Karlos wrote:Excellent chins, like your bro. Must be in your genes...is your squat shit?

Harsh mate

Good session Dan. New equipment can always through you off a touch but still looks good and consistant.

The few times I've trained in a commercial gym, I have been nervous, self conscious, distracted by nearby boobies, worried someone wants to use whatever I'm using so I rush rest times, and generally not at my best. Unless you have a good reason (you do, you need to squat), stay at home IMO. Then again everyone is different.

Karlos wrote:Excellent chins, like your bro. Must be in your genes...is your squat shit?

ooooo youve hit me deep there!!!

Just wait until the end of the year where i will be able to out total you Raw! You have only brought this on yourself karl! hahahhaaha


Awesome stuff dan looking forward, to Bench press, floor press and weighted dips next week

haha lets not have beef here in your young bro's journal...but let's be honest, you don't have a chance in hell bud.

Thats it, fight amongst yourselves, while the tubby outsider that no one is watching sneaks up on the inside and passes you both

Another gym session today. First time training lower body at the gym and i actually really enjoyed it!

Squats
30x5
40x5
50x5
55x3
60x5

Note: obviously not going to be breakin records anytime soon with my squats lol, my legs are still quite weak after my injury so will take time to build up any real strength but I enjoyed them, and feel comfortable so im still happy.

Romanian deadlifts
50x5
60x5
80x5
100x3
110x5

Note: Really enjoyed these! Can see myself progressing well at this.

Leg press (volume)

Don't know the actual weight i was lifting, just the level 1-21.

Level 10 x10
Level 12 x10
Level 14 x10
Level 16 x10
Level 20 x10

Note: I did enjoy these but even the final set felt fairly easy so might have to try high volume work next week, or maybe 5 sets of 10 on the highest setting.

to be fair thats not bad going atall.

Did you squat the way i told you and did you get someone to check? how deep were they etc?

Keep it around 60 for a while i would.

I would ditch the knee exts dan, they wont be too good for your knee

Use the gay flat style leg press machine and just bang out some high rep stuff

then leg curls

then calf work

perhaps even add some ab work in during the week, thats what im going to do soon.

also start using mixed grip for RDLs if your not already

lol sorry i meant leg press not leg extensions!

Went down to paralell on my squats..

No not used mixed grip yet so will try that next week

Ash, why use mixed grip if gripping with double overhand isn't a problem?

In any case, the RDLs are looking strong. Are you planning to do powerlifting? Squats will shoot up when you recover and when you get the form right, you obviously have a good base of strength you can draw upon.

because he might choose to increase the weight more soon. ANother thing i notice with grip on deadlifts is if i use double over hand it doesnt feel like my grip is really weak or anything but the weight generally just feels heavier on my body. Cant explain it really.
i guess for time being perhaps u cud stick to double over hand. but i reckon very soon it will be beneficial to change.

Stick with double overhand and hook your thumbs in. Get used to hook grip as it's great. Plus if you fancy trying Oly lifting in the future you will reap the benefit of start hook now.

ash fletcher wrote:because he might choose to increase the weight more soon. ANother thing i notice with grip on deadlifts is if i use double over hand it doesnt feel like my grip is really weak or anything but the weight generally just feels heavier on my body. Cant explain it really.

I know exactly what you mean. If the weight is too heavy to grip the body will send messages to the lifting muscles that it's too heavy to lift. It's a concept I've read about and experienced quite a lot.

i guess for time being perhaps u cud stick to double over hand. but i reckon very soon it will be beneficial to change.

Yeah for sure. The best advice I've had is to use double overhand on all the weights you can, and then mixed grip (or straps, but obv. not if PL'ing) for the heavy sets that you need to use it for. It stands to reason that since double overhand is harder it will build more grip strength than mixed grip or straps.

Yeh thats an interesting point burningnun about double overhand being harder therefore building more wrist strength (something i think i lack a bit atm), so taking this into account i think id like to do mixed grip for just my final set, possibly the final 2. But will i need to practice at a lighter weight first or is it quite easy to get used to..?
Umm, not sure about competing mate, if my lifts progress well enough i would definately think about it though!

