Arkk's Weight Lifting / Fitness Thread

After taking all the credit for "finding the right exercises & rest frequencies" and all that bullshit for finally getting my knees back in shape, I discovered over the holidays without my ice pack that the credit went 100% to icing my knees 2-3 times a day (morning, night, and after workout if I did squats). 2 squat sessions (surely skiing didn't help either) and they were locked up tighter than a vagina in the presence of Aamina.

For anyone else with joint problems who hasn't tried going completely overboard on the ice, buy a good ice wrap that fits the joint (expensive or not, it's worth it) and ice that fucker like there's no tomorrow.

arkktheseaotter_sl said:

Creepiest mother fucker on youtube holy shit.

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Did he really just shit his pants while filming?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...O18RoTM#t=184s

Just some general numbers with my work out.

My weight fluxuates between 198-203 and I'm 5'10.

I do a lot of different workouts, but I'll give general numbers on where I'm at right now after a 5 month laze period, I'm on my 5th week of working out:

Flat dumbbell bench press: 100lb dumbbells, 4 sets x 6-10 reps (+- 5lbs)
Incline barbell bench press: 220lb 4 sets of x 6-10 reps (+- 5lbs)
Flat bench press on barbell machine 220lb 4 sets of 6-10 reps (+- 5lbs)
(I throw in some other chest exercises, but its things like chest flys)

Using a EZ barbell, I'm around 110 pounds standing curl, with 4 sets of 6-10 reps (+- 5lbs)
Cable weighted curls - 130lb 4 sets of 6-10 reps (+- 10lbs)
Seated bicep curls - 50lbs 4 sets of 6-10 reps (+- 5-10lbs)
Also throw in other things like seated bicep concentration curls, but its not really a exercise to see 'zomggains' in

I'll post the rest as I finish up the week to see where my standings are.

Thread is dead, yo. Where is everyone at?

Dabamf_sl said:

Jan 14 Goals:
Squat: 185
Clean&press: 135
Bench: 195
Bent over row: 185
Deadlift: 265 - New goal: 315

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I've plateaued almost everywhere now. No surprise - I gained 10lbs over my previous all-time max weight in about a month since really hitting the heavy squats and deadlifts, and everything else shot up, too. My ass and legs are at least 33% bigger. Now I've been at 175lbs for a month which seems to be my new equilibrium, and my body isn't showing signs of wanting to grow more. My appetite is down as well. My ability to run has dropped also, but this time because of my feet (vibram shoes). I think my feet aren't strong enough to handle the extra 10lbs. I get some minor soreness when I run in my feet and ankles.

Anyway, here is where I'm at now (My Nov 14 stats got lost in the old forum and my dumbass phone calender where I track everything must have erased it because it's past data, so increases are based on Dec 9)

Current (increase)(goal status):
Squat: 185x4 (up 50)(hit)
Press: 125x4 (same)(miss)
Bench: 190x4 (up 5)(barely will miss)
Bent over row: 170x5 (up 5)(huge miss)
Deadlift: 275x4 (up 30)(hit first goal, miss new, way too ambitious, goal)


It's clear I've plateaued in everything except squat and deadlift based on the data, and I haven't made increases in a week in those. My Nov 14-Dec 9 increases were massive. Now I'm looking for advice. I really like my routine. It's very simple, purely strength based and uses all compound exercises. I've added in incline bench, some pullups, and shoulder raises at the end to add some extra stress, but I don't want to stagnate. I'm thinking about keeping the weight steady and slowly increasing the reps to 6, then 7, then 8 to mix it up a bit. I don't really know much about complex routines designed to keep the body guessing. I've been doing simply pure strength stuff for so long. And suggestions? I'm essentially doing the starting strength routine, but adjusted to my liking.

My advice? Nut up.

It sounds like "stop being a pussy," but in reality it's more of a "quit being a bitch." Honestly, with the weights you're lifting and your body weight, there's no way you've plateaued. I've been there, and the thing that got me through it was just putting more weight on and rolling with it. For instance, I thought I was stuck below 225 for squat for a really long time. I wasn't ever able to consistently hit all my sets. The way I got through it was to just throw the extra weight on there and do what I could. I might hit my first set, miss one on my second set, and two on my third set. The next week, I would add more weight even though I hadn't hit them all. Before I knew it I was squatting 275. That 225 number was something I could throw up easy (although I should say that once you hit 200+ in any lift, that shit feels heavy no matter what).

