Due to the complexity of muscle tissue, it often takes years to develop quality muscle mass. The key is to be consistent and be aware of the following principles:
Bodybuilding & body shaping are built on three factors:
1. Nutrition
2. Consistent and Intense Exercise
3. Rest
If you leave out any of those 3, your gains will be minimal.
Nutrition is the most important factor, and sadly most people neglect that part of it. I did for years when I started. The majority of people focus soley on weight training. Although weight training is a large component of adding musculature, better than average nutrition is extremely important as well. First, we'll talk about exercise.
Exercise
By going to the gym frequently, and training your muscles to the point of "momentary muscular failure", you create microscopic tearing in the muscle tissue and this stimulates them to grow, strengthen and improve. You want to hit failure at some point between the 8th and 12th rep. If you're using a weight that you can do 15 reps on before failing, the weight is too light. If you can barely get 6 reps before failing, the weight may be too heavy. As your muscles get stronger, you can add more weight to keep you in the 8-12 range. Frequently you can switch your routine so you do heavier weight with fewer repetitions, but make sure your form stays strict. Consistency is also very important. Weight training gains are analogous to pushing a car up a hill. If you stop, the car starts to roll back. Muscles only grow and improve if they're constantly stressed. When the stress stops, or stays the same, they stop improving or even shrink. Change your routine frequently, but don't take too much time off from the gym. At most a week or two if possible.
Here's a website with great information about muscle groups and the exercises that train them:
* http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
Nutrition
Now that you've stressed your muscles in the gym, you have to provide them with quality building materials to repair. This is where the nutrition comes in. Building muscle is like building a house. The food you eat are the bricks and mortar for building the house. If you plan out your meals in advance, eating every 2-3 hours while you're awake, and carefully monitoring your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake, you can maximize your muscle growth without gaining noticeable bodyfat. You've heard the saying "you are what you eat". What would you rather build your house with, concrete or Play-Doh?
Here are three websites that you may find useful regarding nutrition:
* http://www.nutritiondata.com/ - Nutritional information about everything!
* http://home.howstuffworks.com/diet.htm/printable
* http://www.extreme-athlete.com/buildingmuscle.htm
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/stella9.htm - Bodybuilder's grocery list
Creating a meal plan isn't as difficult as it seems from the outset. To set up a meal plan here's what you have to think about:
1.
Make a list of foods you regularly eat (including your favorite foods). Depending on your goals (gaining weight or losing weight), you may have to remove some of those "favorite" items (or reduce their quantity) when compiling your meal plan.
2.
Make a list of foods you wouldn't mind eating if it meant you'd be getting better nutrition. (ie. vegetables)
3.
Write down the times you normally eat.
4.
Write down the times you'd like to ideally eat (i.e. every 2 hours). Sometimes it's difficult to time a meal exactly, so give yourself a 30 minute window on either end.
5.
Calculate how much money you have to budget for food per week.
6.
Divide that number by 7 (# of days in the week) and then divide that by how many meals you eat per day. For me, each meal I eat costs a maximum of $3.00. Some meals are significantly less than that because I prepare them myself. Therefore, it all balances out if I go out to dinner once a week and spend close to $7-10 on one meal.
7.
Once you have all your lists together, plan out which foods you'll eat tomorrow, and at which times. Make sure you time your pre-workout meal for 1 hour before your workout, and your post-workout meal for immediately after your workout. Planning out your meals may require that you cook your meals the night before to take with you to work/school, or perhaps you can have a meal replacement bar instead (especially when you don't have the opportunity to sit down and have a full meal; examples of which are meetings, and between classes).
8.
Once you have your meals planned out, calculate the serving sizes you're planning to have, and visit http://www.nutritiondata.com to figure out the macronutrient and caloric values of each meal.
9.
Purchase a scale to measure your food (a digital one is best). Depending on the brand, they cost $14-30 at WalMart (or any other kitchen supply store). This is so that you can accurately measure out your serving sizes.
10.
