PdevC

I sympathize with your situation, but might I suggest working through the soreness? From my experience, it helps, and if you let the soreness dictate when you do your squats, or your deadlifts, or whatever - those exercises are always going to leave you sore, because you're not letting yourself get used to it. It's like putting your toe in a pool, then waiting 20 minutes and doing it again to miraculously find that it's still cold. Only after you jump in and swim around for a minute or two does it get comfortable. Of course with lifting, we're dealing with different rates of adaptation, and the adaptation remains with us for longer than 20 minutes, but I'm sure you get the point. Of course, there's a difference between soreness and serious pain, which would suggest injury. For example, joint pain is never good.

I've decided to switch from SS to SL due to the clearer instructions, smaller increases to avoid early stalling, and a ladder of strength so you aren't clueless on what to do next after completing the program. I also found the long explanations on form to be unhelpful, after getting more out of a few bullet points on the stronglifts website. I have a few questions. In the past I've been unable to do low bar squats, I simply do not have the shoulder flexibility. I've inconsistently done stretches to help with this issue, as well as worked to improve my posture(been actively trying to keep my back straight when sitting, got a physical therapist to re-align my spine). The stretches I'm looking to do, and have done a handful of times over the past few weeks on vacation are shoulder dislocations with a broomstick, doorway pec stretch and thoracic extensions with a foam roller. I don't think I've done the doorway pec stretches correctly though, I didn't want to push my shoulder into the doorway too much because it hurt, and don't really feel a stretch in my chest or anywhere else except my neck, even when I look directly at the other side of the doorway. Unfortunately, I lack the superhuman ability to instantly become flexible enough for low bar squats, so I guess I'll be doing high bar until I can squat low bar, and then switch? I've read this is no good because this changes the exercise enough that it's better to just stick with one. But both SS and SL are hot for low bar. Also, the stronglifts website says to do the press by moving your back and your head just enough so the bar can get past, and then getting back underneath the bar once it passes your forehead. However, when I did this while lifting with my uncle, he told me not to do that. I noticed, however, that when he did it the bar curved around his head. I've read many times that this will simply not happen with heavier weights, which prefer to move in a straight line. I've also read a comment about "noobs" arching their back when doing overhead press. Less importantly, should I add assistance exercises to the program? I'm looking at chin-ups, pull-ups, and dips. I've read they're all great exercises, and I've read 2 training logs of people doing stronglifts that do either chin-ups or pull-ups at the end of their workouts. I'm worried they'll cause me to stall on the bench press(dips) and barbell rows(pull-ups/chin-ups), though.

Sounds good. I've had some kind of frozen curried rice dish from trader joe's, which was pretty good, but other than that, nope, no curries. Could you recommend me a good one to start with? Btw, how much protein do beans have? Different online sources and the nutritional facts on the back of bagged beans seem to be in direct contrast to eachother. According to online sources, beans are around 18-26% protein, whereas according to the bags, they're about 40-50% protein. Are the online sources perhaps counting fiber as 4 calories per gram, despite fiber being indigestible? Also, why do canned beans have less protein? Don't they just add calcium and sodium to preserve them?

Sorry for the confusion, but what I'm asking is for what you literally eat day to day, ie what you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, pre-workout, post-workout, pre-bedtime, any meals inbetween, or whatever you label your meals(ie meals 1-10). I'm knowledgeable about what constitutes healthy food, I just don't know what to do with it to make it interesting without turning a potato into a french fry(ie turning a healthy food into an unhealthy food). I do have a few tricks of my own, but they apply mainly to high-carb foods, like sweet potatoes, than high-protein foods, like tempeh, tofu, and beans. The only way I know how to make tofu or tempeh interesting is to cover them in barbecue or A1 sauce, or a ridiculously high-sodium asian sauce(ie kung pao, black bean, both sauces that could give you a weeks worth of sodium in a single serving, not to mention all the empty calories). What I do with sweet potatoes is either bake them in a small amount of oil, or nuke them and spread a little earth balance or smart balance on it while it's still hot, and then sprinkle a little pepper, and a fair bit of cinnamon. All the flavors compliment eachother really well, and it's pretty simple.

