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Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:17 pm
by ITSMILNER
Anyone offer any tips

I am doing weight training, i'm coming up to my 8th week on my current routine i'll give you an example on how ui have been steadly increasing the weight i lift.

Week 1 & 2 - Chest Press - 50 kg 4x8 reps
week 3 & 4 - Chest Press - 55kg 2x8 50kg 2x8 reps
Wekk 5 & 6 - Chest Press - 55kg 4x8 reps

45-50 seconds rest time between sets

I do more excercises obv's and do Back but the above is how I have been increasing the weights.
Now, i'm getting to a point where the weight i am doing on Chest Press is quite heavy so I am struggling to reach 4x8 reps.

What is the next logical way I should up my weights routine? do I aim for 4x6 reps? 5x5? Just try to max out on each set? any tips would be great please!

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:37 pm
by Winckle
That's not a lot of rest between sets. Try having 90 seconds between sets.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 3:20 pm
by 7256930752
ITSMILNER wrote:Anyone offer any tips

I am doing weight training, i'm coming up to my 8th week on my current routine i'll give you an example on how ui have been steadly increasing the weight i lift.

Week 1 & 2 - Chest Press - 50 kg 4x8 reps
week 3 & 4 - Chest Press - 55kg 2x8 50kg 2x8 reps
Wekk 5 & 6 - Chest Press - 55kg 4x8 reps

45-50 seconds rest time between sets

I do more excercises obv's and do Back but the above is how I have been increasing the weights.
Now, i'm getting to a point where the weight i am doing on Chest Press is quite heavy so I am struggling to reach 4x8 reps.

What is the next logical way I should up my weights routine? do I aim for 4x6 reps? 5x5? Just try to max out on each set? any tips would be great please!

If you want to increase the amount you lift change to a programme that focuses on strength, the most common being Starting Strength and Strong Lifts. I'd recommend Fierce 5 if you'd like a more power building approach.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 7:53 pm
by ITSMILNER
Cheers guys, might take a look at strength train routines but I will start to increase my rest time the rest of the week to see how that helps (I like to keep rest times to under a minute but that might not be the best approach at this point.)

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:11 pm
by Grumpy David
ITSMILNER wrote:Anyone offer any tips

I am doing weight training, i'm coming up to my 8th week on my current routine i'll give you an example on how ui have been steadly increasing the weight i lift.

Week 1 & 2 - Chest Press - 50 kg 4x8 reps
week 3 & 4 - Chest Press - 55kg 2x8 50kg 2x8 reps
Wekk 5 & 6 - Chest Press - 55kg 4x8 reps

45-50 seconds rest time between sets

I do more excercises obv's and do Back but the above is how I have been increasing the weights.
Now, i'm getting to a point where the weight i am doing on Chest Press is quite heavy so I am struggling to reach 4x8 reps.

What is the next logical way I should up my weights routine? do I aim for 4x6 reps? 5x5? Just try to max out on each set? any tips would be great please!



How much do you weigh? Going from chest pressing 50kg to 55kg in 5 weeks is very slow progress unless you weigh 50kg too.

And are you not doing bench press? Chest press is a Smith machine exercise rather than a free weight exercise.

Your rest between sessions is too short too. I do 2 to 3 minutes rest when I'm doing compound lifts.

4x8 is fine assuming your goal is a mixture of building bigger muscles whilst getting some strength gains too. The lack of rest between sets is probably the biggest reason you're struggling to lift heavier.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:15 pm
by Oblomov Boblomov
I'd cut the reps. There is a huge difference between 5 and 8 (I recommend the former).

Also rest as long as you need, don't worry about timing it.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:17 pm
by ITSMILNER
Grumpy David wrote:
ITSMILNER wrote:Anyone offer any tips

I am doing weight training, i'm coming up to my 8th week on my current routine i'll give you an example on how ui have been steadly increasing the weight i lift.

Week 1 & 2 - Chest Press - 50 kg 4x8 reps
week 3 & 4 - Chest Press - 55kg 2x8 50kg 2x8 reps
Wekk 5 & 6 - Chest Press - 55kg 4x8 reps

45-50 seconds rest time between sets

I do more excercises obv's and do Back but the above is how I have been increasing the weights.
Now, i'm getting to a point where the weight i am doing on Chest Press is quite heavy so I am struggling to reach 4x8 reps.

What is the next logical way I should up my weights routine? do I aim for 4x6 reps? 5x5? Just try to max out on each set? any tips would be great please!



