QTDDTOTT

Stay under your tdee and cardio. If you want to try if or carbless diet that's up to you.

Should I cycle creatine?

Is drinking 9L of water a day too much?

Starting this November, I am going to be a little busy - should I:
a) bulk
b) maintain
considering that I will hit gym twice a week max?
What routine should I follow? Some dedicated two days per week or stripped SS/SL/TM/whatever?
TIA

bulk

Unless you go to failure, you could probably do them once every day. But if you're a fatass, its probable that your body isnt adept at recovering as quickly yet.

So to be safe, do every other day until you can do about ten in one set without collapsing after your last one. When you reach that point, do every day.

Do cardio or walking every day.

I squat more than deadlift because of poor grip.

How to incerase your deadlift grip strength?

Use alternate grip instead. It is not uncommon at all for grip strength to lag behind.

Do as many as you can with ordinary grip+magnesium. Then switch to alternate.

I personally do not believe you can work up your grip strength to improve your deadlift grip doing anything but deadlifting, since you're lifting hundreds of pounds as it is. So work on your technique instead.

You can try stopping your deadlift at the top and holding for a few seconds. Also, check if you are holding the bar correctly.

jumping rope supposedly doubles as cardio and calf muscle building

is this true?

Can I get gyno from taking prednisone (anabolic steroid) 1-2 times per year on a tapering dose (6-7 days)? Need it for allergy outbreaks, but bitch tits are not worth living with

just do the lift, i just use double overhand until i cant hold on anymore and then i switch to straps, fuck mixed grip

i've gone from being able to lift 80 kg raw to 180 kg raw

Best cereal? I've been eating cheerios every morning.

When do you guys take creatine...as in all the time? or when you're cutting, or whenever you feel like it?

Also, how long do you keep it up for?

I'm going to start loading it tomorrow and see if it will begin to get me out of my stalling out on 'Le Press'

Is my diet good? I'm on a cut right now eating 1805 calories. My macros are 140g Carbs, 54g fat, and 179g Protein.

Depends what kind of fish you're eating. I bake my salmon.
no
didn't you just ask that?

how far can I get with a routine like this

3*50 bodyweight squats
3*50 bodyweight lunges
4*10 dips
4*10 pull ups /chin ups
2*F push ups
planks, crunch variations

>body weight
Not very. Body weight can be good at first, but muscle growth drops off very quickly. Pretty much only will help you with endurance rather than muscle hypertrophy after a week or two unless you start

*unless you start weighted work

I personally find creatine to be pointless when cutting.

Should I do close grip bench press or skullcrushers?

Read the sticky

I took a bit of time off lifting due to an injury and think it's about time to get back into it. When I left I was doing SL 5x5 but I kind of want to switch up my routine. Any suggestions?

I know about the disadvantages of choosing to use machines over free weights. But. Are there any advantages?

harder to injure yourself

at my gym you don't have to wait around for people to get off the bench, since everyone benchpresses free weight, but never use the bench press machine

harder to injure yourself, more concentrated (advantage AND disadvantage), and you can generally lift slightly more.

What happens if you squat but don't train hamstrings? Eg: squat but don't deadlift? Will you get imbalanced or whatever or are squats enough for legs?

Don't focus your workout on them but use them as assistence

Sweet thanks.

it won't do anything, you can squat only if you want, I'm only saying this because you're already asking this question; you won't get to the level of imbalance

Would it be an issue to have an all machine workout? What if say, I'm not a serious lifter but my goal is just to look aesthetic. With that single goal in mind would using just machines vs free weights really make a huge difference visually?

nah i dont get this "le workout when you are sick" meme, just wait until you feel normal again. no harm in that.

Best course of action. I'm so frustrated rn. I don't even know what to do.

