Official Workout Thread - Questions, Answers, Input, Routines, etc. Come In

[armanzaballa]

I looked around and have not found one of these threads. If there is one please enlighten me and I will post all of my questions in there.

Basketball season is finishing pretty soon and I need to do some work to get bigger for next season. Last off season I did nothing but sit on my #$%. My coachcalled me skinny the other day and that's pretty much my motivation to go to the gym.

Questions
- For those of you who work out 5-7 times a week, how do you find the time (especially if you work) and how do you push yourself?
- Do squats really help your vertical that much? If I included that in my routine and worked out 3-4 times a week for the rest of the off season, about howmuch will I increase my vertical?
- Is it bad to do upper and lower body in the same day? (even if you do a long workout).
- What machines/exercises will stunt your growth?

Please post your regular workout routine and any questions or input you have. And any exercises or machines you recommend.

 

[im like pele]

do what I do...

you'll be a beast by next season

 

[jdb1523]

I push myself by almost constantly changing my workout. Complacency/Disinterest will get you nowhere.

Constantly read up on stuff and get a good mix of cardio and weightlifting, and WATER WATER WATER.

If anyone has specific questions my brother is a personal trainer and I have a wide knowledge of this stuff. PM me or just post.

 

[armanzaballa]

A couple more questions

What's good with creatine or any other of these "vitamins". I met a guy at the gym the other day who had two bucket size containers of creatineand different vitamins. Is it good for 16 year olds?

 

[i3]

If your training to get your upper body cut, i.e lifiting a comfortable weight, will it have a negative impact on your lower body?

Particularly for jumping?

 

[sole max]

I need to find a good protein shake that has approx. 2 carbs per protein. Anyone know of one? Muscle milk is the flipside.

 

[bkzkurse]

NT - I need help

Im a naturally thin guy - 5'9'' - 140

But I've been working out for 4 years - basically I put on around 10 pounds of muscle (i know not much but its very hard for me)

I take Whey protein - specifically MASS XXX from GNC


What should I do?

I have cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch (usually a bk grill chicken or pasta with grill chicken), and usually chicken with a plate full of rice everynight.
I also take ENSURE Plus 2wice a day - and on days I workout - I use the Mass XXX


I still really don't see me putting on pounds


Any1 have advice?
I workout twice a week (undergrad at college - trying to go to for Law so I need time to keep grades up and study)
No beer. No alchohol. No smoking.


whats the problem?

BTW - body fat is seemingly low - I have abs - and good tonality - but I just cant seem to gaining inches on arms, shoulders etc.

Whats the deal? I would really love some advice and definately some guidance. Thanks!

 

[meangene44103]

Originally Posted by bkzkurse

NT - I need help

Im a naturally thin guy - 5'9'' - 140

But I've been working out for 4 years - basically I put on around 10 pounds of muscle (i know not much but its very hard for me)

I take Whey protein - specifically MASS XXX from GNC


What should I do?

I have cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch (usually a bk grill chicken or pasta with grill chicken), and usually chicken with a plate full of rice every night.
I also take ENSURE Plus 2wice a day - and on days I workout - I use the Mass XXX


I still really don't see me putting on pounds


Any1 have advice?
I workout twice a week (undergrad at college - trying to go to for Law so I need time to keep grades up and study)
No beer. No alchohol. No smoking.


whats the problem?

BTW - body fat is seemingly low - I have abs - and good tonality - but I just cant seem to gaining inches on arms, shoulders etc.

Whats the deal? I would really love some advice and definately some guidance. Thanks!

Why do u eat less then a teenage girl? you got to eat a lot more food.

 

[doncoryson]

Originally Posted by Meangene44103

Originally Posted by bkzkurse

NT - I need help

Im a naturally thin guy - 5'9'' - 140

But I've been working out for 4 years - basically I put on around 10 pounds of muscle (i know not much but its very hard for me)

I take Whey protein - specifically MASS XXX from GNC


What should I do?

I have cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch (usually a bk grill chicken or pasta with grill chicken), and usually chicken with a plate full of rice every night.
I also take ENSURE Plus 2wice a day - and on days I workout - I use the Mass XXX


I still really don't see me putting on pounds


Any1 have advice?
I workout twice a week (undergrad at college - trying to go to for Law so I need time to keep grades up and study)
No beer. No alchohol. No smoking.


whats the problem?

BTW - body fat is seemingly low - I have abs - and good tonality - but I just cant seem to gaining inches on arms, shoulders etc.

Whats the deal? I would really love some advice and definately some guidance. Thanks!

