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[codswallop]

Are there any beginner programs that you would recommend that isn't starting strength? I tried that for a couple weeks but it didn't click with me.

I'm not in any way an expert, but here's what I'm currently doing (I certainly didn't plan it myself):

DAY 1
Squat - 3x10
Leg extension - 3x12
Deadlift - 3x10
Leg curl - 3x12
Calf press - 3x15
Cable crunch or other ab work - 3x15

DAY 2
Bench press - 3x10
Seated shoulder press - 3x10
Incline dumbbell fly - 3x12 (having some trouble with the technique on this guy)
Side raise - 3x12
French press - 3x10
Cable pushdown - 2x12

DAY 3
Bent over row - 3x10
Lat pulldown - 2x12
Bent over dumbbell row - 2x12
Cable rear delt fly - 3x12
Barbell shrug - 3x12
Barbell curl - 3x10

I usually do 5 minutes of cardio to loosen up beforehand, usually rowing machine.

 

[Omzz]

Well got my knee checked and it's runners knee. Guess i'll be using the bike and avoiding crazy leg days for a while..

Ugh so frustrating

 

[bodyboarder]

Are there any beginner programs that you would recommend that isn't starting strength? I tried that for a couple weeks but it didn't click with me.

Stronglifts. The app is a major bonus.

 

[SilentSoldier]

Stronglifts. The app is a major bonus.

Agreed, Its been a real game changer having an app that tracks progress. Never thought I'd be lifting the weights I'm lifting now. Having done this much since high school.

 

[Psychotext]

So, I've been eating at a surplus for about 2 months now, and I haven't really seen much in the form of weight gain.

If you're eating at a surplus and you're not seeing weight gain, you're not eating at a surplus.

I can only assume you're working off the numbers from a calculator. They're a starting point for most, but for many they're not even close to accurate. Do a week of 100kcal a day extra, track your weight, then if you haven't gained weight, increase by another 100kcal the next week... and so on.

You can go faster than that, but too much is just going to end up with you getting fat.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Wow. Nice work.

Thanks man its always nice when mad experiments pay off.

Incredible stuff buddy. You guys are making IF sure look good.

Bro you know that means the world coming from you. Notice as always i'm wearing pants in those shots because despite doing them twice a week my quads are such a stubborn pair of assholes.

Amazing shit bro! How long did it take you to gain 10 lbs on IF?

A little over 2 months.

 

[Evazan]

The last two months I have really tried to push the IF philosophy to the limit and increased my overall calories from 3k to around 4500-5k.

The result has been better than I could have hoped for. I was able to gain 10lbs while maintaining an extremely low BF%. I have never been able to put that much weight on and stay that lean using any other method ever. Not only that but my strength went up across the board allowing me to hit personal best milestones with every single lift.

IF is unbelievable. I have tried to break it or find a downside to it and at least for what I am trying to achieve it seems infallible.

Wow man that is really incredible. I can't imagine how long it would take to get a chest like that.

 

[DivineRage002]

Guess I'm jumping aboard the IF train. What should I know? Any tips?

 

[Psychotext]

Mostly what's in here: http://burnfatnotsugar.com/intermittent-fasting.html

It's not a silver bullet though, so don't expect miracles. For some of us it fits quite nicely with our lifestyles so it's well worth using. I'd also suggest only working out fasted if your workouts tend to be an hour and a half or less. Fasted exercise is fine for intensity, not so much for massive volume.

 

[Navi]

Does anyone train chest and shoulders together? I know it's highly not recommended to train together due to injuries but I noticed whenever my delts are pumped my upper chest looks good

 

[Mr. X]

I think I need to strengthen my hamstrings to break this squat plateau. What is a good accessory to add?

 

[Irobot82]

I had almost forgotten what beginners DOMs felt like. I don't want to move at all right now. Looking forward to a couple weeks from now when the DOMs feel good because it means you pushed yourself.

 

[Azulsky]

Does anyone train chest and shoulders together? I know it's highly not recommended to train together due to injuries but I noticed whenever my delts are pumped my upper chest looks good

On my low rep day I do seated db shoulder presses 3x8. I do those 3x12 and a few shoulder accessories with back day.

I think I need to strengthen my hamstrings to break this squat plateau. What is a good accessory to add?

