Working Out.

[samboi91]

I've recently gotten back into working out after not being able to for a few months but when I work out, I find that I'm just not that motivated enough to get into it like I should. I know there's no easy way to get toned. I mainly just have to diet and exercise but I was looking for some tips from anyone.

Basically, the look I want to get is just a toned look. I'm fairly skinny enough as it is with enough meat on my bones to tone a bit. lol. I want to get probably pecs that aren't too bulk, just noticeable and a flat stomach as my minimum. I find it very hard to lose weight but thankfully it's also very hard for me to put it on.

Are there any exercises you do that helped you bulk up fast? Any known supplements that actually work? What types of dieting go with working out? How long should it take for me to notice change or reach my goal if I'm on a workout plan?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to message me at any time if you think that you could help me. Thank you in advance to anyone who posts.

 

[topdog]

I am hardly an expert, so I will be watching this tread for tips from others. But here is what has worked for me.

• Remove the word "fast" from your vocabulary and replace it with "consistent". Bodies don't respond to "fast" - they are designed to maintain the status quo through temporary changes in routine. That is why your body will hold on to that belly fat until it absolutely has to give it up. But a consistent eating and exercise routine over a couple of months starts to become the body's new status quo. That's when the magic happens.
• Try to get yourself into a gym routine of four days a week. Once you've been able to do that for a month you can increase to five or even six maximum, if you want. But as long as you are doing four regularly, you will be on your way. Alternate between upper body days and lower body/abs days.
• Start with some cardio. The goal is to get your heart rate elevated at the beginning of your session, so it stays elevated throughout your weight training. Whatever type of cardio you do, start slow and gradually take yourself up to the point where you are breathing heavily (but could still carry on a conversation, if you had to). Stay at that level for ten to fifteen minutes. (If you are out of shape, you may need to work up to that over a couple of weeks.) If your goal is to loose weight, then over time increase that period of elevated heart rate to twenty or thirty minutes. Once your time is up, spend about five minutes slowing down gradually. Your heart rate will come down, but it will still be higher than before you started your cardio. That's the goal - to increase your "at rest" heart rate. If you can do that, then you are burning calories just by standing still.
• Do some light stretches and movement to warm up your muscles before you do weights. The cardio has probably warmed up your lower body, so you can just throw in a couple of minutes to get the upper body moving. This will help prevent injuries in your workout.
• Give muscles 48 hours to recover after a workout. Don't work the same muscle groups two days in a row.
• Try to move between weights at a brisk pace - no loitering. This will keep your heart rate elevated so you will be getting extra benefit from the workout.
• Upper body, abs, and lower body are all equally important. You may think you just want a big chest and killer abs, but what you really want is a well proportioned body. A massive torso on top of toothpick legs looks freaky.
• Finish with a good stretching routine. Stretching is doubly important in weight training, though many people leave it out. As muscles bulk their natural tendency is to get tighter. You need to counteract that by slowly stretching and relaxing the muscles. Get a trainer or, even better, a dancer to help devise a routine that works each muscle group. You can do your stretching every day, if you want. No rest is required between stretching sessions. A good yoga class can be a good alternative that accomplishes the same thing.
• My general diet goal is to shrink meat and carbohydrate portions and increase vegetables, especially raw veggies like salad. I'm sure lots of people will have other good specific ideas.
• Consistency - I'll say it again. That is the key. This is not a "diet" or muscle building plan. This is how you will make it step by step through the rest of your life.

If you do this, then in three months you will feel great and wonder why you ever resisted it before. You will really miss getting a good workout if you skip a session. Depending on what you looked like when you started, you may be a size smaller in the waist and neck. In six months your body will be noticeably toned and fit. Everyone around you will see the difference. Within a year you will have the body you want, and you are now changing into a maintenance plan.

 

[samboi91]

That was a great post. Thank you heaps for posting that. It's really helped out and now I want to jump straight into a workout.

 

[topdog]

One more thing about goals. There is a difference between what you can do, and what you have to rely on your body to do. You and your body have a partnership - if you do your part, it will respond and get you to the fitness level you want.

Here are some examples of goals that you cannot fufill:

• Lose five pounds this month.
• Fit into size 34 trousers by the end of August.
• Increase chest size by one inch.

These are all things that you have to let your body do in it's own time. You are not in control of these things.

