Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

I saw one at a gym in Norwich when I was travelling. I noticed it as I was finishing my workout so I didn't really get to use it.

To find one close to my home is thrilling.

I really don't get on with using a regular bench. I will either do bridges (done with shoulders on the floor) or, if the gym has those stackable semi-padded plyo boxes, thrusts on the medium height box braced against the wall.

Just I've only ever seen hip thrust benches on Bret Conteras's instagram page! I make do at my gym with a regular bench - luckily they're not too high.

Today I visited a nearby gym and discovered that they have a hip thrust bench!

For the first two weeks of January I'll be in towns without Pure Gyms. I'll be using the Pay As You Gym app to find places to go.

I have a PureGym membership, too. My home gym is normally one in central Manchester, which allows me to visit nearly all of them, excluding central London. But I was just in the City of London for a week and bumped my membership up for the month. They're generally excellent gyms, but I don't care for the one I live closest to. I primarily use them when I travel.

Thanks for the encouraging words about my plan. It feels ambitious, but I'm excited about having a plan to get out of my rut!

I'm going to take photos on New Years Day and at the end/start of every phase.

That sounds a really well-considered and inspiring plan, Just. I like the way you've split each quarter into different areas of focus - and there's a logic to the way you've ordered them as well.

I started this year wanting to be able to do unsupported handstands by the end of it but I seem to have let that goal slide. Maybe will readdress it for 2018.

Off to a different Pure Gym near(ish) my mum's house this morn - I'm hoping that yesterday's feasting and three days of lazing will make for a strong day today!

Happy Christmas to you all. x

Hello everyone! I lost track of this thread for a while!

I have been plagued by little illnesses and pains since I returned from holiday in November, and I have only really been doing the minimum. But I have been going to the gym regularly and I'm psyched about getting a fresh start in 2018.

I've planned out a year of four phases, changing my focus every three months.

January-March, my focus will be on fat loss, with a cleaner diet and emphasis on HIIT 3 days a week, followed by yoga to work on some of the shoulder pain I've been having. Three other days will be strength training, hitting each muscle group one time a week, to maintain muscle mass.

April-June will be bodybuilding, doing my PPL split twice over 6 days, and doing yoga and steady state cardio 2x a week.

July - September will be endurance. Cutting back on the strength training a bit to work on running 5k 3x a week. (Well, working up to it). Weights 3x a week and Yoga 2x a week.

October - December will by dynamic functionality. Lots of box jumps, tire flipping, etc 3x a week. There will be squats and deadlifts but no isolation lifts. 3x a week I will swim, something I'm not great at and should address entirely different muscles. Still going to be doing a bit of yoga.

I just want to get out of my rut of doing the same weights over and over, neglecting cardio, neglecting mobility. I know that I can't do everything but I think it will be fun to try focusing on the different aspects of fitness.

@FindoGask you seem to have found what works for you!

I agree that benching heavy by yourself is a challenge, especially as a lot of gym-goers are terrible spotters!

I briefly trained with a powerlifting club but it's way more convenient for me to train in the early mornings, and while I enjoyed the social aspect, overall I prefer training on my own. I liked the coach though, so got him to do my programming for a bit, and he gave me feedback on whatsapp of my heaviest sets each week, but after a while I decided I'd rather do my own thing: I didn't like the restrictiveness of a programme! (reading this back I realise what an awkward sod I am). So now I have an 1:1 session every couple of months to keep me right, which saves me the faff of having to video myself at least! I've learned loads from the programming though, in terms of rep/set patterns, volume vs intensity, and variations of each lift to work on specific issues.

The only time I wish I trained with people is when I'm benching heavy, really. I'm probably making slower progress than if I did have more regular input from a coach but that doesn't matter too much to me, as long as I do see progress.

I am hoping for PBs all round . But really, I just want to get a bit more competition experience.

I joined a powerlifting club about 8 months ago and it has made a HUGE difference to me. It is great to train with more experienced lifters, and pick up a few tricks. I also have 1 to 1 sessions with the coach who runs it and he writes a program for me.

In terms of how you should position your body, I found that training with a powerlifting coach is invaluable. I used to train with a PT who was knowledgeable, but not a powerlifter and although the form he taught me was safe, it wasn't the best for me. My current coach made adjustments to little things (position of feet, hands, etc) to make the most of my body shape and straight away my numbers increased and the lifts felt a lot more natural iyswim.

What kind of program are you following at the moment? Does someone write it for you or do you do your own?

I really like the sound of that. Is there a lift you've been focusing on for your next meet or are you hoping for PBs all round? (daft question probably). Do you train with a club/follow a programme?

I haven't managed to increase my maxes on any of my lifts for a few months now but I still feel like there's been progress in terms of how things feel, eg with my squats - my torso is more upright on the way up; I feel more solid under the bar. With deadlifts I've been working on my back position too but I can't decide where my hips should be, and two different coaches have told me two different things!

@FindoGask it really was a lot of fun!

I had never willingly competed in anything before, because I am actually not competitive at all but this was such a great experience! No one is really there to win in regional comps, everyone turns up mostly to try and better their own numbers.

I thought the crowd of onlookers would put me off, and I was first up in my group because I was lifting the least weight, but the audience actually helped a lot. People I had never met were cheering my name just because I was new, it was amazing!
The atmosphere in the backstage bit was amazing, girls who were tied for 1st place were rooting for each other and people were passing around bags of sweets, helping chalk each other's backs etc.

I would definitely encourage you to go and take a look at your next local comp, it really is so different from anything I have seen before!

