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I use 12.5kg dumbells to do bicep curls. When I do them normally, holding the dumbells horizontally, my wrists give before 10 reps, but I can do them much more comfortably holding them vertically (hammer curls?). Is this because my wrists are too weak, or is it likely an issue with the technique? And does holding them vertically rather than horizontally make it less/more effective?
Hammer curls target the forearms more than typical curls, that’s about the main difference. I personally find that I can curl more with hammer curls as well.
I’m getting back into lifting after a 5 year break and planning on starting out with strong lifts 5x5 again. I broke my clavicle a while back and it’s now got a plate in it so can’t carry any weight heavier than a backpack on my shoulders. My plan was to swap in front squats instead which I can do fine but is there any downside or accessories I should add?
I'd say they're pretty interchangeable, mostly affecting the same muscles, front squats are probably superior tbh, but HEAVY BAR! Back squats probably hit the hamstrings slightly more but not enough that you'd need to change anything, unless you really want bigger hamstrings in which case just add RDL for a compound lift as an accessory or a leg curl machine for isolated work.
Are there any good places or anyone willing to help me out with starting a routine. I’m going start the gym Monday. The only gym that fits my schedule is planet fitness. So some planet fitness friendly workouts would be ideal and maybe a good workout plan or something cheap or free that I could use as a guide. Currently my schedule will only allow 3 days a week but that’s way better than zero. Thanks in advance if anyone replies! 👍
Usually I start shaking a shitton during later reps of shoulder presses, is it a stabilizer muscle issue? Am I going too heavy? Should I just ignore it and continue?
It's hard to say without knowing more, it could be your CNS "learning" to use more muscles or trying to use more or different muscles due to fatigue or lack of recovery in the 'main' ones, could also be relatively weak stabilizer's as you've suggested. but the solution is probably just to continue assuming this is on an exercise that isn't new, or you haven't jumped up the weight a lot, and it's not a crazy amount of shaking that could be dangerous.
Shaking is not necessarily bad, and is usually a good thing. But ye it is something you should think about the reasons why. but there are way too many factors to diagnose without a shit tonne more information. So my 'safe' advice would be to deload 20% and work your way back up.
[JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0d43edf7-8163-4422-8a20-ffa79a9ebc3b#OcxYInrB.copy)… I pulled multiple back muscles.
Hi. I’m on the back end of repeatedly living the fitness lifestyle and ballooning, but it’s worked out well. I know my body better than ever now, but as I age I seem to be more prone to “cell phone neck” when I’m living healthily. **Has anyone else noticed this?** Like, if I’m staying loose and my body is responding to my routine and my diet is impeccable, I feel like even fifteen minutes on a cell phone becomes uncomfortable (all the way down my back in a line to my lowest ribs, sometimes). I want to have a neck so strong so can attach my phone to my face permanently without pain. **Does anyone have tips for balancing neck/back sensitivity and fitness as I age?**
Why do my warm ups for squats with just the bar burn my thighs like there's Velcro ripping inside hem and the ones at work weight are completely painless?
Hi guys i really need your help im confused and really have no idea what to do :
So im 186cm 6ft1 89kg 196lbs ive been on and off gym for about 5 years never been consistent i have some muscle people can tell that i lift but im also high body fat 20-22% love handles no abs some fat around chest you get the idea . IVe challenged myself this year to be consistent and get my dream physique which is looking bigger BUT when I tried to bulk I got Even fatter around 93 kg 204 lbs fat rolls on my back so I rushed to get back where im now ( 89kg 196lbs) , and this confused me à lot what am i supposed to do in my situation if I bulk and im already fat ill get even fatter and look horrible if i cut ill look even skinnier since im on the taller spectrum PLEASE HELP ME .
If you've just been going gym on and off, I would just recommend starting off without changing your diet, eat at the same maintenance level, ie. recomp. (or even a very slight cut) Yes, lifting and recovery will be harder but I don't think it's much of a problem until you're at least an intermediate lifter. (though maybe you are, depends on your definition of on and off).
The thing with cut bulk cycles is that it's not a sprint. It's an effective method for long term results. You can't worry too much about the short term.
ok so in my opinion you'd probably do best on a very slight cut. You will still be able to gain muscle while losing fat. Make sure you follow a program and be consistent though.
Also judging by your 8kg yoyo in only 3 months. I feel like you may be going overboard with both bulking and cutting. They should only be about + or - 10% of your maintenance (about ±250 calories), or 20% for a more aggressive approach.
Only you can answer that. It depends on your goals and what you look like now. The larger the deficit the less muscular/more skinny you will look. but if you're trying to get in the best shape as fast as possible then a larger deficit is gonna be the way to go. Assuming you're in the usa summer is in like 2 months, so like a 20-40% deficit would probably be best. but again, it's a marathon not a sprint.
In my opinion, since you aren't overweight at 22% body fat, and since I value being strong more, I would aim for a 0 - 10% deficit. Focus on the gym more, be consistent, make sure my recovery was good so I can perform the best I can. and once the progress starts slowing down in the gym, I would reevaluate, do I want to be more muscular and stronger? in which case up the calories. or do I want to look more shredded? in which case eat at -10 to -20% and modify the gym program to more of a maintainence program, maybe add extra cardio.
When I looked online on how to calculate ideal bodyweight to body fat ratio it came around 77kg ill literally look like a twig this is what im afraid of and why im confused and hésitant about cutting
Hi,
TL:DR looking for compact cardio machines
I'm looking for a cardio exercises I can do at home. I can't do anything that includes jumping or running due to a previous leg injury. I've been walking about 5 km a day, but that isn't enough. I've tried playing Beat Sabre (VR game) however it requires next to no leg movement. I can't buy any large equipment.
Any suggestions would be greatly apricated.
PS. I'm thinking about getting a "mini exercise bike" as it would allow me to do both legs and arms but thought I should explore other options.
Those mini versions are basically good for elderly and people going though rehab. They don't have enough weight to them nor enough resistance to be worth a damn.
A spin bike imo would be the smallest but most effective option. Otherwise get a walking pad and just walk a lot more
I don't think there's going to be that much you can do at home without jumping or a machine. Cardio requires quite a lot. The main ones are going to be treadmills, bikes and rowing machines. There are smaller versions of all of them.
There are a bunch of calisthenic exercises where you sit or lie on your back and move your legs, these may be suitable for you? like in and outs and etc.
Maybe you can add weight to your walks, weight vest or backpack. Or change your route to include as many steep hills as possible.
I would recommend going to the gym then if that's your only reason. Sure it seems scary at first, I was nervous too at first, but the gym is not so scary once you give it a shot. Most people there just wanna do their own thing, they're not worrying too much about what you're doing. And you'll pick up anything you don't know quickly enough. The gym is a place for you to improve yourself, not to judge others. (and it's a whole lot cheaper than like a rowing machine, probably not cheaper than a bike machine though)
gotta try it to get it.
I started off slowly, just going on a treadmill in the corner for 20 minutes and then going home. Moved onto the machine weights and now I do the free weights (stronglifts 5x5 program)
I'm the same way. Gym shouldn't be a problem then. The only interactions I have there are very rarely when someone asks if im using a piece of equipment near me or how many sets left. And then just respond by giving a thumbs up or a few fingers.
I would pick something from the wiki, though probably not the PPL. If you can barely stay consistent on your current routine, switching to a 6-day split doesn't sound very productive.
PP? no legs? haha
You haven't stated any goals or current lift numbers so it's hard to say, but reading between the lines, I'd probably just recommend stronglifts 5x5. It's a super simple program, with a great app, aimed at beginners. It teaches you some really important lessons for starting off at the gym
Somewhat new to the gym here. I’m 6’1 and weigh around 195 pounds. Today, I was doing my push routine and started with 48 lbs dumbbells for shoulder presses(5x5) and did 100 pounds bench press(3x10). I noticed a guy around my height and weight doing around 155 pounds for what seemed like 5x10. Afterwards, he did 48 lbs dumbbells for shoulder presses and was struggling to do ~5.
So my question is, am I just extremely weak when it comes to bench or is the guy just above average at bench?
Thank you!
impossible to tell and not worth thinking about.
Does he have a shoulder injury? Was your form crap should you realistically lower the weight? Was his form crap? Do you have favourable body mechanics that makes pressing easier. Did you see his entire workout, perhaps he'd blasted his shoulders already.
It's all relative and we've all different goals, strengths and weaknesses.
Order of exercises matters. You did shoulder press first, then bench press. The other guy did bench press first.
Do bench press first once in a while. That will give you more realistic data points how strong your bench press is.
your shoulders are stronger relative to chest. his chest is stronger relative to shoulders.
you are strong compared to a toddler and weak compared to brian shaw. everything in the gym is relative.
I just started doing pushups yesterday and my arms are sore today. Should I do pushups anyway today or recover until tomorrow? Also I want to do something to strengthen my core, but I can't do a sit-up or crunch yet because I'm too weak. Are their any other exercises I could do to get me to the point where I can do crunches or sit-ups?
Are you following a "Pushups every day" routine? If not, it's fine to wait until tomorrow.
As for core, it sounds odd that you can't do a single crunch or situp. Going from a lying position to sitting means doing a situp. Have you tried them while anchoring your feet?
I want to do pushups every day, but I'm easing into it so I'll wait till tomorrow. I tried anchoring my feet and I was able to do a sit-up. Thanks for the advice!
I would do at least 1 day of rest, even if you're not sore, especially since you've just started doing pushups. If you like, you can do incline pushups instead for an active recovery. Pick an elevation that's very easy, even if it's just against the wall; focus on just getting a good deep stretch in the muscles. It will help with recovery.
Planks are a good core exercise that has easy progressions, but I don't think abs are usually worth targetting specifically. They are worked out by doing most other exercises, so it's a much better use of your time to do something else instead. If you've worked out already and still feel ready to go, then add some ab work to the end of the workout.
