Tips on working out. loosing pounds
polycounter lvl 18
I started up my exercise program the beginning of June. Sitting on the computer for long hours, I needed to do something active. Been doing weights M,W,F with T, TH off. All 5 days doing some cardio. Eating more fruits and veggies, drinking more water, not eating after 9pm, etc.
Anyone have any workout tips? lifestyle changes that worked for them. I heard its better to workout the larger muscle groups first, or workout arms last. any thoughts?
Anyone have any workout tips? lifestyle changes that worked for them. I heard its better to workout the larger muscle groups first, or workout arms last. any thoughts?
Replies
I've also heard it's healthy to have a high score in Geometry Wars that is over 5 million...
Try to eat smaller portions more often throughout the day .. dont stuff yourself ... i think it's a big hurdle to overcome if you are accustomed to pigging out ..
Dont eat past 900pm ... You gain body fat when eating late...
Be careful to start small, if you have never been visiting the gym regularly it might be physically straining on your body to have to upkeep a certain regime ..
Weight lifting: remember that lifting lighter weights for more reps give you better toned muscle, lifting larger weights for less reps give you muscle mass... Often times people go for the heavier weights thinking they will get stronger and fitter, which may not always be the case. You should always evaluate your condition and start with medium weights doing controlled reps in the best form you can...
Dead Sets is a technique i personally dont use but it's great for getting that great tone and definition from your muscles.. basically you work your way from a medium weight down the a very low weight without breaks .. so suppose you are curling a barbell .. work your way from 50lbs down to 25lbs doing almost maximum on each ..
Try to aclimatize your body into the routine gradually and alternate power training with tone training ..
There are a few good weight machines out there but i almost dont use any of them, they are great if you have been injured or not in the best of shape .. they are smooth, safe and reliable ... however freeweights is the best kind of weight workout ..
Cardio: weight lifting will not burn fat, activities like basketball, soccer, sprinting etc burn more sugar rather than fat ..
To burn fat your heart needs to be at around 85% capacity for a period of at least 20 minutes ..
In fact, to burn fat efficiently you need to involve yourself in low intensity, long duration cardio ...
Walking a mile burns just about as much fat as running a mile, but most people like to run becaue it's quicker .. but technically if you walk you can walk much longer and therefore burn more fat ..
Running/jogging is a great cardio workout but it could be a little straining on the kneeds and other joints due to high impact nature ... Try swimming, i've always been swimming, it's not easy to learn but you can get a hang of it if you get taught .. swimming is one of hte top ways to burn fat, becaues it's just that low-intensity, long duration workout you need .. it builds endurance and good for your lungs and it has no impact on your joints...
Remember you need to maintain your workout for at least 15-20 minutes, at that point the enzymes in your body start breaking up fat, and they continue to do so even after you are finished working out .. it's important to get your body into that sweet spot
Routine:
my routine consists of using weight every other day, and swimming in between, obviously it's almost impossible for me to keep up at it for everyday, but at least it's something ...
You sohuld be working from Larger muscles down to smaller muscles
it goes like this:
Day 1:
Chest (Horizontal Benchpress, Decline Freeweight, Incline Benchpress, Freeweight Fly)
and Back ( there are variety of exercises for your back, from cable machines to freeweights etc)
Day 2: Swimming (A small warm up with a 100-200m swims freestyle, a long endurance 350-500m freestyle, a few 100-200m swims incorporating breastroke for some laps and hands only freestyle laps, a few flutter kick laps and then finish off with 50m relay with my friend alternating back and forth .. sometimes relay involves increases in distance, 50m,100m,150m,200m and so on .. )
Day 3:
Shoulder
Tricep
Bicep
Forearm
Day 4: Swimming again
I add various abdominal exercises here and there, but ultimately those can be done at home whenever you have the time
Sometimes you can add a day where you workout your legs, in between chest day and arms day ...
Apologize for the long post, but hopefully you will find this usefull, healthy body = healthy spirit
Best of luck!
Cheerio
My personal story:
I went from 170 to 140 over the last few months (a dangerous drop, but I couldn't STOP losing weight once my body started attacking fat) and changed my body fat % from 20% to currently about 14-15%.
