Personal best on bench last night

[DON SVO]

If you think you're getting to the point with a bar that you're pumping out reps and not having the "owwww" feeling 2 days later, start doing controlled negatives with dumbbells. Some of the best gains I had on bar was after 6 weeks of DB negatives.

I used 70% of the max 8 set bar weight (205). For me that was 80s. Positive, pause, 6-second negative. Repeat to fail. Do 4 sets. I went from 225x4 and 80s for 6,6,4,2 to 80s for 13,8,4,3 in 6 weeks and went 225x8. Monstrous gains in strength and a noticeable separation in my pecs. I used the same method for tris, bis and calves. Having a spotter helps, have the spotter pull you up when you fail positive and force out another couple negatives.

[R1psycho]

If you think you're getting to the point with a bar that you're pumping out reps and not having the "owwww" feeling 2 days later, start doing controlled negatives with dumbbells. Some of the best gains I had on bar was after 6 weeks of DB negatives.

I used 70% of the max 8 set bar weight (205). For me that was 80s. Positive, pause, 6-second negative. Repeat to fail. Do 4 sets. I went from 225x4 and 80s for 6,6,4,2 to 80s for 13,8,4,3 in 6 weeks and went 225x8. Monstrous gains in strength and a noticeable separation in my pecs. I used the same method for tris, bis and calves. Having a spotter helps, have the spotter pull you up when you fail positive and force out another couple negatives.

Pretty much what I've been doing. Hit a plateau on my flat bench and started concentrating on forced reps until failure. Still a weak bitch sadly...lol

[BERT]

Every other day for me instead of weights, until Cancun at the end of July at least. Once I get over this head cold, I am going to try to start running in the am before work again, but at the very least I'll get that 30 min on the elliptical every other day while my leg adjusts.

Diet will only get you so far, and not very fast.

I weighed myself today for the first time in a long time, and I'm back up to 231lbs, which is about what I weighed at the time of my wreck, so most of the size is back, just not all of the strength yet. Total bittersweet moment though, on one hand it's good to be "back," but on the other hand it also means that I haven't been leaning out any. This is where your favorite word comes in, CARDIO.

I wish i was a morning person because i have a treadmill at the house and could use it before going to work. Which is when i should be using it, before i put anything in my body. But i tend to like that snooze button a little too much.

Here lately with baseball practice and all (i coach 7-8 year olds) i'm not getting to the gym til late so that's throwing off my routine some. I'll get to doing cardio at some point

[mustang_revival]

I'm back to benching 225x6 been working on my form and breathing alot.

Also hit a new goal of doing dips with a 45 LB weight plate on a chain around my waste.

My biggest problem area remains wide grip pull ups, I can only do 6 or 7 without getting sloppy. - Everything I am reading and hearing is to just keep doing them and I will eventually gain strength..

[DON SVO]

I'm back to benching 225x6 been working on my form and breathing alot.

Also hit a new goal of doing dips with a 45 LB weight plate on a chain around my waste.

My biggest problem area remains wide grip pull ups, I can only do 6 or 7 without getting sloppy. - Everything I am reading and hearing is to just keep doing them and I will eventually gain strength..

Rack pulls. Lots of them.

[Big A]

I wish i was a morning person because i have a treadmill at the house and could use it before going to work. Which is when i should be using it, before i put anything in my body. But i tend to like that snooze button a little too much.

Here lately with baseball practice and all (i coach 7-8 year olds) i'm not getting to the gym til late so that's throwing off my routine some. I'll get to doing cardio at some point

Trust me, I'm not a morning person. I'll sleep 'til 7:45 during the week when I can, roll outta bed get dressed and be at the 'puter by 8. Fitness is about sacrifice though, whether it be your diet, getting to the gym when you don't want to, getting up early, or doing cardio in general. If it were easy we'd all look like adonis, and nobody would care.

After a few days of getting up a couple hours early I'm already falling asleep earlier at night, and after a week or so it's no longer a pain to get up in the morning. Along with that I have alot more energy throughout the day, and it's alot easier to get to sleep at night.

My biggest problem area remains wide grip pull ups, I can only do 6 or 7 without getting sloppy. - Everything I am reading and hearing is to just keep doing them and I will eventually gain strength..

Yep, you just aren't strong enough for your body weight yet, give it time. If you are concerned about being able to do a higher rep range in good form, then do lat pull-downs, it's the exact same movement as far as your lats are concerned.

[Big A]

Put up 185 for 12-13 on incline yesterday, nothing monumental, but I'll take it considering that I could barely do that on flat a few weeks ago.

Where're you at Bert, still sticking to the high-rep strict form sets?

[BERT]

Put up 185 for 12-13 on incline yesterday, nothing monumental, but I'll take it considering that I could barely do that on flat a few weeks ago.

Where're you at Bert, still sticking to the high-rep strict form sets?

Pretty much, i went "heavy" on chest last week just to switch it up. Kept the weight at 225 and did 3 sets of 4 or 5. Concentrated on keeping my back on the bench and not lifting off of it.

Did arms by myeslf last week and super setted every workout. That wore my ass out.

On shoulders i usually do shoulder press first but decided to do it last. That was a different experience, burned the whole time


Hey, what do you do for shrugs? I mainly use dumbbells. And is it better to keep them in more of a forward position or keep the shoulders back while doing shrugs?

