Fitness Questions & Answers - Page 110

On November 15 2012 13:32 Snuggles wrote:


I am 21 right now. So that might be the case... I just wish that instead of facial hair that I'd would just grow a few inches...

On November 15 2012 18:00 FFGenerations wrote:
calf raises when you are already squatting?
no chinups/pullups (or lat pulldown) but curls are ok? you can still curl but i would prioritise chins/lat pull
ive never done stiff legged deadlifts but as a beginner your mobility might not be good enough for normal deads let alone something that sounds harder mobility-wise
power cleans are fun if you can figure them out
higher rep is fine for a beginner imo for various reasons.
i would never condone having short rests between sets...but thats just me

SS is great but only if you are able to do it pretty perfectly; good mobility, solidly consistant eating, sleeping, not missing any days, not getting frustrated about anything, not moving up too fast, not accidently injuring yourself... you just wont make progress if you dont get everything right, but if you do then you'll make very good progress

if i were starting all over i would say to myself, do SS but with higher reps, if you ever skip any workout or exercise you will never make progress, get your mobility right within the first 4 weeks or life will be HELL, add chinups asap (before curls, but dont be afraid to add things like curls or forearm work after a workout asap as long as its not affecting your recovery), start mixing rice with everything to quickly increase your stomach capacity or eat a lot of milk/chocolate if that helps get you going asap

On November 18 2012 03:31 Fruscainte wrote:
My bench has stalled for the past few months, I don't know what the hell is going on. I started lifting 6 months ago, I started:

65lb Bench
95lb Deadlift
65lb Squat

Currently at

185x1 Bench
315x1 Deadlift
205x1 Squat

I didn't do SS or anything, kind of wishing I did so I could have made the most out of my noob gains but fuck, this is really frustrating. 2 and a half(ish) months ago I stopped Barbell benching when I was stuck at 185x1, went to dumbell, made mad gains (Can do 90lb dumbells x 8 now ez) but I'm STILL struggling to pump out more than one rep at 185 on barbell. Is there a common mistake here or something? Am I putting too much on my triceps perhaps?

EDIT: Since I never did SS or SL, I'm actually really considering just going into SL right now. The program says to start at empty bar for all lifts, but I can do 255x5 deadlift, 155x5 bench and 185x5 squat right now pretty easily. Should I start there and just do what he says (aka: adding 5lbs every week to your lifts)?

On November 13 2012 17:19 Daigomi wrote:

To be honest, I'm not a fan. The exercises he includes are largely OK, but the program doesn't make that much sense and I don't really see any benefits over SS.

Regarding the exercises, everything he lists is good except for barbell curls and calf raises. If you want to do biceps you should be doing chin-ups rather than curls since they have the same bicep benefits but also stimulate other muscles. Calf-raises just seem a bit useless in general, I'm not sure why you'd want to include those unless you are a bodybuilder. Also, there's no good reason why you'd want to do stiff-legged deadlifts rather than proper deadlifts. Stiff-legged deadlifts purposefully limit the number of muscles you exercise which is a bad idea for beginners.

Regarding the general program, it doesn't make much sense for the beginner. Firstly, there's no good reason to do every exercise every day. You'll either end up overworking your body which limits muscle growth, or, more likely, you'll have to work with lighter weights on all the exercises which increases endurance rather than strength. Secondly, it progresses way too slowly. When you're a beginner, four weeks is a super long time. In my first four weeks, I went from squatting 40kg to 80kg and from benching 40kg to 60kg. Using his program, you'll spend 5 weeks benching 40kg with only a slight increase in the reps and then, if you progress, you'll spend another five weeks benching 45kg. It progresses way way too slowly. Added to that, the rep counts aren't really optimal. Lower reps (4-6) are ideal for strength gains which, as a beginner, you should be focussing on.

In the end, the program is probably OK, but I don't see why you'd use it over Starting Strength. Starting Strength was designed by a US national-level strength coach and a powerlifter with a PhD who specialises in strength training. An entire 330 page book was written around the program and the five core exercises of Starting Strength, and another 280 page book was written on the programming behind SS. It's a well researched plan that clearly explains why it works and why it's effective.

On November 20 2012 08:34 lurchpanda wrote:
I have a question regarding my squats. I was lifting on and off for a couple of years, but even when i was lifting consistanly my squats have always been lacking. At one point i had a 95kg front squat, a 100kg clean and jerk, and a 105kg back squat all for 1RM. So when i picked up lifting again i still had the problems with squatting. I only do front squats now, but i made my base a little wider (about should width maybe a tiny bit more) and my squats have gone up after 3 workouts tremendously. I went from 225 pounds for 4 sets of 1, so being able to do 225 at 3 sets of 3 (possible a 4th set but i have a lot of stairs to walk today at work).

I was making sure that this form change was indeed the right thing to do, and not some sort of way to cheat my squats. I go down as low as i can every squat, and try my hardest to stay in good posture.

On November 21 2012 18:34 blug wrote:
I'm losing weight by reducing my food intake. I've dropped down to 1750 calories a day and I go for a 5 km walk every day just as a bonus.

After the walk I feel like I really need to eat sugar and feel pretty week. Is this just a side effect of having a deficit in food? Is it ok?

On November 24 2012 14:15 Kenpachi wrote:
I have been thinking about increasing my vertical leap for improving my game in Basketball and i was interested when i found Air Alert 3. Some testimonials says it works but it is painful and time consuming. Painful, is whatever, as long as it shows results but I am not sure if i can manage the routines every week when its such a strict schedule.

edit: almost forgot a question lol but im really looking for somebody on TL to confirm if this should do the trick and also if there might be other alternatives that are not as time consuming

On November 25 2012 22:33 kafkaesque wrote:
What exercise to you guys use to work on your boobies?

I only do situps, pullups and pushups regularly and it kind of shows, but my chesticles are rather unimpressive.

On November 13 2012 17:19 Daigomi wrote:

To be honest, I'm not a fan. The exercises he includes are largely OK, but the program doesn't make that much sense and I don't really see any benefits over SS.

Regarding the exercises, everything he lists is good except for barbell curls and calf raises. If you want to do biceps you should be doing chin-ups rather than curls since they have the same bicep benefits but also stimulate other muscles. Calf-raises just seem a bit useless in general, I'm not sure why you'd want to include those unless you are a bodybuilder. Also, there's no good reason why you'd want to do stiff-legged deadlifts rather than proper deadlifts. Stiff-legged deadlifts purposefully limit the number of muscles you exercise which is a bad idea for beginners.