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

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Do you guys record yourselves?
Sometimes if I'm concerned about my form since the mirrors in my gym are placed illogically. Luckily my gym actually has a tripod for this exact purpose that I've only seen one person use like a faggot (recorded himself flexing in the mirror shirtless while wearing a skull balaklava, presumably uploaded the video to TikTok or Instagram).
 
If I'm buying brand new, is the Bells of Steel home gym package with the Light Commercial rack, powerlifting bar, flat bench, and 425lb weight set a good choice for $2250?
Holy shit, that sounds like an easy 100% markup to me. You can get weights new online for about $1/pound, give or take, and buy them incrementally as you need them instead of upfront. I got another 90 pounds of bumper plates online recently for $65 during a sale. I don't know if you can get them cheaper in person because I've never checked.

You can also get a decent power cage for less than $350 if you don't mind spending two hours assembling it. You'll spend less than $150 on your olympic barbell and attachments to hold the weights, and even a nice bench is going to be well under $200. I don't know if the brand you're looking at is good enough to make up the price difference, but the cheap shit works for me.
 
A while ago I made a post complaining about a sudden surge of pain in my knee when squatting, even when squatting without any weight. Was rather busy lately but last week I had time to make an appointment, had an X-ray done and the doc diagnosed me with gonarthrosis 1st stage on the left knee. I'm still not sure how to process this shit. I think the doctor is shit because I asked another doctor friend of mine and she said that usually a simple x-ray is unreliable for a full diagnosis. So now I'm going to get an MRI and a CT scans done on the knee and get a second, maybe even third opinion.

If that guy is right and I've got this shit, it's so fucking over for me it's unreal. Never been more over. I'm late 20s, there are 60yo construction workers who have been squatting and wrecking their knees since before I was even alive and they don't have it. I refuse to believe this diagnosis is correct. Ran the image through all the AIs in existence. Some of them said it could be, but the overall conclusion of the AI overlords was that more scans and tests need to be done before a proper diagnosis so that + my friend's opinion is what keeps me from losing my shit.

Sorry for ranting I just needed to get this off of my chest. Don't wanna burden my parents with this, don't wanna whine about it to acquaintances and friends.
But I'll seriously lose my shit if it's real and I've been cursed like that.
 
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Started on protein powder for the first time. Didn’t bother in the past but I’m watching calories and picking up weird injuries.

How long does it take your stomach to get used to it? I don’t think I’ve ever needed to take a million tiny shits before over a couple of hours.

I don’t have any issues with lactose because I’m white and heterosexual so that’s not the issue.
 
Started on protein powder for the first time. Didn’t bother in the past but I’m watching calories and picking up weird injuries.

How long does it take your stomach to get used to it?
I don't doubt your genetic ability to consume milk products, but not all whey is the same. If you picked up a random brand, it'll have two dozen ingredients, artificial sweeteners, and possibly a metric ton of sodium. You want unflavored whey isolate to ensure you're not eating any disgusting non-protein products. Could I also interest you in some gorilla biscuits?

Which whey, white man?
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Started on protein powder for the first time. Didn’t bother in the past but I’m watching calories and picking up weird injuries.

How long does it take your stomach to get used to it? I don’t think I’ve ever needed to take a million tiny shits before over a couple of hours.

I don’t have any issues with lactose because I’m white and heterosexual so that’s not the issue.
It depends on the brand and the type of whey and all other things it may or may not contain. For some proteins it usually took me ~1week for my stomach to settle when taking 2doses/day. I've tried a lot of brands but my worst experience was with one of the worst and one of the best brands, and my best experience was with the same worst one.
"Ostrovit 100% Whey Pure" - absolute top tier on my list. The chocolate flavor is good and I had almost no trouble stomaching it. On the first 2 doses I was farting a lot but that was it. 1 day later I was able to digest it no problem. It's also quality protein on a low price. Most others are super overpriced and their quality is either same-ish or subpar. Very few are noticeably better but it's usually not worth it to pay 2-3x the price for like 5-10% increase in quality.

"Ostrovit WPC 80" - same brand, I'm not sure what else they put in it, price-wise is almost the same as the one above but I had to throw it away. 2 doses on day one and my ass was like squeezing a bottle of water into the toilet. Like a fucking fountain. Reduced it, tried taking 1/4 dose - brutal shitters within an hour. Decided to give it some time, maybe in a week of lower doses i'll get used to it? No. I take one full dose and I'm back in the shitseat fighting for my life. Never in my life have I had diarrhea that brutal before. Threw the thing away.
"SYNTHA-6" - almost the same experience like Ostrovit WPC. Syntha-6 is supposed to be one of the top tier proteins, blah blah blah. All great comments, highly recommended, much more expensive. Well, it grounded me to the shitter for weeks before I gave it to a friend. He used it happily - no stomach problems whatsoever.

