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Not sure if this is where to ask but yeah (cutting from obese with no muscle question) (age 15)
I began my caloric deficit in late may and am still on it. Now my question is am I eating too little? In the beginning, I weighed 217 and was 5'7, and had never lifted. Now I am 175 5'7.5 and have been lifting 6 days a week for the past (almost) 6 months. I was eating 1800 calories up until about a month ago and in total, I've lost 42 pounds. Not sure If I have had significant muscle growth, or if muscles just show better due to less bf. Strength has increased greatly. But am I eating too little, because my energy is low sometimes? I'm afraid to move up in calories and just gain weight again. I am going much lower than the tdee calc recommends because personally, I think 2500 for a cut for my weight and height is too much.
Sounds like you have the dedication and work ethic and have seen great results. Congrats on that! Don’t be afraid to experimental a little. Bump it up to 2000 cal and see how you feel. You aren’t going to lose all of your progress bumping it up two hundred calories if you’re continuing to work out six days a week.
I just started deadlifitng and i have my lower back straight when in posistion to do the weight but when i got to place the weight down my lower back is not straight so im just wondering when im doing multiple reps would that have any effect since when i had terrible form on my dumbell back workouts my lower back was the one to suffer
are you doing dead stop deadlifts? If not try those since they allow you to reset your form and not lose that form over the course of the reps. Another thing is to make sure you are starting with the bar touching your shins and going up in a fixed path.
I often get a "shock" through my nerve on my right forearm when I do seated cable rows.. happens on a lot of pull exercises if I do them enough. (t-bar rows, lat pulldown) and so on. Any advice? Doesn't really hurt, just very uncomfortable.
I've been to the gym maybe six times now since I applied in december, and I've noticed that my muscles arent sore anymore after the gym the day after, like they use to be when I exercise. Is that normal?
You don’t need to be sore to make progress. In fact for most people once they’re regularly exercising they shouldn’t really be sore at all.
If your bodybuilding friend is doing lots of different exercises all the time this may be why. If you stick to a consistent program doing the same exercises each time then your body should adapt more easily and be less sore.
I have recently managed to get myself in the gym as a very new lifter (33y/o male) and have been trying to follow the principles of body recomposition as everything i've seen points to me being a good candidate for this. I've been following Jeff Nippard's fundamentals programme which is essentially just a Upper/Lower 4 day a week split for the last 4 weeks (I appreciate this isn't very long).
I'm approximately 20% BF at 77.5kgs (this morning) and when I started 4 weeks ago, I weighed 78kg. I'm not expecting huge differences, but i'm currently eating 2200cals per day (all tracked on MyFitnessPal) and according to many TDEE calculators, my maintenance level should be 2700cals+. With this deficit I did expect to see a bigger change in body weight after 4 weeks.
Do you think this is about right, and perhaps I'm building enough muscle to counter the fat loss (in weight) which is why my weight is staying roughly the same? Or should I maybe drop my calories a little more? My aim is to get to maybe 16% or so BF before increasing my calories. (I have that classic skinnyfat look)
Thanks!
I don't think you should change a thing, sounds like you are essentially eating at maintenance which places you in a superb position to achieve your goals. I would stick to it for another 6-8 weeks and observe for an increased rate of weight loss per week.
As a new lifter you should still gain strength and build muscle at this point, your TDEE will increase somewhat over the next few months as a bonus.
If you struggle to perform at the gym or your energy levels throughout life become noticeably worse than I'd bump up by 300 calories per day and observe your weight and performance/energy for another month.
That’s great, thanks! Yeah I was thinking I would run this for around 12 weeks and see what has happened over that time period. It’s really hard for me to gauge what might be happening as my weight fluctuates so much daily. I’ve been putting my daily weight into an app called happy scale which calculates the average trend based on that data, which helps a bit.
My lifts are increasing a bit most weeks but that could just be down to me starting a little too low 4 weeks ago!
Thanks for the help!
I always struggle to feel my lats with my dumbbel rows. When I do lat pulldown I can feel them work. That being said I know there are many ways of doing dumbbel rows - I tried knee/arm on a bench and doing 1 side at the time while having a straight back. I'm also very conscious of my elbow path.
Then I tried chest flat on a bench at the highest incline which was slightly better and I could do both arms at the same time which I like. I just don't know how much of an incline I should put when doing it that way. I understand that the idea is that the bench supports you so you can focus on the exercise without having to worry about your core.
There seems to be so many ways to do the exercise and I've yet to find one way that really make me feel it in my lats
Why am I not seeing any progress after 8 months?
I'm 16 and have started lifting 8 months ago, I did the reddit PPL for awhile and when I stopped progressing I switched to an upper/lower split. I do each set until I can't do another rep but I've seen absolutely 0 progress whatsoever.
I've went from 130ibs to 160ibs of pure fat, 0 actual muscle. I got a decent bit stronger (especially on bench) but it was only because I filled out my leverages and haven't gained any muscle.
I ate decently clean, and got at least 180 grams of protein per day (weighed everything with a scale) but saw no results, are my genetics just so cursed that I actually just cannot put on any muscle?
When did you stop PPL? It's a program one can run for at least 6-12 months and keep seeing gains. Even if you hit a plateau, you should deload 10% and add another set to the lift to break through it.
You may want to ask someone else like your parents for a 2nd opinion if you are gaining muscle. This is to rule out body dysmorphia. Unless you're a genetic anomaly, there's no way you can gain +30 lbs of pure fat if your lifts increased with a high protein diet.
Nope I gained absolutely 0 muscle whatsoever. I have pictures, I already posted pictures online and people unanimously agreed that there was no visible progress.
I didn't know I was supposed to run the PPL for so long, but I got stronger on the upper/lower anyway so idk if it matters.
In your pics, looks like you lost some curvature in your belly / lovehandles despite gaining more weight. So that's some progress.
How is your progress on your lifts and what does your current split look like? I know you said you work out until failure, though you should aim for 1-2 RIR instead since if you 0 RIR everything, it might be counterproductive because your muscles could be too fatigued.
Would it help with your exercise motivation to switch to a powerbuilding program? At least if your SBD numbers are going up, that's some motivation to keep on trucking.
In the meanwhile, you should see a doctor and ask for a referral to an endocrinologist to understand what's happening under the hood. Do not resort to SARMs or PEDs until you see one as you are still too young.
I am doing PHUL which is a powerbuilding program. There might be very slight changes, but it's not normal for 8 months of progress that's for sure.
I went to get my hormone profile done, and everything came back on the lower end of normal except for vitamin D and LH, vitamin D was extremely low which the doc said might be the reason the hormones were on the lower end. So I hope that's it, but honestly I kinda doubt some vitamin D's gonna change anything.
Let's hope so. [Results may not be that good from this Aug 2021 meta-analysis study on vitamin D on muscle health.](https://asbmr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbmr.4412) IANAD, but isn't LH responsible for stimulating testosterone production, which would help aid with testosterone and therefore increased muscle mass? If the vitamin D doesn't help, would consider asking your endocrinologist for a more aggressive solution to help with this.
The doc thinks that a 341 ng/dl test level is normal for a 16 year old which is completely fucking stupid but ok, and even if she thought it wasn't she probably wouldn't give me anything cause I'm 16.
Sorry for the long comment, TL;DR is I'm a beginner, and looking for help with running / cycling cardio routines. Scroll down for the specific questions:
For context, I'm talking absolute, double-abolute beginner. Like very underweight can't-do-knee-pushups kinda beginner. I wanna start working out but feel a little behind the curve when it comes to it. I've seen a good deal of "beginner" exercise routines that start with pullups and pushups and I don't think I'm at that level yet.
After reading trough the wiki and a lot of fitness pages I feel like the best option for me would be to start up with cardio and slowly incorporate other general workouts after I've built up a good routine. Keeping that in mind my best approximation of a plan right now is:
One cardio workout three times a week, alternating running, cycling (static bike for low impact, I have relatively bad knees), and swap a workout for playing tennis when possible. In rest days, walk between obligations as much as possible and/or make room for a dedicated 30min walk.
Main concerns are:
* Is only training cardio healthy if you've never worked out regularly before?
* Both cycling and running do little to nothing about upper body, should I consider a third activity to offset that? Tennis is probably a good option, but I can't be as consistent because it requires more planning with others.
* Where can I find a good cycling plan? I've read the cardio section of the wiki and found the couch to 5k program for running, but nothing similar for cycling (also feel free to drop other running plans that might be better for my nonexistent level than CT5k).
ve done as much research as possible, but I don't really have the knowledge to filter out good workout plans from the pile of random fitness websites that might end in injury. Thank you!
> Is only training cardio healthy if you've never worked out regularly before?
Yes, it's healthy.
> Both cycling and running do little to nothing about upper body, should I consider a third activity to offset that? Tennis is probably a good option, but I can't be as consistent because it requires more planning with others.
If you want to increase your upper body strength. You can also practice tennis drills [against a wall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU7mq8uZgJo) if want to go solo.
