i find this program for the iphone extremely useful for tracking my food consumption/nutrients; http://iphone-application-developer.blogsp...weight-and.html

Program is going good. I feel like I am making gains in regards to how much weight I am comfortable lifting, but I am stagnant on the scale. This is part of the reason I am wanting to start to train for a half marathon. I know if I was running every other day I would make great strides on that aspect of it. However, I also don't want to miss out on gym time as I feel great in the gym. I was thinking of maybe alternating days at the beginning to make it easier. so it would be basically:

Sunday - Back / Chest
Monday - Run
Tuesday - Legs
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Shoulders / Arms
Friday - Run
Saturday - Rest

But I was also thinking of Just doing running in the morning every M W F and keep with my normal workout of Day1 - Back/chest, Day2 Legs, Day3 Shoulders/arms, day4 rest. Not sure which way is optimal to keep up with all of my goals.

Suggestions?

Yes they are. I took off Mon and Tuesday. Tuesday was a matter of no time but ran this morning and hit 32 minutes which is 4 less so
definate improvement and it was ton easier than previously.



Thanks


I alternate running MWF and workouts Tue/Th/Sun. I do upper/lower/upper and the next week lower/upper/lower

I guess doing the workouts the way you doing it alternating body parts is just as well.

Hmm interesting. So how long is your normal upper body day? When I workout it is usually for 30 - 40 minutes so if I put my whole upper body workout to one day then it would be an hour to an hour and 20 minute workout which I think is too much time (thoughts on that), so I don't know if that would work for me. However, it seems that having 6 days off to rest between workouts is too much (thoughts on this).

Thanks.

I work out about 40 minutes normally.

Upper body
I rotate exercises but this is an example

chest- dumbell press 3x15x (whatever is close to max weight)
delts- bent over flys 3x15x
shoulder- shoulder press 3x15x
back- mid rows 3x15x
dips 3x15x
bicep curls 3x15x

Lower Body
Quads 3x15x
Hams 3x15x
Calves 3x15x
Abs- I do some multiple Ab exercises

This way I hit all the muscles, give them time to rest and can get extra stuff in if I have time.

Avs has pretty much spelled out the fact that as long as you work the muscle group you
will be fine, have gains and keep improving. I started doing it that way from BFL and many others
do as well.

It also allows flexibility to switch and curtail your regimen. For lower body I might do a Bosu leg and ab workout
or swiss ball occasionally. I used to do alot more reps and alternate exercises for the muscle groups but I believe I have
had more gains since switching to one good workout hitting the max this way.

I like the upper and lower body split here. In regards to the extra time, all I can say is nothin is perfect, and it will be ok. Just keep to the basics like Randy does when doin a upper lower body split with running. the key is to progrees in the weights when you can.

May I also suggest you start tracking your food intake. that will help you meet your goals. working out and running is important but not as important as consuming the correct calories and protein for your weight to meet your goal.

Excellent info Randy,

I would do this order though. (changes in bold) this order change is recomended for Randy and Da'bum

chest- dumbell press 3x15x (whatever is close to max weight)
back-rows 3x15x
shoulder- shoulder press 3x15x
upright rows 3x15x
bent over flys 3x15x
dips 3x15x
bicep curls 3x15x

Lower Body
Quads/Squat 3x15x
Hams/Deadlift 3x15x
Calves 3x15x
Abs- I do some multiple Ab exercises

and where is Dolfan????

Wednesday: 2.01 miles

Getting father. Man at about 18 minutes I want to quit but so far have not. Next time, tomorrow I guess I will be adding more run time and lowering the walk time.

So, does the running part take you 20 min or 30 min? you said in a previous post that 5 and 5 min for warm up and cool down, didn't know if this want included in the 30 min time.


as for me, getting bored of running on the treadmill lately. only did 1 mile the last couple of times.

I do 5 min walk, 20 min walk/run 5 min cooldown

I have been at the gym lately doing it and I do 3.8 walk and 6 run. My cool down is 5.0/4.0/3.5/3.5/3.0

My wife lost an inch to an inch and half in all the major measurement areas this month. I have lost a few pounds, but not enough.

Unfortunately, one of those areas she lost in, is the boobs.

I'm learning that the real key to doing this is pace. I started off barely jogging and going slow with the idea of just trying to make it. As time goes on I
find myself naturally being able to speed up the pace a little. At some point during the jog the something kicks in, breathing, muscles loosening etc., and though I can tell i'm tired I can find another gear and pick up the pace.

Benefit of all this work-

Labor day I had my FFL draft with my son and his friends. They're about 25-26 yrs old and have hung out since grade school and I know them all very well. I haven't seen them in a while and they were all remarking how good I looked. The draft was at a sports complex with an indoor flag football arena and we played afterwards. I was hanging and occasionally stuffing them in coverage and caught a few deep ones with them not expecting it. It was pretty cool.

cool. thx. just curious.



that's amazing. well, except for the boob part




Hope his friends are girls.

seems like the subject of fat loss has come up a few times lately and this evening i stumbled on this wonderful link in my fitness bookmarks. Very through and a hightly suggested read for those intrested in the subject of fat loss.

from Mens health forumn by Siscoe

"So you want to lose fat, do you?

Note the semantic difference there - you want to lose fat, not weight. Weight is a combination of a bunch of different things, most of which are very beneficial to keep around (muscle, bones, blood (you know, the good stuff). You want to lose fat, so keep that in mind.

Surprisingly enough, it’s not that hard - from a ‘What-to-do’ point of view, that is. The actual mechanics of fat loss are easy, and will end up making you feel a lot better than any pile of junk food ever did. The real test, of course, comes down to willpower and the desire to actually put the work in to get the results.

Will it happen quickly? No. Will it be as easy as 20 minutes three times a week? No. Can I buy the fat-loss for 3 easy payments of $19.95? Not a chance.

