How much are the day passes over there?
I remember it used to be common to get like a one day freebie or a week long trial for free. Maybe they’d charge like $5-10 for a day.
Now it’s $20 usd for a day pass when the month costs $30.
Just curious if the trend jumped the pond or not.
My gym memebrrship is £28 per month (as a reference), I’m just at a pure gym now and the day pass is £9.99, their monthly membership here is £33.
So it’s almost a third just for one day. This place is a commercial gym though and it’s the first time I’ve been in a commercial gym in about 10 years.
I hate it though! They’ve got good kit but I’m surrounded by scantily clad young woman and people with tripods.
What a bloody hell hole! At least I can get a decent workout done.
1st October 2024 Week 36 - Lower body Strength (cutting week 9)
Different gym so struggled with knowing what weights were etc.
Mobility Work.
TBDL
This trap bar was shown as 28kg
120kg 4 sets of 3.
Didn’t have my belt or straps with me.
Laying hamstring curls
45kg 4 sets of 8 reps
Cable ab crunches
4 sets of 8-12 reps
Good girl
3 sets of 10
Bad girl
3 sets of 10
Didn’t do my cardio as they only had rubbish bikes i couldn’t sprint on. Also eaten like shit today as i’m away with work and been provided breakfast and lunch. Not massive quantities but poor quality macros.
Trying to plan my next block of training.
Current thoughts:
Issues i had before
I need to read about the amount of volume to use when running a rest pause type programme and i need to pick the correct movements for me.
Also really need to get the right carb sources and right carb quantity.
Most id recommend is a top set and a backdown rest-pause set for any movement. Maybe 2 or 3 movements per bodypart. One is fine for smaller muscles like rear delts.
Just a rest pause set is fine for each movement though.
The less processed, the better. Potatoes, rice, fruits.
Assuming your protein and fats stay the same, add 50g carbs daily for a week or two and see how the scale and mirror respond.
Then add another 50g carbs.
Then another.
Until you’re seeing a slow and steady weight gain. Half a pound per week is plenty.
Lots of ways to handle this… any idea what method you want to use?
@davemccright @TrainForPain Any good reading recommendations guys ??
I think good guidelines here would be as follows per session:
Upper
1 Chest Press
1 Chest Isolation
1 Delt Press
1 Delt Isolation
1 Back Width
1 Back Thickness
1 Triceps
1 Biceps
1 Forearm
Lower
1 Hamstring Isolation
1-2 Thigh Compound depending on whether on machine or free weight
1 Quad Isolation
2 Deadlift variation (Dumbbell or Barbell Stiff Legs) here you would probably do one heavy set and lighter high rep backoff
1 Adductor
1 Calf
Rest times would be about 10-15 deep breaths between mini sets and probably be 3 minutes between sets for Compound and 2 minutes after isolation movements.
In terms of exercise selection, you want different exercises for your A session than you have for your B session. Back Thickness you want to go for dumbbell row, Barbell Row, Smith row, 2 Arm Dumbbell Row… something along those lines. Back width would be a pull-up, Pulldown, Rack Chin. For Compound Thigh, if you’re on a machine like Leg Press or hack Squat, you can do rest pause. If you do a free weight movement like squat or front squat, go heavy set, lighter back-off set.
If you find that recovery is a struggle, go from 4 sessions a week to 3 and use an A1/B1/A2 B2/A1/B1 A2/B2/A1 B2/A2/B1, etc. rotation. Try to add a rep whenever you return to an exercise until you hit the top of your rep range on set 1(I recommend 12 for Compound and 15 for isolation).
I think that about covers my thoughts. Feel free to let me know if you have any follow-up questions!
Always appreciate the tag. DC is my only dedicated experience to such a program, so that would be my default. I tend to overdo volume when left to my own devices.
3rd October 2024 Week 36 - Lower body Strength (cutting week 9)
DB Incline Press
36kg DBs
3 sets of 9 reps
Single Arm HS seated row
47kg
x 10 x 10 x 12
Pec Dec
70kg 3 sets of 11 reps
Lat pull down
70kg 3 sets of 11 reps
Cable lat raises
15kg 3 sets of 10 reps
Incline DB curl
12kg DBs
x 12 x 12 x 11
Tricep metal bar bent over extension
65lbs 3 sets of 11 reps
What has worked well for me before is having a protein only breakfast and or lunch on a Saturday and Sunday and then when i have that big (bigger than normal) weekend meal or a dessert i’m not going into too many extra calories territory.
