Fitness/Workout thread

Yea Im not my fav person at the moment. I gotta help my dad finish tearing down his garage so I should hopefully be done quick and get back to bed.

 

Good luck w/ that one, slick.

 

changing eating habits is extremely difficult, no doubt. i have found that WW helps me with that in this way;

point totals for "bad" foods are higher for smaller portions than those of "good" foods.

i might want the chips, but 10 of them are not as filling as a whole banana, and the Chips equal 4 WW points, versus 2 points for a large banana. so if i am hungry it is easy for me to rationalize eating the banana as a snack instead. or the leftover grilled chicken breast or fish from the night before.

or at dessert time, any small ice cream sandwich or klondike bar generally equals 4 or 5 WW points alone. so i go with 2 sugar free pudding cups (sweetened with splenda) AND a banana chopped up and mixed with it. thats a big dessert.

when i can get that kind of volume to make sure i am not going to get hungry later, it is much easier for me to rationalize.

same applies with green veggies; you can eat twice as much of the good stuff for the same point value or less than starches, so you tend to have an extra helping of salad and veggies to fill you versus the extra starch.

 

your girl reads thephins.com, doesn't she?

 

No..........she's a Bucs fan.

 

Rock we have a workout thread bud.

 

So I've completely fell off track. My weight loss has slowed to an almost screech. I feel defeated. I cant control my eating, and I've gotten way too comfortable in my workout routines.

 

Do the opposite.

 

switch up your routine. Try some new excercises, in a different order, different work split, different number of reps, etc..........

As for diet, thats why I don't diet

 

I am sure other more qualified experts will assist, but I will point out a few things:

1) Remember to include the weight of the bar in addition to the plates themselves. Olympic bars are traditionally 45lbs.
2) Lower weight, more reps traditionally is for toning, not mass
3) Higher weight, less reps (to failure) traditionally is for muscle mass
4) Personally I try to find out my max bench press weight based on Qty 1 (definately get a spotter, or invest in Smith Bench w/safety system). Use this as a guide to find a proper weight (% of your Body Weight) and decide if you want to tone, or build mass.

 

I strongly encourage to get a spotter for benching especially if you're a beginner. I don't have a spotter when I bench, but I know my limits and that's why I haven't been hurt.

In all seriousness though... does anybody do the John Henderson tactic to get themselves pumped up for that last lift?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4cXZGkRMCY

 

I agree, but I disagree. Bench press works your triceps as well. However you need to do more than just bench. I would strongly suggest finding a balanced workout instead of being one of those "I only do bench press and curls" type guys because well.. no one respects them kind of guys.

 

So you sayin you dont respect me boy?

 

No doubt! I just every time I see one w/ his popped collar and uber-plaid shorts...it's really sad.

On the main topic, I agree w/ what bigdogs said. Going to failure in app. 6-12 reps is going to build your mass (and strength) fast. Bench, curls, deadlift, dips, pullovers, military press, tri extensions- they can all be done w/ a simple bench setup. Aside from the bench press (and possibly mil. press), they can all also be done w/out a spotter. I would in no way recommend doing bench w/out a spotter. Too many bad things can happen.

If you go back and look at this thread rocky, you'll find we've all said it before, but it bears repeating: drink LOTS of water, get LOTS (7-9 hrs) of sleep and eat smaller meals but more of them. You can easily sabotage all the work you are doing by not getting enough sleep and doing the typical starve-pig out routine of your average male.

If you find yourself getting off-track (this is also directed at enforcerfin ), getting a partner to hold you accountable and push you when you need it is probably one of the best things I can recommend. Some people can do it all by themselves, but most of us can benefit from a partner, if not need one outright (myself included).

Hope this helps; if you could give us a total rundown of your available equipment Mr. raccoon, I'm sure one (or two or three) of us would be more than happy to come up w/ a routine for you if you're not sure of where to start. Good luck!

 

Fine, you're an exception!

 

Well...yeahh..no.

Each exersize if done correctly isolates different muscles..and in some cases muscle groups.

Bench press (When done right) really works on chest, and to a lesser degree triceps.

Curls isolates Biceps etc etc.

One thing I have been doing for the past 15 years is break up PUSH exercises on one day, then PULL exercises another:

PUSH: CHEST-TRICEPS-SHOULDERS-QUAds

PULL: BICEPS-BACK (Delts, Lats etc) HAMSTRINGS

 

if you want to build any muscle group switching back and forth between barbell and dumbell excercises during the routine, or say one arm day doing barbell, then next arm day doing all dumbells, is a good way to shock the muscle group.

Which is something else enforcerfin can do to switch up his routine..........

 

Not following...you mean the single bar, and the hand held ones?

 

yeah barbell is the large single bar.
dumbells are the smaller hand weights.

 

Got you. So I only workout my upper body 3 times a week, is that not enough? I do lower body 2 a week. and cardio almost everyday.

 

You are just starting out?

edit: What are your goals?

 

No...lol...I've been at it since, November. I want to get bigger muscle wise, but smaller weight wise. I've put some weight, but the last couple months have been a real brick wall. I want to lose more weight is my ultimate goal.

 

Do you work your upper body all together?
You can also cut back on your amount of weight training days do something like:

monday: legs
tuesday: back/shoulders
wednesday:legs
thursday:chest/arms
friday: all cardio/fun cardio like play ball or something like that.

and as for the dumbell barbell thing
monday do all barbell
tuesday do barbell
wednesday do dumbell
thursday barbell
then the next week switch them all for the opposite something like that.

 

if you want excercises buy this book

link

 

You have conflicting goals Brother...Put the scale away If you are training with heavy weights your going to get bigger and stronger and therefore heavier..even with a good diet fat weighs less than muscle.


Just keep an eye on you waistline and how you look in the mirror and how much stronger you get for progress...a scale will do you no good.

 

Personally, I think you are doing too much. With cardio every day, working out 5 of 7 days, and (I assume) not getting enough sleep, your body doesn't ever have time to recover. Your in a constant state of stress, which causes your body to retain fat. Also, b/c your body never fully recovers, it has a very difficult time building muscle. It has to fill in the 'hole' you've created before it can build the 'mountain' on top of it.

I would cut back on the cardio to 3x a week, and workout upper and lower no more than 2x a week, preferably whole body. If you still want to do your split routine, try a upper-lower-rest-upper-lower-rest-rest schedule. As long as you are eating at least 3x a day, I wouldn't worry too much about the diet right now. You need some quick results to pick you up and get you back in the game. A nice improvement in your workout #'s should help. I know you're frustrated, but don't give up on it.

 

Anyone got and chest tips? Always looking for new ideas for chest exercises.

 

Whatd you do now?

 

He benches cars...

 

I've been trying some pre-exhaustion techniques with limited success.

Usually do 3x10 Dumbell Flyes, Flat Bench, Incline Bench

Sometime throw in some pushups to mix it up or warm up.

 

Amatures. Call me when you step up to tanks.

 

I'd do some benching going from heaviest to lightest weight in your sets. If you can get a spotter, try doing negatives to really burn yourself out towards the end of your WO.

You could throw those dumbell flyes in between your bench sets too if u want.

 

Yeah I usually shuffle things around every couple weeks to mix things up.

I've been thinking about going back to the Max-OT type training. I've had some good gains from that in the past.

 

ask your boy Tebow.... his coaches "limit" him to 400 lbs on the bench.

 

dizam..thats pretty impressive for a Qb......I bet he'd make an awesome TE.