General Workout Routines and Questions

[ExigeEvan]

Just started a proper supplementation with creatine monohydrate. Haven't been doing it for long, but I already added 5kg / 11lbs to my bench and the same amount to my barbell curls. Also added about 10 kg / 22lbs to my barbell rows and a few other excercises.

How are you finding your water intake? The problem I had with creatine was a considerably higher water intake, and I already drink a lot.

 

[Luminis]

How are you finding your water intake? The problem I had with creatine was a considerably higher water intake, and I already drink a lot.

Prior to taking creatine, I was chugging down somewhere around 2.5 to 3 litres of plain water a day, including my workouts. My normal water intake hasn't changed much, but I'm drinking easily twice as much during my workouts. Went from about a litre to two, sometimes two and a half. So, my total is now around 3.5 to 4 litres a day, but it doesn't really bother me.

The results have been pretty decent, so far. Upped my weigth considerably on every exercise I've been doing. I also lost some of that pesky belly fat. Too bad I've got to take a break for a few days due to being out of town thanks to work, but I'm looking forward to some benching on Friday.

 

[Pako]

Just hopping in to say it's winter time here and time to grow!

The last 8 weeks I have seen some growth and increase in workout intensity which is awesome! Hope to keep it up for a little while longer. Will be adding a bit of cardio in a few weeks to shed some of the unwanted body fat, etc.

Did some heavy heavy curls yesterday. Went up the dumbbell rack and stopped at 70's for a 5 rep set. Went over to barbell curls for drop sets starting at 155lb down to 95lbs and finished off with some great isolation. Had good a good tri workout today, heavy cable, heavy skulls, isolated seated rope extensions, etc. Hope to have a good leg day tomorrow. Last week I tweaked my left leg doing 495lb squats then 170lb lunges. It feels pretty good today, but not sure how heavy I can go on the sled tomorrow, will see.

 

[Luminis]

You sure are putting up some pretty darn impressive numbers, Pako

I've been having a good time, lately, too. Changed my workout routine to a three day split and the results are pretty nice. However, I'm mostly focused on getting rid of all that unnecessary body fat - it'd be too hard to shed all of that till the summer, if I didn't start now. But, well, I've at least made good progress in that regard. I stopped eating carbohydrates (almost, at least) and went from 15 percent body fat to about 11 percent.

Muscle growth hasn't been as great, but I've at least managed to up the weight on most of my excercises, so it seems like I'm at least getting stronger I'm close to benching my own body weight (about 178 lbs), so, yeah, I'm getting stronger. Slowly, but that's okay Now, just need to get through christmas without eating too much

 

[shmogt]

Lol ya Pako is like 2-3 guys in one. Most guys on here can't even bench 155lbs for reps and this guy is curling it lol.

 

[Luminis]

Well, there#s gotta be someone we can look up to, right?

Anyways, I'm quite happy with how things are going 👍 If I keep things up, i should at least be having a six pack once summer rolls on. Thats my number one goal right now

 

[Pako]

Ok well....2013 is a new year right? I tried something lastnight for the first time. The guys in the gym call it "Car-dee-oh". I've heard some of the evening folks talk about this thing, but who in the heck would want to do something called, "Car-dee-oh". Being counter productive to gaining mass, but proactive to better wind and a stronger heart, not to mention burning fat, I decided to give it a go. We were all set for x2 10 minute miles. A moderate pace that just about killed me. I ended up doing 1.8 miles in 21 minutes. Gives me something to work towards. I will be running every night for a while trying to get some of un-needed mass off. I am pushing 255lbs at the moment and would be pretty ripped at 220lbs. I think. So here's to 2013 being a year to strip some excess fat, trim the mass, and start showing more striations in my muscle tissue.

 

[Pako]

Ok so....over the weekend I managed to put on 6 lbs. Looks like this cardio is a great way to bulk up! I've had it wrong all these years.....

 

[shmogt]

Ok so....over the weekend I managed to put on 6 lbs. Looks like this cardio is a great way to bulk up! I've had it wrong all these years.....

Lol funny how things work.

But seriously if you are a strength athlete which I know you are since you post routines lol stick to HIIT cardio. That intense speed burst for the 30sec, 1min, whatever you aim for conditions your body to go full out for short amounts of time. Exactly what you need to lift heavy weight for sets. It's still 20min for example but filled with all out burst of speeds through out so you get the benefit of normal cardio as well as helping condition your body for short period weight sets.

 

[Pako]

Lol funny how things work.

