The Bodybuilders Thread!

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OrbitalDawn

OrbitalDawn

Ulysses Everett McGill
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The Voice said:
Former. Also, the first time ever using a squat rack (and doing compound exercises) - always been wary of free weights, as I've had ankle surgery (stuck to leg press, extensions, etc). I understand now why people rave about squats so much! That **** is hard! But it feels good, though. I spent a lot of time (during warm up) just trying to get the movement right, and trying to work on proper form.

To my understanding, you shouldn't have anything left in the tank after a 5x5 session, anyway. So am I really doing something wrong?
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Sounds fine. I also did my first 5x5 session after the holidays last night. Quite spent, with most of my body feeling it today. :)
 
Thor

Thor

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Don't you guys doing the 5x5 want to keep a journal on my site? Reason being I want to start fully preparing (Gym) from 1 Feb towards a competition in April, but keeping a journal on my own bleh it's not much motivating, but keeping one knowing others holding you accountable really works.

Also, you guys are doing the 5x5 and living that I have a few threads there regarding the 5x5, but would be awesome to get some real world input if you oakes are up for it?
 
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Slootvreter

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Shoulder feeling much better, thank fck. Time to get back into deadlifts. Aiming for 300kg this year.
 
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Willie Trombone

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OK, here are pics of my home made power cage. I'm really happy with the results. I'm particularly proud of my home-made (actually more hand made in my son-in-law's dad's factory lol) J-Hooks.

Sorry about the sideways images - I'll correct them in a mo. Still uploading some more.

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Willie Trombone

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Now after having built it, I would do a couple of things differently a second time around. I may make some minor modifications. More materials and dimensions to follow - I'll just edit this post.

Wood: I used 690x690 PAR pine (planed all round). Pine is easy to work with and relatively inexpensive. Since it's for indoor use only, untreated is fine. I'd have liked to go something closer to 890x890 but it's not readily available in the local hardware stores. A dedicated timber store (perhaps Penny Pinchers?) may have something bigger. The timber comes in lengths of 2.4m or 3m. I bought 2.4m lengths and cut them to size (sizes to follow)

For the bars going across, I found 20mm galvanised threaded rod to be very convenient. Since the depth of the cage is just shy of 1M (my gym is limited in space and I have plenty equipment), I used 1M length threaded rod and a lock-nut + nice wide washer on the one end and ordinary nut + wide washer on the other end. I just superglued the washer to the nut on the other end - so it all comes off in one go by hand to adjust the bars height - nice and easy. The 20mm galvanised threaded rod can easily carry 150kg each side without issues. Obviously I haven't dropped 300kg from a height in there, but I'm willing to bet it would save your life if you dropped while squatting.

The big holes are drilled with a 22mm auger bit on an ordinary drill (13mm chuck). As you can see, it's nicely braced with 45 deg offcuts left over from the 690x690 timber.

I assembled it as per the earlier video I posted - very easy to DIY.

What I would do differently:
- I would make it a bit wider - like just 70mm wider. Right now, while benching, my elbows graze the horizontal safety bars marginally and it's more annoying than anything else, though it lets me gauge form as I workout. I may still make that adjustment.
- I would have gone 890x890 wood if I could have found it (I have subsequently found it but I'm happy with the end result so I won't go redo the whole thing :) ).
- I would probably have preferred straight steel rods instead of the 20mm galvanised threaded rod mainly because the galvanised rod acts like a bit of a rasp as you pull them out of the holes - I'm not sure what effect that would have on the holes long term, but I doubt it'll be a problem. Steel places will have these, my hardware shop didn't. I may replace the threaded rods but I do like the fact that I can use standard nuts and washers on it.
 
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Hemps

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Willie Trombone

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Thanks :) I'm very proud of the work - took less time than I thought and all in cost under R2500. You can get the wood a lot cheaper than I did and you might have some of the bits. I'm willing to bet it can be done for closer to R1500 if you're prepared to shop around on day 1 or 2 of the build.

I didn't have to buy anything for making the j-hooks - we simply cut a piece of square tubing that fitted the wood comfortably to form the j-hook bracket and welded a much thicker piece of bar to it for the bit that holds the barbel. The 20mm round peg was tig welded, the others regular arc welded. Any steel works place will make them up for you. Hammerite paint to finish it - very forgiving stuff :)

I'll update the materials and plans in the post above asap for anyone else wanting to do their own. Next is to paint it black and label the holes for that nice uniform finish. It looks impressive in black (see the vid posted earlier).

Also going to add a pullup bar at the front.

Of course, if you have access to cheap square tubing and can do a decent weld, you could make the entire thing out of square tubing instead of wood. Wood is much easier if you don't have those skills... probably cheaper too.
 
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Thor

Thor

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Great Job dude !! That looks amazing !! If I had the extra space I would live like this.
 
StrontiumDog

StrontiumDog

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The Voice said:
Former. Also, the first time ever using a squat rack (and doing compound exercises) - always been wary of free weights, as I've had ankle surgery (stuck to leg press, extensions, etc). I understand now why people rave about squats so much! That **** is hard! But it feels good, though. I spent a lot of time (during warm up) just trying to get the movement right, and trying to work on proper form.

To my understanding, you shouldn't have anything left in the tank after a 5x5 session, anyway. So am I really doing something wrong?
Click to expand...
Well starting off you would only be using the bar (20KG) as silly as it looks... But I suppose you could conceivably tire yourself out using only the bar on squats if you were an untrained novice at squatting. Working on correct form using only the bar, doing many many reps could be tiring for any of the exercises that one was a untrained novice at.

Medhi does mention that in the beginning, the weight will be really easy and you won't be tiring yourself out on 5x5 as you are mainly concerned about form at that stage. As the weights increase, only after a few weeks should the weight become challenging, IIRC.
 
APoc184

APoc184

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a bit of lolz

DeGXeOD.jpg
 
StrontiumDog

StrontiumDog

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A question on muscle symmetry as it relates to chest; Can I replace bench press with dumbbell press in stronglifts 5x5? My left pec is larger than my right :( Not sure if this is genetics at play here or whether I have been trying to make the left side work harder than the right.
 
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