[Old School]

(Original post by Slick Fosbury)
How tall are you btw? Same weight but you're much thicker haha.

Sorry trying to pick your brain a bit since everyone else seems to be powerlifting. But what do you think of BB vs DB for bench and OHP? Since switching to DB bench I move a lot less weight but feel it more in my chest. Also at my gym DB seems to be favoured by the bigger guys which obviously sways me a bit.

5'7"

It's fine, I like the interest- it makes me feel important .

I prefer the barbell for just about everything except back work (for back development there's nothing better than kroc rows IMO).

You lift more and if you're doing it properly then you're hitting the appropriate muscles and making them stronger. This carries over to isolation moves and dumbell work.

If you use a dumbell exercise as your main mover you will get stronger with the dumbells but your barbell presses won't improve as much and you won't be as 'strong' overall. I see loads of guys who are smaller than me with really strong dumbell presses. Most have ****ty BB bench and OHP numbers.

Obviously if you are already 'strong' (eg >145kg bench) then dumbells may be a better choice if you're only concerned with aesthetics for injury prevention and CNS recovery.

[Old School]

Trained deadlift and back today along with AM cardio.

AM cardio.

Same old, same old. Dropped a couple kp/h on my LIIT due to the fact that I was going to be deadlifting around 10 hours later.

PM

Deadlift

110x5
120x5
130x13

Kroc Rows

Worked up to an all out set of 44kgx25 for both arms (strapless). Were it not for my crap grip I would have had another 4 or so reps, that'll learn me for using straps like a girl for the last few months.

Neutral Grip Pull-Ups

+15kgx5x3
+10kgx8x2

Lat Pulldown and Straight Arm Pulldown Superset

4 rounds 12-20 reps

Shrugs

100x10x5

[Old School]

Only did cardio today. Legs tomorrow. Gonna be awesome.

For those who are interested I thought I'd write up a typical days eating for me at the moment.

Meal 1 (when I get up)

6 scrambled eggs, 2-3 slices of toast, some pinapple and/or berries.

or

Big bowel of oats with a few scoops of whey, berries and a couple tablespoons of peanut butter. Mixed with water.

A **** off massive cup of coffee (black, no sugar)

Meal 2

2 tins of tuna and a salad

or

Big chicken sandwich

More coffee

Meal 3 (optional, sometimes I lump this in with meal 4- or dinner for normal people...)

Large bowel of soup, sometimes with bread.

Meal 4

3-4 chicken breasts, brown rice and stir fry veg with a stir fry or sweet and sour sauce

Pot of cottage cheese (around 300g) with pinapple.

Peanut butter x lots.

I drink around 8l of water a day too.

Obviously if I'm cutting or trying to drop a few lbs this gets tightened up. I'll drop the bread and most of the berries. I'll also cycle carbs depending on how I'm responding/how body comp is looking.

I never go by scale weight. My long suffering housemates take weekly progress pics for me. This is the only method of measuring progress that matters because it is what people see. No-one cares what you weigh or what your bf% is because you don't walk around with a massive great signpost over your head with your e-stats on it.

[Old School]

Legs trained. I was sick twice for some reason. As predicted, was awesome even though no PRs were set.

Squat

60x3
100x5
110x5
130x14- was shooting for 20 but for some reason my legs gave out on the 15th rep and I got stapled. Many lulz were had. Got up from the floor after a couple of minutes of feeling sorry for myself and got a really weird feeling. Then I felt sick. Then I was sick and felt a little better.

Paused Squats (3 second pause)

90x5
90x5
90x5
90x5

Leg Press

195x12
195x12
195x12 (had the weird feeling again and was sick)
195x12

Leg Curl

lightx12x4

SLDL

60x10x4

Leg Extension

lightx12x4




Took a nice homo post leg day photo. Will need to start cutting fat soon, the lack of cuts in my quads is disturbing.

Also, weighed in @ 92kg on the dot today.

[commandant]

(Original post by Old School)

Getting huge natural requires putting on a fair bit of bf, unfortunately.

I've never heard that before - always been advised that as a natural it's best to stay lean. Plus all my friends who compete in natty feds / the ones I follow never seem to get too out of shape in the off season.

[Old School]

(Original post by commandant)
I've never heard that before - always been advised that as a natural it's best to stay lean. Plus all my friends who compete in natty feds / the ones I follow never seem to get too out of shape in the off season.

IMHO it depends on whether or not you've competed before and what weight class you want to end up in. If you're happy as a light/middleweight or if you're already pretty much where you want to be in terms of size then staying reasonably lean.

However, if you want to get really ****ing big (i.e. compete at over 200lbs @ around 5'7/8") then getting 'fat' is kind of a necessity. I wouldn't want to get much fatter than I am now but I accept that I may have to in order to look the way I want without PEDs.

I've been brought around to this thinking by a lot of the older guys that I train with when I'm not at uni. Some were active in the 50's and early 60's when you had people like Reg Park stomping around at 225 and quite cut.

For some reason 'bulking up' has gone out of fashion. Maybe it's not the best way of doing things but it makes a lot of sense to me and anecdotal evidence would suggest that for those looking to get as big as it is physically possible for them to be then it's a strategy that's at least worth trying.

