Have trained sorta inconsistently for 4 years. Didn’t train for the past 6 months (longest stretch) and got fat. When I went to see my boyfriend in a remote Himalayan hamlet with zero connectivity and shit tier food, I got salmonella from undercooked chicken. Spent a week bedridden shitting literal water profusely. This is two weeks after being back in Australia with home cooked food and I’m looking RIPPED.
Keen to go strip club on the weekend
Mostly lurking, but thought id use today to post physique and ask for any suggestions on where to go from here. 5'9, 180lb been lifting for about ~5 years. Kinda h*brid athl*te style, but thats a combination of training adhd and being in a garage gym without specialized bodybuilding equipment. So I alternate powerlifting blocks with kettlebell conditioning, and kettlebell blocks with 1-2 days per week dedicated to squat and bench.
OHP 1rm is 165, bench is 270, squat is 330, deadlift is embarrassing. Diet is garbage (3k ish maintenance so I can get away with it). Body dysmorphia is a constant. Ive got a kid on the way so like 5 months to really lock in and make gains before circumstances make progress much more difficult.
I’ve lost about 13 pounds (mainly in the stomach/midsection) the last 4 months or so. I’m really trying to get more muscle definition & become ripped. I’ve never had a very athletic build so I know it’s kind of an uphill battle. Is the key really just eating more protein?
I truthfully feel like such a bitch baby in the gym but I’m pretty afraid of getting injured or crushed or exploding my lower back etc. This anxiety has made it hard for me to mentally push through and train to near-failure, especially on lifts that I’m weak in or that I know I don’t have good form in. For example, squats I will bail out early because my form sucks and I get tired easily, which means I will never be able to improve. But also I am like ? Is it smart to be afraid?
Is it possible to get really good at compound lifts without any type of guidance on form? I dont want to pay a trainer or coach and I really dont want to film myself lifting ever. My goal is to get much better at clean presses. I'm not opposed to watching videos and trying what they say but there's just so many. I can press much more than I can clean and id like to close the gap.
Edit: I'm essentially asking has anyone here gotten up to a heavy clean press by just doing them a lot? I've gotten my bench and squat to a place I'm proud of by just doing them a lot but cleans feel different.
My healthy meal of the day. This is 80g oats, 11g hemp seeds, 80g steamed bok choy, 20g steamed red cabbage, 80g blueberries, 1g ceylon cinnamon, 1g ginger, and .5g salt (not .5g sodium). The eggs are cooked using spray avocado oil and are less photogenic so I didn’t take a picture. After this I’m going to get coffee somewhere and then I’m getting hibachi later
started lifting last October and I do back once a week.
bonus hiking pic from yesterday at mt tam! it was 7.5 mi and so beautiful :) and I’ve noticed I can go a lot faster now and longer distances so I’m going to try a 10 mi one next
It's like the boxing equivalent of the McDojo. Heavy emphasis on circuit training and bag work but little to no focus on improving technique. You go home feeling like you got a good workout but realize you've pretty much learned nothing. Sparring exists but the coaches don't seem interested in actually fixing any flaws in form and kind of let people go nuts for 3 minutes. Ask them for pointers and the advice is like "Uh yeah, you just gotta move your head more." but they won't ever take you aside and do pad work or whatever. kind of a rant here because I love martial arts and this has me incredibly disappointed.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
A route I used to follow regularly and routinely but haven't touched for a few years absolutely destroyed me today. It was hot and there were a lot more fallen trees to climb over than usual but it turns out you do lose stamina! Shocking!
I've been focusing on much shorter distances and hills instead and indeed felt the benefit on uphill sections but my goodness I never thought this bullshit would ever happen to me.
Back to distance training...
Been doing Lyle McDonald’s UD2.0 program this week; it’s really crazy to see abs when I’ve never really had em before. Will probably keep going til end of July.
I've been training for 3 years without a coach, and every mistake on this list comes either from my own experience or from watching other people.
Thinking you need to lift heavy to build muscle.
Looking for the "perfect" workout program.
Expecting fast results.
Setting unrealistic expectations.
Not paying enough attention to your nutrition.
Comparing yourself to Instagram fitness models.
Avoiding the big compound lifts (squat, bench press, and deadlift).
One more thing: don't waste your time looking for 100 different exercises for the same muscle group.
Master the basics with one or two exercises first. Learn proper technique, understand how the movement works, and only then move on to something new.
Every exercise has its own technique, and if you're a beginner, chances are you won't perform it correctly right away. If you keep jumping from one exercise to another, your progress will be much slower.
Bonus:
If you're a natural lifter, chances are you won't look like the top fitness influencers on Instagram. And that's okay. Don't get too upset about it... or just join the dark side. :)
And remember: nutrition is responsible for a huge part of your results.