Common Gym Mistakes and Simple Solutions to them

reiteration

indeed...whil my grip isn't amazing, I can close my 200lb heavy grip, but struggle with my 250lb one...

I've also got some cheap fat grips from myprotein too...

they say that if you've got a strong grip then you'll live longer...

Charlts

Strong grip is mega important, I see people doing alsorts of pulling exercises with straps and it never ceases to amaze me. Mrs C has also been told she has a
strong grip which is because I don't let her do mixed grip until she gets to three figures, so it's easy enough to train.

reiteration

yep, Iused to be able to do pullups in sets (limited numbers - say 25 in total etc) so after I was working on my back I'd simply hang from the pullup bar (in sets) for minutes at a time, then pulling myselfup and holding there (same amount of time), then slowly lowering myself down...

and then I took the plunge the other month and started doing pullups and now typically do 85 in 1/2 hour...

and you can spot the people in gyms who don't do any proper pulling - as they're the ones doing forearm exercises...

Wardy257

Great shoulder warm up:

Wardy257

If you think I am mad for saying that training for strength is different to training for size look at the giant Kai Greene training and see how small the weights are:

Kai Greene Off-Season Full Body Workout in Germany | FLEX Online

That is not to say Kai never lifts heavier, but as he regularly states 'he is a bodybuilder, not a weight lifter'.

Wardy257

Kai can't cope training with The Shadow though:

silent ninja

Surely the insane amount of drugs people like him take is a major factor*. Do you think a natural will get an effective workout using very small weights? I saw him doing a chest workout with only 60kg on the bar. I can't imagine lifting 30-40% of your max will produce a response. You'll need major assistance (chemicals). Thoughts?

*I read one study where athletes didn't even train and gained muscle purely through taking drugs. They literally sat on their arses and made gains

Wardy257

While studies have shown steroids alone can increase lean muscle mass you do not gain Kai's level of muscle mass just from drugs.  The way he trains is crucial to his muscle growth and studies show that as little as 20%1RM can cause hypertrophy if the exercise is taken to failure.  

No drug free bodybuilder will touch these guys in terms of mass regardless of how they train, but you do not have to lift heavy 100% of the time to get results.  Like I said in the OP Kai does not train this light all of the time, but his strength is not in the same league as Yates let alone powerlifters.

While I am no body builder I use weights a light as 4kg in my workout and they do the job for me due to form and maintaining tension throughout each rep.

You could argue that you should use the lightest weight possible in order to create maximum tension through the muscle.  As your muscle mass increase you will need more and more weight to create maximum tension.  This is the opposite of strength training.

Wardy257

A good little article on the CNS and how it affects our performance:

Threat and Performance: Central Governors | Bret Contreras

Ruperts slippers

One of the benefits of spending twenty yrs as a plumber is the fingers of steel and strong grip, office work and uni has turned the male population into a set of women...