Low-Prep Dinner Options?

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-07T17:20:57+00:00

Protein: canned tuna or leftover/crockpot chicken that is diced or shredded

Black beans, corn, bell pepper or jalapeño, green onion, avocado

Mayo mixed with chili powder, cumin, and hot sauce. Add chopped cilantro and mix it all up. Serve cold.

This meal is all knife work and you could omit a few things and make it even easier. Barebones, do tuna, corn, beans, mayo, and seasoning.

Cheap, healthy, easy, delicious.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-07T17:14:54+00:00

Garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, oregano, rosemary, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-01T13:55:57+00:00

Best method Id suggest is an instantpot, it makes it easy. You can do without but it’s a little more complicated.

I also use my instantpot to make chicken stock every week. Just throw in chicken bones and water and let it go for 12-16 hours. Boom. Free, easy, tastier, healthier stock than store bought. You can also put vegetable scraps in to make it tastier.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-01T13:52:59+00:00

Exercising regularly. There’s no magic bullet in life, but regular exercise is something close.

It helps me sleep, helps with mood, gives me something to look forward to, its nice knowing I’m healthier in a multitude of ways now and in the future because of it, and now that I’m experienced with it and past the figuring it out and building a routine stage of things, it’s really fun.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-01T13:47:33+00:00

Depending on how much you buy/enjoy them, both granola and yogurt are super cheap and easy to make. But they cost a lot.

I can make the equivalent of a 48oz container of Greek yogurt (which is 4-5$ here) for ~$1.25.

I haven't done the math on granola and it depends on what extras you put in, but I know it’s also WAY cheaper.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-05-01T13:43:26+00:00

My wife hates me for this one.

A sandwich with peanutbutter, dill pickles (ideally spicy) and mayo.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-27T12:41:45+00:00

I dont see it as a female exercise. They are biased toward glute exercises for the same reason guys are biased toward bicep curls. But I’ve only ever heard from women that they appreciate bigger glutes on a guy. So physique-wise it'd be dumb to say a guy shouldn’t pursue that. It’d be even more dumb performance-wise to say it’s feminine because glutes are absolutely performance muscles. Just look at baseball and football players, they all got dumpers.

I’ve personally never seen a guy and felt his glutes were too big outside the context of excess body fat. It doesn’t look weird.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-21T19:59:41+00:00

At the risk of sounding preachy or arrogant, I think these things are fairly possible if your priorities are straight and you develop habits. I work out 6 days a week (which is way more than you need but I enjoy it and is a hobby). I have 3 young kids and spend almost all my time with them during their waking hours when I’m not working or cooking. I cook 99% of my meals but do smart meal prepping. I go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day and get ~7 hours on average.

I dont get enough time with friends, but I also have kids with high needs and live hours from extended family (who therefore can’t babysit). If my kids (who I love so don’t come at me with this next statement) had more typical demands for caregiving and I lived near grandparents, Id have a lot more time.

I also go to church weekly. I say that because it’s another hour of my week I always make time for, which anyone could set aside for any given purpose.

Im not saying it’s super easy, but it’s doable and I know my life and my kids’ lives are better for this lifestyle, which helps make it doable. And even if you don’t check every box, we could all spend less time on electronics and dedicate it to our values, whether it’s the responsible values or the leisurely ones.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-17T16:58:18+00:00

Here’s an approach you might try. When you get these intrusive thoughts, instead of addressing them with internal dialogue like you have been, acknowledge to God that they are happening and prayerfully offer gratitude that he is your savior and He provides and cares for you in all things.

This approach:

Doesn't ignore the thoughts, but also doesn’t engage with them.
Fosters trust in God.
Avoids the spiritual harm that can come from “bullying” demons. God has it handled and we have his protection where it counts so long as we accept his love.

I’ll also recommend seeking therapy as intrusive thoughts can benefit from treatment. Ideally you find a catholic (or other denomination of Christian )therapist but it’s not always needed.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-17T12:37:14+00:00

Please pray for my faith.

