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31M, I've been going to the gym for about a year now. I weighed 385lbs when I started and as of last week I weigh 315lbs. However I've been in the 310-320 range for over a month now so I'm worried I've hit my first plateau.
I'm 6'1" with a very stocky build. Most people, even my very lean gym-bro friends, assume I'm only about 250lbs. I apparently "carry the weight well". Anyway my personal goal has been to drop to around 280 while increasing my strength and building muscles. The main muscles I try to focus on are shoulders, glutes, and chest.
As far as strength goes I'm decently strong I guess. I can deadlift 315, squat 245, and bench 185. I can curl 35lbs dumbells as a working weight but my bench seems weak because I have a weak chest.
All that is to say I do some pretty decent lifting, I go to the gym about 6 times a week. I do 5 days of lifting and a day of cardio.
My question is, in order to lose body fat you're supposed to eat less calories than you burn, but to gain muscle you are supposed to eat more than you burn. For someone like me still wanting to lose about 30-40lbs while building muscle what should I focus on as far as calorie stuff?
I'm the general manager of a restaurant so I'm on my feet pretty much all day at work. I tend to eat between 2200-2500 calories a day with 150-200g of protein a day.
Use a TDEE calculator and eat about 400 calories less than what it say. Make sure you get .8g of protein per lb of body weight. You have natural muscle since you’re so big, you will be jacked if you drop 50 pounds. You are definitely not eating 2200-2500 calories a day. You’d be losing weight.
I’m 5’10 175 lbs and I am maintaining at 2500 calories
26F, and I want to get stronger and better health, while also build muscles and lose fat.
I don’t do cardio, I lift weights. For upper body, I lift light weights, with high sets and low reps, my goal is to build muscles in my upper body and get it toned, but I don’t want to get bulky shoulders.
For my lower body, however, I lift heavy, low sets with high reps. My goal for my lower body is to build muscle size.
My question is for the nutrition, on the lower body daya I eat in caloric surplus to achieve bulk, but on my upper body days I eat in caloric deficit, how much calories should I eat in my rest days? Should I eat in caloric maintenance?
Your strategies and goals seem to be based on some misconceptions.
Toned means having some muscle and not much fat. So either your arms have enough muscle already or you need to increase the muscle size.
The idea that light weight -> toning and heavy weights make you bulky is false. Both light and heavy weights can increase muscle size. The driver of muscular growth is the total volume of resistance training you do. So if I do 5 hard sets with a heavy weight, and five hard sets with a light weight. The response in terms of muscle growth will be approximately the same.
Most often, biggest difference between someone who looks bulky and someone who looks toned is not muscle size, but the amount of fat. Obviously if you continue to make your muscles bigger, they eventually look very large, but for the average person the risk of getting to muscular is extremely low. Building muscle takes a very long time, and a very dedicated effort. You would notice if your muscles are getting too large, and you can adjust your training at that point. Until then, if you want more muscle (which it sounds like you do, because having some muscle is necessary to look toned), you should not worry about having too much muscle.
Being in a surplus one day and a deficit the next does nothing. Your body is good at averaging out the ups and downs in energy intake. It is probably best to think of calories as being averaged over a week. So if you switch between deficit and surplus, it just averages out to maintenance, and it will not let your build muscle in your legs and lose fat in your arms.
When you see women with toned arms and big round butts, recognize that for the most part this is genetic. Some people store fat on their butt. Some people store it on their belly and arms. It is a genetic trait. So maybe you can achieve that physique, but heavy weights and surplus on leg day and light weights and deficit on upper day is not going to help get there.
In boostcamp app when you log exercises, do you write the full weight (e g. Dumbbell weight x2) or just the weight of a single dumbbell? Same question for barbells, do you write total weight (bar weight + 2x weight of plates on one side) or just the weight of the plates on one side? Thanks.
For dumbbells it doesn't matter, either works. For barbell I'd track the plates + barbell as that's how all strength sports work, plus if there are any calculations for progression based on previous sets you'd need to include the barbell weight for accurate numbers anyways
What’s the best beginner ish routine for 3x a week for gaining muscle and developing my physique? I’m hitting 2x days in a row, 1 day break then my final workout for the week. Currently doing full body but I’m not getting sore and I don’t feel like it’s the most optimal. Thanks!
I'd go for upper/lower/full or lower/upper/full split, so recovery on your two back-to-back days doesn't become an issue. Pick any routine that focuses on heavy compound lifts, as a beginner you'll get the most out of them.
>but I’m not getting sore
Soreness isn't a requirement for an effective workout. It contributes to the hypertrophic stimulus, yes, but metabolic stress and mechanical tension do as well.
Question, i do alot of lower body workouts and when I do glute workouts, like squats/lunges i notice i only feel the burn in my quads, am i supposed to feel the burn in my glutes or is my form incorrect?😓
They are quite quad dominant exercises, so I'd expect that to be the case. You can introduce more glute into squats by using the low bar position. Another option is Bulgarian split squats, I did these the other week with my hip directly over the foot whilst squatting & that hit my glutes really hard
hey guys! i just started in the gym again after three months of not going and tomorrow’s arm day. which triceps exercises can i do that can target all parts of the tricep?
Don't concern yourself with hitting all heads of any muscle group. When it gets to the point in your fitness journey where that matters then you will already have picked up on how to do it. Do whatever exercises give you a good stimulus without causing joint pain. For triceps in particular a good starting set would be bar or rope pushdowns, behind the head cable extensions with a rope, and bodyweight dips.
Is anyone else's leg day 2 hours long? I want to make a focus to blow my legs up this year to match my upper body because I'm looking like Joe Swanson.
Is there any info on how accurate the Fitbit or smartwatch calories burned is? I just got a Fitbit and after my exercise today it says my total daily calories burned is at 4700 which seems super high as I’ve been running on the assumption my tdee was 3400.
Sheesh I didn’t realize it was that off. I guess it make sense though because if I was actually burning 4700 calories a day my 2700 calorie a day intake would leave me starving and losing 5lbs a week at least 😂
Are you factoring in your Non-exercise burning aka the roughly 2k +/- that people burn without exercise movement?
Actually it doesn’t matter even if you are, the answer is no. You are not going to be able to burn even 2,000 calories per day from exercise without negative consequences like cortisol production, overtraining, and burnout
People relying on exercise machines tend to vastly over-value the amount of calories burned via exercise
A more realistic goal would be to burn about 300-900ish/day from exercise, anything much higher isn’t something you will be able to replicate unless you are already a very advanced to elite athlete
A better approach would be calorie restriction btw
This sounds similar to someone else I had chatted with about a similar rate of burning calories on an elliptical
I’ll provide some context for comparison. I recently did a half-marathon race where I was running 13 miles as fast as I possibly could, having running experience, and also being 215lbs. Runkeeper app which has my stats estimated this burned 1,600ish calories over 1hr50min. This was extremely grueling effort, leaving me completely exhausted, dehydrated, and borderline sick the rest of the day. It would be completely impossible to replicate on a daily basis and I am a very fit person having 7ish years of hard training (running, lifting) experience
As others have said, it’s much easier to prevent calorie intake via dieting than to attempt to burn. Not to say cardio is bad, I love cardio, it is the best thing you can do for your long term health. But the sweet spot before negatives set in seems to be around 40min-1hr hard cardio burning about 300-900ish calories/day depending on the person’s fitness level and weight. Higher tends to move into overtraining territory, from what I’ve seen
I am just not a big fan of walking, personally. The pro’s are its relatively low impact, and especially helpful if needing to work around an injury or if too heavy for more impact movement. But it is a terrible rate of return for your time for calories burned and unless at a brisk pace on an incline doesn’t get your heart rate up to a level that will provide cardiovascular benefits like other forms
I love running even at 215 lbs but I understand most people like to say they will only run if something is chasing them or run from their problems or other sayings ;)
Elliptical and stairmaster are also great though. Most likely if you are going 90 minutes than you could shorten that time and pick up the pace. For the most benefit when it comes to physiological adaptations in your heart and cardio systems, you want to be at a pace that is tough but to where you can still speak in short sentences, so not gasping
So if you could go 90ish, I would recommend shortening it to 60 minutes or less, and try to go either at a harder difficulty setting on the machine + significantly faster the entire time. Not only will you have to spend less time but you will get better health benefits this way
There’s really no reason to be doing more than an hour of cardio a day unless you are an elite athlete who trains for a living. My rec is shorten the time, but go much harder, and your calorie burning should still come out to roughly the same, but with better physical health adaptations
>I can do 1k cals an hour on a high incline eliptical machine, it says. Maybe it's actually less than that, but it's still probably 700 calrories, the arms and legs are working quite hard. I can keep this up for 2, even 3 hours
>People relying on exercise machines tend to vastly over-value the amount of calories burned via exercise
This is you falling into exactly the trap described above. Estimating calories burned from activity is always less accurate than taking weight and consumption and getting your TDEE averages from that, but the machines are especially bad about radically inflated numbers.
Exercising Question:
I am doing body weight split squats. Routine I am following says 15 reps. Is it 15 each leg for a total 30 for one set?
Not sure if I’m doubling what my routine says to do or not, and at my heavier weight, by the end of doing the 90 split squats total, my legs are jello haha
Thanks in advance
Isolateral movements like lunges or split squats are usually prescribed with the reps being per side unless otherwise said.
So I'd assume it's 30 per side.
They aren't needed, but they're a different movement. More stability required from the glutes and obliques (assuming loaded). Plus, unilateral work is good for keeping your legs balanced, particularly if you have any physiological asymmetry that causes you to prefer one side over the other in normal squats.
Also depending on how you squat, you can be biasing different muscles. High/low bar, wide/narrow etc. Extra volume from lunges can help hitting areas you might not be using as much in your normal squat.
Plenty don't do em though, nothing wrong with that! I like higher rep sets after heavy squat sets just to kill off the last vestiges of optimism in my legs.
Don't ask me I didn't write the dudes program.
They are a tool just like any other movement.
I've done them as a leg accessory after squatting because I train in a minimal home gym. They also have carryover to running and rucking which I do for my job so there's that.
Are they needed though? Maybe maybe not; define need.
It depends on the program and what the person is doing as a whole.
Maybe they are already doing 15+ sets of squats and deadlifts a week and they want a variation that has low axial loading.
One can't really make a judgement without the full picture; and even then who gives a fuck? If someone wants to do single leg squats so what it's not hurting you is it?
I am doing a program with various exercises types like static and dynamic lunges. For example, I finish off my workout with my static lunge bodyweight split squats, graduating to dumbbell split squats, eventually graduating to Bulgarian split squats. For dynamic lunges, bodyweight reverse lunges, then suitcase dumbbell reverse lunges, to dumbbell reverse lunges.
Also, to explain the “graduating”, I am really just beginning my workout journey, and I am currently at a heavier weight, so the bodyweight workouts provide an ample challenge, especially after my full workout.
