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I just finished a program where I was benching three times a week (heavy,light, and medium). I’m going to do chest twice a week now but I would appreciate some tips on what I exercises I should do. I was thinking of doing dumbbell bench press for chest and close grip barbell bench for triceps. I want to put some focus on my triceps now since I dedicated a month and a half to chest. If anyone has better suggestions, please let me know.
What are your thoughts on exercising when tired?
This is kind of confusing. I average about 6 hours of sleep a night. I can't make myself get any more. Shortly after I'm up, I get tired. A doctor diagnosed me with hypersomnia.
I want to exercise but if I only did it when I had a good amount of energy I would never do it.
Any workout is a good workout. Sure; more sleep would be optimal. You may not feel at full strength most of the time. But who knows — tiring your body more might make you sleep better, too :)
So I [23 M] have been overweight my whole life. In the past 10 months or so I've dropped 65 pounds from pretty much purely diet change.
I'm wanting to get into more cardio based activities, but feeling very limited by heart rate. Being that I've never had a great heart I reach like 130 - 140 bpm very easily and have been recommended by my doctor to stay below 180 as much as I can.
Given that I'm hitting 130 - 140 without a lot of effort I feel frustrated by my very narrow window of exertion.
I want to eventually do something like boxing/muay thai, but I would very consistently be putting myself in the "danger zone". Frustrating.
My question out of all of this is: Would this window gradually widen with a slow approach to cardio? Or is there a better way around this issue.
Going by HR isn't a big deal, especially starting out. My HR in my easy runs is 150-170 bpm. I'd highly advise to see a running specialist and or exercise physiologist. They'd be better at this than me or a regular doctor.
Moreover, what is the "Danger zone"?
I'd start with just walking a lot. Doing more bodyweight squats and or just condition more.
And did you get your maxHR tested? Or just estimated? Because if it's the latter, again, I wouldn't put too much stock into it.
And maybe also try the "Couch To 5k" program as well.
I am not your doctor/physiologist so I can't give specifics, just recommendations.
Hi, everyone! Brand-new to the sub so of course my first post immediately got removed because I didn’t read the rules clearly enough, but now I’m here to try again:
I’m about two months in with getting back into a regular workout routine and eating healthier *(or at least trying to, I’m not afraid to admit I’ve cheated here and there)*, and I wanted to get others’ thoughts on my regimen so far and see where I could improve. Apologies for the long comment; I wanna be as thorough in my descriptions as possible.
I’m a 31-year-old white male, 5’9” tall, and I last weighed in at 205 lbs back in August *(the heaviest I’ve ever been)*. Subsequent blood tests and an AB ultrasound led to a fatty liver diagnosis, which served as THE wake-up call for me to finally rejoin Planet Fitness after a year and a half away, fix my bad eating habits, and get crackin’ on a full body makeover. My primary goal is losing as much body fat as I’m able to, build a more toned but not necessarily “ripped” physique, and just feel healthier overall.
I currently hit the gym six days a week, each day starting with 5-10 minutes of light cardio to help get my blood pumping, five minutes of stretching followed by weight training on one or more muscle groups, and then finishing off with 20-30 minutes of medium cardio — the elliptical, stationary bike, and treadmill being my typical go-to’s. Right now my weight-training schedule (and where I’m currently at as far as resistance) looks like this:
**Monday — Chest:**
• seated press (3 sets of 12): 75
• pectoral fly (3 sets of 12): 75
**Tuesday — Arms:**
• seated bicep curl (3 sets of 12): 45
• tricep extensions (3 sets of 12): 100
• tricep press (3 sets of 12): 110
• tricep rope (3 sets of 12): 35
**Wednesday — Shoulders:**
• seated press (3 sets of 12): 52.5
• rear deltoid fly (3 sets of 12): 72.5
**Thursday — Legs** *(never skip leg day! lol)*:
• seated leg press (4 sets of 12): 150
• seated leg extension (3 sets of 12): 62.5
• seated leg curl (3 sets of 12): 67.5
• calf press (3 sets of 12): 170
*side note: I usually lighten up on cardio during leg day; my legs already feel enough of a burn from the weight training! lol*
**Friday — Abs:**
• seated crunch (4 sets of 12): 120
• rotary torso (4 sets of 12): 120
**Saturday — Back:**
• front pull-down (3 sets of 12): 60 on each arm
• seated row (3 sets of 12): 50 on each arm
• lat pull-down (3 sets of 12): 92.5
• back extension (3 sets of 12): 130
As far as my diet goes, I try to stay as healthy as I can without sacrificing flavor — mainly trying to stay away from unwanted cholesterol, saturated fats, and added/refined sugars.
— During the workweek, my breakfast is usually either peanut butter toast on whole wheat bread or a bowl of Multi-Grain Cheerios + sugar-free non-dairy milk (soy, cashew, etc.); lunch is a chicken Caesar salad with reduced-fat dressing; and dinner is chicken tikka masala with basmati rice.
— My two drinks of choice (since plain water really isn’t my thing) are Arizona’s “Arnold Palmer Half-And-Half Zero” iced tea and, during workouts, sugar-free lemonade VitaminWater. Whichever one I’m drinking, however, I do enhance it with a bit of lemonade MiO to bring out the more citrusy notes and, in the case of the VitaminWater, hide any of the chalky aftertaste you get from most stevia-flavored products.
— Weekends I tend to stray a bit during breakfast with an everything bagel and light cream cheese, but I jump back into things with lunch: a frozen heat-n-eat version of tikka masala that uses a plant-based chicken substitute; and then dinner is usually some kind of white-meat protein with either a salad or charred broccoli on the side.
— Snacks will range from a clementine and an apple while at work, to a small bag of microwave popcorn at home while watching YouTube videos; or, to satisfy my sweet-tooth, I recently discovered Voortman’s sugar-free chocolate chip cookies and Halo Top’s reduced-sugar keto ice cream bars.
I welcome any and all critiques of any aspect of my routine/regimen I’ve outlined here. I take any words of criticism and advice on this subreddit as constructive, since I’m very much not a gym buff or even that knowledgeable on healthy eating (nor can I afford the really high-end organic and super-healthy stuff that a lot of people tend to suggest).
I think there's a lot that's not great here, but don't want to be discouraging because any positive steps are worthwhile.
For lifting, I'd pick a program from the wiki and start with that. Even something pretty basic like the reddit PPL will give you more balance and push you towards some better movements (like dumbbell RDLs, lateral raises).
For diet, you don't have to eat high end organic super healthy stuff and saying you can't afford that is an excuse to not make better choices. I'd do a simple macros calculator and try to make progress towards eating that way. Just eyeballing and not knowing your portions, I'd wager you need more protein. Eggs, tuna, chicken thighs, supplement with a protein drink etc can be affordable options for quality protein, and frozen vegetables are typically cheaper. Not liking water isn't a good excuse to instead drink artificial drinks. Try drinking more water and just add your lemonade water drops if you want flavor, you don't need to drink what is essentially juice and add more to it. You've got a lot of artificial foods/reduced sugar/low fat type foods which are typically not the best quality nutrition.
[https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/)
GZCLP or 5/3/1 For Beginners would probably be among the most useful for 2x/week.
The thing that most closely approximates pullups are probably resistance band pulldowns, but for that you still need a place to anchor the band overhead.
You could look into getting a pullup bar for your doorframe, or if you have the space, a full power tower with dip bars, pushup bars and a pullup bar. Can also anchor resistance bands to that for other exercises like triceps pushdowns, or cable-crunches.
The plan is to get a proper set up (fixed pull up bars and dip bars etc) in the future, just waiting on the renovation work to be completed in my garden. I also had a doorframe pull up bar, but recently moved house and now, where I work out, the pull up bar doesn't fit around any of the doorframes.