Losing fat requires time, patience, and forethought. If that’s too much for you to deal with, then you might as well stop reading now.

1. Calories

You’ve kept reading, which means that you’re my kind of person. So let’s talk numbers.

First thing first - how much fat do you want to lose? If the number is bigger than 2lbs/week, then go back to the part about time, patience and forethought, and begin again. Trying to lose any more than 2lbs/week (without the use of pretty strong supplements/steroids) will result in either a) muscle loss (which is bad), a lowering of your body’s metabolic rate (which is bad), or c) both (which is really bad). If you’re starting from a big number (i.e. your bodyfat percentage is above 15% and you need to lose a lot of fat) then 2 lbs a week is a good number to start from. Aiming for more will do the above (the bad stuff above). As your bodyfat % lowers and your weight gets lower, you’ll want to aim for smaller increments per week; it gets harder to lose fat the less you have.

You see, your body doesn’t want to give up the fat it’s got. Call your body crazy, but it has knowledge ingrained from a few millennia ago, when food was scarce and being fat and strong was a good way to ensure surviving both a saber-tooth tiger attack and a long cold winter without much food. With that in mind, the lower your bodyfat %, the more your body starts to rebel against your fat-loss goals.

Now that you’ve got that number in mind, let’s talk about calories.

For starters, the obvious qualifier. No method is exact. They’re not going to describe the exact number of calories that your body needs to take in. What the following is a good starting point. We’ll get to how to fine tune it shortly.

The bottom line of fat loss is that calories in and calories out are the single over-riding factor. If you aren’t burning more calories per day than you’re taking in, then (barring exceptional genetics) you won’t lose much fat. After you get the nutritional part of the equation squared away, there are lots of neat things the body does that work in conjunction with the calories in vs. calories out principle, but the first thing to consider is still your daily caloric intake. There are a couple of ways to calculate your required daily intake; some are complicated, some are not.

We’ll start with the semi-complicated way (it’s not really complicated, but that’s an often heard excuse when given this method). The Harris Benedict method follows - the HB info is taken from the Clean Eating III thread by karocka.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories your body (given normal metabolic conditions) burns in a day, given that you do nothing more than exist. No eating, no walking, no getting out of bed. These are your ‘existence’ calories. To calculate your BMR, use these formulas:

Men BMR = 66 + (6.3 x Body Weight in lbs) + (12.9 x Height in inches) - (6.8 x age)
Women BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kilos) + (1.8 x height in cm) - (4.7 x age)

Now that you’ve got your BMR, you’ve got a good starting point for how your body (at your current weight) burns calories. Now it’s time to use that information and figure out how many calories you burn during a normal day. You know, when you crawl out of bed and actually do something. Take the BMR, and multiply it by the Activity Multiplier below that best describes your average day:

Activity Multiplier
Sedentary = 1.2 (little exercise, desk job)
Light Activity = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Moderate Activity = 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
Very Active = 1.725 (heavy exercise/sports 6-7 days/week)
Extreme Activity = 1.9 (heavy exercise/sports, physically demanding job)

Now, if you’re trying to decide where you fall - say you’re thinking you may be between light and moderate activity - then pick a number in between. Remember, this isn’t exact, so don’t stress too hard.

So now you have a rough estimation of how many calories you use during the day, courtesy of the Harris Benedict method.

To figure out how many calories you want to take in every day, you need that first number from earlier, the one about lbs/week. If you want to lose 2lbs a week, you need to cut 2lbs worth of calories per week. A pound of fat is equivalent to about 3500 calories, so 2lbs is about a 7000-calorie deficit per week. Luckily, that divides nicely by the number of days in a week, so subtract 1000 cals from your Harris-Benedict number, and that’s what you need to take in. If you want to lose 1lb a week, subtract 500 cals a day. It’s that easy.

The super easy method is one that popeye (a mentor to many on the Men’s Health boards) has popularized. I have no idea where he got it from, so I’ll credit him for it and let him source it properly if he feels like it. The fact is, though, that it seems to work pretty well.

The general rule of thumb about caloric intake is this:

10-12xBW to WANE
13-15xBW to MAINTAIN
16-18xBW to GAIN

Spelled out in big letters for you - take your bodyweight and multiply it by the number that fits your goal (wane means lose weight, maintain means maintain, and gain means . . . you get the picture). That number that you get is an approximation of how many calories you should have as your starting point.

Well, why don’t I eat even less calories?

Because you’ll lose muscle. And you need muscle. So don’t burn muscle. Unless you’re very large (we’re talking 350-400 lbs here) you need all the muscle you can get.

Yo-yo dieting happens because people eat to little - basically starve themselves - then lose lots of weight, try to start eating the same amount of food they used to, and since their metabolism is even slower now, they put the weight on twice as fast as they lost it. I’m pretty sure that’s not what you want. So eat enough food.

2. So what do I eat?

Now that you’ve got your calorie numbers, it’s time to examine the other important part of fat-loss - the types of foods you eat. While calories in vs. calories out is the over-riding criteria, this is the big number 2. The different categories of food do different things, and those things are important. Keep in mind that, while I subscribe to the information presented, as do many other people who have successfully lost fat and retained muscle, some of it is debated by many. As you continue through your fat-loss journey, you’ll learn more, and if you decided you disagree with me on something, I won’t hate you.

Protein

Number 1 on the list of stuff to eat is protein. Protein is the building block of life (as far as I’m concerned), and the average North American diet is sadly lacking in it. Protein is good for a number of different reasons.

For starters, it takes more energy to digest protein than anything else (called the thermic effect of food). Your body needs energy to digest food, and protein takes a lot. So when you eat protein, you’re boosting your metabolic rate just a bit more - always a good thing when trying to lose fat.

