General Workout Routines and Questions

[Luminis]

My days have been too busy to keep posting my routines in here as I initially intended to

Anyway, I just wanted to report back that I've lost most of the fat I've gained of the (relatively short) period of bulking - and I've gained a total of about five to six pounds 👍 Quite happy with that result, especially now that I'm down again to the body fat level I've been at before

 

[Pako]

My days have been too busy to keep posting my routines in here as I initially intended to

Anyway, I just wanted to report back that I've lost most of the fat I've gained of the (relatively short) period of bulking - and I've gained a total of about five to six pounds 👍 Quite happy with that result, especially now that I'm down again to the body fat level I've been at before

Man, that is AWESOME! Way to go. 👍

 

[Luminis]

Thanks, Pako Much apreciated!

By the way, I did try the biceps exercise you mentioned - and I think I've got the seating position wrong, as my back started to hurt But I've found these drop-sets to be very effective, so I'm using them with all kinds of other exercises. So far, i's been working like a charm. Such a good way to get the most out of my muscles 👍

I usually only drop the weight once (to about 60% or something like that) and do more reps until I can't go any further. Let's say I'm doing 135 lbs neck presses (like yesterday). I manage eight to ten reps, drop the weight to 90 lbs and go for another ten to fifteen reps. I've hardly ever felt my muscles that thick and pumped up - and not as exhausted afterwards in a good while

 

[Pako]

Yeah, that's good man. Doing it at the end of your sets for that particular exercise is a good time to hit it. It's not a replacement but a supplemental technique that I like to add at the tail end of some of my routines. 👍

 

[Yukon]

I'm definitely improving at doing Pull Ups. Before when I said I could barely manage one or two, now I'm pumping out sets of four!

It may seem small, but to me it's a massive improvement for overhand - wide grip. The use of Seated Row is contributing, too, I like that excercise a lot.

Todays' workout was a good n'. I was doing quite a bit of different variations of the chest press and bench press, (inclined/flat etc), and lots of bar work. I also tried out an excercise that my Sisters' partner introduced me to. I don't know what it's called though - it goes like this:

- Select a pre-weighted bar, I chose 17.5KG (Not too light, not too heavy)
- Start off with knees bent and hands on bar on the floor
- Lift up to chest whilst standing up straight
- Lift above head with arms fully extended above
- Lower to behind head, in line with neck
- Lift back above head with arms fully extended
- Lower to just above the floor with straight back and bent knees

Repeat, without letting the bar touch the floor for the entire excercise. I did this eight times per set, three sets. By the 7th and 8th rep you really feel it in the arms so I had to push it harder to finish, but it felt worth it.


At the end of the session I went on the treadmill.

I was trying out running at different tempos. I started off slowly at 10kph, moved up to 14kph and continually increased the speed by a kilometre each minute until I was up to 18kph. I stayed at this pace for just under five minutes. Now I know how it feels to be an olympian running at that kind of pace. The only difference being that they do it for more than two hours!

 

[Michael88]

Is anyone here doing full barbell lunges on leg day? Doing them right now with 132, best butt exercise hands down -and extremely back-friendly too.👍

 

[shmogt]

Is anyone here doing full barbell lunges on leg day? Doing them right now with 132, best butt exercise hands down -and extremely back-friendly too.👍

Lol I was thinking this just today. Lunges are so underrated. I like them better than squats because I feel it in my abs a lot more too. Plus it stretches your hip flexors. Only thing that sucks is the set is so much longer since it's each leg. My cardio can't keep up lol.

 

[Pagey279]

I think I over did it earlier on today, I can already feel my muscles starting to seize up and ache. It's going to be ten times worse tomorrow.
It was only the second time I had been to the gym, so the second time I have had a proper work out. I'm finding it hard to know when to call it a day, I did 3 sets of everything. But I felt like I could do more, so I did. That was my mistake I guess.

Also does anyone know of any decent protein shake things?

