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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
On March 05 2013 19:11 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 05 2013 17:56 bingbing wrote:
Hey guys, I've decided to try to live a healthier lifestyle with exercise and proper food, since especially lately, I've been really tired of feeling like shit and eating fast food pretty much every day.
First of all, I'm around 5'8 and 140 lbs. From looking up the average weight for my height, 140 lbs seems around the norm. However, I think I'm what they call skinny fat? Basically very skinny and pretty much no muscles anywhere but still sitting at around 140 lbs. I guess my goals are just to get stronger, be healthier, and actually have some sort of definition on my body.
My main question for now is:
What should I be doing with my weight? I realize whatever I do, I should be eating real food and working out (gonna do the starting strength program) but should I be overall looking to lose weight but gain muscles/lose fat, staying around the same, or bulking up and eating a lot to gain weight?
Well first it depends how committed you are. If you're really committed and are willing to do this, I'd recommend going full paleo diet. If you're not super 100% committed to making a full lifestyle change, Check out the stickies and other threads in this subforum first, but if you still need help I'd recommend a few things. 1. Cut out all drinks except water and milk. Juice is OK, but too much of it isn't great. Try to avoid sugary things like regular gatorade, Iced Tea, soda, etc. Obviously drinking here and there or having coffee won't kill you, but really try to avoid soda in particular (it's loaded with sugars which terrible for losing weight). 2. Try to get your daily serving of protein a day (probably 80-100 grams, unless you're trying to do lots of strength training). 3. Get on a strength training program. There are tons of good ones, just pick one that you like and try to commit to going to a gym 2 or 3 times a week. There are lots of threads with great information on here, especially the General Training Recommendations. 4. Get rid of any unnecessary calories/carbs in your diet (chips, cookies, any junk food basically) and start counting your calories.
This is solid advice but I strongly suggest you only change one big thing in your life until it becomes a habit instead of trying to change everything.
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On March 05 2013 20:41 infinity21 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 05 2013 19:11 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:On March 05 2013 17:56 bingbing wrote:
Hey guys, I've decided to try to live a healthier lifestyle with exercise and proper food, since especially lately, I've been really tired of feeling like shit and eating fast food pretty much every day.
First of all, I'm around 5'8 and 140 lbs. From looking up the average weight for my height, 140 lbs seems around the norm. However, I think I'm what they call skinny fat? Basically very skinny and pretty much no muscles anywhere but still sitting at around 140 lbs. I guess my goals are just to get stronger, be healthier, and actually have some sort of definition on my body.
My main question for now is:
What should I be doing with my weight? I realize whatever I do, I should be eating real food and working out (gonna do the starting strength program) but should I be overall looking to lose weight but gain muscles/lose fat, staying around the same, or bulking up and eating a lot to gain weight?
Well first it depends how committed you are. If you're really committed and are willing to do this, I'd recommend going full paleo diet. If you're not super 100% committed to making a full lifestyle change, Check out the stickies and other threads in this subforum first, but if you still need help I'd recommend a few things. 1. Cut out all drinks except water and milk. Juice is OK, but too much of it isn't great. Try to avoid sugary things like regular gatorade, Iced Tea, soda, etc. Obviously drinking here and there or having coffee won't kill you, but really try to avoid soda in particular (it's loaded with sugars which terrible for losing weight). 2. Try to get your daily serving of protein a day (probably 80-100 grams, unless you're trying to do lots of strength training). 3. Get on a strength training program. There are tons of good ones, just pick one that you like and try to commit to going to a gym 2 or 3 times a week. There are lots of threads with great information on here, especially the General Training Recommendations. 4. Get rid of any unnecessary calories/carbs in your diet (chips, cookies, any junk food basically) and start counting your calories. This is solid advice but I strongly suggest you only change one big thing in your life until it becomes a habit instead of trying to change everything.
Sorry I should've specified that xD
It's really, really hard to change a lot of stuff at once. Start with smaller things (change soda to water, chips/candy to string cheese or a granola bar or something). It's really, really tough to diet all at once. One of the things that I've discovered (even though it's not really paleo) is that peanut butter is delicious on crackers or anything. If you get whole grain crackers you won't even taste the difference, and the peanut butter is high in protein (although high in fat, but the fat is not necessarily a bad thing unless your cholesterol is high).
