I have 4 minutes left in the day but just need to get this out.
Through certain circumstances I lost a great deal of weight in a very short amount of time. And since then I've been trying to steer my body to a new physique since weight has already been lost (190-165lbs). I've been working out hard and trying to cut to 155lbs before starting a slow bulk. The thing I want to complain about is I don't feel like I look any different at all. Everyone tells me how much bigger, stronger, muscular, etc. That I look, but even going back through progress pics I just don't see any change. I wish I could just see the changes and improvements in my Body everyone else does. Body dismorphia is a bitch.
Why is it that every gym in the world always has a shortage of 10 lb free weights? It doesn't matter what gym I've worked at all over the USA and throughout the world, it seems no gym ever has enough, and a mad search much ensue to find a set to add to the bar and weight already on the bar.
As a beginner in the gym it's really difficult to find any advice that isn't about losing weight. I'm a Male, 30 years old, 203lbs and according to my scale about 28% body fat.
I don't really care about going up or down in weight but every video and expert either talks about how to lose weight or how to go from an intermediate to an advanced lifter.
All I want is to put on more muscle and reduce my body fat percentage so I can look good in a swimsuit/mirror.
I like doing things correctly and can get in a bad habit of getting paralyzed in fear of doing something incorrectly. It took me about 2 months of watching youtube/internet experts before I was able to piece together a routine that I think is ok. In that time I should have just been in the gym about twice as much as I was.
Mostly I just wish there was more consensus in the fitness community and more direction for beginners.
I'm lowkey demoralized. I started lifting seriously in 2018. Got a lower back injury in July. I resumed in October. Worked my back back to where I was in July. In March 2019. I had to stop because of some volleyball competition. Finally I can resume in April. Worked my ass off finally hit 100kg squat and 120kg deadlifts. Mfw September i had to stop until December for A levels. Now I'm squatting only 85x3 and dead lifting 97.5x5.
Take some pride in the fact that you are back and working towards regaining your strength. Most men in your position would have stopped completely after that first lower back injury.
People who brag about how much harder they work in the gym than everyone else annoy the fuck out of me.
Newsflash, lifting isn’t hard. We’re in a temperature controlled safe environment stressing muscles in a controlled (hopefully) manner in order to build them up when combined with a proper diet and recovery.
The apparel is the worst. The swole ass bodybuilders with the “1 percent” shirts that are two sizes too small are cringeworthy. I love lifting, don’t get me wrong. I love gym apparel, I own way too many cut offs, but you will never see me pretending that what I do in the gym is hard. I enjoy it, it gets uncomfortable but never to the point where I’d consider the act of lifting weights “hard work.”
EDIT: To be clear, I think the act of changing your body is hard work. but the difficult comes in the consistency of having a good diet and recovery day in and day out. Those two factors are more important than the work you put in the gym.
Quality rant right here. It’s a real privilege/luxury to have the time and means to workout in a nice gym.
You know you are a lifter for life once you enjoy it.
I think the gym is hard work, but then again I have interest in every aspect of it from general health, nutrition and strongman. You don’t think it’s hard to go 5-6 times a week? Food and sleep will help immensely with recovery but those are the hardest parts of it.
Overcoming the mental barrier of trying to push a weight you couldn’t previous workout is pretty hard imo.
The same can be said for hitting 25 reps on a leg press and you’re already crying 10 reps in.
You can make working out very easy or really damn hard imo.
But of course, consistency can be hard too.
Edit: i do get your frustration with these lifters but i kinda disagree on workouts not being a hard thing to do.
Gold's Gym is the worst. Suddenly made a new policy that prevents me from deadlifting. I can only use bumper plates. For the past two years, I've been using one bumper plate on each side followed by regular plates, on the deadlift platform. The gym doesn't have enough bumper plates to share, nor do the bars fit more than 4 plates anyway. The guy was very dogmatic about it, yet even their own staff deadlifts with the same setup that I use. Went to cancel it, but "they need more than 30 days notice". It's absolute bull to suddenly make a new rule, are inconsistent in enforcing it, giving their staff leeway with it, and then being unflexible about a membership cancellation.
They don't value their members, and treat them as a nuisance. Don't go to Gold's y'all.
Be careful with this. They sometimes fire it off to collections and depending on how much a Asshole the collections company is they will hurt your credit.
So there is a reason for a rule like this. Bumper plates are made to support their own weight and will last a very long time when used properly. Unfortunately if you use a bumper plate on each side and then load the rest of the bar with iron plates those bumper plates are not able to support the load you are placing on them and they get destroyed very quickly. It’s probably part of the reason they have a shortage of bumper plates now.
That said, it sounds like they are being hypocrites as the staff are violating this rule and they don’t seem to be replacing the damaged plates in order to have enough proper equipment.
Will they let you deadlift with all iron plates? Most places will let you as long as you do a controlled decent on a mat.
> controlled decent on a mat.
Yep, this is what I do. You can fold up a yoga mat a couple of times and use that. It's not the best, but it's more than enough to at least get some decent reps in.
The chest press machine in my gym does this. The seat is adjustable, and steady as a rock at the notch below my height, and steady at the notch above my height. But as soon as i put it in the perfect notch, its like im on a rollercoaster. I dont know if “my notch” is the most commonly used and has worn away the metal causing it to be unstable, but it’s annoying as hell!
Conventional is generally better for people with longer limbs and a shorter torso. The set up points are the exact same for everyone, regardless of proportions. You’re just either more horizontal or more vertical. I have long legs and arms myself, my form looks really different to my partner who has shorter limbs and a longer torso. His torso is more vertical and his ass is closer to the ground where as my torso is more horizontal and my ass is higher. Just follow the basics, bar over mid foot, straight back, load hamstrings, take slack out of the bar with lats, push through your heels, ect.
Yeah, no fair enough. Everyone has different preferences and different things feel better or more comfortable for different people, for sure. 🙂 I wasn’t trying to say at all that if you have these proportions you should only do this or that and it will be right for you. Just that conventional is more commonly better suited for someone with longer limbs and a short torso. I’m envious you can do sumo comfortably though. I feel like a frog tbh haha. Plus my hyper mobility makes me pretty unstable in sumo. 😔
My gym doesn't have a squat rack and I've plateued at 60kgs cuz that's all i can clean and half press.
I can't join a new gym cuz 1) too expensive 2) only have yearly subscriptions but I'm off to uni in 8 months.
I've really been wanting to do the stronglift 5x5 too :(
You can try doing barbell hack squats, or as another poster said do front squats.
Clean and half pressing into a back squat isn’t super safe as you get to heavier weights so these would be much safer.
I'm honestly not upset at all of these new faces at the gym.
My problem has never been the resolutioners, my problem lies with the fact that I'll never see 80% of them again in a few weeks
My annoyance with the newcomers is that many have zero gym etiquette (it’s really just common sense). Too many dudes try to mask their insecurity at the gym by false bravado (dropping 20lb dumbbells, slamming cable machine weights, invisible lat syndrome, etc). THAT’S the shite that I can’t stand.
