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Veteran Thread Training Tips

Veteran Discussion
Training Tip 111
Making Changes Stick.
Once you understand (by one definition) what homeostasis means you'll understand the body likes things just as they are. It doesn't matter if you're vastly over weight and lose the fat quickly, nor skinny and add muscle fast the issue remains the same. Making a change and KEEPING it is key.

What we all too often see here is members are in too much of a damned rush. They will proclaim a desire to add muscle. Then take a boat load of drugs in order to do so. However, I know from seeing as much in the gyms I've trained in over the years that few make and then keep the change. It's all well and good losing 30lbs but what a waste of having done so if you then add 29lbs back. Throw in the time it takes for the now loose skin and it can feel like an age. But if it took 10 years to become fat do not expect the body to adapt in a handful of weeks. If you carry on and keep it off eventually it will.
 
Training Tip 112
Losing Hair and The Drugs to Stop It.
Honestly this is a fools errand. You take steroids and thus speed up the hair loss you were almost certainly to have done anyway (if it's in the family then you're probably f**ked). You then panic that you're losing your hair (stress only speeding up the process) so look for drugs to aid it's retention. These, those that work, come with strong ass side effects. They are also expensive, as are plugs, transplants and the like. As it currently stands few of these offer anything like a permanent fix.

For my own part I shave 'dat bitch' anyway. I'm also lucky in that I have retained some hair. The old forehead is a LOT bigger than it once was but my family genes are horrible. On my dads side the men went gray at 30 and white at 40. On my mums side the men all have bald crowns. Visions of a bald spot surrounded by white hair have, I am fortunate enough to be able to say, not come true.

As I've said in many a thread you are to note the side effects and then you roll the dice. Know that you can lose.
 
When I took masteron, yeah, my hair started thinning fast.. went straight for the razor. Fuck it, bald is beautiful.


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Training Tip 113
High Grade to Low Grade
So a certain 6x (there's a clue) former MrOlympia has a new line of products. Over the years he's been associated with a large UK supplement company who's big product was a very high class protein. It used to contain a cold processed protein and a bunch of peptides and probiotics. Now it's of, IMO, a lesser quality. Said MrO then left to set up his own company, complete with his initials all over it, which launched a similar product. Once again of a great standard. Now, alas, for reasons unknown the old company has become defunct. His new product line has, compared to the previous products, a far more basic line.

Now there's nothing wrong with a solid whey isolate or concentrate, fat burner or creatine. Providing they aren't over sold in terms of claims made (no 'instant muscle' for example) but to my mind it's a bit much to infer that said basic yet solid line of products is somehow more 'elite' than anyone else's identical line.

And surely, having gone to all that trouble previously, it's a step down in quality. The truth is there's a larger margin for profit in the latter over the former.
 
Training Tip 114
A Mistake I Made
Back in the day, when I worked for myself (2003-2011), I could train, eat and rest. The BIG mistake I made at that time was I'd train like a crazy mo-fo then go sit in front of my PC doing company work for hours. Like right after the gym. Of course I then stiffened up like a fkin rock. So I started getting back problems.

Now I still like to do the crazy workouts (yesterdays was a good one) and then go walking at least two times a week. I also have a two days a week job which includes some walking. If I miss these walks I really start to feel it very quickly. Stevesmi, fellow mod, does hot yoga and he, as well as others, recommend doing what I do which is trail walking. 'Er Indoors has an app which says we did 7000+ steps and around burned 1200kcals. Given I did legs right before I was proper depleted after.
 
Training Tip 115
Asking Questions AFTER
Sigh... so today we have two examples of what I might, at best, call skewed logic (if I was being VERY kind).

One was asking about taking dbol on his 'off days' (as in non-training days). Unless you are, again foolishly, using a drug as a pre workout, then when on cycle and using any drug with a short half life like dbol then yes it's meant to cover you or be used on the rest days too.

The other was a fella who doesn't like jabbing so claimed he'd put in all 10ml from his bottle. By that logic I'll take all the painkillers I have here and never have to take a painkiller again right... right... cough... is that St Peter I see at the pearly gates calling me a dick?

Any such (idiotic IMO) questions need to be asked BEFORE you do shit - not after. As in before you even open the damn package. Who's advised you? Mickey Mouse??
 
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Training Tip 116
Protein Bars - Why They're Mostly Shit
They're so many issues one hardly knows where to start. But I'll try. In order to produce a product which stays moist after months in storage shit gets added. From alcohol sugars to worse. Companies often quote the protein percentage instead of the amount. Given the cost per bar, here in the UK anyway, is around £2-2.50 a bar and most contain around 20-24g of protein when compared to a pint of skimmed milk they barely stand up. The pint of milk contains 21g of protein, less carbs and is a fraction of the cost.

What's also starting to happen is they are far less a health food now and far more a sweet treat which just happens to have a relatively high protein content. Even then to you'll see soy show up. This is because the were originally aimed at us meat heads but are now selling in shops to the mass market. One UK company used to sell a far burner as their main product but now produces a million plus bars and has been valued at £35m. Heck the owner has a six seater air plane.

One particular problem with those sweeteners and products added to keep them moist is what they do to the gut. I made the mistake of eating a whole box of one companies smaller bars... dear oh dear. I was farting for my country and could be smelled four counties over. Eek!
 
Training Tips 117
Consistency and Plugging Away
How often have you a seen a post on a forum where the member prattles on about time off, an injury and some other BS and it's not been a week or two or even a month? No. It's FKIN YEARS. Or another type of thread where they talk about being 'anal' with their nutrition (all or nuthing') but we know (cos they forget we saw it) how they were at a BBQ/Party drinking and doing all kinds of drugs. Heck, I know people personally exactly like this. I'll even put my hands up and say that if I wasn't a strength guy my nutrition would not be on point if I was more of a muscle guy. So maybe, just maybe, I could be leaner and my nutrition a notch or two tighter.

Here's the thing - plugging away, with proper rest and recovery (not weeks, months or years off) will get you the gains slowly but surely over ramming gear in, adding 10lbs plus then losing it with all that time off and stupid shit. I get that LIFE gets in the way. Happens to us all - I'm not immune but I just don't get the years off thing. You're just 'playing' surely?
 
I have friends who will tweak their wrist or shoulder and be off for 1/2 a year. I get hurt too, we all do, tho some more than others...

Work around it! Focus on a lagging body part. Try machines or cables. Shit, maybe try another another exercise and see if it’s manageable.

When I hurt my shoulder I could still do light fly’s and pushups. All because I couldn’t press heavy doesn’t mean sit at home. Even just cardio and band work till your back at 100%.

This goes for all things in life. Consistency is king when it comes to achieving goals. Work, relationships and the gym.

Great post mobster.




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TheGainTrain said:
I have friends who will tweak their wrist or shoulder and be off for 1/2 a year. I get hurt too, we all do, tho some more than others...

Work around it! Focus on a lagging body part. Try machines or cables. Shit, maybe try another another exercise and see if it’s manageable.

When I hurt my shoulder I could still do light fly’s and pushups. All because I couldn’t press heavy doesn’t mean sit at home. Even just cardio and band work till your back at 100%.

This goes for all things in life. Consistency is king when it comes to achieving goals. Work, relationships and the gym.

Great post mobster.




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Even when I was laid up on the floor for 16 weeks with a back issue I still squeezed my grippers.
 
Training Tips 118
Not Following Guidelines
Having just replied to a thread about the impact of caffeine I was reminded of how often I see people make really rather basic mistakes with products (including gear) around supplements. So we can all look up studies right? We also get to see the instructions on products (examples inc the posts this week about products where the amount to use is right there on the tub) yet what have we all also seen in many a pro video...

