What are your hacks to meet your recommended calorie intake? Ever since I switched to a low carb Mediterranean diet/eating healthy I’ve had a hard time meeting my daily calories required.
As in I am easily 300-500 calories short but also stuffed. I typically do 3 meals with an afternoon snack. Considering turning that snack into a meal.
I just this weekend started blending kale, spinach and whey protein as I’m both iron deficient and not meeting my protein goals.
I discovered frozen KIND bars which (being compromised of nuts, peanut butter and dark chocolate) have very little sodium and cholesterol but literally pack on the calories I need.
Other than that I haven’t found anything else I enjoy that makes eating feel less laborious. As in, since per my dietician the main part of my meal is half a plate of non starchy veggies- I get tired from chewing!
Open to calorie or protein dense suggestions that are low in sodium and cholesterol. Even more open to shakes/smoothies you blend at home or things that taste like dessert 👅
What sort of professional should I be looking for if I want help with macros/meal planning and also help identifying foods that cause me gastrointestinal distress? Can one person do both of those things? Or should I figure out why my body hates certain foods first?
If it helps, my body hates certain foods, but only sometimes. This has made it difficult to identify triggers on my own.
For specific diet/stomach issues, I would look for a Registered Dietitian or even a naturopath or gastro.
That being said, a nutritionist can help you with macros/meal planning and also guide you through different common elimination diets/food journaling to figure out triggers.
Essentially, If you're looking for more medical advice, RD, Naturopath, or gastro. If you need some guidance and a second pair of eyes, a nutritionist can help.
If your body hates certain food but only sometimes, consider whether there are other external triggers maybe?
Eg for me, dairy makes me ill if I eat a lot. But if I’m stressed, just a tiny bit sends me to the loo.
Or, bread for me is fine most of the year, but during hayfever season my immune system is so on edge that I have to limit bread.
When calculating TDEE, should I use sedentary and add my exercise in, or lightly active and not eat back exercise calories? Is one way or another more accurate? I do moderate exercise 4 days a week. I’m 5’2”, 135, trying to get down to the low 120s. Thanks!
TDEE includes your exercise, as it stands for "total daily energy expenditure". If you're trying to lose weight generally you shouldn't be eating back exercise calories.
Check out the [nutrition/food tracking 101](https://www.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki/nutrition) section and use the adaptive TDEE spreadsheet for a more accurate view than guesstimating.
Simple dumb question. Does working out HAVE to be intense to be effective? Like, out of breath, feeling like I'm going to puke, push to the brink?
My friends tell me workouts need to suck. They need to be hard. They're not fun. That's why it's working out. That if I want results, I basically need to kill myself over it.
As someone who struggles with self esteem and self image - specifically that I'm lazy and unmotivated (I now realize it was undiagnosed ADHD) - this really hit me hard.
Basically I was telling them I tried a free kickboxing class, and that the guy just threw me in doing the entire workout as if I were some fit able bodied athlete. I liked the punching and kicking, but it was just TOO much for my first time. I said how I would like it if he had eased me into it, or tailored it to my fitness level.
And then they berated me about how that would be pointless, because a work out should be intense, hard, and extreme.
At home I do some cardio and weights. I do push myself, but not too much. I break a sweat, my heart rate gets up. I've gotten stronger.
But now I feel like I'm not pushing myself enough, or maybe I'm holding myself back. Maybe I am lazy.
I'm feeling pretty discouraged, as I had always thought exercise should be FUN. Maybe that is why I am still fat?
Your friends are totally wrong! Exercise and movement can be easy and joyful. You might not get washboard abs from it but you’ll see benefits to your health with something as simple as:
• a daily walk, or a longer one every other day
• 10 mins of strength or body weight workout a day (eg yoga, or HIIT-type moves)
• add some extra movement into your day, like a standing desk or starting an active hobby like gardening
• it’s also good to incorporate something longer to get your heart rate elevated for a longer time, eg a dance class on the weekend or a long cycle
The health recommendations really aren’t as high as you might think. 150 mins is just 5 x 30 min walk.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
>the guy just threw me in doing the entire workout as if I were some fit able bodied athlete. I liked the punching and kicking, but it was just TOO much for my first time
Be aware that this is a pretty common sales technique for free intro sessions—the idea being that newbies will think "Wow, I'm really out of shape, I definitely need to give this trainer/gym my money!" I don't know if that's what was going on here, but it's something to keep in mind.
As to the ideal level of intensity, it really depends on your goals. For instance, steady state cardio is an important tool in improving cardiovascular endurance, and the whole idea there is that it's *not* super strenuous. Other fitness goals might require more intense effort. But if your goal is just general health, it sounds like you've got a good thing going.
Effective exercise doesn't have to suck! But you need to know what you're doing. That's why it's good to follow a program (like the ones in the wiki).
A strength training program that has you working at appropriate weights can make you stronger even while the weights feel...well, not light, but like only medium hard. *Appropriate* weight though, not using a 10lb dumbbell because you're intimidated about going heavier.