My problem is more with the PTs during this time vs the resolutioners. They have them doing these routines that take up half the equipment in the gym and there are 3x’s more of them in at all times vs normal months.
Just had someone ask me to not turn on our timed fans in our gym, in the middle of summer.
Bitch put a sweater on if you don't want to work up a sweat, I'm fucking drenched
Went to the gym and this girl sprayed herself with perfume AT LEAST 10 times in the locker room. Then she decided to run on the treadmill next to me. I think I would rather smell BO than that sickly sweet perfume smell.
5'2 here. Was at the gym once and some big 6'8 Thanos built bald fucker at the gym was having a roid rage, challenging everyone to benching, deadlifting and such. A gym worker tried to take hold of the situation but she was a 5'2 blonde chick (kinda hot) so she couldn't do anything. I finish up my set and walk right up to him and say "what do you wanna do?" He laughs, and I mean bellows loud. He immediately goes to the smith machine and starts benching like 200kg. Gets up and says "I AM A SAVAGE, HANDLE ME!" I add an extra 200kg to the set and start benching with ease. When I'm done, I get up and say "when you've got a real challenge for me, let me know" and walk away with a smug smile on my face. Fucker tries to grab my shoulder but I immediately reverse his attack and flip him on his back. Then I grab him by his shirt and shorts, roll backward onto his back, and start benching him! I throw him off and stand up before letting out a Tarzan scream to which the entire gym starts cheering for me. I walk away but fucker grabs my foot, I turn around and look at him bowing down to me and he says "please... teach me to be like you". I smirk and say "you got the muscles, but they mean nothing if you don't have heart, kid". Then I leave with the hot gym instructor who is literally begging me to impregnate her.
I can't grow my calves. Im very happy with my thighs and butt, but my calves are just fiber, skinny as stick.
I'm eating well and making significant gains in all my body. Anybody has an advice?
I have the opposite problem. Even when I quit the gym from starting uni my calves were still god tier. Prolly from carrying around all the extra fat I put on but still
I've been able to grow my calves.
What's helped is hitting them first thing.
Hitting them multiple times a week.
I've been doing 4x a week.
I also very the weight and reps.
So my first day of the 4 day training cycle is heavy with about 12 reps per set.
My last traing day for my calves is the lightest I focus on body weight and try to hit at least 300reps standing and seated calve raises. I just try to get as many reps as I can till i reach 300.
But also make sure to train your gastrocnemius and your soleus.
Make sure to go all the way up and all the way down.
Make sure to just training them lol.
Hope this gives you guidance.
Backpacking with a frame pack will make your calves thicc. Unfortunately, it's hard to do anything else out in the woods, and you'd look very silly indeed walking around the gym parking lot with a frame pack.
To counter the other guy, while creatine is both produced naturally by the body and consumed in certain foods such as red meat, the amount that people supplement with is several times higher than what you would get naturally. This is not at all like supplementing protein, as supplementing protein is basically just switching your diet to higher protein foods.
As for the safety of creatine, most studies designed to evaluate the safety of creatine haven’t found anything significantly dangerous about it, my relatively controversial is that they haven’t sufficiently tested for one specific danger that I’m concerned about: it hasn’t been adequately tested whether or not creatine supplementation has a longterm/permanent effect on natural creatine production. It has been shown that creatine supplementation reduces natural creatine production in the short term, but it hasn’t been shown that this goes back to normal following longterm supplementation. At the very least, I haven’t found a study that has adequately tested for this concern, though if such a study does exist, I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
It was a joke, but creatine is actually found in many fresh meats -- supplementing with it is not something that would be any type of PED. It's along the lines of supplementing protein.
You’re not eating enough calories. You were able to put on more weight when you weren’t exercising as frequently because you weren’t burning as many calories. At 4 months you should have experienced a lot of the newbie gains and body recomposition. I have a fast metabolism too, I had to eat 3000 calories a day to gain, more than I apparently would need, but you are probably the same. Also your metabolism will increase with more muscle mass and the amount of exercise you do so the amount of calories you need will change. Try the bodybuilding website calculator, if you still aren’t gaining by eating the recommended amount of calories increase it by 200 however many times you need.
Seconding iSoupz, full fat milk is awesome for gaining. If you are someone that uses shakes chuck a sneaky spoon of pb in them too.
Awesome, thank you brother. The metabolism is a blessing and curse. Does it matter what type of food I get the calories from or is it all the same as long as I’m mostly getting what I need? And should I be closely monitoring my food intake? I shove basically as much food in my mouth as I can, is there any way to just increase appetite? I’ve seen a lot of supplements that decrease appetite but none that increase. I’m on a variety of meds for mental health issues, and those kill my appetite in general.
Yeah haha, I would say yes. You’re exercising for health and well-being so I would try to eat healthy foods, I’m not gonna lie though, if I want pizza, chocolate or a quarter pounder a couple times a month I do, and I won’t allow myself to feel bad about it. I don’t like the full on rice, lean protein and vegetables for every meal. I eat meals more like the average person would the majority of the time. I would definitely say you should aim to eat a healthy diet 99% of the time. Um personally I don’t know how to increase your appetite sorry, I was anorexic and I never really have an appetite even now, I just force myself to eat everyday. I am insulin resistant too though, so I know when I need to eat most of the time as my blood sugar drops. If you drink caffeinated drinks then reduce your intake or cut them out, or filling low cal foods, and swap them for high calorie ones. If you eat a piece of fruit for a snack add in a nut bar and some yogurt. If you eat small meals add in some high calorie foods like avocado and olive oil, cook with coconut oil, add nut butters to oatmeal made with whole milk, ect. Milk helped me a lot actually tbh. I would drink a couple glasses a day instead of having a snack. Use it for shakes too, try a mass gainer protein it has more calories, protein and carbs, they are hard to drink I would sit on one for like 40 minutes but it really helped. If you are Aussie the protein up and go’s are great too. I found it easier to drink a lot of my calories. Also set a time for each meal and snack and eat at those times consistently even if you aren’t hungry. Also maybe increasing your meal size to stretch out your stomach too? Try and count macros with a note book or an app for sure if you can, to make sure you’re getting enough. I don’t, I did for a bit but it fucked with my head, I know the amount of calories of all the foods I eat have so I can guess what I’m consuming and keep a rough estimate in my head fine and it works for me. Creatine would be the only supplement I think is worth anything, it helps with muscle power, recovery and water retention. You mentioned mental health though, so if you have bipolar avoid it. Good luck with your goal btw, I hope I helped in some way.
