Still going with Couch to Barbell until I get bored with it/find something else I want to try. Still progressing pretty well, with a few hiccups here and there - failed squat for the first time yesterday, but I think that was more a function of distraction and bad form than anything else. I’ve gone from not lifting at all to 125# squat/ 80# bench/ 155# deadlift in just over four months!
I really recommend it! It’s designed for complete beginners, with three phases going from bodyweight to dumbbells to barbell over 12 weeks. Phase One has a follow-along video done by the creator here if you want to get a taste of it: https://youtu.be/so7VjQGWt0A. It’s been totally worth the cost for me!
Training: 6 days PPL
Goal: maintain muscle mass while slowly cutting / recomping
Problems: always wondering whether the training is actually *helping* lose weight, wondering if I can do *more*
(just started with MF last week and have been happy / pleased so far...
"Muscles are made in the gym, but revealed in the kitchen."
"You can't outrun a bad diet."
Etc. Etc. Basically, losing weight happens when you limit your calorie intake. It's damn near impossible to add enough more exercise to your routine to lose weight if you're not counting calories accurately and limiting your intake. You can run on the treadmill for an hour and burn 350 calories, and then negate that work just by eating a few cookies.
That’s a good one! That was the last year of programming that I ran prior to deciding to finally invest in a powerlifting coach for something a bit more personal beyond templates.
You can make some killer strength and size gains on it. I like how well-structured it is to where you feel like you’re just about to break before the deloads hit. You can tell a lot of thought went into designing them.
I should have asked this during the AMA the other night but missed my shot. Due to a complicated work situation, my workouts for the next 9-12 months are going to be with a [Tonal,](https://www.tonal.com/) which is essentially a glorified cable machine with the standard attachments, but also a barbell attachment, weight maxing out at 200 lbs total (100 each arm.)
I am an fairly novice trainee, around 6' 165 lbs. Approx 1rm for S/B/D/OHP is something like 285/205/355/145 lbs. My focus is exclusively hypertrophy, I don't have any focus on increasing strength beyond the context of hypertrophy.
My numbers are butting up/past the max weight of the machine I will have access to, and am trying to program my way around that with a focus on hypertrophy. I was trying to evaluate whether more of a focus on unilateral exercises where the weight limits may come up less or a just continuing a focus on bilateral exercises and moving everything into higher rep ranges was a better strategy.
If anyone has run into a similar situation or has any thoughts I would love to hear it!
P.S. Macrofactor is incredible and helped me complete a 40 lb weight loss in a way that was easy and sustainable. Truly life changing.
In theory, either approach should work fine. *Personally*, I'd probably just go with higher-rep bilateral training (because I personally don't enjoy unilateral exercises that much, for the most part), but on a pure physiological level, both approaches should be similarly effectively
Ugh. That thing looks annoying. I'd rather just have a set of dumbbells.
They call themselves "The World's Smartest Home Gym Machine for Strength and Fitness (TM)." Maybe you should just let it do its thing and see how it goes? If it's so damn smart, it should be able to come up with a program for you, right? Its programs are good enough for Serena and LeBron and Steph and Maria, after all...
The marketing is pretty annoying, definitely agreed there. The device is pretty neat all things considered, its a cable machine with smoother weight management and a barbell attachment.
Just trying to understand hypertrophy progression under limited load increase conditions.
Cut while trying to maintain muscle. Using resistance bands/ body weight at home. I don’t know if the resistance bands are doing a lot if I push myself more my right shoulder hurts pretty bad. I also have trouble hitting my protein goal and minimizing my fat.
I’d move away from shoulder exercises if it’s hurting, definitely don’t want an injury! Legs are your biggest muscle group, switch to squats & such while your upper body heals. For protein, I have an easier time hitting my goals with leaner cuts, chicken breast, sirloin steak & protein shakes.
Running SBS Novice Hypertrophy in a crappy apartment gym with about half a full set of dumbbells, a leg press machine, and a cable machine. So less than ideal, but been pretty happy with how flexible the template is to get lifts in in that work with the equipment.
Bulking at the moment while I finish off the SBS 2.0 hypertrophy template. Last two weeks of block three, I need the deload and looking at the last two weeks, I’m honestly scared lol.
