Daaaaaang, falling. Impressive.
Next op should include all the regulars before and afters.
At the peak of my bulk, no way!
Will consider in the summer
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Fitness |OT4| Squat Booty, Summer Cuts, and Super Swoletrophy
- Thread starter Mr.City
- Start date
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At the peak of my bulk, no way!
Will consider in the summer
Roided to the gills
Yea, I think it's safe to say.
Those tiny wild blueberries? Yeah, that happened to me at work. So embarrassing.
Yeah, I get Trader Joe's frozen non-organic little ones from Quebec.
I didn't even know it was happening, and my trainer the next day thought I was suffocating or hypoxic or something, and I didn't know why. Then a few days later I see it in the mirror and put it all together.
I started working out about a year ago (was an absolute skinny nerd), didn't take any pics, but I just started taking pics so that next year I can look back and hopefully be able to make one of those impressive transformation reels.
Okay guys, since I'm a bit busy I've devised the following workout. I'm using dumbbells because that's all I have at home. Any revisions will be welcome
A:
3x8 DB curls
3x8 Tricep kickbacks
2xF Close grip pullups
3x15 sit-ups
3x8 DB rows
3x8 DB benchpress
B:
3x8 DB squats
3x8 DB deadlifts
3x8 DB curls
2xF wide grip pullups
3x15 calf raises
3x15 sit ups
I feel like 3x8 might be too little. My goals are lowering my BF% to get visible abs by this summer. My pattern will go AxBxAxx with (maybe) some cardio on off days. Sorry if this is total broscience by the way.
Ah that's what I was worried about. Damn. I'm doing pretty heavy things (for me at least). 20 lbs curls (pls no giggles, everyone starts somewhere ) and 30 lbs for rows... That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
I feel my diet is okay. I've been eating clean... For the most part.
A:
3x8 DB curls
3x8 Tricep kickbacks
2xF Close grip pullups
3x15 sit-ups
3x8 DB rows
3x8 DB benchpress
B:
3x8 DB squats
3x8 DB deadlifts
3x8 DB curls
2xF wide grip pullups
3x15 calf raises
3x15 sit ups
I feel like 3x8 might be too little. My goals are lowering my BF% to get visible abs by this summer. My pattern will go AxBxAxx with (maybe) some cardio on off days. Sorry if this is total broscience by the way.
Ah that's what I was worried about. Damn. I'm doing pretty heavy things (for me at least). 20 lbs curls (pls no giggles
, everyone starts somewhere ) and 30 lbs for rows... That's all I can think of off the top of my head.I feel my diet is okay. I've been eating clean... For the most part.
If you want abs, you need to deal with your diet more than your exercises. But you're going to want more ab work in there, too.
For example, when I do abs/core, I do 120 double crunches, 120 side crunches (each side) and 120 supermans. And that's 2-3 times a week.
And, yeah, I think you should devise 3-4 days' worth of routines and get 3-4 exercises for each muscle group into your week. Kind of hard to do that, especially for legs, since you're limited to dumbbells. But definitely get some lunges in there, too.
Also, you should change up your routine every 4-6 weeks, too, rather than stick with one routine until summer. You should vary exercises, but also weights, reps, cadence, etc. to keep your muscles surprised - with only two workouts, your body will adapt very quickly.
entremet
Member
You could do triple!
Fake ass broscience incoming!
Periodization is broscience?
And even so, is having two routines for like 6 months the most productive way to do things?
Hm... I'm somewhat of a beginner so I don't really know what lifts to do for each muscle with a dumbbell.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
Okay guys, since I'm a bit busy I've devised the following workout. I'm using dumbbells because that's all I have at home. Any revisions will be welcome
A:
3x8 DB curls
3x8 Tricep kickbacks
2xF Close grip pullups
3x15 sit-ups
3x8 DB rows
3x8 DB benchpress
B:
3x8 DB squats
3x8 DB deadlifts
3x8 DB curls
2xF wide grip pullups
3x15 calf raises
3x15 sit ups
Squats, deads, rows, bench and pullups are the important moves you're doing, so your routine should focus on making sure you can devote the most effort to them. Kickbacks before bench for example, is counter-productive. Aim for something like:
A: Squat, Overhead Press (you should add this), Row, accessory work
B: Deadlift, Bench Press, Pullups, accessory work
Planks or ab-wheel rollouts would be better than situps as well.
I did the same routine for a year and saw improvements every week.
Because your body got used to doing a single routine for a year..you hit your muscles the exact same way, they kind of "expect" it, if you know what I mean.
I don't know..I'm with the whole "switch it up every so often" camp. Though I believe you need to keep your compound lifts a staple in any routine and switch up your accessory/machine work.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
No, but changing the minutiae of a routine (cadence?) after an arbitrary period of time in order to surprise the muscles isn't periodisation. Your edit isn't any more accurate, by the way, as it's pretty much a different way of saying the same thing you said before. What's the downside to the body adapting to efficiently perform movement patterns if the volume or intensity is changing?
Are these all doable with dumbbells? I don't have time to go to the gym, that's why I'm using them.
I think I'm going to faint.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
Well, you've got all of them (bar overhead press) in your routine already, so I'm assuming you know how to do them with what you've got available
The point is that even if you're limited in your ability to maximally train strength and power you should still program with the goal of improving on the lifts that most effectively develop these qualities. So kickbacks after bench, curls after pullups, squats and deads on different days and go as hard as you can on them, even if it means you can't put your all into your calf raises.Exercises, weight and reps are minutiae? Even leaving exercises out, reps and weights are what make a routine strength-oriented or hypertrophy-oriented, which are pretty different. Maybe I'm using the wrong term.
But about cadence: just lifting something 12 times is a lot different than lifting something 12 times over 2-4 seconds, holding it for one second, and lowering it again in 2. The latter's a lot harder.
Anyway, feel free to educate me in PMs, but at least answer the dude's questions. I gave my opinion, and you should give yours.
It's just more calories. Depends on what you're doing, but if you're trying to cut (or lose weight in general) I'd avoid anything that's not low calorie brew. And do so in moderation.
mr stroke
Member
I drink 3-4 times a week and have no problems working out. I generally go with vodka/whiskey, less calories and carbs. Stay away from Beer if your trying to cut down weight though.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
Ravidrath said:
I've given him 2 answers that are fairly in depth. Forgive me for jumping on you, but if you bring up muscle confusion in a thread like this it's going to happen. I know what you mean by cadence but I'm struggling to think of a time where I've encountered it being used by a reputable source. Pause squats and speed work sure, for intermediate/advanced strength trainees trying to improve sticking points. Maybe it's useful in accessory work for elite bodybuilders. For the average trainee though? It might be harder to do a lift slowly but what's the benefit?
As for answering questions, can you answer mine? What is the downside to the body adapting to efficiently perform movement patterns if the volume or intensity is changing?
chrisisawesome
Member
Sure alcohol will decelerate muscle growth since your body will need to process the alcohol first, but in my experience it all depends on total calorie intake and what your body is used to. I drink alcohol, but never beer, and although I don't claim to be anywhere near as intense as some of the others here, I'm happy with my progress and have low BF%. If you are looking to cut but still drink, definitely substitute beer with something like Vodka soda, rum+diet coke, Whisky etc...
entremet
Member
Depends on your goals. Strength or hypertrophy.
Hypertrophy
If you're trying to tax your muscles to make them grow, different ways of doing the same thing will tax them more than doing the same familiar thing forever. If doing the same exercise in a different way is harder, then it's because it's playing against some weakness in your physique, and resolving that will only improve you.
Do you not believe in adjusting angles or grips to target different parts of the muscle? Or even the order of the exercises?
I mean, to turn things around on you, is there a clear upside, in your view, to doing the same exercises forever, adapting to the movements and just varying weights and reps from there?
Also, I didn't use the term "muscle confusion." When I think of "muscle confusion," I think of P90X-style stuff where you're doing lots of different things back-to-back, not changing up your routine every 4-6 weeks.
For hypertrophy, I usually do 3-4 sets of 12-15.
Usually something like 1 set of 15, increase the weight, do two sets of 12, then do another set of 12 plus an immediate drop-set to the previous weight.
A few points, my opinion.