How much do you weigh? Going from chest pressing 50kg to 55kg in 5 weeks is very slow progress unless you weigh 50kg too.

And are you not doing bench press? Chest press is a Smith machine exercise rather than a free weight exercise.

Your rest between sessions is too short too. I do 2 to 3 minutes rest when I'm doing compound lifts.

4x8 is fine assuming your goal is a mixture of building bigger muscles whilst getting some strength gains too. The lack of rest between sets is probably the biggest reason you're struggling to lift heavier.


I weigh 12 1/2 stone at the mo, should I really be looking to increase weight on a weekly basis do you think?

I mean Bench press sorry, I use the rack with the Olympic bar and load the weight discs on either side. Seems like maybe the rest time is something I should look to increase tho.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:14 pm
by Grumpy David
ITSMILNER wrote:I weigh 12 1/2 stone at the mo, should I really be looking to increase weight on a weekly basis do you think?

I mean Bench press sorry, I use the rack with the Olympic bar and load the weight discs on either side. Seems like maybe the rest time is something I should look to increase tho.


You should be increasing the weight every session whilst you're lifting so little. Maximise those rapid beginner gains!

And knowing it's not chest press but actually barbell bench press that you're doing means that 55kg is definitely a light lift at 80kg. You need to give yourself 2 or even 3 minutes between sets if you want to increase the weight on the bar in fewer gym sessions.

GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:41 am
by ITSMILNER
Grumpy David wrote:
ITSMILNER wrote:I weigh 12 1/2 stone at the mo, should I really be looking to increase weight on a weekly basis do you think?

I mean Bench press sorry, I use the rack with the Olympic bar and load the weight discs on either side. Seems like maybe the rest time is something I should look to increase tho.


You should be increasing the weight every session whilst you're lifting so little. Maximise those rapid beginner gains!

And knowing it's not chest press but actually barbell bench press that you're doing means that 55kg is definitely a light lift at 80kg. You need to give yourself 2 or even 3 minutes between sets if you want to increase the weight on the bar in fewer gym sessions.


Cool, to give you an example of my chest workout this is what I do

Flat bench press - 4x8
Incline BP - 4x8
Decline BP - 4x8
Chest flys (Machine) 4x8
Push ups - 4x8

I then do 3 tricep exercises followed by cool down on the cross trainer then ab crunches.

Is that too much/too little would you say? If I was to now switch to a more strength building routine should I keep this plan but change to 5x5 reps?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:45 am
by Oblomov Boblomov
My opinion only but honestly for now I would scrap everything like incline, decline, fly etc and just focus on using a barbell to do a flat bench press.

Between 3-5 sets of 5 reps. You're about 80kg now so aim to be comfortably completing full sets for that amount before you think about mixing it up with variations.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:42 am
by Winckle
Image

Spot on the graph when it became socially acceptable to eat mince pies. :slol:

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:46 am
by Knoyleo
:lol:

In a truly sadistic move, my next kickboxing grading is the 19th January. :dread:

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:39 am
by 7256930752
Walking in a Winter Winckleland wrote:Image

Spot on the graph when it became socially acceptable to eat mince pies. :slol:

It's impressive that you're able to get yourself back on track so quickly, most people fail after a little blip.

How have people gotten on this year? Any targets met or surpassed?

Next week is the end of my current programme and I'm going for some PR's

Deadlift - my target was 180Kg but I got 14 reps (overall) at 175kg yesterday so think I might be able to do sightly better
OHP - 55Kg was target but did that yesterday and felt strong, going to go for 60.
Squat - 140Kg was my target but hit that last week so going to go for 145, hopefully hit 150.
Bench - target of 100Kg, hit 95 last week but my form is getting a little sloppy, will give it a try with a strong spotter and safety bars just in case.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:08 am
by Grumpy David
I Shot A Kid wrote:My opinion only but honestly for now I would scrap everything like incline, decline, fly etc and just focus on using a barbell to do a flat bench press.

Between 3-5 sets of 5 reps. You're about 80kg now so aim to be comfortably completing full sets for that amount before you think about mixing it up with variations.


Agreed. No need to over egg the pudding when a newbie. Focus on getting basics done well. Add in pull ups after all weights sessions instead of press ups (too easy to be of benefit).

Hime wrote:
Walking in a Winter Winckleland wrote:Image

Spot on the graph when it became socially acceptable to eat mince pies. :slol:

It's impressive that you're able to get yourself back on track so quickly, most people fail after a little blip.

