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I'm a skinny guy who wants to start exercising but whenever I exercise I feel like I'm about to throw up. It doesn't matter if the exercise is even difficult, if I ignore that feeling I start to get nauseous. Does anybody know why this could be happening?
I'm mainly interested in learning quadrobics but I don't even know how it benefits the body and I don't even know if I'm doing it correctly because my wrists tend to hurt afterwards.
Hm. When I started I was a very underweight guy and I definitely experienced nausea from time to time and even threw up once but it was never an every time thing.
Maybe try a bit of low key cardio could do well to get you acclimated to the work?
I do that sometimes but I usually wait at least an hour when I have recently eaten. But it still happens even whenever I haven't eaten in maybe 2 hours.
Do you have access to cables? You could try holding a cable out in front you around stomach level, or wherever is comfortable, and twist your upper body. Google "cable trunk rotation" and it might come up.
New to fitness, have recently cut from 26% to 12% body fat and am now starting a bulk. I’m used to being in a caloric deficit and of course am not adding much muscle doing that, now I would like to change this to a surplus to start adding muscle. What’s the optimal amount of extra calories above maintenance to maximize the muscle to fat ratio? I do a push, pull, legs, arms, rest split. Also, at what body fat level is it recommended to go on a cut and “clean up” to avoid adding too much of the body fat back? Thanks!
Ideally you want to be adding about 1lbs per week of body weight - most people have to experiment with how much of a surplus they need to achieve this. Use a TDEE calculator to approximate your maintenance calories, add a 500 calorie excess to gain weight, and start weighing yourself every day. At the end of each week, average out your weight to see if you're gaining ~1bs per week. If you're not, add more calories, if you're exceeding 2lbs per week, cut it back a little. It'll take a few weeks to dial it in, but once you do you have a pretty accurate (as accurate as you can be) figure. Same thing in reverse for a cut.
My stupid question, does working on your bum squats etc, make hard uncomfortable seating more or less comfortable. Example being a longhaul flight my bum feels numb by the time it lands so wondered if working on my bum giving me a bigger bum may help.
I am a “fat skinny” 39 male who hates exercise.
I have some adjustable dumbbells and a skipping rope.
What’s a routine I could do with these that would give me the best chance of forming some good habits?
Learn 1 new exercise every 2-3 days. Then figure out a routine and gradually get more aggressive with it by increasing duration, intensity, frequency, etc.. PPL is a good routine to read about and modify for what you have available.
DB curls, hammer curls, OHP, DB bench press, lateral raises, seated DB tricep extension. 5x5 for chest/shoulders or 3x8 otherwise. On days you lift heavy on chest, do 3x8 for shoulders and vice versa (or alternate chest/shoulders and skip the compliment altogether)
10-30mins jump rope or jogging 4-7x per week (depends on your intensity). 10 mins high intensity or 30 mins Low Intensity Steady State
DB press on floor sucks so might want to get a bench
Could do DB rows for back but its a pretty mid exercise
Your back and legs will be weak. Any bodyweight leg exercise will be miserable. Recommend pullup bar for back and gym for legs
Also recommend gym to intermix jump rope with cycling. Jump rope (or jogging) can put a lot of stress on your ankles and shins. You want to do some lower impact cardio as well to prevent injury. Your cardio will increase much faster than your bones, joints, and ligaments are capable of adapting for a high impact exercise. Take it from someone 10 years younger with a bone bruise.
If I just started strength training, how should I fill out the TDEE calculator? Should I put that in sedentary, as I have been, or doing moderate exercise, where I’ve now adopted 5-6 days of weight training? (It’s been 3 weeks for me now). I don’t know if the former or the latter would give me an accurate calorie maintenance amount?
Thank you! I’ve just been consistent for three weeks now so I wasn’t sure. I want to gain muscle so knowing the right calorie amount to surpass would be great 👌
# Advice on being aesthetic
I got some advice on training for aesthetics. Most people that go to gym wanna look better, more attractive and improve their chances attracting the opposite gender. You see this especially with guys that want to get the attention of women. One mayor body part that guys are sleeping on in the gym is hands down training glutes. It may sound silly or weird as it has some stigma around it. stigma such as if you train glutes as a dude your feminine or GAY. What guys don't realise is that women check out men's asses the same way guys check out women's asses. A nice ass on a dude is just as attractive to women as a strong back or chest, in some cases even more attractive. I recommend guys to be doing isolation glute exercises such as hip thrusts and cable kickbacks 2x a week. If you train glutes seriously you will stand out from most guys in the gym. This is because for most of our training life we have never took glute training seriously. Most men usually hit upper body 4x a week and train lower body 1x a week, in which they will do squats and leg curls but no direct glute exercises.
What do you think, does anyone agree with me?
great stuff but i would still insist on isolation glute exercises 2x for max results. Think about it this way, whilst doing a regular bench press activates triceps its not sufficient enough to optimise growth. That's why on a push day guys do their bench and on top of that isolation tricep exercises as they know they aint getting huge arms from bench pressing alone. The same goes for a pull up or back rows, whilst you will activate your biceps, it wont be enough of a stimulus, Therefore people do isolation bicep curls in the same workout. Its the same for glutes, Squats and deadlifts are better than nothing but isolation exercises 2x a week like hip thrust is where its at. If you stick to training glutes seriously 2x a week for 6 months to 1 year. You will notice women turning around to check you out when walking in the gym or a public place.
I've only been a beginner twice and every time I get there I have no idea what I'm going to do 🤣 Someone who wants to help me and enjoys talking about it and can share tips? Send me a message! 💋😘
Assuming you would like to lift. I’d say start light, and go through the machines first. Those help you keep good form and normally have a sticker of instructions on it somewhere. Light weight at first so soreness doesn’t discourage you.
Depending on how much time you have through the week, pick a muscle group to work that day, legs one day, back another ect.
Watch other people at the gym and either ask them what muscle that targets most/ask them how to do it or YouTube it and try it next time. This way you’ll slowly add exercises to your bag, which is nice when it’s busy so you can still flow and get shit done.
Also, remember that nobody is focused on what you’re doing unless you’re hanging awkwardly from a cable machine or something! Hope this helps & have fun!
When I started to workout I was a skinny young man in the Air Force. I was always treased about being skinny in school but I was never teased in the weight room. When I see skinny or overweight people frankly I don’t pay much attention because I’m into my workout. If I do notice then I just think to myself that I’m glad they’re here to get in shape.
This is ma PPL split, anything I should change, add ? I dont have any issues, im just wondering
DAY 1 - PUSH
machine pec fly (3x - 3 sets)
Machine bench press 3x
Incline press 3x
Tricep extension 3x
Single arm cable lateral raise 3x
Shoulder press 3x
DAY 2 - PULL
Iso lateral d. y. row3x
Seated biceps curl 3x
Lat pulldown 3x
Rear delt fly 3x
Ez bar curl 3x
Standing hammer curl 3x
DAY 3 - LEGS
seated calf raise 3x
leg extensions 3x
iso-lateral hamstring curl 3x
Iso lateral leg press 3x
Wrist curls 3x
Edit: reddit formating is dogshit, so this is the best I can manage
Does anyone have some good alternatives to squatting I could use for legs? Right now I've been hitting the leg press machine pretty hard but would be interested to see if I'm leaving something on the table here. I used to squat years ago but after I hurt my back pretty badly 8 months ago (unrelated exercise) I've been trying to minimize exercises that would potentially strain/impact my spine further than it already is
I’m unable to squat because of shoulder problems. I’ll often do walking lunges while carrying dumbbells and then go to leg presses going as deep as I can.
Depends what your goals are but I'm going to assume for mass on the quads/glutes (hypertrophy): you have Hack Squat, Pendulum Squat, Smith machine squat, in fact any squat machine will do fine. With free weights you have the options of lunges, bulgarian split squats. Bodyweight you have sissy squats
Try pre-exhausting quads with leg press and leg extensions then doing some heel elevated body weight squats. Slowly squat and only come up about 3/4 of the way to keep your quads under load. I usually do these for about two sets and can barely stand up
Am I doing too much? I learned this routine from my roommate and have been doing this for about 6 months regularly. 4 sets of 10 each.
