The Fitness Guide

[[Q]]

HGM? whats that? at first glance i thought you were on HGH.

[Jackal]

That made my day.

HGM is a program in 10 phases by Men's Health. Home Grown Muscles, you should find it on Google.

HGH,

[shadowgrin]

I thought that pic was you Jackal.
"Jackal could seriously kick ass!?!" was the exact thought.

[Jackal]

I wish I looked like that.

Even if I did, I wouldn't make a pose like that. That was a promotional picture, what would I have to promote.

[shadowgrin]

You're promoting your Dweaverness!

Damn the edit from my previous post, I'll just make a new post..long post ahead..

Anyways, in a previous thread created by Shadowgrin (about bulking up fast), I read a comment by VanK where he wrote that Christian Bale is the person that inspired him to start working on his physique. I never got that to be honest, I figured I didn't need to look all bulky and toned, I never understood that people do it for themselves, not for others

Here's the skinny on what happened in that pursuit.

I did bulk up, it's like having the frame of Spike Dudley (during his tenure in the WWE, I don't know how he looks now) to that of Matt Hardy.
Being joked by friends by being called names like HHH or Chris Masters sure is ego-boosting and made me notice the change because I'm the type who rarely looks at my body in the mirror and usually wears large (but not hip-hp large) shirts because of the comfort. I really hate tight fit, makes me look ghey.

Deal is, based on experienced and what I read, bulking up is really different from toning your body, may be that's why I didn't notice the change because I was expecting more of the cuts instead of noticing the bulk, which was the main purpose to begin with.
I did very little cardio (bad idea if you really want to look like that guy Jackal) and concentrated on increasing my muscle strength and endurance, so I also gained some weight.
Cardio is really important if you want to see those cuts in your body.

I also read some things regarding bulking up:
Bale did gain some muscle and weight for Batman Begins. He was reportedly 20 lbs. overweight because he only concentrated only on gaining muscle (like what I did) so he had to workout again with cardio as the main training to lose the excess flab.

Even before The Machinist-Batman Begins, he also had previous experience of being skinny and then gaining muscle for the film Reign of Fire, he initially was going for skinny since the film was set in an apocalyptic future but he saw his co-star Matthew McConaughey going the opposite and quickly decided that he should also gain some muscle. Since he had previous experience of being skinny to bulking up, it's no shock to me now the way he pulled it off for Batman Begins.

I also read that some bodybuilders practically starve themselves 2-3 days before a competition by eating only uncooked oatmeal no water whatsoever, to really get that toned look.

Back to myself, when I stopped working out and started my relationship again more often with sweet, sweet beer. It also doesn't help that I barely get to eat at least 3 times a day (bec. of school and stuff) so I lost some muscle mass but still kept the weight and now have a beer belly. I'm basically overweight @ 180 then.
I'm currently losing it, I'm now @ 160. I did it with mostly cardio, 30 mins. to 1 hr. tops though I can go for 2 hrs. (the trainer thinks I'm a beast @ cardio ); and lifting weights for no more than a hour. A trainer helped made my routine a circuit training. I really like it because it's not time consuming for a whole body workout and I can really feel the burn because there's less time to rest.
Yes, I still have the beer belly. I'm planning to do cardio 6 times a week and lift weights 3 times, kind of like only 1 hr. of cardio for the 1st day, 30 mins. of cardio and 1 hr. of weights for the 2nd day, back to only 1 hr. for the 3rd day so on and so forth.

As posted before by others, changing your routine now and then is beneficial as it can help you and learn more about your body. I used to abhor workouts for the abs and triceps, now I look forward to it because of the various routines for it in a circuit training. I also found out that my back muscles responds the most in terms of development in training.

Seems that my main problem is still consistency in training because partly of my schedule (univ, activities), and also giving my body the proper nutrition. The latter is easy, but consistency isn't really my strong suit. I just give it all I have in short spurts of time available for training that's why I still manage to get some results. The most time I had of continuous workouts was 3 months. Guess, I'll just have to overcome that slump.

EDIT: That clip sure did suck ass Jackal, but the dancing women sure are interesting.

[Jackal]

Actually, I've got bulk already, I'm already imposing physically, I just need to get rid of my gut and I want to see my muscle shape.

