Weightlifting for Kiwis - Discussion and support regarding the art of swole

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

How do I do bench presses if I don't have any friends who will save me from crushing myself to death?

Dumbbell bench presses are a thing, or just use the press machine at your local gym.

 

[Thelostcup]

Dumbbell bench presses are a thing, or just use the press machine at your local gym.

Look up the roll of shame. You basically just roll the bar onto your waist, sit up, and then deadlift it back up to rack. I've only ever had to do it once.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

Alright, so I'm in a bit of a predicament. I've looked everywhere, but I think I'd like to ask for y'all's opinion.

I'm trying to lose weight (More like lose fat, mainly) but put on muscle. I've read that a combination of BCAA and protein supplements (Such as whey) could work but A) It sounds like some kind of bro-science which might fuck up my guts and B) I'm trying to avoid supplements as much as I can. I'm half-tempted to try it but a lot of the forums, articles, etc. that I've read tend to stay more towards the opinion of, "You either lose weight and lose muscle or you gain muscle and lose weight" with there not really being much of an in-between.

Any advice on how to tackle this? Or am I just going to have to focus on losing weight before working on getting swole?

BCAAs are junk. Waste of money. With a proper diet (which you should have if you are exercising) you don't need them. Get enough protein and you will be totally fine.

Supplements in general are junk and snake oil. The only ones that actually do anything are creatine (and even that doesn't if you eat enough meat, since meat has creatine in it) and protein powder (which is no better than a chicken breast or other form of protein). Pre workouts are nice for the caffeine boost, too.

But anything else? You're wasting your money. If it works, it's probably spiked with steroids. The supplement industry is one of the shadiest on the planet

But to answer your question, unless you are just starting out, you won't be able to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time without using PEDs. I'd work on getting lean, first, then adding muscle. Proper diet is seriously 90% of the work involved in both.

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

But anything else? You're wasting your money. If it works, it's probably spiked with steroids. The supplement industry is one of the shadiest on the planet

Broke: Selling your illegal steroids as steroids at $2000 a 50 ml vial

WOKE: Spiking a tub of gainer with steroids and selling it for $20.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

Broke: Selling your illegal steroids as steroids at $2000 a 50 ml vial

WOKE: Spiking a tub of gainer with steroids and selling it for $20.

Steroids are actually way cheaper than supplements. You can run a test cycle for under $100 and it'll help you far more than any mass gainer will

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

Steroids are actually way cheaper than supplements. You can run a test cycle for under $100 and it'll help you far more than any mass gainer will

A test cycle under $100? Are you getting the most bottom-shelf Chinese test supplements available?

I've never been interested, no reason to do steroids as I don't lift nearly hard enough to warrant them, but I'm seeing $400-$600 cited as a common normal cycle price.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

A test cycle under $100? Are you getting the most bottom-shelf Chinese test supplements available?

I've never been interested, no reason to do steroids as I don't lift nearly hard enough to warrant them, but I'm seeing $400-$600 cited as a common normal cycle price.

Depends where you live I suppose. When I was considering doing it (before I got injured, so I didn't do it lol), a 12 week cycle 500 mg test cycle would've been about $120 (not counting the PCT).

But either way, a $50 tub of weight gainer, which lasts about 3 weeks assuming 1 serving a day, would do less than $50 worth of steroids by a large margin

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

I'm not arguing with that at all. I've seen those studies that show you can simply sit on your ass and do a test cycle and gain more than you would working out 4x a week

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

I'm not arguing with that at all. I've seen those studies that show you can simply sit on your ass and do a test cycle and gain more than you would working out 4x a week

Yep, it's crazy. A 500 mg per week cycle of test will increase your testosterone about 4x, and it'll mostly be free test so it's more effective.

What compounds you choose to do also affects the cost. Something like Tren or Anavar is a lot more expensive than just test (test is pretty cheap). HGH and IGF1 are very expensive, but those are also for more advanced users. One should never run tren for their first cycle, though. A starting cycle for a male should be 500 mg/test/week. Tren is some nasty shit, but really effective

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Damn I haven't touched a barbell in years. That's what you get for living in a tourist trap where you're a prisoner of excellence. My house will be done by October this year, and I'll just get a $200 300lb set from Dicks Sporting Goods and ship it into the country on a boat.

The last time I was able to strength train I made up a great system to get my Bench Press to grow.

 

[Globe]

I'm kinda on and off with my lifting, sometimes doing it just barely enough to keep from backsliding. My job makes it kinda difficult to keep a routine since on average it's a 10-12 hour workday, but thankfully there's a pretty decent on-site gym I can go to before (and sometimes after) shifts. Basically I hit chest and tricep the first day of the week, back and bicep the second day and depending on how I'm feeling on the third day, it's either solid chest or solid arms. I don't really have a dedicated leg day (though I probably should), I just prefer to use leg stuff to break up the upper body workouts.

