Strength / Weight Training

Fact based.

Comparison by bodybuilding.com

In essence, with as much as 99.1 percent of creatine monohydrate delivered to your skeletal muscles, there's not much for these newer forms to improve on

But, as I said, if you don't get on with mono, try the others. For a while my creatine was giving me the shits. I used micronize for a bir or whatever it was, as I think it wasn't dissolved enough. Or I was using the pills and then swapped to pure powder and it's fine how.

Edit: they're the same thing, so best buy cheaper.

Thanks, I think micronised is lumped in with monohydrate in that comparison, it is the same chemical compound after all, just smushed up. I get it doesn't have the same level of peer reviewed data yet being the new kid on the block but I don't think it's any worse or better than straight mono other than a bit more pricey. Next time I see you we'll have a hug off, winner takes all.

I Also believe that BCAAs are a bit of a con. If you're interested look into EAAs rather. BCAAs are a part of EAAs.

I use EAAs as my stomach no longer likes milk and whey. (Also as a flavourant for gym)

Of the 20 amino acids that make up most proteins, nine are essential to humans. These essential amino acids, or EAAs, get their name because the body cannot manufacture them itself. EAAs must be consumed through food.

BCAAs, as they’re commonly called, are made up of three EAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. So, BCAA supplements contain EAAs, but just three.

This podcast has a series on creatine, lots of good info. https://open.spotify.com/episode/1YMLMVjDB3W1mgWkh6alUc?si=t0ZEMWH6QMuHQugE0f8F2w

Cheers all.

Tbh I'm not going to get that into it or use it long term. I've got a Velodrome experience day in a few weeks and I'm massively out of shape and haven't cycled for ages. So I just want to get to the gym every day to put some time on the spin bikes.

I've just started with 30min sessions and a bit of rowing. But hoping to move on to spin classes and want to give my body the best shot at getting up to speed.

Lol... Looks like while I added my edit, you'd respodended 😂 basically we agree! Yay!

But I'll still take that hug

Lots of evidence now around creatine also helping with improved cognitive fucntion Huberman bro outing himself...

Huberman bro outing himself...

Huh?

I assume it refers to Andrew Huberman and his Huberman lab podcast, they've mentioned the positive neurological effects of creatine as a sidenote in several episodes. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FU8oakQNGK5ciOtpUCTB9?si=p0BC0GiKT_yxsAMEV8yRsQ

I take about 3g daily for maintenance (being quite diminutive in stature), but take the same intra-workout in my carb drink. Can help with the shaky reps, and also it’s very efficiently shuttled into your muscles while in a state of physiological excitability; apparently.

Possibly helps with post-manopausal brain fog. Hard to tell.

yeah this sorry @ChainBreaker

With regard to working out. There seems to be so much variation out there. There must be a definitive way to build muscle.

If you look at the Mike Mentzer scenario it’s heavy, slow with few reps. 6-8

Then the other end of thing is eccentric hypertrophy with reasonably heavy weight with more reps 8-12.

I seem to go between the two of these but unfortunately see very little improvement. My diet is good but I’m 6’3 so long muscles

The long and the short of it is that if you are lifting weights in a challenging way, which gets you close to failure, on a regular basis, with some kind of progressive overload, you will stimulate hypertrophy / muscle growth. This is why you see results from different methodologies as long as they follow some basic principles. Obviously there's more optimal ways to do things, but the kind of "definitive" way is that most of it works.

The other component is food. You have to eat in a caloric surplus to gain significant amounts of muscle and "use" the stimulus from the workouts. You also have to eat a good amount of protein. You also generally have to do these things for an extended period of time. If you want to gain muscle, bulk for 6 months plus.

There is also the aspect of hormone profiles and the way they impact your ability to build muscle. You can get these checked via places like medichecks and see if there's anything that needs addressing.

If you really want to gain muscle and are struggling, consider going full hardgainer and just accepting that you will develop some fat. You probably just need to eat more.

Little improvement in size, appearance or strength?
2 kg of extra muscle spread on your frame might not appear dramatic because of your height, but keeping up the consistency, volume and food will get you there.

Lift hard, recover well, eat loads.
Then cut some of the excess fat.

