Pushups!

[Amused]

Originally posted by: BAMAVOO

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

SO what is the routine?

There is no set routine since you have to mix it up to keep the gains coming.

But the basics are this:

Work each muscle group only one day a week.

Split your muscle groups up.

Example:

Mon: Chest and tris
Tue: Back and bis
Wed: Off
Thur: Shoulders
Fri: Legs

Do minimum sets (2) and minimum reps (6-10) with maximum intensity.

Try to do no more than 12-16 sets total per workout and try to keep your weight lifting under an hour.

And the MOST important thing is your diet. Eat big to get big, eat small to get small. Monitor your BF%. Expect to gain a little fat as you gain muscle. Do NOT try to build and cut at the same time. You'll get some results at first, but quickly you'll hit a wall. Split it up into bulking and cutting cycles.

And bulking and cutting involve DIET and CARDIO ONLY. Your weight training basics should never change, although you may get a little weaker while cutting.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Used to be able to do 80-100 nonstop. (but they were from punishment for cussing during tennis tournaments when I was in junior league)

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Yossarian

Originally posted by: SagaLore
I am very out of shape right now.

Recent winter, I was increasing my calories to get some weight on me, then the plan was to weight lift and use the extra fat to help with building muscle, then get myself back to lean.

I suggest you do some research at the various training and bodybuilding sites because you don't know wtf you're doing.

Pushups are going to do very little for you. Dont' expect gains to be linear.

I agree with Yossarian, you don't really want to just gain fat. Fat does not turn into muscle.......

I know this. When I was weight lifting before, I became so exhausted at one point it took me a few weeks to recover. And I couldn't get past a certain point - even with the additional proteins and carbs I was consuming.

My brother on the other hand was very fat in high school, but he started weight lifting and was gaining muscle very fast. He then lost his fat and just had the muscle. Apparently worked very well for him. Based on what I've read about fat and ketosis, I figured it was worth a shot gaining some weight before weight lifting again. Since I was having trouble fueling my own muscle regeneration with diet, I figured the additional fat would help. It is not just amino acids that muscle needs to repair, it needs energy to perform the repairs. I could be wrong though!

Getting fat before the fact is pointless. Yes, lifters put on a bit of fat while they bulk up, but that's just because they are consuming excess calories to make sure they have enough for muscle growth.

Your body cannot use the fat on your body to build muscle.

 

[Kelemvor]

Just take up swimming. It's the single best exercise to do to lean out and lose weight if you do it strictly and not just splashing around in the pool. Works out about every muscle at once. I hope to get back into swimming soon when my wife's company gets her a healthclub discount.

 

[kevman]

question for the lifters,

I want to get cut, rip up my chest arms upper shoulders and back, not big but well defined

do I do low weights with high amount of reps with slow movements?
also the best excersizes to acheive my goals? I am not over wieght, jsut smooth cuold use some carving.

 

[Imdmn04]

Fat does not turn into muscle, you have to lose fat by doing cardio, not by weight training.
your plan needs to have 2 cycles, a cut-down cycle that involves lots of cardio to burn all the fat. Then a bulk up cycle when you weightlift to gain muscle.
If you don't burn the fat first by doing cardio, you will still be very chubby around your stomach because all the fat will cover your muscle, and stomach is the place where the male body stores excessive fat(energy).

So essentially if you contiune your plan, you will look like lots of baseball players, huge forearms with a gut.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: kevman
question for the lifters,

I want to get cut, rip up my chest arms upper shoulders and back, not big but well defined

do I do low weights with high amount of reps with slow movements?
also the best excersizes to acheive my goals? I am not over wieght, jsut smooth cuold use some carving.

How you lift has NOTHING to do with how "cut" you are.

Getting cut happens with cardio and diet. It's all about extremely low body fat.

Even very skinny people can be "cut."

 

[kevman]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: kevman
question for the lifters,

I want to get cut, rip up my chest arms upper shoulders and back, not big but well defined

do I do low weights with high amount of reps with slow movements?
also the best excersizes to acheive my goals? I am not over wieght, jsut smooth cuold use some carving.

