*** The 2018 Gym Rats Thread ***

Anyone have a decent Push Pull Legs programme ? I currently working 4 on 4 off, and only really able to train on my 4 days off, Is this sufficient enough to do the Push pull legs
 
Furyus said:
Anyone have a decent Push Pull Legs programme ? I currently working 4 on 4 off, and only really able to train on my 4 days off, Is this sufficient enough to do the Push pull legs
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Usually PPL is set up so it's repeated twice every 7-9 days (e.g. legs, push, pull, legs, push, pull, day off, repeat or legs, push, pull, day off, legs, push, pull, day off) so you're hitting each body part once every 4-5 days. With a 4 on, 4 off pattern you'd only be hitting everything once a week, which I think is less than ideal.

4 days is kind of inconvenient but you could make something work, e.g.

1: full body - squat-type stuff and horizontal pressing/pulling, lower volume, compounds etc
2: full body - hip-hinge type stuff and vertical pressing/pulling, as above
3: rest
4: full body -HST style, higher volume, higher rep ranges

Or maybe
1: full body (primarily big compound stuff)
2: rest
3: upper (less big compounds, more volume/higher rep stuff)
4: lower (as above)

Maybe throwing in some bodyweight upper stuff on your first or second days if you can, utilising something like Myo-reps to avoid having to do endless push-ups, dips, chin/pull-ups or whatever you're able to do.
 
Jester* said:
I find it a weird comment from a physio that a squat isn't just for you. From babies every single one of us could drop into a squat and just sit there eating mud.

Unless you have injuries precluding you of course I would keep trying as I am yet to meet anyone that cannot get into a squat after correcting bad mobility and years of bad habits!
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Devil's advocate: babies have different proportions to adult humans, and an unloaded bodyweight squat and a loaded barbell squat are two different things (especially for your spine). I don't think many people have such bad structural problems they couldn't perform some sort of loaded squat safely, but certainly you can be built in such a way that there might be better movement choices depending on your goals. There are no magic exercises after all, and a barbell back squat isn't mandatory if you don't intend on competing in strength sports that either have it as a competition movement or use it for specificity purposes. All this said, I don't think Giraffe's squat looked that bad.

Cristian said:
Also make sure you focus on recovery - calories as mentioned above but also sleep is highly important.
Probably worth accepting that you'll have to focus less on the weightlifting leg sessions - not sure how keen you'd be for a run when limping the next day after 10 sets of squats...
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Sleep is massively important whatever type of training you do; probably the most important form of recovery next to adequate nutrition. I also assumed the poster was following a sensible program with appropriate volume and not something that's utterly pointless for natural trainees like doing 10 sets of 10.
 
Jester* said:
I find it a weird comment from a physio that a squat isn't just for you. From babies every single one of us could drop into a squat and just sit there eating mud.

Unless you have injuries precluding you of course I would keep trying as I am yet to meet anyone that cannot get into a squat after correcting bad mobility and years of bad habits!
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Somnambulist said:
Devil's advocate: babies have different proportions to adult humans, and an unloaded bodyweight squat and a loaded barbell squat are two different things (especially for your spine). I don't think many people have such bad structural problems they couldn't perform some sort of loaded squat safely, but certainly you can be built in such a way that there might be better movement choices depending on your goals. There are no magic exercises after all, and a barbell back squat isn't mandatory if you don't intend on competing in strength sports that either have it as a competition movement or use it for specificity purposes. All this said, I don't think Giraffe's squat looked that bad.
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I might have quoted him badly, From other meetings I think he's talking about an 'ass to grass' squat.
I was meant to have a follow up meeting that I couldn't make and now I've just put off due to everything going alright, I'm begrudged to pay for a session and he'll say everything's fine and to continue haha
 
Ahhh fair enough :). Always difficult when trying to quote health professionals! Anything slightly askew and we all wonder what they are doing haha!
 
Somnambulist said:
Sleep is massively important whatever type of training you do; probably the most important form of recovery next to adequate nutrition. I also assumed the poster was following a sensible program with appropriate volume and not something that's utterly pointless for natural trainees like doing 10 sets of 10.
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Nothing wrong with 10 sets of 10, it's worth having a read on German volume training.
Also worth noting that 10 sets of squats (let's say 5 sets back squats and 5 sets of front squats) can be part of perfectly valid training routine, provided you eat and sleep properly.

It's even more pointless to be afraid of proper training and expect results.;)
 
See how you feel. If you're shattered all the time while having decent calories and sleep, then you might be overtraining.

If you're not getting enough sleep, that's the first thing that needs adjusting. If not possible, then reduce the intensity and accept that progress will be limited.

Ploughing on with heavy lifting while not giving the body enough time to recover will be counter productive.

But in my experience the vast majority of people aren't overtraining, although a few are indeed undereating or undersleeping. The gyms are full with people that go there half arsed and hardly ever make any progress because they are afraid of hard work.
 
