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[abuC]

I know it's anecdotal and all but I know of 2 guys that just can't squat, at all, as soon as they start going down it all starts to crumble and they fall on their asses, I have no idea how to help them and I feel bad :/

I have knee issues, I had to start with box squats and leg presses before I could start doing squats.

I tore the meniscus in my knee when I was younger, and when I first started squatting no weight on the bar my knee would randomly buckle.

 

[bjb]

I know it's anecdotal and all but I know of 2 guys that just can't squat, at all, as soon as they start going down it all starts to crumble and they fall on their asses, I have no idea how to help them and I feel bad :/

Box or body weight squats. There really shouldn't be any excuse unless they have vertigo or are massively obese. Which even in that case, it is still doable with the right regiment and fat loss.

In regards to knee pain or stability; I have effectively bone on bone in my right knee. Get occasional (severe) pain and discomfort when doing almost any athletic activity. That being said, I can still squat effectively and would recommend it to anyone for a variety of reasons, but also to help support and stabilize the surrounding muscles for anyone's knee or subsequent posture issues.

 

[Chittagong]

Getting to properly below parallel squats is pretty damn hard to an overweight adult who hasn't done too much sports. Hip flexors will be super weak because they don't get much use in everyday life, and you will have little to no idea on how to activate the glutes. Leg press prepares neither of them for squat. This means that you will fall right through when you reach about parallel when the quads can't do all the heavy lifting in that position.

The best thing really is just to start trying to get low slowly. First with no bar, then with just the bar. With the bar you can put the safeties onto the squat rack and start with slow negatives, having the safeties catch the bar and then lift it up by hand.

Negatives is how I got going, once you can control the slow below parallel part at bodyweight it's possible to start building from there. It's much better than doing quarter squats with some weight.

 

[Tash]

Box or body weight squats. There really shouldn't be any excuse unless they have vertigo or are massively obese. Which even in that case, it is still doable with the right regiment and fat loss.

In regards to knee pain or stability; I have effectively bone on bone in my right knee. Get occasional (severe) pain and discomfort when doing almost any athletic activity. That being said, I can still squat effectively and would recommend it to anyone for a variety of reasons, but also to help support and stabilize the surrounding muscles for anyone's knee or subsequent posture issues.

Biggest issues are flex ability problems in hip flexors and Achilles heels. So no, not everyone can easily squat and I am one of those who can't. There are exercises to work on that flexibility though.

 

[Demon Ice]

I know it's anecdotal and all but I know of 2 guys that just can't squat, at all, as soon as they start going down it all starts to crumble and they fall on their asses, I have no idea how to help them and I feel bad :/

Speaking as somebody who has a history including a patella fracture and a torn deltoid ligament in the ankle, I did leg presses for over a month to build up strength in those areas before I started squatting. And I have to use a wider than shoulder width stance, because I have really long legs.

 

[theytookourjobz]

3 hour drive to Orlando for my weightlifting meet today. Wish me luck bros!

 

[CrankyJay]

3 hour drive to Orlando for my weightlifting meet today. Wish me luck bros!

Good luck!

 

[SeanR1221]

Good luck today jerbz, post the results when you get back.

 

[Phandy]

You have really fat/sedentary/immobile people start on box squats and then air squat flexibility training (holding position at the bottom, pushing knees out with elbows).

I only started proper squats about a year ago and I could not get down the bottom and feel stable about it. I have really really tight hamstrings and my legs have always suffered because of it.

I basically started doing this morning and night for as long as could. Even if I had a wide stance and feet pointing quite out. I would have to hang my arms out in front of me too for balance and push my upper body forward just so I didn't topple backwards. Also lots of heel stretching.
You adjust, just takes time. And I still have tight hamstrings , but I can ATG quite easily now.

 

[Kyaw]

3 hour drive to Orlando for my weightlifting meet today. Wish me luck bros!

Good luck man!

 

[Mumei]

Not sure what/who "shira" is but if he isn't your doctor/pt or someone dealing with you in person they don't know what they are talking about and shouldn't be telling you what you can or cannot do unless you've specifically said something along the lines of "squatting makes me shit my spine out."

You said a friend of yours but these days that can mean anything, so context is a little fuzzy here.

If you want to lift, you will lift. If you don't you won't it's as simple as that barring some type of physical impediment, and even with those, many can be overcome.

Well, my friend is excelforward; shira is just a poster on GAF. I mentioned my inability to squat down without my heels lifting off the ground and he said that was the reason. I thought it was just simple lack of flexibility, since I have never been flexible. Even as a child I was awful at those flexibility tests they had in physical education.

