Lifting support thread!

[Work2live]

Thought I’d start this thread as a few people thought it’d be a good idea.

It might be a nice place to support each other and talk about lifting in general, ask for tips and advice on workouts, how to get enough protein etc.

All levels very much welcome, from complete newbies to those who’ve been weightlifting for years! 💪🏼

@NeverDropYourMooncup it depends what you're doing dietwise now?

This book The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess amzn.eu/d/a2z5HWJ has a menu plan for training and weight loss. I've not used the menu bit myself as it's not my goal. The book was recommended previously on old MN threads.

Personally I make sure my protein is getting towards 2x bodyweight in grams. I have shakes and yogurts in addition to getting it in meals. Then just eat what for me is normal. Gym days I have more protein than rest days. I'm gaining muscle and strength, and I've lost some weight without meaning to. I can tell my metabolism has sped up as I'm hungrier.

I've seen some content from James Smith on diet, and did use his calorie intake calculator once which is more strength training specific than the generic ones. I don't really calorie count though, although I've seen in advocated for maximising weight loss/ strength gains.

I found out watching the commonwealth games that the lifters train heavier and then reduce their weight for the event, trying to hit the max weight for the first time on the event weigh in.

What does everybody think I could/should be looking at to support

a. performance
b. strength gains
c. repair and recovery, particularly with autoimmune shite/tendinopathies
d. fat reduction?

Honestly, creatine ticks off pretty much every one of these @NeverDropYourMooncup. It improves your strength and lean muscle mass, and also helps your muscles to recover more quickly. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, so over time it may also help with fat reduction (but obviously only if your training and diet are fairly consistent).

And of course, lots of protein. I think the guideline is 1.6 - 2.2g per kg of body weight. I’m 63kg so I aim for around 120g a day.

Awful week for me, honestly. Been really stressed with work so my training has taken a back seat. Still managed to train twice but I now need to train twice this weekend which I’m not in the mood for.

Having to practice a lot of discipline as the motivation just isn’t there this week.

Bizarrely I’m still doing well and managing to increase my weights. Managed 40kg bench press and 70kg hip thrusts this week, so at least there’s something to be happy with!

@Work2live sorry to hear that, hope things become less stressful at work soon. Can you have the weekend off to take care of yourself if you're not feeling it? You can always pick back up when your head is back in the training place.

@Work2live those are brilliant numbers, congratulations!
Please don't try and workout all weekend - you're not going to lose pace if you've trained twice in a week. That's still plenty to be making progress even if it's less than you would usually train.

Thanks @RayKray and @Paintsplat!

I have already trained this morning (before I looked at this thread 😂) but I must admit I do feel better for it! I think I’ll have tomorrow as a rest day and try to just get out for a nice long walk with DH and the dog.

It’s a tough one isn’t it - I know that I generally feel better when I train, but sometimes I don’t know whether I really do need to rest!

Well done @NeverDropYourMooncup !

And @Work2live !

PT has put me on a new programme to measure progress properly. Weight sessions X4 per week, no running or spin . Hit my calorie and protein goals - he gave me 140g of protein. So I’m back on strict calorie logging (after today, when I’m going out!) and will see how the numbers look.

The Huberman Lab podcast has good episodes on supplements and techniques for training. Stanford neurobiologist I think. Really interesting

@LunchPoems thank you! 🙂

Your new programme sounds very similar to mine, train 4x a week, no cardio as such (just 8-10k steps a day for me), 120-150g protein and 2000 cals a day.

I really enjoy it (most of the time!) and feel likes it’s a good balance for me. Look forward to seeing how you get on with it!

Wow, some impressive PBs on the thread, nice work!
I just got back from a two day holiday and I quite missed the gym despite being new to weightlifting! Hoping to go tomorrow, I wonder if I will have lost strength! Will update.

I'm 3 times a week, all weights, minimal cardio and love it always

@GoTheFcukToSleep I went today after a smaller break and things felt a little harder but could still do what I usually do.

@Work2live for me resting really matters. It's when your muscle does its growing (which of course can be worked round with not targeting the same muscle) and also when you body recovers. And it stops me seeing it as something I have to do rather than want to do. I frequently am absolutely knackered after the gym, I couldn't do that day after day. And I really really look forward to gym days rather than finding them a chore. But we're all different and have different goals of course, but for me rest days are as important as gym days. I also use rest days for doing the flexibility stuff that supports my body for gym days as I really really don't want to injure myself.

Sorry not a smaller break, that makes zero sense as smaller than two days wouldn't be a break. A slightly longer break - I missed two sessions at usual pace.

