I have girly little hands (and no hair) and I'm all about free weights.
Revalidated my 1rm on deadlift today at 175kg which is weak, but I least I know I can hit it. Didn't try anything higher out of fear of losing one back.
Pretty much 2x BW. Didn't but help I had a packet of baked crisps and 2 Cadbury heroes for tea last night...
Fuck sake the free weights only went up to 35kg lol.
No Smith machine either, just leg press.
I was so hungover I just did a session on a spin bike for 35 mins. Feel great.
You'll be a milf in no time.
Had a look at my numbers from December last year and I've barely got stronger which is depressing. I'm deadlifting similar numbers to Foe but my bench/squat are pitiful.
Plan is to cut around 10 pounds over the next 2/3 months and focus on upping bench/squat volume.
Joined the shaved head club at the end of 2018 also so I don't need to be afraid of creatine any more. 🙌
Last edited by five time; 05-01-2019 at 05:18 PM.
Bench was an awful rep but I wanted to hit 100:
Squat: 130
Bench: 100
OHP: 65
DL: 170
I'll normally do reps with say 80% of those. Haven't checked for a while but imagine I weigh somewhere close to 80kg after Christmas.
Yeah that's a good effort. 100 is a mental thing on bench I think, just need to chuck two blues on each side and get used to it.
My current 1rm are 122.5kg on bench and 135kg squat (which I rarely do and am actively trying to improve...)
That's little man numbers compared to Lewis and boom though.
I’m way behind there. Only been training properly for 6 months, though.
Squat - 85
Bench - 55
OHP - 40
DL - 120
Those aren’t 1RM though, so guess you can add about 20%?
Last edited by Adamski; 05-01-2019 at 08:44 PM.
I always found 1RM's to be load of bollocks. I tried to actually lift my 1RM and couldn't get close, but the heaviest weight I could manage I could always do for more than 1 rep
Yeah I haven’t tested a 1RM in ages. Just starting a new cycle so probably will do a 3 rep max at the end again.
I’m in a calorie deficit though so obviously not able to lift as much.
Well that's my squat rack fucked. Bolts totally seized and heads pitted.
Top Engineering mate.
I'm trying to mix things up a bit at the moment, especially with back. Rows get boring. Don't seem to have much variety on leg day either. Anybody got any ideas?
Pullups are obviously best. Beyond that, lat pulldowns and lat raises for upper back stuff, and some more bodyweight-y stuff for low back. I like the one where you put yourself at 45 degrees on one of those body frames and bend over with a weight in hand
Reverse pressups? Deadlifts?
I can nearly bench 25kg dumbbells now. Laugh, but that's a whole new world of strength for me.
I try to do one wide grip thing and one narrow for back. Pull-ups and chin-ups are good if you can do them, but otherwise you are better sticking to machines. It's too easy to let your form slip with rows (and pull/chin-ups if you struggle) and turning them into pointless arm movements, so maybe lat pull-downs and then a seated row.
As for legs, just squat. Pyramid up and down. Hamstring stuff and leg extensions and all that are a waste of time unless you're bodybuilding to a semi-serious level.
I quite like bent over rows and upright rows. For back yesterday I did chin ups, deadlifts, lat pull downs, bent over rows, upright rows and face pulls plus curls after.
With legs I do squats up until I can't then go on the leg press and get in nice and close. I do straight leg deadlifts and then quads in the machine. I feel like just doing squats is barely a workout, though, and I'm aiming to lose fat so moving > not moving at the moment.
I tag on ab work to leg day too, which I think you've said is pointless in the past? It gets me sweating so I'm happy with it for now.
I really like dumbbell lunges for legs. Cardio + muscle. Make sure to hold the dumbbells by your shoulders though
Also you can def combine core with legs but that just seems like so much at once. I'd combine core with cardio, do 2 of those a week, 1 leg day, and 1 upper body day. Add some sports on your off days and you're golden.
Well, today I did:
Legs (squats, leg press, straight leg deadlifts, leg extension), tris (pulldowns and overhead), core (cable crunches, kettlebell side bend, kettlebell swings, russian twists) then did tris again and some rope work. At the moment I'm going for a jog/sprints a couple nights in the week and a long run at the weekend.
