The Bodybuilders Thread!

[Tinuva]

10 cm != 5kg, more like 10kg.

To be at a fair weight, you take whatever the guy is over a meter, and use that as a base.
Ie. @ 1.75m the guy should at least be 75kg to be at a fair weight, you won't necessarily look good or bad. Once you go over that, and have low bodyfast %, you will start looking really good, ie. big`ish and ripped. At high bodyfat % you will just look fat.

 

[DrewChan]

How do you get that you're an ecto ryan?

 

[RogueTr00per]

I'm an ecto because I have freakin thin bone structure in the upper half of my body, so middle finger and thumb overlap wrist by 1.5cm or so. OK, i do have long fingers but still Even at 17% body fat people comment how i have lost weight and how thin I am looking!! But I know I have that layer of 'baby fat' still. I am the same weight as I was in matric, 20 years ago, only now I have more muscle and less fat, so yes I was the classic skinny fat build in high school.

My legs I'd say are more of a mesomorph build I think. So I have naturally big quads and calves and not chicken legs.

Oh yes, and finally I'm Asian of Chinese descent

 

[RogueTr00per]

10 cm != 5kg, more like 10kg.

To be at a fair weight, you take whatever the guy is over a meter, and use that as a base.
Ie. @ 1.75m the guy should at least be 75kg to be at a fair weight, you won't necessarily look good or bad. Once you go over that, and have low bodyfast %, you will start looking really good, ie. big`ish and ripped. At high bodyfat % you will just look fat.

Sounds about right , thanks for this guideline. Hence why I still look kind of skinny at my weight of 63kg at 1.68m. But that said, the type of clothing makes all the difference. If I wear fitted clothing it looks much better than even slightly loose stuff. If I wear anything just slightly too big for me it looks so cr@p.

 

[RogueTr00per]

@D3x, nice chest workout, I need to use some of that to work my chest to exhaustion as opposed to sticking to the std SL 5x5 bench press routine.

What happens if you were to neglect decline chest work? I it absolutely necessary to hit upper, middle and lower chest?

 

[D3x!]

@D3x, nice chest workout, I need to use some of that to work my chest to exhaustion as opposed to sticking to the std SL 5x5 bench press routine.

What happens if you were to neglect decline chest work? I it absolutely necessary to hit upper, middle and lower chest?

then your chest won't be "full". I take it you are gymming at home?.

 

[DrewChan]

My prob is lower pecs - bought a cheap ass bench that doesn't decline - so I'm stuck with coutertop dips - Home gym ftw

 

[xrapidx]

then your chest won't be "full". I take it you are gymming at home?.

That's BS.

 

[JerryMungo]

then your chest won't be "full". I take it you are gymming at home?.

Decline bench is the one chest exercise you can get away with leaving out. If you really want, do dips instead and even superset them with flat bench for a better workout... even better still, superset 6 sets of each (12 sets total) without rest. You won't likely be doing more than one dip on your last set, but hey, nothing works better than a super or giant for reaching failure IMO.

Worrying about getting all 3 (incline, flat and decline) into your workout is the domain of Ronnie Coleman lookalikes

[video=youtube;YpWiUT3_2Cg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpWiUT3_2Cg[/video]

 

[Tinuva]

My prob is lower pecs - bought a cheap ass bench that doesn't decline - so I'm stuck with coutertop dips - Home gym ftw

If you badly want to do decline, why not just put the bench on incline and lie the wrong way around on it? I assume you would need someone to hand you the weight however.

 

[RogueTr00per]

@D3x! I go to Virgin Active. I'd like to do the least range of exercises or the best bang for buck. Am happy with SL 5x5 and am just looking to add a couple of exercises to workouts A and B respectively. My weak points I feel are chest, upper back and abs right now. Will work on those over the next few weeks. Also pretty weak on pullups but I guess that is upper back?

 

[Brontosaurus]

HELP!!! Please

I'll be starting gym tomorrow and I'm really lost. Perhaps someone on here can help me or at least point me to some advice. I've read back a couple of pages but there's just so much of information and I'm not sure what to take in.

Age: 21, going on 22
Weight: 59kg
Height: 1.8m
Structure: Thin, very, very thin (My thumb overlaps my middle finger)
Metabolism: Very fast

I feel that I'm way too thin and small built for my age. Everyone tells me that I'm too thin and need to put on weight, I just don't know how to. I'd like to gain some weight and build a decent amount of muscle. I have been to to the gym before, it was nothing serious though and only lasted a short while. I will have some time everyday, maybe an hour. What should I do? Where do I start? What should I focus on? What exercises should I do?

It would be ideal if someone could point me to a tried and tested beginners program, if not, any advice will be appreciated.

Sorry for the four page jump, but if you're reading this, I suggest you drop me a pm.

What you're explaining is an exact mirror of where I was when I started; I was about 25 though when I started.

I'm 1.82m and I was 59kg - proper Auschwitz mode

I'll be 28 in 5 months and I'm currently sitting on 78kg with 9.5% bodyfat. I think I might be able to help.

 

[JerryMungo]

Ryan... I have to recommend the pull up routine I'm doing in SPS phase 2. You basically do 50 wide grip pull-ups. Do as many as you can in a set, rest 30 - 45 seconds and do another. I start at 15 and end up doing sets of 4-3, but you just keep plugging until you've reached number 50. Brilliant workout

Nothing can improve your pull-up ability like pull-ups

 

[D3x!]

