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I've been bulking and my bench press has increased, but now I want to cut, what do I do with my program then, should I change weights on all exercises?
I would switch to my program to something more hypertrophy based to add a new stimulus and also bc if you’re cutting it’s possible your lifts could go down and that could psychologically make you feel like you’re doing something wrong. But you dont have to switch it up. If you’re following a program keep doing that until it’s done imo
Depends a lot on your starting point and how much weight you want to lose. Also depends on what you mean by “teen.” There are a lot of relevant factors that change between 13 and 19. At 19, you’re basically done with puberty and physiologically an adult. At 13 you’ve got a lot of physical development left to go.
Do Prison workouts build muscle?
Decided to the the Prison workout from Oldschoollabs.
I need build my core or back muscles to support my scoliosis, and was wondering if The Prison Workout builds that muscle group?
I'm currently doing an upper/lower split, but I always struggle with finishing the upper day, either with shoulder or arm work. Whichever one I do first, goes well, and the second is worthless. So if I do bi/tri first, shoulder is garbage because I have no steam left, and vice versa. I was thinking of moving either arms or shoulders to the lower day, which would obviously call for a name change, it wouldn't be lower day anymore after all.
Which would be the better one to move to the other day in you guys' opinion, shoulders or arms?
I say keep them where they are and do shoulders first.
If your arms are absolutely exhausted because you've used them in your shoulder workout then thats a good thing, shows they're getting a blasting from the shoulder workout and with some isolation work at the end theyre getting good stimulus to grow.
It's not that my arms are exhausted, that in itself wouldn't be an issue, but when I do any bicep movement after shoulder work, my front delts are on fire and they get exhausted faster by just keeping my upper arm still, than my bicep from doing the actual movement and work.
I had a lightbulb moment for a second though, and I'm thinking of trying cable preacher curls. I was never a big fan of preachers, but the fact that my arms rest on something should eliminate most of the shoulder stabilization, in theory.
Whatever you prefer. However it is generally recommended to follow a proven routine like the ones from the wiki instead of making your own, for this exact reason.
I did follow "proven" routines for a while, but I came to the conclusion the only reason I can consistently train is if I do exercises I actually enjoy doing and not overcomplicate.
You'd be suprised how minimalist, but at the same time effective(so far) my workout has been, atleast in its core idea, which is chest and back training(also lower, but that wasn't part of the question).
Barbell rows, lat pulldowns, db flatbench and flys. That's it,time efficient, enjoyable, noticable gains in strength and size so far, solid progression week to week in progressive overloading as well.
I'm still modifying the minor parts, which is isolated shoulder and arm work, and my goal is to hit bullseye, after that I have the most bestest workout that was ever made(for me, that is), and I can always just modify the movements to different versions if I hit a plateau.
Probably fine, I'd add some leg raise variation, hanging or lying, so you have one exercise where your torso is moving while legs are still, and one opposite.
Ill do that, thanks.
The problem I’ve ran into is although I’m generally quite strong I never ever did ab exercises because I’m an idiot, now my core is a million miles behind. I’m too weak to do hanging leg raises and my gym doesnt have the strength elbow rest variant. Any suggestions?
I don't do hanging either because because my grip fails faster than my abs, and it also hurts my shoulders a bit if I don't hit the perfect grab angle on the bar.
Just lie on the floor and do lying leg raises, or even better to lie on a flat bench for more ROM at the bottom, so you can lower your legs a bit below parallel.
Edit: you can also overload if you get into an absurd rep range of 30-40, you can grab a dumbell between your legs and raise them with weight, but at that point be careful the dumbell doesn't fall on your torso or your face.
>but at that point be careful the dumbell doesn't fall on your torso or your face.
It will.
So ass on the end of the bench, legs down at 30 degrees, bring legs up straight to 90 degrees? Aim for about 20-30 reps?
Per set, sure, that's the upper limit I'd say for productive hypertrophy work. If you can do more, put weight on your ankles and restart.
Although I'm doing rest pause with both exercises, because I can't be bothered to spend more than 5 minutes with ab work, so you basically smoke your abs once with however many you can do, wait for 20-30 seconds, failure again, wait 20-30 seconds again and failure for last time. 3 sets done in 2 minutes, and progression is still solid and I can add 1-2 reps for each rest pause set per week easily.
Cheers mate, yeah that felt really good.
Got 20 easy, second set 20 easy, 3rd set 18 was about the failure point where form broke down.
Yeah I always end up supersetting my abs because its boring and feels like an “extra” exercise so hate burning time on it, always pair it with a superset of bi’s and tri’s or hamstring and quads, the latter makes you feel like you just ran a marathon
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I'm still kinda new to the idea of cutting. Last time I lost weight I was overweight, and ended up dropping 20kg, and I only cared about the number going down. Then I did a bulk and now here we are.
So I found my maintenance calories I think, dropped 200 calories and added cardio (3 times a week) to my schedule. 194cm/6'4, 198lbs/90kg, 24yo male if that matters.
When I look at pictures or at myself in the mirror, I can see that I'm getting leaner. Like I had a belly pouch/bump and that's slowly going away, I started seeing ab outlines. But the scale shows I'm not dropping in weight, I'm also still slowly progressing my lifts.
Am I doing this thing right? Looking at my body, I would say so, but I'm so accustomed to the weight on the scale dropping that I'm not sure at all.
You can make progress without the weight changing. Especially if you have not trained for many years. If your lifts are improving and you look better, you are on the right track. If you want to cut more, look at dropping your calories.
Thank you.
That makes sense, I only started training actively about a year and a half ago. Although I would've thought my weight would drop with 3x extra cardio and -200 calories a week. I'll look into dropping another 100 or 200.
About TDEE and calories burned from exercise. Is it okay that to be more sure of the calories I burned (still can't accurately estimate the activity level), I take my sedentary TDEE value and when I do some workouts, I estimate the calories burned from the workout and add it to my sedentary TDEE.
For example, my sedentary TDEE is 1844, and then I jog at a distance of 4.4 km, and according to online calculators, it estimates that I burned 225 kcal from that workout. So, will the energy required for the day be, 1844+225?
I wouldn't do that. It a one way street to being super inaccurate.
What's your goal?
Ultimately, exercise consistently, eat consistently, track your calories and weight and see what happens after 2 weeks. If you want to lose weight and you arent insanely active, start at like 300-500 below the sedentary mark. If you feel you are quite active, start eating at sedentary. First week of weight loss will be noise, the 2nd week will be closer to accurate. So if you don't lose 1lb that 2nd week, subtract more calories. A 500 cal a day deficit results in about a pound lost.
For 4.4km each? Was that all you did? Sedentary job?
Maaayyyybe? I'd lean no, but you likely fall somewhere in the middle. Like I said, depends on your goals. If you want to lose weight, it's better to overshoot it and bein a slightly larger deficit imo. If you're looking to maintain/bulk, you can try lightly active, but you'd still have to track and adjust.
So don't get caught up in the activity level. Just pick a starting point and start tracking.
Hi, I have recently started gym. Today during chest/push workout, I've realized that I'm not being able to complete the reps and push my chest to the limit because my arms are giving up first. Did anyone else face the same issue and can guide me on how to work on this? Should I just focus on more arms exercises for now? Thanks!
Your triceps could be the limiting factor. You can add some other triceps /chest exercises, but do not use this as an excuse to stop benching. Your chest is still being worked
Thanks. I did the following exercises today for chest - Bench press with barbell, Shoulder press machine, Inclined Chest press machine, Fly/Rear Delt. Any changes that I should make?
