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Fitness |OT8| Dad Bods, Bulge Swelfies, and Wait...Do you even lift bro?

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P

Psychotext

Member
You've got a far better beard, that's for certain! ;)

...and yeah, I'll add it to the pile (sadly I'm a little stacked up on my reading).

Unrelated, so with all this talk of checkups, do you Americans go to the doctor regularly(ish) for this sort of thing? In the UK you go to the doctor if you're ill, injured or pregnant and that's pretty much it.

I literally couldn't tell you what my any of my "levels" are.
 
D

Dead Prince

Banned
Psychotext said:
You've got a far better beard, that's for certain! ;)

...and yeah, I'll add it to the pile (sadly I'm a little stacked up on my reading).

Unrelated, so with all this talk of checkups, do you Americans go to the doctor regularly(ish) for this sort of thing? In the UK you go to the doctor if you're ill, injured or pregnant and that's pretty much it.

I literally couldn't tell you what my any of my "levels" are.
Click to expand...

should do checkup regularly if problems run in the family or at a certain age you should be anyways.
 
C

Chocobro

Member
Psychotext said:
Unrelated, so with all this talk of checkups, do you Americans go to the doctor regularly(ish) for this sort of thing? In the UK you go to the doctor if you're ill, injured or pregnant and that's pretty much it.

I literally couldn't tell you what my any of my "levels" are.
Click to expand...

Everyone in my household goes once a year. I want to go a bit more frequent.
 
O

Optimusdouche

Banned
Every damned time on the scales, if I am not eating enough, my body stops losing weight.

When I am only eating healthy food it can be really hard to hit that minimum 1,200-1,400 calories. When I am under 1,000 my body pretty consistently does not seem to drop in weight.

It's so strange. And controversial, because studies and nutritionists fight over this like mad. There is no consensus. Plenty of scientists will tell you this is bunk. That, your body may slow down a little, but certainly not enough to account for this. That is, unless you are in full blown starvation mode, which is a real thing, but that is an extreme condition that is not of casual dieting and more of anorexia. So, according to perhaps the majority, this should not be the case.
 
P

Psychotext

Member
@Optimusdouche: There's a lot more to it than that though. It's not just about metabolism, but can also be about your body conserving energy by having you move less (even on the level of things like tapping your feet / drumming your fingers).

Every chance that there's far more going on that you realise.

Also, what the fuck are you doing under 1,000kcal? Are you nuts? Or are you like, 4 foot 9 or something?
 
O

Optimusdouche

Banned
Psychotext said:
@Optimusdouche: There's a lot more to it than that though. It's not just about metabolism, but can also be about your body conserving energy by having you move less (even on the level of things like tapping your feet / drumming your fingers).

Every chance that there's far more going on that you realise.

Also, what the fuck are you doing under 1,000kcal? Are you nuts? Or are you like, 4 foot 9 or something?
Click to expand...

I took that into account, I swear. The first time I documented it was, when I was stuck on a certain weight for quite a long time, despite eating little and walking a lot. I was stuck on this weight for like a month, and when I finally started having an extra meal it went off.

But, I do know what you mean, there are tons of factors, indeed, but I don't have an exact scientific explanation, if its certain hormones being released, or not released. I am guessing the body is simply not releasing certain hormones to allow it to operate in a more regular manner.

When I am eating healthy, its hard to eat a lot. Get pretty sick of chicken and vegetables! Tough to eat 1,500 calories of that, and after the first month of being healthy my appetite is pretty meagre. During that first month there were a couple of times I had to have a break, due to intense cravings, but even that is pretty much gone. I get it sometimes, but very easy to sate.

I am working off a one and half year of letting my ass go. Lost half the weight in two months, but I am stalling. Hitting the weights like you, as well. I would really like to keep the momentum to be in shape by sometime middle of summer.

I liken this unexplainable phenomena to the same as gaining weight. Ever weigh yourself in the midst of letting yourself go? After a week of really eating a TON of crap. Pretty much only eating that, sometimes I would've just not gained any weight.
 
