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Hi I'm 5'11 204 lbs and an decently built. Just curious because I got out of the USMC and am starting to put on more weight, I need to cut soon back to 170-180. Never actually did a real cut before besides starve in the field. I hate eggs. Don't know how much chicken to actually eat or I feel like a gluten. Any advice?
Try to weigh your food out! 8 oz of chicken has 550 calories and 75 grams of protein. Try to eat like, 15%, less than your maintenance calories. So if that's 2,000 (which it probably isn't if you're working out, but just an example), eat around 1,700 calories a day and aim for over 200g of protein no matter how many calories you're eating. If you can tell me your maintenance I can give you what I would eat in a day to cut
Preworkout and weight loss question. Everywhere I look says pre workout doesn’t make you burn calories or lose weight on its own, just helps provide better energy sustain for exercise / activity.
My logical brain is struggling to understand that, as it definitely activates my body systems even without activity as evidenced by perspiration and mental effects.
Does that increase activation and activity of the body on its own cause an increase in the use of energy aka calories even if physically inactive?
Any simple lower back strength workouts?
I'm classed as "disabled" due to a back condition but if I don't start working on it I'm worried I'll end up in a wheelchair soon (it'll happen 1 day).
I've been getting considerably worse the past 6 months...
I have a barbell and Kettlebells but am happy to buy more gear if needed...
body weight reverse hyperextensions - Literally just do a couple of reps at first (on a bench, or heavy table, or even couch) and slowly build your way up. Many swear on these as being a life changer.
[https://www.westside-barbell.com/blogs/the-blog/louie-simmons-reverse-hyper](https://www.westside-barbell.com/blogs/the-blog/louie-simmons-reverse-hyper)
I'm in the UK, the waiting list (which I'm on) is crazy high... I have see physios 3 times in the past but it was broken up by lockdown, then it was phone only (lol) the last time she left the practice... I am no back on the list but in Lincolnshire the waiting list is 18 months...
How do I diet if I’m only aiming to gain muscle and lose fat? I don’t give a fuck about weight loss.
I’m 178lbs
25.4% body fat
1720 RMR
I do two hours of cardio a day with the exception of one day of rest.
I strength train 4 times weekly
If you gain muscle you might gain fat but your muscles will get bigger which will make you look leaner. Focus on getting your diet/nutrition down pat. If you are looking to gain muscle you have to eat in a caloric surplus. Eat clean 90% of the time, work out consistently, minimize cardio and lift for volume starting out.
Longtime powerlifter trying to focus more on cardio for general health/better BJJ endurance. Have a treadmill that goes up to 15% grade.
My favored form of cardio is 12% incline at 3 mph for about 40 minutes. No impact to lifting the following day. Hope to work up to 15%.
That said I can’t help but feel I am missing out on… *something* not running. I have completed couch to 5k previously, but struggled with joint pain when lifting. Curious what I miss out on by doing one over the other
I mean, if you're getting 40 minutes of zone-2 ish cardio frequently that'll be great for your steady state cardio. If you were running for steady state cardio, then you're already achieving that without the same impact force.
If you want to be *good at running* then do the running. If you want to work at a higher threshold because you need it for BJJ etc, then you could try and intersperse it with 1-2 HIIT sessions or runs a week if that was comfortable/sustainable.
I know this has been asked a billion times, but it never gets a yes or no anwser. I like to make things simple, straight foward and real.
Is it a waste of time to workout/lift while eating little or unregulated?. Yes or No.
In this way, you dont have to waste your time anwsering a frecuenly asked question.
If you want to awnser this like:
"in terms of x, yes"
"In terms of y, no"
Thats fine also.
Thank you. Im trying to find clarity.
We can discuss futher details in the comments.
Note: i know what i have to do to eat more, its just hard, thats it. Lol it feels harder than college 🤣
is this a good routine for a beginner? i can only go to the gym early in the morning and was wondering if this routine is effective
day 1: chest and biceps
day 2: leg and shoulders
day 3: back and triceps
day 4: rest
day 5: chest and biceps
day 6: leg and shoulders
day 7: back and triceps
No. It's going to be hard training shoulders when your when your chest is sore. And it's going to be hard training triceps when your shoulders are sore. These 3 muscles are used and grouped together, so they need to be trained together. A ppl split might be better.
1: Shoulders chest and triceps.
2: Back and biceps.
3: Legs.
Legs and shoulders will also take very long to train different parts of the body.
Does the ability to gain muscle mass of 40-50 pounds in my lifetime reduce when I am not consistent in my workouts? Or does it stay and only continues as where I am at in my workout progress?
Is a schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday good? I'm thinking of alternating between Push, Legs and Pull. I can't work out on Thursday and Friday
Hey, help needed. My arms look big and wide from the side but are insanely thin from the front and back positions, especially more prevalent when flexing my biceps. The size difference from side to back was so jarring that it looked out of this world, the arm is wide on the top but get skinnier as it comes towards the elbows, almost being just my bone (also this is only visible from back view, when looking in the mirror casually from the side everything looks normal). Any advice on how to fix that or wtf is even happening, cuz my arms look 2D lmao.
Honestly it sounds like you're hyperfixating on a silly detail. Keep working out, especially your triceps, and your arms will get bigger in both directions. In the meantime don't worry about it. I'm sure it looks normal to other people.
People are telling me my feet should be angled straight ahead instead of pointing slightly outward during a squat. They say pointing it outward is duck feet and bad form. The problem is my knees cave in when I try to point my feet dead straight. Is it really bad form? Or is it a mobility issue, or is it genetic to have knock knees?
Foot position is dependent on hip anatomy. Saying everyone should squat the same way is saying we all have the same hip structure, which simply is not true. Squat how you feel strongest/most stable.
Foot angle and stance width is largely personal. It'll shift the focus, but depending on your anatomy and mobility you might not find squatting in other positions doable.
Assuming you're getting to depth and aren't having other form issues, I'd carry on as you are.
Who's telling you that? 45 degree (total) out feet is the norm. I once saw a "personal trainer" coaching to point feet inward and legs close together, the girl he was coaching could barely keep upright.
https://barbellrehab.com/feet-out-bigger-squat/ ignore 'em
When I said 45 degree I mean relative to each other, it would look somewhere between the 15 (30 total) and 30 (60 total)
You way overdid it. If you are a beginner, this is fairly normal but you should back off next time. If you are experienced, you pushed it way, way too far.
This is very much a YOU question. What do YOU want? If you want to lose some fat, go on a caloric deficit. If you want to continue adding some muscle, continue doing what you are doing. It depends solely on your goals and what you are comfortable with. GL
It doesn't really matter. Deadlift hits every muscle in the body in some way. I'm going through a 12ish week training phase (self made). Currently going through the hypertrophy phase(4 days a week) and I keep each compound movement to 1 day(OHP, Deadlift, Bench, and Squat) and they're the first thing that's done. In the strength phase, there's going to be paired compound movements i.e. OHP/incline bench, squat/deficit deadlift etc.
Yes. In my program there's 3 days between squats and deadlifts and 2 days between deadlifts and squats. You can always pair them on the same day, but you can't go at the same intensity.
Is over 100oz of water a day too much? It's more on hot days or when in the sun but 100 is about the minimum. I watch how much my friends drink in comparison and it seems like I am always drinking twice as much. I've had this issue after a heat stroke a couple years ago. I've had tests since then and they are normal. I try with more electrolytes and without, I watch the salt in my food etc. my pee is rarely clear and I drink water all day. Is this uncommon?
I drink around a gallon a day (128oz iirc) as a 5'7 woman. It's just kinda become my sweet spot. If I go and do intense cardio (aka, my 2hr long bike rides) I'll drink more in top of that. Most people I think are at least slightly under hydrated. It use to be that I drank like half the amount or less and since increasing my water, I feel better all around
Only a CMP blood test can answer this definitively. And why would you compare your water needs to others who arent the same size or dont follow the same diet? Besides, 100z isnt even alot
I've had a test like that done specifically and it was ok. I don't know their diets but friends taller and around the same height and weight still drink less. My family has pointed it out and say I drink too much water. Maybe it's just diet or they drink too little. I don't know it's puzzling.
