37 years old and skinny again

[Pandora]

I know a lot of women from back home who are secretly mothering some toothpicks kid while being married to a guy who thinks its his, guy is a known womanizer in the small town, skinny tall guy with a huge long d breeds a new chick every month it seems, he's on disability too so they can't even get child support

What is this dude doing right lol. It cant be because of his money....I be telling people that hypergamy doesn't always go for the guy with money. And alphas are not always alpha looking. Some women like what they like.

 

[nicksaiz65]

All of the above programs are solid. They are solid because they use many of the same principles that make a good program effective. Don't get into analysis to paralysis though. The most important thing is to just do it, and do it consistently. Lifting should be just something you do kind of like brushing your teeth. Heavy basic compound lifts consistently will get you there. Wendler's 5,3,1 is a good method. Within 5,3,1 there are 1000's of ways to use it and navigate the "stalls." It sounds like you are familiar with 5,3,1. I'm more a fan of Wendler then Mehdi but that just me. Both good programs though. Mehdi is good for the newbies. 5,3,1 is more flexible from a programming standpoint and has room for newbies also. Mehdi's best squat is 424 lbs. Wendler has squatted over a 1000 lbs. Knowing that, whose your Yoda? Pick a Yoda and stick with them for a year. Stalls are inevitable but changing program gurus is not the best answer. If you go 5,3,1 and you don't have one of his books, get it. The internet 5,3,1 and apps don't give you a full understanding.

The above program split above that you plan after Strong lifts tells me either A) you haven't thought it through or B) you're not deadlifting on back day, which allows you to do leg day the following workout. Or C) you're not deadlifting or squatting, which allows you to do back day immediately followed by leg day. I will say this, there is a very small population that mechanically, just shouldn't squat heavy or at all. If I had to choose squat or deadlift, it's deadlift all day long. What mimics squat in everyday life? Nothing! What mimics deadlift? Life! In other words, when do you bend over and pick crap up? All the damn time. Whether it's hoisting the deer I just shot into my truck or moving a couch.

As far as higher reps go, there is nothing wrong with having a "Bro" day and pumping blood in there. Sometimes higher reps with lighter weight is a good momentary break from heavy lifting or injury recovery etc. High reps have there place and can be effective but not in ways many think they do. Bodybuilders use high reps for different purposes then crossfitters. I won't get too far into the weeds on muscle fibers, but each muscle fiber has an "all or nothing" quality. Meaning, when you lift a donut up to your mouth, your nervous system is calling on only the muscle fibers needed to put that donut up to you mouth so you can eat it. Those muscle fibers used, are firing at 100%. They are not using a bunch of fibers firing at 5%. So, if you lift a weight for 15 reps, maybe to failure, how much muscle fiber was called upon? To do 5 reps requires your nervous system to recruit more muscle fibers to lift the heavier weight. The more micro trauma to the more muscle fibers equals bigger muscle over time. Deadlifting 20 reps doesn't help me hoist that deer onto my truck as much as deadlifting 3-5 reps does.

Dirty bulking can be effective but it can also get out of hand. You can grow quality muscle while your health goes to crap, i.e. blood markers, blood pressure etc. If you go this route, you better make sure you are disciplined enough and experienced enough to shed the excessive fat. Years ago I competed in the 220 lbs in early spring weighing in at 217. At the end of summer I competed in the 275 lbs. My actual weight was 268. A typical meal might have been, a large pizza with ranch dressing, dessert was a box of pop tarts with chocolate syrup, washed down with a jug of chocolate milk. I was a strong, unhealthy son of gun, with sleep apnea to boot. IMO, skip dirty bulking and just eat excessive but healthy foods with an occasional indulgence. Sounds like you gone from working out and eating good to not working out and eating bad, rinse and repeat. People often spend 3-20 years inactive and feeding their body crap then expect to see awesome results in one month. It's counterintuitive but sometimes an end goal is detrimental because once you reach it you let off the gas. Then people start telling themselves since they reached their goal they deserve a break or deserve to eat like crap etc. Just make it something you do. Don't train for 18 inch biceps and for 10% bodyfat. Train because any day now, you might walk by a house fire, and you have to pick-up some fat chick and carry her out of a burning building. Train because you might have to lift the corner of a car off a trapped person. Train because any day now some dude with some prison muscle is going to challenge you. Whether you can fight or not, (If not, I suggest you learn), many men will size you up physically before challenging you. When criminals are picking a victim, most will take the path of perceived least resistance. They'll pick the weaker looking person just like predators in the wild. As Rippetoe has said, "Generally speaking, a stronger man is harder to kill." That's why you train. A symptom of that type of training is that you'll look good naked.

If I may ask, what should one do once they “graduate” from Stronglifts 5x5? I was able to get up to a 315 squat and 225 bench with it.

Eventually I’d like to squat 400, bench 300, deadlift 500, and overhead press 225. Somewhere around those numbers.

 

[CAPSLOCK BANDIT]

What is this dude doing right lol. It cant be because of his money....I be telling people that hypergamy doesn't always go for the guy with money. And alphas are not always alpha looking. Some women like what they like.

My next door neighbors wife back then, we were all really tight, me and her spoke about a lot of stuff had heart to hearts, same with her husband, never saw her as a cheater.

One weekend im outside working on my car its Friday like 3 Pm, I see hubby pull up, he says he's leaving for the night and she's following behind him in like an hour.

20 minutes after he's gone I see this giant tall guy in work overalls on his cell phone walk into our crescent, walk right up to their house door, walk in, close the door behind him. I recognized him from my work, his teeth were all rotten and he was always unshaven and pale, looked like an addict.

She was pregnant months later lol I have no doubt it's his kid the first might be his as well.

