Oh and as for this sentiment - get over this young bullshit. Just be middle-aged and jacked. You’re gonna be middle-aged anyway.
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I look better now than I ever did when I was younger and at 36 I look better than many guys in their 20’s. You can most definitely reach your goal it just takes a few years unless you are super disciplined (I don’t remember where you are at so it may not take that long). TRT done right is an advantage over everyone not on TRT.
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I would love a training partner. I’m in the Seattle area. Maybe getting a gym membership for that leg press would help with that.
Yeah I’m in the other corner of the nation. You mentioned having a hard time progressing on BP. That can be a hard movement to peak on solo just because of the consequences of failure. Grab a membership somewhere and work on supine machine press in all kinds of rep ranges for a bit - you may find when you go back to barbell BP you are much stronger. A lot of bodybuilders rarely even touch bench press.
Same here. I haven’t bench pressed in almost (2) years. @galgenstrick Just switch over to dumbbell presses. They are superior for chest and strength development anyway. I personally don’t miss the bench and enjoy telling people who ask “what do you bench?”… me: “I don’t”
How does this look for programming. It’s Johnny Candito’s strength hypertrophy program modified with the lifts I can do. It’s an upper/lower split with lower rep at the beginning of the week and high rep at the end of the week.
It looks pretty good. IMO most programs that have credibility (which canditos does) will work if you give it good effort.
I would still encourage you to try to find ways in which you can squat and deadlift. You might not be able to use full rom. That is okay. I have just gotten so much mass from those movements, and long term progression is possible with them.
You certainly don’t need to do them, and there are examples of jacked individuals who don’t. I just think they very efficient tools to use it you can.
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I’ve been trying to get an open ended hex bar for a while now. I’ll pick one up as soon as they’re back in stock. That should let me squat and deadlift with less shearing stress on the low back.
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I don’t think the open ended part is necessary. Most hex bars have high and low handles. Putting blocks or mats under can really help too.
I’m a powerlifter, so many times I’ve had to find work arounds for different issues I’ve had. I’ve used camber bars to allow me to squat and not aggravate shoulders and elbows. I’ve done high box squats when hips and low back are tight or tweeked. A front squat might be useful for low back.
I don’t believe everyone is able to do competition lifts. The mobility and bone structure isn’t there same for everyone. I do think many who throw out those lifts haven’t tried very many things. I think a good portion could find a safe effective way of doing them.
Completely agree. But I like them for three reasons. They have the built in stands to you can just turn it on it’s side to load plates. Also the open ended part allows you to do split squats and maybe a couple other exercises you can’t do with the full bar. And third, you can store it on it’s side, so it takes up less space.
They do have advantages. How much do they cost? I’ve only seen really high end ones on the market.
They can also be used as a yolk which is useful.
Another thing I should mention for people who have issues with rom is accommodating resistance. I’ve done this when beat up. Using bands or chains allows the lift to be heavier on the top end, which makes the load on the hips and low back less during most demanding portion of the lift for them.
This is the one I’ve been eyeballing
It looks really nice, but $500 is a lot of money. You could get a standard hex bar for about 100. If you have lots of disposable money, that’s one thing. If not, is the extra utility worth it?
For loading weights, a really simple solution is to roll the first plate onto a weight belt.
A standard hex can be stored close to upright too.
Any suggestions? If it’s not an open ended one, it needs to be rackable.
Rackable is going to be tough. Why does it need to be rackable?
Technically it doesn’t, that at least gets me the advantage of storage and ease of loading the plates. But if that ends up being super expensive also, then one that isn’t rackable will probably do fine, I can always sell it if I want to upgrade.
This is what I do for easy loading when using the hex bar.
It works quite well actually.
For storage, you could get a vertical bar holder as a rack attachment. Or just lean it against a wall.
Btw, that channel I linked is full of good info even if you don’t powerlift.
Any brand recommendations for the bar?
Yeah. I’ve done that too when I was deadlifting. I would just roll the bar onto a 2.5lb plate. They make these deadlift jacks too.
Another thing I need to consider is that I currently have rogue hi temp plates, they’re really wide and if the bar has short sleeves I wouldn’t be able to load them up very much.