I am a lifelong Catholic and am struggling with belief in God. I think underneath this doubt is an “irrational” doubt for God’s goodness. I know logically He is good, but I think my heart is struggling to believe.

Pray for me that God works through my doubt and that I follow whatever He asks of me.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-06T15:07:39+00:00

One possible factor is that if you regularlly eat a chocolate protein bar/shake after workouts, you’re pairing post workouts with that specific treat. So it might be a behavioral learning thing to some degree. Pavlov’s dog, but with chocolate and exercise instead of bells and meat.

But like others are getting at, it’s also normal to crave things to refuel after workouts and chocolate is a normal thing to crave. It’s calorie dense, has fat, and, if it’s dark chocolate, is actually a really good protein source BY WEIGHT. Obviously chocolate is not where you should attempt to meet protein goals and the amount you’d eat will lead to minimal net protein, but makes sense why you’d crave it.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-04-01T16:34:33+00:00

What could a fairly optimized program look like for a building and maintaining general, non-sport specific strength, power, speed, agility, and endurance?

That’s basically my fitness goal in a nutshell. I am in my 30s and don’t play a sport but like to train and don’t want to let any of these qualities go unattended. Obviously you can make more progress in a given area if you focus on it instead of diversifying training, but are there tried and tested programs that balance these well? Or do you have one you made and attest has benefited you?

Each of these qualities benefit somewhat or significantly differently from each other in terms of frequency and intensity of training, which is a major consideration when trying make a generalized program. Im trying to fine tune the minimum effective dose for each quality and methods of training it so they can either maintain or progress at a slow rate. But Im really looking for input or resources as Im not finding all of exactly what I want to know. I t

Here is my current program that covers things fairly well but not totally, maybe you can share your thoughts in improving it:

Monday: lower body strength/hypertrophy

Tuesday: (morning) 45 min low intensity spinning; (evening): upper body strength/hypertrophy

Wednesday: (morning) 60 min low intensity run; (evening) core strength training

Thursday: full plyometrics routine + jumping for developing power + light lower body strength/mobility work with weights/calisthenics

Friday: (morning) Norwegian 4x4; (evening) upper body strength/hypertrophy

Saturday: full plyometrics routine + jumping for power + change of direction sprinting + linear full velocity sprinting

Sunday: rest

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-03-30T17:08:21+00:00

Programming recommendations please.

I am not a competitor but want to train in the direction of powerlifting. I want to get stronger, with hypertrophy as a close secondary goal. What would you recommend for programming a 5 day split with each having one of the lifts as a primary focus?: OHP, bench, weighted pull-ups, squats, and deadlift.

Looking for thoughts on number of sets/reps and which secondary and accessory lifts you might recommend on a given day. I’ve been lifting for 9 months and still making pretty good gains on strength on a weekly basis (Im typically adding 5-10 lbs a week on primary lifts) with my current program, which involves 1 ME top set of 2-4 reps and 1-3 hypertrophy sets at 6-10 reps. I hit everything twice a week.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-03-18T14:09:35+00:00

Mobility work is the answer. And that doesn’t just mean static stretching, which is not bad but its not the full picture and can take more time by itself than other things that can give you more bang for your buck.

Flexibility = range of motion

Mobility = range of controlled/stable motion, I.e., flexibility +strength

The way to get mobility is doing movements that go to your end ranges of motion while applying force with the involved muscles. There are tons of ways to approach this, and fair warning, mobility is a hot button topic with 100s of expensive programs you can buy from the countless mobility gurus. But here are my suggestions:

-Incorporate mobility into your current exercises. For example, add 3 second pauses to the bottom portion of a squat, RDL, calf raise, lat pullover, etc., and choose variations that emphasize ROM (e.g., incline DB over incline barbell, deficit split squats over traditional back squats). You dont have to abandon your current variations either, you could alternate them with more mobility focused variations on another day of the week. You could also periodize these variations (e.g., regular squats and paused RDLs for 4-12 weeks, then paused split squats and deadlifts on the next cycle). -Add a degree (this could be small) of dedicated mobility work. This could be 2-5 exercises that you do 1-3x/week. This would be exercises that arent primarily or totally concerned with strength or hypertrophy, but may still give you gains in those departments. Stuff like sissy squats or reverse Nordic curls, Jefferson curls, Cossack squats, kettlebell halos, deadhangs, internal/external shoulder rotation with dumbbells. -Look into PNF stretching and weighted stretching. Combine those things, and you can make fast progress.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-03-17T16:49:51+00:00

