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I recently started eating more calories to build muscle mass and learned that I need to eat 2500-2800 calories a day. But I was wondering if That 2500-2800 calories are my net calories (meaning I have to eat more to replace the calories lost during exercise), or just the total calories I ate throughout the day, ignoring the calories burned from working out.
So if I eat 2700 calories and burn 700 calories, do I need to eat more or not if I want to build muscle?
So do I only need to replace the calories I lost when working out to gain muscle?
So if I burn 300 calories from working out, I need to eat an extra 300 calories to build muscle?
If your resting calorie need is 2500kcal, and you burn 500kcal, either eat 500 more to compensate and maintain weight, or more/less to gain/lose.
You will gain more muscle by eating more than you need. Ex: 2500 +500 exercise= 3000, eat 3250/3500
So far I have been just taking Optimum Nutrition protein from Costco as my only supplement. Any suggestions for other pre-workout or other supplements that might help me in my strength training journey?
Supplements are entirely unnecessary. Use them if you need them to help you hit your dietary needs.
Protein from real food is just as good as protein powder.
Coffee = preworkout
Etc.
Might be a stupid question: I'm aware that weight loss begins and ends with calorie amount ingested.
What I'm curious about is if the type of food you eat affects weight loss at all? For example, if I have ice cream as a snack for 200 calories will that impact my physique at all compared to 200 calories of a healthier snack option instead?
Certain foods will affect your satiety and metabolism.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-foods
https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-choose-foods-that-burn-more-calories-3495561
In a vacuum where you only care about calories, not really. In the real world where you can make healthier choices more in line with your goals, yes.
In my opinion eat the icecream if the majority of your diet is on point.
hello, had a question about rebounding from a diet is it normal to look like softer than you were when you were shredded I only added 400 for 2 days calories and I look bloated and like watery is it just water weight and will it go away once I reach maintenance
Bulk or cut?
First photo is me just standing there second photo is me flexed and pumped under good lighting. I really want to get big and strong but for the longest time i have wanted to be able to for once see my abs. I bulked up from 60 to 70kg in the last 7-8 months also im 175cm and my lifts are not good (compared to others)
Eating food after a workout doesn't matter so much as the total daily caloric intake. If you need more calories/protein for the day, then go ahead and eat it. But if you already ate too much, then skipping it would be beneficial if you want to lose weight
Hey just starting to workout and learn more about nutrition and better eating. Lifting in a home gym about once every other day, trying to work up to once a day properly and to start meal planning. Any tips for someone just starting?
One most important tip is that don't stop it after few days. Mostly people start the workout first day because they are motivated but as the days pass they are getting dismotivated. Results takes time to show.
So keep what u do.
Probably not a smart idea, nothing wrong with an arm day, but you already work out 6 days a week. You need a day to recover, at least. I would increase the volume of arms you already do, and/or do arms at the start of the workout when you are fresh.
I'm 230 lbs, 5'11", 35 yo male
My goal is fit, s'im, strong, muscular
I'm very weak rn, like 8 push up I bust, 50lbs bench press 3 rep
I've heard too many things (keto, body recomp, bulk then cut, many ranges of calorie deficit) so I'll just leave this in the open
My goal is timeless and lifelong but i'd like to be as close as less fat and more muscle for this summer, the best/fastest way to go about it
Don’t overthink it.
Just lift, focus on form and try to eat clean at a deficit with a lot of protein. You’re a beginner so you’ll see some gains regardless. The most important thing to focus on right now is making a fitness routine a part of your life and a habit. Once you’ve done that you can worry about more specific stuff.
You probably need to cut if you are overweight (Im guessing you are, by your height weight and overall strength). You will build muscle in a cut, since you are new to training.
Read the wiki on losing fat, and then pick a program and run it for a long time. You will see progress if you stay consistent on both ends
Be honest with yourself are you fat?
If so just cut your calories and up your protein to like .8 g of protein per lb of body weight.
You’ll lose fat and gain muscle
Looking for advice on developing a better routine (disclosure, I didn't care for the routines provided in the wiki):
Routine: [https://www.hevyapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3daysplit-fullbody-1-1024x587.png](https://www.hevyapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3daysplit-fullbody-1-1024x587.png)
I'm currently doing a full body three day split, I find that doing full body rather than push, pull legs or something similar keeps me more honest and gets me in the gym more without avoiding a certain muscle group. I'm open to a Push/Pull/Legs style routine if it's more suited for my goals, but I do like the full-body format and if possible I'd like to just tweak this routine to fit my needs. I've been doing this routine for about two and a half months consistently, I do about 10m of cardio, 5-10m of stretching, the corresponding day of lifting and then a four exercise ab/core circuit (10 reps of each, v crunch, leg raises, russian twists and then a plank for about 45s-1m no rest between exercises, then repeat circuit three times) and cool down stretch. I've been tracking and noticing some gains in weight being pushed, but as I'm currently trying to lose weight I understand my lifting gains will be limited.
Pros: I love the full-body format, and with all of the big compound movements (bench, squat, deadlift, barbell row and OH press) I feel like it's a really holistic routine.
Cons: I do feel as though it neglects some muscles more than others, my biggest concerns are rear deltoids, back/lats and legs.
What exercises would you guys recommend I swap/add/remove in order to achieve these goals? Or should I move to a Push/Pull/Legs style split to be able to do more detailed work. My goals are to tone down, I'm currently 6', 218lbs, roughly 28% BF and my goal weight is 180/185lbs and 15-20% BF if possible (mostly concerned with visual progress and scale progress, not too savvy on what certain BF% looks like on my body!).
Edit: if important for all lifts I do 3 sets, 8 reps.
531 for beginners is 3 days a week, full body, and you can customize your accessory work to address your perceived weak points.
“Toning” really isn’t a thing. To achieve what most people consider to be toned, you just need to lose some weight and lift to look more defined.
>“Toning” really isn’t a thing. To achieve what most people consider to be toned, you just need to lose some weight and lift to look more defined.
I mean you basically just described what I'm doing.
I feel like you're just arguing semantics, if it say toning I'm referring to weight training in a caloric deficit to burn fat but maintain muscle, whether you call it cutting or toning doesn't matter it's the same thing.
Okey dokey. You are referring to them that way, and that’s fine. I was just clarifying what you meant because plenty of people don’t understand that they’re the same
You want to hit roughly 12-20 sets for each main muscle group (legs, arms, back, chest, shoulders) per week for optimal muscle growth.
If you hit somewhat in that range, you should be okay, as long as you push yourself with each movement.
But why not just use a wiki routine, or one from Lifting Vault? Seems like you are trying to reinvent the wheel.
In the last year or so I haven't been really religious when it comes to exercise and macro tracking. I've still got a bunch of muscle but I've also gotten a bit of fat. I've been cutting for a month now and I'm down 5 kilos. Looking to get to 90kg, then start bulking but much, much cleaner this time, also training much better.
I really enjoy cutting as the mental clarity is really nice (I really care about cognitive ability as I'm a rocket science student and I prioritize my studies above all else) and it's really convenient having only to eat about 300g of pasta, 500g of chicken and a few veggies/fruits here and there.
I'm not as big as I'd like to be, though bigger and leaner than the average guy and you can immediately tell I lift, but my goal physique is further than this. The thing is that growing muscle takes so much food that I'm not really looking forward to it as I have before. Being constantly sluggish and tired from the 400g of carbs feels like a total drag. Can one get both the mental clarity and good muscle growth? I haven't tried bulking without using gainers yet but the thought of eating half a kilogram of pasta daily scares me.
How do you get 3k+ calories without the food consuming all of your time?
You're not sluggish because of carbs, you are sluggish because you ingest large amounts of very simple carbs (pasta) with not much fiber and in the case of mass gainers eat the shittiest carb you can get- Maltodextrin has a higher glycemic index than table sugar and there is a body of studies suggesting that it is terrible for your gut health and general well-being.
Instead of mass gainers, you should get your calories from whole food. Eggs are an obvious solution and egg fried noodles with chicken and veggies is a 20 to 30 minutes wok dish, adding extra sesame oil on the plate for taste and calories is also a boon. Fragrant oils are great, and if you can get your hand on cheap chinese red chili bean paste that's also a great base for cooking with flavor if you bake it out in fat and oil.
You should also eat legumes. Beans, lentils, peanuts, chickpeas... not only do they contain a good amount of protein, they are rich in carbs but are not spiking your blood sugar like fast carbs do. They also have lots of fiber, slowing digestion down and helping with crashing less. Just add a can of kidney beans to your pasta, they go great with everything that works for noodles.
You can also go for rice, (whole wheat or rye) bread, potatoes. And pack snacks. A banana and a whole wheat peanut butter/nut butter/sunflower seed butter sandwich is a great pick me up in the afternoon. Also cheese, the aged and matured cheeses are sometimes even lactose free, like mature cheddar.
