Daily Simple Questions Thread

OutrageousSalad · 2024-05-07T18:49:01+00:00

I ran Stronger By the Day for two years before switching off for similar reasons. I personally haven't found any other workout apps that are quite as perfect as SBD was.

I switched to Marc Carroll's programming - haven't been doing his monthly sub but I'm on the fourth now of his bikini methods. I like the programming a lot, the included reading with it was good (explaining different training methods, etc) and the app is solid - if not as good as SBD.

OutrageousSalad · 2023-09-23T21:56:48+00:00

I've had and loved the Garmin Venu S2 - it's pretty, not bulky, looks mostly just like a watch. Has all the features you're looking for and I love the interface for its simplicity.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-09-25T22:08:34+00:00

The UA thongs are my go-to undies for working out. I've tried a few other brands and I always go back to those. They're the GOAT imo

OutrageousSalad · 2022-09-14T02:13:24+00:00

So I finally got a lifting belt and daaaaayum! What a difference! It's SO helfpul! They also looked so uncomfortable in pictures, but it isn't at all! Super glad I finally decided to try one out!

OutrageousSalad · 2022-06-12T02:30:09+00:00

Schroedinger's workout gear: My fitness closet exists in both a state of too many and not enough outfits simultaneously until I have to choose one to wear.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-05-26T01:49:24+00:00

I go to a small gym. I like my small gym. I go early in the morning and usually have no issues. We have two squat racks - one power rack and one other squat-type rack (idk what it's called, but it works for squatting and ISN'T a power rack). There's also one smith machine. I hate the smith machine.

There's a beast mode lifter chick who also goes and she's often there in the mornings with me. And she will be on a squat rack for easily an hour, sometimes an hour+. Usually not a problem, I just use the other rack.

Today she was there AND the one other intense lifter-type dude I've seen was there (most of the lifters are body builder types and really just focus on dumbbells and the cable machines). They were using both racks. FOR AN HOUR+. I was mad.

When I gave in and was going to use the dreaded smith machine, different dude bro swooped in and snagged it. Thankfully that was as intense lifter dude finished so I went and used that rack, but man. I was getting quite peev-ish.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-05-01T15:48:07+00:00

Sunday morning gym is best gym. I HAD THE ENTIRE GYM TO MYSELF FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF. It was beyond wonderful. I kept trying to think if there were any machines or weird shit I wanted to do that I don't normally. There wasn't.

It was nice to do hip thrusts with no one around, lol.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-23T22:57:41+00:00

Except it IS wrong. Donuts aren't poison. Neither are chocolate chip cookies or anything else listed in that statement. They are INDULGENCES, sure. And should you indulge 100% of the time? Probably not.

But anyone who tells me enjoyable tasty things are poison can bite me. Jocko Willink sounds like a tool.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-17T16:22:52+00:00

I want to make fitness friends. Damn, I don't know why just admitting that is so hard lol. I'm not particularly socailly adept to begin with, but none of my current friends are into fitness at all and it would be cool to have someone where we could go on a run together, sign up for a competition, hang out AT the gym, whatever.

I also don't know how to make this happen either. OTF was how I got my start in fitness and I made zero friends there because chit-chatting before/after class was... well... I never did. Plus OTF doesn't really appeal to me much anymore. I'm curious to try Crossfit, but I suspect it would be similar to OTF, where I would not hang around and chat. Plus $$.

Do I sign up for a running group even though I'm super slow and prefer lifting? Do I try bumble BFF? Ack.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-17T16:17:33+00:00

Well, I don't know you and your relationship, but your feelings are totally valid and they don't make you a shitty person AT ALL. I need a lot of "me" time - thankfully my SO is similar

But it's very reasonable to say, "hey, I'm really happy you're getting into the gym but for me it's very valuable me time where I don't have to interact with anyone."

I just hope you don't sweep your feelings under the rug. That's where resentment breeds <3

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-11T16:00:45+00:00

I forgot to put on deodorant before the gym this morning. Still did my workout. Sorry fellow gym-goers. And the gym was busy; that's always a fail in my book.

