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Fitness |OT4| Squat Booty, Summer Cuts, and Super Swoletrophy

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Mr.City

Member
Here's the grocery list version...

Eggs (2 whole, 4 whites)
Ezekiel Bread w/ Jam
Whole Avocado
Almonds
Whole Wheat Crackers
Almond Butter
Greek Yogurt
Veggies (Broccoli, Green Beans)
Fruit (Bananas, Pears)
Honey
Chicken
Quinoa
Tuna
Skim Milk

Waxy maize during the workout
Whey protein after
Casein before bed

You're bulking, but there's no beef? Where's the beef?
 

Alastor

Member
You probably underestimate how much and overestimate how healthy you eat, so i would suggest logging every single gram you put in your mouth for 2-3 weeks.

That might be a problem, yeah. I don't have big meals, but I eat many times in a day, when I feel an urge.

Anyway, update. Everyday, I'm going to do:

- 10 minutes of generic exercises in the morning;
- half an hour on training bike during TV news in the evening.

I started yesterday and so far, so good. I'm posting it because I prefer to have this decision written, in case of a will crisis.
 

MrOogieBoogie

BioShock Infinite is like playing some homeless guy's vivid imagination
FUCK YEAH!

Hit the 200lb deadlift milestone for the first time ever today. 1 set, 5 reps.

I've been steadily increasing the weight over the past month or so. I think I started off at 100lbs, realized that was extremely easy, and then kicked it up a notch every workout thereafter. Again, asked some random dude to watch my form from the side to make sure my butt doesn't elevate and my lower and upper back don't round, and it looks like everything was fine. No back pain or anything either (some soreness, though, which is to be expected. haha)

That was reasonably challenging. I'm fairly confident I can pull 210 next week. I know to some of you this isn't much, but having only just begun lifting again I'm surprised at how quickly my strength has improved.
 

TheCrow

Member
FUCK YEAH!

Hit the 200lb deadlift milestone for the first time ever today. 1 set, 5 reps.

I've been steadily increasing the weight over the past month or so. I think I started off at 100lbs, realized that was extremely easy, and then kicked it up a notch every workout thereafter. Again, asked some random dude to watch my form from the side to make sure my butt doesn't elevate and my lower and upper back don't round, and it looks like everything was fine. No back pain or anything either (some soreness, though, which is to be expected. haha)

That was reasonably challenging. I'm fairly confident I can pull 210 next week. I know to some of you this isn't much, but having only just begun lifting again I'm surprised at how quickly my strength has improved.

Congrats. I'm about to break the 200s in bench and deadlift soon too, if everything goes as planned. Then the goal becomes 2 plates.
 

Addi

Member
Ok, I have a question. When doing squats, I come to a point where my shoulder can't sustain the weight while my legs have no problem and could do much more. What should I do?
 

Cudder

Member
Ok, I have a question. When doing squats, I come to a point where my shoulder can't sustain the weight while my legs have no problem and could do much more. What should I do?

Where is the bar? It shouldn't be on your shoulders, more so on your very upper back, on your upper shoulder blades. If the bar is in the correct position, how many reps are you doing?
 

Addi

Member
Well shoulders was the wrong word, sorry, it's in correct position on the upper back. The heaviest I did today was 120kg (264 pounds) for 6 or 7 reps I think. I haven't done squats for a long time, but I have been doing dead lifts. My guess is that my back isn't used to that kind of weight anymore, but that my legs are because of dead lifting etc.
 

Petrie

Banned
Here's the grocery list version...

Eggs (2 whole, 4 whites)
Ezekiel Bread w/ Jam
Whole Avocado
Almonds
Whole Wheat Crackers
Almond Butter
Greek Yogurt
Veggies (Broccoli, Green Beans)
Fruit (Bananas, Pears)
Honey
Chicken
Quinoa
Tuna
Skim Milk

Waxy maize during the workout
Whey protein after
Casein before bed

Why eat beef?

For one thing you're complaining its hard to eat 4000 calories, and beef would make that a lot easier than chicken does.
 

