Once is your biggest problem, hands down. Stop doing pre exhaust before an exercise you're trying to get stronger at Squat 3x per week and you'll see improvement. Do 5x5. Start light, like 60% of you max, focus on form and add 5# each day. Even if 60% seems low, you're adding 15# a week and it'll add up
On squats, really work on getting that upper back tight and it’ll make the heavier weights feel much lighter at the beginning
Friend of mine opened a gym here in town a couple years ago and does a lot of the coaching while also trying to compete. Just saw a post about one of his lifters that said 10 months ago, the kid totaled 178kg and today he hit 232 to qualify for junior nationals. Insane numbers and cool to see it happening with his help
Heading into month #12 of squatting after years on the shelf. Will have a full writeup after maxing out in early February. Adding in hip thrusters for this last push, and also thinking of adding in 1 extra day per week of box squats with wide stance to address what I believe to be my lagging muscles. Also trying to maintain focus in the gym as the new year has brought out ridiculous numbers of females in the tightest, most-revealing gym wear possible.
Well, I found my heavy singles in my new programming block. 2 weeks before comp (which is 4th week of that training block) I'll be hitting something in training that will probably be somewhere between my 1st and 2nd attempts for both bench and squat. But for deadlift, he has my heaviest single during week 2 of the block and then backing down on weeks 3 and 4.
Depends on what's considered a BIG taper. It's definitely lower...a lot of 3x3 with some single rep sets sprinkled in.
Yea that’s what I was thinking. I know Chad cuts volume big during meet week to achieve this super compensation effect
Coincidentally enough, I was listening to the TSA podcast (I REALLY wish they could improve their audio quality, but I digress...) and they were saying pretty much the opposite, at least for some athletes. Sounds like for some portion of their athletes they do very little cutting even up to the week of the meet.
Lmao Agreed. Hani has a good mic but the Skype stuff sucks. That’s exactly what we’re doing. I haven’t gotten my last 3 weeks yet but I really think I’ll be squatting some Beltless 6s on Monday of meet week, pulling ~20-25 reps of deadlifts on Tuesday, then bench on Thursday
incline bench was worked into the program. i am much more comfortable with inc db. i wasn’t sure where to set up and brought the bar too low on the first rep. oof
Incline is a fickle bitch. Go with a slightly higher or lower incline and you need to change bar height, also fucked up my wrist once by bringing the bar out too far getting it off the rack. Damn good exercise though. Incline DB is significantly easier to set up.
i like about a 45 degree, but have done 30 with db’s. just never ever use a bar unless someone tells me too.
I love it when I set it up correctly but I always forget where it's gotta go and spend the majority of my time adjusting it.
Speaking of incline bench, the new Rep Zero Gap bench is the best bench I’ve ever used. And yes, fuck straight bar work on an incline. DBs all day.
Incline hex presses are bae. I decided to complete the Tour De Zwift, so it's gonna be a heavy c*rdio month. My back is fucked up beyond belief though, so I figure it's a good time to sub out squats and deadlifts, which I can't do at all without pain at the moment, for hammering away on the bike for a bit.
Since I refuse to diet or stop drinking heavily on weekends, I'm in full cardio mode as well as trying to lift my normal amount. Not a fun time, still deadlifting/squatting and been walking like a penguin for a most part since my last leg day on Friday. Should be good for today, hoping so at least.
Been sick as a dog for about a week now. Last night was: DL - 455x5 @7.5 followed by 400x3x5 Soft touch bench - 5 sets of 6 Rows and arms to finish it off. No clue how I made it through. Went home and immediately got a fever and woke up dripping sweat.
What’s being reconstructed? I am a Physical Therapist and see replacements, rotator cuff repairs, labral repairs every day.
B and C? hes not sure because its the third time hes digging in there. need to go for an MRI that will again not show enough.
Had a full tear of my left bicep the first of October. Had surgery to repair it on 11/14. I’m able to workout but I can’t do anything over 15 lbs when it comes to curling or any bicep isolation exercises. I go back on 1/31 to see if I can start getting back to normal lifting. They didn’t make me do any physical therapy because they said I wouldn’t need it if I’m going to be doing light workouts with it. Not a dr but I could see same time frame.
Trying to cut/lean out after falling off the wagon the last couple of months so I share your pain. Any tips you have on maintaining muscle/skrength while heavy on cardio are much appreciated...
I did the renaissance cut diet and lost a bunch of weight. I didn’t lift from October until I got cleared on 12/20 to start back with light weight and in that time I pretty much ate and drank whatever I wanted and didn’t really put on nearly the fat I figured I would. It works but it’s very dedicated. It took off legit weight while keeping muscle mass. Even with not working out I maintained most of my gains. Even with not using my left arm at all for 3 months and it looking weird my bicep size has come back very quickly. I plan on running their bulking diet then doing the cutting one again once I’m happy with what muscle mass I gain. I also drank booze the whole time I was doing the cut diet and still shed pounds. If I didn’t drink I’m sure I would have lost even more weight
Where Eagles Dare seems to be our board expert on gaining and losing a ton of weight while doing competitions. Don't believe he does any cardio though. My current plan is lifting 4-5x a week, doing 30 minutes of swimming every weekday(not very hard as I'm typically dead after lifting), and I do hard cardio on my days off lifting. Got a watch that tracks calories for me and staying right on that number and tracking macros now. Gonna try this for a couple months, see how it goes. Lifting numbers seem to be decent for how sore I've been since the holiday break and pants aren't as tight as they were around Christmas.
Trying to bulk in January, lifting 5 days a week. Two off days doing yoga to undo the tension and build some endurance strength. Two weeks in and I feel pretty great
I gain weight by eating like shit and drinking a million beers I lose weight by eating healthy and not drinking every beer. I also do cardio usually 10-15min of rowing/jump rope/assault bike and I walk a fuck load when trying to lose weight
cardio never did anything to help me lean out. HIIT workouts in addition to normal program and good clean living.
Gym doesn't have an assault bike but got a curve treadmill which is an incredible workout but the devil.
My neighbors are moving across the country so they're selling off a bunch of their equipment. How much should I offer for this: Airdyne AD4 Old barbell ~300lb in iron plates Off-brand elliptical Off-Brand rower
I'll let you know when I actually lay eyes on it. I'm fearful that those plates are rusted all to hell too
I would personally only offer on the Airdyne. Maybe the iron plates depending on what kind they are. You can restore them easily.