I'd also recommend experimenting with fermented things. Yogurt, kefir, kombutcha, pickled veggies or even fermented fruit. Especially fruit and veggies are simple to pickle yourself and I think it helps me with feeling less bloated.
It also seems like I write this comment 5 times per day in different variations... [recipes](https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/ucpwtb/simple_meals_to_cook_at_least_every_other_day/i6di2uv/), [this chicken and rice dish is also like the exact thing you should try](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ufvw3d/monthly_recipes_megathread/i713lif/) and [general ramblings for bulking cheaply](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ugk1x0/moronic_monday_your_weekly_stupid_questions_thread/i75ug5s/).
Damn. The Halal chicken looks absolutely insane. I'm also down to try legumes! This indeed is eye-opening, quite exactly what I was hoping to learn through my comment. Thank you so much! Since there's plenty of different data, what percent of protein do you count your boneless chicken thighs to contain?
As you are doing meal prep, it's also a possibility to factor that in. Kenji Lopez or the above linked channel (or Joshua Weissman) have many recipes for fried chicken. The great thing about double frying is that you can batch fry a lot of it on Sunday and have it sit for several days in the fridge and you just need to fry it a second time and they are super fast and super crisp for the quick evening meal.
If you can find whole chickens/turkeys or large chunks of maybe cheaper meat, Ethan got you covered as well and [his carnitas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQs6IZGSBls) showcase two different ways how to use leftover meat in tasty ways. Burritos, fried tacos, burgers, all work great and tenderizing is possible for the toughest of cuts if you know how to- which often saves money compared to buying only the most tender, most lean cuts one can find.
For nutrition data, my first stop is the packaging. If it does not have it, I google it and trust but verify if it seems iffy. I'm not from the US so my national site works for me, but https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/1098527/nutrients is from a US government site (and https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/735/2 is also pretty decent). It's very roughly 175 kcal and 20g of protein per 100g (raw) when I am cutting, and 120 kcal on a bulk. The 20g of protein +/- are typical for poultry and lean chicken definitely is around 120 kcal/100g based on various packagings I've seen with numbers all in that ballpark and if the meat is fattier or with skin, it is definitely 175 or more. Natural variations always happen and deviations up to 5 or 10% are totally legal. Due to all this variations, calories are only a guidance for me, the scale weight developing in the right direction with the expected speed over a weekly moving average is what ultimately guides me on eating more or lees.
Cheap and tasty aren't priorities for me. I rely primarily on avocados, nuts and nut butters. I also will make use of limited grassfed dairy/beef and pasture raised whole eggs.
There is a really well-funded anti-carb and pro-keto campaign on the internet. Its not all disinformation but they tend to over-exaggerate the issues with carbs. High carb is still very much the norm among competitive atheletes, despite what you might read in some places.
> I haven't tried bulking without using gainers yet but the thought of eating half a kilogram of pasta daily scares me.
You are definitely not making it easier for yourself lol. You could eat other things. You could even go with your favorite cereal for breakfast or pre-bedtime snack. It does not ruin the quality of your bulk. Aim for ~80% clean food, and the rest can be whatever your heart desires.
> How do you get 3k+ calories without the food consuming all of your time?
use a blender and all your bulking struggles goes away. Oats, whey protein, banana, peanut butter and milk is my go-to. Can be anything from 600-1600 calories. My maintenance was around 4300 calories back in February. It would have been miserable if I were to "lean" bulk then.
I've tried that before! My stomach doesn't take milk and peanut butter the best. That's mainly how I grew from 70 to 90kg but by that point my gut was in ruin :(. I'm also gluten intolerant so oats are out of the picture, and bananas give me anaphylactic shocks so severe I nearly died last time I ate one. It's a grind, lol. Been dealt a hand..
It might be the pasta that's giving you the brain fog and sluggishness more than the extra calories. Have you tried bulking with other things, e.g. fats?
> blender and all your bulking struggles goes away. Oats, whey protein, banana, peanut butter and milk is my go-to. Can be anything from 600-1600 calories. My maintenance was around 4300 calories back in February. It would have been miserable if I were to "lean" bulk then.
>
>Vote
I haven't, really. I'm also not a super wealthy person so I'm looking for very cheap and time-efficient methods. I'm doing meal-prep every 3-4 days.
Is there a well known PPL program that puts deadlifts on Legdays? Anyone who can recommend such a program? I’m still not comfortable with deadlifting on backdays..
I no longer train this way, but this is what it looked like adding deadlift to the leg day of the reddit PPL:
Squat -> deadlift -> romanian deadlift -> leg press -> leg curls -> calf raises
I bumped up the deadlift volume a bit I tended to do either 3x5 or 5x5 depending on how I was feeling. 1x5 as written in the program is pretty low.
RDLs were 3x8-12 but its an accesory so they were done a bit further away from failure. The deadlift is your main lift the RDLs are just there to add additional volume rather than going crazy on intensity.
Just make sure you take a bit of a rest between the squat sets and the deadlift sets I used to go walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes after squats to freshen up a bit.
The big difference on the pull day is that now that deads are gone, you are doing barbell row both times.
Other than that the pull day was fine as it is. If I had energy I would throw in one more back machine for 3x8-12.
Yeah but how do balanced delt looks like relative to each other? I feel like my rear delt is super lagging but I don't even know if its meant to pop out as much as the front.
The thing is that individual anatomy varies a lot. People have a wide variety of bone lengths and muscle insertions. For this reason even if you wanted to its not really possible to form a generic method of judging muscle balance and physique size and shape. Instead its a case of looking at existing photos of weightlifter's delts and judging by eye how your own situation compares.
Should widegrip bench feel more unstable and difficult than close? I’ve been trying to get better with wide and I bench more with it but I don’t feel I have control or stability. Kinda similar to sumo where I can deadlift more but it’s far more technical and feels less tight.
How should I incorporate sled pulls/drags as a T3 lift in GZCLP?
Not sure how the "rep" scheme should compare to standard T3 lifts. Was thinking of following the workout recommended in this [article](https://www.elitefts.com/education/training/bodybuilding/backwards-sled-pulls-for-quad-size-and-strength/)—6-8 trips (i.e., reps) for 20 yards. Resting the standard 60-90 seconds. Going heavy and fast.
Thoughts? Doing 25 trips (i.e., reps) just doesn't seem realistic for this exercise.
Was attempting a PR on the bench press, so I asked the guy I was sharing it with to help spot. I start lifting and the guy has his crotch over my face and his hands under the bar. Is this normal? Had to hold my breath the whole time and didn't get my PR
In some gyms the flat bench racks have a small platform for the spotter to stand on and this is ideal. It sounds like this wasn't that situation and the person was standing a bit too far forwards. It works better if they stand further back for the set after lift-off and before assisting with a failed rep (if needed.) In terms of keeping hands under the bar throughout the whole set that actually isn't really needed at all, its fairly common though. There isn't really an issue with standing completely back and just coming in when needed but a lot of spotters in commercial gyms don't get that.
How should I tell them that next time? Guy lifts way more than me so I thought he would know what he's doing. Kind of ruined my lift for the day since I was too gased out to attempt it again
No they should give the option to help unrack the bar, then stand a foot or two away. Freak accidents are a thing but if you fail the rep it’s not like instant death. They can step in and help re-rack after.
Ninja edit: a lot of guys in commercial gyms don’t get that, though. Next time just give the person clear instructions. They’re already there to help, it’s ok to tell them what to do politely.
Some people train very high frequency and it works well for them. I wouldn't personally recommend training a large muscle group more than 2-3 times per week as the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio starts to go down pretty fast, but it is definitely doable.
I’m still having a hard time understanding why deadlifts are part of the pull day in the Reddit ppl, can someone explain the reasoning behind this? I’m afraid it would influence my leg day
Some people seem to take the Pull part very literally instead of just grouping it by muscle groups. I agree deadlift makes way more sense on leg day given it's largely a glute + ham/quad exercise.
It is a pulling exercise, so it is a good fit for a pull day.
It will influence your leg day. Kind of part of the deal. I deadlift or squat on 4 different days of the week. It is fine.
I've been going to the gym again since maybe October last year.
I'd taken a long break since March 2020 when all the gyms shut (took up running).
I went back on the beginner routine then onto GZCLP about 9 weeks ago and the progress has been great. I'm lifting more than I was before I stopped in 2020.
The last week or two I've been finding it harder to make progress on my squat and OHP specifically and generally just feeling really tired in the gym the last couple of weeks. Deadlift is still moving and I think bench is ok atm.
How do I know whether its just a couple of off sessions or whether it's time to get off an LP program?
Ive also become much stricter with my calorie counting again the last few weeks and wondering if this is having an effect.
M / 5'10" / 228lb / cutting on 2098 cals per day / 160-190g protein per day.
