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Fitness Thread IV: A New Hope
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.
Lean Pockets: Yes, I'm a shill. The best ones are the "Lean Pockets Whole Grain." The carbs are mostly whole grains, they've got a bunch of protein, and they've even got dietary fiber. 98 seconds in the microwave makes them a really simple meal.
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, corn in and of itself, 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.
Potatoes: Simple starches. Turns straight into fat. This includes frying them.
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.
White bread: Again, simple, processed starches. Pretty much anything with flour in it should be avoided. And yeah, the bun is probably worse for you than the burger at McDonalds.
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.
Lean Pockets: Yes, I'm a shill. The best ones are the "Lean Pockets Whole Grain." The carbs are mostly whole grains, they've got a bunch of protein, and they've even got dietary fiber. 98 seconds in the microwave makes them a really simple meal.
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, corn in and of itself, 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.
Potatoes: Simple starches. Turns straight into fat. This includes frying them.
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.
White bread: Again, simple, processed starches. Pretty much anything with flour in it should be avoided. And yeah, the bun is probably worse for you than the burger at McDonalds.
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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With the weights (don't ask me why there's no bench) I do cleans, squats, military press, curls, deadlifts, and shrugs. Then for cardio I'm doing plyometrics with a shadow boxing/kickboxing routine that incorporates pushups, lunges, sit-ups, mountain climber (is that the word?), those knee tuck jump thingys and sprawls.
I'm not sure what else to add in to get a good workout but I know that i'm neglecting my chest area and lack of a bench leaves me a bit confused. I miss my heavy bag too if I had that at the apartment I would get a whole hell of a lot more work out of the cardio/plyometric routine.
I am doing 3 days of weights a week, and 2-3 days of cardio (running, HIIT, that sort of thing)
plus eating as well as I can manage on Army chow (means a lot of chicken, and some wraps and the like)
Am I trying to catch 2 birds here by trying to get stronger while losing fat? I am not attempting to bulk up huge, but picking up heavy things is fast becoming an obsession with me.
Also, what is the general consensus with steroid use here? verboten? terrible idea full stop, or useful when carefully monitored and in extreme moderation?
do you have a rack for the bar? preferably one where you can adjust the height?
'cause you could do floor press just fine, but i'd be concerned about using 'real' weight without a rack for the bar.
imo, the potential drawbacks of steroids outweigh anything they might do for you. if you were trying to become a profession bodybuilder or powerlifter i could understand the desire, but if all you're trying to do is get in better shape i would recommend avoiding them.
and no, you're not necessarily trying to catch two birds. it's possible to get stronger while losing fat, but it's not easy. you do benefit from the fact that lifting absurdly heavy weight cranks up the metabolism, but if you want to keep lifting absurdly heavy weight you have to eat a lot.
my advice is to lift heavy, eat clean, and let your body take care of itself. you may or may not drop fat, but i will damn near guarantee a favorable shift in body composition.
you can at least do pushups. not the greatest chest workout in the world, but better than not doing pushups. if you don't work your chest at all, you'll limit gains throughout your upper body. the nervous system hates imbalances and will intentionally weaken itself to prevent them.
Well, I have a microwave and a couple of chairs, if I get desperate :P
That's right...I don't like french fries, chips, wedges, mashed potatos, the non-cheesy part of twice-baked potatos...just about everything except scalloped potatos and cheesy mashed potatos. Too be honest I'm not sure if that really helps that much, but I do know that it is one of my diet abnormalities.
Anyways, I want to get in shape. However, I don't have a gym membership. I might consider getting one, but I wanted to maybe start out with some bodyweight exercises first. What I had in mind were pushups, crunches, squats, and pullups. I was thinking about ramping each of these to single sets of 100, aside from pullups (20). I know that most people aren't big fans, but I don't want to look like a bodybuilder...I'd rather turn out more like a professional soccer player, if that makes sense? I figured that once those steps were done, I could ramp up the weight with a jacket and continue to work towards those numbers again, then increase weight, etc. Or I could do the possible variations (work towards headstand pushups, one-armed pull-ups, crunches and squats holding weights...
Am I retarded?
planks
I wouldn't call you retarded, but I feel that you could reach your goals (whatever they might be) quicker if you did weight training versus body weight exercises.
