The Workout Thread

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 02:32 PM

scratch you balls and you dick moves..now there's a relevant comparison. Bend your elbow, does your bicep contract? Same principle as your rhomboids contracting when you do a shrug

**Derek Makekau** · 03-04-2010, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Ill Perfection

Black and white won't change my opinion. I know after working my traps hard my rhomboids are sore as frack. Is this just placebo? I think not

bahahaha your rhomboids are sore because you're doing a shrug wrong.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 02:37 PM

No. It's a variation of a shrug to work your rhomboids better. Your workout advice is not needed as dale would say 'I've seen you, your physique doesn't back up your mouth" bahahaha jk Derek

**Derek Makekau** · 03-04-2010, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Ill Perfection

No. It's a variation of a shrug to work your rhomboids better. Your workout advice is not needed as dale would say 'I've seen you, your physique doesn't back up your mouth" bahahaha jk Derek

haha too many people know me for me to claim i train MMA fighters or anything to attempt to back up my expertise. i'm stoked to workout for 30 minutes a day half the time.

if it's a variation of a shrug, it sounds like there is a much better exercise you could use to isolate your rhomboids, and just leave your normal DB shrugs to their intended result: working on your traps. if you rotate backward or forward, aren't you taking strain off of your traps ("working your rhomboids better") which means you're getting less out of the intended benefit of the maneuver?

**Dzan** · 03-04-2010, 02:47 PM

Wow Ill! If I had traps like yours... I'd stop juicing immediately.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 02:55 PM

Good advice Dzan lol. I'm looking into recovery right now...as in post cycle recovery

**Dzan** · 03-04-2010, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by CaboWabo

Hm, I guess I just thought speed would be a by product of riding more. I'm so horribly slow right now I'll probably look into doing intervals. In all honesty it will probably work for my rides better any way since it's kind hard to get into a set pace since I'm adjusting to traffic alot.

The current thought is...

Early in the training season i.e. January to April you do as much mileage as you can just to create a base fitness, especially long distance rides. Then in April you start doing intensity intervals workouts 2/3rd of your rides to get stronger/faster. Most people plan on peaking at around July or August depending when their state championship is and they taper off the intensity in the two weeks leading up to their peak.

If you dont have any set race you want to peak at, you can just make it some arbitrary time from August to October and pretend because the taper really does make you faster because you need the downtime to capitalize on all the intensity workouts.

But if you dont care about racing at all and just want to be faster to crush the dudes you ride with just add one or two intensity days a week like this...

2x20 min intervals with 5 minute rest between. Do these at about 85%-90% of your max sustainable heart rate. cruise for 5 minutes then...
3x2 minute intervals at an all out effort. 2 minute rest between intervals. You should be doing these so hard you want to puke after the 3rd one. And the rest time should be so short between that you aren't 100% rested before the next one starts. If you are super fit and are fully rested by 2 minutes shorten the rest time between to 1:30 etc.

That workout takes like an hour and about 25 miles of roads with minimal traffic lights and you're good.

**CaboWabo** · 03-04-2010, 03:16 PM

Sweet...I'm all about being fast just to be fast, but I would like to race some this year. I was looking up intervals last night and was thinking about trying pyramid intervals. Definitely sounds like it will break up the drag that long rides start to have when that's all you do...not that I'm even doing long rides yet. I'm going to have to go find some better stretches of road to really do them right though. The way I ride now it's damn near like intervals, just that it's probably far more useless. I get stopped at lights a good bit and between them I try to make up for it, I'm constantly going from pushing pretty hard (I don't have a heart rate monitor so I'm not sure how hard) to resting, to pushing again. Then I always have one spot where I do a straight up sprint and usually get to draft a car for a little bit...it's always fun doing 35+ drafting an SUV, haha.

Thanks for the heads up.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Derek Makekau

haha too many people know me for me to claim i train MMA fighters or anything to attempt to back up my expertise. i'm stoked to workout for 30 minutes a day half the time.

if it's a variation of a shrug, it sounds like there is a much better exercise you could use to isolate your rhomboids, and just leave your normal DB shrugs to their intended result: working on your traps. if you rotate backward or forward, aren't you taking strain off of your traps ("working your rhomboids better") which means you're getting less out of the intended benefit of the maneuver?

There are hardly any exercises if any that I'm aware of to isolate your rhomboids. Usually when you work your back, doing bent over rows etc. you work them pretty good but this involves a slew of other muscles. Nah, when you move your shoulders back a little at the top of the rep, your traps are under constant tension as when you lower the weight.

