***The 2021 Gym Rats Thread*** ᕦ( ͠°◞ °)ᕥ

[tom_e]

What are you chaps resting heart rates out of interest? I’ve never really looked on my Apple Watch but mine is averaging 40-50, obviously goes up if I start walking about. Even dropped into the 30’s the other night at work as I was dozing off on my chair and it sent me a notification warning. TFW when not sure if elite athlete athlete or gonna slow to 0 and die.

65ish at the minute, goes down to mid/low 50s when I'm not such a porker and iirc was mid 40s when I was 90ish kg lightweight.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

What are you chaps resting heart rates out of interest? I’ve never really looked on my Apple Watch but mine is averaging 40-50, obviously goes up if I start walking about. Even dropped into the 30’s the other night at work as I was dozing off on my chair and it sent me a notification warning. TFW when not sure if elite athlete athlete or gonna slow to 0 and die.

50-60 usually. Used to be in the 30s or 40s when I used to run a lot, but it was so low I developed a heart murmur

 

[DarkShadow]

I just took some pics. Hopefully it gets across how solid/indestructible it feels with the multi-ply construction. I would say it’s a srs belt for srs lifters but I’m seeing more and more people at MuscleWorks using it who aren’t strict powerlifters (not that I am either!).






Will do the SS one later.

How would you compare them?

 

[Somnambulist]

The price of the SBD belt seems to have gone up since I bought mine, but if someone nicked it or I lost it, I’d buy another one. You get all the benefits of both a prong and lever belt in one without the shortcomings. Other than the price, the only negative is the work it takes to break it in and that the edges dig into me a when I go tighter for heavy singles to the point of leaving questionable marks, but I’m not packing much padding. Someone I know cracked a rib on a 1RM squat doing it extra tight the first time she used it, it is vice-like, unforgiving and feels like it’ll last as long as you need it to.

I don’t trust the SS one as much - as well as being softer, prone to having the screws loosen over time and undergoing a slow process of decomposition, the original buckle fell to pieces and I had to send the lifetime guaranteed Riot buckle back once as the pin fell out of the lever mechanism mid-set. It still works fine for the job it’s intended to do but I don’t fully trust it now. I’m sure others have never had a problem with theirs though and maybe I just got a dud.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Edit: wrong thread!

 

[DarkShadow]

The price of the SBD belt seems to have gone up since I bought mine, but if someone nicked it or I lost it, I’d buy another one. You get all the benefits of both a prong and lever belt in one without the shortcomings. Other than the price, the only negative is the work it takes to break it in and that the edges dig into me a when I go tighter for heavy singles to the point of leaving questionable marks, but I’m not packing much padding. Someone I know cracked a rib on a 1RM squat doing it extra tight the first time she used it, it is vice-like, unforgiving and feels like it’ll last as long as you need it to.

I don’t trust the SS one as much - as well as being softer, prone to having the screws loosen over time and undergoing a slow process of decomposition, the original buckle fell to pieces and I had to send the lifetime guaranteed Riot buckle back once as the pin fell out of the lever mechanism mid-set. It still works fine for the job it’s intended to do but I don’t fully trust it now. I’m sure others have never had a problem with theirs though and maybe I just got a dud.

Really? My SS has been faultless with the original buckle although I bought a Riot buckle, that doesn't instil confidence under weight!

I've found it feels soft, so I'm looking to upgrade soon when I return to training.

 

[B&W]

What's your lots opinion on full fat (blue top) milk?

I usually use it before bed with casein. I've saw some people on social media and stuff using fat free milk. Is that for calories?

 

[tom_e]

What's your lots opinion on full fat (blue top) milk?

I usually use it before bed with casein. I've saw some people on social media and stuff using fat free milk. Is that for calories?

If it works with your macros then go for it, gold top Jersey is the way forward.

 

[Somnambulist]

Yeah IIFYM. Easy way to up your calorie intake without having to eat more, just don’t go full GOMAD dreamer bulk.

 

[uncle_rufus]

And if you need an easy way to cut I can highly recommend catching Norovirus off of your kid at Nursery - I lost around 8kg in a week!

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Myproteins prices are all over the place. I spent less when I used 35% last week than I would have with their 45% off this week. My order of 5kg whey and 2xpreworkout would have been £10 more expensive this week! Crazy.

 

[tom_e]

Myproteins prices are all over the place. I spent less when I used 35% last week than I would have with their 45% off this week. My order of 5kg whey and 2xpreworkout would have been £10 more expensive this week! Crazy.

They're worse than the DFS sale these days.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

They're worse than the DFS sale these days.

At least now I know to check the price against my previous orders! Their 5kg whey used to be about £70-80. It’s currently £110! I’m assuming more expensive since they’ve added a bigger discount.

 

[tom_e]

At least now I know to check the price against my previous orders! Their 5kg whey used to be about £70-80. It’s currently £110! I’m assuming more expensive since they’ve added a bigger discount.

That does unfortunately seem to be their way of operating since they were bought out by The Hut Group. I'm not a heavy user of whey these days so tend to go for branded stuff from independent UK retailors.

 

[Somnambulist]

I only ever buy the milk protein now (70/30 casein/whey or maybe it’s 80/20, can’t remember), don’t tend to drink it only use it for proats or dessert type stuff as it tolerates heat much better. Can guarantee once I’m down to my last bag if I pay attention to the endless emails from MP they’ll be a sale and I’ll get it ‘reduced’.

 

[B&W]

Been using bulk powders last few orders, has been working out cheaper then MP.

 

[Somnambulist]

Quitspiration: my ex-gym buddy Mike Tennant just pulled 350kg conventional (competes in the <100kg class so that’s a just over x3.5bw pull) at a meet.

He pulled 370 sumo earlier this year which gave him the official national record in that class regardless of federation (tested or untested - he competes in the former) but then tore his hip capsule which isn’t something there’s an easy fix for and semi-retired from powerlifting till the bug got him. Not sure how he’ll approach squatting again but he can pull conventional without making it worse, so started trying to get that up to his sumo numbers and as usual with him he’s clocked it pretty quickly.

Hook grip too for extra chad points.

 

[Freefaller]

What's your lots opinion on full fat (blue top) milk?

I usually use it before bed with casein. I've saw some people on social media and stuff using fat free milk. Is that for calories?

If you're not dairy free, it's the best type of milk other than proper raw milk. that said, I've gone dairy free just because it has little health benefits and doesn't really makes sense to me.

 

[Freefaller]

What are you chaps resting heart rates out of interest? I’ve never really looked on my Apple Watch but mine is averaging 40-50, obviously goes up if I start walking about. Even dropped into the 30’s the other night at work as I was dozing off on my chair and it sent me a notification warning. TFW when not sure if elite athlete athlete or gonna slow to 0 and die.

At night it drops to high 40s, but otherwise low 60s high 50s. But I am 95kg...

Blood pressure is more important to measure IMO.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

What's your lots opinion on full fat (blue top) milk?

I usually use it before bed with casein. I've saw some people on social media and stuff using fat free milk. Is that for calories?

It’s meant to be better than skimmed varieties. When I started drinking it to bulk up before the pandemic I kept getting sick, could have been something else causing it though.

Finally pushed through my bench plateau yesterday that has been stuck since May - felt quite easy too! Here’s to 160 and beyond.