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Q and A thread - Angus is peppered.
Replies
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clicketykeys wrote: »
So for someone who wants to "push the envelope" with strength, you'd start them at lower reps and more weight? Would you still do 3 sets? Would it look more like this:
Week 1, day 1: Squat 3x5@120 (if their 5rm was 130); Week 2, day 1: Squat 3x5@125; Week 3, day 1: Squat 3x5@130.
(PS - If I am misunderstanding RPE or rm I'm sorry - I'm still pretty new at this! I looked it up and I *think* I get it but I could be wrong!)
Sort of.
I would have them add weight progressively and eventually reduce volume to accommodate the addition of weight.
I would also have them perform a variety of rep ranges. I omitted this from the original example for simplicity, but it might looks something like this:
4x8 day 1
3x6 day 2
4x4 day 3
And I might make linear load increases each week, and when RPE starts climbing too high I'll pull rep ranges down as weight goes up.
Having said all of this, if you are asking for a direct application to your own training, I would suggest finding some well designed pre-written programs and stick to them for a bit rather than designing your own.2 -
BUMP2
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
Please share what you discover on the topic. Alot of women, especially as they age, need exercises for the pelvic floor muscles.1 -
snowflake954 wrote: »
Please share what you discover on the topic. Alot of women, especially as they age, need exercises for the pelvic floor muscles.
In the link I provided you should be able to get to Sarah' s blog and she also does group coaching. Worth checking out.1 -
Sort of.
I would have them add weight progressively and eventually reduce volume to accommodate the addition of weight.
I would also have them perform a variety of rep ranges. I omitted this from the original example for simplicity, but it might looks something like this:
4x8 day 1
3x6 day 2
4x4 day 3
And I might make linear load increases each week, and when RPE starts climbing too high I'll pull rep ranges down as weight goes up.
Having said all of this, if you are asking for a direct application to your own training, I would suggest finding some well designed pre-written programs and stick to them for a bit rather than designing your own.
It's more that it's interesting, and I'm curious how it works. More personally, I'd like to be able to tell whether I'm getting the best results possible from the program I'm on. Like... I'm going to listen to my body and not push myself to the point of injury, hopefully that would be obvious! But it can be difficult to tell where "hard enough" is, you know?0 -
Giving this one bump up, will check in this weekend. Thanks everyone!2
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Hey! Moving this up one last time then I'll let it die it's deserving death, lol. I'll be around today and tomorrow to check in.
I hope everyone is doing well!2 -
Thanks for sharing your knowledge!0
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Should I switch to sumo deadlift?
How important is leg drive on bench press? Resources on how to do it right?0 -
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »Should I switch to sumo deadlift?
How important is leg drive on bench press? Resources on how to do it right?
If you'd like to cheat, yes.
LOL
Serious answer though:
It depends on your goals.
For pretty much all of my clients I'm going to base the decision on whichever one they are more comfortable with and/or perform the best in. If it's a competitive powerlifter or someone who cares most about 1rm strength I'll go with whichever is stronger UNLESS it's an example where I think they will eventually become stronger at one over the other.
If someone trains primarily for body composition purposes I'll go with whatever one is more comfortable and I may even go to an RDL instead of pulling from the floor anyway.
As far as leg drive, I'd suggest this article although you'll have to scroll down a bit as this is quite comprehensive.
http://www.powerliftingtowin.com/powerlifting-technique-how-to-bench-press/1 -
Also Rae, if you need help assessing this (sumo vs conventional) feel free to take a few vids and message me with them on facebook and I'd be happy to take a look.1
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Great thread, thank you.
My sport is Olympic weightlifting and I compete in the 69kg bodyweight category. At the moment I’m at the top of this bodyweight category range, training at around 70kg and then making 69kg at comp weigh-ins by reducing salt and calories to 2000/2200 a few days before accordingly, but I’m not yet the badass 69kg I want to be.
Luckily I was at the back of the queue when the chesticles were handed out, so there’s not much bodyweight “wasted” there. I’ve given up trying to “measure” body fat as it’s all so varied and inaccurate.
I know that if I just keep training and eating as well as I can (I recently realised through various posts on MFP that I’ve often been eating too much protein, so I’ve changed my consideration of macros. Now I’m at around 150g protein daily), I’ll get stronger and stronger within the category.
