Salty's Pre- Pre-season

[Salty]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

With the chinups, if you reach a plateau you can use negatives to improve. You should be constantly be searching for progression every workout you do, either on reps or weight even if its 1 a set. A negative is what people use to build up the strength to do one arm chinups, etc. So if you find yourself fail at 8 reps but you want to get to 10, you would do 2 negatives to make up the reps, the video below shows how it's done...



Although try not to swing as much.

The reason i'm using a body building program and not a sport focussed program is that I wanted to gain as much muscle as quickly as possible. In the league I play in it's not exactly a high quality league so you get fat pricks who will try and hit as hard as possible, at 75kg's I wasnt the smallest, I was probably average, but at 85kgs I would be able to break tackles/ride bumps and go harder at the ball a lot easier. Once I reach 85-88 I will switch to a more power based program, with more compound lifts/olympic lifts. Plus it's not that serious, so the program is good for the beach

Anyways here is an update, as of yesterday I am 82kg and upped my bench to 90kg for 3 sets of 8 reps, pretty happy. Will update the log when I can be bothered, which isn't right now as I have to get back to study

[Sharla]

I've never really thought about building size but i understand what you mean about being too lean while trying to gain size. I have found previously that training hard while making weight has left me prone to illness. The last serious chest infection i got was after a longer than usual run and it left me coughing for weeks - set me back to what feels like the very beginning.

Apart from that i wonder with the attempt at gaining strength if there are intermediate steps i miss out. For example when doing chin-ups I have found that I can do a certain number of reps but struggle to lift my chin above the bar - up to the bar is fine but to feel like i'm doing them properly I'd like to be able to clear it by a good 10 cm each rep.

I see people in the gym who do this with added weight (including small elite junior female swimmers) and i have to wonder what step I've missed that doesn't allow me to progress to that next stage. Surely it's not all nutrition - not enough protein - i think it could be related to the muscle group transition at that stage but what to do to train that i don't know.

Sorry if this is not related I guess I see some similarity between getting to build size and strength. Afterall there's no point in building size in a sport like boxing if you end up carrying non-functioning muscle mass is there - surely you're aiming for muscle that will be specific to the sports you'll be participating in?

With the chinups, if you reach a plateau you can use negatives to improve. You should be constantly be searching for progression every workout you do, either on reps or weight even if its 1 a set. A negative is what people use to build up the strength to do one arm chinups, etc. So if you find yourself fail at 8 reps but you want to get to 10, you would do 2 negatives to make up the reps, the video below shows how it's done...



Although try not to swing as much.

Thanks Salty I will give them a go next time i go to the gym

[Salty]

Wow it's been a long time since I updated this, but here's the latest news in my world...

Finished exams last wednesday, they included very few hours of sleep and a lot of reading so i took the week off. It was terrible, so in order to refresh my crammed short term memory I had a massive weekend to say the least. My body was paying for it, so I took a second week off the gym. So thats now 2 in a row, which means I can't afford another week off. I was pretty happy with my progress so far, with strength gains in all area. Before i took my break i managed 2 sets at 100kgs ( reps and 1 at 95 so was pretty stoked with that.

My uni gym membership has expired so will need to work out at home until I can afford another one. I'm currently still around 82kg but i think I have lost a little weight.

I hope everyone is going well and having fun!

[Sharla]

Good to seeya back Salty!

Exams do suck! You must be so relieved now they're all over.
I look forward to reading about your non-gym workout solutions. It's always cool to see how resourceful people can be when they have to brainstorm their own alternatives.