The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

That's about exactly how it went

I'd just make sure you're getting your recovery time in and you'll be fine, especially if you're only hitting each muscle once a week. You wouldn't want to destroy chest and tri's for an hour and a half on Monday and then do them again on Tues or Wed. If you're doing each mucle more than once per week, you definitely need to lower the volume.

I've been wanting to try it, but it's too expensive. I'm an Optimum Nutrition man...74 servings for $55

Squats, bench, deadlifts, rows, pullups, military press. Incorporate these into your workout, plus some isolation movements (curls,)and you'll have all your bases covered.

I weighed in at 183 this morning, post-shit. This is the lightest I've been in years. I'm losing around a lb a week still with 1 cheat meal every other week or so and having 2-3 whisky and Coke Zero's on the weekends. The only place I can feel any strength-loss is on the bench. My squat and deadlift are just as strong as when I was 209, but my bench has probably gone down some. I think I'll be in single-digits towards the end of August.

 

Yeah....I'm forcing myself to work on my DLs. I appreciate all the responses on my post, guys. Gonna start this program in about 3 weeks once I finish my current one.

Hit arms this morning...I'm one of those odd people who hates doing arms but I like how it makes me look

I hit roughly the same exercises on a normal leg day though I rarely get into rep ranges that high especially for RDLs. And I really don't front squat much. Usually just in warm up.

 

I've started doing higher reps on legs (usually 10-20 reps) and am seeing better results...that's just me, though. I just started doing front squats a few months ago and they kill my quads.

 

I've done it. I went through a phase doing a bunch of 15 and 20 rep squats. Definitely burnt my legs out in a different way than heavy work. Lately I've been doing a classic 10-8-6-4 pyramid one day a week and then low reps another day. Front squats are great. I really should work them in more for variety.

 

I do a heavy day as well. I do upper/lower splits, so I do a higher rep and lower rep day for each body part each week...strength and size: best of both worlds

 

I'm just going to leave this here: 17 "healthy habits" you're better off giving up

I'm going to post this on Facebook and watch the shit-show play out haha

 

I think that was on the chive, too. The only one I engage in is I take a multivitamin. Also, I wouldn't mind the option to stand up at my desk sometimes...not all day, but for a bit here and there. Sitting all day makes my back hurt.

 

So I usually end up hitting each muscle like twice a week. I know recovery time is important, but I just don't feel that sore. I've been at the same pace for like 5 months and have noticed no ill effects, but is it inhibiting growth in some way? You mentioned needing lower volume, does that mean lower volume more weight?

All those exercises you named off, I do those for their respective days. Military press is one of my faves for shoulder day haha. Felt very accomplished stepping up to 65lb Dumbbells for that. I always have a bench style or 2 for chest day, be it flat incline or decline with Dumbbells or the bar. Then maybe a fly or cable cross or something

That part that gets me, is if I want to be a better skiier I go ski. If u want to be better in a class, I study. More time at anything makes you better. But if I feel physicially fine...going and just lifting more might not yield the same result?

 

Yep, I saw it on the Chive, but I followed the link to the original source, so it seems somewhat credible lol.

I take a multi, too just because they're so cheap and I think people who are more active have different needs than normal people. Plus, mine (Orange Triad) has joint and digestion support.

Same here with the desk. I sit at a desk for 9 hrs a day, but I don't mind because, outside the gym, I'm a pretty lazy fellow lol. I do get up and walk around a lot though just because of ADD lol

 

When I got back into lifting late last year after training for endurance running for a while, my workout volume was insane because I could just keep going and going. If you have the ability to do it and you recover well enough (and don't get injured), it isn't a bad thing. However, sometimes you can feel recovered but not actually be. If your progress stalls often times more volume won't fix it.

