[[[The 2022 Gym Rats Thread]]] ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

CaptainRAVE said:
Just finished my workout as my gym hit 31C. When the dehumidifier packs in I’ll get one that air cons too and stick a vent out.

Evening shakes still making me nauseous some days. Tempting to cut them out, but that’s a huge calorie loss at a time when I’m already struggling to gain weight.

Tempted to ditch protein powders too. The cost is now crazy and I’m sure I get more than enough protein from all the chicken in my main meals and 2-3 scoops of nuts in my shakes. It’s probably protein overload at this point.
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I can't recall your daily diet, but have found drinking a milk of some description throughout the day helps with calories.

But then, I put nuts, seeds and all kinds of rubbish in my homemade shakes.

Protein powder... Mmmm. It is quite possible to get by without it. :)
 
Protein powder, even at these prices (after discount codes), is still the cheapest form of protein, however if you are getting enough protein from else where then you can focus on calorie dense foods to help you fit in what you need.

Lay out a typical day, and also your calorie target, so we can really see what you are aiming for, and where you might be missing out.
 
Yup, just got to wait for the bigger discounts then bend over and pay more than you used to the same as pretty much everything else. The milk protein powder I get is as much of a staple as meat/fish; use it for proats, sludge, mug cakes, protein pudding etc. Rarely make a shake with it.

Enjoying it while it lasts till we’re all forced to eat nothing but bugs and soylent green.
 
Depends whether I’m in work or not, but a typical day for me would look like:

For breakfast and before bed, a shake - roughly 1/2 pint skimmed milk, 1 scoop whey powder, 2 scoops nuts, 2 scoops oats, squirt of honey. Multi vitamin added to evening shake. Have trialled 0-1/2 scoop protein and making the flavour up with Nesquik, I definitely felt better without whey protein last night.

Lunch/dinner - 1-2 chicken breasts and 6-7 new potatoes, chocolate milkshake, possible a yoghurt.

Sometimes squeeze in a bowl of coco pops or flap jacks before dinner.

Trying to maximise calorie intake, although not going as far as I used to with the chicken/cheese/bacon combo (although it did wonders for strength/mass, it wasn’t all healthy weight gain) and whole milk.

Not sure what else I can add.
 
Thats some shakes right there, maybe lighten up the evening shake. Also considering swapping out your potatoes for white rice, potatoes are way more satiating so you are going to be filling up quicker on less cals there. Over 2 meals that is going to easily add up to 300+ cals.

Also consider adding in butter/oil dressings to your lunch / dinner. Some extra fats are going to add a chunk of calories for very little volume.

Change out the milk in the shakes to semi, or whole as well, and consider different meat options for your lunch/dinner. Mince instead of chicken, and a fatter variety, or chicken thighs with skin on instead of chicken breast.

If you're having yoghurts pair it with granola, 25-50g topping of that 110-220 calories, x2 that's up to 440 cals extra and its relatively like volume wise.

The bedtime shake i would ditch the oats from, that's probably a bigger cause of the nausea then the whey as well. If you feel low on protein you could also consider using Casein in that shake instead.
 
Great feedback, thanks.

Oh, that’s interesting, I’ll try that with the rice.

I did try chicken thighs this week. They were cheaper and I enjoyed them, the fat content worried me a little, but actually it’s probably useful at this point.

I’ll try that with the evening shake too. I’m playing about with the evening shake. I think it’s mainly a problem during times I get raised stress/anxiety, so it’s taking some time at the moment to narrow down the one (or more) issues. It never used to be an issue!
 
I went to the doctor on Sunday and got prescribed some Lanzaprole(?) for a month to see if that helps with my eating while they do further tests on blood and 'samples'.

So far, may be placebo, 3 days in and it seems to be helping, I can eat much more without getting bloated and uncomfortable. I'm hoping this works as I seem to have plateaued in terms of weight gain at 12 stone. I am getting much stronger though.
 
wesimmo said:
I went to the doctor on Sunday and got prescribed some Lanzaprole(?) for a month to see if that helps with my eating while they do further tests on blood and 'samples'.

So far, may be placebo, 3 days in and it seems to be helping, I can eat much more without getting bloated and uncomfortable. I'm hoping this works as I seem to have plateaued in terms of weight gain at 12 stone. I am getting much stronger though.
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That's great to hear, why assume its placebo?
 
Syla5 said:
That's great to hear, why assume its placebo?
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Dunno, just seems fast, though my mate said when he was on something similar it worked quickly. Also, although life is generally infinitely better than a year ago, there are things I need to sort out head wise still.
 
wesimmo said:
Dunno, just seems fast, though my mate said when he was on something similar it worked quickly. Also, although life is generally infinitely better than a year ago, there are things I need to sort out head wise still.
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Just briefly looking at the drug, it says on the nhs site you should start feeling the benefit in 2-3 days. Seems pretty spot on to be honest. Dont considering it a placebo because that could have an adverse negative effect, and enjoy that you seem to be seeing a resolution to your problem, which no doubt is very refreshing for you!
 
I know a few people were interested in the blood tests me and FF have been banging on about. Medichecks has 21% off all tests until Midnight 1st August.
 
Freefaller said:
then it's important to also do them at least 2-3 more times after to see how you're trending based on a stable diet/lifestyle.
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Yeap for sure. I want to see why my levels are for certain sups im taking etc right now and I plan on trialling some hair loss stuff which I then want to see how that affects/impacts other levels so will definitely be doing follow on tests.
 
