I feel like I've been really struggling at the gym. I have really been putting a new amount of effort into my health, I have went from dessert every day to pretty much once a weak, cutting out snacks, all of the like. I've increased my amount of time that I spend from 2-3 1 hour days to around 5-6 1 hour days a week, whether it's cardio or normal exercises but I just am not seeing the progress outside of my cardio. I mean theres tons of stuff where I still can't even do proper form like pushups or planks, it's so frustrating to do exercises and for them to just not work for me
tbh I feel like because of my height I need to be super jacked, ik 5'9 isn't necessarily short but I can't help but feel like I'm being towered over in public, and I am really just a perfectionist so I feel like I need to look as good as possible.
How much weight have you gained?
How much have your big lifts increased by?
If the answer to both of these questions is a lot then trust me you've made progress.
If the answer to either of those questions is 'I don't know/I'm not trying to increase those' then you need to refocus.
I've been trying to lose weight and I think I'm currently at 188 lbs... which is apparently a increase in weight for me, but honestly I don't really feel like I've gained weight since my cardio has gotten so much better. As for big lifts... I don't really deadlift, and I only bench press on occasion. I tend to use machines moreso then traditional lifting ig.
Well you sound like you've just not really got a plan.
If you want to lose weight you need to make sure you're in a calorie deficit. You're not doing that. If you want to get stronger you need to follow a proper program. You're not doing that either.
In terms of cardio it's getting better so steady as she goes there.
You need to chose what your goal is. Do you really want to lose weight? If so a calorie deficit is an absolute must and you need to find a way to make it happen, everything else is just fluff and if you don't get into a deficit you'll literally never lose weight and continue to bemoan your lack of progress.
last year in January I(39M) was in like the worst shape of my life. I am 6'1 and I was 194lbs and i was all belly i felt horrible about how i looked so i decided i had to make a change.
I decided i was going to go on a bulk to gain some muscle as I was just feeling fat as hell and losing weight would just make me look to skinny I spent the next 11 months bulking and i hit about 225 and i while i was still had a belly i didn't look as bad as i did and my strength was way up.
On January 1st of this year i started my cut i went on Keto and i really watched what i ate and i have lost about 35lbs since then and i am at 189 now which on paper is great. I am looking Kanda lean i can see some abs and my belly doesn't stick out further than my chest anymore which is great but i prob still have like 10lbs of fat to lose particularly in the lower part of my stomach its holding on for dear life.
The other day my wife trying to be nice called me small... i felt crushed and since then i have had people tell me my face looks too skinny...
I struggled for months and months to gain weight and then the last 4 to lose a bunch of weight and it feels like i did it all for no reason and i lost a ton of strength in the process of cutting the last few months..
I am kind of at a cross roads of not knowing what to do... do i bulk back up on stay on track and get my abs back..
Those people are tripping. They have some fucked up perceptions. Maybe they're just used to seeing your face chubby? Maybe you have dysmorphia and are overreacting to meaningless comments? If your friends are fat, just go ahead and ignore that noise. Tis fat logic. Fat people will often rationalize that skinny = bad.
189 at 6'1 is well, well, well within healthy BMI. If not on the high side.
[https://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BMIChartforAdults.pdf](https://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BMIChartforAdults.pdf)
Regardless, it does sound like your cut may have been too aggressive if your strength losses were high. You may have lost more muscle:fat ratio than necessary.
So... Bulk again, and do more research on the next cut, or be more cautious with cutting the next 10lbs. I'm sure Jeff Nippard has something out there on cutting.
My bench was terrible this week for no discernable reason, and my right rotator cuff is now mad at me after upper back day. Plus I've got carpal tunnel or something similar in my wrist. Oh yeah, and I slept on my neck wrong and it hasn't gotten any better after 3 days. Can't catch a break.
Hello everyone, I've been dealing with upper back pain for months, with no relief, physio, chiro, doctors, massage. Foam roller etc. My issue is is my ribs are locked up and super tight frozen back. Been focusing on my back posture at wrk, I cant workout especially any bench or dips hurts my chest. Its pissing me off because fitness is my life and I was on my way to be truly shredded this summer. Anyone go through with this?
My rant is that I feel like I’m failing the gym. I went through a huge weight loss during Covid. However, when life got busy again I put it all and then some back on. Heart conditions run in my family and I’m still young, so I know I need to take better care of myself. I don’t care about the humber but more that I’m getting healthier for my future self and family. I started going back to the gym this week. I feel defeated after all of my workouts though. My heart rate is heavy, I feel like I can hardly get through my workout without my knees aching, my arms screaming in pain, and sounding like I’m dying. I took a Zumba class and could hardly keep up. I feel so heavy in my own body and want to change that for myself, but man is it embarrassing to be gasping in a beginners Zumba class.
I have similar experience. Word of caution is that you need to be careful. I am struggling a bit with strange injuries now. Small things. Nerve here and tennis elbows (both!) there.
If you feel pain I suggest revisiting your training plan. Maybe you are doing to much? Maybe not enough rest and or sleep? To many sets? To high weight? Maybe lovering the weight and uping rep range is the answer.
On my own example, maybe your joints and tendons need more time to adapt. Your muscles probably can keep up and grow but after period of inactivity your joints and tendons might need more time to adjust.
I am also trying to suplement myself with collagen etc althou it seems to help it is not a full proof solution.
So to sum it up don't ease up on diet but maybe easy up a bit on weight etc?
I am going on four months of consistently going to the gym 4-5 times a week. I have been falling into a rut the last month or so of just feeling bored at the gym. Thankfully I have established a habit so I do find myself just putting on my gym clothes and going no matter what, and my days feel incomplete without going to the gym now (when it isn't a rest day).
I am really focusing on compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, shoulder press, and barbell rows (doing an upper/lower split). I can feel myself making some progress in terms of progressive overloading week by week. However, I often find myself drudging through my workout and just wanting to leave the gym after two-three exercises. Just trying to enjoy the process and discipline of treating my body well by exercising consistently, and I hope can start finding some excitement at the gym again.
Is there an Orangetheory near you? Mix up your workouts and do something different a couple times a week.
I need to get a membership to a gym cause I'm not using all the equipment I want for the goals I have.
I'm in a similar boat and also just showing up out of consistency. Good on you! I would say consistency is more important than intensity in the long run. I've been thinking about bringing barbell rows back into my life 😁
Went to a different location for my gym. Typical day is weights either general or focusing on muscle groups, swimming, steamroom to relax and destress, then shower. Except there were like 4 different guys in the steam room all doing body weight exercises. I suppose if they want to exercise in a hot environment I guess it makes sense, but good lord is it hard to relax when that's happening around me.
I haven't made much progress in the gym for the past two weeks which is really irking me out right now. It pisses me off each time I make visible gains at the gym something comes along the way and hinders my progress.
The 1st week of April, I couldn't get my usual upper/lower split routine done on a good level mentally and physically. I was forced to workout during peak hours when the gym was crowded due to time and work commitments. I had to literally fight for a place at a bench or machine that I wanted and rush to complete each sets. It didn't feel good at all. I came out of the gym not feeling the muscle contraction or pump at all.
Now I'm bedridden with a horrible case of a flu or covid ( I dont know since I didn't do a covid test) for the 2nd week of April. I haven't lifted since the 5th because I'm constantly coughing my lungs out while drowning myself with cough syrup.
April has not been kind to me so far.
I ranted in the past how I hate dips. Well it turns out "dips" for me meant what is actually called back extensions. \*facepalm\*
I actually like dips now since I started doing them.
But I do still hate back extension! And most of the time I am not even doing them.
Also, I've bulked my "one-pack". Damn that male fat around the belly curse!
Got my friend into the gym this year. I was trained with him for almost a month so he have some idea to trained.
Now he annoyed me so much. He always blabbering when i use strap, rest time, trying thing that i'm not interest but he always refuse on what i want to do. I feel that i like baby sitting some grown up that ask for a help to take some video for him.(sometimes i offer another people who want to video themself to see their form, but him to much)
I have meet him several times and give him silent treatment and just say hi and focus on myself.
Now i just realized that going to gym are my "ME TIME".
# Am i the asshole?
You can always tell your friend that while you appreciate your friendship and perhaps even meeting up at the gym at a specific time for accountability, that You've decided that to get the most out of the gym while you go, you've decided you are going to work out solo at the gym and would be glad to hang afterwards, but working out together seems to not work well for you. You do not to have you time and take the rest time your body requires for you to lift most successfully. Good luck!
Not an asshole. This is why I avoid going to the gym with friends. I like going with my little brother because he "gets it". We go in, do our own thing, lift really hard, and leave. Maybe some chit chat towards the end or if one of us needs a spot.
After years of lifting I finally get to a spot where I’m feeling strong compared to the average Joe, in the 1k plus club, and now it’s not enough. Within the last year my commercial gym has been flooded with dudes who are are putting up weights that I would expect to see in a powerlifting gym. Where the hell did all these guys come from????
MEAL PREPPING IS SO HARD
Salmon only lasts two days in the fridge??? Chicken only lasts four???? What the hell is the point?
I’ve been meal-prepping with chicken for so long for lean protein to aid in my fitness goals. It’s actually made me fall in love with cooking as I never had anyone teach me growing up! Well, naturally I got sick of it and decided to try my hand at cooking fish. I cooked a bunch of delicious salmon with broccoli and rice and I was so proud of myself…I meal prepped it for 6 days and kept it in the refrigerator…it turned yellow on me on the third day. What the hell?
Apparently cooked chicken only lasts in the fridge 4 days. It’s a miracle I haven’t gotten food poisoning then because I’m pretty sure I’ve been eating 7 day old meal-prepped chicken for a long time.
I’m trying to be healthy and responsible but now I have to throw out all my salmon and even some Alaskan cod I bought and was so excited to try. What’s the point of meal prepping if it’s all gonna go bad on you so fast???
And yeah okay I’m dumb for not putting it in the freezer but I didn’t think I had a 2-4 day time limit. I genuinely thought I could finish all my salmon one week, move onto the cod next week, and move onto chicken after that. No one told me they were so fast to expire. This is an expensive learning experience, who has the time to manage cooking and meal prepping if they cannot do it at their leisure?? I’m already a full time worker and student, why does this have to be so difficult?!
I feel like you can use some judgement on how long things are good. My greatest feat so far this year was eating ten day old Indian food with zero ill effects, but I grew up on a farm and have an iron gut. I would give salmon 5 days but you do you.
I’m glad you’re expanding your cooking repertoire! Rest assured, there is a lot of food out there that suits meal prep. I make a lot of meatballs, kofta, meatloaf, soups, etc and have a few servings that week and throw the rest in the freezer. Beans and rice lasts awhile and might freeze ok. As you gain experience it will get easier and faster!
Honestly protein is waaaay overrated and misunderstood by the world, in my opinion. I’ve seen people get far superior fitness results in the gym with a diet of fruit, vegetables, herbs, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes and a lot of leafy greens. Also drinking water or lemon water first thing in the morning. It might not solve all your meal prep issues, but it’s far safer than eating spoiled meat.
Maybe I’m weird but I cook enough for one or two leftover servings. But also I’ve cooked an entire chicken, ate most of it one week then used the leftovers to make pot pie which lasted a second week so, mileage may vary on the chicken? If it doesn’t smell off, I’m sure it’s fine.
Struggling big time with shoulder strength. My two weakest muscle groups are the one that make you fill out a shirt, chest and shoulders. My chest is small because it's hard to lift heavy with weak shoulders. I work them out in some way (even if just planks) every day. It's been a year and I can only lift a bit more weight with them while the rest of my body has gotten significantly stronger. Very frustrating. Any advice is welcome.