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Hey guys, I posted a while back regarding tendon pains all over the place. I've taken a break from exercise, but it's already been two months. Previously I hadn't exercised for over a year and 3 months after resuming exercise the tendon pains started bothering me. I'll add my post here:
+ Show Spoiler +On August 24 2012 15:26 Demonhunter04 wrote:Hi guys, I was wondering about some injuries of mine. Nothing too painful or alarming, but I should still address them now. -I've sprained my left foot three times and the right one once. -dislocated my left shoulder. -momentarily dislocated the right hand's index finger at the knuckle -had my neck vertebrae pulled apart via the guillotine (not the execution tool) after which I was unable to turn my neck to either side until I got a neck adjustment. The chiropractor advised me to crack my neck daily, which I do. -been kicked in the nuts so many times it only stings now. -pulled various tendons while in the process of striking something with my arms/legs. -hyperextended the knees, almost to the point of dislocation. -received a couple of black eyes. Out of all these injuries, I was only ever treated for some of my foot sprains. I have mild pains at the ends of various muscles; they tend to come for several hours or a day and then go. Frankly, I got used to them, but I'm wondering if there is anything I can do now to treat them or prevent them from worsening if I strain the same connective tissues again. EDIT: Most of these injuries are from when I was less experienced in martial arts. Especially the black eyes 
When I exercise I get pain near the ends of muscles in the knees, feet, and forearms. I also get this sharp pain in the center of my left bicep...this one even happens when I do pushups. My Achilles tendons sometimes start hurting when walking, and these ones are the worst in general.
I try doing some light exercise like pushups every now and then, but I feel the bicep pain almost immediately. Assuming this is chronic tendonitis, what exercises do you guys recommend? I don't have access to a gym atm.
More worrisome than the tendon pains, though, are the headaches I get from exercising. They're pretty intense, throbbing headaches that hurt mainly at the temples, forehead, and behind the eyes. When running it takes about 10-15 minutes to reach this state. When lifting it can happen in under five. The pain recedes in a few minutes after ceasing exercise, though I feel a little different for a couple hours. What I've read online hasn't helped much - I drink plenty of water, eat a balanced diet (it could be improved though), and breath evenly through exercise. It's definitely not the Valsalva maneuver. Any ideas on what this could be & how to resolve it?
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Hmm..yeah..maybe I should have, but injuries weren't the only thing I was asking about. My previous post was in the injuries thread anyway.
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I feel some pain in the most upper-inner thigh area on my right side when I'm at the bottom of a squat, even without weights. I'm not sure of the exact name of the joint/area, so hopefully somebody understands and could provide some insight. I can only assume my form isn't accurate, but any idea as to what specifically would cause it?
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Hi all, I'm currently at 95kg and 24% body fat. I aim to lose weight and fat and also gain muscle.However, I'm hearing that I can't do both at the same time. Do I focus on just maintaining my current muscle while losing weight/fat through dieting and lower sets,or could I do both gaining muscle and lose fat/weight at this level of weight/bf?
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Hi all, I'm currently at 95kg and 24% body fat. I aim to lose weight and fat and also gain muscle.However, I'm hearing that I can't do both at the same time. Do I focus on just maintaining my current muscle while losing weight/fat through dieting and lower sets,or could I do both gaining muscle and lose fat/weight at this level of weight/bf?
Malinor here in these forums is a living proof that what you 'hear' is garbage.
I don't know exactly, but I believe he was like 150kg Bodyweight? He dropped 50 kg of that, so he's hovering around 100 kg or so now, and is strong like a bull, seriously ripped. He hadn't done much training before as far as I know.
For nutrition you basically eat at a deficit by 200 kcal or so, you log your foods, and over time you are bound to lose weight.
for training You will probably be recommended what is recommended to almost anyone here, because good and efficient training isn't that complicated:
train with compound movements, such as squats, benchpress, deadlift, chinups, overhead press.
Many here prefer Starting strength for newbies, which is 3 sets of 5 reps. Each time you complete all 15 reps, you add up 2.5kg to your barbell. One workout could be Squats, benchpress, deadlift. The other squats, overhead press, and chinups.
Your goal is to gain muscle. These movements are going to give you tons of muscle to your frame. You will not look like a bodybuilder, though if you keep up with the training, you will get ripped eventually. You will however, get bigger and stronger than ever before.
You can read the stickies for more information.
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United States15034 Posts
One more question:
I've had chronic pain in my left thigh and knee since I was about 9. My doctors then wrote it off as growing pains but now that I am 21, I still have the same burning pain at least 2-3 times a week. It usually lasts hours. Working on my feet all day has caused me to have this pain every single day and the three doctors I've had now have all told me it's not at all worth looking at and basically "it's just one of those things".
