I want to give my comrades advice and help the swoletariat grow. This isn't just about muscle gain, but cardiovascular health, diet, nutrition, and whatever weird shit your body may be doing.
If I don't know it maybe I can help you figure it out.
As an example of how knowledgeable I am: I've been cutting fat and gaining muscle through diet and exercise, and recently found my weight loss slowed and I started getting runny noses and sneezing. I know this was due to low glutathione resulting from too much exertion. Basically the oxidization from exercise was outpacing my liver's ability to make glutathione. So I started taking N-Acetyl-Cysteine, the protein precursor to glutathione. I feel much better and the weightloss has resumed.
Yes this means I'm not eating enough calories, no I won't change that, no you should not undereat. Undereating causes your body to scavenge proteins from both your skeletal muscles and organ muscles, including your heart.
Yes this means I’m not eating enough calories, no I won’t change that, no you should not undereat.
Uhh, what? What do you mean by undereat then? Also how are people supposed to lose weight if you don't do that?
I mean in excess. A caloric deficit is necessary for weightloss, but to this degree may be unhealthy. If I'm at the point where I need exogenous N-Acetyl-Cysteine I'm likely pushing myself a bit farther than one should.
what's a minimum caloric intake that won't cause my body to scavenge proteins from my heart :ohnoes:
eating comically large portions of quinoa to enhance my femboy physique :sicko-yes:
Get a box, fill it with stuff. Lift it. No fucking joke, this builds core strength. Refresh yourself on lifting technique before starting, so you don't fuck up your back. Do this several times, then take a 40 second break, then do it some more. Get tired, sore.
My job requires me to lift 50 lb boxes for hours at a time. Started last month and I'm in better shape than ever.
Any particular muscles you wanna work on?
I don't mean to be a dick but there's way better and safer ways of doing this.
I always appreciate advice. I agree it can be easy to injure yourself lifting something like a box, particularly with the risk of the box breaking. I kinda wrote that assuming the poster has 0 access or funds to equipment. But the second worst thing a person can do is delay exercise for years because they keep planning to get equipment, or the act of acquiring equipment becomes the psychological fulfillment.
Yeah, definitely. The bodyweightfitness routine is doable without a pull-up bar - but eventually it'll become too easy. But by that point if the person has persevered then they'll feel comfortable bridging the gap and spending 20 quid on a pull-up bar.
Pressups variations, squat variations, rows using the underside of a table, etc. All good starting points where the only real requirement is having a body.
Get tired, sore.
Not so sure about this advice. Goes against the advice my doctor friend and the nutrition / sports teachers at my local university tell beginners.
A common mistake is that people go too easy on themselves. While burnout is very real, I've found it more likely that people under-exert themselves. Soreness is normal and natural, so long as its not in your joints.
Hit the recommended routine on r/bodyweightfitness
Buy a pull-up bar and a set of rings if you think you'll make good use of them.
Tie shopping bags full of books to a broom handle, fill gallon milk jugs with dirt or sand.
Tie shopping bags full of books to a broom handle, fill gallon milk jugs with dirt or sand.
Did this, broom broke (don't use a sturdy looking but only 10$ expensive plastic one)
I worked out last night and was super tired yet I couldn't sleep because to energetic why? Also when is the best time to do heavy exercise?
Magnesium comrade. Exercise depletes magnesium, which is necessary for sleep and relaxing muscles. Sunflower seeds or cashews are good sources of magnesium, but be sure to account for their caloric value. You can also get Magnesium Glycinate for relatively cheap.
The best time of day to work out is whenever you have time. Don't stress too much about when you work out. Personally, I workout in the evenings or at night.
Thank you for this. I know where I can get some easily. Now I can work out and take a nap afterwards.
Reps vs added weight as progressive overload?
Got to the point where my weights aren't heavy enough and I don't have enough money to buy more. Should I just add more reps to each set? Is that gonna keep building size?
Its real hard to find reliable information on that subject, much of it boils down to bro-science. Like, on one hand I have a friend who is a power-lifter and isn't close to looking jacked, he looks average. However, the results I've seen for muscle size usually comes from added weight. I suspect there's some goldilocks range between the two, but I would love to see some research on that.
If its between adding more reps and nothing, definitely add more reps. But if you can add more weight, that would be better. Sorry I don't have anything more conclusive on this.
Yh the goldilocks range seems to be 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps. I've heard that once you can easily do 8 reps of something it's time to make the exercise harder. Been following that rule and it's worked well.
Surely it builds size with added reps too though cos at the end of the day you're still causing the whole damage/repair cycle to take place?
Yes, but definitely not at the same pace. The body can be stingy about adding muscle, because it knows simply having muscle is calorically expensive. Ultra-high endurance athletes are typically quite skinny. You'll definitely benefit from increased reps, but not necessarily as muscle size.
As someone that does powerlifting myself, the biggest driver of muscle/strength growth is volume. The rep range during training makes one perform better relatively in that range so for example doing doubles and triples makes one better at doing doubles and triples and doing high rep sets makes one better at those sets and not as good at singles, doubles triples etc.
Uh some actual research on this instead of just "trust me bro" Schönfeld meta-study that basically says "higher training vol. = higher muscle growth (to a point) might add others later during the day.
Yo thank you so much for the research link, I love reading this kinda stuff!
If you're morbidly obese (130 kgs) and want to loose weight, what is the best way of doing it realistically?
The human body evolved to store energy to survive periods of scarcity and it will fight you if you try to loose that storage deliberately. Is there a way to trick your body into letting go of all the fat?
Yes and no. I'm sure you've heard the calories-in-calories-out thing, and its a little more complex than that. Before I continue, any large weight-loss is best done with a doctor's guidance.
