SnifterPug Member

Where you carry your fat does not translate into where you will carry muscle. The fat will leave your body according to your genes. There's nothing you can do about it. Muscle will develop in accordance with your exercise, so you have control of that factor. Women generally don't get bulky and nobody gets bulky by accident…

Age 52 5'10" 75kg Started lifting Feb 2020 - then, you know, Covid. Have been lifting consistently since July 2020 either at home or in the gyms when open. Squat - 45kg (5x5). Could probably do more but right knee is a bit dodgy and I don't trust it. I can do 40kg single leg press for 12x5. Deadlift - 75kg (3 x 5). That…

I third the request for more information on the machine and your aims. I've just purchased adjustable dumbbells going up to 24kg each side. I know they will last me a long time because I also have a barbell and 140kg of plates for that. So if the dumbbells eventually get relegated to isolation work, that's fine. The…

Wow! That's a heck of a visual result in a month. Please don't get fixated on the scale weight. Fluctuations are normal and can come from all sorts of things.

Those scales are a road to misery if you are as conscious of the figures as you obviously are. That is not a criticism of you - I'm into my numbers too. I also have impedence scales and I am utterly consistent in how I use them. Still the fluctuations they tell me I have are ridiculous. By all means use them, as they can…

Does your bust get in the way of/cause discomfort doing planks? They are a great core exercise. Alternatively, hollow body holds are great, and you do those lying on your back.

Shadow boxing (or even heavy bag boxing) is a good CV workout that's not too heavy on the knees. You could even do shadow boxing seated on a bench if your knees are really playing up. Kettlebell swings may also be good for you.

Salmon is very versatile. You can sub it for chicken in sandwiches, pasta or whatever. I see you have a nut allergy - what about seeds? Pumpkin or sunflower seeds flung into a salad will help. Pumpkin seed oil is fantastically tasty both in salad but also drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

I'm sorry to tell you that beer calories count as double!!! Joking - just - but of all the alcohol there is I have found beer to be the absolute worst for weight gain. In fact my weight loss was kick started by going on a cruise and not drinking any of the beer that used to be my tipple of choice. The cocktails were too…

I'm with @MaltedTea on this. I simply don't see what you are describing. The penultimate picture from 2021 is badly lit and clearly unflattering, but even so I don't see anything objectionable. That said, I do understand where you are coming from. Many of us obsess over small things that others don't even notice. As an…

Well done on the PR. I have no idea if you are going too fast. There does come a time when it is wise to spend some time scaling back and doing more volume, just to allow tendons, ligaments etc to catch up with your strength gains. Do you video your lifts and review your form? That's always a good thing to do. If your dad…

I don't believe I told anyone there is no point in contacting the GP if you have a worrying symptom. I was addressing the poster who suggested a health team could provide proactive care in order to point out that this is not the general policy of the NHS. The NHS and government can advertise all it likes, but I have heard…

The main thing is that you have got into the habit of exercising regularly and pushing yourself. Progress will come. As for the bikini bod - I thought that, too. I was bitten by the fitness bug in 2016 and lost a lot of weight. I have been doing serious weight training since the start of 2020. The aim has nothing to do…

I second the Bret Contreras video referred to by @sijomial. I watched it yesterday and it's good.

You are right, of course. But the OP is in the UK, I believe, and my experience of healthcare here is that (unless you are in a position to pay for it privately) you are lucky to get an appointment for something reactive/acute. Proactive care does not exist here.

I've never been pregnant. But hopped in here to recommend you have a look at the Girls Gone Strong website. They do all sorts of courses and workout plans specifically aimed at pregnant and postpartum women and there are a lot of good articles there too.

Any sudden dietary changes can have unwelcome results but should settle down over a week or two. If they don't then it may be a medical issue. I eat a lot of fruit and veg and poop once a day in the morning. Very occasionally (once a month) I might go again in the afternoon. By "a lot" I mean: a salad of mixed salad and…

I know nothing about headstands but what stands out to me is how much further away from the wall your head is in the right hand picture. I think that will mean you have to push off the wall a bit harder to try to find the balance and the level of movement may be what is causing the problem. If you are just gently nudging…

https://medium.com/house-of-hypertrophy/should-you-train-to-failure-to-build-muscle-5eeaac9a4a08 You might find this article about training to failure of interest. I'm currently in a hypertrophy phase of training so I am doing high volume exercises with short rest periods and am training to (or very close to) failure on…

Well done on the weight loss. I agree with the others - that's mainly fat rather than loose skin. You may end up with some loose skin but if you aim to lose weight at a reasonably sensible rate rather than as fast as possible you will minimise your risk of loose skin. Keeping the skin as elastic as possible should help…

I don't weigh everything all the time. But since humans tend to be creatures of habit you can use that to your advantage. Weigh the constituent parts of a typical meal. Or better yet, decide how many calories your meal should be and then weigh out ingredients to find out what size they actually are. You might be surprised.…

I gain at least 3 pounds after eating one Chinese meal, even when my calories are in a deficit. It's water weight.

Pick one. They can be capricious - I find it is often best to weigh twice and take the second reading. Or even three times (though I typically find that the weight changes from reading 1 to reading 2 and then stays the same for reading 3, so reading 3 becomes a waste of time)

In theory you should be counting those calories and eating accordingly. In practice, given you will have had a few weeks to get used to the calorie consumption, I would suggest you try not eating them and see how you go. If you are feeling very hungry then you have wiggle room. If not, then you might get a bit of a weight…

Personally, I have found that the biggest mistake of all was "going on a diet". That presupposes that once you have reached your goal or given up in misery you go back to "normal" when "normal" is what got you to the wrong weight in the first place. Much though I hate the concept of a new normal (because Covid has ruined…

Training for hypertrophy and for strength overlap to some extent, but sounds like you may be doing strength training. I'm sure there's all sorts of info online about hypertrophy training - you need a reasonable amount of volume. My coach has currently put me on a hypertrophy block. Essentially I'm doing 5 sets of each…

If your dad reassured you that you don't look skinny, then maybe they know you don't want to look skinny and were trying to be complimentary? Either way, your best bet would probably have been to say something like "Thanks - that's the idea." Either they go into paroxysms of shock that anyone might want to bulk (in which…

Hear hear. I tweaked my back last week adjusting the height of the pulley on the cable machine at the gym. Sigh.

Totally agree with the others who have said you need to scale back. To deal with the DOMS you might have now (or in the future) make sure you: keep hydrated stretch the muscle foam roll or massage or both (it will feel uncomfortable but will help in the long run) move as frequently as you can (it will feel uncomfortable…

Until you can reliably clean the bar at the loaded weight it looks like you will just have to unload it to move it. The arms look too low to make a front racked squat feasible for lowering the bar. For raising the bar you'll need to clean it to the front rack position - I find this easiest to do by removing from the arms,…