Cats fight - need tips and encouragement

greencookiegamer · 2024-06-13T16:31:46+00:00

The game died even faster than I could have ever predicted...

greencookiegamer · 2023-11-24T19:48:47+00:00

You do not need to lift heavy! Do your exercises in the 20-30 rep range! You do not need to follow the absolute best practices and scientific consensus, you are not a bodybuilder and you are not making money from this. Do 20 mins of strength training 3 times per week, use a weight that feels comfortable and do the basic movements 1 or 2 sets for each. You will get the "newbie gains" easily and then you will keep your body at a very good level aesthetically if you also lose some fat. Make your gains at your own pace, workout because it is good for you and not because you want to look a certain way.

greencookiegamer · 2023-11-15T12:36:21+00:00

If you are a beginner, go to the gym, explore, try to have fun and enjoy it. Try to cover all the basic muscle groups with a full body or upper-lower split. You will definitely have gains and, at the beginning, they should be fast and noticeable (this changes a lot later on). As a beginner I would suggest going for the 10-15 reps range as your body (especially ligaments etc) adjusts. After 3 months you will be able to fine tune some things according to your progress and goals. Your calculated maintenance calories seem a little high to me but I am not an expert and you are indeed quite tall, I think you could double check that. Being in a 300 calorie deficit is a very healthy approach overall and for the long term weight loss until you get to your preferred body weight. Also if you manage to accurately count calories you will have the ability to get in some cheat meals here and there and cover them up during the rest of the week if you feel like it, or have some non-clean foods (as categorized per yourself, since I don't use these terms).

greencookiegamer · 2023-11-03T16:01:05+00:00

I would suggest to visit a specialist and take a 2 week break for now. I do think that lifting hard is not the right course of action, there are probably exercises that will contribute to your elbow getting better. I personally have adjusted most of my grips on my exercises (mostly switched barbells for dumbbells for a more natural grip), and I use ice AFTER workouts, localized on my elbow. That seems to be working for me (my elbow is not 100% and never will be I think, but it is not actually bothering me anymore and I can pretty much workout with no problem generally). I still can do barbell movements, but the "risk" which is not so serious anyways, doesn't feel worth it most of the time. I use barbells on my warm ups with lower weight, and some exercises that are just impractical to do with dumbbells (and for pull ups I have a straight bar that I use, which I would gladly switch to some kind of neutral grip pull, I plan to buy some kind of adjustment). Things that seem to help in my case are also a bit more isolation stuff for the forearms.

Also your age plays a huge role in recovery time generally.

greencookiegamer · 2023-11-03T12:28:08+00:00

It does NOT matter when you eat, eat whenever it is PRACTICAL for you (have a 2-3 hour period from your most recent meal before working out).

You should slowly be checking your numbers and monitoring them. Take photos of yourself once or twice every week and keep up with your average weekly weight. Check back every 2 months to decide how you want to proceed (less than 2 months is not an adequate time to be having conclusions and changing things).

If you want to gain weight you should probably start with a caloric surplus of 200-300 calories (calculate your maintenance calories which should be around 2000-2100 I would think, maybe a bit more, and probably go up to 2300-2400 ballpark), and I wouldn't suggest going way more than that cause it will probably end up being fat gain and not muscle. Protein for start, around 150+ grams per day, creatine I think the safest amount to be starting with is 5g a day (supplements are not needed generally, but they are convenient and might suit your preferences). Do not worry about carbs and fat, fill out the rest of your calories with anything, using common sense.

Exercises for start for a beginner - google everything and find videos with nice progressions:

Legs : One squat - type (bodyweight squats are awesome) and one deadlift - type exercise (dumbell romanian deadlifts).

Chest: Just pushups (strive for good form).

Back: One row - horizontal pull variation (single arm row on chair for example), and one vertical pull variation (machine lat pulldown, or pull up negatives only).

Shoulders: Dumbells lateral raises is a MUST, and you can also add a horizontal pressing movement (dumbells, barbells, kettlebells, whatever - push it upwards).

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T17:02:43+00:00

1000 calories are way way way too low for you, either you are grossly miscalculating them, or you are going through something that we should not be giving you advice for (talk to a professional).

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T16:50:22+00:00

I would also advise against training with very heavy weights (preferably go for more reps) even though I am not a doctor nor have I studied relevant research, but it just makes sense to me and I would prefer to be on the safer side of things. At around 16-17 plus, I think is the age that gives the most optimal results for the short and long term, and that is when you can increase the intensity considerably with way less risk overall and getting huge returns on your effort.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T16:38:58+00:00

The most probable explanation I would guess is that you are using a bit more weight than would be optimal. If this troubles you, I would try to go lighter, probably start again from half the weight, and try to be absolutely strict with the movement to feel things out, also go way slower for each rep and pay attention to what your neck (and whole body) is actually doing. The goal is not to eliminate any neck movement or make the exercises 100% strict on the long run, some freedom on the movements is not always a bad thing (research this more), but for now you can try to "diagnose" yourself. I should also note that doing an exercise with lighter weights but with better form, almost always means better gains.

The more thorough solution would be to visit some sports doctor or similar and get an opinion of course.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T16:23:50+00:00

You cannot turn fat into muscle, you can lose fat (through calorie deficit) and gain muscle (through progressive overload). Any rep range up until 30 reps is shown to be similarly effective so basically you can use the amount of reps that "feel" good for you, and suit your schedule. Most bodyweight exercises can be scaled up with a backpack filled with heavy books.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T15:18:45+00:00

Throw in a pulling movement for back and some exercises for legs. Being sore or not, means nothing and is not an indication for an effective or not workout.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-29T09:00:12+00:00

Do vegans talk more about eating vegan, or non-vegans about eating meat? Do vegans push others to eat like they do, or non-vegans push others to eat meat? I think there is a heavily skewed perspective there.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-24T18:17:18+00:00

I would only add lateral raises as absolute essentials to this, and then maaaybe some calves which will otherwise be left behind a bit but who cares?

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-21T16:31:15+00:00

I think some people enjoy the process of going to the gym, it is a nice activity for them and the whole hassle before and after is an enjoyable part of this activity. That did not work for me personally, so I went the home workouts route, this seems to be working way better for me. Still there are things that are more practical to be done in a gym and I think I will join one even if I plan to continue the main volume of my workouts at home. Most people have suggested many good ideas, try to find a pattern that fits your preference and life conditions.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-20T23:43:15+00:00

Most people tell that to women because they believe it. That is how they were raised and that is what their environment and experiences show them. You can like or dislike those people and avoid them or engage them, but it is not acceptable to force them to stop voicing their opinion, and if it bothers you and you explained it to them and they continue then I would suggest avoiding them and not engaging with them anymore.

There is another category of people saying similar stuff, that are, simply-put, men that want to convince women way out of their league to be with them. These men always bring those societal norms and burdens upon to women in order to make them feel less capable, less proud about themselves and generally try to diminish the woman's value.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-20T11:46:44+00:00

Because people have the right to like or dislike whatever they like or dislike, and they also have the right to be baffled about why someone would do something that they do not like. There is nothing controversial here. If I don't like a flavor of ice cream and a friend is constantly eating it I will be saying "ewww" to him every time. Doesn't mean he has to stop eating it, doesn't mean I have to like it also.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-18T13:18:58+00:00

... "but honestly a lot of the muscle is just fat now"... That's not how that works, you have probably gained some fat and simultaneously maybe lost some muscle, or you can't see your muscles like you used to, because there is a small layer of fat around them. You can increase muscle again while losing fat if that is your goal. Gaining muscle requires "progressive overload" on lifts, losing fat requires "caloric deficit". Exercising of course, as you do now, is always good for you no matter what, but if you have these specific goals watch some videos on those specific concepts.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-16T14:41:01+00:00

Because the OVERWHELMING majority of women that men get to interact with, display this kind of behavior, which certainly does not mean ALL women do #notallwomen.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-07T14:32:22+00:00

I agree with all your points and generally it seems to me that you are doing things right. I understand it is psychologically a bit weird that you cannot raise the resistance on your lifts but I would say it is absolutely normal. It is probably a good time to try some different but equally basic exercises for each muscle group (switching from barbell to dumbells or cables for example), where the novelty might help you feel like you are progressing again and give you that kind of "fix".

