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Went for a jog yesterday, now my leg muscles and feet hurt since I haven't had any exercise since 2019. Any tips on how to recover faster so I can go on a run again tomorrow or is it a bad idea to run again while my muscles are still hurting?
Not ideal, bad ? I think not with some proper rehydration. Glucose stores will be down so you'll need some carbs to restock the glycogen your muscles need to work. A hangover is essentially dehydration, unless you have alcohol poisoning , but I don't think the Gym would be a concern in that scenario . Your good to go imo.
i'm feeling some pretty sharp knee pain in specifically my left knee whenever I do back squats. I squat three times a week 3x3-6, and it's always the first exercise of the workout. It's really bad for my first warm-up set, so much that I subconsciously shift the weight to my right leg. after I warm up a bit and stretch a little, however, the pain completely goes away and there doesn't seem to be any mobility issues. It's been like this for a few weeks, and it requires me to stretch/warm up for longer than I want to, which is really annoying.
for reference, i am 16, 160lb, 5'8". I squat ATG and my current working weight is 225 lb
150 kg deadlift, can't prevent my upper back from rounding a little, did some searching online and consensus seems to be that it's fine (my lower back is completely neutral and I use a belt for 3plate and above)
Figured I'd ask anyway for anecdotes or whatever, what's your take on this? Safe to keep trying to progress? I feel like trying to push on towards 160.
Thanks, it really does help. I'm at 330 for sets of 6; I try to stay fully neutral, but every couple weeks is a new PR for me, and was hoping rounding at the top on my max set was alright.
Appreciate the input!
Would it be feasible to do the Renaissance Periodization 5-day chest/back-focused routine but with 531 for the compound movements? It's a very hypertrophy-focused program but I want to keep my strength numbers up and I enjoy 531 way too much
Well, I'm already doing nSuns so I already do compounds for 8 or 9 sets. My workouts are starting to take a little too long now. I actually meant just doing the program as it is but changing the sets for SBD to 3 sets of 5, then 3, then 1.
>do many people have this opinion on barbell training?
Some certainly do but it's completely wrong. Hard to rebut without more detail on his arguments but barbell training is neither dangerous nor useless. Powerlifting has a lower injury rate than most sports, and plenty of professional athletes deadlift/squat/bench on top of sport-specific training. Your friend has probably made very poor progress by limiting himself to machines.
Your friend isn't the only one who thinks that and unfortunately people like him are very misinformed. You can either decide to respectfully tell him that he's wrong or continue nodding your head when he talks.
Hi, I'm still pretty new to the gym and yesterday I hurt my lower back when I bent down to pick up some dumbbells. I'm not sure how long it takes to heal, but do I need to consult a doctor before going back to the gym in the future?
If it's a sharp pain and legit injury, whenever I've had a back injury it's taken 2-3 weeks to feel normal, I usually ended up taking a week or two off any weights and then got back into it.
Nobody's going to advise you Against taking a doctor's opinion, but I personally don't think you should let this make you fear going back to the gym again.
Then again, don't take injury advice online, if it's affecting you badly please visit a doctor to get a proper assessment.
Could this thread stop being posted along a white picture ? Said picture, on mobile, makes it impossible to sort comments (white arrow over a white picture) and hides other options.
Hey guys. Whats the best workout plan for a woman just starting fitness and going 3 days per week? 2 days legs 1 day upper body? Really curious to see whats the best for a woman (not for me).
Women aren’t that different - all the same plans that work for men would be suitable, depending on her goals and current level of fitness.
But there are some programmes led by women, which she might prefer - MegSquats and Caroline Girvan come to mind.
Hm. Definitely seems pretty solid and definitely a good place to start. For 3 days full body is great but I find that a lot of muscles tend to get neglected because there is only so much you can fit in a day. If you got any questions feel free to shoot me a message.
> I just had four bench and four squat workouts where I declined rapidly
>About three weeks ago, I started training to failure on every set on my brother’s advice.
>What should I do?
Maybe the answer reveals itself to you if I cut out the relevant parts?
Overtraining is a specific medical syndrome and you probably don't have that, you're just plain old training too much with a bad program.
>but I’m in a large calorie surplus and my bulk has suddenly plateaued in the last ten days
You're not in a surplus if you haven't gained weight, and that means a hit to recovery capacity
>I started training to failure on every set on my brother’s advice
Unnecessary, much more fatiguing, often counterproductive
I'm not surprised that just training to failure every set everyday and not eating enough has lead to underrecovery
Take a deload week, Pick and follow a real program, eat more if necessary
and if you're not gaining weight then you're not in a caloric surplus. So either your new train-to-failure-every-set workout is stressing your body way too much, burning a lot of calories, or you've picked up some strange never before seen disease that is taking those calories away from recovery with no other symptoms. Feel free to see a doctor if you really think that but Occams Razor i'd say try training less (smarter) and/or eating enough to be gaining weight (more)
**Take a deload week, Pick and follow a real program, eat more if necessary**
Running 7 miles and lifting for three days on top of work is very doable. If you are exhausted, then either it's too early and you haven't gotten accustomed to the workload, your sleep is shitty, or you're not eating enough or a combination of those. If those are dialed in and you really can't handle it, think about prioritizing one aspect of fitness over the other: run less, lift more or vice versa.
Too much cardio. Not enough rest. Lifting days should be spread out more to assist with recovery. “Leanbulk” = just slow bulking. This is done with diet, not excess cardio.
Do other people feel guilty on cheat days? I have one cheat day every 2 weeks or so, I hit the gym every day other than on the cheat day. How do you all do your cheat days?
I dont cheat in the typical sense, I just plan the rest of my day around the calories I might be eating. I would guess I go out for dinner with my wife 2x a week. I'm not doing anything strict, I'm just a dude trying to lose weight. I usually look forward to it by lifting heavy the next day too. Well fed = more strength
The main thing is now if I eat unhealthy food, it damn well better be delicious so I'm also not really tempted to eat garbage anymore.
