The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

It's gonna suck when you turn 40!

Happy birthday, too!

 

Yup, ask me how I know!

 

Ha, I was referring to him having to overhead squat 400 lbs on his 40th birthday.

Also, I noticed that I eat more food on a cut than most normal people do on their regular diets...not more calories, just more food.

I just don't understand these non-lifting folks and their 3 measly ass meals per day

 

I figured, but I can dream haha. Doubt I'll ever be able to squat one tenth of that.

Depends on their goals I guess. I usually eat more per day as I go through my meals so I end up with a good sized dinner.

 

It just kills me how clueless some folks can be about eating. I was talking to this one kid who is a college intern at the Capitol and he was asking how to "get big." I asked what he ate each day and he asked why that mattered lol.

Going to the gym is about 15% of the equation.

I just had to do some tweaking to my diet because I've been so hungry all the time on my cut. I wish I could just bulk year-round. I deleted my egg yolks and threw in a salad for two reasons: 1. to stay fuller during the day and 2. it's literally the only vegetable source I eat all day. I looked up all the sources of vitamins and minerals here and there is something I eat in every category, so I'm fairly certain I'm covering all my micronutrients, but I do know vegetables do offer other benefits, besides their vitamin values....something about antioxidants, phytochemicals, yada yada...so I figured including one big ass salad each day will only help cover all my bases, since I'm not too keen on eating vegetables.

 

Blend oj, kale, brown sugar. Easy addition to your breakfast for my veggies

 

vegatables suck! I mostly eat chicken. everyday....

 

coulda had a V8

 

v8 is alright... the fruity kind at least

 

That's just it and it's what you eat just like how much. Love it when people at my work suck down a smoothie just for a snack trying to lose weight and forgetting the calories in the damn thing.

I remember the first night I used the treadmill, I barely lasted 10 minutes and was dying. Reached for my ever present Mountain Dew and chugged about 12 ounces. Then just stood there and said to myself why did you just do all that work, stupid?

 

i use to eat about a full serving of veggies every 6 month, not even joking.

 

Ok, so any advice for a guy who can only go to the gym 3 times a week and is desperately trying to get gains?
I want lean muscle mass and to slim up in the tummy.
I'm 6'2" and weigh about 195 at the moment.
I pretty much do these exercises in the order listed and do 3 sets.
So far this is my 45-50 min routine(circuit):

Upper Body Day

-Dumbbell Hammers: 12 reps 25/30 lbs

-Dumbbell Forearm Curls: 12 reps 30 lbs

-Dumbbell Bicep Curls: 12 reps 30 lbs

-Bench Press: 12 reps 110 lbs

-Lateral Pull Downs: 12 reps 70/80 lbs

-High Cable Chest Flys: 12 reps 30 lbs

-Seated Row Machine: 12 reps 60 lbs

-Trap Exercise(Shoulder Shrugs aka I don't knows): 35lbs plate in each hand 12 reps


Lower Body Day

- Leg Extensions(Quads): 14 reps 90 lbs

- Leg Press Machine: 14 reps 120 lbs

- Calf Machine: 14 reps 35 lbs

- Stairmaster: 10 mins level 5/6


I know sleep & diet are a huge factor as well....

 

You want size? do compound, since you seem new to weight, no disrespect just basing it on the weights you put up, do full body type workouts.

same workout everyday.

Bench press
overhead press
squat
deadlift
barbell rows

That's all you need.
Do 5 sets each exercise 5-8 reps with some heavy ass weights and you'll be packing on size in no time, assuming you eat enough.

 

The only V8's I drink are loaded with vodka Love a good bloody mary

That's about how I am. I like salads, but that's about it. Do potatoes count lol?

Diet is most important: go here and mess around with stuff. Basically, you have an amount of calories (say 3000 for example) that you can eat per day without losing or gaining weight, also known as your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Eat around 500 calories above your TDEE (3500) and you'll gain about a pound per week. 1 pound per week is the safest route in order to gain as much muscle as possible with as little fat as possible.

The link above gives you a good estimate of what your TDEE is, as well as telling you how much protein, carbs, and fat those calories should be composed of.

Sleep is simple: sleep at least 7 hrs per day.

Working out is also simple:

If you can only do 3 days per week and you're a beginner, I'd recommend doing 3 full upper body workouts per week, as spread out as possible, in order to give you plenty of time to recover (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, for example). Just pick 1 workout per muscle group (chest, back, triceps, biceps, legs, shoulders) and do each of them on your workout days. Just google 'best chest exercises', 'best back exercises', etc.; there are tons of exercises for each muscle that are great, but the most effective are compound movements, such as squats, deadlifts, etc.

Next is reps and sets: maximum hypertrophy comes from a rep range of 6-15, which means that whatever exercise you want to do, make sure you're in that rep range. If you do 15 and you could have done 16, you need to add more weight. You want your final rep to feel like you're eyeballs are going to pop out. For sets, if you're doing higher rep stuff (10-15), only do around 3 sets. If you're doing lower rep stuff (6-8), do 4-5 sets.

That's about it.

 

Perfectly said...although, I like to have higher rep (12-15) days, as well.

 

REAL ectos can bulk year round

 

I think I've slowly phased out of ecto mode...maybe I'm getting old and my metabolism is slowing down

I used to be skin and bones. 5 years later, of course, I don't have as much muscle mass as I'd like, but I sure as hell put on fat easier. I have to bulk carefully lol

 

The thing is, when I try to lift heavier...I can feel straining in my elbow(joints).
I somehow feel as though I'm prone to injury due to that feeling I get.

Thank you for the advice though... I will try what you both suggested.

 

A lot of people get tendon/ligament pains in their elbows because their muscles are growing faster than the tendons/ligaments can handle, so it hurts. Over time, they'll catch up as long as you don't do anything stupid....at least that was the case for me.