Today is the first day I've felt sore the day after a workout in a few months, and that's a good thing.
If you don't feel at least moderately sore the day following your workout (assuming you aren't taking glutamine or anything else to minimize recovery time and workout fatigue) then it is probably safe to say you didn't work yourself hard enough.
I'm not saying you have to kill yourself or go balls to the wall every workout session, but if you don't feel sore then you didn't do enough.
See, I told ya! Switch things up a little bit when it starts getting to be routine as your body adapts. Also, I know you go lifting with your buddy for a spotter but you may want to go once a week or so on your own so you can do some of the leg stuff we've discussed that he can't do for his medical reasons.
You're having trouble eating a bunch now...work your legs with some squats, deadlifts, leg presses, and the like and you'll be amazed how hungry you are for the rest of the day and even into the next. It kicks your metabolism in the ass, hard.
Its hard eating that much but after a while you get used to it and your body wants it. For me norm an hour or two after i eat I feel like I haven't eating in days.
Also you should be feeling sore thats a good sign. For me its the second day after the lift is when it really hurts. Guys at work always tease me when I hit my legs cause I walk like a old man who needs a cane the next two days.
I've been working according to Lawn's suggestions for about a month now. Tuesday I broke a plateau and increased both my upright bench and decline bench (still on the Hammer Strength machines) by 5 and 10 pounds, respectively.
The rest of my workout has remained the same, including the spinning. My weight has not increased but my muscle mass has definitely. Unfortunately I have no "before" pictures to compare to, but everyone who's known me for long enough has noticed a difference, even when I weighed ten pounds more (of fat) I was still seen as thinner, in a bad way.
Yesterday was our health fair at work, which included cholesterol screenings. Since my las measurement, I have dropped 26 points in TCL, down to 236. It's still high by at least 36 points but this is my first progress on it in two years.
have you tried increasing intensity? I used to go slow and controlled using 25lb free-weights in order to build strength. Once I got serious about burning fat, I did some research and found that increasing the intensity can really burn up the calories, or if you are eating alot of the right things, it can build muscle faster. I've gone from 218lbs to 195 and am closing in on my goal of 180 (Evidently, my optimal weight) and have increased my muscle mass just by using intense free-weight exercises and a healthier diet. I don't have the space for a machine, nor do I have access to a gym. But using free-weights forces you to exercise more than just one muscle group. It also promotes neuromuscular development and balance. Balance meaning your physical capacity to balance, not body symmetry.
More weight. Most fitness professionals recommend 3*5 reps with 30 seconds between sets, and if you're not struggling like a mofo to get that last rep up (As long as your posture is still good), it's not heavy enough.
So would you guys recommend dropping from 5x5 to 3x5 and upping the weight to fail on the 3rd set instead of the 5th? Lately I've been doing a light warmup set, then putting as much weight on as I can until I fail, then dropping until I finish out the 5th set at whatever I can still lift.
Yep, just faster. As fast as your body will allow. Do that for a week - trust me, you'll hurt - and I guarantee (OR YOUR MONEY BACK!!!) you a noticeable increase in muscle mass.
How do you go about increasing the intensity with free weights? Faster reps? Less rest between sets?
You should lower the weight in a controlled fashion and then explode as you push the weight up as quickly as you can. You can try shortening up you rest periods between sets but be careful with that if you shorten it too much you'll be lifting less because you haven't recovered.
To each his own but I personally recommend 5-8 reps on exercises. If you can do 8 reps its time to add more weight. Less than 5 and its too heavy.
Well, it's been about a week... Any results Ghoosdum? Another question, how do you go about taming a fast metabolism (Think methamphetamine addicted squirrel)
I was able to add another five and ten pounds to the upright and decline presses in the last week. We also switched order on some of our exercises so the intensity changed naturally - some of the stuff that we did at the beginning of the workout before we did at the end this week and it was higher effort than before, but I still increased. It's working and I love every minute, even when I'm sore as hell. (Okay, I still can't stand the protein gas...)
My buddy's metabolism truly is like a squirrel on meth. He has to eat 4000 calories a day to maintain 150 pounds. I don't think there's any way to truly tame it.
I have a fast metabolism. Right now I take in about 3,400 to 3,700 calories a day while bulking. Once I get to 150lbs I'll see if I want to bulk anymore.
There is no way to tame it from what I can tell. You just have to eat like it is your hobby, lol. If you are always on the go, no time to actually sit down and eat whole foods during the day, look into some good protein powders.
