The ~New~ SWF GYM! Newbies and New Years Resolution Peeps Wanted!

[Vermanubis]

i used to eat about 150 grams of protein a day.

digestive issues.

cut down to about 100 grams.

no digestive issues. lean gains. dropped body fat.

everyone wins :D

All depends on your weight, I'd imagine. At the beginning of last year, when I first started taking supplemental whey, I'd take three scoops a day and I'd be getting probably around 230 Gs a day, even on days where I hadn't exercised for like two days. Gave me the ****s something terrible. I eventually cut down to 150-200 a day, and I didn't get the ****s anymore. So it's all about weight (and not taking too, too much whey). Far as I know, proteins themselves aren't responsible for indigestion, rather, their by-products, which whey is infamous for. One of decent size could probably get away with 200Gs a day as long as less than 90 of them were from whey.

 

[Super_Sonic8677]

I usually take a 26 gram scoop when i wake up on a workout day and another one immediately after I'm done. Gonna start creatine again tomorrow and see where it takes me. This cold put a damper on starting this but training today wasn't too bad.

My program takes about an hour and a half to do. No longer than 5 minute rest periods between sets for compound exercises and and 2 minutes for everything else. I'm also thinking about replacing T-bar rows for pendlay rows instead. Still having some difficulty breathing from this cold.

Personally I'm from the school that muscle memory is built each rep we do. So failing reps also effects memory in a bad way potentially leading to degrading form or quicker plateaus due to always getting to the point where "you can't" and reinforcing that instead of a "you can" mentality. Half your lifting is in your head if you don't have the focus or the drive that big lift or new 1rm is not heppening. I try to get as close as I can to failure while still keeping within what I can do as best I can. Sometimes I fail but I'd rather have a spotter force me through the whole rep than be unable to finish it.

 

[Vermanubis]

I usually take a 26 gram scoop when i wake up on a workout day and another one immediately after I'm done. Gonna start creatine again tomorrow and see where it takes me. This cold put a damper on starting this but training today wasn't too bad.

My program takes about an hour and a half to do. No longer than 5 minute rest periods between sets for compound exercises and and 2 minutes for everything else. I'm also thinking about replacing T-bar rows for pendlay rows instead. Still having some difficulty breathing from this cold.

Personally I'm from the school that muscle memory is built each rep we do. So failing reps also effects memory in a bad way potentially leading to degrading form or quicker plateaus due to always getting to the point where "you can't" and reinforcing that instead of a "you can" mentality. Half your lifting is in your head if you don't have the focus or the drive that big lift or new 1rm is not heppening. I try to get as close as I can to failure while still keeping within what I can do as best I can. Sometimes I fail but I'd rather have a spotter force me through the whole rep than be unable to finish it.

By and large, I agree with this, but like with Shmot, it's a terminological disparity with what
"failure" means. When I train, I'm much like you, in that which I pump everything I can out until I just know I am no longer physically capable without doing drops or negatives. But it can also, under certain mindsets, create a "**** it, I'm done" attitude when you get to a point where it's strenuous and uncomfortable rather than true muscular failure. So yeah, I see where you're coming from.

On a side note, though I'm not entirely sure how precise this treadmill was, I decided to opt for it instead of running outside for the sake of timing myself. I hadn't time myself in a while, so I was curious to see what my mile time was. I was able to pull of a 7:36 mile (I switched from 8mph to 8.5mph 3/4 through, in case the math seems peculiar). Really happy about that, seeing as I thought my mile time degraded after only being able to do wind sprints sporadically over the past two months of my move.

 

[Super_Sonic8677]

That's true but I don't believe you would see that from anyone with some experience. If they're there to work hard on getting their body how they want, I'd think they'd do too much before they did too little.

Imo people who would develop that mindset will or already are anyway regardless of what they do with their workouts.

Doing reps to failure is when you can't complete a rep. Such as bench for example you press the weight maybe get it half way but it's not budging a single inch higher and eventually you have to let it back down and hopefull you got a spotter to help ya lol That's failure to me.

And great job on man on covering a mile man 7:36 is pretty sweet

I hate running and I've kinda benn holding off on aerobic activity I still got remnants of this chest cold left that won't go away.