How have people gotten on this year? Any targets met or surpassed?

Next week is the end of my current programme and I'm going for some PR's

Deadlift - my target was 180Kg but I got 14 reps (overall) at 175kg yesterday so think I might be able to do sightly better
OHP - 55Kg was target but did that yesterday and felt strong, going to go for 60.
Squat - 140Kg was my target but hit that last week so going to go for 145, hopefully hit 150.
Bench - target of 100Kg, hit 95 last week but my form is getting a little sloppy, will give it a try with a strong spotter and safety bars just in case.


Impressive weight loss Winckle! How tall are you?

Hime, that's a mad impressive deadlift for 175kg and reps (3x5 and 1x4?)!

Are the other lifts 1RM?

I didn't have specific fitness goals related to weights this year, I did my first ever Tough Mudder which was about 16km overall and that went great, my cardio is much better than it was a year ago when I first made an effort to improve it. Still sweat profusely (unlike Prince Andrew) doing it!

Lifts haven't increased but haven't sought to and admittedly been very busy with work this year so have been less consistent this year with going gym overall.

Arms are more muscular despite stalling though!

Bench press best this year was 105kg 5x5.
OHP 62.5kg 5x5
Pull Ups in a row (16).
Most pull ups in one gym session: 100
Longest non stop run (treadmill) 10km taking about 58 minutes 9 seconds

Don't deadlift or squat since getting sciatica years ago as it makes the pain flair up.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:18 am
by Winckle
Grumpy David wrote:
Impressive weight loss Winckle! How tall are you?

192cm. I've lost 30KG total so far. It's mad when I'm at the gym and loading a barbell with a 20KG plate, and I think "I was carrying one and a half of these around, all the time".
Full graph is here:
Image

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:29 am
by Tomous
Has anyone invested in gym equipment for their home?

We're moving from a flat into a house next month, and have some space. I'd like to get back into weight training but think I'd get more sessions in much more if had easy access at home, but don't necessarily want to spend hundreds and hundreds.

Also, I've never been primarily into weightlifting and more use strength training to supplement the cardio I do (football, squash, running) and improve general fitness. I have lost a lot of shape recently though and would be keen to get in 2-3 weight sessions a week.

I'm thinking a bench and a decent dumbbell range to start with?

Any thoughts/recommendations/dos and donts?

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:32 am
by 7256930752
Winckle that is fantastic, do you feel better? Have you had to keep dropping your calories.

Grumpy David:
Squat I did 140KG 1*5 & 2*4. Did another for 1*3 to make up the reps.
Deadlift - did 165Kg for 3*5 but had to change to 5*3 as I just couldn't get the reps in
OHP - that was 55Kg 5*3 which is a PR weight but felt strong
Bench - did 2*3 when a coach but dropped the weight to try and change my form as I drop my chest and bounce a bit when trying to get some leg drive.

Going to start Mad Cow as sadly I think my newbie gains are done and 3 heavy sets for reps is just too much, especially if I'm deadlifting twice a week every other week.

*Edit* impressive OHP and pull-ups, I can't imagine doing 100 pull ups in one session.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:35 am
by 7256930752
Merry Christmous Everyone wrote:Has anyone invested in gym equipment for their home?

We're moving from a flat into a house next month, and have some space. I'd like to get back into weight training but think I'd get more sessions in much more if had easy access at home, but don't necessarily want to spend hundreds and hundreds.

Also, I've never been primarily into weightlifting and more use strength training to supplement the cardio I do (football, squash, running) and improve general fitness. I have lost a lot of shape recently though and would be keen to get in 2-3 weight sessions a week.

I'm thinking a bench and a decent dumbbell range to start with?

Any thoughts/recommendations/dos and donts?

I'd just stick with the compounds, improving the will have cross over to everything else and you only need minimal equipment.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:47 am
by Winckle
Hime wrote:Winckle that is fantastic, do you feel better? Have you had to keep dropping your calories.

I feel a bit better, but the process is so gradual it's hard to say how different it is.

I haven't had to drop back calories quite a bit, but in general I've aimed for 1800 kcals a day since the beginning. That was originally a deficit of more than 1000kcals, but it's only about 750 now.

Re: GRFit | Fitness | Weightifting | Martial Arts | Join the club! Or do it next week.

Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:02 pm
by ITSMILNER
Cheers for the advice lads, going to re-start a new routine next week using your tips!