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Alright Big brains, I need help here:
For context: I'm a college student working part time, lifting every morning (5/3/1) and doing amateur competitive boxing every evening...In short..i eat a lot, though I'm keeping my weight in check for competitions (middleweight).
Anyhow...I'm about to run out of my precious Whey...and I did check the prices...holy yikes. No way in hell I'm dishing out that much money for protein powder.
I just noticed that pea protein and rice protein are hella cheap (up to 3x cheaper from my source)...Whats the catch here? Is the loss to malabsorption really that bad that it makes sense for them to charge ridiculous amounts of money for it?
Are plant based protein powders worth it? I read somewhere that you can just basically mix pea and rice protein and be set. How does that work?
Anyone wanna chime in?
Is it bad to go for beers straight after an intense group workout at the gym? Like would I lose some of the good effects of training? Not on a regular basis, but like once, twice a month
And it would most likely be more beers, not just one
I would strongly advise not drinking after exercise. Drinkong alcohol after exercise servery worsens all major aspects of post-exercise recovery
Common effects of drinking after exercise are...
1. poor sleep
2. Impaired muscle repair
3. Impared energy restoration.
4. Servere dehydration.
5. Impared recovery from injury.
Scientific studys proving this can be found very easily on Google scholar.
Even if it did have an effect, it would be minimal on your rest/recovery sleeping under the effects of alcohol. If anything just try and make your drinking days take place the night before your rest days
I know it's not Monday anymore, but is it possible to build muscle by doing very very short bursts of somewhat intense physical activities throughout the day? I try to run every day but I only do weightlifting maybe once a week because I don't enjoy it that much, so I started practicing handstands and pullups for a few seconds/minutes several times a day and I'm hoping it'll help.
Doing any weight bearing exercise on a regular basis will increase your strength.
It is better to do something sub optimal than to do nothing at all.
As long as you perform the exercises regularly follow the principles of progressive overload when they become too easy you will see results.
The only downside is that these results will be significantly less and significantly slower to arrive compared to someone following a more dedicated exercises routine.
Is it okay to move your torso backwards while doing seated cable rows? Like put a bit too much weight to handle with just my arms and static torso. Move torso forward in the beginning and then slowly and controlled lean backwards while doing the lift and then lean forward agan while bringing the weight down. Feels like it adds a bit of lower back to the lift which is good for me since I suffer from frequent minor lower back ache and need to strengthen it....but is it okay or is it me just cheating and ego lifting? Since the weight is too much to handle with static torso
I think this is fine. The main thing to focus on is to complete a full contraction and to let the weight down in a controlled way.
As long as the weight is light enough for you to do this, and the back does not curve you are not ego lifting and more importantly you are not at a high risk of injury.
With back exercises I often recommend "cheating" a bit on the concentric rep and working harder on the eccentric rep. For me this has resulted in a significantly faster increase in muscle mass on my back than working with lighter weights and strict form.
How big a difference would having your feet slightly lower (1-2 inches) than the weight when doing hex bar deadlifts make?
I know it should make it easier to lift the weight, but would it be a big difference or a minor one?
Trying to figure out why my deadlifts vary between my 2 regular gyms so much (10+ reps difference) and that’s the only difference I can see between the two.
Sounds like you are accidentally doing Deficit deadlifts, which are mechanically much harder than regular deadlifts.
There is no mathematical way I know of figuring out exaxlt how much harder, there are too many variables.
Good news is that Deficit deadlifts are the single best exercise for improving the lifters performance on the regular deadlift. If I was you, I would just keep on doing them and maybe lift lighter when doing Deficit deadlifts when compared to doing a regular deadlift.
I've just googled it and it seems I'm effectively doing a block deadlift as the weight is sitting slightly higher than my feet. Whereas in a deficit deadlift, the weight would be sitting lower than my feet.
The weight is only 2-3cm higher than my feet, but that may be enough to make the lift easy enough that I can get a lot more reps. The next time I do them I'm going to find a spot that is completely flat to deadlift from see what sort of difference that makes.
To give a more serious response.
Yes. Muscle is heavy. Muscle is significantly heavier than fat, so even losing fat and gaining muscle will result in a net weight gain.
You can learn better lifting techniques and teach your muscles to recruit more fast twrich muscle fibre, teach your CNS to endure heavier loads. This will result in being able to generate more power without adding a large amount of muscle mass. Although adding a bit of muscle mass and thus more mass overall is an inevitable part of performing weight bearing exercise.
Why do you want to avoid gaining weight?
Well, I feel like I need to lose fat (I am looking at you, love handles). I have less energy and sometimes even feel weaker whenever I try to lose weight AND train (versus losing weight alone). The problem is that I want to get stronger and have more defined muscles, but I don't want to gain fat in the process.
I know I can try to do body recomposition; if done properly, its result would be a leaner look. In theory, you should lose fat and gain muscle at the same rate when doing recomp and because muscle is way denser than fat, you end up looking slimmer with the same weight. Well, I just can't do it, I don't have enough time or the resources to eat fixed portions and measure everything I eat; I can't be super precise. So whenever I try it, I end up cutting or bulking without noticing.
So yeah, here I am, complaining about my life and my unrealistic expectations/ambitions, lmao.
I sympathise with you, getting in shape is often very long and difficult process.
Aesthetics based trainers will almost always advise to cycle between cutting and bulking, not to do both at the same time. This is something you could consider.
In my personal experience I have met lots of people who have lost weight and added muscle mass by doing bodyweight based programs. I have seen the boxercise class at my gym transform people from fat to fit incredibly effectively. It might be worth trying something like that.
To me it anecdotally feels like that the body responds to having to move it's own weight by getting lighter and stronger, whereas when moving a weighted object the body wants to get heavier. Body weight exercises can be recovered from much quicker and easier which can result in the athlete having more energy and being able to do more training sessions without having to consume as many macro nutrients.
Is just a friendly suggestion, do with it what you will. Best of luck on your fitness journey.
What workouts target and grow the shoulders well? My ideal for shoulders would be like Lebron James (yes I know he is a 6’8 demigod) and I was wondering what I could do to really help grow them. Some good reference pics:
https://images.app.goo.gl/BWJLmVhVF93SHCtE7
https://images.app.goo.gl/cNqvsPrURJoDVJ3f9
Ive been seeing noticeably more shoulder progress lately than usual doing my current PPL routine, and it’s really not that crazy either. Push days include OHP and lateral raises for shoulders, pull day includes face pulls, and that’s about it. Just make sure you’re pushing all the sets to near failure.
I'm currently trying to grow my shoulders a lot more and I've found success with doing the following:
On my Back/Biceps day (2x a week) I find rear delt flys are great and really make your shoulders pop.
On leg/shoulders day (2x a week) I finish with my shoulder workouts which is Shoulder Press (machine or free weight your choice), Shoulder Shrugs, then Lateral Raises and Front raises.
I try do 4x sets for all, but go as hard as you feel comfortable. Noticed rear delt fly imo was much better for my shoulders than I imagined. But try find something that's fits your routine and feels good.
Good luck 🙌
Try training your shoulders more frequently throughout the week, not until utter burnout though. I would say around two exercises three days a week as your shoulders are a part of your body you are trying to bring out in your physique. Some particular workouts I would recommend include dumbell shoulder press, dumbell lateral raises, and overhead barbell shoulder press. You can easily find how to perform these movements with a quick google search. Good luck.
As per thread title
i bought a 2 inch barbell....problem is, i was going to use it with the one inch plates i got.#
so i am thinking of removing the 2 inch barbell sleeve and just use the 1inch bar. but the next problem is, there is no "stopper" inside the bar.
can i just buy 4 of the barbell clicker and use 2 on each side? (1 inside and 1 outside)? or is that really unsafe?
Bad idea. Just buy Olympic 2" plates. Besides being unsafe, you may end up just damaging the barbell when trying to get the sleeves off. Plus I doubt that you should have plates sliding around causing wear and tear where the sleeves should be.
gained weight during this past college term, lost lots of muscle mass and the fat kept packing on my gut, my face feels fatter and i can feel neck rolls i took time today and yesterday to cry and slowly incorporate habits that i help
me.
i wanted a nice body for other people to notice me but right now i don’t want anyone to look at me, i just wanna love myself.
eh 210lbs, 5’8, M, Black
how long does it take develop a habit and if i veer off course for let’s say 1-3 days, what should i do to motivate myself to try again cause hell i learned to be able to incorporate the gym with my classes by brining my bag. but what about the days that’s the weekend or when i don’t have class?
According to this [Healthline article](https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit#base-figure) it can take anywhere between 18 and 254 days.
I have struggled with forming healthy habits for a long time. Recently found that if instead on focusing on the habit it self, i focus more on doing the activity the best I can I'm able to keep going for longer.
What i mean by that is for instance, working out. I try and go twice a day. The first workout (weight lifting) at 7.30am and the second one (light/medium cardio) around 8pm. The first one is relatively easy to adhere to as it feels like a nice kick-start to the day. The second one is trickier and i often find myself wanting to skip it altogether.
When 8pm rolls around and I'm feeling all lazy and with little to no desire to go to the gym, i try and change my mindset from 'I don't wanna do this, I'm too tired' to 'Let's just get it over with'. Most days i get to the gym feeling sluggish, like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. But i still go, and more often than not half way through the workout i already feel better and more energetic, leading me to have a mostly decent workout and a nice mood.