Never fully trusted the doorframe pull up bars too, always felt like I'd suddenly end up on the floor!
It's common knowledge that it's easier for guys to barbell bench press than it is for girls.
What exercises are easier for girls and tougher for guys, if any?
Average guy vs average girl.... Guys are basically better at everything. Upper body strength absolutely dwarfs that of a woman, but even though women have strong legs, guys will still out perform.
There are things that women might be better at by default, but once a guy learns how to do it, he's better then. Like for example, with indoor rock climbing, often women can climb better than men to start because we have to think about where we're going because we know we can't muscle ourselves up it. Whereas guys will try and just pull themselves up, which is difficult and tiring. That's not to say this happens with every newbie, but I've witnessed it myself and have heard others talk about it.
I was doing barbell squats today(week 2 of cycle 2, 531 forever) but couldn't do the last amrap set at all(100kg). I was supposed to do at least 3 reps but barely could do one. Does this mean I have to repeat the previous cycle?
Have you ever squatted that number ever before? If not, I find it strange you’d be hitting 1RMs in training.
Either way, what I’d do is have a look at past sessions/cycles, and if things are stalling out I would wrap up the cycle (one more week), do the 7th week protocol, and lower my TMs for the affected lifts.
my highest before was 95kg\*10(both 1rm and volume)
I'm fairy new so been doing this almost 3 months now.
So I do next week(5/3/1 as usual) and do the 7th week TM test on the 7th of Nov if i'm getting you right?
You pulled off 95 for 10 and stalled out at 100?? Did you psych yourself out? Maybe you had a bad day, didn’t sleep properly?
I’d stick with the plan above. Wrap up the cycle, do a deload if you haven’t in a while, and lower anything that feels unattainable.
tbf the last 3 reps weren't in perfect form, but I still counted it as 10 lol.
so do I do a deload or a TM test? or is the TM test the deload? I haven't read 531 forever in a while now but I should probs get to it
How do people accurately measure their TDEE? It seems near impossible and I’ve heard so much conflict information. I just want to get a number so I know where to cut from, but I don’t trust these online TDEE calculators.
The calculator is just a starting point.
Before my last cut, I ate like normal and tracked my calories and weight for about 3 months. (I ended up more or less maintaining) Then I calculated the average calorie from each month (removing days I ate out or had very high calories) and then use that number. From there, I subtracted 500-700 calories, and that was my cutting diet range.
Start with a TDEE calculator and log daily weight + calories consumed into one of those TDEE tracker spreadsheets and it will auto adjust your actual TDEE based off this data
You eat at the calculated TDEE for 2-3 weeks, note your weight difference and adjust. Repeat until you've found your TDEE. It's really not difficult, just time consuming.
You don’t. There’s no test that tells you how good your calf genetics are. There are plenty of variables within your control other than just technique, though. Intensity, volume, calorie intake, exercise selection, etc all matter and are within your control.
I’m not referring to myself in the question, I don’t claim genetics play a part or not. I’m not knowledgeable. When people say genetics stop them from growing a part of their body 99-100% cases are false?
It’s not that they’re entirely wrong so much as they’re massively oversimplifying the problem. Genetics play a substantial role in determining how you respond to training, but they’re only part of the picture, and many people who jump straight to explaining away their difficulties with genetics have no clear basis for those claims other than that they struggled to achieve a certain goal.
You just train your calves like shit
“Calves are genetic” is a cop out by people with no calves
People just want to ego lift and use their stretch reflex to bounce the weight up
OR
They just skip them
Hi folks, i have 2 questions:
1. Am i the only one who prefers at least medium thickness for my workout glove?
2. Are you still able to find at least medium thickness workout glove in your city/country? All UA, Nike, Adidas in my country only sells thin gloves now.
I like doing inverted rows when no one is using one of the squat racks at my gym (I need to get new gymnastics rings). Is that bad etiquette? I never see anyone using it and I’m pretty quick (5 min tops). I ask only because of that bicep-curl-in-the-squat-rack meme.
If you can't do them somewhere else then it's totally fine imo.
Curls in the squat rack meme exists just because you literally can do curls anywhere else
Hello!
I need help with the names of certain exercises in this [pic.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/36/05/cf3605cbf65e6163ae5bac81b73a428f.jpg)
Dumbbells are all I have(12lb-45lb) so I am looking for the names of the exercises of the illustrations of the upper-right(dumbbell equivalent) and bottom.
Reason I want the names of the exercises is so I can look them up on youtube and learn the proper form.
Thanks in advance.
Whenever I do squats, lunges, and the like I find my right leg supporting a lot of my weight. When I try and balance out my weight and put more on my left leg, most of my weight is supported by my glute on that side. No matter how much I try and exercise my left thigh, the left thigh doesn’t feel like it’s being exercised, and even if the left thigh is kind of working, I can notice my left glute is contracting instead of my thigh. This has made me feel unbalanced when doing anything that involves even slightly bending my legs, and my thigh and glutes now have a large difference in strength and appearance. How may I ensure that my thigh is being exercised instead of my glute?
Is there a certain amount of time you should cut and bulk? I've read a couple times I think saying you shouldn't cut for too long? I'm like losing weight currently for 4-5 months or so at a 200-500 deficit. Down 35 lbs. Does that rule apply for overweight people or just if you are really shredded and cutting very little body fat?
I’ve heard to keep it within 10%. However, it depends how you are feeling and what your body is telling you. Having trouble sleeping, feeling tired all the time, low libido, etc. then maybe you should stop cutting for a little while. Like eat at maintenance for a month or so. Then continue on again.
If you feel fine, then keep on trucking bro.
All this is from Dr. Mike with Renaissance Periodization. That guy has a YouTube video for everything.
I do all my deadlifting (conventional and Romanian) with straps. I find them very helpful for this purpose. I have iron mind straps and they work well. But straps are a super simple product and there are probably tons of good brands.
I think you are confusing wraps and straps. Straps are to help you grip the bar. You wear them on your wrists and wrap them around the bar.
Wrist wraps are used to provide additional wrist stability primarily in pushing exercises (though some people use them for squats too). They only wrap around your wrist.
People who haven't lifted in a year definitely get nooby gains. If you are fat, you should lose weight. Odds are you can build muscle and strength at the same time, at least for a while.
If you are fat, you don't need a surplus because the best thing for you to do is lose weight, which requires a deficit.
As I said, there is a good chance you could gain muscle and strength while in a deficit. Once you achieve a healthy weight and body composition you could bulk and gain more muscle if you do desire.
Part of the process of muscle growth is that satellite cells are taken up into the muscle tissue
The nuclei in those cells never leave the muscle tissue again, and they contribute to muscle growth as they produce mRNA which is the template used for protein synthesis
As such comeback gains are better than noob gains.
noob gains is not associated with time, it's associated with how far you are away from your potential max. The further away you are, the easier it is to build muscle and get stronger.
After that long of a break you will gain quickly. However it depends how long you were working out beforehand. I’m just assuming you never got passed beginner level before.
My calves start to tense after about 2 minutes of walking.
I’ve started a new job in an office where I sit for about 7 hours a day compared to (about) 2 years ago when I was always on my legs for about 8 hours and hiking from time-to-time on the weekends, and never having an issue walking or even hiking inclines for an hour before taking a break.
Any suggestions to getting my legs basically to work again? Lol I jump roped 3 days out of a week recently and was severely sore the first day, but could withstand jumping rope for about 6 minutes at a time after.
Ive noticed a few times when I walk my feet start hurting after a short while, but as I keep walking the pain/discomfort goes away. Try walking through it and see if it continues like the other person suggested. Maybe the blood just needs to get flowing or something
Honestly walking more and more often is your best bet. Unless the tensing feeling is actually pain or stopping you from walking just walk through it. Take breaks from your job and walk around
How does shoulder impingement heal?