But seriously if you are a strength athlete which I know you are since you post routines lol stick to HIIT cardio. That intense speed burst for the 30sec, 1min, whatever you aim for conditions your body to go full out for short amounts of time. Exactly what you need to lift heavy weight for sets. It's still 20min for example but filled with all out burst of speeds through out so you get the benefit of normal cardio as well as helping condition your body for short period weight sets.

That interesting that you mention that. That's exactly how I ran my 2 mile tonight. Took about 22 minutes with mixes of 6-7 mph for 30 seconds or until I was breathing too hard then I would back it off. 256lbs smashing on my shins feels wonderful to, by the way.

I'll stick with it though, I know it's good for my body and heart, but will help me tone up, which would be nice!

 

[shmogt]

That interesting that you mention that. That's exactly how I ran my 2 mile tonight. Took about 22 minutes with mixes of 6-7 mph for 30 seconds or until I was breathing too hard then I would back it off. 256lbs smashing on my shins feels wonderful to, by the way.

I'll stick with it though, I know it's good for my body and heart, but will help me tone up, which would be nice!

Lol perfect! A lot of trainners now a days are saying you don't really need cardio for your heart if you are already putting an intense effort into weights. Your body doesn't know the difference between lifting something for a while or running for a while. Both have the same effect on the body. All that matters for getting lean is total calories. Eat over what you use, you become fat, eat a tiny bit under, you become lean. I'm sure you didn't wanna hear this but you will have to count calories and macros (protein, carbs, fats) in order to actually lose weight. If you go on youtube there are two guys I think you will like. Yo Elliott and Big J from bigjsextremefitness. Elliot is a competitive strong man currently getting lean and his videos are excellent while Big J is an ex pro bodybuilder who trained with all the Mr. O guys. He's also 250-270lbs currently natural and fairly lean.

 

[Pako]

I'll check those guys out for sure! 👍 Nutrition is even harder than cardio. It is a simple equation of input vs. output. I'm kind of at a weird spot where my metabolism has really slowed down. As they say, I'm not 18 anymore. My caloric intake is actually pretty small to where I am afraid that during times of the day, I am going into a starvation mode. I would like to get to 6 smaller meals a day spread throughout so I am constantly feeding my body good fuel. I know I need to do it, and I know that nutrition is the main ingredient to lean body mass. I appreciate the input and will check those guys out for sure!

 

[shmogt]

I'll check those guys out for sure! 👍 Nutrition is even harder than cardio. It is a simple equation of input vs. output. I'm kind of at a weird spot where my metabolism has really slowed down. As they say, I'm not 18 anymore. My caloric intake is actually pretty small to where I am afraid that during times of the day, I am going into a starvation mode. I would like to get to 6 smaller meals a day spread throughout so I am constantly feeding my body good fuel. I know I need to do it, and I know that nutrition is the main ingredient to lean body mass. I appreciate the input and will check those guys out for sure!

Calorie counter or myfitnesspal apps will be your friend. You just type in what you ate and it does all the math plus shows you a nice graph on the ratio split. It can track everything and even has a bar code scanner so you can just scan the foods. Currently nutrition experts say it doesn't matter about the small meals etc it just matters on total calories which I guess makes sense. However for me personally, and I have tried everything I still find that 6 small meals is way to go for splitting those calories up. I find it allows me to eat more and stay leaner/less bloated.

 

[sesselpupser]

Guys/girls,

I'm 25, male, overweight and very unfit and I think it's time I did something about it. I can't afford to join a gym and truth be told I don't think I'd keep up with it as I'm always alternating between a week at home and a week at my girlfriend's so establishing a routine is difficult, so I want to do basic exercises at home, use my exercise bike and dumbbells (which I bought months ago and have used maybe once because I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing).

Basically I want to lose weight, gain some upper body strength, strengthen my back if at all possible and improve my cardio fitness, but I should point out that I have retroverted hip sockets and have been told that I shouldn't run, play most sports or basically do anything that puts force on my hips, though cycling is fine and I imagine things like rowing, climbing, swimming and so on are also fine. No football (soccer), rugby, jogging or racket sports, though.

So I'm just wondering if you can suggest basic exercises (sit ups, push ups, squats sort of thing), how many I should do, how I should build up the amount that I do, what time of day I should do them and so on. I also don't know what sorts of stretches I should do before and after.

With the exercise bike, I've heard that you're not really supposed to do it every single day because it's not good for your muscles, but if I were to alternate between half an hour of relatively sedate cycling one day and a strenuous half hour the next, would that be ok? I don't want to overdo it, though.

