The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

In all seriousness does it truly help with grip strength? I'm at the point at deads when I can barely hold onto the bar. I think my grip is just weak.

 

I will let you know im about a week but for deads you can just use straps.

 

Pussy.



^^300 lbs

 

Those COCs are great.

I have quickly gone through the ranks and people comment on my handshakes nowadays. When in reality I don't feel like I am squeezing any harder than I used to.

 

So i started my leg day as usual
Hack squat 2plates 2x8, 4 plates 2x8, 6 plates 2x8, 8plates 2x6, 10 plates 2x6
leg extension set on 130 5 sets to failure
Stiff leg deads 205 2x10, 225 2x8
Hip abductor 8 sets to failure
leg press 380lbs 4 x10
ham curl 5x10

Then onto sean's 315 challenge
First take, i was little excited and didn't take long enough break, plus the lighting sucked, only got 12 (and the only reason i got 12 was because sean got 14 and i hate to get beat but my body just didn't have it lol )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96f8TkllYok

so after a 5 minute rest i decide to give it another go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vPsf5cX4PU

Sadly i only got 10, my legs were just exhausted, shit is harder than it looks.

 

Got my whey, BCAA, Regen, Creatine, Cycle support on deck

 

What does 1:1:1, 3:1:1, 5:5:1 mean?

 

Good stuff Eric. My legs would probably snap if I tried moving 315

 

the hard part was doing it post workout, if i did that first thing in the gym i coulda pumped out 20 reps for sure. you should try it lol my legs are still twitching/cramping as i type this

 

I found the opposite true.
Lifting heavier weight really helps with recomp. Even if your weight stays the same or decreases very slowly, I build muslce at the same time Im losing fat so the body looks a lot better and overall body fat % reduces..even though weight stays similar or decreases slowly.

Not to mention when you lift heavy weights your blood gets flooded by the natural release of testosterone and growth hormone. Both of these hormones have anabolic effects and are great for adding muscle/burning fat. Large amounts of cardio actually reduces free test levels in the blood. Hence why sprinters are ripped with 6 packs and long distance runners are like twigs.

Lifting very heavy weights also had been shown to have an afterburn effect. Meaning, the repairing of damaged muscle tissue consumes a large amount of calories which keeps you lean. Cardio does have an afterburn affect but nowhere near as significant as the muscle damage inflicted by lifting heavy. Great article on it here:
http://www.builtlean.com/2011/06/29/afterburn-effect-of-exercise-qa-with-dr-christopher-scott-phd/

Basically the harder the workout the greater the afterburn effect.

 

^ this

 

almost done with my class another week and ill be back in the gym

 

Has anybody ever had just a really really crappy day at the gym? like you just can't put up any weight. Last week i was doing 5 sets of 5 DB Incline with 70lbs. Go in today, do my usual warm up, grab a set of 55's for a medium warmup set aaaannnddddd......nothing. finally managed to get them up all the way and cranked out a massive 3 reps before I almost literally dropped em on my chest. Figured I just wasn't warmed up enough or something and grab the 45's instead. got a huge 4 reps out of that. Tried some skull crushers, same story. After 30 minutes of being pissed off at myself and looking like an idiot who kept dropping not heavy weights i just said f*** it, grabbed my stuff and left.

Any reason yall can think of for this? I feel well rested, I have only been on this program for about 5 weeks so I shouldnt be too broke down or anything. My diet is pretty much unchanged. The only differnce I can think of is I took advantage of the warm weather earlier this week and pushed back my lifting by 3 days so I could get out and do some distance running. But really only 6-7 miles a day so not that much.

 

Im going to try to not use them. Not for any stupid reason just would like be able to able have the grip strength to not use them

 

Happens to me too. I think it might just be your body; it could be exhausted for a number of reasons. Also, if you didn't eat enough. I do the same, if I'm just doing absolutely shitty I just peace outta the gym as well.

 

Try taking a week off from the gym. I find over training (even if you think you are not) really kills your CNS.

Like mentioned above, also check diet. In a calorie deficit it can be tough for your muscles to replace their glycogen stores. Creatine really helps increase power. Good thing is its the only supplement that only takes 3 days to work