The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
-
Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
-
Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
-
Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
-
Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I'm about to enter the world of lifting, as it is about damn time I got around to it. I've got a personal trainer who is going to run me through techniques and build a program but I'm a bit lost when it comes to the nutrition side of it - any tips out there for a 30 year old male in reasonable condition looking to get stronger and not wear himself down?
There was an AAQC by @JhanicManifold, but basically:
don't drink your calories, unless they are a protein milkshake
avoid highly processed foods, they aren't satiating
eat more veg, whole grains and legumes instead of pasta and rice, potatoes are somewhere in the middle
eat 1g of protein per 1lb of bodyweight
take creatin
You'll start losing fat if you change your diet, but you won't grow muscle if you don't eat enough protein. Eat more quark, egg whites, lean meat, fish, seafood, legumes. Drink protein shakes. They are just fat-free powdered milk with sweeteners, and without them you will find it hard to hit this 1g/1lb target. Find protein bars you can eat instead of candy if you have a sweet tooth. Creatin is equally harmless, but really helps you grow stronger.
Speaking of the training program:
a personal trainer is good idea, their biggest job is to make sure you don't skip your gym days
talk to them about your goals: what do you want to look like: a gymnast, a bodybuilder? Do you want to be able to brag about your single-rep weights or twenty pullups? Or do you just want to touch your toes and do a bridge?
establishing a routine is important. You shouldn't schedule your gym sessions around the rest of your activities, it should be the other way around: you can't do this on Monday, that's your gym day. Don't have too many gym days per week, it's easier to establish a routine if it's only two or three
with two or three gym days per week you should concentrate on compound movements. Don't go too heavy, 10-15 reps per set is the sweet spot for noob gains
you'll still want a dedicated day for legs if you have three gym days, because leg muscles are big and take longer to recover
form over reps (if there's one thing to hate CrossFit for, it's for ignoring this)! Form is especially important for compound movements. If you don't feel your PT is being an asshole and just looking for something to complain about every set of yours, they might be looking at their phone instead of your form, ask them for a form check
however, everyone's skeleton is different (I know mine is). Some PTs are super anal about foot placement, hand placement, where the bar should touch your body, how deep you should go, etc. If something feels wrong, stop and tell them. If they tell you you should deadlift with your feet in parallel and you feel like you can really engage your hips with your feet in a more toe-out stance, tell them. If they have you do preacher curls with an EZ bar and you just can't find the right grip, tell them
I should really make a giant "Nerd's Guide to Getting Ripped & Shredded" as a post that we could always link for these questions, rehashing everything every wednesday seems like a bit of a waste of time.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link