So I suppose it's strictly individual. Maybe the mix of ingredients reacts differently with people's stomachs. If you're not experiencing mind-blowing fountain-like shitters your stomach will likely get used to it within a week at most.
 
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It's maddening trying to find weightlifting advice online. For every accomplished bodybuilder that recommends one thing, you can quickly find 3 others that say the exact opposite, and then 5 more that agree with neither position.

Same with diet advice. Same with life advice.

If health and wellbeing has taught me anything, it's that you should take every man's advice with a massive pinch of anavar.
 
It's maddening trying to find weightlifting advice online. For every accomplished bodybuilder that recommends one thing, you can quickly find 3 others that say the exact opposite, and then 5 more that agree with neither position.

Same with diet advice. Same with life advice.

If health and wellbeing has taught me anything, it's that you should take every man's advice with a massive pinch of anavar.
I had to learn to stop caring what is the most optimal, the best, the fastest, etc. I do what allows me to move more weight than last week, and I keep doing it week after week. It is certainly not the most optimal program. But it works for me.

Lift more things than you lifted last week.
Adjust calories to move your weight in the right direction.
Get more calories from protein.
Get lots of rest, and don't risk injury.
 
How long does it take your stomach to get used to it? I don’t think I’ve ever needed to take a million tiny shits before over a couple of hours.
I've used protein powder for years. Never had any problems until recently, when I bought a tub of Optimum Nutrition WPI - the exact same brand and product that I have used for a long time.
The stomach cramps I got felt like a cat was trying to claw its way out of my stomach from the inside, then hours of feeling bloated and sick, followed by shitting hot liquid streams. I thought I'd picked up gastroenteritis or maybe was developing a stomach ulcer. Every time I had this protein powder I would start getting cramps immediately, then the rest of the previously described symptoms.
I talked to the guy where I buy my supplements and he told me that all of the major American supplement suppliers have been sourcing cheaper dairy protein sources, and recommended that I switch to an Australian/New Zealand manufacturer, which I then did. I haven't had any problems since then and I will never, ever buy ON products again.
 
My fucked up elbow is finally almost better. I’m having one more day of rest as the last two weekends I thought “it’s almost healed, I can train on it” just aggravated the hell out of the injury.

I’m so bored, bros. I love my Sunday morning gym ritual. I’ve been up since 5am bored out my mind and fighting the urge just to go.
 
If I'm buying brand new, is the Bells of Steel home gym package with the Light Commercial rack, powerlifting bar, flat bench, and 425lb weight set a good choice for $2250?
I heard some not so good news about Bells of Steel. They have no quality control and don't like to honor their warranty. I suspect they're leaving fake reviews and "positive experiences" with fake accounts too. I wouldn't call them a scam because they do sometimes deliver working products, but I'd never put that much money at once into an online company with that sort of reputation. At least if you buy things piece-by-piece you can only get fucked over a little bit at a time. They're also Canadian. Why would you buy from a Canadian?

It's maddening trying to find weightlifting advice online. For every accomplished bodybuilder that recommends one thing, you can quickly find 3 others that say the exact opposite, and then 5 more that agree with neither position.

Same with diet advice. Same with life advice.
Anything related to fitness doesn't even have the veneer of science to it. It's just a bunch of people doing different things and reporting what happens. The good news is that it probably means it doesn't matter what you do, since clearly so much conflicting ideas are working for different people. The only issue is when they're doing steroids, because then they can do the most retarded braindead shit that shouldn't work but still see great results. This is why anyone who lies about doing steroids should be shot.

I'll give you an example: I did squats and my left knee started to hurt. I looked at my form, switched to squat shoes with raised heels, and started moving my hips more than my knees, and the pain went away immediately. Is it scientific? Of course not, but it's by far the best we've got.
 
It's maddening trying to find weightlifting advice online. For every accomplished bodybuilder that recommends one thing, you can quickly find 3 others that say the exact opposite, and then 5 more that agree with neither position.
You learn to filter that by asking "Does this person use steroids?" Bafflingly, there seem to be a lot of people who don't actually know what that looks like, so a follow-up question would be "Is this person on television/in films/making their living on social media?" If the answer is "Yes", then they are almost certainly using some form of PEDs.
Examples of steroid users: The Rock; Mike Israetel; Hulk Hogan; Chris Hemsworth; Eddie Hall; Chris Evans as Captain America; Terry Crews; Sylvester Stallone; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Vladi Galagan.
Also, a huge number of gymbro social media personalities are juicing. Any woman with large upper body musculature is using steroids. Almost every competitive strong man/woman is juicing; I have known one who wasn't - one.

