Pumping Iron with Zemekone and Icehog3

[bonjing]

Nice solid week at the gym after almost a month off. It feels good to be in there again! ! !

Going to have to take some time off again though due to a complete change of schedule; adjusting from nights to days. I hope to get into the gym at about 0500 once I get a decent sleep sleeping routine.

[PeteSB75]

Good heavy chest this morning. flat and incline bench. Tomorrow it's time to squat

[DBall]

Originally Posted by PeteSB75

Good heavy chest this morning. flat and incline bench. Tomorrow it's time to squat

Did incline for my first time really trying it yesterday... definitely harder, but a great workout.

[Ender]

Originally Posted by potlimit

The simple answer is without stretching you're more susceptible to tears/pulls... tears/pulls = scars, body's response to scars = scar tissue. That's what I've been led to believe, could be wrong and frequently am.

That sounds fairly logical to me. Although if you think about it isn't weight lifting in essence tearing muscle fibers? I dunno. I'm so confused now. I do know that stretching is essential for healthy tendons but also it's beneficial for muscles too.....I think.

[Mugen910]

Originally Posted by potlimit

Thought I would mention this here...

I am by no means a proponent of chiropractic, but my girlfriend convinced me to go see her chiro because he uses a technique called Graston. Basically it's just a tool that's like a tongue depressor made out of steel, which he "scrapes" my muscle with. Pretty damn painful, but for me it has really been worth the pain.

I've lifted for about 18 years (seriously for a while as I played Div. 1 football), but I made two major mistakes: 1) I RARELY stretched and; 2) For some reason I hated lifting back so I ended up working out chest twice as much as back. Without getting into an anatomy lesson, this has caused probelms for both. And of late it's really caused problems with my traps, leading all the way up my neck. That tightness has effected EVERY workout. The Graston has basically worked to break up some of that scar tissue, and act like several stretching sessions condensed in to 1. Undeniably noticeable difference in my workouts.

Just my two pennies, hope it helps someone else.
Mase

Mase!!!! Glad to know you're still alive and kickin!

[potlimit]

LOL, yeah, I'm alive but not doing so much kickin my man... slavin' away here in the salt mines. Good to know I'm missed though

[CRIMPS]

I started P90X last night. Focused on Chest, Tri's, and Shoulders.

I don't think my Triceps have ever been this tight and this sore. Intense workout!

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by potlimit

Thought I would mention this here...

I am by no means a proponent of chiropractic, but my girlfriend convinced me to go see her chiro because he uses a technique called Graston. Basically it's just a tool that's like a tongue depressor made out of steel, which he "scrapes" my muscle with. Pretty damn painful, but for me it has really been worth the pain.

I've lifted for about 18 years (seriously for a while as I played Div. 1 football), but I made two major mistakes: 1) I RARELY stretched and; 2) For some reason I hated lifting back so I ended up working out chest twice as much as back. Without getting into an anatomy lesson, this has caused probelms for both. And of late it's really caused problems with my traps, leading all the way up my neck. That tightness has effected EVERY workout. The Graston has basically worked to break up some of that scar tissue, and act like several stretching sessions condensed in to 1. Undeniably noticeable difference in my workouts.

Just my two pennies, hope it helps someone else.
Mase

Never heard of Graston, but glad to hear it's helping you!

I can't imagine working out or weightlifting without a warm-up & stretch. It's just been ingrained in me since high school, and hard to break 30 years of habit.

Is stretching something you think you can add to your routine, or is that something that's been ingrained in you? The Graston sounds kinda medieval--I'd want to avoid it!

[DBall]

Box squats today... seen them done one videos and never tried them... they are WAY harder, but definitely an awesome workout. My legs are spent today...

[potlimit]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Never heard of Graston, but glad to hear it's helping you!

I can't imagine working out or weightlifting without a warm-up & stretch. It's just been ingrained in me since high school, and hard to break 30 years of habit.

Is stretching something you think you can add to your routine, or is that something that's been ingrained in you? The Graston sounds kinda medieval--I'd want to avoid it!