I once was eating 1900-2100 calories a day and was GAINING weight because of how high my % was.
Now I eat close to 2300-2400 calories and am LOSING weight. I have to eat more to keep the muscle from atropying now. Nothing wrong with eating more though, right?
The MOST important thing is muscle to body fat ratio.
You build that up by doing weight training. The more muscle, the more your body uses what you actually put in it.
Then comes diet.
if you tweak this right, then your body will want to build more muscle. Once the process gets moving, and muscle is being built, then the base calorie cost to keep your body running without going for the fat is higher.
LAST comes cardio.
Cardio is basically worthless if you don't do the other two...it's a supplement that's great for your heart and endurance, but not as much for fat loss as everyone 'claims', at least compared to weight training and diet. Even weight training alone burns longer (it keeps burning calories all day afterwards) than running/biking/swimming.
Since everything has a web community nowadays, the best web community for this stuff is probably
www.johnstonefitness.com
HEre's a great primer thread on excersizes You don't need a gym, just 30-40 bucks in dumbells to start with:
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=19229
And another, more on nutrition:
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222
Seriously, check out the main site and look at John Stone's picture log... he goes from being the average 'gamer/computer guy' to being, well, a professional body builder. It's crazy.
Goodluck!!
The plus of weight training is that though the initial burst of calorie use is lower than cardio (I think), the actual tearing muscle and building it keeps the calories burning all day at a higher rate..so in the end it works out to more.
BUT the major plus of weight training is that you can add muscle (don't worry you WONT bulk like a bodybuilder unless you eat 3000-4000 calories a day!). But muscle is more expensive for your body to store, so you can just sit at home in your spare time and the body won't be able to store new fat, or better yet, will have to tap into the fat stores to keep the muscle alive...
Personally, I find that weight training with as-heavy-as-possible weights, and only doing 6-8 reps, 1-2 sets (and only 7 or 8 heavy sets total a workout), to be a 'sweetspot' work out for me. It's almost like a lifting program called MAX-OT, but not quite. Works amazing wonders and only takes 30 minutes a day or so.
Here's a nice muscle/excersize reference:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/WorkoutMenu.html
wake
Drink lots of water and give up all other liquids. Beer, soda, even diet soda, fruit juices etc, all screw you over. Drink as much water as you can.
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Dont eat past 900pm ... You gain body fat when eating late...
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This is a myth. In fact, the longer you go without food, the more likely your body is to catabolize lean tissue - literally munching on muscle as well as fat to sustain body function. The best thing to do is to keep eating until right before bed, but to make your last meal is very low carb to avoid spiking your blood sugar. Instead, choose something composed mainly composed of proteins+fats, which are slower digesting and keep your metabolism at a higher state through the night.
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Weight lifting: remember that lifting lighter weights for more reps give you better toned muscle, lifting larger weights for less reps give you muscle mass...
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This is also a myth. Lifting weights causes muscles to grow, and that's the end of the story. Muscle that looks 'toned' simply has less bodyfat between it and the skin. The reason the low-weight method doesn't get the same growth results is because the lifter essentially isn't working as much.
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however freeweights is the best kind of weight workout ..
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Quoted for truth.
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Cardio: weight lifting will not burn fat, activities like basketball, soccer, sprinting etc burn more sugar rather than fat
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Again a myth. Activity of any kind burns calories. The intensity of the exercise and the coordination of your diet determines what sort of calories are burned. You can get completely ripped doing nothing but weightlifting, if you do it with a high frequency and intensity, and structure your diet to accomodate that training style. Additionally, building muscle raises your metabolic rate, meaning you'll naturally burn more calories during the day doing any activity than someone with less muscle doing the same activity.
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To burn fat your heart needs to be at around 85% capacity for a period of at least 20 minutes ..
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Typical "fat-burning" heart rate ranges are more like 65% of MHR; anything over 80% is intense, like the result of sprinting or similar. Regarding the time frame, that's variable to individual and diet, and I don'trecommend bothering with any steady-state cardiovascular work that's less than 45 minutes long.
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In fact, to burn fat efficiently you need to involve yourself in low intensity, long duration cardio ...
