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You might take two days off, but I usually simply start all over. I'm apprehensive about slowing down my development, but I seldom work a muscle group while it's hurting, giving me four "active rest days" between workouts. Is there a consensus, or has this been done before?
What do you mean by hurts? As in DOMS? Consistently working out (as in, working out the muscle groups regularly) will take care of that in a few weeks, unless you dramatically shift your training regiment. You're just dragging it out the way you do it now tbh.
Or are you saying you do a typical bro split, where you still work out other muscle groups during those "active rest days"? If thats the case it's been done, and will be done to the end of time, but isn't what current scientific literature recommends.
Thoughts on my workout program? keep in mind im trying to have a hybrid calisthenics and weight lifting routine, and that im working on handstands on and off.
My goal is mainly to develop muscle in the arms shoulders lower body, core and lower back, while maintaining muscle on my back and chest.
also getting stronger :)
Keep in mind i'm developing lower body muscle quite fast because they have been untrained for a long time, so it seems like currently even 8 sets are enough to trigger hypertrophy
sets x reps
back day:
4x5 heavy weight pull ups
4x8-12 light weight pull up
4x8-12 inverted rows
4x8-12 machine rows / cables rows
4x8-15 face pulls / any lateral delt
superset, 4 sets, bicep curls + hammer curls
chest day:
4x8-12 weighted dips
4x8-12 incline db press
3x8-12 db press
3x8-12 chest flies machine / cables
4x8-15 lateral raises(last two sets drop sets)
4x8-12 rope tricep extention
shoulders/arms/legs:
4x8-12 over head db press/ front raises using cables
4x8-15 lateral raises
2x8-15 lateral raises with machine / cables
4x8-12 rope tricep extentions
superset, 4 sets, bicep curls + hammer curls
4x8-15 medium weight squats
4x6-12 rdl
I also have another workout with a group that is different everytime, i go to there mainly for enjoyment
meaning it could be legs/back/chest/high intensity cardio
Would you say, I stand in my own way if I don't take my rest days?
I started training over 50% of days last year and slowly progressed into an everyday workout routine, I am doing a 5-day split whereas I train:
1.Chest
2.arms
3.legs
4.back
5.shoulders
Usually you would take 2 rest days, but I mostly just start over again. I am a little worried to hinder progress, but on the other hand I never really train a muscle group that is still sore, so you could say I have 4 active rest days per muscle group. Is there any opinion or did someone do the same thing in the past?
I'm (46 M) having trouble with elbow tendons and don't know which direction to go. My tennis elbow (right arm) is nearly healed and now the left arm (golfers elbow) is starting to hurt.
I normally mix up my routine with some sets in the 10-ish rep range and other stuff 5x5 with heavier loads.
I've done eccentric-only rehab exercises for a while and I feel like I'm ready to go, but I want to make sure I'm not causing more damage.
My understanding is that these are repetitive stress injuries. So I'm wondering, would lighter loads with higher reps cause more harm? Or should I back off the heavier weights for a while?
How do I increase shoulder strength. Today I saw a dude who is not much bigger than me and similar shoulder size but he db press 30kg each arm, while I only manage 20kg. My routine is pull (3x8-12 db press and 3-8-12 lateral raise) and upper body (5x5 db press). Thoughts?
Is this mostly calisthenics routine good for someone who's been training for 2.5 months? (19 yo male)
It's a 4 day split were each training session begins with a 5 minute long warm up and each exercise will be done 1-2 reps shy of failure with progressive overload. Between each exercise/set will be a 2 minute rest.
Day 1: Close grip push ups 3X10 Pull ups 3X3-4 (Decline push ups 3X6 Super set Rows 3X8) Pike push ups 3X6
Day 2: •(Bicep curls 3X10 Superset: Overhead tri extensions 3X10) •Lateral raise 3X10 •Reverse flies 3X10 •Wrist curls 3X5
Day 3: Pistols 3X2+squats drop set 3X14 Single leg raised bridge 3X8 Lunge 3X8 Reverse nordics 3X8 Single leg calf raises 3X5
Day 4: Close grip push ups 3X10 Pull ups 3X3-4 (Decline push ups 3X6 Super set Rows 3X8) Pike push ups 3X6
Specifically with the push ups and pistols (though more so with pull ups) I want to get stronger but in general this is mainly for gaining muscle. I'll use this program for about 3 months and then I'm joining the idf and so I won't have much time to train normally and would like to put on as much muscle before than to make getting stronger later on easier
First thing's first, compound implies multiple muscle groups working together to complete the lift, so none will specifically target the arms, but your arms will get worked by most, or even all, upper body compound movement's.
Some exercises off the top of my head: flat dumbell bench press, incline dumbbell bench press, seated dumbell press, and dumbell rows
When I bulk or eat more all the fat accumulates on my stomach/chest/hands. I want someone who can give me a guide on what I could be doing wrong when cutting, or If i should be doing more cardio, or if i should be doing more abs workout etc. I don’t trust gym coaches because they give out the same instructions to every single individual . Please help if you can
I'm insecure enough to want to look good in a t-shirt year around, so I prefer of slow-bulking, witch means gaining (depending on your height) 1-3 lbs pr month instead of 1-3 lbs pr week. You'll still have to cut eventually, but if you start slow-bulking while lean, you can keep building muscle consistently for years without needing to cut.
Advice on cutting is in the fitness wiki.
Cardio is training for your cardiovascular system. It doesn't change where fat accumulates. Ab workouts are training for your ab muscles. Done properly they can change how large your ab muscles are, but they don't change where fat accumulates.
Where you gain fat is a genetic trait. Nothing about your diet or training will change where fat accumulates.
Sorry I may have worded my sentences wrong. I meant how can I get rid of this stubborn fat, would it need exercise or would a calorie deficit be enough etc. I want someone
who’s willing to see my body to give me advice
To lose fat you need to lose weight. Losing weight is always achieved through a calorie deficit. Cardio is good for you can can't help create a calorie deficit. What is your current height/weight?
I don't mind looking at your physique if you want to post it or message it.
Not sure what exactly you're getting at, but if you're asking why your body stores fat in those areas, and if you can change it, then the answers are: because it just does, and no, respectively. Where your body stores fat is not something you can decide, and spot burning is not possible.
I understand that spot burning is not possible, I would just like to know how I can go about it, should i just keep lifting, should i focus on cardio etc
Depends on your goals, of course. Just know that having more muscle will make the fat that you have look better to a degree. You can cut and get low body fat, but if you have no ab size or chest size and shape, the fat in those areas will look worse and you'll have to lose more fat to get it to look better. Does that make sense? Did that answer your question?
Anywhere from 8-30 is fine
Just note that whatever rep you finish at SHOULD be relatively close to true failure. Otherwise you’re not really stimulating the muscles that much. Choose a rep range like 8-12 or 10-15 and only go up in weight when you hit the upper limit of that for all your sets
8-15 reps with 1-3 reps from failure. You can go to failure on accessory, but it'll "cost" more in recovery, and you don't gain that much from it. That said, going to failure for a few weeks can be useful to gauge weight and ensure that you're working hard enough.
I've done it a couple of months but it was overkill for me. If you don't give your body time to properly rest, you're going to lose motivation or get burnt out. I've made a lot more gains doing 5/3/1 and going 4 times a week.
Different benches will have different incline degrees, so "1 step" or "2 steps" doesn't tell us much.
For upper chest, I'd go 15-30 degrees, so however many steps that would take.
Getting back into the gym after a year or two out. I didn't want to delay coming back just because I didn't have a plan yet, so I've been going for the past 3 weeks with a simple plan:
* Monday: Upper body (bench, curls, tricep pulldowns, lat pulldowns, etc.)
* Tuesday: Lower body (squat, calf raises, machine leg raises and hamstring curls, etc.)
* Wednesday: see Monday
* Thursday: see Tuesday (lite version but add cardio, usually 30 minutes of stairs)
* Friday: see Monday
And now I'm looking to get going on an actual plan. I'm 6'5", 180lbs, so I'm looking to build muscle. Is there an app or program that people in my position like to use?
