Had good workouts Mon and Tues. Yesterday I was hurting a little, so took it off, and then ended up having to do a lot or running around today, so I'll try to get back in there tomorrow.

Question though. I know they say you should basically work weights 3 days a week or so, alternating days. But how often should/could you be working the same muscle groups? Only once a week, or is more completely fine too?

More is fine, the days gap is just to let the tissue repair. I used to do 2 days after each other sometimes, but just work different muscle groups each time.

I was advised it was better to work posterior/anterior in the same sesssion - so ticeps/biceps one session, back/chest on another etc if you're spreading them out

Yeah, I just meant more like, if I do biceps/triceps monday, it's not too much to do it again friday right? Because really... I need way more work on the upper body, my legs have always been pretty big.

Also, what the hell can I do to build a chest if I don't have a normal bench press? Nothing ever feels like it's actually working my chest. Have the bench itself, dumbells, and different machines, but I can't ever remember having soreness in my chest, lol.

Nah that's no worries - I often did arms 2/3 times a week, with a day break in between

You don't have to have a press for youy chest - if you've got the bench and dumbells you're laughing...

Lie back on the bench and choose a weight you're comfy with (no idea on your weight/fitness etc) - have a dumbell in each arm and push your arms upwards, then lower them out to the sides, so your body is in a lying-down-crucfix type shape (palms facing upwards) - bring your arms back up to meet above your chest, fully extended, and rotate your wrists so the ends of the dumbells meet - rinse/repeat (its a killer)

http://www.netfit.co.uk/fitness/exercises/...-flys-flies.htm

Like that but i add the wrist movement in too

You can do regular chest press w/dumbells too, you dont have to have a bar. Do regular, inclined and raised sets if your bench allows it (the change in angle massively effects which muscle group, doin all 3 will make your chest loads bigger with time)

Yeah, I know all that stuff. Was hoping someone had something better, lol.

By raised do you mean decline? But yeah, I maybe just don't do a heavy enough weight, especially since it's only dumbells, I always worry about my stability with them.

I actually do a lot with the ball from pushups to dumbell flies to just some crazy core work.

I guess one that is good for both abs and triceps is to start on your knees and put the back of your hands on the ball. Then you roll out so that your forearms are on the ball and you are stretched out. While you are doing this it is VERY important to maintain good posture with your back. Make sure that it is on plane.

Another way to get comfortable with this is to start with your forearms on the ground and get yourself into a half pushup position, again making sure that you are on plane, and just hold yourslef there. You should feel it in your abs. Once you can do this for say thirty seconds or so, then you can move on the the ball and do the roll outs.

It is much easier to show people, so i hope you get the general idea of what i am talking about. I am not a fitness expert by any means, but the guy i work out with is. And it has started to improve my abs, which were basically a keg before and you can almost start to see the beginnings of a six pack now..

EDIT:
http://exercise.about.com/cs/abs/l/bl_core.htm

The one i was talking about is the ab roll.

I also do the ball rotation one. If you get comfortable with that one you can add weight and then it really gets fun.

Excellent, thanks. I'll give these a shot at some point. And by that I mean, I'll do them for a week and most likely stop.

After almost three weeks of the push up program, I've concluded the following:

1. I will not be doing 100 consecutive push ups any time soon.


I'll keep up with the workouts, because I'm definitely seeing progress. But there's no way I'll be cranking out 100 consecutive three weeks from now.

I can't see it either. Granted, when I started working out, I stopped the pushup thing, cause I was working those muscles already and I don't think I could have done both. But until I drop like 50lbs, I don't see 100 happening.

It's not really a big deal to me. It's not like I lie awake at night going, "Man, I really wish I could do 100 straight push ups." I just saw the post about the work out and figured it would be a good way to keep myself doing push ups more often.

Ditto.

I've been lifting for 3 years pretty decently and I can do like 40 pushups. by that point I'm pretty much ready to vomit. 100 is just silly.

Im with ya on this. Not the working out for 3 years part but usually i can do about 40 straight, i guess i could do more if i push myself i just never seen a reason to....yet

Well just to check it out, the last time i was at the gym i decided to see how many push ups i could do. 35 for me. Not to shabby, but I don't know why you would want to do 100 consecutive, i guess it's cool if you are in the army or you want to try to impress someone but I am in neither of those boats so i will probably never do 100 in a row.

