Can't Afford to Lift

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

I’m a full time college student, chemistry major, have a girlfriend, do chemistry research, and about to take the MCAT in a month… so I can say it is still possible to be a full time college student and find time to train.

If it’s about money for a gym, you’ve got some great suggestions up there. Getting a job in construction or at the local Home Depot or Lowe’s garden department should have you picking and hauling random stuff… basically doing deadlift type stuff all day. Plus you’ll get money to buy good. If you think you don’t have time to get a job, realize that you need the money and it’ll just help you structure your time more wisely. Getting a job at a local gym or at the Y would be golden.

If that doesn’t work, find some friends who have a bench. My brother is at a med school in the Caribbean and he and some friends are pitching in to buy a cheap ass bench, so it’s still possible to train no matter where you are. Maybe, like him, you can pitch in and buy something cheap. You won’t be able to fit in a bench in your dorm, but you can fit in an adjustable dumbbell set or an adjustable EZ-curl bar (roll it under your bed).

Find one off craigslist - craigslist | pennsylvania - or newspaper classifieds. I got an adjustable dumbbell set from Wal-Mart as a kid for under $40, but the weight only went up to 35lbs per dumbbell. If you don’t have enough money for that, split it with your roommate. Tell his fat ass to get in shape.

For food, whey is cheap as hell. What is it, a quarter a serving? Less? Take whey with oil to get lots of calories. Tuna and eggs are cheap too. My roommate is a beast and he bulked–without putting much fat–on the cheapest foods: oats, whey, peanut butter, and occasionally cheap chicken thighs that he bought on sale (these were a luxury to him). Buy the cheapest cuts of meat and buy your milk on sale.

If you have gal friends, go out to eat with them. I went by on $20 for over a month freshman year because I would go out to eat with gals. They can never finish their food so I would end up eating a lot for very little money (I would still buy something cheap to make it look like I was eating). Once again, like my roommate’s diet, it’s probably not optimal but it’ll get the job done.

Show the people on this board that you want it bad enough and use of these solutions. I can’t think of any reason all the solutions are infeasible.

22

WTF? If you’re that broke, try to find somebody with a garage gym who will let you lift with them in return for shutting up and working hard. Find some hole in the wall gym and see if they’ll trade a gym membership for sweeping up a little bit. Get a couple buddies and buy a barbell and a couple hundred pounds of weight. Find some small-town highschool and see if they’ll let you train in their weight room when sports aren’t in season.

If food’s the problem, you need to suck it up and pinch pennies. Rice and dry beans, eggs, bulk cottage cheese from Sam’s Club or similar, tuna, canned salmon, ground turkey.

23

[quote]Wildman90 wrote:
Im good for summer its NOW im talkin about
i cant put a dumbbell set in my dorm il get booted out and i understand the body
weight stuff and such but if i cant
afford proper nutrition il just
wear down

see what i sayin?[/quote]

OK so if you can’t put a dumbbell set in your dorm (WTF? are they gonna actually snoop under your bed and kick you out for trying to stay fit?)… then just use the other suggestions. Work construction or at a gym, or find someone who lives off campus with weights. If you’re taking 5000 calories you must be pretty big, so ask one of your lifting buddies and make friends with someone totally random who looks like he lifts and explain to him your situation, maybe he’ll have a bench at his place or know someone who wouldn’t mind a training partner. Once again, if you want it bad enough, you’ll find someone.

About food, buy everything cheap and use this as a good time for cutting/maintaining instead of bulking.

24

Find a park, run sprints, do pullups and pushups, and eat whatever you can get your hands on. As one of America’s youth, I’m SURE you can find a way to fight through the “adversity.”

25

Cry me a fucking river. What was the point of starting this thread? Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?

Do single leg squats, pullups with a backpack full of weight, do hill sprints, one arm pushups. Eat lots of food, even if it’s cheap and nasty, because it’s only two months.

It seems like the biggest obstacle is your self-pity. Get over it.

26
27

[quote]Wildman90 wrote:
Here’s a different post…

School is almost done for the year and I am rediculously low on fund’s…

What im trying to say is i cant afford to lift pretty much
because of how much food and shiti buy

I figured I would at least do a ton of cardio BUT
im not trying to loose all my muscle gains

I have 2 months until il be able to get back
into it

What do you all think about this and has
it happened to anyone else?[/quote]

First of all, like you mentioned in later posts, gym membership is not a problem. You can afford to lift, you just can’t afford to eat like you would want to ideally?

In times of stress, my PT said to keep working out, but cut my volume down in half. That might work for you. From what you said, it’s only 2 months of down time. If faced with the same situation, I’d rather do that then stop entirely.

28

OP, I was in the same boat as you for a summer. I had just graduated college and only had odd jobs and no money. I used my college’s gym cheap as an alumni and ate as much protein as I could afford… tuna from the can, peanut butter, McDonald’s burgers, etc. I knew that I wouldn’t gain worth a shit but I would at least MAINTAIN SOMETHING until I got a full-time job and could afford food and a better gym.

If you would rather pay for food than for the gym, use your school’s (is it open during the semester break?) or look up bodyweight training articles here like “Death by Bodyweight”.

29

Alot of you are thrown off by my topic name “Cant afford to lift” i didnt write that shit i put major problem butthe admin canged it so chill the fuck out…

All i asked ws if someone lse has been in this problem before and what they did so either say soething worth my time or fuck off…

and prof X i give you props for doing all that but college probably came as to you, my major isnt as hard as that one but exercise science isnt the easiest

and no i didnt ask you to fucking pity me i asked if others have been in this before and wat they did thats all, soe of you need to stop assuming shit before you post

30

Maybe learn to cook? You can buy big bags of wholegrain flour, peanuts etc… Buy meat in bulk and freeze, buy frozen fish, buy the cheapest vegetables in bulk.
When you learn to make food for yourself you will realise the huge advantages in terms of cost, and in terms of cutting out the shit companies put in.

31

[quote]Wildman90 wrote:
Im good for summer its NOW im talkin about
i cant put a dumbbell set in my dorm il get booted out and i understand the body
weight stuff and such but if i cant
afford proper nutrition il just
wear down

see what i sayin?[/quote]

Can you rig up a duffle bag with sand or dirt? That would take care of any noise and you could train your lower body which will atrophy a lot by running and not lifting. The upper will atrophy too, but with bw chins and dips you should be set for that part.

32

[quote]eigieinhamr wrote:
Maybe learn to cook? You can buy big bags of wholegrain flour, peanuts etc… Buy meat in bulk and freeze, buy frozen fish, buy the cheapest vegetables in bulk.
When you learn to make food for yourself you will realise the huge advantages in terms of cost, and in terms of cutting out the shit companies put in.[/quote]

Also get to know tuna and eggs. When low on funds those two are the cheapest way to get protein.

33

I’m going to re-ask this question in diferent words…

Since my kcal intake wont be as high
should i keep the same level of
intensity or should i take it down a bit?

There an easy yes or no answer

34

Yes

35

That answer your question? :stuck_out_tongue:

36

[quote]eigieinhamr wrote:
Yes
[/quote]

yes, why yes it des

37

Good. End of thread.

38

Good. End of whining.

39

Sell your computer, buy food.

40

SHUT UP AND SQUAT!!