How often do you workout?

[Billoo0]

Damn, people on this forum have some pretty solid knowledge and interest for exercise/body building/working out

I know spot training is a fad, but are there any particular exercises which target your midsection (gut, lovehandles, sides of your tiddd) etc... Plus is it true that for men especially, that flabb left over can and will mostly be controlled by diet?

Planks are wonderful and pushups are great as well, however some more options/alternatives would be nice. Also, deadlifts and weighted squats target your mid section as well? Should these exercises be spread out across the week as well instead of doing everyday?

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

Damn, people on this forum have some pretty solid knowledge and interest for exercise/body building/working out

I know spot training is a fad, but are there any particular exercises which target your midsection (gut, lovehandles, sides of your tiddd) etc... Plus is it true that for men especially, that flabb left over can and will mostly be controlled by diet?

Planks are wonderful and pushups are great as well, however some more options/alternatives would be nice. Also, deadlifts and weighted squats target your mid section as well? Should these exercises be spread out across the week as well instead of doing everyday?

Good questions. Only way to get rid of love handles or bottom of the tidd is to reduce your body fat. Most people get into the habit of trying to lose weight because they think it equals body fat but most of the time they end up losing lean mass and look even weaker.

Easiest way to lose body fat is to change dietary habits and lifting weights 3x a week. A guy to look up is Mark Rippetoe, he wrote the books Starting Strength and Practical Programming. He made an instructional video too that teaches all the lifts in an easy way, you can find the torrent for the pdfs and videos on any torrent site.

There is some misconception about the squat among people. People think it will stunt growth, is dangerous, in only good for the legs. Truth is that it wont stunt your growth unless you break you growth plate somehow (which is extremely unlikely with weight training) and is safe/dangerous as a person makes it to be meaning if you follow proper form and don't try to be macho and do too much weight at once you will be fine. Also there is no exercise that taxes the most musculature than the squat and most studies have showed more you tax your body more adaptation and more growth hormone released. Squats and deadlifts will make your core very strong, even though intuitively you wouldn't think so.

Check out this site, stronglifts.com . It has a program that works great and has lots more info.

 

[kinnell]

Damn, people on this forum have some pretty solid knowledge and interest for exercise/body building/working out

I know spot training is a fad, but are there any particular exercises which target your midsection (gut, lovehandles, sides of your tiddd) etc... Plus is it true that for men especially, that flabb left over can and will mostly be controlled by diet?

Planks are wonderful and pushups are great as well, however some more options/alternatives would be nice. Also, deadlifts and weighted squats target your mid section as well? Should these exercises be spread out across the week as well instead of doing everyday?

Good questions. Only way to get rid of love handles or bottom of the tidd is to reduce your body fat. Most people get into the habit of trying to lose weight because they think it equals body fat but most of the time they end up losing lean mass and look even weaker.

Easiest way to lose body fat is to change dietary habits and lifting weights 3x a week. A guy to look up is Mark Rippetoe, he wrote the books Starting Strength and Practical Programming. He made an instructional video too that teaches all the lifts in an easy way, you can find the torrent for the pdfs and videos on any torrent site.

There is some misconception about the squat among people. People think it will stunt growth, is dangerous, in only good for the legs. Truth is that it wont stunt your growth unless you break you growth plate somehow (which is extremely unlikely with weight training) and is safe/dangerous as a person makes it to be meaning if you follow proper form and don't try to be macho and do too much weight at once you will be fine. Also there is no exercise that taxes the most musculature than the squat and most studies have showed more you tax your body more adaptation and more growth hormone released. Squats and deadlifts will make your core very strong, even though intuitively you wouldn't think so.

Check out this site, stronglifts.com . It has a program that works great and has lots more info.

I would like to emphasize that everyone should balance their workouts. CDJ mentioned this a few posts back about how uneven training (training certain muscles more than others) is unhealthy. Doing more benchpress than rows or doing more squats over deadlifts will result in poor posture and your hard work will go to waste both appearance wise and performance wise.

