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Fitness Thread V
Thanatos
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
To begin with, make sure you read this post before you start posting in this thread. If you have obviously not read this post before you started posting in this thread, I'm going to give you an infraction.
Any disagreements in this thread must be argued according to the following standards:
On to the meat and potatoes:
Recommended Resources
www.bodyforlife.com
www.t-nation.com (good resource, but don't buy anything from them)
http://www.exrx.net (awesome exercise demonstrations)
www.bodybuilding.com (take with a pinch of salt)
Starting Strength
Fitness Myths, Legends, and Other Things That Aren't True
"I don't need to weightlift, because I don't want to look like a body-builder.": This is a load of crap. You aren't going to "accidentally" end up looking like Ahnold because you started weightlifting. Weightlifting, when done correctly, builds muscle, improves your metabolism, and helps prevent injuries. "Building muscle" isn't "looking like a body-builder." You're not going to get to that stage by accident; it takes a fucking shitload of work. What it will do, though, is prevent you from going from looking like a fatty to looking like a flag pole. Most of it will fill in and replace where lost fat goes. Furthermore, the more muscle you have, the more "sitting on your ass" calories your body will burn in order to maintain that muscle; I've heard that for every pound of muscle you add on, your body burns an additional fifty calories per day. While I'm not sure how accurate that is, the concept is fundamentally sound: the more muscle you have, the easier losing weight will be. Finally, core strength lifts are some of the best things you can do in order to prevent yourself from getting injured. The more muscle you have, the stronger your back and abs are, which means they can handle more weight. Even building up muscle on your arms and legs can help prevent injuries, due to the fact that your body tends to shift weight to where your muscles are strongest; if you've got strong arms, you're going to tend to lift with your arms, rather than, say, your groin (which is what causes hernias).
Fasting: As Ceres put it, "fasting is the dietary equivalent of cutting yourself." People who do these long-term (anything longer than a day should be considered "long-term") fasts describe themselves as being very clearheaded and somewhat euphoric; much like cutting yourself--which releases endorphins--your body is undergoing damage, and it is releasing chemicals in order to help you cope with this fight-or-flight situation. The chemicals are somewhat different, but similar to what you can get out of some drugs, only taking the drugs doesn't fuck with your body quite as much. Fasting causes your body to go into what's called "starvation mode." Yes, you will lose a bunch of weight; much of this weight is water weight, and will be lost in the first couple of days. Much of the rest of it is going to be muscle; losing muscle is bad. The rest will be fat. What the fasting advocates will tell you is that you need to fast to "cleanse your body of toxins." What they won't tell you is what, exactly, these toxins are, and why, exactly, your liver and kidneys (which your body uses to get rid of toxins) aren't getting rid of them. In addition to the fact that it makes you lose muscles, and doesn't cleanse shit, toxins which are fat-soluble will be released into your system at a much faster rate. These toxins, which at a healthy rate of weight loss would be unlikely to do anything, can cause liver and kidney damage, especially since most of your body's systems are weakened from a lack of energy intake. If you want to cleanse your body, eat a healthy diet composed of whole, unprocessed foods with at least 25g of dietary fiber per day.
Spot Reduction: This myth is fortunately falling in popularity, but I still hear it occasionally. The idea is that if you want to lose fat in a specific place, you simply do exercise that use that particular area of the body; this absolutely isn't true. The size of a particular muscle or the amount it's working has nothing to do with the way your body distributes fat; it's a complex process involving hormones and other chemicals that even modern science doesn't understand very well (but they're working on it). In general, women tend to put on fat in their breasts, butt, and thighs first, while men tend to put on fat in their stomach first. Females also tend to have higher body-fat percentages than men, mostly because of the boobs. The first place you put on fat is the last place you lose it, which means that if you want to have a six-pack, guys, you need to not only do a lot of situps to build the muscle, but lose a lot of fat. Girls, this also means that if you lose weight, the last place you're going to lose fat is butt and breasts, which can be good or bad, depending on what your goals are. Building specific muscles can help with definition a bit, but for the most part, your diet is what's going to help you most when it comes to fat loss.
Supplements, Herbs, and Vitamins: These are practically unregulated by the FDA. About the only thing I would recommend from here for someone who is a beginner or intermediate fitness nut is a daily multivitamin. A generic will work just fine. Most supplements and herbs are basically things that couldn't be proven to work. Here's really the video you need to watch:
There's nothing wrong with some protein powder, too, if you're having problems getting enough protein. Beyond the generic multivitamin and protein powder, they should be avoided.
The Water/Hydration Myth: "Most people are dehydrated." "Everyone should drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water every day." No, and no. Most people are not dehydrated; when you are dehydrated, a very complex series of chemical reactions causes your body to send a message to your brain, which interprets this message by releasing another chemical, which creates the feeling we know as "thirst." You need to drink enough so that you're not thirsty. Most of that should be water, however we get most of the "eight 8-oz. glasses" of water we need per day from our food, which is largely made up of water. There are some people that need to make sure they get enough water, but if you're not pregnant and don't have any kidney problems, and haven't been told by your doctor to drink more water, you probably don't need to worry about it.
Caffeine is a Diuretic That Will Dehydrate You: This is closely related to the water/hydration myth, but common enough that it's worth putting out here on its own. The fact is that caffeine is a very slight diuretic if you're not used to it. What this means is that if you get very little or no caffeine in your diet, a cup of coffee will only hydrate you about 3/4ths as much as an equivalent amount of water. That's hydrate, not dehydrate. If you're used to caffeine, the diuretic effect is practically nonexistent. Caffeine in low doses is, in fact, great for you. More on that in the "diet" section of the post.
Tuna and Eggs: There are other food myths out there, but these are the two biggest. We'll start with eggs: I know the research has gone back and forth over the decades (for those of you old enough to remember), but the fact is that eggs are fucking great for you. Yes, they have some saturated fat, but they're also loaded with protein, unsaturated fat, and all sorts of other vitamins and minerals, like calcium. Eating a couple (or more) eggs a day is fine. The big myth with tuna is loosely based in fact, but there are a couple of things most people need to be educated on: yes, tuna does, in fact have mercury. No, you probably shouldn't eat large albacore steaks more than once a week. However, canned chunk-light tuna has less than 10% of the mercury that you'll find in those albacore steaks. So, if you can eat an albacore steak a week, there's really nothing wrong with a can of tuna a day. Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but I highly recommend it, as it's fantastic for you.
Diet
In general, you want to eat healthy foods whatever your fitness goals are; eating fast food every night isn't going to help you, no matter what kind of shape you're in. If you're trying to lose weight, you're going need to eat less, and eat better foods. No more Big Macs. You're going to want to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day (with breakfast being the largest, preferably about 1.5-2 times the size of the others), and you're going to want to be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 1800-2200 calories as an average-height male, and 1600-2000 calories as an average-height female (yes, biologically, females get boned on this one; sorry). If you're trying to bulk up, you're going to want to start with at least 2500-3000 calories per day, and go up as necessary (if you're not putting on weight fast enough, eat more). Either way, you're going to want to try to aim for a variety of foods that gives you about a 30/30/40 mix, with 40% of your calories being protein, 30% of your calories being fat, and 30% of your calories being carbs. Keep in mind that protein and carbs are about 4 calories per gram, and fat is about 9 calories per gram, so that's substantially fewer grams of fat than carbs or protein. Also, cut out the fucking soda. It's terrible for you.