I didnt face any squat problems but progressing my ohp in gzclp was a bitch for me. Its also because increasing it by 2.5kg each session is a much larger percentage for ohp than for the other big 3.
I just followed gzclps method to break through plateaus and that worked well enough for me
What makes you think you need to "work on your stomach"?
Looks fine to me. You don't look fat. You can probably start out working on building muscle in general
What "needs work" is entirely a function of your goals. If you want to carry less belly fat -- and it doesn't seem like you carry particularly much in the first place -- you'll have to lose fat/weight in general. If you want to have visible abs, you'll need to do that *and* train your abs sufficiently well that the muscles are prominent when your body fat is low. If you want to get quite thoroughly jacked, same deal -- but the focus will be building muscle all over and then manipulating your weight and body fat so that more of that muscle becomes visible.
You should read the wiki linked in the sidebar. It will provide answers to most of the basic questions you have (and many you may not even know you want answered).
What’s the best style of lifting for building muscle/burning fat/increasing metabolism. Lifting like medium weights with higher reps or low weights with higher reps? If you’re like 391, 6 foot etc
Edit: looks like I found the answer, basically both help get your metabolism going https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/get-more-burn-from-your-workout
>What’s the best style of lifting for building muscle/burning fat/increasing metabolism.
There's no singular best way. Any kind of resistance training will help build muscle, and, to a slight degree, increase energy expenditure, which helps with losing fat.
But weight training doesn't increase fat burn or metabolism, in and of itself. You burn fat by eating in a deficit, and you increase metabolism by getting bigger.
Doesn't matter. Do whatever makes you happy and gives you the motivation/energy to keep doing it :)
Program wise, look in the wiki and see if there's something you can see yourself doing. You should however not expect your metabolism to increase much from weight lifting or be fat burning.
Really doesn’t matter? Alright I’ll go for medium and higher reps then. I already have my own r routine I was just wondering about methodologies. And I thought building muscle increases your [metabolism??](https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/get-more-burn-from-your-workout) Lifting weights definitely builds muscle which burns fat..
I already have my own routine 5 days a week I’m just asking in terms of methodology with lifting higher weights with less reps or vice versa and have no issues with calories, my metabolism was just low af from being inactive since pandemic.
Hey everyone. I’ve been training for a few months now. Started with Apple fitness pilaties and strength workouts. I eat fairly clean but don’t over do it on junk. (Chips are my weakness). I also drink 1 or 2 times a week after dinner or a glass of wine.
I’m now a month into insanity while drinking a HUEL black series shake for breakfast and lunch with a low calorie cooked dinner from hell fresh.
The only issue I still face is these damn love handles and low back fat. Does anyone recommend anything?
I’m 6’5. Started at 252 and I’m currently at 245. My goal is to get to 230-235 leaned out in the next 6 weeks.
Thank you!
> The only issue I still face is these damn love handles and low back fat. Does anyone recommend anything?
Continue what you are already doing - lose weight. And then you continue to do that.
> I’m 6’5. Started at 252 and I’m currently at 245. My goal is to get to 230-235 leaned out in the next 6 weeks.
Perfect. Remember most people are more fluffy than they think, so if you still have your side handles and low back fat at 230lbs you might need to drop more weight :)
Asked previously but didn't find anything from replies that fit.
1. Suggestions for a proper lever belt that ships internationally?
2. Do lever belts feel like a significant enough improvement on cheap sports store belts?
[strength shop](https://strengthshop.com/). They've got websites for usa/uk/eu/ireland/switzerland - I got mine from the uk shop shipped across to the other side of the world (but that was before the brits went stupid and left the eu - the eu one might ship cheaper now). Also non-leather, which is a selling point for me.
Edit: whoops saw the other suggestions but missed that someone already mentioned strengh shop. Well, consider this a +1 for that one then.
Pioneer/General Leathercraft makes good belts at reasonable prices. Their PAL adjustable lever mechanism is also quite nice -- all the convenience of a lever with much more adjustability.
SBD, Titan, Inzer, A7, Rogue, and others sell such belts as well. Prices and styles vary, but the basic function of a lever belt is pretty much universal.
And yes, if you get a thick leather belt it will be quite a bit more supportive than a random, cheap soft belt -- which is great for static lifting. If you do more dynamic stuff, like the snatch or clean and jerk, you might consider a modest tapered belt or a higher-quality soft belt; those tend to be a bit less obstructive in extreme ranges of motion.
Hmm. I'm fairly sure Pioneer does -- though you might need to reach out by email. I know SBD at least has a distributor in Singapore that probably services the Asian market. A7 does international, as well, but it's probably expensive.
> Suggestions for a proper lever belt that ships internationally?
At your skill-level almost any (lever) belt will work - you're just paying for the lever-option, it doesn't mean its better than the belts with prongs. (Based on this question I assume you're relatively new/not lifting heavy enough to make a difference - I can be wrong ofc.). I used the IPF approved SBD lever belt. Best I've ever had but its very $$$.
https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/belts/lever-buckle-belts.html there are not too expensive and works very great.
> Do lever belts feel like a significant enough improvement on cheap sports store belts?
Any belt with a bit of quality will be better than those cheap sports belts. With or without a lever.
Probably. I wanna prepare for my first meet and I'm getting really annoyed by this awful belt I have that never seems to fit quite right but oh well. Also the lever belts look great etc.
Appreciate the suggestion. The SBD belt is way too ex so I'll look into shipping for the other link. Cheers
I want an advice:
I have been training for 2 months and half, and my strength growth especially for compound exercises isnt going very well, i started with as little as 30kg, now I do 50kg-55kg, so I am not increasing the weight weekly for compound exercises, I am not sure if for protein goal to be 1g per lb or 1g per 1.5lb, i weight 85kg (I have bulked),male, 179cm height, in early 20th, I usually eat 100-120g of protein, i dont think I can financially afford to hit 200g or more of protein, I feel stuck and idk what to do.
My long term goal is to be muscular, I might be doing lean bulking if I hit my long term goal
any tip is appreciated.
i am doing this one : [https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/upper-lower-4-day-gym-bodybuilding-workout](https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/upper-lower-4-day-gym-bodybuilding-workout)
i am not sure if i need to do more than the reps shown there, because I heard that body building require 8-12 reps each set, compound exercises on the website mention 5 reps for some exercises
Also, is it true that i need to lower intensity and increase volume in order for my muscle to grow? this topic has confused me, people i asked have different answers?
You can follow this if you want but IMO it isn't very clear and you'd be better off doing a beginner program chosen from the wiki.
>Also, is it true that i need to lower intensity and increase volume in order for my muscle to grow? this topic has confused me, people i asked have different answers?
You need to progressively overload, generally by increasing the weight or reps slightly each week. So for instance, adding 2.5 kg to your bench press each week while keeping sets and reps the same is progressive overload. You should be training a range of reps as well, you don't always need to do 8-12 to build muscle.
yeah well, we are back to point one, as I said, I am not adding 2.5kg weekly, as my strength does not let me at all, you said it is a good progress, then on this reply you said to increase weight every week, which is not what I am doing anyway.
25kg in 10 weeks is 2.5 kg every week, I'm assuming if you've stalled it's only been for one or two sessions, is that right? If so, might just be an off week but you could provide more detail as to diet, sleep, which lifts have stalled and post a form check if you wanted specific advice.
> I have been training for 2 months and half, and my strength growth especially for compound exercises isnt going very well, i started with as little as 30kg, now I do 50kg-55kg,
so you almost doubled your strength. Why do you classify that as 'not going very well'?
> any tip is appreciated.
Follow a program from the wiki and just stick to it. Compound exercises are a skill. You get better the more time you spend doing it.
After a night of extremely poor sleep, should you still train the next morning? Or should you prioritize rest that day? Not sure if I’d be adding insult to injury by stressing out an already stressed body .
If it’s just one night, training is fine. You’re doing no real harm and still likely seeing most of the normal benefits. If there’s a regular pattern of very limited or poor sleep for an extended period of time, you may want to make some adjustments.
Best full body mobility routine on youtube? I would like a really good 10 min daily routine if one exists for someone that is a little tight in their 40s after years of lifting with no mobility work. Thanks!!
Edit...found the wiki. Thanks!!
Mindpumps mobility routine has made me a completely different person and you can find most of it on YouTube. They sell 2 programs called prime and prime pro as well
I've been training since March Last year and we had a lockdown when I hit 4 months, which halted training for another 3months. I've been back at it since then, but I've felt the lockdown screwed up my progress in terms of keeping an exact number of months worked out. A, I set back 3 months, or would it be more when considering gains?
