I think my max bench was something like 4 reps of 315, 4 reps of 275 inclined, can't remember declined. It's a decent number for most, but technicaly not impressive considering my size. I should also be curling something outrageous like 90lb dumbells or something like that. Fuck that noise.

Yeah you say you're like well over 300 pounds...how much of that is FAT though?

I was getting somewhat ripped in the summer, but here at my new University the membership is 250 euro which I couldn't afford if my life depended on it. Really sucks, because now I can only afford to go to the gym once or twice a week. I've had to start eating way healthier to keep my body in check, which blows since I'm a sucker for junk food. I've been thinking of buying some free weights so I could fuck around with those in my apartment.

My max bench is not only tiny, but it's even lower, since I missed the gym for weeks on end for multiple annoying, but unavoidable reasons. I won't even mention it here.

since a few months I occupied myself with nutrition more than ever. Changed my eating habits surely for the better but I, too, am absolutely addicted to sweets. Esp. in the evening it's both joy and addiction ( ) to throw in chocolate, liqorice, winegums whatever. I'm still of rather normal/slender buld but a slight "ring" around my belly surely is there. Below are quite some belly muscles thanks to my exercises, however they aren't really visible, haha.
Truth is - I want that little ring to disappear but that would mean leaving aside the sweets. Then I possibly would be happy with some kind of 6-pack but I would mourn the loss of beloved chocloate etc. Any idea how to solve that problem? I tried to switching to fruits and nuts but it's just that - fruit and nuts and NOT chocolate & co Damn sweeties.... but so damn delicious...
Maybe the only way is some cold turkey and just don't have any sweets in my house... But I see myself running out at night to a store to buy some in despair. Ahhhhhh...

i never did a maximum bench thing but two years back when I did a fair bit of weights I could do 6 reps of 330 lb (stupid imperial systems) easily enough.

edit: could probably still do it now as well, I guess? I'm smaller but I've just lost fat, I think/I hope.

also, fark, Gelseth's huge! It's rare that I say that about people as I'm not exactly a tiny guy myself. Just saw his facebook, dude is crazy massive.

Let's all speak of Gelseth's impressive build. MY MY. HE IS A MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.

My bench is pretty lame, just did 255 pounds for the first time on monday.

Also, in some bizarre alternate reality, society has crumbled and Gelseth has used his size and strength to enslave us all to his will.

I've been weight training for nearly 7 years. Before that I was a fat ass too. It took me a year but I lost 20 kgs. I don't get too involved with nutrition just basic common sense. Just don't eat shit or eat it in moderation.

You should aim to eat more. 6 times a day but in smaller portions. It will help stimulate your metabolism and will assist with shredding. Dedicate more time doing squats and deadlifts. These compound exercises will smash your body and is best way to release testosterone. Cardio won't do bugger all in terms of losing body fat to tone especially if you have considerable amount of muscle mass unless you are already insanely fit. Try routines that willl increase the afterburn effect.

I've been told that after a good workout, you have a window of half an hour to consume protein that your body will more readily use to repair and build muscle... does anyone know if there's there any truth to this?

Yeah well others say you have an hour, and others still say you only have 15 minutes. Who's right? It doesn't matter, as long as you actually eat something and not do stupid shit like have a candy bar for the rest of the day.

Are you actually a fatass, caspian? You definitely seem to exercise way more than any other fatass I'm familiar with.

From what I remember from his Facebook profile image, Caspian isn't fat at all.

does caspian have a facebook?

He did when I joined the MET group.

Thanks everyone, I stopped crying for a whole 15 minutes to feel smug. Then immediately resumed crying.

Well, I've lost a lot of weight recently, and been gaining a shitton of muscle, so my weight as of late has stayed basically the same even thought i've dropped two pants sizes and almost a shirt size. Hehe, on FB I don't have any recent pictures up, I'll have to take some to denote my recent fat loss. I was getting pretty disgusting there for a while.
@caspian, that's some impressive shit right there. I should fly to Australia (or vice versa) and we should start a bar fight somewhere. Old western style fights, like where there are people getting tossed out windows and shit. Should be fun.

Routine yesterday at Das Gym

Shrugs: 3 sets of 10, 110lb dumbells
Shoulder flies: 3 sets of 6, 30 lb dumbells (is there a good way to buildi this up faster, anyone?)
Curls: 3 sets of 6, 60lb dumbells
Tricep pull-downs: 3 sets of 8, 200lb stack
Hammer curls: 3 sets of 6, 55lb dumbells
Skull Crushers: 3 sets of 8, 50lb dumbells

My tris are pretty strong but I need to find a better way of working my biceps. I used to curls 75's a few years back, and I want to get back to that point, any tips?

