pupdawg82 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How about getting a model body? > > Nups and Brian - Any idea about this? Heavy weight > or light weight with more reps? > > Any specific workout for abs? I think people really need to read more and listen to common misconceptions less. First off I’ve heard over and over that lifting heavy weights builds mass where as lifting light weights for high weights leads to a more toned appearance. This is completely idiotic and the result of a complete lack of understanding of how our bodies work. Here’s an excerpt I took from an article on Joe DeFranco’s site, http://www.defrancostraining.com): Myth #1: Lifting light weights for high reps will “shape and tone” your muscles. This is the grand daddy of all training myths! Somehow the aerobics, yoga and Pilate’s community have convinced us that when we perform bodyweight exercises or light resistance training for high reps, our muscles magically take on a beautiful shape without growing or bulging. On the other hand, if you challenge yourself with moderately heavy weights, your body will take on a bulky, unflattering appearance. If you believe this, you probably still believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus! Here are the facts. The main difference between a “lean and toned” physique and a “bulky” physique is the amount of body fat that surrounds your muscles! Basically, the “lean and toned” look that most people desire is a result of having muscle that isn’t hidden under layers of fat. And let’s not forget that the best way to build muscle is through strength training. Generally speaking, this means challenging yourself with moderately heavy weights in the 6 to 15 rep range. It doesn’t mean using an insignificant resistance for a countless number of reps. This will do little to change your appearance. Remember, it’s the muscle on your frame which gives you your shape. Muscle also increases your metabolism which helps your body burn extra calories throughout the day. Joe’s a smart guy and he knows his stuff. Don’t believe me? Check around his site to see who some of his clients are. Watch his YouTube videos and see exactly what they’re up to in his gym. Now as for your abs… abs are built in the kitchen. Clean up your diet and drink lots of water. There are many different diets out there and everybody responds differently. Personally I found a ketogenic diet to be effective but it’s restrictive and not for everyone. Once you have your diet dialed in it’s just a matter of getting to the gym and training your a$$ off. As for ab workouts I like: Heavy swiss ball cable crunches (my favorite): take a rope on a cable machine, set it to the lowest pulley setting and attach a rope. Roll up your swiss ball and sit facing away from the machine. Reach behind you and grab the rope. Crunch. You’ll feel this after your first set of 15 if you have the weight set right. Hanging leg raises Incline reverse curls w/ hip thrust at the top Dumb bell side bends Russian twists Wood choppers Incline situps, weight behind head On days that I do ab specific exercises (usually three days a week) I’ll choose three exercises and run a circuit for 20 mins. I usually get in five sets of 15-20 reps per exercise depending on the resistance.
pupdawg82 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How about getting a model body? > > Nups and Brian - Any idea about this? Heavy weight > or light weight with more reps? > > Any specific workout for abs? Brian has me owned, I have a basic understanding out how this works, however, I WAS of the school of thought that high reps/low weight increases toneage. I think how this myth comes true is that people maybe get more of a cardiovascular workout when doing 30 reps of 20 lbs.
And to add on what Joe’s article said if you’re not “toned” right now and are looking to get toned you’re going to drop the body fat and obtain a lean muscular physique long before you will have too much lean mass and look like a roided out freakshow. With that said, the fastest way to obtain a lean muscular physique is to A) eat clean and B) lift heavy. And this was taken from here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_hypertrophy): “Some experts create complicated plans that manipulate weight, reps, and sets, increasing one while decreasing the others to keep the schedule varied and less repetitive. It is generally believed that if more than 15 repetitions per set is possible, the weight is too light to stimulate maximal growth.”
Awesome guys. Now exam is over and I have time, I am going to start working - out rigorously from today. Thanks Brian. Do you work as a trainer too? I am impressed with your knowledge on fitness and body building.
It’s a shame that my body just gave up after the treadmill run. Progress ======== GymDay-4 1. 4.5 miles of treadmill (around 500 cals; 35 mins) There’s a change in the plan from next week though. Not going to run/spin the entire week. Just some weights to get those arm veins popping and 2 reps of Ab-RipperX each day.
LaGrandeFinale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It’s a shame that my body just gave up after the > treadmill run. > > Progress > ======== > GymDay-4 > 1. 4.5 miles of treadmill (around 500 cals; 35 > mins) > > There’s a change in the plan from next week > though. Not going to run/spin the entire week. > Just some weights to get those arm veins popping > and 2 reps of Ab-RipperX each day. Squats, deads, bench, and Mpress… You’ll be fine.