I did end up fighting a lot of minor injuries after doing super high volume every workout for a few months and have since adjusted my program to really focus on the areas I want to improve at any given time. YMMV

 

Just like soreness ins't a good indicator of a good workout, not being sore isn't a good indicator of being recovered. As far as inhibiting growth, I look at it this way: when you lift, your muscle fibers tear. Your muscles grow by repairing themselves in the 48-72 hours after your workout; they repair by rebuilding thicker and stronger. If you workout in that 48-72 hour window, you're re-tearing those muscle fibers before they're fully healed. A good analogy is to look at it like a car: If you fill your tank on Monday and then stop every 10 miles to fill up again, you're being much less-productive than if you were to ride until you're close to empty before filling.

The above reasons are also why you want to want to lower volume when hitting a muscle group more than once per week: If you do chest on Monday and Thursday and you do 4 sets of 4 exercises each day, even if you "feel great", your muscles are most-likely not fully repaired from Monday's workout and you're not progressing at the rate you should. Your muscles grow when repairing, not when lifting. Your two options are:

1. do more sets and more exercises and give your muscles a full week to recover

Ex. Monday:

chest workout 1: 4 sets of 5-15
chest workout 2: 4 sets of 5-15
chest workout 3: 4 sets of 5-15
chest workout 4: 4 sets of 5-15

and don't hit chest again for a week

2. (my choice) Monday & Thurs:

chest workout 1: 2 sets of 5-15
chest workout 2: 3 sets of 5-15

With option 2, you're still doing 4 exercises, but you're just doing 2-3 sets each. Lowering the volume allows you to hit the muscles again in just a few days because you didn't completely demolish them on the first day. You're taking that process of tearing and rebuilding the muscle fibers and allowing it to happen twice a week, compared to only once. The only problem with that is, you've got to cut the volume down to allow for an adequate workout later in the week. If you completely go balls-to-the-wall on day 1, you're muscles may not fully be recovered for day 2.

With lifting, it's important to remember more isn't always better. To get better at skiing, you ski more. To get better at lifting, you eat and rest more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsB2wtH24D8

 

Haha that's so hard to accept. But I totally understand it. It doesent help I just enjoy being at the gym and pushing myself. It's kind like skiing, when you're lifting all you focus on is channeling your energy to lifting with good form, and like skiing and only focusing on riding that mental block is really refreshing. During thes school year I typicially got about 2 hours of free time a day during the week, between work and schol from 7am to midnight and I usually spent it at the gym because i didn't want to become a lazy complacent fuck at a desk, and because I didn't have to think much while i was there. And co eds too.

On that note too, I usually have about 48 to 72 hours between similar days. So like shoulders back bis monday, chest tri tuesday, rest,maybe rock climb or bike or legs or abs whatever the back around to shoulders

Also I can't say I've ever bwen hurt from the gym, it's all my other sports I get hurt doing that halt gym time that sucks

 

I think Arnold had access to supplements that aided and sped up his recovery significantly. Also, Arnold knew to rest between body parts:

 

I've been grouping my workouts a bit differently than I've ever done for the past few weeks as a trial run. I'm liking it so far. Once I finish this plan in another few weeks, I'll max out which will be the real test. Mon, Tue, and Wed I hit my intended 2 body parts pretty intensely. Friday I do a full body workout that hits everything but with less volume per body part than the earlier days. Same basic concept though...allow time to recover before hitting it again.

My off days often are active recovery including two easy 3 mile trail runs per week.

Monday: Chest/Back
Tuesday: Legs/Shoulders
Wednesday: Arms/Abs
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Full Body
Sat/Sun: OFF

 

Damn, that's some serious weight loss. I've seen that routine and it looks pretty intense. Hard to avoid injuries while running a calorie deficit if you're training hard. I'd love to see your results (no homo).

 

Well... The saying is this for any and every workout program there is

"everything works, but nothing works forever"

The keys are. Get on a program, stick with it, record everything (weight used, personal weight, size of body arms legs etc). Then do something different to change it up and shock your nervous system again.

 

May 9th 2015 (bought my Tacoma the day before) 156lbs
Two second place finishes; Men's physique novice and men's physique open.

 

Nice work! How tall are you?