Thats a far too familiar feeling! Deadlifts 600 lbs...but sneezes and then cant walk right for a week. I actually havent been able to lift for the past week because one night my buddies and I decided to arm wrestle...now both my elbows are in terrible pain. Go figure right?

I played softball quite a bit in the last few years. I was known on my team(and by other teams) for being an outfielder who would track a fly ball and dive to for it when it was humanly possible. I never hurt myself during a game -- when I should have had a broken collarbone. But numerous times before a game I pulled something either reaching for my cellphone, or doing some other innocuous daily bullshit. I don't get it.

By the way, anyone ever use Bullnox before a workout? I thought maybe I was imagining things at first, but it puts me in some kind of werewolf beast mode that makes my workouts much more intense. Placebo effect maybe?

http://i.imgur.com/0rN7JSD.jpg

I don't believe in any testosterone igniter crap, but there's an energy rush that is nice.

No placebo...youve got some decent ingredients such as beta alanine, creatine, and other aminos in there for endurance/strength then some caffeine for a little extra pep in your step!

I ended up not going to the gym because of my injury, and instead went back to work. I was sitting at my desk fantasizing about running through sheetrock.

3km swim, 5 days a week,

Anyone ever go one rep too far on the flat bench press? In the 20 years I've been lifting (off and on), I've never had a gym mishap but today it finally happened. I've been breaking plateaus every 2 weeks, and steadily adding weight. I'm doing about 10 reps of 185, and I usually know when to bail before that next rep that I know will not go all the way up.

For some reason today I felt like going for a rep 11, totally ignoring my instinct that knows I shouldn't. I barely got the right side racked, and the left side got stuck under the hook on the way up. It started coming back down and I went through my options. The first was to yell out "a little help here!"

After about a second of waiting for a rescue, the weight started to come the rest of the way and I dumped the left side -- a 45 and 25. It wasn't really much louder than when those meatheads drop their 100 pound dumbbells from shoulder height. The right side was still racked and I got out from under it to see how embarrassed I should be. Lucky for me there were only 3 people on the floor. If it was peak time I probably wouldn't show my face there again.

All I know is that will never happen again. I'll always ask for a spot on big ones.

Who else had an embarrassing gym fail?

This reminds me, time for my Syntha-6 before sleep.

Will read up the thread sometime during the week-end.

Mr Upper Body

I spent over three hours shoveling yesterday. RIPPED.

Plus side of snow?

Anyone have any good tips for increasing bench?

I've been on a quest to do reps of 225, but I've been slowly working up to it by staying in the 185 range. One thing that's seemed to help lately is to do super heavy singles on the Hammer Strength Chest press. I know it's not the same as real benching, but I can overload the muscles safely with much more weight than I can do on the flat bench.

It's been translating to a little progress, but I'd like to do more.

I have been fucking lazy as far as working out, hoping getting this motivational thread going will help sort that.

Well at least my fingers will greet a work out

I've found that when you get to around 13% bodyfat, progress become almost glacial. Getting to 10 is going to be tough.

A calorie is most definitely not just a calorie. Got to get that diet CLEAN.

Recently got my test checked and the Androgel has me at 1700. Sounds a little high to me, but my doc didn't lower my dose.

Do a 5x5 routine. 5 set of 5 reps heavier weight. It will take progressive overload, time, and proper nutrition. What are your current stats now?

I've been stuck on 205 as my working set for a few weeks. I usually put up about 8 reps when I'm at my strongest. That would translate into a 225 bench for about 3 or 4 reps, but I want to wait until I can do a good sized set before moving up to 2 plates.

But I've recently discovered that I'm very strong on dumbbell incline(35%) benching. I do it after my flat bench, and can do multiple sets of 85's x 6 reps with pushups in between sets.

I struggle with the barbell, but become a beast when I reach the dumbbells. Could it be that my BB work is my warmup for the dumbbells?