[BERT]

I'm still at it, but hurt my collar bone somehow doing decline so I skipped shoulders last week. Did shoulders last night and everything seemed to work just fine. Just been taking it easy but still pushing myself. Doesn't really bother me while i'm working out. It's afterwards when I get still and it gets stiff that it bothers me. Oh well, it'll go away at some point lol

[Big A]

That's one of the benefits of a light work out, is when injured, you can go super strict and light, and burn it out, without having to compare the weight lifted. The ego will get you hurt, and keep you hurt if you aren't careful. Don't rush back to the heavier weights, give your shoulder time to heal.

I did this very thing for legs at lunch today, I tried to get under 275 to do high rep sets of squats, and my left hip insertion immediately started aching. Rather than push through it, I un-racked the weight, and moved over to light leg sled for super slow reps. Burned like hell, the hip hurt a lot less, and I still left feeling like I go a good workout in.

This mindset has been key for me keeping my sanity while dieting this time around, because before when I would see strength start to drop, I'd freak out and start eating and lifting big again. Right now I'm focused on burning fat, and couldn't care less where strength is at, I am changing my workouts up constantly so I don't have a solid baseline to compare to, I just go in and give 110% to the routine that I've planned for that day. I'm not the strongest or leanest that I have ever been at the moment, but I am enjoying workouts a lot more, over all in a lot less pain, and I don't have to deal with the ego mindscrew of the "er" and "est."

Sorry, I'm just now seeing your post about the shrugs. My routine is comprised of dumbbell, barbell, and the shrug machine. They key to making each lift different is in where your grip is facing, and how you do or don't rotate your shoulders forward or back as you lift. Traps are one of the least complicated muscle to work, there is only so much range of motion, an I don't even know that doing the different lifts helps growth, it's more about staving off boredom.

[BERT]

I've been doing to shrug "machine" here lately instead of dumbbells.

I'm also down to 195 without doing cardio!!! lol
If I can ever get my ass out of bed in time i'll start running in the mornings.

[BERT]

I need to start doing crunches

[Big A]

I need to start doing crunches

I'm not saying that you can't work to get better separation by isolating abs, but I haven't worked abs specifically in years. Lat pull downs, standing dumbbell/barbell work, and even the decline cybex machine will work your core. Kinda like the forearms, as long as you're progressing, and have a solid full-body routine, don't sweat not doing crunches.

Don't take what I'm saying as an excuse to get lazy, there is that point at which you can grow your forearms and abs/core faster if need be for support and stability. From an aesthetics perspective, if I've got 30 minutes outside my weight training regimen to devote to abs, I'm gonna do cardio the whole time.

That's great that you are trimming up without the cardio, but in my experience there comes a point where you hit a brick wall with diet alone. The fat loss slows considerably, and restricting calories any further just makes you weaker, and your energy level hits the dirt. Your body goes into starvation mode, starts storing everything as fat, using muscle for energy, and your RMR hits the dirt. You wind up weak, de-motivated, and HUNGRY.

Ironically the way to successfully lose weight for the long-term is to eat more (healthy calories of course), and burn more. What I mean by this is that if your maintenance intake, as an example is 2,000 calories per day, rather than simply dropping to eating 1,500 calories a day, you continue to eat 2,000 calories a day, and burn that 500 with cardio. This amplifies the benefits of the caloric reduction in that it fires up your metabolism instead of slowing it, so your energy is up throughout the day, and your body is "tricked" out of going into starvation mode, because you're constantly eating. It's better for motivation too, because you're eating normally, and not feeling deprived.

In short, there is no easy way to successfully burn fat without losing a lot of muscle in the process, get off your ass, and do some cardio.

[BERT]

I'm not saying that you can't work to get better separation by isolating abs, but I haven't worked abs specifically in years. Lat pull downs, standing dumbbell/barbell work, and even the decline cybex machine will work your core. Kinda like the forearms, as long as you're progressing, and have a solid full-body routine, don't sweat not doing crunches.

Don't take what I'm saying as an excuse to get lazy, there is that point at which you can grow your forearms and abs/core faster if need be for support and stability. From an aesthetics perspective, if I've got 30 minutes outside my weight training regimen to devote to abs, I'm gonna do cardio the whole time.

That's great that you are trimming up without the cardio, but in my experience there comes a point where you hit a brick wall with diet alone. The fat loss slows considerably, and restricting calories any further just makes you weaker, and your energy level hits the dirt. Your body goes into starvation mode, starts storing everything as fat, using muscle for energy, and your RMR hits the dirt. You wind up weak, de-motivated, and HUNGRY.

Ironically the way to successfully lose weight for the long-term is to eat more (healthy calories of course), and burn more. What I mean by this is that if your maintenance intake, as an example is 2,000 calories per day, rather than simply dropping to eating 1,500 calories a day, you continue to eat 2,000 calories a day, and burn that 500 with cardio. This amplifies the benefits of the caloric reduction in that it fires up your metabolism instead of slowing it, so your energy is up throughout the day, and your body is "tricked" out of going into starvation mode, because you're constantly eating. It's better for motivation too, because you're eating normally, and not feeling deprived.

In short, there is no easy way to successfully burn fat without losing a lot of muscle in the process, get off your ass, and do some cardio.

LOL, I knew that was coming

And don't worry, I might be lazy everywhere else, but not in the gym.

[BERT]

Taking this week off. Looked back in this thread and haven't taken any significant time off in 5 months. Figured with being on vacation this week I'll rest my body a little. Maybe next week my shoulders won't be aching anymore.