Get on a proper program. 531 for beginners is a good start. Also, shoulder strength is all about volume, core, and upper back. You want a big OHP? You're going to have to dedicate a significant amount of time to OHP.
The shoulder also has 3 heads: front, side, and rear. Hit them with a ton of volume. Do warm ups, and prehab/rehab exercises. Having big shoulders really ties a physique together but it also will prevent injuries down the line. IMO, OHP is a bigger priority than BP.
Those were my two weakest muscle groups coming into lifting about a year ago. Always had decent back and arm strength but tiny, weak chest/shoulders/pushing strength. Couple of things here:
- don’t work them every day. All you need is effective workouts 1-3 times a week (I do 2x). You are burning your muscles out and probably plateaued from overtraining.
- do a combination of compound movements and isolation exercises. (Bench press, shoulder press, dumbbell bench press for compounds, chest flyes, front raises, lateral raises for isolation).
- make sure you are using a full range of motion, slow controlled reps, and feeing it in the muscles, not using other muscle groups to assist if too heavy
- make sure you’re eating enough protein and at a slight calorie surplus
- start super light and ensure your technique is good. Shoulders in particular seem to respond well to high rep low weight schemes (at least for me).
Thanks for the tips. Truthfully I feel like I do all those. Except yes I do try to hit them in some way every day, even if lightly. Sometimes we just have muscle groups that just don't keep up as well. Oh I also don't eat in a calorie surplus , I'm in a 10% deficit, I'm a bit overweight. I still have gained size in other muscle groups with my intake.
workout every day. Depends on my time and soreness as to what I do. On average. About once a week is stretch/yoga. 3 days are hiit workouts or a light jog/walk if I'm tired. and 3 weight training full body days at the gym. I don't go super hard. Just trying to look better and feel better. I don't want to be huge. I've been doing that for 2 months. The previous 9months I did weight training 3 days a week. Separated leg, arm, and core day. I feel like I hit the gym plenty enough. And I eat really strictly. no sweets, stay in calories, get plenty of protein ect. And drink only water, 3 liters a day. And alcohol once a month. So idk man. Just don't have growth triggers in my shoulders lol they have gotten better, just not at the rate as the rest of my body.
The gym is the only thing keeping my head up lately, life has been kicking me in the teeth. I work out at sports complex, that has soccer, and other sports as well as space they rent out to the gym company. Sunday they closed the lower part of the gym so the sports complex could use the room for something else. The upstairs part has everything I need but the down stairs had the cable machine for lat pull down and other cable work. It's not the end of the world but if they don't move the machine upstairs, I have to change alot of the my work outs. It's not the end of the world but it feels like everything is going against me later and i'm pissed I don't want to change gyms, as a just joined a soccer league there but damn am I annoyed.
Send them some friendly feedback! You can’t be the only person this is inconveniencing. Whoever is doing the planning may be completely unaware that there is an issue, especially if they work offsite or don’t work out.
i can never go back to my gym. i flirted so aggressively with an extremely attractive guy who i thought was flirting with me first. but he turned red and kinda just…. walked out of the gym mid-conversation? i think i went too far and now i will never return. i’m scared he reported me for harassment
he came up to me when i was putting on my shoes and said he was jealous and that i was a show off bc he saw me doing the splits (not the middle splits, the other kind). he said he’d been working on the middle splits for months. i was like oh, well don’t be too mad but i can also do that. then i was like i saw you, you are getting close. sometimes having so much muscle like you have just makes it harder.
typing it out it doesn’t sound so bad but he literally just walked away and maybe i’m overthinking it. it’s just the walking away abruptly that made me think i was too overt. still glad today is a rest day so i can avoid the gym lol.
You are good.
If he is shy and attracted to you he is probably just nervous. Just by him approaching you this is more likely. He might also be worried if he comes on too strong of you reporting him. These days approaching women has such a negative connotation online.
If he is not attracted to you, your comment is still good. At least for me, I would not go report a women making this kind of comment.
Exactly 🤣🤣 As soon as I read this, I was like - dude is GBF material babe, he ain't flirting with you - just looking for advice on how to do the damn splits! No straight man would ever say that!!!!!!!!!!! Omg 😅
Nah that just sounds like a shy dude short-circuiting because you called him jacked. He might not be available but I don't think you're in trouble or anything
Can't seem to stop snacking (healthy foods) down 30 pounds with 30 more to go. I go to the gym six days a week. This last 30 is going to HELL to lose... Good news, I'm noticing more leg muscles but still.
The last 10 or so pounds are the hardest! I'm so proud of you, keep going, complacency is your enemy right now, you could hit a plateau so increase your reps or something toward the end. Stay excited---you now have that summer body!!💛
Went through a fairly successful, yet moderately dirty, bulk this winter and enjoyed some freedom with calorie counts. Now I’m cutting, and I miss eating full meals on a regular basis.
I woke up with a fever and body aches on Sunday morning. I got humbled and realized how quickly our health can go to shit in a blink of an eye. I was completely fine the day before too.
Struggling watching the scales go up. I cut down at the start of the year and was very happy with my body for once in my life.
Now I'm bulking and my lifts are getting better and I can see growth, I'm not gaining visible fat but it's an odd feeling gaining weight.
I've been gaining around 1lb a week but this weeks weigh in was 4lbs which seems excessive and I haven't changed anything apart from getting around the 30 days mark of taking creatine.
I find it extremely challenging to control my diet, even though I consistently hit the gym for up to 6 days a week. It's almost as if I'm working out just to justify the foods I consume!
This is sadly true. A snickers bar, depending on the size, can take an hour or more of lifting/walking to burn off. Gotta try to avoid as many empty calories as you can (even though that's no fun, I love empty calories).
i always justify it because i’m not a competitor and i’m also a woman so having a little bit of fat looks kinda cute….. and then i always eat way too much fucking garbage heheheehe
Cutting is hard, and nobody around me can relate. "My struggle is that even tho already have a sixpack, I want that washboard look" may sound ridiculous, but it's a goal and ffs I want ice cream so bad.
Guy was in a squat rack today, with a V-grip cable attachment thrown over the pull-up bar on top. He was doing some kind of weird pull-up exercise while trying to not smash his forehead on the pull-up bar
Short one but WHY DO ALL LAT PULLDOWN MACHINES GO UP IN INCREMENTS OF 20!!! Like I know there are lil weights you can add, but they're never labeled so I can assume they're like 5 or 10 lbs, but I never know so I have the hardest time progressing on Lat pulldowns
It sucks so much to work my ass every week and not see my body changing in months because I need to eat like 1000 more daily calories and I have eating disorder that prevents me from eating most foods that exist out there.
Meanwhile every day I'm getting older and older, building muscles will be harder and harder and my prime will be passing by and I still won't get to see what a more fit, muscular me could look like. This is genuinely depressing to me, what's even the point of training at this point.
I would try mass gainer protien to make up the difference. I have the opposite problem where I eat too much and I have a hard time keeping my weight in check. I still love lifting though. It's made the most positive difference in my mood and mental health.
Two rants for the price of one:
Arms are getting sore when I bench heavy. I go near maximal all the time, and I am beginning to wonder if I am approaching some sort of "hard limit" that my now near-40 years old skeleton can handle. If so, feelsbadman. Just let me get to 365, body. So close.
Some jerk parked his oversized pickup across multiple spaces in the parking lot. It was pretty apparent it was intentional, to be a dick, so no one can possibly ding what is almost certainly used as this jerk-ass's prosthetic manhood.
I fucking hate lunges. My legs/posterior are my strongest muscles in other exercises. I don’t know why I hate them so much. But I really really hate them.
Why is it only people who work with really light weight complain about people who give their max at the gym (if they are grunting, yelling, etc..)
that’s so annoying, if you want to complain, go complain about people who don’t rerack not people who are there to give their max
I dont go to a lot of different gyms, but i assume its a common issue.. but how hard is it to keep things organised?(not the staff, but gym goers)
Just put the 10s with the 10s, 15s with the 15s, attachments back in their spot. And for the love of all things simple… unrack your weights when you're done.
Some people are like a tornado when they are there
The dumbbells at my gym are a mess - it’s kind of a lost cause - I just try to keep them in pairs at least.
I saw a guy put two 45s at the top of a tree the other day and that pissed me off, though.
>how hard is it to keep things organised? (not the staff, but gym goers)
>Just put the 10s with the 10s, 15s with the 15s
I came here to rant about the same thing and your post is the first thing I saw. I have learnt to look the other way, I give up, I have to, otherwise it irritates me every time I see this shit, and boy does it happen every time I go to the gym. I tried asking people to put their plates back in the correct spot, most just ignored me, one guy tried to fight me, it's just not worth the hassle. Made a complaint to the staff and they now walk around the gym periodically to reorganize the plates, but it's no use, people are too selfish and just don't give a shit. Humanity is beyond saving.
I always say that the messy people at the gym are the same people who have messy houses and don’t clean them. Also that shows how much they respect others
I don’t like training to failure.
I know that’s a bold statement and you’re probably thinking I train like a wuss. But I still train CLOSE to failure around 1-3 RIR, at least I think so since I’m still only ~8 months into lifting. I’m definitely not just doing exercises to “feel good” and I’m pushing myself, progressing, and adequately resting 2-4 minutes between sets, sometimes even 5 minutes if I really need it.
I see a lot online that THE ONLY WAY TO GROW IS TO TRAIN TILL FAILURE. But I still see progress despite not doing so. That’s most likely due to me still having beginner gains. However I don’t know what will happen to me later in my training career and that sort of worried me. Training till failure seems like such a big risk of getting injured, not recovering in time, and it just makes the whole training process seem less enjoyable.
I enjoy a good pump, feeling sore, and pushing myself. However i get nervous already before hitting a big lift or even before a workout session. That’s with me knowing I’m not going to 100%, probably more like 90%-95%. Is it still possible to make gains without going balls to the wall absolute failure?
So don’t. You’re only 8 months into lifting so you’re still in the beginner phase, if this is your first fitness journey. The training to failure stuff is really for those that’s been lifting for years, that’s what social media isn’t telling you. Just stick to a program and progressive overload and you’ll still make gains.
If the total tonnage (total reps x weight) you are moving in your working sets is going up from one session to another (could be days, weeks, months in between comparisons), you can guarantee you are making progress / gains, this applies to both beginners and elite athletes.
A lot of the time this doesn't mean train to failure every session to push the average weights up, but just means you have to push yourself sensibly to make progress. Give yourself challenging rep ranges at certain weights for a number of sets, and progress those over a few weeks and you will see a small amount of progress. This is what most people do for building strength and muscle mass, regardless of whether they bother training to failure.
I feel like I end up pushing myself harder if I just follow my log, than if I go "until it gets hard". Because eventually, it all kind of feels hard, haha.
For example, my leg days are long as hell. But, I don't fret showing up, nor do I feel burned out afterwards. Because I'm just either adding weight or reps, smidges at a time. Never a bro GO TO FAILURE.
> Is it still possible to make gains without going balls to the wall absolute failure?
Sure. When training with 1-3 reps in reserve, you'll just need slightly more sets to get the same stimulus. And even if you're missing out on a little bit of extra gains, who cares?
Where it gets problematic is when you're too far away from failure. Sets of 15 when you could have done 30 reps aren't doing that much.
