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

[dirtychinchilla]

90 seems a bit light, if your 3RM is 122.5
I'd have gone like 97.5 or even 100

But if you're getting used to a new thing, go with what's comfortable, you'll be upping the numbers in no time

I spoke to my coach, who recommend dropping deadlifts mid-week and replacing them with rows. I'm not 100% sure about that, but I respect him so I'll probably do it. At the end of the day, it's all back development.

Annoyingly, I have to have another operation on the 5th February which will put me out of action for 2-3 weeks minimum. I expect I'll see some drop is strength and progress because of that. It might be that I can get right back into a good stage of linear development though. Coach asked me to try and set 1RMs in the week leading up to the op, which will be interesting. My hope is that I'll be able to hit:

Deadlift: 130 kg (would love 140 but I don't think I have it in me)
Squat: 125 kg
Bench: 80-95 kg
OHP: 65 kg

Who knows if they're realistic.

 

[blairw]

Train at home and have a 22.5KG set of Dumbbells as thats generally what is used at "Rx" during metcon workouts for DB snatch etc... was using them for DB Incline Bench Press but finding it easy - decided to opt for 30KG dumbbells last week and tried them out for the first time yesterday - was happy to do a comfortable 3 sets of 5 reps, never used move than 28KG in the past before!

 

[ShortWarning]

Starting to fail on a few exercises now. I've got a couple of questions about stronglifts.

How often should I deload? I dropped my weight on squats as per the program and have managed to finish my sets where I failed this time. Say I fail on the next session, do I drop the weight again? Would I do it on each weight increment if I keep failing then managing after building the weight back up?

Also, I can feel myself starting to cheat a little with my bent over rows to finish the sets. I'm not really sure what to do here. Just stop at the first sign of cheating or is it okay to cheat a little? Should I not add extra weight until I can get 5x5 with strict form?

Asked someone to spot for me while benching last night, I told him "please don't touch the bar no matter how much I'm struggling unless I ask for it". Que the first sign of struggle "I'm only stabilising it, not lifting it". Completely pointless. I don't really know how many I managed on my own so I'm being conservative.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Maybe Iv been listening to too much Greg Doucette recently but im firmly in the mindset of not deloading.
Id rather push out 3 reps of a good weight than drop it considerably....I certainly wouldn't be dropping it below 10%, i think its perfectly healthy to stay at a set weight ratio for a while if it suits (life getting in the way etc) but dropping kinda defeats the point.

As always form is key but thats often easier said than done!

 

[CaptainRAVE]

I haven’t deloaded in months. I have two week cycles then increase the weight.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Asked someone to spot for me while benching last night, I told him "please don't touch the bar no matter how much I'm struggling unless I ask for it". Que the first sign of struggle "I'm only stabilising it, not lifting it". Completely pointless. I don't really know how many I managed on my own so I'm being conservative.

Most spots are useless. I’ll jump in if the bar hasn’t moved for a while or goes back down, but most spots just lift it off me at the first sign of trouble. I also prefer the adrenaline of not having anyone there. There’s always someone in the room anyway. I had too many weeks ruined by not knowing my true numbers.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I think with the bench, at least you can put it on the very last peg. I never put the clips on the bar either in case I can't get it on the last peg, in which case at least you can tip it off yourself

 

[ShortWarning]

Maybe Iv been listening to too much Greg Doucette recently but im firmly in the mindset of not deloading.
Id rather push out 3 reps of a good weight than drop it considerably....I certainly wouldn't be dropping it below 10%, i think its perfectly healthy to stay at a set weight ratio for a while if it suits (life getting in the way etc) but dropping kinda defeats the point.

As always form is key but thats often easier said than done!

I got semi confused in what I wrote above. According to stronglifts you only deload if you fail 3 times in a row. So I'd have 3 attempts before considering it. I think I'll have to swap to 3x5 on squats soon anyway. I'm starting to really struggle with the rest of the workout after 5 heavy sets not to mention it's taking a long time because I'm resting about 3 mins in between sets.

Another question which is kind of unrelated. My main aim is to get stronger but I also want to build mass. Is there that much of a difference in how much mass you'll gain between strength based training and hypertrophy based training? I mean muscles will have to increase in size either way?

