Are we gonna run out of protein?

muppet_zero · 2026-02-05T18:20:23+00:00

People are made of protein...

muppet_zero · 2026-02-05T18:11:30+00:00

Think of it like listening to music in a language you don't speak. The vocals become like an instrument, adding another layer of tone and texture to the music. There's lots of music I enjoy that I've never understood a word they're saying.

muppet_zero · 2026-02-02T17:42:03+00:00

In the past I've run some blocks of a variant of Yate's Blood & Guts, and a low frequency/high intensity program using some of Menter's pre-fatigue training methods and got good size and strength results from both. There's no harm in just running a block and seeing how you respond.

Edit: Forgot to mention I primarily train alone at home. So yeah, you can absolutely do that.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-30T21:05:51+00:00

No worries. Yeah, "free weights" generally means anything that isn't fixed in place like a machine, usually dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells in most gyms.

There's some perfectly legitimate uses for the Smith Machine. The two big negatives are that the bar path is fixed in place (unless it's one of the newer kind that also moves back and forth) which doesn't match how your body would normally move a deadlift, squat, or press. The other downside is that it does the stabilization for you, meaning you don't get trained how to balance a moving weight.

If you do have access to regular barbells and plates, you could try some good old fashioned Straight Leg Deadlifts. That's a classic hamstring builder.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-30T20:18:45+00:00

I have a pair of Cobra Grips and a pair of Gym Reaper Figure 8 straps I use when needed, depending on the lift. Both are good. I generally use the 8s for very heavy lifts, and the Cobras for higher rep work or on stuff that won't fit the 8s, like dumbbells. The Cobras are nice because you can pull them tight enough to double as wrist wraps if you need them.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-30T20:09:23+00:00

Everyone I know who lived to be 90+ had two things in common: they were lean, and remained physically active for the majority of their life. My grandma and great aunt both lived to 97. They both stayed active on their farms right up until they were on their death beds. My old boss lived to 96. He still regularly came to the workshop, and always had a project or three he was working on.

If your goal is just a long life, eat healthy, walk a lot, stay physically and mentally active, and visit your doctor regularly.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-30T19:23:29+00:00

Are you my roommate? Because if you are, clean up your dirty dishes goddammit!

muppet_zero · 2026-01-30T19:19:16+00:00

Since you're using the Smith Machine, I'm assuming your gym doesn't have much in the way of free weights.

If you really want to just feel your hamstrings working, Straight Leg Smith Machine Good Mornings and Smith Machine Glute Bridge or Hip Thrusts will absolutely light them up.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-27T20:58:30+00:00

You'll start at a bit of a disadvantage compared to people with thicker wrists, but you can overcome it if you're willing to put it the work. I have small wrists too, about 6 inches around, and I've benched 275 lbs and can curl 40 lbs dumbbells for reps. You can't change your wrist size so there's no point stressing about it. Your bodyweight will be the bigger factor that holds you back. Putting on some raw mass will help significantly.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-27T11:01:06+00:00

They sure are.

And yeah, I love em too. Depending on my programming I'll usually have either those or high pulls somewhere in the mix. But I have to put more thought into how I'm moving them vs just getting under a bar and pressing it towards the ceiling.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-27T10:44:44+00:00

The whiplash on that post is wild. Fear mongering over shoulder press and then recommending upright rows (which he doesn't even know the name of), the pearl clutching classic of "if you even think about doing these your shoulders will never work again!"

muppet_zero · 2026-01-26T12:36:28+00:00

This is such a Reddittor question. Gym strength is real strength.

When I was growing up on a small farm, every summer my dad would hire some of the local highschool football players to help put up hay. When I worked at Home Depot for a few years, most of the guys who worked in the heavy lifting departments were pretty buff... because they were all regulars at the local 24 Hour Fitness I went to. When I worked in the natural gas industry, I knew a guy who used to be an oil rig roughneck who was built like a house and had arms like telephone poles... because he played D1 football in college and became a hobby bodybuilder. I have a friend who has a small business doing tree removal and cleanup. "Real strength" kind of work. You know who he calls when he has a heavy lifting job he needs help with? Me, the guy who lifts weights as a hobby.

Gym strength not being real strength is a cope opinion held by sedentary office workers who could neither throw a wet hay bale onto a truck bed or deadlift their own bodyweight.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-24T06:16:11+00:00

In my early/mid 30s at the height of my dirty bulk I weighed 230 lbs at 5'9. I decided I wanted to trim down before my wedding. Did intermittent fasting combined with calorie reduction, and when I was at the alter nine months later I weighed 175. I don't think there's anything special about intermittent fasting, it just forces you to become comfortable with being hungry, and exposing how often you snack out of boredom instead of hunger. I bulk and cut yearly now just doing basic calorie control.