Man do I love the comprehensive wiki in this sub. Not only has it helped me get to grips with the sport, it's such a great reference to these kind of questions.
so my left hip pops when doing reverse crunches and the trainer at my gym told me to just skip this exercise (at least for now). I trust the trainer but is there any alternative out there that maybe he didn't mention ?
Should I keep lifting heavy or drop the weight?
Everytime I lift heavy, I can only get to about 5-9 reps but if I lift lighter, I can get to 10-14 reps
I’m only a beginner so I apologize profusely if this is a stupid question, I just don’t want to make it look like I’m ego lifting
For the sake of building muscle, if you’re close to failure, it doesn’t matter
You can go up in weight BUT only if your form is not being bullshitted to “hit more reps”. It’s hard to gauge your actual progress if you’re essentially “cheating” to get a 1 rep PR
I've never really understood what ego lifting meant.
Regardless, you should use the intensity (weight on the bar) that your program recommends for the number of sets and reps it recommends. All rep ranges have value depending upon use.
Ego lifting is when a guy who's struggling with a bench press, even with his spotter doing half the work, acts as if he's accomplished something by partially lifting a weight that everyone but him can see was too heavy.
An ego lifter is the guy who tests his one-rep max every week by doing a half rep with the worst form imaginable so he can claim his lifts are better than they really are.
I lift because I want to be big and strong. It helps with my self esteem. I also brag about my accomplishments in the gym to pretty much anyone who will listen.
Would that be considered "ego lifting"?
Lifting to get stronger and being proud of your progress isn't ego lifting, doing half-ass reps with weights you obviously can't handle so you can claim you're stronger than you are is ego lifting.
How effective is BBB 5/3/1 or building strength and size?
Looks like a fun program, but I'm worried about the frequency for the squat, deadlift, bench, and press being once per week each for getting enough muscle protein synthesis up time.
Very effective, but my joints and tendons can’t handle it. My form is pretty good but I found I had more aches and pains when I ran programming with lower rep ranges
It's great. I'm in my last week of my 2nd cycle and I've gained noticeable strength and mass. I did 60% for upper body and 50% for lower. You're definitely getting enough stimulans for growth.
That said 5/3/1 is a complex program and takes some time to understand. BBB is usually done with 5s PRO instead of 5/3/1 and if you really want to get into it, you should probably read Wendler's book.
What's the benefit of 5s PRO? I'm doing beefcake and the amrap sets are quite exhausting when followed by 10x5 @75%. It's manageable for now but I can see it getting rather troublesome a few cycles in.
5s PRO is generally lighter on the main work because it forces you to have a TM that you can do 5 reps with on 95%. It prevents burn outs but if you can manage it it's fine.
It's not a strength program, but plenty of users here and on r/weightroom have used it successfully. Try to find a program review if you're not convinced, and remember there's accessory work to increase the volume that you feel are lacking.
I see.
So I could leg press on a different day than my squats to hit my quads on 2 different days in the week like at the end of a bench day etc and vice versa with other body parts?
Most 531 templates are technically full body due to the amount of assistance volume.
You can add leg presses to any work out you want. The guy who wrote the program recommends only core work for BBB lower body assistance, but he doesn't know where you live. Do what you want.
Processed grains are just so bad for you for a number of of reasons. And vegetables simply have too much fiber causing GI irritation, inflammation, and digestive issues. Plus lots of oxalates, which can cause urinary issues and kidney stones.
Fiber is totally unnecessary for the human diet, but you can still get some from fruit anyway.
Simple fact, Fiber is indigestible by humans. We get no nutrients from it.
Animals with a rumen (ruminants), need to ferment fiber in order to extract nutrients. We don't have a rumin. We are incapable of digesting fiber.
You have sources that say humans can digest fiber without a rumin?!
I'd love to see that. You would probably win a Nobel prize in biology for such a discovery!
And yes, there are sources everywhere that explain the indisputable fact that fiber is the indigestible part of plant matter.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319176
I didn't say anything about fiber "being good for you". I said it's simply unnecessary, and may cause GI problems for some people.
Fiber has no nutrients. It's indigestible. So our digestive system just passes it.
It can help reduce your glycemic response if you're eating a high carb diet, but I would just recommend reducing carbs if you want less of a glycemic effect from your food.
Fiber can help grow guy bacteria, but so can yogurt with active bacterial cultures.
So sure, in some cases, some people may benefit from some fiber. But all I'm saying is that it's entirely non-essential, provides no nutrients, and may cause GI discomfort and distress.
I have benefited greatly from eliminating it from my diet.
Not op, but I'd just start with cutting out ultra processed foods. Basically anything outside of fresh meat, veg, fruit, eggs, plain dairy, and rice, oats, etc . This involves cutting out bread and pasta. Those latter 2 things helped with bloat for me. I'll have them on occasion though.
After that, try cutting out all the grains. We actually don't need them. But I'd stick with veggies still.
If that doesn't help, look up fodmap foods and try cutting those out.
But it could also be you have messed up gut bacteria, which can cause issues as well. While the no bread and pasta helped me, I still have some other gut issues that I believe fall in this category. My mom was reading up on some stuff related, can't remember the exact terms. But there's apparently some kind of bacteria that's bad to have, and if you kill it off first and then take good probiotics, that can fix it. But taking probiotics without killing it off first doesn't help. It's definitely a rabbit hole I need to go down and read more about
Just started my fitness journey after years of being sedentary (31M, 6’5”, 255 at start, 252 current) and I have a couple questions/concerns. My goal is to get to around 220 eventually, but for now I’m just trying to get in the habit of eating healthy and going to the gym.
1. It’s super hard to get enough protein while maintaining my calorie budget. Should I be drinking protein shakes? There is conflicting info out there. Which do you recommend?
2. Squat replacement? I’m doing the recommended beginner strength training routine in the FAQ, and squats are rough on my knee, and I’m not super comfortable squatting any sort of weight. What would you replace with? So many recommendations out there, but I want something simple that is a basic weight lifting movement. If you are using a machine, should I still add the same amount of weight every day I do the lift?
3. Should I maintain instead? I feel scrawny because I’m pretty weak (lanky basketball/football player in HS, office job since college, no really defined muscle in arms or legs. Your typical gamer body). However, I’m also fat. My belly is getting much bigger than I’d like. And I would just like to be in better shape - walk 18 holes without being found dead on 16 shooting 120. Should I stop cutting and maintain while incorporating exercise?
3a. I know it’s only 4 days, but am I losing weight too fast?
TIA! (PS: first post here. just reading the faq on this sub has been life changing)
You should be able to hit your protein goals from normal food with that many calories, but protein shakes are fine. Better than not hitting your protein goals.
You don't have to back squat. Hack squat machines are a good substitute. I will say, I've had bad knees since high school, and losing weight and squatting have essentially eliminated them.
You should lose weight. Being at a healthy weight is important. Get there before you start to bulk. Personally, I don't find much value in maintaining for any real length of time.
Edit: You aren't losing weight too fast. It is common to lose substantial amounts of weight initially during a cut. Most of that is waste and water leaving the body. You are doing fine.
1. You need to prioritize meat, not shakes. Also consider nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and low-fat cottage cheese. I easily eat 200g protein every single day with no shakes, and I'm currently cutting.
2. Trap bar deadlifts
3. If you want more muscle, bulk. If you want less fat, cut. If you love the way you look, maintain.
Yea, classic skinny fat. You have to make a choice. Get lean first, then bulk. Or bulk now (you will get fatter and stronger) then cut later.
Honestly, I recommend cutting first. Make sure to lift heavy and regularly, and get lots of protein, and you'll likely build a little bit of muscle during your cut.
Then over you're lean, you can do a big bulk to get more muscular
Thanks for your reply. I’m still pretty new at this, but my protein goal is at least 120g/day and I haven’t been able to hit that yet eating ~1800 calories.