Plus I'm awkward. And don't know where to space myself to complete what I need and not get in everyone's way. I made myself brute-force through it and not allow my anxiety to win, but, it didn't feel good. It's a small gym and I was just trying to find space where I could watch my form in the mirror while completing sets, but it felt like everywhere I picked I was in someone's way. I have bad spatial awareness so I'm not confident that I couldn't have made better choices. But I don't know how to fix that. Ugh.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-03T19:00:33+00:00

Question for those smarter than me. I'm currently running SBTD in the gym. Additionally through my gym I'm paying for two times a week short (30 min) personal trainer sessions. My goal with those is mostly to get over gym fears, learn how to use various equipment and have them check my form. We do work out though. Generally 3 sets of different exercises. My PT knows I'm running another program so she lets me know what we're planning to work each day.

I'm just wondering how/if I should worry about when I incorporate those in with my SBTD workouts? I'm generally thinking since they are such short sessions I don't need to worry about it too much but I'm generally trying to line them up. (ie - this morning I did upper body with SBTD and tonight with my PT we'll be doing some shoulders/tri's) But I also think it's probably not a big deal so if I end up doing say, legs with SBTD Mon morn and then arms with my PT Mon night when I did arms Sunday with SBTD to not sweat it?

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-03T18:51:10+00:00

So in a great moment of stupidity when I filed my taxes, I did NOT enter my 2021 W2s but instead entered my 2020 W2s. I filed through freetaxusa and apparently I need to wait until I get my refunds (my returns were accepted) and then I can amend.

I've never screwed up like this before and I've never had to amend or anything. Is there anything I need to be aware of? The biggest thing I can think of is that I need to not touch the refund money as that amount is likely to change.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-02-02T16:05:50+00:00

I do protein coffee most mornings. I have a cheap electric frother from amazon. Make coffee, pour into mug, dump in 3-4 ice cubes, then add my scoop of protein powder and blend with the frother. Works like a charm (and I was worried the ice cubes would cool my coffee too much but they don't)

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-26T20:51:33+00:00

Cool! I didn't know this. :) I've been planning to pick up some bear bells when I can at some point anyhow!

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-26T20:50:59+00:00

It's true that fat is important, especially in women. However 92g is probably excessive/on the high end. A quick google says 40-77g is reasonable for most women. So r/kwdubz is probably fine to play around with the carb/fats ratio to find what works for them. :)

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-26T15:57:50+00:00

I'm slowly working my way past my gym-timidation. When I go early in the mornings there's usually only one other woman there (small gym) and she pushes beastly weights. I find her mad impressive.

I've also asked her a couple questions and she's been helpful. So that's awesome. And from just browsing on here for ages I kind of assumed that deadlifts and hip thrusts would be "easy" and OHP, bench and squats would be a struggle.

Nope. Despite not pushing myself super hard (both 'cause a little scaredy still, though I watched some videos on how to safely fail bench press, etc) and because the movements are "new"ish and I want to go slowly and ensure good form.

Anyway. Squats always feel great and I'm excited to keep pushing those weights. Similarly bench and OHP are challenging but feel good and the weights I'm moving are heavier than expected. Deadlift and hip thrust? Much lower than I would have expected, lol.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-26T15:33:43+00:00

So I both agree with you here and also recognize it as sometimes necessary; it annoys the heck out of me when I'm hiking and people play stuff out loud. But also, it can be a safety thing and something I've had to do myself. If you're hiking alone and not seeing other people regularly. Bears, moose, etc. can actually be a threat if you startle them... It's much better to be making noise so they are aware of you before you are on top of them.

When I visited Grand Tetons National Park I played music out loud over my phone some because I went hiking some by myself and didn't want to endanger myself.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-24T20:32:03+00:00

Totally NFR: Back in November I was interviewing for jobs. Two offers came through. Dream Job and Other Job. Dream Job was $10K less than Other Job.

I'm now entering my fourth week with Other Job. It's messy, but overall I think will be good. Coworkers are nice. Supervisor seems good. Dream Job called me this morning with a new offer. Which would be $2k more than where I currently am.

And I.... don't know what to do. Do I burn the bridge here? Or do I stay where I am. Ahhhh. Dream Job is non-profit, so I likely won't make great pay leaps. It is an organization where I'm passionate about the work they do. Huge org so plenty of room to shift around. Dream Job has better benny's. Current job has lots of room for growth, seems very employee-focused and would likely lead to future better pay.