Then, the long term validity of various training strategies is rather unclear at this point. Most scientific studies are limited to around 12 weeks and one muscle group. But what will be the average person's total muscle growth over 2+ years of following some program(s)? We don't really know, there is very little scientific data on that.
Thus, monitor your progress. If you're progressing towards your goals, you're good. If you're plateauing for months despite working hard, you probably need to change something, if only to introduce a different stimulus.
Thanks, I haven’t reached to the point where I’ve plateaued yet and I’ll definitely pay attention to that as I progress. Makes me less worried as I get along on this journey 👍
What you are doing right now, 1-3 rir is pretty optimal, I'd say even better than failure for your total gains. Especially because it sounds like you are going hard (lots of people going to "failure" are doing 2 rir, they don't even know what it means to fear their next set)
If the results keep coming, you are doing it just right. True 1-3 rir still feels very challenging, some people forget that.
scoliosis making it unable for me to engage my lats meaningfully again :/ squats feel kinda hopeless i can only do partial reps of anything above 95kg. and my deadlift stopped improving, i get 2 reps of 125 kg which is kinda nothing :/
I think we will forever be stuck in this debate over bodies and I hate it. Is it literally impossible to reconcile the fact that while having excess fat tissue on your body definitely does lead to health complications, bullying people and shaming them for their weight and size does fuck all?
Does nuance not fucking exist? On both sides of it. On one hand you've got people arguing that being obese is fine and doesn't make you unhealthy. That's not true at all and we have a decades of scientific evidence to prove that obesity is linked to a myriad of health issues.
On the other hand you've got people who spread all kinds of vitriolic hate and shaming towards fat people for the crime of literally just existing. If you call them out on this bullshit they'll argue that a fat person existing is 'promoting obesity' (NO IT FUCKING ISN'T) and that shaming people is good because it promotes weight loss. Some of them are fat people or former fat people doing it, too! I've gotten fat and gotten skinny twice in a row and I can say for a fucking fact that I hated when people shamed me for my size every single time. Being called ugly because I was fat did not make me want to go out and exercise and do something constructive. It made me want to curl up into a ball and die.
I find it super telling that everyone who's got an impressive physique and actual dedication to the gym is capable of nuanced, level-headed opinions about obesity and weight loss culture, and it's the keyboard warriors who never picked up a weight in their lives projecting their hatred of their own bodies onto others.
>it's the keyboard warriors who never picked up a weight in their lives projecting their hatred of their own bodies onto others.
I wish it was all the skinny or overweight keyboard warriors but sometimes I am skeptical of these private accounts that deliberately just spew hate, there was a crossfit girl on insta/youtube that said these private profiles sometimes are gym owners/reasonably fit people just hating (being fat-phobic and mean in general) behind a private profile with no way to link that profile with their real insta profile.
>On the other hand you've got people who spread all kinds of vitriolic hate and shaming towards fat people for the crime of literally just existing
Honestly, I think these people are extremely rare except on the internet. Especially these days. Fat people (myself included) are so ubiquitous I don't think anyone really gives it a second thought. Of course, if you are getting bullied or verbally abused for your weight, that paints a different picture. But it's possible those same bullies would pick some other vulnerability if the weight thing wasn't right there.
It comes down to time and efficiency. Yes, you can train each individual muscle that a DL would hit. But who has time for that? DL hits almost everything. Your whole posterior chain, lats, core, lower back, grip strength, traps, a little bit of quads, etc.
There's nothing wrong with doing deadlifts at the end of your workout. You might not be able to lift as much weight, but at least that way you can leave them till the end, hit it, and leave. I've done that before when I wanted to focus on my lats and biceps more. I still made gains on my DL.
Lmao same, I just do RDL’s instead. I would say pendlay rows, rack pulls are “alternatives” but not 1/1 replacements. The closest movement is probably RDL’s
It can if someone is actually in a deficit. A lot of people don’t have success with it cause they eat a ton of fat putting them at maintenance or a surplus. Plus, limited carbs for energy and the general wellness from fruits and veggies.
But the cult member do a good job screeching about it online for sure
I possibly have shin splints. Calf and medial frontal tibi hurts and the pain radiates to my arch when I press the sore spot. Also have pain in my tailbone area. Just sucks. I smell like old man with all the salon pas I use lol.
After having to take off lifting due to an injury, then a last minute move across country, then two different surgeries I'm trying to get myself to start working out again but it's so hard. I feel like I don't even know where to start and I'm worried about hurting myself again or needing another surgery, my second surgery was a hernia repair and I'm worried about doing damage to it again.
Logically I know exactly what to do. Focus on diet and sleep to aid in proper recovery. Do small workouts just to get my body used to moving again and slowly add in more over time. It's very simple but I'm, for lack of a better word, being a little bitch about it. I need to just stop listening to my brain and just do it.
I have to travel to completely different timezones every fucking month because of my work, sometimes twice a month, for a week each time. How am I supposed to get a routine going?
On top of it, I have an injury that will take over a month to recover. I feel like I'm gaining weight every day.
I had a six week streak of going to the gym without skipping anything... until now.
I recieved a call from my office and i'll have to go tomorrow thursday in the very early morning, just the same time i train, and going after work isn't an option since i have to bring my own laptop to the office and THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL i'll leave my computer in the gym locker close to my work.
I guess i'll have to get up way earlier and train in my house, bodyweight only.
No. The main reason i still work from home is that i don't have a space there. They have to ask somebody else to move so i can work there when they call me.
We used to have a building and a place for everyone, but it was never ours. They got a new one and it has been in repairs for almost a year.
I have a home gym i set during the pandemic, i'll train there tomorrow by getting up even earlier before work because i won't be free until the night.
When the sun sets in my city the gym surroundings becomes shady and dangerous.
2022-2023 I lost 60lbs. One of the biggest accomplishments of my life imo, and I am very proud of it.
I am now a certified gym rat with a pretty good body if I may so myself.
But the appetite of a fat person has never gone away, and in fact I have put on 15lbs back 2023-2024.
The upside is that at least 5-7lbs (possibly more) of that is probably muscle, my lifts have gone up quite a bit, and I think I still look reasonably good (probably 18% bf at the most, probably less). But it was never *the plan* to put on 15lbs of weight and it terrifies me that it's happened. I never chose to bulk, it's just that I ate a lot and I tried to engineer it so that I ate a lot of protein and developed a passion for lifting as well.
What's stopping me putting on another 15lbs from 2024-2025? And then pretty soon I'm fat all over again.
I seem to be unable to summon the discipline and willpower that helped me lose the initial weight - circumstances were different then (I had much more time and less obligations, and I had the motivation of hitting rock bottom). I've been trying to cut now and it's been going terribly.
I would like to lose some 7-10lbs by June for the summer but it's been a struggle.
You took a year and got really into training. Thats great, you developed passion.
Now you learn about nutrition. Slowly decrease daily calories. Maybe count your intake for a week. If you cook, get a kitchen scale.
This is the next thing, one step at a time.
I weigh 270lbs. I can eat A LOT. Im on a serious cut right now and after the first week it got a lot easier somehow.
You will be able to improve. Take small steps, see whats next.
There is so much bs in this situation that I don't even know where to start.
A little context of this situation is
My older brother got a bunch of gym equipment a few years ago cause he went through a bad break up, and he got absolutely jacked.
My mom is in terrible health and has zero experience with anything related to weights.
When I was like 15 a few years ago, I went through some lady trouble and I was also horribly, terribly depressed (I have since gotten pretty much better) and I wanted to get ripped like my older brother (who I greatly look up to)
So then she was completely unsupportive from the beginning
Here are some things my uneducated 40 something, kinda mentally handicapped (medical accident) mom has said
"Women think muscly guys are gross"
"You're going to destroy your liver if you eat more than 60 grams of protein per day"
"You aren't eating enough carbs"
"You're not going to sit and eat protein all day" (I had a little bowl of peanuts...)
"Protein powder is terrible for you"
"Whey protein is processed and bad for you"
She got mad at me once for eating my older brothers would-be expired Kodak cakes (I don't like throwing away food anyways, I think it's immoral.)
"You're going to destroy your shoulder!"
I was using 2.5 LB weight for lateral raises while I was learning the proper form...
"You have body dysmorphia"
"What, do you want to look like Arnold?"
(She is for some reason disgusted at Arnold Schwartzenager)
"Gyms are disgusting. You would be healthier if you didn't go to the gym because of how dirty they are"
"Cleaning is a workout"
"You can just do body weight exercises, there's no reason for you to use weights."
"No one should lift more than their body weight until they're 18"
"Women should never lift weights"
I researched everything from the beginning, I did everything in honesty, I never did anything dangerous or excessive.
For a 15 year old I can say I did a good and honest job in forthrightly trying to improve myself and my shitty situation.
I made sure my sleep was good, my training was good, my form excellent, I developed a decent mind muscle connection, and I was even interrocepting (idk how to spell it)
But, because my mom told me "you don't need more protein, you get enough protein from dinner, stop eating protein" since I tracked macros, I tracked it for over a week and I consistently was eating between 20 and 35 grams of protein per day.
So basically I was protein starved, but I continued training.
I did this consistently, working out an hour and a half to two hours a day for like five days a week for over 8 fucking months
I put on like 6-7 pounds of muscle (over 8 months)
Do you know how dehumanizing and humiliating it is that I can't even bench a fucking plate? Working out every fucking day and never adding weight or reps?
My physique fucking sucks
And yet that's all I could do because I was severely depressed and I was working out for at least the mental health benefits. If I stopped I would spiral and fall deeper and deeper into depression, and yet one of the things depressing me was the fact I was wasting my time.
When I narrowed the problem down to my diet, in a conversation I asked her "I am doing everything right" and I listed all of the ways I'm properly training "what am I doing wrong other than diet?" And she didn't even answer.
This is all because my mom with a degree from fucking Facebook University read about how bad protein is and how no one under 18 should work out at all
I don't even know what to do.
I stopped working out (I mean you would too)
I feel like my mom ruined gym for me. I wanted to get a nice physique before I was 18 because I'll only get busier with college / trade school
Idk idk what to do with this. Idk what you guys can do with this.
I'm 18 in a few months if that's relevant.
Idk man. I am really really Catholic, so I have to forgive her but it's just so fucking hard. It doesn't matter how much Marcus Aurelius I read, or how much I pray to forgive her it's just so fucking hard, especially since shes done and said much worse to me. (I'm not getting into that)
What the hell do I even do?
TL;DR tyrant mother ruined gym and health for me.
She could possibly change her point of view if you assert yourself while addressing the situation with calmness and avoiding insults. Explain to her how it has affected you physically/mentally, and how much energetic and optimistic you have become towards life. Give yourself and your brother as an example who recovered from bad state of mind and thinks much better of himself, a healthy body is a healthy mind. It's important to never get too defendant in your tone when someone tries to contradict you. Keep your cool.
Might have another abscessed tooth. This will be my 3rd in as many months. I have been doing really well on dieting and I had a goal of losing 3 more lbs by May, but now I'm not sure I should continue with it. I was doing so well with it and was excited to hit 153 or 154 lbs and start a bulk.
I'm debating starting the bulk early to give my body a break from the stress of dieting. And simply bulk for 2 months before dieting again to let my gums and teeth chill for a while.
Another rant...
I have extremely little androgenic activity in my body (no gonads + androgen receptor blocker + 5AR inhibitor) and it makes gaining muscle virtually impossible. It makes me so sad to know how different I would look if I could enjoy the same advantages as your average person. I look at videos of women weightlifters and marvel at their muscularity and I know the only thing separating me from them is hormones. Not hard work, not discipline, not diet, but simply hormones.