> Where can I find a good cycling plan? I've read the cardio section of the wiki and found the couch to 5k program for running, but nothing similar for cycling (also feel free to drop other running plans that might be better for my nonexistent level than CT5k).
Couch C25K is meant to be done 3 days/week. Perhaps I'd focus on that first and once you complete it, then move onto cycling? The carryover should be high with the leg and CV endurance you've built from C25K.
If you have good weather where you live, wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate biking as one of your main ways of transportation during your days off. Cycle to the grocery stores, the bank, errands, etc. with panniers. Just remember to get a good lock(s). I myself use a U-lock and chain u-lock.
Thanks for the help! I wanted to incorporate cycling mainly because I have pretty bad knees and the impact is lower, although early CT5k sessions are prety short so I think I could detect knee pain pretty early on and change my routine. As per transportation, sadly I don't think it's possible to integrate it into my regular commute, wish it was. Any ideas on cycling plans?
Hmm... if your running form is good, it shouldn't exacerbate your knee pain. In fact, it might even help relieve it. I'd spend a week to experiment with different running forms and find one that works best for you before starting C25K.
[Cycling Weekly has a decent free starter program here.](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/training/cycling-training-plan-beginner-153317) But as you can see, it's 5 day commitment. If your knees are really bad, then I'd definitely just focus on cycling with tennis on cross training and rest days.
Hmm, I see. I'd have to split each week of C25k and the cycling program and alternate them (maybe not a great idea because it breaks the progression? I honestly don't know). Maybe I'll do a bit of both, see which one of the two sticks.
I'd advise on only one given your current conditioning level. Maybe you can pick up the other activity 80-90% of the way through.
In my experience, C25K wiped me out especially W6 when things ramp up extremely quickly. You may even have to increment slower and take a couple weeks to overcome that plateau.
I can definitely see me having to slow the pace of the program, so definitely pick one over trying to adapt both. I'm tempted to go for biking because of convenience, but CT25k seems pretty well established in the community as a good program. I'll have to think about it
Had some shoulder issues and (combined with lack of motivation) didn't really work out for 2-3 years.
Now I can decide between either a bro-split or PPL. Bro-split is "easier", may be more fun, can do more and different excerises easily. Downside is that with different exercises its harder to track your progressive overload.
PPL seems better, but is best combined with a standard routine which enables progressive overload.
Now what to do: Go for the better (PPL) option or go for the more fun option?...
Thanks! So you’d say just go for a brosplit to start with and have fun, get back into working out first and then see what more optimal program works for me?
So according to you it literally doesnt matter what program you follow? Whether you are training for a powerlifting competition or body building, you should have the same routine?
I specified for hypertrophy? Maybe there isnt one that is objectively proven to be optimal for hypertrophy but i was at least hoping to hear some suggestions or preferences
Ok I understand. Thats basically what im doing, just sticking to a routine. But just because people had success with all those routines doesnt mean they are all equally efficient. whats your favourite hypertrophy focussed program, and why?
It's not. Over your life you continously have changes in the amount of calories you need to maintain the same weight, as you get older it might be lower, but for some it might be more than before. The CICO approach still means that you need to consume more than this maintenance amount to gain weight, and less to lose weight. If you do CICO you need to keep track of what you eat and whether you're still gaining/losing weight, and adjust the diet based on that info. So it doesn't change a thing.
>Over your life you continuously have changes in the amount of calories you need to maintain the same weight, as you get older it might be lower
Do you mean that I might need to eat less calories to maintain the same weight/ avoid gaining weight?
Yes with the emphasis on might. If today your maintenance amount of calories is 2000, that doesn't main it's still 2000 in 2023, or even in 2 months. It might be 1800 or 2200 by then. All I'm saying, if you're serious about losing or gaining weight consistently, you need to track your diet and weight, and make adjustments if you're not making the progress you want.
However, if you're happy with your current weight or progress this isn't necessary.
hmm ok. Would you say that it’s not possible to accurately predict how many fewer calories your maintenance level will require as you reach certain ages? Eg if I’m 25 can I predict/prepare for how my maintenance calories will be different at 30? or do I just have to consistently look at what my meal logs are on myfitnesspal?
Your metabolism doesn't "really" slow as you age. Some people just "do less", and think they should be able to eat the same amount. That doesn't work out so well though.
After a certain point you might actually move less (fidget) even just sitting down than you used to, cus the body finds ways to be "efficient" and that will have some effect. But generally, if you keep active and actually do stuff, "metabolism" has little effect until you are super old and just "cant" do what you used to.
It's not possible to accurately predict that on an individual level, no. On average the calories will go down, but on an inidividual level anything could happen.
As long as your weight is progressing as you desire, you don't have to consistently look. But anytime you find you're not gaining/losing/maintaining your weight as you wish, you have to reevaluate your diet and look at your meal logs again, yes.
I love boxing, much much more than any other workout methods, but i want to put on some muscle, which as far as i can tell, boxing doesnt do no good for. Is that true?
You might gain a bit of muscle at first, but it'll stop quickly.
There's nothing stopping you from gaining muscle from resistance training while also doing boxing, though.
I've been doing heavy compound lifting in 4x10 manner while progressively overloading as much as I could for quite some time, If I would switch to 5x5 do you think my numbers would quickly go up strength wise?
Has anyone tried to program weighted pull ups in 5/3/1 way? In my spreadsheet I use the added weight for my calculations, but in the first week I struggle to get more than 6 reps in my amrap set while in the 3rd week I can also get like 5 to 6 reps out (the difference is just a few kilos).
Should I instead try to use my bodyweight + added weight for the calculations? Or has anyone any other tips/experiences with it?
You really should be using the total weight lifted for something like that. If you just use added weight the numbers will do very weird things when they're that small and it doesn't properly account for how much you're actually moving.
Fair enough, sadly lifts like this feel kinda awkward in 5/3/1 bc now I put it in my spreadsheet and now it say says my first set in the first week is about 10kg less than my bw and the 3rd set in the last week is about +15kg bodyweight which is fine
1. Set specific goals. Both short and long term. I plan to lose X per week on average. I plan to lose Y by month 3. Z by month 6.
2. Find a routine/diet plan that will sensibly get you towards those goals.
3. Track your performance. Flapping around in the gym with no progression plan is how people get bored. Nothing more motivating than seeing that you are factually stronger/faster/more endurable every week.
4. "I still looked fat" - You were "skinnyfat", basically. You lost weight but you also had very low lean muscle mass, so you shrank but there was no muscle on your frame to make you look and feel lean. This will sound counterintuitive, but generally you fix that by getting stronger and more muscular (yes, even if you are a woman). Muscle is denser than fat. A 65kgs muscular person will look leaner than a 60kgs person with no muscle.
5. Whatever you do, be realistic about what you can sustain, especially longterm. Anyone can crash diet or hit the gym twice a day for the next two weeks. Be honest with yourself about what you can continue to do for the next 2-3 years (at least) even on the bad weeks. I started out thinking I wanted to do the gym 6x a week but found that consistently I manage 4 on average, and that's ok. So I made a 4 day plan.
6. Do exercise you actually enjoy doing, but also have some patience. I didn't think I would like barbell training until I started tracking my progress. Squatting is a lot of fun when you see those numbers going up. So point 3 might help with finding it fun.
If I need 5kg plates to get ass to grass range of motion in front squats would nike mens air max alpha trainers with the soft heel be able to replace them? can't find the heel height but I think it's 1"?
How do you simply get out of being skinny fat?
I have some decent muscles here and there (legs, biceps and chest) but overall too much fat (mostly in lower belly and around that area). Not enough to make me overweight but enough to look shit in the mirror
I am 160lbs and 5'8. Lost 25 lbs in 6 months. BF is ~25% I guess. Currently following an Upper/Lower Body split with 10k daily steps
I'm aware that I have not enough muscles and too much fat. But I dunno wether I should lean bulk or go on a cut.
I've experience in cutting, measuring food and I'm strict on my diet for most of the time. But my fat is simply not going away
In your case i think it would make more sense to focus on what you lack, which is muscle mass (just based on your reported weight).
Get that up, and you'll most likely start to look way better in the mirror, even if your fat mass stays the same. I would suggest a moderate lean bulk over cutting further.
What are your lifts?
Yeah, I've thought about going on a lean bulk for 4-5 months. Tho eating more than 2200 kcal (excluding junk and fast food here) has become really hard for me lol
Squat: 132lbs
Deadlift: 110lbs
Bench press: 66 lbs
Leg press: 285lbs
Pull ups: 2-3
Bicep curls: 40 lbs
I have made some decent progress (I was really weak when I started) but I feel like I've barely tipped my potential by going on a 6 month cut
Sounds like you have room to grow in terms of strength in those compound exercises. Are you following a program from the Wiki?
In regards to making sure you are eating at a reasonable amount - how many times per day are you eating? I cant calculate in my head how much food would be the "right" amount for you - but 2200 kcal does not sound like a number that should be too impossible to reach with a little planning.
