Exercise and weight loss advice thread

I've managed to get some horrible Not Covid thing which has left me with a lingering cough for the last week. Eased up on the running but I'm 3 weeks out from my first half marathon. Shittest timing.

Having being previously happy with the proportions of my legs, I did legs today in the gym for the first time in a while, and am already regretting it.

Changed my diet a bit and (due to allergies/intolerances) am taking a lot more natural protein now for lunch and it has made a noticeable difference in my strength and muscle mass.

Exercise rocks

That's sucks Vortex. I've had asthma all my life, and when I had COVID it definitely made it worse. On a stronger inhaler and have had a lot more attacks since.

My advice to any asthma sufferers is to have a nebuliser at home. I take saline nebules with it, and it's the only thing that helps me when I have an attack.

I cough so much during an attack the inhalers don't work. The nebuliser calms it down enough for me to take the inhaler properly.

Are you 5ft tall?!

Finally getting near my pre-covid weight again, lost 3-4kg to get back down around the 72kg mark

5"5. Just.

Depends on the time of day. Measuring in the morning and it's a defo 5"5 but later on and it's on the line.

I'll be as tall as Grandpa Simpson by the time I'm 70.

I was a the gym at lunch, and there was a young lad, mid-teens I'd say, who was very thin and waif-like. He was doing dumbbell curls with the appropriate amount of weight for his frame. All good so far.

What annoyed was, that every time he'd finish a set he'd throw the fucking dumbbells on the ground like he was Ronnie Coleman after curling my bodyweight in each hand.

It was ridiculous. No-one said anything, but Jesus I can't wait for the schools to start again

My lad's going to the gym these days and he's been well told about that stuff and to treat the equipment with respect.

Saldy, it was all too easy to point out examples of 'please don't do that kind of thing'.

I've noticed more teenagers over summer and it's really funny how they seem to go in all hard then spend their time just spotting each other lift piddly weights and chat. It's basically a social club.

They always look a bit gutted when me, a short chubby 30something just lifts heavier than them and skips for 3 minutes while they're struggling to get a rhythm going.

Speaking of which, any decent guides for appropriate weights etc to point my waif-like 13 year old to? I have a pretty good idea but he won't listen to me at all. As obviously, I know nothing.

I think Dougs is after something that's more authoritative than that. Are there any youtubers or something?

No-one else can tell you the weight that you can lift. Pick something up and try it, and then adjust. Within a couple of weeks you should be pretty zeroed in on the right working weight. Then aim to add a rep or weight every week until you can’t. Err on the side of caution and go lower to start. Ego lifting will only get you hurt.

Example, for 3 sets x 8-12 reps:
Set 1: 20kg - 17 reps. Too light. Rest 2-3 mins.
Set 2: 25 kg - 14 reps. Too light. 2-3 mins.
Set 3: 30 kg - 9 reps. Good. Next session, start with 30 and see how it goes.
Likely going to end up at something like 14/11/8. Next session grab the 32.5s and aim to get all sets within the 8-12 range.
Use those until you’re hitting 12/12/12 and then go up to 35s. Add reps each week until you hit 12/12/12 again, then go up again in weight.

There’s no specific number or science to tell you what you can lift. Everyone will be different based on lengths and leverages, stability, bias, etc. it’s a case of figuring out what you can do, with good form, getting close to failure.

Jordan Peters (TBJP) has an educational series on bodybuilding on YouTube.

Ed: just to add, machine training is fine. It’s good advice. The whole notion of “free weights being better” is goal specific, and as an all-purpose “better” is absolutely not true. If you’re specifically after hypertrophy, adding stability to an exercise to elicit maximal tension on a given muscle will give you the greatest result, and that’s exactly what machines are there to do. That doesn’t mean they’re always optimal, but they definitely can be.
If you want performance-based results, training primarily with free weights can be better, provided you know what you’re doing.