Brotherhood of Iron 2.0

Training Bodybuilding
3321

[quote]Robert P. wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:

way too much to quote everything again :smiley:

I make sure to do as many free weight movements as possible, but I have a really hard time “feeling” my back on many of them, and I’m hoping using the exercises that really make me feel it will improve that mind muscle connection.

Also, like I said, my chins are pathetic, my pullups are even worse, but I definitely feel my bis less. I’m probably going to start off my arm days with chins and switch the chins on back day for pullups, and see how that works out.

As for the squatting issue, I’m trying, but I really have a pretty special situation. The chiro didn’t tell me I wasn’t allowed to squat, but I really am not physically able to do it. I can squat down, but my heels lift of the floor and my back rounds way before I get anywhere close to parallel.

I don’t know anybody with a similar issue, I guess my only choice is to keep working on it and meanwhile, do other exercises for my legs. It really pisses me off, too, as the squat would be a great overall mass builder as well.[/quote]

I think that you need to work up strength in your biceps or even do the chin movement on the pulldown machine to build up strength. Or just gradually keep beating your log book until you can hit 12-15 in a row :slight_smile: lol

With squatting have you tried pointing your toes outward and widening your stance?

I hate diagnosing technique online, but I seriously think if I was there I could help you squat. lol That problem with your heels coming off the ground is a balance thing because of your form. Your quads try and take the bulk of the lifting I believe and this causes you to push from your toes. I could be wrong but I see it a lot.

Try widening your stance and slightly pointing your toes outward…see if that doesn’t fix it. Force yourself to keep an arch in your back, don’t let it round.

This lift isn’t easy by any means, but after you said what your problem is I believe it is just your body responding to bad form for your body if that makes sense.

Unless you are a mutant with different or extra muscles and bones you can squat.

DG

3322

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Robert P. wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:

Again, too much to quote…

DG[/quote]

Like I said, if I do the chins at the beginning instead of at the end of the workout, I can get a fairly solid 10-12 reps (not dead hang, but good ROM). I used to hate them, so it’s just a matter of doing them more often.

As for the squat, you’re right, I just tried it and I can squat. I just never thought of widening my stance that far, my feet are at least 1.5 x shoulderwidth apart and have an angle of about 120 degrees between them. Is that still acceptable?

3323

[quote]Robert P. wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Robert P. wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:

Again, too much to quote…

DG

Like I said, if I do the chins at the beginning instead of at the end of the workout, I can get a fairly solid 10-12 reps (not dead hang, but good ROM). I used to hate them, so it’s just a matter of doing them more often.

As for the squat, you’re right, I just tried it and I can squat. I just never thought of widening my stance that far, my feet are at least 1.5 x shoulderwidth apart and have an angle of about 120 degrees between them. Is that still acceptable?[/quote]

Sounds good with the Chins.

I see no problems with squatting that way, in fact many people do squat with a wider than shoulder width stance and slightly outward pointing toes.

I was a catcher in baseball my entire life even up through my first few years of college so I’ve done my share of ‘squatting’ lol Most coaches teach a toes forward approach but I couldn’t move back there, and wasn’t very flexible…I could almost point my toes away from my body to both sides and squat down, almost dragging my ass on the ground, also very flexible. So changing the angle of your feet makes a big difference sometimes.

Just perfrom some bodyweight sets and then light weights to let your body get used to squatting that way and you should be fine.

Add some weights and woo hoo your know squatting ;D lol

I don’t see any problems anybody else care to chime in?

DG

3324

Back

Tested my deadlift max to see where I’m at.(Haven’t done them in months) Hit 455 easy and failed at 475. My quads are basically nonexistent because of my knee problem, so once I finally get back into squatting consistently my deadlift numbers should shoot up. (Especially since I can lock out close to 700… I basically just need more power off the floor.)