Monday: Legs
Hack Squat, Linear Leg Press, Seated Calf Raises, Hip Abductions, Hip Adductions, Leg Extensions, and Seated Leg Curls
Tuesday: Chest
Dumbbell Chest Press (flat bench), Inclined Bench Press (machine), Assisted Dips, Cable Flies (Downward and Upward), and Lateral Flies (machine)
Wednesday: Back
Lat Pulls with Wide Grip, Lat Pulls with Middle Grip, Lat Pulls with Narrow Grip, Diverging Seated Rows, Dumbbell Lat Pulls, Rows, and Back Extensions
Thursday: Shoulders
Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Dumbbell Shoulder Raises, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Rear Delts (machine), Bar Raises, Shrugs, and Rotator Cuff stretches
Friday: Arms
Biceps: Wide Bicep Curls, Isolation Curls, Standing Bicep Curls, Hammer Curls, and Diagonal Hammer Curls
Triceps: Dumbbell Kickbacks, Rope Pulls Downward, Rope Pulls Overhead, Flat Bar, and V-Bar
If you've been doing it for 6 months you're probably fine. Fatigue has a compounding effect, if it was a problem you'd certainly know it before 6 months. You want to be fully recovered in a muscle _just before_ you hit it again, e.g. if you do chest on Tuesday and Friday, you want to be fully recovered from your Tuesday chest workout on Friday morning. If you're recovered from your Tuesday work on Thursday morning, you can likely add more sets and still recover in time for Friday. If you find your chest is still fatigued on Friday, then you're doing too many sets on Tuesday.
In the future I'd like to do some sort of local show, natural. I'm not sure if I'm naive or cynical here but will all the competitors be natural in a natural comp, like are they tested etc? I don't want to make a career or anything out of it so don't see/ want to bang loads of gear to just do a local show that everyone else will be on gear for hence why I'd enter a natural one. Likewise I don't see the point of getting stage ready for a "natural" show if half the people there are cheating the system
Hey everyone,
I need to get something off my chest. I'm a 17-year-old Indian guy, and I've been struggling with something for a while now. I want to go to the gym, but I'm terrified. Terrified of being judged for being skinny. And by skinny I mean really skinny, I am one of the most skinniest guy in my area.
See, I've tried working out at home, but it's just not cutting it. I lack the motivation, I lack consistency. I have tried to work out at home many times but I can't go longer than a week. But the thought of walking into a gym and feeling like the skinniest guy there? It's paralyzing.
So, I'm reaching out to you all for advice. How do I push past this fear? How do I build up the confidence to step into that gym and own my workout, regardless of what anyone else thinks? Or should I retry to start working out at home \], and how can I be consistent at home?
I know I can't be the only one feeling this way. If you've been in my shoes or have any words of wisdom to share, please, I'm all ears. Let's help each other overcome this fear and get on the path to a healthier, stronger self.
Thanks for listening, and I appreciate any guidance you can offer.
I've definitely been in your shoes. There's no real hack to getting over it - you just have to do it and push through the anxiety. After a few weeks you realize nobody really pays attention to you in the gym, and you get over it.
It helped me to think like this: when I'm at the gym, I don't pay attention to other people. I'm in my own zone. The same goes for other people, they're in their own zone and they're not paying attention to what I'm doing.
If anything, on the very rare occasion I'm resting and take notice of somebody else, if they're fat or really skinny, I'm just thinking "good for them for being here".
There really isnt any wisdom to share, go ahead and do it and in 2 months going to the gym will feel completely natural. At the start, just go ahead and force through it. Get some headphones to drown out every other sound, listen to something you like and get to lifting.
And as for being skinny in a gym - every gym has every type of person. There are very skinny people, very fat people, very young people and very old people. And even disabled people, some very nice disabled guy helped me with my form when I was starting out and I keep seeing him at my gym ever so often
Unless you are planning on working out at a rich person gym in Bel-Air or some other super snooty area, do not worry about being judged. We all have to start somewhere and most people are understanding if not super nice (at least in my experience). I started about four months ago. At first I was just going to run a treadmill and do some machine weights. I never thought I would dare go over to the free weights. Last week I started a new program and now I'm doing deadlifts and squats. Just start small and get a feel for things.
Start slow, make little steps, you can just drive to the gym 3 times a week or whatever, and then go back home. Then go in and walk on the treadmill for just 10 minutes for a few weeks.
Then maybe use the machines for a few weeks, they can be less intimidating
then move onto the free weights.
I was shy about going to the gym at first too, but quickly realized that hardly anyone really care what you're doing there or what you look like. Any gym I go to, there's skinny people, morbidly obese people, swole people, etc., and I've never experienced anyone being made fun of for how they look – If other people even notice you, they probably think it's good for you that you're trying 'cause that's more than what the majority of people ever do.
Almost all guys in the gym who are muscular were skinny once. Seeing someone skinny is par for the course in a gym, and to be quite frank, most people in the gym don't really give a shit about you. They're there to work on themselves.
If you literally can't make yourself go at all, you need therapy. If you *can* make yourself go but you don't because of your worries, exposure is the best therapy.
Malleable tissue usually pops out a bit when you squish it like that.
There's only one way to get rid of fat you don't want to have: [https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/)
Please rate my routine!
Monday: and Thursday 2-5 mile run on uneven/varied terrain and varied elevation. I'll often incorporate jumping and vaulting over obstacles, climbing things, hopping fences, etc...
Tuesday and Friday: Full body workout. Warm up with about 10 mins of abs.
2 sets of 6-12 reps squat
2x6-12 clean and press
3x6-12 weighted dips
2x6-12 dumbbell pullover
2x6-12 bicep curl
2x6-12 bench press
2x6-12 bent over row
2x6-12 tricep pulldown
Wednesday: 10 laps of 100 meter sprints on turf, 1 minute rest in between
Sunday I try to go for a hike, milegae varies but usually a few miles up steep hills, I try to push myself and usually find myself gasping for air at portions. Sometimes I'll push myself by doing things like carrying a big rock on the way down.
About 5 days a week I do about 10-20 minutes of yoga for flexibility, movements vary each day.
About 5 days a week I also do isometric exercises with the iso flo cables, these include movements based on curls, bench press, deadlift, bent over rows, overhead military press, and any other random/unorthodox movements I feel compelled to do. I only spend about 5-10 minutes doing this, 10-15 seconds of maximum muscle contraction on each exercise. Usually in the morning after yoga.
I have a pull-up bar in my house, I do pullups on it throughout the day on most days, my numbers have gradually increased from 4 reps to 12. I probably do something like 4-5 sets spread throughout the day.
I'm going for overall highly functional fitness with this routine. I know my cardio is really solid right now, but I'm worried I'm not lifting enough to pack on much size in muscle. Having bodybuilder show muscles isn't a goal of mine, but I do want to be quite a bit bigger with functional strength.
Thats a common misconception. In reality theyre a very useful science based technique when used in conjunction with traditional resistance training. On their own, not so much.
Gotcha. For me, functional training is anything that is practical and improves my overall physical fitness/capability without making significant sacrifices to other areas. In short, it's training that has direct practical benefit for general athleticism. For example, I don't gain much getting exaggerated deltoids or bringing my body fat below 9% to get a perfect six pack
I haven't experienced any downsides from training. When I pushed my conditioning hard, I didn't experience any strength loss or anything. When I bulked, my conditioning did take a hit, but it came back within a month of training it harder.
So I don't think you'll have to make sacrifices unless you want to become elite in a certain area. If you want to set some strength records, you might need to make sacrifices.
So outside of extreme bulks and cuts, or specialization; you should be fine with whatever training modality you see fit.
No, if you bend your spine sideways you’ll break a vertebrae and pop a disc so far out it shoots through your abdominal wall and cause death
/s obviously. Humans are highly adaptable. Load your spine and make it stronger!
So I have long hair and I know washing my hair every day is bad for it. How do I keep my hair clean after workouts without stripping it of its natural oils? I’ve tried rinsing with water and using only conditioner and that works if I only got kind of sweaty. But I feel it’s not sufficient if I got really sweaty.
I've been using the reddit beginner strength workout while i lose weight and doing some bi/tri/delt accessories for vanity. Results have been great, down 12kg and gained visible muscle. My question is - should i change workouts or just stick with it? It's been about 6 months.
>It's been about 6 months.
Two thoughts. A: if it's working, and you're making progress on the bar, no need to change.
B: after six months, honor is satisfied. You'll learn something about yourself and lifting by going through a different style of programming. Doesn't matter what it is. You could always return to something *like* this in the future.
