Gym Junkie Thread

[soi lurker]

.

Im probably telling you something you allready know Pedro but have you tried Glucosamine with shark cartliage? I take it and i couldn't train without it, im sure. Great for enflamed joints!

Too true Pedro about training everything, you dont want to get around like the typical aussie male, chest puffed up, arms flexed, walking along the beach with arms flared due to ILS (imaginary lat syndrome)........ you have to train all bodyparts for balance, and as well train your core muscles.........

Edited June 30, 2005 by soi lurker

[pedro01]

Not even 40 - I started back in the gym at 34 and have been plagued by tendonitis. It is manageable though. You need a good sports therapist to get you through it - there's one guy at Bangkok Hospital - Dr Wichan who's a sports medicine doctor & surgeon. He sorted my knees out after years of visiting quacks.

Im probably telling you something you allready know Pedro but have you tried Glucosamine with shark cartliage? I take it and i couldn't train without it, im sure. Great for enflamed joints!

Workouts are available all over the internet - just make sure you don't favour all of the pretty muscles - chest, biceps, triceps. For every 'pull' exercise you do - there should be an opposing 'push' exercise. For instance - bench press should be opposed with an upright row. You don't necessarily have to do them in the same session but if you only do the bench & not the row - over time you'll end up with hunched shoulders as your chest muscles are pulling harder than the opposing back muscles.

You asleep yet ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Too true, you dont want to get around like the typical aussie male, chest puffed up, arms flexed, walking along the beach with arms flared due to ILS (imaginary lat syndrome)........ you have to train all bodyparts for balance, and as well train your core muscles.........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Of course - can't miss those core exercises - those'll help your posture as well as keep your form on other exercies.

[ukdog]

Right after all this heavyweight stuff,

(Glucosamine with shark cartliage? is a tip I will be following though).

Give a guy a hand, the lady says her bum is getting soft and dropping, (shes 21 for gods sake! ). so earn me a few extra points here; What exercises should she be doing to target that area?

Now here's the difficult bit, she does not want it to get any bigger , just harder and higher!

There seems to be alot of knowledgeable guys on this thread, so?

dog

[Jack Jones]

Right after all this heavyweight stuff,

(Glucosamine with shark cartliage? is a tip I will be following though).

Give a guy a hand, the lady says her bum is getting soft and dropping, (shes 21 for gods sake!  ). so earn me a few extra points here; What exercises should she be doing to target that area?

Now here's the difficult bit, she does not want it to get any bigger  , just harder and higher!

There seems to be alot of knowledgeable guys on this thread, so?

dog

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well...if you want to gain muscle and get bigger, you need to eat more. Equally if you want to tone, you can perform the same exercises whilst maintaining a normal sensible diet without the fear of increasing size.

Gaining muscle isn't just about exercising it's about eating the right foods and in excess of your daily maintenance levels. The excess calories then go to the areas that you have stressed during training.

So in this instance, perform some basic core movements like squats and maintain a sensible diet within in your daily maintenance limit. This should ensure that you tone and don't increase in size.

To burn excess body fat, try 30 mins carido in the morning before you eat, three times a week. This takes discipline but because you are exercising before you eat, this ensures that you are burning fat as opposed to what you have just eaten.

[ukdog]

Thanks JJ,

However she weighs in at 46 kilos and eat 6 meals a day minimum, (Normal Thai Lady, but she does eat good food now). looks fine and does not need to add weight.

Got her on squats, (No bar, cause she says it hurts, but has small weight in each hand). Just wondered if there were any specific exercises for her butt other than squats.

cheers,

dog

[Jack Jones]

Difficult to isolate the butt because you need to use your legs on most exercises. Perhaps try some weighted lunges or a seatted leg press, would recommend the cadio in the morning as well, if you can get her up

[penelope]

Difficult to isolate the butt

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

500 metre swim with fins (no arms, use a kickboard), 5 times a week

5 km run , 3 times a week

You'll have buns of steel in no time.