Glute Ham Raise, Romanian Deadlifts, Good Morning, Reverse Hypers, Leg Curl

 

[SilentSoldier]

If you're eating at a surplus and you're not seeing weight gain, you're not eating at a surplus.

I can only assume you're working off the numbers from a calculator. They're a starting point for most, but for many they're not even close to accurate. Do a week of 100kcal a day extra, track your weight, then if you haven't gained weight, increase by another 100kcal the next week... and so on.

You can go faster than that, but too much is just going to end up with you getting fat.

Its weird because when I was cutting, I used the same calorie counter and lost nearly 20lbs so I I assumed it was accurate to some extent. I know its usually easier to cut calories and lose weight than it is to gain, but I thought the counter would be a good tool. I don't have a food scale, so I could also be overestimating what I'm actually eating which could be causing the stall in weight. The changes to body composition have been quite noticeable, so there's something happening.


The weird thing is now, I went to the doctor for something completely unrelated and it had me at 5 lbs higher than usual (I hadn't weighed myself that morning), so now I'm even more conflicted. D:

 

[Psychotext]

Your metabolism changes over time, and if you've gained a chunk of muscle then you'll need more calories to compensate too. Like I said, fine as a baseline, but pointless to rely upon.

Glute Ham Raise, Romanian Deadlifts, Good Morning, Reverse Hypers, Leg Curl

Done right, romanian deadlifts are monstrous on the hamstrings. Problem is that people rush to add weight, fuck up the form, and turn them into "damage your lower back" exercises.

 

[Mugaaz]

Stronglifts. The app is a major bonus.

Stronglifts is just a bad version of SS, and SS has a new app as well.

 

[BumRush]

Thanks man its always nice when mad experiments pay off.



Bro you know that means the world coming from you. Notice as always i'm wearing pants in those shots because despite doing them twice a week my quads are such a stubborn pair of assholes.



A little over 2 months.

Looking incredible.

What's next for you bud...where could you possibly go from here?

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Looking incredible.

What's next for you bud...where could you possibly go from here?

Thanks a lot bro.
You know what my legs are so dang pathetic but the amount of training I'm going to have to do to get them up to snuff might not be worth it. I might just pull a Broscience and go with pants for life.

 

[BumRush]

Thanks a lot bro.
You know what my legs are so dang pathetic but the amount of training I'm going to have to do to get them up to snuff might not be worth it. I might just pull a Broscience and go with pants for life.

Haha...i meant are you going to bulk, maintain this BF %, etc.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Haha...i meant are you going to bulk, maintain this BF %, etc.

Ha oh sorry, yeah im going to stay with the IF and just keep pushing it. I want to see how much mass I can continue to gain at a low BF%. This winter I am just going to cram the calories in and see how my body responds. I don't care if I have to eat playdough.

 

[BumRush]

Ha oh sorry, yeah im going to stay with the IF and just keep pushing it. I want to see how much mass I can continue to gain at a low BF%. This winter I am just going to cram the calories in and see how my body responds. I don't care if I have to eat playdough.

Awesome, dude. When we didn't see you on here for a while I had a feeling you were working on your masterpiece. We have similar bodystyles so your progress pushes me more than any other. Nice work!

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Awesome, dude. When we didn't see you on here for a while I had a feeling you were working on your masterpiece. We have similar bodystyles so your progress pushes me more than any other. Nice work!

Ha thanks Bro. The lame thing about going MIA is you miss everyone's progress for a while. You haven't posted any new pics recently have you? Your dang arms were starting to get beastly.

 

[Wulfric]

Just wanted to check in on the thread, I haven't really had time due to fall semester starting. I'm at 149 up from 144 in mid-August. I'm not sure if it's muscle gain or just fat, but I've been able to lift for longer/heavier, and my arms are definitely firmer than before I started taking this fitness stuff seriously. Nothing pic worthy yet, maybe I ought to take a before pic now and take an after pic within a month or two.

So I'm constantly hitting my fat allowance for the day, or close to it within 10-15g. And it's not like I'm eating junk. I'll usually have something like eggs for breakfast, almonds in my schoolbag, maybe a can of tuna if it's a rough day. Is fat consumption that big of a deal for building muscle mass if you're hitting the gym nearly every weekday?

 

[BumRush]

Ha thanks Bro. The lame thing about going MIA is you miss everyone's progress for a while. You haven't posted any new pics recently have you? Your dang arms were starting to get beastly.

