Gym Routine

[JB]

Recently learnt a pretty awesome core exercise if anybody fancies giving it a try. Challenging but easy to perform. Hollow body holds.  

Simply lie on your back on the floor. Put your arms straight up so that they're perpendicular to the floor. Do the same with your legs but bend your knees 90 degrees. Flatten out your lower back so there is no gap between it and the floor (keep actively pushing it into this position as it's vital for the exercise). At this point, your upper abs will naturally crunch upwards slightly. Then, slowly lower your arms and legs towards the ground until you start feeling the tension in your anterior core (legs will naturally straighten). You'll probably start shaking! Hold this position. Do 5 sets of 20 seconds on/20 seconds off. Vital that you keep actively pushing your lower back into ground. 

If you're feeling hardcore, try super-setting them with some regular and/or reverse crunches . 

[mightysasquatch]

Got a new PR Today post illness & unable to train consistently for the last few months. 170kg on the deadlift for 12 reps, roughly a 235kg max off that (weight X reps x0.333 + weight)  so pretty pleased. Actually not a million miles off a comp single. 

 

Felt good so I hammered it out, love wendlers 531 for knowing when to go at it/back off

Edited April 5, 2016 by mightysasquatch

[V01]

Somehow managed to hurt my knee on my Squat warm up sets last nigh. Doing everything as normal, squat down and it felt like it was gonna drop off. No idea why it's happened, not even sure what to do about it. There's a slight twinge when I bend it fully so I'm probably missing squats tomorrow. Hoping Deadlifts will be ok, otherwise it's just Bench, Overhead and Rows.

[mightysasquatch]

11 minutes ago, V01 said:

Somehow managed to hurt my knee on my Squat warm up sets last nigh. Doing everything as normal, squat down and it felt like it was gonna drop off. No idea why it's happened, not even sure what to do about it. There's a slight twinge when I bend it fully so I'm probably missing squats tomorrow. Hoping Deadlifts will be ok, otherwise it's just Bench, Overhead and Rows.

I wouldn't do anything for a week that requires you to do anything that will stress it ie deadlifts & maybe even benching. Cold pack on it will serve you well, also hot/cold too. So 10 mins hot pack/10mins cold pack.

 

Compression is also good, I'd recommend a compression band that you can use/keep for future injuries. Knees are like shoulders, you want to back off now while its not that bad because they can be horrendous to rehab.

 

If anything leave anything to lower body taxing, a week missing some lifts won't hurt in the long run. Maybe even use all machines for your upper body to, even overhead press is still loading your entire body. 

 

http://www.pullum-sports.co.uk/resistance-bands/pullum-compression-band/prod_1016.html

 

This is also worth a watch 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2016 by mightysasquatch

[Rds1983]

Some unbelievably bad form in this Crossfit Clean and Jerk vid; I'm amazed nobody seriously injured themselves.

 

 

This is with Strongman Certidied Coaches watching too.

[Dante_Lockhart]

Shocking.

I bossed the 100kg squat that I failed on Monday. Breezed through on Wednesday morning. YEAH!!!

[Rds1983]

Has anyone's ever tried EAA's, as opposed to BCAAs? If so, would you recommend?

I'm looking for a less sugary/calorific alternative to protein shakes.

[JB]

Amino acid supplements have generally been shown to be pretty much a total waste of money and unnecessary if you consume adequate amounts of protein.

As for cutting out the protein shakes - you're going to need to replace that with other protein sources, which will also contain calories. So I wouldn't worry about it too much. I can't think of any brands that contain added sugar. Not that sugar is toxic, anyway. 

You'd have to take a shit tonne of BCAAs/EAAs to replace the protein that you'd previously got from shakes. Whey protein is generally around 25% BCAAs anyway, and contain all others EAAs. 

[Stevo985]

Yeah I was gonna say similar. Whatever you think about BCAAs and EAAs, they're not substitutes for protein shakes.

[mightysasquatch]

6 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Yeah I was gonna say similar. Whatever you think about BCAAs and EAAs, they're not substitutes for protein shakes.

Leucine tablets are a way to go but again it has to be dosed highly. One protocol is something like 6 tablets every 4 hours, so four times a day. I tried it, it's just a ball ache & youre just better off eating a bit more protein.

 

Also shakes aren't really that highl in calories if you're taking them without a carb powder in there. But shakes are a stop gap, I only drink one when I absolutely have to due work, out for the day ect. They're kinda garbage compared to food.

Edited April 11, 2016 by mightysasquatch

[Rds1983]

1 hour ago, mightysasquatch said:

Also shakes aren't really that highl in calories if you're taking them without a carb powder in there. But shakes are a stop gap, I only drink one when I absolutely have to due work, out for the day ect. They're kinda garbage compared to food.

