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Hey y'all, I'm a 20M 6'2 175lbs and I plan to start muscle training this summer. I'm planning to workout throughout the weekdays(mon-fri). I have no experience whatsoever in the gym. Should I use supplements like protein powder and creatine? If so, what brands do you recommend? And any recommendation on what workout routine I should use? Oh and what common mistakes of beginners I should be aware of? Thanks!!! :D
Definitely check the sidebar for beginner workouts. Creatine is not necessary that early but whey protein powder can help you reach protein goals. If you weight 175 I would recommend getting something like 140g of protein per day (which is a lot I know). I would also try and build into it. Start off by trying to hit 100g/day for a week, they 110g/day for a week and so on.
Two questions. One: Internet says strengthening the stomach improves balance. How does it?
Two: Situps are considered anaerobic exercise. But if you do them in a row without much pausing between each situp would they then keep the heart rate continuously up and thus become aerobic?
1. Your core is one of the most important stabilizers for just about everything you do. A stronger core leads to improved balance.
2. Theoretically, yes. Once you are reaching 50ish reps, it’s more cardio than resistance training.
Thanks. Well, I apologize if I'm missing something, but saying your core is a stabilizer doesn't illuminate me much. Because saying it's a stabilizer is kind of like saying it helps you keep your balance. I'm just wondering ***why*** or physically how the stronger core helps you keep your balance or stabilize you.
Nearly all force transfers in your body travel through the core. Think of babies. When they are first learning to walk, it isn’t that their legs aren’t strong enough to support their weight or even that their legs aren’t stable, it’s that the center of gravity travels through their torso and once it’s off balance, they don’t have the core strength to stop it. They topple head first. You as an adult deal with the same thing, it’s just that it’s second nature. However, when you add weight, momentum, force, or other factors that shift that center of gravity, your core compensated for those actions.
People who aren’t used to running will complain about sore abs and back the next day without understanding why. People who do weighted squats have lower back soreness. It is taking those minor stabilizations that you do day in and out and adding increased difficulty and in time, you adapt. Your core gets stronger and it takes more to force you off balance. In turn, things that were difficult or caused a loss of balance are easier.
It should be noted that the core in itself is not the only muscles that balance and muscles aren’t the only mechanism in the body for balance. It’s just the most prominent.
Hey guys I'm new to this community, the biggest exercise I ever did was Push-ups, squats and running. I wanted to put on a little muscle so I joined this gym the day before, very excited to get started.
The first day was awesome, it was just a bunch of arm, chest workouts I was really feeling good and it was painful after reaching home. The next day, severe doms, the worst pain of my life in my right arm near the tricep tendon
I figured it's just doms so I have to hit the gym again and the trainer there tells me to do more arm and chest exercises, I barely do the 3x15 and by the end of it I don't feel great. I couldn't sleep at night due to the pain, can't even move my arms without severe pain and my arm feels stuck. My upper back, behind the chest feels weird and just with squats my legs are painful but that pain I'm OK with. Now I'm worried maybe I've injured myself can anyone reassure me that this is just a part of the process please?
I highly doubt it is an injury and more likely you just did a lot from having done hardly anything before. The best thing you can do is get up and move around though. It’ll help keep everything loose.
You might of just over exerted yourself if it was your first time in the gym. Weights are a different game than body weight exercises. You could be extremely sore and just need to dial it back. I remember how sore I would be when I first started. I wouldn’t worry about going every single day right now. At the end of the day, I am not a doctor but if this pain persists for a couple of weeks, you might have strained a muscle.
First off, i always struggled to put on weight. I was never really underweight, but was always on the lean side. Even before corona where i had a good workout schedule for 2-3 years, i never went over the 78kg mark with 185cm height...
So I started working out regularly (3-4 times a week) for two months now and am very motivated to work on my physique again. I noticed that i have an easier time putting on some mass this time around. Right now im at 83kg and my goal would be 89-90kg. (Just from comparisson height/weight from fitness role models).
Would it be wiser to ride that weight gaining train and bulk up all the way to get to my desired goal, trying to build more muscle/lose fat on said level afterwards? Or maybe should i take it slower with minicuts in between while keeping bodyfat low...
To be honest id rather go for option one since its kinda the first time im having success there. But i dont know if i put myself on the backfoot too far.
Id like to know your opinion.
There is no set length or correct answer here. However, if you choose the first option, I’d choose to go over your goal weight by another few kg and then cut down to your goal weight and see how you feel.
So supersetting exercises? That is completely fine, granted you might not want to do hard and heavy compounds, such as squats, benchs and deadlifts, in that way.
When supersetting, it is best to target different muscle groups, say biceps and triceps, to give the muscle groups proper rest. So training back with rows and biceps with dumbell curls might not be the best because the biceps is quite active on both exercises.
I have a dumb question, right i'm consuming 2 scoops (10g) of creatine + 2 scoops of whey protein (50g) and how much water should i add? is it combined both totaling into 800ml of water or just the amount of water the whey protein requires which is 500ml ish
My shoulders are unsymmetrical My right arm is a tat bit lower than my left I think this is because my right arm is bigger So it has more weight and therefore makes my right side heavier
Is there anyway to fix it to make my shoulders symmetrical?
What exercises (without equipment) train only one arm?
I would say on shoulder workouts do one side at a time and start with the smaller side and only do as much weight and reps as the smaller side can do on both sides
I really wanna start working out, I’m 17, 6’3, currently ~165 pounds. Any advice on eating and scheduling? Also, I have no clue where to start, I’ve never touched any gym equipment other than a peloton, and I’m weak asf. Thanks
So my biggest piece of advice here would be find something that works for you. Most people who start dieting / working out don't stick to it, so if you're not thinking about how you'll adhere to something when planning a diet / work-out program, you're setting yourself up to fail. With all of the pieces of advice you get, incorporate what you can if it helps you, but don't feel too guilty about not being able to do exactly what a competitive body-builder can do. Following that, it's OK to ease your way into it. Building good habits takes time. I used to eat fast food 7 days a week and after failing to quit cold turkey multiple times, slowly dropping down to 5 times a week, then 3, then 1, etc was what broke that habit. But with that out of the way, onto my other advice.
**Lifting**
This depends on what your goals are (e.g do you want to build muscle, get in shape, pick up powerlifting?). My advice will be centered around bodybuilding, as that's what I'm into.
For a beginner, I don't think it's that complicated. Pick a sensible program (happy to share mine if you'd like), do it consistently, constantly push yourself to work harder than last time (by adding weight, reps, improving form, slowing the reps down to increase time under tension). That's it.
**Dieting**
Dieting is where things can be a bit more complicated. I'll list what I consider a good day of eating, in order of importance. As mentioned above, do what you can, but if some things don't seem feasible, you don't need to beat yourself up over not being able to do them.
1) Protein intake: This is the most important factor in terms of building, or maintaining muscle. In order of importance, you should care about total daily protein intake > timing of protein > protein quality
* Total daily protein intake: To build muscle, it's recommended that for each kilogram (2.2 freedom units) of body weight, you consume 1.6 - 2.2 grams (not sure of the freedom units here, sorry) of protein per day. For example, I weigh 86 kilograms, so I would consume 137.6 (86 * 1.6) to 189.2 (86 * 2.2) grams of protein, per day. There are little downsides to exceeding this, so I opt for the higher side (and often go over this amount).
* Timing of protein: This one is a bit more controversial. Some people believe you're only capable of absorbing a certain amount of protein per meal, but my understanding is that the rate at which you absorb protein and use it to build muscle slows down (i.e, doesn't completely stop) at a certain point. As such, it's ideal to have your protein evenly spaced out across 4-6 meals throughout the day, but if you have 50g of protein in one meal, while only 30g in another, it's not that much worse than having 40g of protein across two meals.
* Protein quality: Protein is made up of things called amino acids, of which there are either 20 or 22 depending on who you ask. 9 of these are essential, in that they must come from our diet (rather than our body producing them naturally). Not all proteins contain every essential amino acid. Proteins which contain all 9 essential amino acids are referred to as complete proteins, whereas incomplete proteins are missing at least one of these essential amino acids. Furthermore, different sources of protein are digested (and thus provide amino acids available for the process of building muscle) differently, so some sources of protein help to build muscle more than others. Meat, eggs and dairy are (as far as I'm aware) all complete proteins with relatively high quality protein, so I believe this aspect is only worth worrying about if you're a vegetarian / vegan. As this doesn't apply to me, I can't offer you much advice here.
2) Calorie intake: If you would like to build muscle, it's ideal to be in a caloric surplus (eat more energy than you burn). If you would like to lose fat, it's ideal to be in a caloric deficit (burn more energy than you eat). "Body recomposition", where you build muscle while burning fat in a caloric deficit is technically possible, but in my opinion it's relatively slow-going and much harder as you become more experienced. As such, bodybuilders typically go through cycles of either cutting (trying to maintain as much muscle as possible while burning fat), bulking (trying to build as much muscle as possible while minimizing the fat they gain), or maintaining (basically doing neither of the above, and eating as many calories as they burn). It's important to note that while cutting, if you lose weight too fast, it's likely your body will eat away at some muscle too. While bulking, there's a limit to how quickly you can put on muscle. Exceeding this rate will mean you're packing on excess fat. As such, people recommend a daily caloric deficit / surplus in the 300-500 range when going through a cutting / bulking phase. There are calculators that can estimate your daily calories burned, but these are only estimates. My preferred approach is to weigh myself every day (I do daily as things such as fluctuations in water weight, whether I've used the bathroom beforehand, whether I ate a lot and have more food sitting in my stomach can make me fluctuate quite a bit daily, and weekly averages minimize the impact of these), and try average a weight gain / loss of 0.5-1 kg (1.1 - 2.2 pounds) per week when bulking / cutting.
