36, 6'3",250. Kinda fat, sadly

You know what they say, if you're gonna be fat, you may as well be strong! Oh, no it's if you are gonna be dumb you'd better be tough. Still though, not bad at all!

You shut your whore mouth!!!

How do I post a video via Tapatalk? Any instructions would be great. TYVM

Most commonly, people upload to youtube (should be able to find the "share to youtube" button within your phone's gallery app), then post the link.

So this was interesting, but it's kinda short on "OK what do I do in the gym this afternoon?" Does tha come in part 2 or 3? I don't have the expertise to really know what a reasonable increase in volume (how much, in sets, reps or both?) at lower weight (how much?) looks like. Also, I don't understand the term RP8. A little help?

https://www.elitefts.com/education/t...-exertion-rpe/

thanks

in terms of programs, there's various resources. Mike Tescherer I'm sure has stuff for sale at reactive training systems (don't know the url, google it). Barbell Medicine has templates for sale on their site though I think they're a bit pricey and I get not wanting to fork over cash at this stage. They do have a free 8 program called the bridge: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/the-bridge/ (there is a v2.0 but that costs money, this one is still fine). Now, you're not exactly the demo for it, but it's a good intro to:
1. using RPE
2. programming with wider exercise selection
3. programming in some conditioning

If you stay strict with rest periods, it wouldn't shock me if you make some progress on this, especially in the work capacity department.

You don't HAVE to do RPE based training, either, there are plenty of pretty well thought programs based on %s. Plenty of Sheiko templates you could google around for, though those will mostly exclude the press.

Yeah, I am not really interested in spending a bunch of money on this, and I am not interested in competing or anything. I mostly just want something I can grind away at in the company gym and still make progress, because progress is motivating.

A more simplified way of putting it may be that at this point you need to add muscle in order to keep getting stronger, so you need to spend some time training for hypertrophy then train for strength. This would mean periods of bulking.

Unfortunately, at your current size & lifts you are probably above 25% bodyfat and bulking would be inadvisable from the standpoint of general health. Cutting down to 15% bodyfat and THEN bulking is the way it's typically written up.

If you are truly feeling old at 36, that 10% might just be the difference in feeling fine.

Day to day I feel fine, but as a sports fan, it's well known that people fall off in their 30s. So, I am just capped out on my lifts. Per you and that overly long podcast, it seems overwhelmingly likely that the issue isn't exhaustion or lack of recovery but instead that I've capped out what the muscle mass I have is capable of. That is not exactly what I expected but also is pretty reasonable. If you had told me a few years ago what I would be lifting right now, I would have thought I'd be much more jacked than I actually am. Those guys pretty clearly state that you can do their brogram as a modestly overwheight dude and gradually lose weight and that's fine, so that is what I intend to try. I don't have the equipment to do rack pulls, I don't own a belt, and the off day cardio stuff is a substantial inconvenience, but I'll do the best I can. It's also not entirely clear what the best way to get back on track after e.g. a 2 day mid week work trip that's going to take out one (or now two) days of training since this program is considerably more complicated, but it's probably better to just get going than it is to fret over the details.

The podcast is DEFINITELY not saying that, fwiw.

Their PDF of the Bridge program does, FWIW:

yes, but they are not saying you can't make progress on your lifts while losing weight. You certainly can. That doesn't mean you're gaining muscle, but you can still improve your lifts.

Myo-reps for core. Is this a stupid idea?

By core I'm guessing you mean abs.

Its not 'stupid' but myo-reps are really designed more for the large muscle groups, and of the core muscles, only your glutes qualify.

But I would make the caveat for a core exercise that recruits a lot of muscle groups such as planks, specifically Long Lever planks.

Mmm my go-to core exercises tend to be stuff like back extensions, dead bug extensions. Did the latter today with 5 sec holds in "myo-rep" style. Did about 12 of them, 15 sec rest, 5 more etc for 5 sets total. It sort of seemed to make sense while doing it, and I believe it is not very different from the way McGill prescribes reps/sets.

howdy fam

was thinking of making an OP or something in the next week, i'm trying to make a real push into swole territory

for now i'm just saying hi and seeing the lay of the land

Sup bakes; welcome!

We'll be around to offer suggestions and encouragement as necessary.

Ty sir

Hoping to post a video in the next day or two but has anyone had experience with not being able to flatten their back on Pendlay rows? I know there is an element of lifting your chest before the pull to straighten your back, but I think I have to do too much lol.

My self-diagnosis is that I can't push my hips far enough back. Perhaps with some additional knee bend I could get my back flat, but then I'm looking at impeding the bar path.

Are you tall?

~5'10

I'd suggest just figuring out a way to do rows that is comfortable. It's not crucial that they be strict pendlay rows from the floor. If you feel like you must do them pendlay-style, just set them up on blocks so you can get your back flatter.