Tag Archives: gym

Getting stronger on bench and feeling real good too… on the road to 200 lb. bench…

I know I’m getting stronger on bench ’cause I just did a 145 lbs. for a triple and 150 lbs. for a double today which is something I’ve never done before. I’m going to work really hard on bench press this summer in hopes of making it to 200 lb. bench in time before the push/pull powerlifting meet in August. I believe I can get there before then, we’ll see. Felt great about today’s bench press session, though.

De-load week is over so back to strength training. Tomorrow is leg day so we’ll see how I do on squats.

Kev

It’s de-load week at the gym and feeling really good too!!!

Yeah, it’s de-load week at the gym this week. Yesterday I did a very light chest day and early this morning I did a very light leg day. Seriously, I lifted everything pretty light and only doing about 8 reps on everything. I am noticing the difference between heavy days and lighter days. On the lighter days, you don’t feel as fatigue which feels awesome really.

As a powerlifter, I think I’m going to need de-load weeks more often and I think I will start having a de-load week after every 3 weeks of heavy lifting. Sounds good to me.

Some of you may say… “But you can’t get muscle gains and strength gains having light days”. Of course you can. Its important to have light days ’cause it helps give you plenty of time for the muscles to repair and recover quicker. That’s why “De-load” weeks are very useful.

It really is a bad idea to lift super-heavy week after week nonstop ’cause it’s bad for the nervous system or the CNS is what they all call it. I’m glad I took a de-load this week and I’ll take another de-load week next week too ’cause I really need it. Honestly, I did feel a little beat up doing all that heavy lifting and now I’m feeling a lot better.

After the two de-load weeks are all over, I’ll probably get my strength back for bench, squat and deadlift. Doing de-load week for squat, I finally got the depth right and I will keep doing squats this way from now on.

Gotta leave your ego at the door sometimes ’cause it’s important to have those light weeks. You can get muscle and strength gains doing light lifting… don’t listen to those idiots that say you can’t.

Kev

Physique update… I’m loving what doing more barbell work have done to me lately…

Here’s my latest bodybuilding progress. Well, training in powerlifting too is really helping my physique as you can see. Getting into bench pressing full time really have helped my pecs, big time. I’m finally getting the look I wanted.

As you can see, I got a pretty good six pack going so I must be pretty lean. At the gym today, I just checked my bodyfat percentage and it’s about 15% percent now which is considered lean. Honestly, I don’t really need to get any lower in bodyfat ’cause in reality getting lower than 10% would be pretty dangerous.

Maybe I might be ready for the bodybuilding competition stage after all? I don’t know, lmao… only kidding. I would never compete for the bodybuilding stage and once again, I just want the look.

I’m happy with what I look like now, though. Still got a lot of work to do. I want my pecs to be a lot bigger but gonna take my time.

Kev

Tried to max out on deadlift for my 1 rep max test earlier today but it wasn’t very good…

Today, I was gonna go for my 1 rep max test on the deadlift at the gym earlier today but once again, I didn’t have it in me. I swore I hit a 310 lb. deadlift in the past and for some reason I can’t do it again. I even couldn’t hit a 300 lb. and 295 lb. deadlift and I knew I got those numbers before.

So I ask myself, “Am I getting weaker on deadlift? Am I plateauing?” The answer is no to both of those questions.

I don’t think I’m getting weaker. When you notice your deadlift, bench or squat numbers has been staying the same or going down, there is a reason for that. Mostly because your body is beat up, fatigue and your CNS is probably getting fried. I’m realizing that maybe testing out 1 rep maxes after a few weeks of strength training isn’t the best idea. Before you test your 1 rep maxes on the big three, you should take a de-load week before you do it. My mistake, my bad and lessons learned.

I’m not injured so don’t worry but honestly, I do feel beat up a little bit. I need a de-load week anyways. What is “de-load”? You probably heard that term in the weightlifting world before and here is a great post over at bodybuilding.com explaining what “de-load” is and how to do it…

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121391461&fbclid=IwAR3TsYMD30CTaAjtje6NrsZpzxWjc7-rlYkshQdOLG4Ybl5bw_HS8_GvmOQ

I didn’t lose deadlift strength. I’m pretty sure I didn’t. I just need to take a breather, go easy and take a de-load week and I’ll do that next week. I’ll admit it, I’ve been doing a lot of heavy sets and few reps for the past 3 or 4 weeks to train for strength. I’ve should have taken a de-load week before maxing out and I’ll keep that in mind next time.

