gardemmit

Yeah I actually plan on doing that when I go back to the gym. I think it was because I'm skinny-fat right now. I didn't see him trying to correct all of the meatheads not squatting parallel and swinging their shoulders doing bicep curls. >_>

We had a new, eager to help trainer at our gym today, and by the end of the day I wanted to kill him. I'm on Stronglifts so the first thing I did was squats. After my second set, he approached and introduced himself, and told me my form was wrong. He told me I should never let my knees go past my toes AND I should point my feet straight forward. O_o He then watched me on the rest of my sets. I didn't want to hear from him anymore so I just followed his advice. I also did barbell rows (Pendlay rows where the back goes parallel, actually), and he stopped me IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SET, telling me I was going to destroy my back. He then forced me to do the "conventional" rows where I'm almost upright, and watched me AGAIN. He then slipped in that I had bad back flexibility. I wish I weren't as nice as I am so I could tell him to get off my back and let me train. >_> I ended the day with pain in my lower back. I had never gotten lower back pain in my 2 months of Stronglifts. I hate that guy so much. /endrant

Hey, here are my basic stats: Age: 20 Gender: Male Height: 5'10 Weight: 165 lbs Body fat: ~23% - most of my fat is in my gut. Activity Level: Mostly sedentary / office work except for the 3x a week I go to the gym and do stronglifts. My main goal is to lift as much as I can. I think the fat loss and muscle gain will follow as long as I keep increasing my lifts, but I just enjoy seeing the progress I'm making in terms of lifting heavy weights. I'm just wondering if the 2500-3300 kcal/day will actually be too much considering my mostly sedentary lifestyle, and if you really need to eat that much in order to gain strength, or if caloric surpluses are mainly for muscle growth?

I'm just starting Stronglifts and I want to know how many calories I should eat. I read in Mehdi's article that he would recommend 15 calories/day for a guy starting out. That's around 2500 calories per day for me. However, once you go further down the road he recommends 20 calories per pound, so that would skyrocket my requirements to around 3300 calories per day. The thing is, does Stronglifts actually burn enough calories to offset the increased calories per day and not make me fat? I'm just wondering because Stronglifts doesn't make me THAT tired -- or maybe it's just because I'm squatting only 80 lbs and deadlifting 135...

I've been on Stronglifts for about a month now, but I've been lifting on and off for a few years. However, my fear of squats has relegated me to leg presses and leg extensions. Previously I got only leg press ~ 100 pounds and have around 50 pounds on leg extensions. I'm currently on an 80 lb squat. Just for kicks, I tried out leg extensions and I maxed out the machine (around 200 lbs I think?) and maxed out leg presses too (235 lbs). On an 80 lb squat which is nowhere near impressive. After just a month! I'm never going back to machine weights ever again. o_O

Hi Everyone! I'm 20, from the Philippines, and I work full-time as an assistant manager for training and development in a fast-casual restaurant chain focusing on fried chicken and pork. As such, my work environment is not conducive for a healthy lifestyle at all. My family has a laundry list of ailments on both sides: Diabetes, cancer, hypertension, you name it! All of my older uncles also have that dangerous "big belly, skinny legs / arms" build, which I'm also turning into. All of my fat gain is in my midsection. My family has always been brought together by food: burgers, pastas, pastries, all of the unhealthy stuff. It doesn't help that my aunt owns a pastry shop and my grandmother has been baking her entire life. We were a family born to be fat. My short-term goal is to gain muscle -- along the way squatting 1.5x my body weight -- and lose fat, but my long-term goal is to avoid the aforementioned diseases that have plagued my family for generations. My body type can be described as skinny-fat. I'm 5'10, 165 lbs, with most of that in my gut. I have never excelled in any sport. My cardio is terrible and I get winded after running 500 meters. I've been on and off "fitness programs" for the past few years. I tried jogging but I got bored too easily. I bought some dumbbells but I can't find the motivation to consistently practice. After a while I finally gave in and decided to join a Gold's Gym near our office, with the idea that I'll be motivated to work out if I know I'm spending money on it consistently. It actually worked! I've been working out 2-3 times a week for a month now and I feel so much better. My interests include a lifelong devotion to the NBA (both watching, playing Fantasy Basketball and playing 2k) and series such as The Office and Game of Thrones. My current job has severely decreased my gaming time. Previously I was regularly playing DotA and Lord of the Rings Online. I still consider myself to be quite "nerdy" as an introvert with ADD, which gives immediately gives me a disadvantage in social situations, though my job in HR has forced me to improve my social skills. I joined this community because I know I'm a beginner at this and I feel like this is a place where I can ask all the stupid questions and not get laughed at. It's not a place full of meatheads who'll laugh at someone with a 75 lb squat. Sorry for turning this into my personal blog post. Hoping to meet new friends here.