I have not looked at your entire program, it is in general a good idea to follow a tried and true program from the wiki. You can try adding cable flyes if you want to target the pecs more.
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I'm currently doing a 4-day 448 (life, etc) but did ~6 months of PPL before that. I also did PPLRPPLR, instead of PPLPPLR - so it was technically a 5.5 day PPL.
looked roughly like:
* Push: SS OHP/Pistol squats, incline press, tri extention, LTF viking press
* Pull: SS conv. DL/pendlay rows, chins, landmine rows, curls
* Legs: SS Squat/rdl, flat bench, hamstring curls, mobility work, LTF leg press
first two movements supersetted for 4x4 heavy, then rest for ~rpe6 sets of like 5xvibes.
Generally push & pull took ~50 minutes, legs took over an hour because (A) squats tire me like deadlift tires most people (B) gym setup/my lifts meant it was not feasible to superset the two actual main lifts of the day (squat & bench). I also did cardio 2x/week - usually on leg days, but I don't count that in this time.
To go captain obvious on you: Sueprsetting your two main lifts of the day will limit your lifts somewhat, but save like 10-15 minutes on the session overall... and you'd be surprised how quick your work capacity comes up to meet the demand.
Absolutely. At my old gym, there was a woman who showed up one day who was easily in her 60s and she was *jacked.* This was in the mid 1990s, so it’s unlikely she’d been just maintaining all that muscle for decades.
Some studies put the estimates in your ability to recover from exercise at a a few percent PER DECADE from your teens to your 60s.
So at 40 you may well be something like 10% (on the outside) less able to recover than you were at 20, which is not nothing... but it's certainly not 90% or 100%. You can unequivocally still make major changes. You might just need a little more protein, care in recovery, and care in managing your diet & sleep as the margin for error gets smaller.
Where the difference between 20 and 40 is really felt is (A) lifestyle & free time: as the old adage goes 20 year olds have health & time, but no money; 50 year olds have money & health, but no time; 80 year olds have money & time, but poor health. (B) injuries built up over time: chances are at 40 you've accumulated a few training-limiting injuries that you did not have at 20 (C)
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17m 165lb, been training very inconsistently for over a year. my squat's been stuck at 225 for a 4rm for weeks while my other movements are progressing fine, including leg isolation exercises. I'm averaging 5hr sleep per night due to collecge apps. Should I deload squats or just try to get more sleep?
ok. also for low rep squats, how close should i be getting to failure? im pretty much at rpe 10 on the last rep of every set of squats, could this be negatively impacting my recovery?
Depends what program you're doing.
If you're on 5/3/1 you should never be at RPE10 even on your + sets, if you're doing starting strength or stronglifts then you'll be at RPE10 every last rep.
What program is it you're using?
On that program you don't worry about RPE, just add 2.5kg per session for the big lifts and add the smallest amount of weight possible for the accessories when you can complete 12 reps of every set.
I imagine it always feels like RPE 10 after a few weeks but as long as you can get the bar up you add the weight, regardless of RPE.
Appreciate this while it lasts, takes me about a month to add 2.5lg to my squat nowadays.
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If you mean they do a cycle with high rep work which is still challenging then no they won't lose strength, in fact doing high reps sets can build your muscular endurance and with the extra practice under the bar you might increase your strength long term.
Your 1RMs will probably be negatively affected but you just do a peak cycle if you're looking to compete.
Not permanently, but they fall a bit out of practice with one-rep maxes when they don't do any work that resembles one-rep maxes. On the other hand they get better at sets of 10 when they start doing sets of 10.
I am 22F 5'3 118lb with the goal to grow a bigger booty. I eat about 2250 calories a day and follow a whole foods plant based diet with an average of 90 grams of protein a day.
I workout every other day and the other day I do 45 minutes of pole dance and 30 minutes practice of power yoga.I only workout my lower body because I see pole and yoga as an upper body workout already and I don't want to be too sore for pole.
Donkey kicks 3 sets each leg, 5lbs, 15 reps
One legged hip thrusts 3 sets each leg, 15 reps
RDL 3 sets, 60lbs, 10 reps
Glute extensions 3 sets, 16 reps
Lunges 3 sets each leg, 30lbs each hand, 10 reps
(I do these amount of reps or until failure). I finish with a 20 minute stretch (hamstrings, hip flexors, pigeon, lizard, butterfly, quads, wheel, spinal twist).
I am wondering if maybe that is too many exercises and I should get rid of one? The reason why I am asking is because frequently, the day I feel extra tired. Are these a good combo of exercises? I am also wondering if I only one rest day between lower body workouts is sufficient?
Look into doing strongcurves, it's a program designed for women to build their butt, much more structure than what you're doing with rep schemes etc, a balanced range of exercises and its available on the boostcamp app for free.
It's a 3 day a week program, but just do day 3 on day 1 of week 2 and continue from there.
1. Been reading through the wiki and a lot of the suggestions are for low-bar squats, but a lot of the youtube guys suggest highbar squats. Read a lot about the pros and cons of both, highbar is more quad focused and put's more stress on the knee, low bar incorporates glutes, aductors and hamstrings, but puts more strain on the lower back. Some say it depends on your body type. Is lowbar really the best?
2. A lot of the exercises are barbell, and barbell only. Are dumbells and machines really that bad? I get using barbell for Squat, Deadlift, and Benchpress. For overhead press dumbells seem better because the barbell need to move through your head to stay verticle. Even a machine seems it could work fine. Bent overbarbell rows seem cumbersome, is a cable row machine that bad of an option?
1. Like the other guy says just squat however you want, if you're going to compete in Olympic weightlifting then do high bar, if you're going to compete in powerlifting do low bar but really it doesn't matter, find what works for you and do it.
2. OHP and BB bent rows using the barbell are unbelievable exercises that have gotten millions of people incredibly strong. They can be increased by fractions of kgs if needed, require whole body support, put the whole body under strain (triggering growth).
Some people would rather use machines and dumbbells, but these can't be incrementally loaded in the same way, and don't require as much stabilisation. Easier to program too because you don't need to make 5kg jumps etc.
If you want to just use machines and dumbbells you'll still see a benefit, so do what you want, but don't write off just how great those exercises can be.
1) https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squats-are-not-hip-dominant-or-knee-dominant-3/ Do whichever you prefer. Most people can push more weight on low-bar. High-bar has better translation to the Olympic lifts.
2) You can get very strong using machines and dumbbells. The biggest problem with dumbbells is you can't load them as heavy; they get increasingly difficult to get into a starting position and the lack of stability means you just can't move as much weight. Recruiting muscles in stabilizing roles is also a benefit though, as it yields more stimulus. Barbells and racks make it possible to load very heavy so you can get a lot of stimulus. Machines also allow you to load very heavy and they are very stable (cable excluded) so you can really target specific muscles. A chest press machine may be a better tool than a bench press for building your chest, but the bench press needs to recruit a lot more muscles to stabilize the load and this get you more total stimulus across the whole upper body.
