Weightlifting people, here! Ongoing chat thread...

[MaidOfStars]

We are a bit cut off in the designated forum so here's a shiny new thread to populate.

Hello to anyone that hasn't ventured over to The Weights Room but is lifting/resistance training.

Good luck, maidofstars!

I had a weak day at the gym today. Two weeks ago I did overhead dumbbell presses 12kg x 8 reps for three sets. In the interim, I worked out at gyms that had 12.5kg dumbbells, and didn't think too much about the fact that I was only getting 6 reps. Today I was using 12kg wasn't able to do more than 6 reps.

I did, however, try to lift 14kg and was (barely) able to do 2 reps.

I'm not sure why my lifts were weak today. I'm trying to eat more and I slept enough.

Do you suppose my awesome leg day yesterday, where I went my heaviest yet on Romanian deadlifts, may have drained me slightly?

Good luck Maid! Let us know how you get on! You might surprise yourself.

I think some days are like that Just - or they are in my experience. Maybe you're right and you are still a bit tired from yesterday (well done with your RDL PB!). Also I think with shoulder presses it's hard to cheat - the weight's either going up or it's not, you can't really use body momentum like with a lateral raise or row or similar. And, you're working comparatively small muscle groups so there aren't really any others you can recruit to help when those ones get tired.

I need to start building in more shoulder work. I used to do a big strict barbell OHP set once a week but it's fallen off the radar recently.

Thanks for the resistance band tip Maid! Good luck in the marathon!

I agree that overheads are very exposing. I am just making some progress on mine, but am basically doing one set with my progress weight, and even then only a few reps before I move to a push press.

The problem, for me, with progress in overheads is the % jump with kettlebells. Few people jump 20% on their deadlift easily, but that's the equivalent of 10kg to 12kg kettle bells.

(I use kettle bells because it's better for my shoulders to have rotational movement)

Yes, that's a big difference. 2.5kg extra feels way heavier than it should on a barbell overhead press, and that's a much smaller increment proportionally.

I'm paranoid that it looks like I was implying Just cheats on her shoulder presses! I wasn't - I just know that if I'm feeling less than tip-top, with some lifts I can still manage to grind my way to the end of the set with less than strict form. But not with shoulder presses. Exposing is a good way of putting it.

I know exactly what you mean about the not being able to "cheat." It goes up or it doesn't.

Another voluminous session this morn.

Back squats: 3 x 10 x 60kg
Hack squats: 4 x 6 x 60kg (first time on these, didn't like them, weight kept being on my toes? maybe because I was in my squat shoes)
Leg press: 4 x 10 x 110kg (first time on these for a while, loved them. I like to have my feet right up at the top and sides of the plate so I feel a good stretch in hamstrings)

Barbell strict overhead press: 5 x 6 x 30kg
Incline barbell press: 4 x 5 x 40kg
Seated cable row: 4 x 10 x 32 kg
Assisted pull ups: 3 x 6, then 2 x 5

I am not in the mood to go to the gym for my HIIT circuits. I am packing and changing hotels today. I think maybe I'll just swim later on at the new hotel.

Findo Big session! Have you calculated total weight lifted?

Simple (but not easy) for me this morning:
Landline deadlifts (am loving these right now) - extra tiny weight added compared to last week
Push press/ring pull up superset.
Ball slams.
Base touches.

That sounds a fun session! I can't even begin to imagine how I'd manage a ring pull-up. I can barely do a single pull up on a bar.

I haven't calculated total weight - I've never done that. When I was following a programme before, the coach had it all on a nifty spreadsheet which calculated total volume and average intensity for each session and displayed those on a graph over the course of the month so you could see the interaction between the two.

That's a bit beyond my Excel abilities! But, calculating total weight would be easy enough and then I could track progress other than just noting maxes.

Just, a pool swim sounds just the ticket. Do you travel every week with work?

I usually travel every other week but this month I have to squeeze in an extra week because I'm going on holiday at the end of the month.

I really like to visit different gyms. Tomorrow I will pay to train at what looks like a really good proper bodybuilding gym in Norwich.

How was the Norwich gym, Just? I would love to train in a proper bodybuilding gym - there are a few in Edinburgh but none open early enough for me unfortunately. Though I could probably do a session on the weekend on a pay as you go basis.