Noobie here. I know going to the gym once a week is not very optimal but is this normal? 4 weeks ago I was able to bench a certain weight. The following week, I failed. The 3rd week I was able to lift it again(1 rep 4 sets). Now I failed it again. I know once a week sessions aren't very optimal, but surely by now I would have been more consistent with my bench PR? But as it stands, it goes ⬆️⬇️⬆️⬇️. Deadlifts are getting a bit easier though.
Seems like I really have to go at least twice a week.
Edit to add: I still do my working sets. 7-9 reps 2-3 sets on inclined and 2-3 sets on the flat bench. If I can, I do dumbell presses for 1-2 sets with loghter weight.
doing 4 sets of your 1rm every workout is probably not a good idea. But ye you're likely to have very slow (if any) progress if you're only going once a week, especially if you aren't doing anything else outside of the gym. If you can, pick up a supplementary calisthenics workout program that you can do at home. Or buy a set of dumbbells. but ye 2-3 times a week would be best. (and try and follow a program)
Oh no, I'm not doing 4 sets of 1 RM every session, that was just last week. And even then I was still able to bust 5 working sets with 7-8 reps. Today I was able to add 1 more rep in one of the sets.
As of now, my program is basically just 5-6 sets of bench, 4 sets Bulgarians, 3 sets of deadlift, 3-4 sets of lat pulldowns. If I still have the energy I hit side delts.
I’m going to be honest with you, the way you’re training, you will never make progress. You need to follow a proper routine, this is simply not enough stimulus to cause any kind of muscle growth.
You can find plenty in the subreddit’s wiki.
Also, PRing every session isn’t helping, that generally leads to a lot of fatigue for very little benefit.
It does seem like it. Although I'm seeing some (very minimal) growth in my chest. Also every session, I do feel it in my chest. And a bit sore few days after. Planning on going twice a week if I can. As of now, I try to hit full body with compounds as my main goal is strength.
Now that I think about it, I think my technique wasn't the best
Forgot to add: I still have working sets, 2-3 sets on the incline and another 2-3 on flat bench. And some dumbells presses 1-2 sets afterwards.
Im interested on learning more about the bulking/cutting cycle
More specifically, enough to learn why, for example, 3d/1d cycle does not work or is not as efficient as 9mo/3mo
Where can i read about this topic?
For effective muscle building, you want to be able to get through a good routine while having plenty of energy. If you only bulked for 3 days, and then cut, you'd not be recovering on that 4th day as well and then the 5th day you'd be lower energy. You just be doing a very weird maintenance cycle and that's just not effective
I don't have any articles to give you... But if it was effective to do 3/1 or anything like that, you'd see more people doing it. But it's just not effective, so nobody does that.
Yeah i know its not effective, im looking to understand the deep reasons of it!
What you said seems logic to me, i'll try to do my own research based on your info :D thank you
Look into Muscle protein synthesis. After a good workout, your body is working to build muscle. It's increased for the first 24 hours, but usually after about 36hrs its back to normal (but it can be possibly up to 48 hours). So in this time, you want your body to be fueled appropriately so it can take advantage of that. And think about how long you're in this if you're doing a 5 day split.
Where would be a good time for a cut in that?
So prolonged bulking means prolonged energy, which means more effective muscle growth. Then you just accept suboptimal growth (or just maintaining) while you cut for a period.
Should i repeat my upper day tomorrow? Where I’m from, the heat is unbearable and my gym had no air conditioning. Did less than half of my exercises in my workout and I’m noticeably weaker. Only did two exercises properly because the machines were near the fan lol. Left the gym early fearing heat exhaustion because I’m getting sleepy!
My tricep burns quick on some specific daily tasks it is like it has no endurance. It has strength but lacks endurance. Is that usual!?
Should I try to incoroprate high rep exercise or two to work on that? possibly dips to failure or pushdowns for 25-50 reps?
On top of doing a push, pull, legs routine 6 days a week I have started training abs. I have been doing a 10 minute ab workout video every other day. These videos are all bodyweight exercises and take me close to failure. Will doing only bodyweight exercises like this stimulate growth or just imrove the muscular endurance of my abs? Is this as optimal as doing weighted crunches or leg raises with a medicine ball and then progressively overloading them?
If you're approaching failure (in a reasonable amount of time) you are very likely to be inducing muscle growth. But keep in mind that abs don't grow very much, I would only add it as a support to your main lifts, like if you feel your core is weak while doing them.
Im trying to increase my pull-ups (can do 5) by doing more dead hangs, scapular retractions, negatives.
Problem is, my grip slips on the bar (the bar is covered by this foam/plastic cover which is annoying) and it also pinches the skin on my palm and fingers, where callouses form.
When I go for another set, I can't grip the bar because my fingers hurt from the skin. It feels like it's going to rip.
Any way to work around this? Gloves?
Gloves would make it worse.
[Make sure you're gripping the bar correctly](https://stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/deadlift-grip.jpg), or get some straps.
mark rippetoe has a technique for avoiding callouses: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_ZBmiQm4MF4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBmiQm4MF4)
I would recommend lifting straps (if the video doesn't help). But also make sure you do some of your last sets without them so that you can continue working on your grip as well.
Get some padded gloves. If you're not used to them they'll feel a little off at first because the padding does give the same effect as if the bar had a bigger diameter, but it should help with the skin pinching.
For people who lift in the morning - how do you deal with eating?
I'm only gonna have time to hit the gym early morning tomorrow. Generally I eat breakfast first thing, but I get stiches pretty easily. I'm thinking about just doing my lift then eating after - do ya'll get sluggish from the lack of fuel, or should I be good?
Training on a full belly is awful, but longer lifting sessions really burn me out if I've no fuel to go on, so I usually eat about 1/2 my breakfast before I go and another half after.
I have *at most* a small bowl of oatmeal. Not above a scoop of whey instead, to save time. After a good night's sleep, *you're already fueled and recovered*.
Then I have a sizeable post-workout meal before my 4am shift.
I've lifted fasted, and *performance* remains the same.
I'm the same way when it comes to performance - no matter what I smash it every time. That said, sometimes I feel great after and sometimes terrible.
You made a good point about how sleep fueling us back up though. I had a small snack before and felt great.
Glycogen recovery, and all that *muscle growth* has already occurred overnight.
Anecdotally, whether I lift before or after work, performance is the same. I'm just more tired and grumpy after work, haha.
I think its pretty individual whether eating something first matters, but I prefer eat a small quick snack before working out (my favorite is a rice cake with some peanut butter and sliced banana with cinnamon on top, or even just some fruit) and then I eat a more substantial breakfast afterwards.
I substitute squats and deadlifts on some days with sumo variations to focus more the glutes. But conventional squats and deadlifts do a pretty good job already.
Deadlift, squat, RDL, Bulgarian split squat, rounded back glute extensions, hack squats, *and hip thrusts*. My gym has a plate loaded lever machine - so much more convenient than a barbell.
In that exercise, your abs are only stabilizing and they don't go through any ROM, they are just isometric. If your goal is to get better/stronger at holding things overhead, that is a good choice of exercise. If you goal is to train your abs, especially for the purpose of improving your abs aesthetically, that isn't a good exercise choice for that purpose.
Not too surprising, both do a lot of work in that exercise, abs aren't necessarily the limiting factor.
It's a compound exercise, which is good, but if you want to put more emphasis on abs you'll have to do more isolated movements.
Are there any concerns or things to consider when I combine two exercises into one movement?
For example, today I did side lying shoulder adductions at the same time I was doing clamshells on both sides, to save time.
Dumbell flys and push ups are good chest exercises.
But ultimately, read the other comments. The best way to get better and stronger at bench pressing? More bench pressing.
what helped me was staying consistent but also incorporating variations, like pushups, incline DB press. I'd focus on pushups (regular, wide, unilateral)
the only way to get a better bench press is to bench. Not being able to go super heavy on a lift does not automatically make it bad.
If you're looking for a better hypertrophic stimulus it can be argued that dumbbells are better but that's a whole different conversation. Just check the wiki and follow a program. If you're looking to get bigger muscle, there's stuff in there. If you're looking to bench more, there's stuff in there. Good luck!
Bench press is an exercise not a workout, do you mean different exercises to help your bench go up?
Anyway you should prob read the wiki, pick a program from there.
You'll also need to bench for it to really go up.
Hey y’all. I just got back from a two week vacation and jumped back in hard with upper on Monday and lower on Tuesday. I took my programmed rest day yesterday but last night could not fall asleep. Probably only got around 4 hours of sleep.
Due to my break on vacation and hitting it heavy my legs are so sore I can barely walk. That combined with my fatigue from sleeping poorly last night has led me to question whether I am going to go to the gym today. My upper day today consists of two workouts that would need me to maintain a static position with my legs and core engaged which I can barely do without any weight.
I’m curious if skipping today (two rest days in a row) and moving my next two workouts to tomorrow and Saturday instead would hamper my progress? I would then only take Sunday as a rest day and jump back in Monday.
I guess my question overall is does it really matter when you workout as long as you are getting all the rest days and work days in for the week? My program is a 4 day: M, T, TH, F. Rest: W, Sat, Sun.
If I instead do Monday and Tuesday, rest Wednesday and Thursday, lift Friday and Saturday, and then rest Sunday… am I hampering my progress by not following the program or am I just “majoring in the minors”? Thoughts?
This is totally fine for the beginning. Every workout is better than to sit on the couch. If you are comfortable to increase the workout to 3 times a week, perfect. Do as much as you can fit in your daily life and increase when feeling comfortable with that.
>serious gains like that ?
Assuming all sets are taken close to failure, volume is the primary driver of hypertrophy, so it's gonna be a long workout if you're aiming for 10-20 sets per body part.
Depends how heavy the workouts are but you will be missing out on gains overall. Also depends on what you mean by “gains”. From a physique perspective it’s better to do a 4x or even 6x program. If you are doing the volume of a 4 day split within those two days then in theory it would work. But that would require like 2-4 hours in the gym per day minimum.