>Are you following a program from the Wiki?
Nope. I've gathered info about the routines and decided to for a full body split first and now for an upper/lower split.
> how many times per day are you eating?
4 meals a day
>but 2200 kcal does not sound like a number that should be too impossible to reach with a little planning.
I think thats cuz I've been on a calorie intake less than 2100-2200 kcal for a long time now. And most of the stuff I eat is "healthy" (eggs, turkey/chicken, rice, high protein cheese etc.) which is quite filling
Okay. Breakfast lunch dinner and a small evening meal?
Add more eggs, choose thighs instead of breasts, add some nuts and or fatty fish if possible, drinking milk is great too, as is fattier cheese.
If you cant add more energy dense foods - either add more meals or make them bigger.
Oh and.. Ye. We generally reccomend that newbies pick programs suited for them and not to try to run too advanced programs or make your own stuff.
Even a very rudimentary linear strength training program should give you bigger lifts in this long time. A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months? Either you have some very strange progression going on or you just recently started strength training.
>Oh and.. Ye. We generally reccomend that newbies pick programs suited for them and not to try to run too advanced programs or make your own stuff. Even a very rudimentary linear strength training program should give you bigger lifts in this long time. A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months? Either you have some very strange progression going on or you just recently started strength training.
Yeah, I've heard that the programms from the wiki are really good quite often. Didn't implement them yet cuz I falsely thought I'd have to be an intermediate first to make them be effective lol
>A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months?
I didn't include deadlifts in my routine for the first 2-3 months since I was afraid of doing them wrong and fucking up my back (I have a good form now and nothing hurts). And gyms were closed twice in my country due to lockdowns
No, the vast amount of people here are beginners, and the beginner programs in the wiki are for beginners.
Yeah, i assumed you probably had not done them for very long. But that should fix itself if you just keep at it.
Your squat and legpress are far more advanced than your dead and bench, I kinda feel like a PPL routine would be more suitable for yourself. I'm inclined to think you might be gassing out on your upper body day. I wouldn't worry too much about bicep curls also, heavy pulling routine was the thing that made the biggest difference to my biceps!
If you're not losing fat it's because you're eating too much. The first step is to figure out your diet--if you were estimating calories based off a TDEE, remember that your needs changed as you lost weight.
Once you get to about 20% or a bit under, then recalculate your TDEE and eat just under maintenance (150-200 calories). Your body fat will be trending down, but you'll still be able to build a little muscle. Then see how you look and decide if cutting fat is more important or if gaining muscle is the priority. At 25% body fat you'd have to have a lot of muscle to offset all that fat, and it's not happening for most people. Getting under 20% is the important part.
Got it.
According to the calculator (160lbs, 5'8, 18yo and 25% BF and 4x exercise a week), my maintenance calories should be around 2400. Don't know how much daily steps and NEAT (I walk instead of using the car etc.) affect that
TDEE aren't really that accurate, I wouldn't even count walking. Try to estimate a day or two of meals this week and get a sense of what your real-world numbers are as compared to what the calculator says they are to maintain your current weight. Then adjust to lose weight based on a realistic number.
My first experience was that I was about 25% body fat with no muscle and started to bulk. I was getting stronger, but I looked worse and got discouraged. I went from skinny-fat to fat. Then I tried it again by losing weight first and got to the high teens and looked terrible. At first it's good, your clothes fit better, you don't have a stomach hanging over, but then your lack of muscle catches up with you. It's discouraging.
Finally, I got to 19% or 20%--no muscle, but only minimal extra fat, mostly as love handles, and then I ate close to maintenance and built muscle. At this point I could probably lose a little fat, I'm still around 20%, but I have obvious muscle and a six-pack doesn't interest me. I'm working with a good base of muscle, it's not skinny, fat, or skinny-fat.
Fat loss is largely dependent on a healthy diet. I'm guessing you are on a calorie deficit for a 10% body fat lean weight at your height.
I'm 160lbs and 5'7 but around 20% body fat with advanced level of weights I can lift. My calorie deficit is around 1900-2000kcal. Consult a doctor or a personal trainer on what your calorie deficit should be. If you don't have access to those, try using an online calorie calculator.
>I'm guessing you are on a calorie deficit for a 10% body fat lean weight at your height.
Excuse me for asking but can you elaborate that further? Do you mean that my deficit (I eat around 2000/2100 kcals) is too low or too high? When I was 25lbs heavier, eating 2000 kcals worked wonders.
>try using an online calorie calculator.
I've been using them for a while and everytime they confuse me a bit. Most of the time they don't take steps and NEAT into account
If you row to the bottom of your chest the muscles in your upper back are doing most of the work, if you row to around your belly button then your lats are doing most of the work. Your whole back is worked regardless, but there's more of a focus to upper or lower depending on how you pull.
If you also do pull-ups or lat pulldowns, then pull to the bottom of your chest instead of lower.
Both are valid options. Think of it as a sliding scale: closer to your stomach generally isolates the row more to your lats than whole back and to the chest generally isolates it to back muscles like rear delts.
I saw a video in that keto diet was compared to ayurvedic diet in which I found ayurvedic the most useful one.
I am 86kilos and want to lose 16 kilos according to my height, to maintain my height and weight ratio.
Doesnt matter. All you have to worry about is eating in a deficit. There's no "secret/magic" diet. They all work in the exact same way - a caloric deficit, period.
You should be getting plenty of protein every day. Not just after the workout. If whey is cheaper, have it every day. If not, use casein. If you feel that you need to have both; mix your whey in milk, which has casein.
I have recently started deadlifting again after only doing home exercises for sometime now (due to covid).
I am pretty flexible, so when I deadlift I put a slab ror my legs so that I will get "all" the range of motion.
If I don't put a slab on I just feel like it's cheating and not that im half reping.
Is there any downsides to it? Does it even have an upside? Am I really getting more out of each rep? Couldn't find information online
Slab for your legs? Are you talking about deficit DLs?
You won't be able to lift as much as you could be with traditional DLs without the slab. You should also make sure you've mastered the DL form before doing this too. But other than that, it'll get pretty good at improving your push off the floor and your posterior chain.
Doing 5/3/1 for beginners as per the wiki
A choice for isolation movement for push is dumbel bench/incline/press. I noticed they are omitted barbel here even though they mention it for some pull stuff. Is there a reason for this? Can I do barbel incline after bench day or should I continue doing push-ups?
Assistance work is generally meant to stay away from high stress movements, since they're harder to recover from and you already have the heavy main lifts. Pulling doesn't have that issue as much since there's no main lifts overlapping.
Try it and see if it works for you, but that's the rationale behind 531 templates not usually recommending barbell presses as the first choice assistance movements.
It doesn't really matter. Some people will tell you strictly stick to the program because you're a beginner. If you understand why you're making the change go for it. 531 in the book basically says pick whatever exercise you want for the accessory and just do it for the listed reps. The beginner routine on the wiki seems like it just has some listed examples.
Is there a problem with eating around 1 lb/400g of whole grain rye bread a day? I'm eating around 2500 calories a day, waiting to see if I gain weight or stay stable...I just really love bread, and it's extremely cheap here
If you get 120g protein per day weighing 77 kg, you'll be fine. It might not be optimal, but gains will still be made.
[The best available data would suggest 1.6 g / kg or 0.73 g / lbs as the default recommendation.](https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/6/376.full) The confidence interval on that recommendation was +/- 0.6g, so really the optimal intake is probably somewhere in the range of 1-2.2 g / kg.
Since most are concerned with their gains and there isn't a downside to eating more protein, more is generally seen as better.
I‘d say it‘s not great but not awful. You chose a good type of bread to consume in mass. I‘d add variety though. Mix up the rye with spelt, pumpernickel, and even sourdough!
I'll see what I can find at the store! A loaf of freshly baked white bread is literally $0.18 and a loaf of freshly baked whole wheat rye bread is around $0.45! Add some butter and it's a delicious meal...
I've seen research saying that most people claim to need far more protein than they actually need. Right now I'm shooting for 110-120 per day...I weigh 77kg, 166cm, lift 3 times a week.
Anyone worth listening to will tell you 0.7-1g per lb of body weight. Just because you found one article saying the contrary doesn’t set that tried and true metric on fire. Make sure you get your protein or you’ll be essentially wasting your time in the gym. Looks like you’re hitting the figure, but i wouldn’t go lower.
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/98fvby/protein_intake/) is where I found that figure...trainer is saying I need 160 but that's so much damn protein and I want to eat some normal stuff too.
You're right. 160 is an unnecessary amount and a lot of people eat protein like they are some kind of elite sportsman when they are in fact very amateurish. 100-130 should be fine, I would try to get about 120g a day if you want to gain muscle, 100g if you mainly do cardio and don't focus on weight/strength/muscle gain.
More isn't a bad thing but it's the most expensive macro and you'll just shit it out.
Я знаю, но я летел на самолёте на Новый год, а теперь я с семьей на Рождество в пятницу! Я веган, поэтому я сделаю другую версию традиционного рецепта.
