Workout Thread

[Ben]

Thanks.

Does anybody have any effective weight loss regimes? Other than of course eating properly? Interval running on the treadmill? One long run? etc.

[Blue]

Depends on the distance i'd guess, but when I used to use the treadmill interval running was pretty effective. As long as you're getting a good sweat going every time, you'll probably get good results either way.

[Ben]

Do sauna's help at all? I like a good sauna, but what do they actually do?

[BlakeJesus]

They are nice for relaxing, plus you'll lose some water weight from sweating.

Just had one of my better lifts in awhile. Did 5-4-3-2-1 benching. 155-165-170-180-190 respectively. Then did 145 11 times for a cool down, followed up with 2 sets of 8 with 60 lb dumbbells. Did some skullcrushers with twenty fives on the curl bar. Did some dips weight a plate on my lap, all while intravenously doing abs.

It was some good stuff, had a Nos energy drink right before probably had something to do with it. I really need a pre-workout, but I don't even have enough money to pay my bills I can't spend needlessly for awhile. But a kid told me there was a bunch of people getting together for pickup games at 7 (twenty minutes from now). Basketball is over so all the kids from the team should be playing now, which is good. I need to see some better competition, intramural starts in about a week and I'm going to be playing all these kids. Pretty stoked.

[bball2223]

I have been doing 8 miles on the bike and ab's pretty much everyday. I need to switch things up. Anyone got any ideas? I'm thinking about starting P90X this summer, but I need something to do between now and then.

[myst]

10 Ways to Lose Muscle

Discover and correct the workout mistakes that are costing you muscle gains

by Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.

By the way some guys train and eat, you’d swear they were trying to lose muscle, not build it. But, hey, maybe that’s what they want—and if you want to join them, you’re more than welcome to. So if you’re looking to lose some size—if you’re already so jacked that your biceps are tearing your sleeves, and your dream is to look skinny and weak—you can do what they do. Or maybe you’re doing it already and don’t even realize it.

The only way to find out for sure is by checking out our list of the 10 worst workout mistakes—things you do that sabotage your progress and cost you muscle. Recognize a mistake as part of your daily rou- tine?We also came up with some quick and easy fixes you can use to correct these problems and net truly awesome gains.

1. YOU DON’T EAT ENOUGH (FOR FEAR OF GETTING FAT)
Yes, extra calories can mean extra belly fat, but if you’re lifting consistently and correctly, most of what you’re taking in should be converted to muscle. The truth is your muscles will never grow without a surplus of calories. For a lean guy looking to put on muscle mass, 2,000 calories a day won’t cut it. In fact, this kind of restricted diet is actually the ideal recipe for losing muscle tis- sue and sparing fat, as it causes the body to shift into starvation mode and shed calorie-consuming muscle. It also makes you store fat for emergency energy. And the less protein you eat, the less of a chance you give your muscles to recover after a workout.

2. YOU AMP UP YOUR CARDIO
There are three ways that cardio typically cancels out muscle gains: doing it too often, doing it for too long, or doing it on an empty stomach. In general, daily cardio sessions simply burn too many cumulative calories to allow you the surplus you need for muscle mass, and the same can be said for sessions that last 45 minutes or more. Work out in the morning before breakfast and you only compound the problem. When you wake up, your body is already in a catabolic (muscle-burning) state, since a night’s sleep—time spent without eating—empties your tank. Working out immediately just reinforces this condition and costs you intensity—whether on the treadmill or with the weights. The end result: You burn muscle as fuel in place of calories you should have consumed at breakfast.

3. YOU WORK TO EXHAUSTION
If the biggest musclehead in the gym has taught us anything, it’s that doing lots and lots of sets and reps to the point of total collapse (he can’t even muster his signature grunt!) is the best way to build muscle. Never mind that he’s a genetic freak and/or probably on steroids. More than 20 total sets per muscle group, or more than 15 reps per set, may leave your muscles swollen (hence the ego-enhancing “pump”), but it will be from inflammation, not actual muscle growth. Any weight that allows that much work is too light to cause sub- stantial growth, and you’ll reap no lasting gains.
4. YOU FAVOR BODY-PART WORKOUTS
Breaking your training down into chest days, back days, and arm days over- works some muscles and neglects others. It’s an old-school way to train—and it’s incredibly outdated. Most guys still do it, and many make gains for a while, but their progress eventually comes to a halt, usually due to injuries. Body-part routines also prevent your biggest muscles from ever learning to work together in the kinds of coordinated effort you need to lift really heavy weights—another major avenue for fast growth.

5. YOU SHUN STRETCHING
Boring? Definitely. But stretching has been shown to speed up recovery and increase a muscle’s range of motion, making more room for muscle fibers to grow. Simply lifting weights will increase your risk for injury and se- verely limit your ability to move athletically—so no matter how big you are, you’ll probably be picked last for teams.

