ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ ||| The 2023/2024 Gym Rats Thread ||| ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

Syla5 · 3 Feb 2023 at 22:08

barmyllama said:
Try being 54

Sleep is the one thing I struggle with now. Despite 5 X 1 hour gym sessions a week, minimum of 10000 steps a day and at least 16km of running a week. On my feet all day at work too.

The very most I ever get is 8 hours and I always wake at some point to go to the loo.

It's not caffeine either, I'm now down to two cups a day. First one around 3 hours after waking and the last one at least 8 hours before bed. I also go to bed and get up at the same time as well.

Just an age thing I guess.

8 hours is more then enough, 7 hours is considered good, and unless you are consistently below 6 hours per night you have nothing to worry about.

Syla5 · 3 Feb 2023 at 22:10

So ive had to take my first sessions of the gym since starting back in Dec21. My back is pretty sore but im confident it isnt anything serious and i am planning on taking a break until next thursday to really give myself a chance to recover.

Keeping protein high, and trying to keep my sleep over 7+ hours a night to help me.

haaammit · 6 Feb 2023 at 20:02

Evening all! A quick question if I may? BCAAs - are they worth taking or not? I'm very new to this and want to tick all the right boxes, but opinion seems divided. I'm currently consuming ~150g protein, 20g from a protein shake with my breakfast and the rest from whole foods, chicken, tuna, couscous, potatoes, peas, spinach that kind of thing. Worth taking BCAAs or no? Many thanks!
Oh, and I managed a 102kg deadlift last week, my first +100kg lift! I've not been chasing one rep maxes, just been plugging away at 3 x 11 reps of each lift, but thought I'd see what I could do

CaptainRAVE · 6 Feb 2023 at 20:03

haaammit said:
Evening all! A quick question if I may? BCAAs - are they worth taking or not? I'm very new to this and want to tick all the right boxes, but opinion seems divided. I'm currently consuming ~150g protein, 20g from a protein shake with my breakfast and the rest from whole foods, chicken, tuna, couscous, potatoes, peas, spinach that kind of thing. Worth taking BCAAs or no? Many thanks!
Oh, and I managed a 102kg deadlift last week, my first +100kg lift! I've not been chasing one rep maxes, just been plugging away at 3 x 11 reps of each lift, but thought I'd see what I could do

I never bothered beyond my meals and a good protein powder. That said, I’m probably gaining more right now without supplements and just eating better.

Syla5 · 6 Feb 2023 at 21:45

BCAA's are a waste of money, EAA's you might have an argument for, but still.

barmyllama · 7 Feb 2023 at 08:32

haaammit said:
Evening all! A quick question if I may? BCAAs - are they worth taking or not? I'm very new to this and want to tick all the right boxes, but opinion seems divided. I'm currently consuming ~150g protein, 20g from a protein shake with my breakfast and the rest from whole foods, chicken, tuna, couscous, potatoes, peas, spinach that kind of thing. Worth taking BCAAs or no? Many thanks!
Oh, and I managed a 102kg deadlift last week, my first +100kg lift! I've not been chasing one rep maxes, just been plugging away at 3 x 11 reps of each lift, but thought I'd see what I could do

As CaptainRAVE and Syla5 said, they aren't required if you're eating enough protein.

This video ranks all of the major supplements based on current scientific research.

arc@css · 7 Feb 2023 at 15:33

Yeah, I should imagine the benefits would likely be very minor when compared to simply eating an adequate amount of protein, which is quite difficult not to achieve in the western world.

MikeTheNative · 7 Feb 2023 at 15:36

Creatine is reasonbly cheap and does seem have some evidence behind it. Wouldn't really bother with anything else though.

booyaka · 7 Feb 2023 at 19:28

MikeTheNative said:
Creatine is reasonbly cheap and does seem have some evidence behind it. Wouldn't really bother with anything else though.

I just throw a small scoop in my drinks bottle that sits on my desk during the day - Have done for a few years now.

haaammit · 7 Feb 2023 at 21:54

Fair enough - thanks for the pointers, I'll not bother with BCAAs then! Ta muchly

Syla5 · 13 Feb 2023 at 13:51

Missed my 4 sessions, which gave my back 9 days to recover, went back in and picked up where i left off, deadlifted the same weight that triggered the issue and smashed it out. Looking forward to this evenings session.

spluff · 13 Feb 2023 at 18:46

Where is everyone getting whey protein from nowadays? Just getting back into training and was shocked how expensive it is???