Second, it is extremely satisfying and filling. Think about the last time you had a steak. Pretty darned good, and it got you feeling pretty full by the end, eh? A big part of that was the protein. Making sure to get protein at every meal is a good way to make sure you feel full for a while afterwards.

Third, it helps build and maintain lean muscle mass, which is extremely important when trying to lose fat. Remember the reason why we say ‘lose fat’ instead of ‘lose weight’? It’s because muscle mass helps keep the metabolism running - the more muscle you lose, the lower your metabolism because your body needs to do less to keep you going, and isn’t going to want to lose anymore muscle.

In terms of fat-loss, when I am trying to shed fat I keep my protein intake at a minimum of a third of my daily caloric intake. A gram of protein is equal to 4 calories, so take your calorie number, divide by 3, then divide by 4 to get the number of grams of protein you want a day.

You’re going to hear a lot of people say that too high a protein intake will results in kidney problems. To anyone who says that, I say this: show me one study that proves that. If you drink enough water, a person with healthy kidney function has little to nothing to worry about. The studies that I have seen indicate that, given normal kidney function, adequate hydration and the recommended intake of calcium during the day, a healthy person has nothing to worry about. If a doctor tells you to avoid protein for the above reason, ask them to show you a study that shows the aforementioned problems occurring. If they have one - pass it along to me. I’d like to read it.

Fat

Next up is fat - poor, confused, misunderstood fat. Most people out there are automatically thinking :Hey, stay away from fat, right? I mean - eat fat, get fat - right?� Wrong. Fat is an important part of a man’s diet - the right kinds of fat help keep your heart ticking right, your arteries clean, and your testosterone levels up.

The unsaturated fats are the best - poly and mono-unsaturates do all kinds of wonderful things for your body, which I’m not going to get into here because it deserves a post all by itself. Saturated fats are also important, as there’s been a lot research suggesting that saturated fat is linked to male testosterone levels. Have no fear - you won’t become a bodybuilder - but try to make sure that you’re getting a balanced amount of the different fats.

The stuff to avoid is Trans-fat - comes from oils and such, and does all the wrong things for your body - raises the bad cholesterol, reduces the good cholesterol for starters. When you see words like ‘hydrogenated oils’ steer clear. Not good stuff.

I try to keep fats as about a third of my daily intake when cutting fat - I try to keep my poly’s, mono’s and saturates at about a third each within that number, as well. A gram of fat equals 9 calories. To figure it out, take your daily calorie number, divide by three to get the calories from fat, then divide by 9 to get the grams of fat per day.

Carbohydrates

Finally, carbohydrates - in many people’s eyes, the most difficult to comprehend. With everything that’s been said/written about carbs in the last few years, finding the truth can be difficult. What follows is my opinion, backed up by a lot of reading and research, and it will probably be the most contentious part of this article.

Carbs are not evil. I will state that at the beginning. They serve a great number of purposes when employed properly in a balanced diet. They also, however, tend to contribute disproportionately to the amount of fat on the average North American’s body. This is because carbs have been so distorted from the way Mother Nature intended them to be used by humans that most carb products barely resemble real food.

Many carbs are processed to the nth degree. A loaf of white bread is the nutritional equivalent of cardboard. So is normal pasta. When you order a burger at Mickie D’s you’re getting crappy meat sandwiched between an insulin spike waiting to happen. You eat ketchup with more sugar and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) than you will ever need. These are the crappy carbs.

You can and will hear a lot about Glycemic indexes, Glycemic Loads, Insulin Loads, Insulin Indexes, blah blah blah. My rule of thumb - if it didn’t resemble that when it was grown, it probably won’t do me much good. This means that veggies are good. Fruits are good. Legumes are good. Beans are good. Heck, anything with fiber is probably good. If you’re trying to decide whether a carbohydrate source is good or bad, take these two things into consideration: a)does it have fiber in it?, and b)did it take chemical and mechanical processes to get to the state it’s in now? If you answered no to a) and/or yes to there’s probably a better choice out there.

The key to all of this is, of course, moderation. I try to get veggies or a piece of fruit with every meal. I eat beans a few times a week - legumes as well. I get a good amount of fiber, which keeps my arteries flowing smoothly, and I’m nice and regular below the belt.

Now, are carbs necessary? It is my opinion that, in the short term you can probably greatly restrict carbs without any harm - but for a long-term nutritional approach you’re going to want to incorporate them in one way or another, simply for the nutrients and fiber that are contained therein.

Using a diet like Atkins or South Beach, however, is not necessarily a bad idea. Given that you’ve read the book and follow the diet plan properly, you shouldn’t have any problems. I used Atkins, and it does work. But I did the induction phase for 2 weeks - then I transitioned the way the book tells you into a more Clean Eating, balanced approach to nutrition. The problem that people run into is that they stay in the induction phase for 9 or 10 months - I personally don’t think that’s healthy at all. If you’re going to use a radical diet approach (and low-anything diets are radical) - then read the book and follow the directions.


3. How do I keep track of all this - it seems complicated?

Go here: http://www.fitday.com. It’s free, it’s easy to use, and it is pretty reliable. I would ignore the calories burned sections, because it seems to over-estimate a lot of stuff, and it counts some activities twice. As a purely calorie counting website, however, I haven’t found a better one yet.

Counting calories is too hard - I can’t count.

Geez, suck it up! Counting calories is actually a great way to push the point home in the beginning about how crappy your old diet probably was. But lets say you actually can’t count - you’re that daft. Here’s a link to a plan that Adam Campbell popularized over at jpfitness.com. From what I understand, an expanded version will become a book in the near future. But he posted it on a public forum, so I’m going to assume that he doesn’t mind people reading the condensed version online:
Adam's Diet

It's now in the first post. That’s the actual diet, originally posted by Mr. Campbell.

