The Fitness Guide

[Joe']

Doobie, don't add milk or yogurt to your smoothie, otherwise you'll be getting 300+ kcal without even noticing. Your smoothie should be just fruit, crushed ice and a little sugar.

For breakfast, scrambled eggs and freshly-squeezed orange/grapefruit juice + apple usually does it for me, though cereal is also a very good choice. Just stay away from donuts, muffins, pancakes, waffles, and pretty much all those other greasy things you Americans have for breakfast. Toast and jam are fine, just keep the quantity low (usually one will do for me, two if you're planning to work out within the following few hours and you're having nothing else for breakfast.) Coffee is also fine, but again just keep it to one per day. Tea (green not black, as it produces extra heat in the body and helps you burn calories) is preferred, though.

Keep in mind breakfast should be the biggest meal of your day, especially if you workout in the morning. Lunch should be a very small meal, usually just a salad (no cheese, chicken or greasy dressings. Just olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.) Always eat 'til you're full, as much as you want as long as it doesn't contain any of the aforementioned ingredients. You can have a small snack if you get hungry in the afternoon, fruit or yogurt are good choices. Don't eat dinner after eight, I usually have grilled chicken breast and boiled vegetables or multigrain pasta/rice.

Also, the most important thing: water. Half gallon a day at the very least. Some people actually lose weight by doing just this. And don't forget to eat lots and lots of fiber. That includes cereal, peas, beans, oatmeal and especially FRUITS and VEGETABLES especially broccoli, carrots, kiwi, prunes and all kinds of berries; apples, oranges, grapefruit and bananas are also good sources of fiber (fruit juice IS NOT the same, as most of the fiber in fruit is contained in the pulp.) Eat as much fruit and veggies as you can. They make you feel full and they're low on calories. Fiber also plays a big role in muscle gain.

As for exercising, as Cyanide said, situps, pushups, squats and free weight exercises are all possible to perform indoors. I live in an apartment and I work out three times a week and I can assure you it's possible. I've never worked out (by myself) outdoors my whole life.

[Jackal]

I have a great "at-home" article from the Men's Health, in Dutch obviously, but you can look at the pretty pictures and manage something.

If there's interest, I'll scan them in.

I haven't worked out as much as I'd like, I'm still those 4 kg's too heavy, but I've lost a lot of muscle I feel. My back and arms especially. I've been working a lot, a lot and a lot for a new car, so gym time has made way for work-time unfortunately.

But that's no excuse, I guess I'll just have to start waking up at 5 again to workout before "my regular day". Like when I had just started out. I've also started sleeping at around 12-1 again and sleeping till 8'ish, which explains the lack of working out.

One thing though, given I'm so busy, I haven't been eating unhealthy so that's a positive I guess.

Edit: After writing this, I realized I'd just been fucking up my time management. Tomorrow is a good day to head back to the gym, long live the NLSC!

[Jackal]

Doobie, you paying attention? I was you.

[Doobie]

Wow. I how much did you weigh? How much you weigh now? Impressive, and cool black and white effect..... How'd you lose the weight and how long did it take?

[Jackal]

At my peak weight I hit 95 KG's, which is when I decided either get in shape...or die an untimely death. My lowest weight was 74 KG, now I'm back to 80 KG's due to not working out as regularly. Although I've been back to the gym every day since last week Thursday. (Got back on track, despite the minus 3 degrees Celcius.)

Uhm, I can't say the exact amount, it happened in phases to be honest, I kept leaving the country and stuff like that. A total of 6-7 months I'd say.

And I lost the weight how I've been pleading with you to lose the weight.

[JaoSming]

Jackal, how tall are you?


If the people want an update on my, I have been getting healthier and healthier since the Wii Fit saga. (I still use it to weigh myself)

I topped out at ~308 a little while ago. Been gaining muscle due to moving + cleaning the old place, haven't dont much with cardio but I am lost enough for people to notice. Last week I lost 5 pounds due to being sick, but whatever.

Last weekend I was 292. Lost at least 3" in the waist since this latest plunge and hopefully starting next week (if the damn thing opens) I should be going to a gym regularly. I plan to weight light the upper body but to mainly get on a bike and just sweat until my legs are healthy enough to run properly again. (desk job + winter = bad knees for me again)

[Jackal]

I'm a measly 5'7 Jao. Damn Indian genes.