Like I said before, I’m still pretty new to powerlifting training. I got a lot to learn so I’m gonna make a lot of mistakes. I don’t feel bad about not being able to lift a 300 lb. deadlift again ’cause every powerlifter out there goes through this. Even the greatest powerlifters out there go through bad days on the deadlift platform. They all go through it.

I’ll get it back again, though. Next week, I’ll take a de-load week and I need to de-load more often. Train for strength for like 3 weeks straight and then the week after de-load. I gotta learn to train smart and be more careful. I’m sure I’ll deadlift 300 or over soon, it’s just going to take a little while longer. I’ll be on fire again real soon, just wait!

A lot of powerlifters out there get upset when they can’t get numbers they want but I’m not gonna panic and not gonna let it get to me. Last thing you want to do is freak out about it. Admittedly, I was a little frustrated… not gonna lie… I just gotta learn to de-load more and I will. Lifting super heavy week after week like the post from bodybuilding.com said is not good. You gotta have your light weeks.

Kev

See me do a 150 lb. squat for a triple…

During my squat session at the gym earlier this morning, I ended my session with a 150 lb. triple. It was pretty easy. Could have been a little deeper but definitely next time.

While it isn’t my max out week, it is still okay to do heavy triples, doubles and singles to end your sets with.

Like I said in the Instagram post, I’m thinking my estimated pr on squat for a 1 rpm might be 160 or 165 lbs. Maybe 170. I’m on the road to a 200 pound squat and I think I can get there this Spring/Summer. I’m just about there.

I hated doing barbell squats at first but I’m loving it more and more now.

Kev

T-Nation article… 7 gym gym rules never to break… but sadly people break ’em anyways…

This is a great article on T-Nation which a great fitness/bodybuilding site that is popular online. In this article, it lists 7 rules to never break and they’re all good ones too. Sadly, I see people break them all the time especially 1, 2, and 4.

Check out the opinion piece article here:

https://www.t-nation.com/opinion/the-7-gym-rules-never-to-break?fbclid=IwAR1P–aQJ5-I74B9fSx3IrB1loAMhqR-hWaftKpV7XkN9DlB7ITt5Y4_S14

My thoughts on No. 1, “Don’t Perv On Women”…

I do talk to women at times at the gym but I’m not there to hit on them or pick up dates. I respect the women’s time at the gym. Usually when I talk to a woman it’s just a quick “Hello, how are you” and that’s probably about it.

At the gym, I see guys chatting it up with the ladies all the time. It’s amazing to me how long they talk to each other especially in the weight room. They talk so long in between sets and it’s a waste of time for your muscles and your body. It’s not good to take really long rests in between your sets and that becomes a huge problem when people chat it up for so long. I see guys walking up to some random woman to chat her up all the time even when she’s working out! Crazy! I don’t use the gym to hit on the ladies. I go to the gym to get a good workout in and then I’m done.

Thoughts on No. 2, “Don’t Share Your Training Wisdom”…

Getting unsolicited advice seems to be a big problem and I’ve gotten that before. When people thought I was in trouble lifting weights, some meatheads would try to come over to save the day when I knew what I was doing. For example, I was benching 1 rep maxes by myself with no spotter but with these benches at my local gym, you don’t really need a spotter ’cause they have these side arms or safety arms whatever you want to call them. I missed a bench lift and some dude would try and come over and play “hero” to save me but I set the bar on the safeties and nothing happened to me. The dude thought I was gonna kill myself on the bench or something but I knew what I was doing. That’s what the safety arms on the bench are for, some people don’t realize that. I think they were built on there so you can bench alone without a spotter. This happened a couple of times when a dude was trying to save me from a missed bench when benching alone. I knew what I was doing and some dudes just want to play “hero” in the gym and nothing more. I appreciate them looking after me and looking out for my well-being, but dude, what they do is really rude. I do get a spotter when I think I’m in absolute need of one, though. I know what I’m doing when benching by myself and there are gonna be a few idiots that think I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m starting to bench in the squat rack more, though.

Thoughts on No. 4., “Pick Up Your Shit”…

Oh yeah, I hear this one. People leave weights on the floors and on equipment after they’re done and it’s annoying that people don’t pick up after themselves. It pisses me off really. Sometimes I have no choice but to go around the gym putting weights back to where they belong even if I didn’t use them just to be nice and respectful to the gym. Going to the gym maybe fun and all but there will be all kinds of inconsiderate jackasses in the gym too. People don’t put the weights back, they leave trash behind and all that stuff. Crazy.

