Any serious weight trainers out there?

[Hummusisyummus]

Out of a morbid curiosity, I'm thinking about trying to get as ripped as possible, short of juicing and/or living in the gym and/or killing myself. :lol:

I have a decent amount of weight training experience and am in ok shape right now. I'm comfortable with free weights for upper body, but haven't done much free weights with my lower body (e.g. squats) for fear of hurting myself. The vast majority of the time I either work out alone or with someone who has less experience than me.

Also out of morbid curiosity, I want to work on my cardiovascular fitness to see how low I can get my bp and pulse to go. I've been doing the stair climber for about 45-60 minutes at a time because I was finding the elliptical too easy (or too easy to cheat on, heh). I'm thinking about running and/or swimming.

Is it worth trying creatine phosphate? How do you vary your workouts to keep challenging yourself? I'm thinking about splitting weights into three days:

Day1: Tricept, forearm, back (maybe abs)
Day2: Legs, abs
Day3: Bicept, chest, shoulder (maybe abs)

Any suggestions or resources? Would anybody like to be my partner in crime?

[DoctorB2B]

Out of a morbid curiosity, I'm thinking about trying to get as ripped as possible, short of juicing and/or living in the gym and/or killing myself. :lol:

I have a decent amount of weight training experience and am in ok shape right now. I'm comfortable with free weights for upper body, but haven't done much free weights with my lower body (e.g. squats) for fear of hurting myself. The vast majority of the time I either work out alone or with someone who has less experience than me.

Also out of morbid curiosity, I want to work on my cardiovascular fitness to see how low I can get my bp and pulse to go. I've been doing the stair climber for about 45-60 minutes at a time because I was finding the elliptical too easy (or too easy to cheat on, heh). I'm thinking about running and/or swimming.

Is it worth trying creatine phosphate? How do you vary your workouts to keep challenging yourself? I'm thinking about splitting weights into three days:

Day1: Tricept, forearm, back (maybe abs)
Day2: Legs, abs
Day3: Bicept, chest, shoulder (maybe abs)

Any suggestions or resources? Would anybody like to be my partner in crime?

One issue at a time.

First in dealing with your lower body ... the only way to do it is to do it. Don't fear squats ... start off light and let your stabilizers become accustomed to a new exercise. After a while you can start adding weight, but I don't believe it's necessary to squat super heavy to accomplish your goals. Find a weight that you can do 10-12 times and stick with that. Also incorporate leg press (much less chance of injury). Round out your leg routine with leg extensions and/or lunges for your quads and leg curls for your hamstrings. Also, you can workout your calves three times a week if you wants. They're a thick muscle group that recovers quick.

Cardiovascular health is important. I'm not sure what you meant by cheating on the elliptical machine. If your looking for a challenge, google HIIT (high intensity interval training) programs. In short, within a given time period you will alternate between all out sprint and slow pace. For example, you start out walking for 1 minute and then sprint for a minute and then walk for a minute, etc. This will really aid in fat burning and will keep your heart rate elevated.

As far as your split goes, I think you can split it up better. Right now it seems that you would take one day a week off, which a little low for an amateur lifter looking to cut up. Split it up into a 4-day program. For example:

Monday: Chest & biceps
Tuesday: Shoulders & calves
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Back & triceps
Friday: Legs

I keep my workouts interesting by changing them every single day. I never duplicate a workout. I also try to acheive a new goal every time I'm in the gym. If you bench press 225 every time you lift, that gets old quick. However, if you up it 5lbs one week or jump from 10 to 12 reps at a weight then you get a sense of accomplishment.

Creatine is a good supplement to take. Up your water intake. I wouldn't worry about the loading phase that you will see recommended on the labels. Basically for the first week, they advise taking in 20g a day to saturate the muscle bellies, however if you take 5-7g daily you will achieve the same results over time.

-Doc

[greensgood]

http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/

[AussieShane]

I am not a certified weight trainer but I am muscular and fit as hell as I play football. I'm doing health science degree at the moment too.

To improve your fitness tremendously, you have to improve your foundation itself (breathing and respiratory, nervous system, muscles, capillaries, muscular energy).
Strength - endurance training in the answer.

Diet: Calories should be from 25% protein, 55% carbs, 20% good fats
- a gallon of water per day
break even with calories or go in surplus but just make sure you're not in calorie deficit.

Lifestyle: split your meals over 6 small meals with equal amount of calories in each. this moderates insulin levels and constant energy. spaced about 2 - 3 hours apart.
Sleep is very important for recovery and enhancement. I won't go into detail as there are thousands of articles that emphasize it. Aim for 8 hours a night.

Supplements:
- protein supplement (if u can't get enough calories from natural protein)
- multivitamin
- Vitamin C
- Creatine Monohydrate (there is also Creatine Ethyl Ester, i don't use it for there's still insufficient medical tests done to prove it)

Creatine just increases muscle energy. Muscle energy is made from what's called ATP. The more you work your muscles, ATP becomes ADP (di-phosphate) a.k.a useless resource. Creatine donates a phosphate ion to ADP turning it back into ATP so it can be reused by the muscles.