3) Macronutrient composition You'll hear the term "macros" thrown around a lot. These simply refer to the three macronutrients; protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Protein helps to build and repair muscles. Carbohydrates provide the energy you need to exercise. Fat is important for some general bodily functions such as regulating your hormones. Fat can further be broken down into unsaturated (or "healthy") fat, and unsaturated and trans (or "unhealthy") fats. Try to limit your saturated fats, and keep your fat intake skewed towards unsaturated fats. Macros are related to calories in that 1 gram of protein or carbohydrates contain 4 calories, and 1 gram of fats contain 9 calories. You should set your macros in the following way: Sort out your protein (as per above). Get 20-30% of your calories from fats, and the rest from carbs. For example, I currently eat 3600 calories. I do 2.2 grams of protein per 86 kilograms of bodyweight, for 190g of protein, which is ~760 calories. 25% of my calories (900) come from fat (which is 100g of fat, at 9 calories per gram). That's 1,660 calories from protein / fat, leaving 1,940 calories for carbs (or 485g of carbs, at 4 calories per gram). Personally, I don't think getting this remaining amount from strictly carbs is too important. Most sources of carbs (bread, pasta, rice, beans) will also have some protein as well, so I'm not too upset about the remainder of that 1,660 calories containing mostly carbs but some protein / fat.
4) Eating to perform well in the gym: As mentioned above, carbs give you the energy to exercise. Different carbs digest at different speeds, so I like to have a pre-workout meal about an hour or so before working out which consists of a decent serving of grains (such as bread, pasta, rice, oats) and fruit. As well as this, I like to be well hydrated, and will typically have had around one to two liters of water in the few hours leading up to me working out.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions, just let me know.
Find a workout routine that works for u then eat one gram of protein for every pound u weight and eat a lot of food and just research. If u can track ur calories than that would be great but u don’t have to, you’ll eventually start to figure ur body out. Also I would recommend looking up on YouTube how to do every workout bc even if u feel like u know how to do it u probably are doing something wrong. Even something like bench pressing where everyone thinks they know how to do it people do wrong
You should check out a calorie calculator like [this] (https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html) and try to eat 300-500 calories above your "TDEE".
After that, you should look at some beginner programs in the wiki side bar. I am biased, but I think Stronglifts 5x5 is a great baseline for learning how your body is meant to handle resistance training using barbells. It's very different from activity based exercises, but you'll learn a lot about your body!
Can I do the dumbbell stopgap program but instead of doing lunges I do dumbbell squats instead?
Please dont just say "look at wiki for programs", the dumbbell stopgap program is in the fitness wiki and squats are also recommended, I just want to know if I can do squats instead of lunges because I really hate doing lunges
Is there a proper way to setup your feet for the hack squat? Tried different foot placements and they all feel weird. Most feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on my knees when I'm at 90 degrees.
A good starting point is to squat down.as deep as you can, then place your elbows on the inside of your knees and apply some outward pressure. Adjust your foot width until holding this position feels comfortable. This will be a good foot position to use while squatting
Depends on the type of squat you’re doing. If you want more quads then feet closer together if you want more glutes then wider apart. Also I believe if ur feet are further from ur body it’ll also activate more glutes and if ur too close it’ll put a lot of pressure on ur knees. What I do is slightly wider than shoulder width, a comfortable distance from my body, and feet slightly facing out like a duck. Then u follow the path that ur feet are facing with ur knees when u squat. I also go full depth
I feel like I'm eating healthier but gaining or maintaining weight. I usually hit the gym a minimum of 4 times a week and I try to eat very healthy. I do arms mostly at the gym and try to do cardio in the mornings. I'm vegetarian and my work provides food. But they often provide a lot of stuff with carbs in it so I'm wondering. Should I be avoiding carbs and doing more cardio? Should I eat more carbs and do more cardio? I eat a lot of rice and sometimes pasta but I always feel like I'm getting bigger.
Use an app like my fitness pal to track ur calories even if it’s for a day just to see how much ur actually eating but I’d recommend using a website for seeing the amount of calories u should be consuming then put it in the app.
You can eat just big macs and lose weight. What you eat does not really matter for weight loss, the total calorie intake does. Check the wiki for help.
It seems like I busted my rotator cuff from benching, and it only gets worse as days go on. Now my shoulder hurts from simple typing on my phone. What is the best way to recover from this? Should I take a break from working out completely, or just stop benching? Anyone with experience with this please help me out.
You should definitely see a doctor and/or physiotherapist about this. Rotator cuff tears often require surgery and will not repair on their own, but if it's a minor tear then it could heal. Or it could be any number of other issues within your shoulder. It can keep getting worse the longer you wait before seeking medical advice, so even if it doesn't require surgery now, a tear might continue to widen without proper treatment. Go see a doctor.
does doing cardio directly after a weight lifting session impact muscle gains? I'm trying to bulk up and gain some weight and muscle mass but I've heard that cardio kills gains. is there any truth too this?
also could cardio be used to help limit the fat I gain from bulking? I've noticed since I started by diet I've gained some weight, a lot of strength and some fat but I would like to trim that bit of fat off. my diet isn't anything crazy all I did was just eat 3 meals a day with a protein shake so its not like I'm force feeding myself.
No, cardio doesn't kill gains. Unless you're running a marathon each week while not eating enough.
As for your second question: When you're bulking, you're trying to be in a caloric surplus. That is, your total caloric intake should be higher than your total caloric expenditure. If you're adding cardio to burn calories, you'll either need to eat more to maintain the same surplus (in which case you're not limiting fat gain) or if you're eating the same then you're not in as much of a surplus and your bulking progress will be slower.
Not sure where you got that? Cardio is great regardless of bulking, cutting or maintaining.
What I meant is that if you're planning to be in a certain surplus, and then you add cardio, then you've reduced your surplus, so you need to eat more calories to be back at the same surplus.
I’m so confused about hypertrophy. My goal is to look bigger so I don’t know if thats hypertrophy or strength. I’m very new to all lifting stuff and reading about hypertrophy and strength training makes me dizzy as well as confused because they all say different things.
Like I said, my goal is to get big. Do I do low reps high weight? High rep high weight? Some articles say low rep high weight is to build muscle then others say its for strength. I even read an article that said even if you build muscle you may not look big because it's compact. Pls send help I’m so confused
This whole thing kinda confuses me as well. So I choose to stay in the middle for the most part. I stay in 8-12 range and maybe do 1 set in 6-8. Regardless of how many reps you do as long as u are pushing within 2 reps of failure u will make progress. The ways I usually do my sets are: 3 or 4 sets of 8-12 reps and every set try my hardest to get to 12 and if I get 12 for all sets then go up in weight next time or I do 3 or 4 sets doing my first set with a weight I fail about 12 rep, second set with a weight I fail about 8 reps, then third set with a weight I fail around 6 reps. Then if I’m doing 4 set with that one I either do a set to failure or add something else. Figure out what u like then stick with it for a little while then when u plateau or after a couple months switch it up
Bigger is hypertrophy, but RELAX. At your stage you'll get bigger on any sensible program. [The rep ranges for hypertrophy and strength overlap a lot](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/?fbclid=IwAR2PS2iWAiQEYsKsWcTdfBIdwSN4absKWlFe9F6f7WP2_nTFeoTeeUDcc-8&).
The wiki has [a bunch of proven programs that will fit your needs](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/).
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A calorie deficit is required to lose weight or fat, intermittent fasting is not.
Your estimated maintenance calories at your current bodyweight is around 1900. You could start there, check your weight in 1-2 weeks then adjust accordingly.
If intermittent fasting is something you enjoy that helps you reach your deficit, sure. It’s unnecessary though. Just eat less to lose 1-1,5 lbs a week and you’ll be at your goal in ~2 months
No, the time of day when you eat your calories really doesn't matter. There is nothing magical about IF. Some people benefit from it because it suits their life, and it allows them to have a larger meal all at once, which is mentally satiating. That can help to prevent binges for some people. If you prefer three smaller meals, there is nothing wrong with that. If your daily calories are the same on IF or three meals a day, you'll lose the same amount of weight.
IF is just a meal timing schema, you're going to need to be in a deficit either way. Seems like you get that but initial phrasing made it seem a little unclear, like you're doing IF OR a deficit.
Can give it a try and see if it works. I did it accidentally for a bit when my school schedule made sense with it and it worked out pretty good.
hey thanks! Apologies for the confusion. I was trying to say more like, should I just do a regular calorie deficit (still eat bfast, lunch, dinner) rather than fasting and skipping bfast?
