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

[opethdisciple]

I've been doing a 4 day upper/lower split, but want to cut down to just 3 days so I can use more of my evening time to study for some certs I want to pass.

I've recently started doing deadlifts with a trapbar and keen to stick with it. So been looking for the best bang for buck routine to do in 3 days.

I was looking at this which is just essentially squat, deadlift and bench x 3.

It talks about progressing when you need to to a different routine that allows your legs and lower back to recover etc...

How long do you think someone would spend doing nothing but squat, deadlift and bench 3 times a week?

To note, I have issues with my knees and shoulders so for squats do hack squat, for bench use the hammer strength machine and for the deadlift I use a trap bar.

I don't know if something like Starting Strength is for me, because I try to use machines as much as possible due to the previously mentioned injuries.

---

On a different note this looks appealing too as it includes shoulder work as well as direct back work which is something I am already doing. But as mentioned this is meant to be done only when you have made significant progress with the 'big' three'. I'm not exactly pushing heavy weights currently.

Phase 3: The A/B split

The lower back and legs are too sore, progress suffers. Bench form is good, but a little variety can be introduced.

Workout A:

• Deadlifts (5×5)
• Weighted/Assisted Chin-ups (3×8)
• Overhead Press (OHP) (5×5)

Workout B:

• Squat (5×5)
• Bench Press (5×5)
• Seated Cable Rows (3×8-10)

----

On the whole this is good news. Because previously I was too scared to squat due to my knees and now I am even brave enough to start deadlifting so winning!

 

[Somnambulist]

He's not going to come to the gym just to spot me.

The thing with leaving some in the tank is I'm not sure how well that works for stronglifts? How will I progress and know when to up the weight?

I'm considering using the roll of shame, failing that putting a bench in the squat rack but I've never seen anyone doing that so I'm not sure on the etiquette of it.

What I mean is, if you're on your 3rd set say, and you know you're not going to get that 5th rep, it's better to stop at 4 than grind and fail the 5th rep. You'll have a bit more in you for the remaining sets and failure isn't necessary for progress. IIRC with SL5x5 you'll go back the next session and attempt that weight again, and maybe you'll have those reps in you that you didn't last time, or maybe you won't and you'll back-cycle and work your way back up.

In any case, the act of adding more weight to the bar isn't what drives progress. The ability to add more weight to the bar is effectively a side-effect of training at sufficient volume/intensity frequently enough, and in order to maintain this effective level of volume/intensity over time, adding more weight is the easiest vehicle to get you there. It's an important to understand which way round the cart and horse are.

I'd always bench in a rack if I could, since you can adjust the height of the J hooks to suit what's best for you rather than the generic 1-2 heights the typical flat bench has. Only reason I don't is that all the racks in my gym are upstairs with the leg equipment and all the benches are downstairs with the upper body stuff.

 

[Deception]

Back on it again this year.. Just weighed myself after the xmas feast and weighing in at a fatty mc fat 113kg.. So, target will be to get down to at least 100kg and go from there. That's always fun with a crappy thyroid function and slow metabolism, but will have to go extra ham this year!

Probably start a log to keep myself motivated, but have to keep away from any squatting/deadlifting and become a prowler noob while I work out the kinks and somewhat broken spine.

Just need to work out the names of the actual exercises I do on it now haha

 

[tom_e]

Back on it again this year.. Just weighed myself after the xmas feast and weighing in at a fatty mc fat 113kg.. So, target will be to get down to at least 100kg and go from there. That's always fun with a crappy thyroid function and slow metabolism, but will have to go extra ham this year!

That's my kind of diet

 

[bakes0310]

Lost so much strength over the last 2 years so my aim is to get to where i was and a bonus would be to get even stronger. Decided to go back to stronglifts today and work my way up again.

 

[LiE]

Log has been resurrected. Lets do this.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/lies-log-part-4.18843927/

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Hip thrusts in the squat rack. I hate January.

 

[LiE]

Hip thrusts in the squat rack. I hate January.

Everyone seems to be doing rack pulls at the moment, flavour of the month. Struggled to get a rack to squat today.

