REDPILL THREAD

Post fitness redpills
>reverse curls are a forearm compound
>super sets and giant sets are amazing timesavers and can replace part of your cardio
>most people egolift on RDLs, people should always go to the limit of their hamstring flexibility instead of just below the kneecap
>front lever pulls are free lat volume, throw them in on lower/leg days if lats are a focus for you
>pullovers, either bent arm and/or straight arm, are mandatory
>abs should be trained hard and frequently
>becoming flexible through resistance training is very easy
>calves, specifically gastroc, should be trained with an absurdly high intensity (10+ negatives after hitting concentric failure) to reduce the needed sets to a minimum so you don't skip
>adductor isolation is important so you don't get groin tweaks squatting
>deadlifts are good for strength but not necessary for hypertrophy, RDLs + lots of rowing can entirely replace them. doesn't mean they're bad for hypertrophy either though
>BTNP is safe if you know how to move your scapula correctly to avoid impingement
>pretty much anything on rings is amazing for hypertrophy, especially pushups and dips
>more people should isolate external rotation to prevent rotator cuff injuries
>lower traps and infraspinatus are very underrated muscles for back aesthetics
>pecmaxxers should train their pec minor for even more growth, most people entirely overlook this muscle
>myoreps are underrated
>leg machines are highly underrated, however there are also very obscure home gym alternatives for many of them that are just as good
>anyone can squat ATG given enough added heel elevation, but some people may not find this practical
>seated good mornings are to squats what RDLs are to deadlifts
>deep ring dips are one of if not the best chest exercise, as the rings accomodate for your build while allowing you to get an absurd stretch on your pecs
Cont.

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  1. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >forearm training is very important for aesthetics, large upper arm but small lower arm looks very unaesthetic
    >hammer curls are a hybrid lift
    >the rectus femoris does not get adequatly stimulated by squatting, you need to isolate it
    >hip thrusts are one of the most practical movements for utilizing myoreps, highly recommended for assmaxxers
    >most people should have some sort of unilateral squat in their program
    >training is the most important variable for muscle gain besides steroids; sleep, diet, hydration, and meme supplements only exist to support the training, therefore they are less important
    >hamstrings are highly overrated for squats
    >dead hangs and back extensions will fix back pain for the vast majority of people, with a few other exercises needed for the exceptions
    >most people can and should do more volume for their legs and upper back
    >thoracic erectors are highly underrated; you can train them by rounding and extending your thoracic spine on chest supported rows
    >the stretch is more stimulative than the squeeze, but the squeeze should not be avoided either, and typically it is also easier on the connective tissues
    >powell raises are amazing for rear delts
    >pause deficit pushups as your last horizontal press are very effective as you won't need any extra weight to work within a relevant rep range, go ham on this for big chest gains
    >the muscles you're going to want to work to help deal with shoulder pain are: all heads of the deltoid with a focus on the rear delts, the traps and rhomboids as a whole with a focus on the lower traps, the infraspinatus, the teres minor, the serratus anterior, and in some cases the pec minor. besides these do dead hangs and shoulder mobility work.
    Cont.

  2. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >movement is medicine, if you have pain in a tendon/joint you can't just let it rest, you need to get lots and lots of bloodflow to it. that being said don't put tons of load on it either as that will just make things worse
    >more people should do piriformis work, everything involving the hip feels nicer after. weighted incline (flat once you progress enough) pigeon good mornings are my go-to
    >everyone should have a squat-pattern exercise with maximal knee bend somewhere in their program for knee health and VMO development. doesn't necessarily have to be a barbell squat though
    >larsen press is better than bench press for pec hypertrophy in most cases
    >you should spend as much time as possible in a surplus, as you're playing offense in a surplus and defense in a deficit. therefore, bulks should be 1 year long at minimum, preferably 1.5-2 years, while cuts can be much faster.
    >permabulking is also an option if you have a small appetite as the periods where you slack on your diet will work as a minicut, meaning that in some cases you can literally bulk for 5 years straight if you're comfortable being at a slightly higher bodyfat
    >recomping does work, but the tradeoff is that it is much slower than bulk/cut cycles. it is only useful for novices who are not too skinny or too fat, and for advanced lifters that need a period of stability for whatever reason, as this is the main benefit of a recomp
    >while tracking calories is fine, you can bulk and cut without tracking calories by closely monitoring your weight and altering your intention of how much food you need to consume depending on whether you're bulking/cutting too fast, too slowly, or at just the right rate. this won't work for everyone though
    Cont.