It might seem like a lot, but I'm resting when necessary, and I feel pretty banging despite sleeping awfully recently (waking up without fail after 3 hours, then every next hour and a half--today I got out of bed at 4 because I couldn't get back to sleep).
Jesus Christ I feel like when I do squats I'm tearing and repairing every muscle in my body.
Isn't that the point?
Yes, but Offy says it barely feels like a workout. I disagree.
If squats don't leave you a feeble bow legged mess, then you're not doing them right or going anywhere near heavy enough.
Well I went up to 80kg today but my back wasn't really in the mood, so I dropped it and did a heavy session on the leg press. Ideally I'd like to be hitting over 100kg which would give me a better workout.
If you're primarily losing weight sticking to just leg press probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Do sets of twenty or something until you're melting. Box jumps as well are meant to be good for it.
Squats followed by box jumps then walking lunges or elevated lunges is a killer.
I’ve hit 3 PBs on the big lifts this week which I’m quite happy about.
Bench - 60KG
Deadlift - 110KG
Squat - 95KG
Squat seems to be way ahead of the others in terms of progress and feeling comfortable with the movement.
I do 3 x full body work outs essentially per week. One of the above coupled with rows, chins, lunges, split squats, hammer curls, curls etc. Also do a bit of cardio and core at the end.
Is that 1 rep or sets?
Bench was 1 rep. Others are 6 reps x 4.
Really good advice. A full chin up will make your back look awesome as well as increase your actual strength.
I've been with a PT for a while and my sessions have changed to low weight, circuits which are making a huge difference for general core strength and actual fitness. More interesting than just lifting.
Does anybody actually do 1 rep?
I tend to only push myself on bench if I've got a spotter, so unless somebody I know is in there I just do what I'm comfortable with. Going with my mate tomorrow so I'll try and hit 85kg.
I move from 5x5 at the beginning to 3/4x8-12 on accessories and then supersets towards the end to make it more circuit-like. I find upping the tempo helps me to the leave gym still feeling energised as well as feeling the burn.
1RM is directly related to your penis size. Ask Foe.
Fuck I still can't lift the 25kg dumbbells for bench press. Need a helper to get in to place.
Single row 27.5kg
Leg press 120kg
Bench press 22.5kg
OH press 22.5kg
Deadlift 80kg
Haven't tried squat as they are redeveloping the council gyms that have the Smith machine so have to use leg press machine just now.
That’s pretty normal I think/hope. I do 22.5kg for dumbbell press and I can’t lift them either.
Just to clarify I do 5x5 building up to those figures.
I take it your gym is lacking equipment?
Just wait until you get to using the 40+kg dumbbell.
The 50s are the max my gym has and they are an absolute fucking arse to get into position. Can barely lift the fuckers anyway, but when I feel up to it's a solid deadlift to even get going.
Just keep at it. The more you lug weights around doing various sets, the easier it becomes, naturally.
So new angled Smith machine at the gym caught me off guard. I was facing away from the angle so <-\
As I descend I thought the natural way would be backwards.
Long story short it didn't ever feel right but I pushed anyway and felt an explosion in my core/back as I rose from my final 80kg squat.
Fucking agony.
Do you wear a headband when you work out?
Attempted my 100 reps of 100kg deadlift yesterday after squats on Saturday. Basically in sets of 8,7,6 or 5.
Had to stop at rep 80 and go and lie on the cold tiled changing room floor to get my breath back and the room to stop spinning.
Proper exhaustion.
Obvs went back down and finished about 5 mins later. Took about 38 mins all in, which isn't great. Any reasonable cross fit person would knock it out in 15 mins.
No person doing cross fit is reasonable. Weapons of the highest order.
Doesn't cross fit fuck you up?
I think the movements involved are just pretty unforgiving, so if you try it without proper instruction and patience then it is more likely to crock you than normal gym lifting. It's clearly a good workout though for all the grief it gets (and I think you could avoid the cult stuff simply by not being a wanker).
That's me fucked then.