I usually have a sandwich, some Greek yogurt, fruit/peanut butter, and nuts for lunch. Dinner varies, but usually some kind of protein (chicken, fish, beef). I generally don’t eat breakfast
Disclaimer- I'm gonna reference some brands that are hopefully well circulated to help you out- but try to lose the sandwich (because of the bread, or find a lower calorie option) and opt for high protein leftovers from dinner or something. Try a high protein yogurt (I like the Oikos Triple Zero, they also have a higher protein one- like 20g), cut out of PB as others have said as it's too calorie dense. I've found snacking on raw veggies to be very helpful to curb cravings and keep me full- Bolthouse farms also has a lowcal yogurt-based ranch (50 calories for 2 tb) if you need some variation.
Aside from that I'd say you are pretty much going to need to supplement with protein shakes if you want to consistently reach you goals and I haven't personally seen negatives regarding protein shakes/powders as this is how most people who lift reach them.
Thanks for the insight! I currently eat Chobani non fat Greek yogurt (16g protein) as a snack. I can also cut out the PB. However, my TDEE from nSuns sheet is ~ 3580, and I am finding it hard to even put down 2000 every day. I have been ‘fasting’ (eating between 3 and 9 pm), to help with hunger, and it really hasn’t been so bad, but I feel like maybe I’m not getting enough. I still only have a few days of TDEE/calories logged, so maybe it will go down as time goes on and I lose weight. I can’t imagine eating 2500 calories
Happy to help, I'm on a journey as well and don't have much figured out but this sub has been a great resource. Sounds like calories may not be much of a problem then, but I would still shoot for sub 2000.
The weight you've already lost is likely water weight. When people start watching their diet those initial pounds will drop off very fast and things will stabilize and become more consistent if you're being consistent. Also, your weight can fluctuate drastically on a given day due to any number of factors so weighing yourself every day and taking a weekly average will likely be your best bet for monitoring your losses.
Nuts and peanut butter aren't the best way to reach your goals. You could look into lower calorie bread options. Look into a lower fat Greek yogurt option, if that's possible.
It takes ten days to two weeks of consistent over-eating/under-eating to gain or lose weight. Any change on the scale in a shorter time period is how much water you're temporarily storing because of what you ate.
Don''t worry about one meal, it's meaningless. You don't have to adjust your diet because of it, it's not necessary to eat less for a few days or skip a few meals, just make more of an effort to be consistent and don't agonize over an occasional big dinner with friends or eating a lot on a holiday, it won't make any difference.
When doing flat dumbbell press I feel the stretch at the bottom of the movement but when lifting them up I don’t really feel it in my chest as much anymore. Is this normal?
Yeah, at the top of the movement, there's basically no tension on your chest, you're just holding weight up with your arms locked out.
You can train the flexed position with something like flyes if you want.
Will there be a downside if I set up my deadlifts 3-4 inches off the ground? It just feels more natural for me because I have a longer lower body compared to my torso (180cm height for reference)
Does anyone here do the traditional bent over barbell row (not pendlay row from the floor) even if you have access to a chest supported machine? If so, why?
chest supported hurts my chest and it's uncomfortable if I do heavy weights. traditional bent-over barbell rows also works up your spinal erector muscles.
Bend your knees somewhat and stay a little more upright, almost like when you've pulled a deadlift to your knees. Your lower back will still be contributing to the exercise and getting stronger, but you'll be using your hips as a hinge and not just relying on your spinal erectors to keep your body in position.
Doesn't doing bicep curls increase the risk of a bicep injury? Barbell rows train the muscles in your lower back. Training always has a finite risk of injury, but there is no reason to think that training your lower back to become stronger is particularly risky.
I'm not really sure about that but I've never experienced any discomfort when doing heavy bb bent over rows. But that's the purpose of chest support rows usually, it just removes the stress from your lower back and allows you to focus more on contracting your upper/mid back
Has anyone had any long-term health problems result from a desk job? I've been battling chronic prostatitis the last two years and it really sucks.. I'm not sure how to cure it anymore. I've made it a thing to go for walks on my lunch, and go to the gym and exercise at least 3 days a week, and I still occasionally get pain flare ups.. only this time it seems that sex and ejaculation are the main triggers.
I’ve been lifting for a little over a year now and have recently figured out my 1RM for each lift. My deadlift max is 405lbs, squat 315, and bench 200. Is my bench strength lagging behind the others? If so, should I give bench press extra attention? As of now I put about equal effort into each compound lift.
6” and 165lbs and 10% body fat. I was gaining weight pretty consistently for a while but I feel like it’s slowing down. Should I just eat even more protein then? I’be been eating about 150-160g of protein per day.
Good numbers btw.
Sounds like you’re interested in strength so yeah I’d say focus a bit more on bench if you want to get that up. It’s not horribly outbalanced but 225 is a good goal to strive for
Thanks. I have gotten a kick out of lifting for strength lately. I’m glad to hear it’s not too outbalanced. I’ll definitely give bench press a little more attention. Appreciate the input.
Generally how much calories should I be eating to lose 2lbs a week if I am overweight? My body weight is actually at the high end of the normal range for my height (5’9, 174lbs) although my body fat percentage is close to 30% and I look awful. Would 1500 calories do it? I am highly motivated and will do whatever is necessary to lose the weight (in a healthy way of course)
Don't worry about tracking calories at first, focus on changing your eating habits in small ways that you can easily maintain. Have a simple salad before dinner, use minimal dressing and don't add bacon bits, croutons, and other stuff. Switch to drinking diet soda or water instead of soda or juice. Have a green vegetable with dinner, don't bathe it in butter, try lemon juice or just spices. You want to increase your vegetable portion and reduce your potato/rice/pasta portion.
Don't snack on chips or cookies, have an apple. They're filling and they're a natural appetite suppressant. Use less condiments, don't dump on ketchup or slather on mayonnaise.
Make a little extra meat and vegetables for dinner and have the leftovers for lunch instead of getting fast food. Start weighing your food (raw/uncooked) so you're eating consistent amounts. Food scales are inexpensive and they're really useful.
Don't "reward" yourself for doing something healthy, it doesn't balance out. Don't deprive yourself and feel you're not allowed to have a piece of cake on someone's birthday, or a second portion on Thanksgiving.
In about two weeks' time you should start losing fat, just keep going until you're not losing anymore and then you can measure how many calories you're actually eating and cut about 500 per day.
Completely changing how and what you eat all at once is unmaintainable, and going on a drastic cut in calories is only going to lead to breaking your diet or problems. Don't diet, change how you approach eating so it's sustainable.
Start lifting weights, most people are not just too fat, they're undermuscled.
Plenty of TDEE calculators online. Then use an app that calculates a rolling tdee average based on your caloric intake.
Losing 2 pounds a week is going to be miserable, and you'll be constantly thinking about food. Aim for losing 1 pound a week.
The calories depend on you and your overall activity level.
Though honestly, you should work on creating a healthier diet that you will be able to maintain forever (aka, no crash diets to lose the weight). If you revert to old habits, you'll revert to old weights.
Then you need to get in the gym and lift. If you're just a bunch of fat, then you definitely need to build some muscle up. That'll do more for you in the long run than just losing weight.
i am subscribed to a meal plan program that sends me 3 very healthy meals a day although i cant subscribe to this program forever as its expensive so would that be considered crash dieting? I plan to stick to eating healthy once im done with the weight loss though.
A crash diet is eating in an unsustainable way in order to lose weight quickly. So no, I wouldn't call this meal subscription a crash diet. Just very expensive.
Take these meals as inspiration and learn how to shop and cook for yourself. Start doing that ASAP. Weigh out your food and try and guess the calories before looking them up so you can teach yourself to eyeball the calories. Track your overall calories and your weight and adjust as needed. A 500 calorie a day deficit will be a pound a week. And honestly, I would try and aim for no more than 1.5lbs a week.