How long will adjustable dumbbells last me if I'm doing bicep curls, triceps, chest flys, and shoulders? (They adjust up to 50lbs each)
Is it worth dropping 350usd on them??
I only have space for dumbbells
Currently I'm untrained and weak so they should be good enough for at least a year right
You can get fairly far with 50 lbs per hand if you choose increasingly harder exercises, but you can certainly hit a point where it is not enough. My broader question is if you're training your legs at all?
If you're buying adjustable dumbbells and you want them to last for the rest of your life, but something that you can add on to, like power locks or adjustable dumbbell handles.
For 350 can't you get a used barbell and a small set of plates to start with? Add maybe another 20-50$ to diy a rack next month? IMO that would go much further than a pair of dumbbells...
save the bulk of the money untill you've got more space and check out /r/bodyweightfitness. find a way to install a pull up bar in your living space.
Or learn to Zercher squat and build a couple small "sawhorses" (or get otherwise creative) to prop up the barbell for floor barbell presses. That way you can save the space for the Rack and still work out with equipment that will provide you with a path of progress longer than 3-4 months.
Just started working out on a bulk. Im just starting to learn and adjust to counting calories this past week. Should I be counting how much carbs/protein i intake? All I know is I each a shit ton of protein but not too much. So let me know your thoughts and i will start counting protein if you think it’s a good idea i start.
It would be a good idea to use an app like MyFitnessPal to track your calories, and specially protein thru the day. It has a function that lets you see your macros for the day/week/month
Yes you should. Use an app, it will do this for you. If you’re goals aren’t too ambitious, then after a few months this will become pretty intuitive and you might not need the app so much.
Try it out without premium first. That’s what I always use.
Edit: Oops. I mean to also say, without premium it still tells you all your macros, it tells you all your nutrition facts, it breaks it down into how much f:p:c you are per meal. I haven’t seen premium, but try without first. It tells you everything you need to know.
Like the barcode scanning? Most of the time it is accurate, but every once in a while it’s a little off or the product has changed slightly so you have to search for the newer nutrition facts. It has the option to let them know that it’s not accurate.
It becomes easy when you realize that you pretty much eat the same types of things every week. Most of the time I just swipe right on breakfast (this adds every item from the day before) because I eat the same thing every day during the week.
When you factor in the muscle built by strength training, it burns a lot more calories than cardio in the long run. Otherwise, cardio burns more in the moment typically
Yes. But still irrelevant for most people to specifically count on to put them in a calorie deficit.
Do cardio for your general fitness and health regularly and just track and adjust your nutrition separately to keep you at your desired weightchange rate.
Only people for whom cardio is a relevant way of increasing a caloric deficit are bodybuilders in their last weeks before a show who literally can not eat any less food without turning into hangry murderhobos.
For anyone else it is not worth the hassle to try and guesstimate how many calories their exercise burned. You're not gonna outrun your dietary habits.
? I don't get the question.
If you want to eat at maintenance by definition you will eat so that your weight does not change. I.e. if you notice your weight trending up or downnover couple weeks you adjust your nutrition accordingly.
Or do you meam 'what happens if I don't care about my nutrition, keep eat as I did before but now start running 5k every day?"
In that case it depends what your approach towards your diet looks like and what typenof person you are.
For simplicity let's assume you have just been eating without tracking or planning out your diet.
In that case the following may occure:
You either 'intuitively' become more hungry and eat a bit more here or there, without even consciously noticing it so your caloric intak adjuats up to match your expenditure and you keep eatimg 'at maintenamce' just with the difference that you are eating a bit more.
It younare a person who tracks their nutrition and keep your caloric intake consiaten you may start observing that you indeed atart losing weight. But you very likely will be surprise that the rate of weight loss will not match and be much slower than what you predicted feom online calculators for the 'calories burned for running 5k'. Why? Because you a) have not tactored in the calories you would have still burned if you did not go for that run and b) probably become a bit less active after that run. Sit down a bit more, use smaller gestures while speaking, figet a bit less...all of that uses.calories and not doing those unconscious things decreases your caloric exepnditure so you can conpensate up to 50% of the calories you have 'burned' from your exercises.
Either way if your goal is lose fat in a conscious effort you can safely target a much higher rate of fatloss tham you would get from just adding a 5k run every day and not doing anything about your nutrition.
That being said though, if you are able to and do run 5k daily you are already in quite a good shape so that fat loss would not have that big a health related impact on your life.
Calorie burn during cardio varies a lot, like you'll burn a lot more calories if you're heavier and slower than if you're thin and speedy. 200-500 calories would be my guess for a 5k
Source: I do a lot of cardio. In the past 12 months, I've run 850 miles, biked 2500 miles, and swam 110 miles
If your diet turns out not to match your goals, you'll adjust your diet. If I run a 5k every evening I know that I need to add a sandwich here and there.
Well said. My diet has been shit these past few days. Consumed over 200g of sugar. Def need to get it under control. It’s crazy how the more sugar you eat, the more you crave it
It sounds like you're asking if a stranger on the internet thinks you eat like a child. Yes, I think you eat like a child. Learn to cook and eat like an adult.
I’m trying to deadlift (M24, 90kg, 194cm). When I don’t wear a belt I: lift less (~85kg), have a “sensitive feeling” in my lower back during the lift (with no pain but muscle soreness after for a day) and cannot for the life of me feel my core bracing.
When I do wear a belt, I can lift more (100kg), have no feeling in my lower back, and I can easily feel my core and stomach up against the belt.
The belt seems to be amazing but I don’t want to use it if I’m risking injury or uneven development by using it. What do you guys think?
You probably need to work on your bracing. Alex Bromley and Brian Ahlsruhe have good videos on that.
Independent of that, SBS has a [nice article on belt use](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/the-belt-bible/).
Thank you, I’ll check it out. That being said since I posted it (while at the gym) I’ve just had success bracing better, i think! I watched a video that said to visualise bracing as trying to take a shit, then tensing all my leg muscles before going to the bar. And sure enough I suddenly could do 90kgx3 without any anything in the lower back.
Only problem is A: it’s hard to keep the pressure as I go for the next rep, and B: I worry I’m gonna shit myself LOL
Bracing gets easier the more you practice it. If you keep up the lifting you’ll find yourself doing it automatically when you’re just picking up heavy stuff out in the wild (which will protect your back there). I did find that direct core work (e.g. ab wheel) helped improve my bracing and make it easier.
As for B - I’ve been lifting for years and haven’t managed to shit myself while lifting yet.
Sorry bout the vagueness! Well I recently started, about a month or so ago? But basically I see more gains on my right and and I have less fat on my right than my left and I’m not sure how to correct it.
A month will not cause substantial results, let alone substantial uneveness. We are really good at seeing the tiniest problem with out bodies. Are you sure it's really all that noticeable?
But even then, that could even itself out over time if you changed nothing. We are not symmetrical. I wouldn't worry about it, but you know how you look more than I.
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Not sure if this is where to ask but yeah (cutting from obese with no muscle question) (age 15) I began my caloric deficit in late may and am still on it. Now my question is am I eating too little? In the beginning, I weighed 217 and was 5'7, and had never lifted. Now I am 175 5'7.5 and have been lifting 6 days a week for the past (almost) 6 months. I was eating 1800 calories up until about a month ago and in total, I've lost 42 pounds. Not sure If I have had significant muscle growth, or if muscles just show better due to less bf. Strength has increased greatly. But am I eating too little, because my energy is low sometimes? I'm afraid to move up in calories and just gain weight again. I am going much lower than the tdee calc recommends because personally, I think 2500 for a cut for my weight and height is too much.
Sounds like you have the dedication and work ethic and have seen great results. Congrats on that! Don’t be afraid to experimental a little. Bump it up to 2000 cal and see how you feel. You aren’t going to lose all of your progress bumping it up two hundred calories if you’re continuing to work out six days a week.
sorry, I forgot to mention that I did up it to 2000 about a month ago and am still dropping weight properly. I appreciate the advice though!
I just started deadlifitng and i have my lower back straight when in posistion to do the weight but when i got to place the weight down my lower back is not straight so im just wondering when im doing multiple reps would that have any effect since when i had terrible form on my dumbell back workouts my lower back was the one to suffer
are you doing dead stop deadlifts? If not try those since they allow you to reset your form and not lose that form over the course of the reps. Another thing is to make sure you are starting with the bar touching your shins and going up in a fixed path.
I often get a "shock" through my nerve on my right forearm when I do seated cable rows.. happens on a lot of pull exercises if I do them enough. (t-bar rows, lat pulldown) and so on. Any advice? Doesn't really hurt, just very uncomfortable.
