No squats at my gym?

[jstevanus]

I go to a fairly large gym, and there are many cartoon-huge guys there. I've been there 3 days a week for the past few years, and have only seen one person do squats. The other 5-6 I've seen use the Smith machine. Is this normal? I have read a ton on this board, as well as Rip's books, so I am convinced squats are essential. In addition, the only presses anyone does is while sitting. Forget about cleans as well.

Since I'm here, I have a few questions about my own training/diet. I PLAN ON using the low-carb, high protein/veg "paleo" to lose my fat gut, but I wonder if I'm not eating enough sometimes. For example, I was so completely drained after my squats and press last night, that I had nothing left for deadlifts.

This is what I ate before the gym: (I know there are carbs here!)

12:00pm : 6" steak & cheese sub - subway (hey it's on sale for $5 this month)
6:00pm : 6" steak & cheese sub
+ 2 cups snap peas
+ 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

7:30pm :Body Fortress Creatine w/Milk
+ Jack3d

8:00pm : Gym

[Carlos Daniel]

Weight/height/age?

[Lee]

The no squats thing is pretty typical.

[hamburgerfan]

If you are trying to gain weight then you should eat a lot more. If not, then it depends.

[li4alex]

It looks like you're only taking in a maximum of about 1300 kcal (400 kcal for each sub, 200 kcal for each thigh, throw in 100 for the peas) before the gym. Unless you're eating at least 2700 kcal after gym, or are less than 100 pounds and not in a hurry to break 100, you're severly undereating.
I believe in his interview with Rip, Wendler said something along the lines of guys doing machine only routines can get big if they're consistent and have been doing it for over 5 years. He may have been exaggerating and his point was that consistency matters most, not that machines are ok, but you get the picture.

[murphyreedus]

There is exactly one power rack and one squat rack at my gym. I can count on one finger the number of times I've had to wait for one of them to become open because people were doing squats. Now curls in the rack, that's a different story.


And how about sleep? How many sets/reps/weight? What did you eat the day before?

[jstevanus]

Weight/height/age?

215 / 6' / 34

[jstevanus]

I usually get around 7 hours of sleep at night, then take a 1-2 hour nap during the day (I work from home 3 days a week). The day before this last workout I meantioned above, I think I ate 2 eggs + 2 egg whites, 1 piece whole wheat bread, 1 cup cottage cheese, 12 oz milk, 2 beef enchiladas, 1 cup spanish rice. I've been trying hard to limit my carbs and cals to lose this ungodly gut I've built over the past 6 months. I used to use "thedailyplate.com" (livestrong.com) to track my calories. I was able to lose fat and gain muscle about 3 years ago when I first started lifting, but recently have got lazy with training and eating bad. I'd rather lose fat right now than make huge strength gains, but I don't want to lose strength either.

[Carlos Daniel]

215 / 6' / 34

You could afford to gain some weight, but GOMAD is probably out of the question. You need to eat more protein, though. If you start losing weight, you're eating too little.

[Tamara Reynolds]

I usually get around 7 hours of sleep at night, then take a 1-2 hour nap during the day (I work from home 3 days a week). The day before this last workout I meantioned above, I think I ate 2 eggs + 2 egg whites, 1 piece whole wheat bread, 1 cup cottage cheese, 12 oz milk, 2 beef enchiladas, 1 cup spanish rice. I've been trying hard to limit my carbs and cals to lose this ungodly gut I've built over the past 6 months. I used to use "thedailyplate.com" (livestrong.com) to track my calories. I was able to lose fat and gain muscle about 3 years ago when I first started lifting, but recently have got lazy with training and eating bad. I'd rather lose fat right now than make huge strength gains, but I don't want to lose strength either.

If you are trying to do low carb/Paleo in order to lose weight, you're doing it wrong.

Like. Really. Very. Wrong.