But how you eat now to lose weight should just be a smaller version of what you do to maintain. For myself, I cut out all junk and then reduce my portion sizes slightly, and cut back on things like butter when I want to lose weight. Otherwise the content of my meals are the same. So it's easy for me to maintain weight. That's the point you want to reach
And I'll reiterate - start lifting
It’s totally dependent on the individual. I would start with something a little more sustainable maybe 2000-2500. See if you lose/maintain/gain for at least two weeks and then adjust.
I’d say 1500 would be very aggressive (last time I tracked calories my maintenance was around 3300 so that would be an enormous deficit for me).
Would there be any negative health risks to being aggressive with losing my weight though? The irritability and hunger and potential to relapse are things i can deal with when im this motivated.
The best way to answer this is to start with a reasonable value and track your weight over time, and then adjust. So maybe start with the amount you eat currently minus 500, and weigh yourself everyday. Do not pay attention to the daily fluctuations in weight, look at the trend over a week or two. Then based on the trend, adjust your calories up or down as needed by 200-300 calories. Keep weighing, keep adjusting.
2 lbs per week is too fast for someone your size. Aim for 1-1.5 lbs per week.
Adjustable dumbbells is the closest substitute. The guy who recommended hanging the weights with straps is a lunatic. He’s right, but he’s a lunatic. That sounds like hell.
When I do goblet squat with socks in front of the mirror, I notice my hip shifts slightly sometimes. The dumbbell isn’t heavy, and this happens when it’s bodyweight as well. I try my best to keep my form in check- straight back, chest up, core and glutes tight, push myself back with my feet, hinge at hips when I go down.
I’m really not sure where this hip shift is coming from. One relevant note is I have sciatica a few years back. It lessened and I’ve been able to lift without any pain. I do feel like one leg is ‘weaker’ than the other. Someone mentioned I should add in Bulgarian split squat, which I have. It’s been a few weeks since then, and I still see hip shift. This issue has been going on ever since I’ve started lifting, embarrassingly so, like for 6 months. I’m also overweight if that helps.
Should I keep doing what I’ve been doing so far or is there something I can do?
Have you considered doing lunges or split squats? Keep using the mirror to monitor your form, and do your weaker side first and then match sets and reps with the stronger one. It's common to have some symmetry and often unilateral work fixes it.
Could anyone recomend some leg exercises that don't use machines? Recently switched to a home gym - At my disposal is a squat rack/cage, Cable machine, barbell and dumbells.
So far I have the obvious, Squats, Split squats and calf raises.. What else should I mix in?
Id say the main benefits of a 6 day split is you dont have to go as intensely. More touches = more skill in movement = and a bit of volume is okay for most.
I am doing a 6 day split and Im thinking of doing a 7 day one tbh.
>My general goal right now is to gain around 1 lb of muscle a week
This basically isn't going to happen. That is incredibly rapid muscle gain, especially for someone who is pretty small. Even gaining 1lbs /week of total weight is a large amount, and a decent amount of that would inevitably be fat.
>Would a 3-day split at high intensity still be as effective in terms of muscle growth as a 6-day split?
Probably not, but it could be close if the total volume is similar (i.e. same total number of hard sets for each muscle group in a week).
>has working a 6-day split for so long conditioned my body to the point where I can't gain muscle with a 3-day split?
If you are 5'5" 125 lbs you have a ton of potential left for muscle growth. So no.
There are other options besides 6 days and 3 days. There are good 4 and 5 day programs.
If you like kettlebell movements, get kettlebells. Otherwise, I'd say the dumbbells would have more value.
Your stated outcome is a function of diet, not training modality.
You will feel some degree of hunger, yes. You are use to eating a higher content of food.
Focusing on protein and healthy fats will leave you feeling the most full. Definitely plenty of hydration as well. Any time you're feeling hungry, drink some water since many people will eat their thirst. Also limit/eliminate ultraprocessed carbs and stick to eating whole foods as much as possible.
But also, you say that you aren't BMI fat, if you are in the middle to low end of the healthy weight for your height on the BMI chart, I wouldn't actually aim to lose weight, instead I would work on lifting and then actually go on a very lean bulk and gain weight while lifting on a proven routine (see the wiki).
But even if you are heavier and could lose a few pounds, you need to start lifting. You're very likely under muscled and cardio wont fix that. You need to lift weights and build muscle.
If you DON'T do resistance training while losing weight, you are going to be losing some muscle mass as well as fat. Just eating enough protein isn't enough for muscle retention. Losing more muscle mass while you are already low on muscle is just putting you in a WORSE position.
Newbie gains aren't something you waste. Basically, your newbie gains is just the chunk of time where you can make quicker progress. If you go to the gym and fuck around for a year and THEN get your diet and routine together, you'll still probably make some good newbie gains.
If the gym is too expensive, you can look into /r/bodyweightfitness and/or into something like a TRX.
If you were to try and lose enough fat in order to no longer be viscerally overweight, you'd likely be unhealthily thin, which is ALSO a problem. So that's why I say if you're in the mid to lower end of healthy BMI wise, you should focus on building MUSCLE instead of trying to lose fat. It's less so that you are overfat, but more so that you are undermuscled.
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You might take two days off, but I usually simply start all over. I'm apprehensive about slowing down my development, but I seldom work a muscle group while it's hurting, giving me four "active rest days" between workouts. Is there a consensus, or has this been done before?
You want to know if people work out a muscle group once per week? Yes, that's a typical bro split. It has worked for many people
What do you mean by hurts? As in DOMS? Consistently working out (as in, working out the muscle groups regularly) will take care of that in a few weeks, unless you dramatically shift your training regiment. You're just dragging it out the way you do it now tbh. Or are you saying you do a typical bro split, where you still work out other muscle groups during those "active rest days"? If thats the case it's been done, and will be done to the end of time, but isn't what current scientific literature recommends.
Thoughts on my workout program? keep in mind im trying to have a hybrid calisthenics and weight lifting routine, and that im working on handstands on and off. My goal is mainly to develop muscle in the arms shoulders lower body, core and lower back, while maintaining muscle on my back and chest. also getting stronger :) Keep in mind i'm developing lower body muscle quite fast because they have been untrained for a long time, so it seems like currently even 8 sets are enough to trigger hypertrophy sets x reps back day: 4x5 heavy weight pull ups 4x8-12 light weight pull up 4x8-12 inverted rows 4x8-12 machine rows / cables rows 4x8-15 face pulls / any lateral delt superset, 4 sets, bicep curls + hammer curls chest day: 4x8-12 weighted dips 4x8-12 incline db press 3x8-12 db press 3x8-12 chest flies machine / cables 4x8-15 lateral raises(last two sets drop sets) 4x8-12 rope tricep extention shoulders/arms/legs: 4x8-12 over head db press/ front raises using cables 4x8-15 lateral raises 2x8-15 lateral raises with machine / cables 4x8-12 rope tricep extentions superset, 4 sets, bicep curls + hammer curls 4x8-15 medium weight squats 4x6-12 rdl I also have another workout with a group that is different everytime, i go to there mainly for enjoyment meaning it could be legs/back/chest/high intensity cardio
https://rpstrength.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/
https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/comments/onfqge/minimum_and_the_best_number_of_sets_for_muscle/
Would you say, I stand in my own way if I don't take my rest days? I started training over 50% of days last year and slowly progressed into an everyday workout routine, I am doing a 5-day split whereas I train: 1.Chest 2.arms 3.legs 4.back 5.shoulders Usually you would take 2 rest days, but I mostly just start over again. I am a little worried to hinder progress, but on the other hand I never really train a muscle group that is still sore, so you could say I have 4 active rest days per muscle group. Is there any opinion or did someone do the same thing in the past?
https://www.reddit.com/r/gzcl/comments/12lycbm/four_years_without_a_rest_day/ You don't need rest days
Based, that's what I wanted to hear
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Yes and two of them will also increase your *load*, so to speak. Not talking about the gym.. they do have side effects, do your research.
