Project Scrawny

[Trozzle]

Yeah I'll be doing that, getting sick of barbell already haha

[Birds]

Dumbells = sort out strength bias

Barbell = bigger range of motion

There are advantages and disadvantages to both, however, if you're aiming to bias a particular muscle group with your flat press...a barbell is easier to maintain and monitor strict movement with.

Wide grip on bar = more delts

Close grip on bar = more triceps

Bar lower down the chest = more chest

Bar closer in line with shoulders = more delts

Flat bench will work all those groups regardless, so I wouldn't overthink it. If you want larger front delts, focus instead on incline and military press exercises - I'm front delt heavy because of these. I love the smell of front delts in the morning!

(they do look awesome after shoulder press, with that big vain popping out)

[TTT]

Did you go back to front there on your first 2 lines?

[Trozzle]

So I've run myself into the ground big time over the past week due to a serious lack of sleep. As of Monday I'll be starting a very in-depth diary of my daily eating and sleeping habits, as well as hopefully starting a proper 8 week structured meal plan instead of winging it like I do far too often.

f**k my inconsistency, too lazy to change my bad habits lately

[TM7GTR]

So I've run myself into the ground big time over the past week due to a serious lack of sleep. As of Monday I'll be starting a very in-depth diary of my daily eating and sleeping habits, as well as hopefully starting a proper 8 week structured meal plan instead of winging it like I do far too often.

f**k my inconsistency, too lazy to change my bad habits lately

Yeah i got into a habit of going to bed at about 3am recently because I'm on holidays from CIT. This caused me to get the flu, so I took a week off of training and started going to sleep at midnight, no later.

First day back was last night and I'm feeling great now

[Trozzle]

Changing up my routine from 2 day split to the below routine I simply nabbed off a sticky on bb.com. I've not only hit a plateau but I've actually gone backwards again with certain lifts (which I'm certainly not blaming entirely on not having changed routine for a very long time). Hoping to get some results from a different routine as well as enjoy it a bit more. Started this tonight, get the feeling I'll enjoy it. Won't be sticking to it strictly, but near enough.

Day 1

4x Squats: 5 reps

3x Ham Work: 8 reps

3x BB or DB Row: 8 reps

2x Bicep Curls: 10 reps

Day 2

4x Bench Press: 5 reps

3x Military Press: 8 reps

3x Tricep Isolation: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 3

4x Deadlifts: 5 reps

3x Pullups: 8 reps

3x Leg Press: 8 reps

2x Biceps Curls: 10 reps

Day 4

4x DB or Incline Press: 5 reps

3x Chest Dips: 8 reps

3x Side Lateral Raise: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 1: On

Day 2: On

Day 3: Off

Day 4: On

Day 5: Off

Day 6: On

Day 7: Off

[Trozzle]

back to 320kg two-leg and 140kg single-leg incline leg press. weeeoooo

[Birds]

Looking to be the next quadzilla, Troy?

[Trozzle]

hahaha nah man Gosty has a bit much on me right now, and I'm currently having some lower spine/pelvic issues at the moment (upper back muscle imbalance --> too much pelvic tilt) so squats and deads are out for a couple of weeks funny how little things in the body can cause problems elsewhere due to other muscles picking up the slack.

[Birds]

Sucks to hear man. Where would I go to get someone to check if my spine and back muscles are all okay? I don't really have any problems at the moment but I did in the past with lower back pain and I wouldn't mind seeing if my orientation is good or not.

[Trozzle]

Sucks to hear man. Where would I go to get someone to check if my spine and back muscles are all okay? I don't really have any problems at the moment but I did in the past with lower back pain and I wouldn't mind seeing if my orientation is good or not.

Likely Osteopath. From what I gather, they're by definition all about the back/spine. That's where I've been going occasionally to suss out my lower back pains.

