Saturday Audience Participation
Like most desk jockeys, I basically need to work out to avoid the stiffness associated with sitting all day. I surmise that the vast majority of back and neck pain plaguing America does not require more doctors and chiropractors, but merely doing 25 minutes of light exercise three times a week.
When I was younger, I got quite obsessed with working out, going to the gym for about 1.5 hours a day for six days a week. That lasted about a year until I realized that I had plateaued for about six months and got frustrated with seeing relatively little gains in musculature. I worked out two or three times a week for years after that and then quit for a couple years, and then went a couple years going once a week.
This past year I decided to start lifting again, going to the gym twice a week (standard push/pull split) and once a week doing a P90-X style workout at home for about thirty minutes. Just so you don't reject that home workout as nothing, I can barely stand by the time I'm done. For lifting, I do almost all free weights with machines for supersets, as you should. I focus on compound exercises like bench, incline bench, shoulder press, bent-over rows, upright rows, side raises, and others, though these do get somewhat boring after having done them for almost half my life. Note that I don't do lower body; I know, I know, criticize me all you want. It just plain doesn't feel good; that's the only way I can describe lower body workouts and some full-body exercises like clean and jerk, which I think should only be done after extensive coaching.
Unfortunately though, I honestly don't really look like I've worked out for so long - at least with my shirt on. With my shirt off, I have the classic upside down triangle shape and obvious musculature (note I do not have particularly low body fat), but my arms just don't look good in sleeves for some reason. This distinction between how I look with a shirt on and with one off was crystallized when a girl who saw me in a wife beater for the first time asked, seriously, if I had done steroids over summer break. This sort of gawking happens quite often when people first see me without a shirt or in a wife beater (I wear wife beaters everyday during summer). I've sort of come to terms with my inability to gain very noticeable muscle with a shirt on and it has largely spurred my discouragement over the years regarding lifting. I know the only thing that will help is going on an absolutely strict diet, but I tried it for three months and it was absolute hell. Like a full-time job basically.
Today's questions: Do you workout? What kind of workouts do you do? What are your goals for working out? What is your body type and has working out changed it? How do you feel after a good workout? What kind of gym do you go to? Hopefully not one like Chuck's. Does anyone else suffer from the same shirt-on/shirt-off distinction I do?
72 comments:
I lift heavy barbells 3x a week, mostly compound lifts in a basic 5x5 routine, with a deload on the last week of every month. My workouts usually last about 45 minutes. I also do some calisthenics and gymnastics every day. Hill sprints twice a week for 20 minutes.
My goals are mostly strength and health. I feel better when I've got some muscle on my frame.
I was tall and skinny (but wiry) as a teen. Now after years of regular lifting I'm tall and somewhat muscular (6'3", 230 lbs., 8% bodyfat).
When I first started lifting, I pushed myself to exhaustion every workout, which led to burnout and plateauing after a few months. Now I only go to exhaustion on occasion and allow enough time for recovery when I do.
I work out in my garage. I bought a used power rack, an Olympic barbell and 500 lbs. of plates, bars for pull-ups and dips, a couple of large stall mats, and miscellaneous equipment for under $500.
I put on muscle mostly on my lats and pecs, leaving my arms comparatively skinny, no matter how much direct arm work I do. Shirt on I look heavier than I am, an optical illusion caused by the large chest, lats, and traps. Most people tend to think I'm about 30 lbs. heavier than I am, despite my 32" waist.
When I was younger I used to run long slow distances, and do karate (Shotokan, a "hard" style) I stopped running because my knees were feeling the stress and stopped doing karate because punching thousands of time into the air isn't good for the joints, and it was starting to bother my back.
Also, unless you're at a very high level, age will catch up with you when you're in your 40's or so, and your skills will start to diminish at that point.
Also the warmups in every karate school I was at are straight out of the 50's. It's as though they hadn't learned what others have learned in the last 60 years about the risks of doing some of those exercises.
Also sport karate is a lot different from street fighting because in sport karate you're not making serious contact. So if someone asked me now whether he should do karate or boxing, I'd tell him to do boxing, unless his choice was between high quality karate vs. mediocre boxing.
For the last few years I've been doing tai chi and would like to start doing hsing-i.
Don't be fooled by the soft looking movements. The movements are done in a way so that you get deep twistings and variations of internal pressures within the body, so that you can get a good workout without unduly activating the adrenals. Then when you start doing push hands, tai chi can get even more interesting.
yea I work out. Competed in power-lifting and strongman when I was younger, and in stone lifting more recently. I'm down range right now and do a version of Jim Wendler's 5-3-1 but use strongman and kettlebells for assistant/ cardio work. I train at home when I'm state side.
Commercial gyms suck. The power cages are small and weak, usually with some dip-shit curling 75 in it. The bars suck, maybe rated at 750 pounds. They don't normally have kettlebells, tires to flip, prowlers to push, atlas stones....Commercial gyms just suck. I'm convinced people in the US are in such bad shape because because 1)they eat crap and 2)train like little girls. Commercial gyms are a big reason why folks train like school girls
Commercial gyms are a big reason why folks train like school girls
Guilty as charged.
But we're not all built like Bill Kazmaier or Magnus ver Magnusson.
I don't know if my frame could take those kinds of workouts and I imagine the majority of the population is the same.
Just from a bayesian pov my guess would be you're not pushing yourself hard enough.
That you do super sets and the like suggest that you're a) pretty f-ing strong and need the stimulation for progress or b) that you're holding back too much on the big compounds to see progress.
Do you qualify for the advanced numbers in this article?
(1.5*BW bench, 2*BW squat, 2.5*BW deadlift, 1.5BW chinup)
http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html
If not, your problem is fucking around too much. If you do qualify, consider steroids.