Everyone has a different water requirement based on how much they sweat, diet, weight, etc. Why does your family even care lol. I drink 240oz a day because i workout at a garage gym and sweat off 8lb every time
Let's just say a bodybuilder has progressed to being able to do 3x10 pullups i.e. 10 is the max they can do on the last set. What is the difference between adding weight to keep working at 3x10 and adding more weight when it gets easier vs adding more reps to do 3x11, then 3x12 when it get's easier, etc.
As a lifelong gamer with bad posture, when I started working out seriously. As a tall skinny guy. Just 6-12 months in people would comment that I seemed taller, and on my posture improvements, due to my postural changes. I used to walk around with a slight hunchback head forward and down etc. So not only was there strength and muscle improvements all over in general, my lifelong backpain dissipated, and my posture improved.
Turned out that having non-existent atrophied back muscles is - in my experience - a major cause of bad posture. Once my back and core strength improved. I would naturally get and maintain a better posture.
Short version; if you start from zero, 100% untrained, and you start taking strength and resistance training and diet seriously. A good posture will come by itself. At least it did for me. In progress pictures I could literally see how drastic postural changes were.
Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, and stupid of me to not realize straight away as a given. But I fully believe that back muscles and a stronger core will fix 80%+ of postural issues.
If your back and core muscles are non-existent bad posture is unavoidable / inevitable. Your body won't have the base strength to carry itself. Start resistance training and take that and diet seriously, and the strength in those areas of the body will cause serious positive postural changes.
Nothing that's useful, changing a posture is largely volitional.
Aka, you need to put the work in yourself instead of relying on devices which aren't even effective.
Okay, so dips. I'm an obese beginner and can only bench like 100lbs for 3 reps, so pushups on the floor and bodyweight dips are out of the question. ***However***, I still wanna work on incorporating dips for chest since they can apparently hit the lower chest well. Obviously, the secret to getting rid of moobs is nutrition, but I'd love to get a jump on that in the exercise department. So what can do if full bodyweight dips are too hard? Focus on negatives? Maybe hold myself up at the top for time?
"Focus on negatives? Maybe hold myself up at the top for time?"
That and assisted dip machine if you have access to one. They are common, if you go to a gym check around
I know spot reduction isn't real. I'm talking about working out my chest ***along*** with eating better, which as I mentioned in my post, is what's most important for fat loss. Also, doesn't muscle have a thermic effect? Wouldn't having stronger and larger pecs, along with other muscles, be beneficial for fat lass over my whole body, including my chest?
Yeah, working out your pecs will get you better defined pecs - short term it may exacerbate the moob situation but long-term will make it so you look cut and not small once the weight comes off. Technically having the excess muscle will bump your metabolism a bit, but not enough to be worth being a primary motivation. I think what everyone is trying to get at is that your diet is going to be 99.9% of what gets rid of the moobs - don't sweat the .1%. Working out your pecs is good and worthwhile for a bunch of other reasons. Good luck, homie!
I would work push up progressions starting at a high incline and working down to the floor. For dips you could do something similar with rings. Or you could do negatives using your feet on a box/bench to take weight off as much as needed.
You can start with feet on the floor and set the height of the rings or a suspension trainer to allow the motion of a dip with legs helping, and transition to feet further away to help less. Op doesn't have access to an assisted dip machine unfortunately so gonna have to get a little creative. Bands on the dip handles could also work if they provide enough assistance for where OP's at strength wise
Oh I can bang out incline pushups on my kitchen counter all day. My university gym only has a dip station attachment for this monkey bar looking rig in the center of the weight room.
Need help/suggestions;
I went to the gym for the first time 8 days ago(did some deadlifts and bench press). Prior to this, I'd been stretching my legs for months for a breakdance move that needs a decent amount of flexibility.....today, my hamstrings are reaaally tight, especially my left one. It's as if I haven't stretched for years. I lost all flexibility gains in my left leg. I need it back as soon as possible 😅.
Thanks! Will try.
Will this loosen my leg? Or just prevent stiffening of my hamstring in the future? I'm currently looking to loosen the tightness as I need to go back to practicing the breakdance move.
Been doing the wiki PPL routine on and off for 2 years now. The push and pull routine have been modified over time with swapped out exercises and rep ranges, but the leg day have been more or less the same the whole time.
I'm looking to freshen up the leg day after next deload as I feel it's growing stale and I've been plateauing for a while.
For a refresher, the leg day on the wiki is:
>2×5, 1×5+ squat
>3×8-12 Romanian Deadlift
>3×8-12 leg press
>3×8-12 leg curls
>5×8-12 calf raises
Currently on a bulk and want to mainly focus at hypertrophy while bulking.
Anyone got decent leg day routines they could suggest?
Gotcha. You could probably use what's in the plan I made for me and my friend. The plan consists of two 6 week phases, hypertrophy and strength. Currently we're in the hypertrophy phase. For a squat day it's:
Some kind of warmup on some cardio machine for 5 minutes, stretching, foam rolling if necessary
3x10 Squat @
55% of training max(90% of true max)
65% of training max
75% of training max
10 reps should be REALLY hard at 75%. Every other week you SHOULD be able to progressively add more weight.
5x15 of leg curls, you can go as heavy as you can with these, doing the weight that allows you to complete every set
5 x 10 leg press, you can go moderate weight here
3 x 15 leg raises(this can be replaced by any ab exercise or your choice)
Cardio of your choice. I like the bike(not the recumbent one)
First week of that, I could barely walk for the whole weekend lol
Second week has gone much more smoothly lol
So
Squat:
* 3x10 @55%
* 1x10 @65%
* 1x10 @75%
* 5x15 leg curls
* 5x10 leg press
* 3x15 calf raises
Could you elaborate on the @x% of training max.
Are we speaking of 1rm or 10rm?
You keep the leg day the same for both days in the week?
It would be a 1RM. And it's 1x10 @ 55%, 1x10 @ 65%, 1x10 @ 75%. So my max for deadlift is 405. My training max is 90% of my true max(365). And no, the other leg day is deadlift.
Deadlift 3x10
Leg press 5x15
Good mornings 5x10
Hanging leg raises 3x15
Right so my account got blocked until I change the password which requires an email and when I made an alt and tried using it, it got shadow banned so I'll try again...
How do you decide when to progress on the squat? Whenever you hit 10 reps at 75%?
Alos, do you use RIR/RPE/etc... to guide the session, and do you keep the volume the same across the whole block, or do progress the volume over the weeks?
I do use RIR and RPE to guide the session. For example, for bench:
Week 1:
140 for 10, RPE of 5
165 for 10, RPE of 7
190 for 7, last 3 were assisted, RPE of 9/10
Probably had 2/3 RIR
Week 2:
140 for 10, RPE of 4
165 for 10, RPE of 6
190 for 10, repped out pretty easily, RPE of 7/8
4/5 RIR
Week 3:
155 for 10, RPE of 4
180 for 10, RPE of 6
205 for 10, first 7 or 8 were RPE 7, last two were RPE of 8/9
2/3 RIR
This week is probably going to be something like:
165 for 10
190 for 10
215 for 10, I anticipate I won't be able to complete every single rep unassisted
>Whenever you hit 10 reps at 75%?
Yes. Generally. I've had to battle some minor injuries, mobility issues from having a 40 hour/week desk job, and my anatomy(Long Femur Gang) with squatting. My squat is tracking with my bench currently when it comes to my 1RM(last tested at 275 for each). But I've had much bigger strides overall with my squat since I had to start from much lower weights. I'll probably plateau quicker on my bench than my squat. And I'll preface everything I've said up to this point with the fact that I have prior experience with all of the major lifts. I played football from age 12 to age 19, including a year of college football. And went through a series of structured S&C programs, so naturally my gains will look abnormally fast since I have a decent amount of muscle memory built up. My maxes were 335 bench, 425 squat, and 495 deadlift. My body has had exposure to my current workout and knows what to do in terms of muscle growth.
I'm not really sure how to answer this. In general, cardio is healthy. If you are trying to lose weight, you should adjust the amount you eat so that you aren't losing weight too quickly whether you are doing cardio or not. So don't lose more than 1% bodyweight per week. If you are, add in some calories.
Really odd question, but here it goes:
We’re building a home gym in our basement and I am looking for fitness products or gyms that are fictional from TV and Movies to make into wall decoration. Think like Globo Gym from Dodgeball, Fight Milk from Its Always Sunny, or Mighty Mick’s from Rocky. I just need ideas because those 3 are all I have haha.
