Fitness And Nutrition General

Sounds correct if the only difference between the two burgers is the extra patty (i.e. there isn't bread between the patties).

1700 calories a day seems extremely low for the huge amount of working out that you do, over 25 intense hours a week. I think you are holding back your real progress with intake that low especially the strength training.

I gain a *** of weight (body fat, not lean mass) with anything more than that. Hell, when I was doing 2000 calories for a month, I went from 148 to 160.

And as of now, all of my lifts are at their all time highs

I still think Amandarius is right to some extent, though: you could be a lot stronger. But that's assuming that strength is your primary goal and it's safe to say it isn't considering how much effort you put into body composition.

Side note: I'm still jelly of those weighted muscle-ups!

In what sense are hamburgers "cheating"? The fat macro might be a little high, but the ratios on your big three should be right on target, otherwise. I do hope you're aware of how important to health fat is. Contrary to popular opinion (founded on bad studies made a little over 20 years ago), saturated fat is actually good for heart health, too. The only thing to avoid is trans-saturated, which Five Guys has never used, anyhow.

Also, how tall are you? 148 is kinda skinny for someone who is genuinely strong. And male. By which I mean that a muscular woman at that weight is often stronger since women don't grow hypertrophic muscle the way men do.

I'm still at 5ft7 155lbs and I'm doing 20%/20%calorie intake so like 2700 calories on training days and I can't gain a pound to save my life.

I'm pretty short, 5'6"

and all together, it was only 1500 calories; lol but it was just so messy I felt like I was cheating.

As far as strength goes, I'll be happy to get double my body weight on the flat bench; and possibly dumbbell bench as well (but that'll be a while; doing the 100s now for reps @ 155-160 lbs, so it's not bad I suppose)

Trying to get my weighted pull ups/dips up

Trying to get my squats up

but all in all, it's a life journey for me, so I'm not concerned with the speed. I'll hit my genetic max at some point. When I'll be doing this for 40-50 years, not concerned with getting everything in the first 3-5 years.

I'd rather stay lean year round (especially for the biking/obstacle course, as fluctuations in my weight make a pretty big difference with those)

Basically want to be able to actually apply my strength to something. When I first started out, did no cardio (aside from biking but even then I'm so used to it, it doesn't get my heart rate up, etc.). I made a lot of strength gains but for what? Couldn't even jog half a mile w/o feeling like I wanted to die.

*** that ***, that kind of strength is useless.


Lunch


Bun: 260 cals
Patties: 220 each (x5 = 1100)
Cheese: 70 each (x2 = 140)
Mushrooms: 10
Grilled onions: 10
Ketchup: 30

1550; and I had a bagel which was probably around 300-350; so looks like 1800-1900 for the day.

As far as fats go, my usual sources are eggs (lulegg whites. Yolk ftw); fish, etc.

I just try to stay away from ***dipped in batter/deep fried/etc.

How much fat do you consume daily? I'm 5ft6/7 lol depends on my shoes.

I go for 59g of fat daily. I've been doing 20%/20% for more than a month now so I'm seriously considering going on 30%/10% calorie macros.

Fried food is usually more of a problem due to the batter than the frying. Although, your mileage may vary depending whether it is you doing the frying or someone else. Restaurants are not always as good about pulling food before it gets unnecessarily soggy, which is one of many reasons why I prefer to cook for myself.

I'll agree on the functional strength thing. Mind you, I can't run to save my life (my response to danger is to fight, so it's just as well), but that's because of a deformity in my femurs. Unless you're doing a job like I have, though, strength is really only good for picking up chicks. Or dudes, as your inclination goes. I always get a little confused by the gym rats I see who make a big deal of how big their lifts are but who have no real use for it. My bike is how I get around, so being strong and fast is necessary. I, too, haul a heavy backpack with me most of the time.

At 5'6", though, I'll agree that 148 isn't a bad place to be. I was thinking you were closer to 5'10", based on most people I know being in that range or taller. Except some Mexican immigrants, I don't often run into folks shorter than me and I'm 5'8".

honestly, I've never really counted. I just eat foods with good carbs, good fats, and try to get a lot of protein each day;

Sweet potatoes, whole grain oats/grits, eggs, chicken breasts, fish (tuna/salmon/tilapia etc.)

When I'm trying to cut, I'll try to restrict dessert to sugar free jello; quarter gallon worth of that ***is only 40 calories; so for a 100 cal snack (well 80 rly) can have a half a gallon of jello a day; which fills you up on sheer volume alone lol

Not really, batter is just made up of egg, flour and water. It's the frying process that makes it retain tablespoons of oil with every serving that'll *** your ***up.

Not if you fry it correctly. Heavens, have you ever even fried food?