Could you be more specific, please?

I guess I'll aim for 1g/lb of LBM... So, anyone wanna post what they eat during a cut?

I really can't recomend what would be a good amount. Almost every where you look, some say 20-30 mins a day others say 2 hours a week. HIIT is great, but rememebr there are other ways of getting cardio instread of running- i.e. swimming, rowing (a concept 2 is great), sled dragging (although not as fast as the others because your dragging a 70+ pound sled, gets your heart rate up in a hurry). You can also throw in "Finishers" at the end of a strength workout. Here are some good ones http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/seven_metabolic_finishers_to_burn_fat Good luck, glad to see that you are cautious about over doing. Better to be on the safe side, and slowly build up by doing short stints at first, maybe less then 10 mins and go from there. Well, burning through the fat really isn't a concern for me, I'm 5' 6" 228.4 lbs. I'm also on a cut, because of this. I rode my bike to and from the gym today to save gas, made me too weak to do squats, but I prolly overdid it on the bike, plus I hadn't eaten for like 4-5 hours, so that doesn't help. For now, that's plenty of cardio imo, ride home was hell, especially the hills. 2 miles from my apartment to the gym. Actually don't run because my flat feet cause me really bad shin splints, usually do the stationary bike. Would swim, but dont have access to an indoor pool. Rowing's an idea. Ima go pass out.

Bump, rewrote the original post and thread title to make my questions and concerns more specific.

I know what to do when It's time to bulk, but till then, I'm not sure what I should eat. I'll include protein powder, but I like my diet to be minimally processed and low in sodium, but it's hard to do this without either sacrificing protein, my deficit, or my veganism. On top of this, there is so many differing opinions on how much protein is enough, and if truth be told, too much can be bad for your health. I've heard everything from 27 grams a day, to 2.5 grams per pound of body weight. The most common, however, seem to be 1g/day per kilogram, 1g/day per pound of lean body mass, and simply 1g/day per pound. I've read that amino acids aren't needed to support body fat, so I'm inclined to believe I should get somewhere between 1g per kilogram of lean body mass, and 1g per pound of lean body mass. Still, that's a pretty big gap. I would be most appreciative if I could see some of your cutting plans, I'm totally lost when I go to the grocery store these days.

I personally see no reason to go for hemp protein unless you want variety. If you want a very complete powder, go for gemma, if you eat a diet high in beans, rice protein will complement your diet very well. 50% pea/50% rice would be a good start, and it's cheaper than if you included hemp. I wouldnt recommend you including creatine into the mix, buy that seperately, and also buy some dextrose(corn sugar), as well. This should explain why: http://www.trulyhuge.com/creatinemonohydrateL14.html tl;dr: if creatine takes too long to digest, it will become useless, therefore it's best to take it some time after your last meal, with a fast absorbing carbohydrate(such as dextrose).

Good luck! It's hard enough to eat protein smoothies with loads of fruit in them.... Really? What kind do you use? Pea? I've heard pea protein tastes pretty bad, but what could be bad about rice protein? People eat gluten straight as 'seitan' or 'mock duck meat'.

If you know of a place with a better total price, why don't you share with the class? I doubt most of their customers order a single pound at a time. 1 pound might cost $10 to ship, but 10 lbs cost around $16. Even with your ridiculous example they're cheaper than GNC who want $16.99 for a pound of soy protein. You're right, it's just I wanted to try the powder before I bought it on a large scale. Don't want to have to choke down 10 pounds of something I find disgusting. Don't have a blender or this would be less of a concern, I'm planning on mixing in water or unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Why is everyone recommending True Protein? Their product pricing is great, but that doesnt matter because their shipping is ridiculous. A 1 pound 50% rice, 50% gemma powder cost me $5.03 with a promotional code, ground shipping? $10. No thanks.

