to cut or to bulk, that is the question....
neandermagnon
Posts: 7,436 Member
I have a mental block that's stopping me from making any more progress. I wanted to discuss it in here, where there are more intelligent people with good attitudes towards fitness and body image.
I have no goal, hence no progress. But I don't know what my goal should be.
One major issue is that I'm afraid of being in a calorie deficit for too long, as this seems to have a bad effect on my mental health. I'm also afraid of losing strength, this has happened in the past at the same time as my mental health deteriorating, so it's kind of part of the same thing, i.e. due to eating at a deficit too long, or too much of a deficit. Also, when I stopped tracking and just focused on gaining strength my mental health and how much i could lift improved dramatically in a short time. that's another reason why I'm afraid of cutting... i don't want to lose that.
Additionally, I'm not even sure if cutting my body fat any lower is going to make me like how I look any better. I'm torn between cutting and bulking to be honest.
This has contributed to my recent attempts at cutting being half-assed and ending badly.
I don't know what direction I should be going in, basically. Hence half-assed attempts at cutting and getting nowhere.
Current stats:
5'1"
130lb or thereabouts... was 127 the other day, but generally it's 129/130
body fat:
accumeasure: 22%
jackson pollack 4 site: 20%
navy formula: 23%
covert bailey: 24%
visual: more than 20% but less than 25%
I go with the accumeasure one for consistency, plus 22% is about average of all the above.
What I currently don't currently like about my body is:
- belly flab, a lot of it is skin (2x c-section), but there's still a significant amount of flab there too. I have a muffin top wearing hipster cut jeans, but not with regular cut.
- I'd like to be stronger than I am. I think I'm capable of lifting a LOT heavier than I currently am. I also want to develop endurance/stamina more. I enjoy exercising and like getting stronger and fitter.
- forearms and calves are too skinny plus I have vascularity in my wrists/lower half of forearm and in my ankles, which I'm not sure if I like or not. Vascularity looks good on the right person, don't know if it suits me or not.
- my boobs are very small, to be honest I'm not to bothered about their actual size, however I'm finding it impossible to get a bra that fits me because I have a large rib cage. I'm currently a 40AA. My strap size is not getting smaller, its all bone and it even went up after I added pendlay rows to my lifting routine while eating at a slight surplus (my rib cage skinfold stayed the same, i.e. 8mm). My boobs, however, will get smaller if I lose more fat.
- my hips/bum are too small compared to my upper body. I'm USA 6/UK 10 in trousers, and while I can get in a UK 14/USA 10 top on comfortably, size 16/USA 12 looks better on me, because it is a little looser so gives the illusion of me having big boobs and a normal sized rib cage. There is fat to be lost on my hips/bum, but no more on my top half other than boob fat, so if I lose more fat I'll likely end up even more top heavy, i.e. size USA 4 trousers with size USA 12 tops, and even smaller boobs.
The belly flab is best dealt with by cutting, but I don't want to lose any more from my boobs, forearms,calves or hips.
Bulking will help with the forearms/calves thing, it'll make my glutes bigger without losing any fat from my hips and might make my boobs get a little bigger. The only issue with bulking is that I don't want to gain any belly flab, and I'm worried about getting visceral fat too. There's a strong family history for metabolic disease. My granddad could do 100 push-ups in his 80s and got the best score ever for the running test at the hospital for an octogenerian at his local hosptial.... yet still had two major heart attacks and blood cholesterol issues. My dad has the same issues, and he did the London to Brighton cycle ride in his 50s. So I don't want to play russian roulette with visceral fat.
in addition, i have quite a rectangular/thick torso - I'm going by what i can feel under the belly flab, i.e. where my abs muscles are. There's about 1 inch only between the bottom of my rib cage and the top of my pelvis at the sides and there's a lot of muscle joining them, with a layer of fat on top... this means whatever fat is around my waist looks very obvious. There are smaller framed women who have more belly flab than me yet their waist is a few inches less than mine, and they have that hourglass shape which i'll probably never have going by where my muscles at the side of my waist are (sorry I've forgotten the scientific name for those muscles).
