General Workout Routines and Questions

[phillgt2002]

I totally get that! It is so HARD to eat right, I don't care who you are. The rotisserie chicken is mana from heaven as far as I'm concerned. I used to buy chicken breasts, and bake my chicken for the week. That sucks! I then went to rotisserie and just deboned it into a container for the week. Then I found that Costco sells rotisserie chick all ready separated in 2 lb. bags. That has been the biggest time saver for me. 2lbs for $12. I can deal with that.

I've simplified things so much because I know if it takes too much time, or makes too much of a mess, I can't stay on track. Hanging out with friends and family is the worst. I've started packing meals in containers if I'm going to be hanging out away from home. I catch crap from "friends", but they're used to now.

Yeah, my cheat days started to turn into cheat weeks. Usually, when with friends, I just eat food because it's food, not because I need it. When I started losing weight, I looked at food as a utility, but that mentality has kind of been lost.

As for those precut rotisseries, I would love to get them, but I don't have a Costco membership and the majority of my shopping is for me alone, so getting one may be kind of over kill. Having to debone the chicken is a pain for us lazies.

I just shop at Safeway, but I'm going to see if they precut the chicken. That would save so much time.

Would you have any alternatives that aren't filled with so many additives?

 

[Pako]

Well, just about any frozen chicken that you have to cook is frozen in salt water. I've found that the rotisserie, after you peal the skin, is less salty than some of the frozen breasts I was getting before. Don't feel too bad about eating precooked chicken that actually tastes good when the rest of my meals are pretty clean.

You can always cook yourself up a 12-18lb turkey for the week. Cook it Saturday, de-bone it Sunday and your set for your protein for the week. You can get your butcher at safeway make you super lean hamburger to substitute some of your lean turkey meals.

I lucked out and bought 100lb of 100% lean hamburger from a co-worker who raised and butchered their steer. Best hamburger I've ever eaten.

 

[Omnis]

Costco rotisserie chicken is so cheap that you can just cut off the breasts, thighs, oysters, and shoulders, and not even worry about getting everything if you're really in a rush. Once you're used to doing it, deboning takes like 30 seconds tops. The hardest part is taking off that damn impenetrable twine.

If you're really squeezed for time, just grab some frozen chicken breast strips from your local supermarket. There's not much difference in nutrition from one chicken breast to the other. It's chicken. The only person that can figure out what works best for you is you.

 

[phillgt2002]

I've gone full blown gym rat.

I don't think I've ever been this big. I need to be cutting

 

[Michael88]

I did deficit deadlifts today, meaning a regular deadlift with the bar set much lower so its a lot harder to lift.
I love this exercise, it builds good starting strength, regular height deadlifts feel so much lighter after that.

With a normal bar height the bar would be mid-shin, but the deficit deadlift starts barely above the ankle, making the lift considerably harder. You can make it even harder with a very wide grip but this kind of hurt my wrists so I don't do that very often.

Did a couple of repetitions with 215kg / 473lbs

I've gone full blown gym rat.

I don't think I've ever been this big. I need to be cutting

Become a powerlifter / Strongman and you'll never have to cut!

I've never done cutting in my entire life, my appetite pretty much matches my caloric needs - but I have to say, as you can see in the pictures, I'm not defined or pretty like a body builder.

But oh well, I prefer lifting as heavy as possible over razor sharp abs.

 

[phillgt2002]

I've never done cutting in my entire life, my appetite pretty much matches my caloric needs - but I have to say, as you can see in the pictures, I'm not defined or pretty like a body builder.

But oh well, I prefer lifting as heavy as possible over razor sharp abs.

I'd absolutely prefer your body type.

The reason why I have considered cutting is because I have too high of a body fat percentage. I have a very nice build and am noticeably strong, but I just have too much extra fat.

I'm going to start running to cut down my weight further, but I broke my leftmost toe mid February, so I'm stuck with lifting and light cardio.

Like you, I view weightlifting as a practical need. I don't lift for the visual aspects of it, but for personal knowledge on how physically capable I am. Also, I spend a great amount of time outdoors, so I definitely want to have some kind of muscular build for reliability reasons.

 

[Michael88]

I'd absolutely prefer your body type.