[Tornado]

Protein.

As Im training quite hard now, I have increased my protein levels to help my muscle growth. Im eating 3 to 4 eggs a day, fish for lunch (big fish steak) and sirloin steak for dinner - is this enough? should I start taking protein shakes as well? Im told I must eat about 60grams of protein a day?

If anyone here knows about diets for weight training, Id appreciate some info.

Although I havent been mixing carbs with protein, should I? as Ive cut my carb intake back a little, although Im eating some rice or pasta everyday for strength.

Edited July 1, 2005 by Tornado

[Richard Hall]

No need for those protein shakes just eat balanced and reasonable. Unfortunately, just too much misleading information referring to pro bodybuilders being on juice, eat 5000 calories a day and sometimes work-out double split 6 days in a week.

Looks like you already get plenty (= sufficient protein) in your diet. Keep in mind that the maximum of protein per meal should not exceed 50 - 60g because this is all the body can handle at once.

A 200g steak has already abt. 40% protein and the same goes for fish. Tuna in water is an excellent source of protein and other than pork and beef does not get you the fat. Same goes for non-fat milk.

Generally, also remember that excessive food produces eventually nothing but fat independant from whether those calories come from fat, carbos or protein.

To gain lean muscles and strength all you have to do is to establish your calorie amount to maintain your present bodyweight. Being aware of this just add no more than 500 calories of quality food a day instead of trying to stuff yourself with unhuman amounts of food.

Eat reasonably, work-out regularly and most importantly allow your body sufficient rest. Muscles and strength are not produced in the gym but rather during your resting periods means you grow big while you sleep. A sufficiently intense work-out just triggers the building of muscles and strength. It is a natural reaction by the body to "repair" the body and adapt (= growing bigger and stronger) as a reaction of an overload (= INTENSE work-out).

Personally, I am 44 years old (working out for more than 20 years), 180 cm, 92kgs abt. 10% bodyfat hitting the gym just once a week by following the HIT method.

Work out on Sunday mornings. 20 minutes of lifting, 20 minutes of stretching and about 45 minutes stationery bike at a low intensity level (pulse rate is the range of 130 - 140) allowing the body to burn fat (not glycogene or muscle) for energy.

In addition to this Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday low intensity morning jogging (130 - 140 pulse rate) before breakfast for an hour in the local park.

EVERY night 7 - 8 hours of sleep.

Diet:

No supplements except for some vitamin C, B-complex and E.

Breakfast: A blend of one can of tuna in water, 2 bananas, 1 liter of non-fat milk, one portion pouch of Milo and one portion pouch of cereals.

(Don't get too shocked about the fish in the milk. Actually the taste gets sufficiently covered up by the other ingredients).

Lunch: A regular Thai dish with rice and/or a steak with salad and rice or occasionally fries.

Afternoon snack: 2 slices of toast with low fat chicken ham.

Dinner: Same pattern as for lunch plus one big bottle of Singha beer

In between an occasional handful of nuts (peanuts, cashews) NOT oil roasted. Either raw or dry roasted. Nuts hold plenty of unsaturated fats which boost the natural production of testosterone, the muscle building hormone. Well, call it nuts are my "steroids" and they do work in any respect.

Before going to bed have another handful of nuts and a glass of low fat milk.

Better keep the buck for all those protein powders and all those food supplements in your pocket. Stay natueral and be sure that your muscles and strength are for real.

Actually, not much what it takes. Just train, eat and rest sensibly which will get you to your own personal genetically possible maximum which is the utmost that one can reach (but usually never gets accomplished by the most).

Genetics is eventually what decides how big and muscled someone can get. People with a strong bone structure and long muscles have an edge that is impossible to catch up with by a hardgainer when both work-out equally smart.

No need to get frustrated if you are more like a born pencil neck. When you use your brain you can build a healthy and butt kicking physique anyway without making yourself a slave of the gym and/or the kitchen.

