do you work out?

  On 7/20/2011 at 7:52 PM, fiznuthian said:

  On 7/20/2011 at 7:33 PM, chenGOD said:

  On 7/20/2011 at 12:31 AM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

 

 

 

and im proud of myself..this week ive essentially doubled the reps in my sets...which i assume means the same for muscle growth?

 

 

if only i could get rid of this FUCKING POOCH BELLY

 

Doubled reps at the same weight means you are gonna hit your plateau fairly quickly in terms of muscle growth. You want bigger muscles, push heavier weights. You want stronger muscles push weight more times.

POOCH belly - stop drinking.

 

fitz - you only just discovered carbo-loading?

Also a lot of people should not be following fitz's dietary advice - his exercise routine means he expends a lot more energy than the average person.

High protein diets are good for people who work out/exercise regularly. If you have no desire/no inclination to work out, eat smaller portions, balance your diet and cut out the soda/chips.

 

I will say that smoking weed and playing sports is a lot of fun.

 

nah i knew of carb loading already, just never took it to this extreme.

and in the past i avoided grain sources of carbs, and stuck to fruit.

i do this for reasons pertaining to intestinal health.

what is new to me is loading up on whole grains, which dispense energy over a longer time period.

its proving useful for lengthier exercise, but you won't catch me eating much of them.

 

a lot of my dietary advice i still stand behind. meat, vegetables, fruit, and seeds.

some people may opt for less meat, more veg or more meat, less veg, and varying degrees of fruit.

but the idea here is regardless of what you eat and how much, make for damn sure its either meat, a vegetable, a fruit, or seed.

and i'm sure we both agree 100% no processed food, no soda, hydrogenated oils, and excess sugar.

 

and yes i am currently loading heavy on protein, and this is not necessary if somewhat sedentary.

but in a thread about working out, shying away from protein shouldn't rank too low on our priorities.

and ofcourse, my diet is extremely high calorie right now. chen is right, scale back considerably unless you're working hard to earn it.

Agreed on all counts :)

  On 7/20/2011 at 8:49 PM, Kcinsu said:

Ok, so less reps with heavier weights it's for gaining muscles mass, and lighter weights more times increases strength? That seems backwards to me...

Think about how muscles grow - they grow by ripping and then rebuilding. If you're just pushing lighter weights over and over again until the muscle is fatigued, you're not gonna grow the muscle. What does a muscle need to rebuild? Fuel. So in other words, to develop muscle you need to expend the optimum amount of fuel so the body can rebuild. In other words, you need to find a balance between lifting the maximum amount you can one time, and a light amount a lot of times. Because Smetty has doubled his reps, clearly his body is not expending a lot of fuel (it is able to perform twice the amount of work before fatigue occurs). To grow the muscle smetty needs to increase the weight, and lower the reps so he's spending the maximum amount of fuel (breaking down the most protein).

As for the stronger part, perhaps I worded it a bit obtusely - I meant stronger without an increase in size.

My physical therapist told me to do 3 sets of 10 pelvic thrusts each day, you know.. to strengthen my back and whatnot.

is your physical therapist asymmetrical head?

  On 7/20/2011 at 9:21 PM, Kcinsu said:

So why use machines?

The way I see it, machines allow people to shop for what muscle groups they want to work out. If you aren't sure what freeweight exercises you should do, you can still easily walk into a gym and follow the instructions on a few machines and go through one or two muscle groups and build a workout. There are probably other benefits, but I don't know what they are.

Free weights are usually better because, like the above user said, they force also force you to balance, since your range of motion isnt restricted to just one or two axes.

Fewer reps at a higher weight builds mass because you're bringing your body to failure sooner; you're destroying muscles which force your body to rebuild them stronger. At least that is my noob understanding of how it works. I'm sure a gym rat here can explain it more accurately. Every fitness guide you read will recommend that, if you want to build mass and strength, you pick a weight that allows you to do 8-10 repetitions, with the last 3 being a real struggle. If you can easily (or moderately) lift 10 times, try a higher weight, until rep numbers 9 and 10 are near-failure (when you are exerting yourself as hard as possible and can just succeed at completing the move). Alternately, if you want to build a lean runner's or swimmers body, you want to be more in the 12-15 range with a slightly lower weight, also near-failure in the last few repetitions.