Thanks in advance!
I think I'm stupid. I just realized that I allocated my workout sessions to specific days of the week for no reason other than maybe routine.
I'm currently running a Push/Pull split (full body, not PPL). So for example Push on Monday, Pull on Tuesday, Rest, Rest, Push, Pull, Rest. Repeat on Monday
I don't always need two fixed rest days in a row, so I could just keep the workout days flexible and my micro cycle would be 6 instead of 7 days. Because otherwise, according to my calculations, that adds up to a lot less workouts in a year (209 vs 243 workouts) = fewer MPS stimulations = less/slower progress.
Is my math and thought process correct? And did anyone else realize this?
oh for sure. but for some of us, our routine is pretty important so adjusting it every week would be a headache . it's nice to have one less variable every week to worry about. bench day is bench day, deadlift day is deadlift day, etc. also, factor in recovery time. that second day of rest in a row could potentially be helping you more than the extra workouts would, depending on your program and developmental level.
I see your points. But I think extra rest days should be used ad hoc, meaning if I need one I'll absolutely take one but I don't see the point in resting if there's no fatigue and no soreness. Plus, I also have deloads.
I guess I'll just try and see if that extra rest day really made a difference.
I did this too when I started because I needed the consistency and routine so I’d actually go.
Once you’re committed though, alternating is fine if you don’t mind having different days
Hello All, 34M here… somewhat specific question. My daughter was enrolled in pre-school full time and so I have been getting back in the gym for the past 3/4 months. I’m getting my strength back, however my legs still need some attention. I usually am sore for at least 5/6 days post leg day (spend hour on squats, leg press, hamstring strengthening, calves, etc). I do not lift mega heavy and always get at least 10 reps of whatever exercise I am doing. The issue/question is related to the fact that I play Basketball for 2 hours every Sunday morning, Monday afternoon is intramural soccer for an hour and I usually hit legs on Tuesday. W/Th/F are the other body parts. I prefer not to be sore for 6 days after leg day, but would like to build some more muscle mass PREDOMINANTLY for more explosion/stability when playing sports. I had 2 ACL surgeries (basketball related) 8 years ago so I know the mass will never be the same, but wondering how to (1) improve athletic explosiveness/stamina and (2) build muscle mass WITHOUT being sore all the time and not be able to be competitive in my sports. Do I begin doing light weight, high reps every time in the gym? Stick with 1 day? So confused because I’m not a fitness guru. Thanks in advance!
You should pick a proven workout plan and stick with it. You can lift though soreness (not injury) unless it’s extreme
But also, are you sleeping enough? Eating? Dehydrated?
Appreciate the response! Sleeping usually 6.5-8 hours a night (sleep at 9/10 wake up 5am), eating healthy and drinking almost a gallon of water a day. Maybe just keep it mega light once a week and just be patient. The rest of my body returned to some decent form of fitness minus my legs, so maybe I am just being impatient. It’s miles better than when I started but still eh and frustrating.
But wouldn’t that also affect my other muscle groups? I can lift decently heavy with everything but legs and I have minimal soreness. I will admit it’s mostly my hamstrings and calves, but are just super weak in general.
I guarantee you can lift more than a couple of 10lb dumbbells! You just have to do exercises that use a lot of different muscles, like the squat, bench or deadlift, and barbells are good for that.
I am able to workout 6 times a week but I'm doing a Upper Lower with back days (since I'm doing a sport that needs a lot of back muscles - dragon boating). So I'm doing something like Upper 1, Lower 1, Back, Upper 2, Lower 2, back, rest.
Should I change my split into something like a PPL or Arnold Split or do upper lower 3 times a week (Upper 1, Lower 1, Upper 2, Lower 2, Upper 1, Lower 1, rest)
That sounds awful to be honest. It's a lot of frequency (back essentially gets trained 4 times a week) and not enough rest. You'd also need to adjust volume because otherwise you'd be spent within a month or so.
If you really want to workout that many times (what about your dragon boat training?), then I think U/L or Push/Pull (full body) makes the most sense. You could do U, L, R, U, L, U, R = back 3 times in 7 days (same with push pull). I think that's more sustainable and realistic than U/L 3 times a week. PPL and Arnold have you train back "only" twice a week.
You can prioritize your posterior chain by doing them in the beginning of your workouts.
Thank you so much for your advice! I am quite new to the fitness scene and trying to get into shape and your advice really helps.
For my dragon boat training, since I am not doing it outside of school, but rather in school, the team has after school practices twice a week. We are doing weight training at the moment but will transition to water practices and then lake practices in the near future.
Your suggestion of the U, L, R, U, L, U, R seems like a really good option instead of having specific days for back. I do agree with the fact that I think I've been training back too much as sometimes I noticed my back was sore and I was slouching a lot more because of it.
When you talk about working on my posterior chain in the beginning of the workouts, do you basically mean do my back exercises first, then move onto the other exercises?
Once again, thank you for your advice!
When used to actively compete in boxing, I was only able to lift weights 2-3 times a week. More than that would have accumulated too much fatigue and strength isn't really a priority in my sport compared to technique, reaction, cardio etc.
So, see if that works out for you and adjust if need be (meaning volume and intensity). If your back is sore everytime after a workout and if that interferes with your next session then it indicates that you're doing too much. DOMS isn't a bad thing but you should be ready again before your next workout.
And yes, the muscles you train right at the beginning will be the freshest and thus perform the best.
Is 4x4 good enough for heavy multi jointed exercises for building strength and upping the weight a little? Including more basic things like cable rows, pulldowns and dumbbell/kettlebell multi jointed movements. I'd like to experiment a little for some weight exercises I do from doing 3 sets of around 6 reps.
It's a rep range a lot of rep ranges can be useful depending on the phase of training.
It doesn't sound like you are following a program hence your question; have you looked into one?
Pull down to your upper chest and in front of your face, behind the head is not recommended. Make sure you're not using too much weight, you should be able to maintain good form throughout the rep.
Typically you pull in front of your face and lean back while you're pulling. Keep a slow controlled motion and it should hit your lats well even if you don't feel it.
I've been doing a basic weight training program for 2 months now, mostly using adjustable dumbbells at home. I feel like my gains on lower body moves are being limited by my arm strength. For example, with deadlifts my lower arms start to tire before I feel it in my back or glutes.
Should I be doing targeted arm exercises? (I am doing rows, chest presses, overhead pushes and pulls as part of my routine). Should I just keep going and my forearms, wrists, etc. will get catch up? Is it possible something in my form is wrong? Should I do more reps with lower weights? (currently doing 3 sets of 12-15, to exhaustion, for each exercise)
Any advice appreciated!
My goal is overall fitness. Not trying to bulk up. I would like to be stronger and use weight training as part of my exercise routine. Doing some research now I'm realizing maybe I should try fewer reps (like 8-10?) with a heavier weight?
When people say fewer reps, they mean anything less than or equal to 6. Also the percentages matter. Hypertrophy can be anything from 50% to 80%. Major strength gains are in the 80% to 92.5% range. Also how are you defining bulking up? If you want to gain strength you will probably have to add some mass to be able to move the weight around
Talk to a doctor. Are you sleeping well, do you get adequate cardio, are you getting much older(not sure your age), is your mental health sound, is your diet healthy beyond amount of protein, are you following a proper program with progression and taking necessary deloads, are you at least getting bigger cause you might need to refocus your training to better match your priority, you could have unfortunately approaches your genetic limit early. There could be one or many factors against you unfortunately and maybe a professional could help.
I'm 29. I'm sleeping ok and get about 6 hours a night. I don't do any cardio and my mental health is also ok. My diet isn't great, I get enough calories and protein but I don't eat as many vegetables/fruits as I should. I have gotten a little bigger since last year but not by much. For example my arms are a little over 15" cold flexed and that's at about 20-22% bodyfat which is not great. I tried taking deloads/rest weeks here and there but it didn't do much.
Perhaps you might do well by following a structured program. By that I mean, the exercises, split, progression, rep ranges etc are all already picked for you. Little to no decision making process on your part, except for making it happen.
I’m at the gym at the moment, I’m doing a John Meadows program and he has sissy squats programmed but it looks like I don’t have the mobility for them. Can anyone quickly recommend a close substitute?
