The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Yard work, is it considered exercise if you’re exerting yourself?
My assumption is yes, (feel free to prove me wrong) so I told my watch I was doing “functional training” while cutting down trees in the back yard.
It’s not cardio but working the saw and sweating your balls off while it’s 95+ outside seems like exertion to me.

 

So on this has your cravings for carbs gone down? Is that what you are saying or you personally just thought to do that.

Because my body is not really interested much in carbs, less so than usual. I’ve found that interesting.


There are diets out there that are shredding diets where you cut cals pretty drastically and shred. Its not a diet I would maintain. So if you have like a month before you hit the beach or something you can cut pretty seriously. It just shouldn’t be sustained over longer periods. I’m blanking in the correct term for it right now.

Last year when I got sick it was the tail end of my cut. I was eating 1500 cals a day and vomiting every other day. I dropped 10lbs of solid fat the first monthish then started losing mass because I stopped the gym and was still not eating.

Thats part of the reason I got so lean. I just rode it. I lost primarily my leg mass after that, but you can always pack it back on.



Your body is going to tell you when your deficit is too extreme, you’ll try hitting the gym but feel run down.
If you are really suffering during your fast windows then you know to up the cals.

Doing IF I’m not that bothered by the 1700 cals. Adjust if needed. Your body will tell you what you need to do if you listen. And thats the only advice I’d give is listen to your body. This is intermittent fasting not intermittent starving LOL.


The longest fast was over a year and there are extended fasts lasting 7-10 days. It can be done correctly and effectively.

 

Yes. In fact vacuuming and house cleaning is activity and exercise.

We have a tendency today to only consider certain things exercise (like physically going to the gym) but very much of our daily lives can count as exercise.

 

Well I’ve been listening to y’all and researching and I was pretty sure I was eating way too many carbs but carbs and proteins are the foods I enjoy.

there’s not many fatty foods I enjoy besides dark chocolate which is what made it difficult to figure it out. I had to google “healthy keto snacks” while in the grocery store yesterday evening lol.

tonight, I am hungry. Making some coffee now. But not starving like death.

IF. IF. I was to maintain the 1,700 calories(which I highly doubt) , I would just do it till I got to my lean weight. Then it would be bulk city time.

I’m sort of desperate as I’m ready to start putting on muscle and upping my strength but don’t want to just put on fat or look fat which is where the logic is “get lean first then gain lean slowly”

Due to working 12 hours a day at work and waking up early for gym... the fasting is kind of easy so far as I just basically get home and sleep lol so there’s not much time to just sit around and think about the hunger.

curious to see how my training will go while being fasted. Some say it’s better. Some say you need fuel in tank.

this is really just all one big experiment to see what works.

 

Protein and fats will sustain you throughout a fast, carbs really don’t. The goal of IF is to make you more metabolically efficient by forcing your body to use stored fats as fuel. Obviously if you’ve been reading this you know carbs hurt that since carbs just = glucose in the blood stream. Your body burns through it then theres nothing left to get through the fast.

Last Sunday I hit the weights (upper body day) while fasted. I normally eat my carbs at dinner so my lunch right after was low carb. I felt beat to shit all day. Like I never recovered. The workout itself went fine though.

Today was a long run but just cardio, which is easier to do fasted than lifting. I felt on top of the world running today though.
Now I’m lying on the couch hoping I finish my last meal before I fall asleep lol.

Report back on how you do lifting while fasted. I’m interested in how you do.

 

This morning was groggy. But there’s several factors such as getting used to no pre workout caffeine rush, trying to adapt to coffee and just being tired as usual but that’s probably due to sleep lol.

got a little group bike ride tomorrow around 9am and I’ll have eaten by then thank god lol but Monday morning should be another fasted workout and it will be chest day so we will see how it goes. If I can get to 175, I’ll probably just try to eat normal and maintain that weight for a while. Then fast again till 170. And maintain.

 

How do you intend to get your muscle and strength? If you are going to eat clean and watch calories/fat/protein/carbs then I really don't see why you shouldn't just start now. Muscle burns calories more than just dieting because they are burning 24 hours a day. So if you've hit a goal weight, I'd start putting the muscle on, train hard and heavy and eat accordingly. And it's going to look better than just "being skinny". Since you've hit a goal weight and still feel like you've got the love handles and jiggles it kind of proves the point-it's not going to get much better unless you get waaaaay skinnier (and no doubt much weaker) than it sounds like you want to be! Unless you go really hardcore with diet and/or drugs you'll always have a little extra weight if you train to be bigger and stronger, the muscle will just fill things out to be more proportionate and utilize what you eat better too. Like I believe ThunderCookies said, calories in calories out.

 

So far... I haven’t given up strength. I’ve still gained. I haven’t gained as much in the time I’ve been working out as I should but I haven’t given up or missed a rep week to week during this cut.

Few athletes have done the cut fat gain muscle thing at the same time and it requires patience but that’s what I’ve been doing.

My goal weight was my goal weight cause I thought I would look leaner than what I do. Now I’m here and it’s like nah I can give up more.

