Bigandy!!

[Liberator]

BigAndy

Ive been following your program for six weeks now and think I should start swapping out some exercises, I have made really good progress with most of it, chest is coming but slowly (I train alone and it is difficult to find a good spotter!!), my back is awesome (compared to what it was anyway!!), the pre-exhaust then chins has worked real well.

My calfs are pathetic, they have increased in size, but now seem to be stuck. I must work harder on these. Shoulders are good, whats letting me down is upper chest, but the Inclines should take care of this hopefully. DB Flyes are good, but the resistance seems to die at the top of the movement, so I try and squeeze the DB together to keep resistance, but it feels kind of odd. Pec Dec is tempting sometimes, but Ive stuck to dumbells and am making good progress with them.

I have swapped out Flat Barbell for Incline now and Flat flyes instead of incline flyes, I will start this monday. The rest of it is ok to leave as is I think. I am still learning the mind muscle connection, people mention keeping your shoulder blades back when pressing, it is easier said than done!! I am getting there though, and I think Ive got it.

Legs, I suppose this is fine as is. I mean there arent much options apart from Leg press pre-exhaust.

Calfs I was going to swap out the calf machine which seems useless to me, and use dumbells instead or barbell.

Back, pre-exhaust routine is killing my back and not leaving a great deal left for the chins, I can do about half the total reps (6/12x4), but even this small amount seems to have made a huge difference to my back. Is this ok? I am improving, I know this probably seems weak but I have only been training with proper diet since Feb/March!!

Have you got any suggestions as to what I should change, I will leave compound exercises in.

I never brought in Deadlift, so maybe I could add this in.

How do you know when to switch from Barbell curls to Dumbells, and leg presses instead of extensions, cable pullovers/crossovers etc?

Your help is greatly appreciated, I am killing myself in the gym to get results and it is starting to happen, finally. I have also switched gyms, I now have cable crossover machine, incline olympic benches, flat, good dbells, good leg presses, all good stuff AND A SQUAT RACK!!! no more smith machine, I hated that machine, it just gave me more injuries than anything else. Plus this gym is brand new, the free weight area is 99% empty all week long, its bliss!! Everyone looks at me, I am the biggest there! heheh...not for long though I'm sure.

Thanks alot!!

 

[BigAndy69]

Congradulations!!

I beleive that if something is working for you, you shouldn't make a change, especially as a beginner.

I think that the only positive change to make would be towards your chest workout.

"DB Flyes are good, but the resistance seems to die at the top of the movement, so I try and squeeze the DB together to keep resistance, but it feels kind of odd. Pec Dec is tempting sometimes, but Ive stuck to dumbells and am making good progress with them."

Don't let the db touch!!! Learn at what point you feel the squeeze the most and stop there, and contract the muscle for a second or 2. You may need to use less weight. When I was pressing around 200lbs on the incline, I was only using 30-35lb db for flyes. Imagine yourself hugging a tree.

The Pec Dec is a piece of shit in my opinion.


"I have swapped out Flat Barbell for Incline now and Flat flyes instead of incline flyes, I will start this monday. The rest of it is ok to leave as is I think. I am still learning the mind muscle connection, people mention keeping your shoulder blades back when pressing, it is easier said than done!! I am getting there though, and I think Ive got it."

Keep your shoulder blades back and learn how to contract your lats when pressing. You will love the incline press! You will love the switch.

"Legs, I suppose this is fine as is. I mean there arent much options apart from Leg press pre-exhaust."

Keep the extensions as pre-exhaust.

"Calfs I was going to swap out the calf machine which seems useless to me, and use dumbells instead or barbell."

I have no opinion on this, go for it I guess.

"Back, pre-exhaust routine is killing my back and not leaving a great deal left for the chins, I can do about half the total reps (6/12x4), but even this small amount seems to have made a huge difference to my back. Is this ok? I am improving, I know this probably seems weak but I have only been training with proper diet since Feb/March!!"

As long as your back is reaching failure that's okay. Keep the stress on the back, learn to control it.

"How do you know when to switch from Barbell curls to Dumbells, and leg presses instead of extensions, cable pullovers/crossovers etc?"

Leg extensions cannot substitute leg presses. Don't worry to much about changing exercises. You can switch from a straight bar to an EZ-curl bar.

I agree with you on the smith machine.

 

[Liberator]

Thanks for your reply!!

I am suprised at what you wrote about the dumbells, I have never seen anyone (like it matters) not touch dumbells, but I will do this in future, makes sense.

What you mentioned about the incline movement, the PEAK of this movement would be at the point where you would have to use shoulders to move the bar further up, as this would force your shoulder blades "forward" off the bench. I think this is what you mean by keep your shoulder blades back, also means you dont lock out.

On side laterals, Ive seen people doing this totally different to me, infact all of them do it different, they start with the dumbells on there quads palms facing quads, then they finish the movement with there palms facing away from them kind of like the start of a shoulder press.

