I'm cutting right now. I've been isolated from the gym and my diet has once again downgraded mostly to poor people food, so the logical thing to do was eat less and cut fat. Besides, I had been getting fat anyway. I've cut about 12 pounds this month. I'm trying for another 25 over the next two months. I think I can do it.

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Fat is usually systematically stored in specific spots, genetically pending. Usually in males, the majority of "stored" fat is initially around your mid-section. Your sexy beer belly and love handles. Females usually in the upper leg/glut region. Hence all that gorgeous cellulite and those saddle bags in central U.S.A.

I don't really remember why this is...some characteristic of cortisol's function.

yeah, but you do store fat everywhere from your arms, neck, face, back. it's just moreso in certain genetically predispositioned places like you said

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Basically, females are predisposed to store fat in places where moderate amounts of fat look sexy, and I am stuck with an uphill battle to six pack abs that I will never win.

I wish I could have some fat in my shins. No fat + no muscle = INSTANT PAIN. When I was a kid, I learned you could quickly gain advantage in a fight by kicking someone straight in the shin. I also took a couple of fastballs off the shin; I could feel it every time I jogged for the next 4 months.

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unless you're an MMA fighter and you have killed all the nerves in your shins

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I have found my new favorite exercise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaLV...feature=related

Sets with 135 and 155 make my arms go BOOM.

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Weighed in at 204 yesterday. Got 300 up on close grip too. went for 305 and got it halfway but i was too tired from the 300 set.

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Hahahaha. Agreed on both accounts.

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I don't like it. I'm going to give a try anyway, but I'm going to hold my back in the same position you would for a deadlift or squats. His was hunched over, and for some reason, I just don't think that's a good idea.

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they look like cleans with a different grip to me

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yeah, looks like a definite back killer

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They're not cleans... his feet don't leave the ground. He's just using the momentum off the floor to get the weight up. And done correctly, not a back killer at all. Not to mention it's light weight.

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It's pretty neutral. Anyway, I don't think a 135lb bar is going to throw your lumbar spine any which way.

This isn't really a clean, it's just one way of doing a power curl. The other way is the way all sorts of gym dorks do it (off the thighs). I don't see much point in adding the deadlift section to the lift over doing it from the hang.

Did you know high-level throwers and highland games competitors love the power curl? Probably not. They're excellent for strongman competitors too. Can anyone guess why?

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Because it wrecks upper chest/shoulders, spinal erectors, lats, biceps and forearms all in one exercise?


Does anyone else here eat a huge plate of pasta before they train? I don't think it helps when I max lift anything but as far as having more energy for more and better reps, I think it makes a big difference.

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Yep. I eat pasta and juice then milk a few hours before training. Takes a little while to kick in though.

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Yea, I've heard that too. And the exact opposite too. All I know for sure is that I've "worked out" way more than recommended for four years and have no chronic injuries, have hardly ever taken a diet advice to heart or stomach and still seems to be alive, and have a BMI that says I need to loose weight while still using at least one pair of pants I had when I was fifteen. All in all, I can only conclude that what I know for sure is, well, absolutely nothing.

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omg, only you.

Someone differentiate, as an experiment, using regular semolina pasta vs. whole grain pasta. The semolina would be a faster glycemic release whereas the whole grain would be slower. It might affect your workout differently.

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I realized that i've been gripping the bar a little too wide on bench, so today I narrowed it down a tad and maxed out at 335. Huge difference with such a little adjustment. It was actually surprising especially considering I've been drinking heavy every night for the past week and my diet has been lacking due to it. I weighed 199 today, which is a 4 pound drop from where i was

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Definitely. I only eat starchy pasta before I lift, and I only eat wheat/whole grain pasta/bread (breakfast and during the day)



I find that a grip about 4 inches past the knurling makes my chest the sorest when I do high reps. And wider and I seem to use more and more shoulders. But I suck at chest anyways.

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you're a big guy though MTM, aren't you like 6'5" or something? When youre that big you probably should have a slightly wider grip than most people

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Yeah I'm just under 6' 4" actually. One full rep on bench and the bar moves like 3 feet It's total bullshit in that respect.

