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So what's the deal with saunas? I don't really use them, dont know why, and am concerned that other people use them without knowing why
Pretty much just a chill time to sit with other people. I don't know if it has any other benefit than feeling nice to some people. I personally hate humidity so I don't think I'd enjoy a sauna.
Now, cold air/water baths after exercise or just in general have been shown to increase the transition of white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue. I'd try this but cold showers make me very angry for some reason. I've been curious about the cryotherapy pods though.
In other news, I have the next part of my weight lifting exercise study tomorrow, which means I have to track everything I eat today and also avoid caffeine all day, which sucks because I am a coffee fiend. For the exercises I do three sets of all of the exercises and I think also a max effort single rep. I also am going to have fat and muscle biopsies taken that they can analyze in the lab. Pretty excited to work my ass off tomorrow for science AND health. After that I get to schedule my 12 weeks of exercise where to real fun begins.
Update: Muscle and fat biopsies feel really weird! The muscle biopsies were taken from about mid-thigh, two from the left leg before exercise and two from my right leg after exercise. The fat biopsies were taken from an incision near my navel and the process is really strange. I guess hit the spoiler for the details because it's a little gross.
After the incision near the navel, they then inject about 50mLs of saline with lidocaine into the abdominal fat pad, and then go in with a larger suction device and have to physically break up the connective tissue keeping the fat in place so that they can suction it out. The procedure is literally called a "mini-liposuction." The process took about 10 minutes per fat biopsy and it felt like an abdominal massage but from under my skin. Then, when they had gotten enough fat for their tests they had to manually milk the rest of the saline out of my incision. Just very, very bizarre. Thankfully none of this process hurt, and as a bonus the gauze over my navel makes it look like I'm doing shitty cosplay of King Hippo. Also, I've been burping and tasting saline for about an hour now, so I guess my body just absorbed the soupy goodness that remained.
Anyway, I'm now scheduled to start my actual three-days-a-week exercise routine on the 27th, and I'm excited to get started in earnest!
So if you guys are on the road and can't lift heavy for a while, what are your go-to exercises? I know a whole bunch of bodyweight exercises but I'm considering how to put them together into some consistent routine for my time away from the gym.
I have some light-ish dumbbells I can work in, too.
Maybe I'll work on getting up to decent pistol squats again, and try to push my push up endurance.
Went to do deadlifts last week and despite what was a more or less warmup weight and good form it irritated hell out of something in my lower back and left me sore and stiff for about 2 days.
Today was supposed to start with back squats but I was nervous so I did front squats and my back seemed more or less ok with that. Only did about 4 sets of 4-6 at 115.
Of course the next guy in the rack after me did front squats and was ripping out 225lbs and boy I know it's not wise to compare yourself to others especially at the gym but it's just a constant, massive, in my face reminder of how much I've lost.
My parents gave me some money for Christmas and so I've got a pair of these blocks waiting at home for me, freshly delivered and ready to bang. I'm looking forward to rack pulls that don't fuck up my bar/safeties and with less banging and clanging, and possibly being able to set barbell rows up at a better angle for my poor decrepit old body, and putting them on my hex bar to make it into more of a frame for carrying. Many of my favorite things!
Pulled deads again today. Worked up to 2 sets of 225lbs for 4 on the first set (palm was pinched) and 5 on the last and it fuckin moved no problem.
It was tough but in the way it's supposed to be not like, holy fuck my spine tough.
Dunno what changed in a week.
Edit: all in all a fucking killer lower body day. This is how I used to feel, if I could keep this up without those random days where my back relapses I feel like I could start building back up.
Deadlifts 1x4 and 1x5 at 225
Box squats 4x8 at 185 (lol)
Barbell hip thrusts 2x10 at 225 and the last set I failed at the 5th rep
Unilateral eccentric-overloaded leg extension which is a mouth full but is basically two legs up one leg down. 3x12 each leg at like 90lbs cause you aint need a lot for this one.
Lying leg curls more or less to burnout
For being a pretty huge guy he seems less interested in the standard approach to strength training (ie standard progressive overload) and his philosophy looks to be more focused around just absolutely absurd intensity, even at the cost of those big ego lifts. I may try his 30 day program (it's $20 so pretty low stakes) one day just to mix things up and test it out.
If nothing else the dude is legitimately hilarious.