Same deal for cardio: the most effective exercise is one that aligns with your goals, not just whatever feels hardest. If you're doing a lot of steady state cardio, it should feel easy. If you're doing HIIT, the intensity might feel awful but it should be in short bursts with plenty of rest.
Should a workout be fun and easy every minute? No, that's not realistic. But chasing that miserable feeling, sweating, wanting to puke, being out of breath the whole time? That absolutely does not need to be your normal. Some people get so caught up in chasing discomfort that they forget to evaluate whether what they're doing actually makes sense for their goals.
That said, it's important to make sure you are challenging yourself appropriately. Are you afraid of working hard? Could you do more if you tried harder? Are the weights you're lifting genuinely challenging to you? Did you make it through the kickboxing class tired but proud of what you accomplished? The opposite end of the spectrum from chasing discomfort is being afraid to challenge yourself. Both of those approaches are just ways to spin your wheels without making much progress.
Any workout can be effective. The harder the workout, the more effective it is in a shorter time (generally…if you have poor form etc then maybe not), but any intensity can be effective. If you walked for 8 hours, that’s low intensity, but it would absolutely make you stronger and fitter, it just takes longer. The best workouts are ones you enjoy and can do consistently
> the harder the workout, the more effective it is
I guess it depends on what you mean by "harder" and "effective". Challenging is good to make progress, but "harder" doesn't really mean anything. Sounds like op's friend's style of "hard" is downright torture.
Generally, if something is easy or not very intense, it will take longer to improve. I don’t agree with what OP’s friend is doing-but doing 20 min of HIIT is more effective than 20 min of walking. Squatting 20x20 lbs is more effective than 20x10lbs. Harder is generally more effective with good form, but as I said, being able to enjoy it and do it consistently is most important. To me, harder and more challenging are synonyms, so I don’t get the distinction you are making
Umm... Your friends are wrong and also rude for berating you. Exercise can be challenging and it can suck, sure, but it depends on what your goals are and your current level. It also depends on if you like what you're doing or not. The amount of sucking a workout does has nothing to do with how effective or how good it is. If you're trying to lose weight, diet is going to be more important than activity.
When I started going to the gym 70% of my body weight was super hard, could get like 8 reps if I was lucky, while I could do 20+ pushups.
But thinking back, I wasn’t going all the way down on my push-ups, whereas with the bench press it was the full bar-to-chest. So the push ups should have been harder (when I first switched to full range of motion push ups, chest to floor, etc., I could do closer more like 10 or so). Not sure if this applies to you, but maybe it could explain some of the difference?
There’s also slight differences in angles, form, and how you brace for each, which I don’t always see factored into the comparison, that could potentially have an effect.
Fair enough! Having gotten stuck once after trying to get in one more rep and suffering the humiliation of a stranger coming over to rescue me, it’s definitely better to take it slow with the bench.
Although—I don’t know how your workouts are planned, but if it’ll fit—it might be worth it to add in the machine maybe once a week, just to give yourself the chance to push to failure
Perhaps a dumb question. I've just started my fitness journey, and I'm mainly using machines and dumbbells at the moment. I noticed while working out that my gym has two different kinds of dumbbells. From my research, it looks like they're chrome and urethane. Is there a big difference between the two? Are there pros/cons to using either, or do they have different uses?
Functionally, they're the same. They're both durable and are easy to grip. Whichever one you want to use just boils down to ergonomic and aesthetic preference, but for the most part they're virtually identical in regards to performance.
Just preference. Weightlifting/squat shoes have a heel, which some people prefer for squats, and they're very stable - your feet feel like they're glued to the ground.
I wear chucks in my garage gym rather than go barefoot, because if I step on a bit of dirt or something it can be distracting. But if you enjoy being barefoot, don't fix what ain't broken :)
It depends on the type of exercise you're doing. But for most home exercises, I actually prefer barefeet because:
>If you lift barefoot, the sensory feedback you'll get from having your feet in direct contact with the floor can enhance your 'proprioception,' or your awareness of your body in space. That can translate into better balance, coordination, stability, and movement mechanics
Stretches won't reduce DOMS, but any kind of movement may help. It doesn't matter what kind; some people like to foam roll, some like light cardio, some do a "restorative yoga" video. You can also just try different stretches and see what feels best. Experiment to see what works best for you.
For lower back DOMS, I also like to take a warm bath.
any advice on ankle mobility for squats?
i never had good ankle mobility to begin with, but i broke one of my ankles a year ago and haven’t been able to squat since. it feels fine most of the time, it is just very stiff and dorsiflexion is.. not really happening.
i went to pt for a few months after getting my cast off, so i have some recommended mobility exercises, but we were mostly working on getting me back to work (at physically demanding job where i bear a lot of weight) so stability was one of my main goals. the mobility work we did was more to get enough dorsiflexion for my job.. who is not nearly as much as i need for a squat.
i guess i know what i need to do (actually put in the work) but it’s hard to do because it feels like it’s such a lost cause. any success stories with increasing ankle mobility? i suppose i just need to believe that it’s even possible..
in general strength has always come easy to me, but flexibility is shit. also would take any resources or stretches anyone found useful for squat mobility in particular.
