General Workout Routines and Questions

[Pako]

I need more sleep.

Bench was down a rep today but got 4 good negatives with 405 on bench. I think I grew on that set!

I need more sleep.

 

[Michael88]

More sleep for everyone! How much sleep would be ideal, for someone who trains really hard? Thanks to my job I cant sleep more than 5-6 hours during the week, but I sleep long on weekends.


Yesterday I accidental cut myself on my palm, now a chunk of flesh is miss missing on the ball of my thumb. It got infected immediately and I had to use salt to stop the infection because nothing else worked. It hurt like a gunshot wound.

When pressing thats the place where most the weight is resting on so I'm pretty sure bench pressing and flies will hurt today.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I think 8 hours would be ideal, but I only get 6 hours of solid sleep. I need to train to get to bed early, I find it harder than lifting at the gym!

 

[Michael88]

I think 8 hours would be ideal, but I only get 6 hours of solid sleep. I need to train to get to bed early, I find it harder than lifting at the gym!

Same here, ''just half an hour online FPS playing and checking a few gaming forums before going to bed!''
2 Hours of gaming and 2 hours of having a discussion in a random forum later: ''Oops, 3 AM already?''

Every. Single. Day.

I've heard its best for people who exercise a lot to sleep 9-10 hours to allow them to fully regenerate. But I couldn't sleep that much if I wanted to.

Anyway, something strange I noticed lately, a month ago I started throwing in some 1-3 rep max lifts in my routine to get strong, not just muscular, and I've grown considerably.
Especially my chest. Is this a known effect from doing low reps high weight exercises in combination with normal lifitng?

For example after doing two sets of 8 reps dumbbell presses I increase the weight by 20% for the 3rd and 4th press where I can only do 2-3 reps with ''acceptable' form. Same with military presses etc.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I quit work at 5pm, and once I'm back from the gym, having eaten and done the dishes it's already anywhere between 9-10pm. Then an hour slacking before bed, but 11pm bedtime soon turns into 1am bedtime when you're reading up on stuff!

 

[phillgt2002]

Man, I don't think I've ever ran for 5 minutes non stop before. I'm surprised because in middle school I was a fat, lazy, little porker playing video games in my whities and demolishing bags of Cheetos. In high-school I didn't bother with running and just went straight to lifting. I still have tons of work to do until I get down to a decent size but I guess this is just a small accomplishment. After I get down to my target weight of 180, I'm going to bulk up to 220 lbs (or 99 Kilo) of muscle. This will take a while but I kind of love it. 👍

 

[Ryanswannell]

Starting to see progress . This week I'm completing sets I couldn't before, and even managed to add 5kg/11 lbs to my dead lifts 👍

 

[Pako]

I can operate and maintain at 5 hours of sleep. With 8+ hours consistently, I get better results in the gym and well as everywere else in my life. You tear down muscle tissue in the gym remembering that muscle builds when you are resting.

I was doing good getting about 9 hours a night this spring and summer then life started getting busy again. I need to get back to that routine and it's hard.

 

[Nato_777]

Just starting to get back into some training after about 12 years off. At 1 week off 44 years old I'm finding it hard to get back into it again. Having to take it real easy so not to injure myself - major muscle groups seem up to the task but the supporting minor muscles and ligaments etc certainly aren't yet.
Would like to get back to benching 150kg (330lbs) again (3 x 5) - starting off again now at 65kg (143lbs) (3 x 10-15) as my triceps won't cope with much more than that at the moment and as I tried starting a couple of years back with 85kg (187lbs) and did some serious pectoral damage which took months to recover from. I'm 5' 9" and 70kg (154lbs) now - was 72kg at my peak in my late 20's/early 30's - the difference being now I've a lot more fat!

 

[phillgt2002]

Just starting to get back into some training after about 12 years off. At 1 week off 44 years old I'm finding it hard to get back into it again.

You should talk to weightlifting sensei, Pako. 40 somethin' somethin' years old and lifting twice the weight of me.

