Weight Loss and Fitness 2015

[Daft]

Never really done squats before, shall give it a go.

 

I'm not so great with the angle on bench, are the other weight pulling machines alright as well? I like the Diverging Seat Row and the Lat Pull.

 

Just remember everyone sucks when they start. I'd avoid machines if I were you, stick to free weights. Otherwise you'll get into bad habits.

 

 

 

What do you mean about the angle on bench?

[EEVILMURRAY]

What do you mean about the angle on bench?

 

Lying down flat/at an angle.

[Daft]

Hmmm, it shouldn't really be a problem. What I would recommend is start off with a light weight (or just the bar), touch the bar to your chest and back up. Once you've got the technique down it shouldn't feel too weird.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Your body gets used to it over time. Squatting and deadlifting in particular. More so the correct movements, how your body should be positioned, where the barbell should be, etc.

 

Start off sensibly and get the form correct. I didn't find barbell benching that comfortable/natural when I started out, so I wimped out of it and stuck to those chest-press machine things. If I could go back in time, I'd do it differently (wood hit myself in the face in the process)

 

If I were to step into a gym now, the only two machines I'd use would be...probably the leg press and maybe the lat pulldown. Maybe. I've seen far bigger improvements since moving away from machines and going free-weight only.

[Raining_again]

Top advice from Daft and flinkeh.

 

You can develop muscles, without being beefy (and also lose fat weight). Massive added bonus of muscles..... you base caloric need grows. Body requires extra calories to keep muscles, but fat requires none.

 

I did moderately heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, and olympic training (NO CARDIO) x3/4 times a week, ate whatever I wanted without gaining weight. Probably surplus of 3500 calories a day. Heavy leg workouts make you HUNGRY - and I was doing these on every single workout.

 

Being flabby sucks. I miss my muscles. I miss losing weight while barely trying :P

 

I've completed a whole week of int. fasting. My sleep is better, I'm mentally happier, my inflammation is down... AND i've lost over 3kg in the first week. BoooooooOOOOoooooyah.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

Top advice from Daft and flinkeh.

 

You can develop muscles, without being beefy (and also lose fat weight). Massive added bonus of muscles..... you base caloric need grows. Body requires extra calories to keep muscles, but fat requires none.

 

I did moderately heavy squats, heavy deadlifts, and olympic training (NO CARDIO) x3/4 times a week, ate whatever I wanted without gaining weight. Probably surplus of 3500 calories a day. Heavy leg workouts make you HUNGRY - and I was doing these on every single workout.

 

Being flabby sucks. I miss my muscles. I miss losing weight while barely trying :P

 

I've completed a whole week of int. fasting. My sleep is better, I'm mentally happier, my inflammation is down... AND i've lost over 3kg in the first week. BoooooooOOOOoooooyah.

 

I wish more women had this knowledge - As a former PT its nice seeing free weight areas in gyms not being over-dominated by men.

[Daft]

I wish more women had this knowledge - As a former PT its nice seeing free weight areas in gyms not being over-dominated by men.

 

How do you become a personal trainer? I'm considering it. I'm finding more and more I'd rather be in the gym than at a desk. (I don't know that I'd actually be a good PT, but it'd be cool to find out more.)

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

How do you become a personal trainer? I'm considering it. I'm finding more and more I'd rather be in the gym than at a desk. (I don't know that I'd actually be a good PT, but it'd be cool to find out more.)

 

To be a PT you need to gain a Level 3 qualification in personal Training. Prior to that, you will need to be Level 2 qualified as a Fitness Instructor (which traditionally is what you need to start working in a gym).

 

Level 2 - is essentially basic learning of nutrition and health, and the assessment is a written exam and a practical one where you take someone through your workout plan and explain your decisions.

 

Level 3 - Goes into more science and biomechanics.

 

Was my first 'professional' role after Uni - and a role where I have probably made the most money. But at the same time (even though I was enjoying it whilst single), it can be somewhat of a sleazy industry to be in... Grotesquely rich Directors inviting me over to their house parties with open weed pots and escorts, female clients looking for something more... Weekly nights out.

 

One christmas party, after a night out, myself, the General manager and other staff members came back to the gym at about 1am - had a little sauna detox and some occupied an office with special people from the party - and we slept there overnight - and continued working on Satruday morning like nothing ever happened. The truest good times of my life.

 

(EDIT: You can find many '6 week courses' that combine the Level 2 & 3 qualifications).

Edited August 10, 2015 by King_V

[Daft]

That sounds....kinda crazy. Do you know a good place in London to get qualified? I glanced a few places and saw they did 'terms' over consecutive weekends, so I could do it while I have my office job.