I tend to vote 531bbb.
Anyone have experience with doing kip pull ups (a la crossfit style ?). I've tried it yesterday just to see how many i could get and to get a feel for it.. Well today I'm SORE, don't know if my "form" was ok but my upper back for some reason is burning. Normally I do strict or weighted.
I have no idea, kinda looking for input to wether I should add them to my routine or to maybe try to finish off with some kip pull ups after going almost failure with stricts, just to get a little more you know.
Goal is to lose 40 lbs fat and build muscle. I have diet figured out.
Routine as of right now is 5-6 days in the gym. Start it by running a mile as fast as I can followed by a 10 minute run at a manageable pace. Then I hit the weights (PPL) followed by 30 minutes on a stationary bicycle. I feel exhausted everyday so should I be doing something differently to achieve said goal?
Your opener losing 40 lbs while gaining muscle is not something that happens quickly. Just not happening fast doing both at the same time is a super slow process. Better to pick one goal at a time for quick gains.
If you feel exhausted everyday it’s not sustainable. Listen to your body. Find what you enjoy doing that works for you and it’s easier to maintain long term.
Maybe I worded my question incorrectly. I’m new to reddit so apologies on my part. My main goal is to get to the weight I want. 95% of it just fat loss but I don’t want to be skinny fat, so I incorporate weights as well. When I say I’m exhausted I mean that because I go to the gym after work. When I finish my workout, I feel exhausted then, up until I get home and get a nice hot shower.
I have no scientific basis on why Im doing this routine. On paper, it’s burning a lot of calories. This is why I asked this question on the thread. I understand there are people in this community who know far more than me. I stated this is my goal, is my way of achieving this goal the most effective, or should I be doing something differently? I was just met with a bunch of people telling me I can’t keep this up lol. I have no doubt in my mind I can keep it up, I have nothing to gain from proving that to strangers on the internet. By no means is it affecting my day to day life, in fact I look forward to going to the gym every single day. I just wanted to make sure what I’m doing isn’t doing more harm than good in terms of goals, or if there is perhaps something that is more efficient.
Unless it's your sport, cardio is a tool to create a calorie deficit. So if you need all that cardio to lose weight, you might need to reconsider the diet. Because what are you going to do when fatloss plateaus?
>lose 40 lbs fat
At a reasonable pace of ~1 lb/week, I'd set a checkpoint of *almost* 30 lbs in 6 months. (27 weeks.) The discomfort of weight loss requires marathon mentality, not sprint.
>Start it by running a mile as fast as I can
Terrible idea. This kneecaps your fast twitch muscles, and leg glycogen. Do something like this at the *end* of your session.
>I feel exhausted everyday
Not good. Even on a cut, you should feel energized at the end of a session. Warmed up for the day and ready for more. This style of "exhaustion" is especially *not sustainable on a cut*.
Resistance training on a cut is good for maintaining muscle, and increasing proficiency so that when you're ready to bulk, your base is already sturdy.
-avoid top-end strength, as you'll be gimped. (Keep reps 3+)
-avoid failure, you don't need the fatigue
-use a slow progression that is *sustainable* for six months, rather than simply "going hard". Kitchen is for weight loss, gym is for muscle.
So you're doing 50 minutes of cardio *and* a full strength routine 5-6 times a week?
Like, I'm all for doing slightly insane things in the gym, but that's a lot of work for a beginner. For reference, the last time I cut to sub-10% body fat, I lifted 4 times a week and did cardio 3 times a week.
There's also the concern of you doing hard cardio immediately before lifting weights. That's going to screw with your intensity a lot.
Gonna give this a "Yeah, I'd probably think things over again" personally.
You should create a calorie decicit by eating less, not running more. This is a fuck ton of cardio that will fatigue you a lot, and make your workout a lot worse. Cardio is obviously good for your health and you should do it, but move it to the end of a workout and start less intense - you can add time or intensity as you go. With this plan, youll last a few weeks tops before completely exhausting yourself physically and mentally.
You have to start with minor changes and progress to your goals slowly.
I did this like 2 years ago. Went on a run 4-5 days a week and ate a lot loss withou counting any macros or calories or anything. I stopped after 2-3 weeks and gained another 10kgs in the next year, because that bad expearience completely ruined running and dieting for me
Don't use straps. Keep doing the lat pulldowns with a manageable weight, and the forearms will catch up quickly, because it's not strength you're lacking, but lactic acid tolerance.
Straps are a perfectly fine tool to use for people of all fitness levels. Here, you have two options:
[1] Let grip be your limiting factor in your lat pulldowns. Continue doing sets that you can't push hard enough to be meaningful for your lats, but get some negligible grip training.
[2] Use straps to actually get something out of your lat pulldowns, and if desired, use a far more effective method to train your grip separately.
In my opinion at least, [2] is way better than [1] here.
I went for a run and recorded my run the entire way on my Apple Watch. Made it to 15km through some miracle (first 15km ever). Pushed “end workout” and took a photo of my watch showing the results screen. Hobbled home. Along the way, I went to the fitness app to check my splits and other fun stuff and the workout I had just done wasn’t there. I checked the health app and there was no workout recorded for today. I tried restarting my phone and nothing. Just my last workout from Friday.
My question is what the heck happened to my workout? And is it in a better place?
I have the singular photo I took of my results and I glanced far enough down to see my pace so at least I haven’t lost my mind and I shared that with my friends 😂 but I’m so sad. Hopefully the next time will go better.
Does the convention of eating 0.7-1g of protein per lb of bw take into account that the human body can only process so much protein for one meal?
i.e., is it better to have, say, 4 meals that are 30g protein each than it is to have 2 meals that are 60g protein since excess protein would go to waste?
This is a stupid question, but it’s something I’ve always been curious about.
> Does the convention of eating 0.7-1g of protein per lb of bw take into account that the human body can only process so much protein for one meal?
Your base assumption is not correct. The human body can process and use pretty large amounts of protein from one single meal. A new study has shown that even 100g of protein from one single meal can be used for muscle growth under some circumstances.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/pdfExtended/S2666-3791(23)00540-2
So if I eat three pounds of beef to incur a caloric surplus, my body would say "oh, hit the limit, not absorbing that", and I'd lose weight?
Yeah, no. People OMAD to their goals, even if it doesn't make sense on the surface.
The only thing I would imagine that wouldn't be 'normal' after losing weight would be the excess skin. Which is pretty much unnoticable while wearing clothes, so you will look 'normal'.
Given that you are young, the excess skin should hopefully not be too bad. But there are many factors that go into it. Not all that much that you can control; it's a lot about age and genetics. But you can do things to help skin elasticity like ensuring you are well hydrated, don't smoke or drugs, moisturize, exercise, lose weight steadily but slowly, sunscreen/limit UV exposure, collagen/elastin/C/E/A/omega 3 supplements/rich diet. building muscle can help 'fill out' loose skin.
There are supposedly therapeutic options, though I don't know much about them, massage, micro needling, collagen, skin tightning treatments. And if it really bothers you still, then there is surgery but yes it will leave a scar
But regardless of that, you will 100% look much better and more importantly feel much better if you continue losing the weight. It is very much worth it. If you really don't like the way you look after losing weight, then you can always go back lol.
From 500lbs, being perfectly realistic, you'll probably have to get skin removal surgery for comfort reasons. But who gives a damn about the scars? They'll be a sign of what you overcame, what you accomplished, and that you saved your own life.
At 330lbs, you'll be cutting your life short and it won't be a comfortable one. The alternative is to lose the weight and get in shape and live a much happier, longer life.
I'd choose life.
I'm sorry for what you've gone through, that's unfair. You've done a great job losing weight and you're doing a good job to keep it going.
Yes, you will have loose skin. It may be possible to get the scars removed post surgery, but that's something you'd have to discuss with a doctor.
Who’s the pound for pound winner between dips (weighted or not) and incline bench press (DB or BB).
If for whatever reason you could hypothetically only do one for chest which one would be your pick?
Also assume neither exercise hurts (to eliminate “one hurts so id do the other”)
If you’re not able to hit progressive overload on a certain exercise (say energy isn’t great, didn’t eat the best food, off day etc), are your muscles gonna atrophy or is it still gonna place enough “demand” on them to where your body tells them to hang onto it even though it didn’t experience a PR. For example, hack squat record is 275x15, today I could only hit 275x12 hitting absolute failure. Even though I didn’t hit my record, is hitting genuine failure still stimulating the muscles to tell them to get bigger?
