2500

Scale read 84 kg (185) yesterday, so up from the 82/83 (180-183) its been reading. I also gain like 1 or 2 kg during a workout, lots and lots of water

So, I normally do body splits for my gym visits. Chest/Tri, Back/Bi, Shoulders/Combo lifts, rest, repeat. [Combo lifts being stuff like seated bicep to shoulder press, Arnold presses, standing military press; lifts that work both push and pull muscles]. Usually this works well because I can get to the gym 5 or 6 times a week. No, I don't work legs, but I'm lazy as far as that goes.

However, now I'm frequently down to about 4 visits a week because of weekend trips. So that's Monday - Thursday lifting, Friday - Sunday no lifting. Usually M - Chest/Tri, T - Back/Bi, W - Shoulders/Combo, H - Alternate Chest and Back lifts.

Any one dealt with a schedule like this before? I feel I go far too long between lifts for a muscle group to capitalize on the time my muscles aren't recovering and they get too much rest.

Or is what I'm doing decent enough?

7/2/2010 4:14:35 AM

If you're not doing legs, you're routine is complete shit


you're telling me you're too damn lazy to work the other 50% of your body?

I mean I'm a huge fan of squats and deadlifts, but fuck man...you can't even add in leg press, lunges, leg curls, SOMETHING?

4 day routine:

upper
lower (quad dominant, some hamstring) + 15-20 min incline walking
upper
lower (hamstring dominant, some quad) + 15-20 min incline walking
off
HIIT + moderate cardio
off

I can get more specific if you want...(if you'll actually fucking do legs)


[Edited on July 2, 2010 at 6:25 AM. Reason : ]

7/2/2010 6:22:16 AM

Yeah that's the one. I honestly don't enjoy leg work outs because of my knee injury, and I don't feel a huge drive to work my legs. The most I would do would be horizontal leg press, leg curls, and leg extensions.

but working out your legs will help your knee!

Yes and so does the hour of walking I do every day.

Really though, why the huge need to work legs?

I occasionally will do deadlifts, but it puts a lot of pressure on my knee and I don't feel stable/comfortable enough to do that.

[Edited on July 2, 2010 at 6:31 AM. Reason : deadlist]

Here, I'll answer my own question with the magical google:

Quote :

"Well, I would have to agree that if you do not train your legs you are not going to reach your potential unless your goal was to have the best chicken legs of all time. [Nope, got big legs] Training large muscle groups such as the legs produces a natural release of anabolic hormones in the body. This may or may not cause a difference in body composition, but you will notice that most of the quality leg movements also cause a large amount of calorie expenditure. [Ok, hormones, I'll buy that. I need these calories going to places other than my legs tho, and I already have trouble eating enough] Some research has even shown that the upper body can grow during intense squat training. You can look at the sport of Weightlifting to see that a low volume of upper body work with a high-intensity lower body work can still result in appreciable gains in the upper body. In other words, there may be a positive carry over from compound exercises in the lower body to upper body development. [Can't and won't do squats] It is also hard to build the lower back without many of the core lower body lifts. This is important from an injury perspective point. [Lower back, alright, but I do do other exercises to get that area] The more important question is why would you want to have unbalanced training? Even if you do not want to spend a considerable time in the development in your legs you can use a core lift two to three times a week. This would include a deadlift, squat, or Olympic lift. Simply use the exercise early in your routine and keep the amount of sets high and the number of repetitions low. This higher tension method will allow for greater strength of the lower body without a great deal of hypertrophy. I would still ask you to consider training the lower body to fill out your body and to bring you towards your goals. As I have stated in previous posts, hybrids in many Olympic lift variations allow one to burn a great deal of body fat. This is something you really want to consider when constructing your program. [So combo exercises, sure. I'll try deadlift and a variation of the powerclean. Thanks Google!] "

[Edited on July 2, 2010 at 6:44 AM. Reason : google]

7/2/2010 6:28:12 AM

On a random note - I loathe taking vitamins... mainly cause i hate the huge pills..

any recommendations on different vitamins or supplements that I could take that aren't as painful to swallow?

7/2/2010 8:06:17 AM

I take the target brand gummy vitamins.