You probably refuse to listen to me in this case but you really shouldn't because I actually lift bigger weights in this exercise than you!
Anyway one thing I've been doing lately is first doing a set with bigger weights then immediately afterwards another set with smaller weights, definitely works. I do a set of 8 or something with 22,5 kg dumbbells (that's 50 lbs for those who can't count) and the next set with 15 kg (~30 lbs) dumbbells. This is a great tactic when the bigger weights alone don't really make you feel the burn in your shoulders...or biceps or whatever muscle group you're training.

Gelseth: You ever tried the 5x5 method? Pick a few key exercises, do 5 sets of 5 reps of each with plenty of rest in between sets. Use a weight that you'd fail at 6 reps with. Generally better to pick bigger compound lifts, but there are always exceptions. Excellent and fun way to gain a lot of strength in not much time, if you already have a good base.

Example:

Day 1: Barbell Squat 5x5, Barbell Static Squat (aka Stationary Lunge) 5x5, Machine Leg Curl 5x5 (there are better exercises for hams, but I'm keeping it simple), Pullup 5x5, Barbell Bent-Over Row 5x5
Day 2: Deadlift 5x5, Incline Barbell Bench 5x5, Dip 5x5, Barbell Curl 5x5, Straight-bar Pressdown 5x5

Since you're not able to do bodyweight pullups, you can use an assisted chinup machine if one is available; or use pulldowns instead. If 5 dips is no problem for you, hang some weights off of a weight belt.

Do that for just four weeks, with 4 days a week working out (Mon, Tue, rest, Thu, Fri, rest, rest, IE), and then come back to your dumbbell curls... You will smoke them.

8 reps with 50's? You know I'm talking about flies, and not presses, right? And why would I refuse advice when I ask for help?

@swayze, I'll try this 5x5 method, sounds good.

Exactly

Wow, not too shabby. The rest of my shoulers are strong, I can shrug a ton, press a ton, the flies, not so much thought.

I've been meaning to go to the gym more but hangovers, insomnia (which makes it hard to wake up to go to gym before class) and schoolwork is getting in the way lately. I'm not nearly as good as I want to be. I can bicep curl 35 pound dumbells in each hand for two sets of ten and leg press three sets of ten at 350 pounds. Really gotta get on that shit and get my muscles back.

You know, lifitng will most likely help that insomnia. The hangovers though, hehe...

yay i'm a strong fuck...especially with my arms and upper body in general, my legs dont really match my upper body...although I dont think being able to leg press 8 reps with 700 lbs is all that bad!

but yeah just keep working those flies, you should get results very soon...before last summer I didn't even do any flies at all but when I started it only took like a few months to go from 20 lbs to 50.
also do you ever do straight arm front raise? thats when you have dumbbells/barbell/machine/whatever in your hands then you raise your both arms forwards while keeping them straight, I added that into my workout some time ago and its awesome

Gelseth: Let me know how 5x5 goes in a few weeks... It's a great system, the workouts are short and sweet, and the strength gains are phenomenal.

username: You talking about lateral raises or flys? I got the impression that Gelseth meant lateral raises, since he was talking about his shoulders, but I could be wrong.

Lateral Raise: http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Deltoid ... Raise.html
DB Fly: http://exrx.net/WeightExercises/Pectora ... DBFly.html

If you can do lateral raises with that form with 22.5kg in each hand though... Props, that's a fucking lot of weight.

yess, I was reffering to the lateral raise. I do like 70's with the DB flies.

yeah lateral raises were exactly what I was talking about as well...like I said Ima strong fuck

I hate lateral raises,

I like them, they're just tough as fuck. SO far, I've been at 30lbs dumbells for like 2 months now. I've seen obvious gains, but I'm not getting any stronger...makes no sense. everything else is gettign stronger, just not that

What's the best exercise to hit that tricep that curls toward your bicep? I'm trying skullcrushers and dips, but I only feel any burn in the other side of my arms (I'm not sure but I think it's also part of the tricep).

Have you tried tricep kickbacks?

Never even heard of them, so no... would you recommend them over other isolation exercises?

Thanks man.

I still think skullucrushers are the best if you do them right. Don't let your elbows bend out.

Guys, do you think it's counterproductive that I train in my health center gym with less weight and more reps (2 times a week) while when at home I train with more weight and fewer reps (same week, two other days). To me it basically feels ok but maybe I boycott some benefits with that?
MO and WED: gym (with 2x20 for each exercise)
FR and SUN: at home (around 3x10 for each exercise)

good? bad? doesn't matter?

20 reps a set? Most people tell me that anything more than 12 is overkill. I'd break it up into sets of 12 at most, myself, but I f I was going purely for strength, I'd try doing even less per set.