*** The 2019 Gym Rats Thread ***

danlightbulb said:
Breakfasts are still non-existant. I rush out the house in the morning and my appetite doesn't wake up until 10am
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Would try to get something to eat, if you could.

Gotta agree that if you are too busy I would use meal prep or a meal replacement like Huel or Feed.
Somnambulist said:
There's also things like Huel that take a minute to make that cover your nutrient-bases and can work as a fast-breaker
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As he says they are great way to get your nutrients when you are in a hurry. Some of them also have tons of protein. Personally, I tend to use Huel or similar for breakfast, because I can't be arsed to get my protein otherwise. I get one serving of 400ish that has around 30g of protein.

Taste wise is not as good as a protein shake, but I think it is more palatable in the long run. Just like how you get used to having porridge.
 
GiraffePencils said:
said his son had been told by his PT to always drop a Deadlift as trying to put it down endangers your back
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I've seen similar comments/youtube videos lately.I think it comes down to risk reward. The ability to perform deadlift in a correct manner requires effort and time. Risks to get injured while doing it seem to be quite high; when compared to other lifts; thus some people opting to stop doing them.
 
I wish I had someone to train with. It would make it a lot more enjoyable than being on your own.

I did end up squatting with a lady at the gym once. She had the bar at about 4ft from the ground, though, so I had to start in a squatted position and then stand up. Nightmare! Fortunately she finished her working set before I started mine so I could move the bloody thing before lifting something heavy!
 
I'm only 2 months in to stronglifts and I'm starting to hit plateaus at relatively low weights; very annoying!

I'm fine with squats and I'm up from 20kg to 70kg but the rest of my lifts seem to be very disproportionate to each other.

BP: 42.5kg
Row: 45kg
OHP: 25kg
DL: Failed miserably at 85kg on Monday. 75kg feels pretty easy.

I put so much effort into squats that by the time I get to to her exercises, it's like my blood can't pump enough oxygen to my muscles any more. I don't tend to leave more than 2 mins before sets, do you reckon it's worth increasing that for more difficult sets?

It's also frustrating that the day after (or even a few hours after), I feel absolutely fine. I don't seem to get any DOMS or soreness which makes me feel as though I'm not getting enough volume into my workouts.
 
Rest longer between sets. If you're not recovered from the last set properly your performance will be impaired set to set, which will then impact your progress session to session and week to week. The general rule is the lower the rep count, the longer you rest between sets and with 5's that can be around 4+ mins at least if they're high intensity. That makes sessions long, but that's 5x5 for you.

Your lifts don't look that off; deadlift is usually fairly higher than squat unless something weird is going on (or you're quarter-squatting), then bench and rows are usually fairly close together (with the latter usually slightly ahead), and OHP is always the weakest and slowest to improve, given the smaller muscles involved and the fact moving up by 2.5kg each time represents a much greater relative jump in weight % wise than adding weight to the other lifts.

DOMs or major soreness is no indicator of a workout being successful. The only thing that matters is if you're progressing over time (either more weight on the bar, more reps at a fixed weight, etc). I only get a little sore time to time, either when introducing a new exercise or if I've had a holiday and haven't trained for a couple of weeks but other than that it's rare. Not important really.
 
DanTheMan said:
I'm only 2 months in to stronglifts and I'm starting to hit plateaus at relatively low weights; very annoying!

I'm fine with squats and I'm up from 20kg to 70kg but the rest of my lifts seem to be very disproportionate to each other.

BP: 42.5kg
Row: 45kg
OHP: 25kg
DL: Failed miserably at 85kg on Monday. 75kg feels pretty easy.

I put so much effort into squats that by the time I get to to her exercises, it's like my blood can't pump enough oxygen to my muscles any more. I don't tend to leave more than 2 mins before sets, do you reckon it's worth increasing that for more difficult sets?

It's also frustrating that the day after (or even a few hours after), I feel absolutely fine. I don't seem to get any DOMS or soreness which makes me feel as though I'm not getting enough volume into my workouts.
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Hey there!
I've just started stronglifts about 2 months ago as well!

I'm on
Squats 62.5kg
BP 50kg
OHP 42.5kg
Rows 52.5kg
Deads 85kg

My problem is squats! I'm finding anything over 60kg really tough and I've stalled at the weight a few times now.

The thought that anyone can squat like over 100kg just seems impossible to me.

I would definitely take longer breaks between sets. Have you got the stronglifts app? Because on that it says to take 3 mins rest if heavy and up to 5 if extra tired.

Your lifts don't seem to disproportionate to me, apart from the OHP, but I think a lot of people struggle with them.