That's BS.

u reckon.

If you badly want to do decline, why not just put the bench on incline and lie the wrong way around on it? I assume you would need someone to hand you the weight however.

lol he will fall on his head

@D3x! I go to Virgin Active. I'd like to do the least range of exercises or the best bang for buck. Am happy with SL 5x5 and am just looking to add a couple of exercises to workouts A and B respectively. My weak points I feel are chest, upper back and abs right now. Will work on those over the next few weeks. Also pretty weak on pullups but I guess that is upper back?

5x5 SL with the main compound moves is good for building that good base, from there you can add and build on.
for pull ups trying lifting urself with a bench under you legs (i.e assist yourself) then lift legs and slowly lower. or do lat pull downs.

 

[InternetSwag]

I'm doing SS 3 x 5

Only been "officially training" for about a month although I have been uselessly throwing weights around for a while before that. Mostly curlbro'ing

All 3 x 5 except deadlift 1x 5

Max lifts:

Bench: 55kgs
OHP: 35kgs
Squat: 40 kg's (I can't get form form right)
Deadlift 70kgs (all the weights I currently have)

Note I know you don't count bar but mines only 10kg's :/ so kinda cheating vs Olympic bar
Added dips and bicep/hammer curls 1-2 times a week just to add a little oomph to aesthetics

Your numbers are fine, actually good for one month. Eat proper, sleep proper and strength will come. Are you squatting with free weights? You can always use the smith machine to get your form right.

 

[InternetSwag]

Its accepted everywhere that you do count the bar.


When I initially started, I started with just the bar on all exercises. From there I think my first plateau's I hit was:

Bodyweight at the time: 62kg
Length: 1.75m

Bench: 55kgx5
Pendlay Rows: 50kgx5
Deadlift: 80kgx5 <-- this felt ok, but going up here killed me
Squat: 60kgx5
OHP: 30kgx5

Yeah I was pretty weak at the time, and that was about 4-6 months after starting SL 5x5.

Now lifts look more like:

Bodyweight: 72.2kg (this morning before breakfast)
Length: 1.75m

Bench: 85kgx5 <-- I should hit 100kgx1 by the end of March, did 95kgx1 this past Sunday
Pendlay Rows: 82.5kgx5
Deadlift: 110kgx5 <-- was higher at one point but this is where I expect it now.
Squat: 90kgx5 <-- again, was higher at one point but this is where I expect it now.
OHP: 50kgx5

SO you can see, with time it definitely increase. In October 2013, it would have been 2 years since I started Stronglifts 5x5. I can now bench, row, squat and deadlift more than my bodyweight. One day, if I am lucky, I get my OHP to bodyweigth as well.

Omw your starting stats are almost identical to mine!

I sat on 55kg bench forever before I knew what I was doing and my OHP was the same range as yours.

Albeit I am shorter than you, weight is almost also the same 1.68m short

 

[RogueTr00per]

Ryan... I have to recommend the pull up routine I'm doing in SPS phase 2. You basically do 50 wide grip pull-ups. Do as many as you can in a set, rest 30 - 45 seconds and do another. I start at 15 and end up doing sets of 4-3, but you just keep plugging until you've reached number 50. Brilliant workout

Nothing can improve your pull-up ability like pull-ups

What is this SPS u speak of? I'll have to do negatives like D3x! suggests as I hardly do pullups and can only do a few chin ups, not sure how many wide grip pullups I can do.

Have a home pullup bar. Will have to work on it on non gym days perhaps at home unless I do some at the gym on SL 5x5 days..

 

[The-_-Joker]

Just my 2 cents, perhaps SL 5x5 in its basic form will suffice for our friend The Joker? I like the simplicity of it and one can always add on later if one gets bored? In 2 or 3 weeks on the program I feel like I have made more progress than months doing other routines that are too complex hence not as easy to follow.

Also going back to my question about abs workouts, what do you guys advise for working abs? Maybe something I can do at home on non gym days... Or if I am at the gym, how the the Captains Chair thingy rate?

Thanks for the tips. Is there a specific SL 5x5 you're referring to? In the research I've done, there's so many 5x5 workouts, it's overwhelming.

 

[The-_-Joker]

Sorry for the four page jump, but if you're reading this, I suggest you drop me a pm.

What you're explaining is an exact mirror of where I was when I started; I was about 25 though when I started.

I'm 1.82m and I was 59kg - proper Auschwitz mode

I'll be 28 in 5 months and I'm currently sitting on 78kg with 9.5% bodyfat. I think I might be able to help.

PM dropped

 

[RogueTr00per]

Thanks for the tips. Is there a specific SL 5x5 you're referring to? In the research I've done, there's so many 5x5 workouts, it's overwhelming.

Err... www.stronglifts.com Sign up, he sends you the 200 page PDF.

If u r willing to take what he says as gospel, then skip to page 41 and read till page 47 (that's what I did).
The 15min video on main page http://stronglifts.com/ will cover the motivation behind the stronglifts programme. He also has videos taking you through the two workouts, A and B.

Beyond page 47, the rest is extra info which u dont need (IMO) to read unless u really interested in reading everything.

Page 66 onwards, they are just 'success stories' from guys using the programme.