Lift things up and put them down.

[UnwashedMolasses]

Muscle mass is muscle mass, it isn't inherently more less useful. Bodyweight exercises do typically involve more core and technique, which could be argued as leading to greater mobility/flexibility. Weight lifting also usually develops more than one muscle group at a time unless you're doing isolation exercises - think squats or rows vs curls.

The biggest differences in my experience are that weight lifting allows you to move more weight than you can move with bodyweight exercises. Yes, you can change leverage, but there's no bodyweight exercise that substitutes for a heavy squat or deadlift. You can gain muscle doing both as long as you eat enough. And for me, doing both is the most preferable.

[Stingray Sam]

Since I did martial arts for a while there was a lot of intersection with body weight trainers and ideas. They were all saying that since their exercises target such a dynamic range of muscle groups that it helps the muscles work better in conjunction with one another rather than having one group being strong independant of all other muscles. Using your entire body and as many muscle groups together as you possibly can while still being efficient is a big concept for a lot of martial artists who want to maximize their body's power so obviously bodyweight exercises had a big following because of their rhetoric. From what I've seen it does seem like body weight guys do better. I've seen some seriously powerful and terrifying guys who have never lifted weights or used weight machines in the traditional sense. But I've also never seen a weightlifter who focused on the utility of their muscle mass rather than just developing mass. So I guess what I'm wondering is there any truth to what body weight guys say or could theoretically a weightlifter who had the same degree of body control, flexibility and muscle mass, but just used weight machines and other exercises that focused primarily on singular muscle groups be just as powerful and strong as a someone who only did bodyweight exercises that focused on a dynamic range of muscle groups?

[UnwashedMolasses]

It depends on a bunch of things. I'm assuming when you refer to "weight machines" you mean the type of pulley-based often seated machines found in gyms instead of, say, a barbell. People who train on those can get huge, but yes, they do often have difficulties, particularly because the stabilizer muscles (the bitty muscles that support/work with the bigger ones) are often ignored in isolation exercises. As far as if they can be more powerful or strong, I've no idea - you'd need some kind of universally applicable metric for strength or power, and I couldn't tell you if one exists. As far as the claims of the bodyweight dudes - for some reason people in every area of fitness like to talk shit about every other area, e.g. cardio bunny, meathead, chestbro, functionaljerk. There's very little in the way of evidence-based discussion though. Anecdotally speaking I can say the biggest/strongest/leanest/most acrobatic people I've met have always trained in several different ways rather than pigeonholing themselves to one.

[teck]

generally the limit with bodyweight stuff is in the name: you only got your body's weight. its why in bodyweight they even recommend squatting, with a bar and rack, as a way to develop legs. you can definitely get very strong doing bodyweight only but then it depends on the sport. bodyweight guys probably can't bench a ton (why would you want this? because benching is awesome. seriously). Also i bet bodyweight guys don't have a lot of athletic explosiveness, again, outside of their specific movements. I have zero science just my experience with lots of different things.

[eufemism]

at the gym for the first time this year. Honestly surprised at how weak I am. I'm around 6 foot so most people think I'm stronger than I really am. Doing small weights right now. Gotta start somewhere.

[donut_milk]

I haven't been to the gym properly in over a month and my blood sugars are suffering (not too bad) from it. My lift numbers have dwindled so I'm going to have to deload and work my way back up when I go again tomorrow. Also, I'm getting bored of SL...anyone suggest something else?

[rjbman]

Greyskull LP Greyskull LP GREYSKULL LP

[omgimacarrot]

[omgimacarrot]

In my time off from Care-Tags, I mainly focused on fitness and thought I'd humblebrag some of my 4 month powerlifting success and 6 month "body transformation".

Start: 165 lb skinny fat
Bench: 150 lb
Squat: 225 lb
Deadlift: 235 lb

6 Months Later: 170 lb (on a lean bulk atm)
Bench: 190 lb
Squat: 250 lb
Deadlift: 300 lb

I cut for two months down to 155lbs, about 10-11% body fat and wasn't on a program. I was on a typical bro-split until I realized I wasn't making any progress minus the great weight/fat loss. I hopped on Johnny Candito's program and have loved it ever since. I haven't squatted in two months due to hip issues and don't plan on squatting anytime soon because they're that bad. I am built for squatting an realize that I could be squatting about 270lbs right now. Please note that I have pretty much stalled on all my lifts, which only makes sense from the progress I have been making so far. I'd love to answer any and all questions!

[Woland]

I did lmao 2 plaet!!! today

am I in the big boy club yet? I still feel weak

[Woland]

haha sorry forgot to say 2 plate squat

[Woland]

today I was deadlifting 117.5 kg and something just didn't feel right, so I stopped and decided to record my self. Lo and behold, I had shit form. Guess I have to deload
I think my problem is that my hips come up too early. sorry for blurriness, my iphone has can't focus on objects far away

[mc-lunar]

I know we got some runners in here guys right? Did my first half marathon today and beat my goal time ( )but a couple hours later my achilles tendon started acting up. It's obviously not torn or anything cause i can still walk around and climb stairs and such, no problem, but it twinges a little whenever i put pressure on that foot.

I'm currently stretching every 30 mins and i'm probably going to ice before bed. Anything else i should do? Is it safe to run like 5k tomorrow morning? Was also planning on doing some leg work (squats, box jumps) and then another 5k at night + swim workout (so i'd be doing a lot of breastroke and flutter kick). I've never had an injury like this so i really don't know what's an appropriate level of getting-back-at-it.

