I work out! (well not yet... but I need to)

[Yygdrasil]

So I found out today that I'm essentially hired to the iron workers union in Boston effective in January. That being said, it was suggested to me that I make an effort to hit the gym, drink protein shakes and work out like crazy until then so that I'm in shape for the epic amount of work I'll be doing.

I doubt many of you are intensive body builders, but I've always asked the vast majority of my questions to you all anyway... so why stop now?

Do any of you frequent the gym to do strength training? Additonally... do you have any advice towards the quickest and most effective regimen to gain strength quickly?

I'm not doing it for vanity... so I don't really care if I end up looking chunky so long as I can manage to reliably do the work assigned to me.

Any advice? A plan? A link to a website where I cam map something like that out? Anything?

I'd pretty much be starting tomorrow and working all the way up to January to be in peak shape by then.

[Satori]

When I've been up all night on ffxi I see an advert for the Insanity workout.
Each time I'm tempted to pick up the phone.

I'm stick thin but I'd love to be able to fill my clothes out better.
Sorry I can't help you but I'll be following this thread for sure.

[cidbahamut]

I think we sort of kind of already had part of this discussion over here if you want to dig through it: Time for a change... ((Health stuff.))

I've heard a ton of contradictory stuff when it comes to working out but one thing that seems to remain constant is that you shouldn't do a brutal workout every day since you need to give your body time to heal and recover from the workout. Beyond that I don't really know.

[Cotners]

I work out 3-4 times a week. Each of my work outs usually consist of 25-35 min interval cardio (like sprints) followed by focusing on 2-3 muscle groups to work on (e.g. chest and shoulders). I usually do 2-3 excercises per muscle group, 3 sets per excercise and 6-8 reps per set. Total I am in the gym for 1-1.5 hours. Hope this helps.

[Malacite]

I'm actually looking into this myself - not so much to buff up but shed some pounds and get to a normal weight for my age/height.

Best advice I can think of is to try and get a personal trainer if at all possible, and whatever you do, speak to a nutritionist. I also highly recommend taking Raspberry Ketone.

[Cotners]

As far as protein is concerned there are a few good brands to look for... If you are on a budget you can buy bulk Whey Protein from True Nutrition - The Highest Quality Supplements and Protein at the Lowest Prices for about $6/lb or you can go to the store and pick a two lb container of Body Fortress Protein for about $18. The Body Fortress stuff is nice because it also contains a little creatine which helps you retain water and increases blood flow to the muscles. There are more expensive brands out there but many are full of carbs and fat like Muscle Milk.

[Mezlo]

I used to hit the gym prior to getting married and I was pretty stacked. I developed my chest, biceps, triceps, and back as well as 30 mins of cardio. The 30 mins of cardio is key to any gym routine. My weight lifting session went 45 mins - 1 hour and I'd do 3 exercises for biceps and then 3 for chest one day. The other day would be 3 exercises for triceps then 3 for back. Each exercise would be 10 reps, on the 8-10th rep you should be struggling. If you're not struggling you don't have enough weight on.

[Yygdrasil]

Thanks guys! I'm just about done rebuilding the old routine I used to do when I was swimming. Obviously I'm adjusting it so that I can suit it more towards muscle building and less towards lean muscle.

Gimme a few minutes and I'll post it here for critique. I'm willing to hear anything you all have to say about it. BRB

[Mezlo]

My supplements that I used for muscle mass and strength are the best out there. BSN Cell Mass and BSN No-Xplode. The No-Xplode is what you take pre-workout and it gets you super amped and increase oxygen and blood flow through the muscles. Cell Mass is a creatine blend that helps the muscles recover and is taken twice a day. Again I got big with the regiment, some friends asked me if i was using illegal substances, lol...

[Mezlo]

oh, and the best website for suppliments and protein bars / snacks is AllStarHealth.com - Discount Vitamins | Nutritional Supplements | Bodybuilding Supplements

[Mezlo]

I'm going to be going back to the gym come January once the baby is born, but I'm not going for huge muscle mass anymore, more of a athletic / toned physique.