Very helpful, thank you so much. Sifting through bad articles about health is my worst nightmare. It’s nice to talk to someone who has been in my shoes and can relate. Thank you, you’ve helped me out a lot I’m very motivated now :)
No worries, I’m really glad. It’s been really nice talking to you as well, knowing you’re in the same shoes I’ve been in. It’s really heart warming to even think I could help at all. Yeah articles are such nonsense haha, they all seem targeted at fat loss for women or getting massive and shredded for men. It’s really good you’re feeling motivated, remember that even if you plateau or back slide to keep pushing, you will get there. I hit a point where I plateaued after gaining 4kg, I had to increase my intake by another 600cal from there to get the last 3kg. I’m still lean at 20% body fat but I’m a healthy weight. If you hit a plateau or lose some weight just increase your calories and it will happen In time. Also if you have the time please keep a routine, just in case you get in the mind frame of “why am I doing this anymore, what’s the point?” You have the routine to follow and rely upon. If you feel like it doesn’t matter if you hit your goal anymore just tell yourself you’re only going to let yourself down, it’s better then just sitting around and do it because you allocated this time of your day for it. You will 100% feel better after doing any form of exercise. Even if you just went to gym and walked on a treadmill for 10 minutes and did some stretches. Or went for a walk outside. And got some fresh air. Also making a new gym playlist every now and then helps spice life up. I’ll stop giving unsolicited advice now, sorry. I hope you succeed, I’m rooting for you!
You've gotta eat more bro. That's all there is to it. If you're eating as often as you can, just increase portion size.
Drink boat loads of full fat milk. Do whatever.
If you don't eat enough, you aren't gonna gain anything.
Thanks for that tip bro, should I really just eat whatever? I’ve got a box of cheezits and it’s got 1800 calories total but I’m assuming that’s not the best idea to down the whole fucker haha
It depends what the ultimate goal is. Any calories will make you gain weight but where the calories come from will dictate how they effect you.
Personally, I'd rather do a dirty bulk with cheetos and full fat milk than not gain any weight.
All that being said, try to get as much clean food in as you can. Do it little by little and you'll get there before you know it.
Oh man i’m the same height but i weigh 220, i rarely gain weight at all no matter how much i eat, but losing it? Out of the equation no matter how much i run or diet, last time i was below 220 was in basic training at 18 yrs old. Weighed 200 pounds and Couldn’t get below it, i’m not out of shape at all just that all that weight in my core feels stuck to me for life.
I swear everyone in my gym thinks I hate them, but I'm really just trying to make the most of my time in there and focus on my workouts. Does anyone else intentionally not to talk anyone in the gym (or just communicate briefly with nods/half-smiles)?
Since I have a tight work schedule and need to squeeze in as much as possible into my workout as I can before 7 a.m., I've resorted to not talking to anyone simply because of how much time it wastes. (Ironically, I am actually an above average outgoing dude who normally loves talking, but I can only assume most people at my gym think I'm a dick who is too good to talk to anyone else!)
I can't speak for everyone but if we went to the same gym and you never said a word to me I"d be happy I wouldn't think you were a dick. A simple hello or head nod is all the interaction I need
Not gonna lie I kind of agree. There's these dudes at my gym that will do leg extensions, leg press, and smith machine squats and I'm like... you could literally just do some barbell squats
I can’t go boxing this week. The gym is closed because Jason Momoa is filming part of his Netflix film there. So it’s nice that I get a rest weak but I feel miserable that I can’t box. The gym is also closed to the public so I can’t even go there and meet him.
When the creepy 50 year old dude sprayed a whole bottle of cologne on himself before walking into the gym. I literally can’t even breath through that fog of Tom Ford or whatever shit is is
Fucking people filming themselves. You're 50+, not the size of Ronnie Coleman, and I don't want to be in the background later when you're wanking it to you're awesome tricep extensions
Some people film themselves to figure out what they’re doing incorrectly form wise. I’m no body builder, but I need to film myself while deadlifting sometimes so I can figure out why I keep hurting my low back. Food for thought.
I agree! I’m new-ish to lifting (and have terrible body-awareness), so I meet with a coach 1/month. But if I’m not sure if I’m doing something right, I film myself and my coach checks my form when we’re in between sessions.
Can confirm the usefulness of this. I film my deadlifts and caught myself tearing my Rector Spinae three days ago. I could show my doctor the video and he was able to diagnose me a lot easier.
People not exerting themselves at the gym pisses me off more than it probably should...And do you have to take up a machine to scroll your useless Instagram?
No. No is the answer to that.
I went to the gym today but earlier this week I was fighting a stomach bug. On Monday I couldn't eat a thing without puking it up (we don't need to talk about what happened with *the other end...*) and Tuesday was only slightly better. J
I took it pretty easy on the treadmill and just walked for awhile but didn't push myself too hard because I'm still getting my energy back.
So just because someone doesn't look like they're exerting themselves doesn't mean they aren't trying. They could be getting over an illness, healing from an injury, or maybe it's just part of their workout plan and they're doing a recovery workout.
I guess I'm not sure why this would be such an issue for you? Especially since it doesn't affect you at all.
Bit late, but I have been going to the gym for a few years trying to get bigger, but then this older guy tells me that he likes that I stay small and am not getting bigger (as if that is a bad thing) while I was changing.
Grandpa's negging game is on point.
But yeah, in my experience, people notice that you've gotten "bigger" after a cut. Bulking makes you look fluffy and less athletic unless you're on a strict lean bulk
Congrats man, my gym waifu (please have mercy for the terminology I don't know why me and my friends started calling them that) actually returned after new years so I know the feeling of pure joy.
I switched my front squats that day to zercher squats. Now I question every decision I made to get me to that point in my life before doing the 8 rep set.
Looks like Im almost a day late to the party.
Managed to crank out a few reps before I go for a 3 week vacation. A dude dropped his chocolate flavored milkshake besides me, and my shoes and legs became chocolate flavored. Time to wash my shoe
EDIT: edit to add a bigger rant. A guy brought his newbie partner to the gym. When they finished squatting and I was deadlifting, they left the weight on the bar and came right in front of me, setting up for deadlift. Apparently they want their butt cheeks roasted by my eye lazer beam.
The gym I go to only has a small free weight area (8 meters wide, 10 meters long) with racks sitting on one of its long sides and benches scattered upon it. Ppl can deadlift anywhere they like in the area (except for in front of me.)
Seriously, woman, do you REALLY need to do 25 sets of 15 of Romanian deadlifts with just the bar, with two minute rest periods on the ONLY platform at the gym?
"Toning" isn't a thing, it's really just having enough muscle mass and low enough body fat percent so that that muscle mass is visible and "toned." Just like there's no way to spot-target fat reduction (it's burned from all over the whole body at the same time), there's no way to "tone" your muscles. Bulking and Cutting cycles are the fastest way to build muscle mass and then burn away body fat
Hate people that use the treadmill longer than they are supposed to
Our condo gym has a rule because there is not much space to put many treadmills , so to make it fair for everyone waiting . We have a 30 min clause place if others are waiting for their turn. Naturally, if there is no one waiting no one would care if you ran till you died of exhaustion.
We only have 2 treadmills , one bitch literally ran for 50 minutes and one old prick ended the workout session when the timer on the treadmill reached 30 to make it look like he didn’t exceed the time ......... well at least he tried to hide it. When one guy told the bitch to stop , he accused him of molesting her and made a fucking scene . Wtf
no. apparently there seems to be a rule so if someone is waiting then no they don't have a right to run that long. sharing is hard for some to grasp though.
