Hot answers tagged weights
10
It's good that you do deadlifts, but the next best size builder are straight up free weight squats. Please do not be overconfident the first time you do free weight squats to full depth. Get used to the movement with an empty bar and the work up to it. I was able to do machine squats at over 400lbs, but when it came to free weight squats I couldn't even ...
9
While your abilities are still below lifting 160kg on any given weight, and you are performing the major powerlifting movements (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press) then there isn't a major advantage one over the other.
However, there are reasons why you would opt for Olympic plates:
Standard bars are roughly 1" diameter, but there is enough ...
9
I've seen gyms with bumper plates and a lifting platform, clearly designed and intended for standard Olympic weightlifting style drops from chest or overhead, next to a sign saying that one should always configure the safety bars so that the bar doesn't hit the ground. This would of course damage the bar, make a tremendous amount more noise, and increase ...
7
Due to the fact you are running a bodybuilding program, I assume your goal is to increase size rather than strength. According to the program's Training section, these are the ways to increase overload:
Lift a greater amount of weight for an equal number of repetitions
Lift the same amount of weight for more repetitions
Lift a greater amount of weight for ...
5
In a world with "Don't" signs everywhere, if it's a problem with your gym then there will be a sign up saying not to drop. All my local gyms have the sign, but they are upstairs of other businesses. They also have thick mats in the free weight area but do not have bumper plates.
I wouldn't be concerned with death stares from other gym goers if there's no ...
5
In general, in order to maximize the quality of your weight training, your body should be as fresh and rested as possible. Therefore, you should either run immediately afterwards, or run on your rest days between your strength training. I've tried running in the morning and weight training in the afternoon, but it didn't work out for me, because I never felt ...
5
In the book The Science of Yoga, William Broad discusses this in detail. My summary: for measures of cardiovascular fitness, Yoga is inferior to aerobic exercise. Indeed a small study of Yoga instructors (who do enormous amounts of yoga) found them to be roughly equivalent in measures of cardiovascular health (VO2 Max, etc) to someone who jogs 3-4 hours ...
5
For programs like Starting Strength or StrongLifts you get a very cut and dry answer of "add 5 lbs per workout for all exercises, and add an additional 5 lbs for deadlifts."
However, after taking a quick glance at the "Scott Dorn Muscle Building Program" I would say the answer is anything but simple. In fact, I will say right up front that you shouldn't add ...
5
I found the owners manual. Check out page 36:
The [below] chart shows the actual weight you are lifting when the ratios are applied. To find the actual weight you are lifting you would come down from the ratio being used and across from the number of the weight plate you have pinned.
The top plate weighs just under 41 pounds, and all the other plates ...
4
I wouldn't worry about eating right before sleeping. This easy to read article summarizes a study done with groups of people eating at different times of the day to see if it had any effect on fat loss/gain. In addition to this there is also anecdotal evidence gleaned from Muslims fasting during the month of Ramadan (all food is eaten close to sleeping). For ...
3
Personally, I agree that free weights will give you more gains in the overall scheme of weight lifting. Reason being, you have to use other smaller muscle groups to help stabilize and balance the weight being lifted. That being said, here is my solution to your question if you insist on using cable machines...
NEGATIVES! (or eccentric muscle lengthening)
...
2
There is no reason why you shouldn't eat shortly before going to bed as long as you remain within your nutritional requirements for the whole day. There has been no study I'm aware of that has shown any correlation with food timing and body composition. There is a clear correlation with body composition and food content. The biggest concern is with sleep ...
2
@Andreas tips are great; also, look to the ceiling while doing the exercise.
I'm guessing that your lower back is the one that curves. That happens because its weak. You can strengthen it by doing dead lifts and/or lower back raises.
If you started to train recently, just do the lower back raises; start with 3 sets of 15 reps twice a week. I would do this ...
2
It sounds like they're warming up with 15, 20, and 30, doing one work set with 40, then doing what's called a "back-off" set with 10. They do the warm-ups in order to safely get up to a heavy weight. They do the heavy weight because heavy weight is the most effective. They do the back-off set because they're tired from the heavy weight and they want to get ...
2
To further stress the muscle/muscle group, to get that final pump, to force more blood into the mucle.
I can't search for efficacy studies at the moment. Personally, I just think it feels good to really work the muscle to completion, but it's not something I do all the time.
Also bear in mind that just because "experienced" lifters do something it doesn't ...
2
I am sorry to see that you have to use that poor excuse of a machine, because no proper machine manufacturer labels their weights in this way.
-However, I have found on the page below that the whole stack on your machine is 455 pounds. Dividing this by 15 plates, you get about 30 pounds per plate.
-Usually the small weights you can add at the top are ...
2
Specific to a Dumbbell front squat where your resting the end on top of your shoulder, a bigger diameter weight would be more comfortable. On the other hand, doing dumbbell deadlifts, having smaller diameter weights would force you to reach lower down, adding a new difficulty level to the exercise. Overall, you typically buy weights in increasing sizes - ...
2
Olympic bars are sturdier, heavier, are a well-known and well-followed standard, and allow you to do the fast lifts (cleans, jerks, snatches) much easier. It's easier and safer to load them with lots of weight.
Standard bars are good, particularly to start with. If you can load it heavy, keep doing that. Don't mess with a good thing.
If you run out of ...
2
Here's a link that describes the differences: http://www.newgrip.com/gain.html
Basically standard bars are typically shorter (but you can get a 7' one) and can hold less overall weight prior to bending. I've lifted 400lbs standard, but have a slightly bent bar because of it and like lifts. Unless you're going heavy standard is a good beginner/intermediate ...
1
As you can read from the comments, with the information you gave it is not easy to say why exactly you are on a plateau.
There are several things you could do:
Rest
exercise on fewer days, your muscles need time to recover from the stress of exercise and to rebuild or increase mass and strength. If you are doing a pattern that only trains a few groups of ...
1
There's a couple things to consider: length of the grip, and the exercise being performed. The dumbbell handles I have don't have a lot of hand room. For me, using wider plates will change the way I perform the exercises.
As a point of reference, most gyms have fixed dumbbell heads. Those heads usually don't get any thicker than if you had nothing more ...
1
There are usually different attachments that you can get, particularly for the pulldown machine and the row (same machine in my gym). You could get a D-Handle or a rope handle to add elements of grip strength to your tricep pushdowns for instance, or add in one handed or two handed wood chops and reverse wood chops. There's also an attachment I've seen in a ...
1
I haven't completely eliminated cracking, but I found taking an epsom salt bath before lifting weights significantly reduced cracking I experienced while doing the lifting, and after a while the cracking I experienced throughout the day decreased as well. I'm not sure if the latter is a result of my strength improvements or directly from the epsom salt ...
1
Roughly 55-80% of bodyweight
Dick Moss has this overview on how much weight we are lifting in push-ups, "citing" an unnamed study:
Studies have been conducted in which push-ups were performed on force plates. They indicated the following:
Women performing traditional push-ups lift the equivalent of 71% of their body weight. For example, a 120 ...
1
I learned to juggle 3 balls as a kid in San Diego. I moved to NYC and there was a group of people juggling on the lawn outside my office in Bryant Park, so I meet up with them and juggle from 12-1 on my lunch break. I got the heavy balls just to try them, and fell in love with them. I've never been one to work out at all. This was a fun way to get some ...
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