Workout: What did you do today?

[Guybrush]

If I were you I'd check them out to see if there's one with an experienced and friendly trainer who can check your form and give you tips, for instance with the exercise where you feel your progress is relatively slow. But emphasis on if I were you... cause I enjoy the social aspect of the gym, esp right now that my social life is pretty limited. And since I don't know anything about the anatomy and physics behind it, I don't trust myself to get everything right even with the exercises I know inside out.

But since you are science-oriented and treat working out as "me time" maybe you don't need to. 

I don't want or need it for the social aspect. But before I became a parent, I probably would've done as you suggested. Now I feel like I need to find ways to make effective use of time.

About saving time, I tried an alternative way of doing biceps curls today. You may all be familiar with it already.

You start a higher weight and do reps until failure, then go to a slightly lighter weight and do reps until failure, etc. There's no pause in between changing weights

I tried manuals at 15 kg, then 12,5 kg, then 10, 8, 6 and 4 though the last one or two felt a little pointless.

The YouTube video I saw suggested doing this no more than once per workout, so one set. It's a crazy set, though. I never felt that sort of intensity just doing biceps curls before.

I might see if I can transfer that philosophy to some of my other exercises, though it definitely helps to have a while bunch of weights/manuals for this.

[DJChameleon]

Been doing a PPL split for the past two years or so, best split for me so far. I like working out almost every day but don't like long workouts so this is perfect for me. Focus on compounds (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, rows, pull ups) with a bit of isolation after that. Have a workout room in my cellar now with a proper squat rack, helps a lot.

Yeah I don't like long workouts either. My trainer has a program that makes my workout the most efficient with the shortest time. So we aren't there for a long time. It's usually 30 to 40 mins. then we are done.

If I were you I'd check them out to see if there's one with an experienced and friendly trainer who can check your form and give you tips, for instance with the exercise where you feel your progress is relatively slow. But emphasis on if I were you... cause I enjoy the social aspect of the gym, esp right now that my social life is pretty limited. And since I don't know anything about the anatomy and physics behind it, I don't trust myself to get everything right even with the exercises I know inside out.

But since you are science-oriented and treat working out as "me time" maybe you don't need to. 

Yeah I end up using the gym as a social space too. Pre and post workout mostly, I end up talking to the front desk person along with a few people that come in that's how I ended up getting a podcast started. My podcast is from a guy that I met from the gym and some of the people that we see come in are going to be our guests. I'm pretty much the producer of the podcast.

I don't want or need it for the social aspect. But before I became a parent, I probably would've done as you suggested. Now I feel like I need to find ways to make effective use of time.

About saving time, I tried an alternative way of doing biceps curls today. You may all be familiar with it already.

You start a higher weight and do reps until failure, then go to a slightly lighter weight and do reps until failure, etc. There's no pause in between changing weights

I tried manuals at 15 kg, then 12,5 kg, then 10, 8, 6 and 4 though the last one or two felt a little pointless.

The YouTube video I saw suggested doing this no more than once per workout, so one set. It's a crazy set, though. I never felt that sort of intensity just doing biceps curls before.

I might see if I can transfer that philosophy to some of my other exercises, though it definitely helps to have a while bunch of weights/manuals for this.

I do something similar but I go up instead of down and I do a specific number of reps. So I start with 20 lbs and do 15 reps then 30 lbs and 12 reps 40 lbs and 10 reps etc until I get down to 6 reps.

[jimmy jazz]

About saving time, I tried an alternative way of doing biceps curls today. You may all be familiar with it already.

You start a higher weight and do reps until failure, then go to a slightly lighter weight and do reps until failure, etc. There's no pause in between changing weights

I tried manuals at 15 kg, then 12,5 kg, then 10, 8, 6 and 4 though the last one or two felt a little pointless.

The YouTube video I saw suggested doing this no more than once per workout, so one set. It's a crazy set, though. I never felt that sort of intensity just doing biceps curls before.