 

[Zoe]

You're never really taught to squat with heels on the ground in Western countries, so it shouldn't be a surprise that it takes most people some work to do it. I wasn't able to do it until I started doing yoga.

 

[Host Samurai]

I know this feel too well. I am fucking insatiable. This is why I was digging IF, since I'll get theopportunity to eat again sooner than I otherwise would eating early mornings.


Anybody know good ways to make cottage cheese taste good? I put some in the blender wit some on peanut butter, a frozen banana, milk and a little chocolate. I was too cheap to buy some whey so I'm on dat struggle protein shake.

I put cinnamon and Splenda in it. Taste godly.

 

[Szu]

3 hour drive to Orlando for my weightlifting meet today. Wish me luck bros!

By my calculations, you should almost be there. Good luck!!!

 

[jdavid459]

Anyone have recommendations for highly effective HIIT workouts? For my last one I did 90sec jump rope, 3 min rest ...repeat for 30 minutes. Today I am going to go to my old high school's track...do sprints of some sort.

 

[roosters93]

I eat cottage cheese with tuna. Don't really eat them for taste though.

 

[blackflag]

I know this feel too well. I am fucking insatiable. This is why I was digging IF, since I'll get theopportunity to eat again sooner than I otherwise would eating early mornings.


Anybody know good ways to make cottage cheese taste good? I put some in the blender wit some on peanut butter, a frozen banana, milk and a little chocolate. I was too cheap to buy some whey so I'm on dat struggle protein shake.

Canned pineapple chunks make it soooo good but I'm not sure if its cost effective.

 

[despire]

So I posted about my fucked up hip adductors a few days ago. Should've squatted today but the adductors started acting up so figured it would be smarter to let them rest. Even tried high bar squats but couldn't do them. So I'm barely flexible enough to do low bar squats and not flexible enough to do high bar squats.

But then I tried front squats for shits and giggles. Apparently I could do them pretty well (for a first timer) AND they didn't seem to hurt my adductors as much which is weird. Only problem I had with them was that I couldn't get the bar well enough on my delts without it hurting my wrists.

Does it make sense that front squats would be less aggravating for hip adductors than back squats? Stance is pretty wide in front squats as well.

 

[Host Samurai]

Anyone have recommendations for highly effective HIIT workouts? For my last one I did 90sec jump rope, 3 min rest ...repeat for 30 minutes. Today I am going to go to my old high school's track...do sprints of some sort.

I like using the elliptical for HITT. 1 min intense 1 min steady. Keep going for 20/30 min. I like controlling the speed and it allows me to watch some TV shows on my IPhone without any interruption.

 

[Host Samurai]

I eat cottage cheese with tuna. Don't really eat them for taste though.

Lol with tuna? I'm not even crazy enough to try that. Such a randomly odd combo.

 

[Cudder]

I like using the elliptical for HITT. 1 min intense 1 min steady. Keep going for 20/30 min. I like controlling the speed and it allows me to watch some TV shows on my IPhone without any interruption.

If you are doing 30 minutes of HIIT and are able to watch TV shows on your iPhone while doing it, you are not doing HIIT.

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

I've hesitated to come to this thread out of fear, but I've been told you guys are friendly. Go easy.

Age: 19
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 123
Goal: ~160? (I don't really know)
Current Training Schedule: Sporadic; no real schedule. On/off running/walking and moderate weight training
Current Training Equipment Available: Full gym

I'd like to be bigger, obviously. At 123lbs I'm incredibly skinny and way too lean. My calorie intake currently is very poor (~1,500) so I need some advice on how to raise it and what to raise it to. I read the OP but I have a lot of questions, of course.

• Would 3,000 daily calorie intake be a good start for gaining weight/building muscle?
  
• How can I continue to incorporate some kind of cardio without burning off too much of the calories? I usually run/walk every other day for about 30 minutes.
  
• As I intake more calories, I'll obviously get fatter. Any tips on how to reduce the body fat yet retain the weight and muscle (one step at a time, of course, but I fear gaining too much fat)?
  
• My appetite and ability to eat is pretty poor. Should I do six small 500 calorie meals a day? Would incorporating a lot of milk and eggs help?
  
• I can't do deadlifts at my gym (Planet Fitness; only available gym but they don't allow it). What's a good replacement?

Please, correct me if I'm off on anything and I'd really appreciate any help.

 

[SeanR1221]

I've hesitated to come to this thread out of fear, but I've been told you guys are friendly. Go easy.