You know that you are doing right if there is constant progress without any plateaus. The mirror and your objective view is your judge and not the scales.

Lots of fun and success.

Cheers, Richard

Edited July 1, 2005 by Richard Hall

[soi lurker]

You can never consume too much protein in one day if you are into a vigorous weights programme. The only times I have ever measured protein was when i was in competitions, when you need a pretty exact measure and amount of what is consumed. Otherwise you really shouldn't bother, just eat as much as you can as often as you can for extra recovery. Excess protein consumed and not used by the body will be used as an energy source anyway. A good rule of thumb for protein consumption for muscle repair and growth is eat it every 3 hours. If you stuggle to eat all the time then protein shakes are a quick and easy alternative to preparing then eating meals.......After your workout, you should also slam a protein shake down to instantly give your body a good, easily digestable/fast protein source. After your workout your body is depleted and in need of nutrients and acts like a "sponge", so slamming a protein shake consistently after your workouts will mean an immediate uptake by the body and, well you will see results.........This is really what high quality protein shakes are designed for, prepared for you in predigested state for easy absrbtion by the body

So with this in mind, i and many people i discuss training with, are of a similar opinion that a growing body can never get enough protein........

I have never worried about measurements and get by just fine....... hope this is a help Tornado........

[Jack Jones]

If your looking to gain muscle you should be eating a minimum of 200g of protein per day.

I do use protein shakes, one at the start and one at the end of the day as well as a sensible diet.

[bkkmadness]

I meant to add to this thread earlier as I've become a bit of a gym junkie myself this year and pleased with the results so far, main one being a bit of time away from the gf everyday!

My friend passed me on this site which I haven't fully looked through yet but seems to show some good exercises on there for those people like myself who prefer to work from diagrams than descriptions though it'll probablty sem a basic site for a lot of you I'm pretty sure it'll help me get some variety into my exercise routine.

[Tornado]

cheers guys, Im trying to take as much of it in as possible - it seems everyone has a different way of training.

Does anyone know of a place in Thailand that sells weight benches/weights - pro stuff, I want, big bars and strong pro gear.

cheers

[Sir_Sanuk]

a few people here have said that to get bigger arms you should only go to the gym once a week. i'm confused...surely the more you work out the bigger you will become??!!

i'm 22 and i've been doing heavy weights for 1hr a day, EVERY day since last October. Whilst i have seen a growth in my arms it is not as much as i 've hoped for.

now that i'm moving to BKK next week i'm worried that my efforts will be wasted as my routine will be harder to maintain...

[Sarpedon]

Isnt the rest time you are supposed to have between workouts the time when your muscles get bigger...i think this was mentioned in a previous post on this thread?

Rest/recovery time is more important than the workout?

[Tornado]

a few people here have said that to get bigger arms you should only go to the gym once a week. i'm confused...surely the more you work out the bigger you will become??!!

i'm 22 and i've been doing heavy weights for 1hr a day, EVERY day since last October. Whilst i have seen a growth in my arms it is not as much as i 've hoped for.

now that i'm moving to BKK next week i'm worried that my efforts will be wasted as my routine will be harder to maintain...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have definately noticed a difference in size, since Ive been only working 1 muscle group per day, one time per week... the rest time in between does increase size in my opinion.

the only downfall I notice is strength, as I have not increased much in how much I lift, since training this way.

[ProThaiExpat]

Geriatric studies show that older people are in more need of weight trainng than aerobics. Evidently, disuse atrophy is more physically limitng in older people than cardio-vascular fitness.

A home gym is great if you don't need the interaction offered in fitness clubs or gyms.

My level of weight trainng has decreased wth age in both the frequency and the amount of weight while my reps have gone up to maintain tone.