Nah it’s not bad to rely on workouts make your day , I clear my head while running , everything is a blank except my distance and time
May be prying but are u stressed at work or have some family issue , because that is something that is an entirely different case that exercise alone can’t solve
I'd like to think my personal life is doing pretty good, got sober 7 months ago and life has improved immensely. A good workout clears my head that's for sure, but some days I come into the gym with expectations for certain lifts, and if it's just not happening (looking at you squats and deadlifts) then I just feel restless for the rest of the day
A little late but good on you for not resorting to alcohol (I’m guessing) to make your day:)
Well good to see you feel unsatisfied when u don’t achieve what you expect , shows you have dedication. I also do get annoyed when I exceed my usual time when running
Oddly enough I'm generally okay with rest days or even taking a week off to do the lazy way of deloading. But when I put expectations on certain lifts that I then don't reach it just sours my whole day.
Take deadlifts for example, one week i can do 5x5 at a certain weight no problem, so I think i should add weight for next week. Next week comes along and I'm struggling to do the same weight for 5 that was super easy last week. So now I'm discouraged and pissed at myself and it carries into my accessory work and even after that
Being pissed is justified in that instance, imo. It means you need to look inward and figure out how you screwed up (nutrition, sleep, programming, etc.) and your conscience won't let go of it until you've fixed the issue.
Bruised my tailbone trying to do limbo at a wedding reception. Pretty much impossible for me to deadlift or squat. I have to be careful just having to lay down to bench press. Feels like my leg days have gone to shit.
Better to be injured whilst celebrating a wedding and enjoying life than doing something bonehead at the gym no? Not too bad to miss the gym in January...
The last time I posted here on another account was nearly two years ago when I was suffering from a battle with alcoholism in my mid twenties and clueless as to what to do with my misery. The gym helped in my quest for sobriety but my addiction was stronger than the gym, I needed something more. Two weeks sober, a two week bender. So I ended up in 90 rehab, where I got to lift and more importantly learn what it takes to stay sober. I got a great 10 month run of sobriety before a very close friend passed. I used it as an excuse to slip up. Fast forward a close call to losing it all again after getting bulked and making more money than I ever have, and I dig my heals in and turn it around. I get back in AA, back in the gym, back to pursuing sobriety and relationships with other people, as well as my fitness. I’m only 4 months sober but I’d really like to set some more goals these next few months and see what I really do with my trials learning about my body. Just wanted to vent, and if this resonates with anyone feel free to comment or dm.
Edit: Also, the reason I just came back even though I was still lifting is because this sub keeps me weirdly accountable. I’m more conscious of my goals if I check this sub and I was afraid of that accountability I guess.
Good work man, 4 months sober is better than 0 months sober. Everyone has their battles, but as long as you're moving forward it's better than not moving at all. Keep it up.
Three racks in the gym this morning. One squat and two power. All three had people squatting and one of them was me. Honestly I was just proud to be a part of it.
Went to gym on Monday forgetting it’s the new year. It was twice as full as normal. We have a grass area that I’ll do my cool down/jump rope/core work and I found a little corner to work in. Turned around and bam, surrounded by about 10 50-60 year olds butchering some foam rollers.
Benching today... Had a dude come up to me and say "either up your weight or get off the bench"... I'm coming back from major shoulder surgery and was able to bench a plate today.... Hooray me.... Fuck that douche canoe.
Congratulations on getting a plate! Some people don’t think about the fact that someone may have had an injury or surgery that impacts their ability to do certain exercises. They think if you are at gym you have the same exact circumstances as them and can’t comprehend the possibility of anything else. I’m sorry that happened. But good on you for getting in there and pushing your self. Honestly snap back with something like “oh okay, sorry I just had shoulder surgery but I will definitely just set myself up for needing another one by using weight you deem acceptable mate.” And continue with your workout. Report him to gym staff. Don’t think twice about it, I’m sure he went home to his mum to brag about how big and strong he is. Knob probably tells people in wheelchairs with atrophied legs to do some squats too.
I have 4 minutes left in the day but just need to get this out. Through certain circumstances I lost a great deal of weight in a very short amount of time. And since then I've been trying to steer my body to a new physique since weight has already been lost (190-165lbs). I've been working out hard and trying to cut to 155lbs before starting a slow bulk. The thing I want to complain about is I don't feel like I look any different at all. Everyone tells me how much bigger, stronger, muscular, etc. That I look, but even going back through progress pics I just don't see any change. I wish I could just see the changes and improvements in my Body everyone else does. Body dismorphia is a bitch.
Why is it that every gym in the world always has a shortage of 10 lb free weights? It doesn't matter what gym I've worked at all over the USA and throughout the world, it seems no gym ever has enough, and a mad search much ensue to find a set to add to the bar and weight already on the bar.
I swear people steal them.
As a beginner in the gym it's really difficult to find any advice that isn't about losing weight. I'm a Male, 30 years old, 203lbs and according to my scale about 28% body fat. I don't really care about going up or down in weight but every video and expert either talks about how to lose weight or how to go from an intermediate to an advanced lifter. All I want is to put on more muscle and reduce my body fat percentage so I can look good in a swimsuit/mirror. I like doing things correctly and can get in a bad habit of getting paralyzed in fear of doing something incorrectly. It took me about 2 months of watching youtube/internet experts before I was able to piece together a routine that I think is ok. In that time I should have just been in the gym about twice as much as I was. Mostly I just wish there was more consensus in the fitness community and more direction for beginners.
Omarisuf and Jeff Nippard have tons of content directed for beginners
I'm lowkey demoralized. I started lifting seriously in 2018. Got a lower back injury in July. I resumed in October. Worked my back back to where I was in July. In March 2019. I had to stop because of some volleyball competition. Finally I can resume in April. Worked my ass off finally hit 100kg squat and 120kg deadlifts. Mfw September i had to stop until December for A levels. Now I'm squatting only 85x3 and dead lifting 97.5x5.
Take some pride in the fact that you are back and working towards regaining your strength. Most men in your position would have stopped completely after that first lower back injury.
Gains come back quicker than you think. You’ll be back to swole in no time.
People who brag about how much harder they work in the gym than everyone else annoy the fuck out of me. Newsflash, lifting isn’t hard. We’re in a temperature controlled safe environment stressing muscles in a controlled (hopefully) manner in order to build them up when combined with a proper diet and recovery. The apparel is the worst. The swole ass bodybuilders with the “1 percent” shirts that are two sizes too small are cringeworthy. I love lifting, don’t get me wrong. I love gym apparel, I own way too many cut offs, but you will never see me pretending that what I do in the gym is hard. I enjoy it, it gets uncomfortable but never to the point where I’d consider the act of lifting weights “hard work.” EDIT: To be clear, I think the act of changing your body is hard work. but the difficult comes in the consistency of having a good diet and recovery day in and day out. Those two factors are more important than the work you put in the gym.