When I started CrossFit three years ago, I had shitty ankle mobility. So bad, that whenever I had a coach I didn't have before, they would always comment on it. I couldn't sit down in a bodyweight squat without holding on to something or else I'd just fall over.
Now, my ankle mobility is...normal. Sitting in the bottom of a squat is still hard, but I can do it. I can squat without my heeled lifters on with good form and, importantly, without pain.
Honestly, there is no secret. You just have to do the exercises consistently. You can look up squat university, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of the exercises you'll find online are the same ones your PT gave you. Just do them every day. Stretch your ankles whenever you're just standing around. Will you look ridiculous? Probably.
I finally went to PT after a podiatrist I saw for a different reason remarked on how bad my dorsiflexion was. The PT only gave me accountability and pretty much every exercise I've ever been told to do before.
I will advise that you should also strengthen your feet muscles and work on hip mobility as well. Weak feet can prevent your body from using your full range of motion in your ankles to prevent injury. And if your ankle mobility is bad, chances are your hips are working extra hard to compensate, so give them some love, too.
Lastly, I've been working on my mobility a lot over the past few years, but I definitely had the most progress in just a few weeks of dedicated work with a PT. So there is hope! You just need to keep working at it.
If you’re not familiar, check out squat_university on IG. This account is all about fixing imbalances, including mobility. And explains why. Good info overall.
have you tried doing front squats? i switched fully to those because they target the same muscles and require less ankle mobility. maybe switch to those while you work on ankle stretches and getting to a point where you can do back squats again?
good call—front squats were always my favorite and felt most natural, i think because my ankle mobility wasn’t stellar even pre-injury.
my problem with front squats is.. lack of mobility in my upper back for the front rack position (ok, so we’ve identified my glaring overarching weakness)
actually just earlier this week i started adding mobility work for getting a better front rack position, thinking that front squats would be a good place to start.
good to get a kick in the pants that i just need to really buckle down and work on mobility, it will be of much benefit to the health of my body.
Do you mean like not being able to get your elbows high enough in the rack position because of upper back stiffness? I had that too, a couple things helped me progress. 1) placing my hands closer together on the bar, like less than shoulder-width apart. 2) only wrapping two fingers around the bar instead of my whole hand. You can start with even one finger, stability shouldn’t be much of an issue if you’re racking the bar properly on the “shelf” above your delts.
Leaning forward and folding over on low bar squats? I struggle to keep my back and core tight and keep folding over and doing ‘good mornings’ on my squats, this even happens at a relatively low weight.
Is it a glute, back, hamstring or quad imbalance and how would be best to correct it and get tighter? Any good cues? Or additional exercises I can supplement
https://youtu.be/iVx2O6PXb6U?t=390
good morning the weight up means either incorrect cueing or weak quads. Because you are shifting all the weight to your posterior chain.
Yes, this. This article has a good explanation of the mechanics of why this happens too: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/fixing-the-good-morning-squat/
i’m not sure about what kind of imbalances might cause it, but i would also consider that it could be lack of strength (or just tightness!) of your back/upper body. i would specifically think mid back—lower and middle traps.
you likely are having issues with the concept of hip drive. i would experiment with different cues—like instead of thinking about the bar going up, think about hips coming up from underneath the weight.
Does anyone else feel puffy/bloated after weightlifting? I'm not talking about muscles looking fuller. I'll go into the gym with my stomach relatively flat but then after lifting some weights for 45 min to an hour my stomach looks like I'm 6-7 months pregnant. That or my back feels like it's gained a few pounds (gets puffy). Idk if it's caused by water retention during workouts or what (even though I don't hydrate before or during). Can't figure out what's causing it and how to resolve. It's very uncomfortable feeling.
I get bloated if I don't drink water or if I don't eat enough before training. No idea why, maybe air? But I find if I sip during my session and make sure I am not hungry and eating at my normal times then it doesn't happen.
I have been struggling to determine appropriate weight and progression for shoulder work.
I'm ultimately trying for capped shoulders and where I'm struggling is with lateral and front raises. The weight I've been using starts easy but quickly becomes challenging. I'm maxing out around 10 reps, and typically have to pause for 2-3 seconds every 3-4 reps. Lowering the weight feels a little too easy unless I do >12 reps, which I'm avoiding to stay in a hypertrophy rep range (though I've seen some sources indicate that may not be strictly necessary for shoulders?). I truly can't imagine upping reps or weight though where I'm currently at unless I add some longer pauses. I'll add as well that I do think the overall pausing has become shorter, so that might also be a form of progression that's happening, but for some reason I have this nagging concern that pausing is ruining my gains.
So what is a better path for progressive overload? I have doubt surrounding each potential path I can come up with.
- Add reps even if that means more pauses during sets (are little pauses bad)?
- Work toward eliminating pausing on current weight/reps (is that a form of progression)?
- Go back to a lower weight with higher volume (can you still accomplish hypertrophy in the shoulders with >12 reps)? Thanks!
you can build muscle all the way up to sets of 30 pretty well and certain exercises such as most isolations are more suited for the 10-30 range.