P

Psychotext

Member
Optimusdouche said:
When I am eating healthy, its hard to eat a lot. Get pretty sick of chicken and vegetables! Tough to eat 1,500 calories of that, and after the first month of being healthy my appetite is pretty meagre.
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So don't. No-one can really tell you what eating healthy is. Same goes for "eating clean". What's defined as clean for one person isn't clean for another (bruh, if you cook it and it isn't out of the ground, it's not clean). I had about a year on the whole grilled chicken breast and broccoli thing and I didn't have any better results than a year just watching my calorie intake in total and making sure I got a good variety of foods in me. Same goes for cheat days / meals etc. Whole concept used to terrify me whereas now I realise that there's all sorts of good reasons for it.

Used to obsess about eating egg white omelettes, doing low carb, tracking my heart rate when I did anything outside of the norm, drinking no alcohol etc etc. Pointless. You just get stressed about the details rather than enjoying life and looking at the big picture.

At the end of the day, you can't make up for a year of bad habits in X weeks (probably not even 52 weeks). All you can do is come up with a lifestyle that you can maintain LONG TERM so that you don't hit your goal weight / physique / whatever and immediately start letting the bad habits back in.
 
I

Ixian

Member
Deadlift day for me today as well. Looking forward to seeing what I can do using the tips from the video, but I think I'm hitting the upper limit on most of my lifts on a cut.
 
mdsfx

mdsfx

Member
Not sure if this makes a difference, but here's the whole picture, Psycho. I appreciate all of your feedback.

Jt9JlhQ.png
Click to expand...

More fun stuff below. This was actually pretty cool to see. I might do this once a year just out of curiosity.

sMEfeSO.png
Click to expand...
 
V

velociraptor

Junior Member
SeanR1221 said:
Thanks man! 😁😁. It's guys like you, cooter and Brolic that keep a lot of people consistently lifting.



- calorie counting is key
- know your ideal macros for your goals
- meal timing is important but not as necessary as the previous two points
- food composition and supplements have an even smaller impact than all previous 3

It's a good book! You should check it out.



Lol! I've heard a couple times my wife and I look similar. I personally don't see it at all
Click to expand...

Could you elaborate on this please?
 
T

The Chef

Member
lol nice avatar change Bum.

Really want to mix up my routine a bit and just destroy chest. I figure its the one area I really want to work on so I want to do it 2-3 times a week.

My goals basically are:
1. Bench more! And if I gain size in my chest as a result then awesome.

What I want to do is set a new PR on bench each time I go in but I know that isn't going to happen.

So I was thinking maybe I should do my typical chest/back superset on Monday. Wednesday maybe try for a bench max? Then friday do another Chest routine?

Thoughts?
 
B

BumRush

Member
Cooter said:
You're kinda strong for a pretty guy.
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Lol thanks (I think)...did you see the shoutout someone gave you on Sean's Reddit post?

The Chef said:
lol nice avatar change Bum.

Really want to mix up my routine a bit and just destroy chest. I figure its the one area I really want to work on so I want to do it 2-3 times a week.

My goals basically are:
1. Bench more! And if I gain size in my chest as a result then awesome.

What I want to do is set a new PR on bench each time I go in but I know that isn't going to happen.

So I was thinking maybe I should do my typical chest/back superset on Monday. Wednesday maybe try for a bench max? Then friday do another Chest routine?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

3X a week is going to fatigue your chest making it relatively difficult to consistently set PRs (unless you know your current PR is way under what you can do). Go for 2X a week, making sure to mix in DB pause press, incline bench, flys and tricep work with your flat bb bench.
 
T

The Chef

Member
BumRush said:
Lol thanks (I think)...did you see the shoutout someone gave you on Sean's Reddit post?



3X a week is going to fatigue your chest making it relatively difficult to consistently set PRs (unless you know your current PR is way under what you can do). Go for 2X a week, making sure to mix in DB pause press, incline bench, flys and tricep work with your flat bb bench.
Click to expand...

Maybe so?
Last September and I did 225x6
Today I did 225x1 and it was not easy. I lost a ton of strength during the winter.
 