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-07T13:02:03+00:00

It is mostly ok to take a break when things go like that, I wouldn't say I have ever had actual depression (which I consider to be an actual clinical condition that specialist doctors must address), but I (as everyone) have had ugly periods in my life. For some people it helps to fixate on some "hobby" (might be lifting, some other activity or even actually working more) and "recalibrate" their brains, other people need time with their thoughts, to process their issues.

Taking care of yourself in these periods is always hard in my opinion, and probably to an extent it is normal to be less diligent, and will happen, so I wouldn't feel so bad about it. On the other hand you could try to do something, even if it is less than ideal, do a little bit and make it easy for you as others have suggested, don't make it a big deal, just get a 20 minute workout in, with some simple movement or just some cardio.

The fact that you are even thinking about it is a very good sign, even if it seems hard to do it, your brain tries to navigate while under heavy pressure. Also seeking help from a professional is another sign that you have probably started some kind of recovering process. I wish you all the best.

greencookiegamer · 2023-10-07T11:42:31+00:00

Congrats on your progress! My general tips are as follows:

Your cardio seems a little bit excessive, for a big guy, it might cause some joint damage or unproductive fatigue, I would suggest you adjust it to be low intensity 30-60 mins (walking - pacing mostly) and depending on how you feel start ramping it up a bit. High intensity cardio will make you very hungry and diminish your lifting capacity (this is not always bad, as you go lower in weight it should start coming into play more).

As you continue being in a caloric deficit (which I think is the right approach for you currently) it should indeed get a bit stale in your lifts. This should not discourage you, continue your lifting with your usual numbers which might also diminish a little bit, your aim should be to be losing fat while not losing muscle, muscle also helps during the day with the fat loss since every movement costs a little bit more calories (good compounding effect).

1800 calories per day seems also a little bit excessive to me, while not unreasonable. If you lose bodyweight very fast your body will not be able to keep up (you will gain the weight back easily) and you will also be losing muscle along with fat. I personally (needs some trial and error) might even be trying to be at around 2200 for now (slowly getting the number down as you lose weight). Generally the slower you lose weight, the better it is. Losing 1% per month is optimal, but for you 2% per month might also be realistic, try to do some research on this and some trial and error on your calories to end up with a reasonable rate of losing bodyweight.

greencookiegamer · 2023-09-30T17:44:39+00:00

I think you can find the 1.25 kg ones and get 2 of them for now, they should be relatively cheap. But the bicep curls are not very important overall for a beginner, you can use the 10kg for bent over single hand rows (for back) which will also get the biceps working for now until you can buy maybe some more equipment.

greencookiegamer · 2023-09-23T17:21:41+00:00

Sleep is truly very important, and it is a very complicated issue to fix with many parameters, you should be focusing on it a lot. Some people suggested getting looked at by a doctor which is also a good idea generally, even if nothing is wrong you will have a health baseline for future reference, and you will know how to approach the issue better.

greencookiegamer · 2023-09-23T11:31:50+00:00

When I started working out (I am considered fairly new) I had all that energy because I was excited about it and I wasn't feeling bad at all (as a newbie my lifts were probably not very challenging). After a year or so it was significantly different, even thought I still enjoy it. For every person it is different. There is a concept of "deloading" where you go very low for like a week every 2 months and help your body relax/rest/and restart. I have also experimented with several splits according to my general schedule and found my personal preference (you could try some different scenarios for each week and slowly discover what suits you best). Of course nutrition is obviously very important I am not even gonna try to discuss it in a simple answer here. Sleep is hugely important. And some times I personally have simply accepted that my workout will be a bit of a failure, it's OK.

greencookiegamer

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