What I am trying to do is more pullups. I actually did 10 in a row which is good for me. I started out a few months ago and I had to use the pull up assist machine on level 16, which basically gives you about 120 pounds of help. It felt good to bust out 10 with no help. Then I did 8 and 6 and the last set I could only do 4.

After taking weeks (3-4?) off due to thumb, groin, and shoulder (ty, hockey) nagging injuries, I plan to get back at it this week.

I weighed in at 204 a couple days ago. I have not lost anymore inches though, I think that is because I have not ate wonderfully the last couple weeks. I was driving a lot, so I had some fast food here and there. I think if I can control my eating and work out at least a couple times a week, I can crack 200 by Jan.

I guess the motivation would be that if you can do 100, you're in really good god damn shape.

I'll settle for 30-40 in a row and being in decent shape.

I'd settle for seeing my penis again!

I never went past week 3 in the pushup thing, but I also haven't done any in 2 weeks, but did a few workouts like 2 weeks ago, but haven't done a ton since friday before last I believe.

So I had some donkey ass bitch hit and run me HU, so I decided to test my max pushups.

It's up to 20 now, without doing anything for awhile, so that's pretty sweet. That's all.

So I used to be an athlete 1.5 years ago, and weighed 175.

I currently weigh 248.

I'm challenging myself to weigh 180 in 6 months from now. It's going to be hard to do because I love to eat. I'm still going to go for it though.

My main motivation is comfort. I have gotten a lot of new clothes that fit me but still aren't comfortable. I have also been sweating a shitload. I'd be ok if I felt comfortable being fat, but I just don't. I still live an active lifestyle, and I'm just uncomfortable everywhere I go. So I really want to do this so I can feel comfortable, and confident at the same time.

I'm going to do this on my own without a gym.... I will try to track my weightloss here if I actually start losing weight.

Try to do ALOT of cardio and keep away from heavy weight lifting as heavy weight lifting will only make you heavier. Muscle weighs 3 times more than fat. If you are going to do weight lifting, do alot of reps of light weight. good luck man!

Me too!!11!!11!!ELEVENOMGLOLZ

So yesterday I had a great workout. Hadn't been to the gym since last Tuesday. It felt good to have four days off, but even better to get back to the gym and really work out. I started with some core training with a ball and then went into some squats and lunges with pushups inbetween for a warmup. Then I hit the incline press and did 10 reps at 135, 8 reps at 145, 6 reps at 150 and then I dropped it down and did 12 reps at 95, 12 reps at 75, 12 reps at 65, 12 reps at 55, and finally 15 reps with just the bar.

After that I moved on incline flys and did the same type of thing. worked some harder reps with increasing weight and then dropped down the weight and did 12 - 15 reps. After that I did some Bicep work and then hammered my triceps. I can still feel the tricep work I did, so that is always a good thing.

I have lost a few inches off of my waist but I am still far from where i want to be. I was hoping to be at 200 by the end of the year ... but I think that may be out of reach as I am actually adding some muscle. I am not that worried about the weight anymore, i just want to feel comfortable taking my shirt off in public!

So who's making 'get healthy' resolutions.

I go for my orthopedic consult on Thursday, Jan. 8, to likely set a date for knee surgery. Not bad, only five months after the injury occurred

So I imagine rehabilitation will be first on my to-do list for 2009.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to resolution this bitch, cause I fell way off the wagon.

I'm still doing fairly well, but will be going more regularly after the new year.

And that push-up program is bollocks. I "finished" all the weeks, but at about Week 4 there was no way I could get through all the sets without breaking them up. And I'd say if somebody had a gun to my head right now, I would only be able to do about 40 consecutive push-ups. Then I would ask the person why they would force me to do push-ups at gunpoint.

But, I am much stronger in that area now so I'm happy with the progress.

Never been a gym member but I reckon this is the best place to ask.

Sit ups: which sit ups are the best? I've heard a few different ways and each person slammed the other ways I was told. Just normal, flat on your back hands to ears straight up to knees and back? although it hurts my back a lot.

