*** The 2014 Gym Rats Thread ***

FrenchTart said:
Slow negs sounds like the way to go then :p

I'll carry on with my current 4*8 but make the negs super slow rather than the not really negs that they are now :)

edit: CP - you never told us about your sausage...
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Just be mindful that doing very slow negatives may just impact on your ability to do 8 of them. ;)
 
Fair point :p

Maybe I'll just slow neg the last two sets to start with and work up to doing more.

edit: Wow, my hamstrings are really knackered from the stiff-legged DLs :eek:
 
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Okay so I always believe there's no such thing as a dumb question, only potentially dumb answers so here goes...

I notice a lot of the advice and training logs appear to have the emphasis on strength training and also volume of sets.

For me, I've always struggled with anything beyond 2-3 sets. It feels to me as if I have very limited energy stores and powers of in-workout recuperation such that I need even warm up sets need to be light and short reps so as not to use up all my energy before blasting into 2 working sets.

This has been the case since I was a teenage gymnast - I've tended to be able to focus effort and energy into short sharp blasts but with very little stamina. Even now I can't cycle more than about 8 miles without losing all power in my legs, and the thought of a long walk just makes me cringe. I've always been about the sprint, and the sprint being 60m rather than 100m! Strong and quick out the blocks sums me up.

So, what I'd be interested in are people's thoughts about whether this is just poor conditioning/ conditioned-lazyness, or just physiology and the way I may be built?

Should I adapt my training around this, accept the style that suits me best and capitalise on it OR try to build a foundation of increasing volume and persevere with adding sets?

Thoughts? Experience?
 
With regards to your cycling it's almost certainly about having self-restraint and pacing yourself more. Have you tried riding with a speed sensor?

Weights....I'm sure someone more qualified than me will answer :)
 
Conditioned laziness. ;)

That, added to a "not optimal" diet, from my experience.

I noticed exactly the same thing around 8-12 months ago with me: could not manage more than 110kg for 3 reps front squatting (I wasn't back squatting at this time) regardless of what I did with the loading (115kg wouldn't budge, etc.).

So one day, I just thought "stuff it" and went for 5 reps at 110kg and... it worked. It was a bit messy, but as a first time, it was fine.

Also, I find a good diet helps no end with workouts, so...

If you want a differential perspective, there are a few people that simply aren't wired for long lifting sets or huge volume. So a question might be whether you can manage a lower training load for more reps and sets? If that's the case, I'd go with my first suggestion. :D
 
It's what you've trained for - short sharp bits of effort. You can "untrain" yourself, but it takes a while. I had to dial back about 3-4 years ago and start again to re-learn everything and unlearn all my bad habits. So it is possible, but ultimately it's about training the way you want depending on what you're trying to achieve.
 
My diet is very clean and always has been. No processed food, no junk, high fibre and decent balance. At the moment I'm trying to find my cal deficit to my sedentary professional life style whilst taking every opportunity to be active, so its about 1450 per day, but even when I was young with a tremendous ability to consume and burn cals without weight gain I still struggled with sessions over 45 mins and anything over 3 sets. I still gained fine but any attempt to do 3,4, 5 sets at any rep range and I'd fade fast and even worse get DOMS which were closer to injury! I couldn't train for a week or more and it never got better.

I used to be a classic lean musclebound gymnast so its not like I wasn't gaining doing 12 sets and less per session at 6-8 rep range, but it just seems such a contrast when I see some logs of people doing 5 sets at 5 or 6 ascending weight levels before their working sets! And thats just one exercise - yikes! I thought I might acquire some stamina as I got older but apparently not.
 
Yup... Eating 1450 kcal per day may work (but it's really not great) whilst you're just sat around doing nothing but at the very least you need to be eating a lot more than that on workout days. Really you should be eating about 4-500 more than that on non-workout days and another at least a couple of hundred on workout days.

That is assuming 1 day on 1 day off workout/rest and doing a decent strength training routine. If you start doing more endurance stuff (cycling, running) to a decent degree you'll probably need even more.

edit:

So, day 2 of doing a lot more core/leg work with my beefcake. 6x5 DB squats with pretty much all my plates was kind of tough not still not as ridiculous as it was doing real squats. I need more plates and/or to work out if I can use a really short barbell to do hack squats somehow.
 
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Hey guys, any recommendations on shoes, I've been recommend Nike Free 5.0 trainers by a friend. Need something for weights and light running/jogging. They look pretty flat so should be pretty decent but thought I ask here first.
 
Fallen god said:
Hey guys, any recommendations on shoes, I've been recommend Nike Free 5.0 trainers by a friend. Need something for weights and light running/jogging. They look pretty flat so should be pretty decent but thought I ask here first.
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Unless your gym specifically excludes it I'd go barefoot/socks for squats/deadlifts and get a decent pair of (fitted) trainers for running. If you get a pair of trainers for both then you're compromising on both - it might not matter much but most trainers suitable for running* tend to have soles that compress which isn't ideal for creating a stable base for weightlifting.

*something like Vibrams Five Fingers would be an exception but you probably already know if you want to try "barefoot" running.
 
wozza2k said:
Something have gone really wrong if you are on 1450 kcals a day.
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I'd be interested why you think that. The 1450 just to explain is part if trying to get my bodyfat down to a more reasonable level. It's not where I see my maintenance level (to be determined).

What I've been saying is that whatever my cal intake I've never had the staying power for more than 3 sets per exercise. I've always thought it was a bit like the difference between a sprinter and a marathon runner - they're just built differently, and wondered whether the same thing carried over into training. Just to note that once the bodyfat is better my training goals are more about size over strength per se.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Unless your gym specifically excludes it I'd go barefoot/socks for squats/deadlifts and get a decent pair of (fitted) trainers for running. If you get a pair of trainers for both then you're compromising on both - it might not matter much but most trainers suitable for running* tend to have soles that compress which isn't ideal for creating a stable base for weightlifting.

*something like Vibrams Five Fingers would be an exception but you probably already know if you want to try "barefoot" running.
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Yeah I was worried about the soles, going in my socks might be best thanks for the advice.
 
jernau_gergeh said:
I'd be interested why you think that. The 1450 just to explain is part if trying to get my bodyfat down to a more reasonable level. It's not where I see my maintenance level (to be determined).

What I've been saying is that whatever my cal intake I've never had the staying power for more than 3 sets per exercise. I've always thought it was a bit like the difference between a sprinter and a marathon runner - they're just built differently, and wondered whether the same thing carried over into training. Just to note that once the bodyfat is better my training goals are more about size over strength per se.
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What's your current weight and height?

I'd up cals anyway Thats a pitiful amount even if cutting. You need to remember you're training as well, not just sitting down all day
 
Delvis - I'm 5' 8" and currently weigh 12 st exactly having lost 8 lb on the last 6 weeks. I've increased the load on a bunch of the standard compound exercises in this time and consequently firmed up all over.

Probably just as importantly I've cut down dramatically the amount of empty cals through beer and wine which is strictly Friday and Sat nights and less than 10 units overall.
 
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