Exercise and Fitness

[Timmy_Jones]

Thank you for visiting this thread I will try and dedicate sometime to a recent question that was raised to me in another thread, namely about exercise and fitness. Now, I am FAR from an expert and my body isn’t exactly where I would like it to be, but I do feel in the 5-7 years of working out I have gained some valuable knowledge (mostly from trial and error), which I would like to share here. Again, this is my experience, if you disagree please feel free to say so, but your disagreement is subjective to your experiences and please be respectful.

I would urge anyone posting in here to refrain from sharing ‘Oh I can lift 315’ or ‘Well I can do 405 on the bench, etc…’ this is not about Olympic or competition lifting this thread is more to share knowledge. Please do not muddy this space with a measuring contest of your feats in the gym. If and when numbers are used it is for educational purposes, again this is not a competition between members.

Let’s begin.
Before anything else is said, please keep in mind that diet is probably 70-75% of any good workout routine. I would argue good sleep is 5-10%. Exercise is important, but not as much as your diet, which in my opinion would need its own separate thread. It is safe to say that if it grew from the ground or a farmer raised it, you are safe to eat it (in moderation). Stay away from the other stuff. Diet for me is also the hardest part; I have always been ‘hungry’ and love to eat. I can eat an absolute truck load of food, which is bad. I have found I love the gym and dislike eating healthy.
How much should I workout? Well, this again is subjective. I aim for 5-6 times a week, for around 1-2 hours per session. Again, this will vary on intensity and other factors. Some athletes train 2-3 times a day, 6 days a week. I would say this really depends on your life commitments, diet, and ability to get good quality sleep. Sometimes I split out each bodypart and sometimes I do the common Push (Back/Biceps) Pull (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps) Legs split.
When should I workout? Get in the gym…there is never a ‘bad’ time to work out. I usually aim for right after work. I work in an office so getting to the gym around 430-5 is perfect for me.

How should I workout? I always listen to my body…some days I try and lift heavy for less reps with more rest in between and other days I go all out with as many reps as I can with little rest. When I say ‘listen’ there is a certain feeling. Some days X weight in the squat rack feels heavy and others it feels lighter. I have found myself for the past 6 weeks or so lifting heavier with less reps. 12 weeks before that I was lifting lighter with more reps. I never count reps, I know I will get some flak here, but I never do. I used to try a very regimented system of 8,6,5,4,3 reps etc. but I felt more locked in. If I aim to lift X weight 10 times, I may, but I probably won’t go over that. If I am to lift X weight until I can’t do another rep, I feel I will perform better. Again, I am lifting for my physique first and strength second, for those of you looking to clean and jerk 500lbs, I do not have the right advice for you. “Well what about single arm or leg exercises, I don’t want to be uneven”. I haven’t worried about it; push as hard as you can each rep. How should I workout? Well, just like there are the different styles of ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ there are different mindsets. There is a super intense ‘move the weight at any cost’ and there is at the other side of the spectrum ‘feel the mind-muscle connection as best you can’. I guarantee I could take someone who benches 315 for a few reps and have them rep with 185 with absolute concentration on shoulder placement, muscle contraction, and an intense squeeze and that 185 would be just as painful and heavy. I will try and dig out a few YouTube videos about ‘experts’ discussing that mind-muscle connection.

My overall outlook on exercise is this: Our bodies are smart and lazy. They do not want to grow; you need to force your body to grow. If you lift heavy every single day, you will see your progress stunted after 5-6 months. Switch it up, always. Sometimes I do wild things at the gym, I will lift very heavy for my back, run a ½ mile as quickly as I can and then repeat some of the exercises which much lighter weight.

Supplements: I wouldn’t look to this section for a huge advantage in reaching your goals. I use a few supplements, and no more. Please do not bring in conversations about anabolic steroids and HGH, etc. Do they work? Yes. Are they legal? Most of the time, no. Do I use them? Never, that is my own personal choice. I use the following; whey and Casein protein. Whey with breakfast and after my workout. I usually stick with ON Whey as it is an isolate with few other additives. I use Casein at night, before bed (ON Casein). Fish oil, 2-3 caps before bed (I am unfortunately allergic to most fish and wish I could actually eat this food). Creatine, I only consume creatine monohydrate. Coffee, usually a half cup before I workout with a banana or some other quick/light snack. That’s it for me, there are some other ones out there that people swear by like dedicated pre-workout drinks or fat burners, but I cannot handle the caffeine. Half cup of coffee sometimes is too much for me. I wouldn’t get into this stuff until a good year of the basics. Imagine this; why would you spend a ton of money on aftermarket suspension if you haven’t driven the car to its limits yet? Besides for looks and to fit in, I am not sure either.