I won't get to the level of imabalacne by just squatting for legs? You sure? W-well okay

with machine you're on a fixed rom wich, depending on your body, can cause imbalances

But people won't notice a big guy using machines or a big guy using barbells

I mean because it's an issue for you to do both you're not gonna last longer than 6 months and thus the imbalance is a non-issue

Channel your frustration into some physical work. You are too weak for her.

dude just chill with her and she will develop feelings for you, dont rush it. i dont see any big deal with what shes saying.

Overheard presses and leaning.

How much leaning/pressure on my back is okay?

I always come off workout days with slight soreness in my back, nothing painful, just normal muscle soreness kinda feeling.

I always try to make sure i'm using my core as much possible, not rocking back and forth while working out, etc.. Under proper form and circumstances would my back be feeling sore?

Just to throw something out i'm pretty noob at overheard press, I can only do 80lbs, and since my gym doesn't have a squat rack I have to lift it up from the ground and kind of clean it into starting position. So I do a lot of extra motion that tires me out a bit every set.

Also..

How do I increase flexibility around my hips? I have slight lordosis kind of thing going on with my back and I can't cleanly bend down without rounding my back so I avoid doing deadlifts at the moment.. Not that my gym has an area to do deadlifts anyhow.

squeeze the glutes so they align with your entire body

They don't come out, never

If you squeeze them, your lower back is safe

And don't feel betrayed if she starts dating someone else next week.

She is just politely telling you she's not feeling it at the moment, but not completely closing the door. At the same time a guy comes by and he can make her feel 'something' and she'll date him even though she just told you she's not interested.

Happens all the time, just don't be shocked by it.

I do an all dumbbell full body routine twice a week except for squats where I use the leg press machine (easy and convenient not better I know). Is there a problem with this at all?

Go down to a weight where it doesn't slip out of your hands, and hold the bar up for as long as you can. Using chalk isn't a bad thing

Even if you adjust the machine to recommended levels? Eg hand grip to shoulder girdle level etc

Yeah, nothing grows calves more than high volume shit

Oats

Honestly I would just move on. Ignore her and she will either ignore you back, or crave attention. Either way a win.

Yes, it's still on a fixed path

I'm assuming you are in a regular commercial gym.

You have the bench machine, which is on a fixed path and the BB bench which isn't

If your left arm is weaker than you right and you do the bench machine, you'll hardly notice this because it's a fixed path. If you do this on a BB bench the bar doesn't go up evenly and you know you have an imbalance and you can fix that; a luxury you don't have on machines

What you can do FE is supplement your compounds with machines

Let's say you squat one day and the next your in the gym doing back. You can quickly hop in the leg press or abductors machines to get extra volume in

For the ohp make sure you're bracing your abs through the lift (like you're going to be punched in the stomach)

As for the hip flexibility, try googling 3rd world squat, try and sit in that position as much as you can throughout the day, work up to it by holding onto a door or something if you can't sit in it comfortably, this has worked wonders for my hip flexibility

What is a good tricep exersice?

Better than sitting on your ass all day doing nothing

Where can I get one of those new %5 jugs with the large spout without having to have any %5 gear on me

CGBP, skullcrushers

Rope pulldown but do them during or directly after CGBP and skullcrushers, focus on form be as strict as you can, once you feel your form breaking, lower the weight

If that shit ever happened. I'd be so heated id break all my prs. Also I'd fucking kill myself. So much worry rn.

newfag here. what do the numbers mean in "3x5 Squats", etc?

You'd get lean thats for sure.
As long as you're getting your nutrients. You won't get as big from weights, but you'd still pack on some muscle

Three sets of five reps.

Meant for

Dude, if it hasn't happened to you yet. It will happen someday. Emotion and attraction are fickle beasts.

You cannot get hung up on it otherwise you'll be angry at women forever and it's going to fuck you over even more.

I'm like 24, 6'22" 220 lbs mostly fat and interested in strength training. How should I structure my diet assuming I'm not worried about weight gain in terms of fat but would prefer to not to be over 250-270 at any point?