Are you acquinted with the workout in 'Body by science'? Basically, it promises maximum strength and hypertrophy gains and total cardiovascular fitness in 12 minutes a week. Most of the advice in the book is also based on scientific research, and not just personal experience. It also advises going to absolute muscular failure every time (pushing like you have a gun to your head) every time.
I'm 3 months in, and progressing pretty well.
@OneSTDV - at times, we all get to the point where we make it too complicated. A few basic suggestions:
1. It's really simple, man - lift, eat, rest, in no particular order - each are of the same importance. Do you have the eat and rest parts down? Most guys concentrate only on the life part. For eat - also try significantly raising your protein intake. I don't mean a protein shake after a workout; I mean throughout the day and you can do it part by eating more meat and part by consuming more whey. Also, keep an eye on your fat consumption - most guys cut it way back and that is no good. And I don't mean canola oil, but animal fat. Cholesterol is used by the body to make testosterone. For rest - I know it's hard - but if you can arrange your life so you keep regular hours and wake up when you have to with no alarm clock, you will have the rest part really in synch with the lift and eat parts.
2. I don't mean to sound faggy or something, but do your clothes fit? If your daily clothes are too large, it's like covering your muscles with a potato sack. I had this problem for years until someone woke me up. It goes like this. Take a look at the guys in your office who don't work out. Maybe they are as thin as a rail or maybe they've got the start of a small pot belly. I'm talkin' here about average guys, not some bloated whale who takes 2 seats in an airplane. Anyhow, they typically wear clothes that hug the body to some extent, even though they have a very sedentary physique. That's why their imperfections stand out when you look at them with a critical eye. Now look at your shirts. Are they very loose? Are you maybe being self conscious and trying to hide what you think is an imperfection? If so, try going down a size (i.e. from XL to L, or from L to M). If you're wearing a tie and need a certain neck size, go for fitted shirts or have them tapered by a tailor. When I corrected this with myself, all of a sudden I started getting "man, do you lift? you look awesome" type comments. And this is with standard clothing, just a size down - not buying any special bodybuilder type clothing.
3. If you do nothing else, at least use a leg press. You've got to do something with your lower body.
4. As ADS implied - you have to get your numbers up. Make sure you keep a training journal such that you are adding one more rep or adding weight every workout. The 2.5 lb plates can be your friend.
5. You don't mention it, but just in case - you shouldn't be doing any steady state cardio.
6. Some guys need more direct arm work to significantly increase the size of the arm, especially if you're not working to get a bench with four plates on each side. Try this. Drop all direct arm work for 2 weeks. On the third week, set aside a direct arm day and do 2 exercises for bi's followed by 2 for tri's. For each exercise, do an 8x8 with 60 or 90 seconds between sets. Obviously, start with a much lower weight than usual, but try increasing the weight each week or work back up to 8x8 if you fail on the last few sets. Try it for 8 to 12 weeks - with eat & rest in synch as well.
6.a - also remember the old timer rule - want to gain an inch on your arms, then gain 10 lbs.
6.b - try thick bar training along with the 8x8. Since your gym probably doesn't have thick bars, get some fat gripz which work the same (www.fatgripz.com)
OK, I"ll get off my soap box.
Commercial gyms are a big reason why folks train like school girls
----
Guilty as charged.
But we're not all built like Bill Kazmaier or Magnus ver Magnusson.
I don't know if my frame could take those kinds of workouts and I imagine the majority of the population is the same.
----
Sorry little bro, lame answer. Not everyone is 6'7" & 300 plus pounds, yet everyone can exert maximum effort in what is maximally effective in recruiting muscle fiber or anaerobic conditioning, with sound mechanical technique.
I know a 150 pound man with a near 500 pound contest bench; a 198 pound man with a 660 pound contest deadlift and a 54 year old looking man hoping to it an 800 pound squat this spring. I know the big guys get "all the press" but power-lifting and strongman have weight classes.
Can't flip a 900 pound tire? Flip a 300 pound tire. etc etc. Simple, basic stuff, that demands the most out of you doesn't require you to be a particular body type.
the other huge problem with fitness and commercial gyms is they are appearance focused and not result focused. For a lot of folks being strong and fit isn't the same thing as looking strong and fit. Competing in something will sharpen your focus and give you a performance/ outcome based objective view of what works, what doesn't and how your are progressing
But it takes balls, a lot of hard work/ intense work, a decent plan, rest and lots of food
@Stonelifter
Ehh.. Sounds to me like you made a hobby out of working out. Which is fine, but to most of us it's just something to keep us healthy/in shape.
I think you already know the reason you can't put on muscle is the lack of lower body training. True, it is difficult, uncomfortable, and requires proper technique, but so do most worthwhile things in life.
Exercises like squat and deadlift put tremendous stress on the whole body and trigger increased testosterone production. I can understand why people are afraid of them, but once you get comfortable with the technique you won't want to stop. The hormonal surge and fast muscle gains are addictive, plus it just doesn't feel like a real work out without it.
Exercises like squat and deadlift put tremendous stress on the whole body and trigger increased testosterone production.
This is true. The deadlift especially blew me up like crazy. But you have to lift heavy (multiple sets of 2 or 3). If you overdo it, though, you'll fry your CNS--I was getting the shakes and insomnia from going full-tilt boogie on the DL too often.
i third the recommendation to do deadlifts and squats.
as to shirt on/shirt off, the girl i'm currently seeing works as a lifeguard at the pool i swim at. she only saw me in swim trunks before i asked her out.
As a naturally skinny person the whole shirt thing hits home. My arms are solid muscle, and you can see it with the shirt off, but with sleeves and the fact that I'm not huge overall its not to noticeable.
