Poll: ***The all new gymrats thread***

Do we archive this thread and start a new one for 2010?

  • Yeah good idea.

    Votes: 11 78.6%

  • Nah I'm happy with this one.

    Votes: 3 21.4%
  • Total voters
    14
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Today another medley day - felt good though.

More RC work 3 sets of 6 exercises x15 reps.

DLs:

5x100kg
5x120kg
5x140kg
5x160kg
5x180kg
4x200kg
1x220kg
DS:10x100kg

Not able to beat my PB today unfortunately but I did do a lot of volume to be fair.

HC2PP:

6x60kg
6x60kg
6x60kg
6x60kg
6x60kg

Kept these light and concentrated on a very slow lowering movement and held the bar for about 3 secs. Boy did it give me a burn!!!

I then did some bicep and tricep work - but this is not very interesting...

Single arm preachers
Reverse ez-bar curls

Single arm cable pull down
Single arm overhead extensions

Fun little session today. Leg day tomorrow - can't wait! :D
 
Sorry yes, as in, full range of motion, slow controlled reps, explosive up, slow on the way down, high weight low reps, but lots and lots of it. i.e. say maybe 8 sets, 3-4 reps each, very short breaks between them. Do a minimum of 3 exercises like this.
 
Yup I do them before every workout session and sometimes at home.

1) Lie on your left hand side, grab a small weight (2.5kg) with right hand holding weight flat against belly. Pull shoulder from the center of the spine back, to pull the whol scapula back, then raise your hadn with the weight keeping your upper arm in contact with your side at all times. Raise it as high as is comfortable without losing form. Do this 15x then do other shoulder.

A test that you're doing it right is with the other arm that you're lying on, bring in front of your chest to test to see if your traps are activated, if you're doing it properly there should be no trap activation at all.

2) Lie on your front, with a 2~3kg medicine ball (small one size of a football) and with your shoulder out at 90 degs, place your hand on top of the ball, and then "write the alphabet" - i.e. roll the ball around in all planes of motion - I say alphabet so that it gives you enough different movements/motions. Do this for both hands.

3) Lying face down on a bench, grab a small weight (2.5kg) and arm out at 90deg to body,pivoting only on the shoulder, bend elbow at 90 deg too, pick weight up off floor, rotating through shoulder to lift weight off floor to a height that feels comfy. Again no activation of traps is important. You need to squeeze deep inside your shoulder blade to bring the shoulder back and force the RC to be used. Always use light weights for RC exercises.

4) Press ups on swiss ball. Very slow controlled movements, you need to make sure your body is really compensating for the "twitches". Another angle to do is against a wall.

5) Small medicine ball 2~3kg arm at at 90 deg, and again 90deg bend at elbow, stand 6inches or so away from wall, throw and "bounce" the ball against wall. Like playing basketball, but against the wall. Your body shouldn't be moving and it should be a very short small movement.

6) Use a physio band (stretchy rubber thing) attach low down somewhere and do so slow side raises, slow front raises, inner rotations (as opposed to outer rotations you did on the first exercise)


That's about it. It's hard to describe without showing really.


That'll be £40 please.
 
Bodyweight plays a big factor. @100kg I can only just about do 12 - but they get ugly towards the end, but I do them properly wide grip, chin actually coming up past the bar. It takes a while to build up the strength to do it. You have to try very hard to engage parts of the back and not rely on the arms as much. If you contract your back on the way up you do get that extra bit of "pull". It's a fantastic exercise though. :)
 
Shicky said:
You really are some sort of monster arent you?
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I'm trying... Funnily enough I take that as a huge compliment! :D

Simon said:
Cool, well I have only really been going for about 3 months and definately making progress. I don't compare myself to anyone really, but its nice to see what you can be capable afer a few years. A good 5 or 6 of us from work are at the same gym so there is always someone to go with, if I went on my own I would really struggle with motivation.

Im not really going to bulk up massively (would be difficult at 6'2"), just want to get stronger and a more athletic build, which is certainly working so far.

