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

[Freefaller]

Monday:

Concentrating a lot on RC exercises and getting some strength/flexibility back into the shoulders. So I'm keeping the weights really light at the moment and just doing a lot of reps.

RC exercises (4 different exercises).

5 sets x 10 reps.

Flat bench DB:

15Kg: 8 sets x 15 reps

Flat bench flies:

10kg: 8 sets x 15 reps

Incline DB:

15kg: 8 sets x 15 reps

Incline flies:

10kg: 8 sets x 12 reps

Bent over lateral raises:

5kg: 8 sets x 10 reps

Seated shoulder press:

10kg: 8 sets x 10 reps


15 mins rowing machine.

That was it for monday. Really really light weights, lots of sets, VERY strict form and just concentrating on feeling the muscles contract and letting the shoulder move as freely as possible.


Tuesday:

Again keeping weights light and reps up for the whole session.

Warm up with 5 sets of RC exercises (3 exercises) 10 reps.

DLs:

10x100
10x100
10x100
10x100
8x140
8x140
8x140
6x140

Powercleans:

6x60
6x60
6x60
6x60
6x60
6x60
6x60

Then I thought, why the heck not do some arm work! It's been a while since I did some. So again some light weights and supersets.

Seated EZ Bar // Seated concentration curls

8x27.5kg (wide grip) // 6x12kg
8x27.5kg (wide grip) // 6x12kg
8x27.5kg (wide grip) // 6x12kg
8x37.5kg (narrow grip) // 6x12kg
6x37.5kg (narrow grip) // 6x12kg
6x37.5kg (narrow grip) // 6x12kg

Seated over-head tricep extension (ez bar) // single arm over head tricep extension

10x27.5kg // 6x12kg
10x27.5kg // 6x12kg
10x27.5kg // 6x12kg
10x27.5kg // 6x12kg
10x27.5kg // 6x12kg

Cable tricep pull down:

8x100
8x100
8x100
7x100
6x100


15 mins row-machine.

That's basically what it's going to be like for the next few weeks maybe up to a month. My big numbers aren't going to be beaten by me for a while unfortunately. Ah well, c'est la vie! Might shed a bit of BF - still trying to keep the volume up, but with light weights you just need to concentrate so much more of the effort of doing more and more!

 

[Ironic Namesake]

Chest/Bis today , nice and quick

Flat Bench
10 x 40
10 x 50
8 x 60
5 x 70
2 x 80

Incline DB Bench
8 x 10
8 x 10
8 x 15

EZ Bar Curl
10 x 15
8 x 17.5
7 x 20

DB Flys
8 x 5
8 x 7.5
8 x 7.5

 

[Barks]

As above, and give it time. You need to put in serious time and effort to get the results you want.

I fully appreciate this and the great thing about the summer is I won't have the pressures of uni to go out drinking twice a week.

I'm still a little confused though having read the stickies. Am I better off doing a month of heavy cardio to shift some weight, and then perhaps introducing the weights and increasing my calorie intake. At the moment I don't think I'm making progress as I'll do 20 minutes heavy cardio and 40 minutes weights every few days.

 

[Morba]

I fully appreciate this and the great thing about the summer is I won't have the pressures of uni to go out drinking twice a week.

I'm still a little confused though having read the stickies. Am I better off doing a month of heavy cardio to shift some weight,

what weight? you said in the other thread that there is nothing really to lose.

just get on with working out, too much thought will slow down progress because you wont have started anything worth while


Morba's One Liner for you scott: Stop thinking, get working :]

 

[PAz]

As CW used to say: JFT!

 

[LabR@t]

went to do my Deadlifts tonight warmed up and then went to start my 110kg only managed 1 rep and i felt a twang in back/side? gutted been looking forward to them allday/
carried on with rest of workout ok. Been doing full body workout m/w/f second week now after 4 months off i am now lifting heavy now then ever i think with my old split routine i had been doing foe couple of years was getting me nowhere.

anyone else do full body routine...?