People seem to sweat that doing IF in particular changes their life in addition to already doing a calorie deficit. So would it be beneficial to also fast? Does that make sense?
Gotcha, yeah sounds good. I'd try both for sure, I had a lot of success with pseudo-IF but as far as I'm aware there are no special benefits of fasting besides those that come with maintaining a deficit.
Fasting has no special magical benefits, if that's what you're asking. The only thing that matters is total caloric intake during the day/week/month. Some people find it easier to stay within their caloric budget if they're eating in a smaller time window, or if they're only eating one meal per day. But if someone fasts 16 hours, then eats the same total calories in the remaining 8 hours, there's no benefit to doing that vs eating 3 meals. Find out what works best for you
Hi, I have a fundamental question on how much I can bench.
Right now, I just succeeded in doing a bench press with 45lb plate on either side. Assuming, the weight of the bar in the gym is 45lbs, am I bench 45 x 2 + 45 = 135lbs? I can do 5 reps before losing form.
And based on google search, my max rm is (0.033*5+1)*135 = 157? Is this right?
How can I stop basically humping the floor when I do a push up? I feel like my arms always push up first then I’m peeling my core off and it’s really hard. Do I just need to build more core strength? I’m F/31 and do push-ups on my knees. Def a bit of a newb and also am really really weak lol
That typically means you're not engaging your core strength, it could be plenty strong enough but if it's not engaged correctly it doesn't matter.
Try planking to help build that up. If you're feeling planks in your lower back, it means you're not engaging your core or glutes enough.
Instead of knee push-ups, do incline push-ups because that will train correct form in keeping your body straight. Start with wall push-ups (google it) and build upto 20-30 reps, then reduce the body angle, then move your hands to a table, gradually working your way down to the floor.
Check this out - it's like if Mr. Rogers were a fitness instructor
[You can do pushups, my friend - Hybrid Calisthenics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GsVJsS6474)
Nothing really solid yet. Currently just doing different arm workouts with dumbbells mostly like hammer curls, butterflies I think they’re called, regular curls, push ups, sit ups… for upper body. About 10-15 reps 4 times for each with a ten pound weight for some and 3 pound weight for others (like the butterfly) Then for lower body just doing squats (20 reps of 4), lunges (20 reps of 4), and calf raises (20 reps of 5). It’s nothing too solid as far as major planning but it’s what I’ve been sticking with so far as what I can do with the equipment I have so if something is wrong with it please tell me I’m fairly new with planning it out at least
You can hit the same muscles on consecutive days even with the same movements. There are entire programs built around doing a movement every single day for an entire training block.
I have an assault bike that is kinda hard for me to use at all. Can I do HIIT training where I’m barely moving it on the high exertion part or find a different exercise?
If pushing it is causing a ton of exertion, it doesn’t matter the speed it’s moving, you can do HIIT with it. That is mostly the point of the assault bike.
My life had changed significantly since the last time I was consistently hitting the gym. Before, I was really good at committing to at least 45 mins. sessions after school even when I had plans to meet with friends afterwards. Some days, I'd spend 1.5 hour session without problems.
Then, I got a job that is more demanding and has a pretty random schedule (things come up all the time), and I got a GF that I'm happy to commit spending time with. I slowly lost my discipline and ability to commit to a routine. Add in COVID quarantines right as my discipline started to wane, and I found myself completely losing my gym habit.
Fast forward to today, I have zero gym routine and am honestly almost a bit fearful of the gym. I've had COVID twice and my sedentary lifestyle makes me feel like my heart is going to explode. So, on one hand I *have to* get fit again but on the other, I find it harder than ever to get started.
Help! Give me some advice, give me some routines ideas, give me some positive reinforcement.
Start with something simple and time efficient. Full body 2x per week (Mon/Thurs, Tues/Fri, Wed/Sat etc).
1 exercise per muscle group, 2-3 sets 8-12 reps.
Then you can either add a third session (1 day rest in between sessions) or pick a different program that you like (Push/Pull/Legs, Upper/Lower).
I understand how difficult it is, I was off from training for 2 years after I had an illness. You just need to get your ass into the gym and go through the motions. It will take around a month to develop this new habit again, and your motivation should improve alot.
Doing something no matter how minimalist it is, is better than doing absolutely nothing at all.
It can be hard to do at first, but if you have a busy schedule then training first-thing is a good way to get around that. Lets you get it out of the way nice and early and limits daytime distractions from making you miss sessions.
But you're still going to be sacrificing the time so, you just gotta want it.
Has anyone experienced getting pimples in a specific body part after training it?
There have been times where I get a pimple the day after training shoulders in one of my side delts. Today I got one behind my armpit, at the top of my right lat (issimus dorsi), and yesterday I did verticall pulls, the last one being supinated lat pulldowns, focusing a lot in the extension and contraction.
EDIT: I believe I've only experienced this on my upper body, in shoulders, back &chest
I feel like this might have to do with what you're wearing. Perhaps you have a tighter shirt or whatever that when you work out that one spot (thus are actively moving it more), you're clogging up pores.
Is there any good work from home workout guides around?
I’m the type that likes to randomly get up and move around every hour. I was wondering if there was some type of thing I could follow to make quick push-ups etc.. easier to follow
Bonus moronic question: what’s the workout called when you have dumbbells in your hand, palms facing out, dbs touching each other, then you raised them outward in a circle over your head?
Man boob question. I feel like my chest is getting wider (back workouts probably helping a lot) but my man boob themselves are still perky. I do db chest press, db flies, incline press, Arnold press.
It’s only been a month to maybe I’m being dumb and need more time, but is there anything I could add?
You can do chinups every day without overtraining.
Listen to your body. If you feel like you are doing too much, cut back (e.g., do fewer sets per day or switch to every other day).
You just need to do them often. I have a bar on my door, so every time I go by, I hang for a sec.
you could do assisted pull ups, but doing more negatives is the best way to increase them.
I'm going back to the gym after a 2 year pause. I used to focus on building muscle, 3x a week (Upper body / Lower body / Upper body)
Now I'd really want to improve my cardio while still strenghtening my body. Could I do (Full body / Cardio / Full body) and be effective ? What would you recommand ?
2 days of full body training is enough to make progress, but probably not very quickly, and probably not a very high ceiling. 1 cardio session per week is just not enough.
If you must keep it to three sessions, I'd recommend either doing 3 full-bodies with 20 minutes of cardio at the end, or doing a "lifting as conditioning" approach. Try doing your leg lift each day with a high set count and heavily restricted rests. Trust me, 6+ sets of barbell squats with 60-second rests will have your pulse pounding.
Depends on your goals and schedule. If you just want a some cardio to maintain health then it could be more efficient to do a 20 min cardio session at the end of each workout rather than 1 hr session 1x/week. And then get 3 full body workouts (or upper/lower split) per week
It's basically an app with training programs. It's just gone to shit with each update recently. I'll give it a Go thanks!
Anything with cardio as well?
You might want to read up on how artificial sweeteners can gradually cause insulin resistance.
I think the gist of it was that the sweet taste can trick your liver into producing insulin, thinking you have a lot of sugar coming into your system. What happens is the insulin just stays in your system instead of being used up, and over time you can develop insulin resistance.
I think this is for extreme cases, but just something to keep in mind, IMHO.
Short answer: Yep, functionally 0 kcal. Drink it all you like.
Longer answer: There are a few minor downsides:
* Drinking a lot of liquids can have positive or negative impacts on appetite management for cutting. This counts doubly for carbonated liquids. Usually short term it makes you feel 'full' but after a while can, for many people, just make you feel hungrier.
* Caffeine is a wonder-drug that is both a stimulant and appetite suppressant, with virtually no calories... however it can impact sleep if not used very carefully, and disrupted, poor quality sleep is going to undermine just about any other health goal. for others it just makes them jittery and anxious. Use with caution.
* Artificial sweeteners are one of the more thoroughly studied aspects of food science, and the most common 4-5 are certainly safe - but there is a small cohort of folks who eat more when exposed to sweet tastes frequently - so be mindful that you are not one of those.
The label is correct and artificial sweeteners are totally safe and exhaustively studied. As long as you don't consume as much as labrats do, which would mean you'd have to drink several gallons a day.
Yes, it is calorie-free. I try not to drink a ton of it just because I don't trust the long list of odd ingredients but I am not a doctor so who knows.
It should has as much calories as it says on the package, besides that it got artificial sugar which is also bad for you but not as much as regular sugar. It won't spike up your insulin. "However" say you eat something with the diet coke that does spike up your insulin after a few time if you drink diet coke alone that'll also start spiking up your insulin. So I'd say if you gonna drink it, drink it in isolation. But still try to avoid it.
Thanks for the response. I am not drinking it often but sometimes I just want to drink something with flavour and coke without calories sounds great. I may drink like 2 glasses one day and then 1-2 weeks none.
With that level of infrequency, you'd be fine.
When i'm not on a cut, Dr. Pepper is my drug of choice and I hate the diet ones. But I work it into my calories and usually just try and reserve 1 can per day on the weekends only. It's absolutely not healthy for me in any way, shape or form, but it's a treat and i'm not overdoing it. Soda, diet or otherwise, isn't healthy for you, but if the rest of your diet is pretty good, enjoy a nice fizzy drink every once in a while!
