DopeItUp Member

Huh I didn't know that. Whatever one Maxbarbell has, I think it's just different colors of the same version. I just buy whatever's the cheapest color, this time it was blue. :D

Good call, their deadlift shoe is also the best in the business and it's what I use for every lift.

I was gonna say, I don't think gaining muscle is exactly going to be a problem here...if anything losing muscle is probably the biggest concern.

A 5', non-oly bar definitely does not weigh 20kg/45lbs. Those are around 15lbs. Unless you got the dimensions or terminology wrong?

Yup. After a few years of work, I'm happy making ANY increase in my lifts. My bench only went up 10lbs over the course of a year, and I wasn't able to add even 5lbs to my deadlift in that same year. Diminishing returns.

The simple answer is: which ones feels better/more comfortable/more natural and which one allows you to lift more weight? Those are pretty much the only questions that matter. If you want a detailed answer with proportions and all that, Omar has a pretty good video out there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOcraX2jCWo

Yeah it's more of a...quad-dominant deadlift replacement. The quad dominance will definitely translate more to squats (and vice versa) as a result but TECHNICALLY a squat replacement, IMO no. I use it for accessory work since it's easier on the spinal erectors and since my squat is horrifically weak so it has more…

Not gonna lie, they are pretty awesome.

Use a trap bar, it won't try to roll out of your grip. But really with shrugs I tend to just use straps. It gets really painful after a while with heavy weight for high rep sets.

I recommend a wheelchair for extended periods of time.

Make sure you're doing something to tax your grip every workout. Heavy deadlifts are great, farmers walks are great, pull-ups are great, anything like that. Use fat bars and/or fat gripz on exercises like rows and such just to give you a little edge if you want. Unfortunately it does take a while to build grip strength.…

Someone asked him about that once. He said he wasn't trying to do anything unusual, he's just 5'3" and that's as far as he could go.

Delicious!

Sumo is for people who eat butt.

Generally speaking, getting adequate protein (roughly 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass), keeping the rate of loss reasonable (1% or bodyweight or less a week) and keeping the weights heavy (say, 90-95% of max effort) is your best bet to maintain muscle while losing body fat.

Meh, you look fine dude. It's only natural that it's going to be harder to control a heavier weight on the eccentric. I recently did my 1RM attempts so I'm very familiar with it. Same as you said, if you try to go fast you lose tightness and/or get out of the groove. I think rushing a heavy bench press is probably the…

Make Wednesday your rest day. 4 days in a row with heavy work is going to bury you. More warm-ups too, one set is not enough. Well, it depends on how heavy you are lifting, I would do at least 2-3 sets (bare minimum) before you're at max effort though. I usually do 5 sets before I'm at max effort, but my weights are pretty…

I do all barbell training, no DB work at all. I do 5/3/1 and bench heavy 1x a week, volume 1x a week. Maybe close-grip and incline for volume sometimes when bulking? But usually just straight barbell bench. I've never really found the fluff exercises to give me anything, personally (other than tendonitis). Zero isolation…

Rest between sets. Length of rest depends on exertion level, lifting experience, blah blah blah. Rest at least a minute, up to about five. Just as a rough guideline. If you're bored resting then you're resting too long. If you're dying then you're not resting enough. Keep it simple.

No, 4 total, I can't even bench 405 nevermind OHP it :D

Your paused deads look pretty much perfect to me.

I'm not an expert but those look fine to me. A lot of volume with eccentric loading like that will cause crazy soreness so as long as it goes away in a few days I wouldn't be too worried.

Doing all paused bench for a while may help to really ingrain that tightness and motor memory. Just a thought.

Agreed, I like to see a side angle and an angle from the feet. It looks like you may be flaring your elbows quite a bit too. First rep looks maybe okay, second rep you can see your elbows getting wider right at the bottom when you're pushing off your chest. Try to tuck your elbows into your ribs at the bottom of the…

If you can bench 205 with 4 months of training then that's very impressive. I think it took me at least a year if not longer. When I started, the bare bar was too heavy, now I can do 335. It's been about 4.5 years.

That's a great idea. I just put my gym in the basement and then removed part of the ceiling. Then I oriented the power rack so that the plates go between the ceiling joists when doing OHP. It works great! I can safely load 4x 45lb bumper plates before I start having issues.

Welcome to 99% of the population.

To be clear, everyone should aspire for unhealthily and unrealistically low bodyfat levels? I would much, much rather look like The Rock than a skinny little weakling like Brad Pitt in Fight Club, personally. But to each his own.

You'll be fine, especially if you're going for that Brad Pitt Fight Club look. He didn't really have much muscle mass, just was very low bodyfat. I've read he was around 155lbs (at 6'!) for the movie. Probably 8-10% bodyfat.

He stole it from one of my many Grinder accounts.