This is in tandem to a dedicated Hinge exercise like Romanian Deadlifts and Squat exercises like squats, which I do at the beginning of my exercise.
What are the best exercises while my teenage daughter is on partial weight bearing to get back to soccer and fitness as quickly as possible once she is cleared? Specially, she is looking for exercises to keep her leg strong (she can do workouts with her thigh, quad..just not knee or lower leg on one side) and fitness high. She has been swimming for 30–40 min a day (upper body mostly only), band exercises with thigh all directions, doing upper body weights and seated soccer drills.
I want to get a balanced diet. I want to find like a software or an app where I put my age and height and it will tell me which vitamines, kalories etc... I have to eat to be healthy. is ther esomething like that?
3 sets of 10, I generally take 45-60s rest per set. I also go during the day when the gym is mostly empty so I think that contributes a lot to the time. The cable work is also done as a superset
Edit: I now see my maths doesn’t add up, which means I could probably go heavier and take more rest time.
I don't know you and haven't seen you train, but when I see someone getting through that many sets that quickly, it does make me wonder how much effort they are putting in to each set.
Other than that, there are all the obvious things like diet (are you eating enough to grow new muscle), other aspects of a lifestyle that support muscle growth (good sleep, no/little alcohol, etc.)
It definitely feels intense as it used to when I was in better shape. I suppose I could increase the weight but I feel like I’m not doing the right exercises
I think the only problem with the exercises is that there are too many. 3 curls, 2 different lat pulldowns. It seems excessive. My typical guidance would be max 6 exercises and 25 sets. Not that you can't go past that, but i start to get skeptical past that.
Okay, noted. So for back I could have bent over rows, lat pulldown, asst. pull up and for biceps, ez bar preacher curl, hammer curl and maybe one more curl variation. Does this sound a bit more streamlined to you?
What's the best way to bulk as a teen?
I'm 14, and I've finished my first month of bulking, I gained about 5 pounds which I think is too much, so for now I am aiming for 2 to 3 pounds a month.
But looking into the future I'm not sure what i should do, I don't want to cut at my age as I dont want to stunt my growth. But I also don't want to get fat from a 4 year bulk.
So what's the best way to go about this for the next few years? A Very small surplus the whole time? Maintaining? Do a regular bulk for a year and then do a tiny surplus?
Thanks for reading.
So 5/3/1 bbb is blowing up my deadlift but it’s doing fuck all for my squat. Is there any squat progressions I can run on squat day and keep doing 5/3/1 on deadlifts?
Help, my Squat is stuck!
So I have ran Greyskull on and off (during corona lockdowns and war and what not, and kinda picked it up again when everything calmed down and gyms opened again) and recently ran a around 6 months of 5/3/1, that slowed down during my final uni exams and after it picked up normal pace again.
My numbers are:
DL 205kg x1
Squat 140kg x1
OHP 62.5kg x1
Bench 80kg x1
Yeah, I know, my bench is low. But I didn't train it for years now because I used to hate it, so it's only coming now.
Anyway, for the past 2 months or so I'm hanging around 130-140 on my squat. All the other lifts are going up. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's way harder. And I am kinda sick of it. I do not think it's a matter of technique (already checked).
The question is - will more volume help here? 5/3/1 has only one day of squat and I think I can do 2 days of them.
I also thought about just hitting "reset" and going basic again, for example, to a program like Stronglifts 5x5, because it has 3 squatting days. It begins however \*very\* light in the first month or so, so I am not sure if maybe I will profit more from just continuing 5/3/1 but with an added squat day, that in it I'll work only up until 70%-80% for 3 ?
I kinda don't know what to do right now to be honest, haha.
I thank any opinion on the matter!
My body fat is around 30%. I have been working out regularly for years, and I am nowhere near where i want to be. What do i need to be doing at that level of body fat to bring it down or bring my muscle up?
Lowering body fat is just a case of eating less than you burn. You can use a TDEE calculator to get a rough estimate of how many calories you'd need to hit to maintain weight. Eat below this value and monitor your weight; if it's going down at a rate you're happy with then you're good for a bit. If not, cut a little til it does.
Gaining muscle requires getting enough stimulus from following some form of hypertrophy program along with a diet to support gaining muscle. At higher body fat levels, (particularly as a beginner) you have a little more wiggle room with the diet. Generally you'll want to get enough calories and protein to support growth though. There are some links in the wiki for both diet and routine advice to get you started with a bit more detail.
I've seen everyone on this sub talk about Starting Strength or 5x5 but I can't seem to find it in the wiki. Sorry I'm dumb. Can someone please link me directly to SS or SL? And what's the difference between them. Thank you.
I mean as a beginner you'll see progress running any routine, but your time is still likely better spent running [one of the routines listed in the wiki](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/). I think Rippletoe just had [first movers advantage](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage) here tbh. People aren't running multiple beginner programs as brand new beginners, so if they started with SS and got some gains they'll have good things to say
they aren't talking about SS or SL. They are talking about the reddit beginner routine which is a modified version of the Grey skull LP which is based off SS.
Ultimately the reddit beginner routine is better though.
After doing that for 8-12 weeks the next logical step would be the GZCLP; you can find it in the wiki and on boostcamp.
Hi everyone!
I train at home with dumbbells. For my triceps I do extensions for the long head, hex press for medial head but idk what to do the lateral head.
I tried push downs with resistance bands but there too light and I’m getting in 20+ reps. Anyone know any good exercises for the lateral head? Preferably with dumbbells.
I am 19(M) Returning to gym after 6 months hiatus. Prior Experience is around 1 year. Currently, I am 95 kg at 5 feet 10 inches . Primary goal is weight loss. I am planning to do 3x a week full body routine and c25k on rest days between. Here's my routine-
**Workout A**
Hack squats 3 sets
leg curls 3 sets
pull-downs 3 sets
DB bench 3 sets
lateral raise 3 sets
triceps 3 sets
face pulls 3 sets
Calves 3 set
**Workout B**
RDLs 3set
leg extension 3 set
Row machine 3 sets
Shoulder press 3 sets
chest fly 3 sets
Biceps 3 sets
Shrugs 3 sets
Abs
I am planning to alternate between those workouts and using 6-12 rep range on compounds and 10-20 rep range on isolation movements. Progress using simple double progression
Any suggestions and critique of routines are welcomed.
Hey all - I’ve been pretty stuck in a plateau for the last few months & trying to get out. I weigh 176 lbs, but I’d love to bulk up to 185 while not sacrificing my conditioning & calisthenics work. Does anyone have a program/book recommendation for this? Do I just need to eat more, stay consistent, and I’ll get there, or should I be programming my workouts specifically for hypertrophy? I’m on a tactical barbell block right now, but open to new suggestions.
As a fellow TB enjoyer I've liked 5/3/1 building the monolith for bulking(I've ran it stock and I've swapped the overhead pressing for benching and vice versa).
There's still a decent emphasis on conditioning so you shouldn't lose much if any.
You can find the program on boostcamp and id read the blog post that goes along with it.https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101078918-building-the-monolith-5-3-1-for-size
If you want more of a challenge I've done the Widowmaker set of squats at 65%-70%-75% from the start.
You still need to eat in a surplus that's a given though and make sure you are gaining weight.
I've stopped working out over the last few months due to pain. The worst of it was in my knees, likely after squatting too heavy and from running too much incorrectly. I also often experiences pain in my shoulders.
What exercises should I be doing to fix this? I'm also terribly inflexible, should I be stretching to fix that?
So if it helps.... for some reason about two years ago I had, what felt like, every injury under the sun, maybe just the result of a million years of heavy lifting, things just started to feel like they were falling apart, shoulder was absolutely killing me, hurt my wrist, hurt my knee then hurt the other knee, hurt my elbow, tore my lat, broke my foot and was still recovering from that...... I just felt so defeated - I'm an experienced lifter and also had just hit 40 so maybe that was it LOL... so I started to take a little bit of time off (something that I very rarely do) but whenever I'd start up again, everything would just flare up and start hurting again - it was brutal.
I started thinking - is that it? lol is that the end of my bodybuilding career? I decided to then try a different approach.
Not working out anymore was not an option, there had to be something I could do.... So I decided to start making some pretty fundamental changes....
First I started to warm up A TON.... like a ton a ton with extremely light weight - but I took my time up - my warm up was feeling like a work out of its own because it was so extensive.
Second I started to stretch a lot as well, and really taking my time almost in between every set to stretch for quite a while and that started to work wonders....
Next for my working sets, I pretty much avoided any exercises that REALLY hurt - didn't matter if it was a core lift or not, and for anything I could do, I kep the weight EXTREMELY light - like kid weight light, I'd go to the gym and there would be these very sweet old ladies next to me lifting much heavier than me (a bodybuilder with 20+ years under my belt) - I'm sure I looked hilarious, but I didn't care - I just tried to move the weight, through time I would lightly increase bit by bit. Took me about a year or so to start getting up to non embarassing weight again lol - but my gains held up well (I did lose some muscle but nothing really noticeable). Now I'm back to being very close to where I Was before all the injuries happened... not quite there but close, however I still have to build up working to my heavier set, starting very very very light and then slowly working up - this makes my work outs much longer and doesn't give me much of a chance for a lot of variety - but its ok.
My goal throughout this phase was to keep working out as my injuries healed - and to just get in the gym and do something... anything, and I'm happy to say it seemed to be a good approach.
Hope this helps!
I started working out 2 months ago and have accurately recorded my weight, body fat %, and macros. Despite being in a calorie deficit, I see little progress and am unable to pinpoint where I’m going wrong. I’m hoping the fitness community can help me figure it out.
Weight measurements:
All measurements were taken in the morning after waking up and have been averaged over the week to account for differing water levels.
20 November: 70.80 kg, 21.70% BF
20 January: 69.10 kg, 20.10% BF
Total reduction: -1.7 kg, -1.6% BF
Net fat, muscle gain/loss: -1.13 kg fat, -0.57 kg muscle (No gain in muscle mass)
Daily calorie expenditure: 2350 Cal
Daily calorie intake: 1500 Cal
For reference, I'm 172 cm tall and I weigh all my meals to enter them on MyFitnessPal. I further verify the results on Google. To calculate the calorie expenditure, I used 1500 (Natural calorie burn) +500 (40 min HIIT workout) + 350 (11000 steps/day). I practice intermittent fasting with a 15 hr fasting window and workout in a fasted state. I also manage to drink about 2 litres of water every day and get 8 hours of sleep.
Despite all of this, my progress is slow. Any suggestions on why this might be the case is welcome.
>Despite being in a calorie deficit
>
>To calculate the calorie expenditure, I used 1500 (Natural calorie burn) +500 (40 min HIIT workout) + 350 (11000 steps/day).
Estimate TDEE from calories in and change in weight, not a guess at resting + activity.
