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

[Morba]

was bored tonight so dragged my dumbells into the lounge to do some floor pressing (i know i know).

toys:
2 utility DBs (2 handles with 16 3.5kg plates, so make 30kg, 23kg, 16kg, 9kg)
2 x 45kg DBs

warmed up on 20x23kg
2x15x30kg
4x8x45kg
3x15x30kg

being bored sucks lol

gonna do some cardio on xtrainer while watching family guy now!

 

[^TANK^]

i don't get the point. You couldn't use them for anything other than farmers walk!

Shrugs?

 

[PAz]

was bored tonight so dragged my dumbells into the lounge to do some floor pressing (i know i know).

toys:
2 utility DBs (2 handles with 16 3.5kg plates, so make 30kg, 23kg, 16kg, 9kg)
2 x 45kg DBs

warmed up on 20x23kg
2x15x30kg
4x8x45kg
3x15x30kg

being bored sucks lol

gonna do some cardio on xtrainer while watching family guy now!

rofl!! into the lounge??

awesome

 

[Morba]

Shrugs?

don't see the point really, not when you think how much they cost!

 

[^TANK^]

don't see the point really, not when you think how much they cost!

I was thinking of someone over enthusiastic with to much money on the hip really. In hindsight I wish I got a pair of Olympic dumbell handles and saved myself a small fortune on fixed dumbell sets.

 

[Kappa]

Had a crack at front squats using oly grip on Friday. Could do one, then the strain on my wrists was too much and hurt so I put it back! Tried it a couple more times after breaks, it did become a 'bit' easier, still could only manage one before my wrists hurt.

Is this something to develop? Or am I just doing it wrong!?

 

[shifty_uk]

Use cross armed grip.

 

[TommyV]

Shrugs?

<3 shrugs

Tank your traps are huge from the pic i've seen, do you train them in isolation or have they just come along with other compound exercises?

I personally do:-

3x DB shurgs sets of 6-10
3x BB shrugs sets of 6-8
3x 'from behind' BB shurgs, so lifting the BB from behind me, and 3x 6-8

I did this on friday, still killing now! haha

 

[Freefaller]

Front Squats
Your back stays nice and straight and you keep the bar nice and high but it looks like your heels are coming off the floor ever so slightly which leads me to believe your pushing with the balls of your feet rather than the heels.

I'd agree with that, but basically really good form Robbie.

At what sort of weight does your grip start to fail when deadlifting? I'm just asking because I'm really reluctant to use straps but I may have to soon. I'd rather just improve my grip strength which I'm trying to do with my heavy grips, but I think soon it'll start to give.

I had to start using straps owing to some tendonitis I had in the elbow preventing me gripping to tightly.

I did 8 reps (2 sets) @ 180kg without straps fairly comfortably. At about 200kg I start to lose my grip, but with chalk it does help.

 

[NotAGolf]

Hi guys, bit of an odd question to post in here but I know a lot of you are very clued up on the diet and biology side of things so thought you might be able to help.

Basically, my problem is that I tend to store fat quite easily around my hip and lower back area, or muffintops as they are sometimes known! It's not a big problem, they're barely visible atm, but I find when I start to put on more weight, if my diet is out a lttle bit that's the first place it goes.

I know I need to do more cardio (I hate doing it at the gym, I'm only motivated to do weights), but I'm buying a bike soon and will be cycling regulalry with my brother and a few mates which should help me a bit.

I was wondering if there is anything in my diet that might help me combat this? Am I right in saying they are generally casued by carbs? I also think I remeber reading on here that it may be related to insulin levels or something?

 

[ConTRo13R]

to tackle insulin levels, apparently cinnamon is good for this.

Either sticks or powder add to boiling water, cool and then drink like 250ml a day...this is me roughly remembering

 

[Morba]

dont worry about it, just control your kcals better (either in terms of food or cardio)

 

[Mansize_tissue]

I had to start using straps owing to some tendonitis I had in the elbow preventing me gripping to tightly.

I did 8 reps (2 sets) @ 180kg without straps fairly comfortably. At about 200kg I start to lose my grip, but with chalk it does help.

Cheers. I think I'll just persevere and try increasing grip strength more. I could grip onto the bar a lot better when I had calluses on my hands, but now for some reason they've just gone. Stupid soft girly hands!

 

[Participant]

Thanks for the feedback re: my videos further up, very much appreciated. Looking at it I can certainly see that my heels are lifting up. I think I'm worried about toppling backwards as once the weight goes past a certain point, there's no turning back, you're flat on your arse with a barbell wrapped around your neck!

Erring on the side of caution means that I can just drop the weight off the front. However the form is more important than any potential embarassment so I'll certainly work on keeping the weight on my heels next time. Hopefully that explains why I can still only do 3 x 8 x 48Kg!! Thanks again.

 

[Freefaller]

I think I'm going to try and hit some GBC training with a bit of HIIT.

Has a bodyfat measurement recently (though I don't think it's THAT accurate - but still it's a baseline for me to work from) and it's high teens! With my abs and serratus visible I didn't think I'd be that high, but I seem to carry fat on the Subscapular and Suprailiac areas which probably skews the results a bit, as the other 2 points were below average.

It's not the end of the world, I have had 2 weeks of holidays and letting my hair down so it was to be expected...

The thing is over the Christmas period I'm not too bothered about being cut, so I'm in 2 minds about whether or not this is necessary. I think I will hit it hard after the new year though - I'd aim for about 0.5% a week-ish. So by March I should hopefully be low teens.

 

[fluffmct]

Has a bodyfat measurement recently (though I don't think it's THAT accurate - but still it's a baseline for me to work from) and it's high teens!

Your age will be playing a part there though mate, those bodyfat charts will add a fair % at 30+ to account for visceral fat. Also the sheer thickness of your abs is making them appear early in my opinion (not a bad thing! ) - damn gorilla genetics.

 

[Freefaller]

LOL - yeah I've had my visceral fat calculated as best as is possible without a CT scan (using bioeletrical impedance testing, and hip/waist ratios etc....) and it was considered to be perfectly healthy.

I'm not 30 yet! (soon though!).

I was expecting my BF to be around the 15 or so mark, but this was closer to the 18 mark!

At the moment I'm not overly bothered as I carry enough bulk to make it look a lot less than it is, and carry enough definition to minimise the look of high BF. I think it was just a shock to be so high - I'm not 100% convinced his measurements were that accurate (except the calipers which did seem accurate). A friend of mine is a doctor and said he'd give me a 2nd measurement to have a bit of an average/balance.

Having thought about this, I think I'm going to leave it till the new year, I'm lean enough for now (as has been commented on the pics I've posted) so it'll do me. But I think next year I'm going to try and lean out a bit whilst staying at around 98~100kg. It's going to be good fun!

 

[SuperMan]

Bit disappointed with today’s effort, managed to get a decent dead lift out of 115kg which is nearly back to where I was. However my grip in my left wrist went. After doing the DL's i struggled with BOR's as i just couldn't hold the dumbell.

Also what I find weird is at the uni gym the dumbell bar is ridiculously thick, thicker than the Olympic bench press bar making it that bit harder to grip.

Forgot to post about my chest session the other day. Doing incline press usually stop at 28kg as already done bench press and flat flys. Enter hot girl coming over for a quick chat, I had just started the 28kg's and she stood and watched managed around 8 reps. "Wow" she says "are you going to go up again?" Me "yea sure". Go over to the rack and pick up the 30's, sit down thinking muscle is tired I'm going to get 2 reps and look like a fool. Whole time girl is just standing there watching making idle chat then says "go on then don't let me stop you"......anyway i ended up doing 7 reps on 32kg's and luckily for me she didn't ask if i was going to up the weight again because that was the heaviest in the gym. Anyone up for opening a gym with hot girls to motivate you? Dragons den anyone? lol.

One last question where do you guys stand on giving advice in the gym? I see such bad form, people saying such stupid things and doing things that could seriously hurt them but never want to step in because I don't want to even remotely come across as a know-it-all because quite frankly I don't know it all.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

As far as I am concerned, if they ask for advice, I'll give it. If they are posing a danger to me or someone else (or even just the equipment) I'll give it. Otherwise, they're on their own.

I used to give advice to anyone I saw struggling or having difficulty working out what they should be doing, but sometimes it just comes across as arrogant (the looks on some of their faces told me this..) so I just keep my self to my self where possible.

 

[Buffman]

but never want to step in because I don't want to even remotely come across as a know-it-all because quite frankly I don't know it all.

I'm the same, I'd tell a friend if I prior knew them or talked to them a lot in the gym but not really anyone else. Hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes when they get injured .