36
Stop Making Excuses
"I have six [to] eight years of trial-and-error evidence to show that I am incapable of building strength to any measurable degree from any form of exercise."
Either you have a serious medical issue or I call bullshit. I bet the reason you're not getting results is that you "have [never] been satisfied with results from ...
25
Supplements
Muscle Core X won't do any good. I don't know what's in it, and it doesn't matter. It could be anabolic steroids mixed with cocaine and it wouldn't make much of a difference for you, because what you need cannot be distilled into a powder.
For someone just starting to work out, no supplement will do much good. Powders and shakes are well-...
24
That's because your gym is a typical commercial gym where majority of people don't have any idea what they're doing and they're just going with the motions. Go to a gym that caters to strength athletes or bodybuilders and your experience will be extremely different.
Problems with bro splits:
Not enough volume. You have to practice progressive overload to ...
22
Welcome to the Fitness SE!
Making your own program
When it comes to making your own program, the general rule of thumb is one simple rule: Don't.
The reason for this is something you've already touched on. Namely the fact that you're
an absolute beginner when it comes to working out
A beginner simply doesn't have the know-how to make a good program ...
16
Being able to touch the toes depends mainly on two things:
hamstring flexibility
body proportions (relative length of legs, torso, and arms)
It is not possible to change body proportions, so, to reach the toes, someone with longer legs and shorter torso/arms will need to have more flexibility in the hamstrings. It is possible for anyone to reach that level ...
15
A workout should ideally follow a relatively strict ordering.
(Warm-up)
High-skill/coordination exercises or movements which you are still learning, e.g. agility drills, Olympic lifts, gymnastics
Speed drills or explosive efforts, e.g. sprints, throws, Olympic lifts, power variants of the Olympic lifts
Strength exercises, e.g. squats, deadlifts, presses, ...
12
The most important thing with getting people started lifting is to help them to like lifting. The worst thing you can do is to overwhelm them with details. The dirty little secret for newbies is they can do just about anything and make some relatively quick increases (with few exceptions). That means it matter less what they do and more that they do ...
12
Don'ts
The biggest mistake people make when learning to flip, is that they try to flip into pools and onto mattresses.
This is a mistake because it doesn't prepare you for the inevitable challenge of having to spot your landing. And it takes away the need to really cushion the landing with your legs. And this needs to be practiced.
Dos
Trampolines is a ...
12
The critique of bodybuilder split routines is not that they don't work. They obviously work, so anyone who says they don't is either ignorant or speaking without thinking. It's that a bodybuilder routine may be sub-optimal for some goals. Usually the critique is that a powerlifting foundation is more effective to build whole-body mass. Personally I think ...
10
What the author refers to as Burst Workouts most other people will call HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. The reason this is highly effective, compared to say slow-poking it on an elliptical for 60 minutes, is that it generates an "afterburn" effect that lasts up to 24h after your workout. Multiple studies shows this and a quick search on Google ...
8
There are several things that affect a woman during this time, but as pertains to working out or training you can expect:
Greater fatigue
Greater discomfort even at rest
Fear of bleeding through clothes
These are all very real problems, and it affects women to differing degrees. Some that I've trained with are very affected and others are seemingly ...
8
I found these two studies:
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21659889
finds that circuit training (given the same volume, but less time), is indeed superior: same strength gains, more fat loss, and less gym time
(2) https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2014/09000/Effects_of_Traditional_vs__Alternating_Whole_Body.21.aspx
studied men doing ...
8
I think Alec's answer is really great but I'd like to add some more thoughts for you (a bit too big for a comment). I agree, it's not a great workout but not necessarily just due to exercise choice. You will find many body-weight workouts online that you can just follow, and for free!
Warm Up: Jumping Jacks, 30 seconds.
Pull ups: Hang, 10 seconds.
...
8
There is no single alternative to the deadlift, because the whole point of the deadlift is that it does so many things so dramatically.