Brian, I appreciate your knowledge of the topics, but I’m not sure I completely agree with all of your views. I had experiences going to a personal trainer and lifting heavy (it was circuit training - 30 minute workouts with no breaks in between). I saw my body form and it began working, but there was a peak. I began doing P90X and it cut out a lot of the fat, and started giving me shape much quicker (I was using classic, so there was a lot of resistance training coupled with bodyweight). I think the muscle confusion system works, and complementing your resistance training with bodyweight exercises and high-interval cardio exercises will allow you to build leaner muscle quicker. I haven’t fully gone through the P90X program, but plan to restart in a few days. My step-brother has been hitting the gym doing heavy lifting and running to lose weight and build mass, and I must say his results aren’t as impressive as it might have been with P90X (or a program of that nature), though he did end up losing about 25 pounds in about 2-3 months. Sure, genetics play a huge role, but I think the time one spends in the gym going from one machine to another and adjusting the weights takes a lot of precious time away from your muscles, which doesn’t lead to optimal results. If you could lift heavy in a fast pace, you’d be much more effective. Power = Force x Distance / time, as crossfit likes to point out. With the bodyweight + resistance program, you could easily alternate and not allow your body time to rest, which could be just as effective (if not more) than lifting 2 reps of some ridiculously heavy weight. My brother’s gym partner just posted a facebook video of him benching twice his weight for 2 reps…I’m pretty sure these 2 reps do nothing to increase his size. Your thoughts?
brianr- I agree with you 100% on most of your points. I should have been clearer when I said I didn’t like weight-lifting to indicate that I meant the typical meat-head approach. When I trained I would always tell these guys to look at the athletes they wanted to emulate. Did they want to look like Arnold circa 1970 or Kobe… or Lance? Doing straight cardio will of course not create a the typical lean muscular Abercrombie body that most guys seemed to want- but neither would just a weight machine- to machine, arms on Mon- legs on Tue routine. I would always start with some sort of elevated heart rate, interval based polymeric/bodyweight routine. The typical person need a lot of training before their strength outgrows most of these exercises. … look at gymnasts for a great example- most guys would kill for that body and they hardly do weights, if any at all. That’s because their bodies adapt to the needs of their exercises- max strength without carrying additional unnecessary weight. In the same vein a marathon runner’s body naturally adapts for max VO2 uptake and conditioning, whittling away most muscle as there is no real need for explosive strength that a sprinter may need. Now a worlds strongest man competitor will be mad strong but I doubt that’s the physique most want. Of course there will always be the genetically pre-disposed skinny guy who really will have to incorporate weights, but most of my clients started slightly overweight, so they came with their own equipment Basically- if you can do a couple sets of polymeric squats, tucked planche pushups, levered pull-ups and hanging leg raises- yes hit the weights! If not- your body will benefit from the range of motion and total body strength and flexibility they will develop. When I was training I could bp 250, squat 400 and overhead press 145… and I was only in the gym doing range of motion exercises ~1 hour a week - rest of work out in the pool(I was a swimmer… and I’m a girl). I’m rambling now but I do think that the typical guy who depends on the gym 100% does need to incorporate some cardio, although not hour long runs- rather intervals of higher intensity; as long as this is complemented with strength exercise the body will not eat away muscle mass. Now my 2 favorite exercise myths: “fat burn zone” and “muscle burns fat”.
Just look up Jason Statham’s workouts if you want to get in great shape. A mix of weights (both heavy and light), bodyweight exercises, and cardio (strict diet too).
akanska Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When I was training I could bp 250, > squat 400 and overhead press 145… and I was only > in the gym doing range of motion exercises ~1 hour > a week - rest of work out in the pool(I was a > swimmer… and I’m a girl). what… are you serious with those numbers? how much do you weigh?
higgmond Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just look up Jason Statham’s workouts if you want > to get in great shape. A mix of weights (both > heavy and light), bodyweight exercises, and cardio > (strict diet too). Where can I find those videos? I am sure because of CFA studies, my hair/head will be similar to him in few years.