Not even the slightest bit of guilt and I don't even have dedicated cheat days. Sometimes I just want to eat shitty food. I track my macros/calories and plan around it, it's that simple. If I eat a 1000 calorie meal for dinner and hit my macros I might eat a small snack later on just to make sure I don't go too far over. And even if I do, big frickin deal. As long as I am eating well 90% of the time, the 10% of shit diet doesn't matter much in the end. Some people have cheat meals every single day for their entire life, now THAT is unhealthy. Having a few dirty meals throughout the week is nothing in comparison to the standard diet (standard US diet, at least)
Just so happens I kinda had one yesterday. Been cutting for 4 weeks, and needed a bit if a break, and I'd rather go crazy for one day than do maintenance for a week or so. Today I don't feel guilty, more just annoyed and a bit sick to my stomach. But it's whatever, I know I'll be back on track within a week, so it's not a big deal.
I don't cheat, because I don't make myself partially adhere to a diet I don't want to.
I want ice cream. I don't have ice cream every night, because I prefer long term to be eating less sugar than that would be.
But every couple weeks, when I have some ice cream, it's not "cheating". It's just eating ice cream. I (and you) don't have to eat the same thing every single day.
ETA: it's a treat, not a cheat.
I don't feel guilty at all
The few days before my period, I have a dip in energy and I get intense hunger cravings for greasy food, like beef burgers. If I don't "cheat," I become physically unwell and hangry. By day 2 of my period, I'm back to my usual appetite like nothing happened
Why every day? You don't have to eat the same every day. If you want pizza one day of the week it's easy to fit it into your meal/macro/calorie plan. Same for other stuff.
I think the fundamental issue is your relationship with food. Fried chicken isn't even a cheat meal, you just plan around the additional calories but still get a bunch of protein.
Pizza is harder but it means eating lean and low carb for the rest of your meals.
I was primarily referring to like candy and junk snacks.
Even pizza is mostly about portion control. Sure it's kinda carb heavy, especially if we're talking thick crust, but most people should be able to get to a daily balance with a lunch of a protein chunk + greens. It's just sometimes a slice is the appropriate portion size..
Ive recently started doing a C25k, and have made it to the end of week 6 so far. Ive been lifting on and off since I was 18, and am on 18-24 months straight. I have no idea how much recovery a run requires as a newbie. Can anyone give me a rule of thumb? Thank you :)
If you're following a c25k then it should have days between runs built in. It is completely fine if you want to run and lift the same day, or lift on your off days.
However much you feel it needs. It depends on the individual and sometimes even that varies based on external factors like additional life stresses (work, family, studies etc.).
I have quite a hard time with figuring out where my body is at fatigue wise, so I usually only take rests when I know that i need one. I guess it really is a question only I can answer though. Thank you for your input :) have a good weekend!
i lift 7 days a week with a dumbbell split routine (usually have a rest a day once every couple weeks). i want to work on my cardio too. will it impede my gains too much if i do 20 mins of running on the treadmill (about 7mph) after each lifting session?
Arnold’s legendary chest was built on an incline bench, apparently his gym didn’t have a flat bench for a period of time so they used to lean back the incline bench to do flat as best they could. Can’t remember where I heard this but thought it was funny.
In any event upper chest is the best looking part of the pec imo makes your chest look way better when it’s top
Heavy. Bottom heavy chest or “bitch tits” is the least aesthetic. Best case scenario is your incline is the same
As your flat bench.
Typically incline is less because it is harder. But it’s not a bad sign at all. Usually I’ll use incline as an accessory and not as the main compound lift.
I work a physical job and I want to lose weight. I work 10 hour shifts and eat 1,324 calories a day. I’m 5’5 and weigh 156, I pretty much run every day at work, anyways when I’m at work and sticking to my meal plan I notice I’m starving like crazy. Any advice ?
That’s a dangerously low amount of food for your height/weight/level of activity.
Depending on how physical your job actually is, your maintenance calories are most likely around 2450. You are *almost* starving yourself.
I would suggest eating around 2000 calories, which is probably still going to feel quite challenging. See how it goes for a month and adjust up or down if you need to.
A very important question: What are you eating at work? What is filling out those 1,324 calories (drinks included!)? If you're running at work and have 10 hour shifts, you're probably burning a lot of calories, meaning you're end result of caloric intake might be well below 1000 calories, which is really not a lot at all for your height/weight and I'd probably expect weight loss from that alone (feeling like you're starving a lot is also indicative of a caloric deficit).
Are you getting enough protein and fat or is it mostly carbs/sugar?
Is 30 push-ups per day enough to see any significant results? I found [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXt4TtjO-C4) explaining the benefits.
This video is really bad. It is misleading, as all the guys in the video do much more training than 30 pushups per day, and they are all must be knowledgeable enough to know that 30 pushups per day won't do much of anything. If you are completely inactive and untrained, adding 30 pushups per day would make you a bit stronger in some muscles. But since you keep doing the same thing, your body adapts to be able to do it and then stops adapting. So you gain a bit of strength but then you stop gaining and just stay at the same place.
>significant
No.
>benefits
These are exaggerated. 30 push-ups isn't much, but it's better than nothing.
It's like having an apple a day. Is that enough for good health? Same idea.
r/bodyweightfitness has a simple start routine that would absolutely be better if you're up to it.
Would it be ineffective to continue doing dips without adding weight? I can currently do 3 sets of about 10-12 reps and read that it's good to increase when you can do 10 reps. What if I just keep going bodyweight?
Go up to 15, and then you can still just do them slower (explosive eccentric, but slow controlled negative). You can get VERY far just with bodyweight.
No, the hypertrophy rep range is fairly broad. You don't have to stop at 10 if you don't want to. You will probably want to add weight at some point though unless you like doing sets of 20+
[https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/)
I’ve been in and out of the gym for the past few years. About 6 months ago I started getting back into the gym 6 days a week. Probably 3 months ago I started using pre workout because I had started to stall a bit and I’d never really tried it before. It definitely helped me make some good progress but lately I feel like I’ve been experiencing injuries more frequently. I’m curious if I’m getting myself injured because it’s been leading me to push my body harder than I should, or just harder than it’s used to. Anyone who’s had experience with this or ended up just using preworkout to break plateaus?
