OT: Fitness and Nutrition IX

[Lebowski]

I've been changing up my leg workouts lately, mostly focusing on ATG stop squats 5x5.

Boy does that tear up the muscles. I don't even do any other exercises on my leg days anymore because these squats get me sore for a couple days on their own. I only add an exercise for my calves and that's essentially my whole leg workout.

 

[Mrb1p]

I've been changing up my leg workouts lately, mostly focusing on ATG stop squats 5x5.

Boy does that tear up the muscles. I don't even do any other exercises on my leg days anymore because these squats get me sore for a couple days on their own. I only add an exercise for my calves and that's essentially my whole leg workout.

Yup. The stretch is a killer when you pause in ATG. I also only do about 5 sets plus one set of unilateral work on my squat days. Ive worked in some smith machine pause squats with a high bar and nothing kills a quad like this. Unsure of the strength potential but I was in a hypertrophy phase so it worked in great.

 

[ahmedou]

Is there a special gym's earphones... Without wire... And without having to take with me the device on my pocket. I'm so dependant with musicdou.

 

[Mrb1p]

Is there a special gym's earphones... Without wire... And without having to take with me the device on my pocket. I'm so dependant with musicdou.

Blue tooth earbuds
.. theres millions just buy a cheap pair on amazon.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Yup. The stretch is a killer when you pause in ATG. I also only do about 5 sets plus one set of unilateral work on my squat days. Ive worked in some smith machine pause squats with a high bar and nothing kills a quad like this. Unsure of the strength potential but I was in a hypertrophy phase so it worked in great.

The worst thing Rippetoe ever did was convince an entire generation of lifters that the smith machine is either useless or dangerous or both. I don't know about you guys but I get at least twice the pump from smith machine bench than I do from a regular bench.

Of course, the free weight exercises are king, but machines have their uses.

 

[Lebowski]

Yup. The stretch is a killer when you pause in ATG. I also only do about 5 sets plus one set of unilateral work on my squat days. Ive worked in some smith machine pause squats with a high bar and nothing kills a quad like this. Unsure of the strength potential but I was in a hypertrophy phase so it worked in great.

I also really like [hate] lunges and I made the mistake of doing them following an ATG pause squat session... The soreness wouldn't go away even after a week, kind of threw off my usual workout routine. So now I don't even bother with anything else except squats. Makes for a fairly quick workout too, which I like.

Haven't tried the Smithmachine for squats in ages. I use it frequently for lunges though.

Is there a special gym's earphones... Without wire... And without having to take with me the device on my pocket. I'm so dependant with musicdou.

Google "Anker SoundBuds curve wireless headphone amazon". I've been using those for a while. They're cheap, comfortable, decent battery life and while I'm no expert on the subject, I find the sound to be pretty good. For the price, I don't regret buying them. The bluetooth connectivity can get a bit wonky at times, but it's nothing a turn off and on can't resolve.

There's definitely better products around, but I'm not the type to drop 100$+ on some earbuds.

 

[ahmedou]

Blue tooth earbuds
.. theres millions just buy a cheap pair on amazon.

I want them with the CH’s colours

 

[ahmedou]

Google "Anker SoundBuds curve wireless headphone amazon". I've been using those for a while. They're cheap, comfortable, decent battery life and while I'm no expert on the subject, I find the sound to be pretty good. For the price, I don't regret buying them. The bluetooth connectivity can get a bit wonky at times, but it's nothing a turn off and on can't resolve.

There's definitely better products around, but I'm not the type to drop 100$+ on some earbuds.

And for the ears, what’s the safe volume level to use. Personally, I like it loud. But that could damage my hearing tho..

 

[Mrb1p]

The worst thing Rippetoe ever did was convince an entire generation of lifters that the smith machine is either useless or dangerous or both. I don't know about you guys but I get at least twice the pump from smith machine bench than I do from a regular bench.

Of course, the free weight exercises are king, but machines have their uses.

I do think the Smith machine is probably more dangerous than its free weight counterparts and I wouldnt recommend squatting to even an intermediate trainee with a smithmachine (or even a hack squat, if you ask me.) But they do have their uses for sure. Keep in mind Rippetoe is a general population strength coach, it does make sense in that setting.

And for the ears, what’s the safe volume level to use. Personally, I like it loud. But that could damage my hearing tho..

Dou...

 

[NotProkofievian]

I do think the Smith machine is probably more dangerous than its free weight counterparts and I wouldnt recommend squatting to even an intermediate trainee with a smithmachine (or even a hack squat, if you ask me.) But they do have their uses for sure. Keep in mind Rippetoe is a general population strength coach, it does make sense in that setting.