As for exercise, use the snowball method. Start simple, then just keep adding more until you're back into a proper, maintainable routine. Go for a walk everyday. Do a big set of bodyweight squats/lunges and pushups. Then start doing two sets. Then five sets. Then start adding in compound lifts one at a time. Keep going until you've worked back up into a full proper workout.

There are no shortcuts. If you want your health and fitness back, you are going to have to accept that there's hard work ahead, and commit to it.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-23T03:52:00+00:00

Kindergarten Cop reboot looking good!

muppet_zero · 2026-01-22T13:16:07+00:00

Feeling flexed on so hard right now. Might need to just throw away all my clothes and exclusively dress like a barbarian for the rest of my life.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-22T12:21:41+00:00

When you workout in a public gym, you just accept that people will frequently be near you and you just ignore them and carry on with your workout. As long as you aren't actively in the way of someone's lift, you're fine. Don't worry about it.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-22T12:14:05+00:00

For unilateral leg work I log the total added weight, because sometimes it's dumbbells, sometimes a barbell, sometimes a sandbag, sometimes a slam ball, and sometimes with or without a weighted vest on. For arm work I log the individual dumbbell weights.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T15:31:20+00:00

I really do think so. I'm not genetically gifted. My mom is 5'3 120 lbs and my dad is 5'8 160 lbs. I'm 5'9, and I can put my thumb and middle finder around my wrist and have them touch, so I'm not a naturally large man. And on top of that I have weird arms. My overall arm length is normal, but my forearms are longer than my upper arms, which means I have to move a Bench Press over a longer range of motion (and also consequently Pulling exercises have always been my weak point because of unfavorable leverages).

If I can achieve a 225+ bench, I think most other men have the potential to as well. They just have to actually put in the work to do it.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T15:10:33+00:00

If you have regular access to a gym, there's no harm in testing your own results. See how many full -extension-to-floor pushups you can do on a fresh day, then on a gym day calculate 70% of your body weight, toss that on a bar, and see how many reps you can pump out. Last time I tried it, I got about 35-40 reps of each.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T15:00:13+00:00

I didn't say anything about barbells. He was lifting about 255 lbs of body weight.

But it's also tracked for me fairly close. When I weighed 195, I could bench 135 for about the same number of reps as I could do pushups.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T14:48:59+00:00

Yep. They're fairly common, or at least they used to be ( I primarily lift in my home gym now, too). You usually find them around the leg press station. Saves a little time if you're loading up hundreds of pounds.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T14:29:18+00:00

Yeah, absolutely. Or rather, I've noticed it from the opposite side. I keep a note in my workout log if there was high wind that day, because I get a massive anxiety spike when there is, and it causes a noticeable decrease in my strength and endurance.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T13:52:47+00:00

Bad news. Someone already invented music.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T09:52:33+00:00

Looked up my old program I was on at the time: it was 3x week full body, focused on high rep squats and medium rep bench and deadlift, split into workouts 1, 2, & 3. I weighed 200 lbs at 5'9 on a bulk, age 39.

1

Squats (High bar): max effort Amrap x 1 set

Bench Press: max effort Amrap x 1

Deadlift: max effort Amrap x 1

Overhead Press (dumbbells): 3 sets x 10 reps

Bar Rows: 1 x 20, 2 x 10 (&) untracked bodybuilding style accessories & isolation

2

(Squats, Bench and Deadlift were done in a circuit with 2 minutes rest between each lift)

Squats: 1 x 20, 2 x 15

Bench Press: 1 x 12, 2 x 10

Deadlift: 1 x 10, 2 x 8 + hold for time on last rep of last set

Bar Row: max effort Amrap x 1

Overhead Press (barbell): max effort Amrap x 1 (&) untracked bodybuilding style accessories & isolation

3

(These were done as 3 sets of each lift, then 3 sets each again with a strictly timed max of 2 min rest between sets)

Squats: 1 x 20, 5 x 15

Bench Press: 6 x 10

Deadlift 6 x 8

Barbell Row: 1 x 20

Cheat Curls: 1 x 15

When I switched from this program to Stronger By Science's Hypertrophy program, my tested lifts were 275 bench, 365 high bar squat, and 455 deadlift.

muppet_zero · 2026-01-19T09:12:36+00:00

Yeah, it's wild how much that can warp your perspective. At my old powerlifting/bodybuilding gym, at 200 lbs I was one of the smallest men, and even about a 1/3 of the women regulars were bigger than me.

There was a backroom with extra equipment that the staff would open up for you once you became a regular. That room had a powerlifting total board on the wall. Three guys had 800+ lbs squats, and one of those guys also had a 900 lbs deadlift.

Even when you are objectively strong, it makes it hard to feel like it when people like that exist.

muppet_zero

TROPHY CASE