Exercise Log Thread 2: Who ate all the pies?

[Heresy]

love me a bitta the old "you won't believe this weirdo at the gym" thing...

I've been going to my new gym (Fitness First, High Holborn, London) for 6 weeks now. There's one guy who insists on doing the most fucked up exercises I've probably ever seen - never does anything standard or by the book. The first thing I saw was his redention of deadlifts - basically standing with his legs split wide apart in triangle fashion, so he couldn't really bend his knees. Another one where he stands a full-length barbell on it's end, puts 20 - 40kgs of weight on one end, and somewhat dances with it? Like drops it as you would if you were Patrick Swayze dancing with a lady, dipping her.

The best one however is his standard bench press - to show off how easy it is to lift the lower weights (eg 40kgs), he insists of letting go of the bar at the top of the lift so it gets thrown into the air, and then catching it and bringing it back down. He then gets a PT to spot him, increases the weight to 100kgs, and manages somewhere between 1 - 2 reps, with assistance from the PT for the entire lift.

[Heresy]

DON'T BE THAT GUY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCj8Yr290tE

[Heresy]

oh lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er5GBIg2s8k

NICE FORM BUDDY

[cEvin]

Originally Posted by Heresy

oh lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er5GBIg2s8k

NICE FORM BUDDY

jesus, that's just.... :O

i hope he has a good chiro

[Heresy]

and the spotter guy is just standing there - I wonder what he's thinking

[xor]

Originally Posted by xor

hoorah!
Well my workout is coming together nicely now

Sitting on a solid 85kg with 12% Body fat now

And powering through the weights. Can now do full sets of pull ups with no assisted weight...AT LAST!!

*flex*

Bah
Bulking is a bitch

I swear my stomach has bloated out and turned me into a fatty now
Going to get my bf measured soon...When I stop procrastinating.

I might have to stop eating pies AKA Porridge

[Juju]

Originally Posted by Juju

Currently 57kg.. 65kg would be a good initial goal.

Hrm... that 57kg was an assumption based on the last time I weighed myself and thinking my body hasn't changed since then.
Turns out im 61kg.. no idea where the extra weight came from? My belt sizes and all my clothes fit the same as always... And thats from two different scales too.
8% body fat, but thats only from a 2 point test, so give or take a few % I would say.

Start properly tomorrow.... ooo im going to be sore.

[Sgt Seb]

Originally Posted by Juju

Hrm... that 57kg was an assumption based on the last time I weighed myself and thinking my body hasn't changed since then.
Turns out im 61kg.. no idea where the extra weight came from? My belt sizes and all my clothes fit the same as always... And thats from two different scales too.
8% body fat, but thats only from a 2 point test, so give or take a few % I would say.

Start properly tomorrow.... ooo im going to be sore.

haha thats awesome body fat level. so much better then being skinny fat. all the problems of having high body fat with none of the advantages (ie fairly strong).

[Heresy]

decided to throw some morning HIIT into my routine, time to get rid of the fat around my waist. 3 days a week in the mornings before breakfast, following the standard instructions from musclemedia:

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

Keen to hear if anyone here has tried this before, and what results they got, if any

[xor]

I'm guessing you want to lose weight?

I've heard good things about it, but you have to be dedicated in terms of diet and shit. It's easy to go to the gym and push weights and go for a run. Limiting what you eat and eating the right food is another

How tall? What weight? How much bf% do you have?

[cEvin]

thought you were bulking heresy?

[Heresy]

I want to throw in some cardio - I can afford to lose a bit of fat. I've been planning to do it, and HIIT seems to be a good way to do it whilst maintaining existing lean mass. I'm thinking I may be better suited to cut down and then clean bulk, as opposed to standard bulking. My diet is good, I eat healthy by default and have done for a number of years, but I struggle to really eat enough to what would normally fit under a "bulking" diet - my caloric intake is just not consistently high enough. My lifestyle here in London is pretty hectic, especially with weekends away overseas which just throws everything out of sync anyway, so I think I might need to tweak what I'm doing to get the best results.

[Heresy]

Originally Posted by xor

I'm guessing you want to lose weight?

I've heard good things about it, but you have to be dedicated in terms of diet and shit. It's easy to go to the gym and push weights and go for a run. Limiting what you eat and eating the right food is another

How tall? What weight? How much bf% do you have?

I want to lose fat, I don't need to lose weight. I'm 6'0, just under 80kgs, so I'm not overweight. Haven't had a bf% reading in ages - I would say somewhere around 16% or so.

HIIT doesn't take very long - that's another attraction for me, I find it hard to get up in the mornings and do exercise, so the shorter the better.

