Vonwarr Member

Upper body leaves out too much of your posterior chain. In my opinion, deadlifts would be the single exercise to create the most strength, and picking something heavy up off of the ground is a natural used movement pattern that many people would benefit from training.

Thanks!

Several small injuries accumulated from pushing myself on rest days has convinced me of the benefit of proper rest and recovery. As you get older you have to spend more time on stretching and recovery. I recently added a consistent 10 mins of foam rolling and 10 mins of stretching before workouts. I used to just do a…

That basically sums up everything. Trainer or not, you only get out what you put in.

A lot of programs don't give much beyond a guideline for the warm-ups because it's very individual, and it depends on a number of factors. Generally you need to warm-up less for exercises later in the workout because you're already warm. I'm speaking only of specific warm-up for weights, not general warm-up. You should do…

I control the bar down. I don't drop it but I definitely don't resist on the eccentric portion of a deadlift. Same with power cleans. If you drop it from the top it can land unevenly, damage the bar, and even bounce away in all sorts of unintended directions. Control it to your waist and then drop. Attempting to catch it…

First off, great job on losing the weight... I am inspired! However, I do think you need to re-evaluate what you are doing now that you are approaching the end of your fat loss. Right now, your methods and goals don't align very well. If you're trying to gain weight, long cardio sessions and a calorie deficit is not going…

You'll notice that scale loss slows down (i.e. quantity of weight loss) BUT you start losing inches faster (quality of weight loss). In general, 3 weeks is about the amount of time it will take to begin to notice the changes, depending on how observant you are. 3 weeks is also the amount of time it takes to form the habit…

Sounds like a crazy trip Des! You make me more glad to work out - alone - in my frigid garage. Seeing my breath while lifting is a small trade off to no vomit smell, waiting for equipment, or creepers.

They mean eating at a deficit. You don't need to eat "clean" to lose weight as long as you maintain a deficit.

BMI is not a great way to set a goal. It doesn't work for a lot of people. According to BMI I'm "obese". (~32 BMI). Here's a site which gives a much better way to calculate your ideal weight based off of body fat %. This is a much more accurate indicator of health than BMI:…

I prefer to work alone 99% of the time - other people are rarely lifting similar weights to me, and talking just slows things down.

Kick *kitten*!

Think what you want. I didn't take these pictures to prove a point, they're just old progress pictures. Yes, with different lighting, taken by different (bad) cameras even. I'm not trying to win any "most extreme transformation" contest. I felt there was enough of a change to give an anecdotal example to illustrate the…

It's not quite so black and white in terms of surplus vs deficit. You can definitely "do both" at the same time - this is called body recomposition. It is slower than doing one or the other though (hence why many lifters cycle bulks and cuts). If you're doing 16/8 IF you've probably read some stuff from Martin Berkhan -…

Lifting heavy can slow down the process, but it increases the quality of your weight loss. Put another way, it's better to lose 3 lbs of pure fat than 3 lbs of fat and 2 lbs of muscle. If you are new to lifting heavy, you could also be getting body recomposition rather than just pure weight loss. If you are a beginner, it…

For a workout, double overhand until grip strength fails, then straps. I save alternate grip for PRs as it can strain the bicep in the arm with the flipped hand, or build imbalances if over-used. I've tried hook grip as well, and pulled some fairly heavy weights with it, but it is somewhat painful at heavier weights.

Kipping is generally not a great idea. If you HAD to do a large number of pull-ups for some reason, kipping could help you accomplish that. However it can be exceptionally hard on your shoulder joints. Especially if it is being used to go beyond what you could do with strict pull-ups, as your shoulders get looser when they…

I get cardio from doing weights. Check out barbell complexes. They're fast, effective, and don't require running... or really going anywhere. A complex usually consists of 4-6 exercises done without stopping. You don't set down the bar between any of the exercises. Select a weight that you can comfortably complete all of…

I'd say it depends on your experience level, as other posters have mentioned. What is your total like? Check out http://www.strstd.com/ If you have tested 1RM lifts that are in the high intermediate to advanced category then you probably have enough experience to make your own program. If you're still in the beginner…

Not sure what lift you are talking about from your description. :) Starting Strength has a great description of how to learn a Power Clean, and many of the same pulling mechanics translate across to the other Olympic lifts. Edited to add: Lots of practice with a very light weight can help get form down while preventing…

You keep more lean mass if you do strength training while eating at a deficit. Technically, you can lose weight without any exercise at all by just controlling your diet.

Sounds great! Best of luck with lifting!

Starting Strength, Stronglifts, or 5/3/1 are all good strength based programs. 5/3/1 tends to be a bit more complicated for a beginner's needs though. Take your pick as to which one appeals most, because the best program is the one you will stick to! Edit: I've been doing Sheiko powerlifting for a year now (I don't…

If you can have someone experienced take a look it might help a great deal. Alternatively, if you can, post a video and let others critique your form (A side view works best). If you don't get good answers in the forums, there are a few groups which might help. Do you do any warm-up before you pick up the bar and squat? If…

Use the entry that matches how you weigh it. If you weigh it before cooking enter the raw, or after cooking enter the cooked. Either works. The only difference between the two is basically the amount of water. Of course, you have no real way of knowing exactly what % of water it started at while raw (vs the % water the raw…

Foam roller, lacrosse balls (it helps to have 2 available for some muscles), and voodoo bands. All amazing for tissue prehab/rehab.

That's awesome! Congrats and great job!

Water, potassium, magnesium, and calcium can all affect it and potentially more... Some muscle care (foam rolling) might help prevent the onset of cramps over time too.

The best (cheap, easy, at home) way is using calipers. The "best" way is a DEXA scan and even that still has a ~ +/- 2% range. Visual inspection works too. Here's a good example: And a decent article (picture source) which explains it. http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/