Fit Club ahoy! Where men are bros and women are also bros!

[Nabeel Ansari]

Augh. That hurt.

[Thin Crust]

Good job. Keep at it and keep improving. Every little victory is very gratifying.

[OceansAndrew]

nice work Nabeel!

did your food order get straightened out, TC?

magfest workout plans are going to be when there is downtime, so maybe in the mornings when things are getting set up, or before liunch, since evenings are usually filled with social times.

Also, there is lots of dancing to be done, which is good cardio!

[Thin Crust]

Yep. The rest of my food arrived today. I'm trying to figure out what I need to eat in addition to the breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert that they supply me with. It looks like I'm going to need 4 servings of vegetables, 4 smartcarbs, and 4 powerfuels. Looks like it's not quite as simple as I thought. I think I'm going to be eating a lot of eggs, lowfat yogurt, and peanuts for the next month.

[Modus]

I'm up to 80-80-70-70 on my pushups, so I'm now tying two 10 lb weights on my back with a belt.

Every other exercise I do is still mediocre or average. I'm ripping through my cardio but I appear too thin with weak pecs and still too much flab on the ab. I feel like a fitness enigma, but I'm happy that progress is evident even if my appearance hasn't caught up yet

[Soul Splint]

Yeah, I think that's the commonly accepted terminology, I was just confuzled. To be pedantic, I could say that you bring your chin up in both movements, but you use more of the muscles associated with the "pull" muscles (such as your biceps) when you have your palms facing inward. Meh. Splitting hairs.

Related, so that we can get off of semantics in a lifting/exercising thread, what's your favorite motion of this kind? I like chins cuz I'm better at them, but I think my favorite overall may be hammer grip pull-ups. Just feels like it hits a lot and is pretty low impact.

Haha, that is EXACTLY why I used to get confused, because palms inward seems like much more of a "pull" in my mind. Pull-ups (palms away) are by far my favorite now, though. I realized a while back that the reason I used to prefer chin-ups is because they were easier for me (because of over-developed arms and under-developed back, which is criminal in the lifting world).

I've been slamming the Stairmaster lately for cardio:

http://www.dailyhiit.com/hiit-blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Stepmill.png

This thing is brutal. When I first tried one a few years ago, I had it on 50 steps per min and made it maybe 5 minutes.

Today, I started at 90 and worked up to 135 steps/min (which is practically a jog) - over the course of 31 minutes, did 200 flights of stairs without stopping. 4 miles of distance, finishing at 15 mets.

Dragonforce, Nightwish, and Pendulum pumps me up

Ugh. More power to you, I'm pretty sure this would kill me.

Augh. That hurt.

Nice job, getting some good compound work done! Prepare to get hooked

I'm up to 80-80-70-70 on my pushups, so I'm now tying two 10 lb weights on my back with a belt.

Every other exercise I do is still mediocre or average. I'm ripping through my cardio but I appear too thin with weak pecs and still too much flab on the ab. I feel like a fitness enigma, but I'm happy that progress is evident even if my appearance hasn't caught up yet

Do you mean you're doing two sets of 80 followed by two sets of 70, or this a program facet/terminology I'm unaware of?

[Modus]

Do you mean you're doing two sets of 80 followed by two sets of 70, or this a program facet/terminology I'm unaware of?

That's just my own notation, but you got it right. Does the fit community usually just write it out like that? I'll do that.

I started doing dumbell presses and cable crossovers. That should do.. something.

[Cyril the Wolf]

I haven't done jack since a couple of weeks ago as I stopped sleeping well and got sick.

GUH.

Workin on it.

[Halt]

How do you guys deal with going to gym on those days you just feel completely drained?

I have wrist issues in my right wrist and forearm. Slight tendinitis. flares up sometimes when doing squats and other exercises so I've went from going every other day on a 4 day work out. Is there a way to alleviate this? Because it's flaring up tonight and I don't want to make it worse by going in and lifting.

[Soul Splint]

That's just my own notation, but you got it right. Does the fit community usually just write it out like that? I'll do that.

Nah, I'm pretty sure anyone would read it that way, I was just making sure, because that's impressive.

How do you guys deal with going to gym on those days you just feel completely drained?

