Gym Routine

[Dr_Pangloss]

Having rotten luck with injuries right now, back 100% recovered but last week strained my right quad (feels like the lower tendon). I did this doing an 'as many reps as possible' set on the squats did 100kg x 19, going for 20 and strained it on that last rep, it was a silly thing to attempt really as I was sufficiently tired from the heavier work I did previous to that set, plus the gym was humid and I was struggling for air. 

I tried to do some squats today but was hurting past 100kg so jacked it in. I think I'm getting to an age now where I really need to warm up better and do more stretching/ flexibility in the week, I think this is the cause of my injuries, plus over-extending myself. 

[mikeyp102]

2 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Having rotten luck with injuries right now, back 100% recovered but last week strained my right quad (feels like the lower tendon). I did this doing an 'as many reps as possible' set on the squats did 100kg x 19, going for 20 and strained it on that last rep, it was a silly thing to attempt really as I was sufficiently tired from the heavier work I did previous to that set, plus the gym was humid and I was struggling for air. 

I tried to do some squats today but was hurting past 100kg so jacked it in. I think I'm getting to an age now where I really need to warm up better and do more stretching/ flexibility in the week, I think this is the cause of my injuries, plus over-extending myself. 

Ditto with the injuries mate. 

After a few years out (shameful I know). I joined a gym back in November. Things were going quite well, building up on the cardio and starting some weights (I've never wanted to lift loads, so a bit of toning).

So 2 January I went and pulled my back. Lower right side causing spasms. I rested for a week and ended up going to an osteomyologist and had it cracked a few times. Still in a bit of pain, but now I feel like I've got a trapped nerve in my hip and my wrists and knees are clicking and painful... this being healthy sucks, I never had any pain when I stopped exercising. 

[Stevo985]

Enjoying going back to basics with Stronglifts.

It's been hard and frustrating sticking to the lower weights though. It really drops you right back and builds you back up so it's been very tempting to make a massive jump to what I'm used to. But I've stuck to it more or less (done the odd 5kg jump instead of 2.5kg)

Squats are back up to 100kg now so not a million miles away from where I was 6 months ago. Need to use this program to push on and get back towards my PBs

[V01]

On 02/12/2016 at 03:20, V01 said:

Age 35   Male

Weight: 16st 6lbs - 104.5kg

Height: 5'11.6" - 1.82m

Ideal weight: 9st 9lbs to 13st  - 60.6kg-81.9kg

BMI: 31.5

Ideal BMI: 18.5 to 25

Body fat: 29.8%

Ideal: 16.1 to 25.6

Bodyfat mass has gone from 49.1kg > 44.4kg > 42.7kg > 37.9kg > 36kg > 32.4kg > 32.8 > 31.1

Ideally it should be 16.8 to 26.7kg

 

Dropped down to 2 days per week for Christmas with the caveat that I'm not going if I have to scrape the windscreen on the car. Expecting to lose some progress on the lifts and weight-loss, hopefully only a few pounds though.

 

Age 35   Male

Weight: 16st 2lbs - 102.9kg

Height: 5'11.2" - 1.81m

Ideal weight: 9st 7lbs to 12st 12lbs  - 60.6kg-81.9kg

BMI: 31.4

Ideal BMI: 18.5 to 25

Body fat: 24.8%

Ideal: 16.1 to 25.6

Bodyfat mass has gone from 49.1kg > 44.4kg > 42.7kg > 37.9kg > 36kg > 32.4kg > 32.8kg > 31.1kg > 25.5kg

Ideally it should be 16.5 to 26.3kg

 

I was 101.4kg when I weighed myself this afternoon when I got up, clearly I've eaten a lot today. Delighted that body fat has dropped so much, especially as that period covers 3 weeks off from the gym and being a massive greedy fat bastard over Christmas. It also has me re evaluating my goals, I was aiming to get to 85kg then maintain/recomp for a few months. My tdee spreadsheet has me at 85kg in September if I keep to a 550 calorie deficit. 

Planning on spending another 3-4 weeks on Stronglifts then switching back to 531 and possibly reducing my calorie deficit to 300 per day. I'm pretty sure I've still got some linear gains left so I'm contemplating one of these:

2_Suns 531 LP 4 day

n-suns CAP3

 Ivysaurs 4-4-8

I really like the look of CAP3 but I'd have to work of a spreadsheet, which doesn't feel right coming from a decent SL/531 app. 

 

Took a de-load to ease back into the year

Squat: 65>85kg

Bench: 50>60kg

Row: 50>60kg

Deadlift: 100>120kg

OHP: 40>45kg

Whilst the weight isn't shooting back up I'm not needing quite so much rest in between sets.

[Dom_Wren]

Back on it. Love those doms.....NOT!