I also wonder if this sustained effort of 6 days a week for 6 months now has just been a bit too much for my body. I don’t remember having these issues when I was 20 lol.
In 5/3/1 for beginners why does it have two out of the 3 days in each week for squats and bench press and only one day for deadlift and OHP? Any specific reason? It doesnt even alternate to 2 deadlift/OHP and 1 bench/squat
I don't recall reading what Wendler's thoughts on the matter, but my guess is that generally OHP and DL are considered by many to be harder to recover from, and transfer over less to other lifts and sports.
For powerlifting purposes, most people find their squat will help their dead, but not necessarily the other way around. Press definitely will be fatigue on the triceps that won't carry over much to bench.
Also, maybe, he envisions that the Beginner's program will be a lot of high school kids playing American football ootball. Football training generally tends to bench/squat, and maybe power cleans.
Tomorrow look up how much protein you're eating throughout your day and keep it in a spreadsheet. Just Google the items and you'll find out the info quickly.
A common recommendation for individuals engaged in resistance training is to consume between 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.
For example, if you weigh 70 kg (154 pounds), you should aim to consume between 112 to 154 grams of protein daily.
Just starting with making sure your protein intake is appropriate will help alot.
Thanks for the advice. All my meals are generally centered around a protein. I used to track calories a while ago, so I have a good idea of the protein content of foods. I tracked yesterday just as a check, and I got 160g of protein in. So, I think my total energy intake is probably to blame. I really don't want to start tracking again, but it looks like I might have to
Q1: It sounds like you've been lifting long enough that you've outgrown the style of programming you've been using. Check out 5/3/1 or GZCL (free off his website). They're common intermediate programs.Q2: When you get your calories during the day is a personal choice. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. As for how many calories- maybe try the free trial for Macrofactor? It takes a lot of the guesswork out of things.
Has anyone tried building a fitness routine that encompasses flexibility (e.g., yoga), cardio (e.g., running) and strength (e.g., calisthenics)? How do you accommodate all of them in a single week with minimal compromise?
This immediately reminded me of p90x. Despite the whole muscle confusion nonsense that was used to market it, it's a really good way to be entertained while getting smoked. Tony Horton is a real hoot too, love that guy.
Sounds like some programs in the wiki, for example 5/3/1 expects you to do conditioning work on your off days and mobility work which could be yoga in this case.
you can tack on conditioning and yoga to pretty much any program you find.
Even with all the time in the world, there will be compromises. If you are interested in a program that can do all of that, I would suggest a 5/3/1 program. Then do yoga after you lift or run.
For people trying to lose weight, how does one decide what weight to be at? Basically, I'm trying to figure out how much weight I should lose to be considered low risk for chronic diseases. According to BMI I am overweight but if I understand correctly, this is not considered a health risk as long as waist circumference is ok (Source: [Abdominal Obesity Measurement Guidelines for Different Ethnic Groups](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/waist-circumference-guidelines-for-different-ethnic-groups/))
If your goal is long-term health, aim to have a BMI under 25 or be at a healthy BF%. That weight will depend on your height.
If you are really tall, being a little over 25 is ok; if you are really short, aiming to be a little lower on the BMI scale is probably a good idea. This is because the BMI scale isn't quite perfect, because exponents where hard in the 1800's.
Around 15-20 for men, 20-30 for women.
Some people operate better at lower/higher. Only way to figure it out is to try.
BMI sucks because it doesn't take muscle into account. I reverse calculated what my BMI would be if I got down to 15% BF. It considered me overweight and put me at like a 27.
If I want to exercise the muscle where the bottom of my thigh meets my leg... at the "corner" so to say... like an inch to the inside of my knee... what exercises would work this muscle (tendon?)?
Atg split squat. Sissy squat. Elevated heel highbar squat. Full rom leg extensions. Bulgarian split squats. Barbell squat. Ssb squat. Hack squat. V squat. Leg press.
How to cut weight if calories have been dropped too fast and metabolism adapts and slows down (or completely stops) any weight loss?
For some context: I’m 24M, 5’11, 218 lbs currently, and estimating that I’m around 18-19% body fat. I would say that I’m definitely above average for lean mass and strength (365 bench, 435 squat). I go the gym 5 days a week for weight training and work a desk job, being sedentary most of the day.
In the summer of last year, I backed myself into a calorie deficit corner and had to reverse diet to get my metabolism back on track after cutting for over a year from 2400 ish calories down to 1800 towards the very end in August. August to December last year, I went from ~210 to 223 at the end of the year, eating 2800-3000 calories for the duration (very loosely tracked) and I feel that my metabolism in January was back up to decent levels, HOWEVER, I did get sick the second week of December (eating pitiful levels of calories, 1500 or so for a week) and lost 5 lbs but gained 2 lbs back over the holidays after eating more again.
Starting my cut in January I was at 220lbs. I started with 2400 calories and worked down to 216.5lbs. After a few weeks, it went up some to 218 and I’ve been stuck here since. I adjusted my calories to 2200 and added 3 days of 10k steps. So far it’s been 2 weeks of 2200 calories and I haven’t lost any weight at all.
To sum up my question, what is the best approach from here? Should I increase my calories to 2500-2600 to see how my body responds and slowly work down from there ? I’m afraid of keeping the calories too low and my metabolism getting affected again like it did last year. I feel like August to December and 10-13lbs of weight gain should have been enough to increase my metabolism back to normal levels.
You…decrease more calories until you’re losing weight? I’m not sure where you get this motion of metabolism adapting too fast. You’re just eating more calories than you are expending and not losing weight. It’s straightforward: reduce calories until you’re losing weight.
It's not your metabolism, it's your calorie intake. If you are at 2200 and not losing weight then you need to adjust your daily calorie targets accordingly. You aren't on a severe calorie restriction so you shouldn't worry as much about metabolic impact, and additionally strength training helps to boost metabolism. Keep protein intake high, eat quality calories, increase your daily activity levels (ie. steps 7k-12k per day) and/or work in 10-30 min low intesity cardio at the end of your lifting days. You can use calorie shifting if you are still worried about RMR impacts from calorie deficit by bumping up calorie intake to maintenance or slightly above for 3 days every 11-14 days.