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This is a question I should have asked Jim a long time ago:

Recently I've been resting longer in between major muscle group workouts. I used to train as long as I wasn't sore, every 3 or 4 days consistently. Recently, I've been taking at the very least 4 days in between groups to see if a longer recovery time would help build strength and mass, but my progress seems like it's gotten slower. So my actual question is, should soreness in a muscle group be any indication of when my rest time is up and I should lift a particular group again? Would the reps/weight in the sets make a difference as far as recovery time?

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Keep in mind that recovery time is affected by your diet as well. Assuming your diet is good, then usually 48-72 hours recovery time per muscle group is enough for full recovery. Though sometimes I find it good to take an extra few days off once every few weeks.

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Soreness is not a good indicator of stuff and normally unnecessary. Bad soreness (i.e. that you can't train through) is a sign of either 1) unbalanced programming 2) heavy eccentric focus or high volume training 3) crappy recovery procedures. I rarely have the soreness I used to have when I used to do 10 sets of 10 O-squats, then go drinking, and I'm very glad of it. It's no badge of honour if it stops you from lifting more fucking weights.

I can do a workout which consists of a warm up then 25 clean and press done as 90%+ singles. Two days later, my completely un-sore triceps will still not be very happy with me.

However, a protocol with a moderate degree of stretching (let's say 4 sets of 12-15 pushups done between blocks) will give pretty decent tricep soreness, but two days later my noticeably painful triceps will be ready to go again.

I would say this: a good intermediate level workout hits every muscle group twice a week, with either strength, power or rep work. Between these workouts, you should have a manageable degree of soreness that rarely if ever interferes with your next workout. You just keep the volume at a manageable level so this is possible. If you've been doing more volume work, you'll feel like some bodyparts are "over before you even really started on them" when you turn the volume down. This is not a bad thing.

Too tired to explain any better. Ask more questions for clarification.

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Totally useful, thanks for the reply. I think my problem is some of 1) and 3) but mostly 2). The soreness is only occasionally so bad that it affects my next workout. Some days I'm sore and some days I'm not at all, so I guess my main concern was about whether I'm supposed to be or not.

My warm up procedures before training just consists of stretching, and my first sets are always light, but I'll warm up with actual weight movements in the future and see if it helps. By "turning the volume down" I'm guessing you're referring to the intensity of the training?

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No, I'm referring to the total volume lifted. Often, it's beefed up with sets from 7-12 reps. Keep a lid on that shit.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSpP8gfdwLE

This guy makes me proud of being Norwegian.

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I just did a full two-hour back/bicep work out with a friend of mine. 3 Exercises per muscle group(so 6 exercises), 4 sets per exercise, 12 reps per set...Dead.

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2 fucking hours? Are you doing some sort of endurance training?


I did back and shoulders today. Bit of a lackluster day, but it was back day for me nonetheless. I wailed my lower back a few days ago repping 315 for sets of 12 deadlifting (this may explain my soreness) so I beat upper back more today. I don't write down what I do in a book, so I'm not sure if the reps are 100% correct, but I know the weight is.

Military presses (no back support)
95x10
135x8
155x7

Bent rows
115x12
135x10
175x7

Power curls supersets with reverse grip curls
135x4 75x6
135x5 75x7

Hang cleans
135x3
155x3
185x1
195x1
205x1
205x1

Shrugs
225x20 close grip
225x20 wide grip
225x20 close grip

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haha, no I just wanted to get a lot done.

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I've been taking a supplement for digestion that has proteases in it... it's supposed to help utilize the large amounts of protein ingested after training. It feels like it's helping my recovery process, but it's really too early to tell yet. Does anyone else use supplements like these? I'd like to know more about them to be honest.

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Lmfao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBY...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGb...feature=related


Nothing worse than a fucking useless spotter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcD4...feature=related

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What kind of proteases? I doubt you need to supplement enzymes unless you have some sort of condition. Also, how processed are the supplements? They can't be too effective [or effective at all] if there is even a moderate amount of processing in the manufacturing of the supplement. [i.e. excessive heating, compression, addition of weird binders]

haha that second one was funny as fuck

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Went to the gym and did a real workout for the first time in almost two weeks. Felt like throwing up

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Lifted back today. Long warmup and singles working up to max weight with clean & jerk, deadlift, then rack pulls (doubles) below the knees with 455. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

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2 hours is a lot to you? I'm usually in there for 3+.