I usually workout 3 or 4 times a week plus the occasional long walks with the SO (love those!).
I used to hit the gym a lot before, but stopped it when we hit a really tough spot financially (gym membership can be extremely dear where I live). SO still goes to gym regularly, which works well for him, but as a woman one can stay in shape just fine doing workout at home especially if you have some basic equipment like weights, resistance bands and a stick.
During the past few years I've developed a home workout routine by scouring the internet, checking out all sorts of workout sites and trying out moves that feel good and seem to get the best results for me. I've compiled them into a full body workout that I either do all at once (takes about an hour and a half) or in parts (upper body, lower body, abs etc), depending on my schedule. The workout's not terribly rigorous but satisfying, obviously tuned for a medium-sized woman not aiming to get ripped or anything, just toned.
I'm an hourglass shape, and even though it's generally a good shape to be (;) what with the stomach not needing much work and the natural curves, the downside is that both arms and thighs can get a bit "flappy" if you don't workout at all.
I do some light to medium weight lifting (also at home) in addition to the workout routine. Oh, and on some days when I'm tired of my old moves, I have some workout routines on tape (or should I say disc?), mostly yoga and balletone. I wish I had the patience to do yoga more often, it works wonders on flexibility, but I really prefer livelier exercise - when I want to calm down I read or listen to music, instead.
I went through a phase when I was terribly into martial arts and fell especially hard for kendo. I still miss those classes and always think of starting again but somehow just end up watching another Asian fighting movie instead. Such is life..
LOVE wife-beaters by the way (in the sartorial sense, that is). My eyes always pop when my man deigns to wear one. ^^
Moneybomb@Ron Paul's this weekend!
i'm skinny-fat* right now, and i really want to start lifting weights, though i have never done it and have no idea where to start. i want to do it to look good for girls and also so that i can hold my own in a fight
* http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=skinny-fat
Its disgusting that your posters would recommend a diet based on large quantities of protein and FAT! First of all,we are trying to get along with this planet and all its people so eating tons of meat is a no-no.Gobbling up fat? Gotta be kidding me! I would barf! I follow a strict regimen of green vegetables,fruit and grains. I do yoga 5X a week,and run 3X a week. My girlfriend would laugh at you macho pretenders!!!!
I'd suggest two quick, concentrated leg exercises that won't require any additional equipment and are easily done at home: One-legged wall squats (or start with both legs if you need to) and calf raises with the heaviest dumbbells you can handle. Spend 5 minutes doing these two exercises a couple of times a week and you'll see results (and the burning sensation from wall squats is awesome!)
I am a Lifetime Fitness member and use the child center. They charge for each additional child on the membership, so childless folks don't have to pay for it. Most gym going families don't have more than a couple of kids under 12.
Here's what I do:
start out with deadlifts, 5x5 at a moderate-heavy weight, or 3x3 at heavy weight.
Squat / weighted pull-up superset
Bench press
I usually do it in this order, but not always. Also I occasionally add in kettlebell swings, power cleans, and medicine ball slams.
Your legs are the biggest muscle group in your body; you've got to hit them hard to get optimum growth hormone production.
I deadlift 2x bodyweight (goal is 3), can run a sub 20 minute 5k, and do 20 pull ups. I swear, lifting is a near-panacea.
If you look better with your shirt off than on then you're better off than the vast majority of people walking around town who need the help of their clothes and suits to impress but are diminished when they take it off, as they ultimately must do. Just play to the Peter Parker/ Spiderman dichotomy. One doesn't need to impress everyone, just themselves and the ones they care about.
Try martial arts, conventional and Thai boxing, and the like, something dynamic. Put some go into your show. Might as well pick up a few skills while one is expending their energy. It sure can't hurt to improve one's reflexes, balance, coordination and striking power.
Evan, you do yoga and run? Does that mean you don't do any strength training?
As far as meat consumption goes, my formerly vegan friend just started eating fish. She did not get enough nutrients on a meatless diet. Vegetarianism is vastly overrated.
Curious as to why you don't do P90X? I've been doing it with my wife for about 2 years (the workout, not the food BS) and it's been an awesome choice.
I really don't think a person can eat even 2/3 of the calories the typical American eats without working out over one hour per day and stay healthy.
From an evolutionary point of view: we eat about twice the calories and work out about half the time of our ancestors. Hence, you need much more time burning calories.
One last thing: I think of moderate yoga once per week as mandatory for office workers. Sure yoga ain't natural but sitting on one's ass all day is absolutely not normal and the only way I've found to counter the damage done to the joints from sitting all day is yoga.
Those who are recommending yoga might want to see this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/magazine/how-yoga-can-wreck-your-body.html?pagewanted=1&_r=4
I don't work out because I don't enjoy it. Some feel better after workouts, I don't. Besides feeling better, there can be two other benefits from working out: sexually appealing physique and increased health/longevity. I am past the age when the former matters and I have never seen a compelling evidence that the latter is actually true.
I do Starting Strength.
One- I know others are saying it, but it bears repeating.
If you're not doing squats and deadlifts, or related exercises, then you're not really working out.
In fact, you could give up all the other exercises, and just do one heavy squat workout and one heavy deadlift workout a week and see phenomenal gains.
Throw some chins and dips in there just to even things out, but focus on the 2 big lifts.
Study after study has proven those 2 lifts produce a huge increase in testosterone, and with proper rest, you will definitely see your whole body grow.
You are really cheating yourself if you don't do them.