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A myth, and a very popular one promoted by people who want to sell treadmills and exercise bikes to a flabby populace. If I were to prioritive the steps to improving body composition, #1 would be diet, #2 would be resistance training and #3 would be energy systems work (cardio of whatever kind). My very favorite and most effective routine of all time includes absolutely no low-intensity cario.
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Remember you need to maintain your workout for at least 15-20 minutes, at that point the enzymes in your body start breaking up fat, and they continue to do so even after you are finished working out .. it's important to get your body into that sweet spot
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Myth! No one hears about sprinters running the 100m having trouble keeping the fat off, even though they only do their sport ten seconds at a time. The point about exhausting your glycogen (blood sugar energy, more or less) is true in that it happens within about twenty minutes of low-intensity exercise, and faster if the exercise is more intense. But if you stop exercising right that second, what happens? Your body still needs energy, to feed muscles and pump blood and keep yourbrain thinking and all that good stuff. Where does it get that from once your glycogen is depleted? From fat.
I can talk for days about weight training specifically, and will try to give this thread some attention in the morning.
give up all other liquids. Beer..
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Woh, easy there
Honestly, in moderation the beer won't hurt your weight loss goals.
Like I said in BoBo's bday post though, I've taken up swimming on the weekends. Swimming is an insanely good workout. It works a huge range of muscles, builds stamina and helps increase lung capacity. In the past 3-4 weeks I've already dropped 10lbs. Not bad for doing something that's very fun.
Coupled with this, I've started doing strength training on my bowflex again. I lost 20lbs in a month when I last did strength training. But I did in wrong. I was eating very little, and taking vitamin suppliments to make up for it.
Now, I eat several small meals throughout the day, and my metabolism is starting to kick up. Particular foods like onions and peppers also increase your body's metabolism.
Stay away from junk/fast food. Buy a stack of pita bread and making yourself a babaganush or salad wrap for lunch.
Smaller portions. More meals. Ooooodles of water. Milk. No soda.
My basic regime:
40 pressups, 4 x 10 reps
90 lifts of 10kg per arm, in 3 x 30 reps
low cal beer
limit of 1500 cals per day or less, because apart from the above work out, I do fuck all execise.
try to have sex as much as possible! my girlfriend is fridgid and I hardly ever see her, so I often go for a long walk instead. Sex is an awsome cardio workout.
I want to take up swimming, if only there was a pool near me.
Interesting, another Polycounter has recently asked me about this (and I'll reply to you tomorrow, JM!)
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Nooooo, my anononymity is gone!
I lost weight the wrong way and it's starting to come back, I gained 20lbs since last year
But I did find some inspiration in the form of a pic on my old hard drive!
Hopefully I'll have another transition pic where I can actually take my shirt off.
I've had pretty good results. I'm a little too embarrassed to show my before and after nekked pics, but anyway, what's interesting to me is that whilst people always talk about the *body* results from fat loss, what's worth remembering too is that with significant results your face can look *totally* different too (as Justin proves). This is me couple of years ago with my mum, and this is me much more recently. My face is a totally different shape, and I'm much happier with the new me:
Verm is a smartass smartypants clever braniac smug bastard, but reading through this whole thread I know he speaketh the truth on the matter of fitness. I've done an awful lot of research and tried a lot of different things. For me it was about drinking more H2o, cutting out the shit food, portion control (personally I think this is a huge problem in the US in restaurants), reducing intake of alcohol, intense bag workouts (find me an athlete fitter than a boxer), running, and generally leading a much less 'slumped in front of a pc' lifestyle.
Also, be aware of 'boredom' eating. If, late at night you feel tempted to east some crap for the sake of it, go out for a 10 minute walk instead, or drink water.
DaZ has defenitely lost quite a bit of weight in just a year. I remember seeing him at this year's E3 after a year off from EA and was surprised at how much thinner his face had become.
Atkins diet
Exercise bike
That was pretty much it and I dropped 10kg in a month. Not the best (or healthiest)workout plan, and when I get back into an exercise routine there will be other exercises (currently do variations of pressups, hindu squats, chin ups and some low intensity weights).
