Exercising - Weight Lifting

[Mr. Nevermind]

I used to be into trying to look all fit, but soon realized it wasn't worth all the effort. I then got into rock climbing... you keep fit in that, and surprisingly you end up in way better shape than lots of other training you can do. But you never look huge. You just become more defined, toned, and really flexible.

Its hard chasing after images... and in my experience its not worth it. Its better to just enjoy exercising for the enjoyment itself. For me going after an image actually was hurting me in life. And I did that for probably 10 years.

One thing was that I attracted woman who really only cared about physical intimacy because of my body. It wasn't like I was always super ripped and it was obvious to see...but because I personally was so obsessed about it, thats what I got.

To be healthy, you don't need to look like some male barbie in the men's health magazines. I think we've distanced ourselves somewhat from reality, and now we think thats what we need to look like. Its the same thing that girls go through, if they look at beauty mags all the time.

For example. Look at pecs. If you open up a men's health, you'll see a guy with pecs that look so big and plump. Thats not healthy. Thats just the result of pushing and exercising that muscle excessively. I doubt anywhere, or anytime in the world, a man would naturally have that look... Sure pecs can become harder and more defined, but thats just ridiculous.



It all comes down to nature, our views of opposite sex that is. Women like a strong man due to nature. Same as in a group of lions the female lions end up with the biggest, strongest hunter. That way the female lion knows she is breeding with a lion with good strong genes giving off spring a better chance of survival. Same as women and men. Women go after bigger men because of nature. And vice versa. Men go after women with big hips, not cuz we love asses. But because wide hips shows that a women would be able to easily bear children. Same as big boobs, we see big boobs as a good thing for a partner to breed with. It all comes back to nature.

Though we have thumbs and big brains the fact of the matte ris we are just animals and most of our actions are based around that




Nevermind

 

[Wacky Tobacky]

Ok this is my workout.
Monday - chest
Tuesday - back
Wednesday - Abs/Cardio(HIIT)
Thursdays - legs/arms
Friday - Shoulders
Saturday - Abs/Cardio
Sunday - Rest

Each day my workout takes about 45-60 min i try not to go over an hour because i don't want to over train. HIIT is high intensity interval training. its much better than low intensity because it only takes 10-15 min and is more effective than low intensity for like 30 min.
i try to eat as clean as possible. mostly eggs chicken breast fish oatmeal good carbs n fats lots of protein. i do cheat tho and pig out once in a while on junk food. i don't count calories but i try to eat as much as possible around 6-8 small meals a day. I'm on a bulk right now so it doesn't really matter how many calories i eat as long as its over how many i burn and I'm not to worried about fat cause i eat pretty clean and i've been losing fat slowly and gaining muscle.

also when you work out don't stick with the same routine forever. switch up your work out every once in a while. i usually do high rep low sets then next time ill do more sets and less reps. like 3x10 then next week ill do a 5x5.

Its all about how bad you want it.

 

[Guest423]

thats right hippie chic, sounds like you've done your research.

outdoor activities can't be beat imo, nothing quite like sweating your ass off and burning yourself out all day doing something fun and enjoying....but for me where i live your not doing much outdoors for a good 5 months every year in the winter...unless it's ice fishing,sleding, snowmobiling, ect....so it's either hit the indoor gym or sit on your ass and go insane if your an active person.

for the women part, i think women are really attracted to confident men, a man that looks stable, keeps his head up, and has a good sense of humor....that comes in different forms but i know when you are healthy and workout you are a way more confident man...even after a couple weeks you see results, you feel great, and it shows in your confidence and your attitude.....i can even tell with some of the girls that are my friends that workout with me....even their confidence goes way up when they are working out....it just feels good and it reflects in your life.....when i sit around and not do much i feel worthless....everyones different though....peace

 

[Irishslappop]

you guys inspired me to put my free weight set back up. the last year i've had a tough some tough times and i've been a lot more dep in thought and have lost about 15 or 20 pound in muscle [yeah i know >:[ ] and am pretty skinny now. got my schedule drawn up, got my self dedicated to it, now i just have to start eating right again.

thansk guys :]

 

[diggle]

I do all the right dietary stuff...except I never work out. I'd like to go to the gym but I dont really know what I'm doing and I'm so skinny that some of the meatheads might end up benchpressing me by mistake if I stood around for too long....

