HarryHengst
Member
Go to the gym. Dont be a pathetic wimp.
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Fitness |OT3| BroScience, Protein Dysentery, XXL Calf Implants, and Squat Rack Hogs
- Thread starter Anton Sugar
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I took 3 weeks off from the gym maybe 2 months ago and when I came back it was like I was starting all over again, took me around 2-3 weeks just to get back to where I was. It's really not worth it to take time off from the gym if you're not injured.
RumblingRosco
Member
I started graduate school last summer in what is essentially bioengineering; working towards my PhD. Finding time to get to the gym has never been harder. I'm in class maybe 1-2 hours a day with exams/homework/studying on top of that, and then I spend around 60-80 hours a week in my lab. Add any semblance of a social life and spending time with my girlfriend, and fuuuuuck, my body has suffered. What was 5-6 workouts a week is down to 2, maybe 3. I've lost 55 lbs off my deadlift, 35 on my squat, 25 on my bench, and 10 lbs of body weight overall. Even finding time to eat is difficult.
Summary: I've been hitting the gym as late as 1 AM just to get my damn workouts in and I refuse to let it fall to less than 2-3 workouts a week. I'm hoping I can get some sort of a routine and get back to 5+. I miss the gym a whole lot.
Summary: I've been hitting the gym as late as 1 AM just to get my damn workouts in and I refuse to let it fall to less than 2-3 workouts a week. I'm hoping I can get some sort of a routine and get back to 5+. I miss the gym a whole lot.
J Tourettes
Banned
If any UK gaffers are looking for olympic micro-plates, I just bought two lots from ebay as it was the cheapest I could find. Just weighed a selection of them and they're all within ten grams under/over.
These are the ones I bought, ordered Sunday and arrived today.
These are the ones I bought, ordered Sunday and arrived today.
are those biceps
Last night, after an absence of over two years, I've decided to reintegrate the bench press back into my chest routine. I don't want to go into too many boring details about why it took me this long, but it involves nagging shoulder issues and a surgically repaired right elbow.
Overall, my workout was fine. My chest had no problems with the most of the weight, but my joints (mainly elbow) were screaming at me during the initial sets. However, I got through it and I feel no lingering effects this morning.
It seems yesterday was the beginning of my system shock phase.
Overall, my workout was fine. My chest had no problems with the most of the weight, but my joints (mainly elbow) were screaming at me during the initial sets. However, I got through it and I feel no lingering effects this morning.
It seems yesterday was the beginning of my system shock phase.
J Tourettes
Banned
Just had a thought today. I do my pull/chin ups on my squat cage that I made from scaffolding poles. The poles are obviously wider in diameter than standard pull up bars, would this be affecting me in any way, negatively or positively?
I think wider grips would engage your lats more.
At one of my last jobs, there was a pipe that I would occasionally use to do some quick pull-ups whenever I was bored at work. It had a wide diameter. The only thing that I noticed is that it affected my grip. I had to use the thumb-over grip, because my hand couldn't grip all the way around the pole. However, it still didn't feel comfortable because my hand still didn't quite have the same coverage as it would on a regular pull-up bar.
In a sense, it negatively affected my pull-ups since my grip hindered my performance. Granted, I only used the wide bar to fool around at work. It wasn't part of my actual workout.
J Tourettes
Banned
It wasn't the form per se, more would my grip be affected by having to grip around a much fatter bar. Think I posted a pic in here a while back, I'll try and find.
It's not ideal for pull ups as it's only just over six foot (a compromise I had to make with my flatmate, although I'm wishing I'd just gone for eight and a half now, wouldn't have made much difference visually)so I have to keep my knees bent.
Edit: Three posts answering my question while I was away from my desk briefly. Thanks for the quick answers. Also found the pic I posted earlier
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
IDK what those are so I'm gonna assume those are boobs. And those are a fine pair of 74 year old boobs. I'd be proud to have a pair of those to sqeeze on at that age.
:lol
It wasn't the form per se, more would my grip be affected by having to grip around a much fatter bar. Think I posted a pic in here a while back, I'll try and find.
It's not ideal for pull ups as it's only just over six foot (a compromise I had to make with my flatmate, although I'm wishing I'd just gone for eight and a half now, wouldn't have made much difference visually)so I have to keep my knees bent.
Edit: Three posts answering my question while I was away from my desk briefly. Thanks for the quick answers. Also found the pic I posted earlier
Fat grip pullups are way harder. I can pop off 20ish pullups on the normal bar, but when I use my fatgripz, I'm lucky to do like 7-8.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
Quit being a bitch and man the fuck up.
Better?
It says quadriceps right there in the picture.
Anton Sugar
Member
I found one of the easiest ways to break it in is to set it on the floor, bend it, and then roll it with your foot while putting your weight on it.
TimeDog There's a good book on learning form called Starting Strength. It's on Kindle for $10. I recommend that and anyone else who is always worried about dat form. Also, it sounds like you're trying to get huge in a hurry. Your body grows at the rate it grows. If you want to be bodybuilder, be a bodybuilder, but you got to get strong first.
MickeyKnox
Member
The Bicep Femoris
FallingEdge
Member
Man the fuck up.
Well, let's hear from someone that you might know to help motivate you.
You said this yourself. All you have to do is apply your own words.
FallingEdge
Member
Depends on where you're at in your training.
Top and bottom looks like some juicy steaks. Would grill.
Cool, I'll try that because otherwise I think it'd take awhile.Thanks
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
Depends how developed you are, your routine schedual and your recovery time.