on the other hand, when I used to play ice hockey I weighed 10 stone / 140lb and I felt really strong then, and I had great forearms too... probably a combination of more muscle (from stick handling and shooting) plus a higher body fat percentage. But my body fat percentage was definitely higher than it is now, and I had too much belly flab then (more than what I have now, although i cared about it less then), and my lean body mass then probably was the same as it is now. According to the goal weight calculator, at 28% body fat I'd weigh 140lb... so part of me thinks maybe I should bulk to 140lb then cut back to maybe 22-25% body fat. 28% body fat is within the healthy range, but I'm a little concerned that if my current estimate that I have 22% body fat is wrong and I'm really currently around 25% (for example), then bulking up to 140lb will put me in the unhealthy body fat range.
This sounds like a whole bunch of negativity and hating on myself.... but I don't hate my body or my body type, I'm really quite happy with how I am right now apart from the belly flab and I'm not as strong as I'd like to be. Even the calf/forearms thing I can live with, maybe I'd like to bulk them up a little but they're really not that bad. I look good in skinny jeans, just my calves seem too small. Most of what I'm concerned about is how I'd look at 18-20% body fat or lower, e.g. if I do keep on cutting until the belly flab is all but gone, whether the costs outweigh the benefits. I joke about how I look like a neanderthal woman from the neck downwards, but I really don't have a problem with that, other species of human are not that different to Homo sapiens from the neck downwards anyway, just in terms of build and body proportions mainly, and that's what body proportions I have (I have a Homo sapiens face/skull though lol). I don't see what's wrong with that, other than modern culture seems to prefer tall, small framed people. My main issue with it is that I can't buy bras that fit me, plus it does my head in when people talk like short, large framed people don't even exist... that goes beyond body shaming into denial and gaslighting... I've lost count of how many times in my life I've been told I'm "overweight" based on BMI, even when I was 17 and had the top half of my abs visible I was told by my judo coach to lose 10kg (22lb) to make the weight category he thought I should be fighting in based on reading a weight height chart... this resulted in me quitting judo and nearly getting an eating disorder. I got over it and ice hockey was more fun than judo anyway, but I'm still oversensitive about stuff like this. If it wasn't for other people and the fact that clothes never fit me (I'm queen of turn-ups and have to buy kids shoes with maximum width fittings) I really wouldn't have a problem with my body type at all. I think it's great, I'm naturally strong (should be a LOT stronger though), I've always been stronger than most women who are taller than me. And probably the main reason why I think neanderthals are cool is because they have similar body proportions as me. Plus I don't feel the cold easily, I'd rather live in ice age Europe than the African savannah lol. So basically I don't hate my body at all (apart from not liking the belly flab) in spite of so much negativity pushing me into hating myself. I just want to be stronger and healthy and not have belly flab.
So... bulk, cut, or stop caring so much and just carry on lifting while doing neither just watching my macros and just learn to live with the belly flab, and make sure I'm not gaining any fat...? I was thinking about not tracking calories, only macros. Or would bulking be better? (see, terminally indecisive... but I need to get over all this and have a proper goal that I can actually get behind rather than being constantly pulled in 2 different directions and getting nowhere, which is what I feel is happening right now...)
I have no goal, hence no progress. But I don't know what my goal should be.
One major issue is that I'm afraid of being in a calorie deficit for too long, as this seems to have a bad effect on my mental health. I'm also afraid of losing strength, this has happened in the past at the same time as my mental health deteriorating, so it's kind of part of the same thing, i.e. due to eating at a deficit too long, or too much of a deficit. Also, when I stopped tracking and just focused on gaining strength my mental health and how much i could lift improved dramatically in a short time. that's another reason why I'm afraid of cutting... i don't want to lose that.
Additionally, I'm not even sure if cutting my body fat any lower is going to make me like how I look any better. I'm torn between cutting and bulking to be honest.
This has contributed to my recent attempts at cutting being half-assed and ending badly.
I don't know what direction I should be going in, basically. Hence half-assed attempts at cutting and getting nowhere.