I suppose that's what I'm trying to achieve, looking cut. I don't want to have to flex my arms for you to be able to see muscle definition, I want it to already look like that. This is the reason why I need to lower my bodyfat as much as I can, this way the bulk will look less and the "cutness" will be more visible.

So yeah, the cardio is quite beneficial to what I'm trying to achieve, which is more of a toned look instead of trying to bulk up. The picture of that guy is used for it's toned-ness, not bulk. There is another guy that has the bulk but not the muscle definition, which is what I'm trying to achieve.

Lol at the comment about the clip, it was merely meant as an insight in to how physically amazing this fellow is. If the guy didn't have two thumbs on one of his hands, I'd call him perfection. This sounds uber gay, I know, but I started off hating this guy because he was the so called "enemy" of one of my favorite actors, but that was just media hyping him as the bad guy and I fell for it. Basically this guy is...amazing. He's got good height, a good physique, he can act & he can dance. All I'm trying to do is imitate his psysique.

Anyways, family comes back tomorrow, eating clean(er) should go up now given I won't have to cook for myself anymore.

[shadowgrin]

This sounds uber gay, I know, but I started off hating this guy because he was the so called "enemy" of one of my favorite actors, but that was just media hyping him as the bad guy and I fell for it

Not surprising at all, I know that Indian fans are passionate about their films/cinema.
Some Indian girl told me that. I find her real pretty.

[Jackal]

Yeah, I've grown up watching Indian Cinema, it's part of the whole culture of sorts. Now it's even better, compared to 10 years ago, when everything was so God damned cheesy and stupid it was beyond watchable, but you were forced to watch it since your parents wouldn't let you watch anything else.

Now though, technology has leapt ahead, eye for detail has gone up and the new/various stories that are being told now days, it makes me proud to be an avid Indian Cinema watcher.

Now that you mention it, I've never gone out with an Indian girl. I made out with one in a summer in Suriname, but that's it.

My love for Indian Women ends at two names: Aishwarya Rai & Katrina Kaif.

Anyways, back on topic, how essential is a protein shake?

[Wall St. Peon]

This is a good post. People need to be aware and pay attention to fitness...especially in the US.

I'll add a few things...

- You shouldn't eat more than three hours before bedtime.

- Abs are like any other muscle; they need time to repair. Now, you CAN work abs everyday - just switch to different ab muscles or groups (i.e. one day, upper, the next lower, the next obliques, and the next all of the above...that's what I do, it works well)

- Also in regards to abs, don't forget to work your lower back muscles. Like all muscles, you need to work the opposing group to prevent injury. This is especially true of abs due to the damage you can do to your lower back. Any day you work your abs, you should work your lower back.

- One more ab thing: in order to activate ab muscles fully, you must do AT LEAST 15 repetitions.

- Vary your workout routine. If you do a routine for a few weeks, you'll notice results, but eventually you'll reach a plateau and you'll see no further improvement, you'll become frustrated, and you might quit. The best thing to do is set up a rotating workout. I'll explain what I mean.

For instance, one day, you are working arms. You do hammer curls, skull crushers, tricep extensions, and bicep curls. The next day you want to do arms, do reverse bicep curls, preacher curls, concentration curls, low row (also works lower back), forearms, and seated row (biceps, delts). The next day you do arms, do a combination of the two workouts. This isn't a three day in a row thing, it's three days of arm workouts. Each workout works a muscle slightly differently, so your muscles don't get used to doing one thing.

- Don't lift weights for more than an hour. After an hour, you're not doing any good. It's different if you're at the gym for an hour and a half and you stretch for 15 minutes, ride a bike for 30 minutes, and then lift weights for an hour.

- If you want to make your chest look good, do the incline bench. The incline bench works the upper chest muscles and lifts the lower muscles worked by the bench press.


If you're wondering the validity of my claims, I have a minor in coaching and work out every day. I'm 24 years old, 5'9 and 175 lbs with 11% body fat. According to the BMI, I should weigh about 145 lbs...muscle weighs more than fat, of course, and my body fat is correct. I'm not saying I have 30 lbs of muscle, but I'm definitely not 30 lbs overweight.