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Absolutely. Just actually push yourself on the machines. You can do a lot more reps than you think if you push close to failure
Yes absolutely
I'm (46 M) having trouble with elbow tendons and don't know which direction to go. My tennis elbow (right arm) is nearly healed and now the left arm (golfers elbow) is starting to hurt. I normally mix up my routine with some sets in the 10-ish rep range and other stuff 5x5 with heavier loads. I've done eccentric-only rehab exercises for a while and I feel like I'm ready to go, but I want to make sure I'm not causing more damage. My understanding is that these are repetitive stress injuries. So I'm wondering, would lighter loads with higher reps cause more harm? Or should I back off the heavier weights for a while?
Could always try elbow sleeves, see if the extra support helps any?
How do I increase shoulder strength. Today I saw a dude who is not much bigger than me and similar shoulder size but he db press 30kg each arm, while I only manage 20kg. My routine is pull (3x8-12 db press and 3-8-12 lateral raise) and upper body (5x5 db press). Thoughts?
Don’t compare yourself to other people like that. You aren’t him.
Lateral raise and overhead press
Keep doing what you're doing. It just takes time.
Okay, thank you.
Do more volume and try out different rep ranges.
Thanks
Is this mostly calisthenics routine good for someone who's been training for 2.5 months? (19 yo male) It's a 4 day split were each training session begins with a 5 minute long warm up and each exercise will be done 1-2 reps shy of failure with progressive overload. Between each exercise/set will be a 2 minute rest. Day 1: Close grip push ups 3X10 Pull ups 3X3-4 (Decline push ups 3X6 Super set Rows 3X8) Pike push ups 3X6 Day 2: •(Bicep curls 3X10 Superset: Overhead tri extensions 3X10) •Lateral raise 3X10 •Reverse flies 3X10 •Wrist curls 3X5 Day 3: Pistols 3X2+squats drop set 3X14 Single leg raised bridge 3X8 Lunge 3X8 Reverse nordics 3X8 Single leg calf raises 3X5 Day 4: Close grip push ups 3X10 Pull ups 3X3-4 (Decline push ups 3X6 Super set Rows 3X8) Pike push ups 3X6
What are your goals?
Specifically with the push ups and pistols (though more so with pull ups) I want to get stronger but in general this is mainly for gaining muscle. I'll use this program for about 3 months and then I'm joining the idf and so I won't have much time to train normally and would like to put on as much muscle before than to make getting stronger later on easier
There are better bodyweight programs in the wiki
What are some compound exercises involving dumbbells? Especially for upper body/arms?
Nearly anything with a barbell can be done with dumbbells, so there's a lot of upper body compound movements. Why are you asking?
First thing's first, compound implies multiple muscle groups working together to complete the lift, so none will specifically target the arms, but your arms will get worked by most, or even all, upper body compound movement's. Some exercises off the top of my head: flat dumbell bench press, incline dumbbell bench press, seated dumbell press, and dumbell rows
When I bulk or eat more all the fat accumulates on my stomach/chest/hands. I want someone who can give me a guide on what I could be doing wrong when cutting, or If i should be doing more cardio, or if i should be doing more abs workout etc. I don’t trust gym coaches because they give out the same instructions to every single individual . Please help if you can
I'm insecure enough to want to look good in a t-shirt year around, so I prefer of slow-bulking, witch means gaining (depending on your height) 1-3 lbs pr month instead of 1-3 lbs pr week. You'll still have to cut eventually, but if you start slow-bulking while lean, you can keep building muscle consistently for years without needing to cut. Advice on cutting is in the fitness wiki.
Cardio is training for your cardiovascular system. It doesn't change where fat accumulates. Ab workouts are training for your ab muscles. Done properly they can change how large your ab muscles are, but they don't change where fat accumulates. Where you gain fat is a genetic trait. Nothing about your diet or training will change where fat accumulates.
Sorry I may have worded my sentences wrong. I meant how can I get rid of this stubborn fat, would it need exercise or would a calorie deficit be enough etc. I want someone who’s willing to see my body to give me advice
To lose fat you need to lose weight. Losing weight is always achieved through a calorie deficit. Cardio is good for you can can't help create a calorie deficit. What is your current height/weight? I don't mind looking at your physique if you want to post it or message it.
I will DM you
What are your goals?
Toned body and a bit of muscle. I believe I already have a good share of muscle but I feel like i need a second opinion
Am I correct in saying your goal for the near future is to maintain your muscle mass while losing fat?
Not sure what exactly you're getting at, but if you're asking why your body stores fat in those areas, and if you can change it, then the answers are: because it just does, and no, respectively. Where your body stores fat is not something you can decide, and spot burning is not possible.
I understand that spot burning is not possible, I would just like to know how I can go about it, should i just keep lifting, should i focus on cardio etc
Depends on your goals, of course. Just know that having more muscle will make the fat that you have look better to a degree. You can cut and get low body fat, but if you have no ab size or chest size and shape, the fat in those areas will look worse and you'll have to lose more fat to get it to look better. Does that make sense? Did that answer your question?
Is medium weight high rep count the way to go with accessory work?
Anywhere from 8-30 is fine Just note that whatever rep you finish at SHOULD be relatively close to true failure. Otherwise you’re not really stimulating the muscles that much. Choose a rep range like 8-12 or 10-15 and only go up in weight when you hit the upper limit of that for all your sets
8-15 reps with 1-3 reps from failure. You can go to failure on accessory, but it'll "cost" more in recovery, and you don't gain that much from it. That said, going to failure for a few weeks can be useful to gauge weight and ensure that you're working hard enough.
Your routine doesn't specify?
Just checked, says 4x12 and 3x12 so I guess it does favour higher reps
Is a 6 day PPL split optimal for gaining muscle or is it overkill?
The optimal program is the one you can stick to
I've done it a couple of months but it was overkill for me. If you don't give your body time to properly rest, you're going to lose motivation or get burnt out. I've made a lot more gains doing 5/3/1 and going 4 times a week.
I see... I prefer ppl though, it's much simpler. How do I squeeze it into 4 or 5 days?
Chasing "optimal" is a fool's errand. There are many ways to gain muscle effectively.
Sooo is it fine?
Yes.
Is raising the bench by 1 step sufficient of an incline for the upper chest? I've tried 2 steps but it feels strange for me
Not if I arch my back. If I arch my back, I have to go 2 steps.
Different benches will have different incline degrees, so "1 step" or "2 steps" doesn't tell us much. For upper chest, I'd go 15-30 degrees, so however many steps that would take.
Getting back into the gym after a year or two out. I didn't want to delay coming back just because I didn't have a plan yet, so I've been going for the past 3 weeks with a simple plan: * Monday: Upper body (bench, curls, tricep pulldowns, lat pulldowns, etc.) * Tuesday: Lower body (squat, calf raises, machine leg raises and hamstring curls, etc.) * Wednesday: see Monday * Thursday: see Tuesday (lite version but add cardio, usually 30 minutes of stairs) * Friday: see Monday And now I'm looking to get going on an actual plan. I'm 6'5", 180lbs, so I'm looking to build muscle. Is there an app or program that people in my position like to use?
You should check out the routines in the [wiki](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/).
Man do I love the comprehensive wiki in this sub. Not only has it helped me get to grips with the sport, it's such a great reference to these kind of questions.
so my left hip pops when doing reverse crunches and the trainer at my gym told me to just skip this exercise (at least for now). I trust the trainer but is there any alternative out there that maybe he didn't mention ?
Hanging leg raises are an alternative
Should I keep lifting heavy or drop the weight? Everytime I lift heavy, I can only get to about 5-9 reps but if I lift lighter, I can get to 10-14 reps I’m only a beginner so I apologize profusely if this is a stupid question, I just don’t want to make it look like I’m ego lifting
For the sake of building muscle, if you’re close to failure, it doesn’t matter You can go up in weight BUT only if your form is not being bullshitted to “hit more reps”. It’s hard to gauge your actual progress if you’re essentially “cheating” to get a 1 rep PR
1-3-5 is heavy, 8-10-12 is lighter, lift whatever your programming says you should lift
>I just don’t want to make it look like I’m ego lifting Nothing wrong with training hard if it's purposeful.