Current stats:
5'1"
130lb or thereabouts... was 127 the other day, but generally it's 129/130
body fat:
accumeasure: 22%
jackson pollack 4 site: 20%
navy formula: 23%
covert bailey: 24%
visual: more than 20% but less than 25%
I go with the accumeasure one for consistency, plus 22% is about average of all the above.
What I currently don't currently like about my body is:
- belly flab, a lot of it is skin (2x c-section), but there's still a significant amount of flab there too. I have a muffin top wearing hipster cut jeans, but not with regular cut.
- I'd like to be stronger than I am. I think I'm capable of lifting a LOT heavier than I currently am. I also want to develop endurance/stamina more. I enjoy exercising and like getting stronger and fitter.
- forearms and calves are too skinny plus I have vascularity in my wrists/lower half of forearm and in my ankles, which I'm not sure if I like or not. Vascularity looks good on the right person, don't know if it suits me or not.
- my boobs are very small, to be honest I'm not to bothered about their actual size, however I'm finding it impossible to get a bra that fits me because I have a large rib cage. I'm currently a 40AA. My strap size is not getting smaller, its all bone and it even went up after I added pendlay rows to my lifting routine while eating at a slight surplus (my rib cage skinfold stayed the same, i.e. 8mm). My boobs, however, will get smaller if I lose more fat.
- my hips/bum are too small compared to my upper body. I'm USA 6/UK 10 in trousers, and while I can get in a UK 14/USA 10 top on comfortably, size 16/USA 12 looks better on me, because it is a little looser so gives the illusion of me having big boobs and a normal sized rib cage. There is fat to be lost on my hips/bum, but no more on my top half other than boob fat, so if I lose more fat I'll likely end up even more top heavy, i.e. size USA 4 trousers with size USA 12 tops, and even smaller boobs.
The belly flab is best dealt with by cutting, but I don't want to lose any more from my boobs, forearms,calves or hips.
Bulking will help with the forearms/calves thing, it'll make my glutes bigger without losing any fat from my hips and might make my boobs get a little bigger. The only issue with bulking is that I don't want to gain any belly flab, and I'm worried about getting visceral fat too. There's a strong family history for metabolic disease. My granddad could do 100 push-ups in his 80s and got the best score ever for the running test at the hospital for an octogenerian at his local hosptial.... yet still had two major heart attacks and blood cholesterol issues. My dad has the same issues, and he did the London to Brighton cycle ride in his 50s. So I don't want to play russian roulette with visceral fat.
in addition, i have quite a rectangular/thick torso - I'm going by what i can feel under the belly flab, i.e. where my abs muscles are. There's about 1 inch only between the bottom of my rib cage and the top of my pelvis at the sides and there's a lot of muscle joining them, with a layer of fat on top... this means whatever fat is around my waist looks very obvious. There are smaller framed women who have more belly flab than me yet their waist is a few inches less than mine, and they have that hourglass shape which i'll probably never have going by where my muscles at the side of my waist are (sorry I've forgotten the scientific name for those muscles).
on the other hand, when I used to play ice hockey I weighed 10 stone / 140lb and I felt really strong then, and I had great forearms too... probably a combination of more muscle (from stick handling and shooting) plus a higher body fat percentage. But my body fat percentage was definitely higher than it is now, and I had too much belly flab then (more than what I have now, although i cared about it less then), and my lean body mass then probably was the same as it is now. According to the goal weight calculator, at 28% body fat I'd weigh 140lb... so part of me thinks maybe I should bulk to 140lb then cut back to maybe 22-25% body fat. 28% body fat is within the healthy range, but I'm a little concerned that if my current estimate that I have 22% body fat is wrong and I'm really currently around 25% (for example), then bulking up to 140lb will put me in the unhealthy body fat range.