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

That sounds....kinda crazy. Do you know a good place in London to get qualified? I glanced a few places and saw they did 'terms' over consecutive weekends, so I could do it while I have my office job.

 

LOL - it was, though it was a good balance of work and play. Thats why gym staff are always happy.

 

Um, try Lifetime, they run many of the NVQ courses and are based near Borough/London Bridge. Some unis also offer the courses - its generally fairly easy to come across part time courses as I think professionals who seek a career change probably amount upto about 50% of new PTs. (Fitness Agents are also another company based near Bond St, Westend)

 

Its a bit of a shame that people have to pay, back in my day (2009-2012), upon gaining level 2 and working in the gym, Level 3 came free in an apprentice style weekly tutorship.

[Daft]

LOL - it was, though it was a good balance of work and play. Thats why gym staff are always happy.

 

Um, try Lifetime, they run many of the NVQ courses and are based near Borough/London Bridge. Some unis also offer the courses - its generally fairly easy to come across part time courses as I think professionals who seek a career change probably amount upto about 50% of new PTs. (Fitness Agents are also another company based near Bond St, Westend)

 

Its a bit of a shame that people have to pay, back in my day (2009-2012), upon gaining level 2 and working in the gym, Level 3 came free in an apprentice style weekly tutorship.

 

Sweet, I currently work at London Bridge so that's good. I'll have a look into it. Maybe something to start in the New Year.

[Raining_again]

I wish more women had this knowledge - As a former PT its nice seeing free weight areas in gyms not being over-dominated by men.

 

Why thank you. When I used to go to a gym I was that awesome chick that lifts heavy ass weight. :-)

 

My coach got me into lifting. He started me with a typical routine, kettlebell swings, and these rubber vipr things (a lot like a light hollow strongman log) and he was like... yea u need to start lifting..... when i told him i was doing cleans and presses with the 10kg vipr inside the 20kg one. I also mentioned to him that i was interested in doing this deadlifting thing i've seen online n stuff.... and his eyes lit up when he ran me over the basics and i got up to 100kg first time. And that was me hooked

 

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

Why thank you. When I used to go to a gym I was that awesome chick that lifts heavy ass weight. :-)

 

My coach got me into lifting. He started me with a typical routine, kettlebell swings, and these rubber vipr things (a lot like a light hollow strongman log) and he was like... yea u need to start lifting..... when i told him i was doing cleans and presses with the 10kg vipr inside the 20kg one. I also mentioned to him that i was interested in doing this deadlifting thing i've seen online n stuff.... and his eyes lit up when he ran me over the basics and i got up to 100kg first time. And that was me hooked

 

 

Woahh! 100kg straight away!? What was your heaviest squat? DLs has always been my weaker strength exercise(against the squat).

 

But your trainer sounds like a legend - not many PTs know about the Vipr.

 

Just curious, why did you stop gyming? Sound like you would have progressed like a boss of sorts.

[Daft]

So, I've been struggling with my bench press. Hit 95kg, dropped to 90kg. Didn't know what was going on or how to push on through. My biggest fear was realised, I'd hit a plateaux. Then earlier this week, some big dude in the gym who's spotting me gives me a bit of advice.

 

HOLY FUCK.

 

I warm up on 50kg.

 

Then I go right up to 100kg and do a set of five reps. It was fucking easy. I was aiming to do two reps, because that what I thought the guys said to do (and shit, 100kg is A LOT mentally) but before I knew it I'd pushed out four easily reps and then I'd done another to finish a set of five. So I figure he said do two sets of 100kg instead of two reps. I do another set of five reps at 100kg. Not as easy, but still pushed them out with little problem. Really good form, too. Not dropping the bar. Still room to tighten it up if i'm being a total buzzkill but still some of my best form.

 

I then drop the weight to 95kg, so this was still my personal best before today – not completely true, my 1 max rep personal best had been 100kg (FUCKINGLOLATONEREP) – and pump out another two sets. The first one I had an overly hands-on spotter (dude had a great bod but obviously had shitty form from the way he freaked when the bar touched my chest, in a controlled manner I'll add), which was a little annoying but he was better after I told him to back the fuck up on the second set.

 

Then I finished a set on 90kg.

 

BOOM.

 

Finally, I'd crept into the 100 club ages ago on poor form but now I can confidently say I fucking belong there like a BEAST.

 

Dis is me rite nao...

 

 

Today, I was the biggest man in the gym.

[Shorty]

I'm not clear on what the advice was/did to help. Were you previously doing too many increments warming up, or perhaps starting too low?