[jrisk]

I've been hitting the gym lately (greyskull LP) and I got some gold standard whey. I'm not planning on bulking, just using it to supplement my diet. I got the mocha flavored one after hearing it was super tasty. I mixed it with milk and it tastes so fucking gross ugh. It's a bitter chemical taste. I've been putting in like a quarter cup of peanut butter for it to be palatable. hey, more bean energy, I guess.

[UnwashedMolasses]

I'm in the market for a new pair of running shoes and I'm not sure what to look for. The only other pair I've had were some Nike Free 3s. Some things that I'm looking for:

-lightweight
-mid/toe strike (where foot lands where running - not sure what the real term is)
-<$150
-can be worn casually, so decent shape/colorway, preferably black/white or black/black

Any ideas on what I should be looking for? I was probably going to default to Free 2's, as they're on Nike ID and widely available. Are there better options out there? Any help is appreciated, I know next to nothing about running shoes. Ideally I'd go to a running shop but there are none around me. Thanks!

[bels]

If the nikes worked then rebuy them.

[donut_milk]

I was able to squat my bodyweight (125 lbs) last Thursday. Did about 8 reps. It actually felt pretty easy and I'm thinking I can do 130-135 lbs the next time I go in.

[ptozzi]

Finally got through my bench plateau after deloading. Next goal is 155 lbs.

[DeafIdiotGod]

Squat is currently hanging around 187lbs and my thighs are becoming too big for some of my trousers. It's making me reassess exactly what it is I want out of this whole lifting thing. I've decided that going much further than this isn't massively appealing to me, maybe up to 2pl8 for dickwaving purposes but that's about it. Also my upper body is looking a bit small in comparison so I'm modifying the ancient stronglifts program to shift focus away from legs and more onto the upper. My game plan is to do this until I feel balanced, do a bit of a cut and then focus more on cardio fitness and fun sports with some lifting or body weight exercise to maintain strength. I never really had the "get swole" goal and it would be nice if gym became less of a chore-like commitment in future.

Also online fitness communities have a really weird atmosphere to them.

[Prince of Scandinavia]

After almost a year of lifting, gymnastics and trying out a lot of stuff I've started Starting Strength. Today I reached the 100kg (220lbs) in deadlift. My chest is still only 60kg and squat is 65kg, but I already see way more progress in starting strength after two weeks than any other things I've done this year.

[jrisk]

squatted bodyweight! (185lbs)

then the guy waiting to use the rack told me to leave the barbell racked and used my weight to warm up.

[Capt]

Definitely happy with dead and squat, but man is my bench just stagnating. Still need to hit that two plate bench. :c

[CleanThug]

Making progress after being plateaued for a while is a fantastic feeling

[Suquida]

I'm doing a lot of bodyweight stuff lately, most notably a pushup program that aims to get you at 100 consecutive pushups in 6 weeks. I started barely being able to to 7 or 8 and now yesterday I hit 60, not done yet but I'm super proud of myself! Used to hate this sort of thing but now I look forward to it every day

[schiaparelli]

thanks to the encouragement of a few care-friends, i've started lifting/working out!

this morning it was really hard to get out of bed because my abs were super sore, every time i tried to lift up my torso or move into a different position to snooze more. it's so interesting how working out highlights the careful orchestration of all your muscles.

i've never been able to convince myself to work out for vanity reasons (ok, my tummy is squishy, whatever) but i am really excited by the idea of just having more powerful movements, and being able to lift heavy things in a graceful way.

also it's really fun !!! since i used to think the only way to go to the gym was to go to a treadmill and run for an hour and i get super bored. lifting is much more interesting because it feels like all parts of the journey are very meaningful. every motion is a struggle and a battle to convince myself to push through, and then every successful rep gives me this heady feeling of grim success.

[bels]

Tryna do some budgeting and want to know what the advantage of a power rack like say this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bodymax-CF375-P ... EG4WSZSY8V

Over a squat stand with catchers like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000WU26HI/r ... XRFV2E3TBB

[UnwashedMolasses]

Power Rack

Advantages:

- greater adjustability in safeties; can remove altogether
- greater adjustability in height bar is held at, though this is probably of minor concern as you're not extremely tall or short
- b/c of above, can use for exercises where you might want bar held at knee height, such as Zercher squats, barbell rows, or barbell shrugs
- pullup bar (well, handles really)

Disadvantages:

- may not be as stable/sturdy
- will take up significantly more space

Squat Stand

Advantages:

- dip handles
- smaller space requirement
- likely much easier to take apart / put together / move

Disadvantages:

- if it doesn't adjust as low as you want it to you've wasted your money

On another note, if you don't care as much about the safeties and you just need a means to support a barbell at shoulder height, there are some significantly cheaper and more maneuverable DIY options.

[omgimacarrot]

2 words: Fuck hernias.

The doctor recommended me not to get surgery because its not bad, but it has no way of getting better without surgery. I haven't been able to deadlift or squat for 3 months. What's worse is I was really progressing on my deadlifts! I hit 320lbs before I had to stop. On the plus side, doing p/p/l gives me a nice pump.

[CleanThug]

Damn this feels good. Doing phrak's GSLP and I had my 3rd bench workout today so I bet I'll get my overhead press to intermediate next workout.

Things that helped(All obvious things, just neglected to do them before):

Caffeine before workouts

Loud music

Breathing right

Stretching before and after

Consistency

Gaining weight

[schiaparelli]

HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS MY ARMS ARE STARTING TO LOOK CHISELED

i mean before they looked like squishy plump things of fat and skin and now when i flex you can see this plane of muscle. i've never had this much definition in my arms. it is so exciting! this is probably thanks to my extreme fondness rn for the rowing machine