Remember though that everybody has to do what works for them. Some natty. Some drugs. Some skip legs. Some do keto.

this is something I’m doing to kick start my motivation again. I want abs damnit. I am a eating and lifting machine lol. I’m beyond game to eat more and lift more but only until after I get to the lean phase. I want to really watch the scale and gain slowly to make sure I stay a low BF.

trying to gain mass now isn’t even motivational for me cause I still have the gut. Plus all the 5’9 dudes weigh less than me in here and have way better physiques. So maybe I’ll need to get down to 165 first. Now sure. Going by the mirror right now.

long message but some people get kinda annoying in here and I wanted to be detailed for them.

TLR-
I’m still trying to add weights progressively to my lifts while cutting. So far it has been fine but I may hit a point where I lose strength and I’ll re evaluate the plan at that point.

I’ve never been lean or had abs. I want them. I’m on a mission.

 

Alright then man, sounds like you have a goal and a plan and the determination to get it-awesome! That's more than half the battle! lol My error misinterpreting and apologies, I'm all for people getting the goal whatever the goal is. Keep on keeping on!

 

Go basically all your life being overweight. Eventually. You get tired of it and just want that shit off your body lol.

Well maybe not everyone but definitely for me.

 

It's admirable when someone actually has the attitude rather than just continuing to blimp out and be a drag on society and make excuses why their back hurts, their knees are shot or they have to take drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes etc! You're just a tub of goo and you need to lose weight and get your lazy butt moving! My hats off to you and I wish you continued success, sounds like you've done a heck of a job so far.

 

177 this morning. Started a year ago at 220. So 43 down so far. It’s not like I don’t know how to eat clean or train. This is just the time in someone’s diet where they either are just happy and rock with it or they decide to keep improving.

after getting healthy though... besides giving up sweets (those are my cravings)... it’s actually really fucking easy to eat Whole Foods and feel good lol don’t know the last time was whenever I had a soda or fast food. Even if I eat on the road I make sure to stop at a place that actually cooks their meals fresh.

 

That's an impressive amount of loss for sure-especially in just a year! I sure don't have it in me to do it, been trying to lose the same 20 lbs for over 10 years and only managed to lose the 12 ADDITIONAL pounds I gained in the process. lol Once upon a time I was very strict and disciplined in my diet-too much really. Once I got out of that mindset I've never really been able to get back in it. Got too used to having some flexibility and leeway in what I ate, but age and a less active lifestyle changed that and now I struggle sometimes just to maintain let alone lose. But it's my own fault because I simply don't deny myself too much, just try to portion control so I don't gain again. And I'm too mentally wired to maintaining my strength to really pursue weight loss enough, afraid of losing the muscle mass/strength. Hopefully now that the weather appears to be getting out of Hades hot I'll get out and do some roadwork again and drop a couple pounds at least!

 

Keep it up stud!! Consistency is everything!! Eat good and pump iron... Ain't no shortcuts or quick result pills.. like the great Terry Hogan would say, "take your vitamins and say your prayers brother". Keep it simple.com

 

Interesting, good info, thanks!

Went to the corn maze with family tonight, I forgot to start my watch until we had been in the maze for about 20 minutes.
We did a fair bit of sprinting and a fair bit of standing still looking at the map trying to decide which way to go but it felt good to spend more time active. Over 12K steps and just shy of 6 miles walked today.

 

Hey all,

I am looking to get in better shape, build a little muscle, get stronger, etc. I am 39 5'7" 120ish pounds and I have been skinny my entire life. I'm looking at things I can do at home, don't really want to do a gym membership. I have watched some youtube videos and read online but don't know if there is a 'right' way to do things. Should I just buy a set of dumbells and start lifting? Do I need to do protein? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Suck it up. Join a gym. You aren’t going to get results at home. And eat. Doesn’t matter what. Just eat. Not hungry? Doesn’t matter. Eat. Go to bodybuilding.com and pick a beginners workout plan and stick to it. Once you’re comfortable with that, move on to a more advanced one and so on. But don’t stop eating. And then eat some more.

 

Answering your questions completely would require writing a 500 page dissertation. Unfortunately its not an easy answer.

Some resources to read and educate yourself are:
Tony Horton’s youtube channel
Layne Norton (BioLayne) hes a natural bodybuilder, coach, and PhD in Biochemistry. He has a lot of information on nutrition.
Body Recomposition is a site run by Physiologist Lyle Mcdonald. He does a lot with nutrition and training.
Stronger by Science is run by Eric Trexler (natural bodybuilder and PhD) and Greg Knuckols (MS and power lifter). They do a lot of blog posts that dumb down scientific articles for nutrition and training for both bodybuilding and powerlifting.

If you like working out at home check out Beachbody. I do P90X occasionally to mix up my regular routines when I get bored with whatever routine I’m doing. You can do a lot at home with minimal equipment.

 

I’d agree with thunder. If you’re new to this lifestyle, Going to a gym will make you get focused and push you to workout. Starting at home means distractions and the couch is right there if you just get bored or tired.

 

I am amazed at what an extra 500 cals has done for how I feel. I’m eating big satisfying meals and I’m not hungry.

Today is day 1 of the @ThunderCookies meet prep. Squats and bench after church.

Let’s gooooo!