Chocolate peanut is also fucking disgusting. They both had a similar horrible taste to them - is that the taste of the whey coming through over the flavouring or is it the taste of the horrible artificial flavourings they use?Originally Posted by Boydy
I hope 'chocolate smooth' is okay because I bought a 1kg bag of it. The reviews of it are good, at least.
I haven't been able to find a flavour I particularly like. I've stuck with chocolate and it's OK providing you take it with milk.
Agree that vanilla is fucking disgusting. I went for it once and had to stop using it, it was a real battle to keep it down after drinking it.
You're best off sticking to banana/chocolate/strawberry. The more 'complex' flavours always tend to have that lingering taste of stale milk (it is a dairy by-product after all) which you can only really mask if you have them with a pint of milk, and you can't really do that every time.
Yeah, these two might have been better with milk but I've had them both with water as that's how I normally take it as I don't want (need) the extra calories. The natural strawberry flavour is pretty nice, even with water.
Their white chocolate one is brilliant in a proper dickhead milkshake with a load of ice cream and biscuits (which defeats the object I suppose), but it tastes like shit with water. Based on the pricier shit my brother buys it may be the case that the expensive brands make more of an effort with taste and consistency. I think it's only 'Daws' who splashes out on the flash stuff here, so maybe he should run some tests.
Is it the 'chocolate smooth' that you're on about is okay, Lewis?
And I was gonna ask if the fancier brands taste better but I suppose no one's going to know then.
Yeah. I don't know what 'Stevia - Chocolate' is all about.
Presumably it's sweetened with stevia. Although they all use sweeteners and not sugar, don't they?
I find the chocolate stuff a bit full on. Strawberry is the way forward, even with water. Never tried banana flavoured protein but that's only because I found some strawberry stuff I liked - so why switch?
That's right, I still use gold standard whey (infrequently). Try it with almond milk Boydy, good calories and protein.
There was a chap in our gym the other week offering free samples of 'Protein Works' whey protein if you joined their online mailing list. Filled it in half-expecting to receive fuck all protein and a ton of spam, but then there was a knock on the door last night from a DPD delivery guy who handed me a 5kg tub of 'Millionaires Shortbread' flavour. Not tried it yet, but my initial thoughts are it'll taste dreadful. Will report back if it doesn't kill me.
I did get some of that the other week but it's not something I always have in the house. There's not actually much protein in it but it is good on the calories and taste.
Tried chocolate smooth this morning. It's decent with water. Certainly drinkable. Back on the strawberry now after being at the gym. It's the best.
Failed the overhead press today again.
Oh my god what's happened to my legs.
I'm walking round like I've shit myself....
Top half of my body don't feel stressed in the slightest but my legs be fucked up!!
Drinking shakes with water is monstrous.
Sneaking a rest day in tonight. Deserved, but feel guilty nonetheless.
Everyone starts test way and switches later.
Did shoulders tonight. I've no idea how you managed 60kg. Even my flat mate who bench 110-115 was making 60 look difficult.
Genetics?
I'd rather have a stronger bench tbh.
Bench is shit. If you can't pick something up and ram it above your head then what is the point of getting strong[er]?
I watched this earlier:
I think my grip was wrong and I'm not really using my hips. Hopefully I can complete the 5x5 next time around using that.
The over head press is a way better indication of overall strength than the bench press isn't it?
Failed the bench press at 50kg today - managed 4/5/3/5/5. Had to do the roll of shame on that middle set.
My knee is also getting a bit sore. Presumably from squatting. My form must be a bit off. 65kg on that tonight was a bit of a struggle.
It will be easier to develop if you did something like:
40 x 5
42.5 x 5
45 x 5
47.5 x 5
50 x 5
Then when that becomes easier up the last set to 52.5 x 5, do that, and then bump the others up as well. Repeat that process. Doing the same weight for all the sets will make it harder to increase the weight if your focus is strength.
I was just doing what Mehdi tells me. I don't really want to start messing stuff around and not be able to track it in the app though. The app is so handy.
I did do lighter warm-up sets though.
Hold the phone. Is Boyd doing 25 reps at the same weight per exercise?
That's a classic strategy.Hold the phone. Is Boyd doing 25 reps at the same weight per exercise?
From what I remember StrongLifts says to deadlift 1x5 (as I've described above) because it's the most taxing lift, but benching and squatting takes it out of you just as much beyond a certain level. I couldn't squat every other day like he suggests to, so it's not surprising that he can't deadlift as often as he would like if his arse is constantly throbbing.
Yeah, the stronglifts 5x5 program.Hold the phone. Is Boyd doing 25 reps at the same weight per exercise?
What do all the rest of you do?
