Weightlifting/Bodybuilding Thread V.7 - let's see if more people care about themselves - General

i just barely run 20 miles a week and its not enough to bring my run time up to a 13:00 minute 2 mile, i havent timed myself but i know i cant do much more than a 14:30 at this present moment i dont know if it's my breathing technique or something about my body, but when i dead on haul ass at a 6:00 minute mile pace my arms and shoulders go numb and i start to get tunnel vision and black out i'll stop and gag and then resume running but by then my pace just shot down to shit. could be my diet but i've never had a problem with my upper body going numb during runs until recently

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;47848501]So should I not use the smith machine for benching? The past few times I've done bench press I've come dangerously close to dropping the bar and there's usually nobody around that I can ask to spot for me, so I was thinking of using the smith machine for bench press in the future for safety's sake. Will you really get less gains?[/QUOTE] If you're doing it that precariously then just lower the weight. Using a smith machine can and will ruin your stabilizer muscle development. If you're having to ask about it then I doubt you're pushing that much weight, so failing shouldn't be a big deal. Just fail the weight onto your chest or stomach, and roll it down until you can get it off you and get up

I used a smith all the time, and i still use the regular bench. With smith I like that its easy to do negatives or really push yourself to fail because should you not be able to get it up your form wont go all over the place and you can just rack it. Regular bench I use a spotter for heavy weights, or keep a medium weight and do 10 pushups when I cant push another rep inorder to get a good burn.

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;47848501]So should I not use the smith machine for benching? The past few times I've done bench press I've come dangerously close to dropping the bar and there's usually nobody around that I can ask to spot for me, so I was thinking of using the smith machine for bench press in the future for safety's sake. Will you really get less gains?[/QUOTE] how much are you benching? until you start reaching huge weights, there really isn't a huge risk. worst case scenario is you drop the bar, but big deal, just roll it off one side and you're out. don't secure weights onto the bar either, that way if it happens, you can tilt it to one side so all the weights fall off looking back, I had a huge fear of benching without a spotter. I was going to some back-alley gym in the middle-east run by an ex-bodybuilding competitor. he laughed at me and said that there's literally no danger if I drop the bar, seeing as I'm only lifting babby weights. there's an unfounded fear of the bar when you're new to lifting, so it's good to have someone slap some sense into you , I'm glad the gym owner did.

Until you're doing 2pl8 for reps then I don't see a big issue

Yeah I'm not benching that much yet I guess I'm just being overly cautious. If using the smith machine will fuck up some part of my muscles then clearly it's not worth using (at least at my level) and I'll just focus on maintaining form and practice what I should do in case of a failure.

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;47849325]Yeah I'm not benching that much yet I guess I'm just being overly cautious. If using the smith machine will fuck up some part of my muscles then clearly it's not worth using (at least at my level) and I'll just focus on maintaining form and practice what I should do in case of a failure.[/QUOTE] Yeah really though the best thing to do is just fail, when you fail it shouldn't drop like a fucking rock onto your chest, you'll probably fight it until you can't do it anymore and its just resting on your chest. Like other people said (and what I do personally) is not put the clamps on the end, and then when its on your chest let the weight slide off one end. That or roll of shame

[QUOTE=Wealth + Taste;47849325]Yeah I'm not benching that much yet I guess I'm just being overly cautious. If using the smith machine will fuck up some part of my muscles then clearly it's not worth using (at least at my level) and I'll just focus on maintaining form and practice what I should do in case of a failure.[/QUOTE] Last time I dropped a barbell during bench press it was loaded to 70kg and it didn't hurt even a bit. Resumed a set not even a minute later. Don't put the tie-on things to the end of the barbells to hold the weights on, because if you fail you can tilt the barbell to the side to slide the weights off of one side then it will snap back and slide the other weights off too. I'm late oops.

