hokie said:

What are you a personal trainer

OK - since there are so many knowledgable people here, I want to ask some advice;

I'm a typical desk-jockey with a flabby midsection/gut and scrawny limbs. Not a good look for a guy.

What happens to me is that if I do alot of cardio, eat less, etc. and lose weight, it just makes my legs and arms skinnier but my gut doesn't go away. Then if I start lifting heavy weights (which I did for like 6 months) my appetite increases and my midsection expands.

What the HELL do I do? Do I focus on crunches & little else until I lose the flab and THEN try to add meat to my bones?

I realize that this could easily be handled via a personal trainer, but that's a luxury right now.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

.
[Edited 9/15/09 6:47am]

Just doing push-ups isn't beneficial. You'll work your pecs, triceps and frontal deltoids certainly But that would just lead to an imbalance. You'll never get 'BIG' just using callisthenic techniques either.

If you want to increase muscle mass then you need to spend time under the bar lifting weight.

Ideally you should concentrate on 'compound' lifts. These are bigger lifts which incorporate several muscle groups working in conjunction with one another. You'll be able to left heavier and train more frequently using this method as opposed to split training (one or two muscle groups per session).

Perhaps the most revered 'full body' (fb) workout available is this.

Change your rep/set scheme frequently.

Choose between 4x8 3x10 3x12. these rep ranges are genrally considered the best for hypertrophy (muscle growth). Anything less is purely strength based. Above, endurance.

For example week 1 could be 4x8, week two 3x10 week 3 is 3x12 etc..

perform these exercises in each session.

Squat
Dead Lift
Shoulder Press
Benchpress
Bent Over Row
Chin Up

Perform this Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 48hrs is required between sessions. Your muscle grows outside of the gym - not during.

Look to increase weight each week. No matter how small. progress is progress. You will also experience 'beginner gains' which means your first few months will be extremely productive and you should notice considerable differences in your shape and size.

Each of these is a compound lift and targets each muscle group effectively. Dont be the fool who spends an hour doing bicep curls. Your bicep is a tiny muscle. Perhaps only 5% of your muscular tissue. Why people feel it necessary to dedicate so much time to auxiliary muscles is beyond me. bent over row and chins will hit your biceps hard and work your back at the same time. further more, you are going to look in proportion. Similarly, bench press will work your chest and tri's far harder than an isolation on your tri's alone.

Form is paramount. So ensure you learn the lifts correctly. Speak to an instructor at the gym or the advice of a senior lifter. Alternatively, look on youtube and find some highly rated demonstration videos. Compound lifts are serious and if you execute them poorly then you are gonna injure yourself. Do it right and you'll see incredible gains.

Diet and training go hand in hand. To grow you need to fuel your engine. You should be consuming around 500cals over your daily maintenance to add lean muscle mass. You want to eat 'clean' too. As mentioned previously, protein is paramount to muscle growth. Learn about protein, carbs and good fats.

Somebody mentioned earlier that you should squat. This is the single best piece of advice to take away. Do not neglect your legs. They are the biggest muscle group in your body and when worked with squats and deadlifts will aid in increasing size across your entire frame.

Good luck and enjoy whatever training you decide to do.

3121 said:

Oh, and rest periods between sets and reps is important.

the usual consensus is 1 minute rest between sets and 3 minutes rest between each new exercise.

e.g.

Squat 3x10
1 min rest
Squat 3x10
1 min rest
Squat 3x10
NOW TAKE 3 min rest

Then move to next exercise e.g benchpress.

3121 said:

Great stuff, and you're right about legs. I see so many cats who don't work legs like they should. They look great above the waist, but their legs are shit.

As for dead lifts, I can't go heavy on them anymore. Last time I did I fucked up and hurt myself bad.

PurpleJedi said:

Sorry, didn't read your next-to-last line.

I am not a fan of cardio. I guess it's good if you're training to run a long way or something, but I've never seen any benefits to the physique from cardio.

I would concentrate on working out the parts of your body that you want to increase. Along with that, you're going to have to change your diet. It's probably not so much how much you're eating, but what you eat.

Just about any issue of a muscle magazine seems to have articles about choosing the right diet for what your goal is. Check the newsstand and you should find something that will help you eat right.

