Poll of the Day > Anyone need any fitness help? Want to gain muscle and/or lose fat?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Kotenks posted...

I find exercising boring. Every time I get a good regime going for a month, i drop exercising all together.

It certainly can be without the proper mindset. You can try to think of it as an RPG where you're leveling up your character. You can pick your attributes too, depending on what your goal is. The possibilities are endless. You can literally make yourself into a super human at the measly cost of a gym membership!

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GunslingerGunsl posted...

Thanks. I really need the motivation and accountability right now. I'm still sore from my first workout two days ago and it was such a small workout. Lol

Just saw this.
The soreness is a good thing! It actually goes away after a while. In fact these days I TRY to get such a tough workout in that I'm actually sore. Usually, it just means your body is in the midst of repairing itself to grow back stronger and maybe even bigger.

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My new favorite exercise is carrying 48 lbs of beer from the walk-in in our basement, to the beer fridge on the first floor. It's only 25 steps or so but the 12 stairs are great. I probably do it 3-4 times a shift.

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I really miss not being able to go to gym / spin class because of COVID, though obviously I get it.

Was so excited about moving up on my dumbbell weight for classes back in February and now T-T

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Im worried Ohio is about to close gyms down again. I have weights at home but its still not the same.

I have to practice running for my PT test coming up in a few months. So, I really want the gym to stay open. I think the one on base should be fine, but they also hate working, so...
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I bought Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure during quarantine, but I'm still working my way up to using it every day. I also want to try the Strong Curves program at home to work on toning and strengthening my muscles.

My main exercise outlet for years has been team sports, so I suck at sticking to a routine.

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I feel like my lifts are pretty good, but my body doesnt reflect that.

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ShadowDragon548 posted...

I feel like my lifts are pretty good, but my body doesnt reflect that.

Wellll...strength doesn't always correlate with size. Take a look at some of the Asian Olympic lifters and even the females. A lot of strength has to do with your nervous system.

Now, if you want to workout for vanity (nothing wrong with it) I would suggest hypertrophy traning. Meaning, your only goal is to swell the muscle and make it bigger. Your rep range for hypertrophy should be on the higher end.

I like to do sets of 5 for hypertrophy with these reps: 20, 15, 12, 10, 20. In that order. So light, heavy, heavier, heaviest, light

The focus should be on filling the muscle with blood aka "the pump".

Hope that helped!

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Cacciato posted...

Im worried Ohio is about to close gyms down again. I have weights at home but its still not the same.

Absolutely agree. You can only get so far at home unless you have a makeshift gym in your garage/basement.

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ShadowDragon548 posted...

I feel like my lifts are pretty good, but my body doesnt reflect that.

I have mostly been kinda the same way. I remember being 118lbs and db pressing 65lb dbs for 10 reps. Only reason I remember the numbers is because the random guy I had asked to spot me at the time told me afterwards that he didn't think I'd be able to do it. Now I've gained a slight amount of weight with age so it probably wouldn't look as impressive for my size.

Btw. What sucks right now is I got sick a couple days after I had started working out again. I haven't been sick for like a year and somehow I had to catch a cold/fever... not only did that put a hold on restarting my exercise routine, but I have two big school projects due this week and it has killed my motivation to focus on school for more than 20 mins.

GunslingerGunsl posted...

I have mostly been kinda the same way. I remember being 118lbs and db pressing 65lb dbs for 10 reps. Only reason I remember the numbers is because the random guy I had asked to spot me at the time told me afterwards that he didn't think I'd be able to do it. Now I've gained a slight amount of weight with age so it probably wouldn't look as impressive for my size.

Those are indeed good numbers for that size. You should continue, because you could probably get into the elite strength bracket faster than most.

GunslingerGunsl posted...

Btw. What sucks right now is I got sick a couple days after I had started working out again. I haven't been sick for like a year and somehow I had to catch a cold/fever... not only did that put a hold on restarting my exercise routine, but I have two big school projects due this week and it has killed my motivation to focus on school for more than 20 mins.

It's weird, I find the same thing happens to me when I go back to working out after a haitus. It must have something to do with the nervous system taking a hit from the stress. It's happened on more than one occasion.

It may be placebo, but since I've started taking vitamin C & D every day a few years ago, I haven't been sick once. So maybe try supplementing with vitamins? I hear zinc is good too.

