*** The 2018 Gym Rats Thread ***

SixTwoSix said:
Missed this reply the other week, wasn't being deliberately rude. :)

I've had the theraband for a few weeks now and it seems to be doing the trick, to the point where I tested a pull up yesterday, i'm a bloody idiot, got about halfway up and then my forearm erupted with what I can only describe as red hot pain. However it subsided as fast as it appeared and this morning, no pain at all outside of the normal elbow ache I had originally.

What's really weird with this is that I can do any kind of pushing exercise, to the point of full bodyweight dips with no pain but as soon as I start to hold even a half full shopping bag, it aches like hell.
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I had this and pullups aggravated it - I changed it to the hands facing each other when doing pullups and that has stopped making it worse.... worth trying when your elbow is better....
 
Ive been doing 5x5 stronglifts for an age and thought I wanted to do more chest so I changed it to this every week (not alternating)

Mon -> Squat / Bench / Wide Bench / Push Press / BOR / Dips

Wed -> Squat / OHP / DeadLift / Side Raises / ChinUp

Fri -> Squat / Bench / Wide Bench / Push Press / BOR / Dips

Is this okay? I wanted to do more chest but wondering if its too much?

Any tips,

Cheers
 
Im looking for a bit of both really..... I feel like I'm quite stagnant on my chest growth and increasing very slow on weight.... (I keep stalling around 75kg - 80kg) but I dont want to over train / undertrain......

I didnt think I was neglecting too much other areas as I'm still doing deadlift and OHP once every week..? (instead of twice every other week)

What other routine would u have consider?
 
Syla5 said:
I am a bit to far out of touch to recommend a specific routine, but something to remember is weight shifted is relative to the muscle being used, so while you feel you are stalling around the 75kg to 80kg mark on bench it doesn't mean it isn't a solid number to be achieving.

A good thing to do would be to do alternative movements, new stimulus can help, and doing DB bench, even DB incline bench for example will give a new stimulus over just BB benching.

How do your other numbers stack up? Squat, deadlift etc.

My person view on strong lifts was that OHP as the only real shoulder exercise wasn't enough, and then doing this just once a week means that you really are only hitting your shoulders once per week one way. My view is this isn't enough.
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Ive never done DB Bench - Just barbell and wide grip.... I might try that this Friday but no idea what weight to use - I am currently on 75kg barbell.... also lay back and push to plates together and up...

Squat is 85kg (I had a couple weeks off so slowly going up again - I was at 100kg)
Deadlift is 130kg (this is tough on my grip but I manage 2 sets of 5)
OHP is 42.5kg (I struggle to increase this much)
Rows is 70kg

I added the side raises and front raises for a bit of extra work on the OHP day....
 
cheers syla5 - nice to know the ratio is looking okay :) Will do that with the DB bench

One thing I know I will always fail when I get to around 72.5kg -> on the last rep if I dont rest the last 2 or 3 sets for 5 minutes. Ive tried not resting so long and I always struggle the last 1... So now be default I always rest 5 mins the last 2 sets which is a pain.....
 
CaptainRAVE said:
I do them all on the same day and absolutely hammer my chest. There are other approaches that work too. I do incline bar, flat dumbbell, decline bar and pec fly all on the same day. I also do close grip bench press a few days later as part of an arm centric workout.
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I am doing stronglifts and added extra incline or widegrip to it and was wondering if that was overtraining my chest.... CR is that not too much? Or am I undertraining my chest?

(Train chest Mon and Fri currently with BOR, Squats and dips)
 
GiraffePencils said:
I'd say you want to make sure you're getting enough of a back workout, as you don't want to overdevelop your chest and cause any hunching/back mobility problems.
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well im doing the deadlift once a week, squats 3 times a week, BOR twice a week and chin-ups once a week so I dont think back is being neglected? :D
 
LiE said:
Chest is kinda responding, but shoulder is still holding me back a bit.

I currently weigh 77kg and managed a decent chest workout

Bench Press
60x12
80x8
100x8
110x3 paused
110x4 non-paused

Incline DB press
30x10
40x10
44x8

3 sets of body weight dips.

2 sets each of cable cross overs hitting lower, mid and upper chest (6 sets total)

Triceps I did bar dips super set with a sort of skullcrusher off the chest level bar. Followed by cable rope extensions and lying DB extensions.

Pump was good, looked pretty decent post workout despite being 8 kg off my previous body weight.

I may start a log soon, off to Mexico next week.
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And I thought I was overdoing my chest with Bench and incline DB Mon / Fri

Good numbers btw - wish I could bench 100kg - aiming to do 80kg comfortably at moment....

Im same weight but 6foot1 - What height are u for that weight?
 
Yeah my right shoulder keeps getting damaged and is definitely not 100%.... I am starting to hit my usual 80kg sticking point again so I thought I would do 2 * chest a week...…. I failed the last two sets twice in a row again on last rep.... just feels like my energy gets sapped and its impossible to lift...… so annoying (this is with 5 minutes rest)
 
LiE said:
Personally I've never trained chest twice a week and I make sure I haven't trained shoulders/triceps prior to ensure everything is fresh.