Now, if you just go that far, you'll probably have some success. The following is getting a bit more advanced, but is important as far as weight loss and long-term fitness go, and you'll do a lot better following this advice.
Carbohydrates: As far as weight loss goes, your carbohydrate intake and what types of carbs you get are the most important part of your diet. While important for bulking up, carbs aren't as important for gaining weight as the quantity/quality of protein you get. The best thing for you--and where you should be getting the vast majority of your carbohydrates from--are complex carbs. Complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to digest than simple carbohydrates, which means that they give you a longer-lasting boost of energy. In addition, your body tends to use complex carbohydrates as energy, whereas it tends to store simple carbohydrates (starches and sugars) as fat. Most complex carbohydrates come from whole grains (note: this does not mean wheat, but specifically whole grains), and complex sugars, like the type you find in fruits. A good breakfast will include quite a few complex carbohydrates, because that is a great way to start your day, giving your body a big boost of energy early in the morning.
In addition to complex carbohydrates, you want to make sure you're getting at least 25 grams of dietary fiber per day. You don't actually have to count most of this fiber as carbohydrates, because your body doesn't actually consume it. It works as a cleanser for your body; you'll find that you'll lose weight significantly faster when getting your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of dietary fiber than when you're not.
Fats: Next, we'll move on to fats. Fats are pretty easy: you want to avoid bad ones, and eat good ones. Bad fats are saturated fats, which cause your cholesterol to go up, and your heart to become clogged, and trans-fats, which pretty much do the same thing as saturated fats, only a couple of orders of magnitude worse. Good fats are poly- and mono-unsaturated fats, which are used for muscle-building and nutrients for your body. In addition, there is a type of fat called "omega 3 fatty acids," that are excellent for losing weight, as they act as a metabolic catalyst for fat loss, and help increase your HDL cholesterol (that's the good kind of cholesterol); omega 3s are pretty much the best fats out there.
Protein: Protein is the building-block of muscle, so it's important that you're getting enough of it, especially if you're weightlifting as part of your exercise regime. There are different types of protein that you can get from various foods, which contain different mixes of amino acids. Complete proteins are mostly found in dead animals and soy, though if you are male, you should be careful not to make soy a very large source of protein, as it has estrogen precursors which can slow muscle buildup and increase fat buildup. If you are a vegetarian, you need to be careful to make sure you're getting all of the amino acids you need. Nuts and legumes (including peanuts) tend to contain mostly-complete proteins, and are also good for you. If you are trying to bulk up, you should be getting 1.5-2 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight.
Other: Along with all that, you probably want to start taking a basic, generic multivitamin, to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need. Women, you need to make sure you're getting enough calcium and iron, especially if you end up cutting a lot of red meat out of your diet. Guys, you don't have to worry about iron in any way, unless you're a vegetarian, or getting too much of it. Donating blood is a great way to make sure this isn't an issue.
As far as scheduling goes, as I said in the beginning, the best way to eat is to make a point of consuming 5-6 small meals at approximately evenly-spaced intervals throughout the day. Generally speaking, this means a 500ish-calorie breakfast, and 4-5 additional 200-300-calorie meals throughout the day. Eating 1-2 big meals is about the worst thing you can do, because it tells your body "hey, I'm not eating all that often, so you need to store that energy for later." Your body stores energy in the form of fat, so eating 1-2 meals, even if you're not eating that many calories, will cause you to put on more fat. 5-6 meals a day tells your body "hey, I'm constantly taking in more fuel, keep burning it." The reason breakfast is the largest (and most important) meal of the day is that you just spent 8 hours without eating, and your body needs the extra food to jumpstart your metabolism in the morning. Eat a breakfast of that size even if you're not hungry. Eat those evenly-spaced meals even if you're not hungry. This especially goes for those of you eating 1-2 meals a day now, because your body isn't going to want to eat at the times you're not accustomed to eating.
Some suggestions on what to and not to eat (neither of these lists is exhaustive):
Good Foods & Meals
Whole-wheat tortilla wraps: Lots of dietary fiber, and the carbs are all whole grains, unlike flour tortillas, which are simple starches, and corn tortillas, which are simple sugars. Again, avoid anything with corn in it. You can use these instead of bread for sandwiches (tuna is an excellent choice, but stick to chunk-light if you're going to be eating it more than a couple of times a week) or just make burritos with them, brown rice, and black beans; chicken or fish optional.
White meats: Specifically, chicken, turkey, and fish. Low-fat (and what fat there is is good for you), high-protein meats. This is where you should be getting a lot of your protein from. If you're going to eat bacon, make it turkey bacon. A George Foreman Grill is a college student's best friend when it comes to chicken.
Oatmeal: The ideal source of complex carbs in the morning, but make sure you get real oatmeal, and not the processed, sweetened stuff.
Whole-grain cereals: Essential part of your breakfast. These give you energy to make it through the rest of the day, and should, in addition to the whole grains, give you a bunch of dietary fiber, too. Kashii Go Lean cereal is a favorite on these boards; it's excellent for you, tastes okay, 100% whole grains, a bit of protein, and loaded with dietary fiber. You can find it pretty cheap at Trader Joe's and Raley's/Nob Hill. It goes great with...
Non-fat/1%/2% Milk: That's in order of preference. Personally, I can't stand non-fat, but don't taste a lot of difference between 1% and 2% milk. Do not drink whole milk. Ever. Soy and rice milks are generally loaded with sugars to make them taste good, so most of them should be avoided, too.
Eggs: As I said in the "myths" section above, eggs are fucking fantastic for you. I like to eat two a day, but there's nothing wrong with eating more. This is the best place to be getting your saturated fats.
Whole Grain Bread: Make sure it's 100% whole grain. This is what you use for your sandwiches.
Olive Oil: This is your oil of choice when it comes to cooking oils. It's loaded with monounsaturated fats, and is one of the best ways to get your HDL cholesterol (that's the good cholesterol, as opposed to LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol) up. It's theorized that olive oil, red wine, and coffee are the main reasons that everyone in Western Europe hasn't dropped dead of heart attacks.
Vegetables: The more colorful, the better. Carrots, squash, peppers, onions, garlic, broccoli, tomatoes... the list goes on and on. For health purposes, corn is not a vegetable.
Fruits: Complex sugars, vitamins, and some dietary fiber. These are great for snacking.
Brown Rice: This shit is great, especially if you've got a rice-cooker, and buy a shitload of it at a time. It's ridiculously cheap, too. I like to get it, and buy those packets of tuna steaks, have the tuna over the rice. Delicious.