 

[theeboredone]

Been just hooping it up a lot lately. Once I get home tonight, tomorrow I'll be looking more into the links you guys gave about strength programs without a gym.

 

[Chill]

If I don't lift a weight soon I think I might die.

 

[Pikaville]

I can't wait to join a gym in the new year!

 

[CAOTIC]

chill: time to round up the gang when i get home. "unacceptable!"

 

[Chill]

Hurry! I think it's been about three weeks since I've worked out. I feel like I'm getting skinny again

 

[Pikaville]

Your hot anyway :3

Don't sweat it.

Someday I will look like that sexy male dancer I encountered on Saturday, I'd say a year in the gym will do plenty.

How much do you reckon I could bulk up by in a year?

I only really wanna put on say 10-20 pounds.

I currently weigh 162.

 

[etecoon]

Been just hooping it up a lot lately. Once I get home tonight, tomorrow I'll be looking more into the links you guys gave about strength programs without a gym.

these two sites have a lot of good variations on basic calisthenics

http://www.alkavadlo.com/
http://beastskills.com/

 

[Darkshadow7827]

10-20 lbs of muscle in 1 year is a lot. Might be possible if your going through puberty or are getting massive beginner gains. For me, I've gained around 2-5 lbs since the beginning or a lil bit earlier of last summer.

 

[eighteenspikes]

It doesn't have to all be muscle... iirc sentinel looked like he needed to fill out a lil anyways.

Right now it's finals crunch time for me so I've been doing nothing workout wise. As soon as I'm done I'm just gonna hit the weights hard, and start running daily again. Between not working out for like 2 weeks and having to resort to fast food a few times, I feel super out of shape already lol.

 

[Keblerelf]

http://www.wimp.com/bestthing/

 

[Pluvia]

So its my weekend and I'm working out again, but I noticed that what I used to find hard has become much easier.

I haven't really pushed myself in a while, so tonight I'm going to push myself until I physically can't do anymore, rather than until I get really tired.

 

[CAOTIC]

10 pounds is realistic gain. different body types have limits too and naturally lean types wont gain muscle that easily.

or fat for that matter

 

[theeboredone]

Just be wary of those stretch marks.

 

[Attila_]

I put on about 6 lean kilos in my first year.

Then it slowed.

But once you understand how training/diet work, it becomes real easy. I got great control over my weight nowadays.

 

[Pikaville]

It doesn't have to all be muscle... iirc sentinel looked like he needed to fill out a lil anyways.

I'm still kinda skinny yeah.

 

[Pluvia]

Best dumbbell bicep workout?

 

[deepseadiva]

Curls... ?

 

[Pluvia]

I was doing incline dumbbell curls but maybe there's another one that has better results? That's what I'm here to check.

 

[Vermanubis]

I was doing incline dumbbell curls but maybe there's another one that has better results? That's what I'm here to check.

Curls are about the best exercise you can do for biceps. Chin-ups are great for mixing things up, too. As far as results, a lot of things can factor into results, like if you're using momentum or not going through your full range of motion, your progress will suffer.

Hammer curls and concentration curls do it best. Though, it couldn't hurt to throw in a few chin-ups with them, since the biceps are the primary synergist in them. Another thing that can affect progress is if a synergist is underdeveloped, so that it tires before the target muscle. That's not really a concern with isolation movements like curls, but it's something to keep in mind. Deadlifts and alternate-grip pull-ups are good examples of where many people need to use straps once their forearms tire out.

Lastly, I'm sure it's been said before, but results are slow unless you're taking some vitamin S in conjunction with your workouts. In my experience, you should strive for 4-8 reps at first, and once you can easily do 8+ reps, you need to up the weight in increments of either 5-10, depending on how much you've developed using the lower weight.

 

[Attila_]

Vitamin s? I missed something.

Biceps are a boring muscle, they don't do a whole lot, so that really limits your variation.

I daresay hammer curls are not an effective bicep exercise; the biceps are a supinator of the forearm, and do not function well in a mid-prone or pronated position. You instead focus on your other elbow flexors (mainly brachialis).