That of scooping the shit right into their mouths. Be it a powder swilled down with a SIP (no where near enough) of water or, worse, dry swallowing pills. Greg Valentino has written a bunch of times about what he called explosive Creatine shits yet was guilty of scooping the powder right into his mouth. The same applies to Caffeine. It is a mild diuretic. So scooping the pre-workout (90% contain it) and using a sip of water when you probably needed a lot more doesn't help. The same applies to pills. Add to that the habit, all too common, of either far exceeding research doses or, as I've seen a ton of times, getting used to one product so searching out the strongest new version or, as bad, doubling the dose.

Let's look at Caffeine again. Most references state that 400mg is an acceptable daily dose. There are pre-workouts which have that much in one dose. While it's true that we know people who drink multiple strong coffees per day it doesn't follow that it's ok. Obvious issues can include using it far too late in the day then bitching about sleep issues.

Think about it - getting stomach issues, not sleeping, feeling edgy and then, just to add to your woes you read how it can impact in other ways. But who do you blame? The Caffeine or your habits?
 
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Training Tips 119
Bitching About Known Side Effects
Tren has to be the most bitched about Steroid. Yet the side effects are well known. It's either they took a drug for which they knew fuck all about... visions of idiots drinking rocket fuel and asking why it burns... sheesh. You are supposed to do read reading (do not reply on a buddy) and read the potential for issues.

Then either bitch in that perverse way that marks you out as a bodybuilder (cos 'I'm on tren ha ha') or don't bitch. It's like complaining it was cold when you stripped naked at the North Pole. You knew it was gonna be cold and so what are you bitching about?

That's not to say you don't wanna be silent and ok with gyno, crazy high BP or an excess of water retention. I'd prefer to see less bitching if you didn't bother with an AI or abused the gear to an extreme but equally I don't wanna see anyone properly ill.
 
Risk to reward, I don’t think tren is worth it. I’ve never used it, and don’t plan on it.
Great tool for competition I’ve no doubt. But ummm no thanks..

Youve never used it either have you monster? Same reason as me or other?


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TheGainTrain said:
Risk to reward, I don’t think tren is worth it. I’ve never used it, and don’t plan on it.
Great tool for competition I’ve no doubt. But ummm no thanks..

Youve never used it either have you monster? Same reason as me or other?


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Pretty much. I'm not sure I'd wanna run it both for my age and without being leaner. All iof my strenth buds were in there late 20's to mid 30's. Maybe at a low dose.
 
Mobster said:
Pretty much. I'm not sure I'd wanna run it both for my age and without being leaner. All iof my strenth buds were in there late 20's to mid 30's. Maybe at a low dose.
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Tbh, it’s the mental sides that scare me. I have issues with anger, always have.

The thought of being disconnected from the ones I love, or even just taking out a bad day on them, makes it a no go zone for me.

I’m a father, husband, and employer before a bodybuilder.

That being said.... oh man... I’ve seen what it can do to a physique.




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TheGainTrain said:
Tbh, it’s the mental sides that scare me. I have issues with anger, always have.

The thought of being disconnected from the ones I love, or even just taking out a bad day on them, makes it a no go zone for me.

I’m a father, husband, and employer before a bodybuilder.

That being said.... oh man... I’ve seen what it can do to a physique.




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My first cycle was dbol and having read of roid rage I started to tune into my mood more. So my job at the time was customer facing with irate people lol. Everytime we got into it I was thinking 'are they dicks or am I getting roid rage' ha ha
 
Training Tips 120
Refresh Every Cycle
So here I am handing out hopefully useful advice as a mod. Ditto here in this thread. Yet every time I've done a cycle I'll remind myself on the specifics of the gear I intend using. I'll update myself. I also never, ever, take the advice of those who I buy from. It doesn't mean that the info they have is wrong but only their first interest is to sell. It's better to get as much as you can, info wise, from an unbiased source.

By way of example right now I'm a pound or so from as heavy as I've ever been. I've no great desire to hit 300+ (if it happens...?) so the aim would be pure strength. So I'd get digging and look at what would serve me best, how to take it, what dose and so on. As with every cycle to date it'd be towards the lower amounts. Training, as it has been, would be meticulously looked at and planned so as to have me peak (if I can) on the day.
 
Training Tips 121
Planning To Win.
So the Dubai comp I was invited late to took place Friday. One event involved repping a very nice looking replica of the famous Apollon Wheels. If spot on they will have weighed 166-kilos (about 366lbs). DOH (double overhand) beat any version of mixed grip. I see that the best effort was 12 reps. 366lbs is easy for me on a standard axle and I've done, I think, 10 reps with 170-kilos or 372lbs DOH. The 'wheels' will have a different feel (higher off the ground - which suits me just fine) but a greater torsional force by virtue of the width of the wheels.

Let's imagine that I'd trained for it. Here's what I'd have done.

1) Ask for the dimensions. I suspect I'd have ended up lifting with standard plates but from 2-4-inch blocks (my local gym has them).
2) Double check the rules. As they are sumo and conventional were both fine.
3) Was the bar knurled, I doubt it, so I'd do as I do now and lift off the knurl on my bar.
4) what about time? It is, I think, 75-seconds. That's plenty.

Right now I'm pulling 190 for reps (not as many as I'd like) so dropping back to 170-kilos or so and repping it from blocks... c'mon. I'd have destroyed it. Even, I think, allowing for that torsional issue. One key point might be to do a few kilos more (which I'd be doing) and do far more reps in training than what won it this year. So 15+?

If I compete next year and this lift is still in I'd also look at videos to what, why and how it all happened.
 
So comparing what you know your capable of, to what was done at the show. It sounds like you would have done very well...
Hope you can make it next year!


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Training Tips 122
Talking to Freaks
It's a bad idea. The issue here is what we call the 'odd exception'. I MIGHT even be one myself. It took me a year or so to close a No3 gripper. Ronnie Coleman was famous, so the story goes, for turning up to MetroFlex with his vascular thighs pushing through his leggings. If, as we see on these forums, a member claim to have no issues when on high doses or very, very long cycles then we need to ignore their example (in fairness one even said as much - thus recognizing he's lucky).

If, as we often see, we search for one off examples to 'prove' a theory or to somehow give us permission to do something crazy when it com es to training (or indeed anything ha ha). One crazy example (ok two) are the people that fell out of airplanes 10000+ feet up and survived. That doesn't mean we can jump out without a parachute. The same logic applies to us gym freaks not using AI's. neglecting PCT's, listening to guys on 3g a week and so on.

Most members (see their stats) are under 6 feet tall, under 200lbs and so on. A high percentage seem to struggle with low natural test levels. On that basis taking advice from lucky freaks of nature isn't a good idea.
 
Training Tips 123
Headphones and Hoodies
I'm not one for wearing those fashionable type headphones - not so much given 90% who wear them are average looking but I do think the ability to cut out the background noise and distractions is useful. Some of my best competitive training has been done with my hood up, in an empty gym and my music on and killed it. There's an element of this to the guys who go train in Kuwait and Dubai (in the Oxygen Gyms). They live like monks. Heck the gyms have guys who load and unload equipment for you. They train, they eat, they rest. That's it.

Now, for most of us work and family get in the way. So any aspect or element we can apply of these monk-like ideas to your training can only be useful. True proper focus and (yes I said it) having the 'Eye of the Tiger' has to be good.
 
