Strength / Weight Training

aren't raised heels the exact opposite of what you want when you're deadlifting?

@theoj

the extra height turns the lift into a slight deficit deadlift compared to lifting barefoot. A ½” heel is ¼ of the way to a deficit deadlift. Deficit deadlifts increase the range of motion and also challenge the lifter’s bottom position at the start of the deadlift.

A quality lifting shoe has an incompressible sole, a slight heel raise, and a metatarsal strap to keep your foot from sliding around in the shoe. Heel heights are usually ½-¾ inches.

https://barbend.com/6-reasons-invest-pair-weightlifting-shoes/

suppose it's a prioritising range of motion thing versus prioritising moving as much weight as possible thing - makes sense

I have them for squat. I have them because my ankle mobility is not that great. When I was younger I didn't needy them. They have improved my form putting less strain on my lower back

Fish oil works for me.

This. I take them every day. I’ve got a close friend who lifts elite level numbers, over double body weight squat etc but his knees are absolutely fucked and swears by cod liver oil.

+1 for weight lifting shoes.

I used to wear the same trainers I’d wear playing squash but noticed that the heel started to deform which I put down to heavy squats.

I think it’s the sort of thing that once you try it, you won’t go back.

Rather than half-arsing lifting, I'm committing to doing 5x5 properly.

I need to dial in my current 5 rep max, but I'm not sure how best to go about this.

I'm thinking of a standard warm up of progressive lifts from an empty / light bar with a lot of reps, to low reps / single lifts as I approach the main set weight, where the set weight is a little bit more than the weight I've been doing for 3x5s recently.

How do I do this without hitting the 5x5 set too fatigued, or choosing a weight that is too light.

Or doesn't it matter that much, and I should just fine tune as I go - My rationale being that, as long as I've got an overall upwards trajectory for the weights I'm adding in the program, the starting weights don;t need to be dialled in precisely. Particularly as the program has room to accelerate / decelerate the progressive weight increase.

I've also just started 5x5. Lifted a little bit a few years ago but very much out of practice/fitness right now. So not a beginner, but not loads better.

Since it's easy enough to tweak a workout then I've decided to err on the side of things being too easy, and if need be I can nudge a workout up a few kg and let the algorithm handle it. I'm avoiding trying to figure out exactly what my max 5x5 is as I figure it'll get close enough fairly quickly as the weight increases and if it gets a few nudges from me for obviously easy things. Worst case I'll be a few weeks behind where I 'should' be. But given where I 'should' be is entirely subjective then who cares.

I think you’ve got the right idea for finding that 5 rep max.

If the weight you’ve chosen feels too light by the third rep, stop and move up. 3 reps at under a 5rep max weight shouldn’t impact a max effort set later on.

If you get to the 5th rep and have just a little bit more, do that 6th or even 7th (or 8th! You’d be surprised) rep and use that to estimate 5rm.

You’re right about starting a program too light not being a bad thing either. If in doubt, round down.

Good luck with it and have fun! Max testing is the best.

This. I take them every day. I’ve got a close friend who lifts elite level numbers, over double body weight squat etc but his knees are absolutely fucked and swears by cod liver oil.

I hear that there is quite the variance in quality between different brands - what have you used that works/worked?

warm up and then do 4x5 of very easy weight followed by 1xamrap. Plug in your result from last set into one fo the strneght calcs. You have your estimate.

Krill oil is better than cod.
More bioavailability supposedly.

Stronglifts adds weight so quickly and you recover super fast from lighter weights anyway, so the progress is always very quick to begin with.

I moved away from it last year as I ended up seemingly banging against a brick wall with my bench around the 60kg area.

With a different program (Candito) I'm on track to bench bodyweight (85kg) by the end of the year.

I struggle to fit in decent squat and deadlift workouts while having high volume of cycling but as we are coming to the end of the season I'll be concentrating on those much more until next spring. A couple of zwifts a week should keep my cycling fitness at a reasonable level.

Next year my aim is to bench 100kg, squat 130kg and deadlift 150kg. Let's see if that's realistic or not!

Wooooof! Big targets! I hit a similar wall at 60kg bench and even 70kg felt a million miles away so fair play for setting a goal and going for it

Bench has always been my weak point- and has always progressed slower than other compound lifts.

have found that more frequent benching has helped a bit, along with more variance in rep ranges/ RPE. for wherever reason sticking to the same programming for bench week in week out for months has never worked for me (perhaps its just been the wrong programming ).