[Rds1983]

Can anyone recommend a decent programme for physique building? I'm likely going to have a tonne of photos taken of me in about six months due to several big family events and I want to look good in them. I've generally done power lifting routines and have an okay amount of muscle but I'll be honest I have a gut and want it gone.

I'm thinking of swapping to something like a traditional body building routine to get pumped and jacking up the cardio, but does anyone know a good routine?

[Stevo985]

The routine you're on is probably fine.

If you want to lose the gut it's down to diet, simple as that. Especially if you consider yourself to have an okay amount of muscle. 

[V01]

^^^

 

Stick to your routine and add in some fork putdowns and plate pushaways.

[V01]

muggins decided to do some cardio after my lifting today.

 

5k on the rowing machine in 23m 41.5s. 

 

On the bright side my legs do still work, sadly this also includes the pain receptors. Getting some serious "don't do that again" messages which I'm seriously considering paying attention to.

[Stevo985]

Stronglifts is getting hard.

I'm reaching my limit on squats at about 115kg. I could lift more than that for one set fairly comfortably, but 5 sets of 5 is tough at that weight for me.

It means that the day when it's paired with deadlifts has become a very tough day. 
Did that on Friday and I was exhausted afterwards.

 

Enjoying it though. My main goal from it was to get me back in the gym regularly. Give me something to aim for and make me feel like I needed to go or I'd be missing out. I've achieved that.
Next goal is to push up towards my old PBs

[Dr_Pangloss]

Whilst injuries have screwed my squats up my bench has been making some fantastic gains over the last month. I've been benching up to three times a week and can now manage 117.5kg for 3 sets of 5, basically up by 7.5kg in just over a month. Benching more often with variation in sets/ reps over the week has really helped. 

[kurtsimonw]

Is there a problem with using machines? On other message boards, people seem to think they're useless. But I'm not sure if they're just being all hipster about it. I've never been a gym goer, always been pretty thin, but after putting on a few stone the last few years ideally I want to lose it + look a bit better. Joined the gym last week and do about 30 minutes HIIT and then 30 minutes on machines 4x a week. I don't know if that's what I should be doing or if I should be not using machines or what? Any tips for a complete newbie welcome.

[Stevo985]

19 hours ago, kurtsimonw said:

Is there a problem with using machines? On other message boards, people seem to think they're useless. But I'm not sure if they're just being all hipster about it. I've never been a gym goer, always been pretty thin, but after putting on a few stone the last few years ideally I want to lose it + look a bit better. Joined the gym last week and do about 30 minutes HIIT and then 30 minutes on machines 4x a week. I don't know if that's what I should be doing or if I should be not using machines or what? Any tips for a complete newbie welcome.

They're not useless, but there are many drawbacks, imo.

The main advantage, imo, is that they isolate your muscles. So if you want to train one particular muscle they're good at isolating that and just targeting that muscle.
However, that's also their downfall, because you don't strengthen other muscles.

When you use a proper bench press, you don't just use your chest to push the bar, you use all sorts of muscles to push it and balance it and control it. If you use a chest press machine it takes all that balance and other muscle out of it.

 

For a beginner I would, and some may disagree, tell you to steer clear of machines as much as possible for the above reason. So many of a beginners' muscles would benefit from big compound lifts that they'd be missing out by isolating things using machines. They won't hurt you or anything, but you could use your time and energy much more efficiently using proper weights.

 

For you, you need to decide what your goals are. if you JUST want to lose some fat, then you probably don't need to worry about weights. They would help you lose weight, but you'd probably be better off sticking to cardio (HIIT is very good btw) and sorting your diet out (diet is key to losing weight. If you're not addressing that then gym time is a waste. Abs are made in the kitchen)
If you do want to add some muscle then you're better off finding a beginners routine incorporating compound lifts (plenty of advice on here, Stronglifts that I'm currently doing is excellent and very highly thought of) and sticking to it. 

Not saying you're doing this, but when people join a gym and start using machines they tend to just go around the machines doing a few reps on each and not really doing anything of any benefit. You see it at every gym. 

 

Ultimately if you work hard on machines and lift heavy weight and increase it every session, then you'll see a benefit. However, imo you'd be better off harnessing that motivation to free weight work.

[Stevo985]

Sorry, that was a bit wordy!

[villaglint]

23 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Whilst injuries have screwed my squats up my bench has been making some fantastic gains over the last month. I've been benching up to three times a week and can now manage 117.5kg for 3 sets of 5, basically up by 7.5kg in just over a month. Benching more often with variation in sets/ reps over the week has really helped. 

Bah, bench is the bain of my (gym) life. Tried 5x5, tried GVT and variations in between but my maxes barely move an inch. I only do it once a week which I think is not enough (for me) to make any progression. 