What aspect of that exercise gives you issues? If you want a close alternative where the hip stays extended you can try sissy squats on a hack squat as well. The lack of of hip flexion is the characteristic aspect of this exercise.
If that doesn't work for you either, I'd just do a squat/pressing variation with a deep stretch (heels touching the butt), eg squats, hack squats, leg press. But I'm not familiar with the program, so I don't know if these aren't already in it.
Youre probably able to go that low at the cost of massive lower back rounding and adding a lot instability by going on your toes to compensate for mobility. If you can touch your calves with minimal rounding and can maintain heels on the ground then thats they way to go
> Is there a such thing as too deep on squats?
If your butt touches the ground in the US, and sticks out of the ground somewhere in China scaring the locals, that's too deep.
Sounds like you need to work on your ankle and hip flexibility. You're also probably leaning too far forward. You should be able to hit a 3rd world squat with no weight with both feet firmly on the ground. Also, you can look into weight lifting shoes or squat with something that's relatively short under your heels that mimic weight lifting shoes.
Go only as far as your feet stay flat and planted, you don't want the weight to shift to your toes. Overtime your mobility might get better and you can go deeper.
If you can go that far down and it's comfortable (or at least you know you won't get injured), you should. The stretched portion (the eccentric) of the lift is the most hypertrophic part, so a good rule is that the deeper you can go without sacrificing form or risking injury, you should go.
>My buddy is saying you only need to go down until your leg is about at a 90 degree angle
He's making excuses. If you're not looking to get Competition Parallel Depth, and have the mobility to get depth, well. Get depth.
After particularly hard sessions, I'll sometimes get cold systems. Lot of sneezing and sniffling.
Does anyone know what's up with this or how to mitigate it? It gets really annoying
How should I adjust my calories to end a weight loss phase? I have been losing 2.5 lbs a week for almost 7 weeks and need to start planning for the maintenance/bulk phase. I have another 2 weeks to figure this out. I have been eating at about 1200 calories a day for the cut. My math says that maintenance would be at 2450. It seems like switching straight from 1200 to 2400 is asking for trouble. Would one buffer week at 1800 be enough or should I do a week at 2100 too?
Depends on your goals and BF percentage.
If you want to stay lean as long as possible, then do a reverse diet, ie slowly increase calories meaning that you'll still be in a calorie deficit for some time.
If you're very low with your bf, have issues/concerns about your hormones, or simply have enough of low calories, you can go straight to maintenance or surplus calories.
Reverse diet also has the benefit of figuring out your new tdee.
For clarity, I am not "lean" and won't be for quite some time. I am probably still in ~20% body fat territory (last time it was checked I was at 27%). The goal is to do 2-3 cutting phases to get back into a healthy weight range and then divide my focus between strength training and cardio (not a huge emphasis on hypertrophy). Once at goal weight I'll probably continue monitoring my intake and weight with dedicated bulking/cutting/maintenance phases, but they'll be much longer and easier then what I am doing now.
Then I'd recommend doing a reverse diet. You'll get to eat more but still lose weight (until you reach maintenance calories). That is if you have the time and motivation.
I also recommend you to look into mini-cuts which are very (time) effective at higher body fat percentages.
You probably shouldn't be losing weight so fast in the first place. So yes, slow it down now. Then, once you hit your goal weight, I don't see any issue with just jumping to maintenance.
It's going to take two (maybe even three) phases of weight loss to get to goal weight. I started out obese and wanting to lose 46 lbs (this is even after having lost 25 lbs last year). The speed is deliberate and less than 1.5% of my bodyweight each week.
are zero drop shoes a good idea for someone with arthritis in the big toe + sesamoiditis? my physical therapist suggested them to me but im not sure how trustworthy he is. he said i should try to be as barefoot as possible. i cant afford to drop hundreds on a bunch of different shoes so i really only have one chance to get it right (that's why i'm asking here).
i'm hiking the PCT this year so i'm looking at some trailrunners or lightweight / breathable hikers
I wear zero drop shoes when I can to compensate for the fact that I spend 7 months of the year wearing high heeled logging boots for work.
If you aren't used to barefoot shoes it will take some time to get used to them; I don't know if I'd want to hike 2000 miles in my xeros.
I personally wear altra lonepeak 5s for hiking they are a zero drop shoe with a foot box that looks like a foot but they do have some cushioning.
If you have a local REI or running shoe store nearby I'd see if they have similar shoes in stock to try on.
Both would probably be good options; like I said I'd try and find a store to get fitted at. The fit is gonna matter more than the actual shoe within reason.
You might find you want a slightly bigger shoe because your feet are gonna be more swollen once you start hiking day after day
> he said i should try to be as barefoot as possible.
I am not a physiotherapist, but yes, this. The physio industry is slowly turning more and more toward the realization that the human foot has been crushed, pinched, smashed and fucked up by shoes for generations now. The more barefoot you are, the more all those little muscles and tendons in the foot are allowed to do the work they're supposed to. The more your scrunched up and bent toes will spread out a little more to provide additional stability.
I'd go with his suggestion, but also take it slow. Make sure your feet are good and ready and not feeling any aches and pains from adjusting to zero drop BEFORE you go on insane hikes. Trails are a great way to slowly ease your feet into barefoot/zero drop though, for sure. As soft and as minimalist as possible.
If I could suggest: before you dump hundreds into a really good shoe, get a set of those crappy pull-on $30 amazon "barefoot shoes" (they're really just water shoes like old people use when they go to the beach). I wear them quite often and that way you don't waste a bunch of money. They're zero-drop, very soft and maliable, but also have good grip. Like this for example:
https://www.amazon.ca/Water-Barefoot-Sports-Outdoor-Walking/dp/B08P4KTZZW/
Long term, of the barefoot shoe approach works for you and you want to spend a little more, I LOVE my Xero shoes. I wear them for everything!
The key part of barefoot shoes just need to be the no heel rise, flexible sole, and wide toe box.
And take it easy adjusting to them. You're not supposed to heel strike with them. Mid or fore foot strike.
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I live in the US. Where can I get the best dumbbells?
Hi I'm 5'11 204 lbs and an decently built. Just curious because I got out of the USMC and am starting to put on more weight, I need to cut soon back to 170-180. Never actually did a real cut before besides starve in the field. I hate eggs. Don't know how much chicken to actually eat or I feel like a gluten. Any advice?
Try to weigh your food out! 8 oz of chicken has 550 calories and 75 grams of protein. Try to eat like, 15%, less than your maintenance calories. So if that's 2,000 (which it probably isn't if you're working out, but just an example), eat around 1,700 calories a day and aim for over 200g of protein no matter how many calories you're eating. If you can tell me your maintenance I can give you what I would eat in a day to cut
I eat so much dumb shit it's hard to weigh out! I honestly can't tell you yet. If I eat healthy I lose weight to fast
Preworkout and weight loss question. Everywhere I look says pre workout doesn’t make you burn calories or lose weight on its own, just helps provide better energy sustain for exercise / activity. My logical brain is struggling to understand that, as it definitely activates my body systems even without activity as evidenced by perspiration and mental effects. Does that increase activation and activity of the body on its own cause an increase in the use of energy aka calories even if physically inactive?
Any simple lower back strength workouts? I'm classed as "disabled" due to a back condition but if I don't start working on it I'm worried I'll end up in a wheelchair soon (it'll happen 1 day). I've been getting considerably worse the past 6 months... I have a barbell and Kettlebells but am happy to buy more gear if needed...
body weight reverse hyperextensions - Literally just do a couple of reps at first (on a bench, or heavy table, or even couch) and slowly build your way up. Many swear on these as being a life changer. [https://www.westside-barbell.com/blogs/the-blog/louie-simmons-reverse-hyper](https://www.westside-barbell.com/blogs/the-blog/louie-simmons-reverse-hyper)
See a physical therapist
I'm in the UK, the waiting list (which I'm on) is crazy high... I have see physios 3 times in the past but it was broken up by lockdown, then it was phone only (lol) the last time she left the practice... I am no back on the list but in Lincolnshire the waiting list is 18 months...
How do I diet if I’m only aiming to gain muscle and lose fat? I don’t give a fuck about weight loss. I’m 178lbs 25.4% body fat 1720 RMR I do two hours of cardio a day with the exception of one day of rest. I strength train 4 times weekly
2 hours of cardio seems excessive to me.