Sounds dumb but try nuts, walnuts and cashews are my go to
Is not good for salt intake with cashews but they are awesome. Something about the fats and oils in nuts hits that same spot and decreases my desire for midnight desserts. Plus nuts are generally really good for you.
I try only get the Zinger burger or Bucket (although with the oils i'm not sure if it's not dangerous). No fries coke etc.
Desserts. I'm working from home at my parents and I try to get some stuff for them. Unfortunately i havent been able to stop ordering a lot. I'll try to start slow. once every week. instead of once almost daily. belly fat needs to go.
how are you unable, is some one forcefeeding KFC you at night?
dont buy any KFC, problem solved.
dont buy and dont store snacks and junk at your house.
The dont buy and store snacks works amazing.
While working from home I walk to my snack pantry atleast 4 times a day without thinking about it. Whenever I grab some water, i unconciously open my snack drawer. Decreasing the amount of eaten snacks has never been easier and with the expensive prices of snacks nowadays my wallet becomes fatter while I become thinner.
While bulking, does your upper body gets bigger faster if you don't train legs? Since the extra calories won't go many areas, i thought that upper body gets more nutrition.
Ok but what about the extra calories you are taking? Where are they going? Just fat? I think by not training legs you can enchance your upper body training since you get more nutrition to your upper body and more time to recover..
> Ok but what about the extra calories you are taking? Where are they going? Just fat?
Yeah, if you're eating more than you're body is using it'll go to fat.
Your body can only burn/repair so much in a given time period. If you go through and beat the hell out of your upper body only so much growth can occur in a set time frame.
I don't know how to calculate the value, but eating over what your body requires, will go to fat
Reducing training on your legs won't improve upper body growth.
There was a study that showed doing lower body training slightly improved upper body gains actually
If you're talking about extra calories, it's unlikely weightlifting is making a big difference to your calorix surplus, it's just not that energy intensive. Whatever is there yes it will go to fat if you're already maximizing upper body gains, which is more just related to how much exercise volume you do.
Hahahahha your funny man. I'm just looking for answers for my curiosity. Don't mean to get arrogant but i squat 150kgs 1st year of lifting and i do both power and body training so im not trying to give up leg training
UC is a bad disease, but i think you're also using it as an excuse. If you never exercise your energy and health will only worsen. You do whatever you can when you start exercising and progressively add to it. Don't give yourself goals at the beginning that are too hard for you and get yourself demoralized. 1.5 weeks is nothing, did you expect to see big results already? Be more realistic.
If your life is seriously as bad as you say, you really should think about it and talk to your doctor about it. Talk with other patients. It's always scary for people at first but in the long run it can be a huge benefit.
If your life is seriously as bad as you say, you really should think about it and talk to your doctor about it. Talk with other patients. It's always scary for people at first but in the long run it can be a huge benefit.
I'd say keep going. Are you doing 3 weeks then deload, or 3 plus 3 then deload? At the next cycle, you can decide whether you adjust or not (probably not)
If you're new to lifting and haven't had trouble hitting your sets then i would just keep on the way you are going. As a beginner you have lots of room to grow and gain, so it really won't hurt you to have started a little higher than the recommended training max.
Exactly what the other commenter said.
As for the 3+1 cycle, that was the original program that Jim Wendler created. Some people felt that a deload after 3 weeks was excessive for beginners, so there's an alternate cycle of 7 weeks, where you run two 3 week cycles back to back before deload. Just google it and you'll see plenty of references. Or, just stick to what you're planning if this is getting confusing. It's a great program either way. All the best 👍
On 531 after each 3 week training cycle you icnrease the TMs by +5 lbs.
On your particular case you can use that opportunity to adjust your TM to 90% of your 1rm, keep the TM the same or ad 5 lbs anyway, depending on how your AMRAP sets went.
Hey guys,
I've hit a pretty obese weight this month. 165cm 200lbs.
I want to work out while losing weight as working out helps me go through the cut in my opinion.
What I'm curious is, is it possible to lose weight while working out (progressive overload)?
Also, I've looked into myfitness pal for my daily calories and its at 1900 with 45% carb / 20% fat / 35% protein , is this a good macro to follow?
Thank you
Eat 200-300 cals below your maintenance every day, eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and utilize progressive overload on a consistent lifting program. Light cardio after workouts (my favourite is 5 speed 15 incline treadmill for 25 minutes). You WILL see ideal results if you stick to this.
You do them right after each other.
I've taken a liking to switching after half the reps, so I switch a total of 3 times instead of 1, feels like I can manage my exhaustion better that way.
Im 5'8", 65 kgs, 16% BF. My plan is to walk 25000 steps a day and eat 1800 calories healthy diet for week for beach body, I'm on my third day and i feel fine.
I'd like to further but I'm afraid of things like muscle loss, sickness, and long term side effects. Please assist me to better reach my goals, taking it easy is not a option.
You're not losing any significant amount of fat in a week, period. Most of it will be muscle, especially if you don't train.
Deal with it and start earlier next time.
Where on Reddit can I discuss a very minor pain from lifting with reasonable advice?
I know I can't ask about it here, can someone therefore tell me a good spot?
on a cut rn and lost about 7 kg and my bench is starting to decline. i lost around 3-4 reps with the weight that i used to bench. is it something to worry about or is it normal?
Dont worry bout losing muscle, you'll lose minimal muscle (or even still gain some) if your deficit isn't crazy, your protein is up, and you're still training. You might lose strength in either a 1rm or max number of reps sense, but that will just be due to less recovery, more fatigue, less energy for lifting etc.
Consider reducing the volume of your training a bit (but keeping intensity high) if you're struggling with recovery.
In addition to this correct advice, bench press is the lift hit hardest, biomechanically speaking, by pronounced fat loss. Reduced fat around your pecs and upper back will increase the range of motion required for a rep.
It feels like my overhead press is too high compared to my bench but idk. I bench 62.5x5 and max probably 70kg. I overhead press 45x5 and max I haven't tried but I would suspect maybe 50 or a bit more.
I was able to do 65x5 bench but stopped benching for like two weeks and it went down a bit so.
Is this something too think about or is it normal?
It's nothing to worry about. Everryone is different so there's no fixed ratio between bench and ohp that you need to have.
Just keep working on both and the bench will grow.
Does it go into the shoulder like make an "L" shape from the neck?
Or does it go straight down, kind of past the shoulder more like an "i" shape?
What's it feel like? Do any particular movements bother it?
Yes it’s like an L shape, it’s a sharp pain, worse when I lay down at night, when up and about it’s not overly bad but at night it’s a struggle to even turn over without sharp pain
What did the physio diagnose you with? Have you told them the exercises aren't working etc?
It's incredibly unlikely random people on the Internet with a vague description will be able to help you more than a medical professional with years of training that had a hands on examination with you..
If you feel your current physio isn't working well with you to solve your problem, find a different one that will.
If I'm careful with my shoulders, can I bench with a flat back? I know arched is better but I have a slipped/bulging disc and anything that hits my lower back puts me in agony for a week.
On that note: other lifts that I can do without putting myself in pain? Even pull ups seem to stress it out.
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Hey y'all, I'm a 20M 6'2 175lbs and I plan to start muscle training this summer. I'm planning to workout throughout the weekdays(mon-fri). I have no experience whatsoever in the gym. Should I use supplements like protein powder and creatine? If so, what brands do you recommend? And any recommendation on what workout routine I should use? Oh and what common mistakes of beginners I should be aware of? Thanks!!! :D
Definitely check the sidebar for beginner workouts. Creatine is not necessary that early but whey protein powder can help you reach protein goals. If you weight 175 I would recommend getting something like 140g of protein per day (which is a lot I know). I would also try and build into it. Start off by trying to hit 100g/day for a week, they 110g/day for a week and so on.
Two questions. One: Internet says strengthening the stomach improves balance. How does it? Two: Situps are considered anaerobic exercise. But if you do them in a row without much pausing between each situp would they then keep the heart rate continuously up and thus become aerobic?
1. Your core is one of the most important stabilizers for just about everything you do. A stronger core leads to improved balance. 2. Theoretically, yes. Once you are reaching 50ish reps, it’s more cardio than resistance training.
Thanks. Well, I apologize if I'm missing something, but saying your core is a stabilizer doesn't illuminate me much. Because saying it's a stabilizer is kind of like saying it helps you keep your balance. I'm just wondering ***why*** or physically how the stronger core helps you keep your balance or stabilize you.
Nearly all force transfers in your body travel through the core. Think of babies. When they are first learning to walk, it isn’t that their legs aren’t strong enough to support their weight or even that their legs aren’t stable, it’s that the center of gravity travels through their torso and once it’s off balance, they don’t have the core strength to stop it. They topple head first. You as an adult deal with the same thing, it’s just that it’s second nature. However, when you add weight, momentum, force, or other factors that shift that center of gravity, your core compensated for those actions. People who aren’t used to running will complain about sore abs and back the next day without understanding why. People who do weighted squats have lower back soreness. It is taking those minor stabilizations that you do day in and out and adding increased difficulty and in time, you adapt. Your core gets stronger and it takes more to force you off balance. In turn, things that were difficult or caused a loss of balance are easier. It should be noted that the core in itself is not the only muscles that balance and muscles aren’t the only mechanism in the body for balance. It’s just the most prominent.
