jasonheyd Member

One other thought... AP's said the routine's fine for weight loss, as is, but it'll get even harder than it would if you're eating at maintenance since it's intended to increase both strength and size. The formula I've seen him provide for finding your daily calorie target is: body weight * 10 = weight loss, body weight *…

Not sure if you ever found your answer, but my guess is that AP would say to try adding it in after 3 or more cycles & see how it goes. In general, you don't want to mess with the routine, and you definitely don't want to mess with it early on. I'd think that the bridge could mess with your SLDL and Squat if you push too…

New version uploaded. Major changes: 1. For each exercise, pick your weight type from the drop-down in column B (see the 2nd sheet for the available weight types). 2. Added an abs workout routine for off days... I'll probably tweak that to be reps focused rather than weight focused at some point. 3. Removed a bunch of the…

Found a small problem with the spreadsheet for calculating the 10% increase when you pass the week 5 set using dumbbells. Basically, if the weight is low enough, it'll never result in an incremental increase. I'll upload a new version this afternoon to correct it by adding a minimum increment of weight depending on what…

Missed this earlier, but thanks & thanks. :)

That gels with what I've seen folks say on the BB.com boards. This routine, while more forgiving about cutting than similar & 5x5 programs, is still punishing if you're not eating at least at maintenance levels. By the way, All Pro's basic formula for finding your daily calorie target is: I was struck by how close those…

One more related All Pro post... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&p=419342001&viewfull=1#post419342001

Normal... The last week of the cycle is hard. It's a lot of reps, even if the weight's a little less on days 2 & 3, and the heavy day is going to punish you to make sure you're ready to progress to heavier weight. ... and week 1 of the next cycle will be hard as well, especially if you've progressed on most/all of your…

I knew I'd seen this somewhere... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=4195843&p=418778121&viewfull=1#post418778121

Yes. I haven't given up anything, but I do focus on total intake and, in general, try to keep my macros in balance (generally 40/30/30 Carb/Fat/Protein).

Yeah, I went with the PowerLine. I watched the price drop around $25 or so over the past few weeks & decided to pull the trigger. I think my wife would be okay with doing some lifting, but she's had a year of back issues, knee surgery, and then had a herniated disc repair about a month ago to boot... So she should be ready…

Something about boys and new toys. :) My cage is in transit now... Should be here early next week, but somehow I doubt my wife will find it a temptation!

Agreed. You might try using it on the heavy/work sets, but skip it on the warm-ups and medium/light, or at least light days.

Here's Rippetoe's quote about belts as well... further down the thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=108908741&p=189018701&viewfull=1#post189018701

Check this out: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=108908741&page=1 The gloves can affect your grip mechanics, so they can be slightly detrimental... A good chalk bag can really help with the calluses as well, but you may not want chalk clouds floating all over your house. :-) Could be any number of things.…

Yeah, makes sense... I really only ran into that to a major degree with the warm-up sets, since that tended to drop me into using dumbbells instead of a barbell. For the Medium/Light days (90% and 80%), I usually ended up just under 45 lbs, so I could either use 2x20 lb. dumbbells, or just go with the empty bar.

I usually just go for whatever weight is above "ridiculously light". That meant that, for a cycle or two, my Heavy and Medium days were at the same weight for a few exercises. I'm sure that wasn't ideal, but there wasn't much else to be done. I'm not sure the straps would be the same... You're going to lose the benefit of…

Search for "strength" under "Cardiovascular" and enter it there. Just keep in mind that it's going to be a VERY rough estimate. I believe you can also search for specific exercises, but not positive on that. See:…

Congrats. :) Came across this All Pro post while surfing away my coffee break this morning & thought it was appropriate. ;-) http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=634720&p=12137211&highlight=rest+day#post12137211

Congrats. :)

In the case of the Fitbit, it'll help estimate your daily calorie burn. I set my profile to sedentary here on MFP, and then Fitbit will adjust my calorie goal up or down depending on how active I am relative to that sedentary level. You can use a regular pedometer to do some of the same estimation, but the automation you…

Not sure what your price-range is, but the Fitbit Zip is a little cheaper than the original. Omron has a few models that seem to get good reviews, and run about half the price of the Zip: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-112-Digital-Pocket-Pedometer/dp/B0000U1OCI

If you really want to induce cerebral hemorrhaging, pick up Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" and read through the "HOWTO" sections re: proper form for each of the core exercises. Just be prepared to have an anatomy chart or two handy for reference while you read about which muscles, tendons, and bones are engaged in…

Yep, that's always been my take... SLDL is just "not locked" whereas, with the RDL, you want your knees actually bent at a fairly significant angle. That's my understanding, although I've also read that some professional weightlifters will round the upper back to take advantage of their unique muscular-skeletal anatomy,…

Good post, thanks. I should've clarified in my earlier post that All Pro basically says stick with the SLDL and your flexibility will improve, but I've seen some other folks chime in that the RDL can be used to build up to the SLDL even though it's not a substitute. I'd also forgotten the milk-crate thing... Reminded me of…

Yep, I actually noted that in my post: Nothing's bad about it. I was just pointing out that you do have to be thinking in terms of "net carbs," whereas with certain Stevia-sweetened protein powders, for example, you'll get 0g of carbs (obviously with 0g of fiber).

The other link above provides some additional detail: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/rdl-vs-sldl.html Again, boils down to a slight shifting of the work load and a slight change in the way the work's being done, which makes the SLDL a more dynamic, "more compound" exercise. ETA: Just want to emphasize that I'm…

From the link above: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=112127931 I think the bold text above is the primary difference, and it mostly comes down to a shifting of some of the work to different areas, making it a bit more of an isolation exercise, and a bit less fully-compound.

I like them as a more on-the-go alternative to a protein smoothie / shake, although they're not really as healthy since I tend to make my own protein smoothies with fresh fruit & veggies. One thing about the Quest bars though... They are by and large NOT low-carb. They've got a lot of fiber, so there's some off-set if…

Dumbbells aren't a worry.. No other option if you can't lift the weight of a barbell for some / all of your warm-up, medium, light or work days. Hard to say with the cardio... It can definitely take some gas out of the tank if it's a hard work-out. C25k isn't exactly HIIT, but it's interval based & should mix…