B

BumRush

Member
The Chef said:
Maybe so?
Last September and I did 225x6
Today I did 225x1 and it was not easy. I lost a ton of strength during the winter.
Click to expand...

I'd still say that 3X is a lot. If you were doing 225x6 and can only get x1 right now, you'll end up there again relatively soon with 2 times per week. Try it 2x for a while, making sure not to overlook back / legs / shoulders and if you still think you need volume, go up to 3.
 
T

The Chef

Member
BumRush said:
I'd still say that 3X is a lot. If you were doing 225x6 and can only get x1 right now, you'll end up there again relatively soon with 2 times per week. Try it 2x for a while, making sure not to overlook back / legs / shoulders and if you still think you need volume, go up to 3.
Click to expand...

Will do. Thanks!
 
C

Cooter

Lacks the power of instantaneous movement
BumRush said:
Lol thanks (I think)...did you see the shoutout someone gave you on Sean's Reddit post?
Click to expand...
Haha. I'm still bitter from the sweet16. Don't mind me. I did see that. It came from another FitGaf member. We takin over da world!
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
mdsfx said:
So I had some labs done (blood) as a routine check up. Everything looked great except one thing: my cholesterol!

I have a total cholesterol level of 238 (200 is the normal max), most of which was good cholesterol. Problem is my LDL (bad cholesterol) of 120 (100 is the normal max).

Looking at my diet, most days I only have about 220mg of cholesterol. I don't eat a lot of red meat or processed foods. Weekends however, which is when I eat 4 eggs and bacon/sausage on both Saturday and Sunday, it skyrockets to 800+mg per day.

Have you guys ever had this issue? This is a first for me. I've always had normal levels.

I love eggs. They're my favorite food :(
Click to expand...

In terms of how the diet affects things, it is the excess carbohydrates that increase your blood triglycerides and cholesterol, including the so-called "bad" type. LDL is not bad, actually, but you don't want it too high in relation to HDL.
 
mdsfx

mdsfx

Member
Zefah said:
In terms of how the diet affects things, it is the excess carbohydrates that increase your blood triglycerides and cholesterol, including the so-called "bad" type. LDL is not bad, actually, but you don't want it too high in relation to HDL.
Click to expand...

My triglycerides are pretty low i think at 60 (I eat about 120g of carbs per day, gross). Apparently, triglycerides at extreme levels either way make the LDL calculation less accurate. I don't f*cking know lol. According to 2 other formulas which are supposedly considered more accurate, my LDL is at 100, not 120. Who knows.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
SeanR1221 said:
So I made a fun little post on r/fitness yesterday comparing my first ever before to now, and commenting how there's only a 2lb difference.

Well, it blew up. 2k upvotes and over 275k views 😱

Then the mods randomly removed it for it not having enough info in the middle of the night but I wrote more and they put it back up

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/4d6vdu/there_is_a_2lb_difference_between_these_two_photos/
Click to expand...

That's got to be one of the best before after photos I have seen. It's even better because the weight between the two is pretty much the same.

Fucking incredible results, man. Very inspiring.
 
J

Jacksinthe

Banned
velociraptor said:
Could you elaborate on this please?
Click to expand...
Pretty sure meal timing refers to how often you eat throughout the day, when you lift and how much % of you macros goes towards each meal.

I'm no expert but since I'm a diabetic on insulin I do play with carb timing and it's been so far so good.

60% of my carbs are split 30% 2hrs before I lift and 30% immediately after (about a 4 hour window) and the remaining 40% split fairly evenly between first breakfast, first lunch and dinner. Fat gets eaten in the four meals before I lift and protein fairly evenly spread throughout the day with a slight bias towards dinner.

I haven't noticed much of a difference, if at all, with protein/fat. I just prefer to get my fats out of the way early.

The largest change I've noticed in both strength and composition came from carb timing around the lifts.
 
B

BumRush

Member
Speaking of Brolic, thank you so much for the DL tips / video. I was definitely standing a little further from the bar than I should have been. I feel it more in my hamstrings now, which puts less stress on my back.