You guys that are 6'1, 6'2 and under 150? That is NOT healthy. Men should have between 10-12% body fat, if I remember right. The best way for you guys to bulk up is to intake a ton of calories in protein to build muscle and work out for an hour daily. When you're working out, increase the weight each set and work each muscle to failure. Also, make sure you (and this goes for everyone) lift the weight as fast as possible and lower the weight in a very controlled manner. Once a week, do negatives. That is, go up as fast as possible, and then double or even triple the time you lower it; all strength gains are on the negative. You'll see results quickly and it will help your form and impress the body builders working out around you. Negatives are like running hills: painful, but worth it.

If you're trying to bulk up, you should take in around 3000-4000 calories a day. Sure you'll gain fat, but you can get rid of fat easily by lowering your caloric intake to 1500-2000 a day and increasing the amount of time you work on cardio.

Also, if you want to make your shoulders cut, I recommend doing this:

Without stopping, start with lateral raises and do a set of 20 with a 10-15lb weight (whatever you can handle). Without taking a break, do front raises, also a set of 20. Again, without taking a break, do 20 upright rows. After the upright rows, do 20 bent over lateral raises. Immediately after finishing the second lat raises, do as many shrugs as possible with as much weight as possible. When you're done with shrugs, do as many shoulder presses as possible. Once you're done with the shoulder press, do the rear delt (back of your shoulder). This is all one set. Do three of these.

Note: I recommend only people who know what they're doing to do the above. It's very hard, and if you want to do it with 5lbs or even less, go for it; your muscles will be exhausted. Usually, I can't do a full set of any of them after the first set, and I do that once, sometimes twice a week. It exhausts the muscles and it's a good cardio as well due to the circuit training nature. I'm not sure if that's in a book anywhere, but it's a workout that I came up with for a class that I love, and I highly recommend it to sculpt shoulders (well sculpted shoulders will show off bicep and back muscles better).

As for protein shakes being essential? I don't use any supplements. Then again, I've never had problems gaining weight. If you follow the directions on the supplements, then they'll work. If you don't, they probably won't. If you can afford it, I recommend HGH. That will help you gain weight, build muscle, and lose fat. Don't get cheap HGH, though, as it's mostly full of fillers and doesn't do much. HGH can actually help you grow, if you're young enough, due to the way it works with the pituitary.

Anyways, if I wasn't clear on anything I said, let me know. If I said something that was already posted, sorry, I didn't read the whole thing.

[Wall St. Peon]

Oh, and one more thing:

Always isolate a muscle. What I mean is this: if you're working your bicep, only work your bicep. Don't use your shoulder or momentum or your back or anything but your bicep. This will prevent injury and increase results. You might not be able to lift as much to start, but you will eventually (I curl around 25-30 lbs 15-20 times; my max is 60 lbs. I started at 15 lbs about 3 years ago). Lifting weights is all about form, as is anything in regards to the body (running, basketball shooting, baseball throwing, etc.).

[shadowgrin]

Mr. Shane pretty much nails it with everything he posted, except with the HGH, I still have my doubts and scared a bit.
I also don't use protein shakes, budget constraints.

If you want to make your chest look good, do the incline bench. The incline bench works the upper chest muscles and lifts the lower muscles worked by the bench press.

So true.
A trainer saw that I only workout the mid and lower part of my chest and told me not to neglect the upper chest unless I want to have boobie-like chest. He noticed that my collar bone is really prominent thus the lack of upper chest workouts. Now, my upper chest still isn't that huge but at least the collar bone's not that prominent.

Question: is it ok if in my routine I isolate a muscle and when it's really exhausted I switch to a compound exercise so that I really get a muscle to work itself out?

[cyanide]

Question: is it ok if in my routine I isolate a muscle and when it's really exhausted I switch to a compound exercise so that I really get a muscle to work itself out?

If it's within the same hour, then it's fine because you're just switching exercises but still working on the same muscle group. If you're working on the same muscle group five hours later or the next day, then I wouldn't go that way, but give the muscles at least 48 hours apart so it can repair and recover.

[Wall St. Peon]

Yeah, as long as you do it in the same workout, just like cyanide said.