Yates Rows
135lbsx10
205lbsx8
275lbsx10

Dead-hang Pullups
BWx13
*WTF? I get 13 reps every time… Maybe it’s just because of the weight I’m gaining. 208lbs as of today. :open_mouth: I’ll just have to try some linear progression with pulldowns instead.

Had to leave early so I didn’t do anything else.

3325

Robert P, do you have anything (doorway or something) you can do pullups on outside of the gym? For me, and most other people I know, getting better at bodyweight chinups and pullups is simply a matter of doing them a lot. I’ve brought my dead-hang pullups from 12 to 18 in a little over a month just by doing 1 or 2 sets 5-6 days a week.

3326

[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Robert P, do you have anything (doorway or something) you can do pullups on outside of the gym? For me, and most other people I know, getting better at bodyweight chinups and pullups is simply a matter of doing them a lot. I’ve brought my dead-hang pullups from 12 to 18 in a little over a month just by doing 1 or 2 sets 5-6 days a week. [/quote]

Actually, I have a bar in my rooms doorway, I’m a homegym trainer anyway. Problem is, I only use my room on the weekends while I’m in the military. However, I’m currently on vacation, so I’ll try to do at least one set a day until I have to go back.

3327

OK so my truck took a shit today (starter) and I’ve been trying to get a rental all day and finally got one.

It’s legs tonite after a 10 day leg layoff :S

I’m going to hurt for the next couple days…

LOL life sure is funny sometimes everything is all good in the hood then bam! malfuncion, with the truck and a few other things today overall it has pretty much caused my life to suck…lol but at least now I can have some fun rockin a rental. lol

DG

3328

Talking about things going from good to terrible… it’s been a rocky few days. I’m not 100% sure what is happening yet (hard to explain) but once I know I will tell you guys.

I got some of the bad news while I was at the gym which undoubtedly threw off my workout… on top of that I hadn’t eaten for many hours beforehand and had a weird schedule today… AND on top of all that, my chest was kinda hurting in the same spot as before (not so acute as last time… a lot more dull pain, closer to an extreme tightness).

Anyways, not really worth posting numbers. Warmed up on flat bench to 245 when I really noticed the left pec, so I stopped… I was so shocked from the news too that I was feeling weak… you know that feeling where you like, can’t make a fist?

Went to try to do In-Humans really focusing on keeping the chest out of it… the angled smith felt really fucked up the weight felt heavy and it was hurting my right shoulder for some reason… so I stopped. Did some pressdowns… and since I don’t think I’m gonna lift tomorrow I did Yates rows which went fine, worked up to a set of 315 for 12. Worked calves, then left.

What a fucked up couple days.

3329

how do any of you guys feel about doing dc stretches even if your not doing dc

3330

[quote]crod266 wrote:
how do any of you guys feel about doing dc stretches even if your not doing dc[/quote]

Do em’ they work wonders.

But remember to start light, for example on the dc chest stretch, you can always use lighter db’s and hold the stretch position longer, then you can super heavy ones and end up hurting yourself serverly.

3331

Damn looks like its fucking sucks week for lots of us!

Today was sad to say the least…weighed in at a pathetic 212 lbs. I’m really hoping that’s because yesterday I didn’t lift since it would have been chest and shoulder isn’t 100% yet so I wasn’t motivated to eat as much. But I then made the mistake of taking measurements because the weight loss shocked me (last week was 216 and I ate A LOT over the Holidays and weekend). So I have barely lost 1/2" on the waist and I actually lost close to 1/2" on my fucking upper arm measurement too.

Really really sad/angry/etc about this right now. Hopefully its just the muscle being a bit flat due to not being able to train it hard in its usual way the last couple weeks and not eating enough yesterday. I’ll re-check weight tomorrow after today as long as today ends up getting to be a lifting day (not sure if gym is gunna be open).