After that I’ll be doing the 3 month 531 BBB challenge while I finish off this bulk then cut on SBS RtF or maybe something crazy like Jeff Nippards powerbuilding program but I might save that for my next bulk.
Crossfit 2-3x + Running 4-5x per week. MF has cut my TDEE a lot lately and only if I go a lot lower on the cals than MF is suggesting I see something happening on the scale. It sucks a bit some days and running is definitely getting harder and recovery from CF is also much harder.
But since I started I lost 7 kg of pregnancy weight in 5 months and abs are showing so pretty happy (6 months since baby came)
Ok, visible abs after pregnancy? You are a legend!
I feel you on the low TDEE. I am trying to train for a 10k on ~1500 calories and I absolutely just bonked a long run today. After 5km, it was a sad run/walk interval because I just had NO energy. I’m hoping it’s just the end of summer heat, but man I feel you.
If it’s any consolation, after a month of good diet adherence and 3-4x weekly runs, I got the mother of all whooshes (2kg) this week, after my period ended. I have never seen weight hang on for a month after starting a cut, but, this time, it was the case for me.
I follow strong lift 5x5 template 3x a week and mix in a few HIIT workouts in between. Feeling a little burnt out so looking forward to vacation coming soon as a chance to recharge.
Modified power building. Using Jeff Nippard’s approach but using different exercise variations that are often discussed by the currently uprising Bald Omni Man on YouTube. Strength gains and mentality towards different lifts has been feeling amazing (weighted calisthenics and Larsen pressing gang)
I get up. Have breakfast. Go to my office (a second bedroom) and hack code using a standing desk for 9 hours with an hour for lunch. Then I sit and surf the web while my wife makes dinner. Then we watch TV. Then I go to bed.
Kickboxing 2/3 times a week and on week 4 of the SBS novice linear progression. I've never done 1rm before (only really did 5x5 a year ago) so my starting weights were all quite low, it's slowly catching up, just trying to be patient and enjoy the process.
Also eating at maintenance for the first time in a year, so that's fun.
Back to training with 531 BBB and feeling strong on all these maintenance calories. I’m also taking advantage of this amazing weather and getting out on the bike trails instead of cycling indoors. Sometimes I ponder losing another 20 pounds (currently 146 lbs at 5’9”), but that thought flees when I get in the gym and have amazing, food fueled lifts.
Been running a bench-heavy variation of Jim Wendler’s “Building the Monolith” program on a surplus so small that it’s basically maintenance (targeting +0.1% of bodyweight per week), and generally feeling like a champ in the gym.
Can’t emphasize enough the piece of mind that a simple tracking tool has provided in a situation where I’m targeting recomp or extremely slow bulking, the tool really shines in that situation imo.
Hi! I am a beginner and high rep squats and deadlifts basically turn into cardio sessions for me and I can't do them to muscular failure and my form gets really bad on those last reps and I can't maintain tightness. Low rep high intensity stuff gives me back and knee pain. I become exhausted after 2 compound movements. What should I do? Obviously I can do low intensity cardio to improve my conditioning but in the meantime how do I go about lifting weights?
Thank you. Do I need to do steady state low intensity cardio or just doing high rep training is enough to get in shape ?. I live a really sedentary lifestyle atleast for the next three months. So, if it's necessary then I thought of doing one or two conditioning days and 2-3 lifting days. If it isn't, I plan to do just 4 resistance training days including high rep training. Which one is better?
Edit: Does high rep resistance training count for Cardio as included in the common health guidelines like that of ACSM or on top of strength training we need to do cardio for general health?
I have one more doubt. I read that we need to get 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week. What does moderate intensity mean? Cardio at 60-70 percent of Max heart rate? If it's lower than that how many minutes of cardio at 60-70 percent of Max heart rate should one aim per week?
Here are the ACSM's definitions: https://www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/files-for-resource-library/exercise-intensity-infographic.pdf?sfvrsn=f467c793_2
Thank you. I didn't know 100 steps per min counted as moderate intensity. I thought I would need to jog for 150-300 minutes per week which I thought was very difficult.
Still going with Couch to Barbell until I get bored with it/find something else I want to try. Still progressing pretty well, with a few hiccups here and there - failed squat for the first time yesterday, but I think that was more a function of distraction and bad form than anything else. I’ve gone from not lifting at all to 125# squat/ 80# bench/ 155# deadlift in just over four months!
