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CaptainPlatypus
Age: 18 Height: 6'2"
Current weight: 175
Goal weight: 175 (lol)
Starting date: now (nov 28 2009)
Goal Date: march 2010
Kinda-sorta falls outside the "weight loss/gain" part of the thread title, but basically I want to get back in shape. Used to do have a 2-3 hour workout 5 days a week at my martial arts studio (plus time for nonintensive skill training), but that ended 2.5 years ago and I haven't really done much with my body since. I've only gained 10 pounds in the meantime, and I was skinny as fuck to begin with so it isn't all that noticeable, but I want to burn off some of this fat and put on some muscle to replace it - I'll probably go down 5-15 pounds over the next month or so and then put it back on over the two or so following that.
Specifically, I want to build upper body strength - I'm pretty damn scrawny up there. The reason I'm posting here is that I don't have either weights to work with or money to buy them or a gym membership - my equipment is pretty much limited to a pull-up bar.
My tentative plan is to just do sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups in quantity, alternating days of 2 or 3 hundred and 20 or 30 (scaling up from about 1/10th these numbers to about 1/2 of them for pullups), and do a ton of jogging and/or biking (depending on how my knees hold up) on the off day. I'm also going to go back up to at least a half hour of stretching a day, because I want to be flexible again. The main flaws I see here are that this won't be that great in terms of building density and that most of the benefit will be specific to a few muscle groups.
Diet-wise I'm already reasonably well off, this is probably what I know most about from a health standpoint and I'm comfortable with it.
Any suggestions on ways to improve this or just alternate things I should do instead are appreciated. Again, the focus isn't on weight so much as it is on overall strength and fitness.
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On November 28 2009 19:00 unknown.sam wrote:Show nested quote +On November 28 2009 05:47 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote:Some pictures of my progress after working out for..a year or so. I know I'm scrawny, but I love the improvement  + Show Spoiler [Before] +My back on the far left. I don't know why I look so fat in this one, poofy shirt maybe. I was actually skinny as balls. I know that I'm weak, chest especially. I'm working on it  I have no idea what a proper back pose looks like, I just winged it. wee! wow that's impressive. and yeah a little more chest would be nice. btw what was your before and after weight?? how did your workout plan look like?? i'm just a little curious
Before I was abouuut..150, I think. Something in that area. Right now I fluctuate between 178 and 185 depending on my eating habits, ie. if I'm a naughty boy and skip breakfast to sleep more.
My workout plan changed a lot, I tried to switch it up every month or so, but the biggest factor were compound lifts. Doing deadlifts while my friend did curls led to me looking a whoole lot bigger than him, faster 
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Just out of curiosity, can anyone recommend me a good chest-bustin' workout?
Right now my chest day looks something like:
Bench Press, 5x8
Incline DB Press, 5x8
Dips 5x10ish, I don't really have a set number <.<
DB flies, 4-5x8
It just seems like I don't feel the burn in my chest as much as I do doing other bodypart workouts. 
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Just popped in to say that this weekend is alot of fun but sucks ass for me health-wise. I've been drinking beer for 2 days and now this weekends festivities will culminate in a big outing tonight in my neighbouring city of Malmo, Sweden.
So my moms boyfriend told me I look ripped. He is awesome for saying that :D
Ugh, beer + lots of food + kebab + beer. Oh well who the fuck cares right
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On November 29 2009 00:08 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote:Just out of curiosity, can anyone recommend me a good chest-bustin' workout? Right now my chest day looks something like: Bench Press, 5x8 Incline DB Press, 5x8 Dips 5x10ish, I don't really have a set number <.< DB flies, 4-5x8 It just seems like I don't feel the burn in my chest as much as I do doing other bodypart workouts.
Are you saying 5 sets of 8 reps? This seems like to many sets overall per workout. I recommend 3-4 sets max at higher weight. I like to do 12-10-8-xx reps while trying to add weight (Dropping weight is counter productive imo). Your body should be fatiguing and if not then you aren't pushing enough weight. Try to mix up your chest exercises to shock your muscles as well. I like to mix 2 presses with 2 flies ( cable and machine for me ). I personally don't count dips and push ups towards my workout but do them anyways at the end to try to make sure my muscles are properly pushed.
