natecooper75 Member

Muscle and Fat weigh the same. Muscle is more dense than fat so 1lb of muscle doesn't take up the same amount of space as 1lb of fat. I think that is a more apt description.

Some powerlifting federations use the smooth rings to regulate the width that your grip can be for bench press. I have always used it as a reference point to remember the proper grip width for the lift that I am doing.

I think the answer has more to do with the muscles involved. Typically, the largest muscles in your body (barring some genetic issues or traumatic injuries) are the ones that are the main movers in the squat. By comparison, the main movers in the bench press are a smaller set of muscles.

OP: You said that you read Starting Strength so you might want to revisit that book because I think that Rippetoe talks about the line between novice and intermediate in that book. One thing that did seem interesting to me is that you seem to be looking for a program that allows you to make faster gains. If you feel like…

If your numbers are higher than where you started, then you are doing fine. If they dropped, that is when you may have a problem. That is a short answer that I think applies in most cases.

Not trying to be graphic or anything, but it should be almost like sitting on the toilet. If you form is compromised in that movement also, you may want to just work your way up to using weights after doing some successful bodyweight squats.

While it is impressive that they pump out that many reps, form goes out the window as quickly as possible. The majority of the reps you see when you watch them are just bouncing the bar off the chest in order to utilize the bounce to aid them in getting the weight back to an easier position to handle. I am by far not a…

This is 100% true. Playing DE, you want to work on hand placement as well. Preseason workouts aren't the point where you want to make yourself a better athlete. That work is mostly done during the winter and spring. Preseason is best used to get ready for the season from a conditioning aspect. You may want to check out…

Another thing to think about is where you are placing the bar in your hand. Are you getting calluses around the point where you fingers and palms connect? It sounds like you may be trying to grip it at the bottom of our fingers and then hooking the rest of your finger around the bar. If you push the bar back to where you…

Are you losing grip because the weight is too heavy or is it just slipping out of your hand? That may sound weird but I hope you can figure out what I mean. If it is the latter, if your gym allows it, try some lifting chalk. That will help your grip some. Long term solution would be grip training as mentioned above.…

One thing I would check is to see if 13mm is legal in competition in the federation you compete in. I think some feeds require 10mm but I don't remember off the top of my head which ones they are.

I have done it both ways but I prefer to just press from a rack. Even though I have not gotten to a point in my overhead pressing that I couldn't clean the weight, I like to do the exercise as it is defined/described. If I wanted to do clean and press, I would call it that. Oddly enough, sometimes I prefer to do my heavier…

I have seen some Crossfit boxes that sometime host Olympic lifting seminars. Maybe try that to get the hang of it. Once you get some pointers and start working on the movement, you may want to get a good coach like diegops1 mentioned. The Olympic lifts are a lot more technical and coaching is pretty much a must.

Is the calorie deficit the only thing that changed? How big of a deficit are you on? Is this the first time you have experienced this loss of strength since you went on the deficit? There are a multitude of things that can cause this issue. Unless you have had problems with this over the past few workouts or you are on a…

I'm assuming that your school doesn't have a nutritionist on staff if you are looking for this answer on your own. Based on my small understanding of nutrition and athletic performance, I don't think you should worry about this while you are in season. You will need a certain amount of food to keep you performing at peak…

I think the best solution to this is to start out on a a beginner program until you get back to the heavy weights you were doing before. Once you get to that point, you can make a determination on what is best for you based on the goals that you have. Don't be in such a hurry to get to the end of the course. The reason for…

Those records are in gear. They say single and double ply next to them. Once you learn how to use gear and train in it, you will potentially have a higher 1rm because of the assistance that the gear provides.

Before everyone chimes in and says that it will cause injury and it is bad for you, I already know this. For the competitive powerlifter, I don't feel that it is as bad because they are trying to move the most weight possible and if that means the back some then so be it. They accomplished their goal. As long as they get…

I forgot to add that you may have some luck at a place like Play It Again Sports. But from what you have been looking at, it doesn't sound like money is a big factor in your decision.

From what it sounds like, you were going to do it anyway. But I doubt that you will notice any difference at your age. I tried it when I was 16 or 17 and looking back on it, it was a waste of money. Depending on your programming, the 1-2 extra reps that the use of creatine will give you may not matter because most programs…

Rouge does have good quality equipment, but you will pay for it. Another place to check out that I don't see mentioned very often is repfitness.com . I just bought a power rack from there an I have no complaints so far as to the quality of their products. They have several bar and plate options as well that I would think…

What week were you on and how many cycles have you done? There is a built in reset in the book if you are following it to the the letter. I believe it is 5 cycles up then 3 cycles back. Wendler put this in to ensure that the program can be the lifetime lifting program he envisioned it to be.

Try holding your last rep of each set for a 10 count. I have seen or heard about this technique being used by some of the pro powerlifters with most saying that it works well.

I wanted to do a burnout set at the end after my heavy work. The test wasn't my main reason for lifting yesterday.

I wanted to do most of my work at the higher weight. It is pretty much a pyramid scheme except I singled the last few sets up to the heavy set. Just to get a feel for the weight. I didn't lift last week so it helped.

Tested this today at the end of my workout. Here is the progression: 135x5 205x5 245x3 275x1 295x1 315x5 295x3 225x15 I may have had one more in the tank with a spotter or in a power rack.

I would caution against the fitness gear weight plates from Dick's. They are not the standard diameter of Olympic plates. When you get to the point (or maybe you are already there), your form will change because you will have to go a couple inches lower to get into starting position. Other than that, they should meet most…

That is about a 4x body weight total for me. I have squatted 475x1 since this was posed so that puts me at 1390. I haven't been training as hard as I was earlier this year. I will be back on the grind though once the holidays are over and I get my home gym set up. First goal is 500 lb squat and then 600 deadlift. Bench…

Is Louie Simmons the best person to use as an example in this situation? Most of his principles apply more to geared lifting. The form for a multi-ply squat isn't going to be the best form for a non-geared (raw) squatter to use. I would check out Powerliftingtowin or Johnnie Candito on Youtube. Both are great raw lifters…

We had a high school football combine before my senior year of high school and I got 185 22-25 times (10 years ago, memory is foggy). At that time, my bench max was 365 with what amounted to terrible form since we were never really taught how to perform the movement in the best possible manner. Since I started lifting…