 

[qwerty]

High,

I appreciate all of the input. It is very valuable. I try to eat healthy, but now I will step it up a notch...or two. I drink very healthy, mostly water. Never soda. I am thinking this as my schedule:

Monday - Upper Body and HIIT for cardio and abs
Tuesday - Lower Body/Cardio/Abs
Wednesday - Upper Body/Cardio/Abs
Thursday - Lower Body/Cardio/Abs
Friday - Upper Body and HIIT for cardio and abs

Sat. and Sun. off with the following Mon. switching to Lower Body, and so on..

Also, I will begin taking daily multivitamins. I bought Centrum A to Zinc so hopefully it's good. My passion is to be one of those that wake up at 5am and go running. I have been wanting to for a while now. It is a major statement of self-discipline in my opinion. However, I tend to stay up later and sleep in. I guess I will just have to do it.

I am doing this for my social image as well as my professional life, which is extremely high-intensity physically. I am not interested in any extra-curricular activities, simply the task of tuning my body to optimal performance. I want a 6-pack too.

 

[mrgrowmez]

sounds good qwerty, everyone has given great advice, your abs wont show results unless you work em to hell and you cant overdo cardio man just kepp rowin' runnin' and my fav boxin', join a local boxing club and you'll get the workout of your life.......

 

[naga_sadu]

High all. Do you any exercising, lifting weights, training, etc.? The reason I ask is because I do weight lifting and I would like to hear from someone who knows more than me the best techniques so I am not wasting my time. I consider myself to be in great physical condition, as I was a wrestler in high school, and a damn good one, among other things. However, I strive to be in optimum condition. Specifically abdominal training is of interest to me. I strive to look like the men in the Bowflex commercials. Fit yet well-defined muscles. I know it will take a lot of work to get there, but I am not afraid of the path. If you are one of those men, please share some of your techniques and opinions. Should I just buy a bowflex? I'd rather not. I have a weight bench and curl bars. Thank you.

Need some inspiration from Uncle Kim Jong Il?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq6j8_NIgk4



Either ways, good luck man...

 

[pieceofmyheart]

I'm a runner, been one since high school. I can't make myself do much weight lifting and stuff, I get so bored, kinda like running on a treadmill....can't do that either.

I need to be outside, alone with my thoughts....running and running and running........

 

[jojajico]

ok a few things, stay away form weightlifting magazines they are trying to sell a product not make you more fit and most of the stuff in them is wrong. dont waste your time on cardio, you do burn calories but you can burn more lifting heavy weight as fast twitch type 2b and type 2a have a greater energy expenditure than slow twtich type 1 fibers. also cardio does nothing to raise your BMR (base metabolic rate) where as weighttraining raises your BMR meaning you burn more calories when resting (faster metabolizm). want proof look at elite marathon runners, body fat around 10 % now look at an elite sprinter body fat sub 5%.

another tip stay away from simple sugars even fruit ( i do eat it on th eweekends) . this is because simple sugars cause an insulin spike. insulin is released into the blood under hyperglcemic conditions (high levels of blood sugar), yet it is a hypoglycemic hormone, meaning it lowers blood sugar. it serves two main functions 1) to lower cell permiability to allow amino acid uptake by muscle tissue (good). 2) it converts glucose (sugar) into lipids (fat) which is bad. the best time to consume sugars is 20 min before the end of your wokout with protein, this will cause an insulin spike which will help drive amino acids into the working cells helping recovery for strenuous work out. i like to use raw eggs (sounds nasty but it an amazing source of protein and has many chemicals which help the recovery process, these are lost through cooking and even from breaking th yolk can effect these chemicals.

GH is a hyperglycemic hormone so it is released to raise blood sugar levels and is stimulated by hypoglycemic conditions. it greatest release is during sleep and you should not eat a few hours before bed to insure maximal release and benefit (this is for athletes needing to recover from extremly strenuous work not necesarily the everyday person or bodybuilder). testostorone is also stimulated by hypoglycemic condtions. the best diet is one full of lean proteins and vegetables. a good rule of thumb is for every portion of protein consume 3 portions of veggies. your body is supplied complex carbohydrates from the veggies while getting a massive influx of nutrients which also aids recovery (this is why you want to eat veggies as your source of carbs over pastas or rice, ect). complex carbs need to be broken down into simpler forms before they can be utilized in the blood stream. this prevents an insulin spike and the resulting storage of sugars as fat.