I have a long history of arthritis in my family. Usually the pain starts with a burning/soreness in the upper left thigh (around the groin) and then my knee starts to feel really stiff and any lateral movement is pretty painful. My actual medical doctors have never thought it needed any attention. Are they lazy or should I really not be worried at all? I'm just tired of this pain because it keeps me up at night.
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HI guys, I have a few questions.
1. for gaining muscles, is it really that necessary to drink protein shakes? I mean.....wouldn't natural stuff like tuna, eggs, meat, milk, peanut butter, oats, etc all of which are high in protein, be enough? Plus they are natural right?
2. Keep in mind I do not plan on becoming bulky like those big bodybuilders. I just want to put on some mass. I am skinny right now. Getting some muscles is good enough for me, no need for big bodybuilders.
3. Do I eat high protein food BEFORE or AFTER workout?
Thanks TL! 
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On March 09 2013 01:38 Swordland wrote:HI guys, I have a few questions. 1. for gaining muscles, is it really that necessary to drink protein shakes? I mean.....wouldn't natural stuff like tuna, eggs, meat, milk, peanut butter, oats, etc all of which are high in protein, be enough? Plus they are natural right? 2. Keep in mind I do not plan on becoming bulky like those big bodybuilders. I just want to put on some mass. I am skinny right now. Getting some muscles is good enough for me, no need for big bodybuilders. 3. Do I eat high protein food BEFORE or AFTER workout? Thanks TL!
1: No, it is not necessary to drink protein shakes. Protein shakes is a supplement, and should only be used as a supplement. If you, for whatever reason, can't eat your desired amount of protein for the day - they will help you.
2: No one turns into a big bodybuilder overnight. Not even over a year with hard training. Eat 500 calories above your maintenance with ~1g of protein pr lbs bdw (not sure if I remember that correctly, read the sticky for a whole lot better information).
3: Doesn't matter really, as long as you eat enough protein throughout your day. I like to eat carbs pre-workout though, seems to give me more energy.
A lot of your questions are answered more precisely in the stickies of this board
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On March 09 2013 01:50 KOVU wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2013 01:38 Swordland wrote:HI guys, I have a few questions. 1. for gaining muscles, is it really that necessary to drink protein shakes? I mean.....wouldn't natural stuff like tuna, eggs, meat, milk, peanut butter, oats, etc all of which are high in protein, be enough? Plus they are natural right? 2. Keep in mind I do not plan on becoming bulky like those big bodybuilders. I just want to put on some mass. I am skinny right now. Getting some muscles is good enough for me, no need for big bodybuilders. 3. Do I eat high protein food BEFORE or AFTER workout? Thanks TL! 1: No, it is not necessary to drink protein shakes. Protein shakes is a supplement, and should only be used as a supplement. If you, for whatever reason, can't eat your desired amount of protein for the day - they will help you. 2: No one turns into a big bodybuilder overnight. Not even over a year with hard training. Eat 500 calories above your maintenance with ~1g of protein pr lbs bdw (not sure if I remember that correctly, read the sticky for a whole lot better information). 3: Doesn't matter really, as long as you eat enough protein throughout your day. I like to eat carbs pre-workout though, seems to give me more energy. A lot of your questions are answered more precisely in the stickies of this board
THanks mate
Yes, I prefer natural food....its always better to eat natural IMO.
Oh, so it does not matter WHEN I eat protein? As long as I eat enough throughout the day? I see many people saying to drink protein shake after workout though? :S
Sorry, there are a few stickies, which one are you referring to exactly?
