Gym Routine

[tarjei]

23 hours ago, JB said:

A common mistake I see is people holding their static stretches for just a few seconds, which is most likely a waste of time. 20 second holds are the bare minimum IMO.

I've done a bit of yin yoga, where you stretch and breathe slow and heavy to deepen the stretch for like 3-7 min for each position. Every now and then when I exercise I do one or two like that, and occasionally I do a full hour session. It's not for everyone but I think it's something everyone should try at least once. The effect for me was incredible, but I'm very tall and not so young anymore so that might be why I had such a benefit from it.

[JB]

I've heard a lot of really, really good things about yoga so I can believe that. I keep trying to persuade my dad to get into it as he's always been pretty athletic but his body is a bit of a mess now he's hit his sixties! I'm definitely doing to give it a try in the future. 

[BOF]

Not entirely sure how or where it has come from but I've now succeeded at both 82.5 and 85 on the bench first time around. Pretty sure I've never succeeded at 85 before, so now it'll be 5x5x87.5kg on Thursday ...  I also did 1 rep of 90kg just for good measure  

[Dr_Pangloss]

Well, wear and tear is starting to build up in my right leg, I get pains in my lower quad/knee area, possibly tendinitis. This only flairs up when I squat, it doesn't matter whether I'm squatting the bar or 125kg (my current 1 rep max). It's pretty **** annoying. 

I should probably get a physio to check it out. Might be well advised to take a week off squatting. In the back of my mind I'm not sure whether I can squat once a week, might only be something I can do once every two weeks, or short burst of weekly squatting followed by a week break. 

Edited February 1, 2016 by Dr_Pangloss

[JB]

I used to have real problems with my left knee. Squatting was a nightmare, as was walking up stairs. After doing a bit of reading, I found that it was a very common symptom of tightness in the hips and/or lack of ankle mobility (namely lack of dorsiflexion). Not saying it definitely is this, or is even likely to the cause of your issues, but based on my own experience, it could be. I started to stretch my hips on a pretty much daily basis and work on ankle mobility several times a week and I'm now completely pain-free. It's got to the point now where I only have to do this only once, maybe twice a week.

[supermon]

How many of you guys have ripped trouser issues? The gains on my legs are coming along, but the trousers are ripping on a phenomenal rate.

I'm actually not going heavy on squats anymore, my ass is getting JLo style big 

[troon_villan]

Not entirely sure how or where it has come from but I've now succeeded at both 82.5 and 85 on the bench first time around. Pretty sure I've never succeeded at 85 before, so now it'll be 5x5x87.5kg on Thursday ...  I also did 1 rep of 90kg just for good measure [emoji4] 

BOF Beast Mode? I'm trying to comprehend that much weight tbh....

I'm up at 10x5x40kg but I was struggling from set 8 onwards so I'm going for that comfortably before upping (hopefully next week)

[BOF]

There are others in here more experienced than me, but I'd probably suggest that doing 10 sets of any one weight on the bench is a tad  overkilly You might be better served moving up the weights and doing fewer sets?  Obviously it depends what you're looking to achieve, but if it was definition you were going for then there might be easier ways of going about it?

What made you pick 10 sets as a matter of interest?

As for that much weight.  It has been a long slow time getting there.  My ultimate goal is to have 100kg as my working set.  I could (and probably would at that point...) die a happy man then.  Even getting 100kg as a 1RM would be a huge milestone and something I've only recently dared think I could reach.

[BOF]

1 hour ago, supermon said:

How many of you guys have ripped trouser issues? The gains on my legs are coming along, but the trousers are ripping on a phenomenal rate.

I'm actually not going heavy on squats anymore, my ass is getting JLo style big 

Shorts only in the gym, not for ripping reasons, but it does mean ripping isn't a concern

[supermon]

1 hour ago, BOF said:

There are others in here more experienced than me, but I'd probably suggest that doing 10 sets of any one weight on the bench is a tad  overkilly You might be better served moving up the weights and doing fewer sets?  Obviously it depends what you're looking to achieve, but if it was definition you were going for then there might be easier ways of going about it?

