Got a solid 20 minutes of rowing in this morning, abs are sore but I'm feeling good!

I missed posting yesterday, the last two days haven't been great (only 15min each day) due to my own time mismanagement but I still got moving so that's a plus. In the past this kind of stumble has stalled my attempts at getting into a routine but I'm not going to let perfect be the enemy of good. My goal is still 20-30 minutes a day but 15 is better than nothing!

Got 20 minutes of rowing in this morning before work, gotta work on going to bed at more reasonable times so I'm not sleeping in as much

I slept in a little so I only had time for 20 minutes of rowing but I'm riding my bike back from school so that'll be another 25-30 minutes!

Another 25 minutes of cardio checked off!

Aiming for 20-30 minutes a day. I'm hoping posting this every day will contribute to motivating me

You got your

Wide grip pull-up

Narrow grip pull-up

Neutral grip pull-up

Mixed grip pullups

Pronated pull-up

Supinated pull-up

L sit pull pull-up

Explosive pull-up

Slow pullups

Typewriter pullups

Archer pullpups

Weighted Pollups

Negative pulups

Band assisted polaps

One arm pullupps

Remember to retract that scapula. Touch chest to bar.

I want a muscle up. IT WILL BE MINE. IT WILL BE MINE.

I went out to dinner last night and am about to get in to some left over scampi. I loaded up the bowl, logged 300g of pasta and was about to pop it in the microwave when I saw the calorie total and thought… this feels like more food than that.

Folks there was a POUND of pasta LEFT OVER from the meal the night before! 200g more than I had estimated. We are really bad at estimating portion sizes.

I saved myself 400 calories by stopping and weighing before eating.

It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to gain weight, lose weight, or maintain. If you aren’t weighing you have no idea how much you’re eating. I weigh my cat’s food to keep his weight stable, I owe it to myself to do the same.

I'm terrified of squats, i tried to do one yesterday, and with a janky chair-table setup, and it was not working out. when i finally semi-safely got the bar on my back, in a comfortable position, and just could not in any way get the squat on the way down without lifting my heels off of the ground. i looked at a lot of guides and maybe it's my body type or something, it just wouldn't work. especially not at my current strength and with the weight that i'd be using. so, at least for now, i'd like to find an exercise that is more approachable for a beginner and can bit similar muscles. do you have any recommendations, chapos? thanks in advance!

I just pick a weight that's sort of hard (usually a machine rn until I feel I can start to do free weights again) and increase it by 5 or 10 lbs at 10-15 reps. Usually end up doing about 80 reps. Is this bad? Meh? Did it on calf raises, leg curls, and leg extensions tonight. Leg press was low, like around 40 because my legs are a little from doing the abductor and adductor machine last night (didn't pull anything, but did get a good ahh stretch from the one that is like a goddamn spreader bar but I definitely feel it lol). Once I fix my quad dominance from biking erewhere I'll lower the reps and focus strength, but yeah what do y'all think? Also any good ways to ensure my muscles around my right knee get to a point where I don't have to worry about it potentially taking a road trip when I side step with my right foot?

This explains why I lose so much weight when I diet, but it also means that when I put on weight, I'm eating 4k+ in a single day. Checks out tbh.

https://twitter.com/MargBarAmerica/status/1738046889252057105?t=0loQ9_rcqn41gOW2OqF2TA&s=19

I have not much money, little space, and no gym access, how do I get absolutely swole like handsome shrek? Is this possible from calisthenics only, or alternatively, is there some equipment that is 10/10 great to have?

It can be time consuming due to the sheer length and duration, but I have found fat falling off in the places I have most issues (lower abdomen, chest, and back). It's free, it's super chill, and I have found it clearing my mind too. In combination with more intense regime, I think it is a a necessary supplemental exercise. I think walking outside is probably better (it feels more natural to me at least), but just a plain ol' treadmill or other cardio machine will probably get those steps up. Its super low-impact, easy, and do-able.

I'm dropping weight and I'm finding my brain rebooting in some places as well. It's overall super great and I encourage every Hexbear to increase their step count.

Hey gang! I have a (maybe dumb) and very specific question that I couldn't exactly find the answer to, so I'd love it if you could weigh in a bit.

TL;DR: Newbie, strength training 4x a week, eating window is 11:00-17:00, is it okay to train at like 17:30?

I'm usually a long distance runner but decided to exclusively do strength training this winter. I've also been on a fairly strict 18/6 IF schedule since about June and I'm really happy with it and used to it by now, so I don't like the idea of quitting IF just to accommodate lifting. IF is more for health reasons than for weight loss for me, it stops me from going goblin mode on junk food in the evenings and really helps with mental clarity in the mornings.

IF and running in the evening after my window worked great together, never had any complaints about it, and the first two weeks of regular strength training with this schedule seemed pretty good as well. I've eaten at a bit (maybe 300-500 kcal but idk) above maintenance with about 1-1.5g of Protein/kg during my window and visually my muscles have already improved and I've gained about 1kg. That's okay for newbies, right?

Recovery seemed fine so far as well, a good bit of new stimulus DOMS in the first week, but it's noticeably easier after the second now despite hitting technical failure on a few exercises each workout (still figuring out my limits lol). AFAB people supposedly recover faster anyways I've heard, so I'm not super worried about delayed recovery due to fasting tbh.

The most common answer I've found when researching fasting after a workout has been ✨ Eating after a workout will replenish your Glycogen stores. ✨

...which is such a nothing-burger of an answer! The goal of fasting IS to empty the Glycogen stores. I don't get what this answer can be useful for..