Right now I drink a gainer shake everyday at 10:00 a.m. never miss a day. With some flax seeds, almonds, whole milk that is around 1,300 calories from just drinking that.
If it wasn't for the gainer shakes I would be at the grocery store twice a week spending every paycheck on food.
I still eat roughly 3700-4200 a day at 160#, I don't use a gainer and I've gained just four pounds over the last three months or so. Some people's metabolisms are just like that.
I still eat roughly 3700-4200 a day at 160#, I don't use a gainer and I've gained just four pounds over the last three months or so. Some people's metabolisms are just like that.
As an update, I've recently gotten back to making some progress. I have been working out consistently, but recently broken some plateaus. I am, in general, following the pattern of a first warm-up set of each exercise, then loading as much as I feel I can do until failure and dropping as the sets progress and I continue to fail on the weight.
Current workout:
Workout 1:
triceps pushdowns 5x10
reverse grip triceps pushdowns 3x10
chin-ups 3xF
dips 5x5
preacher curls 3x10
EZ bar curl 5x5
db hammer curls 5x5
Workout 2:
Bench press 5x5 (my highest weight set is about 5 pounds shy of my body weight)
pull-ups 3xF
chest flyes 3x10
pushups 3xF
T-bar row 3x10
isolateral high row 5x5
Workout 3:
Squat 5x5 (currently squatting 10 pounds less than body weight)
various ab exercises 100 reps total
shoulder press 5x5
shoulder flyes 3x10
shoulder shrugs 5x10
I'm still consistently seeing strength gains but not weight gains. I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing at this point because I'm getting plenty of lean protein but I feel that I'm bordering on gaining fat if I eat much more on a daily basis.
I currently weigh about 143-145. I still want to reach 150 this year but I want all of the gain to be muscle. It's a little bit of a puzzle to me how I can continue to gain strength with very little weight, since the scale keeps telling me my BF% goes up as my weight does. Haven't done a caliper test, though, so I don't know how accurate those little electronic pads are on the scale.
Spinning is still on my list about once a week, however, lately I've only gone about every two weeks. Since adding the squats to my routine my spinning has improved as well. I'm sure that will continue to improve as my squat goes up - right now I'm a little frustrated that I bench press higher than I squat but the squat is a relatively recent addition to the routine, replacing all of the crappy isolation leg exercises.
I recently purchased a new bike (Specialized Allez Sport Triple) for long Saturday rides as soon as the weather breaks. The MS 150 is in July this year and I know I'll be ready.
Overall, it has been about one full year since I began working out, as I made the commitment to the workout right around the time I found out I was going to be getting a divorce. What started out as a mental distraction from my miserable condition really took on a life of its own. My workout partner found a sheet from our beginning days and we were only pressing 70 pounds on the chest press machine. I'm doing double that on the real bench press now. My body has changed quite noticeably in the last year. I stopped wearing clothes that were too large (as I had a habit of doing this to hide my scrawny frame) and I'm a lot more confident in the gym and of my physical ability in general. So far it hasn't drawn any interest from the women. Luckily, it's something I'm doing entirely for myself. I truly believe I've never been healthier in my life.
Holy crap. I just found my old thread in the "Similar Threads" box on another Fitness forum thread.
I can honestly say that I'm very close to my goal weight. Unfortunately I haven't worked out in almost two years. Since I moved to California it has been really difficult to motivate myself to work out alone.
On the plus side, I think the muscle that I built by working out in '07-'09 has largely stayed with me. Unlike the last time I approached this weight (during my first marriage) the waist size on my pants has not increased; I still wear 30x32 pants. My body fat percentage has gone up since I worked out but not by very much, and my total cholesterol has not increased. Also, my left arm is becoming strong because that's the side I always use to carry the baby.
I do want to get back into working out. It's myself I need to convince.
Comments
Bud, your story has me laughing my arse off over here.
If you don't feel at least moderately sore the day following your workout (assuming you aren't taking glutamine or anything else to minimize recovery time and workout fatigue) then it is probably safe to say you didn't work yourself hard enough.
I'm not saying you have to kill yourself or go balls to the wall every workout session, but if you don't feel sore then you didn't do enough.
You're having trouble eating a bunch now...work your legs with some squats, deadlifts, leg presses, and the like and you'll be amazed how hungry you are for the rest of the day and even into the next. It kicks your metabolism in the ass, hard.
Also you should be feeling sore thats a good sign. For me its the second day after the lift is when it really hurts. Guys at work always tease me when I hit my legs cause I walk like a old man who needs a cane the next two days.
