cubby2112

Anyone else have bad problems with creatine water retention making you look fluffy? This has always been an issue with me. I look fuller and bigger on it, but fluffier. When I cycle off, I usually have some pretty good abs, but when on it, it chugs my six pack faster than a frat boy. I remember one time when I cycled on it, that I didn't have issues with losing definition. I may have been leaner at the time, or there may have been some other factor. I don't really believe in any creatine other than monohydrate, and have used micronized mono before. According to Iron Addict, crappy grade mono (I admit, I often grab creatine from GNC, because I suck at keeping it in stock) usually causes more water to pool in the belly area. He says that a good quality micronized mono, such as Creapure, doesn't have this effect. Can anyone corroborate this with personal experience/science? I usually end up going off creatine for long stints because of this, but I hate to, because I respond to creatine incredibly well.

IF i was you I'd add whatever weight puts you down to the 5-10 rep range depending on goals. I'm usually in the 5-8 range. From my experience the best way to increase total reps of a certain exercise is staying low rep and building more total strength then at the end of that muscle group do higher rep body weight. I remember 5 years again i had a body weight fanatic friend who thought weights were a waste of time and they don't build "functional strength" he told me there was no way i could do 80 push ups because i only train low rep bench which doesn't carry over to push ups. And then i busted out 100 push ups never training over 10 reps on bench or doing any push ups. When someone says you don't train "functionally," you should just punch them in the face. Ask them how "functional" of a movement that was.

I hate that too. Then there is glycerin, stearic acid, etc., all that stuff that can be either plant or animal. I hate it all!

You're right, it is 600. I don't know where I got 350 from. Not like I'd ever dip more than 350 anyway, haha.

Might as well make a pea/rice mix while you are there. 70/30 makes the best amino acid profile, but since most of your protein probably comes from legumes anyway, setting it at 50/50 won't hurt, to get a little more grain protein.

Dude I love you. I think I'm going to buy it. I ordered from vegansportshop, they have oen but it broke when I added like 45 kg. Brian was really nice and sent me another one but I'm not sure if it will hold and I'm up to 55 kg dips and I have just started doing them again. Fuck this makes me siked. LOVE YOU!! No problem. Nice dipping weights, BTW.

I don't believe in shaping muscles or focusing on the upper/lower pec by changing angles. The only way to really hit the clavicular heard harder than the sternal one, or the other way around, is to focus on shoulder flexion/extension, not angle of horizontal adduction. Even then, it really is a moot point, because your muscles are going to be shaped however they are genetically made to. They will just become bigger versions of themselves. I wonder if that vascular pressure idea applies to decline crunches as well. I like doing heavy ass decline crunches, though I have decline benched only a total of five or so times in my life.

If you decline the bench as slightly as possible, it takes a lot of shoulder use out of the movement and puts more load on your pecs and triceps. It shouldn't create nearly the arterial pressure of a heavy decline, and since you aren't eating five pounds of burger a day, you should be safe.

My gym has a couple belts, but I bought my own a long time ago. Grizzly makes a good one, rated for 350lbs. No animal giblets.

People stare in awe when you chin with a 45lb plate or more strapped to you.

It depends on you and your goals. If it were me, I would start adding weight. Some find it no problem to add reps. I suck at anything higher reps, so if that is the same case with you, add weight. If you are trying to get bigger, add weight.

Not to knock it off-topic, but where do you get your TVP, Johan? Or what brand is it? All the TVP here (that I have found) is processed with gas that only removes fat.

I would try to replace the hamstring machine with a glute-ham raise, pull-thru, etc. For shoulder raises, I only like to do lateral ones to hit the lateral delts. Maybe change a couple of the second or third 5x5s in each workout to 3x8x or 4x6s. Those are just my personal preferences, though.

That must be why I like squatting, and deadlifting even more.

Really? I think that you will have a hard time getting enough protein while being on a calorie restriction if those are your food choices. It's impossible to know thought since you haven't posted any amounts. 1 gram of protein per pound is a minimum when cutting weight, at least when you get down to lower bf% ranges. I second this. I find it hard to keep protein high on mostly whole foods if I include many grains. When trying to cut, beans should definitely be in a higher quantity than grains, and most fruit should be low sugar (mostly berries and melons). Though, you don't have to stick to lower calorie fruits, so long as you keep your consumption moderate. I would definitely ditch the honey during a cut, especially if you want to be strictly vegan. It is pure sugar, and unless it really helps you keep your sanity, it is best avoided. I am not trying to lose weight, but am doing a recomp. I eat 1lb of dried beans and 1/2 cup of dried soybeans, cooked of course. The only fruits I eat with regularity are berries, and I don't eat grains. I use a little protein powder. This has worked better for me than any other strategy I've employed.