How you lift has NOTHING to do with how "cut" you are.

Getting cut happens with cardio and diet. It's all about extremely low body fat.

Even very skinny people can be "cut."

i used to run about three miles a day, but id did not help me get any "cutter"?

is there a rule of thuimb with Cardio?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: kevman

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: kevman
question for the lifters,

I want to get cut, rip up my chest arms upper shoulders and back, not big but well defined

do I do low weights with high amount of reps with slow movements?
also the best excersizes to acheive my goals? I am not over wieght, jsut smooth cuold use some carving.

How you lift has NOTHING to do with how "cut" you are.

Getting cut happens with cardio and diet. It's all about extremely low body fat.

Even very skinny people can be "cut."

i used to run about three miles a day, but id did not help me get any "cutter"?

is there a rule of thuimb with Cardio?

Then your diet needed to be adjusted. Also, you can vary and increase the intensity of your cardio to burn more fat.

Again, "cut" refers to how much BF you have. Weight lifting has very little effect on your BF%

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Amused
How you lift has NOTHING to do with how "cut" you are.

Getting cut happens with cardio and diet. It's all about extremely low body fat.

Even very skinny people can be "cut."

Yep, ever seen powerlifters? Some would call them big... others would call them fat Can't argue that they don't have muscle though. Having muscles accentuates a 'cut' look, but low bodyfat percentage is the deciding factor.

Originally posted by: kevman
i used to run about three miles a day, but id did not help me get any "cutter"?

is there a rule of thuimb with Cardio?

Proper nutrition to go along with it, and keep your heart rate in its optimal fat-burning range when doing cardio, this is (225-age)*0.70 to (225-age)*0.85.

 

[azazyel]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: azazyel

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused

He is kind of right. I wouldn't say that everything else is a waste of time. For me I like body weight exercises with high reps. But then I am not going for bulk at all. My recommendation for you if you want to trim up would be to do body weight work outs 3 days a week and swim twice a week. You don't have to really swim hard at first just remember if your not touching the walls or the floor your exercising. Then when you start trimming down if you want to beef up then start hitting the weights hard.

His stated goal is to put on muscle. I shared the easiest and most effective way to do that.

True, but I do think it is important to get your feet wet before you start doing any heavy lifting. Just getting in a routine of exercising and eating right can really help to keep someone exercising. I say do it for free at home first before you join a club. If you can keep to your workout for 3 weeks at home with all the temptations you will be able to go to a club religiously.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: azazyel

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: azazyel

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused

He is kind of right. I wouldn't say that everything else is a waste of time. For me I like body weight exercises with high reps. But then I am not going for bulk at all. My recommendation for you if you want to trim up would be to do body weight work outs 3 days a week and swim twice a week. You don't have to really swim hard at first just remember if your not touching the walls or the floor your exercising. Then when you start trimming down if you want to beef up then start hitting the weights hard.

His stated goal is to put on muscle. I shared the easiest and most effective way to do that.

True, but I do think it is important to get your feet wet before you start doing any heavy lifting. Just getting in a routine of exercising and eating right can really help to keep someone exercising. I say do it for free at home first before you join a club. If you can keep to your workout for 3 weeks at home with all the temptations you will be able to go to a club religiously.

I'd say starting out at home produces no results at all, if you have a fixed hour when you are going to the gym you will have results, if you try to do anything at home, well, you can always do it "later" then "later becomes "tomorrow" and "tomorrow" becomes never.

If you want to grow some size, join a gym, learn proper form by looking at more experienced members at the gym, you know, the huge guys, the won't mind if you ask for advice either as long as you don't do it when they are psyching up for a big lift or are in the middle of their excersise.

Yes, it is true that you need to eat right too, and you can find the same info in the same place.

To try to go heavier without proper form for a beginner is a painful experience, but the injuries for beginners are quite rare, even when they go overboard with bad form.

Anywayz, big weights for big muscles, pushups beside the bed are for when you CANNOT go to the gym for some reason, i have been working out and been late going to a wedding party, i don't miss workouts.