The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Gah damn those squat numbers are impressive

 

I love taking pics like this for the people who do juice diets or starve themselves and then message me “so much for being on your diet huh?”


Bitch it’s called balance and it’s the only way to sustain a diet for long term lol

 

Nothing compares to that 7 pound water gain from the fun ass weekend. Fucking pump was INSANE yesterday. Can't wait to get these pumps back when I start gaining again.

 

Well since when do tacos and beer not fit in a balanced diet??

I’ve said it before but I hate the term “cheat meals” and the unhealthy viewpoint that a diet needs to include “never foods”. Its all about the overall diet long term. Quality of a diet cannot be judged in individual foods or meals.

The world is full of judgmental assholes so I just do me

As long as I’m happy and healthy I really don’t look for others’ view point on my diet and physique.

 

HALP!!!! Who are the bench press gurus here?

I need serious help. My bench is abysmal; mostly due to the fact that I have a ruptured pec tendon that I never had repaired. That is what it is now, so I'd like to get as good as possible at the lift so I'll suck as little as possible. I'll post some videos to be dissected and critiqued this evening, and explain what I can and can't do due to the injury.

 

https://youtu.be/gogSX3fYEj4

 

Bench was my worst lift until I started OHP and strengthened my rotator cuff.

I don’t bench 409 or anything but I was able to get improve a lot by also pushing myself on OHP.

 

Vascularity on point

 

I used to do a pyramid on bench 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1 with increasing weights and I had plateaued at like a 285 max. I then started the 5/3/1 and got my max up to 350 in a few short months.

Are you just looking for "how" to bench like form, or are you looking to get stronger with the lift?

 

Not looking for how to get stronger. Looking for some very good technical benchers to dissect my form. Hoping there’s something I’m missing that could make a difference.

Going to be tricky though because I can’t bench like everyone else. Essentially, the only way I can bench pain free is with a very close grip and elbows completely tucked.

 

Your triceps are gonna be yuuge.

 

After 1.5 years of benching like this, they are notably bigger than they’ve ever been. Still small though. Haha.

 

what PacCon said...idk how to help if that's the only way you can bench...I know one thing to focus on is just squeeze really really hard on the bar, that helped me a tremendous amount actually. I used to just balance it on my palms during the push but the hard squeeze makes the lift easier for me.

 

Can you do underhand bench?

 

Played a beach volleyball tournament on Sunday. 6 games. My entire body hurts. Hip flexors in particular. Gonna try and do some light rowing to get some more blood flowing in there and then just mash around in there with a foam roller and supernova. It’s gonna be a painful afternoon

 

I had many shoulder problems when I was benching back in the day, and it was due to my own mistakes. I did have a trainer which never helped me correct the issue... so that didn't help.

Once I got another trainer he helped immensely. I changed my hand positioning, the way the bar travels, the speed, the height, my elbows, how I control the motion, etc.

Bench is the be all end all, but it does require a very strict form. My hands are in closer than the usual person (but not tricep push close), and when I bench the bar never comes to the chest (unnecessary - I don't compete in powerlifting). I typically leave 2 inches before my chest. I also do a slight pause for the stretch. When I press the bar back up I never lock out my elbows, I stop the rep nearly as the tricep activates. I am not training tricep, I am doing bench - I want to train chest. Tricep is about the last 30% of the movement or so.

It's very tricky and everyone is so different. Really just need to drop your weight and learn to control your movements - I did this for at least 6 months before I tried 225 again.

 

Speaking of benching form & pectoral exercise, I’m looking for exercises to get better formed pecs. The lower sides appear as though they are not developed. I may have to post a pic later so you understand but, I’m currently looking for ways to correct this.

I need exercises to develop the drawn-on/shaded area:

 

Dips.

 

I think @Supra TT is our resident BB so he’ll know about sculpting.


I kind of feel a lot of it is genetics. I do push ups, flat bench, incline bench, and flat and incline DB press. I usually do 2-3 chest moves on chest days. I have decent pec definition (I’m 5’9’’ and 155-160 give or take a few beers so far from big). Is it because I’m lean? Is it genetics? Both?

I don’t try for this so I lean on genetics. Especially because I don’t carry my fat on my upper half.
The only effort I feel I have made that has made a difference is complete range of motion and caring more about form than weight.

Decline bench works the lower pec you highlighted as do flys where your arms go from lateral to the bottom of your body. Maybe even wide DB flys where you work on eccentrics and a complete contraction with a pause. Because that part of the chest is going to contract the most when your humorous gets closest to your center mass.