A good whey/blend protein (think its worth it to find something good you enjoy drinking if you're having more than one shake a day).

Fish oil (1500mg DHA per day)

Cheap creatine mono (as long as it doesn't give you any stomach issues).

Maybe a good multivitamin?

Multivitamins aren't a great idea imo. I take them if drinking. B-vitamin supplementation in particular is important then.

Having done a bunch of reading and having a degree in organic chem/biochem, the only supplements that there's a solid case that just about everyone should take are fish oil and vitamin D (except for people who get sufficient sun, which is not most people). Stuff like protein powder/creatine/etc can be useful as well depending on circumstances.

Where'd you get that DHA number from? That's unnecessarily high imo. The standard rec for a while was ~2-3g of combined EPA+DHA. I think just getting 500-1000 mg of DHA is a good goal; wherever EPA or the combined total fall is fine.

Creatine is like a super tiny benefit but for a super tiny amount of money. So that's whatever. I'm kind of anti-creatine now because unnecessary effort. But take it if you want.

I agree with ChrisV that multi's are useless and a waste.

I was thinking of creating in the fall. Why do you say benefit is tiny? Where would it be more appropriate than not iyo?

http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/

Thanks will check it out

Hm, you might very well be right with your numbers. Jim Stoppani always recommends 1500 in his articles, and he seems like one of the more knowlegeable and well-informed people in the industry: http://www.jimstoppani.com/home/arti...-3-6-9?preview

Never heard of the guy so I took a look at his dieting 101 article and it was kinda bad. Would probably "work" (as would most dieting advice in general imo), but lots of overblown crap. He basically jacks up protein and fat mega-high (1.5 and 0.5 g/lb, respectively) + advises a TON of supplements. Other bad stuff too, but no need to analyze this a lot.

Just brought it up because it backs the reasoning that his supplement numbers could be bad.

1500 DHA is super hard to hit eating natural foods and as a result I'm skeptical.

I think a lot of diet plans set very very difficult goals to exploit cognitive dissonance to cajole people into doing things that are actually healthy.

Exercise/workout question.

My lady friend (relatively typical skinnyfat/doesn't exercise much, if at all, type person) wants to start working out a little. In particular, she says she wants to do core strengthening exercises, because she's been complaining of back pain recently, which she attributes to being generally weak and having bad posture etc, and believes that developing her core strength would help. As far as my understanding goes (not very far, correct if wrong, etc), that's more or less correct, and in any case I certainly don't want to dissuade her from starting exercising.

Joining a gym looks like it will probably happen in the not too distant future, but for right now we're talking about bodyweight exercises she can do in her living room, essentially. She asked me to come up with a program of sorts which she can follow for ~10 minutes ~every other day, to get into the habit of regular exercise, which I think is great.

My question, then, is if you guys have any recommendations in terms of what exercises would be good for her achieving her goals (getting stronger -> improving posture -> not being in pain, getting into the habit of regular exercise), and how much/for how long/how often she should be doing them. Googling something generic like "bodyweight exercises for improving core strength" of course turns up all kinds of things, and I'm obviously putting a lot more stock in you guys' opinions than those of google.

Thanks for any help/tips/recommendations/links/etc.

SS just posted a back/core thread on this very topic. I'm sure he has some excellent recommendations. Or you can check his log.

This isn't really a BQ imo, its more Form Check (?)

Anyway, with face pulls what is the consensus on 'form'? Meaning, if I can maintain a solid neutral spine and engage only my rear delts and rotator cuff and the rhomboids, is there any reason why I can't lean back (like 30-40 degrees maybe?) with heavier weights or should I be more strict and simply stand up straighter and go light enough to prevent physics from coming into play?

Its like the argument against the bench press - doesn't matter how much you lift, you can never push, standing straight up, more then ~50% your own body weight because physics says nuh uh. It seems like the same idea for face pulls to me, if you can maintain a solid structure with your core with the lean why not lean?

Hi there.

I want to lose some weight and look more fit. I got down from 110 kg to 100 kg already, but want to lose more.

Right now, I do a lot of sports. I cycle to work 2/3 times a week (16 km in 30 mins and back) and besides that i do something about 5 times a week(cycling, soccer, running, tennis, gym). I just do whatever I feel like that day.

To lose the weight, I also try to watch my diet obv.

My main question is in the gym. I would like to get a good routine going there.

Right now, I mostly do:
- Warmup (cycling, running, rowing)
- Dumbell curl (3x 10 each arm, arm by arm)
- Incline dumbell press (3 sets of 10)
- Arnold press(3 sets of 10)
- Triceps pushdown( 3 sets of 10)
- Barbell Benchpress( 2 sets of 10, 3th as much as i can)
- Barbell curl ( 3 sets of 21, first 7 till halfway up, 2nd 7 from halfway up to top, 3th 7 full barbell curl)

After that sometimes cool down, sometimes just go home.