I haven't lifted in over year

I'm going to probably start lifting with my dad starting on January 1st. I definitely want to gain back some pounds and get some tone back.

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mannnn my favorite cardiac rehab gym is closing. i went to the Y here but its a bunch of meatheads and the place smells like sweaty rawhyde

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In other words, you saw real men and ran away. Tranny fears machismo.

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What kind of training do you do? If you're bodybuilding you're probably wasting your time. I'm not a physical trainer or anything but I have no idea how you could make a workout last 3 hours.


You should come over once a week or something and let me kick you around my basement


The one by the high school? The one by wal-mart has a nice equipment/weight selection... I could only imagine how nice the new one is.

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aww poor tranny has to lift with real men now



yeah 3 hours is a bit much for just lifting. i usually do 1.5-2 hours a day of lifting. If you throw some cardio on the end of that I can see how it can hit the 3 hour mark though, but i dont do the whole cardio thing. The only time you'll see me running is if something's chasing me, but hopefully by then i'll be strong enough to just annihilate it with brute force

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Being forced to smell "sweaty rawhyde" is better than putting up with fouled diapers I would imagine


Agree. My idea of cardio is doing anything over 15 reps

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I don't really bodybuild, though I incorporate bodybuilding rep ranges on certain secondary exercises (neck, calves, rear delts). I wouldn't call myself a powerlifter either, though I'm stronger than most of the ones I know, but if anything I train more like one. My workout is actually pretty bare nowadays, I tend to not do more than one work set per exercise, and not more than two exercises per body part (at the absolute most). Most of my time in the gym is actually spent stretching, warming up, resting (I take obscenely long rests before my heavy set), and talking to my buddies there. Very little of it is comprised of actual lifting; but when I lift, it's intense. I just think I've reached a point where volume does more harm for me than good.

Oh, that makes sense then Any stretching/warm ups is time well spent.

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Yeah, fuck spending 3 hours at the gym.

I'm probably going to start taking Super Pump 250 soon. It's a NO-based supplement. Anyone else have experience with it? I know a few guys on it and they get great results.

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Damn, I'm only spending about 30-45 minutes at the gym when I work out.

day a:
bench or db bench, sometimes incline
squats
close grip pullup

day b:
db military press or press
light deadlifting (my back is a little fucked up)
shrugs
bent over rows, sometimes lawnmower rows /w db
wide grip pull ups

I seem to be making ok gains with 5x5 or 8x3-4. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open

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Not sure anything on SP 250, but i can definitely vouch for Muscletech's NaNO Vapor. That shit is the best NO supp. on the market, and i'd be willing to put it up against anything else out there.


D&Q, i could come up with a lot of things to suggest about what to do different, cause what you're doing isn't going to be very effective. tell me how many days you plan on working out per week, what your goals are, etc.

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yep the new one by the HS...theres no separate weight room, its just all one huge room with ellipticals/treadmills then weights in the back. i dont know if youd like it or not. its all nautilus equipment

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So who else is cutting right now? I've lost about 35 pounds since I started cutting in late August... should've been a bit more but I dicked around a bit too much in October to make any serious gains. Anyways, my squat has plummeted (around 60 pounds ), while my deadlift has stagnated, and my bench has actually blown up haha (I've added 40 pounds since the cut began). My squats finally seem to have stabilized though, so I plan to increase the weights in 10-20 pound increments until I get back to what I was squatting pre-cut. My original goal was to cut to <10% bodyfat, but seing as how I'm kinda able to make gains on my cut, I figure I'm gonna keep going until the strength increases start to plateau. Hopefully I can add some weight to my deadlift too.

about 4 days a week

within the next half year I want to hit around 250 on bench and close to 400 on squat. also gain some more weight.

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Well what you wanna do is split up your muscle groups. instead of Day A and Day B, you need to group it more like. Chest Day, Arms day, Legs day, etc.. For bulking, it's good to group opposites, like Chest/Bi's, Back/Tri's, etc. Just make sure you give each muscle group 48-72 hours to recover in between.

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Yeah, Chest/Tris, Back/Bis and Legs/Shoulders is a good way to group it. It's what I use on my cut now. I've also used the typical bodybuilding template of a different body part a day, but I'm not so much a fan of those as I like to lift heavy every day, and I found that the bodybuilding routine had me doing too many exercises that I viewed as unnecessary.