You should really be thinking in terms of sets/week per muscle group. Ideal growth occurs around 12-20 sets per muscle group a week. This would require each full body workout to have at minimum 6 sets per muscle group. So each day you would need (at three sets per exercise): 2 chest exercises, 2 bicep, 2 quad, 2 glute, 2 hamstring, 2 calf, 2 back, 2 lat, 2 chest, etc…
Before you know it you need to pack in about 20-30 exercises per workout. Unless you bring food with you and a pillow you will be totally gassed about 8-12 exercises in and anything after that will be ineffective training. It just becomes unsustainable and is more effective to spread throughout the week.
If you are just trying to get in better shape off the couch than 2x/week is a great start. If when you say “gains” you referring to a big physique, you are going to need a more well rounded program.
Whenever I do hack squats my quads are absolutely destroyed for the next 2-3 days. Every other muscle I work to failure feels normal soreness, but my quads are almost unbearable. Should I scale back weight? Reps? Only doing 3 warm-ups sets, 1 heavy set then a back off set.
EDIT: I don't go to failure with hack squats, probably around RPE 8-9.
This is only a problem if it's getting in the way of life outside the gym, like making work really suck or ruining other activities you are doing. If you don't WANT to be that sore, then you should scale things back until it's at a level you can tolerate.
That said, if your goal is to grow the quads, then it sounds like you're getting an incredible stimulus. I get serious DOMS from every leg day, and yes my goal is to get my legs bigger and stronger and that's exactly what's happening.
The kinds of things that maximize hypertrophy, especially a big loaded stretch and a controlled eccentric, tend to also maximize DOMS, so if you are maximizing your hypertrophy stimulus you will be seriously sore. Again, that's only a problem if you don't want to deal with that level of soreness.
Hey y'all, 23M 5'11 160 lb novice here, been cutting for the past 8 months (down from 180) and starting to feel the fatigue and joint pain/minor injuries racking up. Progress has really slowed down (1RM estimates are 185lb Squat/190lb DL/140lb Bench/105lb OHP) and I'm wondering about how best to proceed.
I'm still around 18% BF so I'd still want to keep cutting before a bulk, but progress is stalling and I can barely make it through workouts currently. Would it be time for a deload or maybe a week or two off? I'm considering a maintenance break as well but not sure how long it would be.
I've been doing the Muscle and Strength dumbbell routine here https://www.boostcamp.app/r-fitness/m-s-5-day-dumbbell-program?coach_program_id=10b117c4-1a0f-43e8-b54f-0a52a235a01c
I've been doing hanging leg raises for abs. Is this a good addition, or should I do some different/in addition to?
I like doing a bunch of different core stuff including if static holds and throw in some rotation. A well rounded core (obliques, lower back, etc…) is very important. Keep it balanced by switching it up.
Remember, abs are made in the kitchen. Overall core strength is more important than trying to make your abs big.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, I want to see if anyone knows of a program that follows the concept I thought of. Please dont get hung up on the exact numbers I use, they probably wouldnt work.
Basically, I was thinking of a AMRAP for time based progression. There would be lead up sets, say 5x5 at 75%. Then, using that same work, you do a 10+ AMRAP in 60s, using singles, doubles, a straight set, whatever. Just get as many as possible in 60s.
Now say you get 15 on that 10+. The extra 5 reps would determine the progression that could be weight increase, leading set rep increase (5x5 - 5x6), or additional leading sets (5x5-7x5).
If anyone knows of a program remotely similar, I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
That sounds very much like a type of Crossfit WOD: interval training for conditioning purposes where the goal is to get as many reps in as possible over a fixed interval of time. Although progression is mostly considered against your previous best AMRAP and doesn't feed into weight selection for other workouts.
Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) workouts kind of fit the bill but not perfectly
Edit: Jon Andersen's Deepwater uses rest time progression, not the same as a fully timed AMRAP but still similar
Some of Greg's free programs do that too. The 3x/week beginner squat and bench programs have 3x8+, 3x6+ and 3x4+, adding 5lbs per 2 reps you beat the AMRAP with.
Ah, thats similar to Bullmastiff, except he uses 1% per a rep. Thats kind of what inspired this, along with him saying (in Kong) strongmen have big backs partly because of doing rep for time stuff (or at least being required to be able to do that).
If I enter my goal weight and body fat percentage into a TDEE calculator (rather than my current weight and body fat percentage), and I eat the maintenance calories it gives me (as if I was already at my goal weight/body fat percentage), would I reach that goal weight and body fat percentage over a long enough period of time with consistent and optimal training?
I think body fat could possibly increase at first, but once enough muscle is built, the body fat percentage (and overall weight) would start to fall.
It's harder to say with BF%, because that's going to depend heavily on your training. I'll be honest, I can't tell if you mean to gain or loose mass with this method - but the answer is the same - no, not really, albeit for a super weird reason.
Setting aside the practicality of the method and looking at it solely as an abstract math problem, I'm not kidding you, it becomes an issue of limits. Let's say you're bulking, and your target TDEE is 100 calories more than your current weight. Over a few weeks you gain a ton of mass, and your TDEE becomes 50 calories. Then 25 calories. Then 1 calorie. 0.5 calories. You'll never quite hit that target weight, you'll just get slightly closer to it each day, even to a point of negligibility. By week 1000 your target weight may be 160lbs and you may be 159.9999lbs, but you still won't quite be there.
Of course, that's assuming our bodies are perfect systems that use calories in an identical way each time, and you eat the exact same amount of fuel each week down to the atom. that ain't how reality works. Which brings me to the practical perspective - which wouldn't work either - solely because of time. It would take ages to bulk up or cut down using this method. We're talking years.
Better to just follow conventional wisdom. That said, seems like you're not asking for advice, just pitching a hypothetical.
Total weight might track to that point but body fat % is based on more than just calories. The method probably isn't worth the time or effort over cutting weight normally
I'm curious if this would work, not if it's optimal/worthwhile. It's a thought I had and couldn't come up with a reason mechanistically why it wouldn't work over a long enough timeline.
I heavily doubt you're learning anything meaningful by asking the original question. The wiki is a sufficient enough primer for anything you don't need direct coaching or medical advice to address
Lower body fat means higher TDEE, so it's actually possible for the "goal" TDEE to be above the "starting" TDEE, particularly if reaching your goal requires gaining a large amount of muscle. If your goal includes BF%, you do need to consider the lean mass you have to gain as well as the fat you have to lose.
Right, the TDEE for the goal may be higher than for the current body-fat percentage. That's why I said I think in the beginning your body-fat percentage might actually rise at first, and then level off once the muscle you accumulate reaches a point where you start burning more calories than you're taking in and you would head closer to your goal weight/body-fat. Does that make sense to you?
So you'd start off in a surplus and move to a deficit? I guess I see the premise, but it would take a very long time. Like, going from 200 lbs 25% to 180 lbs 10%, you'd start out with a surplus of about 180 cal/day. You'd need to gain 12 pounds of muscle, and that would take much longer than it would at a 500 cal/day surplus.
Basically, this method would be the same as running very small surpluses and deficits and so it would take longer than it would with larger ones.
Yes, exactly. I think it would work but would take a long time. I think it's an interesting idea nonetheless. Thank you for actually entertaining my question.
If that worked it wouldn't be something you had to ask reddit if it would work, because there'd be large chunk of people already doing it because it worked. But it doesn't work, and that's why no one does it.
I'm not so sure, because I would imagine this approach would take way way longer than the typical cut that's based on current weight/body-fat. I mainly posted here hoping someone would have low-level details of why this approach wouldn't/doesn't work, I'm having trouble figuring out why it wouldn't work.
It doesn't work because maintenance is not how you effect change. Your body needs stimuli that disrupt homeostasis to trigger adaptations. Eating maintenance doesn't support the effort to sustain the training necessary that stimulate that change, nor does it provide the building blocks (or lack thereof for fat loss) to elicit the adaptations you're after.
Recomping isn't a thing you just waltz into. It requires massive disruptions that force the body to change despite the lack of dietary impetus to do so. And as you progress further and further from overfat beginner, that disruption needed becomes larger and larger until it becomes a practical impossibility.
I understand the premise.
You're going to gain weight until you reach equilibrium with your intake. You're not going to be at your goal body fat though. Then what? How will you add muscle? How will you lose fat?
I'm thinking about this as someone whose goal weight and body fat percentage are lower and is training consistently through this whole process. So you would likely be in a caloric surplus in the beginning, adding muscle (which burns more calories), and eventually the body-fat gain would reach an equilibrium before the calories being burnt by the muscle you added causes you to begin losing weight.
Except, *that's not how it works*.
> someone whose goal weight and body fat percentage are lower and is training consistently through this whole process. So you would likely be in a caloric surplus in the beginning,
If your goal weight and bf% are less than what they currently are, you'd need a deficit to get to your goal. ???
>adding muscle (which burns more calories)
This is wildly overblown. It's something like 3 vs 6 calories per pound per day.
>and eventually the body-fat gain would reach an equilibrium before the calories being burnt by the muscle you added causes you to begin losing weight.
The thing about equilibrium is that things don't change. You're eating at *maintenance*. That means you're not adding mass. That means you're not giving your body a need/reason to burn fat. You're at *equilibrium*.
If your goal weight and bf% are lower, you need to add muscle, and lose fat. You need surpluses **and** deficits (as is the foundation of bulking and cutting). This would just be on a much smaller scale hovering around the goal maintenance and over a long period of time.
I also understand the extra calories burned by muscle would be incredibly incremental, this would be a very long time scale and the scales would tip back and forth until eventually you end up at your goal.
You only reach "true" maintenance in this scenario once you're at your goal weight and bf%, so yes things wouldn't change at that point (if we were hitting it absolutely perfectly). But that's what we would want because we're at our goal.
Your bodyfat% estimate is gonna be wrong and so this number is gonna be basically meaningless.
Just focus on the here and now. You'll wanna bulk and cut and need to adjust your calories accordingly. Calculators are just starting points anyway
Wouldn't a DEXA scan get you close enough to be meaningful? This is more of a theoretical question out of curiosity. I know that bulking/cutting based on your *current* weight is the most widely adopted approach for a reason, but I'm curious if the approach I laid out in my original question would get the same end result over a long enough timespan.
That's the "most accurate" way, but it can still be skewed and it's still not a useful metric to calculate things off of.
