Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[RU_]

Anyone else here do a hot/cold therapy recovery method?

I used to frequent it in Brisbane a lot and only just found a place in WA that has a sauna and ice baths!

 

[estibador]

Has anyone else had experience with up at dawn workouts and how that'd that go for you and how'd you prepare for it? I found it hard but honestly I'd rather get it done before work than after. I don't mind coming home and getting on the bike but weights are a grind mentally after a long day.

I work out in the mornings now. Used to be an evening guy when I was at uni but, like you said, I enjoy going for a run after work but find the idea of weights too mentally draining.

I just have a black coffee as soon as I get up then straight into the home gym. Sometimes feel a bit weak getting started but it doesn't take long to warm into it.

 

[2006_Eagles]

There's something magical about seeing quad growth

Probably because leg training is bloody murder

 

[2006_Eagles]

When kents are bigger than me, that's annoying

 

[Coolangatta]

There's something magical about seeing quad growth

Probably because leg training is bloody murder

Yeah, quads have been easily my biggest muscular gain since I've been strength training. I know that you can't do as heavy loads with Zercher's but they've been doing the job.

 

[Mofra]

Has anyone else had experience with up at dawn workouts and how that'd that go for you and how'd you prepare for it? I found it hard but honestly I'd rather get it done before work than after. I don't mind coming home and getting on the bike but weights are a grind mentally after a long day.

I've been doing before-work workouts for years.
It's more about habit than anything else, once you've done it for a couple of weeks it becomes a lot easier.
I just down a black coffee before I go and that's it. Recently I've been putting a multivitamin/fizzy tablet in my water bottle for some flavour (Voost).

Fortunately WFH I don't need to force a shake down before heading to work, I can just cook an omelette after I'm logged on.

 

[raskolnikov]

In my 8 years of CrossFit I've never done any of those exercises mentioned.

 

[go you pups]

Did proper barbell OHPs for the first time in ages on Saturday

Worked up to just 35kg, but good to get into a rhythm, hang cleaned the weight up seeing my garage is too low for me and I don't have portable squat stands, so will see how much I can comfortably hang clean once I start putting more on the bar, maybe 50kg I'll notice it

 

[go you pups]

Squeezed 100kgs of bumpers onto the weight horn carriage on the lat attachment, takes the weight ok, though I do worry about the longevity of the pulleys as they're a thick hardened plastic, but plastic all the same, aluminium pulleys are far superior generally

 

[Coolangatta]

I missed my morning workout but squeezed one in this evening, but I didn't do any backoff sets after my 3x3 Zercher's. I normally try to hit 25 reps on my lighter Zercher day. Last week I did 3x4 + 2x5 in session 1 and 5x5 session 2. That's 47 reps. I'm not sure what my optimal number of weekly reps should be but maybe I could do old school Wendler BBB and do 5x10 @ 50% of 1RM in my next session to make up for today's low volume.

 

[Coolangatta]

Interesting.

 

[2006_Eagles]

Interesting.

Nippard is pretty insane

 

[Deliverance]

Yeah, quads have been easily my biggest muscular gain since I've been strength training. I know that you can't do as heavy loads with Zercher's but they've been doing the job.

Do zerchers hurt your arms? I might give them a go.

 

[Mofra]

Interesting.

I'd struggle, especially working a full day afterwards.
Not sure a natty with a FT job could pull it off long term.

 

[Coolangatta]

Do zerchers hurt your arms? I might give them a go.

Nope. I wear American football elbow pads in reverse, the padding offers good protection.

I'd struggle, especially working a full day afterwards.
Not sure a natty with a FT job could pull it off long term.

Yeah it’s not for me, I really don’t have the time or will. I just do a push pull leg core workout 3x a week, then the bike, and a couple other off days of bike but I’m gonna add arms to those days. Curls and close grip flat DB bench for tris.

 

[Themanbun]

Interesting.

I did this with a daily undulating periodization routine about 4 years ago and made some awesome gains. Was right at the end of a cut and still moved my major lifts up in weight. The neuromuscular control saw fantastic improvement.