HGH is totally natural. If you do it the right way, i.e. at a medical center through injections and pills, it'll benefit greatly. However, it's absurdly expensive. If I could afford the $1500+ treatment, I'd do it. Like I said, if you get the right stuff, it's worth it...otherwise most of the stuff you can buy online or at GNC? It'll pry kill you eventually.

[Nick]

What is the best way to go about toning up, rather than actually losing weight?

I don't necessasarily (i know it's spelled wrong but i don't care) want or need to lose any weight, i just want to tone my torso up a lot, just for the looks factor.

What are the main differences in working out to lose weight, and working out to just look good?

[[Q]]

necessarily

if I'm not mistaken, you should lift weights, but use lighter weights than you normally would and do more reps/sets.

[cyanide]

Doing lighter weights is just essentially cardio, but it doesn't necessarily give you that "toned" look.

"Toning up" is rarely understood properly. You can't gain muscle without adding a bit of fat, and you can't lose weight without losing a bit of muscle. If you want to "tone up" then you have to lose weight, period. If you want to have nice looking "toned" muscles, then you have to bulk up a bit before going on a cut to expose and retain the muscle that you earned. There's no middle ground of doing it, unfortunately.

[Oznogrd]

cy and q are both right. You're not going to tone up without some fluctuations in your body composition but in order to promote tone rather than mass, you do ALOT of reps of light weights...When i started lifting in high i school i was using 15 lb weights for my tricep extensions, bicep curls, and prone rows. In a typical workout: i did 60+ of each and cy, it was ALOT more than cardio. And like i said before, i had the best looking muscles i'd ever had that year...but it was being balanced out with my first "real" year of track training...I was scared to bulk up to not fit in my chair (it was already too tight) so i went light weight and it seemed to acheive the desired effect...*shrugs* but do some research, i'm sure there's plenty out there.

[Matt]

due to time constraints im working out tonight for the 1st time in 2 weeks. However, last week i had to slave away digging trenches and that ripped my chest to shreds so it was essentially like a workout.

[shadowgrin]

There's no middle ground of doing it, unfortunately.

Ditto. You can't be greedy and have it all Nick.

[---]

Ok, I finally think I'm strong enough to start a regular routine.

I wanna work out as much of my body as possible. Chest, Biceps, Triceps, Abdominal, Shoulders and Legs. My legs and abs are doing pretty well so I will focus on them the least.

I'll post my draft workout (I start this Monday NZ time, still working on it) and hopefully some of you that know much more about fitness and working out can suggest some new exercises or changes. I will have a trial week to see how I go, then adjust it if I'm having any problems. I have no planned length but after 4 weeks I'll see if I am getting good results and change it accordingly, or carry on as I am.

Here it is:

Monday:

Warmup:

Stretch
25 pressups

Workout

Chest:

Incline bench press, medium weight, 14 reps [2 sets]
Incline bench press, heavy weight, 8 reps [3 sets]
Incline flyes, medium weight, 16 reps [2 sets]
Incline flyes, heavy weight, 12 reps [3 sets]
Dumbbell pullover, medium weight, 15 reps [2 sets]
Dumbbell pullover, heavy weight, 10 reps [3 seats]

Triceps:

Tricep dip, unweighted, 20 reps [3 sets]
Two arm tricep extension, heavy weight, 15 reps [2 sets]
JM Press, heavy weight, 10 reps [3 sets]

Abdominals:

Crunches, 30 reps [3 sets]
Vertical leg crunches, 15 reps [3 sets]

Tuesday:

Warmup:

Stretch
25 pressups
10 two foot jumps

Workout

Shoulders:

Shoulder press, medium weight, 25 reps [3 sets]
Shoulder press, heavy weight, 12 reps [2 sets]
Side lateral raise, medium weight, 13 reps [2 sets]
Side lateral raise, medium weight, 8 reps [3 sets]
Push press, heavy weight, 10 reps [2 sets]

Biceps:

Bicep curl, medium weight, 25 reps [3 sets]
Bicep curl, heavy weight, 15 reps [2 sets]
Flexor incline dumbbell curl, medium weight, 20 reps [2 sets]
Flexor incline dumbbell curl, medium weight, 10 reps [3 sets]
Dumbbell concentration curls, heavy weight, 10 reps [2 sets]

Legs:

Leg extensions, heavy weight, 20 reps [2 sets]
Lying leg curls, medium weight, 30 reps [2 sets]
Lying leg curls, heavy weight, 15 reps [2 sets]

*Same thing, Monday workout happens on Monday/Wednesday/Friday and the Tuesday workout happens on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, with Sunday as a rest day.