Also meant to ask you how you've been getting on with the creatine - or is it too early to say?

This morning was mainly benching and deadlifting:

Bench press:
2 x 6 x 50kg
5 x 5 x 50kg
10 x 40kg
9 x 40kg (was supposed to be 10 but that last rep just wasn't happening)

Deadlift:
5 x 5 x 90kg
Form started to go a bit towards the end - could feel some lumbar rounding, but overall I was happy with these

RDL:
2 x 10 x 50kg

Lat pull down:
4 x 8 x 45 kg

Back extension
4 x 10 with 15kg plate

It's too early to say on the creatine.

The gym was amazing. Huge, extensive (everything you can think of in terms of weight training) and extraordinarily tidy. Even the dumbbells were racked in order.

Oh, that's one of my pet hates - when people don't put weights back where they're supposed to be - really get on my nerves. I posted a message on my gym's intranet about that. And I'm not at all OCD normally!!

Speaking of shoulder press being exposing,I scared my PT a few weeks ago. I was pushing it and my right arm just gave up and rolled back, dumbbell and all. I nearly pulled my shoulder out of its socket.
That was a scary moment.
I've upped my Romanian deadlifts to 40kg this week. My hands are all calloused, so I've been using straps.
I like them. They seem to make a big difference on RD:s.
I might put some on my xmas list

Good work on your RDLS NC4now - I like straps for those too, though I've lost one of mine so I need new ones. I can't go heavy on RDLs without straps.

My hands are calloused too but I'm perversely proud of them! Though sometimes I do catch myself absentmindedly picking them at work and have to hope no-one else noticed.

This morning:

• Back squats: 5 x 75kg; 4 x 75kg; 3 x 75kg; 1 x 75kg
• Pin squats: 4 x 5 x 60kg (rest the barbell on the safety bar for a second at the bottom of the squat, before coming back up)

The heavy sets were supposed to be 5 x 5 x 75 but I failed the last rep of the second set and then decided to do two more sets of triples - but didn't have those in me either!

First set was good, could have been deeper, and overall these felt OK even if I had been a bit overambitious.

• Bulgarian split squats with 10 kg dumbells, 4 x 5 each side

• Seated d/b shoulder press (2x10x12kg dumbbells), incline chest press (2x10x14kg dumbbells), deeper incline chest press (2x 10x16kg dumbbells)
• A 6 way shoulder thing - this one:

until I couldn't do it any more.

• Lat pull downs: 4 x 10 x 40 kg, keeping it slow and controlled
• Bicep curls with a 10kg plate - 3 x 20

Anyone have any advice about squats? Not quite sure how to describe the problems I have with them, but my body just doesn't seem to move that way.

Whenever I see someone squatting, it always looks so natural, as if they're just sitting. But I always feel that I'm going to topple backwards if I'm not careful. Consequently, my knees tend to travel over my knees a bit too much as, if I move backwards, that's when I'm likely to fall over

If I keep my knees in the right position (not travelling forwards over my toes) then my squat is not deep at all.

I can squat deeply if using a machine or if using cables, i.e. if I have something to stabilise me. What might I need to work on to enable me to keep my balance and squat properly without assistance?

Any advice gratefully received

Ooooh can I join please! I'm a little bit addicted to weights!

Just which gym are you talking about? I'm in Norwich and go to one that sounds like the one you're talking about!

MrJohnson - I was a wee bit like that when I started squats - I was advised to put weights (plate size)under my heels. Not sure how it works, but I got my form right like that, and have moved on to not needing anything under my feet now.

MrJohnson My knees go over my toes when I squat too because of the way I'm built: I have comparatively long femurs. The main thing is where you feel your weight distributed in the squat - is it over the middle of your foot or up on the balls of your foot? If the former, you're protecting your knees. If the latter, perhaps your hips aren't hinging backwards enough.

If you google something like 'squat knees over toes' you'll see loads about this online so I won't regurgitate it.

Some people find ankle mobility a problem. If that's the case you might find it helpful to squat with your heels propped up ever so slightly (like on 1.25kg plates).

(sorry for repeating you by accident, Tomorrow - I had my answer minimised for ages, posting at work!)