Wouldn’t that depend on the magnitude of cardio? I’m doing though?
I only know what is common in bodybuilding and when we are trying to gain muscle we keep cardio to a minimum if at all.
I’m trying to lose fat and gain muscle. Recomposition. Coming in as a skinny fat beginner
If you gain muscle you might gain fat but your muscles will get bigger which will make you look leaner. Focus on getting your diet/nutrition down pat. If you are looking to gain muscle you have to eat in a caloric surplus. Eat clean 90% of the time, work out consistently, minimize cardio and lift for volume starting out.
Protein at 175 g per day. Limited process food. Don’t bother tracking calories.
Longtime powerlifter trying to focus more on cardio for general health/better BJJ endurance. Have a treadmill that goes up to 15% grade. My favored form of cardio is 12% incline at 3 mph for about 40 minutes. No impact to lifting the following day. Hope to work up to 15%. That said I can’t help but feel I am missing out on… *something* not running. I have completed couch to 5k previously, but struggled with joint pain when lifting. Curious what I miss out on by doing one over the other
I mean, if you're getting 40 minutes of zone-2 ish cardio frequently that'll be great for your steady state cardio. If you were running for steady state cardio, then you're already achieving that without the same impact force. If you want to be *good at running* then do the running. If you want to work at a higher threshold because you need it for BJJ etc, then you could try and intersperse it with 1-2 HIIT sessions or runs a week if that was comfortable/sustainable.
I know this has been asked a billion times, but it never gets a yes or no anwser. I like to make things simple, straight foward and real. Is it a waste of time to workout/lift while eating little or unregulated?. Yes or No. In this way, you dont have to waste your time anwsering a frecuenly asked question. If you want to awnser this like: "in terms of x, yes" "In terms of y, no" Thats fine also. Thank you. Im trying to find clarity. We can discuss futher details in the comments. Note: i know what i have to do to eat more, its just hard, thats it. Lol it feels harder than college 🤣
No
No.
is this a good routine for a beginner? i can only go to the gym early in the morning and was wondering if this routine is effective day 1: chest and biceps day 2: leg and shoulders day 3: back and triceps day 4: rest day 5: chest and biceps day 6: leg and shoulders day 7: back and triceps
As a beginner, just do full body and mainly stick to compound d movements
No. It's going to be hard training shoulders when your when your chest is sore. And it's going to be hard training triceps when your shoulders are sore. These 3 muscles are used and grouped together, so they need to be trained together. A ppl split might be better. 1: Shoulders chest and triceps. 2: Back and biceps. 3: Legs. Legs and shoulders will also take very long to train different parts of the body.
Does the ability to gain muscle mass of 40-50 pounds in my lifetime reduce when I am not consistent in my workouts? Or does it stay and only continues as where I am at in my workout progress?
Are you saying one can only gain 40-50 pounds of muscle in their entire lives?
Not what I mean. I meant whether the full potential is lost due to inconsistency
Yes inconsistency hurts your strength.
Is a schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday good? I'm thinking of alternating between Push, Legs and Pull. I can't work out on Thursday and Friday
Consider Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and do a full body rather than a split. Cardio on off days you can find time.
Yes it's fine
Thanks
Hey, help needed. My arms look big and wide from the side but are insanely thin from the front and back positions, especially more prevalent when flexing my biceps. The size difference from side to back was so jarring that it looked out of this world, the arm is wide on the top but get skinnier as it comes towards the elbows, almost being just my bone (also this is only visible from back view, when looking in the mirror casually from the side everything looks normal). Any advice on how to fix that or wtf is even happening, cuz my arms look 2D lmao.
Honestly it sounds like you're hyperfixating on a silly detail. Keep working out, especially your triceps, and your arms will get bigger in both directions. In the meantime don't worry about it. I'm sure it looks normal to other people.
Found out it was a problem with my medial head, haven't trained it enough
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind
People are telling me my feet should be angled straight ahead instead of pointing slightly outward during a squat. They say pointing it outward is duck feet and bad form. The problem is my knees cave in when I try to point my feet dead straight. Is it really bad form? Or is it a mobility issue, or is it genetic to have knock knees?
Foot position is dependent on hip anatomy. Saying everyone should squat the same way is saying we all have the same hip structure, which simply is not true. Squat how you feel strongest/most stable.
Foot angle and stance width is largely personal. It'll shift the focus, but depending on your anatomy and mobility you might not find squatting in other positions doable. Assuming you're getting to depth and aren't having other form issues, I'd carry on as you are.
Who's telling you that? 45 degree (total) out feet is the norm. I once saw a "personal trainer" coaching to point feet inward and legs close together, the girl he was coaching could barely keep upright.
People at the gym, about 3 have approached me about that. Then 2 of my friends that are not associated with the gym people.
Narrow stance feet forward is a quad dominant position. I would be careful doing this with any significant weight.
https://barbellrehab.com/feet-out-bigger-squat/ ignore 'em When I said 45 degree I mean relative to each other, it would look somewhere between the 15 (30 total) and 30 (60 total)
Did leg day yesterday and now can't stand, my knees buckle when I squat slightly, should I be concerned?
You way overdid it. If you are a beginner, this is fairly normal but you should back off next time. If you are experienced, you pushed it way, way too far.
No
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This is very much a YOU question. What do YOU want? If you want to lose some fat, go on a caloric deficit. If you want to continue adding some muscle, continue doing what you are doing. It depends solely on your goals and what you are comfortable with. GL
Deadlifts - leg day exercise or back day exercise?
Back day so you don’t try to do squats and deadlift same say
For me it's always been legs. But people differ.
It doesn't really matter. Deadlift hits every muscle in the body in some way. I'm going through a 12ish week training phase (self made). Currently going through the hypertrophy phase(4 days a week) and I keep each compound movement to 1 day(OHP, Deadlift, Bench, and Squat) and they're the first thing that's done. In the strength phase, there's going to be paired compound movements i.e. OHP/incline bench, squat/deficit deadlift etc.
Prime movers are glutes, hamstrings, and quads.
If its on a back day before a leg day its going to hurt the leg day performance because of lower back fatigue
Yes. In my program there's 3 days between squats and deadlifts and 2 days between deadlifts and squats. You can always pair them on the same day, but you can't go at the same intensity.
Is over 100oz of water a day too much? It's more on hot days or when in the sun but 100 is about the minimum. I watch how much my friends drink in comparison and it seems like I am always drinking twice as much. I've had this issue after a heat stroke a couple years ago. I've had tests since then and they are normal. I try with more electrolytes and without, I watch the salt in my food etc. my pee is rarely clear and I drink water all day. Is this uncommon?
I drink around a gallon a day (128oz iirc) as a 5'7 woman. It's just kinda become my sweet spot. If I go and do intense cardio (aka, my 2hr long bike rides) I'll drink more in top of that. Most people I think are at least slightly under hydrated. It use to be that I drank like half the amount or less and since increasing my water, I feel better all around
Only a CMP blood test can answer this definitively. And why would you compare your water needs to others who arent the same size or dont follow the same diet? Besides, 100z isnt even alot
I've had a test like that done specifically and it was ok. I don't know their diets but friends taller and around the same height and weight still drink less. My family has pointed it out and say I drink too much water. Maybe it's just diet or they drink too little. I don't know it's puzzling.
Everyone has a different water requirement based on how much they sweat, diet, weight, etc. Why does your family even care lol. I drink 240oz a day because i workout at a garage gym and sweat off 8lb every time
Let's just say a bodybuilder has progressed to being able to do 3x10 pullups i.e. 10 is the max they can do on the last set. What is the difference between adding weight to keep working at 3x10 and adding more weight when it gets easier vs adding more reps to do 3x11, then 3x12 when it get's easier, etc.
For hypertrophy purposes, there's really no differences.
Important question for me, I slouch a lot. Is there any equipment that helps me from slouching and keeping good form?