And for the stalling, what is your daily calorie intake like?

I'm on 3000 a day and finding it very hard reaching that amount. I'm just not used to eating so many calories in one day!

I'm glad someone else is just 2 months in to the programme!
 
Tommy d said:
Hey there!
I've just started stronglifts about 2 months ago as well!

I'm on
Squats 62.5kg
BP 50kg
OHP 42.5kg
Rows 52.5kg
Deads 85kg

My problem is squats! I'm finding anything over 60kg really tough and I've stalled at the weight a few times now.

The thought that anyone can squat like over 100kg just seems impossible to me.

I would definitely take longer breaks between sets. Have you got the stronglifts app? Because on that it says to take 3 mins rest if heavy and up to 5 if extra tired.

Your lifts don't seem to disproportionate to me, apart from the OHP, but I think a lot of people struggle with them.

And for the stalling, what is your daily calorie intake like?

I'm on 3000 a day and finding it very hard reaching that amount. I'm just not used to eating so many calories in one day!

I'm glad someone else is just 2 months in to the programme!
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Hey there.

I use the stronglifts app and I'll admit, I don't tend to rest the full 5 mins as I usually only have an hour for a workout. I am trying to keep the intensity by only having 90 seconds rest between each set but I think I may have hit my limits with that.

I failed 5 sets of 70kg with squats today as I didn't get below parellel on my last set for 2 reps so it's 70kg again next time.

I'm 5 foot 11 with quite skinny, long limbs and slim shoulders so I really struggle with any type of press.

You're miles ahead of me with BP and OHP! I did 40kg rows today and they felt quite easy so I'm hoping progress will be steady with those but I dream about the day I can OHP 40kg :D.

In terms of calories, I average around 3000 cals a day and anywhere between 150g and 200g of protein, high fat and around 200g carbs. I'm 75kg and around 18% body fat. Nuts are your friend for calories. I have no problem eating 3000 cals a day, it's just eating the right stuff.

I'll continue with stronglifts until I can at least DL 120kg, squat 100kg and OHP 40kg. I've added lat pulldows to workout A and dips to workout B just to try and vary things occasionally.
 
Delvis said:
Depends on the person and how healthy their shoulders are tbh
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I've always had por shoulder mobility to be honest. Doing shoulder dislocations, I have to have my arms about twice as wide as my shoulders to even get them over my head.

Too many years slouched over pc screens I reckon :(.
 
I'm not sure I'll ever get over 40kg OHP.

I de-load, get back to 40kg, have to cheat to get through the first set then fail on further sets. De-load, get back up to 40kg, rinse and repeat. My shoulders are by far my weakest muscles. I do have very mild arthritis in my right shoulder but I'm not sure that's affecting it at the moment really.
 
ShortWarning said:
I'm not sure I'll ever get over 40kg OHP.

I de-load, get back to 40kg, have to cheat to get through the first set then fail on further sets. De-load, get back up to 40kg, rinse and repeat. My shoulders are by far my weakest muscles. I do have very mild arthritis in my right shoulder but I'm not sure that's affecting it at the moment really.
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There are two ways you can approach this, assuming you're eating enough and your other lifts are going up.

1) recognise 2.5kg jumps eventually become dumb for a fixed rep scheme where you're using a small(er) muscle group, so go and buy some 0.5kg plates so that you can do 1kg jumps with. If you're squatting 100kg, 2.5kg is a 2.5% jump. If you're OHPing 40kg, 2.5kg is a 6.25% jump. This is always why OHP stalls first with people on these 5x5 programs, and why smaller/lighter people stall faster, because the absolute loads they'll use will be smaller, making adding 2.5kg each time a bigger jump in relative terms.

2) the whole 'stall, back-cycle, work back up, repeat' is also only good during the noob gains period (when typically your only impediment to improving session to session is short-term fatigue) and is another pitfall of these programs. There's a couple of ways to tackle that in a beginner program discussed in this article here, although for now I'd stick with ^1^ since you might still be able to progress in that super linear fashion still if your increases in load are around that 2.5% or below mark.
 
Maybe try increasing the number of reps until you can hit a certain number at 40kg, say 10 reps? Then go up

Somnambulist said:
2) the whole 'stall, back-cycle, work back up, repeat' is also only good during the noob gains period (when typically your only impediment to improving session to session is short-term fatigue) and is another pitfall of these programs. There's a couple of ways to tackle that in a beginner program discussed in this article here, although for now I'd stick with ^1^ since you might still be able to progress in that super linear fashion still if your increases in load are around that 2.5% or below mark.
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That article was great, thanks.
 
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