My lifting for the research study is going pretty well. I'll have to write down my weights/reps for the week to keep track of them myself. Already starting to see some effects - not really in how I look, or in the weight I can lift, but in my reps for sure. Just had to give it a couple weeks for my muscles to start waking up and getting some endurance. My leg press continues to be where I do best, last week I was doing three sets of 12 reps @ 400lbs for that. The machine I'm using currently only goes up to, I think, 505lbs so there's a good chance I'll need to move on to the new fancy machine for regular workouts before the end of the study.
3 sets of 205lbs for 6 on the back squat moved smooth today.
My goal is to work very slowly back up to a max of 225lbs which boy that sucks but at least that's two or three squat sessions where my form feels good and my back isn't causing me issues. Last time something fucked up it was right as I unracked the bar. It's almost like something compresses in my middle back if I get a currently undetermined amount of weight on my shoulders.
Ok I'm gonna spoil this because it's my rambley thoughts on some lifting styles and may be boring or unhinged I dunno
Ive been thinking more about that Ryan Humiston video I linked up there and his approach to lifting. IE: "Ruin your fucking life." Basically his conciet is nobody trains intensely enough (I agree) and that your muscles dont really care how much weight you lift as how intense it is.
That Second part is where I'm kind of divided. On the one hand, yeah, with the right techniques you can make light weight feel fucking awful. That said, if your body only cares for intensity of the lift and not absolute load then it makes sense to be efficient by using a heavy enough weight to achieve that level of intensity in waaaay fewer reps? However, I think the idea of pushing your smaller, isolated muscle groups like delts, biceps and triceps with much lighter weight but extremely intense sets to complete failure makes sense. A lot of those groups respond better to moderate weight, higher reps exercises as opposed to the compound lifts that favor heavy loads like deadlifts or squats.
I guess the scientific terminology here is RPE (Rate of Percieved Exertion) or RIR (reps in reserve). So basically rating how intense a set was on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being complete and total failure of the muscle. Basically self rating how many reps you have left in the tank after a set. The problem is the average person (myself included) doesn't really have a good idea of what like, an 8 or a 9 on the RPE scale even feels like. Jeff Nippard made a really good video on this I will link.
So I think there's some merit in the idea of pushing yourself to complete failure on smaller lifts using even lighter weight than you normally would (as opposed to his program which apparently has you starting out working up to 100 reps on the leg curl on day 1 which I think is completely overkill and could lead to serious injury if attempted by some body that doesn’t already know what the fuck they're doing), because it can allow you to get into that area of fatigue where you're going to really see what having 0 RIR feels like without running the risk of blowing your spine out or cracking a joint. I did it with a few light sets of biceps curl drop sets. 30lbs for 15 then immediately into 15 for 15. The next set I got 10 and 10. The 3rd set I could barely get 8. Then, with that pr-eexhaustion I did two sets of incline into upright into drag curls with 15lbs where I pushed every single rep to my absolute max. I'm not sure I've ever gone so hard I was literally shaking trying to complete a drag curl of 15 pounds. It really puts actual "failure" into perspective.
I may experiment with this on my accessory lifts for a while and see what kind of results I get.
I think there's a huge amount of discussion on that topic. Some very experienced professionals would say never go to RPE 10 outside of like, 1-2 times a year. Some would say reps to failure have their place. Others that they never do. Others that you should do them all the time.
I personally never go to failure as part of a working set. I have failed things, 1 RM attempts, new variations etc. And I've done sets that felt really maximal, they definitely have their place. But I don't know that going to failure as a working set in S&C would be useful at all outside of cardio maybe? Even then you should be able to complete your workout.
That said I don't know bodybuilding and from how they train its to failure every rep, set, session etc.
I think where you're going to bang into problems with what you're talking about Jugg is a. training within your recovery means and b. quality reps that accomplish something vs. junk reps that just put wear and tear on your connective tissue. I also think you need to define what it is you're training for i.e. training for size vs. strength, 1 rep max peaking vs. increasing overall capacity, etc. I don't think you can have a one-size-fits-all training philosophy because you need to set your goals first and your approach will be different depending on what it is you're training for.
For a different perspective than what it seems like you've been looking at, I'd recommend these two videos from Mike Isratel from Renaissance Periodization, he's smart and strong and jacked and good at explaining how to construct a strength block vs. a hypertrophy block:
Oh no the rep quality is a problem I've been thinking about. At a certain point if your swinging weight around you're not utilizing that muscle, so MY caveat is that failure is defined by the inability to complete the move in good form.
