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Got back in the gym after damn near a month out. I am a weak and pathetic thing. Feels good to be exhausted though.
I was excited to surpass 500 lbs this week my 4th week in on SS.
De-Lurking to express my thanks for this thread giving me impetus to try something new.
Monday is 2 big boy plates on the DL. Excited!
It particularly feels awesome on my shins/calves, because it hurts the first few rolls but then they're loosened up and feel great.
I really need to get a small roller for at home and to use on my chest/shoulders/arms more easily. I hear also a tennis ball makes a good replacement.
What's the general opinion on pullup/chinup assist machines? Is it ok to use it while I'm still too girly to lift myself?
One of the main tricks about pull-ups/chin-ups is to focus on just your elbows, and bringing your elbows down as if your elbows were on the bar. Really helps gets the lats working correctly, in my experience.
Chin-up assist things are great for learning to do chin-ups. If you don't have access to them, do negatives. Those work just as well IMO (although there is more of a risk of hurting yourself I suppose).
I am back in the game
Squatted 275 for 3 sets of 5.
Pressed 130 for 3 sets of 5
Power Cleaned 165 for 5 sets of 3
Did 60 tire flips in 270 seconds.
I will be weighting more than 200 on Monday. Can't wait
I used one when I first started. Only took about a month or so to get to where I could do an unassisted. I like 'em.
So what happens? I come across a hidden tub of ice cream I somehow missed when I was clearing out my bulking food.
I have so much willpower.
Pretty excited about this one.
But I haveta imagine it's much less cumbersome going with a barbell.
it's better in some ways.
for one, you don't have to have some jerk spot for you that is just so antsy to get on in there and help out.
I suppose that barbell vs dumbbell does depend to some extent on your goals, but if your primary goal is strength and mass gain, I believe dumbbell bench can only be an accessory lift. Besides, there are plenty of gyms in Vancouver, and I hear that most of the Gold's chain is good.
Hmm, ninja, I see what you mean about no good nearby gyms. Are you at that Fitness World? what area do you work/go to school in? Might be one near there.
I been thinkin' bout getting sum
Secret Satan Click This!
Depends how much you're benching.
Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in doing anything less than 5 reps without a spotter on the bench. I've definitely gotten stuck a few times on a single or double. Close grips tend to fail faster than regular grip.
But I've been doing flat bench as an assistance exercise for a while now also.
I honestly didn't think I'd gain much weight when I started out. Looking back on it, I was pretty flabby and weak. Now, I'm not surprised at all that I've gained this much.
Spotting is good.
Me and my buddy have a rule, no hands on the bar until one of us asks. It has worked out pretty well so far. even if its just a grunted "help".
I live pretty much on Granville Island and go to the False Creek Community Centre's gym. At this point, it's purely for convenience because it's literally 2 minutes away. I go to school at Capilano, so I don't get home until way later, and when I do I gotta have dinner/do homework/etc, which leaves me not a lot of time to travel to a gym. I've checked out Capilano's gym but it's like the size of a locker room.
That's how I did it with my friend back at school. It worked well.
Now my new gym is pretty darn empty when I go (which, for the most part, is great, I never have to wait to use equipment, it is fantastic), but like, that also means there are very few people to ask to spot me. And the 2 times i did the dudes hands were all over the bar, so I am hesitant to ask people. Also I am back near 100 for bench, though need to make sure my form is good, it was wobbly a bit today. When I last stopped lifting in December I was at like 125 I think? Almost at big boy plates... so, getting back there.
Knee is still pissing me off, alas.
Also, tried doing dips again, even with the advice, still get that horrid pain just above my collarbone. Don't know how to fix that. So I didn't do more dips. Hm. What do I doooo?
Edit:
Found this...
I'm going to be benching 200 pounds at the end of this next mesocycle.
I am EXCITED.
When I first started trying (and failing) dips, some guy was nice enough to point out that you wanna exhale on the way up and inhale on the way down. That helped me a lot early on. Now, though, I'm not sure it's much better than just holding in a big gulp of air all the way through -- though it can get sketchy when I'm going to higher reps.
And it's definitely impractical to continue doing dumbbell bench (without a spotter) once you get past your newbie gains period and are benching 185+, imho.
We've already been over the spotter-vs-no spotter thing, so I won't dredge that up again.
?
I just picked a number. So sue me.
Don't sue me.
turns out Ham doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about.
B) So you're saying, then, that it's perfectly practical to grab a couple of 90+ lb. dumbbells (or have someone hand them off to you) and bench them versus just racking a couple of plates on a barbell and benching that (while choosing to use a spotter or to forego one) ...?
I was under the impression that we were discussing things like adults, and not resorting to petty childish insults.
In any event, let's follow the chain of events:
1. Guy says he doesn't have access to a barbell, and whether he should go with the Smith machine or dumbbells.
2. psyck0 says he should find a better gym.
3. You say dumbbell benching is fine.
4. psyck0 posts the Jim Wendler quote.
5. adytum mentions that dumping the dumbbells can be a strain on shoulders.
Now while it's great that really strong guys can bench really heavy weights with dumbbells... that doesn't mean dumbbell = barbell bench press for everyone.