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Training Tip 124
Those things which MIGHT work
Might. So some of you inject into the smaller muscles. Fine if you're running out of sites not so big a deal if you're looking to, for example, site enhance a bicep. Not only is the volume almost certainly too low but most of you won't do it long term enough to make the potential receptor uptake in that muscle worth a mention. Think about this logically. How much of a turn over of members does your local gym have? Apply that same turnover of users to any aspect of what we do. Very few of you are around training, using supplements, using PED's and all the other things we do long enough for those things which MIGHT make a difference actually do so.

Stuff like eating a meal asap after training. Stuff like BCAA's and intra drinks. Concerning yourself about the best pre workout meal (or indeed products). Stuff like a pump enhancer (inc Viagra etc). All of these things wont do jack if you train as long as most do. I'd be being very (and I mean VERY generous) if I said users lasted 3 years.

Figure it thus. See how many sign up for gym memberships in January. See how many are there in December. Go see how many forum members you know 12 months after you signed up. The same applies here. It's no good applying potentially (like maybe) cutting edge ideas that will add a LITTLE something if they are not given enough time.

By all means do these 'maybe' things but expect NOTHING if you lift for a year. Expect to MAYBE see something if you do so for a decade.
 
Training Tip 125
Made Up Bullshit
So-called 'activating x muscle'. The one you read a LOT is 'I'm activating my glutes' (real high on google). You don't need bands or special exercises or even to call it 'activating'. For a start if you've a pulse it's alive. If you walk they're active. If they weren't you couldn't walk or whatever.

All it really means is you do something to focus the work on that muscle (whichever one you've targeted). One old trick was the coach touches the muscle and you flexed against their fingers. Oh and the glutes... who needs a bigger ass? Very few people.
 
Training Tip 126
Worrying About Genetics
So in the last few days we've had 1 or two threads on genetics or rather the lack of them. But to worry about such things is a waste of time. An example of 'weak' genetics is Arnie's biceps (yes that Arnie). One had a longer head and the other a shorter one. He learned, by posing, to present one side at an angle and his hide a weakness.

Like many a member I too had, if only briefly, half an idea of being some sort of lucky freak and a Mr O type physique. Arnold, Bertil Fox and even fellow Brit Dorian Yates all were favored at one time or another. Yet I ended up instead of being a bodybuilding giant only to become a grip strength champion with titles, records and the like. It just wasn't on my radar - not even a little bit.

The tip then is that we don't know what we might become. Train cos you love to and enjoy the journey. Become better tomorrow than you are today. Discover by effort what you might become. Don't fret over limb length, bone diameter or skin tone.
 
Training Tip 127
Worrying About Time Off
Trust me I've done this. Some years back I went to a very hot Turkey (110-130f a couple of days) and probably spent at least 5 of the 14 days with the GF at the time looking for a gym. Not only was that a waste of time (one place was shut and another had quite by far the most feeble gym I'd seen in what was claiming to be a 5 star gym).

Other than some very gentle paddling about in out hotel pool and a little walking around the sites I did zero exercise. It finally, 6 days in, occurred to me that I was ON HOLIDAY! And that I'd done enough time under the bar (I think about 15 years at that point) that anything I lost I'd get back. Yeah I was sore as fuck the first week and losses took 2 weeks recover but so what. This summer I'll have been under the bar for 40 years. So 2 weeks out of that ain't shit. I can also add the time off where all I did was grippers and rehab during my 16 weeks hiatus due to that 2016 back injury. As I've stated I came back and started (quite deliberately and from post competition training experience) at 60% of my preinjury numbers. IIRC it took about 6 weeks to get to 90% and then the rest was a programmed grind. In some ways I'm as strong now as I was during my last cycle. Yet I also took 5 days off over xmas.

So don't fret about the possible 48-96 hours science and stuff which says muscle loss, tone and strength will go. Equally, do not use this as an excuse to train then take 4 days off regular as you like. At best that way will mean you'll be bitching about no gains
 
Training Tip 128
Too Much Info / Doing It All
One of today's RX Rants was along the lines of watching every lifter you follow and incorporating all they do in your routine. It reminded me of a story I've told before of a former lifting buddy and lodger of mine back in the day - Paul Savage (aka @savagestrength). We competed against each other.

I was hitting the gym in the morning on my own and I'd smash the fuck out of stuff in 90-minutes. Much like now I'd strip my work down to what was absolutely necessary and no more. Paul, bless him, was checking out top pro strongman on 6 forums. I swear he was noting each and every little nuance he saw and added them to his program. So if Big Z did Y Paul did it, if Nick Best was doing X Paul did it. His workouts start to get to 4 and then 4 and a half hours long. I'd come in and maybe do a little extra gripper work with him or, for the challenge, we'd do 30 minutes of grip machine work.

Then I'd beat him in competition. His best place was 2nd to me. Part of that was my, as I told him, knowledge of how to sweat blood on the day. I told him I'd shit myself lifting in front of everyone before he'd beat me. How hungry he was - he wasn't that hungry.
 
Training Tip 129
Site Injecting - Worth It?
No.

Oh you wanted more... lol. Let's address the idea of site injecting roids. There's SOME evidence to the idea that injecting, say, in a tricep might work on the receptors in that muscle. But even if we say we agree it's a VERY SMALL amount. And if we're half way sensible we're rotating sites anyway.

Then we get into the muscle and fascia stretching. It's just not gonna happen in any meaningful way with a 2-3ml jab. It's a fair old injection but it's 2/5th-3/5ths of a teaspoonful of liquid. And then, depending on the gear, it shouldn't sit in the muscle that long.

In a previous tip post I pointed out that the most common place for jabs are our butts or our quads. And how often do we see site injecting work there? How much would we need to jab in to see a difference in our quads?

Let's take Mr 3CC - Bostin. He's done it and I'm not seeing anything overdone. So either he did it perfectly and just looks like he maxed out his genetics (and he's still a Mr O with all the gear he did do) or it only made a very short term difference.

If he's to be believed then Greg Valentino didn't overdo (in modern terms) the gear so much as the added carrier oils etc he used with the roids he took. And look how that turned out lol
 
Here’s a question for discussion that seems appropriate in this thread. Deadlifts. They are probably on of the most important lifts you can do, we all I’m sure agree on that. The question is some people do them with legs others recommend back day. It seems more of a leg lift than back, if only just slightly. My solution currently is instead having to choose which day to do them, just do legs and back on the same day. This has worked up to now, but as I get more advanced the workouts are beginning to be to long and intense and I’m going to have to change my splits up. So deadlifts with legs or back. What do you guys think?
 
Hrt4life said:
Here’s a question for discussion that seems appropriate in this thread. Deadlifts. They are probably on of the most important lifts you can do, we all I’m sure agree on that. The question is some people do them with legs others recommend back day. It seems more of a leg lift than back, if only just slightly. My solution currently is instead having to choose which day to do them, just do legs and back on the same day. This has worked up to now, but as I get more advanced the workouts are beginning to be to long and intense and I’m going to have to change my splits up. So deadlifts with legs or back. What do you guys think?
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It's just me.

Back. At least that's how I do them. On leg days it'd be stiff legged deads or not touching the floor style
 
on leg days i like to stick with squats and lunges which are plenty in their own right. adding deadlifts to me is overkill and it makes a lot of sense to put them on a pulling day split along with back. the reason? if you do deads then do squats or vice versa your legs will already be killed.. those 2 are the most brutal lifts... it doesn't mean on some days if you feel up to it you can do it the other way too.
 
I would put them on your back day. Squats itself are so taxing and take so much out of you that you are not able to perform your best if you try to do deadlifts afterwards. Especially once you start moving really big weights.
 
