Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 on a side note, does anyone know a good resource or tutorial for learning how to use straps? I bought some but when I tried using them on deadlifts my grip was actually worse Im clearly doing something wrong but im not sure what Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 12 hours ago, Twinblade said: on a side note, does anyone know a good resource or tutorial for learning how to use straps? I bought some but when I tried using them on deadlifts my grip was actually worse Im clearly doing something wrong but im not sure what Yeah, I feel like that’s something that should be taught in person. However, I would check out power lifting videos. I learned about straps when I got into powerlifting. Also, farmer walks/carries are amazing for building forearm strength. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 53 minutes ago, -GD-X said: Yeah, I feel like that’s something that should be taught in person. However, I would check out power lifting videos. I learned about straps when I got into powerlifting. Also, farmer walks/carries are amazing for building forearm strength. I’ve started hanging on my pull up bar for now. It’s easy because if I’m near it I’ll just jump on it for close to minute at a time. And my plan right now is to only use straps for my last set of deadlifts as I want to be able to lift as heavy as possible in that moment. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 So I was starting to think I had low testosterone levels which could be why I wasn’t putting on much muscle. But I just got tested and my levels are at 1072 ng/dl which is apparently incredibly good I’m stubborn but if I stopped trying to recomp/cut and went into a lean bulk I could probably put on a good amount of muscle easily. But slowly seeing my abs pop out and become more defined has been satisfying, and I don’t want to throw that away yet. Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 30 minutes ago, Twinblade said: So I was starting to think I had low testosterone levels which could be why I wasn’t putting on much muscle. But I just got tested and my levels are at 1072 ng/dl which is apparently incredibly good I’m stubborn but if I stopped trying to recomp/cut and went into a lean bulk I could probably put on a good amount of muscle easily. But slowly seeing my abs pop out and become more defined has been satisfying, and I don’t want to throw that away yet. Holy shit! That’s very high! However, you can have a high conversion to estrogen ratio. My t levels are low 700s, but my estrogen is like 100. A 7:1 ratio is considered very good for my age. You should check your ratio. Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 9 minutes ago, -GD-X said: Holy shit! That’s very high! However, you can have a high conversion to estrogen ratio. My t levels are low 700s, but my estrogen is like 100. A 7:1 ratio is considered very good for my age. You should check your ratio. Oh yeah I didn’t think about that. I still have man boobs so I have to assume I have an abnormal amount of estrogen. I’ll have to talk to my doctor about getting tested for that. Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted June 30 Author Share Posted June 30 3 hours ago, Twinblade said: Oh yeah I didn’t think about that. I still have man boobs so I have to assume I have an abnormal amount of estrogen. I’ll have to talk to my doctor about getting tested for that. A diet high in animal protein, cholesterol, omega 3 fats, zinc (1 can of oysters a week is all you need), vitamin d can improve your testosterone/estrogen ratio. Also, reducing abdominal fat and getting more SLEEP. Sleep alone does wonders. Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted June 30 Share Posted June 30 4 minutes ago, -GD-X said: A diet high in animal protein, cholesterol, omega 3 fats, zinc (1 can of oysters a week is all you need), vitamin d can improve your testosterone/estrogen ratio. Also, reducing abdominal fat and getting more SLEEP. Sleep alone does wonders. Not enough sleep is definitely one of my problems. I did just start taking a multivitamin because I feel like I might have been lacking in some important micro nutrients. But the main issue I need to address is my sleep duration and quality. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 15 minutes ago, Twinblade said: Not enough sleep is definitely one of my problems. I did just start taking a multivitamin because I feel like I might have been lacking in some important micro nutrients. But the main issue I need to address is my sleep duration and quality. 100% lack of sleep = more cortisol 1 Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 As for me, I’ve been making strength gains. I don’t think I look any bigger, and that’s fine. I was getting bored of hypertrophy workouts, so I’m back in the 3-6 rep range, but each rep is slow and controlled. I mainly do compound lifts. I still only do 1 (or none) set of isolation finishers. Minimalism ftw. It’s basically stronglifts with dumbbells, but I sub squats and DLs for lunges and stiff-legged DLs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 45 minutes ago, -GD-X said: As for me, I’ve been making strength gains. I don’t think I look any bigger, and that’s fine. I was getting bored of hypertrophy workouts, so I’m back in the 3-6 rep range, but each rep is slow and controlled. I mainly do compound lifts. I still only do 1 (or none) set of isolation finishers. Minimalism ftw. It’s basically stronglifts with dumbbells, but I sub squats and DLs for lunges and stiff-legged DLs. Are you not concerned about the potential for injuries in that rep range? On my heaviest set of squats I can only do 4 reps so far (going below parallel), and I always feel like I’m taking a risk. My body doesn’t really give me any signals like knee pain to make me think im doing something wrong, but I also know that these injuries can be sudden and come without warning. Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted July 1 Author Share Posted July 1 6 minutes ago, Twinblade said: Are you not concerned about the potential for injuries in that rep range? On my heaviest set of squats I can only do 4 reps so far (going below parallel), and I always feel like I’m taking a risk. My body doesn’t really give me any signals like knee pain to make me think im doing something wrong, but I also know that these injuries can be sudden and come without warning. I spend a lot of time with my warm ups and ramp ups. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 Speaking of compound lifts, i think im gonna have to take some personal trainer classes to learn deadlfits. No matter how many videos I watch I just can’t maintain good form when I go heavier. That would also be a good opportunity for me to learn how to use straps because I can’t for the life of me figure those out either. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 @-GD-Xthought you'd be interested in knowing that I got my estrogen levels tested and its within a normal range. I guess shitty genetics is just to blame for most of my problems Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 Just now, Twinblade said: @-GD-Xthought you'd be interested in knowing that I got my estrogen levels tested and its within a normal range. I guess shitty genetics is just to blame for most of my problems huh, that's strange man. then again, there's a bodybuilder (jeff nippard) and his levels are like 450, which i thought were crazy low, considering his muscle-to-fat ratio. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 7 minutes ago, -GD-X said: huh, that's strange man. then again, there's a bodybuilder (jeff nippard) and his levels are like 450, which i thought were crazy low, considering his muscle-to-fat ratio. Yeah it ultimately comes down to genetics and what your body type is. Tyler Path has been training for 10 years but despite being super fit and relatively strong he's small and practically a feather at 135lbs. As far as goals are concerned his physique is more realistic and something I think with a lot of hard work I could potentially come close to. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 On a positive note, earlier this year I thought Creatine wasn't for me because I was suddenly getting moments of lightheadedness around the time I started taking it. It looks like that was either from allergies or as a result of starting to diet more and my body not being used to that. I started it up again (a 2.5g dose) and after a month I feel fine. Probably going to up it to 5g soon and see how my body responds to that. Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 I just keep on learning new stuff. I now know that cutting out so many carbs while dieting was a mistake. I thought I had lost a lot of muscle which is why I was looking overly skinny and small but what actually happened is I lost too much water and glycogen. I’ve been easing up on my diet and eating more around maintenance/a very small surplus while including more carbs and even though I’ve gained at most a pound in the past 2 weeks my muscles already look more full and I’m also still lean (I was worried I would start looking bloated and lose some of my abs). I feel like I have slightly more energy at the gym too. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
-GD-X★ 8,437 Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 3 minutes ago, Twinblade said: I just keep on learning new stuff. I now know that cutting out so many carbs while dieting was a mistake. I thought I had lost a lot of muscle which is why I was looking overly skinny and small but what actually happened is I lost too much water and glycogen. I’ve been easing up on my diet and eating more around maintenance/a very small surplus while including more carbs and even though I’ve gained at most a pound in the past 2 weeks my muscles already look more full and I’m also still lean (I was worried I would start looking bloated and lose some of my abs). I feel like I have slightly more energy at the gym too. I’m super anti “low carb”. they are important. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Twinblade★ 4,263 Posted July 25 Share Posted July 25 3 hours ago, -GD-X said: I’m super anti “low carb”. they are important. Yeah it almost feels like I was unintentionally doing a Keto diet, and I know people have had great results losing weight with that type of diet but I think if you're trying to lift heavy and build an aesthetic physique then thats probably not the way to go. Link to post Share on other sites
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