No Crust Racing

I'd agree it wasn't "necessary", but in the purist sense of the word, not how I think you mean it. Make no mistake, I find TTTs cynicism highly amusing, and I'd of thought the emoticon was enough to convey that it was said in jest. Given what he dishes out, I'm sure he'll still sleep tonight.

Are you his partner or just defending him? Bare in mind I have no idea who most people are here or how you all know each other. Most of my SAU comrades/FB Friends are from the Melb crew of DECA drivers who have drank heavily with me in Shepparton.

I had a computer in my room when I was a teenager so my forearms are heavily trained...

Plus I thought you'd be happy TTT, squats first and for more reps than anything else, not a single curl in sight, all compound movements. There's just no pleasing some people! I feel sorry for your partner, he/she must have a hard time living up to your standards ;p;

God I love how much of a flamin mongrel you are lol Anyway, stop getting so caught up in semantics. The point I'm making is about the feel. The more I read, the more I see that I won't get decent broceps without squatting and doing some variant of DL anyway so that's what my focus is right now. Never have I ever had squats at the start of a routine and any brocep work at the very end. I don't need to measure, if there's a change I'll notice it. EDIT: lol @ flamin mongrel, I guess it doesn't like the word cvnt.

As per the main thread. Had my first session with the rack last night, it's different, added some weight to squats, bench, RDL and row, nothing much just an extra kg or two here and there as that's how the plate config came out. This is how it looked. Completed everything but started to feel it and had to work for the last reps on the chins. Everything is sets of 8 except squats which is sets of 10. Squat 54 Bench either 92 or 93kg, we'll say 92. RDL 54 Row 54 Chins BW Dips BW Got my pin locations sorted and worked out my positioning for movements, the actual bench etc. The bench takes some getting used to and requires more horizontal stability from me/my legs while benching. Made more obvious by the longer bar too. A few things I noticed. As I've been trying to move away from curling like a bro, I've been really keen to get the chin up bar and did chin ups (or whatever they are called with an underhand shoulder width grip - pull ups?) and didn't find that I felt like my biceps got much out of it certainly not as much pump after exercising, maybe at the top of the motion with some explicit contraction but otherwise not much and it's mostly in the upper lats I feel it today. Also, used the dip bars instead of doing weighted bench (spa) dips and didn't feel like my triceps got much out of that either, to be fair my bench dips were sets of 30 because I could only fit 11-12kg in my pockets lol and the actual dips were just 3 sets of 8 but I just expected more burn on the triceps and if anything felt it more across the shoulder girdle, I think I need a belt for chin ups and dips to get some weight in there asap. Am I wasting time doing chin ups and dips if my main goal there is to try and get some decent bi's and tri's during a compound motion? I want to stick to purely compound stuff where possible for efficiency and max calorific burn (with the exception of some dumbell lunges that I do for ankle stability improvement). Also, put some 1/2" wooden blocks under my heels for squats and that makes a big difference. I can get to parallel and a bit below without my feet splaying outwards and straining up the inside of my bad ankle. Feels good man.

Had my first session with the rack last night, it's different, added some weight to squats, bench, RDL and row, nothing much just an extra kg or two here and there as that's how the plate config came out. Got my pin locations sorted and worked out my positioning for movements, the actual bench etc. The bench takes some getting used to and requires more horizontal stability from me/my legs while benching. Made more obvious by the longer bar too. A few things I noticed. As I've been trying to move away from curling like a bro, I've been really keen to get the chin up bar and did chin ups (or whatever they are called with an underhand shoulder width grip - pull ups?) and didn't find that I felt like my biceps got much out of it certainly not as much pump after exercising, maybe at the top of the motion with some explicit contraction but otherwise not much and it's mostly in the upper lats I feel it today. Also, used the dip bars instead of doing weighted bench (spa) dips and didn't feel like my triceps got much out of that either, to be fair my bench dips were sets of 30 because I could only fit 11-12kg in my pockets lol and the actual dips were just 3 sets of 8 but I just expected more burn on the triceps and if anything felt it more across the shoulder girdle, I think I need a belt for chin ups and dips to get some weight in there asap. Am I wasting time doing chin ups and dips if my main goal there is to try and get some decent bi's and tri's during a compound motion? I want to stick to purely compound stuff where possible for efficiency and max calorific burn (with the exception of some dumbell lunges that I do for ankle stability improvement). EDIT: Forgot to add, put some 1/2" wooden blocks under my heels for squats and that makes a big difference. I can get to parallel and a bit below without my feet splaying outwards and straining up the inside of my bad ankle. Feels good man. Then consider me weak, I can scream and go super sayain, but if I don't have the power for 1 more rep, I certainly don't have the power for 2 lol I admire your mental strength if you can do that, or you just have a skewed threshold of when you think you are out of juice... or maybe that's exactly your point! Cheers dude, only cheap stuff but should be enough for me, but not according to Mitch... Why's that Mitch? (genuine question, no sarcasm) I already have 120kg or so of standard plates which will pretty much be enough for the goals I have as I've got no desire to powerlift. It cost me $50 to buy that bar and be able to use my rack right now with the weights I have knowing full well that chances are I'm not going to need more weights, and if I ever do I'll buy a few 10-20kg plates from the local Facebook group. It's important to keep in mind my goals are fairly low by comparison to some of the guys here. Going Olympic would have cost me far more to get the same amount of weight and for what gain I'm not sure? Or are you meaning it will struggle to hold the weights? It didn't bend or flex last night during bench which at the moment is my heaviest motion, but at only 92-93kg for reps. My aim for squat and DL is to just get it matching the bench and then maybe a bit more and that would be it. I would say 120-140kg absolute max. I don't see this 400lb rated barbell being an issue, even if it can actually only hold 80% of that, it's still more than I'll ever need. Skipped one leg day? You should be ashamed of yourself, I'm pretty sure this is what you'd look like now.

