Honestly I am in the exact same boat. My wife makes the food for the us all and It is hard to make one meal that everyone will eat and ofnciurse the kids win out, which is fine. I definitely talk to my wife a lot about needing her support though because my metabolism sucks so if I don't eat super clean I will gain weight fast. I think she is about to get on a healthy kick with me and we generally are surprised by what the kids will and won't eat so I think we can make it work. It absolutely is a family effort though, so I feel you there. I feel like I am whining sometimes when I talk to her about only wanting to eat healthy, but in the complete opposite manner of my kids who only want to ear junk.

I was in shape like I am now when I got married, so my wife accepts it and lets me lead the boat on cooking (which I am fine with). I'll also shoehorn veggies into my diet as no sodium canned stuff and salad greens eaten with little else. I also like the 3-4 serving veggie packs that you can steam in a bag. We always have those 3 in supply.

My kid *****es and moans sometimes, but he plays football and basketball for a large jr. high, so he knows it's right.

Opposite direction for me. Have bulked from 205 to 220 but can't seem to get above it without feeling fat. Back to ~212 I go. Unless my deadlift starts to slip. Then all cutting is off.

This is the limbo I live in.

Impressive! I bet that was intense!

CC09LawAg said:

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Just finished my 5x10 squat at 265, man that was rough. But I got it straight through, didn't need a make up set to catch up on reps.

Based on that I can't wait to max out in a few weeks. Trying to remain cautiously optimistic but I think 4 plates should move easy.

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Good for you.

If anyone else is interested we have 5 on a group whatsapp chat dedicated to lifting. You can learn things like "how to video while still listening to music". It is a really in depth and technical group.

Nice job!

I'm interested. Emailed 10andbounce

bagger05 said:

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Getting lifts back to where I was. I "graduate" to the next weight when I do 8/10/12.

Today on flat bench I did 240x8, 230x10, 220x13. Which means next time I don't have to remove the second plate on my last set. My ego likes that.

My previous best is 250x8, 237.5x10, 225x12. Should be back there in a few weeks I think. It's coming back pretty quick. Once I get back there I will slow down progression.

At some point I want to train for a 225 max reps like at the combine.

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maybe a dumb question but I'm just getting into this..
what are you lifting on/with? Are you alone?

I'm scared straight to do a bench press on my own with bar/weights. It just seems so risky to me.
Is there a machine that works better for this?

I lift alone, and when I do flat bench I set my power rack to the setting JUST above my chest. I lose like 2" of range of motion. Doing bench like that is actually harder than touching my chest because of how much effort it takes to stop the bar before the awkward rest on the safety bars.

Or, I just do them with DB's (and I have a set of commercial powerblocks that go up to 175 (I just asked for 125's), so there's never a weight on those I'll be able to get to where I can't progress.

aggiegolfer03 said:

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I lift alone, and when I do flat bench I set my power rack to the setting JUST above my chest. I lose like 2" of range of motion. Doing bench like that is actually harder than touching my chest because of how much effort it takes to stop the bar before the awkward rest on the safety bars.

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That makes sense, we have a power rack at work, and I was sitting there wanting to put the stops above chest, but I figured that wasn't really the proper rep and may be harder than without them.

I use my spotter arms for bench and my cage for squats.

I set the cage right below the bottom of my squat, because if I fail on my squats it's usually right out of the hole, so it's only a few inches that I slowly let the weight down.

On bench, with the spotter arms I have them set to slightly below my chest. In the times I have failed a rep, I have generally been able to lower it down slowly. In the event the bar slipped, I don't think it would push my chest down but maybe a half inch (it has Westside hole spacing so this gives me a little more customization as to the height of the spotter arms). From there, the bar is resting on my chest and I roll it down to my stomach/waist since that is narrower and then I just scoot myself up out from underneath it.

Failing/bailing a lift can be scary. My advice would be to use your warm up reps to feel out exactly where you need the arms/bars to catch in the event you just were to totally collapse.

For my bench setup, I basically took the empty bar, rested it on my chest as if I was at the bottom of the rep, and set the safety arms to where if I slightly leaned to the left or the right the bar would make contact.