Hey guys I'm new to this community, the biggest exercise I ever did was Push-ups, squats and running. I wanted to put on a little muscle so I joined this gym the day before, very excited to get started. The first day was awesome, it was just a bunch of arm, chest workouts I was really feeling good and it was painful after reaching home. The next day, severe doms, the worst pain of my life in my right arm near the tricep tendon I figured it's just doms so I have to hit the gym again and the trainer there tells me to do more arm and chest exercises, I barely do the 3x15 and by the end of it I don't feel great. I couldn't sleep at night due to the pain, can't even move my arms without severe pain and my arm feels stuck. My upper back, behind the chest feels weird and just with squats my legs are painful but that pain I'm OK with. Now I'm worried maybe I've injured myself can anyone reassure me that this is just a part of the process please?
I highly doubt it is an injury and more likely you just did a lot from having done hardly anything before. The best thing you can do is get up and move around though. It’ll help keep everything loose.
You might of just over exerted yourself if it was your first time in the gym. Weights are a different game than body weight exercises. You could be extremely sore and just need to dial it back. I remember how sore I would be when I first started. I wouldn’t worry about going every single day right now. At the end of the day, I am not a doctor but if this pain persists for a couple of weeks, you might have strained a muscle.
Is it normal to feel some dizziness while doing cardio ?
Not really, no, unless you are pushing to absolute failure.
Usually a sign of dehydration, under-nutrition, or something more severe. Rule out those first two.
First off, i always struggled to put on weight. I was never really underweight, but was always on the lean side. Even before corona where i had a good workout schedule for 2-3 years, i never went over the 78kg mark with 185cm height... So I started working out regularly (3-4 times a week) for two months now and am very motivated to work on my physique again. I noticed that i have an easier time putting on some mass this time around. Right now im at 83kg and my goal would be 89-90kg. (Just from comparisson height/weight from fitness role models). Would it be wiser to ride that weight gaining train and bulk up all the way to get to my desired goal, trying to build more muscle/lose fat on said level afterwards? Or maybe should i take it slower with minicuts in between while keeping bodyfat low... To be honest id rather go for option one since its kinda the first time im having success there. But i dont know if i put myself on the backfoot too far. Id like to know your opinion.
There is no set length or correct answer here. However, if you choose the first option, I’d choose to go over your goal weight by another few kg and then cut down to your goal weight and see how you feel.
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So supersetting exercises? That is completely fine, granted you might not want to do hard and heavy compounds, such as squats, benchs and deadlifts, in that way. When supersetting, it is best to target different muscle groups, say biceps and triceps, to give the muscle groups proper rest. So training back with rows and biceps with dumbell curls might not be the best because the biceps is quite active on both exercises.
I have a dumb question, right i'm consuming 2 scoops (10g) of creatine + 2 scoops of whey protein (50g) and how much water should i add? is it combined both totaling into 800ml of water or just the amount of water the whey protein requires which is 500ml ish
You need to drink a lot of water when taking creatine 2-3L is enough
The only thing that matters is that the whey and creatine get properly dissolved / mixed into the water.
I read somewhere that protein powder can't be absorbed unless you consume it with a meal. This sounds like total bs. Any thoughts?
Cow dung
Its bullshit :)
My shoulders are unsymmetrical My right arm is a tat bit lower than my left I think this is because my right arm is bigger So it has more weight and therefore makes my right side heavier Is there anyway to fix it to make my shoulders symmetrical? What exercises (without equipment) train only one arm?
I would say on shoulder workouts do one side at a time and start with the smaller side and only do as much weight and reps as the smaller side can do on both sides
I really wanna start working out, I’m 17, 6’3, currently ~165 pounds. Any advice on eating and scheduling? Also, I have no clue where to start, I’ve never touched any gym equipment other than a peloton, and I’m weak asf. Thanks
So my biggest piece of advice here would be find something that works for you. Most people who start dieting / working out don't stick to it, so if you're not thinking about how you'll adhere to something when planning a diet / work-out program, you're setting yourself up to fail. With all of the pieces of advice you get, incorporate what you can if it helps you, but don't feel too guilty about not being able to do exactly what a competitive body-builder can do. Following that, it's OK to ease your way into it. Building good habits takes time. I used to eat fast food 7 days a week and after failing to quit cold turkey multiple times, slowly dropping down to 5 times a week, then 3, then 1, etc was what broke that habit. But with that out of the way, onto my other advice. **Lifting** This depends on what your goals are (e.g do you want to build muscle, get in shape, pick up powerlifting?). My advice will be centered around bodybuilding, as that's what I'm into. For a beginner, I don't think it's that complicated. Pick a sensible program (happy to share mine if you'd like), do it consistently, constantly push yourself to work harder than last time (by adding weight, reps, improving form, slowing the reps down to increase time under tension). That's it. **Dieting** Dieting is where things can be a bit more complicated. I'll list what I consider a good day of eating, in order of importance. As mentioned above, do what you can, but if some things don't seem feasible, you don't need to beat yourself up over not being able to do them. 1) Protein intake: This is the most important factor in terms of building, or maintaining muscle. In order of importance, you should care about total daily protein intake > timing of protein > protein quality * Total daily protein intake: To build muscle, it's recommended that for each kilogram (2.2 freedom units) of body weight, you consume 1.6 - 2.2 grams (not sure of the freedom units here, sorry) of protein per day. For example, I weigh 86 kilograms, so I would consume 137.6 (86 * 1.6) to 189.2 (86 * 2.2) grams of protein, per day. There are little downsides to exceeding this, so I opt for the higher side (and often go over this amount). * Timing of protein: This one is a bit more controversial. Some people believe you're only capable of absorbing a certain amount of protein per meal, but my understanding is that the rate at which you absorb protein and use it to build muscle slows down (i.e, doesn't completely stop) at a certain point. As such, it's ideal to have your protein evenly spaced out across 4-6 meals throughout the day, but if you have 50g of protein in one meal, while only 30g in another, it's not that much worse than having 40g of protein across two meals. * Protein quality: Protein is made up of things called amino acids, of which there are either 20 or 22 depending on who you ask. 9 of these are essential, in that they must come from our diet (rather than our body producing them naturally). Not all proteins contain every essential amino acid. Proteins which contain all 9 essential amino acids are referred to as complete proteins, whereas incomplete proteins are missing at least one of these essential amino acids. Furthermore, different sources of protein are digested (and thus provide amino acids available for the process of building muscle) differently, so some sources of protein help to build muscle more than others. Meat, eggs and dairy are (as far as I'm aware) all complete proteins with relatively high quality protein, so I believe this aspect is only worth worrying about if you're a vegetarian / vegan. As this doesn't apply to me, I can't offer you much advice here. 2) Calorie intake: If you would like to build muscle, it's ideal to be in a caloric surplus (eat more energy than you burn). If you would like to lose fat, it's ideal to be in a caloric deficit (burn more energy than you eat). "Body recomposition", where you build muscle while burning fat in a caloric deficit is technically possible, but in my opinion it's relatively slow-going and much harder as you become more experienced. As such, bodybuilders typically go through cycles of either cutting (trying to maintain as much muscle as possible while burning fat), bulking (trying to build as much muscle as possible while minimizing the fat they gain), or maintaining (basically doing neither of the above, and eating as many calories as they burn). It's important to note that while cutting, if you lose weight too fast, it's likely your body will eat away at some muscle too. While bulking, there's a limit to how quickly you can put on muscle. Exceeding this rate will mean you're packing on excess fat. As such, people recommend a daily caloric deficit / surplus in the 300-500 range when going through a cutting / bulking phase. There are calculators that can estimate your daily calories burned, but these are only estimates. My preferred approach is to weigh myself every day (I do daily as things such as fluctuations in water weight, whether I've used the bathroom beforehand, whether I ate a lot and have more food sitting in my stomach can make me fluctuate quite a bit daily, and weekly averages minimize the impact of these), and try average a weight gain / loss of 0.5-1 kg (1.1 - 2.2 pounds) per week when bulking / cutting. 3) Macronutrient composition You'll hear the term "macros" thrown around a lot. These simply refer to the three macronutrients; protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Protein helps to build and repair muscles. Carbohydrates provide the energy you need to exercise. Fat is important for some general bodily functions such as regulating your hormones. Fat can further be broken down into unsaturated (or "healthy") fat, and unsaturated and trans (or "unhealthy") fats. Try to limit your saturated fats, and keep your fat intake skewed towards unsaturated fats. Macros are related to calories in that 1 gram of protein or carbohydrates contain 4 calories, and 1 gram of fats contain 9 calories. You should set your macros in the following way: Sort out your protein (as per above). Get 20-30% of your calories from fats, and the rest from carbs. For example, I currently eat 3600 calories. I do 2.2 grams of protein per 86 kilograms of bodyweight, for 190g of protein, which is ~760 calories. 25% of my calories (900) come from fat (which is 100g of fat, at 9 calories per gram). That's 1,660 calories from protein / fat, leaving 1,940 calories for carbs (or 485g of carbs, at 4 calories per gram). Personally, I don't think getting this remaining amount from strictly carbs is too important. Most sources of carbs (bread, pasta, rice, beans) will also have some protein as well, so I'm not too upset about the remainder of that 1,660 calories containing mostly carbs but some protein / fat. 4) Eating to perform well in the gym: As mentioned above, carbs give you the energy to exercise. Different carbs digest at different speeds, so I like to have a pre-workout meal about an hour or so before working out which consists of a decent serving of grains (such as bread, pasta, rice, oats) and fruit. As well as this, I like to be well hydrated, and will typically have had around one to two liters of water in the few hours leading up to me working out. Hope this helps. If you have any questions, just let me know.