I'm thinking more about this as a sort of short term hybridization where major compound lifts like squats or deadlifts are kept in their maximum effective range of 4 to 6 reps at heavy weights and using those as your overall strength benchmark. Same with bench presses. Basically any lift where reaching complete failure doesn't result in you getting squished like a tube of toothpaste. Then supplementing those with your smaller accessory moves like pec flyes, tricep curls, rear delt moves etc etc taken to complete, nut busting failure (again with good form) instead of the typical rep ranges I usually see prescribed there.
It might completely suck and turn out useless! I dunno! That's the fun of experimenting.
well the end of the year combined new job and holidays and generally otherwise good things all together to make it so i wasn't in the gym since thanksgiving.
I'm tired. My tracker wanted to deload by A LOT and i very cocky like told it that I would instead just deload a little and deer lorde did i feel everything everywhere all of the time.
I just... I hate going to the gym late like "after office hours" late and even though I'm working remotely it's been hard for me to figure out a cadence to get away during the day and still manage my role. So today i just sucked it up and went after 5.
Oh no the rep quality is a problem I've been thinking about. At a certain point if your swinging weight around you're not utilizing that muscle, so MY caveat is that failure is defined by the inability to complete the move in good form.
I'm thinking more about this as a sort of short term hybridization where major compound lifts like squats or deadlifts are kept in their maximum effective range of 4 to 6 reps at heavy weights and using those as your overall strength benchmark. Same with bench presses. Basically any lift where reaching complete failure doesn't result in you getting squished like a tube of toothpaste. Then supplementing those with your smaller accessory moves like pec flyes, tricep curls, rear delt moves etc etc taken to complete, nut busting failure (again with good form) instead of the typical rep ranges I usually see prescribed there.
It might completely suck and turn out useless! I dunno! That's the fun of experimenting.
The only thing I'd be concerned about is injury. But you're a big boy you can look after yourself. Hope you find it works for you!
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AJRSome guy who wrestlesNorwichRegistered Userregular
Oh no the rep quality is a problem I've been thinking about. At a certain point if your swinging weight around you're not utilizing that muscle, so MY caveat is that failure is defined by the inability to complete the move in good form.
I'm thinking more about this as a sort of short term hybridization where major compound lifts like squats or deadlifts are kept in their maximum effective range of 4 to 6 reps at heavy weights and using those as your overall strength benchmark. Same with bench presses. Basically any lift where reaching complete failure doesn't result in you getting squished like a tube of toothpaste. Then supplementing those with your smaller accessory moves like pec flyes, tricep curls, rear delt moves etc etc taken to complete, nut busting failure (again with good form) instead of the typical rep ranges I usually see prescribed there.
It might completely suck and turn out useless! I dunno! That's the fun of experimenting.
Yeah, this is pretty much how I've trained for the past couple of years, after a big life change meant I could train for longer. It's worked for me so far!
I also trained like that for years, using 5/3/1 periodization for the main lifts. The reason I switched over to a complete powerlifting focus is that I hit a plateau. I was okay strong, but I wanted to be stronger. My physique was fine, but nothing amazing.
Without drugs, which is what most of these huge looking dudes on the internet won’t tell you that they are using, I needed to specialize to make progress in either strength or physique. I think that’s true for most people who aren’t enhanced. But as long as you’re having fun, it doesn’t really matter.
For being a pretty huge guy he seems less interested in the standard approach to strength training (ie standard progressive overload) and his philosophy looks to be more focused around just absolutely absurd intensity, even at the cost of those big ego lifts. I may try his 30 day program (it's $20 so pretty low stakes) one day just to mix things up and test it out.
If nothing else the dude is legitimately hilarious.
I started one of this guy’s programs last night, as injury is keeping me from climbing and BJJ, and the gym at my apartment basically has dumbbells and nothing else, so these low weight high rep exercises seem a good fit.
Yesterday’s giant sets destroyed my arms and I am terrified for my shoulders tonight.
So, so far so good.
Edit:
But yeah, the volume is nuts. I’ll let you know how it goes. Day 1 for example for biceps had 4x20 for: spider curls, incline curls, preacher curls and drag curls. And then another similar set for triceps.
I was definitely using 5lb dumbbells by the end and just hurting.
I'm sitting in the gym standing here like a douche waiting for one of the 3 bench press racks to open up while one guy is doing 1 rep sets with 3 minute rest pauses, the other is doing a circuit with split squats and the last only just now started benching after having his shit sitting on it for 5 minutes.