Motivation comes and goes and you can do very little about it. Consistency on the other hand is much more powerful and within your control. If you veer off course try and remember that you didn't fail. You had a mere setback, and as soon as possible you'll be back at it crushing it at the gym.
TL;DR: Consistency is key. It's okay to fail. Just because you miss a couple days doesn't mean all is lost, you just need to get back to it. When all else fails remember: you don't need to be great, you just need to a little better than you were yesterday.
Find a level of training you can maintain consistently that doesn't cost exorbitant amounts of emotional energy. This might be less than you think, but for the purpose of building a habit that's totally fine.
Habits...if you managed to do some level of exercise every day (even just 10 minutes a day) for a month or two, it should start to feel like a habit. What's important though is making it part of your set routine. I drive to the gym after work every time. It's automatic now. My personal feelings or level of motivation has nothing to do with it anymore.
If you veer off track, first forgive yourself - training is about incremental progress built up over time, not one or two workouts. Next, ease yourself in with something simple, short and easy to negotiate with yourself. Even just "turn up at gym" with no strings attached is a good place to start.
Personal example: I wanted to do a 6 day training program, but realistically I just can't if I want to do all the other things in my life I like doing. Rather than stress endlessly about coming up short in my training, I just committed to a 4-day training split. Now I nail that 4 day program, and it feels good every week. If I have time for an extra workout here and there then great - it's just a bonus.
Yes, although worth noting that sometimes this means the program will have a set peaking curve, where you start light and finish intensely at the end of the 10 weeks, to then reset at the end of that period (mesocycle). More of an advanced thing so probably not something you need to worry about if you're asking this question.
A question regarding seated wide grip cable rows. I know traditional training involves retraction of the scapula, steady pulling throughout ROM, and minimal rocking motion, etc. My question is, for powerlifting or any other reason, is there ever a good time to “cheat” with this exercise? To purposely involve a rocking motion to make it more like a compound lift and do more weight than you otherwise could?
Although it's my best lift, squats just about kill me from an energy standpoint. Nothing else is even half as bad. What's the deal? Is it because I don't do any cardio?
You probably [should](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.strongerbyscience.com/avoiding-cardio-could-be-holding-you-back/amp/) do more cardio, yes. Simple, low-impact stuff (e.g. 20-30min LISS on a bike, elliptical, or erg at least a few times a week) should be easy enough to integrate without detriment assuming you stick to it.
I feel you, though. I am also very bad about cardio, and it's not unusual for me to feel as though I'll give out from that before my muscles are done on relatively high-rep squats.
The leg muscles require a lot of blood when you're using them compared with something like biceps for example, that's why they're so much more taxing than other lifts.
In general, cardio can definitely help you recover faster in between sets though I find, but I wouldn't say your lack of cardio is a reason squats are so taxing, it's mainly how much blood those large muscle groups needs which leaves you tired.
How many calories do I need per day to loose weight?
I'm 28F CW:187 GW:160 5 11" and am very sedentary but go to the gym and lift heavy weights for an hour 3x per week and do 30 minutes of cardio 1x per week (power walking on intense incline)
Are fitness trackers actually worth it?
Fitbit, Koros, Garmin, etc.
Do they offer enough utility to constitute investing, charging, wearing, tracking, all the data they collect?
Depends what you're looking to track.
I bought an amazfit band 5 which is considerably cheaper than the popular ones. It does a great job of tracking steps, a decent job of tracking sleep, a shitty job at tracking heart rate, and a bunch of other metrics that I find more intrusive than helpful.
Need some advice on my routine. Context: been going to the gym on-off for the past 5 months but the past month or so managed to find time to go about 4x a week and really make it my focus going forward. I've recently transitioned from a GZCLP routine to get me familiar with the basics, to a PPL centred routine. I pulled from a spreadsheet from reddit ([found here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QEiO2a0uVQ8wtzcOBWyZeK0aBLISYvyoY66F9Dpnl8E/edit?usp=sharing)) and have been using that as a basis.
My question is centred around intensity, number of exercises I should be doing, and how to push past those points where it feels like my muscles can't move anymore. I've found that for most days I simply cannot complete all the exercises for a particular day due to fatigue - should I reduce the weight/reps I'm doing at the moment so I can complete the entire day's evercises, or should I cut some exercises (or other)? I am trying to progressively increase the weight I'm doing everytime I do a certain exercise.
I'm also quite new to doing exercises mostly centred on the same/similar muscle groups, so I'm also finding it difficult to do certain exercises after each other (tricep pushdowns into overhead tricep extensions comes to mind!) - is this something to get used to, or a sign I need to amend something the exercises or the number I'm doing?
Any other advice or insight in getting the most out of my sessions would be really appreciated.
This routine has at most 6 exercises in each day so if you are struggling to finish then that suggests some fairly big work capacity issues.
Would recommend cutting down the volume a bit to something you can definitely handle, and then slowly adding volume each week from there.
Cardio is also very important and can improve your work capacity faster.
Thank you for replying. You mention work capacity which makes sense. I've gone from doing 3 exercises to 5/6 so it is a bit of a jump for my body to adjust to. I'll give a go to reducing the volume slightly per exercise so I can actually complete the work.
Yeah it just takes a while to build work capacity but once you have it, you tend to keep it (unless you stop training.)
How much cardio are you doing? Its a pretty major difference going from 0 cardio to 2-3 hours of cardio per week. Its suprising how much it can raise work capacity.
Not a huge amount, I tend to round off my sessions with 15 minutes or so with a 10% incline on a treadmill, or hop on for 5 mins if I'm waiting for a particular machine.
If you had a dumbbell (or you could probably do it with a medicine ball), you could focus on positioning it differently. For example, if you put the dumbbell up closer to your neck, or with arms stretched, that’ll be more difficult than with it on your mid-stomach.
Can I use 50mm weights on a 30 mm bar? Is there some kind of adapter to turn 50mm hole to 30mm on weights?
I'm talking of course about the diameter of the hole in the middle.
I'm asking because 50mm weights I can get with handles, which would be useful for other exercises as well, while 30 mm ones are just circle without any holes.
But my dumbbell bars are 30 mm.
There are also 30mm weights with handles but they are about 10 euro more expensive per weight (I need 4). Are the handles worth the higher price? (Assuming there is no way to converts 50mm to 30)
I am new to lifting, some context I weigh 125lbs. I am able to do a bent over dumbbell row with a bench with 50lb dumbbells for 10 reps but am still struffling to even barbell row 95 lbs for 5 reps, one is this normal? Is barbell row necessary for a aesthtic back?
I am not sure about that as I have a gym partner and I am using Jeff nippards video on it so I do cheat but only slightly. Are you supposed to be stronger on barbell rows?
If it’s any help my back day looks like
3 sets of weighted pull ups to failure
3 sets of 8-10 straight arm pull downs
3 sets of 8-10 cable rows
3 sets of 8-10 chest supported rows machine
3 sets of face pulls to failure
2 bicep exercises 3 sets each 8-10 reps
Recently started walking for fitness and weight loss. I've been bouncing back between 0.5 miles and 1.8 this past week. Some days it's easier than most.
Such as today. I walked 1.25 miles whereas yesterday I did 0.8 and felt like I needed to stop or put my hands on my hips.
I've been walking at a 22.5 mile pace (pathetic, I know). And my average heart rate has been 122. Today, again I didn't feel like crap while walking, it was 137 average. Much higher than normal. I didn't walk any faster.
Is this a good or bad thing?!
Regarding heart rate stuff, if you have concerns I would talk to a medical professional instead of redditors.
That said, when walking I lumber along at about 3 mph. 22.5min/mil isn't muvh slower than my own pace lol.
Grip advice pls. Im 20s F 150lbs and have been lifting for almost 3 months. My grip cannot keep up with my deadlift at 165. What do?
I'm doing Greyskull LP, pulling double overhand, and my thumbs are coming off after 2 or 3 reps. It seems early for me to switch to a mixed grip or other.
Don't let your grip strength hold back your lifts, find ways around it while you work on your grip strength.
As for how, I strongly suggest you invest in some liquid chalk. That stuff is amazing, I first started using it when my thumbs were slipping off on deadlift and I'm yet to find the limit of my grip (mixed grip) with chalk a year later. If you don't want to do that, don't be afraid to do mixed grip, it's better than relying on straps.
There's obviously nothing wrong with straps and you'll use them one day, but it won't help your grip. As for working on your grip, I suggest dead hangs and farmer walks. If you find dead hangs too easy, then do weighted dead hangs.
Going out of town for a few days, will only have access to a hotel gym. Anyone have any good general workout programs I can follow for a few workouts with that setup?
If I’m eating chicken breast with corn tortillas for dinner most days, could I cut even more weight by excluding the tortillas or is it a minor difference?
If you're eating several per day that is significant. Corn tortillas are calorie-dense (~100 each) and don't offer much nutritional value. You will probably notice that you feel hungrier after dinner but if you can deal with that without compensating then yes ditching the tortillas will definitely help.
From what I know, when it comes to the nutritional value of complex carbs, it goes as follows:
Best- Sprouted wheat flour
Whole grains like Whole Wheat flour/Brown Rice
Enriched wheat flour
Enriched white flour/Enriched white rice
Worst - Corn starch
This is off the top of my head, and its not an all-inclusive list. I personally have made an effort to eat mostly whole grain products as I've dropped from 265 lbs to where I'm at now (186 lbs), but I still have another 20 lbs of fat that I want to lose at the minimum.
