Bodybuilding.

[BobbyZ]

I never had hayfever that bad, but I used to get pretty nasty attacks in the summer after a bike ride. Like within a minute of finishing, my eyes and nose would go mental. Now take off the shelf stuff and that's sorted all but the odd sneezing fit.

[TT350]

Hello.

 

I haven't weighed myself in ages. But lately I've been watching what I eat and making better decisions.

 

Managed to lose 2st with little effort.

 

I know a 3rd might be muscle as I haven't been lifting but I do feel more streamlined.

 

I'm going to join a 2nd gym which is on my way to work. My main gym is in the opposite direction and in rush hour will be a nightmare to head back from.

 

The 2nd gym is abysmal for free weights but cardio equipment is many and varied. Main gym is spot on for free weights. It's only 50 quid in total.

 

The aim is to do 2hr of fasted cardio a day at very early hours and if I have to drive far to do it, I'm just not going to.

[rabbitstew]

Sounds like a plan. Ive just come back from a 7 day holiday and not been able to workout at all. Now really struggling with motivation completely. Caught a look at a beach photo of me on holiday and feel really disappointed with how I am looking now, and yet 2 weeks back I was full of confidence and really happy at the progress I was making. Mad how your mindset can switch so quickly.

[TT350]

Sounds like a plan. Ive just come back from a 7 day holiday and not been able to workout at all. Now really struggling with motivation completely. Caught a look at a beach photo of me on holiday and feel really disappointed with how I am looking now, and yet 2 weeks back I was full of confidence and really happy at the progress I was making. Mad how your mindset can switch so quickly.

 

I find to get over that, you just put your hoodie on and put your hood up, get to the gym begrudgingly and get on with it and after a few sessions you *should* get the bug back.

 

It's hard. I know.

 

Ronnie Coleman once said "Ain't nothin' to it but to do it"

[Kraziekatz1]

Relationship problems, extreme stress, over-excising to numb the pain, combined with a bad cold works wonders for weight loss! Can finally see that 6-pack I was hiding lol

 

I think joining 2 gyms is a bit crazy Gareth! Would it not work out cheaper in the long run to buy yourself a decent set of free weights?

 

Rabbitstew, everyone puts on weight during the holiday! You'll get back into it in no time, don't be so hard on yourself!

[TT350]

 

I think joining 2 gyms is a bit crazy Gareth! Would it not work out cheaper in the long run to buy yourself a decent set of free weights?

 

Well I'm sorry to hear about what's gone on but I'm sure you knew I'd be sad to hear it. I'm happy to see you post again.

 

No space for the amount of equipment I'd need. 100s of KG's in various plates. A squat rack. Lat pull down machine. A bench. Different barbells. A comprehensive set of dumbells and a rack.

 

 

[Kraziekatz1]

Haha okay. Yes, it's probably a bit easier for me as I can get away with just keeping a few kettle bells & dumb bells at home lol

 

Cheers, much appreciated. Getting on with life!

[chirag1988]

Not really using the scales to measure my weight by using the mirror more to measure my progress. Intermittent fasting combined with sprints post workout is working very well for me. Got 5was till my stag and the 4-pac is back with hints of obliques coming through already. Should have the lower abs come through in time if I keep going at this rate.

 

I'm doing FST-7 by Hany Rambod at the moment, used by Phil Heath, Jay Cutler and Jeremy Buendia.

 

Only issue with sprints is after doing them almost everyday I'm developing shin splints so may have to take a couple of days off or do the cross trainer or some steady state instead.

 

Overall happy with my progress and will post some pics closer towards the end

 

Glad to hear the rest of you gymrats are also pushing hard!

[TT350]

Shin splints. Had those for years. During and after boxing due to skipping.

 

Terribe pain. That alternating dull/sharp ache and radiating pain that keeps you awake at night. Plenty of tiger balm or deep hear and voltarol.

[TT350]

How's everyone doing with gym?

 

I haven't been in ages but I've lost a lot of weight through stress which is encouraging in a way because when I get back to it, it'll be more a case of tweaking my figure rather than a complete recomposition.