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On March 09 2013 02:02 Swordland wrote:Show nested quote +On March 09 2013 01:50 KOVU wrote:On March 09 2013 01:38 Swordland wrote:HI guys, I have a few questions. 1. for gaining muscles, is it really that necessary to drink protein shakes? I mean.....wouldn't natural stuff like tuna, eggs, meat, milk, peanut butter, oats, etc all of which are high in protein, be enough? Plus they are natural right? 2. Keep in mind I do not plan on becoming bulky like those big bodybuilders. I just want to put on some mass. I am skinny right now. Getting some muscles is good enough for me, no need for big bodybuilders. 3. Do I eat high protein food BEFORE or AFTER workout? Thanks TL! 1: No, it is not necessary to drink protein shakes. Protein shakes is a supplement, and should only be used as a supplement. If you, for whatever reason, can't eat your desired amount of protein for the day - they will help you. 2: No one turns into a big bodybuilder overnight. Not even over a year with hard training. Eat 500 calories above your maintenance with ~1g of protein pr lbs bdw (not sure if I remember that correctly, read the sticky for a whole lot better information). 3: Doesn't matter really, as long as you eat enough protein throughout your day. I like to eat carbs pre-workout though, seems to give me more energy. A lot of your questions are answered more precisely in the stickies of this board THanks mate Yes, I prefer natural food....its always better to eat natural IMO. Oh, so it does not matter WHEN I eat protein? As long as I eat enough throughout the day? I see many people saying to drink protein shake after workout though? :S Sorry, there are a few stickies, which one are you referring to exactly?
Protein takes hours and hours to digest. If you've eaten a decent sized meal 3 hours before you workout, you're still digesting it while you lift. Sure, a dedicated post-workout drink with a simple carbohydrate component and a fast-digesting protein source immediately after your workout is going to be a little better than waiting for an hour until you can get home and cook something - but only a little better. We're talking 5, MAYBE 10% difference here. Don't sweat the small stuff, just get your protein in sometime during the day and don't think too hard.
as far as where your questions are answered, since they're nutrition questions I think that's a hint to start with the nutrition sticky. There's that one, the one you're in now, the training sticky, and the success stories sticky - this is where you can think harder.
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Alright guys my last question then,
Just to confirm - it does not matter WHEN I take protein as long as I take lots of it throughout the day? It does not have to be before and after workout?
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On March 09 2013 12:44 Swordland wrote:
Alright guys my last question then,
Just to confirm - it does not matter WHEN I take protein as long as I take lots of it throughout the day? It does not have to be before and after workout?
On March 09 2013 05:44 phyre112 wrote:
a dedicated post-workout drink with a simple carbohydrate component and a fast-digesting protein source immediately after your workout is going to be a little better than waiting for an hour until you can get home and cook something - but only a little better. We're talking 5, MAYBE 10% difference here. Don't sweat the small stuff, just get your protein in sometime during the day and don't think too hard.
You're thinking too hard.
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On March 09 2013 12:44 Swordland wrote:
Alright guys my last question then,
Just to confirm - it does not matter WHEN I take protein as long as I take lots of it throughout the day? It does not have to be before and after workout?
correct. it does not matter when.
if you really want to confirm for yourself, then try an experiment. for a month, only eat protein before your workout. then for the next month, only eat protein after your workout. don't change anything else. see if you feel any difference or if your results change. that's probably a better way of knowing how your body works than trying to figure out what's true and false on the internet.
edit - but like phyre said, you shouldn't sweat the small stuff. so many people get caught up in these tiny things and they forget to actually go out and lift and eat good food.
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YOu are so correct. I got caught up in the small stuff. Just focus on lifting and eat lots of protein throughout the day then!
Ok, now onto different question - actually I want to make sure. Someone told me that to gain muscles, lift SLOW and HEAVY is the best way, instead of medium weight and quickly? So slow and heavy is the key?
And....I am no expert in this, as you can tell, but ....basically I just keep lifting until I feel really tired, and take a few minutes break, then try do it again right? I mean, the idea is to tire my muscles and basically just common sense, lifting until I feel tired, is this correct guys?
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The point is contracting your muscles and fatiguing them to stimulate growth, as long as your form is good there are many different speeds at which you can lift; gotta find the one that contracts your muscles best.
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you follow a routine such as Starting Strength which tells you to do "bench press: 3 sets of 5 reps". you lift the weight 5 times then put it down, wait 2-4 minutes, then do it again, then once more.
the weight should be heavy enough that you cannot lift it more than those 5 times, or there abouts, without there being a deterioration in your technique. you wont care at the time about "how fast or slow" you lift it; just lift it a normal speed. watch youtube videos for guidance i guess
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1. Yes I heard that as a general rule, I should be able to lift 3 sets 12 reps and no more. However, does this mean that if I can lift something 20 or more times, it means it is not heavy enough for me and therefore won't give good growth, because it is not heavy enough? Plus, is 3x12 scientifically proven to be the best? Not 4x10, 5x8, 2x15, etc.?
2. If I do 3x12, what is the rest time between each set?
FF, you mentioned 5 times, isnt this number a little too low?
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EPT
