[Big Nilla]

(03-02-2012 03:32 PM)MikeCF Wrote:  

Squats give you a major boost in testosterone.

They also give you balls.

Do 20-rep squats for 6 weeks, and you'll be bigger all over and badder.

Quote:

Squattin’

By Dale Clark

Way down this road, in a gym far away
A young man was once heard to say,
“I’ve repped high and I’ve repped low,
No matter what I do, my legs won’t grow.”

He tried leg extensions, leg curls and leg presses, too
Trying to cheat, these sissy workouts he’d do
From the corner of the gym where the big men train,
Through a cloud of chalk in the midst of pain.

Where the big iron rides high and threatens lives,
Where the noise is made with big forty-fives,
A deep voice bellowed as he wrapped up his knees,
A very big man with legs like trees,

Laughing as he snatched another plate from the stack,
Chalking his hands and his monstrous back,
Said, “Boy, stop lying and don’t say you’ve forgotten
Trouble with you is you ain’t been squattin’.”

©Dale Clark 1983.

Back in college I used 20 rep breathing squats to get my squat up to 500x10. Parallel, not ATG. Added the 2.5's to make it a nice round 500.

[Walnuts]

I'm 5'10, 72kg, think that's about 160lbs.
Right now my 1rp bench press is 200lbs.
Haven't really done squats or dead lift. I can easily hit 440 on the leg press though if that counts for anything.

Im finding it hard to eat enough to gain weight. Being 19 and in college I don't have the time, money or patients to cook me a steak every night.

Anyway, I wanted to ask; how would you build a big chest with calisthenics? Seems impossible.
It annoys me when these body weight training trolls talk about all you need to train is an empty space. It's ridiculous. How would you do your Chest? How would you do your biceps? Back?

[The Fantasist]

(03-12-2012 09:38 AM)Walnuts Wrote:  

It annoys me when these body weight training trolls talk about all you need to train is an empty space. It's ridiculous. How would you do your Chest? How would you do your biceps? Back?

They would say push ups and dips for chest and pull ups for back and would be right to a degree but for big mass you need compound movements and in those two target areas that means bench press and deads.

Before I join the discussion can someone please tell me: Are people including the bar in their weight totals?

[Hades]

(03-12-2012 09:38 AM)Walnuts Wrote:  

I'm 5'10, 72kg, think that's about 160lbs.
Right now my 1rp bench press is 200lbs.
Haven't really done squats or dead lift. I can easily hit 440 on the leg press though if that counts for anything.

Im finding it hard to eat enough to gain weight. Being 19 and in college I don't have the time, money or patients to cook me a steak every night.

Anyway, I wanted to ask; how would you build a big chest with calisthenics? Seems impossible.
It annoys me when these body weight training trolls talk about all you need to train is an empty space. It's ridiculous. How would you do your Chest? How would you do your biceps? Back?

You need an empty space, a pullup bar, and maybe a yoga mat.
As for your questions; pushup progression, pullup progression, back bridge progression.

edit: I'm not sure why I bother continually answering questions anymore. I see nothing wrong with barbell training or bodyweight training. The only issue is that there's equipment limitations to barbell training that I don't find attractive as a poor college student/frequent traveler. After doing bodyweight training for eight weeks, I find it superior in many ways. You guys need to check your egos and do your own research.

[Walnuts]

I thought pull ups worked your lats more than biceps.

I'm curious to know what exactly constitutes push up progression. If there is a way that I can do a pushup that is the weight equivalent to my 200lb bench press then awesome, i wont renew my gym membership. I don't have anything against body weight training, it's just that I've seen my best gains come through the good old free weights room. So that's what I prefer.

I include the bar weight, it's a 20Kg Olympic barbell. I slap 35kg on each side bringing it to 90Kg, roughly 200lbs

[Hades]

(03-12-2012 06:37 PM)Walnuts Wrote:  

I thought pull ups worked your lats more than biceps.

I'm curious to know what exactly constitutes push up progression. If there is a way that I can do a pushup that is the weight equivalent to my 200lb bench press then awesome, i wont renew my gym membership. I don't have anything against body weight training, it's just that I've seen my best gains come through the good old free weights room. So that's what I prefer.

I include the bar weight, it's a 20Kg Olympic barbell. I slap 35kg on each side bringing it to 90Kg, roughly 200lbs

It's cool you're interested. The bicep is a somewhat overrated muscle, I think. Pullups do work the lats, but as a compound exercise, they also build up the biceps.

As for a pushup progression, depending on what you weigh, a one-armed pushup (feet close together, arm nearly beneath body) would be easily a 200+ pound bench press.

