The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

That's great dude. Nothing feels better than when you work hard and start noticing changes. Don't go all out your first week though -- it's like quitting smoking, you have a much higher chance of quitting when you wean off of it than when you quit cold turkey (not to say it can't be done however, so more power to you if you can!)

I would suggest that maybe your first few days, keep a snack or two that you really enjoy (that might not be so healthy for you) but make sure you are strict with your other meals and snacks. The biggest thing to avoid are the sugary drinks and sodas. WATER WATER WATER! If you drink soda on a strict diet, you can say goodbye to any progress you ever might make. By the end of your first week of dieting you should be "off the bad stuff." Keep one meal per week that's your cheat meal (maybe eat a little less in your other meals to help budget for it) -- whatever you want to eat, be it a burger, big juicy steak, or McDonald's, eat it. That one meal will not affect your weight loss -- your exercise and diet is a habit and works very gradually, it's not a "lose it in one day" project.

The app "My Fitness Pal" is a great tool as well, I still use it today.

 

Ive been doing the stronglifts 5x5 for the last3 months. Looking to change things up

 

You may benefit more from a full body workout where legs are stressed only one day -- if you haven't been doing that, this could be the change your body might benefit from. This was the workout regimen I was given by my training NCO (in addition to our PT every morning which was usually cardio/run based, so legs got A LOT of work). It definitely got me much stronger with the proper diet and protein intake. This was focused for more of a raw/brute strength increase, since most endurance was taken care of with the morning PT. Take it for what you want, and obviously switch up what you don't need. Keep in mind that strengthening your core and supporting muscles will also increase your strength when squatting since it is a highly compound exercise. Also, if you begin using this regimen START LIGHT -- you will definitely be hurting.


SFC KENRICK WORKOUT

Monday: CHEST
Incline dumbbell press heavy 4x8
Flat dumbbell press heavy 4x8
Incline dumbbell flies 2x8
Flat dumbbell flies 2x8
Decline dumbbell flies 2x8
Weighted dips 3x8

Tuesday: BACK
Wide grip pull-ups 4x8
Medium grip pull-ups 4x8
Close grip pull-ups 4x8
Bent over dumbbell rows 4x8
Wide lat pull downs 3x8
Close lat pull downs 3x8
Finisher: choose one of the following
(Cable pull downs/overhead pulls 3x15)
(Seated rows 3x15)
(Bent bar rower 3x15)

Wednesday: SHOULDERS
Dumbbell military press 4x8
Arnold press 4x8
Barbell pull/press 3x(12/10/8)
Dumbbell side lateral raise 4x8
Dumbbell front lateral raise 4x8
Dumbbell shrug 4x12

Thursday: LEGS
Front squat 4x8
Dumbbell lunges 4x8
Leg press 4x8
Leg extension 4x8
Leg curl 4x8
Weighted calf raises 4x8

Friday: ARMS
Alternating dumbbell curl 4x8
Barbell curl 4x8
Hammer curl 4x8
One handed cable curl palm up 4x8
One handed cable curl palm down 4x8
Reverse curl 4x8
Skull crusher dumbbell/vertical grip bar 4x8
Close grip barbell press 4x8
One hand cable push down palm up 4x8
One hand cable push down palm down 4x8

NOTES: Weight should be heavy enough that you only get it about 8 times on each first set. If you can get it 8 reps then do 8 reps and bump up the weight for the next set.

Let me know what you think.

 

Thanks man! Ive been doing better each day staying strict and only eating whole foods. Ive tried Fitness Pal but got off of it for awhile. Maybe I'll get back on. And measure whatever I eat. But I doubt it. If I eat lots of veggies and lean meats I should be okay right? And oh yeah we don't even have pop in the house. I drink 1 glass of milk a day. The rest is water.

Do you have suggestions for a lifting program? Everyday, every other day ect. Im going to try to run everyday. On top of biking to the school and back, some days twice. Should I focus on do more compound lifts versus iso's? Again, I'm new to this and wanna lose fat. Keeping muscle isn't important to me very much, but if I can keep it, hell yeah!

I understand how critical diet matters. I know I won't lose fat if I'm not on a good diet. I know diet is the key to fat loss.

 

I'm sure this will get bashed but I did two things to lose weight.

1) Started eating the best I know how. No, bread, pasta, white rice, potatos, dairy are main things I try to avoid. No sugar. All meat is fair game but I typically eat chicken, fish, and bacon. Normal day for me is Half a chicken breast or 4 pieces of bacon and two eggs, mid morning snack such as a Larabar or jerky, lunch chicken with brocolli and carrots, afternoon snack of almonds or jerky, dinner chicken or fish and brocolli and carrots. That is a typical kind of day for me.