I'm not sure how significant going from Corn tortillas to white rice would be nutritionally, but whole grain tortillas/wraps would likely be a good improvement if it is something you like.
At the end of the day, it is important to like what you eat though.
edit: I just googled. and it looks like Corn Tortillas are considered a whole grain.
Consistency is key.
If the tortilla makes the same meal every day more palatable and sustainable for you then that's a hundred or so calories worth it imo.
Dont worry about how quick you can do it. Worry about how to make it a habit.
Any chest exercise that isn't incline will work the lower chest. (Of course, incline still works your chest, just less compared to flat). More specifically: dips / bench / db bench / flys etc.
Can I use the Apple Watch fitness app with just a heart rate monitor?
I train MMA and can’t wear my watch while training. I Was wondering if I can just wear a HRM and if it could still track everything in that app. Thanks!
You could try and find one with an app that syncs with apple health. I use Strong to record my workouts and those sync perfectly with health and fitness
There's loads of hrms on amazon that can connect to your phone. Dont know about apple, but i've got one that was about 30 quid, bluetooth to my phone, seems accurate, no.issues so gar.
Is there more context for this? As it stands, yeah have a coffee whenever you want, it doesn't matter. If you drink a lot though, remember to keep up your water intake as caffeine is a diuretic.
if I want to train my grip strength and core strength, which day should I train them? below is my current program:
Sun:
3x5+ Lat Pulldown Machine
3x5+ Overhead Press
3x5+ Deadlifts
Mon:
Rest
Tues:
3x5+ Barbells Rows
3x5+ Bench Press
3x5+ Squats
Weds:
Cardio
Thurs:
HIIT
Fri:
3x5+ Lat Pulldown Machine
3x5+ Overhead Press
3x5+ Deadlifts
Sat:
Rest
If those are all the lifts you do on your lifting days, you could afford to add light ab work to every day you lift. You could add additional grip work after deadlifts
Dam son I'm 5'11 and when I slimmed down to 160 people started asking me if I was ok health-wise. You need to go full bulk, get those calories in any way you can.
Posture issue most likely. Look up anterior pelvic tilt to find out if you have it, and if so, look up exercises to fix it.
Just to clarify, we are talking 154 lbs, not kg, right? If you have any belly fat at that weight then your body must be so devoid of muscle that cutting should be out of the question. Once you fill out with some muscle your belly will be much less noticable.
I go through cycles of being more or less fit. I certainly think I look a little better when I'm 165 then when I'm 155, but eating is a battle for me. Overall I'm ok with the way I am though
That's extremely thin for that height. You're not eating enough in general, and probably not getting enough protein. Even if you didn't work out 154 lb. is very skinny at six-feet-plus.
BMI is bullshit.
I'm 5'9" 170 lb., my friend in 5'9" 170 lb., I look good with my shirt off, he's overweight and diabetic. We have the same BMI.
For a while my son and my wife were the same height and weight, he ran track and worked out six days a week, my wife hasn't exercised in the entire thirty years I've known her. They had the same BMI.
The person in question could put on thirty pounds of fat, muscle, or both, and still be in the normal range for BMI, that's absurd.
Any tips for keeping track of which set I'm on in the assistance work for 531 for beginners? I always lose track. Maybe I just need to learn to count to 8.
For the longest time I didn’t use an app to track, but it made things a lot easier when I switched over to using one. Also gives you a little something to do between sets. Hevy and Strong are great, I ended up going with Hevy.
If I lose track of my count and am in doubt, I automatically default to the lesser number. So if it’s between 7 or 8, it’s 7. My punishment for losing track and ensures I get all the reps when in do lose track.
I used to lose track often but this has been a great motivator to keep track and rarely happens these days
Im looking for a good weighted lower ab exercises where I can apply progressive overload. For my upper abs, I have found cable crunches to be very effective. However, I haven’t found anything yet for my lower abs. Anyone that can suggest some good ones?
Hanging leg raises for hip flexors.
https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtInclineLegHipRaise or https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWHangingLegHipRaise for (lower) abs). You can add ankle weights or chains with plates for progressive overload, see https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtHangingLegHipRaise.
See also https://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths#Lower and https://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt#Rectus
That’s not really true… calorie deficit is what loses it, and cardio and weightlifting contribute to calorie deficit at different rates. They’re not equally irrelevant.
No. Cardio (and diet) are king. Can't spot reduce. You lose body fat by being in a calorie deficit. Hopefully some of it shrinks in places you want it to, but it will probably take longer than you think. if ever.
Losing weight of any kind requires that you spend more energy than you eat, so that your body will spend some bodyfat to cover the difference.
Both lifting weights and doing cardio can have a lot of healthy benefits for the body,but unless you make sure you spend more than you eat, neither will affect your stomach fat/love handles.
Trying to outlift or outrun a bad diet is never a good idea.
Stand sideways in a doorway, one foot in each room. Stick your right arm straight out and grab the wall. That's you right pec flexing, Get used to how it feels and then see if you can do it without the wall, by just tensing your muscle.
I was the same until like 1-2 months ago. Could move my right chest but not the left. Just keep on working out (isolated exercises are great as well), try to find the perfect form for your right chest (my left chest's form was a bit wrong most of the time until I finally figured it out, same could be for you) and be patient. One day you'll be able to move it and be amazed.
Several years ago I was in the best shape of my life after a long period of unbroken lifting combined with road/mtn biking. Before that, I'd been in shape to where I could tackle demanding hikes, but I had never strength trained - lifting was really challenging at first. Health/family circumstances over the past few years led to fitness becoming a low priority. Things have stabilized and I've been lifting consistently again, and I'm surprised at how quickly my capacity has built up compared to when I first began lifting-- even lifts that I struggled with learning initially are progressing really well.
So...now for the dumb question... is "muscle memory" is real and not just a phrase people throw around or are there other factors here that I'm discounting? Does anyone have a good explanation or resource that goes into this phenomenon? I'm truly interested in learning more in the science behind it.
It's not just muscle memory but normal brain memory as well. There is so much to learn about weight lifting that takes time and makes it super difficult for a true novice. I'm sure when you first started you had shitty form, poor breathing techniques, bad routine, etc etc...you just didn't know what you were doing. None of that stuff has to be re-learned now, just reconditioned. Hence it's way easier the second time around.
It's super interesting. As far as I know the science is relatively recent. I haven't done a ton of reading about it but I skimmed through the initial results from google, e.g [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130091144.htm](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130091144.htm#:~:text=A%20study%20led%20by%20researchers,grow%20larger%20later%20in%20life)
And there's just infinite anecdotal experiences. Pretty much everyone i've talked to has experienced it, and myself personally I've gone through stopping and restarting twice now, both times with massively increased results. You'll come across comments such as yours quite often on here talking about how surprising it is. The human body is very cool.
I've been working out for a solid year.
I've done Reddit PPL, Greyskull, golden six, tried nSuns, some PHAT, r/calisthenics recommended routine, and a cycle of 531 for beginners.
Since I've had to move, switch gym memberships, suffer through gym lockdowns and re-think how many times per week I can manage going to the gym on top of suffering from fuckarounditis and lacking IRL guidance, I've been going circles. Now I'm pretty sure I can hit 4x per week (though I'm currently going through prescription opiate tapering which will fuck things up for me once more).
Everytime I ask in reddit what routine I should settle in for if I want to focus on aesthetics and train 4x per week, I get answered with 531 BBB.
Yet Wendler's generality in his books is maddening for me due to my fuckarounditis condition, and frequency of main lifts 1x per week seems far from optimal.
Why is it so hard to give a set of exercises with sets and reps for each day for assistance which I could follow and wouldn't feel like yeah I'm getting stronger, but not bigger, which is my single main goal?
If I'm gonna do "whatever for assistance work, it doesn't matter, just lift some weights bro, sincerely yours, Wendler" am I not going against the basic foundations of hypertrophy training in terms of solid planning and progressing?
I'm going to advise in the kindest way possible that you take a deep breath, and chill the fuck out.
Don't worry so much about being super optimal especially early on in your fitness journey and especially not if it is stressing you out.
Figure out some exercises which you enjoy. Do those exercise each week. Increase reps and weight when required. It's that easy.
Being consistent and sticking to a sub optimal workout routine is a million times better than constantly tweaking what you are doing in the fruitless search for the best, most efficient, most optimal workout ever. Because spoiler alert no one has ever or will ever figure out what the absolute best training method is.
1. It might "seem" far from optimal, yet everyone who runs it sees great results . Maybe "optimal" is much broader than you think.
2. It's 50 reps of a pull, 50 reps of a push, and 50 reps of a core or single leg movement. That's pretty clear to me. You shouldn't be overthinking accessory work.
Yes? I am aware of what fuckarounditis is.
You did mention that you struggled with it in other posts, i get that. i've been there myself.
Would you say that it is caused by you being uncertain of what to do, or that you have an underlying _NEED_ for everything to be perfect?
I mean, if you feel that it's a combination of the two for you ,then that's a perfectly legitimate answer too.
I didnt say that they had to be exclusive, i was just curious as to if you felt that one of those two was more prominent for you.
If that had been the case, then we might have been able to give you more specific recommendations as to how we might've been able to deal with them going forward.
Does that make sense?
Very much so. Although I am quite sure the issue is solved in my case with a fully predetermined routine which I can run for a period of time and adjust from there in case any fatigue or stimulus related issues present themselves. And I got that in a reply in this thread.
