Post: #26

do it rex.

Post: #27

I hit a 365lb deadlift today. I'm almost back to my 405lb normal working weight for a final 1-3 reps set. In a few I'm going to see how 315 goes down on a squat. went to the doctor today and he said I'mma have to take it easy on my trick shoulder thoigh. not looking forward to pushing bitch weight on bench and over heads.

Post: #28

5x5

Squat 265
Bench 225
Dl 315

Support excercises such as leg curls, rear delt flies, and ytwl sprint as often as possible
Ive been lifting on and off for 9 years used to be a pathetic 5'11" 115lb 19% bf

Currently 6'0" 185 16% bf so I put on 70+ pounds of muscle in my lifting career! still weak as shit compared to other veterans

Post: #29

All I do is various chinups and dips (day one) and dips, incline pushups, and lat raises (day two) alternating with days off in between. At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it. I eat almost exclusively meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

And I look pretty fucking great at 5'11'' 190lb.

You guys keep on spending hours at the gym to get needlessly big and end up with bad joints in 15 years. I spent 4 years in a gym before I realized how pointless it was.

Post: #30

(12-18-2013 09:28 PM)Floss Wrote:  All I do is various chinups and dips (day one) and dips, incline pushups, and lat raises (day two) alternating with days off in between. At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it. I eat almost exclusively meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

And I look pretty fucking great at 5'11'' 190lb.

You guys keep on spending hours at the gym to get needlessly big and end up with bad joints in 15 years. I spent 4 years in a gym before I realized how pointless it was.

No one gives a fuck what you think.

Post: #31

(12-18-2013 10:45 PM)RioNomad Wrote:  

(12-18-2013 09:28 PM)Floss Wrote:  All I do is various chinups and dips (day one) and dips, incline pushups, and lat raises (day two) alternating with days off in between. At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it. I eat almost exclusively meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

And I look pretty fucking great at 5'11'' 190lb.

You guys keep on spending hours at the gym to get needlessly big and end up with bad joints in 15 years. I spent 4 years in a gym before I realized how pointless it was.

No one gives a fuck what you think.

Right back atcha, kiddo.

Post: #32

(12-18-2013 09:28 PM)Floss Wrote:  At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it.

Post: #33

(12-18-2013 10:51 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(12-18-2013 09:28 PM)Floss Wrote:  At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it.

My whole point is that you don't need to spend a ton of time on athletics to look and feel good.

Post: #34

(12-18-2013 11:04 PM)Floss Wrote:  My whole point is that you don't need to spend a ton of time on athletics to look and feel good.

You're point is that you're trolling. The thread title is "What are we crushing in the gym lately", every single post has been about the thread title, and you come in here talking about jogging.

But I'll humor you for a sec...you try to make a point that none of us need to spend a ton of time on athletics. Did it ever occur to you that some of us might actually enjoy the gym, enjoy getting under some weight, that some of us might EVEN have decent form and will never suffer those joint problems that you're so concerned about?

Post: #35

(12-18-2013 09:28 PM)Floss Wrote:  All I do is various chinups and dips (day one) and dips, incline pushups, and lat raises (day two) alternating with days off in between. At a park I jog to. I jog on off days when I'm up for it. I eat almost exclusively meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables.

And I look pretty fucking great at 5'11'' 190lb.

You guys keep on spending hours at the gym to get needlessly big and end up with bad joints in 15 years. I spent 4 years in a gym before I realized how pointless it was.

Post: #36

(12-18-2013 11:04 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  After 20 weeks of going to the gym very diligently I'm feeling rather burnt out on Starting Strength. In fact in the last month I've had many symptoms of low T. I think I need to go on a cutting program but I'm not sure what to do. I do look better than when I started even though I've gained some fat, because my shoulders are now bigger, but I just don't want anymore belly fat. The only thing that saves me is that my chest sticks out further than my gut, so I look OK wearing clothing.

I'm not sure how much SS differs from Stronglifts, but all I can say is you gotta push through if you're only 20 weeks in. I've had many many times when I lost motivation or took a break because something was sore; you have to push yourself through those barriers. I just finished a year of SL and my biggest regret are missed workouts. The more consistent you are, the better gains you'll see. I'm not sure how SS is structured once you start getting to higher weights, but I like SL because of the 5x5, 3x5, and then 1x5 progression. After that it's onto Madcow.

I also had weird phases of low T even though my diet and habits were consistent. All I can say is push through. My T is way back up now, horny 24/7. Make sure you're taking Zinc and amino acids.

You'll get a belly but I'd say don't worry about that until after a solid year of SS or SL. If you're really concerned with it and you've got some juice on your off days, do some sort of HIIT; find a hill near you and sprint up it a few times, do a 60 sec sprint followed with 5 min rest. Rinse, repeat. This will keep your metabolism active and prevent you from packing on excess fat. But once you start getting into higher weights on squat and dl, you prob won't be sprinting up any hills anytime soon unless you go apeshit on the supplements.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point remains. Don't get burnt out. Watch some youtube inspirational vids. Understand that at times this is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Post: #37

(12-18-2013 11:51 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  Understand that at times this is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Agreed. Every time I increase the squat weight to a new 5 rep PR I feel intimidated until that 1st rep is complete. Of all of the lifts, it's the squat that gives me the most dread beforehand. If I have a slight pain or nagging injury my brain tries to tell me I should go light on the squats.