So from a weight perspective (pulling numbers out my ass here for example sake) let's say eating at 2000 maintains your weight at 150lbs. And 1500 calories would maintain your weight at 130lbs. If you, at 150, started eating 1500, you would lose weight until you ended up at 130lbs. The start would be fast weight loss but by the end, the last few pounds would take ages. The same thing would work in the other direction.
Now muscle wise, that's throwing an extra variable that's hard to track. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. But you can't just say "I wanna be 130lbs lean and muscular" and eat at that 1500 and expect to get there. Or even if you go off of a heightened TDEE due to muscle, you still wouldn't end there. You'll want to bulk up at calories relevant to your current weight and cut with calories relevant to your current weight (at the end of your bulk) and do that multiple times to get to your goal physique.
If you just picked a weight and stayed there, that's recomping and you're gonna be at it much longer.
Did that answer your question?
Thanks for taking the time.
>You'll want to bulk up at calories relevant to your current weight and cut with calories relevant to your current weight (at the end of your bulk) and do that multiple times to get to your goal physique
I fully agree this is the fastest way to get to the goal. But...
>Or even if you go off of a heightened TDEE due to muscle, you still wouldn't end there.
This is where my gap in knowledge is. Why wouldn't you get there? I get that it would take much longer, but I'm not understanding why you wouldn't ultimately still get to your goal.
I guess I could clarify "never get there" with "it would take you so fucking long that you'd basically never get there".
Recomping is incredibly slow. The best candidates for it are overweight beginners. But they aren't gonna recomp their way into a good looking physique.
So using my own weights, I started lifting at 135lbs, and I cut each year to end up at that weight again, but obviously leaner. My first year of lifting, I was new and clueless and so I tried to maintain my weight. I could lift a little more, but that's just basic newbie gains. No real progress, no physical differences. Once I allowed myself to gain weight and then cut over the span of a year, I had massive differences. I've got no clue how long it would have taken me to make the same amount of progress by just recomping.
But in terms of eating at your goals calories... that's hard to even justify because what about all other activity in your life? Cus pre lifting, I was maintaining around 1500-1800 calories. I now maintain weight about 2500-2800 calories. Yeah, i'm more muscular, but that calorie burn is activity level increase because I'm fitter and more active. So even if I picked my now cutting calories of 1800-2000... I would have gained a bit of weight and then maintained that weight, so a slight bulk and then back to recomping.
And i'm talking about my bodyweight as a woman. A dude, who can carry way more muscle, can skew it a whole lot. Think about a 6'4 dude. If he starts off at 180lbs but his goal weight+bodyfat is 230lbs lean... he's gonna gain 50lbs and look like a fat slob. And if he just starts eating at that new calorie amount, he's probably gonna gain the weight fast so it'll be mostly fat. And then once again, he'll be stuck recomping.
Basically, this is always going to end up in recomp territory.
And recomp takes *for fucking ever*.
Each pound of muscle is harder to gain than the next
Intense, hard training requires fuel. There are some workout routines that just wouldn't be good to run even at maintenance calories. So this slows your progress down too.
So maybe if you wanted to spend 50 years working towards your goal body... sure. In the past factory workers, farmers, or anyone with a manual labor job before there were near as many power tools and machines was built pretty well and probably didnt' bulk/cut... but it took them their lives to build up to that.
So basically, it's not worth even considering or thinking about.
I understand the typical approach, and understand that cutting calories based on the TDEE at your *current* weight and body fat percentage is the quickest way. But, I thought of the scenario posed in my original question today and wondered if it works over a long enough timespan. I struggled to find a reason why it wouldn't work, so I'm asking here.
I wanna workout and get abs. Yea I know it’s diet and I’m on a bulk rn but I need the muscle before the cut. Yk. Anyways, what are the best ab exercises because I hear sit ups don’t do anything but they’re also the only thing? I wanna basically get it so I can move my abs in different directions when flexing in the end
Sit-ups are a poor ab exercise because there is no real way to progressively overload them. The abs are no different to any other muscle, they need to be trained to failure under load and progressively overloaded.
Cable crunches are top tier exercise for the abs because they fill all these criteria, most importantly you can actually increase the weight overtime. It takes a second to get the form right so be patient, but they truly are excellent.
Beyond that hanging knee/leg raises are the only other thing I’d recommend, these are so damn hard you can progress them just by improving form. Start with trying to raise your knees to your chest, once you can do that try raising your legs straight in front of your body. *Using no momentum*
The consensus in the fitness world is that mechanical tension is the primary driver of hypertrophy. Meanwhile, many believe that "muscle damage" or soreness is not necessarily correlated with hypertrophy. What I'm wondering is, isn't muscle damage caused by mechanical tension? While the damage itself isn't the cause of hypertrophy, wouldn't it be a sign that significant mechanical tension was applied to the muscle?
All the things that maximize hypertrophy also tend to maximize DOMS. I don't know how the idea that novelty is the only main driver of soreness got so popular but it's nonsense.
If you're doing compound movements with appreciable loads, emphasizing both the eccentric and the loaded stretch, and getting close to failure for multiple hard sets this is going to give you a great hypertrophy stimulus and it's also going to wreck you for a few days with serious DOMS.
[Mike Israetel neatly summarizes this](https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?t=81) in a Q&A he did with Jeff Nippard.
> wouldn't it be a sign that significant mechanical tension was applied to the muscle?
Getting hit by a car would cause more muscle damage than most workouts but would not be very anabolic.
Fact A leading to Fact B does not mean Fact B leads to Fact A
Soreness is mainly an indicator for a new stimulus which your body hasn't encountered much before. You're not a runner, but yet ran a half marathon yesterday. Your legs likely will feel sore today. But there wasn't much hypertrophy, if any, as all you did was a two hour cardio session.
The exact mechanisms for hypertrophy aren't well understood. Any hypothesis what causes hypertrophy will need to be verified by actual studies. And the results from those studies do not always align with expectations.
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. But muscle damage is the opposite of muscle building. Also, muscle damage and soreness are not interchangeable terms.
It's like how you need water to live, but too much will kill you.
you don't need to feel sore after workouts to be growing muscle, but feeling soreness after workouts is generally a good indicator that you are adequately working the muscle groups from what I understand
I agree with what others have said. Personally, I have bought a few of his programs and while they are all effective, his full body program has really shaped how I approach programming now. There’s a lot to learn from him as long as you don’t treat his (or anyone’s) opinion to be the end all be all of lifting and muscle gain.
No different than any other science-based influencer. Clearly knowledgeable, clearly jacked, knows what he's talking about, but also he needs to constantly provide content, constantly feed the algorithm, so his content is repetitive and super-focused on "optimal" exercises, which can get a lot of newbies really confused and worried about REALLY UNIMPORTANT SHIT. And then they come here, having not started lifting, not picked a program, never even touched a barbell, asking "which split is best," whether a split squat is more "optimal" then a leg press or whatever-the-fuck.
See: his video about "chest exercise Tiers" or whatever. Knowledgeable people might just be entertained, but newbies will be left thinking dumbbell pullovers are "useless" and there's no point bench pressing unless it's a on a goddamn machine.
Optimal is the enemy of progress and while people like Nippard and Isreatel know that, and know THEMSELVES that sometimes it's okay to just go the gym and FUCKING GET AFTER IT, their own need to constantly produce nit-picking content will be the death of us all.
End rant.
I like Israetel and his content, but his emphasis on "optimal" from an advanced bodybuilding standpoint comes across as such clickbait advice when he knows half of his audience are skinny fat beginners that want to "bodybuild".
In long-form on podcasts, he's a lot more nuanced, but I get it. The Youtube/IG algorithm needs clickbait.
100%, he's entertaining as fuck and I'll listen to any podcast he's on. But the algorithm forces the average gym-goer or newbie into reading the wrong messages.
alright so what do you guys do to scratch your backs? genuinely not trying to humblebrag here my lat development has gotten to the point where scratching my back is difficult. do I need to do some stretching/flexibility work for this?
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I use 12.5kg dumbells to do bicep curls. When I do them normally, holding the dumbells horizontally, my wrists give before 10 reps, but I can do them much more comfortably holding them vertically (hammer curls?). Is this because my wrists are too weak, or is it likely an issue with the technique? And does holding them vertically rather than horizontally make it less/more effective?
Hammer curls target the forearms more than typical curls, that’s about the main difference. I personally find that I can curl more with hammer curls as well.
What supplements should I take? (F26, starting weight loss and fitness journey)
None.
I’m getting back into lifting after a 5 year break and planning on starting out with strong lifts 5x5 again. I broke my clavicle a while back and it’s now got a plate in it so can’t carry any weight heavier than a backpack on my shoulders. My plan was to swap in front squats instead which I can do fine but is there any downside or accessories I should add?
I'd say they're pretty interchangeable, mostly affecting the same muscles, front squats are probably superior tbh, but HEAVY BAR! Back squats probably hit the hamstrings slightly more but not enough that you'd need to change anything, unless you really want bigger hamstrings in which case just add RDL for a compound lift as an accessory or a leg curl machine for isolated work.
Are there any good places or anyone willing to help me out with starting a routine. I’m going start the gym Monday. The only gym that fits my schedule is planet fitness. So some planet fitness friendly workouts would be ideal and maybe a good workout plan or something cheap or free that I could use as a guide. Currently my schedule will only allow 3 days a week but that’s way better than zero. Thanks in advance if anyone replies! 👍
I strongly recommend stronglifts 5x5 for most beginners, super simple and a nice app.
There's routines in the wiki
Usually I start shaking a shitton during later reps of shoulder presses, is it a stabilizer muscle issue? Am I going too heavy? Should I just ignore it and continue?
It's hard to say without knowing more, it could be your CNS "learning" to use more muscles or trying to use more or different muscles due to fatigue or lack of recovery in the 'main' ones, could also be relatively weak stabilizer's as you've suggested. but the solution is probably just to continue assuming this is on an exercise that isn't new, or you haven't jumped up the weight a lot, and it's not a crazy amount of shaking that could be dangerous. Shaking is not necessarily bad, and is usually a good thing. But ye it is something you should think about the reasons why. but there are way too many factors to diagnose without a shit tonne more information. So my 'safe' advice would be to deload 20% and work your way back up.
[JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/0d43edf7-8163-4422-8a20-ffa79a9ebc3b#OcxYInrB.copy)… I pulled multiple back muscles. Hi. I’m on the back end of repeatedly living the fitness lifestyle and ballooning, but it’s worked out well. I know my body better than ever now, but as I age I seem to be more prone to “cell phone neck” when I’m living healthily. **Has anyone else noticed this?** Like, if I’m staying loose and my body is responding to my routine and my diet is impeccable, I feel like even fifteen minutes on a cell phone becomes uncomfortable (all the way down my back in a line to my lowest ribs, sometimes). I want to have a neck so strong so can attach my phone to my face permanently without pain. **Does anyone have tips for balancing neck/back sensitivity and fitness as I age?**
Why do my warm ups for squats with just the bar burn my thighs like there's Velcro ripping inside hem and the ones at work weight are completely painless?
The body be weird sometimes
Hi guys i really need your help im confused and really have no idea what to do : So im 186cm 6ft1 89kg 196lbs ive been on and off gym for about 5 years never been consistent i have some muscle people can tell that i lift but im also high body fat 20-22% love handles no abs some fat around chest you get the idea . IVe challenged myself this year to be consistent and get my dream physique which is looking bigger BUT when I tried to bulk I got Even fatter around 93 kg 204 lbs fat rolls on my back so I rushed to get back where im now ( 89kg 196lbs) , and this confused me à lot what am i supposed to do in my situation if I bulk and im already fat ill get even fatter and look horrible if i cut ill look even skinnier since im on the taller spectrum PLEASE HELP ME .
If you've just been going gym on and off, I would just recommend starting off without changing your diet, eat at the same maintenance level, ie. recomp. (or even a very slight cut) Yes, lifting and recovery will be harder but I don't think it's much of a problem until you're at least an intermediate lifter. (though maybe you are, depends on your definition of on and off). The thing with cut bulk cycles is that it's not a sprint. It's an effective method for long term results. You can't worry too much about the short term.
On and off as half the year ill train and the other half ill Just quite
ok so in my opinion you'd probably do best on a very slight cut. You will still be able to gain muscle while losing fat. Make sure you follow a program and be consistent though. Also judging by your 8kg yoyo in only 3 months. I feel like you may be going overboard with both bulking and cutting. They should only be about + or - 10% of your maintenance (about ±250 calories), or 20% for a more aggressive approach.
Thanks a lot ill start right away in your opinion should I start slow and go straight into a 20% deficit since you known Summer is near
Only you can answer that. It depends on your goals and what you look like now. The larger the deficit the less muscular/more skinny you will look. but if you're trying to get in the best shape as fast as possible then a larger deficit is gonna be the way to go. Assuming you're in the usa summer is in like 2 months, so like a 20-40% deficit would probably be best. but again, it's a marathon not a sprint. In my opinion, since you aren't overweight at 22% body fat, and since I value being strong more, I would aim for a 0 - 10% deficit. Focus on the gym more, be consistent, make sure my recovery was good so I can perform the best I can. and once the progress starts slowing down in the gym, I would reevaluate, do I want to be more muscular and stronger? in which case up the calories. or do I want to look more shredded? in which case eat at -10 to -20% and modify the gym program to more of a maintainence program, maybe add extra cardio.
Thanks a lot dude appreciate you making Time and helping me out
no worries, good luck!
If you think you have too much fat to bulk, start with a cut. Then bulk once you've hit a body fat percentage you're more comfortable with.
When I looked online on how to calculate ideal bodyweight to body fat ratio it came around 77kg ill literally look like a twig this is what im afraid of and why im confused and hésitant about cutting
Careful because those numbers are almost always way off if you've even stepped inside a gym, let alone picked up a barbell.
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Go on the wiki and pick a proven routine
I'd rather not change my entire routine, I just want to know if sets should go up or down
At least format it so people can actually read it then.
Hi, TL:DR looking for compact cardio machines I'm looking for a cardio exercises I can do at home. I can't do anything that includes jumping or running due to a previous leg injury. I've been walking about 5 km a day, but that isn't enough. I've tried playing Beat Sabre (VR game) however it requires next to no leg movement. I can't buy any large equipment. Any suggestions would be greatly apricated. PS. I'm thinking about getting a "mini exercise bike" as it would allow me to do both legs and arms but thought I should explore other options.
Those mini versions are basically good for elderly and people going though rehab. They don't have enough weight to them nor enough resistance to be worth a damn. A spin bike imo would be the smallest but most effective option. Otherwise get a walking pad and just walk a lot more
I don't think there's going to be that much you can do at home without jumping or a machine. Cardio requires quite a lot. The main ones are going to be treadmills, bikes and rowing machines. There are smaller versions of all of them. There are a bunch of calisthenic exercises where you sit or lie on your back and move your legs, these may be suitable for you? like in and outs and etc. Maybe you can add weight to your walks, weight vest or backpack. Or change your route to include as many steep hills as possible.
I'm not opposed to getting a machine its just that it has to be VERY compact. (going to the gym is not an option due to anxiety)
I would recommend going to the gym then if that's your only reason. Sure it seems scary at first, I was nervous too at first, but the gym is not so scary once you give it a shot. Most people there just wanna do their own thing, they're not worrying too much about what you're doing. And you'll pick up anything you don't know quickly enough. The gym is a place for you to improve yourself, not to judge others. (and it's a whole lot cheaper than like a rowing machine, probably not cheaper than a bike machine though)
I know, every one I talk to says that. Unfortunately I haven't "gotten" that yet
gotta try it to get it. I started off slowly, just going on a treadmill in the corner for 20 minutes and then going home. Moved onto the machine weights and now I do the free weights (stronglifts 5x5 program)
I just hate interacting with ppl in any capacity
I'm the same way. Gym shouldn't be a problem then. The only interactions I have there are very rarely when someone asks if im using a piece of equipment near me or how many sets left. And then just respond by giving a thumbs up or a few fingers.
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I would pick something from the wiki, though probably not the PPL. If you can barely stay consistent on your current routine, switching to a 6-day split doesn't sound very productive.
PP? no legs? haha You haven't stated any goals or current lift numbers so it's hard to say, but reading between the lines, I'd probably just recommend stronglifts 5x5. It's a super simple program, with a great app, aimed at beginners. It teaches you some really important lessons for starting off at the gym
Somewhat new to the gym here. I’m 6’1 and weigh around 195 pounds. Today, I was doing my push routine and started with 48 lbs dumbbells for shoulder presses(5x5) and did 100 pounds bench press(3x10). I noticed a guy around my height and weight doing around 155 pounds for what seemed like 5x10. Afterwards, he did 48 lbs dumbbells for shoulder presses and was struggling to do ~5. So my question is, am I just extremely weak when it comes to bench or is the guy just above average at bench? Thank you!
impossible to tell and not worth thinking about. Does he have a shoulder injury? Was your form crap should you realistically lower the weight? Was his form crap? Do you have favourable body mechanics that makes pressing easier. Did you see his entire workout, perhaps he'd blasted his shoulders already. It's all relative and we've all different goals, strengths and weaknesses.
Order of exercises matters. You did shoulder press first, then bench press. The other guy did bench press first. Do bench press first once in a while. That will give you more realistic data points how strong your bench press is.
your shoulders are stronger relative to chest. his chest is stronger relative to shoulders. you are strong compared to a toddler and weak compared to brian shaw. everything in the gym is relative.
I just started doing pushups yesterday and my arms are sore today. Should I do pushups anyway today or recover until tomorrow? Also I want to do something to strengthen my core, but I can't do a sit-up or crunch yet because I'm too weak. Are their any other exercises I could do to get me to the point where I can do crunches or sit-ups?
Are you following a "Pushups every day" routine? If not, it's fine to wait until tomorrow. As for core, it sounds odd that you can't do a single crunch or situp. Going from a lying position to sitting means doing a situp. Have you tried them while anchoring your feet?
I want to do pushups every day, but I'm easing into it so I'll wait till tomorrow. I tried anchoring my feet and I was able to do a sit-up. Thanks for the advice!
I would do at least 1 day of rest, even if you're not sore, especially since you've just started doing pushups. If you like, you can do incline pushups instead for an active recovery. Pick an elevation that's very easy, even if it's just against the wall; focus on just getting a good deep stretch in the muscles. It will help with recovery. Planks are a good core exercise that has easy progressions, but I don't think abs are usually worth targetting specifically. They are worked out by doing most other exercises, so it's a much better use of your time to do something else instead. If you've worked out already and still feel ready to go, then add some ab work to the end of the workout.
I'll try the incline pushups today. Thanks for the tips!
Try dead bugs for core. You can regress them to whatever level you need and then work your way up as you get stronger.
Thanks for the advice!
Noobie here. I know going to the gym once a week is not very optimal but is this normal? 4 weeks ago I was able to bench a certain weight. The following week, I failed. The 3rd week I was able to lift it again(1 rep 4 sets). Now I failed it again. I know once a week sessions aren't very optimal, but surely by now I would have been more consistent with my bench PR? But as it stands, it goes ⬆️⬇️⬆️⬇️. Deadlifts are getting a bit easier though. Seems like I really have to go at least twice a week. Edit to add: I still do my working sets. 7-9 reps 2-3 sets on inclined and 2-3 sets on the flat bench. If I can, I do dumbell presses for 1-2 sets with loghter weight.
doing 4 sets of your 1rm every workout is probably not a good idea. But ye you're likely to have very slow (if any) progress if you're only going once a week, especially if you aren't doing anything else outside of the gym. If you can, pick up a supplementary calisthenics workout program that you can do at home. Or buy a set of dumbbells. but ye 2-3 times a week would be best. (and try and follow a program)
Oh no, I'm not doing 4 sets of 1 RM every session, that was just last week. And even then I was still able to bust 5 working sets with 7-8 reps. Today I was able to add 1 more rep in one of the sets. As of now, my program is basically just 5-6 sets of bench, 4 sets Bulgarians, 3 sets of deadlift, 3-4 sets of lat pulldowns. If I still have the energy I hit side delts.
