[quote]GetSwole wrote:
I Like it being a feeder. Besides bringing people out of the woodwork, there are several self-proclaimed newbs who are participating here, and that is good. This thread should be like a magnet for new people who join that are actually serious about looking bigger than a mannequin at the gap.
About late night eating…
when I’m dieting, no.
If I’m not…sure.
Many people who are gaining and struggle to get in all their calories will make a shake and when they wake up to pee chug it and go back to sleep.
I don’t think pulldown machines are overrated. I just think most people use them improperly. I also don’t think smythe machines are useless and I think leg press can be a tremendous quad builder. Call me crazy.[/quote]
Call me crazy too then because I feel the leg press and smith machines are tools that should be used by bodybuilders. I’m not the biggest fan of pulldowns and they have my vote for most overrated personally, but there is a time/place for them and I still have them in my regime. They just aren’t a staple back builder for me personally.
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Call me crazy too then because I feel the leg press and smith machines are tools that should be used by bodybuilders. Gerdy
[/quote]
Agreed. I love to superset the leg press and leg extensions. Nothin’ like it.
[quote]SSC wrote:
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.[/quote]
1st paragraph: I agree 100%
2nd paragraph: yes, I get an overall upper body pump when doing heavy dips with emphasis on the chest/tris…
[quote]SSC wrote:
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.[/quote]
I don’t feel it in my lats much at all. I feel it in my shoulders, triceps, chest and even abs (considering I use a HS dip machine that allows you to add weight to it meaning my abs and hip flexors are worked just to keep me in the seat while using 100+lbs over my body weight)
[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.
I don’t feel it in my lats much at all. I feel it in my shoulders, triceps, chest and even abs (considering I use a HS dip machine that allows you to add weight to it meaning my abs and hip flexors are worked just to keep me in the seat while using 100+lbs over my body weight)[/quote]
Agreed, when I do dips I feel it most in my shoulders, triceps and chest. I’ve never felt anything in my lats.
I feel it in shoulders and almost the inside portion of my pecs when I go deeps.
Triceps as well, obviously, but the most prominent is my shoulders. For that reason I don’t use dips so much for tricep specific work but rather for a full upper body push movement.
Kind of a deadlift for the upper body, if you will.
[quote]dre wrote:
Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.
I don’t feel it in my lats much at all. I feel it in my shoulders, triceps, chest and even abs (considering I use a HS dip machine that allows you to add weight to it meaning my abs and hip flexors are worked just to keep me in the seat while using 100+lbs over my body weight)
Agreed, when I do dips I feel it most in my shoulders, triceps and chest. I’ve never felt anything in my lats.
[/quote]
[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
Just a bit off-topic for a moment - I know everyone’s commended this thread at some point or another, but I’ll throw in my .02. I think one of the biggest things that newbs can learn from this thread is that different things work for different people, and that no one routine should be followed to a T, because it may not be optimal for that individual’s progress.
New question, and you could say this follows the mind/muscle connection a bit, but does anyone else feel it in their lats or lower traps when doing heavy dips? I know if I can actually get around to grinding some out, essentially my whole upper body is incorporated into the exercise.
I don’t feel it in my lats much at all. I feel it in my shoulders, triceps, chest and even abs (considering I use a HS dip machine that allows you to add weight to it meaning my abs and hip flexors are worked just to keep me in the seat while using 100+lbs over my body weight)[/quote]
Just out of curiosity but how many reps do you get in when adding 100+lbs over your bw? I am about 60-70 lbs lighter than you lol but my most impressive is adding a 110lb dumbbell hanging from my waist while doing regular dips. I did them for 6 reps. Not like a “good for me” thing but its like a motivation thing. lol
I mostly feel it in my shoulder and chest when i do dips. i never feel it on my lats. how wide are your grips when you dip?
whats everyones opinion on reverse grip bench press? its something i dont see a lot of people doing often. great tricep builder? or potentially harmful if done improperly
[quote]GetSwole wrote:
Reverse grip done in a smythe gets a lot of buzz.
I hope ScottM might chime in, I know he’s using them right now.
I suppose they could be done with a spotter, but given the mechanics of it all, using a smythe seems to be the safer option.[/quote]
lol most of the buzz comes from me on this site I think. The DC guys love that exercise and Dante feels its THE best triceps builder so there is at least some merit to it.