[TM7GTR]

Or you can just see a chiropractor. My chiro sorted out my spine and hips a while back

[Trozzle]

Or you can just see a chiropractor. My chiro sorted out my spine and hips a while back

We'll see. Ultimately I have very little confidence in any of these professions...and I'm extremely uninterested in hearing any advice that involves cessation of lifting weights - be it temporary or otherwise - which is what most of them end up going with (and ironically the opposite of what has done wonders for my upper-back cramping).

Anyway, since this is really supposed to be a 'progress' thread, figure I should put that in here haha...

More leg press (temporarily in place of squats):

120kg x 5

240kg x 12

320kg x 8

320kg x 8

340kg x 5 (10kg off PB, but definitely more ROM this time)

200kg x 20

Single-leg press. Reps for each leg individually.

120kg x 6

120kg x 5

[Mitcho_7]

Find a good massage therapist that has decent training and they can assess you just as well in terms of body position etc as a physio/osteo/chiro.

I would be going to see a good hands on type of physio/osteo if you're concerned about things though. They can do bone manips as well as soft tissue work whereas chiros will only do bone manips most of the time which is only addressing part of the issue.

Edited August 6, 2012 by Mitcho_7

[Trozzle]

Find a good massage therapist that has decent training and they can assess you just as well in terms of body position etc as a physio/osteo/chiro.

I would be going to see a good hands on type of physio/osteo if you're concerned about things though. They can do bone manips as well as soft tissue work whereas chiros will only do bone manips most of the time which is only addressing part of the issue.

I'm finding that stretching my glutes by laying on my back and pulling my knee to my chest while pulling my foot off to the side a bit is helping a lot with the pain.....f**k this is just confusing as all hell. Is it muscle? Is it bone? Is it disc? Is it even in my f**king back? hahaha

Got another Osteo appointment this arvo, will see how we go.

[Mitcho_7]

With manual therapy, it's hard to find someone good these days. So when you find someone good it's like gold!

I hate the lazy physios that just ultrasound and ice with like 10 minutes hands on, if that.

Hopefully you get your issue sorted out.

[NickR33]

Leg press is worse for your back then if you were squatting... this is due to your lumbar spine rounding at the bottom of the lift... do some research you will find a few articles on the topic

professionals often tell you to stop lifting weights just to cover their own arse... I used to get some lower back back pain but ever since I started deadlifting heavier it has gone away completely... and my DL technique isn't the prettiest either

Try focusing on strengthening your glutes, stretching your psoas/quads and foam rolling... these are all things that have seemingly worked for me

[Trozzle]

professionals often tell you to stop lifting weights just to cover their own arse... I used to get some lower back back pain but ever since I started deadlifting heavier it has gone away completely... and my DL technique isn't the prettiest either

Couldn't agree with you more. I was told to look into yoga for my upper back cramping...so what did I do? Ramped up the deadlifts big time. Fixed that shit up like you wouldn't believe (or ironically, YOU would believe ). Now that I haven't been deadlifting at all over last few weeks, upper back is cramping again problem is though, deadlifts are the main exercise to set off the pain I currently have. Stretching glutes/hamstrings/hip flexors etc makes it feel better though...

Got a f**king cold now though so skipping gym for rest of the week. Will just stretch as much as I can for the next few days.

[Trozzle]

UPDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!

Well, just a pic really - since my lifts are fairly the same. Although I'm up to 90kg 3 reps barbell bench press, got 95kg 2 reps easy enough.

I've been cutting back relatively full on over the last month and a bit in preparation for an 11 night cruise I've got coming up next Tuesday, headed out to Vanuatu etc here's my wanky stance selfie. It was taken in the gym bathroom, so I suppose you could apply a similar handicap to Birds' tinted car window pics

I still look average as hell with a shirt on hahaha, but summer = shirt off as we all know

[Dani Boi]

Bro, you're going to get laid on that trip lol.

At what weight did you start cutting and how much have you lost so far? You look between 8-10%bf in that pic, not sure if your pumped/flexing whatever though.