If it's anything involving chest I always start with bench press since it's a good compound move that preps other muscles and it's the most reliable indicator of progress. Worth it to note though that I don't do incline bench press at all, something about the range of motion fucks my shoulder up so I save my incline for dumbell press. The numbers are steady growing. The most defined and (sic) successful routine I've got right now is the chest/tricep day. Right now the numbers look kinda like this - -

• BP 5 sets of 8 at 205 lbs (that's higher volume, if it's a straight chest day, I do 5 sets of 5 at 225)
• Skullcrushers, 4 sets of 10 at 80 lb, sometimes 2 extra sets of 8 at 90 lb if I feel like I didn't hit it hard enough
• Dumbell Press, 4 sets of 10 (75 lbs for flat, 65 for incline)
• Cable tricep extensions with the triangle (depends on the machine, but usually 100 lb for 3 sets of 15)
• More cable tricep extensions with the rope (again, depends on the machine, but usually 35 lb for 3 sets of 12 )
• Dips till I burn out

Again, this is all being broken up with leg work-outs, usually leg press or hamstring curls and always calve raises. I love dumbell presses but I won't do them at higher weights (like, 85+) because it takes too much just to set up for them. Like, just getting into the position with 90 lb dumbells involves the effort it takes for one or two reps, so I prefer to undercut the weight on dumbell press and just do it at a higher volume (10-12 reps).

Volume is also a big thing for me when it comes to triceps. I'd been training them for the better part of a year but it was only after I started hitting extensions for sets of 15 that I started to notice real progress with it. A big pet peeve of mine is when I see people doing extensions with the rope where they lean way forward and don't bother spreading the handles out at the bottom of the lift. That completely betrays the purpose of both the rope and the lift. In fact, poor form on tricep extensions in general is kind of a sad thing to see. Pinching your shoulders just a little goes a long way in terms of recruiting the muscles in your triceps, but there are so many people that just prefer to load a fuck-ton of weight up, hunch over and crank out the set without any real understanding of what the lift is even doing.

The only sup I take is creatine, so of course I drink a shit load of water daily.

How do I do bench presses if I don't have any friends who will save me from crushing myself to death?

Roll of shame as a last resort, or if you can snag a smith machine, use that. Personally I'd rather just chance it on free-weight, but on bench I tend to push the envelope very gradually so failing isn't much of a worry for me.

 

[Christy Mack]

How do I do bench presses if I don't have any friends who will save me from crushing myself to death?

Power rack.

Set the pins slightly below your chest while pinching scapula and arching spine.

If you can’t lift it unpinch scapula unarch spine and flatten out.

 

[Hollywood Hulk Hogan]

I can't wait to start bulking again. I want to eat hamburgers and burritos

 

[Broseph Stalin]

How do I do bench presses if I don't have any friends who will save me from crushing myself to death?

Planet Fitness has a smith machine, but since the one I got to is basically 95% cardio equipment and 5% weights, there's no way in fuck I'm gonna be able to use it unless it's at 3 in the morning. YMMV, though.

 

[Bassomatic]

I has a new lifting buddy.

Now instead of being a quitter since I NEVER even in prime had a semi respectable bench, I'm determined to work on it.

 

[Witchsmeller Pursuivant]

Always hated the smith machine. I'd rather use the hammer strength plate-loaded ones. Although I'm not concerned about my lifting totals like many are. Also love using dumbbells for chest.

 

[grumbleBum]

I love strength training. Until the day after a good session. Then I curse the shit out of it as I throw myself onto the toilet.
I don’t think I’ll ever do back squats again. My knees just hate them. How do you guys keep the weights so high without killing your joints?

 

[Witchsmeller Pursuivant]

Well, I'm not an ego lifter by design, so that helps... my current gym only has smith machines for squats but I'd never do them normally anyway due to minor chronic back issues. If you are interested in gaining muscle it's more about how you use what you are given - make the muscle feel like there is more weight than there is. Don't necessarily need to rep 225 on the bench or whatever.

 

[soy_king]

I'm currently trying to gain muscle mass and lose weight, with an ideal physique being a soccer player's body. Currently I'm bench pressing a bit over 52 kg (2-3 sets of 15 reps a day), doing one to two sets of fifty sit ups and push ups each, and spending 40 minutes to an hour on the treadmill at 4.2 mph. What resources would you recommend for making sure I've got proper technique, and are there any exercises or dietary habits any of you would suggest I start?

 

[Varg Did Nothing Wrong]

I'm currently trying to gain muscle mass and lose weight, with an ideal physique being a soccer player's body. Currently I'm bench pressing a bit over 52 kg (2-3 sets of 15 reps a day), doing one to two sets of fifty sit ups and push ups each, and spending 40 minutes to an hour on the treadmill at 4.2 mph. What resources would you recommend for making sure I've got proper technique, and are there any exercises or dietary habits any of you would suggest I start?

If you can do 3 sets of 15, you're benching too light.

Cut out carbs and eat less calories in total but make sure you're still taking in enough protein to build muscle.