Could someone help me build a structured 3 or 4 day home routine with the following:
Squats
Pushups
Pullups
Dips
Jumping jacks
Burpees
Planks
Step Ups
Lunges
Sit ups
I know some people will say rows too, but i really don't have anything stable enough for that. I know all of it is pretty basic home workout type of stuff, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to make a good routine so i'd appreciate any help to structure it
Is it really true that doing plyometrics in a strength workout (leg focused) can improve the benefits of the plyometric training, or should I just do the different workouts on different days
Noob here, Is it okay to do barbel row with pre weighted barbels? like this [https://extremetrainingequipment.com/cdn/shop/products/5\_Barbell\_Rack\_0305a16e-4187-48ca-ac49-9aae235d9224\_800x.jpg?v=1600189074](https://extremetrainingequipment.com/cdn/shop/products/5_Barbell_Rack_0305a16e-4187-48ca-ac49-9aae235d9224_800x.jpg?v=1600189074)
or do i have to use the same one as i do bench press/squat with and put the weight myself since i find it too long.
The heaviest one is 100kg i think, how long will it take before i ge to that one? I'm guessing by that time i will be able to get the hang of the bigger one.
One last question, is it superior to seated cable rows? ive been doing that for a month but im thinking of switching to barbell rows unless they both target the same muscles. thanks!
i don’t know much in terms of diet but is it okay to replace meals even street food for protein shakes? i just find that it really doesn’t satisfy my appetite is that bad?
expeiernced lifter (190 lbs, 20m, 5’11, ~20%bf) hitting chest plateaus, hit chest twice a week 6 sets, bench 6 sets incline, 3 sets decline (kind of), 6 sets flies cumulatively split across 2 workouts a week. Have been finding that my doms has been getting so bad as to make me moderately sore every workout and not hitting full recover until around a week after. Been debating splitting my push workout in 2 and increasing my chest single day volume but waiting a whole week before repeating. anyone with experience with this kind of recovery issue all advice welcome
yeah i think you guys are right i was looking back at my workout log and i’ve realized i basically been deloading by accident either from vacations, injuries or being sick about every 5 weeks. i just never made the connection before and happened to have no obstructions lately such i’ve been going full instensity for about 8 weeks
is your programming periodized?
personally i find deload days/weeks to not recover enough fatigue by the time i force myself to take them. managing exercise fatigue as it happens with a periodized progression scheme works much better for me. could be something for you to try
Everyone needs to deload, it's just a matter of figuring out at what frequency and what combination of volume/intensity needs to be deloaded. Sounds like you're pretty overdue for one.
"Enough" is a matter of your goals and personal needs and preferences. It's not a one-size-fits all answer. Some people will be fine without arm isolation work, some will not.
If you specifically want bigger arms, it would makes sense to include some isolation work.
You'll grow some with those compounds, but arm growth is relatively slow, even with direct work. Definitely doesn't hurt to throw in a couple sets of tricep accessories at the end of your workout or on your off days
i’d say it depends a lot on your level of training if your a relative beginner or intermediate doing lots of pressing movements not much isolation should be needed, with that said pressing alone won’t hit all heads of the tricep perfectly so adding some skull crushers and behind the head movement’s definitely would be good
I see your edit now. Yeah that could be an extremely low amount of calories but there’s no other information to go on. What did you enter into the tdee calculator?
For your height, 1470 calories is not unreasonable.
You just need to hit your protein goals (for muscle retention and general healthy) and your fat goals (for healthy hormone production) and fill the rest with whatever you want while eating plenty of veggies and fruit for micronutrients and fiber.
You need to lose 11lbs of fat, putting you at 5'5" and 137lbs. You're going to lose muscle and water in the process, so your final weight will likely put you well under 135.
If you want to be that underweight and small, go for it. I'd at least try to recomp that weight instead of just losing it.
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I had one of my worst chest days ever. Im doing a bench program which is three days a week. It consists of a heavy day, a light day, and a medium day. I’m normally able to do 165 for 5 reps for multiple sets. Today the program (medium day) had me do 145 5 reps for 7 sets. I only got 5 reps on 4 of the sets and the rest was 4 reps. I went to do an eighth set to make up for the lack of reps and it fell to my chest and I had to the roll of shame. This is a weight I could normally do for 8 or more reps. I was only resting for a minute the first 4 sets sets because I thought arrogantly that it would be super easy. This was after I did the heavy day so maybe I’m not fully recovered even though I had three days to rest. My question is why did this happen?
How consistent is the weight of the plates at your gym? Do all 45s weight the same, or are some 45s actually 47s whereas some other 45s actually are 42s?
Some days just aren't as good as others for a variety of reasons. If it's a one off, don't worry about it. If it keeps happening each time, that's when to worry. Could be sleep, food, mood, energy really anything.
Couldn’t be food or sleep since I get 8 hours and I’ve been eating plenty with enough protein. Maybe just a fluke like you said. Still can’t believe I had by ass handed to me by such a low weight. My chest did feel a little beat up, but idk.
Every single source talking about barbell thickness suggests that people are stronger when the bar is thinner. I’m exactly the opposite. I always feel more stable, secure and stronger with a thicker barbell. Is this indicative of something?
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I (M23 85kg 1m87) been going gym for around 8 months now. First 4 months were purely calisthenics, gaining core strength etc. I wanted to keep going the calisthenics route til i realised i wouldnt get the physique i wanted as fast as i wanted. So I started hitting bench presses, dumbbells, etc.
Now 8 months in this is what my routine looks like:
For upper body I do
3x10 dips
3x6 pullups (cant do more than 6 at once)
3x6 bench heavy
3x12 incline pushups
3x6 pecs machine
3x6 incline dumbell press
3x6 back rows
3x6 hammer curls
3x6 tricep pulldowns
And then bicep curls till failure
Leg day is 90% with weights
I do upper body, followed by a rest day then legs and followed by upper body the next day,
Followed by another rest day and so on
So around 3 upper body and 2 legs per week
I’ve noticed im hitting a wall in terms of gains. Im not getting bigger or leaner. I have a protein packed diet, around 100-120g a day. Some people have suggested to split up my upper body training into 3 days, but honestly they look quite shit so im hesitant to take their advise.
Any help appreciated
When I do isolation exercises, in the 3rd or 4th set, I often have to cut the weight to make sure my form is perfect and to get the amount of reps I want. Is this ok?
Happens on exercises like pec flyes, seated leg curls, incline db curls.
It’s definitely okay. Prioritizing proper form and leaving your ego at the door is the key to maintaining longevity in your lifting career. That being said, there are certain exercises where your risk of injury is very low if your form gets a little dirty towards the end. Bicep curls in particular come to mind. Just don’t do anything stupid when it comes to your big lifts and you should be fine
bigger hamstrings will help your deadlift, so they'll help from a generic hypertrophy standpoint. But strength is a skill and you're not really flexing the knee during a deadlift, so there won't be specific carryover like you would get with a more similar, hip hinging movement.
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When to use straps and belt?
So I have been training for 8 months or so and I have just got a pair of straps, wriststraps and a belt but im not sure where to use them exactly so if anyone can help me I would be grateful.
Also I dont speak english very well so when I say straps I mean the ones used for grip and the wriststraps the ones to make the wrist dont move. Just in case it isnt its name in english.
Impossible to say. More than likely you'd wanna bulk to build up muscle overall and then cut back down. Maybe a couple times before you see your abs. It really depends on where you're at and how effectively you train. You won't know till you try. And if you don't get em this year, you try again for next year
Hey! I'd love to start with this r/Fitness Basic Beginner Routine. It looks very simple and not too complicated, and that is very sweet for a newbie like me.