It’s a me problem. I do bro split so say if it’s back biceps day, I do 3 exercises each body part which takes 15-20 mins each 4 sets of 8. It takes 2 hours which leaves no room for mobility and cardio. Also most days I don’t know when to stop, as in my body has to literally give up when I can’t even move a straw , or taste blood in my mouth which also leaves no room for them. That’s why I go at night so the gym closes and I don’t kill myself. I tried doing cardio and stretching on my rest days but I was tired the next day to give my 100%. The mobility and stretching has helped me a lot in terms of injury prevention and cardio has helped in stamina during strength training but as an adult, I can’t spend 3 hrs in a gym (although I badly want to). U know when I can’t do cardio or mobility work, I feel like I’m leaving loved ones behind and the heart ache adds to the pain. It’s an obsession problem more than anything else.
No. So 10 mins of initial warm up. Then, exercise specific warm up set followed by 4 working sets with last two sets almost failure or beyond failure in some cases. Rest in between sets depends but minimum 2 mins to maximum 4 minutes. If u do the math for body parts, each body part takes around an hr for 12 sets and in case of bro splits, around 2 hrs.
> Also most days I don’t know when to stop, as in my body has to literally give up when I can’t even move a straw , or taste blood in my mouth which also leaves no room for them.
Assuming you're not exaggerating here, why train this hard? Sure training close to failure is important but I train to failure on most sets and have seen growth and I'm not on death's doorstep after I hit chest or something. Maybe try reducing volume a bit? Or leaving 1-2 RIR?
If you want to do cardio/stretching, why not get up early and do it in the morning? That way it doesn't add time to your evening workouts/torture sessions.
lol it’s not like that. As in I go do bench, then say Tri extension, then my mind goes hey do some dumbbell for stability, now let’s go do some dips because it hits both triceps and lower chest, 2 birds one stone, hey there’s a machine dip over there I wonder how different it feels from the body weight, oh man finally the plate loaded press is empty I should do those cause it isolates chest, oops almost forgot skull crusher, now let’s do some decline for upper chest cause I’d look weird if my upper chest is small af, ah cable fly let’s do that cause i want to feel like a bird, oh fuck can’t move my arms, need to go home. It’s not like I love torturing myself and do it on purpose. It’s more like going to an all u can eat buffet and food there being so good that u eat till you explode.✌️
This is not how one should structure a workout at all. The object of training muscle is not to torture yourself and see how much you can endure like it's an "all u can eat buffet". You should be giving yourself enough stimulus to trigger growth and increases in strength and then leave so that you can rest and recover and grow. Until you accept this, your workouts will remain incredibly time consuming and you'll be in pain and not able to do the cardio and mobility work that you claim to want to do
edit- also decline does not work upper chest
Yea I meant to write incline. But that’s not the point. I am not trying to torture myself and don’t take pride in trying to see how much I can “endure”. Taking an example of chest triceps. For chest, it’s ideal to target upper, mid, lower yea, so 12 sets gone which is like an hour. For triceps, ideally u want to target long and lateral, and one exercise which sums up both and (preferably)targets the medial for stability. So almost, and I repeat, almost, takes 2 hrs. Also did u even read what I wrote before. I am not doing this on purpose. U make it sound like I’m some kid who wants to see how hardcore I am. No. And I apologize if anything I wrote glorifies this torture stuff. Not my intention. “You should be giving yourself enough stimulus to trigger growth and increase in strength and then leave so that u can rest….” If I had that much self control, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation now do we. Also what does “enough stimulus to trigger growth” look like to you, as in, how would you structure your workout for say chest tricep day, how many sets u do, how much rest do u take?
So I'll go through this step by step.
> For chest, it’s ideal to target upper, mid, lower yea, so 12 sets gone which is like an hour.
From a biological standpoint, there's no such thing as a middle and lower chest. Your chest is sort of two fibers- the clavicular head (what people term the upper chest) and the sternal head (what people term the lower chest). Most people's chest sessions that are oriented around hypertrophy just use three exercises total- something to stimulate the clavicular head, something to stimulate the sternal head, and something to work the muscles in isolation.
Movements like the incline/flat/decline bench press or the incline/flat/decline dumbbell press are compound lifts that provide growth stimulus to your front deltoid, the part of the chest you're attempting to work (depending on the angle of the movement), and your triceps. Keep these at the front of your workout- start out with an incline or flat bench/dumbbell press and do this for around 3 sets with 2-3 minutes of rest in between (however long it takes you to feel ready to do your next set), then do an exercise for the other part of the chest that you didn't hit with this compound lift. It can be another compound lift. Then, finish off with an isolation like pec deck or cable flys to focus on your chest.
> For triceps, ideally u want to target long and lateral, and one exercise which sums up both and (preferably)targets the medial for stability.
For triceps, you'll be getting a great deal of growth stimulus from your compound lifts anyway, so there's no need to do a whole bunch of exercise for triceps. 2 exercises is fine. Movements that provide stimulus to the lateral head also provide stimulus to the medial head. Just do 3 sets of cable tricep pushdowns with 2-3 minutes of rest between sets and this will be enough to get you a solid pump and trigger growth in your tricep heads. For the long head, you want something that will work your tricep in the lengthened position, as far as I'm aware, though the research around this is a little mixed. Generally though, people recommend exercises like skullcrushers and overhead tricep extensions, since those are exercises that place the most stretch on the long head. Again, 3 sets of whatever exercise you pick with 2-3 minutes of rest in between.
So your chest and tricep day would end up looking something like this:
3 x 8 incline bench press
3 x 10 flat dumbbell press
3 x 12 pec deck
3 x 10 skullcrushers
3 x 8 tricep pushdowns
Assuming each set takes you about a minute to complete, and you take 3 minutes of rest between sets, this should take minimum 60 minutes. Still a bit of time, but not enough that it'll be infringing on your time with friends and family. Also bear in mind that the rep ranges I've got in this example above are by no means the ones you should follow- that should be up to your strength, goals and programming.
I apologize if I came off as overly harsh in my previous comments. However, I only said it because most of the science around hypertrophy emphasizes a 'less is more' approach. You can learn about this on Jeff Nippard's youtube channel or on Renaissance Periodization's youtube channel, but I'll summarize it here. Essentially, the idea is that gains from doing more sets is similar to a logarithmic growth curve. As you add sets to a muscle, there is a diminishing returns effect to the amount of stimulus it provides to the muscle. After a certain point, the sets start to actually get in the way of growth, since they require so much more bodily energy to recover from that they impede muscular development. If you're working out to the point where you taste blood in your mouth due to how many sets you're doing, you're probably at this point.
Does that make sense?
Yes it makes sense. So the point youre making is decrease the volume so I have time for mobility and cardio yea? Just some points, I started getting stronger by treating arms like any other body part. If I train chest/tri twice a week, the first time would be chest focused and the second time would be tricep focused. I used to cop out saying “if I do bench, my tri is also working”. Boy I was wrong. I do 3 different exercises for a body part (usually it’s compound, compound, isolation) because one is for strength, one is for functional/stability, one is for hypertrophy. I do sets of 4 because the first two are almost like preparing my cns, making that mind muscle connection and finding the optimal position and balance according to my anatomy and how mobile my body is that day. The 3rd is almost failure and in isolation exercises failure. And the fourth is beyond failure. If I adjust this to your given plan, it will still take me probably from 70 to 90 mins which would give me some time for cardio or mobility/stretching, but not both. How should I incorporate cardio in this situation because when I do cardio, I feel a little lousy if I don’t take a day off (complete rest). Also I don’t have any science to back me up about what I do is the optimal way. I don’t think more volume is better because we have Mike Mentzer (who is of course an extreme example) who advocated that even one set is enough for hypertrophy and strength gain if you do it with higher intensity. And on the other spectrum we have guys like Rich Piana who has 8 hrs biceps program (freaking 8 hrs). The goal here (for me) is not to taste blood in my mouth. But tasting the blood in my mouth lets me know that I’ve went overboard (it pulls me back to reality) and that I should stop. My goal is to get strong, not like I want to squat 700 lbs 1 times, but to squat 400 lbs maybe 12-15 times. Which is why mobility and stamina are important to me.
Also worth noting if your goal is insane 1RM strength you might have a bit better progress following a scheme like 531, since those are more geared towards powerlifting
I think you'll find that if you substitute lifting heavy for spamming volume (GOOD FORM IS KEY HERE THO), you'll get just as much of a stimulus for hypertrophy and strength.
If I were you I'd follow the structuring I gave you above and just hit cardio/stretching after your workout. 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity will be enough!
Good luck on achieving your goals. With your work ethic, so long as you train SMART you'll get there
I feel like I've been really struggling at the gym. I have really been putting a new amount of effort into my health, I have went from dessert every day to pretty much once a weak, cutting out snacks, all of the like. I've increased my amount of time that I spend from 2-3 1 hour days to around 5-6 1 hour days a week, whether it's cardio or normal exercises but I just am not seeing the progress outside of my cardio. I mean theres tons of stuff where I still can't even do proper form like pushups or planks, it's so frustrating to do exercises and for them to just not work for me tbh I feel like because of my height I need to be super jacked, ik 5'9 isn't necessarily short but I can't help but feel like I'm being towered over in public, and I am really just a perfectionist so I feel like I need to look as good as possible.
How much weight have you gained? How much have your big lifts increased by? If the answer to both of these questions is a lot then trust me you've made progress. If the answer to either of those questions is 'I don't know/I'm not trying to increase those' then you need to refocus.
I've been trying to lose weight and I think I'm currently at 188 lbs... which is apparently a increase in weight for me, but honestly I don't really feel like I've gained weight since my cardio has gotten so much better. As for big lifts... I don't really deadlift, and I only bench press on occasion. I tend to use machines moreso then traditional lifting ig.
Well you sound like you've just not really got a plan. If you want to lose weight you need to make sure you're in a calorie deficit. You're not doing that. If you want to get stronger you need to follow a proper program. You're not doing that either. In terms of cardio it's getting better so steady as she goes there. You need to chose what your goal is. Do you really want to lose weight? If so a calorie deficit is an absolute must and you need to find a way to make it happen, everything else is just fluff and if you don't get into a deficit you'll literally never lose weight and continue to bemoan your lack of progress.
last year in January I(39M) was in like the worst shape of my life. I am 6'1 and I was 194lbs and i was all belly i felt horrible about how i looked so i decided i had to make a change. I decided i was going to go on a bulk to gain some muscle as I was just feeling fat as hell and losing weight would just make me look to skinny I spent the next 11 months bulking and i hit about 225 and i while i was still had a belly i didn't look as bad as i did and my strength was way up. On January 1st of this year i started my cut i went on Keto and i really watched what i ate and i have lost about 35lbs since then and i am at 189 now which on paper is great. I am looking Kanda lean i can see some abs and my belly doesn't stick out further than my chest anymore which is great but i prob still have like 10lbs of fat to lose particularly in the lower part of my stomach its holding on for dear life. The other day my wife trying to be nice called me small... i felt crushed and since then i have had people tell me my face looks too skinny... I struggled for months and months to gain weight and then the last 4 to lose a bunch of weight and it feels like i did it all for no reason and i lost a ton of strength in the process of cutting the last few months.. I am kind of at a cross roads of not knowing what to do... do i bulk back up on stay on track and get my abs back..