So could someone clear this up for me please.

There are about 1,000 different ways to work your abs. Regarding crunches vs. full sit ups, there is a lot of information of both being bad and good. My suggestion is, if you want to work your abs google some ab workouts, or buy a a couple fitness magazines that will usually have multiple ab work outs.

If you are crazy, do the P90X ab workout, you won't be able to bend over for a week.

Well I just want to do sit ups. I do press ups, have a pull up bar, and I just don't feel like my sit ups are good ones because I haven't improved on my amount of them, with my press ups I do 5 times as much as I started, with the sit ups its the same amount and my back hurts. Not really focusing on the abs. The fact I excerise at all is strange enough, I don't want to go overwhelming myself by seeing all different routines.

Try crunches for awhile. Or get one of the big exercise balls, and do crunches on those. I have a bad back, and those work wonders.

Hey so I started exercising again as I usually do every 3 or 4 months. This time I'm not going to the gym however, and I bought an elliptical so I can exercise in just my underwear (they frowned upon this at the gym).

I've also just been doing some pushups and situps (not a lot like 15-20 situps and 20-30 pushups total).

I have a couple questions though..

I still have some protein shakes and glutamine from a long time ago. Are protein shakes beneficial still after workouts if I'm not really doing muscle training?

And I don't really remember what glutamine does for me (my ex roomate worked out and had me taking it), so should I be taking it at all?

Thanks!

Even if you are just doing pushups you are still breaking down the muscle and the protein is what helps rebuild the muscle. I have a friend who doesn't believe in protein powder, so after every workout he will just eat a very high protein meal.

Not sure about glutamine ...

new year and no bump? slack jawed faggots etc.



with the realization that I've been basically doing the exact same exercises for 4 years, I recently decided to add a whole new routing to a couple of days of my workouts. I wanted to get something did a full body muscle workout, but also had a heavy cardio influence. what I basically came up with was a sort of timed weightless circuit workout. more or less gym class.

instead of doing reps, I did time amounts. started off by coming up with 6 exercises: push ups, weightless squats, tricep dips using a bench thing, sit ups, squat thrusts, and punching bag. did one set of each to failure and used that as the standard to go by. my goal is to try to beat my rep counts each time while doing the same amount of time. eventually I'll probably up the times and eventually sets.

I'd also like to add some new exercises every now and again but I can't really think of any. anybody have any ideas? no weights and limited equipment.

So my son wanted to look at a couple picture albums we had out, some are from when I was first dating my wife, and the other was from our honey moon.

F U C K

When I was younger, and never had a 6 pack, I always thought I was kind of overweight. Yeah. No I was a skinny bastard that if Speedz were gay he would consider bedding me.

Now I'll give Mex a run for his money. The sad thing is, in our fat as society I am considered normalish, and I have a BMI that is approaching 30. Of course I am hugely buff and muscular so that does not apply to me exactly, but still.


I am fully aware of the manner in which I defecated on the English language in the above sentences.

Jesus, how many threads to I get bashed in that I don't notice?

I rocked the shit 5 days last week, day one in the books today.

I have to break out of my comfort zone with cardio and do the elliptical more, instead of the regular bike for 30 minutes.

I am doing lighter weights with a fair amount of reps, but I'm working faster, less recovery time between sets. Try to get winded and keep the burn. We'll see.

uh, whatever you do, don't read the music thread.



and jesus my legs are sore as balls today. (good thing by balls aren't sore as legs heyoo!)

The protien shakes wouldn't hurt if you weren't even working out. It's just an easy balanced meal. glutamine supposedly helps with recovery, mostly when muscles break down so it wouldn't hurt. It's also not necessary and I think there is little scientific proof but many claim that it helps immensly.




You can do calf exercies on a step (or without) by holding something heavy in each hand and alternating stretching on one leg at a time.

It seems you have the rest of the legs covered with lunges and squats so i'd look for more upper body and abs. If you don't have any dumbells try to invest in some cheap lighter weight ones (or find things around the house) to do shoulders and back along with varying the bi's and tri exercises. Their are tons of sites with exercises.