This sounds like a whole bunch of negativity and hating on myself.... but I don't hate my body or my body type, I'm really quite happy with how I am right now apart from the belly flab and I'm not as strong as I'd like to be. Even the calf/forearms thing I can live with, maybe I'd like to bulk them up a little but they're really not that bad. I look good in skinny jeans, just my calves seem too small. Most of what I'm concerned about is how I'd look at 18-20% body fat or lower, e.g. if I do keep on cutting until the belly flab is all but gone, whether the costs outweigh the benefits. I joke about how I look like a neanderthal woman from the neck downwards, but I really don't have a problem with that, other species of human are not that different to Homo sapiens from the neck downwards anyway, just in terms of build and body proportions mainly, and that's what body proportions I have (I have a Homo sapiens face/skull though lol). I don't see what's wrong with that, other than modern culture seems to prefer tall, small framed people. My main issue with it is that I can't buy bras that fit me, plus it does my head in when people talk like short, large framed people don't even exist... that goes beyond body shaming into denial and gaslighting... I've lost count of how many times in my life I've been told I'm "overweight" based on BMI, even when I was 17 and had the top half of my abs visible I was told by my judo coach to lose 10kg (22lb) to make the weight category he thought I should be fighting in based on reading a weight height chart... this resulted in me quitting judo and nearly getting an eating disorder. I got over it and ice hockey was more fun than judo anyway, but I'm still oversensitive about stuff like this. If it wasn't for other people and the fact that clothes never fit me (I'm queen of turn-ups and have to buy kids shoes with maximum width fittings) I really wouldn't have a problem with my body type at all. I think it's great, I'm naturally strong (should be a LOT stronger though), I've always been stronger than most women who are taller than me. And probably the main reason why I think neanderthals are cool is because they have similar body proportions as me. Plus I don't feel the cold easily, I'd rather live in ice age Europe than the African savannah lol. So basically I don't hate my body at all (apart from not liking the belly flab) in spite of so much negativity pushing me into hating myself. I just want to be stronger and healthy and not have belly flab.
So... bulk, cut, or stop caring so much and just carry on lifting while doing neither just watching my macros and just learn to live with the belly flab, and make sure I'm not gaining any fat...? I was thinking about not tracking calories, only macros. Or would bulking be better? (see, terminally indecisive... but I need to get over all this and have a proper goal that I can actually get behind rather than being constantly pulled in 2 different directions and getting nowhere, which is what I feel is happening right now...)
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From my understanding of things, why not track calories and protein (to make sure you're getting enough for your muscle mass), aiming for TDEE irrespective of exercise/training. Continue to lift heavy, focusing on building strength which should increase muscle mass. Throw in some cardio. You'll have a deficit from training rather than eating under TDEE then. It'll take longer but you won't be "dieting" so shouldn't lose strength nor suffer depression.
Review the situation in 6 months. Even if you're still not slimmer, you'll have got stronger.
IANAD and this is just a guess.0 -
Yeah I was thinking about eating minimum what my TDEE is currently (I'd estimate around 1900-2000cal/day) then making a deficit by doing cardio... although technically that's still a cut because the cardio would make my TDEE higher so I'd still be eating less than my TDEE... but more activity and eating more is definitely good for me, physically and mentally. I think whatever I do, more activity will be part of it.
What's IANAD (tried to think of what it could stand for, but my mind's a blank... probably something obvious that I ought to be able to work out lol...)0 -
Yeah, it is a cut but much less severe.
I Am Not A Doctor.
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I'm not an expert either, but my initial thoughts are the same as darrensurrey.....eat at TDEE and continue on a great progressive load lifting program. If you aren't already on a solid program, then something like Stronglifts or Starting Strength would be great. Light cardio on non lifting days would probably be sufficient, but I think that would be a great way to get started that would hit all the areas that you mentioned.
