Fitness

When I was at my most fit as a gymnast I could do some really impressive athletic and strength and endurance things, but put me on a stair machine and you’d think it was my 2nd day ever working out. They’ve always been so hard for me

292to137

I find that to be the hardest cardio machine.

mybellasoul

Stair machines, or actual stairs, or elevation work in general, is/are NOTORIOUSLY rough. An entire stair race up 69 floors might only last 5-20 minutes.

If you are on a stair machine or going up stairs, you need to stop thinking of cardio in terms or running or of 30m+ sessions of continuous movement.

Now, caveat – I don’t know what your health situation is, I don’t know how fast you’re trying to go, and heart palpitations are a bad sign, please talk to a medical professional.

But I will say that at an 80 stair per minute rate, which is not even a jog, just a brisk walk, 5 to 7 minutes is enough to climb 400-560 stairs, or 800-1120 if you double stepped the whole way, which is the length of a decent sized full stair race
…which are ABSURDLY rough on the body and which most people would train for specifically.

So it is always possible that you are setting the machine to a speed that looks “reasonable,” but are calibrating your expectations based on flat ground when that is a really bad model for what you’re actually doing.

TheBankTank

Like everything else it’s all about speed.

Slowly walking for 10 minutes is easy. Running full blast for 10 minutes is impossible.

Reduce the speed. Put it on slowest setting. Do you still gas out immediately? I doubt it. Ok. Increase the speed by one. Now how’d it go? Repeat until you find your level. Train at that level. Increase level over time.

Cardio 101. It doesn’t matter how you’re doing it. You have to train at your current speed and slowly increase over time.

Stair-climbing is more energy intensive than walking. You’ll climb slower than you walk.

It doesn’t get any easier, you just get faster.

koggit

I lost 100 lbs using the stairs almost daily. Absolutely the hardest cardio machine, but once you get used to it, everything else is a piece of cake.

Thats_Life_

If you’re not planning to compete, then use them. No big deal. I would suggest not using them for your warm up sets though, only where your grip is certain to fail (top set). That way you keep working your grip and don’t become dependent on them for all your lifts.

TehFuriousOne

Wraps or straps? You say wraps but describe straps. Anyway it’s fine to use straps for deadlifts (and any other heavy pulling). Do what you can without straps (warmups for example), use straps for the rest and work your grip separately.

bleachedagnus

My wrists never suffer from them. Granted I don’t have any health issues with them…it’s done wonders for my deadlift. I started using them for the majority of my back movements too (barbell rows, T-bar rows, RDLs, you can even use them for pull-ups).

I highly reccomend them if your grip is holding you back. I have never had any issue with them making my wrists sore or anything.

That being said, keep working on your grip and forearms if you do get them. That way they won’t fall drastically behind the weight you’re pulling

manimalmaxamus

I use straps due to my left wrist being mangled by an airbag in a wreck. I look at it this way, I want to develop my back, so the straps allow me to do that.

I also have to use wraps on my push exercises with the barbell.

BoingBoomChuck

Don’t let grip hold back your deadlift. Use straps when you want or need. Especially if you aren’t competing. You can train your grip separately if you want to.

LibertyOrDepth

Boo hell yeah this is good work. My jaw literally dropped seeing that original weight loss comparison. Practically two different humans entirely. Your more current gains are impressive as well.

Keep it up 🙌

LovelyRage

Good work! Great to hear that you are back into healthy eating and best of all you have the gym bug!

Edit: Woo my first, first comment!

suffellast

that and you managed to maintain your height, well done!

jiggymeister7

Your goal, apart from squats, is pretty much the 1234 plate goal, same as me.

SoForAllYourDarkGods

Amazing job..

MADPIRAHNA4

As someone who has been doing PPL since starting his weight loss journey at 344lbs (currently 197lbs) let me just tell you this:

The best routine is the one you stick to. Don’t overthink it, just get to work.

kharris8887

PPL isnt a specific program, it’s just a template for which days you do which exercises. Tons of programs can be called a PPL. Hell, many 3 day 5/3/1 templates are PPLs.

If you’re a beginner, do a specific program that prescribes explicit sets/reps/weights and a clear progression plan.

ghostmcspiritwolf

I personally do a PPL with 5/3/1 sets for the main lifts.

I.e. 5/3/1 bench on push day then accessories, 5/3/1 squat on leg day then accessories, 5/3/1 deadlift on pull day then accessories.

For me, it’s been a good mix of strength training and general (“bodybuilding”) training.

giantpipsqueak

You can use any routine you want, whenever you want. They all work.

It’s a question of effort, consistency and time. People tend to screw up 1 of those 3 things at a minimum.

MythicalStrength

I’ve been doing 531 for about 6 months, I love it. People bitch that the frequency is too low or the progression isn’t fast enough; whatever. Wendler knows what the fuck he’s doing. I’ve gotten bigger and stronger, with better conditioning all while managing recovery and avoiding injury.

The best one for you is the one you’re gonna stick to.

rks1313

Either. If you fall in the range you’re doing the work as prescribed.

poscaps

Lift enough so that hitting RPE 8 is somewhere between 4 and 6 reps.

zstrebeck

If you do 4×4 most likely every set isn’t RPE 8. If you start with 6 reps at RPE 8 by the time you get to 4th set your RPE 8 becomes 4 reps or maybe 5.

But tbh this is just kinda confusing for no reason lol

69liketekashi

Man, I had to stop responding to comments from the amount of bad advice here. RPE is designed to strain your body to a certain point based on how it feels that day.

If you’re sick, didn’t sleep, and fasted for 3 days – squatting LIGHT weight will tax your body a lot.