However I do need to stay roughly the same weight and was wondering if you have any tips on how to gain as much strength as possible while maintaining.
I’m not driven by aesthetics / bodybuilding. I just want to improve in the sport, keep doing it for as long as possible, and dominate my category.
Thank you! Hope all is well with you3 -
Hi!
I am a busy mom working full time and am walking and swimming for exercise. I’m not interested in weightlifting at this point. I’m 236 5’6 1/2” and have my cals set to 1980 (1 lb a week weight loss). Should I be concerned with macros if I’m not lifting? And if so what would you suggest for someone in my position? I appreciate you taking time to answer questions. Thanks0 -
Hi! Is it possible and/or safe to build muscle or recomp while pregnant? Or is that more of a try to maintain what I have situation? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question but we are planning to try for a baby soon and I would like to make sure my fitness goals are both realistic and safe. Thanks!0
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Alendralouise wrote: »Great thread, thank you.
My sport is Olympic weightlifting and I compete in the 69kg bodyweight category. At the moment I’m at the top of this bodyweight category range, training at around 70kg and then making 69kg at comp weigh-ins by reducing salt and calories to 2000/2200 a few days before accordingly, but I’m not yet the badass 69kg I want to be.
Luckily I was at the back of the queue when the chesticles were handed out, so there’s not much bodyweight “wasted” there. I’ve given up trying to “measure” body fat as it’s all so varied and inaccurate.
I know that if I just keep training and eating as well as I can (I recently realised through various posts on MFP that I’ve often been eating too much protein, so I’ve changed my consideration of macros. Now I’m at around 150g protein daily), I’ll get stronger and stronger within the category.
However I do need to stay roughly the same weight and was wondering if you have any tips on how to gain as much strength as possible while maintaining.
I’m not driven by aesthetics / bodybuilding. I just want to improve in the sport, keep doing it for as long as possible, and dominate my category.
Thank you! Hope all is well with you
I first need to disclose that for a fitness professional I know very little about the sport of weightlifting. I can make some assumptions about it but they are only assumptions.
I would think that you are best off learning how much water weight you can SAFELY cut in the final week of prep and by SAFELY I mean such that it will not negatively affect health OR performance and then I'd hang out around that weight throughout most of prep (meaning, hang out on the high end of weight)
So for example for me if I compete in the 83kg class and I know I can easily drop 2 to 3kg in the final week, I'll hang out around 86kg throughout the training cycle.
Basically remain at the upper end of where you are comfortable such that you can confidently reach weigh in without doing anything stupid.
For me the most extreme I will get with myself or clients is to do an isocaloric swap of carbohydrate and fat in the final week of the meet so that carbs are being replaced with fat, I set a floor carb intake of about 100g for me, and then I fast about 14hours before weigh in. Usually see about a ~6-7lb drop in the final week from this.
Beyond that I think it's really a matter of program design assuming you have your nutrition dialed in.
And as much as I LOVE talking about programming, I'm clueless with Oly lifting.0 -
pothosgirl wrote: »Hi!
I am a busy mom working full time and am walking and swimming for exercise. I’m not interested in weightlifting at this point. I’m 236 5’6 1/2” and have my cals set to 1980 (1 lb a week weight loss). Should I be concerned with macros if I’m not lifting? And if so what would you suggest for someone in my position? I appreciate you taking time to answer questions. Thanks
I would first ask how things are going so far.
Are you losing and are you able to stick to your diet? If the answers are yes, I would likely say "keep doing it".
Having said that, I think the following things are likely valuable:
1) Protein is generally a very satiating macronutrient and diets higher in protein tend to outperform diets lower in protein. Protein promotes greater energy expenditure through digestive processes and so you'll basically burn more calories eating protein compared to carbohydrate and fat. The difference isn't huge, but it's potentially meaningful when you think of it in terms of months of doing it.
1g/lb TARGET bodyweight is a decent and quick rough estimate to set protein goals should you choose to go that route.
2) As far as fat and carbohydrate, personal preference matters a lot here. Some people do much better on lower carbs and higher fat and some people are the opposite. It may matter a great deal for adherence to the deficit.
When I set carbs and fats for a client I ask a few questions about their preferences and I look at their activity levels. I tend to see highly active people doing better on higher carb intakes and lower fat intakes and vise versa but that's not an absolute rule.