Also, you kinda have to work really hard to look like a bodybuilder, unless you're a genetic freak. Casually lifting weights isn't going to cut it, so don't worry about that.
the idea that you'll accidentally get big is so fallacious it's absurd
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
But before I talk about that I want to address a larger point. Science has a difficult time dealing with things like nutrition etc. Scientists who study the body (be they biologists, medical research scientists, or what have you) have several challenges that some other branches of science do not have to contend with. Among them are psychological effects, genetic anomalies, and experimental speceficity when dealing with systems that only work in complexity (the human body for example often needs nutrients in combination for them to have the desired effect. A study designed to eliminate variables (as good studies do) might study only one nutrient at a time. They would come to the false conclusion that x nutrient did not do x.
Studying Body building is even worse. How do you give someone a placebo workout? Compounding these issues is the erosion of our faith in the simple random sample. Just as we are putting less faith in poles than we did 12 years ago, science is also beginning to realize the limits coming up with universal proclamations based on human sample groups. It has gone from 'brushing your teeth with your non dominant increases your IQ' to 'among males brushing your teeth with your left hand...' to 'among white males ages 19-23....' and it is trending toward 'among our 19-23 year old white male sample group there is an x percent chance that...'
Add to all of that that supplement companies are spending large amount of money to have the effectiveness of their products proved in double blind university studies. I'm not saying that the scientists are being paid off, rather that the availability of funding tends to scew studies towards where the funding is available. This also means that some of the best science out there exists in support of what the first post recommend against (supplements).
Please don't think I am being anti scientific. I am just trying to explain why there are so many 'equal but opposite' studies out there that seem to contradict each other. (By way of siting sources see the many experiments of Howard Martin Temin related to the discovery of RNA reverse transcriptace. The experiments themselves have nothing to do with my point. But the conclusive nature of several of the individual experiments and their initial failure in the face of the central dogma lends itself to my point)
All that is to say that I am going to give some personal workout advice and avoid anything that is the purview of science. I'm sorry if there are no studies to back it up. I don't think science is designed to study my personal habits in a meaningful way. (simply because it is not to anyone else s benefit)
You want me to sight a source? Here is a source: Arnold. He said you should treat your body like your own experiment and learn what works for you. (paraphrase)
@SideAffects: I was in almost the exact same situation as you about a year and a half ago (except I was 24 and did not have a beautiful girlfriend) since that time I have almost doubled my curl strength and have improved my cardiovascular health to where I can play a hard game of ultimate or 3 games of 1on1 to ten without crapping out. (I was never athletic and did not play sports in hs) Right now I do not have a gym membership. I think the body weight idea is great but, after buying the chin bar I would recommend three sets of dumbbells (light medium heavy at least ten pounds difference between each weight), then a bench. All of that can be found cheap and that is basically all you need. There is only one major muscle group that i don't know how to hit with that equipment and that is the Hamstrings. Also, the body building adage is, 'if you want to be in shape do it in the gym if you want to look in shape do it in the kitchen.' I got stronger but had no visible result until I changed my (very crappy) diet.
@the cat: one legged push ups, side reaches or whatever they are called...basically just buy a good standard pilates tape or find one on you tube. Most of the exercises on there are just what you want. Core exercises with no equipment. Also I do recommend tapes when doing pilates because it is a wired way to push yourself when you are just holding things. without tapes I would never hold the exercises long enough.
@DasUberEdward: one of the most in shape guys I ever knew did presses on the ground with sand bags. Not sure where to get a sandbag though. Or sand.
All:
Don't want to say too much and be in violation of the first post. I really recommend finding someone in way better shape than you and working out with them. Every time they work out you work out. You do everything they do. This will force you into shape quick(ly). My rule is that if I have not thrown up or passed out I have more to give. (If I do throw up or pass out the the workout is considered complete.) Half of what I do is based on the study listed at the top. Again, I have my own way of applying that study that I think is the reason for my success but that is unsupported. I don't want to post Anecdotal Evidence. I have a separate and very different other half of my routine but I don't have a specific study to back it up. Just general studies about fast twitch muscle fibers etc. So I guess I can't give any details.
I have a question my self. I am ready to take my diet to the next level. I don't care how gross or bland that level is. Does anyone know of a killer mass building/healthy diet?
This is really bad advice.
While working out with a partner can be exceptional motivation and allow you to progress further faster and safer, you can't say something like that without making additional comments such as "someone within your skill / experience level, or someone with similar goals". Even if it's obvious to you, not everyone reading this will make the connection and you shouldn't encourage them to enter into a heavy resistance / ballistic training program without the proper foundational development -- which is exactly what you're running into doing someone else's program who is in "way better shape" (even if it's not exactly heavy resistance / ballistic -- it *will* be more than you can handle because you haven't gone through an appropriate base phase).