And then there's the dumbbells. I don't have a bench, though I have been thinking of getting one if I get into the habit of using the weights, but the problem is I'm worried I'll do it wrong and end up with an unbalanced muscle growth thing. Also, I don't know which exercises I should be doing with them, how many I should do nor how often I should do them. I don't know which stretches to do either.

Is there anything else I should look at? My girlfriend is trying to get me to go swimming and cycling with her but I want to build up some confidence, fitness and frankly some firmness too before I do that stuff, she's in great shape and I'm sure my lack of fitness will become a problem in our relationship sooner or later!

I think I at least get the bare minimum of exercise in my regular life, but only because I walk the dogs and walk to and from the train station almost every day to get to college (I'm a full time student). Over Christmas it wasn't ideal dog-walking weather (too cold, wet and muddy for a Weimaraner with hardly any fur and a bichon with easily matted hair) and I wasn't commuting, but I WAS eating far too much so I put on a lot of weight, but it's starting to come off again so I must be doing something right I guess.

So yeah, any input you could give would be greatly appreciated. I think my target is to lose about 2 stone, gain a little bit of muscle and improve my cardio fitness so that I might not die before I'm 30. I'm exaggerating, I'm not THAT bad but it's better to convince yourself that you are, I guess, for motivation.

Cheers!

 

[shmogt]

Lol ok you asked for pretty much every detail on body mechanics and nutrition. Quite a lot to answer as most people spend years studying it. However I'm gonna make it easy for you because right now it seems like you're stressing too much. You're fat and do nothing meaning if you do anything and watch your diet more the pounds will fly off. I would suggest watching Scooby on youtube as he only does at home workouts and comes up with routines, shows the form, teaches some nutrition lessons etc. Don't expect to get as huge as he is but you should improve a lot over time.

 

[sesselpupser]

Lol ok you asked for pretty much every detail on body mechanics and nutrition. Quite a lot to answer as most people spend years studying it. However I'm gonna make it easy for you because right now it seems like you're stressing too much. You're fat and do nothing meaning if you do anything and watch your diet more the pounds will fly off. I would suggest watching Scooby on youtube as he only does at home workouts and comes up with routines, shows the form, teaches some nutrition lessons etc. Don't expect to get as huge as he is but you should improve a lot over time.

Well I did go into one but I was really asking what sorts of exercises I can do at home, so that Scooby guy's videos sound like what I need, thanks!

 

[shmogt]

Well I did go into one but I was really asking what sorts of exercises I can do at home, so that Scooby guy's videos sound like what I need, thanks!

Here's his site with gaining muscle and losing fat http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/ you can view other stuff you wanna know on the side.

Here is his youtube channel which is probably easier as he just tells you. http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961?feature=watch

He answers all the questions you asked based on at gym and mainly at home ways. I will tell you now buy a pull up bar if you don't have one. Biggest mistake is doing push ups non stop and never working your back. I have the Iron Gym Extreme and it's definitely the best in door pull up bar out there but full retail price is kinda expensive. Also if you do buy one measure the door fram you wanna use it in since they come in different sizes.

 

[sesselpupser]

Great, thank you very much indeed!

 

[Pako]

Alright, pretty good workout today considering I didn't have my partner and I was under-fueled.

For Back today I started with barbell shrugs (lbs).
135x20
225x20
315x20
405x20
495x20
580x10

Then partial deads or Romanian Dead Lifts as some call them.
225x10
315x10
405x10
495x10

Narrow Pull Downs (on pulley machine)
145x10
180x10
225x10
240x10ish. (could have used a spot on this one)

Narrow Seated Rows (pulley machine)
185x10
225x10
240x10
260x10

Finished off with One-Arm bent over rows.
125x10
125x10
125x10
(3 sets total per arm)

I'm gonna feel that in the morning....

 

[Pako]

Had a good chest workout today. Really looking forward to my run tonight. On Monday I managed to run a solid 10 minutes at 6mph for a 10 minute mile. That is major gains for me. I finished my 2 mile run in 23 minutes I think as the second half had a lot of run/walk sections.

Running is nasty, honestly! I would rather lift 700lbs off the ground than run for 20 minutes. I guess that's why I want to really push it to get better. It's also self helping. The hard I push, the more weight I should loose, the easier it should get. If any of you want to feel what it's like running in my shoes, just strap on some weight until you hit 260 lbs then go for your 2 mile run. I know some 185lb guys that strap on packs fully loaded with gear that get close to 260lbs full loaded. Good times, and much respect to those guys!!!