  3. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >static rep ranges like 3x10 are not particularly good for hypertrophy because of sandbagging, rep ranges like 3x8-12 are much better. however, the fewer sets you do, the less flawed static rep ranges are, for example there is no sandbagging at all with 1x5, but 5x5 will result in a lot of sandbagging
    >on exercises where adding reps is extremely hard but adding small amounts of weight is easy, static rep pyramids are also better than static rep ranges. instead of 3x8 for example, you would do 9/8/7 reps
    >training the tibialis anterior and the soleus can help fix knee/shin pain from high impact activities; the soleus is also important for achilles tendon health
    >once you're out of the novice stage, you should run an intermediate program, but feel free to modify it over time since you have more knowledge about training by this point. but if you have learnt enough about the fundamental principles of programming, you can write your own program instead
    >when training for strength, you want to get the most advantageous leverages to lift the most amount of weight possible. when training for hypertrophy, you want to get the most disadvantageous leverages to lift the least amount of weight possible
    >the easiest way to get in grip work for deadlifts is to hold the last rep at the top until your grip gives out, or for a prescribed duration. if you have grip issues, try this before adding other exercises
    >if you want free work for your upper traps, after finishing a set of any exercise that involves holding a barbell/dumbbells in your hands, do shrugs to failure. if the weight is too heavy (deadlifts, rackpulls), hold it at lockout instead. straps are necessary for this, obviously
    Cont.

  4. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >thots who spam abductor work actually make their asses look worse; the glute medius and minimus sit near the top of the pelvis, so when they grow a lot you get inverted triangle ass, which looks really bad. this isn't to say that you shouldn't train your abductors, rather you should get your abductor work indirectly from unilateral leg exercises instead so you don't get this issue
    >nordic curls are one of if not the best hamstring isolation exercise if you have a good setup for them, because they're the most difficult in the lengthened position unlike most leg curl machines which are typically more difficult in the contracted position
    >because you should always do RDLs with a full range of motion, you will get more flexible hamstrings over time, which means that eventually you'll need to alter the exercise to accomodate for the greater ROM. for most people, bar to toes off of a deficit with a wide grip, knees behind ankles, and a neutral/arched back is fairly realistic after 1-2 years, 3 max
    >pause reps and slow eccentrics are extremely good for hypertrophy
    >adductors are very underrated for aesthetics, they're a larger muscle group than the hamstrings and contribute a lot to how wide your legs appear from the front
    >if you get wrist pain/snapping sensations from traditional wrist curls, try doing behind the back barbell finger curls instead, as they tend to be much easier on the wrists while still providing a good stimulus to the forearms
    >OHP is a good side delt builder, but this doesn't mean you should skip your lateral raises; do both
    >inverted rows, especially on rings, are an extremely effective upper back exercise, especially at the end of a workout when you are already fatigued. you can also do them at the start of a workout, but this becomes problematic when you gain enough strength due to how much extra weight you'll need to add. highly recommended for home gym enjoyers
    Cont.

  5. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >your cardio should be good enough to do high rep pause squat/deadlift variations without any problems; if this isn't the case, you can work on it by simply doing pause squat/deadlift variations for low reps, and slowly increase the reps over time. some standard cardio on the side will help with this too
    >don't fear-monger over movements that hit the hip flexors, the hip flexors should still be trained like any other muscle as weak hip flexors can actually cause problems. ideally you want to have hip flexors that are both strong and flexible
    >lu raises are highly underrated for side delts
    >db flye-presses are extremely good for pec development since you can overload the pecs in a stretched position, but make sure to start light so that the pec tendons can adapt to the extreme positions. you can also apply this to ring pushups if you prefer doing stuff on rings instead
    >wide grip pullovers are one of the best ways to develop your teres major and outer-lat region. the position does feel fairly awkward at first so work into them slowly
    >performing front squats after high-bar squats, or any other quad dominant compound movement, makes them even better for hypertrophy since your legs will give out before your thoracic extension does due to pre-fatiguing the legs
    >if you have figure 8 straps, you can use them when doing pullups to allow yourself to do neutral grip pullups on a normal pullup bar as well as supinating pullups by locking your hands into the straps by flexing your wrists instead of grabbing onto the bar so that your hands are suspended just under the bar via the straps. this also means you will never be limited by your grip, which is a great benefit. doing weighted dead hangs somewhere else in your program is highly recommended if you do this since you want to ensure that your grip strength keeps progressing. you could also superset the dead hangs with the pullups since with this modification they will no longer interfere with each other
    Cont.

  6. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >you can also use figure 8 straps on lateral raises to suspend the dumbbells from your wrists so that you don't have to hold on to them, which can allow you to push each set a bit harder while getting a better mind muscle connection. pretty minor modification but it could help for lateral delt hypertrophy
    >if forearm hypertrophy is a priority for you, you can do pronator curls to develop your pronator teres, which is highly underdeveloped in most people. when trained however, you can grow it significantly to the point where it becomes a very prominent muscle. highly recommend since the movement is very fun and easy to fit into your training since it isn't very taxing at all
    >if you're at your desk a lot, consider keeping a loaded wrist roller at your desk so that you can train your wrist flexors/extensors very frequently throughout the day. very simple hack to feed tons of volume to your forearms if forearm hypertrophy is a priority for you. just remember to alternate the direction you roll on each set so that you can train both the flexors and the extensors evenly. you can also apply this method with hand grippers, however they tend to be more for grip strength so keep that in mind
    >if bracing is a big problem for you on squats/deadlifts, consider doing bracing drills between your working sets. you can do them separately if you want, however there's a good chance you'll skip them because they're boring, so doing them between sets is the best option
    >barbell rows can also be used as a way to improve your bracing. they should be considered GPP for your lower back anyway due to the loads being much lighter compared to squats and deadlifts, however if you do them between lower body sessions when your lower back is still sore, you'll be forced to focus on your bracing much more so that you can reduce the load on the lower back, since if you don't your lower back won't be able to recover before your next lower body session
    Cont.

