Lifting and...

MzManiak

Ladies that lift... When you're in a lifting program, do you do anything else? I'm wanting to start a lifting program (Probably Strong Lifts 5x5?) but I don't know if that's all I should do or if I should do 30ds or cardio or something else on my off days...

Also, I'm not sure if my gym has a straight free bar (the only one I've seen is dips at the grips)... much less an Olympic bar... and no thing to put the bar in to rest. It will have to go down to the floor.... will that affect the results too much?

Edited to add: If I'm looking to add muscle mass, should I be eating at maintenance, or a little more?

Thanks in advance! :bigsmile:

Mia_RagazzaTosta

I really just walk on my lunch break on my non-lift days. I run maybe once every other week on an off day (but that's mostly because I have no one to watch my little people so I can do it).

As far as modifications go, I can't really answer that, but I think alternatives have been discussed in other forum threads. Dumbbells can be an option if you're just starting out, but will become more difficult as the weight progresses.

eta: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/902569-barbell-routines-when-you-only-have-dumbbells?hl=dumbells+when+barbell+

fannyfrost

I lift and take cardio classes. I also use the elliptical. For me I like mixing it up anyway. I get bored easy.

As for the bar, I didn't have one available for a long time, so I mostly just use dumbbells for everything. One of the advantages of this is that you can't compensate for your weak side with your strong side. I want to start using the bar for some things, but I need to figure out what and check form. But seriously almost everything can be one with dumbbells.

MzManiak

Thanks ladies. I guess I can try the uneven bar and dumbbells for now. Once they open the main gym, I'm hoping they'll get the better equipment in.

How about the diet? Keep it at 100g protein, 35% fat or change it up? Maintenance cals or more?

JNick77

Thanks ladies. I guess I can try the uneven bar and dumbbells for now. Once they open the main gym, I'm hoping they'll get the better equipment in.

How about the diet? Keep it at 100g protein, 35% fat or change it up? Maintenance cals or more?

I know I'm not a lady but the same rules apply to women as they do men. To add mass, which is what you indicated above, you have to eat at a calorie surplus there's really no way around that. There's an old article called "Massive Eating" by Dr. John Berardi that is very well worth a read if you can find it on Google. If not, he does have his own website called "Precision Nutrition".

Hopefully your current gym gets better equipment, if not find a new gym.

Achrya

Not sure about the bar thing, but I will say I lift 3 times a week (Did stage 1 of NROLW, doing my second stronglifts set tonight) and do 30ds as well, if I feel up to it/feel like it.

My macros are 40/30/30, but I usually end the week at 35% carb, 33% fat, 32% protein, which I'm fine with because I strive to make my fat and protein then kind let the rest sort itself out.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

I lift and do cardio. Nothing wrong at all with doing both.

kganc001

I get really bored really fast and if I skimp on my cardio, I'd go crazy since I'm totally in love with Spinning and Zumba. I do a lot of cardio on non-lift days, but it ranges in intensity from 30 minutes leisurely pedaling away on a recumbent bike, to running, to going for a 20 min walk. I have to get some sort of activity in. However, going high intensity on off days is prolly a little much. I've done it, and it wasn't sustainable. I go high intensity with 1-2 times per week (once with Spinning and then I do HIIT another day some weeks).

As for eating, eat above maintenance with a LOT of protein to gain muscle bulk. However, you're only going to bulk up so much being female.

jzammetti

If you are new to lifting, it is possible to gain a small amount of mass eating at a small deficit from your TDEE. Eventually, however, you will have to eat a caloric surplus to continue the gain. You will gain fat and muscle. Most lifters who are trying to add mass do cycles of bulking and cutting to deal with the fat gain.

jacksonpt

Thanks ladies. I guess I can try the uneven bar and dumbbells for now. Once they open the main gym, I'm hoping they'll get the better equipment in.

How about the diet? Keep it at 100g protein, 35% fat or change it up? Maintenance cals or more?

I know I'm not a lady but the same rules apply to women as they do men. To add mass, which is what you indicated above, you have to eat at a calorie surplus there's really no way around that. There's an old article called "Massive Eating" by Dr. John Berardi that is very well worth a read if you can find it on Google. If not, he does have his own website called "Precision Nutrition".

Hopefully your current gym gets better equipment, if not find a new gym.

Agreed.

Does the gym at least have dumbbells? Most big lifts can be done reasonably well with DBs in the absence of bars and plates.

As far as other stuff... if you're looking to build muscle, I wouldn't do any cardio, certainly not any significant, steady state cardio. If you want to throw in 10 or 15 minutes of warm up/cool down cardio on your lifting days, that's fine. And a lot of people tack on some HIIT work after lifting, but I don't think I'd do any cardio based "program".

