Stupid Questions Thread

[5hout]

0: I've got stupid questions, maybe some lingering FOG to come out of. Figured maybe other people have stupid questions as well.

1: Warm up sets. One thing I've been doing to help speed workouts along, especially during cutting, is eliminating warm up sets. Coming from a beginning with SS's very high number of warm-up sets (which seem to be more of a way to backdoor volume into the program) this seems to be a great way to cut some time out of the workouts, especially for bench/squat. Anyone else do this? What kind of warmups do you actually do?

2: Leaving plates on bar. I have 2 shit bars and one less shit, but still cheap, bar. I've been taking the plates off them. Since I now start my warm ups at 135 for bench and squat I've been considering leaving the plates on the bar. I've read people that this is 'horrible', but for the life of me I can't imagine how it can possibly be an issue if we're talking about 1 45 on each side. This wouldn't be a huge time saving, but if all I have to do is walk out to the garage and start squatting, it's probably 1 minute saved of the course of the workout.

3: Barbell curls vs Dumbbells. Come Jan 1st I'll officially have spent 0 dollars on lifting crap for the year and am going to start looking to buy dumbbells or build out a lat pull down machine. Right now, I'm inclined to build the lat pull down machine and weight on the dumbbells, but wondering if people had quick thoughts on if barbell curls are significantly less effective than dumbbells for dumb size related exercises.

[mgil]

1. Warmups vary per person. Some folks need more, some less.

2. Leaving a single plate on the bar shouldn’t be an issue.

3. Barbell curls suck compared to dumbbell curls. That being said, the XMark Convict bar is a rackable ez curl bar that is pretty decently made and inexpensive. That way you can get most of the ROM the straight barbell prevents.

[5hout]

Thanks! I'll see what the local pawn shops have in bars and dumbbells come Jan, and if nothing appropriate turns up order the convict bar.

[broseph]

1. My warmups are almost always brief, to the point my first work set sometimes feels a little wonky. But my work sets lately have been low RPE. If I'm planning to lift something heavy/difficult, I make sure I'm warm enough to guarantee all the work set reps will be solid. And warmups are all strictly plate math. So I go from cold to 135x5, 225x3, 335x5x5 (work sets).

2. I do this. No big deal.

3. (straight) barbell curls are awful.

[mgil]

Thanks! I'll see what the local pawn shops have in bars and dumbbells come Jan, and if nothing appropriate turns up order the convict bar.

Keep an eye out, the price might drop on it.

You can also just get a regular Olympic ez curl bar. I bought the rackable one since it facilitates lying triceps extensions and behind the neck pressing.

[mouse]

1) my warm ups are probably laughable compared to your average lifter but it's almost by design. Competing fairly often I'm used to going for max attempts with very little "warm up". I never do the "empty bar thing".

2) prolly fine... I dunno... sounds like bro mythology

3) DB always beats barbell... always...

[bobmen10000]

1) Warm ups are individual, although I don't think there is anything wrong with spending 5 to (gasp) 20 mintues getting ready for a session - likely wouldn't spend 20 mintues between each movement unless you got plenty of time and hate your family/life-outside-the-gym. I tend to warm up during my work sets anyway, as certain movements I get "stronger" as the session progresses.

2) I have a bad habit of leaving my last work set weight on the deadlift bar and (for some reason) propping the bar up in the deadlift jack. Probably not the best practice but the bar has exploded yet.

3) Curls are awful in general. I think kettlebell curls are more fun/easier to do but buying progressive pairs of kettlebells is prohibitively expensive in my experience.

[Wilhelm]

Warm up for me is more about getting the nervous system ready.
The room is always warm when i lift, so i'm not overly concerned with the muscles needing much warming.

DL i only do 5 each with 135 and 225, one with 315 and one with 365, then jump to the low 400s single and the subsequent worksets.
I do much the same at a meet.
I would just scale that pattern up as my max increases.
I get closer for squat, leaving a smaller jump to the top single, or opener in the case of a meet.
I do like doing 10 with the empty bar, but i've dropped from 5 to 3 with 225, one more double a little heavier, and singles up to the top single on those days, or straight to worksets after that last double on days with no top single.

[cwd]

Agree with everyone else, except I still warm up for squats pretty carefully. Squats don't like me, I need every trick to do them pain-free. And of course, I lift in an unheated garage so...

I googled the "storing plates on bar in rack damages it" thing -- it's listed as a no-no in Eleiko's warranty apparently. Maybe it's bad for bearings long-term?

Hard to imagine any decent bar getting a bend from just a plate or two.

[olekto]

3. Barbell curls suck compared to dumbbell curls. That being said, the XMark Convict bar is a rackable ez curl bar that is pretty decently made and inexpensive. That way you can get most of the ROM the straight barbell prevents.

Care to elaborate? I have been doing some barbell curls since I find it easier to increment the load and easier to go heavy on them. Is it just because of ROM, or is it also other factors that make dumbbells better than barbells in this particular case? (I haven't tried heavier reps on dumbbells before, only 12+, which I found boring).

[Los71]

I hate curls, but I do some incline dumbbell curls and get a good stretch reflex

[mgil]

3. Barbell curls suck compared to dumbbell curls. That being said, the XMark Convict bar is a rackable ez curl bar that is pretty decently made and inexpensive. That way you can get most of the ROM the straight barbell prevents.

Care to elaborate? I have been doing some barbell curls since I find it easier to increment the load and easier to go heavy on them. Is it just because of ROM, or is it also other factors that make dumbbells better than barbells in this particular case? (I haven't tried heavier reps on dumbbells before, only 12+, which I found boring).

Lots of guessing here...