[Cotners]

I tend to focus more on athletism and less on mass as well. I just ran my 1.5 mile in 9:47. Not bad for being 31 yrs old.

[Yygdrasil]

My schedule is broken down into 4 workouts. 2 for upper body and 2 for lower and I rotate them based on the ideal muscle building and recovery time frames of 48-72 hours. It ends up looking like this (These are just the days that work for me)

Monday: Upper Body (1)
Tuesday: Lower Body (1)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Upper Body (2)
Friday: Lower Body (2)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

The workouts themselves are going to last 1.5 hours. The first 20 minutes is cardio, followed by 10 minutes of rest followed by an hour of the actual workouts. Here's a breakdown of the 4 days.

Upper Body (1)
Bench Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Rows
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Incline Press
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Pull-Downs
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Lat Raises
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.

Press-Downs
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.

Curls
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.


Lower Body (1)
Deadlifts
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Leg Press
3 sets of 10-12 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Seated Leg Curls
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Standing Calf Raises
4 sets of 6-8 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Abs
x sets of 8-15 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.


Upper Body (2)
Pull-Ups
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

(Barbell) Shoulder Press
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Cable Row
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

(Dumbbell) Bench Press
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Dumbbell Flyes
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.

(Barbell) Curls
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.

Skull Crushers
2 sets of 10-12 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.


Lower Body (2)
Squats
3 sets of 6-8 reps.
2-3 minutes rest between sets.

Split Squats
3 sets of 8-10 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Horrisontal Leg Curls
3 sets of 10-12 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Seated Calf Raises
4 sets of 10-12 reps.
1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Abs
x sets of 8-15 reps.
1 minute rest between sets.


I'll have to test myself out when I go tomorrow to see how awful I am compared to when I last went... but I'm assuming I'll be ok.

I'm going to test my limits this week with each day's worth of exercises and see where I stand to determine what my starting rep weights are going to be. From there, I'll just tack on 5-10lbs every 2 weeks (assuming I can keep up with that pace) and see where I plateau in December.


As far as my diet is concerned, I'm going for weight and muscle gain... so I'm taking my maintenance caloric intake and increasing it by about 400-500 depending on what I can choke down.

Given my weight and calculated maintenance calories, I need to take in about 2800/day. I'm breaking that 2800 into 3 groups. Protein/Fat/Carbs.

I'm going to "eat my weight" in protein... or so my old coach used to suggest. That is to say, for every pound you weigh (while working out regularly) you should eat 1 gram of protein. I weigh 160lbs and so I'll eat 160g. Since each gram of protein (on average) is worth about 4 calories... that's about 640 calories of my daily intake right there.

While working out, you're also supposed to take in roughly 25% of your calories as fat. So for me that's about 700 calories worth. Since each gram of fat is worth about 9 calories... that means I need to eat roughly 78g of fat/day.

The remaining amount of calories is all going towards carbs. 2800 - 640(protein) - 700(fat) = 1460 calories worth of carbs. I'm pretty much going to limit this to pasta, brown rice and whole wheat bread as much as I can.


To supplement my protein intake I'm going to probably use a creatine rich whey formula like Cotners is suggesting (thanks for that brand suggestion btw) as well as a basic multivitamin.

If I can stick to it, I should be gaining about 1-1.5lbs of muscle/week and getting strong enough to do what I'll need to do at work every day. Hopefully 3 months is enough time to get me at least most of the way there.


Advice? Suggestions? Critiques?

[Yygdrasil]

I tend to focus more on athletism and less on mass as well. I just ran my 1.5 mile in 9:47. Not bad for being 31 yrs old.

I've always been the same as you guys. I currently weigh a cool 160 at 27 years old and I'm 5'9. Ideal weight for my height at my age. Thanks to swimming I always maintained a toned physique and huge stamina.

I still run 3 miles 1-2 times a week... but it's not nearly enough to keep me where I was before. There's no supplement for swimming. It's a full body workout. Running just isn't cutting it anymore.

[Mezlo]

I weighed 215 at 35 years old and I'm 6'0 with a 34" waist. I'm down to 208 now with a 35" waist, lol... Again, hitting the gym after the baby...