Before i’ve usually used white rice as a good staple, assume white rice or oats are ok? Where i’ve failed is when i’ve been short on time i’ve ended up having bread and having too much bread as it never fills me up. in a cut i’m amazing a meal prep, in a bulk i end up being caught off guard.
@davemccright Cheers for the information. I’ll write something up and see what people think.
Yes. Any ancient grains, really. Digestion is the name of the game according to every dude that makes me look small.
Walk 10mims after every meal.
Eat every few hours.
Keep fats as low as you can.
Protein right at that 2.2g/kg (to give you more room for carbs in your macros).
The rest as carbs, preferably biased towards your training timeframe, but still avoiding big spikes throughout the day.
Some dudes like to do fasted cardio in the morning to help them stay insulin sensitive.
These guys are also pushing crazy amounts of gear, HGH, insulin, etc. So that’s a bigger concern for them than us.
Could always throw in a low day on non training days. Those calories arent going towards muscle anyways.
*just tools at your disposal
Right so here is my plan. Sorry long post incoming, I’ll update this when I’ve finished 100% planning everything but needed to start writing this down so I remember.
12 weeks planned.
1. Diet
Week days
Training days
Coffee
Train
2 scoops protein, creatine, 1 pint skimmed milk and 50g oats
Snack - 3 eggs, 3 whites, 1 pint skimmed milk
Lunch - 50g protein (any different meat), , 100g white rice
Dinner - meat, potatoes veg
Need to add a pre workout snack to boast energy or some intra workout that’s dead cheap. Haven’t decided yet.
Happy for suggestions?
Non training days
Breakfast - 3 eggs, 3 whites, 25g oats, 1 pint skimmed milk
Snack - 2 scoops why, creatine & skimmed milk 1 pint
Lunch - 50g protein (any different meat), 50g white rice
Dinner - meat, potatoes veg
Saturday & Sunday
I’ll go for a protein only breakfast and lunch and then enjoy a massive more relaxed dinner.
If it’s a weekend I’m playing rugby I will increase carb intake.
As far a supplements go, multi vit, vit D, creatine, ZMA and ashwanda at the moment.
2. Training
Rest pause on 8-12 rep target for first set, then 3 more sets.
Monday
1 rest pause - HS machine Press
1 rest pause - Pull Ups
1 rest pause - pec dec
1 rest pause - cable row
1 rest pause - viking press
1 rest pause - tricep cable bent over extension
1 rest pause - Bicep hammer curl
Tuesday
1 rest pause - TBDL squats
1 rest pause seated hamstring curl
1 rest pause - cable ab crunches
Bike sprint work
Need to finish this plan. I’ll see how long that takes me but that really.
Wednesday
No training
Thursday
1 rest pause - DB slight incline press
1 Chest Isolation - tbc
1 Delt Press - HS machine press
1 Rest pause - cable lat raises
1 rest pause - chins
1 rest pause - cable row
1 rest pause - metal bar extension
1 Rest Pause - incline DB curls
Thursday evening I go to rugby training. I my doesn’t seem to matter than
Friday
If I go to rugby training (which 99% of the time I do) I’ll just do a 30 minute legs bums and tums YouTube workout at home. That seems to hit all my weak points at the moment.
Also after Thursday evenings rugby training I can’t really go to the gym Friday without a lot of grief from the wife (which isn’t worth it). So a home workout only. I do have some weights but I’ll see how this goes.
Saturday
Rugby every 2/3 weeks.
3. Sports
I’m going to be playing rugby but not every week. I’ve got family commitments and my body just can’t take it any more.
I’ll have to watch my fatigue on weeks that I do play as I don’t want to have a knackered body before playing.
4. Life
At the moment life is pretty steady in a lot of areas. I currently looking for a new job again. I’ve done 2 years at my current place in December but the projects I was promised before joining the company haven’t come, so I’m getting bored and frustrated.
