I'm here for me. Health, fitness, and rants. No apologies.
(via goalsatisfaction)
(via goalsatisfaction)
(via squatdown-liftup)
(via livingthehealthydream)
Anonymous asked: Last Thursday, I did a lot of squats without experiencing pain or discomfort during or after. But on Saturday night, I knelt down to pick something up and it felt like the muscles on the front of my thigh were tearing. The pain went away soon after standing up and I can feel it come back whenever I kneel down without being careful. I'm not experiencing any discomfort in the area at any time other than kneeling down. Any idea what the cause might be?
Interesting. I’ve never heard of a “tearing” sensation. First guess is that it might be DOMS and you aren’t used to it. Or, you might have pulled something that is trying to tighten back up. Do you stretch regularly? Sounds like muscle tightness to me, quads are big muscle and they can cause a lot of pain. Check your squat form and work a little more yoga in there. If the issue persists, check with your doctor!
Yesterday I did a super lame full lift. At least it was something. I hadn’t lifted in over a week, and I felt it. :( The DOMS in my thighs and hips are brutal. And now it’s off to Texas for a couple days.
(via livingthehealthydream)
Bulking and cutting is a basic but very effective method of building physique and athletic performance.
During the bulking phase, you are building yourself. Emphasis on heavy lifting, low reps with high weight, eat more, shorter/interval cardio session. The point of this phase is to add muscle mass. You end each day with a caloric surplus of 250-500, for a gain of .5-1lb each week. Some is muscle, some is fat, and this is a good thing. A bulking phase takes at least twelve weeks, otherwise your progress will be lost when you do a cut. During this time I feel that you should not weigh yourself frequently, as your scale weight will be fluctuating wildly. If you need something to measure, track your lifts (you should be getting progressively stronger) or your inches (should stay approximately the same). But just remember, and this is really important: You have to commit to eating properly for this phase. You have to commit to deliberately eating more than you burn (gasp! The horror!). Your body can’t create something out of nothing. If you are unwilling to eat for bulking, don’t start the phase or you will probably even get weaker by loss of muscle mass.
After you have gained maybe 10lbs or so (reminder again that your measurements will stay about the same) then you will enter the cutting phase. During this time you will still lift weights that challenge you, but not at max effort like before. More sets, higher reps. Do a little more cardio, eat a little less. You will maintain a caloric deficit of 250-500 calories for a slow FAT loss of .5-1lb per week. Remember, the point of this is to slowly remove the fat to reveal the new muscle shape. If you lose too fast you’ll also lose muscle, so take your time. Repeat the process until you are as strong, lean, and shapely as you want to be!
Bulking and cutting is cool because 1. It takes advantage of the body’s 100% natural building processes, and 2. It freaking works. You just have to commit to it, particularly the eating bit. I’m not talking bare minimum to gain - this requires deliberate “overeating” which is something we’ve all been taught is bad, but in this case it is very good as long as you are getting your calories from real food.
Whether or not you choose this route, I’m glad you are interested in knowing more. A lean, superfit body can’t be achieved without full commitment and effort, and sometimes the road isn’t exactly pretty, but it’s worth it!
Anonymous asked: I'm a 6'4 guy who worked down from 230 lbs to around 182 lbs. Now that I've gotten to a healthier weight, I'm trying to gain muscle. I'm working with a 3 day per week strength program based on NRoL and running 2 miles 3 days per week. but I'm having a hard time not panicking when I gain a couple pounds. I eat junk food occasionally but I usually stay away from it. It's been really hard to not think "okay I need to cut back on eating" when the scale goes up.
As a female who has gone through a bulk and cut, I TOTALLY get that. To be overweight, then lose weight until you are considered “healthy”, and then deliberately gain weight… mentally, it’s hard. The way I got through it was to repeatedly explain to myself the numeric process of bulking and cutting. During your bulking you lift hard and eat hard. You’ll gain weight, a bunch of muscle and some fat. This is normal and natural. When you are no longer willing to gain weight (and that point does come, since a person’s gains go less and less to muscle the higher their body fat percentage gets) then you go on a cut. More cardio, higher reps, eat a little less. You slowly trim away the fat to reveal the new muscle underneath. And you don’t get that new muscle unless you gain it along with a little fat. I know that you already know all of these things but this is the exact dialogue I have with myself, very often. In the end, it comes down to this: Training + Food = Muscle, so you just have to grit your teeth and stay away from the scale awhile!
Laverie Vallee (July 18, 1875 – February 6, 1949), best known by her stage name Charmion, was a Sacramento born trapeze artist who possessed strength and a physique most men would be envious of. However, she was most well known for her risqué striptease performances.
The act opened with Charmion taking the stage in full Victorian attire. She would then mount the trapeze and proceed to undress to her leotard while performing impressive and strength-dependent stunts. The act was incredibly impressive and provocative for the era. However, the controversy created by her performances did not prevent the formulation of a devoted, and mostly male, fan base.
One of her greatest fans was Thomas Edison. As a result of that adoration, on November 11, 1901 Charmion committed a simplified version of her act to film for Edison. The film, simply entitled ‘Trapeze Disrobing Act’ focused more on the erotic aspect of the performance, though a few remarkable feats of strength are featured.fucking hero
(via squatdown-liftup)
Dear wanna be “gym bro,”
I’m not trying to single out just the typical douche bags that you see all the time at the gym, this goes for everyone else as well.
