Your favourite gym exercise

[james_omahoney]

seated or standing calf raises?

Both. Do one first one week, then vice versa the next week, and so on.

Works for me anyway...

 

[bresker]

Cycle into the gym 3 miles, cycle home 3 miles
Since I cycle, I don't bother with the leg machines. So I do all the arm, chest and back machines twice.
Only free weights I do are dumbelss and barbells, bicep curls and shoulder press.
I don't bother trying to lift heavy or uncomfortbale weights. Some biomedical scientists have told me that it's the repetition that builds the muscle, not the weight. So I try and push something that gives me a decent feeling of resistance. I build it up steadily but I'm not going to kill myself.

I go 5-6 times a week, 30-50mins each time. Sometimes push myself harder, depends how I feel. I usually swim a few lengths afterwards. I play five a side soccer once a week and combined with the cycling, I get a good workout. I'm not a body builder.

Oh, and I do loads of ab crunches on the sitting ab machine. Partly because it's easy and partly because no-one else in the gym uses it so I can do abs while I wait for the equipment hoggers to f**k off.

The strutting 'look at me' bodybuilder guys crack me up. One prize arsewit waits until I walk into the free weights room before he picks up the biggest barbells he can find to show off in front of me. The other day I walked out before he began and he followed me , eyeballing me, pretending to get a drink of water. Maybe he fancies me :-0

 

[Schism]

Both. Do one first one week, then vice versa the next week, and so on.

Works for me anyway...

Really?In my experience calves are pretty much down to genetics and weights don't do much. I got 21 inch+ calves,hardly ever trained em,my brothers are bigger again. Lotsa guys train em for years and get nothing.

 

[Juddy88]

Bench press by a MILE.

Don't mind anything biceps either.

 

[james_omahoney]

Really?In my experience calves are pretty much down to genetics and weights don't do much. I got 21 inch+ calves,hardly ever trained em,my brothers are bigger again. Lotsa guys train em for years and get nothing.

Yeah. I have fairly slim calves and although i've been able to thicken them slightly, you are right that there's only a small area for improvement. What you will be able to do, though, is to strengthen them significantly over time. If you care about the strength of your calves, then it's great. If you don't; probably just a waste of time really.

 

[Kong]

Really?In my experience calves are pretty much down to genetics and weights don't do much. I got 21 inch+ calves,hardly ever trained em,my brothers are bigger again. Lotsa guys train em for years and get nothing.

Yeah. I have fairly slim calves and although i've been able to thicken them slightly, you are right that there's only a small area for improvement. What you will be able to do, though, is to strengthen them significantly over time. If you care about the strength of your calves, then it's great. If you don't; probably just a waste of time really.

I'd never worked calves up until around 3 or 4 months ago, and have always had naturally skinny legs (below the knees). When i measured them (for shits and giggles) at the start of the year, they were 14inches in circumference. After 3 or 4 months of standard calf raises (both standing and sitting), they now measure at just on 17". So i think there's definitely room for building mass there. Just how much more I can build is a mystery, though.

 

[Mancey]

What guy doesn't like to bench? I'm certainly no different. Nothing better than conquering an extra 5kg or so.

3 reps of 6 x 130 right now, 3 sets of 6 x 110 on incline

Hate the day i have to do legs tho. Its a necessary evil so i don't look like a seagull.

Some of those gym stuff up youtubes made me cringe. About 2 years ago i was benching about a 100kg on incline without a spotter. Pretty dumb, but my usual partner had the flu. Anyway, i dropped the rack a slot to make it easier to get the bar back up on the last rep. Problem was, on the last rep i lifted the bar too high, and as i went to drop it back on the rack, one side of the bar actually went over the top of the backstops

The weight instantly pulled my left arm back behind my body and ripped the shoulder out of the socket like a chicken wing. Prognosis...1 full reconstruction

 

[Kong]

What guy doesn't like to bench? I'm certainly no different. Nothing better than conquering an extra 5kg or so.

3 reps of 6 x 130 right now, 3 sets of 6 x 110 on incline

Hate the day i have to do legs tho. Its a necessary evil so i don't look like a seagull.

Is that meant to be "3 sets of 6(reps) x 130"? I only ask because you have "3 sets of 6 x....." for incline.

 

[Mancey]

Is that meant to be "3 sets of 6(reps) x 130"? I only ask because you have "3 sets of 6 x....." for incline.

Soz, yes..typo

 

[Kong]

boy, this thread sure died. going in a slightly different direction..
what are some of people's before/after stats for their gym progress? i.e. mine are:

height: 184cm / 185cm
weight: 70kg / 96kg
bench: 55kg(x8) / 105kg(x10)
deads : 80kg(x10) / 150kg(x6)
squats: 50kg(x10) / 105kg(x6) [3 months' progress]
military press: 35kg(x12) / 100kg(x10) [smith]
bicep curl: ??? / 27.5kg(8-10) [single-arm dumbbell]
arm circumference: 13"? / 18"

would be interesting to hear everyone's progress, even if you weigh 50kg lift even less.
i feel before/after are possibly the best gauge of people's progress in the gym, especially over things such as these forums.