Now having said that, if you find a training partner who is coming off a hiatus and you both have the same goals, this could be good advice as they (should) go through a foundation phase which the inexperienced trainee could participate in as long as it was adapted to their level. This may include adjusting reps, sets, and choosing alternate exercises besides the obvious weight tweaks.
And also, training until you throw up or pass out is the only way to consider your workout complete? I hope that's greatly exaggerated, but I'm going to refute it just in case. Personally, from everything I've learned, all this would seem to do would induce a state of overtraining as it's in direct violation of the GAS Principle (General Adaptation Syndrome - Hans Selye). If it works for you, then that's great, but please don't suggest to people starting out that that's how you succeed.
I don't have really good options for eating out so I like to go to Subway as it has the appearance of being relatively healthy. Is it? What toppings/bun types would you get if you were trying to be healthy?
Wheat, and avoid getting any sauces if you can.
I suggest Italian BMT or Cold Cut.
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
"The potato is a nutritional powerhouse," said sports dietitian Jennifer Hutchinson of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "In addition to being an excellent source of carbohydrate, a potato contains 45 percent of the daily requirement for vitamin C, and more potassium than a banana. If you eat it with the skin on, it's a terrific source of dietary fiber. A fresh potato contains no fat or cholesterol, and has only 100 calories."
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-393-397--11856-1-1-2,00.html
Is the sub sauce (oil/vinegar/?spices?) all that bad for me? Would it just spike my sodium levels or is it worse than that? I usually get sub sauce, hot sauce, and salt+pepper.
Dips between the chairs.
Chinups on the door frames.
One legged squats.
Incline pushups.
Burpees.
Satans..... hints.....
I'd get the oil if you must have some.
It's just got a lot of unneeded calories, and it's not got any nutritional value.
GM: Rusty Chains (DH Ongoing)
They aren't bad if they are consumed in proper diet.
If you eat four kilograms of tuna you are going to get fat as well you know.
Satans..... hints.....
Haha...I kind of thought the same thing, hence the article I posted. I mean, ALL CORN is bad??? Seems like it at least provides a good source of roughage.
Of course you're going to need those carbohydrates right before a run for energy or right after a run, to restore glycogen reserves in the muscles. As opposed to an average day where you work, go to the gym for an hour and then go home.
At least that's my understanding of it.
I think it all depends on what you do. Eating a bit of potatoes is all right, but in my case, I would be screwing myself over weight wise if I ate them.
No, you are missing the point. If I added a potato to my diet I would gain weight? Do you know why? Because I'm just adding energy in without trying to offset that with additional work.
The insulin spikes caused by potatoes are really quite low, they are higher than other whole foods, but if you eat them as part of a complete meal there is nothing wrong with them, plus you get the additional bonus of increased, fibre (which offsets it's higher GI) and vitamins.
Satans..... hints.....
she said core exercises, tardmonger
OOOoooooh. Ok, I see.
It feels like everyone's angry at me in the Fitness threads both in H/A and Glossolalia. Goddamn.
I don't care what you think about ska, but the audio adrenaline from that song alone was enough to carry me past the three mile mark.
And if you're looking to lose fat, keeping the carbs to the early part of the day is a better idea. Avoiding them at dinner is sensible.
but yeah, so far I'm doing crunches (holding my laptop to my chest, heh) and some planks. I'll probably work in some pilates stuff, too, depending on how hot it gets. Its hard to get the motivation up in this humidity
Is there any downside to doing these everyday as long as your eating right, stretching properly and getting enough sleep?
Short answer, yes.
Long answer, yes with a but.
The body requires time to repair itself between workouts. By not allowing the body proper time for overcompensation, you're not going to get stronger, but rather you'll quickly become over trained and perform far from optimal levels.
The 'but' comes in because you're asking about a program based on calisthenic work. Calisthenics are fine provided your body weight provides enough resistance to be challenging. If your body weight isn't enough resistance, you may be able to perform this routine daily without difficulty. If that's the case though, you're likely not producing the gains you may hope for.
And then you've got the elite athletes who train 2 and 3 times a day, but then even they are following a very carefully periodized program in which sessions of high intensity are followed by periods of light intensity or rest.
What you've got sounds like a well rounded program, but I'd suggest 3 non-consecutive days per week. It depends on current state and goals too though.