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EnZo87 posted...

Those are indeed good numbers for that size. You should continue, because you could probably get into the elite strength bracket faster than most.

It's weird, I find the same thing happens to me when I go back to working out after a haitus. It must have something to do with the nervous system taking a hit from the stress. It's happened on more than one occasion.

It may be placebo, but since I've started taking vitamin C & D every day a few years ago, I haven't been sick once. So maybe try supplementing with vitamins? I hear zinc is good too.

Maybe there is something to that. My girlfriend was wondering how I got sick when I haven't really gone anywhere lately. I should start taking the multivitamin I bought. It has sat in my kitchen for months and I've used it like 3 times.

Why was my question ignored

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Jen0125 posted...

Why was my question ignored

It was not a fitness question! You're lucky I don't report you to the powers that be! Exclamation points!

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Enzo. Buddy.

Kettlebells, yay, or nay?

Am I better off just doing body resistance workouts, or kettlebell routines with a ~30-40lb kettlebell?

Second question, BMI calculators tell me I should be 165lbs. I'm 5'10, 42yo. I haven't been 165 since I was like 14. Even when I was still playing hockey and training in kickboxing and Ling Gar, I was 185. You've met me in person, towards the end of my bad old days. I was probably 215ish back then. I'm barrel chested. Cardio is not an option for a litany of reasons I'm not getting into right now.

The thing is, even when I go hard into living on black coffee, apples, and pistachios, I hit an absolute floor of about 194 now. Even with 100 crunches day and night I can't shake a fair bit of dad bod beer gut. I walk like 10 miles a day. 30k+ steps a day just from working.

Am I just missing something here? I'm not trying to hit 165, I'd probably have to lop off a limb for that, but I can't seem to get back to my training weight of 185 no matter what I do.

Any ideas?

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I did moving for two years, and had guys start working for us who frequented the gym. Some stood 62 and had arms the size of my neck. After a day they would say I dont know how you guys do that. Its because when youre lifting a couch to the right, left, away from your body, youre using muscles you didnt know existed. Body-building is not the same as strength-building. They need gyms where you toss railroad ties around and pack flooring, base, spruce, tools and all kinds of other heavy stuff up-and-down various sets of stairs. You get cardio and strength training. Try packing a used washing machine up and down a set of stairs. Youll know if youre in shape or not right away.

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zebatov posted...

I did moving for two years, and had guys start working for us who frequented the gym. Some stood 62 and had arms the size of my neck. After a day they would say I dont know how you guys do that. Its because when youre lifting a couch to the right, left, away from your body, youre using muscles you didnt know existed. Body-building is not the same as strength-building. They need gyms where you toss railroad ties around and pack flooring, base, spruce, tools and all kinds of other heavy stuff up-and-down various sets of stairs. You get cardio and strength training. Try packing a used washing machine up and down a set of stairs. Youll know if youre in shape or not right away.

I've humped lumber, wire, pipe, and appliances for like 25 years. Functional strength is not my problem.

I've always hated weight machines for the very reason that they only target specific muscle groups rather than develop the uniform strength that comes from stabilizing free weight.

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LuciferSage posted...

Enzo. Buddy.

Kettlebells, yay, or nay?

Am I better off just doing body resistance workouts, or kettlebell routines with a ~30-40lb kettlebell?

Second question, BMI calculators tell me I should be 165lbs. I'm 5'10, 42yo. I haven't been 165 since I was like 14. Even when I was still playing hockey and training in kickboxing and Ling Gar, I was 185. You've met me in person, towards the end of my bad old days. I was probably 215ish back then. I'm barrel chested. Cardio is not an option for a litany of reasons I'm not getting into right now.

The thing is, even when I go hard into living on black coffee, apples, and pistachios, I hit an absolute floor of about 194 now. Even with 100 crunches day and night I can't shake a fair bit of dad bod beer gut. I walk like 10 miles a day. 30k+ steps a day just from working.

Am I just missing something here? I'm not trying to hit 165, I'd probably have to lop off a limb for that, but I can't seem to get back to my training weight of 185 no matter what I do.

Any ideas?

BMI is almost completely useless tbh.

GunslingerGunsl posted...

BMI is almost completely useless tbh.

Oh, I know this. BMI assumes everyone is built like a marathon runner to begin with.