  7. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >if you train abs on your lower body sessions, but you struggle to get them done after smashing your legs, consider doing them between your warmup sets of squats/deadlifts. after an initial adaptation period you'll find that this has no impact on your performance at all, and it might actually improve it a little since you'll be able to brace better when you get to your top sets, which will reduce lower back fatigue
    >weighted side bends off of a 45 degree back extension are an extremely good oblique exercise, and they also work the QLs a lot which is great for preventing lower back injuries, especially during lateral flexion movements. keep the volume and intensity extremely low when you start working into these though, otherwise you'll be sore for a week or more which isn't particularly fun
    >cheat barbell rows are a very effective back exercise as long as you use a consistent amount of cheat while refraining from using excessive momentum from the hips to move the weight, instead opting to use a slower, smoother rate of hip extension as opposed to violently jerking the weight around by explosively extending the hips. this also prevents you from pulling yourself into the bar instead of pulling the bar towards you, which is another common mistake. besides this, use straps, and ideally you would perform this movement only if you had already mastered strict barbell rows
    >if you want to get more out of db bench but you don't want to do db flye-presses, an easy solution is to simply rotate the dumbbells into a semi-pronated or neutral position, and lower them so that they can clear your torso, which allows you to get the dumbbells much lower than where you would normally stop on a barbell bench press. go as deep as you can, and pause there for a second before pressing back up. you won't be able to use anywhere near as much weight, but your pecs will get a much better stimulus with a reduced fatigue cost
    Cont.

  8. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >heel elevation can make your hip hinges feel much better, it doesn't work for everyone though but you should give it a shot to see if it helps. wouldn't recommend it for deadlifts but it's very effective for pure hip hinges like RDLs, SLDLs, and good mornings
    I'll elaborate on any of these when asked. Discuss.

  9. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >gym good
    >fat bad

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      yep

  10. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Are you actually going to post body this time?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >he said, not posting body with timestamp
      why don't YOU post body first?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Already did earlier

      [...]

      >he said, not posting body with timestamp
      why don't YOU post body first?

      Also this lol

      >dead hangs, back extensions and face pulls will get you BANNED from snap city
      >each of your muscles needs a certain amount of volume per week, which may greatly differ from what is usually recommended

      >tfw not permitted within 100km of snap city
      Feels great

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        you're just lean with14 inch arms not very impressive

  11. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >dead hangs, back extensions and face pulls will get you BANNED from snap city
    >each of your muscles needs a certain amount of volume per week, which may greatly differ from what is usually recommended

  12. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    here's a good "redpill"
    >the homosexual losers who make all these posts about what lifts everyone needs to do to get jacked never post pics of their awesome bodies

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >conveniently ignores

      https://i.imgur.com/C5Sl0Xf.jpg

      Already did earlier[...]
      [...]
      Also this lol
      [...]
      >tfw not permitted within 100km of snap city
      Feels great

  13. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    its summer bro why did you post a winter time pepe?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Southern hemisphere bro, don't forget about us

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        not that anon but does it really get that cold??? like does it get down to 30 degrees f??

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          don't think it does during the day (at least where I live) but at night during winter it does. doesn't get cold enough to snow tho, just frost

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          Yes easily

  14. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    good mornings are to squats what RDLs are to deadlifts
    How? You can get a good deadlift from RDLs but can't get a good squat from seated good mornings

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Not really the point I was going for, what I meant by that is that the RDL isolates the hip portion of the deadlift (since the knees don't come forward), while seated good mornings isolate the hip portion of the squat. Obviously seated good mornings won't help your squat as much as RDLs help your deadlift, but that's just because knee extension strength is very important on squats, and seated good mornings don't hit that function at all.

  15. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    That's not a bump.
    This is a BUMP!

  16. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    hey redpill-anon. I've used your advice about calves and so far so good I think. I used to skip them because training calves is so boring.

    Anyways I want to ask about recovery. I'm a 18 M who just started lifting 5 months ago. I'm currently doing Bromley's Bullmastiff program and it works fine for my upper body lifts but for squats I don't recover in time. I only do squats for my quads (3 sets of 6, last set AMRAP) I completely dropped the backoff set and I also dropped Bulgarians and I'm still not recovering. I eat a lot (I just reached ~20% bf), sleep 8 hours per day and lightly bike about ~30 mins. I don't know what I am doing wrong because the quads are the only muscle that don't' recover in time. Any advice?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Show your calves.
      >I don't know what I am doing wrong because the quads are the only muscle that don't' recover in time.
      How lightly are you biking? That's the only thing I can think of, besides your legs having genetically shitty recovery for some reason. Are the squats harder and more painful than everything you do for upper body?