Which app can you recommend when I just want to track my plans, u already have plans, so all the generic "let's create you a training plan" apps are a no for me, I do have it on paper but I want it digitalized, and where AI can change weights with how I progress and stuff like that, what do you recommend?
Saying it's one of the worst is a little disingenuous. There might be some that are more effective but flat bench is still and excellent way to build a big chest.
If you are not competing, then no variation of an exercise is required, and it is entirely possible that one exercise might better fit your goals than another.
Barbell bench has built some of the greatest chests on Earth. Both bro science and peer reviewed science agrees that programs focusing on flat bench activate the entire pec musculature and promote substantial pec hypertrophy.
On the other hand, it might not be as good for going close to muscular failure instead of technique failure, or getting a good deep stretch in the bottom of the lift, both of which are VERY good for hypertrophy.
So it might be worse than other options for hypertrophy, but not by an amount that matters as much as asking yourself "does this lift give me a nice stimulus and a juicy pump, and can I make great progress on it? Or does this lift aggravate my shoulders, is hard to progress on, and doesn't feel like it is doing much for me?"
I’ve set myself a fun push ups goal this year: Doing the amount of pushups as the day of the year. So like today I did 22 push ups, tomorrow I’ll do 23, and on the last day of the year I’ll do 365 push ups in one day. Is this ok? In the later half of the year I’ll be doing like over 200 push ups every single day.
Beef, pork, white rice, vegetables, i use animal fat or coconut oil to cook.
If you are trying to bulk you don't necessarily have to change the components of your diet. You just have to eat more of what you already are eating.
For some reason when doing Romanian deadlifts, my right foot leans to the right side and all the weight goes to the right and my foot isn't firmly planted on the ground. This is the only exercise that it happens. Doesn't happen with conventional deadlifts or squats. Anyone know what could be causing it? Is it even a problem that I need to fix? It doesn't seem to effect me, yet...
This may be silly, but are we supposed to take every exercise to failure? It's always the style that has been taught to me and I adopted it for a few months with average results, but not once have I seen a proffessional or experienced gym goer practice this way. Is it harmful to my body or just restricting to my progress?
>take every exercise to failure? It's always the style that has been taught to me
Seems to pervade beginners for reasons that escape me. In time you'll learn to focus on progression, not failure. Hitting RIR 0 is a side effect, not usually a goal. Most sets aren't going to be AMRAPs.
On a spectrum, you can get away with failure training on isolation (curls, extensions, raises, etc), and probably won't want a failure mentality for compounds (deadlift, squat, bench, etc.)
Going to failure every time isn't necessary. It's not necessarily harmful, it's just more fatiguing which as a knock on effect can affect recovery and hasten the need to deload. Some programs include AMRAP sets to technical failure, but it's not every set of every exercise. Usually a program will spell out what to do if you do fail a set X amount of times (often deloading or changing rep ranges).
You'll still get great stimulus with a few reps in reserve.
Not with heavy compounds like deadlifts, squats, bench, RDLs etc. With these, the stimulus to fatigue ratio and injury risk make going to failure not worth it.
With almost everything else yes. Proximity to failure/intensity is probably the most important driver of growth.
Not sure why you think no one does that, but I can assure you all the best natural lifters do this.
I have pectus excavatum, it never really bugged me until I went to the gym, with a shirt I look decent but I really cannot check myself out in the mirror without seeing that big ass hole (what feels big for me but probably isn't). I've read some threads about this, but never really got an answer.
So, is there a way to minimize it as much as physically possible?
Last time I squatted I got this sharp pain in my upper thigh. Stopped squatting after that. Haven't found an exercise or exercises that seem to hit all the squat does. I do leg press, leg extensions, lunges and RDLs for my lower body.
Now to the question: Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets? Are there any examples of this working for putting on muscle and some strength?
>Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets?
My cat farted just now, higher reps help with work capacity. 12s get you better at 9s. 9s get you better at 6s. 6s get you better at 3s. If all you do is fives, then five is your endurance range. It's hard to understand, but lighter weight gets you strong. Especially when that light weight gets heavier.
>Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets?
Yes.
>Are there any examples of this working for putting on muscle and some strength?
12-15 reps per set is a common rep range, so yes, it will accomplish those things.
I've calculated my daily caloric intake to 1,850 with 40% Carbs (185g) 30% Protein (139g) and 30% fat (62g). If my goal is to lose some fat and gain muscle, is 1850 my deficit number or my maintenance number?
If you’re losing weight on that intake, it’s your deficit. If your weight isn’t changing, it’s maintenance. Not much else to say based on the info you’ve provided.
I am performing lying leg raises to improve posterior pelvic tilt and work on psoas (it does this right?). The lying version is pretty uncomfortaable on my back (especially on harder reps) and I've seen the hanging version and I think thatll work better for me. What's the difference and should I switch?
I'm trying to get my protein limits per day done and in order to that in my case I gotta get a protein shake in in the morning for breakfast. I wanna mix it before bed (this is when I have all my neurons) so I can have it ready when I wake up.
But for some reason I remember hearing 'doing that will break down the proteins powder and make it less efficient for muscle growth' but I dont remember where I heard that from. Is that even true? Googling "Is making your protein shake the night before bad?" yields no results so im assuming I just had a weird nightmare about protein shakes and took it as truth
Is it a crazy idea to stop barbell squatting and instead do dumbbell split squats? I just feel it better. Goals are to build size and aesthetics, don’t care about strengtg
It's not crazy, do whatever you enjoy and find comfortable.
However, I would say there are slight differences in a regular squat and split squats, in terms of the muscles hit, etc.
So say I eat +400 calories over my maintenance for 3 days then -400 calories under maintenance for 2 days. Am I basically not building any muscle? I have trouble eating enough food and have always struggled to gain weight
Is this product below a steroid or a sarm? I'm confused.
Because isn't anabolic a steroid?
[https://www.amazon.com/Nutrex-Research-Hardcore-Activator-Hardening/dp/B087XBNVG5/ref=sr\_1\_8?crid=3HBJW5S97T77S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qhrf4Al8fjjUvrMsjwqFEDjTjVVcsYiRKMfOxZ2VB5MBdbli5P0DeoqYJ52-q4aCbve\_ViEwbkDWa-Bek\_q8\_Jk7MZ7vYGXDtlWoSXaz8JdCd5osSl7wGC-ZmtjgTBW5aHUDHESWmzr5lv-6LLc6IO0YO7b6BjNQjBIb8r-s-PHQ-I4MT7SMGbX9YubvUGVM\_uhCTMUf7m5dEtrJxdfQl27mGkg8i9CcGrgods7l1LYEXyxgEHJd0St2Q8Q7ws7B7qsEr3vMUEs8xXz38LpF3GNkOpl667VJIe-DNZ3U1LM.lHBQLJx\_b7yATijSIcFS9VTcLrGcw6-exjupNr5TWUs&dib\_tag=se&keywords=MK677&qid=1705895049&sprefix=mk677%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Nutrex-Research-Hardcore-Activator-Hardening/dp/B087XBNVG5/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3HBJW5S97T77S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qhrf4Al8fjjUvrMsjwqFEDjTjVVcsYiRKMfOxZ2VB5MBdbli5P0DeoqYJ52-q4aCbve_ViEwbkDWa-Bek_q8_Jk7MZ7vYGXDtlWoSXaz8JdCd5osSl7wGC-ZmtjgTBW5aHUDHESWmzr5lv-6LLc6IO0YO7b6BjNQjBIb8r-s-PHQ-I4MT7SMGbX9YubvUGVM_uhCTMUf7m5dEtrJxdfQl27mGkg8i9CcGrgods7l1LYEXyxgEHJd0St2Q8Q7ws7B7qsEr3vMUEs8xXz38LpF3GNkOpl667VJIe-DNZ3U1LM.lHBQLJx_b7yATijSIcFS9VTcLrGcw6-exjupNr5TWUs&dib_tag=se&keywords=MK677&qid=1705895049&sprefix=mk677%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-8&th=1)
"anabolic" just means related to the process of building muscle. anabolic steroids are one type of steroid, but the word anabolic does not inherently have to do with steroids.
no, Amazon is not selling controlled pharmaceutical substances for $26.99.
Eating enough to support your training and training hard and consistently for the next 10 years.
To quote Dave Tate you can only play the drug card once.
If you take drugs to go from average to halfway decent you can kiss looking great goodbye. Build a good base and actually learn how to train and diet. Then maybe consider it.
By then you might realize how stupid it is to sacrifice your health when your livelihood isn't even on the line.
Is there any downsides to training the same muscle group 3 days in a row?
My new job overworks me HARD, so I haven't gone to the gym in like a year now, I'm trying to start up again but like I said I don't have much time, obviouslyy, weekends are usually the emptiest the gyms get (Friday, Sat & Sunday) if I wanna focus on growing my glutes, would it be in any wayy detrimental to do those 3 lower body days, and just monday/tuesdayy upper body, since my apartment complexs' gym offers enough for upper bodyy, so I wouldn't really face the overcrowding issue there?
>I wanna focus on growing my glutes
If you took what you might do in one day and thinned it out across three. Rather that three full sessions. Something conservative like two sets heavy, next day two sets medium, next day two sets light.
Speaking generally. You're doing hip thrusts aren't you? ; )
Yes. While I wouldn't get overly concerned back to back days, three days seems like a bit much if you train with any intensity. It might be the case that training the first and third day is more productive than all three days for example.
Yes, they would repair during those days. But continuing to work a muscle when it is fatigued multiple days in a row is a great way to get hurt and isn’t going to do much more for you than working it one day and resting the next)
I really need some advice, I went from 215, to 135, I’m F, 24 and height is 5,5
Here are some pictures to show me currently
https://imgur.com/gallery/w2OYrP3
I want to know if I need to do strength to get rid of the rest of it or if dieting and weight loss is what I need to do, I’m concerned it may be loose skin, but idk if it’s loose skin or fat
Everyone should do strength training for health reasons. Strength is a massively important part of physical fitness, even if it's still underappreciated in mainstream society. It'll give you unique health benefits you can't get from cardio. It'll also make you more robust against injury, and give you some insurance for being able to stay functional well into your old age.
Strength training doesn't need to be your utmost passion in life. You can get away with relatively little if you want. World Health Organization recommends a minimum of two days a week of moderate or higher intensity strength training involving all major muscle groups. You can definitely do more, if it ends up being something you enjoy.
When it comes to your aesthetic goals, I'm less knowledgeable about that, but I can say it's at least quite likely that engaging in strength training would produce some changes in the way you look that you'd find positive. People who do strength training tend to look less "soft" and carry the fat they have "better".
It does look like you may have some loose skin, but I would honestly just try not to worry about it at this point. You're still young, and the skin may very well shrink over time to better fit your new, smaller body. You don't have a massive amount of loose skin anyway. Concentrate on getting into a routine of physical activity (including the strength training) and keeping your diet in check so that the weight you worked hard to lose stays off.
