*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

The best one I ever seen was a few years ago. I'd taken my mate to the gym who had never lifted a weight in his life, got him on the bench and I think we worked up to a slightly wobbly 40kg, then this little scrote comes in and starts sneering at my mate who was starting to struggle a bit by this point.

Anyway we finish up and move off the bench and the little scrote jumps on sticks 40kg on the bar unracks it and quickly gets stuck under it and starts squeaking, I left him there for maybe a little longer than was comfortable for him just to remind him not to be a ****.
 
I've been going to the gym for almost ten months now, first seven months i'd been doing a body part split as that what i was advised to do by a mate so stuck with it. For the past two and a bit months i've been doing PPL and i feel like i wasted seven months in the gym, i've made more strength gains in the past two months than i did the first seven. That could be partly due to the fact that i wasn't tracking my weight progression and i am now, who knows.

I did post about my body part split routine in the 2016 gym thread and someone advised me it was not optimal at all, me being a newbie and not taking the advice i just plodded along, so who ever that was, sorry for not listening!

Today i'll be deadlifting 140kg 5x5 where as a few months ago i could do only one rep but with poor form.
 
This is why again and again I recommend Stronflifts for new starters. Simple, few exercises, and enforces constant progression.

If you're not writing down your weights, and incrementing those figures each session, you're not growing efficiently.

Edit: just realised I didn't write anything positive :p it's great that you're starting to make the progress you want, it's all better from here. Feel free to post up your routine if you want some constructive criticism :)
 
MoNkeE said:
This is why again and again I recommend Stronflifts for new starters. Simple, few exercises, and enforces constant progression.

If you're not writing down your weights, and incrementing those figures each session, you're not growing efficiently.

Edit: just realised I didn't write anything positive :p it's great that you're starting to make the progress you want, it's all better from here. Feel free to post up your routine if you want some constructive criticism :)
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If i could go back to the day i started, i definitely would do stronglifts.

Yeah, one of the best things i did when starting PPL was buying myself a gym diary.

Will post up my routine later today, currently at work

Cheers :)
 
Critique my routine please? I am trying to get to the gym every morning before work. This gives me about 40 minutes on average for a workout. If I can't get to the gym before work due to an early start I will go in the evening instead, but the gym is horrible and busy then. Ideally I'd be going 5 times per week, but I won't beat myself up as long as I can do 4 sessions which allows for on calls.

Session 1: Legs
Squats - Warm up then 5 x 5 working sets.
Front Squat - 3 x 10

Session 2: Chest
Rotator cuff warm up
DB Bench - 5 x 5 working sets
DB fly - 3 x 10
Dips - 5 x 6 this morning but will continue to push myself.

Session 3: Back
BOR - 5 x 5. I like to treat this as a warm up for DL as it engages my back and core properly
DL - Enjoying Reiyushin's sessions and this keeps me motivated
Pull ups/Lat pulldowns if there's time

Session 4: Shoulders
Rotator cuff warm up
OHP - 5 x 5
Front raise + rear DB fly superset 5 x 5
Lateral raise - 3 x 10
Face pulls if there's time.

Session 5: Legs/Arms
This is only if there's time, but I'm keen to try to train legs twice a week. Similar session to session 1, but will add arm curlz or extra accessory exercises that were missed in the week due to lack of time.

More time would give more results I'm sure, and I'd like to try to fit in more cycling at the gym even if it's only 15 minutes after the weights.

Should I give stronglifts a go now that the gym actually has the proper equipment?

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
So I've screwed up a bit!

I moved things around in the garage so the rack is easier to access and work with and now I remember why I moved it the last time: No room to get OHP done! Taking the bar outside the rack means I'm stuck at the narrow bit of garage and can't get the bar past. If I move the bar 90 degrees it hits a shelf above me!

What alternatives can I do? :)
 
Thinking of sprucing up my workout and also want to put an emphasis on fixing my posture as I think I've developed anterior pelvic tilt with years of bad posture and gaming.

What are everyone's favourite resources for reading up on exercises, nutrition and such?
 
It is very unlikely both the injury and funds aren't in a great place! I'll be looking to compete at nationals this year and then build up towards Canada next year all being well :)
 
reiyushin;30482750 said:
It is very unlikely both the injury and funds aren't in a great place! I'll be looking to compete at nationals this year and then build up towards Canada next year all being well :)
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But who am I supposed to root for when watching Classic World's this year on the Irish team? :( :confused: fingers crossed the rehab continues to go well
 
Haha :D They're a bunch of great lifters, some new faces this year, the team is about twice the size of what it was last year!

Barry Pigott and Hazel Hu are 2 to watch.
 
Does anyone know of of any leg exercises I can do without using my arms i.e. not gripping a bb or db?

I've got a niggling elbow/forearm/shoulder/tendon issue that's not going away so I'm going to take a month off training upper body in the hopes that it gets rid of it.

So that means February is leg month :D Squats causes my elbow issues so I'm thinking machine work, DBSS and walking lunges using a belt and attaching weights to that.

Anything else I could do?
 
Kris_90;30487862 said:
Does anyone know of of any leg exercises I can do without using my arms i.e. not gripping a bb or db?

I've got a niggling elbow/forearm/shoulder/tendon issue that's not going away so I'm going to take a month off training upper body in the hopes that it gets rid of it.

So that means February is leg month :D Squats causes my elbow issues so I'm thinking machine work, DBSS and walking lunges using a belt and attaching weights to that.

Anything else I could do?
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Belt squats can be a very useful exercise if you have the equipment to do them properly. Max Aita at JTS has a lot of his weightlifters and powerlifters (both national level, see clip here, 2nd exercise) do them to bring up quad strength without creating more volume for the low back and swears by them. I've tried them myself but found the belt pinched my hips a lot and didn't feel comfortable. Free weights tend to get a bit akward (if you use the big ones you need tall boxes otherwise they hit the floor, and if you use small ones you end up having to adopt a wider stance which isn't ideal.

To solve this you can use the landmine attachment if one is available although like the belt squat it seems like a DIY solution for more WL/PL'ing gyms which don't have leg machines.

A decent hack squat machine does more or less the same thing too though.

BSS/DBSS is always a solid choice!
 
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