Holy shit one of them just manifested a bro who is now jumping in fuck it I'm doing dumbbell presses.
Edit: chuckleheads aside I had a good one today. I feel like I could go back later tonight and do more. I'm wondering if this is a result of pushing reps to actual failure? Like that mental push to grind out one more rep has given me a little kick in the ass and I'm more hype. I haven't felt this psyched in the gym in a minute and I hope it's sustainable.
I'm sitting in the gym standing here like a douche waiting for one of the 3 bench press racks to open up while one guy is doing 1 rep sets with 3 minute rest pauses, the other is doing a circuit with split squats and the last only just now started benching after having his shit sitting on it for 5 minutes.
I hate the gym.
Just go ask to work in or go do something else, stop bitching about other people at the gym that pay the same rate you do.
diablo III - beardsnbeer#1508 Mechwarrior Online - Rusty Bock
I got an olympic plate sized curl bar yesterday cheap off FB marketplace, I think it might finally be time to say goodbye to the rest of my standard plates. RIP old buddies, we had some good times.
I'm sitting in the gym standing here like a douche waiting for one of the 3 bench press racks to open up while one guy is doing 1 rep sets with 3 minute rest pauses, the other is doing a circuit with split squats and the last only just now started benching after having his shit sitting on it for 5 minutes.
I hate the gym.
Just go ask to work in or go do something else, stop bitching about other people at the gym that pay the same rate you do.
I did do something else as noted in my very next post immediately under that one! It actually turned into a solid workout.
I have a very limited window of when I can workout and I have no time for people who pitch a tent on equipment at peak hours and do crossfit circuits or whatever. It's basic, common gym courtesy. Be aware of your shit and wrap it up, rack your weights, wipe it down, move on. If I've got time and the only reason I can't get to something is because it's slammed with people and everybody is trying to move it along, I'll work in around someone. No problem.
My deadlift blocks actually arrived today due to some shipping fuckery and these rule. They start at 13 inches and that's just a great height, takes a little off the bottom, totally cheating except that I'm not competing so who cares, I'm very happy. I pulled 400, when my all time PR is 415 at regular height, so the height helps and also I'm stronger overall (which I figured but wasn't testing). Tomorrow we row with them, stay tuned for unrequested updates.
So what's the deal with saunas? I don't really use them, dont know why, and am concerned that other people use them without knowing why
Using a sauna is good for your cardiovascular system, helps opening up pores (if you shower first, don't sit too long and then take a good shower afterwards) and releases endorophins which helps with stress and soothes muscleaches (especially if you combine it with a mid-sauna cold shower).
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I started one of this guy’s programs last night, as injury is keeping me from climbing and BJJ, and the gym at my apartment basically has dumbbells and nothing else, so these low weight high rep exercises seem a good fit.
Yesterday’s giant sets destroyed my arms and I am terrified for my shoulders tonight.
So, so far so good.
Edit:
But yeah, the volume is nuts. I’ll let you know how it goes. Day 1 for example for biceps had 4x20 for: spider curls, incline curls, preacher curls and drag curls. And then another similar set for triceps.
I was definitely using 5lb dumbbells by the end and just hurting.
I just started the same thing yesterday because my theoretical "in the new year do bench and squat and deadlift again" approach just wasn't happening because I'm thoroughly out of practise and increasingly old and creaky, so don't want to hurt myself while I remember what good form is -- but I also don't want to start again with low-weight squats because (in my head) I should be able to lift more than that so it feels less satisfying.
Using little weights more times seemed a lot less likely to go excitingly wrong -- and while it may not be the classic big lifts, when it says "do bench dips to failure" and "failure" is 0 reps by the end I know _something_ is going on, at least.
4x20 for four different kind of curls is an interesting choice. Does the program sat what the objective of such is? Extreme amounts of hypertrophy I guess?
4x20 for four different kind of curls is an interesting choice. Does the program sat what the objective of such is? Extreme amounts of hypertrophy I guess?
The basic idea is to keep the muscle under stress for as long as possible, so, light weights and lots of reps and many sets.
And then each curl hits things in slightly different ways, I think
Sure I get that, 20 reps definitely is a lot of time under tension, and that's a lot of volume in terms of sets. I was just curious what the training goal was is all, I'm guessing muscle bulking
Sure I get that, 20 reps definitely is a lot of time under tension, and that's a lot of volume in terms of sets. I was just curious what the training goal was is all, I'm guessing muscle bulking
Yeah the program is billed as a “get swole” thing.