Coffee: Not decaf, actual, honest-to-god coffee. A cup or two a day is good for your heart, and the caffeine helps your energy levels, as well as being a good way to wean yourself off of soda. It's also loaded with antioxidants. If you have stomach problems (like, say, an ulcer, or acid reflux) or are prone to kidney stones, you probably want to avoid it, but otherwise, it's debatably better for you than tea.
Bad Foods/Meals
Corn: Corn should be avoided at all costs. This means corn chips, corn tortillas, regular soda (in the U.S.), and the incredibly vast array of things which you would never consider that contain high-fructose corn syrup (if it says "high fructose corn syrup and/or pure cane sugar," it's the former). This shit is simple sugars, and they pretty much turn straight into fat.
Regular Soda: This one is so bad, it bears repeating. The stuff is basically liquid death. It's ridiculously calorie-dense (a single 12oz. can of Coca-Cola contains 130 calories of pure high-fructose corn syrup. The worst part is that your body doesn't even really interpret it as sustenance (it pretty much turns straight into fat, because the sugars are so simple), so it's easy to drink a ton of it. On a 2000-calorie diet, 2 cans of coke is over 12% of your intake for the day, in the form of pretty much the shittiest, most unhealthy calories you can have. If you absolutely can't quit, and replace it with something like coffee, drink diet. If you're drinking enough of it, quitting regular soda alone can cause you to lose weight, without any other dietary changes or exercise. Not to mention that obesity rates in the U.S. are pretty much directly correlated to soda consumption rates. This shit is awful for you.
Anything with "enriched" carbohydrates: Again, simple, processed starches. And yeah, the bun is probably worse for you than the burger at McDonalds. If you see the word "enriched" followed by anything in the ingredients list, that means the carbs have gone through a chemical process that removes any sort of complexity or nutritional value from them, and have been turned into de facto candy.
Candy/cake/cheesecake/chocolate/etc.: This is pretty much a "well, duh."
Eating Out
So, we're mostly 20-somethings and teenagers, here, which means we do a lot of fast food and restaurants. Most fast food places now have all of their nutritional information on their websites. You can make the choice of either eating at relatively healthy fast food places, or sticking to the good stuff on the menu. Sometimes, you have to sort of make up your own good stuff, like going to McDonalds, ordering 2 chicken sandwiches, and throwing away both buns. Taco Bell is actually one of the healthier places when it comes to this, as you can order your meal "fresca style" (though, I've heard this tastes like balls), which makes it healthier, and the healthiest thing on the regular menu (the spicy chicken soft taco) is on the value menu, contrary to most fast food places having the healthiest options cost three times as much as the shitty stuff.
Exercise
This is the second cornerstone to weight loss, and the first cornerstone of bulking up. While weightlifting is very helpful (and will be covered a bit later) and highly recommended, it isn't, strictly speaking, necessary to weightloss, nor is it as helpful as aerobic or cardiovascular exercise ("cardio" for short). It's worth noting, however, that the more muscle you have, the more "sitting on your ass" calories you burn, which means the natural processes your body goes through in order to survive will cause you to lose weight faster if you have more muscle. If you're trying to bulk up, weightlifting is your bread and butter, cardio is important but of secondary benefit, and you need to be careful not to do too much. There are many, many varieties of cardio. The key is to get your heartrate up which helps you to burn calories. 20 minutes is generally the minimum amount of time you want to spend at cardio, with 30-40 or longer being preferable. There are several popular methods to take with cardio:
There are also a variety of different ways to do cardio:
All that being said, cardio does a whole hell of a lot for your metabolism. You can get away with just adding exercise, or just eating healthier, and maybe lose weight, but the metabolic effects of exercise combined with the health effects of good eating are a much, much better way to lose weight than either of them alone. Together, they are much greater than the sum of their parts. In addition, you should be doing some weightlifting, in order to build more muscle, which will not only further help your metabolism, but make you look better as you lose weight, not to mention the general health benefits, including more energy, reduced likelihood of injury, and stronger bones.
Weightlifting
Even for someone who's trying to lose weight, if you're doing weightlifting, one of the things you want to remember is to get a good, protein-rich meal as soon as possible after working out. Within 15 minutes is prime-time (the best-case scenario), but anytime within an hour will help your body to produce more muscle. If you're supplementing your diet with a shake, immediately after your workout is a great time to drink it.
Here is a good weights routine for beginner to intermediate lifters. Beginners might want to start with a 3x10 system, before moving onto 5x5 with heavier weights, which will increase strength gains significantly over the higher rep range. This program uses all of the big compound lifts, is fairly quick, and allows you a little bit of wiggle room for extra exercises. Don't add any isolation arm work until you've been doing it for 6 weeks.
Tube's Exercise Regime For Faggots
Tube's Regime For Faggots Mark Two
Wook's workout for straight people who used to be faggots and still have a hankering for cock every once in a while
Any disagreements in this thread must be argued according to the following standards:
- Anecdotal evidence and personal observation are completely unacceptable unless you can prove your credentials as a trained and more importantly, experienced individual in the field.
- Any statements of fact must be verifiable and when challenged, citation must be provided. And calling it an opinion and therefore indefensible only makes me ban you for stupidity.
- Disagreements must not degenerate to name calling, trolling, or any other non-constructive behavior that irritates me.
- If your belief/argument/pet theory are challenged, and you cannot provide evidence to support it, while evidence is provided to call it into question, you will likely be asked to drop it. You may not bring it back up later in the thread, and if you persist, you will anger the gods (me).
On to the meat and potatoes:
Recommended Resources
www.bodyforlife.com
www.t-nation.com (good resource, but don't buy anything from them)
http://www.exrx.net (awesome exercise demonstrations)
www.bodybuilding.com (take with a pinch of salt)
Starting Strength
Fitness Myths, Legends, and Other Things That Aren't True
"I don't need to weightlift, because I don't want to look like a body-builder.": This is a load of crap. You aren't going to "accidentally" end up looking like Ahnold because you started weightlifting. Weightlifting, when done correctly, builds muscle, improves your metabolism, and helps prevent injuries. "Building muscle" isn't "looking like a body-builder." You're not going to get to that stage by accident; it takes a fucking shitload of work. What it will do, though, is prevent you from going from looking like a fatty to looking like a flag pole. Most of it will fill in and replace where lost fat goes. Furthermore, the more muscle you have, the more "sitting on your ass" calories your body will burn in order to maintain that muscle; I've heard that for every pound of muscle you add on, your body burns an additional fifty calories per day. While I'm not sure how accurate that is, the concept is fundamentally sound: the more muscle you have, the easier losing weight will be. Finally, core strength lifts are some of the best things you can do in order to prevent yourself from getting injured. The more muscle you have, the stronger your back and abs are, which means they can handle more weight. Even building up muscle on your arms and legs can help prevent injuries, due to the fact that your body tends to shift weight to where your muscles are strongest; if you've got strong arms, you're going to tend to lift with your arms, rather than, say, your groin (which is what causes hernias).