[Daft]

I basically wasn't pushing myself, he said it was likely a mental thing and that I could easily do a set on 100 and once I did that dropping down to 95 would feel easy by comparison. I only dropped 10kg on the warm up set - from 60kg to 50kg.

 

Basically, magic happened.

 

But actually, I could probably have hit 100kg a couple weeks ago (maybe) but my 5x5 arrangement was limiting me and making me think that I couldn't get above a constant weight.

 

I dunno, so I had the energy to lift 100 kg on my first couple sets and then that lifting heavier made lifting lighter easier?

 

I'm going to go with magic.

[Shorty]

I've stopped doing 5x5 now, the stupid number of squats was killing it for me. Doing 4 warmup sets meant 45 squats, three times a week, not only is that something I can't possibly look forward to, it also takes for-fucking-ever.

 

I'm doing 3x5, following this for now http://ironstrong.org/index.php/topic/1157-the-average-fn-program-a-simple-and-efficient-training-template/ with a view to working out what my own ideal split is along the way. I like the 3x3 deadlift and love all the pullups.

 

I've also stopped my diet now, back on the protein, hoping to see some changes soon

Edited August 13, 2015 by Shorty

[Fierce_LiNk]

Good going, @Daft. That's excellent that you went for it.

 

I'm going to have to echo @Shorty here and say that I've also stepped away slightly from 5x5. It's too draining. Doing 5 sets of heavy squats and then going to 5 sets of bench is also mentally exhausting. I realised this a few weeks ago where I was just flat out dead from doing the squats, it's tough going.

 

I go for 3x5 now and it's given me a little boost. I found that I was much sharper when going to the second and third exercises after doing this, plus also the saving of time.

 

I get back to the UK tomorrow. Pumped and ready to hit the weights again.

[Daft]

Yeah, you guys are right. It's weird because bench was the only one I kept 5x5 up. Think I've broken through now. I do like 5x5 for it but i'm going to be doing drop sets now.

 

On squats I've dropped the weight (partly because of the switch to high bar from) in favour of higher reps, so I do 4 sets of 10 reps at 72.5kg. Followed by 3 sets of 10 reps front squat with 60kg.

 

Got some advice of someone else in the gym earlier this week. He had such a bodacious body I was a little in awe, kind of wanted to squeeze his man-chest but I resisted and asked him if he had any advice. He was super helpful and said it should be less about upping the weight and really about maintaining the tension; resist the urge to just go heavier and make sure you're really getting everything out of the current weight. Basically, slow down - negatives seemed a big thing - and when you're doing reps do it as if you're massaging the muscle.

 

Yeah, sounds a little creepy. And if he hadn't the body to back it up I would have assumed it was a weird come on. But he did have a smashing bod and sadly he wasn't coming onto me. But yeah, what was I talking about... I'm just trying to slow myself down in the gym when I do reps. Less thrusting and more holds and maintaining tension.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Daft

[Raining_again]

I have glandular fever and im not allowed to weightlift for 6 months.

 

This....royally.....sucks.....

 

 

Now how will i eat cake without putting on weight?

 

/huff

[Jon]

Yeah, you guys are right. It's weird because bench was the only one I kept 5x5 up. Think I've broken through now. I do like 5x5 for it but i'm going to be doing drop sets now.

 

On squats I've dropped the weight (partly because of the switch to high bar from) in favour of higher reps, so I do 4 sets of 10 reps at 72.5kg. Followed by 3 sets of 10 reps front squat with 60kg.

 

Got some advice of someone else in the gym earlier this week. He had such a bodacious body I was a little in awe, kind of wanted to squeeze his man-chest but I resisted and asked him if he had any advice. He was super helpful and said it should be less about upping the weight and really about maintaining the tension; resist the urge to just go heavier and make sure you're really getting everything out of the current weight. Basically, slow down - negatives seemed a big thing - and when you're doing reps do it as if you're massaging the muscle.

 

Yeah, sounds a little creepy. And if he hadn't the body to back it up I would have assumed it was a weird come on. But he did have a smashing bod and sadly he wasn't coming onto me. But yeah, what was I talking about... I'm just trying to slow myself down in the gym when I do reps. Less thrusting and more holds and maintaining tension.

 

 

This is a good point. So many people just automatically go for the heaviest weight they can manage. If you slow down the native portion of the lifting substantially, you'd be surprised how quickly you can fatigue on it, even with small weight than you're use too.

 

After all, your muscle doesn't know what the weight is, it just knows how long it's been under tension for.