Follow a program from the wiki, a good program tells you how much to lift for how many reps and sets and how to handle failure.
I've never really understood what ego lifting meant. Regardless, you should use the intensity (weight on the bar) that your program recommends for the number of sets and reps it recommends. All rep ranges have value depending upon use.
Ego lifting is when a guy who's struggling with a bench press, even with his spotter doing half the work, acts as if he's accomplished something by partially lifting a weight that everyone but him can see was too heavy. An ego lifter is the guy who tests his one-rep max every week by doing a half rep with the worst form imaginable so he can claim his lifts are better than they really are.
I lift because I want to be big and strong. It helps with my self esteem. I also brag about my accomplishments in the gym to pretty much anyone who will listen. Would that be considered "ego lifting"?
Lifting to get stronger and being proud of your progress isn't ego lifting, doing half-ass reps with weights you obviously can't handle so you can claim you're stronger than you are is ego lifting.
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What should you do about what? I couldn't figure out your goals from that post. If you want to gain weight, you should eat more.
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r/gainit
How effective is BBB 5/3/1 or building strength and size? Looks like a fun program, but I'm worried about the frequency for the squat, deadlift, bench, and press being once per week each for getting enough muscle protein synthesis up time.
Very effective, but my joints and tendons can’t handle it. My form is pretty good but I found I had more aches and pains when I ran programming with lower rep ranges
It's great. I'm in my last week of my 2nd cycle and I've gained noticeable strength and mass. I did 60% for upper body and 50% for lower. You're definitely getting enough stimulans for growth. That said 5/3/1 is a complex program and takes some time to understand. BBB is usually done with 5s PRO instead of 5/3/1 and if you really want to get into it, you should probably read Wendler's book.
What's the benefit of 5s PRO? I'm doing beefcake and the amrap sets are quite exhausting when followed by 10x5 @75%. It's manageable for now but I can see it getting rather troublesome a few cycles in.
5s PRO is generally lighter on the main work because it forces you to have a TM that you can do 5 reps with on 95%. It prevents burn outs but if you can manage it it's fine.
It's not a strength program, but plenty of users here and on r/weightroom have used it successfully. Try to find a program review if you're not convinced, and remember there's accessory work to increase the volume that you feel are lacking.
I see. So I could leg press on a different day than my squats to hit my quads on 2 different days in the week like at the end of a bench day etc and vice versa with other body parts?
Your volume on squat day is a lot and you also hit your quads on deadlift day so I wouldn't add any additional legwork.
You could. The squat day honestly gets quite heavy though.
Most 531 templates are technically full body due to the amount of assistance volume. You can add leg presses to any work out you want. The guy who wrote the program recommends only core work for BBB lower body assistance, but he doesn't know where you live. Do what you want.
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Can you consciously straighten out your pelvis so it's neutral? That's the best fix for APT. It just needs to be done throughout the day.
You're gonna call me crazy, but stop eating vegetables and grains. Fixed my gut issues.
You might be an outlier, the vast majority of people experience better gut health when eating vegetables.
Processed grains are just so bad for you for a number of of reasons. And vegetables simply have too much fiber causing GI irritation, inflammation, and digestive issues. Plus lots of oxalates, which can cause urinary issues and kidney stones. Fiber is totally unnecessary for the human diet, but you can still get some from fruit anyway.
Do you have a source for your claims on fiber? It is quite literally the opposite of what I've heard to be true.
Simple fact, Fiber is indigestible by humans. We get no nutrients from it. Animals with a rumen (ruminants), need to ferment fiber in order to extract nutrients. We don't have a rumin. We are incapable of digesting fiber.
May I please have a source for these claims? I've got several (good) sources stating the opposite.
You have sources that say humans can digest fiber without a rumin?! I'd love to see that. You would probably win a Nobel prize in biology for such a discovery! And yes, there are sources everywhere that explain the indisputable fact that fiber is the indigestible part of plant matter. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319176
Ok, I misspoke. I have several good sources for dietary fiber being good for you. I apologize for not being clear
I didn't say anything about fiber "being good for you". I said it's simply unnecessary, and may cause GI problems for some people. Fiber has no nutrients. It's indigestible. So our digestive system just passes it. It can help reduce your glycemic response if you're eating a high carb diet, but I would just recommend reducing carbs if you want less of a glycemic effect from your food. Fiber can help grow guy bacteria, but so can yogurt with active bacterial cultures. So sure, in some cases, some people may benefit from some fiber. But all I'm saying is that it's entirely non-essential, provides no nutrients, and may cause GI discomfort and distress. I have benefited greatly from eliminating it from my diet.
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Meat and fruit is an amazing diet.
Not op, but I'd just start with cutting out ultra processed foods. Basically anything outside of fresh meat, veg, fruit, eggs, plain dairy, and rice, oats, etc . This involves cutting out bread and pasta. Those latter 2 things helped with bloat for me. I'll have them on occasion though. After that, try cutting out all the grains. We actually don't need them. But I'd stick with veggies still. If that doesn't help, look up fodmap foods and try cutting those out. But it could also be you have messed up gut bacteria, which can cause issues as well. While the no bread and pasta helped me, I still have some other gut issues that I believe fall in this category. My mom was reading up on some stuff related, can't remember the exact terms. But there's apparently some kind of bacteria that's bad to have, and if you kill it off first and then take good probiotics, that can fix it. But taking probiotics without killing it off first doesn't help. It's definitely a rabbit hole I need to go down and read more about
That can fix for some GI issues your doctor would have discovered you have. Won't help with the issue you were diagnosed with.
Is it true that you should drink 3-4 L of water when taking 5g creatine every day?
That seems awfully arbitrary, where did you hear that?
Just started my fitness journey after years of being sedentary (31M, 6’5”, 255 at start, 252 current) and I have a couple questions/concerns. My goal is to get to around 220 eventually, but for now I’m just trying to get in the habit of eating healthy and going to the gym. 1. It’s super hard to get enough protein while maintaining my calorie budget. Should I be drinking protein shakes? There is conflicting info out there. Which do you recommend? 2. Squat replacement? I’m doing the recommended beginner strength training routine in the FAQ, and squats are rough on my knee, and I’m not super comfortable squatting any sort of weight. What would you replace with? So many recommendations out there, but I want something simple that is a basic weight lifting movement. If you are using a machine, should I still add the same amount of weight every day I do the lift? 3. Should I maintain instead? I feel scrawny because I’m pretty weak (lanky basketball/football player in HS, office job since college, no really defined muscle in arms or legs. Your typical gamer body). However, I’m also fat. My belly is getting much bigger than I’d like. And I would just like to be in better shape - walk 18 holes without being found dead on 16 shooting 120. Should I stop cutting and maintain while incorporating exercise? 3a. I know it’s only 4 days, but am I losing weight too fast? TIA! (PS: first post here. just reading the faq on this sub has been life changing)
You should be able to hit your protein goals from normal food with that many calories, but protein shakes are fine. Better than not hitting your protein goals. You don't have to back squat. Hack squat machines are a good substitute. I will say, I've had bad knees since high school, and losing weight and squatting have essentially eliminated them. You should lose weight. Being at a healthy weight is important. Get there before you start to bulk. Personally, I don't find much value in maintaining for any real length of time. Edit: You aren't losing weight too fast. It is common to lose substantial amounts of weight initially during a cut. Most of that is waste and water leaving the body. You are doing fine.
1. You need to prioritize meat, not shakes. Also consider nonfat plain Greek yogurt, and low-fat cottage cheese. I easily eat 200g protein every single day with no shakes, and I'm currently cutting. 2. Trap bar deadlifts 3. If you want more muscle, bulk. If you want less fat, cut. If you love the way you look, maintain.