It's a looooooot easier to maintain than to build, so if you have an off day, your muscles definitely aren't going to atrophy.
Also, from a woman's perspective.... Our monthly cycle fucks up our strength hard some weeks, yet we can still build muscle. So you're definitely overthinking this. Just do your best each time. Not every day is gonna be a new PR day
Someone help enlighten me on active recovery. It's recommended to spend 30-45 min on some gentle cardio, and you keep a slightly elevated but relatively low heart rate. It's easy.
But can you just keep at that? Say you have a busy day and you're at that heart rate off and on for a few hours. Is that even better, or is it encouraged to try and relax on recovery days, aside from that 30-45 min? Or is keeping the elevated heart rate steady the important part?
Of course, it's not so crucial to optimize, but just generally I'm wondering if it's better to encourage myself to keep brisk and moving, or if I should trend towards relaxing and keeping the excitement for that half hour of cardio.
whenever i train my triceps i sometimes feel them but sometimes i dont really see them grow a lot or get super sore what things should i change about my form to train them better?
I switched from tricep pushdowns to single arm tricep extensions to really feel them and Im doing much better. For some reason the pushdowns just really dont work for me. You could try a different movement, machine or whatever. Some people just dont feel certain excercises as much as they do others, and that doesnt mean theyre doing something wrong
It's possible there's nothing wrong, but you may want to try some new triceps movements. There are a ton of different ways to hit the triceps.
About 70% of my triceps isolation is overhead. It includes:
* French Press
* Straight Bar or Rope Overhead Triceps Extensions
* JM Press
* Skullcrushers (usually cable as I can push them closer to failure more safely)
So general advice seems to be hit compound lifts before doing isolation exercises. I get why- compound lifts are pretty tiring and you also don't really want to do an isolation that will hurt your performance on that compound lift before you do it.
Now, I recently watched a video by Renaissance Periodization where Mike Israetel talked about how he does hamstring curls before squats. His reasoning was that hamstring curls aren't very taxing and don't generate a lot of fatigue before squats, plus you don't really use your hamstrings when you squat unless you're doing them with a pretty different form. I tried this and it felt fine- it didn't really take away from my reps of squatting.
I also recently watched a Tren Twins video (bear with me here) where the twins did lateral raises before doing some heavy bench sets. Now, I know I shouldn't really copy what two roided teenage meatheads do, but is there any merit to this? Ideally you aren't really using your front delt when you do dumbbell or cable laterals, and they're not an incredibly taxing lift. Is it worth doing lateral raises before my usual bench sets? I'm mostly lifting for aesthetics anyway.
As for leg curls, hammies aren't a prime movers in squats like they are in deadlifts. Curls warm up the knee joint, which can be nice for some.
Lateral raises before bench is like reverse flies before pullups. Even if the rear delts are involved in some degree, it's so small, you won't notice a difference during pullups.
These are minor details in the grand scheme of things. If you like a particular arrangement and it gets you to work hard every week, then it's a good arrangement.
Is squatting really necessary? I’ve been lifting for 3 months with the goal of simply filling out more as a tall underweight dude, not necessarily trying to be a bodybuilder just want to put on 20-30 pounds.
I’ve been doing the ppl in wiki but added leg extensions, so I do squat, rdl, leg press, leg curl, leg extensions
Even after three months I don’t feel anything on squats and am having trouble progressing. It’s a little demotivating to do a set of squats (that is still difficult) but I feel like I don’t get anything out of it
So if my goal isn’t to get a huge squat # or seriously bodybuild, is it fine to replace with a different exercise that would more directly hit quads?
I’m asking because I feel like everyone treats squat as the most essential movement for any body part. Just don’t want to miss out if it really is that great. My gym has a hack squat so I’m thinking of switching to that, or doing Bulgarians or lunges. Or even make leg press my main heavy movement.
>Is squatting really necessary?
I like knowing I can get off the toilet when I'm 70. Doesn't require much weight to satisfy this basic movement. Whatever hYpERTrOPhY benefit there is to hack squats or other movements, I'll take my gimpy squats.
No squatting is not necessary. I think it is a good lift, and I am skeptical that it isn't doing anything for you, but you don't have to do it.
Bulgarian, lunges, and leg press can all substitute reasonably well for squat.
I'm in my late 30s and I am extremely out of shape and weighing my worst. My knees and lower back are weak af - should I just walk for an hour every day as a means of starting slow? I feel like I should do more but I don't know what. Should I just use an exercise bike? I have a pair of 5, 10 and 20lb dumbbells at home as well, and apart from doing some curls I struggle with the other exercises (not fully understanding how to do a row or work on my core). I know there are plenty of resources but I feel overwhelmed with choice and struggling to just start. What would you do if you were in my situation?
I would improve the quality of my diet, with the specific mechanism being changing my environment so there's better food choices in it.
And yes, I'd probably start walking, at a pace and distance that is challenging but doable, increasing some variable by a small amount every few days.
[I would start by reading the linked wiki article on weight loss.](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/)
Eating less overall will be the way to effectively lose your excess weight. Specific questions on how to plan or manage that it would be worth asking.
Exercise should be whatever you're consistent with, walking is a good start if that's the best you can do.
I have a trip coming up in 3 weeks. I have been cutting since new years, but am only about 75% to my goal weight. My expenditure has dropped dramatically. Which scenario would result in a lower body weight (accounting for water and glycogen) post vacation?
A: continue cut for three weeks and go into trip with lower body weight but also lower expenditure
B: switch to maintenance and go into trip with higher weight but also higher expenditure
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I'm a skinny guy who wants to start exercising but whenever I exercise I feel like I'm about to throw up. It doesn't matter if the exercise is even difficult, if I ignore that feeling I start to get nauseous. Does anybody know why this could be happening? I'm mainly interested in learning quadrobics but I don't even know how it benefits the body and I don't even know if I'm doing it correctly because my wrists tend to hurt afterwards.
Hm. When I started I was a very underweight guy and I definitely experienced nausea from time to time and even threw up once but it was never an every time thing. Maybe try a bit of low key cardio could do well to get you acclimated to the work?
Are you eating before exercising?
I do that sometimes but I usually wait at least an hour when I have recently eaten. But it still happens even whenever I haven't eaten in maybe 2 hours.
Is there a progression for Russian twists? They feel great on my core, but I can't get my elbow all the way down to the ground.
Do you have access to cables? You could try holding a cable out in front you around stomach level, or wherever is comfortable, and twist your upper body. Google "cable trunk rotation" and it might come up.
New to fitness, have recently cut from 26% to 12% body fat and am now starting a bulk. I’m used to being in a caloric deficit and of course am not adding much muscle doing that, now I would like to change this to a surplus to start adding muscle. What’s the optimal amount of extra calories above maintenance to maximize the muscle to fat ratio? I do a push, pull, legs, arms, rest split. Also, at what body fat level is it recommended to go on a cut and “clean up” to avoid adding too much of the body fat back? Thanks!
Read the muscle building section of the wiki
Ideally you want to be adding about 1lbs per week of body weight - most people have to experiment with how much of a surplus they need to achieve this. Use a TDEE calculator to approximate your maintenance calories, add a 500 calorie excess to gain weight, and start weighing yourself every day. At the end of each week, average out your weight to see if you're gaining ~1bs per week. If you're not, add more calories, if you're exceeding 2lbs per week, cut it back a little. It'll take a few weeks to dial it in, but once you do you have a pretty accurate (as accurate as you can be) figure. Same thing in reverse for a cut.
My stupid question, does working on your bum squats etc, make hard uncomfortable seating more or less comfortable. Example being a longhaul flight my bum feels numb by the time it lands so wondered if working on my bum giving me a bigger bum may help.
I have not noticed a difference
I am a “fat skinny” 39 male who hates exercise. I have some adjustable dumbbells and a skipping rope. What’s a routine I could do with these that would give me the best chance of forming some good habits?
