RC4655 Member

I signed up today. Let the journey begin. Love LOTR. Read all four books at least three times. Great idea for an App.

I love the smell of Jovan Musk on a woman. It's old school but still sexy. Coconut sun tan lotion in the summer time gets my attention too.

If you like lifting, Powerlifting is a great sport. I have been competing for over 10 years in the sport and have traveled all over the United States and Europe to compete. Its a serious sport with lots of great competitors. Always room for one more.

This guy is trouble. Report him to management and keep your distance. That is not normal behavior between an 50 year old man and an 18 year old woman. Make it clear to management you feel threatened by this guy. If he does not stop tell your dad or boyfriend or someone that can protect you. Or if necessary call the police.…

If you go on YouTube, look up a guy named Brian Carroll. He has a ton of really good videos on there, but search for the McGill three. These are three exercises you can do to strengthen your core without any weights, and they work extremely well. The consist of Birddogs, rolling planks and McGill crunches. Use the…

That's awesome. 430 is a very impressive squat. I have been really impressed with the female powerlifters these last few years, they are making some amazing lifts. Kim Walford deadlifting nearly 600 lbs, Bonica Lough squatting over 600 and totaling over 1500 Raw. Jennifer Thompson bench pressing 335 Raw. The women are…

Well it's hard to say without being able to see what your form looks like or knowing what your training looks like. Having that low of a body fat percentage could help you or hurt you. The first thing I would suggest is that, if your pulling 500 now, make your next goal 505, not 600. Once you hit 505, make your next goal…

Your welcome. I'm not aware of any risk of injury with an over under grip. I have been told that you should alternate which hand is over and which is under, to keep your back muscles balanced, but my right hand does not twist fat enough for an underhand grip without a lot of pain. I have used the same grip for over ten…

The fact that your squat and deadlift are within 25 lbs is not a bad thing. My best deadlift was 620 and my best squat 600. It's when your bench is better than your squat or deadlift that you have to worry. You should try an alternating grip, one overhand, one underhand. I can lift almost 700 pounds with an over/under but…

I use a conventional stance with an alternate grip. I use chalk in competition but not in training. I never use straps. I do double over hand grip up to about 335 lbs, then I switch to an alternate over/under grip. I will use a two finger grip up to about 225 to build hand strength. When you use straps you don't develop to…

It takes years of training. When I started competing I could only deadlift 400 lbs. it took a year or two to consistently pull over 500 lbs, but going from 500 to 600 was way harder than going from 400 to 500. Once you cross over 500, your form has to be pretty darn good to pull in the high 500's to low 600's. You cannot…

I think for an average size woman who is fairly fit, a 12" bicep is pretty good. A lot of men are around 14"-15", 18" is big for a man. Mine are currently 19 3/4", they were 20 1/2" last year. They generally run around the 20" mark. My goal is a 21" bicep this year.

I have a deadlift day, a bench day and a squat day. On those days, I do assistance work that will improve those lifts. I will also do a 4th day from time to time for a little fluff and buff, but my primary goal is to build my squat, bench and deadlift for a big total. Nothing else matters to me.

I would recommend contacting Greg Doucette on Facebook. He is an IFBB pro and is a very respectable diet coach. He is not cheap but he knows what he is talking about.

If your ultimate goal is a big deadlift, I have found less is more. Right now I am hypertrophy training because it is off season and I want to add muscle. But during meet prep training, when I want to pull a big deadlift at a competition, I do very few reps, and I do them fairly heavy but not too heavy. For example, when I…

I do them once a week and my assistance work on that day is back, delta and biceps. My best official competition deadlift was 620, I have deadlifted 700 in the gym.

Does 100% / 110% mean training to failure every session?[/quote] Not sure what the other posters mean by that but personally I never train to failure, meaning, I never miss a rep. It may be different for physique, but for strength training, it sets you back to go to absolute failure and it can take weeks to fully recover.…

Your welcome. Good luck!

Good steady progression. Start with a weight you can do for 3 to 5 sets of ten. When you are able to use the same weight with 5 sets of ten, increase the weight by five or ten pounds. If you are able to get 3 sets of ten at that weight but only 6 or 7 on the last two sets, stay at that weight until you can get 5 sets, then…

Good form is vital as you said. Very critical to use proper form on every lift. Going heavy is relative. Heavy is usually a weight you can lift for 3 to 5 reps, leaving one or two reps in the tank. If your looking to gain mass. Bodybuilders typically use lighter weights for higher reps, which is great for physique. But if…

Thanks, year will be my 6th Raw Nationals. Always a great experience. I did the IPF World Championshis in Salo Finland in 2015 too. That was extremely cool.

I compete in the USAPL too. Planning on going to Nationals. I'll be qualifying this summer. I love Raw Nationals. Best meet of the year every year. Good luck.

That will do it too :)

My best meet was a 600 lb squat, 320 bench and 620 deadlift. I could never hit my best bench on the same day I hit my best squats or deadlifts. I did bench 352 twice in competition.

Pause squats to improve your squat are generally done for two seconds. If your just training to build muscle, you don't need to pause. Olympic lifters use long pauses to improve their lifts but most powerlifters do not do more than two seconds.

Yesss! I’ve started meal prepping/planning as well .. and it definitely helps! Where I work they provide lunch for us and it’s never healthy and it was always a source of temptation.. but since I’ve started to bring my meals it’s sooo much easier! I’ve only been on this journey 3 weeks and it is getting easier :) [/quote]…

The one thing that has enabled me to change from a diet to a lifestyle, is meal prep and planning. Once I started planning my meals, preparing them ahead of time, and not deviating from the plan, it became routine. It's still difficult at times because I am in the road a lot and entertaining customers or having meals…

No you do not have to wait. The sooner you start lifting the better.

In competition my best squat was 600, my best bench was 352, my best deadlift was 620. My best total was 1545, Raw and drug free. In the gym my best bench was 405.