 

[theeboredone]

When it comes to biceps and curls, preacher curls are my preference. I've heard good things about that over other types of curl exercises.

 

[Vermanubis]

Vitamin s? I missed something.

Biceps are a boring muscle, they don't do a whole lot, so that really limits your variation.

I daresay hammer curls are not an effective bicep exercise; the biceps are a supinator of the forearm, and do not function well in a mid-prone or pronated position. You instead focus on your other elbow flexors (mainly brachialis).

Steroids.

I wouldn't totally agree with biceps being boring or nihilarian. They're rarely the target muscle, but they synergize almost every upper-body movement. They're like the abductors on your legs; they have virtually no target exercises, but without strong abductors, you'll have zero lateral strength. You're only as strong as your weakest link.

I can agree with the standard hammer curl being suboptimal though, but they still have their function as a brachialis facilitator. Standing concentration/hammer hybrids are what I've found to be the best because of their biarticulation of the brachialis and brachiadoralis in conjunction with full bicep contraction.

 

[Keblerelf]

Do chin ups.

It's like curling your own body weight, kind of.


And you can work your back as well.

 

[Pluvia]

Yeah I'm not taking steroids, I just want a decent body not an Arnold body.

 

[Vermanubis]

Yeah I'm not taking steroids, I just want a decent body not an Arnold body.

Lol, I wasn't saying you did steroids. I was saying that you're in for the long haul <unless> you take the cheater's way out. A lot of people mistake leanness for growth, since leanness comes exponentially quicker.

Edit:

Also, I've been doing flexibility training for a while now. Due to some anatomical irregularities (congenital tendon shortness in legs and consequently stiff hip joint capsules) progress has been exceptionally slow, but I'm now almost at a full front split. I wish I had before and after pictures, but this is the result of almost two years of stretching (isometrics and PNFs were slow, even):

I wanna have that for when I complete the split. I'm about 5 inches from the ground right now. It might be hard to tell, since my back leg wasn't in the picture. I'm really excited.

An additional note, that same tendon shortness is what makes squats really difficult for me. I cannot touch my heel to the floor if my knee is flexed, so I have to widen my stance and evert my feet when I do them, which puts a lot of extra stress on my quads. Same thing in my hands, too. In fact, when I went to the podiatrist to have it looked at, they found I have a 5 degree deficit in dorsiflexion of both my hands and feet. Average dorsiflexion should be 10-15 degrees; mine's -5. My wrists can barely bend backwards.

 

[Attila_]

Do chin ups.

It's like curling your own body weight, kind of.


And you can work your back as well.

Actually, there an exercise involving curling your body weight.

A Nilsson curl (sp?).

Check it on YouTube.

 

[Keblerelf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwcFdovb94

wow I never knew.

Spoiler

CURLING IN THE SQUAT RACK LOLOLOL

 

[theeboredone]

Been a good 2 weeks since I worked out due to finals and hooping it up a lot. Changed up my routine to something more explosive, higher repetition, shorter rests...the results?

I threw up halfway through the routine x.x

 

[SuperMatt]

question about muscle growth

lets say i workout with weights, and hypothetically i do everything correctly (good form, proper nutrient timing,amount,etc.)

if i have a 200-300 calorie deficit for the day, will my muscles still grow and get stronger?

 

[Vermanubis]

question about muscle growth

lets say i workout with weights, and hypothetically i do everything correctly (good form, proper nutrient timing,amount,etc.)

if i have a 200-300 calorie deficit for the day, will my muscles still grow and get stronger?

It's hard to say. It all depends on your current diet. If in the context of a deficit of your planned caloric intake, yeah, it will inhibit growth. Despite what some people say, you don't need to eat a ****load of extremely high-calorie foods to grow--at least, that's <my experience>. You do, however, need to eat often and well. It's best to create caloric deficits via cardio than actual intake reduction if you're aiming to get big and strong. (Cardio, by the way, doesn't reduce muscle growth. I've been doing cardio 4-5 times a week for quite some time now, and I'm still growing and getting stronger)

 

[Darkshadow7827]

question about muscle growth

lets say i workout with weights, and hypothetically i do everything correctly (good form, proper nutrient timing,amount,etc.)

if i have a 200-300 calorie deficit for the day, will my muscles still grow and get stronger?