Actually, first off, oil isn't bad. I personally use olive oil for almost everything, but I also don't do immersion frying which is better served by peanut oil. Even the HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE health pundits who can't back their garbage up with a single provable fact tout the benefits of olive oil. If you actually read any nutrition science that has been published in peer-reviewed journals in the last, oh, 25 years or so, you'd know that no natural fat (oil or otherwise) is dangerous. Manufactured trans-saturated fats are known to cause all kinds of problems, but whether it is light olive oil or pure pig lard, it's all safe and necessary to life. Wanna *** up your heart? Avoid fat.

Or, put it another way: Americans were tricked into thinking that dietary fat is the cause of body fat in the early 90s. That particular myth has proved so durable that, up 'til about 3 or 4 years ago, anything marketed as healthy was marked "low fat" or "no fat." In that same period, obesity rates in the US have markedly increased. Indeed, US dietary fat intake has reduced in that period. Caloric intake sure hasn't, though. Heart disease incidence has gotten worse, too.

The current nonsense being peddled by greedy liars who want to keep you fat is "gluten free." Almost no one has coeliac disease, which is the only valid reason to avoid gluten. I'll at least grant that the current trend does keep people somewhat away from the real problem: simple carbohydrates. Sugar and, to a lesser extent, white flour are far too prevalent and pad out our food supply with unnecessary and nutrition-free calories. We'd be a lot healthier if people who cared to eat breakfast would have steak and eggs (or even bacon and eggs) in lieu of cereal, toast, and a host of other huge carb sources THAT NEVER GET BURNED. Someone like me or Tigerwoods who do a bunch of work are the ones who needs carbs, and even then they shouldn't be particularly dominant as a calorie source unless you're running a marathon tomorrow.

But, yeah, getting back to my original point: unless you're a bloody idiot who likes greasy food, frying is totally fine. Even full immersion frying in lard. Done correctly, it doesn't add anything remotely like tablespoons of fat unless "tablespoon" is some Canadian slang for "milliliter." Proper frying involves using a highly conductive immersion medium (liquid fat) to impose high levels of heat on a piece of food such that the water trapped inside boils into steam and leaves. This is why we don't boil things and get the same result as frying them, because frying explicitly reduces internal moisture without adding more back. The external pressure of boiling water prevents the absorption of liquid fat into the target food. IF you over-fry, you end up with dry food that has saturated with liquid fat. If you do the job properly, you have at best a tiny film of fat left on the carbohydrate casing after you remove it. And that tiny amount of fat is why you should set your chicken or whatever on a rack or paper towels, anyhow.

But, hey, rather than read what I write, go find an authentic Japanese restaurant and have some tempura. It's pretty much the ultimate form of how to fry correctly and no self-respecting Japanese chef would let it get even slightly greasy.

Edit: Beaten

Wow a whole essay on frying thanks bro. I'm talking strictly calories, but cool anyway. Carry on.

It's not the oil that makes fried foods unhealthy, its the ***you dip it in before you fry it i.e breadcrumbs/batter/flour.

While you make valid points on fats/oils, you are avoiding an issue: too much of anything is bad for you. You can use olive oil to fry etc, but guess what- even too much monosaturated fat is still bad.

Fats are an essential nutrient as they contribute to hormone function and other body functions- I don't think anyone in this forum has yet to claim the contrary.

What you're failing to realize is that numerous individuals who are OCD about their diet regimine calculate their macros down to particular fat/carb/protein amounts. Frying food isn't particularly effective if I'm going for a particular (g) of fats daily, for several reasons that the amount of batter/flour/tempura and oil will vary from piece to piece. Additionally, it becomes more difficult to estimate the counts of oil and carbohydrates per piece of food because we assume every individual is frieing with the exact same oil, patting down etc...etc...

If you read back a few pages you'll several individual pre-prep their food so it becomes easier to estimate "macros" when using different meals in their diet.

Do you think most individuals properly fry their food? Do you think they properly dry the meat prior? Do you think they drain excess oil after?

No they are not.

I've just gotten into deadlifts a few weeks ago but I don't see much progress though I have deifnitely gotten stronger. I use to struggle starting out with a 35lb plate on each side, now I can do a 45 lb+25 lb plate on each side. I'm 5'6 and 155, not sure how far I should keep racking on the weights. I usually strive to do 3 sets of 8 reps or until failure. When I can do 8x3 I usually increase the weights by 5 on each side.

Also anyone know any good shoulder workouts? I pretty much just do shoulder presses, 8x3 with 40lbs dumbells. I've tried the bent over pully raises but for the past month I haven't been able to do more than 1 plate, anything else feels like it's straining something weird in my arm and it hurts my elbow.

My last question is, I've also recently gotten into benching but I do it without a spotter so I started at one 45lb on each side(a good a starting weight as any) and I can do 6-8 reps and 3 sets before failure but I don't really feel a burn in my chest after benching as I do when I do cable crossovers or that machine where you grab the handles/pads and squeez your arms together. The thing is when I increase the weight of benching to like a 45+5 on each side I can barely do 3 and my arms tremble, meanwhile I see other guys taller and fatter than me but less muscular do literally 20-30 pumps with the same weight. Any tips to increasing gains with benching without a spotter?

Military press, upright rows, side laterals, front raises, and reverse flys. Dumbbell/barbell shrugs for traps unless you target those on back day.

Muscle size isn't the best way to judge muscle strength, don't bother comparing your own lifts to other guys in your gym. The issue is most likely your form if you don't feel anything in your chest. Your grip could be too narrow as well.



Long watch but anything by Mark Rippetoe will help you tremendously on lifting form. And the secret to lifting heavy is lifting heavy basically lol. Keep doing 4-5 rep max sets, strength gains will go up.

edit: Also for future reference just so you don't get confused when looking at routines, your 8x3 would imply 8 sets of 3 rep max. First number is actually the amount of sets you'll be doing, so you meant to have written 3x8 instead.

One thing that makes me uneasy is, should you really be touching your chest with the bar when doing heavier weight? It seems like a heavy strain on the elbow to do that and have read some literature saying it can be dangerous

Yes, so long as you don't bounce it off your chest for momentum on the positive rep.

Okay I think my primary problem was I was doing a lot of weight but not touching my chest so i wasn't getting full pectoral contraction. I'll abandon my ego and level down the weight and start from scratch so I can build my pecs utilizing full range of motion. Thanks :)


P.S Mark Rippetoe is my new hero. He's the antithesis of a gym 'bro'. His fatherly, All-American tone and knowledge of biomechanics is humbling and encouraging.

The sad thing is I googled him when he was younger and he used to be jacked but now he looks like he has a gut and lost all definition. Kind of sad that as soon as you stop training you lose everything. If you used to be jacked but then go back to eating at maintenance levels for 10-15 years and stop training, are you doomed to just become a pudgy man again? Like I see all these ex-football players fat as *** in their 50's.

EDIT: Question about different forms. I've seen guys with slightly arched back on the bench and I've seen guys perfectly flat on the bench. Which is correct, or least likely to injure the shoulder joint etc?

I believe arched back is more of a powerlifting form. It lessens the distance traveled between the bar touching your chest and lockout, so guys are able to put up higher numbers with an arched back and chest fully expanded. I don't really know if this poses a risk to your shoulder joint, but so long as your elbows are tucked in and not flared out I guess you should be okay? Personally I bench with a very slight back arch, maybe about 2 inches or so off the surface. Just feels the most natural to me.

edit: Rippetoe talks about this actually on the video I posted earlier around the 17:30 mark. A slight back arch is easier on the shoulders apparently.

Rippetoe was never about definition. :p

If you're packing the shoulder with the scapula retracted to make a really stable shoulder platform and flexing your glutes so you can get some heel drive, you'll end up with a decent amount of arch in your back. It's safe this way but if I'm watching someone, I don't like them to flex so far that the abs get loose since that re-introduces some instability. Watusha's right though, folks in PL comps go way overboard with this from what I've seen.

Jim Wendler has a a couple of nice bench improvement videos too-- also from the powerlifting perspective.

Weighted dips are a pretty solid bench substitute if the weight gets too heavy to do safely alone.

Dumbbell bench press (which I like better anyways; despite doing both regularly)

Stabilizer musckles etc.

Edit: Also weighted dips as an addition, not as a substitute!

We had a discussion a few weeks ago on the amount of carbs needed PWO. I was looking up studies today on creatine absorption and found this, somewhat related to that topic and helps answer that previous question.


http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/protein-and-creatine.html

I always took my creatine PWO as well, so now I have a better idea of how many carbs to shoot for alongside it.

I was all like O.o until I read it was a fast food franchise, apparently we've just had one opened recently in London. I thought a "double cheese burger" from five guys was something else, no idea what though... Forgive me for not being American.

So I'm pretty sure I took a trip to snap city last night. Felt and heard some ***in my lower back doing squats last night

(pisses me off because I wasn't even doing heavy weight; just did 2 sets of 8, came for the third set and it went out on rep 1)

Hurt pretty bad last night, couldn't stand/sit/lay straight and had a lot of trouble getting out of a sitting or laying position into standing up.

This morning, it's only become worse. Gonna see if any of my friends have leftover pain killers

OxyElite Pro Recalled as More Hepatitis Cases Surface

Seems this the end for USPLabs. Just wow I took this for so long.