Soldato
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Finally nice to start seeing some strength gains after months or stalling/regression. I'm pretty much working back to where I was but it's getting there quickly!
*** The 2019 Gym Rats Thread ***
- Thread starter spluff
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Man of Honour
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Finally a decent week. Still 86kg (doubt it’ll stay there for long), but hit 80kg OHP two weeks in a row feeling really good and deadlifted 4 sets of 5 at 200kg. Will hopefully start pushing all my max lifts before too long. No niggles, no pains, everything felt solid.
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Tasty number there my man!
Caporegime
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Great week for me as well. BW finally dropped below 100kg so I'm no longer obese, I squatted 135x10 and benched 95x10 on Wednesday and deadlifted 155x10 last night.
Finally feel like I've got a good foundation to build from now.
Finally feel like I've got a good foundation to build from now.
Man of Honour
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Good stuff!
Man of Honour
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To add to this, managed 120kg bench for 4 sets of 5 with zero shoulder pain this morning. They were all pretty smooth too. Will be interesting to see what my 90 and 95% lifts are like next week.
Going back to Monday/Tuesday squats this week. Will be interesting to see if I can get a squat rack at 6pm.
Good luck
Can anyone give me advise or personal experience from swapping from standard 5x5 progaram to Madcow5x5?
I am considering doing this now, but unsure if its worth it or what to expect in terms of outcome.
My starting numbers for 5x5 and current numbers below:
Starting:
Squat: 50KG
Bench: 40Kg
OHP: 40.0KG
BBRow: 40KG
Deadlift: 40KG
Current:
Squat: 125KG
Bench: 82.5Kg
OHP: 55.0KG
BBRow: 80KG
Deadlift: 130KG
I am mainly just trying to continue to get a bit stronger, cut some body weight and generally just get in better shape.
I am wondering if its worth changing to the Madcow, or dropping the weight a bit and upping reps to either 3/5 x 8/12?
What do you all think?
I am considering doing this now, but unsure if its worth it or what to expect in terms of outcome.
My starting numbers for 5x5 and current numbers below:
Starting:
Squat: 50KG
Bench: 40Kg
OHP: 40.0KG
BBRow: 40KG
Deadlift: 40KG
Current:
Squat: 125KG
Bench: 82.5Kg
OHP: 55.0KG
BBRow: 80KG
Deadlift: 130KG
I am mainly just trying to continue to get a bit stronger, cut some body weight and generally just get in better shape.
I am wondering if its worth changing to the Madcow, or dropping the weight a bit and upping reps to either 3/5 x 8/12?
What do you all think?
Whilst you're getting stronger, are you losing fat? Are you happy with the results you're getting? Change if youo want to, but in all likelihood you won't notice significant additional progress without working out if you want gains or aesthetics...
I guess my biggest issue is that i want a little of both? Which is probably not realistic.
I wanted to get stronger but also see some visible results too.
As for losing fat, I cant really tell in terms of numbers, which is why I should probably get it measured (even roughly) and then see if i can have a positive impact on the results.
I'm certainly more muscular in areas where I have never been before, and have replaced fat with muscle for sure! But there is still some chub (typical dad type areas), which is now what I want to try and shift.
But at the same time i don't really want to give up any strength and size I have gained in the last few months.
I guess I cant have it all.
Well, it depends entirely on your training history, too - if you're new to lifting, then you can probably still make *some* gains/progress whilst your neuromuscular system tops out, all while shedding fat.
As to measurements of fat: kind of academic because the difference between X% and Y% is meaningless unless there is a visible difference... and if there's a visible difference, the measurement is also meaningless.
Based on the above, unless you have the physique of a "middle-aged office worker," I would just keep going and add a set of kettlebell swings to failure in at the end of every session. Losing weight whilst lifting takes all the fun out of things unless you have something specific in mind...
At the moment, I'm keeping my weight constant despite bucketloads of cycling and a bit of lifting because whilst I'm still slowly trimming fat I'm keeping my muscles ticking over with some "not particularly interesting" lifting. I used to be a lot stronger than I am now but my current focus is about getting as fast as I can on my bike: eating everything, training hard for strength/size doesn't leave much room for bike efforts, so I just accept I'm not going to be as big/strong as I (used to think I) was...
Well, it depends entirely on your training history, too - if you're new to lifting, then you can probably still make *some* gains/progress whilst your neuromuscular system tops out, all while shedding fat.
As to measurements of fat: kind of academic because the difference between X% and Y% is meaningless unless there is a visible difference... and if there's a visible difference, the measurement is also meaningless.
Based on the above, unless you have the physique of a "middle-aged office worker," I would just keep going and add a set of kettlebell swings to failure in at the end of every session. Losing weight whilst lifting takes all the fun out of things unless you have something specific in mind...
At the moment, I'm keeping my weight constant despite bucketloads of cycling and a bit of lifting because whilst I'm still slowly trimming fat I'm keeping my muscles ticking over with some "not particularly interesting" lifting. I used to be a lot stronger than I am now but my current focus is about getting as fast as I can on my bike: eating everything, training hard for strength/size doesn't leave much room for bike efforts, so I just accept I'm not going to be as big/strong as I (used to think I) was...