I haven't in a while. I had been sick for a month (got the baby's cold which turned to strep which - coupled with 12-16 hour work days - destroyed me). Getting back to where I can start to consider myself fit again but now that things are dying down at work I'll step it up a notch.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

I haven't in a while. I had been sick for a month (got the baby's cold which turned to strep which - coupled with 12-16 hour work days - destroyed me). Getting back to where I can start to consider myself fit again but now that things are dying down at work I'll step it up a notch.

Eeesh bro you got Strep! I was down for about 10 days when I got strep I couldn't believe how much it knocked me out. Glad your back though

 

[BumRush]

Eeesh bro you got Strep! I was down for about 10 days when I got strep I couldn't believe how much it knocked me out. Glad your back though

The craziest thing about it was how much it fucked with my strength. After the month off I came in and couldn't even do 1X3 OHP @ 135. I looked like the little guy from the zoloft ad, moping around and shit. I've never had my strength zapped like that.

 

[ILoveBish]

Another good day at the gym. Eating timing is off so I felt actually hungry which is incredibly strange for me. Ohp today with 3x140, 3x160 and 3x175. Hit every rep and then 6x130 at the end AMRAP set. After I hit up my accessories and missed 1 single rep on rope tricep pulldown, and did a new record on hanging pull up, total of 17 in 4 sets, 5,5,4,3. Feeling good.

 

[sphinx]

I did 10 reps and with plenty still in the tank 90 kgs/198 lbs on squat, weighting 70 kgs.

Knee felt ok and I felt like I had very good mobility, the opposite of rusty, I am very pleased with today.

not new numbers but after I got a huge scare with my knee around spring this year and just stopped squating all together, this is very very encouraging.

Best leg day in months.

I'm trying that now. I want to add a green bell pepper but it asks me how many grams. Heck I don't know. One bell pepper's worth lol. It's not very intuitive.

pretty much why I stopped using that app.

Back then, anything that wasn't in their barcode catalogue, you had look for it yourself.

If I understood correctly, there were entries for things not in their catalogue from random users you could use, so if you searched for "banana" you'd get a shitton of entries like " Big sized african Banana, not cooked" and " medium sized african banana, cooked"...exactly how you put it, not intuitive at all.

(am I going crazy?? I just posted something about squats and the MyFitnesspal app and the post is gone. Did anyone see it??)

EDIT: LOL I posted it in the nutrition thread. sorry for the confusion

 

[A Human Becoming]

Any advice on rest time between sets? I can show my current routines if that helps.

 

[BumRush]

Any advice on rest time between sets? I can show my current routines if that helps.

You'll get wildly different answers depending on person, program and goals (e.g. strength, cut, size, etc.).

For me, my compounds are always 2-3 minute rests whereas others go 3-5.

My assistance lifts are usually 1-2 minute rests at a lower weight / higher rep volume.

 

[Cudder]

I started using Progression a month or so ago, and really like it. I don't buy many Pro versions but I did for this (not that I felt hampered by the free one, it's still really good). Highly recommended.

It also does CSV exports if you want to continue with your spreadsheet.

Holy shit, this app is incredible, pretty much what I've been wanting this whole time. And a built in plate calculator! Thanks for this!

 

[Psychotext]

On the subject of rest... does anyone here do more active rests, with maybe some light accessory work, stretches or foam rolling?

 

[codswallop]

You'll get wildly different answers depending on person, program and goals (e.g. strength, cut, size, etc.).

Huh. I've been pushing for 30 second rests (60 second this week to test whether it makes much difference), I wonder whether this has hampered or helped.

Holy shit, this app is incredible, pretty much what I've been wanting this whole time. And a built in plate calculator! Thanks for this!

Wish there were a few more schedules built-in, and I've made a few suggestions to the developer, but it is great already.

 

[mdsfx]

Guys I need some help.

I've recently quit caffiene because, as wonderful as I felt during the day, I would feel drained and moody/depressed in the evening. I have kids and want to be an energetic, loving guy when I get home so caffiene is out. This includes... My beloved c4 preworkout

Let's just say this week has been tough doing cardio or squats at 6am, but I've come home feeling infinitly better with more energy and a good attitude. Doesn't look like I'm going back to caffiene anytime soon.

Are there any caffiene-free pre workout supplements that are effective?

 

[Azulsky]

On the subject of rest... does anyone here do more active rests, with maybe some light accessory work, stretches or foam rolling?