7/2/2010 8:09:32 AM

lol. i was actually about to post something about vitamins in here a little earlier!!

i take a lot, lot, lot of vitamins. i am a vitamin-aholic and am always trying to find one thats a little better (i wont go into to all i take, its downright embarrassing)


but to answer your question i'm debating on switching to liquid multi soon (my first year of school has told me that a liquid may be better for bioavailability reasons)

[Edited on July 2, 2010 at 8:22 AM. Reason : hlkjh]

7/2/2010 8:21:23 AM

@ ThePeter: So you don't look like some guido idiot with huge pecs and chicken legs. A well-proportioned body is an attractive body.

7/2/2010 8:30:18 AM

as if huge pecs are that easy to obtain

7/2/2010 8:35:22 AM

Quote :

"any recommendations on different vitamins or supplements that I could take that aren't as painful to swallow?"

I get an orange-flavored chewable multivitamin... it's at CVS (although, I only got it because it was orange flavored, not because it was chewable... my metformin pills are horse pills and I used to have to take 4 a day so now I'm to the point where I could swallow 2 metformin pills, vit D, biotin, BC pill, and multivitamin at the same time)

7/2/2010 8:43:58 AM

^ resisting urge to creep

7/2/2010 8:44:48 AM

2^metformin also made me learn to take multiple pills at one time. I used to choke on just one, now I bet I could down half a bottle in one gulp/

7/2/2010 8:47:03 AM

They suck... so glad I'm down to 2 a day, go me!

And just for reference, people:



Horse pills.


OH and last night I went to eat with begonias.. I had fish tacos instead of a burger, and even though I was really full and tired I made myself go to the gym. Woot!

7/2/2010 8:50:10 AM

Just remember your body can only absorb so much of different types of vitamins each day so if you are taking tons it may just be that you have really expensive piss haha. Generally I dont take a vitamin every single day only on days when I feel like I didnt get enough of what I need. When I took one every day on the days I had plenty to eat I just ended up with funny smelling piss, which to me indicated that a good portion of that vitamin went right through my system.

7/2/2010 9:18:02 AM

Started with the trainer last night. I'm really really sore. I've never really had a lifting/gym routine before. I've only ever done cardio (biking/running). How do they interact with each other? Should i alternate or run in the mornings before training?

7/2/2010 9:31:46 AM

sorry beach body thread, im getting married tomorrow. cheat day starts now and will last until monday. lets hope i dont totally destroy my progress.

7/2/2010 9:46:40 AM

Vitamins are cheap insurance that you are getting in enough vitamins and minerals each day. The only ones you need to be worry about taking too much of are the fat soluble vitamens A, D, E, and K. Your body doesn't eliminate these very fast, and you could potentially overdose on them. You'd really have to be chomping down on them for that to happen though. I think Vitamin A is the only one with serious overdose potential.

7/2/2010 9:58:47 AM

Is the vitamin A from plant sources as big a risk for toxicity? I have read in some places that it isn't because it's a different form from animal sources and can to some degree be eliminated by your body. I tend to average around the "tolerable upper limit" of 10,000 IU. I think I have a way to go before really being worried about it, but I'm curious.

7/2/2010 10:13:01 AM

not sure. All of the cases of vitamin A toxicity I've read about came from people eating aminal sources like liver and kidney that were rediculously high in Vitamin A.

7/2/2010 10:23:26 AM

I should be good then since I hate both of those, is that what gives me the fuzzy feeling on my tongue every time I eat it? I always thought that was from foods rich in iron or something. It sure would suck to OD on vitamins of all things haha.

7/2/2010 10:26:44 AM

^^ That's what I'm thinking. I mean, people eat enough carrots to turn orange and don't seem to have the other toxicity issues. I think it's sort of hard to get to toxic levels of most things through plant sources.

7/2/2010 10:29:19 AM

i think its funny that a lot of health nuts ate too much silver in the 80s and now they all look like smurfs

7/2/2010 11:29:38 AM

Beta-carotene (vit. A from plant source) is not toxic at high doses like vitamin A, because it is actually a precursor for vitamin A.

As for taking multivitamins and minerals, some recent studies have shown no benefit from them.

Here is what I think:

If you eat a reasonably balanced diet and take a pill to fill in any small gaps (e.g., selenium, hard to get from food), then I believe that it will help.

However, if you live on burgers and fries, and then expect a pill to fill in the huge gaps, it won't work.