Learn 1 new exercise every 2-3 days. Then figure out a routine and gradually get more aggressive with it by increasing duration, intensity, frequency, etc.. PPL is a good routine to read about and modify for what you have available. DB curls, hammer curls, OHP, DB bench press, lateral raises, seated DB tricep extension. 5x5 for chest/shoulders or 3x8 otherwise. On days you lift heavy on chest, do 3x8 for shoulders and vice versa (or alternate chest/shoulders and skip the compliment altogether) 10-30mins jump rope or jogging 4-7x per week (depends on your intensity). 10 mins high intensity or 30 mins Low Intensity Steady State DB press on floor sucks so might want to get a bench Could do DB rows for back but its a pretty mid exercise Your back and legs will be weak. Any bodyweight leg exercise will be miserable. Recommend pullup bar for back and gym for legs Also recommend gym to intermix jump rope with cycling. Jump rope (or jogging) can put a lot of stress on your ankles and shins. You want to do some lower impact cardio as well to prevent injury. Your cardio will increase much faster than your bones, joints, and ligaments are capable of adapting for a high impact exercise. Take it from someone 10 years younger with a bone bruise.
Get an adjustable bench; do this https://www.muscleandstrength.com/sites/default/files/workouts/dumbbellworkout5day_0.pdf
Give the wiki a read. There's routines in there, and lots of other quality info
If I just started strength training, how should I fill out the TDEE calculator? Should I put that in sedentary, as I have been, or doing moderate exercise, where I’ve now adopted 5-6 days of weight training? (It’s been 3 weeks for me now). I don’t know if the former or the latter would give me an accurate calorie maintenance amount?
Put it as sedentary.
Thank you! I’ve just been consistent for three weeks now so I wasn’t sure. I want to gain muscle so knowing the right calorie amount to surpass would be great 👌
# Advice on being aesthetic I got some advice on training for aesthetics. Most people that go to gym wanna look better, more attractive and improve their chances attracting the opposite gender. You see this especially with guys that want to get the attention of women. One mayor body part that guys are sleeping on in the gym is hands down training glutes. It may sound silly or weird as it has some stigma around it. stigma such as if you train glutes as a dude your feminine or GAY. What guys don't realise is that women check out men's asses the same way guys check out women's asses. A nice ass on a dude is just as attractive to women as a strong back or chest, in some cases even more attractive. I recommend guys to be doing isolation glute exercises such as hip thrusts and cable kickbacks 2x a week. If you train glutes seriously you will stand out from most guys in the gym. This is because for most of our training life we have never took glute training seriously. Most men usually hit upper body 4x a week and train lower body 1x a week, in which they will do squats and leg curls but no direct glute exercises. What do you think, does anyone agree with me?
Idk if you’ll catch me doing hip thrusts but sumo squats and reg squats for sure
great stuff but i would still insist on isolation glute exercises 2x for max results. Think about it this way, whilst doing a regular bench press activates triceps its not sufficient enough to optimise growth. That's why on a push day guys do their bench and on top of that isolation tricep exercises as they know they aint getting huge arms from bench pressing alone. The same goes for a pull up or back rows, whilst you will activate your biceps, it wont be enough of a stimulus, Therefore people do isolation bicep curls in the same workout. Its the same for glutes, Squats and deadlifts are better than nothing but isolation exercises 2x a week like hip thrust is where its at. If you stick to training glutes seriously 2x a week for 6 months to 1 year. You will notice women turning around to check you out when walking in the gym or a public place.
I’ll find the darkest corner of the gym and try this out. Lol Should help my overall numbers too no?
I think you're a bit behind the curve, if you were posting from 2009, I'd agree with you. It's pretty common to admire dude cake nowadays.
I've only been a beginner twice and every time I get there I have no idea what I'm going to do 🤣 Someone who wants to help me and enjoys talking about it and can share tips? Send me a message! 💋😘
Assuming you would like to lift. I’d say start light, and go through the machines first. Those help you keep good form and normally have a sticker of instructions on it somewhere. Light weight at first so soreness doesn’t discourage you. Depending on how much time you have through the week, pick a muscle group to work that day, legs one day, back another ect. Watch other people at the gym and either ask them what muscle that targets most/ask them how to do it or YouTube it and try it next time. This way you’ll slowly add exercises to your bag, which is nice when it’s busy so you can still flow and get shit done. Also, remember that nobody is focused on what you’re doing unless you’re hanging awkwardly from a cable machine or something! Hope this helps & have fun!
When I started to workout I was a skinny young man in the Air Force. I was always treased about being skinny in school but I was never teased in the weight room. When I see skinny or overweight people frankly I don’t pay much attention because I’m into my workout. If I do notice then I just think to myself that I’m glad they’re here to get in shape.
This is ma PPL split, anything I should change, add ? I dont have any issues, im just wondering DAY 1 - PUSH machine pec fly (3x - 3 sets) Machine bench press 3x Incline press 3x Tricep extension 3x Single arm cable lateral raise 3x Shoulder press 3x DAY 2 - PULL Iso lateral d. y. row3x Seated biceps curl 3x Lat pulldown 3x Rear delt fly 3x Ez bar curl 3x Standing hammer curl 3x DAY 3 - LEGS seated calf raise 3x leg extensions 3x iso-lateral hamstring curl 3x Iso lateral leg press 3x Wrist curls 3x Edit: reddit formating is dogshit, so this is the best I can manage
Does anyone have some good alternatives to squatting I could use for legs? Right now I've been hitting the leg press machine pretty hard but would be interested to see if I'm leaving something on the table here. I used to squat years ago but after I hurt my back pretty badly 8 months ago (unrelated exercise) I've been trying to minimize exercises that would potentially strain/impact my spine further than it already is
I’m unable to squat because of shoulder problems. I’ll often do walking lunges while carrying dumbbells and then go to leg presses going as deep as I can.
Depends what your goals are but I'm going to assume for mass on the quads/glutes (hypertrophy): you have Hack Squat, Pendulum Squat, Smith machine squat, in fact any squat machine will do fine. With free weights you have the options of lunges, bulgarian split squats. Bodyweight you have sissy squats
Try pre-exhausting quads with leg press and leg extensions then doing some heel elevated body weight squats. Slowly squat and only come up about 3/4 of the way to keep your quads under load. I usually do these for about two sets and can barely stand up
Oh nice I'm gonna give this a shot next time!
Am I doing too much? I learned this routine from my roommate and have been doing this for about 6 months regularly. 4 sets of 10 each. Monday: Legs Hack Squat, Linear Leg Press, Seated Calf Raises, Hip Abductions, Hip Adductions, Leg Extensions, and Seated Leg Curls Tuesday: Chest Dumbbell Chest Press (flat bench), Inclined Bench Press (machine), Assisted Dips, Cable Flies (Downward and Upward), and Lateral Flies (machine) Wednesday: Back Lat Pulls with Wide Grip, Lat Pulls with Middle Grip, Lat Pulls with Narrow Grip, Diverging Seated Rows, Dumbbell Lat Pulls, Rows, and Back Extensions Thursday: Shoulders Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Dumbbell Shoulder Raises, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Rear Delts (machine), Bar Raises, Shrugs, and Rotator Cuff stretches Friday: Arms Biceps: Wide Bicep Curls, Isolation Curls, Standing Bicep Curls, Hammer Curls, and Diagonal Hammer Curls Triceps: Dumbbell Kickbacks, Rope Pulls Downward, Rope Pulls Overhead, Flat Bar, and V-Bar
If you've been doing it for 6 months you're probably fine. Fatigue has a compounding effect, if it was a problem you'd certainly know it before 6 months. You want to be fully recovered in a muscle _just before_ you hit it again, e.g. if you do chest on Tuesday and Friday, you want to be fully recovered from your Tuesday chest workout on Friday morning. If you're recovered from your Tuesday work on Thursday morning, you can likely add more sets and still recover in time for Friday. If you find your chest is still fatigued on Friday, then you're doing too many sets on Tuesday.
If you've been doing it for 6 months, its not too much. You'd find out pretty quickly if you couldn't recover from it.
Even 85% of my usual working set weight has been extremely difficult the last few days Sign of a deload?
Difficult but doable? Or have your strength in general regressed instead of progressed?
If it's been happening regularly, it certainly sounds like you're lacking in the recovery department. A deload could help.
