On June 29 2011 22:30 Tulius wrote: I got a couple questions for you guys
I've been adding 2kg every workout in squat, since started SS. The last rep today, I felt like I almost failed, getting stuck in the hole, but managed to push it up. I've got no real squat rack in my gym (using the parallels to hold the barbell), and I'm really scared of squat failure. What should I do? Maybe reduce weight increase for every other workout? Should I ask the gym guy to spot my last set? Is one guy enough to help you in case of failure?
If you're really worried about squat failure you could learn to ditch the weight properly. To practice load up the bar with about half the weight you'd normally use, do a few reps, then dump it off your back and lunge forward. Knowing how to properly ditch the bar can give you the confidence you need to keep progressing for a while. Here's a decent video:
If for some reason you don't want to do that you could deload/back-cycle the wight. Basically you'd decrease the weight by 10-15% then build back up in 2kg increments as you have been doing. It's been a while since i read SS but I'm pretty sure this is outlined in there. Though back-cycling before you actually reach the stall out on a lift will slow down your progress, in the long run it doesn't matter all that much. Here's an article on back-cycling weights:
for the past couple of days i've been having indigestion. first it was just normal diarrhea, but now it feels like I'm constipated AND I have diarrhea at the same time... is that even possible? I always feel like there is a "trouble maker" in my tummy but it wont come out (constipation, right?) and the little that does come out is liquid (diarrhea). I have no idea what to do lol. should I drink lots of milk/eat fibers to flush everything out, or go the other way? does vitamin D help against stomach problems?
then guess I'll just have to deaload. there's no bumper plates in my gym and the floor is solid concrete. guess the gym owner won't be very happy if I start dumping 64kg + at the gym's floor
On June 29 2011 23:17 Zafrumi wrote: ok guys time for a gross topic: poop!
for the past couple of days i've been having indigestion. first it was just normal diarrhea, but now it feels like I'm constipated AND I have diarrhea at the same time... is that even possible? I always feel like there is a "trouble maker" in my tummy but it wont come out (constipation, right?) and the little that does come out is liquid (diarrhea). I have no idea what to do lol. should I drink lots of milk/eat fibers to flush everything out, or go the other way? does vitamin D help against stomach problems?
have you already tested yourself for lactose intolerance? if you have these problems often it could be the cause (was with me)
I have a question regarding the 'off day' people were talking about when losing weight, where you give yourself one day a week you allow yourself to eat whatever.
Isn't there something like an upper limit of how much calories the body can absorb in a day? For example on a week(end) of bad drinking I consume probably like 10k calories a day. Can the human body even take (and use) that much?
Here are a few links with regard to your question:
lylemcd wrote No human could eat that many claories in a sitting. For any realistic amount of calories, the body is insanely efficient at absorption although there is some indication that difference in gut bacteria can affect this slightly (e.g. the obese may absorb ~100 cal/day more than the lean).
lylemcd wrote Here's the thing: let's say that you don't get all of the calories absorbed if you eat some absurd number of calories?
I mean, let's say that going from 5000 to 10000 calories all at once means you don't absorb a few hundred or something
Great, you still ate 4700 calories more to accomplish it or whatever the numbers work out. Accomplishing nothing. well, except maybe for getting fat through some screwed up approach to *something*.
This is just one of those questions with no reasonable, useful, practical or meaningful answer.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of the calories you eat will be absorbed. Alcohol can change the game a little, in that alcohol is metabolized preferentially over other nutrients and not stored as fat in any meaningful quantity. However, because Alcohol inhibits fat oxidation, pretty much any fat you eat while drinking will be stored.
Well all I get from this is "No, not all calories absorbed" without any numbers and "this question is stupid".
I have done things like 10 days of 10k calories a day with a lot of alcohol and haven't seen any noticable effect on weight gain, whereas I have put on considerable weight eating moderately and doing SS (over a longer perioid of time though).
That last link was very interesting though, thanks for that!
On June 29 2011 23:17 Zafrumi wrote: ok guys time for a gross topic: poop!
for the past couple of days i've been having indigestion. first it was just normal diarrhea, but now it feels like I'm constipated AND I have diarrhea at the same time... is that even possible? I always feel like there is a "trouble maker" in my tummy but it wont come out (constipation, right?) and the little that does come out is liquid (diarrhea). I have no idea what to do lol. should I drink lots of milk/eat fibers to flush everything out, or go the other way? does vitamin D help against stomach problems?
have you already tested yourself for lactose intolerance? if you have these problems often it could be the cause (was with me)
its not that. i've been doing gomad (or close to it) for about a month or two now and never had any problems. indigestion started sunday night after a very spicy dinner at an asian restaurant. I think they are to blame :p
I have a question regarding the 'off day' people were talking about when losing weight, where you give yourself one day a week you allow yourself to eat whatever.
