Metal Reviews

Yes i remember man! And i am sure you know what trve pizza is like, but i think many people here don't...

Well italian pizza was pretty much oily pita bread before they brought tomatoes back from the AMERICAS

There was lard and shit on it too. And olives.

Yeah maybe but now it evolved and it kicks american shizza...

And microscopic flakes of urine

LoL

true dat.

Actually yeah, it was the bench-press. And now that I think about it, another contributing factor was the loss of convenient work out equipment. I was never on a plateau with squats (which was my favorite exercise).

There is a local gym in the works at my town, and I'm thinking about becoming a member there. I'll take that advice with me, thanks.

MetalStorm =

It also helps to change up yuor workout routine. That can mean:
- Altering the order of your excersizes. For example, EVERYONE seems to do flat bench first in a chest workout. Can't do that all the time.

- Alter between dumbells and barbells. Again, some people get it stuck in their head that barbells bench pressing is a must. Not true. Mix in some dumbell presses too.

- Mix in some flye excersizes. Variety is always good, but flyes concentrate on shaping of the pecs. Also, flyes give your joints/tendons a braek from the heavy pressing motions

- Alter # reps per set. Some people always do 4 sets of 8, or whatever. Some workout can be all high reps, some all low, or some combination therefore.

As you can see, there are endless possibilities. That's good. Variety is key. Your muscles grow by way of shocking them. If you do the same thing each and every time, your muscles will be able to adapt, and thus not change (grow bigger). You have to keep you muscles surprised, it's the only way they will react and grow. You don't neccesarily have to change everything each workout, but you can't do the same thing for an extended period of time and expect results. You can't let your muscles adapt to the same routine. The example I used here was for a chest workout, but the same logic can be applied to any body part....

Two things:

- Use proper form at all times. Guys who rock their back will doing bicep curls, go too deep while doing squats, bounce the bar off their chest while doing squats, and perform behind the neck military presses too often are asking for it. Behind the neck military presses recently got me. Per my orthopaedic surgeon, this behind the neck motion puts uhge stress on the bicep tendon (connects the inner elbow and front deltoid). That cost me a cortisone shot. Instead, do dumbell military presses or front of the neck military barbell presses. The other mistakes are pretty obviously bad (bouncing the bar, etc...)

-Check your ego at the door. By this, I mean avoid "maxing out." Performing a 1 rep max will not make you bigger. 3 rep sets are about as low as you need to go to make effective gains. If you are going to do heavy, 3 rep sets, they must be a PART of your routine. In other words, middle rep and high rep sets/workout days should be a part of youer regimen.
There are much more efficient and less risky ways to build strength than maxing out. I was such a dumbass in my late teens and early 20's, and now I am paying for it. I threw up some pretty hefty weight, but I caused myself some very avoidable joint damage along the way! D'OH!!

That makes so much sense. I always thought if you did more forced reps you were giving your muscles enough of a "shock." I eventually got to the point where I was hurting myself trying to do so much weight at once- not inan extreme sense, but inflamtion problems along with stiffness in my rists, shoulders, etc.

Thanks for the advice.