Working Out/Training thread

Although this isn't about directly about female muscle, I thought it would be nice to start a discussion for those of us who are also into training, or those that want to get into it but need some extra motivation or help with getting started.

After all, nothing will increase your chances better than a healthy/fit lifestyle to get with a buff woman. And being active is good for you!

Let's use this thread to share routines, exercises, and resources to help improve ourselves.

For instance: I've been doing bodyweight training for the past year due to lockdowns. Prior to that I've been going to the gym for a few years, doing a Wendler 531 routine.

The switch to pure bodyweight has been interesting, but much needed imo. My pull up game has improved dramatically (went from 2 shitty pullups to 11 repe in about 5 months!) If any of you want to get good at pull ups/chin ups, I highly recommend looking into the "Grease The Groove" methodology of training (do multiple sets throughout the day at 40-50% of your actual max rep count).

Anyone else here doing bodyweight/calisthenics? How long have you been doing it?

I also like bodyweight exercises, during the lockdown I followed a pushup routine with a app which guide you on a daily basis to a better and more difficult push ups. Starting with simple exercises en soon enough you are able to do things like clapping or jumping pushups. They are great for overall fitness, arms, shoulders and chest. You won't become a muscle giant though, but that's not my intention anyway

Currently I am following a similar program for abs, works also great and it's a nice start of a day at my home-office.

I mostly do CrossFit, but as of recent I have scaled back on metcons and have been focusing more on interval work and EMOMs on movements that are weak points.

For example, a good interval workout I do is on the rower. 10 sets of a 500m row with a minute rest in between. Another would be your basic tabata assault/air bike workout: 20 second sprints with 10 seconds easy for 8 minutes. I also like doing wall ball shot EMOMs: for example 15 wall balls with a 20lb ball to a 10 foot target every minute for 10 minutes.

Soon, however, I will be switching to more strength work: focusing on back squats, front squats, overhead pressing and bench pressing.

Started out with CrossFit, and whereas in the beginning everything is amazing and you make a lot of progress, you realise that after a while you can't get further just doing wods. Now switched to only focussing on strength until I am old enough to be considered a master (for competing - in local stuff only) ;-). Currently on Stefi Cohen's programme. Can recommend.

I did more power building in college and dabbled in crossfit, then power for a couple years again and then crossfit for another 7ish until the lockdown. Since then I took a bit of an extended break for injury maintenance and returned in earnest in May after putting on 20 goddamn pounds in January thanks to carbs and edibles, a bad cycle. I’m down a few pounds now and just trying to stay consistent but training has been feeling very good as of late. I need to get down to about 195-200 to consider myself comfortable, so quite a bit to go

Started out with CrossFit, and whereas in the beginning everything is amazing and you make a lot of progress, you realise that after a while you can't get further just doing wods. Now switched to only focussing on strength until I am old enough to be considered a master (for competing - in local stuff only) ;-). Currently on Stefi Cohen's programme. Can recommend.

I love crossfit, and I credit it with getting me into the best shape of my life, but I absolutely agree with you on that. I feel like a lot of gyms don’t really do proper strength cycles, or even dedicated certain classes to simply accessory work or “bro” lifting. One of my gym’s former coaches who also did programming always made sure to have dedicated lifting days consisting of no metcons: instead focusing on a strict strength session of a compound lift like bench press, back squat, overhead press, front squat, etc, and accessory work like rows, tricep extensions, and even bicep curls. I really wish he was still around.

One of the reasons I decided not to come back was that I’m not 20 anymore, I can’t show up and with 15 mins warm up work up to 85% of my max in 12 minutes and then do a 20 min workout without significant prep work. So back to the tried and true stuff for me plus some conditioning

I also like bodyweight exercises, during the lockdown I followed a pushup routine with a app which guide you on a daily basis to a better and more difficult push ups. Starting with simple exercises en soon enough you are able to do things like clapping or jumping pushups. They are great for overall fitness, arms, shoulders and chest. You won't become a muscle giant though, but that's not my intention anyway

Currently I am following a similar program for abs, works also great and it's a nice start of a day at my home-office.

Nice man. Make sure you do some pull exercises (rows, pullups) along with the pushups so keep things balanced.

I’m a bit banged up, couple of bum shoulders and a hip that acts up a lot. The format of an hour class doesn’t do anything to help Alleviate my issues but I can continue to train how I like if I give it enough time. However I still can’t squat heavy without aggravating my hip so that issue is not solved yet

531 is a great program. I always added a little more volume but the focus on the main lifts and making sure those increase is super important . Right now I just have dumbbells that go up to 75 so I definitely need to get back in the gym for heavy lifts. Still have stayed in great shape. Actually a lot leaner now so when I get back into the gym hopefully I can put some mass on the right way. My wife and I just had a baby so she hasn’t been working out these last few weeks but was throughout her pregnancy. I think she’s gonna go HARD as soon as she can. And yeah I’m athletic and in good shape but she’s an absolute genetic freak with muscle so I can’t wait.

531 is a great program. I always added a little more volume but the focus on the main lifts and making sure those increase is super important . Right now I just have dumbbells that go up to 75 so I definitely need to get back in the gym for heavy lifts. Still have stayed in great shape. Actually a lot leaner now so when I get back into the gym hopefully I can put some mass on the right way. My wife and I just had a baby so she hasn’t been working out these last few weeks but was throughout her pregnancy. I think she’s gonna go HARD as soon as she can. And yeah I’m athletic and in good shape but she’s an absolute genetic freak with muscle so I can’t wait.

Love 531. Made some good gains on my squat and deadlift thanks to it, but I gotta admit that my upper body made the best progress (physique-wise) thanks to bodyweight ring training. Archer Ring Push Ups are probably my favourite exercise for upper body.

They just announced that gyms can reopen next week for us here, so I'll finally be able to train legs again. Can't wait to see where my strength is at now, after a year+ of no gym training.

Achievement unlocked: I finally did my first handstand walk! It wasn’t far: maybe 10 feet, but I’m stupid stoked! That was the one last crossfit movement that I wasn’t able to do.

What supplements would you recommend for a beginner?

Protein really.

Otherwise just eat a lot. It’ll be more than you think you should eat. A protein shake can help ease that by giving you a liquid option so it’s not all good, but no reason to do anything else but eat.

I train full body 3 days a week and some cardio through b-ball. I used to train isolated body parts but realized I was barely seeing results also time consuming w/ my schedule. Since relocating tot he DMV, I switched up thngs and the results have been pervasive. Also I’m an early morning person, so those 6am workouts are clutch. Especially with the new year and now the gym swamped w/ “new year new me” folks, early mornings have been my go to.

What is your goal S.S.? Body type etc?