Since I weigh ~215#, a one-armed pushup for me would be roughly 140# (give or take). Double that and you're at 280# for both arms.

Using the one-rep max calculator, if I can do 15 proper one-armed pushups in succession, that's 229# per arm 1RM, for a total of ~440# one-rep max. Close grip.

[Walnuts]

Holy balls I had no idea! I'm gona give it a shot.
I need to find a place to do pullups though. I don't want to damage my place with a pullup bar.

[Kickb]

You can buy a pullup bar that uses your door frame for support. I have one and it hasn't damaged anything.

[lavidaloca]

I'm 5'10 175lbs

Bench 260
Squat 335
Deadlift 0

[kimleebj]

(02-29-2012 08:33 PM)Roosh Wrote:  

Once I did 26 pullups in a row.

That's awesome. The Presidential Physical Fitness award says the 85th percentile of 17-year-old boys was "only" 13 pull-ups.

Presidential Physical Fitness Award

Were these strict dead-hang pull-ups, or did you use swinging/kipping form?

[Hencredible Casanova]

(02-29-2012 02:02 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

(02-28-2012 04:20 PM)ElJefe Wrote:  

fuck me, velkrum, you're a beast. Pics!

I'll post pics but I'm having trouble with the attachments. Here's an old vid of me

That's retarded.

[teh_skeeze]

(02-29-2012 06:52 PM)Hades Wrote:  

Check out Paul Wade's "Convict Conditioning" if you're interested. He placed third in a 1987 California powerlifting competition and did not train with weights.
The idea of progressive calisthenics is that you start with something basic, like knee pushups, and you work until you meet a progression standard (two working sets), with the end goal being an elite level, like one-armed pushups. Your bodyweight doesn't change, but the exercise does.

I do basic bodyweight stuff (close pushups, back bridges, close squats etc), and I can deadlift 315 no problem.

+1 on the book recommendation. I skimmed through it last night and it makes my martial arts training look like a joke.

[Walnuts]

I tried 1 arm pushups. I can crank out a few but it is definitely hard. Plus it's a really awkward position to be in. It's really uncomfortable and tiring and doesn't isolate the chest like the good old bench press. You work everything. Whilst that can be good, I think isolation gives much bigger and faster gains.
So I got an old backpack, filled it with 50lbs of weight plates, and did weighted pressups.
The next day I noticed that it didn't work my pecs AT ALL. My lats were shredded but my chest was untouched.

I think it's back to free-weights for me, but I haven't given up on calisthenics. I will do further experimentation.

[Basil Ransom]

(03-12-2012 01:38 PM)Vorkuta Wrote:  

(03-12-2012 09:38 AM)Walnuts Wrote:  

It annoys me when these body weight training trolls talk about all you need to train is an empty space. It's ridiculous. How would you do your Chest? How would you do your biceps? Back?

They would say push ups and dips for chest and pull ups for back and would be right to a degree but for big mass you need compound movements and in those two target areas that means bench press and deads.

Before I join the discussion can someone please tell me: Are people including the bar in their weight totals?

One advantage of bodyweight training is that it's mostly or entirely closed chain exercises, where you're moving your entire body instead of just a limb. This includes a lot of the main lifts, barbell/weighted included. Popular closed chain exercises include squats, deadlifts, cleans, pullups, dips.

And yeah, people always include the bar weight, unless they specify otherwise.

I started doing bodyweight tricep extensions again, I like these. I've done dips but I always end up using my chest a whole lot more than my triceps. Without more direct work, my triceps lag behind my torso.

Bodyweight tricep extensions

Here's a vid from UW's strength program:

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNUsmED11rM[/youtube]

These are easy to adjust for difficulty. Just go to a Smith rack and set it at the desired height, grip the bar with hands 6-8 inches apart, and extend your legs out, and farther than the guy in the second vid. The lower the bar, the harder it is. I extend until my forearms are at least perpendicular to the floor and the bar, and then come back.

Nice lift velkrum.

[ElJefe]

I'm worried Velkrums back curved just a bit much? He almost doesn't move his hips?? Weak core??

Not hating, just curious...

I've finally gotten back into my routine... doing 250, 290 and 320 for reps on bp, squat and dl right now. Goal is to reach 275, 330 and 375 within a month. I've quit drinking (for now) and going out for now to focus on this, which is kinda nice, because it's forcing me to do more day approaches, which I loathe...

[velkrum]

@ Eljefe

there will always be a slight degradation in form when hitting max weight / reps.