I'm built like a dwarf at human height. What men in leopard print onesies lifting old timey triangular weights would call "beefy".

I just can't shake the gut at this point. I'm not trying to look like a gym rat or anything, but after the pandemic, I literally lost more than 20lbs and stayed the same waist size in pants if that makes any sense.

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LuciferSage posted...

Oh, I know this. BMI assumes everyone is built like a marathon runner to begin with.

I'm built like a dwarf at human height. What men in leopard print onesies lifting old timey triangular weights would call "beefy".

I just can't shake the gut at this point. I'm not trying to look like a gym rat or anything, but after the pandemic, I literally lost more than 20lbs and stayed the same waist size in pants if that makes any sense.

I'm pretty much the opposite. I'm naturally pretty thin and on the low end of the BMI. I also lost about 5 or 10 pounds during the pandemic. I was about 130lbs at 5'4" and I'm pretty sure I'm hovering closer to120lbs right now. Being sick doesn't help either. My girlfriend mentioned today that my legs look skinnier so I guess that's where most of my mass leaves first, unfortunately. She says my arms still look "big" but I doubt it. Lol

GunslingerGunsl posted...

BMI is almost completely useless tbh.

It's a completely flawed scale that should never be used.

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I can definitely tell you from my lack of training these days that flexibility falls off way faster than muscle memory.

I used to be able to throw kicks over your head at will. I wouldn't even try it now for fear of cracking your skull accidentally. The mass and the force is still there, but the extension is most certainly not.

Note to my stable of PotD haters, I'm not threatening Guns here, just using his admitted size as a benchmark. It's just math.

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Haha yeah I'm pretty short. Used to be pretty flexible too but I've also lost that with age and lack of frequent stretching.

SunWuKung420 posted...

It's a completely flawed scale that should never be used.

To say it should never be used is an uninformed stance. And I say this as someone who knows very well how BMI can be a poor representation of health on an individual level. BMI is a readily calculable stat that requires no special equipment and provides insight into the general health of a population. For most people, particularly those who do not do significant amounts of strength training, BMI is helpful to understand extents of being under or over weight. And those for whom it is not accurate, i.e. those already initiated to health and fitness, should already know whether it's informative for them.

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It's like an IQ test. Doesn't tell you much, but it is still useful for some purposes.

Clench, if the healthcare and healthcare insurance fields should not be using BMI, nobody should.

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Like I said, BMI gives me a weight I haven't been since I was 14 and didn't have shoulders.

I can see it as a general guideline, but it considers me obese at 195 with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. Strength is not an issue. I'm not a body builder, I'm not a Paragon of heath and fitness, but I know damned well that 165 is impossible and ridiculous for my body type given a lifetime of sport, combat sport, and heavy lifting as a profession.

BMI seems to assume everyone should be a barefoot marathon runner from Kenya as the default.

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EnZo87 posted...

It was not a fitness question! You're lucky I don't report you to the powers that be! Exclamation points!

Boring

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LuciferSage posted...

Like I said, BMI gives me a weight I haven't been since I was 14 and didn't have shoulders.

I can see it as a general guideline, but it considers me obese at 195 with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. Strength is not an issue. I'm not a body builder, I'm not a Paragon of heath and fitness, but I know damned well that 165 is impossible and ridiculous for my body type given a lifetime of sport, combat sport, and heavy lifting as a profession.

BMI seems to assume everyone should be a barefoot marathon runner from Kenya as the default.

BMI is a screening tool that is developed to work for a broad segment of the population. You don't diagnose obesity just from BMI.

High BMI may indicate obesity, but does not by itself diagnose obesity. A healthcare provider should use additional, more accurate measures of body composition when necessary.

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LuciferSage posted...

Enzo. Buddy.

Kettlebells, yay, or nay?

Am I better off just doing body resistance workouts, or kettlebell routines with a ~30-40lb kettlebell?

Second question, BMI calculators tell me I should be 165lbs. I'm 5'10, 42yo. I haven't been 165 since I was like 14. Even when I was still playing hockey and training in kickboxing and Ling Gar, I was 185. You've met me in person, towards the end of my bad old days. I was probably 215ish back then. I'm barrel chested. Cardio is not an option for a litany of reasons I'm not getting into right now.

