In a hotel with a small gym, they have a bench and a bowflex type machine.
Front squats seem like the best exercise for legs. I've never done them before and I have to hang clean the weight up (also haven't done that) so I'll probably keep the weight pretty light. Just want to get something done since I haven't exercised this week.

Great to get back to the gym, ****ty to hurt my back again. Rewatched the chris duffin video twice before I went as well...
I didn't get my core set before I unracked, also spent too long standing there with the weight trying to get tight. Should of just racked it and restarted.
No videos because this is bulgaria and there are a lot of sweaty shirtless fat(3xstronger than me) old men around in the gym.

Press
2x5 20kg
1x5 25 kg
1x2 30kg
3x5 39kg

Curls
16/13 20kg

2x5 20 kg
1x5 35 kg
1x3 50 kg
1x2 70 kg
5/3 90kg
1x2 70kg

The gym had no 5kg weights, only 10lb's which apparently come from a high school in nevada

No workouts, went on a long mountain hike



I know there is powerlifting in Sofia, but google is failing me in finding out where anyone trains at.

welp, you're heavier than me by now.

Probably stronger too soon enough.

Haha one out of two isn't bad. Haven't even DL'ed in half a month. Finally settled into the new apartment, will check out a local gym tomorrow

I'm looking at the list of trainers on the gym's website. There's one bodybuilder and a bunch of triathlon competitors. Is it worth it to hire the bodybuilder to help my bench press form?

Not sure how this isn't the official anthem of the city.

So I went hunting for gyms yesterday, the first one I checked out wasn't pretty. It's quite small with one bench with a giant black bar



And one squat stand which kind of scares me, you have to lunge to get one foot between the stands to rerack the bar



So I moved on to the next gym, the picture online looked cool and they have a power rack. However when I asked to see the gym they made me wear these to come inside.



That made me a little suspicious so I asked the receptionist escorting me around the gym if there is an area for deadlifting, she asked a nearby hulking trainer and he responds in bulgarian




So went back to the first gym, turns out it has a ton of embassy workers training there which is cool. I'm just worried about squatting or benching heavy on their equipment.

Bench
5/5/8 70kg focused on keeping back very tight, no shoulder pain

Chins
8/6

Squat
3x5 90kg (wanted to do 92.5 but they don't have 1.25kg weights)
Squats felt good as well, focused a lot on keeping my core tight. Was worried about pushing the last set with the new weird setup. Gotta work on my reracking skills

Lol that squat rack.

The blue things to put on your shoes are pretty standard here.

Really? I was so confused that I asked what I was supposed to do with the slipcovers when they handed them to me. They said it's for my dirty shoes (lol) but that if I became a member I could wear my shoes inside without them. That logic made no sense to me.

Yeah well that makes no sense. My gym has those slipcovers at the reception. You either need to use them or take off your shoes to get to the locker room since outdoor shoes are not allowed in the gym. I've only ever seen anyone work out in slipcovers once though

Pretty weird not having any weights under 2.5kg. Not sure what to do about it other than work on the AMRAP sets and only go up weight once every 4 workouts or w/e in press.

3x5 40kg Press (couldn't do another on last set)
15/11, 22kg Curls
1x5 105kg DL (could do more)
Planks

My gym also had a policy of bringing a separate pair of shoes and no plates under 2.5kg.

Also, I'd just buy four 1kg plates from online and carry them in your gym bag. That's what I used to do.

Just spent a while trying to figure out what kabaddi was. Sounds way too much like cardio for H&F to get on board.

Regarding weights, I'll probably just stick it out for the rest of the month and find a new gym after/before the 31st. Kind of reluctant to order weights since my luggage is already overweight as is. Might get two .5 kg's since most gyms have 1.25s

I wouldnt hire a bodybuilder trainer unless I wanted to be a bodybuilder. Ms Minnesota sometimes works out at our gym and she never benches. I would not be asking a bodybuilder for form advice on a powerlift unless that person has powerlifting experience.

Thanks, I had no idea how much crossover there was. Pretty surprised to hear that there's a competitor who doesn't bench.

yeah, not just a competitor, but the best female bodybuilder in my state. I think a lot of bodybuilders dont do compound movements - only isolation stuff.

I'm tweaking my lower back on a high % of squat workouts. One of the main fixes seems to be not having any bounce at the bottom of the squat. But even when I don't do that I still hurt it sometimes.
I'm thinking of switching over completely to front squats. I have no plans to be a powerlifter. My goals are just to enjoy working out, getting stronger, and look better.

Thoughts?

Brag: The good news is I'm really happy with my bench. I think I've gotten a lot better at keeping my back tight.
Beat: The bad news is my squats suck.
Variance: Made the trainer mad at me twice in one session. He actually berated me for setting down 2 10kg plates on the bench, lol. The only weight rack is behind the other bench that he was having his client do pushups on top of.

Bench
5/5/8 75kg

Chins (bodyweight, strict form)
6/4

Squat
4/5 90kg

If it's significant flare ups/pain or spasms, I'd just give up squats for now. If it's small tweaks I'd take a good look at my form, switch to FS to see if it helps and most importantly, drop some of the weight while focusing on core stiffening.

it's not that bad, just have moderate pain for the rest of the day every time I tweak it and it affects my focus if I try to play afterwards.
Going to try frontsquats for a while starting friday.

Press
5x 42kg
5x 40kg
4x 40kg

curls
14/13 x 22kg

DL
5x 107.5kg


Press was really tough, I tried a different grip width for the first few sets and it made it tougher I think.
Grip started to fail on 3rd rep of DL's, had no trouble at 105kg so I suspect this bar (at yet another new gym) is just smoother. Switched to hookgrip and got the full set.

This is just speculation since there's no videos, but my guess based on what you're saying is that what you think is getting bounce at the bottom of a squat is actually buttwink, and when you dont bounce, you're keeping your core tight.

I've done it before in videos (can't remember which) and wasn't able to see any buttwink when reviewing. But that sounds right when comparing it to the way it felt.

I'm going to try out some of the mcgill exercises and record them for feedback.

Your spine should just not move under load. Even if the full buttwink isn't present, the tiniest amount of fidgeting of the spine under load is enough to flare up the back.