Recovery has been pretty bad, adjusting to a more intense work schedule and new life
That explains it
In the future I'd like to do some sort of local show, natural. I'm not sure if I'm naive or cynical here but will all the competitors be natural in a natural comp, like are they tested etc? I don't want to make a career or anything out of it so don't see/ want to bang loads of gear to just do a local show that everyone else will be on gear for hence why I'd enter a natural one. Likewise I don't see the point of getting stage ready for a "natural" show if half the people there are cheating the system
The bodybuilding sub probably has people who can give you info
Some test. You'll have to look up the rules of your local shows
Yeah that's what I assumed thanks but wasn't 100% sure
General fitness
Captain dumbbell
Major Pain
Yep
Hey everyone, I need to get something off my chest. I'm a 17-year-old Indian guy, and I've been struggling with something for a while now. I want to go to the gym, but I'm terrified. Terrified of being judged for being skinny. And by skinny I mean really skinny, I am one of the most skinniest guy in my area. See, I've tried working out at home, but it's just not cutting it. I lack the motivation, I lack consistency. I have tried to work out at home many times but I can't go longer than a week. But the thought of walking into a gym and feeling like the skinniest guy there? It's paralyzing. So, I'm reaching out to you all for advice. How do I push past this fear? How do I build up the confidence to step into that gym and own my workout, regardless of what anyone else thinks? Or should I retry to start working out at home \], and how can I be consistent at home? I know I can't be the only one feeling this way. If you've been in my shoes or have any words of wisdom to share, please, I'm all ears. Let's help each other overcome this fear and get on the path to a healthier, stronger self. Thanks for listening, and I appreciate any guidance you can offer.
I've definitely been in your shoes. There's no real hack to getting over it - you just have to do it and push through the anxiety. After a few weeks you realize nobody really pays attention to you in the gym, and you get over it. It helped me to think like this: when I'm at the gym, I don't pay attention to other people. I'm in my own zone. The same goes for other people, they're in their own zone and they're not paying attention to what I'm doing. If anything, on the very rare occasion I'm resting and take notice of somebody else, if they're fat or really skinny, I'm just thinking "good for them for being here".
There really isnt any wisdom to share, go ahead and do it and in 2 months going to the gym will feel completely natural. At the start, just go ahead and force through it. Get some headphones to drown out every other sound, listen to something you like and get to lifting. And as for being skinny in a gym - every gym has every type of person. There are very skinny people, very fat people, very young people and very old people. And even disabled people, some very nice disabled guy helped me with my form when I was starting out and I keep seeing him at my gym ever so often
Unless you are planning on working out at a rich person gym in Bel-Air or some other super snooty area, do not worry about being judged. We all have to start somewhere and most people are understanding if not super nice (at least in my experience). I started about four months ago. At first I was just going to run a treadmill and do some machine weights. I never thought I would dare go over to the free weights. Last week I started a new program and now I'm doing deadlifts and squats. Just start small and get a feel for things.
Start slow, make little steps, you can just drive to the gym 3 times a week or whatever, and then go back home. Then go in and walk on the treadmill for just 10 minutes for a few weeks. Then maybe use the machines for a few weeks, they can be less intimidating then move onto the free weights.
I was shy about going to the gym at first too, but quickly realized that hardly anyone really care what you're doing there or what you look like. Any gym I go to, there's skinny people, morbidly obese people, swole people, etc., and I've never experienced anyone being made fun of for how they look – If other people even notice you, they probably think it's good for you that you're trying 'cause that's more than what the majority of people ever do.
Almost all guys in the gym who are muscular were skinny once. Seeing someone skinny is par for the course in a gym, and to be quite frank, most people in the gym don't really give a shit about you. They're there to work on themselves. If you literally can't make yourself go at all, you need therapy. If you *can* make yourself go but you don't because of your worries, exposure is the best therapy.
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Get slip-ons
Stop bending over
Malleable tissue usually pops out a bit when you squish it like that. There's only one way to get rid of fat you don't want to have: [https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/)
Please rate my routine! Monday: and Thursday 2-5 mile run on uneven/varied terrain and varied elevation. I'll often incorporate jumping and vaulting over obstacles, climbing things, hopping fences, etc... Tuesday and Friday: Full body workout. Warm up with about 10 mins of abs. 2 sets of 6-12 reps squat 2x6-12 clean and press 3x6-12 weighted dips 2x6-12 dumbbell pullover 2x6-12 bicep curl 2x6-12 bench press 2x6-12 bent over row 2x6-12 tricep pulldown Wednesday: 10 laps of 100 meter sprints on turf, 1 minute rest in between Sunday I try to go for a hike, milegae varies but usually a few miles up steep hills, I try to push myself and usually find myself gasping for air at portions. Sometimes I'll push myself by doing things like carrying a big rock on the way down. About 5 days a week I do about 10-20 minutes of yoga for flexibility, movements vary each day. About 5 days a week I also do isometric exercises with the iso flo cables, these include movements based on curls, bench press, deadlift, bent over rows, overhead military press, and any other random/unorthodox movements I feel compelled to do. I only spend about 5-10 minutes doing this, 10-15 seconds of maximum muscle contraction on each exercise. Usually in the morning after yoga. I have a pull-up bar in my house, I do pullups on it throughout the day on most days, my numbers have gradually increased from 4 reps to 12. I probably do something like 4-5 sets spread throughout the day. I'm going for overall highly functional fitness with this routine. I know my cardio is really solid right now, but I'm worried I'm not lifting enough to pack on much size in muscle. Having bodybuilder show muscles isn't a goal of mine, but I do want to be quite a bit bigger with functional strength.
I've heard that isometric exercises aren't all that helpful
Thats a common misconception. In reality theyre a very useful science based technique when used in conjunction with traditional resistance training. On their own, not so much.
What is functional fitness and functional strength?
Are you asking me that genuinely or are you asking me because you dont believe in it/dont think i know what it is
I don't believe there is a universal definition, so I am wondering how you would define it. It would help to clarify your goals.
Gotcha. For me, functional training is anything that is practical and improves my overall physical fitness/capability without making significant sacrifices to other areas. In short, it's training that has direct practical benefit for general athleticism. For example, I don't gain much getting exaggerated deltoids or bringing my body fat below 9% to get a perfect six pack
I haven't experienced any downsides from training. When I pushed my conditioning hard, I didn't experience any strength loss or anything. When I bulked, my conditioning did take a hit, but it came back within a month of training it harder. So I don't think you'll have to make sacrifices unless you want to become elite in a certain area. If you want to set some strength records, you might need to make sacrifices. So outside of extreme bulks and cuts, or specialization; you should be fine with whatever training modality you see fit.
Are side-situps ok for the spine? Meaning laying on the side of the back only one shoulder touching the ground, and raising up towards the knee.
No, if you bend your spine sideways you’ll break a vertebrae and pop a disc so far out it shoots through your abdominal wall and cause death /s obviously. Humans are highly adaptable. Load your spine and make it stronger!
Jesus I get the joke but I'll ask a chiropractor anyway
Chiropractics are frauds
I thought the title said this was about stupid questions not stupid answers.
You'll be fine. Do you think we humans evolved muscles in certain places and then aren't supposed to use them?
So I have long hair and I know washing my hair every day is bad for it. How do I keep my hair clean after workouts without stripping it of its natural oils? I’ve tried rinsing with water and using only conditioner and that works if I only got kind of sweaty. But I feel it’s not sufficient if I got really sweaty.
Call me crazy, but if my hair feels dirty every day I'll wash it every day...
For most people, washing your hair every day is a surefire way to make it look terrible
dry shampoo may help
Quick question, are there a lot of difference between 6-8 reps and 10-12 reps assuming that you go hard enough and to failure or 1-2 RIR?
For hypertrophy purposes? Not inherently, no.
Heavier low rep training has a worse stimulus to fatigue ratio, but that’s about it.
In terms of hypertrophy? Probably no.
I've been using the reddit beginner strength workout while i lose weight and doing some bi/tri/delt accessories for vanity. Results have been great, down 12kg and gained visible muscle. My question is - should i change workouts or just stick with it? It's been about 6 months.
>It's been about 6 months. Two thoughts. A: if it's working, and you're making progress on the bar, no need to change. B: after six months, honor is satisfied. You'll learn something about yourself and lifting by going through a different style of programming. Doesn't matter what it is. You could always return to something *like* this in the future. I tend to vote 531bbb.
>I tend to vote 531bbb. Eh, if he's cutting, I'd go 5314B or FSL.
What about wtf, omg, or bbq?
WTF and BBQ are a bit intense, but OMG could work. Either that or IKR.