 

[ShortWarning]

I think with the bench, at least you can put it on the very last peg. I never put the clips on the bar either in case I can't get it on the last peg, in which case at least you can tip it off yourself

I'm honestly a bit paranoid about missing that last peg and crushing my skull. Haha.

 

[Skidder]

I got semi confused in what I wrote above. According to stronglifts you only deload if you fail 3 times in a row. So I'd have 3 attempts before considering it. I think I'll have to swap to 3x5 on squats soon anyway. I'm starting to really struggle with the rest of the workout after 5 heavy sets not to mention it's taking a long time because I'm resting about 3 mins in between sets.

If you pay for the stronglifts app it does a good job of spoon feeding this stuff to you

 

[ShortWarning]

If you pay for the stronglifts app it does a good job of spoon feeding this stuff to you

I haven't paid for it. I just used it to tell me where to start and have since just followed everything on the website.

 

[Skidder]

I haven't paid for it. I just used it to tell me where to start and have since just followed everything on the website.

I'm off strong lifts now but found the app really good when I was doing it. Your decisions re when to deload etc. it would prompt.

 

[mrthingyx]

I haven't paid for it. I just used it to tell me where to start and have since just followed everything on the website.

There are limitations to Stronglifts in that it works really well to get beginners up to a certain level - probably better than anything else.

However, it isn't very effective for most people beyond a certain point, because most people perform better with some form of periodisation or undulations in their training intensities and volumes.

For instance, my squats really benefit from (sadly) high reps/volume and quick tapering which is savage but very effective. Stronglifts took me to 150kg, but after that it was really difficult to move much further... So I changed.

Don't be afraid of doing something new: even 2 weeks of some random bro routine before returning to Stronglifts can give your gains a new lease of life.

 

[Delvis]

Either start on the weight you want, then drop the weight on one of the sets. It's all about progression.

 

[Somnambulist]

I got semi confused in what I wrote above. According to stronglifts you only deload if you fail 3 times in a row. So I'd have 3 attempts before considering it. I think I'll have to swap to 3x5 on squats soon anyway. I'm starting to really struggle with the rest of the workout after 5 heavy sets not to mention it's taking a long time because I'm resting about 3 mins in between sets.

Another question which is kind of unrelated. My main aim is to get stronger but I also want to build mass. Is there that much of a difference in how much mass you'll gain between strength based training and hypertrophy based training? I mean muscles will have to increase in size either way?

Not entirely (outside of beginners. There’s a difference between the size of the muscle, and your ability to efficiently recruit all of it, so very strength-specific programs will be biased towards the ability for you to use what you already have better for specific movements (like a powerlifters numbers going up whilst they stay in the same weight class), where as growth-specific programs will be biased towards less specific work, and more about working everything sufficiently (i.e. bodybuilders looking to grow a complete physique above all else).

If you’re not competing in a strength sport or have ambitions of being a physique athlete on stage with fake tan and posing trunks though, there’s a middle ground where your training mixes rep ranges and has a bit of variety either session to session or training cycle to training cycle, but not too much, and don’t really prioritise either extreme and you just get a bit bigger and stronger over time.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Hit two PRs yesterday! This year is going well Deadlift, bench, and squat at an all time high.

 

[ShortWarning]

Thanks for all your replies, guys. I've got at least another month to squeeze out of stronglifts I think. I was thinking of going over to Madcows afterwards. Is that a good idea? Is it okay to mix the 2 for a couple of weeks? IE Madcows for squats, stronglifts for the rest?

 

[Skidder]

I'm on madcow now after SL. I think it is a good transition between them. Why do you want to mix them? Have you hit a long plateau on squats but not on the other lifts?

How long have you been on SL?

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Another suggestion could be the Texas Method

 

[Somnambulist]

You can mix if you want. Bare in mind most of these programs were created as basic strength programs for American athletes already training for a sport (I think it was football), hence the minimalist nature, because they didn't have time to train otherwise. Committing to a program is what you always want to be doing, just bear in mind there's more well-rounded options out there these days that cater for different goals, it's not just 5x5 or some UK Beef magazine bro-split.