Random health and exercise thoughts

[A Y]

Originally Posted by CunningSmeagol

How do you guys feel about these deadlifts?

It seems like you're straightening your legs first, and then opening your hips. Try to do both at the same time.

--Andre

 

[Mblova]

Your at times rounded back is gonna force your lower back to hurt alot more than it should. Try to lower weight a little and see if you can get the form down pat. I've had similar issues.

 

[Kajak]

Gotta love the gym - **** day again for bench, great day for chins, deads, OHP.. could even manage to do dips, a long term weakness of mine.

 

[jaydc7]

Smeagol - The weight looks light for you but like AY said you're shoulders and hips aren't rising at the same rate. This will help to correct your lumbar curve since when you shoot your butt, its your lower back that needs to support the weight, and it can't. Also like people said remeber to full extend your hips at the top of the lift. Also, instead of having your shoulders rolled forward engage your traps and stick your chest out more at the bottom of the lift.

 

[CunningSmeagol]

Thanks dudes. Never thought about some of this stuff before.

 

[indesertum]

I never understood the people who load up 3 45# plates on each side and then proceed to do quarter squats. or yesterday there was this guy that loaded 2 45# plates on each side and i thought wow pretty impressive at that weight and then he started bench pressing at half the range. sometimes i want to go up and ask them why but i dont think theyd appreciate that also. i should wear leggings when i do handstands. my shorts fall down and you can see my boxers

 

[db_ggmm]

So on my Wendler531, I follow his advice and calculate my 1RM's off each final set. So last week, I squatted 10x155 and that calcs out to 202. This week, I squatted 7x165 and I dragged on the last rep more than I have on a squat in a long time. I was shooting for more than 7 reps, but I called it after the struggle. Anyway, I calculate the 1RM and it is 203.

What surprises me here is how often I will damn near exactly nail the same 1RM. Sometimes I exceed it, rarely I miss it, but often it is very close. I would not have thought the calculation would be that accurate.

The calc for the curious is (weight*reps*0.0333 + weight) = 1RM.

My pre-Wendler best was probably 3x165.

---

Something has been making my thighs blow up recently. It could be the ice cream I eat daily now, but unless my new cheapo scale is fucked up, I haven't gained but maybe 2 lbs. In fact, I may have weighed 8lbs more when I bought them! I bought 3 pairs of pants at H&M last Winter and they are all too tight now. I am scared to even try on the rest of my pants at this point.

I am fairly confident it has nothing to do directly with squatting - it is the RUNNING I recently added when it got cooler out to help me warm up. I really don't know what else to blame for it.

 

[Cool The Kid]

Originally Posted by indesertum

I never understood the people who load up 3 45# plates on each side and then proceed to do quarter squats. or yesterday there was this guy that loaded 2 45# plates on each side and i thought wow pretty impressive at that weight and then he started bench pressing at half the range. sometimes i want to go up and ask them why but i dont think theyd appreciate that also. i should wear leggings when i do handstands. my shorts fall down and you can see my boxers

This kills me. Also, ego lifting and super weak ab work. If every other muscle in your body responds to 6-10 reps for max growth, why would you do 30-50 reps of crunches? I hit my abs like any other muscle I want to grow... 10-12 reps of a nice ROM exercise w/weight. It works ----------------------------------- I'm up to a 5 day split now. 4 back to back push/pull days, a rest, a misc day, a rest, start over. Lot of volume, but I eat well & keep weight under control with biking. So far it's been working OK, and hopefully I'll be able to continue through the winter/early spring to build a good strength base to rely on for the beach cut in April/May. If I can hover between 180-185# forever I'll be golden.

 

[Kajak]

Again, a LOT of this stuff does have to do with your goals - for example, doing 2 min of scissors or whatever ab exercise is good because it teaches mental toughness and trains strength endurance, which some people want to develop - not everything is total strength or hypertrophy.

But curls are still stupid.

 

[jaydc7]

Theres a time for curls, but its not anytime soon if you are squatting under your bodyweight...

 

[UrbanComposition]

I haven't really done any chest exercises with weights in about 6 months. Mostly calisthenics, but HIIT style. Have to say, I really like the results. I used to hate cardio, but this HIIT stuff gives me energy all day, something I never got from heavy lifting. Also, my clothes fit better, which is always a good thing.

 

[Scrumhalf]

Originally Posted by indesertum

also. i should wear leggings when i do handstands. my shorts fall down and you can see my boxers

If you are doing handstands, you are way cooler than the rest of the gym crowd and cool people do not care about what others think.

 

[GraphicNovelty]

Got some weird looks at the gym today. Then again, they probably don't see many guys in "University of Amsterdam" Tshirts, N&F's and chucks at 9pm on a friday night.

 

[jarude]

Originally Posted by Kajak

Again, a LOT of this stuff does have to do with your goals - for example, doing 2 min of scissors or whatever ab exercise is good because it teaches mental toughness and trains strength endurance, which some people want to develop - not everything is total strength or hypertrophy.

But curls are still stupid.


Uhhh doing 2 minutes of ab exercises for mental toughness? How about deadlifting or squatting for mental -and- physical toughness?

 

[Kajak]

Originally Posted by jarude

Uhhh doing 2 minutes of ab exercises for mental toughness? How about deadlifting or squatting for mental -and- physical toughness?

Well like you know what I mean... do them on repeats, it does start to get taxing because of the duration of pain, whereas deadlifts etc just hurt for a little bit.