The thing is, even when I go hard into living on black coffee, apples, and pistachios, I hit an absolute floor of about 194 now. Even with 100 crunches day and night I can't shake a fair bit of dad bod beer gut. I walk like 10 miles a day. 30k+ steps a day just from working.

Am I just missing something here? I'm not trying to hit 165, I'd probably have to lop off a limb for that, but I can't seem to get back to my training weight of 185 no matter what I do.

Any ideas?

Kettlebells are fine. I use them sometimes when I want to change up my workout. I do however think they are raised on a slight pedestal by some uber geeky fitness gurus. They are just another form of resistance as far as I'm concerned.

First off, throw away your scale for the time being. What you're doing now is fine. You need to tighten up your diet. People overestimate how much they require. Ya know how many calories I eat in a day? 2200. That's it.

A cool rule of thumb to get a ballpark estimate of how much calories to eat is convert is your height in cm x 12-14

So if you're 178cm (5'10") , your daily allotment would be ~2300

Remember that is ballpark, but a good starting point since everybody is different. But honestly..you would mathematically be guaranteed to lose weight with MINIMAL or zero measurable muscle loss if you ate 2300 calories/day while also making sure to consume at least 150grams of protein a day. I'd bet everything I own on this.

So I'd suggest doing what you're doing, but following my calorie goals. Once the weight starts dropping off substantially, you can then focus on more advanced workouts and incorporating some more resistance.

The common misconception is you can't build muscle on a deficit. False. I too thought this, but I am living proof that it's not only possible but likely if you're increasing resistance.

Crunches aren't an exercise I would focus on just yet. You can do them and it won't hurt anything, but you're increasing your ab size yes, but they will not be visible due to the layer of fat and it's not. So again, focus on the fat loss and basic & traditional lifts and then once your fat melts off then you can focus more intently on the supplemental exercises more.

Kind of a long winded rant, hope that helped!


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that all sounds perfectly sound on principle Enzo, but perhaps i was unclear.

even when i go down to 600cal/day on apples, pistachios and black coffee, i hit an absolute floor around 194-195. after that i lose muscle, but not size or mass. the last 20lbs i lost didn't even change my waist size. i'm a 38 when i'm fat, i'm a 36 otherwise. even at 185 i was a 36/29-30. i can function at 600cal/day for weeks. ive tried that, i've tried intermittent fasting... it seems like i can't break thru 194 no matter what i do.

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LuciferSage posted...

that all sounds perfectly sound on principle Enzo, but perhaps i was unclear.

even when i go down to 600cal/day on apples, pistachios and black coffee, i hit an absolute floor around 194-195. after that i lose muscle, but not size or mass. the last 20lbs i lost didn't even change my waist size. i'm a 38 when i'm fat, i'm a 36 otherwise. even at 185 i was a 36/29-30. i can function at 600cal/day for weeks. ive tried that, i've tried intermittent fasting... it seems like i can't break thru 194 no matter what i do.

Ohh...

What you're saying isn't possible though. You will continue to lose weight if you stay at that caloric level. Your total daily energy expenditure is hella more than 600 calories so it can't be possible to not lose weight even once you hit 194. Ya gotta me eating more than you think, there's no way around it! Were those candy apples, haha

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Lmaoooooo were they candy apples

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Jen0125 posted...

Lmaoooooo were they candy apples

Yeah Gru, this is definitely a conversation to jump into.

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I mean I know how calories work so I think I'm okay

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Says the girl that makes SIMPathy topics for starving themselves.


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FIGHT!

*forms circle to block out teachers*

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*popcorn gif*

*stands behind TDC to avoid becoming collateral damage*

LuciferSage posted...

even when i go down to 600cal/day on apples, pistachios and black coffee, i hit an absolute floor around 194-195. after that i lose muscle, but not size or mass

lmfao no

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So I'm doing a men's physique soon. Not sure when due to COVID, but within the next few months.

I will say being below 10% bodyfat is absolutely dreadful and definitely not healthy. I have zero sex drive because of it.

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EnZo87 posted...

I will say being below 10% bodyfat is absolutely dreadful and definitely not healthy.

Not healthy at all.

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EnZo87 posted...

So I'm doing a men's physique soon. Not sure when due to COVID, but within the next few months.

I will say being below 10% bodyfat is absolutely dreadful and definitely not healthy. I have zero sex drive because of it.

you'll probably end up missing periods that way too.

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