I've set a goal to actually enjoy BJJ this year rather than suffer and get consistently injured as per the last 18 months (which equates to less than 10 months actual training with all the injuries). I plan to start doing weights and increase stretching but the immediate goal is to simply get to training 2-3 times a week for the next few months. The sessions can be relatively brutal and my biggest issue right now is recovery. More specifically DOMS and sleep. I'm certain i do not get enough protein in my diet so am trying this plant based low fodmap protein that in small 10g doses has been ok but is on the sweet side. Realistically i think i should be looking at a 20g serving but how crucial is it that consume it before i go to bed after an evening session? Rehydrating is already difficult before bed and I don't think i'd get any sleep if i consumed that much sugar at 10pm. Would a better option be to have a couple eggs after training and have a protein shake for breakfast? My new years resolution is to get up earlier to allow me to train in the morning but it's going to take a while to get there.

Apologies if this is the wrong thread but the supplement thread has been inactive for a while.

Yeah, I was thinking this a few weeks ago too. Wish there was an answer. People still can't decide if the last three-five reps of a set are the ones that create hypertrophy or not (here's a four hour podcast saying they clearly aren't the only factor. It really delves into why hypertrophy isn't a simple dose/response relationship in the first hour or so)

Like Zooey said, the fact that people have had success with such a wide variety of training programs shows that most things will work. And even if you could find an 'optimal' for you, it'd change as you got stronger/bigger/heavier/lighter/increased work capacity/sick anyway.

For what it's worth, I've found going really, really hard, controlling reps so that muscles hurt instead of joints and eating everything over Christmas has worked pretty well lately.

The timing of your protein intake is significantly less important than your overall intake. If eating late is going to impact your sleep definitely don't do it. Sleep is key.

Rehydrating after a workout is important, but again, if your overall hydration over the day is adequate it shouldn't matter as much.

There must be a definitive way to build muscle.

Well yes and no. The variability of individuals makes having a unified process hard to define, as the same stimulus will have different outcomes based on the individual.

Have decided that I’m going to try and have a more directed attitude towards training this year.
Try and climb 3x a week, with each session ending with 20-40 mins cardio.

The next step is to add some weights. Picked up my adipowers and did a little bit of deadlifting and squatting yesterday. Even the tiny bit of squatting has messed up my quads, which was to be expected. I’m just keen to see what happens trying to mix climbing strength, with a little bit of compound exercises (squat, press, DL etc), while also trying to get back into running. I’m quite happy to be mediocre at all of them, but primarily I have the suspicion if I can keep consistent across all exercises, I should feel better.

Being a good few kgs lighter has made everything feel better anyway.

Even just hitting a deep squat with no bar tends to set my quads off (the muscles don’t really get used like that any other time).
Worked up to 80kg but was basically cramping up. So moved to deadlifts and worked up to a 140kg single.
The hope is to be able to hit 3x5 reps on squats, and have a decent 1x5 deadlift working set. No idea where I’ll get to, but having a 2x BW squat (160kg) and 2.5x BW DL (200kg) would be nice.

The other other component is....

SLEEP

With regard to working out. There seems to be so much variation out there. There must be a definitive way to build muscle.

Im with @zooeyzooey in that as long as youre lifting challenging weights, you will grow.

I do feel there is a case for specialisation or specifics, but that would be for the advanced to elite in whatever you speaking of.

All these programs are designed for specific things, and each has its pros and cons. And will either take you or someone like a coach to find whats right but youre talking the top, "im trying to add 5cm to my jump, or 10lbs to a deadlift." At that stage youll be more in tune with your body.

Edit: nothing wrong with picking one to work through. It can give you focus and direction! Also, they have loads of experience so its a good place to learn stuff.

Watch Bulletproof for BJJ. 2 guys who seem to know a thing about this

weight training for bjj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-T04iCbPs8&t=458s

injury training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYseku-5yZs

Knee injury and training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uMertlFMQo

BTW, one of the big things about getting bigger, is simply long term consistent challenging weight lifting. Theres a few of us who have been lifting for years and size and bulk comes with long term exposure.

You body needs to grow and adapt to get stronger. Bones will get denser, tendons and fibres stronger, and then your muscles will get stronger.

Unless youre doing the otc enhanced route, its not going to happen overnight.

size and bulk comes with long term exposure

Just needed quoting

What is your goal? - Deadlift strength? Overall size? Overall strength? Speed? Power? Endurance?

For me, i struggle to follow set programs. in my youth, I didnt get passed the simple stage of the various day splits. Bro split, full body, upper/lower split. These days, im happy to train roughly everything every day for 4-5 days a week. But im very fluid with it. If my elbows are hurting, i concentrate on legs. If i cant bear the thought of leg day, i do upper.

lol