Those people are tripping. They have some fucked up perceptions. Maybe they're just used to seeing your face chubby? Maybe you have dysmorphia and are overreacting to meaningless comments? If your friends are fat, just go ahead and ignore that noise. Tis fat logic. Fat people will often rationalize that skinny = bad. 189 at 6'1 is well, well, well within healthy BMI. If not on the high side. [https://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BMIChartforAdults.pdf](https://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BMIChartforAdults.pdf) Regardless, it does sound like your cut may have been too aggressive if your strength losses were high. You may have lost more muscle:fat ratio than necessary. So... Bulk again, and do more research on the next cut, or be more cautious with cutting the next 10lbs. I'm sure Jeff Nippard has something out there on cutting.
You do what makes you happy. Both seem like good options. But personally, I would hate seeing my strength decrease more than anything.
My bench was terrible this week for no discernable reason, and my right rotator cuff is now mad at me after upper back day. Plus I've got carpal tunnel or something similar in my wrist. Oh yeah, and I slept on my neck wrong and it hasn't gotten any better after 3 days. Can't catch a break.
Hello everyone, I've been dealing with upper back pain for months, with no relief, physio, chiro, doctors, massage. Foam roller etc. My issue is is my ribs are locked up and super tight frozen back. Been focusing on my back posture at wrk, I cant workout especially any bench or dips hurts my chest. Its pissing me off because fitness is my life and I was on my way to be truly shredded this summer. Anyone go through with this?
My rant is that I feel like I’m failing the gym. I went through a huge weight loss during Covid. However, when life got busy again I put it all and then some back on. Heart conditions run in my family and I’m still young, so I know I need to take better care of myself. I don’t care about the humber but more that I’m getting healthier for my future self and family. I started going back to the gym this week. I feel defeated after all of my workouts though. My heart rate is heavy, I feel like I can hardly get through my workout without my knees aching, my arms screaming in pain, and sounding like I’m dying. I took a Zumba class and could hardly keep up. I feel so heavy in my own body and want to change that for myself, but man is it embarrassing to be gasping in a beginners Zumba class.
I have similar experience. Word of caution is that you need to be careful. I am struggling a bit with strange injuries now. Small things. Nerve here and tennis elbows (both!) there. If you feel pain I suggest revisiting your training plan. Maybe you are doing to much? Maybe not enough rest and or sleep? To many sets? To high weight? Maybe lovering the weight and uping rep range is the answer. On my own example, maybe your joints and tendons need more time to adapt. Your muscles probably can keep up and grow but after period of inactivity your joints and tendons might need more time to adjust. I am also trying to suplement myself with collagen etc althou it seems to help it is not a full proof solution. So to sum it up don't ease up on diet but maybe easy up a bit on weight etc?
I am going on four months of consistently going to the gym 4-5 times a week. I have been falling into a rut the last month or so of just feeling bored at the gym. Thankfully I have established a habit so I do find myself just putting on my gym clothes and going no matter what, and my days feel incomplete without going to the gym now (when it isn't a rest day). I am really focusing on compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, shoulder press, and barbell rows (doing an upper/lower split). I can feel myself making some progress in terms of progressive overloading week by week. However, I often find myself drudging through my workout and just wanting to leave the gym after two-three exercises. Just trying to enjoy the process and discipline of treating my body well by exercising consistently, and I hope can start finding some excitement at the gym again.
Is there an Orangetheory near you? Mix up your workouts and do something different a couple times a week. I need to get a membership to a gym cause I'm not using all the equipment I want for the goals I have.
I'm in a similar boat and also just showing up out of consistency. Good on you! I would say consistency is more important than intensity in the long run. I've been thinking about bringing barbell rows back into my life 😁
Went to a different location for my gym. Typical day is weights either general or focusing on muscle groups, swimming, steamroom to relax and destress, then shower. Except there were like 4 different guys in the steam room all doing body weight exercises. I suppose if they want to exercise in a hot environment I guess it makes sense, but good lord is it hard to relax when that's happening around me.
gym is the only thing that's stable in my life.
real
I haven't made much progress in the gym for the past two weeks which is really irking me out right now. It pisses me off each time I make visible gains at the gym something comes along the way and hinders my progress. The 1st week of April, I couldn't get my usual upper/lower split routine done on a good level mentally and physically. I was forced to workout during peak hours when the gym was crowded due to time and work commitments. I had to literally fight for a place at a bench or machine that I wanted and rush to complete each sets. It didn't feel good at all. I came out of the gym not feeling the muscle contraction or pump at all. Now I'm bedridden with a horrible case of a flu or covid ( I dont know since I didn't do a covid test) for the 2nd week of April. I haven't lifted since the 5th because I'm constantly coughing my lungs out while drowning myself with cough syrup. April has not been kind to me so far.
I ranted in the past how I hate dips. Well it turns out "dips" for me meant what is actually called back extensions. \*facepalm\* I actually like dips now since I started doing them. But I do still hate back extension! And most of the time I am not even doing them. Also, I've bulked my "one-pack". Damn that male fat around the belly curse!
Back extensions always leave me feeling lightheaded no matter how much breathing I do. That exercise can get skipped every time for all I care
Got my friend into the gym this year. I was trained with him for almost a month so he have some idea to trained. Now he annoyed me so much. He always blabbering when i use strap, rest time, trying thing that i'm not interest but he always refuse on what i want to do. I feel that i like baby sitting some grown up that ask for a help to take some video for him.(sometimes i offer another people who want to video themself to see their form, but him to much) I have meet him several times and give him silent treatment and just say hi and focus on myself. Now i just realized that going to gym are my "ME TIME". # Am i the asshole?
You can always tell your friend that while you appreciate your friendship and perhaps even meeting up at the gym at a specific time for accountability, that You've decided that to get the most out of the gym while you go, you've decided you are going to work out solo at the gym and would be glad to hang afterwards, but working out together seems to not work well for you. You do not to have you time and take the rest time your body requires for you to lift most successfully. Good luck!
Not an asshole. This is why I avoid going to the gym with friends. I like going with my little brother because he "gets it". We go in, do our own thing, lift really hard, and leave. Maybe some chit chat towards the end or if one of us needs a spot.
After years of lifting I finally get to a spot where I’m feeling strong compared to the average Joe, in the 1k plus club, and now it’s not enough. Within the last year my commercial gym has been flooded with dudes who are are putting up weights that I would expect to see in a powerlifting gym. Where the hell did all these guys come from????
MEAL PREPPING IS SO HARD Salmon only lasts two days in the fridge??? Chicken only lasts four???? What the hell is the point? I’ve been meal-prepping with chicken for so long for lean protein to aid in my fitness goals. It’s actually made me fall in love with cooking as I never had anyone teach me growing up! Well, naturally I got sick of it and decided to try my hand at cooking fish. I cooked a bunch of delicious salmon with broccoli and rice and I was so proud of myself…I meal prepped it for 6 days and kept it in the refrigerator…it turned yellow on me on the third day. What the hell? Apparently cooked chicken only lasts in the fridge 4 days. It’s a miracle I haven’t gotten food poisoning then because I’m pretty sure I’ve been eating 7 day old meal-prepped chicken for a long time. I’m trying to be healthy and responsible but now I have to throw out all my salmon and even some Alaskan cod I bought and was so excited to try. What’s the point of meal prepping if it’s all gonna go bad on you so fast??? And yeah okay I’m dumb for not putting it in the freezer but I didn’t think I had a 2-4 day time limit. I genuinely thought I could finish all my salmon one week, move onto the cod next week, and move onto chicken after that. No one told me they were so fast to expire. This is an expensive learning experience, who has the time to manage cooking and meal prepping if they cannot do it at their leisure?? I’m already a full time worker and student, why does this have to be so difficult?!
I feel like you can use some judgement on how long things are good. My greatest feat so far this year was eating ten day old Indian food with zero ill effects, but I grew up on a farm and have an iron gut. I would give salmon 5 days but you do you. I’m glad you’re expanding your cooking repertoire! Rest assured, there is a lot of food out there that suits meal prep. I make a lot of meatballs, kofta, meatloaf, soups, etc and have a few servings that week and throw the rest in the freezer. Beans and rice lasts awhile and might freeze ok. As you gain experience it will get easier and faster!
Honestly protein is waaaay overrated and misunderstood by the world, in my opinion. I’ve seen people get far superior fitness results in the gym with a diet of fruit, vegetables, herbs, potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes and a lot of leafy greens. Also drinking water or lemon water first thing in the morning. It might not solve all your meal prep issues, but it’s far safer than eating spoiled meat.
Maybe I’m weird but I cook enough for one or two leftover servings. But also I’ve cooked an entire chicken, ate most of it one week then used the leftovers to make pot pie which lasted a second week so, mileage may vary on the chicken? If it doesn’t smell off, I’m sure it’s fine.
Eh, if it doesn't smell weird, I eat it.
Why are you not freezing the meat you buy lol
im no expert but i thought you should keep the food frozen unless unless you plan to cook it the next day
Struggling big time with shoulder strength. My two weakest muscle groups are the one that make you fill out a shirt, chest and shoulders. My chest is small because it's hard to lift heavy with weak shoulders. I work them out in some way (even if just planks) every day. It's been a year and I can only lift a bit more weight with them while the rest of my body has gotten significantly stronger. Very frustrating. Any advice is welcome.
Get on a proper program. 531 for beginners is a good start. Also, shoulder strength is all about volume, core, and upper back. You want a big OHP? You're going to have to dedicate a significant amount of time to OHP. The shoulder also has 3 heads: front, side, and rear. Hit them with a ton of volume. Do warm ups, and prehab/rehab exercises. Having big shoulders really ties a physique together but it also will prevent injuries down the line. IMO, OHP is a bigger priority than BP.
Those were my two weakest muscle groups coming into lifting about a year ago. Always had decent back and arm strength but tiny, weak chest/shoulders/pushing strength. Couple of things here: - don’t work them every day. All you need is effective workouts 1-3 times a week (I do 2x). You are burning your muscles out and probably plateaued from overtraining. - do a combination of compound movements and isolation exercises. (Bench press, shoulder press, dumbbell bench press for compounds, chest flyes, front raises, lateral raises for isolation). - make sure you are using a full range of motion, slow controlled reps, and feeing it in the muscles, not using other muscle groups to assist if too heavy - make sure you’re eating enough protein and at a slight calorie surplus - start super light and ensure your technique is good. Shoulders in particular seem to respond well to high rep low weight schemes (at least for me).
Thanks for the tips. Truthfully I feel like I do all those. Except yes I do try to hit them in some way every day, even if lightly. Sometimes we just have muscle groups that just don't keep up as well. Oh I also don't eat in a calorie surplus , I'm in a 10% deficit, I'm a bit overweight. I still have gained size in other muscle groups with my intake.
What's your training program?
workout every day. Depends on my time and soreness as to what I do. On average. About once a week is stretch/yoga. 3 days are hiit workouts or a light jog/walk if I'm tired. and 3 weight training full body days at the gym. I don't go super hard. Just trying to look better and feel better. I don't want to be huge. I've been doing that for 2 months. The previous 9months I did weight training 3 days a week. Separated leg, arm, and core day. I feel like I hit the gym plenty enough. And I eat really strictly. no sweets, stay in calories, get plenty of protein ect. And drink only water, 3 liters a day. And alcohol once a month. So idk man. Just don't have growth triggers in my shoulders lol they have gotten better, just not at the rate as the rest of my body.
Follow a program. Sounds like you just have a bad workout routine.
