Official Fitness Thread

[air gordon]

oh yeh definitely.. i try to stretch every day

i do a little 5 minute jog for a warmup to get the blood running. the pushups and dips i feel are a nice little pump before the workout.

[Ruff Ryder]

I'm 16, 5'9-5'10, 180 and here's my maxes as of the first week of August:
Bench-245
Incline Bench-215
Squat-365
Deadlift-405
Push Press-185 (hardly ever do it)
Hang Clean-235

I've been liftin for about 3 years. What I want to know is how can I tone my abs. I dont have a keg, but sometimes when I move, like even just putting my arms behind my back I can see my 6 pack, but I want to tone them so it looks like that all the time. Any tips?

[FendeR`]

It's not like I'm experienced, but I have decently toned abs. The two main things I do are crunches (not sit-ups, and make sure you hold them for a second or two at your peak) and bicycle kicks. I think they're called bicycle kicks at least. You basically lie down and make a pedaling motion in the air with your feet.

[cyanide]

Bicycle kicks are probably one of the hardest abs workout to do. Scissor kicks and leg raises are also good challenging exercises, but not to the difficulty of bicycle kicks.

[air gordon]

wow ruff ryder, you are either a terribly dumb meathead or a bad joke teller

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

You're at 6%? Shit, man. I'm more than that and you can see every muscle and vein in my body. I thought you're at least 10%. Perhaps that just what photographs do. And fuck, you're big. I'm you're height and I would rather be 175 or 180 pounds. Sort of like Antek, a guy from the wannabebigforums.com.

Yup, for some reasons pics always make me look a bit chubbier than normal. Not to mention my nose looks far bigger than it really is.l and it is big to begin with...

My aim ( far fetched and long term, to say the least), is to achieve this kind of cut at 220 lbs.

[Ruff Ryder]

wow ruff ryder, you are either a terribly dumb meathead or a bad joke teller

Nah, I know of all this stuff, I was just wondering if there's a better way of toning abs than straight crunches. I've done the bicycle kicks before, also the scissor kicks, which are pretty hard. We used to do them in football practice in little league.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Nah, I know of all this stuff, I was just wondering if there's a better way of toning abs than straight crunches.

Torso twists. Perfect for the lower abs.

[Jan Shane]

Man I saw your sched and it looked alright. But 4 days straight of working out? That's going to hurt your body as it needs time to regenerate your muscles which have been damaged during these times. Two days straight of working out then one full day of resting is what trainers recommend.

For me, I do bulk building. Which is for heavy weights, with low repititions. So I get and curl 50lbs about 5 times and do that twice and that should be good for me. I also do this machine where you sit down and you push your legs out....I put on about 150lbs and do it about 5 times twice. If you're wanting to build bulk then use heavy weights, but not many repititions. Also know your limits! You're not superman, so get to know your maximum.

[cyanide]

Well, it's been said that increasing endurance is higher than 12 reps, increasing muscle mass is between 6-10 reps, and increasing strength is 3 or 4 to 6 reps, so in a way, you're right about building mass with heavy weights, but not too heavy (under the 6 rep range).

[Jan Shane]

Isn't increasing strength the same as building mass? OR is the difference only for short term?

Since I remembered, I was doing 200 lbs for military press and I had to do a repitition of 8-10 times. There was a formula to it...you take your maximum, then you multiply it to this number and then divide it to another number. I can't really remember the whole procedure, but there was still quite a lot of repititions to be done on maximum weights lol

[cyanide]

Well, you do increase strength, but building mass is optimal within the 6-10 rep range, and conversely, in the under 6 rep range, you build more strength, but do end up building some muscle. Either way, whatever your needs are if you want to be a powerlifter, or focus solely on bodybuilding

[Abctest123]

anyone have a good one to work the abs other than situps? ive been alright (no abs, but not a cake for stomach) for a while but my stomach has gotten a bit flabby from the beginning of summer until the start of school. at the moment all im doing is lifting weights and situps. Im not too sure this is good for me since im only like 5'2 (ya fairly short huh, i suck at bball, but as long as you play live you can register at these forums anyway ) and 14, nearly 15.

[Jan Shane]

Do this, lay on your back and try to "sit" on your couch when you're laying on your back. What I mean is, get close to the couch as possible, then make your bum touch the side of the couch and lay your feet on the seating part of the couch, much like how you would sit, but sideways....

I dont know if you get what I mean, but if you do then, after that grab a heavy weight (nothing too heavy!) and put it across your chest, then cross your arms around it so it doesnt fall out and do sit ups....it should put a lot of resistance when you're doing it making you burn more than a regular sit up.

[Abctest123]

a bit confusing there, mind explaining a bit more? im highly interested after you said it burns more than a regular situp.