 

[Deception]

That's my kind of diet

Didnt help that the inlaws brought over all kinds of different chocolates and meats when they stopped for us with a week.. Still getting through it all. You know, cant be mean and not test stuff from their home land 'n all that

 

[ShortWarning]

What I mean is, if you're on your 3rd set say, and you know you're not going to get that 5th rep, it's better to stop at 4 than grind and fail the 5th rep. You'll have a bit more in you for the remaining sets and failure isn't necessary for progress. IIRC with SL5x5 you'll go back the next session and attempt that weight again, and maybe you'll have those reps in you that you didn't last time, or maybe you won't and you'll back-cycle and work your way back up.

In any case, the act of adding more weight to the bar isn't what drives progress. The ability to add more weight to the bar is effectively a side-effect of training at sufficient volume/intensity frequently enough, and in order to maintain this effective level of volume/intensity over time, adding more weight is the easiest vehicle to get you there. It's an important to understand which way round the cart and horse are.

I'd always bench in a rack if I could, since you can adjust the height of the J hooks to suit what's best for you rather than the generic 1-2 heights the typical flat bench has. Only reason I don't is that all the racks in my gym are upstairs with the leg equipment and all the benches are downstairs with the upper body stuff.

Interesting, thanks for this.

I guess I'll have to try and figure out where to stop. Really, the couple of reps of each set are really difficult for me but I have managed to push it so far.

 

[bakes0310]

Hip thrusts in the squat rack. I hate January.

soz.

 

[Skidder]

My wife went to same spin class she does every friday today and noted the usual Jan new faces and confusion.

I hate people hence the rack in the garage. Whole set up paid for itself in no gym fees within the first year.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

soz.

It got worse when she did 8kg dumbbell rows on a bench. Essential squat rack work.

So many new faces today. It’s going to be a fun few weeks.

 

[Somnambulist]

Interesting, thanks for this.

I guess I'll have to try and figure out where to stop. Really, the couple of reps of each set are really difficult for me but I have managed to push it so far.

If you haven't trained to absolute failure before, it can be useful because if you've never really pushed yourself to the point you can't perform another rep, it's harder to judge how many reps you really have in reserve. That said, failure can also be risky if form goes out the window, so it's a balance, especially early on in your lifting career between pushing yourself hard enough but not to the point where you're executing the lifts badly.

 

[reiyushin]

First session of 2020 tomorrow have to do Day 3 and 4 of the program as I missed Thursday night's training out

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I’ve somehow started 2020 with no AC, elbow, bicep tendon or shoulder impingement pain. Long may it continue!

Pulled a few 235 and 225 deadlifts today and even though I felt quite ill this morning the session itself went pretty well.

@reiyushin i’m still mostly using your programs, minus front squat and CGBP focussed days, cycling weeks 1 & 2 and then adding 1.25 or 2.5 kg onto the 1RM total (going to stick to 1.25kg for now as I want to keep progressing steadily). All assistance work, machines etc I’m then hitting for 8x3 before I increase the weight.

My biggest restrictions this year will be the tricep pushdown cable that I have maxed and is now too easy and some of the other machines that even one handed I’ve now run out of places to go. I’ll just shoot for more reps I guess.

Hoping full fat milk will help me shoot for 95kg before the summer.

 

[mrthingyx]

I’ve somehow started 2020 with no AC, elbow, bicep tendon or shoulder impingement pain. Long may it continue!

Pulled a few 235 and 225 deadlifts today and even though I felt quite ill this morning the session itself went pretty well.

@reiyushin i’m still mostly using your programs, minus front squat and CGBP focussed days, cycling weeks 1 & 2 and then adding 1.25 or 2.5 kg onto the 1RM total (going to stick to 1.25kg for now as I want to keep progressing steadily). All assistance work, machines etc I’m then hitting for 8x3 before I increase the weight.

My biggest restrictions this year will be the tricep pushdown cable that I have maxed and is now too easy and some of the other machines that even one handed I’ve now run out of places to go. I’ll just shoot for more reps I guess.

