One question I have is why my chest doesn't seem to be building evenly. The outer area of my pecs is developing quite rapidly but the inner area just isn't. I'm not sure I want to go too much further if there's nothing I can do about that and reading online it seems like some bodies are just built that way. Some people do say that it's possible but typically get shot down.

I just wondered what your thoughts were. I know there's a lot of misinformation online.

There's upper chest and lower chest, really your chest should start filling out evenly as you progress, but doing some flies to isolate wouldn't go amiss!

I don't buy the whole specific exercises to target specific parts of the chest (like that picture of Ronnie Coleman where it lists various exercises explaining how he developed specific areas of his chest).

I think it's just general overloading the muscle.
 
There's upper chest and lower chest, really your chest should start filling out evenly as you progress, but doing some flies to isolate wouldn't go amiss!

I don't buy the whole specific exercises to target specific parts of the chest (like that picture of Ronnie Coleman where it lists various exercises explaining how he developed specific areas of his chest).

I think it's just general overloading the muscle.

Not seen said picture, but pretty sure Ronnie knows best. I also believe you can develop the chest and other muscles by targeting specific areas.
 
Not seen said picture, but pretty sure Ronnie knows best. I also believe you can develop the chest and other muscles by targeting specific areas.

It wasn't Ronnie's own pic, it was a pic of him that some one had annotated exercises over with arrows to various origin and insertion points.
 
The way your chest looks is mainly down to genetics, some peoples pecs seem to be close together others there's a fair bit of separation between.

Most definitely, have you seen that foolish kid Bostin Loyd who has taken anything and everything? His pecs are really odd looking. They have a very high origin and they don't seem to have much horizontal size.

High origin points can make a chest look really small compared to others, like Arnie's seem to be unusually low too.
 
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Need some advice from the esteemed gym rats thread :)

So prior to ramadhan I was running Wendlr's 531 after a cycle of SL (not ideal I know, but circumstances with time and gym forced the change). My stats were:

Height - 1.68m
Weight - 80.5 kg
BF - 20% (damn!)

Lifts
Squat - 140kg x 5
DL - 180kg x4
Bench - 80kg x 5
OHP - 50kg x 5

Pretty impressed with the 531 program but I'm looking to run somethng different after ramadhan. Taking into account a moderate loss of strength, I was thinking of starting a cycle of SL again? I would like to add a bit more definition to my body (happy with the strength gains) and loose the BF, so was also looking at something with more volume such as ICF 5x5.

I'm on summer break at the moment so can use the local gym and spend as long as needed in the gym. However, next semester is going to be killer (we'll be studying +4 more units than the undergrads) and the gym in Leicester is crap, so something that takes 2 hours to complete might not be ideal.

TL; DR - need advice on a new program starting from August. Previously ran 531, liked the gains but was at BF 20%. Would prefer something that I can help get rid of moobage to.

Thanks :)

If you like 531, you can probably use it just fine on a cut to shred down. HIIT and some unpleasant droplets on the compounds after the formal lifting will sort you out nicely on a calorie deficit. :)

I'm really only starting out with weights but can already see development there.

One question I have is why my chest doesn't seem to be building evenly. The outer area of my pecs is developing quite rapidly but the inner area just isn't. I'm not sure I want to go too much further if there's nothing I can do about that and reading online it seems like some bodies are just built that way. Some people do say that it's possible but typically get shot down.

I just wondered what your thoughts were. I know there's a lot of misinformation online.

Everybody is different, so everybody will develop differently. There are lists of exercises that can supposedly be done to improve chest aesthetics, but IMO, they make no sense and won't make any difference.

Just bench and use dumbells for chest pressing, and you'll be fine. :)
 
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