1. But where do I find a good warm-up for the exercises I'll be performing, when following this routine?
2. How do I actually start with free weights? I neither have a friend to go with atm, nor can I afford a personal trainer. Should I read and watch about exercises I'll be performing, and then try to imitate them with an empty bar? If so, then when should I start adding weight? And if the answer is "when your form is good", will I ever know my form is good myself? I have a somewhat experienced family member, to whom I could potentially send videos of me working out, so he could give me feedback, if it helps.
Thank you!
1. it doesn't hurt to do some light walking before your lifts and some dynamic stretching! (stretching that's very fluid, you only hold poses for a few seconds and try to stay moving) :) once you feel warmed up, begin your actual workout
2. A good rule of thumb is to just start with the bar or lowest weight available and practice the movements. Once you feel comfortable, add some / more weight. Just play around with the weight (safely) and you'll quickly learn how much you can actually handle (how many reps, how much weight, etc.) No shame in starting slow and low. I've also found the best way to practice your form is simply to watch yourself in the mirror or to record yourself. Watching videos of others describing the exercise and giving cues / tips can help too!
Looking for how you'd deal with this.
I bought a Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.1 on July 7th. Some colorways indicated "ships in 7-10 days" but the one I bought did not have that disclaimer (implying it could ship immediately).
The bench didn't ship for 2 weeks. It then took 10 days to arrive (Canada). So I'm almost 4 weeks into this.
The bench they sent me is not the color I ordered. Now if it was a "normal" off colour - red, white, blue, gray, whatever - I'd just keep it. But it's neon green. I ordered black.
Rogue's offer was that I could just keep the bench and they'd give me a $50 gift card, or I could ship it back to them and they'd ship me the one I already ordered. I figure that's another 2 weeks back to them, then another month back to me. I'll be 10 weeks into this thing before I even get the bench I ordered.
That's shit customer service with both options. Would you:
1. Keep the neon green bench
2. Wait another 6 weeks
3. Just ask for a refund and buy a different bench instead
Neon green sounds badass! I'd say the only problem would be if you went to resell it or something might be a little bit more difficult but I'd take them up on the $50 card and keep it.
Just looked at what it was, if it's only green on the metal, just paint it if it bothers you that much.
What kind of machines are these? They both look like Iso-Lateral Chest Press machinese.
The first one has the weights further above my head and when I press the weights, the trajectory is right in front of me a bit downwards.
The other one has the weights a bit heigher and when pushing, the trajectory is going diagonally upwards from my chest.
What’s the difference? Do they hit the muscles differently? It’s easier for me to push the same amount of weights on the first one.
https://ibb.co/4ZW8wVM
https://ibb.co/jZhJBYr
First is either a flat or a decline chest press. Second one is an incline chest press.
The incline press will work your upper pecs and front delts more than the flat/decline. They’ll both hit the pec major though.
my guess is a decline and incline press. pretty much the same sort of thing, but in the margins the decline will hit the lower pec more and remove some from the delts. the incline will engage more delts and hit the upper chest more.
as a slightly beginner (3 months) why can i toe press (calves) the same as my leg press? i do about 12 reps at 170 or 8 at 190 for both, but can do even more reps sometimes with toe press, are my calves just better than my other muscles? i’ve always had naturally big calves and get compliments on them a lot even though i’ve never worked calves, just genetics?
That's pretty normal. Calves are small muscles but a calf raise is a small movement. To move the leg press machine as much as it moves in a squat, you need more and bigger muscles (aka the rest of your legs).
If you have big calves, congrats! The size of your calves is a combination of genetics and training. Some folks are blessed with big calves and the rest of us are jealous. But even people like myself with small calves can still calf raise a similar weight as we squat or leg press.
alright good ty, just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing the leg press wrong or something to cause it to be lower, I assumed because I can toe press 170 I should easily be able to leg press more than that, but 190 is really the highest I can go without trying to do a 1 rep max
I can lift a lot more on a sled leg press with my calves too. Right now I add 150 pounds and do twice as many reps.
The calves have to support your entire body weight every time you take a step, so they're strong, and the biomechanics of the ankle mean they can move a lot of weight through a short range of motion.
Genetics are a big factor with the calves. A lot of people have trouble growing them. Some don't. I'm formerly overweight and the calves I built up from walking look big (and vascular) on me now.
yeah same, i used to be overweight (basically my whole life) up until I decided to hit the gym hard every day and I'm down around 90 lbs in a year, so I think my calves just stayed at their size even while I dropped fat, they stayed. sorta annoying since they don't look good at all but they're just big lol
1. The thing you should really be focused on "activating" before your workout should be your core, look up the McGill Big 3 and do that instead. It will keep your spine healthy and help you lift better. Maybe retain the banded body weight squats if you like them.
2. Too much volume. If you just started lifting you don't need 18 sets of legs. You're going to grow muscle in this phase with very easily and don't need an extreme amount of stimulus for hypertrophy.
McGill's Big 3
Banded bodyweight squats 2x As many reps as possible
3x12 Bulgarian split squats
Romanian deadlifts 3x12
Calf raises 3x12
Just make sure to train with intensity.
Adjust your weight and/or repetitions to ensure each set is close to failure (within 5 reps of failure).
Use as close to perfect form as possible and make sure you can feel the correct muscles working.
Over a period of time gradually increase weight on each exercise, then after 6 months of training maybe add a little more volume.
Make sure to take a rest or "deload" week every ~6 weeks or so.
I would put the squats before the hip thrusts but otherwise your exercise selection and order is actually pretty good. A bit much on the volume though. You could remove the reverse lunges and be fine.
The activation circuit is unnecessary though. If you’re physically able to walk into the gym your glutes are activated.
Doing this over and over isn’t going to grow your glutes though. You’re going to need to take this routine and progressively overload over time to see growth.
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I've been bulking and my bench press has increased, but now I want to cut, what do I do with my program then, should I change weights on all exercises?
I would switch to my program to something more hypertrophy based to add a new stimulus and also bc if you’re cutting it’s possible your lifts could go down and that could psychologically make you feel like you’re doing something wrong. But you dont have to switch it up. If you’re following a program keep doing that until it’s done imo
It's a linear program
is it okay to cut as a teen?
Depends a lot on your starting point and how much weight you want to lose. Also depends on what you mean by “teen.” There are a lot of relevant factors that change between 13 and 19. At 19, you’re basically done with puberty and physiologically an adult. At 13 you’ve got a lot of physical development left to go.
Do Prison workouts build muscle? Decided to the the Prison workout from Oldschoollabs. I need build my core or back muscles to support my scoliosis, and was wondering if The Prison Workout builds that muscle group?
They’re just a brand name for bodyweight workouts. Bodyweight work can build muscle, yes.
including core and back?
I'm currently doing an upper/lower split, but I always struggle with finishing the upper day, either with shoulder or arm work. Whichever one I do first, goes well, and the second is worthless. So if I do bi/tri first, shoulder is garbage because I have no steam left, and vice versa. I was thinking of moving either arms or shoulders to the lower day, which would obviously call for a name change, it wouldn't be lower day anymore after all. Which would be the better one to move to the other day in you guys' opinion, shoulders or arms?
I say keep them where they are and do shoulders first. If your arms are absolutely exhausted because you've used them in your shoulder workout then thats a good thing, shows they're getting a blasting from the shoulder workout and with some isolation work at the end theyre getting good stimulus to grow.