I'm not really sure whether it's easy to get used to. When I used to do it, it seemed easy but my left shoulder got a bit screwed up (nothing serious). I may have been doing it wrong, but since I don't plan to compete I stopped using it. If your grip is weak there's nothing wrong with some direct grip work.

Adding to the previous few posts, my trusty book (page 243, Starting Strength: BBT) says the following:

Mark Rippetoe wrote:When RDLs are done heavy, a double overhand grip should be used. The shoulder asymmetry that results from an alternate grip is not desirable for this exercise, and the bar cannot be pulled back into the legs with the lats effectively using a supine hand... A hook grip or straps should be used if grip strength is insufficient, but the hands need to both be in a prone position.

I don't really understand all of this advice, so if you want to learn more about this I suggest you ask Rip a question on this forum: http://strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36. If you want to learn the alternate grip perhaps it would be good to start pulling from the floor.

Good post there mate, think i'll carry on using double overhand then

Felt pretty tired today but when i got there was really up for it and felt like i had quite a good session

Bench
30x6
40x5
50x5
60x5
70x3
80x3 (PB)

Note: hmm should be happy with this, just slightly disapointed i didnt make 4. Also my confidence took a real knock today when i asked this lad to spot me for my last set of bench, he said ok then looked at the weight and said "how many reps you doin 10 or somethin?" haha ahh well.

Dips
bwx5
5x5
10x5
15x5
20x5
25x5

Note: First time ever doing dips in my life, and i loved them! Looking forward to progressing with these.

Yates rows
30x6
40x5
50x5
65x5
75x5

Note: These were alot better this week, quite happy.

Military press
20x5
30x5
35x5
40x3
45x4

Note: Not tooo bad but not particularly happy with how these are going atm, might give them a rest for a while.

Dips are awesome mate! The Squat of the upper body!...Be fauthfull to them and prepare for a thick upper body! One of vew BB I know of that did them religiously with SICK weight was Bertil Fox....and he had very SICK upper body thickness!

good weight dan,

btw, i can tell you now for FACT, that the guy assumed like 10 reps because everyone in that gym does half bench presses no where near the chest and a spotter to help them lockout on every rep!

Iv seen people talking about how they could 100 x 8 etc in there, i then told them i would be up for spotting them sometime, got them to try 80 and couldnt even really do 1 rep because i wasnt helping them and made them lift it proeprly!!!

Well done on the PB mate.

Fairly good lower body session today...

Squats
30x6
40x10
45x10
50x10 (PB)

Note: decided to work at this higher rep range today just because ive only jus started squatting and cause of my knee i think i'll be more comforatble building up this way.

RDLs
40x6
60x5
80x5
100x3
110x7 (PB)

Note: happy with these, weight not too bad and form feels good.

Leg press
Level 10x10
14x20
16x20
18x14

Note: God soo tiring at this rep range!

ash fletcher wrote:good weight dan,

btw, i can tell you now for FACT, that the guy assumed like 10 reps because everyone in that gym does half bench presses no where near the chest and a spotter to help them lockout on every rep!

Iv seen people talking about how they could 100 x 8 etc in there, i then told them i would be up for spotting them sometime, got them to try 80 and couldnt even really do 1 rep because i wasnt helping them and made them lift it proeprly!!!

I agree totally.

last night in my gym there were all these roid heads doing db benching together and I'd finished my whole db session before they got to their second set! So many people are lazy, rest too much, don't use a full range of motion or have spotter who lift the weight fo them that a true bench on 80kgs far out weights their 100kg shit wank efforts!

ash fletcher wrote:good weight dan,

btw, i can tell you now for FACT, that the guy assumed like 10 reps because everyone in that gym does half bench presses no where near the chest and a spotter to help them lockout on every rep!

Iv seen people talking about how they could 100 x 8 etc in there, i then told them i would be up for spotting them sometime, got them to try 80 and couldnt even really do 1 rep because i wasnt helping them and made them lift it proeprly!!!

I agree with Ash Dan, just ignore other people in the gym giving it just put some weight on the bar etc. they're usually the herberts with a spotter rowing up their bench press & doing quater squats - if they squat at all.

You should be happy with 80x3 considering how long you've been training.