Weightlifting for Kiwis - Discussion and support regarding the art of swole

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

In short: eat less, you big fat greedy fuck.

No.

 

[FedPostalService]

Bought a skipping rope. That shit used to be easy when I was a kid. Fuck cardio.

 

[MorallyGreyFrog]

Does anyone have experience making an outdoor platform to put a squat rack on?

I have a squat rack that I've not set up since I moved out of my parent's house for lack of space. To resolve that, I am thinking of making a deck or patio in my backyard to put it on.

I've looked online for some designs. All of the designs that I find seem to focus on making a wood deck, many using plywood. I have my doubts about those because of the threat of water damage. Usually, preventing water damage would mean having plenty of gaps in the wood and/or setting it up to have a slight slope, both of which are undesirable for a squat rack platform. The issue of water damage would be further exacerbated if I were to put rubber mats down. I also would have to worry about the ability of grass to grow underneath creating a damp and rot inducing environment that also doubles as a pest habitat.

As an alternative, I've thought about setting some pavers down. I have experience with doing that. However. I am concerned that I would break the pavers if I ever dropped a weight on them, even if had rubber mats on top of the pavers.

Should I pour a concrete slab and then adhere a layer of rubber on top?

Maybe I am too worried about mitigatable problems, and I should just commit to the wood deck type design.

I'm interested in the experience of anyone else who has done something like this or otherwise has input.

 

[close]

Should I pour a concrete slab and then adhere a layer of rubber on top?

Dig a hole, use wood to make a form, pour concrete. If you want to put something on top of the concrete for some reason, get those jigsaw puzzle rubber mat things that are like 3/4" of solid rubber. Much easier to take off, and a well-placed concrete slab in a garden hurts the value of the property way less than one that's got some old rubber stuck to it for some unfathomable reason.

 

[Flabba Wabba Jabba]

I've been cutting significantly for a few weeks now, and I've noticed my muscle recovery time has increased too much. Any way to remedy this? Hot baths?

Up your protein intake and sleep more. Get a percussion gun, get bands, heat packs and a foam roller.

 

[KillaSmoke]

Up your protein intake and sleep more. Get a percussion gun, get bands, heat packs and a foam roller.

Sleep is a big deal, but a lot of times it will suffer during a cut, and there's only so much you can do.

In terms of nutrition, absolutely make sure you're getting enough protein, more than you do when you're trying to build muscle. The leaner you are, the more protein. Beyond that, try bringing fat down to just enough to support hormonal function, around 0.4 g/lb, and then bring your carbs up to make up the difference. Its a good idea to try and structure as many of them as you can, especially the fast digesting carbs, immediately pre/intra/post workout.

I come from an endurance training background, where carbs and carb timing is one of the most important factors. Its not as huge of a deal with weight training, but especially during a cut, when you don't have much glycogen to go around, it can definitely help recovery. I don't know how many calories you have to go around, but if you're pretty active throughout the day, and this isn't going to wreak havoc on your appetite the rest of the day, you can even just drink like 50-100 grams of sugar dissolved into water while you workout.

You could also adjust your training. Maybe lower volume slightly, or swap movements for something that hits the same muscles while beating you up a bit less.

 

[Swine Schwein]

Do I really need to consume the necessary amount of protein to build muscle

Well if it's necessary, as you yourself put it, then of course yes.

Without going into what's the current year grams/pound concensus, some swear by 150-200g+, some somewhat well-known alleged natties with a lot of muscle, such as Alex Leonidas have said it's not so important to max out the proteins and that 100g+ has been fine with them. Paraphrasing out of memory.

If you're young and you haven't gotten your noob gains, you'll develop muscle much easier without worrying too much about protein, but otherwise you either "trust the science" or do whatever the fuck you want and see where it gets you. So pick your poison and post results I guess.

 

[Adam Basile Woodrow]

Well if it's necessary, as you yourself put it, then of course yes.

Well, I looked up how much protein I need (140). So far, so good, but the thing is, I also looked up what I need to eat, and it seems like too much, and I'm just afraid I'll make a mistake and get fat again. (fasting was the method I used)

 

[Swine Schwein]

Well, I looked up how much protein I need (140). So far, so good, but the thing is, I also looked up what I need to eat, and it seems like too much, and I'm just afraid I'll make a mistake and get fat again.

Watch your calorie intake, it's easier than people think. We're creatures of habit and the foods we like to eat usually consist of surprisingly few items. You'll work these things out of memory soon enough. But if you get a little weight, and you train hard, you'll get a little more muscle as well. Unless you want to just "maingain".

Protein shakes, too. You can drink some of your proteins. You don't have to eat all the time.

 

[whatsupwthat]

Well, I looked up how much protein I need (140). So far, so good, but the thing is, I also looked up what I need to eat, and it seems like too much, and I'm just afraid I'll make a mistake and get fat again. (fasting was the method I used)

How many calories are you looking to eat for weight loss/maingaining? Unless you're on a really really strict diet (like less than 1500 kcal per day) sneaking 140g of protein should be no hassle.

 

[Adam Basile Woodrow]

Protein shakes, too.

Does it matter whether you mix it with milk or water?

How many calories are you looking to eat for weight loss/maingaining?

I don't watch calories, because of the fasting I did every two days, I knew I was always losing 1 to 1.7 kg (if things went well). Admittedly, I didn't eat much either.

I am also thinking about continuing to fast (24h) when I start taking 140g of protein daily

 

[Swine Schwein]

Does it matter whether you mix it with milk or water?

