Weight Lifting Thread #9000+

bmbi died for our sins

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angine wrote:

Thanks for the inspiration guys, I just started weight lifting ..

By your own? Pls make sure to have at least one person with you who knows what they are doing. If you want to do "real" weight lifting, don't be cheap. Pay for a good trainer or studio. Make sure that everything is exactly as it needs to be. Be careful. Weight lifting is awesome. But can be dangerous if just done like in the videos.

And i'll repeat what i wrote here already: squats. Do squats. Train your legs. It's magic ;)

Practily 90% of people train wrong, dont care what they do or have not a single clue what they are doing, i´m not kidding.

You can either step into the trap of severel month´s nonesense training like i did, or start premature educated training.

At least half of all existing Exercises are completely inferior, such as for example Bizaps training with free weight or Flyer´s in generall with free weight.

Well i skip the wall of text on how you have to train cause you probably don´t believe me anyway´s, but what i can tell you, what i havn´t read in this tread is:
You absolutly have to take Protain-Shakes idealy 2-3 Protein gramm per own bodyweight, because it´s near damn impossible to get the required protein from just regular eating.

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BearCares wrote:

Okay, I'm leaner and meaner than I've ever been. You know, like when you have that bone at the temple of your forehead sticking out like Mr. Piccolo's or SS2 Majin Vegeta?

But I'm wanting to pack on some muscle while avoiding adding fat. My diet may be a little unusual. It's Keto + Intermittent Fasting. Which basically means I eat once a day and sometimes I go for days without eating....

TLDR: I'm trying to stay calm, as this is a somewhat aggravating subject for me. But, here ya go! If you don't want to read all of this, that's fine. Just scroll to the bottom and read the last bit, please.

I started lifting weights and working out with strength training when I was 10 years old.

Don't do that. :)

My body's joints are worn out. I have stretch marks all over the place. I'm barrel-chested, thanks to developing faster in order to strengthen all those attachment points my muscles demanded. My knees are shot to @$%@.

But, thank goodness the most we had back in the 70's, for casual guys like me, was Joe Weider pushing protein shakes and potatoes... Of course, the true gymrats were in the back, getting enough shots that they should have had their own jockeys. At least I never did that and my heart is healthier for it.

Here's some real advice. Ready? Not? Don't care, gonna write it anyway:

1) Stop the Keto Diet. It's stoopid... And, depending on your age and other factors, it could have dangerous consequences for you now as well as in the future. Don't do dumb things like abuse deep nutritional mechanics in a growing adolescent (<23 year old) body. It's dumb. And, you're adding the stress of fasting AND weight lifting/bodybuilding to it? You're asking for a heart attack. You're begging for it and other complications down the line. Plus, you'll never get what appears to be the "muscle mass" you want by refusing to give your body the building blocks it needs. Dude.. (or dude'ette) just stop that crazy crap.

2) Intermittent Fasting is a fad. BUT, there is some truth to certain health benefits. If you're going to try to follow some intermittent fasting idea, you need to just be sensible about it. If you feel like you're starving, you probably are... That's ungood over a long period of time, but "fair" in the short term. Eat once a day. Don't "starve" yourself for days, either - That's dumb. You're "working out." Your body can't do something with nothing.

3) Weight loss and calorie expenditure does not come from "working out." There's no darn magic, here, for losing fat and being trim and muscular and being able to body-double Brad Pitt in "Fight Club." Brad Pitt can't even body-double Brad Pitt without temporarily tearing himself apart far longer than anyone should.

The majority of most normal people's calorie expenditure comes from the seemingly casual metabolic calorie expenditure that happens every day. Unless you are running from lions all day long, your normal body metabolism is what burns calories. Those "bursts" you get during workout sessions do comparatively little in that respect. Muscle-mass, however, does require calories to maintain. That's important to know - It takes more calories to maintain more muscle. Simple. It's not rocket-surgery.

3) Edit- Add: I forgot the most important thing here - Sleep. Maintain a good, regular, sleep schedule. Get 8hrs a night or more. Get up at the same time every day, even if you don't have to. Your body responds rapidly to changes in your sleep schedule and that is very closely tied to one's overall metabolism. This more than just a food-processing machine you're dealing with, here. You absolutely need to get regular, restful, appropriate sleep every night and you need to wake up consistently around the same time every day. Your body will get used to this and check that one possible problem "off its list" of things it must prepare for, like terrible sleep schedules. Do it. Get a very regular sleep schedule going even if it means you don't get to Tier 16 Atlas maps this League! :)

4) Sensible Eating vs Fad Diets - A healthy diet, with good fresh food and minimizing the impact of over-processed foods with high concentrations of relatively unusual additives (sugar, processed plant oils (Makes it nice, smooth, tasty, and your body doesn't know wtf it is), etc) is best. There is no "diet" plan that's better than... a healthy, sensible, diet. EVERY SINGLE "DIET" you read about or see people gush over has failed to produce the claimed results. All of them. Every single one. Stop listening to anything that doesn't include "sensible, healthy, food." If it sounds extreme, it is probably bad for you. See how that works?