Get it out of your head that you've hit a plateau and you'll be able to push through it. When you're up to mid 200's on bench, 300+ on squat, and 450+ on dead lift, then maybe I can buy that you've hit a plateau. But right now it's all mental.

So I changed my routine to gain on my bench last month. My goal is 405 x10.

I went from 2 chest work outs per week, with alternating mid/high/low iso's and bench's for the heavy weight. Always doing mid/high/low cables. I could never break 365 x7

Now I do complete chest. Bench, iso, flys in one workout day. Once a week. Today I did 375 x7 with less struggle on the last rep. Buy summer I SHOULD be at 405 x10.

I will TRY adding 5 lbs a week. Though I doubt that will work. Maybe every other week is smarter. I will see.

I also have changed my routine from two muscle groups a workout to one. But hitting the gym daily. Lower reps in hopes of having less pain after workouts.
Gained about 8 pounds in a month. Not good. I so don't want to fuck with cardio.

Dabamf. Are you hitting all parts of your muscle group in your routines? I mean just doing bench press will not get you much gain. You need flat. Incline. Decline. Iso's of the same. Flys etc. Same for squats. You doing presses, leg lifts, rears one legs etc? I always see the young kids missing so many muscles in the routine at my gym, then wonder why they aren't getting stronger/bigger.

Not that I'm anywhere near the lifter you are, but that seems like strange advice. Isolation exercises are fine, but when you're benching 190, it's not really necessary to do incline, decline, and flys. That just seems like overkill. In fact, no, that IS overkill. I feel like you're doing something wrong if you have to do sets of 5 different exercises that all hit the same muscle groups.

Elurin_sl said:

Not that I'm anywhere near the lifter you are, but that seems like strange advice. Isolation exercises are fine, but when you're benching 190, it's not really necessary to do incline, decline, and flys. That just seems like overkill. In fact, no, that IS overkill. I feel like you're doing something wrong if you have to do sets of 5 different exercises that all hit the same muscle groups.

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I'm confused on the 190. Are you saying that's a lot or little?

Why would you not do your benches and flys the same day? That's less than a 30 minute workout. May as well spend another 10 minutes on the flys and complete it. ISO machines 5 minutes. So 45 minute chest workout a week for major upper. Not that much time. Lots to gain.

I've started making sure I keep my shoulders to 3-4 days apart from chest. Have had no problems no fatigue now.

190 isn't a lot, especially for a guy at 175 lbs.

I've never known someone who measures their workouts in minutes. You should really keep track by effort. Personally I think 4-8 sets is the maximum you should do for a muscle group (I generally do 2 exercises per group, 3 sets a piece, so 6 sets total). So for chest when you say flat, incline, and decline bench, plus some flys, and other isolation exercises it's starting to sound like a fuck ton of sets.

But you sound like a huge motherfucker, so maybe it's different when you get that big/lift that heavy?

Elurin_sl said:

190 isn't a lot, especially for a guy at 175 lbs.

I've never known someone who measures their workouts in minutes. You should really keep track by effort. Personally I think 4-8 sets is the maximum you should do for a muscle group (I generally do 2 exercises per group, 3 sets a piece, so 6 sets total). So for chest when you say flat, incline, and decline bench, plus some flys, and other isolation exercises it's starting to sound like a fuck ton of sets.

But you sound like a huge motherfucker, so maybe it's different when you get that big/lift that heavy?

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The ISO's are VERY light after the flys. Apologies for not saying that. 140/180/140. Just a finisher. If I do heavy ISO that day, same on very light bench.

I'm not that big. 275 6'3". Crappy 20% BMI. (Hey I am an old guy that eats and sits at a desk playing MMO's)

Meh, your right, I don't measure my workout per time spent, but I do try to get the most out of the hour or so I have to spend in the gym.

Elurin_sl said:

My advice? Nut up.