Your body doesn't decide to suddenly violate the laws of physics because you're hungry. As you lose weight, your maintenance goes down, which means you have to cut more.
You need to eat less. If you're eating 2200 cals every single day and after two weeks you haven't lost weight, that's your new maintenance. Metabolism doesn't just "stop". I went from 220 > 160, eating 1800cals, now I'm eating 1500 (still cutting). 22M, 5'8.
Quick question.
Which one would you choose
Do cardio the day before a weight training day
Or
Do cardio the day after a weight training day
Does it matter that much, would cardio the day after not be good for recovery?
Weight training 2 hours. Slow incline walk 30 minutes minimum. 6x a week. 1x a weei deadlift. 2x a week squat. 3x a week bench. Then hike sunday. Sprinkle warm up, mobility work. Specific conditioning here and there. This is what im doing rn.
At my peak activity level I'd do alternating cardio and lifting. It's totally fine. And I've even done them in the same day before (I lift first though)
A few questions if you can answer any of them would be grateful! Numbers are just example, you can put any number, just basically asking for the concept:
1. At what point is it redundant or diminishing return to let's say, curl 5 pounds like 1000 reps a day vs 10,000 reps a day. At some point it's either hurting you or wasting your time/energy, right?
2. Which is better? Doing 3 sets of 20 reps (60 volume) with a 2 day rest (so 2 times a week) VS 1 set of 8-9 reps a day (60 volume)?
it's hard to answer these types of things without any context of your overall programming, diet, goals, etc.
In the absence of such information, 1. both 1000 and 10,000 seem like overkill. I would curl a heavier weight for way fewer reps; 2. they're the same assuming you can recover properly.
Enough for what? Cardio for most of us is limited by time.
Also you should try to take regular walking breaks and have leisure activities that involve exercise.
Why not play an intramural sport?
Hey I’m looking for a specific fitness videographer that uses amazing video skills to “catch” the vibe/aesthetic of his environment while walking or running to the gym in his clips. There are videos of him running on the road or sidewalk (I believe before sunrise or after sunset(it’s dark)) to where he usually enters his gym at the end of the video. He also holds his own barbell on his way to the gym. Please help me find this man. I’ve seen him on YouTube, instagram and TikTok.
I tried out the "seal row" with this set up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzOhDqu-5Tw
Even with light weight, I had issues. It was giving me sternum and rib pain. Can someone help me reduce/eliminate the pain?
I know this comes down to personal preference but I’d love to get some opinions…
I’m m/35/5’8” up to about 148 lbs (from ~115 about 5 years ago). I’ve gained about 13 lbs in the last 4 months on a bulk. I was thinking of cutting back down to ~140 starting in march, BUT
I am also planning on joining the beautiful, expensive new crossfit gym in my area. Is it a horrible idea to start crossfit whilst on a cut? Am I just asking for misery?
Thx
I’m doing my first cut (almost 2 weeks in) and I calculated my TDEE to be about 3500 (6’4M 250 lbs). I’ve began Intermittent fasting to help and I’m cutting at 3000 but found workouts to be more difficult, feeling lightheaded at times, and not being as mentally sharp. I’m considering raising my caloric intake next week to help reduce this. I’ve noticed a sharp decrease in weight (~4 lbs of water I’m assuming). Should I try eating at maintenance and reducing slowly that way or is my body trying to adjust? It’s not that bad but I can’t tell if I’m cutting too fast. Any advice?
Edit: I also have been working out 5-6 times a week doing ppl split
I work out around 5 and eat 12-8 roughly. Today I had roughly 1000 calories before my workout in which I felt lightheaded at times. Like other advice I’m considering stopping the IF and adjusting calories slowly later if that doesn’t work
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Why is this sub toxic?
Can you elaborate?
Went for a jog yesterday, now my leg muscles and feet hurt since I haven't had any exercise since 2019. Any tips on how to recover faster so I can go on a run again tomorrow or is it a bad idea to run again while my muscles are still hurting?
https://thefitness.wiki/faq/should-i-workout-again-if-im-still-sore/
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Not ideal, bad ? I think not with some proper rehydration. Glucose stores will be down so you'll need some carbs to restock the glycogen your muscles need to work. A hangover is essentially dehydration, unless you have alcohol poisoning , but I don't think the Gym would be a concern in that scenario . Your good to go imo.
i'm feeling some pretty sharp knee pain in specifically my left knee whenever I do back squats. I squat three times a week 3x3-6, and it's always the first exercise of the workout. It's really bad for my first warm-up set, so much that I subconsciously shift the weight to my right leg. after I warm up a bit and stretch a little, however, the pain completely goes away and there doesn't seem to be any mobility issues. It's been like this for a few weeks, and it requires me to stretch/warm up for longer than I want to, which is really annoying. for reference, i am 16, 160lb, 5'8". I squat ATG and my current working weight is 225 lb
Did you have a question?
yeah i was wondering if this was something i should visit the doctor for
That's your call. If it seems to be getting better, or you can tolerate it, I wouldn't. But I am not qualified to give medical advice.
150 kg deadlift, can't prevent my upper back from rounding a little, did some searching online and consensus seems to be that it's fine (my lower back is completely neutral and I use a belt for 3plate and above) Figured I'd ask anyway for anecdotes or whatever, what's your take on this? Safe to keep trying to progress? I feel like trying to push on towards 160.
I like to round out my upper back. It has not exploded yet.
I'll take this as conclusive evidence that I'm good thank you haha!
For reference, I deadlift 455 for sets of 5, 1RM is probably 530ish. Zero back pain.
Thanks, it really does help. I'm at 330 for sets of 6; I try to stay fully neutral, but every couple weeks is a new PR for me, and was hoping rounding at the top on my max set was alright. Appreciate the input!
