*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

[CaptainRAVE]

Don't sweat it... Max lifts are not always where you want them to be (or when). My body and mind have a nasty habit of goading me into maxing out two weeks before I should and I have come out with both my best ever lifts and... no progress at all.

If you talk yourself out of it, doesn't matter what your ramp has been or how good your nutrition is: that bar will feel too heavy.

Use the extra time to work the back, chestanbize, and trizendelts and your fiancée will go green at all the admiring looks.

I didn't feel 100% at all today. I will regroup after the wedding and will do what I did last time I hit a wall and will keep adding 2.5kg to my 'theoretical' (yet reasonably safe) max and see how the program goes. I couldn't even lift my last max and when I did that 4 weeks ago it was very comfortable.

 

[reiyushin]

I was the same about midway through my warmups I felt like I was too far forward and I couldn't seem to correct it. I kept going and pulled my warmups okish but on the 1rm attempt I pulled the bar about an inch off the ground...

Wasn't happy with my positioning and ditched it there.

We all get those days, I'll mark mine down to under-recovery, I'm still playing with timings for recovery so this will be going down as a learning experience instead of a failure


Keep putting in the work, keep refining the technique and keep being honest with yourself about your recovery system (sleep & food) and you'll get there.

 

[mrthingyx]

I need to erm...consult my physio before squatting more

Pffft.

By their very nature, deficit Bulgarian split squats are probably one of the most sympathetic movements going because of the freedom of motion they allow. If a person has imbalances, these are what they should be doing to correct them.

Which is curious, because that is also what makes them so savage.

 

[neoboy]

Pffft.

By their very nature, deficit Bulgarian split squats are probably one of the most sympathetic movements going because of the freedom of motion they allow. If a person has imbalances, these are what they should be doing to correct them.

Which is curious, because that is also what makes them so savage.

Pretty much what I need to be doing, I should be switching gyms and be a lot more free in my routine by May so can concentrate on working on a lot things I don't get to do now. Jumped on a leg press the other week and it's pretty bad how much more I can shift on that compared to my squat number.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

BCAAs - what the usage from the legends of Gym Rats? They look very expensive for what seem like slightly loose scientific evidence but gainz is gainz

 

[mrthingyx]

BCAAs - what the usage from the legends of Gym Rats? They look very expensive for what seem like slightly loose scientific evidence but gainz is gainz

Scratch that itch if you must, but just have a coffee with cream in it, otherwise... about the same gain-worthiness.

 

[neoboy]

Really need to get a firm grip on my nutrition. Great progress in the gym in terms of strength and seem to be getting good shape again but it's weight loss I'm really after and very big spare tyre to shift around the mid section.

What kind of a macro split do I want for a cut then? I'm 6"1 at 120kg/265lbs so looking to cut down to 2400 calories until the summer.

 

[Somnambulist]

Set calories to an intake that results in bodyweight losses of 0.5 to 1% per week of your total bodyweight (to maximise muscle retention), have protein roughly 2.3-3.1 grams per kg of lean body mass (use images of bodyfat percentages to get an idea of what you think you are, and then it's probably a couple of % higher than that). 15-30% of calories from fat, and the reminder of calories from carbohydrate.

You're not doing anything crazy like a contest prep so it's probably less stress if you set a calorie/macro ranges (like +/-5g for fat etc) rather than aiming for exact numbers or even just track protein and total calories, although this tends to work better with some food preferences better than others since you still want to be getting enough carbs for training and enough fat for the stuff that fat's used for other than sitting under your skin or organs.

 

[reiyushin]

My arms.................


One of the bodybuilders in the gym suggested doing curl drop sets and for some reason I agreed.

 

[neoboy]

Set calories to an intake that results in bodyweight losses of 0.5 to 1% per week of your total bodyweight (to maximise muscle retention), have protein roughly 2.3-3.1 grams per kg of lean body mass (use images of bodyfat percentages to get an idea of what you think you are, and then it's probably a couple of % higher than that). 15-30% of calories from fat, and the reminder of calories from carbohydrate.

You're not doing anything crazy like a contest prep so it's probably less stress if you set a calorie/macro ranges (like +/-5g for fat etc) rather than aiming for exact numbers or even just track protein and total calories, although this tends to work better with some food preferences better than others since you still want to be getting enough carbs for training and enough fat for the stuff that fat's used for other than sitting under your skin or organs.

Yeah I'm currently tracking my protein and calories but starting to plateau so looking to go to the next level.

At the moment I'm consuming around 200g of protein a day so within the lower end of the range you suggested, could bump it up to 250g. Bodyfat looks to be somewhere around 25-30% so we'll go with the higher figure and losing a KG a week would be great. If I can get down to 110kg/242lbs by June the 1st that would be fantastic. With me being so overweight the first few stone should be the easiest to lose with the right nutrition tweaks.

Ramping up the cardio to 6 days a week (weightlifting 5 days a week as well) in various forms and most calorie calculator put me between 2300 and 2500 calorie for a 2lb weekly loss as my job is as sedentary as you get.

 

[Kris_90]

Yeah I'm currently tracking my protein and calories but starting to plateau so looking to go to the next level.

At the moment I'm consuming around 200g of protein a day so within the lower end of the range you suggested, could bump it up to 250g. Bodyfat looks to be somewhere around 25-30% so we'll go with the higher figure and losing a KG a week would be great. If I can get down to 110kg/242lbs by June the 1st that would be fantastic. With me being so overweight the first few stone should be the easiest to lose with the right nutrition tweaks.