That’s the way I’m leaning also. As I said going from squats to dead’s as I get stronger is beginning to take a lot out of me on the front end of the workout.
 
Fella Finn said:
I would put them on your back day. Squats itself are so taxing and take so much out of you that you are not able to perform your best if you try to do deadlifts afterwards. Especially once you start moving really big weights.
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I agree. Squats and deads the same day are a LOT. The exception would be stuff legged deadlifts on leg day for hamstrings which I think is fine. Much lighter weight and less fatigue than conventional deads
 
Hrt4life said:
Here’s a question for discussion that seems appropriate in this thread. Deadlifts. They are probably on of the most important lifts you can do, we all I’m sure agree on that. The question is some people do them with legs others recommend back day. It seems more of a leg lift than back, if only just slightly. My solution currently is instead having to choose which day to do them, just do legs and back on the same day. This has worked up to now, but as I get more advanced the workouts are beginning to be to long and intense and I’m going to have to change my splits up. So deadlifts with legs or back. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Either or, just make sure you have a decent rest time between your leg day and your back day.


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Hrt4life said:
Here’s a question for discussion that seems appropriate in this thread. Deadlifts. They are probably on of the most important lifts you can do, we all I’m sure agree on that. The question is some people do them with legs others recommend back day. It seems more of a leg lift than back, if only just slightly. My solution currently is instead having to choose which day to do them, just do legs and back on the same day. This has worked up to now, but as I get more advanced the workouts are beginning to be to long and intense and I’m going to have to change my splits up. So deadlifts with legs or back. What do you guys think?
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I'm doing them both on the same day now on PHUL. Heavy squats and deads on lower body power day but it is super taxing on the body and CNS. As Finn mentioned above, the more weight on the bar the more brutal it gets. I'm going to have to change it up when I start my cut because I don't think I can do it on a deficit. I'll either move to PPL or BB split
 
As a strength athlete no. As a bodybuilder it'd depend on how much of a percentage of your best lift (aka 1RM) you do and then the volume.

By way of example you'll never see someone with a 400+ kilo dead lift working squat in the same session.

And, as I said above, bodybuilders do variations.
 
Training Tip 130
Basics, Brief, Brutal and Best.
Given that, as a mod, I advice give advice daily on the use of PED's and the like I also get to see what I think is an undue focus on the same over getting down and dirty in the gym.

It's no good study how many carbon atoms are linked together to create an ester of a specific anabolic steroid if you're not grinding the f**k out of a big compound exercise. There are times I think I'm gonna bust a gut, bleed or poo myself on some exercises. My face will almost certainly be beetroot red when I'm pressing 2/3rds of my bodyweight above my head or benching more than I weigh off my chest. I need to be dragging heavy s**t off the floor, be that one handed or two, in back movements. There are exercises when I'm stacking or filling the loading pins and worry about pulling myself out of the seat.

I'm sure, cos of having tried such things (and using them from time to time as add-ons) that I can get a good contraction on some isolation movements. But equally, I'll add more mass on close grip bench press than I ever will on a tricep kick-back. Work damned hard on the basics. Rest. Eat. Grow.
 
Mobster said:
Training Tip 130
Basics, Brief, Brutal and Best.
Given that, as a mod, I advice give advice daily on the use of PED's and the like I also get to see what I think is an undue focus on the same over getting down and dirty in the gym.

It's no good study how many carbon atoms are linked together to create an ester of a specific anabolic steroid if you're not grinding the f**k out of a big compound exercise. There are times I think I'm gonna bust a gut, bleed or poo myself on some exercises. My face will almost certainly be beetroot red when I'm pressing 2/3rds of my bodyweight above my head or benching more than I weigh off my chest. I need to be dragging heavy s**t off the floor, be that one handed or two, in back movements. There are exercises when I'm stacking or filling the loading pins and worry about pulling myself out of the seat.

I'm sure, cos of having tried such things (and using them from time to time as add-ons) that I can get a good contraction on some isolation movements. But equally, I'll add more mass on close grip bench press than I ever will on a tricep kick-back. Work damned hard on the basics. Rest. Eat. Grow.
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Couldn't agree more. I don't have the credentials or experience that some guys here do but I have been training for a while and I feel like I know a thing or two.

I try not to judge others routines and I know there are several effective ways to accomplish your goals in the gym depending on what those goals are.

But just yesterday in the gym I heard a guy telling his lifting partner about this killer workout that was gonna give him crazy "burn and pumps". They proceeded to do hundreds of reps of various isolation exercises with super light weights. At the end the guy was like "you were right bro! I can barely move my arms, that workout was beast!"

Now don't get me wrong, I love utilizing different rep ranges and I will occasionally do "burn sets". But for me that is a weight that I can hit for 12-15 reps and I try to hit 40 reps total taking only enough rest to push out a few more reps each time.

I have absolutely no interest in curling 5 or 10lb DBs for 40-30-20-10
 
Training Tip 131
Put Your Weights Away
This is a bug bear. The guys that leave their weights scattered all over the place are, for the most parts, weak as f**k. Posting on FB that they 'killed it' or 'beasted chest' when, in fact, I've seen 99% of them never get passed the 30kg bells on ANYTHING. And even if you had the monster of all sessions - sit your ass down for 5 minutes and you'll have enough energy to rack your weights. You had it to walk and or drive home and no one had to call a paramedic right?

So put them back. If I can fill a leg press to the brim, rep it into nigh on 20 reps and still put them back after so can you. I get being tired (who isn't) but there's no excuse.
 
Training Tip 132
Worry / stress less
Live, as I type this,is a thread on Cortizol I which the writer asks about using Xanax etc. Also this week I had to go to another of the companies work sites and more or less (with two exceptions) every colleague I met was stressed like crazy. Not from the actual stuff we all do (customer service and front line maintenance / site upkeep) but from all the rumors, gossip and in-house BS that comes from working in decent numbers. I do all of two days of the week and have 90% of the day to myself. Ditto the other 2 guys who cover the other 4 days a week of the 6 we're open. I saw people unable to catch my eye, complaints and investigations left right and centre. The only 'up' as a manager describing me as a 'golden boy' (f**k knows why ha ha) and the fella I'd been working with that day has previously said 'nothing stresses you'. I pointed out no ones dead and I've dealt with a TON of harder situations than this jobs thrown my way so far.

Now all this stress, worry and the rest of the BS causes your cortisol to go through the roof. It's, quite simply, not good for you nor is taking drugs to help it (like Xanax). I just don't care if, by way of example, all the bosses job titles change or corporate has restructured. I only need to ensure I get paid at the end of the month and that my work gets done. I've written here and elsewhere that the BIGGEST guys I've been around (as in 400lb strongmen and others) are just about as stress free as I see anyone. equally they can and do turn on the 'rage' in the gym and on the platform. You see them laugh more than the skinny guys, use less drugs to make themselves happy. They aren't wired on caffeine and most of them have grab shots taken of them napping. I'm pretty sure Dorian Yates and other 300+ lbs bodybuilders have written about simplifying their lives and or having supportive partners to 'deal with the crap'.

Now don't think I'm some kinda hippy. Sure I have stuff which needs dealing with but, all things being equal, I see that the less stressed I am (as with others) the easier it is to grow and be big. There does seem to be a connection.
 
