/tip/ thread

Share your useful /tip/s that you've gained over your time lifting.

>Recovery
Always go by feeling on this one. Did you sleep awful and feel like shit? Then you probably shouldn't go balls to the walls with weights today. Do you feel like you need an extra rest day? Then take it. You should trust your body and intuition.

>Nutrition
I'm a big advocate for eating what you want in moderation. Do you feel like having a slice of cake? Have it. It's not the end of the world to enjoy your bulk/cut/whatever as long as you do it in moderation. In order of importance calories > macros > micronutrients

>Supplements
Sleep is the most underrated supplement. It should be the cornerstone of every lifter's arsenal. Other than that omega 3, multivitamin, creatine and protein powder are worth the money, and should fit into anyone's diet. If you're already familiar with nutrition then you can do extra tweaking with minerals and whatnot, but it's not always necessary.

>Strength vs. Hypertrophy
I started off doing mostly bodybuilding splits and have tried every trick in the book to grow. Getting stronger goes hand in hand with building more muscle and getting more /aesthetic/. Also there isn't perfect "rep range" for either one. You won't morph into a powerlifter if you sometimes do strength training and the same goes the other way around.

>Stretching and warming up
I cannot stress how important this is to maintain overall health and avoid injuries. Attacking weights without properly warming up will lead to some injuries in the long run and taking a minute or two to properly warm up can save you from a lifetime of joint problems.

continuing >Foam rolling
Truth to be told, it sucks and you most likely will feel like shit doing it. I know I do. Nonetheless it's great for keeping the balance between your muscle groups in order. You can also literally use it to ease tightness everywhere. Back tight and hurting? Roll that shit. Hamstrings are tight? Roll that shit. I try to do it every other day and I've also noticed that looser fascias can help with muscle growth.

>Cardio
It's underrated. It's a great way to lose those extra calories and it should be done as an accessory to lifting to maintain the health of your vascular system and as a warm up. Heck, you can and should do it on a rest day as long as you keep it in low intensity.

>Bench press
Learn the technique and find what works for you. I was once stuck benching only 175 for a few reps and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't feel it in my pecs. By experimenting I managed to find the correct width of the grip fitting for my long arms and I haven't had the problem since. Trial and error is the way to go on this to find out what works best for you.

>How do I build a big back? What about wide chest?
Consistency is the biggest thing in building for example a bigger back, boulder shoulders or whatsoever. Sure, you can tweak your training by doing more deadlifts or rows, but what it always comes down to is consistency. Consistency (next to genetics) is the biggest factor in shaping your body the way you want.

>>Cardio
>It's underrated. It's a great way to lose those extra calories

It's not.

Cardio is extremely overrated. The amount of calories you burn by doing cardio per unit of time is much lower than people think, it's much easier to just eat a bit less.

You can ruin hours of cardio in a couple of minutes by eating a fucking poptart and drinking some cocacola. If you want to lose weight just eat less, doing cardio is the stupidest meme ever.

for weight loss, cardio is overrated, yes. But for general health, it's not.

diet soda is free if you're just losing weight, don't believe the memes

sippy is reaal

>for general health, it's not.
proof?

Just LOL at that pic m8 it is so wrong, on phone right now but will post when on computer.

That chart is wrong though

If you're under 25 do wide grip pull-ups every single workout. 3 sets of 10 before you start.

They are the ultimate exercise. Learning to fling your bodyweight around at will is a great measure of fitness.

I'm turning 25 soon user, am I a lost cause?

Also focus on retracting your shoulder blades when doing those so you get much more out of the movement.

>>Foam rolling
I have never seen a person I'd want to ask for advice foam rolling.

It's always skellies, fatsoes, genetic dead-ends who started in their 20s or people with no actual lifting experiance, who think reading is the same as doing, and lifting is the same as coaching.

Your fat ass is proof.

For some reasons a lot of retards think it's the best thing you can do.
Foam rolling still feels pretty great, you can do it with pretty much any cylinder-shaped object. Give it a go.

The numbers of truth.

No, but as you get older your shoulder joint will be able to handle less in terms of sheer volume.

As you approach your mid twenties and beyond less is definitely more in the strength training department. The goal is to develop a sustainable system.

Painfully anecdotal. Do you actually believe that your tiny cross sectional view of the weightlifting world holds merit?

>recovery
This is legit, but, if you're a beginner you lack the experience to tell and it's possible to use this rationale to justify slacking. As a beginner you should try to push yourself, otherwise you'll never make it.

And like if you start taking an extra day off, that extra day might become habit and then you just work out less

TFW can only barely make a single set of 10 on a good day

My first year of lifting was like 1 day off every two weeks
Don't do this