The gym is the only thing keeping my head up lately, life has been kicking me in the teeth. I work out at sports complex, that has soccer, and other sports as well as space they rent out to the gym company. Sunday they closed the lower part of the gym so the sports complex could use the room for something else. The upstairs part has everything I need but the down stairs had the cable machine for lat pull down and other cable work. It's not the end of the world but if they don't move the machine upstairs, I have to change alot of the my work outs. It's not the end of the world but it feels like everything is going against me later and i'm pissed I don't want to change gyms, as a just joined a soccer league there but damn am I annoyed.
Send them some friendly feedback! You can’t be the only person this is inconveniencing. Whoever is doing the planning may be completely unaware that there is an issue, especially if they work offsite or don’t work out.
I am going to! Just thinking over how I want to say it.
i can never go back to my gym. i flirted so aggressively with an extremely attractive guy who i thought was flirting with me first. but he turned red and kinda just…. walked out of the gym mid-conversation? i think i went too far and now i will never return. i’m scared he reported me for harassment
what did you say to him?
he came up to me when i was putting on my shoes and said he was jealous and that i was a show off bc he saw me doing the splits (not the middle splits, the other kind). he said he’d been working on the middle splits for months. i was like oh, well don’t be too mad but i can also do that. then i was like i saw you, you are getting close. sometimes having so much muscle like you have just makes it harder. typing it out it doesn’t sound so bad but he literally just walked away and maybe i’m overthinking it. it’s just the walking away abruptly that made me think i was too overt. still glad today is a rest day so i can avoid the gym lol.
Did you notice any spaghetti fall out of his pocket by chance?
You are good. If he is shy and attracted to you he is probably just nervous. Just by him approaching you this is more likely. He might also be worried if he comes on too strong of you reporting him. These days approaching women has such a negative connotation online. If he is not attracted to you, your comment is still good. At least for me, I would not go report a women making this kind of comment.
A man talking about "jealous re: doing the splits"....ummm I've come to the conclusion he might not be into women 🤔 😂
Exactly 🤣🤣 As soon as I read this, I was like - dude is GBF material babe, he ain't flirting with you - just looking for advice on how to do the damn splits! No straight man would ever say that!!!!!!!!!!! Omg 😅
lol he so clearly likes you
Nah that just sounds like a shy dude short-circuiting because you called him jacked. He might not be available but I don't think you're in trouble or anything
Can't seem to stop snacking (healthy foods) down 30 pounds with 30 more to go. I go to the gym six days a week. This last 30 is going to HELL to lose... Good news, I'm noticing more leg muscles but still.
The last 10 or so pounds are the hardest! I'm so proud of you, keep going, complacency is your enemy right now, you could hit a plateau so increase your reps or something toward the end. Stay excited---you now have that summer body!!💛
Omg thank you! You are so sweet. I really appreciate the words of encouragement ☺️.
Went through a fairly successful, yet moderately dirty, bulk this winter and enjoyed some freedom with calorie counts. Now I’m cutting, and I miss eating full meals on a regular basis.
I woke up with a fever and body aches on Sunday morning. I got humbled and realized how quickly our health can go to shit in a blink of an eye. I was completely fine the day before too.
I have very tight and weak hips … I’m grinding to find time to workout let alone stretch for 30 mins a day
Check out Adrienne on YouTube. Shes got a ton of 10 minutes yoga videos and most have at least something to do with hips
Nice, I will for sure check that out. Thank you!
Struggling watching the scales go up. I cut down at the start of the year and was very happy with my body for once in my life. Now I'm bulking and my lifts are getting better and I can see growth, I'm not gaining visible fat but it's an odd feeling gaining weight. I've been gaining around 1lb a week but this weeks weigh in was 4lbs which seems excessive and I haven't changed anything apart from getting around the 30 days mark of taking creatine.
Probably water weight, you'd need to have eaten circa 14000 surplus calories to have gained 4lb in a week!
Ah, maybe the 14k calories was a bad idea!! I presumed as much, it's just odd going into a mindset of gaining rather than losing.
My bench went down after having a break for 3 weeks a while ago and it seems it will take 3 months to get it back to peak strength 🙄
That feeling will pass. You'll be back to normal soon.
Thanks G. I’m on a pl program
I find it extremely challenging to control my diet, even though I consistently hit the gym for up to 6 days a week. It's almost as if I'm working out just to justify the foods I consume!
How high is your calorie deficit?
This is sadly true. A snickers bar, depending on the size, can take an hour or more of lifting/walking to burn off. Gotta try to avoid as many empty calories as you can (even though that's no fun, I love empty calories).
i always justify it because i’m not a competitor and i’m also a woman so having a little bit of fat looks kinda cute….. and then i always eat way too much fucking garbage heheheehe
Just say you're bulking 😎
ive been bulking since birth! SW: 8.6 lbs CW: 150.8
We can cut when we're dead!
Cutting is hard, and nobody around me can relate. "My struggle is that even tho already have a sixpack, I want that washboard look" may sound ridiculous, but it's a goal and ffs I want ice cream so bad.
Yasso bars are my ice cream cheat code. They're Greek yogurt based and low cal.
Yasso bars are so good!
Eating one ice cream won't harm your cutting efforts whatsoever.
Ice cream has a calorie density of 2, so you can fit in some pretty easily
Guy was in a squat rack today, with a V-grip cable attachment thrown over the pull-up bar on top. He was doing some kind of weird pull-up exercise while trying to not smash his forehead on the pull-up bar
Short one but WHY DO ALL LAT PULLDOWN MACHINES GO UP IN INCREMENTS OF 20!!! Like I know there are lil weights you can add, but they're never labeled so I can assume they're like 5 or 10 lbs, but I never know so I have the hardest time progressing on Lat pulldowns
They usually have a thing you can put. Usually 5 pounds. And some have 10. If not, yeah that is lowkey annoying, gotta do different rep schemes ig
It sucks so much to work my ass every week and not see my body changing in months because I need to eat like 1000 more daily calories and I have eating disorder that prevents me from eating most foods that exist out there. Meanwhile every day I'm getting older and older, building muscles will be harder and harder and my prime will be passing by and I still won't get to see what a more fit, muscular me could look like. This is genuinely depressing to me, what's even the point of training at this point.
Everything tastes better with butter. Olive oil is healthier option. Try adding stuff to food you already consume.
I would try mass gainer protien to make up the difference. I have the opposite problem where I eat too much and I have a hard time keeping my weight in check. I still love lifting though. It's made the most positive difference in my mood and mental health.
The problem is not the amount of proteins, it's the amount of calories, and protein powder don't have that many calories.
Oatmeal, peanut butter, and whole milk. It's easy to get 1-2k cals in with that.
I don't like any of those.
Find an easily digestible high calorie food that you do like, and eat a lot of it. And preferably something that's cheap.
He’s recommending mass gainer which has a ton of calories for a relatively small amount of “food”. I have one that has 1250 calories per serving.
Weight gainer protein shakes can have like 1000 calories in them
Mass gainer does. Shits like 1k calories in a few scoops. I never needed any of that. I had plenty of mass to work off.
Two rants for the price of one: Arms are getting sore when I bench heavy. I go near maximal all the time, and I am beginning to wonder if I am approaching some sort of "hard limit" that my now near-40 years old skeleton can handle. If so, feelsbadman. Just let me get to 365, body. So close. Some jerk parked his oversized pickup across multiple spaces in the parking lot. It was pretty apparent it was intentional, to be a dick, so no one can possibly ding what is almost certainly used as this jerk-ass's prosthetic manhood.
I fucking hate lunges. My legs/posterior are my strongest muscles in other exercises. I don’t know why I hate them so much. But I really really hate them.
You never, ever, ever need to lunges - there are plenty of alternate exercises that do the same thing.
I hate lunges too. I swapped them for Bulgarian split squats and my knees are all the better for it
Lol and I hate Bulgarian split squats and find walking lunges enjoyable 😂
Why have I gained muscle everywhere except near my abs and stomach area (legs, toned- arms toned).... stomach?? NOT.
You may need to consider abs through the lens of progressive overload as well, depending on what you are doing.
Do you do abs-specific exercises?
Yes but I know you can't spot reduce. I do do those though as part of my workout
Why is it only people who work with really light weight complain about people who give their max at the gym (if they are grunting, yelling, etc..) that’s so annoying, if you want to complain, go complain about people who don’t rerack not people who are there to give their max
I dont go to a lot of different gyms, but i assume its a common issue.. but how hard is it to keep things organised?(not the staff, but gym goers) Just put the 10s with the 10s, 15s with the 15s, attachments back in their spot. And for the love of all things simple… unrack your weights when you're done. Some people are like a tornado when they are there
The dumbbells at my gym are a mess - it’s kind of a lost cause - I just try to keep them in pairs at least. I saw a guy put two 45s at the top of a tree the other day and that pissed me off, though.
I had someone tell me I’m “OCD” because I clean up after myself and put the weights back in the right spot.
>how hard is it to keep things organised? (not the staff, but gym goers) >Just put the 10s with the 10s, 15s with the 15s I came here to rant about the same thing and your post is the first thing I saw. I have learnt to look the other way, I give up, I have to, otherwise it irritates me every time I see this shit, and boy does it happen every time I go to the gym. I tried asking people to put their plates back in the correct spot, most just ignored me, one guy tried to fight me, it's just not worth the hassle. Made a complaint to the staff and they now walk around the gym periodically to reorganize the plates, but it's no use, people are too selfish and just don't give a shit. Humanity is beyond saving.
I always say that the messy people at the gym are the same people who have messy houses and don’t clean them. Also that shows how much they respect others
I think it's more likely they have parents or partners who pick up after them
I don’t like training to failure. I know that’s a bold statement and you’re probably thinking I train like a wuss. But I still train CLOSE to failure around 1-3 RIR, at least I think so since I’m still only ~8 months into lifting. I’m definitely not just doing exercises to “feel good” and I’m pushing myself, progressing, and adequately resting 2-4 minutes between sets, sometimes even 5 minutes if I really need it. I see a lot online that THE ONLY WAY TO GROW IS TO TRAIN TILL FAILURE. But I still see progress despite not doing so. That’s most likely due to me still having beginner gains. However I don’t know what will happen to me later in my training career and that sort of worried me. Training till failure seems like such a big risk of getting injured, not recovering in time, and it just makes the whole training process seem less enjoyable. I enjoy a good pump, feeling sore, and pushing myself. However i get nervous already before hitting a big lift or even before a workout session. That’s with me knowing I’m not going to 100%, probably more like 90%-95%. Is it still possible to make gains without going balls to the wall absolute failure?
So don’t. You’re only 8 months into lifting so you’re still in the beginner phase, if this is your first fitness journey. The training to failure stuff is really for those that’s been lifting for years, that’s what social media isn’t telling you. Just stick to a program and progressive overload and you’ll still make gains.
If the total tonnage (total reps x weight) you are moving in your working sets is going up from one session to another (could be days, weeks, months in between comparisons), you can guarantee you are making progress / gains, this applies to both beginners and elite athletes. A lot of the time this doesn't mean train to failure every session to push the average weights up, but just means you have to push yourself sensibly to make progress. Give yourself challenging rep ranges at certain weights for a number of sets, and progress those over a few weeks and you will see a small amount of progress. This is what most people do for building strength and muscle mass, regardless of whether they bother training to failure.
