The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

You’re right about the excess calories being excess calories, but you’re missing my point here entirely..

if it were solely that I’d gain 5+ lbs of fat by your logic during my cheat days. Most of it is just water and gone by the next day when my drop my carbs back down - someone overweight isn’t going to have that same luxury in how many cals they can eat and stay lean/same body fat.

When you’re super lean, for the millionth time lmfao, your capacity to store nutrients (carbs in particular) in the muscle drastically increases. My cheats can be 1000x worse than someone not nearly as lean and it won’t be detrimental compared to someone with shitty insulin sensitivity because of their high(er) body fat. You don’t even have to believe me, try it yourself lol or look at what competitors binge on after a show and all they do is fill out - even the natural(ish) guys. Now if they kept on eating this way, of course after a few days/weeks (depending on their body) it’ll catch up to them and they’ll start piling on the fat - I’ve seen it plenty of times. But we are discussing single cheat meals/days here.

When you’re very lean your metabolism is burning way hotter and you’re burning through cals at a much faster rate, thus you have a lot more room for error compared to someone who isn’t in the best shape. You MUST account for insulin sensitivity drastically improved when lean that affects the thermic effect of food.

That’s why a few comments back we agreed someone just starting a diet doesn’t need big cheat meals - they don’t have room for error.

Me on the other hand being where I’m at conditioning wise - I can get away with a lot more the leaner I get compared to just starting a diet from an off-season. Creating a caloric deficit over a period of time (dieting), sets up a wonderful super-compensation effect for the body once a lot leaner. How much and how often is entirely person dependent - but the fact remains that within an individual - generally speaking the leaner they are, the less detrimental a cheat meal will be.

Drugs, if the topic comes up, simply exaggerate this response. This is what I want people to grasp - these concepts happen naturally In the body, hormones simply exaggerate them greatly. Like I mentioned a few pages back as well - I have buddies who use loads of steroids and look average because they can’t grasp this concept and are always fighting the body’s natural chemistry thinking steroids will fix shitty eating habits/not being lean enough to see most of the potential hormones offer.

As for sugar free sports drinks - to each their own, you have your opinion, I have mine. I simply know for myself a few sugar free drinks during my workout on an excessively hot day does nothing but help me considering how impeccable my diet, training, sleep, etc is. Your mileage/results/health markers may vary..

 

I think you place too much importance on being lean in general and not on whether or not you are in a cut and have been for 3 months or have been in a lean bulk.
If you got down to 3% for a comp over 2 months... if you go have a mega post comp meal... its all going to fat. Your body is primed to gain fat back to a healthy level.
If you have been maintaining/slow lean bulk you are more primed to burn it off.

I can’t eat more at 8% than I did at 12%. Which is why I remain at 8% lol.


My question to you is what you did regarding “cheat meals”. You specifically. Not anyone else in general.
I asked if you still counted or were mindful of the consumption or just ate unrestricted.

 

You’re taking things a little out of context considering we are essentially saying the same thing.. please don’t misconstrue what I mean by getting lean first..

#1 - no one is hitting 3% bf in 2 months from an average person body fat . It’s not really even possible because you’re metabolism would crash long before with how low cals would be.. so that’s a bad example although I know you were just throwing a number out there. No one is crash dieting without losing tons of muscle (even on steroids, caloric expenditure and ability to utilize calories correctly would go out the window). If someone reads this and thinks “hey I’m gunna starve myself down to 6% because Yotaaa91 said I need to get lean first,” they’re a dumbass who only wants to listen to a small portion of what I’ve said and blowing it way out of context while ignoring everything else I’ve said repeatedly now... but I know our members are intelligent enough to see that, so I didn’t feel the need to point that out.

#2 - of course length of time dieting matters. It matters because that’s the only way to get to a very lean body fat if done correctly - time. If I’m speaking, it’s within the context that no one here is being a stupid enough to eat 500 cals per day to lose 40lbs in a month.. of course that would wreck your metabolism and set you up for fat gain when calories go back up. But If you’ve dieted correctly with PATIENCE, my statement holds true. A competitor who is already 8-10% off season who dieted for 2 months down to 6-7% would have insane insulin sensitivity. So saying time is the only factor is half the story. You could say length of time is indirectly correlated with insulin sensitivity. Time = lowered body fat = better insulin sensitivity. It’s all relevant to where you start. Starving yourself would fuck your insulin sensitivity by pretty much destroying your thyroid output. ANY massive changes in diet if continued will result in a negative effect - hence why I’m only discussing cheat meals/days, not why binging or starving yourself for weeks on end is ridiculously unhealthy.

As for me and my cheat meals - I don’t “measure” per say technically - it just goes by how lean I am and how depleted I know I am. If I’m leaner, my cheat meals are bigger, if I’m just starting a diet, I may not even have one at all until the ball really gets going. All relative to where you’re at on the insulin sensitivity scale... which yes, is affected by time on diet = fat loss.

Disclaimer to all reading this: don’t be a dumbass a starve yourself down to sub 7%. It likely either won’t happen lol, or you’ll screw your metabolism up resulting in fat gain when you rebound, not muscle glycogen super compensation like it does for those who dieting down correctly, keeping their metabolism elevated and primed.

Honestly bro, I think we are saying the same thing ahah, just got jumbled in translation with giant ass paragraphs.

 

All this diet talk, BF %, leaning out, cheat meals...Good on you guys for wanting to keep up with it and workin' it. It's too taxing to me! lol That's why I pretty much gave it up and eat what I want and just make sure I don't binge out on anything. Stop when I'm satisfied if it's "fattening" (like pizza) and when I'm full if it's "not" (salad, chicken/rice etc). Avoid buffets like the plague! The biggest advantage of powerlifting over bodybuilding competitions-just had to come in at or under weight! I like to look decent for personal preference but I had to give up on the "pursuit of perfection" because it was just too mentally draining and I stopped enjoying the pursuit. My respect for those still willing to put in the effort!

 

Powerlifters have it made! Lol. Kidding brutal training and my joints would snap like toothpicks - I’m built for bodybuilding not strength with my small joints and inserts. Props to you guys!

 

I have always maintained a good bit of "bodybuilding" type exercises since that is what I was first interested in (and still appreciate the most). For the purpose of looking as strong as I was as well as doing the reps to keep joints strong and healthy. And also a big believer in slow and steady winning the race. No bouncing squats or bench, no hitching or bowing my back doing anything I can to get a deadlift...I want to be lifting as long as I possibly can and won't sacrifice my physical health to "be the best" for a few years, then broken down for the rest of my life looking back at the Good Old Days!

 

I do what it takes for me to feel good. I’m not interested in what others think of my physique... well I only care what one person thinks of my physique LOL

So don’t get me wrong I’m not looking for vanity. Only health and contentment.

 

Post yoga recovery meal. Nice NY strip with some Angels

 

Damn. I’ve gotta get back in to stretching more and start up some home yoga. It’s been a few years since I’ve done yoga. My mobility and flexibility is shit

 

What’s that on the left????

 

Potato

 

And it’s been a while since I went for a jog. Had a good one this morning.

 

That’s what I thought but they look helllllllaaa fluffy lol want!

 

Its been about 5 weeks since I did yoga... and boy did I feel it. I was dripping sweat today lol

 

Baked potato with sour cream. I try to smoosh them up.

 

Ha! Everyone always underestimates how much a yoga workout will really work you. The people who do hot yoga are on a whole other level

 

They do!

First time I did yoga, when I got into the plough pose... I was sure that was how I was going to die. Someone would wander in my house looking for me and I would be stuck there on my living room floor with my knees over my head XD.

It is the most challenging and beneficial exercise I’ve ever done.

For those of you unfamiliar with yoga poses, this is plough:

 

I know I found out quick! Found a yoga channel on my old sony dvd player and thought I'd start doing some in the morning to "ease in to the day". Psh, was feeling the burn in no time trying to hold simple poses! My muscles were trained for explosive movements and typically less than 10 reps, holding a half squat pose for just several seconds gave me a fast appreciation of yoga!

 

That one feels great. The warrior poses are always brutal to do as well. Can’t think of the name of the other one I do frequently as just a warmup stretch. It’s where you lunge, arms inside the leg and then open up the torso

I remember the first time I did it. Was brutal.

 

Prayer twist.



Standing leg extensions are my weak point. I am just not that flexible right now but I try.