And you're right, it doesn't matter how much you lift. Some women were benching little more than the bar and the support they got from the crowd was just amazing, you would have thought they had just broken a world record!

Well done on the PBs! Powerlifting meets sound like a lot of fun. I've not been to one yet even as a spectator, but I will do next year. Still on the fence about whether I want to compete or not - I don't do well under pressure, and lifting to commands with an audience looks a whole lot different from lifting at the gym! Plus none of my lifts apart from bench are competitive (though I'm told that doesn't matter).

I do mainly powerlifting based training at the gym but just with the general aim of getting stronger.

Hi Findo!

Training is going well, I have been doing accessories tonight and the weight was moving ok (double paused squats, board bench press and paused deadlifts)

My first comp was a great experience, thanks for asking! I got a total and managed 2 PBs. I also met lots of lovely people and had a blast cheering everyone on. Can't wait for the next one!

Are there many of us here who compete?

What is everyone training for at the moment?

I have quite strong legs, but poor upper body. Been stuck on 35kg bench press for months.

Hiya Never! how's the training for your competition going? How was your first one? I love a meet report!

Fab work on the leg press Tomorrow. Pretty blimmin' impressive.

Managed 200kg leg press tonight. 4 sets of 12.

Not sure I'll be able to walk tomorrow though.....

Hi all, just found this thread!

I am a powerlifter, currently getting ready for my second competition at the end of January.

Nice to see a thread about lifting, everyone here seems to be doing brilliantly!!

I'm a bit of a rest break faffer too Johnny, especially towards the end of my workout.

I've been thinking I should maybe cut down on the number of different exercises I do per session and increase the number of sets. So today -

Bench
6 x 50 kg
5 x 4 x 52.5 kg
4 x 8 x 45 kg

Squats
7 x 8-10 x 60 kg

Hip thrusts
6 x 8 x 60 kg

Seated D/B shoulder press
5 x 10 x 12 kg each side

Which felt like plenty.

Last two sessions of the year today - head home tonight for Christmas.

Yesterday - PT Session

• Build to max set of 6 one arm shoulder presses over 5 sets - hit 15kg- yay!! Wasn't pretty but I did get the reps (my PT is a "no rep" Nazi so if I didn't get it, I'd know about it)
• 3 x 10 Lat pull downs using a band and a PVC pole- surprisingly effective.
• 3 x 12 side raises (both arms together) to overhead position 4kg
• 6 x 30 second ski ergo sprints with 30 seconds rest in between
• Assisted stretching

Today

• 4x 10 DB bench press 30lbs each DB
• 3x 10 hamstring curls at 43lbs alternating 3 x10 leg extensions at 62.5lbs
• 3 x 5 dips (did 6 the first set but had to drop to 5 for last 2 sets)
• Accumulated 20 Pull ups - 2 pro, 3 neu, 3 neu, 3 neu, 2 pro, 4 neu, 3 neu
• 3 x dead hand with raised knees 30 secs
• 3 x hollow body holds 30 secs

NYR - I need to be more disciplined about my rest periods. When I have time like today I end up chatting and faffing. Also need to work on those pronated pull ups. I like neutral because I'm better at them but if I'm aiming to get into OCR, the pronated pull up is king.

Johnny I’ve just realised from your description that your ‘ring pulls’ are my ‘inverted rows’

Yes!! That's exactly what I mean. I just forgot the word. I knew "pulls" wasn't right. I am not even close to being able to do dips or pull ups on the rings- I still need the stability of the bar.

Re. weight, it's tough to overcome years of social conditioning that exercise= what you do with the primary objective of losing weight, and tbh I don't think pudding vs. nuts will make much difference assuming you're already eating enough protein. Personally, I find following "real" lifters on instagram/fb is good for the psyche because you realise that all this fitspiration stuff is airbrushed post-shred bollox. I feel your pain though. My consolation (wrong side of 40) is that at least when I'm a bit fatter my face looks better.

Super speedy this morning

5 x 3 sets neutral grip pull ups
3x 10 front raises 5kg, 3 x 10 delt raises 5kg.
3 x 10 30 sec dead hangs with knees to chest.

Glad you are better Findo. Pinkhorse, I can work out with a cold, but anything more I leave off, as otherwise I just feel weak and wrecked and I think it is probably too much strain.

Absurdly busy at work, so not much time to post, but have been going Mon-Fri. Usual stuff but am thinking more seriously about treating myself to some PT sessions in the new year to widen my repertoire - as you all do much more interesting lifting!

Closet Basically push ups in the rings, ring holds, ring pulls (when you lie back at an angle balanced on your heels and pull yourself up towards the rings. However, one of the issues with lat exercises (for me at least) is that when your lats are weak, even when you do specific lat exercises, it may be that you just use other muscles. When I do pull downs I have to really concentrate on keeping my shoulders back and when I do that, it really reduces the amount of weight I can lift becuase it's then correctly isolating and not letting my shoulders and triceps do the work.

Session with my PT today

• Close grip benchpress, building to a 5 rep max over 5 sets. Hit 41kg which I was pleased about. Was nice to have a spot so could push a bit.
• 30 x 20kg horizontal cable pulls as a counterexercise to the benchpress.
• 3 x 10 supinated lat pull downs (can't remember weight)
• 3 x 10 single arm incline bench press at 8kg
• Superset - 3 x 10 of each of front raises, rear delt raises, 45 degree raises, with a 10 second hold at the top on the last rep of each set. 4kg. OMG. The burn.