 

[marx2k]

A few years back (and for most of my life) I weighed ~245. I ate a lot of fast food and drank probably 2-4 liters of coke/pepsi daily. I was also smoking a pack a day.

Then I started smoking pot daily about 6 years ago. Not that I haven't smoked before that, but it became a daily thing. Marijuana has an amazing tendency to show you what's lacking in your life and give you the ability to correct it. (Some people have this naturally, I don't).

So first I quit cigs, which was rather easy to do (as told in another thread on this forum) - Then I started exercising.

Where I lived, there was a 13 mile bike trail around a lake and I would hit that trail on my bike every night going full speed. I loved doing that at night and I also did it in the day sometimes, but there were also cars at that point so I did it more at night.

I got a gym membership and worked my way up to an hour on the elliptical trainers. After 3 months of that I also started weight training every other day.

Within a year I lost 80 pounds.

So I got that goal accomplished and then I started looking into what I was eating. Though I stopped eating fast food as much when I started training, I was still drinking a lot of soda and eating a lot of crappy foods. So little by little I stopped all of that too. At this point my diet consists of stuff most people wouldn't consider eating 7 days a week. Granola, yogurt, fruits, veggies, turkey, eggs, wraps.. stuff that's whole ingredients that *I* have to prepare. I have cut bread completely out of my diet and most starchy things also. I guess I can be considered a health food nut, though I dont go to health food stores ($$$$$ for the same stuff you buy from normal stores for $)
I just don't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup, fake sugars, hydrogenated vegetable oils and I also try to stay away from soy as much as I can, though that's impossible to completely stay away from it. I also take metamucil- sounds like stuff old people do, but it's great for your heart, it's great for your digestive system and it keeps toxins and carbs from being absorbed into your body as much as without it. (And an added bonus being you sometimes dont even need to wipe your ass after taking a dump - just once to check)

Nowadays, I have relaxed on my training schedule a bit and don't do much weight training beyond push ups/sit ups. I thought at one point I wanted to look like a beefcake but now I want to have a lean body like Bruce Lee.

THough I haven't trained aerobically in a year, now that spring is here I am getting back into it by jogging. I used to jog for an hour straight but that worked hell on my knees and hips. I plan to jog for more and more time every time I jog up to the point where it begins to hurt my knees/hips and then scale it back by like 5 minutes and keep at that level. I also plan on beginning swimming again. Those would be your 2 best cardio exercises right there.

My advice to you or anyone that's into working out: (And this is just what *I* do)
- Cardio is the most important as far as life goes. Make this a priority.

- Weight training is secondary but also important. Include it in your routine.

- GET a heart monitor. It gives you direct feedback as to how you are doing during workout and then after your workout. I aim for a BPM rate of 165-170 sustained for 30-45 minutes. You should look at a chart and figure out your ideal bpm range based on age/weight.

- Drink as much water as you can throughout the day. This cleanses your body, keeps you hydrated and keeps you functioning properly.

- Drink a lot of water an hour before you do cardio. Do not drink any during cardio and sweat out the water you drank an hour ago. If done right, you wont even be very thirsty after cardio or during. I spend 2 hours before cardio and go through 2 liters of water. Right before I start workout, I take a leak and then do the cardio. I don't drink any cardio for periods of up to an hour. Your body won't really digest it and it just sloshes around. After cardio, when you urinate, the urine comes out very dark and pungent which means your body is getting rid of a lot of stuff in there. That's a good sign.

- Try not to go nuts on protein. Your body can only process so much of it and it's the equivalent of running a marathon for your kidneys. Big time protein supplementation is like CO2 supplementation for plants. It should really only be applied when you're already maxxed out with every other factor and you need a little 'extra' A normal diet should supply you with everything you need

I'm sure there's more I can say about this, but I got to jet to school

 

[qwerty]

you guys inspired me to put my free weight set back up. the last year i've had a tough some tough times and i've been a lot more dep in thought and have lost about 15 or 20 pound in muscle [yeah i know >:[ ] and am pretty skinny now. got my schedule drawn up, got my self dedicated to it, now i just have to start eating right again.

thansk guys :]

AWESOME! That's the attitude. Remember, you are not working out alone. When you are sleeping, there is someone somewhere training to be better than you. It takes a lot to be #1.