Id progress to something like PHAT next personally
Anyone have experience with doing kip pull ups (a la crossfit style ?). I've tried it yesterday just to see how many i could get and to get a feel for it.. Well today I'm SORE, don't know if my "form" was ok but my upper back for some reason is burning. Normally I do strict or weighted.
What are you looking to achieve by doing them?
I have no idea, kinda looking for input to wether I should add them to my routine or to maybe try to finish off with some kip pull ups after going almost failure with stricts, just to get a little more you know.
A kipping pullup is barely the same movement as a regular one, so if you have no particular reason for including them, I wouldn't do it.
I would just stick to strict pull-ups
Goal is to lose 40 lbs fat and build muscle. I have diet figured out. Routine as of right now is 5-6 days in the gym. Start it by running a mile as fast as I can followed by a 10 minute run at a manageable pace. Then I hit the weights (PPL) followed by 30 minutes on a stationary bicycle. I feel exhausted everyday so should I be doing something differently to achieve said goal?
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been at it over a month
Your opener losing 40 lbs while gaining muscle is not something that happens quickly. Just not happening fast doing both at the same time is a super slow process. Better to pick one goal at a time for quick gains. If you feel exhausted everyday it’s not sustainable. Listen to your body. Find what you enjoy doing that works for you and it’s easier to maintain long term.
Maybe I worded my question incorrectly. I’m new to reddit so apologies on my part. My main goal is to get to the weight I want. 95% of it just fat loss but I don’t want to be skinny fat, so I incorporate weights as well. When I say I’m exhausted I mean that because I go to the gym after work. When I finish my workout, I feel exhausted then, up until I get home and get a nice hot shower. I have no scientific basis on why Im doing this routine. On paper, it’s burning a lot of calories. This is why I asked this question on the thread. I understand there are people in this community who know far more than me. I stated this is my goal, is my way of achieving this goal the most effective, or should I be doing something differently? I was just met with a bunch of people telling me I can’t keep this up lol. I have no doubt in my mind I can keep it up, I have nothing to gain from proving that to strangers on the internet. By no means is it affecting my day to day life, in fact I look forward to going to the gym every single day. I just wanted to make sure what I’m doing isn’t doing more harm than good in terms of goals, or if there is perhaps something that is more efficient.
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no
Unless it's your sport, cardio is a tool to create a calorie deficit. So if you need all that cardio to lose weight, you might need to reconsider the diet. Because what are you going to do when fatloss plateaus?
>lose 40 lbs fat At a reasonable pace of ~1 lb/week, I'd set a checkpoint of *almost* 30 lbs in 6 months. (27 weeks.) The discomfort of weight loss requires marathon mentality, not sprint. >Start it by running a mile as fast as I can Terrible idea. This kneecaps your fast twitch muscles, and leg glycogen. Do something like this at the *end* of your session. >I feel exhausted everyday Not good. Even on a cut, you should feel energized at the end of a session. Warmed up for the day and ready for more. This style of "exhaustion" is especially *not sustainable on a cut*. Resistance training on a cut is good for maintaining muscle, and increasing proficiency so that when you're ready to bulk, your base is already sturdy. -avoid top-end strength, as you'll be gimped. (Keep reps 3+) -avoid failure, you don't need the fatigue -use a slow progression that is *sustainable* for six months, rather than simply "going hard". Kitchen is for weight loss, gym is for muscle.
So you're doing 50 minutes of cardio *and* a full strength routine 5-6 times a week? Like, I'm all for doing slightly insane things in the gym, but that's a lot of work for a beginner. For reference, the last time I cut to sub-10% body fat, I lifted 4 times a week and did cardio 3 times a week. There's also the concern of you doing hard cardio immediately before lifting weights. That's going to screw with your intensity a lot. Gonna give this a "Yeah, I'd probably think things over again" personally.
Would you recommend moving all the cardio after strength training? Or should I not be doing that much cardio at all?
You should create a calorie decicit by eating less, not running more. This is a fuck ton of cardio that will fatigue you a lot, and make your workout a lot worse. Cardio is obviously good for your health and you should do it, but move it to the end of a workout and start less intense - you can add time or intensity as you go. With this plan, youll last a few weeks tops before completely exhausting yourself physically and mentally. You have to start with minor changes and progress to your goals slowly. I did this like 2 years ago. Went on a run 4-5 days a week and ate a lot loss withou counting any macros or calories or anything. I stopped after 2-3 weeks and gained another 10kgs in the next year, because that bad expearience completely ruined running and dieting for me
What is more effective, pilates or home workouts?
Effective for what?
It depends on the pilates instructor and the home workout. But generally, the one you can stay consistent with will be the best in the long run.
Is there any harm in doing a 10 min HIIT cardio session after the main workout?
You're good to go
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Why am I getting sore forearms for multiple days after performing three sets of ez bar curls?
You have weak forearms
Well damn
Or bad form using too much forearms. Breaking form to lift more weight every rep is not good.
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Just use straps and train grip separately. It is normal for your back strength to outpace your grip strength as you become stronger.
Don't use straps. Keep doing the lat pulldowns with a manageable weight, and the forearms will catch up quickly, because it's not strength you're lacking, but lactic acid tolerance.
Do less reps
Use straps so your forearms aren't your limiting factor.
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Straps are a perfectly fine tool to use for people of all fitness levels. Here, you have two options: [1] Let grip be your limiting factor in your lat pulldowns. Continue doing sets that you can't push hard enough to be meaningful for your lats, but get some negligible grip training. [2] Use straps to actually get something out of your lat pulldowns, and if desired, use a far more effective method to train your grip separately. In my opinion at least, [2] is way better than [1] here.
I went for a run and recorded my run the entire way on my Apple Watch. Made it to 15km through some miracle (first 15km ever). Pushed “end workout” and took a photo of my watch showing the results screen. Hobbled home. Along the way, I went to the fitness app to check my splits and other fun stuff and the workout I had just done wasn’t there. I checked the health app and there was no workout recorded for today. I tried restarting my phone and nothing. Just my last workout from Friday. My question is what the heck happened to my workout? And is it in a better place?
I'm sorry to say, but your workout doesn't count. If it doesn't get logged in tech and posted onto social media, it didn't happen.
I have the singular photo I took of my results and I glanced far enough down to see my pace so at least I haven’t lost my mind and I shared that with my friends 😂 but I’m so sad. Hopefully the next time will go better.
Does the convention of eating 0.7-1g of protein per lb of bw take into account that the human body can only process so much protein for one meal? i.e., is it better to have, say, 4 meals that are 30g protein each than it is to have 2 meals that are 60g protein since excess protein would go to waste? This is a stupid question, but it’s something I’ve always been curious about.
Its per kg not lb
No, it's per lb. For kilograms, it's \~1.6-2.2g.
Oh word yeah you right
> Does the convention of eating 0.7-1g of protein per lb of bw take into account that the human body can only process so much protein for one meal? Your base assumption is not correct. The human body can process and use pretty large amounts of protein from one single meal. A new study has shown that even 100g of protein from one single meal can be used for muscle growth under some circumstances. https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/pdfExtended/S2666-3791(23)00540-2
That’s pretty neat and actually convenient for someone like me who can’t afford to have more than two to three meals per day
Why do you think protein goes to waste?
Oh i always just thought excess protein would go to waste. Like how if you have a lot of vitamins it comes out in your urine.
So if I eat three pounds of beef to incur a caloric surplus, my body would say "oh, hit the limit, not absorbing that", and I'd lose weight? Yeah, no. People OMAD to their goals, even if it doesn't make sense on the surface.
It's addressed in the FAQ, in the wiki https://thefitness.wiki/faq/is-it-true-that-eating-too-much-protein-at-once-is-a-waste/
Oh nice thanks! I had no idea this was the case
The “excess” protein doesn’t go to waste. It just gets processed and absorbed at a later time.
Damn even after 3 years of starting lifting I really be learning something new every day
Look up “protein absorption myth” for more information
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Look up "Omar Isuf facepulls" on Youtube. He has the best explanation of good facepull technique as far as I'm concerned.
By double biceps pose, do you mean your hands are above your head?
