Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[dirty2]

It's like people who weigh their food precisely. I'm around about the mark. My smoothies are anywhere between 1800 and 2200kj, my fish and chips usually 2000 to 2500kj. 500kj per day isn't going to make **** all difference, and it's also pointless because every single day is different in terms of energy expenditure.

I've been losing 700g per week according to my spreadsheet so it's working with a no b.s approach.

My diet pretty much consists of don't eat shit and get min 150g of protein.

Gone from 91kg in July to 84kg now while still going up in the weights I lift. I'm not huge compared to when I started lifting in September.. but I'm more toned and I feel I'm heading in the right direction.

I still spoil myself at times (food/alcohol). I seem to be going In the right direction my belly is smaller my arms, shoulders more toned.

I do ask people who know what they are doing and take everything on board and learn..

Still wouldn't say I really know what I'm doing...

 

[Piggy Smalls]

I try to stay away from social media because it's 90% bullshit, the influencers are full of shit, and liars. You've got seed oil groups and carnivore groups fighting anyone not in those groups. You've got pseudo dieticians spreading bs advice. Being 100% natty in great but not elite shape looks like you have never hit the gym in contrast to the people on juice.

To add to that, there is a very popular female influencer here in Australia who is natty but every single one of her photos is a professionally shot photo, professional lighting, she definitely morphs the photos. In her regular unedited videos she looks tiny. The whole Instagram/tik tok thing gives a false sense of reality.

I'm down from a high of 83kg after bulking from doing little exercise in 2021 to 65 at the current moment. If I get to my target, I'm going to be lean and really good definition but I'm going to look small. That's the reality.

That's a 20% drop in your weight already. What is your target in kg and bf%?

 

[JHF1870]

That's a 20% drop in your weight already. What is your target in kg and bf%?

I was carrying way too much weight. I'm not sure. I'll get to about 62KG and see what it looks like then go and get a DEXA. it's $95

So basically 72kg to 67 saw most of the belly weight disappear, and now it's just the back and sides that's really showing. I'm at about 65 and have only just started to see real definition in the arms.

I want to go farther than I did before because when I bulked again I got unhappy within 2 months. I want a more manageable weight to move with.

 

[Themanbun]

In terms of body composition you're nearly always a higher body fat percentage than you expect in my experience.

As an example, a lot of blokes aim for a long term goal of say 10% body fat at 75kg and then they find they need to get to 72kg for ten per cent.

It's also why natural athletes like footy players just look like ordinary blokes but taller unless they're wearing a singlet.

 

[rye]

at the end of the day there just isnt enough content to be milked out of the basic principles of progressive overload and caloric deficit / surplus to justify most of these 'science' lifting youtube videos.

 

[Glorfindel]

I've watched some YouTube lately.... But yeah... They contradict each other alot and just leaves me more confused

When you stop thinking about the information being contradictory, and consider it all supportive of the notion that (pretty much) everything will work for the right person at the right time, it becomes a lot less confusing.

 

[T2B_]

I really like Dr Mike. I've seen some snippets on YouTube but not sure of the details.
I think he's been cherry picking data to support his claims, beyond the typical that you'd expect and be OK with.
I've taken a lot of good advice from Mike, and his training videos consistently have elite body builders at their absolute max effort level. I'd still recommend him to new lifters for form and technique advice.

Fun fact, he's only about 4 ft 11 IRL.

I like Dr Mike too, mostly I think as he can be pretty entertaining (he's a bit of a clown) and while he's far from perfect, I don't think he goes to huge lengths to even hide it. He's very flawed, but in a weird way I find it kind of endearing, and there's stuff I'd disagree with him on or just don't apply to me (I have to be keto most of the time, so his nutrition stuff doesnt apply to me usually) but I've found his lifting/training/technique type stuff to be quite useful.

 

[JHF1870]

Bis and tris. Not ****ing around

16m workout

 

[faible]

at the end of the day there just isnt enough content to be milked out of the basic principles of progressive overload and caloric deficit / surplus to justify most of these 'science' lifting youtube videos.

Or they end up recycling content, I only bother following a couple of guys in this arena and they tend to pop up with mostly the same content on rotation every few months.

For most people the exercise you'll actually do > the scientifically optimal exercise you won't do.

 

[Jugada]

The different variations videos would actually be the most useful if they were just like hey here's another way to do a row that you might prefer rather than pretending like it's going to unlock some massive gains you have been missing out on

 

[Mofra]

The different variations videos would actually be the most useful if they were just like hey here's another way to do a row that you might prefer rather than pretending like it's going to unlock some massive gains you have been missing out on

It's what happens when views become more important than quality.

 

[go you pups]

Scored myself an Australian Barbell Company power bar on the cheap off marketplace a couple weeks ago

My other bar will be gathering dust as this ABC bar is good for pretty much all compound movements, might even move on the old bar if I can find another good condition high end bar on the cheap, probably would want a stainless steel bar though

 

[go you pups]

Scored myself an Australian Barbell Company power bar on the cheap off marketplace a couple weeks ago

My other bar will be gathering dust as this ABC bar is good for pretty much all compound movements, might even move on the old bar if I can find another good condition high end bar on the cheap, probably would want a stainless steel bar though

Drove down the Nepean and checked out both ABC and Bells of Steel today

ABC are in the industrial estate around Braeside/Mordialloc, they've got a little old school showroom/reception area out front, with a big warehouse/manufacturing area, really nice down to earth people there, bought a couple pairs of bumpers, look forward to buying more products from them, everything is commercial grade there, cannot go wrong. 20% off plates at the moment.