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On November 29 2009 00:08 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote:Just out of curiosity, can anyone recommend me a good chest-bustin' workout? Right now my chest day looks something like: Bench Press, 5x8 Incline DB Press, 5x8 Dips 5x10ish, I don't really have a set number <.< DB flies, 4-5x8 It just seems like I don't feel the burn in my chest as much as I do doing other bodypart workouts.
when ur done with ur workout u could do a few sets of pushups with your hands super wide and fingers pointing away. seems like ur workout is more endurance/conditioning based than strength based.
if ur going for strength do less reps, and I wouldn't stack dips and bench. also, u could widen ur grip on the bench a little bit, or lean in extra on the dips
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On November 29 2009 02:36 travis wrote:Show nested quote +On November 29 2009 00:08 ShaLLoW[baY] wrote:Just out of curiosity, can anyone recommend me a good chest-bustin' workout? Right now my chest day looks something like: Bench Press, 5x8 Incline DB Press, 5x8 Dips 5x10ish, I don't really have a set number <.< DB flies, 4-5x8 It just seems like I don't feel the burn in my chest as much as I do doing other bodypart workouts. when ur done with ur workout u could do a few sets of pushups with your hands super wide and fingers pointing away. seems like ur workout is more endurance/conditioning based than strength based. if ur going for strength do less reps, and I wouldn't stack dips and bench. also, u could widen ur grip on the bench a little bit, or lean in extra on the dips
A large part of my workouts are targeted towards endurance and conditioning, at least until I can get 400 in the RMC PPT (I elaborated on this in my blog not too long ago)
I'll try the wide push-ups, and maybe widen my grip on the bench. When I think about it, my grip might be a tad closer than ideal.
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You will have a comfortable spot depending on how wide your chest is. Just find that sweet spot and up the weight when 3 sets become easy. To my understanding endurance is best found in some cardio circuit training with exercises in between. But I honestly don't know much in that area.
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Back from China and Thailand. I ate and drank like a bear. I've lost the six pack completely, but I'm happy to say I believe I have only done about 5-6 weeks of damage, I've gained maybe a kilo, but it looks like 2-3. So I think I may have lost some muscle as well.
The trip has given me a more relaxed outlook at life though. I am happy with myself at the moment, but I will still continue to diet and exercise a few times a week to get back to peak condition. But I think I might stop going 6 days a week 2-3 hours a day like I was.
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4 day trip to Vegas... nothing but beer and bad food. Should take a week or so of discipline to fix it.
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On November 30 2009 18:56 Energies wrote:Back from China and Thailand. I ate and drank like a bear. I've lost the six pack completely, but I'm happy to say I believe I have only done about 5-6 weeks of damage, I've gained maybe a kilo, but it looks like 2-3. So I think I may have lost some muscle as well. The trip has given me a more relaxed outlook at life though. I am happy with myself at the moment, but I will still continue to diet and exercise a few times a week to get back to peak condition. But I think I might stop going 6 days a week 2-3 hours a day like I was. + Show Spoiler +
welcome back energies. how long were you in china/thailand btw?? it's amazing how just a few weeks without working out and disciplined dieting can change body composition.
on another note, i was just doing some reading here and there and came up with this on wiki
"Recent research, conducted at the University of North Carolina, suggests that completing sets of thirty to fifty repetitions using 10% of 1-rep maximum weight provides optimum development of endurance, strength, and power".
unfortunately a citation is needed for this so it could be untrue.
i thought it was still quite interesting and worth mentioning though.
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On November 30 2009 18:56 Energies wrote:Back from China and Thailand. I ate and drank like a bear. I've lost the six pack completely, but I'm happy to say I believe I have only done about 5-6 weeks of damage, I've gained maybe a kilo, but it looks like 2-3. So I think I may have lost some muscle as well. The trip has given me a more relaxed outlook at life though. I am happy with myself at the moment, but I will still continue to diet and exercise a few times a week to get back to peak condition. But I think I might stop going 6 days a week 2-3 hours a day like I was.
Good call man. I got the same "realization" after being away for almost a week. It's not about having the most ripped body. It's about being in shape and having a good, all-around physique. Being too obsessive over your body takes out other fun things in life and no one else really cares about your body after all
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on another note, i was just doing some reading here and there and came up with this on wiki
"Recent research, conducted at the University of North Carolina, suggests that completing sets of thirty to fifty repetitions using 10% of 1-rep maximum weight provides optimum development of endurance, strength, and power".
LOL, what a joke.
I guess that's why endurance sports and strength/power sports all train the same way in the weightlifting room, right?
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On December 01 2009 01:06 Foucault wrote:Show nested quote +On November 30 2009 18:56 Energies wrote:Back from China and Thailand. I ate and drank like a bear. I've lost the six pack completely, but I'm happy to say I believe I have only done about 5-6 weeks of damage, I've gained maybe a kilo, but it looks like 2-3. So I think I may have lost some muscle as well. The trip has given me a more relaxed outlook at life though. I am happy with myself at the moment, but I will still continue to diet and exercise a few times a week to get back to peak condition. But I think I might stop going 6 days a week 2-3 hours a day like I was. Good call man. I got the same "realization" after being away for almost a week. It's not about having the most ripped body. It's about being in shape and having a good, all-around physique. Being too obsessive over your body takes out other fun things in life and no one else really cares about your body after all
I agree; don't let it consume your life.