I'm yet to try out the exercises properly, but "heavy weight" just means the heaviest weight I can use while still accomplishing the set amount of reps. That makes it easier to increase the workload, as I just have to change the weight depending on how I feel instead of doing the math again.

Criticize away!

[Wall St. Peon]

Actually, that's a near perfect workout, aside from neglecting your back.

You need to get some rows, pull downs/pull ups, extensions, and so on to take care of your back. It'll help keep it strong and make your posture better as well as prevent injuries.

One more thing, though: vary your workout more! Once your body gets used to it, you'll plateau and stop noticing any difference; once that happens, you're more likely to quit. Vary your workout; for instance, one week, do the work out you said. The next, mix it up more...do shoulders, chest, and legs with diff. workouts than the week before. Chest, biceps and back the next. It really doesn't matter, just vary it. Workouts, just like anything else, are bad if parity is reached

[Matt]

I have 3 sets of workouts which i alternate. I'll do each set for 3 weeks before switching to a different set. Is that a good approach?

[Wall St. Peon]

Yup. Right when your muscles and body gets used to the work out, you change it. It's usually around 2-4 weeks that that happens. This is why you see the most results in the first 2 weeks and then barely any after that...it's an early plateau. Once you get past the two weeks, the results are occurring more, but aren't as visible...if you vary, it'll be just like the first couple of weeks every time.

[cyanide]

Shannon: Whoops, forgot to take a look at your workout.

A few critiques: You have a good range of exercises, but my concern is that you might have too many given that you should limit your workout to one hour per day. Also, you have too many days, where you could be overworking and thus, hurting your progress. Rest and recovery is just as important as putting the time in lifting.

As Mr. Shane mentioned, you're neglecting your back, and if you neglect any body part, especially your back, you're more prone to injury. Finally, doing pushups is not really required for a warm-up; at most, it pre-fatigues your chests and a bit of your triceps. Other than that, you're on the right track

[---]

Well, I tried out the Monday workout yesterday. Problem is I hadn't slept all night and hadn't really eaten, but I thought I would give it to go just to see if the weights are too much for me. It probably wasn't a good idea even though I managed to do it because I honestly felt like throwing up and my arms were shaking pretty bad, but at least I know I can do it now.

I am going to drop the JM press, increase the two arm tricep extension to 3 sets, set the inclines flyes to one weight, but 4 sets and a slightly higher amount of reps, and finally drop the normal crunches to 2 sets (this isn't final because I was a mess when I did the test workout, also I may need to change some things on the other day).

Tricep lifts... wow. That almost killed me. I guess I have very weak triceps because that was by far the most painful part of the exercise. I felt like shit after but I had enough of that good feeling you get after a workout to show that if I had done tht on any other day, I shouldn't be lying near the door after vertical leg crunches clutching my stomach and rolling from side to side hoping I don't throw up.

I'll get some back workouts into the second day for my back, but right now I don't know what type of equipment I'll need, so I'm not sure yet. I have dumbells, barbells, a bench press with the leg stuff and a Scotts Bench (?) along with a couple of those bent barbells and some skipping ropes. I just can't think of anything I could do with that to work out my back, but then again I have never worked on my back.

I'm not sure how long it took to complete, but I do think it was under an hour, that was with those changes though. About the amount of days, I think maybe I should do the Monday routine 2 days a week, same with the Tuseday workout and then on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, choose one of the two to do depending on how I feel - so that comes out to 5 workout days a week, with 2 days of rest (or 4 days total, if I don't feel up to a fifth day). When you first said I may be overdoing it with the amount of days, I wondred why because I'm working out completely different parts on different days. Then I remembered those tricep lifts. Even though the workouts I did before weren't exactly aimed at my triceps, I'm pretty sure they tired them out because those lifts were a bitch.

About varying, I'll try come up with an alternate workout during the time I do this one.

Thanks for the input and critique Cy and Shane, hopefully I can stick with it.

By the way, I got most of my exercises from this page: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek80.htm