After totaling your calories, if you find you're coming up short, you can either add a meal, or increase some of your serving sizes. If you find you're taking in too many calories, or too much of one thing (like fats), remove one meal, or cut your serving sizes for one or two meals.
Those guidelines should give you an idea of how you can plan out your own meal plan so that you're consistent, and you have variety.
Rest
Lastly is rest. The "builders of your house" need time to make the repairs. Not only do you have to allow at least 48-72 hours between sessions where you train the same muscle groups, but you should do your best to get a good 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Your body starts releasing growth hormone about 2 hours after you go to sleep. This prompts the body's systems to repair themselves. The more you sleep, the more work can be done.
To help you organize all this, make sure you keep two journals. One for your nutrition, the other for your workouts. A simple spiral notebook will do (however if you want to be fancy, you can use a spreadsheet program on your computer). In the nutrition log, you'll keep track of the meals you eat, the times you eat them, how many grams of protein, carbs and fats each meal had, and by doing that you'll be able to know at a glance how many calories you're taking in and you can adjust it accordingly if you're planning to gain, or lose weight. The other journal will help you keep track of your workouts, poundage, exercises, # of reps per exercise, muscle groups trained, etc. This will allow you to see how you're progressing and help you avoid plateauing or having stagnant workouts.
Here's an example of what I've done. I have a profile on http://www.fitprofile.com and it allows me to keep track of my meals and it adds my daily totals so that I can stay on track.
* http://www.fitprofile.com/profile.asp?pid=13
I take in between 3000 and 3500 calories per day, and I've added an L-Arginine/L-Lysine supplement to my list of often used supplements.
1. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/un/argine.html
2. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/flax.html
3. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/met/food.html
4. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/mt/mesobars.html
5. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html
6. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/bc.html
7. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/glutamine.html
8. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/crea.html
Including a high quality multivitamin/multimineral supplement each day.
1. http://www.quixtar.com/products/product.aspx?itemno=A4300
To get you started, here's an additional article written by Matt Danielson which goes into more detail regarding the concepts I've mentioned above. Matt's a professional personal trainer and he writes articles routinely for bodybuilding.com. His article is particularly great for beginners or bodybuilders who've been away from the gym for a while or might be plateauing and trying to get a new routine going:
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/matt88.htm
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/printworklog.htm - Bodybuilding.com's Free Printable (and customizable) Workout Log
Here's also a link to a Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator so that you can determine what your maintenance caloric intake should be:
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm
Bodybuilding & body shaping are built on three factors:
1. Nutrition
2. Consistent and Intense Exercise
3. Rest
If you leave out any of those 3, your gains will be minimal.
Nutrition is the most important factor, and sadly most people neglect that part of it. I did for years when I started. The majority of people focus soley on weight training. Although weight training is a large component of adding musculature, better than average nutrition is extremely important as well. First, we'll talk about exercise.
Exercise
By going to the gym frequently, and training your muscles to the point of "momentary muscular failure", you create microscopic tearing in the muscle tissue and this stimulates them to grow, strengthen and improve. You want to hit failure at some point between the 8th and 12th rep. If you're using a weight that you can do 15 reps on before failing, the weight is too light. If you can barely get 6 reps before failing, the weight may be too heavy. As your muscles get stronger, you can add more weight to keep you in the 8-12 range. Frequently you can switch your routine so you do heavier weight with fewer repetitions, but make sure your form stays strict. Consistency is also very important. Weight training gains are analogous to pushing a car up a hill. If you stop, the car starts to roll back. Muscles only grow and improve if they're constantly stressed. When the stress stops, or stays the same, they stop improving or even shrink. Change your routine frequently, but don't take too much time off from the gym. At most a week or two if possible.