[J@3]

I ride 30 k's a day, is this enough or should I do more. I was going to join the gym but instead of spending $800 on a membership I bought a bike instead

[Laxation]

about 8 months ago i got diagnosed with shinsplints.
for those who dont know about it, it basically means that whenever i run (without heavy stretching) my shins start to hurt like crazy.

ive still been able to play basketball luckily, i just play through the pain but it means i cant train my legs at all to make my vertical leap higher, something i really wanted to try and do to eventually be able to dunk.

i was also trying to do a workout session on my dads gym, but i sprained my shoulder playing basketball, and all forms of workout to that arm had to stop - this basically got rid of all drive i had to continue.

one day when my body stops fucking-up ill get built...

[cyanide]

a bit confusing there, mind explaining a bit more? im highly interested after you said it burns more than a regular situp.

Burns is that "burning" sensation when you push your muscles to its limit, more or less. Try the bicycle crunches, actually go to www.abcbodybuilding.com and take a look at the exercise section. There's animated gifs there. But don't join their forums; it's a Christian republican totalitarian state there, you'll get banned for saying "Jesus H. Christ."

I ride 30 k's a day, is this enough or should I do more. I was going to join the gym but instead of spending $800 on a membership I bought a bike instead

I don't know how much 30k is on bike, but it sounds enough since 30k marathons "sounds" long. It's a good endurance workout

i was also trying to do a workout session on my dads gym, but i sprained my shoulder playing basketball, and all forms of workout to that arm had to stop - this basically got rid of all drive i had to continue.

Sorry about the shinsplints. I get them occasionally when playing ball, but not to the extent of yours. As for the injury, it's all part of the game. Let it heal, then get back into it, even though the motivation's not there. Once you're in it, maybe the motivation will come back.

[Jan Shane]

I actually formed a bit of shinsplints way back when. I would play basketball and within' 10 minutes or so, my shins (especially the bone itself) would really ache, and when that happens, standing up would become too unbearable. I think the way to fix it is to drink milk. I just remembered the pattern that happened. It seems that I would have shinsplints after I didn't consume enough calcium within' an extensive period of time (1-2 months)...then I drank milk for about a month and it actually worked. I would be able to play street ball for 2-3 hours a day without feeling any pain. Then after I stopped with drinking milk, it would actually come back.

[John WB]

I'm 6-1, 172lbs

I started lifting weight free weights my Sophmore year in high school(when I was 15). I did like every exercise I could think of to do with the weights every day for a high number of reps and a lot of sets. Would do it for hours.

Now I know a lot more about both the nutrition and weightlifting elements of it.

My diet is extremely clean and I hit the gym 4-5 days a week.

My split is

Day 1: chest/biceps/forearmms
Day 2: back/tris
Day 3: legs/cavs/hammies/glutes
Day 4: shoulders/traps/lats

I change it around a lot. Like this week I'vew yet to hit bis yet, so I'll add it in with my shoulder workout tomorrow.

I do 45-60 mind cardio after each session at 60-70% of my MHR.

Ab workouts come inbetween exercises and following cardio sessions.

[Fenix]

Does anybody uses NO? I considering it, while I don't want to higher my protein input. I'm 163lbs right now, trying to get to slightly bellow 170 (and leaning down to around 5% BF). My side abs (twisting knee raises are a bitch) and shoulders are a bit behind the schedule, but I think I'm doing a good job achieving that Fight Club look. I'm implementing a three week routine with four excercises for each group, but I change two of them every week. That way muscles don't get used of the same excercises, plus you can work out every single part of that muscle group.

One of the things I also recommend, is doing yoga. It's great for improving your flexibility, strenghtening your core and improving your explosivness. Plus, if it's done right, you'll improve your posture.

So how are you doing as far as achieving your goals?

[cyanide]

What's NO?

Your routine looks really good, and yoga's great for flexibility, as you said, but it also increases muscle growth by as much as 30%. I don't have the time for yoga, but I still manage to stretch before and after a workout.

So how are you doing as far as achieving your goals?

I'm still hovering at around 190-195 lbs, and it's such a bitch to get it any higher than 195. I made it to 196 at one point, but then I got a cold right after, and that screwed me up, but I'm back on track. I'm gonna have to eat a little more if I want to reach my goal of 200.

[Fenix]

NO is nitric oxide, basically a superstar supplement which prevents heart and other diseases, gives you a better erection, improves your strength and muscle mass, burns fat (you can gain muscle and lose fat with him at the same time) and improves your aerobic conditioning. And it's completely natural and without any side effects. Sounds too good to be true, right ? It could be the next big thing among supplements but it's also very possible that it's just a fake.

BTW Cy, how tall are you?

http://www.nitromed.com/nitric_oxide.asp
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=715496&Main=715205
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/no2.html

[cyanide]

Nitric oxide sounds interesting, but I'd like to know if it's more effective than creatine. I'd like to see studies at how effective NO is, compared to other supplements on the market. The additional viagra-like bloodflow to the penis scares me a little bit as I wouldn't want to be walking around with a boner all day But I gotta buy some supplements soon, so NO might be a consideration as I'd like to try something new.

I'm about 5'10" to 5'11"

[Fenix]

Shit, 195 pounds is A LOT at 5'11. I would probably be less than that totally filled out and I'm like 4 inches taller than you. Diffence in the frame sizes, I guess .