Finally! got passed the plataeu

may I suggest Sears white latex paint for them walls.

 

Quite impressive, all I got is about 200!

Keep it up and go for 400!

 

i can't bench crap but i can leg press 600 lbs which is good for only being 14 years old.

 

I really like the Hammer Strength equipment at Golds Gym, you can go as heavy as you want as it mimics the bench press but you are not trapped if you can't lift it, its easy to go to failure without hurting yourself. You can easily tear a shoulder or elbow doing a regular bench press IMO.


Also been taking this energy drink called Redline from GNC, its the only stuff thats worked since they took away ephedrine HCL and it improves performance.

 

Personal Bests:

Bench - 275
Squat - 455
Deadlift - Mid 400's, cant remember

Weight - Between 175-190 depending on how in/out of shape I am, or if I'm cutting weight for a sport.

 

Hammer Strength are not machines with cables, they basically are free weight machines designed with the same movements as doing free weight exercises, they are great for going extremely heavy to failure, I still use free weights such as heavy dumbells with incline/decline for chest, free weights are good for balance training as well.

I have built my shoulders well, infact 1 day a week is solely dedicated to them only but as I said its easy to injure yourself going heavy on free weights alone as I have done it before and it takes forever to heal if you continue to work out and sets you back quite a bit, these newer technology machines help reduce risk of that.

 

You work out 6 days a week? You're over training. No wonder you can't make gains.

 

Very sorry to hear about your dad.

- I must reiterate the other posters comments about overtraining. Take it to 5 days and try to REALLY push yourself farther than you thought possible. (While being safe of course. I mean mentally push yourself to do more reps, etc. but in a slow and safe manner). Do this and you will see amazing results.

 

Don't ya love that?

I passed the plateau this week too, I lost 4 lbs in a week.

 

go heavy with low reps!!!

drink lots of water, sleep alot, eat alot and clean


as far as supplements.... only thing that works is protein and....

 

Keep in mind with body sculpting certain muscles respond differently to weight training.

Small muscles such as tricepts/ bicepts/shoulders need high reps to grow, you must feel a burn, going heavy usually doesn't work, big muscles such as legs chest you can go heavy and low reps.

Everyone is also kind of different for what works but the basics usually are true, proper form is the most important so even though you may be going heavy the desired muscle is not doing the work another one is, I see alot of guys just banging heavy weights every day but get nowhere in size or defination in the gym.

Building your body right is alot of work the average person could never appreciate, lots of pain and lousy tasteless food as well plus its expensive.But as someone once told me years ago before I had a Ferrari you may have a Ferrari in the parking lot but who knows it, build your body into a Ferrari and take it with you everywhere you go.

 

I've been to the gym once in the last 6 months!!! Between a pregnant wife and starting a business, it's fallen by the wayside. I've never been a power lifter but always like to stay in shape, and this is killing me. That's great that you got past the plateau

 

Haha..."overtraining." Different people require different individual workout regimens, and sometimes schedules can vary. Imagine that.

Everyone's an expert.

 

I always lift with the philosophy of 'shocking' the body.

Essentially your body is adapting to accomodate the work load being placed on it. So if you stick the the same routines/reps/exercises and just simply increase the weight. Eventually the body will get used to it and not grow as quickly.

So sometimes, take a week off. Do a month of high reps/medium weight for legs. Do 2 weeks of 'hanging' (from a bar) sit ups while holding a heavy weight 2x each week. Take a month and do 2 workouts a week involving 'negatives'.

Basically, routine is good, but always be looking to throw something in there to make your body think: WTF!? It helps you get passed those barriers, and fights the boredom of routine.

 

Nice gains for sure... Congrats and keep it up!

As someone who powerlifted in my past. I do have one bit of advice that is worth it weight in steel...

Do not be doing that kind of weight (specifically new levels like you are going to move to) without the proper use of a spotter (with the appropriate strength).

The only story I can tell you how important and potentially injury preventing it can be. I wittnessed at a meet - in my 185 lb weight group a guy doing around 375 on his first lift of 3 (after warming up) - he pulled a muscle in his tricep in his right arm... Fortunate for him he had the spotters right there and other than a big bounce and a cracked sternum - he was fine. Could have been really really bad - if he were doing that at home.

I would bet your better half would not be able to get you out of trouble until it is too late and serious injury. And you are probably thinking - I could just tip the weights since you didn't have clips on - if you pulled or rolled your bi or tri - you would really be helpless. And your bench does not have much clearance on either side and would get potentially hung if you had to tip to get out.. Might want to re-angle the bench so if you need to tip you have a little more room to ditch.

Just would hate to see you get hurt and have to sit on the sidelines healing for 3 months if you had an accident or worse.

My 2 cents anyway - I am old and probably too cautious now more than when I was younger - so take it for what it is worth.

Rich

 

It's funny....when I clicked on the pics I expected to see a huge bar loaded with HUGE amounts of disc to stack upto 350 pounds. It's just deceptive. That's a lot of weight, congrats! Pump the BCAA's & creatine!

You may also want to consider a 3-way with another hot chick in the bedroom. Not sure it'll help with lifting more weight....but ya never know till ya try it and I wouldn't want to see you take any chances.

 

Sound advice.