[xor]

Might as well Give it a shot eh. I will be doing something similar to that when I start cutting, which will be soon. Cutting is a bitch compared to bulking.

GL dude

[cEvin]

Originally Posted by Heresy

I want to lose fat, I don't need to lose weight.

i think you'll find that's a contradiction - the two go hand in hand.

yesterday I strained my lower back on pb squats
could barely walk rest of the night, slightly better today though.
no squats for a month I guess, then ill need to review my form..

[Heresy]

yeah - I know, but you know what I mean. Hard to lose fat and not compromise muscle.

I dunno - maybe I'm just slacking off a bit. Might hit the lifting harder and see how I go from there... holidays o/seas break me.

re squats - rough - taking time off sucks because the routine and rhythm is just screwed :/

[xor]

You can still keep your muscle mass providing you eat enough protein to maintain your muscle fibre AKAIK

btw email sent to your xtra account Heresy

[Heresy]

xtra doesn't work anymore and hasn't for years - I can't change to my real address though because it isn't acceptable

try [email protected]

[Azmodan]

Sup excercise buddies.

I've just finished my first week at the gym and would appreciate it if you more seasoned muscle fiends would critique my program. Bear in mind this was simply made up by a trainer on an introductory visit and tweaked by a friend so feel free to offer any alternative suggestions.

I was given the following routine by a trainer:

(4 sets of 8 reps of each)

Monday:

Chest
Bench press DB
Bench press BB
Incline bench press DB
Incline bench press BB
Flies DB
Cable flies

Shoulder
Shoulder press BB
Shoulder press DB
Lateral raise
Front raise

Tuesday:

Back
Lat pull down
Back extensions
Reverse cable flies
Seated row
Single arm row

Legs
Squats
Alternating Lunges
Leg press
Leg extension
Leg curl
Calf raises

Friday:

Biceps
Seated bicep curl BB
Standing cable curl single
Bicep curl DB
Hammer curls DB

Triceps
Skull crusher BB
Double arm pushdown
Single arm pulldown
Kickbacks

As I said above I ran this by a friend who is fairly competent in the gym, he said that to start off it would be best to cut down to ~3 excercises per muscle in the interests of time (I am going with a friend). Any ideas on which exercises I should cut out? I've heard after ~3/4 weeks its a good idea to change the routine up, so perhaps I'd go back to them then?

Any help appreciated as i'm still a gym rookie.

[Heresy]

looks okay - lots of isolation exercises which are good to start on for a beginner. Basically it should work for you - just push yourself and don't take it easy, and eat lots of high-quality food and protein. If you're finding it easy, increase the weight.

A lot of people generally recommend one of the 5-rep routines if you want to put on mass quickly, like Starting Strength or Mark Rippetoe's program (google for both).

Yeah, 3/4 weeks is a good time to change what you're doing - some programs out there already factor this in, for example this one here, which is the one that I am currently doing, however I am thinking about starting from scratch again next week.

[cEvin]

azmo: looks ok. split routine is more advanced than say rippetoe's, which is ideal for a beginner and takes hardly any time.

but if you must stick with this, then i'd change the following:

Chest
Bench press DB
Bench press BB
Incline bench press DB
Incline bench press BB
alternate these each week instead of doing both DB and BB each time
Flies DB
Cable flies forget this

Shoulder
Shoulder press BB
Shoulder press DB
alternate the above
Lateral raise
Front raise

Tuesday:

Back
Lat pull down remove
Back extensions or do pullups?
Reverse cable flies remove
Seated row replace with bent over row?
Single arm row

Legs
Squats
Alternating Lunges remove
Leg press
Leg extension
Leg curl remove
Calf raises

Friday:

Biceps
Seated bicep curl BB remove
Standing cable curl single remove
Bicep curl DB
Hammer curls DB
add in some chins?

Triceps
Skull crusher BB
Double arm pushdown remove
Single arm pulldown remove
Kickbacks


you could add or rotate the other stuff in if you start to hit a plateau in a year?

[Lat1n0]

Lots of exercise yunkies in here - Ming you I swim 3 days a week and go to the gym the other 2 days

[xor]

azmo, you're doing 24sets for your chest. Hows that working out?

[Azmodan]

Nah, I've been doing 9 sets for chest eh.. had a mate go over it and he recommended I pick 3 excercises per muscle.

Thanks Heresy and cEvin, might have a look at this Rippetoe character, will update as I go

[Abraxiss]

Thats a bit of a weird split,

Back and legs on the same day seems odd to me, your back or leg workout must be really half arsed after doing the other one first.

i would split them up and add bi's in with back and tri's in with chest rather than having a whole day for arms. Remove shoulders from chest day and add to back day.