I've been working out for over twenty years and am a certified personal trainer. I train most of my clients the same way I train myself with a little bit of variation with some clients. What most trainers won't tell their clients is eating is at least half of it. You gotta eat good or you're not gonna get the results you want. I follow a high fat, moderate protein, low carb paleo diet and thats what I recommend to my clients. I also eat all my food in an 8 hour window. I fast 16 hours every day. I train in a fasted state consuming only BCAA's before a workout. A typical day for me will break down like this: 3500-4000 calories(60-65% fat,20-25% protein, 10-15% carbs). If you are not familiar with the paleo/primal diet, do some research. There are alot of good sites on the web. I think Marksdailyapple.com is the best one. As far as workouts go, 3 days a week of heavy lifting on compound exercises(squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, etc.). Don't waste your time on machines or doing isolation exercises. Other than that, go for a walk every day outside.
I've discovered that 5 minutes of stretching before sleep results in zero stiffness the next day. I bounce out of bed like I'm 15.
wow, lots of detailed advice here; let me through out a few particulars in my case and get some advice, if you all would be so kind:
Basics: 6'3", 235 lbs.; medium-to-large frame: been over 200 lbs. since i was in high school.
routine: since my 30s: 30 mins to one-hour of light cardio (hands-n-legs elliptical trainer and/or treadmill), followed by 20-30 reps on several machines (alternating legs-vs.-arms-n-torso on various days)& light dumbbell exercises.
Goals/incentives: keeping weight down and maintaining tone; never sought muscle increase ----- but, seriously, I don't know of anyone more than myself whose natural body had a headstart on being a competitive weightlifter (i've had numerous people say that to me); just via my casual, incidental workouts listed above, i have ----- and have had since a teenager ------ comically gargantuan thighs and sculpted calves. But what I want more than anything is just to be able to eat what I want but be about 10 to 20 lbs. lighter; (I recently went up to 40-waist pants, but would love to wear my long-time size 36-inch waist pants again; i'd been wearing 38-inch trousers for several years already; i think the body adapts to whatever size you slide into for several years and that it's that much harder to reduce it when you've reached such homeostasis physiologically, etc.).
So: what should I do? I hear a lot of you guys diss-ing cardio---- but was impressed with the results a few years ago when i was told to stop running or doing high-intensity cardio and going for distance and slow paces, combined with a basic low-carb/moderate-to-high portion diet, which allowed me to drop about ten to 15 lbs. and keep it off for years. (What's behind all this anti-cardio talk I hear here?).
@Anonymous said...
i'm skinny-fat* right now, and i really want to start lifting weights, though i have never done it and have no idea where to start. i want to do it to look good for girls and also so that i can hold my own in a fight
Hmmm, I'd suggest you do it for yourself first and don't worry about looking good for girls. That will come on its own. And if you want to hold your own in a fight, then train martial arts, boxing, wrestling, etc. Big muscles and strength don't mean a guy knows how to win a fight.
@nikcrit
Cardio is girly. It does burn off energy, but doesn't add muscle. Muscle otoh burns energy 24/7, cumulatively a much greater effect.
Also, no machines. Lift real weights; your 3x10 on the hip abductor machine gives no practical results.
Don't subscribe to that "work each part individually" crap, and do the 3 big lifts. Why? Because the deadlift, squat, and bench press (pull-ups, dips, other unpleasant movements as well) are movements done in real life, like picking up boxes and general load bearing. Machines isolate individual muscles, at best doing nothing and at worst throwing you dangerously out of whack - a sure recipe for injury. Sack up and grab a barbell. You'll see results.
Also, you want tone? I wouldn't say that too loud... but lest you worry you're gonna look like Ahnold, I've got decent intermediate stats and don't look like a musclebound freak. In fact, I just fit into clothes better.
Dude, ditch the Globo Gym workouts and join a Crossfit gym. It's worth every penny. How much of your life have you wasted dicking around at LA Fitness doing the same bodybuilding routines from Men's Health? I know, because I used to do the same thing.
I'm six months into Crossfitting and I've seen marked improvement in all areas of athletic performance, from strength, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, and agility. It is simply the best overall athletic conditioning program I have encountered.
The Fran is classic Crossfit routine. 21 x 15 x 9 thrusters and pull-ups.
which you can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBgKB4Gnsw
Note: these people are freaks. My personal record for the Fran is 19:06 .. they do it in 2:48.
If you are just lifting weights and not doing cardio, you are ignoring the most important muscle in your body: your heart.
Why are a lot of you are into paleo diets but when it comes to exercise you diss cardio? Do you think Ug was laying on a bench in his cave lifting rocks over and over?
Wear smaller shirts.
"...there can be two other benefits from working out: sexually appealing physique and increased health/longevity. I am past the age when the former matters and I have never seen a compelling evidence that the latter is actually true."
Doing some short (20 minutes), heavy-ish weightlifting 2 or 3 times a week and going for a long walk every day definitely will improve health and longevity. Long, grueling cardio...not so much. The heavy-ish weightlifting strengthens your bones and prevents muscle wasting, which is important for anyone over age 50. You don't have to go to failure or wreck yourself. Even doing just a few supramaximal holds and lockouts will benefit you. There's plenty of evidence for that.
I walk 25 miles most weeks.
I do light lifting.
Little known facts:
• If you fatigue your muscle within 90 seconds you get the same results regardless of weight.
• Stretching before exercise results in more injuries.
Both the above are from peer-reviewed, extensive university studies. Both are anathema to most body builders.
nikcrit said...
But what I want more than anything is just to be able to eat what I want but be about 10 to 20 lbs. lighter; (I recently went up to 40-waist pants
Nik, even for a guy your size, a 40" waist is unhealthy. If I were you, I'd go very low carb (less than 50 grams a day) and absolutely stay away from all gluten grains, "vegetable" oil, fructose, dairy, and all processed food products. Keep calories under 3,000 and keep taking long walks every day (5 miles or more). If you can tolerate it, try getting a portion of your daily calories from coconut oil (it gets burned rapidly as fuel without raising your insulin levels). Try that for 30 days straight and see if there are any improvements in your body comp, blood pressure, etc.
