Strength / Weight Training

This is a bit like when everyone started doing their long runs at 4:11 mins/km on the running thread

Grip will normally fail first. And as @chrismanc says, do both. Train with and without. you want to get strong back/legs/core then use the straps. If youre challenging your grip, use without.

Are you using mixed grip or double overhand? Mixed definitely helps.

I’ve never looked back after getting a trap bar. It’s not quite a squat and not quite a deadlift but close enough and feels much safer when loaded up.

I’ve never looked back after getting a trap bar.

I wish i had the space for this.

Do you use it in addition or instead of DL/squat?

Instead of both. Much better for me after a nasty DL back injury a few years back.

Double overhand atm, but I might give mixed a try, I used to use it a few years back when I used to workout.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, I wont @ you all, but I'll definitely work on it.

I am tempted by a trap bar but I've just set up and invested in my home gym so I want to get properly back into the routine of working out before getting anything else. (And I wouldn't be sure how to store it tbh).

Hook grip. It works. It’s slightly uncomfortable at first but we’ll worth persevering with it.

How long did it take you? I tried it just holding the bar there and it felt very strange.

I’d guess a week to ten days. It is not comfortable but you just get used to it. Look for Mark Rippetoe vids and get the grip right - no point in a half-assed effort - just do it right.

I’m trying a ‘squat every day thing’ now that I’ve got a gym ten mins away. It’s fun so far. Hopefully I don’t implode in a couple weeks time.

squat every day

How do you structure it?

Unflavoured Creatine arrived. Thanks fuck. That last bag was 10% colourings and sweetener. Sweeteners plural actually. Because the main sweetener they used has a bitter aftertaste so they put another sweetener in it to mask that. People are weird. Creatine literally has no flavour, nothing to mask!

After doing a proper ‘max every day’ version about eight years ago, I’m a little older and wiser now. Aim here is more accumulating quality volume.

Hitting a daily minimum of 6 reps (not necessarily in a single set) at 75% of my max each day and if I feel like I can do more, do some more. Either push the weight up or do a couple more sets. Every week I’ll bump that minimum up a bit as my body gets used to the frequency and volume. Afterwards repeat for pressing and then I tend to do at least 2-3 sets of back work and rotate through some other assistance lifts.

To be honest, one of the main reasons I’ve gone for the high frequency thing is because I tend to slack on nutrition/sleep on non-training days. Hopefully going from 2-3x a week adherence to 6-7x will have the biggest impact on gains.

Hmm... so my 75% of max squat would be a humble 5o-ish kgs.
So if I understand correctly; I would do whatever reps and weights needed to 'get in the mood', presumably building upwards, then each time I achieved a well executed 50 kgs I'd tick a mental list – until I had managed 6 such lifts and at that point I'd consider myself done. And generally there isn't much point in counting the the total number or reps needed to get to the six 'important' ones.

The question then is if you are getting enough rest between sessions, and if there are gains that make all this work worth it?

Yeah, basically.

So today I front squatted. Built up like this:
Standard warm up (single leg work, scapular work, planks)
Bar x10
40kg x5
60 x5
80 x3
100 x2
110x3x2 with about 60sec between the two sets (so 6 total reps).

Today my legs were a bit fatigued from RDLs the day before so just hit the minimum. Yesterday they were feeling good so hit a couple of heavier doubles after hitting the 6 reps in a single set. The ‘quality reps’ thing is key though. If I’m knackered and need to do six singles to get it in, I will.

The recovery & gains question... I’ll get back to you in September.

Just been reading through this thread for a bit.

A few years ago I started weight lifting, a close friend of mine is a strength and conditioning coach for a professional rugby team so I always had him basically giving me a free advise on form and technique etc in the gym. At the time I was 83kg and was focusing on back squats, dead lift and bench press. I got to the point where I could comfortably squat 95kg for 3 sets of 6 reps from memory. Getting to that point felt incredible, I remember the very first time I had an empty bar on my back and how awkward and heavy even the empty bar felt.

My pal moved away down south to work with a new team and sadly when he left I gradually stopped going to the gym.
I recently started going again and pretty much started from scratch with squats. I've built back up to squat 70kg just now and it feels heavy! I'm currently 90kg and 1.89m. A few months back I was 96kg and felt fat for the first time in my life.
It's strange just how bloody good I feel after squats. I've got a big garage that isn't really used for anything other than fucking about with my bikes. I've just received a fairly basic squat rack and bench and I'm setting up a mini gym in the garage. Olympic plates are really expensive...

Feels good to be lifting again, this thread is good motivation and I'll try log a bit of my progress here.

Nice! Are you aware of the stronglifts 5x5 app? I've always found that to be a good kick starter through the first couple of cycles when I've been away from a bar for a while.

I was going to mention Stronglifts too. Definitely worth a try when you manage to get plates.

Are you aware of the stronglifts 5x5 app?

Yes! I've used 5x5 before and probably going to use it once my garage set up is finished. It really helps having a bit of structure. I don't think I'll ever pay for any pt sessions as I learned a lot from my pal and still get help and info from him.

One thing that I'll need to look into is diet. I've never made any changes to what I eat, I'm not really aiming to get super ripped with minimal body fat or anything like that. More just good strength in my legs and work on my chest and shoulders, I'm naturally slender framed and bench press is my weakest point.
But I suppose that looking at diet and nutrition will help.

This is my go to website for diet info etc. Loads of useful stuff here if you search around the site.
https://legionathletics.com/

I saw the physio yesterday who worked on my right forearm (Tennis Elbow, apparently), today at lunch I managed to push my left arm to failure when doing seated bicep curls - which is the first time in ages, and entirely due to pain in my right forearm not stopping play.

The physio said to get a forearm strap, but not which one - anyone use one/can recommend?

I got myself a new gym membership! 80kg bench press for reps. It's good to be back.

forearm strap

Don't even know what that is