The reason why I have considered cutting is because I have too high of a body fat percentage. I have a very nice build and am noticeably strong, but I just have too much extra fat.

I'm going to start running to cut down my weight further, but I broke my leftmost toe mid February, so I'm stuck with lifting and light cardio.

Like you, I view weightlifting as a practical need. I don't lift for the visual aspects of it, but for personal knowledge on how physically capable I am. Also, I spend a great amount of time outdoors, so I definitely want to have some kind of muscular build for reliability reasons.

Yeah, lifting makes the body a lot stronger on several levels, higher bone density and stronger muscles and tendons definitely makes you less prone to injury in all kinds of accidents. I'm sure my training helped me to prevent broken bones and ruptured tendons in several situations. Its a very practical sport.

Also, cutting down too much is not a good thing, I once got sick from eating spoiled food and I lost 12kg / 26lbs in 20 days. If you are very sick and your body fat percentage is very low the body will eat the muscle instead of the body fat, which is not as effective and you'll feel even worse. If your main goal is to look shredded, well, you have no options. If you go only for strength you can have the luxury of carrying a little fat that helps you through tough times.
Also, a few extra kg's can definitely help in some lifts, like the deadlift.

About cardio, there is cardio without having to use legs a lot - does your gym have a rowing machine? Set it to medium and do rows for 30 minutes or so. Swimming would also be a great idea I think, it would be very easy on your injured toe.

 

[phillgt2002]

Does your gym have a rowing machine?

I think I may have seen one being used, but I'll have to definitely check.

Once again, thank you for the advice.

 

[phillgt2002]

I got carried away in the momentum and went to the gym two days in a row. It tore me apart and caused my recovery to take longer, so I've gone back to gap days. 3 days of the gym every 5 days.

I've lost a few pounds, so far. Just going to keep lifting hard and doing cardio.

 

[AlvaroF]

So I got back to the gym.

Many things have improved in me, specially in school. After a month in doing a general training plan to get used to working out again, I will start today a more body area spefic training and foucused on improving general strengh.

I'm going to the gym 3 times per week. Now my workload at university increased so my schedule is all over the place. But I can manage it all fortunately.

 

[Michael88]

I got carried away in the momentum and went to the gym two days in a row. It tore me apart and caused my recovery to take longer, so I've gone back to gap days. 3 days of the gym every 5 days.

I've lost a few pounds, so far. Just going to keep lifting hard and doing cardio.

3 days every 5 days is a seriously slow gym schedule, progress will become extremely slow.

I do splits and lift weights 5 days a week, the 2 rest days are flexible and I use them when I feel I need them. I tried three days / week and progress nearly stalled in all my lifts.

My schedule is very flexible in general, there are days where I feel like I really want to do heavy deadlifts or shoulder presses, but its actually squat or bench day. Since fun is an important factor in sports I do the lifts I want to do and adjust the schedule accordingly.

Thats something I can really recommend beginners. Make a lifting schedule but be flexible about it. Fun overrules the schedule, if you really feel like doing heavy deadlifts instead of following the schedule - do them!

(Of course, this shouldn't happen every lifting session )

 

[CodeRedR51]

I've lost a few pounds, so far. Just going to keep lifting hard and doing cardio.

Since February 1st I have ate less fast food, added more fruits and veggies to my diet, and cut down on sugary drinks. Combined with a little hiking on the weekends (zero time in the gym) and I've lost 10 lbs. Sometimes a change in diet can do quite a bit.

 

[phillgt2002]

Since February 1st I have ate less fast food, added more fruits and veggies to my diet, and cut down on sugary drinks. Combined with a little hiking on the weekends (zero time in the gym) and I've lost 10 lbs. Sometimes a change in diet can do quite a bit.

Yeah, my diet has been pretty bad in the past few weeks. This week has been so much better, but I think that's because I've spent my money, so I'm not capable of purchasing junk food as much.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Yeah, my diet has been pretty bad in the past few weeks. This week has been so much better, but I think that's because I've spent my money, so I'm not capable of purchasing junk food as much.

I threw this together this morning of my progress since I have been taking note of my weight every morning for a couple months now. That huge dip is from last week when I was really sick and lost 5 pounds in 24 hours.

 

[phillgt2002]

Damn. I need to get to that point. I haven't exactly tracked my weight with concrete statistics.