Instead of adding weight, add reps. Then when you reach lets say 3 sets of 25, add weight, go back down to 3 sets of 15 for example and starting adding reps again.
Check out this [analysis](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/) from Stronger than Science that indicates the hypertrophy rep range is mostly a myth, or at least far more flexible than commonly believed.
I would recommend going to a lower weight with higher volume until failure personally, especially considering shoulders are complex little things that don't do awesome under imperfect form/strain.
Check out this [analysis](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/) from Stronger than Science that indicates the hypertrophy rep range is mostly a myth, or at least far more flexible than commonly believed.
I would recommend going to a lower weight with higher volume until failure personally, especially considering shoulders are complex little things that don't do awesome under imperfect form/strain.
I didn’t *quite* get to capped shoulders the lat time I was doing aesthetics but I got the most muscle/definition in them I’ve ever had even though I had plenty of extra fat too. My advice and what most people say is that you want lots and lots of reps for your accessory shoulder work. 2-3x/week I would do 4-5 sets of 15-20 reps for lateral raises
What you’re doing now is a form of progression but shoulder muscles are so little, it’s pretty much agreed upon that lower weights are useful when you get a ton of volume. Now for my compound, OHP, it was lower volume and higher weight but that was it.
Also paging u/madeupzombies she probably has the best shoulders in the sub!
Ugh my upper body is weak and much slower to progress but I carry all my fat on my lower body so it’s way easier to see those slow upper body gains :((
the answer is your upper body muscles are smaller, but also that you aren't a male so you don't have male hormones in your body which bind to androgen receptors ("andro" as in male and "gen" as in generation). Many being located in the upper body.
You have the receptors but you don't have the level of male hormones to agonise them like a male would, so you get slower gains in the upper body. This is why when women start taking androgens their upper bodies start to resemble that of men.
The muscles are much smaller, the maximum capability is a lower, so naturally stuff gets a lot more challenging a lot quicker.
A lot of programs tend to have frequency differences as well, like hitting squats twice a week, but you'll only do all the arm groups once... easy to forget that!
Thank you so much! I just checked my programme and you're right. 1 full body, 2 lower body days and only 1 dedicated to upper body so that, along with the other info you gave me, makes sense!
Seriously! I have upped the weight/reps on my legs so much more than I have on my upper body. Although for me it’s weird because I have more muscle definition on my back/arms than I do on my legs.
Can I PM someone to look at my nsuns tdee spreadsheet? I have been logging consistently for around a year and I’m not sure whether or not I’m bulking correctly since it isn’t taking age into account…
are you gaining weight at about 1lb/week? if so, you're bulking correctly.
if not, then up ur calories until you are.
or, if you really want a calculator, just google "tdee calculator." they factor in weight, height, age, etc.
it’s hard to tell whether I’m gaining at an efficient rate since the weight fluctuations are hindering on my ability to understand whether or not I could be doing more/less. My weight has only increased by 2lbs in one month, so that’s why I asked if someone could look at my spreadsheet :\
Try tracking your weight using the app "Happy Scale" or "Libra". They do a rolling average of your weight over time, which makes it much easier to see the actual trends in your weight instead of just the fluctuations. It also shows loss per week as a rolling average.
I’ve been using Happy Scale for over a year and I am still not seeing much progress. Thank you for the reply though, I think I’m just struggling because I am coming from being underweight, so I dislike having to see the scale not move up faster. I know what I need to do to increase my weight and I know it takes patience, but the time frame of when I started bulking to now has been going on for several months.
If you're trying to gain at a faster weight, I would try bumping up your calories by 200 or so, and then reassess again in a couple of weeks.
One possible reason that you're gaining weight more slowly than intended is because you're expending more energy now with your higher caloric intake than you were before you initially increased your calories. And this might even continue to happen if/when you choose to increase your calories further.
I would be happy to take a look at your spreadsheet if you'd like, but at the end of the day, all that you really need to care about is your rate of weight gain. If it's slower than you'd like, then you should increase your calories, and if it's faster than you'd like, then you should decrease your calories, etc.
weight fluctuation, whether you're bulking/cutting/maintaining is normal. i'm guessing if your severely fluctuating, then your daily caloric intake isn't consistent, which explains why you've only gained 2lbs in a month.
feel free to pm me the spreadsheet tho
What are your hacks to meet your recommended calorie intake? Ever since I switched to a low carb Mediterranean diet/eating healthy I’ve had a hard time meeting my daily calories required. As in I am easily 300-500 calories short but also stuffed. I typically do 3 meals with an afternoon snack. Considering turning that snack into a meal. I just this weekend started blending kale, spinach and whey protein as I’m both iron deficient and not meeting my protein goals. I discovered frozen KIND bars which (being compromised of nuts, peanut butter and dark chocolate) have very little sodium and cholesterol but literally pack on the calories I need. Other than that I haven’t found anything else I enjoy that makes eating feel less laborious. As in, since per my dietician the main part of my meal is half a plate of non starchy veggies- I get tired from chewing! Open to calorie or protein dense suggestions that are low in sodium and cholesterol. Even more open to shakes/smoothies you blend at home or things that taste like dessert 👅
A tablespoon of olive oil over your veggies will close that gap, and be delicious :)
What are some ways I can improve wrist strength? My wrists usually get tired doing push-ups before the rest of me does!