In my experience, so long as I keep the bulk of my program compound movements, I have made more progress the less I have listened to Rippetoe. I just hate the dogmatism of that program/community. Sheiko bless for showing me dae way.

 

[Mrb1p]

In my experience, so long as I keep the bulk of my program compound movements, I have made more progress the less I have listened to Rippetoe. I just hate the dogmatism of that program/community. Sheiko bless for showing me dae way.

Sheikos sheer volume would be too much for the majority of the population. Its a starting program made for noobs, obviously as long as youre like 10% serious youll make better gains on something else. Ive nearly added 100 pounds to my squat with a 16 weeks cycle of Smolov before sticking to 531 for too long. But Smolov was probably one of the toughest things ive done on my body, not everyone can handle these things.

Ive personally taken the next step into a westside style or a russian powerlifting style with dynamic effort and accomodating forces. Hopefully it is what puts me over the 600 mark that Ive been running after for nearly two years now.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I don’t think I’ve ever used the smith machine for anything except the odd weird movement like drag curls or behind the back shrugs.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Sheikos sheer volume would be too much for the majority of the population. Its a starting program made for noobs, obviously as long as youre like 10% serious youll make better gains on something else. Ive nearly added 100 pounds to my squat with a 16 weeks cycle of Smolov before sticking to 531 for too long. But Smolov was probably one of the toughest things ive done on my body, not everyone can handle these things.

Ive personally taken the next step into a westside style or a russian powerlifting style with dynamic effort and accomodating forces. Hopefully it is what puts me over the 600 mark that Ive been running after for nearly two years now.

This guy makes some good points about Westside, I think.



Do you lift in gear?

 

[NotProkofievian]

I don’t think I’ve ever used the smith machine for anything except the odd weird movement like drag curls or behind the back shrugs.

It makes my man boobies hurt so good. Absent all the stabilization you can focus on pure shoulder adduction to move the weight.

 

[DAChampion]

My understanding is that the smith machine is bad for squatting, but good for bench pressing.

 

[Lebowski]

It makes my man boobies hurt so good. Absent all the stabilization you can focus on pure shoulder adduction to move the weight.

Doesn't that represent a risk of creating muscle imbalances?

It's like the first first time I did dumbbell presses instead of bench press and suddenly realized how much my stabilizing muscles were holding me back.

I honestly don't see the point of doing compound movements on the smithmachine. For the most part, I see it as training wheels for a beginner lifter. For instance, for someone that has never done a squat in his life and that needs to learn the basic mechanics before relying on his own back to stabilize the weight. I don't have an issue with people using it, but the longer you use it instead of its free-weight counterpart, the more I feel like you're leaving gains on the table.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

It makes my man boobies hurt so good. Absent all the stabilization you can focus on pure shoulder adduction to move the weight.

Dont doubt that, but isn’t stabilization development important for overall shoulder health?

Also depends on your goals. If you're interested in building strength and want a concrete number to boast about, the smith machine is pretty useless. Though I guess if it’s pure chest hypertrophy you’re after I could see the benefit. I tend to balance strength and hypertrophy, as I value both.

I’m definitely not one to just write off something because Rippetoe, but through my own experience I’ve concluded the smith machine is generally a waste of space in the gym (though useful for the odd hypertrophy movement).

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Doesn't that represent a risk of creating muscle imbalances?

It's like the first first time I did dumbbell presses instead of bench press and suddenly realized how much my stabilizing muscles were holding me back.

I honestly don't see the point of doing compound movements on the smithmachine. For the most part, I see it as training wheels for a beginner lifter. For instance, for someone that has never done a squat in his life and that needs to learn the basic mechanics before relying on his own back to stabilize the weight. I don't have an issue with people using it, but the longer you use it instead of its free-weight counterpart, the more I feel like you're leaving gains on the table.

Honestly I wouldn’t even recommend squating with a smith machine to a beginner. Air squats would be a far better starting point IMO

 

[NotProkofievian]

Doesn't that represent a risk of creating muscle imbalances?

It's like the first first time I did dumbbell press instead of bench press and suddenly realized how much my stabilizing muscles were holding me back.

I honestly don't see the point of doing compound movements on the smithmachine. For the most part, I see it as training wheels for a beginner lifter. For instance, for someone that has never done a squat in his life and that needs to learn the basic mechanics before relying on his own back to stabilize the weight. I don't have an issue with people using it, but the longer you use instead of its free-weight counterpart, the longer I feel you're leaving gains on the table.

If that's all you're doing, sure. But I use it in addition to dumbell and barbell movements. Due to my biomechanics (flat sternal angle), I find it very challenging to get a deep burn/full exhaustion of the chest muscle. But the smith machine allows me to focus intensely on that problem. If your chest responds well to other movements, your mileage may vary. It's definitely not just for beginners, though, but it is also definitely more for body building.