Fasting: As Ceres put it, "fasting is the dietary equivalent of cutting yourself." People who do these long-term (anything longer than a day should be considered "long-term") fasts describe themselves as being very clearheaded and somewhat euphoric; much like cutting yourself--which releases endorphins--your body is undergoing damage, and it is releasing chemicals in order to help you cope with this fight-or-flight situation. The chemicals are somewhat different, but similar to what you can get out of some drugs, only taking the drugs doesn't fuck with your body quite as much. Fasting causes your body to go into what's called "starvation mode." Yes, you will lose a bunch of weight; much of this weight is water weight, and will be lost in the first couple of days. Much of the rest of it is going to be muscle; losing muscle is bad. The rest will be fat. What the fasting advocates will tell you is that you need to fast to "cleanse your body of toxins." What they won't tell you is what, exactly, these toxins are, and why, exactly, your liver and kidneys (which your body uses to get rid of toxins) aren't getting rid of them. In addition to the fact that it makes you lose muscles, and doesn't cleanse shit, toxins which are fat-soluble will be released into your system at a much faster rate. These toxins, which at a healthy rate of weight loss would be unlikely to do anything, can cause liver and kidney damage, especially since most of your body's systems are weakened from a lack of energy intake. If you want to cleanse your body, eat a healthy diet composed of whole, unprocessed foods with at least 25g of dietary fiber per day.
Spot Reduction: This myth is fortunately falling in popularity, but I still hear it occasionally. The idea is that if you want to lose fat in a specific place, you simply do exercise that use that particular area of the body; this absolutely isn't true. The size of a particular muscle or the amount it's working has nothing to do with the way your body distributes fat; it's a complex process involving hormones and other chemicals that even modern science doesn't understand very well (but they're working on it). In general, women tend to put on fat in their breasts, butt, and thighs first, while men tend to put on fat in their stomach first. Females also tend to have higher body-fat percentages than men, mostly because of the boobs. The first place you put on fat is the last place you lose it, which means that if you want to have a six-pack, guys, you need to not only do a lot of situps to build the muscle, but lose a lot of fat. Girls, this also means that if you lose weight, the last place you're going to lose fat is butt and breasts, which can be good or bad, depending on what your goals are. Building specific muscles can help with definition a bit, but for the most part, your diet is what's going to help you most when it comes to fat loss.
Supplements, Herbs, and Vitamins: These are practically unregulated by the FDA. About the only thing I would recommend from here for someone who is a beginner or intermediate fitness nut is a daily multivitamin. A generic will work just fine. Most supplements and herbs are basically things that couldn't be proven to work. Here's really the video you need to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThdFqGLq4QUThere's nothing wrong with some protein powder, too, if you're having problems getting enough protein. Beyond the generic multivitamin and protein powder, they should be avoided.
The Water/Hydration Myth: "Most people are dehydrated." "Everyone should drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water every day." No, and no. Most people are not dehydrated; when you are dehydrated, a very complex series of chemical reactions causes your body to send a message to your brain, which interprets this message by releasing another chemical, which creates the feeling we know as "thirst." You need to drink enough so that you're not thirsty. Most of that should be water, however we get most of the "eight 8-oz. glasses" of water we need per day from our food, which is largely made up of water. There are some people that need to make sure they get enough water, but if you're not pregnant and don't have any kidney problems, and haven't been told by your doctor to drink more water, you probably don't need to worry about it.
Caffeine is a Diuretic That Will Dehydrate You: This is closely related to the water/hydration myth, but common enough that it's worth putting out here on its own. The fact is that caffeine is a very slight diuretic if you're not used to it. What this means is that if you get very little or no caffeine in your diet, a cup of coffee will only hydrate you about 3/4ths as much as an equivalent amount of water. That's hydrate, not dehydrate. If you're used to caffeine, the diuretic effect is practically nonexistent. Caffeine in low doses is, in fact, great for you. More on that in the "diet" section of the post.
Tuna and Eggs: There are other food myths out there, but these are the two biggest. We'll start with eggs: I know the research has gone back and forth over the decades (for those of you old enough to remember), but the fact is that eggs are fucking great for you. Yes, they have some saturated fat, but they're also loaded with protein, unsaturated fat, and all sorts of other vitamins and minerals, like calcium. Eating a couple (or more) eggs a day is fine. The big myth with tuna is loosely based in fact, but there are a couple of things most people need to be educated on: yes, tuna does, in fact have mercury. No, you probably shouldn't eat large albacore steaks more than once a week. However, canned chunk-light tuna has less than 10% of the mercury that you'll find in those albacore steaks. So, if you can eat an albacore steak a week, there's really nothing wrong with a can of tuna a day. Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but I highly recommend it, as it's fantastic for you.
Diet
In general, you want to eat healthy foods whatever your fitness goals are; eating fast food every night isn't going to help you, no matter what kind of shape you're in. If you're trying to lose weight, you're going need to eat less, and eat better foods. No more Big Macs. You're going to want to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day (with breakfast being the largest, preferably about 1.5-2 times the size of the others), and you're going to want to be getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 1800-2200 calories as an average-height male, and 1600-2000 calories as an average-height female (yes, biologically, females get boned on this one; sorry). If you're trying to bulk up, you're going to want to start with at least 2500-3000 calories per day, and go up as necessary (if you're not putting on weight fast enough, eat more). Either way, you're going to want to try to aim for a variety of foods that gives you about a 30/30/40 mix, with 40% of your calories being protein, 30% of your calories being fat, and 30% of your calories being carbs. Keep in mind that protein and carbs are about 4 calories per gram, and fat is about 9 calories per gram, so that's substantially fewer grams of fat than carbs or protein. Also, cut out the fucking soda. It's terrible for you.
Now, if you just go that far, you'll probably have some success. The following is getting a bit more advanced, but is important as far as weight loss and long-term fitness go, and you'll do a lot better following this advice.
Carbohydrates: As far as weight loss goes, your carbohydrate intake and what types of carbs you get are the most important part of your diet. While important for bulking up, carbs aren't as important for gaining weight as the quantity/quality of protein you get. The best thing for you--and where you should be getting the vast majority of your carbohydrates from--are complex carbs. Complex carbohydrates take longer for your body to digest than simple carbohydrates, which means that they give you a longer-lasting boost of energy. In addition, your body tends to use complex carbohydrates as energy, whereas it tends to store simple carbohydrates (starches and sugars) as fat. Most complex carbohydrates come from whole grains (note: this does not mean wheat, but specifically whole grains), and complex sugars, like the type you find in fruits. A good breakfast will include quite a few complex carbohydrates, because that is a great way to start your day, giving your body a big boost of energy early in the morning.
In addition to complex carbohydrates, you want to make sure you're getting at least 25 grams of dietary fiber per day. You don't actually have to count most of this fiber as carbohydrates, because your body doesn't actually consume it. It works as a cleanser for your body; you'll find that you'll lose weight significantly faster when getting your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of dietary fiber than when you're not.