What made you pick 10 sets as a matter of interest?

As for that much weight.  It has been a long slow time getting there.  My ultimate goal is to have 100kg as my working set.  I could (and probably would at that point...) die a happy man then.  Even getting 100kg as a 1RM would be a huge milestone and something I've only recently dared think I could reach.

10 sets seems insane, unless you are varying your hand positions on the bar eg start off quite wide and then slowly come in (learnt this from Dwayne Johnsons chest workout, pretty awesome pump).

I'm at 100kg and without arms fatigued too much I can do 2 reps by myself but if it's my last set and I go for 100kg I usually need a spot. Aim is to do 6 reps by myself 

[YGabbana]

10 sets seems insane, unless you are varying your hand positions on the bar eg start off quite wide and then slowly come in (learnt this from Dwayne Johnsons chest workout, pretty awesome pump).

I'm at 100kg and without arms fatigued too much I can do 2 reps by myself but if it's my last set and I go for 100kg I usually need a spot. Aim is to do 6 reps by myself 

I probably do 10 sets there abouts on bench. I start with 30kg then 60kg 100kg 110kg 120kg then the last set is a dropset so i go to failure on 120, drop it down to 100 go to failure, drop to 60kg to failure right down to the bar itself

[BOF]

I think the key is you vary the weight which is why I enquired.

[supermon]

14 hours ago, YGabbana said:

I probably do 10 sets there abouts on bench. I start with 30kg then 60kg 100kg 110kg 120kg then the last set is a dropset so i go to failure on 120, drop it down to 100 go to failure, drop to 60kg to failure right down to the bar itself

That's impressive, i'd me smashed after 6th set with those kinda weights.  

Guys any tips on how to get a good bicep peak, triceps are pretty good but when i flex, my shoulder seems more overpowering than my biceps! Currently i do light bicep work after my chest day, then later in the week i have an arms day where i go heavy.Very rarely feel sore on my biceps.

Normally do hammers, curls, barbell curls, chin ups.

Whats the best advice light weights high reps or heavy?

[sexbelowsound]

2 hours ago, supermon said:

That's impressive, i'd me smashed after 6th set with those kinda weights.  

Guys any tips on how to get a good bicep peak, triceps are pretty good but when i flex, my shoulder seems more overpowering than my biceps! Currently i do light bicep work after my chest day, then later in the week i have an arms day where i go heavy.Very rarely feel sore on my biceps.

Normally do hammers, curls, barbell curls, chin ups.

Whats the best advice light weights high reps or heavy?

I read that a closer grip barbell curl helps to develop the peak whilst a wider grip helps to develop the overall mass.

Not sure how that works in practice though.

[troon_villan]

There are others in here more experienced than me, but I'd probably suggest that doing 10 sets of any one weight on the bench is a tad  overkilly [emoji4] You might be better served moving up the weights and doing fewer sets?  Obviously it depends what you're looking to achieve, but if it was definition you were going for then there might be easier ways of going about it?

What made you pick 10 sets as a matter of interest?

As for that much weight.  It has been a long slow time getting there.  My ultimate goal is to have 100kg as my working set.  I could (and probably would at that point...) die a happy man then.  Even getting 100kg as a 1RM would be a huge milestone and something I've only recently dared think I could reach.

To be honest, one of the guys I go with is a little more experienced and while I'm not saying we blindly follow his orders or anything, we do let him organize the sessions to a certain degree.

Is 10 sets of 5 not quite normal? There's three of us taking turns so get a good minutes rest in between.