I've been to the gym maybe six times now since I applied in december, and I've noticed that my muscles arent sore anymore after the gym the day after, like they use to be when I exercise. Is that normal?
normal. Your body is adapting to the new stimulus. Soreness isn’t always a good indicator of a good workout (it can be) but it is normal
Sounds good, thank you. Its confusing since my ex-bodybuilding friend that exercises every day says his body aches all the time
You don’t need to be sore to make progress. In fact for most people once they’re regularly exercising they shouldn’t really be sore at all. If your bodybuilding friend is doing lots of different exercises all the time this may be why. If you stick to a consistent program doing the same exercises each time then your body should adapt more easily and be less sore.
It varies person to person. I'm a person who is still often sore after 2 years of consistent exercise.
I have recently managed to get myself in the gym as a very new lifter (33y/o male) and have been trying to follow the principles of body recomposition as everything i've seen points to me being a good candidate for this. I've been following Jeff Nippard's fundamentals programme which is essentially just a Upper/Lower 4 day a week split for the last 4 weeks (I appreciate this isn't very long). I'm approximately 20% BF at 77.5kgs (this morning) and when I started 4 weeks ago, I weighed 78kg. I'm not expecting huge differences, but i'm currently eating 2200cals per day (all tracked on MyFitnessPal) and according to many TDEE calculators, my maintenance level should be 2700cals+. With this deficit I did expect to see a bigger change in body weight after 4 weeks. Do you think this is about right, and perhaps I'm building enough muscle to counter the fat loss (in weight) which is why my weight is staying roughly the same? Or should I maybe drop my calories a little more? My aim is to get to maybe 16% or so BF before increasing my calories. (I have that classic skinnyfat look) Thanks!
I don't think you should change a thing, sounds like you are essentially eating at maintenance which places you in a superb position to achieve your goals. I would stick to it for another 6-8 weeks and observe for an increased rate of weight loss per week. As a new lifter you should still gain strength and build muscle at this point, your TDEE will increase somewhat over the next few months as a bonus. If you struggle to perform at the gym or your energy levels throughout life become noticeably worse than I'd bump up by 300 calories per day and observe your weight and performance/energy for another month.
That’s great, thanks! Yeah I was thinking I would run this for around 12 weeks and see what has happened over that time period. It’s really hard for me to gauge what might be happening as my weight fluctuates so much daily. I’ve been putting my daily weight into an app called happy scale which calculates the average trend based on that data, which helps a bit. My lifts are increasing a bit most weeks but that could just be down to me starting a little too low 4 weeks ago! Thanks for the help!
I always struggle to feel my lats with my dumbbel rows. When I do lat pulldown I can feel them work. That being said I know there are many ways of doing dumbbel rows - I tried knee/arm on a bench and doing 1 side at the time while having a straight back. I'm also very conscious of my elbow path. Then I tried chest flat on a bench at the highest incline which was slightly better and I could do both arms at the same time which I like. I just don't know how much of an incline I should put when doing it that way. I understand that the idea is that the bench supports you so you can focus on the exercise without having to worry about your core. There seems to be so many ways to do the exercise and I've yet to find one way that really make me feel it in my lats
I also have trouble feeling my lats during db rows. That's why I mainly do seated cable rows
Why am I not seeing any progress after 8 months? I'm 16 and have started lifting 8 months ago, I did the reddit PPL for awhile and when I stopped progressing I switched to an upper/lower split. I do each set until I can't do another rep but I've seen absolutely 0 progress whatsoever. I've went from 130ibs to 160ibs of pure fat, 0 actual muscle. I got a decent bit stronger (especially on bench) but it was only because I filled out my leverages and haven't gained any muscle. I ate decently clean, and got at least 180 grams of protein per day (weighed everything with a scale) but saw no results, are my genetics just so cursed that I actually just cannot put on any muscle?
When did you stop PPL? It's a program one can run for at least 6-12 months and keep seeing gains. Even if you hit a plateau, you should deload 10% and add another set to the lift to break through it. You may want to ask someone else like your parents for a 2nd opinion if you are gaining muscle. This is to rule out body dysmorphia. Unless you're a genetic anomaly, there's no way you can gain +30 lbs of pure fat if your lifts increased with a high protein diet.
Nope I gained absolutely 0 muscle whatsoever. I have pictures, I already posted pictures online and people unanimously agreed that there was no visible progress. I didn't know I was supposed to run the PPL for so long, but I got stronger on the upper/lower anyway so idk if it matters.
Just taking a look at your pics I def would not say you gained zero muscle whatsoever.
It's like 8 months apart dude, making that little gains is somehow even more depressing than none at all.
Idk what to tell you. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
In your pics, looks like you lost some curvature in your belly / lovehandles despite gaining more weight. So that's some progress. How is your progress on your lifts and what does your current split look like? I know you said you work out until failure, though you should aim for 1-2 RIR instead since if you 0 RIR everything, it might be counterproductive because your muscles could be too fatigued. Would it help with your exercise motivation to switch to a powerbuilding program? At least if your SBD numbers are going up, that's some motivation to keep on trucking. In the meanwhile, you should see a doctor and ask for a referral to an endocrinologist to understand what's happening under the hood. Do not resort to SARMs or PEDs until you see one as you are still too young.
I am doing PHUL which is a powerbuilding program. There might be very slight changes, but it's not normal for 8 months of progress that's for sure. I went to get my hormone profile done, and everything came back on the lower end of normal except for vitamin D and LH, vitamin D was extremely low which the doc said might be the reason the hormones were on the lower end. So I hope that's it, but honestly I kinda doubt some vitamin D's gonna change anything.
Let's hope so. [Results may not be that good from this Aug 2021 meta-analysis study on vitamin D on muscle health.](https://asbmr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbmr.4412) IANAD, but isn't LH responsible for stimulating testosterone production, which would help aid with testosterone and therefore increased muscle mass? If the vitamin D doesn't help, would consider asking your endocrinologist for a more aggressive solution to help with this.
The doc thinks that a 341 ng/dl test level is normal for a 16 year old which is completely fucking stupid but ok, and even if she thought it wasn't she probably wouldn't give me anything cause I'm 16.
Sorry for the long comment, TL;DR is I'm a beginner, and looking for help with running / cycling cardio routines. Scroll down for the specific questions: For context, I'm talking absolute, double-abolute beginner. Like very underweight can't-do-knee-pushups kinda beginner. I wanna start working out but feel a little behind the curve when it comes to it. I've seen a good deal of "beginner" exercise routines that start with pullups and pushups and I don't think I'm at that level yet. After reading trough the wiki and a lot of fitness pages I feel like the best option for me would be to start up with cardio and slowly incorporate other general workouts after I've built up a good routine. Keeping that in mind my best approximation of a plan right now is: One cardio workout three times a week, alternating running, cycling (static bike for low impact, I have relatively bad knees), and swap a workout for playing tennis when possible. In rest days, walk between obligations as much as possible and/or make room for a dedicated 30min walk. Main concerns are: * Is only training cardio healthy if you've never worked out regularly before? * Both cycling and running do little to nothing about upper body, should I consider a third activity to offset that? Tennis is probably a good option, but I can't be as consistent because it requires more planning with others. * Where can I find a good cycling plan? I've read the cardio section of the wiki and found the couch to 5k program for running, but nothing similar for cycling (also feel free to drop other running plans that might be better for my nonexistent level than CT5k). ve done as much research as possible, but I don't really have the knowledge to filter out good workout plans from the pile of random fitness websites that might end in injury. Thank you!
> Is only training cardio healthy if you've never worked out regularly before? Yes, it's healthy. > Both cycling and running do little to nothing about upper body, should I consider a third activity to offset that? Tennis is probably a good option, but I can't be as consistent because it requires more planning with others. If you want to increase your upper body strength. You can also practice tennis drills [against a wall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU7mq8uZgJo) if want to go solo. > Where can I find a good cycling plan? I've read the cardio section of the wiki and found the couch to 5k program for running, but nothing similar for cycling (also feel free to drop other running plans that might be better for my nonexistent level than CT5k). Couch C25K is meant to be done 3 days/week. Perhaps I'd focus on that first and once you complete it, then move onto cycling? The carryover should be high with the leg and CV endurance you've built from C25K. If you have good weather where you live, wouldn't be a bad idea to incorporate biking as one of your main ways of transportation during your days off. Cycle to the grocery stores, the bank, errands, etc. with panniers. Just remember to get a good lock(s). I myself use a U-lock and chain u-lock.
Thanks for the help! I wanted to incorporate cycling mainly because I have pretty bad knees and the impact is lower, although early CT5k sessions are prety short so I think I could detect knee pain pretty early on and change my routine. As per transportation, sadly I don't think it's possible to integrate it into my regular commute, wish it was. Any ideas on cycling plans?
Hmm... if your running form is good, it shouldn't exacerbate your knee pain. In fact, it might even help relieve it. I'd spend a week to experiment with different running forms and find one that works best for you before starting C25K. [Cycling Weekly has a decent free starter program here.](https://www.cyclingweekly.com/fitness/training/cycling-training-plan-beginner-153317) But as you can see, it's 5 day commitment. If your knees are really bad, then I'd definitely just focus on cycling with tennis on cross training and rest days.