Polly758

I just lift, no cardio generally. If I have a surplus of energy I'll do some intervals after a workout.

a) I feel like I do better and work harder if I'm not worried about holding back energy for cardio
b) I take resting days seriously; I'm prone to injury
c) There are too many book in the world and I will never read them all if I am in the gym.

MzManiak

Ok. I kind of figured I would need to eat at a surplus, as that make sense to gain... will just have to figure out how much extra to be eating. My Fitbit puts my average TDEE at 1524 but that's without the lifting. I'll eat at 1600 next week and start the lifting 3x/ week with cardio 1-2/ week and see where my average TDEE is then and idk add 100 or so to it...

Edited to add, yes they have dumbbells. They have a straight bar, but only the one connected to the smith machine. The have a free bar, but it's uneven at the grips (they dip down) and I'm not sure how much it weighs. I'll ask about it when I go tonight.

Er... maybe I'm confused on what all is considered cardio. :embarassed: Jillian Michaels videos are ok, then, but not, say, the elliptical or treadmill? How about Pilates/ dancing? Extra calisthenics?

jofjltncb6

Ladies that lift... When you're in a lifting program, do you do anything else? I'm wanting to start a lifting program (Probably Strong Lifts 5x5?) but I don't know if that's all I should do or if I should do 30ds or cardio or something else on my off days...

Also, I'm not sure if my gym has a straight free bar (the only one I've seen is dips at the grips)... much less an Olympic bar... and no thing to put the bar in to rest. It will have to go down to the floor.... will that affect the results too much?

Edited to add: If I'm looking to add muscle mass, should I be eating at maintenance, or a little more?

Thanks in advance! :bigsmile:

Not a lady, but I'll jump in here anyhow.

Yes, I do other things besides lift, but it isn't necessary for body composition. I used to alternate lifting and running. (Recently, I started attending a crossfit gym, and I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, I should do between sessions. Probably will depend on how metcon-centric those workouts are, if I feel like I'm due for some lifting, or how nice the weather outside is.)

Yes, not having proper equipment can affect your results, but that doesn't mean you can't still get in an awesome workout. That said, if you have to clean the bar to squat, and if you don't have a rack/pins to safely squat in, it will affect the amount of weight you can use. Do what you can with what you have and meanwhile, consider if that gym is the right fit for your goals.

Yes, to add muscle mass (or any kind of mass really), you will need to eat at more than maintenance. The idea is to eat just enough over maintenance such that you add as little fat mass as possible. (Alternatively, you can take the full "EAT ALL TEH FOODZ!1!eleven!!1" bulk then cut approach, which I believe has been demonstrated ultimately to add the muscle most efficiently, but you might not be willing (or at an appropriate stage in your progress) to take this route.) Opinions on this will vary (and possibly be very heated).

Best of luck.

Polly758

Er... maybe I'm confused on what all is considered cardio. :embarassed: Jillian Michaels videos are ok, then, but not, say, the elliptical or treadmill? How about Pilates/ dancing? Extra calisthenics?

I call it cardio if it's anything harder than walking, maybe that's just me though

jacksonpt

Er... maybe I'm confused on what all is considered cardio. :embarassed: Jillian Michaels videos are ok, then, but not, say, the elliptical or treadmill? How about Pilates/ dancing? Extra calisthenics?

I consider cardio to be anything that isn't strength training. It's far less about intensity (though strength training is inherently pretty/very intense) than it is resistance. Strength training is about getting stronger. If you aren't doing something to get stronger, then I lump it into the broad category of cardio.

Anything on a DVD is cardio. Anything fairly steady state is cardio. Yoga, stretching, stair climbers... all cardio.

Morninglory81

I do 5x5 with no cardio. That's just what I enjoy. As far as gaining muscle it doesn't have to be a huge surpluses. From what I understand 100-300 cal over TDEE is all you need depending on the intensity of your training.

NovemberJune

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/902569-barbell-routines-when-you-only-have-dumbbells?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You can go pretty far with dumbbells (assuming your gym has heavy dumbbells).
If you want to gain muscle, you will need to have a calorie surplus, but you will gain some fat too if you do that. Which is fine, of course, but just so you know what to expect If you think you have excess fat covering some muscle, you could do a slight calorie deficit and see if losing a little fat brings out some muscle.
I do cardio on non-lifting days, but I wouldn't do a Jillian DVD on non-lifting days because they involve a fair amount of strength training, depending on the DVD of course.

Morninglory81

Double post :grumble:

sabified

bump for the info

BusyRaeNOTBusty

You can do cardio if you want, or you don't have to. If you really want to gain muscle, don't try to train for a marathon or anything. 30min moderate intensity a few times a week would work.

Be aware that if you eat a surplus to gain muscle you are also going to be gaining some fat. Most people cycle through "bulk"and "cut" phases. The lifting is close to the same just the amount you eat changes (and a lot of people will add HIIT in during cut cycles).