Why do u eat less then a teenage girl? you got to eat a lot more food.

You've got to eat big, to get big.
When you're full, forcefeed yourself more, as long as its fairly clean foods. Whatever it takes man.

Might want to think about lifting more than 2 days a week too.

 

[RyGuy45]

^ Yup. You need to eat much more than that. Just eating a bowl of cereal for "breakfast" basically until lunch time is a bad routine. (even if youalso throw a bottle of Ensure in there as well). Think about it like this...let's say you have your last thing to eat at 7pm at night (thats just a guess).You later go to bed and then you get up and have cereal. Then you don't eat until having a sandwich around lunch hour. What his means is that from 7pm atnight until the noon hour the next day all you had to eat was a bowl of cereal and possibly an Ensure. That's well over a 15-hour window. Plan ahead andeat more.

You also can't expect bigger, toned arms and shoulders if you feel you don't have time to spend on working out. Although going in 2 times per week isnot ideal, you can still get results with that routine. Just hit it hard. And remember you don't need to budget an hour and a half to workout....if youhave access to a gym you can get pretty nice weight workouts in at around 25 minutes total...and do several of those per week. Also Do pushups and other thingsaround the house if you are strapped for time.

 

[armanzaballa]

yea, eating habbits are essential. i screwed up since i had a week off this past week. I woke up at 2 pm everyday and basically skipped breakfast. it isnt goodfor you and i lost weight.

 

[jdb1523]

I've got class in 30 minutes but I'll try to answer everyone's questions when I get back about 3.

RyGuy is also very knowledgeable, when he speaks...listen.

 

[mr subliminals]

What do you all recommend i switch my sets to? i did 2 weeks of 6,8,8,10
i wanna add more weight so whats a good amount to do?

 

[meangene44103]

Originally Posted by Mr Subliminals

What do you all recommend i switch my sets to? i did 2 weeks of 6,8,8,10
i wanna add more weight so whats a good amount to do?

This program has help me. Its called the pyramid what you will do during a pyramid set is start with one set that uses a lighter weight but encompassesmany reps. For example, performing a set of dumbbell curls for 15 reps using 20 pound dumbbells.After that set and rest period is completed, you then move ontothe next set where you use a slightly higher weight and perform fewer repetitions.The next set, you will progress to an even heavier weight, with fewerrepetitions still. So you are essentially building a pyramid when referring to how many reps you are doing.As you move to the top of the pyramid, you will useheavier and heavier weights, however you will be lifting them for a shorter period of time.
One word of caution however that you must be aware of when you are performing pyramiding sets and are using higher weights is that proper form remains verycritical. It won't do you much good if you are lifting massive amounts of weight but your form is way off.

 

[blackmagnus514]

dumb question: trying to get bigger arms: big weight, less reps or small weight, more reps?

 

[jakecuevas]

ya me, armanzaballa and imlike pele go to the gym 3-5 times a week...we are just 16 years old....is creatine a good thing?...working out 5 times a week...isthat healthy? what should we focus on to increase arm size and vertical....

all help is appreciated

 

[bkzkurse]

thanks guys - your absolutely right - Eating is everything

Can any1 give me some tips on meals I can eat while being at the mercy of a college budget


For example - sandwiches on the go etc. - things of that nature?

Im trying to raise the calorie count but I really don't want to take in alot of preservative/chemicals IE: microwave meals, frozen lunches etc.

Also money is a bit tight - not to the point where I can't spend a few extra dollars a day but I mean - please nothing like 3 subway sandwiches a day -thats like $20 (a day) x 7 (a day) = 140 - ALOT of dough

Any tips?

I appreciate all of your help guys -

 

[datznasty]

I got a swimming class starting next week, need to get as much flab as I can off the torso by next Monday.

 

[RyGuy45]

thanks guys - your absolutely right - Eating is everything

Can any1 give me some tips on meals I can eat while being at the mercy of a college budget


For example - sandwiches on the go etc. - things of that nature?

Im trying to raise the calorie count but I really don't want to take in alot of preservative/chemicals IE: microwave meals, frozen lunches etc.

Also money is a bit tight - not to the point where I can't spend a few extra dollars a day but I mean - please nothing like 3 subway sandwiches a day - thats like $20 (a day) x 7 (a day) = 140 - ALOT of dough

Any tips?