Is there any consensus as to whether or not a horizontal push machine is as effective/can take the place of bench press?

I am no expert, this is just from me wandering around on the internet and reading a bunch of different style of lifters opinions. I try to watch content from bodybuilders, powerlifters, weekend warriors, and everything in between so I can form my own opinions and what works for me.

For pure hypertrophy and slow controlled reps, it seems like a lot of people favor it over bench press. I think it is more apt to be used by those doing bodybuilding vs "strength" training.

If you are uncomfortable benching heavy, you could easily keep the bench press in your routine in rep ranges you're less likely to fail in and then use this as an accessory or as your main movement on a different day.

Again, I think it's dependent on what your goals are. I hope that's a little helpful.

As an example, a guy like Jay Cutler who still is huge and lifts often says he doesn't even do barbell bench anymore, it's all dumbbells. But a lot of stronger guys also don't want to mess with dumbbells anymore because of the difficulty in the setup. If you're lifting alone, I assume it's basically impossible to get dumbbells like that into position without having something rigged up to hold them in place.

It's not just because of setup, it's also about weight. My gym goes to 135 on dumbbells which is more than enough for most lifts but not flat dumbbell bench. I'd rather do heavier weight and sets of 6-8 than having to do 15-20 reps.

I absolutely prefer barbell bench and it's my favorite lift but I'd recommend a balance between barbell bench (done correctly), incline dumbbell, incline smith, incline barbell, flat dumbbell, and machine press.

It's an effective exercise but it will not necessarily translate to any improvement on barbell bench press. If you care about how much your bench is, not a ton of benefit, especially if you're taking time/energy away from bench. If you don't care about bench and just care about hypertrophy, probably okay unless weight on the machine is an issue.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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I absolutely prefer barbell bench and it's my favorite lift but I'd recommend a balance between barbell bench (done correctly), incline dumbbell, incline smith, incline barbell, flat dumbbell, and machine press.

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Agree to that. That is why I mentioned it depends on what the goals are - if you're the weekend warrior/trying to lift 3 days a week just to stay relatively healthy type, I think it's hard to hit all of those movements. I think it's better for a beginner to stick to one or two movements and gain mastery of them first.

I used to make that mistake in my programming all the time - I'd try to do everything and it didn't really ever get me anywhere.

Another lift that I think gets overlooked for the fancy/flashier stuff is dips.

CC09LawAg said:

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Again, I think it's dependent on what your goals are. I hope that's a little helpful.

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I guess it's time I really try and define my goals because I'm not sure. For anyone interested or want to give advice;

I'm 43, and for the first time in my life, I've been consistent in lifting weights for 4 days a week, now hitting about month 5.

So that was the first goal, as I've never been successful at keeping a routine for more than maybe 2 months. In recent years I had a treadmill kick for a few months twice. This time I feel like it will stick as I hate running lol. Lifting weights is def. more fun.

I have a 'put together' gym at work (very small company, and it's right by my office so no excuse). I have been doing that 4 days a week since august.
We have a set of dumbbells 5-50, a rack/bench with cables that has chest fly, and a pulldown/pullup with a few bars and a rope, then another couple of benches, one with a preacher curl addon and one with a leg extension. Also a dip/pull bar with assist seat, then some random weights, pair of 45s, 2 pair 35s, pair 25s and some 10s/5s/2.5s. We have a typical 45lb bar for bench/squat and a curled or whatever you call it short bicep bar.
Then a bike/ treadmill and elliptical, slackline, and punching bag.

My wife decided to join Planet fitness at new years, and her 'black card' pass comes with bring a friend free (crazy it's only $25/mo), so now I can go with her t/th and fri, and do my work gym m/w. We've had that routine for 3 weeks now and I think it will stick. Our kids do after school care on t/th and friday we can go after lunch. So it's a nice little activity we can do together.

So that's what's available to me and that routine has been nice, as I like Planet fitness for a bigger selection of what I have at work, like ab machines, chest press, sled, plus it's just quicker to go between stations. At work there is a lot of weight shuffling and bench moving, etc.