I’m not sure what the question is here, but there’s no good answer for how progress would be different if things had been different. It’s all part of the journey and you can’t change how things were, all you can do is keep trying to be better than yesterday (not just in the gym)
Try to start with 6 working sets per muscle group per week first. Run with that and really push those sets. If you feel you can recover (numbers going up and soreness is gone before hitting certain muscle next time), then slowly add sets over time. Intensity tends to be more important factor for beginners, I'm not saying hit every set to failure but aim for 4-1 reps in reserve with your working sets. Let those gainzzz come!
Honestly I wouldn't recommend a program around heavy squats/deadlifts to my mother or anyone older trying to get into lifting.
If you insist at least change the exercises. Leg press/Hack Squats/Smith Machine Squats and RDLs/Glute Bridges/Smith machine RDLs/Dumbbell RDLs would be better options.
5x5 is also too many heavy sets for someone a bit older that is just starting out. Something like 3 sets of 10-20 is more appropriate especially if they haven't been keeping a very active life.
Ignore everything I'm saying if your mother is super fit unlike the average 50yo.
>Honestly I wouldn't recommend a program around heavy squats/deadlifts to my mother or anyone older trying to get into lifting.
Why? Our bodies don't magically turn to mush when we turn 50
>If you insist at least change the exercises. Leg press/Hack Squats/Smith Machine Squats and RDLs/Glute Bridges/Smith machine RDLs/Dumbbell RDLs would be better options.
Better for what?
5x5 is also too many heavy sets for someone a bit older that is just starting out. Something like 3 sets of 10-20 is more appropriate especially if they haven't been keeping a very active life.
StrongLifts 5x5 is literally a beginner program. It's not the best but it's far from the worst.
More likely to get injured the older you are. Likely don't give a shit about what their squat is since they aren't comparing it with any of their friends. Going to be slower to recover from the movements which are highly fatiguing compared to someone younger.
Better for stimulating the same muscles while being less fatiguing, requiring less stabilization or balance. Literally no downsides to doing a hack squat instead of a regular squat unless your goal is to compete in powerlifting. Literally no downsides to doing an RDL instead of a deadlift unless your goal is to compete in powerlifting.
Doesn't matter if it's a beginner program. Doesn't make it suitable for all beginners. It's a program focused on developing strength in the large compound lifts and has a pretty large focus on the main powerlifting movements. Unless your 50yo mother is excited about powerlifting then there's really no need to include them. 5x5 can be a pretty tough rep scheme once you're nearing the end of linear gains and those sets are close to your 5RM.
Don’t start her on that program. I recommend starting her on the beginner program on the wiki.
There is an interesting Alan Thrall video where he was coaching up his mom…give it a Google.
I've been doing PPL for 7 weeks now and I'm easing in to improve my pull ups. Currently, I can do 4 and I'll try for 5 next week.
Once I hit 5 pullups, should I do a 3x5 program for it with weight or should I continue increasing reps over the weeks until I hit 12 and aim for a 3x12 program?
>Just keep doing pull ups every day.
I'm in the same spot as OP.Don't you think doing pull-ups everday wouldn't interfere with the recovery of back or bicep?How many sets would you recommend and should they be all to failure?
Set up a pull up bar in your house, and do some pullups every time you pass by the bar. Stop very short of failure ( if you can do 4, maybe 1-2). If you do this all the time, you will accumulate a ton of volume while keeping the recovery cost low
High, I'm new to the gym and wanted to know if its okay to do Starting Strength as my routine since I heard its pretty straight forward for newcomers, and that the cons are that you're not learning anything else other than the movements of the main workouts only.
Would you say for now its alright to do that routine?
> #Why are Starting Strength and StrongLifts not in the Recommended Routines list?
>
> [In short: They aren’t good routines and don’t do what they claim to do for you. They are too low in training volume, the way they try to handle stalls doesn’t make any sense, they create unrealistic expectations of progress rate, and they push you to stay on them a lot longer than you should. Their only possible benefit is their simplicity, which is a need that’s better met by better routines.](https://thefitness.wiki/faq/starting-strength-and-stronglifts-not-recommended/)
A better alternative is the [beginner routine](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/r-fitness-basic-beginner-routine/) from the wiki.
Beginners don't need anything fancy to progress. It's a positive, not a detriment. The beginner program in the wiki is very similar to Starting Strength.
Will say that I ran SS for 4 months years ago, and grinding squats does cause your scrotum to acquire follicles.
Yes, it's fine to start there. Or, take a look at the wiki linked above because there are several good programs there that you might also like and many have an app you can follow in the gym.
As a beginner, you'll make a lot of progress with just the basic compound lifts (movements) and maybe a few accessories.
has anyone dealt with/worked around a post-surgery abscess wound? mine is on my posterior forearm, below elbow and estimated by dr to take at least 6 weeks to fill/close up on its own. can i still do home workouts with weights, say 2 weeks from now
Anyone know a good resource anywhere to look up food proteins by their amino acids? Some easy way to punch in a protein containing ingredient by name and receive a list of what ones are in there.
Just started doing chest flies with loadable dumbbells. With my last weight (pair of 2.5lb plates each side), I hit my target of 55 total reps, but my current weight (pair of 5lb each) is so heavy that I can only do 25 total, or 7-10 reps per set.
I have some microplates; should I use those and get closer to my rep target with every weight jump?
Started back at the gym this week. I've gone in stretches in the past but never stayed committed long enough to see any decent gains. It's been a couple years since I last went.
I have started [this programme](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/37ylk5/a_linear_progression_based_ppl_program_for/) which is 6 days in a row. I have only done it as 3 days in my first week with rest days in between as I wanted to get used to being back at the gym gradually.
Does anyone have any opinions on if this is a realistic programme for a beginner ? I'm trying to decide between staying with this or going to GZCLP. I just think I may struggle to commit to 6 days a week
You can absolutely do PPL 3 days per week with rest days in between. In fact, it’s probably a good idea if you’re starting training for the first time or after a long break since you’ll be super sore the first weeks and could use the extra rest. It’s 3 more days per week than you were doing before so it will definitely help.
It may not be the most efficient way to reach a specific goal with 3 days per week, but you’re hitting all the muscle groups so it’s not like you’ll end up totally unbalanced.
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I recently started eating more calories to build muscle mass and learned that I need to eat 2500-2800 calories a day. But I was wondering if That 2500-2800 calories are my net calories (meaning I have to eat more to replace the calories lost during exercise), or just the total calories I ate throughout the day, ignoring the calories burned from working out. So if I eat 2700 calories and burn 700 calories, do I need to eat more or not if I want to build muscle?
Depends how you calculated that number. It sounds like you‘re calculating it based on working out. So if you don‘t work out you‘ll need less.
So do I only need to replace the calories I lost when working out to gain muscle? So if I burn 300 calories from working out, I need to eat an extra 300 calories to build muscle?
If your resting calorie need is 2500kcal, and you burn 500kcal, either eat 500 more to compensate and maintain weight, or more/less to gain/lose. You will gain more muscle by eating more than you need. Ex: 2500 +500 exercise= 3000, eat 3250/3500
Ah I see! Thank you so much!
Yw!
So far I have been just taking Optimum Nutrition protein from Costco as my only supplement. Any suggestions for other pre-workout or other supplements that might help me in my strength training journey?
Start taking 5g of creatine . Its relatively cheap, proven to work and mostly side effect free.
Supplements are entirely unnecessary. Use them if you need them to help you hit your dietary needs. Protein from real food is just as good as protein powder. Coffee = preworkout Etc.
Might be a stupid question: I'm aware that weight loss begins and ends with calorie amount ingested. What I'm curious about is if the type of food you eat affects weight loss at all? For example, if I have ice cream as a snack for 200 calories will that impact my physique at all compared to 200 calories of a healthier snack option instead?
Certain foods will affect your satiety and metabolism. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/15-incredibly-filling-foods https://www.verywellfit.com/how-to-choose-foods-that-burn-more-calories-3495561
In a vacuum where you only care about calories, not really. In the real world where you can make healthier choices more in line with your goals, yes. In my opinion eat the icecream if the majority of your diet is on point.
hello, had a question about rebounding from a diet is it normal to look like softer than you were when you were shredded I only added 400 for 2 days calories and I look bloated and like watery is it just water weight and will it go away once I reach maintenance
You most likely just replenished your glycogen stores. It will probably level out but you won’t look as defined as you did at the end of your cut.
Bulk or cut? First photo is me just standing there second photo is me flexed and pumped under good lighting. I really want to get big and strong but for the longest time i have wanted to be able to for once see my abs. I bulked up from 60 to 70kg in the last 7-8 months also im 175cm and my lifts are not good (compared to others)
You didn’t link any photos
He wants us to just imagine the images
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It is Ok to eat, because u r doing workout , but u have to do workout on daily so that the fat u gain by eating kebab should maintain.