I think to myself that I dont have to legs because i do so much besides the gym, but I have no idea if that is true.

Does this look like a good routine to you? Or are there ways that I can improve my workout?

On watching your diet, do, or do not. There is no try.

Your workout routine isn't bad, because no workout routine is bad, but it's pretty bro-tacular. You don't have to do leg exercises because no one has to do leg exercises, but do you give a **** about having stronger, more muscular legs? Your legs won't continue to get stronger just by your cardio work. And you won't get much bigger or stronger in your upper body unless you're adding more weight, or at least more reps. That's why I don't care much for dumbbell exercises, as a 5 lb jump in one dumbbell is a pretty massive jump, esp. for upper body work.

Thanks. I started logging yesterday, now lets see where my leaks are and get them. This reply got me motivated already.


My legs are pretty muscular, because I always worked out when I was 110 kg. I do care about muscular legs. What exercises would you recommend?

I just started again in the gym and will add weight pretty quickly for the upper body. Right now I am at:

- Dumbell curl (3x 10 each arm, arm by arm) 12-14 kg per dumbell
- Incline dumbell press (3 sets of 10) 14-16 kg per dumbell
- Arnold press (3 sets of 10) 20 kg machine
- Triceps pushdown( 3 sets of 10) 15kg machine
- Barbell Benchpress ( 2 sets of 10, 3th as much as i can) 30-40 kg
- Barbell curl ( 3 sets of 21, first 7 till halfway up, 2nd 7 from halfway up to top, 3th 7 full barbell curl) 10 kg barbell.

Are there exercises you would recomend to add/skip/replace?

After your post I started thinking and it probably is mostly the diet. I will think about that and make a long term plan to lose weight and be able to maintain it. Gonna read more on that and keep logging the calories.

Thanks for the advice.

Personally, I am a big fan of the powerlifting, compound barbell exercise world. I have only done a handful of exercises in the last year : squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, Pendlay rows, chin ups, and a brief dabbling with power cleans. I have gotten way stronger than I ever would have guessed a year ago, and I have added a good amount of muscle in my limbs. I was able to gain a decent amount of strength while losing weight, but I hit a wall after about 3 months where I had to make a choice between losing more weight or gaining more strength. How much more weight are you wanting to lose? You may be better off focusing on weight loss with diet (it's 95 percent diet) and biking, and then switching to weights later.

I have no real clue what the bro consensus optimal collection of bicep exercises is to best pump up your gunz, but a bunch of little curl isolations is not exactly a big help for losing weight. You aren't burning that many calories.

... waiting till past midnight to eat on next day's calorie budget.

I think I might be obsessing.

I ended up eating before midnight but recording it for next day.

Your metabolism isn't working on a 24hr clock. You are probably still absorbing foods you ate more than 24 hours ago and it's not like you will log those as today's calories.

To do away with dilemmas like waiting for the next day etc. etc., I usually calculate my weekly calorie target and hit it within a margin of +0-5%. So, if my weekly caloric budget was 14000kcal to keep me on average 500kcal deficit. I make sure I don't eat more than 14700kcal. Since there are already some amounts of error in calculating calories as well as knowing your exact maintenance number, I find that this much amount of leeway (even more) doesn't really have an affect on the overall effectiveness of your diet, but keeps things more easy to deal with.

I've read that x% of people get no benefit from taking creatine. I've gained 2kg from one week of using it. Does this indicate that I definitely get a strength gain from using it?

I wouldn't say "definitely" about anything... but yea it sounds like it.

I think non responders won't gain the ~5# that's typical with creatine.

thanks!

I've been doing ICF the past couple of months and have a couple of questions:

1) Lately during my squat, I feel sorta a pinch (wouldn't consider it painful at all) in my lower back whenever I lockout at the top. It goes away almost instantly but still feels weird. I feel like it either has to do with either a) my back being hyperextended during a squat since I'm so concerned about not rounding my back or b) buttwink at the bottom. Could the pinch at lockout be a symptom of either of these two problems? Is it normal?

2) I'm reaching new highs with my curling. I used to curl with a normal barbell, but hurt my wrist and switched to an EZ bar. Immediately after I'm done with a set, I feel a large amount of pressure on my wrists. Usually I just hold onto the bar for a second or two until the pressure goes away. It doesn't really feel painful, but it does feel kind of awkward. I've been trying to keep my wrists neutral throughout the curl to fix this, but I still feel the pressure. Is this normal? Is there any exercises I can do to prevent this? I haven't felt any pain in my wrists after my workouts, but I feel like I might if this pressure keeps up.

Thanks for the help.

What about curling with dumbbells? I can't curl a bar without my wrists flaring up.