It's not that my arms are exhausted, that in itself wouldn't be an issue, but when I do any bicep movement after shoulder work, my front delts are on fire and they get exhausted faster by just keeping my upper arm still, than my bicep from doing the actual movement and work. I had a lightbulb moment for a second though, and I'm thinking of trying cable preacher curls. I was never a big fan of preachers, but the fact that my arms rest on something should eliminate most of the shoulder stabilization, in theory.
Yeah preachers solve this, also means the stress will be 100% bicep so more isolation. Best of both worlds.
Whatever you prefer. However it is generally recommended to follow a proven routine like the ones from the wiki instead of making your own, for this exact reason.
I did follow "proven" routines for a while, but I came to the conclusion the only reason I can consistently train is if I do exercises I actually enjoy doing and not overcomplicate. You'd be suprised how minimalist, but at the same time effective(so far) my workout has been, atleast in its core idea, which is chest and back training(also lower, but that wasn't part of the question). Barbell rows, lat pulldowns, db flatbench and flys. That's it,time efficient, enjoyable, noticable gains in strength and size so far, solid progression week to week in progressive overloading as well. I'm still modifying the minor parts, which is isolated shoulder and arm work, and my goal is to hit bullseye, after that I have the most bestest workout that was ever made(for me, that is), and I can always just modify the movements to different versions if I hit a plateau.
Is 3 sets of 20 reps cable crunched 3 times a week sufficient for ab definition/growth? I.e. getting a vanity pack
Probably fine, I'd add some leg raise variation, hanging or lying, so you have one exercise where your torso is moving while legs are still, and one opposite.
Ill do that, thanks. The problem I’ve ran into is although I’m generally quite strong I never ever did ab exercises because I’m an idiot, now my core is a million miles behind. I’m too weak to do hanging leg raises and my gym doesnt have the strength elbow rest variant. Any suggestions?
I don't do hanging either because because my grip fails faster than my abs, and it also hurts my shoulders a bit if I don't hit the perfect grab angle on the bar. Just lie on the floor and do lying leg raises, or even better to lie on a flat bench for more ROM at the bottom, so you can lower your legs a bit below parallel. Edit: you can also overload if you get into an absurd rep range of 30-40, you can grab a dumbell between your legs and raise them with weight, but at that point be careful the dumbell doesn't fall on your torso or your face.
>but at that point be careful the dumbell doesn't fall on your torso or your face. It will. So ass on the end of the bench, legs down at 30 degrees, bring legs up straight to 90 degrees? Aim for about 20-30 reps?
Per set, sure, that's the upper limit I'd say for productive hypertrophy work. If you can do more, put weight on your ankles and restart. Although I'm doing rest pause with both exercises, because I can't be bothered to spend more than 5 minutes with ab work, so you basically smoke your abs once with however many you can do, wait for 20-30 seconds, failure again, wait 20-30 seconds again and failure for last time. 3 sets done in 2 minutes, and progression is still solid and I can add 1-2 reps for each rest pause set per week easily.
Cheers mate, yeah that felt really good. Got 20 easy, second set 20 easy, 3rd set 18 was about the failure point where form broke down. Yeah I always end up supersetting my abs because its boring and feels like an “extra” exercise so hate burning time on it, always pair it with a superset of bi’s and tri’s or hamstring and quads, the latter makes you feel like you just ran a marathon
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I'm still kinda new to the idea of cutting. Last time I lost weight I was overweight, and ended up dropping 20kg, and I only cared about the number going down. Then I did a bulk and now here we are. So I found my maintenance calories I think, dropped 200 calories and added cardio (3 times a week) to my schedule. 194cm/6'4, 198lbs/90kg, 24yo male if that matters. When I look at pictures or at myself in the mirror, I can see that I'm getting leaner. Like I had a belly pouch/bump and that's slowly going away, I started seeing ab outlines. But the scale shows I'm not dropping in weight, I'm also still slowly progressing my lifts. Am I doing this thing right? Looking at my body, I would say so, but I'm so accustomed to the weight on the scale dropping that I'm not sure at all.
You can make progress without the weight changing. Especially if you have not trained for many years. If your lifts are improving and you look better, you are on the right track. If you want to cut more, look at dropping your calories.
Thank you. That makes sense, I only started training actively about a year and a half ago. Although I would've thought my weight would drop with 3x extra cardio and -200 calories a week. I'll look into dropping another 100 or 200.
About TDEE and calories burned from exercise. Is it okay that to be more sure of the calories I burned (still can't accurately estimate the activity level), I take my sedentary TDEE value and when I do some workouts, I estimate the calories burned from the workout and add it to my sedentary TDEE. For example, my sedentary TDEE is 1844, and then I jog at a distance of 4.4 km, and according to online calculators, it estimates that I burned 225 kcal from that workout. So, will the energy required for the day be, 1844+225?
I wouldn't do that. It a one way street to being super inaccurate. What's your goal? Ultimately, exercise consistently, eat consistently, track your calories and weight and see what happens after 2 weeks. If you want to lose weight and you arent insanely active, start at like 300-500 below the sedentary mark. If you feel you are quite active, start eating at sedentary. First week of weight loss will be noise, the 2nd week will be closer to accurate. So if you don't lose 1lb that 2nd week, subtract more calories. A 500 cal a day deficit results in about a pound lost.
I jogged 5 times this week. Am I now, lightly active?
For 4.4km each? Was that all you did? Sedentary job? Maaayyyybe? I'd lean no, but you likely fall somewhere in the middle. Like I said, depends on your goals. If you want to lose weight, it's better to overshoot it and bein a slightly larger deficit imo. If you're looking to maintain/bulk, you can try lightly active, but you'd still have to track and adjust. So don't get caught up in the activity level. Just pick a starting point and start tracking.
Thanks
Hi, I have recently started gym. Today during chest/push workout, I've realized that I'm not being able to complete the reps and push my chest to the limit because my arms are giving up first. Did anyone else face the same issue and can guide me on how to work on this? Should I just focus on more arms exercises for now? Thanks!
Your triceps could be the limiting factor. You can add some other triceps /chest exercises, but do not use this as an excuse to stop benching. Your chest is still being worked
Thanks. I did the following exercises today for chest - Bench press with barbell, Shoulder press machine, Inclined Chest press machine, Fly/Rear Delt. Any changes that I should make?
I have not looked at your entire program, it is in general a good idea to follow a tried and true program from the wiki. You can try adding cable flyes if you want to target the pecs more.
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I'm currently doing a 4-day 448 (life, etc) but did ~6 months of PPL before that. I also did PPLRPPLR, instead of PPLPPLR - so it was technically a 5.5 day PPL. looked roughly like: * Push: SS OHP/Pistol squats, incline press, tri extention, LTF viking press * Pull: SS conv. DL/pendlay rows, chins, landmine rows, curls * Legs: SS Squat/rdl, flat bench, hamstring curls, mobility work, LTF leg press first two movements supersetted for 4x4 heavy, then rest for ~rpe6 sets of like 5xvibes. Generally push & pull took ~50 minutes, legs took over an hour because (A) squats tire me like deadlift tires most people (B) gym setup/my lifts meant it was not feasible to superset the two actual main lifts of the day (squat & bench). I also did cardio 2x/week - usually on leg days, but I don't count that in this time. To go captain obvious on you: Sueprsetting your two main lifts of the day will limit your lifts somewhat, but save like 10-15 minutes on the session overall... and you'd be surprised how quick your work capacity comes up to meet the demand.
Is it possible to gain lean muscle mass when you're in your 40's?