One thing that could be holding me back is that I'm not eating for heavy lifting(except maybe a little extra on lift days). I've been trying to lose weight while adding muscle, and it is working for the most part. As I've become trimmer, my weight has hovered in the same spot so that has to be muscle gain...and I'm starting to look a little "Jackman" -- at least in shape and size.

Im the same way when it comes to barbell vs DB. with Dumbells you end up using more of your delts vs barbell where it keeps the pressure evenly distributed across your chest. Make sure your form is on point too, everyone's biomechanics are different. I find that if i dont bring my chest up to my neck while benching i do not activate all my chest muscle fibers.

I arch my back with chest out, if that's what you mean. One thing that's really helped my bench (and saved my shoulders) is making sure my elbows aren't flared. Focusing on leg and hip drive helped some too.

It's a combination of chest out and up for me. I dont really dig the whole leg/hip drive thing for bench, only on the last couple reps when youre really struggling. Other than that im 100% flat on the bench when im repping

So if you're flat, I'm trying to picture what "bring my chest up to my neck" looks like.

Shrug your shoulders...your chest moves up towards your neck. Its very awkward but its the only way I can activate my upper chest fibers

Where does the bar come to at the bottom of your rep when you shrug? Bottom of chest or middle?

Hits my chest in the middle/upper part

Hows everyones summer Physiques coming along? This thread needs more than 2-3 posters!

My calves are huge and my tan is strong. Ladies can't get enough of my good.

For this summer's physique, I decided to start at the end of last summer -- instead of May.

I'll never have a "six pack" but that's not what I am going for. Hell even when I was wrestling 12 months out of the year and had body fat % around 6 percent i didn't have cut visible abs.

that's besides the point. my goals are to be strong and healthy. that's all. I lift 3 days a week and ride my bike 4-5 days a week.

Thats the way to go about it...slow and steady wins the race! Once you get down to the 10% mark you REALLY need to clean your diet up if you want to get leaner. been doing a 40/40/20 macro break down with my meals timed specifically around my workouts. 3800 cals on a cut and when i bulk I will increase cals 100 cals per week progressively for 8-10 weeks at a clip so I dont get any "rebound" effect from introducing more carbs into diet.

Even if you're not big into excursive, taking a break from your computer and taking a good 30 minute walk will make a big difference. You will feel better, you'll burn off a little fat, and you'll do your heart and muscles some good too.

My dog guarantees I'll have at least an hour of walking per day total. If it weren't for him, I would have been in much worse shape over the last 7 years.

I started the keto diet on May 4 and am loving it so far! I've only lost 4lbs but a lot of stubborn belly and thigh inches. Also I don't get tired after eating now and have way more energy in general. I find it helps to treat each day as a new day and not focus on the end point so much.

One thing I would really like help with is my eating.

It isn't that bad(maybe it is), just not consistent with my exercise.

My weekly exercise is

Run - Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri/Sun

Mon/Fri/Sun - Soft sand runs with Sunday being a big one (70-90min) - mon/fri - 25min

Tue/Thur - road run 20 - 35 min - HIT

Bodyweight exercises - Mon / Wed / Fri (ie dip/chinup/pushup / no weights - all 50mins each)

An example of my eating - well how about I use what i'll consume today.

Breakfast -
- rolled oats
- table spoon of almonds
- table spoon desecrated coconut
- table spoon mixed dried fruits
- cinnamon
- low fat milk
- table spoon chia
- chopped up banana
- with cup of coffee

Lunch
- 175g tuna (olive oil - hate spring water)
- roll with seeded mustard (some of tuna) salt, pepper, tomato, onion, cucumber
- eat what is left of the tuna can separately
- bottle of water

Dinner
- spaghetti bolognese large portion of meat sauce and pasta
- bottle water
- self saucing pudding with ice cream as a dessert (only been having this lately as it is winter here and being lean makes me facking COLD!)

Might have more water or add in fruit inbetween each meal, but that is about it.

If it makes any difference - my stats
6'5 / 110kg
No idea of my body fat percentage - cannot imagine it would be huge though.