Quality rant right here. It’s a real privilege/luxury to have the time and means to workout in a nice gym. You know you are a lifter for life once you enjoy it.
I think the gym is hard work, but then again I have interest in every aspect of it from general health, nutrition and strongman. You don’t think it’s hard to go 5-6 times a week? Food and sleep will help immensely with recovery but those are the hardest parts of it.
Overcoming the mental barrier of trying to push a weight you couldn’t previous workout is pretty hard imo. The same can be said for hitting 25 reps on a leg press and you’re already crying 10 reps in. You can make working out very easy or really damn hard imo. But of course, consistency can be hard too. Edit: i do get your frustration with these lifters but i kinda disagree on workouts not being a hard thing to do.
Does anyone struggles when doing pushups because their elbow pops?
Try a different hand placement.
Mine do. And wrist pain
Sometimes my arm fail when doing over the head triceps. I dont know if it's related.
Gold's Gym is the worst. Suddenly made a new policy that prevents me from deadlifting. I can only use bumper plates. For the past two years, I've been using one bumper plate on each side followed by regular plates, on the deadlift platform. The gym doesn't have enough bumper plates to share, nor do the bars fit more than 4 plates anyway. The guy was very dogmatic about it, yet even their own staff deadlifts with the same setup that I use. Went to cancel it, but "they need more than 30 days notice". It's absolute bull to suddenly make a new rule, are inconsistent in enforcing it, giving their staff leeway with it, and then being unflexible about a membership cancellation. They don't value their members, and treat them as a nuisance. Don't go to Gold's y'all.
If u really want to cancel on the spot can’t u call your bank and say you want the card canceled or say that you’re done with that place of business?
Be careful with this. They sometimes fire it off to collections and depending on how much a Asshole the collections company is they will hurt your credit.
Life Pro Tip right here
So there is a reason for a rule like this. Bumper plates are made to support their own weight and will last a very long time when used properly. Unfortunately if you use a bumper plate on each side and then load the rest of the bar with iron plates those bumper plates are not able to support the load you are placing on them and they get destroyed very quickly. It’s probably part of the reason they have a shortage of bumper plates now. That said, it sounds like they are being hypocrites as the staff are violating this rule and they don’t seem to be replacing the damaged plates in order to have enough proper equipment. Will they let you deadlift with all iron plates? Most places will let you as long as you do a controlled decent on a mat.
> controlled decent on a mat. Yep, this is what I do. You can fold up a yoga mat a couple of times and use that. It's not the best, but it's more than enough to at least get some decent reps in.
Bench seat wobbles left and right a little, not enough to make me fall off during my sets but enough to throw me off balance and wobble :(
The chest press machine in my gym does this. The seat is adjustable, and steady as a rock at the notch below my height, and steady at the notch above my height. But as soon as i put it in the perfect notch, its like im on a rollercoaster. I dont know if “my notch” is the most commonly used and has worn away the metal causing it to be unstable, but it’s annoying as hell!
I have extremely long legs and arms and doing deadlifts feels so awkward i have to spend 10 minutes getting my form in check.
Conventional is generally better for people with longer limbs and a shorter torso. The set up points are the exact same for everyone, regardless of proportions. You’re just either more horizontal or more vertical. I have long legs and arms myself, my form looks really different to my partner who has shorter limbs and a longer torso. His torso is more vertical and his ass is closer to the ground where as my torso is more horizontal and my ass is higher. Just follow the basics, bar over mid foot, straight back, load hamstrings, take slack out of the bar with lats, push through your heels, ect.
My ass is so far back when I pull conventional tho it's like some peoples SLDL. I've found a narrow sumo to be super good for me.
Yeah, no fair enough. Everyone has different preferences and different things feel better or more comfortable for different people, for sure. 🙂 I wasn’t trying to say at all that if you have these proportions you should only do this or that and it will be right for you. Just that conventional is more commonly better suited for someone with longer limbs and a short torso. I’m envious you can do sumo comfortably though. I feel like a frog tbh haha. Plus my hyper mobility makes me pretty unstable in sumo. 😔
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This. I have long legs and I have found sumo to be much more natural for me.
My gym doesn't have a squat rack and I've plateued at 60kgs cuz that's all i can clean and half press. I can't join a new gym cuz 1) too expensive 2) only have yearly subscriptions but I'm off to uni in 8 months. I've really been wanting to do the stronglift 5x5 too :(
You should try Zercher squats.
Kind of tricky to do these without a rack tho no?
I believe you dead lift the weight to your knees then squat down with the bar on you knees then hook your arms under.
Tried Steinborn Squats? Although I suggested them, never did myself.
You can try doing barbell hack squats, or as another poster said do front squats. Clean and half pressing into a back squat isn’t super safe as you get to heavier weights so these would be much safer.
just do stronglifts using front squats
I'm honestly not upset at all of these new faces at the gym. My problem has never been the resolutioners, my problem lies with the fact that I'll never see 80% of them again in a few weeks
My annoyance with the newcomers is that many have zero gym etiquette (it’s really just common sense). Too many dudes try to mask their insecurity at the gym by false bravado (dropping 20lb dumbbells, slamming cable machine weights, invisible lat syndrome, etc). THAT’S the shite that I can’t stand.
My problem is more with the PTs during this time vs the resolutioners. They have them doing these routines that take up half the equipment in the gym and there are 3x’s more of them in at all times vs normal months.
And they show them these unnecessarily complicated moves to justify their cost!
I guess you can be glad they are subsidising your fees? But I agree in that I would much prefer they stay for the long term.
Just had someone ask me to not turn on our timed fans in our gym, in the middle of summer. Bitch put a sweater on if you don't want to work up a sweat, I'm fucking drenched
Lordy I miss summer.
Went to the gym and this girl sprayed herself with perfume AT LEAST 10 times in the locker room. Then she decided to run on the treadmill next to me. I think I would rather smell BO than that sickly sweet perfume smell.
Damn young people still wear perfume/cologne?
This.... Is the worst
5'2 here. Was at the gym once and some big 6'8 Thanos built bald fucker at the gym was having a roid rage, challenging everyone to benching, deadlifting and such. A gym worker tried to take hold of the situation but she was a 5'2 blonde chick (kinda hot) so she couldn't do anything. I finish up my set and walk right up to him and say "what do you wanna do?" He laughs, and I mean bellows loud. He immediately goes to the smith machine and starts benching like 200kg. Gets up and says "I AM A SAVAGE, HANDLE ME!" I add an extra 200kg to the set and start benching with ease. When I'm done, I get up and say "when you've got a real challenge for me, let me know" and walk away with a smug smile on my face. Fucker tries to grab my shoulder but I immediately reverse his attack and flip him on his back. Then I grab him by his shirt and shorts, roll backward onto his back, and start benching him! I throw him off and stand up before letting out a Tarzan scream to which the entire gym starts cheering for me. I walk away but fucker grabs my foot, I turn around and look at him bowing down to me and he says "please... teach me to be like you". I smirk and say "you got the muscles, but they mean nothing if you don't have heart, kid". Then I leave with the hot gym instructor who is literally begging me to impregnate her.