Also started running in lunchtimes, trying to get uber fit ready for football season in September. Did 5 miles today and plan to go to gym late, although its probably not a great idea to do cardio then weights?
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Doing some cardio at lunch is a very good idea, for a start it'll help pick up your metabolism which would start to dip from 2-3pm, and set you up for a good gym session. Just make sure you nourish yourself well.

I think doing a bodyweight wide grip chin is no mean feat - it takes a while to get the technique right and for anyone trying it's a great achievement. Having someone to train with is absolutely vital - it's so easy ot get dejected.

Besides you've got to start somewhere, and I think you'll find that as you do more your body will start adapting quicker to the stimuli it gets. Bulking up at 6'2" shouldn't be that hard - if you want to do it, and remain lean and fit it is possible, but it does require hard work and dedication. :)

Dj_Jestar said:
I'm going to try BORs before DLs tonight, last few times I've found it difficult to complete my BORs due to back being shot from DLs. Anyone else do the same?
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That could work, though bear in mind that BORs do hit the posterior chain as well so it may affect your max lifts on DLs.
 
Wide grip chins are such an important and integral part of a gym routine they should not be omitted. Yes they are hard, but that's because you need to build the strength up for them. I usually do 5 sets of 6 reps at least 3x a week - they are such a great exercise for development of core and a big back.

Today leg day:

Started off with my RC exercises for about 12mins (3 sets, 15 reps, 6 exercises)

Back squats:

10x60kg
10x100kg
10x120kg
8x140kg
6x160kg
ds: 10x100kg

45 deg Leg press:

10x160kg
10x200kg
10x240kg
8x280kg
8x280kg
5x320kg

SLDLs:

10x60kg
8x80kg
8x100kg
6x110kg
6x120kg
ds:10x80kg

Leg extensions:

12x100kg
11x100kg
10x100kg
8x100kg
8x100kg

15mins of rowing @ level 10.

Tidy little session, since I did DLs yesterday everything felt a bit hard work today. Still quite happy. Saturday I'll do some front squats plus my back workout just to really give them a hammering :D
 
Yeah but she's using narrow grip, wide grip should be wider than shoulder width apart.

s0ck said:
What happened to train a bodypart once a week? :) Is this a new school of thinking or are you happy that your recovery time allows you to train back 3 times a week?
Very interested in your answer because I've been thinking 7 day rotation is a bit too long in some cases and 4/5 days would be better.

Sadly, I train alone and have done for the last year. It is extremely difficult when your m8s drop out one by one but stick at it and keep changing things up!
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In compound exercises it's hard to get away from the fact more than 1 body part will be trained - though of course the focus will be on 1 part of the body more than others.

What about training 1 bodypart once a week?! Since when has that been a "rule"? Sure for a beginner I can understand, but I'm far from that. :) I train 4-5x a week, but I hit a body part more than once a week. Doing things like chins 3x a week is fine - I do them at home mostly, but sometimes hit them at the gym for a superset for extra burn. Like calves - they can handle being hit more than once a week.

I train mostly alone, but have spotters should I need them - I have enough self motivation fortunately to push myself - it is draining and hard work though, having a training partner is important to really push yourself - so sadly on some exercises I not pushing myself as hard as I used to. I'm not "new school" I'm just hardcore ;)
 
J.T said:
Along the same lines as the above, I do 40 mins Cardio before my weight training (20 mins Cross trainer, 21 mins Bike) Monday/Wednesday/Friday then directly after the weights I have a protein bar (Yes I know I should have a shake but I still haven’t found one I like! Recommendations?) then 30 mins after that I have a main meal.

Is this ok?

My main goal was to lose weight/Fat (which I did going from 15.5 stone to 13 stone, I'm 5' 7") but now I would like to put on a bit of extra muscle.

Does the above sound ok to you guys?
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Don't do cardio before training it'll hamper your ability to lift. Do cardio on alternative days, or for short intense 10-15mins after weight training - but then again remember that after a hard 60-90mins of weight training your body will be urging for nourishment.

Best time to do it is on separate days, or if you train in the morning, cardio in the evening. Or cardio in the morning and weight train in the evening, either or.
 
