Tinuva
The Magician
That's because it is not a proper pull-up, its a kip, and is much easier than a pull-up, which is why they can do ridiculous amounts like 100 of them.
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The Bodybuilders Thread!
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RogueTr00per
Honorary Master
Oh wow, ok, that's a very comprehensive list, thanks! And I see I am probably around Novice level for most stuff, but have yet to test 1RM for any of the stronglifts stuff I am doing.
Crossfit should be good as a start if you're in danger of going to a 'normal' gym and faffing around wasting years like many of us have done when we started
I know a couple of people doing it and have watched some of it on youtube. Seems to be good in that a good crossfit gym will pay u special attention while you get to grips with everything.Check out prices though, cause u are looking at prices of around 1k per month minimum. There are cheaper options that offer a Crossfit type of training but aren't licensed to use the 'Crossfit' name, at least thats the impression I get tho I am speculating here. I only have idea of the Cape Town scene so it depends where u are in SA.
edit: Also depends on your goals but as an all around holistic approach to fitness u can't go wrong with Crossfit. They will really drum the lifestyle into you
RogueTr00per
Honorary Master
Yeah, the squatting question, my gym buddy was going below parallel and almost ATG while we were still warming up and not on our working weight for squats. So I wasn't sure if that was bad or not going lower than parallel.<snip>
ATG I learned as ass to grass with grass being the same as ground, just greener
As for squats bad for knees? If you do it wrong maybe, but I found after starting squats about year and half back, my legs including knees feels better than they ever have in the last 10 years. Much like deadlifts made my back feel better than it ever has in that same 10 years.
As for weights to aim for, I aimed to get bodyweight for each of bench press, squat and deadlifts. After than I started working on going over bodyweight, and I am mostly stuck now just above bodyweight on most of these.
Going to parallel my knees feel fine, though they do feel a bit creaky when warming up. Knee issues from volleyball and basketball days, but hopefully squats will fix that!
I weigh 63kg, am sort of doing 5x5 at 60kg for bench press. I say sort of because my spotter says he's not helping me lift but yet it feels like he is helping me a lot! Is it the placebo effect of his hands touching the bar?
I am on 55kg for squats doing 5x5 now. Did 80kg for deadlifts for the very first time last session. Did a warm up at 60kg followed by 2 sets of 5 reps at 80kg.
The reason for not following the slow progression of stronglifts is that my gym partner gets really amped for me to keep adding weight. I keep insisting I wanna be sure about form, he says my form is fine. He's well known at the gym, he's like the shortest guy there and definitely the strongest pound for pound. Where we differ though is that I'd say he's a mesomorph and I'm an ectomorph.
Is it a good way to tell body type/skeletal structure using the middle finger and thumb to see how far it goes around one's wrist?
Cause that test says I am an ecto...
Re: your level, don't worry, it moves fast in the beginning.
Re: squats, there are actually studies which say to parallel are is worse for your knees.
Re: spotter - if he's touching the bar he's doing it wrong.
Re: squats, there are actually studies which say to parallel are is worse for your knees.
Re: spotter - if he's touching the bar he's doing it wrong.
JerryMungo
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And yep, you're likely an ecto - how tall are you? You're pushing pretty heavy for someone your weight IMO - not all bad. That said, you can get a good workout from lighter weight and a more controlled rep, don't let form suffer IMO. Your buddy is likely the opposite build, and shorter people have an easier time with shorter range of motion, I don't care what anyone says 
Tinuva
The Magician
If you weight 63kg, and bench press 60kg, that is pretty good already. When I was at 65kg it took me almost a year to get to 60kg bench press.
As for the spotting, ask him to hold his hands below the bar. In fact, I asked my buddy to not put his hands anywhere close to the bar, but if I felt I wasn't going to make it, I would just ask him to help me get it back up. That way I was in control of his spotting, and I could go all out and really see if I can lift it.
Ectomorphs are known for easy losing weight, both fat and muscle, you can almost eat anything, but clean gains are important if you specifically want muscle.
Mesomorphs are inbetween, lose fat okish, easily gain muscle, but the fat gains go with it, and they need to eat right.
Endomorphs, well they gain fat almost faster than muscle, find it very hard to lose fat, so must eat perfect.