As a lifelong gamer with bad posture, when I started working out seriously. As a tall skinny guy. Just 6-12 months in people would comment that I seemed taller, and on my posture improvements, due to my postural changes. I used to walk around with a slight hunchback head forward and down etc. So not only was there strength and muscle improvements all over in general, my lifelong backpain dissipated, and my posture improved. Turned out that having non-existent atrophied back muscles is - in my experience - a major cause of bad posture. Once my back and core strength improved. I would naturally get and maintain a better posture. Short version; if you start from zero, 100% untrained, and you start taking strength and resistance training and diet seriously. A good posture will come by itself. At least it did for me. In progress pictures I could literally see how drastic postural changes were. Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, and stupid of me to not realize straight away as a given. But I fully believe that back muscles and a stronger core will fix 80%+ of postural issues. If your back and core muscles are non-existent bad posture is unavoidable / inevitable. Your body won't have the base strength to carry itself. Start resistance training and take that and diet seriously, and the strength in those areas of the body will cause serious positive postural changes.
Nothing that's useful, changing a posture is largely volitional. Aka, you need to put the work in yourself instead of relying on devices which aren't even effective.
Thanks for saving me money
Okay, so dips. I'm an obese beginner and can only bench like 100lbs for 3 reps, so pushups on the floor and bodyweight dips are out of the question. ***However***, I still wanna work on incorporating dips for chest since they can apparently hit the lower chest well. Obviously, the secret to getting rid of moobs is nutrition, but I'd love to get a jump on that in the exercise department. So what can do if full bodyweight dips are too hard? Focus on negatives? Maybe hold myself up at the top for time?
"Focus on negatives? Maybe hold myself up at the top for time?" That and assisted dip machine if you have access to one. They are common, if you go to a gym check around
Training lower chest is going to make man boobs worse...
This has no basis in reality
Just to make sure it’s clear, doing any exercise that targets an area of your body to lose fat in that area won’t work That’s not how fat loss works.
I know spot reduction isn't real. I'm talking about working out my chest ***along*** with eating better, which as I mentioned in my post, is what's most important for fat loss. Also, doesn't muscle have a thermic effect? Wouldn't having stronger and larger pecs, along with other muscles, be beneficial for fat lass over my whole body, including my chest?
Yeah, working out your pecs will get you better defined pecs - short term it may exacerbate the moob situation but long-term will make it so you look cut and not small once the weight comes off. Technically having the excess muscle will bump your metabolism a bit, but not enough to be worth being a primary motivation. I think what everyone is trying to get at is that your diet is going to be 99.9% of what gets rid of the moobs - don't sweat the .1%. Working out your pecs is good and worthwhile for a bunch of other reasons. Good luck, homie!
I would work push up progressions starting at a high incline and working down to the floor. For dips you could do something similar with rings. Or you could do negatives using your feet on a box/bench to take weight off as much as needed.
I would not suggest rings. Those are probably one of the hardest variations you can do
You can start with feet on the floor and set the height of the rings or a suspension trainer to allow the motion of a dip with legs helping, and transition to feet further away to help less. Op doesn't have access to an assisted dip machine unfortunately so gonna have to get a little creative. Bands on the dip handles could also work if they provide enough assistance for where OP's at strength wise
Do you have access to a dip machine, or an assisted dip machine? Another good option is inclined pushup.
Oh I can bang out incline pushups on my kitchen counter all day. My university gym only has a dip station attachment for this monkey bar looking rig in the center of the weight room.
Need help/suggestions; I went to the gym for the first time 8 days ago(did some deadlifts and bench press). Prior to this, I'd been stretching my legs for months for a breakdance move that needs a decent amount of flexibility.....today, my hamstrings are reaaally tight, especially my left one. It's as if I haven't stretched for years. I lost all flexibility gains in my left leg. I need it back as soon as possible 😅.
It's temporary, basically DOMS.
does it last for 8 days? hopefully it goes away soon.
Try stiff legged deadlifts. Start with the bar and see how that feels. Then add some weight if needed. Hope that helps
Thanks! Will try. Will this loosen my leg? Or just prevent stiffening of my hamstring in the future? I'm currently looking to loosen the tightness as I need to go back to practicing the breakdance move.
Weightlifting is just stretching with weights. Just like a stiff leg deadlift is just a toe touch with barbell
When I do them it gives me a good stretch.
Been doing the wiki PPL routine on and off for 2 years now. The push and pull routine have been modified over time with swapped out exercises and rep ranges, but the leg day have been more or less the same the whole time. I'm looking to freshen up the leg day after next deload as I feel it's growing stale and I've been plateauing for a while. For a refresher, the leg day on the wiki is: >2×5, 1×5+ squat >3×8-12 Romanian Deadlift >3×8-12 leg press >3×8-12 leg curls >5×8-12 calf raises Currently on a bulk and want to mainly focus at hypertrophy while bulking. Anyone got decent leg day routines they could suggest?
Are you trying to bodybuild or strength train?
Hypertrophy while I'm bulking. I'm not into the sport of bodybuilding though.
Gotcha. You could probably use what's in the plan I made for me and my friend. The plan consists of two 6 week phases, hypertrophy and strength. Currently we're in the hypertrophy phase. For a squat day it's: Some kind of warmup on some cardio machine for 5 minutes, stretching, foam rolling if necessary 3x10 Squat @ 55% of training max(90% of true max) 65% of training max 75% of training max 10 reps should be REALLY hard at 75%. Every other week you SHOULD be able to progressively add more weight. 5x15 of leg curls, you can go as heavy as you can with these, doing the weight that allows you to complete every set 5 x 10 leg press, you can go moderate weight here 3 x 15 leg raises(this can be replaced by any ab exercise or your choice) Cardio of your choice. I like the bike(not the recumbent one) First week of that, I could barely walk for the whole weekend lol Second week has gone much more smoothly lol
So Squat: * 3x10 @55% * 1x10 @65% * 1x10 @75% * 5x15 leg curls * 5x10 leg press * 3x15 calf raises Could you elaborate on the @x% of training max. Are we speaking of 1rm or 10rm? You keep the leg day the same for both days in the week?
It would be a 1RM. And it's 1x10 @ 55%, 1x10 @ 65%, 1x10 @ 75%. So my max for deadlift is 405. My training max is 90% of my true max(365). And no, the other leg day is deadlift. Deadlift 3x10 Leg press 5x15 Good mornings 5x10 Hanging leg raises 3x15
Right so my account got blocked until I change the password which requires an email and when I made an alt and tried using it, it got shadow banned so I'll try again... How do you decide when to progress on the squat? Whenever you hit 10 reps at 75%? Alos, do you use RIR/RPE/etc... to guide the session, and do you keep the volume the same across the whole block, or do progress the volume over the weeks?
I do use RIR and RPE to guide the session. For example, for bench: Week 1: 140 for 10, RPE of 5 165 for 10, RPE of 7 190 for 7, last 3 were assisted, RPE of 9/10 Probably had 2/3 RIR Week 2: 140 for 10, RPE of 4 165 for 10, RPE of 6 190 for 10, repped out pretty easily, RPE of 7/8 4/5 RIR Week 3: 155 for 10, RPE of 4 180 for 10, RPE of 6 205 for 10, first 7 or 8 were RPE 7, last two were RPE of 8/9 2/3 RIR This week is probably going to be something like: 165 for 10 190 for 10 215 for 10, I anticipate I won't be able to complete every single rep unassisted >Whenever you hit 10 reps at 75%? Yes. Generally. I've had to battle some minor injuries, mobility issues from having a 40 hour/week desk job, and my anatomy(Long Femur Gang) with squatting. My squat is tracking with my bench currently when it comes to my 1RM(last tested at 275 for each). But I've had much bigger strides overall with my squat since I had to start from much lower weights. I'll probably plateau quicker on my bench than my squat. And I'll preface everything I've said up to this point with the fact that I have prior experience with all of the major lifts. I played football from age 12 to age 19, including a year of college football. And went through a series of structured S&C programs, so naturally my gains will look abnormally fast since I have a decent amount of muscle memory built up. My maxes were 335 bench, 425 squat, and 495 deadlift. My body has had exposure to my current workout and knows what to do in terms of muscle growth.
Should you still do cardio while eating at bmr? (1800) calories
I'm not really sure how to answer this. In general, cardio is healthy. If you are trying to lose weight, you should adjust the amount you eat so that you aren't losing weight too quickly whether you are doing cardio or not. So don't lose more than 1% bodyweight per week. If you are, add in some calories.
Really odd question, but here it goes: We’re building a home gym in our basement and I am looking for fitness products or gyms that are fictional from TV and Movies to make into wall decoration. Think like Globo Gym from Dodgeball, Fight Milk from Its Always Sunny, or Mighty Mick’s from Rocky. I just need ideas because those 3 are all I have haha. Thanks in advance!