 

[Michael88]

@ Nato_777
I'm not old ( ) but I'd recommend starting with less weight than you can actually lift for reps so you get your tendons and joints back on track before stressing them with very heavy weights.
Do compound exercises with free weights to get you stabilizers working again, don't do machines. Also do bodyweight planks to re-activate your core muscles.

And 72 kilograms is a pretty normal body weight for your height, I can't imagine you packing a serious amount of fat.

 

[Nato_777]

Thanks @Michael88, I am starting light for just those reasons - I'm just working out in my garage with my weights bench with leg ext/curl and lat pulldown attachments and free weights (couple of barbells, ez-curl bars and a couple of pair of adjustable dumbells). The planks are a good tip thanks. 👍

I'm pretty lightweight - even when I was totally stacked and ripped I never got past 72kg. I'm not exactly excessively fat now but have certainly put on a lot around the mid-section in the past 6 months - something I've never had a problem with until now - guess it's that middle-aged spread.

Biggest motivation for getting back into shape though is just that general feeling of well being when fit and strong - currently I'm sick and tired of always feeling sick and tired.

 

[Michael88]

Biggest motivation for getting back into shape though is just that general feeling of well being when fit and strong - currently I'm sick and tired of always feeling sick and tired.

With this mindset you'll be getting back into shape in no time at all! 👍
Really, its the single most important thing when getting into shape and improving ones health, everything else is secondary compared to motivation and self discipline. Most people I've met and tried to help to improve themselves failed after a very promising start because of lack of motivation, self discipline and just general laziness. Thats very frustrating.

Anyway, I also recommend working your rotators in your shoulder before doing heavy military presses etc., strengthen those first. Its the weakest part of the shoulder and prone to injury which will take ages to heal.

Speaking of shoulders, today I did some military presses, 7 reps of 71 kilograms with perfect, slow form, thats 2kg more than last time. I love this exercise, nothing feels better than pressing heavy weights over my head, its even more fun than deadlifts. I wish every day was shoulder day.

 

[Omnis]

You know what I've been finding great while starting out? Doing pushing and pulling exercises on your feet.

Studies have shown that you can actually only push (as if doing a bench press) about 30% of your bodyweight while standing, regardless of your strength level. That's why you look at professional sumo and NFL linemen, and really the prototype is long and extremely heavy, not necessarily strong.

My core has really strengthened over the past two weeks. Even though I'm still very fat, I can see an outline and/or shape to where my abs and obliques should be once I lose bodyfat. It's almost like that freaky steroid bloat.

 

[Pako]

Just starting to get back into some training after about 12 years off. At 1 week off 44 years old I'm finding it hard to get back into it again. Having to take it real easy so not to injure myself - major muscle groups seem up to the task but the supporting minor muscles and ligaments etc certainly aren't yet.
Would like to get back to benching 150kg (330lbs) again (3 x 5) - starting off again now at 65kg (143lbs) (3 x 10-15) as my triceps won't cope with much more than that at the moment and as I tried starting a couple of years back with 85kg (187lbs) and did some serious pectoral damage which took months to recover from. I'm 5' 9" and 70kg (154lbs) now - was 72kg at my peak in my late 20's/early 30's - the difference being now I've a lot more fat!

Yep, 40 something resident lifter here. That's exciting you are motivated and wanting to get back into it. In reading the responses above, all great advice. One thing I would suggest is plenty of warmups to avoid injuries. The days of running into the gym and hopping on the bench to throw up 3 plates without any kind of warmup are long gone. Take your time, do plenty of light weights. With warming up, you may be looking at 10-15 sets per exercise. Granted, the last 3 or so sets are where you are really getting any muscle breakdown, but the warmups are more critical now than ever. Did I mention warmups? Do plenty of it!

Also, take your time letting your body get back into the routine of working out. You will notice recovery time takes longer now than before. I have been on a one muscle group per week rotation for some time and that seems to provide good recovery for our slowing bodies. If you search back, you can catch some of my workout routines I have laid out or others in this thread. For general health, maybe consider adding some cardio as well.

Welcome back!