If you have an exercise bike, park it infront of your computer and get a gamepad and a good game you can play with it (I was playing FFVIII at the time). When I did this I'd be focusing on the game and cycling at the same time, and when I got to the 'oh I'll just do this last bit before I stop' (several times) it meant I was exercising longer. I ended up doing about 14km a day, had a shower then dinner. And was drinking looooots of water.
Also lost about 3 inches from my waist in that time. Which was nice.
@Daz: Boxing is knackering, but you should try brazilian jujitsu
Actually I'd suggest that to anyone, as that is a hell of a workout (assuming you aren't fighting someone that will easily kick your ass or you kick theirs).
swimming is excellent. doesnt stress your body out and i find it fun.
fun has to be the most important part to exercise, do something you enjoy and it wont be a chore, do something you dont enjoy and its 100x harder to keep up with it.
I started smoking again recently too
portion control at home is important too, i've been forcing myself to eat less than my limit rather than go over that limit, becaues i can always follow up with some fruit a few hours later... My stomach is much too used to overeating... A good tip is to stop eating at a point where you still feel you could eat a little more .... half an hour later or so, it should really kick in, and you will be fine
Daz also hit it on the nail with boxing, doing it once in a while is still beneficial, it's really great for coordination, stamina and just plain fun... If a box gym is out of question, invest in some bag gloves.
Verm, from experience, i'd say that you are far too presumptious to call things myths.. I think it's really pointless to get into a silly arguement... However I believe not a single human physique is the same, all of us are very different.. so different approaches work for different people.
And don't even consider Atkins.
There's a lot of gray zones, yes, since a lot depends on your goals and body pysiology, but things like 'treadmills burn fat'...well...
Say you burn 200 calories over a half hour jog. Let's say your body burns 70 at rest, so you really only burned away an extra 130. Or, a single can of soda.
But let's say you put on a single pound of muscle. You look exactly the same, but that changes your at-rest burn rate.. all of the sudden you're burning 85-95 calories an hour at rest, around the clock, sleep, wake, whenever. That's when the real fat-loss kicks in.
I can't remember the exact burn-rate numbers, but I think fat costs like 3 calories per hour per pound to maintain. That's why it's the body's storage material..it's cheap to stockpile. Muscle is a liability, costing something more like 15 calories per hour per pound to maintain.
I just made those numbers up, but the principle remains the same.
There are calculators online to figure out your percent body fat, and your raw poundage of fat versus lean muscle. Follow those links I posted earlier for all sorts of good info.
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however freeweights is the best kind of weight workout ..
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So.......using the weight machines is a no-no?
I'm trying the 4 meals a day approach, anyone else experimented with this. I would like to shed some more fat, and build up muscle again.
My workout, 3 days a week
15 mins on the treadmill doing program 3 (up and down a hill with increasing decline)
Working out on the machines, 12-15 reps
Chest Press, Seated Rowing, Leg Press, Shoulder press, Camper Curls, Dip Machine, AB bench.
30 mins again on the treadmill same program.
I'm working out with a friend, and he wants to do free weights rather than use the machines. Fuse's daily plan looks like it could work, anyone else have a plan they follow?
For instance, a lot of free-weight pro routines involve little-to-no ab training---the abs become toned simply because they're used so much in the rest of the week to keep good form.
Machines are great as a supplement, since some of those muscles you can only really focus on with cable/nautilus...but if you had to choose, go free-weight.
oh, but atkins is extreeeemely bad. I'm on a high-protein diet, but you gotta have carbs in some form, preferably veggies !
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I don't quite see the difference
day 1: shoulders/back -military press, and lateral raise type stuff.
day 2: abs -obliques sidelifts, wieghted crunches, and the reverse woodchopper (the single hardest excersize I do..geeze its tough)
day 3: legs -squats, leg extensions, calf raises,
day 4: chest -benchpress, incline on alt. weeks, dips, butterflys
day 5: tri/biceps -tri extensions, curls, and wrist curls. I'm trying to focus on tris--they naturally make up 60-70% of the arm
I drink a prottein shake immediately afterwards and try and consume extra protein throughout the day. Muscle needs a surplus of protein to grow--so I give it LOTS of extra protein to work with.