IceCold

Member
I hate how my gym keeps changing its layout all the time. They've recently moved the stretching area somewhere else and expanded the bicep curl area. They're hoarding all the EZ bars and small barbell bars now.
 

Petrie

Banned
I hate how my gym keeps changing its layout all the time. They've recently moved the stretching area somewhere else and expanded the bicep curl area. They're hoarding all the EZ bars and small barbell bars now.

Can't really blame them for expanding the more popular areas.
 

despire

Member
Anyone here who has cut with IF/LG so that you had excess calories (+500cal or so) on workout days and deficit calories (-1000cal or so) on rest days? How did it work?

If not then any idea if it would be possible to make any gains with this kind if schedule while losing weight?

Weight loss is definately more important but I was thinking of doing this when I get low enough in BF%. Should at least prevent catabolia pretty well..
 

TheCrow

Member
Anyone here who has cut with IF/LG so that you had excess calories (+500cal or so) on workout days and deficit calories (-1000cal or so) on rest days? How did it work?

If not then any idea if it would be possible to make any gains with this kind if schedule while losing weight?

Weight loss is definately more important but I was thinking of doing this when I get low enough in BF%. Should at least prevent catabolia pretty well..

I've been doing it on my bulk and it's been fine. Nothing special.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Congrats. I'm about to break the 200s in bench and deadlift soon too, if everything goes as planned. Then the goal becomes 2 plates.

Nice! I'd love to get my bench to 200. Deadlifts are easy for me though because I'm a big guy. Definitely a stronger puller than pusher. I've got some weak ass shoulders lol
 
I hate how my gym keeps changing its layout all the time. They've recently moved the stretching area somewhere else and expanded the bicep curl area. They're hoarding all the EZ bars and small barbell bars now.

My gym did the opposite and added new dipping bars in an area I never go near. When I discovered them I wondered how long they'd actually been there.
 
Well I'm down to 175lbs (from 197 in July) I'm still doing IF with great results, but I think I need to do a good old fashioned bulk soon as my arms have gotten noticably smaller. All my lifts continue to improve however, up to 230 x 9 on bench which would put my max just shy of 300lbs.
 

TheCrow

Member
Nice! I'd love to get my bench to 200. Deadlifts are easy for me though because I'm a big guy. Definitely a stronger puller than pusher. I've got some weak ass shoulders lol

Being short has it's benefits, I love bench press day on 5/3/1. My squat is still lacking but I'm making good progress so far.
 
After this 3 month BBB challenge is done, I think I want to put more of a focus on my glutes. Really switch things up a bit.

Current stats:

OHP: 3 reps @ 170
Squat: 10 reps @ 325
Deads: 5 reps @ 340 (bleh)
Bench: 8 reps @ 245
 

Zoe

Member
Anybody ever get pain around the front/side of the rib cage from messing up your squat form? I can understand hurting your legs or your back, but I have no idea how I could have hurt this area.
 

Tater Tot

"My God... it's full of Starch!"
Dafuq, I am getting weaker at pullups. I was training for strength and got to about 4 pullups +45 lb plate. However, I am now trying to lose weight and can only do body weight pull ups1st set -8 2nd set 4 3rd set 3. I guess it has to do with rest times, as with strength training I was doing around 3 min rest between set and now I only do 1 minute. :/
 

Petrie

Banned
After this 3 month BBB challenge is done, I think I want to put more of a focus on my glutes. Really switch things up a bit.

Current stats:

OHP: 3 reps @ 170
Squat: 10 reps @ 325
Deads: 5 reps @ 340 (bleh)
Bench: 8 reps @ 245

You're how I keep tracking my own progress, as we hover similar and have similar builds. 5/3/1 bbb has me at:

Squat: 275x7
Deads: 355x5
Bench: 215x9
OHP: 155x4

I've always had very solid glutes though, so being a bit ahead of you there makes sense. Chest and tris have become my biggest focus.

Keep it up man, you're killing it.
 

mooooose

Member
So I did what most people did and scaled back my squats before I wasn't squatting deep enough but now I feel like my form is overall much worse even though I squat deeper and I am seeing less progress. I can't tell though. I will make a video Monday.