Fats: Next, we'll move on to fats. Fats are pretty easy: you want to avoid bad ones, and eat good ones. Bad fats are saturated fats, which cause your cholesterol to go up, and your heart to become clogged, and trans-fats, which pretty much do the same thing as saturated fats, only a couple of orders of magnitude worse. Good fats are poly- and mono-unsaturated fats, which are used for muscle-building and nutrients for your body. In addition, there is a type of fat called "omega 3 fatty acids," that are excellent for losing weight, as they act as a metabolic catalyst for fat loss, and help increase your HDL cholesterol (that's the good kind of cholesterol); omega 3s are pretty much the best fats out there.
Protein: Protein is the building-block of muscle, so it's important that you're getting enough of it, especially if you're weightlifting as part of your exercise regime. There are different types of protein that you can get from various foods, which contain different mixes of amino acids. Complete proteins are mostly found in dead animals and soy, though if you are male, you should be careful not to make soy a very large source of protein, as it has estrogen precursors which can slow muscle buildup and increase fat buildup. If you are a vegetarian, you need to be careful to make sure you're getting all of the amino acids you need. Nuts and legumes (including peanuts) tend to contain mostly-complete proteins, and are also good for you. If you are trying to bulk up, you should be getting 1.5-2 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight.
Other: Along with all that, you probably want to start taking a basic, generic multivitamin, to make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need. Women, you need to make sure you're getting enough calcium and iron, especially if you end up cutting a lot of red meat out of your diet. Guys, you don't have to worry about iron in any way, unless you're a vegetarian, or getting too much of it. Donating blood is a great way to make sure this isn't an issue.
As far as scheduling goes, as I said in the beginning, the best way to eat is to make a point of consuming 5-6 small meals at approximately evenly-spaced intervals throughout the day. Generally speaking, this means a 500ish-calorie breakfast, and 4-5 additional 200-300-calorie meals throughout the day. Eating 1-2 big meals is about the worst thing you can do, because it tells your body "hey, I'm not eating all that often, so you need to store that energy for later." Your body stores energy in the form of fat, so eating 1-2 meals, even if you're not eating that many calories, will cause you to put on more fat. 5-6 meals a day tells your body "hey, I'm constantly taking in more fuel, keep burning it." The reason breakfast is the largest (and most important) meal of the day is that you just spent 8 hours without eating, and your body needs the extra food to jumpstart your metabolism in the morning. Eat a breakfast of that size even if you're not hungry. Eat those evenly-spaced meals even if you're not hungry. This especially goes for those of you eating 1-2 meals a day now, because your body isn't going to want to eat at the times you're not accustomed to eating.
Some suggestions on what to and not to eat (neither of these lists is exhaustive):
Good Foods & Meals
Whole-wheat tortilla wraps: Lots of dietary fiber, and the carbs are all whole grains, unlike flour tortillas, which are simple starches, and corn tortillas, which are simple sugars. Again, avoid anything with corn in it. You can use these instead of bread for sandwiches (tuna is an excellent choice, but stick to chunk-light if you're going to be eating it more than a couple of times a week) or just make burritos with them, brown rice, and black beans; chicken or fish optional.
White meats: Specifically, chicken, turkey, and fish. Low-fat (and what fat there is is good for you), high-protein meats. This is where you should be getting a lot of your protein from. If you're going to eat bacon, make it turkey bacon. A George Foreman Grill is a college student's best friend when it comes to chicken.
Oatmeal: The ideal source of complex carbs in the morning, but make sure you get real oatmeal, and not the processed, sweetened stuff.
Whole-grain cereals: Essential part of your breakfast. These give you energy to make it through the rest of the day, and should, in addition to the whole grains, give you a bunch of dietary fiber, too. Kashii Go Lean cereal is a favorite on these boards; it's excellent for you, tastes okay, 100% whole grains, a bit of protein, and loaded with dietary fiber. You can find it pretty cheap at Trader Joe's and Raley's/Nob Hill. It goes great with...
Non-fat/1%/2% Milk: That's in order of preference. Personally, I can't stand non-fat, but don't taste a lot of difference between 1% and 2% milk. Do not drink whole milk. Ever. Soy and rice milks are generally loaded with sugars to make them taste good, so most of them should be avoided, too.
Eggs: As I said in the "myths" section above, eggs are fucking fantastic for you. I like to eat two a day, but there's nothing wrong with eating more. This is the best place to be getting your saturated fats.
Whole Grain Bread: Make sure it's 100% whole grain. This is what you use for your sandwiches.
Olive Oil: This is your oil of choice when it comes to cooking oils. It's loaded with monounsaturated fats, and is one of the best ways to get your HDL cholesterol (that's the good cholesterol, as opposed to LDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol) up. It's theorized that olive oil, red wine, and coffee are the main reasons that everyone in Western Europe hasn't dropped dead of heart attacks.
Vegetables: The more colorful, the better. Carrots, squash, peppers, onions, garlic, broccoli, tomatoes... the list goes on and on. For health purposes, corn is not a vegetable.
Fruits: Complex sugars, vitamins, and some dietary fiber. These are great for snacking.
Brown Rice: This shit is great, especially if you've got a rice-cooker, and buy a shitload of it at a time. It's ridiculously cheap, too. I like to get it, and buy those packets of tuna steaks, have the tuna over the rice. Delicious.
Coffee: Not decaf, actual, honest-to-god coffee. A cup or two a day is good for your heart, and the caffeine helps your energy levels, as well as being a good way to wean yourself off of soda. It's also loaded with antioxidants. If you have stomach problems (like, say, an ulcer, or acid reflux) or are prone to kidney stones, you probably want to avoid it, but otherwise, it's debatably better for you than tea.
Bad Foods/Meals
Corn: Corn should be avoided at all costs. This means corn chips, corn tortillas, regular soda (in the U.S.), and the incredibly vast array of things which you would never consider that contain high-fructose corn syrup (if it says "high fructose corn syrup and/or pure cane sugar," it's the former). This shit is simple sugars, and they pretty much turn straight into fat.
Regular Soda: This one is so bad, it bears repeating. The stuff is basically liquid death. It's ridiculously calorie-dense (a single 12oz. can of Coca-Cola contains 130 calories of pure high-fructose corn syrup. The worst part is that your body doesn't even really interpret it as sustenance (it pretty much turns straight into fat, because the sugars are so simple), so it's easy to drink a ton of it. On a 2000-calorie diet, 2 cans of coke is over 12% of your intake for the day, in the form of pretty much the shittiest, most unhealthy calories you can have. If you absolutely can't quit, and replace it with something like coffee, drink diet. If you're drinking enough of it, quitting regular soda alone can cause you to lose weight, without any other dietary changes or exercise. Not to mention that obesity rates in the U.S. are pretty much directly correlated to soda consumption rates. This shit is awful for you.