I just weighed in, and I'm down to 232 lbs from 240 lbs. I'm doing as Michael said and I'm going to the gym at least 4-5 times a week.

I got invited to a boxing gym, but it's too expensive. I know a boxing gym would whip me into shape relatively fast, but oh well.

I need to continue doing what I'm doing. I'll be going home for a moment, so I am going to try and stay away from all of the sweets my parents love and stick to eating foods with natural sugars and lots of fish and chicken.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Remember, best time to weigh yourself is immediately after you wake up in the morning. (use the toilet first if you have to ) And it's pretty obvious you should not be wearing clothes either. A number of things can influence your weight during the day, so morning is best.

 

[Michael88]

Today I did 150 kg / 330lbs calf raises, thats having a heavy barbell on your back and you stand on your toes, on a raised platform (wooden boards).

I could have probably gone with way higher weights, I think 200 kg / 440lbs fpor 8 reps would have been absolutely doable but I'm too afraid of damaging my Achilles tendon. Its under a LOT of tension during that exercise which makes me really nervous.

Anyway, its such a relaxing and great exercise after squats, it feels just great.

 

[Michael88]

Thats pretty impressive and really cool. Novak also won several medals in the 40's, he did 140kg standing overhead presses, back in the day when steroids didn't exist!

 

[Pako]

Interesting Weight tracking. Here you can see where I starting increasing my calories to put some weight on peaking in December then started cutting through April.

I started at 206 in October and started gradually cutting when I hit 226 in December. Those huge spikes in April were due to the contest prep I did. Major hydration and carb fluctuation. Weighted in at 195.1 this morning. Just now starting to add more calories to get my energy level back up. I'll put some weight back on, but probably won't get much over 208-210. Planning on being in that 185-190 range come October 20th.

 

[Michael88]

Busted my elbow sleeves during heavy bench presses. Also pressed 135kg / 300lbs for 6 repetitions relatively easily.

 

[Dennisch]

And so it begins! 3 sets of 10 with 7.5kg for the titties and I already know that I lost a lot of strength over the years.

 

[Dennisch]

3 workouts later and I'm already back up to 10 kilo on each side. And it's already getting easier.
I'm also pleasantly surprised about my legs, because of all the failing joints in them I need to be really careful, but they too hold up for now, without pain.

👍

 

[Michael88]

Making a lot of strength gains with a new technique I've started trying out a month ago - I call them ''dead sets'', which I took from the dead lift.

Whats special with the deadlift? You start with a weight resting on the floor, it is not in motion and you got to start it and lift it, and every lift starts with the weight not in motion but resting on the floor. Hence dead-lift.

For example bench presses where you start with the weight already in lifted position. Then you lower the bar and with the bounce effect at the bottom of the lift you immediately press it up again. The time the weight spends in the bottom position of your lift is absolutely minimal. With dead sets, I lower the weight and let it rest 2 seconds on my chest, then press it up explosively. This takes away the bounce momentum effect and - in my opinion- is much harder on the muscles, despite the fact that I cannot do as many reps this way as with normal training (only 2/3 or 3/4 of the repetitions depending on the exercise). The training effect is immense, I feel muscles I have not felt in ages with normal training, and the feeling is different compared to regular lifts.
Also this does wonders to make me stronger at the beginning of lifts, which is always the hardest part. Now a 100kg standing overhead press with no leg drive is much easier to start for me, in the past I had to lean a little bit, now I can press it with the bar nearly touching my nose on the way up. The barbell already feels much lighter when the bar is resting on my upper chest, the way up to nose-hight its just flying like powered by a small rocket booster, lol.

I do 2 exercises cycles with normal lifting and the third cycle with dead sets, and during the normal cycles I always do two sets of dead sets after my normal training.
Of course that exercise technique is not practical with all lifts, for me the exercises it works best with is especially standing and sitting overhead presses, bench presses, squats and all of the triceps isolations.

I would not recommend it with biceps exercises, but thats just me being afraid of yanking hard on the biceps tendons which are always a little vulnerable compared to the other tendons. Never had a biceps injury but maybe I have seen one too many biceps tendon rip.