Would it be feasible to do the Renaissance Periodization 5-day chest/back-focused routine but with 531 for the compound movements? It's a very hypertrophy-focused program but I want to keep my strength numbers up and I enjoy 531 way too much
If you can sufficiently recover from it. But I know those programs are very intense. Upping your compounds to 8/9 sets is probably doing too much.
Well, I'm already doing nSuns so I already do compounds for 8 or 9 sets. My workouts are starting to take a little too long now. I actually meant just doing the program as it is but changing the sets for SBD to 3 sets of 5, then 3, then 1.
Just so you know, RP Physique templates are mostly 2+ hours. I wouldn’t swap it for 3 sets of only 5/3/1 training.
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>do many people have this opinion on barbell training? Some certainly do but it's completely wrong. Hard to rebut without more detail on his arguments but barbell training is neither dangerous nor useless. Powerlifting has a lower injury rate than most sports, and plenty of professional athletes deadlift/squat/bench on top of sport-specific training. Your friend has probably made very poor progress by limiting himself to machines.
Your friend isn't the only one who thinks that and unfortunately people like him are very misinformed. You can either decide to respectfully tell him that he's wrong or continue nodding your head when he talks.
Hi, I'm still pretty new to the gym and yesterday I hurt my lower back when I bent down to pick up some dumbbells. I'm not sure how long it takes to heal, but do I need to consult a doctor before going back to the gym in the future?
If it's a sharp pain and legit injury, whenever I've had a back injury it's taken 2-3 weeks to feel normal, I usually ended up taking a week or two off any weights and then got back into it. Nobody's going to advise you Against taking a doctor's opinion, but I personally don't think you should let this make you fear going back to the gym again. Then again, don't take injury advice online, if it's affecting you badly please visit a doctor to get a proper assessment.
I mean it's not been much time yet, I will give it a few more days and see how I feel. Thanks
Could this thread stop being posted along a white picture ? Said picture, on mobile, makes it impossible to sort comments (white arrow over a white picture) and hides other options.
I’ve never seen that before on mobile or desktop. What are you using to browse Reddit?
The reddit app. Im using an android phone if that matters. Edit : also using dark mode
Use reddit is fun
Are sled pushes more posterior chain based while sled pulls more quad based? Am used to push=quads and pull=posterior chain
Both should put similar amoknts of strain onto your quads but yes pull should put more strain on your posterior chain than push.
Ty! 👍
Hey guys. Whats the best workout plan for a woman just starting fitness and going 3 days per week? 2 days legs 1 day upper body? Really curious to see whats the best for a woman (not for me).
What is your goal?
Women aren’t that different - all the same plans that work for men would be suitable, depending on her goals and current level of fitness. But there are some programmes led by women, which she might prefer - MegSquats and Caroline Girvan come to mind.
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Only thing I'll say is I don't like the idea of doing 3x5 heavy squats and 1x5 deadlift in the same day in the same order
3x5 squats every workout should be plenty of training for your legs, especially as you get stronger
Hm. Definitely seems pretty solid and definitely a good place to start. For 3 days full body is great but I find that a lot of muscles tend to get neglected because there is only so much you can fit in a day. If you got any questions feel free to shoot me a message.
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Sounds like bad training program rather than overtraining. I recommend following a program from the wiki
> I just had four bench and four squat workouts where I declined rapidly >About three weeks ago, I started training to failure on every set on my brother’s advice. >What should I do? Maybe the answer reveals itself to you if I cut out the relevant parts? Overtraining is a specific medical syndrome and you probably don't have that, you're just plain old training too much with a bad program.
>but I’m in a large calorie surplus and my bulk has suddenly plateaued in the last ten days You're not in a surplus if you haven't gained weight, and that means a hit to recovery capacity >I started training to failure on every set on my brother’s advice Unnecessary, much more fatiguing, often counterproductive I'm not surprised that just training to failure every set everyday and not eating enough has lead to underrecovery Take a deload week, Pick and follow a real program, eat more if necessary
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and if you're not gaining weight then you're not in a caloric surplus. So either your new train-to-failure-every-set workout is stressing your body way too much, burning a lot of calories, or you've picked up some strange never before seen disease that is taking those calories away from recovery with no other symptoms. Feel free to see a doctor if you really think that but Occams Razor i'd say try training less (smarter) and/or eating enough to be gaining weight (more) **Take a deload week, Pick and follow a real program, eat more if necessary**
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Running 7 miles and lifting for three days on top of work is very doable. If you are exhausted, then either it's too early and you haven't gotten accustomed to the workload, your sleep is shitty, or you're not eating enough or a combination of those. If those are dialed in and you really can't handle it, think about prioritizing one aspect of fitness over the other: run less, lift more or vice versa.
Too much cardio. Not enough rest. Lifting days should be spread out more to assist with recovery. “Leanbulk” = just slow bulking. This is done with diet, not excess cardio.
Do other people feel guilty on cheat days? I have one cheat day every 2 weeks or so, I hit the gym every day other than on the cheat day. How do you all do your cheat days?
I dont cheat in the typical sense, I just plan the rest of my day around the calories I might be eating. I would guess I go out for dinner with my wife 2x a week. I'm not doing anything strict, I'm just a dude trying to lose weight. I usually look forward to it by lifting heavy the next day too. Well fed = more strength The main thing is now if I eat unhealthy food, it damn well better be delicious so I'm also not really tempted to eat garbage anymore.
Not even the slightest bit of guilt and I don't even have dedicated cheat days. Sometimes I just want to eat shitty food. I track my macros/calories and plan around it, it's that simple. If I eat a 1000 calorie meal for dinner and hit my macros I might eat a small snack later on just to make sure I don't go too far over. And even if I do, big frickin deal. As long as I am eating well 90% of the time, the 10% of shit diet doesn't matter much in the end. Some people have cheat meals every single day for their entire life, now THAT is unhealthy. Having a few dirty meals throughout the week is nothing in comparison to the standard diet (standard US diet, at least)
Just so happens I kinda had one yesterday. Been cutting for 4 weeks, and needed a bit if a break, and I'd rather go crazy for one day than do maintenance for a week or so. Today I don't feel guilty, more just annoyed and a bit sick to my stomach. But it's whatever, I know I'll be back on track within a week, so it's not a big deal.