As a Ectomorph, pull exercises are easier than push exercises, so you should be able to learn pull-ups faster than a endo/mesemorph. But pushing exercises you will have a harder time than endo/mesemorphs.
Lastly, its ok if you skip a bit on stronglifts, but you may find later you will hit a hard plateau, and will have to deload and work longer on form, because its harder to later fix something you learn wrong now. In the end, do what is more fun, even if it take longer, as long as you enjoy lifting and keep at it. I personally made some silly mistakes, however I love lifting now, and keep at it, even after my training partner stopped a long time ago.
D3x!
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yeah have your spotter either at the ready or hands floating below the bar, I hate it when my brother grabs the bar and I don't need the help, puts me off mentally.
benching your weight is a good milestone, my goal is to push 1.5 times my body weight in all major excercises
benching your weight is a good milestone, my goal is to push 1.5 times my body weight in all major excercises
Should aim for 1.5x on bench and 2.3x on squat/deadlift (maybe a little less on squats)
Yeah tell me about it! I normally do a set of 8 pullups, followed by 2 sets of 6. I took a break for over a week coz I messed up my shoulder and now I struggle to do a first set of 6 followed by 2 sets of 4 :/
D3x!
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JerryMungo
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Only bodyweight related IMO. Dips should be easier for anyone who is carrying less fat, as are pull-ups.
yeah already can do more than 1.5 on dead lifts. but don't speak to me about squats
I also have trouble with squats, was at 180kg... hurt my hip... suffered a lot with the weight loss, and now my max is around 140kg
Tinuva
The Magician
Maybe, maybe not. I am an ectomorph, and I found dips quite hard in the beginning, much more so than pull-ups, and I was quite skinny when I started. After gaining some weight, I did find them harder yes but nothing out of the ordinary, it was like going up on weights on weighted exercises.
Sucks to have shoulder problems, it is the one thing I try very hard to prevent. Lucky for me, I haven't hurt my shoulders yet, but I could feel them in dips, some small muscle hurting after I am done, so just focused on doing them perfect and the pain has gone away. However in general once you have hurt your shoulder, that doesn't work as far as I know.
Avoid upright rows, and if you do dumbbell rows, make sure to keep your upperbody straight and in place, if you let your shoulder drop too much when you drop the weight, that can hurt your shoulder as well in the long run. Then lastly, I heard parallel bar dips are bad for shoulders, I do it on the zest bars at VA, they are at least not parallel.
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D3x!
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to a point maybe, but if you have very little muscle/strength it will be just as hard if not harder than a guy who is 20kg overweight but has more strength/muscle.
D3x!
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I strained my right shoulder last night on overhead dumbell press, she is pinching a bit if I lift my arm horizontally, rest time.
Tinuva
The Magician
The videos I watched from an expert, said, instead of pulling arms all the way back on dumbbell OHP, you should have them just a little bit forward. This way you still work the same muscles, but you put a lot less stress on the shoulders, and in doing so, you prevent strains like you experienced.
If you want, I can upload the video for you to a private link, which I can send via private message. Can't make it public, since the guy actually make money selling it.
D3x!
Banned
I know what you mean, will try put more effort into doing that, I think I may have also just pushed it a bit too much.
CrazYmonkeY159
Expert Member
As you gain experience you realise all your mistakes, I used to lock my joints all the time, did full range of motion plus more. The key reallly (for body building) is time under tension, just keep your mustles under strain and tension for a long time. At the same time you know your own body. I can't do a full ROM on OHP because my shoulders feel so snappy. My form is fine, it's just an old rugby injury which wont go away. last time I did full ROM OHP I had to rest for 2weeks. busting your shoulders ruins almost all upper body exersizes
If you are a strength trainer, locking joints is part of the profession.
If you are a strength trainer, locking joints is part of the profession.
RogueTr00per
Honorary Master
I'm 1.68m at best. Dropped a kilo and am down to 62kg and just under 17% bf this morning. Off to gym, be back later!And yep, you're likely an ecto - how tall are you? You're pushing pretty heavy for someone your weight IMO - not all bad. That said, you can get a good workout from lighter weight and a more controlled rep, don't let form suffer IMO. Your buddy is likely the opposite build, and shorter people have an easier time with shorter range of motion, I don't care what anyone says
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