If you do RPE, it doesn’t matter what weight you’re moving. Gauge yourself on the warmup sets, and adjust if you over/undershot too far.

As an example, I was doing some snatch-grip DLs at 315 last week for 5×8. It was an RPE 7, and I may have undershot. Today, I was doing sets of 7 and 275 was ROUGH.

If you tracked every aspect of your life and lifting, you should see the weights trending upward over time when training with RPE. Week-to-week you might not always see increases in weight, but the strain put on your body is what you’re focusing on.

AtrumX

RPE takes a little while to judge accurately. Honestly, I’ve been using RPE for almost 2 years now and sometjmes I still feel like I misjudge effort.

jtw1984

Why did /r/nsuns shut down? It was nice to see people doing the same program sharing their progress.

Strength_B4_Weakness

A local gym equipment manufacturer is closing down, and having a sale on their remaining stock.

There isn’t much, but they have brand new 25kg bumper plates for $49.95AUD each.

I’m so tempted, but still on the fence if I should bite the bullet and pick up some, maybe 6 or 8, to begin my home fitness journey.

Don’t currently have any other equipment but this seems like a crazy deal. What do you think?

Captaincam94

Question about volume:

I understand that between 10-20 sets per week for each muscle group is optimal for growth in intermediates.

How are we counting sets?

For example, for Triceps, am I counting Overhead Press (3 sets), Bench Press (3 sets), Tricep Pushdown (3 sets), DB Kickbacks (3 sets) for a total of 12?

Or do I only have 6 sets (only counting the direct Tricep excercises)?

Same question with Chinups/Pullups counting towards Biceps and Rear Delt Flies counting towards Shoulders.

Count them or not?

SillyRabbit2121

I injured my rotator cuff back in March. Thought it had healed up, and I absolutely screwed it again last week when I went back to shoulder presses- it was a lot of pain, and I’m thinking if I want to be healthy in the long term I need to take serious time off. Picked up running in the meantime to compensate and signed up for a half marathon… Only to injure my foot on my latest run. I’m sad, frustrated, and don’t want to contemplate the next four months sitting on the couch and watching Netflix.

I’ve already figured that anything abs and a stationary bike should be safe. I’ve got a bum shoulder and a bum foot. Any other exercises r/fitness can think of to keep me fit while I (hopefully) recover from this month of hell?

wellbehavedbitches

Are weightlifting shoes worth it? Family member is looking for a gift idea and my current shoes are full of holes. Can I do other fitness activities in them such as cardio?

What’s a good shoe to look at? Thanks!

CynicalAssassin

The different portions of the tricepget more variety from elbow position in relation to the shoulder joint rather than hand position. Picking one pushdown variation, skull crushed or close-grip bench, and an overhead extension will provide different stimulus to portions of the tricep, and could help develop certain areas.

TodyCrudeau

Tricep Dips are a brilliant exercise for Tricep developement.

Bogdan____

need to also focus on the long head

Zyzz_Neverforget69

I currently do 3 days of upper body per week and my workout consists of:

Day 1: Tricep cable pull downs

Day 2: DB skullcrushers

Day 3: Assisted Dips

By far, I get the most activation from DB skull crushers and it’s not even close IMO (Grain of salt as I am still working on perfecting my form for Dips).

ham_patel

Get your close grip bench to 2 plates for reps

Flying_Snek

Not too much work. Count it as either more conditioning or your assistance work as appropriate for the intensity

Nightwinder

All of his routines have assistance work (25-100 reps of pushing, pulling, core/single leg), I’d use it in place of that.

njunis

Any particular reason you’re leaving out the bench press day?

To answer your question, as others have said, is just count the complexes towards the conditioning or assistance requirements for the day.

raging_bill

Dont think too hard about it. Try it out. You dont have to stick word for word to a 5/3/1 template. Changing the assistance work he puts in there isnt going to kill you. A kettlebell complex afterwords for conditioning as a boxer sounds legit.

w2bsc

Wendler said substituting or altering his workouts would make him pray you get VD….

Do with this information what you will…

marklonesome

Sometimes i hit my dick with the bar when i shrug. Thats the only possible dick move. Get swole bro youve committed no sin

colorblindmoose

The fact that you’re even asking means you probably treat the equipment better than 90% of people in the gym. Don’t worry about it

spartans22

If you’re paying for a gym membership and you’re so strong that you use more weight than the gym equipment can accommodate, that sounds like the gym’s problem. As long as you’re not doing something reckless then you are paying them to use their amenities, no dick move here.

Impressive deadlift btw.

PorkchopSquats

Find the bar that’s already bent, and try to stick with that one bar.

If there’s no bent bar, bend one, and stick with it from that point.

When people complain, tell ’em it’s already bent so it’s acceptable.

OatsAndWhey

If you’re slamming the weight down on the safeties then it could bend the bar, similar to rack pulls. If you have tall enough or enough blocks to stack you do them off blocks instead.

Sir_Tibbles

Resistance bands get more resistant as you stretch them

mmceorange

If people have trouble with lockout on really heavy weights then adding bands to lower weight will let them do increase the difficulty of lockout on lower weights, so you can do more volume.

Subrandom249

Would add little resistance at the bottom but more at the top. So if your sticking point is at the top it’s a good idea.

Rattlingplates

I believe the technical term is “progressive resistance”. It gets “heavier” the more you lift, easier at the bottom and harder at the top. This is sometimes used for plateau busting. Another technique for this is hanging chains on the bar, long enough that the chains are resting on the ground at the bottom; this way, you are picking up extra weight as you lift the bar.

neotropic9

Louis Simmons has a lot on this subject but essentially no. Bands and chains are excellent for accommodating resistance

academia_wannab