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Mobster said:
Training Tip 131
Put Your Weights Away
This is a bug bear. The guys that leave their weights scattered all over the place are, for the most parts, weak as f**k. Posting on FB that they 'killed it' or 'beasted chest' when, in fact, I've seen 99% of them never get passed the 30kg bells on ANYTHING. And even if you had the monster of all sessions - sit your ass down for 5 minutes and you'll have enough energy to rack your weights. You had it to walk and or drive home and no one had to call a paramedic right?

So put them back. If I can fill a leg press to the brim, rep it into nigh on 20 reps and still put them back after so can you. I get being tired (who isn't) but there's no excuse.
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Agree 1000%! I don't care if I am crawling out of the gym, I'll be re-racking all my weights first.

I hate walking into the gym and half the bars are loaded with plates and dumbells laying everywhere so you don't know what's being used and what's not.
 
ElevenBravo77 said:
Agree 1000%! I don't care if I am crawling out of the gym, I'll be re-racking all my weights first.

I hate walking into the gym and half the bars are loaded with plates and dumbells laying everywhere so you don't know what's being used and what's not.
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Even stuff like drink bottles. The gym has 3 bins and yet benches and the floor have random bottles here and there.
 
ElevenBravo77 said:
Couldn't agree more. I don't have the credentials or experience that some guys here do but I have been training for a while and I feel like I know a thing or two.

I try not to judge others routines and I know there are several effective ways to accomplish your goals in the gym depending on what those goals are.

But just yesterday in the gym I heard a guy telling his lifting partner about this killer workout that was gonna give him crazy "burn and pumps". They proceeded to do hundreds of reps of various isolation exercises with super light weights. At the end the guy was like "you were right bro! I can barely move my arms, that workout was beast!"...
Click to expand...

And? This proves like what?
You can do that any given muscle if you want but how on Earth are you gonna progress on that in the long term? Do you like double the amount of that ridiculous volume you did last time?
There is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to causing hypertrophy so it's not like the more you keep on repping the more you grow. If that were the case we should all be doing db curls 24/7 and soon the arms would be double the size. Unfortunately it just doesn't work like that.
 
Training Tip 133
Looking For Perfect
So on our sister forum we see almost every day people asking 'what's the best juice to drink?', or 'which meat should I eat more of?' and so on. There are a couple of issues. One is that I suspect if the answer to the juice question was 'grapefruit' that person would only drink grapefruit. If we said pork was the perfect meat that's all they'd eat and so on. Another, which relates more to training, is guys ask about routines or lifts and my gut feeling is they are looking, asking and researching but actually training? No.

So the obvious thing to do is go train. If you're sitting on your ass in front of a PC 'researching' then sweet f all is gonna happen. And juice / meat wise... try a few. Unless you have allergy issues the rest of the human race manages to live on most juices and most meats.

It's wasting time to look for THE meat, THE juice or THE routine. 99% of being stronger, leaner and more muscular is getting in the gym and getting on with it. If you're fat and you stay fat while looking at 100's of diets then you could have been eating less and losing weight for months while you did.
 
Training Tip 134
Do your own research / you can beat stupid.
In the age of the internet and easy access to info I'm still surprised by how puerile and crazy some questions can be. The latest generation of kids ought to have more IT savvy than any generation before them and yet...

Example: rumors of youngsters thinking drinking grapefruit juice will stop them getting pregnant! WTF? Even if some fool created a real looking article it's a simple logic thing. If it worked your mum and dad would have been doing it. Back when I was a kid I heard of people getting it on and using whatever was to hand as a condom - like crisp bag wrappers or clingfilm. No... just no LOL.

And training, nutrition and most forms of PED also fall down into the same 'crazy as fuck' hole info wise. As in the 'my buddy said' kind of question. I question either their IQ or their age. Cos it seems like they gotta be 12 in years or IQ to be asking such questions. I guess when they see some 300lb vascular freak of nature pushing some superhuman they can't get their heads around how such a thing is possible without something crazy being done to make it happen.

Start by looking up the facts people.
 
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Training Tip 135
Learn To Cook
I believe I've addressed meal prep in a previous tip. It's that of cooking a bunch of healthy foods ahead of time. Typically stuff like a ray of chicken breasts and sachets of rice and the like. Learning to cook saves you in another way.

Fellow mod Stevesmi has addressed the American (and fast becoming European) habit of either eating take outs or eating out a LOT. Like, so I'm told, almost every night. He mentions that even with the healthiest options the portion sizes and sauces added end up putting a SHIT LOAD of extra calories. Competition for your business encourages the portion sizes and a low quality of ingredients encourages hiding that in sugars and salts (that and a need for profit).

So learning to actually scratch cook from basic but healthy foods is key. It'll make it that much easier to keep you on point in your mass gaining / fat losing / muscle building aims and aspirations. Start simple and work from there.
 
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Training Tip 136
Deal With Coming Off Gear
Not just on forums but in the gym I see more and more people struggling to come off. It's a combination of some users have had other issues (mental/addictive and other drug use) and, as I've said elsewhere, the feel good factor of using test.

Most PED's are NOT, in and of themselves, truly addictive (Tren being the one with the most impact on the brain). However, if you have any addiction issues, then the whole using another drug and its potential for making you feel good might cause problems. Low test levels + age to which you then add steroids can make you feel on top of the world. Coming of that feeling can be, for many, hard work.

Simply put - it's a head fuck and you need to understand that an deal with it.
 
Training Tip 137
Stims, AAS and Crazy Shit as preworkouts
So in the last week or so we've seen a few threads here on EVO and over on sister site Elite where the members have asked about all manner of what seems to me silly things to do to have a good workout. As per one reply of mine if you need to get high to workout (or have a decent gym sesh) then maybe working out isn't for you. Maybe it's cos pre-workout products have become a HUGE money maker for supplement companies. So there's a generation of gym users who are used to this. Ingredients have been borderline medicinal and so have become banned and outlawed.

The clincher was one asking about narcotics such as 'micro-dosing' magic mushrooms and the like. When you're using no-ester tests, dbol just to have a little kick... you've gone too far. Few members are hard at it down the coal face exhausting themselves before going to the gym. Even when I did a full on physical job the trick was just to get some slow release carbs (a flap jack) 90 minutes before then a coffee 30 minutes before and I was ready after a shift. Once I actually got in the gym that buzz you get anyway kicked in with everything else.

So keep the full blown stuff to competition day 'k.
 
Training Tip 138
Throwing stuff in mid-cycle
Sigh... do you have ANY idea what you're doing? If you started out by carefully picking the right steroid to help you hit your targets and aims and pow... I got myself some free shot and I ''wanna use it''. For fucks sake.

Training Tip 139
Steroids on a non-training day
Yes this was today's 'best' question. It made me wanna tell the guy to never ever take steroids again. Here's a polite logic check for you (please god he's reading): your body produces hormones EVERY SINGLE DAY (unless you've some horrible medical condition). It doesn't just produce them when it 'knows' you're hitting the gym.
 
Training Tip 140
The craze of pre-workouts
Let's start at the top.
1) they make money. Supp companies exist to make money. I say that as a former supps company owner.
2) You don't NEED one. You just don't. Worse there's little or no research on the actual products (specific ingredients - yes. Product - no).
3) Companies compete to claim 'we produce the strongest'. They cannot all claim it yet many do. That's impossible unless that product is identical.

Now tell me something. Why is it that rank beginners feel the need to take something crazy strong to get to bench 60-kilos / 132lbs? Tie that in with an increase in the sense or feeling of anxiety (what? You took a shit load of stims and felt iffy... wow!).

I've taken a pre-workout maybe 2x ever. I think I've a 5 year old tub of NoExplode I got for repping here. Me... 300lbs by tea time, with world records, world class feats of strength and decent levels of strength on 90% of my lifts. Versus most gym users using (in some cases) borderline banned drug like products.