Age: 19
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 123
Goal: ~160? (I don't really know)
Current Training Schedule: Sporadic; no real schedule. On/off running/walking and moderate weight training
Current Training Equipment Available: Full gym

I'd like to be bigger, obviously. At 123lbs I'm incredibly skinny and way too lean. My calorie intake currently is very poor (~1,500) so I need some advice on how to raise it and what to raise it to. I read the OP but I have a lot of questions, of course.

• Would 3,000 daily calorie intake be a good start for gaining weight/building muscle?
  
• How can I continue to incorporate some kind of cardio without burning off too much of the calories? I usually run/walk every other day for about 30 minutes.
  
• As I intake more calories, I'll obviously get fatter. Any tips on how to reduce the body fat yet retain the weight and muscle (one step at a time, of course, but I fear gaining too much fat)?
  
• My appetite and ability to eat is pretty poor. Should I do six small 500 calorie meals a day? Would incorporating a lot of milk and eggs help?
  
• I can't do deadlifts at my gym (Planet Fitness; only available gym but they don't allow it). What's a good replacement?

Please, correct me if I'm off on anything and I'd really appreciate any help.

Just increase your calories gradually over time. At for gaining weight, drinking milk will help a lot, especially on a budget. Also, stick to meat, vegetables, rice, oats, potatoes and you won't get big and fat. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the cardio, just focus on training with weights.

As for the planet fitness part, you also can't squat, row, power clean, front squat, use heavy dumbells or pretty much do anything worth a damn. You'll have to switch gyms, when you say it's the only available gym you mean the only one in your price range?

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

Just increase your calories gradually over time. At for gaining weight, drinking milk will help a lot, especially on a budget. Also, stick to meat, vegetables, rice, oats, potatoes and you won't get big and fat. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the cardio, just focus on training with weights.

Okay, this sounds good! Thanks!

As for the planet fitness part, you also can't squat, row, use heavy dumbells or pretty much do anything. You'll have to switch gyms, when you say it's the only available gym you mean the only one in your price range?

I actually think my Planet Fitness allows squatting (I may be wrong), not sure about rows, and they also have extremely heavy dumbbells available. It's the only available gym for my price range.

I was about your age and 115 pounds when I first started even trying to lift. What got me to gain weight was just forcing myself to eat . If it was ten o clock , I would force down a tub of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. In between Meals I would just make myself eat an extra two cans of tuna every other day or so. I would feel nauseous some days, but it was the only way to teach myself to eat. Just tackle on some big meals on top of what you are already doing.

I suppose that's my only option. Luckily I fucking LOVE canned tuna.

 

[moocow]

I've hesitated to come to this thread out of fear, but I've been told you guys are friendly. Go easy.

Age: 19
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 123
Goal: ~160? (I don't really know)
Current Training Schedule: Sporadic; no real schedule. On/off running/walking and moderate weight training
Current Training Equipment Available: Full gym

I'd like to be bigger, obviously. At 123lbs I'm incredibly skinny and way too lean. My calorie intake currently is very poor (~1,500) so I need some advice on how to raise it and what to raise it to. I read the OP but I have a lot of questions, of course.

• Would 3,000 daily calorie intake be a good start for gaining weight/building muscle?
  
• How can I continue to incorporate some kind of cardio without burning off too much of the calories? I usually run/walk every other day for about 30 minutes.
  
• As I intake more calories, I'll obviously get fatter. Any tips on how to reduce the body fat yet retain the weight and muscle (one step at a time, of course, but I fear gaining too much fat)?
  
• My appetite and ability to eat is pretty poor. Should I do six small 500 calorie meals a day? Would incorporating a lot of milk and eggs help?
  
• I can't do deadlifts at my gym (Planet Fitness; only available gym but they don't allow it). What's a good replacement?

Please, correct me if I'm off on anything and I'd really appreciate any help.

I was about your age and 115 pounds when I first started even trying to lift. What got me to gain weight was just forcing myself to eat . If it was ten o clock , I would force down a tub of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. In between Meals I would just make myself eat an extra two cans of tuna every other day or so. I would feel nauseous some days, but it was the only way to teach myself to eat. Just tackle on some big meals on top of what you are already doing.

 

[SeanR1221]

Okay, this sounds good! Thanks!



I actually think my Planet Fitness allows squatting (I may be wrong), not sure about rows, and they also have extremely heavy dumbbells available. It's the only available gym for my price range.

Unless you have a different planet fitness, they only have smith machines. No squat racks. You can't squat in a smith machine

Extremely heavy dumbbells? Doesn't PF cut them off at 60lbs?