I'm 6' 215lbs.
I used to want to look like I have muscles, while wearing a shirt, and then one day I achieved that goal. It kinda of just happened, I didn't really notice 'till people started to notice.
At this point I've achieved my fitness goals and I actively try to prevent adding any more muscle. I would like to drop my body fat but if I have to take the pleasure out of eating, it ain't gunna happen.
I've been working out, off and on - more on than off this past few years - since 1996.
If you fatigue your muscle within 90 seconds you get the same results regardless of weight.
Not exactly. Look up sarcoplasmic hypertrophy vs. myofibrillar hypertrophy. Also, light weights don't increase bone density the way heavy weights will.
Stretching before exercise results in more injuries.
Yes, static stretching before a workout will do that. Do mobility drills to warm up your joints before a workout, save the static stretches for after your workout.
Even doing just a few supramaximal holds and lockouts will benefit you. There's plenty of evidence for that.
Note that I wrote compelling evidence. Plenty? Really?
Yes, really. But hey, if you don't want to stave off muscle wasting and bone loss as you grow older, be my guest. I won't stop you.
I'm a senior and I have a simple routine: I play one to one and a half hours of singles tennis three times a week. Tennis releases endorphins, maintains flexibility, and gives me good foot speed. For muscles, it's also simple: I carry a handgun.
Here is my comment on working out: I NEVER stretch, neither before nor after. Never have. Don't feel like it, never felt the need for it.
Regarding shirts:
A couple years ago I did go the smaller shirt route. And while my muscles did show a good deal more, I felt like such a fag so I stopped, at least for short sleeves. I do wear slightly tighter shirts for long sleeve, but short sleeve is my big problem.
Regarding lower body:
I'm well aware that ignoring lower body is stupid. But I always feel like shit, especially my knees, after squats and the like.
Regarding exercises:
Can't believe I completely forgot dips and pull-ups. Not enough people do them or do them with horrible form.
General comment:
Proper form is so important. I hate guys who go in the gym and lift twice as much as they should with horrible form.
My strength:
(1.5*BW bench, 2*BW squat, 2.5*BW deadlift, 1.5BW chinup)
1.5 bench - definitely; 1.5 chinup - if my own body weight counts I'm probably just below this; squats and deadlift: nowhere close since I haven't trained lower body in years, my knees generally held me back rather than the actual muscles.
Sorry I didn't respond to a lot of the comments today as I was busy watching football. But I did read all oft hem.
That's really good, assuming you're not... rounding up :)
If you're a small skinny guy at 140 lbs, you can bench 210lbs. If you're a big guy at 200 lbs, you can bench 300. I'm assuming you are a stocky rather than a willowy type. Stocky guys have better leverage for bench pressing.
my knees generally held me back rather than the actual muscles.
I have the same problem. I used to LOVE doing lunge-walks with 20-lb dumbells for leg workouts. The awesome muscle soreness was out of this world for days. But then my knees started telling me to stop putting any load on them. I ran a lot as a teenager (cross country, wrestling, track in HS). So now no squats, no lungewalks any more. So for the past year, for legs, all I do now is resistance-elliptical machine.
Resistance sit-ups are good for thights, back-raises with weights for hamstrings. I do calf-raises on a machine though.
The bones/joints thing limit what I can bench too. Above a certain weight, my shoulder joints feel uncomfortable, even though my muscles are good to go.
So I will do low-weight / hi-rep bench press combined with low-rep / high-weight overhead-pullover, which works out the pecs without puttin a load on th eshoulders.
My main workout - hockey. It's really an anaerobic workout, pushing myself more or less all out for about 90 seconds at a time. Nothing motivates you to work out like a competitive sport.
I got back into hockey and low-carb dieting at around the same time. I think they're both ideal for my body. I once had terrible lactic acid build-up from any work-out. Even skipping one work-out when I worked out 3-4 times per week routine would cause days of muscle pain. Now, I can work out big time and my muscles recover so much quicker with no pain. I also notice that most players on my team gain weight, while I'm losing it. I feel stronger than I have ever felt in my life, and I'm not that young, and I attribute it mainly to dropping most grains and starch and eating more animal flesh and fat.
I actually had a friend at work notice my muscles after only 2 weeks into a simple at-home circuit workout - pushups, light arm curls, shoulder-press, lunges, etc. I work out when I can, about once or twice a week along with hockey.
I don't know what to say to help you, One, but I think you need to add leg exercise to your workout. Lunges are simple and effective. Ice skating is awesome too.
That's really good, assuming you're not... rounding up :)
Honestly I don't know what my current number is, but I could bench 1.5 for a good number of years. I had to be very focused (biggest hurdle) and have good energy, but I did do it for a number of years. I got a little lazy benching with the bar a couple years ago because I plateaued and once you plateau your brain starts getting in your way.
A great moment I had lifting was maxing out and some guy randomly coming over and congratulating me. I'm not the social-gym-guy type, but it's always nice to nod to other regulars.
A nice anecdote about thinking and lifting: I got convinced a number of years back that I found the ultimate overall strategy for benching (involved grips, warm-up, etc...), but in reality it was a bunch of crap. But the very first time I benched thinking I had found the secret, my bench went up 20 lbs!
No one's discussed it in this thread, but I think lifting with ONE (no more) other person can be beneficial in stopping you from thinking too much. Of course it can be very distracting too. I think CrossFit is very into group training.
