The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

So chest shape is largely genetic, definition or “clean lines” at the side is leanness or absolute size.

Build more overall mass and then lean out. No issues with adding all the accessory work but prioritize heavy basics to get over all growth. Presses and dips ftw, no one has gotten huge with cables .

and make sure you aren’t compensating by having your tris/delts doing the work for you, concentrate on the mind muscle connection. If you’re having issues with that, a light warm up of cable flyes can help focus your attention prior to presses.

 

Well said @mindstar

 

This does make sense.

I have another question for you, other than taking the time to take progress photos, measure, and watch the scale. How can you tell the difference between building mass and building strength? or can you?

 

Well, I'm sure others will chime in here as well, but of course the two are related (albeit not in a linear way)...and I think it kind of comes down to how you are defining strength. In the context of powerlifting and I'm guessing strongman as well, the primary concern is training a movement rather than a muscle. This comes down a lot of times to efficiency, technique etc which translates over to 'strength' on say a bench press. It's not the most efficient for gaining mass, but of course it works and that bit is largely dependent on diet and uh...occasionally 'supplements'

BBing is focused on training muscles rather than movements with the goal of appropriate stimulation and fatigue. This will also increase strength at least relative to baseline.

I think it's about your intention and how you plan which will determine the dominant outcome vis a vis strength or size; noting that both can and often do come simultaneously. It's really diet and training protocol...and then you use the scale/measurements, lift progression to watch progress. Depending on how new someone is to training in this way the first year can really be all over the place in terms of results as strength jumps early for both types of protocols happen just with learning how to properly perform movements and where your actual limits are. Weight/size can be misleading too...though if you are young, eating right and new to training properly it's almost amazing what you can get out of newbie gains.

There are a lot of day to day variables too, my weight can move by up to 12 or 13 lbs based on a day or two of eating with the commensurate impact on look (somewhere in the middle is jacked dad bod lol). If I'm giving advice, it's mostly about trusting the process for long enough to really eliminate the short term impacts of a weekend of beer/bad sleep/stress/etc. This is probably the hardest bit tbh...and why a lot of folks give up on it all.

Not sure I answered the question...

 

Look, much much much respect for the people that have kids and don’t let it interfere with their fitness lifestyle. It is one hell of a challenge to balance it all whenever kids and wife can change your plans in a second. You almost have to just do whatever you can and go with the flow. Not complaining one bit but mad respect for the ones that do it is all this is about.
My coach is kidless and in the navy so he’s away from family as well. It fucks with me cause you feel like you’re just coming up with excuses when you skip a workout because if you don’t kids then you don’t get the time they take.
Random post of the day. To the ones making it happen, y’all are savages.

 

Well said brother! Now that I finally have a little one of my own, I’m am thoroughly impressed with many parents around me. It’s just one of things you don’t know until you know...

If I thought I was being efficient with my workouts before, I’m ultra efficient now lol. The word “optimal” now has a different meaning but I’m cool with it. As much as I look forward to working out, I’m more than twice as stoked to get home in the morning after a long shift to see me son.

 

No joke. Between holiday shenanigans and we are moving to a bigger rent house, I’m about to miss 2 workouts and that seriously fucks with my head and I’m sure my coach thinks I’m just a lazy fuck but time is so short in the day. Hard to fit everything in and the kids always always come first

 

I could not fathom being a parent in general..among other reasons, they'd murder me as soon as they could

 

It seperates the men from the boyz....

BW

 

Life is never perfect. Shit happens and you get busy.
I don’t have kids but I have been inconsistent in going to the gym the last 2 months. Covid, moving states, changing jobs, changing gyms, holidays, and most recently a minor injury is keeping me from running. I also probably weigh 180 now…

Its always something. But thats life. You will have a hard time being successful at winning competitions if you never get your workouts in. But on the other hand missing a few workouts here and there isn’t a death sentence. In fact sometimes the extra rest works in our favor.