I've recently started BJJ and I'm still settling into the swing of it but reckon I'll have to adjust my training.
Either the volume or just move the days around, because it leaves me shattered and sore the next day haha
 
Cristian said:
Nothing wrong with 10 sets of 10, it's worth having a read on German volume training.
Also worth noting that 10 sets of squats (let's say 5 sets back squats and 5 sets of front squats) can be part of perfectly valid training routine, provided you eat and sleep properly.

It's even more pointless to be afraid of proper training and expect results.;)
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GVT is suboptimal. Even if you're on drugs. Doing 100 reps per session when you train a body part more than once a week (which is also sub-optimal) is overkill. Short rest periods* negatively affect your ability to perform subsequent sets, both from a force perspective and the amount of total training volume you end up doing. Movement quality will start to go down the drain, injury risk will go up.

There's much more time-efficient approaches to hypertrophy training, especially given all the literature available on effective training volumes. There are studies showing it produced worse results than a more moderate approach, for instance.

*With straight sets type stuff - something like MyoReps on technically simple exercises would be an exception.
 
First of all, I said 10 sets per training session, and gave GVT as an example. GVT does many things, but it certainly does not directly hit a bodypart twice a week. Your weekly volume will be high, but nowhere near as high as that article suggest.

Now, part of your logic is sound - too much volume can be indeed detrimental, especially if you are not eating and sleeping properly.
But your article is about people that have been lifting for "3 to 6 months" and which don't get results by doing 30 sets per week for each bodypart. That is of course suboptimal, but that's an exagerated example to drive home a point. It has nothing to do with where the conversation started, which is that for a decent lifter that trains a bodypart once a week, 10 sets of squats (5 back & 5 front) are a perfectly acceptable part of a sound routine. Add in some lounges if you'd like and whatever else you fancy, but keeping the total volume to 12-16 sets per bodypart (large bodyparts only, of course, and legs are the one bodypart that responds best to volume).

Suboptimal is to not put in the hard work and expect results anyway. ;)
 
Why talking just sets when reps is also a huge part of this and weight?

When doing stronglifts some weeks I am doing only 5 sets of chest / ohp / rows / deadlift (the other week 10) - is that suboptimal?

Whereas squats is 15 sets each week...

Im 46 and don't want to undertrain and I don't want to overtrain - just be the most efficient I can be and sensible...
 
Of course, reps and weights make all the difference. As do the lifter's experience and the goals they are pursuing. Building strength will require keeping the volume under control, being on a calories surplus with plenty rest and calories will make dealing with volume much easier.

Doing high volume and expecting to keep up the same intensity when switching to a calorie deficit can quickly turn unproductive.

Stronglifts is great to build you that base, get you used to exercises and providing you with a nice clear framework to follow. But as you progress in your lifting career, and especially if you are also interested into hypertrophy and aesthetics, it starts showing its limitations. Good old volume should not be dismissed!
 
I started training everyday using a Push/Pull split, one exercise per bodypart so sessions are frequent but short at 35-45 minutes.

Now around 12 weeks using this protocol, I've varied calorie intake depending how I'm feeling from 2000kcals to 3500kcals, low carb 1-2 days per week (50g per day)

Now I'm at 2400kcals and the strangest thing is happening. My strength is increasing every week, bodyfat is dropping and my bodyweight is increasing! I dropped as low as 15st 9lbs after 4 weeks of this training, this morning I'm 16st 4lbs and looking quite lean, around 13%-14% bf.
 
Chong Warrior said:
I started training everyday using a Push/Pull split, one exercise per bodypart so sessions are frequent but short at 35-45 minutes.

Now around 12 weeks using this protocol, I've varied calorie intake depending how I'm feeling from 2000kcals to 3500kcals, low carb 1-2 days per week (50g per day)

Now I'm at 2400kcals and the strangest thing is happening. My strength is increasing every week, bodyfat is dropping and my bodyweight is increasing! I dropped as low as 15st 9lbs after 4 weeks of this training, this morning I'm 16st 4lbs and looking quite lean, around 13%-14% bf.
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Awesome. Nice to hear of you training again!
 
mrthingyx said:
Awesome. Nice to hear of you training again!
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Cheers, been training for a while mate, just not really active on any forums anymore. Have a lurk on here every now and again :)

I've tried so many different ways of training but never everyday. I'd recommend it as something to look into for a natty, been a while since I made gains like this.
 
Chest is slowly returning to form. Today's session:

Bench Press - Bar, 60x13, 80x6, 100x8, 110x7
CGBP - 75x10, 80x8,7
Incline DB Press - 30x10,10,10
Chest Dips - BWx15, +15x12, +25x12
Cable Crossovers - 25x13, 30x12,10
Tricep Push Down - 25x13, 30x10, 35x10
Narrow Press up - 12,10
Cable Rope Extensions - 15x13 > 10x15 > 5x10 (a single drop set)

Keeping my work outs to 1 hour still. Currently weigh 78kg.
 
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