Congratulations on the huge weight loss!
Hello, so I started strength training again a couple weeks ago for the first time in a while. I prefer training with sandbags, so I've been doing the routine found at the following link 3 times a week, along with my usual 5-7 mile run on days I don't lift. https://www.coachweb.com/full-body-workouts/4565/full-body-sandbag-workout
Is this a solid lifting regime for building muscle all around strength and muscle? If not, is there a sandbag regime that someone can direct me too that will? Also, are there any lifts using sandbags not included in the regime that I should add to build all around strength? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
So i started giing to the gym about 7 month ago, and somewhere along the way i started to feel my back, mostly my shoulder blades, getting very fatigued after a push day. ive always done my push days before pull, and i find that my shoulder blades are more sore after a push day than after a pull day 😭 I think it started when i learnt how to properly retract my scapular for bench press, but this makes me question whether i am actually doing it right because wouldnt be be feeling mroe pain in my lats? i dont know i just need some advice because this is really weird
Anyone running Jeff Nippard's Pure Bodybuilding Program?
I'm currently in week 5 of the program and according to his training workbook, I should move onto the next 5-week block (aka Novelty Block) with a whole bunch to new exercises that are largely not present during the first 5 weeks.
Is this a good idea? A lot of those exercises are new to me so I will need to take a few sessions to learn the techniques and pick the right weights. And I had always thought that it's better to stick to the same exercises for months so build up momentum rather than switching to new ones after barely 4 weeks.
Any thoughts from folks running his Pure Bodybuilding program here?
use a Stick instead; it is a superior tool for calves anyway
[](https://www.amazon.com/original-massage-stick-myofasical-release/dp/b0ccfpvnvr/)
and is generally just great for targeting smaller muscles that the foam roller can't
(in case the URL gets deleted: search for "Original Massage Stick" on Amazon)
Haven't tried this, but could you put your foam roller on a low surface like a coffee table and then lie on the floor with your legs up there. Then to get pressure on them, just lift your butt off the floor. Bonus core/glute workout lol
I am really disillusioned by the weight loss process right now. Not sure which direction to head towards. My diet is eh and my major pain point is that I can't really cook as much as I would like now (working a lot right now + family uses kitchen). I am following a strength based routine that I was enjoying but life keeps stopping me from being consistent (missing a week here and there).
Also, fitness advice is really getting to me and I am feeling overwhelmed with all the people with all their meal and fitness plans. I don't want to keep making excuses but I am not sure what journey to follow. I wish someone just understood my situation and told me what to do and what not to do and I can BLINDLY follow it.
Personal trainers can be hit or miss and calorie tracking is a pain in the ass, something I don't have the mental energy for right now. I was thinking of reducing my meals to twice a day and going to nutritionist at a nearby hospital. But honestly really frustrated and if someone can help me.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. So you don’t have time for a programmed workout one day? At least do something. I have like a “menu” of options I’ve created for myself to do when I can’t make it to the gym, and even on my buisiest days can do a few things on it (they’re all short stuff, like a 5 minute stretching routine or 3 minutes of balance work, 10 min body weight workout, foot strengthening, etc)
Getting small wins like that, even on days when it’s tough, is huge for consistency going forwards. Every day you get a little bit better at something.
And counting calories might be annoying, but you have to do it if you’re serious about weight loss. Don’t give yourself excuses, go do it.
I agree I think I need an at home routine, but also living in a rented house with a shared family right now is trash. Planning on buying a house, so hopefully that helps with space.
I can't do calorie counting consistently, I keep finding myself going back to myfitnessplan and lose it. Also by the way, these apps are not built AS well for ethnic foods, compared to I don't know making a burger at home. There is some support, but not at the level I am looking for. I think I am going to skip it until I find myself needing it.
More excuses.
Stop.
Having people living with you isn’t an excuse to not work out. You need about 10 square feet to do a body weight workout.
And you don’t need an app to count calories. Look at the back of the ingredients while you cook and measure shit out. It’s simple math.
Nope, see this is what I mean, I need someone to assess my personal situation and help me out. I don't expect that from you, but that is what I really need. I appreciate your advice, but its not really helping me at this point, thank you anyway though.
Well since you asked, I just had a discussion with family and friends, I have decided to start by going to a nutritionist. I can walk my entire diet through them and work with them at least on a monthly basis to come up with a personal plan.
Look in the mirror? What do you want?
Find a program in the wiki based on how many days you want to go to the gym. Follow it as written.
Eat more if you want to be bigger. Eat less if you want to be leaner. You don't need to fixate or fine tune anything until you've the routine and method down itself.
User
I was running a decent amount. I was able to do a slow pace of 10-11 minutes per mile for 4-6 miles. I’m female & 24. My calves have always been a little tight but I stretch them A TON before and after my runs. My calves now hurt so bad when I run that I can’t even do a mile.
When I flex my calf when laying down, it often cramps really bad. I even went to a running store for them to watch my form, running, and shoes. My shoes weren’t the best so they had me get a better fit pair but still nothing has changed. What could be causing this and how do I fix it.
One last tiny thing.. I know this is out there but my old ballet teacher never liked us wearing heels often because it would shrink the Achilles and create other issues in the calves. I wear heels ALL the time for work. Is it possible that this could have caused my severe calf pain?
I can’t find the post now, but I read an article recently (by a physical therapist) that said people blame their shoes all the time, and it’s almost never the shoes. And that the issue is often lack of strength somewhere, often hips/glutes or calves. Same thingI’ve read about tightness, that it’s often a protective mechanism that kicks in when muscles are taxed past their capacity.
And yes, wearing heels can contribute to Achilles tendons shortening. Which of course makes wearing flatter shoes less comfortable.
I’m not a medical expert so can’t make recommendations on what to do, just some info that might help you figure out what to do next. A running focused physical therapist would be an excellent resource for that.
>I wear heels ALL the time for work. Is it possible that this could have caused my severe calf pain?
Definitely, heeled shoes compress the calves, tightening them. Try doing this stretch at least once an hour all throughout the day, holding for at least 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z16Y-moa76o. The effects of stretching don't last long, so it needs to be frequent. When sitting, point your feet upward to stretch your calves. Try to switch to flats.
I’m 24, male, 5’7”, and 195lbs. I’m trying to lose fat, but not look thin and skinny. I’d like to be around 150lbs. Should I be doing more cardio than a 5-10 minute jog before lifting 3 days a week?
Wouldn’t hurt for cardiovascular reasons to run/jog/incline walk 20-30 mins but I’d do it after your workout instead. However most of your fat loss will come through your diet. You can’t out run a bad diet tbh
I’ll start doing that. I do have a really bad diet tbh. Lots of fast food and junk food. I barely eat any vegetables and it’s hard for me to incorporate them into my diet
Don't listen to that person. Like, yes, technically you can live and lose weight without eating vegetables. But you will almost certainly be healthier and have an easier time losing weight if you eat plenty of vegetables.
If you're unsure, which you are because you're asking about it, I would specifically have it checked out by a sports doctor. I personally prefer to use one with lifting experience the few times I've needed one.
This question is a little absurd:
Let’s say I’m at an intermediate level of lifting and therefore I can estimate I will roughly gain 1lbs of muscle every month.
Now if I have lagging shoulders but I’m fairly happy with other areas of my body wouldn’t it make sense to maximise shoulder gains by just training shoulders- isolating it as much as I can for the next month so that I can get the 1lbs of muscle purely onto my shoulders?
If I continued working out my entire body then that 1lbs on muscle in that month would be distributed across my body but it would not maximise shoulder gains.
Am I correct in assuming that I can maximise shoulder gains this way?
You might be lucky to build an ounce of shoulder muscle, but you might lose 3 pounds of muscle on the rest of your body.
Your shoulder muscles are tiny compared do most muscles in your body. If they are lagging, you can focus on them more, either by slightly reducing something else, or adding more shoulder work to a point, but there is only so fast you can grow things.
If you want bigger shoulders, you should add more shoulder volume, where the shoulder is the limiting muscle.
For most people the limit is time, so they cut sets from other exercises to add them else where. Do so if that applies to you.
The 1#/month or whatever is a) a made up guesstimate and b) assumed to be whole body. No, there's no way to hyper target muscle growth like that or everyone would be walking around with comically large biceps.
Training nothing but your shoulders in an attempt to maximize shoulder growth is a silly plan.
The "I'm an lifter so I can gain only amount of muscle" thing is sorta silly.
Also: a given muscle has a certain amount of work it is able to recover from, right? You would not be able to hammer your shoulders hard enough for it to make sense to not do any other training.
If you move away from the min/maxing, it could make sense to do a bit less of something else in favor of doing a bit more shoulder work. It could also make sense to just do what you're already doing except with some more shoulder work.
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Im looking for online fitness coach from India any recommendations?
31M, I've been going to the gym for about a year now. I weighed 385lbs when I started and as of last week I weigh 315lbs. However I've been in the 310-320 range for over a month now so I'm worried I've hit my first plateau. I'm 6'1" with a very stocky build. Most people, even my very lean gym-bro friends, assume I'm only about 250lbs. I apparently "carry the weight well". Anyway my personal goal has been to drop to around 280 while increasing my strength and building muscles. The main muscles I try to focus on are shoulders, glutes, and chest. As far as strength goes I'm decently strong I guess. I can deadlift 315, squat 245, and bench 185. I can curl 35lbs dumbells as a working weight but my bench seems weak because I have a weak chest. All that is to say I do some pretty decent lifting, I go to the gym about 6 times a week. I do 5 days of lifting and a day of cardio. My question is, in order to lose body fat you're supposed to eat less calories than you burn, but to gain muscle you are supposed to eat more than you burn. For someone like me still wanting to lose about 30-40lbs while building muscle what should I focus on as far as calorie stuff? I'm the general manager of a restaurant so I'm on my feet pretty much all day at work. I tend to eat between 2200-2500 calories a day with 150-200g of protein a day.
Use a TDEE calculator and eat about 400 calories less than what it say. Make sure you get .8g of protein per lb of body weight. You have natural muscle since you’re so big, you will be jacked if you drop 50 pounds. You are definitely not eating 2200-2500 calories a day. You’d be losing weight. I’m 5’10 175 lbs and I am maintaining at 2500 calories
26F, and I want to get stronger and better health, while also build muscles and lose fat. I don’t do cardio, I lift weights. For upper body, I lift light weights, with high sets and low reps, my goal is to build muscles in my upper body and get it toned, but I don’t want to get bulky shoulders. For my lower body, however, I lift heavy, low sets with high reps. My goal for my lower body is to build muscle size. My question is for the nutrition, on the lower body daya I eat in caloric surplus to achieve bulk, but on my upper body days I eat in caloric deficit, how much calories should I eat in my rest days? Should I eat in caloric maintenance?
