*** The 2015 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Shouldn't be an issue, assuming you have proper mobility to be able to do it safely. I'd be more concerned about the hips shooting up towards the ends of the sets... That said I can't lift anywhere near that and it is very slight!
 
Jon33 said:
Is the way he shoots his knees forward at depth ok? It is kind of what happens to me, although less extreme which I've been trying to avoid.
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If you want to squat to maximal depth you need to be as upright as possible, which means getting the hips close to the ankles and allowing the knees to travel forward naturally. Clarence's squat style tends to exaggerate this a bit because he uses quite a bit of hip (see his 200kg x5 vid from the training hall of the junior championships), so has to come 'in' further at the bottom. If you look at other lifters squat, particularly those who keep it very quad-dominant, their hips come down in a straighter line so the 'tuck' (hips coming in between knees) at the bottom is less pronounced:


EDIT - also obviously the longer femur'ed you are, the more the knees will have to come forward to stay upright (although past a certain point it can be helpful to have a bigger heel on the shoe)
 
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Time for me to go to back to the gym again.

I was nearly 82kg @5'10 when I was regularly lifting. Now I'm something like 72kg :(

I've cut back on my CV work and I'm doing Roller Derby once every week and indoor rock climbing/bouldering once every month.

Any good 12 week programs I can try? There is a gym here where I work; might not be that well equipped, but it will do for the moment.

I used to do the following:

Back/Biceps:

BB DLs - 5x5;
Wide pull ups - 5 reps, 3 sets.
Narrow chin ups - 5-10 reps, 3 sets.
Lat pull downs - 8 reps 3 sets
Seated rows - 8 reps 3 sets
BB Bors - 8 reps 3 sets
DB/hammer curls - 8 reps, 3 sets

Chest/Triceps

Flat/Incline/Decline bench press - 8 reps, 3 sets
CGBP - 8 reps, 3 sets
DB flyes - 8 reps 3 sets
Tricep dips - 8 reps 3 sets
Rope pull down - 8 reps 3 sets
Planks - 90 seconds repeated 2-3 times

Legs/Shoulders

Squat - 5x5
SLDLs - 5x5
BB calf raises - 5x5
Goblet squats - 5x5
Farmers walks - 20m
DB seated shoulder press 8x3
Plate shrugs - 8x3
DB side raises - 8x3
DB front raises - 8x3
Planks - 90 seconds, repeated 2-3 times.

Is there a lot that could be done to improve this routine or does it look pretty good? Could the amount of leg work I do be detrimental to my roller derby performance even?

I'm wondering how long I could maintain this routine before I reach a plateau? Could anyone recommend how to avoid this?

Sorry for all the questions, I've been out the game for quite a while!
 
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Jon33 said:
Thanks for that, especially the last bit. I'm quite long legged (shorter body) so my femurs are pretty large, I'll try to worry a bit less about my knees moving forwards.
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My knees travel a VERY long way forwards because I find it a more natural movement. The bruhaha about knee travel comes from a bit of science and a lot of bro-science, namely too much force through the patellar tendon, damage to cruciate and medial ligaments, meniscii (?), but the risk factors are the same for any type of squatting...

- Push through your toes because you can't stop your torso collapsing? Patellar tendonitis and gash knee-itis...
- Can't control your hips and knees? Damage to meniscii and medial ligaments...

This will happen regardless of how you squat: do it badly and you have a heavy weight trting to crush you and break you.


GSVBagpuss said:
Anyone ever used barbell complexes? Am thinking of adding them to my off day for giggles
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Used to do them, then realised I might as well take up Crossfit and lose all my gains without any pretense... so stopped doing them. Used to go in for five rounds of...

Deadlift -> power hang clean -> front squat -> strict press -> back squat -> strict press -> RDL.

Hard work. Now I just do good mornings and OH squats for a warmup.
 
Fireskull said:
Yep I do dislocations, cant really do pull aparts sadly, my forearm is full of metal and sadly that type of lateral stress causes me much pain :D
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Daily dislocations have helped me, along with internal rotation work...you probably just need some.man handling, when I first did internal rotation work on my right shoulder it felt like it wanted to snap :p
 
mrthingyx said:
Used to do them, then realised I might as well take up Crossfit and lose all my gains without any pretense... so stopped doing them. Used to go in for five rounds of...

Deadlift -> power hang clean -> front squat -> strict press -> back squat -> strict press -> RDL.

