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Good workout/weightlifting forums?
bigpanda
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I want to step up my workout routines and mix things up and finally do this thing the right way. I'm looking for some good forums/websites with routines, proper exercise techniques, forums, etc.
Since the start of the year I've been hitting the treadmill/elliptical and circuit training. I'm starting to move into freeweights now to strengthen my core, but want to really shed some more fat.
Since the start of the year I've lost 85 pounds and still have about 65 that I'd like to lose. Preferably by next summer at the latest. By December 18th I'd like to lose another 20 from where I'm at now.
For those curious, I'm 5'6"ish, 33 years old, and currently weigh 217 pounds.
Since the start of the year I've been hitting the treadmill/elliptical and circuit training. I'm starting to move into freeweights now to strengthen my core, but want to really shed some more fat.
Since the start of the year I've lost 85 pounds and still have about 65 that I'd like to lose. Preferably by next summer at the latest. By December 18th I'd like to lose another 20 from where I'm at now.
For those curious, I'm 5'6"ish, 33 years old, and currently weigh 217 pounds.
bigpanda on
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Youtube for exercise technique.
Bodybuilding.com is similar. Lots of routines done by professional bodybuilders.
The AtLarge Nutrition forums are pretty decent, with a good number of powerlifters, strongmen and other strength athletes as regular posters: http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/
http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/
the host is a bit... peculiar, but the advice seems solid and well-structured..
Yeah, buddy, I'm 5'8 and weigh 150lbs. At this juncture, you don't necessarily need freeweights. What you need to do is lose weight. For the most part, gyms are boring and treadmills are boring. While we still have nice weather, go outside and walk around Seattle: find a nice jogging/walking route that you're comfortable with.
Instead of lifting weights, take one of those girly classes at your gym, like, Body Pump or something like that.
Try to commit 4-5 days per week to exercising. But, realistically, you should be doing something active every day. Whether you go out and run 3 miles or stay home and do some pushups and/or situps. Stay active and take that weight off.
Starting Strength is a good book for weight lifting.
we have a fitness thread here, and one in SE you can ask whatever
not really
losing fat and gaining muscle are different things
you're better off doing
well
quite literally any form of cardio at all
Explain what's wrong with this.
Losing fat is (if we simplify) a result of a calorie deficit.
Lifting weights burns calories.
Therefore lifting weights help lose fat.
Is there anything wrong with this thinking?
Especially if he would like strengthen his core while losing fat. It is achieving two goals with one action.
If you're going to be shit-house wrong, don't be internet smug about it.
Changing body composition is the goal of fitness and lifting weight both burns calories via activity and shifts your body composition. lean pounds added to the body help you burn fat, and progress is very fast when you start lifting weights. It also doesn't take very long to lift weights if you do it right, so the notion that it's a "trade off" for "any form of cardio at all" is false. And so is the notion that he's better doing "any form of cardio" - some cardio is terrible for the joints of heavy people, some doesn't put your heartrate where it needs to be, etc.
If the op is interested in a good program made up of compound exercises for total strength, I recommend the stronglifts program.
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/
it's free, it's a fast program (roughly 30 min a day, every other day), and it gives results that have good transference to other activities. There's an associated forum, but I don't read or post in it.
This and other bodyweight exercises have helped me quite a bit both with variety and with compounding my strength training.
I host a podcast about movies.
Did you read what your "buddy" wrote? He lost 85 pounds in a year doing circuits. He's past the "do a little something every day" stage and looking for advanced information and variety.
I host a podcast about movies.
I agree that cardio will show immediate weight loss, but that isn't the only factor being looked at. I think he should continue to do cardio.
Weightlifting should not be removed from the equation. He wants to build strength. Lift weights. They help lose weight AND build strength. Its that simple. If he's lost 85 lbs then he obviously has self-discipline.
I agree with Johnny here. That program looks pretty good.
StrengthMill is a great forum for fitness advice. The best part is that they've got Q&A forums with some pros - Rippetoe even has one.
This is bollocks
He lost eighty five pounds in a year
he asked a specific question and you answered with "take walks"
he's act exactly the point where adding some weights is a good idea.
guy loses that much weight in a year, he should probably be GIVING the general weight loss advice, not getting patronized.
I host a podcast about movies.
That means that if you lift weights and gain muscle, your body burns more calories.
If you keep the same food intake, you will lose more calories than before. If the food intake is the proper amount, you should be burning more calories than you consume, anyways - which is the only way to lose fat.
You can burn calories by lifting weights or doing cardio. Cardio is easier to burn a higher number of calories, but throwing in weight lifting will certainly help burn fat. There are certainly weight lifters that can burn 5,000 calories per day because their weight lifting regime is so demanding, but it is difficult to attain that level of expertise through only the Internet and when you're (presumably) out of shape. However, lifting weights will not necessarily help you lose weight, but rather lose fat- if anything, you may end up gaining some weight for a bit, as muscle weighs more than fat, so any fat that is burned off is replaced by heavier muscle.
I say get a trainer if you can afford it, because the Internet (as shown in this thread) is so, so hit-or-miss.
Ugh, I'm not patronizing him. Walking is good for you. Lifting weights is good for you. I said "focus" on cardio, which doesn't mean completely remove weights from your workout.
I've been a personal trainer. I've played sports since a young age. I've been lifting weights for over 15yrs. But, of course, I must not know anything. Stop f**king arguing with me.
no, that's not what you said.