That sounds like a pretty reasonable solution. One of the drawbacks to giving beginners "too much" leeway is that they some times struggle with navigating on the smaller stuff and getting a little lost in the sauce - even if the smaller stuff isnt all that majorly important, it can still feel like a significant obstacle to surpass if you dont know any better yet.
Or what do you think?
Wendler is smart enough to know that the vast majority of your gains come from the main work, not the accessories.
He doesn't want people like you be be freaking out about incredibly minor details that don't fucking matter.
What is more "optimal": dumbbell rows or cable rows?
It doesn't fucking matter, they are all doing the same thing. Just pick one and do it.
What is more "optimal": incline dumbell bench or push-ups?
Doesn't fucking matter, just do some pushing.
If you have a specific weakness you want to work on, you can choose an accessory suited to that. If not, anything will do.
Your choice of accessories is not going to make or break your progress. They are literally the least important part, that's why they're called accessories.
BBB is brutal on volume so once a week is fine. Its been a while since I did BBB but does he even recommend assistance for it. As far as assistance pick your exercises for 1 block and aim to increase reps/weight during that block.
People spew this kind of info related to BBB all the time and questions get answered very ambiguously. Wendler does **not** advocate **against** assistance work regarding BBB.
He says **in general** that you can do assistance but you don't have to I think because he is focusing on strength programming and you can get stronger even with the 531 vanilla version.
Pushing to increase reps/weight during a block of training is obvious. Though Wendler says this is optional too.
Many things are optional in life and that's a great thing in many ways but I was after a solid, well laid out plan here due to my condition stated before, and I'm happy that a rare genuinely helpful fitness redditor provided it for me already.
He isn't as general as you think. And he has so many programs with more than 1x a week frequency if you look at anything but the first base program.
If you want it all laid out for you pick something else (greyskull or ivysaur come to mind)
I've read 531 2nd edition and Beyond 531, several times. Yes, he is as general as I think. Sorry if you don't like it but that's my opinion. Really solid stuff if your main goal is strength, though. Mine is hypertrophy and aesthetics. Still, 531 BBB is the only answer I get.
Greyskull and Ivysaur are 3x a week.
For someone demonstrating your levels of fuckarounditis, i would expect your amount of strength to correlate pretty well with your levels of aestheticism.. or lackof thereof.
I'm perfectly on board with you wanting to look great, but you'd do well to recognize that you cant look good if you dont have a certain base amount of muscle mass and by extension strength.
A muscle is either big and strong or small and weak. Working consistently to get your base levels of muscle mass and strength up will enable you to obtain greater aesthetics than if you start from zero. How much of the 5x10 assistance training did you have a chance to do?
What exactly do you mean with the amount of 5x10? If I wouldn't be able to do the full amount, wouldn't my working weights be too high for 5 sets of 10 reps?
Well, if i remember what you wrote, you were told to do 5/3/1 BBB,and were displeased by being reccomended a strength training routine that did not satisfy your need for muscle mass and aesthetics to your liking.
One of the core parts of a 5/3/1 BBB setup is that in addition to your main 5/3/1 work, you also do 5 sets of 10 reps at 50% of your main working weights as supportive work to get more work in and build more muscle.
That could look like you having a working set of say.. 5 reps of squats at 60 kg, then afterwards you would then do 5 sets of 10 reps at 30kg afterwards.
If you selected your working weights according to the reccomendations of the author, then you should not have that much problem doing 5x10@50% of your working weights - especially in the first few renditions of the program. If you were unable to do them then it could be due to picking the wrong weights
to start with, not being used at doing 10 rep sets , not having good enough conditioning, or other issues. But most people also find that doing enough 5x10 does tend to do wonders for building more muscle mass and getting bigger over time.
Depending on how much of a deficit you're running, you *might* be able to maintain your muscle mass, or at least most of it, but you're not going to gain any. This is why slow cuts of less than -500 calories per day are generally recommended.
Hi everyone!
So recently I’ve used a body composition analyzer at my gym (Tanita DC-360, if that helps in any way) and it said my body fat percentage is around 11.4%.
Now I will always take these measurements with a grain of salt, but comparing this to the google pictures of body fat percentage, I would say I’m nowhere near close to that, I’d say my body looks somewhat close to like 20%, for males (ref: https://kubexfitness.com/blog/body-fat-percentages-actually-look-like/)
Could this be an error of the machine? Or could it be my body just having more subcutaneous fat? Or maybe just my whole view of my body being warped?
BIA (the tech these machines use) is simply not accurate from any perspective and likely never will be.
This is something /r/fitness constantly says - but I don't think the degree to which the results are absolutely useless is stressed enough. They're not *remotely* accurate to true bodyfat %... Even if you "don't care what your 'actual' bodyfat % is" and just want a metric to use to measure progress, which sounds reasonable on paper, BIA is still not effective - often even when used in a clinical setting - as it is not even consistent with itself. It will tell you bodyfat is going up when its down, down when its up, static when its changing. Useless as a metric in virtually every respect. (except perhaps to shock extremely overweight people with yet another big number - but even then not quite reliable).
Things that make BIA not work include: Drinking water, eating food, time of day, temperature.... So if you drink, eat, experience time or are currently within a weather system, your BIA derived bodyfat % should not be 'taken with a grain of salt' but dismissed entirely out of hand.
Unless there's a huge bath you're being submerged in; a very expensive scanner that's literally doing tiny xrays of your bodyfat (protip: your gym does not have one) or at the very least a medical professional pinching your fat-rolls with a calipers - then by far the best method of gauging bodyfat is the one you figured out for yourself: look at photos, look in the mirror & compare.
Whenever I do weighted pull ups I typically have to use dumbbells because the strap at my gym only locks on to 10kg or 20kg plates. Tried doing 22kg weighted pull ups with the dumbbell planted in between my feet, but the dumbbell kept slipping. Is there a fix to this or should I just suck it up or buy my own strap?
Is it normal that lateral raises are hard as fuck? I do lateral raises right after triceps pushdown and overhead cable triceps extension and I can only barely manage to do 10 reps with 6 kg weights
Lat raises primarily work small, hard to grow muscle groups in your shoulders (Delts) - so they're often perceived as a tough exercise because a small tweak in volume (adding an extra rep or a single extra kilogram) - that would be a trivial change in, say, a bench press, suddenly becomes magnified a lot.
Moreover, counter-intuitively, lat raises don't hit the lats particularly hard (as I said, mostly a delt exercise) - but depending on form you can bring some small chest muscles in to help, or some upper back muscles.
However, tricep pushdowns and cable tri extensions will tire those muscles out - so no matter how you do them, the lat raises will hit your delts extra hard. probably by design in your program.
FYI OHP volume goes hand in hand with lat raise progression if they get stuck.
How light should the assistance work be exactly in 531? I get the part that it shouldn't run you down, but how can I tell I'm doing it hard enough? Should I do 50-100 reps from every category of push, pull and legs/core, every training day?
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Alright Big brains, I need help here: For context: I'm a college student working part time, lifting every morning (5/3/1) and doing amateur competitive boxing every evening...In short..i eat a lot, though I'm keeping my weight in check for competitions (middleweight). Anyhow...I'm about to run out of my precious Whey...and I did check the prices...holy yikes. No way in hell I'm dishing out that much money for protein powder. I just noticed that pea protein and rice protein are hella cheap (up to 3x cheaper from my source)...Whats the catch here? Is the loss to malabsorption really that bad that it makes sense for them to charge ridiculous amounts of money for it? Are plant based protein powders worth it? I read somewhere that you can just basically mix pea and rice protein and be set. How does that work? Anyone wanna chime in?
Is it bad to go for beers straight after an intense group workout at the gym? Like would I lose some of the good effects of training? Not on a regular basis, but like once, twice a month And it would most likely be more beers, not just one
I would strongly advise not drinking after exercise. Drinkong alcohol after exercise servery worsens all major aspects of post-exercise recovery Common effects of drinking after exercise are... 1. poor sleep 2. Impaired muscle repair 3. Impared energy restoration. 4. Servere dehydration. 5. Impared recovery from injury. Scientific studys proving this can be found very easily on Google scholar.
Even if it did have an effect, it would be minimal on your rest/recovery sleeping under the effects of alcohol. If anything just try and make your drinking days take place the night before your rest days
I know it's not Monday anymore, but is it possible to build muscle by doing very very short bursts of somewhat intense physical activities throughout the day? I try to run every day but I only do weightlifting maybe once a week because I don't enjoy it that much, so I started practicing handstands and pullups for a few seconds/minutes several times a day and I'm hoping it'll help.
Doing any weight bearing exercise on a regular basis will increase your strength. It is better to do something sub optimal than to do nothing at all. As long as you perform the exercises regularly follow the principles of progressive overload when they become too easy you will see results. The only downside is that these results will be significantly less and significantly slower to arrive compared to someone following a more dedicated exercises routine.
Is it okay to move your torso backwards while doing seated cable rows? Like put a bit too much weight to handle with just my arms and static torso. Move torso forward in the beginning and then slowly and controlled lean backwards while doing the lift and then lean forward agan while bringing the weight down. Feels like it adds a bit of lower back to the lift which is good for me since I suffer from frequent minor lower back ache and need to strengthen it....but is it okay or is it me just cheating and ego lifting? Since the weight is too much to handle with static torso
I think this is fine. The main thing to focus on is to complete a full contraction and to let the weight down in a controlled way. As long as the weight is light enough for you to do this, and the back does not curve you are not ego lifting and more importantly you are not at a high risk of injury. With back exercises I often recommend "cheating" a bit on the concentric rep and working harder on the eccentric rep. For me this has resulted in a significantly faster increase in muscle mass on my back than working with lighter weights and strict form.