Super curious to see what the experts have to say though
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If I were you I'd take the next year to eat enough to really get my lifts up, maybe even take up strongwoman stuff and go do a few competitions. Then see how you feel. You seem interested in getting really strong, maybe just take advantage of that. Along the way you may find that you like your shape more, as it gets more useful (stronger). You can always cut next year. I'm not suggesting you just eat your way to strength, simply that you make strength instead of body composition your focus for a while.0
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Thank you all for your replies.. just thinking about it now really... I do like the idea of focusing mainly on strength and less on body composition, and eating at TDEE.0
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Last year my focus was on losing fat. I got down to adequate levels but not as low as I wanted to whilst experiencing quite a bit of muscle loss. Also, I could sense it had stalled so decided to just focus on slow bulking for a year. I now calorie cycle (eating slightly more cals on training days) generally eating around TDEE. I don't think I've put on fat but my muscle is growing as is my strength. Reducing the BF% next time should be fairly easy and I won't have to be in a deficit for so long.0
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That does sound like what I need to do... and I think "for a year" is something I need to hear, because it gives me a time frame which will make me stick with the plan instead of faffing around like I have been. So I'm thinking maybe focus on strength, fitness and eating around TDEE while watching macros and nutrition rather than calories. For a whole year. It sounds like I'm starting to have a plan :flowerforyou:
presumably if I'm doing a lot of exercise that will prevent gaining visceral fat? There was one study on sumo wrestlers saying because they did exercise they had didn't have much visceral fat even though they had a lot of subcutaneous fat. Not that I want to gain fat, but if I did and it was just subcutaneous fat, then it would only be a cosmetic issue. And there's always cutting the following year, if necessary. Anyone know if there's any other studies about this though (low visceral fat in spite of high subcutaneous fat in people like sumo wrestlers)?0 -
That does sound like what I need to do... and I think "for a year" is something I need to hear, because it gives me a time frame which will make me stick with the plan instead of faffing around like I have been. So I'm thinking maybe focus on strength, fitness and eating around TDEE while watching macros and nutrition rather than calories. For a whole year. It sounds like I'm starting to have a plan :flowerforyou:
presumably if I'm doing a lot of exercise that will prevent gaining visceral fat? There was one study on sumo wrestlers saying because they did exercise they had didn't have much visceral fat even though they had a lot of subcutaneous fat. Not that I want to gain fat, but if I did and it was just subcutaneous fat, then it would only be a cosmetic issue. And there's always cutting the following year, if necessary. Anyone know if there's any other studies about this though (low visceral fat in spite of high subcutaneous fat in people like sumo wrestlers)?
I don't know of any studies, but if you keep track of your waistline, you will know soon enough if there's more getting added than you are comfortable with, and can at that point you can certainly take steps to curtail it. :-)0 -
that is true
update:
I've downloaded the stronglifts programme. I need to get either an olympic barbell (preferably) or some more plates from somewhere, but I can start with what i currently have. Or improvise with something I can attach to the barbell that I have (which is not mine, because I would have bought an olympic barbell).
One thing i've realised is that although i've been doing a lot of lifting, I've changed what I'm doing and not really had a solid plan with that either. I have made progress, quite a lot actually, but I think I'd benefit from doing one programme and sticking to it fully, no excuses, no chance to faff around. It's not like i can't stick to a programme, because i stuck to a fat loss programme for over a year, the only mistake I made with that is towards the end I think my deficit was too big so I lost lean body mass and strength... I was lifting, but not a lifting programme that involved progressive loading.
my long term goal is to get really strong and stick to focusing on strength for one year
My medium term goal is to complete the programme which is 12 weeks
As far as nutrition is concerned, to track my food but focus on getting enough protein and healthy fat, and general healthy eating, rather than calorie counting, but I'd expect my calories not to be much higher than 1850 cals/day, or more if I end up doing more, because I tend to eat at maintenance when not tracking... when not tracking and lifting heavy in the past i probably was eating at a surplus and saw lean body mass gains (was muscle memory gains from the lean mass I lost from staying in a deficit too long when I was losing fat) so if I end up eating at a slight surplus while making more lean body mass gains then that's great.
If I really feel I'm putting on too much belly flab, I can start watching calories a bit more closely, but that shouldn't be too difficult as I'll be tracking, and so I'd have a good idea where my TDEE is, and to be honest I think maybe not worry about that until at least I've completed the 12 weeks of the stronglifts starter programme. 12 weeks isn't that long in the grand scheme of things.
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On a totally different note... the stronglifts website didn't have any success stories from women or any information about what kind of results women can expect from it, but I know loads of women here have done this programme... any information about what other women have achieved from the 12 weeks starter programme, and stronglifts in general (like starting bench/squat/dl/row/ohp/bench weights and how much you could lift by the end of it, and what you can currently lift) would be useful. (and the same for any other programme that's basically the same as stronglifts)0 -
Best off not comparing yourself. See what you can do if you stick to the programme and focus on performing your best. You won't really know if (1) the women on a website are telling the truth about the duration (2) their dietary intake (3) their genetic make-up.