I have wrist issues in my right wrist and forearm. Slight tendinitis. flares up sometimes when doing squats and other exercises so I've went from going every other day on a 4 day work out. Is there a way to alleviate this? Because it's flaring up tonight and I don't want to make it worse by going in and lifting.

Well, drained and injured are pretty different. Drained is pretty easy to handle, just put on a couple of songs that get your blood pumping, crank up the volume, take some preworkout (or other caffeine supplement), and visualize WHY you started doing this in the first place. Possibly check out some motivational videos on YouTube, there are tons of them.

As far as your wrist goes, when I had a similar injury, a good friend of mine (physical therapist) told me to ice it for 20 minutes at a time at least three times a day, and to start an ibuprofen regimen (800 mg a day, to alleviate inflammation), all of this for 1-2 weeks (while resting the injury). However, if it feels to be on the mend and you need to lift, I'd recommend wrapping/taping it pretty well, especially if you'll be doing presses or any exercises that compress the wrist. I'm having to do the same thing now for a slight strain I received several months ago that is only now starting to flare up.

[zircon]

I don't drink coffee, but I do take 200mg caffeine pills about 45 mins before a workout. Gets me hyper pumped up.

[RealFolkBlues]

I started doing dumbbell presses and cable crossovers. That should do.. something.

The more presses the better, imho. They're all great compound moves, which will absolutely build strength and definition in your upper body. Anything on the cable machine is terrific, and the chest crossover is fairly effing alpha, bro. Go for it. That stuff will def build your chest. It sounds like your focus right now might be on appearance? If so, what are you doing to cut/bulk? I see good muscular endurance stuff (medium weight, medium reps,) but if you're looking to get bigger, you need to do some low rep, high weight, and natch for cut you need to do the opposite.

MAGFest! Let's do this, gentlemen. I'm pumped. I'll be there tomorrow and might try and get in a late night leg day going if anyone wants to join. I actually am supposed to 1rm this week, and hope it goes better for my squat than it did on my bench yesterday. Would have got squished on my 215 1rm if not for my spotter. He says he barely helped but I'm not so sure. If I were to make excuses I might point to the fact that I did my 3's on push jerk on Sunday and so my triceps felt sore yesterday, but no excuses! Meh. Next time, bench press, next time. <shakes fist>

@zircon: Yeah, caffeine for the win for pre-workout. Do you ever try green tea? I've heard it's ok, though natch not quite enough caffeine for a tough workout. Also, is all of your cardio medium to long length, or do you do fartlek/interval stuff too?

Edited January 21, 2015 by RealFolkBlues
Added question to zircon

[zircon]

I think a Sunday morning workout might be cool, like 11am or something. But I'm at another hotel so if it's inconvenient do it without me

I'm not a tea person... can't stand the taste. In fact I don't drink anything except water.

Currently the cardio I do is all in the 20-30 minute range, stairmaster or elliptical, at pretty high intensity. But it's not HIIT. I hate jogging/running/sprinting. I guess I just need to find the right exercise where I can apply the HIIT template. I WAS playing badminton for over a year which is actually extremely great exercise, since you're naturally doing a ton of running + sprinting (about 2x as much as tennis), however my lower back injury is preventing me from playing right now.

[RealFolkBlues]

I think a Sunday morning workout might be cool, like 11am or something. But I'm at another hotel so if it's inconvenient do it without me

I'm not a tea person... can't stand the taste. In fact I don't drink anything except water.

Currently the cardio I do is all in the 20-30 minute range, stairmaster or elliptical, at pretty high intensity. But it's not HIIT. I hate jogging/running/sprinting. I guess I just need to find the right exercise where I can apply the HIIT template. I WAS playing badminton for over a year which is actually extremely great exercise, since you're naturally doing a ton of running + sprinting (about 2x as much as tennis), however my lower back injury is preventing me from playing right now.

I could be down for a Sunday morning workout. I'll try not to get crappy the night before. I intend to do mostly beer sipping this MAGFest, rather than tequila chugging like M6 (unfortunately.)

Water is pretty great. It makes up the vast majority of what I drink on any given day. That being said, there's some definite advantages to many other drinks, so I couldn't live without 'em. Low fat chocolate milk, for instance, is one of the best post-workout drinks, and is freakin' delicious, so yeah. Kind of the best.