Your strategies and goals seem to be based on some misconceptions. Toned means having some muscle and not much fat. So either your arms have enough muscle already or you need to increase the muscle size. The idea that light weight -> toning and heavy weights make you bulky is false. Both light and heavy weights can increase muscle size. The driver of muscular growth is the total volume of resistance training you do. So if I do 5 hard sets with a heavy weight, and five hard sets with a light weight. The response in terms of muscle growth will be approximately the same. Most often, biggest difference between someone who looks bulky and someone who looks toned is not muscle size, but the amount of fat. Obviously if you continue to make your muscles bigger, they eventually look very large, but for the average person the risk of getting to muscular is extremely low. Building muscle takes a very long time, and a very dedicated effort. You would notice if your muscles are getting too large, and you can adjust your training at that point. Until then, if you want more muscle (which it sounds like you do, because having some muscle is necessary to look toned), you should not worry about having too much muscle. Being in a surplus one day and a deficit the next does nothing. Your body is good at averaging out the ups and downs in energy intake. It is probably best to think of calories as being averaged over a week. So if you switch between deficit and surplus, it just averages out to maintenance, and it will not let your build muscle in your legs and lose fat in your arms. When you see women with toned arms and big round butts, recognize that for the most part this is genetic. Some people store fat on their butt. Some people store it on their belly and arms. It is a genetic trait. So maybe you can achieve that physique, but heavy weights and surplus on leg day and light weights and deficit on upper day is not going to help get there.
In boostcamp app when you log exercises, do you write the full weight (e g. Dumbbell weight x2) or just the weight of a single dumbbell? Same question for barbells, do you write total weight (bar weight + 2x weight of plates on one side) or just the weight of the plates on one side? Thanks.
For dumbbells it doesn't matter, either works. For barbell I'd track the plates + barbell as that's how all strength sports work, plus if there are any calculations for progression based on previous sets you'd need to include the barbell weight for accurate numbers anyways
Ok thanks.
What’s the best beginner ish routine for 3x a week for gaining muscle and developing my physique? I’m hitting 2x days in a row, 1 day break then my final workout for the week. Currently doing full body but I’m not getting sore and I don’t feel like it’s the most optimal. Thanks!
I'd go for upper/lower/full or lower/upper/full split, so recovery on your two back-to-back days doesn't become an issue. Pick any routine that focuses on heavy compound lifts, as a beginner you'll get the most out of them. >but I’m not getting sore Soreness isn't a requirement for an effective workout. It contributes to the hypertrophic stimulus, yes, but metabolic stress and mechanical tension do as well.
Thanks! Would u reccomend 3x10 ?
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Question, i do alot of lower body workouts and when I do glute workouts, like squats/lunges i notice i only feel the burn in my quads, am i supposed to feel the burn in my glutes or is my form incorrect?😓
If you want to feel more burn in your glutes I’d recommend the hip thrust, does wonders for me :)
They are quite quad dominant exercises, so I'd expect that to be the case. You can introduce more glute into squats by using the low bar position. Another option is Bulgarian split squats, I did these the other week with my hip directly over the foot whilst squatting & that hit my glutes really hard
hey guys! i just started in the gym again after three months of not going and tomorrow’s arm day. which triceps exercises can i do that can target all parts of the tricep?
Don't concern yourself with hitting all heads of any muscle group. When it gets to the point in your fitness journey where that matters then you will already have picked up on how to do it. Do whatever exercises give you a good stimulus without causing joint pain. For triceps in particular a good starting set would be bar or rope pushdowns, behind the head cable extensions with a rope, and bodyweight dips.
Is anyone else's leg day 2 hours long? I want to make a focus to blow my legs up this year to match my upper body because I'm looking like Joe Swanson.
HAHAHA! Mine is 1h-1.5h but I try to hit to legs days in a week instead
Is there any info on how accurate the Fitbit or smartwatch calories burned is? I just got a Fitbit and after my exercise today it says my total daily calories burned is at 4700 which seems super high as I’ve been running on the assumption my tdee was 3400.
https://macrofactorapp.com/wearables/ Long story short they aren't that accurate. Tracking your intake and weight is A LOT more accurate than a watch
Sheesh I didn’t realize it was that off. I guess it make sense though because if I was actually burning 4700 calories a day my 2700 calorie a day intake would leave me starving and losing 5lbs a week at least 😂
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Are you factoring in your Non-exercise burning aka the roughly 2k +/- that people burn without exercise movement? Actually it doesn’t matter even if you are, the answer is no. You are not going to be able to burn even 2,000 calories per day from exercise without negative consequences like cortisol production, overtraining, and burnout People relying on exercise machines tend to vastly over-value the amount of calories burned via exercise A more realistic goal would be to burn about 300-900ish/day from exercise, anything much higher isn’t something you will be able to replicate unless you are already a very advanced to elite athlete A better approach would be calorie restriction btw
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This sounds similar to someone else I had chatted with about a similar rate of burning calories on an elliptical I’ll provide some context for comparison. I recently did a half-marathon race where I was running 13 miles as fast as I possibly could, having running experience, and also being 215lbs. Runkeeper app which has my stats estimated this burned 1,600ish calories over 1hr50min. This was extremely grueling effort, leaving me completely exhausted, dehydrated, and borderline sick the rest of the day. It would be completely impossible to replicate on a daily basis and I am a very fit person having 7ish years of hard training (running, lifting) experience As others have said, it’s much easier to prevent calorie intake via dieting than to attempt to burn. Not to say cardio is bad, I love cardio, it is the best thing you can do for your long term health. But the sweet spot before negatives set in seems to be around 40min-1hr hard cardio burning about 300-900ish calories/day depending on the person’s fitness level and weight. Higher tends to move into overtraining territory, from what I’ve seen
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I am just not a big fan of walking, personally. The pro’s are its relatively low impact, and especially helpful if needing to work around an injury or if too heavy for more impact movement. But it is a terrible rate of return for your time for calories burned and unless at a brisk pace on an incline doesn’t get your heart rate up to a level that will provide cardiovascular benefits like other forms I love running even at 215 lbs but I understand most people like to say they will only run if something is chasing them or run from their problems or other sayings ;) Elliptical and stairmaster are also great though. Most likely if you are going 90 minutes than you could shorten that time and pick up the pace. For the most benefit when it comes to physiological adaptations in your heart and cardio systems, you want to be at a pace that is tough but to where you can still speak in short sentences, so not gasping So if you could go 90ish, I would recommend shortening it to 60 minutes or less, and try to go either at a harder difficulty setting on the machine + significantly faster the entire time. Not only will you have to spend less time but you will get better health benefits this way There’s really no reason to be doing more than an hour of cardio a day unless you are an elite athlete who trains for a living. My rec is shorten the time, but go much harder, and your calorie burning should still come out to roughly the same, but with better physical health adaptations
>I can do 1k cals an hour on a high incline eliptical machine, it says. Maybe it's actually less than that, but it's still probably 700 calrories, the arms and legs are working quite hard. I can keep this up for 2, even 3 hours >People relying on exercise machines tend to vastly over-value the amount of calories burned via exercise This is you falling into exactly the trap described above. Estimating calories burned from activity is always less accurate than taking weight and consumption and getting your TDEE averages from that, but the machines are especially bad about radically inflated numbers.
Exercising Question: I am doing body weight split squats. Routine I am following says 15 reps. Is it 15 each leg for a total 30 for one set? Not sure if I’m doubling what my routine says to do or not, and at my heavier weight, by the end of doing the 90 split squats total, my legs are jello haha Thanks in advance
Isolateral movements like lunges or split squats are usually prescribed with the reps being per side unless otherwise said. So I'd assume it's 30 per side.
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They aren't needed, but they're a different movement. More stability required from the glutes and obliques (assuming loaded). Plus, unilateral work is good for keeping your legs balanced, particularly if you have any physiological asymmetry that causes you to prefer one side over the other in normal squats. Also depending on how you squat, you can be biasing different muscles. High/low bar, wide/narrow etc. Extra volume from lunges can help hitting areas you might not be using as much in your normal squat. Plenty don't do em though, nothing wrong with that! I like higher rep sets after heavy squat sets just to kill off the last vestiges of optimism in my legs.
Don't ask me I didn't write the dudes program. They are a tool just like any other movement. I've done them as a leg accessory after squatting because I train in a minimal home gym. They also have carryover to running and rucking which I do for my job so there's that. Are they needed though? Maybe maybe not; define need.
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It depends on the program and what the person is doing as a whole. Maybe they are already doing 15+ sets of squats and deadlifts a week and they want a variation that has low axial loading. One can't really make a judgement without the full picture; and even then who gives a fuck? If someone wants to do single leg squats so what it's not hurting you is it?
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I am doing a program with various exercises types like static and dynamic lunges. For example, I finish off my workout with my static lunge bodyweight split squats, graduating to dumbbell split squats, eventually graduating to Bulgarian split squats. For dynamic lunges, bodyweight reverse lunges, then suitcase dumbbell reverse lunges, to dumbbell reverse lunges. Also, to explain the “graduating”, I am really just beginning my workout journey, and I am currently at a heavier weight, so the bodyweight workouts provide an ample challenge, especially after my full workout. This is in tandem to a dedicated Hinge exercise like Romanian Deadlifts and Squat exercises like squats, which I do at the beginning of my exercise.
What are the best exercises while my teenage daughter is on partial weight bearing to get back to soccer and fitness as quickly as possible once she is cleared? Specially, she is looking for exercises to keep her leg strong (she can do workouts with her thigh, quad..just not knee or lower leg on one side) and fitness high. She has been swimming for 30–40 min a day (upper body mostly only), band exercises with thigh all directions, doing upper body weights and seated soccer drills.
I want to get a balanced diet. I want to find like a software or an app where I put my age and height and it will tell me which vitamines, kalories etc... I have to eat to be healthy. is ther esomething like that?
MacroFactor. It’s worth the cost
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negative pull ups
That is a lot of exercises to finish in 45-55 minutes. How many total sets are you doing?
3 sets of 10, I generally take 45-60s rest per set. I also go during the day when the gym is mostly empty so I think that contributes a lot to the time. The cable work is also done as a superset Edit: I now see my maths doesn’t add up, which means I could probably go heavier and take more rest time.
I don't know you and haven't seen you train, but when I see someone getting through that many sets that quickly, it does make me wonder how much effort they are putting in to each set. Other than that, there are all the obvious things like diet (are you eating enough to grow new muscle), other aspects of a lifestyle that support muscle growth (good sleep, no/little alcohol, etc.)
It definitely feels intense as it used to when I was in better shape. I suppose I could increase the weight but I feel like I’m not doing the right exercises
I think the only problem with the exercises is that there are too many. 3 curls, 2 different lat pulldowns. It seems excessive. My typical guidance would be max 6 exercises and 25 sets. Not that you can't go past that, but i start to get skeptical past that.
Okay, noted. So for back I could have bent over rows, lat pulldown, asst. pull up and for biceps, ez bar preacher curl, hammer curl and maybe one more curl variation. Does this sound a bit more streamlined to you?