I do have cheat days where the no foods are included but I do my best not too.

2. Started doing crossfit. I get weight training and cardio all in one session. If you want to do extra weight training outside of the specified workout of the day thats up to you. Crossfit bashers don't knock it till you try it. It has been some of the hardest workouts i've ever done. I'm 31 years old and i've had some of the best results of my life. I"ve done P90X and Insanity, crossfit to me is way better. I used to do the one or two body part per day thing heavy days, light days bla bla but that just stopped working for me at some point. Not gonna post pictures again beacuase I did a few pages ago but I went from 191 to 175 in less than four monthes.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

Cutting carbs is definitely a shortcut to weight loss, I'm at a point right now where I am adding carbs to each meal and drinking 4 cups of whole milk every day.

 

So do the workout of the day? Is it every day or do you have breaks on like the weekends?

So you're saying to not cut them out? If thats the case I'll be eating plenty veggies to get carbs.

 

If you follow crossfit.com it is 3 on 1 off I believe. I follow a crossfit gym on facebook that is near my home town they post workouts everyday and I like them better than the ones usually posted on the crossfit website. My days off depend on how I feel usually. One week I'll workout Mon-Fri and nothing on the weekends sometimes I'll skip Wed and maybe do a Saturday workout but usually just depends on whats going on. I shoot for about 4-5 days a week. You def need carbs just not bad carbs. Baked potatos and pasta are bad. Sweet potatos and veggies good.

 

Just curious: has anyone heard of/tried intermittent fasting? I tried it for about a month and loved it. It's pretty simple: you eat everything you'd eat in a regular day, but in an 8 hr period
Ex: wake up at 8, workout, break the fast at 9 and eat like you would normally until 5. After 5, you can't have anything but water until 9am the next morning. You still eat the same amount of carbs, protein, fat, and calories, but in an 8 hr window. While fasting for 16 hrs, your body starts using fat for energy, rather than carbs. It doesn't burn muscle, because you're getting your daily protein needs (for me, 200g). I did this for a month. I started at 188 lbs, 13% bf and benching 260. At the end of the month, I weighed 193, was 10% bf and benching 270. I started school this week, so I can't really do it anymore b/c I'm in class from 11-4, but it works. It took a few days to get accustomed to not eating from 5 pm to 9 am, but 8 of those hrs, I was asleep, so it wasn't a big deal. Lastly, I still workout in the mornings before I eat and I love it. Training on an empty stomach puts the fat-burning into overdrive. This might sound like bro-science, but I read and read about it for hours before I did it and, after actually trying it, I was blown away. I've got links to the sources if anyone's interested. It's not for everyone, though. If you can't eat BIG meals, go more than 2 hrs without eating, or train on an empty stomach, I wouldn't recommend trying it.

A weight gainer will help out a lot. I used serious mass by Optimum Nutrition.

I work out on an empty stomach after I wake up. The only thing I consume is coffee or a pre-workout. It's called 'fasted training' or 'training while fasting.' It trains your body to burn fat for energy, rather than carbs. It comes from the intermittent fasting diet. I tried it for a month and was really impressed, but with school having started back, I can't do it right now, so I just train in the morning on an empty stomach. I like it, but it's not for everyone

Squat as heavy as you can for 1 rep (max out). Take about 45 lbs off that and do 4-5 sets of 5. Also, deadlift. Heavy weight = strength

 

I need to get thicker! (And work on my legs...but that's tomorrow. Shh. Don't need any "chicken legs" jokes from the peanut gallery)

 

I need to gain some weight to I look 90% arms 10% legs when I work my upper body and the exact opposite when I work my legs.

If I actually got up when my alarm goes off in the morning I'd be able to hit the gym regularly.

 

In 30 pounds gained, my legs look no bigger and I work them 2x a week at a minimum... the portion of the leg you always see never grows IMO. Fucking school girl calfs. Patrick knows what I mean

 

ha
ha

schoolgirl calves

 

Yea...I work em, but it just seems like I never see any gains there. Whatever...all I can do is keep workin em. I can always just wear pants all the time haha

 

Here's a good picture of Patricks' leg:

 

Stupid Cactus and Stupid Calves!!!

 

How come some people are just born with big calves, but no one is born with big biceps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56MZjPykQ7A

 

So I had nothing to eat but a steak/cheese 6" from subway today

felt kinda weird when I woke up from a 20 min nap after work, was all "fuck it, ima go to the gym"

took a scoop of assault, headed out

felt like concentrated death as soon as it kicked in

holy fuck. Did three sets of chest stuff and just went home

and blacked out when I got there.... in my room



sooooooooooooooo.........haha