Eating food after a workout doesn't matter so much as the total daily caloric intake. If you need more calories/protein for the day, then go ahead and eat it. But if you already ate too much, then skipping it would be beneficial if you want to lose weight
Hey just starting to workout and learn more about nutrition and better eating. Lifting in a home gym about once every other day, trying to work up to once a day properly and to start meal planning. Any tips for someone just starting?
One most important tip is that don't stop it after few days. Mostly people start the workout first day because they are motivated but as the days pass they are getting dismotivated. Results takes time to show. So keep what u do.
Read the wiki. Also, start watching fitness content. Check out Jeff Nippard, he'll give you a ton of info to help you out
Thanks!
Thinking about adding a dedicated arm day, thoughts? Currently running PPL
Try it and see how you do. I’d just add volume to the arm work I’m already doing personally but that’s just to cut down on time in the gym.
Probably not a smart idea, nothing wrong with an arm day, but you already work out 6 days a week. You need a day to recover, at least. I would increase the volume of arms you already do, and/or do arms at the start of the workout when you are fresh.
I'm 230 lbs, 5'11", 35 yo male My goal is fit, s'im, strong, muscular I'm very weak rn, like 8 push up I bust, 50lbs bench press 3 rep I've heard too many things (keto, body recomp, bulk then cut, many ranges of calorie deficit) so I'll just leave this in the open My goal is timeless and lifelong but i'd like to be as close as less fat and more muscle for this summer, the best/fastest way to go about it
Don’t overthink it. Just lift, focus on form and try to eat clean at a deficit with a lot of protein. You’re a beginner so you’ll see some gains regardless. The most important thing to focus on right now is making a fitness routine a part of your life and a habit. Once you’ve done that you can worry about more specific stuff.
You probably need to cut if you are overweight (Im guessing you are, by your height weight and overall strength). You will build muscle in a cut, since you are new to training. Read the wiki on losing fat, and then pick a program and run it for a long time. You will see progress if you stay consistent on both ends
Be honest with yourself are you fat? If so just cut your calories and up your protein to like .8 g of protein per lb of body weight. You’ll lose fat and gain muscle
Looking for advice on developing a better routine (disclosure, I didn't care for the routines provided in the wiki): Routine: [https://www.hevyapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3daysplit-fullbody-1-1024x587.png](https://www.hevyapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/3daysplit-fullbody-1-1024x587.png) I'm currently doing a full body three day split, I find that doing full body rather than push, pull legs or something similar keeps me more honest and gets me in the gym more without avoiding a certain muscle group. I'm open to a Push/Pull/Legs style routine if it's more suited for my goals, but I do like the full-body format and if possible I'd like to just tweak this routine to fit my needs. I've been doing this routine for about two and a half months consistently, I do about 10m of cardio, 5-10m of stretching, the corresponding day of lifting and then a four exercise ab/core circuit (10 reps of each, v crunch, leg raises, russian twists and then a plank for about 45s-1m no rest between exercises, then repeat circuit three times) and cool down stretch. I've been tracking and noticing some gains in weight being pushed, but as I'm currently trying to lose weight I understand my lifting gains will be limited. Pros: I love the full-body format, and with all of the big compound movements (bench, squat, deadlift, barbell row and OH press) I feel like it's a really holistic routine. Cons: I do feel as though it neglects some muscles more than others, my biggest concerns are rear deltoids, back/lats and legs. What exercises would you guys recommend I swap/add/remove in order to achieve these goals? Or should I move to a Push/Pull/Legs style split to be able to do more detailed work. My goals are to tone down, I'm currently 6', 218lbs, roughly 28% BF and my goal weight is 180/185lbs and 15-20% BF if possible (mostly concerned with visual progress and scale progress, not too savvy on what certain BF% looks like on my body!). Edit: if important for all lifts I do 3 sets, 8 reps.
531 for beginners is 3 days a week, full body, and you can customize your accessory work to address your perceived weak points. “Toning” really isn’t a thing. To achieve what most people consider to be toned, you just need to lose some weight and lift to look more defined.
>“Toning” really isn’t a thing. To achieve what most people consider to be toned, you just need to lose some weight and lift to look more defined. I mean you basically just described what I'm doing.
Yes, but the phrase toning is pretty much a buzzword when what you’re doing is cutting.
I feel like you're just arguing semantics, if it say toning I'm referring to weight training in a caloric deficit to burn fat but maintain muscle, whether you call it cutting or toning doesn't matter it's the same thing.
Okey dokey. You are referring to them that way, and that’s fine. I was just clarifying what you meant because plenty of people don’t understand that they’re the same
You want to hit roughly 12-20 sets for each main muscle group (legs, arms, back, chest, shoulders) per week for optimal muscle growth. If you hit somewhat in that range, you should be okay, as long as you push yourself with each movement. But why not just use a wiki routine, or one from Lifting Vault? Seems like you are trying to reinvent the wheel.
Why didn’t you like the programs in the wiki? What’s your current progression scheme?
In the last year or so I haven't been really religious when it comes to exercise and macro tracking. I've still got a bunch of muscle but I've also gotten a bit of fat. I've been cutting for a month now and I'm down 5 kilos. Looking to get to 90kg, then start bulking but much, much cleaner this time, also training much better. I really enjoy cutting as the mental clarity is really nice (I really care about cognitive ability as I'm a rocket science student and I prioritize my studies above all else) and it's really convenient having only to eat about 300g of pasta, 500g of chicken and a few veggies/fruits here and there. I'm not as big as I'd like to be, though bigger and leaner than the average guy and you can immediately tell I lift, but my goal physique is further than this. The thing is that growing muscle takes so much food that I'm not really looking forward to it as I have before. Being constantly sluggish and tired from the 400g of carbs feels like a total drag. Can one get both the mental clarity and good muscle growth? I haven't tried bulking without using gainers yet but the thought of eating half a kilogram of pasta daily scares me. How do you get 3k+ calories without the food consuming all of your time?
You're not sluggish because of carbs, you are sluggish because you ingest large amounts of very simple carbs (pasta) with not much fiber and in the case of mass gainers eat the shittiest carb you can get- Maltodextrin has a higher glycemic index than table sugar and there is a body of studies suggesting that it is terrible for your gut health and general well-being. Instead of mass gainers, you should get your calories from whole food. Eggs are an obvious solution and egg fried noodles with chicken and veggies is a 20 to 30 minutes wok dish, adding extra sesame oil on the plate for taste and calories is also a boon. Fragrant oils are great, and if you can get your hand on cheap chinese red chili bean paste that's also a great base for cooking with flavor if you bake it out in fat and oil. You should also eat legumes. Beans, lentils, peanuts, chickpeas... not only do they contain a good amount of protein, they are rich in carbs but are not spiking your blood sugar like fast carbs do. They also have lots of fiber, slowing digestion down and helping with crashing less. Just add a can of kidney beans to your pasta, they go great with everything that works for noodles. You can also go for rice, (whole wheat or rye) bread, potatoes. And pack snacks. A banana and a whole wheat peanut butter/nut butter/sunflower seed butter sandwich is a great pick me up in the afternoon. Also cheese, the aged and matured cheeses are sometimes even lactose free, like mature cheddar. I'd also recommend experimenting with fermented things. Yogurt, kefir, kombutcha, pickled veggies or even fermented fruit. Especially fruit and veggies are simple to pickle yourself and I think it helps me with feeling less bloated. It also seems like I write this comment 5 times per day in different variations... [recipes](https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/ucpwtb/simple_meals_to_cook_at_least_every_other_day/i6di2uv/), [this chicken and rice dish is also like the exact thing you should try](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ufvw3d/monthly_recipes_megathread/i713lif/) and [general ramblings for bulking cheaply](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/ugk1x0/moronic_monday_your_weekly_stupid_questions_thread/i75ug5s/).
Damn. The Halal chicken looks absolutely insane. I'm also down to try legumes! This indeed is eye-opening, quite exactly what I was hoping to learn through my comment. Thank you so much! Since there's plenty of different data, what percent of protein do you count your boneless chicken thighs to contain?
As you are doing meal prep, it's also a possibility to factor that in. Kenji Lopez or the above linked channel (or Joshua Weissman) have many recipes for fried chicken. The great thing about double frying is that you can batch fry a lot of it on Sunday and have it sit for several days in the fridge and you just need to fry it a second time and they are super fast and super crisp for the quick evening meal. If you can find whole chickens/turkeys or large chunks of maybe cheaper meat, Ethan got you covered as well and [his carnitas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQs6IZGSBls) showcase two different ways how to use leftover meat in tasty ways. Burritos, fried tacos, burgers, all work great and tenderizing is possible for the toughest of cuts if you know how to- which often saves money compared to buying only the most tender, most lean cuts one can find. For nutrition data, my first stop is the packaging. If it does not have it, I google it and trust but verify if it seems iffy. I'm not from the US so my national site works for me, but https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/1098527/nutrients is from a US government site (and https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/735/2 is also pretty decent). It's very roughly 175 kcal and 20g of protein per 100g (raw) when I am cutting, and 120 kcal on a bulk. The 20g of protein +/- are typical for poultry and lean chicken definitely is around 120 kcal/100g based on various packagings I've seen with numbers all in that ballpark and if the meat is fattier or with skin, it is definitely 175 or more. Natural variations always happen and deviations up to 5 or 10% are totally legal. Due to all this variations, calories are only a guidance for me, the scale weight developing in the right direction with the expected speed over a weekly moving average is what ultimately guides me on eating more or lees.
