Gym Routine

[BOF]

It's amazing how quickly they affect you. I went from being normal to sweating profusely and light-headed after each set. They use every muscle which I suppose is why they're regarded as the best exercise there is.

The other benefit that isn't as well-known is that because the squat builds your thigh muscle and it's a huge muscle, the body has to create a lot more testosterone in order to build up that muscle, and that testosterone helps to build up everything else for your other exercises. So in other words, the squat is the key to building every muscle you've got.

[Stevo985]

There are certain trains of thoguht that say to get bigger biceps, you should squat.

That might be an extreme example used to make a point, but it's along the lines of what you've mentioned. It uses every muscle, promotes muscle growth through testosterone (although my balding head and excess body hair would suggest I've got quite enough of that already thankyou!) and the fact that the body tends to grow in proportion, to an extent.

If you hit your biceps every session and worked out nothing else, you wouldn't end up looking like you had peter crouch's body with Arnold Schwarzenegger's arms.

It's a big calorie burner for people who are cutting as well. Works the biggest muscles, and makes you sweat!

[tommybringsgiants]

I have read that certain exercises such as squats and dips encourage actual growth hormones that lots of false supplements promote. Deffo great when cutting, although I don't agree with people who just say compound lifts are all you need. I don't like to neglect small muscle groups and have changed my schedule to include specific days where I will lay off the big compound lifts and concentrate on isolating a small muscle group. Saying that, I hate seeing the kids at my gym who only do arms every day and then wonder why they are getting no gains!

Apologies if this has been posted before, but this youtube channel is not only hilarious, it also contains some really good, easily digestable information (especially for people with not much experience!)

http://www.youtube.com/user/twinmuscleworkout

[Stevo985]

Closing in on the 120kg squat.

Did 5 reps of 117.5kg last night, and didn't shit myself, hoorah!

Been stuck on a 142.5kg deadlift the past 2 weeks though. If I don't hit that on Wednesday I'm going to have to reset and start another cycle

[BOF]

I did 25x115 squat yesterday and I really wish I could make the same kind of progress on my upperbody. I'm still stuck at 50kg overhead and having decided that I won't 'bounce' on my bench press I'm stuck at 67.5. Deadlift is fine. That'll be 122.5 tomorrow along with the poxy overhead

[Stevo985]

Huge squatting mate. I couldn't do 5 sets of 5 reps (I assume that's hwat you mean, if you did 25 straight I'd be super impressed!) of 115kg I don't think, unless I had a LOT of recovery time in between!

[BOF]

Still on SL5x5 so yeah it's 5 sets of 5. I'd trade 20kg of it if I could stick that on my bench press though.

[Stevo985]

I'll give you 20kg of my bench for 20kg of your squat.

[BOF]

Deal.

[Stevo985]

Sweet!

140kg squat and 70kg Bench. I can deal with that

[tommybringsgiants]

I'm a massive fan of squats, been working really hard in the rack recently, my routine is currently:

Warmup Set of 8x80kg

then:

5x110kg

5x120kg

3x140kg

3x155kg

5x120kg

5x100kg

I have hit a bit of a plateau recently with bench, can comfortably do 3 sets of 8 reps at 90kg, however when I move up to 95/100 my wrists seem to hurt. Think it may be a technique issue although I am generally quite solid.

[BOF]

Given the weights you're lifting, this might be a bit like me teaching you to suck eggs, but for me any wrist issues I've come across so far have been down to having too narrow or too wide a grip for the lift, putting my wrist at an unnatural angle. Though I suppose as the weight goes up, it's possible that the sheer bulk could put strain on even a good grip. My advice would be to revisit Rippetoe just for a refresher and see if you can't spot something even small that you might have missed or let slip. 155kg squat is a beast. Nicely done

[Stevo985]

I'd agree with BOF.

On the bench your forearms should be perfectly vertical at the bottom of the lift (i.e. bar at chest level). If your grip is too wide then your forearms will be more of a V shape and your wrists will be turned outwards, and conversely if your grip is too narrow then your arms will be more of a ^ shape and your wrists will be turned inwards.

My only other guess would possibly be that you're letting the bar sink too omuch towards your fingers and so it' sbending your wrists back, as opposed to pushing through the bottom of the palm, nearer the wrist.

Have a read of this

It's a useful guide of common bench press mistakes and how to correct them.

[BOF]

Cheers for the link.

One trick that I missed (and you can't see in a youtube video) is the section called "Poor Bar Grip"

To have a big bench press, you need to grab the bar and squeeze it for all it’s worth before unracking. When you squeeze the bar, you activate the muscles in your forearms, hands and triceps while also reinforcing your body’s overall tightness. As the bench press takes place on a padded bench, it is seen as a ‘soft’ exercise. The reality is that to bench big weights, you have to be fairly uncomfortable when the time comes to unrack the weight.

Must say I've been holding it as tight as I need to - which is pretty tight - but maybe not as tight as I could be.

[Stevo985]

Yeah, and I still don't do that to be honest, so need to start doing it myself.

THe other bit that I never do is getting my spotter to unrack the weight for me (actually not sure if it mentions it in that particular article)

But they say you lose all the tightness in your body when you unrack, so you should have your spotter unrack it and put it in position for you.

[BOF]

They do mention that. Must admit it's quite difficult to achieve without a spotter I do tend to push off the rack rather than pull, which is another thing they recommend you not do (in absence of a spotter). So that's 2 things for me to try.

[Stevo985]

Thing is, with a lot of benches, it's impossible not to push it off.

[BOF]

We have both and I HATE the 'pull' ones because the prongs are so long that they risk getting in the way of the actual exercise. But I was forced to use them the other day (busy gym) and I did OK, so I might re-visit them now that they've actually been recommended.

[regular_john]

Random gym question - is it normal practice to include the weight of the bar in your total lifted? I never do, and I'm wondering whether I'm underselling myself in terms of weight lifted. Not that anyone other than me cares, it's just an ego thing!

[Stevo985]

Always include the weight of the bar.

A proper one weighs 20kg, that's not negligible!

Hit my 5 reps at 142.5kg Deadlifts tonight. WOO!