I can see me, and some more elite lifters/builders getting an extra few percent when needed - comp day, a bad nights sleep session and so on. But guys actually rotate PWO products like others swap drugs. Because they NEED to feel stimmed.
 
Let's address this.

The busiest time for gyms is 5-7pm. So many users have been at work and come to the gym in need of a 'lift'. What I did when I worked those kinds of hours is carb up around 4pm with a BIG (100g) flapjack. Then a small/standard cup of black coffee before I took the train/commute home. By the time I hit the gym I was ready. I'd smash it then walk the 10 minutes home. Once in a pre-cooked meal would be ate and I was done. I could go to sleep with zero issues.

Stimmed up... probably not.

With 24 hour gyms you can always get up an hour early do what NEEDS to be done. Stims would wear off well enough so that a normal kind of day can be had.
 
Update on PWO:

If you MUST use one CHECK the ingredients. Either they MUST include a FULL effective dose or allow for other supps you take in your daily intake (creatine for example).

I recently gave a road test to a gym buddies pre-manufacturing blend (he's not back from Italy so I'l be checking on what's in it etc when he's back). It didn't make me stronger but I felt like I had more energy after the gym. Which is fine as I train in the am.

Training Tip 141
Protein for women vs protein for men
So today someone asked for the boyfriend a recommendation of a mass gainer. I replied there's NO sex specific proteins. SOME are marketed with pink labels etc aimed at being attractive to 'the girls' but the ingredients are the same as any other. Annoyingly they cost more on a gram for gram basis which is a fkin joke.

At best SOY comes close to being one better for women to use. That only because if a man uses a LOT of the lower concentrate versions it MIGHT raise his estrogen a little (not a good thing). Using a small amount is actually good because it's great, in moderation, for heart health.
 
Training Tip 142
Confusing what libido means
So we all know things are never quite that simple. That the amount of testosterone varies and age making a difference right? But what I find also confusing is how often people confuse having an erection vs wanting to have sex.

The need, want, act or desire is what I think of as libido. Now having a hard on usually is a sign of an active libido. But I'm seeing posts where using a ED drug - such as Viagra - is a 'fix' for libido. Now there's something to the indirect effect of using an ED drug giving a very (and I mean VERY) small temporary boost to test levels and so, therefore, the libido but taking an ED drug doesn't automatically mean libido has been boosted.

That's a bit like saying 'I want the lights to come on' to the light switch just cos you have one. You can, for example, have a rock hard hard on and not want sex (not often I'll grant you lol).

Of course one really rather obvious issue on our forums is using steroids (a choice after all) then moaning when a well known side effect rears it's ugly head (unlike your tadger). Ditto, as in my case, when you hit a certain age and find... cue shock...you're not the spring hicken you once was. We can't always throw more and more drugs at it.
 
Mobster said:
Training Tip 142
Confusing what libido means
So we all know things are never quite that simple. That the amount of testosterone varies and age making a difference right? But what I find also confusing is how often people confuse having an erection vs wanting to have sex.

The need, want, act or desire is what I think of as libido. Now having a hard on usually is a sign of an active libido. But I'm seeing posts where using a ED drug - such as Viagra - is a 'fix' for libido. Now there's something to the indirect effect of using an ED drug giving a very (and I mean VERY) small temporary boost to test levels and so, therefore, the libido but taking an ED drug doesn't automatically mean libido has been boosted.

That's a bit like saying 'I want the lights to come on' to the light switch just cos you have one. You can, for example, have a rock hard hard on and not want sex (not often I'll grant you lol).

Of course one really rather obvious issue on our forums is using steroids (a choice after all) then moaning when a well known side effect rears it's ugly head (unlike your tadger). Ditto, as in my case, when you hit a certain age and find... cue shock...you're not the spring hicken you once was. We can't always throw more and more drugs at it.
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Very true. Libido is a huge balancing act of hormones and other mental aspects as well as neurotransmitter levels.

Cabergoline basically greatly increases dopamine, now that shit will make u perverted as fuk. Does for me at least. Things/thoughts or fantasies are massively more perverted for me on caber.
Sex is much Better. I do like caber.

However, after years of messing with neurochemical levels, drugs, hormones ect well, just have to be careful.

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Ohh yeh was going to add somthing.
There may be days where u really feel like shit and wanna skip gym or whatever, but iv realised even when those days come about, even just going for a half hour of less intense lifting is still more than having stayed at home.

Somtimes every workout can't be balls to the walls Fucking amped!
So basically, somthing is better than nothing. That's my advice
 
harrywho said:
Very true. Libido is a huge balancing act of hormones and other mental aspects as well as neurotransmitter levels.

Cabergoline basically greatly increases dopamine, now that shit will make u perverted as fuk. Does for me at least. Things/thoughts or fantasies are massively more perverted for me on caber.
Sex is much Better. I do like caber.

However, after years of messing with neurochemical levels, drugs, hormones ect well, just have to be careful.

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Ohh yeh was going to add somthing.
There may be days where u really feel like shit and wanna skip gym or whatever, but iv realised even when those days come about, even just going for a half hour of less intense lifting is still more than having stayed at home.

Somtimes every workout can't be balls to the walls Fucking amped!
So basically, somthing is better than nothing. That's my advice
Click to expand...

The endophins from training help. We never realize just how much of an effect our hormones have on us.
 
Mobster said:
The endophins from training help. We never realize just how much of an effect our hormones have on us.
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Ohhh yehhh that's 100% correct...
Also girls, contraception, hormones, periods, fluctuating hormones.... They have a make or break effect on us...

U can run a cycle with perfectly balanced hormones and feel like Fucking God and talk to any girl and fuk like a champ. And it can be the complete opposite if those hormones go out of whack....

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Some girls more than others really require a specific kind of contraception. Some have hi dose estrogen, low dose estrogen, combination pill... When my ex took hi dose estrogen pills well yeh her tits got bigger but holy shit she was a psycho...
Getting a girl on the right contraceptive pill is more important than most will realise. Not to mention the impact it will have on their libido and self esteem ect...
 
Training Tip 143
Taking advice from guys down the gym or your dealer.

In the era of the internet I find it difficult get my head around how often I see bad advice being handed out. It's worse when they are supposedly your coach. Take one instance I saw recently. A new member had purchased some GH. He was being shown how to add water to the powder and so on. The pin bent, then it broke... and I head 5ius a day mentioned. It started bad and got worse.

Today, right here on the forum, we've a member who took winny - not once buy twice - and complained about sore joints both times and could we help. No. You can help yourself. You go look up winny and right there it says some get sore joints. You have NO excuse. Literally none. There's a TON of info you can use. You can ask a mate, dealer/supplier and then check that online. Then and only then should you go ahead (assuming all the other items and rules are in place).
 
Training Tip 144
Differences and or explanations for effective, optimal, proprietary and standardized terms.
You'll see these terms come up a lot with products and it's useful to know what they mean. It's the difference between what looks like a great deal and a dud.

Standardized: often used in herb type products. As vegetation naturally varies in potency simply consuming said herb doesn't mean you're getting a nice dose. So any decent company ensures that no matter what you get a dose by making sure the herb etc they've given you contains say 20% of what you need (and saying 'contains 20% standardized of X chemical). An example would be Tribulus. More recently I've seen this used in CBD products. The higher the standard the better . Something with 40% is 2x as good as a 20% product.