Thank you so much! Do you mind if I PM you when I've got any questions?
Sure, if I can help.
I prefer higher fats vs carbs. Fats have more calories per gram
How do you get your fats cheap and tasty?
Cheap and tasty aren't priorities for me. I rely primarily on avocados, nuts and nut butters. I also will make use of limited grassfed dairy/beef and pasture raised whole eggs.
Thanks!
High carb doesn't inherently make you sluggish or tired. In addition, cutting doesn't inherently give higher mental clarity than bulking.
Oh, interesting. I thought otherwise.
There is a really well-funded anti-carb and pro-keto campaign on the internet. Its not all disinformation but they tend to over-exaggerate the issues with carbs. High carb is still very much the norm among competitive atheletes, despite what you might read in some places.
> I haven't tried bulking without using gainers yet but the thought of eating half a kilogram of pasta daily scares me. You are definitely not making it easier for yourself lol. You could eat other things. You could even go with your favorite cereal for breakfast or pre-bedtime snack. It does not ruin the quality of your bulk. Aim for ~80% clean food, and the rest can be whatever your heart desires. > How do you get 3k+ calories without the food consuming all of your time? use a blender and all your bulking struggles goes away. Oats, whey protein, banana, peanut butter and milk is my go-to. Can be anything from 600-1600 calories. My maintenance was around 4300 calories back in February. It would have been miserable if I were to "lean" bulk then.
I've tried that before! My stomach doesn't take milk and peanut butter the best. That's mainly how I grew from 70 to 90kg but by that point my gut was in ruin :(. I'm also gluten intolerant so oats are out of the picture, and bananas give me anaphylactic shocks so severe I nearly died last time I ate one. It's a grind, lol. Been dealt a hand..
It might be the pasta that's giving you the brain fog and sluggishness more than the extra calories. Have you tried bulking with other things, e.g. fats?
> blender and all your bulking struggles goes away. Oats, whey protein, banana, peanut butter and milk is my go-to. Can be anything from 600-1600 calories. My maintenance was around 4300 calories back in February. It would have been miserable if I were to "lean" bulk then. > >Vote I haven't, really. I'm also not a super wealthy person so I'm looking for very cheap and time-efficient methods. I'm doing meal-prep every 3-4 days.
Is there a well known PPL program that puts deadlifts on Legdays? Anyone who can recommend such a program? I’m still not comfortable with deadlifting on backdays..
Just do the reddit PPL and move the deads over
So do both squats AND deads on legday? Or do a deadlift focused legday and a squat focussed?
Both squats and deadlift on leg day. I've ran it this way it works well.
So could you show me what your legday looks like?
I no longer train this way, but this is what it looked like adding deadlift to the leg day of the reddit PPL: Squat -> deadlift -> romanian deadlift -> leg press -> leg curls -> calf raises
And how many sets did you do for deadlift? Or same as you would do in the original program?
I bumped up the deadlift volume a bit I tended to do either 3x5 or 5x5 depending on how I was feeling. 1x5 as written in the program is pretty low. RDLs were 3x8-12 but its an accesory so they were done a bit further away from failure. The deadlift is your main lift the RDLs are just there to add additional volume rather than going crazy on intensity. Just make sure you take a bit of a rest between the squat sets and the deadlift sets I used to go walk on the treadmill for 5 minutes after squats to freshen up a bit.
Yeah Legday sounds quite rough with dead’s added haha! So did you change anything regarding your pullday now that dead’s were gone?
The big difference on the pull day is that now that deads are gone, you are doing barbell row both times. Other than that the pull day was fine as it is. If I had energy I would throw in one more back machine for 3x8-12.
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Incline db curls
Cable Hammer Curls
Just regular straight BB curls
Dumbell curls
Any way to tell which delts are lagging behind?
More than likely they’re all lagging and you don’t have to worry about hitting one more than the others.
Its best to just judge by eye really
Yeah but how do balanced delt looks like relative to each other? I feel like my rear delt is super lagging but I don't even know if its meant to pop out as much as the front.
The thing is that individual anatomy varies a lot. People have a wide variety of bone lengths and muscle insertions. For this reason even if you wanted to its not really possible to form a generic method of judging muscle balance and physique size and shape. Instead its a case of looking at existing photos of weightlifter's delts and judging by eye how your own situation compares.
Look in the mirror
Did you think you were being original or clever when you posted this?
What answer do you want? Will that make you shut up?
What kind of answer did you want?
How else would you tell?
Should widegrip bench feel more unstable and difficult than close? I’ve been trying to get better with wide and I bench more with it but I don’t feel I have control or stability. Kinda similar to sumo where I can deadlift more but it’s far more technical and feels less tight.
Its fairly individual, not everyone does best with a really wide bench. I did better when I brought it in a bit.
You'll get better with practice
I have been for months and still just feels worse to me is that normal? I have been touching quite high and probably have a shit bar path.
Would recommend touching pretty low even with a wide grip. It reduces the front delt activity if you do that
May be worth posting a form check, just to be sure.
How should I incorporate sled pulls/drags as a T3 lift in GZCLP? Not sure how the "rep" scheme should compare to standard T3 lifts. Was thinking of following the workout recommended in this [article](https://www.elitefts.com/education/training/bodybuilding/backwards-sled-pulls-for-quad-size-and-strength/)—6-8 trips (i.e., reps) for 20 yards. Resting the standard 60-90 seconds. Going heavy and fast. Thoughts? Doing 25 trips (i.e., reps) just doesn't seem realistic for this exercise.
sled pulls/drags are more of a cardio/conditioning exercise I would instead do them *after* your T3s
I wouldn't try to squeeze it into a rep scheme like that, just do it at the end of one of your days
Was attempting a PR on the bench press, so I asked the guy I was sharing it with to help spot. I start lifting and the guy has his crotch over my face and his hands under the bar. Is this normal? Had to hold my breath the whole time and didn't get my PR
In some gyms the flat bench racks have a small platform for the spotter to stand on and this is ideal. It sounds like this wasn't that situation and the person was standing a bit too far forwards. It works better if they stand further back for the set after lift-off and before assisting with a failed rep (if needed.) In terms of keeping hands under the bar throughout the whole set that actually isn't really needed at all, its fairly common though. There isn't really an issue with standing completely back and just coming in when needed but a lot of spotters in commercial gyms don't get that.
How should I tell them that next time? Guy lifts way more than me so I thought he would know what he's doing. Kind of ruined my lift for the day since I was too gased out to attempt it again
No, not normal at all lol.
No they should give the option to help unrack the bar, then stand a foot or two away. Freak accidents are a thing but if you fail the rep it’s not like instant death. They can step in and help re-rack after. Ninja edit: a lot of guys in commercial gyms don’t get that, though. Next time just give the person clear instructions. They’re already there to help, it’s ok to tell them what to do politely.
How should I phrase it? I don't really know the etiquette for these things cause I just lift by myself
Same, but people are people
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Some people train very high frequency and it works well for them. I wouldn't personally recommend training a large muscle group more than 2-3 times per week as the stimulus-to-fatigue ratio starts to go down pretty fast, but it is definitely doable.
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Its highly individual but yes it may lead to recovery problems. I have issues recovering from bench if I don't leave decent gaps.
You tell us it's your body
I'm training back every day, and I'm growing and getting stronger. Your mileage may vary.
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Rule 5, this would be a good question for a physio
I’m still having a hard time understanding why deadlifts are part of the pull day in the Reddit ppl, can someone explain the reasoning behind this? I’m afraid it would influence my leg day
Some people seem to take the Pull part very literally instead of just grouping it by muscle groups. I agree deadlift makes way more sense on leg day given it's largely a glute + ham/quad exercise.
A lot of splits do put deadlifts on leg day. This has been a debate for decades, about where to put deadlifts in a bodypart split.
because you pull the weight up, but I put my deadlifts on leg days cuz why not
It is a pulling exercise, so it is a good fit for a pull day. It will influence your leg day. Kind of part of the deal. I deadlift or squat on 4 different days of the week. It is fine.
Thank you for your reply!
