The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

yeah no matter what... when you cut you lose muscle

 

Truth, that's why I have no desires to ever cut below the 18% range.

 

I started at around 175lbs 15%bf and I could flat bench 275 for 6

I havent done flat bench in for ever haha

 

Stay warm, or else injury occurs!

 

I'm currently 5'11", 200 lbs right out of bed and 13% bf. I'm trying to get to at least under 10% by mid-March. Gonna be hard, but I'm only trying to do so for the beach lol, so if I don't make it that low, I still have the rest of March to get ready for summer. It's all about aesthetics, baby!

haha my g/f is the same way. We go on a date and it's always somewhere that serves all the bad shit I like. Usually, I'm pretty good at keeping it clean though.

 

Well, that sucks!

 

tomorrow is deload chest day, this whole week of deload is so freaking tedious

 

A couple months ago I weighed about 165. I'm about 5'7 and I wasn't fat I just saw where I needed to weigh about 150-155 I think that's right. So I've watched what I ate and cut back so I'm down to about 155-157 now. I've been doing push ups and crunches/sit ups every other day. I've got a little ways to go for my abs but will continue to work on those. I'm medium build but I think I've got some stocky shoulders and traps. I'm wanting to get a little bigger shoulders, bigger biceps, and triceps and my chest too. I took muscle milk last year but I thought I gained weight with that, so I'm wondering if there is a better protein powder that I can take instead of muscle milk. If muscle milk is ok I will take that bc it did have a good taste. I may not go to the gym, I've got two 30 lb dumbbells that I'm curling and I'm trying to figure out what to lay on in order to do some chest butterflies. My brother suggested that I could use the same dumbbells and do some lunges for my legs.

 

muscle milk is crap

help us understand here, you're trying to get bigger without gaining weight?

 

5'8" 153 lbs and around 10-11% BF. But I need less.

 

Same here. I think last time I saw the 150s I was in wrestling my sophomore year.

 

I was like 115-125 as a freshman. hahhahahahaaaaa

 

Yeah I think when I graduated from high school back in '01 I weighed about 125-127. I don't mind gaining weight as long as its muscle weight and not fat. Thats why I've started watching what I eat and exercising more. I walk a lot at work and up and down stairs a good part of the day. Just want to bulk up some.

 

Don't leave out your back and legs; working out legs boosts natural testosterone levels higher than any other body part. And, as we all know, testosterone = muscle gain. Also, working out back and legs make everything else grow, too. Plus, you don't want to walk around looking like a candy apple with little dangly poles hanging from your upper body.

Muscle Milk is horrible. I personally recommend Optimum Nutrition Whey. I ran out yesterday and had to buy a Muscle Milk from the gas station; they're high in carbs (~12g), fat (16g) and protein (32g)....that's retarded. They either need to be low in fat or carbs, not high in both! I will give it to them though, their banana flavor was delicious.

Lastly, from what I gather, you're wanting to get bigger in your chest, biceps, triceps, and shoulders, but you only have 2 30 lb. dumbbells? I just don't see how that's going to work, man.

Unfortunately for 99% of people, fat gain comes with muscle gain. Can't gain one without the other. That's why a lot of folks bulk up in the winter months (when they'll be fully clothed) and cut up for the summer months. Some people just try to stay lean year-round, but you can't really get bigger doing that. Also, some people (myself included) clean bulk, which minimizes fat gain with muscle gain, but it takes longer to put on the muscle and you pretty much have to eat every 2 hrs and you're going to stay full allllllll day from all the high carbs grains and whole wheat shit....I'm a much bigger fan of dirty bulking: eat whatever the hell you want and get big and strong.

I know, right?

hahaha I didn't start lifting until I got in college. All through high school, I was 5'8" - 5'11" and 120 -140 lbs. 7 years later, I've thrown on 80 lbs. lol. Don't worry my fellow ectomorphs, it IS possible to gain muscle....you just gotta eat! Lifting is 10% of it for an ecto. Diet is 90%. That's what worked for me, but in the words of the Hodge Twinzzzz,:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsB2wtH24D8

 

I appreciate the help, what would be a good starting routine? I know I am hopefully going ot out grow the 2-30lb dumbbells, where can I get some more that you can actually put more weight on? The ones I have are the hex-head shaped ones. How many reps and sets should I be doing to build mass? I've read about the optimum nutrition whey and was thinking about trying that just gotta go out and get some. GNC have that or should I order online cheaper? Sorry for being a newbie at this

 

I don't know about purchasing your own stuff b/c I go to and work at a gym. Hagen is the one to talk to about that; he has his own gym in his garage. I would definitely invest in a barbell and some free weights, too. Dumbbells are great, though.

I recommend this workout to everyone who wants to put on muscle; it's the best workout plan I've ever found and recommend it to everyone:

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/dougs-4-day-split-workout.html

I always do different reps, anywhere from 6-12. Sometimes I do heavy weight, low reps (6-8) and sometimes I do lighter weight, high reps (10-12)...it's always good to mix it up.

Optimum Nutrition is the best quality brand I've ever used...and they're not outrageous with their prices. GNC has it, but bodybuilding.com is the cheapest place I've found to get it.

 

Last night I brought my two dumbbells from my mom and dads house and did 3 sets of 10-12 reps. Is this good for building mass or do I need to go lower reps and more weight? My little girl got on my back last night wanting to ride the horse, but I said hold on let me try something. She is 2 years old and weighs about 25 lb So I started doing push ups with her on my back.

 

to build size you need to eat big and lift big..

there are a few things you can do... High weight low reps (which is great for chest)... what I like is heavy weight high reps... seems backwards but kai green does it ... gotta figure out what works for you body

 

also dont worry about supplements yet... you need to worry about your diet and your routine before you worry about anything else.... supplements dont get you big, diet and working out

 

That might get you started, but you're definitely gonna need some more equipment so you can get incorporate heavy weights and different exercises. After you can do more that 12 reps with 30 lb dumbbells, you're not going to grow anymore. You've definitely got to up the weight to grow.

This

And this. Although, a protein supplement does save money from you having to buy meat. You should not rely on protein powder as you main source of protein, though. I consume around 200g protein a day and less that 100g of that comes from powder. Meat is a much better source of protein than powder.