BigJosh's "Working out like a bodybuilder"

[T-Bone]

Hey Josh, nice work there. Nice to see someone humble enough to know when things don't work as expected and learn from it. [In case that doesn't come across right, it is not a back-handed compliment. ]

As for the rest/pause sets, I do like them. You get really solid lifting in a short time. Wouldn't be a bad idea to try them out. I use 7 sets, with 30-30-60-60-90-120 seconds rest between.

[BigJosh]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

Just my 2 cents... I would suggest if you like to add a bit of bodybuilding style flair try some rest-pause sets. They provide a huge bang for the buck. You can do 5 mini-sets in a few minutes and the DOMS beat down is incredible. Gaspers and Tbone are doing some of this right now.

I saw this post yesterday and started kicking myself in the arse. This is an excellent suggestion. i didn't even think about using a technique like rest pause. I could have taken the opportunity to do rest pause or even something like GVT. I have the next 2 days off from the gym, so I'm going to do some homework on rest pause routines.

Originally Posted by T-Bone

Hey Josh, nice work there. Nice to see someone humble enough to know when things don't work as expected and learn from it. [In case that doesn't come across right, it is not a back-handed compliment. ]

As for the rest/pause sets, I do like them. You get really solid lifting in a short time. Wouldn't be a bad idea to try them out. I use 7 sets, with 30-30-60-60-90-120 seconds rest between.

Thanks T-bone. Didn't take it as back handed at all. I'm going to take a close look at what you're doing and maybe do a bit of research on my own. By any chance do you have any good links to some rest pause routines?

[BigJosh]

Front Squats
135x6, 185x4,3,2 Pretty damn sad. See notes

Back Squats
180x8, 205x8, 225x6

Romanian Deadlifts
185x8, 205x8, 215x8

Leg Press
180x12,230x12, 270x12

Overall Workout Grade: B+

Notes:
Ego= Put in check. After the pathetic front squating, I feel like a pussy. Although, when all was said and done, what this session lacked in impressive numbers, it made up for in intensity. I felt beat when I was done.
It's hard being such a weak squatter here on a forum with legit squat monsters.

I struggled with holding the front squat more than actually squating it. I tried the strap method, however it made my hands hurt from squeezing so hard. I tried the powerclean rack method, it hurt my wrists. I tried the racked across the shoulders with crossed arms method, it felt shaky. So,I will be reviewing the front squat section of starting strength. The common trend I notice here is that squatting is hard and it may be revealing that I am a pussy.

Back squats felt good. I really focused on tightening the hamstrings in the descent. I also made an effort to really commit to the descent. They felt smooth.

RDLs felt somewhat easy. I tried to focus on a slower rep timing.

Did the leg press to finish off and went home to spend Valentines day with the family. Fiance made chicken picatta and scalloped potatoes, along with salad and rolls. I enjoyed, me happy!

[BendtheBar]

I am the rest pause Jedi:

Sets. For a given exercise, pick a weight that you can perform 8-10 reps with. Without training to failure, do as many reps as you can, then rack the weight. Take 10-15 slow, deep breaths, grip the weight, and do more reps. (Again, lifting SHY of failure) Keep repeating this cycle until you hit 20 total reps for that set. There is no need to go beyond 20 reps, but if you still have gas in the tank on your last mini-set, by all means go over the 20 rep total. That’s it. Simple. Effective. And ball-busting.

This is for a 5 set protocol. You rest about 30 seconds between each mini-set. When you hit 20 reps for these 5 sets, you add weight the next week.

For a 7 set structure I use, and recommended to T-bone, the following rest periods:

30, 30, 60, 60, 90 and 120 seconds

One exercise per bodypart is enough to induce some great DOMS. It is a muscle building technique that doesn't involve a lot of time.

You could do your strength moves and then a rest pause exercise. I don't use them for squats or deads though. For back I use rows.

[BigJosh]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I am the rest pause Jedi:



This is for a 5 set protocol. You rest about 30 seconds between each mini-set. When you hit 20 reps for these 5 sets, you add weight the next week.

For a 7 set structure I use, and recommended to T-bone, the following rest periods:

30, 30, 60, 60, 90 and 120 seconds

One exercise per bodypart is enough to induce some great DOMS. It is a muscle building technique that doesn't involve a lot of time.