 

[Euro_Hunter]

Chest for me today, I am a couple of days behind as I have just got over a sickness bug and didn't feel very strong

Flat Bench
12 x 35
10 x 45
10 x 55
7 x 65 (x3)
2 x 71 (x2)

Incline Bench
10 x 45
8 x 47 (x3)

 

[Steedie]

Manage to shrug 90kg today was quite pleased

 

[Jonny L]

I'm still relatively new to this but I think I'm starting to get into my stride now. Starting to hit quite a bit higher on the bench press for instance, my 1 rep max is about 72kg now (when I started it was 37.5) so I'm extremely happy with my progress after a couple of months (had 2 weeks off in the middle due to being at home and lack of equipment). Of recent times especially due to implementing compound exercises thanks to the advice I recieved on these forums .

I've found that the best routine for me seems to be a 3 way split performed over 3 straight days and then 2 days of rest and cardio.

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps // Back, Biceps and Forearms // Legs and Abs.

What kind of routines do you guys follow?

 

[Volcs]

Got a bit of friendly competition going with a mate from work at the moment - he went over my previous DL pb of 150kg this morning with a 155 so I had a stab this evening. Got it up but it was a bit of a bounce off the thighs midway so I'm not counting it. Still fairly happy though given that I'm 7kg lighter now than when I originally did 150kg (69kg down from 76). I think the failure do it clean was down to grip more anything.

 

[Morba]

what do you mean by bounce off of the legs? probably more than fine to class as a good lift

 

[Volcs]

Up to just past the knees in one motion (bars resting on lower portion of my thigh), then a second motion to straighten my back. I doubt it looked particularly pretty.

 

[fluffmct]

"Hitching" if you mean what I think you mean though sounds like it was pretty mild

 

[Dj_Jestar]

I'm still relatively new to this but I think I'm starting to get into my stride now. Starting to hit quite a bit higher on the bench press for instance, my 1 rep max is about 72kg now (when I started it was 37.5) so I'm extremely happy with my progress after a couple of months (had 2 weeks off in the middle due to being at home and lack of equipment). Of recent times especially due to implementing compound exercises thanks to the advice I recieved on these forums .

I've found that the best routine for me seems to be a 3 way split performed over 3 straight days and then 2 days of rest and cardio.

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps // Back, Biceps and Forearms // Legs and Abs.

What kind of routines do you guys follow?

Congrats on the PB, that's good progress

The polite thing to do is come up with a routine yourself, then others will pick at i... I mean advise you on improvements

Having said that, it's usually just good ol' common sense. I work out methodically, from top to bottom. On Mondays it is chest and shoulders (and sometimes situps or trunk twist for core) Weds is back day, Friday is leg day.

Arms get worked out doing the above. Tri's get caned on chest day (nearly all exercises involve pushing away) Bi's get caned on Weds (nearly everything involves pulling towards) and on Friday lifting all the plates up for my squats pumps up my guns

 

[Jonny L]

Congrats on the PB, that's good progress

The polite thing to do is come up with a routine yourself, then others will pick at i... I mean advise you on improvements

Having said that, it's usually just good ol' common sense. I work out methodically, from top to bottom. On Mondays it is chest and shoulders (and sometimes situps or trunk twist for core) Weds is back day, Friday is leg day.

Arms get worked out doing the above. Tri's get caned on chest day (nearly all exercises involve pushing away) Bi's get caned on Weds (nearly everything involves pulling towards) and on Friday lifting all the plates up for my squats pumps up my guns

Thanks

I was just wondering what sort of variations work for everyone else, at the moment my workout plan looks like this:
Day 1: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

- Bench Press 3 x 8 (Pectoralis Major, Sternal)
- Incline Bench Press 3 x 8 (Pectoralis Major, Clavicular)
- Dumbell Flies 3 x 8 (Pectoralis Major)

- Shoulder Press 3 x 8 (Anterior Deltoid)
- Upright Row 3 x 8 (Lateral Deltoid)
- Rear Lateral Raise 3 x 8 (Posterior Deltoid)
- Shrugs 3 x 8 (Trapezius)

- Skull Crushers 3 x 8 (Triceps Brachii)
- Tricep Extensions 3 x 8 (Triceps Brachii)
- Kick Backs 3 x 8 (Triceps Brachii)
_____________________________________

Day 2: Back, Biceps and Forearms

- Wide Grip Pullups 3 x 8 (Latissimus Dorsi & Teres Major)
- Deadlifts 3 x 8 (Erector, Spinae)
- Dumbell Rows 3 x 8 (Back, General)
- Bent Over Rows 3 x 8 (Back, General)

- Dumbell Curls 3 x 8 (Biceps Brachii)
- Barbell Curls 3 x 8 (Biceps Brachii)