 

[Coolangatta]

I need more help in understanding volume. I've heard criticisms of Wendler's and StrongLifts for their low volume. Of course, there are ways to address this, but what is considered good volume? Say I only pick six exercises every workout - legs, push, pull, core, biceps, triceps; the first three being compound movements that'll train the quads, glutes, back, you name it.

And with each exercise, I'm hitting 25-50 reps. Why is that an issue? For instance, in the early stages of StrongLifts, you are hitting 25 reps for legs, pull-on workout A (Squat, Bench, BB Row). Throw in something like hanging leg raises, curls and tricep exercises and what's wrong with that? When the weight gets heavier, you could add in another exercise or do backoff sets or drop sets or whatever to hit volume, but isn't 25 reps enough?

Personally, if I were doing StrongLifts, I'd change workout B to DL 3X5 with backoff/drop set work (variation or the same), OHP 5X5 and some row variation hitting at least 25 reps, plus abs. Arms could be done on the same or different days. But I don't know. It's not popular on the internet, and it seems to me the impression is if you're not hitting like 100 reps per body part or doing a bro split, you're doing it wrong.

 

[go you pups]

I'd struggle, especially working a full day afterwards.
Not sure a natty with a FT job could pull it off long term.

This

I reckon people who over their training career who have trained mainly full body programs or with higher frequency turnover like a push pull legs or upper lower splits twice/3 times a week could cope with such a high frequency program

I started out as a train a muscle group once a week bro split floggo but have modified my program over the years to be more in the powerbuilding spectrum to find a happy medium where I can be strong but also look after myself somewhat with my injury history but get a pump while I'm at it too. I can train things twice a week or 3 times a fortnight, generally off 4 day breaks, but only for short bursts in a training block or to work on weaknesses for my main lifts, say like bench variations on a Saturday before I do my main bench session midweek is the main one I'll throw in every couple of weeks and not do OHPs/shoulder presses that week (would hit incline on bench day instead for delts).

Only smaller muscles like my arms and calves seem to have the best recovery rates for going at least twice a week with prolonged consistency, calves in particular.

Just can't do full body, takes too long to hit most areas and when I do, I still need about 5 days to get back to a optimal recovery level. Upper lower splits 6-7 times a fortnight rotating every other day is far more effective imo at hitting most areas.

 

[go you pups]

Pretty sure I said last year I think I'd be interested at doing a pretty comprehensive upper lower split over an 8 day period one of these days

Was something like:

• Day 1: posterior chain legs (deadlifts, RDLs, glute and hammy stuff)
• Day 2: cardio/active recovery
• Day 3: upper body horizontal plane (bench, rows, facepulls, chest or rear delt fly variations)
• Day 4: cardio/active recovery/occasional rest day
• Day 5: anterior chain legs (squat oriented, good day for core and calves)
• Day 6: cardio/active recovery
• Day 7: upper body vertical plane (OHPs/shoulder presses, lateral/front raises, dips, pullovers, chins, lat pulldowns, shrugs)
• Day 8: rest
• Day 9: starts back again

Alot of back exercises here, though I'd be keen to try out something similar next year, though I'm not keen on a squat oriented day due to the likelihood of lower back compression so would modify that to a mobility/core/calf kinda day. Matt Wenning loves a good 2:1 pull to push ratio, so something like this would hit that easily.

I would lean towards having a rest day or a stretch the day after an upper body session whenever needed, far better option doing cardio the day after legs to aid recovery/reduce DOMS. Probably far too many upper body exercises to fit in for 2 days though, but would be interested to see how I'd cope as they'd be the longer sessions of the week.

Could see it panning out something like

Deadlift day 45-75 minutes
Horizontal upper 75-105 minutes
Squat day 30-60 minutes
Vertical upper 90-120 minutes

 

[Milpool]

Has anyone got much experience with adjustable dumbbells? I recall you looking into them go you pups. Seems Bowflex are the standard but they'll take some saving up for. Has anyone messed with the cheaper ones as a stop gap for a year or so? There's heaps of China ones but I don't really want to smash my face, hard to tell the rubbish from the useful.