Losing your midsection is simple math. Contrary to what some may say, doing crunches will do nothing to get you a six pack if you still have fat. Basically, increase your caloric burn and decrease your caloric intake while maintaining a good ratio of healthy fats, proteins and clean carbohydrates. Lifting weights, as CDJ suggested, is a great way of not only burning calories but building/maintaining muscle (you will need a decent supply of protein available in your diet in order to build muscle). However, I would also recommend short-interval high-intensity cardio. Cardio not only burns calories but keeps you fit and active. You don't know how many people I know that hardcore workout but cannot perform athletically because they simply have not utilized and trained their body to do so.

In regarding to my workout regiment, I normally base my workout plans around five of what I believe to be the most effective exercises: Bench, squat, deadlift, chin-up and dips. I also like to avoid machines. Free weights all the way. I have normally worked out not to make a certain size of the body bigger, but more to become stronger, more fit and more capable. In the past I use to work out consistently, but unfortunately due to increased travelling this year (as well as increased drinking ) I have not been able to keep up.

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

^^^ Great point about machines.

I implore you guys to never use machines at the gym, they are unnatural and lead to injuries. The only reason they exist is for the Weider company and Nautilus to make money off of and for gyms to not train their employees in actual lifting techniques. Also machines like leg extension and leg curl are stupid when you can do a squat and get 10x more out of it in less time.

 

[JeetS]

P90X!

 

[terabaap]

Wanna get a legit HIIT workout in, then incorporate hill sprints into your workout. On a decent upward slope your ass will be dead. However all workouts should be tailored to your cardiac strength(aka how good of an athlete you are). You don't want to be passing out when doing an HIIT run. (that just means you arent as rambo as you think you are).
I also honestly believe that a lifter should start by doing bodylifts and THEN move to weights but, nobody takes that advice.
As for soy protein, I'd stay away from it. I haven't heard many good things and one would be surprised how much protein one can get from just diet manipulation(and vitamins and other goodies!)
As for how much protein intake one needs, the numbers vary. I stick to between 1-1.3g/kg of bodyweight. The higher end being for those who are constantly working out and the lower end for those that do not lift as heavy or as often.
+bajillion on the Ripp workouts/books. The man truly lays down an AWESOME foundation for strength lifting. The 5x5 program is legit times a million. read it. memorize it. do it. I guarantee you will get strong and your core will be very strong. who cares if you aren't benching 300. Get your core strong, and once you have a foundation, work on everything else.
Also, if you have posture problems, do dead lifts. They will do wonders for your posture
also, a note to girls.


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO SQUATS AND DEADLIFTS. You WILL have a better booty than 99%of girls out there.

PLEASEPLEASE

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO SQUATS AND DEADLIFTS. You WILL have a better booty than 99%of girls out there.

PLEASEPLEASE

so true. its so hard to get them off the elliptical and convincing them that they wont get a good nice butt that way.

 

[Varun]

Good workouts...how severe are your eating habits? I tend to notice that no matter how intense someone can be in the gym, without strict and proper eating habits, the results of all that effort won't really show.

mine is quesadillas and paneer paronthe. so yah, i need some ideas.

 

[MPElive]

Varun, I totally agree with you. No matter how intense your workout is, you will not see much results if your nutrition diet is not proper.

Obviously Paneer De Paronthe & Quesadillas will not help at all..

Here what I usually take:

Fats: Peanut Butter on 1 toast of whole wheat bread, Raw Almonds (15 to 20)

Protien: Chicken Breast (Not Breaded), Lean Turkey, 2 Scoops of Whey Protein, Cottage Cheese, Beans. Fish is good too but I really don't like it.

Carbs: Brown Rice and sometimes brown Pasta.

Cut the Roti, Paronthe, Cheese, White Bread, Pop, Pizza, Pasta & anything Fried (I know craving is a bitch) LOL

Make sure to drink 4 litres of water everyday and you are set to go.

 

[terabaap]

http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/

love his site, goes into great detail for the nerdy types like me.

Soy protein maybe manufactured in a laboratory but that doesn't mean it's illegitimate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCAAS

Soy is wonderful to make your meals complete. As far as incomplete versus complete protein's go; I don't know where tofu/soy falls in that dichotomy.

If you're deadlifting 365 lbs you better be taking extra protein. You're muscles need that for excess repair. That's a shit load of stress on a 150-180 pound frame!

