The Bodybuilders Thread!

Status
Not open for further replies.
ryan411 said:
Week 2 workout of the crossfit open 2013 below. Damn this woman is strong and fit! Note women do a lower weight, but Julie Foucher would put some of us smaller & novice guys to shame!
Click to expand...
I think you should take into account how long she has been working out. Those values look fine to me, if a woman can do them, very good for her, that is about where I expect advanced women to be at, and novice men to be at.

Also, she is doing a push press, not the regular OHP where you stand still and do it more like a military type style. So IMHO, it is MUCH easier with a push from your legs. I do those weights without the help from a push, using it with a push you can easily add 10-20kg.

Also that deadlift...is almost like doing a goodmorning, makes me feel sorry for her lower back.
 
Thanks Tinuva, informative input as usual :) Yeah, well she is one of the top crossfit female athletes. Possibly the the top one but i haven't been keeping tabs...

@InternetSwag, I see you are really taking things very seriously in terms of research and effort! I can't commit to that right now, I just get lost in the detail and I won't get anywhere ... So as tempting as it is to do 5 day splits or what u are doing, I will stick with SL 5x5 for now even though it is lacking in some areas.

@Tinuva, I could deviate from SL and change it to 5 sets and 8 or even 10 reps if I want to focus on hypertrophy? I am even thinking of doing squats only every 2nd workout so i can do more deadlifts... hmm... will have to test it out. Don't wanna stray too far from a working formula.
 
The idea behind SL5x5 and SS5x5 is that in that 3 months, while you are not working on everything individually, you do work on almost everything via the compound exercises.

Compound exercises are the fastest way for a beginner to improve, and build a foundation for later years. As a beginner you don't need hypertrophy type reps to make your muscles grow, you also don't need to target individual muscles yet. In fact, the very fact that you are just doing exercise where you never have in the past, will cause the muscles to grow.

Once compound exercises don't make your muscles grow anymore, and you don't improve anymore, that is when you switch to the next program which will take you to the next level. If you go too early to the more advanced programs, not only could they be less effective, you will also slow down the fast progress you get with a beginner program.

I have gone up very fast in weights that I can lift with SL5x5, but once I outgrew the program, no other program worked as fast, and you can never get that back again. It just gets harder and harder from there.

What weights do you currently do for DL, Squat, Bench, OHP, Rows?
 
OK, gotcha! Well as of last Friday at a bodyweight of 63kg:

DL 80kg (did this weight for the first time, 2 sets of 5 at the end of the workout, following 1 set of 60kg DL)
Squats 60kg
Bench 65kg (with spotter, without him I think I wouldn't make it. Without a spotter I'm thinking I would keep it at 55kg)
OHP 30-35kg (not sure we didn't do these in the last couple of workouts)
Rows 40kg

So i am recovering from flu now, but I think we were going strong and making good progress. Weights all over the place cause my gym partner pushes me to keep increasing.
 
Those weights aint bad, keep going for a little while more, then when you done with 3 months, you can take a week off, then begin the next program.

To give you an idea, I am now 1.5 years in, and I still do sets of 1rep, 3reps, and 5 reps. Trust me, I still see growth and hypertrophy, without doing more reps. To grow muscles, you really need to finish your 1st 3 months on SL5x5.

I'd say, more important now, is to adjust your eating styles a little bit. Not too much, no need to micro manage yet, but try to get more protein in, in each meal. Give it a month, to see if there are progress, if not enough, up your total calories. Later once you on a BB program, you can fine tune your eating more to get to the physique you want.

So take away message, don't try to learn and do everything at once. Baby steps. Much like you would do with anything else in life. It is a journey, enjoy it.
 
ARGHATBARHL I bought a bf% scale, the blasted thing says i'm 21% Body Fat - I then drank a litre of water and it STILL said 21% BF- please goodness don't be accurate
 
xrapidx said:
If you say so... I've had the VA version tell me I'm anything from 7% to 35%
Click to expand...

The bit of research I did claimed they have a tendency to underestimate and will fluctuate depend on levels of hydration and even heat - so its best to weight early morning - then completely ignore actual reading - whether it be 10 or 30 and pay more attention to whether that reading rise or falls over a period of time.