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        >show your calves
        No
        >How lightly are you biking?
        It's mostly flat terrain, not difficult at all.
        >Are the squats harder and more painful than everything you do for upper body?
        Yeah much harder but I find that the mental-physical capacity gap is way bigger on squats than any other movement. I can feel like its my last rep in my head but really I have like 2 or 3 left. On my amrap set I record myself to check form on those last ditch squats but they look fine

        >I'm currently doing Bromley's Bullmastiff program and it works fine for my upper body lifts but for squats I don't recover in time. I only do squats for my quads (3 sets of 6, last set AMRAP) I completely dropped the backoff set and I also dropped Bulgarians and I'm still not recovering. I eat a lot (I just reached ~20% bf), sleep 8 hours per day and lightly bike about ~30 mins. I don't know what I am doing wrong because the quads are the only muscle that don't' recover in time. Any advice?
        Not really sure tbh, I'm the exact opposite in that my quads barely get sore even if I do 9+ hard sets in a session. Probably an individual variance thing, some people get much more stimulus as well as fatigue from the same set (even with stuff like technique and RPE equated). Could also be poor work capacity which is fairly common among newer lifters. In this case it looks like you're doing everything right when it comes to recovery, so besides doing a double-check (having a hard look at your diet (esp micronutrients), checking your sleep quality, etc) I think you should assign some amount of RIR to the AMRAP, since this is presumably where the extra fatigue is coming from. EG you can do AMRAP @ 2 RIR and see how you recover. Maybe look at your technique as well

        >double-check (having a hard look at your diet (esp micronutrients), checking your sleep quality,
        I don't keep track of my diet tbh I just check the scale and try to eat a balanced diet. Maybe that's why? Not sure though since it is only the quads that are like this
        >assign some amount of RIR to the AMRAP
        I'll try but I really am horrible at gauging my rir especially with squats

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          >I don't keep track of my diet tbh I just check the scale and try to eat a balanced diet. Maybe that's why? Not sure though since it is only the quads that are like this
          In that case it might just be that your quads can't tolerate much volume, so if you lower your volume/intensity a little while still seeing progression in quad size and your squat strength, then there's no problem is there? Just ride it out until you notice both of those metrics stalling, then you can add a little more and go from there.
          >I'll try but I really am horrible at gauging my rir especially with squats
          Yeah that's one of the issues with assigning RIR to an AMRAP tbh, it's more of a thing for advanced lifters that are good at judging their RIR. Especially on squats since tons of people think they're training hard on them when they're actually 6 reps from failure lol. AMRAPs are great in this regard since they allow you to audit your effort, since if you do a 3x10 + an AMRAP but you get 18 reps on the AMRAP, clearly you weren't working very hard on the 3x10. Using RIR on an AMRAP kinda defeats the purpose of this unfortunately, but you'll have to try to make it work I guess

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >I'm currently doing Bromley's Bullmastiff program and it works fine for my upper body lifts but for squats I don't recover in time. I only do squats for my quads (3 sets of 6, last set AMRAP) I completely dropped the backoff set and I also dropped Bulgarians and I'm still not recovering. I eat a lot (I just reached ~20% bf), sleep 8 hours per day and lightly bike about ~30 mins. I don't know what I am doing wrong because the quads are the only muscle that don't' recover in time. Any advice?
      Not really sure tbh, I'm the exact opposite in that my quads barely get sore even if I do 9+ hard sets in a session. Probably an individual variance thing, some people get much more stimulus as well as fatigue from the same set (even with stuff like technique and RPE equated). Could also be poor work capacity which is fairly common among newer lifters. In this case it looks like you're doing everything right when it comes to recovery, so besides doing a double-check (having a hard look at your diet (esp micronutrients), checking your sleep quality, etc) I think you should assign some amount of RIR to the AMRAP, since this is presumably where the extra fatigue is coming from. EG you can do AMRAP @ 2 RIR and see how you recover. Maybe look at your technique as well

  17. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Any tips for elbow tendinitis? Bump

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Depends on the type but generally getting lots of bloodflow in the region (band pushdowns for super high reps, maybe band curls but those aren't always necessary) helps a lot. Do these every day if you can, they really help a lot (Anecdotally I fricked my left elbow really badly doing overhead extensions once to the point where I couldn't do wall pushups without severe elbow pain. After spamming band pushdowns for the next 3 days I was back to doing heavy pressing no problem lol)

      Once you aren't in a shit ton of pain anymore you want to build some tissue tolerance, in which case I would start slowly ramping towards exercises that are more invasive on the connective tissues (eg start doing dual-rope pushdowns, then move to straight-bar pushdowns, then cable overhead extensions, then db skullcrushers/overhead extensions, then barbell/ez bar skullcrushers/overhead extensions) so that you can build strength in those tissues. Just be sure to do it slowly so that you don't aggravate the tendons more, you need to give them time to adapt. Keep doing the band pushdowns for bloodflow as well.

      I will note though that some movements will probably start causing tendinitis in your elbow no matter what if you leave them in your program for long enough, simply because they don't suit your build. EG for me personally, barbell/ez bar skullcrushers destroy my elbows, but db skullcrushers are fine. Ez bar/db overhead extensions also destroy my elbows, but barbell overhead extensions are fine. Doing ez-bar overhead extensions on an incline is also fine however, despite the fact that they destroy my elbows if I do them standing instead. Just try to find what works for you and stick with them.

