Broke thread
Broke thread
Ok I need help I'm about to be 40 and feel like I'm going through midlife crisis lol. I really want to get in shape (got man boobs and muffintop/spare tire) . Last year I was 290 and now I'm 242 just by drinking nothing but water and no more fast food but that doesn't seem like its working anymore. What's my best route for losing more fat gaining more strength/muscle. I'm gonna start a new gym membership this weekend so I guess I'm looking for advice with exercises, supplements, and food. I have no clue on what I should be doing for best and most immediate results. Thanks in advance.
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Diet is most important and at the most basic level is simply calories in vs. calories out. Buy a digital food scale from Amazon and start tracking every calorie (including, sauces, soft drinks, etc) for at least a week or so to educate yourself on where your calories are coming from and what your macronutrient breakdown is (fat v carbs v protein). For now just worry about the calories, then it's as simple as saying "I'm eating 3000 calories a day and my weight is not changing. I will reduce to 2700 calories a day and see what effect it has."
I don't work for these people but I swear by their programming: www.barbellmedicine.com
They have a beginner template that I recommend starting with. Other things like stronglifts and starting strength will also work fine for a beginner.
A lot of supplements are bunk aside from creatine, beta alanine, and a few others and aren't something you need to worry about now anyway. You may want to get some whey protein as a supplement if you aren't getting a lot of protein from your meals.
Alan Thrall has really good form videos on YouTube if you aren't familiar with how to perform certain lifts.
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If you've never worked out before. Follow a good program from places like bodybuilding.com or r/fitness. Strength programs are great but you care more about looks and at your age lifting heavy will be a lot more fatiguing since you don't have an athletic background. As far as diet goes if you're lost things like Myfitnesspal or Renaissance Periodization dieting apps work. Supplements would be fish oil, mens multivitamin, creatine and protein powder. Everything else is useless.
Ok thanks for the quick replies that stuff should set me up to start out. One question and I'm sure I'll have a lot more how do you figure out the calories in sauces and things like that if they are home made?
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Like pasta sauce or something?
Calculate and sum the calories of all of the ingredients. Then divide by the total weight of the finished sauce to get the calories per gram or per oz. Then weigh your plate before and after adding the sauce or weigh the container before and after removing your serving of sauce.
Once you've been meticulous with it a few times you can just ballpark it after that if you make it the same way and usually use about the same amount of sauce.
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This is what i do for the majority of my food prep. This works for more than just sauces. Anything you would use a spoon for really, chili/chicken tikka masala being one of my favorite things. Add all of it together and divide by weight. Doesn't matter too much if you are off by an oz or two if you are eating the whole thing over the course of a week as it all evens out.
So okay. This might be a win but I thought I'd ask you fitness guys out here (and those that ride bikes; Um Cream Soda?) before I post this in the Win Thread.
See, my area finally got vanbuses in(read; public transit), the only problem is (AND THIS IS WHERE THE FITNESS PART COMES IN) is the nearest bus stop is 4-5 miles away. I happen to have a old fashioned pedal bike which I'm going to try to get gone over by a good bike shop I know about, as well as one of my brothers.
Would anyone know any good bodyweight weight training for cyclists? The hills here are pretty killer and where I gotta go (Cream, I think you can relate), the drivers can be craaazy. Yes I got a helmet and I mean to wear it even tho the helmet laws for cyclists are basically kids have to wear'em, adults don't, but I have a thing about my head there. I used to pedal around lots and I got hit more than I'd like (I never got seriously hurt, but I did get a really naasty road rash scar on one side + one memorable accident I actually ended up with a hole the size of Texas in the seat of mah pants. The other guy had to pay for not only my shattered back wheel, but also had to pay for the pants since they were new, and I was understandably teed off about that one!), but I'd rather make sure I got good reflectors and stuff and only pedal in broad daylight this time. I don't wanna get smacked again, lol. But since I am in pretty good shape generally now, I think I can handle it once I get my bike checked.
Just going to go with the basics on this and say running, squats, and lunges.
And the best training for cycling and cycling hills is to perform those activities
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Question for the experts. I've started doing lat pull downs now I've got a smith machine, for the last 3 weeks they have been fine until last night.
After my 2nd set at 40kg I felt a tightness under my right pec and it was quite sore whenever I took a deep breath or tried to carry on.
It's been 4 days and the discomfort is still present, I'm hoping its just a pulled muscle, anyone had anything like this before?
Lat pulldowns on a smith machine, how the fuck are you pulling that one off.
So long as the discomfort is going away, you should be ok. If the level of pain has stayed consistent, You should go see a Dr.
This advice applies to just about any gym pain. The first thing to know is that pain is not a reliable indicator of injury and the goal of any rehab is not to be "pain-free" but to have the pain to a manageable level that you can work through. At that point it will mostly sort itself out.
Idk how often you are doing your pulldowns but don't skip any workouts. The next time you do them, start light and see how they feel. If there is pain at any weight, try reducing the range of motion to see if it only hurts at a certain point.
To analogize to squats, you would test if you're only experiencing pain at a certain depth or only at certain weights. If depth, you would reduce your depth to a manageable pain level and then slowly increase workout to workout until it is back to normal. Same thing if the issue is only with heavy weight - get as high as you can while manageable and work your way back up.
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https://youtu.be/mdwj5ORPmX0
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Uh...no. The guy is having trouble breathing. Continuing with a motion that causes you pain when you're in pain is just asking for tendonitis and tears. You can hurt yourself to the point of never being able to be 100% function again. You can keep working out, but skip the pulldowns while it's affecting your breathing.
Look up lat stretches, ice the area 3x a day, keep ibuprofen down, and drink a LOT of water. I'm dealing with bicep tendonitis currently and that's the regimen. If it doesn't ease up in intensity you need to be seen by a doctor. 4 days without improvement is concerning.
Did you even read my post? I said to start light and see how it feels. "You can hurt yourself and never be the same again!" is a terrible nocebo and I'd suggest not giving people that type of advice unless they are asking if they should squat with a broken back.
But it's fine, my position is supported by professional powerlifters with medical degrees (see posted video). I've been following their advice and it has worked well for me.
"See a doctor" is not always the best advice either, because the vast majority of them are not familiar with powerlifting and are going to play it safe with the generic "no heavy lifting for a few weeks" which is both detrimental to your training AND doesn't help you recover in the vast majority of cases
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Cheers guys I appreciate the responses, I had a few rest days and the pain has subsided so i reckon ill start light with low range to see how I feel.
Yabby I've got a Marcey MP3100 which is more than just a smith machine