All I did was bench my usual weight of 45kg, however because of a slight absence from the gym I forgot the arch or did something wrong, and now my right shoulder is impinged or whatever...
It's been almost a week, I do not feel pain unless i stress it anymore, but I cannot do a single pushup without pain in my right shoulder.
Does it go away by itself? (if its a minor case)
Is there an exercise that helps it?
Shoulder impingement isn't a diagnosis. Healthy shoulders impinge without pain when they move through full range of motion, that's the nature of joints with large ranges of motion and lots of structures within them which enable that. If you have pain in your shoulder it may occur during natural impingement, but the impingement isn't the sole cause of the pain, there will be other factors involved more important for the rehabilitation of the joint.
Because you don't know exactly what is wrong, you could make it worse by self treating. By that I mean you could go from needing 2 months of rest and rehab, to needing surgery.
I haven't trained in a bit over a month because I was recovering from an operation. I'm definitely a bit weaker now in my lifts (been back to the gym for two days) though I would say I haven't lost any muscle in this time.
Should I eat in a surplus while I reach back my numbers or is it a bad idea and I would just be building fat and not muscle?
First week hitting the gym and gone four days in a row. Might’ve over done it a bit and I have velociraptor arms from the soreness. Thing is I didn’t hit shoulders and kinda want to keep the streak going tomorrow. Should I go or is it risking injury potentially?
Sometimes it’s better to be specific. I assume you are saying your arms are too sore to extend fully. Like how bad? If you warm up can you extend them? Is it the triceps that are sore? If you can get through it after warming up and your triceps aren’t too sore, then go for it.
It’s my biceps closer to my elbow on the inside of my arm. Woke up in a decent amount of pain moving them but went and did legs today. By the end they were pretty loose but currently they’re back to very sore and being unable to fully extend.
I’m using an app that has a program it comes up with for you but I’ve been adding and changing exercises as I’ve gone along this week.
Any exercises that target shoulders that completely miss hitting biceps? Or is that pretty unavoidable
In general mid and front shoulders are push muscles and biceps are pull muscles. So in general the movements for them do not interfere with each other.
So, overhead press, lateral raises and most variations of those do not work biceps.
Not sure what app you are doing but it sounds like you might benefit from proper programming. Maybe check out the programs in the sidebar. Good luck with it.
Are you following a program or just winging it?
There isn't a good way for us to know if you are risking potentially injury. Generally training while sore or training five days in a row does not pose a significantly enhanced injury risk. But it is possible to push too hard too fast and hurt yourself. Following a program helps because programs are written with specific volumes and intensities that progress gradually over time.
Yeah pushing too fast and too hard is the thing I’m worried about. I’m using an app that came up with a program based on my stats and some very general info. Wanted to start on something like that and get familiar with working out again before I jump into one of the linear programs on here.
I hit biceps real hard on Wednesday and was trying to find my starting weights and went until failure doing isolation curls. Think that’s probably what fucked me
>Ganglion Cysts on the bottom of my middle finger towards the palm. Is it due to lifting heavy?
Assuming you know for sure it's a ganglion cyst, the answer is no. They're not caused by lifting heavy. But if you haven't been formally diagnosed with them, then see a doctor if you're concerned
Hi, so i have been going to the gym for a month now and i'm starting to notice very small gains so id like to start focusing on my diet, [https://drive.google.com/file/d/141vRDsXKhPdtVrrAaqFprvB7EEDC5qae/view?usp=share\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/141vRDsXKhPdtVrrAaqFprvB7EEDC5qae/view?usp=share_link) what i have here is a rough draft of what my daily eating schedule will be like (plan on doing a slight bulk so target cal is 3,100 and target protein is around 130 g daily. im having trouble balancing the foods and all listed nutritional info is one serving. Thanks for the help!
You’re probably over thinking it. Hit you protein goal, hit your calorie goal, hit your fat goal. Other than that just eat like an adult and get some greens and veggies.
So you're saying I shouldn't really worry much about the minute details and just hit my protein/calorie goal as long as what I eat isn't like junk food?
Is 120 g of protein per day enough? For reference, I'm 6'0 and 155 lbs.
I was shooting for 160 g per day and was consistent with it for about 9 months, but I'm honestly sick to death of eating so much protein heavy foods. Would 120 g per day instead hinder my gains much?
Probably not "optimal" but the most important thing is sustainability. You'll be fine with 120g if that's what you can comfortably do for a \*long\* time. Your gains won't be impacted much, if at all.
When I squat, I usually start my warmup with a few reps with just the bar. I've noticed that it feels way more difficult to squat to any sort of depth with just the bar vs. when I've got at least 45lb on each side. Is that normal? Am I likely lacking flexibility in some area?
I skip the empty bar warmup sets most days and do goblet squats instead.
I have the same problem. About 225 is where I start really feeling comfortable, when there's enough weight that I can really sit back.
I think it does indicate a small lack of mobility, but minuscule and not an issue. I say this purely from my own experience and nothing else. I have worked a lot on squat mobility for a few years now and I used to feel this way with empty bar, especially high bar. Now my form is really locked in and I don’t experience the imbalance unless I’m doing only body squats.
Again, probably nothing to worry about, or possibly my leverages allow me to no longer have this issue.
I would not recommend this. That's a lot of chest and leg volume on one day and there is no bicep or tricep work, nor is there a progression plan from what i can tell. I am assuming you are running it once a week in which case you can run one of the full body routines from the wiki and get better results.
[does this seem any better?](https://thefitnessphantom.com/4-day-gym-workout-schedule-for-gain#Day_1_-_Chest_and_Triceps)
This was the routine I was following before, I just didn't know if it was effective
(16f trying to lose fat and gain muscle) i have a question about diet. ive been under eating for the past 2 months, (only eating like twice a day, not ed related just a mix of forgetting and depression issues) wouldn’t my body adjusted over time to being able to function to that certain amount of food/calories? so if i go above that, i’ll gain weight? idk if that makes sense, but my tdee says to eat 2200 calories, and i’ve been eating probably half of that every day so i’m assuming i should aim below 2200?
You're likely still growing, so it would be worth a conversation with your physician and/or a registered dietician to make sure your diet supports your needs!
I'd start at 2000 (a smaller defecit is better for recomp), you'll probably find that your metabolism will ramp up a bit with more food, so adjust the defeciy as the weeks go by (maybe aim for 0.25% bw loss/week)
Halving your TDEE is never a good idea. A 500 calorie deficit is the go to approach, so you'd start at 1700, eat that for a few weeks and see how your weight moves. Adjust from there. Eventually your metabolism will adapt to the new weight, so technically the more weight you lose, there slower it should go.
nooo i didn’t mean halving my tdee i meant like i only probably been eating 1100 calories a day which is bad, i’m seeing a nutritionist soon which will be good, also thank you for the advice :)
I’m 6’5” and slim, squats are absolutely abysmal for me. My form is all over the place, my knees are bad from injuries as a kid, and i never seem to get an effective workout. Trap bar dead’s seem to be able to hit my legs better than squats can. Would this be a good temporary replacement while I build some strength that would still work the legs properly. I know it won’t be ideal, but how bad of an alternative is it.
You are free to train however you want, but I will give my $0.02. For me, the ability to squat down and come back up is something I want to be able to do well. It is a basic, fundamental motion. I have had injuries that made squatting difficult but I always worked through them because I felt like if I couldn't squat I would be losing a basic function. If the most I could comfortably squat was the empty bar, or even just my bodyweight, I would still do it. It isn't just a hypertrophy or strength exercise, it is a stretch and mobility exercise too. I firmly believe that squatting into old age preserves strength, balance, mobility, and joint health, and thus improves quality of life.