I could write pages about each bodypart and what I do, etc, but let’s get some quality discussion going. I am sure there are some of you here are above my level of knowledge, so please share.
Here are some quick tips I would give someone well versed in the basics of exercise:
• I do deadlifts every other time I do back and as far away from my leg day as possible. I keep my deadlifts heavy, always (read 2-5 rep range for final set).
• I squat on every leg day. I squat for higher reps (10-25). I barely ever do back squats; I stick to the front squats. I usually superset these with stiff legged deadlifts. I promise you will be sore if you do this.
• Leg day is dedicated mostly to my hamstrings (back part of the thigh) as most leg exercises will hit quads, I don’t try and focus so much on them. Leg day is brutal, this is more of a mental exercise. Your legs are very strong, I go after mine for 1.5-2 hours sometimes.
• Leg day starts with light weight Jefferson squats, it will wake up the muscles.
• When bench-pressing, tuck those shoulder blades in and hold the bar about shoulder width. Squeeze the chest, don’t push with your shoulders.
• Don’t swing the weight on any exercise (especially curls!)
• Enjoy yourself, after a short time you may find you are looking forward to the gym. People often talk about getting a runners high, I feel incredible after a good workout.

[zenki_levin]

I do a push/pull routine with reprange around 5 for the compounds and 8-10 for other exercises. I train 3 times a week for 1 hour per session.

My diet mainly consists of lean foods and lots of it.

When i started i weighted 122lbs, i'm now at 150lbs so i'm doing something right .

[norsamerican]

I once heard that "you should train your mind just as hard as you train your body" Meaning fill your head with good information about health and fitness. Read books, papers, science reports etc.

[Timmy_Jones]

Originally Posted by zenki_levin

I do a push/pull routine with reprange around 5 for the compounds and 8-10 for other exercises. I train 3 times a week for 1 hour per session.

My diet mainly consists of lean foods and lots of it.

When i started i weighted 122lbs, i'm now at 150lbs so i'm doing something right .

Well done! 30lbs is a huge improvement!

I endured a similar growth, I was always the 'skinny' guy in high school.

[Timmy_Jones]

Originally Posted by norsamerican

I once heard that "you should train your mind just as hard as you train your body" Meaning fill your head with good information about health and fitness. Read books, papers, science reports etc.

I agree, 100%. When you read about food and nutrition, you will start to read food labels and be more aware of what is going in your body. I wrinkle my nose anytime I see food with some sort of bizarre oil (Palm Seed, Vegetable, Hydrogenated anything). Yuck. Stay away from it.

[luxmn]

just like you shouldn't DIY turbo/supercharge installation unless you're a pro yourself, get a trainer, doesn't have to be a one-to-one lots of money trainer, just someone who derives a well mixed workout regime for you, tracks your results and gives encouragement.

I work 60 hours a week constantly, no time to even remember where the hell I was last week, so I work out with a trainer in a group of 20~30 twice a week, one hour each, $35 a month. OP is right, it's not about how strong you're unless that's your profession, it's how fit. 10% fat and below, 57% muscle and above, and most importantly cardiovascular health capable of running at least 2 miles non-stop at all time.

[Nevermore]

I just started back to the gym. Been trying to get into repeatedly for the last year and I'm the worst at forming a habit, but I'm looking to keep it this time. I'm on my second week and I've decided to be fairly intense with it. It's a 6 day a week regiment and I'm there probably an hour and a half each time. The split is chest/cardio, back/cardio, arms/leg, repeat. Sunday is an off day.

So far I feel pretty good about it and seem to be stronger every day. I have the same work out high too. I usually leave the gym feeling pretty good.