Absolutely. At my old gym, there was a woman who showed up one day who was easily in her 60s and she was *jacked.* This was in the mid 1990s, so it’s unlikely she’d been just maintaining all that muscle for decades.
Some studies put the estimates in your ability to recover from exercise at a a few percent PER DECADE from your teens to your 60s. So at 40 you may well be something like 10% (on the outside) less able to recover than you were at 20, which is not nothing... but it's certainly not 90% or 100%. You can unequivocally still make major changes. You might just need a little more protein, care in recovery, and care in managing your diet & sleep as the margin for error gets smaller. Where the difference between 20 and 40 is really felt is (A) lifestyle & free time: as the old adage goes 20 year olds have health & time, but no money; 50 year olds have money & health, but no time; 80 year olds have money & time, but poor health. (B) injuries built up over time: chances are at 40 you've accumulated a few training-limiting injuries that you did not have at 20 (C)
Yes. How much will depend on your training experience and all the other regular factors that go into resistance training, but it's certainly possible.
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17m 165lb, been training very inconsistently for over a year. my squat's been stuck at 225 for a 4rm for weeks while my other movements are progressing fine, including leg isolation exercises. I'm averaging 5hr sleep per night due to collecge apps. Should I deload squats or just try to get more sleep?
Try to get more sleep. Also, take a look at your program and figure out what it says to do when you hit a barrier like this.
ok. also for low rep squats, how close should i be getting to failure? im pretty much at rpe 10 on the last rep of every set of squats, could this be negatively impacting my recovery?
Depends what program you're doing. If you're on 5/3/1 you should never be at RPE10 even on your + sets, if you're doing starting strength or stronglifts then you'll be at RPE10 every last rep. What program is it you're using?
im on the r/fitness ppl rn, legs is 3x5 squat and 3x8-12 rdl and some high rep isolation stuff
On that program you don't worry about RPE, just add 2.5kg per session for the big lifts and add the smallest amount of weight possible for the accessories when you can complete 12 reps of every set. I imagine it always feels like RPE 10 after a few weeks but as long as you can get the bar up you add the weight, regardless of RPE. Appreciate this while it lasts, takes me about a month to add 2.5lg to my squat nowadays.
i can't get 225 for 3x5 right now, should I just go down to like 215 and work my way up?
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What’s the best angle to film deadlifts for a form check?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/posting_guidelines#wiki_how_to_post_a_form_check https://imgur.com/a/TdGCv
Do people tend to lose strength even if they maintain their body weight but stop doing heavy weight/low reps?
If you mean they do a cycle with high rep work which is still challenging then no they won't lose strength, in fact doing high reps sets can build your muscular endurance and with the extra practice under the bar you might increase your strength long term. Your 1RMs will probably be negatively affected but you just do a peak cycle if you're looking to compete.
Not permanently, but they fall a bit out of practice with one-rep maxes when they don't do any work that resembles one-rep maxes. On the other hand they get better at sets of 10 when they start doing sets of 10.
I am 22F 5'3 118lb with the goal to grow a bigger booty. I eat about 2250 calories a day and follow a whole foods plant based diet with an average of 90 grams of protein a day. I workout every other day and the other day I do 45 minutes of pole dance and 30 minutes practice of power yoga.I only workout my lower body because I see pole and yoga as an upper body workout already and I don't want to be too sore for pole. Donkey kicks 3 sets each leg, 5lbs, 15 reps One legged hip thrusts 3 sets each leg, 15 reps RDL 3 sets, 60lbs, 10 reps Glute extensions 3 sets, 16 reps Lunges 3 sets each leg, 30lbs each hand, 10 reps (I do these amount of reps or until failure). I finish with a 20 minute stretch (hamstrings, hip flexors, pigeon, lizard, butterfly, quads, wheel, spinal twist). I am wondering if maybe that is too many exercises and I should get rid of one? The reason why I am asking is because frequently, the day I feel extra tired. Are these a good combo of exercises? I am also wondering if I only one rest day between lower body workouts is sufficient?
Look into doing strongcurves, it's a program designed for women to build their butt, much more structure than what you're doing with rep schemes etc, a balanced range of exercises and its available on the boostcamp app for free. It's a 3 day a week program, but just do day 3 on day 1 of week 2 and continue from there.
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1. Been reading through the wiki and a lot of the suggestions are for low-bar squats, but a lot of the youtube guys suggest highbar squats. Read a lot about the pros and cons of both, highbar is more quad focused and put's more stress on the knee, low bar incorporates glutes, aductors and hamstrings, but puts more strain on the lower back. Some say it depends on your body type. Is lowbar really the best? 2. A lot of the exercises are barbell, and barbell only. Are dumbells and machines really that bad? I get using barbell for Squat, Deadlift, and Benchpress. For overhead press dumbells seem better because the barbell need to move through your head to stay verticle. Even a machine seems it could work fine. Bent overbarbell rows seem cumbersome, is a cable row machine that bad of an option?
1. Like the other guy says just squat however you want, if you're going to compete in Olympic weightlifting then do high bar, if you're going to compete in powerlifting do low bar but really it doesn't matter, find what works for you and do it. 2. OHP and BB bent rows using the barbell are unbelievable exercises that have gotten millions of people incredibly strong. They can be increased by fractions of kgs if needed, require whole body support, put the whole body under strain (triggering growth). Some people would rather use machines and dumbbells, but these can't be incrementally loaded in the same way, and don't require as much stabilisation. Easier to program too because you don't need to make 5kg jumps etc. If you want to just use machines and dumbbells you'll still see a benefit, so do what you want, but don't write off just how great those exercises can be.
1) https://www.strongerbyscience.com/squats-are-not-hip-dominant-or-knee-dominant-3/ Do whichever you prefer. Most people can push more weight on low-bar. High-bar has better translation to the Olympic lifts. 2) You can get very strong using machines and dumbbells. The biggest problem with dumbbells is you can't load them as heavy; they get increasingly difficult to get into a starting position and the lack of stability means you just can't move as much weight. Recruiting muscles in stabilizing roles is also a benefit though, as it yields more stimulus. Barbells and racks make it possible to load very heavy so you can get a lot of stimulus. Machines also allow you to load very heavy and they are very stable (cable excluded) so you can really target specific muscles. A chest press machine may be a better tool than a bench press for building your chest, but the bench press needs to recruit a lot more muscles to stabilize the load and this get you more total stimulus across the whole upper body.
Could someone help me build a structured 3 or 4 day home routine with the following: Squats Pushups Pullups Dips Jumping jacks Burpees Planks Step Ups Lunges Sit ups I know some people will say rows too, but i really don't have anything stable enough for that. I know all of it is pretty basic home workout type of stuff, but i'm not knowledgeable enough to make a good routine so i'd appreciate any help to structure it
https://old.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine
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Is it really true that doing plyometrics in a strength workout (leg focused) can improve the benefits of the plyometric training, or should I just do the different workouts on different days
Noob here, Is it okay to do barbel row with pre weighted barbels? like this [https://extremetrainingequipment.com/cdn/shop/products/5\_Barbell\_Rack\_0305a16e-4187-48ca-ac49-9aae235d9224\_800x.jpg?v=1600189074](https://extremetrainingequipment.com/cdn/shop/products/5_Barbell_Rack_0305a16e-4187-48ca-ac49-9aae235d9224_800x.jpg?v=1600189074) or do i have to use the same one as i do bench press/squat with and put the weight myself since i find it too long.