"Sorry I didn't respond to a lot of the comments today as I was busy watching football. But I did read all oft hem."
Since today turned out to be a 'Requiem for Tebow,' expect the NFL-punditry hype to turn toward the recently neglected Aaron Rodgers; he and the rest of GB received a godsend by S.F. defeating N.O.
Since today turned out to be a 'Requiem for Tebow,' expect the NFL-punditry hype to turn toward the recently neglected Aaron Rodgers; he and the rest of GB received a godsend by S.F. defeating N.O.
Yea, Tebow (and the Broncos as a whole) was horrible. But I've been rather consistent in saying that Tebow, as he is now, can not succeed long-term as an NFL QB.
My interest in Tebow isn't for his football playing, but rather him as a cultural icon. The hatred (and passion) directed towards him are emblematic of our cultural landscape.
I'm now rooting for the Pats out of the AFC (who doesn't want to keep watching that offense) and either the GMen or the Pack out of the NFC. Pack for being the defending champs and 15-1 and GMen because they're the biggest market team and I wouldn't mind seeing a rematch of 2007 Super Bowl.
One,
The real deal truth about training and not using steroids is that you will look A) Skinny in clothes but nice without or B) Big in clothes but fat when the shirt comes off.
The human body isn't capable of handling the big time musculature and low bodyfat of bodybuilders, athletes, fitness models etc. without chemical assistance.
Your body has a natural limit to it's musculature and everyone who says opposite (i.e. that you can get extremely jacked naturally) is either A) A steroid user who is trying to up their ego or sell you worthless legal supplements or B) Not jacked themselves and living in la-la land.
Steroids are much, much more prevalent than any regular Joe in the gym 3 days per week will ever know or comprehend.
You can build a very good physique drug free, but it can't even come close to guys who use even the simplest and smallest doses of steroids. And it takes a whole lot of lifting hard and heavy to build that natural physique.
Older guys (over 30) should go to their Doc and get a RX for testosterone and human growth hormone if they want any benefit from hitting the weights.
"My interest in Tebow isn't for his football playing, but rather him as a cultural icon. The hatred (and passion) directed towards him are emblematic of our cultural landscape."
I must admit, I was in a situation today in which some of the claims made here about how the culture-at-large hates Tebow played out before my very eyes this afternoon ----- this, even tho i'm on record saying I'm dubious about the claim that said culture has a real, focused dislike for Tebow and 'Tebow-ism.'
But today I watched the game with a group of about eight; among us was a guy from Kenosha who was in a national punk band that had a big hit in the '90s; he's sort of semi-affluent and personally dishelved nowadays, but still functional and opinionated, etc. Anyhow, he was just relentless hating on Tebow throughout the entire game: everytime T got sacked or failed a third down, or when Brady lit 'em up for another score, he'd go mad with glee, viewing every failure by or score against Denver as a personal renouncement of Tebow.
I took it all in while considering some of the comments made here about why there existed this kind of focused hate, and I asked this guy why he was hatin' on Tebow so hard.
He said stuff like, 'Well, he's a pious M.F. who's trying to preach to America just because some dumb F's idolize him, etc.'
I'd reply: "No, he's not; he's been fairly humble and restrained in his response, etc. ....he's kept his interviews short and has been quiet or at most lightly self-deprecating when pressed to comment upon 'Tebowism,'etc.
And the guy slowly gathered that I'd made it a point to know a few specifics about Tebow's recent rise in profile, and that i clearly knew more about him in terms of recent specifics than he did ----- but he continued to get more bitter and firm in his resolve about what a evil, manipulative prosleytizer was Tebow, etc.
The point being that, while it was clear he had no firm evidence re. Tebow supposedly abusing his popularity and being a religious charlatan, he feelt that just the fact that he was openly christian was some kind of sure-sign of fraudulence on his part ----- that he felt that that aspect alone gave him free license to more or less slander the guy at will.
I can't really say for sure, but I think the fact that young, hipster types hate and laugh at money-minded televangelist types in the Elmer Gantry/Jimmy Swaggert/joel Osteen-mode so often and reflexively, that they feel any well-known personality with a christian faith a big part of their public identity is open and eligible for any kind of abuse that is thrown their way. I mean, he felt his undocumented diss-ing was totally justified.
I've been lifting weights and running 10 miles per week for 30 years; but have been a "hard-gainer." I'm an ectomorph, 6-1, slim frame, long slim limbs, built like a middle-distance runner. I've been between 155 - 165 lbs, 31-inch waist, since age 18 and I'm now 48 y/o. Over the years, my docs have told me that I'm the most fit patient they've ever had.
When I lifted in gyms, I saw better strength and muscle gains. For the past 15 years, I've been lifting at home (using one of those old, gray plastic Sears sets plus some extras) + a chin-up bar + 30 mins cardio, abs & stretching everyday. No strength gains, but a nice lean, tone, six-pack ab look. I get many more complements when it's time to get down than when clothed.
If I want to get more muscular, I'm going to have to lift heavier and consumer more calories. But I feel pretty good as is. Well, time to get off the Internet and go lift.
I get most folks won't train like I do. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. However the typical person training 3 times a week for 45-60 minutes would be in much better shape if they focused on stuff that works like squats, dead-lifts, farmers walk and hill sprints, over head presses, etc. It's a matter of placing the demands on you body and choosing the things that have the biggest return on your investment.
For ex today my work out’s were
AM) 20 sprints. Took under 20 minutes
PM) Deadlifts. I worked up to three reps at 90% of my 1 rep max
Kettelbell
1. 10 sets 15 sec work, 15 sec rest intervals. (15/15)
2. 5 sets of 30 sec work, 30 sec rest intervals. (30/30)
3. 1 set of 15/15, 30/30, 45/45, 1 min/1 min. work to rest intervals.
