Hey Jeff, you're right, start at a small amount, I had three months of harsh training behind me before I was able to do this. To give you guys an idea, I could only wrist curl 30 lbs and squat 95 lbs when I started. I could only do a lat pulldown of 50 lbs too. And one cannot slack off, like mentionned in this post. You either do it, or you don't do it. That's what any trainer would say.
i used to do wrist curls but i got an injury after doing a lot.....so watch out! There no shortcuts to success!!
Odjn brough up a good point here. The move for the wrist curl is meant to be done CORRECTLY. Or else like odjn said, it could cause injury. Same with the tricep overhead raise, unless the technique is close to perfect, you could tear your elbow. Always consult a fitness trainer or strength coach for clarification. It's worthwhile to do so. Hell, if you're not wearing a weight belt when you're squatting over 200 lbs, that could cause some serious trouble. Just be careful and don't do anything stupid.
wow!! there has been a lot of great info on this thread... very very interesting... thanks to reaper... though this point has been already posted up, but I wanted to dig up more on it. What's the diet that you are prescribed to have after such an agonizing schedule? Do they give you some sort of chart with details about your breakfast/lunch/snacks/dinner?
Nothing was prescribed for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We ate lunch at the sports institute cafe, so we got a choice of four different things everyday. I am a very big eater, kinda like a football player's diet so it varies from person to person. But if you have finished a weight workout and are gonna train like 30 minutes later on court, we were usually told to grab a chocolate bar or grab a tuna sandwich.
Thanks for the replies Reaper. Did you gain bodyweight during this three month cycle or did your ratio of muscle/fat change significantly?
My overall weight dropped 22 lbs (of pure body fat) and my body fat percentage went down by 5%. So yeah, quite significant, I guess.
Hey reaper, nice stuff! Just wondering, was the wrist curls individual hands or a barbell? Also, it seems kinda strange that your upright row is so much lower in comparison to everything else? Cheers, Phil
Hey Phil, how's it goin man? Wrist curls involve a barbell and you are crouching down like a catcher's position and you are curling the bar with the support from your knees and your back has to be straight. This is a lot harder than regular wrist curls. About my upright row, maybe I'm a little weakling? lol juss kidding, I guess I saw the most improvement in my lower body, able to squat more than double than when I started.
I'm doin' pretty good. I was actually in HK for almost 2 months in the summer. I didn't know you were there until about a week before I left though. I think why everyone seems to be amazed by the 50lbs wrist curl is they think it is each wrist individually, which would be incredible! Looks like you made tonnes of improvement in HK, hope to see you sometime at a tournament. Phil
Get rid of the upright rows.. they are proven to be bad for the rotator cuff.. the onset of problems comes very slowly so it may be difficult to associate any disomfort w/the exercise http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/luis4.htm but trust me they are bad for you if you do them at all dont go all the way up like is recommended.... only go half way over better yet find another way to work the neck/tricep and upper shoulder muscles
Interesting .... in four years of strength training as a track and field athlete, a volleyball player, and a badminton player, I've never had trouble with my shoulder by doing upright rows ... and the upright row is put on numerous athlete's programs at the Hong Kong Sports Institute by Asia's top trainers ... But like any fitness program, alternative workouts can do the job too, I guess
Hey Reaper. Can you give a brief explanation on a couple of exercises (like what they entail). Some unfamiliar ones include: reverse curl,leg raise, side bends, and ankle curl. Also, what's the difference between walking lunge and upward lunge? Thanks for the info btw.
Hi Ruth. Here are some explanations: Reverse Curl: same as a bicep curl with a bar but flip your hands so when you curl the bar up your fingers are facing the wall or mirror that you are doing it in front of, it's the opposite of an arm curl Leg Raise: simple core workout, prop yourself onto a bar (or some weightless strength machine) and suspend yourself with only support of your elbows on the pads and raise both your legs up together Side bends: take two dumbells, one in each hand and slowly slide one arm down and then do the next arm the same way, left and right is one set Ankle Curl: put a barbell on your ankles and move them up and down Walking Lunge: you just walk/lunge with the dumbells Overhead Lunge: sorry for being vague here, I don't know the proper name but you have a large (not in mass) weight (large in size) and you have both hands on it, you start by standing up straight and you extend one leg forward and as you do that you take the weight and put it over your head, the two movements are done at the same time, left and right is equal to one rep Hope this helps. =) Reaper
Well we had badminton training six times a week, on mondays from 10-12, 3-6, Tuesdays from 9-12, 6-8, Wednesdays 9-12, 3-6, Thursday same as Tuesday, and Friday same as Wed, and Saturday 10-12 .... and we had to do footwork for like 15-20 minutes everyday
Doing upright rows and the bench press together is just asking for a rotator cuff tear, espcially in racquet sports like badminton. Unless you're using very light weights to stregnthen the rotator cuff instead of developing the delts. But even then, there's better exercises for the rotoar cuff.
So then what do you recommend to strengthen up the back and chest area without using those machines that simply help you out?