I'm going to keep a 2 week journal and let you guys know findings if interested - after looking at a few pics it seems I could be 21% - I thought because my abs outline is showing id be around 15% but I see people at 20 with the same outline
 
They're starting a nice section under knowledge on fitocracy.com for the beginners.
 
DrewChan said:
The bit of research I did claimed they have a tendency to underestimate and will fluctuate depend on levels of hydration and even heat - so its best to weight early morning - then completely ignore actual reading - whether it be 10 or 30 and pay more attention to whether that reading rise or falls over a period of time.

I'm going to keep a 2 week journal and let you guys know findings if interested - after looking at a few pics it seems I could be 21% - I thought because my abs outline is showing id be around 15% but I see people at 20 with the same outline
Click to expand...

You should get calipers.... It's the best way.
 
xrapidx said:
You should get calipers.... It's the best way.
Click to expand...

Agree - those scales are dodgy - too much interpolation. Even the electronic heart rate monitors on your average treadmill fills in the blanks.
 
InternetSwag said:
Need some opinions here. I know it's a subject that should not be over-thought because of the 80/20 rule, but I want to assess it anyways.

I been doing it like this and according to Jason Blaha more sets/reps will always result in more stimulation. However the longer you go on the smaller the increase. So basically doing 80 reps and doing 90 reps may have less than a 2% difference in overall stimulation and you risk connective tissue damage if you overdo it and obviously you can overtrain your CNS and impede future workout performance. It's all about finding a balance that suits you.

I don't have bodypart splits like, back and bi's, chest and tri's etc.

I been doing it like this

Day1 Upperbody (I do it this way because I was taught to) In this I do entire upperbody from traps to forearms.
Day2 Lowerbody (I do Deadlifts on this day for what it's worth).
Day3 Off
Day4 Upperbody
Day5 Lowerbody

So I'm giving each muscle 48 hours to rest, I don't know if I should make it 72 hours instead.

The reason I don't do splits or muscle part per day is because Protein Synthesis only lasts (in natural bodybuilders) for about 3 days IIRC, so if I do Chest every Monday there is a period that my Chest is not growing, ergo from Thursday to Monday again.

Conundrum?

I'm not even entirely sure what I'm asking.
Click to expand...

I was a 59kg skinny runt. I tried the chest + triceps one day, back + biceps the next day, etc. I had small results.

I went to doing what you do now, upperbody one day, lower the next (with a few modifications - I don't deadlift on the lowerbody day, I use my Wednesdays purely for deadlifts and shoulders). I gained a phenomenal amount of lean muscle doing this. I do zero cardio and I found doing this, my bodyfat dropped while I gained muscle like I was strapping on lead weights.

This type of training also pushed my appetite into overdrive.

As for the bro-science, it has something to do with constant muscle stimulation. Apparently the once a week, while intense, gives the said muscle-group too much rest.

I guess it all depends on the individual.

On another note: You ever heard of HST? I looked into it and it seems interesting. Once I reach my goal bulking weight I'll give it a bash while I'm cutting.
 
What I've found works for me is sticking to compound movements... wherever possible, work the maximum amount of fibre, not only do you stimulate the core muscle you are working, but your whole system goes into repair mode. Dips, Pullups/Chinups, Squats, Deadlifts, OHP, Skullcrushers. By all means suppliment with targeted exercises (preacher curls, etc) but don't forget the compound movements - they are the real trigger to put your testo into build mode. The more fibre you work, the better when bulking. This is why even full body workout sessions are popular when bulking. Shape can come later when you've added 5-10 kilos.
 
xrapidx said:
If you say so... I've had the VA version tell me I'm anything from 7% to 35%
Click to expand...
Do you mean the VA thingy that measures by resting / pressing on your bicep? Agreed, that thing is not accurate but that is not the electrical impedance method that my Salter scale uses.

Or do you mean the new fancy thingies that breaks everything down into body parts even?