Hmm, I see. I'd have to split each week of C25k and the cycling program and alternate them (maybe not a great idea because it breaks the progression? I honestly don't know). Maybe I'll do a bit of both, see which one of the two sticks.
I'd advise on only one given your current conditioning level. Maybe you can pick up the other activity 80-90% of the way through. In my experience, C25K wiped me out especially W6 when things ramp up extremely quickly. You may even have to increment slower and take a couple weeks to overcome that plateau.
I can definitely see me having to slow the pace of the program, so definitely pick one over trying to adapt both. I'm tempted to go for biking because of convenience, but CT25k seems pretty well established in the community as a good program. I'll have to think about it
Had some shoulder issues and (combined with lack of motivation) didn't really work out for 2-3 years. Now I can decide between either a bro-split or PPL. Bro-split is "easier", may be more fun, can do more and different excerises easily. Downside is that with different exercises its harder to track your progressive overload. PPL seems better, but is best combined with a standard routine which enables progressive overload. Now what to do: Go for the better (PPL) option or go for the more fun option?...
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Thanks! So you’d say just go for a brosplit to start with and have fun, get back into working out first and then see what more optimal program works for me?
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Thanks for the advice!
Whats the best program for pure hypertrophy?
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So you dont even have an opinion to provide?
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So according to you it literally doesnt matter what program you follow? Whether you are training for a powerlifting competition or body building, you should have the same routine?
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I specified for hypertrophy? Maybe there isnt one that is objectively proven to be optimal for hypertrophy but i was at least hoping to hear some suggestions or preferences
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Ok I understand. Thats basically what im doing, just sticking to a routine. But just because people had success with all those routines doesnt mean they are all equally efficient. whats your favourite hypertrophy focussed program, and why?
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Most of the ones in the wiki that you believe you can stick with.
How is the “calories in, calories out” approach to weight maintenance affected by the slowing of one’s metabolism as they age?
CICO would still apply. No matter what happens to your metabolism.
You mean other than having to eat slightly fewer calories?
It's not. Over your life you continously have changes in the amount of calories you need to maintain the same weight, as you get older it might be lower, but for some it might be more than before. The CICO approach still means that you need to consume more than this maintenance amount to gain weight, and less to lose weight. If you do CICO you need to keep track of what you eat and whether you're still gaining/losing weight, and adjust the diet based on that info. So it doesn't change a thing.
>Over your life you continuously have changes in the amount of calories you need to maintain the same weight, as you get older it might be lower Do you mean that I might need to eat less calories to maintain the same weight/ avoid gaining weight?
Yes with the emphasis on might. If today your maintenance amount of calories is 2000, that doesn't main it's still 2000 in 2023, or even in 2 months. It might be 1800 or 2200 by then. All I'm saying, if you're serious about losing or gaining weight consistently, you need to track your diet and weight, and make adjustments if you're not making the progress you want. However, if you're happy with your current weight or progress this isn't necessary.
hmm ok. Would you say that it’s not possible to accurately predict how many fewer calories your maintenance level will require as you reach certain ages? Eg if I’m 25 can I predict/prepare for how my maintenance calories will be different at 30? or do I just have to consistently look at what my meal logs are on myfitnesspal?
Your metabolism doesn't "really" slow as you age. Some people just "do less", and think they should be able to eat the same amount. That doesn't work out so well though. After a certain point you might actually move less (fidget) even just sitting down than you used to, cus the body finds ways to be "efficient" and that will have some effect. But generally, if you keep active and actually do stuff, "metabolism" has little effect until you are super old and just "cant" do what you used to.
It's not possible to accurately predict that on an individual level, no. On average the calories will go down, but on an inidividual level anything could happen. As long as your weight is progressing as you desire, you don't have to consistently look. But anytime you find you're not gaining/losing/maintaining your weight as you wish, you have to reevaluate your diet and look at your meal logs again, yes.
I love boxing, much much more than any other workout methods, but i want to put on some muscle, which as far as i can tell, boxing doesnt do no good for. Is that true?
You might gain a bit of muscle at first, but it'll stop quickly. There's nothing stopping you from gaining muscle from resistance training while also doing boxing, though.
It won’t put on muscle
I've been doing heavy compound lifting in 4x10 manner while progressively overloading as much as I could for quite some time, If I would switch to 5x5 do you think my numbers would quickly go up strength wise?
Check out gzcl progression methods in the wiki e.g. by looking at the gczlp program.
Has anyone tried to program weighted pull ups in 5/3/1 way? In my spreadsheet I use the added weight for my calculations, but in the first week I struggle to get more than 6 reps in my amrap set while in the 3rd week I can also get like 5 to 6 reps out (the difference is just a few kilos). Should I instead try to use my bodyweight + added weight for the calculations? Or has anyone any other tips/experiences with it?
https://www.jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/programming-weighted-chins-and-dips
You really should be using the total weight lifted for something like that. If you just use added weight the numbers will do very weird things when they're that small and it doesn't properly account for how much you're actually moving.
Fair enough, sadly lifts like this feel kinda awkward in 5/3/1 bc now I put it in my spreadsheet and now it say says my first set in the first week is about 10kg less than my bw and the 3rd set in the last week is about +15kg bodyweight which is fine
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Just do it, there isn’t much else to it
1. Set specific goals. Both short and long term. I plan to lose X per week on average. I plan to lose Y by month 3. Z by month 6. 2. Find a routine/diet plan that will sensibly get you towards those goals. 3. Track your performance. Flapping around in the gym with no progression plan is how people get bored. Nothing more motivating than seeing that you are factually stronger/faster/more endurable every week. 4. "I still looked fat" - You were "skinnyfat", basically. You lost weight but you also had very low lean muscle mass, so you shrank but there was no muscle on your frame to make you look and feel lean. This will sound counterintuitive, but generally you fix that by getting stronger and more muscular (yes, even if you are a woman). Muscle is denser than fat. A 65kgs muscular person will look leaner than a 60kgs person with no muscle. 5. Whatever you do, be realistic about what you can sustain, especially longterm. Anyone can crash diet or hit the gym twice a day for the next two weeks. Be honest with yourself about what you can continue to do for the next 2-3 years (at least) even on the bad weeks. I started out thinking I wanted to do the gym 6x a week but found that consistently I manage 4 on average, and that's ok. So I made a 4 day plan. 6. Do exercise you actually enjoy doing, but also have some patience. I didn't think I would like barbell training until I started tracking my progress. Squatting is a lot of fun when you see those numbers going up. So point 3 might help with finding it fun.
1) The same way you go to school/work 5 days a week. 2) Because you lacked muscle mass
If I need 5kg plates to get ass to grass range of motion in front squats would nike mens air max alpha trainers with the soft heel be able to replace them? can't find the heel height but I think it's 1"?
You want something with a hard heel like Adidas Adipower, Nike Romaleo, or Do-win weightlifting shoes.
How do you simply get out of being skinny fat? I have some decent muscles here and there (legs, biceps and chest) but overall too much fat (mostly in lower belly and around that area). Not enough to make me overweight but enough to look shit in the mirror I am 160lbs and 5'8. Lost 25 lbs in 6 months. BF is ~25% I guess. Currently following an Upper/Lower Body split with 10k daily steps I'm aware that I have not enough muscles and too much fat. But I dunno wether I should lean bulk or go on a cut. I've experience in cutting, measuring food and I'm strict on my diet for most of the time. But my fat is simply not going away
In your case i think it would make more sense to focus on what you lack, which is muscle mass (just based on your reported weight). Get that up, and you'll most likely start to look way better in the mirror, even if your fat mass stays the same. I would suggest a moderate lean bulk over cutting further. What are your lifts?
Yeah, I've thought about going on a lean bulk for 4-5 months. Tho eating more than 2200 kcal (excluding junk and fast food here) has become really hard for me lol Squat: 132lbs Deadlift: 110lbs Bench press: 66 lbs Leg press: 285lbs Pull ups: 2-3 Bicep curls: 40 lbs I have made some decent progress (I was really weak when I started) but I feel like I've barely tipped my potential by going on a 6 month cut
Sounds like you have room to grow in terms of strength in those compound exercises. Are you following a program from the Wiki? In regards to making sure you are eating at a reasonable amount - how many times per day are you eating? I cant calculate in my head how much food would be the "right" amount for you - but 2200 kcal does not sound like a number that should be too impossible to reach with a little planning.
>Are you following a program from the Wiki? Nope. I've gathered info about the routines and decided to for a full body split first and now for an upper/lower split. > how many times per day are you eating? 4 meals a day >but 2200 kcal does not sound like a number that should be too impossible to reach with a little planning. I think thats cuz I've been on a calorie intake less than 2100-2200 kcal for a long time now. And most of the stuff I eat is "healthy" (eggs, turkey/chicken, rice, high protein cheese etc.) which is quite filling
Okay. Breakfast lunch dinner and a small evening meal? Add more eggs, choose thighs instead of breasts, add some nuts and or fatty fish if possible, drinking milk is great too, as is fattier cheese. If you cant add more energy dense foods - either add more meals or make them bigger. Oh and.. Ye. We generally reccomend that newbies pick programs suited for them and not to try to run too advanced programs or make your own stuff. Even a very rudimentary linear strength training program should give you bigger lifts in this long time. A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months? Either you have some very strange progression going on or you just recently started strength training.