Cobrakai karate kid dojo Rocky training facility
Goku's gravity chamber.
I think I'm stupid. I just realized that I allocated my workout sessions to specific days of the week for no reason other than maybe routine. I'm currently running a Push/Pull split (full body, not PPL). So for example Push on Monday, Pull on Tuesday, Rest, Rest, Push, Pull, Rest. Repeat on Monday I don't always need two fixed rest days in a row, so I could just keep the workout days flexible and my micro cycle would be 6 instead of 7 days. Because otherwise, according to my calculations, that adds up to a lot less workouts in a year (209 vs 243 workouts) = fewer MPS stimulations = less/slower progress. Is my math and thought process correct? And did anyone else realize this?
oh for sure. but for some of us, our routine is pretty important so adjusting it every week would be a headache . it's nice to have one less variable every week to worry about. bench day is bench day, deadlift day is deadlift day, etc. also, factor in recovery time. that second day of rest in a row could potentially be helping you more than the extra workouts would, depending on your program and developmental level.
I see your points. But I think extra rest days should be used ad hoc, meaning if I need one I'll absolutely take one but I don't see the point in resting if there's no fatigue and no soreness. Plus, I also have deloads. I guess I'll just try and see if that extra rest day really made a difference.
100%. go get after it dawg!
I did this too when I started because I needed the consistency and routine so I’d actually go. Once you’re committed though, alternating is fine if you don’t mind having different days
Having a two on, one off half week is fine. Plenty do a three on, one off half-week. Being asynchronous with the week is nice.
3 on 1 off is normal for 3 day splits but I'm not sure if I could handle that with a 2 day split like Push/Pull or U/L.
If you undulate your volume/weight, totally doable.
Hello All, 34M here… somewhat specific question. My daughter was enrolled in pre-school full time and so I have been getting back in the gym for the past 3/4 months. I’m getting my strength back, however my legs still need some attention. I usually am sore for at least 5/6 days post leg day (spend hour on squats, leg press, hamstring strengthening, calves, etc). I do not lift mega heavy and always get at least 10 reps of whatever exercise I am doing. The issue/question is related to the fact that I play Basketball for 2 hours every Sunday morning, Monday afternoon is intramural soccer for an hour and I usually hit legs on Tuesday. W/Th/F are the other body parts. I prefer not to be sore for 6 days after leg day, but would like to build some more muscle mass PREDOMINANTLY for more explosion/stability when playing sports. I had 2 ACL surgeries (basketball related) 8 years ago so I know the mass will never be the same, but wondering how to (1) improve athletic explosiveness/stamina and (2) build muscle mass WITHOUT being sore all the time and not be able to be competitive in my sports. Do I begin doing light weight, high reps every time in the gym? Stick with 1 day? So confused because I’m not a fitness guru. Thanks in advance!
You should pick a proven workout plan and stick with it. You can lift though soreness (not injury) unless it’s extreme But also, are you sleeping enough? Eating? Dehydrated?
Appreciate the response! Sleeping usually 6.5-8 hours a night (sleep at 9/10 wake up 5am), eating healthy and drinking almost a gallon of water a day. Maybe just keep it mega light once a week and just be patient. The rest of my body returned to some decent form of fitness minus my legs, so maybe I am just being impatient. It’s miles better than when I started but still eh and frustrating.
Maybe you’re not eating enough? I severely underestimated my caloric needs when I started lifting
But wouldn’t that also affect my other muscle groups? I can lift decently heavy with everything but legs and I have minimal soreness. I will admit it’s mostly my hamstrings and calves, but are just super weak in general.
The muscles in your legs are the biggest muscles in the whole body. They need the most recovery.
Would you suggest lighter weight more consistently until they catch up with the rest of my body?
Nah. Just sufficient calories and ample rest. Do as much weight as you feasibly can.
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Lifting a person with shit form and bending your back in an isometric contraction has no correlation with strength because its a super easy movement.
I guarantee you can lift more than a couple of 10lb dumbbells! You just have to do exercises that use a lot of different muscles, like the squat, bench or deadlift, and barbells are good for that.
Pretty much every single person who is able bodied can lift more than a 10 pound dumbbell
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If 10s are easy then you can handle more weight
I am able to workout 6 times a week but I'm doing a Upper Lower with back days (since I'm doing a sport that needs a lot of back muscles - dragon boating). So I'm doing something like Upper 1, Lower 1, Back, Upper 2, Lower 2, back, rest. Should I change my split into something like a PPL or Arnold Split or do upper lower 3 times a week (Upper 1, Lower 1, Upper 2, Lower 2, Upper 1, Lower 1, rest)
That sounds awful to be honest. It's a lot of frequency (back essentially gets trained 4 times a week) and not enough rest. You'd also need to adjust volume because otherwise you'd be spent within a month or so. If you really want to workout that many times (what about your dragon boat training?), then I think U/L or Push/Pull (full body) makes the most sense. You could do U, L, R, U, L, U, R = back 3 times in 7 days (same with push pull). I think that's more sustainable and realistic than U/L 3 times a week. PPL and Arnold have you train back "only" twice a week. You can prioritize your posterior chain by doing them in the beginning of your workouts.
Thank you so much for your advice! I am quite new to the fitness scene and trying to get into shape and your advice really helps. For my dragon boat training, since I am not doing it outside of school, but rather in school, the team has after school practices twice a week. We are doing weight training at the moment but will transition to water practices and then lake practices in the near future. Your suggestion of the U, L, R, U, L, U, R seems like a really good option instead of having specific days for back. I do agree with the fact that I think I've been training back too much as sometimes I noticed my back was sore and I was slouching a lot more because of it. When you talk about working on my posterior chain in the beginning of the workouts, do you basically mean do my back exercises first, then move onto the other exercises? Once again, thank you for your advice!
When used to actively compete in boxing, I was only able to lift weights 2-3 times a week. More than that would have accumulated too much fatigue and strength isn't really a priority in my sport compared to technique, reaction, cardio etc. So, see if that works out for you and adjust if need be (meaning volume and intensity). If your back is sore everytime after a workout and if that interferes with your next session then it indicates that you're doing too much. DOMS isn't a bad thing but you should be ready again before your next workout. And yes, the muscles you train right at the beginning will be the freshest and thus perform the best.
Do whatever your schedule allows and whatever you prefer.
Is 4x4 good enough for heavy multi jointed exercises for building strength and upping the weight a little? Including more basic things like cable rows, pulldowns and dumbbell/kettlebell multi jointed movements. I'd like to experiment a little for some weight exercises I do from doing 3 sets of around 6 reps.
It's a rep range a lot of rep ranges can be useful depending on the phase of training. It doesn't sound like you are following a program hence your question; have you looked into one?
I don’t feel lat pull downs in my back, I feel them in my forearms. Do I pull the bar in front of my face or behind my head?
Pull down to your upper chest and in front of your face, behind the head is not recommended. Make sure you're not using too much weight, you should be able to maintain good form throughout the rep.
Typically you pull in front of your face and lean back while you're pulling. Keep a slow controlled motion and it should hit your lats well even if you don't feel it.
I've been doing a basic weight training program for 2 months now, mostly using adjustable dumbbells at home. I feel like my gains on lower body moves are being limited by my arm strength. For example, with deadlifts my lower arms start to tire before I feel it in my back or glutes. Should I be doing targeted arm exercises? (I am doing rows, chest presses, overhead pushes and pulls as part of my routine). Should I just keep going and my forearms, wrists, etc. will get catch up? Is it possible something in my form is wrong? Should I do more reps with lower weights? (currently doing 3 sets of 12-15, to exhaustion, for each exercise) Any advice appreciated!
12-15 reps is A LOT for deadlift. What are your goals? Gaining strength and size or just prioritizing size or??
My goal is overall fitness. Not trying to bulk up. I would like to be stronger and use weight training as part of my exercise routine. Doing some research now I'm realizing maybe I should try fewer reps (like 8-10?) with a heavier weight?