It sounds like "stop being a pussy," but in reality it's more of a "quit being a bitch." Honestly, with the weights you're lifting and your body weight, there's no way you've plateaued. I've been there, and the thing that got me through it was just putting more weight on and rolling with it. For instance, I thought I was stuck below 225 for squat for a really long time. I wasn't ever able to consistently hit all my sets. The way I got through it was to just throw the extra weight on there and do what I could. I might hit my first set, miss one on my second set, and two on my third set. The next week, I would add more weight even though I hadn't hit them all. Before I knew it I was squatting 275. That 225 number was something I could throw up easy (although I should say that once you hit 200+ in any lift, that shit feels heavy no matter what).

Get it out of your head that you've hit a plateau and you'll be able to push through it. When you're up to mid 200's on bench, 300+ on squat, and 450+ on dead lift, then maybe I can buy that you've hit a plateau. But right now it's all mental.

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Yea, "just lift more" isn't really worthwhile advice.

5 days ago I did 275x4 & x3 on deadlift. 5 days before that 275x4 & x2. Today I couldn't even get 3 reps. All my lifts have gotten worse this week. I've been doing the front end of a pyramid structure with only 2 sets at the max weight. I take 6-7 sets to get to max weight (includes 2 really, really light sets).

For example my squat goes:
95 125 145 165 185 185

I think I need to accelerate that with fewer sets and do 3 at max weight. Every exercise I did today was worse than previous. I'm at the extreme of high weight low reps/sets, and I think I'm suffering because of it. It gave me ridiculous gains for a month or so, but I feel like I'm not stressing my muscles enough now. For example today I did squats, press, deadlift, and then added cleans and (light weight) front squats. I shouldn't have the energy for cleans and fronts squats after a day like that.

Also keep in mind, that while those lifts are small for most people, they are by a huge margin the most I've ever done. There's not a single person at the gym that works harder than I do. I just have an insanely skinny frame. At 19 I weighed 125lbs, 6ft. The shit mesos or endos can do is just unobtainable for me. When my previous bench plateau was 160 - for years, getting to 190 in a month is a pretty significant jump. There is no chance in any universe that someone with my body, without steroids, could hit 300+ squats and 450+ deadlifts. It's just impossible. I would also bet that no pro olympic deadlifter could ever run a 4 minute mile. You can't just will your way out of genetics

To Brahma, the things I can do with legs is very restricted due to knees. Plus, there's no muscle that low bar back squats misses. As I said, my squat & deadlift have made preposterous gains lately compared to where I was. At this point there's no way I'm getting off of doing squats 3 times a week. It's essential for my knee recovery and I just like it too much. I'm mostly looking for suggestions on how to modify what I'm already doing to get over a plateau. Increasing reps, more sets, or something like that. I don't know if there's a generally agreed upon way to get over a plateau. I'm kinda just looking for that.

You may just need to take a week or two off or deload.

Also, I'm an ecto too. I was about 130 lbs up until I was 25.

Any opinions on GOMAD and the Stronglifts 5x5? Read up on it some last night and it seems like a good starting point for me (6'3 135lbs 27 years old, want to put on some size) but I figured i'd check in here for some opinions or maybe advice.

Don't start off on GOMAD straight away. I didn't realize it until I read about it later, but EVERY human is lactose intolerant. It's just a matter of how much so. Basically, everyone can only produce a certain amount of lactase (the protein that breaks down lactose). Once you go past that point, you're going to feel sick. So while I can do several cups of milk, once I get past half a gallon it's the worst stomach cramping ever. Then there are the unfortunate souls who don't make any lactase, but I'm assuming you're not one.

It's possible you produce enough lactase to do GOMAD. But I would start off slow before jumping in.

Anyway, for a beginning lifter it doesn't really matter too much what program you do. Just make sure you're consistent in going and that you're eating enough. Do those two things and you'll see gains for the first year or two. Just as long as your program has all the compound lifts and you're fueling your body, you can't really screw it up. Oh, and sleep. Make sure you get enough sleep.