4. I’m doing all this, and I’m not losing fat!

First, make sure that you’re not eating too little. That seems to be a common problem. Someone does the calculations, finds their maintenance to be 3500 calories, decided that 2500 calories is too much because they ‘feel stuffed’, and drops to 2000 calories. They quickly hit a plateau where they can’t lose anymore fat, and so they think: Well, I should cut more�. When that doesn’t work, they do it again.

You’re not a bird. Stop eating like one.

I take this approach when I hit a plateau. I immediately increase calories by 250. Maybe a few bigger portions. Maybe another snack. Then I track my body fat % for two weeks. If I have kickstarted the fat loss, sweet. If I have gained fat weight, then I cut by 250 calories, and track for 2 more weeks. Play with the calorie levels - go up, go down. Give each change a few weeks so that you can accurately gauge results. Eventually you’ll find the answer. In my experience, 9 times out of 10 it’s eating too little, not too much. This is where Fitday.com becomes an invaluable website.

5. Exercise

Ok - so you’ve got your nutrition dialed-in. Now, what to do to help lose the gut? Cardio right? Lots of gruesome, long, boring bike riding?

Nope.

Losing fat has very little to do with the type of exercise you do - it’s mostly related to the food you take in. You can’t throw junk on the fire and hope to exercise the fat off - it rarely works that way. If you’re using one of the methods above to determine your calorie needs and you’re eating the right stuff, you’re already losing fat.

The addition of exercise does one of two things: a)it exacerbates the calorie deficit, or b)it helps to preserve lean muscle tissue. While making the calorie deficit larger seems like a good idea, remember that if it gets too big, you start to burn muscle as well. It is my opinion (again, pretty well researched) that the main goal of exercise in relation to fat loss should be to preserve lean muscle mass. This means hitting the weights.

Lifting weights will not make you huge. A few weeks in the gym will not get you big and bulky, and I’m sorry, but you do not have the ability to get ‘too big’ just from tossing the iron around. When eating at a calorie deficit, and eating the right kinds of foods, lifting weights will allow you to help your body avoid eating muscle for fuel - you may even get stronger in the process.

Does this mean cardio is bad? No. But cardio tends to be a catabolic activity (it eats muscle as well as fat), and my goal when losing fat is to avoid eating muscle. It takes longer to get the scale weight down, but who cares? Scale weight means approximately zero in the real world.

To boil it down to the bottom line . . . cardio by itself will help set the wheels in motion for a yo-yo in weight when you stop dieting. By burning muscle instead of fat, you’ll be slowing your metabolism, and unless you continue to eat like a bird after the diet, you will gain the weight back.

So lift weights. Suck it up and do it.

Alright, so how do I do it?

Lifting weights doesn’t have to be hard to figure out - a)stick to compound lifts, not isolation lifts; b)lift heavy for fewer reps; c)make sure you’ve got your form down, and sacrifice weight to ensure that you’re doing an exercise correctly; and d)nobody cares what you’re doing in the gym unless you’re doing something really, really stupid.

Compound lifts are lifts that involve many muscles - Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Rows, Chinups, Dips, etc. There are many. Isolation lifts are those that try to isolate a single muscle - bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, etc. Isolation lifts serve a purpose, but not for a beginner lifter. Stick to the basic compound lifts and you’ll be fine. If you need to, ask a trainer or someone in the gym how to do something - stuff like Deadlifts and Squats are best done under a watchful eye in the beginning, to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. They’re also best done with little to no weight, so that you get the form down right off the bat."

good article, i skimmed through it but did I interpret it wrong? Better to lift weights and do little cardio?

Sorta, just that too much cardio without the right balance in your diet can make you lose muscle. To me though
without really studying up and putting some effort into it, it's really tough to moniter caloric intake every day.

All in all nothing really new but a good article.

I lifted for the first time in a month after separating my shoulder. I've struggled with shoulder problems for a long time. I lost a little over 5 pounds in the past month and had to lower my weights I lifted by 10lbs. I just started chiropractic school so I'm trying to figure out a good workout schedule. I'll be able to lift Saturday and Sunday for sure, hopefully I'll be able to make it two mornings during the week.

I'm also playing hockey for my school where we practice twice a week and have a game or two a weekend. Glad to see people are still working hard. Nice work Randy keeping it up.

I did upper body on Sunday just to see what a full upper body workout would do. Here is what I did:

3 x Max Pullups with 3 x 12 pushups
3 x 12 Dumbbell Pullover with 3 x 12 Bench Press
3 x 12 Military Press with 3 x 2 way flys
3 x 12 dumbbell curls with 3 x 12 tricep (exercise on machie, pulling rope over head)
Janda Situps
Didn't have time for stretching yesterday, but normally I would do that at the end.

This took me approx 40 mins to complete, however I don't feel that it is enough for some muscles, mainly shoulders. I know that the Bicep and Tricep are being worked in other exercises, so I am not too worried about that, but I am not sure if I am getting enough of a complete workout to keep the shoulders up with the rest of what I am doing.

I'm not as familiar with some of the exercises so i'm sure avs will have suggestions. One thing would be moving the Janda sit-us to the lower body
day and adding a shoulder exercise. I know alot of people like to do additional ab exercises as do it but you could skip it, like avs reccomends or do some
after cardio. I do that occasionally. On the lower body day since there are fewer exercises I do a variety of ab work, like Janda situps, planks, and swiss ball
or bosu.

On another note i've been doing some research on running at coolrunning.com and found that my expectations are probably a little high for a
beginning runner. On one hand I found out the distance i've been running is actually about 5.5K so my time wasn't as bad as I thought but instead
of times I am going to work on adding some distance and keeping the slow pace. Eventually I want to start adding some hills and sprints to it but that's a
ways off I think. I have noticed that it has really kick started losing some weight, or I should say fat since I weigh the same but the pants are a tad looser.