[BOF]

I was just curious.  There is no wrong way of doing things in terms of the amount you lift, so I don't want you to take my question as even suggesting as much.  We're all (mostly) supportive in here   I just would have thought; again depending on your goals; that if you're able to do ten sets of five on the same weight then it might be better to increase the weight slightly and reduce the number of sets.  That's going on most of what I've read and from the experience that I do have.  You can always pad it out by doing press-ups* (which are effectively a 3/4ers body weight bench press anyway) if you feel you're not doing enough lifts.

 

* Slight variation from bench to press-up on what is activated and what peripherals are used but they're largely similar.

[JB]

As far as I know, there's no specific method for getting a bicep peak - it's just a case of increasing the size of the whole muscle! There's no way to force it to grow in a particular shape, or to isolate a particular part of an individual muscle; they work on an all or nothing principle. From an anatomical perspective, an often overlooked method for increasing bicep size (or at least giving that appearance) and giving the appearance of a peak, is training the brachialis muscle which sits underneath and slightly to the outside of the biceps brachii. My favourite exercise for this is the reverse grip EZ curl for moderate to high reps (12-25) but hammer curl variations are great, too. I like really slow eccentrics using a rope, or curls in front of the body.

This a typical bicep workout for me:

1A. Incline DB curls (palms up) x 6-8 reps

1B. Reverse grip EZ curls x 15-20 reps

2A. Preacher curl machine x 10-12

2B. Preacher curl machine @65% of 2A weight 

Minimal rest between A and B. 3 sets of each.

This is based on the rep ranges that I find work best for me. Experiment with rep ranges. When I first started paying attention to the brachialis, my arms began feeling a lot fuller. 

[supermon]

1 hour ago, JB said:

As far as I know, there's no specific method for getting a bicep peak - it's just a case of increasing the size of the whole muscle! There's no way to force it to grow in a particular shape, or to isolate a particular part of an individual muscle; they work on an all or nothing principle. From an anatomical perspective, an often overlooked method for increasing bicep size (or at least giving that appearance) and giving the appearance of a peak, is training the brachialis muscle which sits underneath and slightly to the outside of the biceps brachii. My favourite exercise for this is the reverse grip EZ curl for moderate to high reps (12-25) but hammer curl variations are great, too. I like really slow eccentrics using a rope, or curls in front of the body.

This a typical bicep workout for me:

1A. Incline DB curls (palms up) x 6-8 reps

1B. Reverse grip EZ curls x 15-20 reps

2A. Preacher curl machine x 10-12

2B. Preacher curl machine @65% of 2A weight 

Minimal rest between A and B. 3 sets of each.

This is based on the rep ranges that I find work best for me. Experiment with rep ranges. When I first started paying attention to the brachialis, my arms began feeling a lot fuller. 

Much appreciated, yeah I'll give that a go.  My biceps are probably my weakest body part..well that and abs

[tarjei]

5 hours ago, troon_villan said:

To be honest, one of the guys I go with is a little more experienced and while I'm not saying we blindly follow his orders or anything, we do let him organize the sessions to a certain degree.

Is 10 sets of 5 not quite normal? There's three of us taking turns so get a good minutes rest in between.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Especially if you are just starting out and still getting to grasps with the technique and getting your form right. Better to not take any risk with weights and get injured or tweak something. The most important thing is that your exercises keep challenging your muscles as you progress and that you eat well enough so that it isn't wasted.

I think it's pretty much agreed upon that low reps with heavy weight builds strength and volume more quickly. More reps with less weights also builds strength, but gradually, and also increases endurance. Although is not as straight forward, I guess you can say: Heavy weights=big. Many reps=lean. Doing many reps might burn muscle as well, but is probably more effective for losing fat. 10 reps is not that many though. For the bench, deadlifts and squats I like to start at 8 and work my way down to 5, but for most others exercises I do way more reps. I always workout alone and for a long time I did 65-60-50kg sets with 8 reps and never went above that. When I finally had someone to spot me I was surprised that I was able to do 100kg on first attempt... so in the end I don't think it matters that much if it's about getting and looking healthy.

[BOF]

Aaaaaand groin strain.