Yeah that makes total sense.
Most certainly not "out of shape" at least for my age and my job. So I know I dont have anything to worry about there.
Maybe ill stick with the 5x5 until the end of Autumn, see where I can get to with that before looking to change things up a little.
Once you reach a plateau with your gains, then comes the time to think about changing things up... Your neuromuscular system will have reached the limits of what it can cope with and will need beating with specific work to keep you making strength gains.
This is where new routines come in: Stronglifts is pretty much fundamental in hitting those limits but can lead to a lot of people struggling once they plateau. At this point you will need to decide if you're after size, strength or aesthetics (size and strength go pretty nicely together, but you only become aesthetic to other men in the gym and online forums)...
Just tailor your total calories a little, you're probably over eating anyway.
Lots of people can be strong and look decent. We have a few forum members here who do just that
Had my 1st appointment with physio after destroying my lower back (twice) and looks like I've gotta go back to basics in terms of mobility again! Developed a slight butt wink when doing stuff like body squats or low weight, which was enough to irritate my discs and make me unable to walk properly for a few months! Back to building dat dere stable base haha
Just to add what others have said, if your current weights are your max or your working sets, you do not and should not drop as low as 40kg on every exercise, especially not deadlift, that should start at a min 60kg so as the bar is correctly positioned off the floor.
Also think of the lifts in % terms, your squat you want to roll back to 40% of your current, but your OHP to 72%...your deadlift to 30%....at most you would want to start a new program out with week 1 day 1 lifts around 65-70% current maxes. If you want to be conservative then go for 65-70% of 90% of your current max.
Wow numbers!
OK thanks for the info.
Yes I wouldn't go anywhere near my starting weights. By starting, I mean thats just where I started the 5x5 in terms of weights, and current is what I have managed in around 12/14 weeks.
Im going to stick at the standard 5x5 currently for a little while longer until i get my squat to around 130/140KG my bench a bit closer to 100 (Always just a personal goal for me) - which means that might take a while.
Then im not sure what to move/adjust onto.
Soldato
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- 2 May 2011
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Generalised mobility, really, as well as yoga. It's difficult to recommend without seeing photos and videos (), but a good trainer/physio will be able to go in for specifics. In general... start with stretching your back (foam rollers), lats (rollers, tennis balls, resistance bands) and pecs (golf balls -
The important thing is to focus on what your back is doing and ensuring yoru positioning is immaculate: this may take some time to get right because it sounds like your brain has it pegged in the wrong place. This is where a physio comes in useful (second pair of eyes!), but you can *kind of* replicate it by standing in front of a mirror or proprioception work (ask Google/Youtube) with a laser pointer...
- single arm rows and presses
- lateral raises
- lat pull-downs (uni/bi-lateral provided your positioning is good)
- deadlifts
- front squats
- reverse delt flies
Morning, sorry I didn't reply sooner but I've not really been on a computer since I posted.
Thanks for the advice. I don't have any recent videos of me, but I'm seeing this PT tonight who's a Starting Strength guy. I've asked him to help me fix my squat and deadlift, and if there's any time left, he said he'd take a look at by OHP and BP. This will hopefully all be massively helpful to me. I suspect he's going to try and convince me to get a membership with him, but I don't think I can afford that. Hopefully there's some (non-sexual) favour I could do him in exchange for tips every so often,
I was watching some video the other day and it happened to mention hip flexors and the pains associated with weak/tight hip flexors. This matched my symptoms to a T, so I found a few strengthing exercises and the couch stretch and have been doing that for 3 days in a row now. I actually feel a lot better for it!
As far as exercises go, I'm doing everything you've suggested other than front squats and reverse delt flies.
My brain has 100% pegged everything in the wrong place. I can feel that my left side is dramatically out of balance with my right as well, as all the pain is focused on the RHS. Doing the exercises for the hip flexors, I have no problem doing any on my RHS, but LHS is a challenge and I think the right is trying to compensate, hence the pain.
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Soldato
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- 2 May 2011
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The chronicles of dirtychinchilla's injuries continues...well I'm not actually injured, but I went to this coached session last night. I think it was invaluable actually. Turns out I've been low bar squatting wrong - not going low enough, not bending over at all, grip has been wrong, and the bar has been a little bit too high. What shocked me most was the depth, and that's why I feel injured. Going to the right depth has basically caused my hamstrings to yank on my back muscles, and my back is now killing me. But it just highlights how tight my hamstrings are.
On the plus side, my OHP was great. I tried rack pulling instead of deadlifting, but the percieved pain of doing it really stalled me.
Anyway, I'll be going back once a month. In his words, he wants to make me "brutally strong," which sounds great.
On the plus side, my OHP was great. I tried rack pulling instead of deadlifting, but the percieved pain of doing it really stalled me.
Anyway, I'll be going back once a month. In his words, he wants to make me "brutally strong," which sounds great.