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

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Srsly

Banned
My total testosterone was less than 300 and efforts to kick start it with HCG didn't work so after several months of going through this I got prescribed Testosterone Cypionate, HCG, and Anastrazole.

I felt like I was going to die sometimes, no energy, always tired but couldn't sleep, couldn't focus on anything. Never did have ED problems though. Anyway I feel like a different person now. feel like I'm 18 but I'm almost 40.

Was your testosterone low after you lost a bunch of weight?
 

Noema

Member
Is mixed grip bad?

It's a compromise we do in order to lift heavier weights. It has undesirable side effects, like increased risk of biceps tear, and an asymmetrical position that might be hard on the shoulder. It also makes positioning harder and makes it a bit harder to keep the bar path vertical. But it does allow one to lift heavier weights and thus it has its place in training.

The problem is when people don't understand that the mixed grip is a compromise and they use it every time because they think that's what you do when you deadlift, without trying to figure out why they do it. RDLs with 135lb don't need a mixed grip.

And if you are using straps, you obviously don't need a mixed grip. The grip part of the lift is covered if you are using straps. It's a solved problem. There's no need for the compromise of mixed grip anymore. There's no need to risk a biceps tear. There's no need to make the lift harder and more awkward. It's just dumb. It reveals a fundamental lack of understanding of the mechanics and that people just do stuff because they were told to do them or because they saw others do it, never questioning "why".
 

MjFrancis

Member
I've followed this Muscle, Munchies and Fitness blog for a while, but the latest post really caught my eye. These goals are absolutely righteous.
As far as prep goes, I just recently started running Brandon Lilly’s program “The Cube” and I am looking forward to seeing how the next 10 weeks works out for me. My not-so-far-off goals for this meet are:

Squat: 292

Bench: 145

Deadlift: 314

All at a body weight of 130 lbs. or less. That would be a 750 lb. total as a MINIMUM of what I’d like to pull off at this meet.

58469_10151445479534061_686540902_n.jpg
Also, awesome quote of forever:
Fuck calorie counting. I’m a powerlifter, not a Weight Watcher.
 
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A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
It's a compromise we do in order to lift heavier weights. It has undesirable side effects, like increased risk of biceps tear, and an asymmetrical position that might be hard on the shoulder. It also makes positioning harder and makes it a bit harder to keep the bar path vertical. But it does allow one to lift heavier weights and thus it has its place in training.

For me, it's gotten to the point where I'm really tentative with deadlifts due to the awkwardness of the position mixed grip puts me in. I have hypermobile elbows, so a mixed grip means I have to choose between having one side of my body higher than the other or having one elbow only partially extended, increasing the chance of a bicep tear. Thankfully nothing terrible seems to have happened yet, but I've basically stopped doing them now, because I know I'm going to have to get some straps if I want to keep increasing the weight.
 

5amshift

Banned
Hey Fitness-GAF! I plan on starting to go back to the gym tomorrow for sure, for just cardio at the moment. I just have a question on what would be a good diet to have for just doing cardio and losing a ton of weight.
 

TylerD

Member
I am just about ready to start a workout routine again. Started with a 600 calorie restriction diet 2 days a week at the beginning of January. I am drinking lots of water, eating whole foods most of the time and already have energy like I usually feel when working out. Went from about 185 down to 175 and ready to start putting on some muscle again. A bonus is the frequency of migraine headaches I have been having has dropped to practically nothing.

Don't want to jump in with both feet into full body soreness so I am going to start out with doing core work for a couple of weeks before starting additional training.

I am really excited to get back into it. I feel about as good as I have since 2008 when I got through 3 months of P90X. I got up to 189 when doing P90X from 175 but I don't know if I want to do something that extreme this time around.
 
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A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
Why are girls usually stronger in their lower body lifts compared to the upper body lifts, when compared to men?