Been watching the Eric Helms videos both on diet and training.

In terms of the upper days this is how I was going to run it with regards to rest periods. Do you think I have the rest periods correct?

Monday Upper 1:
Bench 4x 4-6 3m rest
Row 3x 6-8 3m rest
Incline DB 3x 8-12 2m rest
Chin ups 3x 8-12 2m rest
Triceps 3x 8-12 2m rest
Biceps 3x 8-12 2m rest
Lateral Raise 3x 8-12 2m rest

Thursday Upper 2
Flat Dumbbell Press 3x 8-12 2m rest
Lat Pull Down 3x 8-12 2m rest
Over Head Press 3x 8-12 2m rest
Row 3x 8-12 2m rest
Chest Flys 2x 12-15 1m rest
Triceps 2x 12-15 1m rest
Biceps 2x 12-15 1m rest
 
Rest till you feel ready to go again, listen to your body. I never sit there looking at a timer but obviously the lower the rep range you’re working in, the longer the rest times are between sets and it’s usually the case that when you‘re good to go it jives roughly with the rest times you see proscribed (e.g. 1-2 mins for >12 rep work, 4-5 mins for 5’s etc).

If you’ve not recovered sufficiently from the last set going into the next one that set will suffer, and cumulatively you end up slowing your own progress down over time because you could have done more work if you’d waited a bit longer. Caveats =

-obviously if you take eons to recover from sets then maybe you should look at improving your conditioning, but I’d tackle that separately.

-proximity from failure; if you blow your load on the first set going to an RPE 9.5-10 then you’ll need more rest if you don’t want the next set to be a washout. If you’re doing multiple sets of an exercise you’ll often see it advised to either start off an RPE 8/2-3 RIR and let the RPE creep/RIR go down up each set as you try to match reps, or work with a fixed RPE/RIR range and let the reps drop off each set.

-the stimulus to fatigue ratio of the exercise. Captain Obvious, but a hard set of squats or leg press regardless of rep range requires more recovery time than a set of lateral raises or bicep curls whatever the rep range.
 
@Syla5

An update on my meals.

Rice was a great tip. I can eat more of it, it sits better and I feel ready for my next meal sooner. Enjoying chicken thighs, I’m currently eating the boneless/skinless variety that comes in my weekly shop, but I’m enjoying them. I feel like my energy levels have been lifted too.

Shakes I’ve shifted to semi skimmed over skimmed, which taste better and I’ve been able to reduce the volume a tiny bit. I’ve cut out whey before bed and have instead increased the nut quantity slightly to compensate. So far I feel much better when I wake up in the morning, but only time will tell on this one.

I’ve also been adding some granola to my yoghurt :)

My weight is the lowest it’s been for sometime and it’ll no doubt go up when I start back to work and it’s obviously early days for my meal adjustment. I’m almost the strongest I’ve been for sometime, especially versus my current bodyweight. I always bulk throughout the winter anyway. More than anything I need to obsess over my body weight less, especially while my lifts are progressing consistently.
 
I'm actually enjoying my oats these days! I eat 2/3 of a pot of Onka Black Cherry at night, tip 2 scoops of oats in the pot, 2 scoops of milk and have that the next day.

The drugs do seem to be working, i went to my folks last week, so missed the gym and ate less dashing around after 5 kids..lost a bit of weight.

Got back Thursday and have done a hard 45 minutes in the gym or my PT session every day since, really loading the calories too, I'm now up to 12 stone 5, my highest ever weight.

Oh and she showed me my new favourite thing, doing press ups on kettle bells and then doing a row while doing a tripod, I cant believe I can do that after where i started.
 
Started to do Kettlebell workouts for last 5 weeks usually I just run but knee playing up so had to diversify im quite enjoying it.

I am currently aiming at 200 kettlebell swings a day with a mix of 5-6 mile runs, im also doing 30-40 reps in ad breaks when watching tv etc throughout the day and night.

However im gaining weight but I read this is lean mass / muscle is this true? im noticing fat around my body starting to go but the scales are going up. I usually like being around 13 and half stone so seeing the weight go up is abit concerning for me :p

Withings scale calculates 14 stone 3 lbs 22.9% fat mass and 77.1% lean mass im 6 ft 1, although not sure how accurate this scale is its abit old now had it since 2017 just cracked it out the other day.
 
bingham67 said:
Started to do Kettlebell workouts for last 5 weeks usually I just run but knee playing up so had to diversify im quite enjoying it.

I am currently aiming at 200 kettlebell swings a day with a mix of 5-6 mile runs, im also doing 30-40 reps in ad breaks when watching tv etc throughout the day and night.

However im gaining weight but I read this is lean mass / muscle is this true? im noticing fat around my body starting to go but the scales are going up. I usually like being around 13 and half stone so seeing the weight go up is abit concerning for me :p

Withings scale calculates 14 stone 3 lbs 22.9% fat mass and 77.1% lean mass im 6 ft 1, although not sure how accurate this scale is its abit old now had it since 2017 just cracked it out the other day.
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Rapid weight gain, especially if you are just starting to train, is most likely going to be water weight. As you use your muscles more they hold more water.

Something a lot of people dont factor in is just how much it takes to actually add fat. You need to be in a sustained calorie surplus and each pound of fat is roughly 3500-5500 surplus, which is a lot over a period of time. Rapid flucuations without calorie surplus are not fat gain, and muscle gain is slow anyway.
 
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