Does anyone know where I could find amino acid profiles of foods? PDCAAS ratings would be good too(or any other protein quality scales). If I can, ill eat nothing but kidney beans(bagged, not canned)), extra firm tofu, broccoli, spinach, oats, raspberries, blueberries, ground flaxseeds(dat omega-3 ratio), almond milk(45% RDA of calcium is a pretty cool guy), walnuts and pistachios in an effort to get enough protein while remaining healthy. I have no money to buy protein powder, and I doubt my parents will buy me any. But I gotta make sure im balancing my diet properly, getting all the amino acids I need(and enough), etc. I also gotta be as thrifty as is practical(I know spirulina is great, but I don't have a fortune to spend on it). Taste is nothing but an afterthought. Also, if I can get my parents to buy me some protein powder, it'll be this - http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/ans/nitrofusion.html Is it a good choice? I like the idea of hemp protein(what with the lack of phytates, high fiber, high protein, edestin, omega-3 ratio, etc), but it's simply too much for too little. Would definitely include it if I could afford it.

Thanks man, I'm no longer having wrist problems(putting the thumb under the bar instead of over was my problem), but am now having trouble putting it all together, I worry I might have inflexible hamstrings because I find it impossible to keep my lower back arched at the bottom of the lift. Can't touch my toes either. At least 3-4 inches short.

I don't know if it's a flexibility problem, or a reduced range of motion because of my body weight(im 232 lbs at 5' 6"), but I cannot do squats with proper form. I keep my back straight/slight arched, I've tried putting the rack as high as my neck and as low as below my chest, and I always grab the bar with my wrists straight. I've tried widening my grip, I've tried shortening my grip. But once I duck under the bar and I position it between my shoulders and lats, my wrists bend as my hands go under the bar, intercepting part of the weight. The only way to avoid this is to bring the bar up, on top of my spine, above the shoulders, right below the neck. When laying down it feels bruised in that area, as I did a few sets with the bar that high on my first day of SS, the last few workouts I've just made a few failed attempts to get into proper form and then quit. Since my gym membership comes with 3 free personal training sessions, I set one up on thursday, but I'm not confident about it, and am worried said personal trainer might try to push a different program on me, probably one high in machine exercises. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to fix my form without having to rely on my local gym's fitness trainers?

Thanks, ill check em out. Not so sure about 1g protein per kg though, that's like 18-20% protein even on a cut. I'll try to aim for 25-35%. Lots of chili and tofu steaks in my future.

Atm I have my oats in the morning, but nothing but beans(dry, not canned), extra firm tofu, and broccoli throughout the rest of the day. I'm 232 lbs, about 40% body fat(stage 2 obese). I hear people recommend 1g of protein per pound, which for me means 232 grams a day, so that means 928 of my calories need to come from protein, and scooby's workshop says to eat 2450 calories a day for a 20% calorie reduction from my maintenance, so I roughly need to eat 40% of my calories from protein.

Well let's just say proxies and google are your friends, and .pdf format is a pretty cool guy, eh doesnt require additional downloads and doesnt afraid of anything.

I have a few questions regarding cardio. Is it true that it catabolizes muscle? Some say yes, some say no, some say only if done in excess, like what endurance athletes do. I've even heard some say it wont happen unless excess fat stores are used up first. I'm inclined to believe the third opinion - only if done in excess. Is there a recommended amount for optimal health? The only opinion I've heard on this is that of couch-to-5k, who claim 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 3 times a week is optimal for cardiovascular health. Then again, I suppose with more volume I do, the better cardiovascular I'll need, which will probably exceed the amount necessary to live a high quality sedentary life, right? I'm interested in doing HIIT, as most sources say it is superior to constant, moderate intensity workouts(and it sounda a helluva lot more interesting), but I'm concerned about overtraining my legs, as I am doing squats 3 times a week and deadlifts 1-2 times a week at low rep, high intensity(Starting Strength). If I shoud do HIIT, should I increase my low intensity phase along with my sprint phase, or should I keep my low intensity phase at the lowest setting, so I can go all out during the sprint phase? If I slow down during the last 5-10 seconds of a sprint phase, should I lower the setting I use for it? I could really use some insight, atm I'm doing zero cardio due to fear of overtraining or muscle loss, and lack of knowledge regarding execution. I may just throw in 3 moderate intensity cardio sessions a week, and a couple HIIT sessions inbetween lift days.