The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

What is this?

 

the promo for @ThunderCookies and his sole competitor...

 

That’s right, it was @dwalden2

 

Too tall

 

Steak fried up with a bag of shredded coleslaw mix. So cabbage and carrots. Add some grated garlic and ginger with teriyaki sauce.

One of my fav keto meals was a bag of this mix fried up with breakfast sausage with plenty of butter, and oil. Tastes like the inside of an eggroll.

 

So woke up this morning after DL for the first time in 10 months... my upper back is sore LOL.

I think the DOMS is coming tho.

 

Missed some transformation tuesday yesterday... little update after 34 days of bulking roughly. Both photos taken out of bed 530am.

I was at my lowest nearly 197-198# in the before and now I am #216. I went up quick - lots of water... I am hoping the water will drop off soon. Friday I stop the Dbol which is making me retain water at this point.

Food is up to 500c, 220p, 110f - close to 3900 calories. Snacks here and there if I feel like it. Feeling pretty bloated by the end of the day. Pumps and energy in the gym have been great. Feeling full and dense. Water is certainly washing me out a little, but at the gym that water gets pushed into the muscle cells and I lean out drastically.


Can't stay lean forever no matter the supplement you use - they are not magic

 

Those delts are yuuuuge.

 

Gah damn. You’re a badass man.

 

Anyone ever have their muscle feel like it’s burning up? This is the second time it’s happened. Did squats last night and my right quad, pretty much from the hip flexor down to my knee is just burning. It wasn’t as bad last night but this morning it is not pleasant. It’s almost a mix of that feeling you get when your muscle is “asleep” after sitting on it too long and just a fire inside my leg.

 

Do you do hamstring and glute work? How is your squat form do you think?

The part you are talking about sounds like your IT band. If you aren’t recruiting your glutes, hips, and quads for the full movement the muscles basically rely on the IT band to distribute force which just pulls on this super thick ligament and can cause microtearing.

 

I just did squats, bench, bent barbell rows. I felt it start to tighten on the squats though in the beginning and then the rows may have added.
My form is usually good. I try and get my girlfriend to point anything out to me that’s off. I wasn’t pushing that much weight either.

I don’t think it’s fully the IT band, it’s more quad but the IT band is definitely tight as well. Had my girlfriend do a little tissue massage on it last night after and then stretched and ice. Gonna try icing again this morning. It’s not really painful it’s just tight and fiery


Edit: but you may be right. I may not be distributing force equally and isolating the IT band. The squats didn’t feel completely right yesterday

 

I’m not a squat pro by any means. I have just dealt with issues in the IT band from running and lifting. That burning sensation sounds familiar.
I also know @Supra TT also deals some with an inflamed IT band too and may be able to help.

My PT had me doing bridges to build up my glute strength and actually get them to fire during other movements.

 

I very likely need to do some stabilizing muscle strengthening too.

The girl gave me some stretches to do right now and then ice. Will likely kill myself later with some foam rolling action on it

 

This is my post lifting cardio. Getting some rolls in after chest day.

 

I had a bunch of IT band issues - it felt exactly like you describe ... tight and burning. It just felt like it was on fire. Mine was more centralized around my upper outer knee and the connecting point of the IT band there.

I feel much better after many months of avoiding heavy (WIDE STANCE) squats. What was triggering it for me was my drive to get strong too quick and I didn't give my body a minute to catch up... mind strength was there, not my tendons LOL.

I can do close stance and keep the weight sub 225 and feel fine, I just limited the amount of squats I do now via wide stance. I did all kinds of exercises that didn't bother me, but what triggered it each time was the wide stance squat.

I didn't do too much to help it heal (foam roll, ice, etc) except just stop doing the shit that bothered it. I had some cupping work done a few times and that seemed to help. Massage didn't seem to do much it was more the cupping to help with inflammation.

 

Thanks for your input. I did squat a bit wider than normal yesterday so maybe that played in to it as well. I think you and @PackCon are probably right about it being the IT band more so than the quad. I’m not feeling the burn in the same spot you described but the more I’m walking around, the more I’m feeling it in the outer part of the quad closer to IT band. I’ll have to give squatting a bit of a break and do more foam rolling on it

 

haha thank u!

lol, if that's the only problems i have in life, its a win

ditto! works out in the longrun

 

@ThunderCookies @TRVsTRD @Travish325 @anybody else who knows anything about tapering...

My meet is Nov. 9th. I'm only going to have 5 weeks of training (including this one) if I use a 1-week taper. I figure that will be plenty. I don't think I can accumulate too much fatigue in 5 weeks. Thoughts?

I've been on the 5x5's for 3 weeks, gradually increasing working weight. I was going to start a 5/3/1 wave before I had this sudden urge to sign up for a meet. However, I think that because the meet is so close, starting a new block now and taking a step backwards in intensity is not the best call. Plan moving forward is as follows.

* Weeks 1-5 I'll have a second day for Bench, OHP, and squat consisting of lighter weight, speed work.

Week 1 - squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, DL 5x5, OHP 5x5

Week 2 - squat 5x5, Bench 5x5, DL 5x5, OHP 5x5 Heavier than last week

Week 3 - squat 3x5, Bench 3x5, DL 3x5, OHP 3x5 Heavier than last week

Week 4 - squat 3x5, Bench 3x5, DL 3x5, OHP 3x5 Heavier than last week

Week 5 - squat 3x3, Bench 3x3, DL 3x3, OHP 3x3 Heavier than last week

Week 6 Taper -
Sunday - Rest
Monday - Work up to opening squat, 2x5 light squat drop sets, Couple sets of light accessories. No DL this week.
Tuesday - Work up to opening bench, 2x5 light bench drop sets, Couple sets of light accessories
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Meet

Thoughts, comments, critiques, etc????