Also, my hamstrings need to get stronger now.
 
A

Agraavan

Member
digita1alchemy said:
I can't really say what's best since I have only been doing Starting Strength for a little over a month now, as a total novice. I am happy with my progress so far. I recommend the book because it will answer most of the questions you will have about the program, and also because it goes into incredible detail on how to properly learn and perform each excercise, which is especially important for preventing injuries.

And to offer some unsolicited advice, one of the best things I did as a beginner was buy a pair of actual weightlifting shoes. So you may want to look into that if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Faiz said:
Regardless of what program you do, it behooves you to read as much about it and understand it as much as you can. There's really no "best" beginner program. One thing to keep in mind is that everything works... Until it doesn't. Then it's time to switch up programs.

You'll get a lot of mileage out of Starting Strength, or StrongLifts, or whatever program you choose, it's just important to follow the program as much as you can. Follow the program, eat for your goals, get plenty of sleep.

Another thing to keep in mind, the barbell movements are all about technique. Much to the surprise of many untrained lifters, a bench press isn't as simple as laying down and pushing up. A deadlift isn't as simple as picking a bar up off the ground. The Starting Strength book is really good at describing the mechanics of each lift in the program and making you understand what is efficient and what isn't, and why. It's just a great place to start all around. But also understand that many lifters spend years learning and tweaking and correcting their lifts. Brolic is probably the biggest lifter in this thread and that dude never stops learning from anyone he can and that's definitely one of the reasons he is so successful.

So keep reading, keep learning, record your lifts with your phone to see (or for others to point out) where you can improve. It will be a lifelong goal and process so never get discouraged.
Click to expand...
I just wanted to thank you both, really, for the comments and answers. I sure will try to grab this book and follow the program to the best of my abilities.
 
B

BumRush

Member
mdsfx said:
WTF...lol

Apparently, to be 9% or less bodyfat you have to give up your social life because you have to live at the gym. Good to know!

Wait no this is not right. I drink way more than it says I can!
Click to expand...

It's not necessarily wrong, just WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many generalizations.
 
S

SeanR1221

Member
mdsfx said:
WTF...lol

Apparently, to be 9% or less bodyfat you have to give up your social life because you have to live at the gym. Good to know!

Wait no this is not right. I drink way more than it says I can!
Click to expand...

My wife is in the lowest portion and we don't skip any social situation and go out to dinner by weekly
 
mdsfx

mdsfx

Member
BumRush said:
It's not necessarily wrong, just WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many generalizations.
Click to expand...
There are also a lot of assumptions. How else would they create a detailed list of how many alcoholic beverages you have to give up to achieve a specific aesthetic? The general idea is correct, in that it takes more effort and you can go far enough to actually become unhealthy, but that's about it.
 
B

BumRush

Member
mdsfx said:
There are also a lot of assumptions. How else would they create a detailed list of how many alcoholic beverages you have to give up to achieve a specific aesthetic? The general idea is correct, in that it takes more effort and you can go far enough to actually become unhealthy, but that's about it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant by generalizations. It puts everyone in the same bucket. In reality, your calories / exercise / etc. are completely different than someone else that has the same height / weight.
 
C

ColdPizza

Banned
BumRush said:
Yeah, sorry, that's what I meant by generalizations. It puts everyone in the same bucket. In reality, your calories / exercise / etc. are completely different than someone else that has the same height / weight.
Click to expand...

I think generally though it's somewhat accurate...do less/do more, this is your output.
 
J

JCX

Member
I know ya'll hate rest days - this new program only has 3 lifting days which feels weird since I'm use to 5. What sorts of physical activity do you do on off days besides organized/team sports?
 
M

Madnesslink5

Member
mdsfx said:
WTF...lol

Apparently, to be 9% or less bodyfat you have to give up your social life because you have to live at the gym. Good to know!

Wait no this is not right. I drink way more than it says I can!
Click to expand...

I'm somehow around 10% and I've been drinking a good 15+ units of alcohol a week for the past 4 years... maybe my liver has died and thus the fat has is being stored there instead?
 
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