Good to hear about your progress as well! Still no gym though? It's very very lucrative.

[Doobie]

Jackal and your motivation was to not die an untimely death? I see....

[cyanide]

Jackal and your motivation was to not die an untimely death? I see....

Dude, do you know how many people die early because of obesity? I mean, not only they'll face their deathbed 20 years sooner, but consider how many physical, mental health and confidence issues they'll go through as well.

[Jackal]

Jackal and your motivation was to not die an untimely death? I see....

Oh, no, you didn't really ask for my motivation, my motivation was a girl I used to go out with who broke up with me because I was fat. =)

In yo face bitch.

[Joe']

New question for everybody but especially those who are experts on muscle gain: What's the standard length for the bulking stage? What about the cutting stage?

Also, I know I'm constantly asking for these but could anyone tell me what's a good bulking/cutting workout scheme? What do these two stages actually consist of? What should I do to obtain the best possible results? I know it's basically just eat more calories than you burn for the bulking stage and the exact opposite for the cutting stage. I know I should focus on weight training in the bulking stage and on cardio and the abdominal region on the cutting stage, but what more is there to it?

Sorry if I keep asking these questions but I've been doing mixed weights+cardio workouts my whole life and never achieved the results I'm seeking. I don't need to lose weight (I'm at 185 even right now and I'm perfectly fine with it,) I don't want to be lean, I hate lean. I want to be big and scary, like rugby-union-player-big. Not exaggeratedly big but you get the point...

So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Jackal]

I don't consider myself an expert in any way, like everyone else, I'm just trying to find a nice balance between BF% and muscle-mass, but this is how I see it, feel free to correct me if I'm doing it wrong.

According to me there is no "set time" for bulking/cutting. I think everyone's body differs so everyone will go at the pace of their specific body. What you should try to find out is if you're an endomorph, mesomorph or an ectomorph (or a combination of these). Once you find that out, you'll be able to "mold" your workouts accordingly. Like for me, it's easy to gain muscle-mass, but losing the fat is a genuine problem for me. There's this guy I train with...he's the exact opposite, he hardly gains muscle mass...but his rate of fatloss is sky-high.

The bulking stage is as you said, focus on the cals and lifting weights. Might want to do just enough cardio to keep your bodyfat low and perhaps make use of proteine/creatine shakes. The Men's Health recently called creatine the best supplement for gains. So might want to have a look at that.

Cutting is pretty much clean eating (really clean) and easing up on your weight lifting (easing up, meaning you still do it, but less compared to the bulking stage) and you workout the "smaller" muscle groups. For that extra definition. Also you focus on getting your BF as low as possible (as is healthy) by upping your cardio...that in combination with lesser fattenning foods should make your muscles really pop out.

During the bulking stage you should really focus on the bigger muscle groups and the excersizes for those muscle-groups. Once you've gained muscle on the big areas you can focus on your weak-points. (By me it's my stomach/lowerback, by others their arms and so on...)

If you have 20-30 Euro's extra, I really suggest the Arnold book. Don't train like he tells you to, but use it as a guideline, it's really worth the money and effort reading it. Not to mention it gives you the answers to all of your questions. Explains it in detail and helps you with the specific excersizes.

Hope that helped somewhat Joe, good luck!

[Doobie]

I feel good. Still on a good diet, woke up sore as hell today (great feeling.) I don't know what else to say. I'm really hungry all the time but I'm controlling myself.

[cyanide]

New question for everybody but especially those who are experts on muscle gain: What's the standard length for the bulking stage? What about the cutting stage?

There's no standard length as Jackal said, but you can expect to gain a pound a week of "mostly muscle" by eating more healthy calories than you burn combined with high intensity weight training (6-10 reps until failure) three times a week. You look like an ectomorph based on your older photos, so you might gain a pound every 2 weeks. It may sound like a lot of work or discouraging, but considering you could gain 12-15 lbs in only 6 months, that is pretty significant, and even more so in just one year.

Also, I know I'm constantly asking for these but could anyone tell me what's a good bulking/cutting workout scheme? What do these two stages actually consist of? What should I do to obtain the best possible results?