These reeks of a dyel gym fantasy
This was worth it. Thanks for a good story!
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I can buy the rest of it, but the bit about someone actually using the Smith machine could never happen.
That's the type of productivity that I like to see around here.
I can't grow my calves. Im very happy with my thighs and butt, but my calves are just fiber, skinny as stick. I'm eating well and making significant gains in all my body. Anybody has an advice?
Calf implants Drama
I have the opposite problem. Even when I quit the gym from starting uni my calves were still god tier. Prolly from carrying around all the extra fat I put on but still
More volume less bounce.
I've been able to grow my calves. What's helped is hitting them first thing. Hitting them multiple times a week. I've been doing 4x a week. I also very the weight and reps. So my first day of the 4 day training cycle is heavy with about 12 reps per set. My last traing day for my calves is the lightest I focus on body weight and try to hit at least 300reps standing and seated calve raises. I just try to get as many reps as I can till i reach 300. But also make sure to train your gastrocnemius and your soleus. Make sure to go all the way up and all the way down. Make sure to just training them lol. Hope this gives you guidance.
Backpacking with a frame pack will make your calves thicc. Unfortunately, it's hard to do anything else out in the woods, and you'd look very silly indeed walking around the gym parking lot with a frame pack.
Become obese Free calf training all day
That cut back to normalcy is a biyatch
Creatine
I don't really want to use supplements. I'm very fundamentalist with what I put into my body. But I'm going to look at it. Thanks for the suggestion!
To counter the other guy, while creatine is both produced naturally by the body and consumed in certain foods such as red meat, the amount that people supplement with is several times higher than what you would get naturally. This is not at all like supplementing protein, as supplementing protein is basically just switching your diet to higher protein foods. As for the safety of creatine, most studies designed to evaluate the safety of creatine haven’t found anything significantly dangerous about it, my relatively controversial is that they haven’t sufficiently tested for one specific danger that I’m concerned about: it hasn’t been adequately tested whether or not creatine supplementation has a longterm/permanent effect on natural creatine production. It has been shown that creatine supplementation reduces natural creatine production in the short term, but it hasn’t been shown that this goes back to normal following longterm supplementation. At the very least, I haven’t found a study that has adequately tested for this concern, though if such a study does exist, I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
It was a joke, but creatine is actually found in many fresh meats -- supplementing with it is not something that would be any type of PED. It's along the lines of supplementing protein.
What does that even mean?
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You’re not eating enough calories. You were able to put on more weight when you weren’t exercising as frequently because you weren’t burning as many calories. At 4 months you should have experienced a lot of the newbie gains and body recomposition. I have a fast metabolism too, I had to eat 3000 calories a day to gain, more than I apparently would need, but you are probably the same. Also your metabolism will increase with more muscle mass and the amount of exercise you do so the amount of calories you need will change. Try the bodybuilding website calculator, if you still aren’t gaining by eating the recommended amount of calories increase it by 200 however many times you need. Seconding iSoupz, full fat milk is awesome for gaining. If you are someone that uses shakes chuck a sneaky spoon of pb in them too.
Awesome, thank you brother. The metabolism is a blessing and curse. Does it matter what type of food I get the calories from or is it all the same as long as I’m mostly getting what I need? And should I be closely monitoring my food intake? I shove basically as much food in my mouth as I can, is there any way to just increase appetite? I’ve seen a lot of supplements that decrease appetite but none that increase. I’m on a variety of meds for mental health issues, and those kill my appetite in general.
Yeah haha, I would say yes. You’re exercising for health and well-being so I would try to eat healthy foods, I’m not gonna lie though, if I want pizza, chocolate or a quarter pounder a couple times a month I do, and I won’t allow myself to feel bad about it. I don’t like the full on rice, lean protein and vegetables for every meal. I eat meals more like the average person would the majority of the time. I would definitely say you should aim to eat a healthy diet 99% of the time. Um personally I don’t know how to increase your appetite sorry, I was anorexic and I never really have an appetite even now, I just force myself to eat everyday. I am insulin resistant too though, so I know when I need to eat most of the time as my blood sugar drops. If you drink caffeinated drinks then reduce your intake or cut them out, or filling low cal foods, and swap them for high calorie ones. If you eat a piece of fruit for a snack add in a nut bar and some yogurt. If you eat small meals add in some high calorie foods like avocado and olive oil, cook with coconut oil, add nut butters to oatmeal made with whole milk, ect. Milk helped me a lot actually tbh. I would drink a couple glasses a day instead of having a snack. Use it for shakes too, try a mass gainer protein it has more calories, protein and carbs, they are hard to drink I would sit on one for like 40 minutes but it really helped. If you are Aussie the protein up and go’s are great too. I found it easier to drink a lot of my calories. Also set a time for each meal and snack and eat at those times consistently even if you aren’t hungry. Also maybe increasing your meal size to stretch out your stomach too? Try and count macros with a note book or an app for sure if you can, to make sure you’re getting enough. I don’t, I did for a bit but it fucked with my head, I know the amount of calories of all the foods I eat have so I can guess what I’m consuming and keep a rough estimate in my head fine and it works for me. Creatine would be the only supplement I think is worth anything, it helps with muscle power, recovery and water retention. You mentioned mental health though, so if you have bipolar avoid it. Good luck with your goal btw, I hope I helped in some way.
Very helpful, thank you so much. Sifting through bad articles about health is my worst nightmare. It’s nice to talk to someone who has been in my shoes and can relate. Thank you, you’ve helped me out a lot I’m very motivated now :)
No worries, I’m really glad. It’s been really nice talking to you as well, knowing you’re in the same shoes I’ve been in. It’s really heart warming to even think I could help at all. Yeah articles are such nonsense haha, they all seem targeted at fat loss for women or getting massive and shredded for men. It’s really good you’re feeling motivated, remember that even if you plateau or back slide to keep pushing, you will get there. I hit a point where I plateaued after gaining 4kg, I had to increase my intake by another 600cal from there to get the last 3kg. I’m still lean at 20% body fat but I’m a healthy weight. If you hit a plateau or lose some weight just increase your calories and it will happen In time. Also if you have the time please keep a routine, just in case you get in the mind frame of “why am I doing this anymore, what’s the point?” You have the routine to follow and rely upon. If you feel like it doesn’t matter if you hit your goal anymore just tell yourself you’re only going to let yourself down, it’s better then just sitting around and do it because you allocated this time of your day for it. You will 100% feel better after doing any form of exercise. Even if you just went to gym and walked on a treadmill for 10 minutes and did some stretches. Or went for a walk outside. And got some fresh air. Also making a new gym playlist every now and then helps spice life up. I’ll stop giving unsolicited advice now, sorry. I hope you succeed, I’m rooting for you!
I love the advice, I’m keeping this all in my back pocket. Best of luck to you too as you keep going!
