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Is hypertrophy useful with low weights?
I'm trying to gain mass through a hypertrophy program with 3x10 for most of the lifts. I did Strong Lifts for about about 2 years and lost a lot of strength during my cut, just to give you some background. Now, when doing 3x10 my lifts are very low (Bench Press is 100 lbs). Is it even worthwhile to do a hypertrophy program…
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Cutting while lifting
Hello everyone, I'm cutting after a year long bulk and am having trouble understanding how many calories I should be consuming. Right now, I'm still doing the same Stronglifts 5x5 program that I was doing while bulking, but now with fewer calories. At 5' 7" and 180, my bulking calories were around 3000 because I found over…
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How to measure calories in marinades?
Hello everyone, A lot of times, I will marinate chicken overnight to cook or use it to fry chicken pieces for dinner. If I marinate them, I'll put the pieces in a large ziploc bag overnight. I suppose I could measure the before and after to see how much has been absorbed by the meat. But if I fry them in it then a lot of…
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Ways to reduce muscle loss on cut
I realize that when cutting after a bulk, there will always be some muscle loss that accompanies the fat loss, but are there some ways to minimize it? For example, I'm currently doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program. Can I continue doing this type of program during the cut or is there something else thats suitable? Also, in…
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Bad advice - Don't log/eat back exercise calories
What started out as an interesting article from Fitocracy ended up a lot stranger than I thought. http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/does-exercise-alone-lead-to-weight-loss/ Basically, his theory is that tracking your exercise and eating back exercise calories is a bad thing because "30 minutes on a treadmill makes people…
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Excess carbs "spilling over" into fat?
I was researching bulking macros when I came across an article about creating said nutrient percentages. One of the things it said was that you should tweak your carb and fat intake based on your body type (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph). Basically, decrease carbs and increase fat for endomorphs and do the opposite for…
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Eating at a surplus on rest days?
A note about myself - I started a conservative bulk a few months ago, but after the initial 10 spike in weight (which honestly felt like water at first), I haven't gained any weight despite consistently increasing on lifts. I currently do the StrongLifts program since I only recently started lifting weights. Do you eat at…
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Hypertrophy and Compound Lifts
Hello everyone, I'm currently doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program but have heard that it isn't very useful for gaining muscle since it doesn't induce hypertrophy. Hypertrophy generally only kicks in at 8-12 reps, not 5. However, a lot of the compound lift programs that I've seen are primarly 5x5 or more focused on strength.…
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When is a plateau an actual plateau?
I'm 5' 7" @ around 167 currently. I've only been bulking for around a month now eating at a conservative surplus of 2300 calories. I'm following the StrongLifts program and initially saw my weight jump up by around 7 - 10 lbs (from 160) but I asked around and people mentioned it was primarily water weight. This bore out…
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Scale number spike when starting to bulk?
I'm around 5' 7", and was 160 when I started to bulk. I'm not sure what my bf% was but after a very long 9 month cut, I lost a lot of muscle (because I didn't lift while cutting). Knowing this, my bf% was probably pretty high even after losing 60 lbs. I started StrongLifts 2 months ago and started bulking a month ago.…
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Necessity of carbs when bulking
Hey all, I'm starting to gain now and am eating a little above maintenance for a clean bulk. I've seen people list their bulking macros as 1g of protein/pound of bodyweight 40% total calories as carbs And the rest Fat. My question is, what chemical role do carbohydrates play in muscle creation? I'm not considering doing…
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NSV - Subway
This is going to sound really weird but as far as NSVs go but... for the first time, I ordered a 6 inch for lunch instead of the 10 inch err.. footlong. Took a lot less mental strength than I thought but I was proud of it nontheless since I had been making poor food choices the past few weeks. I'm glad to see I still have…
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When calculating TDEE, what counts as exercise?
Specifically, I'm using the calculator at iifym.com http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ When calculating TDEE, it gives you BMR/Sedentary/Exercise 1x/2x/3x/4x/5x/6x How exactly do you define exercise in this case? Because honestly, the calorie amounts for the TDEE on here are ludicrously high. There's no possible way I could…
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Extra hunger from lifting?
I recently started the Strong Lifts program about a month ago while still staying on a caloric deficit so I can lose my last 20 lbs. So far, I've been able to consistently add weight to the bar since I started with just the olympic bar (45 lbs.) But one thing I've noticed is that I am really, really hungry nowadays.…
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Ladies at 5' 2", some help please!
Hello all, I'm trying to help my sister with her weight loss journey and I'm having a little bit of trouble calculating her daily caloric goal. At 5' 2" and 150 lbs her BMR is 1395 and her TDEE (BMR x 1.2 for sedentary) is around 1674 calories. However, if she were to subtract 20% from this amount it would be around 1339…
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Strength Gains vs. Size Gains
"Strength gains do not equal size gains" This is another one of those statements that I hear quite a bit and so I automatically have a certain skepticism towards it. Considering that the purpose of more muscle is to increase strength, I find it hard to believe that the two could really that different. Are there any studies…
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How much would I need to weigh for 10% BF?
As a 5' 7" guy doing primarily rock climbing and running for exercise, how much would I have to weigh in order to have 10% bodyfat? Is it even possible to estimate this or does it vary a lot between different people?
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Gadgets that track heart rate and running pace
Was looking into fitness gadgets the other day and can't seem to find one that measures both heart rate and running pace. Does this even exist? Or would you have to have multiple gadgets for both functions?
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Best tasting low calorie/high protein bars?
Anyone have any good recommendations for good tasting and low calorie protein bars?
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How to switch from long cut to gaining weight?
This is a little pre-emptive since I've had to decrease my goal weight after seeing what I look like at my original goal, but... ... when switching from a long cut to a lean gain, how many calories would I have to consume? My understanding is that after a long cut (mine will be 1.5 years when I'm done), your metabolism…
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Should I lose the fat first before gaining?
I'm 5' 7" guy at about 165 right now. I'm currently eating at 1650 calories/day which is about 500 less than my TDEE. My question, is it better to lose the fat first before gaining? My gut tells me its impossible to lose fat while gaining muscle. Has anyone had experience with gaining muscle at a higher fat percentage…