Workout... Here's a sample routine on what I do in 1 week:

I drink 600ml of water first thing in the morning and I take a vitamin C 500mg.
This prevents dehydration and the vitamin C supposedly reduces the effect of morning cortisol (hormone that catabolizes muscle).

monday: 3km morning jog on empty stomach.
Tuesday: 3km morning jog on empty stomach. 1 hour Football training in evening.
Wednesday: workout A (shown below)
Thursday: workout B (shown below)
Friday: <rest>
Saturday: Football game
Sunday: workout C (shown below)


workout A (upper body)
bench press 3x10 (1 min rest)
dumbell shoulder press 3x10 (1 min rest)
superset : Seated Row 4x10/ Front Lateral pull down 4x10 (1 min rest)
superset : Pull ups 4 x failure / Dips 4 x failure (1 min rest)

superset is where one set performed after the other with no rest. Therefore in this case, you do 1 set of seated row, then immediately 1 set of lat pull, then 1 min rest.. back to seated row. Creatine helps out a lot in supersets.. for me anyway

workout b (lower body)
Squats OR deadlifts 4x10 ( 2 min rest) *
calf raises 5x10 (1 min rest)
Superset: Leg lifts for Abs 4xfailure/ Crunches 4xfailure

*Squats/deadlifts are the most dangerous and painful exercises, yet the most rewarding. They have been proven to boost testosterone and GH levels.

workout C
General Circuit training (takes 20 mins )
10 sets of 400m sprints (10 second rest)
1 set of Mike Tyson pushups

Mike Tyson pushups are where you do 15 pushups, stop, raise your hands up for 10 seconds, then do 14 pushups, stop, raise your hands up for 10 seconds and the pattern continues all the way to 1 pushup. This really taxes your blood flow.

[innermusic]

One issue at a time.

First in dealing with your lower body ... the only way to do it is to do it. Don't fear squats ... start off light and let your stabilizers become accustomed to a new exercise. After a while you can start adding weight, but I don't believe it's necessary to squat super heavy to accomplish your goals. Find a weight that you can do 10-12 times and stick with that. Also incorporate leg press (much less chance of injury). Round out your leg routine with leg extensions and/or lunges for your quads and leg curls for your hamstrings. Also, you can workout your calves three times a week if you wants. They're a thick muscle group that recovers quick.

Cardiovascular health is important. I'm not sure what you meant by cheating on the elliptical machine. If your looking for a challenge, google HIIT (high intensity interval training) programs. In short, within a given time period you will alternate between all out sprint and slow pace. For example, you start out walking for 1 minute and then sprint for a minute and then walk for a minute, etc. This will really aid in fat burning and will keep your heart rate elevated.

As far as your split goes, I think you can split it up better. Right now it seems that you would take one day a week off, which a little low for an amateur lifter looking to cut up. Split it up into a 4-day program. For example:

Monday: Chest & biceps
Tuesday: Shoulders & calves
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Back & triceps
Friday: Legs

I keep my workouts interesting by changing them every single day. I never duplicate a workout. I also try to acheive a new goal every time I'm in the gym. If you bench press 225 every time you lift, that gets old quick. However, if you up it 5lbs one week or jump from 10 to 12 reps at a weight then you get a sense of accomplishment.

Creatine is a good supplement to take. Up your water intake. I wouldn't worry about the loading phase that you will see recommended on the labels. Basically for the first week, they advise taking in 20g a day to saturate the muscle bellies, however if you take 5-7g daily you will achieve the same results over time.

-Doc

This is all basically good advice for a novice. Now you need to choose which exercises for each day of the split. My recommendation is to use as many compound exercises as possible, especially for the first 6 months. That means bench press (flat, incline, DB, BB, etc) on chest day, vertical (pullups WG, NG, neutral grip) as well as horizontal rows (deadlift, cable seated, bent-over BB, DB, machine, etc.) on back day, squats (no smith machine!) on leg day, military and other presses on shoulder day, dips for triceps, chinups for biceps... you get the idea. You can fill in the blanks with a few isolation exercises.

[slicknickns]

Run, run, run. Make exercise a regular habit and fall in love with it.
Running, stair running and jumping jack squats pretty much encompasses my entire lower body routine. Everything else is push ups, pull ups, and dumbbell curls. The simplicity of the exercises gives me what's needed.
Keep to it and don't lose the intensity, or the importance.

[kid a]

when i lifted i found squats and deadlifts to be the two most important exercises

[Tom]

Not serious, no. But I'm thinking maybe I'll have to get that way to make progress.

Now, I'm not going to win any bodybuilding contests- my body type won't allow it (ectomesomorph- 5' 10", 170 lbs). I'm doing this for myself.

