Fitness and Nutrition VIII

[Kriss E]

Quad strength is probably the most important thing to have for a strong deadlift. I **** you not, I was stuck at a plateau for a whole year, if not more on deadlifts, I decided Id focus on squats, because it was lacking behind by a good bit (Hence, weak quads.), so I did the full Smolov program. I didn't deadlift for 4 months because it was a squat only program (And didn't bench, yeah, that was dumb, I just now got back to my previous 1RM from before Smolov, a year ago.) and I decided I'd test my 1RM's to build myself a personalized program... I broke the deadlift plateau. Didn't just break it, actually. I obliterated it by 80 pounds.

Sometimes stepping away from one exercise can help. Squats also build your back, hips and core a whole lot, that could have helped too.
Louis Simmons swears by sled work because he was plateauing his squats around 650lbs, he couldn't break his 1RM. He decided to not squat and do 6 weeks of sled work, he squashed his BS 1RM after those 6 weeks.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Sometimes stepping away from one exercise can help. Squats also build your back, hips and core a whole lot, that could have helped too.
Louis Simmons swears by sled work because he was plateauing his squats around 650lbs, he couldn't break his 1RM. He decided to not squat and do 6 weeks of sled work, he squashed his BS 1RM after those 6 weeks.

I hadn't been deadlifting for 2 or 3 momths prior to that. That might definitely have helped.

 

[DAChampion]

I'm in a hotel this week and I checked out the gym.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the gym dud not suck. It's not great, but it's not terrible.

Most hotel gyms strike me as being injury factories.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

I'm in a hotel this week and I checked out the gym.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that the gym dud not suck. It's not great, but it's not terrible.

Most hotel gyms strike me as being injury factories.

Most hotel gyms strike me as being completely useless if you're serious about weight lifting. Unless you want a good cardio session done, there's no way you can elicit muscle growth using 30 pounds dumbbells. Unless you're a complete beginner.

I've left disappointed everytime. But these gyms are designed for hotel clients... not your regular gym-goer crowd...

 

[Mrb1p]

Most hotel gyms strike me as being completely useless if you're serious about weight lifting. Unless you want a good cardio session done, there's no way you can elicit muscle growth using 30 pounds dumbbells. Unless you're a complete beginner.

I've left disappointed everytime. But these gyms are designed for hotel clients... not your regular gym-goer crowd...

Thats not true though. Kai Greene is a huge fan of the 30s. He does almost everything with them. The mind muscle connection is more important than the weight.

 

[waffledave]

I'm closer to a beginner than not but I feel I got noticeably "bigger" using 30-50lb dumbbells than from barbell workouts in the 100-300lbs range. Not stronger though.

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm closer to a beginner than not but I feel I got noticeably "bigger" using 30-50lb dumbbells than from barbell workouts in the 100-300lbs range. Not stronger though.

Its common knowledge that hypertrophy happens in the 8+ reps range, so it makes sense.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Thats not true though. Kai Greene is a huge fan of the 30s. He does almost everything with them. The mind muscle connection is more important than the weight.

You're telling me you can get big dumbell pressing 30 pounders? Speaking naturally, of course.

 

[Kriss E]

You're telling me you can get big dumbell pressing 30 pounders? Speaking naturally, of course.

Depends what you define as ''big''..but yes, you can achieve good muscle growth sticking to lower weights. You just need to get your TUT in order so tempo reps become more important, and you also increase reps. Also, some people have better hypertrophy response when doing higher 15-20+ reps range.
If you want to develop strength though, then ya, you need those higher loads.

 

[Mrb1p]

You're telling me you can get big dumbell pressing 30 pounders? Speaking naturally, of course.

Yes, you can. Is it optimal ? Not sure.

As I was saying, Kai Greene is the dude when it comes to that. He routinely benches 135 lbs and concentrates on the contraction, rather than moving the weight. He says something along the lines of "I'm training to look good and not to lift good" or something similar.

Ultimately you use a more varied training protocol, and Greene does heavier weights for sure, probably in the offseason, but yeah.

Efferding is also a dude that went from the classic powerlifting method to actually moving weight at a 20-30 reps scheme instead, ovbiously he moves incredible weight while doing that because he's so strong after years of working under load.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Depending on the dumbell, and obviously wouldn't work with toasters, but you can grip both dumbells with one hand and do single side work.

 

[MSLs absurd thighs]

Depends what you define as ''big''..but yes, you can achieve good muscle growth sticking to lower weights. You just need to get your TUT in order so tempo reps become more important, and you also increase reps. Also, some people have better hypertrophy response when doing higher 15-20+ reps range.
If you want to develop strength though, then ya, you need those higher loads.

Yes, you can. Is it optimal ? Not sure.

As I was saying, Kai Greene is the dude when it comes to that. He routinely benches 135 lbs and concentrates on the contraction, rather than moving the weight. He says something along the lines of "I'm training to look good and not to lift good" or something similar.