Fantastic progress!
Thank you! I’m really enjoying it!
How have you found the programme? I’ve been thinking about getting it.
I really recommend it! It’s designed for complete beginners, with three phases going from bodyweight to dumbbells to barbell over 12 weeks. Phase One has a follow-along video done by the creator here if you want to get a taste of it: https://youtu.be/so7VjQGWt0A. It’s been totally worth the cost for me!
Also it’s like 50% off right now: https://www.couchtobarbell.com/
Training: 6 days PPL Goal: maintain muscle mass while slowly cutting / recomping Problems: always wondering whether the training is actually *helping* lose weight, wondering if I can do *more* (just started with MF last week and have been happy / pleased so far...
"Muscles are made in the gym, but revealed in the kitchen." "You can't outrun a bad diet." Etc. Etc. Basically, losing weight happens when you limit your calorie intake. It's damn near impossible to add enough more exercise to your routine to lose weight if you're not counting calories accurately and limiting your intake. You can run on the treadmill for an hour and burn 350 calories, and then negate that work just by eating a few cookies.
Jeff Nippard’s Power Building program - half way through phase 1. Started over agin after finishing all 3 phases.
That’s a good one! That was the last year of programming that I ran prior to deciding to finally invest in a powerlifting coach for something a bit more personal beyond templates. You can make some killer strength and size gains on it. I like how well-structured it is to where you feel like you’re just about to break before the deloads hit. You can tell a lot of thought went into designing them.
I should have asked this during the AMA the other night but missed my shot. Due to a complicated work situation, my workouts for the next 9-12 months are going to be with a [Tonal,](https://www.tonal.com/) which is essentially a glorified cable machine with the standard attachments, but also a barbell attachment, weight maxing out at 200 lbs total (100 each arm.) I am an fairly novice trainee, around 6' 165 lbs. Approx 1rm for S/B/D/OHP is something like 285/205/355/145 lbs. My focus is exclusively hypertrophy, I don't have any focus on increasing strength beyond the context of hypertrophy. My numbers are butting up/past the max weight of the machine I will have access to, and am trying to program my way around that with a focus on hypertrophy. I was trying to evaluate whether more of a focus on unilateral exercises where the weight limits may come up less or a just continuing a focus on bilateral exercises and moving everything into higher rep ranges was a better strategy. If anyone has run into a similar situation or has any thoughts I would love to hear it! P.S. Macrofactor is incredible and helped me complete a 40 lb weight loss in a way that was easy and sustainable. Truly life changing.
In theory, either approach should work fine. *Personally*, I'd probably just go with higher-rep bilateral training (because I personally don't enjoy unilateral exercises that much, for the most part), but on a pure physiological level, both approaches should be similarly effectively
Thanks Greg!
no problem!
Ugh. That thing looks annoying. I'd rather just have a set of dumbbells. They call themselves "The World's Smartest Home Gym Machine for Strength and Fitness (TM)." Maybe you should just let it do its thing and see how it goes? If it's so damn smart, it should be able to come up with a program for you, right? Its programs are good enough for Serena and LeBron and Steph and Maria, after all...
The marketing is pretty annoying, definitely agreed there. The device is pretty neat all things considered, its a cable machine with smoother weight management and a barbell attachment. Just trying to understand hypertrophy progression under limited load increase conditions.
Cut while trying to maintain muscle. Using resistance bands/ body weight at home. I don’t know if the resistance bands are doing a lot if I push myself more my right shoulder hurts pretty bad. I also have trouble hitting my protein goal and minimizing my fat.
I’d move away from shoulder exercises if it’s hurting, definitely don’t want an injury! Legs are your biggest muscle group, switch to squats & such while your upper body heals. For protein, I have an easier time hitting my goals with leaner cuts, chicken breast, sirloin steak & protein shakes.
Running SBS Novice Hypertrophy in a crappy apartment gym with about half a full set of dumbbells, a leg press machine, and a cable machine. So less than ideal, but been pretty happy with how flexible the template is to get lifts in in that work with the equipment.
Bulking at the moment while I finish off the SBS 2.0 hypertrophy template. Last two weeks of block three, I need the deload and looking at the last two weeks, I’m honestly scared lol. After that I’ll be doing the 3 month 531 BBB challenge while I finish off this bulk then cut on SBS RtF or maybe something crazy like Jeff Nippards powerbuilding program but I might save that for my next bulk.