This workout took me a little more than an hour. A little longer than normal but I’m getting old and I have to warm up longer
I suggest folks cruise on over to elitefts.com or westsidebarbell.com. Both those places have awesome reading list to get up to speed on the science behind training. Westside is power-lifting only, but somewhere on the webpage is a list of books to study. If you take the time to read and understand those books, you’ll know more about training than 90% of the personal trainers/ strength coaches do. Those webpages will also teach you how to squat and pull so your knees won’t get beat to shit.
Crossfit is..... Most of the guys I work with do CrossFit or P90, yet I crush them every time we need to display our strength/ fitness. Seems to me the crossfit results don't carry over to the real world.
I'd ignore advice from personal trainers unless they have lots of client success stories to share.
“My girlfriend would laugh at you macho pretenders!!!!”
My girlfriend is not yet half may age and she gets all lubed up over my machismo.
Ps, I agree with Victor Pride. Most folks can create a good physical appearance and solid level of general/ special physical preparedness without gear, but you won’t look like the guys on tv or in the mags without it.
Okay, I'm quite ignorant about exercise. I'm 6'1" and 215-220 pounds. 41. Is measuring my belt (end of buckle to the punched hole I usually use) a good way to measure my waistline? I've tried the measuring-tape method but was never satisfied that I wasn't either sucking it in or thrusting it out.
I am up to about ten chinups at a time on my little home chinning bar, but I'm not sure they're legit. I used to start by dangling, arms completely straight, but my wife says that stresses out your elbows. What angle should my arms be at?
Other exercises including pushups and shadowboxing, a battery of anti-sciatica exercises, etc. (Sciatica is why I am reluctant to squats with a serious amount of weight and no trainer.)
My goals are modest, just general health, less strain when moving boxes of printer paper, better looks, frightening away mobs of rioters, etc. Assuming that the first three are realistic, should I move to more chinups at a time, or wear a weight vest when I do them?
- Olave on a borrowed comp
Yesterday I bought a chest expander. I also do press ups and recently purchased some bars to ease the strain on my wrists.
I also read Tim Ferriss' 'The 4 Hour Body' over the Christmas break and found it quite intriguing. Particularly the "Ice Age" section which recommends cold showers and wearing an ice pack while watching tv.
Go here. http://www.arthurdevany.com/
You're welcome.
I am up to about ten chinups at a time on my little home chinning bar, but I'm not sure they're legit. I used to start by dangling, arms completely straight, but my wife says that stresses out your elbows. What angle should my arms be at?
Unless you feel strain on your shoulder or elbow joints, you're doing great. (You're not completely relaxing at the bottom and letting your weight pull your joints out, are you?) If I were you, I would wait till I was strong enough to do 20 reps before I started adding weight. As for squats, just do lots of bodyweight squats and very slowly add weight, starting with an empty barbell and maybe doing front squats to take some of the strain off your lower back.
The point being that, while it was clear he had no firm evidence re. Tebow supposedly abusing his popularity and being a religious charlatan, he feelt that just the fact that he was openly christian was some kind of sure-sign of fraudulence on his part ----- that he felt that that aspect alone gave him free license to more or less slander the guy at will.
You could have just said " And then I realized that he was an anti-Christian bigot, and that there are a LOT of such people running around America".
Oh, these are good ideas. I had never heard of bodyweight squats but I'll try them. And no, I'm pretty careful not to dangle on completely extended arms. Did that once or twice and it's not something I'd care to repeat.
I have worked out 4-6 times a week for the past 3 years, which coincides with my late 30s, before which I never "worked out", but rather was very active in sports/activities and otherwise a very good athlete (it was in my mid to late 30s that I slowly started losing the ability (and desire) to compete with guys in their 20s). My workouts are probably not what a "trainer" would recommend, in that I do about half cardio (running/biking) and the other half heavy to hi-rep weights. The general idea is to try and have a broad range of physical abilities.
When I started 3 years ago, after a couple years of relative inactivity for the first time since I was a kid, I weighed 180 lbs (I am 6'2" and from about 19 to until around 32 was 155 lbs) and could no longer perform those certain fitness benchmarks that had come so easy (bench my weight 10 times to run a 5k under 24 min). In fact I could barely do 5 pullups. As a result of the 3 years of pretty hard and consistently hard workouts, I can do about 15-17 pull ups and while by no means strong I have a good strength-level fitness and, after a lot of work, can run pretty decent times again. Moreover, I am probably right at just under 10 % body-fat and otherwise, but for a slight accumulation of fat at the waist, I am pretty solid from head to toe.
So, after all that work, I now weigh 178 lbs and look only slightly different (a bit more muscular in the shoulders and legs) than before I started, three years ago.
I have had friends who have undergone 20+ lbs weight swings after resuming working out for just a few months and they go from looking like out of shape "shlubs" to more like a marine. I on the other hand, whether in great to near great shape to being out of shape, look relatively the same.
nikcrit said ... 6'3", 235 lbs. ... I recently went up to 40-waist pants, but would love to wear my long-time size 36-inch waist pants again; i'd been wearing 38-inch trousers for several years already; i think the body adapts to whatever size you slide into for several years and that it's that much harder to reduce it when you've reached such homeostasis physiologically, etc. ....
I learned, when I was unemployed a couple of years ago for six months, that by wearing warmup pants instead of regular pant / jeans everyday that fat moves. Hence the artificial waist I had created with a belt was obliterated as the fat drifted down, and this was during a period of large weight loss. Since the fat line moved, I had to lose much more weight than I had gained to get back into the same pants. I did, and more.
mdavid said ... I really don't think a person can eat even 2/3 of the calories the typical American eats without working out over one hour per day and stay healthy.