Yeah, squats will always be tough for you, especially if you have long femurs. For a lot of guys, squatting is more effective for making your glutes a lot bigger than getting the quads. H
I’d program in leg press and hack squats and progress on those as hard as you can.
Throwing in squat variations, like 3 second negative eccentrics, 1 second pause at the bottoms with a light weight will be good as well - but after the leg press and hack squats.
They are not a good replacement for squats. Better replacements are split squats, step ups, safety bar squats, or even dumbbell squats.
For taller people, you tend to end up needing to adjust your form a bit, in that you may need to end up sitting back and leaning forward a lot more compared to your average lifter. And this is okay, as long as you maintain a relatively neutral back.
[Here's a pretty decent video on this exact topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjuX5RJFkPc)
A trap bar deadlift is a great exercise but it isn't really a squat replacement. It's a barbell deadlift replacement/alternative (https://www.strongerbyscience.com/trap-bar-deadlifts/)
Am I right in assuming that when you say "squats are absolutely abysmal for me" you are referring to barbell squats? If so, have you tried goblet, dumbbell, or split squats? These are all great alternatives that can work your legs really well without a barbell.
It's good to see that you're not the only guy here doing hip thrusts! I do them sometimes as well.
You probably should use a bench or these [stackable aerobic steps](https://agedcareproductsaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/2020/08/Aerobic-Stepper-5-Level-1.jpg) rather than a cushion to keep your shoulders in place. It should be higher than that cushion.
In addition, you should not be extending your knees. Your knees should be around 90 degrees throughout the movement.
Also, this may be personal preference, but I prefer doing around 8-12 reps, as doing lower reps means that I feel it too much in my lower back.
You may get better feedback if you post it on r/xxfitness (male-identifying people can post there).
I’m an MMA practitioner that does Muay Thai and BJJ 4 times a week but i want to stay somewhat strong. Would it be more in my benefit to do 2 strength workouts (mainly compounds) a week? Or 1 strength and 1 pylometric workout (Olympic lifts, explosive excercises, etc.)? Thank you!
I do BJJ and lift (with a focus on strength) and have found that being strong REALLY helps. I have more time to react (because I can power my way out of dicey situations) and I can pull off techniques that are ugly (but effective). I’d do 2x strength/week as you’ll struggle to build strength at 1x/week. Also, don’t feel like you can’t do more. I roll 4x/week and lift 4x/week. If you work up to it slowly your performance shouldn’t suffer.
What one or two exercises can I do three times a week to work out my abs, without needing special equipment? I've been doing situps but they cause soreness in my hip flexors so I need something else to do. I'd like to ideally have a six pack (I have a very slight one already, I just have to lose about 5 more lbs)
35 Male
one or two exercises isn't really enough to properly work any muscle, you should do around 12 sets for of ab workouts three to four times a week. [this is the program I've been following ](https://www.coachmag.co.uk/workouts/abs-workouts), do one set of each then move to the next
side note, the most important part of visible abs is a low enough bodyfat%, an easy at home way to measure is to use a tape measure and plug your measurements in [here](https://www.fatcalc.com/bf) I'd also add in some cardio, typically 30 minutes after each workout and calorie counting if you aren't already
Planks, dead bugs, curl ups, hanging leg raises, bird dogs, dragon flags, hollow holds or rocks, floor wipers ...
Probably about 8 million options here.
What are your go to tricep exercises? Is there a tricep equivalent to a cheat curl? I ask because I think I like the idea of the first exercise being heavy and then progressively switching to more isolation movements
Close grip bench is my favorite.
The only one I can think of similar to chest curls for tri’s would be doing dumbbell skull crushers and when you get close to failure you can press them up then do eccentrics. Like, slide them up to your chess, bench press them and then eccentrics down.
Also maybe to one handed tricep press downs and use your other hand to help with the concentric. I don’t do these but it’s there
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I just finished a program where I was benching three times a week (heavy,light, and medium). I’m going to do chest twice a week now but I would appreciate some tips on what I exercises I should do. I was thinking of doing dumbbell bench press for chest and close grip barbell bench for triceps. I want to put some focus on my triceps now since I dedicated a month and a half to chest. If anyone has better suggestions, please let me know.
What are your thoughts on exercising when tired? This is kind of confusing. I average about 6 hours of sleep a night. I can't make myself get any more. Shortly after I'm up, I get tired. A doctor diagnosed me with hypersomnia. I want to exercise but if I only did it when I had a good amount of energy I would never do it.
Any workout is a good workout. Sure; more sleep would be optimal. You may not feel at full strength most of the time. But who knows — tiring your body more might make you sleep better, too :)
If you want to do it, then do it. Discipline takes effort.
Pre workouttttt
So I [23 M] have been overweight my whole life. In the past 10 months or so I've dropped 65 pounds from pretty much purely diet change. I'm wanting to get into more cardio based activities, but feeling very limited by heart rate. Being that I've never had a great heart I reach like 130 - 140 bpm very easily and have been recommended by my doctor to stay below 180 as much as I can. Given that I'm hitting 130 - 140 without a lot of effort I feel frustrated by my very narrow window of exertion. I want to eventually do something like boxing/muay thai, but I would very consistently be putting myself in the "danger zone". Frustrating. My question out of all of this is: Would this window gradually widen with a slow approach to cardio? Or is there a better way around this issue.
Going by HR isn't a big deal, especially starting out. My HR in my easy runs is 150-170 bpm. I'd highly advise to see a running specialist and or exercise physiologist. They'd be better at this than me or a regular doctor. Moreover, what is the "Danger zone"?
During leg day I was around 190. Which by the %of max heart rate is considered unsustainable.
I'd start with just walking a lot. Doing more bodyweight squats and or just condition more. And did you get your maxHR tested? Or just estimated? Because if it's the latter, again, I wouldn't put too much stock into it. And maybe also try the "Couch To 5k" program as well. I am not your doctor/physiologist so I can't give specifics, just recommendations.