One thing you have to realize doing a second bench day is that it either needs to be lower weight or lower reps, your chest is still recovering when you hit it the second time.
I would typically drop the weight down 20lbs from the first hard work set in the week and go as many reps as possible.
I did it for about 2 or 3 months I think, it worked well for me, but I stopped doing it.
Woke up today sore as hell. There's no way I'm doing squats during every workout, as the beginner workout in the OP says to do. Yeah, I'm doing squats once a week, I'll make up my own routine. Do you guys agree with the OP about compound movements instead of isolation? Either way I'm gonna have to add some isolation stuff for like calves/forearms/other stuff.
HarryHengst
Member
Just do squats every workout, it only hurts the first two weeks or so. After that your body is used to it. And yes, make the compound exercises a priority. After you've done those you can do isolation stuff, but never skip compounds to do some more isolation things.
FallingEdge
Member
I'm still doing heavy weights/low reps but I think I'm just thinking too much into this. I will just stick with 4 days a week and just work my chest hard on chest days.
I know that it will be hard, but I strongly suggest you stick with squatting 3 times a week. You will get the most out of your linear gains. You are extremely sore as this is the first time you trained in 10 years. Keep at it because after each session, you will feel less and less sore. I remember when I first started squats, I only did 95lbs and the next morning I could barely walk. However, on the next workout, I was able to progess to 100 and so on and so on.
As for you question regarding isolation exercises, as long as you focus on improving your compound lifts, there is nothing wrong with adding assistance exercises. Just remember that they should be complimenting, not replacing, your main lifts.
Anton Sugar
Member
First time doing squats? Toughen up, brah. Many times, you just need to work through the soreness, but if you're doing squats for the first time, it will be especially hard for a week or so. Your body will get used to it.
Soreness =/= weakness. It's just not that comfortable.
soundahfekz
Member
Been hitting the gym a lot mainly doing cardio with some lifting. I did ab workouts (lifting) yesterday. I don't feel sore. Googling says you should give 48 hours of rest to your muscles. Is this completely necessary? I'm not looking to "bulk up" or anything, just simply looking to lose weight & strengthen my core.
Squats are awesome. It's satisfying (as I'm a beginner) to be able to put 10-15 lbs on each workout. And the exercise is so technical and involves a lot of muscles, it's always the exercise I'm most looking forward to. Can't want to incorporate some power cleans into my routine.
If you're sore enough that you can barely sit down to drop a deuce, it's a good sign if you're starting out. It'll get better after 2 weeks if you keep at it, we promise. There are some isolation stuff you can do but don't make it a priority over compound. Also, if you're doing deadlifts, your forearms will grow. Don't waste time trying to isolate that.
Pilates instructor says that you can work on your abs daily, but if you're lifting, I'd give it a day's rest. If you're doing the exercises properly, other things (like squats, pushups, most anything that's not on a machine) work your abs indirectly anyway.
Did deadlifts yesterday and they didn't do anything for my forearms. I was doing a fuckload of weight with wrist curls and shit back in the day though, it was easily my strongest muscle group when compared to other people who were lifting similar amounts of weight as me in other places.
@everyone: is doing squats 3 times a week really allowing your muscles to recover?
Your forearms were your strongest muscle? For real?
You can get away with squatting 3 times a week for the first 3-6 months of training, and then as your ability to adapt stress undergoes a change, you find yourself squatting heavy less often during the week. The Texas Method, an intermediate program, has a trainee squatting a high volume with moderate weight at the beginning of the week and then has him squatting a heavy set of 5,3, 2, or a heavy single at the end of the week. 5/3/1, another popular intermediate/advanced program, has lifters squatting once a week. Of course, progress is slower, but that's the nature of the beast with strength training; the stronger you get, the harder it is to get stronger.
Well honestly, I question it sometimes, but I still do it lol.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
I only do chest once a week, and I've got some decent mass on my chest. Always dumbbells, going heavy. Hell, in the past I've include some chest press machines, too. Now I'm doing flat DB chest press, incline BB bench, and DB flies.
For DB chest press, I've always done 4 sets of 10: 70x10, 80x10, 90x10, and 100x10.
Anton Sugar
Member
For a beginner, using beginner weights? Absolutely.
Yeah. Is that weird? Forearm strength alone gave me like 4-5 extra feet on my shotput distance.
You go up in weight as the sets progress and you're doing the same number of reps? Are you not going til exhaustion until your last set? If so, what does that do?
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
Er, doing the 100lb dbs as my final set and at 10 reps gets me exhausted.
And it works, well, for me at least. Grew my chest got me stronger.
And it works, well, for me at least. Grew my chest got me stronger.
By exhaustion I mean going until you cannot do another rep, that's what I try to do on every single set, thus if I want to keep the same number of reps in subsequent sets I would need to lower the weight. I'm just wondering what the reasoning for your method is.
Jason's Ultimatum
Member
If I do each set until exhaustion, then I wouldn't be able to do more weight. I just like increasing the weight while keeping the same amount reps, and at 10, which is a lot. Though for the last set at 100, if I do can more then 10 reps, I'll do it until exhaustion, so i'm with you there, but only for the last set.
EDIT-Actually, with the 100s I can do 12 reps. Even if my gym had heavier DBs, I don't think I'd want to jump to 110s or 120s.
EDIT-Actually, with the 100s I can do 12 reps. Even if my gym had heavier DBs, I don't think I'd want to jump to 110s or 120s.
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