My gym (WorldGym) doesn't allow deadlifts
Time to find a new gym!
You're exactly right. And I'm pretty confident it's undeactivated glutes. I described this a bit more in detail a couple days ago, but I did a bunch of glute activation exercises before my last workout and my squats felt a lot better. I'm pretty excited to hit them again in tomorrow's workout, because I know I'm way underperforming on squats.Hmm... I feel like your bench & squat shouldn't be that close. I wonder what drives that. Do you have long femurs? Underactivated glutes/quads? Do you pull conventional or sumo?
Another thread to check out:So I started working out again. Figured I'd put that $10 a month membership to use, since I'm paying it anyways, and it gives me an excuse to ride my scooter everyday. My gym (WorldGym) doesn't allow deadlifts, but has a good squat rack that I've been using when people aren't doing french curls in it, and like 6 benches.
I'm so fat and out of shape, I've been trying to build up my back and core so I'll stop waking up with lower back pain, and even though I only started lifting again last week it's already helping. Since I switched jobs from roofing to medical deliveries, I've put on 50 pounds.
Current stats:
6'3"
295lbs, BMI is probably ridiculously high.
Without a spotter, I've been doing:
Bench press: 125?, Bar and two plates, about two sets of 8 reps before I'm pretty worn out
Squat: Also bar and two plates, for 2 sets of 10 reps.
Weight assisted chin-ups: Started at 150 pounds assist, but I'm at 140 now. I weigh 295 currently.
Farmer carry: Been using 75lb dumbells for this, and it wrecks my forearms from gripping, but barely touches my shoulders.
Any personal trainers on here willing to write a regimen of exercises, or is there one further back in this thread? The Fires of Heaven Workout?
Weird, the only World Gym I've ever been to was in San Diego and it's the best bodybuilding/powerlifting gym I've ever been to. Quite a few pros work out there. They have a deadlift platform.
Guess maybe it's a situation where World Gyms are independently owned and your owner is a dickhole.
Deadlift anyway. Worst that happens is they ask you to stop.
Is such a thing even possible?
YES IT IS
Aliens
It blows my mind that guys with such small statures can lift so much relative to guys with massive statures, even guys that are short/stocky. Is it that there is some kind of diminishing returns with muscle gain? I mean you look at Long de Cheng's quadriceps and they look about as big as mine were when I was 12, but the guy is able to squat 500lbs.
Obviously these guys are competing at a high level in weight brackets that they are optimizing for low-body-weight, high weight lifts. But I can imagine being a dude who trains to lift heavy shit and develops the same kind of physique they have and wonders wtf he did wrong.
It does. It's just bizarre to me when I see someone who looks like they have like, 1/10th the quadriceps of top level lifters squat half the weight they can.There's a number of things to consider. First and foremost, a smaller frame will always support less muscle, and building for strength is a lot different than building for size. Some of the strongest dudes in the world look like average gym bros (the elite of the elite generally look like bodybuilders or strongmen, fwiw). Secondly, look at the ROM both men go through during their lifts, Cheng in particular. The stretch reflex alone basically gets him out of the hole and he just has to finish strong up top. Compare this to someone who's 6'4 doing a squat to depth. This is why someone larger NEEDS more mass in order to lift comparatively.
Hope this makes sense.