Further, when I search up resources on fasting and weightlifting in general, I usually just get answers regarding lifting in a fasted state in the morning, which (unless a 15 minute Cardio warmup puts me in a fasted state lol) I'm not doing.

I've also read that the anabolic window isn't really relevant for casual lifters, it's more for serious athletes that actually benefit from optimizing muscle gain by like 5%.

So yeah, after all that rambling: am I doing any serious harm in the long-run? Not just "eh, it could be a bit more efficient" but actual damage? Because I feel good, I perform like expected and I don't want to quit IF as a lifestyle. I may be swayed to compromise and have like, a protein bar or something like that after training if the benefit is great enough I guess, or I'd be down to move my training into my eating window. What do you think?

I liked the Xero shoes I got for running like a year ago so I wanted to get another pair for the gym and a pair for my husband to try out... the prices were so ridiculous tho Amazon and other resellers scalp the shit out of them for some reason AND have shittier stock.

They're like a third of the price if you get them from the website on sale (there's always a sale on less popular models/colors/sizes)

just letting y'all know in case you were looking into getting some anyways

megan knees just means strong knees. how do i strengthen my knees, i have injury from a year ago that get sore too. should i ignore the soreness? dont tell me to go to physical therapy lol i dont wanna.

Picture semi-related. I can more-or-less actually wear my 1970s Soviet overcoat. It's still a bit tight but I can now close all the buttons. Appropriate enough for pictures now.

Maybe if I shave off yet another 10KG, I'll be ready to be a true Soviet Marshal

Death to America

I’ve lifted pretty seriously in the past, though always under guidance, so something like rippetoe might be too long winded on exercise explanations, but from a progress perspective I’m closer to a beginner— aside from having previously developed some of the neural pathways. 5/3/1 was my go-to in younger days but now I’m older and looking for more general fitness and athleticism as opposed to size/strength specific.

I’ve been using gambetta’s athletic development and it’s been great for circuit training and overall increase of work capacity but I’m finding that when it comes to programming it sort of falls flat in that recommendations are very generic. I would like something that would educate me on the whys and let me come away with the ability to design my own programs depending on situational needs. Any recs would be appreciated

I’m down 10 lbs and am currently at 22% bf, starting to see more definition but am definitely pretty small under there above the waist. I’d like to maybe build out my back a bit more. Wondering what a good point is to target for a cut to end before starting to try to add weight. My original target of 150 would put me at ~12% which might be a little too lean and I’m reading might make muscle gain more difficult later. Also am generally sick of dieting and the macro requirements are really starting to bite (my TDEE is probably 2500-2700 and MacroFactor has me eating just shy of 2k, I am very tired). Also it just seems like bulking through the holidays makes more sense socially.

I definitely still have fat to lose and don’t want to run the clock back on 3 months of progress, but am having trouble deciding when to stop.

Thinking about getting into an exercise routine to help me quit smoking and help with my hypoglycemia which is starting to get noticeable and I was thinking about this martial art. Figure if seniors can do it it'd be about my level being out of shape as I am. I used to do some very casual martial arts and sparing when I was part of a club in college so I'm not totally a novice.

What do you think, if you do it what's it like?

Too tired to explain the history of my body but long story short, I have TMJ and knee pain from the stress of manual labor and busting myself through grad school while working full time, commuting, doing physical therapy twice a week plus gym 4 times a week and I have severe chronic insomnia from..... idk, been 2 years now since i've slept an entire week in a row and my doctors just tell me to "work out until your exagusted like really tired yoo.

As if I haven't maintained my 3-4 day a week workout schedule or that trying to do that renders me semi-immobile for 2-4 days because my muscles can't heal and then i'm both sleep deprived AND in immense physical pain.

I fucking hate doctors, We make it not only so disabled people can't practice medicine but even able bodied people can't do it. You have to be an ubermensch from a rich family and it produces a system of people who are constitutionally incapable of imagine a person having a health problem that comes from anything other than a moral failing.

Today was my birthday weekend. Because my immune system was shoot from a particularly bad insomniac boat this week I failed to go to the gym and failed to avoid being sedentary for 4 days in a row. As a result when I went to the city today my bad knee put me in cripling full body pain to the point where I was holding back tears, having small hallucinations (nothing super crazy just having my field of vision being manipulated and seeing things move that were still) and almost fainting at like 2-3 points.

So that basically ruined the whole day for me and I came back dead tired. Wanted to go to the emergency room but I know for a fact that if you can still walk and perform basic motor function that doctors will refuse to give you muscle relaxers. Wanted to go home and relax but I knew I had to do a bunch of stretches or else risk waking up immobile and having to call the hospital anyway.

On top of that a DSA comrade called me out of the blue asking me to explain why my legal name on my venmo is different than the name I go by. In zoom calls I try to specify that I go by (they/them) and I don't really try to explain that I want to transition but want to be more economically stable first because I have a right-wing family so I'd rather just go by something that isnt my dead name in queer and political spaces. So I'm going to have to explain my gender over text or else he's gonna get sus. The thing is that he's a very good comrade and theres a chance he'll understand but ***I just really, really don't want to fucking bother with this when a few hours ago it felt like every tendon was trying to pull my body apart from the inside like one of those mediaeval executions where your limbs are tied to horses going in opposite directions but coming from inside your body instead.

I'll admit that I can't really imagine anyone can provide anything really productive here, just wanted to get it off my chest and vent.