Are you comparing novices or experienced lifters? If you take two untrained & unathletic individuals, a man and a woman, they will both be weak, but the man will probably be stronger. However both may have a baseline of strength and conditioning in the lower body from walking, running, climbing up stairs etc... that their upper bodies lack. The effect of this would be more pronounced in a woman who has a lesser natural adaptation for strength than a man of similar background.

When it comes to trained individuals, women can display a higher endurance level when working with near maximal weights than men because their central nervous system does not adapt for strength to the extent that a man's can. A bit of guesswork: as larger muscles have a greater capacity for strength even in the absence of significant neurological adaptation, the lower body will be even stronger proportionally in women. The same applies to weak men (assuming they're training correctly), though usually to a lesser degree. As strength increases to elite levels, the conventional ratios expected for lifts kind of fall by the wayside. For example, top level powerlifters have squats much closer to their deadlift (sometimes equal or greater) than the average trainee.

As Sean said above, biomechanics probably play a role also.
 

Zoe

Member
Dat ass.

Seriously. My fiancé can push 135 on squats but barely pushes 50 pounds on bench.

That's a little surprising. I'm at 135 on squats but 90 on bench. I'm fat though so maybe when you add that into the squat, the ratios would be closer.
 

Srsly

Banned
Yeah it was and it never recovered even after over a year after I lost the weight :(

I read this the other day: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23412685

His test plummeted, and took a while to recover, after going from 14.8% BF to 4.5% BF. I was wondering if that was a function of either losing a lot of weight or just being at a very low BF%. Supposedly losing BF increases test. I wonder if it's normal for test to tank after losing a lot of weight even if %BF stays relatively high.
 
Feels good to actually use my back in my workouts and not just muscle the weight.
Took a while to master not just "yanking" with my body or pulling with my arms.
Will join these back pics soon.
 

PBY

Banned
Fitness brehs- need your help. Need a HIIT routine you can do on a track for about 20 mins, plus an ab routine.

I used to mix Abs in between HIIT, but that was my own broscience- is there any w/o that has that? or just do abs after?
 
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A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
Is there any particular reason why you want to mix core work with conditioning?
 

PBY

Banned
Is there any particular reason why you want to mix core work with conditioning?

Not really, like I said pure broscience. Abs/HIIT have never been my area of knowledge, but 4 years ago when I started SS seriously and really dove into weightlifting, I started supplementing SS say 6 months in with sprints superset w/ p 90x abs on the advice of one of your typical gym bros... and to be honest I got great results. I fully realize how unscientific and counterintuitive it sounds.
 

blackflag

Member
Not really, like I said pure broscience. Abs/HIIT have never been my area of knowledge, but 4 years ago when I started SS seriously and really dove into weightlifting, I started supplementing SS say 6 months in with sprints superset w/ p 90x abs on the advice of one of your typical gym bros... and to be honest I got great results. I fully realize how unscientific and counterintuitive it sounds.

It's ok, we aren't all the same. Some people need extra core work with SS and some don't. My core was holding my squats back and I wasn't progressing as well until I added in separate core work.
 

entremet

Member
Fitness brehs- need your help. Need a HIIT routine you can do on a track for about 20 mins, plus an ab routine.

I used to mix Abs in between HIIT, but that was my own broscience- is there any w/o that has that? or just do abs after?

Just do abs after training. 2x a week. Core in general is really important for the big lifts. I like doing cable crunches. I can do the whole stack now. Really helps with injury prevention for heavy squatting and deadlifting. Heavy good mornings are also great.
 
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A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
After training is probably best. Your abs are a muscle like any other, they need rest. Stressing them during strength training then stressing them again on conditioning days may not lead to the best results. Try some of the following as assistance work after (never before) your main lifts.

- Planks
- Ab-wheel rollouts
- Hanging leg raises
- Suitcase Deadlifts
- Saxon Side Bends

The last two are great for strengthening and stabilising the obliques.
 