Let me throw my hat in the arena here: First thing you did not do the workout I suggested; You left out the upright rows and the lying bent over flys.

I suggested;

chest- dumbbell press 3 sets 12-15reps
back-rows 3 sets 12-15reps
shoulder- shoulder press 3 sets 12-15reps
upright rows 3 sets 12-15reps
bent over flys 3 sets 12-15reps
dips 3 sets 12-15reps
bicep curls 3 sets 12-15reps

I know you like pullovers so I would suggest this routine in this order to you;

1. chest- dumbbell press 3 sets 12-15reps
2. chest and back- dumbbell pullovers 3 sets 12-15reps
3. back- rows 3 sets 12-15reps
4. shoulder- shoulder press 3 sets 12-15reps
5. shoulders/traps- upright rows 3 sets 12-15reps
6. shoulders (rear deltoid) bent over flys 3 sets 12-15reps
7. dips 3 sets 12-15reps
8. bicep curls 3 sets 12-15reps




Yes you are right here. a lifter at your stage needs to target the three heads of the deltoids.

These exercises target the three heads of the deltoids;

4. shoulder- shoulder press
5. shoulders/traps- upright rows
6. shoulders (rear deltoid) bent over flys



so are other things.

here are what you work in the exercises in order they are worked;

1. chest- dumbbell press 3 sets 12-15reps ......Works; chest, shoulders, tricepds and back(to support)
2. chest and back- dumbbell pullovers 3 sets 12-15reps ......Works; chest, back, triceps, serratus, shoulders, abs and wrist (and if your gym has a Nautilus Pullover machine use it; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZAkF1louOY it is the best way to do pull overs.)
3. back- rows 3 sets 12-15reps ......Works; back, shouders, biceps, core andforearms
4. shoulder- shoulder press 3 sets 12-15reps .....Works; Shoulders, triceps, core
5. shoulders/traps- upright rows 3 sets 12-15reps ......Works; Traps, shoulders, rear delts, biceps, and forearms
6. shoulders (rear deltoid) bent over flys 3 sets 12-15reps .......Works; rear delts, triceps, traps and upper back
7. dips 3 sets 12-15reps ......Works; chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and core
8. bicep curls 3 sets 12-15reps ...works biceps, and front deltoid


here are some other thoughts;

once you pick a rep range;

3-6
6-8
8-10
10-12
12-15 ....my suggested range to ppl

Once you can perform a weight for the max of the rep range you need to proogress forward in weight....that is called Progressive resistance..Doing so will make your workout intense.


I hope this helps...feel free to ask for clarification....I typed this fast so I appologize for lil errors.

Randy, I recently gave you some numbers on protein calculation. I just wanted to let you know there is a school of thought that believes protein stasis(consitancy) is more important that bulk intake. The stasis group believe if you consume the correct caloric intake for you body weight and eat a 40% carbohydrate 30% protein and 30% fat diet you can increase muscle mass.....

now we have given both sides equal service,

I bought some new equipment for my gym today.

I purchased a set of the "Terrell Owens Super Strong Man Bodylastics Set"; http://www.bodylastics.com/bodylasticsTODVD.html and a Red Rafter Pinch Block; http://www.strongergrip.com/Docs/store/RedRafter.html some ppl want 16-20inch arms I believe your forearms need to be 16-20inches I want this soon; http://www.strongergrip.com/Docs/store/Tbomb.html

Yes, I really like a few of the workouts that I was doing so I was hoping to be able to incorporate everything into this new workout. However, I will try the new workout next time with one addition if you don't mind





I currently try for 12 reps when I am working an exercise.

So I guess my workout will look like this:

Saturday - Upper
Sunday - Run
Monday - Lower
Tuesday - Run
Wednesday - Upper
Thursday - Run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Lower
Sunday - Run
Monday - Upper
Tuesday - Run
Wednesday - Lower
Thursday - Run
Friday - Rest

Rinse Repeat.

I am going to take a few weeks off, but I expect to really get this routine going in October and see how I feel for the goal of doing a half marathon at the end of April 2010.

Upright rows, can use a barbell instead.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises...pright-row.html

This is a bent over fly, but I do mine with cables, one handed.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises...everse-fly.html

I actually do the pushups at the end of my workout recently but I wouldn't do them in first. You can tire out the
bi's and tri's and the rest of the workout won't be as effective. Doing it at the end will help push it and get the max.

As far as the reps go, shoot for 15 but if you can only do 12 fine, just keep at it till you can do 15 comfortably then move up and go back to 12.

Ahhh seeing the Upright rows, isn't there some damage that can be done with these if done with too much weight or something? I remember reading something about that at one point and I took it out of my workouts.

Also, the bent over fly is part of the 2 way flys that I do. The first set I do is the "flapping your wings" flys I guess is the best way to describe (I am still learning all the names of exercises that I have been shown over the years) and the second is the bent over fly.

As far as the pushups and pullups go, in my thinking it is always nice to get a little warmup for the muscles before you start into the "main" workout. Before I start anything I usually do a few jumping jacks and arm rotations backwards and forwards and some other simple stretches. I'm not doing max pushups, I am just doing 3 sets of 12 to mix it in with the pullups. The main reason I do this is because I get bored in the gym if I am not constantly doing something. That's why I like to do a lot of push/pull type exercises because I can so them one after the other and not sit there all the time waiting to do another set.

I use the cable to do the upright row and can't imagine it would do damage. I don't lift that much.

I do alot of stuff in between sets as well, stretching, etc., so as long as it's just a warm-up it's no big deal.

I've decided I don't want to die 40 years too early, so as of today I'm on the 7th day of a 1200 calorie diet, and I've gone to the gym 5 out of the last 7 days.