Here are goals that you can work toward and fufill:

• Increase my "in the zone" cardio time by five minutes.
• Add one extra fifteen minute stretching session per week.
• Add one extra rep on each weight routine each week.
• Eat one salad per day.
• Start every day with a big glass of water.

Do you see the difference? These are measurable things that you can set out to do, track your progress, and pat yourself on the back when you accomplish them.

Never mind if your weight doesn't seem to be going down or you aren't seeing definition when you look in the mirror. Each body responds to change differently. If you can concentrate on improving your day to day routine, your body will come around. And you will constantly be encouraged by reaching your goals rather than frustrated that you can't get you body to go along with your plans.

:thumbs up:

 

[gb2000ie]

Before I got chronically ill, I'd finally found the secret to keeping fit, now that I've been ill for nearly a year that's all gone out the window, and I'm overweight again

But that's neither here nor there. I'm one of those people who thinks gyms are stupid ideas designed to fix a non-existent problem, and to keep humans from having to live in the real world. Why go on a bike that goes nowhere, when you can go on a bike that goes anywhere! Why walk and run while not moving, when you can walk and run in the real world and get some fresh air and see somethings while you're at it!

For me, there were two critical things:

1) I had to find a local route where I could cycle safely and that had nice trees and things.
2) I had to do my route every day.

That's it. 30 mins, every day, same route, same time, same everything. After a week I just did it on auto-pilot. There was no planning, no thinking about it, nothing. It was as much part of my routine as putting on my cloths in the morning!

I was lucky enough to be able to find a beautiful section of an old canal to cycle along, no cars allowed, only bikes and pedestrians, and lots of nice trees and wild flowers to enjoy while I exercised.

B.

 

[NightLitch]

Guys you are great as you are

 

[hawtsean]

• Consistency - I'll say it again. That is the key. This is not a "diet" or muscle building plan. This is how you will make it step by step through the rest of your life..

Topdog, each and every point was on target!:thumbs up: I'd add nothing other to to constantly emphasize what I isolated of your post above. BE CONSISTENT AND CONSTANT!

 

[gb2000ie]

Guys you are great as you are

But don't let that stop you from looking after yourself and striving to live a healthy life!

B.

 

[Tom]

I would consider myself a body builder/power lifter. Although not professional obviously.

Very good advice from Topdog.
I would add the following.
Only do minimal cardio to warm up on the day you do weights. 10 minutes, just to get the heart rate going. Do slow light easy weight to begin with. The last thing you want to do is get so sore you give up right away.
Once you get into a routine, do one or two muscle groups a day.
Learn how to do them correctly. My friends and I have a very good time watching others do things like standing arm curls and using mostly back and shoulder, never firing their bicep muscles.
Good form is a absolute!!

Probably the best overall lift to hit the most muscles is squats. But be careful, very dangerous, and easy to get hurt doing.
Next would probably be deadlifts. Also easy to get hurt doing.
Followed by chest presses, clean and jerk..

I do one muscle group a day, but that takes a bit to get use to.
Most trainers recommend doing about 3 sets of 8 reps. So on the last set it's a real struggle to get that last 8th rep up.

I like to do a bit different. I do at least 5 sets of each exercise. I start out lighter doing 15-30 reps. Each set I go heavier and heavier so the last set I can only do a few reps. So if I'm doing chest, I do at least 5 sets on a flat bench, 5 on an incline bench and 5 on a decline bench. Then I also do flies.

Diet is also very important. Go easy on carbs, but don't cut them out like so many people will tell you.
Protein is an essential!! Eggs, yogurt, cheese, meat fish...
Low calorie and low fat are best.
I use a lot of protein shakes, because I cannot take in as much protein as I need.
To strengthen and build muscle mass, you need to take in 1-1/2 - 2 times your weight in grams of protein. So if I weigh 200 lbs, I need 350-400 grams of protein. That does seem excessive, but it is correct.

Another member mentioned working out with a chronic illness. I'm dealing with that also. I love going to the gym and find for me that's the best. I have my friends there for support and encouragement. Plus if something bad happens there's others around to help.
Each person needs to figure out what works best for him or her.

Good luck to you!!

 

[neo666]

Motivation is always hard when starting off.
For a while I wanted to get into shape but just could not be bothered so one day I found a poster of someone with the type of body I wanted to have.
I put it on the wall so that every morning when I woke up the poster was the first thing I saw which made me jump out of bed and wanted to go out for a run. This was after a wank of course, the guy was sooo cute lol.

After a few days of running in the moning I felt great and actualy wanted to go to the gym a few times a week.