Overall I'd like to just bulk up some, I'm 5-11 and 170-175, so not super skinny, but overall I'd say thin build without a whole lot of weight to lose. I currently have some decent definition in arms and shoulders/ back, but none in belly/chest. This is def. what I think my main goal is; to bulk up some and get some ab/chest definition.

So I'm kind of aimlessly just hitting every machine/muscle group using an app to keep track (repcount). I'm using a weight on every set that allows me to get 8-10 reps with the last few being difficult, rest 45 sec or so, then 3 sets of that. So I think I'm doing a proper weight. I'm not just knocking out 10 reps without much struggle. On a few of the machines at planet fitness, I'm nearly maxed out. (the seated tricep push down and bicep curl to think of a few)

a typical workout is 8-10 different 3 set groups, usually not focused on any one thing, rather, a bit of everything. A few each for legs, arms, shoulders, chest, and back/abs.


So I guess, is this overall an effective way to to do this? What should I change or do differently?

Edit to add, kind of important - I've had a herniated disk in lower lumbar forever. Most of the time, it's fine and doesn't effect me. But as I'm aging, it's more and more often just kind of there. not much pain, but can aggravate it easily. Because of this, I've very stiff over the decades. I can't even touch my ankles, let alone toes. Some times I'm doing a random lift, and I feel it, so I'm afraid to keep doing it, I find something else.

I cut out alcohol on weekdays pretty often throughout the year.. have been doing that for a few months now, with a few slip ups now and again. I try not to go crazy on weekends either.. my nearly 44 year old self isn't enjoying it as much the next day! I know that daily alcohol use is probably not synonymous with a 6 pack (on the stomach that is).

62strat said:

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bagger05 said:

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Getting lifts back to where I was. I "graduate" to the next weight when I do 8/10/12.

Today on flat bench I did 240x8, 230x10, 220x13. Which means next time I don't have to remove the second plate on my last set. My ego likes that.

My previous best is 250x8, 237.5x10, 225x12. Should be back there in a few weeks I think. It's coming back pretty quick. Once I get back there I will slow down progression.

At some point I want to train for a 225 max reps like at the combine.

---

maybe a dumb question but I'm just getting into this..
what are you lifting on/with? Are you alone?

I'm scared straight to do a bench press on my own with bar/weights. It just seems so risky to me.
Is there a machine that works better for this?

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I usually feel like I have 1-2 reps in reserve.

Last two sessions I was a little nervous on my last set and really wanted to "graduate" so I got someone to spot me. Both times they never even touched the bar, but having them back there gave me the confidence to go for rep #13. Had they not been there I probably wouldn't have tried it.

For what I'm doing I don't see the need to push myself to failure with heavy weight.

Oh boy. I'm jealous - you are right where I was 2 years ago.

I think you're going to get a lot of good information here, just like I did.

I used to work out the same way (granted I was in my 20s then so it was a little different) and I saw good results, I was pretty OK with my lifts and body composition.

I am telling you, doing Stronglifts 5x5completely changed my relationship with and understanding of lifting weights. I encourage anyone who wants to lift weights to try the program for at least 3 months.

I ran it for about 8 months or so, and am now doing 5/3/1 and I am easily the strongest I have ever been in my life at 36. This was after about 10 years off from any kind of serious/consistent exercise.

62strat said:

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Edit to add, kind of important - I've had a herniated disk in lower lumbar forever. Most of the time, it's fine and doesn't effect me. But as I'm aging, it's more and more often just kind of there. not much pain, but can aggravate it easily. Because of this, I've very stiff over the decades. I can't even touch my ankles, let alone toes. Some times I'm doing a random lift, and I feel it, so I'm afraid to keep doing it, I find something else.

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I do not have personal experience with this, but I have seen tons of people focus on training the muscles around that area with excellent results.

Many of the ATG guys have backgrounds of similar lower back issues and have used that program to rehab them and swear by it.

ETA: When I started back to lifting, I would have lower back pain/issues. I took my squats and deadlifts slowly and deloaded when I felt my form was compromised.