Ultimately you use a more varied training protocol, and Greene does heavier weights for sure, probably in the offseason, but yeah.

Efferding is also a dude that went from the classic powerlifting method to actually moving weight at a 20-30 reps scheme instead, ovbiously he moves incredible weight while doing that because he's so strong after years of working under load.

That's interesting... and definitely differs from your usual "ADD WEIGHT TO THE BAR IF YOU WANT TO GET BIGGER!!!" mantra everybody is parrotting on Bodybuilding forums these days.

I personally have the impression my quads actually answered quite well to 50 reps sets on the leg press. As long as you take things close to failure, I guess it can work on an hypertrophy perspective. I just always thought it has to be complementary to a heavier lift. But this perspective is also interesting.

 

[ahmedou]

Not stretching before doing exercises or sports... It's deadly for bones and muscles.

 

[DAChampion]

Depends what you define as ''big''..but yes, you can achieve good muscle growth sticking to lower weights. You just need to get your TUT in order so tempo reps become more important, and you also increase reps. Also, some people have better hypertrophy response when doing higher 15-20+ reps range.
If you want to develop strength though, then ya, you need those higher loads.

What is TUT?

 

[Justin11]

What is TUT?

Time under tension.

 

[Kriss E]

What is TUT?

As justin pointed out, it's time under tension, meaning the amount of time your muscles are being contracted.
Doing 10 reps taking 2sec, that's 20s. If you do 6 reps while taking 4 seconds to lower the weights, well that's 24sec already.
So you're muscles are actually doing more work even doing less reps.

General consensus is you should be focusing on 45s~50s of TUT to optimize hypertrophy.

 

[Fazkovsky]

1) speaking of knees, i have a mild knee sprain again this time i did over workout by accident. I didnt get injured at the gym in past 5 months. Im reading staying in bed wont fix the problem as walking will accelerate the healing process. In February, I was running a bit intense and i had runners knee but after my week of vacation in the DR its gone. The mistake i did so far is resting but today i walked too much. I had pain in the back of my knee. Its really a few days recovery thing if i just resume my life activities it shud be fine. I avoid walking too much which is frustrating.

2) speaking of women, there is two things that can get you lots of them. A pretty face and an outgoing personality. I have the first but not the second which makes me struggle to get them. Women looks mostly at face I would attract them at the gym over guys that look average but are insanely muscular.I am socially anxious but I would need a calculator to count the number of girls that found me cute.Clothes, if you dont smell like garbage or wear 70s clothes you will be fine. In the end, you only need one good woman so all of the getting women thing is extremely overrated. It’s really a matter of saving your courage and going after the one which you feel is the right one. I need to grow balls.

 

[Kriss E]

2) speaking of women, there is two things that can get you lots of them. A pretty face and an outgoing personality. I have the first but not the second which makes me struggle to get them. Women looks mostly at face I would attract them at the gym over guys that look average but are insanely muscular.I am socially anxious but I would need a calculator to count the number of girls that found me cute.Clothes, if you dont smell like garbage or wear 70s clothes you will be fine. In the end, you only need one good woman so all of the getting women thing is extremely overrated. It’s really a matter of saving your courage and going after the one which you feel is the right one. I need to grow balls.

Dude...they're just women...not a magical safe.
Just talk to them...what's the worst case? She thinks you're boring and isn't interested? Okay...who gives a shit..

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The type of women who are receptive to strange men talking to them probably aren’t the ones you want to end up with anyway. There needs to be some sort of common ground for any entry into another’s life.

If you go vegan, 3 quarters of vegans are women and a good chunk of them are really hot. You immediately make yourself a desirable commodity, just saying!

(That’s my quota filled for this incarnation of the thread lol)

 

[Mrb1p]

Women are easy, just flex really hard

 

[Mrb1p]

If you're balding just shave your head, women actually love that.

My score went up .500% when I went completely bald instead of holding to my pathetic hair.

 

[overlords]

If you're balding just shave your head, women actually love that.

My score went up .500% when I went completely bald instead of holding to my pathetic hair.

Was just discussing this with a buddy of mine while I was taunting him with my perfect hairline. Once I see a bald spot I'm going full bald immediately since I know I don't look too shabby without hair. Even better if you can compensate with a manly beard.

 

[Mrb1p]

I got the beard/bald look down pretty good.

My jawline is just average though, so its a no go.

 

[DAChampion]

I got the beard/bald look down pretty good.

My jawline is just average though, so its a no go.

You're like Hank from Breaking Bad.

 

[waffledave]

My hair is so thick and lustrous people have actually asked if it's fake. I am pretty much caucasian but I have a curly afro. I usually just slick it back though.

But my beard gets comments all the time, it's really full now. Think Jordie Benn kind of thing, but dark Brown, almost black.