Ramping up the cardio to 6 days a week (weightlifting 5 days a week as well) in various forms and most calorie calculator put me between 2300 and 2500 calorie for a 2lb weekly loss as my job is as sedentary as you get.

Don't rush into the cardio. Save it for when your weight plateaus in a few weeks time. Adjust your calories accordingly then add the cardio.

 

[mrthingyx]

My arms.................


One of the bodybuilders in the gym suggested doing curl drop sets and for some reason I agreed.

Quid pro quo for next week... will he have to squat 250kg?

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah I'm currently tracking my protein and calories but starting to plateau so looking to go to the next level.

At the moment I'm consuming around 200g of protein a day so within the lower end of the range you suggested, could bump it up to 250g. Bodyfat looks to be somewhere around 25-30% so we'll go with the higher figure and losing a KG a week would be great. If I can get down to 110kg/242lbs by June the 1st that would be fantastic. With me being so overweight the first few stone should be the easiest to lose with the right nutrition tweaks.

Ramping up the cardio to 6 days a week (weightlifting 5 days a week as well) in various forms and most calorie calculator put me between 2300 and 2500 calorie for a 2lb weekly loss as my job is as sedentary as you get.

What's your weight (and height) atm if I may? I would say 200g seems quite high already - those recommendations are based for people in the normal range, perhaps 15-20% as this is typically where strength athletes might hover around in their off-season. Protein intake is scaled upwards with severity of caloric restriction and leanness. The higher the body fat percentage, the lower the protein intake can usually be compared to the total bodyweight, so stay where you are there - leaves more room for carbs and fats.

I would focus on step count and NEAT style activity if you can before you add cardio in. It's low impact and doesn't hamper or impede training or recovery. I work a relatively sedentary job but since I do a bit of walking on my commute and during my lunch I hit 10-12k every day if I'm a bit short I just use my Office Fitness Walking Treadmill (from Amazon) to make up the rest; I can do this while at the computer, reading my iPad etc. I don't even track it with anything fancy, just the pedometer in my iPhone which is in the Health section. It's probably not very accurate but as long as it's consistent then that's all that matters.

When dieting I use it even more to up my steps so I can diet on higher calories, because I really like eating! At a certain point there's only so much free time in the day though which is when I'd throw in a cardio session or two, however I've never really had to since I've never stalled badly on a diet, although I've only ever aimed to get to the 10-12% range rather than single digits which is where it does get hard.

 

[reiyushin]

Quid pro quo for next week... will he have to squat 250kg?

I'll suggest it

 

[theNude]

First work out of 2017.

Was going 4 to 5 times a week pre christmas. But managed to damage my supinator /distal bicep tendon and have had to take 4 months off.

Its been hard and i cant do any bicep curls stoll but just completed a light chest sesh so can fi nally see light at the end of the tunnel.

4 months off i have gained 5kg and 2inches on my waist. All fat. Dont dare measure anywhere else or itll make me cry.

 

[PermaChanged]

Don't dare measure anywhere else or itll make me cry.

It's all about how you use it bro!

 

[neoboy]

What's your weight (and height) atm if I may? ...snip...

6"1 at 120kg/265lbs and BF looks to be around 30%.

Just to clarify the cardio bit, what I basically do every day is walk 5 miles and sprint up two small hills that I get in that walk. At my weight and two knee surgeries, I don't really feel confident start running on flat/decline concrete just yet anyway. Only exception to that is a small 5-6 mile hike I do in the local woods over the weekend and I only do one actual cardio session in the gym on a Saturday which involves rowing, biking and that evil Stairmaster. Then on top of that I do the 5 days of weightlifting which is just a boring body part split but will be changing it around by the summer.

I actually work from home and live next to the city centre so outside of that there's not much movement which is why I've decided to start doing all the walking. Ultimate goal would be to get down to somewhere near 90kg/200ish lbs of my old rugby days but that's a long road ahead so for now just hoping to get down to 110kg by the summer, which should be doable in just over 2 months.

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah running is one of those things everyone seems to do but I'm 32 and don't know anyone personally that is or was an active runner that hasn't crocked their hips or knees. It's probably fine if you're bounding on more forgiving surfaces but concrete pavements are not particularly friendly at the best of times and that's ignoring how most people run with poor technique and heel-strike heavily. Rest sounds good actually.

Working from home you'd be the perfect candidate for the walking treadmill with a standing desk. I never use mine to actually run, just either plod when I'm concentrating/working, slow walk when I'm just browsing the interwebs or brisk walk when I want to get some decent steps in with the TV on.

 

[wozza2k]

The whole walking whilsts working concept looks so strange to me even though I use a sit/stand desk currently at work. How do you find concentration whilsts walking/working?

 

[tom_e]

Yeah running is one of those things everyone seems to do but I'm 32 and don't know anyone personally that is or was an active runner that hasn't crocked their hips or knees. It's probably fine if you're bounding on more forgiving surfaces but concrete pavements are not particularly friendly at the best of times and that's ignoring how most people run with poor technique and heel-strike heavily. Rest sounds good actually.

I had this exact conversation with a mate in the gym once, she was talking about running and wanting to get into it and I pointed out that every single one of the >40 guys in the gym that come in and pound the treadmill for hours at a time are all sporting some form of bandage or support around 1 or both knees and generally look uncomfortable when walking around.

It's a highly unforgiving exercise.