Anything with "enriched" carbohydrates: Again, simple, processed starches. And yeah, the bun is probably worse for you than the burger at McDonalds. If you see the word "enriched" followed by anything in the ingredients list, that means the carbs have gone through a chemical process that removes any sort of complexity or nutritional value from them, and have been turned into de facto candy.
Candy/cake/cheesecake/chocolate/etc.: This is pretty much a "well, duh."
Eating Out
So, we're mostly 20-somethings and teenagers, here, which means we do a lot of fast food and restaurants. Most fast food places now have all of their nutritional information on their websites. You can make the choice of either eating at relatively healthy fast food places, or sticking to the good stuff on the menu. Sometimes, you have to sort of make up your own good stuff, like going to McDonalds, ordering 2 chicken sandwiches, and throwing away both buns. Taco Bell is actually one of the healthier places when it comes to this, as you can order your meal "fresca style" (though, I've heard this tastes like balls), which makes it healthier, and the healthiest thing on the regular menu (the spicy chicken soft taco) is on the value menu, contrary to most fast food places having the healthiest options cost three times as much as the shitty stuff.
Exercise
This is the second cornerstone to weight loss, and the first cornerstone of bulking up. While weightlifting is very helpful (and will be covered a bit later) and highly recommended, it isn't, strictly speaking, necessary to weightloss, nor is it as helpful as aerobic or cardiovascular exercise ("cardio" for short). It's worth noting, however, that the more muscle you have, the more "sitting on your ass" calories you burn, which means the natural processes your body goes through in order to survive will cause you to lose weight faster if you have more muscle. If you're trying to bulk up, weightlifting is your bread and butter, cardio is important but of secondary benefit, and you need to be careful not to do too much. There are many, many varieties of cardio. The key is to get your heartrate up which helps you to burn calories. 20 minutes is generally the minimum amount of time you want to spend at cardio, with 30-40 or longer being preferable. There are several popular methods to take with cardio:
- Standard Cardio: You start with a slower, less-intense warmup, ramp it up a bit for awhile, then have a cooldown.
- Hill Training: You start with a slower, less-intense warmup, then slowly ramp it up until about halfway through the exercise, where you're doing some pretty intense workout, then ramp it down again, slowly, all followed by a less-intensive cooldown.
- Interval Training: There is both low-intensity and high-intensity interval training. Low-intensity interval training is a slower, less-intense warmup, followed by "working" and "resting" periods of cardio, where you turn it up to pretty intense for a couple minutes, then back down to less intense for a couple of minutes, followed by a less-intensive cooldown. High-intensity interval training, the most popular (and arguably most effective) method of cardio is similar, but is usually 2-4 minute "resting" low-intensity periods, punctuated by short, incredibly intense "sprint" periods of about 1 minute, where you push your body as hard as it can go. This is thought to keep your body from getting accustomed to the level of cardio you're doing (as in standard cardio), and getting your heartrate way up for short periods is supposed to give your metabolism a big bost. This is arguably the best cardio to do if you're trying to lose weight.
There are also a variety of different ways to do cardio:
- Running: The best cardio there is. Running is about as intense as you can get, and will burn calories faster than anything. Unfortunately, if you don't have a good surface to run on, you don't have weather that allows for regular running, you have bad legs/knees/whatever, or you are substantially overweight, running isn't such a good idea (it's pretty much the most high-impact form of cardio there is). However, if the option is there, take it. Running on a treadmill is also an option, but nowhere near as good for you as using a track.
- Swimming: On the opposite end of the impact spectrum, we have swimming, which is pretty much as low-impact as it gets. Swimming laps is an awesome way to burn calories, but again, unfortunately, that doesn't work for those of us who don't have access to a sufficiently-sized pool, and/or don't have the weather for it.
- Biking: Biking is pretty low-impact, and can be a lot of fun. If you're going to get into, say, mountain biking, though, it can have high entry costs (bikes are expensive), though stationary bikes are still an option.
- Elliptical: The low-impact alternative to running. They pretty much have the same advantages and disadvantages of a stationary bike.
- Stair machine: These are brutal, great exercise, and medium-to-high-impact. It's honestly difficult to do them for a long length of time, but they're very intense. Given the choice between a treadmill and a stair machine, I'd recommend the stair machine.
- Walking: Medium-impact, if you really can't do anything else, walking is way, way better than nothing.
- Rowing: This is great cardio for legs day, or for those of you with bad knees (assuming it's the straight upper-body machine, and not the sliding rowing machine).
All that being said, cardio does a whole hell of a lot for your metabolism. You can get away with just adding exercise, or just eating healthier, and maybe lose weight, but the metabolic effects of exercise combined with the health effects of good eating are a much, much better way to lose weight than either of them alone. Together, they are much greater than the sum of their parts. In addition, you should be doing some weightlifting, in order to build more muscle, which will not only further help your metabolism, but make you look better as you lose weight, not to mention the general health benefits, including more energy, reduced likelihood of injury, and stronger bones.
Weightlifting
Even for someone who's trying to lose weight, if you're doing weightlifting, one of the things you want to remember is to get a good, protein-rich meal as soon as possible after working out. Within 15 minutes is prime-time (the best-case scenario), but anytime within an hour will help your body to produce more muscle. If you're supplementing your diet with a shake, immediately after your workout is a great time to drink it.
Here is a good weights routine for beginner to intermediate lifters. Beginners might want to start with a 3x10 system, before moving onto 5x5 with heavier weights, which will increase strength gains significantly over the higher rep range. This program uses all of the big compound lifts, is fairly quick, and allows you a little bit of wiggle room for extra exercises. Don't add any isolation arm work until you've been doing it for 6 weeks.
Tube's Exercise Regime For Faggots
Monday
Bench Press 3x10, http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html
Barbell Deadlifts (conventional stance)
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html
http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/deadlift101.pdf
Wednesday
Incline Dumbbell Rows 3 x 10
http://www.shapefit.com/middle-back-exercises-middle-back-shrugs.html
Pullups (wide grip overhand) 3 x 10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull-up_(exercise)
Pullups (Close reverse grip)
Calf Raises 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/LVStandingCalfRaise.html
Friday
Barbell Squats 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html
Standing Military Press 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html
Whatever isolation work you like
Examples would be barbell/dumbbell bicep curls, tricep extensions, whatever you feel like. If you’re not doing ab work on other days, do them on Friday. Whatever makes you happy.
Ab Work (do after every workout, or on Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Weighted bicycles 3 x 20
http://www.criticalbench.com/exercises/bicycle-crunch.htm
Side Leans 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html
Ball Crunches until you can’t do any more and wish you were dead
If your gym doesn’t have anywhere to do pull-ups, or you can’t do one (really can’t, no being a faggot) do pulldowns. Upgrade to pull-ups as soon as you can, pulldowns are for faggots). Do as many sets as you need to get to thirty, be it six by 5 or whatever. Once you can do 3x10, do it wearing a weight)
If your gym has a calf raise machine, use that. If not, use a barbell. Go heavy, your legs can take a lot of weight.