Remember, in nature, vitamins and minerals are found mixed in with thousands of other chemicals in fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, etc. If you hardly eat any of the previously mentioned foods, just taking pills will do no good as the vitamins and minerals will probably not work alone in the absence of the thousands of other chemicals found with them in nature.

7/2/2010 2:06:28 PM

woot
i have lost almost 30 lbs since Feb when i started trying to get in shape
im back down to 165...my weight loss goal was to break 170 and lose the gut

now i need to start gaining some muscle mass in my chest and arms

7/2/2010 2:56:26 PM

Dear PackMan92,

I'm doing standing shoulder presses today. You're my inspiration.

7/2/2010 4:02:26 PM

yay

now start deadlifting again

7/2/2010 5:06:42 PM

okay, I have eliminated the confusion in how many calories I should eat. Finally!

After tracking every exercise and macro for the past month, I went in and took a look as to why I wasn't dropping weight and only dropping size.

If you are using the MyPlate calorie counter on livestrong.com, make sure you choose the correct daily activity level when you input your caloric goals. I took a hard look at what I was actually doing versus what I thought I was doing over the past month and discovered that I was completely overeating.

Just make sure you base your activity level on how you actually live each day (i.e. desk job, computer use mostly = lightly to moderately active). Don't make the mistake I did by basing it on overall workout days and put in extremely active. You still take into account your fitness and exercises separately. Now I've just realized that I'm supposed to be eating 2,000 calories to lose 2 lbs. per week instead of 3,000, which is much easier to do.

7/2/2010 7:27:20 PM

great job gunzz! keep it up!

@Stein....dead lift 4 life

7/2/2010 7:56:15 PM

I did not know all the stuff I ate for lunch at Neomonde would knock out my protein and double it for the day.

7/2/2010 8:08:42 PM

that's probably not a bad thing

you should be fine

7/2/2010 11:12:15 PM

^^ I could have told you that. What did you think about the donuts we bought?

7/3/2010 2:01:34 AM

Lol at god for trying to tell me what makes a body attractive

Rest assured Thread, my legs are not that of a chicken. Please continue to lecture merather than answering my question above

7/3/2010 6:32:56 AM

@God, I see you were simply trying to say why to work out the legs. My apologies.

7/3/2010 8:11:21 AM

i think i'm going to fully convert my legs into fast-twitch machines

7/3/2010 8:27:55 AM

@ThePeter

since you were unhappy with my first recommended split (2 lower body day, oh shit!), let's try this


Day 1: full body
Day 2: abs/arms/whatever bb bullshit you want
Day 3: lower (had to be ONE somewhere)
Day 4: Upper

I can do this all day...still unhappy with that one?

7/3/2010 9:56:34 AM

ThePeter has really nice legs, which is kinda weird because he never works them out :-\

I'd hit it.

7/3/2010 10:43:06 AM

@People who want supplements: Go to GNC or any vitamin/supplement shop & buy creatine. It'll make you be able to workout for so much longer with more weight. I'm not saying be like the gym rats and take 5 a day, because that'll give you the worst shits of your life, but just try one or two an hour before a workout and see how you feel.

7/3/2010 10:57:32 AM

Quote :

"^^ I could have told you that. What did you think about the donuts we bought?"

I should have asked you. The doughnuts were good. My family were so excited about them. I had half of one, I enjoyed it because it tasted yummy but then later I felt like crap. I added it to myplate and I didn't break the bank. How did you like them?

7/3/2010 1:00:03 PM

8 minutes on this Precor machine (kicked my ass )



3x10x15 right, 3x10x15 left single arm swings I added a squat each swing
1x8x60, 3x8x55 clean and press (I can't seem to move past 55 on this, I start to have bad form with heavier weights)
3x10x90 dead lift
3x10x55 chest press
3x10x40 curls and shoulder press (very hard to do at the end of the workout!!!)