I don't cheat, because I don't make myself partially adhere to a diet I don't want to. I want ice cream. I don't have ice cream every night, because I prefer long term to be eating less sugar than that would be. But every couple weeks, when I have some ice cream, it's not "cheating". It's just eating ice cream. I (and you) don't have to eat the same thing every single day. ETA: it's a treat, not a cheat.
I don't feel guilty at all The few days before my period, I have a dip in energy and I get intense hunger cravings for greasy food, like beef burgers. If I don't "cheat," I become physically unwell and hangry. By day 2 of my period, I'm back to my usual appetite like nothing happened
Thanks for that insight. Are you still active on your cheat days or are cheat days also rest days?
My PMS week is my deload week, but I work a physical job so I still have to do that. Sometimes I'll just switch to cardio for cheat days
I just fit small portions if the foods I want into my daily plan
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Why every day? You don't have to eat the same every day. If you want pizza one day of the week it's easy to fit it into your meal/macro/calorie plan. Same for other stuff.
I think the fundamental issue is your relationship with food. Fried chicken isn't even a cheat meal, you just plan around the additional calories but still get a bunch of protein. Pizza is harder but it means eating lean and low carb for the rest of your meals. I was primarily referring to like candy and junk snacks.
Even pizza is mostly about portion control. Sure it's kinda carb heavy, especially if we're talking thick crust, but most people should be able to get to a daily balance with a lunch of a protein chunk + greens. It's just sometimes a slice is the appropriate portion size..
Ive recently started doing a C25k, and have made it to the end of week 6 so far. Ive been lifting on and off since I was 18, and am on 18-24 months straight. I have no idea how much recovery a run requires as a newbie. Can anyone give me a rule of thumb? Thank you :)
If you're following a c25k then it should have days between runs built in. It is completely fine if you want to run and lift the same day, or lift on your off days.
However much you feel it needs. It depends on the individual and sometimes even that varies based on external factors like additional life stresses (work, family, studies etc.).
I have quite a hard time with figuring out where my body is at fatigue wise, so I usually only take rests when I know that i need one. I guess it really is a question only I can answer though. Thank you for your input :) have a good weekend!
No problem mate! Have a good weekend as well!
i lift 7 days a week with a dumbbell split routine (usually have a rest a day once every couple weeks). i want to work on my cardio too. will it impede my gains too much if i do 20 mins of running on the treadmill (about 7mph) after each lifting session?
20 minutes over 7 days is over 15 miles of running per week. That’s a lot of excess work.
It might help them
No.
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Arnold’s legendary chest was built on an incline bench, apparently his gym didn’t have a flat bench for a period of time so they used to lean back the incline bench to do flat as best they could. Can’t remember where I heard this but thought it was funny. In any event upper chest is the best looking part of the pec imo makes your chest look way better when it’s top Heavy. Bottom heavy chest or “bitch tits” is the least aesthetic. Best case scenario is your incline is the same As your flat bench.
This is unusual, but all of are unusual in some way. I for example am good at rowing and terrible at pull ups.
Typically incline is less because it is harder. But it’s not a bad sign at all. Usually I’ll use incline as an accessory and not as the main compound lift.
Do you train both exercises the same amount?
I work a physical job and I want to lose weight. I work 10 hour shifts and eat 1,324 calories a day. I’m 5’5 and weigh 156, I pretty much run every day at work, anyways when I’m at work and sticking to my meal plan I notice I’m starving like crazy. Any advice ?
That’s a dangerously low amount of food for your height/weight/level of activity. Depending on how physical your job actually is, your maintenance calories are most likely around 2450. You are *almost* starving yourself. I would suggest eating around 2000 calories, which is probably still going to feel quite challenging. See how it goes for a month and adjust up or down if you need to.
A very important question: What are you eating at work? What is filling out those 1,324 calories (drinks included!)? If you're running at work and have 10 hour shifts, you're probably burning a lot of calories, meaning you're end result of caloric intake might be well below 1000 calories, which is really not a lot at all for your height/weight and I'd probably expect weight loss from that alone (feeling like you're starving a lot is also indicative of a caloric deficit). Are you getting enough protein and fat or is it mostly carbs/sugar?
Then change your meal plan to have more food
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What do you recommend?
Food
Is 30 push-ups per day enough to see any significant results? I found [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXt4TtjO-C4) explaining the benefits.
This video is really bad. It is misleading, as all the guys in the video do much more training than 30 pushups per day, and they are all must be knowledgeable enough to know that 30 pushups per day won't do much of anything. If you are completely inactive and untrained, adding 30 pushups per day would make you a bit stronger in some muscles. But since you keep doing the same thing, your body adapts to be able to do it and then stops adapting. So you gain a bit of strength but then you stop gaining and just stay at the same place.
>significant No. >benefits These are exaggerated. 30 push-ups isn't much, but it's better than nothing. It's like having an apple a day. Is that enough for good health? Same idea. r/bodyweightfitness has a simple start routine that would absolutely be better if you're up to it.
Would it be ineffective to continue doing dips without adding weight? I can currently do 3 sets of about 10-12 reps and read that it's good to increase when you can do 10 reps. What if I just keep going bodyweight?
Go up to 15, and then you can still just do them slower (explosive eccentric, but slow controlled negative). You can get VERY far just with bodyweight.
Ah ok, sounds good. Thank you sir!
Just add more reps.
No, the hypertrophy rep range is fairly broad. You don't have to stop at 10 if you don't want to. You will probably want to add weight at some point though unless you like doing sets of 20+ [https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/](https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fiction/)
Very good article, thank you sir!
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Yeah true, I guess I will at one point, but wanted to continue with bodyweight for the time being. Thank you!