I have done some static contraction/hold stuff, example...

High volume squat sets(155lbs 5x15) where instead of a 'rest' between sets you just do a 180s or 240s second wall sit.

Also big sets of barbell lunges(40), followed by 4 minutes on a treadmill/elliptical/bike, back and forth.

You can do a set and then for the duration of the rest stretch out the primary muscle.

Nothing wrong with supersetting either!

 

[Cooter]

Guys I need some help.

I've recently quit caffiene because, as wonderful as I felt during the day, I would feel drained and moody/depressed in the evening. I have kids and want to be an energetic, loving guy when I get home so caffiene is out. This includes... My beloved c4 preworkout

Let's just say this week has been tough doing cardio or squats at 6am, but I've come home feeling infinitly better with more energy and a good attitude. Doesn't look like I'm going back to caffiene anytime soon.

Are there any caffiene-free pre workout supplements that are effective?

Only one I know of is lifting in a gym filled with hot women.

 

[Brolic Gaoler]

Some OHP and close grip bench work.

225x5 and 175x11 OHP and 275x5 close grip bench press. Was a good volume day. Full log is in description. Way more than in video.
https://youtu.be/_zEgIAih-bw

Does anyone train chest and shoulders together? I know it's highly not recommended to train together due to injuries but I noticed whenever my delts are pumped my upper chest looks good

Kinda. See above.

 

[mdsfx]

Kinda. See above.

Lol

Nice work Brolic. Truly incredible.

 

[Irobot82]

Only one I know of is lifting in a gym filled with hot women.

This.

 

[entremet]

Kai Greene was banned from this year's Olympia.

Apparently, some supplement sponsorship shenanigans.

 

[BumRush]

Only one I know of is lifting in a gym filled with hot women.

lol.

 

[BumRush]

Some OHP and close grip bench work.

225x5 and 175x11 OHP and 275x5 close grip bench press. Was a good volume day. Full log is in description. Way more than in video.
https://youtu.be/_zEgIAih-bw

You know I'm a sucker for high volume OHP. The 225 was great but that 175x11...there's something about reps 6+ with OHP that get you.

p.s. was your wife video taping? That little zoom in at the end of the 225 set was well done.

 

[Brolic Gaoler]

Lol

Nice work Brolic. Truly incredible.

Thanks bud.

You know I'm a sucker for high volume OHP. The 225 was great but that 175x11...there's something about reps 6+ with OHP that get you.

p.s. was your wife video taping? That little zoom in at the end of the 225 set was well done.

Lol, no it's something to do with e YouTube capture app when it processes it does that sometimes.

 

[ExplodingKetchup]

Dang Brolic. You OHP what most people can't even bench. You've got some awesome strength

 

[BumRush]

Lol, no it's something to do with e YouTube capture app when it processes it does that sometimes.

It was on par with some of the camera work in 2001: a Space Odyssey.

Lol...nice work though dude. I find if I do close grip after I press, my tris are usually SHOT. Nothing left for anything additional.

 

[Astral]

That feel when you're losing your abs.

 

[Cooter]

LMAO Weighed 190 today after my mammoth cheat last night. Totally worth it. Go Niners!

 

[Psychotext]

Nothing wrong with supersetting either!

Isn't the concern there that you're not actually rested when you return to your primary lifts though? Whilst I like the idea of being efficient, I don't really want to mess with the more important parts of the workout.

Unless the idea is to go light to get some blood flowing?

 

[mdsfx]

Okay so there are no people in my gym that early in the morning let alone hot chicks

What if I just use some of the ingredients in preworkout products without the caffiene? Does beta alanine, for instance, do anything on its own?

Or do I need to consider a shake or some food preworkout?

 

[Ivan A Nguyen]

Guys I need some help.

I've recently quit caffiene because, as wonderful as I felt during the day, I would feel drained and moody/depressed in the evening. I have kids and want to be an energetic, loving guy when I get home so caffiene is out. This includes... My beloved c4 preworkout

Let's just say this week has been tough doing cardio or squats at 6am, but I've come home feeling infinitly better with more energy and a good attitude. Doesn't look like I'm going back to caffiene anytime soon.

Are there any caffiene-free pre workout supplements that are effective?

Best I can suggest is to get a multi vitamin with some B12 in there. That stuff always gives me a little kick in the morning.