[General Stalin]

(02-14-2018 09:32 AM)kosko Wrote:  

Here are the options I am looking at :

Current gym = $40
+ Consistsnt and familiar, has all the equipment I could ever need, lots of stuff to rent such as belts, rollers, etc/ - now out of distance from home and about a 40min treak to get to

The McDonald's of gyms - Goodlife = $50
+ Locations are all over, it's cheap, about a 15 min walk from home, amenities such as sauna and towels / - locations always busy; regular bs of mainstream gym

New Open gym = $170
+ Literally down the street for me, 3 min walk; open 24hrs; no frills gym for performance, lifting, crossfit / - expensive versus other options, has no machines which are good for spot work, no amenities such as towel service

$170/month is a fucking ignorant price for a gym membership. That's a goddamn car payment. That $50/month isn't cheap either for a big box gym but if that's your best option then go for that one.

Not sure what country you're located in, but most big box gyms are $10-$30 a month.

(02-14-2018 09:32 AM)kosko Wrote:  

What does everyone pay for a gym membership?

I myself have 2 gym memberships:
-$50/month at a legit powerlifting and strongman warehouse gym.
-$10/month big box gym across the street from my house.

[Plus Oultre]

(02-14-2018 09:32 AM)kosko Wrote:  

What does everyone pay for a gym membership?

Invested $1,000 once and never looked back. That was 30 months ago, I am almost at the break even point, as I was paying $27.00/month for the gym membership; I am at $33.30/month($1000/30 months.) The equipment is still like new, and it looks like will last me at least another 30 months.

thread-44402...pid1295037

Since I am recovered from the left bicep tendon injury, in the next few months I will get a bench, which run more or less $150.00. It will be a nice addition; for now I do squats, deadlifts, overhead press, and low weight floor bench press.

[kaotic]

(02-05-2018 02:54 AM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

I plan on picking up a lacrosse ball as well to work different areas.

Those things are painful but work, especially on your glutes on a hard floor !

(02-14-2018 09:32 AM)kosko Wrote:  

The McDonald's of gyms - Goodlife = $50
+ Locations are all over, it's cheap, about a 15 min walk from home, amenities such as sauna and towels / - locations always busy; regular bs of mainstream gym

Co Sign on this.



Brah's have a question:


What do style belt do you guys use for squats and deads ?

How many inches wide is it ?

How thick is it ?

Does it have a lever? Velcro? How many prongs does it have ?

[kosko]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I am based in Canada for those wondering which is why it is expensive; nothing is really all that cheap here in Communist Canada. Insurance, heat, rents, all likey much more expensive in Canada versus the USA where you can get away with $10/month gym memberships. Standard here is about $25-55 for big box gyms, with the bougie gyms ranging in price from $75-250/month.

One edit....

The biggest drawback to the big box gym (middle option) is that it is packed with a zoo at all times aside from dead middle of the workday (there is a line-up outside the door at 6am when it opens for the pre-work crowd for example). I don't find much value in going to a gym and not finding a squat or benches rack to use and having to wait around (having one person ahead of you is fine, when it is multiple people this clearly means the gym is not big enough or does not have a good equipment mix to meet demand); I find that very annoying. Part of the reason I am enticed to put down $ for that most expensive option as I can get in and out as needed with no BS.

[General Stalin]

Might find that you need to travel a bit to find a gym that is more to your liking. My preferred gym is a 20-25 min drive for me depending on traffic, but I still go there 4-6 days a week because the facility and the community are worth it to me.

(02-14-2018 12:48 PM)kaotic Wrote:  

What do style belt do you guys use for squats and deads ?

How many inches wide is it ?

How thick is it ?

Does it have a lever? Velcro? How many prongs does it have ?

I tend to use a 2-prong leather belt, 10mm or 13mm thickness (13mm is preferred - will provide more rigid support and last longer). 4" is pretty standard width.

Good brands are SBD, Inzer, and STrong but you can go cheaper if you don't want to spend $100+ on a belt.

[kaotic]

Thank dude, I know you sent me some links before, I just seeing what else people use !

[Kieran]

I have the Titan Toro belt with the lever. Does the job pretty well and is sturdy enough that it will last a long time, it's easy to just move the lever if you gain or lose a little weight too. The Inzer version is slightly better but both will do the job.

[Sidney Crosby]

I pay $50 CAD a month, but it is a chain gym with basically all the equipment you'd ever need, no fancy amenities though.

It would be a little cheaper but I pay month to month, I'm not going to get locked into a 12 month contract and then go a travel for months on end and be stuck paying.

[Bluey]

After having a dose of the squirts last week I managed a couple of personal records this week. Hit 150Kg (330 pounds) on squats for the first time and 187.5Kg (412 pounds) x 4 for deadlifts. Of course I bombed on my presses, but hey shit happens.