You need protein. You need carbs. You need fat, both to eat and on your body. You need sugars (unless you're a diabetic) and you need salt. All the things that are in other living things are, for the most part, the kinds of things you need too. See how that works?

5)Fasting (Expanded) - There are some health benefits to caloric restriction. That's "caloric restriction" not "let's fast for a few days." Extended fasting is not likely healthy for you in the longrun. Fasting for a whole day, every once-in-awhile, probably doesn't do much harm and may do some good for your metabolism. A constant "fast period" of, what is it now, 19 hours? Meh... It's probably fine for some quick results, but your body is going to get used to it. And, if it's used to it and that turns out to be ungood for you? Congrats you - You broke something trying to fix it.

I eat once a day. I have done that for over forty years, I think. (I'm in my fifties.) That's decades of a specific eating habit. It's just part of the way my body works and the way it wants to do things. However, it's not likely the best thing for everyone. My "fighting weight" was around 190 lbs or so, give or take. "Trim" at 186 back in high-school. But, I was never, ever, "skinny." Never. I have also never been "ripped." I currently do very little and am a bit over/around 200. But, I'm only up a pants size or two. :) And, that gets us to...

6) Genetics - Right now, there's a picture of someone on the television or on the internet and you are not that person. Unless they are a blood relative, it's not likely you will ever, ever, look like them. It's very unlikely your body is shaped like theirs. And, your insides? It's very likely your body functions on a daily basis somewhat unlike theirs, but similar enough that you both can wear similar clothing and eat at the same restaurant.

The point being that genetics plays a very large role in the way your body looks. And, you can't change that. You can, however, modify it slightly. If you dedicate your life to it, as a profession, you can modify it extremely. But, nobody is going to look like Schwarzeneggar in his prime unless they're Schwarzenegger.

What you can do is the best you can do with what you have. That's possible for anyone. To some extent, you can modify your phenotype, but not your genotype. Got it? Good. Your expectations should be to be healthy, physically fit for your age cohort, and lead an active and happy lifestyle with healthy habits and a bit of mindless, safe, fun. Do that.

7) "No pain, no gain" - Is about the dumbest thing ever written for basic healthy living and a decently healthy body. I am biased, of course, but the point is that a little bit of stress on your body is a good thing. Too much will break something. There is a normal, enthusiastic, reaction some people have when they start "working out" and noticing the benefits of that. They tend to overdo it. They tend to start crawling on board fad bandwagons and being filled with a near religious zealotry for whatever "plan" they're following. The simple fact is that, normally, their bodies are just reacting to increased exercise and focused development that their bodies had not yet experienced. That's it. There is no "miracle cure" for being unhealthy due to one's lifestyle choices nor is there a miracle way to gain muscle mass through torture...

Feed the gain. Work the gain. Focus the right things where they need to be. Don't overdo it and keep all your habits in moderation. Keep your body healthy by giving it what it needs.

You are not a "professional body builder." If you were, your trainer, paid by your sponsors, would be hiring a nutritionist. If you're not a professional bodybuilder or powerlifter, don't follow their training regimen. I don't drive race-cars for a living so the police don't follow me around all day giving me tickets.

TLDR HERE:

8) Finally, the end - It troubles me to see young people caught up in what they believe to be "healthy lifestyles" that are decidedly not that. Sure, working out occasionally is good for you. Being personally proud of your achievements there is rewarding and healthy, too. But, then the idea kicks in that doing more of everything is more betterer...

Moderation. Be sensible. Don't abuse yourself or you will, believe me, pay the consequences for doing that later. A young person's body responds quickly to physical stress, but it also does that in ways that can be dangerous and not beneficial. Muscle mass and fat loss is generally quick in younger people with fast metabolisms that process everything at peak efficiency. Young people see this happening when they first start out with some routine, healthy, training regimens and think that what causes it is the special, magic, thing they've discovered. That's not it at all. It's moving from the couch to the gym for a few weeks and stopping one's daily Cheetos consumption that does it, not some magic Keto Diet or "Periodic Fasting" plan.

PS - If you do nothing else, stop the nonsense of combining the "Keto Diet" with an overly enthusiastic fasting program and weight-training regimen. You're tearing yourself up. It is unsmart. And, if you need further encouragement, you will never see any appreciable muscle mass gains if you continue doing that. It won't happen because your body is going to insist that it not happen.

When you get older, your heart will thank you for dumping that idiotic program. Harsh advice, yes. But, dangit, you're going to hurt yourself for no other reason than you believe in "magic potions" and "arcane rituals."