Will write a bit more about Bells of Steel

Bells of Steel are only in its infancy in Australia but I've followed their Canadian ownership on YouTube for a while and I like what they're doing, they seem to be a company that values feedback on their products and I think what's important is the people who work for them all train or have home gyms themselves, I think there is a level of dedication to the budget/affordable gear they promote based off what I've seen in person now and from their product reviews/reveals, they seem to want to consistently improve on their product. I was really excited when Gym and Fitness got the REP Fitness contract a few years ago based off what the Americans were saying about them, but in all reality they're basically just the American version of Verve, not much value for money going there. Bells of Steel however are priced far better, they are pretty much in line with the likes of NC Fitness but they have a growing international reputation to go along with it so they're definitely going to be one of my suppliers for the future.

I bought a 20kg scratch and dent adjustable kettlebell for $84 ($280 brand new), couldn't see what the issue with it was aside from a couple scratches on the shell, all scratch and dent products are 50% off RRP, then got an extra 20% off as it was some March sale (probably similar to ABC), at a later date I can buy the expansion kit which will be like another 12kg in fractional plates so that adjustable kettlebell will go out to 32kg instead of 20.

The barenaked powerlifting bar they sell definitely is on the sharper side of knurling and probably the sharpest bar I've felt at a local retail store, I'll look at grabbing one maybe EOFYS or Black Friday or something as it's $350 new but should be able to snag one for around $300 at the right time of the year.

The Arch Nemesis bar looks a decent design, it's not as wide in the body as other multigrip bars but the knurling isn't bad for tubing steel, really light bar also, would only be like 11-12kg and looks a decent length for rackability, I would likely use it more than the current cambered multigrip bar I own as the one I have is useless in the 2 middle close grips as the camber hits my forearms when I try and close grip bench plus the rackability on my ATX rack sucks as it's only 129cm wide and I clip the uprights alot on lift off. I think they've released an arch nemesis short tricep bar also in Canada, so if it's a similar design to its full length brother it definitely would be a good option as a hammercurl bar.

Their open trap bar is really small and compact, it's only about 140-150cm long with shortish sleeves but it'd do the job for most people, if you're lifting 150-200kg on the trap bar then I'd look elsewhere, this is meant for people in that 80-120kg range, I sold my Verve trap bar after I moved house as it was slightly too big for my weight trees, but I think I have the room for an open trap bar with a built in jack eventually as it can just sit on the floor out of the way like a suitcase.

Anyways, happy to have more solid options in Melbourne, be it south-east an over an hour away...

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Eleiko or nothing.

 

[faible]

Eleiko or nothing.

 

[Mofra]

Eleiko or nothing.

Ha! I once worked out with the Islamic brotherhood in Tanzania in a home made gym - wooden benches, steel bars and concrete. I was certainly the odd one out. They were jacked, no fancy equipment or supplements in sight.

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Ha! I once worked out with the Islamic brotherhood in Tanzania in a home made gym - wooden benches, steel bars and concrete. I was certainly the odd one out. They were jacked, no fancy equipment or supplements in sight.

Must have a good hiding spot for the gear

 

[Mofra]

 

[Themanbun]

I only really get a chance to get into the gym twice per week at the moment, and owing to some hamstring tendonitis I'm still managing I have found high-low day works best.

Big gym day on Friday until footy starts. So that means pogos, drop jumps, deadlift high pulls, hand clean, deadlifts, split squat or barbell squat, bench press, barbell rows, and some arms if I'm not too gassed.

Sunday is sprinting day and speed exposure.

Tuesday is a light power session, so drop jumps, jump squats, Olympic lifts variations, light but fast bench, rows.

Footy training Wednesday with acceleration work beforehand.

Then games start Friday and Saturday this week so I'll have to rejig.

Getting older is a blessing but you definitely notice the recovery dip.

 

[Kram]

After a month of no lifting or creatine started to notice a bit of a difference so raced back today.

Wonder how much of it, if any was due to the latter.

 

[JHF1870]

One of my new fav exercises is the single arm tricep rope for a lat pulldown, really feal it like no other exercise.

 

[Kram]

Yeah this is ridiculous haha, gonna restrict future breaks to a couple of weeks, 3 absolute max.

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Yeah this is ridiculous haha, gonna restrict future breaks to a couple of weeks, 3 absolute max.

I'm down 15kg and going 1 time a week. Lost nearly 30% of my strength I had. Very demoralizing

 

[Kram]

 

[go you pups]

I'm down 15kg and going 1 time a week. Lost nearly 30% of my strength I had. Very demoralizing

Yep

I lost over 50kg from March-February through strict diet, struggled training more than 3 days a week until about November when I had a slight increase in calorie intake and rejoined a gym so had more options to train, but I was walking at least nearly every day. Tried pushing myself in May to get out of the slump (was about 15kg down by then) and benched 80kg for 3 sets (did 70kg the week before), the body couldn't cope with recovery and as the week went on felt like I had a minor left pec tear, had to rest the upper body for 2 weeks then started back with light floor presses and band work, probably wasn't 100% over it until July/August when I was able to get the 30kg dumbbells out again (stayed off the barbell for a few months also).

Have put on 6-7kg over the last 2 months as I'm eating 2500-3000 calories a day again up from my previous 1700-2200 range and boy my training hasn't been this good since like 2022-23. The numbers aren't the same but my strength to bodyweight ratios are very similar and my training frequencies are similar, good thing is doing push-ups on my toes isn't hard anymore now and I can do a 2RM for chin ups (something I haven't been able to do since my early 20s)

Kinda sucks I can't bench and lat pulldown 100kg for high reps at the moment as they would be around 1RM territory for me now, 75-85kg is kinda my range now, but end of the day it's just a flex I think, happy to be able to do bodyweight stuff instead.