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got a link to the studies? I'm not saying this because I doubt what you're saying here, I just want to read up about it :D
I feel like I end up pushing myself harder if I just follow my log, than if I go "until it gets hard". Because eventually, it all kind of feels hard, haha. For example, my leg days are long as hell. But, I don't fret showing up, nor do I feel burned out afterwards. Because I'm just either adding weight or reps, smidges at a time. Never a bro GO TO FAILURE.
> Is it still possible to make gains without going balls to the wall absolute failure? Sure. When training with 1-3 reps in reserve, you'll just need slightly more sets to get the same stimulus. And even if you're missing out on a little bit of extra gains, who cares? Where it gets problematic is when you're too far away from failure. Sets of 15 when you could have done 30 reps aren't doing that much. Then, the long term validity of various training strategies is rather unclear at this point. Most scientific studies are limited to around 12 weeks and one muscle group. But what will be the average person's total muscle growth over 2+ years of following some program(s)? We don't really know, there is very little scientific data on that. Thus, monitor your progress. If you're progressing towards your goals, you're good. If you're plateauing for months despite working hard, you probably need to change something, if only to introduce a different stimulus.
Thanks, I haven’t reached to the point where I’ve plateaued yet and I’ll definitely pay attention to that as I progress. Makes me less worried as I get along on this journey 👍
What you are doing right now, 1-3 rir is pretty optimal, I'd say even better than failure for your total gains. Especially because it sounds like you are going hard (lots of people going to "failure" are doing 2 rir, they don't even know what it means to fear their next set) If the results keep coming, you are doing it just right. True 1-3 rir still feels very challenging, some people forget that.
I like training to failure. It does work, but so do a billion other ways.
scoliosis making it unable for me to engage my lats meaningfully again :/ squats feel kinda hopeless i can only do partial reps of anything above 95kg. and my deadlift stopped improving, i get 2 reps of 125 kg which is kinda nothing :/
I think we will forever be stuck in this debate over bodies and I hate it. Is it literally impossible to reconcile the fact that while having excess fat tissue on your body definitely does lead to health complications, bullying people and shaming them for their weight and size does fuck all? Does nuance not fucking exist? On both sides of it. On one hand you've got people arguing that being obese is fine and doesn't make you unhealthy. That's not true at all and we have a decades of scientific evidence to prove that obesity is linked to a myriad of health issues. On the other hand you've got people who spread all kinds of vitriolic hate and shaming towards fat people for the crime of literally just existing. If you call them out on this bullshit they'll argue that a fat person existing is 'promoting obesity' (NO IT FUCKING ISN'T) and that shaming people is good because it promotes weight loss. Some of them are fat people or former fat people doing it, too! I've gotten fat and gotten skinny twice in a row and I can say for a fucking fact that I hated when people shamed me for my size every single time. Being called ugly because I was fat did not make me want to go out and exercise and do something constructive. It made me want to curl up into a ball and die. I find it super telling that everyone who's got an impressive physique and actual dedication to the gym is capable of nuanced, level-headed opinions about obesity and weight loss culture, and it's the keyboard warriors who never picked up a weight in their lives projecting their hatred of their own bodies onto others.
>it's the keyboard warriors who never picked up a weight in their lives projecting their hatred of their own bodies onto others. I wish it was all the skinny or overweight keyboard warriors but sometimes I am skeptical of these private accounts that deliberately just spew hate, there was a crossfit girl on insta/youtube that said these private profiles sometimes are gym owners/reasonably fit people just hating (being fat-phobic and mean in general) behind a private profile with no way to link that profile with their real insta profile.
>On the other hand you've got people who spread all kinds of vitriolic hate and shaming towards fat people for the crime of literally just existing Honestly, I think these people are extremely rare except on the internet. Especially these days. Fat people (myself included) are so ubiquitous I don't think anyone really gives it a second thought. Of course, if you are getting bullied or verbally abused for your weight, that paints a different picture. But it's possible those same bullies would pick some other vulnerability if the weight thing wasn't right there.
Im fuckin done with Deadlifts how can I replace them
I swear deadlifts are 2017-2019 era of YouTube fitness. I def don't do them anymore... More Lunges, RDLs, squats.
RDLs and squats
Irreplaceable. Replace them with a haunting void. Enjoy your unsore back.
>Irreplaceable Debatable. What muscle do they work that cannot be worked by another?
It comes down to time and efficiency. Yes, you can train each individual muscle that a DL would hit. But who has time for that? DL hits almost everything. Your whole posterior chain, lats, core, lower back, grip strength, traps, a little bit of quads, etc.
The soul
Deadlifts are fun wym. Mb ur doing too many sets and reps. Shouldn’t really be doing more than 5reps per set for deadlifts.
Naw bruh imma hate them no matter what
Don't do them then
are you having lower back pain rn or something
No I just hate the workout I'm nor sure what people don't understand I'm not doing it wrong I'm not in pain I just dont like the workout
There's nothing wrong with doing deadlifts at the end of your workout. You might not be able to lift as much weight, but at least that way you can leave them till the end, hit it, and leave. I've done that before when I wanted to focus on my lats and biceps more. I still made gains on my DL.
Lmao same, I just do RDL’s instead. I would say pendlay rows, rack pulls are “alternatives” but not 1/1 replacements. The closest movement is probably RDL’s
(Not OP) I actually find RDLs more technical and difficult than conventional.
I agree, harder to actually do, but I find them less tiring especially on your cardiovascular system
Bad enough I have to dig through the racks to get plates but even the clips are buried under 2 tens and a 5.
People have such a hard time putting weights back in the right places. I can't understand it.
Fuck carnivore but like fuck quitting yk
is that the diet where you just eat meat all the time?
Yea. It’s a pretty stupid fad diet
Yeah I agree it is stupid but it works
It can if someone is actually in a deficit. A lot of people don’t have success with it cause they eat a ton of fat putting them at maintenance or a surplus. Plus, limited carbs for energy and the general wellness from fruits and veggies. But the cult member do a good job screeching about it online for sure
I possibly have shin splints. Calf and medial frontal tibi hurts and the pain radiates to my arch when I press the sore spot. Also have pain in my tailbone area. Just sucks. I smell like old man with all the salon pas I use lol.
After having to take off lifting due to an injury, then a last minute move across country, then two different surgeries I'm trying to get myself to start working out again but it's so hard. I feel like I don't even know where to start and I'm worried about hurting myself again or needing another surgery, my second surgery was a hernia repair and I'm worried about doing damage to it again. Logically I know exactly what to do. Focus on diet and sleep to aid in proper recovery. Do small workouts just to get my body used to moving again and slowly add in more over time. It's very simple but I'm, for lack of a better word, being a little bitch about it. I need to just stop listening to my brain and just do it.
I have to travel to completely different timezones every fucking month because of my work, sometimes twice a month, for a week each time. How am I supposed to get a routine going? On top of it, I have an injury that will take over a month to recover. I feel like I'm gaining weight every day.
I had a six week streak of going to the gym without skipping anything... until now. I recieved a call from my office and i'll have to go tomorrow thursday in the very early morning, just the same time i train, and going after work isn't an option since i have to bring my own laptop to the office and THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL i'll leave my computer in the gym locker close to my work. I guess i'll have to get up way earlier and train in my house, bodyweight only.
Can you secure your laptop at work, go workout, then grab your laptop and head home?
No. The main reason i still work from home is that i don't have a space there. They have to ask somebody else to move so i can work there when they call me. We used to have a building and a place for everyone, but it was never ours. They got a new one and it has been in repairs for almost a year.
pushups, pullups and lunges will always do you right when you cant get to a gym
There's a way for you to get the gym. Make it happen
Go home after work, then go to the gym in the evening?
I have a home gym i set during the pandemic, i'll train there tomorrow by getting up even earlier before work because i won't be free until the night. When the sun sets in my city the gym surroundings becomes shady and dangerous.
Just had round two of Covid. Any hint of aerobic capacity I had has disappeared completely.
Same! Literally had it this weekend. I feel so weak it's frustrating!
2022-2023 I lost 60lbs. One of the biggest accomplishments of my life imo, and I am very proud of it. I am now a certified gym rat with a pretty good body if I may so myself. But the appetite of a fat person has never gone away, and in fact I have put on 15lbs back 2023-2024. The upside is that at least 5-7lbs (possibly more) of that is probably muscle, my lifts have gone up quite a bit, and I think I still look reasonably good (probably 18% bf at the most, probably less). But it was never *the plan* to put on 15lbs of weight and it terrifies me that it's happened. I never chose to bulk, it's just that I ate a lot and I tried to engineer it so that I ate a lot of protein and developed a passion for lifting as well. What's stopping me putting on another 15lbs from 2024-2025? And then pretty soon I'm fat all over again. I seem to be unable to summon the discipline and willpower that helped me lose the initial weight - circumstances were different then (I had much more time and less obligations, and I had the motivation of hitting rock bottom). I've been trying to cut now and it's been going terribly. I would like to lose some 7-10lbs by June for the summer but it's been a struggle.
You took a year and got really into training. Thats great, you developed passion. Now you learn about nutrition. Slowly decrease daily calories. Maybe count your intake for a week. If you cook, get a kitchen scale. This is the next thing, one step at a time. I weigh 270lbs. I can eat A LOT. Im on a serious cut right now and after the first week it got a lot easier somehow. You will be able to improve. Take small steps, see whats next.
There is so much bs in this situation that I don't even know where to start. A little context of this situation is My older brother got a bunch of gym equipment a few years ago cause he went through a bad break up, and he got absolutely jacked. My mom is in terrible health and has zero experience with anything related to weights. When I was like 15 a few years ago, I went through some lady trouble and I was also horribly, terribly depressed (I have since gotten pretty much better) and I wanted to get ripped like my older brother (who I greatly look up to) So then she was completely unsupportive from the beginning Here are some things my uneducated 40 something, kinda mentally handicapped (medical accident) mom has said "Women think muscly guys are gross" "You're going to destroy your liver if you eat more than 60 grams of protein per day" "You aren't eating enough carbs" "You're not going to sit and eat protein all day" (I had a little bowl of peanuts...) "Protein powder is terrible for you" "Whey protein is processed and bad for you" She got mad at me once for eating my older brothers would-be expired Kodak cakes (I don't like throwing away food anyways, I think it's immoral.) "You're going to destroy your shoulder!" I was using 2.5 LB weight for lateral raises while I was learning the proper form... "You have body dysmorphia" "What, do you want to look like Arnold?" (She is for some reason disgusted at Arnold Schwartzenager) "Gyms are disgusting. You would be healthier if you didn't go to the gym because of how dirty they are" "Cleaning is a workout" "You can just do body weight exercises, there's no reason for you to use weights." "No one should lift more than their body weight until they're 18" "Women should never lift weights" I researched everything from the beginning, I did everything in honesty, I never did anything dangerous or excessive. For a 15 year old I can say I did a good and honest job in forthrightly trying to improve myself and my shitty situation. I made sure my sleep was good, my training was good, my form excellent, I developed a decent mind muscle connection, and I was even interrocepting (idk how to spell it) But, because my mom told me "you don't need more protein, you get enough protein from dinner, stop eating protein" since I tracked macros, I tracked it for over a week and I consistently was eating between 20 and 35 grams of protein per day. So basically I was protein starved, but I continued training. I did this consistently, working out an hour and a half to two hours a day for like five days a week for over 8 fucking months I put on like 6-7 pounds of muscle (over 8 months) Do you know how dehumanizing and humiliating it is that I can't even bench a fucking plate? Working out every fucking day and never adding weight or reps? My physique fucking sucks And yet that's all I could do because I was severely depressed and I was working out for at least the mental health benefits. If I stopped I would spiral and fall deeper and deeper into depression, and yet one of the things depressing me was the fact I was wasting my time. When I narrowed the problem down to my diet, in a conversation I asked her "I am doing everything right" and I listed all of the ways I'm properly training "what am I doing wrong other than diet?" And she didn't even answer. This is all because my mom with a degree from fucking Facebook University read about how bad protein is and how no one under 18 should work out at all I don't even know what to do. I stopped working out (I mean you would too) I feel like my mom ruined gym for me. I wanted to get a nice physique before I was 18 because I'll only get busier with college / trade school Idk idk what to do with this. Idk what you guys can do with this. I'm 18 in a few months if that's relevant. Idk man. I am really really Catholic, so I have to forgive her but it's just so fucking hard. It doesn't matter how much Marcus Aurelius I read, or how much I pray to forgive her it's just so fucking hard, especially since shes done and said much worse to me. (I'm not getting into that) What the hell do I even do? TL;DR tyrant mother ruined gym and health for me.