For me it’s a mostly “I just want to do something while I can’t climb/BJJ and only have access to light weights”
Yeah, for me the goal is "realistically, will I actually do this?". So it's a combination of a:not the same things I'm bored with, b:I have the necessary equipment, and c:something that I can do while listening to podcasts, because being exhausted doesn't use that part of my mind, but concentrating on keeping my lower back safe does.
Yeah it's essentially just a different approach to getting yoked. How effective it would be in the long term I don't know, but I think it would work pretty well as a one off way to mix up your training routine and shock your muscles. Possibly get you through a slump.
Adding in elements of it to my standar bro split seems to be working a bit just in terms of the psychological aspect.
Like I do blocks right now; shoulder hypertrophy work for example (multiple sets of 12 reps on dumbbell bench amongst others) followed by the same kind of exercises with dropped reps and high weight as a strength realisation block (so sets kf 5, 3 and 1 on the barbell bench amongst others) and then a sports specific power block (campus rungs)
So I'm always interested as whether the plan post a big hypertrophy phase is to change up or do that forever for just big beef gains etc
Depends on what you want really. Powerlifters or people looking to keep setting huge PR's probably won't find anything interesting here I'd imagine. Neither would people who do specific activities like sports that need a different kind of athleticism. But if you're looking for a training program that is either A) accessible as mentioned above or a body builder looking for a change in routine it seems perfectly serviceable.
I think in the end nothing will beat a traditional program with a lot of the tried and true lifting methods for either strength or hypertrophy minded folks. But at the same time you can get board doing the same splits over and over or you might plateau and need a way to mix things up from time to time. I don't know if I'd reccomend this as a permanent training style because I think you'll eventually hit a point of diminishing returns with the intensity and the weights being used. But as a one off? Fuck it give it a shot.
Anyone have advice on when your dead lift is about at the limit of your grip strength?
I've been doing the 5x5 Starting Strength for about 12 weeks with the planned increases without issue until my dead lift yesterday. I lift with a simple two hand overhand grip.
Should I switch to switch grip? Add wraps? Buy a hex bar?
I've been subscribing to the "if you can't grip it you can't lift it" mantra and I don't know how I feel about adding extra gadgets to the lifts.
Switch to mixed grip first I'd say, if that's what you're concerned about. Go double overhand as long as you can and switch to mixed for your heaviest sets, it'll make a world of difference.
Peen’s advice is good. But also, anyone who says if you can’t grip it, you can’t lift it, can fuck all the way off. I pull with chalk and mixed grip for low reps, but when I do sets over six reps, I’m focusing on not dying, not my grip strength.
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Pretty much just a chill time to sit with other people. I don't know if it has any other benefit than feeling nice to some people. I personally hate humidity so I don't think I'd enjoy a sauna.
Now, cold air/water baths after exercise or just in general have been shown to increase the transition of white adipose tissue into brown adipose tissue. I'd try this but cold showers make me very angry for some reason. I've been curious about the cryotherapy pods though.
In other news, I have the next part of my weight lifting exercise study tomorrow, which means I have to track everything I eat today and also avoid caffeine all day, which sucks because I am a coffee fiend. For the exercises I do three sets of all of the exercises and I think also a max effort single rep. I also am going to have fat and muscle biopsies taken that they can analyze in the lab. Pretty excited to work my ass off tomorrow for science AND health. After that I get to schedule my 12 weeks of exercise where to real fun begins.
Anyway, I'm now scheduled to start my actual three-days-a-week exercise routine on the 27th, and I'm excited to get started in earnest!
Maces? <_<
Today was supposed to start with back squats but I was nervous so I did front squats and my back seemed more or less ok with that. Only did about 4 sets of 4-6 at 115.
Of course the next guy in the rack after me did front squats and was ripping out 225lbs and boy I know it's not wise to compare yourself to others especially at the gym but it's just a constant, massive, in my face reminder of how much I've lost.
It was tough but in the way it's supposed to be not like, holy fuck my spine tough.
Dunno what changed in a week.
Edit: all in all a fucking killer lower body day. This is how I used to feel, if I could keep this up without those random days where my back relapses I feel like I could start building back up.
