TJP_ Member

Olympic weightlifters lift every day, I'd be surprised if you're at a higher level than them ;)

Hmmm, that's a lot of machine stuff, do you have access to free weights? What are your goals?

Sorry, I was referring to a previous post suggesting you look up. Correct posture can be difficult, there will always be a degree of arching of course but you just don't want to over-do it (you need it be in a neutral position, not hyper-extended). Better than rounding it though.

You need to look forward, not up (the latter can cause excessive lower back arching). Actually you're lower back looks a bit too arched anyway (hard to tell from that angle though) - it could be a little straighter. I'd also say you're breaking too much at the hips. Have a watch of this:…

Upper/lower splits are a great way to keep up volume without compromising recovery.

You'd be better off forgetting about what the scale says and focus on what the mirror is telling you ;)

Google goblet squats and start on these, they're pretty hard to get wrong and will help you learn good form before moving on to back squats. http://davedraper.com/blog/2006/11/04/what-are-goblet-squats-goblet-squat-instruction/

Exrx.net has a fairly decent list of excercises. You're a bit limited with the EZ bar but plenty you can do with dumbbells

Eating right before he trains won't help with energy, furthermore HIIT on a cross trainer with a full stomach isn't going to be particularly enjoyable. I did 'use my noggin' when I suggested he'd be better off eating a slow digesting meal right before bed the night before.

OK, so enlighten me on how it works and why it's beneficial to eat right before doing HIIT?

The body doesn't instantly absorb energy from food - it needs to be digested.

5 hour long sessions of strength training is a lot - you need rest days to recover and allow your body to repair. What does your routine look like?

I would drop the leg extensions and curls (they won't be giving you anything that the squats/legs presses aren't) and swap for glute ham raises, plus either stiff deadlifts or good mornings. Rest of it looks good for your goals (Personally I'd also drop the leg press and do front squats but leg presses are also fine).

20 minutes of virtually unfuelled (the banana probably wont have time to make much of a difference) HIIT is always going to be tough I'm afraid. On the plus side it should strip the fat off you ;) You could try a slow digesting protein and fat meal just before bed and see if that helps...

It depends on what you're trying to achieve. I train to improve my squat and deadlift 1RM so these are the staple of my training, along with assistance lifts to specifically work lower back, hamstrings, core and grip and explosiveness Paused lifts, speed work, good mornings, SLDLs, hanging leg raises, rack pulls, front…

Veg is pretty satiating as it's not particularly calorie dense and generally has a lot of fibre, hence why you're feeling full. Increasing fat is the easiest way of increasing calories, but if you're mainly eating fruit and veg (and excercising) you could probably do with reviewing your protein intake too.

:facepalm: My first post was me agreeing with you that Stronglifts would be a good routine. You can check that, it's just up there, look ^^^ EDIT: actually I'll even quote it for you

Let me try and explain what is happening here. OP (a beginner) asks about a training routine You suggest Stronglifts I agree with you Someone else suggests 5/3/1 I disagree with them You start some bizarre series of posts telling me I'm wrong whilst spectacularly failing to comprehend what I've actually written

In 5/3/1 you take your TM (90% of 1RM) and use that for 3 weeks (and that's if you're doing Beyond 5/3/1, the original template increases TM every 4 weeks) before increasing. This is NOT optimal for a beginner. Do you even know what you're trying to argue about?!

5/3/1 is NOT a good choice for a beginner. Will they be able to use it? Sure. But they won't progress nearly as quickly as if they use a simple linear progression routine. Once the increases slow and you've stalled a few times, that is the time to move on to something like 5/3/1

Er, yeah - I was responding to the post above mine suggesting the OP start on 5/3/1 :neutral_face:

Why the confusion? Why would a beginner go for 3 weeks+ without increasing the weight on the bar when they could be adding 5-10lbs every workout, then every week? Most people should be able to get to at least 2xBW deadlift and 1.5xBW squat before they need to think about periodisation

Gloves will make your grip worse, especially if you have small hands. Grip strength will come from more deadlifting, plus other pulling exercises (rows etc.) Does your gym allow chalk?

Absolutely no point in a new lifter going straight in to 5/3/1 - they've so much to gain from a simple linear progression routine. 5/3/1 is a great program to move on to when you start struggling to increase the weight from workout to workout.

Full body lifting program (as above stronglifts is a solid place to start) with cardio a couple of times a week. Diet has to be right though too.

Lol, can't see where I wrote that it was easy? So now you're saying that you can gain muscle (a key element of recomping) when in a deficit?

This really depends on your definition of 'at the same time' and the scope you're looking at. It's how calorie cycling and intermittent fasting work (essentially pulsing micro bulk/cut cycles from day to day). The overall effect is that you can gain muscle and lose fat. Plenty of people successfully recomp rather than…

That's more circuit training than true HIIT (the latter is very short bursts of real high intensity training followed by slightly longer rest - something like 20 seconds of sprints followed by 40 secs of jogging/walking repeated until you feel like you're going to die) but it sounds fine. Splitting it up in to 10 minutes…

There are quite a few articles about positive effects of intermittent fasting on insulin resistance/sensitivity, google should throw up some good stuff.

Numerous studies have shown that there is no additional benefit to be gained from eating more than 0.82g per lb of bodyweight (this is the upper limit). Eating more than this won't cause a problem however. Only real downside to eating 'too much' protein is that it's an expensive way to get calories, and if you're sticking…