I do 5-5-5-4-3, increasing it (different numbers for different lifts) between each, and then come down 3-6-9 whilst taking weight away. So for over-head pressing it goes:
(warm-up with 40 x 5, 50 x 4, 60 x 3)
65 x 5
72.5 x 5
80 x 5
87.5 x 4
95 x 3
90 x 3
80 x 6
70 x 9
Bench has the same progression with leaps of 7.5, and deadlift/squat goes up by twenty with each set; but I do the same set/rep pattern. I only do 5x5 for chin-ups, since it's just a case of doing them and stretching your back out properly rather than progressing with them.
That's a lot of volume, Lewis. Did you build up to that over time?
Yes? That is my entire shoulders bit (best supplementary exercise: more of it), so it's not that much as a work-out in itself once a week. It takes about forty-five minutes normally.
I have started doing this shoulder workout which I'm enjoying - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFqh6Q_zhK4
What's the idea behind that kind of thing? The working up and then down the weights again.
I sort of think Stronglifts doesn't really have enough upper body or arms stuff in it. I feel like my weak arms let down my overhead press and bench. There's the option to add chin-ups and dips but I don't think I could even do any chin-ups at the minute. I don't really want to start chopping and changing program already though. Plus, the app's super handy.
I got a bit sick of doing the main exercise and then doing other things to supplement it (like say a behind the neck press, or some tricep crap; and it's even worse for lower body things), so I just figured I would start working down towards failure and putting some strain on myself but with lower numbers. I don't know what exactly it does, but I feel like I've developed better endurance from it.
There's not much point changing programs so soon if you've just started. Stronglifts is pretty much identical to Rippetoes's starting strength and he recommends to keep doing it for 6 months to a year before you start looking for an 'intermediate' one.
How much do you weigh Lewis? Only just benched 100, pressing close to that is absolutely miles away for me.
Yeah, I know. That's why I don't actually want to change and I didn't mean looking for an intermediate routine (I know I'm not anywhere near that), I just meant something that's maybe a little more rounded.
I never weigh myself, but I'm probably about seventeen stone. I got a bit fat last winter/spring, so I've been losing it since April-ish, but doing so slowly in an attempt to maintain strength (which I've pretty much done) and get fitter at the same time rather than just chucking that progress away as I've done during previous off phases.
What are you missing out on? Chucking on a tricep exercise, some curls or some lat pull downs (until you can do pullups) at the end of your workout isn't going to hurt.
Well that's it basically - arms. Like I said it feels like my weak arms are letting my upper body lifts down. Might try those you've mentioned. What are good for triceps? Dips?
Try some cable pushdowns. A little easier than dips if you're doing it at the end of your workout.
Saturday nights in the gym really are bliss.
Managed 5x5 on the overhead press at 35kg today, the one that I'd failed twice before. Get in.
The squat at 67.5kg was a bit of struggle today. 80kg deadlift was alright.
The creatine I'd ordered had arrived when I got back from the gym too so stuck a teaspoon (that's probably about 5g, right? there was no scoop in the bag) of it in my shake. It didn't really seem to dissolve properly, it left a kind of grainy texture in the shake. Does it normally do that?
There will be a scoop, it's just deep in there somewhere.
I was thinking of lowering my squat today and practising my form as my knee's been a bit sore but it didn't feel too bad when I went in so I just went for the weight I was meant to (70kg) and concentrated on keeping my knees out today. I didn't think they'd be falling in before but having concentrated on them today, maybe they were as they feel a lot better today.
Managed 5x5 50kg bench that I'd failed on Friday too.
Got 5x5 on rows at 52.5kg but my form was shit so I failed myself and Ill do it better next time.
Also added 3x8 (last set to failure) tricep pushdowns at the end of this one and will do lat pulldowns on the other day.
How is everyone rowing? Free weights aren't for me, but I'm beginning to favor cables over the machine.
Barbell bent over row.
Was throwing out some seriously poor form on 80kg today on that, after struggling to get 145kg deadlift up. Did 5,5,3 and then sacked it off and did 5,5 of 130.
Think I spoke too soon, my knee's been a bit sore today.
My knee's a little sore after today's session as well. It'll probably be sorer tomorrow. It tends to be worst the day after. What am I doing wrong? Should I buy knee sleeves?
Failed overhead press at 37.5kg today which I'm not surprised about. I hate it.
Go lighter and work on your form.
My backs in ribbons currently. Seething.
Crap day.
Failed 52.5kg bench and failed myself on rows again at 52.5kg as my form was crap today too.
Does anyone else find on bent over rows, they kind of just stand up with the weight? Not fully upright but your torso comes up a bit? So it feels like it's not really my back and arms doing the work.
On the plus side, someone asked me for a spot for the first time so I must sort of look like I know what I'm doing now.
Also - starting to get a little sick of squatting.
Squatting.
Change it up then Boyd. Why do something you're not enjoying?
I had a shoulder day yesterday - 10 min cycle warm up, then lat pull downs, overhead press, side lateral raise, front dumbbell raise, and low row machine (5x5s). Hopefully I'll get down tonight and do a chest session, they have benches now which allow you to do inverse so I can mix it up a little.
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