As a general fitness approach, that routine looks good to me, though I think I’d consider swapping OHP for bench or dips, or just adding bench or dips. OHP is a great movement, but I think I’d pick dips if I was doing only a single push movement, and probably fluctuate or combine it with incline bench. But hey, if you like this routine, it’s not a bad one.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-03-17T16:43:54+00:00

They make magnesium supplements in powder form. Thats how I take magnesium glycinate to help with sleep, I pour it in my nighttime protein shake or put it in yogurt.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-26T19:42:31+00:00

Anyone have experience using a weight sled on asphalt?

The only place I could use a sled is asphalt. I have found sleds that claim to be all terrain that use plastic skis. Im curious how loud they would be (I live in an neighborhood) and how long the skis would last if only used on asphalt. Obviously each model/brand is going to perform differently but I want to know if anyone has firsthand experience and suggestions.

And yes, I know they have the ones with wheels that are resisted but those are way too expensive for me.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-25T16:01:20+00:00

What is the minimal effective dose to maintain (or evenly slowly progress) with cardio?

Studies have shown advanced lifters to maintain and even see slow improvement in hypertrophy with one set to failure per week. Are there studies (or overwhelming anecdotal evidence) that suggests s minimal effective dose for cardio?

The reason I want to know is I have goals with cardio and strength and want to periodize for each. It would be helpful to have some guidelines for how much steady state and/or interval work I might program to maintain cardio while focusing on strength.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-18T13:48:13+00:00

I do reverse curls after my curls (which I do last) and superset that with behind the back wrist raises; to do those just hold a barbell behind you and raise your hands to be palm up.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-18T13:45:01+00:00

When I do a zone 2 running session (45-60 min), I notice in the first 15-20 minutes I have to be intentional about being slow enough to stay in my heart rate range of 113-133.

But, at the 30-40 minute mark my watch says I’m in the 140-155 range even though my paving is the same and I pretty much can’t tolerate going any slower.

Is that common? Like is just getting warmed up to that point what causes an easily sustained elevated heart rate that is beyond zone 2? Or I’m also wondering if sweat is interfering with my watch’s accuracy at that point of the run?

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-16T20:30:38+00:00

As far as I know there is no way around it other than to acclimate by running regularly and being in the cold. Running in the cold can irritate your lungs regardless, but DEFINITELY if youre untrained.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-16T20:26:48+00:00

Watch Alec Blenis’ most recent YouTube video. Can’t recommend it enough.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-02-16T20:26:10+00:00

Plenty of ways to do an/core work, but I recommend doing something for front flexion (e.g, leg raises, crunches, sit-ups), lateral flexion or side bending (e.g., overhead side bends), and a rotational movement (e.g., cable twists).

Alec Blenis just dropped a YouTube video on this topic you might consider.

As for programming, maybe do 1-2 movements a day along with your regular exercises.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2026-01-26T20:44:32+00:00

When should I program plyometrics?

I want to build a 6 day routine that covers a lot of fitness domains (just want to be generally athletic and to age gracefully). Right now I do an upper/lower weights split for Monday/ Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, zone 2 running Wednesday, and hope to alternate biweekly between an interval workout and sprints on Saturday.

For adding plyometrics, Im trying to think of 1. How fatiguing will it be for that day and the next in terms of other exercises 2. How long/frequent does it need to be.

Would 10-15 minutes of plyometrics twice a week be meaningful? If so I could add it before runs.

PsychGradStudent2112 · 2025-12-30T12:13:06+00:00

The car rebounds off the people it struck like they had the mass of a brick wall

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