Is there a retro fitness near you? They only run 19.99 a month and a few of us go there. I'm sure there's an alternative you can find. You won't make the progress you want at a PF.

Also, like moo mentioned, you're gonna have to force yourself to eat until your body gets used to it.

 

[kylej]

Extremely heavy dumbbells? Doesn't PF cut them off at 60lbs?

wat. planet fitness is crazy.

 

[SeanR1221]

Judgment free zone!

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

Unless you have a different planet fitness, they only have smith machines. No squat racks. You can't squat in a smith machine

Extremely heavy dumbbells? Doesn't PF cut them off at 60lbs?

Is there a retro fitness near you? They only run 19.99 a month and a few of us go there. I'm sure there's an alternative you can find. You won't make the progress you want at a PF.

Also, like moo mentioned, you're gonna have to force yourself to eat until your body gets used to it.

Ah, you're right. It's a smith machine. Also, I think you're right about 60lbs. I only really glanced at the bigger dumbbells and figured they weighed way more.

$20/month isn't in my budget, unfortunately. Any methods I could use at PF for the time being before I have the funds to switch to a better gym? I don't know what else to do. /:

 

[SeanR1221]

Ah, you're right. It's a smith machine. Also, I think you're right about 60lbs. I only really glanced at the bigger dumbbells and figured they weighed way more.

$20/month isn't in my budget, unfortunately. Any methods I could use at PF for the time being before I have the funds to switch to a better gym? I don't know what else to do. /:

You literally can't do any barbell exercise but bench there. I really dunno what else to tell you besides switch gyms :/

 

[LProtag]

I have a membership at Planet Fitness. It's pretty crappy, but it's all I have close by. I was mostly using it for cardio after I realized all the machines are crap.

The other day I started doing bodyweight fitness, thinking that might be easier to pull off there, and even then it was hard to find stuff to use. I ended up doing half of the routine at home using my kitchen table or some chairs.

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

You literally can't do any barbell exercise but bench there. I really dunno what else to tell you besides switch gyms :/

I have a membership at Planet Fitness. It's pretty crappy, but it's all I have close by. I was mostly using it for cardio after I realized all the machines are crap.

The other day I started doing bodyweight fitness, thinking that might be easier to pull off there, and even then it was hard to find stuff to use. I ended up doing half of the routine at home using my kitchen table or some chairs.

Yeah, fuck.

I have a bench in my basement and some bar weights but I'm not sure how many weights, honestly. I think about 110lbs worth excluding the bar (which is probably 25lbs or something). That probably won't be enough, right?

 

[agrajag]

I'd just like to say that barbells have completely changed my life. Thank you FitGAF!

 

[moocow]

Yeah, fuck.

I have a bench in my basement and some bar weights but I'm not sure how many weights, honestly. I think about 110lbs worth excluding the bar (which is probably 25lbs or something). That probably won't be enough, right?

It's not enough to get as big as someone like alien, but at yourr weight you can make solid progress for a couple months with those dumbells and barbell. After that it will be inefficient and you will get diminishing returns

 

[rando14]

does PF still have pizza fridays or whatever

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

It's not enough to get as big as someone like alien, but at yourr weight you can make solid progress for a couple months with those dumbells and barbell. After that it will be inefficient and you will get diminishing returns

So, with me being limited to up to 60lb dumbbells and ~140lbs worth of barbell, what kind of workouts could I do for the time being until I can switch to a better gym? I'm pretty weak (can only do like 8 25lb dumbbell curls) so I'll be starting with low weights anyway.

 

[BadTaste]

Has anyone here tried Biotin? I'm about to order some but I've read it may cause you to lose weight which I'd rather prefer not to happen.

 

[moocow]

So, with me being limited to up to 60lb dumbbells and ~140lbs worth of barbell, what kind of workouts could I do for the time being until I can switch to a better gym? I'm pretty weak (can only do like 8 25lb dumbbell curls) so I'll be starting with low weights anyway.

At your house you can do bench and deadlift.However, assuming you are benching and deadlifting properly, you will hit your max relatively quickly. Your biggest issue will be squats, because learning them on the smith machine isn't necessarily the best thing to do because the form does not translate well to regular barbell squats. I would never recommend deadlifts on the smith because it just doesn't work in my mind. Otherwise, you can still do rows, pullups , dips , cable rows and a variety of other exercises with dumbells. you can try pistol squats, goblet squats, dumbell squats, but they are not an efficient replacement for the barbell. If you want me to try to work out a weekly routine, send me a pm and I can try to help you out, but in the long run it will always be better to find a gym that caters more to your needs.