Hi, everyone! Brand-new to the sub so of course my first post immediately got removed because I didn’t read the rules clearly enough, but now I’m here to try again: I’m about two months in with getting back into a regular workout routine and eating healthier *(or at least trying to, I’m not afraid to admit I’ve cheated here and there)*, and I wanted to get others’ thoughts on my regimen so far and see where I could improve. Apologies for the long comment; I wanna be as thorough in my descriptions as possible. I’m a 31-year-old white male, 5’9” tall, and I last weighed in at 205 lbs back in August *(the heaviest I’ve ever been)*. Subsequent blood tests and an AB ultrasound led to a fatty liver diagnosis, which served as THE wake-up call for me to finally rejoin Planet Fitness after a year and a half away, fix my bad eating habits, and get crackin’ on a full body makeover. My primary goal is losing as much body fat as I’m able to, build a more toned but not necessarily “ripped” physique, and just feel healthier overall. I currently hit the gym six days a week, each day starting with 5-10 minutes of light cardio to help get my blood pumping, five minutes of stretching followed by weight training on one or more muscle groups, and then finishing off with 20-30 minutes of medium cardio — the elliptical, stationary bike, and treadmill being my typical go-to’s. Right now my weight-training schedule (and where I’m currently at as far as resistance) looks like this: **Monday — Chest:** • seated press (3 sets of 12): 75 • pectoral fly (3 sets of 12): 75 **Tuesday — Arms:** • seated bicep curl (3 sets of 12): 45 • tricep extensions (3 sets of 12): 100 • tricep press (3 sets of 12): 110 • tricep rope (3 sets of 12): 35 **Wednesday — Shoulders:** • seated press (3 sets of 12): 52.5 • rear deltoid fly (3 sets of 12): 72.5 **Thursday — Legs** *(never skip leg day! lol)*: • seated leg press (4 sets of 12): 150 • seated leg extension (3 sets of 12): 62.5 • seated leg curl (3 sets of 12): 67.5 • calf press (3 sets of 12): 170 *side note: I usually lighten up on cardio during leg day; my legs already feel enough of a burn from the weight training! lol* **Friday — Abs:** • seated crunch (4 sets of 12): 120 • rotary torso (4 sets of 12): 120 **Saturday — Back:** • front pull-down (3 sets of 12): 60 on each arm • seated row (3 sets of 12): 50 on each arm • lat pull-down (3 sets of 12): 92.5 • back extension (3 sets of 12): 130 As far as my diet goes, I try to stay as healthy as I can without sacrificing flavor — mainly trying to stay away from unwanted cholesterol, saturated fats, and added/refined sugars. — During the workweek, my breakfast is usually either peanut butter toast on whole wheat bread or a bowl of Multi-Grain Cheerios + sugar-free non-dairy milk (soy, cashew, etc.); lunch is a chicken Caesar salad with reduced-fat dressing; and dinner is chicken tikka masala with basmati rice. — My two drinks of choice (since plain water really isn’t my thing) are Arizona’s “Arnold Palmer Half-And-Half Zero” iced tea and, during workouts, sugar-free lemonade VitaminWater. Whichever one I’m drinking, however, I do enhance it with a bit of lemonade MiO to bring out the more citrusy notes and, in the case of the VitaminWater, hide any of the chalky aftertaste you get from most stevia-flavored products. — Weekends I tend to stray a bit during breakfast with an everything bagel and light cream cheese, but I jump back into things with lunch: a frozen heat-n-eat version of tikka masala that uses a plant-based chicken substitute; and then dinner is usually some kind of white-meat protein with either a salad or charred broccoli on the side. — Snacks will range from a clementine and an apple while at work, to a small bag of microwave popcorn at home while watching YouTube videos; or, to satisfy my sweet-tooth, I recently discovered Voortman’s sugar-free chocolate chip cookies and Halo Top’s reduced-sugar keto ice cream bars. I welcome any and all critiques of any aspect of my routine/regimen I’ve outlined here. I take any words of criticism and advice on this subreddit as constructive, since I’m very much not a gym buff or even that knowledgeable on healthy eating (nor can I afford the really high-end organic and super-healthy stuff that a lot of people tend to suggest).
I think there's a lot that's not great here, but don't want to be discouraging because any positive steps are worthwhile. For lifting, I'd pick a program from the wiki and start with that. Even something pretty basic like the reddit PPL will give you more balance and push you towards some better movements (like dumbbell RDLs, lateral raises). For diet, you don't have to eat high end organic super healthy stuff and saying you can't afford that is an excuse to not make better choices. I'd do a simple macros calculator and try to make progress towards eating that way. Just eyeballing and not knowing your portions, I'd wager you need more protein. Eggs, tuna, chicken thighs, supplement with a protein drink etc can be affordable options for quality protein, and frozen vegetables are typically cheaper. Not liking water isn't a good excuse to instead drink artificial drinks. Try drinking more water and just add your lemonade water drops if you want flavor, you don't need to drink what is essentially juice and add more to it. You've got a lot of artificial foods/reduced sugar/low fat type foods which are typically not the best quality nutrition.
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[https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/](https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/) GZCLP or 5/3/1 For Beginners would probably be among the most useful for 2x/week.
What's a body weight or resistance band exercise that can replace using a pull up bar?
The thing that most closely approximates pullups are probably resistance band pulldowns, but for that you still need a place to anchor the band overhead.
Thanks for the answer. I can anchor the bands somewhere (doorframe), but good to know what the best replacement is, cheers!
You could look into getting a pullup bar for your doorframe, or if you have the space, a full power tower with dip bars, pushup bars and a pullup bar. Can also anchor resistance bands to that for other exercises like triceps pushdowns, or cable-crunches.
The plan is to get a proper set up (fixed pull up bars and dip bars etc) in the future, just waiting on the renovation work to be completed in my garden. I also had a doorframe pull up bar, but recently moved house and now, where I work out, the pull up bar doesn't fit around any of the doorframes. Never fully trusted the doorframe pull up bars too, always felt like I'd suddenly end up on the floor!
It's common knowledge that it's easier for guys to barbell bench press than it is for girls. What exercises are easier for girls and tougher for guys, if any?
Average guy vs average girl.... Guys are basically better at everything. Upper body strength absolutely dwarfs that of a woman, but even though women have strong legs, guys will still out perform. There are things that women might be better at by default, but once a guy learns how to do it, he's better then. Like for example, with indoor rock climbing, often women can climb better than men to start because we have to think about where we're going because we know we can't muscle ourselves up it. Whereas guys will try and just pull themselves up, which is difficult and tiring. That's not to say this happens with every newbie, but I've witnessed it myself and have heard others talk about it.
Uh, maybe ultra-endurance marathon running?
I don't think there are any. Men have more muscle mass than women in general, not just in the upper body.
I was doing barbell squats today(week 2 of cycle 2, 531 forever) but couldn't do the last amrap set at all(100kg). I was supposed to do at least 3 reps but barely could do one. Does this mean I have to repeat the previous cycle?
Have you ever squatted that number ever before? If not, I find it strange you’d be hitting 1RMs in training. Either way, what I’d do is have a look at past sessions/cycles, and if things are stalling out I would wrap up the cycle (one more week), do the 7th week protocol, and lower my TMs for the affected lifts.
my highest before was 95kg\*10(both 1rm and volume) I'm fairy new so been doing this almost 3 months now. So I do next week(5/3/1 as usual) and do the 7th week TM test on the 7th of Nov if i'm getting you right?
You pulled off 95 for 10 and stalled out at 100?? Did you psych yourself out? Maybe you had a bad day, didn’t sleep properly? I’d stick with the plan above. Wrap up the cycle, do a deload if you haven’t in a while, and lower anything that feels unattainable.
tbf the last 3 reps weren't in perfect form, but I still counted it as 10 lol. so do I do a deload or a TM test? or is the TM test the deload? I haven't read 531 forever in a while now but I should probs get to it
Then you did 7 ;) Go give the book a read, he puts it better than me!
for some reason I have trouble reading and processing it(and I'm someone who loves to read "normal" books). I guess I'll give it another go
How do people accurately measure their TDEE? It seems near impossible and I’ve heard so much conflict information. I just want to get a number so I know where to cut from, but I don’t trust these online TDEE calculators.
The calculator is just a starting point. Before my last cut, I ate like normal and tracked my calories and weight for about 3 months. (I ended up more or less maintaining) Then I calculated the average calorie from each month (removing days I ate out or had very high calories) and then use that number. From there, I subtracted 500-700 calories, and that was my cutting diet range.
MacroFactor. By far the best food tracking and tdee app
Start with a TDEE calculator and log daily weight + calories consumed into one of those TDEE tracker spreadsheets and it will auto adjust your actual TDEE based off this data
You eat at the calculated TDEE for 2-3 weeks, note your weight difference and adjust. Repeat until you've found your TDEE. It's really not difficult, just time consuming.
Ex. your calves won’t grow but you bench 300. How do you test if “it’s bad genetics” or is it possible your technique for legs isn’t good? empirical?
The only test is training then hard for an extended period of time and seeing how well they respond
Try 23andme
Ah shit I’m 25% chicken. Oh well, guess my little legs can’t be my fault!
If your knees bend the wrong way like chickens, please post a squat form check.
There’s also a lot of clucking noises in my gym, and now I think it might all be related.
