Comments on: Basic Strength Routine http://www.thegaragegymonline.com/2010/02/01/basic-strength-routine/ Get stronger, gain muscle, lose fat - all in your garage Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:21:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Chris http://www.thegaragegymonline.com/2010/02/01/basic-strength-routine/comment-page-1/#comment-436 Chris Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:11:48 +0000 http://www.thegaragegymonline.com/?p=1185#comment-436 Wow. Thanks for the detailed comment, Rob. It's great to hear a completely different perspective, especially since a lot of what you've shared is very personal. One thing that occurred to me, reading what you wrote, was that at least you had the balls to go after what you wanted, even if you feel that you went about it in a less than optimal way... Re: the army and accountancy, I didn't even want to go into talking about career choices! I could write a whole different post on how to choose the wrong career! I'll leave that for another day... I know you have your own system of training and it's mainly bodyweight stuff, but have you thought about push presses? I would imagine that your lower body power could put a decent weight up in the air and overload your upper body pretty quickly... I am coming around to the view that putting heavy weight overhead is key to upper body muscle. I believe that 3 months of serious overhead presses has done more for my upper body than 3 years of weighted pull ups and dips. Wow. Thanks for the detailed comment, Rob. It’s great to hear a completely different perspective, especially since a lot of what you’ve shared is very personal. One thing that occurred to me, reading what you wrote, was that at least you had the balls to go after what you wanted, even if you feel that you went about it in a less than optimal way…

Re: the army and accountancy, I didn’t even want to go into talking about career choices! I could write a whole different post on how to choose the wrong career! I’ll leave that for another day…

I know you have your own system of training and it’s mainly bodyweight stuff, but have you thought about push presses? I would imagine that your lower body power could put a decent weight up in the air and overload your upper body pretty quickly…

I am coming around to the view that putting heavy weight overhead is key to upper body muscle. I believe that 3 months of serious overhead presses has done more for my upper body than 3 years of weighted pull ups and dips.

]]> By: Robert Newman http://www.thegaragegymonline.com/2010/02/01/basic-strength-routine/comment-page-1/#comment-432 Robert Newman Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:33:13 +0000 http://www.thegaragegymonline.com/?p=1185#comment-432 OK, like you I would (and still do) need to correct an imbalance; having started Karate at 7 years old, I have immensely strong legs and core, but weak upper body, so I would be working on the weighted push ups and the chin up / pull up (still my weakest exercises). I can also run forever at 17 (and would continue to do so right through to my late 20's when I left the Army), but cannot sprint and so would need to work on that and gaining some weight - so my advice would be to cut down on the miles, save your knees and don't get hung up on tabbing. Indeed, try as I might in my early 20's I could not gain size naturally and turned to some pharmaceutical supplementation that later down the line I believe contributed to my mental health problems directly (my endocrine system is shot) and indirectly (when I stopped the supplements I lost so much weight that I stopped eating all together and went right down to a shade over 10 st at 6 ft tall and I still have body dysmorphic issues) - so I would advise myself not to go there at all... I suppose I would try to talk myself out of the Army... and accountancy, but that's another story... I would then promote the basic routine you have set out above, except that 5 x 5 works for me, but above all else, I would stress and then stress some more the absolute value of consistency. Little and often, slow and steady, what ever you call it, if I had done 20-30 mins daily rather than 3 hour sessions everyday for a week and then nothing for six weeks, I would be much much closer to where I want to be than I am today! OK, like you I would (and still do) need to correct an imbalance; having started Karate at 7 years old, I have immensely strong legs and core, but weak upper body, so I would be working on the weighted push ups and the chin up / pull up (still my weakest exercises).

I can also run forever at 17 (and would continue to do so right through to my late 20′s when I left the Army), but cannot sprint and so would need to work on that and gaining some weight – so my advice would be to cut down on the miles, save your knees and don’t get hung up on tabbing.

Indeed, try as I might in my early 20′s I could not gain size naturally and turned to some pharmaceutical supplementation that later down the line I believe contributed to my mental health problems directly (my endocrine system is shot) and indirectly (when I stopped the supplements I lost so much weight that I stopped eating all together and went right down to a shade over 10 st at 6 ft tall and I still have body dysmorphic issues) – so I would advise myself not to go there at all…

I suppose I would try to talk myself out of the Army… and accountancy, but that’s another story…

I would then promote the basic routine you have set out above, except that 5 x 5 works for me, but above all else, I would stress and then stress some more the absolute value of consistency. Little and often, slow and steady, what ever you call it, if I had done 20-30 mins daily rather than 3 hour sessions everyday for a week and then nothing for six weeks, I would be much much closer to where I want to be than I am today!

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