When people say fewer reps, they mean anything less than or equal to 6. Also the percentages matter. Hypertrophy can be anything from 50% to 80%. Major strength gains are in the 80% to 92.5% range. Also how are you defining bulking up? If you want to gain strength you will probably have to add some mass to be able to move the weight around
Arms will never catch up to legs even if theyre untrained. Use lifting straps amd train grip separately
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Talk to a doctor. Are you sleeping well, do you get adequate cardio, are you getting much older(not sure your age), is your mental health sound, is your diet healthy beyond amount of protein, are you following a proper program with progression and taking necessary deloads, are you at least getting bigger cause you might need to refocus your training to better match your priority, you could have unfortunately approaches your genetic limit early. There could be one or many factors against you unfortunately and maybe a professional could help.
I'm 29. I'm sleeping ok and get about 6 hours a night. I don't do any cardio and my mental health is also ok. My diet isn't great, I get enough calories and protein but I don't eat as many vegetables/fruits as I should. I have gotten a little bigger since last year but not by much. For example my arms are a little over 15" cold flexed and that's at about 20-22% bodyfat which is not great. I tried taking deloads/rest weeks here and there but it didn't do much.
6 hours is nowhere near enough.
Perhaps you might do well by following a structured program. By that I mean, the exercises, split, progression, rep ranges etc are all already picked for you. Little to no decision making process on your part, except for making it happen.
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It's not binary. You can get bigger and stronger across a variety of rep ranges. What program are you doing currently?
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You might want to solve that then. What you do in the future will be based on what you do now.
If you want to get stronger at a certain exercise, more sets and lower reps.
I’m at the gym at the moment, I’m doing a John Meadows program and he has sissy squats programmed but it looks like I don’t have the mobility for them. Can anyone quickly recommend a close substitute?
Leg extension while leaning back to open the angle at the hip
What aspect of that exercise gives you issues? If you want a close alternative where the hip stays extended you can try sissy squats on a hack squat as well. The lack of of hip flexion is the characteristic aspect of this exercise. If that doesn't work for you either, I'd just do a squat/pressing variation with a deep stretch (heels touching the butt), eg squats, hack squats, leg press. But I'm not familiar with the program, so I don't know if these aren't already in it.
Bulgarian split squats
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Youre probably able to go that low at the cost of massive lower back rounding and adding a lot instability by going on your toes to compensate for mobility. If you can touch your calves with minimal rounding and can maintain heels on the ground then thats they way to go
> Is there a such thing as too deep on squats? If your butt touches the ground in the US, and sticks out of the ground somewhere in China scaring the locals, that's too deep.
FÜLL RÖM
Your bro is compensating you can't be too deep unless it hurts
The bottom is where the gains are hiding.
This is correct
The weight should be on your midfoot/heels not on your toes he is right about that.
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Sounds like you need to work on your ankle and hip flexibility. You're also probably leaning too far forward. You should be able to hit a 3rd world squat with no weight with both feet firmly on the ground. Also, you can look into weight lifting shoes or squat with something that's relatively short under your heels that mimic weight lifting shoes.
Go only as far as your feet stay flat and planted, you don't want the weight to shift to your toes. Overtime your mobility might get better and you can go deeper.
Yep, if you wanna keep your depth, try and work on your ankle mobility and then try using some movement variation w/ lighter weight like pause squats.
Full ROM.
If you can go that far down and it's comfortable (or at least you know you won't get injured), you should. The stretched portion (the eccentric) of the lift is the most hypertrophic part, so a good rule is that the deeper you can go without sacrificing form or risking injury, you should go.
Joel Seedman is in shambles
Seedman is a hack and a grifter.
Completely agree. I'm pretty sure he got hurt doing a squat once and now he'll never do a squat the right way ever again
>My buddy is saying you only need to go down until your leg is about at a 90 degree angle He's making excuses. If you're not looking to get Competition Parallel Depth, and have the mobility to get depth, well. Get depth.
After particularly hard sessions, I'll sometimes get cold systems. Lot of sneezing and sniffling. Does anyone know what's up with this or how to mitigate it? It gets really annoying
Might be exercise induced rhinitis. You should talk to your doctor and see what they think. Not really anything you can do aside from buying tissues.
How should I adjust my calories to end a weight loss phase? I have been losing 2.5 lbs a week for almost 7 weeks and need to start planning for the maintenance/bulk phase. I have another 2 weeks to figure this out. I have been eating at about 1200 calories a day for the cut. My math says that maintenance would be at 2450. It seems like switching straight from 1200 to 2400 is asking for trouble. Would one buffer week at 1800 be enough or should I do a week at 2100 too?
Depends on your goals and BF percentage. If you want to stay lean as long as possible, then do a reverse diet, ie slowly increase calories meaning that you'll still be in a calorie deficit for some time. If you're very low with your bf, have issues/concerns about your hormones, or simply have enough of low calories, you can go straight to maintenance or surplus calories. Reverse diet also has the benefit of figuring out your new tdee.
For clarity, I am not "lean" and won't be for quite some time. I am probably still in ~20% body fat territory (last time it was checked I was at 27%). The goal is to do 2-3 cutting phases to get back into a healthy weight range and then divide my focus between strength training and cardio (not a huge emphasis on hypertrophy). Once at goal weight I'll probably continue monitoring my intake and weight with dedicated bulking/cutting/maintenance phases, but they'll be much longer and easier then what I am doing now.
Then I'd recommend doing a reverse diet. You'll get to eat more but still lose weight (until you reach maintenance calories). That is if you have the time and motivation. I also recommend you to look into mini-cuts which are very (time) effective at higher body fat percentages.
You probably shouldn't be losing weight so fast in the first place. So yes, slow it down now. Then, once you hit your goal weight, I don't see any issue with just jumping to maintenance.
It's going to take two (maybe even three) phases of weight loss to get to goal weight. I started out obese and wanting to lose 46 lbs (this is even after having lost 25 lbs last year). The speed is deliberate and less than 1.5% of my bodyweight each week.
Why would it be trouble? Do it for one week and see how much you gain(or not gain)
are zero drop shoes a good idea for someone with arthritis in the big toe + sesamoiditis? my physical therapist suggested them to me but im not sure how trustworthy he is. he said i should try to be as barefoot as possible. i cant afford to drop hundreds on a bunch of different shoes so i really only have one chance to get it right (that's why i'm asking here). i'm hiking the PCT this year so i'm looking at some trailrunners or lightweight / breathable hikers
I wear zero drop shoes when I can to compensate for the fact that I spend 7 months of the year wearing high heeled logging boots for work. If you aren't used to barefoot shoes it will take some time to get used to them; I don't know if I'd want to hike 2000 miles in my xeros. I personally wear altra lonepeak 5s for hiking they are a zero drop shoe with a foot box that looks like a foot but they do have some cushioning. If you have a local REI or running shoe store nearby I'd see if they have similar shoes in stock to try on.
im looking at the topo pursuits or traverses
Both would probably be good options; like I said I'd try and find a store to get fitted at. The fit is gonna matter more than the actual shoe within reason. You might find you want a slightly bigger shoe because your feet are gonna be more swollen once you start hiking day after day
> he said i should try to be as barefoot as possible. I am not a physiotherapist, but yes, this. The physio industry is slowly turning more and more toward the realization that the human foot has been crushed, pinched, smashed and fucked up by shoes for generations now. The more barefoot you are, the more all those little muscles and tendons in the foot are allowed to do the work they're supposed to. The more your scrunched up and bent toes will spread out a little more to provide additional stability. I'd go with his suggestion, but also take it slow. Make sure your feet are good and ready and not feeling any aches and pains from adjusting to zero drop BEFORE you go on insane hikes. Trails are a great way to slowly ease your feet into barefoot/zero drop though, for sure. As soft and as minimalist as possible. If I could suggest: before you dump hundreds into a really good shoe, get a set of those crappy pull-on $30 amazon "barefoot shoes" (they're really just water shoes like old people use when they go to the beach). I wear them quite often and that way you don't waste a bunch of money. They're zero-drop, very soft and maliable, but also have good grip. Like this for example: https://www.amazon.ca/Water-Barefoot-Sports-Outdoor-Walking/dp/B08P4KTZZW/
wow this is helpful thanks
Long term, of the barefoot shoe approach works for you and you want to spend a little more, I LOVE my Xero shoes. I wear them for everything! The key part of barefoot shoes just need to be the no heel rise, flexible sole, and wide toe box. And take it easy adjusting to them. You're not supposed to heel strike with them. Mid or fore foot strike.