Should I eat to maintain weight for the first couple of months? I want to eat for maximum weight/strength gains but don't want to put on too much weight as I've just recently finished dieting down from 290.

Thanks

Just maintain or cut. The first few weeks of training are almost all about mental and technical improvements rather than growing muscle. Once you start stalling, you can reevaluate where you want to go.

Unless you have aspirations of competing, there's zero need for you to ever get up to 250 or higher.

Make sure you get at least 165grams of protein a day (.75*220) and whatever other basic nutrients, run a deficit on calories and start strength training.

You might feel a bit weak/tired because you're cutting, but you'll definitely make gains, albeit a bit slower.

I think you should definitely cut down to where you're happy with your body and starting building back up from there, instead of staying fat and building muscle but getting discouraged because you don't visibly see results.

Can I deadlift heavy and not grind my shins down to the bone?

Can I get pick related with just weighted push ups and pull ups and a perfect diet?

Hook grip

No

ez to snap.
You don't know if it's hip.
Do all the stretches you can find.
Even do the static stretches before you squat, since the mobility improvements add more safety than the looseness takes away.

Deadlift socks are a thing.

Anyone know how protein synthesis is affected by BCAAs? On your general bodybuilding site the only kind of information you're given is along the lines of 'it's good for you man, take it'. Without going deep into biology (if there are those that know it) it would be useful to know in lehman's terms what's going on with amino acids and why the fuck they're worth taking.

You tell us
examine.com/supplements/branched-chain-amino-acids/

An old injury has left me with poor ankle mobility (dorsiflexion). What type of squat should I do?

Whatever you can. Depending on your proportions you might still be able to squat highbar, but failing that your options are basically lowbar - and if that doesn't work, either take your stance out wider or switch to a westside-style box squat as a last resort.

Hardly a question for QTDDTOT.

It's not really possible to explain in layman's terms. Amino acids, and especially leucine work though several different mechanisms and they're all pretty complicated.
The bottomline is that they do increase muscle protein synthesis. However I'm seeing more and more research indicating that complete proteins (such as whey) are actually more potent in this regard, even though leucine has been shown to be the big player. But this research is completely overshadowed by the supplement industry's marketing.

Thanks for that article user.
Yes I realise that this might not be the ideal place to discuss it, I was just hoping some anons might point me in the direction of some articles. Thanks user.

Usually, yes.

Just do SS/SL/GS on your two days.
Bulk, but not too hard.

Hold the bar. Hold heavy dumbells.
Start using hook grip.
When your grip strength gives, grab straps for the rest of the sets.

After doing a retarded split for 4 months I had shitty gains so I decided to try SL and proper nutrition.

Just a question. This thing has me progressing 2.5 kg on every workout for OHP, bench and squat. Isn't it completely unrealistic that OHP progresses at the same rate as bench? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to progress 1 kg on OHP for example?

O only use it during cuts to soothe my ego because my lifts deflate less.
If you are using creatine for a plateaud za pressu you're applying the wrong solution to the problem, though.

and 10 grams alcohol? Or am I missing something?

You're absolutely right. One of the main reasons people always stall hard on OHP is that they try to progress it too quickly.
If you're using standard linear progression, which you are, you pretty much need access to microloading i.e. smaller plates than most gyms have. Although you can make or buy these yourself and bring them.

My left pec is bigger then my right one, i'm able to twitch and move my left pec but not my right, it's noticeably bigger

how the fuck do fix this

>179grams of protein on a cut

are you morbidly obese?

You're just jelly of his 40% protein fammalamma.

>manlets
I'm 6'6 cutting on 3500 cals a day, and the 300 protein

What does my BF% look like guys?

Alright, thanks, I think I will do everything as the program says just progressing only 1kg on OHP (the smallest plate on my gym). Even like this it will take very few weeks to start failing reps...

how long you been lifting

I don't really lift.
I'm a swimmer, doing push UPS and some ab crunches on the side.