<p>rahhh muscles!</p>
<p>lol, what machines do you guys like to use?</p>
<p>None of them. The cable station doesn’t count as a machine for practical purposes, though it’s still not something I relish using.</p>
<h2>I’ll try to avoid going into lecture mode, but no amount of machine training is going to match a decently-designed free weight program, and there is no machine that comes even close to the usefulness of the barbell back squat for any aspect of fitness.</h2>
<p>Honestly, the exercises I enjoy are the ones that involve lifting the most weight (Squat, Bench, Deadlift, DB Bench, Rack Pull, Floor Press, various Board Presses, Strict Press…I think that’s actually the list right now, but it’ll expand as I identify different weak points I have to bring up on the first three). They’re fun movements, I get good results from using them…etc…</p>
<p>There’s probably a small attention-whore element in there as well, though the type of gym I’d rather be training at would have absolutely no attention paid to the exercise so much as how I was doing it and what I could do to do it better, but such is life.</p>
<p>the GHR machine is pretty good, i’m surprised the RSF has that</p>
<p>I’ve never seen anyone do Floor Presses…
Jonnos: Do you ever focus on your back? </p>
<p>Personally, I find myself using DBs and barbells a lot too. I use machines to complement the workout, so I usually save them for the end and do one or two sets. Only machines I really have to depend on are for my legs because I have an injured knee and I don’t want it to buckle. Also use lat pulldowns because I think it’s excellent for hitting the lats, provided you do it correctly, which a lot of people don’t.</p>
<p>btw jon i squat 350 now belted, are you still beating me? :D</p>
<p>@Batman - Yeah, though I only go heavy on one of them (…excluding Rack Pulls and Deadlifts). Back work for me is primarily for improving my deadlift lockout, improving my lat drive on bench/increasing lat size and activation to make it facilitate said improvements, and keeping my shoulders healthy/building up a better platform from which to bench.</p>
<p>DL Lockout Stuff: Kroc DB Rows, Barbell Rows with somewhat loose form
Lats on Bench: T-Bar Row, Strict DB Row
General Lat Work: Pull-Ups, (Very, Very Strict) Pulldowns
Shoulder Health/Platform: Seated DB “Cleans,” Rear Delt Flyes</p>
<p>@Mech: I did something to my knee a while back and can’t do GHRs. It really sucks. x.x</p>
<p>Should probably note that the lat pulldown (counts as cable station…<.<) is by far the single best way to get your lats activated. I may or may not bother going back to pull-ups for a very long time, actually.</p>
<p>And yeah, 365 beltless without too much difficulty. Most of the progress came over the last 2 months, actually - I failed 350 (I blame this on weight loss - I weighed at most 165lbs when I went for it) about six weeks into the summer after hitting 340 really easily at 170lbs right after finals, and then got the 365 two months later with a good 5-10lbs left in the tank.</p>
<p>Depending on what I get for my next max triple (5 weeks from Monday), I’m hopefully looking at something in the 380s for my next max single. I got a 385 Deadlift with reasonably good form at the start of the summer after maxing at 345x3 the previous week, and given that I’ve added 10lbs per cycle to my Squat triple (315 the week before 340, 325 for 2 the week before the 350 fail*, 335 for 3 the week before 365) I should be able to match that. Bodes VERY well for my next meet.</p>
<p>I credit the change to sled work - SERIOUSLY, GET ONE (NOT the NewYorkBarbells one, though - it broke after a month of moderate use due to a fairly pathetic design flaw. Go with the EliteFTS one or one of the cheap ones on Amazon) - and rewriting my squat cycle, though having a training partner again and doing a lot of stuff to strengthen my low back probably contributed a lot. Represents a pretty nice improvement in my total, too (relative to both Bodyweight and Wilks Coefficient). I cannot emphasize enough what a huge difference sled work made, and how much I want to get my new one from Elite so I start doing it again.</p>
<p>very nice progress. </p>
<p>thanks for the tip, i’ve heard lots of good things about sleds but the ones on efs are really expensive. link to one of the cheap ones on amazon that you’re talking about?</p>
<p>Those squat numbers had better be ATG haha.</p>
<p>I agree with all of Jon’s posts, though I only just broke 210 on my squat for 5.</p>
<p>Edit: I just read that Jon competes. What weight class?</p>
<p>Is there a powerlifting/olympic team here at berkeley?</p>
<p>my 350 squat was an 8th squat done while wearing knee wraps, a belt, and triple-ply gear :D</p>
<p>I prefer free weights to machines. Good way to burn off stress. Machines aren’t as satisfying =/</p>
<p>i dunno what you guys are talking about…</p>
<p>off topic: one of my roommates just peed in the shower…i accidentally left my soap and shampoo in there…</p>
<p>and screw people who say that college is something you must experience, from the bathrooms to whatever. this is just freaking disgusting and i miss my own bathroom.</p>
<p>Same question as Mech. I’m interested. Never done it before though. I can’t imagine you doing it around here though. Where would you go?
