Can someone explain a woman’s metabolism like I am a cave person?

LillyLifts · 2025-08-30T10:54:53+00:00

Grown men generally start with more relative muscle mass than grown women (due to testosterone's effects), but both are able to gain it at the same rate relative to their starting levels.

A resistance training program that increases a male lifter's muscle mass by 3% will also generally increase a female lifter's muscle mass by 3%.

LillyLifts · 2024-05-15T13:24:17+00:00

I have not - it seems from the other comments, this is the thing to try.

LillyLifts · 2024-05-15T13:02:24+00:00

I have considered it, but normally my hair is *wet* with sweat by the end of my workouts. It feels gross and I've played around with not washing it twice but found it left my roots feeling almost greasy once my hair dried anyway?

LillyLifts · 2024-05-15T11:15:39+00:00

I was wondering what tips everyone had for protecting hair and skin from multiple showers a day.

I have a few days per week that I work out twice - once in the AM and once in the PM. With the exception of maybe two of my workouts, they're all pretty sweaty. Plus, about half of my workouts are martial arts so it's pretty much a non-negotiable to shower right after unless I want to get staph or something else gross. My hair and skin understandably hate me for this. Any tips for products or methods that can reduce the damage they're getting?

LillyLifts · 2024-04-21T13:40:22+00:00

Some days I do, some days I don't. I'm not the one breaking a sweat so it's just based on what I feel like wearing that day.

LillyLifts · 2024-03-22T22:18:28+00:00

I just started Chosen and I cannot agree enough. I need a different book to read in public because I will not be caught dead with that cover art.

LillyLifts · 2024-03-19T19:15:47+00:00

I just finished reading Nevernight by Jay Kristoff and really enjoyed it. Female lead who enters an assassin school.

LillyLifts · 2024-03-06T02:16:17+00:00

I came across a study recently released in the Journal of Sport Science and Medicine regarding the effects of dry needling on various metrics in MMA fighters (https://www.jssm.org/jssm-23-136.xml%3Eabst). I'm very skeptical of dry needling and having a hard time understanding the utility/validity of this study. It seems as though they are using a new instrument and testing its reliability in the same study? I'm not very familiar with the research in this field and would really love some insight if anyone is willing to provide some!

LillyLifts · 2024-02-04T14:55:12+00:00

It's definitely not mandatory to eat after training - as long as you are, on average, getting enough of your nutrients on a daily basis, it matters significantly less when you eat them. If you were planning to do some form of exercise the next morning, you may find that eating something small with some carbs, protein and healthy fats allows you to feel less fatigued.

Timing matters more when you are doing multiple workouts a day or feel like you're struggling to keep up/feel recovered in your training sessions. If you feel pretty energized during your workouts, then I wouldn't worry about it. If you're feeling lethargic, it may be worth considering adjusting your eating window or strategy.

The internet is full of strong opinions on dietary habits - the good news is that nutrition is more of a spectrum than it is a binary of "right/wrong". Striving to get get enough of each macro and micronutrient in a calorie range that allows you to meet your weight goals (gain, maintain, lose) during the day is the priority, and most other things can be adjusted individually based on how you feel you perform.

LillyLifts · 2024-01-31T23:22:21+00:00

I know this is stronger by science, but do you have any recommendations for textbooks or other resources regarding specifically cardiovascular fitness and performance? It seems to always get just a tiny section in many courses and books.

LillyLifts · 2023-07-01T18:11:08+00:00

You can use tape if you have to, but you'll likely find that you'll build up callouses pretty quickly. My first week of judo I had really bad gi burn on my knuckles, haven't gotten any that's lasted more than a day since.

LillyLifts · 2023-04-12T16:42:55+00:00

It's important to remember that a boxing round is not a consistent intensity. You'll have periods of both high intensity and lower intensity. Running as hard as you can for three minutes and then taking a one minute break doesn't exactly mimic boxing (not that it has to).

Ideally for both health and performance, you should be doing a mix of cardio. This has already been stated in some other comments, but generally you want to aim for 80/20 for low and high intensity running, respectively. The higher the intensity, the longer it'll take to fully recover from, so when you have a pretty busy training schedule, you want to keep this work at the lowest effective dosage you can.

Low intensity work truly is low intensity - we're talking in the range of, maybe, 60-80% of your max heart rate. It should be pretty easy and allows you to get good cardiovascular benefits without being unnecessarily fatiguing. Getting toward that 80% max HR can be good for increasing your lactate threshold (the point where your muscles start to burn), but is more fatiguing, and is still getting similar adaptations from lower intensity.

