Weight Loss and Fitness 2013

[Daft]

Did 3 reps of 160kg on deadlifts yesterday. I was pleased. Didn't actually seem that difficult, but then I felt dead after.

[Raining_again]

160kg daft, mega props that must be 2xbw?

[Fierce_LiNk]

I take it you like the straps then? Great lifting. Hope I can get up to that one day.

[Daft]

Yeah, used straps on the last one. Trying to minimize their usage. I tried for 170 after but couldn't manage it...should have just tried 165.

 

160kg daft, mega props that must be 2xbw?

 

What does bw mean? /dumb

 

Edit: Yup, double my body weight.

Edited March 24, 2013 by Daft

[Captain Falcon]

I'm debating whether or not to keep chest flies in my routine, or whether it's better to replace them with an incline bench press instead. But then, I wonder if then that'll be too much pressing. Flat bench press, shoulder press, incline bench. Could be too much. I've had mixed advice about flies.

 

The only thing I would change with your routine is where you do your deadlifts. I'd need to do it much earlier, as that's when I'd feel fresher. I try to do most of my compounds at the start. (although I do pullups before deadlifting, as it doesn't impact too much).

 

The benefits of doing leg/push/pull is that you do work out everything in those 3 days. I was going to start the split again and do legs yesterday, but had to run an afterschool football club. Came home to watch the England game and fell asleep immediately afterwards on the sofa. Too tired.

 

 

For a while, I didn't do flies, only a normal bench press and an incline press and I personally find I'm seeing better results with them in. Plus, I could see that the growth in my pectorals tended to be focused toward the center of my chest instead of an even spread across.

 

Doing deadlifts at the end only came about bgecause they weren't a part of the original workout plan. We decided to add them in but never given quite as much thought about placement within the routine like the rest. That said, because they can take a lot out of you, in some ways, it's nice to have them at the end as you know you haven't got to do anything else afterwards so I'm not so sure I'd want to bump them up.

 

That it helps to free up time is also nice. When I was going the gym 5 days a week and playing football, I felt like exercise was taking up a bit too much of my spare time and I wasn't able to relax as much as I was always feeling worn out. Moving back to three days gave me more motivation to try harder when I was exercising and I do a bit of exercise at home in my break time between gym sessions as well.

 

 

What does bw mean? /dumb

 

I think in this context, BW stands for bodyweight.

[Dafuk]

It is ok to go on an exercise bike for an hour every single night? Cos that's what i've been doing for about a week, and my leg muscles feel alright! Not sore or anything.

[Charlie]

I've changed my programme a lot over the past few weeks. I had far too many isolation exercises as well as compound moves. Some muscle groups were being worked far too often.

 

My programme basically consists of this now.

 

Bench Press

Military Press

Barbell Rows

Barbell Curls

Straight-Leg Deadlift

Calf Raises

Squats

Press-Ups

 

I also do an ab workout involving some planks, crunches and leg raises as well as 15 minutes of interval training on a Stat bike.

 

I've found it works really well, targets all the major muscle groups and is great time-wise. Far more simple and now I actually enjoy each workout as opposed to before it always felt like a chore. After 3 times a week for 2 weeks, I've really do feel much stronger.

 

 

Compound workouts are the way forward. Mine is very similar to yours actually as I enjoy barbell curls. I also add in pull ups and chin ups.

[pratty]

It is ok to go on an exercise bike for an hour every single night? Cos that's what i've been doing for about a week, and my leg muscles feel alright! Not sore or anything.

 

Yeah sure, lack of soreness isn't a problem, though it could be that the bike isn't pushing your legs beyond their capabilities.

 

But it all depends on what your goal is, are you just burining calories/losing weight, improving your cardio, or do you specifically want to build/strengthen your legs?

Edited March 24, 2013 by pratty

[Dafuk]

Yeah sure, lack of soarness isn't a problem, though it could be that the bike isn't pushing your legs beyond their capabilities.

 

But it all depends on what your goal is, are you just burining calories/losing weight, improving your cardio, or do you specifically want to build/strengthen your legs?

 

It's cranked up to full resistance! (but is a kinda cheap bike, and the full resistance isn't overly tough tbh).

 

And just wanna burn calories! (so i can eat more food). Actually don't WANT muscly legs, but it's cool if they get a bit stronger. As long as they don't look all hard and muscly. Yuk.