Back in 2002 when I was in college I put myself on a 1000 calorie diet for about 6 months. Even though I didn't really exercise at all during this time I shed a lot of weight. It was a great feeling. However that summer I got a girlfriend and then I pretty much forgot my diet and gained most of the weight back. In late 2003 and 2004 I cut my calories back again and I exercised a bit this time, and got back down to pretty much where I was at my lowest point in 2002. Then near the end of 2004 I got married (different girl), got off my diet, stopped working out, became addicted to fast food, and I've been gaining weight ever since.

I don't actually know how much I weigh right now, but it's in a the lol range. Life sucks when you're really fat. I'm tired of it. I want to enjoy my life. I want to be active. I want to participate in things that I can't really do right now like going to amusement parks or just be able to walk more than a few hundred feet without getting tired. I want to have a more active social life. I want my wife to be proud of her husband when we do things with her friends. I hate the fact that people always ask her about my weight and what she's doing about it. I feel so bad for her.

So as I said, I'm fixing myself by only eating 1200 calories a day, and going to the gym at least 5 days a week. I have 2 goals at the gym. 1. Sustain/increase muscle mass so that I can keep my metabolism going while taking in very few calories. 2. Gain endurance so that I don't get so damn tired so fast when I'm walking, so that I can do things with my wife and her family.

I need some help with a plan for my first goal. I played football in high school, and spent a lot of time in the gym lifting so I'm not totally inexperienced, but so far since I've started on this diet I've just been wandering around from machine to machine and lifting with no plan. I think I just need to focus on a few compound lifts. One problem is I go to the gym alone so I don't have anybody to spot me on squats and bench.

I think the 2nd goal is going well so far. I started off only being able to walk for 10 minutes at 1.8-2 mph. The next day I increased it to 12, then to 14 minutes (mixing in a little more speed), then I jumped from 14 to 20 minutes the next day, then 21 minutes last Friday. I took the weekend off, and then last night I had an amazing jump to 34 minutes. I even felt like I could have kept going a bit more. Starting tonight I'm going to limit it to 30 minutes and start increasing my speed. I'll be very happy when I get to the point where I can do 2 miles in 30 minutes, but I'm still a long way from that.

Should I be doing cardio and lifting on the same day? If it's ok, I want to do 30 minutes of cardio along with lifting every day that I go to the gym...but I don't suppose it would be too hard to talk me into cutting back on the number of days I do cardio.

I'd love any advice anyone can give me. I plan to be in this thread a lot.

Welcome Flush! Check out post# 2266 that AVSfan put in. It has a ton of info on the right diet mixed with exercise.

Thanks. Yeah that is what helped me decide I should focus on compound lifts.

Tonight I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and added more speed.

Tomorrow I'm going to focus on legs. I think I should work on my lower body a bit more than upper body because that's were my biggest muscles are, and they will keep my metabolism going more than anything else. So I'm thinking lower body m,w,f, and upper body on Tuesday and Thursday. Maybe I should take a day off mid week and go on one weekend day? Or maybe I should just go 6 days a week.

I don't know what you call it, but do you know that machine where you're almost like laying on your back and pressing up with your legs? Is that a good substitute for squats?

here is an opinion from a very conservative source; http://bodyforlife.com/exercise/faq.asp?cmsId=1081

i suggest raising the bar/dumbbell handle to slightly above nipple height and lead up with shoudelrs, example; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unVOElrQTQY



The side raises and front raises are excessive here. you will get superior results from upright rows and bent over flys.




nothin wrong with this...it is a preference issue and if it gets you more psyched go for it.

nottttttt the boobs!!!!!!!!! wtg!

we all have to find are own groove. what is the addition? Is it the rep range? If so that is fine. I listed the rep ranges so ppl can see what the ranges are. I f you like the 10-12 range which is a very status quo range go for it. just remember to increase the weight when ever you can do all your sets with your chosen weight with proper form for all sets.

nothin is more efficient than a full body workout 2-3 times a week. Welcome back! Just like a hockey player to have shoulder problems. This should help; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI_MzRbZDJ8

First thing is, I am concerned about this 1200 calorie diet. what diet is it? can you link or refer me to it. this is a severe calorie deficit that could have excellent short term weight loss results but deleterious results later on. It is very important to target fat and preserve muscle mass. The high end of fat loss is to lose two pounds of fat per week. You have been exceeding that rate for a good year. I feel it is time to start focusing on your muscle structure and to slow the pace of your weight loss to two pounds a week. How much do you currently weight? How tall are you? What is your approximate age? Do you have a goal weight and what is it?

I also want you to know that what you have done so far is outstanding! and I commend you on your AWESOME! results so far! You have been making an extreme sacrifice. I hope that I can assist you into getting these results into a simple and easy to maintain lifestyle that is rewarding to you.


I want you to keep using the machines when you workout right now for 3-9 months.

here is a fundamental workout that will get you going in the right direction.

Perform exercises in order

I want you to do a three day split in order to maximize your activity level.

Day 1
1.) Chest; Chest Press Machine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM0IT5vbFec do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
2.) Shoulders; Shoulder Press Machine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWmQWyx18Ik...feature=related do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
3.) Triceps; Tricep Press Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0aplnAt4co&feature=fvw do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Day 2
1.) Quads; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYQ77sjG0Z0 do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
2.) Hamstrings; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImrIPrsH3iU do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
3.) Calfs; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbyjNymZOt0 do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Day 3
1.) Back; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEb-dwU3VF4 do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
2.) Traps; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAGSZPIQjwo do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps
3.) Biceps; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_sXX1-XHpQ do this for 3 sets of 12-15 reps

Day 4 REST!!!

Of course a nice 40-60 minute walk wouldn't hurt here. Perhaps with the wife, .

Choose a set weight to perform all three sets with. Perform the set for 12-15 reps. when you can do your choosen weight with proper form for all 3 sets for 15 reps increase your weight next workout. I f you cannot perform a set for 12 reps lower the weight next time. be sure to track your progress, i use; http://www.backpocketsoftware.com/products/BodyBook/ for iphone

Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. You can rest 60-120 seconds between exercises.