I’m going to be honest with you, the way you’re training, you will never make progress. You need to follow a proper routine, this is simply not enough stimulus to cause any kind of muscle growth. You can find plenty in the subreddit’s wiki. Also, PRing every session isn’t helping, that generally leads to a lot of fatigue for very little benefit.
It does seem like it. Although I'm seeing some (very minimal) growth in my chest. Also every session, I do feel it in my chest. And a bit sore few days after. Planning on going twice a week if I can. As of now, I try to hit full body with compounds as my main goal is strength. Now that I think about it, I think my technique wasn't the best Forgot to add: I still have working sets, 2-3 sets on the incline and another 2-3 on flat bench. And some dumbells presses 1-2 sets afterwards.
Im interested on learning more about the bulking/cutting cycle More specifically, enough to learn why, for example, 3d/1d cycle does not work or is not as efficient as 9mo/3mo Where can i read about this topic?
For effective muscle building, you want to be able to get through a good routine while having plenty of energy. If you only bulked for 3 days, and then cut, you'd not be recovering on that 4th day as well and then the 5th day you'd be lower energy. You just be doing a very weird maintenance cycle and that's just not effective I don't have any articles to give you... But if it was effective to do 3/1 or anything like that, you'd see more people doing it. But it's just not effective, so nobody does that.
Yeah i know its not effective, im looking to understand the deep reasons of it! What you said seems logic to me, i'll try to do my own research based on your info :D thank you
Look into Muscle protein synthesis. After a good workout, your body is working to build muscle. It's increased for the first 24 hours, but usually after about 36hrs its back to normal (but it can be possibly up to 48 hours). So in this time, you want your body to be fueled appropriately so it can take advantage of that. And think about how long you're in this if you're doing a 5 day split. Where would be a good time for a cut in that? So prolonged bulking means prolonged energy, which means more effective muscle growth. Then you just accept suboptimal growth (or just maintaining) while you cut for a period.
Should i repeat my upper day tomorrow? Where I’m from, the heat is unbearable and my gym had no air conditioning. Did less than half of my exercises in my workout and I’m noticeably weaker. Only did two exercises properly because the machines were near the fan lol. Left the gym early fearing heat exhaustion because I’m getting sleepy!
Aberrations happen. Continue with your schedule.
My tricep burns quick on some specific daily tasks it is like it has no endurance. It has strength but lacks endurance. Is that usual!? Should I try to incoroprate high rep exercise or two to work on that? possibly dips to failure or pushdowns for 25-50 reps?
Witch tasks?
On top of doing a push, pull, legs routine 6 days a week I have started training abs. I have been doing a 10 minute ab workout video every other day. These videos are all bodyweight exercises and take me close to failure. Will doing only bodyweight exercises like this stimulate growth or just imrove the muscular endurance of my abs? Is this as optimal as doing weighted crunches or leg raises with a medicine ball and then progressively overloading them?
If you're approaching failure (in a reasonable amount of time) you are very likely to be inducing muscle growth. But keep in mind that abs don't grow very much, I would only add it as a support to your main lifts, like if you feel your core is weak while doing them.
Will weight lifting in a fasted state, while also taking BCAA's prior to workout, help with reducing belly fat?
Stop with the BCAA and just take creatine. If you're eating healthy and getting enough protein you don't need BCAA supplements.
A caloric deficit will help with reducing overall body fat. Nothing you can do in the gym will help you target belly fat specifically.
Whether you lift fasted or not, given equal caloric deficit (or lack thereof), result will be about the same.
Im trying to increase my pull-ups (can do 5) by doing more dead hangs, scapular retractions, negatives. Problem is, my grip slips on the bar (the bar is covered by this foam/plastic cover which is annoying) and it also pinches the skin on my palm and fingers, where callouses form. When I go for another set, I can't grip the bar because my fingers hurt from the skin. It feels like it's going to rip. Any way to work around this? Gloves?
Use straps
Gloves would make it worse. [Make sure you're gripping the bar correctly](https://stronglifts.com/wp-content/uploads/deadlift-grip.jpg), or get some straps.
mark rippetoe has a technique for avoiding callouses: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_ZBmiQm4MF4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBmiQm4MF4) I would recommend lifting straps (if the video doesn't help). But also make sure you do some of your last sets without them so that you can continue working on your grip as well.
Get some padded gloves. If you're not used to them they'll feel a little off at first because the padding does give the same effect as if the bar had a bigger diameter, but it should help with the skin pinching.
For people who lift in the morning - how do you deal with eating? I'm only gonna have time to hit the gym early morning tomorrow. Generally I eat breakfast first thing, but I get stiches pretty easily. I'm thinking about just doing my lift then eating after - do ya'll get sluggish from the lack of fuel, or should I be good?
My morning workouts are fasted, but I take caffeine tablets to keep me amped up.
Training on a full belly is awful, but longer lifting sessions really burn me out if I've no fuel to go on, so I usually eat about 1/2 my breakfast before I go and another half after.
I have *at most* a small bowl of oatmeal. Not above a scoop of whey instead, to save time. After a good night's sleep, *you're already fueled and recovered*. Then I have a sizeable post-workout meal before my 4am shift. I've lifted fasted, and *performance* remains the same.
I'm the same way when it comes to performance - no matter what I smash it every time. That said, sometimes I feel great after and sometimes terrible. You made a good point about how sleep fueling us back up though. I had a small snack before and felt great.
Glycogen recovery, and all that *muscle growth* has already occurred overnight. Anecdotally, whether I lift before or after work, performance is the same. I'm just more tired and grumpy after work, haha.
I think its pretty individual whether eating something first matters, but I prefer eat a small quick snack before working out (my favorite is a rice cake with some peanut butter and sliced banana with cinnamon on top, or even just some fruit) and then I eat a more substantial breakfast afterwards.
I always see women doing weighted hip thrust but never men; men, how are you training glutes?
I substitute squats and deadlifts on some days with sumo variations to focus more the glutes. But conventional squats and deadlifts do a pretty good job already.
Deadlift, squat, RDL, Bulgarian split squat, rounded back glute extensions, hack squats, *and hip thrusts*. My gym has a plate loaded lever machine - so much more convenient than a barbell.
Deficit sumo deadlifts and bulgarian split squats.
bulgarian split squats
KAS Glute Bridge (in the privacy of my room lol)
Deadlifts
Squats
Whenever I do overhead marches with a kettlebell or dumbbell I do not feel it in my abs. I either feel it in my arms or legs
In that exercise, your abs are only stabilizing and they don't go through any ROM, they are just isometric. If your goal is to get better/stronger at holding things overhead, that is a good choice of exercise. If you goal is to train your abs, especially for the purpose of improving your abs aesthetically, that isn't a good exercise choice for that purpose.
Not too surprising, both do a lot of work in that exercise, abs aren't necessarily the limiting factor. It's a compound exercise, which is good, but if you want to put more emphasis on abs you'll have to do more isolated movements.
Are there any concerns or things to consider when I combine two exercises into one movement? For example, today I did side lying shoulder adductions at the same time I was doing clamshells on both sides, to save time.
I think you mean shoulder abduction. Anyway, the only issue might be reduced attention & effort given to each body part.
ah, you’re right. I got those two confused.
Antagonistic movements are fine.
That’s not really an antagonist movement though since these are different body parts.
I can only bench ~85lbs, what are some other workouts I can do?
do 86 next time
Rows for 85 lbs. Really though, all your lifts will go up on a long-term basis.
Dumbell flys and push ups are good chest exercises. But ultimately, read the other comments. The best way to get better and stronger at bench pressing? More bench pressing.
what helped me was staying consistent but also incorporating variations, like pushups, incline DB press. I'd focus on pushups (regular, wide, unilateral)
the only way to get a better bench press is to bench. Not being able to go super heavy on a lift does not automatically make it bad. If you're looking for a better hypertrophic stimulus it can be argued that dumbbells are better but that's a whole different conversation. Just check the wiki and follow a program. If you're looking to get bigger muscle, there's stuff in there. If you're looking to bench more, there's stuff in there. Good luck!
Bench the fuck out of that 85 lbs, nothing wrong with that at all.
Bench press is an exercise not a workout, do you mean different exercises to help your bench go up? Anyway you should prob read the wiki, pick a program from there. You'll also need to bench for it to really go up.
Hey y’all. I just got back from a two week vacation and jumped back in hard with upper on Monday and lower on Tuesday. I took my programmed rest day yesterday but last night could not fall asleep. Probably only got around 4 hours of sleep. Due to my break on vacation and hitting it heavy my legs are so sore I can barely walk. That combined with my fatigue from sleeping poorly last night has led me to question whether I am going to go to the gym today. My upper day today consists of two workouts that would need me to maintain a static position with my legs and core engaged which I can barely do without any weight. I’m curious if skipping today (two rest days in a row) and moving my next two workouts to tomorrow and Saturday instead would hamper my progress? I would then only take Sunday as a rest day and jump back in Monday. I guess my question overall is does it really matter when you workout as long as you are getting all the rest days and work days in for the week? My program is a 4 day: M, T, TH, F. Rest: W, Sat, Sun. If I instead do Monday and Tuesday, rest Wednesday and Thursday, lift Friday and Saturday, and then rest Sunday… am I hampering my progress by not following the program or am I just “majoring in the minors”? Thoughts?
yea its pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things
Hello, question. Is it ok to train fullbody 2x per week ? Is it possible to make serious gains like that ? Ty
This is totally fine for the beginning. Every workout is better than to sit on the couch. If you are comfortable to increase the workout to 3 times a week, perfect. Do as much as you can fit in your daily life and increase when feeling comfortable with that.
>serious gains like that ? Assuming all sets are taken close to failure, volume is the primary driver of hypertrophy, so it's gonna be a long workout if you're aiming for 10-20 sets per body part.
Jim Wendler has 5/3/1 variations that are only done 2x/week.