      Besides this, you can also look into doing heavy eccentrics to build strength in the connective tissues, I haven't tried it myself personally so I can't vouch for it but I have seen people talking about it before so it may be worth looking into if the other stuff here isn't working.

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        Thanks fren

  18. 12 months ago
    Alex

    Hey bro can you organize it better so we can read through it and understand what parts to retain and ask about? I see you write about abs at the top then at the bottom again, it would be nice if you wrote them in sections about parts. I think that a lot more people would reply if they didn't feel overwhelmed with several walls of text. I had a hard time even copy and pasting it to dissect later. I can post my version of formatted text later if you want but I think you as the author could better organize it into your thought process.

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >it would be nice if you wrote them in sections about parts.
      Might be worth doing at some point, but the reason why I left it unorganized is because that's the chronological order I wrote them in (with a few moved around due to character limit, but not many) which is somewhat useful to me in particular since I can see how my thought patterns are changing over time (mainly to due with nuance, all the earlier shit still holds true for the most part but I'll probably go back and re-write them at some point to be slightly more accurate/useful) That being said yeah, I probably should organize them into blocks at some point since that makes them more usable.

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        I had a feeling it was gym notes, they are good, IST is purposely obscure to get rid of normies so its up to you if you want to make it inaccesible unless they are geniuses too. Even if you posted only one section at a time it would be way less tl;dr for most people. Thanks for doing this btw I am reading through it.

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          >IST is purposely obscure to get rid of normies so its up to you if you want to make it inaccesible unless they are geniuses too.
          Good point as well, maybe I should leave it alone then kek. I have an absurd amount of information saved/bookmarked that I'll have to go through eventually (highly varied topics but some are IST related obviously) so I'm no stranger to dealing with ridiculous amounts of information, and I'm guessing most people here aren't either. This stuff is fairly condensed and easy to digest compared to some of the other shit out there tbh
          >Thanks for doing this btw I am reading through it.
          No problem bro, I'm just happy that people find all this information useful lol

  19. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Good info anon

  20. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    can you elaborate on infraspinatus impact on aesthetics
    and how do you grow it

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >can you elaborate on infraspinatus impact on aesthetics
      It takes up quite a lot of real estate around the armpit area (generally I put rear delts, infraspinatus, and teres major/minor into this category), and specifically during a back double biceps pose it becomes extremely prominent since you're in external rotation in that pose which contracts the infraspinatus. Don't know why people ignore this muscle so much when it's larger than the teres major I think (which gets talked about much more frequently due to its association with the lats)
      >and how do you grow it
      Any loaded external rotation movement. https://youtu.be/44wU6u8x3rw?t=323 is my favorite, but you can use whatever movement you like (cable external rotations etc). Just do them consistently and progress them over time and your infraspinatus will grow.

      https://i.imgur.com/DNQDYz4.jpg

      Hey OP, big fan of your threads. Do you have any advice on recovery (active or otherwise)? Also have a redpill:
      >contra and ipsilateral movements are non-negotiatable if training for strength. Perform these after your primary compounds for the day to really hit your stabilizer muscles and core. Adding these to your programming for the first time is like unlocking more noob gains

      >Do you have any advice on recovery (active or otherwise)?
      These are the only worthwhile things:
      >sleep (8-10 hours for most lifters, ignoring outliers)
      >diet (while macros are important, I think micros are actually a lot more important since most people have some deficiencies. and obviously a caloric surplus will greatly improve your recovery abilities)
      >hydration (water as well as electrolytes, people always forget that second part)
      >stress (keep to a minimum bc cortisol)
      >NEAT (stimulates bloodflow and the lymphatic system. step count is entirely arbitrary, but generally if you're getting 10k+ a day your NEAT is probably good enough)
      >cardio (all the benefits of NEAT + additional work capacity. obviously past a certain point it starts eating into your recovery, but a base level of cardio will improve your recovery over no cardio at all)
      >mobility/flexibility stuff (improves it indirectly, if you can get into a better bottom position on squats for example you won't get as much fatigue in your lower back/knees/hips. fairly minor but it does help marginally)
      And yes, I have all this shit written down lol

  21. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Hey OP, big fan of your threads. Do you have any advice on recovery (active or otherwise)? Also have a redpill:
    >contra and ipsilateral movements are non-negotiatable if training for strength. Perform these after your primary compounds for the day to really hit your stabilizer muscles and core. Adding these to your programming for the first time is like unlocking more noob gains