I don’t care how important you think you are. You need to wait for your turn to use the squat rack. My gym only has one of them, so it comes at a premium. I waited for a good 15 minutes this morning (For two girls who were squatting. Awesome, by the way, I didn’t mind waiting at all.)
If you want to come up to me and ask how many sets I have left, which we all know is code for “hurry the fuck up, please,” that’s cool. But approaching me and telling me that I’m taking too long in between sets is a prick move. (For the record, I use a stopwatch and rest for 1:40 between squat sets.) The fact that you decided to tell me this while I had my earphones in, and WAS STANDING THERE WITH 375LBS ON MY BACK getting ready to start my set, means that the next time you talk to me, I’m going to throw your dumb, Jersey-Shore-loving-ass through the fucking window.
As a general rule, people suck.
Next dude who talks to me when I’m in the middle of a set is getting a 10lb dumbbell straight to the teeth. To. The. Teeth.
Really long rant but I had to ok
Ngl fitblr you’re starting to annoy me with your 6’0 girls with the ultimate goal weight of 60kg for their ‘happy and healthy lifestyle’ and people my height with an ultimate goal weight of 96lbs
And don’t get me started on the whole it’s pro ana thing I could write you a book on that if you’re trying to go from like 150lbs to 127 to be healthy then think you want to be skinny so set the ugw to 105 when you get to 105 you’re not happy
And you end up getting to 89lbs and in hospital tumblr, you end up being scared of eating celery tumblr these were my actual weights tumblr
If it’s a happy and healthy lifestyle surely you should be measuring body fat percentage taking measurements with a tape measure of your body increasing weights sets and reps and cutting out additives to reach your ‘goals’, not an ultimate goal weight
I don’t care if you’re raw vegan and not eating splenda and alpen light bars to lose your weight cool your body isn’t full with aspartame but your body won’t be happy when you’re being ‘happy healthy and fit’ on 1200kcals a day working out for 4-5 hours and are 89 pounds
Idon’t think some of you realise that you don’t have to be only eating air to be anorexic what some of you are doing is still really really bad
Especially when you post your ‘progress pics’ and it’s like ribs showing spine poking out and you’re like 5lbs to go I’m really sorry please don’t, if you’re entrapped in this horrible feeling that you need to go 5lbs lower you can get help for that someone can help but you posting your progress pics makes people on here think that’s okay to be like that
I disagree with goal weights in all ways. When I was recovering from my e.d. it was my goal to be quite a bit heavier than I am now (like bmi 21 or summin) but when I got here I felt so comfortable, I ate whatever did whatever and I had the padding in all the right places you know so was there any need to keep drinking meal replacements shakes? not really no. (ofc if you’re of a healthy bmi that is. The amount of girls that say they feel ‘comfortable’ at bmi 17 makes me sad too because it’s so obvious the e.d. is still there.)
So when you’re losing weight I understand you losing to like bmi 24.9 as a goal to be healthy medically but past then why don’t you just keep going until you feel good and look how you want to look? No goal weight you must meet by this deadline. The sick feeling of disappointment that is spread around by people not losing that certain number of pounds per week is horrible to see.
I’m sorry it’s driving me up the wall, lalalala
^^^ All of this. Fitspo is often thinspo in a sports bra, right?
Insta reblog for this rant. Thanks girl <3 you’re amazing.
I’m having one of Those Days
where logic just doesn’t seem to apply to feelings and you can’t quite manage to get the hang of stuff in general. Blogging in hopes that talking it out to myself will be of some benefit…
I’m hung up on my weight today. Not only is my weight (of all the stupid things!) bothering me, but the fact that it is bothering me is ALSO bothering me. As previously mentioned I went on a short vacation and in an error of judgment decided to weigh myself afterwards because I thought my scientific curiosity could outmatch my internal self-consciousness. I was super wrong. I put on a LOT of water weight and maybe an infinitesimal amount of actual weight from too many cafe visits and lunch outings, but like no big deal right? There’s no reason this should be affecting my mood, but I’m in the most shameful hole of self-doubt and criticism right now. The fact that my BMI is 24 is currently making me sad. What the actual fuck? BMI 24 is kind of awesome, aside from the fact that BMI means jack shit, and I know my body fat percentage is 19% and dropping. Why am I sad? I don’t know. It’s pathetic.
To make matters worse, this whole funk is highlighting the sense that I am a hypocrite and can’t take my own advice to not care about numbers. When I get down to it, more of my sense of self-worth is tied to numbers than I like to admit. It may not be the numbers that a lot of people seem to care about most, but the truth is that statistics still have huge power over my mental perspective. My self-esteem hinges so heavily upon my performance at the gym and the quality of my nutrition. If my lifts don’t improve from last week, I’m unhappy with the workout and try to “make up for it” next time. If my run pace is significantly slower than the last time I ran, part of me considers it a “wash”. If I mess up my schedule and end up eating something with Splenda or trans fats in it - utter failure and I’m going to die of cancer at age 30. Somehow I still manage to ignore the fact that just running and lifting and being aware of food are healthy lifestyle achievements in themselves. I couldn’t give a damn what anyone else thinks, but that’s not the point… I never seem to be good enough for me.
Okay, me. Time to knock it off, alrighty? :)