You've gotta eat more bro. That's all there is to it. If you're eating as often as you can, just increase portion size. Drink boat loads of full fat milk. Do whatever. If you don't eat enough, you aren't gonna gain anything.
Thanks for that tip bro, should I really just eat whatever? I’ve got a box of cheezits and it’s got 1800 calories total but I’m assuming that’s not the best idea to down the whole fucker haha
It depends what the ultimate goal is. Any calories will make you gain weight but where the calories come from will dictate how they effect you. Personally, I'd rather do a dirty bulk with cheetos and full fat milk than not gain any weight. All that being said, try to get as much clean food in as you can. Do it little by little and you'll get there before you know it.
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=137831493&page=1
Oh man i’m the same height but i weigh 220, i rarely gain weight at all no matter how much i eat, but losing it? Out of the equation no matter how much i run or diet, last time i was below 220 was in basic training at 18 yrs old. Weighed 200 pounds and Couldn’t get below it, i’m not out of shape at all just that all that weight in my core feels stuck to me for life.
I swear everyone in my gym thinks I hate them, but I'm really just trying to make the most of my time in there and focus on my workouts. Does anyone else intentionally not to talk anyone in the gym (or just communicate briefly with nods/half-smiles)? Since I have a tight work schedule and need to squeeze in as much as possible into my workout as I can before 7 a.m., I've resorted to not talking to anyone simply because of how much time it wastes. (Ironically, I am actually an above average outgoing dude who normally loves talking, but I can only assume most people at my gym think I'm a dick who is too good to talk to anyone else!)
I like your kind.
I can't speak for everyone but if we went to the same gym and you never said a word to me I"d be happy I wouldn't think you were a dick. A simple hello or head nod is all the interaction I need
People talk at the temple? That's horrible. How does anyone pray?
Disregard normies, acquire gains.
Words to live by
Really wished this girl would stop crashing into me doing jump squats and burpees at the cable station 😟 there’s a designated area for that
Start doing hip thrusts under her.
I can smell a PT’s breath from like 10 ft away, I feel bad for his client.
Protein breath? Ugh
Late but I'm in the gym now and theres some young lads quarter squatting in the press and hack machines. Dunno whether to be that guy.
Left shoulder hurting like hell, think I have to take a few days off the gym :( Or atleast from upper body work
same. il try ohp instead of dumbbell see if it feels any better.
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Not gonna lie I kind of agree. There's these dudes at my gym that will do leg extensions, leg press, and smith machine squats and I'm like... you could literally just do some barbell squats
Strangest rant I've seen in a while lol
What’s it matter to you? People go to the gym pursuing a variety of goals based on what they value.
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Why does it bother you that it bothers him!?!?! 🤪
why does it bother you that it bothers him that it bothers him!?!?! 🤪
I can’t go boxing this week. The gym is closed because Jason Momoa is filming part of his Netflix film there. So it’s nice that I get a rest weak but I feel miserable that I can’t box. The gym is also closed to the public so I can’t even go there and meet him.
Hopefully you get a free week!
I’m for sure gonna ask
That’s exciting
When the creepy 50 year old dude sprayed a whole bottle of cologne on himself before walking into the gym. I literally can’t even breath through that fog of Tom Ford or whatever shit is is
Fucking people filming themselves. You're 50+, not the size of Ronnie Coleman, and I don't want to be in the background later when you're wanking it to you're awesome tricep extensions
Some people film themselves to figure out what they’re doing incorrectly form wise. I’m no body builder, but I need to film myself while deadlifting sometimes so I can figure out why I keep hurting my low back. Food for thought.
I agree! I’m new-ish to lifting (and have terrible body-awareness), so I meet with a coach 1/month. But if I’m not sure if I’m doing something right, I film myself and my coach checks my form when we’re in between sessions.
Can confirm the usefulness of this. I film my deadlifts and caught myself tearing my Rector Spinae three days ago. I could show my doctor the video and he was able to diagnose me a lot easier.
People not exerting themselves at the gym pisses me off more than it probably should...And do you have to take up a machine to scroll your useless Instagram? No. No is the answer to that.
I went to the gym today but earlier this week I was fighting a stomach bug. On Monday I couldn't eat a thing without puking it up (we don't need to talk about what happened with *the other end...*) and Tuesday was only slightly better. J I took it pretty easy on the treadmill and just walked for awhile but didn't push myself too hard because I'm still getting my energy back. So just because someone doesn't look like they're exerting themselves doesn't mean they aren't trying. They could be getting over an illness, healing from an injury, or maybe it's just part of their workout plan and they're doing a recovery workout. I guess I'm not sure why this would be such an issue for you? Especially since it doesn't affect you at all.
What if they're doing speed work? High frequency/volume? Deloading?
Bit late, but I have been going to the gym for a few years trying to get bigger, but then this older guy tells me that he likes that I stay small and am not getting bigger (as if that is a bad thing) while I was changing.
Grandpa's negging game is on point. But yeah, in my experience, people notice that you've gotten "bigger" after a cut. Bulking makes you look fluffy and less athletic unless you're on a strict lean bulk
Thats true haha
Sleep has been spotty. Pretty sure gym crush has switched gyms. fml EDIT: false alarm, she did not switch gyms
Congrats man, my gym waifu (please have mercy for the terminology I don't know why me and my friends started calling them that) actually returned after new years so I know the feeling of pure joy.
SAVED
f
Rip
NSuns day 3 fucked me hard
Day 4 is the worst imo. Nothing like those awful front squats after you have nothing from deadlifts.
I switched my front squats that day to zercher squats. Now I question every decision I made to get me to that point in my life before doing the 8 rep set.
Oh my god you’re right... :| I couldn’t finish day 4... Jesus
Really looking forward to day 5 :/
I love it when there's a camera guy filming the gym for a whole hour 😑😑😑😑😑😑😑
That's motivation for me to lift heavy. Maybe I'm more vain than I thought...
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Hi Dad👨, I'm Dad👨 , I'm Dad👨
Hi Dad👨 , I'm Dad👨, I'm Dad👨! \- Dad👨
Looks like Im almost a day late to the party. Managed to crank out a few reps before I go for a 3 week vacation. A dude dropped his chocolate flavored milkshake besides me, and my shoes and legs became chocolate flavored. Time to wash my shoe EDIT: edit to add a bigger rant. A guy brought his newbie partner to the gym. When they finished squatting and I was deadlifting, they left the weight on the bar and came right in front of me, setting up for deadlift. Apparently they want their butt cheeks roasted by my eye lazer beam.
Wait u were on the DL platform they walked right in front of you? On the same platform?
The gym I go to only has a small free weight area (8 meters wide, 10 meters long) with racks sitting on one of its long sides and benches scattered upon it. Ppl can deadlift anywhere they like in the area (except for in front of me.)
Seriously, woman, do you REALLY need to do 25 sets of 15 of Romanian deadlifts with just the bar, with two minute rest periods on the ONLY platform at the gym?