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >can you elaborate on infraspinatus impact on aesthetics
      It takes up quite a lot of real estate around the armpit area (generally I put rear delts, infraspinatus, and teres major/minor into this category), and specifically during a back double biceps pose it becomes extremely prominent since you're in external rotation in that pose which contracts the infraspinatus. Don't know why people ignore this muscle so much when it's larger than the teres major I think (which gets talked about much more frequently due to its association with the lats)
      >and how do you grow it
      Any loaded external rotation movement. https://youtu.be/44wU6u8x3rw?t=323 is my favorite, but you can use whatever movement you like (cable external rotations etc). Just do them consistently and progress them over time and your infraspinatus will grow.
      [...]
      >Do you have any advice on recovery (active or otherwise)?
      These are the only worthwhile things:
      >sleep (8-10 hours for most lifters, ignoring outliers)
      >diet (while macros are important, I think micros are actually a lot more important since most people have some deficiencies. and obviously a caloric surplus will greatly improve your recovery abilities)
      >hydration (water as well as electrolytes, people always forget that second part)
      >stress (keep to a minimum bc cortisol)
      >NEAT (stimulates bloodflow and the lymphatic system. step count is entirely arbitrary, but generally if you're getting 10k+ a day your NEAT is probably good enough)
      >cardio (all the benefits of NEAT + additional work capacity. obviously past a certain point it starts eating into your recovery, but a base level of cardio will improve your recovery over no cardio at all)
      >mobility/flexibility stuff (improves it indirectly, if you can get into a better bottom position on squats for example you won't get as much fatigue in your lower back/knees/hips. fairly minor but it does help marginally)
      And yes, I have all this shit written down lol

      Forgot to mention:
      >bloodflow work (more for the connective tissues, if you're beating the shit out of a muscle group that gets frequently rate-limited by connective tissue recovery (eg quads/triceps) then doing stuff like high-rep band pushdowns for elbows for example can help a lot since you can help the tendons recover faster via increased bloodflow, since tendons recover more slowly due to much lower bloodflow compared to muscle tissue)
      >volume and intensity manipulation (sometimes you're just doing too much shit, so knowing which levers to push and pull to reduce the workload while still getting enough stimulus is very important)

      >deep ring dips are one of if not the best chest exercise, as the rings accomodate for your build while allowing you to get an absurd stretch on your pecs
      this is just wrong this is secretly a steal all your gains thread or soemthing

      What are you talking about? Ring dips are an extremely good exercise, you would know this if you had actually done them before. That being said I might change that one at some point simply because after finding out about db flye/presses and ring flye-pushups, I've come to the conclusion that those are actually better for the pecs since you can overload them in the lengthened position. That being said, I don't know why but progression on ring dips is super easy for some reason, which makes up for that. No idea why that is tbh

      >Lifting can replace cardio

      Okay fatty i can hear you weezing from across the room

      >illiteracy
      I said *part* of your cardio for a reason, everyone should still get their cardio done even if it's boring as hell. That being said, these days I would use super sets/giant sets as an addition to your cardio instead of trying to remove part of it, so instead of saving time by doing less cardio you'll just get better conditioning gains.

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        you should ctrl-f "that being said" itt and reconsider your choice of words

  22. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >deep ring dips are one of if not the best chest exercise, as the rings accomodate for your build while allowing you to get an absurd stretch on your pecs
    this is just wrong this is secretly a steal all your gains thread or soemthing

  23. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >inclined bed therapy

  24. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Lifting can replace cardio

    Okay fatty i can hear you weezing from across the room

  25. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >people overthink food and fitness
    So many dyels on this board that should just go to the fricking gym and stop whining about this fad diet or another or which exercise is better than something else.
    Just move your body, move heavy things and eat, its not that complicated.

  26. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >If you dedicate a set to a deity, you will be able to muster more power and strength. You wouldn't want to fail your God, would you?
    I usually dedicate my hardest sets to Hercules, Zeus or Hyperborean Apollo and ever since I started doing this, I've had breakthroughs upon breakthroughs on my PRs and gains

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      I usually dedicate entire workouts to deities instead, it feels as though different exercises have different purposes, for instance some are more warlike than others.

  27. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Put this in the sticky lmao

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Agreed

  28. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Working out doesn’t make you healthier or stronger. It just self selects out people who aren’t healthy or strong naturally.

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Black person what the frick are you babbling about?

  29. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    How do I make myself hate cutting less?
    >less test
    >less strength
    >no Libito
    >tired all the time

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >hate it less
      remind yourself of how fricking good you're gonna look, and placebo/gaslight yourself (this is my favourite part of cutting) into thinking you're superior to everyfrickingelse who isn't being healthy and losing fat.
      coworker eating candy? what a loser lmao, couldn't be ME!
      friend getting takeout? hell no lmao, I'll cook a simple meal at home because I AM BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE!
      just remind yourself to actually live up to your own standards, or you're thinking you're sitting on a high horse, while in reality your feet are touching the ground and you're on a weak pony.

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        what is your opinion on eggs? i wanna eggmaxx and cholinemaxx but im still unsure if its safe to consume that much eggs.

        Also what are some basic meals you are making?

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          Not him but eggs are great, I try to eat 6 or more every day. No problems whatsoever

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          I love eggs as long as they're not boiled. one of my favourite cutting foods is spinach omelette
          >make normal quite thin omelette that covers the entire pan
          >put spinach over half
          >fold the omelette and dine
          I make a point out of both slonking raw eggs and frying eggs in a frying pan, since both have different benefits.
          As far as other meals, I enjoy buying 10-packs of ramen noodles, buying some (pork, chicken, red meat) meat and just cooking the meat, cooking the ramen, then eating them together. very basic, very low effort, tastes very good.
          I am generally unaware of macros and what not, I just try to eat little carbs, lots of stuff (meat etc) with protein in it, and stay away from sweets except for a tiny corner of a pie, small cookie, single piece of candy here and there. if I try to deal in extremes, like NO SWEETS AT ANY TIME EVER I tend to just relapse into buying a bag of candy and feeling bad for gorging on it. better to have a little when I earn it now and then.