My routine is essentially based on Stronglifts. I highly recommend it. I didn't realize until recently but it's essentially the same thing as Rippetoe's Starting Strength. It focuses on strength exercises and removes the fancy shit that you don't need when you're starting out. I also like how stronglifts advocates starting really light and focusing on form first. I started it after years of doing other routines and even then I loved it

So I'm starting to feel better about my upper body/core since I've been spending more time on lifting the past 4 months. I'm serviceable at actual exercises, but I'm at a point where I don't know what I should be doing for reps and weights. I don't think I'm terrible, but I'm really quite ignorant overall still, even though I've been steadily rotating in new things into my routine to shake things up.

I mostly work out in the morning, so it's not ideal but I'm not really trying to break any records, just increase my strength a bit (I'm definitely hamstrung by my fairly low calorie intake but I'm not really looking to add a lot of mass). To give you an idea of what Icando (7-8 reps per set atm for most of these weight ranges):

Core: full situps on decline bench with a 45 lb plate (usually 3 sets of 12 or so), the stupid core raise bench thing (I don't even know what the thing is called, you hang out at the waist upside-down and lift up to a straight position) with a 70 lb kettle bell, 160lbs on the crunch machine, 85 lb dumbbell for bench rows
Chest: 55 lb dumbbell bench press, ~45 lbs on dumbbell flys (was at like ~40 on incline but haven't done it in awhile), 170 lbs on chest fly machine.
Back/lats: 165 lb lat pull downs with a fairly wide grip.
Legs: Doing ~230+ empty bar weight for squats.
Arms: 70 + empty bar weight preacher curls, 110 lbs rope pull for triceps.

Etc... but *shrug*, I kinda feel like I'm plateauing a lot on some of this stuff and maybe I need to add more 'exotic' exercises, or at least new stuff. Also, I'm not sure where I should be at relative to each other either. I'm 5'9" and 180 atm, so I could still stand to lose a bit of weight I guess since I seem to be stuck at ~12-14% body fat or so... but I've been mostly neutral on calories overall the past few months so meh. I still feel like my arm strength is my weakest point but I'm at a loss what to do here besides start adding serious muscle mass because I feel I've been very slow to develop my biceps/triceps.

You don't need exotic lifts. Add Deadlifts and Power Cleans. Get rid of preacher curls the machine stuff and do pull ups and dips.

Oh I do dips (and other stuff for sure), I usually do only 7-8 per set but I think I use a fuller range of motion than most people I've seen use. Pull ups are more difficult though, I can manage 5-6 wide grip per set when I'm not tired (IE not when I actually go to the gym hehe). I'm curious if doing any pull ups is really adding anything though, as I feel I can't get enough reps in most mornings to accomplish anything if that makes any sense?

Deadlifts kind of scare me (for the weight ranges I'd be using) so I haven't added those yet and I'm not sure what power cleans are off the top of my head but I will investigate them! Thanks.

Palum_sl said:

Legs: Doing ~230+ empty bar weight for squats.

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What does this mean?

I don't know the reason, but everyone says do barbell rather than dumbbell. You can push more. Maybe that's the reason?

What kind of squat are you doing? I've tried every leg exercise known to man, and someone recommended doing low-bar back squat (rest bar on rear delts) here a month or 2 back, and that is the greatest exercise I've ever done. It fully stretches out your hamstring, glutes, and adductors on the squat down, which gets them in on the lift much more and ends up being a full-leg exercise. High bar (bar on traps) doesn't give that full stretch. My legs are 33-50% bigger in 2 months, no exaggeration (granted, I have/had bird legs).

Definitely add in deadlifts. Cleans are somethin I've done periodically but should be doing more of.

Well, considering the fact that you are new to lifting, you have to understand first and foremost that you need to learn form before you lift heavy. Don't get so worked up on what other people see you lifting, if that's the unconscious reason why you can't use light weight to start.

Deadlifts are one of the best lifts you can do. AND they end up helping every other lift you will do. It just makes you fucking stronger.

As far as pullups, if you can't do more than a few it's because you're not strong enough. They are great for your shoulders and back. Do all the varieties until you can really do them. The way that I learned was just by getting an Iron gym at home and paying the toll every time I passed through that doorway.