I've been working according to Lawn's suggestions for about a month now. Tuesday I broke a plateau and increased both my upright bench and decline bench (still on the Hammer Strength machines) by 5 and 10 pounds, respectively.
The rest of my workout has remained the same, including the spinning. My weight has not increased but my muscle mass has definitely. Unfortunately I have no "before" pictures to compare to, but everyone who's known me for long enough has noticed a difference, even when I weighed ten pounds more (of fat) I was still seen as thinner, in a bad way.
Yesterday was our health fair at work, which included cholesterol screenings. Since my las measurement, I have dropped 26 points in TCL, down to 236. It's still high by at least 36 points but this is my first progress on it in two years.
You should lower the weight in a controlled fashion and then explode as you push the weight up as quickly as you can. You can try shortening up you rest periods between sets but be careful with that if you shorten it too much you'll be lifting less because you haven't recovered.
To each his own but I personally recommend 5-8 reps on exercises. If you can do 8 reps its time to add more weight. Less than 5 and its too heavy.
My buddy's metabolism truly is like a squirrel on meth. He has to eat 4000 calories a day to maintain 150 pounds. I don't think there's any way to truly tame it.
There is no way to tame it from what I can tell. You just have to eat like it is your hobby, lol. If you are always on the go, no time to actually sit down and eat whole foods during the day, look into some good protein powders.
Right now I drink a gainer shake everyday at 10:00 a.m. never miss a day. With some flax seeds, almonds, whole milk that is around 1,300 calories from just drinking that.
If it wasn't for the gainer shakes I would be at the grocery store twice a week spending every paycheck on food.
My metabolism was like that when I was 19....
Current workout:
Workout 1:
triceps pushdowns 5x10
reverse grip triceps pushdowns 3x10
chin-ups 3xF
dips 5x5
preacher curls 3x10
EZ bar curl 5x5
db hammer curls 5x5
Workout 2:
Bench press 5x5 (my highest weight set is about 5 pounds shy of my body weight)
pull-ups 3xF
chest flyes 3x10
pushups 3xF
T-bar row 3x10
isolateral high row 5x5
Workout 3:
Squat 5x5 (currently squatting 10 pounds less than body weight)
various ab exercises 100 reps total
shoulder press 5x5
shoulder flyes 3x10
shoulder shrugs 5x10
I'm still consistently seeing strength gains but not weight gains. I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing at this point because I'm getting plenty of lean protein but I feel that I'm bordering on gaining fat if I eat much more on a daily basis.
I currently weigh about 143-145. I still want to reach 150 this year but I want all of the gain to be muscle. It's a little bit of a puzzle to me how I can continue to gain strength with very little weight, since the scale keeps telling me my BF% goes up as my weight does. Haven't done a caliper test, though, so I don't know how accurate those little electronic pads are on the scale.
Spinning is still on my list about once a week, however, lately I've only gone about every two weeks. Since adding the squats to my routine my spinning has improved as well. I'm sure that will continue to improve as my squat goes up - right now I'm a little frustrated that I bench press higher than I squat but the squat is a relatively recent addition to the routine, replacing all of the crappy isolation leg exercises.
I recently purchased a new bike (Specialized Allez Sport Triple) for long Saturday rides as soon as the weather breaks. The MS 150 is in July this year and I know I'll be ready.
Overall, it has been about one full year since I began working out, as I made the commitment to the workout right around the time I found out I was going to be getting a divorce. What started out as a mental distraction from my miserable condition really took on a life of its own. My workout partner found a sheet from our beginning days and we were only pressing 70 pounds on the chest press machine. I'm doing double that on the real bench press now. My body has changed quite noticeably in the last year. I stopped wearing clothes that were too large (as I had a habit of doing this to hide my scrawny frame) and I'm a lot more confident in the gym and of my physical ability in general. So far it hasn't drawn any interest from the women.
Size and strength have no necessary relationship. Look up Halil Mutlu.
Wow that guy is incredible!
I can honestly say that I'm very close to my goal weight. Unfortunately I haven't worked out in almost two years. Since I moved to California it has been really difficult to motivate myself to work out alone.
On the plus side, I think the muscle that I built by working out in '07-'09 has largely stayed with me. Unlike the last time I approached this weight (during my first marriage) the waist size on my pants has not increased; I still wear 30x32 pants. My body fat percentage has gone up since I worked out but not by very much, and my total cholesterol has not increased. Also, my left arm is becoming strong because that's the side I always use to carry the baby.
I do want to get back into working out. It's myself I need to convince.