So chest/tris

back/shoulders/bi's

Legs/abs

just my opinion.

[combatspoon]

Originally Posted by Heresy

Another one where he stands a full-length barbell on it's end, puts 20 - 40kgs of weight on one end, and somewhat dances with it? Like drops it as you would if you were Patrick Swayze dancing with a lady, dipping her.

If it's what I'm thinking of, it absolutely slays your core, it's a pretty good exercise, looks weird though.

[xor]

T-Bar Row

9 sets per exercise is good, I thought it was 24. lol

I'm doing a form of rippetoe's strengthing. It's all core movements and my weights are going up quite impressively


Squat and deadlift = mother of all exercises

[Hooker]

Originally Posted by Heresy

I've been going to my new gym (Fitness First, High Holborn, London)

hey man, what are you up to in London? I'm in Chiswick at the mo, where you living? I go to hammersmith/acton/shepards bush FF...

[xor]

Originally Posted by Abraxiss

Thats a bit of a weird split,

Back and legs on the same day seems odd to me, your back or leg workout must be really half arsed after doing the other one first.

It depends, If you do squats or deadlifts then it can be put into a back/leg routine as it hits it all pretty hard

How many chinups/pullups can you guys without failure?
palms out, in, facing etc

[wugambino]

I can do 15 palms facing inwards and 10 any other way ,I think it's a mental thing as once I get to 10 it's like OK WE ARE DONE HERE!

[JP]

What do you guys think of the 5 x 5? I've been weighing up whether to go with isolation or the 5 x 5. But I think with my current goals (in order: Lose fat, gain muscle), starting with the 5 x 5 until i've dropped a decent amount of bf% is prob the way to go. I could use a bit of increased base strength and it takes considerably less time so I have more for cardio. Sound good?

[xor]

Originally Posted by JP

What do you guys think of the 5 x 5? I've been weighing up whether to go with isolation or the 5 x 5. But I think with my current goals (in order: Lose fat, gain muscle), starting with the 5 x 5 until i've dropped a decent amount of bf% is prob the way to go. I could use a bit of increased base strength and it takes considerably less time so I have more for cardio. Sound good?

I'm currently doing 5x5 and it's going well. It's mainly a strength gaining workout more than anything. Although you can still gain mass.

I rate it. I can lift now more than I have done before.

[xor]

Originally Posted by wugambino

I can do 15 palms facing inwards and 10 any other way ,I think it's a mental thing as once I get to 10 it's like OK WE ARE DONE HERE!

Good shit!

I can do 12 facing inwards. Over 15 facing each other but with my palms facing out I can do fuck all. Think I maxed out at 7reps. I think with chins it is mental.

You still doing the cycling? What's the weight training for that like?

[wugambino]

There was a chick at my gym yesterday who did 3 one armed pull ups :| fuck she was hot ... anyway!

yep still cycling im doing the round taupo in November ( 160km ) which I really should start training for. I'm pretty slack with the leg training , I have just started a new program that has a "leg" day which includes squats / leg press / lunges and calf raises.

My routines includes 20 mins on the bike with 3 mins warm up then intervals of 1 min high resistance @ 120rpm / 1 min low resistance at @ 90rpm. Then a sprint to failure and 3 mins to warm down .... it's a cardio killer , really good for fat burning too , started doing these intervals 4 times a week and have noticed a definite drop in my body fat.

[cEvin]

Originally Posted by JP

What do you guys think of the 5 x 5? I've been weighing up whether to go with isolation or the 5 x 5. But I think with my current goals (in order: Lose fat, gain muscle), starting with the 5 x 5 until i've dropped a decent amount of bf% is prob the way to go. I could use a bit of increased base strength and it takes considerably less time so I have more for cardio. Sound good?

routine won't matter that much for losing fat, as long as you're eating right and doing cardio if you want to speed things up.

[lektronimo]

Has anyone used Total Gym, and would you recommend it?? It sells on Trademe for about $300, yet home shopping on C2 goes for $89!! Like WTF?

[Azmodan]

Started on the protein shakes, tastes like horses smell

[xor]

Originally Posted by Azmodan

Started on the protein shakes, tastes like horses smell

you for real?
The ones I have taste fucken noice
Strawberry, Vanilla, Choc, Double choc, Choc chip, Mint etc etc

[Sgt Seb]

brand makes a big difference... elite vanilla is as good as a milkshake

[xor]

meh only fat people complain about muscle food tasting shit.


In other news, I'm cutting from Monday. Gonna be cycling to and from work 3 days a week which will be about 30km each day. Gonna aim to lose about 5kg and lose about 8% bf