Another option you can consider which works well for some people is to have a calorie ceiling and a protein minimum and no fat or carb targets. So basically you just let carb and fat land wherever provided you hit protein minimums and don't exceed total cals.
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aubyshortcake wrote: »Hi! Is it possible and/or safe to build muscle or recomp while pregnant? Or is that more of a try to maintain what I have situation? Sorry if that seems like a dumb question but we are planning to try for a baby soon and I would like to make sure my fitness goals are both realistic and safe. Thanks!
I would urge you to go over this with your primary care physician.
PHYSIOLOGICALLY yes it's possible.
I think it's more a matter of what sorts of things you need to do in order to cause muscle growth and is there a stage in pregnancy where "those things" are no longer advisable.
Additionally, recomping implies changes to body composition while remaining weight stable and remaining weight stable during a pregnancy is also something I'd refer you to your physician on. I would think weight gain should be expected given that you are growing a person
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I would urge you to go over this with your primary care physician.
PHYSIOLOGICALLY yes it's possible.
I think it's more a matter of what sorts of things you need to do in order to cause muscle growth and is there a stage in pregnancy where "those things" are no longer advisable.
Additionally, recomping implies changes to body composition while remaining weight stable and remaining weight stable during a pregnancy is also something I'd refer you to your physician on. I would think weight gain should be expected given that you are growing a person
Thank you!0 -
I'm getting back on the wagon after a long time off (for a lot of reasons). Anyway. I'm working on tracking foods and need to add some activity into my daily/weekly routine. I cannot fit a gym membership into my budget/schedule right now. I hope to in the not-to-distant future, but I want to get started anyway.
What is your best resource/advice for a starting at-home workout? I can go outside and walk/jog/bike but I don't have a treadmill or other at-home cardio equipment, I'm willing to get some equipment if needed (but again - budget), and I do currently have some hand weights and resistance bands but I'm anticipating needing to do mostly body-weight workouts.0 -
I'm getting back on the wagon after a long time off (for a lot of reasons). Anyway. I'm working on tracking foods and need to add some activity into my daily/weekly routine. I cannot fit a gym membership into my budget/schedule right now. I hope to in the not-to-distant future, but I want to get started anyway.
What is your best resource/advice for a starting at-home workout? I can go outside and walk/jog/bike but I don't have a treadmill or other at-home cardio equipment, I'm willing to get some equipment if needed (but again - budget), and I do currently have some hand weights and resistance bands but I'm anticipating needing to do mostly body-weight workouts.
Two resources I often hear great things about are the following:
1) You are your own gym
2) Convict Conditioning
The latter of the two has been posted online in pdf format for free so you may be able to google it and use that as a starting point.
One thing to keep in mind is that we really want the big picture items taken care of first and those would be as follows from a training standpoint:
1) Choose something you enjoy or at least something you don't hate.
2) Ideally, train your entire body at least twice per week, up to 4 times (2-4 is a good average for most people but not a hard rule)
3) Start with low volume (1 to 2 sets per exercise)
Over time, you should gradually/incrementally build volume or load so that you are doing more total work over time.1 -
Two resources I often hear great things about are the following:
1) You are your own gym
2) Convict Conditioning
The latter of the two has been posted online in pdf format for free so you may be able to google it and use that as a starting point.
One thing to keep in mind is that we really want the big picture items taken care of first and those would be as follows from a training standpoint:
1) Choose something you enjoy or at least something you don't hate.
2) Ideally, train your entire body at least twice per week, up to 4 times (2-4 is a good average for most people but not a hard rule)
3) Start with low volume (1 to 2 sets per exercise)
Over time, you should gradually/incrementally build volume or load so that you are doing more total work over time.
I use "You Are Your Own Gym" and I really like it. It's approachable for different fitness levels, including absolute beginners to resistance training (like I was), you don't need to buy anything, and I personally saw changes in my fitness quickly (both in progressing in ability and visual changes in my body).1 -
I first need to disclose that for a fitness professional I know very little about the sport of weightlifting. I can make some assumptions about it but they are only assumptions.
I would think that you are best off learning how much water weight you can SAFELY cut in the final week of prep and by SAFELY I mean such that it will not negatively affect health OR performance and then I'd hang out around that weight throughout most of prep (meaning, hang out on the high end of weight)
So for example for me if I compete in the 83kg class and I know I can easily drop 2 to 3kg in the final week, I'll hang out around 86kg throughout the training cycle.