[EEVILMURRAY]

You bitches and bloody squats...

 

Thought I'd give it a go on Monday, I was a bit anxious about going under the bar across my shoulders, but my mate recommended you could just do it standing up with your arms held in front of you. I've seen some people do it holding kettlebells etc in their hands in front of them so thought I'd start off slow. So did 3 sets of 15 squats holding a 3kg weight in front of me, then went about my normal regime.

 

I wake up Tuesday with burning portions on my thighs, just on a certain area on each, which fucked up my walking. I was going down stairs sideways at home because I couldn't raise my legs high enough. Wednesday was even worse, I think people were looking at me like I was walking around drunk. Pain has lessened now but it's certainly put me off trying them again.

[Daft]

You're through the worst of it now. Push on through, there are only gainz beyond.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Yeah, you guys are right. It's weird because bench was the only one I kept 5x5 up. Think I've broken through now. I do like 5x5 for it but i'm going to be doing drop sets now.

 

On squats I've dropped the weight (partly because of the switch to high bar from) in favour of higher reps, so I do 4 sets of 10 reps at 72.5kg. Followed by 3 sets of 10 reps front squat with 60kg.

 

Got some advice of someone else in the gym earlier this week. He had such a bodacious body I was a little in awe, kind of wanted to squeeze his man-chest but I resisted and asked him if he had any advice. He was super helpful and said it should be less about upping the weight and really about maintaining the tension; resist the urge to just go heavier and make sure you're really getting everything out of the current weight. Basically, slow down - negatives seemed a big thing - and when you're doing reps do it as if you're massaging the muscle.

 

Yeah, sounds a little creepy. And if he hadn't the body to back it up I would have assumed it was a weird come on. But he did have a smashing bod and sadly he wasn't coming onto me. But yeah, what was I talking about... I'm just trying to slow myself down in the gym when I do reps. Less thrusting and more holds and maintaining tension.

 

Yeah, that last bit is known as time under tension. In theory, doing slower reps means that the muscle spends more time under tension and you should see good growth as a result of it. Everybody's body works in different ways, so some people will see huge gains by using smaller weight but doing super slow and controlled sets, whilst others see better gains at heavier weight.

 

As long as you're seeing improvements and are happy doing it, I don't think there's really a right way. Hence why there's a fuckload of different routines and structures out there.

 

You bitches and bloody squats...

 

Thought I'd give it a go on Monday, I was a bit anxious about going under the bar across my shoulders, but my mate recommended you could just do it standing up with your arms held in front of you. I've seen some people do it holding kettlebells etc in their hands in front of them so thought I'd start off slow. So did 3 sets of 15 squats holding a 3kg weight in front of me, then went about my normal regime.

 

I wake up Tuesday with burning portions on my thighs, just on a certain area on each, which fucked up my walking. I was going down stairs sideways at home because I couldn't raise my legs high enough. Wednesday was even worse, I think people were looking at me like I was walking around drunk. Pain has lessened now but it's certainly put me off trying them again.

 

The more you do it, the less it hurts. I barely feel a thing now except maybe tiredness the next day. You only really get pains like that if you've never done it before or you're doing it after too long a break.

 

I remember the first time I had those pains and felt like I was going to throw up. The whole leg day meme shit is over-rated and it's mostly by people who either don't train legs enough or hardly ever do it in the first place.

[Ganepark32]

Over the last couple of months, I've been having a bit of trouble with my shoulders in that they're constantly stiff at the joints, the muscles are knotted and I'm now and again getting trapped nerves which is proving problematic at home and at work as I'm not really getting the full range of motion from them.

 

I've never really had issues with them as they've always been relatively "strong" as I would purposefully carry heavy backpacks on my back for work and shopping but with getting glandular fever a couple of months back and being off work with stress as well, I've kind of lapsed on that and seeming to struggle with putting weight on them.

 

So trying to decide on a resistance band to at least slowly start off getting them back in order to minimise the issues I'm getting but also to allow me to lead on and start doing a bit of weight training with the dumbbells I have.

 

Anyone got a recommendation for a good resistance band? Or any recommendations for other things I could be doing to build up the muscles in my shoulders again, be it small things I could do every day or otherwise?

 

Trying to get back into the habit of doing exercises like that before work really starts again in September otherwise I'll never get it sorted. Have been making small changes to my diet as well as I seem to be having issues with dairy, which has come out of nowhere, so have changed to almond milk for the time being and cut out pretty much most of the red meat I would eat and only have it every once in a while with Quorn as a substitute. Just trying to cut out as much crap in my diet as possible as I have noticed a bit of weight going on.