I should add, this guy is a cable tech for residential so all he does all day is go into people's houses who are having problems

 

[Obee1]

If I may ask, what should one do once they “graduate” from Stronglifts 5x5? I was able to get up to a 315 squat and 225 bench with it.

Eventually I’d like to squat 400, bench 300, deadlift 500, and overhead press 225. Somewhere around those numbers.

First off, congratulations on your squat and bp numbers. Consider this. The average American male weighs 198 lbs. The average male can squat 125lbs, bench 135 lbs, and deadlift 155 lbs. Pathetic. Granted, these are a sampling of generally untrained men, but I venture to say it says more about what we've become in that I bet the bodyweight would be lower, and the pounds lifted would be higher if sampling was taken in the industrial era as opposed to the internet era.

There is no simple answer to your question for many reasons, but I might be able to point you in the right direction by giving you some parameters to consider as you chart your path. Is your goal is to hit those numbers for lifting sake or would you be competing? Both are good reasons but the approach can be different. A strength athlete in my experience, hits their prime ages 32-40 years of age. There are a few reasons for this but I've always speculated that it has much to do with the slower growth and adaptation to tendons and ligaments in relation to the growth of muscle which is quite good in your 20s. Lifting heavy weight is not just about how big your muscles are, its also about neural adaptation of that muscles and the strength of the tendons and ligaments to transfer that strength into power. Lifting heavy desensitizes the Golgi tendons. These tendons are like a emergency shut off valve that shut down a muscle contraction to prevent injury. It's been shown it does this waay early with room to spare. It's just playing it safe. If you look at some national or world powerlifting records it won't take long to see the power of neural adaptation. Guys like Mike Booker squatting over 500 lbs at a bodyweight of 114 lbs. I'd put Booker up against a 220 lb bodybuilder, strength wise, any day. But, they train different. Certainly it's possible for the bodybuilder to squat this, but the bodybuilder trains body parts. The powerlifter trains the lifts. If you want a big squat, bench, and deadlift, you're going to have to squat bench and deadlift. The bulk of your training should be in the 80-95% one rep max range. This is overly simplistic but just trying to make a point. At those %'s your reps are going to be in the 3-5 range. The nuance is that while you're training, if you spend too long lifting in the 95% range, your nervous systems ability to recruit the muscle needed, begins to fizzle and burn out. It's like constantly turning a light switch on and off. This is why lifters talk about periodization, or wave loading and the like. The last thing a good lifter will do a week before competition is max out. He'll do a heavy triple and peak at competition with the perceived one rep max. Use a rep to max calculator to estimate maxes for the most part. This keeps your nervous system fresher. Also, keep it simple. Some accessory exercises can be helpful but be discerning. Too many people put too much stock in things like German volume training, Russian this and that etc. They look at Strongmen competitions and world powerlifting meets and see that only occasionally do USA lifters place or win. Same with Olympic weightlifting. I'm here to tell you it has nothing to do with their training methods. the best and strongest men in the World are in the good ole USA. The reason we don't place high much is because our most genetically gifted, strongest athletes that would otherwise compete in these competitions, play football where they can get a free education and possibly millions of dollars in the pros. Or they may do other sports. We haven't had Olympic lifts at the YMCAs for decades. Russian and German athletes, or Icelanders, Scandinavians and others don't have the same advantages. Many countries pay their Athletes to represent. When Phil Pfister won strongman after a long USA drought, he was still a fireman training after work.

So, keep it simple. Train the lifts, don't train body parts. Pick some sort of periodization to keep making progress. Stick with low reps, mainly fives. Don't max out very often, use a rep to max calculator. If you are not competing, the routines in the book "Practical Programming" are perfect. If you are, there a couple in there that could apply too. 5-3-1, can also be good for sure. Just don't rush to failure or injury. You are young and not in your strength prime yet. Just start grinding your way up there and be smart because after 300, you start thinking 400, and after that you, well you get it. Hope this helps.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

So since I got back to my hometown after going through a break up and not seeing family and friends for about a year (due to living in another country), I've been getting comments on how skinny and ill I look.

The ill because of the stress though breakup and skinny because my training hasn't been on track and I've lost all strength and size.

Basically I'm back to the point where my body wants to be without training. Which is skinny.

Obviously this isn't doing my confidence any good. I was pretty ripped and one of the strongest guys in the gym at one point.
I'm older now and I guess I'm basically starting from scratch. I'm weak AF at them moment too.


My plan is just to do regular old 5 X 5 untill I get my numbers up. The goal will be basically to get weight on the bar and my body accustomed to the big lifts.

I know I don't thrive on 5 X 5 from experience. I've always just used it to boost strength and as a stepping stone.

So once I have a new foundation solid numbers I'm probably going to jump back on my old routine. A kinda push pull bro split. I don't know why but I've always thrived doing this. Mabye because there is only one big compound life per session then a ton supporting lifts. I don't know why I just know my body likes it.

No point starting my split without strength hence the 5 X 5.

Anyone else had to get back into shape in there late 30s?

What were your experiences?

It comes back pretty quick. "Muscle memory". Give it a full 6 months of commmitment.

 

[Loki.7]

I don't want to open a giant can of worms here, because these subjects can quickly get dogmatic but if you are comfortable with it, I would like to know what a typical day of eating looks like to you. Training or not training.

About 4000 calories for me and I grow. I counted calories a while ago for a couple of weeks. That's about what I need to put on weight when I'm training.

I don't usually count. I hate counting. So I haven't got it down to a science

Quite a lot if carbs suchs as rice, oats , some veggies and usual proteins. I'm not too strict.

When I'm not training. I'm probably not eating anywhere near enough id I'm honest.