About a month ago I was at the gym. I hadn't been going very regularly but maybe once or twice a week maximum. I was doing some stretching with my arms and my left shoulder suddenly popped out of it's socket. It went straight back in but it was bloody agony for 10 or 15 minutes afterwards (and slight ache for maybe 2/3 days after that). I left the gym immediatly and went home. I gave the gym a miss for maybe 2 weeks after that, when I decided to go again. This time I was on a machine (don't know the name, but you push the handle grips forward from a seating position) and was on my last rep (i was doing 15x30kg, 10x35kg and 5x40kg) when my left shoulder again popped out, with the full weight of the machine pushing down on it. I managed to avoid the weights crashing down but it was pretty fucking painful. Again, 20 minutes of pain, 2 or 3 days of ache.
Now I've started going back to the gym and have been taking it pretty easily. 45kg was probably way too much for me on my first day back to the gym and so have taken it down by 10kg. But still, with any real exertion my left shoulder feels incredibly dodgy.
I'm concerned that I won't be able to go onto the free weights with my shoulder in this condition. If the pop happened when I was bench pressing I could have killed myself! So my confidence has been killed a little bit.
I'm going to try and make a doctors appointment soon, I was just wondering if anyone here had any advice? Would it be possible to get some sort of shoulder harness (similair to the supports for elbows/knees) and if so would it even do any good?
I have this scary suspition that the cause might be from the way I sleep. I can really only get to sleep if I put one arm underneath the pillow I'm sleeping on, meaning both my shoulders are stretched as I sleep. I say this because once or twice when I wake up suddenly and move my arm there is a familiar ache. I've been trying recently but it's difficult for me to get to sleep in any other position.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1h2J1SWkyU
i dont think you understand how much i approve.
Hey, thanks for pointing that out. It does look like I was saying I work out until I barf.
What I was trying to say was that, if it gets to that point when trying to keep up with someone, you should quit. I don't want to encourage anyone to do something dangerous so thanks for correcting me.
I do stand behind the idea of working out with someone in better shape than you though. But not in a way that cause a person to damage themselves. Here is what I should have said:
Say they do 3 sets of 10 squats at 80 lbs followed by 3 minuets of iron mikes followed by a 1/4 mile of lunges holding 2 25lb dumbbells . You, having never done squats before, should do 3 sets of 10 squats using between just the bar and 20 lbs. The guy you are working out with, being more experienced, will be able to help you with your form. Now, as a novice alone I would say to my self, 'bob (because that's what I call myself) that was hard you should quit now.' But, being with someone else, you will feel some nice social pressure to keep up.
Do the iron mikes. Now you are a little queasy because those are hard. So you grab some 10s and follow your workout buddy but now you are at the place where you can tell that you have genuinely pushed yourself to the limit so you stop.
Will you over train this way? Probably somewhat. But you will know how to work out and how to push yourself. It is easier to take a break and recover than to change a habit of half hearted ineffective workouts.
So in other words, you were right and I was wrong.
Perhaps some people prefer to ease into things. For me, I am much more likely to tackle my psychological gremlins if I run at them screaming.
@Oski
I wish I could say it was after that song.
It's one of those things that I knew was said with good intentions, it just came across to me as, dare I say, like that martial arts instructor from Napoleon Dynamite (you don't wear American flag pans, do you?) and I wanted to clear up any confusion.
I'll agree with you that working out with someone in better shape than you can be a great help in your own endeavors, I just felt a need to add "under the proper circumstances." Personally, I'm more concerned with the average person just starting out who hasn't exercised much in the past year, two years, etc, versus those of us who have been lifting fairly regularly and are looking to break out of a staleness.
Beginners gotta start out slow because of that initial trauma as the body reacts to the stress of exercise. I love a good general sore / tightness throughout the body next day. It's not too restrictive, but it let's me know I had a great session the day before. However it's a real downer when I have difficulty walking up or down stairs for 2-3 days because I went too hard too soon on my leg day (or that chest day I tried to keep up with my brother and could barely move my arms for a week. Ugh). And I've made the mistake of doing this to myself because I thought I was fine even after a few months of not lifting.
But again, everyone is different so I can't really push the "start out slow" mantra, although I'll still try of course. In the end, it comes down to knowing your body and what it's capable of, and sometimes learning requires testing your limits.
So it's not really I was right, you were wrong. Just a minor miscommunication. Plenty easy to do over the internets.