6.YOU ONLY EAT SPORADICALLY
It’s true: Eating infrequently is nearly as bad as not eating at all. When you go more than three hours without food, your metabolism slows significantly.When that happens, every time you do get a meal, there’s a good chance that a large percentage of it will be stored as fat. Why?Blame your body. Without food, it slips back into starvation mode and starts to think it needs to hold on to every calorie it can get.

7. YOU RARELY ALTER YOUR ROUTINE
Doing the exact same workout week after week will, at best, prevent new gains, and, at worst, lead to burnout. Failing to impose any new challenges on your muscles—such as by increasing the weight you use or the number of reps you perform—simply helps keep them the same size, whereas pushing yourself harder than you’re accustomed to will actually spur new muscle and strength.

8.YOU ONLY TRAIN WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR
Focusing your workouts on trophy muscles such as the pecs and biceps may be more fun, but it won’t do much for your overall development. Since 70% of your body’s total musculature is located in your legs and back, your main potential for muscle gains will remain untapped. Furthermore, this kind of trainingwill leave you with muscle imbalances that lead to injury—and that can keep you out of the gym permanently.

9. YOU DON’T DRINK SHAKES
Chugging a protein-and-carb mixture after your workout starts the recovery process immediately, replenishing lost glycogen (your muscles’ energy stores) and providing the nutrients your body requires to repair muscle and grow more of it. Skipping the shake and casually waiting an hour or more for your next meal is like ignoring a cry for help.

10. YOU DON’T GET ENOUGH REST
Sleep is when muscle repair happens, so getting six or fewer hours of shut-eye a night limits your body’s natural production of crucial muscle-building chemicals, such as growth hormone. Too much activity outside of your workouts, such as playing sports, all-night dance parties, and extra stress—all of which are permissible now and then, but dangerous in excess—also cut into muscle gains. And if you’ve been working out seven days a week, we’ve got another pleasant surprise for you: You’ll lose muscle for sure. Such a high frequency won’t allow for regeneration, and your efforts will be wasted. And no, it doesn’t matter if you’re training different muscle groups each day—you still have the same central nervous system, and it still gets tired of having to deal with major physical exertion every day.

http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/b...t_training/184

[bball2223]

Nice link and a good read, thanks again Myst!

[Ben]

Summer is fast approaching, so I need to start running and AB Ripper P90X'ing, because I haven't been in a while, and the beaches are calling.

[bball2223]

Originally Posted by FX™

Summer is fast approaching, so I need to start running and AB Ripper P90X'ing, because I haven't been in a while, and the beaches are calling.

I know how you feel. Been sick and examing it up the past week so I have been neglecting working out, but I'll get back on it as soon as I'm home this week.

[myst]

Originally Posted by FX™

Summer is fast approaching, so I need to start running and AB Ripper P90X'ing, because I haven't been in a while, and the beaches are calling.

You don't get abs by doing crunches (even though ab ripper is intense).

Do you have a problem revealing your rock-hard chiselled abs to the public?

Yes? Why so?

Oh, they aren’t “ready” yet?

Let’s be honest for a moment. They never are ready. You’ve been saying for years, “Just another week, that’s all I need,” or “I just don’t have good abs.” These may be causes of your problem, but perhaps you haven’t considered the following factors:

1. The Genetics Factor

Regardless of what you’ve been told or what you’ve read, genetics is a major factor. It’s not a limiting factor in your ability to attain six-pack abs, but it’s a key factor nonetheless. The shape of your abdominals is decided at birth, so deal with it. I know guys that have twelve percent body fat and still have ripped abs, and guys at seven percent that are still struggling to reveal the bottom of their abs. You cannot change the shape of your abs or make the cuts between your abs deeper using abdominal exercises.

I’ve seen guys doing crunches with the smallest range of motion conceivable in a vain effort to deepen the gaps between their abs. You can’t non-surgically change the shape or orientation of your muscle. Concentration crunches-or whatever you want to call them-are futile, and a nonsensical way to try to develop a deeper cut. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the only way you’re going to deepen your cuts is to fix your diet and lose some bodyfat. Period. This introduces us to the bodyfat factor.

2. The Bodyfat Factor

Next to genetics, this is the most important factor of them all. You MUST lower your bodyfat in order for your abs to show up. You can do all the abdominal work in the world, and even the right type and amount of weight training, but if you don’t reduce bodyfat, you’ll never see your abs and your dreams of having a six-pack will have to be put on hold.

Some people will be able to see their abs start to appear at around ten to eleven percent bodyfat, whereas most will need to be down around seven or eight percent to see signs of their six-pack coming through. This has a lot to do with genetics, and it’s out of your control.