Here's a website with great information about muscle groups and the exercises that train them:
* http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
Nutrition
Now that you've stressed your muscles in the gym, you have to provide them with quality building materials to repair. This is where the nutrition comes in. Building muscle is like building a house. The food you eat are the bricks and mortar for building the house. If you plan out your meals in advance, eating every 2-3 hours while you're awake, and carefully monitoring your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake, you can maximize your muscle growth without gaining noticeable bodyfat. You've heard the saying "you are what you eat". What would you rather build your house with, concrete or Play-Doh?
Here are three websites that you may find useful regarding nutrition:
* http://www.nutritiondata.com/ - Nutritional information about everything!
* http://home.howstuffworks.com/diet.htm/printable
* http://www.extreme-athlete.com/buildingmuscle.htm
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/stella9.htm - Bodybuilder's grocery list
Creating a meal plan isn't as difficult as it seems from the outset. To set up a meal plan here's what you have to think about:
1.
Make a list of foods you regularly eat (including your favorite foods). Depending on your goals (gaining weight or losing weight), you may have to remove some of those "favorite" items (or reduce their quantity) when compiling your meal plan.
2.
Make a list of foods you wouldn't mind eating if it meant you'd be getting better nutrition. (ie. vegetables)
3.
Write down the times you normally eat.
4.
Write down the times you'd like to ideally eat (i.e. every 2 hours). Sometimes it's difficult to time a meal exactly, so give yourself a 30 minute window on either end.
5.
Calculate how much money you have to budget for food per week.
6.
Divide that number by 7 (# of days in the week) and then divide that by how many meals you eat per day. For me, each meal I eat costs a maximum of $3.00. Some meals are significantly less than that because I prepare them myself. Therefore, it all balances out if I go out to dinner once a week and spend close to $7-10 on one meal.
7.
Once you have all your lists together, plan out which foods you'll eat tomorrow, and at which times. Make sure you time your pre-workout meal for 1 hour before your workout, and your post-workout meal for immediately after your workout. Planning out your meals may require that you cook your meals the night before to take with you to work/school, or perhaps you can have a meal replacement bar instead (especially when you don't have the opportunity to sit down and have a full meal; examples of which are meetings, and between classes).
8.
Once you have your meals planned out, calculate the serving sizes you're planning to have, and visit http://www.nutritiondata.com to figure out the macronutrient and caloric values of each meal.
9.
Purchase a scale to measure your food (a digital one is best). Depending on the brand, they cost $14-30 at WalMart (or any other kitchen supply store). This is so that you can accurately measure out your serving sizes.
10.
After totaling your calories, if you find you're coming up short, you can either add a meal, or increase some of your serving sizes. If you find you're taking in too many calories, or too much of one thing (like fats), remove one meal, or cut your serving sizes for one or two meals.
Those guidelines should give you an idea of how you can plan out your own meal plan so that you're consistent, and you have variety.
Rest
Lastly is rest. The "builders of your house" need time to make the repairs. Not only do you have to allow at least 48-72 hours between sessions where you train the same muscle groups, but you should do your best to get a good 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. Your body starts releasing growth hormone about 2 hours after you go to sleep. This prompts the body's systems to repair themselves. The more you sleep, the more work can be done.
To help you organize all this, make sure you keep two journals. One for your nutrition, the other for your workouts. A simple spiral notebook will do (however if you want to be fancy, you can use a spreadsheet program on your computer). In the nutrition log, you'll keep track of the meals you eat, the times you eat them, how many grams of protein, carbs and fats each meal had, and by doing that you'll be able to know at a glance how many calories you're taking in and you can adjust it accordingly if you're planning to gain, or lose weight. The other journal will help you keep track of your workouts, poundage, exercises, # of reps per exercise, muscle groups trained, etc. This will allow you to see how you're progressing and help you avoid plateauing or having stagnant workouts.
Here's an example of what I've done. I have a profile on http://www.fitprofile.com and it allows me to keep track of my meals and it adds my daily totals so that I can stay on track.
* http://www.fitprofile.com/profile.asp?pid=13
I take in between 3000 and 3500 calories per day, and I've added an L-Arginine/L-Lysine supplement to my list of often used supplements.
1. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/un/argine.html
2. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/flax.html
3. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/met/food.html
4. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/mt/mesobars.html
5. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html
6. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/bc.html
7. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/glutamine.html
8. http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/crea.html
Including a high quality multivitamin/multimineral supplement each day.
1. http://www.quixtar.com/products/product.aspx?itemno=A4300
To get you started, here's an additional article written by Matt Danielson which goes into more detail regarding the concepts I've mentioned above. Matt's a professional personal trainer and he writes articles routinely for bodybuilding.com. His article is particularly great for beginners or bodybuilders who've been away from the gym for a while or might be plateauing and trying to get a new routine going:
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/matt88.htm
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/printworklog.htm - Bodybuilding.com's Free Printable (and customizable) Workout Log
Here's also a link to a Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator so that you can determine what your maintenance caloric intake should be:
* http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calrmr.htm
Haha Ill-Faded u forgot to mention u learned some of it from me. RangerMan IM me at: Darealballinboy and i can help u out with your work-outs.
The purpose of this page is to give you:
1. an idea of the sorts of things that you can do to reach your fitness goals,
2. help you maintain your body once you've reached your fitness goals.
Remarkable results are possible with the proper motivation, goal setting and consistent activity.
I've found that it's best if you apply these concepts in combination:
Eat frequently: 5 meals per day (same quantity spaced out evenly throughout the day).
Eating frequently speeds up your metabolism. With a constant supply of food, and frequent physical activity, your body will be more likely to burn the calories you intake rather than "store them for a rainy day". If you eat only 1-2 meals a day your body thinks it's starving, so it gets into a mode where eventually the metabolism slows down in order to conserve energy. The body gets into a catabolic state and it starts to break down muscle tissue to get to the protein to use it as fuel. In a sense, the body is cannabalizing itself to survive. If kept in that state for too long, the body gets into a state where once it sees calories again, it will convert most of them to fat almost immediately.
So, although you end up losing weight through starvation, as soon as you start eating normally again your body says, "Yay! Finally, we have food! There must be a food shortage, so let's store most of these calories as fat so we can prevent that from happening again." The result? You ultimately gain more weight than you lost. This is why millions of people who go on "crash diets" every year gain almost all the weight back shortly after the diet ends. Starvation diets are evil and are never successful in the long term. They do more harm than good, so be skeptical of any meal plan that recommends that you deprive yourself of significant quantities of food. Food is a good thing, just use moderation.
Eat quality foods: Keep your fat intake under 40-50 grams per day.
By keeping your fat intake relatively low, your body won't have as much fat coming into the system and thus will have less to store. Simply put, don't give your body more fat than it needs. Your body NEEDS fat to function properly, but not gobs of it.
Make sure you're also monitoring your protein intake. Take in a good amount, but don't over do it. Too much of a good thing is never good. Of course, if you're doing intense weight training, you'll need to give your body the material it needs to rebuild the muscle fibers you've torn down, but be smart about it.
A basic rule of thumb for most bodybuilders is to eat the equivalent number of protein grams per day as you weigh in kilograms. (80 grams of protein per day if you weigh 80 kilograms.) I noticed that when I increased my protein intake from whatever it was to about 70-90 grams, I definitely noticed a difference in the amount of weight I put on that year. And you can mix animal protein (meat) and plant protein (protein shakes -whey or soy). If you spread it out during your 5 meals each day, it will make it a lot easier to accomplish.
Frequent and consistent aerobic activity - (at LEAST 30 minutes twice per week)
This will help burn the fat you currently have. The more aerobic activity you do, the more fat you'll burn and the sooner you'll see results. When you keep your heart rate at 80% of its max for 15 minutes or longer, your body begins to release enzymes which help to burn fat. That's why 30 minutes or longer is really beneficial. 10 minutes 6 times a week won't do you as much good as 30 minutes twice a week. It's similar to popping popcorn. You have to leave in for a while for it to get going.