My current Cybex routine, 3 days a week:

Chest press- 175 lbs- ~7 reps
Fly (chest)- 80 lbs- 2 sets of about 5 reps
Overhead press- 90 lbs- 7 reps
Deltoid- 80 lbs- 2 sets of 5-6 reps
one set (8 reps) of abdominal curls (situps) on the incline board
one set (8 reps) on the lower back machine, 85 lbs
Lat pulldown, 85 lbs, 2 sets of 6 reps
Bicep curls, 65 lbs, one set

I use my legs enough for fast walking and climbing stairs- that covers my legs/cardio.

I know some people do much more than this but even this workout takes something out of me. I do feel good after the workout, but I don't know about doing something more intense. It's not just my age (mid-50s); I've never had an easy time working out and have sometimes started to get pains in one joint or another if I tried to push harder- which was a sign I needed to back off.

[innermusic]

My current Cybex routine, 3 days a week:

Chest press- 175 lbs- ~7 reps
Fly (chest)- 80 lbs- 2 sets of about 5 reps
Overhead press- 90 lbs- 7 reps
Deltoid- 80 lbs- 2 sets of 5-6 reps
one set (8 reps) of abdominal curls (situps) on the incline board
one set (8 reps) on the lower back machine, 85 lbs
Lat pulldown, 85 lbs, 2 sets of 6 reps
Bicep curls, 65 lbs, one set

I use my legs enough for fast walking and climbing stairs- that covers my legs/cardio.

I know some people do much more than this but even this workout takes something out of me. I do feel good after the workout, but I don't know about doing something more intense. It's not just my age (mid-50s); I've never had an easy time working out and have sometimes started to get pains in one joint or another if I tried to push harder- which was a sign I needed to back off.

1. Ask yourself WHY you do something. So, why 7 reps? Why these particular exercises? In fact, none of these exercises will do you much good. You need to learn the basic lifts - compound exercises - with proper form.
2. You need to do some resistance exercise for legs - walking, stairs does not constitute resistance exercise.
3. If you've never had "an easy time" working out, you should explore this. Common reasons: a. Working out too infrequently. I know from experience that if I work out less than 4x a week, the workouts feel awful. b. Poor form. This can put undue stress on the joints. c. Poor lifestyle. Bad diet, poor sleep habits.. The bottom line is that you shouldn't have such difficulty with weight training. Something needs to be addressed.

[Tom]

1. Ask yourself WHY you do something. So, why 7 reps? Why these particular exercises? In fact, none of these exercises will do you much good. You need to learn the basic lifts - compound exercises - with proper form.
2. You need to do some resistance exercise for legs - walking, stairs does not constitute resistance exercise. I do 7 reps because when I was doing more reps per set I could not do so many reps overall- and for years I was going to 12 reps before increasing the weight. I seem to be making more progress splitting my reps over more sets. I have reason to believe lifts would injure my knees- I would seek the advice of a doctor before attempting them. I have also heard that walking or running is not enough to develop your legs, but I'm not planning on entering any body-building contests. Compared to my upper body, my legs are fine.


3. If you've never had "an easy time" working out, you should explore this. Common reasons: a. Working out too infrequently. I know from experience that if I work out less than 4x a week, the workouts feel awful. b. Poor form. This can put undue stress on the joints. c. Poor lifestyle. Bad diet, poor sleep habits.. The bottom line is that you shouldn't have such difficulty with weight training. Something needs to be addressed.Hmm... most of what I've heard recommends only 3 weight sessions per week. Some authors even disagree that you can exercise alternate muscle groups on alternate days, although "the experts" appear to disagree on this, granted. I don't remember my sources; I first read up on this some time ago, but one book was by the inventor of the Nautilus equipment, while the other was entitled "35 And Holding" (about exercise for older adults.) I agree that poor form, or inadequate diet or rest, can undermine one's efforts to develop physically.

EDITED TO ADD: I meant to say in my first paragraph, "I have reason to believe squats would injure my knees"...

[SarahC]

I've got a couple of programs that I use a lot. My favorite is one called "Metabolic Surge" - it's a 36 day program, in three cycles of 12 days each. I really like the way it combines the diet and excercise elements together. Plus it has all the variety I need, it's something different every day!
I bought it off the net here... http://www.metabolicsurge.com

The other I use is "Escalating Density Training". You basically pick two antagonistic excercises (eg, back and chest, tricep and bicep). Do five reps of one, five of the other, and go back and forth for 15 minutes. As you become fatigued just drop back the reps. You keep score of the total reps of each excercise in the 15 minute time period, then just try to beat that score next time.
Anyway, you can download it here... http://www.escalatingdensity.com

[ForestGlade34]

Interesting/dynamic sounding names those programs/books have, SarahC. But they are obviously both selling something... you have bought into both schemes? and you are confident of both?

I think I see the book called metabolic surge, but on the other site, I don't see one entitled escalating density, is this because the title of the book on the latter site is something like that,
but not quite of the same description? Or is it in the content we find those buzz words (which i presumed maybe a book title) in of the details therein?