Gym And Supplement Discussion

[GHOSTrun]

where in bris can i buy those mini shakers with the ball inside and they seal really well, screw on top? just checked out ADA Street but they don't have them

[Tangles]

woodchops - is this it? - http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/19221/power-circuit-training-cable-woodchops

kind of like a golf swing ?

[Birds]

They have heaps of variations, but basically pulling a cable from one side of your body to the other and using your core to do the pulling. Sitting will target the obliques better but standing will be better for your whole core. Plenty of vids on YouTube. I do it heavy weight and not very strictly...makes it more of a compound exercise that works the legs a bit too, terrific for balance. Adds a "three dimensional" feel to your workout.

photo is too big, make smaller please.

Apologies my phone camera doesn't let me choose a resolution nor does the upload tool.

[dezz]

where in bris can i buy those mini shakers with the ball inside and they seal really well, screw on top? just checked out ADA Street but they don't have them

Pretty much every online supplement store sell em..I'd imagine every shop that sells protein powder would to...

I've got 2 little/1 big from protein direct that I've been using for years, I don't use the spring ball though as my protein mixes fine without it...

http://www.proteindirect.com.au/?page_id=3 $5.50 small / $6.60 large

[JKR-32]

where in bris can i buy those mini shakers with the ball inside and they seal really well, screw on top? just checked out ADA Street but they don't have them

GNC stock them at chermside westfields. That's where I have bought all mine from.

[GHOSTrun]

^ oh sweet, will take a drive out there today

[KezR33]

We sell them at Coles.

[NickR33]

if anyone isn't doing cleans but is curious this is a good article to get you started

I love cleans, nothing ruins me in the gym like doing a few sets of power cleans... from the floor, hang or pins they will have sweat running off you in no time!

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/a_surefire_way_to_learn_the_clean

in fact, I'm off to do some now

[KezR33]

Thing I love about cleans is you can not only improve on your strength, but you can almost always improve on your technique too. There's a guy at my gym who has pretty much perfected it, and he can clean a lot more weight than bigger guys in there.

[NickR33]

yeah my technique is fairly average... flexibility in wrists is poor so I struggle to rack the bar on my shoulders properly... I can clean my bodyweight off the floor and catch it in a quarter squat... but I don't bother going too heavy as sub maximal loads are best so you can focus on speed... I like to do them with overhead presses and bent over rows, no rest periods between the 3 exercises... 60kg or 70kg is PLENTY and you get a mad sweat going

lots of carry over to other sports... maybe one day I'll be able to dunk lol (probably not)

[Trozzle]

I've always struggled BIG TIME with incline press and shoulder press, particularly when using dumbbells...it's really starting to make me angry. I simply cannot push myself on it, relatively "light" weight, I can smash out a quick 5 reps and then once it starts to become heavy, I simply can't overcome that mental block where your mind says "no, no more of that" and refuses to allow you to push out the next rep.

Anyone got any tips for how I can overcome this? It's seriously only with those 2 exercises. Just as I get to the most effective point and it's doing something, it's all over. Like my arms aren't in my control any more.

[rev210]

I've always struggled BIG TIME with incline press and shoulder press, particularly when using dumbbells...it's really starting to make me angry. I simply cannot push myself on it, relatively "light" weight, I can smash out a quick 5 reps and then once it starts to become heavy, I simply can't overcome that mental block where your mind says "no, no more of that" and refuses to allow you to push out the next rep.

Anyone got any tips for how I can overcome this? It's seriously only with those 2 exercises. Just as I get to the most effective point and it's doing something, it's all over. Like my arms aren't in my control any more.

I can think of two things that might cause this.

* Weak shoulder girdle supporting muscles / rotator cuff.

* You could be doing bench press to close to the shoulders workout. All the pressing movements use the shoulders a lot. A decent break of days between shoulders and benching is usually helpful. Place them as far apart in training days as you can for your week. Doing them on the same day is going to cause this also.

[KezR33]

I've always struggled BIG TIME with incline press and shoulder press, particularly when using dumbbells...it's really starting to make me angry. I simply cannot push myself on it, relatively "light" weight, I can smash out a quick 5 reps and then once it starts to become heavy, I simply can't overcome that mental block where your mind says "no, no more of that" and refuses to allow you to push out the next rep.

Anyone got any tips for how I can overcome this? It's seriously only with those 2 exercises. Just as I get to the most effective point and it's doing something, it's all over. Like my arms aren't in my control any more.

Do you keep a record of your lifts? Just keep track and constantly improve it each session.

Say you start at 20kg dumbells and do 3 sets of 5, 3, 2. Record that, and next week do better, even if its only one extra rep. Say, 5, 3, 3. If you don't get the extra rep you need, just add a 4th set so that your total number of reps is greater than your previous session. Once you hit 3 sets of 8-10 (whatever your goal is) up the weight to 22.5kg dumbells and repeat.

Just be aware that you will have shit sessions where you won't beat your previous best due to fatigue, poor diet, stress, illness, etc. On those days do your best but don't stress out about it.

[NickR33]

I've always struggled BIG TIME with incline press and shoulder press, particularly when using dumbbells...it's really starting to make me angry. I simply cannot push myself on it, relatively "light" weight, I can smash out a quick 5 reps and then once it starts to become heavy, I simply can't overcome that mental block where your mind says "no, no more of that" and refuses to allow you to push out the next rep.