Isn't there something like an upper limit of how much calories the body can absorb in a day? For example on a week(end) of bad drinking I consume probably like 10k calories a day. Can the human body even take (and use) that much?
Here are a few links with regard to your question:
lylemcd wrote No human could eat that many claories in a sitting. For any realistic amount of calories, the body is insanely efficient at absorption although there is some indication that difference in gut bacteria can affect this slightly (e.g. the obese may absorb ~100 cal/day more than the lean).
lylemcd wrote Here's the thing: let's say that you don't get all of the calories absorbed if you eat some absurd number of calories?
I mean, let's say that going from 5000 to 10000 calories all at once means you don't absorb a few hundred or something
Great, you still ate 4700 calories more to accomplish it or whatever the numbers work out. Accomplishing nothing. well, except maybe for getting fat through some screwed up approach to *something*.
This is just one of those questions with no reasonable, useful, practical or meaningful answer.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of the calories you eat will be absorbed. Alcohol can change the game a little, in that alcohol is metabolized preferentially over other nutrients and not stored as fat in any meaningful quantity. However, because Alcohol inhibits fat oxidation, pretty much any fat you eat while drinking will be stored.
Well all I get from this is "No, not all calories absorbed" without any numbers and "this question is stupid".
I have done things like 10 days of 10k calories a day with a lot of alcohol and haven't seen any noticable effect on weight gain, whereas I have put on considerable weight eating moderately and doing SS (over a longer perioid of time though).
That last link was very interesting though, thanks for that!
Yeah there really are too many variables to get a good answer, and there's no compelling reason for anyone to do the actual research. Aside from different macronutrient compositions of the binge affecting how much is actually stored as fat, the fact that it's going to take a really long time for all that food to digest is most likely going to make it difficult to eat much the next day, in effect balancing out at least some of the excess calories. Keep in mind this is all hypothetical. Glad you enjoyed the LeanGains article. There's a lot of good information to be found on that site.
after reading some of starting strength I think I might push my squatting up to twice a week. Normally I have been too destroyed from leg day to even think abotu squats for a week, but my legs seem to be recovering quicker than usual. I do really want to get my form good and use all the supporting muscles, to do epic mega squats like all you bros do. Just did a le chest day, completely missing out horizontal bench and only doing decline/ incline, which is what Dorian Yates says to do
Then I did L sits like eshlow told me. WTF that shit was insane. Worked out my abs so hard after a 25 second hold then some russian twists then a 15 second hold. I felt like I had no ab strength left at all!!! Crazy
I found a genius way how to do safe squats. I found a way how to use my benchpress set to a squating rack and i have the bench beneath me while squating, so i go low enought but not too low for me (i think its about hips on knees level or a bit lower). I can change the bench so i can go under the bar and lift it up like squating rack. The bench is moveable to horizontal position thats why i can change it so high and that way i can now do normal overhead press too! If i cant squat it i will just sit down and slowly put it back on the rack.
Power cleans are a bitch for me right now, or atleast it looks like so. If i have squat/bench/powercleans on the same day, which order? or it doesnt mather. I find it hard to do powercleans with 55kg when i had done 5x5 50kg bench press before. My powerclean sets are 3-3-3-3-3 Maybe its because i have to lift the weight much higher as i am 200cm+ tall? :D
On June 29 2011 23:53 inimenesc wrote: I found a genius way how to do safe squats. I found a way how to use my benchpress set to a squating rack and i have the bench beneath me while squating, so i go low enought but not too low for me (i think its about hips on knees level or a bit lower). I can change the bench so i can go under the bar and lift it up like squating rack. The bench is moveable to horizontal position thats why i can change it so high and that way i can now do normal overhead press too! If i cant squat it i will just sit down and slowly put it back on the rack.
Power cleans are a bitch for me right now, or atleast it looks like so. If i have squat/bench/powercleans on the same day, which order? or it doesnt mather. I find it hard to do powercleans with 55kg when i had done 5x5 50kg bench press before. My powerclean sets are 3-3-3-3-3 Maybe its because i have to lift the weight much higher as i am 200cm+ tall? :D
You're doing SS right? The workout order is squat -> press/bench -> deadlift/powerclean
On June 30 2011 00:12 vicariouscheese wrote: All the 5x5 templates I've seen have the same order as SS so yeah.
Do you know the reasoning behind it?
