How's Training going?

[westside24]

like max-ot maybe? I know I dont do as much for legs... But im actually growing fond of deads and squats... I was thinking of it as, knocking off a set or two for all exercises, to make better gains... like my chest, if you notice ive been doing only 5 sets total for chest, 2 incline 1 flat and 2 flys, and for the past few weeks my upper chest feels like its getting more solid... it could be in my head though.

[Travis Bell]

You're definatly learning! 5 sets is fine for the goals you have now. The issue is not always quantity, but quality.

On my bench days I'll have anywhere from 8 to 12 sets haha but our goals are a little different.

Deads and squats are awesome. what I recommend for someone such as yourself is to add a set in here, another there, basically slowly bring up your work capacity. This doesn't require you to drop the hammer and go crazy in the gym and then wake up the next morning feeling like you've been hit by a truck. Rather your body will become aclimated to the increased load you've placed it under

For instance, maybe next week do one more chest set (one more on flat bench maybe) and one more set for legs (exercise of your choice)

you're definatly eating plenty so recovery on that sort of program should not be an issue.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by Travis Bell

Firehawk and westside, what exactly are you guys struggling with in your training? What can we help you with?

Firehawk, I noticed your info says detroit barbell, how often do you train there? thats a pretty good club!

Hey Travis,

I've been there for a couple years now, mostly trying to lose the body fat. I was around 320lbs when i started there and am now 230, but afraid of the scale now.

The reason my training sucks is because I don't eat. I have a binge problem and so I take a massive cheat day on the weekend, followed by 6 days where I have to really restrict calories, which means I don't get to grow and get stronger. Plus i had a hernia a couple years ago while shirted benching which really screwed my squat and deadlift. So couple that with not eating and I lost 100lbs off my squat and 100 off my dead. My bench seemed to stay where it's at, but it's not anywhere special. I also developed anxiety from a heart arrhythmia that I've tried to have fixed twice and it's not...so I can't push myself in the gym as hard as I want without starting to get a panic attack. I'm probably the weakest in the gym.

My best meet lifts are all raw at:

Squat: 350 (had 385, SOOO close, smoked it in the gym)
Deadlift: 485
Bench: 260 (paused)

Best total is 1060 raw.

Right now here's my numbers:

Squat: 315
Deadlift: 435
Bench: 285 (touch and go, not paused)

Detroit Barbell is a great place. I'm away from the powerlifting for now but I still train for raw strength and might do another raw meet whenever i get stronger than I was previously. I've done 3 raw meets, all in the AAPF. I don't train in a group right now either because of my time requirements and that hurts my training, too, but I am in there 2-3 times a week. But mainly it's all diet related. I should be benching mid 300s by now and pulling close to 600, but again, I am afraid to get fat and that will be one of my worst enemies when I try to put muscle on.

I plan in August to get away from this cutting (been doing it for a couple years straight now, I think my metabolism is burnt out) and going to try to put muscle and strength back on. It gets boring lifting the same or less weights over and over.

[Travis Bell]

congrats on the weight loss! Thats very impressive. You can help Wolf then as he looks to drop down to relatively the same weight from 340.

I think you'll be surprised how well you're able to gain strength when you end your cut in August. Hopefully the weight loss will have helped your heart arythmea problems. My mother had issues with that for awhile, turned out her sodium intake was much too low believe it or not! She keeps a better eye on it, but when stuff like that happens, it can be quite scarey.

Don't feel as though you have to get fat again to be strong. You'll just have to change your routine a little and change your caloric intake from deficit to maintaince. It can be difficult for the body to get stronger when its constantly burning more calories than its taking in, but once things level off, you don't have to bulk per se, but you body can recover much much more effectively.

[Firehawk]

Originally Posted by Travis Bell

congrats on the weight loss! Thats very impressive. You can help Wolf then as he looks to drop down to relatively the same weight from 340.

I think you'll be surprised how well you're able to gain strength when you end your cut in August. Hopefully the weight loss will have helped your heart arythmea problems. My mother had issues with that for awhile, turned out her sodium intake was much too low believe it or not! She keeps a better eye on it, but when stuff like that happens, it can be quite scarey.

Don't feel as though you have to get fat again to be strong. You'll just have to change your routine a little and change your caloric intake from deficit to maintaince. It can be difficult for the body to get stronger when its constantly burning more calories than its taking in, but once things level off, you don't have to bulk per se, but you body can recover much much more effectively.

It's just a mental game now. I have been the fat, weak kid all my life, so now that I have my weight under some control, there's a fear of gaining weight back. I fear looking at the scale and seeing it go up, you know?

My arrhythmia is Atrial Fibrillation, which I think is cured now from the surgeries, but now I have lots of skipped ventricular beats that come in periods, and they feel horrible.

[LiftGirl]

Originally Posted by Firehawk

My arrhythmia is Atrial Fibrillation, which I think is cured now from the surgeries, but now I have lots of skipped ventricular beats that come in periods, and they feel horrible.

Sorry to hear you're still having problems!