1. Reps and weights are not what make a routine strength or hypertrophy oriented, exactly. If you do 5/3/1 bbb for example, you would be training both to some degree. You do need adequate volume to train hypertrophy for muscle, but that can be 3x10 or 10x3 or 5x5 or many other things. Aside from bodybuilder split silliness, they're less different than you might imagine. Strength is to drive up your 1rm, hypertrophy to drive up your 10rm. Try synergize.
2. The super slow or cadence movement was big in the 80s and fundamentally misunderstands what drives hypertrophy. The idea was based off of the idea that time under tension drove muscle size increase, so do it slower and you'll get more. The issue with that is that while tut and hypertrophy correlate it isn't causative; both tut and muscle increase are caused by doing enough volume of work at heavy weight. When the super slow crowd realized that their slow reps with light weight or low volume of reps not working the muscle's rom weren't working, the movement mostly died out. I really only see value for it for practicing technique.
3. Muscle confusion isn't a useful idea. It's not based on science, and is often used as an excuse to relieve monotony in the gym. Every movement needs to be learned neurally before you are able to stress your body's musculature enough to build muscle. Switching things around arbitrarily at frequent intervals keeps you in a state of rural learning but not muscular development. Muscles don't have brains and don't need to be confused; they adapt to stimulus, and doing the same movements at heavier weights and reps will drive progression. Doing so saves the neural time and keeps attention on the most efficient movements.
Thanks for explaining - I'll look into all that stuff.
Regarding cadence, though, do you not see value in working that in to improve form and technique?
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
Lifting slowly deliberately does not improve force output or rate of force development and can hinder the latter. As mentioned above, TUT is iffy. Thinking that making something harder to do is the same thing as making it better to do is the sort of thinking that leads to bosu ball squats.
If you mean like changing the angle of a bicep curl to build a peak, then no I don't. Muscle shape is determined genetically and cannot be altered. Muscles (heads) also contract as a whole. Trying to sculpt your body into a certain shape really extends as far as emphasising some muscles and de-emphasising others. Neither should be the concern of a beginner. If you mean the difference between say wide grip pullups and chinups, or low bar squats and high bar, then yes, activation can differ with only minor changes in positioning.
By order of exercises, do you mean something like wearing out your triceps before you bench to emphasise your chest (or vice versa?) There's an easier way to achieve this: Bench first and as fresh as you can. Then do flyes and kickbacks if you want more work. Even if your main goal is size, why shortchange your strength for it? Unless you're already as strong as Arnold or Coleman...
... Yes? It's how you get stronger. The neural component of strength is massive. I suspect that if you told Olympic lifters that they need to stop snatching and squatting so much because they're adapting to the movement and hiding their weaknesses you would get looked at funny.
I'm not saying to discount all accessory work, and never periodise for strength, power, size, endurance etc... But these things should be programmed purposefully, not changing something that works on a whim because "surprise!"
Sorry for misquoting. The term is also used for what you're advocating. However, I do believe that surprising your muscles is equally as implausible as confusing, amusing, shocking or moving them.
OK, got it - thanks for explaining.
Not sure the snark and derision was called for, but at least I learned something.
Well, this is much better. You need to remember to keep your chest up: you are doing high-bar squats and your cue is to "raise your chest" as you go up.
The first set was better, since you maintained lumbar extension throughout. The second one was a bit looser. Remember that your chest has to be raised before you unrack the weight.
And also remember to take a deep breath before every rep and hold it. Release at the top and repeat.
This was really all that needed to be said. I was going to weigh in, but Grumble handled it far more eloquently than I would have.
Thug Waffle
Member
Love rippin' booty when I'm working core
parrotbeak
Member
I was going to ask you if you're doing dls since you have the same injury/surgery as me. I don't do anything else specific for my lower back erectors because I find that between hiking every weekend and dling every 2 weeks, my back needs a few days to calm down. Overhead pressing can aggravate it too, and that's usually 1-2x a week, depending on schedule. I do a lot of cable and db rows at light weight for 10-20 reps, as well as shoulder work which seems to help my posture throughout the day. Improving posture while sitting at work for 10-12 hours is probably the most helpful thing for my back.
I don't squat at all, even body squats, although I sit in a squat position a lot to help with hip flexibility. I find squats to be the most aggravating and not worth it. Lunges, running stairs, and long mountain hikes are good enough for me.