I take a huge breath, tell myself it's a light weight and just fucking do it. And I amaze myself time and time again by clearing a weight that seemed impossible beforehand.

But then 5 minutes later I think "Oh shit. I have to lift 5lbs more in two days". For the more experienced lifters here, does this feeling ever go away or is it part of the territory?

Post: #38

delete

Post: #39

Put up 185 x2 on bench after one year of absolutely no lifting. Glad I can at least still do that. Can't wait to fire up SS/SL again.

Post: #40

(12-19-2013 12:14 AM)dreambig Wrote:  But then 5 minutes later I think "Oh shit. I have to lift 5lbs more in two days". For the more experienced lifters here, does this feeling ever go away or is it part of the territory?

The more experienced lifters don't put 5 lbs on a lift every two days. You might have what the Easterners call "staleness", which is what happens when you do too much of the same shit and you always lift heavy. I don't know how long you've been doing starting strength or stronglifts or whatever, but it's more of a mental burnout thing than anything.

If you're getting a feeling of dread, you should alternate the intensity and the rep/set scheme of whatever lift you're performing. Or even pick a different exercise that has carryover to a lift you want to get good at, like doing jump squats instead of regular ones.

You should get scared of a certain amount of weight every once in a while (like doing shrugs off the pins with a weight you can't deadlift), but you shouldn't get a feeling of dread every workout.

If you don't want to disrupt your lifting schedule, you should do lighter workouts on your off days or in the morning before your regular workouts. Think of them more like practice than anything. Squat 135 for reps, bench the bar, whatever, just stay fresh. If you don't have real easy access to a gym all the time, do calisthenics at home to break up some of the monotony. Pullups, bodyweight squats, deadleaps, and all kinds of pushups are good.

Post: #41

Ss gets mentally draining after a while. Switching to Madcow was a nice change of pace. Once I got to 300lb squats I said fuck it and went with Madcow, as opposed to resetting on ss. I was over having brutal squat sessions every single time. switching to Madcow made squatting fun again.

Post: #42

(12-19-2013 12:14 AM)dreambig Wrote:  I take a huge breath, tell myself it's a light weight and just fucking do it. And I amaze myself time and time again by clearing a weight that seemed impossible beforehand.

But then 5 minutes later I think "Oh shit. I have to lift 5lbs more in two days". For the more experienced lifters here, does this feeling ever go away or is it part of the territory?

Get good at dumping the bar if you fail

Post: #43

(12-19-2013 12:14 AM)dreambig Wrote:  

(12-18-2013 11:51 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  Understand that at times this is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Agreed. Every time I increase the squat weight to a new 5 rep PR I feel intimidated until that 1st rep is complete. Of all of the lifts, it's the squat that gives me the most dread beforehand. If I have a slight pain or nagging injury my brain tries to tell me I should go light on the squats.

I take a huge breath, tell myself it's a light weight and just fucking do it. And I amaze myself time and time again by clearing a weight that seemed impossible beforehand.

But then 5 minutes later I think "Oh shit. I have to lift 5lbs more in two days". For the more experienced lifters here, does this feeling ever go away or is it part of the territory?

I'm on the same page but there is always something about conquering a new 1rm that is liberating and gets me high in an describable way. Under so much weight my body tells me "STOP" but my good common (or bad common) since tells me "you got this bro and look around no one else in here can touch you". If I nail it I'm good. if I don't the safety bars catches the bar and I come back to it next time but I know that I sacked up to the challenge.

Post: #44

(12-18-2013 11:51 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(12-18-2013 11:04 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  After 20 weeks of going to the gym very diligently I'm feeling rather burnt out on Starting Strength. In fact in the last month I've had many symptoms of low T. I think I need to go on a cutting program but I'm not sure what to do. I do look better than when I started even though I've gained some fat, because my shoulders are now bigger, but I just don't want anymore belly fat. The only thing that saves me is that my chest sticks out further than my gut, so I look OK wearing clothing.

I also had weird phases of low T even though my diet and habits were consistent. All I can say is push through. My T is way back up now, horny 24/7. Make sure you're taking Zinc and amino acids.

I don't get it either, I also get weird phases of low testosterone here and there despite sleeping well and lifting. Quitting porn seemed to help a little but even with everything factored in (diet, supplements, reducing stress) it still seems to happen. I'm not sure what's up.

Post: #45

Did 190 kg on rack pulls the other day. I think that's a little more than 4 plates, i.e. a PR. Fuckin kilograms and meters and shit.

I'm also trying to be more athletic in general, anyone have recommendations for drills to increase explosiveness and endurance in the gym?

