DopeItUp Member

Weight lifting is more about the effort and dedication put into it than the "perfect program", especially as a beginner. As the years roll by, your programming becomes more and more critical and more and more fine-tuned to your abilities and preferences. At the start...just pick a program that looks good and run with it.…

It's a solid beginner program, which sounds like exactly what you need. Why not try it and find out? It's not meant to be run forever, most people stall out bad within the first few months to a year. Give it a shot.

The only thing louder than my grunts is the sound of the weight as I throw it on the floor.

You won't lose muscle with a week off. In fact, with a little rest you'll probably be primed for MORE muscle growth.

Keeping the intensity (weight) high while dropping volume and/or frequency is generally the way to go. Helps maintain strength despite dropping body weight and caloric intake. Bench is always going to be tough, it's the most bodyweight-related exercise there is (regardless of fat or muscle). Squat and deadlift should be…

I just looked at the TSA 9-week intermediate program (I assume this is what you were talking about). It looks pretty good to me, lots of big compound movements, plenty of volume and weight, etc.. Having said that, you're training 4x a week, training everything 2x a week and if you're gonna run 3x a week on top of that you…

I'm not seeing any problem, keep up the good work.

For your first question, I think this is more personal preference. I always do shoulder presses (DB or BB) starting from the collarbones/shoulders or thereabouts. You'll find lots of people do limited ROM for a variety of reasons (pain, rehab, pussying-out/ego-lifting, whatever). If you can touch the DB to your shoulder…

Long video but Stan talks about them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4WPI_yiwq4 (and some other important related topics)

By the way, complete side note but you mentioned anterior pelvic tilt (which I have a hilarious amount of) and issues standing up straight before squatting. Look into hip flexor stretches and glute activation drills. Those were the source of my issues and something I'm still working on now. It has made a WORLD of…

If you want the weight loss benefits of nicotine just use gum or patches. It won't help with the addiction but at least you won't be destroying your health so badly. Just a compromise solution until you figure out how to kick your addiction.

Steph, a few things you might try: 1) Before starting each squat, squeeze your glutes and straighten up a bit. Before you even start the squat you look like you're already leaning forward a little bit too much and it only gets worse as you descend. 2) Control your descent speed a lot more. Try to go much, much slower.…

A totally anecdotal note on this, when dieting and cutting carbs (especially very low), I take in more or less all of my carbs pre-workout (and/or intraworkout). I've found it helps a lot. Post-workout carbs never seemed to get me anything. Maybe some/most/all of the post-workout carbs get burnt up before my next workout?…

Did we just become best friends?

I actually thought your 185 was your 1RM. If you were managing 3-5 reps of it that is insane. I only know one or two women that can do that and they are both much larger than you. Impressive!

I'm not really sure what you're getting at, are you trying to debate the basic science at play here by citing some gimmicky showmen? Or were you just making a joke? If anyone wants to read a lengthy explanation of what affects strength, Mr. Nuckols has a great article here:…

I mean, of course. Strength potential is more or less a function of muscle size and leverages (assuming proper technique across the board). Once you've mastered technique and have trained enough to reach that limit you really have no place to go other than to put on muscle. A small female like the OP doesn't have a ton of…

If you can't sleep due to hunger, eat something before bed. I eat just before bed almost every single night. A small protein-heavy snack makes all the difference in the world for me.

Bingo. Keep in mind, carbs are energy, eating less is going to reduce strength, period. Final note, adding strength without size only works for so long. At some point you can't add strength without adding more muscle, it's just the way it is. If you're a petite woman and you are (were) benching 185 and squatting 225 then…

Side note, have you played with grip width? There's a reason why a lot of people have wide grips. VERY wide grips (like touching the collars). It can make upper back tightness a bit more difficult but it is a lot more forgiving on the shoulders. Specialty curved bars like the duffalo bar can be very useful for things like…

This would be my suggestion. All forms of squat are quad dominant, but high-bar even more so (and front squat and SSB squat even more so than that). Just do more posterior work like deadlift variants if you're concerned about balance.

This thread has everything I could want. Random insults from clueless people, multi-year necro, completely unrelated posts and plenty of sarcasm and snark. Thank you.

While I agree that there are people who are stronger high bar vs low bar I assume this is just due to personal preference, training and desired focus or application. Otherwise, why are there no high-bar powerlifting squat records? I believe low-bar's recruitment of more muscles will always make it the more powerful of the…

I just leave. I don't even bother re-racking my weights or anything, I just grab my drink and walk out after my last set. I'm not really sure what doing cool-down work would accomplish but I like to keep an open mind?

Depending on the time of year, somewhere between 25g and 700g of carbs a day. You'll be fine.

You're comparing apples and oranges, there's no real guideline for any of that. There are people that can squat 200-300lbs more than their deadlift, and vice versa. Comparing SLDL and goblet squat is even crazier, especially when they aren't even both barbell movements. Goblet squats are much more difficult the heavier and…

Good choice. Alan has concise, informative videos.

Depending on the intensity of your program, taking a rest week every 4-12 weeks is a pretty decent guideline. At 50 I would probably err on the side of more rest, especially if you are only taking 1-2 rest days a week from lifting (which is an extremely low amount of rest to begin with).

From my experience after 5 years - it never stops.