Lifting principles

This page serves as an easy reference guide to lifting. It's basically a condensed form of The Sticky. Check that page for more in depth info.

Lifting

The basic principle with lifting is that consistency will beat efficiency every time. Your program doesn't have to be the best or most efficient, you just have to be consistent with it. Here's what I recommend as a good basic routine, based on 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler. His book is optional reading; It's not the clearest writing, and some concepts are explained poorly. The basics of 5/3/1 are available in many places online.

Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday
OHP (Main) Deadlift (Main) Bench (Main) Squat (Main)
Bench (Secondary) Squat (Secondary) OHP (Secondary) Deadlift (Secondary)
Lower Accessory Upper Accessory Lower Accessory Upper Accessory

There are four core lifts: OverHead Press, Deadlift, Bench, and Squat. Each lifting day you'll focus on one of the core lifts, according to the schedule above. Note that the days are not set in stone; As long as you do no more than two days in a row, you'll be fine. The specific day does not matter. Each core lift is paired with another; Squats and deadlifts are paired, and bench/OHP are paired.

Before you start the program, you need to find your maxes in each of the core lifts. Start light until you find a weight that you can do for no more than five reps. When the bar stops in the middle of the sixth rep, that's the appropriate weight to start with. That week, you'll do three sets of five reps at that weight as part of the (Main) lift. The next week, you will add five pounds to that weight. If you start with your bench at 135 3x5, next week you'll do 140 3x5.

You will also use that weight for the (Secondary) lift. When the core lift is marked (Secondary), take 60% of the weight and do 5 sets of 10. If your bench is 135, then on Monday you'll do (135*0.6=81) 80 pounds 5x10. Don't be autistic about the weights, round up or down as needed. 81 vs 80 pounds does not matter.

Additionally, you'll do accessory lifts. On upper-dominant days (Monday and Thursday), do lower accessories. On lower-dominant days (Tuesday and Friday), do upper accessories. I recommend picking one or two lifts that you like, and doing 3x10. On Monday, for example, you might do front squats and romanian deadlifts. Don't worry too much about specific weights, just pick something that feels reasonable for that day.

The sections of each day are priortized in this order: Main, Secondary, and Accessory. You must do the Main lifts on each day. It should take no more than 15-20 minutes, and is the bare minimum. The secondary sections will help you get stronger on the main lifts, and are also a requirement to progress. The accessory lifts are the least important; if you're feeling sick or running out of time, don't feel guilty for skipping them occasionally.

Over time, you'll develop a better sense of what works for you. Feel free to modify as you see and feel fit. This is a template, a guide. It's not set in stone. Just be consistent with it.

Cardio

Cardio sucks and everyone hates it. It's still good to do it. Pick the least boring form that you have access to, and stick with it. Like with lifting, consistency is key over everything else. Work up to at least 30 minutes a day, but work up to it. You should be breathing hard and sweating. After that, you can either increase intensity or increase duration. If a (legitimate) martial art is on the table, go for that. They're great.

Food

Food is also pretty important, and there's more room to experiment here. You probably already know the basics; Don't eat slop, cook your meals as often as possible. Don't fall for stupid memes like carnivore or vegan. There might be something good with keto, and vegetarian might be okay if you eat plenty of eggs and drink milk. You should be aiming for around 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of lean body mass. To calculate lean body mass, See this link. The "Lean Mass" is the number that you want. More protein is almost always better, and excess won't go to waste, but there are diminishing returns past that point.

For recipes, check out Based.cooking. You'll probably find something that sounds good, and you can find the macronutrient profiles just by googling "(Ingredient) macros". A food scale is very helpful, I recommend buying one. Meal prep can also be helpful; cook stuff in batches and reheat it throughout the week. There's plenty of guides on the internet for that kind of thing.

One note is that fasting is something that people should do far more often. Even at healthy weights, fasting promotes health via autophagy. If you aren't on medications, then definitely give it a go. If you are, talk to your doctor.

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