Also 5/3/1 is a great program.
 
After this 3 month BBB challenge is done, I think I want to put more of a focus on my glutes. Really switch things up a bit.

Current stats:

OHP: 3 reps @ 170
Squat: 10 reps @ 325
Deads: 5 reps @ 340 (bleh)
Bench: 8 reps @ 245

I'm gaining on you bro! Well.... somewhat. I'm about dead even with you on Deads and Bench, but my squats and OHP are horrendous, too embarrassing to list.

Deads: 5 @ 335
Bench: 9 @ 230
 

Noema

Member
You want embarrasing? I'll show you embarrasing:

Bench: 175lbx5. And I've been lifting for 18 months.


At least my deadlift isn't so bad:

390lbx5. At least my orangutan arms are good for something.


Today I had to lower the bar to the pins for the first time. I was doing my squat worksets at 295lb. First 3 reps were hard, but doable. When I squatted down to do the fourth one, I suddenly lost all tightness in my hamstrings and my glutes and the bar pinned my down like I was trying to squat in Jupiter's gravity.

I was dissapointed that I wasn't able to get all 5 reps, but I also realized that having to bail out of a failed squat isn't such a big deal. To be honest, squats scare the living shit out of me; knowing that getting pinned under the bar isn't the end of the world will probably boost my confidence when doing them.
 

rando14

Member
You want embarrasing? I'll show you embarrasing:

Bench: 175lbx5. And I've been lifting for 18 months.


At least my deadlift isn't so bad:

390lbx5. At least my orangutan arms are good for something.


Today I had to lower the bar to the pins for the first time. I was doing my squat worksets at 295lb. First 3 reps were hard, but doable. When I squatted down to do the fourth one, I suddenly lost all tightness in my hamstrings and my glutes and the bar pinned my down like I was trying to squat in Jupiter's gravity.

I was dissapointed that I wasn't able to get all 5 reps, but I also realized that having to bail out of a failed squat isn't such a big deal. To be honest, squats scare the living shit out of me; knowing that getting pinned under the bar isn't the end of the world will probably boost my confidence when doing them.

Why is your bench so far behind? Are you prioritizing muscles groups/lifts?
 

Noema

Member
Why is your bench so far behind? Are you prioritizing muscles groups/lifts?

I broke my humerus 8 years ago and my shoulder never healed right. My right anterior deltoid is just a clump of scar tissue.

When I started I couldn't even bench a 45lb barbell. So I've been progressing very slowly, but progressing nonetheless.
 

rando14

Member
I broke my humerus 8 years ago and my shoulder never healed right. My right anterior deltoid is just a clump of scar tissue.

When I started I couldn't even bench a 45lb barbell. So I've been progressing very slowly, but progressing nonetheless.

Ah I see. In that case (and I'm sure you're aware of this) you could easily build a large chest doing mostly fly exercises. I bench press only once a week and the rest of my chest exercises are fly movements and I have a great chest.

Does your rear delt problem not hurt your back movements though? I can imagine it would at least impede your row movements.
 

Noema

Member
Ah I see. In that case (and I'm sure you're aware of this) you could easily build a large chest doing mostly fly exercises. I bench press only once a week and the rest of my chest exercises are fly movements and I have a great chest.

Does your rear delt problem not hurt your back movements though? I can imagine it would at least impede your row movements.

Agreed, there are many ways I could isolate my pecs so that the shoulders are sort of out of the equation. I bench with a pretty narrow grip; anything wider really bothers my shoulder and also makes it harder.

I'm training mostly for strength right now, so I'm focusing on bringing my bench up as much as I can. My goal is to be able to bench at least 225lbx5 by January 2014, but I think I'll be adding more assistance exercises including flies. Curiously, even though I'm not strong at benching at all, my chest has gotten pretty big, and I think the reason is that my pecs really have to pick up the slack from my non-functional shoulder and compensate.

