The day you relise your doing it all wrong...

[harwin01354]

Today is the day I relised I have been doing it all wrong.. I have been lifting a couple of years..
I relise today I have just been chucking dumbells around, I dropped the amount of weight I am lifting by a a lot, but kept proper forum made sure I did full rom and squeezed the muscle as I slowly did the rep.. My god what a difference.. I feel sore already. My ego is gonna have to go and back to smaller weights. My only question is should I be pausing at the peak of my rep? So like a pull up pause when at the top of the bar..

Hope this also makes other people see what they may be doing wrong, yeah I can lift 2 26kg dumbells (not bad for little me) but I am just chucking them up and hoping for the best.. Glad I have seen the light

[SuffolkPunch]

I wouldn't say the previous way was flat out wrong. There is a place for adjusting your technique to maximise the weight you can use but it does sound like your current idea will be more productive.

We've all had these eureka moments. For me, some hard but needed moments were:
- I'm a lot fatter than I thought, have to lose ~30-40lbs not 5 or 6 lbs like I thought.
- A 6 day split is getting me nowhere fast
- Progression workout to workout is alarmingly hard - but I can lift much more weight than I thought
- No, I am not squatting to depth. Looking in the mirror was lying to me.
- No, I am still fatter than I thought, no 6 pack for you, come back 1 year!
- Bulk and cut or risk getting nowhere fast. Avoiding calorie counting just means I fall right into the homeostatis trap
- I can handle WAY more volume than I thought. It's hard to overreach, impossible to overtrain.

[harwin01354]

Yeah I'm sure there is a place for heavy quick reps, but the feeling a ache during the rep is something I ain't really felt since my first session... Also when I bench I just feel it in my shoulders and not my chest, with dropping the weight and doing proper slow form I can squeeze the pecs and feel it. I realize now, I must have looked so silly hardly able to control the dumbells. As I'm sure many have done in the past I did the "wow look how much I can lift" haha

Dude the amount of mistakes I have made and realized. I am "skinny fat" not sure if I totally beleave in thar sort of thing but if I it's true then what's what I am.

I am 149lb 5'8 with 17% bf.
so I did some cutting, got to 14.5% but my figure resembled a teenage girl haha. I lost all my muscle. And this we because I ate too little and was only concentrating on losing fat. Over Xmas I felt so crap about Being so small, so I ate anything I wanted to and stopped working out using the "it's Christmas" excuse. So I'm now tubby with no muscle.. That is back to square one.. Lesson learnt.

So my new plan. Lift well and good forum (even if I do have to wait for the oaps to be finished with the dumbell I want) eat the right food and just concentrate and gaining mass... I can cut next year if I need to bulk for a year...

Just feel stupid, I thought I was ok at the gym.. Doh

[AJherder]

Kind of depends on your goals. If your goal is to strictly build muscle you do not care to much about strength then slower controlled reps to create more time under tension is your way to go. This does not mean you should abandon all heavy weight training. The best way to make the CNS work more efficiently is to do heavy weights and yes sometimes it does feel like you are just throwing it up there but that's what you need that is of course with proper form and full ROM. The slow and controlled movements will help a lot with muscle growth but you should still have at least one lift a week that will hit your CNS hard to allow it to make the correct connections to help you lift more. If strength is not one of your goals than you can ignore everything I said and keep doing what you are doing.

[harwin01354]

Thanks, I have a pretty cool shift pattern.. I work 2 day 2 nights then 4 off... So I can do day 1 day 2 day 1 day 2, then 2 days at work, heavy lifting session before my night... Then rest over my nights.. That way I get the best of both worlds

[229time]

I think there is more to the problem, than just chucking dumbbells around. Maybe you just have low self esteem? I'm sure your body didn't resemble a female teenager...

I used to do about everything wrong, while over consuming alcohol on a regular basis....I still got a lot of compliments from people, and results from my efforts.

I just find it hard to believe that after a couple of years of lifting, you haven't made improvements in your physique. You may not be satisfied with the results, but I'm sure all that lifting wasn't for nothing.

[harwin01354]

I agree mate, my self esteem is pretty low, but I guess it's because I ain't got results I wanted but maybe my results we're unrealistic. I have changed over that two years, I even did my first half marathon so It wasn't for nothing but I wonder how things will go now I have been able to realize a better way of lifting

[229time]

I agree mate, my self esteem is pretty low, but I guess it's because I ain't got results I wanted but maybe my results we're unrealistic. I have changed over that two years, I even did my first half marathon so It wasn't for nothing but I wonder how things will go now I have been able to realize a better way of lifting

What about other aspects outside of training?

Is your diet strict - based on your goals (honestly)? If you have high expectations, you will probably have to make some sacrifices.

Do you get plenty of rest/sleep? The body repairs and grows outside the gym.

Personally I don't sacrifice, and follow all the rules, but I'm happy with the way I look. However, training is only part of the equation. The workout itself is simply the stimulus which triggers growth. For optimal results you must focus on more than just training.

[harwin01354]

I'm pretty strict with my diet. I count calories and macros, I eat good foods chicken breast, nuts etc... Sleep is abit of issue, I have to take sleeping tables from the doctor some nights, I work shift work and do nights, this messes my body clock up. So my sleep ain't the best.