Lifting Thread;training for the tattooed warrior.

[Cork]

There are some pretty good blogs and articles out there looking at weight training from a woman's perspective. Not that men and women actually need to train in a different way, for the most part, but in case you're interested I know my GF likes these sites-

It's funny you mention that. When a man tells a woman that she should train like a man, she says "I don't want to get big." When a woman tells a woman to lift weights, she's all ears.

I've been with my now-fiancee for 6 years. It had taken 5 years of browbeating to finally get her to lift like me. It's been a year and she loves the results.

[kylegrey]

@Cork great advice about the core training for a smaller waist,Ursula and any one else can using weights on your mid-section .The abs along with every other muscle will grow with resistence most body-builders don't even train them for that reason ,but if you do use BW and high numbers or broomstick twists .

[hogg]

I'll admit that I'm a little conflicted about this thread. I post on two fitness-related forums, and I don't discuss tattoos there. Separate spheres and all that. Also, it seems that there's something very anabolic about a keyboard; I've found that everyone's lifts go up by 40-50 pounds as soon as they're typed onto the Internet.

However, it's nice to see DAN JOHN mentioned anywhere. I did his high-rep squat program from Mass Made Simple last year (and came close to hurling many times). I'm also a fan of Jim Wendler and have done 5/3/1 for several cycles. I'm currently using it for linear progression on squats. I'm dealing with some medial epicondylitis (golfer's elbow) right now that is fucking with my low-bar squats, but I'm trying to find workaround solutions for it. I have a decent little gym setup in my tiny basement, so I'm down there 2-3 times a week and at a commercial gym once a week. It definitely keeps me sane.

[hogg]

Also: you dudes should listen to advice from @kylegrey. Unlike many people on the Internets, he actually knows what he's talking about.

[khubilai]

5-3-1 is a great routine, but the last set which has you repping out tends to burn me out if I use it with all the lifts. I actually had my best training success using 5-3-1 for my lower body (squats and DL's) and I used a Hepburn routine for my upper body ( MP, bench, and chins) which responds better to a higher volume approach. I recently found a facility that teaches the Olympic lifts, so I am shifting my training in that direction for the time being.

[Cork]

Also, it seems that there's something very anabolic about a keyboard; I've found that everyone's lifts go up by 40-50 pounds as soon as they're typed onto the Internet.

What about other people's numbers? My training partner (who I've taken from square 1) hit 315lbs for a double on rack deads yesterday and I couldn't be more proud! He's only been lifting for a year.

[hogg]

It's always nice to celebrate other people's PRs. Less DOMS for you, too. ;)

[kylegrey]

Interesting point about muscle soreness @hogg ,I very rarely experience this and it varies greatly from person to person .I don't feel it relates to nutrition or even workout intensity and is something of an unknown quantity, people sit on both sides of the fence on this .

[hogg]

Interesting point about muscle soreness @hogg ,I very rarely experience this and it varies greatly from person to person .I don't feel it relates to nutrition or even workout intensity and is something of an unknown quantity, people sit on both sides of the fence on this .

Really? That's incredible. Try some Bulgarian Split Squats and report back in two days. My most hated exercise, by far (which means that it's probably the one I most need to be doing).

[Shannon Shirley]

these Alabama 12oz curls dont seem to be helping my stamina at all???hehe

[Cork]

I am on top of my nutrition 100%, and I can't hold off DOMS. I'm talking the kind of soreness where you have to use the sink to lower yourself down on to the toilet. I've tried so many different combinations of amino acids and in different ratios... I get sore all the time. I like to blame genetics, but I really have no idea what makes it so bad for me and not others.

these Alabama 12oz curls dont seem to be helping my stamina at all???hehe

To get results you either need to increase volume or intensity. These are basics!

[Shannon Shirley]

more barley?

I am on top of my nutrition 100%, and I can't hold off DOMS. I'm talking the kind of soreness where you have to use the sink to lower yourself down on to the toilet. I've tried so many different combinations of amino acids and in different ratios... I get sore all the time. I like to blame genetics, but I really have no idea what makes it so bad for me and not others.

To get results you either need to increase volume or intensity. These are basics!

[kylegrey]

Back to the tattoos it always puzzles me why guys that care so much about their physiques go the bro tat route ,it only reinforces stereotypes and is very sad when your outside the loop.Perhaps its cause people haven't been exposed to the alternatives ,so if your reading this for the training stuff and want to be a step ahead of the rest of the pack -check this shit out !

Tattoo by Horizakura NY Adorned .

[RoryQ]

Re: DOMS -

I've no doubt Kyle's right that there's an individual element to it. For me I only seem to really get it bad in the lower body - usually if it's following a workout where there was a lot of volume and in particular if it was single leg stuff: Bulgarian split squats, like Hogg mentions, or even moreso if it was lunges for some reason (think Mike Boyle has written about the physiological reason for this and the less commonly-used muscles involved). I know what you mean about lowering yourself onto the toilet, Cork. This must be what it's like to be 80.

In gyms here I don't see that many people who are just lifting who have decent tattoos.

The BJJ/MMA crowd seem to be more likely to have some decent stuff, particularly japanese-style work, although the preference seems to still be for fairly uninspiring tribal and black work (not exactly Thomas Hooper / Jondix calibre stuff, put it that way).