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

I use Myprotein, a U.K company, good quality, and they are always emailing you discount codes and other deals. Tastes good, mixes well, and is pretty cheap.

 

[Pako]

So today I tried something a bit different. My schedule was just too tight to split up cardio and lifting so I came in early and did both.

First was 3 straight miles for 30 minutes, no rest. This was the first time I have ran a full 3 miles straight at 6.0 mph.

After that I was nice and warm and headed over to the leg press where my partner had already started warming up. All ready dripping with sweat, I was ready to go. All though the top end of my sets were harder just from lack of energy, it was my best leg press I've had in a long time. Muscles were good and warm going into the heavy sets. Did pretty much an identical leg day to a couple weeks ago. All of that on just 200 calories. I see no way in being able to sustain this kind of intensity with this low of calorie intake, but until I reach my goal and get everything tightened up, I'll have to work through it. Maybe by the end of summer I will be ready to start putting on the some size again to see where it takes me. Hopefully I will eat smarter with better calories and will have trained myself away from all the sugars and sodium. I have also been without any supplements for a month now. It will be easy to see what works and what doesn't when I start adding it back into my intake.

Keep working hard!

 

[xStretch-]

According to some examination by the doctors my shoulder is healed (tendon wise) but is now out of position lol

I've done a week in the gym and it feels ok with light weight, really have missed it

 

[Der Alta]

Pokes head in door....

Sees a few names I recognize.
Turbulent life here, but still kicking ass at the gym. Last Powerlifting meet was in January.

At 233lbs, I totalled out at 500/290/580. I'm training right now for the Europa in Hartford, CT on June 29th. In the 220lb class, I'm aiming for 520/315/605 (1440lbs).

Right now, everything is on target.

 

[Luminis]

I feel so small and weak now

Anyway, as it seems, I'm on a good way to remedy that. Had my body fat chacked, and I'm not gaining fat - still hovering around the 11% mark. And yet, I've gained about two pounds over the course of the last month, even though I'm not specifically trying to gain weight.

Quite happy with that! Seems like the drop sets I started to incorporate after Pako mentioned them are working well enough for me. Now, I just need to go running a bit more often and I'll be all set.

 

[Pako]

Pokes head in door....

Sees a few names I recognize.
Turbulent life here, but still kicking ass at the gym. Last Powerlifting meet was in January.

At 233lbs, I totalled out at 500/290/580. I'm training right now for the Europa in Hartford, CT on June 29th. In the 220lb class, I'm aiming for 520/315/605 (1440lbs).

Right now, everything is on target.

So what is that, Squats, Bench, and Deads?

Good to see you man! Yes your thread is alive and well.

@Luminis,
That's great man!

 

[Michael88]

Today weight training felt kind of dull (upper body + shoulder day) so I tried something new, I don't know the correct English term for this kind of exercise, its all about decreasing weight each set and totally exhausting the muscle, the pump I got was UNBELIEVABLE.

Tried it with the french press exercise, first I made my usual 12 reps with 92 lbs (42kg), then I put the barbell down, quickly decreased the weight by 10lbs (5kg), and without making a break I did another 10 reps, again decreased weight by 10lbs and did 8 reps followed by a 5 minute break.

My triceps got so huge my arms almost looked like of some sort of comic action figure, I did not know that this was possible without roids or supplements.
I'm sure I can make massive improvements now using that kind of exercise technique, can't wait to use it when doing biceps preacher curls and dumbbell shoulder presses.

Highly recommendable!

 

[ExigeEvan]

I've always called them 'drop-sets', and have recently started doing them again myself. Been feeling great, and exhausted, after them!

 

[Michael88]

Drop-sets sounds good, I like it.
Yeah, they're very exhausting, I never thought that simple triceps curls -an isolation exercise- could make me sweat, but now with drop sets it happened!

 

[ExigeEvan]

So, it turns out I'm lighter, leaner and shorter that originally thought. ..

12st 11lb - 81.5kg
5'10.4" - 1.79m
BMI 25.4 - BF 11.7%

I don't want to believe any of it.