 

[Nato_777]

Warmups, got it. Thanks Pako for that great advice and encouragement - looks like the key for me is just to be patient and not try to lift too heavy too soon.

Looking at what you're doing gives me hope that I can get back to where I was and beyond even in time. Much respect! 👍

 

[Michael88]

Today I went for strength and tried what I could bench without screwing up form too badly. In the end I bench pressed 2x 6 reps of 120kg / 265lbs with dumbbells. Getting into position was hard and it certainly didn't look pretty.

I wonder what I could bench with a straight bar (don't have a spotter), people say that with dumbbell press they can only bench 80% compared to the straight bar.

 

[Pako]

Today I went for strength and tried what I could bench without screwing up form too badly. In the end I bench pressed 2x 6 reps of 120kg / 265lbs with dumbbells. Getting into position was hard and it certainly didn't look pretty.

I wonder what I could bench with a straight bar (don't have a spotter), people say that with dumbbell press they can only bench 80% compared to the straight bar.

I'd say that's pretty good man. That's a lot of dumbbell to maneuver around, just to get setup.

I would say your max bench could easily be in the 315-330lbs range given proper technique.

👍

 

[Michael88]

I'd say that's pretty good man. That's a lot of dumbbell to maneuver around, just to get setup.

I would say your max bench could easily be in the 315-330lbs range given proper technique.

👍

Thank you!

Did some hack-squats today because, for some odd reason I cannot do normal squats, resting the barbell on my back makes my shoulders and upper arms hurt intensely, no matter the position.
keeping my arms up and locked back like that blocks some vessels I think.

Warmed up with 250, all the way down with the barbell never touching the floor. Totally felt my quads and abs, but could do more than ten reps so I put more weight on the bar. And then things got strange, even though form seemed very good I didn't feel my quads anymore when doing 330. It felt like doing light dead lifts, I felt back and all my stabilizers, but not my legs.
Its strange, I cannot imagine how its possible to mainyl work the back while doing hack squats.

 

[Pako]

I've only done hack squats in a machine and didn't remember my back really engaging. Were you doing a free weight hack squat (not even sure how you would do a free weight hack squat) or a hack squat machine?

 

[Michael88]

You know me, free weights only. With free weights its like doing dead lifts, but you put the barbell behind you, touching your calves, the barbell never touches the ground during lifting, the upper body is relatively locked to engage the quads and legs. I stand on some plates to raise my heels, helps with the stance.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Thank you!

Did some hack-squats today because, for some odd reason I cannot do normal squats, resting the barbell on my back makes my shoulders and upper arms hurt intensely, no matter the position.
keeping my arms up and locked back like that blocks some vessels I think.

Have you tried gripping the barbell really wide? I'm gripping the bar really wide like Mark Rippetoe:



Feast upon that perfect form, it's glorious. I too have issues with gripping the bar with a close grip while squatting, which is why I grip it wide.

I think I stretched a muscle while doing dumbell bent-over rows, or while taking a weight off of the rack. Felt an irritating stretch in my back since that set, but still decided to go through with deadlifting. Luckily I didn't feel the stretch while deadlifting, and I'm now up to 110kg for 5 reps. I managed 100kg for 10 reps before that, and finished off the day with 80kg for 10 reps. I love deadlifting so much, I just cannot have a back day without deadlifting. Definitely getting stronger on my big lifts. For example my overhead press and arnold press have gone up pretty good, but for my lateral raises I'm still using the same weight as 3 months ago. I find it difficult finding perfect form during lateral raises. They burn so much even with light weight!

Actually, I think I've gotten stronger on every single exercise I'm performing except lateral raises. Interesting...

 

[Michael88]

What really helped me increasing my dead lift weight quickly was throwing in a couple of three-rep max weights in my regular routine. Like doing two regular sets of say 140kg 8 reps and then 170kg 3x reps. 👍

Have you tried gripping the barbell really wide? I'm gripping the bar really wide like Mark Rippetoe:

I tried everything, putting it low on my back, grip widths..... If I lock my arms up and all the way back while tensing my shoulder and upper arm muscles to hold the barbell in place they begin to hurt intensely and feel like they're exploding.
My biceps and arm veins pop out and increase their size to freakish levels. Even if I ignore the pain and do the squats my arms are out of order for the next 15 minutes.