You can have a calorie deficit and still gain muscle mass. If you eat a good amount of protein and have a calorie deficit, your body will dip into its store of fat to use as energy. Some people use that method to lose body fat and gain muscle strength and mass. It'll take a good while to do both, but yes you can still get muscle growth.

 

[Keblerelf]

question about muscle growth

lets say i workout with weights, and hypothetically i do everything correctly (good form, proper nutrient timing,amount,etc.)

if i have a 200-300 calorie deficit for the day, will my muscles still grow and get stronger?

Me using intuition:

1st law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. Muscle growth requires your body to get that extra mass from somewhere; if you don't have a caloric excess, you won't have anything to use to build that extra mass. If you eat less than what you need to maintain your weight, you won't have anything to use.

So most likely, your muscles won't be able to grow with a caloric deficit and you'll probably feel a bit weaker too since you aren't getting the same amount of energy your body needs in order to be active.

 

[Attila_]

hope everyone had a good christmas!

now time to get back to it...

the thread title now applies again... new years resolutions anyone?

 

[Darkshadow7827]

hope everyone had a good christmas!

now time to get back to it...

the thread title now applies again... new years resolutions anyone?

Hmmmm not in particular. Imma keep going like I always have. I love how our title, which was meaningless, became relevant again. Hopefully more people will join/post.

My friends all did this bet: 100 pushups in 1 sitting, 16 pull ups, and 3 miles in 24 mins or less. 100$ bet per person. Meet the goals, keep the money. Anyone who fails has to fork up their cash and it splits between the participants. They have till the beginning of the semester. I'm not part of it however. Also their form is questionable. I consider good form for push ups being arms around shoulder length apart, back straight and stays straight, and more importantly, going down low enough so that your chin would at least be a fists distance off the ground. If you had those dinging bells they have at hotels, a ding would suffice. Needless to say, my friends don't go down that low >.>

 

[deepseadiva]

145 lbs.

Gomad and this bulking break was a colossal failure, lol. I'm pushing myself pretty hard in the gym - my squat and a lot of my lifts are going up (let's not talk bench), and I even did a clean set of deadlifts for the first time (!), but I'm sleeping past breakfast, eating about two tiny individual slices of pizza a day, and maybe half a glass of milk. There's just no food in this house at all.

ಠ_ಠ

I've resigned to not meeting my goals, but I think this semester back at school will be pretty productive. I'm moving some things around, and I'll be freed from a few distractions. I miss my creatine, my bed, and my dining hall buffet. 2012 hurry the hell up.

 

[Vermanubis]

145 lbs.

Gomad and this bulking break was a colossal failure, lol. I'm pushing myself pretty hard in the gym - my squat and a lot of my lifts are going up (let's not talk bench), and I even did a clean set of deadlifts for the first time (!), but I'm sleeping past breakfast, eating about two tiny individual slices of pizza a day, and maybe half a glass of milk. There's just no food in this house at all.

ಠ_ಠ

I've resigned to not meeting my goals, but I think this semester back at school will be pretty productive. I'm moving some things around, and I'll be freed from a few distractions. I miss my creatine, my bed, and my dining hall buffet. 2012 hurry the hell up.

It's the absolute ****ing worst when you can't do work because of a lack of food. That's seriously the hardest part of it all. Getting diverse protein sources can be expensive as ****. I rely on oatmeal, milk, eggs, tuna, grilled turkey burgers and <formerly> and hopefully again soon, protein supplements for my protein.

Also, one thing I wanna mention now that you've brought up Creatine, is for everyone to be careful of what powders they buy:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...-drinks/whats-in-your-protein-drink/index.htm

Lots of companies apparently like to give a little kick with **** like arsenic and mercury in their products. I made the mistake of buying protein supplements at Wal-Mart until I watched a Scooby video detailing the precautions of taking supplements for that reason. It's gonna be more expensive, but I'm buying my protein at the health food store on my street from now on.