Damn machine.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Pokes head in door....

Sees a few names I recognize.
Turbulent life here, but still kicking ass at the gym. Last Powerlifting meet was in January.

At 233lbs, I totalled out at 500/290/580. I'm training right now for the Europa in Hartford, CT on June 29th. In the 220lb class, I'm aiming for 520/315/605 (1440lbs).

Right now, everything is on target.

Wow who is this stranger?! Welcome back Der! Great to see you are still making gains with your powerlifting. And yes this thread is more active than it has been in a long time. Pako is even running now!!! 👍 I think he was calling it "Kar de ohh".

Have you been doing the same routine or have you been mixing it up a lot? What is your routine like? How many days per week? Hours? How are your joints?

 

[Pagey279]

Well it's going well, I've been doing 2-3 all body workouts per week plus some road cycling, and I can feel myself getting much stronger and fitter. I've been taking whey protein, I was unsure what to get so I went with that. And I've gained weight which is what I was wanting to do.

Being 6ft 2" and weighing about 65kg I was nudging under weight on my BMI with a 18.9. But after a couple of weeks I'm up to 70kg, so a BMI of 20 which is good.

 

[shmogt]

Today weight training felt kind of dull (upper body + shoulder day) so I tried something new, I don't know the correct English term for this kind of exercise, its all about decreasing weight each set and totally exhausting the muscle, the pump I got was UNBELIEVABLE.

Tried it with the french press exercise, first I made my usual 12 reps with 92 lbs (42kg), then I put the barbell down, quickly decreased the weight by 10lbs (5kg), and without making a break I did another 10 reps, again decreased weight by 10lbs and did 8 reps followed by a 5 minute break.

My triceps got so huge my arms almost looked like of some sort of comic action figure, I did not know that this was possible without roids or supplements.
I'm sure I can make massive improvements now using that kind of exercise technique, can't wait to use it when doing biceps preacher curls and dumbbell shoulder presses.

Highly recommendable!

Next week you should do a straight up arm day with drop sets and watch how massive your arms will get. You can easily add a full inch to your arms just with a pump.

 

[Yukon]

Today I did a body weight only workout in my garden as the gym I used to go to closed at the end of last week. 👎

It lasted a little over 20 minutes and I was trying to do it with as little rest periods as possible. So, when I was doing three sets of 15 Press Ups, for example, I would only have 10-15 seconds rest before going straight into the next set.

Other things that I did included a lot of running on the spot and knees to chest until I had to stop because it was exhausting. I wanted to get the heart rate up to include some minor cardio so I wasn't simply doing upper body stuff.

It was fun and I think I'll try and keep this up consistently over the week, every week. I don't know about joining another gym, as all of the ones where I live cost too much and are more so Spas/Health Clubs rather than gyms, or don't cost that much, but the facilities are pretty poor or are too far away from me as I for the time being can't drive.

I'm looking into getting a Road Bike soon, so that should be great fun in the coming summer months.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I'm looking into getting a Road Bike soon, so that should be great fun in the coming summer months.

My genuine advice is get a road bias hybrid, stick some good rood-bias tyres on it and you'll have a much more usable bicycle on rubbish British roads and wet summers.

 

[XS]

Next week you should do a straight up arm day with drop sets and watch how massive your arms will get. You can easily add a full inch to your arms just with a pump.

I find my pump fades fast, but I also rarely push until failure as I've read and heard from many articles and trainers that leaving a little left can improve your performance over several months by as much as 20 percent. I did push to failure yesterday as I was in a very bad mood, though.