 

Hope you're all well.

[S7nny]

Been a while since I checked in!

 

Training for me is going quite nicely. Started Deadlifting and Squatting again now that my knee can take it and the bar is getting heavier and heavier at a nice pace, so I'm feeling happy with it all. Eating is absolutely terrible but it's not bugging me too much as things stand.

 

I wonder which injury awaits me next!

[chirag1988]

Well the time is almost here for my stag and I'm not quite as ripped as I would have liked, but then again i'm not doing this for a competition this time, and managed to maintain decent size at the same time too. Let's see how I am when I return...IF i return

[rabbitstew]

Struggling a bit for me with lack of spare time. Its back to having no time in the week to get a workout in, then as I only get 1hr spare on a Saturday & 1hr spare on a Sunday im back to trying to fit an entire week of workouts in in those 2 hours. Its a real struggle as im supersetting 2 workouts in one on the Saturday then just havent got the energy to have a decent workout on the Sunday.

 

I am finding though that I seem to have more energy for my Saturday workout after 5 days off. Although its so annoying as im so angry that ive not been able to have a workout for 5 days that I end up getting really frustrated if the weekend workouts turn out crap as i feel ive wasted a week and i know it will be another whole week before I can get another workout in.

 

As it was, on Saturday I didnt get in the gym until about 8.30pm after putting the little one to bed, after spending 10 hours decorating. By the time I had finished my workout, showered it was 10pm and I then had to start cooking dinner. Sigh.

 

On the plus side, im eating healthily and my weight hasnt changed since Jan. But that also means ive not put on any size over the last 6 months at all.

Edited July 18, 2016 by rabbitstew

[TT350]

Not good Rabbit.

 

I know it's hard but you need to start taking a little time each day for yourself.

Try and bag yourself two hours a day at the gym. Take it out of her time.

 

Unless you're on gear (and even then) cramming 5 days into 2 won't do you any good.

 

Before recompositioning your body, try start with your time?

 

All the best mate.

[rabbitstew]

Not good Rabbit.

 

I know it's hard but you need to start taking a little time each day for yourself.

Try and bag yourself two hours a day at the gym. Take it out of her time.

 

Unless you're on gear (and even then) cramming 5 days into 2 won't do you any good.

 

Before recompositioning your body, try start with your time?

 

All the best mate.

 

Yep mate. Its very hard though to free up any time in the week. I get up at 6am each day as it is and am then flat out until 8pm. When I was fixing up my motorbike the other year I had to get up at 4.30 am each day in order to give me an hour before everyone else got up in order to work on it. Not good changing cambelts and trying to set timing at 5am when your half asleep.

 

Earlier on in the year I was getting up at 5.15am then getting an hour in before work, but whilst I find cardio is great at that time of morning, having any energy/strength to lift is hard as you just havent had chance to get any grub down.

 

Before I had kids, id get in from work at 6.30pm and I could get a workout in nicely then before cooking my tea and settling down for the night, however now getting in from work means a mad rush to feed the cats, tidy up then put little one to bed.

 

I did look to see if there was any gyms near work, so I could get a workout in during my lunchbreak, but the only ones local are far to expensive.

 

On the plus side, when I work from home, its great as I can just nip out to the garage at about 2pm and get a cracking workout in, then after a shower I can carry on with work. Unfortunately working from home is quite rare these days.

 

Still, I guess in a few years the kids will put themselves to bed and i`ll be able to free up some time.

[chirag1988]

Back from 6 days of alcoholism and ready to hit the gym back again! Going to do a few weeks using Fat Grips to see if I notice a difference in my workouts

[valy]

fat gripz are great

 

started using them a while back,a really good addition for a varied workout

 

haven't had any break this year so far but I have a week away at the end of August so keep pushing hard until then

[-Bradders-]

Im backkkk full time after a month of on and off training with no supps etc.. now im on pre and post shakes and im feeling gooood! Only day 3 but ive not lost much strentgh at all! Managed 140kg for 4 reps on monday at the end of bench! If anyone wants to see progress i post the occasional pic on instagram under my account bradders_media

[TT350]

Muscle memory is allowing lots to come back.