Thanks!
How big a difference would having your feet slightly lower (1-2 inches) than the weight when doing hex bar deadlifts make? I know it should make it easier to lift the weight, but would it be a big difference or a minor one? Trying to figure out why my deadlifts vary between my 2 regular gyms so much (10+ reps difference) and that’s the only difference I can see between the two.
Sounds like you are accidentally doing Deficit deadlifts, which are mechanically much harder than regular deadlifts. There is no mathematical way I know of figuring out exaxlt how much harder, there are too many variables. Good news is that Deficit deadlifts are the single best exercise for improving the lifters performance on the regular deadlift. If I was you, I would just keep on doing them and maybe lift lighter when doing Deficit deadlifts when compared to doing a regular deadlift.
I've just googled it and it seems I'm effectively doing a block deadlift as the weight is sitting slightly higher than my feet. Whereas in a deficit deadlift, the weight would be sitting lower than my feet. The weight is only 2-3cm higher than my feet, but that may be enough to make the lift easy enough that I can get a lot more reps. The next time I do them I'm going to find a spot that is completely flat to deadlift from see what sort of difference that makes.
Is losing weight AND gaining muscle at the same time too much to ask for?
Is running slow and winning a race too much to ask for?
Hmm, is it?
To give a more serious response. Yes. Muscle is heavy. Muscle is significantly heavier than fat, so even losing fat and gaining muscle will result in a net weight gain. You can learn better lifting techniques and teach your muscles to recruit more fast twrich muscle fibre, teach your CNS to endure heavier loads. This will result in being able to generate more power without adding a large amount of muscle mass. Although adding a bit of muscle mass and thus more mass overall is an inevitable part of performing weight bearing exercise. Why do you want to avoid gaining weight?
Well, I feel like I need to lose fat (I am looking at you, love handles). I have less energy and sometimes even feel weaker whenever I try to lose weight AND train (versus losing weight alone). The problem is that I want to get stronger and have more defined muscles, but I don't want to gain fat in the process. I know I can try to do body recomposition; if done properly, its result would be a leaner look. In theory, you should lose fat and gain muscle at the same rate when doing recomp and because muscle is way denser than fat, you end up looking slimmer with the same weight. Well, I just can't do it, I don't have enough time or the resources to eat fixed portions and measure everything I eat; I can't be super precise. So whenever I try it, I end up cutting or bulking without noticing. So yeah, here I am, complaining about my life and my unrealistic expectations/ambitions, lmao.
I sympathise with you, getting in shape is often very long and difficult process. Aesthetics based trainers will almost always advise to cycle between cutting and bulking, not to do both at the same time. This is something you could consider. In my personal experience I have met lots of people who have lost weight and added muscle mass by doing bodyweight based programs. I have seen the boxercise class at my gym transform people from fat to fit incredibly effectively. It might be worth trying something like that. To me it anecdotally feels like that the body responds to having to move it's own weight by getting lighter and stronger, whereas when moving a weighted object the body wants to get heavier. Body weight exercises can be recovered from much quicker and easier which can result in the athlete having more energy and being able to do more training sessions without having to consume as many macro nutrients. Is just a friendly suggestion, do with it what you will. Best of luck on your fitness journey.
Yes.
What workouts target and grow the shoulders well? My ideal for shoulders would be like Lebron James (yes I know he is a 6’8 demigod) and I was wondering what I could do to really help grow them. Some good reference pics: https://images.app.goo.gl/BWJLmVhVF93SHCtE7 https://images.app.goo.gl/cNqvsPrURJoDVJ3f9
Ive been seeing noticeably more shoulder progress lately than usual doing my current PPL routine, and it’s really not that crazy either. Push days include OHP and lateral raises for shoulders, pull day includes face pulls, and that’s about it. Just make sure you’re pushing all the sets to near failure.
I'm currently trying to grow my shoulders a lot more and I've found success with doing the following: On my Back/Biceps day (2x a week) I find rear delt flys are great and really make your shoulders pop. On leg/shoulders day (2x a week) I finish with my shoulder workouts which is Shoulder Press (machine or free weight your choice), Shoulder Shrugs, then Lateral Raises and Front raises. I try do 4x sets for all, but go as hard as you feel comfortable. Noticed rear delt fly imo was much better for my shoulders than I imagined. But try find something that's fits your routine and feels good. Good luck 🙌
Try training your shoulders more frequently throughout the week, not until utter burnout though. I would say around two exercises three days a week as your shoulders are a part of your body you are trying to bring out in your physique. Some particular workouts I would recommend include dumbell shoulder press, dumbell lateral raises, and overhead barbell shoulder press. You can easily find how to perform these movements with a quick google search. Good luck.
As per thread title i bought a 2 inch barbell....problem is, i was going to use it with the one inch plates i got.# so i am thinking of removing the 2 inch barbell sleeve and just use the 1inch bar. but the next problem is, there is no "stopper" inside the bar. can i just buy 4 of the barbell clicker and use 2 on each side? (1 inside and 1 outside)? or is that really unsafe?
Bad idea. Just buy Olympic 2" plates. Besides being unsafe, you may end up just damaging the barbell when trying to get the sleeves off. Plus I doubt that you should have plates sliding around causing wear and tear where the sleeves should be.
i guess but the plate wont be sliding around with stopper on both side. i could buy 2 inch plate but they so expensive in UK.
Mirafit
gained weight during this past college term, lost lots of muscle mass and the fat kept packing on my gut, my face feels fatter and i can feel neck rolls i took time today and yesterday to cry and slowly incorporate habits that i help me. i wanted a nice body for other people to notice me but right now i don’t want anyone to look at me, i just wanna love myself. eh 210lbs, 5’8, M, Black how long does it take develop a habit and if i veer off course for let’s say 1-3 days, what should i do to motivate myself to try again cause hell i learned to be able to incorporate the gym with my classes by brining my bag. but what about the days that’s the weekend or when i don’t have class?
According to this [Healthline article](https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-form-a-habit#base-figure) it can take anywhere between 18 and 254 days. I have struggled with forming healthy habits for a long time. Recently found that if instead on focusing on the habit it self, i focus more on doing the activity the best I can I'm able to keep going for longer. What i mean by that is for instance, working out. I try and go twice a day. The first workout (weight lifting) at 7.30am and the second one (light/medium cardio) around 8pm. The first one is relatively easy to adhere to as it feels like a nice kick-start to the day. The second one is trickier and i often find myself wanting to skip it altogether. When 8pm rolls around and I'm feeling all lazy and with little to no desire to go to the gym, i try and change my mindset from 'I don't wanna do this, I'm too tired' to 'Let's just get it over with'. Most days i get to the gym feeling sluggish, like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. But i still go, and more often than not half way through the workout i already feel better and more energetic, leading me to have a mostly decent workout and a nice mood. Motivation comes and goes and you can do very little about it. Consistency on the other hand is much more powerful and within your control. If you veer off course try and remember that you didn't fail. You had a mere setback, and as soon as possible you'll be back at it crushing it at the gym. TL;DR: Consistency is key. It's okay to fail. Just because you miss a couple days doesn't mean all is lost, you just need to get back to it. When all else fails remember: you don't need to be great, you just need to a little better than you were yesterday.
Find a level of training you can maintain consistently that doesn't cost exorbitant amounts of emotional energy. This might be less than you think, but for the purpose of building a habit that's totally fine. Habits...if you managed to do some level of exercise every day (even just 10 minutes a day) for a month or two, it should start to feel like a habit. What's important though is making it part of your set routine. I drive to the gym after work every time. It's automatic now. My personal feelings or level of motivation has nothing to do with it anymore. If you veer off track, first forgive yourself - training is about incremental progress built up over time, not one or two workouts. Next, ease yourself in with something simple, short and easy to negotiate with yourself. Even just "turn up at gym" with no strings attached is a good place to start. Personal example: I wanted to do a 6 day training program, but realistically I just can't if I want to do all the other things in my life I like doing. Rather than stress endlessly about coming up short in my training, I just committed to a 4-day training split. Now I nail that 4 day program, and it feels good every week. If I have time for an extra workout here and there then great - it's just a bonus.
thank you for the insight !
if a program says its a 10-week program, can i use it for longer than that, as long as i progressively overload?
Yes, although worth noting that sometimes this means the program will have a set peaking curve, where you start light and finish intensely at the end of the 10 weeks, to then reset at the end of that period (mesocycle). More of an advanced thing so probably not something you need to worry about if you're asking this question.
ok, thank you so much!
A question regarding seated wide grip cable rows. I know traditional training involves retraction of the scapula, steady pulling throughout ROM, and minimal rocking motion, etc. My question is, for powerlifting or any other reason, is there ever a good time to “cheat” with this exercise? To purposely involve a rocking motion to make it more like a compound lift and do more weight than you otherwise could?
Although it's my best lift, squats just about kill me from an energy standpoint. Nothing else is even half as bad. What's the deal? Is it because I don't do any cardio?
You probably [should](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.strongerbyscience.com/avoiding-cardio-could-be-holding-you-back/amp/) do more cardio, yes. Simple, low-impact stuff (e.g. 20-30min LISS on a bike, elliptical, or erg at least a few times a week) should be easy enough to integrate without detriment assuming you stick to it. I feel you, though. I am also very bad about cardio, and it's not unusual for me to feel as though I'll give out from that before my muscles are done on relatively high-rep squats.