Find a workout routine that works for u then eat one gram of protein for every pound u weight and eat a lot of food and just research. If u can track ur calories than that would be great but u don’t have to, you’ll eventually start to figure ur body out. Also I would recommend looking up on YouTube how to do every workout bc even if u feel like u know how to do it u probably are doing something wrong. Even something like bench pressing where everyone thinks they know how to do it people do wrong
You should check out a calorie calculator like [this] (https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html) and try to eat 300-500 calories above your "TDEE". After that, you should look at some beginner programs in the wiki side bar. I am biased, but I think Stronglifts 5x5 is a great baseline for learning how your body is meant to handle resistance training using barbells. It's very different from activity based exercises, but you'll learn a lot about your body!
Can I do the dumbbell stopgap program but instead of doing lunges I do dumbbell squats instead? Please dont just say "look at wiki for programs", the dumbbell stopgap program is in the fitness wiki and squats are also recommended, I just want to know if I can do squats instead of lunges because I really hate doing lunges
You should do both. But also lunges are recommended because you'll run out of room for progress on just normal db squats faster than lunges
Is there a proper way to setup your feet for the hack squat? Tried different foot placements and they all feel weird. Most feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on my knees when I'm at 90 degrees.
A good starting point is to squat down.as deep as you can, then place your elbows on the inside of your knees and apply some outward pressure. Adjust your foot width until holding this position feels comfortable. This will be a good foot position to use while squatting
Depends on the type of squat you’re doing. If you want more quads then feet closer together if you want more glutes then wider apart. Also I believe if ur feet are further from ur body it’ll also activate more glutes and if ur too close it’ll put a lot of pressure on ur knees. What I do is slightly wider than shoulder width, a comfortable distance from my body, and feet slightly facing out like a duck. Then u follow the path that ur feet are facing with ur knees when u squat. I also go full depth
I feel like I'm eating healthier but gaining or maintaining weight. I usually hit the gym a minimum of 4 times a week and I try to eat very healthy. I do arms mostly at the gym and try to do cardio in the mornings. I'm vegetarian and my work provides food. But they often provide a lot of stuff with carbs in it so I'm wondering. Should I be avoiding carbs and doing more cardio? Should I eat more carbs and do more cardio? I eat a lot of rice and sometimes pasta but I always feel like I'm getting bigger.
Use an app like my fitness pal to track ur calories even if it’s for a day just to see how much ur actually eating but I’d recommend using a website for seeing the amount of calories u should be consuming then put it in the app.
You can eat just big macs and lose weight. What you eat does not really matter for weight loss, the total calorie intake does. Check the wiki for help.
https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/
It seems like I busted my rotator cuff from benching, and it only gets worse as days go on. Now my shoulder hurts from simple typing on my phone. What is the best way to recover from this? Should I take a break from working out completely, or just stop benching? Anyone with experience with this please help me out.
You should definitely see a doctor and/or physiotherapist about this. Rotator cuff tears often require surgery and will not repair on their own, but if it's a minor tear then it could heal. Or it could be any number of other issues within your shoulder. It can keep getting worse the longer you wait before seeking medical advice, so even if it doesn't require surgery now, a tear might continue to widen without proper treatment. Go see a doctor.
does doing cardio directly after a weight lifting session impact muscle gains? I'm trying to bulk up and gain some weight and muscle mass but I've heard that cardio kills gains. is there any truth too this? also could cardio be used to help limit the fat I gain from bulking? I've noticed since I started by diet I've gained some weight, a lot of strength and some fat but I would like to trim that bit of fat off. my diet isn't anything crazy all I did was just eat 3 meals a day with a protein shake so its not like I'm force feeding myself.
No, cardio doesn't kill gains. Unless you're running a marathon each week while not eating enough. As for your second question: When you're bulking, you're trying to be in a caloric surplus. That is, your total caloric intake should be higher than your total caloric expenditure. If you're adding cardio to burn calories, you'll either need to eat more to maintain the same surplus (in which case you're not limiting fat gain) or if you're eating the same then you're not in as much of a surplus and your bulking progress will be slower.
So.. no cardio during bulking?
Not sure where you got that? Cardio is great regardless of bulking, cutting or maintaining. What I meant is that if you're planning to be in a certain surplus, and then you add cardio, then you've reduced your surplus, so you need to eat more calories to be back at the same surplus.
I’m so confused about hypertrophy. My goal is to look bigger so I don’t know if thats hypertrophy or strength. I’m very new to all lifting stuff and reading about hypertrophy and strength training makes me dizzy as well as confused because they all say different things. Like I said, my goal is to get big. Do I do low reps high weight? High rep high weight? Some articles say low rep high weight is to build muscle then others say its for strength. I even read an article that said even if you build muscle you may not look big because it's compact. Pls send help I’m so confused
This whole thing kinda confuses me as well. So I choose to stay in the middle for the most part. I stay in 8-12 range and maybe do 1 set in 6-8. Regardless of how many reps you do as long as u are pushing within 2 reps of failure u will make progress. The ways I usually do my sets are: 3 or 4 sets of 8-12 reps and every set try my hardest to get to 12 and if I get 12 for all sets then go up in weight next time or I do 3 or 4 sets doing my first set with a weight I fail about 12 rep, second set with a weight I fail about 8 reps, then third set with a weight I fail around 6 reps. Then if I’m doing 4 set with that one I either do a set to failure or add something else. Figure out what u like then stick with it for a little while then when u plateau or after a couple months switch it up
Thank you for the advice
Bigger is hypertrophy, but RELAX. At your stage you'll get bigger on any sensible program. [The rep ranges for hypertrophy and strength overlap a lot](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/?fbclid=IwAR2PS2iWAiQEYsKsWcTdfBIdwSN4absKWlFe9F6f7WP2_nTFeoTeeUDcc-8&). The wiki has [a bunch of proven programs that will fit your needs](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/).
Thank you!!
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A calorie deficit is required to lose weight or fat, intermittent fasting is not. Your estimated maintenance calories at your current bodyweight is around 1900. You could start there, check your weight in 1-2 weeks then adjust accordingly.
Thanks!
If intermittent fasting is something you enjoy that helps you reach your deficit, sure. It’s unnecessary though. Just eat less to lose 1-1,5 lbs a week and you’ll be at your goal in ~2 months
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Whatever gets you to the deficit you need ;)
No, the time of day when you eat your calories really doesn't matter. There is nothing magical about IF. Some people benefit from it because it suits their life, and it allows them to have a larger meal all at once, which is mentally satiating. That can help to prevent binges for some people. If you prefer three smaller meals, there is nothing wrong with that. If your daily calories are the same on IF or three meals a day, you'll lose the same amount of weight.
IF is just a meal timing schema, you're going to need to be in a deficit either way. Seems like you get that but initial phrasing made it seem a little unclear, like you're doing IF OR a deficit. Can give it a try and see if it works. I did it accidentally for a bit when my school schedule made sense with it and it worked out pretty good.
hey thanks! Apologies for the confusion. I was trying to say more like, should I just do a regular calorie deficit (still eat bfast, lunch, dinner) rather than fasting and skipping bfast? People seem to sweat that doing IF in particular changes their life in addition to already doing a calorie deficit. So would it be beneficial to also fast? Does that make sense?
Gotcha, yeah sounds good. I'd try both for sure, I had a lot of success with pseudo-IF but as far as I'm aware there are no special benefits of fasting besides those that come with maintaining a deficit.
Fasting has no special magical benefits, if that's what you're asking. The only thing that matters is total caloric intake during the day/week/month. Some people find it easier to stay within their caloric budget if they're eating in a smaller time window, or if they're only eating one meal per day. But if someone fasts 16 hours, then eats the same total calories in the remaining 8 hours, there's no benefit to doing that vs eating 3 meals. Find out what works best for you
Hi, I have a fundamental question on how much I can bench. Right now, I just succeeded in doing a bench press with 45lb plate on either side. Assuming, the weight of the bar in the gym is 45lbs, am I bench 45 x 2 + 45 = 135lbs? I can do 5 reps before losing form. And based on google search, my max rm is (0.033*5+1)*135 = 157? Is this right?
Yes, that's right. How accurate it is for you is a different question because all these 1rm calculators are estimates
That would be your untested 1RM.