 

[lbpomg95]

I've recently (April '17) taken up weight-lifting, easing myself into it. Always been unfit and weak. When I started, the most I could bench was 40kg (yes, really). I've just hit double that. I'm not being religious about it or anything, just two workouts a week at a friend's gym with no particular plan, other than lifting some weights, not pushing myself too hard, and 150 sit-ups each workout (normally 20 at a time in between each weight).

The difference is palpable - I feel so much fitter, I can do my job without tiring, and I can't complain at the extra strength.

Now to work on the atrocious diet! Yeah, like that's gonna change. I enjoy processed crap far too much...

 

[Renrag39]

Just getting back to the rack after a Bike accident separated my collarbone and shoulder blade in September. It's not been reconstructed so OHP and Bench will be a careful exercise.
My weights were 95kg squat, 60kg Row, 42.5kg OHP, 60kg Bench and 100kg Deadlift before my disagreement with the road. I used a modified 5x5 that agreed with me.
I've been a good boy and done my physiotherapy plus some kettlebell work to help mobility and now cleared space to get to my rack again.
It'll be a slow start but slow is fast.

 

[phillgt2002]

Just getting back to the rack after a Bike accident separated my collarbone and shoulder blade in September. It's not been reconstructed so OHP and Bench will be a careful exercise.
My weights were 95kg squat, 60kg Row, 42.5kg OHP, 60kg Bench and 100kg Deadlift before my disagreement with the road. I used a modified 5x5 that agreed with me.
I've been a good boy and done my physiotherapy plus some kettlebell work to help mobility and now cleared space to get to my rack again.
It'll be a slow start but slow is fast.

Man, that must have been a rough recovery. Good to see that you're back to a routine.

I haven't been doing well. I lost a great amount of weight in 2015 and 2016, but gained it back. (30 lbs from my lightest weight in 2016) I know what it takes to lose it, so right now, I'm getting my diet back, cutting out fast food, and restructuring my eating schedule.

Slowly, I'm going to start reconditioning my body. My muscle is still there, but quite a bit has deteriorated due to my general inactivity. Just knocked out 20 push ups, something I haven't done in months.

My shoulder is in occasional pain, which I can only expect that there is need for potential rotator cuff surgery, something I really do not want to do at my mid twenties.

It's a shame that @Michael88 hasn't been around to resuscitate this thread back to life every few months. My guess is that he turned into a Slim Jim

 

[Renrag39]

Maybe we should carry the mantle then? @phillkillv2
I'm 33 and always had shoulder weakness unfortunately. Maybe try L-Flys to strengthen the RC muscles? High reps, 20 or so, 1kg, 2 sets a side. Really helped me.
I lost most of my mass in 2 months but there wasn't much to lose. Still have most of my outright strength but not all. It wasn't a pleasant experience but nothing broke and it would have been so much worse if I hadn't started lifting last Feb. I got off lightly, tbh.

My routine Saturday, excluding warm-up, 5s 6r Squats @70kg, 4s 8r Bench @40kg, 1s 6r Deadlift @70kg and 4s 8r Curl to OHP w/dumbbells @10.5kg each. Really feeling the Squats!
Got my B routine for today with full fat OHP. Wish me luck!

 

[Renrag39]

Had to back off for 3 weeks, something shifted and my right shoulder and left knee gave out/twinged.
I'm in no rush, have no discernible target, I just want to be as strong and healthy as I can be without too much bulk as that would affect my skydiving.

So, now starting again and back up to 82.5kg squats, 90kg deadlift (1rm 110), ohp already 40kg without drive, bench 47.5kg and 27.5kg one arm row.
Bodyweight currently 79kg and now about to stabilise my creatine intake after my loading phase.

Slowly, slowly.

 

[olivias89]

I love PPL. Been doing it for 5 months now and not bored at all. I don't have a strict "DO THIS AND ONLY THIS" routine but I have more of a "Hit this part, hit this part, hit it this way etc" routine, because there are so many different exercises that you can do for multiple parts. The only reason SS and SL are emphasized is because they are great foundations, but once you get out of that beginner level you can start doing more accessory work.

 

[WilliG]

I started Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 program a few months ago. It is absolutely fantastic and I've made amazing gains on all my lifts. Also I started attending vacuum body sculpting procedures in NYC to sculpt the curves of my derrière and erase cellulite. It gives great results!