 

[Ryanswannell]

I'm gonna start jogging at least three times a week for about 2 1/2 miles on non-consecutive days, as well as consuming about 200-300 less calories than I utilize every day. I'm doing this as I could do with shedding several pounds of fat, especially from my torso and "man boobs". I wouldn't say i'm overweight, just carrying a bit of fatty timber that's all . Does anyone know if this is an effective way of shedding a small amount of fat?
I would join a gym as well, but I've just left school so I don't have a job yet to pay for membership.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I'm gonna start jogging at least three times a week for about 2 1/2 miles on non-consecutive days, as well as consuming about 200-300 less calories than I utilize every day. I'm doing this as I could do with shedding several pounds of fat, especially from my torso and "man boobs". I wouldn't say i'm overweight, just carrying a bit of fatty timber that's all . Does anyone know if this is an effective way of shedding a small amount of fat?
I would join a gym as well, but I've just left school so I don't have a job yet to pay for membership.

Build up slowly, and I'd personally run by time and not distance. So plot yourself a 20, 30 and 40 minute route and run each of them once a week. Decrease your calorie count bit don't crash diet, and if you're feeling lethargic for several days it's worth increasing them again.

Also, get a half decent pair of running shoes, asics usually start quite affordable. And keep the impact nearer your toes by shortening your stride.

 

[Ryanswannell]

Build up slowly, and I'd personally run by time and not distance. So plot yourself a 20, 30 and 40 minute route and run each of them once a week. Decrease your calorie count bit don't crash diet, and if you're feeling lethargic for several days it's worth increasing them again.

Also, get a half decent pair of running shoes, asics usually start quite affordable. And keep the impact nearer your toes by shortening your stride.

O.k, cheers for the reply:tup:

 

[USARMYCOMBATVET]

I'm gonna start jogging at least three times a week for about 2 1/2 miles on non-consecutive days, as well as consuming about 200-300 less calories than I utilize every day. I'm doing this as I could do with shedding several pounds of fat, especially from my torso and "man boobs". I wouldn't say i'm overweight, just carrying a bit of fatty timber that's all . Does anyone know if this is an effective way of shedding a small amount of fat?
I would join a gym as well, but I've just left school so I don't have a job yet to pay for membership.

What distances were you previously running? Breathing, stride and technique are very important when learning the basics. I'd recommend working on your "core" or midsection. Strength and endurance of the midsection are crucial in running.

 

[Yukon]

I'm gonna start jogging at least three times a week for about 2 1/2 miles on non-consecutive days, as well as consuming about 200-300 less calories than I utilize every day.

Good on you! Running's a great thing to take up. It's the easiest sport, in my opinion. Just start off slowly and eventually, (if you intend to), increase your distances and speed. I started off running the same as you, three 2.5 mile runs a week. After a couple of weeks it went up to 3's, 4,s and eventually 5 milers.

Running's supposed to hurt, so don't feel deflated if it's really painful the first few times you're out, especially if you've not regularly run before.

I would join a gym as well, but I've just left school so I don't have a job yet to pay for membership.

Gym's aren't really necessary. There's plenty of things you can do at home without any equipment which will help you get in good shape. Read over the last few pages of this thread and you might actually find some things you can start with. It save you money too!

I'd recommend working on your "core" or midsection. Strength and endurance of the midsection are crucial in running.

I wouldn't say core workouts are 'Crucial'. It certainly helps to have a stronger and more stable center, but you can easily build up good fitness simply by going out and running lots and lots of miles, like I did.

Time on your feet. 👍

 

[SkylineObsession]

I have a question for peeps.

If i start doing a variety of dumbbell exercises while still not really eating properly (i often miss meals, or don't have three veg and meat type teas, and eat a bit of junk food) would i effectively be wasting my time?

I'm not too unfit i don't think, as my job has me walking for three or four hours a day (constant, usually with no breaks) up and down hills, but despite my poor diet i'm still quite skinny, 65 kgs at last check a few years back.

But yeah. I want bigger arm muscles and chest etc but am rather lazy about doing so because about ten years ago when i was doing 25 or so press ups a day as well as sit ups, i didn't notice any difference after a month or more.

I'm not interested in having protein drinks etc, and will not go to the gym ($$$).

Because of all this, i'm guessing that theres no point doing dumbbell exercises?