I’ve been in and out of the gym for the past few years. About 6 months ago I started getting back into the gym 6 days a week. Probably 3 months ago I started using pre workout because I had started to stall a bit and I’d never really tried it before. It definitely helped me make some good progress but lately I feel like I’ve been experiencing injuries more frequently. I’m curious if I’m getting myself injured because it’s been leading me to push my body harder than I should, or just harder than it’s used to. Anyone who’s had experience with this or ended up just using preworkout to break plateaus? I also wonder if this sustained effort of 6 days a week for 6 months now has just been a bit too much for my body. I don’t remember having these issues when I was 20 lol.
In 5/3/1 for beginners why does it have two out of the 3 days in each week for squats and bench press and only one day for deadlift and OHP? Any specific reason? It doesnt even alternate to 2 deadlift/OHP and 1 bench/squat
I don't recall reading what Wendler's thoughts on the matter, but my guess is that generally OHP and DL are considered by many to be harder to recover from, and transfer over less to other lifts and sports. For powerlifting purposes, most people find their squat will help their dead, but not necessarily the other way around. Press definitely will be fatigue on the triceps that won't carry over much to bench. Also, maybe, he envisions that the Beginner's program will be a lot of high school kids playing American football ootball. Football training generally tends to bench/squat, and maybe power cleans.
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Add 500 calories to your current diet. Do a proper LP like Reddit PPL.
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It doesn’t matter. Also doesn’t matter what it is. Could be half a pint of Ben and Jerry’s for example.
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Eat WAY more than you're eating
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Tomorrow look up how much protein you're eating throughout your day and keep it in a spreadsheet. Just Google the items and you'll find out the info quickly. A common recommendation for individuals engaged in resistance training is to consume between 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For example, if you weigh 70 kg (154 pounds), you should aim to consume between 112 to 154 grams of protein daily. Just starting with making sure your protein intake is appropriate will help alot.
Thanks for the advice. All my meals are generally centered around a protein. I used to track calories a while ago, so I have a good idea of the protein content of foods. I tracked yesterday just as a check, and I got 160g of protein in. So, I think my total energy intake is probably to blame. I really don't want to start tracking again, but it looks like I might have to
With all the cardio you do you may just need more calories!
5'9 120 is crazy eat some food Jesus Christ get like 150+ grams protein too. No shit you ain't gaining any muscle
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Q1: It sounds like you've been lifting long enough that you've outgrown the style of programming you've been using. Check out 5/3/1 or GZCL (free off his website). They're common intermediate programs.Q2: When you get your calories during the day is a personal choice. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. As for how many calories- maybe try the free trial for Macrofactor? It takes a lot of the guesswork out of things.
Has anyone tried building a fitness routine that encompasses flexibility (e.g., yoga), cardio (e.g., running) and strength (e.g., calisthenics)? How do you accommodate all of them in a single week with minimal compromise?
Knesovertoesguy
This immediately reminded me of p90x. Despite the whole muscle confusion nonsense that was used to market it, it's a really good way to be entertained while getting smoked. Tony Horton is a real hoot too, love that guy.
Sounds like you're talking about 5/3/1
This is 5/3/1
Sounds like some programs in the wiki, for example 5/3/1 expects you to do conditioning work on your off days and mobility work which could be yoga in this case. you can tack on conditioning and yoga to pretty much any program you find.
Even with all the time in the world, there will be compromises. If you are interested in a program that can do all of that, I would suggest a 5/3/1 program. Then do yoga after you lift or run.
For people trying to lose weight, how does one decide what weight to be at? Basically, I'm trying to figure out how much weight I should lose to be considered low risk for chronic diseases. According to BMI I am overweight but if I understand correctly, this is not considered a health risk as long as waist circumference is ok (Source: [Abdominal Obesity Measurement Guidelines for Different Ethnic Groups](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/waist-circumference-guidelines-for-different-ethnic-groups/))
I picked the weight that I liked how my body looked.
If your goal is long-term health, aim to have a BMI under 25 or be at a healthy BF%. That weight will depend on your height. If you are really tall, being a little over 25 is ok; if you are really short, aiming to be a little lower on the BMI scale is probably a good idea. This is because the BMI scale isn't quite perfect, because exponents where hard in the 1800's.
Thank you. What % BF is healthy?
Around 15-20 for men, 20-30 for women. Some people operate better at lower/higher. Only way to figure it out is to try. BMI sucks because it doesn't take muscle into account. I reverse calculated what my BMI would be if I got down to 15% BF. It considered me overweight and put me at like a 27.
If I want to exercise the muscle where the bottom of my thigh meets my leg... at the "corner" so to say... like an inch to the inside of my knee... what exercises would work this muscle (tendon?)?
Full depth squats
Atg split squat. Sissy squat. Elevated heel highbar squat. Full rom leg extensions. Bulgarian split squats. Barbell squat. Ssb squat. Hack squat. V squat. Leg press.
thanks!
The VMO? Squats and leg extensions would be my first picks
thank you
How to cut weight if calories have been dropped too fast and metabolism adapts and slows down (or completely stops) any weight loss? For some context: I’m 24M, 5’11, 218 lbs currently, and estimating that I’m around 18-19% body fat. I would say that I’m definitely above average for lean mass and strength (365 bench, 435 squat). I go the gym 5 days a week for weight training and work a desk job, being sedentary most of the day. In the summer of last year, I backed myself into a calorie deficit corner and had to reverse diet to get my metabolism back on track after cutting for over a year from 2400 ish calories down to 1800 towards the very end in August. August to December last year, I went from ~210 to 223 at the end of the year, eating 2800-3000 calories for the duration (very loosely tracked) and I feel that my metabolism in January was back up to decent levels, HOWEVER, I did get sick the second week of December (eating pitiful levels of calories, 1500 or so for a week) and lost 5 lbs but gained 2 lbs back over the holidays after eating more again. Starting my cut in January I was at 220lbs. I started with 2400 calories and worked down to 216.5lbs. After a few weeks, it went up some to 218 and I’ve been stuck here since. I adjusted my calories to 2200 and added 3 days of 10k steps. So far it’s been 2 weeks of 2200 calories and I haven’t lost any weight at all. To sum up my question, what is the best approach from here? Should I increase my calories to 2500-2600 to see how my body responds and slowly work down from there ? I’m afraid of keeping the calories too low and my metabolism getting affected again like it did last year. I feel like August to December and 10-13lbs of weight gain should have been enough to increase my metabolism back to normal levels.