I want to start by saying most people have tried dieting/exercising and found they lost a few pounds, stopped losing weight, then regained it and got discouraged. This happens a lot. Let's look over a few details: When one starts dieting, they'll quickly see a lower number on the scale simply because less mass is in their digestive tract. Exercise (depending on the activity) can see a gain in muscle mass or blood volume. People usually underestimate their caloric intake and over estimate their expenditure.
This cycle is really common. In some cases the regimen was working and they got discouraged by a scale. In other cases, the regimen simply put them and their normal maintenance calories because they were over-budget before starting.
The solution to this conundrum is simple: stick with it. If your progress halts, cut some more calories from your diet and proceed. Don't worry too much about the scale, focus more on how you feel. Monitor that your activity level doesn't decrease and calorie intake doesn't increase.
Something really very helpful is to write down each caloric value before you eat. Every single thing, even the 5 calories of oil in a cup of black coffee. Add it up and keep track each day.
If I am poor and fuck and mostly eat tomato concentrate, onions and noodles with a bit of oil here and then (without vegetables and fruit pretty much) when will my body fail? What cheap ways are there to tune my meals to get necessary vitamins (or whatever good nutrition means)and such and what are they?
Bags of potatoes are cheap and potatoes contain most of the nutrients the human body needs to exist.
Simmer lentils ($1 per lb) in veggie broth, spices and a bay leaf or roast chickpeas (less than $1 per can) with oil and spices for cheap and easy protein. Have a couple handfuls of mixed nuts and seeds everyday for healthy fat. Add cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and collar greens to meals when possible. You only need 0.4-0.5 grams of protein per lb of body weight, 0.6 if you work out all the time.
There's been studies showing that you can be healthy on nothing but potatoes and oil
I mean, you don't. This was a study by experimental archaeologists to see if it would have been sustainable for the Irish under colonial rule. You could easily get all those through milk though, since it's fortified with all that stuff by law. If you're vegan you'd have to get all those from vegetables, except B12 which you can only get from algea. That said, I haven't taken a B12 supplement in years and am fine.
That's a pretty rough diet. Your calories are mostly coming from carbohydrates, which isn't great. Assuming you're not vegan and your main concern is budget, while chicken can go a long way if you put the effort into it. The broth can be stored and made into soups. The meat itself is a complete protein, meaning you'll get all the amino acids you need. Chicken soup has a good spread of micronutrients.
I kinda hate myself for saying this, but dollar-to-pound your most efficient source of B-vitamins will be beef. I would advise against eating it every day,
I'm curious what you're making with just tomato, onion, and noodles. I'm also curious what kind of oil you're using, because that makes a surprising difference.
In terms of oils I consume about 1 bottle of olive oil when I consume 3 of rapseed bottles and then I rarely use Linseed oil. I also use plant based margarine (around one to one and a half pound per month).
Every other month or so I also buy a package of walnuts.
I mostly do eat the classical poor Italian's immigrants pasta (which was created as cuisine in the form for material reasons (poor AF people). However you can vary a bit what you do with the onion and garlic and noodle type and can do broth from the tomato cans.
To be fair, I also use flour and sugar and salt and yeast to create my own breads and pizza foundations. Though doesn't change much (as I understand it), since noodles are produced from the same type of flour? Every other day or so I also eat around 30g of oats.
Why do I feel high after heavy squats?
Why do dumbell ohps give me a headache?
It depends. First, you certainly don't NEED one, but they CAN help. Protein is a complex thing, anyone saying otherwise is lying or ignorant. You certainly need a "complete" protein source, meaning it has all the Amino Acids your body requires. You could just add chicken/eggs/soybeans to your diet and get mostly the same effect. Whey protein is technically more "bio-available" meaning your body can use it more efficiently. Its not a huge difference. You can also by pure Whey as a baking ingredient for a lot cheaper.
If you mean prework-outs, that gets even iffier. Some are just sugar, which you likely don't want. Some have vasodialators like Arginine or its superior brother Citrulline. These convert into Nitric Oxide in your body, which causes blood vessels to expand and get more blood to muscles. Some have Beta-Alanine which works but may make you unbearably itchy. The best prework-outs are coffee or beet juice. Beets for their vasodilation. Coffee not just for the caffeine, but coffee specifically reduces muscle soreness. Seriously, drink it before/after exercise, it helps a ton. While we're on the subject, Magnesium Glycinate can help with recovery a lot. (Magnesium Oxide does nothing but it is a laxative, lmao)
Weird shit my body may be doing: why does my hand hurt right where my thumb joins my palm and index finger?
I meant to start doing some pushups and pull ups this week but this injury appeared and I can't really support my weight on this hand/wrist right now (I'll probably just do situps instead). Its not like a broken bone pain where it's constant, its only when I apply pressure with it (holding something tightly or lifting something), stretch it, or put weight on it. I'm a bit confused because it might just be from doing some work last week (after being a neet for the whole pandemic) but my other hand isnt hurting like that despite being my dominant hand and the one I was more likely to be lifting and sanding and carrying things with.
I have this almost exact issue with my left hand. Happens when I grip something like a bar with my thumb around it. It I don't wrap my thumb around and only grip with my fingers it doesn't hurt. It's always been like this. I never had it checked out but I think the muscles and nerves formed a little weird so pressure on that spot compresses the nerve more and thus causes the pain. If it's a sharp pain when you have it then it is very likely nerve compression. If I go a week or so without working it too much it kind of "resets" and I can use it again. Biggest thing I did to help it was get a pair of workout gloves that have thicker padding in the area. They help a lot. Still can get bad if I overdo it. I have noticed, as I have gone up in weight, that the pain does not trigger on the lower weight I used to do. So there seems to be a link to muscle growth.
I'll try some gloves when I'm moving stuff around the house tomorrow and see if it helps, thanks!