So my typical gym day is this for a full-body workout, my intent is still on cutting since college, sickness and Army has been messing with my goals lately, .5 mile run for heartrate up 5x5 Back Squat 5x5 Dips/ Dips until muscle fail 2x10 Curls Bicep 2x15 Reverse Barbell Curl for Forearms 5x5(?) Incline dumbells 5x5 Calf raises Think I should add anything more? Or could I get away with more? Typically for the next gym day I add at least 5-10LBs from what I did last time.

Is the incline dumbbells a press or a fly? But I did notice you don't have upper back or shoulders in there. Personally I'd do this for a full-body workout: - Bench press - Overhead press - Barbell rows (kills your forearms too) - Pull-ups - Deadlift - Squat - Barbell curls (unless you do barbell rows with an underhand grip but people have torn their biceps doing that, or unless you do chin-ups instead of pull-ups) [editline]1st June 2015[/editline] A better alternative is to have two different full-body routines and alternate between them. So one day you might do barbell curls but another you might do a narrow dumbbell press for your triceps. You could also do squats one day and deadlifts on the other. Then with your chest you might do flat or decline bench press on one day and incline bench press on the other.

I usually do press for the incline dumbells. I figured that the squats would cover the upper-back + shoulders. For the bicep curls, I use the barbells for that, so I just switch grips and go in reverse which tear my forearms. For alternating, I'm going to start practicing proper front squats as well and switch by day, I could never load much weight for front as I could have done for back because of shoddy form.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;47850697]I usually do press for the incline dumbells. I figured that the squats would cover the upper-back + shoulders. For the bicep curls, I use the barbells for that, so I just switch grips and go in reverse which tear my forearms.[/QUOTE] Upper back and shoulders in squats would be stabilisers, but wouldn't be worked as much as they would be in barbell rows or even deadlifts. I used to do reverse cable curls to do my forearms too but I've found that barbell rows seem to kill them enough as is. Not saying they aren't effective though.

I'm also getting back on a more controlled diet, lately I've been going out with friends much too often and I have been spending a lot on eating out. It's high-time I keep a consistent food log and account for the macros I take in at the minimum.

Oh yeah also spending a few minutes doing a core circuit won't hurt (well, won't hurt except for your abs). A lot of compounds stress the core but I like to do different variations of crunches and leg raises because why not, can get 60 reps knocked over easily in a couple of minutes. As for the macronutrients I only really keep count of the protein. For the other macros I try my best to avoid sugary stuff as well as creams and some cooking oils. I have no idea how much fat I'm getting compared to carbs but pretty much most of my carbs come from wholemeal bread and oats (good, complex carbs) and my fats come from meat (baked, fried in olive oil or fried dry), milk, eggs and nuts. There is a lot of saturated fat in there I'm guessing but fuck it, can't be worse than eating shit deep fried in those oils rich in trans fats because I don't eat that stuff.

I see. Well lately I have been consciously keeping track of what I do eat. Drinking water consistently has now become habit which is great and I've kept off sodas. Even when going out to eat, I'm just picking the lesser of evils out of the menu choices (but to extend of always getting salads, that'd be awkward) Chicken, fish, veggies and specific fruits are becoming my staple now as well. I'm averaging ~160LBs now at this point as well with some waterweight to it. If I continue even further with this habit along with a finally-consistent workout regimen I can see some good results showing on my tummy.

[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;47850672] 5x5 Calf raises [/QUOTE] Are your calves holding you back somehow? why 5x5 for calf raises? just curious, since I've only really seen people only do calf raises because they want bigger calves, which would mean higher volume stuff(4-5x10).

Oops my mistake. Calf raises are 2x15

late but i use the smith for incline bench and seated ohp because the adjustable bench is always in the smith in my gym and i cba to move it to the fucking squat rack (only other viable place) for presses mind you i still do the db variations on my second push day and i still do flat bench on the proper bench with a barbell

I usually do comparatively heavy high-volume for calfs. We're talking 110-125kg times 30, 4 sets Am I retarded? :v: Calves look good tho.