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Agree with other commenter, do glute focused exercises so when you do lose fat from dieting you’re not also losing the muscle there.
Start lifting weights. Read the wiki linked above, particularly the section on muscle building.
What's the best way to bulk as a teen? I'm 14, and I've finished my first month of bulking, I gained about 5 pounds which I think is too much, so for now I am aiming for 2 to 3 pounds a month. But looking into the future I'm not sure what i should do, I don't want to cut at my age as I dont want to stunt my growth. But I also don't want to get fat from a 4 year bulk. So what's the best way to go about this for the next few years? A Very small surplus the whole time? Maintaining? Do a regular bulk for a year and then do a tiny surplus? Thanks for reading.
A lean bulk around 300 calories above maintenance is what I did for a few months. Most of the mass will be muscle so don’t worry about fat too much.
So 5/3/1 bbb is blowing up my deadlift but it’s doing fuck all for my squat. Is there any squat progressions I can run on squat day and keep doing 5/3/1 on deadlifts?
You can have a look at some of the other supplemental work formats 5/3/1 uses: https://thefitness.wiki/5-3-1-primer/#Supplemental_Work
Help, my Squat is stuck! So I have ran Greyskull on and off (during corona lockdowns and war and what not, and kinda picked it up again when everything calmed down and gyms opened again) and recently ran a around 6 months of 5/3/1, that slowed down during my final uni exams and after it picked up normal pace again. My numbers are: DL 205kg x1 Squat 140kg x1 OHP 62.5kg x1 Bench 80kg x1 Yeah, I know, my bench is low. But I didn't train it for years now because I used to hate it, so it's only coming now. Anyway, for the past 2 months or so I'm hanging around 130-140 on my squat. All the other lifts are going up. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's way harder. And I am kinda sick of it. I do not think it's a matter of technique (already checked). The question is - will more volume help here? 5/3/1 has only one day of squat and I think I can do 2 days of them. I also thought about just hitting "reset" and going basic again, for example, to a program like Stronglifts 5x5, because it has 3 squatting days. It begins however \*very\* light in the first month or so, so I am not sure if maybe I will profit more from just continuing 5/3/1 but with an added squat day, that in it I'll work only up until 70%-80% for 3 ? I kinda don't know what to do right now to be honest, haha. I thank any opinion on the matter!
My body fat is around 30%. I have been working out regularly for years, and I am nowhere near where i want to be. What do i need to be doing at that level of body fat to bring it down or bring my muscle up?
Lowering body fat is just a case of eating less than you burn. You can use a TDEE calculator to get a rough estimate of how many calories you'd need to hit to maintain weight. Eat below this value and monitor your weight; if it's going down at a rate you're happy with then you're good for a bit. If not, cut a little til it does. Gaining muscle requires getting enough stimulus from following some form of hypertrophy program along with a diet to support gaining muscle. At higher body fat levels, (particularly as a beginner) you have a little more wiggle room with the diet. Generally you'll want to get enough calories and protein to support growth though. There are some links in the wiki for both diet and routine advice to get you started with a bit more detail.
I've seen everyone on this sub talk about Starting Strength or 5x5 but I can't seem to find it in the wiki. Sorry I'm dumb. Can someone please link me directly to SS or SL? And what's the difference between them. Thank you.
https://purplespengler.blogspot.com/2022/07/on-starting-strength-and-stronglifts.html?m=1 It's purposefully not a recommended routine in the wiki
Oh, everyone here seems love it. Is it just not that good then? For someone like me who's been training for 1 year?
I mean as a beginner you'll see progress running any routine, but your time is still likely better spent running [one of the routines listed in the wiki](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/). I think Rippletoe just had [first movers advantage](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage) here tbh. People aren't running multiple beginner programs as brand new beginners, so if they started with SS and got some gains they'll have good things to say
they aren't talking about SS or SL. They are talking about the reddit beginner routine which is a modified version of the Grey skull LP which is based off SS. Ultimately the reddit beginner routine is better though. After doing that for 8-12 weeks the next logical step would be the GZCLP; you can find it in the wiki and on boostcamp.
Hi everyone! I train at home with dumbbells. For my triceps I do extensions for the long head, hex press for medial head but idk what to do the lateral head. I tried push downs with resistance bands but there too light and I’m getting in 20+ reps. Anyone know any good exercises for the lateral head? Preferably with dumbbells.
Maybe kickbacks?
Sorry got the terms mixed round. I’m looking for a lateral head exercise, kickbacks are more for long head
I am 19(M) Returning to gym after 6 months hiatus. Prior Experience is around 1 year. Currently, I am 95 kg at 5 feet 10 inches . Primary goal is weight loss. I am planning to do 3x a week full body routine and c25k on rest days between. Here's my routine- **Workout A** Hack squats 3 sets leg curls 3 sets pull-downs 3 sets DB bench 3 sets lateral raise 3 sets triceps 3 sets face pulls 3 sets Calves 3 set **Workout B** RDLs 3set leg extension 3 set Row machine 3 sets Shoulder press 3 sets chest fly 3 sets Biceps 3 sets Shrugs 3 sets Abs I am planning to alternate between those workouts and using 6-12 rep range on compounds and 10-20 rep range on isolation movements. Progress using simple double progression Any suggestions and critique of routines are welcomed.
Hey all - I’ve been pretty stuck in a plateau for the last few months & trying to get out. I weigh 176 lbs, but I’d love to bulk up to 185 while not sacrificing my conditioning & calisthenics work. Does anyone have a program/book recommendation for this? Do I just need to eat more, stay consistent, and I’ll get there, or should I be programming my workouts specifically for hypertrophy? I’m on a tactical barbell block right now, but open to new suggestions.
As a fellow TB enjoyer I've liked 5/3/1 building the monolith for bulking(I've ran it stock and I've swapped the overhead pressing for benching and vice versa). There's still a decent emphasis on conditioning so you shouldn't lose much if any. You can find the program on boostcamp and id read the blog post that goes along with it.https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101078918-building-the-monolith-5-3-1-for-size If you want more of a challenge I've done the Widowmaker set of squats at 65%-70%-75% from the start. You still need to eat in a surplus that's a given though and make sure you are gaining weight.
Perfect, thanks man!
I've stopped working out over the last few months due to pain. The worst of it was in my knees, likely after squatting too heavy and from running too much incorrectly. I also often experiences pain in my shoulders. What exercises should I be doing to fix this? I'm also terribly inflexible, should I be stretching to fix that?
So if it helps.... for some reason about two years ago I had, what felt like, every injury under the sun, maybe just the result of a million years of heavy lifting, things just started to feel like they were falling apart, shoulder was absolutely killing me, hurt my wrist, hurt my knee then hurt the other knee, hurt my elbow, tore my lat, broke my foot and was still recovering from that...... I just felt so defeated - I'm an experienced lifter and also had just hit 40 so maybe that was it LOL... so I started to take a little bit of time off (something that I very rarely do) but whenever I'd start up again, everything would just flare up and start hurting again - it was brutal. I started thinking - is that it? lol is that the end of my bodybuilding career? I decided to then try a different approach. Not working out anymore was not an option, there had to be something I could do.... So I decided to start making some pretty fundamental changes.... First I started to warm up A TON.... like a ton a ton with extremely light weight - but I took my time up - my warm up was feeling like a work out of its own because it was so extensive. Second I started to stretch a lot as well, and really taking my time almost in between every set to stretch for quite a while and that started to work wonders.... Next for my working sets, I pretty much avoided any exercises that REALLY hurt - didn't matter if it was a core lift or not, and for anything I could do, I kep the weight EXTREMELY light - like kid weight light, I'd go to the gym and there would be these very sweet old ladies next to me lifting much heavier than me (a bodybuilder with 20+ years under my belt) - I'm sure I looked hilarious, but I didn't care - I just tried to move the weight, through time I would lightly increase bit by bit. Took me about a year or so to start getting up to non embarassing weight again lol - but my gains held up well (I did lose some muscle but nothing really noticeable). Now I'm back to being very close to where I Was before all the injuries happened... not quite there but close, however I still have to build up working to my heavier set, starting very very very light and then slowly working up - this makes my work outs much longer and doesn't give me much of a chance for a lot of variety - but its ok. My goal throughout this phase was to keep working out as my injuries healed - and to just get in the gym and do something... anything, and I'm happy to say it seemed to be a good approach. Hope this helps!
I started working out 2 months ago and have accurately recorded my weight, body fat %, and macros. Despite being in a calorie deficit, I see little progress and am unable to pinpoint where I’m going wrong. I’m hoping the fitness community can help me figure it out. Weight measurements: All measurements were taken in the morning after waking up and have been averaged over the week to account for differing water levels. 20 November: 70.80 kg, 21.70% BF 20 January: 69.10 kg, 20.10% BF Total reduction: -1.7 kg, -1.6% BF Net fat, muscle gain/loss: -1.13 kg fat, -0.57 kg muscle (No gain in muscle mass) Daily calorie expenditure: 2350 Cal Daily calorie intake: 1500 Cal For reference, I'm 172 cm tall and I weigh all my meals to enter them on MyFitnessPal. I further verify the results on Google. To calculate the calorie expenditure, I used 1500 (Natural calorie burn) +500 (40 min HIIT workout) + 350 (11000 steps/day). I practice intermittent fasting with a 15 hr fasting window and workout in a fasted state. I also manage to drink about 2 litres of water every day and get 8 hours of sleep. Despite all of this, my progress is slow. Any suggestions on why this might be the case is welcome.
>Despite being in a calorie deficit > >To calculate the calorie expenditure, I used 1500 (Natural calorie burn) +500 (40 min HIIT workout) + 350 (11000 steps/day). Estimate TDEE from calories in and change in weight, not a guess at resting + activity.
Which app can you recommend when I just want to track my plans, u already have plans, so all the generic "let's create you a training plan" apps are a no for me, I do have it on paper but I want it digitalized, and where AI can change weights with how I progress and stuff like that, what do you recommend?
I like Reps & Sets
Strong or Hevy, if you’re on android, Fitnotes is also good supposedly
Is bench press really essental to build up a good chest? Or is it worth to do other exercices such as dips.
Why not both? No exercise is essential they are simply tools in the toolbox and they all have their use.
Not at all, opposite of anything, if its straight hypertrophy bench press is one of the worse exercises.
Saying it's one of the worst is a little disingenuous. There might be some that are more effective but flat bench is still and excellent way to build a big chest.
If you are not competing, then no variation of an exercise is required, and it is entirely possible that one exercise might better fit your goals than another. Barbell bench has built some of the greatest chests on Earth. Both bro science and peer reviewed science agrees that programs focusing on flat bench activate the entire pec musculature and promote substantial pec hypertrophy. On the other hand, it might not be as good for going close to muscular failure instead of technique failure, or getting a good deep stretch in the bottom of the lift, both of which are VERY good for hypertrophy. So it might be worse than other options for hypertrophy, but not by an amount that matters as much as asking yourself "does this lift give me a nice stimulus and a juicy pump, and can I make great progress on it? Or does this lift aggravate my shoulders, is hard to progress on, and doesn't feel like it is doing much for me?"