One reason I can see is that fatiguing your legs will have a minimal impact on your ability to bench press, while fatiguing your arms could have an impact on your ability to properly hold the bar to squat. Also, Rippetoe places a big emphasis on the importance of the squat, and it's generally accepted that you put the most important lifts at the beginning of the workout so that they will be least affected by general fatigue. This is the same reason why when/if you add isolation moves on top of SS, you put them at the end of the workout.
On June 29 2011 07:47 Malinor wrote: I need some advice. The biggest problem I have with my lifts is my forward lean while squatting. I am just horrible at keeping the weight on my heels. Often when I try really hard, I lean back too much and have to correct my position (since my upper body gets too vertical) which results in finishing the rep on my toes. I have more problems with lighter weights, the reps tend to be better overall on max effort sets.
I wanted to buy some weightlifting shoes. I figured the elevated heels will only help me (lifted in running shoes last week, which is the same principle and I kinda liked it). But it will take a while until I get more serious with the olympic lifts. So does it make sense to do back quats with weight lifting shoes or are flat shoes somewhat superior? Can you deadlift well in those shoes? Is it the wrong approach to correct my balancing-problems by buying new shoes?
Any advice (especially from our olympic lifters) would be appreciated.
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On May 23 2011 01:00 Seth_ wrote: Seth_ Age: 21 || Height: 5'9"/1m76 || Weight: 169lb/76.7kg Starting Date: 05/22/11 || Goal Date: 06/24/11 Weight goals -- Lose 2.7 kg / 6 lb Training goals -- Keep up the 2 times a week of running Nutrition goals -- Less fries, soda, chips and candy... Misc goals -- Don't give up when I seem to not lose anymore weight.
Update (a few days late cause I was a bit sick and the results wouldn't have been accurate)
I weigh 73.7 kg right now (started at 80 kg 3.5 months ago). Made my goal and I gained some muscles as well. I've kept up my twice a week trainings (I even trained 3 x 1.5h in the last 3 days).
I'm just doing push-ups now as strength training (we do some strength training during running practice but not much) but I don't really like push-ups. I'll try to find some weights to train with to improve my upper body. Should I get some whey protein? I don't need to get super muscular but I guess it won't hurt. I don't want to bulk up too much though, I still need to lose fat.
New goals:
Seth_ Age: 21 || Height: 5'9"/1m76 || Weight: 162.5lb/73.7kg Starting Date: 06/28/11 || Goal Date: 08/05/11 Weight goals -- Lose 2.7 kg / 6 lb. 71 kg seems like a nice weight to stay on; maybe 72 with more muscles. Training goals -- Keep up the 2 times a week of running. I should try to improve my 200 and 400 meter times by 1 or 2 seconds. Do some weights and gain some muscles as well. Nutrition goals -- Keep up my diet. (less soda, barely any chips, candy, cookies...) I'll try to fit in some more chicken, eggs as well... Misc goals -- Don't give up when I seem to not lose anymore weight. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight goals are literally 85-90% made in the kitchen.
Adding muscle you definitely need to be lifting heavy weights. Although 400m training is also good.
Pushups are meh if you can do more than 10 need to do a harder variation or just hit up press/bench/dips or something
Arent weighted/non weighted push ups the same thing as bench? Like, dont they both train the same muscles cept push ups require abit of core and lats as well? I find push ups to be better than dips as they help the pecs as well.
Edit: spoilers and Also would be wise to instead of benching/doing weighted push ups to alternate my bench/ weighted push ups with weighted dips? Or is it better to just stick to one excercise and just not alternate?
Uhhh...
Pushups are in general better than bench if you can weight them. There's other variations that are fine. Bench is fine for building mass and strength though.
Dips are great as well for mass building,. They're like upper body squat.
Sticking with one is fine for now. Make sure you learn correct bench technique though
On May 24 2011 16:22 AnxiousHippo wrote: AnxiousHippo Age: 15 Height 180cm Weight 60kg Starting Date: 24/05/11 Goal Date: 30/06/11 Weight Goals - None Training Goals - Regularly train 4 times a week Nutrition Goals - Gain a few kilos Misc Goals - Place in the top 10 for the upcoming cross-country. It's a 4km race against other people in my age group.
I think I'll be focusing on core exercises this month, but I plan to get back into running some time later this year.
Haha! You all thought I'd forgotten. Sorry I haven't been very active around here, I can't really give much advice on this kind of stuff. Just stick to your goals and try your hardest! I managed to fulfill my goals, but I don't know where to go from here.
do SS
What's SS?
Does anyone find sit-ups really, really easy? I'm in highschool, can do about 10-15 pushups but I can easily do 100+ sit-ups.
On June 29 2011 14:02 GreenSoldier wrote: If you want to have a 6 pack, i recommend you that:
Been doing this for 3 weeks and it works.
is this a joke?