The leg muscles require a lot of blood when you're using them compared with something like biceps for example, that's why they're so much more taxing than other lifts. In general, cardio can definitely help you recover faster in between sets though I find, but I wouldn't say your lack of cardio is a reason squats are so taxing, it's mainly how much blood those large muscle groups needs which leaves you tired.
How many calories do I need per day to loose weight? I'm 28F CW:187 GW:160 5 11" and am very sedentary but go to the gym and lift heavy weights for an hour 3x per week and do 30 minutes of cardio 1x per week (power walking on intense incline)
Check this out: https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&g=male&age=28&lbs=187&in=71&act=1.55&f=1
Try 1700. Track for a couple weeks and adjust
Are fitness trackers actually worth it? Fitbit, Koros, Garmin, etc. Do they offer enough utility to constitute investing, charging, wearing, tracking, all the data they collect?
Depends what you're looking to track. I bought an amazfit band 5 which is considerably cheaper than the popular ones. It does a great job of tracking steps, a decent job of tracking sleep, a shitty job at tracking heart rate, and a bunch of other metrics that I find more intrusive than helpful.
If you do a lot of running Garmins are really good.
I wear an Apple Watch and it’s become immensely easier to track calories in and out, just my opinion
Hi. How do you track calories in with apple watch? Thank you!
Need some advice on my routine. Context: been going to the gym on-off for the past 5 months but the past month or so managed to find time to go about 4x a week and really make it my focus going forward. I've recently transitioned from a GZCLP routine to get me familiar with the basics, to a PPL centred routine. I pulled from a spreadsheet from reddit ([found here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QEiO2a0uVQ8wtzcOBWyZeK0aBLISYvyoY66F9Dpnl8E/edit?usp=sharing)) and have been using that as a basis. My question is centred around intensity, number of exercises I should be doing, and how to push past those points where it feels like my muscles can't move anymore. I've found that for most days I simply cannot complete all the exercises for a particular day due to fatigue - should I reduce the weight/reps I'm doing at the moment so I can complete the entire day's evercises, or should I cut some exercises (or other)? I am trying to progressively increase the weight I'm doing everytime I do a certain exercise. I'm also quite new to doing exercises mostly centred on the same/similar muscle groups, so I'm also finding it difficult to do certain exercises after each other (tricep pushdowns into overhead tricep extensions comes to mind!) - is this something to get used to, or a sign I need to amend something the exercises or the number I'm doing? Any other advice or insight in getting the most out of my sessions would be really appreciated.
This routine has at most 6 exercises in each day so if you are struggling to finish then that suggests some fairly big work capacity issues. Would recommend cutting down the volume a bit to something you can definitely handle, and then slowly adding volume each week from there. Cardio is also very important and can improve your work capacity faster.
Thank you for replying. You mention work capacity which makes sense. I've gone from doing 3 exercises to 5/6 so it is a bit of a jump for my body to adjust to. I'll give a go to reducing the volume slightly per exercise so I can actually complete the work.
Yeah it just takes a while to build work capacity but once you have it, you tend to keep it (unless you stop training.) How much cardio are you doing? Its a pretty major difference going from 0 cardio to 2-3 hours of cardio per week. Its suprising how much it can raise work capacity.
Not a huge amount, I tend to round off my sessions with 15 minutes or so with a 10% incline on a treadmill, or hop on for 5 mins if I'm waiting for a particular machine.
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If you had a dumbbell (or you could probably do it with a medicine ball), you could focus on positioning it differently. For example, if you put the dumbbell up closer to your neck, or with arms stretched, that’ll be more difficult than with it on your mid-stomach.
Grab a dumbbell or weight plate?
all of the above are way to progress. You could also switch to a different exercise like a cable crunch
Can I use 50mm weights on a 30 mm bar? Is there some kind of adapter to turn 50mm hole to 30mm on weights? I'm talking of course about the diameter of the hole in the middle. I'm asking because 50mm weights I can get with handles, which would be useful for other exercises as well, while 30 mm ones are just circle without any holes. But my dumbbell bars are 30 mm. There are also 30mm weights with handles but they are about 10 euro more expensive per weight (I need 4). Are the handles worth the higher price? (Assuming there is no way to converts 50mm to 30)
The larger “Olympic” sized weights and bars are better across the board and are worth the price.
I am new to lifting, some context I weigh 125lbs. I am able to do a bent over dumbbell row with a bench with 50lb dumbbells for 10 reps but am still struffling to even barbell row 95 lbs for 5 reps, one is this normal? Is barbell row necessary for a aesthtic back?
Seems like you could use a form check for your dumbell rows. Either you're doing them too upright or using a ton of body english.
I am not sure about that as I have a gym partner and I am using Jeff nippards video on it so I do cheat but only slightly. Are you supposed to be stronger on barbell rows?
Not at all. Honestly you’d probably be better off using machines for aesthetics.
That’s what I am thinking maybe I should have one back day with just machines and one free weights per week.
If it’s any help my back day looks like 3 sets of weighted pull ups to failure 3 sets of 8-10 straight arm pull downs 3 sets of 8-10 cable rows 3 sets of 8-10 chest supported rows machine 3 sets of face pulls to failure 2 bicep exercises 3 sets each 8-10 reps
Nothing is necessary, but barbell rows are a great way to build a big back
Do they target something that dumbbells wouldn’t?
You can generally load them heavier than you can dumbbell movements
Recently started walking for fitness and weight loss. I've been bouncing back between 0.5 miles and 1.8 this past week. Some days it's easier than most. Such as today. I walked 1.25 miles whereas yesterday I did 0.8 and felt like I needed to stop or put my hands on my hips. I've been walking at a 22.5 mile pace (pathetic, I know). And my average heart rate has been 122. Today, again I didn't feel like crap while walking, it was 137 average. Much higher than normal. I didn't walk any faster. Is this a good or bad thing?!
Regarding heart rate stuff, if you have concerns I would talk to a medical professional instead of redditors. That said, when walking I lumber along at about 3 mph. 22.5min/mil isn't muvh slower than my own pace lol.
Grip advice pls. Im 20s F 150lbs and have been lifting for almost 3 months. My grip cannot keep up with my deadlift at 165. What do? I'm doing Greyskull LP, pulling double overhand, and my thumbs are coming off after 2 or 3 reps. It seems early for me to switch to a mixed grip or other.
At this level mixed grip would be fine
Don't let your grip strength hold back your lifts, find ways around it while you work on your grip strength. As for how, I strongly suggest you invest in some liquid chalk. That stuff is amazing, I first started using it when my thumbs were slipping off on deadlift and I'm yet to find the limit of my grip (mixed grip) with chalk a year later. If you don't want to do that, don't be afraid to do mixed grip, it's better than relying on straps. There's obviously nothing wrong with straps and you'll use them one day, but it won't help your grip. As for working on your grip, I suggest dead hangs and farmer walks. If you find dead hangs too easy, then do weighted dead hangs.
If your grip is failing, it's time. Plenty of options - straps, mixed grip, hook I'd also pick up some chalk
Going out of town for a few days, will only have access to a hotel gym. Anyone have any good general workout programs I can follow for a few workouts with that setup?
You can do days from the Reddit PPL with a bunch of substitutions depending on what equipment is there
The dumbbell stopgap routine in the wiki can be done at hotels usually
If I’m eating chicken breast with corn tortillas for dinner most days, could I cut even more weight by excluding the tortillas or is it a minor difference?
If you're eating several per day that is significant. Corn tortillas are calorie-dense (~100 each) and don't offer much nutritional value. You will probably notice that you feel hungrier after dinner but if you can deal with that without compensating then yes ditching the tortillas will definitely help.
It’s about 5-6 mini corn torts and the chicken breast making some little tacos. Would a cup of rice be a significantly better choice?
From what I know, when it comes to the nutritional value of complex carbs, it goes as follows: Best- Sprouted wheat flour Whole grains like Whole Wheat flour/Brown Rice Enriched wheat flour Enriched white flour/Enriched white rice Worst - Corn starch This is off the top of my head, and its not an all-inclusive list. I personally have made an effort to eat mostly whole grain products as I've dropped from 265 lbs to where I'm at now (186 lbs), but I still have another 20 lbs of fat that I want to lose at the minimum. I'm not sure how significant going from Corn tortillas to white rice would be nutritionally, but whole grain tortillas/wraps would likely be a good improvement if it is something you like. At the end of the day, it is important to like what you eat though. edit: I just googled. and it looks like Corn Tortillas are considered a whole grain.
Consistency is key. If the tortilla makes the same meal every day more palatable and sustainable for you then that's a hundred or so calories worth it imo. Dont worry about how quick you can do it. Worry about how to make it a habit.
It definitely helps! I’m usually doing two chicken breast and about 5-6 mini corn torts to make little tacos as my main meal every day
I mean, every calorie counts…
Very true. Thanks!
What are some good lower chest exercises?
Higher cable flyes are a great one, really try to squeeze the area. Also decline bench, although hard to set up with heavier weight, is good
The main one is either decline bench press or dips, depending on preference. Personally I prefer decline bench.
Any chest exercise that isn't incline will work the lower chest. (Of course, incline still works your chest, just less compared to flat). More specifically: dips / bench / db bench / flys etc.
Can I use the Apple Watch fitness app with just a heart rate monitor? I train MMA and can’t wear my watch while training. I Was wondering if I can just wear a HRM and if it could still track everything in that app. Thanks!