It can be loaded more than nearly any other exercise. If this is what you're after, then a heavy barbell squat is close. In a home gym, you might be out of luck. Maybe try building an isometric pulling platform.
It works the ...
8
Just to get this out of the way
Probably one of the most commonly uttered phrases around here, but it can't be said often enough: A flat belly is made in the kitchen, not in the gym. It doesn't matter how strong your core is; if it's covered in a thick layer of fat, no one will see it.
And ab workouts do NOT burn belly-fat specifically. See: Is spot ...
8
We need to clarify some terms. "Extension" means movement of a joint which increases the angle between two body parts. So elbow extension is the movement that increases the angle between the humerus and radius/ulna, i.e. straightening the elbow. The opposite of extension is "flexion", which is a movement of a joint which decreases the ...
7
While I don't want to make my answer anything pertaining medical, I just want to mention that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). It is a disorder which makes our hormonal system very sensitive to lifestyle choices like diet, exercises, etc.
Personally, I can workout during periods with no issues at all. I also hear the same from many fellow cysters....
7
The difference between sleeping immediately after a workout and sleeping a half-workday later is negligible. The more significant difference, which is still pretty minor, is the increased energy many people feel earlier in the day. Generally speaking, most people are slightly stronger in early-day efforts than they are in late workouts. (Their mobility is ...
7
I will give you the same answer that I give people when they ask me if they should hire a coach for [insert sport here].
If you are progressing towards your goals, and you are happy with your progress, then there is no real need to hire a coach/trainer. Now, that being said, even if you are progressing, then there are some valid reasons to hire a coach/...
7
In order to understand how to pick the implements, you need to know what they are doing for you. I'll rank the implements in order of difficulty--assuming you have the same total weight, they will feel progressively less difficult:
Kettlebells (KB): Because each hand is loaded separately, you have to work harder to stabilize the KB. Additionally, the KB ...
7
First you should have clear some concepts.
You don't burn fat on belly by doing abs, nor do you make ab muscles visible by doing abs. As it's said, abs are made in the kitchen.
Doing abs workout, what you do is make them bigger, as with other muscles.
You should focus your routine almost the same way you focus it for muscle gain, but introduce some more ...
7
The most important rule of thumb for gaining/losing weight, is that this happens in the kitchen.
Dietting
Weight is lost when the calories you consume amount to less than the calories you burn over a period. So if you spend 2500 calories a day, your food intake should be less than this. But when I say "day", what I really mean is any larger period of time. ...
7
The reality is there are 3 or 4 ways to expand your chest visually in order:
Chest Muscles
Lat Muscles
Shrink Waist
Enlarge Shoulders
A good starting point will be Dumbbell Bench Press (generally gets better range of motion than barbell), Dips, Barbell Rows, and Flies and/or Pec Deck if you have one. For some depending on your mechanics Dumbbell Bench ...
7
Squat - 110 lbs BP - 75 lbs Row - 80 lbs OHP - 55 lbs DL - 165 lbs
As you can see the barbell row and the OHP are lagging behind.
Your row is stronger than your bench press which is actually really good, I think your numbers look terrific to be honest. Just keep on the program.
The overhead press is probably one of the toughest lifts out there. People ...
7
There's a very common misconception here. Many people think that certain types of exercise will give you one body shape or the other. The reasoning is (more or less explicitly), that since power lifters are bulky, working out like a power lifter will make you bulky, and since dancers are fit and lean, "working out" like a dancer will make you fit and lean. ...
7
The number of sets you do increases what we call the total volume of work being done. The more volume of work you do, the stronger signal your body gets that it needs to grow.
If you do only one set, you aren't giving your body a very strong signal to grow. If the set is heavier than last time (even if you push it to failure), you give a slightly stronger ...
7
To answer the valid question here:
Does Creatine cause bloating?
Yes, the water retention usually seen with higher (>10g) loading doses can exceed five pounds (more than two kilograms). Lower doses may cause less water retention. While water mass is not muscle mass (though both count as lean mass), prolonged creatine supplementation is met with an ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