I might see if I can transfer that philosophy to some of my other exercises, though it definitely helps to have a while bunch of weights/manuals for this.

Yes it's called a drop set. Very good tactic to bust through a plateau or for the pump.

There is other stuff you can do like forced negatives, supersets, pyramid sets (which is what @DJChameleon just described) or just high volume.

Also yes, you can definitely do drop sets with most exercises. It's more difficult training alone though obviously.

[Guybrush]

Perfect! Thanks for your tips and helping out with the terminology 🙂

[grindy]

Perfect! Thanks for your tips and helping out with the terminology 🙂

Another intensity technique you might want to try are myoreps. You use a weight you can do around 15-20 reps with and go to or very close to failure. You rest for a few breaths and do another set and then another and so on. Those minisets will be somewhere around 5 reps and you will be able to do fewer and fewer reps. You can either do a fixed amount of those minisets or go until you cannot do more than a fixed number of reps per set (let's say 1 or 2). I prefer those to drop sets because changing weights is a hassle for me.

[grindy]

Same but with weight also, on a slant board. I've seen people say doing them every other day helps them but I haven't tried that and don't know if I care about them enough to do that.

I do them on a stack of plates for that sweet painful stretch.
Yeah, calves can recover very quickly and you are supposedly even able to work them every day. But I also don't care enough, even if I sometimes look like I skip leg day when wearing shorts.

[Guybrush]

Brilliant grindy! Maybe I'll save that for when I'm toning next year's summer bod 😅

[grindy]

Yeah I don't like long workouts either. My trainer has a program that makes my workout the most efficient with the shortest time. So we aren't there for a long time. It's usually 30 to 40 mins. then we are done.

Yeah I end up using the gym as a social space too. Pre and post workout mostly, I end up talking to the front desk person along with a few people that come in that's how I ended up getting a podcast started. My podcast is from a guy that I met from the gym and some of the people that we see come in are going to be our guests. I'm pretty much the producer of the podcast.

I do something similar but I go up instead of down and I do a specific number of reps. So I start with 20 lbs and do 15 reps then 30 lbs and 12 reps 40 lbs and 10 reps etc until I get down to 6 reps.

What's your program like? Would be interested to see everyone's program actually.

Mine's pretty basic.
I usually switch the order of the big movements on each of the two days and make the first movement of the day heavier than when I do it second.
Pull day: Barbell Rows and (weighted) pull ups, after that a superset of either cable curls and face pulls or band pull aparts and incline curls. I also superset calves with one of the big movements.
Push day: Bench press (barbell or dumbbell on an incline bench), overhead press and a superset of either french press and lateral raises or cable pushdown and cable upright row. Also supersetting some neck training in there.
Legs: Squats (normal ones and Tom Platz style narrow stance squats on a slant board to really target the quads), deadlifts (conventional or Romanian) and back extensions on both days for that sweet-ass sweet ass.

[jimmy jazz]

Grindy when you are doing your squats and bench what sort of weights are you using and for how many reps?

Also I'm assuming you train alone, you use the clips when benching?

[grindy]

Grindy when you are doing your squats and bench what sort of weights are you using and for how many reps?

Also I'm assuming you train alone, you use the clips when benching?

My weights are really unimpressive. Currently I do normal squats for three sets of 8 with 82,5 kg and narrow stance squats with slant board and squat shoes for three sets of 10 with 72,5 kg. As for barbell bench press I do three sets of nine with 67,5 kg.
I also usually do a rest pause set of 20 reps after heavier sets as kind of a down set do add a bit of volume and as technique work.
I used to do one day with rep ranges between 4 and 6 and one with around 10, but I managed to hurt my knee and elbow simultaneously last autumn which really set me back and screwed up my progress and I dialed back the intensity a bit after that. I'm fine now though and I'll by slowly lowering my rep ranges in the next weeks and months.

I have a squat rack and I do my bench presses in there as well which really helps. I used to be somewhat scared to really go to failure on those lifts before but now it feels really safe.

