***The 2020 Gym Rats Thread*** ᕦ( ͠°◞ °)ᕥ

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I’m down to the last few drops of mine. Nothing worse than clammy hands when lifting. I use the MyProtein liquid chalk, it’s been pretty consistent.
 
LiE said:
I’m down to the last few drops of mine. Nothing worse than clammy hands when lifting. I use the MyProtein liquid chalk, it’s been pretty consistent.
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Same stuff here. Forgot to order more with my last order. It even seems to have survived staying in my freezing boot.
 
ShortWarning said:
I have a question about hypertrophy training based on the above. With any type of training are you not just trying to lift the heaviest you can just with a higher rep range in hypertrophy based training? In which case wouldn't a belt be useful as it would be just as difficult?

If you're not lifting the heaviest weights you can, when would you know when to move up?
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I view a belt in the same way as any equipment; they're just tools to assist the athlete in specific circumstances and because I'm bored at work on nights...

~ WL'ing shoes: the raised heel essentially gives you more dorsiflexion than you'd have available normally, enabling a more upright position at the bottom of a deep squat. More forward knee travel on any squat pattern type movement places more demand on the quads. If the goal of a squat, leg press etc is to build the front of the legs and use full ROM, then WL'ing shoes > flat shoes

~ straps: for something like RDLs, my grip will give out before my posterior chain, and my goal is to develop the latter, so it'd be illogical to not use straps for this movement. Additionally for some back movements, by using straps which reduce the need for a death-grip, it allows the athlete to execute the 'pull with the elbows' cue better and feel a greater contraction in the lats etc.

~ wrist wraps: for pressing, keeping the bar stacked with the wrists/elbows allows for greater transfer of force, and wraps help with preventing the wrists from going into too much extension on a heavy bench press, for example. Wrist and forearm strength can be developed, but joint sizes differ between people, it's not something you can do anything about, and for those blessed with skinny wrists wraps can be a godsend. Also for low bar squats, wraps help many lifters with taking some strain off the wrists (I rarely see anyone serious about powerlifting not using them actually).

~ belts: used properly a belt augments core tightness which helps with any sort of lift with axial (spinal) loading. While there's certainly an element of 'learn to squat first, then worry about belts and stuff', for most people once consistent tekkers has been developed and squats start getting challenging, it's more likely reps will be missed because of something other than pure leg strength, so if you have a tool that offsets that a bit and allows you to get more quality work out of your legs...

~ liquid chalk: duh

Also regarding hypertrophy training... this video came up today and as usual Dr. Eric Helms (who coaches a world champion powerlifter in Bryce Lewis, who himself is an excellent coach with The Strength Athlete) and brings up an important point about why training purely for size is less complicated than for say, maximum 1RM strength in a powerlifting meet:

 
Yeah the chalk did help...the bar stuck to my hands like glue! :p

So i am starting to see where i am making fast 'gainz'...and the one exercise i am struggling to see process in is the incline db press.

Any tips on what i can do to improve it? I can't seem to move off 14kg in each hand...did try 16kg but just struggled for form.
 
mrthingyx said:
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Thanks, this makes sense.

Somnambulist said:
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This video was really interesting. It looks like using both strength and hypertrophy rep ranges can be useful for a overall workout.

Yesterday I picked up a communal belt and it seemed like it helped a lot with my squat stability. No as much looseness on the way down. It also made it easier to feel whether or not I'm engaging my core in my OHP as well. Unfortunately it didn't help with deadlift. I didn't manage to add an extra rep from my last session (I seem to be stuck at 3x135kg). I could probably just about squeeze out a 4th but it would be really shaky and not worth the injury risk.
 
So coming to end of my current mini block and really pleased with how things have been going. Notably I've managed bring my bench press up to 145x3 and today 150x2. Squat is comfortably at 165x3, so strength is slowly getting there on my compounds. I've switched deadlifts out for this block for RDL which I'm doing 140x8. Last couple weeks I've been training 6 days per week leading up to a week off for my holiday next week.

The majority of my lifting outside bench and squat have been focused on growing. I'm sitting around 82.5-83kg currently and pleased with how I look. I'm probably around 13% BF.

xUkCFIC.jpg

When I get back from my break I'm still unsure where I want to take my training. I'm not chasing any specific numbers but I do want to get my physique to the next level ready for summer. I feel like a 160 bench and 200 squat are achievable short term but I'm struggling to decided why I want to do that to myself :p
 
I have been eating non stop this last week. Managed an absolutely mad push day sunday with my flat Db press hitting 47.5 for 3 clean reps and 2 super assisted reps:p. After that I knocked it down to 45 to get some super clean deep reps.

Rest of the day was fantastic, seemingly progressing on everything else.

Yesterday however I went to do pull and started on wide grip pull ups as normal. Then I added 5kg and started to feel a bit of an ache on my forearm/elbow. Went up 10kg, managed 8/9 reps and the pain became more pronounced. Tried to continue the back day using lighter weights but eventually called off back and biceps and just did some abs before shamefully leaving

Today I woke up with a very painful ache on the inside of my upper forearm. Everything from holding a mug to steering aggravates it. I went to gym and in the end did next to nothing as straightening or bending my arm seemed to make things worse. Even engaging the safety catches on the leg press hurt...

Put deep freeze on it when I got home which has helped. I'll skip the gym tomorrow and see if pushing is out of the question on Thursday.

Maybe I can take this chance and finally focus on building some abs for when I eventually lose the fat, as last time i didnt have much to show when i was lean.

Injury wise I think I probably strained the tendon that connects my bicep to my forearm and plan to follow up with deep heat tomorrow while complaining like a bitch to everyone in sight
 
LiE said:
So coming to end of my current mini block and really pleased with how things have been going. Notably I've managed bring my bench press up to 145x3 and today 150x2. Squat is comfortably at 165x3, so strength is slowly getting there on my compounds. I've switched deadlifts out for this block for RDL which I'm doing 140x8. Last couple weeks I've been training 6 days per week leading up to a week off for my holiday next week.

The majority of my lifting outside bench and squat have been focused on growing. I'm sitting around 82.5-83kg currently and pleased with how I look. I'm probably around 13% BF.

xUkCFIC.jpg

When I get back from my break I'm still unsure where I want to take my training. I'm not chasing any specific numbers but I do want to get my physique to the next level ready for summer. I feel like a 160 bench and 200 squat are achievable short term but I'm struggling to decided why I want to do that to myself :p
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Chestanbize.
 
Restarting 5x5 for the first time this year and in was is around 12 month period when my hips were getting ruined. Wish my quads luck!
 
mrthingyx said:
Was that Skidder coming in for the spot...? :eek: :cool:

And very impressive!
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:P

Certainly is.

First time back in gym after a stressy couple of weeks and I really struggled with squats. Restarted my cycle and back to 132kg but felt like more. Bench and row felt fine but squat was not fun.
 
He's a really nice guy, only started chatting to him the past few weeks, we are weirdly similar. He also works from home, has a young family, used to do powerlifting and trains on his lunch break to stop himself going mad being at home all the time.
 
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