Retroguy2000 Member

I recently purchased a set of Bodylastics bands for upcoming travel, and I'm very impressed with them for upper body. They aren't so good for lower body, though maybe you can get creative with leg extensions and lying leg curls. And they're easy to progress, by simply hooking another band to the handle as needed. It was…

That's good news about your shoulder. It's such a delicate area. Ofc any injury has you wondering, oh no, will it heal by itself (with rehab) or will it need surgery? Funny that two surgeons recommended surgery. I've seen it mentioned that PT's generally rec PT, surgeons generally rec surgery, etc. LOL Coach Greg advises…

Your bw has increased 8% from the low, over quite a few years. Recomp generally implies maintenance calories or slight deficit, which would mean constant bw or slow drop. It's also not a lean bulk though, which is often defined as 5%-10% increase to maintenance, which would be about 100-300 calories. Your bw increase is…

@mylittlechocobo As I said I'm not well versed in the merits of bw programs, and my main issue would be how does someone progress? Maybe you can db bench press 30 pounds for 10 reps then you progress to 11 reps, 12 reps, then go up to 35 pounds and 10 reps, and so on. Thus your chest muscles and delts grow. But if you're…

That's why I never recommend anyone get fixed db's. However, you can get a pair of adjustable db's that go up/down quickly in 2.5 or 5 pound increments from 5 pounds to whatever their max is, 25, 50, 80, 100, depending on the brand and model. Check garagegymreviews site and YT for reviews of many. So space isn't really an…

@AnnPT77 I greatly appreciate your knowledge and input here, and if we happen to disagree, that's fine. There are a couple of issues with your reasoning imo. First, BMI is a terrible indicator for an individual. TBH, I didn't even look at her weight number or consider BMI. I just looked at the picture. I saw someone in…

Has your weight changed in that time? Just wondering if that's 100% recomp, or a very long lean bulk.

I forget where I saw it recently, it was a science based lifting channel I follow, and they were talking about studies showing the difference between varying amounts of calorie surpluses on muscle mass gain. And basically, there wasn't much difference. But it did make a huge difference in how much fat you gain. You're a 43…

Home. I like the convenience and don't need the motivation of others. I have bench, db's, barbell, pullup bar.

You're doing everything almost perfectly. 1600 is a bit aggressive for a guy, but if you're managing with it, that's OK. The larger the deficit, the more of your weight loss will be muscle mass, but frequent lifting and high protein will help mitigate that. Sets of 10 make perfect sense if you can only do 11 or 12 reps. If…

It sounds like you know at least as much about this as I do. My suggestion would be definitely don't bulk. First, you already have good definition, especially in your core. Second, you aren't lifting weights. You may have to lose about 5 pounds or so. However, you may be limited by genetics, including where your body…

Cardio -> Strength Training, enter total time for session. That's a good enough estimate. I enter slightly lower, preferring a more conservative entry in my diary for exercise calories.

You just seem nervous about going up in calories, that's all I mean. Yep, we're on the same page on everything else there. I think if you wanted to go closer to 5 reps on some of the compounds, that's up to you. I'm just saying don't aim for a 5-8 rep range for everything. Stick to what the program listed for the most…

Everything you wrote sounds fantastic (except for your caution of adding a few calories to boost your muscle building chances...) Ultimately the best program for someone is the one they will stick to. Which is not to suggest this program is any way sub-optimal. To the contrary, it looks great to me. ULUL is a great way to…

Re protein powder, absolutely it's a solid option. I'll buy whey powder from Optimum Nutrition Gold, MyProtein, Muscle Milk, Dymatize Iso, MuscleTech, whatever has a good sale at the time. Check the macros, you want at least 75% calories from protein, you don't want something that's loaded up with extra sugars and carbs.…

The simplest answer is full range of motion, and if you can grind out the last rep or two with good form that's fine, but if you can't manage the concentric phase (e.g. the pull in a row) then your last good rep was to failure. You don't want to be training to failure all the time, it's very fatiguing. But you do want to…

Funnily enough, I just saw this Eric Bugenhagen vid a few days ago about bulking... Jump to two minutes in if you want. I won't spoil it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeNR6ReJtH0

^ Good suggestions above. I know the knees over toes guy swears by sled for knee health, especially pulling it backwards. And the farmer carries (and dead hangs) will help your grip strength, which OP may need before long for the deadlifts. OP may also want to invest in straps soon. You definitely want your back to be the…

Yeah, browse the whole site. Plenty of good info there, e.g. this page: https://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5/workout-program/ This program isn't for life. It's for 3-6 months, to build a good foundation. The 5 reps regimen builds strength, which means you can do more volume (sets * weight * reps) when you switch to a…

@Theoldguy1 Yeah it sounds like we're largely in agreement. No, I was never advocating for a "bro bulk". I've never heard that term, but I like it. A bro bulk for a 40 year old who was presumably overweight before, is an absolutely terrible idea. An extra 10 pounds on OP's frame that's mostly muscle though, and gained…

No need to apologize for a post full of nice detail. That's really helpful. I think we've found the culprit :smile: "my maintenance calories are 2,600... Peanut butter is a big staple for me." Are you measuring that peanut butter? Or if that's too much hassle, make sure you're the only person using the container, and…

There are a number of reasons why. More protein is satiating, which makes it easier to stick to a calorie budget. Protein also has a higher thermic effect, i.e. your body burns more calories digesting it than with fat or carbs. The strength training helps you retain or build muscle mass, and improves your bone density.…

Doing a quick look around on your behalf, since that Nippard PPLPPL looks quite bodybuilder hardcore for a 40 year old relative newbie, this looks like it might be good for you. It's a strength focused split with an upper body bias, and it's simple to track and progress. At 3x per week and compound focused it's much easier…

You've been losing weight for a while. If your calories in and activity has been consistent, then you can work out your TDEE yourself. e.g. if your CI is 2,000 and you're losing 1 pound per week, that's 500 per day, so your TDEE is currently 2,500. That's all you need. If you're really curious, you can enter your data in…

For starters, your protein is way too low. 50g and you weigh you weight 131. You should be aiming for at least 0.7g per pound which is 92g. So you're on about half of what you should be if you're lifting a lot. That said, 2 x 30 mins, some of which is bodyweight stuff and arms, is closer to muscle maintenance than muscle…

Ironically, you messed up the quotes more than normal that time :smile: Nippard has a good channel. Not a lot of content, but worth following. I probably saw that vid at the time, so I skipped to the top comment listing all the exercises and sets. It's a good program, but for a 40 year old that looks quite hardcore. Six…

On why recomp (maintenance or small deficit) is a bad idea here. We already know that recomp is a slow process, and very slow for someone who is lean (like OP) and not a new lifter (which OP isn't). It looks like @Theoldguy1 has come around on this topic since yesterday, but I hope they won't mind me using their original…

That's a very slow process, especially someone starting from lean, who isn't a new lifter. Very slow. Again, let's not equate a small surplus of a granola bar with Sam Sulek style chocolate milkshakes and takeout food.

The mistake people make with bulk/cut cycles is they go way too hard on the "bulk" side, because hey it's fun to have huge milk shakes and McD's burgers and donuts every day. But unless you're a new lifter, most of that ends up as fat. A small surplus of 200 with consistent lifting and OP's healthy diet plus taking into…

You're welcome. Btw, you have a habit of messing up the quotes. First set of square brackets should have the "quote" or "quote="id handle". The second set of square brackets has "/quote" to end it. I'm sure there are vids on splits at the RP channel if you search there. e.g.…