 

 

[rabbitstew]

Excellent, its good when you start seeing some results as it motivates you! My workouts are still a bit limited due to time and new baby which arrived 2 weeks back. 2hr feeding cycles for the new born means very little sleep, but it does mean I can knock a protein drink or 2 back during the night which I find helps with recovery. Still lack of sleep means lack of energy so ive been hammering the energy drinks.

 

I decided last week to switch to using dumbells a lot more - just to mix things up. Ive enough plates in my home gym to make up a couple of 120lb dumbells, so figured that should be plenty for me atm. So had a couple of really good workouts last weekend and another on Wednesday. My god, my chest was killing for days after incline dumbell presses. Not to mention all the other muscles you employ in getting the weights up there in the first place then trying to stablise them. All good stuff.

[GMballistic]

Quick question for you guys ~

 

I work out mostly 3 times a week (Mon, Weds, Fri) with each time being a different set of exercises but always the same on that particular day (usually takes me 30-45 minutes total each time).

 

I usually do 8 reps & 3 sets. As example:

 

Concentration bicep curls

Dumbbell

Weight lifted irrelevant so removed

8 Reps

3 Sets

Military press (overhead)

Barbell

Weight lifted irrelevant so removed

8 Reps

3 Sets

 

 

Between doing each set I will rest for a maximum of 30 seconds before starting the next set of reps. E.g: Will do 8 reps of military press, rest for 30 seconds, then do another 8 reps of military press, rest for 30 seconds, etc etc until I complete all the reps & sets.

 

Now just recently I have altered this and I'm wondering if I shouldn't as I want to do what's best for seeing results.

Example of what I'm doing now: Will do 8 reps of military press, will do 8 reps of concentration bicep curls (right arm), will do 8 reps of concentration bicep curls (left arm), will do 8 reps of military press, etc etc until I complete all the reps & sets for both exercises.

 

Is that wrong?

Should I be solely concentrating on completing all the reps/sets for one activity. I understand I need to stretch/tear the muscle slightly if I want it to repair & grow bigger, ...am I doing that?!

 

I haven't increased my weight that I'm lifting for a while now (6-8 weeks) so will be doing that by a KG or so across the board next week.

 

Any tips welcome.

[TomBorehamUK]

You CAN do that GM, I personally wouldn't, if I've read that right then that's one big superset and you'd find your noticeably fatigued on your last lifts and therefore probably not able to lift as much and to see any progression on those lifts?

 

As far as your last question GM seeing progress and regarding not increasing your weights, the number one thing you want to keep in your mind is progressive overload.

You should always be subjecting your body to additional stress once accustomed to the stress it's already put under, else there will be no microtears. (Put simply, completing the same routine with the same weight and amount of sets would net no results in size or strength.)

 

There are a few ways you can progressively overload for strength - Adding weight, Increasing reps or increasing sets.

 

People all have their own routines, but what I do personally is work in a given rep range, different depending on workout but I work within a "rep range"

 

For example with squats this is 3 working sets of 6-8 reps, now my goal in my workout is to get between 6-8 reps at a given weight, I will only increase weight the following workout if all 3 of my sets are within this rep range,

 

For example my workout would look like this,

 

Week 1

8 x 130KG

7× 130KG

7x 130KG

 

So I'd deem that a success, and increase the weight by a small amount for the next workout, so next week may look like this,

 

7x 135kg

6x 135kg

5x 135kg

 

So here I've not fallen within my rep range however progressive overload has still taken place as I've increased weight, if I've not met the rep range I'll keep at that weight until I meet that range, the following week may look like this,

 

8 x 135kg

7x 135kg

6/7 x 135kg

 

Progressive overload = Success

 

Obviously we'll never be able to increase Weight every week and you can be at a given weight for a while but the key is to always be looking to increase the demand by the smallest increment.