Do your cardio for 28-40 minutes after your workout. a good goal is to get to 3.3 minutes to 3.6 mph for 28 minutes. You could also proceed your workout with 6-12 minutes of walking to warm you up.


That should give you a direction in the gym.

P.s. I did not include abs yet. I need to know your weight and height first.

Avs covered it for the most part, but this part popped out at me and I wanted to reiterate a little bit.

Basically, eating 1200 calories and sustaining/adding muscle don't go together. Your muscles need more fuel to be able to build up, especially if you're working out 5 days a week. Which I'm sure is why Avs asked all the height/weight/etc/etc questions, so he can give you a much more specific range to go with.

The Addition was the Pullups and Pushups at the beginning of the workout.

Thanks for the video on the upright rows! I have usually done this with a barbell, but I think the dumbbell alternative will better suit me. So, since you know I like to "keep it moving" during my workouts, what would you suggest to be the best case. For Upperbody I am usually doing,

Back Workout then chest workout, repeat
Shoulder I usually pick two - three workouts and alternate between them
Arms, I alternate between bicep and tricep

Last night I did a great lower body workout. Someone mentioned that a little coffee before working out would help on sluggish days. Well I didn't feel like going to the gym at all, but i knew I better because I am leaving for vacation on Saturday and I want to make sure that I don't lose too much of what I have been working towrads during that time. So I have a quick espresso and went off to the gym and sure enough I was psyched about being there! I did 10 minutes on the bike and then:

3 x 12 squats, 3 x 12 deadlifts, lunges with weights, 3 x 12 hamstring curls, and 3 x 12 calf raises. Followed that up with some Janda sit ups and felt GREAT. Definitely glad I made myself get there. Hopefully I might have time to at least do some pushups and lunges while on vacation, but I also just want to RELAX, so we'll see how it all goes. I will be getting back to full training mode when I get back to see if I will be up for a half marathon next April.

I used this program you wrote for me over the summer until my injury. I'm going to continue doing it since two days a week is all the time I have to commit to the gym. With my separated shoulder I've been told not to do dumbell/military presses. Do you know of any other shoulder exercises where I don't have to raise my arm above 90 degrees?

I'm wondering why you prefer standing dumbbell presses to seated dumbbell presses. Is there reason for this, maybe to prevent lower back pain, or is it just a personal preference?

It's not any particular diet plan that was created by a professional. I just decided I'm only going to take in 1200 calories a day. Back when I first lost weight on a 1000 calorie diet a friend told he lost a lot of weight by doing that, so I did it and it worked. I didn't have any meal plan or anything. Back then I even limited myself to 10g of fat per day. This time I'm not worrying about how much fat I'm taking in within the 1200 calories because I know now that fat is necessary. This time I'm not stopping until I'm not a fat person anymore...and when I do stop I'm going to do it very carefully and still keep track of my calories as I increase my daily intake. I'm also never going to stop going to the gym. I'm NOT going to gain it back after I lose it.

I'm trying my best to keep a good balance regarding what I eat. I eat as much protein as possible while still taking in a good amount of veggies and fruit. I also have a small amount of carbs every day, usually in the form of bread or rice. Pasta just doesn't seem like its worth the calories. I'm also trying to make sure I eat 5 times a day, but it doesn't always work out that way.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: 35 grapes - 120 calories

Lunch (I ate half, and then waited 2 hours to eat the 2nd half):
large salad with very little dressing - 100 calories est
1 salmon fillet - 450 calories est

Dinner after my workout: 1/3 lb ground beef with no bun - 300 calories est
2/5 cup of white rice - 100 calories est
1 fried egg - 80 calories

Total Calories: appx 1150

It's not perfect, but I think I have a good handle on it. I need to eat more early in the day. I intend to have some oatmeal or a boiled egg in the morning along with some fruit. Today I was busy in the morning and didn't eat anything for breakfast, and I know that's bad. I ended up eating only around 1000 calories today.



I don't know if I made it clear or not but I just started with this particular diet last Wednesday, so I'm just finishing my 8th day. I'm aware that 2 lbs a week should be the target for a normal person, but for me I honestly don't care about that right now. Right now I'm pretty sure I'm in the morbidly obese range and its important for me to lose as much as I can as fast as I can. Once I get under maybe 275 I'll start carefully adding calories and try to target 2 lbs a week. Like I said, I haven't weighed myself in a while, but I know for sure I have a long way to go before I get there. I'll know when I'm close when my waistline gets to around 48 inches, which is what I think it was the last time I weighed that much.

Oh and I'm 5'10'' and 30 years old. I don't really have a number in mind for a goal for my weight. I just want to get healthy and look good.



Thanks. At the gym tonight I was able to add more speed again, and I'm actually getting stronger! Tonight on the chest press I was able to do more reps than I did with the same weight on the night before I started this diet. Every time I go to the gym I'm able to do something better than I did the last time I went. It's a really good feeling. I definitely feel like I'm already getting smaller too. I also have more energy. Aside from being hungry a bit more than most people would like, I feel absolutely great.

I feel like at this rate I'll be showing some dramatic results within a couple months. I took some "before" pictures last week right after I started this. They're pretty shocking and disgusting lol, but I'll probably post them as a comparison after I see some good results.



Thank you very much for taking the time to come up with that. I really appreciate it a lot, and I will use it. The links are also extremely helpful.

As far as abs go, I think I can work on them on the floor at home for now, right?

It might not be possible for a skinny person that doesn't already have the fuel to increase muscle mass in their body, but I think a fat person can do it.

Whether I lift or not, I'm going to be eating 1200 calories for a while. Worst case scenario is lifting doesn't help, but I think it will.