PBY

Banned
After training is probably best. Your abs are a muscle like any other, they need rest. Stressing them during strength training then stressing them again on conditioning days may not lead to the best results. Try some of the following as assistance work after (never before) your main lifts.

- Planks
- Ab-wheel rollouts
- Hanging leg raises
- Suitcase Deadlifts
- Saxon Side Bends

The last two are great for strengthening and stabilising the obliques.

Just do abs after training. 2x a week. Core in general is really important for the big lifts. I like doing cable crunches. I can do the whole stack now. Really helps with injury prevention for heavy squatting and deadlifting. Heavy good mornings are also great.

Thanks so much guys good stuff
 

Mully

Member
Just did 120lbs for 8 reps on OHP today. Last rep had some grunting, but it was all worth it. I'm still progressing with my lifts and, somehow gaining weight while on a cut. Hopped on the scale today and I was 205lbs. Some of it was surely food, but just a few days ago I was 199.8lbs. Weird.
 

ezrarh

Member
Anybody have good articles on CNS fatigue? I've been feeling a little beat up lately and was lifting heavy for the last 3 months so I'm taking this week and next week light before I start up a new program. I'm not sure if what I'm experience is completely due to CNS fatigue but I'd like to learn more about it.
 

Petrie

Banned
Anybody have good articles on CNS fatigue? I've been feeling a little beat up lately and was lifting heavy for the last 3 months so I'm taking this week and next week light before I start up a new program. I'm not sure if what I'm experience is completely due to CNS fatigue but I'd like to learn more about it.

I'd give yourself a week off, not just light. Let yourself recover.
 
I have a question about squat depth and strength:

If you low bar squat to parallel but decide to drop the weight a little to go a bit deeper (because you can), will this necessarily mean more strength?

My common sense tells me yes.
 
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A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
My two cents worth is that even with low bar, training depth should be below parallel. Increased activation, stronger position for knees, flexibility... little things but they add up. Save the right on the line stuff for maxes or meets, if you compete or plan to.
 

despire

Member
About the deadlift with mixed grip.. I've been using one with my heaviest work set for a long time, ever since I went over 100kg probably. But one thing I'm doing wrong is the fact that I'm not alternating my grip. It's always right hand over and left hand under. Somehow even thinking about doing it the other way around feels super weird. I've been meaning to start alternating but I never remember it at the gym.

But I guess I have to start doing it the other way around too. Especially since I'm now at deload phase and it's lighter so it should be easier now. Have to remember this the next time I'm deadlifting..
 

SeanR1221

Member
About the deadlift with mixed grip.. I've been using one with my heaviest work set for a long time, ever since I went over 100kg probably. But one thing I'm doing wrong is the fact that I'm not alternating my grip. It's always right hand over and left hand under. Somehow even thinking about doing it the other way around feels super weird. I've been meaning to start alternating but I never remember it at the gym.

But I guess I have to start doing it the other way around too. Especially since I'm now at deload phase and it's lighter so it should be easier now. Have to remember this the next time I'm deadlifting..

Don't worry about switching.

http://stronglifts.com/7-ways-increase-deadlift-grip-strength/
 

agrajag

Banned
About the deadlift with mixed grip.. I've been using one with my heaviest work set for a long time, ever since I went over 100kg probably. But one thing I'm doing wrong is the fact that I'm not alternating my grip. It's always right hand over and left hand under. Somehow even thinking about doing it the other way around feels super weird. I've been meaning to start alternating but I never remember it at the gym.

But I guess I have to start doing it the other way around too. Especially since I'm now at deload phase and it's lighter so it should be easier now. Have to remember this the next time I'm deadlifting..

same here
 

despire

Member
Heh, funny. I'm using just the opposite grip that is suggested in the article for right handed people. Article says to grip dominant hand under and the other hand over and I'm just the opposite.

But are you sure it's no use to alternate grips? Would make sense to alternate every now and then..
 
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