Bench Press 3x10, http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/BBBenchPress.html
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/PectoralSternal/DBPullover.html
Barbell Deadlifts (conventional stance)
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/GluteusMaximus/BBDeadlift.html
http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/deadlift101.pdf
Wednesday
Incline Dumbbell Rows 3 x 10
http://www.shapefit.com/middle-back-exercises-middle-back-shrugs.html
Pullups (wide grip overhand) 3 x 10
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pull-up_(exercise)
Pullups (Close reverse grip)
Calf Raises 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/LVStandingCalfRaise.html
Friday
Barbell Squats 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html
Standing Military Press 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.html
Whatever isolation work you like
Examples would be barbell/dumbbell bicep curls, tricep extensions, whatever you feel like. If you’re not doing ab work on other days, do them on Friday. Whatever makes you happy.
Ab Work (do after every workout, or on Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Weighted bicycles 3 x 20
http://www.criticalbench.com/exercises/bicycle-crunch.htm
Side Leans 3 x 10
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DBSideBend.html
Ball Crunches until you can’t do any more and wish you were dead
If your gym doesn’t have anywhere to do pull-ups, or you can’t do one (really can’t, no being a faggot) do pulldowns. Upgrade to pull-ups as soon as you can, pulldowns are for faggots). Do as many sets as you need to get to thirty, be it six by 5 or whatever. Once you can do 3x10, do it wearing a weight)
If your gym has a calf raise machine, use that. If not, use a barbell. Go heavy, your legs can take a lot of weight.
Tube's Regime For Faggots Mark Two
Day 1
Bench Press
Pullovers
Pushups
Flies
Tricep Extensions
Day 2
Deadlift
Bent over or seated row (NOT upright row)
Pullups/pulldowns
Chinups/Chindowns (reverse, close grip. Palms facing you)
Barbell curls
Day 3
Squats
Military Press
Hamstring Curl
Calf Raises
Shrugs
Bench Press
Pullovers
Pushups
Flies
Tricep Extensions
Day 2
Deadlift
Bent over or seated row (NOT upright row)
Pullups/pulldowns
Chinups/Chindowns (reverse, close grip. Palms facing you)
Barbell curls
Day 3
Squats
Military Press
Hamstring Curl
Calf Raises
Shrugs
Wook's workout for straight people who used to be faggots and still have a hankering for cock every once in a while
This workout is not to be taken lightly. It's a program focused on moving heavy weight, gradually building in volume over the course of the cycle. It assumes you have at least a year or two of training experience. It assumes you know your 1RM for all exercises listed to ± 10 lbs or ± 5%, whichever is smaller.
It demands time. My first week of the program, I could complete a workout in 45 minutes. By week 5, I was at the gym for 2 hours per workout. It demands recognition of your limits. If you're not careful you could very easily hurt yourself. It demands proper rest. This program starts at moderate volume (16 working sets / workout) and gradually increases to a very high volume (40 working sets / workout).
Monday (Legs)
Squats
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Deadlift
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Romanian Deadlift
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Standing calf-raise
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Wednesday (Push)
Chest Dips
10 @ 50% bodyweight support
5 @ 20% bodyweight support
Working - bodyweight
Bench press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Standing snatch-grip behind-the-neck shoulder press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Incline press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Friday (Pull)
Pullups
10 @ 50% bodyweight support
5 @ 20% bodyweight support
Working - bodyweight
Bent-over row
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Upright row
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Shrugs
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Set / rep schemes
Your warmup sets will remain the same throughout the program. All working sets are to 3 reps, save chest dips and pullups, which are to failure. A general goal is to rest no more than 3 minutes between sets, but rest as long as necessary. Better to rest 5 minutes and finish the next set than to rest 3 and only get 2 reps.
The first week of the program will have you do 4 working sets for each exercise. Each week after, add 1 working set to each exercise, up to 10 sets, like so
1 - 4 sets
2 - 5 sets
3 - 6 sets
4 - 7 sets
5 - 8 sets
6 - 9 sets
7 - 10 sets
8 - 10 sets
Don't take this routine past 8 weeks. It's very high intensity and you will be toeing the line between training and overtraining as is.
I would highly recommend a thorough 30 minutes of stretching either following each workout or T/Th/S.
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either in the thread or by PM.
It demands time. My first week of the program, I could complete a workout in 45 minutes. By week 5, I was at the gym for 2 hours per workout. It demands recognition of your limits. If you're not careful you could very easily hurt yourself. It demands proper rest. This program starts at moderate volume (16 working sets / workout) and gradually increases to a very high volume (40 working sets / workout).
Monday (Legs)
Squats
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Deadlift
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Romanian Deadlift
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Standing calf-raise
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Wednesday (Push)
Chest Dips
10 @ 50% bodyweight support
5 @ 20% bodyweight support
Working - bodyweight
Bench press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Standing snatch-grip behind-the-neck shoulder press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Incline press
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Friday (Pull)
Pullups
10 @ 50% bodyweight support
5 @ 20% bodyweight support
Working - bodyweight
Bent-over row
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Upright row
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Shrugs
10 @ 50%
5 @ 75%
Working - 85-90%
Set / rep schemes
Your warmup sets will remain the same throughout the program. All working sets are to 3 reps, save chest dips and pullups, which are to failure. A general goal is to rest no more than 3 minutes between sets, but rest as long as necessary. Better to rest 5 minutes and finish the next set than to rest 3 and only get 2 reps.
The first week of the program will have you do 4 working sets for each exercise. Each week after, add 1 working set to each exercise, up to 10 sets, like so
1 - 4 sets
2 - 5 sets
3 - 6 sets
4 - 7 sets
5 - 8 sets
6 - 9 sets
7 - 10 sets
8 - 10 sets
Don't take this routine past 8 weeks. It's very high intensity and you will be toeing the line between training and overtraining as is.
I would highly recommend a thorough 30 minutes of stretching either following each workout or T/Th/S.
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, either in the thread or by PM.
Thanatos on
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This discussion has been closed.
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Should I be drinking a protein of some kind? I eat some chicken, but no red meat... I'm worried I'm not getting a large enough portion of things I may need.
I am not trying to get superman levels of strength right now. Just drop 20lbs and get stronger. It seems to be going terribly slowly (weight is coming off, but strength is not increasing as much as I'd like).
I was drinking an EAS a day for help, but they're expensive.
edit: If so I would like some suggestions for which... please note I don't give a shit what they taste like but I don't really want much sugar or other crap in it for flavoring. If I can drink shitty vodka and whiskey, I think I can drink a terrible bland product once a day for protein.
Since the beginning of June I have lost 13 pounds (232 - 219) by going to Spin Class 3 times a week and watching what I eat by tracking calories on dailyplate.com. The problem is I have reached a bit of a plateau and am not loosing the weight I should be. I am not giving up but should I just stick with what I am doing or kick it up a notch? I am studying for the bar exam right now so I cant afford to do more than an hour a day. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
@Bryceforvice on Twitter Facebook
There are more sources of protein than chicken, or even meat. Eggs, nuts, legumes, peanut butter, milk. It's not necessary to get protein powder.
