TL Fitness Initiative (Weight Loss/Gain) - Page 94

On November 03 2009 16:19 Stormer wrote:
What if there's no other rack in your gym other than the smith machine? I'm asking for squats only.
EDIT: Changing gyms in not an option since I live in a small town and this is the only one.

On November 03 2009 13:27 lone_hydra wrote:
Oh man, I used a smith machine all through high school...

so if i could bench 200 pounds on a smith machine, how much could i bench free weight?

I havent worked out a while, so what would be the best way to get warmed up again(get back to where I was in high school?)? using heavy weights for low reps than increasing reps, or slightly lighter weights for more reps and slowly increasing weight?

Can someone tell me the difference between the effects of planks and crunches and which is better?

Sorry for all these questions and thanks alot to anyone who helps.

Researchers at Drake University, Iowa tested the premise[citation needed] and found that lifters were able to lift greater amounts on free weights than they were on a Smith machine. As reported in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research[citation needed], bench press strength was about 16% higher for the free-weight bench press as compared to the Smith machine bench press. However, squat strength was about 4% greater for the Smith machine as compared to the free-weight squat.

On September 25 2009 09:35 eshlow wrote:
Meat:

1. What are your lift numbers at on deadlift, squat, bench, press, rows, pullups, dips?

On November 03 2009 22:21 Energies wrote:
I use the smith machine bar to do body weight rows underneath it, thats pretty much it, squats and bench are so freakin uncomfortable on it. Squats just plain feel weird without any of your stabiliser muscle at work.

Jfazz, I suggest taking in a lot of caffeine and lifting as heavy as you possibly can! The caffeine is the only thing keeping me going =).

This is really only my personal opinion of what has been working for me, but I honestly wouldn't stay in ketosis for more than 3-4 days, I always take two days to carb up. I have found cycling like this helps prevent any plateaus for me, plus it keeps me sane.

But any anabolic or Atkins fan is probably going to disagree. I seriously get so moody and angry I would probably rip someones head off if I go more than 4-5 days without carbs.

On November 04 2009 01:31 Liquid`Meat wrote:


I adjusted my workout to something much more basic, i hated the other one. It took me 1.5 hours and the exercises at the end were only at 50% of what I could do normally. 2 weeks ago i changed it to:
3x5 squats
3x5 bench press
3x to failure chinups
Sometimes I add in some ab work after I'm done.
~30 minute cardio

I'm going to deadlift and chinup every other training from now on.

My numbers:
Squat: 50kg
Bench press: 50kg
Chinups: 5-4-4

I should be able to press a bit more, but I'm having some difficulties with proper position of my arms. My girlfriend says my bench presses are a bit off, the bar isnt really horizontal. I'm trying to fix it but i have no clue whats wrong. I even tend to do this when the weight is really low.

In the first 2 warmup reps i am unable to touch my chest with the barbell, my shoulder locks and hurts when the barbell is about 5-10 cm above chest. Unfortunately there were no proper instructors today, only a 16 year old without a clue about benchpressing. Do you know some good warm up exercises for the shoulder?

On November 03 2009 07:28 psion0011 wrote:

Maybe you should use your head instead of blindly following someone's advice, no matter who it is.

On November 03 2009 18:36 Patriot.dlk wrote:


Squats can be performed like this:


Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I understand the only drawback is that it's a tad harder to have proper form and is not suitable for heavy squats as you might get trouble with your grip




If you can bench 200 on a smith machine you can probably bench about 210 in free weight after you have basic balance understanding.

I always bench more using free weights oh and wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_machine

That quote obviously can't be trusted but for me it's exactly like that. I always use the smith machine if I don't have a spotter and right now thats about half the times unfortunately.

I cannot tell you the difference between planks and crunches but I can tell you that you should probably do both (and a more) because mixing it up is good. Routines are bad. Static training like planks are overall a good complementary thing to do in my opinion.

On November 04 2009 03:03 eshlow wrote:


Hrm, the bench press form could be due to bad form or potential imbalance or previous shoulder injury. I don't know.

Any light warmup is good. Dynamic stretches. Ummm, lemme see if I can find something later.

I'd suggest you do Starting Strength though if you're gonna do that:
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki

Basically, add in press, DLs, power clean (or I guess chins/rows work fine for that).

On November 04 2009 04:23 Liquid`Meat wrote:

Reading starting strength atm, printed it a couple weeks ago

Is it important that the barbell is 100% horizontal ? I guess it is.. Only injury i've had to my shoulder was as a year old kid i dislocated it.

Next time I will ask my gf to make a video, maybe you can spot what I'm doing wrong if you don't mind?

On November 04 2009 07:05 AoN.DimSum wrote:
eshlow what do u style of training do you do right now?

On November 04 2009 11:18 eshlow wrote:


I am currently doing mostly bodyweight stuff with rings + pullup bars (I guess you could say "gymnastics" styled strength work) and rehabbing the knee.