No idea why my deads seem to be so far ahead of everything else, but the higher rep ranges I've been hitting with boring but big variation 2 seem to have helped.

EDIT: As far as belts go, I've been only using one I was given by a guy at work for when I really push it. Seems decent quality.

[Steelex]

(02-15-2018 02:31 AM)Bluey Wrote:  

After having a dose of the squirts last week I managed a couple of personal records this week. Hit 150Kg (330 pounds) on squats for the first time and 187.5Kg (412 pounds) x 4 for deadlifts. Of course I bombed on my presses, but hey shit happens.

No idea why my deads seem to be so far ahead of everything else, but the higher rep ranges I've been hitting with boring but big variation 2 seem to have helped.

EDIT: As far as belts go, I've been only using one I was given by a guy at work for when I really push it. Seems decent quality.

Your deadlift should be ahead of your squat by a fair margin. The squat should be more than the press.

As far as how much the disparity should be, it's a CNS/Technique thing.

Typically a beginner will hit better numbers on the deadlift than the squat and press because they haven't mastered the act of balancing the bar and performing the movement under heavy load. From an execution standpoint the deadlift is a lot easier, you just pull.

This is basically the same reason why when you measure your squat versus how much you can do on a hack squat machine, youll be able to go harder on the hack squat machine. You've taken some of the coordination factors out of the movement and can now focus on simply moving the weight.

The coordination and technique of the squat and press come in a little slower, especially if you didn't learn and train these lifts at a young age.

[General Stalin]

(02-15-2018 07:31 AM)Steelex Wrote:  

Your deadlift should be ahead of your squat by a fair margin.

This is common but not necessarily true. At least from all of seen, most lifters tend to have "their lift" that they excel at. Be it their body type, leverages, height, muscle composition, etc. Many elite level record-holding power lifters can squat 800, 900, or even 1000 lbs. but can't deadlift that much.

One example from the forum I would give is Man w/ the Golden Gun. He just started lifting 6 months ago so he's still quite novice, but his squat is far stronger than his deadlift judging from his workout reports. Hell, his squat is probably stronger than mine already at this point.

[General Stalin]

I'd like to speak on deadlifts for a minute here.

There are some misconceptions about this movement I'd like to shed light on. first, watch the first 60 seconds of this video:

First thing I want to say is "Yikes."

Second thing I want to say is that contrary to popular believe, he is not on his way to "snap city." People all to often relate poor deadlift form to potential injury with spinal discs, but this is very unlikely as you will pull your spinal erector muscles way before you do any skeletal damage picking up weight off the floor. You are far far more likely to fuck your spine up squatting than you are deadlifting as compacting your spine with weight straddled directly on top of it is much more traumatic to your bones than using your body as a lever. All the muscles on your back, most specifically your erectors, are there to support and protect your spine. When doing a movement like the deadlift, these muscles will fail you before you bones fail you; this is partially their function. That said, pulling your back muscles sucks, and tearing them sucks even more. This brings me to my third thing which I touched upon in another thread.

Third thing is that this kid in the video is leaving a lot of gains on the table, and he is missing a lot of the function of the deadlift in the first place... even worse he is doing deficit deadlifts with this shit form. You see, while the deadlift is considered a "back movement" your back doesn't actually do the moving in this lift. Your back's job in the deadlift is to hold the weight, so that your posterior chain can lift it off of the floor and up to lockout. Your glutes, hamstrings, quads, and hips do the moving here. By keeping your back straight, rigid, and tight the muscles are staying contracted throughout the entire lift. This sort of "static hold" you back is doing is working your lats, erectors, traps, and even your core.

A final point: if you want to overload your deadlift, then use boxes, do rack pulls, do it in a rack with bands hanging from overhead, etc. There are plenty of ways to pull more weight than you can actually pull from the floor. Otherwise you are just cheating yourself and ego lifting.

[Intuitive]

(02-27-2018 08:14 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  

I'd like to speak on deadlifts for a minute here.

There are some misconceptions about this movement I'd like to shed light on. first, watch the first 60 seconds of this video:

First thing I want to say is "Yikes."

Second thing I want to say is that contrary to popular believe, he is not on his way to "snap city." People all to often relate poor deadlift form to potential injury with spinal discs, but this is very unlikely as you will pull your spinal erector muscles way before you do any skeletal damage picking up weight off the floor. You are far far more likely to fuck your spine up squatting than you are deadlifting as compacting your spine with weight straddled directly on top of it is much more traumatic to your bones than using your body as a lever. All the muscles on your back, most specifically your erectors, are there to support and protect your spine. When doing a movement like the deadlift, these muscles will fail you before you bones fail you; this is partially their function. That said, pulling your back muscles sucks, and tearing them sucks even more. This brings me to my third thing which I touched upon in another thread.