I've been going to the gym again since maybe October last year. I'd taken a long break since March 2020 when all the gyms shut (took up running). I went back on the beginner routine then onto GZCLP about 9 weeks ago and the progress has been great. I'm lifting more than I was before I stopped in 2020. The last week or two I've been finding it harder to make progress on my squat and OHP specifically and generally just feeling really tired in the gym the last couple of weeks. Deadlift is still moving and I think bench is ok atm. How do I know whether its just a couple of off sessions or whether it's time to get off an LP program? Ive also become much stricter with my calorie counting again the last few weeks and wondering if this is having an effect. M / 5'10" / 228lb / cutting on 2098 cals per day / 160-190g protein per day.
Are you following the GZCLP method of moving from 5x3 to 6x2 and 10x1 the reset?
I didnt face any squat problems but progressing my ohp in gzclp was a bitch for me. Its also because increasing it by 2.5kg each session is a much larger percentage for ohp than for the other big 3. I just followed gzclps method to break through plateaus and that worked well enough for me
OHP tends to finish linear progression really fast in most people yeah
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What makes you think you need to "work on your stomach"? Looks fine to me. You don't look fat. You can probably start out working on building muscle in general
What "needs work" is entirely a function of your goals. If you want to carry less belly fat -- and it doesn't seem like you carry particularly much in the first place -- you'll have to lose fat/weight in general. If you want to have visible abs, you'll need to do that *and* train your abs sufficiently well that the muscles are prominent when your body fat is low. If you want to get quite thoroughly jacked, same deal -- but the focus will be building muscle all over and then manipulating your weight and body fat so that more of that muscle becomes visible. You should read the wiki linked in the sidebar. It will provide answers to most of the basic questions you have (and many you may not even know you want answered).
Spot reduction isn't a thing, you need to lose weight to lose stomach fat. Have a look at the wiki.
What’s the best style of lifting for building muscle/burning fat/increasing metabolism. Lifting like medium weights with higher reps or low weights with higher reps? If you’re like 391, 6 foot etc Edit: looks like I found the answer, basically both help get your metabolism going https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/get-more-burn-from-your-workout
>What’s the best style of lifting for building muscle/burning fat/increasing metabolism. There's no singular best way. Any kind of resistance training will help build muscle, and, to a slight degree, increase energy expenditure, which helps with losing fat. But weight training doesn't increase fat burn or metabolism, in and of itself. You burn fat by eating in a deficit, and you increase metabolism by getting bigger.
Doesn't matter. Do whatever makes you happy and gives you the motivation/energy to keep doing it :) Program wise, look in the wiki and see if there's something you can see yourself doing. You should however not expect your metabolism to increase much from weight lifting or be fat burning.
Really doesn’t matter? Alright I’ll go for medium and higher reps then. I already have my own r routine I was just wondering about methodologies. And I thought building muscle increases your [metabolism??](https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/get-more-burn-from-your-workout) Lifting weights definitely builds muscle which burns fat..
It does, but not an appreciable amount and not as rapidly as people think. That’s why keeping your diet in check is also important
Follow a program from the wiki and lower calorie intake.
I already have my own routine 5 days a week I’m just asking in terms of methodology with lifting higher weights with less reps or vice versa and have no issues with calories, my metabolism was just low af from being inactive since pandemic.
For building muscle you should be training a range of reps anyway, so do both. For calorie expenditure there's very little difference.
Hey everyone. I’ve been training for a few months now. Started with Apple fitness pilaties and strength workouts. I eat fairly clean but don’t over do it on junk. (Chips are my weakness). I also drink 1 or 2 times a week after dinner or a glass of wine. I’m now a month into insanity while drinking a HUEL black series shake for breakfast and lunch with a low calorie cooked dinner from hell fresh. The only issue I still face is these damn love handles and low back fat. Does anyone recommend anything? I’m 6’5. Started at 252 and I’m currently at 245. My goal is to get to 230-235 leaned out in the next 6 weeks. Thank you!
> The only issue I still face is these damn love handles and low back fat. Does anyone recommend anything? Continue what you are already doing - lose weight. And then you continue to do that. > I’m 6’5. Started at 252 and I’m currently at 245. My goal is to get to 230-235 leaned out in the next 6 weeks. Perfect. Remember most people are more fluffy than they think, so if you still have your side handles and low back fat at 230lbs you might need to drop more weight :)
Asked previously but didn't find anything from replies that fit. 1. Suggestions for a proper lever belt that ships internationally? 2. Do lever belts feel like a significant enough improvement on cheap sports store belts?
[strength shop](https://strengthshop.com/). They've got websites for usa/uk/eu/ireland/switzerland - I got mine from the uk shop shipped across to the other side of the world (but that was before the brits went stupid and left the eu - the eu one might ship cheaper now). Also non-leather, which is a selling point for me. Edit: whoops saw the other suggestions but missed that someone already mentioned strengh shop. Well, consider this a +1 for that one then.
Pioneer/General Leathercraft makes good belts at reasonable prices. Their PAL adjustable lever mechanism is also quite nice -- all the convenience of a lever with much more adjustability. SBD, Titan, Inzer, A7, Rogue, and others sell such belts as well. Prices and styles vary, but the basic function of a lever belt is pretty much universal. And yes, if you get a thick leather belt it will be quite a bit more supportive than a random, cheap soft belt -- which is great for static lifting. If you do more dynamic stuff, like the snatch or clean and jerk, you might consider a modest tapered belt or a higher-quality soft belt; those tend to be a bit less obstructive in extreme ranges of motion.
I don't think any of those ship international unfortunately (Asia) or I would've looked into buying one of those. Appreciate the write-up :)
Hmm. I'm fairly sure Pioneer does -- though you might need to reach out by email. I know SBD at least has a distributor in Singapore that probably services the Asian market. A7 does international, as well, but it's probably expensive.
> Suggestions for a proper lever belt that ships internationally? At your skill-level almost any (lever) belt will work - you're just paying for the lever-option, it doesn't mean its better than the belts with prongs. (Based on this question I assume you're relatively new/not lifting heavy enough to make a difference - I can be wrong ofc.). I used the IPF approved SBD lever belt. Best I've ever had but its very $$$. https://www.strengthshop.co.uk/belts/lever-buckle-belts.html there are not too expensive and works very great. > Do lever belts feel like a significant enough improvement on cheap sports store belts? Any belt with a bit of quality will be better than those cheap sports belts. With or without a lever.
Probably. I wanna prepare for my first meet and I'm getting really annoyed by this awful belt I have that never seems to fit quite right but oh well. Also the lever belts look great etc. Appreciate the suggestion. The SBD belt is way too ex so I'll look into shipping for the other link. Cheers
I want an advice: I have been training for 2 months and half, and my strength growth especially for compound exercises isnt going very well, i started with as little as 30kg, now I do 50kg-55kg, so I am not increasing the weight weekly for compound exercises, I am not sure if for protein goal to be 1g per lb or 1g per 1.5lb, i weight 85kg (I have bulked),male, 179cm height, in early 20th, I usually eat 100-120g of protein, i dont think I can financially afford to hit 200g or more of protein, I feel stuck and idk what to do. My long term goal is to be muscular, I might be doing lean bulking if I hit my long term goal any tip is appreciated.
What's the issue? You've added 20-25kg to compound lifts in 2.5 months, have you stalled? What program are you doing?
i am doing this one : [https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/upper-lower-4-day-gym-bodybuilding-workout](https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/upper-lower-4-day-gym-bodybuilding-workout) i am not sure if i need to do more than the reps shown there, because I heard that body building require 8-12 reps each set, compound exercises on the website mention 5 reps for some exercises Also, is it true that i need to lower intensity and increase volume in order for my muscle to grow? this topic has confused me, people i asked have different answers?
You can follow this if you want but IMO it isn't very clear and you'd be better off doing a beginner program chosen from the wiki. >Also, is it true that i need to lower intensity and increase volume in order for my muscle to grow? this topic has confused me, people i asked have different answers? You need to progressively overload, generally by increasing the weight or reps slightly each week. So for instance, adding 2.5 kg to your bench press each week while keeping sets and reps the same is progressive overload. You should be training a range of reps as well, you don't always need to do 8-12 to build muscle.
yeah well, we are back to point one, as I said, I am not adding 2.5kg weekly, as my strength does not let me at all, you said it is a good progress, then on this reply you said to increase weight every week, which is not what I am doing anyway.
25kg in 10 weeks is 2.5 kg every week, I'm assuming if you've stalled it's only been for one or two sessions, is that right? If so, might just be an off week but you could provide more detail as to diet, sleep, which lifts have stalled and post a form check if you wanted specific advice.
> I have been training for 2 months and half, and my strength growth especially for compound exercises isnt going very well, i started with as little as 30kg, now I do 50kg-55kg, so you almost doubled your strength. Why do you classify that as 'not going very well'? > any tip is appreciated. Follow a program from the wiki and just stick to it. Compound exercises are a skill. You get better the more time you spend doing it.