Weight training (consisently - 3 or more days per week)
Muscles burn calories just by existing. As your muscle mass increases you're building a foundation whereby your body will have a REASON to burn calories, rather than store them as fat. This will help you keep the fat off a LOT easier than if you had no muscle mass at all. As mentioned earlier, that's why people who go on starvation diets gain all their weight back. They lost muscle mass and can't burn off the caloies as readily as they did before. Which is also why the term "muscle turning to fat" came about. If you stop exercising for an extended period of time, your muscles atrophy (shrink) due to lack of use. This makes it harder to burn the calories that are coming in, so the body stores them as fat. So, the outward sign a person notices is that their muscles "became" fat, when in actuality they lost muscle mass/tone and acquired more bodyfat.
Now, if you ever find it tough to make it out to the gym, (which will happen from time to time) do what I did. In my senior year of college, my course load really became intense, so I would have tons of homework each night, but I still wanted to go to the gym. So my strategy was to pack my gym clothes in the car and promise myself that before I returned home I would visit the gym and workout. I did that because I found it REALLY difficult to leave the house once I got home. So, I "tricked" myself into getting my workout over and done with, and then I'd go home and take care of all the OTHER stuff in my life. It's all a matter of priority.
Get plenty of rest: (your body needs time to heal)
Simply put, weight training tears down muscle tissue. It's the body's repair of that damaged tissue which causes muscular hypertrophy (growth). If you don't allow the muscles time to repair, you're basically tearing it down as it's rebuilding.
Not getting sufficient rest is like trying to build a house that gets torn down everyday. Each time it gets torn down, the mainentance guys try to build a bigger, nicer house but you tear it down again as it's being built. This is the concept of overtraining.
You not only want to give each muscle group a good 48-72 hours between consecutive workouts, but you also want to get a good night's sleep so that your body can repair the damage. While you're sleeping, your body releases small amounts of growth hormone to stimulate cellular repair. If you don't get enough sleep, your "rebuilding" won't be as effective.
Train your abs 3 times per week: (Mon, Wed, & Fri for 10 minutes each session).
This consistent activity will condition and train your abdominal muscles such that within 2-4 weeks you will notice a definite toning and tightening of the abdominals, and within 2-4 months abdominal definition will begin to appear (provided there's no fat covering them).
Depending on how much fat you have to lose over your abdominals will determine how rapidly you can see the results. There are lots of guys and gals out there with great abdominals, they just have a layer of fat covering them.
"My car has a great paint job...I just can't see it because I can't get this car cover off."
What really helps with abdominal training is that "slower is better". Slower movements with strict form forces you to maintain the contraction long enough to stimulate all the muscle fibers in the region.
It's because of the slower movements why the routine I do takes about 10 minutes. I teach an Abs class at our local Gold's Gym and with 10 minute ab workout sessions, 3 times per week, it takes about 2-3 weeks for your abdominals to seriously tighten up, and about 2-4 weeks from there for the definition to start appearing. One guy was in our class (16 years old) and he was thin...about 150 lbs. He stuck with our class for the whole summer and by the time he was done he had REALLY good definition. Keep in mind, the definition is really dependent on how much fat you have covering your abs. 8)
READ UP !!!!!! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!!
1. an idea of the sorts of things that you can do to reach your fitness goals,
2. help you maintain your body once you've reached your fitness goals.
Remarkable results are possible with the proper motivation, goal setting and consistent activity.
I've found that it's best if you apply these concepts in combination:
Eat frequently: 5 meals per day (same quantity spaced out evenly throughout the day).
Eating frequently speeds up your metabolism. With a constant supply of food, and frequent physical activity, your body will be more likely to burn the calories you intake rather than "store them for a rainy day". If you eat only 1-2 meals a day your body thinks it's starving, so it gets into a mode where eventually the metabolism slows down in order to conserve energy. The body gets into a catabolic state and it starts to break down muscle tissue to get to the protein to use it as fuel. In a sense, the body is cannabalizing itself to survive. If kept in that state for too long, the body gets into a state where once it sees calories again, it will convert most of them to fat almost immediately.