I make sure I only work a muscle group once every 7-10 days and take extra days off as needed. Muscle grows inbetween gym visits, not AT the gym...going back to the weights too soon is like putting stress on a broken bone before it's fully healed..it'll only heal stronger if you let it fully heal and then some.
I certainly felt better after I cut out high carb stuff like pasta and rice, and noticed my appetite drop sharply.
You dont need an excercise regimen either, all you gotta do is get more active in the day to day and be smart about what you eat, things people have already pointed out.
In a word, dont eat fast food(for more reasons than just weight gain), give up your coke a day binge, and dont jump in your car every time you need something down the street, half the time youll get there faster if you bike/walk.
Programs like atkins only make it sound complicated because it lets them sell you stuff, dont fall for it.
Stretching can also be very helpful if you have lower back pain. I used to have chronic back pain from sitting in a chair all day and then realized that stretching the hamstrings aggressively plus lower back and abdominal training made the pain almost disappear. Yoga is also great for a whole-body stretching.
I thought I'd also mention a common error that I used to make when stretching - don't bounce. When you bounce the muscle has a spasm reflex and is completely counterproductive.
I bought a single 35 lbs. weight and keep it next to my chair when I'm working. Whenever I'm surfing the web and reading stuff I pick it up and just hold it, or move it around some. This helps me get back on task (with my real work), it does wonders for my arms, and takes pretty much no effort. Even just resting the damn thing on my gut (like now) requires that I flex my abs.
One thing I noticed, that I'm sure a lot of you guys who go to the gym already know, is that using light weights is pretty much useless, and it is much better to get something that feels really damn heavy if you really want to build some muscle.
In the end, it all really just boils down to eating smaller portions of balanced meals, and leaner cuts of meat.
The diet is more-so about monitoring your intake (via a spreadsheet) and knowing what you're eating. On average, what I eat in a day looks like this:
Kashi GOLEAN! Crunch cereal 8AM
milk 8AM
banana 9AM
tuna 11AM
low-cal Soup 1PM
12" Subway turkey breast sandwich 4PM
grilled chicken breast + vegetables 7PM.
Before the Christmas break last year I did it from Nov 1 to Dec 1 and lost 31lbs and felt great, never hungry or anytyhing. I started it again 2 weeks ago and have lost 11lbs so far.
I knew I could count on you guys for advice
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however freeweights is the best kind of weight workout ..
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So.......using the weight machines is a no-no?
I'm trying the 4 meals a day approach, anyone else experimented with this. I would like to shed some more fat, and build up muscle again.
My workout, 3 days a week
15 mins on the treadmill doing program 3 (up and down a hill with increasing decline)
Working out on the machines, 12-15 reps
Chest Press, Seated Rowing, Leg Press, Shoulder press, Camper Curls, Dip Machine, AB bench.
30 mins again on the treadmill same program.
I'm working out with a friend, and he wants to do free weights rather than use the machines. Fuse's daily plan looks like it could work, anyone else have a plan they follow?
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using machines is fine, i use a horizontal row machine to do my upper back because it nicely isolates that muscle group .. use a few cable machines .. they are smooth and safe ...
but, you might want to slowly introduce freeweights depending on how comfortable you feel with them.. like people mentioned, they are more effective and use all those stabilizer muscles that machines dont..
having a workout partner is great, it's more fun, challenging and safe since you got a spotter for the bench press and other exercises
Any little action helps, as long as you're taking that action. That's the best, less intimidating, advice to give people trying to begin a healthy routine. I'm not going to spend my time counting calories and carbs.
Verm, can you explain people with slightly less muscle mass having more strength? Women naturally don't gain as much mass.
but some of us, like myself, become inspired by reading and aquiring information on a subject..and knowing that there IS a strict science behind how much your body needs and uses per day, like a code you can crack with a spreadsheet and calculator and a little education. It made the whole thing less daunting, at least for me.
In the end, it all really just boils down to eating smaller portions of balanced meals, and leaner cuts of meat.
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Yep, totally. Thats what i mean.
The problem comes in when you force yourself into a regimen that you're bound to give up, instead of just adopting a healthier way of eating in general.