Sheiko uses progressive box squats to teach the squat, which I think is the most intelligent way to do it.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Dont doubt that, but isn’t stabilization development important for overall shoulder health?

Also depends on your goals. If you're interested in building strength and want a concrete number to boast about, the smith machine is pretty useless. Though I guess if it’s pure chest hypertrophy you’re after I could see the benefit. I tend to balance strength and hypertrophy, as I value both.

I’m definitely not one to just write off something because Rippetoe, but through my own experience I’ve concluded the smith machine is generally a waste of space in the gym (though useful for the odd hypertrophy movement).

I agree with the points made here. Stabilization development is just important no matter what. I'm defending the use of the smith machine, not the replacement of compound barbell movements with the smith machine. If you can only do one, do the free weight movement.

 

[Mrb1p]

This guy makes some good points about Westside, I think.



Do you lift in gear?

No

Theres definitely good and bad about westside but at this point I need to find a way to get faster and westside seems to make the most sense. Im able to pul 540/550 for triples or even fives when Im feeling good but every rep looks like its RPE 9. Every single one of my lifts are RPE but my strength is fine. Obviously, the smart thing to do would be to hire a coach but strength coaches dont run the streets in Montréal and Im not about to pay for an AI or an online coach.

Doesn't that represent a risk of creating muscle imbalances?

It's like the first first time I did dumbbell presses instead of bench press and suddenly realized how much my stabilizing muscles were holding me back.

I honestly don't see the point of doing compound movements on the smithmachine. For the most part, I see it as training wheels for a beginner lifter. For instance, for someone that has never done a squat in his life and that needs to learn the basic mechanics before relying on his own back to stabilize the weight. I don't have an issue with people using it, but the longer you use it instead of its free-weight counterpart, the more I feel like you're leaving gains on the table.

Prescribing a smith machine squat to a newbie is a one way ticket to a blown disk. If you dont brace, your back is fried.

Good squat learning moves are kettlebell squats, belt squats and plate squats. I wouldnt use anything else to teach someone to squat.

As for the smithmachine, for the squats, it allows probably the greatest quad stretch of all exercises (maybe hack squats can fit in there but I see them as pretty similar moves.)

 

[NotProkofievian]

No

Theres definitely good and bad about westside but at this point I need to find a way to get faster and westside seems to make the most sense. Im able to pul 540/550 for triples or even fives when Im feeling good but every rep looks like its RPE 9. Every single one of my lifts are RPE but my strength is fine. Obviously, the smart thing to do would be to hire a coach but strength coaches dont run the streets in Montréal and Im not about to pay for an AI or an online coach.

I'm not sayin' but jus' sayin', does westside have a single elite unequipped lifter? I thought they were pretty much all multiply guys.

Prescribing a smith machine squat to a newbie is a one way ticket to a blown disk. If you dont brace, your back is fried.

Good squat learning moves are kettlebell squats, belt squats and plate squats. I wouldnt use anything else to teach someone to squat.

As for the smithmachine, for the squats, it allows probably the greatest quad stretch of all exercises (maybe hack squats can fit in there but I see them as pretty similar moves.)

I would love to work some belt squats into my routine. There's only ever been one box at my gym though. Feels bad man.

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm not sayin' but jus' sayin', does westside have a single elite unequipped lifter? I thought they were pretty much all multiply guys.



I would love to work some belt squats into my routine. There's only ever been one box at my gym though. Feels bad man.

Nah, thats why Im not following a full westside, well, thats not why, but Im just implementing speed work into my routine as just general strength work doesnt cut it for me anymore. Ben Pollack and Dan Green are two bad dudes that have used conjugate methods to hit crazy numbers, theyre both eliteFTS athletes or were at one point.

Belt squats are A+mazing. Ive used the dumbest setups as my gym doesnt have any wooden box or actual belt squat machines.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Nah, thats why Im not following a full westside, well, thats not why, but Im just implementing speed work into my routine as just general strength work doesnt cut it for me anymore. Ben Pollack and Dan Green are two bad dudes that have used conjugate methods to hit crazy numbers, theyre both eliteFTS athletes or were at one point.

Belt squats are A+mazing. Ive used the dumbest setups as my gym doesnt have any wooden box or actual belt squat machines.

Love the Dan ''the Boss'' Green.

 

[groovejuice]

I got mugged last weekend and it's left me emotionally perturbed. I could have been seriously injured but they only got my cell phone. I haven't exercised this week, and I've been eating really poorly. I'm feeling a little better every day.

That's awful. I'm glad you're recuperating physically and I'm sure you'll rebound emotionally in due time.

Wherever you travel, there will be people who will try to take advantage of you. A sad testiment to humanity.