Post: #46

(12-18-2013 11:51 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(12-18-2013 11:04 AM)RexImperator Wrote:  After 20 weeks of going to the gym very diligently I'm feeling rather burnt out on Starting Strength. In fact in the last month I've had many symptoms of low T. I think I need to go on a cutting program but I'm not sure what to do. I do look better than when I started even though I've gained some fat, because my shoulders are now bigger, but I just don't want anymore belly fat. The only thing that saves me is that my chest sticks out further than my gut, so I look OK wearing clothing.

I'm not sure how much SS differs from Stronglifts, but all I can say is you gotta push through if you're only 20 weeks in. I've had many many times when I lost motivation or took a break because something was sore; you have to push yourself through those barriers. I just finished a year of SL and my biggest regret are missed workouts. The more consistent you are, the better gains you'll see. I'm not sure how SS is structured once you start getting to higher weights, but I like SL because of the 5x5, 3x5, and then 1x5 progression. After that it's onto Madcow.

I also had weird phases of low T even though my diet and habits were consistent. All I can say is push through. My T is way back up now, horny 24/7. Make sure you're taking Zinc and amino acids.

You'll get a belly but I'd say don't worry about that until after a solid year of SS or SL. If you're really concerned with it and you've got some juice on your off days, do some sort of HIIT; find a hill near you and sprint up it a few times, do a 60 sec sprint followed with 5 min rest. Rinse, repeat. This will keep your metabolism active and prevent you from packing on excess fat. But once you start getting into higher weights on squat and dl, you prob won't be sprinting up any hills anytime soon unless you go apeshit on the supplements.

Anyway, I'm rambling. The point remains. Don't get burnt out. Watch some youtube inspirational vids. Understand that at times this is more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and that it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I was doing some HIIT hill sprints back in the summer/fall and I liked those. I stopped once it got cold and now there's over a foot of snow on the ground here. I could try something on the stationary bike I suppose, even though I'm not a fan of indoor cycling.

I think cold weather and less sunlight is probably playing a role. I'm taking lots of Vitamin D. It's true the burnout is as much mental as anything...although doing squats every workout is starting to be a drag. Especially when I deadlift on the same day. I'm sick of eating, too. I've reduced my calories to maintenance for the last week and I'm thinking seriously of trying to lift on a slight caloric deficit and seeing what happens. Supposedly you can make strength gains, just very slowly.

Post: #47

Rex man if you're doing squats every work out and I'm assuming your hitting it daily then you might be doing yourself a disservice. you gotta give your self a chance to heal bro. I normally throw my deadlifts in on back days also. if you have a plan that says otherwise though do you. I'm not your PT so I'm not trying to mess with your flex. Do hit your cardio but keep it to intervals. it takes less time and it kills when you give it everything you got for a minute take a minute then give it everything you got again. When I get done lifting the the whole gym up I'll hit the row machine for 5 or 10 minutes then hit the showers

Post: #48

(12-19-2013 11:54 AM)birdrussell Wrote:  Rex man if you're doing squats every work out and I'm assuming your hitting it daily then you might be doing yourself a disservice. you gotta give your self a chance to heal bro. I normally throw my deadlifts in on back days also. if you have a plan that says otherwise though do you. I'm not your PT so I'm not trying to mess with your flex. Do hit your cardio but keep it to intervals. it takes less time and it kills when you give it everything you got for a minute take a minute then give it everything you got again. When I get done lifting the the whole gym up I'll hit the row machine for 5 or 10 minutes then hit the showers

I'm lifting every other day with a rest day in between (3x a week) but I do think alternating deadlifts and squats might be preferable. Might try the rower or stationary bike after weights.

Post: #49

Squats and DLs on the same day are fine, and this is what's going to get you that crazy core strength.

Rex it sounds like you're just getting bored. Think of your compounds as the bare minimum; these are the things you NEED to get done.

Once you finish all your compounds, start adding in some isolation work to mix things up and make it fun. Do some arm work like curls and tricep extensions. Arm raises, upright rows, pull ups/chin ups, flies, etc.

As far as your diet goes, mix that up too but keep it high calorie high protein. Learn a few new recipes, new flavorings, new ways of preparation, but keep it revolving around chicken, lean beef, and fish.

It's all about consistency but it's also about setting up new challenges and keeping things interesting.

You really don't need that much cardio. I don't do any. After doing deadlifts you should be pretty goddamn tired and your heart should be pounding; go hit the treadmill, set it on an incline at a fast walk for about 20 min.

Post: #50

(12-18-2013 11:11 AM)birdrussell Wrote:  I hit a 365lb deadlift today. I'm almost back to my 405lb normal working weight for a final 1-3 reps set. In a few I'm going to see how 315 goes down on a squat. went to the doctor today and he said I'mma have to take it easy on my trick shoulder thoigh. not looking forward to pushing bitch weight on bench and over heads.

Start putting a focus on some rotator cuff exercises, such as dumbbell shoulder rotations, straight arm dumbbell raises, reverse flys, etc. Also, do band work to strengthen that ball and socket in your shoulder.

If you're shoulder is sore and your doctor told you to take it easy, I'd lay off the military presses. Do very light weight for your bench so you can get a deep burn in your shoulders. Or, do close grip bench. Just some suggestions.