And thankfully my rear delts are fine :) It's my front (anterior) deltoid that is FUBAR from all the surgeries I had to undergo. :) So I have no issues with pulling movements, just pressing. As you can imagine, my OHP is even worse since it's the deltoids that domost of the work.
 

blackflag

Member
Deadlifted 415 today for the first time since my back issues started. Hope to get it up to 500 soon but to do that ima have to eat and disregard the cut for awhile. Not sure if I'm mentally prepared for that.

Probably could have hit 450 but. I was scared. Trying to go slow.
 
I've realized i really dislike the bench press and i go in it with a negative attitude. I love squatting and deadlifting and pressing and i notice my mental state towards it is way different than when i have to bench press. Im starting to think it might be part of the reason i suck so much at it, and i also have trouble improving the amount i lift. All my other lifts are slowly going up, but the bench press is somehow stuck at 130-140 pounds.

I guess part of it is that im not really comfortable under the bar, with there really no way of dropping it if the weight is too heavy. The deadlift you can just drop, i failed the squat a few times but there were safety bars to catch the bar and the press can simply be lowered and racked, but with the BP you are pretty much stuck. My gym is also mostly empty at the times i can go, except for some people on the threadmills, so most of the time i cant ask someone to spot. Guess i'll just have to man up and get through this mental barrier.
 

Keen

Aliens ate my babysitter
I've realized i really dislike the bench press and i go in it with a negative attitude. I love squatting and deadlifting and pressing and i notice my mental state towards it is way different than when i have to bench press. Im starting to think it might be part of the reason i suck so much at it, and i also have trouble improving the amount i lift. All my other lifts are slowly going up, but the bench press is somehow stuck at 130-140 pounds.

I guess part of it is that im not really comfortable under the bar, with there really no way of dropping it if the weight is too heavy. The deadlift you can just drop, i failed the squat a few times but there were safety bars to catch the bar and the press can simply be lowered and racked, but with the BP you are pretty much stuck. My gym is also mostly empty at the times i can go, except for some people on the threadmills, so most of the time i cant ask someone to spot. Guess i'll just have to man up and get through this mental barrier.

I'm the same way, my bench just sucks compared to most everything else.

Bench: 3 reps@80kg (175lbs)
OHP: 3 reps@50kg (110lbs) - although this was after bench, so probably have a little bit more in me.
Squat: 1 rep@130kg (285lbs)
Dead: 1 rep@180kg (395lbs)
 

Noema

Member
I've realized i really dislike the bench press and i go in it with a negative attitude. I love squatting and deadlifting and pressing and i notice my mental state towards it is way different than when i have to bench press. Im starting to think it might be part of the reason i suck so much at it, and i also have trouble improving the amount i lift. All my other lifts are slowly going up, but the bench press is somehow stuck at 130-140 pounds.

I guess part of it is that im not really comfortable under the bar, with there really no way of dropping it if the weight is too heavy. The deadlift you can just drop, i failed the squat a few times but there were safety bars to catch the bar and the press can simply be lowered and racked, but with the BP you are pretty much stuck. My gym is also mostly empty at the times i can go, except for some people on the threadmills, so most of the time i cant ask someone to spot. Guess i'll just have to man up and get through this mental barrier.

Is the a power rack in your gym? If you have no one to spot you, you can set the pins just above your chest so that you can set the bar on the if you miss a rep, but you can bench with a full ROM if you arch your back and pull your chest up.
 
started going gym about a year ago, went from 16 st to about 13. I cut out gym all summer and lost alot of shape, so i decided to take boxing classes as well as hit the gym again. I am wondering if this is too much strain on my body.

i have a routine like this

Sunday : Chest and triceps
Monday : Boxing
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Boxing
Thursday : Back and biceps
Friday : shoulders and abs

I do a ten minute interval run on the treadmill before each gym session. Haven't seen much muscle gain but I am wondering if that is because I am not eating enough or if I am not giving my body enough time to rest.
 
started going gym about a year ago, went from 16 st to about 13. I cut out gym all summer and lost alot of shape, so i decided to take boxing classes as well as hit the gym again. I am wondering if this is too much strain on my body.

i have a routine like this

Sunday : Chest and triceps
Monday : Boxing
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Boxing
Thursday : Back and biceps
Friday : shoulders and abs

I do a ten minute interval run on the treadmill before each gym session. Haven't seen much muscle gain but I am wondering if that is because I am not eating enough or if I am not giving my body enough time to rest.