I don't recommend protein shakes I'm afraid - I'll let some of the others do that as I believe you should sort your diet out first before relying on them. I do use them, but I'm at a level where I can justify the occaisional shake - but it's not a staple part of my diet.

If you're serious about training you have to make time. Plain and simple. I'm up at stupid o'clock every day, and train most nights, weekends. What I don't spend on booze I can dedicate to food and training. You can't do gym stuff willy nilly. It's all or nothing IMO. So first establish what you want and what you can commit. Until you know what you can do there's no point in trying to establish a routine.
 
People have posted pics from all shapes and sizes no onw is going to take the mick. :)

Seems like you're eating the right foods, just a bit worried that you're not giving yourself enough energy before workout, and you're eating a lot of protein bars!! If you're not getting enough from your diet I suggest that a shake (can't believe I'm admitting this) is likely to be better for you than a bar. However it depends on how intense your weight training is. If after 60 mins of weight training you're not falling to pieces then you're not training hard enough! ;) Also 2pints of semi skimmed milk a day? Why? Whilst a bit of milk is good in terms of calcium etc... 2 pints seems excessive for relatively low nutrional value. Your calorific value is quite low, I'd eat more, but I don't know how hard you train. You do a lot of cardio, too much for a day of weights and cardio IMO. Life is very busy for all of us, you just have to try and work it into your day somehow.
 
When I buy it I go for a minimum of 90% sure it costs a bit more but the amino acid profile is better as is the ratio of BCAA and EAAs typically. But since 2.5kg lasts me 3-4 months it's not the end of the world! :p
 
evil-onion said:
J.T

If i was you i would start the diet shake up by eating carbs pre workout, your not eatin anything pre training...?

also, 9pm, change that for a meal, your going from around 5:30 - 6am with no decent food in you.

personally i'd sign up somewhere like muscletalk and post your diet in the diet section along with your stats for some decent advice.
also search for the meal plan site... very good for giving a rough idea for many different lifestyles.
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Whilst I agree that somewhere like MT is likely to have more "experts" what makes you think that those of us in the sport don't know what we're talking about? :p

Whilst we may be far away from a sports community we have our fair share of experience here! ;)
 
evil-onion said:
Freefaller, im not saying people here dont have experience, so please dont take it that way... however, here its all in one thread. on a dedicated training forum he would have his own thread where people can analyse his situation better.

It would be difficult for me, or others here to ask questions and help him more specifically between other people posting about thier routines, and other gym related postings.

unless maybe you, or another could start a dedicated diet/nutrition sticky thread or something maybe? just a thought.
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No no I wasn't being offended - it was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek comment :p I'm a member of a few other sports and bodybuilding related forums myself, and whilst I agree a lot of them offer a lot of advice, a lot of them spout regurgitated crap that is a bunch of rubbish. Admittedly we get the same here. I'm just very selective on what people should listen to and what advice they should get.
 
J.T said:
Thanks again for all the advice (and links) guys. :)

Just for giggles I will post my current stats (all cold not pumped!) below.

Height - 5’7” and a little bit….
Weight – 13.5 stone (85KG)
Chest – 43.5
Arms – 14.5 (yes very small I know! This is my main weak point)
Forearms – 13.5
Waist – 32
Thighs – 23.5 (my strongest part)
Calf – 17 (I’m pretty proud of these)

Please feel free to laugh and point.
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Nothing to be ashamed about those stats aren't bad at all to be honest. Great calves, nice small waist, not bad sized legs, and your chest is pretty broad too IMO. Anything over 42" for chest I consider "big" :) You're quite short though so probably look pretty stocky.
 
I hate pics of me, but I've posted them up :) But take your time mate, and no one will take the mickey, and if they do they can spend soem time away from the forum ;) I want these threads for people to support one another not destroy one another. :)

14.5 is not small for biceps.

Jonny, being long limbed doesn't help, but when you flex, you will have more muscle will ball up at a peak. I'm realtively long limbed for my height, but still managed to achieve 17.5" - it takes time though and it can happen without training them that hard. I train them once every couple of weeks!
 
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