[QUOTE=Dark RaveN;47851154]I usually do comparatively heavy high-volume for calfs. We're talking 110-125kg times 30, 4 sets Am I retarded? :v: Calves look good tho.[/QUOTE] No. Hard calves is the best. I do like 40kg 15reps 4 sets.

i do 4 sets of 25 on the leg press for them also

I don't do calves at all come at me

[QUOTE=Dark RaveN;47851154]I usually do comparatively heavy high-volume for calfs. We're talking 110-125kg times 30, 4 sets Am I retarded? :v: Calves look good tho.[/QUOTE] 30 reps seems like a lot but 110-135kg is a pretty good weight. at least it's not as bad as the people that go stupid light and do ridiculously fast reps. while we're on calf raises, i'm getting 10 reps out of 190kg these days. i can do 210kg but i get a bit shaky on rep 6-8 .

Heavy ass steel toes 12h a day is the best calf builder

Alright, just finished my 4th session, feeling pretty good. A few questions: - When you talk about the weight you lift, do you include the weight of the bar? (for instance the ones I use are around 20kg) - When doing bench presses, sometimes I feel that one of my arms goes up faster than the other; does that mean I hold my bar in an unbalanced way, ie CoM not aligned with my sternum? I put both my pointing fingers on the smooth ring parts of the bar and make sure the weights are all the way through the bar ends, so I guess I'm doing it as I should. - When you do back squats you're supposed to do full squats right? Below knee level? Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong because sometimes my knees do a little popping sound. Nothing painful or anything but if that's something that can be bad for my joints in the long run I'd rather avoid it.

Well that's the first month of Stronglifts down. I've made pretty good progress and I'm very happy with it so far, the only thing that has tripped me up so far is the overhead press, which I've had to advance a little more slowly on. Here's to hoping I'll be much better by the end of the summer.

[QUOTE=_Axel;47853680]Alright, just finished my 4th session, feeling pretty good. A few questions: - When you talk about the weight you lift, do you include the weight of the bar? (for instance the ones I use are around 20kg) [/QUOTE] Yes [QUOTE=_Axel;47853680]- When doing bench presses, sometimes I feel that one of my arms goes up faster than the other; does that mean I hold my bar in an unbalanced way, ie CoM not aligned with my sternum? I put both my pointing fingers on the smooth ring parts of the bar and make sure the weights are all the way through the bar ends, so I guess I'm doing it as I should.[/Quote] It just one side weaker than the other. Either switch to dumbbell press to balance it out strength-wise or control the movement when benching. I recommend the former.

[QUOTE=_Axel;47853680]Alright, just finished my 4th session, feeling pretty good. A few questions: - When you talk about the weight you lift, do you include the weight of the bar? (for instance the ones I use are around 20kg) - When doing bench presses, sometimes I feel that one of my arms goes up faster than the other; does that mean I hold my bar in an unbalanced way, ie CoM not aligned with my sternum? I put both my pointing fingers on the smooth ring parts of the bar and make sure the weights are all the way through the bar ends, so I guess I'm doing it as I should. - When you do back squats you're supposed to do full squats right? Below knee level? Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong because sometimes my knees do a little popping sound. Nothing painful or anything but if that's something that can be bad for my joints in the long run I'd rather avoid it.[/QUOTE] Just make sure you push hard with both arms on bench. On back squats I personally go ass to grass, which I believe is better for your knees as once you're down there you aren't using them until you go back up, I'm doing high bar though. Low bar I believe it's recommended to go hips to knees.

Had a match yesterday and one of our guys didnt show so I ended up playing D end for the whole game, having never really played on the line before. It was fun, me and their left tackle had such a bromance going by the end of it, just going hard as fuck and screaming at each other. We shook hands and the end and he thanked me for a good game. I like football. [editline]1st June 2015[/editline] Really fucking stiff today though

[QUOTE=Valon Kyre;47853338]Heavy ass steel toes 12h a day is the best calf builder[/QUOTE] be previously obese/fat * F no jokes, every or at least most previously fat people I've seen have monstrous calves