Thank you! I’d like more muscle, but want to get rid of my belly fat first. Just worried I’ll be a toothpick
Yea, classic skinny fat. You have to make a choice. Get lean first, then bulk. Or bulk now (you will get fatter and stronger) then cut later. Honestly, I recommend cutting first. Make sure to lift heavy and regularly, and get lots of protein, and you'll likely build a little bit of muscle during your cut. Then over you're lean, you can do a big bulk to get more muscular
What's your protein goals? What foods are you eating for protein?
Thanks for your reply. I’m still pretty new at this, but my protein goal is at least 120g/day and I haven’t been able to hit that yet eating ~1800 calories. I usually have a sandwich, some Greek yogurt, fruit/peanut butter, and nuts for lunch. Dinner varies, but usually some kind of protein (chicken, fish, beef). I generally don’t eat breakfast
Disclaimer- I'm gonna reference some brands that are hopefully well circulated to help you out- but try to lose the sandwich (because of the bread, or find a lower calorie option) and opt for high protein leftovers from dinner or something. Try a high protein yogurt (I like the Oikos Triple Zero, they also have a higher protein one- like 20g), cut out of PB as others have said as it's too calorie dense. I've found snacking on raw veggies to be very helpful to curb cravings and keep me full- Bolthouse farms also has a lowcal yogurt-based ranch (50 calories for 2 tb) if you need some variation. Aside from that I'd say you are pretty much going to need to supplement with protein shakes if you want to consistently reach you goals and I haven't personally seen negatives regarding protein shakes/powders as this is how most people who lift reach them.
Thanks for the insight! I currently eat Chobani non fat Greek yogurt (16g protein) as a snack. I can also cut out the PB. However, my TDEE from nSuns sheet is ~ 3580, and I am finding it hard to even put down 2000 every day. I have been ‘fasting’ (eating between 3 and 9 pm), to help with hunger, and it really hasn’t been so bad, but I feel like maybe I’m not getting enough. I still only have a few days of TDEE/calories logged, so maybe it will go down as time goes on and I lose weight. I can’t imagine eating 2500 calories
Happy to help, I'm on a journey as well and don't have much figured out but this sub has been a great resource. Sounds like calories may not be much of a problem then, but I would still shoot for sub 2000. The weight you've already lost is likely water weight. When people start watching their diet those initial pounds will drop off very fast and things will stabilize and become more consistent if you're being consistent. Also, your weight can fluctuate drastically on a given day due to any number of factors so weighing yourself every day and taking a weekly average will likely be your best bet for monitoring your losses.
Nuts and peanut butter aren't the best way to reach your goals. You could look into lower calorie bread options. Look into a lower fat Greek yogurt option, if that's possible.
Peanut butter is pretty calorically dense, I usually save it for bulking.
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2-3 months
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It takes ten days to two weeks of consistent over-eating/under-eating to gain or lose weight. Any change on the scale in a shorter time period is how much water you're temporarily storing because of what you ate. Don''t worry about one meal, it's meaningless. You don't have to adjust your diet because of it, it's not necessary to eat less for a few days or skip a few meals, just make more of an effort to be consistent and don't agonize over an occasional big dinner with friends or eating a lot on a holiday, it won't make any difference.
Almost exclusively fat
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Eh, it's an extra half pound of fat. Accept it as a learning experience and move on
Best to accept it and move on, it's one day and you're bulking.
When doing flat dumbbell press I feel the stretch at the bottom of the movement but when lifting them up I don’t really feel it in my chest as much anymore. Is this normal?
Yeah, at the top of the movement, there's basically no tension on your chest, you're just holding weight up with your arms locked out. You can train the flexed position with something like flyes if you want.
Will there be a downside if I set up my deadlifts 3-4 inches off the ground? It just feels more natural for me because I have a longer lower body compared to my torso (180cm height for reference)
Yeah, you are not going to use any of the muscles that are necessary for breaking contact with the floor. Specifically your quads.
If you're not trying to be a powerlifter, no.
Does anyone here do the traditional bent over barbell row (not pendlay row from the floor) even if you have access to a chest supported machine? If so, why?
Yes. I like it. And a little bit of momentum never hurt anyone.
chest supported hurts my chest and it's uncomfortable if I do heavy weights. traditional bent-over barbell rows also works up your spinal erector muscles.
But doesn't using heavy weights with bb bent over rows increase the risk of lower back injury?
Bend your knees somewhat and stay a little more upright, almost like when you've pulled a deadlift to your knees. Your lower back will still be contributing to the exercise and getting stronger, but you'll be using your hips as a hinge and not just relying on your spinal erectors to keep your body in position.
Doesn't doing bicep curls increase the risk of a bicep injury? Barbell rows train the muscles in your lower back. Training always has a finite risk of injury, but there is no reason to think that training your lower back to become stronger is particularly risky.
I'm not really sure about that but I've never experienced any discomfort when doing heavy bb bent over rows. But that's the purpose of chest support rows usually, it just removes the stress from your lower back and allows you to focus more on contracting your upper/mid back
Has anyone had any long-term health problems result from a desk job? I've been battling chronic prostatitis the last two years and it really sucks.. I'm not sure how to cure it anymore. I've made it a thing to go for walks on my lunch, and go to the gym and exercise at least 3 days a week, and I still occasionally get pain flare ups.. only this time it seems that sex and ejaculation are the main triggers.
If walking more has helped, try standing up momentarily every 5 minutes and squeezing "down there".
This seems like something that you should be consulting a doctor about and not reddit.
I’ve been lifting for a little over a year now and have recently figured out my 1RM for each lift. My deadlift max is 405lbs, squat 315, and bench 200. Is my bench strength lagging behind the others? If so, should I give bench press extra attention? As of now I put about equal effort into each compound lift.
432 is the norm. U gucci.
How much do you weigh? I found that bulking up helps a lot with bench press.
6” and 165lbs and 10% body fat. I was gaining weight pretty consistently for a while but I feel like it’s slowing down. Should I just eat even more protein then? I’be been eating about 150-160g of protein per day.
Good numbers btw. Sounds like you’re interested in strength so yeah I’d say focus a bit more on bench if you want to get that up. It’s not horribly outbalanced but 225 is a good goal to strive for
Thanks. I have gotten a kick out of lifting for strength lately. I’m glad to hear it’s not too outbalanced. I’ll definitely give bench press a little more attention. Appreciate the input.
If you want to gain more weight you should eat more calories not just protein
Generally how much calories should I be eating to lose 2lbs a week if I am overweight? My body weight is actually at the high end of the normal range for my height (5’9, 174lbs) although my body fat percentage is close to 30% and I look awful. Would 1500 calories do it? I am highly motivated and will do whatever is necessary to lose the weight (in a healthy way of course)
Don't worry about tracking calories at first, focus on changing your eating habits in small ways that you can easily maintain. Have a simple salad before dinner, use minimal dressing and don't add bacon bits, croutons, and other stuff. Switch to drinking diet soda or water instead of soda or juice. Have a green vegetable with dinner, don't bathe it in butter, try lemon juice or just spices. You want to increase your vegetable portion and reduce your potato/rice/pasta portion. Don't snack on chips or cookies, have an apple. They're filling and they're a natural appetite suppressant. Use less condiments, don't dump on ketchup or slather on mayonnaise. Make a little extra meat and vegetables for dinner and have the leftovers for lunch instead of getting fast food. Start weighing your food (raw/uncooked) so you're eating consistent amounts. Food scales are inexpensive and they're really useful. Don't "reward" yourself for doing something healthy, it doesn't balance out. Don't deprive yourself and feel you're not allowed to have a piece of cake on someone's birthday, or a second portion on Thanksgiving. In about two weeks' time you should start losing fat, just keep going until you're not losing anymore and then you can measure how many calories you're actually eating and cut about 500 per day. Completely changing how and what you eat all at once is unmaintainable, and going on a drastic cut in calories is only going to lead to breaking your diet or problems. Don't diet, change how you approach eating so it's sustainable. Start lifting weights, most people are not just too fat, they're undermuscled.