 

[abuC]

Extremely heavy dumbbells? Doesn't PF cut them off at 60lbs?

I really want to get a day pass to Planet fitness, go in there and grunt and throw weights and scream " Lightweight Yeahhhhhhhh budddyyyyyyyyyyyy" and see how long it takes them to tell me to leave.

 

[moocow]

I really want to get a day pass to Planet fitness, go in there and grunt and throw weights and scream " Lightweight Yeahhhhhhhh budddyyyyyyyyyyyy" and see how long it takes them to tell me to leave.

You think they will even let you in?

 

[abuC]

You think they will even let you in?

I'll have to suppress my urge to say "Bang, pow, pow, pow, bang" when I fill out the membership form so they'll be none the wiser.

 

[Chittagong]

So, with me being limited to up to 60lb dumbbells and ~140lbs worth of barbell, what kind of workouts could I do for the time being until I can switch to a better gym? I'm pretty weak (can only do like 8 25lb dumbbell curls) so I'll be starting with low weights anyway.

With a barbell and those weights you can do everything you need for your weight. Start with the SS exercises. Bench, deadlift, press and squat. You don't really even need a squat rack because you are quite light yourself, you can lift the barbell over your head to position. So dump your PF membership and save those monies for a squat rack, you can find cheap ones on ebay. By the time you are strong enough to need it you have the money for it.

Seriously, if you have a basement and barbell you are set.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

About 2? months ago I wiped the slate clean on all my previous personal records, since I decided to break down all my fat and muscle and start fresh. Had a pretty modest personal record set on the bench a couple weeks in, now I'm doing that weight on the bench in 3 sets of 5, and I feel good. And I don't have anyone else to brag to.

I didn't even want to go to the gym today but I said fuck it, glad I did. Isn't that always the way?

 

[SeanR1221]

I really want to get a day pass to Planet fitness, go in there and grunt and throw weights and scream " Lightweight Yeahhhhhhhh budddyyyyyyyyyyyy" and see how long it takes them to tell me to leave.

My friend and I talked about doing something similar but with deadlifts. I'd take a pizza on my way out.

Turtle, if you have a barbell at home, pre good to go, man! Just buy more weight for the BB once you pass what you have.

 

[BigEvilTurtle]

With a barbell and those weights you can do everything you need for your weight. Start with the SS exercises. Bench, deadlift, press and squat. You don't really even need a squat rack because you are quite light yourself, you can lift the barbell over your head to position. So dump your PF membership and save those monies for a squat rack, you can find cheap ones on ebay. By the time you are strong enough to need it you have the money for it.

Seriously, if you have a basement and barbell you are set.

My friend and I talked about doing something similar but with deadlifts. I'd take a pizza on my way out.

Turtle, if you have a barbell at home, pre good to go, man! Just buy more weight for the BB once you pass what you have.

Oh, this is great then. So the only thing I'd really need to buy is a squat rack, then? If I cancel my PF membership, I'd lose out on dumbbells, but I'm assuming there are barbell workouts to make up for that?

 

[ZeroRay]

^ For a beginner, a barbell and a rack is all you need.

Back when I was at PF, they had dumbells up to 75 and I did deadlifts with those. (they didn't care, surprisingly)

Smith machine squats are horrible though; ingrains such terrible habits that will mess up your real squat.

Also keep in mind that Planet Fitness decided to remove all 45LB plates from the gym. At least mines did...but they said it was an order for corporate. That was pretty much my cue to leave.

 

[Chittagong]

Oh, this is great then. So the only thing I'd really need to buy is a squat rack, then? If I cancel my PF membership, I'd lose out on dumbbells, but I'm assuming there are barbell workouts to make up for that?

Yeah you don't really need dumbells when starting, if ever. Do the big compound lifts in the OP - bench, deadlift, press, squat and eventually clean and even snatch (I'm not there). Those can all be done with a barbell and are all you need to hit all your muscles and grow. When you get the squat rack get one with chin up and dips handles, they are the only non-barbell moves I do.

 

[Tash]

I am getting frustrated with squatting form due to tight Achilles heels I have troubles getting down to horizontal without falling back due to my COM being off. I have exercises to work on flexibility but it' super frustrating.

 

[SeanR1221]

I am getting frustrated with squatting form due to tight Achilles heels I have troubles getting down to horizontal without falling back due to my COM being off. I have exercises to work on flexibility but it' super frustrating.

Practice practice practice. A good squat can take a long time to perfect.

 

[mooooose]

My first time squatting without shoes... I feel enlightened.