You could do your strength moves and then a rest pause exercise. I don't use them for squats or deads though. For back I use rows.

Great information. So it seems I can probably implement them in my current routine.
Volume wise, would I want to do a heavy "strength" exercse a rest pause exercise and move on to a different target muscle group? In other words only 2 exercises, 1 heavy and 1 rest pause per muscle group?

[BigJosh]

Just a quick update. My legs are shot today!!! It's been a while since I've felt like this. Not only do my legs have massive doms, but my abs as well. While I was kind of uncertain about this routine at first, I'm beginning to enjoy it more and more. I might actually consider giving it a few months....

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by BigJosh

Front Squats
135x6, 185x4,3,2 Pretty damn sad. See notes

Back Squats
180x8, 205x8, 225x6

Romanian Deadlifts
185x8, 205x8, 215x8

Leg Press
180x12,230x12, 270x12

Overall Workout Grade: B+

Notes:
Ego= Put in check. After the pathetic front squating, I feel like a pussy. Although, when all was said and done, what this session lacked in impressive numbers, it made up for in intensity. I felt beat when I was done.
It's hard being such a weak squatter here on a forum with legit squat monsters.

I struggled with holding the front squat more than actually squating it. I tried the strap method, however it made my hands hurt from squeezing so hard. I tried the powerclean rack method, it hurt my wrists. I tried the racked across the shoulders with crossed arms method, it felt shaky. So,I will be reviewing the front squat section of starting strength. The common trend I notice here is that squatting is hard and it may be revealing that I am a pussy.

Back squats felt good. I really focused on tightening the hamstrings in the descent. I also made an effort to really commit to the descent. They felt smooth.

RDLs felt somewhat easy. I tried to focus on a slower rep timing.

Did the leg press to finish off and went home to spend Valentines day with the family. Fiance made chicken picatta and scalloped potatoes, along with salad and rolls. I enjoyed, me happy!

Definitely not! The fact that you tried 3 different grip variations speaks for itself.

If you have access to kettlebells, you could try a KB front squat, but the weightload would have to be way low as they are, for some reason, harder, according to some powerlifters that can press huge numbers with the barbell but are humbled with the KBs.

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by BigJosh

Great information. So it seems I can probably implement them in my current routine.
Volume wise, would I want to do a heavy "strength" exercse a rest pause exercise and move on to a different target muscle group? In other words only 2 exercises, 1 heavy and 1 rest pause per muscle group?

Well I probably wouldn't do more than one rest-pause per day while also doing strength. For example, if I were to use this for squat strength and leg size I might do:

--Squats 531
--Leg Press 7 rest pause sets
--Then whatever else you want for hammies, lower back, abs, whatever.

--Dealifts 531
--Rows 7 rest pause sets
--Then whatever else you want for posterior chain, biceptzors, abs, whatever.

[glwanabe]

Originally Posted by BendtheBar

I am the rest pause Jedi:

Choose your Jedi Master, Padawn.

[MikeM]

Here's a couple things that helped me with Front squats that I don't believe are in SS. These are for using clean grip, as I don't like either the straps or crossgrip for the same reasons you didn't like them.
1. Stretch your triceps as much as your wrists. Turns out your wrists can actually be flexible enough, but your triceps tight and you can't bend enough. As big a bencher as you are, I could see that being an issue. So, really spend a few minutes stretching your triceps before FS, and I also stretch them pretty seriously after benching too.
2. Only put 2-3 fingers under the bar to start. It seems to work better than having them ping off one by one while you are doing your reps. And it can just be fingertips if necc. As long as your elbows are perpendicular to the floor or higher, the bar won't move. Oh, and also try a wider grip, sometimes that can help, esp. if you have longish arms.
3. Jam the bar into your throat, and take a big breath concentrating on pushing your chest up to your chin and hold it. Hold that breath the whole way, and look up during your reps.
4. Think chest up off the bottom as opposed to hips up, but also try to force your elbows up too, sort of lead up with them and your chest.
5. Only do sets of 3 or less until you get more comfortable with the movement.

That has helped me. Hope some of that is useful to you, buddy! Don't be too hard on yourself, well unless it helps you get better by being hard on yourself. Then by all means flog yourself silly.