How about you? What are your reps and weights? Do you deadlift? Deadlift is probably my most successful lift with three sets of five reps with 125,5 kg, which is obviously still not particularly impressive but at least better than my poverty bench.

[jimmy jazz]

Around the 100kg mark for squats. I did 120kg for three sets of 10 last night but I usually wouldn't do reps that low for legs. Normally around 20.

Bench is around 100kg but reps a lot lower, 4-6 for a heavy session.

I do RDL but not standard deadlifts. Around 100kg there as well.

How come you're at 70kg for bench, safety reasons?

[grindy]

Around the 100kg mark for squats. I did 120kg for three sets of 10 last night but I usually wouldn't do reps that low for legs. Normally around 20.

Bench is around 100kg but reps a lot lower, 4-6 for a heavy session.

I do RDL but not standard deadlifts. Around 100kg there as well.

How come you're at 70kg for bench, safety reasons?

Nice numbers, I hope to get there in 1-2 years.
I'm generally pretty weak and due to being quite tall and slender, with long arms I'm not really build for bench. Plus I've been starting from scratch several times due to injuries or just being inconsistent with training. But I'm optimistic that I'll get to 100 kg soon at least for one rep, currently I'm probably somewhere around 85-90kg for one rep.

[jadis]

I have a chest day, a back day, a shoulders day and a legs day. I do lots of isolation, really enjoy those.

I'm benching around 80 now (4 reps), down from a pre-pandemic peak of almost 100

My best deadlift has never been significantly higher than my bench, I don't remember ever crossing the 100 kg mark. It was never one of my faves so you could say I neglected it. I only very recently resumed doing them after the pandemic and I decided to start from scratch to work on coordination and mind-muscle connection.* Not sure I've ever really "gotten" this exercise though I've always loved the burst of energy you get good back exercises.

I'm as far from "ego-lifting" as it comes though, I think. What I want from the gym is to feel energized, focused, in touch with my body and those kind of things.
 


*On the subject of mind-muscle connection, my current struggle at the gym is working out without my earbuds and my favorite radio shows. Cause part of why I love isolation is that you don't have to be as totally focused as you are during deadlifts or bench. It's fun when there are people I like there, like one of the junior trainers I'm friendly with. But on certain hours during the day it's like a social club for annoying people and hearing the conversations (a lot of which are in Russian) makes me wanna die.

[grindy]

I have a chest day, a back day, a shoulders day and a legs day. I do lots of isolation, really enjoy those.

I'm benching around 80 now (4 reps), down from a pre-pandemic peak of almost 100

My best deadlift has never been significantly higher than my bench, I don't remember ever crossing the 100 kg mark. It was never one of my faves so you could say I neglected it. I only very recently resumed doing them after the pandemic and I decided to start from scratch to work on coordination and mind-muscle connection.* Not sure I've ever really "gotten" this exercise though I've always loved the burst of energy you get good back exercises.

I'm as far from "ego-lifting" as it comes though, I think. What I want from the gym is to feel energized, focused, in touch with my body and those kind of things.
 


*On the subject of mind-muscle connection, my current struggle at the gym is working out without my earbuds and my favorite radio shows. Cause part of why I love isolation is that you don't have to be as totally focused as you are during deadlifts or bench. It's fun when there are people I like there, like one of the junior trainers I'm friendly with. But on certain hours during the day it's like a social club for annoying people and hearing the conversations (a lot of which are in Russian) makes me wanna die.

What exercises do you do on the various days? This is quite an unusual split imo, especially having a separate shoulder day.

[jadis]

I dunno what the different pullups and pulldowns I'm doing are called in English lol

The head coach is the one who designing individual programs for everyone and they are small diagrams showing the motion rather than verbal descriptions. Also he's Russian and all my previous trainers were Francophone

I should have an old program somewhere in my stuff but don't know if I'm going to find it in the two days I've got here (I'm flying to France for a month on Sunday)