[Ashley]

There's positives and negatives doing that for a longer period of time. Looking at that routine, it's good for your legs and back, but there's not really enough of a shoulder or chest workout there. I'd incorporate the bench/chest press into there and probably shoulder press, too.

 

The plus side is that you're hitting your legs and back more than one time a week, which will see them get stronger relatively quickly.

 

Here's a list of the exercises for each body part:

 

Legs - Squats, leg press, hamstring curls, calve raises (essential if you have uber tiny calves)

 

Shoulders - shoulder/military press, upright rows, front raises, side raises, shrugs.

 

Back - deadlifts (any variation), lateral pulldowns, bent over rows (LOVE this), pull-ups (some might keep deadlifts for leg day since it works the arse and hamstrings)

 

Chest - flat bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press, cable cross-overs/dumbbell flies.

 

Arms - dumbbell/barbell curls (biceps), hammer curls (bicep), forearm curls/reverse barbell curl (very good for forearm strength), tricep kickbacks, skullcrushers (tricep), dips (tricep), tricep pushdowns.

 

The ones that I've bolded are the ones that are pretty much essential to what you want to do. I've underlined the additional exercises that will also help you with strength gaining, but are not quite as important as the bolded ones. You want to basically make sure that you hit the bolded ones, you could also possibly do some of the others in rotation. So, some weeks you could do front raises, some days you could do shrugs. (I shrug about 2/3 times a week at the moment as it's a lagging body part)

 

How did you find it doing the same exercises 3 days a week? Did you prefer that or would you rather have a different routine for each time you exercise? There's benefits of both, but personally I'd struggle trying to do deadlifts, squats, benching and shoulder pressing on the same day three times a week.

 

Here's roughly what Tom Hardy did to get into shape for Warrior. So, he was squatting and deadlifting about twice a week. He's hitting the chest, shoulders, backs and legs about twice a week but it's not really the same exercise twice, as they are different variations.

 

Cheers for this by the way. I did read it when you posted it, but didn't respond sorry.

 

Ended up making today an upper body day. Think I'm going to go for upper, lower, upper (Mon, Weds, Fri). Need to actually look what some of the things you posted are () but did lat pulldowns, squats (which is apparently legs, but I've become used to it so carrying on), assisted chins and...some other stuff that I forget the name of. I'm terrible.

[Raining_again]

I still cannot get the 50kg clean. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuarrrrkkk.

 

I can do 47.5 x 2 which is an improvement and I feel like the 50 is getting EVER SO SLIGHTLY higher. I do feel like I haven't been in the best of health in the past two weeks, which may be slowing my progress. Sunday morning, before my training, I woke up and my lungs were so wheezy... but like hell I was staying in bed! Hopefully this will pass and I'll be good to go.

 

A guy came over where I was working with my PT and was like wow good work etc. To which my PT said "she can lift more than most of the guys here" :D

 

He then lifted the 105kg deadlift I was trying (read:failing), with ease might I add.... >__> the guys are suuch show offs in my gym!

[Iun]

Someone needs to explain something to me: On Saturday morning when I did my end of week weigh-in I was 73kg.

 

Yesterday when I did my post-weekend weigh-in I was 77kg.

 

I had a (one, singular) cheeseburger on Sunday night, but I can't account for how that would be a 4 kg increase.

 

I even feel fatter! My trousers are tighter! How? HOW?!

[pratty]

Someone needs to explain something to me: On Saturday morning when I did my end of week weigh-in I was 73kg.

 

Yesterday when I did my post-weekend weigh-in I was 77kg.

 

I had a (one, singular) cheeseburger on Sunday night, but I can't account for how that would be a 4 kg increase.

 

I even feel fatter! My trousers are tighter! How? HOW?!

 

Water retention maybe? Try drinking loads of water and go easy on sugar and salt, and hopefully you should soon lose it.

[Iun]

Water retention maybe? Try drinking loads of water and go easy on sugar and salt, and hopefully you should soon lose it.

 

But I was sweating like a sex offender on a nudist beach on Sunday! I played 60 minutes of football! It's insanity!

[MindFreak]

It's definitely water; you were weighed Saturday morning and when else? Your weight and height varies throughout the day depending on many things. You might have had food in the stomach, crap in you intestines, pee, water in the body etc. Morning weighins are usually most accurate.