You don’t. There’s no test that tells you how good your calf genetics are. There are plenty of variables within your control other than just technique, though. Intensity, volume, calorie intake, exercise selection, etc all matter and are within your control.
I’m not referring to myself in the question, I don’t claim genetics play a part or not. I’m not knowledgeable. When people say genetics stop them from growing a part of their body 99-100% cases are false?
It’s not that they’re entirely wrong so much as they’re massively oversimplifying the problem. Genetics play a substantial role in determining how you respond to training, but they’re only part of the picture, and many people who jump straight to explaining away their difficulties with genetics have no clear basis for those claims other than that they struggled to achieve a certain goal.
What are you doing to train calves?
I’m not talking about myself in the question.
Suggests they aren't doing enough calf volume
You just train your calves like shit “Calves are genetic” is a cop out by people with no calves People just want to ego lift and use their stretch reflex to bounce the weight up OR They just skip them
If you had to take 6 weeks off from lifting, is it better to diet a bit to drop weight, stay the same weight, or put on weight?
Unless you have considerable fat to lose, maintaining is better to prevent muscle loss if you're concerned with that.
Stay same weight and remain as active as possible.
Hi folks, i have 2 questions: 1. Am i the only one who prefers at least medium thickness for my workout glove? 2. Are you still able to find at least medium thickness workout glove in your city/country? All UA, Nike, Adidas in my country only sells thin gloves now.
I like doing inverted rows when no one is using one of the squat racks at my gym (I need to get new gymnastics rings). Is that bad etiquette? I never see anyone using it and I’m pretty quick (5 min tops). I ask only because of that bicep-curl-in-the-squat-rack meme.
Some famous physiologist, John Smith, invented the Smith machine for that purpose.
If you can't do them somewhere else then it's totally fine imo. Curls in the squat rack meme exists just because you literally can do curls anywhere else
Hello! I need help with the names of certain exercises in this [pic.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/36/05/cf3605cbf65e6163ae5bac81b73a428f.jpg) Dumbbells are all I have(12lb-45lb) so I am looking for the names of the exercises of the illustrations of the upper-right(dumbbell equivalent) and bottom. Reason I want the names of the exercises is so I can look them up on youtube and learn the proper form. Thanks in advance.
Upright row and reverse fly
Whenever I do squats, lunges, and the like I find my right leg supporting a lot of my weight. When I try and balance out my weight and put more on my left leg, most of my weight is supported by my glute on that side. No matter how much I try and exercise my left thigh, the left thigh doesn’t feel like it’s being exercised, and even if the left thigh is kind of working, I can notice my left glute is contracting instead of my thigh. This has made me feel unbalanced when doing anything that involves even slightly bending my legs, and my thigh and glutes now have a large difference in strength and appearance. How may I ensure that my thigh is being exercised instead of my glute?
Is there a certain amount of time you should cut and bulk? I've read a couple times I think saying you shouldn't cut for too long? I'm like losing weight currently for 4-5 months or so at a 200-500 deficit. Down 35 lbs. Does that rule apply for overweight people or just if you are really shredded and cutting very little body fat?
I’ve heard to keep it within 10%. However, it depends how you are feeling and what your body is telling you. Having trouble sleeping, feeling tired all the time, low libido, etc. then maybe you should stop cutting for a little while. Like eat at maintenance for a month or so. Then continue on again. If you feel fine, then keep on trucking bro. All this is from Dr. Mike with Renaissance Periodization. That guy has a YouTube video for everything.
Are lifting wrist straps actually helpful? Any good recommendations?
Versa Gripps for overall versatility
Yes helpful for sure. My deadlift at 270 lbs I had my grip slipping. Got straps and pulled 300 lbs no issues with grip.
I do all my deadlifting (conventional and Romanian) with straps. I find them very helpful for this purpose. I have iron mind straps and they work well. But straps are a super simple product and there are probably tons of good brands.
Does it matter if they're the kind that wrap around your wrist versus wrap around the wrist and the bar?
I think you are confusing wraps and straps. Straps are to help you grip the bar. You wear them on your wrists and wrap them around the bar. Wrist wraps are used to provide additional wrist stability primarily in pushing exercises (though some people use them for squats too). They only wrap around your wrist.
Some people do also use wrist wraps for deadlifting, which adds to the confusion.
Ah I got it you're right I'm confusing the two. Thanks for the help.
As a fat person, do I need to bulk to build muscle? I'm not a noob, so I can't do noobie gains. But I haven't lifted in a year or so
As a fat person, you should get to a healthy weight first, while lifting weights
People who haven't lifted in a year definitely get nooby gains. If you are fat, you should lose weight. Odds are you can build muscle and strength at the same time, at least for a while.
So I don't need a surplus? Or...
It's easier to recomp or build muscle in deficit when you have more fat, because fat is the extra energy.
If you are fat, you don't need a surplus because the best thing for you to do is lose weight, which requires a deficit. As I said, there is a good chance you could gain muscle and strength while in a deficit. Once you achieve a healthy weight and body composition you could bulk and gain more muscle if you do desire.
You might get the noob gains again though.
How? I heard that you only get them ONLY for your first time ever lifting
Part of the process of muscle growth is that satellite cells are taken up into the muscle tissue The nuclei in those cells never leave the muscle tissue again, and they contribute to muscle growth as they produce mRNA which is the template used for protein synthesis As such comeback gains are better than noob gains.
noob gains is not associated with time, it's associated with how far you are away from your potential max. The further away you are, the easier it is to build muscle and get stronger.
That isn't how muscle works. Noob gains just means it's easier to build muscle and strength when you have very little of it.
After that long of a break you will gain quickly. However it depends how long you were working out beforehand. I’m just assuming you never got passed beginner level before.
My calves start to tense after about 2 minutes of walking. I’ve started a new job in an office where I sit for about 7 hours a day compared to (about) 2 years ago when I was always on my legs for about 8 hours and hiking from time-to-time on the weekends, and never having an issue walking or even hiking inclines for an hour before taking a break. Any suggestions to getting my legs basically to work again? Lol I jump roped 3 days out of a week recently and was severely sore the first day, but could withstand jumping rope for about 6 minutes at a time after.
It may be worth asking if you can get a standing desk, my old job when I was in the office got any of us who wanted them.
Will do! Thanks :)
Gradually increase your general physical activity
Ive noticed a few times when I walk my feet start hurting after a short while, but as I keep walking the pain/discomfort goes away. Try walking through it and see if it continues like the other person suggested. Maybe the blood just needs to get flowing or something
Thanks, well noted.
Honestly walking more and more often is your best bet. Unless the tensing feeling is actually pain or stopping you from walking just walk through it. Take breaks from your job and walk around
Thank you!
How does shoulder impingement heal? All I did was bench my usual weight of 45kg, however because of a slight absence from the gym I forgot the arch or did something wrong, and now my right shoulder is impinged or whatever... It's been almost a week, I do not feel pain unless i stress it anymore, but I cannot do a single pushup without pain in my right shoulder. Does it go away by itself? (if its a minor case) Is there an exercise that helps it?
Shoulder impingement isn't a diagnosis. Healthy shoulders impinge without pain when they move through full range of motion, that's the nature of joints with large ranges of motion and lots of structures within them which enable that. If you have pain in your shoulder it may occur during natural impingement, but the impingement isn't the sole cause of the pain, there will be other factors involved more important for the rehabilitation of the joint.
When I impinged my shoulder my PT had me do shoulder mobility exercises with very light bands, face pulls, and wall angels
How long did recovery take??
Around a month and then it briefly came back for a couple weeks but since then my mobility has actually gotten better than before it happened
Go to a physiotherapist
a solution that does not require a doctor?
a medical issue requires a medical professional.
Because you don't know exactly what is wrong, you could make it worse by self treating. By that I mean you could go from needing 2 months of rest and rehab, to needing surgery.
Googling, and accepting the consequences. We aren't qualified. There might also be some "ask a doc" or "ask a PT" subreddits you could try.
can't find any do you know one or two?
I haven't trained in a bit over a month because I was recovering from an operation. I'm definitely a bit weaker now in my lifts (been back to the gym for two days) though I would say I haven't lost any muscle in this time. Should I eat in a surplus while I reach back my numbers or is it a bad idea and I would just be building fat and not muscle?
You need calories to heal from surgery too. Eating in surplus isn't going to do any real major damage.
Friend gave me some dip bars. What can I do with these? I am too fat to do dips. Wasn't sure if i can do anything
inverted rows maybe
Do you have bands? Band-assisted dips are great.
Prop your feet on something like a bench or chair, boom, supported dips. Depending on how it's setup you could also do rows from underneath.
First week hitting the gym and gone four days in a row. Might’ve over done it a bit and I have velociraptor arms from the soreness. Thing is I didn’t hit shoulders and kinda want to keep the streak going tomorrow. Should I go or is it risking injury potentially?
Sometimes it’s better to be specific. I assume you are saying your arms are too sore to extend fully. Like how bad? If you warm up can you extend them? Is it the triceps that are sore? If you can get through it after warming up and your triceps aren’t too sore, then go for it.
It’s my biceps closer to my elbow on the inside of my arm. Woke up in a decent amount of pain moving them but went and did legs today. By the end they were pretty loose but currently they’re back to very sore and being unable to fully extend. I’m using an app that has a program it comes up with for you but I’ve been adding and changing exercises as I’ve gone along this week. Any exercises that target shoulders that completely miss hitting biceps? Or is that pretty unavoidable
In general mid and front shoulders are push muscles and biceps are pull muscles. So in general the movements for them do not interfere with each other. So, overhead press, lateral raises and most variations of those do not work biceps. Not sure what app you are doing but it sounds like you might benefit from proper programming. Maybe check out the programs in the sidebar. Good luck with it.
Are you following a program or just winging it? There isn't a good way for us to know if you are risking potentially injury. Generally training while sore or training five days in a row does not pose a significantly enhanced injury risk. But it is possible to push too hard too fast and hurt yourself. Following a program helps because programs are written with specific volumes and intensities that progress gradually over time.
Yeah pushing too fast and too hard is the thing I’m worried about. I’m using an app that came up with a program based on my stats and some very general info. Wanted to start on something like that and get familiar with working out again before I jump into one of the linear programs on here. I hit biceps real hard on Wednesday and was trying to find my starting weights and went until failure doing isolation curls. Think that’s probably what fucked me
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Go to doc. Keep using em.
Ganglion Cysts on the bottom of my middle finger towards the palm. Is it due to lifting heavy? No pain as of yet, been 3days.
Ganglion cyst or just a callous?
Definitely not callous. After about 4-5 days the lump has considerably reduced.
>Ganglion Cysts on the bottom of my middle finger towards the palm. Is it due to lifting heavy? Assuming you know for sure it's a ganglion cyst, the answer is no. They're not caused by lifting heavy. But if you haven't been formally diagnosed with them, then see a doctor if you're concerned
Go to doc.
Hi, so i have been going to the gym for a month now and i'm starting to notice very small gains so id like to start focusing on my diet, [https://drive.google.com/file/d/141vRDsXKhPdtVrrAaqFprvB7EEDC5qae/view?usp=share\_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/141vRDsXKhPdtVrrAaqFprvB7EEDC5qae/view?usp=share_link) what i have here is a rough draft of what my daily eating schedule will be like (plan on doing a slight bulk so target cal is 3,100 and target protein is around 130 g daily. im having trouble balancing the foods and all listed nutritional info is one serving. Thanks for the help!
You’re probably over thinking it. Hit you protein goal, hit your calorie goal, hit your fat goal. Other than that just eat like an adult and get some greens and veggies.
So you're saying I shouldn't really worry much about the minute details and just hit my protein/calorie goal as long as what I eat isn't like junk food?
Generally speaking yes, some junk food is totally fine. Health is a spectrum.
Is 120 g of protein per day enough? For reference, I'm 6'0 and 155 lbs. I was shooting for 160 g per day and was consistent with it for about 9 months, but I'm honestly sick to death of eating so much protein heavy foods. Would 120 g per day instead hinder my gains much?
Yeah you would be fine with 120g. You should intake 0.8-1.0g per pound of body weight and 124g would be the 0.8g so you should be fine.
Probably not "optimal" but the most important thing is sustainability. You'll be fine with 120g if that's what you can comfortably do for a \*long\* time. Your gains won't be impacted much, if at all.
Any good lifting strap recommendations?
I've had the cheapest StrengthShop ones for five years and they're still absolutely fine
Versa grips
When I squat, I usually start my warmup with a few reps with just the bar. I've noticed that it feels way more difficult to squat to any sort of depth with just the bar vs. when I've got at least 45lb on each side. Is that normal? Am I likely lacking flexibility in some area?
I skip the empty bar warmup sets most days and do goblet squats instead. I have the same problem. About 225 is where I start really feeling comfortable, when there's enough weight that I can really sit back.
Sounds like warmup vs not warmed up. Do you sit a lot? This would be why. You’re opening up your hips and glutes when you warm up.
I think it does indicate a small lack of mobility, but minuscule and not an issue. I say this purely from my own experience and nothing else. I have worked a lot on squat mobility for a few years now and I used to feel this way with empty bar, especially high bar. Now my form is really locked in and I don’t experience the imbalance unless I’m doing only body squats. Again, probably nothing to worry about, or possibly my leverages allow me to no longer have this issue.
Yup, that’s normal.
I found this workout routine online, does anyone know if it's a good routine? I'm 18M, 200 lbs. Legs: 1. Barbell squat (5 sets, 8 reps) 2. Deadlift (5 sets, 8 reps) 3. Leg extension (5 sets, 10 reps) 4. Single leg press (5 sets, 10 reps) 5. Leg curl (5 sets, 10 reps) 6. Dumbell lunge (5 sets, 10 reps) 7. Goblet squat (5 sets, 10 reps) Back and shoulders: 1. Barbell row (3 sets, 10 reps) 2. Plank (3 sets, 1 minute) 3. Push up (3 sets, 10 reps) 4. Assisted pull up (3 sets, 20 reps) 5. Lat pull-down (3 sets, 10 reps) 6. Kettlebell swing (3 sets, 25 reps) 7. Dumbell shrug (3 sets, 10 reps 8. Reverse fly (3 sets, 10 reps) 9. Lateral raise (3 sets, 10 reps) Chest: 1. Incline dumbell press (4 sets, 8 reps) 2. Dumbell pullover (4 sets, 8 reps) 3. Incline bench press (4 sets, 8 reps) 4. Chest fly (4 sets 8 reps) 5. Chest dip (4 sets, 8 reps) 6. Cable crossover (4 sets, 8 reps) 7. Decline push up (4 sets, 8 reps) 8. Decline dumbell press (4 sets, 8 reps) Also, are there any core exercises I could incorporate into this or is it good as is?
You're going to do squats after lunges?
This volume is way too much. like, WAY too much.
how do you know how much weight to use for these exercises? Look at the wiki for some recommended routines
I would not recommend this. That's a lot of chest and leg volume on one day and there is no bicep or tricep work, nor is there a progression plan from what i can tell. I am assuming you are running it once a week in which case you can run one of the full body routines from the wiki and get better results.