I am cool with the pull up and push up addtion how about also adding in some jump squats; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6KJintn70

I agree! I always pick the Dumbbell option over a barbell, cable, or machine...Of course there are always exceptions but the Dumbbell upright row is the fundamentally best choice. Here is a excellent dumbbell upright row demo; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unVOElrQTQY The guys in the cable upright row demo kept his hands too far out in front of his body and bent his wrist slightly both those things are bad and can lead to injury.




how about; Upper Body;

1. chest- dumbbell press 3 sets 12-15reps alternated with 2. chest and back- dumbbell pullovers 3 sets 12-15reps and 3. back- rows 3 sets 12-15reps

4. shoulder- shoulder press 3 sets 12-15reps alternated with 4. shoulders/traps- upright rows 3 sets 12-15reps and 6. shoulders (rear deltoid) bent over flys 3 sets 12-15reps

7. dips 3 sets 12-15reps alternated with 8. bicep curls 3 sets 12-15reps

so basiciacly to 1,2,3, in succession then repeat. Then 4,5,6, in succession then repeat. then 7,8, then repeat




I have mentioned many times here that drinking one to three of cups coffee 15-30minutes will increase woorkout performance and results.....It cam up when you took a pre workout drink that had lots of caffeine in it.



sounds like you have a excellent plan for legs

The best two exercises to do on vacation if gym equipment is unavailable are Hindu Pushups ( they work the entire upper body when done right); http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow5a3Y9dEek and Hindu Squats (works the entire lower body) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVnwXkMi58A I hope you have a wonderful vacation.

Can you do upright rows ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zl35vmpaLE...feature=related )?

You could do a set of 21's shoulder raises aka 3-Ways Shoulder which is three exercises in one set. You do 7 reps of front raises( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MehQ4fKyo3g ), 7 sets of side raises( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJtzVty64KE ), and then 7 sets of rear raises( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwY533EGP-k ) all in succession for 21 reps, you could do three sets of those.

here is another example but I disagree with the order. Feel free to try either and do the one you like. I just prefer working from the largest part of the deltoid (the front delt) to the smallest part of the deltoid (the rear delt), here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3TLqS3neCw

and some more shoulder rehab exercises for the rotator cuff; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjA0YNAQI7U


and; I prefer Standing overhead pressing to sitting because standing presses engages the core and activates stabilization in the shoulders and over head pressing is the one movement where you can use your legs to push out a few reps with out a spotter when needed.


Love if I was you i would look in to this; http://www.scientificwrestling.com/products/department2.cfm but buy from here(loadable); http://www.strongergrip.com/Docs/store/LoadableMace.html and a set of these; http://www.performbetter.com/detail.aspx_Q...ategoryID_E_380 macebell and plyo could build awesome fitness and would defintley be hockey sport specific...fwiw

This should help you with your diet; http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/biggest-loser-diet It will show you a better break of how to do what you are currently doing and it is inline with you current 1200 calorie plan.




The most important thing about working out is to always progress forward, an extra rep, some more weight, increased speed, etc.....progress. progress. progress! It must be made.

I was debating about this last night but I would like you do the program I planned out for 3 months. Then do the same plan but all the exercises for 6 sets of 10-12 reps for the next 3 months. And hen do the same plan but all the exercises for 9 sets of 8-10 reps for the final 3 months. Then Depending on where your at we will start a free weight program.

Can you currently perform this exercise; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ar2iRusnnc with correct form?

A Fun Tip. So, I eat 1 1/2 cups Special K protein plus or Kashi Go lean every day for my first meal. Sometimes for fun I add a cup of 1% chocolate milk instead of 1% milk, it is only 70 caloreis more aaand very indulgent.

I wanna make this thread more fun so expect more dumb tips from me.


anddddd.....Special K protein plus and kashi Go Lean are the two cereals that are high in protein 1 1/2 cups is 20 grams of protein add 1 cup milk, and it is 30 grams of protein.


anyone else got some Fun Tips?

interesting. Just a random thought, how about mixing in a chocalate favoured protein drink and make it an extra 25 g of protein for an extra 140 calories? then it is 45 g of protein.

Also, Gooooooo Flushgarden, I admire your resolve. I know you can reach your goal.

I also have the Kashi Go Lean at my house! Very delicious in the morning.

I usually mix it up in my breakfast rotation between, Kashi GO Lean, Yogurt and Granola, Eggs with toast, or oatmeal. These are my go to breakfast of choice. Sometimes if I've had a steak the night before and there are leftovers I will cut it up and add it to the eggs. Also, I try to keep a few boiled eggs on hand for those mornings when I like to hit the snooze a bunch of times ...

Lunch is the hardest meal for me. At my job there are always lunch meetings and a few "caterer" lunches and by that I mean Pizza ... which sucks because pizza is awesome, but not so good for you. So I try to control myself and usually eat a sandwhich from the local deli or subway but it seems I also eat out and you get a veggie wrap with Franch Fries and I LOVE french fries ...

anyway, sorry this started out as a tip for breakfast and ended with a broken dream of lunch >>>

Fun Tip# 315 - Master the form and you will master the exercise.

wish i had some fun tips but alas I dont

just got back from the gym, some back and bi work, hit the bag a bit. Craving a beer but decided to abstain.

this week is dragging.

anyone watch californication? just discovered that it was good and can't stop watching that shit. it's so funny.

Flush, I have a tip for you; The thing usually paired with an extreme diet to accelerate drastic weigh loss is to walk 5 miles a day on the tread mill, . I hope that helps. If you do that you may want to put off working out till later.

Excellent tip; I usually mix a scoop of chocolate whey in with oatmeal. Muscle milk also makes these; http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/productre...muscle-milk.htm

I thought season two was excellent and showed way more depth than season one. I hope season three continues with the quality of characters in season two.