Usually the bilateral aspect of barbell curls allows for a bit more weight. The barbell also stops the ROM early at the bottom and then the excessive wrist rotation prevents the last bit of ROM at the top. The curl bar gives back some wrist neutrality to allow for the ROM at the top. Dumbbells allow for full ROM at the bottom.

[JonnyRockets]

Potentially stupid question.

How important is greasing the groove on the deadlift? I've been thinking of just doing one top single and then RDLs for back-off sets.

[mbasic]

1: Warm up sets. One thing I've been doing to help speed workouts along, especially during cutting, is eliminating warm up sets. Coming from a beginning with SS's very high number of warm-up sets

you've got to be joking. That's a pretty short WU: barx5x2, 135x5, 60%x3, 80%x2 ... or whatever.
Maybe I'm just old and need more warm up.
I notice younger gym bros can just start at 135 or 225 with no wu whatsoever

(which seem to be more of a way to backdoor volume into the program) this seems to be a great way to cut some time out of the workouts, especially for bench/squat. Anyone else do this? What kind of warmups do you actually do?

I have to warm pretty throughly for squats.
If I have deads or something else "legs" later on in the same workout, I don't feel like I have to warm up so much then.
Tricks for saving time....like if you are squatting, you could do a couple of you warm ups for press as you're resting between squat sets.
If you have to bench-press next, doing some OHP standing there with the bar is a nice warm up for the shoulders, tris, etc.

2: Leaving plates on bar. I have 2 shit bars and one less shit, but still cheap, bar. I've been taking the plates off them. Since I now start my warm ups at 135 for bench and squat I've been considering leaving the plates on the bar. I've read people that this is 'horrible', but for the life of me I can't imagine how it can possibly be an issue if we're talking about 1 45 on each side. This wouldn't be a huge time saving, but if all I have to do is walk out to the garage and start squatting, it's probably 1 minute saved of the course of the workout.

If you mean leaving plates on the bar overnight, and then starting the next day with 135 already on....
....and that the myth is somehow that is bad for the bar. Yup, that's silly. There is no way the bar is gonna bend.
...or bearings or bushings would be affected.
There was a thread on this here or in Egypt. Quite entertaining.
I think we came to the conclusion that unless your garage had thousands of gallons of burning Boeing 767 jet fuel in it overnight,
the general consensus was the bar will not bend.
Maybe some kind of negative-samuri-do-jo-thing by leaving ammo in a stored gun or something something ....

3: Barbell curls vs Dumbbells. Come Jan 1st I'll officially have spent 0 dollars on lifting crap for the year and am going to start looking to buy dumbbells or build out a lat pull down machine. Right now, I'm inclined to build the lat pull down machine and weight on the dumbbells, but wondering if people had quick thoughts on if barbell curls are significantly less effective than dumbbells for dumb size related exercises.

Shit, if its either one or the other....I vote lat pull machine. You can curl with your barbells.
If the lat pull machine has the feature to switch over to a bottom pulley for say Seated-rows ...you can do one arm cable curls from there.

[mbasic]

Potentially stupid question.
How important is greasing the groove on the deadlift?

I agree, but I am not entitled to an opinion, and only using less than fairly light weights.

I've been thinking of just doing ramping up to one top single and then RDLs for back-off sets.

I like this ^.

[broseph]

Potentially stupid question.

How important is greasing the groove on the deadlift? I've been thinking of just doing one top single and then RDLs for back-off sets.

Depends on your goals.

I’ve been in super minimal maintenance mode for 8 months. The only lower body exercise I’ve done that whole time was squat. After 6 months of this I thought I’d check on my deadlift, and with minimal warmup I pulled 90% of my old 1RM @8.5-ish. (Hard to rate RPE on a lift you never do)

[JonnyRockets]

Depends on your goals.

To be allowed an opinion on deadlifts.

[5hout]

Quoting mbasic, but just kind replying in general to all the excellent info.

I notice younger gym bros can just start at 135 or 225 with no wu whatsoever


I have to warm pretty throughly for squats.
If I have deads or something else "legs" later on in the same workout, I don't feel like I have to warm up so much then.
Tricks for saving time....like if you are squatting, you could do a couple of you warm ups for press as you're resting between squat sets.
If you have to bench-press next, doing some OHP standing there with the bar is a nice warm up for the shoulders, tris, etc.

I'll see how it goes. I'm not a fan of fencing without a full warm up, but haven't noticed an increased in elbow/shoulder/hip/knee pain as I've decreased warm ups. I do put my sleeves, socks and clothing on 20 minutes before (usually) and sometimes crank the heat, so I'm pretty toasty by lifting time. If I start getting pain or any issues I'll have to make a note to increase warm up first thing.

3: Barbell curls vs Dumbbells. Come Jan 1st I'll officially have spent 0 dollars on lifting crap for the year and am going to start looking to buy dumbbells or build out a lat pull down machine. Right now, I'm inclined to build the lat pull down machine and weight on the dumbbells, but wondering if people had quick thoughts on if barbell curls are significantly less effective than dumbbells for dumb size related exercises.

Shit, if its either one or the other....I vote lat pull machine. You can curl with your barbells.
If the lat pull machine has the feature to switch over to a bottom pulley for say Seated-rows ...you can do one arm cable curls from there.
[/quote]

Hmm, I was just going to build out a simple machine built around my squat rack and loaded with plates. I could do one that does both pulldown and curls, but can't see an easy way (with my rack) to locate the bottom pulley out of the way.

[mbasic]

Even if "it" is strictly a pull DOWN machine/apparatus .... i'd still go it the lat.pull thing over a dumbell set-up.

you'll just get dumbells later anyways

[MattimusMaximus]

So much hate for straight bar curls! I love them! I alternate between them and EZ curl bar throughout the week.