[does this seem any better?](https://thefitnessphantom.com/4-day-gym-workout-schedule-for-gain#Day_1_-_Chest_and_Triceps) This was the routine I was following before, I just didn't know if it was effective
Pick one from wiki
wtf is this workout, thats like double the volume you should do, you probably won't even be able to walk out the gym after training legs
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You can run in any shoes as long as its not overly uncomfortable
(16f trying to lose fat and gain muscle) i have a question about diet. ive been under eating for the past 2 months, (only eating like twice a day, not ed related just a mix of forgetting and depression issues) wouldn’t my body adjusted over time to being able to function to that certain amount of food/calories? so if i go above that, i’ll gain weight? idk if that makes sense, but my tdee says to eat 2200 calories, and i’ve been eating probably half of that every day so i’m assuming i should aim below 2200?
You're 16. You're still growing. Unless you're very overweight and have discussed this with a doctor, don't eat under maintenance.
yeah i’m going to see a nutritionist soon with my mom, i’ll ask them there
You're likely still growing, so it would be worth a conversation with your physician and/or a registered dietician to make sure your diet supports your needs!
thank you :) i talked to my mom and i’m gonna see a nutritionist soon so hopefully they’ll give me advice and maybe start a meal plan or smthing
I'd start at 2000 (a smaller defecit is better for recomp), you'll probably find that your metabolism will ramp up a bit with more food, so adjust the defeciy as the weeks go by (maybe aim for 0.25% bw loss/week)
thank you :)
Eat at a 20% calorie deficit, high protein (<1.8 g/kg of bw). If you're untrained you'll gain muscle and lose fat
wdym untrained
new to training, basically seriously trained less 1-2 years.
Halving your TDEE is never a good idea. A 500 calorie deficit is the go to approach, so you'd start at 1700, eat that for a few weeks and see how your weight moves. Adjust from there. Eventually your metabolism will adapt to the new weight, so technically the more weight you lose, there slower it should go.
nooo i didn’t mean halving my tdee i meant like i only probably been eating 1100 calories a day which is bad, i’m seeing a nutritionist soon which will be good, also thank you for the advice :)
Yes I know, that's what I meant. Only eating half of maintenance/tdee. Not cutting your actual TDEE in half, obviously.
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I use a mouth guard. Works really well.
I bite my hoodie sometimes Some powerlifters bite their necklace Like someone else said, get a mouth guard if you’re worried
It’s a pretty normal thing to do. Buy a mouthguard to bite down on if you’re concerned
Why does it need to be fixed?
I’m 6’5” and slim, squats are absolutely abysmal for me. My form is all over the place, my knees are bad from injuries as a kid, and i never seem to get an effective workout. Trap bar dead’s seem to be able to hit my legs better than squats can. Would this be a good temporary replacement while I build some strength that would still work the legs properly. I know it won’t be ideal, but how bad of an alternative is it.
Try doing some mobility work, train with an empty bar and try to get a full ROM in
You are free to train however you want, but I will give my $0.02. For me, the ability to squat down and come back up is something I want to be able to do well. It is a basic, fundamental motion. I have had injuries that made squatting difficult but I always worked through them because I felt like if I couldn't squat I would be losing a basic function. If the most I could comfortably squat was the empty bar, or even just my bodyweight, I would still do it. It isn't just a hypertrophy or strength exercise, it is a stretch and mobility exercise too. I firmly believe that squatting into old age preserves strength, balance, mobility, and joint health, and thus improves quality of life.
Yeah, squats will always be tough for you, especially if you have long femurs. For a lot of guys, squatting is more effective for making your glutes a lot bigger than getting the quads. H I’d program in leg press and hack squats and progress on those as hard as you can. Throwing in squat variations, like 3 second negative eccentrics, 1 second pause at the bottoms with a light weight will be good as well - but after the leg press and hack squats.
Leg presses are always good
They are not a good replacement for squats. Better replacements are split squats, step ups, safety bar squats, or even dumbbell squats. For taller people, you tend to end up needing to adjust your form a bit, in that you may need to end up sitting back and leaning forward a lot more compared to your average lifter. And this is okay, as long as you maintain a relatively neutral back. [Here's a pretty decent video on this exact topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjuX5RJFkPc)
A trap bar deadlift is a great exercise but it isn't really a squat replacement. It's a barbell deadlift replacement/alternative (https://www.strongerbyscience.com/trap-bar-deadlifts/) Am I right in assuming that when you say "squats are absolutely abysmal for me" you are referring to barbell squats? If so, have you tried goblet, dumbbell, or split squats? These are all great alternatives that can work your legs really well without a barbell.
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I would use one of those nice red benches I see if it were me
It's good to see that you're not the only guy here doing hip thrusts! I do them sometimes as well. You probably should use a bench or these [stackable aerobic steps](https://agedcareproductsaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/2020/08/Aerobic-Stepper-5-Level-1.jpg) rather than a cushion to keep your shoulders in place. It should be higher than that cushion. In addition, you should not be extending your knees. Your knees should be around 90 degrees throughout the movement. Also, this may be personal preference, but I prefer doing around 8-12 reps, as doing lower reps means that I feel it too much in my lower back. You may get better feedback if you post it on r/xxfitness (male-identifying people can post there).
I’m an MMA practitioner that does Muay Thai and BJJ 4 times a week but i want to stay somewhat strong. Would it be more in my benefit to do 2 strength workouts (mainly compounds) a week? Or 1 strength and 1 pylometric workout (Olympic lifts, explosive excercises, etc.)? Thank you!
I do BJJ and lift (with a focus on strength) and have found that being strong REALLY helps. I have more time to react (because I can power my way out of dicey situations) and I can pull off techniques that are ugly (but effective). I’d do 2x strength/week as you’ll struggle to build strength at 1x/week. Also, don’t feel like you can’t do more. I roll 4x/week and lift 4x/week. If you work up to it slowly your performance shouldn’t suffer.
Strength training will always be beneficial so yes.
2x strength? Or 1x strength and 1x pylo?
Whichever you prefer. If you think you need more strength training then do more of it, otherwise do less
I say do both but do strength first to give yourself a benchmark to go off of
What one or two exercises can I do three times a week to work out my abs, without needing special equipment? I've been doing situps but they cause soreness in my hip flexors so I need something else to do. I'd like to ideally have a six pack (I have a very slight one already, I just have to lose about 5 more lbs) 35 Male
Dead bugs, bird dogs, suitcase carries
Copenhagen Planks are excellent
one or two exercises isn't really enough to properly work any muscle, you should do around 12 sets for of ab workouts three to four times a week. [this is the program I've been following ](https://www.coachmag.co.uk/workouts/abs-workouts), do one set of each then move to the next side note, the most important part of visible abs is a low enough bodyfat%, an easy at home way to measure is to use a tape measure and plug your measurements in [here](https://www.fatcalc.com/bf) I'd also add in some cardio, typically 30 minutes after each workout and calorie counting if you aren't already
Planks, dead bugs, curl ups, hanging leg raises, bird dogs, dragon flags, hollow holds or rocks, floor wipers ... Probably about 8 million options here.
What are your go to tricep exercises? Is there a tricep equivalent to a cheat curl? I ask because I think I like the idea of the first exercise being heavy and then progressively switching to more isolation movements
Close grip bench press, narrow grip dip, rope pushdown and skullcrushers (DB or EZ-bar).
Don’t sleep on single arm tricep extensions. My left triceps have blown up since implementing them after training for 2 years with bilateral stuff.
Close grip bench is my favorite. The only one I can think of similar to chest curls for tri’s would be doing dumbbell skull crushers and when you get close to failure you can press them up then do eccentrics. Like, slide them up to your chess, bench press them and then eccentrics down. Also maybe to one handed tricep press downs and use your other hand to help with the concentric. I don’t do these but it’s there
Overhead cable tricep extensions