I think you can add it, God knows I have! Through high school and junior college I was pretty good about it, but when I got to the University I just got lax with all the, um, extracurriculars. I never lost any speed (which was my saving grace) so I figured I was fine.

[PeteSB75]

Shoulders this morning. Off tomorrow, love that extra hour of sleep in the morning. Spin Saturday and Sunday

[GreekGodX]

Slickdeals.net has a deal on some whey protein and creatine monohydrate. $9.99 for either or and shipping is flat $4.99. Just thought I'd share for anyone who is interested.
http://slickdeals.net/giveaway/873

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Never heard of Graston, but glad to hear it's helping you!

Graston works really well, but leaves a serious black and blue mark. My chiropractor is one of the first in Boston area to be certified in it. Highly recommended treatment for soft tissue damage and scarring.

[PeteSB75]

Missed spin Saturday, had to drive to the airport instead. yay. Went on Sunday. Monday back, Tuesday chest, Wednesday off, today legs/abs, tomorrow shoulders, then spin again both days this weekend.

[BigFrank]

Back Shoulders and Biceps today. Been out of posting in this thread a bit. Gonna get back to contributing...Hope everyone is keeping up..

[Ender]

Man, calves are so hard to grow. I'm gonna be getting a bit more serious about them and hit them almost every time I'm at the gym.

[PeteSB75]

Originally Posted by Ender

Man, calves are so hard to grow. I'm gonna be getting a bit more serious about them and hit them almost every time I'm at the gym.

Why are you worried about your calves? If you have longer legs, they will look smaller. I have the same thing happen with my arms. I have shorter legs, so they look bigger, but a longer torso/arms, so they don't grow as fast as big. To me, it's all a matter of strength. If I am hitting my lifts, then I don't worry what they look like.

If you want to really work them, well just remember that appearance follows function, so what do your calves do, primarily? They flex your feet down, so IMO, the best way to work your calves hard is not to lift with them but to jump with them. Whether that means you are doing hang cleans, power cleans, or just jumping from the floor onto a box or bench, any of those will work, and give more overall power/strength to your calves.

Or you can always go the Johnny Drama route and get calf implants

Anyway, heavy back today, so deads, lat pulldowns and finished up by rowing.

[Brutus2600]

I never participated in this thread before, because since I've been on CA I haven't been to the gym once...until a few weeks ago! After a two year hiatus (because I'm lazy!) I decided to get back on track working out and eating better. My roommate (Matt) and I have worked out off and on together since college, but in the last couple years he's gotten pretty serious about it. This is lucky for me because the gym to him is what cigars are to me, so he does all the research and I can just ask him what a good workout routine for me would be.

Anyway, started back to the gym at the beginning of Feb, doing a Sun/Tue/Thurs routine. At the moment I'm doing a full body, 4 exercise, 5x5 routine that consists of Front Squats, Bench Press w/ bar, Pull ups, and then finish it off with Push Press.

First thing about this routine is, I hated squats. I've had knee problems since high school (read: ~10 years), and squats and leg press exercises always aggravated it. Since I quit working out however, Matt had learned how to properly do squats, and showed me the proper form. Within three trips to the gym my knee pain was completely gone and hasn't bothered me since.

Second, I love this routine because I don't have to spend too long doing these four exercises, but I still feel I've gotten a really solid full body workout. In two weeks he's changing up his routine he's currently doing and I think I'll probably go with that so we can actually lift together, but until then I'm enjoying this routine by myself.


Anyway, long post, but yeah, just wanted to give my background. Look forward to bantering with you guys about working out!

[Patrick B]

Picked up some C4 to try. Almost out of Jack3d. Full review to come.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Ender

Man, calves are so hard to grow. I'm gonna be getting a bit more serious about them and hit them almost every time I'm at the gym.

Be careful. If you push the calves too hard, they can knot easily. Spend the time to strentch them in both directions after. Stretch the inside and outside of your foot too.

I remember in the early 90's, my friends doing spot injections into the calves thinking that would make them grow.