 

 

Also i will always incrementally warm up to my my working weight, I find this hugely important and noticed a big improvement in my workouts when i started intelligently warming up.

 

Just something else to add, 8-12 reps is regarded as the best range to work in for size, I generally work within this range for all isolation lifts and then 6-8 reps for more demanding compound lifts like squats and Deadlifts etc.

 

If you like GM I can dig you out some really good articles on the subject, explains everything really clearly and cuts out all the BS

 

Edit - Also, touching on rest times you should rest LESS on those lower intensity lifts (The ones where you're able to do more reps) and rest MORE on the higher intensity lifts (The ones where you're only able to do 6-8 reps)

I generally rest between 60 - 90 seconds on the isolation lifts and between 120 - 180 seconds on the heavy compound lifts.

Edited August 19, 2016 by TomBorehamUK

[GMballistic]

You CAN do that GM, I personally wouldn't, if I've read that right then that's one big superset and you'd find your noticeably fatigued on your last lifts and therefore probably not able to lift as much and to see any progression on those lifts?

Sort of.

Basically I don't really enjoy exercising at all, ...I'm not one of these people who gets a buzz from it (although seeing results gives me a buzz) & I have to constantly push myself into doing it.

 

I was finding that I was getting impatient resting between sets when for example my biceps were tired & I was waiting for my 30 second rest period.

So instead of just waiting for 30 seconds I'd switch to a predominantly shoulder exercise or tricep exercise (albeit probably using the bicep a bit) in order to keep doing something and get through my routine quicker.

 

 

 

As far as your last question GM seeing progress and regarding not increasing your weights, the number one thing you want to keep in your mind is progressive overload.

You should always be subjecting your body to additional stress once accustomed to the stress it's already put under, else there will be no microtears. (Put simply, completing the same routine with the same weight and amount of sets would net no results in size or strength.)

 

There are a few ways you can progressively overload for strength - Adding weight, Increasing reps or increasing sets.

For the last few weeks I've been able to complete all my reps fairly easily although still straining towards the end (last few lifts of a set).

 

I've always progressively overloaded, ...most usually by increasing weight although the other year I did increase the amount of reps/sets I was doing for each exercise but I found that it increased my overall exercise time which as I mentioned above I don't really relish so I went back down to less reps/sets for a shorter higher intensity workout.

 

I'm going to put on an extra Kg on my dumbbells & barbell from next week (always add a Kg at a time) to see if that helps me see some more results as I mentioned I haven't done that for 6-8 weeks now so maybe just plateaued.

 

 

Do you or anyone else on here use Creatine?

 

I did for a few months solid the other year but then with moving house & other expenses I cut it from my shopping list. Recently bought a tub of USN Creatine though as it was on offer and as I mentioned I'm not really seeing the results I'd hope for with doing an exercise routine so regularly.

 

Don't get me wrong I don't expect to get massive, especially not without massively increasing my protein intake etc but I just want to get more rounder bicep muscles with a good peak.

Any suggestions for seeing really good improvements on my arms?

[TT350]

What are your goals GM?

 

Ultimately that should dictate the parameters from ten start.

 

I wouldn't be able to get away with 30 second intervals between sets without first really lowering the amount of weight I'm lifting. Your workouts sound very hiit.

 

Increase the weight and increase the resting period. I rest 90 seconds between sets.

 

Progressive overload IS the only way forward. I do 4 sets of 8 reps. But when I up the weight and I can do 4 sets of 8, I'll switch it up by doing 4 sets of ten reps before increasing the weight.

 

Best way to get bigger arms is by doing plenty for triceps.

 

Replace the concontraction curls with straight bar curls. Nice and slow. Don't swing the weight. I see so many people lifting from their delts.

 

Do close grip bench presses. Do hammer grip skull crushers. Then reverse palm skull crushers. Cable triceps pull downs with the rope attachment.

 

Eat plenty. Can't build a house without bricks.

 

I don't take any supps other than slimfast meal replacement. Taste so much better than bodybuilders whey shakes.

 

 

[TT350]