At home things are going well, just need to work on helping my partner have more time to herself. She’s an amazing wife and mum but she’s poor at looking after her own needs. Not sure how I’m going to do this yet but I will try.
Sorry that was long. I’ll see how those extra carbs go and hope I’m adding strength and a little weight each week.
7th October 2024 Week 37 - Upper body A Rest Pause (gaining week 1)
Rest Pause - 8-12 rep target on main set, 3 rest pause sets, 25 seconds rest between mini sets. 3 minutes rest between exercises (2m on isolation ones)
HS Chest press
45kg each side
x 12 (RP x 4 x 3 x 3)
Chins - this didn’t work
x 6 (then moved to lat pull down lat pull down 84kg x 3 x 4 x 4)
Viking Press
56kg x 12 (RP x 4 x 4 x 4)
Seated Cable Row
84kg x 12 (RP x 4 x 3 x 3 )
Pec Dec
73kg x 12 (RP x 4 x 4 x 4)
Bent over tricep cable extensions
11 weight on rack
x 11 (RP x 34 x 3 x 2)
Hammer curls
16kg DBs
x 12 (RP x 5 x 5 x 4)
Enjoyed my first RP session, i found training to proper failure again fun and challenging. Also enjoyed feeling full for breakfast for once.
Intra workout i ate one of my kids cereal type bars, it gave me a good boast half way through. Was 200 calories but i need to find a longer term intra solution that’s cheap and easy.
banana ?
Pineapple juice.
Doesn’t have to be pineapple, but I like BJs, this helps me get them, and it helps my workouts.
Do people still say bi-winning?
I’ve previously mixed this with EAAs so I could get more protein in, and it felt like it helped.
You could also do PB&J or something, just try to keep the fats a bit lower if you can.
Take the kids out for a walk. 30-45 minutes a day is plenty.
If she needs more time than that, then plan for a longer hike, or sporting event - maybe once a week.
Works pretty well with my wife… She ends up feeling lonely and missing both of us within like an hour, so she appreciates us more when we come back.
8th October 2024 Week 37 - Lower Body Rest Pause (gaining week 1)
Rest Pause - 8-12 rep target on main set, 3 rest pause sets, 25 seconds rest between mini sets. 3 minutes rest between exercises (2m on isolation ones)
Mobility Work
TBDL - squat style
113kg x 9 (RP x 4 x 3 x 3 )
Seated Hamstring Curl
75kg x 12 (RP x 4 x 4 x 4)
Calf Raises
65 (not sure if lbs of kg) x 10 (RP x 6 x 6 x 6)
Cable Crunches
16 weight on rack x 12 (RP x 5 x 4 x 4)
Sprints on assault bike - this nearly killed me today
10 second sprints, 20 seconds rest 8 sets
10th October 2024 Week 37 - Upper Body B Session- Rest Pause (gaining week 1)
DB Incline Press
36kg DBs x 9 (RP zero - couldn’t get the DBs back up and thought this exercise doesn’t work well for RP) - might switch out next week for Smith incline or no flat DB press.
HS Shoulder Press
45kg each side x 10 (RP x 4 x 4 x 3)
Chins - palms facing each other
x 8 (RP x 2 x 2 x 2)
HS Machine Seated Rows - single arm at a time
47kg x 12 (RP x 6 x 5 x 5)
Cable Lat Raises
15kg x 12 (RP x 7 x 7 x 6)
Incline Bicep Curls
14kg Dbs x 12 (RP x 5 x 4 x 4)
Tricep bent over metal bar extensions
70kg x 12 (RP x 5 x 4 x 4)
Thank you @simo74 i had a banana had way through the session and it massively helped.
So incline DB press didn’t work for me doing rest pause, will smith to either flat DB press or smith incline press.
Yeah, you’ll probably have the same issues with DB flat that you did with DB incline.
Smith incline is awesome.
Incline Hammer Strength machines are awesome too.
+1 for banana love.
Wait, that came out wrong
I was going to say, Who doesn’t love a good banana but that also sounded a bit wrong.
Played 60 minutes of rugby at the weekend. Played ok but had Harvey legs even before I started the game.
I think that’s either dehydration, lack of carbs or too much volume in the week. Will have to review that for next weekend.
Also fractured my finger, annoying but with some electrical tape it’s good to go 