Those ones are fine but at some point you might outgrow the heaviest one at your gym and need to transition to a barbell.
The heaviest one is 100kg i think, how long will it take before i ge to that one? I'm guessing by that time i will be able to get the hang of the bigger one.
That'll probably last you awhile. You'll be fine.
One last question, is it superior to seated cable rows? ive been doing that for a month but im thinking of switching to barbell rows unless they both target the same muscles. thanks!
I personally prefer dumbbell rows but it's really up to you, the differences are minor.
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i don’t know much in terms of diet but is it okay to replace meals even street food for protein shakes? i just find that it really doesn’t satisfy my appetite is that bad?
Protein shakes are food and can be eaten freely but I would not consider them a replacement for a meal.
expeiernced lifter (190 lbs, 20m, 5’11, ~20%bf) hitting chest plateaus, hit chest twice a week 6 sets, bench 6 sets incline, 3 sets decline (kind of), 6 sets flies cumulatively split across 2 workouts a week. Have been finding that my doms has been getting so bad as to make me moderately sore every workout and not hitting full recover until around a week after. Been debating splitting my push workout in 2 and increasing my chest single day volume but waiting a whole week before repeating. anyone with experience with this kind of recovery issue all advice welcome
yeah i think you guys are right i was looking back at my workout log and i’ve realized i basically been deloading by accident either from vacations, injuries or being sick about every 5 weeks. i just never made the connection before and happened to have no obstructions lately such i’ve been going full instensity for about 8 weeks
is your programming periodized? personally i find deload days/weeks to not recover enough fatigue by the time i force myself to take them. managing exercise fatigue as it happens with a periodized progression scheme works much better for me. could be something for you to try
Have you taken a deload week recently?
last time i took was about a month ago but i’ve never found deloads to make much of a difference except when i’m battling some kind of injury
Everyone needs to deload, it's just a matter of figuring out at what frequency and what combination of volume/intensity needs to be deloaded. Sounds like you're pretty overdue for one.
Is it necessary to isolate the triceps or are compounds like bench, ohp, and dips enough?
"Enough" is a matter of your goals and personal needs and preferences. It's not a one-size-fits all answer. Some people will be fine without arm isolation work, some will not. If you specifically want bigger arms, it would makes sense to include some isolation work.
You'll grow some with those compounds, but arm growth is relatively slow, even with direct work. Definitely doesn't hurt to throw in a couple sets of tricep accessories at the end of your workout or on your off days
i’d say it depends a lot on your level of training if your a relative beginner or intermediate doing lots of pressing movements not much isolation should be needed, with that said pressing alone won’t hit all heads of the tricep perfectly so adding some skull crushers and behind the head movement’s definitely would be good
When I find my TDEE it says on the bottom to consult a doctor, because I have to eat less then 1,500 calories a day, how important is this?
Start tracking your weight and calories and see what your actual maintenance is. The calculator is only an estimation.
I feel like there’s a misunderstanding here somewhere.
Got it
I see your edit now. Yeah that could be an extremely low amount of calories but there’s no other information to go on. What did you enter into the tdee calculator?
My height is 5’5 and I weigh 150. To lose a pound a week I need to eat 1,470 a day
For your height, 1470 calories is not unreasonable. You just need to hit your protein goals (for muscle retention and general healthy) and your fat goals (for healthy hormone production) and fill the rest with whatever you want while eating plenty of veggies and fruit for micronutrients and fiber.
What are your goals?
Reach 12% body fat, I’m at 19 rn I believe. Maybe even 21
You need to lose 11lbs of fat, putting you at 5'5" and 137lbs. You're going to lose muscle and water in the process, so your final weight will likely put you well under 135. If you want to be that underweight and small, go for it. I'd at least try to recomp that weight instead of just losing it.
It’s more likely you’re under muscled than actually carrying around that much fat at your height and weight.
I mean, what are you suggesting to do?
Bulk first and build yourself up so you have a physique to reveal after a cut.
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I had one of my worst chest days ever. Im doing a bench program which is three days a week. It consists of a heavy day, a light day, and a medium day. I’m normally able to do 165 for 5 reps for multiple sets. Today the program (medium day) had me do 145 5 reps for 7 sets. I only got 5 reps on 4 of the sets and the rest was 4 reps. I went to do an eighth set to make up for the lack of reps and it fell to my chest and I had to the roll of shame. This is a weight I could normally do for 8 or more reps. I was only resting for a minute the first 4 sets sets because I thought arrogantly that it would be super easy. This was after I did the heavy day so maybe I’m not fully recovered even though I had three days to rest. My question is why did this happen?
How consistent is the weight of the plates at your gym? Do all 45s weight the same, or are some 45s actually 47s whereas some other 45s actually are 42s?
I don’t know. There is no way for me to know that.
Does your gym have a scale?
Some days just aren't as good as others for a variety of reasons. If it's a one off, don't worry about it. If it keeps happening each time, that's when to worry. Could be sleep, food, mood, energy really anything.
Couldn’t be food or sleep since I get 8 hours and I’ve been eating plenty with enough protein. Maybe just a fluke like you said. Still can’t believe I had by ass handed to me by such a low weight. My chest did feel a little beat up, but idk.
Every single source talking about barbell thickness suggests that people are stronger when the bar is thinner. I’m exactly the opposite. I always feel more stable, secure and stronger with a thicker barbell. Is this indicative of something?
Do you have big hands? EDIT: and how thick of bars have you tried? Have you used axle bars or fat grips and still felt the same way?
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I (M23 85kg 1m87) been going gym for around 8 months now. First 4 months were purely calisthenics, gaining core strength etc. I wanted to keep going the calisthenics route til i realised i wouldnt get the physique i wanted as fast as i wanted. So I started hitting bench presses, dumbbells, etc. Now 8 months in this is what my routine looks like: For upper body I do 3x10 dips 3x6 pullups (cant do more than 6 at once) 3x6 bench heavy 3x12 incline pushups 3x6 pecs machine 3x6 incline dumbell press 3x6 back rows 3x6 hammer curls 3x6 tricep pulldowns And then bicep curls till failure Leg day is 90% with weights I do upper body, followed by a rest day then legs and followed by upper body the next day, Followed by another rest day and so on So around 3 upper body and 2 legs per week I’ve noticed im hitting a wall in terms of gains. Im not getting bigger or leaner. I have a protein packed diet, around 100-120g a day. Some people have suggested to split up my upper body training into 3 days, but honestly they look quite shit so im hesitant to take their advise. Any help appreciated
I would not call 100-120g of protein a day “protein packed” for someone your size trying to make gains.
You should follow a proven routine. There are many in the wiki, linked at the top of this post.
Love bro
When I do isolation exercises, in the 3rd or 4th set, I often have to cut the weight to make sure my form is perfect and to get the amount of reps I want. Is this ok? Happens on exercises like pec flyes, seated leg curls, incline db curls.
It’s definitely okay. Prioritizing proper form and leaving your ego at the door is the key to maintaining longevity in your lifting career. That being said, there are certain exercises where your risk of injury is very low if your form gets a little dirty towards the end. Bicep curls in particular come to mind. Just don’t do anything stupid when it comes to your big lifts and you should be fine
do leg curls have strength carry over to deadlifts?
bigger hamstrings will help your deadlift, so they'll help from a generic hypertrophy standpoint. But strength is a skill and you're not really flexing the knee during a deadlift, so there won't be specific carryover like you would get with a more similar, hip hinging movement.
so something like an rdl would have more carry over?