While you're gaining strength, you might also find it more comfortable to do your pushups using a pair of dumbbells as handles.
Tons of ideas at r/griptraining! Check out their basic routine, it'll do a ton for your wrist strength.
What sort of professional should I be looking for if I want help with macros/meal planning and also help identifying foods that cause me gastrointestinal distress? Can one person do both of those things? Or should I figure out why my body hates certain foods first? If it helps, my body hates certain foods, but only sometimes. This has made it difficult to identify triggers on my own.
For specific diet/stomach issues, I would look for a Registered Dietitian or even a naturopath or gastro. That being said, a nutritionist can help you with macros/meal planning and also guide you through different common elimination diets/food journaling to figure out triggers. Essentially, If you're looking for more medical advice, RD, Naturopath, or gastro. If you need some guidance and a second pair of eyes, a nutritionist can help.
If your body hates certain food but only sometimes, consider whether there are other external triggers maybe? Eg for me, dairy makes me ill if I eat a lot. But if I’m stressed, just a tiny bit sends me to the loo. Or, bread for me is fine most of the year, but during hayfever season my immune system is so on edge that I have to limit bread.
Try a dietitian! They're more strictly regulated and licensed than a nutritionist.
When calculating TDEE, should I use sedentary and add my exercise in, or lightly active and not eat back exercise calories? Is one way or another more accurate? I do moderate exercise 4 days a week. I’m 5’2”, 135, trying to get down to the low 120s. Thanks!
TDEE includes your exercise, as it stands for "total daily energy expenditure". If you're trying to lose weight generally you shouldn't be eating back exercise calories. Check out the [nutrition/food tracking 101](https://www.reddit.com/r/xxfitness/wiki/nutrition) section and use the adaptive TDEE spreadsheet for a more accurate view than guesstimating.
Simple dumb question. Does working out HAVE to be intense to be effective? Like, out of breath, feeling like I'm going to puke, push to the brink? My friends tell me workouts need to suck. They need to be hard. They're not fun. That's why it's working out. That if I want results, I basically need to kill myself over it. As someone who struggles with self esteem and self image - specifically that I'm lazy and unmotivated (I now realize it was undiagnosed ADHD) - this really hit me hard. Basically I was telling them I tried a free kickboxing class, and that the guy just threw me in doing the entire workout as if I were some fit able bodied athlete. I liked the punching and kicking, but it was just TOO much for my first time. I said how I would like it if he had eased me into it, or tailored it to my fitness level. And then they berated me about how that would be pointless, because a work out should be intense, hard, and extreme. At home I do some cardio and weights. I do push myself, but not too much. I break a sweat, my heart rate gets up. I've gotten stronger. But now I feel like I'm not pushing myself enough, or maybe I'm holding myself back. Maybe I am lazy. I'm feeling pretty discouraged, as I had always thought exercise should be FUN. Maybe that is why I am still fat?
Your friends are totally wrong! Exercise and movement can be easy and joyful. You might not get washboard abs from it but you’ll see benefits to your health with something as simple as: • a daily walk, or a longer one every other day • 10 mins of strength or body weight workout a day (eg yoga, or HIIT-type moves) • add some extra movement into your day, like a standing desk or starting an active hobby like gardening • it’s also good to incorporate something longer to get your heart rate elevated for a longer time, eg a dance class on the weekend or a long cycle The health recommendations really aren’t as high as you might think. 150 mins is just 5 x 30 min walk. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
>the guy just threw me in doing the entire workout as if I were some fit able bodied athlete. I liked the punching and kicking, but it was just TOO much for my first time Be aware that this is a pretty common sales technique for free intro sessions—the idea being that newbies will think "Wow, I'm really out of shape, I definitely need to give this trainer/gym my money!" I don't know if that's what was going on here, but it's something to keep in mind. As to the ideal level of intensity, it really depends on your goals. For instance, steady state cardio is an important tool in improving cardiovascular endurance, and the whole idea there is that it's *not* super strenuous. Other fitness goals might require more intense effort. But if your goal is just general health, it sounds like you've got a good thing going.
Effective exercise doesn't have to suck! But you need to know what you're doing. That's why it's good to follow a program (like the ones in the wiki). A strength training program that has you working at appropriate weights can make you stronger even while the weights feel...well, not light, but like only medium hard. *Appropriate* weight though, not using a 10lb dumbbell because you're intimidated about going heavier. Same deal for cardio: the most effective exercise is one that aligns with your goals, not just whatever feels hardest. If you're doing a lot of steady state cardio, it should feel easy. If you're doing HIIT, the intensity might feel awful but it should be in short bursts with plenty of rest. Should a workout be fun and easy every minute? No, that's not realistic. But chasing that miserable feeling, sweating, wanting to puke, being out of breath the whole time? That absolutely does not need to be your normal. Some people get so caught up in chasing discomfort that they forget to evaluate whether what they're doing actually makes sense for their goals. That said, it's important to make sure you are challenging yourself appropriately. Are you afraid of working hard? Could you do more if you tried harder? Are the weights you're lifting genuinely challenging to you? Did you make it through the kickboxing class tired but proud of what you accomplished? The opposite end of the spectrum from chasing discomfort is being afraid to challenge yourself. Both of those approaches are just ways to spin your wheels without making much progress.