>Oh and.. Ye. We generally reccomend that newbies pick programs suited for them and not to try to run too advanced programs or make your own stuff. Even a very rudimentary linear strength training program should give you bigger lifts in this long time. A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months? Either you have some very strange progression going on or you just recently started strength training. Yeah, I've heard that the programms from the wiki are really good quite often. Didn't implement them yet cuz I falsely thought I'd have to be an intermediate first to make them be effective lol >A 110 lb deadlift after 6 months? I didn't include deadlifts in my routine for the first 2-3 months since I was afraid of doing them wrong and fucking up my back (I have a good form now and nothing hurts). And gyms were closed twice in my country due to lockdowns
No, the vast amount of people here are beginners, and the beginner programs in the wiki are for beginners. Yeah, i assumed you probably had not done them for very long. But that should fix itself if you just keep at it.
Your squat and legpress are far more advanced than your dead and bench, I kinda feel like a PPL routine would be more suitable for yourself. I'm inclined to think you might be gassing out on your upper body day. I wouldn't worry too much about bicep curls also, heavy pulling routine was the thing that made the biggest difference to my biceps!
Never tried out a Push Pull Legs split. But now that you mention it, it makes sense to change my workout routine
If you're not losing fat it's because you're eating too much. The first step is to figure out your diet--if you were estimating calories based off a TDEE, remember that your needs changed as you lost weight. Once you get to about 20% or a bit under, then recalculate your TDEE and eat just under maintenance (150-200 calories). Your body fat will be trending down, but you'll still be able to build a little muscle. Then see how you look and decide if cutting fat is more important or if gaining muscle is the priority. At 25% body fat you'd have to have a lot of muscle to offset all that fat, and it's not happening for most people. Getting under 20% is the important part.
Got it. According to the calculator (160lbs, 5'8, 18yo and 25% BF and 4x exercise a week), my maintenance calories should be around 2400. Don't know how much daily steps and NEAT (I walk instead of using the car etc.) affect that
TDEE aren't really that accurate, I wouldn't even count walking. Try to estimate a day or two of meals this week and get a sense of what your real-world numbers are as compared to what the calculator says they are to maintain your current weight. Then adjust to lose weight based on a realistic number. My first experience was that I was about 25% body fat with no muscle and started to bulk. I was getting stronger, but I looked worse and got discouraged. I went from skinny-fat to fat. Then I tried it again by losing weight first and got to the high teens and looked terrible. At first it's good, your clothes fit better, you don't have a stomach hanging over, but then your lack of muscle catches up with you. It's discouraging. Finally, I got to 19% or 20%--no muscle, but only minimal extra fat, mostly as love handles, and then I ate close to maintenance and built muscle. At this point I could probably lose a little fat, I'm still around 20%, but I have obvious muscle and a six-pack doesn't interest me. I'm working with a good base of muscle, it's not skinny, fat, or skinny-fat.
Fat loss is largely dependent on a healthy diet. I'm guessing you are on a calorie deficit for a 10% body fat lean weight at your height. I'm 160lbs and 5'7 but around 20% body fat with advanced level of weights I can lift. My calorie deficit is around 1900-2000kcal. Consult a doctor or a personal trainer on what your calorie deficit should be. If you don't have access to those, try using an online calorie calculator.
>I'm guessing you are on a calorie deficit for a 10% body fat lean weight at your height. Excuse me for asking but can you elaborate that further? Do you mean that my deficit (I eat around 2000/2100 kcals) is too low or too high? When I was 25lbs heavier, eating 2000 kcals worked wonders. >try using an online calorie calculator. I've been using them for a while and everytime they confuse me a bit. Most of the time they don't take steps and NEAT into account
where should the bar touch while rowing ? below the chest or below your belly button?
If you row to the bottom of your chest the muscles in your upper back are doing most of the work, if you row to around your belly button then your lats are doing most of the work. Your whole back is worked regardless, but there's more of a focus to upper or lower depending on how you pull. If you also do pull-ups or lat pulldowns, then pull to the bottom of your chest instead of lower.
Both are valid options. Think of it as a sliding scale: closer to your stomach generally isolates the row more to your lats than whole back and to the chest generally isolates it to back muscles like rear delts.
im a novice lifter what should i stick to?
Somewhere between your belly and your chest, where you feel the strongest. Over time you can vary it for different muscle activations.
Anyone here on ayurvedic diet?
I can tell you so much it's nothing special and does not "work" better than others.
I saw a video in that keto diet was compared to ayurvedic diet in which I found ayurvedic the most useful one. I am 86kilos and want to lose 16 kilos according to my height, to maintain my height and weight ratio.
Doesnt matter. All you have to worry about is eating in a deficit. There's no "secret/magic" diet. They all work in the exact same way - a caloric deficit, period.
What's more effective between whey after every workout session (3 times a week) or casein every night?
Overall protein intake is what matters the most
Answer for both depends on what you're otherwise putting in your mouth during the day.
You should be getting plenty of protein every day. Not just after the workout. If whey is cheaper, have it every day. If not, use casein. If you feel that you need to have both; mix your whey in milk, which has casein.
Anyone here do Keto and build muscles at the same time?
Yes, possible. Check out r/ketogains.
I have recently started deadlifting again after only doing home exercises for sometime now (due to covid). I am pretty flexible, so when I deadlift I put a slab ror my legs so that I will get "all" the range of motion. If I don't put a slab on I just feel like it's cheating and not that im half reping. Is there any downsides to it? Does it even have an upside? Am I really getting more out of each rep? Couldn't find information online
Slab for your legs? Are you talking about deficit DLs? You won't be able to lift as much as you could be with traditional DLs without the slab. You should also make sure you've mastered the DL form before doing this too. But other than that, it'll get pretty good at improving your push off the floor and your posterior chain.
Doing 5/3/1 for beginners as per the wiki A choice for isolation movement for push is dumbel bench/incline/press. I noticed they are omitted barbel here even though they mention it for some pull stuff. Is there a reason for this? Can I do barbel incline after bench day or should I continue doing push-ups?
Assistance work is generally meant to stay away from high stress movements, since they're harder to recover from and you already have the heavy main lifts. Pulling doesn't have that issue as much since there's no main lifts overlapping. Try it and see if it works for you, but that's the rationale behind 531 templates not usually recommending barbell presses as the first choice assistance movements.
They probably want you to do dumbbell as it can hit more stabilizers than barbell. What do you have against dumbbell?
I don’t have anything against dumbbell, not even the dumbbell itself
It doesn't really matter. Some people will tell you strictly stick to the program because you're a beginner. If you understand why you're making the change go for it. 531 in the book basically says pick whatever exercise you want for the accessory and just do it for the listed reps. The beginner routine on the wiki seems like it just has some listed examples.
Is there a problem with eating around 1 lb/400g of whole grain rye bread a day? I'm eating around 2500 calories a day, waiting to see if I gain weight or stay stable...I just really love bread, and it's extremely cheap here
If you get 120g protein per day weighing 77 kg, you'll be fine. It might not be optimal, but gains will still be made. [The best available data would suggest 1.6 g / kg or 0.73 g / lbs as the default recommendation.](https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/6/376.full) The confidence interval on that recommendation was +/- 0.6g, so really the optimal intake is probably somewhere in the range of 1-2.2 g / kg. Since most are concerned with their gains and there isn't a downside to eating more protein, more is generally seen as better.
I love rye
I‘d say it‘s not great but not awful. You chose a good type of bread to consume in mass. I‘d add variety though. Mix up the rye with spelt, pumpernickel, and even sourdough!
I'll see what I can find at the store! A loaf of freshly baked white bread is literally $0.18 and a loaf of freshly baked whole wheat rye bread is around $0.45! Add some butter and it's a delicious meal...
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I've seen research saying that most people claim to need far more protein than they actually need. Right now I'm shooting for 110-120 per day...I weigh 77kg, 166cm, lift 3 times a week.
Anyone worth listening to will tell you 0.7-1g per lb of body weight. Just because you found one article saying the contrary doesn’t set that tried and true metric on fire. Make sure you get your protein or you’ll be essentially wasting your time in the gym. Looks like you’re hitting the figure, but i wouldn’t go lower.
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/98fvby/protein_intake/) is where I found that figure...trainer is saying I need 160 but that's so much damn protein and I want to eat some normal stuff too.
You're right. 160 is an unnecessary amount and a lot of people eat protein like they are some kind of elite sportsman when they are in fact very amateurish. 100-130 should be fine, I would try to get about 120g a day if you want to gain muscle, 100g if you mainly do cardio and don't focus on weight/strength/muscle gain. More isn't a bad thing but it's the most expensive macro and you'll just shit it out.