Gym etiquette is a real problem at gyms lately and it continues to get worse. In the old days, we used to go to the gym to get away from annoying people but now annoying people are all over gyms. Real sad!

Kev

Reasons why you shouldn’t test your 1 rep maxes on the big three lifts each time you hit the gym…

One biggest mistake I made in powerlifting training is maxing out too often. I was told by another experienced powerlifter that maxing out every week is bad. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on how often you should max out is that you should max out on the big three lifts for once like every 6  – 12 weeks. What powerlifters do is that they train for reps. for a long while and then they’ll pick a p.r. day for the big three lifts sometime later. That’s how they prepare for powerlifting meets.

You don’t want to do a one rep max every week for a few reasons:

  • Could lead to some pretty serious injuries or worse could lead to death.
  • Lifting heavy one rep maxes every week fires up your CNS (Central Nervous System) which isn’t good.
  • Makes you more weaker and more fatigue. If you wonder why your pr’s either have gone down or stays the same each week this is why. You want your pr’s to keep going up, not going down or staying the same.

I’ve been noticing that the reason why my pr’s haven’t been going up is probably ’cause I was maxing out too often… every week I hit the gym. Not good. I’m not going to max out on the big three lifts for a while. I’ll max out again like maybe in a few weeks. For now, I’ll continue to train for strength until I max out again in a few weeks to find out what my pr’s are.

I only hit a 300 lb. deadlift once and I’m hoping to hit that number again. That’s the number that I plan to hit at my next powerlifting meet at Albany Strength at the end of March. If I want to achieve that goal then I need to max out less and less and I plan to do exactly that… right away… starting now. Before that meet at the end of March, I’ll probably only max out the big three lifts once and that it.

I’ve learned how to “peak” and “taper” before a meet. It’s what powerlifters do so they can lose more fatigue before a meet. I want to be at my best at this next meet. Before the next meet, I don’t want to be all beat up and worn out so I’ll probably end up taking a full week off of the gym on meet week so I can be all rested up and ready to go.

I’m hoping to deadlift 300 lbs. or a little more at the next meet. I want to go all in and put on a fucking show so I need to come up with a plan so I can be ready. Uggghh, man I hope I can deadlift 300 lbs. again ’cause when I did it that one time, it felt awesome. I want to pull that lift at the meet so I can impress people and blow people away.

When will I max out and test my pr on the big three lifts again? Probably sometime next month, in the middle of February. After that I’m not gonna max out again until meet day. I want to give myself plenty of time so I can lose fatigue and all that stuff. Be full of energy on meet day and just go in there and smoke it.

I’ve done two powerlifting meets and both of them were a blast. I’m getting excited for the next one too. Powerlifting is a lot of fun and lifting heavy things can get quite addicting. I can see why the sport is getting so popular and the sport keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Kev

 

10 gym pet peeves of mine…

Everybody has gym pet peeves and yes, even I do. I can come up with so many but these ones are the ones that annoy me the most. I don’t think I ever did this list before but if I did, oh well…

Enjoy:

  • People trying to talk with me during my workouts: I don’t really use the gym to socialize. When I’m in the zone and working out, I don’t want to be bothered. Most of the time I’m working out, I have headphones on listening to loud music so I can give people an easy sign that I don’t want to be talked to or be bothered. Yes, people will continue to be rude and want to chat me up anyway by tapping me on the shoulder or something so I can take my headphones off and chat with someone. I don’t want to talk with people during my workouts. I’ll socialize with people before or after my workouts but “during” is a big no no.
  • People who hog equipment: When I need to use a certain piece of equipment, there’s always someone taking forever on it. The squat rack, the deadlift platform and the cable machine are good examples. People take forever on these things, it’s crazy. When they complete one workout on a piece of equipment, they’ll do a different workout on the same thing. So annoying and pisses me off. I just keep doing other workouts while waiting to use this equipment I need to use. I hate equipment hoggers!
  • People giving me unsolicited advice: This happens once in a while. Some know it all comes over and says I’m doing a workout wrong and this person teaches me to do it his/her own way when I know I’m doing it right. This is a problem at the gym for sure.
  • People with bad gym etiquette: There’s a lot of people with bad gym etiquette. People don’t care to put weights back when they’re done, leaving trash behind, leaving benches and other equipment all sweaty, etc. I can go on and on. There are too many people who have no respect for a public and commercial gym. They only care for themselves sadly.
  • A real chatty person who goes around talking to “EVERYONE”: You’ll see this at almost every gym in America. There will always be this very chatty guy or woman just going around talking to everyone even if they’re working out and this person will talk to someone in between their sets. Sadly, some will see using the “gym” as a place to socialize, meet new friends and get to know everyone but in my opinion, the gym isn’t a place to socialize. If you want to socialize go to a coffee house or a bar. The gym is a place to get a good workout in.
  • Watching people doing workouts in bad form: You see this everywhere in gyms. People doing workouts in bad form. It’s a problem at my local gym. I see it every time I go there. Amazing how many people out there are misinformed with working out. Some people do workouts in good form but most people workout in the gym pretty horribly. Amazing.
  • Crappy music being played on the radio: It’s a part of why I bring my own Ipod to the gym so I can listen to my own music. Sometimes my local gym does pick a good radio station like classic rock and metal they sometimes play but my local gym are always playing bad country music, pop and rap music. Sometimes they even crank the radio a bit too loud too. I like my own music.
  • When someone asks me if I’m still using something: Happens all the freakin’ time. I’m using something and then I finish, someone will walk up and ask if I’m still using it. Does it look like I’m still using it if no else is? When I wipe something down and walk away it means I’m done, no need to ask me. Some people would assume I’m super setting on two different workouts but I don’t super set. Fucking people. *sigh*
  • Seeing a group of young kids bench pressing and watching them do it all wrong and sloppy: Sometimes at the local gym I go to, I would see a bunch of young kids. A group of 4 or 5 kids somewhere around 10 – 15 years old getting together to bench press and take turns. They do it in pretty bad form and sloppy, don’t even know what they’re doing. Sometimes I’ll sit there and watch ’em and I worry about them sometimes. I appreciate young kids looking out for each other in bench press but if a young kid that age going to bench press should be accompanied by a full grown adult who knows what he’s doing. Bench press is dangerous for youngsters that age, in my opinion and someday there’s gonna be a freak accident. I know young kids wanna be cool and look tough bench pressing but I don’t like it. Should be accompanied by an adult.
  • Loud weight dropping: Doing deadlifts and slamming the weight down to the floor is okay ’cause you’re doing heavy deadlifts and there’s no way to set it down quietly knowing from my own experience. With dumbbells however is different. Guys dropping heavy dumbbells to the floor loudly and heavily continues to be a problem. Not only that it’s annoying but it’s also very dangerous and could hurt you or someone else. When the dumbbells come down to hit the floor they could hit your leg for sure or worse when someone’s walking by you, you’ll never know that the dumbbell could land on someone’s foot. You could lose your gym membership for that if you hurt someone else. When you finish your set, it’s not that hard to set them down quietly or even better get yourself a spotter when doing dumbbell presses on a bench. I see guys using spotters all the time when dumbbell pressing heavy on the bench. It works. Try it.

There you go. Enjoy.

Kev

Why we don’t see a lot of lean and in shape people nowadays, too many don’t want to eat good that’s why…

There’s a lot of people out there that like to compliment me on how lean and in shape I look. I have visible washboard abs, veiny arms and all that stuff. I get a lot of people saying that I look leaner than most people nowadays. Everywhere you go you’ll see people with chunky bodies to really overweight, it’s really totally unreal. I see too many people at the gym nowadays with really high bodyfat over 18%. A lot of people struggle to lose bodyfat but the only problem is, there are too many that are misinformed about it.

Losing bodyfat isn’t hard to do. All it pretty much takes is good eating and good exercising really. While it’s good that people go to the gym trying to get in shape, there are still too many people who work out but their nutrition sucks, though. There are still too many people who lift weights and do cardio but they’re always eating junk food and drinking alcohol. That’s another thing that is pretty whacked. People work out in the gym but they are still heavy alcohol drinkers and yet many of them still want to lose some pounds. How crazy is that?

When you want to lose weight, build muscle and lose bodyfat, you have to sacrifice a lot of things. Yeah, I know eating junk food and drinking alcohol is fun but it doesn’t make sense to me why people continue to do that stuff while working out.

Working out and eating healthy go hand in hand. There’s no other way around it. You want to get lean and build some mean muscle you gotta make some changes in your life. I certainly did. I cut out most bad food and gave up alcohol completely.