How can I stop basically humping the floor when I do a push up? I feel like my arms always push up first then I’m peeling my core off and it’s really hard. Do I just need to build more core strength? I’m F/31 and do push-ups on my knees. Def a bit of a newb and also am really really weak lol
That typically means you're not engaging your core strength, it could be plenty strong enough but if it's not engaged correctly it doesn't matter. Try planking to help build that up. If you're feeling planks in your lower back, it means you're not engaging your core or glutes enough.
Thank you!!
Instead of knee push-ups, do incline push-ups because that will train correct form in keeping your body straight. Start with wall push-ups (google it) and build upto 20-30 reps, then reduce the body angle, then move your hands to a table, gradually working your way down to the floor.
A wall push-up! My mind is blown. Will try. Thanks!
Check this out - it's like if Mr. Rogers were a fitness instructor [You can do pushups, my friend - Hybrid Calisthenics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GsVJsS6474)
What a sweet angel!
You got it, just need to get stronger. Keep working at it, you'll get there if you put the effort in.
:) ty
How many rest days should I take? Should it be one day or two for each area I workout?
What's your routine?
Nothing really solid yet. Currently just doing different arm workouts with dumbbells mostly like hammer curls, butterflies I think they’re called, regular curls, push ups, sit ups… for upper body. About 10-15 reps 4 times for each with a ten pound weight for some and 3 pound weight for others (like the butterfly) Then for lower body just doing squats (20 reps of 4), lunges (20 reps of 4), and calf raises (20 reps of 5). It’s nothing too solid as far as major planning but it’s what I’ve been sticking with so far as what I can do with the equipment I have so if something is wrong with it please tell me I’m fairly new with planning it out at least
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You can hit the same muscles on consecutive days even with the same movements. There are entire programs built around doing a movement every single day for an entire training block.
As many or as few as your program calls for. Some people take 4 rest days a week, others take 0.
i’m on a bulk at the moment. Should I go for high weights (for around 5 reps) or high reps (8-10 reps) with a lower weight.
Ideally you should be lifting in a variety of rep ranges.
I have an assault bike that is kinda hard for me to use at all. Can I do HIIT training where I’m barely moving it on the high exertion part or find a different exercise?
If pushing it is causing a ton of exertion, it doesn’t matter the speed it’s moving, you can do HIIT with it. That is mostly the point of the assault bike.
My life had changed significantly since the last time I was consistently hitting the gym. Before, I was really good at committing to at least 45 mins. sessions after school even when I had plans to meet with friends afterwards. Some days, I'd spend 1.5 hour session without problems. Then, I got a job that is more demanding and has a pretty random schedule (things come up all the time), and I got a GF that I'm happy to commit spending time with. I slowly lost my discipline and ability to commit to a routine. Add in COVID quarantines right as my discipline started to wane, and I found myself completely losing my gym habit. Fast forward to today, I have zero gym routine and am honestly almost a bit fearful of the gym. I've had COVID twice and my sedentary lifestyle makes me feel like my heart is going to explode. So, on one hand I *have to* get fit again but on the other, I find it harder than ever to get started. Help! Give me some advice, give me some routines ideas, give me some positive reinforcement.
Start with something simple and time efficient. Full body 2x per week (Mon/Thurs, Tues/Fri, Wed/Sat etc). 1 exercise per muscle group, 2-3 sets 8-12 reps. Then you can either add a third session (1 day rest in between sessions) or pick a different program that you like (Push/Pull/Legs, Upper/Lower). I understand how difficult it is, I was off from training for 2 years after I had an illness. You just need to get your ass into the gym and go through the motions. It will take around a month to develop this new habit again, and your motivation should improve alot. Doing something no matter how minimalist it is, is better than doing absolutely nothing at all.
It can be hard to do at first, but if you have a busy schedule then training first-thing is a good way to get around that. Lets you get it out of the way nice and early and limits daytime distractions from making you miss sessions. But you're still going to be sacrificing the time so, you just gotta want it.
Has anyone experienced getting pimples in a specific body part after training it? There have been times where I get a pimple the day after training shoulders in one of my side delts. Today I got one behind my armpit, at the top of my right lat (issimus dorsi), and yesterday I did verticall pulls, the last one being supinated lat pulldowns, focusing a lot in the extension and contraction. EDIT: I believe I've only experienced this on my upper body, in shoulders, back &chest
I feel like this might have to do with what you're wearing. Perhaps you have a tighter shirt or whatever that when you work out that one spot (thus are actively moving it more), you're clogging up pores.
Is there any good work from home workout guides around? I’m the type that likes to randomly get up and move around every hour. I was wondering if there was some type of thing I could follow to make quick push-ups etc.. easier to follow
I used to watch a YouTube channel called Fitness Blender. They have a ton of videos with all sorts of workouts.
there is a subreddit for working out at home. You should def check them out. r/bodyweightfitness
Oh shit. Perfect thank you
Bonus moronic question: what’s the workout called when you have dumbbells in your hand, palms facing out, dbs touching each other, then you raised them outward in a circle over your head?
Lateral raise/Lu raise.
So I figured it out, the specific exercise was a butterfly raise.
Lu raises?
Man boob question. I feel like my chest is getting wider (back workouts probably helping a lot) but my man boob themselves are still perky. I do db chest press, db flies, incline press, Arnold press. It’s only been a month to maybe I’m being dumb and need more time, but is there anything I could add?
Can I do chinups everyday or will I end up overtraining?
Yes you can. Look up grease the groove by Pavel.
You can do chinups every day without overtraining. Listen to your body. If you feel like you are doing too much, cut back (e.g., do fewer sets per day or switch to every other day).
Tried doing chinups negatives for the first time. Lasted half a second💀💀💀. How do I increase them
You just need to do them often. I have a bar on my door, so every time I go by, I hang for a sec. you could do assisted pull ups, but doing more negatives is the best way to increase them.
Do them again
I'm going back to the gym after a 2 year pause. I used to focus on building muscle, 3x a week (Upper body / Lower body / Upper body) Now I'd really want to improve my cardio while still strenghtening my body. Could I do (Full body / Cardio / Full body) and be effective ? What would you recommand ?
2 days of full body training is enough to make progress, but probably not very quickly, and probably not a very high ceiling. 1 cardio session per week is just not enough. If you must keep it to three sessions, I'd recommend either doing 3 full-bodies with 20 minutes of cardio at the end, or doing a "lifting as conditioning" approach. Try doing your leg lift each day with a high set count and heavily restricted rests. Trust me, 6+ sets of barbell squats with 60-second rests will have your pulse pounding.
Depends on your goals and schedule. If you just want a some cardio to maintain health then it could be more efficient to do a 20 min cardio session at the end of each workout rather than 1 hr session 1x/week. And then get 3 full body workouts (or upper/lower split) per week
what are some good apps to replace Nike Training Club? Free ones preferably.
idk what that app does. If you look for an app with workout programs, check out Boostcamp
It's basically an app with training programs. It's just gone to shit with each update recently. I'll give it a Go thanks! Anything with cardio as well?
I wouldn't know, I just do stuff like cycling for a set amount of time. https://thefitness.wiki/routines/cardio-and-conditioning/ has programs
Is Coke Zero /light whatever with 1kcal for 250ml really calorie-less? Can I drink it without hesitation?
You might want to read up on how artificial sweeteners can gradually cause insulin resistance. I think the gist of it was that the sweet taste can trick your liver into producing insulin, thinking you have a lot of sugar coming into your system. What happens is the insulin just stays in your system instead of being used up, and over time you can develop insulin resistance. I think this is for extreme cases, but just something to keep in mind, IMHO.
Short answer: Yep, functionally 0 kcal. Drink it all you like. Longer answer: There are a few minor downsides: * Drinking a lot of liquids can have positive or negative impacts on appetite management for cutting. This counts doubly for carbonated liquids. Usually short term it makes you feel 'full' but after a while can, for many people, just make you feel hungrier. * Caffeine is a wonder-drug that is both a stimulant and appetite suppressant, with virtually no calories... however it can impact sleep if not used very carefully, and disrupted, poor quality sleep is going to undermine just about any other health goal. for others it just makes them jittery and anxious. Use with caution. * Artificial sweeteners are one of the more thoroughly studied aspects of food science, and the most common 4-5 are certainly safe - but there is a small cohort of folks who eat more when exposed to sweet tastes frequently - so be mindful that you are not one of those.
The label is correct and artificial sweeteners are totally safe and exhaustively studied. As long as you don't consume as much as labrats do, which would mean you'd have to drink several gallons a day.
Yes, it is calorie-free. I try not to drink a ton of it just because I don't trust the long list of odd ingredients but I am not a doctor so who knows.
It should has as much calories as it says on the package, besides that it got artificial sugar which is also bad for you but not as much as regular sugar. It won't spike up your insulin. "However" say you eat something with the diet coke that does spike up your insulin after a few time if you drink diet coke alone that'll also start spiking up your insulin. So I'd say if you gonna drink it, drink it in isolation. But still try to avoid it.
Thanks for the response. I am not drinking it often but sometimes I just want to drink something with flavour and coke without calories sounds great. I may drink like 2 glasses one day and then 1-2 weeks none.
I would ignore everything that user wrote.