Hoping full fat milk will help me shoot for 95kg before the summer.

Maxing out tricep pushdowns?

Try using a barbell for overhead extensions and load it up with all the plates.

 

[reiyushin]

@CaptainRAVE glad it's still working out for you

Gonna put the 3 programs I've posted in this post so I can link it in one go

Program 1 - Beginner to Low Intermediate Level

Spoiler

Squat
Week 1 Day 1: Squat: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + Front Squat: 3x8x60%
Week 1 Day 2: Front Squat: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + Squat: 3x8x60%
Week 2 Day 1: Squat: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + Front Squat: 3x6x70%
Week 2 Day 2: Front Squat: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + Squat: 3x6x70%
Week 3 Day 1: Squat: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70%
Week 3 Day 2: Front Squat: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70%
Week 4: New Max (either on same day or a few days apart)

Bench
Week 1 Day 1: Bench: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + CGBP: 3x8x60%
Week 1 Day 2: CGBP: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + Bench: 3x8x60%
Week 2 Day 1: Bench: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + CGBP: 3x6x70%
Week 2 Day 2: CGBP: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + Bench: 3x6x70%
Week 3 Day 1: Bench: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70%
Week 3 Day 2: CGBP: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70% + Bench 5x1x90%
Week 4: New Max (either on same day or a few days apart)

Deadlift
Week 1: Deadlift: 4x5x80% + 6x3x60% + RDL: 3x8x60%
Week 2: Deadlift: 2x1x90% + 3x3x85% + 6x3x65% + RDL: 3x6x70%
Week 3: Deadlift: 2x2x80% + 6x3x70%
Week 4: New Max

With each of these you can pick one or two assistance exercises and hit them for volume on weeks 1-3 (only day 1 on week 3) something like 3x12-20 reps with short rest periods.

Sample 3 Days:

Monday
Bench and Squat Day 1

Wednesday
Deadlift

Friday
Bench and Squat Day 2

Program 2 - Intermediate with some weightlifting experience

Spoiler

Been tinkering with some simple programs again so I thought I'd put this up here in case it can help anyone else out.
This is mostly tailored for my needs at the minute but there's nothing fancy to it, anyone who can execute these movements could run this program.

Timescale for me is 8-12 weeks or so but your mileage may vary.

Basic format is:
Exercise name
Set range x reps @ %1rm
Progression rate (compounding or linear is fine)​

• Main lifts are fairly standard, nothing complex here but tempo lifts can be challenging (so take care or just do normal squats/bench) and are notated as eccentric - pause - concentric - rest in seconds

• Comp assistance is where substitutes can be made more freely, just try keep the work load the same (though the template is quite light on bench work as I'm still working through shoulder grievances)

• Iso assistance is constant tension for these movements, again you can tailor them to your needs but they are faily low priority so don't get bogged down here.

• Extra work is extra stuff I want/need to do and has it's own subset of notes in my log.

Hope this helps someone out, if you have questions I'll do what I can to answer them.

Good luck.

1. First thought, for people coming back to lifting or needing to adapt to a frequency change you can handily subtract 10 to 20% off your expected numbers for week 1 and add it back on over 2 to 4 weeks.

Program 3 - A bit more comprehensive intermediate level

Spoiler

New Year, New Program, Right?

Anyways, I'm running this for a while, this is weeks 1-4 - Week 5 is either a taper and max later in the week or deload/rest and run it again the weights are all %s so input your numbers and away you go. Good luck

Program 3.1
A revised version of the 3rd program in spreadsheet form click here

 

[Andr3w]

Hip thrusts in the squat rack. I hate January.

My gym has 3 specialist flooring areas for doing deads/olympic lifts etc. Somebody dragged a stepup box onto the last one available one and was doing step-ups the other day

 

[opethdisciple]

Where do people stand on the big 3 routine vs Starting Strength 5x5?

Big 3 is 5x5 on Squats, Deads and Chest press 3 times a week.

Starting Strength is probably more balanced.