A nice progressive program will see your strength go up. For example if your current 5 rep max is 80 you could structure it like this:

Week 1: 65x5x3
Week 2: 70x5x3
Week 3: 75x5x3
Week 4: 80x5x3

So by week 4 your doing your rep 5 for 3 sets, and what you will find is your new 5 rep max has increased. Take 1 week deload and then start another cycle with your new 5 rep max.

This is a simple approach and may be a little aggressive depending on your training maturity.
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I am currently doing 5x5. I successfully completed 77.5. Wouldn’t dropping back to 65 5x3 be too much of a backward step?
 
Hi I'm after a bit of advice again on my bench :)

I have failed 78.5kg 3 days @ 5x5 (4th rep on 4th and 5set with 5 mins break)

So I decided to drop it back to 70kg and try 8 x 4 - I could only manage 8 7 6 5 5 (I decided to do an extra 5 as I failed)

What should I do on my next session on Friday?

I really want to get past my plateau at 78.5...

Cheers
 
nicktay2605 said:
What sort of rest periods are you taking between each set? What part of the press are you struggling most with? If you're failing with the initial push-off then you could incorporate some pause presses into your workout (make sure you drop the weight a bit when doing these). If you're failing just before lockout then it could be your triceps need building up a bit. Speaking of contributing muscle groups, a strong back and shoulders will help form a good base so make sure those are being trained regularly. Finally, I'm assuming you've covered this already but make sure your form is spot on. Retract your scapula, bench with your arms at about a 45-60 degree angle to your body, engage your glutes and use leg drive.
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I usually rest (as I can feel the last rep being tougher so I have more rest)

1.5 min
2 min
3 min
5 min
6 min

It feels like I just run out of steam.... the weight is liftsble because I can do the other sets....

I usually know on my 4th that the next one is not gonna go and I can just push and push and it goes nowhere. It’s towards the bottom of press...
 
ok will try dropping further and doing that mrthingyx - worth a shot :) Just wondering by dropping the weight so much will I lose my gains so far
 
mrthingyx said:
Right. A couple of things...


Drop the weight to about 60kg and do 4 sets of 10 reps for a week, then the same at 62.5kg the next week, etc.

Not only will this give you a serious pump and make you feel better about your workouts, you will put in solid volume to taper back into 5*5.

You also have to remember that bench is gash and a stupid lift. ;)
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Well I dropped it to 60kg and did 4 x 10.... again I failed on the 3rd set on the 10th rep (I rested 2.5mins) I succeeded on 4th set (rested 5mins)

It seems that my last sets I really need to wait much longer otherwise I will always fail - I just run out of steam....
 
This is my usual weekly routine.....

Mon - Thurs
Large bowl of porridge with blueberries / Protein Powder / Flax seeds 8am
Banana 9am
Train 10am
Protein Shake 11:30am
Large Bun with chicken/beef/tuna salad and a handful of popchips 1pm
Snack on nuts 3pm
Protein Shake 4pm
Dinner (usually rice with chicken and some veg) 6:30pm
Protein Shake 9:30pm

Fri
Banana 9am
Train 10am
Protein Shake 11:30am​
Large Bun with chicken/beef/tuna salad and a handful of popchips 1pm
Protein Shake 4pm
Dinner (spaghetti Bolognese / Garlic Bread baguette / 1/2 bottle of wine) 6:30pm
Protein Shake 9:30pm

Sat
Banana 9am
Train 10am
Protein Shake 11:30am​
Large Bun with chicken/beef/tuna salad and a handful of popchips 1pm
Protein Shake 4pm
Dinner (340g Fillet Steak / Fries / Asparagus / 1/2 bottle of wine) 6:30pm
Protein Shake 9:30pm

Sun
Banana 9am
Train 10am
Protein Shake 11:30am​
Large Bun with chicken/beef/tuna salad and a handful of popchips 1pm
Protein Shake 4pm
Dinner (sometimes indian takeaway - naan / pilau rice / jalfrezi with 2 beers OR healthier rice and chicken) 6:30pm
Protein Shake 9:30pm​

Weight

I am 6foot1 and 46



I am not too happy about my body fat but dont want to eat too little or too much :) Also I like to have a treat at weekend...

Last year I started around 84.5kg, dropped to 82.8 (was better around belly) and finished year at 85.5kg.
 
I am stuck in the middle - I wanna gain muscle but not gain too much fat....

I tried to kinda work it out but its so hard when im not measuring anything and I dont cook and dont want to ask the other half...

Anyway I think roughly during week im getting around my calories, but weekend can take it over?

Here is a rough diet thing I did last year - maybe values are not accurate as I dont measure anything..... but it seems to hit my ballpark figures?

 
spluff said:
Well I dropped it to 60kg and did 4 x 10.... again I failed on the 3rd set on the 10th rep (I rested 2.5mins) I succeeded on 4th set (rested 5mins)
It seems that my last sets I really need to wait much longer otherwise I will always fail - I just run out of steam....
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Well I decided to go back to 80kg on Monday and managed to do the 5 x 5 :D:D (I rested 2.5 / 3.5 / 5 / 5.5)

I think I will go back to 4 x 10 on Friday (62.5kg)…….

Will do heavy (5x5) on Monday and light (4x10) on Friday....

How does this sound? Do you think I should up to 82.5 the next Monday?

Cheers
 
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