I have always done a cardio-weight trainng approach. I work the weight lifting without stopping between machines, weights and excercises so my heart is pumping, I am out of breath and sweat profusely. I understand many will do three sets of one exercise with rest in between, but so boring for me.

The results seem the same to me, I got so large I had to have custom made suits. The time in the gym is shortened considerably which is a real plus for me. However, early morning visits were mandatory to have the machines free to do this.

My annual cario-vascular check ups were always outstanding.

[penelope]

Isnt the rest time you are supposed to have between workouts the time when your muscles get bigger...i think this was mentioned in a previous post on this thread?

Rest/recovery time is more important than the workout?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As is a correct exercise targetted diet and nutrition program ie:consuming the right food/drink at the right time in harmony with your workouts.

Edited July 20, 2005 by penelope

[Tornado]

http://www.nutritiondata.com/foods-0000780...0000000-w1.html

good link - foods with the highest protein.

[Davey]

I train every day, predominantly weight training but try to do at least 1 day of cardio, usually in the form of boxing and/or rowing but never too much as I'm trying to gain a little bit weight at the moment.

menshealth.co.uk is a decent website

fitday.com is also decent but takes a lot to keep on top of.

[Richard Hall]

a few people here have said that to get bigger arms you should only go to the gym once a week. i'm confused...surely the more you work out the bigger you will become??!!

i'm 22 and i've been doing heavy weights for 1hr a day, EVERY day since last October. Whilst i have seen a growth in my arms it is not as much as i 've hoped for.

now that i'm moving to BKK next week i'm worried that my efforts will be wasted as my routine will be harder to maintain...

I have definately noticed a difference in size, since Ive been only working 1 muscle group per day, one time per week... the rest time in between does increase size in my opinion.

the only downfall I notice is strength, as I have not increased much in how much I lift, since training this way.

There should be strength increase as well in more or less the same path as size increase except the size increase is just caused by fat rather than muscle.

Keep in mind that even if you work a muscle direct only once a week the smaller muscle groups like arms also get an indirect workout. Triceps in terms of pushing excercises such as bench or overhead presses and biceps from pulling/rowing exercises.

Let's say you just did some heavy bone breaking bend over rows and on the next day or even let's say two days after you do biceps curls your biceps may have not recovered yet from the back excercise.

When I noticed that I did not improve in my once a week set of squats anymore I decided to squat only every other week. The week in between I do one set of leg extension and one set of leg curls with a weight I can manage for about 12 reps until positive failure. This is what I consider a recovery workout only because in comparison to squats to positive failure leg extensions to failure and curl extensions to failure are pieces of cake.

If you work out sincerely hard by overloading the muscle with sufficient intensity this must generate strength improvement as a natural reaction of the body BUT only if the recuperaton time between workouts is actually sufficient. Therefore, keep the indirect muscle involvement in mind when planning your training program.

A hard set of chins and/or bend over rows can tax your biceps harder than a set of biceps curls particularly when done with an underhand grip (= in case of chins palms facing to you and in case of bend over rows palms showing forward away from you).

Therefore, on my heavy intense days I just finish the biceps indirect by doing rows (working the lats) and only curl once every other day on my light days. This is because my program previously indicated in this thread did not allow sufficient recovery anymore upon the strength improved enabling to use more weight and therefore increased the intensity another notch.

Keep in mind we are not talking volume but rather HIT or Heavy Duty training here a very appreviated but also extremely intense way of working out.

Happy lifting and loads of success,

Richard

Edited July 25, 2005 by Richard Hall

[Thaiboxer]

If you want a good workout for the whole body (cardio and muscle) try Muay Thai. Western Boxing isn't too bad but Muay Thai uses nearly every part of the body for striking. The boxers I've trained with over the past few years are in the best condition of any athletes I've ever seen.

