Troublemonster Member

I love mine, took very little adjustment and I found them much easier to live with outside than on a treadmill. I ran my fastest mile and a half in mine last month (10:40) and four days later ran a 10K in them. The only thing I don't like is that I have discovered that as the miles pile up the ends of my toes can get…

Thanks for this. I pulled 405 for a double for my first time today after my three 5/3/1 sets and my wife took a short video of it. I can see my back rounding over a bit and I was feeling a little bad about it even though I know that when a person is at or very near their max and is fatigued form will usually suffer. I have…

I have been on a 4 day upper/lower split for a few months now and love it. I also incorporated 5/3/1 into it so I do a compound and accessories. I like a lot of training volume but try to limit myself to no more than 20 sets or so total on the longest workout day, Monday and far less than that on the other days. So on…

I usually do all summer and into the fall but I only live about a mile from the office so, it's kinda like cheating.

Also, impact or pressure point defense tools like a small kubaton or even a collapsible baton makes a VERY effective tool but they do take some skill to employ well. Not much for coordination, they are like a concealable baseball bat. Taser int'l has their C2 device which is designed to be carried and concealed on your…

There are lots of combat sports/martial arts classes that people can take in most cities. MMA style workouts are all kinds of hard and will build strength and endurance like no other, plus it's a trendy sport right now so there's a good chance there's a gym near you that specializes in it. Specific disciplines though are…

Not more than about 2 months. What I found is that when I could comfortably run more than a mile and a half then finishing a 5k was no big deal. Like one of the above posters said, I ran 2 miles one day, two days later I ran 5k at the same pace, then just out of curiosity I ran 10k to prove to myself that I could.

No, you should not gain weight other than possibly some water unless you go over your maintenance level and go into a surplus. If our bank account were overdrawn by $25 and you deposit $5 are you going to be wealthy? Nope, still broke, just less so than before. ^^^college student math

I was into it for a while and liked the flavors but found that it upset my stomach pretty badly after a week or two of use (not drinking it straight and not drinking a whole canister per day or anything crazy like that). As soon as I discontinued using it, the problem stopped. YMMV

Therein lies your problem. You definitely should be eating back your exercise calories assuming 1250 is already a deficit for you. Many people find they can get away with a drastic deficit for a while but that will eventually slow your metabolism and cause you to stall. Bumping up by a few calories, 10% maybe, can result…

Hang in there and don't lose perspective. You're talking about an interim goal of 2kg and a total of about 4-5kg. Even on the high end you're looking at what? 11lbs? This is certainly not insurmountable but YES you will need to actually start paying attention to what you eat and keeping it within reason. You can eat a bit…

I went from 250-ish to 198 and am now back up to 203 on purpose. I am 6'3" and have visible abs and I am getting leaner and leaner and eat more than 300g of carbs per day. I prioritize my macro nutrients as follows: 1. Protein 2. Fats 3. carbs I treat carbs as a filler after I calculate the amounts of proteins and fats…

As long as your body is getting calories in the right number and the shake fits into your macros you will be okay. Most people have a problem with it because it is kind of the lazy way around. Also, going for the shakes instead of real food stuffs exposes you t the potential for micro-nutrient deficiencies which, while not…

Yup, what they said. Adding in more of those calorie dense foods like you already mentioned is really the way to go. Throwing in some breads/pastas can also add up really easily without adding tremendous quantity to your intake. You will eventually get used to the amount, I struggled for the first month when I went from a…

Cut out most of the extra sugar and junk, lift heavy/work hard. I got there with fairly high carbs (more than 300g/day right now) and around 0.4-0.5 g/fat/lb (80-100 g/day right now) and I lift heavy 4-5 days per week. I eat about a 10-15% excess on lifting days and do very little cardio and on my off days I eat at a 25%…

It's very possible, you simply need to cut a little bit of body fat, not that you're fat at all, but exposing abs is more about cutting than building. You can do some ab work and compounds to help build the muscles but otherwise all you'll need is a squared away diet, you're practically there already.

+1 for I need the right piece of music for a big lift. Disasterpiece by Slipknot is one of my best ones.

I too embrace my rough hands. Chalk will help but will not eliminate the problem. That is my favorite solution but some gyms frown on it's use.

I didn't even think about that. If the bar is too close to the ground you're almost dead lifting from a deficit which is pretty badass. Assuming your technique is squared away and all you should definitely try to get the bar up a little further to start.

I'm pretty partial to the hand dryer myself (especially those Dyson ones), the swimsuit spinner is awesome too though. Otherwise the only machine I use on my workouts would be the fly station and the plate loaded squat press for those big heavy leg press days.

My understanding of dropsets is basically that they are intended to simply increase the volume of a workout, in other words to push on once our muscles have reached a certain level of exhaustion. The lower resistance will feel heavy because of this pre-exhausted state. I believe they really are more of a hypertrophy…

If you really want to see an almost-too in-depth explanation of deadlifting check out how to dead lift(the science of deadlifting) on youtube. The guy is Elliot Hulse, professional strongman and trainer. I literally just finished watching it and really like the way he explained it. I also would not usually go much past 8…

I use one called Jefit pro. I absolutely love it. One can create custom workouts or download them from the huge database of workouts that already exist. It is a great substitute for a notebook. It also fits every one of your specs, you can eve do progress photos with it. I also use one called big lifts just for my 5/3/1…

Yup, no worries. I think that one has a small dose of creatine in it so you may retain some water but other than that you're good to go and just keep doing what you're doing. You're doing great.

Shouldn't really have any effect at all on your weight loss unless you are sensitive to it like I was. It upset my stomach pretty badly to the point where I couldn't get through a workout without evacuating my bowels. That probably took some weight off of me. I frequently use pre-workout stimulants and as near as I can…

I believe, like most fitness related trends it is intended to get people off of the couch. The 30 day timeline along with the short workout duration is probably intended to make the whole thing seem like less of a burden and less of a commitment. Also, like most fitness trends, they seem to be targeted to those who are…

I guess we're lucky. My wife gets a lot of attention and looks of awe when she works out with me. It is to the point where when I go without her people stop and ask me where she is. People seem to really like watching her do squats, deads, and pull ups especially. I'd say the overall reception to her strength is very…

I agree with the above, rough up the bar and get climbers chalk. The calluses will even out over time. Or, you could try something like hockey tape on the bar, but it will have to be redone from time to time. I don't like gloves because they will have the effect of changing the diameter of the bar potentially having an…

You'll need a strong back, strong legs, and good cardio conditioning. Stronglifts would do good for the legs and back as would something like PHUL and Wendler 5/3/1

I'm not sure that my way is right but I tend to plan my meals ahead to try and get close on my macros. If, at the end of the day, I am short on protein I will attempt to make that up but I generally don't have a problem getting 200+g of protein a day and staying at or below 3k calories. 216g protein is a high, although not…