Evilpie's get off your lazy arse and get back to the gym diaries

[EvilPie]

And.... ?

Well unfortunately the 6am start didn't happen. I woke up in plenty of time but for some reason my body refused to move despite my brain's efforts to persuade it.

Eventually got to the gym at about 7.10 which wasn;t the end of the world and obviously a lot better than not making it at all!!

Training itself was pretty difficult. I only took it steady so as not to cause any injuries but I was ridiculously weak. 40kg bench press (one year ago 130kg), 16kg dumbell press (one year ago 50kg)....

I'm not disheartened by this at all as I've been through it before and know that the strength will come with patience.

The main thing for now is to keep going!!!

[EvilPie]

Coming out of the gym at just after 8 the traffic was an an absolute nightmare!! A usual 4 or 5 minute journey took nearly 20!!

If ever there was a good reason for getting there earlier this is it.

[EvilPie]

How old are you Matt? Pushing 40?

I'm 38 mate. Will be 39 in June.

[AndrewT]

Question - how much does an empty barbell weigh?

Last week I did a barbell bench press for the first time (instead of dumbbells) and was totally weak. it was only later that I realised I hadn't taken the weight of the bar into consideration and just loaded it up with a weight I would be comfortable with on dumbbells.

[EvilPie]

Question - how much does an empty barbell weigh?

Last week I did a barbell bench press for the first time (instead of dumbbells) and was totally weak. it was only later that I realised I hadn't taken the weight of the bar into consideration and just loaded it up with a weight I would be comfortable with on dumbbells.

Obviously depends on the bar but a standard Olympic bar such as the one shown below is 20kg.

Click to see full-size image.

[zerofive]

Question - how much does an empty barbell weigh?

Last week I did a barbell bench press for the first time (instead of dumbbells) and was totally weak. it was only later that I realised I hadn't taken the weight of the bar into consideration and just loaded it up with a weight I would be comfortable with on dumbbells.

An olympic bar (that's a regular sized iron bar, ie not a fat bar etc.) weighs 45lbs, which is 20kg.

In theory you should be able to push slightly more with a barbell than with dumbbells, but if you just started on the barbell then the difference might not be 20kg yet. We shouldn't overlook technique, either: if you're used to dumbbells, then you're used to working your chest in a different fashion so just use trial and error to find out what you can lift within your respective rep range. The DB bench and the BB bench are, after all, two different exercises so what you can lift on one might not translate to the other.

[AndrewT]

Question - how much does an empty barbell weigh?

Last week I did a barbell bench press for the first time (instead of dumbbells) and was totally weak. it was only later that I realised I hadn't taken the weight of the bar into consideration and just loaded it up with a weight I would be comfortable with on dumbbells.

An olympic bar (that's a regular sized iron bar, ie not a fat bar etc.) weighs 45lbs, which is 20kg.

In theory you should be able to push slightly more with a barbell than with dumbbells, but if you just started on the barbell then the difference might not be 20kg yet. We shouldn't overlook technique, either: if you're used to dumbbells, then you're used to working your chest in a different fashion so just use trial and error to find out what you can lift within your respective rep range. The DB bench and the BB bench are, after all, two different exercises so what you can lift on one might not translate to the other.

Yeah - I worked that out when totally different bits of my chest started hurting the next day.

Obviously depends on the bar but a standard Olympic bar such as the one shown below is 20kg.

Click to see full-size image.

I'm no expert but her technique looks all kinds of wrong there.

[Junior Senior]

She looks like she is doing everything just fine to me!

[EvilPie]

Another tough morning this morning but once again I managed the most difficult part of all and that's actually getting there. Still not quite the 6am starts I'm planning but certainly moving towards there which is good.

I did an arms session today and found it really tough. I usually do 5 different exercises but stuck to 4 and only went very light. My arms were still aching a bit from yesterday's chest session and I have a feeling I'll be aching quite a lot tomorrow.

Exercise of the day...... Overhead tricep press:

Click to see full-size image.

This is always my first exercise when I train arms. I find it good to do a couple of sets of 30 or so reps very light as a warm up and then really blast it as heavy as possible. Previous best for this exercise = 50kg. Today's effort......... 16kg

I'll get there eventually.

[AndrewT]

I'd stick with the time you're going right now - if you go earlier you'll miss that fit girl.

[vegaslover]

I'd stick with the time you're going right now - if you go earlier you'll miss that fit girl.

Even on a gym thread AndrewT still manages to boss it

[Woodsey]

Even if you give up the gym keep posting those pics 

[Junior Senior]

Best diary on blonde. I only look at the pictures though

[EvilPie]

No training today unfortunately. Days 1 and 2 have left my upper body and arms aching quite badly so I decided to take a day off.

I'll be training legs tomorrow to give me another effective rest day for upper body then Friday is a day off (because of Thursday night curry) and I'll train Saturday to get four days in for the week.

The downside of not training is no picture of my selected training partner performing exercise of the day.

The upside is that we have tomorrow's training partner to look forward to and it's legs day. I'll try to get there at the time when the optimal training partners arrive.

[Woodsey]

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? No pic?