rev210

Coles low fat cottage cheese, for me when I am having a snack before sleep.

If you do them wrong , yes. Otherwise, done right they are fine. Think about 'why' you are doing the particualr lift and 'how' you should perform it to acheive the goal. Once you have the lifts right then spend some attention on durations of recovery. Getting diet and recovery days optimised is the zone for increasing the speed of growth.

The Biceps get thier turn. They will be working on a few movements. Side note is the peak of your bicep and it's shape is totally genetically determined. Rows of various kinds and pullups /chinsups . One arm rows (correctly done). For tips I found this article for you on how to do them right/wrong. http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/deconstructing_the_dumbbell_row

nope from what I understand, Bench press is a test of shoulder health. You do need stronger shoulders/ scapular support to do it though, it's definately harder than not pausing.

Yes I've hurt my shoulders a few times back in younger years. Then I learnt to build shoulder strength and got real strong. You must understand that pressing movements are stabilised by the upper back. If you are weak in the stabilisers then your press movements will have a limit. My longer term arm injury is accident related. Cubans / Scarecrows / external rotations and a few upper back movements. Lots to pick from. Decent arms come with mass and proportion in your shoulders and torso. Based on your size overall the arms will be limited in growth. I have 18 inch cold arms (measured by my little daughter the other day, she says I have oranges in my arms). I didn't get them by bro-cep curls. Don't focus on them focus on the overall , they will be forced to grow to cope with heavy rows etc.

Managed 25 reps tonight first set up (no vid tho') , I've had a bad week stress, sleep and food wise , so I am feeling confident for having a crack at 30. This time next week, I will hopefully be there.

Weak external rotation muscles are your issue on that left shoulder. You have nothing in your routine for developing your shoulder girdle and scapular strength. As a result you are developing a strength imbalance. You will continue to get injured and also remain stuck strength wise , with your program. Your bench and pressing movements are just going to stagnate. If you are failing it doesn't matter, it's totally ok. The numbers mean nothing. In the gym you are doing controlled damage to the muscles, you aren't there to count reps. The real 'growth' occurs when you rest and eat. Also , if you really must do bro-cep curls.Try doing them with less weight, and at the top of the contraction squeeze the hell out of the muscles like your life depends on it. Slowly lower the weight. If you do them right , with correct form , you will not be doing 44.5kg it will be much less. This is for hypertrophy, which is why I assume you are doing these. If it's about how much you can lift for how many reps then just quit isolation bicep curls all together and do some compound movements that involve the biceps.

Creatine does plenty of things that are benifits, not just recovery. google it. You will need to ensure your water intake is increased. Having said that I don't start taking it till I am serious (not doing so at the moment) as you need to routinely take it. Don't take my reason as a good one for not trying it. Some people find different forms of creatine will upset their digestion and experience negative side effects including headaches. Beta alanaine also works. It works as a pH buffer if taken longer term, increasing carnosine concentrations in the body. It has training benifits when supplimented longer term. 10-12 weeks and concentrations of carnosine may go up as much as 80%. That will lead to greater anaerobic and anaerobic muscle endurance, more explosive power and therefore excersise capacity increases. It will take 3-4 weeks to see the results. This stuff does however have some side effects that some can find uncomfortable. Again google it. WPI and Glutamine are good suppliments if you need the dietery help. Glutamine is pre and post workout usefull if you want a fast absorbing ammino , it's the most utilised amino muscle growth wise. But, arguably WPI is enough on it's own. It's just a fast absorbing form of food afterall. If you eat well enough arguably you don't need either. However, if you are like me and have a habbit of skipping meals or eating poorly it's a good strategy.

genetics (same as samoan's etc.) plus lifestyle lots of lifting things and hard work. They lift rocks starting at a young age as a part of festivals.

The rocks are tricky. When I had the largest one I think they were concerned as I was going to fall over (a well founded fear as my table had many empty beer bottles on it). I will admit that a few blokes were helping to stop me falling over on the biggest rock. They aren't as smooth as they look, they are rough and scratch the crap out of you. this is what they were doing. In a skirt mind you..... lift complete.

ha ha....classic good point. You could start "Topics that people start on internet forums that piss you off? these were my offending topics that would make the list ; http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/222841-gtr-vs-gtst-vs-supra-for-a-fully-sik-daily-driver/page-2?hl=supra+vs#entry3936166 http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/202467-gtr-vs-supra-vs-honda-vs-gtst-vs-my-lolcat-teh-bestor-thn-urzsss/page-13?hl=supra+vs#entry3921036

No and No. Clean diet is just that 'clean'. Eat crap and grow man boobs works on or off gear. Getting ripped isn't easy you have to work hard at it. The process of getting lean is the same on or off gear. Most people think about roids as an 'easy ' way to become freakishly lean or huge .Faster yes but, not easy. the gear inflates the genetic potential by providing a resource you can't make enough of to be in that state. However, huge effort is still required to get near the genetic limits ,where roids offer more.