 

I've reached the last week of strength training now. 24 reps total per exercise. Squats aren't so bad even at 100 kg, depending on how I feel on Wednesday I might go for 105. Cleans are tough at 72.5 kg but not too tough. Perhaps 75 kg on Wednesday. Deadlift at 120 kg are killing me though. I wouldn't be able to do it if I had mere 2.5 kg extra on that bar. I feel it mostly in my back, I'm not sure it can hold much more.

 

Oh, and 80 walking lunges with 16 kg in each hand are the Devil's work, I tell ya'!

Edited March 26, 2013 by MindFreak

[Iun]

It's definitely water; you were weighed Saturday morning and when else? Your weight and height varies throughout the day depending on many things. You might have had food in the stomach, crap in you intestines, pee, water in the body etc. Morning weighins are usually most accurate.

 

I've reached the last week of strength training now. 24 reps total per exercise. Squats aren't so bad even at 100 kg, depending on how I feel on Wednesday I might go for 105. Cleans are tough at 72.5 kg but not too tough. Perhaps 75 kg on Wednesday. Deadlift at 120 kg are killing me though. I wouldn't be able to do it if I had mere 2.5 kg extra on that bar. I feel it mostly in my back, I'm not sure it can hold much more.

 

Oh, and 80 walking lunges with 16 kg in each hand are the Devil's work, I tell ya'!

 

 

Man, I always "dump the load" before weighing. I bought a new bathroom scale now, should be here in a few days.

[mcj metroid]

hey long time reader first time writer in this thread.

 

I'm a fitness noob now. One question though.

 

I'm a thin lad looking to pack on some muscle and i'm aware a lot of protein is important.

 

i'm trying to gain weight as well and a lot of these fitness guides are designed for heavy people.

 

for starters should i ignore all the low fat produce. should i for example drink regular milk or low fat milk?

[Charlie]

hey long time reader first time writer in this thread.

 

I'm a fitness noob now. One question though.

 

I'm a thin lad looking to pack on some muscle and i'm aware a lot of protein is important.

 

i'm trying to gain weight as well and a lot of these fitness guides are designed for heavy people.

 

for starters should i ignore all the low fat produce. should i for example drink regular milk or low fat milk?

 

Read about 'Starting Strength' (SS). It's a fantastic work out for beginners that a lot of people recommend. It's all about the main compound exercies (exercises that work a number of muscles at a time) and concentrates on making sure that each time you work out you increase the weight that you lift. It's easy to follow and you only need to go to the gym 3 times a week if you're doing it properly.

 

If you're looking to put on weight (muscle) then you need to eat more calories than you burn. Find your Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) to find out how many calories you'll need. I believe that SS recommends 3000 calories a day - a lot of these will come from your protein shakes.

 

Make sure you eat 'clean' food. Fast food, fizzy drinks all contain a lot of sugar and that will make you fat as well as putting on muscle.

 

As for your milk question; full fat milk is good as it is really high in protein.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Charlie

[Daft]

I think I fucked my knee up when I went for 170kg on the deadlift on Friday. Arrrgh. Oh well, just got to rest it. Will have to give deadlifts a miss this week then start light next week if it's feeling better.

[Fierce_LiNk]

No weights yesterday as I didn't get in from work til half 9 and was knackered. No weights today because I feel light-headed, ill, shit and meh.

 

Pray for tomorrow!

[Raining_again]

Another chest infection, so i'll be out for the week at least

[Charlie]

Decked it a belter on the tennis court last night. Was sprinting towards a drop shot at the net, managed to get the ball back in play. I then realised I was running far too quickly and far to out-stretched to be able to stop before I got to the net. Tripped over my own feet trying to get back into position and ended up tangled up in the net. All good fun. Although my knee is pretty sore when I bend it today because I ripped quite a patch of skin off.

[Captain Falcon]

Has anyone here done the Three Peaks Challenge before?

 

My mate is wanting to do it and has asked me about joining but I'm not sure as I have no idea how demanding it is. Should be going up Mt Snowdon at the weekend for a feel of mountain hiking and whilst I'm sure that won't be too bad, outside the potential cold at the top (I was told it could be minus 15), I'm not sure I'd want to do it 3 times over in 24 hrs.

[Charlie]

I know a couple people who have done it. These were fit guys and they said it was tough mentally more than anything because of the lack of sleep.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Felt a lot better today and had my pull day. Tired now. Determined to make the biceps grow as I feel they are holding me back, slightly. Going to work hard over the next few weekssss.