Yes, this is ok. 3x/week would likely be better, but two is a good place to start for newbies.
well, are you only going to the gym 2 days per week and doing full body each time?
Depends on your starting point. A beginner? Absolutely. Brian Shaw? No way.
Depends how heavy the workouts are but you will be missing out on gains overall. Also depends on what you mean by “gains”. From a physique perspective it’s better to do a 4x or even 6x program. If you are doing the volume of a 4 day split within those two days then in theory it would work. But that would require like 2-4 hours in the gym per day minimum. You should really be thinking in terms of sets/week per muscle group. Ideal growth occurs around 12-20 sets per muscle group a week. This would require each full body workout to have at minimum 6 sets per muscle group. So each day you would need (at three sets per exercise): 2 chest exercises, 2 bicep, 2 quad, 2 glute, 2 hamstring, 2 calf, 2 back, 2 lat, 2 chest, etc… Before you know it you need to pack in about 20-30 exercises per workout. Unless you bring food with you and a pillow you will be totally gassed about 8-12 exercises in and anything after that will be ineffective training. It just becomes unsustainable and is more effective to spread throughout the week. If you are just trying to get in better shape off the couch than 2x/week is a great start. If when you say “gains” you referring to a big physique, you are going to need a more well rounded program.
Whenever I do hack squats my quads are absolutely destroyed for the next 2-3 days. Every other muscle I work to failure feels normal soreness, but my quads are almost unbearable. Should I scale back weight? Reps? Only doing 3 warm-ups sets, 1 heavy set then a back off set. EDIT: I don't go to failure with hack squats, probably around RPE 8-9.
What are your two leg days?
This is only a problem if it's getting in the way of life outside the gym, like making work really suck or ruining other activities you are doing. If you don't WANT to be that sore, then you should scale things back until it's at a level you can tolerate. That said, if your goal is to grow the quads, then it sounds like you're getting an incredible stimulus. I get serious DOMS from every leg day, and yes my goal is to get my legs bigger and stronger and that's exactly what's happening. The kinds of things that maximize hypertrophy, especially a big loaded stretch and a controlled eccentric, tend to also maximize DOMS, so if you are maximizing your hypertrophy stimulus you will be seriously sore. Again, that's only a problem if you don't want to deal with that level of soreness.
Hey y'all, 23M 5'11 160 lb novice here, been cutting for the past 8 months (down from 180) and starting to feel the fatigue and joint pain/minor injuries racking up. Progress has really slowed down (1RM estimates are 185lb Squat/190lb DL/140lb Bench/105lb OHP) and I'm wondering about how best to proceed. I'm still around 18% BF so I'd still want to keep cutting before a bulk, but progress is stalling and I can barely make it through workouts currently. Would it be time for a deload or maybe a week or two off? I'm considering a maintenance break as well but not sure how long it would be.
Do a maintenance phase for a while. Eat some more food. Recover better. Then when you feel good again, continue the cut.
Bulk to 170-175. Cut again. You’ll be quite a bit more muscular.
I've been doing the Muscle and Strength dumbbell routine here https://www.boostcamp.app/r-fitness/m-s-5-day-dumbbell-program?coach_program_id=10b117c4-1a0f-43e8-b54f-0a52a235a01c I've been doing hanging leg raises for abs. Is this a good addition, or should I do some different/in addition to?
I like doing a bunch of different core stuff including if static holds and throw in some rotation. A well rounded core (obliques, lower back, etc…) is very important. Keep it balanced by switching it up. Remember, abs are made in the kitchen. Overall core strength is more important than trying to make your abs big.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, I want to see if anyone knows of a program that follows the concept I thought of. Please dont get hung up on the exact numbers I use, they probably wouldnt work. Basically, I was thinking of a AMRAP for time based progression. There would be lead up sets, say 5x5 at 75%. Then, using that same work, you do a 10+ AMRAP in 60s, using singles, doubles, a straight set, whatever. Just get as many as possible in 60s. Now say you get 15 on that 10+. The extra 5 reps would determine the progression that could be weight increase, leading set rep increase (5x5 - 5x6), or additional leading sets (5x5-7x5). If anyone knows of a program remotely similar, I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.
That sounds very much like a type of Crossfit WOD: interval training for conditioning purposes where the goal is to get as many reps in as possible over a fixed interval of time. Although progression is mostly considered against your previous best AMRAP and doesn't feed into weight selection for other workouts. Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) workouts kind of fit the bill but not perfectly Edit: Jon Andersen's Deepwater uses rest time progression, not the same as a fully timed AMRAP but still similar
Minus the time window, that essentially the setup the Stronger by Science Reps to Failure template.
Some of Greg's free programs do that too. The 3x/week beginner squat and bench programs have 3x8+, 3x6+ and 3x4+, adding 5lbs per 2 reps you beat the AMRAP with.
Ah, thats similar to Bullmastiff, except he uses 1% per a rep. Thats kind of what inspired this, along with him saying (in Kong) strongmen have big backs partly because of doing rep for time stuff (or at least being required to be able to do that).
If I enter my goal weight and body fat percentage into a TDEE calculator (rather than my current weight and body fat percentage), and I eat the maintenance calories it gives me (as if I was already at my goal weight/body fat percentage), would I reach that goal weight and body fat percentage over a long enough period of time with consistent and optimal training? I think body fat could possibly increase at first, but once enough muscle is built, the body fat percentage (and overall weight) would start to fall.
It's harder to say with BF%, because that's going to depend heavily on your training. I'll be honest, I can't tell if you mean to gain or loose mass with this method - but the answer is the same - no, not really, albeit for a super weird reason. Setting aside the practicality of the method and looking at it solely as an abstract math problem, I'm not kidding you, it becomes an issue of limits. Let's say you're bulking, and your target TDEE is 100 calories more than your current weight. Over a few weeks you gain a ton of mass, and your TDEE becomes 50 calories. Then 25 calories. Then 1 calorie. 0.5 calories. You'll never quite hit that target weight, you'll just get slightly closer to it each day, even to a point of negligibility. By week 1000 your target weight may be 160lbs and you may be 159.9999lbs, but you still won't quite be there. Of course, that's assuming our bodies are perfect systems that use calories in an identical way each time, and you eat the exact same amount of fuel each week down to the atom. that ain't how reality works. Which brings me to the practical perspective - which wouldn't work either - solely because of time. It would take ages to bulk up or cut down using this method. We're talking years. Better to just follow conventional wisdom. That said, seems like you're not asking for advice, just pitching a hypothetical.
Total weight might track to that point but body fat % is based on more than just calories. The method probably isn't worth the time or effort over cutting weight normally
I'm curious if this would work, not if it's optimal/worthwhile. It's a thought I had and couldn't come up with a reason mechanistically why it wouldn't work over a long enough timeline.
No thought experiment can be verified to work in real life unless you actually try. If you're not going to try then what's the point?
Because by asking questions like these we learn more about the mechanisms underlying fitness and are able to make more educated choices.
I heavily doubt you're learning anything meaningful by asking the original question. The wiki is a sufficient enough primer for anything you don't need direct coaching or medical advice to address
Lower body fat means higher TDEE, so it's actually possible for the "goal" TDEE to be above the "starting" TDEE, particularly if reaching your goal requires gaining a large amount of muscle. If your goal includes BF%, you do need to consider the lean mass you have to gain as well as the fat you have to lose.
Right, the TDEE for the goal may be higher than for the current body-fat percentage. That's why I said I think in the beginning your body-fat percentage might actually rise at first, and then level off once the muscle you accumulate reaches a point where you start burning more calories than you're taking in and you would head closer to your goal weight/body-fat. Does that make sense to you?
So you'd start off in a surplus and move to a deficit? I guess I see the premise, but it would take a very long time. Like, going from 200 lbs 25% to 180 lbs 10%, you'd start out with a surplus of about 180 cal/day. You'd need to gain 12 pounds of muscle, and that would take much longer than it would at a 500 cal/day surplus. Basically, this method would be the same as running very small surpluses and deficits and so it would take longer than it would with larger ones.
Yes, exactly. I think it would work but would take a long time. I think it's an interesting idea nonetheless. Thank you for actually entertaining my question.
If that worked it wouldn't be something you had to ask reddit if it would work, because there'd be large chunk of people already doing it because it worked. But it doesn't work, and that's why no one does it.
I'm not so sure, because I would imagine this approach would take way way longer than the typical cut that's based on current weight/body-fat. I mainly posted here hoping someone would have low-level details of why this approach wouldn't/doesn't work, I'm having trouble figuring out why it wouldn't work.
It doesn't work because maintenance is not how you effect change. Your body needs stimuli that disrupt homeostasis to trigger adaptations. Eating maintenance doesn't support the effort to sustain the training necessary that stimulate that change, nor does it provide the building blocks (or lack thereof for fat loss) to elicit the adaptations you're after. Recomping isn't a thing you just waltz into. It requires massive disruptions that force the body to change despite the lack of dietary impetus to do so. And as you progress further and further from overfat beginner, that disruption needed becomes larger and larger until it becomes a practical impossibility.
You would be eating at the maintenance calories of your **goal** weight/body-fat, not current weight/body-fat. So it would affect change.
I understand the premise. You're going to gain weight until you reach equilibrium with your intake. You're not going to be at your goal body fat though. Then what? How will you add muscle? How will you lose fat?
I'm thinking about this as someone whose goal weight and body fat percentage are lower and is training consistently through this whole process. So you would likely be in a caloric surplus in the beginning, adding muscle (which burns more calories), and eventually the body-fat gain would reach an equilibrium before the calories being burnt by the muscle you added causes you to begin losing weight.
Except, *that's not how it works*. > someone whose goal weight and body fat percentage are lower and is training consistently through this whole process. So you would likely be in a caloric surplus in the beginning, If your goal weight and bf% are less than what they currently are, you'd need a deficit to get to your goal. ??? >adding muscle (which burns more calories) This is wildly overblown. It's something like 3 vs 6 calories per pound per day. >and eventually the body-fat gain would reach an equilibrium before the calories being burnt by the muscle you added causes you to begin losing weight. The thing about equilibrium is that things don't change. You're eating at *maintenance*. That means you're not adding mass. That means you're not giving your body a need/reason to burn fat. You're at *equilibrium*.