To attain a true six-pack, where your abs are really popping, you’ll have to drop down to six percent bodyfat or less, and that can only be achieved by using an effective resistance training program, metabolic-type work like intervals and circuit training and, most importantly, nutrition. It’s been said before-but let’s say it again-that your abs are made in the kitchen, so get your kitchen in order and start eating clean to get, and keep, those abs lean! That transitions us nicely into the nutrition factor.

3. The Nutrition Factor

Your abs, along with the rest of your physique development, originate in the kitchen. You can’t overcome poor nutrition with training. I know you’ve heard it before, but you’ll still have that cheeseburger and tell yourself you’ll train it off later in the gym. It doesn’t work like that, trust me. You shouldn’t be training to battle poor nutrition. If you do, you’ll be chasing your tail for years. You need to address your current goals: revealing those abdominal muscles, not training hard to stay the same and maintain your current physique. That’s essentially what you’re doing!

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” - Albert Einstein

When it comes to nutrition, you have to “eat clean,” so do it! You know this already, but you’ll have that chocolate bar and make your next training session about compensation, and not about advancing to the next level of leanness. If you want to get your abs lean and develop a six-pack you can be proud of, you need to be strong and resist eating crap!

Supplementing with high quality fish oil has actually been shown to assist with bodyfat loss, especially in the abdominal region. This wonderful supplement has shown exciting results that are about as close to non-surgical spot reduction as you’re going to get!

Keeping yourself hydrated is essential when you want to show off that chiselled six-pack. I know you think water has nothing to do with your abs, but there are a number of reasons I’ve mentioned water here. If you’re dehydrated, your body will retain water. Your body stores water in the only available storage space under your skin. This stored water will actually look like excess fat.

Drinking water will keep you occupied, help you satisfy cravings and actually speed up your metabolic rate. All of these factors are minor, but they add up and contribute to revealing your abdominal muscles.

4. The Exercise Factor

You may be surprised to see exercise or training so far down the list of factors. It’s an obvious factor in your abdominal development, but not the biggest. The primary training mistake people make when trying to develop six-pack abs happens when they’re performing ineffective programs and exercises.

When it comes to exercising or training for the attainment of six-pack abdominals, you need to train using big compound lifts, unilateral exercises, bodyweight exercises, sprint training and metabolic-type work, and you need to incorporate some highly effective abdominal exercises.

The focus needs to be on resistance training, and it must be resistance training for the entire body, making sure you target the body’s metabolic hot spots (your back, chest and lower body). We’re looking to stimulate your metabolism and create an afterburn effect that burns fat after the workout as well as during.

5. The Cardio Factor

Cardio is always going to be a key factor in your quest to achieve lean six-pack abdominals. I have a problem here, too. Too often, people engage in the wrong modes of cardio. They perform routines that are time consuming and damaging to the metabolism, and they burn off precious muscle in the process!

Low intensity cardio training has its time and place. Go for a stroll or walk the dog. Do not go to a gym and creep your way through a “cardio” session. You’re there to train, so do it. Introduce intervals into your training routine, rev up your metabolism, and start burning some real fat.

In order to accelerate fat loss, you need to engage in high intensity cardio routines and start thinking about intensity when it comes to your cardio routines, not duration.

6.The Crunch Factor

This is listed last because crunches and all other “direct” abdominal exercises are the least important piece of the puzzle for achieving a lean set of abs. The biggest mistake most people make when training to achieve ripped abdominals is zoning in on them exclusively.

On the surface, it appears to make sense. Your abs flex your spine, so flexion becomes the primary exercise mode for developing abs. This is the “crunch.” Your biceps can rotate your forearm, but that doesn’t mean you’ll develop massive biceps if you stand there twisting your arms. This also holds true for the abdominals.

These factors are an essential blueprint for you to follow if you’re serious about revealing your abs once and for all. If you follow the principles outlined above, your six-pack is guaranteed.

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/ab_s...d/training/247

[Kidd]

I never go to the gym anymore, I just do pushups with my feet up on an exercise ball and pullups.

[myst]

Originally Posted by briaN37

I never go to the gym anymore, I just do pushups with my feet up on an exercise ball and pullups.

If you're just going to do home workouts then you can add more in easily. Buy a resistance band and you can do tons of more good exercises. If you have a pull-up bar you can do pull-ups, chin-ups and a few ab exercise. If you keep doing the same two exercises you're wasting your time, the muscles will be so used to the routine they will barely grow. Also, you can download p90x and there are a bunch of exercises you can do without any equipment.

[Kidd]

Thanks for the advice. By the way, what's the difference between a pull-up and a chin-up?

[Ben]

Pull-up - palms face away, works back more than biceps.
Chin-up - palms face you, works more biceps.



(pull-up is on the left)

[Kidd]

iC.