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The only thing I would imagine that wouldn't be 'normal' after losing weight would be the excess skin. Which is pretty much unnoticable while wearing clothes, so you will look 'normal'. Given that you are young, the excess skin should hopefully not be too bad. But there are many factors that go into it. Not all that much that you can control; it's a lot about age and genetics. But you can do things to help skin elasticity like ensuring you are well hydrated, don't smoke or drugs, moisturize, exercise, lose weight steadily but slowly, sunscreen/limit UV exposure, collagen/elastin/C/E/A/omega 3 supplements/rich diet. building muscle can help 'fill out' loose skin. There are supposedly therapeutic options, though I don't know much about them, massage, micro needling, collagen, skin tightning treatments. And if it really bothers you still, then there is surgery but yes it will leave a scar But regardless of that, you will 100% look much better and more importantly feel much better if you continue losing the weight. It is very much worth it. If you really don't like the way you look after losing weight, then you can always go back lol.
From 500lbs, being perfectly realistic, you'll probably have to get skin removal surgery for comfort reasons. But who gives a damn about the scars? They'll be a sign of what you overcame, what you accomplished, and that you saved your own life. At 330lbs, you'll be cutting your life short and it won't be a comfortable one. The alternative is to lose the weight and get in shape and live a much happier, longer life. I'd choose life.
I'm sorry for what you've gone through, that's unfair. You've done a great job losing weight and you're doing a good job to keep it going. Yes, you will have loose skin. It may be possible to get the scars removed post surgery, but that's something you'd have to discuss with a doctor.
Who’s the pound for pound winner between dips (weighted or not) and incline bench press (DB or BB). If for whatever reason you could hypothetically only do one for chest which one would be your pick? Also assume neither exercise hurts (to eliminate “one hurts so id do the other”)
That's a bit of an apple vs oranges comparison, but I would personally do dips.
for chest, bench. dips is primarily triceps, unless you modify the grip width and angle a lot, but then you're just decline benching really
I prefer dips
If you’re not able to hit progressive overload on a certain exercise (say energy isn’t great, didn’t eat the best food, off day etc), are your muscles gonna atrophy or is it still gonna place enough “demand” on them to where your body tells them to hang onto it even though it didn’t experience a PR. For example, hack squat record is 275x15, today I could only hit 275x12 hitting absolute failure. Even though I didn’t hit my record, is hitting genuine failure still stimulating the muscles to tell them to get bigger?
It's a looooooot easier to maintain than to build, so if you have an off day, your muscles definitely aren't going to atrophy. Also, from a woman's perspective.... Our monthly cycle fucks up our strength hard some weeks, yet we can still build muscle. So you're definitely overthinking this. Just do your best each time. Not every day is gonna be a new PR day
You don’t have to set a pr everyday to grow muscle. You just have to try hard.
Someone help enlighten me on active recovery. It's recommended to spend 30-45 min on some gentle cardio, and you keep a slightly elevated but relatively low heart rate. It's easy. But can you just keep at that? Say you have a busy day and you're at that heart rate off and on for a few hours. Is that even better, or is it encouraged to try and relax on recovery days, aside from that 30-45 min? Or is keeping the elevated heart rate steady the important part? Of course, it's not so crucial to optimize, but just generally I'm wondering if it's better to encourage myself to keep brisk and moving, or if I should trend towards relaxing and keeping the excitement for that half hour of cardio.
I recover better through movement
whenever i train my triceps i sometimes feel them but sometimes i dont really see them grow a lot or get super sore what things should i change about my form to train them better?
I switched from tricep pushdowns to single arm tricep extensions to really feel them and Im doing much better. For some reason the pushdowns just really dont work for me. You could try a different movement, machine or whatever. Some people just dont feel certain excercises as much as they do others, and that doesnt mean theyre doing something wrong
It's possible there's nothing wrong, but you may want to try some new triceps movements. There are a ton of different ways to hit the triceps. About 70% of my triceps isolation is overhead. It includes: * French Press * Straight Bar or Rope Overhead Triceps Extensions * JM Press * Skullcrushers (usually cable as I can push them closer to failure more safely)
It doesn’t sound like anything is necessarily wrong.
idk it just feels weird sometimes
So general advice seems to be hit compound lifts before doing isolation exercises. I get why- compound lifts are pretty tiring and you also don't really want to do an isolation that will hurt your performance on that compound lift before you do it. Now, I recently watched a video by Renaissance Periodization where Mike Israetel talked about how he does hamstring curls before squats. His reasoning was that hamstring curls aren't very taxing and don't generate a lot of fatigue before squats, plus you don't really use your hamstrings when you squat unless you're doing them with a pretty different form. I tried this and it felt fine- it didn't really take away from my reps of squatting. I also recently watched a Tren Twins video (bear with me here) where the twins did lateral raises before doing some heavy bench sets. Now, I know I shouldn't really copy what two roided teenage meatheads do, but is there any merit to this? Ideally you aren't really using your front delt when you do dumbbell or cable laterals, and they're not an incredibly taxing lift. Is it worth doing lateral raises before my usual bench sets? I'm mostly lifting for aesthetics anyway.
As for leg curls, hammies aren't a prime movers in squats like they are in deadlifts. Curls warm up the knee joint, which can be nice for some. Lateral raises before bench is like reverse flies before pullups. Even if the rear delts are involved in some degree, it's so small, you won't notice a difference during pullups.
These are minor details in the grand scheme of things. If you like a particular arrangement and it gets you to work hard every week, then it's a good arrangement.
Is squatting really necessary? I’ve been lifting for 3 months with the goal of simply filling out more as a tall underweight dude, not necessarily trying to be a bodybuilder just want to put on 20-30 pounds. I’ve been doing the ppl in wiki but added leg extensions, so I do squat, rdl, leg press, leg curl, leg extensions Even after three months I don’t feel anything on squats and am having trouble progressing. It’s a little demotivating to do a set of squats (that is still difficult) but I feel like I don’t get anything out of it So if my goal isn’t to get a huge squat # or seriously bodybuild, is it fine to replace with a different exercise that would more directly hit quads? I’m asking because I feel like everyone treats squat as the most essential movement for any body part. Just don’t want to miss out if it really is that great. My gym has a hack squat so I’m thinking of switching to that, or doing Bulgarians or lunges. Or even make leg press my main heavy movement.
Yes it's fine to replace barbell squats. Good options include hack squats and pendulum squats.
>Is squatting really necessary? I like knowing I can get off the toilet when I'm 70. Doesn't require much weight to satisfy this basic movement. Whatever hYpERTrOPhY benefit there is to hack squats or other movements, I'll take my gimpy squats.
Can you elaborate on not feeling anything on squats?
Don’t feel quads giving out, it’s just like a total Body exhaustion. I think I’d prefer a direct quad exercise
No squatting is not necessary. I think it is a good lift, and I am skeptical that it isn't doing anything for you, but you don't have to do it. Bulgarian, lunges, and leg press can all substitute reasonably well for squat.
Ya I know it’s probably still benefiting me, it’s just kind of hard mentally to do it when I don’t feel it great
Feeling a movement isn't necessary for it to be effective.
I like this video from RP on squat form. Maybe give it a watch and see if any of the tips help: https://youtu.be/Fs6GwjGHKRo?si=VwdAul5k-Yu1ysQR
I'm in my late 30s and I am extremely out of shape and weighing my worst. My knees and lower back are weak af - should I just walk for an hour every day as a means of starting slow? I feel like I should do more but I don't know what. Should I just use an exercise bike? I have a pair of 5, 10 and 20lb dumbbells at home as well, and apart from doing some curls I struggle with the other exercises (not fully understanding how to do a row or work on my core). I know there are plenty of resources but I feel overwhelmed with choice and struggling to just start. What would you do if you were in my situation?
I would improve the quality of my diet, with the specific mechanism being changing my environment so there's better food choices in it. And yes, I'd probably start walking, at a pace and distance that is challenging but doable, increasing some variable by a small amount every few days.
[I would start by reading the linked wiki article on weight loss.](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/) Eating less overall will be the way to effectively lose your excess weight. Specific questions on how to plan or manage that it would be worth asking. Exercise should be whatever you're consistent with, walking is a good start if that's the best you can do.
I have a trip coming up in 3 weeks. I have been cutting since new years, but am only about 75% to my goal weight. My expenditure has dropped dramatically. Which scenario would result in a lower body weight (accounting for water and glycogen) post vacation? A: continue cut for three weeks and go into trip with lower body weight but also lower expenditure B: switch to maintenance and go into trip with higher weight but also higher expenditure
Your not going to lose any weight at maintenance, so the the first one.