The second thing to ask is, "Does this person's advice follow the standard 'Eat Less, Move More' model?", then ask "Does their nutrition advice sound like a description of the Food Pyramid?" If "Yes" to both, you are listening to someone who is repeating the same advice that hasn't worked for the last 100 or so years.
 
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If I'm buying brand new, is the Bells of Steel home gym package with the Light Commercial rack, powerlifting bar, flat bench, and 425lb weight set a good choice for $2250?
That sounds a lot to me. It was a bit rough and ready and converting to Bongland prices, but I priced up a full rack, wide flat bench, bar and 200kg of assorted plates for £1,020 just now. All reasonably reputable brands. Maybe I'd come to a little more or a little less after fine-tuning but I'd say that's a lot of money, unless you're running a gym and this is super-high quality. Even then...

I don' t know you from Adam and am not a thread-regular so please don't take offence but if you're a relative newcomer to serious weight training and this is your way of leaping in they way some people do, please don't be one of these people who spends a fortune on gym equipment right off and then never uses it.

Started on protein powder for the first time. Didn’t bother in the past but I’m watching calories and picking up weird injuries.

How long does it take your stomach to get used to it? I don’t think I’ve ever needed to take a million tiny shits before over a couple of hours.

I don’t have any issues with lactose because I’m white and heterosexual so that’s not the issue.
Quality varies hugely. In Bongland I used to get all mine from myprotein.com who had pretty detailed ingredient breakdowns and different ranges even just within whey protein. This was back when they were smaller - they're in supermarkets now. I'd actually be interested in any other views on this as I was younger and knew less back when I bought from them.

I'm actually not doing serious weight training at the moment and haven't been for a while. I'm currently getting back into shape in terms of weight and some running and rowing. So I haven't had the crazy protein needs I once had. I'm actually finding Huel Black edition is enough to top up my protein and it's been pretty digestible. Probably not enough for you and it is not a protein powder. It's a full on meal replacement but has become a regular part of my diet and keeps protein levels up to a good baseline for me.
 
It's maddening trying to find weightlifting advice online
At some point you learn to filter out most of the shitty influencer types. The more the video feels like clickbait, the more it is.

Eventually you end up with a bunch of channels with the least amount of obvious horseshit and salesman antics. The types that can talk about boring technical bullshit about one exercise, off the cuff, and make it last five weeks, all the while seeming like they achieved their physiques naturally.

And even then, these types still tend do disagree on some stuff. Get some more training experience and you will disagree with all of them too when it comes to certain exercises or even principles. Subjective experiences, after all. When one trains his/her body for years and decades there will be a lot of exercise favoritism, personal anecdotes/sentinents and guesswork involved.

I just think of the whole thing as a qiant equation we haven't yet fully solved. Or more like a building that's almost ready, not yet complete, but the foundation is there, walls are up, but some things inside just tend to shift and change a bit.

Don't try to be perfect like the one guy above said. Pick some exercises, lift with intensity, get your proteins, try to rest well. You can always add or remove exercises and change how you approach them, most people have done just that, but when you're beginning it's better to just try to do OK instead of great. Get used to lifts, see how your body responds. Just jump in. If you want to get some muscle and strength, you can and you will if you just put in some effort. Noob gains and personal experience first, optimization later.
 
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If you're going to take roids you basically have body dysmorphia. At a certain point you can't realistically get stronger. The ancient Greek story of Milo isn't real, a person cannot carry an ox on his back. But you can still be stronger than 99% of people.
Taking roids is the dumbest thing you can do.

Causes hair loss
Causes horrible acne
Causes bitch tits like bob
Causes moods to amplify
Takes god knows how many years off your heart

All so you can get arms only men really appreciate?
If anyone develops elbow tendonitis from too much pulling, i highly recommend Versa Gripps.
I had it pretty bad in my left elbow. Cutting out barbell rows and curls for a few months took care of it.
 
Taking roids is the dumbest thing you can do.

Causes hair loss
Causes horrible acne
Causes bitch tits like bob
Causes moods to amplify
Takes god knows how many years off your heart

All so you can get arms only men really appreciate?

I had it pretty bad in my left elbow. Cutting out barbell rows and curls for a few months took care of it.
Harkening back to the previous discussion on contradictory lifting advice, I actually found curling to be physical therapy for my tendonitis. Doing it light light enough where you can just purely exhaust the bicep without a break in form stressing the joints(zero gains lmao) melted away the pain in a matter of days. Who the fuck knows.
 
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