*** The 2017 Gym Rats Thread ***

[mrthingyx]

Hey man, do you want me to donate a webcam from 2010 so you can record at higher than 240p

I didn't want to distract you with my physique when you should have been listening.

 

[mrthingyx]

My shoulder is fried, my quad is fried. Time for a 2 1/2 break (by far the longest for a year!) - I will focus on stretching and mobility whilst away. Hopefully this quad pain then goes away. Have had it before, but not this bad. At least it healed quickly last time.

Use the honeymoon to perfect lifting mobility through inventive use of... err... positioning.

 

[mrthingyx]

Video doesn't work...?

 

[mrthingyx]

I can fit my 9yr old daughter in my old trousers

Now that is impressive work - well done!

 

[mrthingyx]

Great work!

So, I'm going on holiday..... And the hotel has a 'gym' that looks like 3 exercise bikes in a cupboard

I'm doing the stronglifts plan and would rather not stop if I can help it, any advice?

Anyone done a drop in at a gym in a foreign country before?

If you can't find a local gym, split squats, push-ups and rows holding your suitcase.

Or invest in a heavy resistance band to do the same (I used both when I used to travel for work)...

Or just bench the cardio machines...

 

[mrthingyx]

There seems to be a couple in the area, it's just I only went to my first real gym ~2 weeks ago.
So negotiating a drop in in a foreign language is a bit daunting haha.
But it's only Algarve, so good chance that I'll do fine with English

Eu não quero olhar como um vegetariano...?

 

[mrthingyx]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSeQ6XXjdf9/?taken-by=reiyushin

9x240. 5 better than last week. Ties my all time best which was sumo. Conventional continues to plow forwards

Not getting the full 10 means I have to do a 3x10 on Saturday again

Such lame. Very pffft.

This is my favourite internet video stream.

 

[mrthingyx]

He's actually pretty good, despite what you'd expect from the branding/image.

I must confess to not really watching many YouTube lifters/gurus, so I will trust icecold's opinion (he is, after all, the guru).

As icecold suggests, most of the people on there use a platform when they shouldn't have one... basically, if Eric Cressey or his colleagues talk about it, it is worth listening to/watching.

 

[mrthingyx]

Mr Thingy will be happy. I have started to incorporate more oly lifting in my routine. Cleans, snatch (oh I'm so bad at this!), overhead squats, front squats.

I only train 2x a week sometimes 3x, so the oly circuit helps with the mobility, and conditioning side of things. The rest of the routine is pure powerlifting, bar bench (I do floor press and ring dips as I don't have a bench). Lots of squats, deads - fun stuff.

I'm loving the gym at the moment, just not loving the lack of time to do it.

Go on - say it: you love it because of the Olympic lifting.

And to say I am happy is an understatement, but this is a family forum and I can't quite express it right.

 

[mrthingyx]

Yeah mine is still only 'just about okay'. I'd definitely need it to be better to actually jerk properly from the rack position... my internal rotation is great (hurrah, yoga) but my external rotation still needs a good bit of work!

You probably have tight lats and pecs because you don't need external shoulder rotation for Olympic lifting (you actually need internal shoulder rotation).

Wrap a band about your elbows and hang it off something fixed, put your hands behind your head, and lean forward so that it pulls your elbows out and upward.

It is a horrible - but amazing - stretch (it is that crazy Chinese one but done with a band rather than a human).

 

[mrthingyx]

Just messing around seeing if I had the mobility to front squat and overhead squat. No real weight (80kg was the heaviest I went) but I'm actually tempted to add these to my training regime!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS6qCdPBg20/

Not bad, although you pitch forward at the bottom... your back will get absolutely hammered, so tighten up those legs (and back).

And what do you want to overhead squat for? Are you dating a Crossfit chick or something?

 

[mrthingyx]

Greetings from Sarajevo!
I've been absent from the thread over the last couple months due to the final buildup to exam finals. Not sure if anyone remembers, but I first started this journey in August 2013, waiting to go back to university in September and study medicine as a graduate. I was 58kg, a runner, slim and generally fit but weak. I started SL with an empty bar for all excercises at Muscle works gym in Bethnal Green, East London. The sole aim for working out was (and I kid you not) 'to look hench in scrubs' .

I received news today that I have passed my medical finals, and will be commencing work as a junior Dr at the Royal London. The course as a graduate was intense and depressing at times, and due to a lack of time and financial affordability I had to cut down my other hobbies. Weight lifting/power lifting really did keep me sane over the last four years.

Guess what I want to say is thanks to all the lads here who have helped me through this journey. Onwards and upwards.

Great success! Well done!

Now you have the job of being one of the few doctors that actually understands the musculoskeletal system.

 

[mrthingyx]

Ive been doing 5x5 for a 4 weeks - past few days Im sometimes getting a sharp twinge in my lower back when I move in a certain way. Not sure if it was due to squats or deadlift as the pain didn't happen during the exercise.... Should I stop doing squats/deadlifts? Lower weight? Or continue on? Its fine mostly just these annoying sharp twinge feelings which happen occasionally...

Go and see a physio.

And then sort your form/mobility out.

 

[mrthingyx]

Will do! Plus, you wouldn't believe how hard you've hit the nail on the head with the second part

 

[mrthingyx]

If your trouble with front squats is the grip, you can always use straps like this which is much better than using the silly cross-grip:

Or do zombie fronties, or the fatman grip (also known as the "California" grip to make no-ROM powerlifters feel better. )...

 

[mrthingyx]

anyone know of any public playlists on spotify, which consist of underground rap/hip hop music, my playlist of ~300 songs is wearing thin on me atm!

Learn to love metaaaaaaaaaaaal... and the gains will come.

 

[mrthingyx]

I have to put up with absolute 80s with my pt. If I remember I switch it to planet rock but usually I forget

Hehe... I can't really talk, but my (what little I had) gains left me when Planet Rock stopped broadcasting in my area (digital radio couldn't be retuned for some reason): so I am now stuck with the BBC channels.

 

[mrthingyx]

Some heavy farmers walks will help your grip of the bar,
Also some wrist curls, palm down and up

Quite literally: barbell holds. Or FatGripz. Or towel holds. Or plate pinches.

Don't do wrist curls. Why not? Because:

- they look catastrophically dumb
- they are functionally inappropriate for "grip strength" because grip is an isometric thing, not a dynamic one
- it just looks like the person doesn't know what they're doing (like people using smith machines or doing calf raises. Or that funny wobble exercise they think will help with their obliques)...

 

[mrthingyx]

In my defense, I edited in the wrist curls because they said forearms rather than grip

No worries!

Wrist curls are very useful for (wait for it...) wrist rehab where there has been damage to the (soft and hard) tissue of the wrist/hand. Dynamic work at load should be done VERY carefully, however, because of the potential tendinopathies associated with heavy pleading over those structures. In other words: best not.

Heavy deadlifts, rows and chins are awesome for grip, so do more.

 

[mrthingyx]

What is it with the older generation refusing to believe I'm calories in v calories out? Feels like I'm hitting a wall with my parents. Meant to do legs today but after a few drinks last night, not sure I can handle it.