Effective: If, by way of example, a pill contained 100mg of Ibuprofen and only 200mg worked (and so is effective) then the 100mg product would be a waste of time. I've seen deals on tubs of pills which looked good and claimed to be a months supply but only contain 1/3rd of the effective dose.

Optimal: With some products you can get the RDA (recommended daily allowance) but while this is ok it might be ideal or optimal to be getting more. I had an debate with a nutritionist over the use of 1000mg of Vitamin C vs 200-600mg (much better).

Now we get to proprietary: This, given all of the above, is where we can find it very difficult to know if we get any of them. Companies, some quite properly, want to protect a unique blend which they have created and which may well be the best version available from being copied by their rivals. But it can also hide where cuts have been made so that you get NONE of the above. This is especially true when the legit ingredient has been tested and studied and then sold to a company under license. So company Z pays a license holder to produce a solid product. Company B claims to have come up with a blend just as good but how the f**k can you find out if that's true if you don't know what's in it? And what about the copy cat company using a licensed product and or formula and not paying for it. If they DO pay you can be sure they will say so and it MUST be as described - better for sales and better for you right?
 
Training Tip 145
The issue of self prescribed TRT.
Now both can and often are age dependent. It's highly unlikely, although not impossible, that the younger fellas will need either kind. So real TRT tends to be given to and used by the more mature among you. I'd hazard a guess 40+. Ensure your health, diet and lifestyle are on point before seeing if you need it. Those who self prescribe tend to be younger. And unless you live next to a chemical plant breathing in its fumes, drink contaminated water, are morbidly obese, smoke, are stupidly stressed, don't train and so on then it's probably not an issue when you're in your 20's or 30's and yet we're seeing more guys thinking they do. Even among those who do workout, keep fit and eat healthily.

There's a difference between thinking you need it and actually need it. Too many of those self prescribing TRT do so not because they have low levels of natural test but because they like how they feel 'on' and dislike how they feel off. Throw in the mantra of 'and I'll lose my gains' and you now have all the excuse to stay on a low level. If you were also foolish enough to go the whole hog of 3+ grams a week for years at a time and screwed with your HPTA you more or less inflicted a need to go on TRT. And I've got a buck a few of you still don't get it via a doc. I'll quote Dave Palumbo (see his YT vid of the last few days (the date this was posted is the clue you'll need). If you stay on and never ever give your receptors a break then your gains will be less.

I've a bunch of gym buddies who use gear and make almost no sense at all in their reasoning with it. Stuff like 'taking my gear pre-workout'. 99% in their heads because sometimes the gear wont have even had a chance to be at a level as to have an effect on their training. The same applies to training like crazy, eating well and using (inc TRT) and then getting high or drinking booze. It's kinda silly taking a low dose TRT only to then not get the benefits by doing the other stupid shit.

One final issue is time. That includes time off between cycles and time for full recovery after a proper and effective PCT. I understand the feeling of a 'need' to be as strong and muscular or being big. Yet there are benefits, mentioned above, to doing it right. Not needing TRT is one. Stop being so damned impatient and take a longer view.
 
Poly drug use including steroid use Is strong in the literature.

I think I read male testosterone levels are like 50 percent lower now compared to 40 years ago... Somthing along those lines don't quote me.

Not to mention the hugggge societal expectation to look a certain way these days.... Girls have it too... In their own way.
Makeup, fashion, surgery, ect.
Males can only really use steroids... And try and dress well... We don't have a lot of options.

Hollywood and fake natties... People think wolverine was natty in the movie.. I'm like fuk sake... Zac efron all of them. I'm like they're on steroids... They think that's achievable naturally...

Just like girls looking at photoshoped pics of girls full of plastic surgery and makup.

Its a fukked world....
 
I had a couple questions about my squats and deadlifts. I've been doing 315lbs for a set of 8 on squats, pushing it just fine. Then for my next set I'll try 335lbs. I go down just fine and coming up it doesn't feel terribly heavy, but as soon as I get to the top, my knees shake uncontrollably, almost to the point it will make me drop the weight, I'm able to work through it but it makes me a little nervous to really push myself on squats. There is no pain when my knees start shaking, but I feel like it could lead to an injury if I don't figure out how to fix it.

My question on deadlifts have to do with wearing a belt. I've tried wearing a belt after I pulled my lower back but I find it incredibly uncomfortable and I can deadlift a lot more without it. Are belts really all that necessary for going heavy on deadlifts? I do wear a belt and knees sleeves when I squat and it feels a lot better.

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Sorry if I abruptly changed the subject but just needed some advice from the vets.
 
Well I thought this was a tips thread where you could ask for some tips on something, I apologize for asking for tips, I shall search out a different type of tips thread that have less strict rules on tip asking.
 
dirthawger said:
Well I thought this was a tips thread where you could ask for some tips on something, I apologize for asking for tips, I shall search out a different type of tips thread that have less strict rules on tip asking.
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Page 1, post 1: I created it - I said POST tips. You'll also notice I replied to the two questions. So read first and then reply.

''Feel free to add training tips here''
 
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Training Tip 145
Test boosters and why your test is low
So a great many, even non bodybuilders, buy and use test boosters. Let's have a quick look at why your levels are low
1) You're old. It's just nature - as you get older the levels you had slowly decrease.
2) You don't train. Not just weights but any kind of keep fit. If you don't do something to stay healthy what did you think was gonna happen
3) You eat crap / your diet is poor. Like point 2... what did you think would happen. It's a GIVEN that if you eat healthily your levels will be better.
4) You OVER train.
5) Stress
6) Work like a maniac
7) Sleep is poor.
8) The meds you're on
9) Crap environment
10) You're fat.

Now I don't want any of you taking a booster if you're guilty of any of the above and expect too much.
Equally, as per posts of mine on the forum, do not expect ROID like results from a test booster. Even the very best will only boost you to the best levels your boy would have produced naturally. Now if you're off product levels are low as fuck and you fix points 1-10 it'll feel like you had gear like results compared to how bad it was before. That's why you'll hear of guys on the better products or low levels of (REAL) TRT 'feeling amazing'.

But FIX those issues first.
 
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Training Tip 146
The Mind and the Muscle
So yesterday I walked out, squatted down and stood up with 7 plates a side on the bar. Now this was NOT a pure barbell squat. I used a Safety Squat bar Hatfield style (just putting that out there). For some perverse reason I've grown to like that bar and that way of squatting and, once again, wanna max the bitch out. Last week I repped six a side and walked the 300kg / 660lbs out.

But damn it was kinda scary. The Strength Shop bar (it's an early version) bends, wobbles and feels kinda springy. So walking it out meant it bowed over my shoulders and I began to think 'if I go down, do the rep, will I be able to rerack it after?'. Hence the mind.

More so in competition than the gym I've had moments when I go into a kind of 'lift and be damned' mind set. Any of the guys who, bench shirt or no bench shirt, put a 700-1000lbs+ bar over their faces risking it coming out of their hands and killing them has had the same thought or lack of it pass through.

Rob Bailey's tune 'I will stand up' helped. There's an element where the work I did with the 6 plates previously meant I should have been ready but you still gotta get under the bar.
 
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Training Tip 147
More on the mind
In it's way it's everything. In the previous tip I talked about that 300kg. The week after I did a rep with it. One week scary...then. It took that week, probably less, to get my head around it. Right now, as type this, I've 'Westside vs The World' playing. In some ways the guys that actually train at Westside seem kinda crazy. Almost as though being 'off' is what's needed to be that kind of driven. Indeed I've argued that this is true pretty much of any sport.