Have done 5x5, texas method, bigger learner stronger power-building routine and now 5/3/1

For me the biggest change has been strengthening the supporting muscle groups that contribute to a stronger bench press - for me specifically the lats, shoulders and triceps were really holding me back. Getting them stronger on their own means I can really feel them working when I'm pressing.

I also had a session with a mate of mine who's way stronger and his technique tips have really helped.

It also helps that my gym is 2 mins walk from my house so I can easily get there for an hour before work.

I use Healthspan Elite Omega 3 Pure EPA 1g

This is based entirely on the advice of my pal. He tells me to look for stuff that has 'informed sport' on it which means its batch tested for shite. You want both DHA and EPA in your Omega 3 apparently.

I can echo most of whats already been said.

I've recently started Stronglifts 5x5 after a good while away from lifting. Previously I was squatting 95kg for 4 sets of 6. Body weight was 83-85kg back then and I'm currently about 91kg

I wasn't too sure about what sort of weight to begin with on the app. The suggested starting numbers from the app seemed quite low for squat at 40kg on day one. This obviously felt very light and easy. I was tempted to start higher but decided just to go with the app to get into the swing of things.
Currently at 55kg for squat which still feels very easy but its good working on form while the weight is low.
Its easy to get impatient but it ramps up really quickly anyway.

It will feel good once I'm back to squatting around 95kg again. I'm trying to be realistic with targets but aiming for 120kg by Christmas and 140kg by next summer!

Should mention I've got a squat rack and olympic bar and weights in the garage now so I'm lucky in that I can lift every other day without driving back and forth to the gym.

You want both DHA and EPA in your Omega 3 apparently

The common advice is to take enough capsules to get you a daily intake 500 mg of both DHA and EPA respectively. It will say on the side of the bottle how much there is in each capsule.

Cheap cod liver oil often comes from factories in South America where lax routines mean the oil can go rancid in the time between harvesting and processing, so best avoided. Mind you, it's not like slapping a high price on something automatically makes it better.

I'm back on 5x5 from October for 3 months or so. I've got absolutely no use for the bench press element and would rather swap in something lower body in the same way the B day has deads.

Any thoughts? Tempted to do thrusters or something glute focused as it's a particular weakness of mine.

Also, any issue with doing vanity calves every session, or this a stupid idea?

Although I haven’t lifted in a while, I honestly couldn’t go without them when lifting, squidgy trainers feel awful in comparison.

Had a set of Adipowers for years, always regret not buying a set of Romaleos 2 when they came out - they’re rare/astronomically expensive now. Even the current Adipowers are £170!

Calves is a good idea. Unlikely to mess anything up.

Adding extra lower body volume to the bigger muscles is more of a ‘maybe’. If it impacts your ability to do other lifts then it might be an issue or it might just be further growth stimulus. I’d probably add some unilateral work in if it’s to support lower body growth (split squats are a favourite) and slowly increase the number of sets over time as you adapt rather than jumping in deep with it.

Sage advice, thanks.

I am going to do the Stronglifts twice a week with a third session doing more single leg stuff and core...maybe I just deadlifts both SL sessions and rotate the rows and overheads.

Back to the legs session today, I did 20/30/40/50/60/70/80 for my first set, following a 12/10/8/6 /6/6/6 pattern, then did three sets of 40/50/60 at 8/6/6 which seemed to hit the balance of "this is hard" without going to "I can't do this".

Quite happy to get 80kg for six (that's just over my bodyweight currently), I'm not sure what I could have done at 90kg - probably not six though. Be a nice milestone to get 90x6.

I still think thats a huge number of sets...

Actually... I don't get your breakdown...

20/30/40/50/60/70/80 - what is this? Reps? Kgs?

For me, a set is made up of a single kg number and a single rep number separated by a line indicating a break. If the above is kgs, then that would be 7 sets of decreasing reps until 80.

Is this per exercise???

Or is 20/30/40/50/60/70/80 one immediately after the other in a super set?

Or are you saying you did the 7 sets followed by a following 9 more sets split into 3 groups?!

16 sets per exercise??? I guess you're building endurance?