Basically remain at the upper end of where you are comfortable such that you can confidently reach weigh in without doing anything stupid.
For me the most extreme I will get with myself or clients is to do an isocaloric swap of carbohydrate and fat in the final week of the meet so that carbs are being replaced with fat, I set a floor carb intake of about 100g for me, and then I fast about 14hours before weigh in. Usually see about a ~6-7lb drop in the final week from this.
Beyond that I think it's really a matter of program design assuming you have your nutrition dialed in.
And as much as I LOVE talking about programming, I'm clueless with Oly lifting.
Thank you so much! That’s very helpful.0 -
You are still around?
Who would have known
2 -
Thoughts on Calgary Barbell program? https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvtuma1krpfv9ic/Complete 16-week Program.xlsx?dl=0
I've been lifting steady for 4 years. SL for 1 year, 531 for 2 3/4 years and currently running PHAT. Looking for something new along the PL lines. Calgary barbell was something I read someone else is trying but they are only in 2 weeks, so not enough feedback from them yet.0 -
Two resources I often hear great things about are the following:
1) You are your own gym
2) Convict Conditioning
The latter of the two has been posted online in pdf format for free so you may be able to google it and use that as a starting point.
One thing to keep in mind is that we really want the big picture items taken care of first and those would be as follows from a training standpoint:
1) Choose something you enjoy or at least something you don't hate.
2) Ideally, train your entire body at least twice per week, up to 4 times (2-4 is a good average for most people but not a hard rule)
3) Start with low volume (1 to 2 sets per exercise)
Over time, you should gradually/incrementally build volume or load so that you are doing more total work over time.
Thank you! I will check those out. I really appreciate the direction - sometimes its hard to narrow down the wheat from the chaff on an initial Google search!0 -
What Strength program would you recommend for a woman who...
- Doesn't really love going to the gym and would prefer shorter, more frequent workouts than long ones
- Is a strength-training/weight-lifting newbie worried about form and looking silly and won't have a spotter
- Would like to focus on recomping and general health, as opposed to bulking
I tried Stronglifts 5x5 a while ago, it was okay. I'd be open to revisiting it but I'd prefer some additional dumb-bell stuff. I also tried Strong Curves but TBH, some of the moves were kind of confusing to me (they didn't feel like they were working out any muscle groups) and some of them felt too silly to do at the gym.0 -
It's about time. Welcome back.2 -
piperdown44 wrote: »Thoughts on Calgary Barbell program? https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvtuma1krpfv9ic/Complete 16-week Program.xlsx?dl=0
I've been lifting steady for 4 years. SL for 1 year, 531 for 2 3/4 years and currently running PHAT. Looking for something new along the PL lines. Calgary barbell was something I read someone else is trying but they are only in 2 weeks, so not enough feedback from them yet.
It will probably work but there are aspects of it I don't like. However, I'm likely biased in that I tend to program less movement variation in the main lifts for powerlifters.
I would prefer to see more time spent doing competition movements. I do think some movement variation is fine but this particular program doesn't go beyond 1/week frequency of competition movements until the final week.
The load and volume progression looks reasonable.2 -
What Strength program would you recommend for a woman who...
- Doesn't really love going to the gym and would prefer shorter, more frequent workouts than long ones
- Is a strength-training/weight-lifting newbie worried about form and looking silly and won't have a spotter
- Would like to focus on recomping and general health, as opposed to bulking
I tried Stronglifts 5x5 a while ago, it was okay. I'd be open to revisiting it but I'd prefer some additional dumb-bell stuff. I also tried Strong Curves but TBH, some of the moves were kind of confusing to me (they didn't feel like they were working out any muscle groups) and some of them felt too silly to do at the gym.
I would want to identify what movements you find embarrassing or silly and I'd remove those up front so that you're as comfortable as possible when exercising, so that your adherence/enjoyment of the program remains high.
Another thing to consider is that strength can be defined in different ways. For example as a powerlifter I may be biased towards defining strength as "one repetition maximum strength in the squat, bench press, and deadlift" but this isn't a universal measure of strength, it's a measure of strength in the skill of the squat, bench press, and deadlift.
And so these are just things from a philosophical standpoint I'd identify.
You say you want to be strong -- strong in what way? This will affect programming decisions.1
This discussion has been closed.
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