Yeah, with a lower back injury I imagine the options are limited. HIIT can work for anything though, really. It's tough on some machines, but the concept's the same. Can you row currently?

[Soul Splint]

I hate jogging/running/sprinting. I guess I just need to find the right exercise where I can apply the HIIT template.

High knees, burpees, jump rope, heavy bag and swimming are some good alternatives.

[OceansAndrew]

Deia and I will be working out a few days, but sunday sounds very good for sure as well. i'm sure i'll talk to you guys when we are there so we can work out some time for gainzzz

[Thin Crust]

How do you guys deal with going to gym on those days you just feel completely drained?

I have wrist issues in my right wrist and forearm. Slight tendinitis. flares up sometimes when doing squats and other exercises so I've went from going every other day on a 4 day work out. Is there a way to alleviate this? Because it's flaring up tonight and I don't want to make it worse by going in and lifting.

I always thought the best way was to beastmode my way through it. That's actually how I get over being sick. Feeling drained and can't get up? Come on Thin Crust, you're a man! Start acting like one and go do a workout! It sure wipes you out and you might not be able to finish, but I'm not kidding when I say that I'll only be sick for a couple hours if I do that.

However, injury is definitely different from being drained. Treat fatigue with nutrition and treat injury with rest and immobilization if necessary.

[Modus]

The more presses the better, imho. They're all great compound moves, which will absolutely build strength and definition in your upper body. Anything on the cable machine is terrific, and the chest crossover is fairly effing alpha, bro. Go for it. That stuff will def build your chest. It sounds like your focus right now might be on appearance? If so, what are you doing to cut/bulk? I see good muscular endurance stuff (medium weight, medium reps,) but if you're looking to get bigger, you need to do some low rep, high weight, and natch for cut you need to do the opposite.

My focus is on appearance for sure, I know I'm internally healthy and fit at this point.

An older guy stopped me at the gym today to school me on my dumbell curls. Said I need to stop using my back and use full range (difficult with my long arms) He also said five meals a day and my love of running is a "strike." So basically what I'm going to do is eat like crazy and make it like 75% protein. I can't stop running, just will eat more.

[Halt]

Couple questions again! Hi.

zircon and I talked, so since I'm a tiny dude, it made sense to go on a bulk. I've been eating fairly clean counting calories throughout the day.

But I drink a LOT of milk. It's literally my go-to drink when at home. I can suck down a gallon of 2% in 2-3 days. Late in the night I'll get up and just pour a giant glass of milk sometimes more then once. I have a feeling I'm going way over my needed caloric intake because of this. I say this because I jumped like 4lbs which is weird since I've never jumped that high over the course of a couple days. Usually just fluctuates around 1-2lbs

My next question is what dumbbell exercise could replace the overhead barbell press? With my muscle imbalance it's tough with your standard 45lb bar.

[Soul Splint]

My focus is on appearance for sure, I know I'm internally healthy and fit at this point.

An older guy stopped me at the gym today to school me on my dumbell curls. Said I need to stop using my back and use full range (difficult with my long arms) He also said five meals a day and my love of running is a "strike." So basically what I'm going to do is eat like crazy and make it like 75% protein. I can't stop running, just will eat more.

My focus is aesthetics as well (many people have this goal but don't admit it). The guy in the gym was right about not using your back for curls, but there are a couple of things I want to point out for you, particularly because I was on a very similar path a couple of years ago.

1) The number of meals you eat in a day DOES NOT MATTER. The amount of calories does.

2) Please, please don't make 75% of your calories protein. I know it seems like this is the best approach for maximum muscle gains, but it isn't. You will need adequate carbs for energy and adequate fat for hormone production, which is super important. Google how to track your macros (macronutrients: MyFitnessPal is a decent app to help you with this). For muscle gain, you'll want somewhere between 30-50% of your calories to come from carbs, about 30-35% from protein, and the rest from fat. As you adjust to this you can look into slightly more advanced methods such as carb cycling (which I have to do because my body is overly sensitive to carbs).

3) Keep on running if you enjoy it, you can always eat more, as you said. For gains, you'll want to find your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), which will tell you how many calories you burn on average during the day. Then, aim to eat at least 500 calories above that. However, more than 1,000 calories above will be just adding fat; the body can only add so much muscle at once. Try to find the sweet spot between 500-1000 above your TDEE.