Any guidance as to eating aside from the obvious(pudding :1orglaugh)

This is pretty bad no offense. Youre all over the place and there is no balance of proteins/fats/carbs. Youre 6'5 and male...eat like one! Ill find my diet and post it up for ya. Currently at 5'7 184lbs

Here's an example of what I follow on the regular.

Meal 1:
12oz liquid whites
4 slices Ezekiel bread OR 1.25 cups rice
¼ cup berries (black/blue/rasp) (OPTIONAL)
2 fish oil caps
multi vitamin

(2-3hrs)

Meal 2:
8 oz Steak
1 cup green veggies

(2-3hrs)

Meal 3:
6-8oz Chicken or tukey or tilapia
1 cup jasmine rice or 8 oz yam

(2-3hrs)

Meal 4:
8 oz chicken, turkey, or tilapia
1 cup green veggies

(2-3hrs)

Meal 5: 1-1.5 hr before workout
6 oz Chicken or 6 oz tilapia
8oz sweet potato OR 1 cup jasmine Rice (10oz or 1.25c on legs and chest day)


Intraworkout (during)
1.5 scoops aminolinx by ProSupps + ½ scoop Karbolyn

Meal 6 :Immediately POST WORKOUT::
1.5 scoops Whey hydro isolate
1.5 scoops KARBOLYN

1 HOUR LATER

Meal 6:
12oz liquid whites or 8oz tilapia
1cup any green veggie
2fish oil caps + 1 serving natural PB


If still awake::: another meal is okay must be 6oz tilapia OR can of tuna (plain)

SLEEP

NOTES:
-OFF Training DAYS- cut carbs in HALF
-Fluids - Must have at least 1.5 gallons of water per day (count the Green Tea as water). Stay away from fruit juice. Keep the sugars low to zero.
-Splenda, truvia, mustard, hot sauce, sugar free ketchup, and seasonings are all okay
-CHEAT MEAL—1-2 cheat MEALS per week (sushi or steak house)

Put one of your films on, got everyone out of the house.

Ah, to my favourite hater:

The fake lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Hey, none taken at all, I am hopeless with researching foods - hate it with a passion.

wow - you eat a hell of a lot!!

Your food bill each week must be enormous.

I do have the fish oil / multi and only other thing i have is whey protein.

So many questions about food, how about I keep it simple, if that is possible.

Where should I start? Eat more? More of what - how do balance proteins/fats/carbs? I am like a child with this kind of thing - hopeless - love eating, hate how complex it can become (seems complex when you are on the outside looking in).

I understand you do large amounts of weights, so how did you arrive at your diet? Worked it out yoruself, sought advice? Just learnt over the years? The whole balance / what is in each food - makes my head explode.

Goals :

I also am not looking to gain size, if anything just tone up a bit. I figure I do enough exercise and actually enjoy being fit ( I was a smoke 2 years ago and 20kg heavier ).

Stop the running. Or at least curtail it some. Steady state cardio is nowhere near as good as HIIT cardio. I could got into a bunch of reason why it's better, but just do some research on Google. More time efficient, and you burn calories throughout the day.

The important part is to spend 10 or 15 minutes moving in some way that gets you huffing and puffing and sweating. I do sprints at the baseball field near my house a few time a week. Running is for suckers...unless you enjoy it, then keep doing it. But work in some high intensity interval training. The fat will start melting off.

I'm not running to lose weight, training for a fun runs / half marathons that are coming up later in the year. :thumbsup

I do a little HIIT, but that is more to mix things up than to lose weight. Enjoy the running portion of my exercise more than anything else, nothing like finishing a great beach run in the morning and jumping in the water for a cool down. :)

Where are your vegetables? Spaghetti sauce doesn't count. :) Seriously add some leafy greens to your daily routine. I've been steaming bok choi and putting a fried egg on top for breakfast and it's lovely. Try to add: spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choi, kale as your daily veggie. Don't fear the veg!

Your exercise looks fine, but just remember that you work out to maintain fitness/muscle. The only way to lose weight consistently is through changing the diet/intake. GIGO applies here. :)

Good luck with everything!