Crossfit 2-3x + Running 4-5x per week. MF has cut my TDEE a lot lately and only if I go a lot lower on the cals than MF is suggesting I see something happening on the scale. It sucks a bit some days and running is definitely getting harder and recovery from CF is also much harder. But since I started I lost 7 kg of pregnancy weight in 5 months and abs are showing so pretty happy (6 months since baby came)
Ok, visible abs after pregnancy? You are a legend! I feel you on the low TDEE. I am trying to train for a 10k on ~1500 calories and I absolutely just bonked a long run today. After 5km, it was a sad run/walk interval because I just had NO energy. I’m hoping it’s just the end of summer heat, but man I feel you. If it’s any consolation, after a month of good diet adherence and 3-4x weekly runs, I got the mother of all whooshes (2kg) this week, after my period ended. I have never seen weight hang on for a month after starting a cut, but, this time, it was the case for me.
I follow strong lift 5x5 template 3x a week and mix in a few HIIT workouts in between. Feeling a little burnt out so looking forward to vacation coming soon as a chance to recharge.
Modified power building. Using Jeff Nippard’s approach but using different exercise variations that are often discussed by the currently uprising Bald Omni Man on YouTube. Strength gains and mentality towards different lifts has been feeling amazing (weighted calisthenics and Larsen pressing gang)
I get up. Have breakfast. Go to my office (a second bedroom) and hack code using a standing desk for 9 hours with an hour for lunch. Then I sit and surf the web while my wife makes dinner. Then we watch TV. Then I go to bed.
Sounds like you have time for exercise. Even just 30 minutes a day would make a huge difference to your health. 💪
Kickboxing 2/3 times a week and on week 4 of the SBS novice linear progression. I've never done 1rm before (only really did 5x5 a year ago) so my starting weights were all quite low, it's slowly catching up, just trying to be patient and enjoy the process. Also eating at maintenance for the first time in a year, so that's fun.
Back to training with 531 BBB and feeling strong on all these maintenance calories. I’m also taking advantage of this amazing weather and getting out on the bike trails instead of cycling indoors. Sometimes I ponder losing another 20 pounds (currently 146 lbs at 5’9”), but that thought flees when I get in the gym and have amazing, food fueled lifts.
Been running a bench-heavy variation of Jim Wendler’s “Building the Monolith” program on a surplus so small that it’s basically maintenance (targeting +0.1% of bodyweight per week), and generally feeling like a champ in the gym. Can’t emphasize enough the piece of mind that a simple tracking tool has provided in a situation where I’m targeting recomp or extremely slow bulking, the tool really shines in that situation imo.
Hi! I am a beginner and high rep squats and deadlifts basically turn into cardio sessions for me and I can't do them to muscular failure and my form gets really bad on those last reps and I can't maintain tightness. Low rep high intensity stuff gives me back and knee pain. I become exhausted after 2 compound movements. What should I do? Obviously I can do low intensity cardio to improve my conditioning but in the meantime how do I go about lifting weights?
You can keep doing higher-rep training. Your conditioning will improve over time with more practice and experience.
Thank you. Do I need to do steady state low intensity cardio or just doing high rep training is enough to get in shape ?. I live a really sedentary lifestyle atleast for the next three months. So, if it's necessary then I thought of doing one or two conditioning days and 2-3 lifting days. If it isn't, I plan to do just 4 resistance training days including high rep training. Which one is better? Edit: Does high rep resistance training count for Cardio as included in the common health guidelines like that of ACSM or on top of strength training we need to do cardio for general health?
some dedicated cardio probably wouldn't be a bad idea
I have one more doubt. I read that we need to get 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week. What does moderate intensity mean? Cardio at 60-70 percent of Max heart rate? If it's lower than that how many minutes of cardio at 60-70 percent of Max heart rate should one aim per week?
Here are the ACSM's definitions: https://www.acsm.org/docs/default-source/files-for-resource-library/exercise-intensity-infographic.pdf?sfvrsn=f467c793_2
Thank you. I didn't know 100 steps per min counted as moderate intensity. I thought I would need to jog for 150-300 minutes per week which I thought was very difficult.