Invest in the Arnold book The Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding (I have one too) that Jackal recommended, but again, use it as a guideline. I also recommend The Abs Diet. It's not one of those gimmick books like the South Beach Diet and Atkins, because of the dumb title, but the book actually gives excellent nutritional tips, metabolism science, inspirational stories, and the writing is very straight forward. The only part I ignore from the book is the (in my opinion) excessive abs exercises.

Weight training and nutrition is simple in theory, but difficult to implement. It's just following through that you then will see results.

I feel good. Still on a good diet, woke up sore as hell today (great feeling.) I don't know what else to say. I'm really hungry all the time but I'm controlling myself.

Dude, starving yourself isn't the way to go. Eat something healthy rather than something unhealthy. If you have problem knowing which foods are healthy, get the Abs Diet book.

[Jackal]

That you still bother with explaining that to him, over & over in this thread and elsewhere he's been told what to do, how to do it etc etc, yet he still does whatever he thinks he's supposed to do. Not only is he lazy, he's stubborn.

[Doobie]

I'm not starving myself at all. TRUST ME. I am just not eating at all as much as I'm used to. I used to EAT A LOT. I'm eating smaller meals now but about 4-5 a day. I just don't get filled up with a small sandwhich or yogurt.

[Joe']

Thank you both for your responses.

According to my former trainer, I'm a mesomorph. He says I have a large frame (shoulders, chest) and bone structure or something and that I gain muscle quickly (he also said something about my torso being longer than normal but I don't see how that relates to any of this.)

I had never heard the word until I read Jackal's post yesterday so I did some research and I found out I actually share characteristics with both mesomorphs and endomorphs (for instance I have a slow metabolism and if I don't watch my diet I may gain fat quickly too.)

For reference, this is me about a year and a half ago (I was at 175 lbs here but my body hasn't changed much since, I'm just a little bigger.)

Doobie, I'm pretty sure I already told you about this, but the answer is fiber. Eat as much fiber as you can, it makes you feel full and most of the food with high levels of fiber are low in calories.

[cyanide]

Oh wow, you've changed a lot since the first photo I've seen (I guess 3 years ago now?) Your forearms are big in that photo, so proportion-wise I'm guessing you can easily gain more mass in your biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest and back since your frame is able to handle it.

[Jackal]

Another reason to pick up Arnie's book, he explains the different body types really nicely and tells you how/what to focus on during the trainings for your bodytype. Even if you're a bit of both.

Anyways, I looked it up and let me type it out for you:

Ectomorph training:

The extreme ectomorph's first objective is gaining weight, preferably in the form of quality muscle mass. He will not have the strength and endurance for marathon training sessions, will find that muscle mass develops very slowly, and will often have to force himself to eat enough to ensure continued growth. Therefore, for the ectomorph I recommend:

• Include plenty of power moves for a program that builds maximum mass. Your program should tend toward heavy weight and low reps (in the 6-8 rep range after a proper warm-up.)
• Learn to train intensely and make every set count. That way you can keep your workouts relatively short and still make substantial gains (perhaps 14-16 sets per major body part rather than 16-20). Make sure to get enough rest between sets and give yourself enought time to recuperate between workouts.
• Pay careful attention to nutrition: take in more calories than you are accustomed to and if needed, use weight-gain and protein drinks to supplement your food intake.
• Remember, you are trying to turn food energy into mass, so be careful not to burn up too much energy with excessive amounts of other activities such as aerobics, running, swimming and other sports. Some cardio excercise is both desirable and necessary for good health, but anyone who spends hours a day expending large amounts of physical energy outside the gym will have a lot more trouble building muscle while in the gym.

Mesomorph Training:

The mesomorph will find it relatively easy to build muscle mass, but will have to be certain to include sufficient variety of exercises in his program so that the muscles develop proportionately and well shaped rather than just thick and bulky. Therefore, for the mesomorph I recommend:

• An emphasis on quality, detail and isolation training, along with the basic mass and power exercises. You build muscle easily, so you can begin working on shape and seperation right from the beginning.
• Mesomorphs gain so easily that they don't have to worry much about conserving energy or overtraining. A standard workout of 16-20 sets per body part is fine, and you can train with as much or little rest between sets as suits you.
• A balanced diet with plenty of protein which maintains a calorie level that keeps the physique within 10-15 pounds of contest weight all year long. No bulking up to 30-40 pounds and then having to drop all of that useless weight for competition.