[metalhaze]

(03-29-2012 09:33 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

@ Eljefe

there will always be a slight degradation in form when hitting max weight / reps.

I personally don't advise heavy lifts because no one will do 100% correct form squats or DL all the time...once a disc snaps in your spine, your back will NEVER be the same again.

[BCZalgyris]

(04-01-2012 09:03 PM)metalhaze Wrote:  

(03-29-2012 09:33 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

@ Eljefe

there will always be a slight degradation in form when hitting max weight / reps.

I personally don't advise heavy lifts because no one will do 100% correct form squats or DL all the time...once a disc snaps in your spine, your back will NEVER be the same again.

Great point metalhaze. The only lift I do to the max and the safest one in my opinion is the bench press and even then when going for your max a spotter should be present unless you wanna end up like Stafon Johnson (USC Running Back) with your neck crushed

[velkrum]

There is a risk in everything. I've seen more guys and girls get hurt on bench press than any other lift.

All you need is a good understanding of your body and technique to perform compound lifts with minimal chance of injury, even with less than perfect form.

I understand people should do their best to be safe in the gym but anyone could get hurt doing anything. If we were all pussies about what we did we would not learn anything.

Use common sense and practice. Always start off light and practice with light weight. Gradually work your way up in added pounds. Follow those rules and any competent person with a desire to learn should easily be able to squat or deadlift properly.

[Eliogabalus]

I dont deadlift at all and havent squated much, and never to my max limit for one rep. Is there a site to estimate you max squat or deadlift accurately based on other max of exercises? greetings.

[whitenoise]

(04-01-2012 11:25 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

There is a risk in everything. I've seen more guys and girls get hurt on bench press than any other lift.

All you need is a good understanding of your body and technique to perform compound lifts with minimal chance of injury, even with less than perfect form.

I understand people should do their best to be safe in the gym but anyone could get hurt doing anything. If we were all pussies about what we did we would not learn anything.

Use common sense and practice. Always start off light and practice with light weight. Gradually work your way up in added pounds. Follow those rules and any competent person with a desire to learn should easily be able to squat or deadlift properly.

my pet hate is in fact the barbell bench press

if you're not a powerlifter, there is nothing to recommend it over dumbbell bench. small difference in total load, both exercises need spotters for very heavy weights, and for most dumbbells stimulate greater pec activation. most importantly, barbell bench has a far more destructive impact on the shoulder joint.

[Eliogabalus]

(04-02-2012 01:37 PM)whitenoise Wrote:  

(04-01-2012 11:25 PM)velkrum Wrote:  

There is a risk in everything. I've seen more guys and girls get hurt on bench press than any other lift.

All you need is a good understanding of your body and technique to perform compound lifts with minimal chance of injury, even with less than perfect form.

I understand people should do their best to be safe in the gym but anyone could get hurt doing anything. If we were all pussies about what we did we would not learn anything.

Use common sense and practice. Always start off light and practice with light weight. Gradually work your way up in added pounds. Follow those rules and any competent person with a desire to learn should easily be able to squat or deadlift properly.

my pet hate is in fact the barbell bench press

if you're not a powerlifter, there is nothing to recommend it over dumbbell bench. small difference in total load, both exercises need spotters for very heavy weights, and for most dumbbells stimulate greater pec activation. most importantly, barbell bench has a far more destructive impact on the shoulder joint.

Right comment, I've dropped the barbell benchpress long ago because It made me felt quite weird and uncomfortable while doing it, and I felt more compression in other areas rather than my chest. While doing the same with dumbells I feel a lot of tension on my chest, but only my chest, which makes me feel way better when performing the exercise.

[ElJefe]

as per 30th april 2012

* gym lifts, not official powerlifting meet numbers. *
*All weight in lbs*

• HT - 5'10''
• WT - 208
  

1. Squat - 400
2. Bench Press - 320
3. Standing Military Press - 200
   

No deadlift, lumbar is too fucked right now. Am crossjizzin' 4-5 times weekely at the moment, and trying to lift heavy once a week, but my strength has shrunk 5% or so from those highs. Lost 10lbs in two weeks (mostly fluid).

Am in ketosis on weekdays, carb-cycle weekends, trying to drop about 20lbs by mid-summer.

[Walnuts]

i thought ketosis took a lot longer than a few days to kick in?

[reaper23]

(05-17-2012 08:34 AM)Walnuts Wrote:  

i thought ketosis took a lot longer than a few days to kick in?

definitely does for me. after 8 weeks of it i did a carb loading day on sunday and here it is thursday and still not back.

frustrating