Like someone else here said, P90x alone won't do it, and they're right. If you eat like shit you'll just exhaust your body and you wont get results. I'm putting in a decent effort at a better diet (no soda, few if any sweets/cookies, though i still have them occasionally; lots of yogurt, vegetables, fruits, raw nuts like unsalted almonds, lean meat like turkey burgers lightly seasoned, and lots of fish like tuna) and I am really enjoying it because I am more frequently craving nutritious foods than I used to. It takes a few weeks to build the habit but I don't really crave sweets as much any more and I am getting more protein in general, and I can see it on my body after two months of p90x. P90x includes diet guidelines that help btw.

only problem with P90 I would say is that it does force you to workout every single day (with 1 rest day a week) for 90 days. So prepare to subtract 1.5 hours from every day of the week for three months, and repeat the 90 day cycle a few times a year. I have to say, I haven't even been that disciplined with it (have missed 1-2 days a week for the past month now) and I am still getting results. I can only imagine how much better I would be if I did it every day. Some people will tell you not to work out every day, but what they mean is not to work out the same muscle group every day. It's fine to do legs on monday, then chest on tuesday, then cardio on wednesday, then arms on thursday, etc. As long as you give your muscles a few days to recover and rebuild then it's healthy to get exercise every day.

I never did sports in high school and basically have been trying out all sorts of alternative types of exercise for a few years now like rock climbing (awesome), martial arts, etc and p90 has gotten me some of the best results. Rock climbing is amazing for your body but its kind of an expensive hobby if you dont have a good location to do it outdoors, like if you live in the city. rock gyms are pretty expensive. p90 on the other hand is a one time cost and you just need to get a cheap set of weights and maybe a band or pull up bar and thats all you need really. though I will say that rock climbing in a gym is way more fun and unique, and there are always tons of the exact type of woman you want to have sex with there.

  On 7/21/2011 at 3:19 AM, iamabe said:

though I will say that rock climbing in a gym is way more fun and unique, and there are always tons of the exact type of woman you want to have sex with there.

heh, always doing some heinoeous 7c+ overhang thing,--looking like they're straight out of pilates class or some shit, at least the last time i was in that sweaty noisy plastic place. <3

usuallyi'm just bouldering/buildering small basalt walls/outcrops outside, trying to get out to the better spots whenever i can

  On 7/21/2011 at 3:19 AM, iamabe said:

  On 7/20/2011 at 9:21 PM, Kcinsu said:

So why use machines?

I never did sports in high school and basically have been trying out all sorts of alternative types of exercise for a few years now like rock climbing (awesome), martial arts, etc and p90 has gotten me some of the best results. Rock climbing is amazing for your body but its kind of an expensive hobby if you dont have a good location to do it outdoors, like if you live in the city. rock gyms are pretty expensive. p90 on the other hand is a one time cost and you just need to get a cheap set of weights and maybe a band or pull up bar and thats all you need really. though I will say that rock climbing in a gym is way more fun and unique, and there are always tons of the exact type of woman you want to have sex with there.

this.

i get passed on the bike routes by female cyclists (well, i used to) with absolutely PHENOMENAL builds.. i mean, WOW fucking fit as fuck.

what a stimulating reward and reminder of why it feels good to push your body hard every day.

question directed at people who work out with smart:

Is it more beneficial for me to do situps or just do leg/knee crunchy things?

crunch, reverse crunch and oblique crunches are the best. Youtube for demos

Vary your abdominal routine - but also don't overwork the abs. six-pack comes down to what you eat (assuming some form of work out).

p90x sounds good to me but it's still 6 days a week for 90 days, I think you'd see results if you did that much of almost any exercise on a reasonable diet.

For weights I was told once to do 'pyramids' of weight/reps to make sure you hit that limit. So I do say 20 reps on one weight, and it should be manageable, then go up a notch and do about 10 and then up again and do as many as you can which is probably under 10. I figure this brings down the number of reps you can actually do on the highest weight because you're already tired, but it does feel like you've pushed yourself a bit, who knows.

At the moment I’m hardly doing any weights, I’m cycling about 4k to the gym, running 2-3k, and I swim probably about 300m (not sure how big the pool is), plus a couple of upper body or abs sets, three times a week. Its not really as much as I’d like but time is the enemy so I do all of those things pretty hard and fast. I often find if I go the gym straight from work I don’t get home until 12hours after I left in the morning which leaves me with very little time to do anything else with my day.

this thread makes me miss the gym :<

i just killed a fly in takeoff with my bare hands

  On 7/21/2011 at 3:36 PM, AcrossCanyons said:

this thread makes me miss the gym :<

gyms are weird and claustrophobic usually.

i can envision somewhere out there, in a place that isn't southern Virginia, might exist a gym that is comfortable, zen, and inspiring.

some gyms also make you sign contracts and pay cancellation feels. fuck that shit.

then if you are lucky enough to go on zumba class day which should look like this:

but instead is a bunch of middle aged women playing awful latin dance pop too loud

then raiding the snack machines for cheeseits and diet coke

its just not an inspiring place to be in really.

i quit my gym. I got ringworm there and i still have it a year later. Been through 5 tubes of cream.

I run 4 miles a day outside. Nothing in the gym can compete with that.

I also have a barbell and some weights so I lift when I'm feeling good. I find i lift more often than when I was going to the gym.