Trying to mimic the smith version with free weights would best be done in a power rack using the rack as a guide. Imagine pressing into the rack trying to strip the paint off of it on the raising and lowering phase. Pushing “towards the feet” is the one benefit that you lose trying to do it traditionally with free weights that’s very important to me.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
speaking of the bench press; when its used as a primary chest builder do you think its nesecery to get the full ROM, meaning the lock out portion? i ask cause the first portion of the lift is what involves the chest and ive even read about just doing a half rep then a full rep to get better chest stimulation. anyway, im wondering what you guys think about this.[/quote]
I don’t do flat BB bench anymore (just doesn’t do much for my chest and has a fairly high incidence of injury), but when I do other variations of bench (incline, DB, HS, etc…) I don’t go to lock out.
If you pay attention to your muscles when you bench you will notice that towards the top of the motion you start to feel the emphasis shift to your shoulders and triceps (at least I do). So, I only go as high as I still feel my chest is primarily working.
Also, if you watch guys like Ronnie, Johnnie J, Branch Warren, Justin Harris, and other big strong bodybuilders bench to develop their chest, none of them locks out their reps (except perhaps towards the end of the set to rest a little).
Now, I reasoned that if you see all these huge guys doing something there must be something to it. And I’ve gotta say that I like what this method has done for my chest development. Maybe others will disagree, but that’s my experience.
[quote]GetSwole wrote:
Oh yes, most overrated excercise…
Barbell bench, and I really hate the ‘what you bench’ question. Not cuz I’m bad at it, its always been one of my strong points. I just think alot of people are shoulder benchers ( I worked very hard to get myself out of that)
and it has great potential for injury when the weight gets heavy enough.
DB bench, with a deep stretch, is a superior CHEST builder IMO.
Yes, I still bench on a regular basis, and will continue to until I hit a few goals. But, my opinion is still my opinion on the matter.[/quote]
Good post.
I also think the frequency of the “what you bench” question, combined by the sheer number of people who flat BB bench (sometimes only bench and curl) would make it a no brainer as the most overrated exercise. It also has such a huge ego component to it that it seems to get prioritized more than it’s worth.
[quote]Scott M wrote:
GetSwole wrote:
Reverse grip done in a smythe gets a lot of buzz.
I hope ScottM might chime in, I know he’s using them right now.
I suppose they could be done with a spotter, but given the mechanics of it all, using a smythe seems to be the safer option.
lol most of the buzz comes from me on this site I think. The DC guys love that exercise and Dante feels its THE best triceps builder so there is at least some merit to it.
Trying to mimic the smith version with free weights would best be done in a power rack using the rack as a guide. Imagine pressing into the rack trying to strip the paint off of it on the raising and lowering phase. Pushing “towards the feet” is the one benefit that you lose trying to do it traditionally with free weights that’s very important to me. [/quote]
Yeah, when I first started doing reverse grip smyth benches I didn’t know about the “pushing towards your feet” trick. I still felt them in my triceps of course (I have fairly decent mind/muscle connection), but once I started incorporating that “trick” I felt a notable difference and even more triceps activation.
I don’t really think you could get the same effect using just a free bar (though Scott’s Power Rack suggestion would work), even with a spotter. I just don’t think they could provide the right kind of restriction in bar path. Agree though that using the Smyth is the easiest/safest option.
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Just out of curiosity but how many reps do you get in when adding 100+lbs over your bw?
Gerdy[/quote]
That depends on when dieting or gaining. When I am gaining and eating more than enough, I usually go up to five plates a side on the HS dip machine. I go up to 4 right now and usually get 8-10 reps depending on how I feel.
Also, I hate giving how much weight I use. Most will misuse that info.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Just out of curiosity but how many reps do you get in when adding 100+lbs over your bw?
Gerdy
That depends on when dieting or gaining. When I am gaining and eating more than enough, I usually go up to five plates a side on the HS dip machine. I go up to 4 right now and usually get 8-10 reps depending on how I feel.
Also, I hate giving how much weight I use. Most will misuse that info.[/quote]
Impressive.
Ya I understand about not wanting to give weight, but since you stated you were doing 100+lbs over your bw which most people cannot do I thought I’d ask lol
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Just out of curiosity but how many reps do you get in when adding 100+lbs over your bw?
Gerdy
That depends on when dieting or gaining. When I am gaining and eating more than enough, I usually go up to five plates a side on the HS dip machine. I go up to 4 right now and usually get 8-10 reps depending on how I feel.
Also, I hate giving how much weight I use. Most will misuse that info.[/quote]
Prof X, you ever gonna do a show big guy? You’re huge, and when cut down you’d be mighty impressive. Ever give any thoughts into doing one?
lol