Oh, that’s interesting @Work2live pretty much identical! I could do to get steps up, so going to try to walk to get bits of shopping and stuff. Hoping it focuses me more on days I’m at the gym without PT.

Feel like I've barely trained recently - had a holiday start of July, briefly got back to it before getting ill and not being well enough for a couple of weeks. I've been doing some bodyweight/cardio (I do a dance class that involves some beginner gymnastics too) but that's it.

Managed a few sets of barbell squats at bodyweight but only a few reps and then dropped the weight to get a bit more volume in. 35kg x6 row and 25kgx5 BB shoulder press. Not my best numbers but could be worse given the break!

Confident I can get back to consistent training, but there are so many things I want to achieve im not very good at consistent focus!

@Paintsplat I relate to struggling to focus on one thing when you enjoy so many! I swim, run and row as well as weight train and obviously I can’t do them all at once. Nowadays I tend to focus on one or two things (types of exercise) at the time so I can do them each about twice a week, otherwise I feel like I don’t make much progress. That’s just what works for me though!

Really enjoyed the gym today. Hadn’t been for over 2 weeks (was in holiday) but I went straight back to it and haven’t lost any strength noticeably. It was a very active holiday (no lifting but lots of waking/running) which probably helped!

I don’t think you start to see real strength/muscle loss until you’ve had around 3-4 weeks off, so you should be able to pick back up pretty much where you left off if you’ve only been out for a couple of weeks! Of course, you can slightly reduce weights/volume to decrease the chance of DOMs.

I’m determined to have a better week this week. I also tried to do an unassisted pull up yesterday (just to test myself) and I really wasn’t far off. Another month or so and I reckon I might be able to do one!

I go on holiday in a few weeks (my first beach holiday in forever) so I really want to look good and feel confident by then. I’m planning to do a bit of a mini cut over the next few weeks to get a tiny bit leaner.

Wishing you an awesome week @Work2live. I'm off to the gym v shortly.

Wow @Work2live I’m jealous of your unassisted pull up progress! It still feels like a long way off for me. I’m stuck at -21kg on the machine. Each time I lower the assisted weight I wait till I’m able to do a set of 10 comfortably before moving on to the next step (-14kg on my machine I think). I don’t know if that’s a sensible strategy… I am making slow progress with that.
Have fun at the gym @RayKray!

Thanks you too @RayKray!

@GoTheFcukToSleep have you tried doing eccentric pull ups (just doing the downward movement really slowly)? Really helps to give you more of a feel for the movement without any assistance.

At the moment I’m doing assisted pull ups with a band (I train at home so don’t have access to a machine) and my coach has also told me to retract my scapulas before performing the upwards movement which makes a huge difference. I feel the activation so much more now.

Well that was a rubbish session! Everything felt heavier and my body felt more painful not in good ways. Never had one like it! But i usually go in the morning, it's too hot and I'm starting period so maybe it's a combination of all those things.
Did make me appreciate how strong I usually am though as my those things were heavy!

@RayKray sorry it wasn’t a great workout! Isn’t it odd how some days you just feel incredible and other days you feel like that?!

I tend to have ‘good weeks’ and ‘bad weeks’ which are very much based on:

My stress levels
My hormones
My diet
My sleep quality

Thanks @Work2live I’ve not tried eccentric pull ups, will try! I did retract my scapulas (after googling what they are first😂😂) and that felt better so thanks for that tip.

@RayKray sorry you had a rubbish session, it happens sometimes!!! The next one day will feel better I’m sure!

@GoTheFcukToSleep glad it helped! It really does help to make sure you’re using the right muscles and not compensating with other muscles.

I’m determined to have a better week this week, starting today! Did a really good push session earlier. I love training my chest so it was a nice one to start the week with.

Hello! I had a few days off as long weekend away, did loads of walking and came back feeling happy to get back to aircon gym - I usually train outside but London is baking.

Pull-ups - I would try shaking it up, not just using the machine. Negatives, holds, scapular pulls, banded pulls, and inverted rows (feet up if you can) are all good.

@Work2live pleased you had a good session to start the week.

I had a good session again today so back to everything being awesome 🤩. Managed to up my chest press today, and hammer curls more solid in 10kg with less need to do to 8kg. Shoulder press also more solid in 8kg with less drops to 6kg so tangible progress.

Thanks for the pull up advice @MsMartini I’ll be off to Google all these things!

I did make some good progress on the pull up machine and progressed to -14kg! There’s only 14kg standing between me and a proper pull up now🤩 I was still stuck at -28kg last month so pleased with this!

Glad you had a good session too @RayKray!👍