BTW the only thing that’s really changed in my routine is adding the morning fasted cardio like a month ago along with taking green tea extract and 200mg caffein before the walk. My eating is about the same as it has been for the last few weeks. So I’m really pissed and blaming myself for this, since I’m assuming its all from not being able to properly train anything except back and legs. Pressdowns and Cable Concentration Curls really aren’t enough for the arms so they aren’t getting worked for shit either. Sigh…

3332

[quote]josh86 wrote:
Damn looks like its fucking sucks week for lots of us!

Today was sad to say the least…weighed in at a pathetic 212 lbs. I’m really hoping that’s because yesterday I didn’t lift since it would have been chest and shoulder isn’t 100% yet so I wasn’t motivated to eat as much. But I then made the mistake of taking measurements because the weight loss shocked me (last week was 216 and I ate A LOT over the Holidays and weekend). So I have barely lost 1/2" on the waist and I actually lost close to 1/2" on my fucking upper arm measurement too.

Really really sad/angry/etc about this right now. Hopefully its just the muscle being a bit flat due to not being able to train it hard in its usual way the last couple weeks and not eating enough yesterday. I’ll re-check weight tomorrow after today as long as today ends up getting to be a lifting day (not sure if gym is gunna be open).

BTW the only thing that’s really changed in my routine is adding the morning fasted cardio like a month ago along with taking green tea extract and 200mg caffein before the walk. My eating is about the same as it has been for the last few weeks. So I’m really pissed and blaming myself for this, since I’m assuming its all from not being able to properly train anything except back and legs. Pressdowns and Cable Concentration Curls really aren’t enough for the arms so they aren’t getting worked for shit either. Sigh…[/quote]

youll make it dude, just a little divit but it aint nothing.

3333

You’re supposed to lose some weight due to that am cardio etc dude? If you could train and get stronger, then your weight might stay pretty much the same and you’d still lean out… But as it is, no training, no increase in muscle-mass. No worries there.

3334

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
You’re supposed to lose some weight due to that am cardio etc dude? If you could train and get stronger, then your weight might stay pretty much the same and you’d still lean out… But as it is, no training, no increase in muscle-mass. No worries there.
[/quote]

Actually on the lifts I am still able to do I’m still making great progress on strength on both the heavy and lighter sets…what has me pissed is that I can’t train my chest/shoulders/arms and I have lost like 1/3" on my upper arm measurement. And the weight loss shock was that I dropped 4 lb. in one week lol. I’m gunna chalk that up to not eating enough yesterday and being overly depleted this morning.

Leg Press heavy set added 40 lbs. this week and got 8 reps. Previous week was 40 lbs. lighter and 10 reps. Widowmaker added 10lb and got 20 still.

Rack pull last week jumped 20 lbs and got 1 or 2 rep less on heavy set. 20 lbs on the lighter set and got only 1 rep less.

Its just the not being able to train everything like I’m supposed to. Oh well I’m gunna try hard not to dwell on it and just tell myself I will rebound and shoot past everything when I can train chest/shoulders/arms balls to the walls again!

3335

[quote]josh86 wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
You’re supposed to lose some weight due to that am cardio etc dude? If you could train and get stronger, then your weight might stay pretty much the same and you’d still lean out… But as it is, no training, no increase in muscle-mass. No worries there.

Actually on the lifts I am still able to do I’m still making great progress on strength on both the heavy and lighter sets…what has me pissed is that I can’t train my chest/shoulders/arms and I have lost like 1/3" on my upper arm measurement. And the weight loss shock was that I dropped 4 lb. in one week lol. I’m gunna chalk that up to not eating enough yesterday and being overly depleted this morning.

Leg Press heavy set added 40 lbs. this week and got 8 reps. Previous week was 40 lbs. lighter and 10 reps. Widowmaker added 10lb and got 20 still.

Rack pull last week jumped 20 lbs and got 1 or 2 rep less on heavy set. 20 lbs on the lighter set and got only 1 rep less.

