Blonde will make you STRONG

[zerofive]

Training chest later. Starting with bb incline then we will see what we get for db flat. Program says 3x7, but I might just spend some time increasing in weight and see what I can get for 3 reps, as I'm going to have a spot.

Going to be writing a blog post about my favourite exercises later on tonight, so be sure to check the link in my sig.

[DaveShoelace]

What's an airlift?

[iRaise]

Legs today:

4x4 Squat 100/105/110 and then felt pretty confident so set a 4 rep PB of 120. Very pleasing.

Want to bring up my RDL and glute bridge up over the 140 mark during the next few months.

My leg press is going backwards which sucks. So just got two packs of choc rice cakes to sort that problem out for next time. Last time I did this it took me less than 10 mins to eat the lot.

Been really struggling for motivation with the big lifts this month. So today was a welcomed PB.

@barry no idea on an airlift?!?

[DaveShoelace]

@barry no idea on an airlift?!?

Im sure I read it here, now I cant find it

[muckthenuts]

Legs today:

4x4 Squat 100/105/110 and then felt pretty confident so set a 4 rep PB of 120. Very pleasing.

So you upped the weight every set then did a 120 in your final? That's sick lol. And my legs are sore from 5x5 70kg yesterday how much rest do you tend to give yourself between sets?

[iRaise]

Legs today:

4x4 Squat 100/105/110 and then felt pretty confident so set a 4 rep PB of 120. Very pleasing.

So you upped the weight every set then did a 120 in your final? That's sick lol. And my legs are sore from 5x5 70kg yesterday how much rest do you tend to give yourself between sets?

Last week I felt really awkward with the movement, so just managed 4x4 at 100kg, So wanted 2 sets at 100 at 2 sets at 105kg. But just managed to find it, obviously a good song came on, haahaha. It just shows how poor the 100 was though. As Matt alluded to, so much in the mind. (i dont normally add 20% per session, haha)

But really pleased with it. I have such lanky legs, there are very few leg movements I can do well. Not sure if i can repeat the feat next week. But really want 140 for four.

First time I did 5x5 I started at 60kg. Took me a month to get to 80kg, then went to 8x2 from 80-100, think I went up in 2.5kg per week, so took me a fair amount of time.

[iRaise]

Legs today:

4x4 Squat 100/105/110 and then felt pretty confident so set a 4 rep PB of 120. Very pleasing.

So you upped the weight every set then did a 120 in your final? That's sick lol. And my legs are sore from 5x5 70kg yesterday how much rest do you tend to give yourself between sets?

Ooops missed your question, erm I am in the camp of however long you need. you are obviously gonna get that wrong, but I dont like sayign 90secs eg. Cos when its 95 secs you feel like you are failing, or not going hard enough, which is stupid.

I want to take around 2-3 mins, but since I have just come up off a diet, I am not used to taking that long rest. So I am struggling, between the 110-120 was about 3-4 minutes thouugh. Really had to pysch myself up, because I haven;t done great with big lifts this month. Was a bit of a gamble to do it, but hey.

What kinda rest periods do you use?

[zerofive]

I'm going to quickly add my thoughts on rest periods.

I feel like it is a massively overlooked parameter. There's always discussion of how many sets, how many reps, how many different exercises, but very rarely do people include rest periods. Typically if you want to get stronger, you're going to have to have a decent amount of rest between sets; 2-3 minutes usually does it. As Harvey says tho, if you need 4-5 minutes to psych yourself up, or because you're still seeing stars from your last sets of heavy deadlifts etc, then take as long as you need. Any less than 90 seconds rest between sets, and you're entering hypertrophy territory (which, by definition, is great if you want to get bigger, not so great if your ultimate goal is pure strength.)

ALSO, numbers update. Got 4 sets of 5 @ 75kg on the incline press, followed by 3x6 DB Bench @ 40kg and 1 set of 4 reps @ 42.5kg. Pretty happy with these numbers, and a little surprised at how easily they went up to be honest! Might not get the 50kg dumbbells out by the end of the year, but I'll be close!

[muckthenuts]

I rest roughly 90 secs if it felt easy, 3 mins if not, and 5 if i missed a rep on my previous set.

[muckthenuts]

Legs are still feeling pretty sore from Monday. Guess i've got to skip the squats at the gym today.

This happened last week too but after having trained on Tues i played cricket on Weds so attributed Thursdays lack of squats to that. Nothing like that happened this week! I suppose doing squats just twice a week wouldn't be a huge disaster if it turns out they just need the extra time to recover on my body.   

[GreekStein]

I used to be able to do 6 reps of 180kg on on squats. Now I my legs feel like jelly after 6 reps of half that.

[iRaise]

I used to be able to do 6 reps of 180kg on on squats. Now I my legs feel like jelly after 6 reps of half that.

That is incredibly strong, like crazy crazy strong.

Time to jump in on the thread?

[iRaise]

Legs are still feeling pretty sore from Monday. Guess i've got to skip the squats at the gym today.

This happened last week too but after having trained on Tues i played cricket on Weds so attributed Thursdays lack of squats to that. Nothing like that happened this week! I suppose doing squats just twice a week wouldn't be a huge disaster if it turns out they just need the extra time to recover on my body.   

Do you do 5x5 both days? Squats twice a week is still a lot of volume. Depending on volume.

[AndrewT]

I've been doing Stronglifts 5x5 (which it looks like muckthenuts is as well) since Feb. Obv first few weeks are low weights, concentrating on form and I managed to get up to 82.5kg on squats (ie successfully did 5x5). I then had 7 weeks off (holiday then ill) and only just got back to where I was before another 3 week break (ill again).

It is annoying because I still haven't hit peak on anything yet - when I thought I was getting near (failing on 5th set) that's when the breaks happened - when I start again I'll have to drop back again so probably wouldn't be hitting limits until mid sept.

[GreekStein]

I used to be able to do 6 reps of 180kg on on squats. Now I my legs feel like jelly after 6 reps of half that.

That is incredibly strong, like crazy crazy strong.

Time to jump in on the thread?

Not yet for me.

I am very fucking fat at the moment so I'm firmly placed on losing weight first.

I'm running every day and eating carefully. I'm doing some other exercises too but I want to get to around 90 kilos in bodyweight before I start lifting weights again.

The eventual goal is to be in the best shape I've ever gotten into, both strength wise and in terms of cardio. Will post here when I get into the weights but will be following the thread in the meantime.