 

[james_omahoney]

boy, this thread sure died. going in a slightly different direction..
what are some of people's before/after stats for their gym progress? i.e. mine are:
before after
weight 70kg 96kg
bench 55kg(x8) 105kg (x10)
deads
squats
military press
bicep curl

got half-way through posting this and lost concentration, so will have to edit it at a later date. but you get the picture.

height 188 / 190
weight 80kg / 105kg
bench 50kg x 10 / 130kg x 8
arm circumference 35 cm / 48cm (14" / 19")

 

[Schism]

boy, this thread sure died. going in a slightly different direction..
what are some of people's before/after stats for their gym progress? i.e. mine are:
before after
weight 70kg 96kg
bench 55kg(x8) 105kg (x10)
deads
squats
military press
bicep curl

got half-way through posting this and lost concentration, so will have to edit it at a later date. but you get the picture.

height 180/180
weight 90/124
bench ???/160'ish
deads ???/220'ish
squats - don't do them at the moment,injuries
military/shoulder - ???/110 although i usually keep it to 90'ish,shoulders are very clicky/grindy these days
biceps - dunno,i don't do them because of tendon probs,used to 50ish but never really been a big bicep trainer

All the numbers are for when i'm training seriously,these days i drift a bit mainly due to injuries. Train for 8 or 9 months, then just stop for 6 months for a break. Been doing that for 5 years. I would like to train solid for 2 years AND get on the juice, just to see what is possible,but at 31 it might not happen

 

[Schism]

True,but i don't have the motivation of making money out of training

I'm sure i will give it a huge effort at some point in the next couple of years,but the planets have to be aligned first.Dramas,you know how it is.

edit:dodgy,i answered a post that no longer exists

 

[Kong]

True,but i don't have the motivation of making money out of training

I'm sure i will give it a huge effort at some point in the next couple of years,but the planets have to be aligned first.Dramas,you know how it is.

edit:dodgy,i answered a post that no longer exists

haha sorry about that, i re-read my post and thought i sounded like a bit of a douche. but fair point. i'd love to make money out of all the hard work i put in, but at the end of the day it's a full-time gig and it's probably not realistic enough to pursue, unfortunately.
btw, great lifts!

 

[james_omahoney]

haha sorry about that, i re-read my post and thought i sounded like a bit of a douche. but fair point. i'd love to make money out of all the hard work i put in, but at the end of the day it's a full-time gig and it's probably not realistic enough to pursue, unfortunately.
btw, great lifts!

What about my lifts?

 

[omit]

Is it possible to do bench presses without a bench using dumbells?

you should check out this youtube channel www.youtube.com/scooby1961 this guy gives really helpfull advice and tips for working out at home

 

[Kong]

What about my lifts?

lol you only posted bench!

 

[james_omahoney]

lol you only posted bench!

2 - one for each arm pushing the bar.

 

[omit]

2 - one for each arm pushing the bar.

well i prefer my left arm pushing the bar, not that i have anything against my right. i just think it's more impressive to do bench presses only using your non dominant side. it also leaves my right arm free to eat sandwiches with

 

[GymRat]

Mine would be the bench for sure. good for the chest, and i can lift more on it than n e thing else.

After reading this article:
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/artic...e8fb6857102110VgnVCM20000012281eac____&page=3

mine would have to be the hanging leg raise.

I have always wondered why this exercise is so popular with the gym bunnies.

Has anyone here had such an experience?

 

[Schism]

I think my fav these days is the heavy barbell row. I didn't know what size and strength were until i started doing deads and heavy rows.

 

[Kong]

I think my fav these days is the heavy barbell row. I didn't know what size and strength were until i started doing deads and heavy rows.

i love the row, too. it was around the time i started doing them that i noticed my back really packing on the mass. i don't mind deads; i feel like more of a man doing squats though. only began them about 2 or 3 months ago, and have gone up a weight each week. today i was absolutely spent at the end of my four sets. spent like a mofo!

 

[mcgarnacle]

yes!

i agree with both of you, although i prefer it 'pendlay' style.

but out of curiosity..........how do you do them??

shoulder-width (or just a little wider than shoulder-width grip), and driving the elbows back behind the body?

much wider than shoulder-width grip, and bringing the shoulder blades together on the contraction?

upright stance? parallel to floor? in between?

underhand grip?? overhand??

mix it up?

surprisingly, i dont see many people do this most basic of weight room exercises. generally, people prefer the one-arm DB row and placing one knee on a bench , over use of the pulldown, or other machine and cable rows.

they could replace all of the nonsense back exercises by simply doing rows with a barbell, and b/w or weighted pullups. that's just my IMO. if you bench press (and that is basically all of us), then you should barbell row or bench pull.

 

[Schism]

Overhand,shoulder width grip (which would equal wide grip for most people ),bent at around 45 degrees or sometimes lower,depending on how my lower back is feeling at the time. I can't do underhand with any real weight,kills my wrists.

I'm not sure how people can do pendlays or almost 90 degree bent rows,it is physically impossible for me.I'm of the opinion that around 45 or slightly lower is perfect anyway,targets the upper middle back nicely. To me,pendlay style is the same as seated cable rows with the straight bar.

 

[Kong]

i do them slightly wider than shoulder-width, probably about 2 inches wider on each side?
about 45 degrees, overhand, making sure i contract my shoulder blades as i lift, trying to keep my legs/core as still as possible.
very powerful exercise!
i too rarely see people doing them, although i like to think i've converted two guys, who often ask me for opinions on exercises