WoDotNant? said:
Agree - those scales are dodgy - too much interpolation. Even the electronic heart rate monitors on your average treadmill fills in the blanks.
Click to expand...
Amongst my friends, 4 of us have the Salter scale. As far as we can see, it's pretty accurate and quicker to use than calipers. We range from about 8% body fat up to 40% plus :p Granted at extreme levels of body fat the scale can lose its accuracy, as well as age being a factor. The Salter scale we have asks for your height, age, gender and fitness level (normal or athlete). So dependant on that it might use different formulae or if not, the variables entered make a difference. Visually, the readings are accurate (comparing to the built lean images of diff bf %) and consistent. i.e. The friend that is 8%, all he has to do is ab work and voila, six pack abs. He is very light tho and close on six foot and weighs less than me, struggles to gain weight, but is not doing much gym work to speak of so it's to be expected. The friend that is over 40% bf, he has a lot to lose still and is doing it over time by eating right and all kinds of gym routines. Down 45kg in about 2 years or less.

I was 21% bf beginning of last year and then proceeded to lose 5kg and got down to 15.5% bf. It's a great tool IMO. The most accurate methods of measuring bf % are very expensive AFAIK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage
 
CarsinemiA said:
I was a 59kg skinny runt. I tried the chest + triceps one day, back + biceps the next day, etc. I had small results.

I went to doing what you do now, upperbody one day, lower the next (with a few modifications - I don't deadlift on the lowerbody day, I use my Wednesdays purely for deadlifts and shoulders). I gained a phenomenal amount of lean muscle doing this. I do zero cardio and I found doing this, my bodyfat dropped while I gained muscle like I was strapping on lead weights.

This type of training also pushed my appetite into overdrive.

As for the bro-science, it has something to do with constant muscle stimulation. Apparently the once a week, while intense, gives the said muscle-group too much rest.

I guess it all depends on the individual.

On another note: You ever heard of HST? I looked into it and it seems interesting. Once I reach my goal bulking weight I'll give it a bash while I'm cutting.
Click to expand...

This is the first I've ever heard of Hypertrophy Specific Training, gave it a bash at http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html and just got confused. I'll read up a bit more and see what I can learn.
 
ryan411 said:
Do you mean the VA thingy that measures by resting / pressing on your bicep? Agreed, that thing is not accurate but that is not the electrical impedance method that my Salter scale uses.

Or do you mean the new fancy thingies that breaks everything down into body parts even?

Amongst my friends, 4 of us have the Salter scale. As far as we can see, it's pretty accurate and quicker to use than calipers. We range from about 8% body fat up to 40% plus :p Granted at extreme levels of body fat the scale can lose its accuracy, as well as age being a factor. The Salter scale we have asks for your height, age, gender and fitness level (normal or athlete). So dependant on that it might use different formulae or if not, the variables entered make a difference. Visually, the readings are accurate (comparing to the built lean images of diff bf %) and consistent. i.e. The friend that is 8%, all he has to do is ab work and voila, six pack abs. He is very light tho and close on six foot and weighs less than me, struggles to gain weight, but is not doing much gym work to speak of so it's to be expected. The friend that is over 40% bf, he has a lot to lose still and is doing it over time by eating right and all kinds of gym routines. Down 45kg in about 2 years or less.

I was 21% bf beginning of last year and then proceeded to lose 5kg and got down to 15.5% bf. It's a great tool IMO. The most accurate methods of measuring bf % are very expensive AFAIK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage
Click to expand...


No. They have one which attaches to your thumb or wrist.
 
WoDotNant? said:
What I've found works for me is sticking to compound movements... wherever possible, work the maximum amount of fibre, not only do you stimulate the core muscle you are working, but your whole system goes into repair mode. Dips, Pullups/Chinups, Squats, Deadlifts, OHP, Skullcrushers. By all means suppliment with targeted exercises (preacher curls, etc) but don't forget the compound movements - they are the real trigger to put your testo into build mode. The more fibre you work, the better when bulking. This is why even full body workout sessions are popular when bulking. Shape can come later when you've added 5-10 kilos.
Click to expand...

The great thing about compound movements is that its great for both bulkehn and cutting
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X