2 Questions - Strength Vs BW and My Gym Debacle
Qski
Posts: 246 Member
I am keeping up to date in the chat thread but almost feel like I can't update since I am so obviously not lifting according to a program :grumble: more on that in a sec...
Q1 - If you lose a lot of weight while getting Noob Gains with strength, will you in theory cross a line so your strength drops?
Like example right now I weigh just under 90kg (ugh) but say I trained really hard and can DL 2 times body weight - my weight is going to decrease while training but hypothetically say it didn't - then I can DL 180kg but then I lose weight till I weigh what I should for my height more like 60kg - would I still be able to DL 180? which would then be 3X Body Weight which I know is pretty damn strong...
How does that go?
Q2 - I discovered that when I asked about the availability of free weights and squat racks at the gym I ended up joining (taking over someone else's contract. I got shown around the gym and manager pointed out what I thought was a squat rack (it was a smith machine I know better now) and also pointed to an actual squat rack - which i found out after couldn't have been used anyway because there were no bars that fit it. Then the squat rack disappeared and I was told that they will get a new one in the New Year. I also got a few PT sessions, and while I don't have an issue with what we started out doing - the PT reasoned that should be doing all over strengthening work so that I am strong enough in my core to do the big lifts. We did do all of the lifts (except dead lifting from the floor) we did DL from the Top to just below Knees (is that Romanian?) and clean and jerk from the top (just the jerk?). I have been using relatively heavy weights, but am doing 15 reps of exercises and have also done used the leg press, lat pull down and dumbbell curls and cable curls :explode: So totally not what I asked to do and now not sure I can do them on my own anyway since no squat rack.
So I kind of feel duped into signing up and now I have a contract their till July. - I don't know what the manager means by in the new year (for the purchase of a new rack).
Options
1 - Suck it up and keep going till I can assess if this rack will appear in January - in the interim try to get buy with dumbbells for bench and OHP (not necessarily bad since I am significantly weaker on my left). Do dumbbell goblet squats ( I am not allowed to touch the kettle bells without a PT :indifferent) and deadlift with a standard bar
2 - Get someone to take over my membership (probably easy to do just after Christmas with the NY resolution crowd), Buy myself a rack and weights to use at home (it would have to be outside under the verandah, cos we don't have space in doors for rack. We do have a few sheds, but they would be like working out in an oven in Adelaide Summers (40C/110F Plus dry heat in a metal shed with a concrete floor). Also hunstman spiders may touch me...
3 - Get some standard weights to add to my BodyPump bar (rated for 50kg) and another bar and get my partner to hand me the bar for exercises and use the gym for the treadmill in the heat till they get a squat rack.
I do eventually want to go to the strength and conditioning gym near where we live (they have a waiting list). But I am actually a little intimidated to go. All of the guys are pretty hard core into lifting, the owner/trainer looks like some buff adonis and works really hard and every woman I have seen related to the gym are tiny little things that are already hawt - Some lift, Some attend the yoga classes that the owner's partner gives on site.
I'm an obese unco-ordinated middle aged woman who will probably fart every time I deadlift heavy. Not really good for the walls painted black mojo... :blushing:
ETA - OMG that is what happened when I tried to keep it short and to the point... I'm useless
TL;DR - Read Q1 and Q2 my gym sucks what do I do now?
Q1 - If you lose a lot of weight while getting Noob Gains with strength, will you in theory cross a line so your strength drops?
Like example right now I weigh just under 90kg (ugh) but say I trained really hard and can DL 2 times body weight - my weight is going to decrease while training but hypothetically say it didn't - then I can DL 180kg but then I lose weight till I weigh what I should for my height more like 60kg - would I still be able to DL 180? which would then be 3X Body Weight which I know is pretty damn strong...
How does that go?
Q2 - I discovered that when I asked about the availability of free weights and squat racks at the gym I ended up joining (taking over someone else's contract. I got shown around the gym and manager pointed out what I thought was a squat rack (it was a smith machine I know better now) and also pointed to an actual squat rack - which i found out after couldn't have been used anyway because there were no bars that fit it. Then the squat rack disappeared and I was told that they will get a new one in the New Year. I also got a few PT sessions, and while I don't have an issue with what we started out doing - the PT reasoned that should be doing all over strengthening work so that I am strong enough in my core to do the big lifts. We did do all of the lifts (except dead lifting from the floor) we did DL from the Top to just below Knees (is that Romanian?) and clean and jerk from the top (just the jerk?). I have been using relatively heavy weights, but am doing 15 reps of exercises and have also done used the leg press, lat pull down and dumbbell curls and cable curls :explode: So totally not what I asked to do and now not sure I can do them on my own anyway since no squat rack.
So I kind of feel duped into signing up and now I have a contract their till July. - I don't know what the manager means by in the new year (for the purchase of a new rack).
Options
1 - Suck it up and keep going till I can assess if this rack will appear in January - in the interim try to get buy with dumbbells for bench and OHP (not necessarily bad since I am significantly weaker on my left). Do dumbbell goblet squats ( I am not allowed to touch the kettle bells without a PT :indifferent) and deadlift with a standard bar
2 - Get someone to take over my membership (probably easy to do just after Christmas with the NY resolution crowd), Buy myself a rack and weights to use at home (it would have to be outside under the verandah, cos we don't have space in doors for rack. We do have a few sheds, but they would be like working out in an oven in Adelaide Summers (40C/110F Plus dry heat in a metal shed with a concrete floor). Also hunstman spiders may touch me...
3 - Get some standard weights to add to my BodyPump bar (rated for 50kg) and another bar and get my partner to hand me the bar for exercises and use the gym for the treadmill in the heat till they get a squat rack.
I do eventually want to go to the strength and conditioning gym near where we live (they have a waiting list). But I am actually a little intimidated to go. All of the guys are pretty hard core into lifting, the owner/trainer looks like some buff adonis and works really hard and every woman I have seen related to the gym are tiny little things that are already hawt - Some lift, Some attend the yoga classes that the owner's partner gives on site.
I'm an obese unco-ordinated middle aged woman who will probably fart every time I deadlift heavy. Not really good for the walls painted black mojo... :blushing:
ETA - OMG that is what happened when I tried to keep it short and to the point... I'm useless
TL;DR - Read Q1 and Q2 my gym sucks what do I do now?
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Replies
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Also hunstman spiders may touch me...
Based on that comment alone, I vote for option 1!!!!0 -
Q1 - Everyone is different, but assuming that you are losing fat and not muscle while working towards a 180 kg DL, you should be able to maintain the strength gains. I've never really understood the idea behind a heavier person lifting more than a smaller person beyond the fact that a higher weight could suggest a greater amount of muscle. If you build the Noob gains while losing fat, you are not losing any, or at least not much, of the muscle mass you use for strength. Just keep at the strength training to minimize muscle mass loss. You may eventually hit a strength plateau (everyone does) that has little to do with the weight you are losing.
Q2- I know this will sound like an odd thing to hear on the 5x5 group, but you can make gains without a barbell. If you can bail on the contract by having someone else take it over, then that would at least give you a way out. If you are willing to get your own equipment, then that may be a great option. Until that time, work with the equipment you have. I have been traveling a lot lately and get stuck using the hotel equipment. I do what I can with what they have.
As for the trainer, sounds like they are stuck on the standard trainer high rep, single focus exercises.0 -
If it was me I would get myself on the S&C waiting list, work with what I have available for now and then try to get rid of the contract in Jan. Also you know what you want to work towards so I would drop the trainer if they aren't going to work on the programme you want to do.
Don't be intimidated by ppl in the S&C gym
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