Good luck!
[Edited 9/15/09 13:18pm]

Here's what I do. For each exercise, I do 5 sets, 12 reps a set. I take Arnold Schwarzenegger's advice and never decrease the weight amount during an exercise, so the first couple sets are not as hard as the last three. But, when I increase the weight, I might not always get to 12 reps (but never, ever less than 8 reps):

M-W-F is upper body day, which is:

5 - 7 minutes of stretching
Two or three chest exercises - bench press, flies, pull-ups, or close-handle lat bar.
Two shoulder exercises - seated press, incline press, dumbbell press, one-armed dumbbell rows, or flies
Two biceps exercises - various curls, either one-armed or with a bar, and machines. I try to make sure that at least one of the exercises is an isolation exercise (like seated preacher curls)
Two triceps exercises - dips, pull-down, dumbbell extensions

T-TH-S is leg day (although I don't always make Saturdays, LOL):

5 - 7 minutes of stretching
A leg press. I used to do squats but they hurt my lower back, so I find machines where I can press without putting stress on my lower back
Leg extensions, for the quads
Either a leg biceps curl on a machine, or lunges, to work the leg biceps
Calf machine

I never do cardio any more, although I used to warm up with 5 minutes on the stair stepper. That was just to get my heart rate up, but I find that if I rest only a minute or so between sets, I don't need cardio to get my heart rate up!

endymion said:

A nurse.

ThreadBare said:

That doesn't build muscle That just creates gut

RodeoSchro said:

Rodeo is right, building muscle mass while shedding the gut is a more challenging equation. But I bet you're eating something that's maintaining the gut while defeating any muscle building efforts. What's your protein intake? Your carbs? Sounds like you should focus less on cardio & more on your food & weight lifting.

CalhounSq said:

That explains it!

ThreadBare said:

but I bet your ab looks just fine

ZombieKitten said:

Bless your heart.

CalhounSq said:

Yeah, you're absolutely right.
I'm going to give you a typical day;
9:30AM - Bagel w/ 1 egg white, turkey & swiss
12:30PM - whatever the office is having for lunch
6:30PM - whatever the wife made for dinner.

I need to come to terms with the fact that I'm no longer in my 20's. I have tried to eat better by having more chicken & vegetables and less starch & fried foods. BUT I can't seem to get into the tuna/whey protein shakes/boiled chicken 5x a day that those muscle magazines tout.

Maybe I'll invest in a good nutrition/diet book and see how that goes. My wife lost ALOT of weight by cutting out red meat and soda.

Imago said:

oh my gawd

Fauxie said:

I'll try that

Alej said:

Try . ?

Fauxie said:

idk

Alej said:

It did say Clenbuterol, but then I wondered if perhaps it's in fact illegal where most orgers are. That helps to shift fat by increasing your body temperature slightly so you can burn more calories.

Fauxie said:

That's hot.

PurpleJedi said:

But that would be the best diet ever. A modern woman that cooks.

I'm doomed to live on frozen pizzas 4ever.

novabrkr said:

back in the olden days wives put that extra pat of butter on everything to hopefully do in the old man faster.


with this nifty gadget, the Artery-Blocker™

... and here I thought they just intentionally tried to make their husbands fat so that they wouldn't consider themselves confident enough about themselves in order to cheat - which also would allow also the housewives themselves freely get fat and eat as much as they want.

I will say something more serious about concerning this thread though, exercising more has certainly increased my appetite. I've been gaining weight certainly, not losing it.

novabrkr said:

That too, but mainly for the life insurance

hopefully muscle mass, the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn.

Badx0rz gramm3rs, above. srooy. Well, this is the internat's 4 ü.

novabrkr said:

are you apologising for my post?

PurpleJedi said:

My ex bf was skinny in his youth but has maintained his muscle mass over 20+ years. He's fairly dedicated to the gym but he's in & out in less than an hour, never does any more than 20 minutes of cardio. He's never gone the boiled chicken/tuna route, but he does have protein in every meal.

I say drop the bagel, up the protein & maybe incorporate some protein shakes into your diet. Muscle Milk actually tastes good & it comes in a low fat version.

If the wife cooks pasta, have very little, start buying whole wheat/whole grain (less fattening). Just be on the lookout for the traps in those office/home meals. & if you don't know how they were prepared (lots of butter & oil) opt for less of the "good" stuff & more veggies. You just gotta know the equation & balance it out...

ZombieKitten said:

No, mine.

I haven't been sp3ax0rzing Anglais in quite a while, to be honest. It's starting to leaf its affects, as your probably perfectly capable of seeness.

peacenlovealways said:

It's over-rated