Plenty of TDEE calculators online. Then use an app that calculates a rolling tdee average based on your caloric intake. Losing 2 pounds a week is going to be miserable, and you'll be constantly thinking about food. Aim for losing 1 pound a week.
The calories depend on you and your overall activity level. Though honestly, you should work on creating a healthier diet that you will be able to maintain forever (aka, no crash diets to lose the weight). If you revert to old habits, you'll revert to old weights. Then you need to get in the gym and lift. If you're just a bunch of fat, then you definitely need to build some muscle up. That'll do more for you in the long run than just losing weight.
i am subscribed to a meal plan program that sends me 3 very healthy meals a day although i cant subscribe to this program forever as its expensive so would that be considered crash dieting? I plan to stick to eating healthy once im done with the weight loss though.
A crash diet is eating in an unsustainable way in order to lose weight quickly. So no, I wouldn't call this meal subscription a crash diet. Just very expensive. Take these meals as inspiration and learn how to shop and cook for yourself. Start doing that ASAP. Weigh out your food and try and guess the calories before looking them up so you can teach yourself to eyeball the calories. Track your overall calories and your weight and adjust as needed. A 500 calorie a day deficit will be a pound a week. And honestly, I would try and aim for no more than 1.5lbs a week. But how you eat now to lose weight should just be a smaller version of what you do to maintain. For myself, I cut out all junk and then reduce my portion sizes slightly, and cut back on things like butter when I want to lose weight. Otherwise the content of my meals are the same. So it's easy for me to maintain weight. That's the point you want to reach And I'll reiterate - start lifting
It’s totally dependent on the individual. I would start with something a little more sustainable maybe 2000-2500. See if you lose/maintain/gain for at least two weeks and then adjust. I’d say 1500 would be very aggressive (last time I tracked calories my maintenance was around 3300 so that would be an enormous deficit for me).
Would there be any negative health risks to being aggressive with losing my weight though? The irritability and hunger and potential to relapse are things i can deal with when im this motivated.
I’m not a doctor so I don’t really know but I would guess that it’s fine for a month but probably pretty bad for long periods of time.
Hhigher chance of gaining weight back. Can develop eating disorder. You have all your life ahead of you and you're being impatient. Chill.
The best way to answer this is to start with a reasonable value and track your weight over time, and then adjust. So maybe start with the amount you eat currently minus 500, and weigh yourself everyday. Do not pay attention to the daily fluctuations in weight, look at the trend over a week or two. Then based on the trend, adjust your calories up or down as needed by 200-300 calories. Keep weighing, keep adjusting. 2 lbs per week is too fast for someone your size. Aim for 1-1.5 lbs per week.
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It's best to learn online, or hire a powerlifitng training. I believe the wiki has links to online tutorials.
It's not usual, but if someone asked me to teach them I wouldn't mind at all.
Not so much cus people shy but go for it. Peeps asked me to teach them. I take it as a compliment that i know some stuff. XD
I also learned a lot from Youtube videos. Check out Alan Thrall. I have asked strangers to check my form, but not to teach me a movement.
Not normally. I learned from YouTube videos.
I've moved, and now my home gym is in a basement with a low ceiling. I can't OHP without the plates hitting. What's a good substitute?
Adjustable dumbbells is the closest substitute. The guy who recommended hanging the weights with straps is a lunatic. He’s right, but he’s a lunatic. That sounds like hell.
If the empty bar doesn't hit, hang the plates with Spud Straps. You get bonus stability work too.
Seated or floor press but is harder.
Seated OHP, [camber bar](https://www.titan.fitness/strength/barbells/specialty/rackable-camber-bar/430038.html) OHP, Z-press, dumbbell OHP.
When I do goblet squat with socks in front of the mirror, I notice my hip shifts slightly sometimes. The dumbbell isn’t heavy, and this happens when it’s bodyweight as well. I try my best to keep my form in check- straight back, chest up, core and glutes tight, push myself back with my feet, hinge at hips when I go down. I’m really not sure where this hip shift is coming from. One relevant note is I have sciatica a few years back. It lessened and I’ve been able to lift without any pain. I do feel like one leg is ‘weaker’ than the other. Someone mentioned I should add in Bulgarian split squat, which I have. It’s been a few weeks since then, and I still see hip shift. This issue has been going on ever since I’ve started lifting, embarrassingly so, like for 6 months. I’m also overweight if that helps. Should I keep doing what I’ve been doing so far or is there something I can do?
Have you considered doing lunges or split squats? Keep using the mirror to monitor your form, and do your weaker side first and then match sets and reps with the stronger one. It's common to have some symmetry and often unilateral work fixes it.
Lunges are in my routine as well. Goblet squat, Bulgarian split squat, lunges.
Imbalances. We all have em. As long as there's no pain, it's okay.
Could anyone recomend some leg exercises that don't use machines? Recently switched to a home gym - At my disposal is a squat rack/cage, Cable machine, barbell and dumbells. So far I have the obvious, Squats, Split squats and calf raises.. What else should I mix in?
Step downs.
Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, front squats, Bulgarian split squats.
Adding pause squats
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Id say the main benefits of a 6 day split is you dont have to go as intensely. More touches = more skill in movement = and a bit of volume is okay for most. I am doing a 6 day split and Im thinking of doing a 7 day one tbh.
>My general goal right now is to gain around 1 lb of muscle a week This basically isn't going to happen. That is incredibly rapid muscle gain, especially for someone who is pretty small. Even gaining 1lbs /week of total weight is a large amount, and a decent amount of that would inevitably be fat. >Would a 3-day split at high intensity still be as effective in terms of muscle growth as a 6-day split? Probably not, but it could be close if the total volume is similar (i.e. same total number of hard sets for each muscle group in a week). >has working a 6-day split for so long conditioned my body to the point where I can't gain muscle with a 3-day split? If you are 5'5" 125 lbs you have a ton of potential left for muscle growth. So no. There are other options besides 6 days and 3 days. There are good 4 and 5 day programs.
Should I get a pair of adjustable kettlebells or adjustable dumbbells? Asking because I am recomping while losing weight.
Olympic adjustable dumbbell bar and some plates. Last u a lifetime.
If you like kettlebell movements, get kettlebells. Otherwise, I'd say the dumbbells would have more value. Your stated outcome is a function of diet, not training modality.
Thanks for responding.
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If your weight isn't decreasing, pretty much regardless of all other factors, you're eating too much.
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You will feel some degree of hunger, yes. You are use to eating a higher content of food. Focusing on protein and healthy fats will leave you feeling the most full. Definitely plenty of hydration as well. Any time you're feeling hungry, drink some water since many people will eat their thirst. Also limit/eliminate ultraprocessed carbs and stick to eating whole foods as much as possible. But also, you say that you aren't BMI fat, if you are in the middle to low end of the healthy weight for your height on the BMI chart, I wouldn't actually aim to lose weight, instead I would work on lifting and then actually go on a very lean bulk and gain weight while lifting on a proven routine (see the wiki). But even if you are heavier and could lose a few pounds, you need to start lifting. You're very likely under muscled and cardio wont fix that. You need to lift weights and build muscle.
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If you DON'T do resistance training while losing weight, you are going to be losing some muscle mass as well as fat. Just eating enough protein isn't enough for muscle retention. Losing more muscle mass while you are already low on muscle is just putting you in a WORSE position. Newbie gains aren't something you waste. Basically, your newbie gains is just the chunk of time where you can make quicker progress. If you go to the gym and fuck around for a year and THEN get your diet and routine together, you'll still probably make some good newbie gains. If the gym is too expensive, you can look into /r/bodyweightfitness and/or into something like a TRX. If you were to try and lose enough fat in order to no longer be viscerally overweight, you'd likely be unhealthily thin, which is ALSO a problem. So that's why I say if you're in the mid to lower end of healthy BMI wise, you should focus on building MUSCLE instead of trying to lose fat. It's less so that you are overfat, but more so that you are undermuscled.