Question for all gym-rats here; How do I improve my workout routine?

Jun 11, 2023
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Well I usually wake up around 5-5:30 am, then I prep, go to gym, wash up, and then have breakfast around 7:30 am. between 9-5 I work from home, and then 5 - 8 I have dinner and do grad school work. then I go to bed betwen 10:30 - 11 pm. So sleep around 6.5 hours max.

But sometimes 7 hours feels impossible, because I sometimes wake up with a terrible lower back pain. It seems to happen if I sleep for more than 6 hours. I swore I've tried every tricks on the the moon, and it always has been a long sleep that seems to be the common cause.

For nutrition, I actually think I've been getting less protein these days. Today, for example, I had a total of 3 eggs, 1 salmon fillet, and a protein shake. I think that comes up to about 60 g of protein? Sometimes I try to get more, but for most of the time I am too tired and exhausted from both work and grad school to go out an get some natural quality foods.
The sleep thing, may be time for a new mattress. Since you basically spend almost a third of your life in bed and it’s worth spending a little more towards a good night sleep, especially if your grad work will lead to more disposable income in the near future. Not a bad way to treat yourself and your body will thank you.
 

Drathnoxis

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You're doing a couple of things wrong.

1. You're not eating enough protein.

In order to gain muscle, bulk up, and gain strength the general recommendation is to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. This means that if you weigh 130lbs, but you want to put on 20lbs of muscle and weigh 150lbs you need to eat 150gram of protein per day while also being in a calorie surplus. Conversely, if you weigh 200lbs and you want to weigh 150lbs you need to eat 150 grams of protein while also being in a calorie deficit. This isn't exactly true for everyone, people's bodies are different, so some people might need more or less protein, more or less fiber, etc. but this is a good general guideline to start from.

There is one universal truth, you can't build muscle without protein. It doesn't matter how much you work out if your body doesn't have the basic building blocks to build the muscle you want. This is something that I didn't understand for YEARS and then when I changed my diet I made more progress in 6 months than I had in the previous 2 years.

You can also gain muscle while also burning fat. If you structure your diet around a high protein and fiber but a low calorie intake you can do both at the same time.

You're also going to the gym in the morning before you've eaten anything, that's a problem. Working out on an empty stomach means you'll have less energy to put into the workout. At least have something like a protein smoothie before your workout so that your body has some energy to burn.

2. The whole "mid load" thing you're doing is pointless. You won't gain strength unless you're pushing yourself each workout. Doing what you're comfortable with is good for maintenance, not gains. If you want to make gains you need to push your workouts to failure. Can't finish all the reps in a set because the weight is too heavy? GOOD. That means you actually went to failure. Don't have a set number of reps that you feel you HAVE to do per set, because by doing that you're limiting yourself to the weight you KNOW you can hit those reps with.

The number of reps in a set matters less than going to failure. If you can comfortably bench 3 sets of 8 reps then increase your weight. Can only bench 3 sets of 4 now? Good, do that new weight until you can bench 3 sets of 8 at that new number.

I'm a big fan of drop sets because working to failure stimulates growth. You can start with a really high weight, push it to failure in just 2 or 3 reps, then drop the weight, go to failure again in a couple more reps, drop the weight again and go to failure again. In a single set of 8 reps you've stressed your muscles to failure 3 times instead of just once, which stimulates more muscle growth, and you probably started with a higher weight than you otherwise would have because you didn't have to do that weight for all 8 reps, which conditions your body to that weight.
How do you get the protein? Just protein powder or do you do diet calculations?
 

Dirty Hipsters

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How do you get the protein? Just protein powder or do you do diet calculations?
Both.

Protein powder is an easy way to supplement the natural protein you're eating, but it's best for the majority of your protein to be from natural sources. Things like eggs, milk, cheese, spinach, chicken, fish, beans, and greek yogurt are great sources of protein (I probably eat around 4-6lbs of fat free greek yogurt in a week).

Just check the nutrition facts on whatever you're buying and it'll tell you how much protein is in a serving size, and you can use that to estimate how much protein you're eating or should be eating.

An easy rule of thumb is that a palm sized piece of meat or fish will have about 30 grams of protein in it (this varies slightly depending on what kind of meat or fish it is and how much fat/marbling it has, but it's an easy to to guess at the amount of protein you're eating if you're eating out and aren't cooking for yourself).

It's more difficult if you're a vegetarian or a vegan to get enough protein to build significant muscle, but it can be done. It's mostly going to come from beans and soy in that case, and you just need to be really strict with monitoring your protein intake since the majority of what you're eating isn't naturally going to have much protein in it.
 
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Drathnoxis

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Both.

Protein powder is an easy way to supplement the natural protein you're eating, but it's best for the majority of your protein to be from natural sources. Things like eggs, milk, cheese, spinach, chicken, fish, beans, and greek yogurt are great sources of protein (I probably eat around 4-6lbs of fat free greek yogurt in a week).

Just check the nutrition facts on whatever you're buying and it'll tell you how much protein is in a serving size, and you can use that to estimate how much protein you're eating or should be eating.

An easy rule of thumb is that a palm sized piece of meat or fish will have about 30 grams of protein in it (this varies slightly depending on what kind of meat or fish it is and how much fat/marbling it has, but it's an easy to to guess at the amount of protein you're eating if you're eating out and aren't cooking for yourself).

It's more difficult if you're a vegetarian or a vegan to get enough protein to build significant muscle, but it can be done. It's mostly going to come from beans and soy in that case, and you just need to be really strict with monitoring your protein intake since the majority of what you're eating isn't naturally going to have much protein in it.
150g a day seems like an enormous amount. I might average 50-60g based on a quick estimate of what I usually eat. I'd have to eat a kilogram of greek yogurt a day to make it.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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150g a day seems like an enormous amount. I might average 50-60g based on a quick estimate of what I usually eat. I'd have to eat a kilogram of greek yogurt a day to make it.
Yes, the vast majority of people don't eat enough protein in general.

You're supposed to eat .7 grams per pound of ideal body weight to maintain your muscle, and 1 gram to 1.2 grams to build muscle. Although these numbers can depend heavily on genetics and age. Older people need to eat way more protein because as you age your muscles break down faster, but most people do the opposite and actually start eating less. It's one of the major reasons that older people shrink and their muscles and bones become weaker.

For years I didn't keep track of my macros because I thought I was "eating healthy" and I was thin and had visible abs. I couldn't understand why I wasn't making any progress with my lifts. I changed my diet, started eating more protein and my power absolutely exploded while my weight stayed the same, and I actually became more lean.

The crazy thing is how much less hungry you get and how much less you snack when you eat more protein. It's so much more satiating by volume than other food sources. I'll make a protein smoothy with frozen berries, greek yogurt, protein powder, and water, less than 500 calories and around 45 to 50 grams of protein, and that's enough to be a full lunch. I'm not hungry for hours. I actually end up saving money because a smoothie like this is like 2 dollars of ingredients for a meal, that's healthier for you and way more satisfying than a bowl of instant ramen for roughly the same price.
 
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