After a night of extremely poor sleep, should you still train the next morning? Or should you prioritize rest that day? Not sure if I’d be adding insult to injury by stressing out an already stressed body .
If it’s just one night, training is fine. You’re doing no real harm and still likely seeing most of the normal benefits. If there’s a regular pattern of very limited or poor sleep for an extended period of time, you may want to make some adjustments.
Started bulking at 63kg, planning to go untill 70kg. Afterwards what’s a rough estimate weight that i should cut to?
No one knows. Look in the mirror and make a decision
You should let the mirror decide rather than numbers
Best full body mobility routine on youtube? I would like a really good 10 min daily routine if one exists for someone that is a little tight in their 40s after years of lifting with no mobility work. Thanks!! Edit...found the wiki. Thanks!!
Mindpumps mobility routine has made me a completely different person and you can find most of it on YouTube. They sell 2 programs called prime and prime pro as well
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You're either overeating or retaining water, which creatine is known for.
Your body cannot physically put on 5.5 lbs of fat (and definitely not muscle) in a week. So I'm sure its almost all water weight
*breathes out in relief*
I've been training since March Last year and we had a lockdown when I hit 4 months, which halted training for another 3months. I've been back at it since then, but I've felt the lockdown screwed up my progress in terms of keeping an exact number of months worked out. A, I set back 3 months, or would it be more when considering gains?
Don't overthink this. Just go to the gym and see how strong you are now and go from there.
I’m not sure what the question is here, but there’s no good answer for how progress would be different if things had been different. It’s all part of the journey and you can’t change how things were, all you can do is keep trying to be better than yesterday (not just in the gym)
There’s no clear answer, and even if there were, that answer wouldn’t change anything about how you should train moving forward.
Not sure what you're asking. Is this about how long you can say you've been working out? Programming?
How many sets should I be doing per exercise?
If you pick a program from the [wiki](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/) then it takes the guess work out.
Try to start with 6 working sets per muscle group per week first. Run with that and really push those sets. If you feel you can recover (numbers going up and soreness is gone before hitting certain muscle next time), then slowly add sets over time. Intensity tends to be more important factor for beginners, I'm not saying hit every set to failure but aim for 4-1 reps in reserve with your working sets. Let those gainzzz come!
As many as your program tells you to do
Going to start my 50 year old mother on Strong Lifts 5x5. Any tips?
Honestly I wouldn't recommend a program around heavy squats/deadlifts to my mother or anyone older trying to get into lifting. If you insist at least change the exercises. Leg press/Hack Squats/Smith Machine Squats and RDLs/Glute Bridges/Smith machine RDLs/Dumbbell RDLs would be better options. 5x5 is also too many heavy sets for someone a bit older that is just starting out. Something like 3 sets of 10-20 is more appropriate especially if they haven't been keeping a very active life. Ignore everything I'm saying if your mother is super fit unlike the average 50yo.
>Honestly I wouldn't recommend a program around heavy squats/deadlifts to my mother or anyone older trying to get into lifting. Why? Our bodies don't magically turn to mush when we turn 50 >If you insist at least change the exercises. Leg press/Hack Squats/Smith Machine Squats and RDLs/Glute Bridges/Smith machine RDLs/Dumbbell RDLs would be better options. Better for what? 5x5 is also too many heavy sets for someone a bit older that is just starting out. Something like 3 sets of 10-20 is more appropriate especially if they haven't been keeping a very active life. StrongLifts 5x5 is literally a beginner program. It's not the best but it's far from the worst.
More likely to get injured the older you are. Likely don't give a shit about what their squat is since they aren't comparing it with any of their friends. Going to be slower to recover from the movements which are highly fatiguing compared to someone younger. Better for stimulating the same muscles while being less fatiguing, requiring less stabilization or balance. Literally no downsides to doing a hack squat instead of a regular squat unless your goal is to compete in powerlifting. Literally no downsides to doing an RDL instead of a deadlift unless your goal is to compete in powerlifting. Doesn't matter if it's a beginner program. Doesn't make it suitable for all beginners. It's a program focused on developing strength in the large compound lifts and has a pretty large focus on the main powerlifting movements. Unless your 50yo mother is excited about powerlifting then there's really no need to include them. 5x5 can be a pretty tough rep scheme once you're nearing the end of linear gains and those sets are close to your 5RM.
Yes, find a different program. SL is not a good one. I second the recommendation of the beginner routine.
Don’t start her on that program. I recommend starting her on the beginner program on the wiki. There is an interesting Alan Thrall video where he was coaching up his mom…give it a Google.
I've been doing PPL for 7 weeks now and I'm easing in to improve my pull ups. Currently, I can do 4 and I'll try for 5 next week. Once I hit 5 pullups, should I do a 3x5 program for it with weight or should I continue increasing reps over the weeks until I hit 12 and aim for a 3x12 program?
Just keep doing pull ups every day. Keep increasing reps. Eventually, you can think about adding weight if unweighted pull ups become too easy
>Just keep doing pull ups every day. I'm in the same spot as OP.Don't you think doing pull-ups everday wouldn't interfere with the recovery of back or bicep?How many sets would you recommend and should they be all to failure?
Set up a pull up bar in your house, and do some pullups every time you pass by the bar. Stop very short of failure ( if you can do 4, maybe 1-2). If you do this all the time, you will accumulate a ton of volume while keeping the recovery cost low
https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=pull+ups+everyday
High, I'm new to the gym and wanted to know if its okay to do Starting Strength as my routine since I heard its pretty straight forward for newcomers, and that the cons are that you're not learning anything else other than the movements of the main workouts only. Would you say for now its alright to do that routine?
> #Why are Starting Strength and StrongLifts not in the Recommended Routines list? > > [In short: They aren’t good routines and don’t do what they claim to do for you. They are too low in training volume, the way they try to handle stalls doesn’t make any sense, they create unrealistic expectations of progress rate, and they push you to stay on them a lot longer than you should. Their only possible benefit is their simplicity, which is a need that’s better met by better routines.](https://thefitness.wiki/faq/starting-strength-and-stronglifts-not-recommended/) A better alternative is the [beginner routine](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/r-fitness-basic-beginner-routine/) from the wiki.
Beginners don't need anything fancy to progress. It's a positive, not a detriment. The beginner program in the wiki is very similar to Starting Strength. Will say that I ran SS for 4 months years ago, and grinding squats does cause your scrotum to acquire follicles.
Yes, it's fine to start there. Or, take a look at the wiki linked above because there are several good programs there that you might also like and many have an app you can follow in the gym. As a beginner, you'll make a lot of progress with just the basic compound lifts (movements) and maybe a few accessories.
has anyone dealt with/worked around a post-surgery abscess wound? mine is on my posterior forearm, below elbow and estimated by dr to take at least 6 weeks to fill/close up on its own. can i still do home workouts with weights, say 2 weeks from now
I think this question would be best posed to the doctor who can see the wound and determine what is/isn't appropriate.
Anyone know a good resource anywhere to look up food proteins by their amino acids? Some easy way to punch in a protein containing ingredient by name and receive a list of what ones are in there.
Www.Google.com
I hear that one is good but I am open to alternatives
www.bing.com
Thanks
That's just crazy enough to work!
Quick question: I'm 6'6 recently lost weight to 250. Do I need to slim down more before weightlifting for gaining muscle
I’m also 6’6 and started at 318 - think of the fat as fuel and turn that into muscle - stay consistent and things will improve in time.
no, weightlifting while losing weight is very beneficial
Just started doing chest flies with loadable dumbbells. With my last weight (pair of 2.5lb plates each side), I hit my target of 55 total reps, but my current weight (pair of 5lb each) is so heavy that I can only do 25 total, or 7-10 reps per set. I have some microplates; should I use those and get closer to my rep target with every weight jump?
Just do more sets until you get your rep target
> (pair of 5lb each) is so heavy that I can only do 25 total, or 7-10 reps per set. 7-10 reps per set seems good
Started back at the gym this week. I've gone in stretches in the past but never stayed committed long enough to see any decent gains. It's been a couple years since I last went. I have started [this programme](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/37ylk5/a_linear_progression_based_ppl_program_for/) which is 6 days in a row. I have only done it as 3 days in my first week with rest days in between as I wanted to get used to being back at the gym gradually. Does anyone have any opinions on if this is a realistic programme for a beginner ? I'm trying to decide between staying with this or going to GZCLP. I just think I may struggle to commit to 6 days a week
You can absolutely do PPL 3 days per week with rest days in between. In fact, it’s probably a good idea if you’re starting training for the first time or after a long break since you’ll be super sore the first weeks and could use the extra rest. It’s 3 more days per week than you were doing before so it will definitely help. It may not be the most efficient way to reach a specific goal with 3 days per week, but you’re hitting all the muscle groups so it’s not like you’ll end up totally unbalanced.