The way I do it I read in a book, it claims that if you start same position as above, then bring the dumbells shoulder level (palms facing towards the floor, arm bent slightly at the elbow so forearms/dbells face forward slightly) and then rotate your hands downwards like pouring milk, it targets both the lateral and anteriour delts, is this right? It kills my shoulders during and the next day, so I know what I am doing is hitting the right spot, but you have to go light on the weight. Which is the best method in your opinion?

Finally chest, because I am a very rare person in these parts of England, I know no-one who is into training like me, so its difficult to get a spotter for chest, half the time theres no-one around, can I do an extra set of inclines on the smith machine to absolute failure AFTER the free weight set on the olympic bar? Or dumbells? If not, I guess I'll have to go looking for one of the staff.

Thanks again dude.

Can you recommend any books I could read so I dont have to keep firing questions at you and the rest of this board eveyr week!!

 

[BigAndy69]

Never rely on what you see people doing in the gym. Over 90% use terrible form. Lateral raises are probably the single most abused exercice. Why? Because you can't really use a shitload of weight.

Before my injury, I was shoulder pressing over a plate on each side, 155lbs I think. For lateral raises, I used 12-17 lb dumbells. A friend of mine would put up less than half a plate, 75 lbs, and he was using 20 lb dumbells for laterals for more reps.

"On side laterals, Ive seen people doing this totally different to me, infact all of them do it different, they start with the dumbells on there quads palms facing quads, then they finish the movement with there palms facing away from them kind of like the start of a shoulder press."

This is exactly what you shouldn't do!

I personally think the pouring method is a way to cheat. Laterals are only meant for your side delts. People have complicated a simple movement. I'll try to explain it the best way I can.

With a VERY slight bend in the knees and elbows, move forward, with your back straight and chest out, at about 10-15% (so at 12:30-12:45). Let the dbs hang on the side of your thighs. Lift the weights, and keep the same slight bent in the elbows, until reach about ear level. Hold it for a second and do your best to make sure the weight doesn't just fall back down. Concentrate on the negatives. Your hands should be in a very slight milk-pouring position. Don't over do it, the dbs should be leveled.

Just ask one of the staff members, I do the same for incline barbell presses because my shoulders are not flexible enough for me to rerack the bar.

 

[Liberator]

Ok I havent been going quite high enough with the side laterals, I'll drop the weight slightly and go higher.

Right, I understand your description too, its seems I need to lean forward abit. I'll try that.

I will ask one of the staff members too in future, maybe I could hit on one of the girls heheh, only joking!!!!

Cheers!

 

[BigAndy69]

Just don't try to impress her: you may hurt yourself or look like a jackass!

 

[Liberator]

Heheh...yeah. I bore that in mind!!

What I was thinking of doing, was training chest twice a week, I know you'll probably think I am crazy, but I would like to give it a go, compared to everyother bodypart, my chest is lagging, my arms/shoulders/back look huge when Ive worked them, but my chest is very poor and it is starting to annoy me, I need it to grow FAST!!

how would I fit this idea into your program, I guess I would have to put it in the shoulder workout, but the shoulder workout is Friday, not leaving much recovery time (my chest seems to recover in about 2/3 days), should I swap Back and shoulder days and cut down volume?

like i said, I know you'll probably think I am crazy, but I would seriously like to try it out, I think I would cut volume on my second chest workout and focus on just mass builders primarily, say incline bench then flat bench, rotating this each week, what do you think? Doing pre-exhaust on Monday and mass builders Thurs/Fri or Sat??
I will add rotator cuff exercises too just to be safe.

Could you give me some pointers on how to fit it in without interrupting other workouts too much? I ask as like you said in the beginning, this is already high volume, so maybe I would have to sacrifice something. I just want to try it for abit to see if I can improve my chest.

Thanks

 

[BigAndy69]

Bad idea. Training a bodypart twice a week is a specialty program that requires that the rest of your body goes into maintenance. That means you split the other bodyparts into 2 workouts, training with light weights, no where near failure.

This is not for you, like I said it's for ppl that have tried everything, and have trained for years. You haven't even trained for a year!

Try this workout for chest:

Pre exhaust: Flat flyes

Incline presses
Flat Flyes
Dips, (2 sets is fine) even if you can't do more than 3 that is fine. Do forced reps with the help of a spotter. Form on this exercise is CRUCIAL.
Cable crossover

Don't really rush into things, eventually you will be able to add an extra exercise to your routines.

 

[Liberator]

Ok

Thats fair enough, I guess I am being too eager. What I have noticed though is how much difference Flyes make, I was led to believe it was pure isolation and not worth the effort in the beginning, bullshit!! they have given my chest the rounded shape already, this never happened before with just flat bench and incline barbell. I can see why they you should use them.

I will add the cable crossovers too then. Ive been looking forward to using that!!

Dips, I cross my legs, bend my knees and pull them up towards my chest then put my head into my chest (if that makes sense, to push my chest forward), this seems to work well and is damn hard!!

Your advice is appreciated dude, thanks alot.