- Hammer Curls 3 x 8 (Brachioradialis)
- Reverse Barbell Curls 3 x 8 (Brachioradialis)
_____________________________________

Day 3: Legs and Abs

- Squats 3 x 8 (Legs, General)
- Good Mornings 3 x 8 (Hamstrings)
- Weighted Lunges 3 x 8 (Quadriceps)
- Calf Raises 3 x 8 (Gastrocnemius)

- Stomach Crunches 3 x $ (Rectus Abdominis, Upper)
- Leg Lifts 3 x $ (Rectus Abdominis, Lower)
- Side Crunch 3 x $ (Obliques)
_____________________________________

Day 4: Rest and Cardio
30 mins run
_____________________________________

Day 5: Rest and Cardio
30 mins HIIT
_____________________________________

Repeat.

However, that is subject to regular change and whatever I feel needs tweaking at the time

I just thought it would be quite interesting to see the range of different regimes that work best for other people.

 

[Bakedgoods]

I'd suggest something like this personally

Chest & Back
Incline DB Bench Press 5x10
Wide Grip Pullups 5x8
Dips 5x10
One Arm DB Row 5x10

Legs
Squat 5x5
Leg Press 3x10
Deadlift 1x5
Calf Raises 2x10

Shoulders & Arms
Military Press 5x10
DB Lateral Raise 3x8
Close Grip Bench 5x10
Zottman Curls 5x10

Straight forward, full of big movements. Eat well and you'll grow.

Change exercises or reps at least every 4 weeks.

 

[Cristian]

day 1 is waay too crammed.
considering that when you're benching you also involve the triceps and shoulders, you're obviously not pushing yourself hard enough if you can still do 9 sets for shoulders and 9 for triceps afterwards.

for back it also invloves biceps, the biceps being a lot smaller than the triceps it's even more overkill to do 9 sets. also, 3 sets for forearms is more than enough.

last day is more or less okay, I'd only do 4 sets of squats and remove the obliques exercises, but that's just me.

my routine is:
day 1, chest:
4 x Bench press
4 x Incline DB press
4 x DB Flies

day 2, back:
4 x Pullups
4 x Seated cable rows
4 x Deadlifts
(I know I could use a 4th exercise here like BORs but they feel uncomfortable and as long as my back hurts like hell with soreness and still grows I can't be bothered yet. )

Day 3, arms:
3 x Skullcrushers
3 x Pullovers (actually some DB triceps extensions while lying horizontally)
3 x Cable pushdown

3 x EZ curls
3 x Concentration curls

Day 4, shoulders traps abs:
3 x Military DB press
3 x Cuban press
3 x Seated lateral raise

4 x Shrugs

4 x Crunches
4 x Leg raise

Day 5, legs:
4 x Squats
3 x Quad extensions
3 x Reverse curls or whatever you call them for the hammstrings

4 x Seated calf raise.

I've had pretty good progress using it and I still get really sore very week even I sleep 8-9 hours a day and eat properly, so I'm not really planning to increase the volume any time soon.

 

[Jonny L]

Thanks for the advice guys, I just find that my Day 1 session hits my triceps really well, I find that If I hit them hard on one day and then let them rest for up to a week I get a better result, but I will try switching it about and see if there is an improvement.

 

[Lead_Head]

Not been around all that much but I've been seeing some progress with the following regime.

A basic 3 day split of chest/tri, back/bi and shoulders/legs. On each exercise start with the lightest weight possible (at my gym they have ready made barbells at various weights as well as 6' bars), rep for 10, add weight, rep 10 and so on until failure.

I then follow this up with a 45 minute spinning session which is great for fat loss. It's slow progress but it's progress non the less. As I'm lifting light to start off with I'm reducing the risk of injury with a good warmup through the lighter weights.

I'm aware fat sits on top of muscle (e.g. your stomach hiding your abs) but am I right in saying that fatty tissue can be found in muscle? If so, what is the most effective way of making your muscle leaner? Does lowering your overall bodyfat remove the fat from within your muscles?

Also, any tips to get a good nights sleep? I'm not a morning person as it is and I always find myself having 7 hours absolute tops and feel incredibly lathargic in the mornings.

 

[Steedie]

Hot cup of milk before bed, knocks me out a treat

The fact it's a source of protein is an added bonus