The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Burning fat and building muscle are two different workouts. to intense of a workout and you will be burning sugars instead of fats.

Don't take that as its one or the other either...

I would not work out on an empty stomach. Its no fun and depending on how much energy you have will dictate a lot. have a little bowl of oatmeal w/raisins before heading out for a run and then have a fruit salad afterward.

 

Im not too worried about that at this point. Just wanna lose fat.

 

I would hop on the cardio train. Running is the easiest (and cheapest). But as I mentioned before (in here or a different thread) diet has a huge influence on the results. I havent seen the figure in a while but I believe its about 100cals/mile, so its pretty easy to off set the 'loosing weight' aspect of a run with a bad meal choice for the day.

Its alot easier to choose a salad over a burger then to run off the burger. Check out the runners thread.

I am not going to spam this thread with food tips though

check out videos on how to run (or lift/swim/etc) efficiently, sounds stupid but it works very well.

 

diet =85%

do interval training with high rep/low weight movements

 

On a side note, anyone use soles in their shoes? My prescription ons have definitely flattened a noticeable amount. I am going to get them reformed, but figured it might be worth while to get a set specifically for lifting so I don't fubar my nice ones.

 

I can personally attest to the DIET vs. (workout) fact. When I joined the Army I was a whopping 310 lbs (at 5' 10", no sports background other than shot-put and discuss). Never ran more than a quarter mile in my life, so keeping up with the daily 2-5 mile runs not only sucked but resulted in some wicked shin splints and other nagging injuries. The first three weeks my diet was still out of control and even with the crazy amount of intervals I did i only lost 8 pounds. Then I got a hold of my diet for the next 2 months and dropped 35 pounds. It's been a battle since then but 4 years later I've gone through Infantry Basic Training (enlisted as a PV2), finished college, and commissioned as an Infantry officer at 195 lbs maxing my physical fitness test.

If you do have your diet under control, if you aren't a big runner (for any reason: knees, shin splints, etc.) I'd say interval training is your best bet. If you aren't worried about getting bigger, you can do bike or elliptical -- 10 minute easy to intermediate warmup, then 20 minutes of 3 minute hard work to 1 minute easy work, then 5-10 minute easy cool down.

Crossfit is also a great "sport" (I know this will piss off a lot of people lol) for burning fat -- much shorter workouts too.

 

interval is the way to go for fat loss

 

What type of inserts are you prescribed? In my past with the inserts they never amounted to much as compared to a good pair of running shoes when it came to weight lifting (I use Brooks, but Asics are also good). As long as your support is adequate where it doesn't unnecessarily strain parts of your lower legs and feet during movements you should be fine. What type of weight lifting are you doing (AKA high weight/low reps, low weight/high reps)?

 

What do you guys do to boost you squats. I seem to be stuck on 205#

Back Squat

- 2 sets 95# x8
- 2 sets 205# x3
- 4 sets 135# x8

 

Im on my bike more nowadays but in the weight room I do 'heavy' lifting.

I've had good shoes in the past but they don't help much, my bones will literally twist to the point they are no longer able to move together.

So inserts are pretty much a must

And that's not exaggerating. My foot has been stuck at a 90* angle because I didn't have my soles and I walked around for about 8 days.

 

Are you doing any dead lifts or 1legged squats?

I do 1legged on the plate loaded leg press. My numbers have been slowly climbing, just be careful.

 

do you do other leg exercises? inverted presses, front squats, quad extensions, hammy extensions...all help
and deadlifts for lower back strength

you can build up to 205 as well, seems like you're missing a step there between 205 and 135

 

How much do you weigh? I got my squat weight up 50 lbs in about two to three weeks (I was at 205, squatting only 285 for one rep max). It seems you need to do slightly heavier lifting at less reps but more sets. Try this (I did this three times a week):

Take only 60-75 seconds rest in between sets, including weight reracking.
5 reps 25% max (your max being 5 rep max not 1 rep max)
5 reps 50% max
3 sets of 5 reps 100% max

In those three sets you shouldn't change weight drastically, maybe add 10 pounds to the last set. Each time you do those sets, try adding just a little more. If you get stuck, don't struggle with the heavy weight for the next set, take weight off and do the reps properly. If you struggle on one set, stop, take off some weight, and do whatever you have left left in the set (don't rest).

You should also be doing dead lifts at least once a week if not twice a week (preferably further apart than the squats, say Monday and Friday). Make sure to engage your glutes because its where you generate a lot of your power when you're doing squats.

Also be sure to always engage your core when you're doing all of these. You will be amazed at how much more you can squat when you have proper form and tense your core when you're struggling at the bottom.

 

Wow that's crazy! Haha. Well I can't speak much for that severe of a case but what drastically helped me was getting fitted at Road Runner Sports (not sure if that's around you). Basically they do the same thing as everyone else: have you stand on a pad, figure out what you need, and fit a sole around your foot.

 

I've found running with the douchy barefoot thing has worked for me pretty well...

used to get shin splints real bad when I was with the ROTC...every morning before PT I'd have to pop a few ibuprofen or else I'd suffer


been running four miles daily with the vibrams...and havent had the shin splints come back


but if the bone alignment is that off....i aint to podiatrist. haha

 

I dont do strictly leg days. I do squats every fourth day at the beginning of the workout. Just been doing mostly back squats for the heavy stuff. Did a bit of front squats today, way harder to do heavy weights though.

Im just coming off of 5x5. So i decided to mix it up a bit by adding some different exercises and changing to a 4x8 routine while still doing the main compounds. Started doing 4-5 days/week so i added some isolation workouts in the off days.

EDITED

 

Thanks. Ill try that. Do you do the same for BB Bench?

Im 5'9 162# right now.

Deadlifts once a week sometimes twice

 

I ran with a pair of the new balance minimalist shoes.. They helped a ton with developing muscle stability and good running form -- cause when you do it wrong it hurts like hell haha

 

Yea I'd say take a look at the StrongLifts program (search google "5x5 StronfLifts PDF" should be the first result). I don't have 12 weeks to do the whole thing but after 3 weeks there was a considerable difference in raw strength. Just compound those with other compound exercises such as abs on the off days and you will gain a lot of strength very quickly. But also realize you are already pushing 150% of your body weight, your progress will start slowing down now.

 

Im getting my diet on track. I went to the grocery store and got nothing but veggies fruits and lean meats. I dont eat poptarts for breakfast anymore. Im staying far clear from fast food and any food like that for that matter. Going to try to eat a lot of veggies troughout the day to cap my hunger. And I bike to class everyday which is 1.3 miles one way. Not far by any means but I usually will go to and from school twice a day. Have been having sleeping problems so I haven't been running in the morning like I have wanted but im fuckin ready to lose this belly fat.