So, although you end up losing weight through starvation, as soon as you start eating normally again your body says, "Yay! Finally, we have food! There must be a food shortage, so let's store most of these calories as fat so we can prevent that from happening again." The result? You ultimately gain more weight than you lost. This is why millions of people who go on "crash diets" every year gain almost all the weight back shortly after the diet ends. Starvation diets are evil and are never successful in the long term. They do more harm than good, so be skeptical of any meal plan that recommends that you deprive yourself of significant quantities of food. Food is a good thing, just use moderation.
Eat quality foods: Keep your fat intake under 40-50 grams per day.
By keeping your fat intake relatively low, your body won't have as much fat coming into the system and thus will have less to store. Simply put, don't give your body more fat than it needs. Your body NEEDS fat to function properly, but not gobs of it.
Make sure you're also monitoring your protein intake. Take in a good amount, but don't over do it. Too much of a good thing is never good. Of course, if you're doing intense weight training, you'll need to give your body the material it needs to rebuild the muscle fibers you've torn down, but be smart about it.
A basic rule of thumb for most bodybuilders is to eat the equivalent number of protein grams per day as you weigh in kilograms. (80 grams of protein per day if you weigh 80 kilograms.) I noticed that when I increased my protein intake from whatever it was to about 70-90 grams, I definitely noticed a difference in the amount of weight I put on that year. And you can mix animal protein (meat) and plant protein (protein shakes -whey or soy). If you spread it out during your 5 meals each day, it will make it a lot easier to accomplish.
Frequent and consistent aerobic activity - (at LEAST 30 minutes twice per week)
This will help burn the fat you currently have. The more aerobic activity you do, the more fat you'll burn and the sooner you'll see results. When you keep your heart rate at 80% of its max for 15 minutes or longer, your body begins to release enzymes which help to burn fat. That's why 30 minutes or longer is really beneficial. 10 minutes 6 times a week won't do you as much good as 30 minutes twice a week. It's similar to popping popcorn. You have to leave in for a while for it to get going.
Weight training (consisently - 3 or more days per week)
Muscles burn calories just by existing. As your muscle mass increases you're building a foundation whereby your body will have a REASON to burn calories, rather than store them as fat. This will help you keep the fat off a LOT easier than if you had no muscle mass at all. As mentioned earlier, that's why people who go on starvation diets gain all their weight back. They lost muscle mass and can't burn off the caloies as readily as they did before. Which is also why the term "muscle turning to fat" came about. If you stop exercising for an extended period of time, your muscles atrophy (shrink) due to lack of use. This makes it harder to burn the calories that are coming in, so the body stores them as fat. So, the outward sign a person notices is that their muscles "became" fat, when in actuality they lost muscle mass/tone and acquired more bodyfat.
Now, if you ever find it tough to make it out to the gym, (which will happen from time to time) do what I did. In my senior year of college, my course load really became intense, so I would have tons of homework each night, but I still wanted to go to the gym. So my strategy was to pack my gym clothes in the car and promise myself that before I returned home I would visit the gym and workout. I did that because I found it REALLY difficult to leave the house once I got home. So, I "tricked" myself into getting my workout over and done with, and then I'd go home and take care of all the OTHER stuff in my life. It's all a matter of priority.
Get plenty of rest: (your body needs time to heal)
Simply put, weight training tears down muscle tissue. It's the body's repair of that damaged tissue which causes muscular hypertrophy (growth). If you don't allow the muscles time to repair, you're basically tearing it down as it's rebuilding.
Not getting sufficient rest is like trying to build a house that gets torn down everyday. Each time it gets torn down, the mainentance guys try to build a bigger, nicer house but you tear it down again as it's being built. This is the concept of overtraining.
You not only want to give each muscle group a good 48-72 hours between consecutive workouts, but you also want to get a good night's sleep so that your body can repair the damage. While you're sleeping, your body releases small amounts of growth hormone to stimulate cellular repair. If you don't get enough sleep, your "rebuilding" won't be as effective.