I have done parachute resistance, but that’s for speed haha. Gnarly workout for soccer prior to my injury :(</p>
<p>Insert: what machines do you use?</p>
<p>i use the leg machines, the bicep curl machine thingy, the chest machine thingy, uhmm the machine where you hold the lever thing and pull down where it works out your biceps and back or whatever, etc, etc. lol</p>
<p>all of those are trash.</p>
<p>ankur, it seems like you think everything here is trash lol</p>
<p>I only post when I see trash. When I’m not posting, I’m satisfied.</p>
<p>@afc: They were legal depth. I only go ATG on Front and Oly squats, which I do for quad strength (very important for a raw lifter, though hamstring and low back strength probably had a bigger effect over the last few months…quad work got me the easy 340, though).</p>
<p>I competed in the SPF March Madness meet at Supertraining. Since it was my first meet, I wasn’t concerned about weight class so much as my actual bodyweight (165 at the time), so I entered in the 181s due to my lack of desire to cut for it. I can link to the video if you guys want.</p>
<p>My next meet will hopefully be 2011 March Madness (…I say hopefully because it doesn’t appear to have been scheduled yet) and I’ll be either high in the 198s or low in the 220s, depending on my success hitting weight goals and whether or not I’m willing to cut to a lower weight class. I intend to be 205 on waking (and after peeing) by that time; whether or not I cut depends on the circumstances surrounding travel/lodging (most likely the former).</p>
<p>@Ankur: Not yet. I intend to start a Powerlifting team, or at least a strength sports club, for next fall. The Olympic Weightlifting Floor guys hope to have an Oly team around the same time.
If you’re interested in powerlifting in the competitive sense, or have sufficient noncompetitive interest that you’d be up for training as though you were looking to competition, I’m always open to new training partners. The degree of training partner-ish-ness depends largely on your level and schedule, but even having more experienced guys around to coach form can make a big difference.</p>
<p>@Mech: You’d better have had at least three squat suits on, too. And shame on you if the briefs didn’t have at least one ply of denim.</p>
<p>Sleds:
[Amazon.com:</a> Econo Drag Sled: Sports & Outdoors](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/TDS-C-1140-Econo-Drag-Sled/dp/B001GANRRG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=exercise-and-fitness&qid=1283927492&sr=1-5]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/TDS-C-1140-Econo-Drag-Sled/dp/B001GANRRG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=exercise-and-fitness&qid=1283927492&sr=1-5)
This is the one I strongly do NOT recommend. The post is connected to the base by a small screw, which in turn is just the filling for a hexagonal hole in the base and held in place with some metal on top. Once I got to the point that my ~100lbs of plates was fairly light for me, I started going fast enough that when I turned around, the combination of heat from the friction and impulse from the movement caused the screw to break free. It would cost $50 to replace and this would likely happen VERY frequently.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Altus Athletic Altus Power X-Sled: Sports & Outdoors](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Altus-Athletic-Power-X-Sled/dp/B0032HSCQW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=exercise-and-fitness&qid=1283927492&sr=1-6]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Altus-Athletic-Power-X-Sled/dp/B0032HSCQW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=exercise-and-fitness&qid=1283927492&sr=1-6)
Cheaper but still a tad on the expensive side. Also looks like it’s not made for olympic plates.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Titan Power Running Training Speed Sled for Athletic Exercise and Speed Improvement: Sports & Outdoors](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Training-Athletic-Exercise-Improvement/dp/B003XKT2TE/ref=pd_sbs_sg_8]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Titan-Training-Athletic-Exercise-Improvement/dp/B003XKT2TE/ref=pd_sbs_sg_8)
Also looks better.</p>
<p>There was one that was priced at about $40, but I can’t find it. Argh. It was red and made entirely of pipes.
…ok, yeah, they don’t carry the one I found anymore. The deluxe version is as expensive as an EFS one.</p>
<p>Pretty much any straight stretch of pavement or sidewalk will do. Ideally you want 200 feet (or 100 feet and just turn around, as I do). Articles for sled dragging work are on elitefts.com; I pretty much just load it up with as much weight as I can handle and then do 200ft trips with 1 minute between and just try to do one more each time. After I hit some arbitrary number I up the weight. Or, at least, this is how I would do it if the bloody thing hadn’t broken and/or I hadn’t run out of plates before it broke (and how I will do it once I buy a good one as a replacement).</p>
<p>The effect on my training was huge, though. Less than a week of consistent use (all of about a half-hour on my off-days, at most 20 minutes of which was actual dragging) had my conditioning up way higher than it had ever been in the past. I use fairly intense protocols for my squat and deadlift on Fridays, and had previously been pretty much gassed out after the second set - it was a nightmare trying to get through the whole thing. Up until about 2 weeks after the sled broke I was getting back to pre-lifting energy levels within 20 seconds for the squats, and at least no longer hating life and everything in it between sets of deads (which probably has more to do with the weights for my deadlift cycle being based on a PR I got with absolutely atrocious form than anything else, honestly).</p>
<p>Add.: That’s also totally disregarding how much of an increase in hamstring strength I saw over that period. Since I didn’t have a harness, I had to just hold on, which left me doing the hamstring-emphasis drag for most the trips. Having all the extra activity also made it possible for me to eat a lot more without feeling sick, which was pretty helpful with eating the amounts I have to go gain weight.</p>