**Dzan** · 03-04-2010, 03:54 PM

Pyramid intervals are good, especially at building your 25 minute speed which is what you'd need in my any criterium race you'd ever be in.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 03:59 PM

Any type of HIIT training is pure win in my book. I'm about to start a routine to get ready for summer

**Utah** · 03-04-2010, 04:57 PM

I'm not rotating my shoulders during a shrug unless the added gains I get from it are double and tripple baggers...

**Ammy** · 03-04-2010, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by Ill Perfection

Good advice Dzan lol. I'm looking into recovery right now...as in post cycle recovery

Not sure if serious. How many cycles have you ran (if any)?

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 05:13 PM

None...a lot of hard work and obsessive diet/nutrition/suplementation.

I have used some hormonal type things like anti-estrogens though. No juice though

**Ammy** · 03-04-2010, 05:30 PM

Swell. I also rotate my shoulders on DB shrugs but I don't intend to, it's just natural. I'll have to try just straight up and down.

**harshgnar** · 03-04-2010, 05:46 PM

So i started working out, 6 sets of flat bench and 6 sets of curls. Its going pretty well

**SDSkim** · 03-04-2010, 05:46 PM

halp plz.

i want to build my upper body. im going to the gym not enough. i hate it because its pretty much pointless. i dont do many exercises to begin with. i need someone to devise me a routine in which will serve to push me to my full potential, yielding decent results. i want to build pecs, forearms, bi's and tri's upper back and ab's. i usually only do simple things, bicep curls, tricep things where you lift the weight above your head, bench, and some machine things. my ab regiment isnt that good either. google doesnt work because all i find is a bunch of diff work outs. i would like an input from someone other than a search engine that can offer insight from experience. thankkssssssss

**Ammy** · 03-04-2010, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by harshgnar

So i started working out, 6 sets of flat bench and 6 sets of curls. Its going pretty well

Squats.

Originally Posted by SDSkim

halp plz.

i want to build my upper body. im going to the gym not enough. i hate it because its pretty much pointless. i dont do many exercises to begin with. i need someone to devise me a routine in which will serve to push me to my full potential, yielding decent results. i want to build pecs, forearms, bi's and tri's upper back and ab's. i usually only do simple things, bicep curls, tricep things where you lift the weight above your head, bench, and some machine things. my ab regiment isnt that good either. google doesnt work because all i find is a bunch of diff work outs. i would like an input from someone other than a search engine that can offer insight from experience. thankkssssssss

Squats.

**beachbum** · 03-04-2010, 06:01 PM

haha I love this rotating shrubs debate.

Ive heard people talking in the gym and heard 3 or 4 times that you shouldnt rotate your shoulders..I always laugh at people in the gym doing it too because a lot of them look like fools swiging their shoulders fast.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 06:57 PM

First off, I recommend trying to strengthen your whole body. Nothing worse than having a built upper body and chicken legs. That's where the HS workout jokes come from.

I would recommend a 3 day split. Chest/Triceps/Shoulders/Traps, Back/Biceps, Legs/Abs/Calves. Rinse and repeat. This will give your muscles a full 72 hours to repair and recover. Do you favorite lifts preferably with all free weights and try to do as many compound lifts as possible. Eat at least 1g of protein per pound of your body weight. Make sure and get in at least 3000 kcals a day etc.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by beachbum

haha I love this rotating shrubs debate.

Ive heard people talking in the gym and heard 3 or 4 times that you shouldnt rotate your shoulders..I always laugh at people in the gym doing it too because a lot of them look like fools swiging their shoulders fast.

Prob the same people you hear saying creatine doesn't work. I love overhearing gym mis-informed gym rumors being spread. Makes me facepalm sometimes. I think a lot of people have a huge misconseption of what I'm talking about when I describe finishing my workouts with shifting my shoulders back at the top of the rep. There is NO swinging involved

I love people that crank out reps as fast as possible. The slower you go the better. The 3 seconds up, 3 seconds down is such a good rule to follow

**Ammy** · 03-04-2010, 07:15 PM

There is no swing whatsoever, not sure what you're looking at. It's more of a slow controlled "rolling" motion with a slight pause at the top.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Ammy

Squats.

Squats.

This is actually great advice that I can't believe no one mentioned yet. It's been proven that doing one set of 20 squats preworkout yields huge gains over your WHOLE because of the amount of testosterone and growth hormone your body releases from the strain put on the muscles.