If you're worried, use something like the dailyplate to figure out what your nutritional balance is.
When you say you're losing the weight you should be, are you still losing weight? Have you changed your calorie intake or nutritional split (fat, protein, carbs)? If you don't have the ability to change the amount you exercise right now, try eating more often, but the same amount of total food over the day. Try eating a little bit less on the days you aren't at spin class.
Yes, but in high enough amounts I don't think I can increase my protein intake without increasing my calorie intake way too much. Peanut butter and legumes are also pretty heavy carbs, and I eat whole grain breads and almonds as well as eggs. I was also more concerned with the stuff you can only get from red meats.
What else are you eating? How low is your caloric intake? What is your current carb/fat/protein split? What stuff from red meat are you worried about that's not in other sources of protein?
Mostly I need fats/protein. My carb/protein/fats split is skewed to carbs right now and I need a way of increasing the protein intake without adding additional carbs. It's probably 60c/20p/20f percentage wise. I get nearly all of my protein from Soy products (fake sausage, etc) with 1/3rd to 1/4th from eggs/chicken/almonds. Soy products are all getting insanely expensive, and I can't afford to pay 5-6$ for 1 days worth of protein.
I was drinking EAS Myoplex after workouts, but they too have risen in cost and I need some other way of replacing energy/adding protein after I exercise. I was hoping there would be a whey supplement or something that I could use to both save cash and drop the sugars and crap that were in the EAS.
It should be noted when I added the EAS to my routine my recovery time decreased quite a bit, now when I do my upper body stuff it takes almost a full two days before I feel like I'm not crippled anymore. Which makes me wonder if I need to start getting some of the proteins and whatnot that red meats typically have in them. Creatine among them. I don't eat much fish, again... cost.
edit: For Clarity
Breakfast is 1 egg, 2 pieces of fake sausage (soy) and 2 pieces of whole grain whole wheat toast.
Lunch is a turkey sandwich.
Dinner is usually chicken (and vegetables, stir fried, fajita, grilled and in a salad, whatever)
I have a pair of snacks, once before lunch (banana usually) and one after I work out (which used to be the EAS)
I eat almonds if I get hungry in between all of that. (Usually have some almonds when I get home and before I work out)
Carbs in nuts aren't the problem (including the nut butters), it's that pesky fat.
That too.
edit: I've gone from 245 to 209 and it's slowing down but I didn't mind when I felt I was getting stronger, now it's bothering me that I don't feel stronger desipte keeping up with the workout routine.
PSN Hypacia
Xbox HypaciaMinnow
Discord Hypacia#0391
Currently my diet is still carb heavy with roughly a 60%c,25%p,15%f split. What should I be aim for?
and way up on the protein
you could up the fat too, it'd be okay
toooo muchhh carbbssss
maybe reduce carbs to 50%, 45% at the least. Carbs have to be the main source of calories in a diet, there is no negotiation with that. Make sure the source of carbs is of quality. There is a big difference between eating a sandwich in wheat bread and drinking a mountain dew.
Edit: I'm surprised there's only 3 day work out plans in the OP. I never work out less than 6 days a week if I can help it.
If you are male, stop eating Soy.
but yeah, get most of your carbs from veggies though
There hasn't been a proven link between excess soy and male issues. There is one published case, but one case doesn't make a trend. I'd still be wary, but not to the point of cutting it out totally.
dispatch, how about tuna? It's a low-carb, high-protein food. And it is cheap to boot. My main sources of protein are eggs, chicken, and tuna, occasionally red meat. I do supplement with a protein shake on lifting days, it's the easiest way to get the protein in there quickly. It's possible that you are not eating enough as well. If I dip below 2500 calories a day, I get no results. I try to maintain 3000 calories or so daily. It can be hard to do. I'm rarely hungry but force myself to eat.
I have started eating more tuna, but I'm not eating tuna for breakfast. I just need a protein that is cheap and not loaded with sugar and crap.
saturated fat and cholesterol is a bitch. 1 full egg + 2 whites is generally what I do, and its worked out pretty fine for me
Also I generally avoid soy but that is me. Also most carbs come from grain, as they should
Drink milk after workouts and at dinner, as it has both types of protein and plenty of amino acids. You can put an egg in your milk for added protein if you want. I would drop the almonds since nuts tend to have a lot of fat. I'd recommend using whey/casein protein as meal replacements and go to 6 meals a day.
Though depending on your bmi you could probably just drop a lot of weight by doing cardio.
I get the saturated fat, but I thought eggs were all clear for cholesterol. I have a study somewhere I think.
Here it is
it was awesome
now I dunno
keeping track of everything I eat is difficult for me
And as for protein breakfasts - you could make protein oatmeal by mixing a scoop of whey protein (I like vanilla) with your oatmeal.
nice
thanks
rebookmarked
If you are post in Fitness Thread, start citing source.
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And I'm pretty sure most of your carbs should come from fruits/vegetables.
Grains aren't all that.
Unless you already have problems with your cholesterol, eggs aren't going to cause you any problems. Yolks included.
Funny you post this, since I Friday I jumped roap for the first time in years. I was at a new gym that lacked the small track that I run before doing my "real" cardio workout after weights, so I grabbed one of the jump ropes they provided and decided to try that.
Man, gave me a great work out. Going to have to add that to my weekly routine now for sure.
Also, I'm starting the third week of CT Workout for faggots and loving it. It sounds like common sense, but for anyone getting burned out on excercising change up your routine and if you haven't done it add free weights to it. I really look forward to hitting the gym now, since I'm not doing the same thing every day. I even went from working out 4 days a week to to 6 and feeling great about it.
Think about it for a second. Carbs are used exclusively for energy. So you should only eat them at times when you need energy, or they'll get stored as fat.
It's really pretty straightforward, and not bunk at all.
That said it's only one small piece of the puzzle.
Eggs are all clear in moderation in regards to cholesterol. 2 is ok but 4 per day just doesnt seem healthy in terms of the volume of dietary cholesterol that you are taking in.
Incorrect Most of the carbohydrates that you take in should be complex carbohydrates in the form of pasta, grains, cereal etc. Fruits and vegetables are a part of your carbohydrate intake but are by no means that main workhorse
Both on the "only have 2 eggs a day, more is dangerous" nonsense, and the grains stuff.
Had some stuff to explain why, but it came out even more bitchy than the above two lines.
Which is really something
Dietary cholesterol has very little impact on blood cholesterol (compared to that of saturated fat). This has been proven with science (see what I mean about the bitchy?) so your "doesn't seem healthy" doesn't fly.
so i'm gonna go ahead and agree there
Bear in mind, when I say 'fine', I mean 'the devil'. Grains are bad, whole grains are less bad
Only half joking
All I know is that I've learned a grand total of 0 from the previous recent exchange.