Now, outside of the very occasional very bad lift where my form breaks down, I almost never have any pain. I think if you're aware of it and don't force the issue, you can slowly improve it.

62strat said:

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Edit to add, kind of important - I've had a herniated disk in lower lumbar forever. Most of the time, it's fine and doesn't effect me. But as I'm aging, it's more and more often just kind of there. not much pain, but can aggravate it easily. Because of this, I've very stiff over the decades. I can't even touch my ankles, let alone toes. Some times I'm doing a random lift, and I feel it, so I'm afraid to keep doing it, I find something else.

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I've dealt with this off and on for a large part of my life. I first tweaked my lower back when I was in high school, and I wasn't even lifting weights. I assumed it was a pulled/strained muscle, and it went away in short order. And it didn't stop me from continuing to compete in powerlifting, with squats and deadlifts over 500. As I got older, especially into my 30's, these tweaks became more frequent, and usually happened when squating or deadlifting. My late 30's (about 10 years ago), I started doing yoga to help with flexibility (what I thought my main problem was). It helped with a lot of my flexibility issues to a degree, but a lot of the deep forward bends probably made my lower back issues worse. It really wasn't until the last couple of years that I realized it's a disc issue. And then about a year ago, I was doing yoga almost daily and had to completely stop everything for awhile, as the pain became too much.

Around that time I discovered the book The Back Mechanic by Stuart McGill. Excellent, excellent read. It changed how I approached everything and what I do to prevent and address any lower back tightness / soreness. By April of last year I was back in the gym (this time with my son), doing the same style of workouts that I often have, which included heavy squats and deadlifts. I've been able to consistently lift, have not missed any time (outside of getting the flu and a respiratory infection last month). I'm back in the 300's for now on squats and deadlifts and still working my way up.

I will add, that at the end of the day, you have to listen to your body. I do sumo deadlifts instead of conventional. That's what I was taught ages ago, and conventional have always been a challenge for me (long legs and tight hips). Sumo is much more forgiving on my lower back. I also add in things like hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts, hip abductors / adductors, anything extra that I feel shores up the muscles that support my lower back. Most days I am virtually pain free.

Lastly, I am still a huge proponent of yoga. It will definitely help with flexibility. But once again, you have to listen to your body. Any rounding of the lower back will make disc issues worse. You can still do forward bends, you just have to be careful with your alignment and what your lower back is doing.

My point in saying all of this is that, even though disc issues can be quit debilitating (I've been there), with a methodical and careful approach, you can lift and strengthen areas that will help limit and maybe prevent reoccurring issues. And I've read countless stories of powerlifters (for example) who've suffered through the same, but were able to overcome it and get back to competing. Don't feel it's necessarily a limitation for the rest of your life.

Quote:

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So I'm kind of aimlessly just hitting every machine/muscle group using an app to keep track (repcount). I'm using a weight on every set that allows me to get 8-10 reps with the last few being difficult, rest 45 sec or so, then 3 sets of that. So I think I'm doing a proper weight. I'm not just knocking out 10 reps without much struggle. On a few of the machines at planet fitness, I'm nearly maxed out. (the seated tricep push down and bicep curl to think of a few)

a typical workout is 8-10 different 3 set groups, usually not focused on any one thing, rather, a bit of everything. A few each for legs, arms, shoulders, chest, and back/abs.


So I guess, is this overall an effective way to to do this? What should I change or do differently?

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Do you have an apple watch or are you opposed to timing your rest in between sets with your phone? I am a big proponent of maintaining the same rest intervals each workout.

I'd also bump your rest time to 90 seconds on heavier compound type lifts like machine press to recover and probably lift more weight each set. If you switch over to heavy (3-6 reps) sets on bench, squat, leg press, etc., I would strongly recommend even 2 minutes between sets. This only works if you're really pushing yourself on these sets and NEED the recovery because you're working harder and with heavier weight.

On the particular machines you mentioned, incorporate tempo to counteract being maxed out on the machine. Curls with a hard squeeze at the top and do a controlled (fight the crap out of it) eccentric for 5 seconds. Will rock your world. Same with Triceps and it also help stretch your tendon that attaches on the elbow when fighting the eccentric.