I read an article with a guy who traveled and made an entire workout out of things found in a motel room like books, etc.

no I've got plenty of weights and stuff but the point of these workouts is to not use weights, only body weight resistance. I already lift 3 days a week in the morning so what I'm trying to do is mix it up a little and work my muscles in a different way. and yeah, I do calf raises with my weight workouts already. habs fan would be proud.

I thought about adding more ab exercises, but I kinda want to add two solely ab workouts to my week by themselves, just concentrating on abs. problem is I have no idea where I'm gonna get the time to fit them. mens health has a pretty simple but nice looking ab workout program in this months issue.


I really, really wish I had a pull up bar, cause pull ups would be awesome.

no exposed beams in the mansion, eh?

Weird, I was gonna go look for this thread today.

Started going back on a regular basis last week. I'll be primarily running again, and I'm pretty pumped because I'm waaaaaaaay ahead of where I was at this point last year.

Going tonight and tomorrow to run for a little while, then Thursday will be an off day.

not only that, but I've got ridiculously high ceilings, so no mounting anything to them. only way to do pull ups would be to get a power tower, which I have been looking into and just need to pull the trigger on, though I really don't have room for one.


I'm gonna try to start running again pretty soon, maybe even this afternoon. problem now is that it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home, and that's pretty dangerous on the road. plus it's cold as all get out, and that sucks.

I just hope that somehow my knees and legs manage to work through their problems this year and I can actually run without severe pain. if not, I don't really know what I'm gonna do for cardio. god damn stationary bike is more boring than baseball.

After work, I will be back the gym after almost 4 months off...

I run on a treadmill. It's way too cold here to run outside until spring. As long as I have an iPod to keep me distracted, I really don't mind running inside.

Good luck.

I tried running outside this summer. Didn't go well. I was running for a couple months at the gym on the treadmill to build up some stamina and then there was a nice day and I took off. Next morning I couldn't get out of bed my legs hurt so much. I think running on the pavement as opposed to the treadmill was the big difference. Tried it again a month later and same result. So if I want to run I have to do the treadmill.

DUDE. you know the thing about running outside in the winter? IT'S COLD. jesus christ it's cold. I couldn't feel my face after a minute.

I went to the high school track and ran a mile. didn't want to overdo it so I stopped there, but it felt damn good. the hardest part, and the thing I'm trying to do this year, was to really pace myself and not try to get too fast. I think that may have been what caused a lot of my injuries last year.


yep, same with me. I can run on a track and on grass ok (still get a little sore), but if I run on the road I feel like I'm going to die and the muscles are going to separate from the bones on my legs. really wish I could run on road, cause that would make things a lot easier.

6 knee surgeries on two knees, three of them major, I don't run. Weeeee

But if I could, the weather is fantastic.

Sal, you haven't seen that pull-up contraption that goes in doorways, made by the dudes that did The Perfect Pushup?

Look into it.

Rocked the shoulders tonight. Even did some rotator cuff type exercises.

THAT'S HOW I ROLL

Speaking of knee surgeries, finally saw the specialist. He agrees i need a scope. Likely to be scheduled in April or May.



Sigh.

yeah, seriously considered getting one, but there's two things: one, you know my situation with heating and cooling in my house; leaving the door open to my workout room in my house would make it miserable either in the summer or the winter. gotta trap the heat/cold. and two: I honestly don't know if my door jams could take it. really, the power towers aren't that expensive, and they have other features. I'm sure I'll get one eventually, but right now my money's gotta go into the gun I want.


hey, at least your secret santa was looking out for you!

Bike last night...5 min warm up, hard for 30 mins, 2 min cool down. Stretching before and after.

I'll probably finish out this week with bike only and see how the wrist (tweeked it playing hockey) feels for weights next week.

I've soooo abandoned this thread since the summer but I'm back now bitches!

I signed up and started going to the gym this week. I've got a new motivation to go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable hours, I have early classes 2 days a week so keeping a steady schedule will be good for me.

My plan is to go 5 days a week, monday through friday.

For now I think I will attack the cover model program that circulated around here for a while, it's the only one I have access too, but I know a guy who is a trainer so I might get him to give me some pointers.

Goals: good sleeping habits - work out alot (5day/week) - good eating habits

I'm going to build an excel sheet this week to monitor all that, that will keep me accountable.