Post: #1

I live in NYC and go to a cheap gym which only has 2 power racks.

I was doing 5x5 at my old gym but at this new one there is always a line to use the power racks and barbells. Once I do get on the thing there is some guy coming up to me between every set asking me when I will be done.

5x5 has been good for me but I think there must be a routine out there which uses dumbbells, cables, body weight, etc. and can help me add muscle while losing fat.

Any RVF members have some advice on this?

Post: #2

Elaborate on your goals and I may have something tor recommend.

Post: #3

(08-13-2014 06:34 PM)Old Fritz Wrote:  Elaborate on your goals and I may have something tor recommend.

Right now I am 6 feet tall and weigh about 184. I have a body fat caliper that says I am at about 10.5% BF. But I don't think that is too accurate. I would say I am closer to 12-13%

Anyway, my goals are to look more ripped/defined. I think BF at about 7-8% while retaining muscle mass would be my ultimate goal. Not looking to do this in a hurry. Slow and steady is fine.

I know this has a lot to do with nutrition but as far as the workout routine goes what can you recommend? Thanks

Post: #4

http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge/article/philosophy/

THE GYM JONES TRAINING PHILOSOPHY
BY MARK TWIGHT
The training and fitness recommendations herein are based on our field experience, analysis of the results we see here, and our own research. This is the Gym Jones training philosophy in ten easy points:

1) The mind is primary
2) Outcome-based training (train for an objective)
3) Functional training (high degree of transferability)
4) Movements not muscles (transferable training does not isolate muscles)
5) Power-to-weight ratio (you must carry the engine)
6) Train all energy systems (emphasize the important but not at the expense of others)
7) Training is preparation for the real thing (train FOR something)
8) The mind is primary II (confidence, chemicals, carriage)
9) Nutrition is the foundation (eat for an objective)
10) Recovery is more than 50% of the process

Because my roots are in the mountains the Gym Jones training philosophy is not unlike climbing a new route up a steep and difficult wall: how can we best solve this problem? What will be the safest, fastest, and given our resources and the conditions, the most efficient route to the top? We approach individual sport or work-related challenges in the same way.

Each mountain and each route presents different challenges even if rock, snow, ice, and weather are a common theme, and we use hands and feet to move upward in the same way. Each individual and each performance objective presents different challenges and conditions even if increased power, endurance, speed, skill, and tenacity are a common theme, and we use similar methods to express it.

Quote:We often see experts apply a rigid 'solution' to a problem while being closed-minded to other possibilities. Sometimes it takes creativity to resolve issues. Often, that creativity keeps the mind alive and inquisitive during what could become monotonous training.

We address each problem with a degree of flexibility. We understand that everything which has come and gone, or been done before may be useful but it may be a distraction. Knowledge and expertise are tricky things: being keys to locks and also bars on cages. What we know and believe can just as easily help us solve problems and achieve objectives as it can enslave us to automatic, thoughtless response. Questions open the mind. Answers may either free or close it. The closed mind stagnates, and repeats its meager experience over and over.

We often see experts apply a rigid 'solution' to particular and similar problems while being closed-minded to other possibilities. Expert knowledge can be the finest weapon or the worst sort of prison. Mired in details, we are blind to the principle. Too focused on individual steps of the path we lose sight of the fundamental values and lose also the Way.

We are suspicious of systems. We are skeptical of systemizing that which is and should be organic. While one cannot create a training program and track its results without numbers and science, such a system is not the only way to achieve appropriate fitness. For over 15 years I meticulously tweaked and logged everything that might affect my fitness. However, I did so with the ultimate goal being to free myself of the need to do so. Learning how and when and why taught me the Way, and set me free. This is our objective.

Post: #5

(08-13-2014 06:50 PM)Loveless Wrote:  

(08-13-2014 06:34 PM)Old Fritz Wrote:  Elaborate on your goals and I may have something tor recommend.