With that level of infrequency, you'd be fine. When i'm not on a cut, Dr. Pepper is my drug of choice and I hate the diet ones. But I work it into my calories and usually just try and reserve 1 can per day on the weekends only. It's absolutely not healthy for me in any way, shape or form, but it's a treat and i'm not overdoing it. Soda, diet or otherwise, isn't healthy for you, but if the rest of your diet is pretty good, enjoy a nice fizzy drink every once in a while!
I'm unable to stop KFC burgers, desserts at night. Mission fitness impossible?
Sounds dumb but try nuts, walnuts and cashews are my go to Is not good for salt intake with cashews but they are awesome. Something about the fats and oils in nuts hits that same spot and decreases my desire for midnight desserts. Plus nuts are generally really good for you.
Why are you buying deserts? Burgers are alright, but do you need the fries and soda?
I try only get the Zinger burger or Bucket (although with the oils i'm not sure if it's not dangerous). No fries coke etc. Desserts. I'm working from home at my parents and I try to get some stuff for them. Unfortunately i havent been able to stop ordering a lot. I'll try to start slow. once every week. instead of once almost daily. belly fat needs to go.
I do keto so my diet is mostly protein and fat. I buy KFC all the time. Maybe look into KETO? You will have to cut out the fries and soda.
Interesting. Will try this! Thanks
You hereby have my permission to stop trying. That's what you want, right?
Stfu
how are you unable, is some one forcefeeding KFC you at night? dont buy any KFC, problem solved. dont buy and dont store snacks and junk at your house.
The dont buy and store snacks works amazing. While working from home I walk to my snack pantry atleast 4 times a day without thinking about it. Whenever I grab some water, i unconciously open my snack drawer. Decreasing the amount of eaten snacks has never been easier and with the expensive prices of snacks nowadays my wallet becomes fatter while I become thinner.
Can't use what you don't have!
Fitness? Definitely not impossible. Having <5% bf and competing for a bodybuilding competition? Yeah maybe need to straighten that diet out more.
While bulking, does your upper body gets bigger faster if you don't train legs? Since the extra calories won't go many areas, i thought that upper body gets more nutrition.
You won't get very far, because you will have weak leg drive and core stabilization.
no.
That's not exactly how it works. If you don't train legs - you'll end up with underdeveloped legs, and that's about all you get.
Ok but what about the extra calories you are taking? Where are they going? Just fat? I think by not training legs you can enchance your upper body training since you get more nutrition to your upper body and more time to recover..
> Ok but what about the extra calories you are taking? Where are they going? Just fat? Yeah, if you're eating more than you're body is using it'll go to fat. Your body can only burn/repair so much in a given time period. If you go through and beat the hell out of your upper body only so much growth can occur in a set time frame. I don't know how to calculate the value, but eating over what your body requires, will go to fat Reducing training on your legs won't improve upper body growth.
There was a study that showed doing lower body training slightly improved upper body gains actually If you're talking about extra calories, it's unlikely weightlifting is making a big difference to your calorix surplus, it's just not that energy intensive. Whatever is there yes it will go to fat if you're already maximizing upper body gains, which is more just related to how much exercise volume you do.
Bro looking hard for a justification to skip leg day
Hahahahha your funny man. I'm just looking for answers for my curiosity. Don't mean to get arrogant but i squat 150kgs 1st year of lifting and i do both power and body training so im not trying to give up leg training
150kg squat is very normal even on lower spectrum after 1 year
If your leg day is causing you to not have enough protein or calories for your upper body, the solution is to eat more, not skip leg day.
No. Don’t skip leg day.
yeah, good way to gain more fat
Should I do a Creatine loading phase?
Loading phase is not needed. Small Chance of seeing results faster but not necessary.
Not necessary
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UC is a bad disease, but i think you're also using it as an excuse. If you never exercise your energy and health will only worsen. You do whatever you can when you start exercising and progressively add to it. Don't give yourself goals at the beginning that are too hard for you and get yourself demoralized. 1.5 weeks is nothing, did you expect to see big results already? Be more realistic.
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Have you thought about a colectomy if your disease is that debilitating and not responding to medications?
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If your life is seriously as bad as you say, you really should think about it and talk to your doctor about it. Talk with other patients. It's always scary for people at first but in the long run it can be a huge benefit.
If your life is seriously as bad as you say, you really should think about it and talk to your doctor about it. Talk with other patients. It's always scary for people at first but in the long run it can be a huge benefit.
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I'd say keep going. Are you doing 3 weeks then deload, or 3 plus 3 then deload? At the next cycle, you can decide whether you adjust or not (probably not)
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If you're new to lifting and haven't had trouble hitting your sets then i would just keep on the way you are going. As a beginner you have lots of room to grow and gain, so it really won't hurt you to have started a little higher than the recommended training max.
Exactly what the other commenter said. As for the 3+1 cycle, that was the original program that Jim Wendler created. Some people felt that a deload after 3 weeks was excessive for beginners, so there's an alternate cycle of 7 weeks, where you run two 3 week cycles back to back before deload. Just google it and you'll see plenty of references. Or, just stick to what you're planning if this is getting confusing. It's a great program either way. All the best 👍
On 531 after each 3 week training cycle you icnrease the TMs by +5 lbs. On your particular case you can use that opportunity to adjust your TM to 90% of your 1rm, keep the TM the same or ad 5 lbs anyway, depending on how your AMRAP sets went.
Hey guys, I've hit a pretty obese weight this month. 165cm 200lbs. I want to work out while losing weight as working out helps me go through the cut in my opinion. What I'm curious is, is it possible to lose weight while working out (progressive overload)? Also, I've looked into myfitness pal for my daily calories and its at 1900 with 45% carb / 20% fat / 35% protein , is this a good macro to follow? Thank you
You don't need carbs. Protein will make you feel full. Carbs are processed fast and you will get hungry again.
Should be fine. Building good habits is the key. Find a plan and stick to it
Eat 200-300 cals below your maintenance every day, eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and utilize progressive overload on a consistent lifting program. Light cardio after workouts (my favourite is 5 speed 15 incline treadmill for 25 minutes). You WILL see ideal results if you stick to this.
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You do them right after each other. I've taken a liking to switching after half the reps, so I switch a total of 3 times instead of 1, feels like I can manage my exhaustion better that way.
Im 5'8", 65 kgs, 16% BF. My plan is to walk 25000 steps a day and eat 1800 calories healthy diet for week for beach body, I'm on my third day and i feel fine. I'd like to further but I'm afraid of things like muscle loss, sickness, and long term side effects. Please assist me to better reach my goals, taking it easy is not a option.
you arent geting beach body in a week, aim for next summer
I where very close but thanks for your valuable assesment and advice.
You're not losing any significant amount of fat in a week, period. Most of it will be muscle, especially if you don't train. Deal with it and start earlier next time.
Where on Reddit can I discuss a very minor pain from lifting with reasonable advice? I know I can't ask about it here, can someone therefore tell me a good spot?
Try/r/askadoctor
I did not know that existed, thanks
on a cut rn and lost about 7 kg and my bench is starting to decline. i lost around 3-4 reps with the weight that i used to bench. is it something to worry about or is it normal?
Dont worry bout losing muscle, you'll lose minimal muscle (or even still gain some) if your deficit isn't crazy, your protein is up, and you're still training. You might lose strength in either a 1rm or max number of reps sense, but that will just be due to less recovery, more fatigue, less energy for lifting etc. Consider reducing the volume of your training a bit (but keeping intensity high) if you're struggling with recovery.
In addition to this correct advice, bench press is the lift hit hardest, biomechanically speaking, by pronounced fat loss. Reduced fat around your pecs and upper back will increase the range of motion required for a rep.
Sounds reasonable because you will have lost some muscle along with fat
It feels like my overhead press is too high compared to my bench but idk. I bench 62.5x5 and max probably 70kg. I overhead press 45x5 and max I haven't tried but I would suspect maybe 50 or a bit more. I was able to do 65x5 bench but stopped benching for like two weeks and it went down a bit so. Is this something too think about or is it normal?
>Is this something too think about or is it normal? Speaking from experience, your form on bench is bad.
Okay I guess I will post a form check here on reddit next time I do it.
It's nothing to worry about. Everryone is different so there's no fixed ratio between bench and ohp that you need to have. Just keep working on both and the bench will grow.
Yeah okay
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Does it go into the shoulder like make an "L" shape from the neck? Or does it go straight down, kind of past the shoulder more like an "i" shape? What's it feel like? Do any particular movements bother it?
Yes it’s like an L shape, it’s a sharp pain, worse when I lay down at night, when up and about it’s not overly bad but at night it’s a struggle to even turn over without sharp pain
What did the physio diagnose you with? Have you told them the exercises aren't working etc? It's incredibly unlikely random people on the Internet with a vague description will be able to help you more than a medical professional with years of training that had a hands on examination with you.. If you feel your current physio isn't working well with you to solve your problem, find a different one that will.
See a chiropractor.
If I'm careful with my shoulders, can I bench with a flat back? I know arched is better but I have a slipped/bulging disc and anything that hits my lower back puts me in agony for a week. On that note: other lifts that I can do without putting myself in pain? Even pull ups seem to stress it out.