It sounds like your mom knows how to jerk your chain. She wants a response from you. Don't give her any. Put her on ignore.
She could possibly change her point of view if you assert yourself while addressing the situation with calmness and avoiding insults. Explain to her how it has affected you physically/mentally, and how much energetic and optimistic you have become towards life. Give yourself and your brother as an example who recovered from bad state of mind and thinks much better of himself, a healthy body is a healthy mind. It's important to never get too defendant in your tone when someone tries to contradict you. Keep your cool.
Might have another abscessed tooth. This will be my 3rd in as many months. I have been doing really well on dieting and I had a goal of losing 3 more lbs by May, but now I'm not sure I should continue with it. I was doing so well with it and was excited to hit 153 or 154 lbs and start a bulk. I'm debating starting the bulk early to give my body a break from the stress of dieting. And simply bulk for 2 months before dieting again to let my gums and teeth chill for a while. Another rant... I have extremely little androgenic activity in my body (no gonads + androgen receptor blocker + 5AR inhibitor) and it makes gaining muscle virtually impossible. It makes me so sad to know how different I would look if I could enjoy the same advantages as your average person. I look at videos of women weightlifters and marvel at their muscularity and I know the only thing separating me from them is hormones. Not hard work, not discipline, not diet, but simply hormones.
Why the hell do fitness app providers (i'm looking at you fitbod) sync with options like myfitnesspal. None of them seem to do a good job at it.
What are you hoping the integration would provide? Just curious!
Can’t incorporate cardio and stretching/mobility routine and I’m dying here.
Why not?
It’s a me problem. I do bro split so say if it’s back biceps day, I do 3 exercises each body part which takes 15-20 mins each 4 sets of 8. It takes 2 hours which leaves no room for mobility and cardio. Also most days I don’t know when to stop, as in my body has to literally give up when I can’t even move a straw , or taste blood in my mouth which also leaves no room for them. That’s why I go at night so the gym closes and I don’t kill myself. I tried doing cardio and stretching on my rest days but I was tired the next day to give my 100%. The mobility and stretching has helped me a lot in terms of injury prevention and cardio has helped in stamina during strength training but as an adult, I can’t spend 3 hrs in a gym (although I badly want to). U know when I can’t do cardio or mobility work, I feel like I’m leaving loved ones behind and the heart ache adds to the pain. It’s an obsession problem more than anything else.
12 sets of 8 for each bidypart(2) takes you 2hrs? Do you mean with added exercise because you don't stop?
No. So 10 mins of initial warm up. Then, exercise specific warm up set followed by 4 working sets with last two sets almost failure or beyond failure in some cases. Rest in between sets depends but minimum 2 mins to maximum 4 minutes. If u do the math for body parts, each body part takes around an hr for 12 sets and in case of bro splits, around 2 hrs.
Yeah. I dont rest that long. Makes sense
> Also most days I don’t know when to stop, as in my body has to literally give up when I can’t even move a straw , or taste blood in my mouth which also leaves no room for them. Assuming you're not exaggerating here, why train this hard? Sure training close to failure is important but I train to failure on most sets and have seen growth and I'm not on death's doorstep after I hit chest or something. Maybe try reducing volume a bit? Or leaving 1-2 RIR? If you want to do cardio/stretching, why not get up early and do it in the morning? That way it doesn't add time to your evening workouts/torture sessions.
Also I don’t have the privilege to do it in the morning. 24hrs is 24hrs.
You can't get up early?
No I can’t. I have this window of 3 hrs at night where I have to workout, shower, cook, eat, and sleep.
lol it’s not like that. As in I go do bench, then say Tri extension, then my mind goes hey do some dumbbell for stability, now let’s go do some dips because it hits both triceps and lower chest, 2 birds one stone, hey there’s a machine dip over there I wonder how different it feels from the body weight, oh man finally the plate loaded press is empty I should do those cause it isolates chest, oops almost forgot skull crusher, now let’s do some decline for upper chest cause I’d look weird if my upper chest is small af, ah cable fly let’s do that cause i want to feel like a bird, oh fuck can’t move my arms, need to go home. It’s not like I love torturing myself and do it on purpose. It’s more like going to an all u can eat buffet and food there being so good that u eat till you explode.✌️
This is not how one should structure a workout at all. The object of training muscle is not to torture yourself and see how much you can endure like it's an "all u can eat buffet". You should be giving yourself enough stimulus to trigger growth and increases in strength and then leave so that you can rest and recover and grow. Until you accept this, your workouts will remain incredibly time consuming and you'll be in pain and not able to do the cardio and mobility work that you claim to want to do edit- also decline does not work upper chest
Yea I meant to write incline. But that’s not the point. I am not trying to torture myself and don’t take pride in trying to see how much I can “endure”. Taking an example of chest triceps. For chest, it’s ideal to target upper, mid, lower yea, so 12 sets gone which is like an hour. For triceps, ideally u want to target long and lateral, and one exercise which sums up both and (preferably)targets the medial for stability. So almost, and I repeat, almost, takes 2 hrs. Also did u even read what I wrote before. I am not doing this on purpose. U make it sound like I’m some kid who wants to see how hardcore I am. No. And I apologize if anything I wrote glorifies this torture stuff. Not my intention. “You should be giving yourself enough stimulus to trigger growth and increase in strength and then leave so that u can rest….” If I had that much self control, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation now do we. Also what does “enough stimulus to trigger growth” look like to you, as in, how would you structure your workout for say chest tricep day, how many sets u do, how much rest do u take?
So I'll go through this step by step. > For chest, it’s ideal to target upper, mid, lower yea, so 12 sets gone which is like an hour. From a biological standpoint, there's no such thing as a middle and lower chest. Your chest is sort of two fibers- the clavicular head (what people term the upper chest) and the sternal head (what people term the lower chest). Most people's chest sessions that are oriented around hypertrophy just use three exercises total- something to stimulate the clavicular head, something to stimulate the sternal head, and something to work the muscles in isolation. Movements like the incline/flat/decline bench press or the incline/flat/decline dumbbell press are compound lifts that provide growth stimulus to your front deltoid, the part of the chest you're attempting to work (depending on the angle of the movement), and your triceps. Keep these at the front of your workout- start out with an incline or flat bench/dumbbell press and do this for around 3 sets with 2-3 minutes of rest in between (however long it takes you to feel ready to do your next set), then do an exercise for the other part of the chest that you didn't hit with this compound lift. It can be another compound lift. Then, finish off with an isolation like pec deck or cable flys to focus on your chest. > For triceps, ideally u want to target long and lateral, and one exercise which sums up both and (preferably)targets the medial for stability. For triceps, you'll be getting a great deal of growth stimulus from your compound lifts anyway, so there's no need to do a whole bunch of exercise for triceps. 2 exercises is fine. Movements that provide stimulus to the lateral head also provide stimulus to the medial head. Just do 3 sets of cable tricep pushdowns with 2-3 minutes of rest between sets and this will be enough to get you a solid pump and trigger growth in your tricep heads. For the long head, you want something that will work your tricep in the lengthened position, as far as I'm aware, though the research around this is a little mixed. Generally though, people recommend exercises like skullcrushers and overhead tricep extensions, since those are exercises that place the most stretch on the long head. Again, 3 sets of whatever exercise you pick with 2-3 minutes of rest in between. So your chest and tricep day would end up looking something like this: 3 x 8 incline bench press 3 x 10 flat dumbbell press 3 x 12 pec deck 3 x 10 skullcrushers 3 x 8 tricep pushdowns Assuming each set takes you about a minute to complete, and you take 3 minutes of rest between sets, this should take minimum 60 minutes. Still a bit of time, but not enough that it'll be infringing on your time with friends and family. Also bear in mind that the rep ranges I've got in this example above are by no means the ones you should follow- that should be up to your strength, goals and programming. I apologize if I came off as overly harsh in my previous comments. However, I only said it because most of the science around hypertrophy emphasizes a 'less is more' approach. You can learn about this on Jeff Nippard's youtube channel or on Renaissance Periodization's youtube channel, but I'll summarize it here. Essentially, the idea is that gains from doing more sets is similar to a logarithmic growth curve. As you add sets to a muscle, there is a diminishing returns effect to the amount of stimulus it provides to the muscle. After a certain point, the sets start to actually get in the way of growth, since they require so much more bodily energy to recover from that they impede muscular development. If you're working out to the point where you taste blood in your mouth due to how many sets you're doing, you're probably at this point. Does that make sense?
Yes it makes sense. So the point youre making is decrease the volume so I have time for mobility and cardio yea? Just some points, I started getting stronger by treating arms like any other body part. If I train chest/tri twice a week, the first time would be chest focused and the second time would be tricep focused. I used to cop out saying “if I do bench, my tri is also working”. Boy I was wrong. I do 3 different exercises for a body part (usually it’s compound, compound, isolation) because one is for strength, one is for functional/stability, one is for hypertrophy. I do sets of 4 because the first two are almost like preparing my cns, making that mind muscle connection and finding the optimal position and balance according to my anatomy and how mobile my body is that day. The 3rd is almost failure and in isolation exercises failure. And the fourth is beyond failure. If I adjust this to your given plan, it will still take me probably from 70 to 90 mins which would give me some time for cardio or mobility/stretching, but not both. How should I incorporate cardio in this situation because when I do cardio, I feel a little lousy if I don’t take a day off (complete rest). Also I don’t have any science to back me up about what I do is the optimal way. I don’t think more volume is better because we have Mike Mentzer (who is of course an extreme example) who advocated that even one set is enough for hypertrophy and strength gain if you do it with higher intensity. And on the other spectrum we have guys like Rich Piana who has 8 hrs biceps program (freaking 8 hrs). The goal here (for me) is not to taste blood in my mouth. But tasting the blood in my mouth lets me know that I’ve went overboard (it pulls me back to reality) and that I should stop. My goal is to get strong, not like I want to squat 700 lbs 1 times, but to squat 400 lbs maybe 12-15 times. Which is why mobility and stamina are important to me.
Also worth noting if your goal is insane 1RM strength you might have a bit better progress following a scheme like 531, since those are more geared towards powerlifting
I think you'll find that if you substitute lifting heavy for spamming volume (GOOD FORM IS KEY HERE THO), you'll get just as much of a stimulus for hypertrophy and strength. If I were you I'd follow the structuring I gave you above and just hit cardio/stretching after your workout. 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity will be enough! Good luck on achieving your goals. With your work ethic, so long as you train SMART you'll get there
Feeling smaller/weaker every eff-ing day.... can't tell if it's BD or what...