Next semester after the cut I think I wanna shift to an upperbody/lowerbody split, with the emphasis probably falling on lowerbody to gain back my squat. So probably a 3:2 or 3:1 ratio or so. I'm actually considering cutting out bench altogether for the time being, or at least strictly limiting it to once every few weeks. I also need to start doing some more power exercises... haven't done cleans in a while, and I'm also pretty interested in starting BTN split jerks. Those look fantastic.

I guess thats one way, I just don't know what I would do for example on chest day. After a 5x5 on bench my pecs and arms would be dead. I could probably fit in some headbangers or something, and then be done with nothing left to do.

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here's some good chest exercises..
flat bench
incline bench
decline bench
flys
incline flys
upward cable crosses (not sure if there's a better name for them)
downward cable crosses

not saying to do all these, but generally you want to hit all parts of your chest.. upper, middle, lower, inner, and outer.

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Ok. what about back? all I really know of is deadlift, shrugs, bent over rows

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Personally I like deadlifts, hang cleans, bent rows, yates rows, seated military presses with an O bar and no back support, rack pulls and shrugs. I do other shit but those are essentials for me.

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bent over rows
lat pulldowns
pullups (dangle some plates off ya if you really wanna have fun)
shurgs
one arm rows
roman dead lifts

I know a few others but i can think of the names at the moment, but thats plenty. though i'm not a fan of the roman dead lifts. my lower back is plenty fucked up the way it is.

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I love the Romanian deadlift. I'm not sure if this is the same thing as the Roman or if they are seperate entities.

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I've never heard of a Romanian deadlift. a roman deadlift is basically a straight leg deadlift, concentrating everything on the lower back

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Romanian deadlift- http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises...anDeadlift.html

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yep, same thing. here's a vid of someone doin 500lbs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXbwcNuAVZs

Makes my lower back hurt just thinkin about it

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Not bad for his BW. 2.5 times his BW.

My legs suck at the moment... so whenever I do max deadlifts I basically do them romanian style. They rule. My current best is only 385, and my goal is to break 400 by new years. I better go practice.

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When i used to deadlift it was almost all from the legs. as little back as possible.

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What's this you've hinted around about a fucked up lower back? Did you have an injury at some point or something?


Deadlifts standing on railroad ties wreck my fucking legs.

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I think it was something that built up over time. Every now and then i experience lower left back pain that lasts for many days. I can't think of a single incident that triggered it, but every now and then it comes back and it really sucks, so i try to avoid anything that may trigger it.

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I have a fucked up sciatic nerve in the right side of my hip. It happened when I lifted a car hood off an old car by myself and instantly it hurt. Every 6 months or so it'll flare up for a day or two, but then it goes away. Deadlifting, clean & jerks and squats never hurt it though. The only way it starts to hurt is when I twist it a particular way or do something stupid like lifting heavy objects in a very odd position, like the way it got fucked up in the first place. When I train I act like nothing ever happened and it's never hurt in the gym, knock on wood

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I think i have the same thing, only on the left side. I'm not sure what triggers it, but i just try to avoid things that could possibly.

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I just finished this workout. Seems more intense than what I was doing, maybe it will work better

Incline bench 5x4
deadlifts 10x1
shrugs close grip and wide 12x2
hang cleans 10x1 and 8x2
rows 10x2
skullcrushers 12x3
wide grip pullups 10x1

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if you're doing that in one day, what the hell are you doing the other 3 days you go?

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Cable curls and the stepper machine probably?

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Squats and bench



I don't really use cables or machines, I never really got good gains with anything but barbell or dumbell

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That routine is WACK.

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as in shitty or good? I need some help when it comes to organizing what lifts to do now that there is no coach/teacher yelling at me.

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As in not good. There is just to much going on: too many muscle groups, too many exercises and not enough sets.

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Yeah man, you have to do body part splits to get anywhere

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read my previous post about muscle grouping

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Some of the strongest people I know (this includes powerlifters who have competed and/or taken medals at european and world championships) usually squat and bench atleast 3-5 days a week (some even more). While splits certainly can work, it's by no means any better in general than full body workouts, though it's more populare for hypertrophy.