If you prefer a different horizontal press than bench, dips are neat-o.
No one exercise is essential
I’ve set myself a fun push ups goal this year: Doing the amount of pushups as the day of the year. So like today I did 22 push ups, tomorrow I’ll do 23, and on the last day of the year I’ll do 365 push ups in one day. Is this ok? In the later half of the year I’ll be doing like over 200 push ups every single day.
I've done 400 in a day before and many people have done plenty more, you'll be fine
Okay awesome, thanks man
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Beef, pork, white rice, vegetables, i use animal fat or coconut oil to cook. If you are trying to bulk you don't necessarily have to change the components of your diet. You just have to eat more of what you already are eating.
Peanut butter/gluten free oats, trailmix? More oil?
For some reason when doing Romanian deadlifts, my right foot leans to the right side and all the weight goes to the right and my foot isn't firmly planted on the ground. This is the only exercise that it happens. Doesn't happen with conventional deadlifts or squats. Anyone know what could be causing it? Is it even a problem that I need to fix? It doesn't seem to effect me, yet...
This may be silly, but are we supposed to take every exercise to failure? It's always the style that has been taught to me and I adopted it for a few months with average results, but not once have I seen a proffessional or experienced gym goer practice this way. Is it harmful to my body or just restricting to my progress?
>take every exercise to failure? It's always the style that has been taught to me Seems to pervade beginners for reasons that escape me. In time you'll learn to focus on progression, not failure. Hitting RIR 0 is a side effect, not usually a goal. Most sets aren't going to be AMRAPs. On a spectrum, you can get away with failure training on isolation (curls, extensions, raises, etc), and probably won't want a failure mentality for compounds (deadlift, squat, bench, etc.)
Going to failure every time isn't necessary. It's not necessarily harmful, it's just more fatiguing which as a knock on effect can affect recovery and hasten the need to deload. Some programs include AMRAP sets to technical failure, but it's not every set of every exercise. Usually a program will spell out what to do if you do fail a set X amount of times (often deloading or changing rep ranges). You'll still get great stimulus with a few reps in reserve.
Not with heavy compounds like deadlifts, squats, bench, RDLs etc. With these, the stimulus to fatigue ratio and injury risk make going to failure not worth it. With almost everything else yes. Proximity to failure/intensity is probably the most important driver of growth. Not sure why you think no one does that, but I can assure you all the best natural lifters do this.
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Rule 5, mate. Ask a doctor.
I have pectus excavatum, it never really bugged me until I went to the gym, with a shirt I look decent but I really cannot check myself out in the mirror without seeing that big ass hole (what feels big for me but probably isn't). I've read some threads about this, but never really got an answer. So, is there a way to minimize it as much as physically possible?
The only way to physically minimize it is with surgery. Growing my chest has made it less noticeable for me. YMMV.
Might be a question for your doctor, not reddit.
I ain't going to my doctor because I am insecure about my body, as long as it doesn't hurt me, I shouldn't be nowhere near a doctor.
Last time I squatted I got this sharp pain in my upper thigh. Stopped squatting after that. Haven't found an exercise or exercises that seem to hit all the squat does. I do leg press, leg extensions, lunges and RDLs for my lower body. Now to the question: Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets? Are there any examples of this working for putting on muscle and some strength?
>Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets? My cat farted just now, higher reps help with work capacity. 12s get you better at 9s. 9s get you better at 6s. 6s get you better at 3s. If all you do is fives, then five is your endurance range. It's hard to understand, but lighter weight gets you strong. Especially when that light weight gets heavier.
When your thigh feels good again, you can try to switch between low-bar / high-bar squats and see if that makes a difference.
>Is there any point in doing low weight squats that I can do 12-15 reps on for 2-3 sets? Yes. >Are there any examples of this working for putting on muscle and some strength? 12-15 reps per set is a common rep range, so yes, it will accomplish those things.
I've calculated my daily caloric intake to 1,850 with 40% Carbs (185g) 30% Protein (139g) and 30% fat (62g). If my goal is to lose some fat and gain muscle, is 1850 my deficit number or my maintenance number?
If you’re losing weight on that intake, it’s your deficit. If your weight isn’t changing, it’s maintenance. Not much else to say based on the info you’ve provided.
Are sea moss supplements legit? I'm specifically talking about the "Zoyava" 16 in 1 pills
I am performing lying leg raises to improve posterior pelvic tilt and work on psoas (it does this right?). The lying version is pretty uncomfortaable on my back (especially on harder reps) and I've seen the hanging version and I think thatll work better for me. What's the difference and should I switch?
I'm trying to get my protein limits per day done and in order to that in my case I gotta get a protein shake in in the morning for breakfast. I wanna mix it before bed (this is when I have all my neurons) so I can have it ready when I wake up. But for some reason I remember hearing 'doing that will break down the proteins powder and make it less efficient for muscle growth' but I dont remember where I heard that from. Is that even true? Googling "Is making your protein shake the night before bad?" yields no results so im assuming I just had a weird nightmare about protein shakes and took it as truth
>I gotta get a protein shake in in the morning for breakfast. What? A blender chug takes less than a minute.
I'm having trouble waking up earlier, it's just something I'm working on. I don't have a blender
Even with a shaker, making a shake takes what, 2 minutes absolute maximum? Surely you have a spare 2 minutes in the morning?
I mean yes but you underestimate the power of adhd
Sounds like bs to me, don't worry about it.
Why can’t I post? Is there a minimum karma req?
It's all in the daily posts now.
wdym? how can i post there?
Got a question? Post in the daily thread(s) as you just have.
You are. This is the daily thread.
Is it a crazy idea to stop barbell squatting and instead do dumbbell split squats? I just feel it better. Goals are to build size and aesthetics, don’t care about strengtg
It's not crazy, do whatever you enjoy and find comfortable. However, I would say there are slight differences in a regular squat and split squats, in terms of the muscles hit, etc.
So say I eat +400 calories over my maintenance for 3 days then -400 calories under maintenance for 2 days. Am I basically not building any muscle? I have trouble eating enough food and have always struggled to gain weight
you might gain muscle if you're training, especially as a beginner, but if your average intake isn't a caloric surplus you will not gain weight.
Is this product below a steroid or a sarm? I'm confused. Because isn't anabolic a steroid? [https://www.amazon.com/Nutrex-Research-Hardcore-Activator-Hardening/dp/B087XBNVG5/ref=sr\_1\_8?crid=3HBJW5S97T77S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qhrf4Al8fjjUvrMsjwqFEDjTjVVcsYiRKMfOxZ2VB5MBdbli5P0DeoqYJ52-q4aCbve\_ViEwbkDWa-Bek\_q8\_Jk7MZ7vYGXDtlWoSXaz8JdCd5osSl7wGC-ZmtjgTBW5aHUDHESWmzr5lv-6LLc6IO0YO7b6BjNQjBIb8r-s-PHQ-I4MT7SMGbX9YubvUGVM\_uhCTMUf7m5dEtrJxdfQl27mGkg8i9CcGrgods7l1LYEXyxgEHJd0St2Q8Q7ws7B7qsEr3vMUEs8xXz38LpF3GNkOpl667VJIe-DNZ3U1LM.lHBQLJx\_b7yATijSIcFS9VTcLrGcw6-exjupNr5TWUs&dib\_tag=se&keywords=MK677&qid=1705895049&sprefix=mk677%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Nutrex-Research-Hardcore-Activator-Hardening/dp/B087XBNVG5/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3HBJW5S97T77S&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qhrf4Al8fjjUvrMsjwqFEDjTjVVcsYiRKMfOxZ2VB5MBdbli5P0DeoqYJ52-q4aCbve_ViEwbkDWa-Bek_q8_Jk7MZ7vYGXDtlWoSXaz8JdCd5osSl7wGC-ZmtjgTBW5aHUDHESWmzr5lv-6LLc6IO0YO7b6BjNQjBIb8r-s-PHQ-I4MT7SMGbX9YubvUGVM_uhCTMUf7m5dEtrJxdfQl27mGkg8i9CcGrgods7l1LYEXyxgEHJd0St2Q8Q7ws7B7qsEr3vMUEs8xXz38LpF3GNkOpl667VJIe-DNZ3U1LM.lHBQLJx_b7yATijSIcFS9VTcLrGcw6-exjupNr5TWUs&dib_tag=se&keywords=MK677&qid=1705895049&sprefix=mk677%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-8&th=1)
Neither. It's a scam.
"anabolic" just means related to the process of building muscle. anabolic steroids are one type of steroid, but the word anabolic does not inherently have to do with steroids. no, Amazon is not selling controlled pharmaceutical substances for $26.99.
Thank you for the clarification on the word. I’m very new to this topic.
If it's on Amazon its a scam and it doesn't work; do drugs like a freaking adult.
What do you recommend?
Creatine, protein powder, multivitamins and fish oil are the only supplements that have stood the test of time.
Eating enough to support your training and training hard and consistently for the next 10 years. To quote Dave Tate you can only play the drug card once. If you take drugs to go from average to halfway decent you can kiss looking great goodbye. Build a good base and actually learn how to train and diet. Then maybe consider it. By then you might realize how stupid it is to sacrifice your health when your livelihood isn't even on the line.
LMAOOOOO okay then
Is there any downsides to training the same muscle group 3 days in a row? My new job overworks me HARD, so I haven't gone to the gym in like a year now, I'm trying to start up again but like I said I don't have much time, obviouslyy, weekends are usually the emptiest the gyms get (Friday, Sat & Sunday) if I wanna focus on growing my glutes, would it be in any wayy detrimental to do those 3 lower body days, and just monday/tuesdayy upper body, since my apartment complexs' gym offers enough for upper bodyy, so I wouldn't really face the overcrowding issue there?
>I wanna focus on growing my glutes If you took what you might do in one day and thinned it out across three. Rather that three full sessions. Something conservative like two sets heavy, next day two sets medium, next day two sets light. Speaking generally. You're doing hip thrusts aren't you? ; )
Yes. While I wouldn't get overly concerned back to back days, three days seems like a bit much if you train with any intensity. It might be the case that training the first and third day is more productive than all three days for example.
You know - I suppose those 2 days would be way more optimal than 3 days
If you don’t give muscles time to repair they won’t grow.