Its just the not being able to train everything like I’m supposed to. Oh well I’m gunna try hard not to dwell on it and just tell myself I will rebound and shoot past everything when I can train chest/shoulders/arms balls to the walls again!
[/quote]

Hey, that’s actually great progress!
The smaller upper-arm measurement is probably just due to less glycogen/water being stored in the muscles because you’re not working out… Or fat-loss on your arms… Don’t worry about that. Muscle-memory will take care of this once you get back to training everything.

3336

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
josh86 wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
You’re supposed to lose some weight due to that am cardio etc dude? If you could train and get stronger, then your weight might stay pretty much the same and you’d still lean out… But as it is, no training, no increase in muscle-mass. No worries there.

Actually on the lifts I am still able to do I’m still making great progress on strength on both the heavy and lighter sets…what has me pissed is that I can’t train my chest/shoulders/arms and I have lost like 1/3" on my upper arm measurement. And the weight loss shock was that I dropped 4 lb. in one week lol. I’m gunna chalk that up to not eating enough yesterday and being overly depleted this morning.

Leg Press heavy set added 40 lbs. this week and got 8 reps. Previous week was 40 lbs. lighter and 10 reps. Widowmaker added 10lb and got 20 still.

Rack pull last week jumped 20 lbs and got 1 or 2 rep less on heavy set. 20 lbs on the lighter set and got only 1 rep less.

Its just the not being able to train everything like I’m supposed to. Oh well I’m gunna try hard not to dwell on it and just tell myself I will rebound and shoot past everything when I can train chest/shoulders/arms balls to the walls again!

Hey, that’s actually great progress!
The smaller upper-arm measurement is probably just due to less glycogen/water being stored in the muscles because you’re not working out… Or fat-loss on your arms… Don’t worry about that. Muscle-memory will take care of this once you get back to training everything.

[/quote]

Yeah that’s what I’m figuring. Hopefully gym will be open late enough today for me to get in there for my back workout. Looking forward to see what kind of rack chin progress I make. I was really shocked that I could hit them with 75 lbs. added in my backpack for 10,5,2 + partials. Thinking today I’ll go 90 lbs. and see what I can do. :wink: Rack Pulls I’ll be hitting the same weight and simply trying to add reps on the heavy set. Want to make sure I hit 8 with 515 before I up it another 20 lbs. The lighter set might go a bit heavier since I got 12 reps at 425 last week, I may take it up to 435 and try to get 12 again.

Thanks for the input CC, even though I already pretty much figured that. It helps to have someone outside tell you what you’re thinking to reassure it. I can probably stop being in a mad mood now. haha I got into work like all pissed off because of it this morning.

3337

Josh you baby haha. Don’t worry once you’re back to eating normally everything will be right as rain.

Gettin on the road soon to drive to Houston for the rest of the week. We’ll see if my buddy can get us into his gym otherwise I will have to get creative.

I’ll have my iphone and checking the thread but if I don’t “see you guys” (haha) you guys have a fucking awesome new years… we made 2008 a great one training wise with the start of this thread (I wasn’t around for the first one), and I BETTER see all of you posting this same kinda shit at the same time in '09!

Party hard party people.

3338

Have a good New Years Bug…but I don’t think I want to be posting the same kind of shit next year at this time…sorry.

I will be posting much larger numbers. =P (sorry I had to)

3339

So I think I’ve been gaining a bit too much fat lately… I’ve put on like 40lbs since the summer. I’m considering dropping my calories down to around 3500 as preparation for cutting before the summer.

I don’t know… Maybe I’ll still be able to keep progressing with lower calories if I keep my protein intake high?

3340

[quote]Vegg wrote:
So I think I’ve been gaining a bit too much fat lately… I’ve put on like 40lbs since the summer. I’m considering dropping my calories down to around 3500 as preparation for cutting before the summer.

I don’t know… Maybe I’ll still be able to keep progressing with lower calories if I keep my protein intake high?[/quote]

No. Both protein AND overall calorie consumption is key.

Dude, I doubt that only 3500 cals are enough for you ? You can try, of course, but if you’re going to cut later on anyway… Don’t waste your time now, bring your arms up.