Right now I am 6 feet tall and weigh about 184. I have a body fat caliper that says I am at about 10.5% BF. But I don't think that is too accurate. I would say I am closer to 12-13%

Anyway, my goals are to look more ripped/defined. I think BF at about 7-8% while retaining muscle mass would be my ultimate goal. Not looking to do this in a hurry. Slow and steady is fine.

I know this has a lot to do with nutrition but as far as the workout routine goes what can you recommend? Thanks

Just to be clear you want to bulk up?

Post: #6

(08-13-2014 07:33 PM)Old Fritz Wrote:  

(08-13-2014 06:50 PM)Loveless Wrote:  

(08-13-2014 06:34 PM)Old Fritz Wrote:  Elaborate on your goals and I may have something tor recommend.

Right now I am 6 feet tall and weigh about 184. I have a body fat caliper that says I am at about 10.5% BF. But I don't think that is too accurate. I would say I am closer to 12-13%

Anyway, my goals are to look more ripped/defined. I think BF at about 7-8% while retaining muscle mass would be my ultimate goal. Not looking to do this in a hurry. Slow and steady is fine.

I know this has a lot to do with nutrition but as far as the workout routine goes what can you recommend? Thanks

Just to be clear you want to bulk up?

Bulking up is not my goal. My goal is fatloss without losing any muscle mass.

Post: #7

Pull ups (alternating front and back facing) and dips with varying depths can actually take care of a lot of your upper body needs and combine it with dumbbell bench, shoulder press, lat delt raises, bicep curls, single hand rows etc, dumbbells are prime for upper body work, so spend your extra leg energy on getting in runs, skip rope etc to lose weight.

Post: #8

If your goal is fat loss down to single digits without losing any muscle mass, then having an impeccable diet should be your primary concern.

Post: #9

Here are a couple of dumbbell complexes that will keep your mass while burning fat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olhu0n01Oio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7qx0FA3ea0

Do 5 sets of each.

Post: #10

I say find either an old school cheap gym, or go to an equally cheap crossfit gym and just do your routine instead of crossfit.

In words of the master: "Find another gym."

Post: #11

You can use dumb bells instead of the power racks. I go to the gym during an off time as well so I don't have to wait for other people. My biggest gym pet peeve.

I'd also get another gym.

Post: #12

If I only had a dumbbell rack, I'd just do 'ladders', pick up the lightest dumbbells and curl and press them for three to five reps (you can do more reps if you feel like it), set them down, and keep going up five pounds until you can't do a single, then go back down.

If you can't curl the heavier weights, you can do a fast curl that's basically a hammer grip clean.

Pretty much this is the easiest way to get like twenty sets of shit done in a hurry. Take a few breaths for each rest interval. On a good night, you can do it right away as a warmup and right before you leave the gym.

The heavier dumbbells (or preloaded barbells) are good to do unilateral snatches and shit if you want too.

Dan John's program is basically "do sets of eight unilateral snatches, clean and jerks, and add weight until you can't do a set of eight".

Here's an article and the relevant quote on one handed lifts. People will blow smoke up your ass about how hard the oly lifts are and how it takes years to learn them but unilateral stuff barely requires training and has a similar training effect. --- > http://danjohn.net/2009/12/one-arm-lifts/

Dan John Wrote:I settled on a simple program. A set of eight snatches with my right arm, one minute rest, a set of eight with my left arm, one minute rest, then add weight. Soon, I would get to a weight that I couldn’t get eight. One hand lifts were simple: straddle the weight on the floor, grab with one hand, put the other on the knee (right hand, right knee; left hand, left knee), and just keep the weight close as you leap and snap it overhead. Soon, I added one arm cleans (good hand only) and a lot of overhead jerks and presses. I discovered quickly that all those years of side bends and twists had absolutely NO value in building my obliques. I discovered that my overhead support muscles were only a shadow of what I thought they were when I had the opportunity to use both arms. Two-handed work began to look like the easy days.

Post: #13

You can adequately cover your upper body with pushups, chinups, and leg raises, none of which require a barbell.

You cannot adequately cover your lower body without heavy barbell squats and deadlifts. Instead you can make do with lunges, goblet squats, pistol squats, dumbbell deadlifts, etc.