But let's face facts - if you stick to one routine for several months and focus on increasing the weights as you get stronger, you will enjoy the benefits of such a programme.
Whenever I change something, I will stick to it for several months as it's only after a decent time-frame that I will notice whether something's worth doing or not.
Furthermore, because my calorie intake is relatively light for someone looking at building muscle, my growth is going to be sub-optimal. I accept this (mainly due to the benefit in that I won't gain fat) and am focusing on January 2014!0 -
yes you're right about sticking with something for long enough to get decent results to see if it's really working... this is what I really need to do... i.e. choose a programme and stick to it!! (chosen programme, 1st workout is in 5 mins)
regards comparing myself... it's not so much about that, the website and pdf they sent is full of success stories of men and also says what muscle gains can be made from it... but it's all based on men. They're saying you can gain 45lb lean muscle mass in a year (or something can't remember the exact time frame) but I doubt a woman can gain that much... what I want to know is what kind of gains various women have made and in what circumstances (e.g. noob v experienced, eating at a calorie surplus, etc).0 -
45lb gains? Only in extreme circumstances.
Here is a good read:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html
This goes through the bulk/cut v lean gains discussions:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html0 -
Thanks that's really helpful and gives a more realistic idea of what kind of gains I could expect. I'd be happy with what they predict for women to be honest (or even half of what they predict, for that matter). I'm more concerned about gaining strength than numbers on the scale/callipers etc anyway, but it helps to have an idea of what's possible with hard work and eating right. 0
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Eating right for this kind of thing would make you fatter for optimal gains, though. I am sacrificing gains to avoid getting fatter. The possibilities shown for men are therefore just as meaningful to me as the ones they have for women (ie none).0
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that;s true. and you can make a lot of strength gains without gaining so much mass as well.0
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I am currently in my 21st week of SL.....so basically in my 2nd 12 week cycle. There is a great group where you can get a lot of great information about the program....Stronglifts 5x5 for Women.
My stats are as follows:
Squat 45>135 (highest 155)
Bench 45>63
Row 65>93
OHP 45>56
Deadlift 85>145 (highest 155)
My upper body strength is in the gutter compared to lower body but it's definitely coming. I would highly recommend fractional weights as you will more than likely get to a point where you can't progress 5lbs each workout anymore. I also did a deload in between each cycle and started again from my deload weights and in this cycle I have focused on form more than increasing every workout....sometimes I will go 2 or 3 workouts before I increase my weight, but I will try to pound out an extra rep instead. Anyway....there are loads of great success stories with women and SL.....come join the group....I think you will really like it And just to note, the changes that I have seen in my physique since I started this are unreal.....and the longer I'm at it, the better it gets. It's just a very slow process! 0 -
Thanks I just found it and joined
I need to get some more plates anyway, at least, preferably an actual olympic barbell. I'm on a limited budget though so will have to make do and improvise. I can probably get with just buying a few more plates for the barbell I have for now. I'll see about getting fractional plates with them, depends on what they have in the shops etc. Last time I went into a sports shop to see if they had olympic barbells the sales guy didn't have a clue what I was talking about... (and he spoke good English, so it wasn't a language thing...)0 -
I actually use contractor size rolls of masking tape as my "fractionals" :laugh: I didn't want to pay as much as it was going to cost to get real fractionals shipped to Canada (I have since found a local place that sells them :grumble: :laugh: ) I bought the tape for $20 for 8 rolls and each roll is 0.5lbs.....totally fit my budget and they work like a charm!0
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just here to give props on how riveting this thread is, and there's tons of great info for all of us
are in the girls who lift, and guys who spot them group yet?