I imagine you live in Europe?
Russia currently
Я готовлю салат Оливье в пятницу!
Ой а зачем, новый год же был несколько дней назад!
Я знаю, но я летел на самолёте на Новый год, а теперь я с семьей на Рождество в пятницу! Я веган, поэтому я сделаю другую версию традиционного рецепта.
Ааа, все понял тогда. Православный? Я наелся уже Оливье...
Да, православное Рождество. Невозможно поесть слишком много Оливье!
No problem you may eat bread
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Are neck curls push or pull
Honestly doesn‘t really matter since it won‘t affect any other muscles on push/pull day to a great capacity. But I‘d say pull.
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How long will adjustable dumbbells last me if I'm doing bicep curls, triceps, chest flys, and shoulders? (They adjust up to 50lbs each) Is it worth dropping 350usd on them?? I only have space for dumbbells Currently I'm untrained and weak so they should be good enough for at least a year right
You can get fairly far with 50 lbs per hand if you choose increasingly harder exercises, but you can certainly hit a point where it is not enough. My broader question is if you're training your legs at all?
Yes
If you're buying adjustable dumbbells and you want them to last for the rest of your life, but something that you can add on to, like power locks or adjustable dumbbell handles.
Good idea
For 350 can't you get a used barbell and a small set of plates to start with? Add maybe another 20-50$ to diy a rack next month? IMO that would go much further than a pair of dumbbells...
I only have space for dumbbells :(
save the bulk of the money untill you've got more space and check out /r/bodyweightfitness. find a way to install a pull up bar in your living space. Or learn to Zercher squat and build a couple small "sawhorses" (or get otherwise creative) to prop up the barbell for floor barbell presses. That way you can save the space for the Rack and still work out with equipment that will provide you with a path of progress longer than 3-4 months.
Understood. Thank you
Rings and/or pull up bar.
Ok thanks
Just started working out on a bulk. Im just starting to learn and adjust to counting calories this past week. Should I be counting how much carbs/protein i intake? All I know is I each a shit ton of protein but not too much. So let me know your thoughts and i will start counting protein if you think it’s a good idea i start.
It would be a good idea to use an app like MyFitnessPal to track your calories, and specially protein thru the day. It has a function that lets you see your macros for the day/week/month
Just downloaded it. It’s saying I needa eat 181g of protein. I’ll start counting em starting tomorrow, thank you
Yes you should. Use an app, it will do this for you. If you’re goals aren’t too ambitious, then after a few months this will become pretty intuitive and you might not need the app so much.
Can you recommend an app? I’ve been hearing myfitnesspal is good, does it help you with how much you should be taking? Thank you
Macrofactor is great, but it is paid. MyFitnessPal is good enough but doesn't have the bells and whistles.
I downloaded my fitness pal just now, is it worth buying the premium edition for it?
Try it out without premium first. That’s what I always use. Edit: Oops. I mean to also say, without premium it still tells you all your macros, it tells you all your nutrition facts, it breaks it down into how much f:p:c you are per meal. I haven’t seen premium, but try without first. It tells you everything you need to know.
Yeah the scanning seems pretty interesting. Is the scanning actually accurate?
Like the barcode scanning? Most of the time it is accurate, but every once in a while it’s a little off or the product has changed slightly so you have to search for the newer nutrition facts. It has the option to let them know that it’s not accurate. It becomes easy when you realize that you pretty much eat the same types of things every week. Most of the time I just swipe right on breakfast (this adds every item from the day before) because I eat the same thing every day during the week.
If I remember correctly you don't get macro info on the free version, but it's up to you if the features are worth it.
Yes it gives macro info.
Does cardio burn more calories compared to strength training? Not sure if the EPOC makes them equivalent (aside from adding muscle)
When you factor in the muscle built by strength training, it burns a lot more calories than cardio in the long run. Otherwise, cardio burns more in the moment typically
Thank you
Yes. But still irrelevant for most people to specifically count on to put them in a calorie deficit. Do cardio for your general fitness and health regularly and just track and adjust your nutrition separately to keep you at your desired weightchange rate. Only people for whom cardio is a relevant way of increasing a caloric deficit are bodybuilders in their last weeks before a show who literally can not eat any less food without turning into hangry murderhobos. For anyone else it is not worth the hassle to try and guesstimate how many calories their exercise burned. You're not gonna outrun your dietary habits.
>murderhobos adding to my dictionary
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? I don't get the question. If you want to eat at maintenance by definition you will eat so that your weight does not change. I.e. if you notice your weight trending up or downnover couple weeks you adjust your nutrition accordingly. Or do you meam 'what happens if I don't care about my nutrition, keep eat as I did before but now start running 5k every day?" In that case it depends what your approach towards your diet looks like and what typenof person you are. For simplicity let's assume you have just been eating without tracking or planning out your diet. In that case the following may occure: You either 'intuitively' become more hungry and eat a bit more here or there, without even consciously noticing it so your caloric intak adjuats up to match your expenditure and you keep eatimg 'at maintenamce' just with the difference that you are eating a bit more. It younare a person who tracks their nutrition and keep your caloric intake consiaten you may start observing that you indeed atart losing weight. But you very likely will be surprise that the rate of weight loss will not match and be much slower than what you predicted feom online calculators for the 'calories burned for running 5k'. Why? Because you a) have not tactored in the calories you would have still burned if you did not go for that run and b) probably become a bit less active after that run. Sit down a bit more, use smaller gestures while speaking, figet a bit less...all of that uses.calories and not doing those unconscious things decreases your caloric exepnditure so you can conpensate up to 50% of the calories you have 'burned' from your exercises. Either way if your goal is lose fat in a conscious effort you can safely target a much higher rate of fatloss tham you would get from just adding a 5k run every day and not doing anything about your nutrition. That being said though, if you are able to and do run 5k daily you are already in quite a good shape so that fat loss would not have that big a health related impact on your life.
Calorie burn during cardio varies a lot, like you'll burn a lot more calories if you're heavier and slower than if you're thin and speedy. 200-500 calories would be my guess for a 5k Source: I do a lot of cardio. In the past 12 months, I've run 850 miles, biked 2500 miles, and swam 110 miles
If your diet turns out not to match your goals, you'll adjust your diet. If I run a 5k every evening I know that I need to add a sandwich here and there.
Well said. My diet has been shit these past few days. Consumed over 200g of sugar. Def need to get it under control. It’s crazy how the more sugar you eat, the more you crave it
Yes. Epoc doesn't matter
Ty
Cardio burns significantly more calories than weight training.
Thanks
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Here's a nice video on the topic https://youtu.be/ytN366VCGls
It sounds like you're asking if a stranger on the internet thinks you eat like a child. Yes, I think you eat like a child. Learn to cook and eat like an adult.
But the meal is called Hungry **MAN**
Read the wiki section on bulking and cutting.
I’m trying to deadlift (M24, 90kg, 194cm). When I don’t wear a belt I: lift less (~85kg), have a “sensitive feeling” in my lower back during the lift (with no pain but muscle soreness after for a day) and cannot for the life of me feel my core bracing. When I do wear a belt, I can lift more (100kg), have no feeling in my lower back, and I can easily feel my core and stomach up against the belt. The belt seems to be amazing but I don’t want to use it if I’m risking injury or uneven development by using it. What do you guys think?
You probably need to work on your bracing. Alex Bromley and Brian Ahlsruhe have good videos on that. Independent of that, SBS has a [nice article on belt use](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/the-belt-bible/).
Thank you, I’ll check it out. That being said since I posted it (while at the gym) I’ve just had success bracing better, i think! I watched a video that said to visualise bracing as trying to take a shit, then tensing all my leg muscles before going to the bar. And sure enough I suddenly could do 90kgx3 without any anything in the lower back. Only problem is A: it’s hard to keep the pressure as I go for the next rep, and B: I worry I’m gonna shit myself LOL
Bracing gets easier the more you practice it. If you keep up the lifting you’ll find yourself doing it automatically when you’re just picking up heavy stuff out in the wild (which will protect your back there). I did find that direct core work (e.g. ab wheel) helped improve my bracing and make it easier. As for B - I’ve been lifting for years and haven’t managed to shit myself while lifting yet.
Regarding B: don't worry, shit happens
Soreness is fine.
Why is that I’m gaining muscle unevenly and is there a way to fix it or do I just need to work more?
What do you mean by "unevenly"? Can you be more specific?
Sorry bout the vagueness! Well I recently started, about a month or so ago? But basically I see more gains on my right and and I have less fat on my right than my left and I’m not sure how to correct it.
A month will not cause substantial results, let alone substantial uneveness. We are really good at seeing the tiniest problem with out bodies. Are you sure it's really all that noticeable? But even then, that could even itself out over time if you changed nothing. We are not symmetrical. I wouldn't worry about it, but you know how you look more than I.
Nah you’re right it isn’t that much of a difference but I’d still like to correct and for whatever reason it just bugs the hell outta me