I agree. From the FDA: Estimates range from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for adult men, depending on age and physical activity level. Within each age and gender category, the low end of the range is for sedentary individuals; the high end of the range is for active individuals. Due to reductions in basal metabolic rate that occurs with aging, calorie needs generally decrease for adults as they age. Estimated needs for young children range from 1,000 to 2,000 calories per day, and the range for older
children and adolescents varies substantially from 1,400 to 3,200 calories per day, with boys generally having higher calorie needs than girls. These are only estimates, and estimation of individual calorie needs can be aided with online tools such as those available at MyPyramid.gov. http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2010/DietaryGuidelines2010.pdf
Being off by 500 calories per day results in the gaining or losing of one pound per week.
Imp said ... Machines isolate individual muscles, at best doing nothing and at worst throwing you dangerously out of whack - a sure recipe for injury. Sack up and grab a barbell.
Machines don't just isolate individual muscles, they also isolate the same muscle fibers over and over again as they don't require muscles' controlling the movement of device opposite the way that freeweights require muscles to control their movement.
I agree with OneStDv that tight clothes look fag, and I admit am also guilty of the baggy clothes that Carnivore rails on.
I eat one meal a day, lunch. Dinner is a snack if I eat in the evening at all. Breakfast is 12 ounces of espresso with 6 ounces of h&h. About an hour before lunch I usually have a handful of nuts or two. Walk 2.5-3.0 miles home from work, might use my dumbbells (10, 20, & 30 pounds) once a week.
Sorry to be 'that guy,' but don't you guys feel a little silly being so obsessed with how muscular or not you look in t-shirt vs. shirtless vs. tight short sleeves-- and just how muscular you look in general?
For my own part, sure I used to worry about that kind of thing when I was in my teens to early twenties (mid twenties now) but just stopped thinking about it at some point.
Maybe it's also unfair of me to criticize you guys for this since I'm lucky to have a pretty good build that naturally looks fairly muscular shirtless or not even with only a moderate amount of working out-- so maybe I don't worry it 'cause it was 'given on a 'silver platter' so to speak; but, I dunno, skimming through the 63 comments before me I'm just struck with very weird feeling reading men caring so much about how they look and giving advice on clothes to better accentuate musculature.
Just seems womanish to me. I think of the cliche "honey, do these pants make my butt look big?"
http://examine.com/leangains-faq/
http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
I highly recommend leangains. It gives the most results for the least amount of effort/hardship.
I'd like to look more muscly because (a) my wife has complimented me as I've gotten a little "leaner-not-lighter" and (b) certain thuggy types may avoid people that look tough to them. Being tall and skinny is not a good way to get respect on "the street".
I've been to Art of Manliness a few times. It's way more interesting to me now than it would have been when I was 30.
That may be womanish, or not. Since Saturday Night Fever I've had trouble keeping track of what is womanish and what isn't. In any case that's the way I am.
You could have just said " And then I realized that he was an anti-Christian bigot, and that there are a LOT of such people running around America"
Maybe so. This is actually a subject that i'm pretty much out of the loop; I'm vaguely aware of what you say, and readily believe that's the case upon even cursory observation, but i was never really too personally connected or sensitized to such matters.
It's amazing to see that enmity; I, probably like a lot of people of education and income class, were raised sort of open and agnostic on matters of religion, with our influences equal parts skeptical and respectful toward acts of outright religiousness and piety in the community at large.
Personally, I always sort-of envied those who had a strong and devout faith from day one, figuring that it would be that much easier to be firmly devout about belief in a Deity when it's been put in you from day one; obviously, a middle-class college-education and just mainstream secular culture in general can serve as a block or disconnect to absolute belief.
In the long run, who's to say a bit more objective equipoise in intellectual matters is more important than a more traditional spiritual grounded-ness and well-being?
I can't get into obsessing at the gym - I think there's almost always a better use of my time.
A couple things that have worked wonders for me - stop sitting at work, try getting a standing desk or cobbling something DIY together. This alleviated almost all my workday aches and pains.
Other than that, I like my exercise to actually be some kind of activity rather than an end in itself. I bike and paddle during much of the year, ski in the winter, and fill it in with some interval running. Staying active and being outdoors is great, it can also help cement important social bonds with others of like interests, works good for meeting interesting women - the ski lift can be your friend!
Besides, I think there's something more satisfying and human about exercising this way as opposed to lifting heavy objects in a gym. Try taking up Jui Jitsu or something instead - whatever appeals to you - and multiply the effectiveness of the time you spend in activity!
Cheers
Honestly, I've come to believe CrossFit is the "You Go Girl" phenomenon wrapped up in a different package. The amount of grrrl power I see when CrossFit comes up makes me think it's something for women to show off in front of men.
"Honestly, I've come to believe CrossFit is the "You Go Girl" phenomenon wrapped up in a different package."
Not to mention that it's devolved into a cult centered on its omnicient infallible guru, Greg Glassman. The punishment for apostasy is death by Fran.
The amount of grrrl power I see when CrossFit comes up makes me think it's something for women to show off in front of men.
That sucks. I'm not surprised though; it does seem to attract SWPLs - though the men are the more masculine SWPLs.
As for showing off - do any men actually find women being able to run well and lift weights attractive? I find NON-athleticism far more attractive, e.g. running like a girl.
It's funny to watch some of the Crossfit girls evolve from attractive to smoking hot, only to finally devolve into pseudo-men with 3% bodyfat and rippling muscles on their jaws when they get way too into the whole scene. I wonder if some of the more hardcore girls start juicing to compete in those silly Crossfit games.
Post a Comment