Indoor rock climbing sounds super fun.

  On 7/21/2011 at 6:14 PM, fiznuthian said:

  On 7/21/2011 at 3:36 PM, AcrossCanyons said:

this thread makes me miss the gym :<

 

gyms are weird and claustrophobic usually.

i can envision somewhere out there, in a place that isn't southern Virginia, might exist a gym that is comfortable, zen, and inspiring.

some gyms also make you sign contracts and pay cancellation feels. fuck that shit.

 

then if you are lucky enough to go on zumba class day which should look like this:

 

 

but instead is a bunch of middle aged women playing awful latin dance pop too loud

then raiding the snack machines for cheeseits and diet coke

 

its just not an inspiring place to be in really.

I understand people's distain for gyms but I personally liked it. No distractions, just a nice place with a few decent people and good equipment.

someone else should try rhodeola rosea and cordyceps sinensis and report back to me.

  On 7/21/2011 at 8:41 PM, fiznuthian said:

someone else should try rhodeola rosea and cordyceps sinensis and report back to me.

could you explain why/where they have been so good to you?

for me, the ability to breath, exert, and power through vigorous exercise intensity for sustained periods of time.

i haven't quite pinned down exactly when or why, but if i do not exercise after eating them i become heavily sedated by either one of or more of the compounds present.

i did a speed run through a local bike path yesterday,

it's 5.7 miles of large, rolling Appalachian hills. i cleared it

in just over 20 minutes on a shitty target hybrid bike,

powering through the hills in my highest gear 95% of the time.

i barely felt sore, very little pain at all, i could breath and probably mutter out a conversation the entire time.

today i feel no pain whatsoever, just flexible strong muscles ready for more.

i've been cheating a little in the kitchen too. :x chomped down a bunch of sweet n salty bars for several nights, a little soda, more grain than i prefer.

i've tried a lot of supplements, and while i feel fish oil, vitamin D, zinc, etc may be useful/important under some circumstances and over time,

i have never tried a combination of supplements quite like these.

personally i receive a strong anti-depressant, relaxed anxioltic feeling from the rhodiola capsules as well. added bonus for a person like me who is in recovery from social anxiety.

this is what i'm eating.

  On 7/21/2011 at 9:01 PM, fiznuthian said:

i haven't quite pinned down exactly when or why, but if i do not exercise after eating them i become heavily sedated by either one of or more of the compounds present.

so you wouldn't recommend either of them to somebody who doesn't exercise heavily?

there's this awesome limestone boulder that's my free rock-gym, its a bout a 45 min bike ride from where i live so thats a nice warmup

(not me in the vid--also, mute before play)

my other fave wall is this one, right in the city& i often stop by after work

(again, not me, im not a big fan of spandex)

can't forget this one for local practicing/work out walls: it's artifical but real, featured rock, built before the invention of the climbing gym. loads of routes & no one comes there anymore,even on a dry day in summer there'll be no one around cos they stick to the plastic..

That is cool, if there was an outdoor climbing wall near me I'd be all over it. Although you'd need someone to belay I suppose

  On 7/21/2011 at 1:08 PM, Coalbucket PI said:

p90x sounds good to me but it's still 6 days a week for 90 days, I think you'd see results if you did that much of almost any exercise on a reasonable diet.

 

For weights I was told once to do 'pyramids' of weight/reps to make sure you hit that limit. So I do say 20 reps on one weight, and it should be manageable, then go up a notch and do about 10 and then up again and do as many as you can which is probably under 10. I figure this brings down the number of reps you can actually do on the highest weight because you're already tired, but it does feel like you've pushed yourself a bit, who knows.

 

At the moment I’m hardly doing any weights, I’m cycling about 4k to the gym, running 2-3k, and I swim probably about 300m (not sure how big the pool is), plus a couple of upper body or abs sets, three times a week. Its not really as much as I’d like but time is the enemy so I do all of those things pretty hard and fast. I often find if I go the gym straight from work I don’t get home until 12hours after I left in the morning which leaves me with very little time to do anything else with my day.

p90x is every day but since its usually just 60-90 mins and you do it in your house you lose no time getting to/in/out/from the gym which has always taken me forever even when the gym is relatively close to my house. Give it a shot (p90x is "easy to find" if you know what i mean). Also doing just like, 3 of the workouts a week with get you results.

glad so many watmms climb rocks.. i miss the thrill of completing a bouldering route in front of 5 people who all tried it and failed.

  On 7/22/2011 at 2:10 AM, Coalbucket PI said:

That is cool, if there was an outdoor climbing wall near me I'd be all over it. Although you'd need someone to belay I suppose

the dude in that last video has a solo belay setup, which is simple to rig & is about 100-200 euro (depends on the rope). the other stuff is just low height bouldering, but some people brings mats to fall on if the ground's nasty.