[Davey]

If you want a good workout for the whole body (cardio and muscle) try Muay Thai. Western Boxing isn't too bad but Muay Thai uses nearly every part of the body for striking. The boxers I've trained with over the past few years are in the best condition of any athletes I've ever seen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Agreed, you will never see and out of shape muay thai boxer whereas there as some fat boxers, skelton being one of them

[ukdog]

Need some advice here.

Have not been training for almost 3 years, I recently got the all clear and have returned to the Gym.

Its now been 8 weeks, I go 6 days a week. My routine is now 30 mins Cardio, (assorted step, running (8 min miles), rowing on 3 day cycle at between 120 / 145 HBPM), followed by circuits, consisting now of 3 sets of 12 reps for each muscle group at about 70% of maximum.

I am 59 years old and about 6 kilo over weight, (result of the 3 year lay-off)

My questions;

1. Is it to late, re muscle mass, to regain some of my former form/size/density.

2. Can I benefit more by moving to split training. (Cardio plus one muscle group each training period).

3. Can someone suggest a weekly routine that I could follow other than repetitive circuits.

Despite the lay-off I retain a fair Cardio fitness, (Prior to stopping I was very fit).

I am begining to find the circuits a bit repetitive and am well motivated.

I eat a reasonable diet.

Any help welcome

dog

[Insight]

Also have another question myself...

Looking for a gym in BKK with a reasonable selection of machines and a swimming pool.

We've only found the Landmark Hotel near Nana so far. Any advice appreciated.

[Davey]

Need some advice here.

Have not been training for almost 3 years, I recently got the all clear and have returned to the Gym.

Its now been 8 weeks, I go 6 days a week. My routine is now 30 mins Cardio, (assorted step, running (8 min miles), rowing on 3 day cycle at between 120 / 145 HBPM), followed by circuits, consisting now of 3 sets of 12 reps for each muscle group at about 70% of maximum.

I am 59 years old and about 6 kilo over weight, (result of the 3 year lay-off)

My questions;

1. Is it to late, re muscle mass, to regain some of my former form/size/density.

2. Can I benefit more by moving to split training. (Cardio plus one muscle group each training period).

3. Can someone suggest a weekly routine that I could follow other than repetitive circuits.

Despite the lay-off I retain a fair Cardio fitness, (Prior to stopping I was very fit).

I am begining to find the circuits a bit repetitive and am well motivated.

I eat a reasonable diet.

Any help welcome

dog

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You shouldn't really incorporate cardio and weight training into the same workout, best would be to alternate on days ...I'm a firm believer in that it is never too late to re/start training/exercising, obviously you aren't going to be as able as you were at 20 but I see a few blokes in my gym back here in the uk and they are around your age and looking really good...

You say you are 6 kilos over weight but that is sort of irrelevant. Did you use BMI to establish this because that is not really a viable method. You should only be concerned if you are over fat because most people who do weight train are over weight, but have some of the lowest body to fat ratio's.

It would be quite difficult to suggest a training programme as there is not much background information about you. You say you have not training for 3 years and now do 6 days a week, that is possibly a bit too much for someone who is just re-starting training. What ever gym you go to ask some one who know what they're doing to give you an bit of idea or information

[ukdog]

Thanks for comments davey

6 kilo fat, by sight and weight comparison from earlier times.

I year of illness, 18 months recuperation, 6 months idle

At 45 ran LM in 3hrs 11min, until 3 years ago ran 20 miles a week and worked out in gym 5 days a week, general weight resistance training.

The last 3 years have taken their toll, went down from 90 kilos to 71 kilos then during recuperation went up to 100 kilos, now at 93 kilos and judging by sight, clothes and scales I need to be about 87 kilos.

I find after 8 weeks, I can manage the cardio and circuits without anymore dis-comfort than you would expect after such a workout.

The lack of density is one of the areas I want to address.

I come in at Chest 46 inch's, Waist 36 inch's, bicep 15 inch's, before illness was chest 44, waist 32, bicep 16

I could do with some suggestion on a split work out system that would help in this area if it is possible.

dog