Obesity and people being fat is definitely a huge problem in America. People with high bodyfat is not healthy and the problem in America is that leftard America wants to force us to accept fat people. No way… not gonna happen in my eyes. Everywhere you look, you see too many people with beer bellies, chubby looks and people who are way too obese. Sad really, I don’t like it.

Getting lean and losing bodyfat isn’t that hard really. All you gotta do is do these 6 steps:

1. Avoid most junk food. Avoid sugars. Bad foods like processed foods, fast food and simple carbs. Cleaning out your junky nutrition is a must. You don’t have to avoid junk food completely though as it’s good to have a few cheat meals weekly.
2. Drink as much water as you can and drink green tea. Yes, this means cutting out bad drinks like soda, sports drinks and anything with calories. Yep, it’s time to give up the alcohol, y’all.I only drink water and green tea.
3. Eat high protein and low carb stuff like from fish, chicken and eggs which I eat a lot.
4. Eat a lot of complex carbs like fruits, vegetables and whole grains in which I do.
5. Do plenty of cardio like walking, running, bike riding, jump roping, heavy bag punching and HIIT training.
6. Do a lot of weight training in the gym. Yes, lifting weights can be a great fat and calorie burner.

Do all those and you should be on your way. I don’t do intermittent fasting. I don’t do vegan diets ’cause I’m not a fan of “vegetarian”. I don’t do bulking and cutting, I don’t like keto, carb cycling and all that stupid crap.

I just keep my healthy nutrition small and simple. Just 4 or 5 meals a day is all I need.

My bodyfat is pretty good but could be a lot lower and I have already started doing that. I still have a bit of bodyfat to shred away and I plan to do just that. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve already started eating smaller meals by eating lesser calories and I’m already feeling that my bodyfat is rapidly dropping. I may have lost a few pounds too ’cause of it.

I don’t know where my bodyfat percentage is at right now but I would love to find out. In order to be considered a real bodybuilder, your bodyfat percentage must be about 8% or lower. To get a visible six pack you gotta be around 8% – 11%. The only way to have visible muscles like pecs and biceps, your bodyfat gotta be low.

Goal for 2019 is to drop my bodyfat percentage a lot more. I would like to be 8% or lower. Maybe I’m almost already there, ya never know. I’m dying to know what my bodyfat percentage is at right now and I’m going to find out pretty soon. Hopefully after the Holidays. I’ll figure something out.

Kev

The bench press the most dangerous workout in the gym? No not at all but what about these workouts???

People are always attacking the bench press and calling it the most dangerous workout in the gym. Is it really? No not at all.

If you want “most dangerous workouts” there are a bunch of others but you never see the bodybuilding industry attacking them. How come you never see the bodybuilding industry attacking workouts like barbell raises behind the head, lat pull downs behind the head, upright rows for shoulders, dumbbell front rows for shoulders and hack squat with knees together??? There are a few “most dangerous” workouts for ya but you don’t see people criticizing them but they do those workouts in the gym anyways.

I don’t do any of those workouts at all but I’ll admit that I experimented with upright rows for shoulders for a couple of weeks. If you want a workout that is hard on the shoulders, it’s not the bench press… try the upright row whether barbell or dumbbells. You’ll notice right away that the upright row is very uncomfortable. I experimented with upright rows for a little bit but I noticed something was up with my shoulders and it was making my joints uncomfortable too so then I immediately stopped doing upright rows.

In my opinion, I think the “upright rows” are the most dangerous workout but you see lifters do that workout in the gym all the freakin’ time. I also believe “upright rows” or “behind the neck” exercises are overrated. Both are very dangerous to the shoulders but you see a lot of guys and even women do them anyways.

In my opinion, the best exercises for shoulders are seated dumbbell presses and standing dumbbell lateral side raises. That’s how I got those big delts by doing those. You don’t need to do behind the neck barbell pressing for shoulders and don’t need to do upright rows at all ’cause those look risky to me. There are plenty of other great workouts for shoulders but instead you see people doing the dangerous ones.

It’s very weird to me that people call the bench press a dangerous workout but they’ll never admit that there are plenty of other dangerous workouts in the gym like those ones I talked about above.

Truthfully, though, ALL workouts in the gym are dangerous and you can get injured in ALL of them but those ones talked about in this video are the most dangerous of all.

I enjoy most workouts in the gym but I hate “upright rows” for shoulders. I wish people would quit doing them ’cause they are going to wreck their shoulders if they continue and their lifting days could be over for good.

Kev