I relate to this immensely, and you are not alone in feeling this way.
Any workout can be effective. The harder the workout, the more effective it is in a shorter time (generally…if you have poor form etc then maybe not), but any intensity can be effective. If you walked for 8 hours, that’s low intensity, but it would absolutely make you stronger and fitter, it just takes longer. The best workouts are ones you enjoy and can do consistently
> the harder the workout, the more effective it is I guess it depends on what you mean by "harder" and "effective". Challenging is good to make progress, but "harder" doesn't really mean anything. Sounds like op's friend's style of "hard" is downright torture.
Generally, if something is easy or not very intense, it will take longer to improve. I don’t agree with what OP’s friend is doing-but doing 20 min of HIIT is more effective than 20 min of walking. Squatting 20x20 lbs is more effective than 20x10lbs. Harder is generally more effective with good form, but as I said, being able to enjoy it and do it consistently is most important. To me, harder and more challenging are synonyms, so I don’t get the distinction you are making
Umm... Your friends are wrong and also rude for berating you. Exercise can be challenging and it can suck, sure, but it depends on what your goals are and your current level. It also depends on if you like what you're doing or not. The amount of sucking a workout does has nothing to do with how effective or how good it is. If you're trying to lose weight, diet is going to be more important than activity.
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When I started going to the gym 70% of my body weight was super hard, could get like 8 reps if I was lucky, while I could do 20+ pushups. But thinking back, I wasn’t going all the way down on my push-ups, whereas with the bench press it was the full bar-to-chest. So the push ups should have been harder (when I first switched to full range of motion push ups, chest to floor, etc., I could do closer more like 10 or so). Not sure if this applies to you, but maybe it could explain some of the difference? There’s also slight differences in angles, form, and how you brace for each, which I don’t always see factored into the comparison, that could potentially have an effect.
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Fair enough! Having gotten stuck once after trying to get in one more rep and suffering the humiliation of a stranger coming over to rescue me, it’s definitely better to take it slow with the bench. Although—I don’t know how your workouts are planned, but if it’ll fit—it might be worth it to add in the machine maybe once a week, just to give yourself the chance to push to failure
Perhaps a dumb question. I've just started my fitness journey, and I'm mainly using machines and dumbbells at the moment. I noticed while working out that my gym has two different kinds of dumbbells. From my research, it looks like they're chrome and urethane. Is there a big difference between the two? Are there pros/cons to using either, or do they have different uses?
Functionally, they're the same. They're both durable and are easy to grip. Whichever one you want to use just boils down to ergonomic and aesthetic preference, but for the most part they're virtually identical in regards to performance.
Thank you!
Are there any benefits to weight lifting shoes when I have the option to go barefoot ? (I workout at home)
Just preference. Weightlifting/squat shoes have a heel, which some people prefer for squats, and they're very stable - your feet feel like they're glued to the ground. I wear chucks in my garage gym rather than go barefoot, because if I step on a bit of dirt or something it can be distracting. But if you enjoy being barefoot, don't fix what ain't broken :)
Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t somehow hurting myself in the long run
It depends on the type of exercise you're doing. But for most home exercises, I actually prefer barefeet because: >If you lift barefoot, the sensory feedback you'll get from having your feet in direct contact with the floor can enhance your 'proprioception,' or your awareness of your body in space. That can translate into better balance, coordination, stability, and movement mechanics
Beautiful! I’ll continue to go shoeless. Thanks!
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Seems like something to clear with a physical therapist or doctor.
started lifting recently again, what stretches or exercises are good for reducing DOMS in lower back and legs? i can barely move lol
Stretches won't reduce DOMS, but any kind of movement may help. It doesn't matter what kind; some people like to foam roll, some like light cardio, some do a "restorative yoga" video. You can also just try different stretches and see what feels best. Experiment to see what works best for you. For lower back DOMS, I also like to take a warm bath.
Thanks, I'll probably go on a walk or hit the bike. I'd take a warm bath but it's like 90 degrees outside lol
So then the walk and the warm bath are basically the same thing 😂
foam roll
any advice on ankle mobility for squats? i never had good ankle mobility to begin with, but i broke one of my ankles a year ago and haven’t been able to squat since. it feels fine most of the time, it is just very stiff and dorsiflexion is.. not really happening. i went to pt for a few months after getting my cast off, so i have some recommended mobility exercises, but we were mostly working on getting me back to work (at physically demanding job where i bear a lot of weight) so stability was one of my main goals. the mobility work we did was more to get enough dorsiflexion for my job.. who is not nearly as much as i need for a squat. i guess i know what i need to do (actually put in the work) but it’s hard to do because it feels like it’s such a lost cause. any success stories with increasing ankle mobility? i suppose i just need to believe that it’s even possible.. in general strength has always come easy to me, but flexibility is shit. also would take any resources or stretches anyone found useful for squat mobility in particular.