Anyone got any tips for how I can overcome this? It's seriously only with those 2 exercises. Just as I get to the most effective point and it's doing something, it's all over. Like my arms aren't in my control any more.

your shoulders aren't predominantly fast twitch fibres... (as opposed to your chest/lats/quads etc) this means keeping the weight relatively light and keeping the reps in the medium range is optimal for growing the delts... you don't need to go really heavy for low reps like some of the other compound movements... this goes for all 3 of the shoulder muscles... they are also relatively small so will fill with blood and fatigue quicker than larger muscle groups... just pick a lighter weight and do more sets/reps... take a bigger break between sets etc

the only time I go heavy overhead is when doing barbell push presses... they're a power movement though and not really designed to isolate the shoulders

[TTT]

Trozzle - research "Doug Hepburn"

he's a 1950s, 60's weight lifter/strongman etc.

long story short - he has what he called a "Military press course"

basically...

Doug was big on adding one rep per day in linear fashion such as...

beginning with 8x2 - 2,2,2,2,2,2,2,2

next workout do 1x3, 7x2 - 3,2,2,2,2,2,2,2

He worked up to 8x3 with a weight added 5lbs then dropped back down to 8x2 again.

Does that make sense?

basically he would go up by 2.5kg every 8 weeks (if doing shoulders once a week)

It might seem slow, but this gives all the support muscles that allow you to put a weight overhead catch up/grow too.

And if you want to read about him...

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Hepburn/Hepburns%20Law/Hepburns%20Law.pdf

It's no Mens Health but it's still pretty good.

[Birds]

yeah my technique is fairly average... flexibility in wrists is poor so I struggle to rack the bar on my shoulders properly... I can clean my bodyweight off the floor and catch it in a quarter squat... but I don't bother going too heavy as sub maximal loads are best so you can focus on speed... I like to do them with overhead presses and bent over rows, no rest periods between the 3 exercises... 60kg or 70kg is PLENTY and you get a mad sweat going

lots of carry over to other sports... maybe one day I'll be able to dunk lol (probably not)

Yer I clean the bars when I'm doing standing shoulder press. It's the safest...nay...probably the only way to get the bar up and lower it behind your neck...unless you use a squat rack. It's only 45kg, but that's still good practice for getting the clean technique downpat etc. Because I've been doing this motion for years, and since I've recently started squatting again, I can usually clean the bar with a fair bit of weight on it when moving the bar from a deadlift rack position to a squat rack position.

[NickR33]

yeah doesn't need to be heavy, just have to focus on speed/power

his technique is pretty poor but if the fastest man in the world does them... (these are from a high hang)

(sorry won't embed)

this is better technique

[Trozzle]

I for one love power cleans. Even at 50kg 8-10 reps gets the heart pounding and the swear pouring. Few sets of that and I'm completely buggered.

[Tangles]

Shoulder day today; getting better with it although currently its my least fav.day

Tried some squats in the smith machine today to see how low I could go - pretty shitty feeling to be able to only go down a few inches due to the no-knees. #@$*^

Guess I'll try & perfect good form on the deadlift instead come leg day, although my legs want to bow outwards during the hip thrust. Got to find that happy medium.

Decided to cut out as much Carbs as possible (besides Dextrose in my pre/post shakes). Had some pringles friday night and felt awful All wkend! My body did NOT enjoy it whatsoever. Going to try to stick to a more 'primal' based diet, Meat & Veg/Leaf. Probably stick to chook breast & tuna for the next month & see how my body responds, and go from there

[No Crust Racing]

OK some questions and feedback from me this morning.

- Got the Dymatize (Elite Fusion 7) after reading some more reviews and seeing it compared favourably with ONs WPI Gold (another guy here at work takes that also) I've only had it a week so far but I can give initial impressions. Taste is great if you like sweet stuff which I do, I got the cookies flavoured one as it was on special for $75 delivered (2.3kg). Comes out tasting like a rich Vanilla thick/milk shake with some cookie bits in it. There's approx 50+ 44g serves in it, one large scoop = 44g. It mixes quite well given I just chuck it in a glass with milk and use a spoon to stir, 95% of it mixes up immediately and you are left with some tiny clumping which you can either stir more to break down or just use a shaker straight up. I "think" it may have given me a bit of extra gas though and it definitly affects the quality of your morning deuce but in a good way, it's teflon coated everytime 0_0 You go for the wipe and it's like nothing even happened. I have a full scoop straight after exercising (M/W/F) and then a smaller scoop from an old product the morning after as a booster sort of thing. Despite pushing a little harder to bring on some muscle soreness/fatigue as a test I've been finding that I'm recovering quite well surprisingly, especially with regards to my bung left elbow.

OK now for questions.

- When doing Barbel Rows, there seems to be two approaches, after bringing the bar up to the starting position and bending over people either bring it up to the chest and squeeze the shoulder blades together at the top or bring it up closer to the body and bring it up to the waist which seems to target triceps and a bit of the lats. As my goal for that exercise is more about my shoulder blades I have started bringing it up to the chest, which forced me to drop a few kgs off the bar. Can anyone see any issues with that?

- I do a bit of ab work in my routine, 3 sets of 50 crunches and 3 sets of 70 reps of an air bike/leg scissor type thing. So I have OK looking abs so long as I tense them and hold them in place. If I fully relax, I look 2mths pregnant and my stomach bulges out a small amount. Is this a sign of poor internal ab strength or weak core or is it just that every photo you ever see of someone posing they are flexing their stomach? My partners stomach does not do this and she doesn't have my ab definition or strength and doesn't do any special ab work (she's a runner). I sit all day so that might be it, relaxed abs all day though she does too? I don't think my body fat % is high as I've always been a leaner guy (I'm only 81kg at 6ft). She did say that from an early age she always held her abs in place and has good posture.

Thoughts?

Edited February 20, 2012 by ActionDan