It's not so much the calories, more trying to remove all added/unnatural sugar from my diet and shakes after workouts is all I have left.

I've seen people raving about EAA's (places like myprotein reviews so didn't trust it) so thought I'd ask here; I've tried BCAA's before and wasn't overly impressed.

I guess I'll add another turkey steak to the menu.

[mightysasquatch]

40 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

It's not so much the calories, more trying to remove all added/unnatural sugar from my diet and shakes after workouts is all I have left.

I've seen people raving about EAA's (places like myprotein reviews so didn't trust it) so thought I'd ask here; I've tried BCAA's before and wasn't overly impressed.

I guess I'll add another turkey steak to the menu.

I think its a common misconception that Bcaa's act like a pre workout, not saying that's what you wanted from them. More than a few people have said that to me & they aren't really a stimulation supplement. They're however very good if you train early am & want to sip through the workout. I train early & prefer to do so fasted, exceed is decent but sustain is prob the best intra work out. The company is only small but really do use quality, but it's pricy.  

 

I keep the Bcaa amount round 10g as I don't want an insulin spike/crash while I train. That's one thing with dosing highly win bcaa, if you do it to much you're constantly getting spikes which can leave you feeling crap.

 

geneticsuppletment.co.uk

 

Turkey steak....kill me now. Get a pork chop down you lad, fat doesn't make you fat

Edited April 11, 2016 by mightysasquatch

[Stevo985]

41 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

It's not so much the calories, more trying to remove all added/unnatural sugar from my diet and shakes after workouts is all I have left.

I've seen people raving about EAA's (places like myprotein reviews so didn't trust it) so thought I'd ask here; I've tried BCAA's before and wasn't overly impressed.

I guess I'll add another turkey steak to the menu.

I think it depends what you want to take them for.

If you want to take BCAAs to get the amino acids, then fine.

If you want to take them to get enough protein in your diet, then you're barking up the wrong tree. I don't know the figures, but I imagine you'd have to take a shit load of BCAAs to get the same amount of protein from them than whey shakes.

[mightysasquatch]

12 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I think it depends what you want to take them for.

If you want to take BCAAs to get the amino acids, then fine.

If you want to take them to get enough protein in your diet, then you're barking up the wrong tree. I don't know the figures, but I imagine you'd have to take a shit load of BCAAs to get the same amount of protein from them than whey shakes.

Yup a 11g dose is roughly like 9.7g of protein from the one I use.

 

As Stevo/myself said they're good for certain things but as a main source of protein you have better options.

Edited April 11, 2016 by mightysasquatch

[Rds1983]

26 minutes ago, mightysasquatch said:

Turkey steak....kill me now. Get a pork chop down you lad, fat doesn't make you fat

I was eating left over pork crackling from last night's roast whilst typing that. Nothing wrong with animal fats, its processed foods and sugars I'm cutting out.

I actually like turkey steaks.

[Dante_Lockhart]

No gym this morning. Was in the garden for 9 hours yesterday hedging, ripping up dead tree trunks, pruning and shifting slabs.

Aching this morning. Workout in itself!

[mightysasquatch]

14 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

I was eating left over pork crackling from last night's roast whilst typing that. Nothing wrong with animal fats, its processed foods and sugars I'm cutting out.

I actually like turkey steaks.

Ah pork cracking...I love & loath it 

[JB]

2 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

It's not so much the calories, more trying to remove all added/unnatural sugar from my diet and shakes after workouts is all I have left.

I've seen people raving about EAA's (places like myprotein reviews so didn't trust it) so thought I'd ask here; I've tried BCAA's before and wasn't overly impressed.

I guess I'll add another turkey steak to the menu.

Refer to examine.com before taking any supplement. BCAAs are an expensive waste of money and are completely unnecessary if you consume adequate protein. They are among the most "bro-est" of supplements going!

Good article here: https://josephagu.com/2013/01/18/bcaas-for-bodybuilders-just-the-science-part-1/ 

As for your added sugar concern, as I said in my previous post, I'm not aware of any brand of protein that contains any added sugar. Artificial sweeteners are nothing to be concerned about either. Anyone who says that they're harmful to your health is wrong. 

Whey is one of the best sources of protein available so I wouldn't stress about removing it from your diet, unless you're really restricting your calories, in which case crack on with the turkey breast . 

[Stevo985]

I saw on MyProtein they sell "diet" whey protein now. I think it has the carbs taken out of it to reduce calories.

No idea if it's any good, but that might be a better option if anyone's trying to remove calories.

[JB]

I'm pretty sure that will taste like shit . Just a marketing gimmick IMO. 

Just had a look at the nutritional values of my standard whey that I got from MyProtein and a 30g serving contains only 20 calories from fat and less than 8 calories from carbs.