Syla5 · 13 Feb 2023 at 18:56

spluff said:
Where is everyone getting whey protein from nowadays? Just getting back into training and was shocked how expensive it is???

Everywhere has gone up in price, just check where is the cheapest with discount codes for the level of nutritional profile you want. I got my last 10kg from MP in the middle of last year. Always hunt for a discount code. £ per g whey is still the cheapest source of protein out there.

CaptainRAVE · 13 Feb 2023 at 19:15

spluff said:
Where is everyone getting whey protein from nowadays? Just getting back into training and was shocked how expensive it is???

Stopped buying it. Figure I’ll just improve my diet. If anything I’ve made better gains.

arc@css · 13 Feb 2023 at 19:26

Admittedly, I haven't used protein powder for many years, but my take on it now is that I don't really see the point of it.

A well-thought-out diet rich in wholefoods will be more than adequate.

Fuzz · 13 Feb 2023 at 21:38

I should join this thread really... I'm 50 this year and last year I started going to the gym for the first time, got myself a PT, I'm eating properly calorie controlled whole food prepped meals, making sure I sleep well, Starting the day with electrolytes instead of caffeine and spending most of my working day trying to be less of an idiot by listening to educational stuff on podcasts. (Modern Wisdom)
Holy **** I am a different person altogether since starting that ball rolling in May last year before even starting to train, I just tried to eat better to start with and it has snowballed from there.
I'm pretty damn sure the impetus to start this has come from what I've been listening to, which is somewhat of an eye opening realisation....
Looking forward to posting updates of my progression TBH.
So far it's only the weight that's shown a noticable trend line as I've not been at the gym long enough yet to see decent trend lines appearing in my lifting data logs (mainly because I've been a bit random with recording it all correctly on the correct machine etc as well) (Fitness Logbook App)
The only things I take are creatine and a pre-workout on training days which is ramping up now to 5-6 days a week.

spluff · 14 Feb 2023 at 08:06

CaptainRAVE said:
Stopped buying it. Figure I’ll just improve my diet. If anything I’ve made better gains.

I have a double size portion of porridge in morning with flax seeds and blueberries (which I normally sweeten with half a scoop of whey)

A handful of nuts

I have a chicken/beef salad and egg sandwich at lunch

A double whey protein shake
A handful of nuts

A dinner - usually either chicken rice and broccoli / sundays dinner (lots of veg and chicken/beef) / spag bol

A whey protein shake

spluff · 14 Feb 2023 at 08:07

Fuzz said:
I should join this thread really... I'm 50 this year and last year I started going to the gym for the first time, got myself a PT, I'm eating properly calorie controlled whole food prepped meals, making sure I sleep well, Starting the day with electrolytes instead of caffeine and spending most of my working day trying to be less of an idiot by listening to educational stuff on podcasts. (Modern Wisdom)
Holy **** I am a different person altogether since starting that ball rolling in May last year before even starting to train, I just tried to eat better to start with and it has snowballed from there.
I'm pretty damn sure the impetus to start this has come from what I've been listening to, which is somewhat of an eye opening realisation....
Looking forward to posting updates of my progression TBH.
So far it's only the weight that's shown a noticable trend line as I've not been at the gym long enough yet to see decent trend lines appearing in my lifting data logs (mainly because I've been a bit random with recording it all correctly on the correct machine etc as well) (Fitness Logbook App)
The only things I take are creatine and a pre-workout on training days which is ramping up now to 5-6 days a week.

Im also 50 - be careful training so much your body NEEDS rest. You will end up breaking down if you dont recover enough.

spluff · 14 Feb 2023 at 08:11

Syla5 said:
Everywhere has gone up in price, just check where is the cheapest with discount codes for the level of nutritional profile you want. I got my last 10kg from MP in the middle of last year. Always hunt for a discount code. £ per g whey is still the cheapest source of protein out there.

Do you have a list of good sites to buy it from?

Syla5 · 14 Feb 2023 at 10:04

spluff said:
Do you have a list of good sites to buy it from?

myprotein, bulk, bodybuilding warehouse.