I remember last year in Chicago I did meet one huge bodybuilder who had a cool Hanna Aitchison pin-up on his leg.

[kylegrey]

i used to think the training-tattoos combo related back to the days in body-building when you got marked down for tattoos .

[Cork]

i used to think the training-tattoos combo related back to the days in body-building when you got marked down for tattoos .

These days a good judge is supposed to look past the tattoos. Otherwise if Lee Priest were to compete again, he'd never win.

But I agree with RoryQ on how the uninspired black work and tribal seem to be a main gym rat theme. Every now and then I catch some good looking ones, but it's not often. There is one guy with a sick looking Freddy Krueger on his arm.

[hogg]

Well, I live in SF, so every now and then, I see some awesome work. I have a buddy at my gym from Northern Ireland (shouts out to @RoryQ!) with work from Theo Mindell, Jason Kundell, Jason Tyler Grace and lots of other great artists. That's how we met, actually. I asked him who did his work. There's another guy I see with a ton of work from the guys at Seventh Son--really impressive stuff (and he's strong as hell).

[kylegrey]

These days a good judge is supposed to look past the tattoos. Otherwise if Lee Priest were to compete again, he'd never win.

@Cork I think you'll find Lee Priest got all his tattoos once he realised he was out of favour with the judges and IFBB and decided to pursue other avenues .

[Cork]

That's true, he definitely didn't start getting a lot done until closer to his retirement. Now with some Masters divisions cropping up, he has teased a couple times within the last couple years that he was going to compete but it hasn't come to fruition yet.

[Ursula]

I hope none of you dudes here are trying to look like that Lee guy! To me that's a little excessive and unattractive. I guess to each his own though.

Thanks for all the tips and stuff you guys posted for me! I've just gotten home from being out of town so I'm gonna try out some new things when I get back to the gym this weekend. I'm thinking I might try and up the weight on some things and lower the reps, see how that goes for a bit.

As far as tattoos and competing I always heard that being heavily tattooed made it harder to see muscle definition when you're on stage. Any truth to that?

[Cork]

With a very dark tan and the bright lights on you, you should still be able to see all the detail.

I actually just stumbled across this guy who looks like he has some really nice work, but you can see in the pictures of his back where he is very lean, that the detail isn't as clear.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/wstsidetat/more.php?section=progresspics

[Kev]

So I'm wanting to add about 10 pounds of lean mass and keep it. I was able to hit 170 (I'm 155/ 13% now) a few workout cycles ago but that was at 14%BF; I'd like to get closer to 10%.

Current workout was listed on the first page of the thread. Tips would be appreciated.

[Scott R]

kev, your hitting tris and shoulders on your chest day. What about adding in more leg work and hit tris for reps on that last day. I dont like alot of what poliquin does but It seems his high rep quad and tris theory holds true. Atleast in the limited testing I have done. give me your daily diet aswell

[Cork]

10lbs of muscle is going to be done primarily with food. That being said, adding some volume to your workouts would help as well. I will make some additions in bold, let me know what you think. These are what I would do, so it's never a clear cut and dry "Do this now to get huge." I don't really like to talk about rep ranges since preference varies greatly per person, but it is a basic rule that around the 8-12 rep range is best for hypertrophy, if you are working around 75-80% your 1RM. So really, just make sure you do more than 15 reps per exercise, because that's just not enough to grow. Also, how tall are you and how old are you? Those 2 factors would give a good idea as to how fast you can put on 10lbs of muscle naturally. My suggestions and rationale are in bold.

Legs:

Squat- 5x5 or some other main progression based variation

Leg press or walking lunge or stiff leg deads or glute-ham raise- 4 sets

Leg Curls - 3 sets

Calf Raise 3 sets 5/6/7

The average person is already quad dominant and needs less quad work unless you are bodybuilding. For all intents and purposes, it's best for a normal person to do more hamstring/posterior chain work. I think legs are a very important lift, and I think the ideal ratio of upper body lifts to lower body lifts should be 1:1. One day for posterior chain focus and 1 day for quad focus. I won't alter your routine too much for that though.

Chest:

Benchpress- 5x5 or some other main progression based variation

Incline Benchpress- 3 sets

Dips- 3 sets

Close grip bench press - 3 sets

If you have any juice left, finish off with a tricep extension

I personally hate flies, but that's up to you. There is much more crossover benefit to your bench from doing dips and CGBG than there is from flies.

Back/bi:

Rack Dead 5x5 or some other main progression based variation

DB Rows 5 sets

Pull ups or chin ups 5 sets

Face pulls, external rotations and dislocates for "prehab"

If you have any juice left, finish off with a bicep curl

75% of the people in the gym, based on my made up study, have upper cross syndrome. That is to say that they press too much and their shoulders are F'd. I always recommend more back work than chest work. Always. Also, a full dead lift is a posterior chain dominant lift. Your back is most focused on in the top portion of the lift. When people do deads on back day, I suggest to just do rack deads to put the focus more on your back.

Shoulders/tri:

Military Press 5x5 or some other main progression based variation

Hit any weak points

cardio

core

I'm not a fan of a day just for shoulders, but to each their own. My shoulders aren't anything to write home about. I just polish off my shoulders after bench press day.

[Scott R]

cork I think it should be 2 pull to 1 push.

I agree with legs too many studies prove that compound movements like squats or lunges naturally release GH in the body