Lifting Thread;training for the tattooed warrior.

[Patrick Bateman]

still trying to get the squat down pact before actually using weights, I just gave up.

I will revisit this in a few weeks so instead I'm sticking with leg extensions, leg curls and hip abduction (I'm not sure if that's what is it's call but it's when you sit down on the machine and squeeze your knees together from a wide V.)

[Cork]

(I'm not sure if that's what is it's call but it's when you sit down on the machine and squeeze your knees together from a wide V.)

That's the good girl machine. The other one is the bad girl machine.

[tay943]

I've been following this thread for a while but can finally post and say that I used actual real weights (not just weight machines) for the first time today! I've felt really intimidated of the free weights area before but plucked up the courage to try a new leg work out based on my google-research. My legs feel like jelly and I can't walk but I'm super pumped :). Used 10kilos for squats and five for lunges (as well as 35 kilos on the leg extension). Looking forward too seeing progress

[Cork]

Good job @tay943. Don't let those meat heads intimidate you. Nothing better than a confident woman grabbing heavier dumbells than some guys, ha. You guys have a pretty big bodybuilding scene in Australia so I can only imagine the competition in the free weight section. IMO the "free weight" section is the only section.

[xcom]

Congrats! Rember that the bar is 45lbs by itself. :)

[Scott R]

awesome @Cork

[hogg]

Good job @tay943. Don't let those meat heads intimidate you. Nothing better than a confident woman grabbing heavier dumbells than some guys, ha. You guys have a pretty big bodybuilding scene in Australia so I can only imagine the competition in the free weight section. IMO the "free weight" section is the only section.

Just remember: anything bigger than the pink dumbbells and you'll get "bulky."

^^^My favorite lie told to women gym-goers. If that were true, I'd be massive.

[marley mission]

needed to burn a dicks gift card

pick up a rage fitness band - not bad for 20 bucks

gettin a lot of use from it

effective too

especially for me

bad shoulders has on / off compromised weight training for years

[tay943]

Thanks for all the support everyone :). Reading through these comments inspired me to ask one of the trainers for some basic arm workouts with the free weights, and I now have a new arm and shoulder workout too! I'm starting very small only due to my lack of strength, but I'm definetly looking forward to challenging myself and wont be afraid to move onto heavy weights in the future (although my mother has expressed concern that I'll end up looking 'like a man' smh).

On another note my hands were pretty sore after the session so I've order some lifting straps which will hopefully make things easier. Does anyone else have experience with them? Have they helped present redness/soreness/calluses?

Thanks again :)

[Leah Roberts]

hi im new here i only have 2 tats one on my chest and one on my upper back but i want more so bad I was looking around on twitter and found this guy who has really good work I want my next tat from him. https://twitter.com/wesleyderksen1

[RoryQ]

On another note my hands were pretty sore after the session so I've order some lifting straps which will hopefully make things easier. Does anyone else have experience with them? Have they helped present redness/soreness/calluses?

Thanks again :)

Everyone's hands have to get used to training. The friction and pressure combined with aggressive knurling on some bars and Dumbbells can cause some redness and whatnot at first, but I'd urge you to just let your hands adjust...

Some callousing is inevitable and will help with the discomfort. You can still take care of your hands after your workouts - a pumice stone after showering to keep the callouses low-profile etc.

Lifting straps are, in my view, not needed here. They're usually used in the context of lifts where the trainee wants to lift more weight than their grip strength will allow- deadlifts really. They should probably be left to intermediate or advanced trainees.

---

On the whole low rep versus high rep training thing:-

I did a lot of 1-3 rep range in my 20s and I actually do regret not doing more classic hypertophy work in the higher rep ranges then.

I think there are a lot of guys doing max effort work who might stand to put on a few kg of muscle first. This is my reading also of why DeFranco created the classic "Westside for skinny bastards" templates.

With that said, you can arguable get big AND strong on 5x5, Starting Strength etc. Or, at least some people can. I feel like I didn't start hypertrophying at all until I started doing higher rep work in the 10-15 rep range.

Now I kind of oscillate between doing a few weeks of higher rep hypertrophy specific, with isolation work included, work and then going back to low rep compound only.

Safety wise I think there is some validity to the argument that doing max effort 1-3 rep lifting is potentially more risky than higher rep work. A max single rep squat or dead is putting the max compressive force on your spine that you can arrange.

However (I did say "some" validity) the other side of the coin is that people get sloppy at sub maximal weights.

Deadlifts in particular... If you're only doing 3-5 heavy reps you hopefully will set up carefully and maintain your form. With high rep deadlifts people are tempted to start doing touch and go reps and rush things.

[Rikhall]

That's the good girl machine. The other one is the bad girl machine.

Are you referring to the one they don't actually sit on anymore?

[xcom]

Well my work outs are a bit odd and people most of the time look at my like I am crazy.

I start my warm up with 15Min to 20Min run on the treadmill. 5.5Mph @ Incline 5.

Than I do ether upper or lower super sets. (What ever I have schedule that day)

For example I do 165lbs squats 3Rx12 and in between each rep I do 165lbs Dead lifts.

I do this every other day and in between the days I street run 3 to 4 miles for cardio.

I take 1 day off sometimes two.

Right now I am in day two off due to my illness (looking like I might hit a few more).

I am in serious bad shape due to my last run and having an asthma attack and didn't have my albuterol inhaler with me.

