kirk_clawson Member

"You're shrinking!" With a mildly dismayed look upon their face as if I had some sort of wasting disease. :-|

On the spreadsheet, don't fill out section 3 on the starting page - that's only for guys who know how to lift and who want to start somewhere closer to what they've been doing in the past. If you leave section 3 empty, the squat should start at 45 lb (which is just the bar). Edit to add: I mistook your OP - you're talking…

My first official fail on the OHP was at 85, though to be honest I was cheating (with some hip and knee bounce) at 80. I made it the second time, got through 90, then failed again at 95, made *that* the second time, and have failed twice at 100. I'm fairly certain I'll have to deload after my next attempt. And I may deload…

Guilty. On Fridays. We have no-pants Fridays.

I always interpreted it as deloading twice at the same failed weight. If you break through after deloading, there's no reason to switch up to intermediate as long as a simple deload will break you through again when you hit the next failure. Eventually, though, everyone will hit a wall where even deloading doesn't help any…

The British word for whine.

Specially made weights that can be safely dropped. In Powerlifting, certain lifts like deadlifts, cleans, jerks, etc... are "one-way" lifts. You lift the weight, then you drop it. If you try to set it down gently you end up hurting yourself. Bumper weights are made so that the weight, the floor, and the bar won't get…

This was my first thought. You just need to spend some quality reading time in the bathroom. :smile:

Dear old mom always makes them with beet juice. They were good in just regular pickle juice as well. Sadly, I've grown allergic to eggs over the past 3 years, and can't partake anymore. :sad:

I'm not adding anything valuable to this topic at all, but this post got me thinking. The first guy who discovered cottage cheese, must have seen a calf puke and thought "That looks like some good eats, right there!" WTF, dude? :huh:

I go with a happy medium - I weighed the first apple core after I ate the apple. Found it was 10 grams. So now, I just knock 10 grams off every apple I eat when I log it. Just bought a batch of peaches. I'll weight the pit after I eat the first one, then knock that amount off every peach after that. Is it accurate? Who…

Everybody's already given you great advice, so I won't rehash everything that's been mentioned, however I will point out one thing that nobody's mentioned yet: If this is your first time squatting, you're going to be sore. No way around it. Even if you had spot-on-perfect form, you're still gonna hurt like an SOB for the…

Try drinking water. Lots of it. More than you think is a lot. Way more. I drink 1/2 my body weight in ounces. That's helped me immensely. I've started to realize that a lot of the time that I *thought* I was hungry, I was actually thirsty.

That's the one I use as well. They aren't the most accurate measuring device to get a real number (like I said, they're very sensitive to your hydration level, what foods you eat, etc...), however, they are great for tracking a trend. That 29% may not be accurate, but if you measure again in a month (under the same…

The handheld machine - were they calipers? (i.e. was he measuring skinfolds), or are you talking about an electro-static device that you hold for a few seconds then it gives you a number? If it was one of the electrical devices, then realize that those measurements are extremely sensitive to your hydration levels, sodium…

Mehdi (the guy who runs StrongLifts) is very anti-smith machine, but the fact is if it's all you got, then it's all you got. For some folks $600 for a rack and oly set is a heck of a lot of money. I'm lucky because my gym at work has a squat rack with a 300lb oly set. I'm at the end of week 3 of SL5x5. I was a "captain…

In for later reading

You likely won't blow your calorie goal on salads - an entire head of lettuce is only 100 calories.

I use a foam roller on my quads right after I get home from doing squats. I walk in my apartment, drink a shake, then pick up the roller. I don't even shower until *after* the rolling happens. I've found it helps immensely with reducing my length of time in recovery.

I think the first time I can squat and/or deadlift my body weight, I'll probably scream like a damn fool. I also won't mind the first time I notice someone looking me over at the grocery store. :)

I eat 5 meals a day, ~3 hours apart. There's a lot of broscience out there that will tell you this is to help boost your metabolism. Don't listen to that malarky. I eat multiple smaller meals simply as a psychological crutch. I find that when *I* eat only 2 or 3 meals, I have a difficult time staying within my calorie…

Leg Press, though with your limited ankle mobility, even that might be too much. In a pinch, you could do leg curls, glute kickbacks, and quad extensions (you can Google those to find examples of each if you don't know what they are). The quad extensions could be a problem with your shin haematomas, if they're on the lower…

Well, there are a few things that you risk getting big when you lift heavy: 1. Your strength. 2. Your confidence. So, if she was referring to these, then unfortunately she was right. However, I think she was referring to your muscles. In which case, read all the reply's above me. :)

The sugar numbers that are on MFP are ridiculously low. If you have a reason to track sugar (pre-diabetic or diabetic), then fine. Otherwise, just ignore it. Especially if you're getting your sugar from fruits and dairy.

The jury is still out on whether artificial sweeteners are ok or not. There's some research that says they're fine, other research says they're the very lifeblood of the Anti-Christ. My opinion? All things in moderation.

I would consider that part of the lower abdomen, hence crunches and other abdominal exercises would seem to be an appropriate exercise. Of course, firming that up won't do much until the layer of fat gets reduced.

This may be of interest http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319034/

Goldfish Crackers. Keeping fingers busy and mouths full for many years. Not my favorite (they taste kind of doughy to me) http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/productlanding.aspx?catid=722

Fairy kebabs on a unicorn-horn skewer.

Nice work on the rack. Are those safety's big enough to catch a dropped, loaded bar? I'm no engineer, so I'm honestly asking - they look thin compared to the commercial jobbies I've seen.