tons of great info there, and even for days you're doing body weight workouts,
that counts as lifting too, they love the convict conditioning and other
body weight exercises too.0 -
I'll look out for contractor masking tape rolls or something along the lines. That's the kind of thing I'll have to do until I have more money. I was also thinking of weighing out and making my own sand bags. I live in Bahrain, there's no shortage of sand here. I have freezer bags of different sizes. I have kitchen and bathroom scales for weighing out sand bags. I'm sure I'll find a way to attach them to the barbell securely without spilling sand everywhere lol.
katy glad you like my thread :happy: i'll look out for that group. I've been combining lifting with bodyweight work for variety so far, and intend to carry on with the bodyweight stuff (not sure if during the next 12 weeks of stronglifts or not though.. see how it goes with recovery etc, but definitely in the future alongside weightlifting) - just right now I think i need a solid structure because I've just been faffing around doing a bit of this and a bit of that, lacking discipline and direction. The interesting thing about bodyweight exercises is they do genuniely compliment the weight exercises, I've improved my bench by doing push-ups and vice versa when I was switching between the two. And being able to do handstand pushups is still a goal of mine. As is being able to fireman carry my husband up all the stairs to my apartment, and also to do atg squats while fireman carrying my husband. I can already fireman carry him more than 50 paces 0 -
Just to check, why do you need an oly bar? I've loaded up my normal (non-hollow) bar with nearly 190lbs before and it hasn't bent out of shape. As long as it's a solid barbell, it'll do for beginners.0
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not sure how solid it is to be honest. If I'm going to be buying a new one anyway, then I may as well get an olympic one and I also won't need to buy so many extra plates to go on it for the time being. The total weight of my barbell + plates currently is 88lb (that's with all the collars on as well, have 4 dumbbell collars that are the same size). For now if I can get some plates from the supermarket weight section for cheap, I might go with that, but it'll be a "for now"... I'd rather invest in a proper barbell and then get more plates later if necessary
for right now (no spare cash) it's what I've got + sandbags
ultimately I want a power cage and an olympic barbell, and I want the power cage to have dip bars and a pull-up bar0 -
Neandermagnon, I love where you've gotten to with this thread. Your plan sounds really good, and much better than faffing around :happy: (I just wanted to use the word faffing -- I love it but as an American it's hard to work into conversation)0
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not sure how solid it is to be honest. If I'm going to be buying a new one anyway, then I may as well get an olympic one and I also won't need to buy so many extra plates to go on it for the time being. The total weight of my barbell + plates currently is 88lb (that's with all the collars on as well, have 4 dumbbell collars that are the same size). For now if I can get some plates from the supermarket weight section for cheap, I might go with that, but it'll be a "for now"... I'd rather invest in a proper barbell and then get more plates later if necessary
for right now (no spare cash) it's what I've got + sandbags
ultimately I want a power cage and an olympic barbell, and I want the power cage to have dip bars and a pull-up bar
It just sounded like you were using it as a reason to not train. Of course, if you're going to get a new one then if possible get an oly one but as I say, a normal one will suffice initially if you can't afford to spend the extra money.0 -
Neandermagnon, I love where you've gotten to with this thread. Your plan sounds really good, and much better than faffing around :happy: (I just wanted to use the word faffing -- I love it but as an American it's hard to work into conversation)
it is a fun expression :bigsmile: and there's also farting around and fannying around with the same meaning but not so workplace friendly (although that depends on your boss)
Darren - yes I have to be careful of that, which is why I decided to do this even if I have to make sandbags (looking at the deadlift weight I'll have to start making sandbags next week) otherwise it will turn into "I'm going to do this but I can't until I get ____" which is what I totally need to avoid doing0 -
The sandbags thing sounds like a great idea. For general fitness on the cheap, check this out:
http://youtu.be/OIIuvdW6IXE 0 -
Thanks for the video... I wonder if I can get gravel rather than sand, because it's denser... I'm going to use freezer bags to make 2.5 and 5lb bags that I can attach to the barbell, I'll botch up some kind of loop/attachment. I need something that's both cheap and dense to make them. I probably can get gravel if I look in the right place.
did my first workout B today... what I like about this is it tells me exactly what to do, exactly how many reps and sets. I don't have to think so much about what exercises I'm doing, I just do them and focus more on the actual lifting0
This discussion has been closed.