Endomorph Training:

Generally, the endomorph will not have too much difficulty building muscle, but will have to be concerned with losing fat weight and then being very careful with diet so as not to gain that weight back. Therefore, for the endomorph I recommend:

• A higher proportion of high-set, high-repetition training (no lower than the 10-12 rep range), with very short rest periods so as to burn off as much fat as possible. Doing a few extra sets of few extra excercises while you are trying to get lean is a good idea.
• Additional aerobic exercise such as bicycle riding, running or some other calorie-consuming activity. Training in the gym burns calories, but not as much as cardio exercise done on a continuous basis for 30-45 minutes or more at a time.
• A low-calorie diet that contains the necessary nutritional balance. Not zero anything, but the minimum amount of protein, carbs and fats, with vitamin and mineral supplements to be certain the body is not being deprived of any essential nutrients.

I'm a classic case of an endomorph, I gain muscle very fast...but losing weight is always priority number one with me. I usually also do an hour to an hour and a half of cardio, otherwise the little definition that I do have...disappears. Fast.

Really Joe, if you're serious, you would really benefit from Arnie's book, again, as a guide and not as a bible. Hope the above typed out piece helps you & anyone looking to start training.

Good luck!

Edit: So because of the hectic schedule of an international law student not to mention the increased worktimes, my gym time has really been cut back drastically. I've got enough weights to do something on the days I cant make the gym, but as mentioned above...muscle mass isn't a problem, cardio is. In an effort to not start gaining fat, I'm considering purchasing a cross-trainer for my room. I think it'll be a good investment and I seem to love that damn thing. I dislike cycling and running, I've managed to go 2 hours straight on a crosstrainer, I actually enjoy it.

Not sure how I'll get it to fit as yet...but I'm sure I'll figure something out. I was going to spend the money on an Xbox...but I know myself, I'll start gaming, cut back on the gym and get fat. Not to mention stop playing the xbox after a bit. Seems like a better thing to spend my money on. Anyone with a crosstrainer?

[Joe']

Thanks Jack, that's really helpful. Though ~15 sets per body part sounds like a lot, I barely ever do more than 5. Whenever I did I ended up injuring something while playing basketball.

Plus I'm just seventeen and I (hopefully) may still be growing (as in getting taller,) so I don't want to put extra weight/pressure on my body I don't really need, that may prevent myself from growing.

I'll look in bookstores to see if I can find Arnie's book here, otherwise I'll order it on Amazon. It really does sound like a good investment.

About the crosstrainer, I do have one and I recommend it. It's great for cardio.

I used to do about 1.5 hours on it (I usually watched a movie while doing it) at about 12 m/h (18-20 km/h) three times a week. Now I prefer to do less time (in the half hour range) but faster (about 15 m/h or 25 km/h.) I find it to be much better than both the treadmill and the stationary bike. Plus they cost half the price of a treadmill.

[shadowgrin]

That pic of Joe just screams at me to do some editing with it. But I won't.

Hmmm, seems like I'm a endo and ecto combo.

Crosstrainer rules. A treadmill isn't bad either especially when it's incline angle is at maximum, even with a brisk walking pace you can still get a good cardio with a treadmill.

Just get the XBox Jack. You and Doobie can play together.

[Jackal]

Fuck that, I would probably spend all my time screaming at him over it.

I'm going to have to do a bit of moving around in my room with the printer and TV/PS2. That's the only way the cross-trainer will fit. Buying a new PC tomorrow too, so I'll probably also catch movies on the PC while on the trainer.

I prefer the crosser to the treadmill too, that just seems so...monotonous (sp?), I mean you do the same on the cross trainer but it is actually fun.

[Jackal]

Well I ordered it today, I'll be getting it on Tuesday. I'm so happy.

[Joe']

Just out of curiosity, does MediaMarkt sell crosstrainers, treadmills, etc. up there in Holland? If they do, how much does a crosstrainer go for?

[Jackal]

Nopes, I don't think they are allowed to by us. If I'm not mistaken they did want to sell fitness related things, but stores that only sell that kind of stuff voiced their objections and the government intervened.

Not like Mediamarkt needs to sell that, they're ALWAYS full.