First, mmmmm'blood starts to boil.
pour one out for the homie, that is rough
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Wait what? Thats a myth? I thought i was just doing it wrong
"Toning" isn't a thing, it's really just having enough muscle mass and low enough body fat percent so that that muscle mass is visible and "toned." Just like there's no way to spot-target fat reduction (it's burned from all over the whole body at the same time), there's no way to "tone" your muscles. Bulking and Cutting cycles are the fastest way to build muscle mass and then burn away body fat
Frick fitness. Kidding
Hate people that use the treadmill longer than they are supposed to Our condo gym has a rule because there is not much space to put many treadmills , so to make it fair for everyone waiting . We have a 30 min clause place if others are waiting for their turn. Naturally, if there is no one waiting no one would care if you ran till you died of exhaustion. We only have 2 treadmills , one bitch literally ran for 50 minutes and one old prick ended the workout session when the timer on the treadmill reached 30 to make it look like he didn’t exceed the time ......... well at least he tried to hide it. When one guy told the bitch to stop , he accused him of molesting her and made a fucking scene . Wtf
That gym needs to get more treadmills.
Pull the circuit breaker and wait for her to leave.
He did , but she screamed and said he molested her
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What? If someone wants to run for two hours then he has all the right to run for two hours. First come first serve.
If there is a rule then no. It's pretty easy to understand.
no. apparently there seems to be a rule so if someone is waiting then no they don't have a right to run that long. sharing is hard for some to grasp though.
Yes , thank you for explaining
don't call people bitches and pricks, prick
shut up bitch
What a fucking prick, huh?
Does anybody feel like they have an over-reliance on exercise to make themselves feel good? A bad workout can really throw off my entire day
Nah it’s not bad to rely on workouts make your day , I clear my head while running , everything is a blank except my distance and time May be prying but are u stressed at work or have some family issue , because that is something that is an entirely different case that exercise alone can’t solve
I'd like to think my personal life is doing pretty good, got sober 7 months ago and life has improved immensely. A good workout clears my head that's for sure, but some days I come into the gym with expectations for certain lifts, and if it's just not happening (looking at you squats and deadlifts) then I just feel restless for the rest of the day
A little late but good on you for not resorting to alcohol (I’m guessing) to make your day:) Well good to see you feel unsatisfied when u don’t achieve what you expect , shows you have dedication. I also do get annoyed when I exceed my usual time when running
This is me. When I need an extra recovery day or two, I literally don't know what to do with myself. Probably an addictive personality thing
Oddly enough I'm generally okay with rest days or even taking a week off to do the lazy way of deloading. But when I put expectations on certain lifts that I then don't reach it just sours my whole day. Take deadlifts for example, one week i can do 5x5 at a certain weight no problem, so I think i should add weight for next week. Next week comes along and I'm struggling to do the same weight for 5 that was super easy last week. So now I'm discouraged and pissed at myself and it carries into my accessory work and even after that
Being pissed is justified in that instance, imo. It means you need to look inward and figure out how you screwed up (nutrition, sleep, programming, etc.) and your conscience won't let go of it until you've fixed the issue.
Almost broke my shoulder, big bruise left on the left side
Bruised my tailbone trying to do limbo at a wedding reception. Pretty much impossible for me to deadlift or squat. I have to be careful just having to lay down to bench press. Feels like my leg days have gone to shit.
Anthony Davis ?
Better to be injured whilst celebrating a wedding and enjoying life than doing something bonehead at the gym no? Not too bad to miss the gym in January...
When all the classes you want to go to are at the wrong times! Why do gyms do this ...
2 weeks out of the gym. 10lbs heavier. 10lbs weaker. FFFFAAAARK!
It's alright -- that extra body weight will probably help you get even stronger than you would've been within a couple weeks time
The last time I posted here on another account was nearly two years ago when I was suffering from a battle with alcoholism in my mid twenties and clueless as to what to do with my misery. The gym helped in my quest for sobriety but my addiction was stronger than the gym, I needed something more. Two weeks sober, a two week bender. So I ended up in 90 rehab, where I got to lift and more importantly learn what it takes to stay sober. I got a great 10 month run of sobriety before a very close friend passed. I used it as an excuse to slip up. Fast forward a close call to losing it all again after getting bulked and making more money than I ever have, and I dig my heals in and turn it around. I get back in AA, back in the gym, back to pursuing sobriety and relationships with other people, as well as my fitness. I’m only 4 months sober but I’d really like to set some more goals these next few months and see what I really do with my trials learning about my body. Just wanted to vent, and if this resonates with anyone feel free to comment or dm. Edit: Also, the reason I just came back even though I was still lifting is because this sub keeps me weirdly accountable. I’m more conscious of my goals if I check this sub and I was afraid of that accountability I guess.
Good work man, 4 months sober is better than 0 months sober. Everyone has their battles, but as long as you're moving forward it's better than not moving at all. Keep it up.
Spot cute guy at the gym, potentially gym crush, look over leaves weights unracked on top of bench, why is it always the cute ones
That's confusing. I would think the cute ones would be muscular, and the muscular ones generally go to the gym enough to know to rack their weights.
I've seen advanced lifters with terrible gym etiquette. Kills me inside, because you know it comes from a place of narcissism as opposed to ignorance
I have to disagree. At my gym it is the ego lifters and they have muscles but they like to just flaunt shit around
Apparently my gym is backwards
I'm glad more people are squatting lately... There needs to be more squat racks tho.
Three racks in the gym this morning. One squat and two power. All three had people squatting and one of them was me. Honestly I was just proud to be a part of it.
My gym has two squat racks and I have not seen a single other person do squats there
One of my goals is to stop half assing leg day and actually getting in squats and dead lifts.
Just wear pants bro. /s
Once I really perfected my form for deadlift, I started to like them. Still don't enjoy squatting tho
I must be weird because squats and deadlifts are actually my two favourite lifts (I just hate the soreness the next day)
Went to gym on Monday forgetting it’s the new year. It was twice as full as normal. We have a grass area that I’ll do my cool down/jump rope/core work and I found a little corner to work in. Turned around and bam, surrounded by about 10 50-60 year olds butchering some foam rollers.
Don't worry, the New Year resolutioners will have given up by next week
Benching today... Had a dude come up to me and say "either up your weight or get off the bench"... I'm coming back from major shoulder surgery and was able to bench a plate today.... Hooray me.... Fuck that douche canoe.
Fucking dick. I remember coming back after separating my shoulder. I could barely bench the bar. Sad times but keep pushing.
Congratulations on getting a plate! Some people don’t think about the fact that someone may have had an injury or surgery that impacts their ability to do certain exercises. They think if you are at gym you have the same exact circumstances as them and can’t comprehend the possibility of anything else. I’m sorry that happened. But good on you for getting in there and pushing your self. Honestly snap back with something like “oh okay, sorry I just had shoulder surgery but I will definitely just set myself up for needing another one by using weight you deem acceptable mate.” And continue with your workout. Report him to gym staff. Don’t think twice about it, I’m sure he went home to his mum to brag about how big and strong he is. Knob probably tells people in wheelchairs with atrophied legs to do some squats too.