Based on personal experience I agree that the deadlift is generally safer than the squat. I have had little back tweaks here and there from squatting but have never had any problems deadlifting.

With regards to spinal compaction, I have always done a 15-20 second dead hang from a pullup bar after squatting. Occasionally I will pull out the gravity boots and do 60-90 seconds.

I find the kid's lift to be very impressive, despite the technical issues. He doesn't look to be over 190ish lbs which means he may have a 1rm approaching 3x bodyweight.

[General Stalin]

Yeah I'm not debating the kid's strength in the video. Even though he is using piss poor technique, pulling 470 lbs. from a deficit for reps is objectively strong. That said, no level of athlete is above scrutiny. What he is doing is certainly doing something for him, but it could be doing a lot more if he dropped the weight or corrected his form.

Spinal decompression is a decent practice after squatting. I'm not sure if there is any actual research done on it's benefits but it certainly feels good.

[kaotic]

Heads up MyProtein.com is having a sale on protein 33% off even their 11lb bags.

I just bought an unflavored iso whey 11lb bag for like $80ish (I paid a bit extra for FedEx shipping)

And MyProtein actually is rated pretty high on unaffiliated sites.

(I am not affiliated with any sites)

I actually was using NOW Nutrition Unflavaored Iso Whey before but ran out.

[Steelex]

That's not a bad deal at all. I usually use True Nutrition.

[AcftW]

I’ve been using ON for the last several months, but figured I’d give MyProtein a try with that deal. Thanks for the heads up kaotic.

[General Stalin]

Myprotein has flash deals often and their product is pretty slim on ingredients. The other day they had 11 lbs bags on sale for $53, and 16 lbs bags for $80. Definitely worth checking out.

[flanders]

I bought like 44 pounds of the stuff for 203$ including shipping with my tax return a few days ago. Google coupon codes and deals for myprotein, there is always something extra you can tack on.

Chocolate smooth, chocolate mint, and strawberry cream are all great flavors. Calorie wise (they have a few grams of fat and carbs in each scoop) some are leery on sugar in their whey but if you're lifting with any intensity it just doesn't matter. Most of the other flavors are derivates of the basic flavors, with some of them just being terrible. I checked reddit for the three best and rotate between them.

I have purchased the ultra low carb/zero carb Myprotein whey before, don't bother getting it, it's god awful. The unflavored stuff tastes like lifting chalk.

Getting in 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day is amazing, the gains are better and recovery is top notch. You'll have so much energy you'll feel like ripping your own head off. Not many bodybuilding guides recommend getting in that much protein but if you experiment you'll usually find better gains with greater intake.

I bought some 45 ounce big boy shaker bottles off amazon a while ago and smash one 100+ gram protein shake per day, sometimes with a smaller one in the morning.

[Steelex]

2 per pound is 480 grams for me.

That's a lotta grams.

[General Stalin]

The reason most guides recommend 1-1.5g of protein/pound of bodyweight is because generally any more than that your body is just going to discard. I imagine there may be some.folks who would benefit from that, but the general scientific consensus is that 1g-1.5g is the number to hit for optimal growth.

[Sidney Crosby]

Back on the keto diet, I did it a bit last year it was effective and I did it again just before Christmas. The time around Christmas I got decent results but I think my protein intake was probably too high, apparently if your protein intake is too high it can mess with ketosis. I also wasn't working out at that time so that is a large part of it.

I've been on the diet since Monday, the ketone strips say I'm in ketosis. My energy is low but that should pick up again soon, I've been eating a lot of fat and trying to keep my protein between 100-150 grams. I hope to lose at least 10lbs during the 2 months or so I will be on this diet.

[zatara]

(03-02-2018 07:20 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

Back on the keto diet, I did it a bit last year it was effective and I did it again just before Christmas. The time around Christmas I got decent results but I think my protein intake was probably too high, apparently if your protein intake is too high it can mess with ketosis. I also wasn't working out at that time so that is a large part of it.

I've been on the diet since Monday, the ketone strips say I'm in ketosis. My energy is low but that should pick up again soon, I've been eating a lot of fat and trying to keep my protein between 100-150 grams. I hope to lose at least 10lbs during the 2 months or so I will be on this diet.

If you can add in some HIIT training it'll help massively. When I combine a very carb restricted diet with HIIT sprints once or twice a week the fat pretty much melts off every spring.

[nomadbrah]

Anyone got a fixed routine for big arms at home?

If you had dumbbells/kettlebells/bodyweight and wanted to only work on arms at home.

[ballsyamog]

Nomad..... for arms I do 70% triceps and 30% biceps. Focus on dropsets and do my workout to failure. I try and change it up every few weeks. My arms are massive