I guess in that position my muscles are pinching important vessels. Its anatomy, I'll never be able to do normal squats.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Great leaping salamanders of flame, stretching is so underrated!



I think I'm suffering a bit from anterior pelvic tilt. Add to that because I'm seated at work the entire day I'm getting an irritated feeling in my upper back. I've started doing some good back stretches, getting some good cracks here and there!

 

[Pako]

Soooooo...... Yesterday was back day. My gym posted all around that they are doing a poundage club. Men's poundage club will be in 100lbs increments for total weight lifted for Deadlifts, Squats, and Bench.

So that sounds fun, knowing I can break 1,000 lbs pretty easy, I decided to embark on a 1,500 lbs goal. In order to do that, I have to bench 375, Squat 585 and Deadlift 540 lbs.

Bench I got, easy one rep.
Squats, well....that will be harder. 495 lbs would be a good squat for me.
Deads, well....that will be even harder than the 495 lbs squats.

Yesterday was back day so what better time to see where my deads are. Never really trained deads off the floor, I really had no idea where I was.

Started out with 135 lbs for a good 20 rep warm up. Felt great!
Went to 225 lbs next for 15 reps, still felt great.
Went to 315 lbs for 8 reps, it was heavier but still felt solid.
Went to 405 lbs for 4 reps. Getting it off the floor cold was a bit harder, but the following reps went pretty good. Form was still decent.
Then I went for 495 lbs. It felt like it was bolted to the ground. I couldn't even make it twitch.

So there's limit and what I need to work on. Der Alta, being the power lifting addict that he is, is gracious enough to review some videos of my doing deads to see if there's technique I need to improve on (which I know there will be) to improve my numbers. With good technique, he says, a 140 girl can DL 400 lbs. Well....if that isn't damn impressive I don't know what is.

So there you have it. In two weeks I still might go for the poundage club just to see where I am at now, train hard all winter and give it another go. I can, with a large degree of confidence, can hit 1100-1200 lbs. It's that next 15% that is a milestone for me.




08/30/2014 Update
Well, had a little more humble pie yesterday.

Figured I would go for my 365lbs bench.

Started out,
135x20
225x23
315x3
365x0

Yep, that's right.....a big fat ZERO. I brought 365 down and it completely dropped out the last 3 inches. It could have been 600lbs for all I knew. I thought for sure it would have gone up, but this was also the first time I've attempted this weight in 5 years. Might be time to put away the body building routines and hit the strength training routines for a little bit. Of course with my spotter, he got me to 8 reps the next set. My chest got super sore. Followed bench up with decline and incline bench then flys. Pecks are destroyed today. YAY!

There you have it. I think I will have more humble pie when I try for my 495lbs squat. On the smith machine I got 10 reps. I hope I can free weight squat 5 plates, at least for one rep. We'll see next week I guess.

 

[Bram Turismo]

So in what way is your chest supposed to grow if you're hitting it correctly?

I'm finding that the outer part of my chest and the upper chest is swelling up nicely. I feel that the inside has grown as well, but not as much. I'm feeling the most growth from my collar bone down to my armpit, and inwards from there. I'm starting to feel a nice separation from my shoulder muscle.

I'm finally really feeling my chest on chest days now, but I was just wondering if the outerpart of the chest grows more quickly than the inner part?

Also, I need to find some other protein. I'm quickly getting fed up of proteins with milk. I kind of want to try protein powder that I can mix with water so that it tastes like juice. Something like lemon or orange juice-flavourish. I tried mixing my chocolate flavoured protein powder with water, but that was just disgusting

 

[Michael88]

So in what way is your chest supposed to grow if you're hitting it correctly?

I'm finding that the outer part of my chest and the upper chest is swelling up nicely. I feel that the inside has grown as well, but not as much. I'm feeling the most growth from my collar bone down to my armpit, and inwards from there. I'm starting to feel a nice separation from my shoulder muscle.