Deadlifts 1x4 and 1x5 at 225
Box squats 4x8 at 185 (lol)
Barbell hip thrusts 2x10 at 225 and the last set I failed at the 5th rep
Unilateral eccentric-overloaded leg extension which is a mouth full but is basically two legs up one leg down. 3x12 each leg at like 90lbs cause you aint need a lot for this one.
Lying leg curls more or less to burnout
For being a pretty huge guy he seems less interested in the standard approach to strength training (ie standard progressive overload) and his philosophy looks to be more focused around just absolutely absurd intensity, even at the cost of those big ego lifts. I may try his 30 day program (it's $20 so pretty low stakes) one day just to mix things up and test it out.
If nothing else the dude is legitimately hilarious.
My goal is to work very slowly back up to a max of 225lbs which boy that sucks but at least that's two or three squat sessions where my form feels good and my back isn't causing me issues. Last time something fucked up it was right as I unracked the bar. It's almost like something compresses in my middle back if I get a currently undetermined amount of weight on my shoulders.
That Second part is where I'm kind of divided. On the one hand, yeah, with the right techniques you can make light weight feel fucking awful. That said, if your body only cares for intensity of the lift and not absolute load then it makes sense to be efficient by using a heavy enough weight to achieve that level of intensity in waaaay fewer reps? However, I think the idea of pushing your smaller, isolated muscle groups like delts, biceps and triceps with much lighter weight but extremely intense sets to complete failure makes sense. A lot of those groups respond better to moderate weight, higher reps exercises as opposed to the compound lifts that favor heavy loads like deadlifts or squats.
I guess the scientific terminology here is RPE (Rate of Percieved Exertion) or RIR (reps in reserve). So basically rating how intense a set was on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being complete and total failure of the muscle. Basically self rating how many reps you have left in the tank after a set. The problem is the average person (myself included) doesn't really have a good idea of what like, an 8 or a 9 on the RPE scale even feels like. Jeff Nippard made a really good video on this I will link.
So I think there's some merit in the idea of pushing yourself to complete failure on smaller lifts using even lighter weight than you normally would (as opposed to his program which apparently has you starting out working up to 100 reps on the leg curl on day 1 which I think is completely overkill and could lead to serious injury if attempted by some body that doesn’t already know what the fuck they're doing), because it can allow you to get into that area of fatigue where you're going to really see what having 0 RIR feels like without running the risk of blowing your spine out or cracking a joint. I did it with a few light sets of biceps curl drop sets. 30lbs for 15 then immediately into 15 for 15. The next set I got 10 and 10. The 3rd set I could barely get 8. Then, with that pr-eexhaustion I did two sets of incline into upright into drag curls with 15lbs where I pushed every single rep to my absolute max. I'm not sure I've ever gone so hard I was literally shaking trying to complete a drag curl of 15 pounds. It really puts actual "failure" into perspective.
I may experiment with this on my accessory lifts for a while and see what kind of results I get.
I personally never go to failure as part of a working set. I have failed things, 1 RM attempts, new variations etc. And I've done sets that felt really maximal, they definitely have their place. But I don't know that going to failure as a working set in S&C would be useful at all outside of cardio maybe? Even then you should be able to complete your workout.
That said I don't know bodybuilding and from how they train its to failure every rep, set, session etc.
For a different perspective than what it seems like you've been looking at, I'd recommend these two videos from Mike Isratel from Renaissance Periodization, he's smart and strong and jacked and good at explaining how to construct a strength block vs. a hypertrophy block:
I'm thinking more about this as a sort of short term hybridization where major compound lifts like squats or deadlifts are kept in their maximum effective range of 4 to 6 reps at heavy weights and using those as your overall strength benchmark. Same with bench presses. Basically any lift where reaching complete failure doesn't result in you getting squished like a tube of toothpaste. Then supplementing those with your smaller accessory moves like pec flyes, tricep curls, rear delt moves etc etc taken to complete, nut busting failure (again with good form) instead of the typical rep ranges I usually see prescribed there.
It might completely suck and turn out useless! I dunno! That's the fun of experimenting.
I'm tired. My tracker wanted to deload by A LOT and i very cocky like told it that I would instead just deload a little and deer lorde did i feel everything everywhere all of the time.
I just... I hate going to the gym late like "after office hours" late and even though I'm working remotely it's been hard for me to figure out a cadence to get away during the day and still manage my role. So today i just sucked it up and went after 5.