Yes. Water is just water, zero calories. Milk has carbs, protein, fat and thus calories.

E: of course it doesn't matter in any other way, the protein powder mixes well with both.

 

[whatsupwthat]

Does it matter whether you mix it with milk or water?

Only the taste, from personal experience, protein shakes mixed with water taste like vomit. Obviously milk has more carbs but also more protein.

I don't watch calories, because of the fasting I did every two days, I knew I was always losing 1 to 1.7 kg (if things went well). Admittedly, I didn't eat much either.

I am also thinking about continuing to fast (24h) when I start taking 140g of protein daily

If you're fasting every other day, and eat quality homemade foods without too much oil, you shouldn't be able to get fat.

 

[Adam Basile Woodrow]

you shouldn't be able to get fat.

Admittedly, I eat Toblerone every day, but I don't think 100g really makes a difference.

 

[Lester Tasker]

Well, I looked up how much protein I need (140). So far, so good, but the thing is, I also looked up what I need to eat, and it seems like too much, and I'm just afraid I'll make a mistake and get fat again. (fasting was the method I used)

Do you know how to cook? Knowing how to prepare a tasty meal is an underutilized aspect of training. Once you know how to cook chicken beyond the poverty chicken-n-rice meme you pretty much never need to worry about protein again and you won't get fat unless you're snaking on junk throughout the day.

 

[Adam Basile Woodrow]

Do you know how to cook?

Unfortunately not. My current food consists of quick and easy microwave cooking.

 

[Lester Tasker]

Unfortunately not. My current food consists of quick and easy microwave cooking.

I highly recommend picking up a ceramic dutch oven (Lodge makes a good quality one for cheap), maybe a slow cooker, and a cook book from a used book shop (you'll probably find a more specific "101 Ways to Cook Chicken!" book). If you're limited to the caloric profile of premade microwaved meals I can see where the concern of fitting that much protein into a day comes from.

Cooking is easier and less time consuming than you may think! I've got a dutch oven going right now with 150g of protein / roundabout 1300 calories, palatable enough to eat the whole thing in just a few servings if I need to... and I will. Prep time + cooking was just about 30 minutes.

 

[74164978231]

I have tendinitis in my left elbow/forearm.

Feels bad man.

Is it potentially worth it to buy home weights? Part of why I don't go to the gym is not wanting to physically drive over to campus, park and then walk like 15 fucking minutes to it.

Yes. Being able to waltz into my garage at any time wearing anything I want is a huge benefit to lifting consistently for me. Downside is you do miss out on some niche movements by not having everything a gym does.

 

[postfeetpls]

Boys and gals, I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed growing my legs with an existing knee injury.
Long story short, many moons ago I became a fat fuck and gained a shitload of weigh in a year(over 35kg/77lbs). Then once I came to my senses I realized this must be dealt with so my first instinct was strict diet with LOTS of running. The thing is, sometimes when I set a goal I get tunnel vision and forget about the consequences of my actions in the path of reaching my goal.

Turns out when you gain almost half of your initial weight in a year, you're not supposed to just start running till (literal) failure every single day. I was running until my body gave up and I had to just lie down for 15mins.
2 weeks in and my knee started hurting. "Fuck yeah, that means it's working" - kept it up. A month later knee got swollen and I could barely walk. Went to the doc, he laughed and called me an amateur for doing this dumb shit. Prescribed some anti-inflammatory meds and some lotion to put on the knee, told me to run less and have more rests etc, the things I should've done from the start.

So a few years passed by, weight is lost, i've been working out consistently(even before I got fat) and so far I've had no issues. However, last few weeks my knee has been acting up again. Every time I load the bar some more it hurts afterwards. Tried switching to bulgarian split-squats - same thing. Lunges also hurt. More reps also hurt.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now? Feels like no matter what I do, the pain has returned and will get worse no matter what. I researched some knee-stretching exercises with elastic bands, some marching warm ups, wall squats etc etc. Do I start doing bodyweight squats for a while just to keep the blood flowing and let the joint strengthen? But how much? I can't imagine doing sets of 50-60 bw squats would be beneficial.

Any advice from kiwis who have been through that or know what's going on would be greatly appreciated. Also I don't do PRs and I have no idea what my max squat is, I do sets of 6-8 reps with at least 2 RR. It's not like I'm pushing myself to the very limit because I wanted to avoid exactly what's happening right now. And my form is pretty much perfect, it's my top priority in every lift ever since perfect form fixed my shoulder problems on the bench and pullups.

edit: I'm not a newbie, I've been lifting consistently for years. Got some solid advice here last time, went to see a doctor and with some extra work got my shoulder fixed. My strength is relatively decent across lifts and I'm 179cm(5'9? 5'10? idk how that goes) tall at 79kg so there's not much extra fat to impair my knees and joints. On compounds I always leave at least 1 or 2 reps in reserve because I'm trying to be cautious of what's going on. No idea what my max bench/deadlift/squat/ohp is.

 

[whatsupwthat]

Boys and gals, I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed growing my legs with an existing knee injury.

To me sounds like osteoarthritis or gonarthrosis, just from the circumstances in which your knee pain developed. You should still see a doctor/physio about it though, an IRL assessment will always be more accurate than what some random on the internet tells you.

Depending on how bad your knee is I wouldn't do exercises that put too much stress on it. Something like biking with resistance could still be a good exercise for your legs if you can't squat.
Other than that, a knee brace goes a long way, it really helps with knee pain and discomfort, and taking collagen can help rebuild cartilage.