You said (comments mine):
see, he's been doing what you suggest for a year. He had the self-discipline to lose 85 pounds on his own and now feels ready for variety and strength training to add to it and would like good sources for ideas about this. He mentioned strength training and core strength specifically. If you were a personal trainer when you weren't too busy being Al Bundy and winning 4 touchdowns in a single game, you would think you would know to A) Listen to all of what people say and
Sorry if that seems a little direct but come on dude.
And finally, here at penny arcade, there's no requirement to half swear - you can just type fuck and it will be reproduced faithfully on screen.
I host a podcast about movies.
Ross Enamait is a beast conditioning and strength coach that really teaches practical ideas. He knows his stuff and his ideas work. The forum on his site is chockful of workout goodness.
When the fuck were you a personal trainer? You posted your resume in another thread, dude.
there's also some really knowledgeable people in the traineo forums.
Pot, kettle.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/reducing-body-fat-percentage-by-gaining-muscle-qa.html
That's kind of out of context. It's based on the answer to the question "I want to reduce my body fat percentage but I also want to gain muscle and would rather not diet. A guy at my gym told me that if I gain muscle, this will have the effect of reducing body fat percentage, is this true?"
it ignores the metabolic needs of the muscle - the man in the example would have to be adding hundreds of calories to his diet to gain that much muscle without "losing fat." It doesn't address the calorie usage of strength training vs that of cardio at all, it's just a math problem to make a point about the way bodyfat is measured.
For the OP's needs, some routine variety and some strength training are GREAT ideas. They may enable more activity, and they will certainly make his body more efficient, they will offeset some of the possible cosmetic results of rapid weight loss, etc.
The site it's from seems pretty interesting in general, though.
I host a podcast about movies.
Also lifting burns lots of calories through EPOC.
Also it helps you not be a weak bitch.
The context is pretty unimportant. He's making a point that even if you magically added muscle to your frame, you're not changing your overall composition by much.
Cardio simply burns more total calories than lifting. If you diet, you don't gain mass or the extra calorie burn of that mass. If you don't diet, you can build mass but you unavoidably add fat. Check the interval vs steady-state articles he's posted. Much more related details in those.
Seems that way, yeah. And lifting's good for many other reasons. It's just not more effective than cardio for fat loss.
The mere fact that you posted that as a response shows that you don't know what you're talking about. Weightlifting doesn't just make you big, and you don't need to eat a surplus of calories to do it and gain a significant amount of strength.
Cardio does not, in fact, burn more calories than lifting. While it does so while the activity is being performed, the demands lifting has on the body in the 48 hour spell after a session - repair, growth etc. - have been shown to even it out, so that the overall deficit would be roughly the same for both forms of exercise (not that any direct comparisons can really be made, as the energy requirements of each kind of exercise will vary considerably based on a person's fitness levels).
The only real downside to lifting as a method of fatloss is that is cannot be done as frequently as cardio. The very recovery periods that make it so effective also limit the number of sessions that you can fit into a week.
If you only do cardio, then your body loves to eat muscles first as opposed to fat as the body dislikes muscles that are not being used (i.e. you ain't liftin). If you lift, then your body knows that you need this muscle and it will consume fat instead first for energy. Thus giving you A) muscles and
Rane and Slider you are just plain wrong. Cardio is not a more efficient use of time than lifting in regards to better health and fitness. Cardio should certainly be supplemented into a daily fitness regime, but not at the expense of lifting.
To the OP: Check out the H&A Fitness thread or the SE++ fitness thread. Plenty of information and knowledgeable people in both. And congratulations on the weight loss so far!
Honestly, I do both. Since high school, I've only gained 15-20lbs. I must be doing something right. Rotating days works well: lift, run, lift, run... Also, warming up with a short 2-mile run and then engaging in a quick weightlifting regiment is good, too. The goal is to keep that heart rate up.
I have heard that its much better to do your cardio AFTER your lifting so you have more energy for the main core lifts (squats, deadlifts, bench, etc)
You should certainly warm-up before you lift, but not a 2 mile run. Try some small dynamic stretches and maybe a few minutes on a bike or a light jog to warm up the muscles first, then try your lifts. You should be able to lift more as you aren't burning as much energy on a 2 mile run. Although you have certainly done well for yourself doing it so far, theres always room to improve.
Most of the moderators are into strongman. One is a pro. They give great advice on a whole range of issues.
Is there a significant difference in approach if you're coming from the opposite direction? I'm about 70kg (so fairly slim) and am looking to gain a little weight and get some more muscle definition. Fat isnt really an issue, and I'll start jogging and swimming now that summer's approaching here.
At present, I have a weight bench and dumbells, so no access to things like a squat rack etc. The other issue is that I have a fairly hectic lifestyle (hence owning the equipment rather than visiting a gym). While I'm fairly disciplined at training 3 times a week, I generally dont have anyone to spot me - so I'm fairly safety conscious and probably dont max out the weight I use.
Anyone know of any good routines for someone with limited equipment? Is there an approach I should be using to make up for not maxxing out my bench-press weight?
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=95231
The single best resource I've found is the Fitness thread here in H/A, as the people that post in there (Tube, Sunday Assassin, lots of others) really know their stuff, and you don't have to deal with as much BS as on forums like bodybuilding, etc. I take basically everything Rippetoe (author of SS) says as gospel, primarily because I haven't been let down yet. The wiki is great for supplementary info and programming, but you really need to get the book, as most of the lifts are incredibly complex (I can barely do a proper power clean after 3 months of training).
- Gary Busey
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