Now I feel great getting closer to my goal and have quit smoking on the spot and cut booze right back.

 

[samboi91]

Thanks for all your help. I loved the motivation one with the poster. That's a really good idea. There's so much I can so with what you've all said. I'll jump straight into it very soon and see how I go. Keep the information coming if you have any other tips. I'll probably post pics and stuff on here to have a record of how I'm going and what you all think.

 

[jw4833]

I am hardly an expert, so I will be watching this tread for tips from others. But here is what has worked for me.

• Remove the word "fast" from your vocabulary and replace it with "consistent". Bodies don't respond to "fast" - they are designed to maintain the status quo through temporary changes in routine. That is why your body will hold on to that belly fat until it absolutely has to give it up. But a consistent eating and exercise routine over a couple of months starts to become the body's new status quo. That's when the magic happens.
• Try to get yourself into a gym routine of four days a week. Once you've been able to do that for a month you can increase to five or even six maximum, if you want. But as long as you are doing four regularly, you will be on your way. Alternate between upper body days and lower body/abs days.
• Start with some cardio. The goal is to get your heart rate elevated at the beginning of your session, so it stays elevated throughout your weight training. Whatever type of cardio you do, start slow and gradually take yourself up to the point where you are breathing heavily (but could still carry on a conversation, if you had to). Stay at that level for ten to fifteen minutes. (If you are out of shape, you may need to work up to that over a couple of weeks.) If your goal is to loose weight, then over time increase that period of elevated heart rate to twenty or thirty minutes. Once your time is up, spend about five minutes slowing down gradually. Your heart rate will come down, but it will still be higher than before you started your cardio. That's the goal - to increase your "at rest" heart rate. If you can do that, then you are burning calories just by standing still.
• Do some light stretches and movement to warm up your muscles before you do weights. The cardio has probably warmed up your lower body, so you can just throw in a couple of minutes to get the upper body moving. This will help prevent injuries in your workout.
• Give muscles 48 hours to recover after a workout. Don't work the same muscle groups two days in a row.
• Try to move between weights at a brisk pace - no loitering. This will keep your heart rate elevated so you will be getting extra benefit from the workout.
• Upper body, abs, and lower body are all equally important. You may think you just want a big chest and killer abs, but what you really want is a well proportioned body. A massive torso on top of toothpick legs looks freaky.
• Finish with a good stretching routine. Stretching is doubly important in weight training, though many people leave it out. As muscles bulk their natural tendency is to get tighter. You need to counteract that by slowly stretching and relaxing the muscles. Get a trainer or, even better, a dancer to help devise a routine that works each muscle group. You can do your stretching every day, if you want. No rest is required between stretching sessions. A good yoga class can be a good alternative that accomplishes the same thing.
• My general diet goal is to shrink meat and carbohydrate portions and increase vegetables, especially raw veggies like salad. I'm sure lots of people will have other good specific ideas.
• Consistency - I'll say it again. That is the key. This is not a "diet" or muscle building plan. This is how you will make it step by step through the rest of your life.

If you do this, then in three months you will feel great and wonder why you ever resisted it before. You will really miss getting a good workout if you skip a session. Depending on what you looked like when you started, you may be a size smaller in the waist and neck. In six months your body will be noticeably toned and fit. Everyone around you will see the difference. Within a year you will have the body you want, and you are now changing into a maintenance plan.

I couldn't have said it better..I actually follow this routine over the past several years and it does work...:thumbs up:

 

[jeansGuyOZ]

It's very important not to get stale. Some people have suggested going to gym 4 times a week - which is fine, but it shouldn't become a religion. Don't go if you are feeling run down or off-colour. Training will build you up only up to a certain point; you must also let the body recover.

A number of the top bodybuilders have come out in favour of fewer workouts, or shorter workouts. They may spend less time in the gym, but while they are there they really work their arses off. That seems to be the key to top physiques - training INTENSITY. That is, whatever you are doing, it should be TOUGH. Don't worry if you are not lifting as much as the guy across the room, nor should you congratulate yourself if you are lifting twice what he does, the important thing it to be always pushing yourself and extending your limits.

You will probably find that this will supply motivation, because you will feel the strain in your muscles as you work them and know that you are training them to get bigger.

 

[jeansGuyOZ]

For a while I wanted to get into shape but just could not be bothered so one day I found a poster of someone with the type of body I wanted to have.
I put it on the wall so that every morning when I woke up the poster was the first thing I saw which made me jump out of bed and wanted to go out for a run.