As per the main thread. Anyway, finished rack last night (left band pegs and push up handles off as not needed) and I don't think it was intended to be a one man job lol Tried dip handles and chin up bar, head just clears roof on chin up bar, dip handles seem sturdy enough but having a bar on the pegs gets in the way. I'm now thinking about the logistics of using it (I was hoping it would save me some time) but now I'm thinking it might cost me time to move from squat to bench etc etc. I'll have a play tonight.

For some reason I can't upload pics, the attach button on the flash enabled and basic uploader is busted (rebooted, cleared cache etc etc). Anyway, finished rack last night (left band pegs and push up handles off as not needed) and I don't think it was intended to be a one man job lol Tried dip handles and chin up bar, head just clears roof on chin up bar, dip handles seem sturdy enough but having a bar on the pegs gets in the way. I'm now thinking about the logistics of using it (I was hoping it would save me some time) but now I'm thinking it might cost me time to move from squat to bench etc etc. I'll have a play tonight. EDIT: Actually it appears to have attached anyway...

Ahh OK, I do a bit of everything so I dont have as long a recovery time as you, but wouldn't be training as hard either.

Full body sessions or split?

What are peoples thoughts on training to failure? Now that I have a rack with multiple pin locations and safety bars it means I can push a bit harder and not be as worried about being able to get that last rep out on the last set at a new higher weight. I tend to go up in weight slowly to make sure I'm competent at it (strong and weak days regardless) before moving on. So is it beneficial to be able to get in another half rep or 75% of a rep then fail it to the pins/bars or is that just overloading the muscle too much and increasing recovery time? Given I don't do split routines so time between sessions is smaller than it would be if I was really smashing one muscle group my concern would be the risk of injury and overuse so to speak and I'm not anywhere near as tough as the rest of you when it comes to injuries, takes me ages to recovery. Side bar: I prefer doing a bit of everything in every session so it doesn't matter as much if for whatever reason I miss a session, I realise a lot of people will say gains are better if you heavily train one/two parts a day but I prefer doing a bit of everything in each session.

It's all good, the ankle will always be a problem, no different to my elbow, but the elbow can now be beaten on without too much issue, the ankle will get there too. The back I expect to get a bit better yes as it was fine before I started squatting again so I'm doing things wrong. I had physio today and she wants me to use a small step under my heel to give better ROM through my ankle while squatting to stop my feet splaying out as I go down, we did some practice movements, I also need to sit up straighter, no back rests, and continue working on my TA activation, she also gave me a different ankle stretch and worked on the ankle itself as she said the lump I have prohibiting the ankle ROM is fibrous tissue around the sheath in that area. So we're making progress at least. At least this is costing me nothing.

NO NO NO

Although I just thought, when doing chin ups you'd probably have a bar on the pins which would balance it out.

Have been thinking, a dipping belt could be handy, haven't looked around yet, are they expensive for a half decent one? I've got a lifting belt somewhere, I might be able to hack that up.

Short on time tonight so reduced breaks between sets and still competed everything then started rack build. Got the pulley mount to do yet. Will need to put something solid underneath as a pull up makes it want to lean forward when on the double layered carpet. Not sure what I think about the dip handles only being welded one side.

Hah, actually, since the arrival of the baby the missus does have a new and splendid rack... but no pics for you. Yeah I stretch, use heat, foam roller etc and it all "helps" but I am looking forward to it being solved.

The missus informs me my rack arrived this morning, she didn't make the door in time (shower) so they left the 2m tall however heavy box on the door step lol She said she took it through to the gym room piece by piece to get it off the door step. Also played with the roller a bit more, not sure I think it helps all that much though it is uncomfortable. Heat seems to be the best thing for it. Stretching and rolling only give limited relief. Physio again tomorrow, we'll see if I've learned to activate the muscle she wanted me too.

Only $25 which I thought was pretty good.

Buying one from Hytech parts in Newcastle, Kev (who is very polite and efficient) has one that's off a car as everyone else wants to sell me a complete tailgate, not my colour but the price is good enough andt I can get it painted for not too much extra. Highly recommend the business.

Now that would be an issue.

Thanks Winny, I'll try Maz Spare, but that number looks familiar so I may have already tried them. I've been on ebay for a good 10 years and I work in IT so I'm pretty comfortable with searching but unfortunately not having much luck, there's plenty of GG series spoilers and plenty of after market GH compatible ones but I'd really prefer a second hand factory one so I know it will fit, plus a slim chance of getting it in my paint code (35J - Stormy Blue). I'll keep hunting!

I've seen that with my smaller plates too, where using many gives a small variance. My big plates are fine though. I'm not fussed by it though, the percentages are usually very small and given I don't compete the numbers are only for comparison against myself. If you had 100kg on the bar and it really weighs 97 or 104 it doesn't mean jack. If you get stronger and put 5 more kg on the bar, whether that 5 is 4.5 or 5.5 doesn't really matter for your casual lifter, it's still more than it was and you are gaining. If you're a comp lifter, completely different story though. Plus I could care less f if someone else says they lift x and it's really y, I'm only concerned about my own results. I can see how it would be annoying for highly competitive people if your mate says he can lift way more than you but his weights are shit and inaccurate. 20% on 20kg is a laugh, I need some of those to feel tough lol