I do deadlifts Monday, Pull ups/Rowy type exercises Tuesday, Bench/Shoulders Wed, Cleans Thursday, Squats/legs Friday. 

Doing another set of bench would mean dropping something which I don't really want to do as I like the mix I have at the moment but damn I find that exercise annoying. I see steady progress everywhere else but not the bench oh no it's like a brick wall. 

PS I just got back from the gym after doing bench! Failed on the same rep I did last week, and the week before, and the week before! 

Edited February 14, 2017 by villaglint

[NurembergVillan]

I've just started going back to the gym for the first time since my daughter was born 18 months ago.  The day my wife went into hospital was the last time I went to my crossfit class (I went before she had to go to hospital - I'm not THAT nasty) and I managed to back squat 200lbs.  That feels a loooooong way off at the moment.

[Dr_Pangloss]

1 minute ago, villaglint said:

Bah, bench is the bain of my (gym) life. Tried 5x5, tried GVT and variations in between but my maxes barely move an inch. I only do it once a week which I think is not enough (for me) to make any progression. 

I do deadlifts Monday, Pull ups/Rowy type exercises Tuesday, Bench/Shoulders Wed, Cleans Thursday, Squats/legs Friday. 

Doing another set of bench would mean dropping something which I don't really want to do as I like the mix I have at the moment but damn I find that exercise annoying. I see steady progress everywhere else but not the bench oh no it's like a brick wall. 

PS I just got back from the gym after doing bench! Failed on the same rep I did last week, and the week before, and the week before! 

From experience once a week is no where near enough, twice a week probably about right, 3 times a week I've found effective but probably not too sustainable over the long run (too much wear and tear for me). At times I've found it really hard to progress but am on a good run at the moment, variation within the week has been key in my opinion, a heavier day (e.g. 5x5) complemented by a more 'hypertrophy' focused day e.g. 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps has worked. You probably just don't have enough volume in your routine (as you point out).

Another thing to think about is form, finding a grip that works best can take you a long way (for me I have a closer grip and leverage my relatively strong triceps in the movement), I also have a good back arch (minimising the distance the bar as to travel) and leg drive. 

A final thing to think about are accessory movements, making sure your triceps and strong as well as your shoulders, I've also found doing 50+ press ups twice a week can help with the bench as well. 

[villaglint]

Yes I do dips because its really the last two inches of extension which is first to fail. I did wonder about doing some evening press ups at other points in the week and that is probably a good shout. 

[kurtsimonw]

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

For you, you need to decide what your goals are. if you JUST want to lose some fat, then you probably don't need to worry about weights. They would help you lose weight, but you'd probably be better off sticking to cardio (HIIT is very good btw) and sorting your diet out (diet is key to losing weight. If you're not addressing that then gym time is a waste. Abs are made in the kitchen)

If you do want to add some muscle then you're better off finding a beginners routine incorporating compound lifts (plenty of advice on here, Stronglifts that I'm currently doing is excellent and very highly thought of) and sticking to it. 

Not saying you're doing this, but when people join a gym and start using machines they tend to just go around the machines doing a few reps on each and not really doing anything of any benefit. You see it at every gym. 

Ultimately if you work hard on machines and lift heavy weight and increase it every session, then you'll see a benefit. However, imo you'd be better off harnessing that motivation to free weight work.

Cheers.

I've got my diet sorted and while I haven't visually noticed anything, I have lost 6 pounds in the week since I started, so it must be working.

One reason I went to machines is more the ease of use. I've always played football and done some decent cardio, so the abs and leg stuff I'm fine with. But when it comes to arms, I just have no strength of any kind. So the idea of free weights was a bit scary, I suppose, especially with no know-how in a gym. I wouldn't say I lift 'heavy weight', because I simply can not lift heavy weight, but I don't just do a few reps to make it seem like I'm doing something. I suppose I'll see if there's any visual difference in time, if no then I'm obviously doing it wrong!

[Stevo985]

12 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said:

Cheers.

I've got my diet sorted and while I haven't visually noticed anything, I have lost 6 pounds in the week since I started, so it must be working.

One reason I went to machines is more the ease of use. I've always played football and done some decent cardio, so the abs and leg stuff I'm fine with. But when it comes to arms, I just have no strength of any kind. So the idea of free weights was a bit scary, I suppose, especially with no know-how in a gym. I wouldn't say I lift 'heavy weight', because I simply can not lift heavy weight, but I don't just do a few reps to make it seem like I'm doing something. I suppose I'll see if there's any visual difference in time, if no then I'm obviously doing it wrong!

Yeah like I said, if you're lifting enough weight that it is challenging you, so the last few reps are a real effort, and you're increasing the weight you lift every session then you'll make progress.

I'd still recommend free weights though. You'll have to do a bit of research and brave the self consciousness when you first go (everyone has it, don't worry!) but it'll be worth it.