Shit happens...

[Cork]

Are you referring to the one they don't actually sit on anymore?

I'm not sure if you're making a joke here or not, but I don't understand the question. I've never seen an ad/abduct machine that you don't sit down on, but then again I haven't been to a commercial gym in 3 years so I don't know what sort of new fangled equipment could be out there these days.

- - - Updated - - -

Just remember: anything bigger than the pink dumbbells and you'll get "bulky."

^^^My favorite lie told to women gym-goers. If that were true, I'd be massive.

You are massive, brotato.

[Rikhall]

I'm not sure if you're making a joke here or not, but I don't understand the question. I've never seen an ad/abduct machine that you don't sit down on, but then again I haven't been to a commercial gym in 3 years so I don't know what sort of new fangled equipment could be out there these days.

- - - Updated - - -

You are massive, brotato.

Yeah I was joking then do this weird half squat thing with them now to make there bums bigger

[hogg]

You are massive, brotato.

164 pounds of bouncin' hell. Must be all those purple dumbbells.

[RoryQ]

I was doing a Bryan Haycock hypertrophy program there for several months.

It's 3 whole body sessions a week. The first fortnight is in the 15 rep range, working up to a max, then the second fortnight it's the 10 rep range ... Third it's 5 rep range etc.

Anyway, I did a couple cycles and grew somewhat.

Squatting three times a week though, even only 2-3 work sets... I'm fried now. No zap.

Going to switch into something like Dan John's 40 day workout or Simple & Sinister again for a bit.

[tay943]

Everyone's hands have to get used to training. The friction and pressure combined with aggressive knurling on some bars and Dumbbells can cause some redness and whatnot at first, but I'd urge you to just let your hands adjust...

Some callousing is inevitable and will help with the discomfort. You can still take care of your hands after your workouts - a pumice stone after showering to keep the callouses low-profile etc.

Lifting straps are, in my view, not needed here. They're usually used in the context of lifts where the trainee wants to lift more weight than their grip strength will allow- deadlifts really. They should probably be left to intermediate or advanced trainees.

Thanks! Almost immedietly after I ordered them I did some research and realised rhsy were nit what I was after haha. My hands are starting to get more used to the weights and I have started developing calluses, which actually made me feel kind of cool tbh. In the last few weeks I've developed a pretty good program which I actually love doing; the only machines I still use are the lat pulldown, leg press, seated row and tricep pulldown; everthing else is free weights :).

[RoryQ]

I still use those particular machines too. I think they have their place.

My wife is majorly into training (she's much better informed than me) and always recommends this site - there's a lot of good articles in the drop-down menus. Hesitate to call it a 'women's lifting' page but I guess it is.

http://www.stumptuous.com

[tay943]

@RoryQ I have to admit when I read 'women's lifting' I was a little weary; you see so many 'women's fitness' articles, websites, youtube channels etc. that are all cute crop tops, workout playlists 'toning up' and pink dumbells haha. But a quick look through this link and I see that the website is completely different, depunking muths and offering real information to women. Thank you!

[Cork]

How's everyone progressing these days? I've been maintaining strength and dropping some fat for the upcoming summer season. Right now I'm in the best shape since 2012, which is a good feeling. Except for my wallet, because I had to buy all new pants.

@BrianH how's that dead lift progressing?

[tatB]

@BrianH how's that dead lift progressing?

My main focus right now is my back piece so I haven't been super focused on my training...

I PR'd my pull ups (strict no kipping) with 4 at a body weight of about 210lbs.

I also PR'd my bench with 1 rep @195lb.

[RoryQ]

I'm doing a version of Dan John's / Pavel Tsactsouline's 40 day workout. Lately StrongFirst (Pavel's new organisation) has been calling this a 'movement-based workout' because it ticks the boxes for all the major movement patterns you might want to train - a push, a pull, a hinge, a squat and a loaded carry. It's best worked out as a relatively high-frequency workout so you might be training 3-5 times a week with this.

I'm doing some prying goblet squats, haloes and a posterior chain movement to warm up. For the work sets the movements I picked are (at the moment) weighted lunges, pushups, kettle bell swings and pull-ups. These are relatively light exercises in terms of loading. I'm using this more as a back-garden summer workout. Keeping things in the 20-25 rep range for all of the movements except the kettle bell swing (100 reps) and pull-ups (10-15). Usually 2-3 sets per movement.

I've been managing to get in 1-2 aikido classes a week. The instructor runs a very high tempo class so even though it's undoubtedly a less physically demanding martial art than muay thai or brazilian jiu jitsu, I'm calling it my cardio.

[Cork]

@BrianH Yeah I can empathize with that. I was just trying to hold on to my gains for the time I was getting my back done.

@RoryQ Nice. I really Like Pavel and what he preaches, but damn I just would not be able to follow a routine like that.

[RoryQ]

Reading what I write it sounds like I'm doing 2-3 sets of 20-25 reps for someone those movements... Which I'm not. The 20-25 thing is a Dan John idea for total reps if you're training nearly every day. Today was more like-

3x5

-16kg KB prying goblet squat

-halo

-hip extension

10x10 16kg 1 handed KB swings

2x10/10 lunges with 16kg KB

2x10 paused push-ups

2x5 strict pull-ups

8 mins 1 arm 32kg suitcase KB carry

This is my fourth day in a row and although it isn't a lot of work it adds up. Should be adding reps / weight in some cases.