Soy can screw around with your digestion apparently if you take too much though, problem is I haven't been able to find any consensus from research that says how much. Here is one of the more extreme negative views about soy http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_nutrition/soy_is_still_bad_protein I think soy is a complete protein from most sources I have read, but sometimes people have different requirements.

Protein requirement for bodybuilders/strength training is something that is pretty overrated too and has mostly been pushed up on us by the bodybuilding magazines to buy magic powders when we can get most of it from our diet. Most conventional wisdom says .7gram/lb body weight is sufficient but we usually see it rounded to 1.0 . I see alot of kids pounding the protein shakes without working out hard enough and then mistaking the fat on their arms for muscle haha.

As of now. 0. Getting back into it this break. Doing a strict olympic lift workout coupled with some volume training. my workouts do not contain bicep or tricep routines, nor do they contain any isolation lifts. Once the weather gets better i'm going to have to begin hiit routines with swimming and running.
Wanna get strong? Do bodyweight exercises like pullups, dips, and pushups and you will get strong.

+1493143.423

Werd. Another stupid thing that modern bodybuilding and the magazines pushed forward is the split routine/ultra high volume for beginners. People who want to get strong should focus on core lifts and get the most bang for their buck and time. Those bodybuilding routines make a person strong as a side effect of their training to look good, strength training/olympic lifting gets people looking good as a side effect of being stronger.

yes, someone else who knows that site!

 

[terabaap]

2-3 glasses of milk(usually some form of a shake, let me know if you want recipe)
various lean meat protein(chicken, turkey, fish)
various whole wheat carbs such as pasta, whole wheat roti, etc(remember guys, you do need energy from carbs too)
creatine(depending on lifting routine usually)
the best thing one can do is figure out your bmr and look at how many calories you need to gain mass. When I was working out 3-4 days and swimming/running(2-3 times a week), I was needing approx 3600cals to gain a little/lean mass. And I was only 180lbs at the time.

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

I never used creatine till about 8 months ago but it really helped me get through a couple of places I got stuck, especially on the bench.

Manipulating the diet is the easiest and hardest thing to do. When I wanted to put on weight I literally ate everything in sight for 3 months or so and gained around 25 pounds, I am guessing half was lean mass and the other half was just fat. I would guess it was close to 4000 calories a day with the bulk coming from carbs like rice and pasta. I felt huge but then when I took my shirt off I was like wtf my stomach is also huge. Next 4 months I restricted my calories like a champ and lost 20 pounds or so, so the net gain was around 5 pounds but my body looked more dense and stronger than before. Calorie counting was a bitch though, I stuck to a 40/30/30 carb/protein/fat ratio and that worked well for me but by the end of it my lifts were starting to suffer so I quit dieting. Amazingly I lost all that weight without doing any cardio whatsoever, just lifting 3x a week and being strict about what I ate.

I probably won't try to gain weight like I did last time, instead I will probably just try to shoot for 300-500 over my BMR, that seemed to be working before I got hurt.

What type of stuff do you guys take pre-workout and post workout? Any good recipes?

 

[terabaap]

pre-workout is usually a meal about 1.5 hours before lifting. usually a more carb heavy meal. meal afterwards is really just protein.

 

[MPElive]

COMTONDAJATT, Depending on what your goals are and depending on the timing of your workouts, I usually have a Whole Wheat toast with peanut butter and a milk shake mixed with either banana or frozen berries as a pre workout meal.

I leave HIIT cardio after my workouts and as soon as I get home, I'll take protein shake and eat after 45min to 1 hour. Post workout meals usually includes chicken or turkey with some veggies.

If you were asking for what kind of supplements to take, I started off with Super Pump 250 for pre workout and Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein for post workout. Didn't see much results with SP 250 and now having a intra workout (while working out) named Intrabolic and it works. Don't forget to take your multi vitamins everyday as they are extremely essential for daily life.

 

[terabaap]

any sup beyond protein and creatine is imo not worth it. I'm trying to get more insight into BCAA's but the jury is still out on that stuff.