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous
          • 12 months ago
            Anonymous

            for me its all of them except for the beans beans make me uncomfortably gassy

          • 12 months ago
            Anonymous

            great pic

  30. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >watching meme video
    >my gf audibly gasps at how tall brian shaw is
    >explain i'm almost the same height (i'm from NL)
    >she doesn't believe it
    >making a thread with a custom image I made by turning a picture of me and my body into a render
    >she sees it and laughs at me
    now i'm here

  31. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    I superset stuff to save time but doing two exercises back to back really raises my blood pressure and leaves me so winded that I take longer rests to catch my breath and I feel like I don’t save any time

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      That's weird, you might have to do some specific work to address both of those issues. For me personally I usually rest for 1 minute between each exercise if I'm supersetting upper body compounds, but if I'm doing giant sets with lots of isolation lifts instead I usually rest as little as I can get away with to save as much time as possible. I think 1 min intervals work well for compounds since each muscle group gets 3-4 minutes of rest so your performance stays high, while you only spend like 5 minutes or so resting between sets so your efficiency also remains high. How long is a longer rest interval for you?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      You need to do more conditioning dude

  32. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Fasting actually works

  33. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    lever pulls are free lat volume, throw them in on lower/leg days if lats are a focus for you

    EASIER SAID THAN DONE FGT

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      You don't have to do the most advanced version of the movement, you can just do the tucked version instead. That being said, even those are fairly difficult if you can't do 15+ pullups, but in that case just get better at pullups first

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        Based on your requirements, I should be able to do them tucked. Thanks for the pro tip.

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          No problem bro

  34. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Redpills for everyone right here!

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >despite all evidence pointing to those being unhealthy
      what about the evidence of every single good body posted on IST being someone who does eat meat and every vegan refusing to post body and when you tell them to they just greentext post body and put it next to a picture of a fat guy as if it's not obvious that they look like shit when they do that

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        tbh keto is trash just eat meats veggies and starches and do 500 mg of test a week you'll be fine

        • 12 months ago
          Anonymous

          >and do 500 mg of test a week

          • 12 months ago
            Anonymous

            what are you israeli and afraid of the goyim making gains?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >red meat and saturated fat is le bad

  35. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Beginner here in first 8 months of gym, I've been doing 4x8 sets so far because that's what felt "comfortable" but someone told me I'm hitting neither hypertrophy (3x10) nor strength(5x5), how many sets do you guys do?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Sets and reps depend entirely on what you want to achieve. Naturally the higher weight, the fewer reps, and vice versa, so if you are looking to just git gud, get a bit of strength and a bit of exercise/hypertrophy you're at a decent range.
      You can even do both, which is quite common.
      For instance, bench press:
      >start with warmup
      >just the bar for 1 x 15 or something
      >add a little weight, hypertrophy and warming up to the hard work
      >3x10
      >time to get those strength gains too
      >3x5
      >put up more weight, 70-80% of your 1rm or something
      >3x1-2

      This is how I used to do compound lifts when I just started working out, nowadays I just "lift to stay in shape" so I do low weight hypertrophy for bodybuilding exercises, but I'm also weak as frick. (usually do 3x15 with medium weight, then angle the bar upwards to an incline and do another 3x10-15, then almost upright just below seated OHP for another 3x10)

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      4x8 is fine once you hit intermediate then change things up but ride out those noobie gains while you can

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Nothing wrong with 4 sets, I personally use 3 but that's because I have a lot of exercises in my program. Rep range is usually dictated by the movement.

  36. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Do you have any tips for biceps tendonitis in the shoulder.
    Got some from chinup/dip supersets I believe. Half a year later, still cannot do a chinup set without it flaring up.

  37. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    curls are a forearm compound
    No, that would be deadlifts or pull-ups for high reps
    >front lever pulls are free lat volume, throw them in on lower/leg days if lats are a focus for you
    Useless bullshit
    >abs should be trained hard and frequently
    Depends on goals
    >calves, specifically gastroc, should be trained with an absurdly high intensity (10+ negatives after hitting concentric failure) to reduce the needed sets to a minimum so you don't skip
    Just do Myoreps in that case
    >adductor isolation is important so you don't get groin tweaks squatting
    Nope, squats take care of them completely. At worst add BSS
    >pretty much anything on rings is amazing for hypertrophy, especially pushups and dips
    NO.
    >more people should isolate external rotation to prevent rotator cuff injuries
    If you mean exclusively - moronic. As a bonus - sure why not.
    >more people should isolate external rotation to prevent rotator cuff injuries
    BALANCE = NO STRENGTH OR HYPERTROPHY

    Cont.