I like to set up the same way with spotter arms or safety bars. Just below my chest or the bottom of my squat. I guess it could be dangerous in the event the barbell somehow slipped out of my grip but I just don't see that ever happening. I also think I would be able to at least lower the weight on failure. This is more about protecting my throat.

Another option people do is to just bench without collars on the bar so you could dump the weight on one side and then the other if you get into a jam. I think that would definitely cause a scene and be potentially dangerous if you're in a crowded gym, though.

Yes, the only concern I really have is the freak occurrence where it could somehow get to my throat/head. But, the uprights are pretty close to that area since I usually align my eyes with the bar. So if that were to ever happen, I guess I'll have to say a prayer and hope for the best.

I never bench with collars. I have had to dump the weight one time; it was the first time I had ever really failed on a high weight. My spotter arms still have the indention from the bar flying up to one side after the other side dumped. But, that means they did their job.

I use collars for every other barbell lift.

Anybody have any best practices for recovering from a shoulder strain?

Muscle strain or something going on in your rotator cuff?

I spent a lot of time in PT for jacked up shoulder after opting out of surgery because I was scared I would never be the same. There are a lot of light resistance band exercises you can do to strengthen everything up and increase rotation etc. I'm sure you can find them all online. Shoulder injuries suck because it's so hard to get them back to normal. I have a LOT of slop in my right one and some scarring in both so I always have to be really careful with them when doing any lifts.

CC09LawAg said:

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Just did my first workout of the final block for 5/3/1 Boring But Big 3 month challenge. Did my 3x5 on squats and then a 5x10 on deadlifts at 70% of my training max.

Couldn't do the 5x10 straight, had to do one extra catch up set to get my 50 total reps. That was pretty rough. Don't think I'm gonna have much left in the tank for accessory work this last few weeks.

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Got it straight through today for the 5x10. Feeing better every week.

Even when I'm sore/achey, I am feeling stronger and my form feels locked in. Love those weeks where you're in the zone and feel invincible!

Sea Speed said:

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Muscle strain or something going on in your rotator cuff?

I spent a lot of time in PT for jacked up shoulder after opting out of surgery because I was scared I would never be the same. There are a lot of light resistance band exercises you can do to strengthen everything up and increase rotation etc. I'm sure you can find them all online. Shoulder injuries suck because it's so hard to get them back to normal. I have a LOT of slop in my right one and some scarring in both so I always have to be really careful with them when doing any lifts.

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Could be the RC but it kinda feels more like my deltoid. I seem to remember RC issues feeling more like they were "inside" my shoulder.

I hurt my left RC a while back and for a while I was very disciplined about going through a warmup routine.

Now it's my right shoulder.

Rest and ice and all that for now. Hope it just needs some time off. And I'll definitely get back into that warmup routine.

Planning to do a 1RM after this cycle of 5/3/1 to check my progress and to see how close my estimated maxes are.

Question for the group is, should I do it on the scheduled deload week or 5/3/1, or should I do the deload week as scheduled and then max out the following week?

The only reason I ask is I would be doing a 5x10 at 265 on squats on Thursday and then turning around and maxing them out on Sunday, and I feel like I might need a little more time to rest.

The other thing I thought about was starting my deload week on Monday or Tuesday to give me an extra day or two. If I did that, it would be 5/3/1 Su/T/R/Sa, then instead of doing squats on Sunday, I'd take a day or two off and do a M/W/R/Sa or something like that.

When I did it, I just used my 1's week to joker up to a 1RM. With all the volume you're doing, that doesn't seem possible unless you ditch the volume plan this week.

One option would be the run back the 1's week again right after you officially end the BBB program with the sole purpose of working up to a 1RM. Probably what I would do, since you likely really need a deload week after this program.

Yeah, that is my fear - I don't want to skip the last week of BBB, just because I want to see it all the way through.

Running back the 5/3/1 week may be how I handle it. My initial plan was just to do the deload week 3x5 reps and then work my way up doing singles, then skip the 3x10 work and run the deload week as programmed after that.