Train your abs 3 times per week: (Mon, Wed, & Fri for 10 minutes each session).
This consistent activity will condition and train your abdominal muscles such that within 2-4 weeks you will notice a definite toning and tightening of the abdominals, and within 2-4 months abdominal definition will begin to appear (provided there's no fat covering them).
Depending on how much fat you have to lose over your abdominals will determine how rapidly you can see the results. There are lots of guys and gals out there with great abdominals, they just have a layer of fat covering them.
"My car has a great paint job...I just can't see it because I can't get this car cover off."
What really helps with abdominal training is that "slower is better". Slower movements with strict form forces you to maintain the contraction long enough to stimulate all the muscle fibers in the region.
It's because of the slower movements why the routine I do takes about 10 minutes. I teach an Abs class at our local Gold's Gym and with 10 minute ab workout sessions, 3 times per week, it takes about 2-3 weeks for your abdominals to seriously tighten up, and about 2-4 weeks from there for the definition to start appearing. One guy was in our class (16 years old) and he was thin...about 150 lbs. He stuck with our class for the whole summer and by the time he was done he had REALLY good definition. Keep in mind, the definition is really dependent on how much fat you have covering your abs. 8)
READ UP !!!!!! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!!
5'10"-5"11"...around there...
well that was some pretty informable information which got me motivated to cut down on my body fat this summer. However, I don't really know how much time Im going to have. working from 6am to possibly 6pm monday through friday and still maintaining a college level social life will be difficult.
Any suggestions for working around a work schedule so I can have some of my time to spend with my family and girlfriend and other friends?
Any suggestions for working around a work schedule so I can have some of my time to spend with my family and girlfriend and other friends?
2kchevy06civic
5,000+ posts
Learn to swim
I started working out about 2 months ago(will be 2 months at the end of this month). So far, I have lost 14 pounds and I can lift a lot more. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week and my off days I try, key word try, to do cardio. I've been lifting with a guy who has been working out for 3 years and is in real good shape so I listen to him. I've also picked up some mags like mens health, and mens fitness.
I just changed my eating diet again, which is to eat every 3 hours. I also drink 10 20FL oz bottle waters a day, and take metabolism boosters. My diet for eating consists of mostly fish, chicken, apples, bananas, grapes, wheat bread, special K bars, salds etc etc.
Like others have said, your eating is probably the most important if you are trying to lose weight. Trust me, going to the gym 3-4 times a week and eating right will for sure have the results you are looking for. Also, I'll be honest, adapting to the "eating healthy" trend was not easy. Took about 2 weeks to fully kick in, but I'm on it now and enjoy it.
oh sorry forgot to say, I take whey protein, metabolism boosters, and multi-vitamins. Protein has helped me alot muscle wise, metab and multis give me energy. I'm also 6'1" and weigh 226. I used to weigh 240. I'm trying to get down to 210, 200. Somewhere around there.
Does anyone have good links for meals? eating the same sh*t gets old man.
I just changed my eating diet again, which is to eat every 3 hours. I also drink 10 20FL oz bottle waters a day, and take metabolism boosters. My diet for eating consists of mostly fish, chicken, apples, bananas, grapes, wheat bread, special K bars, salds etc etc.
Like others have said, your eating is probably the most important if you are trying to lose weight. Trust me, going to the gym 3-4 times a week and eating right will for sure have the results you are looking for. Also, I'll be honest, adapting to the "eating healthy" trend was not easy. Took about 2 weeks to fully kick in, but I'm on it now and enjoy it.
oh sorry forgot to say, I take whey protein, metabolism boosters, and multi-vitamins. Protein has helped me alot muscle wise, metab and multis give me energy. I'm also 6'1" and weigh 226. I used to weigh 240. I'm trying to get down to 210, 200. Somewhere around there.
Does anyone have good links for meals? eating the same sh*t gets old man.