But you dont need Dr. Atkins to tell you whats healthy. In the end you could have a diet consisting of large amounts of animal fat, and still be healthy, as long as your calorie output matches what you put in.
Also people tend to boil atkins down to "carbs are bad!" which is total BS.
Blankslatejoe: Yeah, i think it comes down to personality is all. I would never have the patience to sit and work out calorie ratios. Much rather jump on my bike and go picture taking or jog down to the part around sunset when all the hotties come out in their color coordinated skintights. Thats how i get my motivation!
when did keeping weight off become rocket science?
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When the majority of the US could double as an emergency flotation device?
Verm, from experience, i'd say that you are far too presumptious to call things myths.. I think it's really pointless to get into a silly arguement... However I believe not a single human physique is the same, all of us are very different.. so different approaches work for different people.
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While Daz is right that I'm a smartass smartypants clever braniac smug bastard, I'm not giving MY opinion on things. Everything I mentioned there is something I can find a valid reference for. Some things are a bit variable (different folks respond better to high-intensity of low-intensity cardio), and some are simple fact (there's nothing about eating after 9pm that causes fat gain; weight lifting can certainly burn calories from fat). Here's what I do:
EXERCISE
Sunday, 7am: walking 5km.
Sunday, 3pm: weight training, full body workout in the 30-rep range - Deadlifts, chin-ups, bench press, seated rows, cable pressdowns.
Monday, 3pm: interval sprinting (15 mintues), forearm and ab training.
Tuesday, 7am: walking 5km.
Tuesday, 3pm: weight training, full body workout in the 30-rep range - Dumbbell lunges, stiff-legged deadlifts, various shoulder work (predominantly front and lateral raises, occasional DB presses).
Wednesday, 8m: 5k run, forearm and ab training.
Thursday, 7am: walking 5km.
Thursday, 3pm: weight training, full body workout in the 30-rep range - Back squats, cable flyes, pull-ups, dips, cable curls.
Friday, 3pm: interval sprinting (15 mintues), forearm and ab training.
Saturday is theoretically a day off, which is a good idea in general, but I'll be playing soccer the next 7 weeks.
DIET
Every day is about the same, except that I micromanage my carbohydrates a little more when I'm really trying to lose fat. I am 5'9" and about 165lbs, so I aim to get about 1900 calories on days I don't do any stenuous activity and around 2500 on days I lift or play sports. In general, this is how it goes (rounding the numbers a bit).
8am: 1/2c steel cut oats, 1 protein shake
(375 Kcal, 45g protein, 25g carbohydrate, 10g fat)
11am: 6oz lean meat (deli cut or something), 2c veggies
(250 Kcal, 35g protein, 15g carbohydrate, 5g fat)
2pm: 1 protein shake, 3 fish oil tablets
(270 Kcal, 40g protein 4g carbohydrate, 8g fat)
5pm: 6oz meat (baked fish or chicken), 2c veggies
(250 Kcal, 35g protein, 15g carbohydrate, 5g fat)
8pm: 1 protein shake, 3 fish oil tablets
(270 Kcal, 40g protein 4g carbohydrate, 8g fat)
11pm: 3tbsp natural peanut butter
(300 Kcal, 15g protein, 9g carbohydrate, 25g fat)
On days I lift, I add a pre/post workout shake that is about 350 Kcal, 25g protein, 50g very fast absorbed carbohydrate and negligible fat. On Saturdays, I go off the plan a bit and don't worry so much about the numbers as well as have a 'cheat' meal - pizza or burgers or whatever floats my boat. Since I'm still trying to lean out and am not concerned with adding muscle, this diet keeps me in a slight caloric deficit in general, with a bit of healthy over-eating on the weekend. If I were trying to gain muscle mass, I'd cut out the lengthy cardiovascular work and come close to doubling my calorie intake.
Rather than preach about mye approach (something I can tell won't go over well
My diet is a variant of the T-Dawg 2.0 Diet.
My resistence program is a version of what's sometimes now called the Waterbury Method.
I added in AM walking based on reading this.
