Being Attitude for Gains (gym thread)

A bit over a year ago I convinced myself to take advantage of the nearby parks to get some regular walking in, and six months ago I moved up to h splitting time between walking and jogging, that’s about the extent of my working out but I feel better to at least get something in. I’m a bit concerned with winter approaching as while walking is no real issue bundled up I’m not exactly sure what cold weather jogging attire would entail, but I’m sure the dreaded process of elimination will sort that out at some point.

Well then all you need is to watch your calorie intake. Unless you run a marathon each week the slimming effect from exercise is negligible.

I don’t see how you can be competitive at martial arts these days though without lifting weights and building muscle mass. That’s been a thing ever since Bruce Lee and the revolution hasn’t stopped. You do the martial art to get the technique down but you hit the gym to get the power to excel at it

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The key to winter jogging is layers and breathability. Otherwise, yeah, trial and error. And aways give yourself enough time/warmth to default to walking.

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I agree with this and I never could figure it out when I was still running. I had the layers but not the breathability and so ended up completely sweaty. I used to get sick like three times every winter because of running in the cold. It was just terrible. But I still loved running in winter more than in summer. Because fuck the oppressive heat.

So much about running is trial and error. Just figuring out which t-shirts made my nipples bleed and which didn’t was a nightmare. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Just some shirts did and some didn’t.

I have one of these extremely tight futuristic compression suit things and it makes my ass pop real good. Gonna wear that again this winter and get (rightfully) judged by all the normal people I’m passing by.

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So here is what I am thinking:

in addition to the fact that i’m going to have to start evaluating my diet more and counting calories
i think i’m gonna start alternating workout
with like lower body/core one day, upper body/chest the next. the goal is to lose weight + get a slightly more feminine/androgynous physique and feel better about myself
I started tonight

25 Squats first rep 10 second
5 monkeys 1 rep
10 second wall sit

and it feel slike i must be really out fo shape because that’s about all i could do, christ

what workouts should i be doing for this? i have no equipment. what will get me the GAINS id esire.

All that I can think of when I read this is just… WHY THE FUCK would you lift weights then? Do you wanna look like a weightlifter? Do you actually want to gain? I seriously don’t get it.

I mean, I do like five minutes of bodyweight stuff in the morning to get going, but nowhere near as much as would be necessary to tire out my muscles. Because I don’t want more muscle. I don’t wanna look like a bodybuilder. I want to be fucking skinny like a marathon runner.

You talked about running and feeling guilty for not doing it. Why not just do it? No need for kettlebells to get sweaty and lose the belly.

“If you lift weights you’ll look like a bodybuilder!” is an entirely overstated and totally unrealistic fear. However: if you are hormonally male, yes, lifting weights in the way you should to get stronk will almost certainly make you look more masculine, not more feminine.

I dunno that there’s a fitness community dedicated to helping males look more feminine. Probably there should be. Ciswomen lifting correctly end up looking awesome, but I don’t think AMABs who lift will end up looking like ciswomen who lift. Super-skinny men can look androgynous sometimes but it depends on the individual guy and how he wears it.

Maybe biking would be best? Heavy cardio for weight loss combined with some dece leg & butt stuff, avoiding upper body?

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The idea of femininity is a hard one to achieve for a dude that also wants to get cut. I mean, what do you consider “feminine”?

If you cut cal and slim down you’re going to look like a skinny dude.

If you work out you’re going to get more muscle than fat. And you’ll look like a muscley dude.

If you lift weights and get your macronutrient split right (e.g. mostly protein + fat except post workout) you’ll get big and traditionally macho. If you don’t get your macronutrient split right, well, you’ll get something else. Women bodybuilders who want to look traditionally feminine eat normal for like two days and then they’re hot women that can crush you.

So I guess if I were going to start doing something like this I’d plan on doing squats and other thigh/butt stuff all day everyday and getting most of my calories from cake. Then when I want to look extra feminine-by-American-standards I’d eat normally for a day or two.

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What is eating “normally”, in this context?

Also, a question: can you “overdo” cardio, and actually force your body to adapt to the increased energy expense, holding on to the fat and having the opposite (or at least, reduced) effect on loss of bodyfat? If so, what’s the ideal ratio and intensity of cardio/fatburn exercises to prevent that from happening?

So I know basically nothing about this but I’m pretty sure the answer is no, the body will preferentially burn fat as long as there’s fat to burn. I mean why else would it hold on to it. Meanwhle, what else would it be burning? Something more evolutionarily advantageous to be sure.

Practically though this isn’t really a consideration for most normal people, the amount of activity it takes to actually burn enough calories for dramatic fat loss is stupendous. Like running marathons every other day or training to be an Olympic swimmer in the pool for 6 hours a day or some shit.

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It might be stating the obvious but how about yoga? Guy friends i know who do serious yoga have that whole hot androgynous look going (as do some girls)

As for bicycling I think leg excercise actually builds upper body muscle mass anyway… a bit of muscle is good

Ok perhaps “hold on to the fat” was poor wording on my part.

From what I’ve read, it’s not so much that the body will spend other nutrients for energy over fat, so much as training cardio will make you more efficient at the kind of cardio you are doing. i.e. you are putting the same effort as last month but spending less calories on it.

That said, It’s probably true that the variability, if any, is probably negligible for non-athletes, but I’ve seen it mentioned before and I was wondering how much impact it could have

It’s been said a million times in this thread, but unless you’re an incredible athlete, exercise won’t burn a significant number of calories to affect metabolic intake.

Essentially food intake is your size. Exercise is the ratio fo muscle to fat. Heavy lifting will help give you bigger muscles.

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Baked goods are the bane of my diet. At least the apples from my parents’ garden are almost gone, which means that I can stop eating sourdough bread. Now I just gotta make it through the Stollen I’m inevitably gonna buy next week, and then mission flabby-flab-loss for sexy winter bod can officially begin. I’m gonna be cute as fuck!

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They should be called baked bads amirite?

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Ok, guys. It’s almost December 2016, and I’m legit faaat.

The goal is to get rip city by May 2017. I am not in need of help yet, but if ya’ll who have done body weight routines can get at me with your experiences, that’d be dope. Otherwise it’s gonna be reigning in my diet and getting weird for a couple weeks while I do reeeseearch.

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Let me tell you my theory (not backed up by scientific evidence or actual experience): I think you should focus on your diet first before you turn to muscle-building exercises. You’ll already be stressed out enough from figuring out which healthy food doesn’t make you wanna barf, I wouldn’t add heavy physical strain to the mix. It’s easier to focus on one thing at a time. Once you have your diet down to a reliable routine, losing weight should come easily. You can always re-gain mass later, if there’s no muscly muscles waiting beyond the flabby flab. Some medium-intensity cardio once or twice a week might be good for general well-being and to lose some water weight though (to sweat out salt).

Personal hot winter bud progress report: I managed to not eat a Stollen after all, nope. I ate two. And let me tell ya, those four pounds of buttery baked goods did a swell job of catapulting me towards a new personal high score in weight measured on a scale. Amazing how that works, huh.

But do not fret, fellow selectbutts, those days are behind me (for) now. I’m gonna fight the pastry urges by doubling down on veggies. Wish me luck, maybe.

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So, fasted cardio: yay or nay?

I started doing some intense cardio once a week on non-lifting days. Only 1 session so far, so I’m not seeing any difference yet. I’ve also started fasting (I skip one meal basically)

I see a lot of contradictory articles about fasted cardio.
Does it kill muscle rapidly or help not lose it? Is it particularly more effective at burning fat than cardio after regular eating?