 

Here is a quick and dirty plan. You can follow it, or not. No big deal. Or maybe @weldertaco and @PackCon can use it and stop being pencil necks...

First - I would max out between now and Saturday. Find your true 1RM for Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. Do them all at once, or do them 1 day at a time. But you need this data to run this program. If you do a best guess, you're going to undercut yourself and miss out on hitting a big number come meet day...

10/6-10/12 - week 1

Workout 1

Competition Squat - 87% 1RM 4 sets of 3
Pause Squat (1 full breath) - 70% 1RM 3 sets of 2
Competition Bench - 87.5% 1RM 4 sets of 3
Spoto Press - 70% 1RM 2 sets of 6
A few light upper body accessories (facepulls, tricep pressdown, curls) - 3 sets of 15

Workout 2

Ham Curl/GHR moderate weight - 2 sets of 10
Competition Deadlift - 82% 1RM 3 sets of 5
Weighted Glute Bridges - 4 sets of 5
Lat Pulldowns - 4 sets of 6
Pendlay Row - 3 sets of 8

Workout 3

Competition Squat - 81.2% 1RM 3 sets of 6
Front Squat - 75% 1RM (you can find your true 1RM of front squats when you are testing your other lifts, or just assume it is around 75% of your back squat. This is more of an accessory, so it isn't life or death if you are off a bit here) 3 sets of 8
Competition Bench - 82% 1RM 3 sets of 6
OHP moderate weight 3 sets of 6
Pushups - 2 sets to failure

Workout 4

Competition Deadlift - 90% 1RM 5 sets of 3
Ham Curl/GHR - 3 sets of 10
Lat Pull Downs - 3 sets of 10
A few moderate weight bicep accessories (hammer curls, cable curls) 4 sets of 6

10/13-10/19 - week 2

Competition Squat - 88% 1RM 5 sets of 3
Pause Squat (1 full breath) - 72% 1RM 4 sets of 4
Competition Bench - 90% 1RM 5 sets of 3
Spoto Press - 72.5% 1RM 3 sets of 6
A few light upper body accessories (facepulls, tricep pressdown, curls) - 3 sets of 15

Workout 2

Ham Curl/GHR moderate weight - 3 sets of 10
Competition Deadlift - 85% 1RM 4 sets of 5
Weighted Glute Bridges - 4 sets of 5
Lat Pulldowns - 4 sets of 6
Pendlay Row - 3 sets of 6

Workout 3

Competition Squat - 81.2% 1RM 4 sets of 6
Front Squat - 75% 1RM (you can find your true 1RM of front squats when you are testing your other lifts, or just assume it is around 75% of your back squat. This is more of an accessory, so it isn't life or death if you are off a bit here) 3 sets of 8
Competition Bench - 82% 1RM 4 sets of 6
OHP moderateweight 3 sets of 6
Pushups - 3 sets to failure

Workout 4

Competition Deadlift - 90% 1RM 5 sets of 3
Ham Curl/GHR - 3 sets of 10
Lat Pull Downs - 3 sets of 10
A few moderate weight bicep accessories (hammer curls, cable curls) 4 sets of 6

10/20-10/26 - week 3

Workout 1

Competition Squat - 88% 1RM 5 sets of 4
Pause Squat (1 full breath) - 72% 1RM 3 sets of 1
Competition Bench - 90% 1RM 5 sets of 4
Spoto Press - 72.5% 1RM 3 sets of 1
A few light upper body accessories (facepulls, tricep pressdown, curls) - 3 sets of 15

Workout 2

Ham Curl/GHR moderate weight - 3 sets of 10
Competition Deadlift - 85% 1RM 4 sets of 6
Weighted Glute Bridges - 4 sets of 5
Lat Pulldowns - 4 sets of 6
Pendlay Row - 3 sets of 6

Workout 3

Competition Squat - 81.2% 1RM 4 sets of 7
Front Squat - 75% 1RM (you can find your true 1RM of front squats when you are testing your other lifts, or just assume it is around 75% of your back squat. This is more of an accessory, so it isn't life or death if you are off a bit here) 2 sets of 8
Competition Bench - 82% 1RM 4 sets of 7
OHP moderate weight 3 sets of 8
Pushups - 2 sets to failure

Workout 4

Competition Deadlift - 90% 1RM 4 sets of 4
Ham Curl/GHR - 3 sets of 10
Lat Pull Downs - 3 sets of 10
A few moderate weight bicep accessories (hammer curls, cable curls) 4 sets of 6

10/27-11/2 -week 4 - Test Week

Warm up as usual. Work through your normal warm-up protocol until you reach your 1RM from day 1 of this program. Your goal this week is to AMRAP your prior 1RM for 3+ reps. Take a big whiff of ammonia and let it ride.

Workout 1

Squat AMRAP Test

Workout 2

Bench AMRAP Test

Workout 3

Bench AMRAP Test

11/3-11/9 - Final Prep Wek

Prior to Wednesday, work up to your open lifts for Squat, Bench, and Deadlift. Focus on your queues and form. This should be a number you have hit before in the gym and are confident about. It is more important to get a lift on the board then it is to hit a PR out of the gate. If you bomb out on squats you are out of the meet and will be forever roasted in this thread by the likes of myself, @SLO/TACO, and @dwalden2

Good Luck! I accept paypal or venmo