I would recommend ab exercises after the workout though. I do at least one or two exercises before I foam roll and stretch.
btw I just came up with a great idea! We should make an smartphone apps with the knowledge of TL H&F ! Once I get better with android app making I would love to write up some stuff for it.
Why would it be a joke? i've been doing it since weeks (With good nutrition & good sleep) and i start seeing a difference...
Give it a shot, i garantee it worth it. But, as said before, if you go eat mcdonald right after or if you have bad sleep habit, then forget it.
Generally speaking most situps and abs routines are a waste of time.
I didn't look at that one in particular but it's probably not good as is 99% of the garbage on youtube
Again, 95% of the results are going to come from proper nutrition (about 75-80% of that) training (e.g. heavy lifting which is the other 10-15%). Maybe 5% of abs results will come from working abs and supplements
On June 29 2011 22:30 Tulius wrote: today's workout felt really awesome. seems like the extra 4kg in body weight I put on this month are really helping out + Show Spoiler +
Walking (treadmill): 00:05:00 || 0.4 km (+8 pts) Barbell Squat: 8 kgs x 5 (+6 pts) 22 kgs x 5 (+16 pts) 42 kgs x 3 (+30 pts) 52 kgs x 2 (+36 pts) 62 kgs x 5 (+47 pts) 62 kgs x 5 (+47 pts) 62 kgs x 5 (+47 pts)Personal Record! Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 8 kgs x 5 (+6 pts) 18 kgs x 3 (+14 pts) 28 kgs x 2 (+21 pts) 38 kgs x 5 (+32 pts)Personal Record! 38 kgs x 5 (+32 pts) 38 kgs x 5 (+32 pts) Barbell Deadlift: 8 kgs x 5 (+6 pts) 58 kgs x 3 (+42 pts) 68 kgs x 2 (+47 pts) 78 kgs x 5 (+60 pts)Personal Record!
I got a couple questions for you guys
I've been adding 2kg every workout in squat, since started SS. The last rep today, I felt like I almost failed, getting stuck in the hole, but managed to push it up. I've got no real squat rack in my gym (using the parallels to hold the barbell), and I'm really scared of squat failure. What should I do? Maybe reduce weight increase for every other workout? Should I ask the gym guy to spot my last set? Is one guy enough to help you in case of failure?
Spotting is OK if they don't help you...
You should use the squat rack with the safety bars though or if your gym has a big enough area learn to dump the bar. There's a vid posted somewhere abvoe this which will show you how
On June 29 2011 23:17 Zafrumi wrote: ok guys time for a gross topic: poop!
for the past couple of days i've been having indigestion. first it was just normal diarrhea, but now it feels like I'm constipated AND I have diarrhea at the same time... is that even possible? I always feel like there is a "trouble maker" in my tummy but it wont come out (constipation, right?) and the little that does come out is liquid (diarrhea). I have no idea what to do lol. should I drink lots of milk/eat fibers to flush everything out, or go the other way? does vitamin D help against stomach problems?
On June 30 2011 00:12 vicariouscheese wrote: All the 5x5 templates I've seen have the same order as SS so yeah.
Do you know the reasoning behind it?
If you're talking about squat then bench (or press) then another leg exercise its because:
1. squat first because its full body exercise and you want the most effort to be on the first exercise of the day
2. bench next because doing two leg exercises next to each other you can't get full effort out of them
3. deadlift/pclean/etc. last because you want to finish off with a taxing exercise. DL probably uses the most muscles in the body of any exercise (clean as well if performed correctly).
Basically, a format like this allows you to get the most work on total muscles as possible during a workout without blowing yourself out into mega failure where you can't train 3-4x a week.
At novice and intermediate level its all about linear progression -- how can a workout be structured such that you're forcing enough stress onto the body to get adaptations every time.... but not be such that there's too many exercises or stress so that the body can't recover?
Therefore, that is why most good novice/intermediate programs focus on the exercises that give the biggest bang for the buck namely the core compound barbell exercises structured to minimize inter-exercise fatigue and allow relatively high frequency per week (3-4x a week) per muscle groups.
Strength is built on increasing cross sectional muscle area and neuromuscular strength e.g. practicing the same exercise. Thus, when you focus on maximizing both of these qualities you maximize stress on the muscles which leads to the biggest gains in muscle growth as well. A nice side effect of training for strength as a novice and intermediate
Question primarily on squats: the only gym I'm using now is this tiny company gym that has standard equipment: treadmills, dumbells, a few press machines, etc, but no bars for bench, squat, or any of those exercises. To work my legs would I be better off using a quad-press machine, or holding a dumbell to my chest and doing weighted squats that way?
EPT
I managed to fulfill my goals, but I don't know where to go from here. 