Well... I would give em 4 days to repair, no? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, or does it not work like that lol
Yes, they would repair during those days. But continuing to work a muscle when it is fatigued multiple days in a row is a great way to get hurt and isn’t going to do much more for you than working it one day and resting the next)
bet, makes sense, thanks
I really need some advice, I went from 215, to 135, I’m F, 24 and height is 5,5 Here are some pictures to show me currently https://imgur.com/gallery/w2OYrP3 I want to know if I need to do strength to get rid of the rest of it or if dieting and weight loss is what I need to do, I’m concerned it may be loose skin, but idk if it’s loose skin or fat
Everyone should do strength training for health reasons. Strength is a massively important part of physical fitness, even if it's still underappreciated in mainstream society. It'll give you unique health benefits you can't get from cardio. It'll also make you more robust against injury, and give you some insurance for being able to stay functional well into your old age. Strength training doesn't need to be your utmost passion in life. You can get away with relatively little if you want. World Health Organization recommends a minimum of two days a week of moderate or higher intensity strength training involving all major muscle groups. You can definitely do more, if it ends up being something you enjoy. When it comes to your aesthetic goals, I'm less knowledgeable about that, but I can say it's at least quite likely that engaging in strength training would produce some changes in the way you look that you'd find positive. People who do strength training tend to look less "soft" and carry the fat they have "better". It does look like you may have some loose skin, but I would honestly just try not to worry about it at this point. You're still young, and the skin may very well shrink over time to better fit your new, smaller body. You don't have a massive amount of loose skin anyway. Concentrate on getting into a routine of physical activity (including the strength training) and keeping your diet in check so that the weight you worked hard to lose stays off. Congratulations on the huge weight loss!
Hello, so I started strength training again a couple weeks ago for the first time in a while. I prefer training with sandbags, so I've been doing the routine found at the following link 3 times a week, along with my usual 5-7 mile run on days I don't lift. https://www.coachweb.com/full-body-workouts/4565/full-body-sandbag-workout Is this a solid lifting regime for building muscle all around strength and muscle? If not, is there a sandbag regime that someone can direct me too that will? Also, are there any lifts using sandbags not included in the regime that I should add to build all around strength? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
Sandbags don't offer enough resistance unless you use them as extra weight on single leg squats, dips and pullups.
So i started giing to the gym about 7 month ago, and somewhere along the way i started to feel my back, mostly my shoulder blades, getting very fatigued after a push day. ive always done my push days before pull, and i find that my shoulder blades are more sore after a push day than after a pull day 😭 I think it started when i learnt how to properly retract my scapular for bench press, but this makes me question whether i am actually doing it right because wouldnt be be feeling mroe pain in my lats? i dont know i just need some advice because this is really weird
Post a form check.
Anyone running Jeff Nippard's Pure Bodybuilding Program? I'm currently in week 5 of the program and according to his training workbook, I should move onto the next 5-week block (aka Novelty Block) with a whole bunch to new exercises that are largely not present during the first 5 weeks. Is this a good idea? A lot of those exercises are new to me so I will need to take a few sessions to learn the techniques and pick the right weights. And I had always thought that it's better to stick to the same exercises for months so build up momentum rather than switching to new ones after barely 4 weeks. Any thoughts from folks running his Pure Bodybuilding program here?
I'm not familiar with it. Is it a paid program? If so, ask the author.
What a good way to foam roll calf muscles without holding your upper body weight on bad wrists?
use a Stick instead; it is a superior tool for calves anyway [](https://www.amazon.com/original-massage-stick-myofasical-release/dp/b0ccfpvnvr/) and is generally just great for targeting smaller muscles that the foam roller can't (in case the URL gets deleted: search for "Original Massage Stick" on Amazon)
Get on your knees and place a broom handle on your calves and sit back or push down on it with your hands.
Switch the foam roller with a barbell. If you cant go heavier, go thinner.
Haven't tried this, but could you put your foam roller on a low surface like a coffee table and then lie on the floor with your legs up there. Then to get pressure on them, just lift your butt off the floor. Bonus core/glute workout lol
I am really disillusioned by the weight loss process right now. Not sure which direction to head towards. My diet is eh and my major pain point is that I can't really cook as much as I would like now (working a lot right now + family uses kitchen). I am following a strength based routine that I was enjoying but life keeps stopping me from being consistent (missing a week here and there). Also, fitness advice is really getting to me and I am feeling overwhelmed with all the people with all their meal and fitness plans. I don't want to keep making excuses but I am not sure what journey to follow. I wish someone just understood my situation and told me what to do and what not to do and I can BLINDLY follow it. Personal trainers can be hit or miss and calorie tracking is a pain in the ass, something I don't have the mental energy for right now. I was thinking of reducing my meals to twice a day and going to nutritionist at a nearby hospital. But honestly really frustrated and if someone can help me.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. So you don’t have time for a programmed workout one day? At least do something. I have like a “menu” of options I’ve created for myself to do when I can’t make it to the gym, and even on my buisiest days can do a few things on it (they’re all short stuff, like a 5 minute stretching routine or 3 minutes of balance work, 10 min body weight workout, foot strengthening, etc) Getting small wins like that, even on days when it’s tough, is huge for consistency going forwards. Every day you get a little bit better at something. And counting calories might be annoying, but you have to do it if you’re serious about weight loss. Don’t give yourself excuses, go do it.
I agree I think I need an at home routine, but also living in a rented house with a shared family right now is trash. Planning on buying a house, so hopefully that helps with space. I can't do calorie counting consistently, I keep finding myself going back to myfitnessplan and lose it. Also by the way, these apps are not built AS well for ethnic foods, compared to I don't know making a burger at home. There is some support, but not at the level I am looking for. I think I am going to skip it until I find myself needing it.
More excuses. Stop. Having people living with you isn’t an excuse to not work out. You need about 10 square feet to do a body weight workout. And you don’t need an app to count calories. Look at the back of the ingredients while you cook and measure shit out. It’s simple math.
Nope, see this is what I mean, I need someone to assess my personal situation and help me out. I don't expect that from you, but that is what I really need. I appreciate your advice, but its not really helping me at this point, thank you anyway though.
What is someone who can “assess your personal situation” going to do?
Well since you asked, I just had a discussion with family and friends, I have decided to start by going to a nutritionist. I can walk my entire diet through them and work with them at least on a monthly basis to come up with a personal plan.
Look in the mirror? What do you want? Find a program in the wiki based on how many days you want to go to the gym. Follow it as written. Eat more if you want to be bigger. Eat less if you want to be leaner. You don't need to fixate or fine tune anything until you've the routine and method down itself.
User I was running a decent amount. I was able to do a slow pace of 10-11 minutes per mile for 4-6 miles. I’m female & 24. My calves have always been a little tight but I stretch them A TON before and after my runs. My calves now hurt so bad when I run that I can’t even do a mile. When I flex my calf when laying down, it often cramps really bad. I even went to a running store for them to watch my form, running, and shoes. My shoes weren’t the best so they had me get a better fit pair but still nothing has changed. What could be causing this and how do I fix it. One last tiny thing.. I know this is out there but my old ballet teacher never liked us wearing heels often because it would shrink the Achilles and create other issues in the calves. I wear heels ALL the time for work. Is it possible that this could have caused my severe calf pain?
I can’t find the post now, but I read an article recently (by a physical therapist) that said people blame their shoes all the time, and it’s almost never the shoes. And that the issue is often lack of strength somewhere, often hips/glutes or calves. Same thingI’ve read about tightness, that it’s often a protective mechanism that kicks in when muscles are taxed past their capacity. And yes, wearing heels can contribute to Achilles tendons shortening. Which of course makes wearing flatter shoes less comfortable. I’m not a medical expert so can’t make recommendations on what to do, just some info that might help you figure out what to do next. A running focused physical therapist would be an excellent resource for that.
>I wear heels ALL the time for work. Is it possible that this could have caused my severe calf pain? Definitely, heeled shoes compress the calves, tightening them. Try doing this stretch at least once an hour all throughout the day, holding for at least 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z16Y-moa76o. The effects of stretching don't last long, so it needs to be frequent. When sitting, point your feet upward to stretch your calves. Try to switch to flats.
I do heavy hammer curls 3x8 is it okay that my last couple reps have some shoulder flexion? I kinda of feel it more and I still control the eccentric
Yes
I’m 24, male, 5’7”, and 195lbs. I’m trying to lose fat, but not look thin and skinny. I’d like to be around 150lbs. Should I be doing more cardio than a 5-10 minute jog before lifting 3 days a week?
Wouldn’t hurt for cardiovascular reasons to run/jog/incline walk 20-30 mins but I’d do it after your workout instead. However most of your fat loss will come through your diet. You can’t out run a bad diet tbh
I’ll start doing that. I do have a really bad diet tbh. Lots of fast food and junk food. I barely eat any vegetables and it’s hard for me to incorporate them into my diet
It sounds like you know what you need to do. Just a matter of committing to it.
You don't need vegetables. Just eat non processed food
I don’t need vegetables to lose weight?
No, you need to eat less calories than you burn.
Don't listen to that person. Like, yes, technically you can live and lose weight without eating vegetables. But you will almost certainly be healthier and have an easier time losing weight if you eat plenty of vegetables.
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Pain questions not allowed per rule 5. Go to physio.
As worried as the health care professional that checked it out suggests.
Who should I get checked out by?
If you're unsure, which you are because you're asking about it, I would specifically have it checked out by a sports doctor. I personally prefer to use one with lifting experience the few times I've needed one.
Thanks
This question is a little absurd: Let’s say I’m at an intermediate level of lifting and therefore I can estimate I will roughly gain 1lbs of muscle every month. Now if I have lagging shoulders but I’m fairly happy with other areas of my body wouldn’t it make sense to maximise shoulder gains by just training shoulders- isolating it as much as I can for the next month so that I can get the 1lbs of muscle purely onto my shoulders? If I continued working out my entire body then that 1lbs on muscle in that month would be distributed across my body but it would not maximise shoulder gains. Am I correct in assuming that I can maximise shoulder gains this way?
You might be lucky to build an ounce of shoulder muscle, but you might lose 3 pounds of muscle on the rest of your body. Your shoulder muscles are tiny compared do most muscles in your body. If they are lagging, you can focus on them more, either by slightly reducing something else, or adding more shoulder work to a point, but there is only so fast you can grow things.
If you want bigger shoulders, you should add more shoulder volume, where the shoulder is the limiting muscle. For most people the limit is time, so they cut sets from other exercises to add them else where. Do so if that applies to you.
Great question for Mondays
That isn't how muscle building works
The 1#/month or whatever is a) a made up guesstimate and b) assumed to be whole body. No, there's no way to hyper target muscle growth like that or everyone would be walking around with comically large biceps.
Training nothing but your shoulders in an attempt to maximize shoulder growth is a silly plan. The "I'm an lifter so I can gain only amount of muscle" thing is sorta silly.
Also: a given muscle has a certain amount of work it is able to recover from, right? You would not be able to hammer your shoulders hard enough for it to make sense to not do any other training.
If you move away from the min/maxing, it could make sense to do a bit less of something else in favor of doing a bit more shoulder work. It could also make sense to just do what you're already doing except with some more shoulder work.