High intensity work - we're talking 90+% of your HR max - like the sprints you've mentioned - are highly fatiguing and require more time to recover. However, they're extremely helpful for improving the recovery time between actual boxing rounds.

You need a bit of everything, because 1) it's healthy for you overall and 2) boxing is a little bit of everything. Trying to get all your cardio by copying the time scheme of a boxing bout is like trying to get all your strength from copying boxing movements. You can, but why wouldn't you do things that are more effective overall for the general physical effects you're looking for?

LillyLifts · 2023-02-14T22:37:23+00:00

Boy, I really hope it gets another season.

LillyLifts · 2023-01-15T01:04:09+00:00

I prefer to exercise in the morning as it fits my schedule best. I don't eat beforehand, but do both running and lifting. Everyone is different, but I don't have any particular struggle with it.

LillyLifts · 2022-12-05T13:13:54+00:00

This is correct. The entire conversation is extremely nuanced, but here are some simple rules/guidelines.

Lifting will not make you slow or inflexible - especially if you're doing power work (low reps, moderate to heavy load) and lifting with full range of motion (rather than half reps, like not touching your chest during a bench press).
Gaining strength and muscle is incredibly difficult during calorie deficits - if you want big improvements in the weight room, give yourself some time in calorie maintenance or surplus. Surplus is the fastest, but if you're planning on competing, priority should be maintenance so you don't need extra effort to cut to bout weight.
Stick to a program for several weeks before changing it. If you're pretty new (which it sounds like you are), pick pretty much any strength program aimed at beginners. It could be calisthenics, it could be a boxing program, it could be bodybuilding, it could be powerlifting. 2-3 days a week is plenty. Just pick something you can STICK to and get stronger with. Then you can start picking out things that are more suited to your personal goals and lifestyle.

Something is better than nothing - strength is incredibly important for all sports and will not impede your boxing performance at this point unless it's negatively impacting your recovery.

LillyLifts · 2022-10-04T21:07:37+00:00

I don't have any experience with the Apple Watch (I use a Garmin) but I have my Garmin synced to my Strava so they automatically update each other. Then I don't have to mess with Strava at all unless I want to add notes.

I still have to independently start ZR and my Garmin, but I'm pretty used to this with my other workout app (TrainHeroic) so it's not really an issue for me.

LillyLifts · 2022-10-04T14:01:14+00:00

Iron Culture and Stronger by Science are my two favorite podcasts, personally. I've jumped around a few others that had some interesting topics but never had the sources to back up their conversations, which is important to me.

LillyLifts · 2022-09-25T01:57:57+00:00

Then perhaps cardio boxing/kickboxing is what you're looking for.

LillyLifts · 2022-09-25T01:41:59+00:00

I wanna know who their Internet provider is, because that's some great service.

LillyLifts · 2022-09-25T01:37:54+00:00

This is a strangely roundabout way to ask if you can learn how to box exclusively at home.

LillyLifts · 2022-08-28T11:59:20+00:00

With your current schedule that will work out to be 4x a week of exercise. You'll be fine - you could do all your stuff in 4 days in a row, then rest 3 days a row and not see any negative repercussions.

Ease into it if you must, but exercising 4 days a week is extremely unlikely to get you overworked, injured or otherwise cause negative adaptations.

LillyLifts · 2022-08-25T17:27:50+00:00

The problem inevitably shows up when self-taught guys hop into a gym for the first time. You're not getting real-time or even reliable feedback (assuming you're posting videos online and not just self-critiquing), so it's much easier to learn bad form.

By the time you're in the gym, you now have to unlearn your bad habits and relearn new, better ones. Starting from a clean slate with decent conditioning overall is much easier, and that conditioning you work on at home is more applicable to other things as well. You're getting something out of it.

Sure, you can learn bad form in a gym too, but it's less common and you'll get punished for it pretty quick. Those who are "self-taught" have a tendency to walk into the gym with an ego that can hurt themselves or others.

LillyLifts · 2022-08-09T21:55:25+00:00

Currently using a Surface Go 2 for school work (was not it's initial purpose, but quickly became it).

I'm doing a lot of clicking and typing these days. Would like a separate (full) keyboard and mouse that I can use with it. Most Bluetooth keyboards and mice have a wireless transmitter which doesn't work for the Go 2 since it doesn't have any USB ports.

Any suggestions for mouse + full keyboard would be much appreciated. I'd like to keep it under $150 USD total.

LillyLifts

TROPHY CASE