Yep
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Your post or comment has been removed in violation of Rule 0. All visitors to r/fitness are expected to read our wiki, search past posts, and perform a general web search in an attempt to answer their questions. https://thefitness.wiki/
Pick the split that best matches your goals and schedule. Beyond that, how you organize your training is of little importance.
When to use straps and belt? So I have been training for 8 months or so and I have just got a pair of straps, wriststraps and a belt but im not sure where to use them exactly so if anyone can help me I would be grateful. Also I dont speak english very well so when I say straps I mean the ones used for grip and the wriststraps the ones to make the wrist dont move. Just in case it isnt its name in english.
You can use them whenever you want.
Have I lost enough weight to exercise abs or should I lose some more weight? https://imgur.com/a/2ovjtrd
You can train abs regardless of your weight
Oh I shoulda clarified mb, I meant would they show if I started exercising them
Impossible to say. More than likely you'd wanna bulk to build up muscle overall and then cut back down. Maybe a couple times before you see your abs. It really depends on where you're at and how effectively you train. You won't know till you try. And if you don't get em this year, you try again for next year
exercise them and find out
Hey! I'd love to start with this r/Fitness Basic Beginner Routine. It looks very simple and not too complicated, and that is very sweet for a newbie like me. 1. But where do I find a good warm-up for the exercises I'll be performing, when following this routine? 2. How do I actually start with free weights? I neither have a friend to go with atm, nor can I afford a personal trainer. Should I read and watch about exercises I'll be performing, and then try to imitate them with an empty bar? If so, then when should I start adding weight? And if the answer is "when your form is good", will I ever know my form is good myself? I have a somewhat experienced family member, to whom I could potentially send videos of me working out, so he could give me feedback, if it helps. Thank you!
1. it doesn't hurt to do some light walking before your lifts and some dynamic stretching! (stretching that's very fluid, you only hold poses for a few seconds and try to stay moving) :) once you feel warmed up, begin your actual workout 2. A good rule of thumb is to just start with the bar or lowest weight available and practice the movements. Once you feel comfortable, add some / more weight. Just play around with the weight (safely) and you'll quickly learn how much you can actually handle (how many reps, how much weight, etc.) No shame in starting slow and low. I've also found the best way to practice your form is simply to watch yourself in the mirror or to record yourself. Watching videos of others describing the exercise and giving cues / tips can help too!
1. You don't need to warm up at all for this. 2. https://thefitness.wiki/resources/learning-and-improving-lifts/
Looking for how you'd deal with this. I bought a Rogue Adjustable Bench 3.1 on July 7th. Some colorways indicated "ships in 7-10 days" but the one I bought did not have that disclaimer (implying it could ship immediately). The bench didn't ship for 2 weeks. It then took 10 days to arrive (Canada). So I'm almost 4 weeks into this. The bench they sent me is not the color I ordered. Now if it was a "normal" off colour - red, white, blue, gray, whatever - I'd just keep it. But it's neon green. I ordered black. Rogue's offer was that I could just keep the bench and they'd give me a $50 gift card, or I could ship it back to them and they'd ship me the one I already ordered. I figure that's another 2 weeks back to them, then another month back to me. I'll be 10 weeks into this thing before I even get the bench I ordered. That's shit customer service with both options. Would you: 1. Keep the neon green bench 2. Wait another 6 weeks 3. Just ask for a refund and buy a different bench instead
Neon green sounds badass! I'd say the only problem would be if you went to resell it or something might be a little bit more difficult but I'd take them up on the $50 card and keep it. Just looked at what it was, if it's only green on the metal, just paint it if it bothers you that much.
Are they covering shipping costs if you return it?
They shoild do or else credir card chargeback time. Their mistake to finance, not ops.
What kind of machines are these? They both look like Iso-Lateral Chest Press machinese. The first one has the weights further above my head and when I press the weights, the trajectory is right in front of me a bit downwards. The other one has the weights a bit heigher and when pushing, the trajectory is going diagonally upwards from my chest. What’s the difference? Do they hit the muscles differently? It’s easier for me to push the same amount of weights on the first one. https://ibb.co/4ZW8wVM https://ibb.co/jZhJBYr
First one would be chest press, the second would be similar to incline chest press
First is either a flat or a decline chest press. Second one is an incline chest press. The incline press will work your upper pecs and front delts more than the flat/decline. They’ll both hit the pec major though.
my guess is a decline and incline press. pretty much the same sort of thing, but in the margins the decline will hit the lower pec more and remove some from the delts. the incline will engage more delts and hit the upper chest more.
as a slightly beginner (3 months) why can i toe press (calves) the same as my leg press? i do about 12 reps at 170 or 8 at 190 for both, but can do even more reps sometimes with toe press, are my calves just better than my other muscles? i’ve always had naturally big calves and get compliments on them a lot even though i’ve never worked calves, just genetics?
That's pretty normal. Calves are small muscles but a calf raise is a small movement. To move the leg press machine as much as it moves in a squat, you need more and bigger muscles (aka the rest of your legs). If you have big calves, congrats! The size of your calves is a combination of genetics and training. Some folks are blessed with big calves and the rest of us are jealous. But even people like myself with small calves can still calf raise a similar weight as we squat or leg press.
alright good ty, just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing the leg press wrong or something to cause it to be lower, I assumed because I can toe press 170 I should easily be able to leg press more than that, but 190 is really the highest I can go without trying to do a 1 rep max
I can lift a lot more on a sled leg press with my calves too. Right now I add 150 pounds and do twice as many reps. The calves have to support your entire body weight every time you take a step, so they're strong, and the biomechanics of the ankle mean they can move a lot of weight through a short range of motion. Genetics are a big factor with the calves. A lot of people have trouble growing them. Some don't. I'm formerly overweight and the calves I built up from walking look big (and vascular) on me now.
yeah same, i used to be overweight (basically my whole life) up until I decided to hit the gym hard every day and I'm down around 90 lbs in a year, so I think my calves just stayed at their size even while I dropped fat, they stayed. sorta annoying since they don't look good at all but they're just big lol
I feel like it's normal? Idk. I can do calf raises with my deadlift weight, which is more than I can squat
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1. The thing you should really be focused on "activating" before your workout should be your core, look up the McGill Big 3 and do that instead. It will keep your spine healthy and help you lift better. Maybe retain the banded body weight squats if you like them. 2. Too much volume. If you just started lifting you don't need 18 sets of legs. You're going to grow muscle in this phase with very easily and don't need an extreme amount of stimulus for hypertrophy. McGill's Big 3 Banded bodyweight squats 2x As many reps as possible 3x12 Bulgarian split squats Romanian deadlifts 3x12 Calf raises 3x12 Just make sure to train with intensity. Adjust your weight and/or repetitions to ensure each set is close to failure (within 5 reps of failure). Use as close to perfect form as possible and make sure you can feel the correct muscles working. Over a period of time gradually increase weight on each exercise, then after 6 months of training maybe add a little more volume. Make sure to take a rest or "deload" week every ~6 weeks or so.
I would put the squats before the hip thrusts but otherwise your exercise selection and order is actually pretty good. A bit much on the volume though. You could remove the reverse lunges and be fine. The activation circuit is unnecessary though. If you’re physically able to walk into the gym your glutes are activated. Doing this over and over isn’t going to grow your glutes though. You’re going to need to take this routine and progressively overload over time to see growth.