Couple questions again! Hi.

zircon and I talked, so since I'm a tiny dude, it made sense to go on a bulk. I've been eating fairly clean counting calories throughout the day.

But I drink a LOT of milk. It's literally my go-to drink when at home. I can suck down a gallon of 2% in 2-3 days. Late in the night I'll get up and just pour a giant glass of milk sometimes more then once. I have a feeling I'm going way over my needed caloric intake because of this. I say this because I jumped like 4lbs which is weird since I've never jumped that high over the course of a couple days. Usually just fluctuates around 1-2lbs

My next question is what dumbbell exercise could replace the overhead barbell press? With my muscle imbalance it's tough with your standard 45lb bar.

Yes, milk adds up QUICK. To answer your question though, check out Arnold Presses, or you can just do seated or standing overhead presses with dumbbells. Arnold Presses are awesome though

[Jakos]

1) The number of meals you eat in a day DOES NOT MATTER. The amount of calories does.

I think both matters If you eat more times, less quantity but the same amount of calories (TDEE) your metabolism becomes better and you burn fat more fast than if you were only eating 3 times a day.

Think that your stomach is not doing anything unless you're doing the digestion, which is something that requires energy from your body (burn calories). So I think both matters.

[Soul Splint]

I think both matters If you eat more times, less quantity but the same amount of calories (TDEE) your metabolism becomes better and you burn fat more fast than if you were only eating 3 times a day.

Think that your stomach is not doing anything unless you're doing the digestion, which is something that requires energy from your body (burn calories). So I think both matters.

I know this is generally-accepted public knowledge and that many fitness "experts" still swear it is the case, but it has been disproven. I too was a staunch believer in this myth for many years.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22719910

Conclusion and results below from the study linked above. (LFr = low-frequency diet, RMR = resting metabolic rate).

CONCLUSION:

The higher rise and subsequently fall of insulin in the LFr diet did not lead to a higher fat oxidation as hypothesized. The LFr diet decreased glucose levels throughout the day (AUC) indicating glycemic improvements. RMR and appetite control increased in the LFr diet, which can be relevant for body weight control on the long term.

Glucose and insulin profiles showed greater fluctuations, but a lower AUC of glucose in the LFr diet compared with the HFr diet. No differences between the frequency diets were observed on fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Though, protein oxidation and RMR (in this case SMR + DIT) were significantly increased in the LFr diet compared with the HFr diet. The LFr diet increased satiety and reduced hunger ratings compared with the HFr diet during the day.

If eating more meals works better for you personally, then there is no reason not to. But people who specifically eat many small meals a day because they think they are revving up their metabolism are wasting their time.

[Halt]

Yes, milk adds up QUICK. To answer your question though, check out Arnold Presses, or you can just do seated or standing overhead presses with dumbbells. Arnold Presses are awesome though

I love milk though

And I'll switch to those exercises for a while!

[Thin Crust]

I'm done with day 4 of nutrisystem and today I recorded everything I did. There were 1633calories and 67g sugar. There were fruits and vegetables, but the biggest contribution to the list was 3 servings of peanuts totaling 480calories. If you want I can break it down further by item, time, and other nutrition for each one. I also did a half workout today because I was still tired from yesterday.

I need some input. I'm really stupid when it comes to nutrition. Anyone feeling insightful?

[Soul Splint]

I'm done with day 4 of nutrisystem and today I recorded everything I did. There were 1633calories and 67g sugar. There were fruits and vegetables, but the biggest contribution to the list was 3 servings of peanuts totaling 480calories. If you want I can break it down further by item, time, and other nutrition for each one. I also did a half workout today because I was still tired from yesterday.

I need some input. I'm really stupid when it comes to nutrition. Anyone feeling insightful?

67 grams of sugar in 1633 calories? That's...not good. 1633 calories is likely way too low for you (especially on a training day), and that's a heck of a lot of sugar to be in something called Nutrisystem, even with several servings of fruit. Eating like this would be a recipe for me feeling tired every single day. For reference, my calories to maintain my weight are 2700. I'm eating at about 3300 a day (on training days) right now to gain. When I cut, I never ever go below 2000, and rarely do I get below 2200. I know everyone is different, and for a small-statured female 1600 would probably be okay, but I think it may do you more harm than good.