Have grace with yourself to let life happen here and there and don’t let it bother you too much.

The kids thing. I’d have to have my husband stay home and do like 80% of the work. LOL. Seriously. Thats why I don’t have kids. It would destroy my marriage. And I don’t care to miss a run because I have to care for a sick kids. I’m a selfish ass.

 

It’s all about priorities at each stage in life and getting the right order for you. Sounds to me like you have the order right.

 

Hi all

As a 43 yr old man making pumping iron a priority for 27 yrs... 225# 10 rep bench press every 3 weeks is something I've been doing for 2 yrs... For fun and to make sure I can still do it.. anyone out there do an exercise to keep themselves in perspective?

Jumping jacks is ok....

BW

 

Pull ups from an overhead bar... Was never able to do them as a kid or as I grew older (older then you by some/many years ), then about 5 years ago I got myself to where I can. Now I do a some every now and again,,, cuz I can.

 

I’m about there now too at 44. I’ve been at it 30 years and honestly it’s almost a meditation for me now…though now I am in the RPB club instead of PBs (recent personal best vs personal best lol). Mine is pull ups and dips; it’s like a canary in a coal mine on getting too heavy or too weak lol

 

LOL I was just curious if in all your experience with both you could feel the difference. Like if you started running a new program and noticed gains if you were well versed enough to know which gains (strength, mass, or both).

My goals are changing as I get older. I'm looking more for strength than mass once I get to the size I want. But strength in terms of just hitting nice little PRs or being able to challenge myself. I really don't ever give a fuck about being about to bench 300lbs. I've stopped getting any mental benefit from heavy lifting. Just not something that motivates me anymore. I'm interested in strength, but not that level of strength. I'm interested in mass building but not body building.

Like I want the happy middle. Not the extremes.

 

Pull ups can be so humbling!! I do them weekly.. some days they can be tough AF...
I like to be "that" guy at the park watching my kids then jump on the monkey bars and start repping out pull ups I need to dust off my white ribbed tank top..

 

nah the only way you can tell is longer term really and it comes down to your intentions. If you want sort of strong looking dad bod, it’s basically just get strong all over, calorie surplus but not like an asshole, and consistency. Reps 8-10 which is the most common hypertrophy range and work on getting stronger in that rep range.


Give it a year, with monthly check ins with yourself on what the weight gain looks like. Once you’re big enough, back off the caloric surplus and then cycle some programming blocks to change rep schemes and focus on strength.

Easy peasy. Except it’s not. Because if it were easy we’d all already look exactly like we wanted. Hit me up in pm if there’s anything I can help witb

 

How about rep ranges around 8-10 and a daily caloric deficit of 1,500?

I have to drop 20lbs in 2 months. Feb 1 I need to be ready to hit the trails hard to prep for my next ultra.

I think its cute you think I can gain for a year LOL. Consistency like that doesnt happen for me. But I’m not far off the mass I want and I can easily get to where I want in 6 months with a recomp/lean gain. I just have to cycle between sports so lifting to gain for a year won’t happen.

This year, is the year to take endurance sports more seriously.

I have two climbing trips planned and 2-3 ultras.

I will be able to bulk/recomp half the year depending where I am in my endurance training. Everything just has to be cycled to meet that training cycles priority.

 

I think a 1500 day caloric deficit is going to work really well at first and then not at all. Once you adapt, where do you go then? Starting at fewer calories than a small woman needs is a path to failure for both your weight loss and performance goals.

As much as it sucks, calories and fat loss aren’t a straight line, the body is an adaptation machine so my advice is to start with a ~300-500 calorie deficit and then adjust as progress slows.

And yes, I have noticed that consistency seems to be an issue for you. The hard to swallow bit is that’s the only real way to progress in a sustainable way. And listen, that’s not meant in a shitty, judgey way; everyone is on their own journey to figure their shit out…

Hope the endurance sport season treats you well man.

 

Do you do any food tracking?