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Well of course it all depends on what he's trying to accomplish. I don't lift weights to become a World's Strongest Man..

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I don't see how you can get stronger by working the same muscles every day. if they don't have time to recover, they can't rebuild. It's a great way to get injured too.

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Recovery is very trainable.

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Stupid question, but what do you do for stretches? I just do basic highshool gym class shit and my shoulders always click an pop for the first few sets of bench/overhead presses

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Stretches are nothing too crazy, but I usually stretch extensively before I bench, dip, and deadlift, mainly because I get a rather excruciating and debilitating triceps pain whenever I involve them in a heavy lift, and also because I tore my hammy deadlifting back in March. So I'll make sure to stretch them a good 20 minutes plus prior to working out, until they feel nice and loose. Most of them, yeah, are the traditional high school kinda bend over and touch your toes kinda shit, but the simplest stuff is the best stuff. I also set my arm in a position as if I had just cleaned a weight, with the weight sitting on my shoulders/front of chest, and I pull my wrist towards me. I feel that gets my triceps better than anything else.

I also have certain flexibility goals, like being able to do a full split and performing the perfect butterfly (sitting Indian style with my legs pulled into my groin, legs lying flat against the floor, head tucked into crotch), but who knows if those goals are ever gonna come to fruition. Maybe some day.

Any box squatters in here? I'm considering replacing my regular squats with them.

They never appealed to me for some reason, but after reading this article after you mentioned it, it put ideas in my head (not hard to do)

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/box-squat.htm


Does anyone here do front squats? I've tried them with the intent of increasing my clean & jerk but they're very uncomfortable for my arms. They don't want to bend that way, like my forearms are too long or something. Maybe I need to work on improving my flexibility.

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I sometimes do front squats, and they are very uncomfortable. I can't even get a good weight going on them compared to my back squat since my wrists will bend too far. They seem to work the core a lot more than legs anyway

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You're kidding, right?

I usually just run a few miles and do push ups and sit-ups. I haven't really lifted weights or swam in a while though.
Anyone here ever work with kettle-bells?

Why? Is there something wrong with wanting to be flexible?


I haven't front squatted since my football days a few years back, but I have been considering them for my new routine. There are definitely plenty of ways to remedy your situation though. A lot my own problems stemmed in issues of wrist inflexibility, so I would start with that. Also, taking a wider "grip" on the bar in a front squat can also help, as its more forgiving on your wrists and can help you ease into comfort with the position. If you're really not feeling it though, you can just support it across your upper chest and shoulders, like so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcZ-fS-X7k0

However, seeing as how you know how to clean, I would just grind it out with the more traditional hold, and let your body get accustomed to it.

well, lifting with a bunch of meatheads puts the pressure on more so than older people. so, no more complacency for the time being

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Why would he be kidding? What's the disadvantage to being flexible?


Not even a bad thing when you put it that way. Training next to elderly or crippled people probably doesn't do much for motivation, which doesn't do much for progress. Who knows, you may even meet a young broad there

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Fuuuuuuck, thanks dude I tried it this way with my arms crossed and it felt very natural. Trying to do it the traditional way, my arms/wrists don't like to bend that much so I can't even support the weight with my chest/shoulders; I was just holding all the weight with my hands. I used two cinder blocks and did some front box squats today... I think I can finally enjoy leg day now

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all the hoes go for the hyoog r0idrer guys

at least at my gym

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haha way to roll your eyes there truth devoid

keep two things in mind:
1.) i started lifting weights after massive spinal fusion surgery for PT reasons
2.) i dont have any interest in looking like you in terms of body form, id like to see my strenght increase to slow down nerve damage, but i dont want to be that built

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haha i know man, i'm just bustin your balls

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by the way theres a surprising amount of pretty girls at the gym, steve. im not on the market anyway but its odd how many there are, i dont know how old they are though. im terrible at judging

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judging age is good talent to have. Just remember, 15 will get you 20...years in jail

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My legs have gotten strong pretty quickly. I started with struggling to squat 15 reps with 135 lbs; I did 200 lbs 15 times pretty easily yesterday. My cardiovascular endurance spiraled downward

No, flexibility is good. Just the way you described it was so extreme I didn't know if you were serious or not. I guess you're serious. You'll get there one day.