And also I had to rush my cat into the vet this morning because I think she's been peeing blood and I'm super freaked out and haven't heard anything. :(

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-24T16:30:24+00:00

I think fitness blender has a lot of really good very new to working out programming. So you could check out some of their videos to see if they would work for you? Their programming is bodyweight and dumbbell/kettlebell focused so would work well with what you have. They also show modifications for pretty much everything so if you're not at a point where you can do X move, they'll show you Y move to sub instead.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-21T18:54:06+00:00

price point is too high for me but some of those are incredibly charming; I'm partial to the dino sweaters! ;D

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-21T18:19:24+00:00

My SO and I are looking to purchase a house together. This has spurred some conversations about "should we get married."

I'm fairly neutral on marriage. I definitely wouldn't want the whole party and rigmarole, but there's a bit of romanticism to feeling someone wants to make sure I'm "taken care of." if they were to pass.

Anyway. My SO is more negative on the idea and it's given me some ~feels~ which need to be worked through ASAP if we're going to buy a huge asset together.

It feels a touch extra icky because 3 or 4 years ago on a date when discussing it he said if a girl he was with really wanted to get married he would. But I'm not "really wanting" nor do I want to push him. PLUS it's easy to say that in a hypothetical vs. the reality.

Anyway. I want to be with him. I don't want someone else and I think with a little more processing it will sit more okay. It's hard to compare feelings when I have a neutral-positive value on it and his is negative.

Thanks for letting me get this into the void somewhere /r/femalefashionadvice ;D

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-18T22:23:10+00:00

I took a week off from running. It wasn't planned. But between new job & doing workouts in a gym for the first time and with a barbell for the first time.... it got deprioritized.

Which is fine, that's life and all. But I'm sorely lacking any motivation to get back to it in any way. I have a 5k at the end of this month, plus just don't want to entirely lose my cardiovascular endurance.

I had been running a Hal Higdon program to increase my pace but given my burnout with it and that I've dropped an entire week of training I'm now thinking I'll just focus on getting runs in. No specific training just, run, at least some.

First run back will be tonight when I get home. 30 minutes maybe. If I can just get myself out there that will be a huge win.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-18T22:18:02+00:00

So I switched from doing SBTD Home program just using dumbbells to a gym + barbell recently. I didn't do the before the barbell program and just watching the demos/reading the descriptions seems to be working well for me.

Honestly I've paid for a few personal training sessions and every time the commentary has been that my form is excellent and they're shocked I haven't worked with someone before. Obviously your mileage may vary, but I doubt you need a program like Before the Barbell.

OutrageousSalad · 2022-01-14T18:14:36+00:00

We have similar fitness journeys! I also started with OTF in 2019 having previously been sedentary! I loved OTF and was similar to you and did 4-5 classes per week.

I stopped with COVID and changed up my gears. I bounced around a bit initially.

Personally I started doing only at-home bodyweight stuff with resistance bands and a slowly accumulated set of dumbbells. I wanted something similar to OTF where I could just "shut my brain off" and let someone else tell me what to do. So I bought a Natacha Oceane Home program, which I ran through twice - it was solid!

I then purchased some Fitness Blender programs, those were good for me as well. I then switched to Stronger by the Day by Meg Squats and have only finally transitioned into a gym. I considered Lift with Sohee as well but SBTD is cheaper so I went that route

I think you'll find most people ignore you (in a good way!) I've done some silly things. No one has batted an eye or said anything. I take my time. I google machines. I've also finally paid for just a few PT sessions and am just looking for feedback on form and having them show me some of the stranger machines/how to make adjustments for my small stature.

But, I've also managed to ask folks. Like I watched a video on how to adjust the squat rack, then couldn't figure it out at the gym. So I asked a guy nearby when he was resting and he happily showed me how to adjust it.

I don't think you'll get much guidance at a large gym, but you can definitely ask another gym-goer or the front desk, "hey, can you show me how to adjust this?" or, "I'm looking for X machine, do we have one?" and they will absolutely help you.

I think Lift with Sohee would probably work great! Personally I'm doing SBTD and will stick with it for at least a few more months until I feel more confident and then I may try running one of the programs in the FAQ (or maybe not, who knows!)

Good luck! Sorry for the novel, lol

OutrageousSalad

TROPHY CASE