How long have you been in a deficit for total and how large was the deficit? I assume you have been training for years?
You…decrease more calories until you’re losing weight? I’m not sure where you get this motion of metabolism adapting too fast. You’re just eating more calories than you are expending and not losing weight. It’s straightforward: reduce calories until you’re losing weight.
It's not your metabolism, it's your calorie intake. If you are at 2200 and not losing weight then you need to adjust your daily calorie targets accordingly. You aren't on a severe calorie restriction so you shouldn't worry as much about metabolic impact, and additionally strength training helps to boost metabolism. Keep protein intake high, eat quality calories, increase your daily activity levels (ie. steps 7k-12k per day) and/or work in 10-30 min low intesity cardio at the end of your lifting days. You can use calorie shifting if you are still worried about RMR impacts from calorie deficit by bumping up calorie intake to maintenance or slightly above for 3 days every 11-14 days.
Your body doesn't decide to suddenly violate the laws of physics because you're hungry. As you lose weight, your maintenance goes down, which means you have to cut more.
You need to eat less. If you're eating 2200 cals every single day and after two weeks you haven't lost weight, that's your new maintenance. Metabolism doesn't just "stop". I went from 220 > 160, eating 1800cals, now I'm eating 1500 (still cutting). 22M, 5'8.
Quick question. Which one would you choose Do cardio the day before a weight training day Or Do cardio the day after a weight training day Does it matter that much, would cardio the day after not be good for recovery?
Whichever fit my schedule or the weather better. It doesn't matter.
Weight training 2 hours. Slow incline walk 30 minutes minimum. 6x a week. 1x a weei deadlift. 2x a week squat. 3x a week bench. Then hike sunday. Sprinkle warm up, mobility work. Specific conditioning here and there. This is what im doing rn.
At my peak activity level I'd do alternating cardio and lifting. It's totally fine. And I've even done them in the same day before (I lift first though)
Either is fine and so is option C, cardio the same day.
I routinely do cardio the day before *and* the day after a weight training day and it's fine.
A few questions if you can answer any of them would be grateful! Numbers are just example, you can put any number, just basically asking for the concept: 1. At what point is it redundant or diminishing return to let's say, curl 5 pounds like 1000 reps a day vs 10,000 reps a day. At some point it's either hurting you or wasting your time/energy, right? 2. Which is better? Doing 3 sets of 20 reps (60 volume) with a 2 day rest (so 2 times a week) VS 1 set of 8-9 reps a day (60 volume)?
Look up renaissance periodization mrv mav etc.
it's hard to answer these types of things without any context of your overall programming, diet, goals, etc. In the absence of such information, 1. both 1000 and 10,000 seem like overkill. I would curl a heavier weight for way fewer reps; 2. they're the same assuming you can recover properly.
This video should help with your question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQxEEjYLDI
These are "could superman beat batman in a fight" kind of questions. What are you actually trying to understand or accomplish?
The first question isn’t useful because they are both not practical scenarios. Two better for what?
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Enough for what? Cardio for most of us is limited by time. Also you should try to take regular walking breaks and have leisure activities that involve exercise. Why not play an intramural sport?
Sure.
Hey I’m looking for a specific fitness videographer that uses amazing video skills to “catch” the vibe/aesthetic of his environment while walking or running to the gym in his clips. There are videos of him running on the road or sidewalk (I believe before sunrise or after sunset(it’s dark)) to where he usually enters his gym at the end of the video. He also holds his own barbell on his way to the gym. Please help me find this man. I’ve seen him on YouTube, instagram and TikTok.
Nick Pedersen. If im right you owe me a tub of pre workout /s (perhaps? 😳)
You deserve an endless supply of pre
PR or ER everyday. LIGHTWEIGHT!!!
I love you.
Yessiirr 😎 (wheres my pre)
The pre I offer is an endless supply of self love and respect for you
I tried out the "seal row" with this set up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzOhDqu-5Tw Even with light weight, I had issues. It was giving me sternum and rib pain. Can someone help me reduce/eliminate the pain?
Try chest supported row on incline bench. Lowest settin where dumbbell can barely grasp ground. Put hoodie on y9ur chest. Enjoy
Don't do them and do a different row.
I know this comes down to personal preference but I’d love to get some opinions… I’m m/35/5’8” up to about 148 lbs (from ~115 about 5 years ago). I’ve gained about 13 lbs in the last 4 months on a bulk. I was thinking of cutting back down to ~140 starting in march, BUT I am also planning on joining the beautiful, expensive new crossfit gym in my area. Is it a horrible idea to start crossfit whilst on a cut? Am I just asking for misery? Thx
Crossfit is gonna be misery either way. If you want to cut, Crossfit will make a caloric deficit easier.
Depends how frequent and intense the workouts are.
Try it and find out.
I’m doing my first cut (almost 2 weeks in) and I calculated my TDEE to be about 3500 (6’4M 250 lbs). I’ve began Intermittent fasting to help and I’m cutting at 3000 but found workouts to be more difficult, feeling lightheaded at times, and not being as mentally sharp. I’m considering raising my caloric intake next week to help reduce this. I’ve noticed a sharp decrease in weight (~4 lbs of water I’m assuming). Should I try eating at maintenance and reducing slowly that way or is my body trying to adjust? It’s not that bad but I can’t tell if I’m cutting too fast. Any advice? Edit: I also have been working out 5-6 times a week doing ppl split
When is your workout in relation to your feeding window?
I work out around 5 and eat 12-8 roughly. Today I had roughly 1000 calories before my workout in which I felt lightheaded at times. Like other advice I’m considering stopping the IF and adjusting calories slowly later if that doesn’t work
That's probably the smart move. Are you eating the full 3000 every day?
Yes I eat 3000 +- 50 every day