I still have a small cutout photo of Mike Mentzer on my bedroom door. He had the physique I always wanted - I'll never achieve it, but it has motivated me to do as well as I can.

I used to have a shitload of photos cut out from various bodybuilding magazines, but I have tossed most of them, partly because I know sites on the Internet where I can look at them any time I wish. That photo is one of the few that I have kept.

 

[Tjerk12]

I can’t measure up to the recommendations from Topdog, because my fitness activities are almost twenty years back. Yet I can give you some advice, or let’s say some wisdom. In my days they did not make a big fuzz of special food for sports. But there are some basic things. Do not use junk food. Be careful with fat. Use olive oil, or other liquid oils. Be careful with chips or candy (there is a simple way to handle this: don’t buy it, so you can’t eat it). Ensure adequate movement. Nowadays ergonomics make work easier, but at the same time they limit your movement. You can change that with simple things. I placed for example my telephone at my work at an idiotic place. Every time it rang I had to walk more than 10 meters to reach it. People laughed about it. But they had to visit the gym at the evening, while I had time off. A while ago I tried for fun my racing leathers (I bought them 45 years ago, tailor made) and surprise, they still fit!

You can also do some exercise at home. I was faced with an aging phenomenon: the disappearing of buttocks, so your pants slips. That irritated me, so I designed a very simple fitness machine. A type of bascule, attached to the foot of my bed. I'm on my stomach on the bed, put my feet on the bascule and start making a crossword, or read a book. After twenty minutes my work out is finished (all based on muscular tension). I have now buttocks as a ballet dancer.
So it is all a matter of common sense and no magic.

 

[hawtsean]

You can also do some exercise at home. I was faced with an aging phenomenon: the disappearing of buttocks, so your pants slips. That irritated me, so I designed a very simple fitness machine.

I can totally relate to that, Tjerk. As a teen and young adult, I had a very well-rounded bubblebutt. Serving my hitch in the armed forces didn't hurt either, I ended up with large rock-hard arms and thighs and a tighter bubblebutt. By age 40 I had started to lose muscle mass and definition to the point that I had a "no-ass" figure - loss of the fat pads and thick muscle tissue that form the glutes, and my pants slipped down way too easily - just like those punky sagger dudes. I did some routine workout stuff and lots of squats and rebuilt a fair portion of my thighs and rump, but other health issues entered and I gained a lot of weight, and I am now working to get back to a more streamlined body.

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

Before I got chronically ill, I'd finally found the secret to keeping fit, now that I've been ill for nearly a year that's all gone out the window, and I'm overweight again

But that's neither here nor there. I'm one of those people who thinks gyms are stupid ideas designed to fix a non-existent problem, and to keep humans from having to live in the real world. Why go on a bike that goes nowhere, when you can go on a bike that goes anywhere! Why walk and run while not moving, when you can walk and run in the real world and get some fresh air and see somethings while you're at it!

For me, there were two critical things:

1) I had to find a local route where I could cycle safely and that had nice trees and things.
2) I had to do my route every day.

That's it. 30 mins, every day, same route, same time, same everything. After a week I just did it on auto-pilot. There was no planning, no thinking about it, nothing. It was as much part of my routine as putting on my cloths in the morning!

I was lucky enough to be able to find a beautiful section of an old canal to cycle along, no cars allowed, only bikes and pedestrians, and lots of nice trees and wild flowers to enjoy while I exercised.

B.

GB you are so right on that... I am a Jiu Jit Su Ko for the past 20 years (I am now at the samurai level, because there's no belt degree in Jiu jit su), and I have been teaching self defense for kids, cops, woman and teenagers and what I advocate is to take a simple hour of your day everyday and do different exercise. I always loathed gym as It seems to me to be much more a competition among other than just getting fit. In my dojo there's no equipments, everything is set for your own resistance or I'd pair two students do give one another resistance. We'd go run outside, rock climbing, play Tennis for coordination, rollerblading, biking. In short all natural exercise that bring a very toned body. I believe you saw my built in GH and this has been obtain by simple exercise routine... I have equipment at home but I'm rarely the one to sit on the bench to workout, I'd prefer 10 time going outside.

Eat well, exercise daily and that's pretty much all there is.

 

[dramaking]

Reading the posts there are some great tips here. I'm going to work to incorporate these into my life/workout routine. thanks