I was almost 30 then. I was in 80 something kilo range. the training program was geared to power and strength. Years later I was at my biggest around 112 kg from memory and then later 103 but, very lean. That required lots and lots of food all the time and wasn't that enjoyable for me. Being 112 and with a bit more fat, I remember going to Tahiti and having a go with the strongmen on volcanic rock lifts (pick them up and stick them on the shoulder to get the 'good lift'). I had drank a stack of Hinano beers and managed to keep up with them and matched their biggest guy on the largest rock (snick under 400lbs from memory) Not really using the technique that was clearly a good idea , I was very sore the next day ha ha... I think back on that and can see why strongman events might interest me. then again they stuff your body up too from what I gather ha ha..

192cm tall. Strength training is the key. I have some genetic potential for sure (good at sports etc). However, I did some specific tecniques back then that gave me the basis for what I have left. The training is hard not because of volume but, because there is very little and huge rest periods. Both when at the gym between movements and also sometimes I wouldn't train for 2 weeks (at all no body splits nothing) I was a skinny dude growing up. I am not sporting a huge frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKdmGM515HM

this one was to finish after some circular pullups and bent over barbell rows. I was working on going fast/ power, while still controlling the pullup as much as I could. I think about 24 reps continuous there.

I would suggest that if whether or not you do pullups as the development excersise for your back , not being able to do one says you have some potential to increase stabilising strength for things like your bench press. It will directly lead to lifting more , if you are keen to have some increases or at a faster rate. Compound support movements are very important. So I would argue that support movements (like pullups- back strength) are critical but, perhaps you mean't isolation? In which case I totally agree with you...ha ha..

what is seen can't be un-seen.........please people the geneva convention , keep it in mind when you post.

Compound movements do this enough. Overhead press uses the tricep. At your body weight level , the tricep will need to be plenty strong. This also goes for grip/back strength as well. At the extreme end of bench press (competitively heavy) you can imagine requiring some focus on weaker muscles (I can't really speak to that). But, I would still argue variations of compound movements that place a greater emphasis on said weaker area are a better idea. I don't do tricep isolation excersises . In the interest of science I can try one people use and let you know what I can do on it, my guess( at the risk of sounding a little over confident) it will be more than people who advocate isolation work .Because the tricep is also a muscle which needs strong support attachments from what I understand. So even to get 'stronger' at an isolation movement is to do compound ones. I could be wrong , someone want to suggest an excersise I can try?

Weak shoulder girdle muscles is the reason. I can tell you that a good way (other ways get there too) to get your bench max up is the following ; a) stop doing bench press b) Start doing work on your shoulder,.scapular and rotator cuff strength and flexibillity. c) Gradually incorporate strict press movements d) when you can do your bodyweight on a strict press then you can think about bench press. e) You are only allowed to 'think' about bench press until someone shows you how to do them properly, then you can 'do' them. Do something like this and that plateu is going to be history. Also you are going to have much better muscle balance and less risk of injury as the weight goes up.

Thats the easy part, if there is one thing from just giving this a shot it is you will get stronger. The hard part is activating the higher performance you have waiting with mind attitude. Think about this .... If you never give your body a shot at getting to 22 you can't actually know you will never get there. Your limits could be even higher? No one can tell you it's not possible. You can do it!

No problem . Want to encourage your belief in yourself, I'd love to help see you go from disapointment in 11 to determination for 22. If you 'want' 22 , 20 ,15 or even 40 enough to try for it ,then you will have the most important ingredient that will get you there.

11 is actually very good. remember this is a starting point too so you can only become more awesome at it ! Challenge yourself first and foremost. It's the best mindset Push yourself, then your body will do what it's designed to do and get stronger. By the time this challenge is done I believe you can get to 22 L33SH , go for it!

still a little sore in the chest from the first attempt at this .....I feel old.

thanks guys . I am encouraged.