at the time I weighed 145 (I’m 5’6"), I swam butterfly. I was pretty cut but not too big, only my shoulders and lats were out of proportion really. I think my muscle memory from many years of ballet prevented me from getting too bulky. The SQ was on a machine so its probably exaggerated, but it was the whole stack so perhaps I could have gone higher? My best friend who was a breaststroker would do the whole stack on the thigh adductor… we would tease she could crush a head between her legs 
Its been ~ 7 years since I’ve trained and I still have much of mass but maybe 30% of the strength. Its really sad actually- I can hardly do a few pushups now 
I just need to get to work but find it hard when I’m so accustomed to a competitive and regimented team environment. I also find it extremely frustrating to go back and not be able to train at the intesity @ which I’m accustomed to training. I drove off of the pain- not I pulled my shoulder pain, but lactic buildup burn / I think I’m going to puke type pain. At my current state I cannot even get to the point, I cannot even hardly break a sweat. That s what a lot of people who have trained in their youth don’t realize about the people in the guy who don’t have that background and I now have a new respect for them. If you did any sort of activity in your youth you are blessed with the muscle memory and “feel” for your body that many have never experienced. I remember distinctly when I was at my peak that I would be able to distinguish between using my rhomboid vs my trap on a stroke pulldown and work it to exhaustion. Most people who have been stagnant their whole lived cannot even flex their lat on command. They don’t have to guild strength, they first have to build the basic neurological connections/ energy& waste transport systems, etc that some take for granted. When I first started training and people would claim not being able to do more/ quitting before even breaking a sweat I would resent them and think ‘what a p*ssy’ in my head, but in actually their body’s were simply not equipped with the ability to sweat and recover.
pupdawg, no training experience, just a lot of reading and experimenting. mp2438, you make some valid points but it is important to understand how your muscles work and grow if you’re looking to build strength. It may be instructive to read some of the WestSide articles on dynamic work to understand how a split between maximal effort and dynamic effort workouts can stimulate muscle growth and increase strength. As for P90X, I’ve done it as have a few others on this site. It’s a good program but you’re not going to build lean mass on it. If you have little to begin with the exercises will be challenging and you will see some lean gains but overall P90X is a fancied up cardio program. My advice, keep Ab-Ripper X, throw out the other discs and look into a real strength training program. I had a lot of success on DeFranco’s WestSide For Skinny Bastards II (http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/38-articles/64-westside-for-skinny-bastards-part2.html). I have suggested this program to others and they also saw gains in lean muscle mass as well as strength increases after just three weeks on the program. If you’re starting out this is a great program to look at. Eventually I got tired of the program and wanted something new. I created a template based of the Chaos and Pain ideology (http://chaosandpain.blogspot.com) and while I liked it I feel my progress has stalled the last few weeks. As a result I’m now preparing to start Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program and have heard great things. http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength http://elitefts.com/documents/5_3_1.htm akanska, I agree on the bodyweight movements and feel that they are important not only to beginners but to all athletes (weighted dips and pullups especially). I’m also not rallying against cardio altogether and it looks like we’re in agreement on this as I’m just saying too much does more harm than good. On lifting days I do my warmup (a little stretching, bandwork, rolling) and then run sprints on the treadmill for 15-20 mins. I’ll alternate 1 min of walking at 4 mph and then 1 min of sprinting at 11 mph (note: if I’m doing 20 mins then it’s 1:20 splits). On off days I have been doing hill climbs for 50 mins and then some sort of bodyweight circuit at a high intensity for 20 mins (Dips, pullups, pushups, kettlebell swings).
Oh on machines… those are still really impressive numbers. If it was free weight I’m 100% sure you could win competitions
cfagoal2 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh on machines… those are still really > impressive numbers. > If it was free weight I’m 100% sure you could win > competitions I know, right?! I was like bp 250??? Most girls can’t even lift the bar.
The bar is what- 45 lbs? I would hope in my heart of hearts most girls could lift 45 pounds?!?!
The bar is only 45lbs, just about everyone should be able to do that. But most guys (probably over 90%) of guys will not be able lift more than akanska especially at only 145 bw, that is really elite level of powerlifting. I would be scared to death if akanska wanted to fight me.
lol, lift 45 lbs? Sure. But bench it? No way, completely different muscle group. No problem for you or me, but I bet most girls wouldn’t even know their way around the free weight section let alone how much the actual bar weighs.
daviskr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > lol, lift 45 lbs? Sure. But bench it? No way, > completely different muscle group. No problem for > you or me, but I bet most girls wouldn’t even know > their way around the free weight section let alone > how much the actual bar weighs. Most girls aren’t you. 
I hope you dont tell Dougie anything I say to you, he’s gonna kick my a$$ if you do lol.
Saturday: 0; Sunday: 0 Today it’s going to be 2 (16m) sessions of AbRipperX and some basic weights at home.