In general, I recommend that any guy who is serious about improving his body read that site, T-Nation. The forums are bit too hardcore for my taste, but you don't have to be a strong man or wanna wear a thong on stage to benefit. They have dozens of great articles, written by established rtainers, dieticians, and even average Joes who have made big changes in their lifestyle. There's a lot of argument and dissenting opinion, but that's great - you can learn something from all ofthem, and no single philosophy is held on to as the holy grail.
Justin, in particular read the diet link and then we can talk about the specifics of how much and what sorts of things you want to eat. IMO, it's the best of the realistic body composition diets I've used.
For the curious, at the end of 2004, I weighed about 250 pounds and was so miserable I could barely get out of bed some days. More than a year and a half later, I'm 85 pounds lighter and infinitely happier - I can play soccer for an hour and not be wiped out, I can do 30 bodyweight chin-ups without needing a crane and my penis looks more massive than usual because I don't have a giant gut getting in the way. It's all good in the 'hood, kids
One thing I noticed, that I'm sure a lot of you guys who go to the gym already know, is that using light weights is pretty much useless, and it is much better to get something that feels really damn heavy if you really want to build some muscle.
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Amen, brother. Even if you don't want to get big and buff (most don't), working with heavy weight and high intensity is good stuff.
Verm, can you explain people with slightly less muscle mass having more strength? Women naturally don't gain as much mass.
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I'm not sure what you're asking. You mean how one individual can appear to have more muscle than another, but lift less weight? If so, that's generally not the case, but can happen for a number of reasons.
-It can be a matter of adaptation of the central nervous system, in which the smaller person's body has more experience with a given movement and is thus able to recruit muscle fibers more effectively - they get more bang for their muscle contracting buck by virtue of practice and superior technique.
-It can be an issue of leverage. Certain body types are better suited to certain exercises. A body builder with a smaller frame and shorter arms might have a more impressive bench press than a taller, longer-limbed lifter because the short guy literally doesn't have to move the weight as far. I used to think that argument was crap, until it was pointed out that while the distance is relative, the weight is not. Some really tall guys can't do full ass-to-grass squats because their legs are so long they compromise a lot of leverage.
-It could be a matter of will. A friend of mine is about three inches shorter than me (but blessed with better muscle-building genetics), and his being so short gives him a sort of exercise hysteria he sometimes takes advantage of. He hates being bested by someone taller than him, and pride alone seems to give him a capacity to push himself harder than most people are willing or able to go. I've seen him outdo college football players on the leg press machine when driven to it - crazy to see a guy a foot shorter than a NCAA 1A linebacker best him in an exercise like that.
If I am misreading your question, please ignor the previous post
elysium = the advice to 'be active' works for some beginners, yea...
but some of us, like myself, become inspired by reading and aquiring information on a subject..and knowing that there IS a strict science behind how much your body needs and uses per day, like a code you can crack with a spreadsheet and calculator and a little education. It made the whole thing less daunting, at least for me.
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This is how I am. Once I stopped trying to wing it with random bouts of clueless "working out" and "eating health", everything changed.
I make sure I only work a muscle group once every 7-10 days and take extra days off as needed. Muscle grows inbetween gym visits, not AT the gym...going back to the weights too soon is like putting stress on a broken bone before it's fully healed..it'll only heal stronger if you let it fully heal and then some.
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This is something I disagree with. Look at a professional NFL player - those guys get huge, but they can't work their legs then take a week off. Professional bodybuilders are known to do split sessions, lifting twice a day and hitting some muscle groups as much as four times a week. And putting those guys aside, think of a farmer or manual laborer who has to do backbreaking physical work for a living. A farmer doesn't need a week to rest his back after a day of baling hay, he goes back out the next day and gets to it again. Look at the arms on a car mechanic - he spends his day grappling with engine blocks and tugging on wrenches, but doesn't get to rest six days before doing it again. Most grease monkeys I know have huge forearms and they never get a day off, working in their own garages even when they're off the clock at the shop.
This is a philosophy I've just recently started to get used to, but high frequency training principles have an awful lot to recommend. I can give you some links if you're interested in reading more about it. Since I've gone to training full body sessions 2 or 3 times a week, I've grown stronger than ever before.
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Just to clarify, I'm not saying a split body part system is bad at all, and it's what I used to do. There's nothing wrong with high frequency training, either, and that's what I'm having success with now.