Hard work. Now I just do good mornings and OH squats for a warmup.
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Probably using a 100kg bar too ;)
 
GSVBagpuss said:
Loadsa volume there - what are you aiming for. Strength, size, abz?
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Thanks for your reply GSVBagpuss,

Volume was a concern of mine actually :o

Aiming for size at the moment, ideally want to gain 5-10kg of muscle as I used to weigh 82kg now I weigh 72kg.

I'm thinking 82kg will look good on my frame. Not sure any more will though.

Edit: I'm thinking of giving strong lifts a go, to do something different. I haven't got much bodyfat, but apparently it's really good for building strength and muscle at the same time and may even prevent me from reaching plateaus like I always used to (then giving up haha!)

http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

Workout A - Day 1, Day 3

Squats - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 60kg
Bench press - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 50kg
Bent over row - working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg

Workout B - Day 2

Squats - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 60kg
OHP - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 50kg
Deadlift - working 1x5 @ 50kg, 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg.

I'm also thinking this will improve my form and if I add 5kg every week to each set, I would make far better gains.

How much of what I've said do any of you think will work?

I've reduced the weights above by between 10-40kg below my personal best, because I don't want to do any damage after my gym hiatus. Do these weights look good?
 
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Was just about to suggest stronglifts! It's usually 2.5kg per week (deadlifts are 5) but I think you're probably safe adding 5 given you have previous 1RMs. Don't forget you grow in the kitchen not the gym ;)
 
Gamefreak501 said:
Thanks for your reply GSVBagpuss,

Volume was a concern of mine actually :o

Aiming for size at the moment, ideally want to gain 5-10kg of muscle as I used to weigh 82kg now I weigh 72kg.

I'm thinking 82kg will look good on my frame. Not sure any more will though.

Edit: I'm thinking of giving strong lifts a go, to do something different. I haven't got much bodyfat, but apparently it's really good for building strength and muscle at the same time and may even prevent me from reaching plateaus like I always used to (then giving up haha!)

http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

Workout A - Day 1, Day 3

Squats - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 60kg
Bench press - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 50kg
Bent over row - working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg

Workout B - Day 2

Squats - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 60kg
OHP - warm-up 5x5 (empty bar), working 5x5 @ 40kg, 40kg, 50kg, 50kg, 50kg
Deadlift - working 1x5 @ 50kg, 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, 80kg.

I'm also thinking this will improve my form and if I add 5kg every week to each set, I would make far better gains.

How much of what I've said do any of you think will work?

I've reduced the weights above by between 10-40kg below my personal best, because I don't want to do any damage after my gym hiatus. Do these weights look good?
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when I did strong lights I'd do -;

warm up and then 5x5 on the same weight, wouldn't increase as I progressed with set but added 2.5 kg/workout day :)

I'd say low volume high weight for mass.. 10kg of muscle will take 3-4 years - if that's what you're talking about, proper lean mass..
 
Need some new shoes for lifting as Ive all but destroyed the soles on my Chuck Taylors now. I have somewhat of a limited bdget (broke *** student). Seen a couple of people recommending shoes like the Vibram Five Fingers, are they actually any good or am I better off sticking with good old Chucks?

Obviously gunna be used for powerlifting :p Sqwaats, deads, bench, OHP, pendlay rows etc.
 
Cookeh said:
Need some new shoes for lifting as Ive all but destroyed the soles on my Chuck Taylors now. I have somewhat of a limited bdget (broke *** student). Seen a couple of people recommending shoes like the Vibram Five Fingers, are they actually any good or am I better off sticking with good old Chucks?

Obviously gunna be used for powerlifting :p Sqwaats, deads, bench, OHP, pendlay rows etc.
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Barefoot if money is tight. Served me well up until I got some Oly shoes after Christmas.
 
Cookeh said:
Need some new shoes for lifting as Ive all but destroyed the soles on my Chuck Taylors now. I have somewhat of a limited bdget (broke *** student). Seen a couple of people recommending shoes like the Vibram Five Fingers, are they actually any good or am I better off sticking with good old Chucks?

Obviously gunna be used for powerlifting :p Sqwaats, deads, bench, OHP, pendlay rows etc.
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Money is tight - Considers buying Vibrams :eek:

Barefoot and some cheap but decent flat soles will be fine if you're training like that already.
 
I saw them for sale for £30 a (long) while back, looking again it now seems they are much much more expensive than that :eek:

Chucks till they fall apart then, and see what my gyms policy is on barefoot!
 
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