That is awesome. I agree, this setup destroyed my hams.

Anyone have a crazy Jerry-rigged, ghetto GHR setup? I've done them in a lat pulldown bench on and off, but I wanted to find a way to set one up as close to an Elite Fitness one as I could, because I wanted to bend at the hips as well as the knees, as some powerlifters (Wendler in particular) recommend. Here is what I came up with: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b32/cubby2112/Jerry-riggedGHR.jpg It works flawlessly, I'd say just as well as a real GHR. I thought it would be fun to start a thread where people could post pictures or descriptions of how they have rigged up something at their gym to do a GHR. This might help some people to find ways to setup their gym to do GHRs. My setup was very simple, since all I had to do was elevate a hyperextension setup to make it work, plus put something on the foot part to reduce calf drive. I think I will flip the pad I put on the standing plate next time, which should make it a perfect GHR setup. I guess this might be best in the photos section, but I think this post will find more activity here.

Added you. Keep me posted on the progression.

I like to load up a barbell in a rack like I am going to do a rack dead, lift it up, and grip like my life depends on it. You can use overhand and underhand, bar in front and bar in rear combinations. I also like loading two barbells in a rack, standing in between them, lifting them both in the center of the grip and holding. It looks really weird and you may get some comments, but the swaying action of the long bars makes it really hard. You can also make poor man's fat grips by wrapping towels or those pads sissies use for back squats around barbells and doing grip work with those. Also, always use chalk and a hook or alternated grip with heavy loads when dead lifting.

Found a good video demonstrating it.

Nope I haven't. You should really stop putting words in my mouth, it's an ugly and desperate way to try and win an argument. I think Johan's body fat may be even lower than Shawn's, except Johan has quite a bit more muscle.

I second beforewisdom on the date sugar. I only really use stevia for a sweetener, but if I was to use a caloric one on any kind of regular basis, date sugar would be my go-to. You can make it into a syrup by adding a little water and maybe simmering it a bit, if you don't like the grainy texture and can't let it sit for awhile for the texture to smooth.

Anyone heard of this? Basically, it is phenomenon where your nervous system and muscle fibers are "primed" by a heavy set, followed four or more minutes later with a lighter one. This allows you to pump out more weight in a certain rep scheme than you would normally be able to. Russian strength trainers used to (and still do) use it in their programming. Charles Poliquin has a system called 1-6, where he has someone pump out a rep at or near their 1RM, then do a 6 rep set five minutes later, and repeat, usually two more times. Their weights apparently go up each wave. His system seems far too taxing, though. Here is a good research review on PAP: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16026172 If you have access to Medline, you can get the full text, which I would recommend. It is a good read. So, have any of you done a heavy single, double or triple, then went to a higher rep set and felt like the weight was far lighter than usual? I am going to experiment with this today on squats. I plan to use as my final warm-up set a weight that is significantly heavier than my work weight, along the lines of 10%, but only do a single with it. Then, I am going to do a three rep working set five minutes later, and see how the weight feels for me. I will then follow that with another five rep or so working set, at a lower weight, then probably call it good for squats.

I soak 1lb of some sort of legume, and 1/2C of soybeans for 24 hours in advance, then rinse and let them simmer overnight in a crock pot. In the morning, I turn the pot all the way down and add some veggies. By night, I have a couple meals (I follow intermittent fasting and eat huge). I used to use a pressure cooker, but I've broken two and have yet to purchase another. I plan to buy a Fagor next time, so it lasts. I actually like using a slow cooker more, and will probably stick to that for day-to-day use, and save the pressure cooker for those days when I forget to slow cook some beans.

One of my friends and I were planning on making some homemade cheese from her excess breast milk, but we couldn't find a recipe that anyone had successfully completed. It seems to be very hard to curdle (vinegar and lemon juice don't do the trick) and would probably require a specific enzyme, like rennet, but from a human.