 

[shmogt]

Well I had a good workout yesterday. Did about 1/10 the volume of Pako and 1/50 the weight lol. Worked kinda everything but focused on upper body. I usually do pull ups for back but for some reason they don't feel right anymore so I switched to chin ups instead. So far I'm liking them a lot more which is good. I am so much stronger at them than pull ups so I can get a much deeper squeeze. This should be impossible but I feel it less in my biceps too. I assume that's do to the focused squeezing in my back. I also did some diamond grip push ups which I have always sucked at but for some reason killed them this time. Did 4 sets of everything until failure and today I am pretty sore. My abs hurt the most. I sneezed and thought my stomach ripped open lol. My recovery rate has always been super poor but I think this time is exra bad because I haven't trained at all for about a month.

 

[Pako]

Holy cow, been a month? That is rough man! Pull ups are a great exercise for back. I have been incorporating them as well (except for this week). 10 reps is about max for me, but again, strap on some weight to get you to 260 lbs and then try a pull up. LOL It's rough, I am getting better at them but they are still hard for me. Keep it up man, waiting a month is too long.

 

[shmogt]

Holy cow, been a month? That is rough man! Pull ups are a great exercise for back. I have been incorporating them as well (except for this week). 10 reps is about max for me, but again, strap on some weight to get you to 260 lbs and then try a pull up. LOL It's rough, I am getting better at them but they are still hard for me. Keep it up man, waiting a month is too long.

lol ya missing a week used to kill me. I coule feel a rest week coming since my performance would be weak but I just couldn't go a week with no gym. Unfortunately times have changed. In this case I was sick for two weeks and busy the other two. Had to stretch like my whole body yesterday from how sore I was lol.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

If any of you want to feel what it's like running in my shoes, just strap on some weight until you hit 260 lbs then go for your 2 mile run. I know some 185lb guys that strap on packs fully loaded with gear that get close to 260lbs full loaded. Good times, and much respect to those guys!!!

Yup, being heavy and running is savage. Hill sprints are the absolute worst, getting this much mass moving up a steep hill over and over again is killer. I get some kind of sick pleasure from seeing the reactions of dog walkers as I run up a hill with almost half my bodyweight on a sledge behind me. I'm holding out for snow just so I can sledge back down!

Trying out a bit of fasting on my non-lifting/recovery/going for a gentle run/cycle that turns into an all-out PR attempt. Seems 500kcals is a good amount for me, not eating anything just made me crash hard.

 

[Esses]

I get some kind of sick pleasure from seeing the reactions of dog walkers as I run up a hill with almost half my bodyweight on a sledge behind me.

I love doing this, except I use a back pack with a 30KG bag of sand in it. Dead weight, doesn't move about. I used to use rocks but they jagged into my back

I'm not that much a weight lifter. I left the gym I used to go to a few months before christmas, not that I ever really went, but last week I joined a better gym for half the price. I've been twice a week, each week. So far it feels really good. Tonight I had an hour and a half workout, which felt long for me. It was an all round routine that me and two friends are doing together. I'm looking to loose any excess fat I have, mainly around my stomach area and my lower back.

I'm a runner myself. I took up running in October 2011, when I was on holiday in Cyprus with my family. Not the best of places to start due to the humidity but I fought through it. I'm now, comfortably, running 40-45 miles a week. I'm looking to increase that distance to high 50's, low 60's in the following months, which shouldn't be too bad.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Ok well....2013 is a new year right? I tried something lastnight for the first time. The guys in the gym call it "Car-dee-oh". I've heard some of the evening folks talk about this thing, but who in the heck would want to do something called, "Car-dee-oh". Being counter productive to gaining mass, but proactive to better wind and a stronger heart, not to mention burning fat, I decided to give it a go. We were all set for x2 10 minute miles. A moderate pace that just about killed me. I ended up doing 1.8 miles in 21 minutes. Gives me something to work towards. I will be running every night for a while trying to get some of un-needed mass off. I am pushing 255lbs at the moment and would be pretty ripped at 220lbs. I think. So here's to 2013 being a year to strip some excess fat, trim the mass, and start showing more striations in my muscle tissue.

Hahaha I hear ya on the "Car-dee-oh" I have spent most of my time bulking and then maintaining the last couple years. I cant even comprehend the last time I attempted any serious cardio. So its 2013 and I am ready to break the "bulking" mentality that I have been in the last couple years. I am actually doing cardio now too. I also changed my workout routine from Tues, Wed, Thurs to Mon, Tues, and Wed. 3 days in a row. Works really well with my work schedule.