The only thing I'd be concerned about is injury. But you're a big boy you can look after yourself. Hope you find it works for you!
Yeah, this is pretty much how I've trained for the past couple of years, after a big life change meant I could train for longer. It's worked for me so far!
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Without drugs, which is what most of these huge looking dudes on the internet won’t tell you that they are using, I needed to specialize to make progress in either strength or physique. I think that’s true for most people who aren’t enhanced. But as long as you’re having fun, it doesn’t really matter.
I started one of this guy’s programs last night, as injury is keeping me from climbing and BJJ, and the gym at my apartment basically has dumbbells and nothing else, so these low weight high rep exercises seem a good fit.
Yesterday’s giant sets destroyed my arms and I am terrified for my shoulders tonight.
So, so far so good.
Edit:
But yeah, the volume is nuts. I’ll let you know how it goes. Day 1 for example for biceps had 4x20 for: spider curls, incline curls, preacher curls and drag curls. And then another similar set for triceps.
I was definitely using 5lb dumbbells by the end and just hurting.
I hate the gym.
Edit: chuckleheads aside I had a good one today. I feel like I could go back later tonight and do more. I'm wondering if this is a result of pushing reps to actual failure? Like that mental push to grind out one more rep has given me a little kick in the ass and I'm more hype. I haven't felt this psyched in the gym in a minute and I hope it's sustainable.
Just go ask to work in or go do something else, stop bitching about other people at the gym that pay the same rate you do.
Agreed. Most gym bros who need to get their chest day in will have no problem letting other people work in on sets.
I did do something else as noted in my very next post immediately under that one! It actually turned into a solid workout.
I have a very limited window of when I can workout and I have no time for people who pitch a tent on equipment at peak hours and do crossfit circuits or whatever. It's basic, common gym courtesy. Be aware of your shit and wrap it up, rack your weights, wipe it down, move on. If I've got time and the only reason I can't get to something is because it's slammed with people and everybody is trying to move it along, I'll work in around someone. No problem.
Using a sauna is good for your cardiovascular system, helps opening up pores (if you shower first, don't sit too long and then take a good shower afterwards) and releases endorophins which helps with stress and soothes muscleaches (especially if you combine it with a mid-sauna cold shower).
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I just started the same thing yesterday because my theoretical "in the new year do bench and squat and deadlift again" approach just wasn't happening because I'm thoroughly out of practise and increasingly old and creaky, so don't want to hurt myself while I remember what good form is -- but I also don't want to start again with low-weight squats because (in my head) I should be able to lift more than that so it feels less satisfying.
Using little weights more times seemed a lot less likely to go excitingly wrong -- and while it may not be the classic big lifts, when it says "do bench dips to failure" and "failure" is 0 reps by the end I know _something_ is going on, at least.
The basic idea is to keep the muscle under stress for as long as possible, so, light weights and lots of reps and many sets.
And then each curl hits things in slightly different ways, I think
Yeah the program is billed as a “get swole” thing.
For me it’s a mostly “I just want to do something while I can’t climb/BJJ and only have access to light weights”
Adding in elements of it to my standar bro split seems to be working a bit just in terms of the psychological aspect.
Like I do blocks right now; shoulder hypertrophy work for example (multiple sets of 12 reps on dumbbell bench amongst others) followed by the same kind of exercises with dropped reps and high weight as a strength realisation block (so sets kf 5, 3 and 1 on the barbell bench amongst others) and then a sports specific power block (campus rungs)
So I'm always interested as whether the plan post a big hypertrophy phase is to change up or do that forever for just big beef gains etc
I think in the end nothing will beat a traditional program with a lot of the tried and true lifting methods for either strength or hypertrophy minded folks. But at the same time you can get board doing the same splits over and over or you might plateau and need a way to mix things up from time to time. I don't know if I'd reccomend this as a permanent training style because I think you'll eventually hit a point of diminishing returns with the intensity and the weights being used. But as a one off? Fuck it give it a shot.
But long term it’s a lot of reps and time, and I’ll want to mix it up for sure.
I've been doing the 5x5 Starting Strength for about 12 weeks with the planned increases without issue until my dead lift yesterday. I lift with a simple two hand overhand grip.
Should I switch to switch grip? Add wraps? Buy a hex bar?
I've been subscribing to the "if you can't grip it you can't lift it" mantra and I don't know how I feel about adding extra gadgets to the lifts.
Also get some chalk.