I'd advice to look into a program that has you lifting 3 days a week (the first post of the thread has some suggestions), so you have an extra day of rest. And make sure you get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep every nights.

Without knowing what you eat its hard to say if you're not eating enough, but most people underestimate how much they eat. If you really want to be sure get a food scale and measure everything you eat for a week or two, so you know exactly how many calories you eat.
 
I'd advice to look into a program that has you lifting 3 days a week (the first post of the thread has some suggestions), so you have an extra day of rest. And make sure you get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep every nights.

Without knowing what you eat its hard to say if you're not eating enough, but most people underestimate how much they eat. If you really want to be sure get a food scale and measure everything you eat for a week or two, so you know exactly how many calories you eat.

well i have a bowl of oats with skimmed milk and water every morning with a slice of wholemeal toast

for lunch i'll have noodles and 2 boiled eggs

then dinner Chicken/turkey breast or lion steak with rocket salad and 2 boiled eggs again.

I try to aviod carbs after the work out. Since i am just used to that because i used to be focused on weight loss.

I occasionally drink. Once a week if that, spirits rather than beer.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Deadlifted 415 today for the first time since my back issues started. Hope to get it up to 500 soon but to do that ima have to eat and disregard the cut for awhile. Not sure if I'm mentally prepared for that.

Probably could have hit 450 but. I was scared. Trying to go slow.

The only lift that continued to go up even in my cut was deadlift. It might not effect your lift as much as you think.


Don't just jump from 415-450 or 500 though man. You're gonna shit out your spine.
 

zsswimmer

Member
You want embarrasing? I'll show you embarrasing:

Bench: 175lbx5. And I've been lifting for 18 months.


At least my deadlift isn't so bad:

390lbx5. At least my orangutan arms are good for something.


Sounds like you and me have a similar build. I've been 'lifting' for a couple of years but kinda wasted my noob gains on shit routines that had way too much volume for the first 2 years or so. I would use those '4 weeks to big muscle' type routines off bodybuilding.com and barely make any progress on anything lol

So my bench is 225 x 5 at the end of my bench sets and my deadlift is 350lb x 5 at the end of deadlift sets. I weigh 220lb so the bench numbers are pretty meh.

The one thing I'll say about madcow 5x5 is that you will gain a TON of lower body strength. My 1RM was 350lb when I deadlifted over the summer and now I can rep that out (without bouncing the weight or anything) after 3 other deadlift sets.
 

Petrie

Banned
well i have a bowl of oats with skimmed milk and water every morning with a slice of wholemeal toast

for lunch i'll have noodles and 2 boiled eggs

then dinner Chicken/turkey breast or lion steak with rocket salad and 2 boiled eggs again.

I try to aviod carbs after the work out. Since i am just used to that because i used to be focused on weight loss.

I occasionally drink. Once a week if that, spirits rather than beer.

With boxing and lifting, you aren't eating nearly enough to see any gains. No wonder.

Eat. Then eat some more.
 

Dash27

Member
Low bar squat 320# 1x8 last night. Felt good that it felt good, I had more in the tank. I havent been really serious in months so I was concerned about how it would go once it started getting to the heavier weights (for me). A birthday present to myself.

I immediately followed that up by pushing a prowler 50 yards for 4 reps with 180lbs on it. Puke.

3201x811-30-12-1.jpg
 

grumble

Member
Anybody ever get pain around the front/side of the rib cage from messing up your squat form? I can understand hurting your legs or your back, but I have no idea how I could have hurt this area.

It's odd for sure but possible. You may have strained an intercostal muscle, or possibly be pulling too hard on the bar when you squat, damaging your chest muscles. The abs also take a beating from squats.
 
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