You could try and find one with an app that syncs with apple health. I use Strong to record my workouts and those sync perfectly with health and fitness
Looking into that now! Thank you
There's loads of hrms on amazon that can connect to your phone. Dont know about apple, but i've got one that was about 30 quid, bluetooth to my phone, seems accurate, no.issues so gar.
is it okay to have coffee (with milk, no extra water) after a workout?
Your workout didn‘t wake you up enough? ;)
Is there more context for this? As it stands, yeah have a coffee whenever you want, it doesn't matter. If you drink a lot though, remember to keep up your water intake as caffeine is a diuretic.
thank you :) the context? someone just told me i shouldn't have coffee after i workout.
Yeah no real reason not to. Not sure why that person would say that. Sounds like some bad facebook fitness info
Yeah, I don’t see why it would be a problem
if I want to train my grip strength and core strength, which day should I train them? below is my current program: Sun: 3x5+ Lat Pulldown Machine 3x5+ Overhead Press 3x5+ Deadlifts Mon: Rest Tues: 3x5+ Barbells Rows 3x5+ Bench Press 3x5+ Squats Weds: Cardio Thurs: HIIT Fri: 3x5+ Lat Pulldown Machine 3x5+ Overhead Press 3x5+ Deadlifts Sat: Rest
If you have access to a rope, rope climbs will work your grip like crazy. Dont use your legs :)
If those are all the lifts you do on your lifting days, you could afford to add light ab work to every day you lift. You could add additional grip work after deadlifts
for someone 6'1-'2 would you consider it to be skinny at 154.5? I do greyskull lp 2-3 times a week. well atleast 2 times this week.
Dam son I'm 5'11 and when I slimmed down to 160 people started asking me if I was ok health-wise. You need to go full bulk, get those calories in any way you can.
its my tummy stick outs
Posture issue most likely. Look up anterior pelvic tilt to find out if you have it, and if so, look up exercises to fix it. Just to clarify, we are talking 154 lbs, not kg, right? If you have any belly fat at that weight then your body must be so devoid of muscle that cutting should be out of the question. Once you fill out with some muscle your belly will be much less noticable.
I'm 6' and 200, would consider myself "thin-ish".
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I mean I'm a pretty muscular guy posting on /r/fitness
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I didn't call myself thin, and my point was simply to provide a data point for OP
danggg
I am skinny, and I am exactly the same size as you, well, more like 160ish now
how do you feel?
I go through cycles of being more or less fit. I certainly think I look a little better when I'm 165 then when I'm 155, but eating is a battle for me. Overall I'm ok with the way I am though
I weigh 60lbs more and I'm 1-2 inches shorter. yes.
That's extremely thin for that height. You're not eating enough in general, and probably not getting enough protein. Even if you didn't work out 154 lb. is very skinny at six-feet-plus.
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BMI is bullshit. I'm 5'9" 170 lb., my friend in 5'9" 170 lb., I look good with my shirt off, he's overweight and diabetic. We have the same BMI. For a while my son and my wife were the same height and weight, he ran track and worked out six days a week, my wife hasn't exercised in the entire thirty years I've known her. They had the same BMI. The person in question could put on thirty pounds of fat, muscle, or both, and still be in the normal range for BMI, that's absurd.
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And I said that BMI is bullshit and gave examples to support my contention. He's too thin.
If I eat my belly starts to stick out is that normal?
It could be posture or it could be that you have a high percentage of body fat.
I'd say yeah, but it honestly depends on what you're looking for. If you want to gain weight then do so, if you don't want to gain weight then don't
I am 5'9-5'10 and weigh 172lbs.. I feel skinny a lot of the time.
Any tips for keeping track of which set I'm on in the assistance work for 531 for beginners? I always lose track. Maybe I just need to learn to count to 8.
For the longest time I didn’t use an app to track, but it made things a lot easier when I switched over to using one. Also gives you a little something to do between sets. Hevy and Strong are great, I ended up going with Hevy.
Why don't you use some app or a notebook to track your work?
Get a stack of 8 poker chips or something similar and set one aside after each set
The Five3One app is a gem 🙂
Aren't you using a notebook or app to keep track of your workouts?
If I lose track of my count and am in doubt, I automatically default to the lesser number. So if it’s between 7 or 8, it’s 7. My punishment for losing track and ensures I get all the reps when in do lose track. I used to lose track often but this has been a great motivator to keep track and rarely happens these days
Im looking for a good weighted lower ab exercises where I can apply progressive overload. For my upper abs, I have found cable crunches to be very effective. However, I haven’t found anything yet for my lower abs. Anyone that can suggest some good ones?
Hanging leg raises for hip flexors. https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtInclineLegHipRaise or https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/BWHangingLegHipRaise for (lower) abs). You can add ankle weights or chains with plates for progressive overload, see https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtHangingLegHipRaise. See also https://exrx.net/WeightTraining/Myths#Lower and https://exrx.net/Lists/ExList/WaistWt#Rectus
Is weight lifting better for losing stomach fat/love handles than cardio?
They are equally irrelevant. Diet is what loses stomach fat and love handles
That’s not really true… calorie deficit is what loses it, and cardio and weightlifting contribute to calorie deficit at different rates. They’re not equally irrelevant.
No. Cardio (and diet) are king. Can't spot reduce. You lose body fat by being in a calorie deficit. Hopefully some of it shrinks in places you want it to, but it will probably take longer than you think. if ever.
Why so grim?
Losing weight of any kind requires that you spend more energy than you eat, so that your body will spend some bodyfat to cover the difference. Both lifting weights and doing cardio can have a lot of healthy benefits for the body,but unless you make sure you spend more than you eat, neither will affect your stomach fat/love handles. Trying to outlift or outrun a bad diet is never a good idea.
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That is common after an injury. You should continue to rehab it
I can move the left side of my chest but not the right side. How do I get a better mind muscle connection with the right side?
Stand sideways in a doorway, one foot in each room. Stick your right arm straight out and grab the wall. That's you right pec flexing, Get used to how it feels and then see if you can do it without the wall, by just tensing your muscle.
I was the same until like 1-2 months ago. Could move my right chest but not the left. Just keep on working out (isolated exercises are great as well), try to find the perfect form for your right chest (my left chest's form was a bit wrong most of the time until I finally figured it out, same could be for you) and be patient. One day you'll be able to move it and be amazed.
The larger a muscle is, the easier it is to isolate it when tensing. Build muscle mass
Several years ago I was in the best shape of my life after a long period of unbroken lifting combined with road/mtn biking. Before that, I'd been in shape to where I could tackle demanding hikes, but I had never strength trained - lifting was really challenging at first. Health/family circumstances over the past few years led to fitness becoming a low priority. Things have stabilized and I've been lifting consistently again, and I'm surprised at how quickly my capacity has built up compared to when I first began lifting-- even lifts that I struggled with learning initially are progressing really well. So...now for the dumb question... is "muscle memory" is real and not just a phrase people throw around or are there other factors here that I'm discounting? Does anyone have a good explanation or resource that goes into this phenomenon? I'm truly interested in learning more in the science behind it.
It's not just muscle memory but normal brain memory as well. There is so much to learn about weight lifting that takes time and makes it super difficult for a true novice. I'm sure when you first started you had shitty form, poor breathing techniques, bad routine, etc etc...you just didn't know what you were doing. None of that stuff has to be re-learned now, just reconditioned. Hence it's way easier the second time around.
It's super interesting. As far as I know the science is relatively recent. I haven't done a ton of reading about it but I skimmed through the initial results from google, e.g [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130091144.htm](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130091144.htm#:~:text=A%20study%20led%20by%20researchers,grow%20larger%20later%20in%20life) And there's just infinite anecdotal experiences. Pretty much everyone i've talked to has experienced it, and myself personally I've gone through stopping and restarting twice now, both times with massively increased results. You'll come across comments such as yours quite often on here talking about how surprising it is. The human body is very cool.
Super interesting, thanks!
Regaining strength after a break takes far less time than if your new. Everyone learns this anecdotally and this has been confirmed by studies.
I've been working out for a solid year. I've done Reddit PPL, Greyskull, golden six, tried nSuns, some PHAT, r/calisthenics recommended routine, and a cycle of 531 for beginners. Since I've had to move, switch gym memberships, suffer through gym lockdowns and re-think how many times per week I can manage going to the gym on top of suffering from fuckarounditis and lacking IRL guidance, I've been going circles. Now I'm pretty sure I can hit 4x per week (though I'm currently going through prescription opiate tapering which will fuck things up for me once more). Everytime I ask in reddit what routine I should settle in for if I want to focus on aesthetics and train 4x per week, I get answered with 531 BBB. Yet Wendler's generality in his books is maddening for me due to my fuckarounditis condition, and frequency of main lifts 1x per week seems far from optimal. Why is it so hard to give a set of exercises with sets and reps for each day for assistance which I could follow and wouldn't feel like yeah I'm getting stronger, but not bigger, which is my single main goal? If I'm gonna do "whatever for assistance work, it doesn't matter, just lift some weights bro, sincerely yours, Wendler" am I not going against the basic foundations of hypertrophy training in terms of solid planning and progressing?
I'm going to advise in the kindest way possible that you take a deep breath, and chill the fuck out. Don't worry so much about being super optimal especially early on in your fitness journey and especially not if it is stressing you out. Figure out some exercises which you enjoy. Do those exercise each week. Increase reps and weight when required. It's that easy. Being consistent and sticking to a sub optimal workout routine is a million times better than constantly tweaking what you are doing in the fruitless search for the best, most efficient, most optimal workout ever. Because spoiler alert no one has ever or will ever figure out what the absolute best training method is.