 

[Coolangatta]

Yeah, I have no idea how to program this stuff; I guess I come under the umbrella of a "something is better than nothing" exerciser. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, four movements usually accumulate at least 25 reps per exercise and 20 minutes bike, and that's it. Tuesday and Thursday, 30-40 minutes bike + I'll start adding arm work.

Saturday bike only. It's nowhere near enough in the world of serious fitness buffs, but it's better than a power walk down the road.

 

[go you pups]

Has anyone got much experience with adjustable dumbbells? I recall you looking into them go you pups. Seems Bowflex are the standard but they'll take some saving up for. Has anyone messed with the cheaper ones as a stop gap for a year or so? There's heaps of China ones but I don't really want to smash my face, hard to tell the rubbish from the useful.

If you can find Nuobells or similar go with them over those Bowflex/Powertrain pieces of plastic.

NUOBELL 5-80lb Pair

NÜOBELL™ gives you the convenience of all-in-one adjustable 5-80lb dumbbells that are easy to use, have superior durability thanks to its machined steel weight plates, and priced lower than other premium dumbbell options. Now with 5lb adjustment increments! Sold in pairs - 2x 80lb dumbbells in...

www.cyberfit.com.au

I've never ordered from Cyberfit, so don't know if they're legit or not, however those 5-80lb Nuobells seem to be getting positive reviews in America and Europe from what I've seen online, they also look to be better made than the Bowflex/Powertrain hunk of plastic

There are similar Chinese made adjustables in the Nuobell type of mould that you could probably get for much cheaper, I'll look around, I'm sure I've seen some somewhere for like $500-600

Me and estibador both got Ironmasters from Sam's Fitness in September last year which are pretty much indestructible with the best warranty going around, however we waited all winter on a waitlist to get our hands on them and they are expensive, I paid over 2k for my setup, though I also got their kettlebells, an extra 45lb pair of dumbbells, a 120lb add on kit and an extra stand to make sure many bases were covered. I've found they work best going heavy and not changing the weight as much, so I use them mainly for pressing and rows and shrugs and only normally change the weight if I'm pyramidding up between sets, though they're nice to curl with too if I leave a pair lightish as their footprint is smaller than a hex dumbbell of a similar weight, then for my tricep kickbacks and shoulder raises and stuff I'll use my hex dumbbells for, I find they complement each other well. End plan is to have a full 3-25/30kg hex set on a 3/4 tier rack for accessories and warm ups/dropsets/medium hypertrophy stuff, then leave the Ironmasters for my bread and butter compounds, I normally use them between about 80-100lbs (so 36-45kgs).

 

[go you pups]

Milpool

CORTEX RevoLock 64kg Adjustable Dumbbell Set with Stand (32kg Pair)

Save time and space with our RevoLock™ 32kg Adjustable Dumbbells. Small and easy to handle, the less weight you add the smaller the dumbbell gets. Have up to 32kg in each hand, these dumbbells are suited towards any exercise at any fitness level. With quick and easy weight selection featuring...

www.lifespanfitness.com.au

I have Cortex bands and a mate of mine has Cortex plates which we bought last year, they do the job

Now unfortunately they're only a 12 month warranty, which is what Bowflex/Powertrain only offer too. Imo these Cortex Nuobell clones will last longer than the plastic ones

Just make sure you're not rough with them, though they'd be my best of the rest pick

If you've got the cash, go for Ironmasters or Powerblocks though

 

[estibador]

The IOC has just axed weightlifting from the Olympics. What bullshit, weightlifting is one of those quintessential Olympic events for me. It won't be long before the Games are all just new age stuff like skateboarding, breakdancing and parkour.

 

[Coolangatta]

Any tips on what weight to use for 3-4 sets of a stiff-leg deadlift? Would you use about 50 or 60% of your deadlift 1RM?