How are you working out?

 

[qwerty]

I'm a runner, been one since high school. I can't make myself do much weight lifting and stuff, I get so bored, kinda like running on a treadmill....can't do that either.

I need to be outside, alone with my thoughts....running and running and running........

Being on the wrestling team in high school, it is all we did. Most of the time, we out ran the track team. Now I love it. It so peaceful, relaxing, and rewarding. Keep running POMH! I'm running with ya...

 

[glock23]

Competing's always good. I have a training partner and we compete on weights and cardio. I'm significantly heavier and stronger than he is though. water and protein are both important, but u dont want to overdo the protein either. good general advice in this thread. im gonna go eat...heh

in the last 4 weeks, i've lost a significant amount of bodyfat, gained muscle, got stronger, my body's harder, i have more energy, i'm fitter and i've gained a few kg to boot. I look badass in a wifebeater too.

 

[pieceofmyheart]

Being on the wrestling team in high school, it is all we did. Most of the time, we out ran the track team. Now I love it. It so peaceful, relaxing, and rewarding. Keep running POMH! I'm running with ya...

cool.......I haven't run any road races the past few years but at one time I was running marathons.......it hurt....a lot.
Now I jog...walk....run...stop and smell the roses...take pics......

still get my excercise but without all the pain

 

[qwerty]

(And an added bonus being you sometimes dont even need to wipe your ass after taking a dump - just once to check)

LOL

Good info jojajico.

POMH - Recently I have been jogging to some local woods and scouting for an outdoor plot. It is about 2 miles aways and gives me a great reason to jog! Plus, it gets me away from all the buildings, into the woods with nature. Once there, I pretend I'm a Navy Seal. Ahhh, I love it.


Also, to comment on smoking before/while exercising (I read somewhere this was not good). I have been on both sides of the fence. I get most of my motivation from , so I before, during, and after!

 

[qwerty]

/\ Just gotta make sure you work out hard, it's all in your head.

Pain is weakness leaving the body. - USMC

 

[marx2k]

Also, to comment on smoking before/while exercising (I read somewhere this was not good). I have been on both sides of the fence. I get most of my motivation from , so I before, during, and after!

I always smoke before working out. DIRECTLY before working out. For one thing, it makes the tmie go by faster. Also, it makes me 'feel' feedback from my body as I'm exercising. It's like my brain begins micromanaging my body and I react properly during workout. keeps injuries WAY down.

And also, don't forget that marijuana is a bronchial dilator! Your oxygen levels [should] go up during workout!

 

[qwerty]

I hope everyone is still committed to a positive lifestyle! Qwerty hasn't slowed down a bit, in fact, it's full steam ahead...

Been on a strict diet for some time now. Actually, it's quite simple. Eat healthy.

I can tell a significant difference in my strength gain. I'd say I'm twice as strong as I was in February. I know I'm twice as confident.

I have purposely ignored cardio in my workout until now. I needed to keep some meat on my bones to turn into muscle. Now that I have some good curves, I will begin cardio to really trim out those boulders.

Remember, when you're not working out, I am!



:wink:

 

[I Used To Grow]

Hey that reminds me!

Hey that reminds me!

I need to hit up the gym man! I'm down to like 175 now and I'm only 6'4" now...fucking skinny mofo man..I used to be like 275 until I realized everyone was mad scared of me..so I lost weight by running every morning with my girlfriend(s)..we used to run like 10 miles a day beofore it got all hot here..one time we took our clothes off and ran up past the high school in February on Valentine's day this year! What a f'n riot man!! right through the parking lot too..while flashing a lb. of dank haning from all of our backkpacks!!.there was me, my (fiancee), her friends from Steamboat..some guys from Craig.and a whole bunch of peeps in nice cars..like Mustangs..Honda CRXs all suped up..Caddilacs on chrome..and even 3 porschas..mad funny dude..mad funny shit man..hahahah..this whole town went nuts and everyone in my crew still gets mad action to this day..like right now..I"m sitting here on my computer typing this while "Shelbe" get it.hint hint..lmao.Mustang..holy cow I can't believe I'm saying this but dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnn girl..remember that manaje twae back on 4:20? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH