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

[The IPB]

How tall are you mate?

Im only 5ft5 currently 64kg, but in the world of combat sports you get as low as you can.

 

[LiE]

I can't remember what injury you have sorry, but I'd be careful on the smith if it's your shoulder. I use it for incline sometimes and it definitely puts more pressure on my shoulder than I'd like.

It's more of a trap/upper back injury. It comes on when doing heavy bench press.

 

[BennyC]

Lower Body Strength Today:

My calf cramped, horrifically on Seated Leg Curls, which I have now vowed never to do again and to stick to SLDL. The kind of cramp which refuses to stop 'bitting'.

Eccentric/concentric. Rest: 60 seconds

Squats: 2/1
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5

Deadlifts: 1/1
150KG x 5
150KG x 5
150KG x 5
150KG x 5
150KG x 5

Seated Leg Curls: 2/1

55Kg x 5
65KG x 5
65KG x 5
75KG x 5
75KG x 1 (Horrible calf cramp )

SLDL: 3/1
60KG x 5
60KG x 5
60KG x 5
60KG x 5
60KG x 5

(I did these as I felt SLC doing bugger all. These weren't heavy but I wanted to help stretch out.)

Calfraise:
Nil. I left these out as I didn't think it sensible.

Leg Extensions: 2/1
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5
100KG x 5

Cable Crunches: 3/1
33KG x 10
33KG x 10
33KG x 10
33KG x 10
33KG x 10

Rest day tomorrow. Might do some skipping if the calf allows

 

[ben90]

My calf cramped, horrifically on Seated Leg Curls, which I have now vowed never to do again and to stick to SLDL. The kind of cramp which refuses to stop 'bitting'.

Think I know what you mean there, did some lunges and got some serious cramp in my thighs, wasn't even with a heavy weight lol. Didn't go away for hours after either, was walking about the gym like i'd poo'd myself.

 

[BennyC]

My right calf was .5" bigger than the left last night I could see my calf muscle cramping as it happened. Stretched it out loads last night and gave it a quick massage, doesn't seem to be too tender today.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

I deal with the exact same. When ever I do Seated leg curls my calves almost always cramp.

I prefer SLDL's also. Those cramps hurt soooo much. You look like a right fool aswell when you suddenly stop and start attempting to recover and make it go away.

 

[BennyC]

Yeah, it's such a pain and I find it hard not to involve my calves in the curl.
I find it quite hard to stretch my calves effectivley but nailed the standing gastrocnemius stretch I have to sort of try and hyperextend my leg to get it to work, really push the knee of the behind leg back and up

 

[Participant]

Think I know what you mean there, did some lunges...was walking about the gym like i'd poo'd myself.

Lunges always do that to me. I've heard people comment on the way I was walking; ****ers, at least I'm working my legs out!!

Love lunges though, of all the leg involving exercises I do (deadlifts, front squats, smith back squats, leg press, leg extension), lunges are the ones that that let me know I've worked my legs out the most, and that's only with 14Kg DBs!

 

[Freefaller]

Try a lunge and reach. Makes it much more taxing! Especially after 10 reps on each leg!!

 

[Buffman]

Had another legs session today (Prob. my last with a free barbell over the winter ) and it was pretty tame, did ~65kg squats for 8 reps but didnt go any higher as I have an ankle injury (I think I could only go to about 70kg anyway ). Did some front squats too at 50kg and starting to get the hang of them.

Anyone else feel they've progressed a lot more in terms of size than strength? I feel I look quite big, and have got a fair bit bigger but in terms of strength I'm not particularly strong (although I've had injuries over the last few months affecting this). I think I might change to a more strength geared routine when I start back at uni gym in early January, though I'm more bothered about size so its tempting to stick with that .

 

[dun]

You want to gain size, you lift light weights but "feel I look quite big, and have got a fair bit bigger" and you want to change to a strength program? Surely you have stumbled on the perfect regime that works for you without too much effort, why change?

 

[bakes0310]

Lunges always do that to me. I've heard people comment on the way I was walking; ****ers, at least I'm working my legs out!!

Love lunges though, of all the leg involving exercises I do (deadlifts, front squats, smith back squats, leg press, leg extension), lunges are the ones that that let me know I've worked my legs out the most, and that's only with 14Kg DBs!

To be fair you were walking like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wippooDL6WE

 

[Buffman]

You want to gain size, you lift light weights but "feel I look quite big, and have got a fair bit bigger" and you want to change to a strength program? Surely you have stumbled on the perfect regime that works for you without too much effort, why change?

Fair point maybe I just feel a bit weak , I do like size over strength but a bit of both would be nice, so I might reduce the rep range a bit (I've been doing some 10-15 rep sets before, although that's also because I don't really log / remember what I've previously done, so if a weight isnt that hard I'll just push it to failure).

Also did some barbell lunges today, they're going to be incorporated a lot more often (I find dumbbell lunges a bit clumsy and annoying because they tend to hit off my legs).

 

[LiE]

For size 8-10 reps is good. It depends how you structure your sets. Sometimes I will start off doing 8-10 but then may drop to 6-8 on the last few sets so I can push a bigger weight, sometimes even 4-5 reps.

 

[Smit]

Anyone else feel they've progressed a lot more in terms of size than strength? I feel I look quite big, and have got a fair bit bigger but in terms of strength I'm not particularly strong

Join the club
I'm actually more muscular than I was before and quite a bit more based on what my family have told me (hadn't seen them in a while) but I am actually weaker than I was (or at least it feels that way).

A few years back I was the complete opposite, my strength was shooting up rapidly but size not so much but I am pretty sure that was because my diet was absolutely shocking!!

 

[BennyC]

Quick bit of cardio/H.I.I.T today.

10 Minutes skipping. 1 minute skip/1 minute rest.
10 Minutes H.I.I.T on the rower. 1 Minute Warm up. 20/40 followed by 30/30 for 5, 1 minute cool down.
7.5 Minutes skipping. 1 Minute skipping, 30 seconds rest.

Made sure to move about as I skipped. Can skip now without 'loosing it'. Haven't quite got the hang of faster paced or alternating leg. Haven't quite got the spring in my legs for it just yet! Made a nice change though.

 

[Freefaller]

Hill sprints today.

35m

15 sprints.

60s rest time.

Oh my....

 

[BennyC]

I'm looking foward to getting out and giving some hill sprints a try. I used to live on a stupidly steep hill just round the courner from where I live now.
Might drag my brother out and beast it up that for 25m or so and then walk back down and repeat till fall over and slide back down

 

[J.T]

Went a bit mental at the Gym today (Legs day) and thought I would see how much I could leg press, started slowly at 160KG for ten then 170KG for ten then 180KG for ten then skipped 190KG and ended up doing 200KG for Ten good reps, I could have gone higher but thought I better play it safe.....for now.

Well chuffed as I have only just (last 3 weeks or so) started to legs properly again!

 

[DarkShadow]

Just to carry on the stretch marks discussion, what products do you guys use in particular and have you had any success with it? I've got some major ones from my weight loss.

Stocked up on some fish supplies

John West mackerel in Hot Sauce - OMG YUMMY!