What you are describing is the upper chest, which is mainly targeted with incline bench pressing and incline flies, also with shoulder cleans. If your body fat is low you can tense your chest muscles in front of the mirror, there you can see a separation between the upper and lower chest. -A line across your pecs about 5 centimeters above your nipples.

Anyway, flat bench chest exercises should work your whole chest, but if you want to target the lower chest a bit more you can do decline flies and decline bench presses. Throw in a few declines every now and then.

Also, I need to find some other protein. I'm quickly getting fed up of proteins with milk. I kind of want to try protein powder that I can mix with water so that it tastes like juice. Something like lemon or orange juice-flavourish. I tried mixing my chocolate flavoured protein powder with water, but that was just disgusting

I've never taken protein in my life, never needed it, you can get very close to your genetically limit with a good and balanced diet. Protein powders can be helpful but those can also backfire resulting in a variety of very nasty problems. (permanently ruined kidneys and high blood pressure)
IMO if you are not a pro bodybuilder or a weight lifting competitor all you should need is a healthy diet. Especially as a beginner.

 

[Michael88]

Today I did some dumbbell squats, with 280lbs. Feels kinda like dead lifts and squats mixed together, but its hard on the abs and also back-friendly.
But the most amazing thing about that exercise is, its SUPER hard on the neck. Not the traps, but the neck itself. I've been doing this exercise for one year now and its responsible for my neck growing wider than my head LOL. When doing them it feels like someone tries to pull your neck apart.
I love doing 300lbs barbell shrugs and heavy dead lifts but those DB squats are way, WAY harder on the neck.

So if you have a long awkward pencil neck, I can definitely recommend heavy dumbbell squats, it will turn your neck into a freaking log.

Anyway, does anyone know a good and healthy free-weight forearm exercise? I'm lacking forearm muscle, I'm doing lots of of hammer and forearm curls, yet they seem to be completely ineffective.
Last time I felt a good pump in my forearms was when I took a screw driver and put some 5'' screws into hard wood without pre-drilling. Man, that was brutal.

 

[Pako]

Today I did some dumbbell squats, with 280lbs. Feels kinda like dead lifts and squats mixed together, but its hard on the abs and also back-friendly.
But the most amazing thing about that exercise is, its SUPER hard on the neck. Not the traps, but the neck itself. I've been doing this exercise for one year now and its responsible for my neck growing wider than my head LOL. When doing them it feels like someone tries to pull your neck apart.
I love doing 300lbs barbell shrugs and heavy dead lifts but those DB squats are way, WAY harder on the neck.

So if you have a long awkward pencil neck, I can definitely recommend heavy dumbbell squats, it will turn your neck into a freaking log.

Anyway, does anyone know a good and healthy free-weight forearm exercise? I'm lacking forearm muscle, I'm doing lots of of hammer and forearm curls, yet they seem to be completely ineffective.
Last time I felt a good pump in my forearms was when I took a screw driver and put some 5'' screws into hard wood without pre-drilling. Man, that was brutal.

Dumbbell squats are great!

I do a lot of dumbbell and barbell forearm work. Not much else you can do. Just do ridiculous sets. They're like calves, they can take some serious abuse.

Front and Rear barbell forearm curls and extensions. About 105-135lbs for sets of 20.
For barbells, I hold 20-30lbs dumbells at my side. Keep your arms straight, and extend them laterally away from your body to about 30-45 degrees. Then do curl and extensions with them for 20 sets. Like this = /|\

I will super set both at the end of my bicep workout.

Edit: I mean 20-30 rep sets.

 

[Ryanswannell]

At the store where I work, we are selling 990g tubs Maximuscle All In One for nearly £20 cheaper than the RRP, so seeing as I ran out of protein the other day I jumped at the chance to buy a tub. While scanning the back of the label, I saw that each serving contained 3g of Creatine in addition to 20g of protein.

Has anyone here noticed any significant changes in terms of both physique or performance when in comes to taking Creatine, or is it an overrated supplement?