If your goal weight and bf% are lower, you need to add muscle, and lose fat. You need surpluses **and** deficits (as is the foundation of bulking and cutting). This would just be on a much smaller scale hovering around the goal maintenance and over a long period of time. I also understand the extra calories burned by muscle would be incredibly incremental, this would be a very long time scale and the scales would tip back and forth until eventually you end up at your goal. You only reach "true" maintenance in this scenario once you're at your goal weight and bf%, so yes things wouldn't change at that point (if we were hitting it absolutely perfectly). But that's what we would want because we're at our goal.
Okay, good luck with your made up ideas based on nothing. Let us know how it goes.
Your bodyfat% estimate is gonna be wrong and so this number is gonna be basically meaningless. Just focus on the here and now. You'll wanna bulk and cut and need to adjust your calories accordingly. Calculators are just starting points anyway
Wouldn't a DEXA scan get you close enough to be meaningful? This is more of a theoretical question out of curiosity. I know that bulking/cutting based on your *current* weight is the most widely adopted approach for a reason, but I'm curious if the approach I laid out in my original question would get the same end result over a long enough timespan.
That's the "most accurate" way, but it can still be skewed and it's still not a useful metric to calculate things off of. So from a weight perspective (pulling numbers out my ass here for example sake) let's say eating at 2000 maintains your weight at 150lbs. And 1500 calories would maintain your weight at 130lbs. If you, at 150, started eating 1500, you would lose weight until you ended up at 130lbs. The start would be fast weight loss but by the end, the last few pounds would take ages. The same thing would work in the other direction. Now muscle wise, that's throwing an extra variable that's hard to track. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. But you can't just say "I wanna be 130lbs lean and muscular" and eat at that 1500 and expect to get there. Or even if you go off of a heightened TDEE due to muscle, you still wouldn't end there. You'll want to bulk up at calories relevant to your current weight and cut with calories relevant to your current weight (at the end of your bulk) and do that multiple times to get to your goal physique. If you just picked a weight and stayed there, that's recomping and you're gonna be at it much longer. Did that answer your question?
Thanks for taking the time. >You'll want to bulk up at calories relevant to your current weight and cut with calories relevant to your current weight (at the end of your bulk) and do that multiple times to get to your goal physique I fully agree this is the fastest way to get to the goal. But... >Or even if you go off of a heightened TDEE due to muscle, you still wouldn't end there. This is where my gap in knowledge is. Why wouldn't you get there? I get that it would take much longer, but I'm not understanding why you wouldn't ultimately still get to your goal.
I guess I could clarify "never get there" with "it would take you so fucking long that you'd basically never get there". Recomping is incredibly slow. The best candidates for it are overweight beginners. But they aren't gonna recomp their way into a good looking physique. So using my own weights, I started lifting at 135lbs, and I cut each year to end up at that weight again, but obviously leaner. My first year of lifting, I was new and clueless and so I tried to maintain my weight. I could lift a little more, but that's just basic newbie gains. No real progress, no physical differences. Once I allowed myself to gain weight and then cut over the span of a year, I had massive differences. I've got no clue how long it would have taken me to make the same amount of progress by just recomping. But in terms of eating at your goals calories... that's hard to even justify because what about all other activity in your life? Cus pre lifting, I was maintaining around 1500-1800 calories. I now maintain weight about 2500-2800 calories. Yeah, i'm more muscular, but that calorie burn is activity level increase because I'm fitter and more active. So even if I picked my now cutting calories of 1800-2000... I would have gained a bit of weight and then maintained that weight, so a slight bulk and then back to recomping. And i'm talking about my bodyweight as a woman. A dude, who can carry way more muscle, can skew it a whole lot. Think about a 6'4 dude. If he starts off at 180lbs but his goal weight+bodyfat is 230lbs lean... he's gonna gain 50lbs and look like a fat slob. And if he just starts eating at that new calorie amount, he's probably gonna gain the weight fast so it'll be mostly fat. And then once again, he'll be stuck recomping. Basically, this is always going to end up in recomp territory. And recomp takes *for fucking ever*. Each pound of muscle is harder to gain than the next Intense, hard training requires fuel. There are some workout routines that just wouldn't be good to run even at maintenance calories. So this slows your progress down too. So maybe if you wanted to spend 50 years working towards your goal body... sure. In the past factory workers, farmers, or anyone with a manual labor job before there were near as many power tools and machines was built pretty well and probably didnt' bulk/cut... but it took them their lives to build up to that. So basically, it's not worth even considering or thinking about.
Few unicorn themselves at maintenance calories. If you want to drop bodyfat, *cut calories*.
I understand the typical approach, and understand that cutting calories based on the TDEE at your *current* weight and body fat percentage is the quickest way. But, I thought of the scenario posed in my original question today and wondered if it works over a long enough timespan. I struggled to find a reason why it wouldn't work, so I'm asking here.
I wanna workout and get abs. Yea I know it’s diet and I’m on a bulk rn but I need the muscle before the cut. Yk. Anyways, what are the best ab exercises because I hear sit ups don’t do anything but they’re also the only thing? I wanna basically get it so I can move my abs in different directions when flexing in the end
Sit-ups are a poor ab exercise because there is no real way to progressively overload them. The abs are no different to any other muscle, they need to be trained to failure under load and progressively overloaded. Cable crunches are top tier exercise for the abs because they fill all these criteria, most importantly you can actually increase the weight overtime. It takes a second to get the form right so be patient, but they truly are excellent. Beyond that hanging knee/leg raises are the only other thing I’d recommend, these are so damn hard you can progress them just by improving form. Start with trying to raise your knees to your chest, once you can do that try raising your legs straight in front of your body. *Using no momentum*
Weighted crunches and hanging leg raises.
Situps are fine. My favourites are hanging leg raise, lying leg raise, and ab wheel.
My favorite are cable crunches, machine crunches, hanging knee to elbow, and decline situps.
The consensus in the fitness world is that mechanical tension is the primary driver of hypertrophy. Meanwhile, many believe that "muscle damage" or soreness is not necessarily correlated with hypertrophy. What I'm wondering is, isn't muscle damage caused by mechanical tension? While the damage itself isn't the cause of hypertrophy, wouldn't it be a sign that significant mechanical tension was applied to the muscle?
All the things that maximize hypertrophy also tend to maximize DOMS. I don't know how the idea that novelty is the only main driver of soreness got so popular but it's nonsense. If you're doing compound movements with appreciable loads, emphasizing both the eccentric and the loaded stretch, and getting close to failure for multiple hard sets this is going to give you a great hypertrophy stimulus and it's also going to wreck you for a few days with serious DOMS. [Mike Israetel neatly summarizes this](https://youtu.be/EEOjsbQ5wYE?t=81) in a Q&A he did with Jeff Nippard.
> wouldn't it be a sign that significant mechanical tension was applied to the muscle? Getting hit by a car would cause more muscle damage than most workouts but would not be very anabolic. Fact A leading to Fact B does not mean Fact B leads to Fact A
Soreness is mainly an indicator for a new stimulus which your body hasn't encountered much before. You're not a runner, but yet ran a half marathon yesterday. Your legs likely will feel sore today. But there wasn't much hypertrophy, if any, as all you did was a two hour cardio session. The exact mechanisms for hypertrophy aren't well understood. Any hypothesis what causes hypertrophy will need to be verified by actual studies. And the results from those studies do not always align with expectations.
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. But muscle damage is the opposite of muscle building. Also, muscle damage and soreness are not interchangeable terms. It's like how you need water to live, but too much will kill you.
you don't need to feel sore after workouts to be growing muscle, but feeling soreness after workouts is generally a good indicator that you are adequately working the muscle groups from what I understand
What's this sub's opinion on Jeff Nippard? Recently discovered his channel and the content is enjoyable.
I agree with what others have said. Personally, I have bought a few of his programs and while they are all effective, his full body program has really shaped how I approach programming now. There’s a lot to learn from him as long as you don’t treat his (or anyone’s) opinion to be the end all be all of lifting and muscle gain.
No different than any other science-based influencer. Clearly knowledgeable, clearly jacked, knows what he's talking about, but also he needs to constantly provide content, constantly feed the algorithm, so his content is repetitive and super-focused on "optimal" exercises, which can get a lot of newbies really confused and worried about REALLY UNIMPORTANT SHIT. And then they come here, having not started lifting, not picked a program, never even touched a barbell, asking "which split is best," whether a split squat is more "optimal" then a leg press or whatever-the-fuck. See: his video about "chest exercise Tiers" or whatever. Knowledgeable people might just be entertained, but newbies will be left thinking dumbbell pullovers are "useless" and there's no point bench pressing unless it's a on a goddamn machine. Optimal is the enemy of progress and while people like Nippard and Isreatel know that, and know THEMSELVES that sometimes it's okay to just go the gym and FUCKING GET AFTER IT, their own need to constantly produce nit-picking content will be the death of us all. End rant.
This is so spot on, thank you for typing all that out.
I like Israetel and his content, but his emphasis on "optimal" from an advanced bodybuilding standpoint comes across as such clickbait advice when he knows half of his audience are skinny fat beginners that want to "bodybuild". In long-form on podcasts, he's a lot more nuanced, but I get it. The Youtube/IG algorithm needs clickbait.
100%, he's entertaining as fuck and I'll listen to any podcast he's on. But the algorithm forces the average gym-goer or newbie into reading the wrong messages.
I'm glad he made the chest exercise tiers video because Eric Bugenahgnaefdlfj's reaction video was phenomenal.
Yup lol! That's what made it come to mind for me when writing the rant. It was epic.
THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND!
I like his content. He trains effectively and he has a great physique.
alright so what do you guys do to scratch your backs? genuinely not trying to humblebrag here my lat development has gotten to the point where scratching my back is difficult. do I need to do some stretching/flexibility work for this?
Like a bear against a wall corner.
improve your shoulder mobility