Although I've seen people puke and almost pass out from trying it.

Good article on that http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/irontamer5.htm

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Ammy

There is no swing whatsoever, not sure what you're looking at. It's more of a slow controlled "rolling" motion with a slight pause at the top.

This

**SDSkim** · 03-04-2010, 07:31 PM

The feet should turn out slightly for most people and the knees should track over the toes. Do not allow the knees to buckle in at any time. If they do, you will die.

good to know

**Teddy Hartford** · 03-04-2010, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by SDSkim

halp plz.

i want to build my upper body. im going to the gym not enough. i hate it because its pretty much pointless. i dont do many exercises to begin with. i need someone to devise me a routine in which will serve to push me to my full potential, yielding decent results. i want to build pecs, forearms, bi's and tri's upper back and ab's. i usually only do simple things, bicep curls, tricep things where you lift the weight above your head, bench, and some machine things. my ab regiment isnt that good either. google doesnt work because all i find is a bunch of diff work outs. i would like an input from someone other than a search engine that can offer insight from experience. thankkssssssss

if you arent trying to be a body builder stop worrying about such small muscles and just do big movements to get a base, from there you can decide where you want to take it. Do 3-5 heavy sets(4-6 reps) of bench, squat and deadlift. Hit this up 2-3 times a week as a beginner and you will make great gains. Then 6 months down the road you can start making more complicated splits.

**beachbum** · 03-04-2010, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by Ammy

There is no swing whatsoever, not sure what you're looking at. It's more of a slow controlled "rolling" motion with a slight pause at the top.

Swing was a bad word. nothing is really swinging. I know what you guys do and are talking about. shoulders more forward, up and squeeze, then shoulders pulled back, squeeze, and down...almost like a square shape but more fluid. Ive tried them that was before.

What I meant was I see people doing that motion at a fast pace and it looks retarded. Probably because they are holding too much weight.
-------

You are right though Ill....a lot of misinformed people in the gym...it irks me when I watch some person in the gym who clearly hasnt been working out long passing on bad tips on form and technique to other new people...

-------
I agree creatine has its benefits. All I take is whey or a soy/whey/casein mix, multi vitamin, and creatine. I feel like I have seen gains from creatine. It definitely hasnt hurt me.

--------
Ill --- elaborate more in the rate of repetitions.

I had this debate a while back with a friend in the gym who said he thought it was better to crank our reps in quick manner so your muscles cant rest (I mean not ridiculously fast, but going pretty quick...vague description but I dont have any numbers) . I thought going through the range of motion slower would be better by placing stress on the muscle over a longer period. I think he was criticizing a bench routine I found where you go down slower than the average person, pause at the bottom for two seconds on your chest, and then push through and extend.

**Ill Perfection** · 03-04-2010, 11:31 PM

You are correct beachbum. I could elaborate but the 3 seconds up and down is the best. Here's a good read explaining why http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/tr...-free-tes.html

**Icej** · 03-05-2010, 02:37 AM

If Ill has any knowledge in an area, it always turns to he knows everything and everyone else is wrong. No one knows everything.

I see Dale in the gym (no homo) and he knows what he is talking about.

**ZapBulletRider** · 03-05-2010, 03:21 AM

Lot of good advice about shoulder shrubs in here but i need a better exercise to pump up my rhombus. Any ideas?

**Icej** · 03-05-2010, 03:37 AM

I read rolling shrubs are good.

**jewbacca** · 03-05-2010, 03:41 AM

today i got out of the shower and when i bent over i could see one of my abs! P90x is working, its hard as hell, but if i can already see an ab after 2 weeks, im hooked.

**ZapBulletRider** · 03-05-2010, 05:16 AM

I love it when abs start to make a reappearance. Right now I can see mine about as well as I ever could. I just have to keep this up til summer though, that's the hard part.

**Icej** · 03-05-2010, 05:20 AM

Mornings are the best for abs. Full 6 pack when you get up is a good motivator.

**Mapdash** · 03-05-2010, 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by Derek Makekau

if it's a variation of a shrug, it sounds like there is a much better exercise you could use to isolate your rhomboids, and just leave your normal DB shrugs to their intended result: working on your traps. if you rotate backward or forward, aren't you taking strain off of your traps ("working your rhomboids better") which means you're getting less out of the intended benefit of the maneuver?

frack i even got Drek to understand and he doesnt even work out.

^mean