D
Deleted member 12837
Unconfirmed Member
Traditionally, even after periods of reaggrevating the scar tissue, DLs have been fine for me. However, this time feels a bit different; even after a lot of rest my lower back still feels pretty weak.
I hate to think about having to give up squatting permanently already since I'm so young, especially since it's such an incredible exercise.
I actually have a standing desk at work, which has helped with my recovery and back pain quite a bit.
Looks promising, I'll give them a try.
Eating lots is the most important. Stretching is preferred although it probably won't help with the sorenesss. Some walking isn't detrimental either.
But mainly you just have to cope with it for now. Next week will be easier already..
So in other news I've been contemplating about going back to GSLP from RPT for the last stretch of my cut. I switched to RPT in hopes of it being a better cutting program but I've just managed to lose strength for the last month even though I've been eating way more. Everything went pretty awesomely with GSLP 5x,5+ rep scheme for weeks and took a turn for worse when I switched programs.
If I were to go back to GSLP would the two set rep scheme be enough to spare lean mass while training twice a week?
Wednesday
Bench 5x, 5+
Deadlift 5+
Chins
Sunday
Press 5x, 5+
Squat 5x, 5+
Any thoughts? Doing the third set isn't a problem if it's not too much volume..
But mainly you just have to cope with it for now. Next week will be easier already..
So in other news I've been contemplating about going back to GSLP from RPT for the last stretch of my cut. I switched to RPT in hopes of it being a better cutting program but I've just managed to lose strength for the last month even though I've been eating way more. Everything went pretty awesomely with GSLP 5x,5+ rep scheme for weeks and took a turn for worse when I switched programs.
If I were to go back to GSLP would the two set rep scheme be enough to spare lean mass while training twice a week?
Wednesday
Bench 5x, 5+
Deadlift 5+
Chins
Sunday
Press 5x, 5+
Squat 5x, 5+
Any thoughts? Doing the third set isn't a problem if it's not too much volume..
Hey FitnessGAF,
I'm 5'6", 145lb, bulking up on 5x5. Need your help on checking my form. I felt that my form wasn't very good on these exercises so I lowered the weight to 135lb. Here are the videos:
Squat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFoY3sAq55o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Bf3Pflgqg
Bench Press:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zUByD4cUA
Deadlift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKrRYpjkIs4
I will be posting OHP and BOR videos in a few days.
Thanks
I'm 5'6", 145lb, bulking up on 5x5. Need your help on checking my form. I felt that my form wasn't very good on these exercises so I lowered the weight to 135lb. Here are the videos:
Squat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFoY3sAq55o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Bf3Pflgqg
Bench Press:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zUByD4cUA
Deadlift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKrRYpjkIs4
I will be posting OHP and BOR videos in a few days.
Thanks
Hey FitnessGAF,
I'm 5'6", 145lb, bulking up on 5x5. Need your help on checking my form. I felt that my form wasn't very good on these exercises so I lowered the weight to 135lb. Here are the videos:
Squat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFoY3sAq55o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9Bf3Pflgqg
Bench Press:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zUByD4cUA
Deadlift:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKrRYpjkIs4
I will be posting OHP and BOR videos in a few days.
Thanks
I think your form is quite good, but you could do some small adjustments. First of all, get rid of those shoes. When the weight gets heavier, it will be like standing on balance cushions. Just do the squat and deadlift in your socks. The squat is ok, but watch out for the little lumbar flexion at the bottom of you squat. It's mostly noticeable in the last reps in the second video. The deadlift is a bit hard to see, it's looks decent, but it seems like you bend you upper back a bit too much, bring your chest out a bit more. On the bench; make the bar touch your chest.
Thanks. My gym requires that we wear shoes at all times. I've been warned multiple times not to squat in running shoes lol. I will get some chuck taylor's really soon. As for the lumbar flexion, what should I do to prevent that?
Sorry if the deadlift video is unclear, I'll try taking another one next week. And yea, I did notice that I'm rounding my upper back a lot.
Also, I am actually letting the bar touching my chest every time but maybe it doesnt show very well in the video.
Anyways, thanks a lot for the comments.
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