I appreciate all of your help guys -
Sure... As long as you have a fridge and hopefully a freezer you def. can plan ahead each week. You will find yourself eating better (and eatingcheaper) the more you can plan ahead. It's when you are "on the go" and have to run and find something that you start to eat bad, or worse yetnot eat at all. I buy my food on Sundays and that lasts me the rest of the week. Granted Im not in college any longer but I still think you can stick to thesame script on a limited budget. The other key is how much time you want to spend preparing meals. Most males in college don't really want to cook much norhave the access to do so. But perhaps you might see what you can do, because then you can buy things such as a pack of chicken breasts which are pretty cheapand you can then cook up and store them for the week.

Other things you can do are to buy 100% whole wheat bread and load up on healthy sandwich meat. You can make daily sandwiches that breakdown to a pretty cheapthing to eat as well. Fruits and veggies, nuts, protein bars/powders, etc can all be had at fairly cheap prices if you shop right. You also can look intogetting a blender and making your own smoothies. Buy a big carton of plain yogurt and you can add all kinds of ingredients to it for a healthy and fillingsnack.

Again, its all about how much time you want to put into it. You don't need to become some huge chef, especially while being in college. But the extra stepsyou can take go a long way. And often things take a lot less time to prepare than you might think.

dumb question: trying to get bigger arms: big weight, less reps or small weight, more reps?
Look into getting bigger everywhere, which will then get you bigger arms. I wouldnt recommend wasting a ton of hours isolating your arms whenyou can be doing so many exercises in the gym that hit your other body parts AND your arms. You may want to get on bodybuilding.com and menshealth.com for aTON of routines that work. You will also find yourself maximizing your gains by always changing things up, not sticking to "high reps/low weight"routines or similar for extended periods of time. I always just try to lift hard. I don't concentrate on numbers, i.e "I need to do 8 for thisone." I lift until failure or close to it depending on my week



I'll try and help answer some of the other questions in a bit here....

 

[frontrunner4life]

alright i have benchpress, dumbbells, and a treadmill.
what's a good routine? i always get bored after a few weeks.

 

[jdb1523]

- For those of you who work out 5-7 times a week, how do you find the time (especially if you work) and how do you push yourself?
- Do squats really help your vertical that much? If I included that in my routine and worked out 3-4 times a week for the rest of the off season, about how much will I increase my vertical?
- Is it bad to do upper and lower body in the same day? (even if you do a long workout).
- What machines/exercises will stunt your growth?
When I worked this summer (I'm back in school for the semester), I was waking up anywhere from 5-6:30, worked out for awhile, then went towork.
Squats, running, AND stretching will help your vertical, but I wouldn't recommend heavy squats.
No. You can absolutely do upper and lower body in the same day. I do some form of legs everyday, plus cardio on top of that.
Machines/exercises won't really stunt your growth, but lifting too often at an early age can (and mostly those are extreme cases). And without stretchingyou'll lose a lot of flexibility.
You don't need creatine at 16 years old. Many people will tell you you don't need it at all, actually.

If your training to get your upper body cut, i.e lifiting a comfortable weight, will it have a negative impact on your lower body?

Particularly for jumping?
No. If anything, I would imagine it would help your jumping as you would be burning calories/fat from lifting.

alright i have benchpress, dumbbells, and a treadmill.
what's a good routine? i always get bored after a few weeks.
Bodybuilding.com has a ton.

 

[theotherai9]

Ok NT, help me out here:

I'm 6'0 maybe 6'1, 220 pounds. I want to shed fat, but also build muscle at the same time. I workout 4-5 days a week. I do bench press, bicep curl,squats, etc. Any help/advice?? I eat regular meals a day, a snack here and there.

 

[downtown43]

dumb question: trying to get bigger arms: big weight, less reps or small weight, more reps?

bigger weight, less reps.

low weight-more reps is what all those women do at the gym with the colorful weights. thats more for toning, not muscle mass.

 

[jawnstockton]

If you want to try something new that will help you shed fat, try crossfit routines (www.crossfit.com). I actually was put on to this stuff by a Navy SEAL, whonoted that they incorporate a lot of this stuff now days...it's brutal...I'm used to semi-intense workouts 5 days a week, and these make me want tothrow up. Def worth a try, though.

Note: Make sure that you don't hurt yourself doing these workouts

 

[vctry20]

- For those of you who work out 5-7 times a week, how do you find the time (especially if you work) and how do you push yourself?
I always found it best to just not stop moving. For instance I used to have class from 10-2, then work from 3-8. I would normally just take workout clothes in the car with me and just go strait to the gym. I always had to have some kind of energy boost with me though like a redbull. The best way tokeep pushing yourself is to not really give yourself an option to not work out, just keep reminding yourself all day that it you have to do it, sort of likeanother job, then it will eventually become a routine and then you wont really have to push yourself, it will just be a part of your daily routine.