Heres what your grocieries list should look like,
Proteins
chicken breast
turkey breast
lean ground turkey
swordfish
orange roughy
haddock
salmon
tuna
crab
lobster
shrimp
top round steak
top sirloin steak
lean ground beef
buffalo
lean ham
egg whites or substitutes
trout
low-fat cottage cheese
wild-game meat
Carbohydrates
baked potato
sweet potato
yams
squash
pumpkin
steamed brown rice
steamed wild rice
whole grain pasta
oatmeal
barley
beans
kidney beans
corn
strawberries
melon
apple
orange
fat-free yogurt
whole-wheat bread
high-fiber cereal
rice cake
popcorn
tortilla
whole grains
Vegetables
broccoli
asparagus
lettuce
carrots
cauliflower
green beans
green peppers
mushrooms
spinach
tomato
peas
brussels sprouts
artichoke
cabbage
celery
zucchini
cucumber
onion
Heathly Fats, but dont over do it
avocado
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
cold-water fish
natural peanut butter
low-fat cheese
Fats to Avoid
butter
fried foods
mayonnaise
sweets
whole-fat dairy products
Proteins
chicken breast
turkey breast
lean ground turkey
swordfish
orange roughy
haddock
salmon
tuna
crab
lobster
shrimp
top round steak
top sirloin steak
lean ground beef
buffalo
lean ham
egg whites or substitutes
trout
low-fat cottage cheese
wild-game meat
Carbohydrates
baked potato
sweet potato
yams
squash
pumpkin
steamed brown rice
steamed wild rice
whole grain pasta
oatmeal
barley
beans
kidney beans
corn
strawberries
melon
apple
orange
fat-free yogurt
whole-wheat bread
high-fiber cereal
rice cake
popcorn
tortilla
whole grains
Vegetables
broccoli
asparagus
lettuce
carrots
cauliflower
green beans
green peppers
mushrooms
spinach
tomato
peas
brussels sprouts
artichoke
cabbage
celery
zucchini
cucumber
onion
Heathly Fats, but dont over do it
avocado
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
cold-water fish
natural peanut butter
low-fat cheese
Fats to Avoid
butter
fried foods
mayonnaise
sweets
whole-fat dairy products
Ill post some recipies, on here of what i made so far
Breakfast Fajitas:
6 eggwhites and a yolk
fat free cheddar cheese
fat free flour tortillas
Beat the whites and yolk and put in a skillet with cooking spray(I personally use canola cooking spray). Then, cook the eggs over a medium flame. Turn eggs over and add some cheddar cheese.
Meanwhile heat up the tortillas in the mike or oven.
Finally, Place eggs in the tortillas and roll up. you might want to add some salsa.
Each fajita: calories 131, carbs 16 grms, protein 15 grms and fat 0.5 grms.
Good luck.
Breakfast Fajitas:
6 eggwhites and a yolk
fat free cheddar cheese
fat free flour tortillas
Beat the whites and yolk and put in a skillet with cooking spray(I personally use canola cooking spray). Then, cook the eggs over a medium flame. Turn eggs over and add some cheddar cheese.
Meanwhile heat up the tortillas in the mike or oven.
Finally, Place eggs in the tortillas and roll up. you might want to add some salsa.
Each fajita: calories 131, carbs 16 grms, protein 15 grms and fat 0.5 grms.
Good luck.
Protein pancakes:
1 cup oatmeal
11 egg whites
1 whole egg
1 packet sugar free jello, flavor of your choice
Simply stir together in a mixing bowl, cook on a frying pan, using fat free pam. MMM!! MMM!!
49 grams of protein, 54 grams carbs (complex), 6g fat.
1 cup oatmeal
11 egg whites
1 whole egg
1 packet sugar free jello, flavor of your choice
Simply stir together in a mixing bowl, cook on a frying pan, using fat free pam. MMM!! MMM!!
49 grams of protein, 54 grams carbs (complex), 6g fat.
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