7/3/2010 3:36:48 PM

Three Super Sets of:

12, 10, 8, 6 Chin Ups
12x65, 10x70, 8x75, 6x80 Standing Military Press

12, 10xBW+25, 8xBW+25 Dips
12x30, 10x40, 8x40 Linda Curls*

12x65, 10x75, 8x80, 6x85 DB Upright Row
12x95, 10x115, 8x125, 6x135 Decline Bench Press

*[words] Linda Curls are a bicep super set that begonias made me and ThePeter do one day when she gave us a free personal training session. We named this super set Linda Curls because it was easier to say than the series of bicep exercises that she made us do in the super set. Linda Curls consist of Wide Grip SB Curls immediately followed by Normal Grip SB Reverse Curls immediately followed by Close Grip SB Curls. So, essentially, the 12x30 was really 36x30. If that makes sense. [/words]

7/3/2010 7:25:21 PM

checked my measurements today... haven't gone down at all in about 2 weeks or so...

BUT the fact that I'm down a total of an inch on my hips and 1.75 inches on my waist... i'll still take it

i think i'm way under eating... i think it's fucking with my system pretty heavily (not purposely under eating, just kind of working out that way)

7/3/2010 7:32:22 PM

Quote :

"If you're not doing legs, you're [sic] routine is complete shit you're telling me you're too damn lazy to work the other 50% of your body? I mean I'm a huge fan of squats and deadlifts"

7/4/2010 7:55:49 AM

^ah, damnit


"your"

I had a grammar nightmare about that exact thing last night

7/4/2010 9:39:17 AM

I started reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It comes skwinkle approved.
I would like to get to the point where I'm lifting like a man but I'm far from it. I will get there one day!

[Edited on July 4, 2010 at 10:35 AM. Reason : Get]

7/4/2010 10:34:20 AM

Quote :

"I would like to get to the point where I'm lifting like a man but I'm far from it. I will get there one day! "

What do you mean? You shouldn't really have to "work up" to doing those sorts of workouts, other than maybe ramping into it for a few weeks so as to avoid injury.

7/4/2010 11:41:38 AM

I'm talking about lifting heavier weights. Yes I do have to work up if I can't get done with all reps in a set. I try to add 10 pounds each session to all weights and the fact that I'm learning to have good form with free weights means I have to "work up" to it. I am not lifting piddly weights bc I'm scared (and my weights aren't that light). I just can't physically do it yet.

Lifting like a man is the premise of the book.

7/4/2010 12:03:26 PM

fuuuu. I haven't worked out in 3 days. Shame on me Tomorrow begins the "intense" swimming workout sessions 4 days a week.

7/4/2010 12:39:54 PM

^^ But you are. Lifting "like a man" doesn't mean you have to lift the same weights as a man does. It's all about pushing yourself and lifting as much as you can do rather than sticking with dinky light weights because you're scared of the heavy ones.

You got it.

7/4/2010 12:54:09 PM

Quote :

"Day 1: full body Day 2: abs/arms/whatever bb bullshit you want Day 3: lower (had to be ONE somewhere) Day 4: Upper"

That sounds pretty good, thanks for the advice.

Guessing Full Body is just combo muscle group exercises, so I can do an opposing muscle group superset workout to speed it up and keep my heart rate up. Abs/arms are curls/extensions for the arms and then weighted ab exercises along with typical ab work. Might try the "lower" day as a "Legs/Back" since I'd like to hit the back evenly with the chest, plus I don't want to put too much stress on my knee incase it gets really sore the next day - I do need to walk everywhere, and Friday-Sunday will be my traveling days. Upper is all upper body, so focusing on chest, back, and shoulders?

7/4/2010 1:53:27 PM

^^ exactly.

You don't have to do 300-lb squats to "lift like a man".

You just have to do squats--with as much weight as you can squeeze, say, somewhere between 3-10 reps out with--instead of the stupid inner/outer thigh machine for 50 reps.


If you want a killer female body, you need to go do stuff like benchpress, squats, deadlifts, pull-ups (assisted/spotted if necessary until you get good at it), cleans, dips, etc....and you need to use enough weight that you're trembling and struggling to complete the set (which should never be more than 10-12 reps, and you're not going to hurt a thing by upping the weight a little and doing sets of, say, 6 from time to time.)

In short, the absolute tonnage isn't important--what's important is that you're doing a lot of weight for you, and when it becomes easier, add some more weight.

[Edited on July 4, 2010 at 1:59 PM. Reason : ^^]

7/4/2010 1:59:04 PM

I don't know what it is about you duke but you just fire me up sometimes. I wasnt able to convey what skwinkle was able to say to me but I will take what you say even though I am fucking mad. Thx and thx tara.

7/4/2010 2:13:25 PM