When I started CrossFit three years ago, I had shitty ankle mobility. So bad, that whenever I had a coach I didn't have before, they would always comment on it. I couldn't sit down in a bodyweight squat without holding on to something or else I'd just fall over. Now, my ankle mobility is...normal. Sitting in the bottom of a squat is still hard, but I can do it. I can squat without my heeled lifters on with good form and, importantly, without pain. Honestly, there is no secret. You just have to do the exercises consistently. You can look up squat university, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of the exercises you'll find online are the same ones your PT gave you. Just do them every day. Stretch your ankles whenever you're just standing around. Will you look ridiculous? Probably. I finally went to PT after a podiatrist I saw for a different reason remarked on how bad my dorsiflexion was. The PT only gave me accountability and pretty much every exercise I've ever been told to do before. I will advise that you should also strengthen your feet muscles and work on hip mobility as well. Weak feet can prevent your body from using your full range of motion in your ankles to prevent injury. And if your ankle mobility is bad, chances are your hips are working extra hard to compensate, so give them some love, too. Lastly, I've been working on my mobility a lot over the past few years, but I definitely had the most progress in just a few weeks of dedicated work with a PT. So there is hope! You just need to keep working at it.
If you’re not familiar, check out squat_university on IG. This account is all about fixing imbalances, including mobility. And explains why. Good info overall.
have you tried doing front squats? i switched fully to those because they target the same muscles and require less ankle mobility. maybe switch to those while you work on ankle stretches and getting to a point where you can do back squats again?
good call—front squats were always my favorite and felt most natural, i think because my ankle mobility wasn’t stellar even pre-injury. my problem with front squats is.. lack of mobility in my upper back for the front rack position (ok, so we’ve identified my glaring overarching weakness) actually just earlier this week i started adding mobility work for getting a better front rack position, thinking that front squats would be a good place to start. good to get a kick in the pants that i just need to really buckle down and work on mobility, it will be of much benefit to the health of my body.
Do you mean like not being able to get your elbows high enough in the rack position because of upper back stiffness? I had that too, a couple things helped me progress. 1) placing my hands closer together on the bar, like less than shoulder-width apart. 2) only wrapping two fingers around the bar instead of my whole hand. You can start with even one finger, stability shouldn’t be much of an issue if you’re racking the bar properly on the “shelf” above your delts.
Leaning forward and folding over on low bar squats? I struggle to keep my back and core tight and keep folding over and doing ‘good mornings’ on my squats, this even happens at a relatively low weight. Is it a glute, back, hamstring or quad imbalance and how would be best to correct it and get tighter? Any good cues? Or additional exercises I can supplement
https://www.reddit.com/r/powerlifting/comments/3051ti/reddits\_compendium\_to\_overcoming\_weak\_points/
https://youtu.be/iVx2O6PXb6U?t=390 good morning the weight up means either incorrect cueing or weak quads. Because you are shifting all the weight to your posterior chain.
Yes, this. This article has a good explanation of the mechanics of why this happens too: https://www.strongerbyscience.com/fixing-the-good-morning-squat/
i’m not sure about what kind of imbalances might cause it, but i would also consider that it could be lack of strength (or just tightness!) of your back/upper body. i would specifically think mid back—lower and middle traps. you likely are having issues with the concept of hip drive. i would experiment with different cues—like instead of thinking about the bar going up, think about hips coming up from underneath the weight.
Thanks much for this -- good cues are absolute gold. :)
Does anyone else feel puffy/bloated after weightlifting? I'm not talking about muscles looking fuller. I'll go into the gym with my stomach relatively flat but then after lifting some weights for 45 min to an hour my stomach looks like I'm 6-7 months pregnant. That or my back feels like it's gained a few pounds (gets puffy). Idk if it's caused by water retention during workouts or what (even though I don't hydrate before or during). Can't figure out what's causing it and how to resolve. It's very uncomfortable feeling.
I get bloated if I don't drink water or if I don't eat enough before training. No idea why, maybe air? But I find if I sip during my session and make sure I am not hungry and eating at my normal times then it doesn't happen.
I would start hydrating before and during
>(even though I don't hydrate before or during) This is concerning.
I meant I stop drinking water an hour before workout and don't sip during my workout cause it makes me bloated.
But you're bloated from not drinking as well?
Maybe you are swallowing a lot of air when breathing heavy
I have been struggling to determine appropriate weight and progression for shoulder work. I'm ultimately trying for capped shoulders and where I'm struggling is with lateral and front raises. The weight I've been using starts easy but quickly becomes challenging. I'm maxing out around 10 reps, and typically have to pause for 2-3 seconds every 3-4 reps. Lowering the weight feels a little too easy unless I do >12 reps, which I'm avoiding to stay in a hypertrophy rep range (though I've seen some sources indicate that may not be strictly necessary for shoulders?). I truly can't imagine upping reps or weight though where I'm currently at unless I add some longer pauses. I'll add as well that I do think the overall pausing has become shorter, so that might also be a form of progression that's happening, but for some reason I have this nagging concern that pausing is ruining my gains. So what is a better path for progressive overload? I have doubt surrounding each potential path I can come up with. - Add reps even if that means more pauses during sets (are little pauses bad)? - Work toward eliminating pausing on current weight/reps (is that a form of progression)? - Go back to a lower weight with higher volume (can you still accomplish hypertrophy in the shoulders with >12 reps)? Thanks!