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >No, that would be deadlifts or pull-ups for high reps
      Deadlifts only hit the finger flexors, and pullups hit the finger flexors and brachioradialis (in practice, the brachioradialis won't grow that much from pullups because it isn't the limiting factor, unless you're doing arm wrestling pullups). I say that reverse curls are a forearm compound (NOT a compound lift, bear that in mind) because they hit the brachioradialis, finger flexors, and the wrist extensors. I don't think there's any other lift that hits all 3 of those regions to the same extent, it's simply the most bang for your buck forearm movement out there for that reason. Obviously for completely development you should do other movements as well
      >Useless bullshit
      Dafaq? It's literally the bodyweight version of a pullover; this is the equivalent of saying that pullups are useless because "muh lat pulldowns are better!" They're both good, don't knock it until you try it.
      >Depends on goals
      True but ab training will be beneficial to the goals of 99% people tbh
      >Just do Myoreps in that case
      Not the same, and anecdotally I've found that negatives are much more effective, and they're more time efficient as well. If you really push the bill you can get away with just 1 set 3x a week for the gastrocs due to how much stimulus you can get from a single set
      >Nope, squats take care of them completely. At worst add BSS
      Nah, I see no reason why we shouldn't isolate the adductors since they're even bigger than the hamstrings but everyone isolates the hamstrings already so why not isolate the adductors? I stopped getting groin tweaks when I began isolating my adductors, and my adductors also grew a shit ton (BSS is good as well but they aren't on the same level IMO). It's not even that much work, just do 3 sets 1-2x a week and you'll be set. Just get it done and you'll reap the benefits
      >NO.
      If rings are bad for hypertrophy, then dumbbells are even worse lmao

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >If you mean exclusively - moronic. As a bonus - sure why not.
      What are you trying to say here exactly? If you mean using external rotations as your only line of defense, then yeah I agree. Stuff like dead hangs, shoulder dislocations, rear delt work, etc are all highly beneficial as well. But I think that weak external rotators are a more common issue which is why I put that there. Again, it's just 3 sets 1-2x a week, it doesn't take that much effort to get it done. And a big infraspinatus improves your back aesthetics as well, so that's another benefit.
      >BALANCE = NO STRENGTH OR HYPERTROPHY
      Assuming you were referring to the rings here: I swear, all the "durr hurr low stability = low force production = bad for hypertrophy = rings bad for hypertrophy!" nerds have never used rings in their life. After the initial adaptation period, rings actually become MORE stable than dumbbells because they're very light, so you don't need to use a ton of force to overcome the inertia that comes with a heavy dumbbell. By this logic then, nobody should use dumbbells because they're shit for hypertrophy, but we know that isn't true, many amazing physiques were built with lots of dumbbell work. Therefore rings are also great for hypertrophy.

  38. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    if you bend over like a deadlift to do reverse curls with your arms hanging under your torso you can add a frickton of reps and or weights without compromising your form a single bit until the last failure rep. be careful with this power though

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      Never heard of this before but this actually seems really useful, kinda sounds like a neat way to do a mechanical dropset. I'm gonna try it out next time I do reverse curls, thanks anon

  39. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Tart cherry juice is great for joint inflammation and has an incredibly high ORAC score
    >Raisins also have a very high ORAC score and are very high in Boron
    >Snatch will make your traps explode
    >Anything that gives you a placebo effect is helpful
    >Using a lot of momentum on heavy lat pulldowns gives you a much better workout

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      What is ORAC?

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >>Tart cherry juice is great for joint inflammation and has an incredibly high ORAC score
      Didn't know about this, but that's neat
      also have a very high ORAC score and are very high in Boron
      Very good info, boron is very important for a multitude of functions. Good to have at least 2-3 good sources of it in your diet, and raisins are one of the best sources of it so they're a no-brainer
      will make your traps explode
      True but learning oly lifts just to grow your traps is kinda dumb IMO, way too much effort for what it's worth. That being said, if you like doing em then why not lol. Snatch grip high pulls are also great, and they're much less technical so if you want to throw a bunch of weight around they're a better choice for most people IMO
      that gives you a placebo effect is helpful
      Definitely
      a lot of momentum on heavy lat pulldowns gives you a much better workout
      Agree, obviously past a certain point it becomes detrimental, but there's a reason why no one does lat pulldowns without any layback: it just makes the movement better since you can balance out the strength curve and get more load in the lengthened position.

      • 12 months ago
        Anonymous

        >Snatch grip high pulls
        approved
        pwr cleans, high pulls, snatch high pulls are monstrous for trap, rear delt and upper-mid back

    • 12 months ago
      Anonymous

      >Snatch will make your traps explode
      or you could just do direct trap work and save your evergy

  40. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    we need to save this one.

  41. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    >if you’re looking to increase the amount of push-ups you do, gaslight yourself into thinking 3 reps is actually only 1 rep. Then remind yourself you’re a failure if you can’t even do (insert a number you can do easily) push-ups. This will trick you into pushing yourself to do more. This can theoretically work for any excessive you want to increase rep volume on

    I went from being able to do 50 pushups to 100 push-ups overnight, and still feel I’m failing since in my head it’s only 33 push-ups.

  42. 12 months ago
    Anonymous

    Interesting points, but how am I supposed to do all of this while I am quite busy every single day of the week

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