*** The 2019 Gym Rats Thread ***

dirtychinchilla said:
Which stretches do you do?
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Seated hamstring stretch (one leg out straight, other bent, stretching to straight leg)
Downward dog, static and walking on all fours keeping legs straight and heels on the ground
lateral lunges, with both feet flat and toes to the ceiling.
I roll them too, also do pigeon pose and this low lunge one my physio gave me to do the adductors and inner thigh bits
 
GiraffePencils said:
Seated hamstring stretch (one leg out straight, other bent, stretching to straight leg)
Downward dog, static and walking on all fours keeping legs straight and heels on the ground
lateral lunges, with both feet flat and toes to the ceiling.
I roll them too, also do pigeon pose and this low lunge one my physio gave me to do the adductors and inner thigh bits
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Thanks, I'll give those a go. Googled some ultimate hamstring stretches as well as it came up with a "Supine active leg extension", "Split, grab, and hold", and "Seated twisted hamstring stretch". I'll add yours to the list.

What do you do with the rolling?
 
What split would people advise for a middle-aged relative noob? 5'11", 91Kg, 23% bf, age 39.

I find if I focus training days on specific body groups, like having an arm day or a leg day, the subsequent sets are too hard; harder than if I swap between say shoulders then lower back in a given training session. For example, if I have an upper body day, my overhead presses are too weak after I've done bench press.

Would it be OK to have a two-day split, training three times per week, based on:

Day 1: lower back (deadlifts), chest (DB bench press and incline press), triceps (overhead cable extensions)

Day 2: legs (squats and leg press, maybe some quad and ham isolations), upper back (rows and lat pull downs), shoulders (overhead press, cable lateral raises), biceps (cable bicep curls)

Does that sound effective?
 
Participant said:
What split would people advise for a middle-aged relative noob? 5'11", 91Kg, 23% bf, age 39.

I find if I focus training days on specific body groups, like having an arm day or a leg day, the subsequent sets are too hard; harder than if I swap between say shoulders then lower back in a given training session. For example, if I have an upper body day, my overhead presses are too weak after I've done bench press.

Would it be OK to have a two-day split, training three times per week, based on:

Day 1: lower back (deadlifts), chest (DB bench press and incline press), triceps (overhead cable extensions)

Day 2: legs (squats and leg press, maybe some quad and ham isolations), upper back (rows and lat pull downs), shoulders (overhead press, cable lateral raises), biceps (cable bicep curls)

Does that sound effective?
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Just do Stronglifts two days a week... You have far too many isolation exercises which - for a noob - are broadly pointless...
 
mrthingyx said:
Just do Stronglifts two days a week... You have far too many isolation exercises which - for a noob - are broadly pointless...
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When I say noob, I've been training for 9 months based on stronglifts but recently doing 3 x 8 with some added isolation.

As you can see I'm pretty shredded :p :D.

EobvIR4.jpg


I got much stronger in the first 6 months but recently the weights have been increasing much more slowly. I'm basically eating quite poorly or lots of calories anyway. I think I need to rethink my diet as my waist is podge-tastic.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
You might have reached an intermediate lifter stage, at which point Stronglifts may not be right for you. I'm trying to remember what Starting Strength says...maybe switch to a HLM program? I'm sure @mrthingyx can correct me if I'm wrong here.
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It depends: if strength is plateau-ing on a decent diet, then I'd agree. Either way, unless a body-builder, that many isolation exercises are largely pointless.

6-9 months of Stronglifts also correlates well (in my head) with when most people start reaping the negatives of poor form and stall because of it: up until that point, they've escaped because the weights haven't been maximal. Ironically, a lot of them will then move onto routines where they progress just as slowly (if at all), too, but it's cool because it's a new routine. :D

But then again, if a new routine is what's required to keep your interest then it's a great idea. :)
 
Had a great session on Wednesday and another tonight. Deadlifted 165 for 5x5 on Wednesday and squatted a comfortable 160x5 tonight.

Strength and form continue to improve every week so hopefully 500's on the cards, as I had hoped, by Christmas.
 
not posted for awhile but thought i would show you guys how i am coming along. Still loving the gym and really pleased and proud that i decided to make the lifestyle change not only for myself but also for my family and friends :)

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Strength more or less back to where it was pre-travellers squits which is nice. I've been reading a lot of stuff from people like Brian Minor and have started programming my workouts very RPE/RIR-based and sort of a looser structure inside a rigid framework. Very hopeful this will help smash the whole intermediate plateau I've been trudging along in at a glacial pace for a while now... proof will be when I overtake my previous bests though.

Having to be brutally honest and leaving the old ego at the door is a whole skill in itself I'm having to get better at, but a better understanding of how the process of strength/hypertrophy adaptations actually occur is helping a lot.
 
Also quick plug for TCA - can't stand all the 'bro' gym-wear sold online with the big tacky logos and mega-tight joggers etc - got a bunch of trackies and shorts from them and it's good vfm, good fit, good tech-y fabrics etc and the branding isn't too in-your-face.
 
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