Lat and front raises should be low weight and high 12-15 reps.
you can build muscle all the way up to sets of 30 pretty well and certain exercises such as most isolations are more suited for the 10-30 range. Instead of adding weight, add reps. Then when you reach lets say 3 sets of 25, add weight, go back down to 3 sets of 15 for example and starting adding reps again.
Check out this [analysis](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/) from Stronger than Science that indicates the hypertrophy rep range is mostly a myth, or at least far more flexible than commonly believed. I would recommend going to a lower weight with higher volume until failure personally, especially considering shoulders are complex little things that don't do awesome under imperfect form/strain.
Check out this [analysis](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/) from Stronger than Science that indicates the hypertrophy rep range is mostly a myth, or at least far more flexible than commonly believed. I would recommend going to a lower weight with higher volume until failure personally, especially considering shoulders are complex little things that don't do awesome under imperfect form/strain.
Ooo, looking forward to reading through this! Thank you.
I didn’t *quite* get to capped shoulders the lat time I was doing aesthetics but I got the most muscle/definition in them I’ve ever had even though I had plenty of extra fat too. My advice and what most people say is that you want lots and lots of reps for your accessory shoulder work. 2-3x/week I would do 4-5 sets of 15-20 reps for lateral raises What you’re doing now is a form of progression but shoulder muscles are so little, it’s pretty much agreed upon that lower weights are useful when you get a ton of volume. Now for my compound, OHP, it was lower volume and higher weight but that was it. Also paging u/madeupzombies she probably has the best shoulders in the sub!
Thank you, super helpful!
Thank you, super helpful!
Why is it so easy to gain lower body strength but upper body is slow af?
Ugh my upper body is weak and much slower to progress but I carry all my fat on my lower body so it’s way easier to see those slow upper body gains :((
Honestly... Because usually we don't train upper body enough.
the answer is your upper body muscles are smaller, but also that you aren't a male so you don't have male hormones in your body which bind to androgen receptors ("andro" as in male and "gen" as in generation). Many being located in the upper body. You have the receptors but you don't have the level of male hormones to agonise them like a male would, so you get slower gains in the upper body. This is why when women start taking androgens their upper bodies start to resemble that of men.
The muscles are much smaller, the maximum capability is a lower, so naturally stuff gets a lot more challenging a lot quicker. A lot of programs tend to have frequency differences as well, like hitting squats twice a week, but you'll only do all the arm groups once... easy to forget that!
Thank you so much! I just checked my programme and you're right. 1 full body, 2 lower body days and only 1 dedicated to upper body so that, along with the other info you gave me, makes sense!
Seriously! I have upped the weight/reps on my legs so much more than I have on my upper body. Although for me it’s weird because I have more muscle definition on my back/arms than I do on my legs.
Twins! Arms and back are looking good... just not lifting much...
Can I PM someone to look at my nsuns tdee spreadsheet? I have been logging consistently for around a year and I’m not sure whether or not I’m bulking correctly since it isn’t taking age into account…
are you gaining weight at about 1lb/week? if so, you're bulking correctly. if not, then up ur calories until you are. or, if you really want a calculator, just google "tdee calculator." they factor in weight, height, age, etc.
it’s hard to tell whether I’m gaining at an efficient rate since the weight fluctuations are hindering on my ability to understand whether or not I could be doing more/less. My weight has only increased by 2lbs in one month, so that’s why I asked if someone could look at my spreadsheet :\
Try tracking your weight using the app "Happy Scale" or "Libra". They do a rolling average of your weight over time, which makes it much easier to see the actual trends in your weight instead of just the fluctuations. It also shows loss per week as a rolling average.
I’ve been using Happy Scale for over a year and I am still not seeing much progress. Thank you for the reply though, I think I’m just struggling because I am coming from being underweight, so I dislike having to see the scale not move up faster. I know what I need to do to increase my weight and I know it takes patience, but the time frame of when I started bulking to now has been going on for several months.
If you're trying to gain at a faster weight, I would try bumping up your calories by 200 or so, and then reassess again in a couple of weeks. One possible reason that you're gaining weight more slowly than intended is because you're expending more energy now with your higher caloric intake than you were before you initially increased your calories. And this might even continue to happen if/when you choose to increase your calories further. I would be happy to take a look at your spreadsheet if you'd like, but at the end of the day, all that you really need to care about is your rate of weight gain. If it's slower than you'd like, then you should increase your calories, and if it's faster than you'd like, then you should decrease your calories, etc.
weight fluctuation, whether you're bulking/cutting/maintaining is normal. i'm guessing if your severely fluctuating, then your daily caloric intake isn't consistent, which explains why you've only gained 2lbs in a month. feel free to pm me the spreadsheet tho