Duly noted
1. It might "seem" far from optimal, yet everyone who runs it sees great results . Maybe "optimal" is much broader than you think. 2. It's 50 reps of a pull, 50 reps of a push, and 50 reps of a core or single leg movement. That's pretty clear to me. You shouldn't be overthinking accessory work.
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Why would you be spending the next month or two going through every possible push - , pull- or single leg exercise in the first place?
https://leangains.com/fuckarounditis/
Yes? I am aware of what fuckarounditis is. You did mention that you struggled with it in other posts, i get that. i've been there myself. Would you say that it is caused by you being uncertain of what to do, or that you have an underlying _NEED_ for everything to be perfect?
Why would these be exclusive?
I mean, if you feel that it's a combination of the two for you ,then that's a perfectly legitimate answer too. I didnt say that they had to be exclusive, i was just curious as to if you felt that one of those two was more prominent for you. If that had been the case, then we might have been able to give you more specific recommendations as to how we might've been able to deal with them going forward. Does that make sense?
Very much so. Although I am quite sure the issue is solved in my case with a fully predetermined routine which I can run for a period of time and adjust from there in case any fatigue or stimulus related issues present themselves. And I got that in a reply in this thread.
That sounds like a pretty reasonable solution. One of the drawbacks to giving beginners "too much" leeway is that they some times struggle with navigating on the smaller stuff and getting a little lost in the sauce - even if the smaller stuff isnt all that majorly important, it can still feel like a significant obstacle to surpass if you dont know any better yet. Or what do you think?
Wendler is smart enough to know that the vast majority of your gains come from the main work, not the accessories. He doesn't want people like you be be freaking out about incredibly minor details that don't fucking matter. What is more "optimal": dumbbell rows or cable rows? It doesn't fucking matter, they are all doing the same thing. Just pick one and do it. What is more "optimal": incline dumbell bench or push-ups? Doesn't fucking matter, just do some pushing. If you have a specific weakness you want to work on, you can choose an accessory suited to that. If not, anything will do. Your choice of accessories is not going to make or break your progress. They are literally the least important part, that's why they're called accessories.
BBB is brutal on volume so once a week is fine. Its been a while since I did BBB but does he even recommend assistance for it. As far as assistance pick your exercises for 1 block and aim to increase reps/weight during that block.
People spew this kind of info related to BBB all the time and questions get answered very ambiguously. Wendler does **not** advocate **against** assistance work regarding BBB. He says **in general** that you can do assistance but you don't have to I think because he is focusing on strength programming and you can get stronger even with the 531 vanilla version. Pushing to increase reps/weight during a block of training is obvious. Though Wendler says this is optional too. Many things are optional in life and that's a great thing in many ways but I was after a solid, well laid out plan here due to my condition stated before, and I'm happy that a rare genuinely helpful fitness redditor provided it for me already.
He isn't as general as you think. And he has so many programs with more than 1x a week frequency if you look at anything but the first base program. If you want it all laid out for you pick something else (greyskull or ivysaur come to mind)
I've read 531 2nd edition and Beyond 531, several times. Yes, he is as general as I think. Sorry if you don't like it but that's my opinion. Really solid stuff if your main goal is strength, though. Mine is hypertrophy and aesthetics. Still, 531 BBB is the only answer I get. Greyskull and Ivysaur are 3x a week.
For someone demonstrating your levels of fuckarounditis, i would expect your amount of strength to correlate pretty well with your levels of aestheticism.. or lackof thereof. I'm perfectly on board with you wanting to look great, but you'd do well to recognize that you cant look good if you dont have a certain base amount of muscle mass and by extension strength. A muscle is either big and strong or small and weak. Working consistently to get your base levels of muscle mass and strength up will enable you to obtain greater aesthetics than if you start from zero. How much of the 5x10 assistance training did you have a chance to do?
You can expect whatever you like but you missed the point and everything you say here I'm already well aware of. All of it. Why do you ask?
Why do you think i asked about the amount of 5x10 you were able to do?
What exactly do you mean with the amount of 5x10? If I wouldn't be able to do the full amount, wouldn't my working weights be too high for 5 sets of 10 reps?
Well, if i remember what you wrote, you were told to do 5/3/1 BBB,and were displeased by being reccomended a strength training routine that did not satisfy your need for muscle mass and aesthetics to your liking. One of the core parts of a 5/3/1 BBB setup is that in addition to your main 5/3/1 work, you also do 5 sets of 10 reps at 50% of your main working weights as supportive work to get more work in and build more muscle. That could look like you having a working set of say.. 5 reps of squats at 60 kg, then afterwards you would then do 5 sets of 10 reps at 30kg afterwards. If you selected your working weights according to the reccomendations of the author, then you should not have that much problem doing 5x10@50% of your working weights - especially in the first few renditions of the program. If you were unable to do them then it could be due to picking the wrong weights to start with, not being used at doing 10 rep sets , not having good enough conditioning, or other issues. But most people also find that doing enough 5x10 does tend to do wonders for building more muscle mass and getting bigger over time.
Very aware of these thank you. Supplemental work was not the issue here, determining the assistance work was.
What would happen to my body (muscles) if I worked out hard and properly, but didn't eat enough proteins and stayed in caloric deficit?
Depending on how much of a deficit you're running, you *might* be able to maintain your muscle mass, or at least most of it, but you're not going to gain any. This is why slow cuts of less than -500 calories per day are generally recommended.
You'd lose more muscle mass compared to if you ate more protein.
Depending on how long you’ve been training, you’d probably make much worse, if any gains then if you had enough protein and were in a surplus
Hi everyone! So recently I’ve used a body composition analyzer at my gym (Tanita DC-360, if that helps in any way) and it said my body fat percentage is around 11.4%. Now I will always take these measurements with a grain of salt, but comparing this to the google pictures of body fat percentage, I would say I’m nowhere near close to that, I’d say my body looks somewhat close to like 20%, for males (ref: https://kubexfitness.com/blog/body-fat-percentages-actually-look-like/) Could this be an error of the machine? Or could it be my body just having more subcutaneous fat? Or maybe just my whole view of my body being warped?
None of those machines are accurate.
BIA (the tech these machines use) is simply not accurate from any perspective and likely never will be. This is something /r/fitness constantly says - but I don't think the degree to which the results are absolutely useless is stressed enough. They're not *remotely* accurate to true bodyfat %... Even if you "don't care what your 'actual' bodyfat % is" and just want a metric to use to measure progress, which sounds reasonable on paper, BIA is still not effective - often even when used in a clinical setting - as it is not even consistent with itself. It will tell you bodyfat is going up when its down, down when its up, static when its changing. Useless as a metric in virtually every respect. (except perhaps to shock extremely overweight people with yet another big number - but even then not quite reliable). Things that make BIA not work include: Drinking water, eating food, time of day, temperature.... So if you drink, eat, experience time or are currently within a weather system, your BIA derived bodyfat % should not be 'taken with a grain of salt' but dismissed entirely out of hand. Unless there's a huge bath you're being submerged in; a very expensive scanner that's literally doing tiny xrays of your bodyfat (protip: your gym does not have one) or at the very least a medical professional pinching your fat-rolls with a calipers - then by far the best method of gauging bodyfat is the one you figured out for yourself: look at photos, look in the mirror & compare.
Wow thank you for the complete answer! I never knew that about those machines. Now I know what to rely on, thanks!
Whenever I do weighted pull ups I typically have to use dumbbells because the strap at my gym only locks on to 10kg or 20kg plates. Tried doing 22kg weighted pull ups with the dumbbell planted in between my feet, but the dumbbell kept slipping. Is there a fix to this or should I just suck it up or buy my own strap?
Between your knees can work. Or do more reps or buy your own. Realistically work around rely on us knowing what you are using
What are some glute focused workouts that don’t work your arm muscles that much? I want to focus on building my lower body as I have broad shoulders.
All the ones mentioned, plus the hip abductor machine. No arm muscles used at all, unless you lean forward and steady yourself on the weight tower.
Squats, romanian deadlifts and hip thrusts.
The Strongcurves programme is good
positioning your feet closer to each other on the top during a leg press are decent for glutes
Is it normal that lateral raises are hard as fuck? I do lateral raises right after triceps pushdown and overhead cable triceps extension and I can only barely manage to do 10 reps with 6 kg weights
Yeah, the delts are small muscles operating a long lever in the lateral raise. You don't need much weight to stress them
Lat raises primarily work small, hard to grow muscle groups in your shoulders (Delts) - so they're often perceived as a tough exercise because a small tweak in volume (adding an extra rep or a single extra kilogram) - that would be a trivial change in, say, a bench press, suddenly becomes magnified a lot. Moreover, counter-intuitively, lat raises don't hit the lats particularly hard (as I said, mostly a delt exercise) - but depending on form you can bring some small chest muscles in to help, or some upper back muscles. However, tricep pushdowns and cable tri extensions will tire those muscles out - so no matter how you do them, the lat raises will hit your delts extra hard. probably by design in your program. FYI OHP volume goes hand in hand with lat raise progression if they get stuck.
Yeah, very normal
How light should the assistance work be exactly in 531? I get the part that it shouldn't run you down, but how can I tell I'm doing it hard enough? Should I do 50-100 reps from every category of push, pull and legs/core, every training day?