Here is one of my many many many bookmarks.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=112127931

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

any sup beyond protein and creatine is imo not worth it. I'm trying to get more insight into BCAA's but the jury is still out on that stuff.

Here is one of my many many many bookmarks.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=112127931

Yea from what I have looked up all the gains are marginal at best if they are real from BCAAs. I learned how to deadlift from that thread properly, before I used to wear gloves and stand too far away from the bar. After I took off the gloves and developed some callouses and got the bar closer it became wayyyy easier.

COMTONDAJATT, Depending on what your goals are and depending on the timing of your workouts, I usually have a Whole Wheat toast with peanut butter and a milk shake mixed with either banana or frozen berries as a pre workout meal.

I leave HIIT cardio after my workouts and as soon as I get home, I'll take protein shake and eat after 45min to 1 hour. Post workout meals usually includes chicken or turkey with some veggies.

If you were asking for what kind of supplements to take, I started off with Super Pump 250 for pre workout and Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein for post workout. Didn't see much results with SP 250 and now having a intra workout (while working out) named Intrabolic and it works. Don't forget to take your multi vitamins everyday as they are extremely essential for daily life.

Some people swear by SP but I think it is more of a placebo effect than anything. I am gonna find some frozen berries, sounds good.

 

[Nikhil]

"Protein requirement for bodybuilders/strength training is something that is pretty overrated too and has mostly been pushed up on us by the bodybuilding magazines to buy magic powders when we can get most of it from our diet. Most conventional wisdom says .7gram/lb body weight is sufficient but we usually see it rounded to 1.0 . I see alot of kids pounding the protein shakes without working out hard enough and then mistaking the fat on their arms for muscle haha."

spot on brother. In my program, we were taught that about 0.9 g/lb is the amount of protein that should be ingested on a daily basis. What I should have said was that if you guys are lifting alot and diversifying your regimens, keeping it between 1 and 1.5 g/lb.

And feel free to third or half the recommended dosage on whatever supplements you take. I used to take creatine and I only used a third of a scoop for every drink. I definitely don't recommend creatine anymore because of the instantaneous drop off in bulk that you acquire; you literally piss away your good work!

Big ups to all my squat and deadlift junkies...Push Pull Squat...that's my philosophy for any workout. You can incorporate this scheme into anything you do, including yoga and parkour training. Btw, the latter two philosophies are five million times more effective than any 40 minute weight training session I've ever taught or done myself...

 

[Nikhil]

One more thing I would like to contest: while free weight training is more effective because of the dynamic obtained between balance/coordination and actually loading the weight, you need machines to rehabilitate and target and isolate muscles that are otherwise ignored from your preference of workouts. I gather that while we are talking to our age range 15-26, and most of us are able bodied with a keen sense of perception. Most of us who do experience injuries are ones that are unrelated to use of machines. Instead they are caused by over training and instablility in bhangra. So, if you guys are in your hellish 2 week practice mode before a competition, I strongly advice to go easy on workouts but to use machines more than freeweights during this phase.

 

[terabaap]

Machines also give you a good idea of how much weight you can manage before you tear your bicep doing stuff you shouldn't be doing.
SP250 is just creatine and caffeine. If you want the "energy" just take a caffeine pill...
+12312 on yoga. It really helps to work on your hip and ankle flexibility if you are doing squats/deads/cleans. You'll immediatly notice a difference if you start to work on flexibility.
When i first started deading, i would have marks all over my shins because that's how i got the form of dead lifting down.
I recommend creatine only for explosive athletes(sprinters, running backs, etc) or if you are trying to break a plateau. There is no point to getting off creatine and you might as well stay on it. There is some evidence however, of too much creatine damaging the kidneys, but with micronized stuff these days it's hard to tell. Also, stick to monohydrate as it's cheap and the most effective form.
If you guys want more of my links, let me know.

 

[singh5327]

Reading bout the ebook posted on this thread by by COMTONDAJATT
I really found the 5x5 program interesting and so far all I have been doing is core muscle training through pull-ups, dips, and push-ups as the majority of my routine. However, I think starting the New Year I'm going to follow the 5x5 program for the full 3 months and see if the results are for real, and then

BOOMMM BABY.......sunny is jacked =D