[Allch Chcar]

If you're trying to gain weight, increase your protein. Water is probably the most important thing you can consume 30 minutes before a workout. I've read that a cup of low fat chocolate milk is good after a workout. I am almost always low on water to the point of dehydration, so I still drink some soda which helps supplement my water intake but I try to keep it under 2 cups maximum. I've cut soda down while increasing water intake, which I've found helps. Drastically changing your habits can hurt you or help you, just depends. For some people it's better to transition for everything.

I started physical training as part of the ROTC. 3 days a week at 6am(bleh). Lots of cardio, running, with the occasional strength training. It certainly helped me but if you're serious, like I am, it takes 5-6 days a week for at least an hour a day to meet my goals. I'm about 70% of where I want to be and I'm about 8 months in. Having an instructor or trainer helps me since I can zone out during a workout. When exercising alone I feel like I can get discouraged or quit early so group workouts are more my style. But that's a self-motivation issue.

Before this I was largely sedentary working behind a desk and I let myself go. Now I've gained about 10lbs while losing some fat, and I feel much better after a workout.

[Timmy_Jones]

I had a great shoulder and tricep workout today. Anyone else hit the gym?

I was super setting military press and lateral raises. Felt great.

[Nevermore]

My gym visit last night was a little different. The bicep curl machine I usually use was in use for a while and I don't like to ask to work in so I used a different one. I forget what it was, Smart-something, but it was considerably more difficult. I could only do half as much weight on it for some reason. I still felt it, so I guess I still got my workout alright, but I always feel odd doing different machines from the ones I'm used to using.

In other news, I've probably got a half a month or so left in my GNC Megamen vitapak and I'm debating if I want to keep taking this one, or another one, or a different multivitamin entirely. I know I need a multivitamin since I don't have the heathiest diet. The one I'm taking is the Strength one. I have a bum knee from dislocating it in college, so I was tempted to get the joint vitapak. Aside from that, I'm not sure.

If anyone knows which of those might be best, or a different one, I'd appreciate some insight.

[xxscaxx]

blah i wrote a long ass post and my stupid browser refreshed and I lost it.. meh.

been lifting for about 8 years now.

I had no idea what I was doing diet wise, and was eating food trying to get "big" and basically shoving everything I could see down my throat. Well that ended horribly, and even though I looked "big" I was fat. I was lifting a shitload of weight...but got tired of being uncomfortable so I hit up a friend of mine who is a diet condesour and in the past year and a half lost just about 100 pounds, going from around 290 to my lowest of 196 (i'm around 205-206 right now).

Don't let anyone fool you, diet is everything. I'm a living example of it. With a proper diet I was able to keep the same amount of LBM when I was 290, but now am 100 pounds lighter. The things I thought or read were all BS, and its really hard to filter that crap out especially with all of it spread over the internet. I've learned more in this past year and a half by listening to someone who knows actually what they are talking about than I have in the last 6-7 years lifting before that.

There is a lot of generalities in here but one thing i've come to learn is that there is no "set" way of losing weight, gaining muscle, etc. It all depends on the person. I don't have a great metabolism so if I eat like shit, its going to show fast. Skinny johnny on the other hand who has a blazing fast metabolism can eat 6 gallons of ice cream and not gain a pound.

Still, thats besides the point. You are what you eat. You won't gain anything eating like crap even if you are blessed with a faster metabolism. Its not healthy either lol. Dieting is a lifestyle, and you have to change everything about the way you see food in order for it to be successful.

As far as lifting, I have benched 435, deadlifted over 600 pounds, and have squatted over 500. Now I can maybe bench 335. Don't let numbers get to you, they don't mean jack unless you are competing. I never go for max effort lifts like that anymore, I lift heavy but heavy for multiple reps. I try to tell people to not get obsessed with numbers because for new people at the gym it generally just leads to bad form, injuries, or bad habits.

Here's a before/after pic, the before was probably 280-290, can't remember. The after was sub 200 I believe. i'm pretty depleted in the after picture, but whatever lol. My dog makes this picture awesome.

[zenki_levin]

Impressive man.

[Jahdai42]

Did some Zumba last night. Hitting the weights tonight. I've got about 20lbs to drop for summer.

[xxscaxx]

Originally Posted by zenki_levin

Impressive man.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Just hoping to inspire some others, just need to put your mind to it and you can get it done.