I also ride an exercise bike before each workout. I used to ride at the end once in a while but now I make myself ride before every workout. I have also started working abs into my routine as a superset between other sets. I have not worked abs since high school. My abs have always been a very strong point of mine. Just pure lucky genetics. So they really never ever needed to be worked. Well now I am 35 and they are not quite as defined as they used to be. I still have a 6 pack but I want to cut some bodyfat and start making them more visible again. Its going to take a while to build up my cardio and my endurance. But this is the year that I will set it as my main focus. I am also going to keep much better track of the calories I intake.. This way I can dial in my cut process or bulk process. With bulking its just so easy to eat and eat and eat. Cutting is an entire new world to me. With my high metabolism I enver hat to watch what I ate. But I really want to dial this in.

Sooooo its that time again to order more goodies. Casein, protein, and creatine. For the creatine I have been experimening with CellTech and Dark matter. Both contain way too much sugar for me especially the Celltech. I was only taking 1 serving of Celltech and it was still an insane amount of sugar. The cell tech was also making it very hard for me to sleep at night. I noticed EVERY time I took it after my post workout at around 6:30, I could not sleep even when I went to bed by 10:30. Also tried a couple pre- workout powders and those just keep me up all night too. So I am done with that stuff.

So I am going back to just straight creatine. I will have it with some oj, water, or some other juice.

 

[Joel]

The only time I ever get solid "car-de-ohh" is when I play hockey. Had 2 games today and I feel really good after it. Doing exercise gives me motivation to watch my diet. And when I say watch my diet, I mean spread my meals out and eat less so I can drink more beer.

 

[Luminis]

Pure creatine monohydrate ftw. I don't like all that sugary stuff, especially since I'm on a low diet at the moment. Has been working wonders to get rid of body fat, by the way.

I'm trying a new trainign routine, though. I'm still working out five to six days a week (three days at the gym, one day off). The routine I'm doing right now is called "German Volume Training" and the idea is to just do one exercise per muscle group per day, with about half of the maximum weight you can manage, but to go for 10 sets with ten reps each. I kinda underestimated the whole thing when I first started out. Always went for max weight, whenever possible. I mean, I could bench around 180lbs (I know, doesn't even come close to Pako ) and doing half of that feels pathetic - at first. But from the eighth set onwards, holy crap did it burn. Haven't been that sore in ages, either. Feels good, though.

Gonna keep it up for the coming month or two. Should be a nice break from my usual routine which, according to the trainers at the gym, should help me to get some more growth out of my body in a reasonable amount of time.

Regarding cardio, I ignored that for a while, too. Been doing at least half an hour of cycling or running since a few weeks, though, and it's ace to help the low-carb diet melt off all that body fat. I'm at less than 10 % now, according to my physicist. I weigh in at 178 lbs right now, by the way.

 

[shmogt]

Celltech lol. Everyone in the fitness world makes fun of celltech because they sponsor so many pro bodybuilders and in every interview if they are asked what helps they always say celltech. Like obviously if you're a pro bodybuilder you are on a huge steroid stack and probably have never taken celltech lol. Now whenever huge guys walk by you say he must be on celltech as a joke lol.

I use the same ON creatine as you. I find its best to mix in a glass of hot water until it all dissolves. All the testing in the past for creatine were in hot tea so it's all dissolved before you drink it. Does it matter in the end, idk really. To tough to say. If you get stomach problems or aren't seeing the best results than try the hot water trick as I have found it works better with no problems. It can just be hot tape water running for a bit so not like you gotta wait for a kettle of anything.

 

[Omnis]

So I'm stronger than I thought I was. Haven't been to the gym in almost two years, but I started this week at my uni's AWESOME little weightroom on the satellite campus near my house. Ripped 135x10 and then 155x7 on the bench until I was too fried to unrack the weight. I was almost tossing it on the first few reps though. I'm gonna try a 255 1 rep max as soon as I can get someone to spot me. The stupid hooks on the bench at the school gym are so deep that you can't get into a proper pressing position and take the weight off the rack. It's impossible since your elbows are already locked out-- you couldn't do it with an empty bar. I had to flare out my shoulder blades, then re-tuck, THEN press. It was bad. I guess the people that manufacture these benches don't trust physics, so they have to make two inches of slope and lip to prevent you from pulling out the bar.

Also, my giant tub of BB.com strawberry whey is DELICIOUS. It tastes miles better than ON's strawberry. I got it when they were selling 5 lbs. for 25 bucks.