jasonheyd Member

I think a week or two off every now & then is a good idea. Recharge & keep yourself from getting into a rut. Re: curls, a lot of the core pieces of SBR hit the biceps, so it's not surprising if you feel like you're not curling as much as you'd expect or not making as much progress as you'd think on that exercise,…

Welcome everyone. :)

^^^ what they said. :) Hard work is paying off & you *should* feel good about those results!

Yep, order definitely matters... Muscles that work larger and more muscle groups are first... More bang for the buck, more fuel for those exercises that bring the most benefit. Also correct re: curls. You can eliminate curls at any time, substituting standing upright rows, again towards the end of the routine. With that…

lol. So, I finally got my squat rack a while back, got it all set up, figured I'd attempt a pull-up to test the stability. First one, I d___ed near launched myself into the basement ceiling before I realized I could actually *do* pull-ups for the first time in something like 20 years, then realized I should probably stop…

Semi-random thought this morning... After I was reviewing my own workout stats last night, I flashed back to this "slow paced" conversation this morning. One thing that might help keep things in perspective is thinking of your progress in terms of total weight moved for your workouts. I ran the numbers from your post in…

Looks like good progress to me. :) I wouldn't worry about increasing the SLDL if you feel like you had an off day on test day. Personally, I think that's a hard one to accurately measure your 10 RM on in any case, so if you're feeling good about 'em then you'll probably be fine. I'm still not sure I'm at my 10 RM on that…

Yep, what pandorakick said... The barbell forces you to maintain a given separation between the hands, and in some ways the barbell can make things easier because your arms work together to stage the weight and maintain balance. With OHP, especially, I find it significantly harder to maintain the same form with dumbbells…

Yeah, AP does say that you can do two heavy days... Basically, heavy rest rest heavy rest rest rest -- but he also says it'll crush you if you do it. When I tried it, I quickly decided that he's correct about the crushing ... especially after week 3 of a cycle. I'm not sure if my "heavy / medium" alternative would be…

All Pro's "Simple Beginner's Routine" ;-)

By the way... Doing a couple of weeks of heavy days only is HARD with this routine and, while I can't say for sure, I would think that skipping certain exercises during those days (although probably not just curls) might even make it a bit harder. There're some natural rest periods built in between exercises as you move…

Understandable but, in all honesty, ANY weight lifting routine is going to be relatively slow going... It's all about progression over time. There are other routines you can try that'll probably get some results faster, depending on what you're after. P90X for increasing general fitness, but not so much for building…

Ah, ok... I thought that was the case, but something made me think you hadn't been lifting at all for a couple of weeks & I assumed you'd decided to rest the wrist completely for a bit. :) If definitely is, but honestly, almost any routine is going to be painfully slow. In simple terms, yes hyphertophy = increased size,…

It should be, yes. Calf and pure ab exercises can be harder to measure this way I guess... They tend to do better with higher reps, so a 10 RM calculator maybe isn't the best. I usually do calf raises at 18-22 reps, rather than 8-12 reps, so I shoot for a 20 RM.

I think if you miss more than a week or two at most you should probably restart the cycle... Especially if you're beyond week three. It's not likely that you've actually lost much strength or stamina, but jumping straight back to where you left off can be a bit of a system shock. I'd say it's more likely to be that than a…

Thanks all. Day after isn't too bad... although I stayed up too late watching my wife's football team. I may survive the week after all. ;-)

The before's a few years before I got serious about things, but it's still before & after... ;-)

I tend to sleep pretty well in general, unless work's driving me nuts, but yeah... I usually sleep like a baby on days when I exercise more than usual. I work out / run in the early evenings & that's how it usually happens so long as I don't work out too late or go to bed too soon after exercising.

Tomorrow's W5D1 for me. I may need someone to scrape me off the floor at some point. ;-)

Congrats. Sounds like a good start for the cycle. :)

You could check out http://scholar.google.com/ and see what might be available there in terms of research papers, etc. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=renal+disease+protein

I'm not a doctor, I've never played one on TV, and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, so... Agreed. Talk to your doc about proper macro balance. :)

Unless you've got renal disease, a high protein diet's not likely to cause you any harm. 40/30/30 (Carbs/Protein/Fat) is a pretty common percentage ratio target for a healthy diet. If you're strength training, it's common to go higher on the protein... 30/40/30 for example, or 40/40/20, with the usual focus on complex…

That does sound like a form / flexibility issue... That's right where the pressure's going to build if the knees collapse together or you're fighting against a forward slant because the weight's too heavy.

Given the standard, "I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on TV, and I've never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express" disclaimer... It could be bad form, yes. If you're leaning forward or not keeping your knees aligned, you could be putting more strain on the lower back. If the pain is lower back and dead center, you might want…

Finished my heavy day week 4 last night. Seemed to go well enough, so if next week holds true it looks like I'll be moving up in everything this cycle. Not sure I'll be looking forward to the next cycle if that happens. ;-) It could on certain exercises. Squat could get harder, some of the others could actually get a bit…

I like the variety of Wendler's system, but I'd probably look at Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" routine for a good starting 5x5 program (instead of SL5x5), and then head into Wendler or even All Pro's Simple Beginner's Routine after that. I'm currently doing SBR, and looking at Wendler as an intermediate program to…

Your weight is going to naturally fluctuate by a few pounds, possibly throughout the day, definitely from day to day. So, the short answer here is don't worry about it. Any change to your activity level, what you eat, how much salt you eat, how much liquid you drink, whether you've gone to the bathroom, etc. will factor…

Crikey, is that lbs or kgs? I feel weak now! :-) Out of curiosity, why the bulgarian split rather than a dumbbell or barbell back squat?

It's almost guaranteed to be water retention. After you exercise your muscles retain water to repair themselves. If the exercise is above and beyond your norm, the effect can be even more pronounced. I typically lift weights three days a week... One heavy day, one medium day, one light day. I pretty much expect to see up…