To the man in the street playing 'ball (Basketball) for hours at a time is kinda crazy. Potting the balls in snooker too. I recall two world champs (Darts and Snooker) talking about a MINIMUM of 8 hours practice a day. Often 11-12 hours and more. One time 13-16 hours. You can same the same about putting 10 years into playing Chess just to be a half decent player.

For my sins I've actually eased up on the crazy. There are guys out there, a few I competed against and beaten, bending and then snapping steel. I've done this - it fkin hurts. If I can I avoid it now lol. Other stuff included an almost guaranteed skin tear. There needs to be an element of 'who f'kin cares'.

Now, as an older, more mature and hopefully experienced lifter, I am able to look at the mind set of those I advise real quick. Now that means I will bitch on your ass about doing shit the right way and THEN I want to see crazy. But ONLY after you got all that other stuff RIGHT.
 
Training Tip 148
More on the mind... part 3?
So I 'get' how some of us who train are dealing with issues (not all - some). Be that a form of dis-morphia, anxiety issues and so on. What I don't get and would prefer to see a LOT less of is less drugs. Not steroids / PED's (although less is more there too) but pretty much every other kind.

As I've stated here and in other threads you can always take a little time out and use therapy to sort out problems. Then come back to training - it'll be waiting. Self medicating with, among others, drugs like Xanax and even LSD is far, far worse, IMO, than moaning about what the doc prescribed. It's much harder than you think to be objective on your use.

I've cited how buddies of mine have dealt with depression or mental health and use a variety of recreational drugs and PED's too. How they really don't like coming off and it's a mental thing not a physical thing. That's true of a great many forum members.
 
Training Tip 149
Using blends and or high potency products - issues

So I get the not wanting to pin a lot. I REALLY get that. I'm no fan of sticking a needle in anywhere. Some are ok with it. Hence how some labs have provided customers and users of their products with the option of using a pre-mixed blend. In other cases they have also upped the amount per liquid millilitre. Thus, instead of only getting 250-300mg a ml and, if you desire to do so, wanting to inject 400-500ml at a time as opposed to 2ml and so on you end up with a choice of a higher potency product.

However, just as it can be a pain in the butt (literally) jabbing and pinning frequently (more so with shorter esters) it can be painful injecting higher potency products. The PIP (post injection pain) can be something users will bitch about. But you know this happens (how do I know.... cos I looked it up and read about it... so can you) and yet here you are a-moaning and a-bitching about how bad it stings. I'm sorry.... shall I get mummy to kiss it better?

You made a choice. Less pinning and or more gear vs the potential for it to be annoyingly painful. YOUR CHOICE!!
 
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I can say from my experience that combination bodybuilding-cardio-stretching (yoga) works perfectly. You stay healthy, lose weight, and build muscles. Perfectly. By the way. What do you think about the Proform Hybrid Trainer? I want to buy to train at home in case if gyms will be closed again.
 
jimmyharveyson said:
I can say from my experience that combination bodybuilding-cardio-stretching (yoga) works perfectly. You stay healthy, lose weight, and build muscles. Perfectly. By the way. What do you think about the Proform Hybrid Trainer? I want to buy to train at home in case if gyms will be closed again.
Click to expand...

It looks expensive
 
The KISS approach to training and how I'm still benching close to 400lbs in my 50's.

So back in the day (in my mid-40's) at my absolute best and in a very light pair of elbow sleeves (the kind bought from a chemist/pharmacy) I bench a touch and go 190kg/418lbs. Nothing world class but still enough to put me in the 5% group of most gyms. Off cycle I'd do a 1RM of 170kg.

So last year (probably 18 months back) I did a training and PED cycle and hit 170kg in my home gym and a 175kg at my local gym. This year I was struggling but finally remembered to look at what worked before. So here's that plan:

Monday is legs, Tuesday is a bench volume (relative for me) day, Wednesday is off. Thursday is shoulders and arms and Friday is a bench max day. I take the weekends off. Because most of my lifts are heavy (sometimes HAF lol) and are at a high percentage of my 1RM even just training 4x a week (occasionally 2x a day when I do the additional grip work) the 4 x a week works and I need the rest. Recently, 100% during the whole covid thing, I've been doing steps 2x a day as well (zero hill walking so I need to up my fitness levels). In addition my body-weight has been close to 330lbs recently (an all time high) so I need to keep an eye on heart health and BP.

What happens on the Tuesday - Volume Day
Bar warm ups - 20 reps
60kg/132lbs x 8 reps, 100kg/220lbs x 6 reps, then the target weight. Last Tuesday that was 132.5kg / 290lbs x 3 sets of 3 reps and 1 set of 6 reps. I seem to need longer to warm up as I get older. Hence it's been a grind doing the 3 x 3 reps and then, all of a sudden, boom a burst of energy and power.

I also usually do at least 1 back movement on these days to get a bit of a upper back pump. This is good to push off of. During lockdown I bought a proper flat bench with what the lifters call a Fat Pad.

Fridays
The warm ups are similar but I'll do a 120kg / 264lbs final single warm up. I pause and hold this to my chest. I had cramp this past Friday in a hamdstring so did this with one leg up lol.

This past Friday
I was having a GOOD day. Every and I mean EVERY attempt hit the sweet spot on my chest (aka 'in the groove'). I also had ZERO discomfort in my right arm biceps tendon - something which has been annoying me for weeks. I ended up hitting what looked like an easy 170kg. So easy that after I kinda wish I'd carried on. Maybe doing a double, trying 175kg and even maybe 180kg.

It's nice to know that I'm not a million miles away from where I've been in the past and some 15 years after my all time PB. It also means the program works!
 
Another excellent tip for newbies is DO NOT MASTURBATE WITHIN 2 HOURS OF BEGINNING A TRAINING SESSION!
My results more than double when i started to follow this last month.
 
Ssshortstop said:
Another excellent tip for newbies is DO NOT MASTURBATE WITHIN 2 HOURS OF BEGINNING A TRAINING SESSION!
My results more than double when i started to follow this last month.
Click to expand...

It's fine doing it to yourself it's doing the rest of the proball team that tires you out.
 
Age, gear and doses
In my 50's here. A lot of guys, regardless of age, seem to think they need to do two things no matter what after a cycle.
1) Add more forms of steroids and ]
2) add bigger dosages.

If, as has happened, we get guys who haven't used in years they ask if they need to do X or Y differently and I'm like 'No. Just do what worked previously'. If it worked well for you before why wouldn't it work again?

If you got lean on B then use B again. You KNOW it worked. Ditto bigger etc.

And why do you guys need to add 2, 3 or more compounds. One, which worked, will work again.

Why keep upping the dose cycle to cycle? If 300mg worked and you MUST up it then go to 350 or 400. You do NOT need to go to double at 600mg. You will NOT get double the gains.

Finally, get your heads round that gains, cycle to cycle, will be smaller. But I'll take a 10lb first cycle and 5lbs 2nd etc etc over NOTHING. Unless you have crazy genes this is a given. I've done the numbers before:175 at 18 (6'3) to a all time high of 329lbs over 41 years - 154 or 4lbs a year (as always - not a bodybuilder). Now that's with my genes. Maybe yours are better, maybe they're worse. But even a poor-ish 1lb a year is still a 41lb gain. I have never and will NEVER see the need to do 100mg of any AAS a DAY. NEVER.
 
Good update Mobster, in your 50s health is now more important than ever.
 
Mobster said:
Age, gear and doses
In my 50's here..
Click to expand...

bro whaaat? i thought you were in yo 20's.. you sound young on podcast, like weird accent and shit. i guess that how you yanks talk up there in boston
 
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