[Old School]

Overhead work today. Nothing special, sore as **** from yesterday for some reason. I reckon I'm ill.

Press

50x5
55x5
62.5x12

5x50x10

Did neutral grip chins between every set

Seated Dumbell Press

22x12
30x7
22x12
22x14

Lateral Raise/Rear Delt Raise/Face Pull Giant Set

4 rounds, reps were 12-20

Did some curls too.

4x35x10

Did some more chins. All chins were sets of 10. Think I did around 120 today.

[u4m1r]

Sick overhead press

[Old School]

(Original post by u4m1r)
Sick overhead press

Thanks. This time last year I could jerk 60x3. Suffice it to say I sucked at pressing. I now suck slightly less.

Today's training was cardio. Same old ****. Nothing exciting to report.

[Slick Fosbury]

Any tips for building fore arms?

[Old School]

(Original post by Slick Fosbury)
Any tips for building fore arms?

High rep deadlifts and kroc rows.

More cardio suckage this morning. Bench day tomorrow so I'll have something a little more exciting to post about.

[Slick Fosbury]

Are kroc rows different to DB rows? I youtubed them the other day and they look very similar.

So you wouldn't recommend static holds, plate pinches, wrist curls etc?

[Old School]

(Original post by Slick Fosbury)
Are kroc rows different to DB rows? I youtubed them the other day and they look very similar.

So you wouldn't recommend static holds, plate pinches, wrist curls etc?

Nope. Not unless you are ridiculously huge already.

To reword and paraphrase Jim Wendler:

The guy pulling 500lbs for reps probably looks a lot better than the guy who pulls 250 for his first double and spends **** loads of time doing lots of different isolation exercises.

[Old School]

'Strong' day today.

AM: Cardio

6/6/6 Sprints (week 5)

4 min cooldown (flat walk)

15 min incline walk

PM: Bench Day

80x3

90x3

100x11 (+1 assisted) PB

105x6

110x4 PB (I think)

117.5x1

80x10

80x10- paused

Incline Dumbbell Press

32x12

36x10

38x6 (+2)

Dips

+15kgx3x10

Incline Flyes

4 sets 12-15

Push-ups

+15kgx5x12

Haven't done push-ups since I was like 16. Felt like a badass with a plate on my back. Christ I'm such a douche.

[Old School]

Today didn't rate very high up on the awesomeness scale. I don't think I ate enough after yesterday's bench session.

AM: Cardio
As yesterday.

PM: Deadlift/Back

Deadlift

110x3

120x3

140x10 (left a couple in the tank because I started to get parasthesia and paresis down my bad leg. Never a good sign.)

170x1 (this was a grinder)

180xf

Kroc Rows

Did a couple of warmups followed by:

48x24 (no straps)

Neutral Grip Chins

+10kgx6,6,6,5,5,4

Seated Row

4 sets 10-20 reps

Lat Pulldown and Straight Arm Pulldown Superset

About 6 rounds 10-20 reps

[Old School]

So I got ****faced last night. Bad move considering today was squat day.

Squat

60x5
100x5
120x5
135x11

100x5
100x5
100x5
100x5
100x5

All done with a 3 second pause in the hole to try to strengthen my groin and abductors

RDL

60x12
100x12
120x12
140x12
160x8
160x11

Good Mornings

60x10
60x10

Finished with about 4 sets of leg curls and extensions.

Despite a cracking hangover some solid work was done. I'm going back to bed now.

[Old School]

Trained press.

Press

50x5
55x3
60x3
70x5

52.5x10x5

Lateral Raises

5 sets 12 reps

Rear Delt Raises

5 sets 15 reps

Face Pulls

3 sets 15-20 reps

Close Grip Bench

60x12
90x6
100x5
100x5

Pushdowns

3 sets to failure

Also did 50+ chins

[Old School]

Did some extra 'little sessions' after my conditioning today and yesterday.

Monday:

Standard treadmill suckage

Shrugs

100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12
100x12

Tuesday

As monday

Curls

35x10
35x10
35x10
35x12

Preacher Curls

10x12
10x12
10x12

Cable Curls

x18
x18

[Old School]

AM:
Conditioning

PM: Bench

Bench Press

60x8
80x5
90x5
105x8.5

110x1
120x1
125xf

100x8
100x8
100x6.5

Incline Dumbells

36x10
36x10
40x6
40x6
40x6

Dips

BW+20kg
x9
x8
x8
x7
x6

Flyes

4x10-14

Cables

3x25

Felt reasonably good today, I wan't planning to shoot for a max but figured '**** it' and had a go. The 120 bench pinged up super quick, I haven't benched anywhere near that for a while. Missed 125 for no reason other than that I wasn't strong enough. Maybe next week. Goal by the end of the summer is a 130kg touch and go bench press.

Bodyweight was 90.8kg today.

[Old School]

Was meant to train back today. Unfortunately I'd been outside without food or water for around 10 hours today working so was in no fit state to train. Still went to the gym though, walked through the door stood around for five minutes and walked straight back out again. Will train tomorrow.