But after all I don't workout for other people... I do it for myself. That's what it should really be able IMO.
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On December 01 2009 03:12 eshlow wrote:Show nested quote +on another note, i was just doing some reading here and there and came up with this on wiki
"Recent research, conducted at the University of North Carolina, suggests that completing sets of thirty to fifty repetitions using 10% of 1-rep maximum weight provides optimum development of endurance, strength, and power".
LOL, what a joke. I guess that's why endurance sports and strength/power sports all train the same way in the weightlifting room, right?
yeah i know. it was like reading 'doing a ton of situps/crunches will eliminate belly flab'.
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Welcome back Energies, I hope you had a fantastic trip, you should do a blog entry about it for us
SO, Dec 1 time, as promised...UPDATE!
It has been 6months of self improvement, so what have I done, and going into next year, what needs to be done?
Key Indicators;
Starting:
Chest- 90cm
Stomach- 66cm
Biceps- 24cm
Weight- 61kg
Max Bench Press- 55kg (lol)
Current:
Chest- 97cm
Stomach- 71cm
Biceps- 28cm
Weight- 69kg
Max Bench Press- 80kg
Body Fat%- about 8%
Goals for 2010!
Chest- 100+cm!
Biceps- 30+cm!
Stomach- 68cm
Weight- 70+kg
Max Bench Press- 100kg (aww YEAH!)
SO...what we have all been waiting for, PHOTOS:
These were taken on October 5, when my stats were;
Weight - 69kg
Chest - 97cm
Waist - 74cm
Bicep - 27cm
AND NOW, the big reveal, two months of progress:
AND what I want to look like in the near future
It could happen. Im off to have a protein shake.
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I had a swim meet today. I won all my events which makes me happy but my times weren't so great. I have another meet this saturday (I swear my coach is insane) so hopefully I'll manage to get some best times. I'm still a little out of shape but I'm getting better and one of my coaches is really helping my technique.
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8751 Posts
well i feel like i've made enough progress that im now obligated to keep improving and see what i can do. still have some fat to lose before i get that nice runner's physique again... right now im doing about 64 miles a week, doing 12 miles at ~6 mins/mile 3 days a week, and 7 miles easy recovery the other 4 days. it's not an ideal schedule at all as far as improving my performance goes, but it's fitting my schedule for these last few weeks of the semester. gonna be on vacation in hawaii for 10 days over the winter break, probably won't get much running in then, but starting in 2010 i'll make a more organized attempt at a training regime. short term goals i think i've mentioned: a 4 mile road race in february and some track events at a local meet in april/may. not quite sure about goal times yet; gonna wait to see what kinda workouts i can finish come january.
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On November 25 2009 06:37 decafchicken wrote:
4x5 squats at 295 and 1x3 at 315
5x5 RDL at 265
Abs/core workout
followed by live sparring in judo for 50 minutes. All my muscles are jelly-like and shaking lol. Hope to start seeing some decent gains in strength and weight. Should probably make new goals:
By ~March 2010
Weight: 215
Squat: 400+
Bench: 300+
And a very solid core to go with it. Going to start going to an MMA gym in january or so so hopefully that will get me in good shape and solid as well as some fun ^_^
increased from this one week ago to:
squats:
5 reps at 285 -> 305 > 315 > 325 > 325
bench:
5 reps at 185 -> 205 > 205 > 215 > 225 (previously 5x5 @ 185, last set at 195)
Also i'm up to 208 from 200 like 3 weeks ago. Been trying to eat ~4k calories, but really i'm just eating 5 big meals a day and trying to get at least 50g a protein each meal, avoiding fat, and assuming carbs will take care of themselves showing up in my diet. 1-2 protein shakes a day. Looks like its working out so far Also, some of that weight was probably from thanksgiving break lol. Also did some hang clean push press leading me to be stupidly sore today
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On December 01 2009 13:31 jfazz wrote:Welcome back Energies, I hope you had a fantastic trip, you should do a blog entry about it for us SO, Dec 1 time, as promised...UPDATE! It has been 6months of self improvement, so what have I done, and going into next year, what needs to be done? SO...what we have all been waiting for, PHOTOS: + Show Spoiler +AND NOW, the big reveal, two months of progress: + Show Spoiler +AND what I want to look like in the near future + Show Spoiler +It could happen. Im off to have a protein shake.
wow great progress after only 2 months. how'd you get rid of your love handles??
a few more months of that and you'll proly be ripped or pretty close to it.
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