your routine at the gym

just don't do the weights so often!

i am at 6x weekly:

25 minutes on rowing machine,
free weights for 10 minutes (mostly triceps/biceps)
captain's chair until i can't do any more (usually 20x3)
whole slew of pullups/dips @ 110 lbs
10 minutes random machines
5 minutes cooldown

and i like my routine. i am actually beginning to eat more and more protein, and feeling a lot better for it and beginning to see results. i weigh in 1x weekly, but it is at the scale at the gym, which i think is very inaccurate.

pretty sure you're not supposed to do weights on consecutive days?

my routine is to open the door connecting the garage and the house, open the actual garage rollerdoor thingy, walk down the steps and around the minivan, plug in the treadmill, put the key in, put the chip, turn the treadmill fan on, start walking slow then faster and steeper etc on the treadmill while being bossed around by a condescending personal trainer robot bitch named rhonda for the next 30 minutes, turn off the treadmill fan, pull out the chip, take out the key, unplug the treadmill, walk around the minivan and up the steps, close the actual garage rollerdoor thingy, open the door connecting the garage and the house. complicated.

i vary the weights / never exercise the same body parts 2x days consecutively

except for the captain's chair

remy, out of all the people on this thread it really sounds like you've thrown yourself into it the most. have you been taking pics of your progress along the way? would be interesting to see

tracer you're prob right, i guess i just need to up the cardio and reduce the weights a bit. thing is though, i *like* doing the weights!

has an ilxor done a triathlon? i'd like to start training for one.

ha thanks to adrenaline I swam 3 miles in the pool the other day.

also started back on the bike 10 miles to work, now just to combine the two and start running ;)

Like Remy, I never do the same body part more than twice a day, except abs sometimes as they suck. I'd love to see photos!

I took some photos when I started, and I promise that when my 6-month membership runs out (I will renew!) I will show BEFORE AND AFTER.

I'm going 5 times a week, I don't go Wednesday or Saturday as those are my squash days and I figure those are for cardio and I don't mix cardio and weight gain on the same day.

I'm doing a 10km run in August so I'm trying to get in good shape for that too.

gbx, friend of ours was a triathlete. He quit because he was at the point where he either had to go professional or... well.. quit, I guess. He still does sports but less than before. I am envious at people who do this: they can SWIM, they can RUN and they can cycle. Man, three things I'd love to do. Once I get my car license, I'll probably go swimming again. Maybe take a few lessons again cause my technique is shitty. :-(

They're outrageously happy with how i'm doing!

Anyone else think they are just laughing AT him?

I don't go to the gym, but I do play tennis twice a week. It's fun cause you run a heck of a lot without realizing it. My body has changed quite a bit, especially my legs are much more toned. I don't do it to lose weight though. To lose weight I tend to focus on food intake. My weight isn't near the goal, but my BMI is perfect however: I'm 63 which means I'm at about 22,5. HURRAH. I do want to get back at 58/59 kilos (which is about 21/22 BMI wise).

Oh yeah: I can't do any pushups. I'm not talking about one or two pushups. I am saying: I AM INCAPABLE of doing'em. :-((((

can anyone point me toward the basic rules about bulking up vs toning? shall i be doing more reps of lighter weights? (i think i recall people on a similar thread saying that this method was useless?) or more sets of shorters reps? would it help to cut down on the weights and aim to do more cardio? i was thinking i might try for 25 mins crosstrainer then 10-15 mins of non-torso weights, then 25 mins on the bike. i do still have some belly podge to shift so would focusing on cardio be best all round for what i want?

more reps + lighter weights = size
fewer reps + heavier weight = strength

More cardio and fewer weights sessions will knock some size off you, but slowly. Depends on whether your cardio is in the cardio zone or the fat-burning zone. If you want to lose podge, do fat-burning.

btw I planned to be at the gym RIGHT NOW but haven't slept in 23 hours so fuck it.

All I've been doing lately is >500c. of eliptical 5x a week.

It's been brought up here before, but if bulking up is your goal, you could do worse than the Max OT routines. There are lots of free resources explaining it if you google around a bit.

1. go for a long walk
2. do not stop at the gym

lol i am now so fat that my shirts are gaping at tit level and everyone at work is laughing at me.

What's a good way to minimize the ole man boobs? I'm pretty skinny, but they're left over from winter weight. Any work out tips? I've just been doing push ups, sit ups, and running.

You can't spot reduce. Have to do fat-burning exercises.

Dammit. What are fat burning exercises?

wind sprints in the sauna

<img src="http://www.mnae.org/collection/jiggler2.jpg";>

FUCK

im changing my routine to doing 1000 calories / 1 hour of cardio 3 times a week, and ditching the weights. what effect will this have?

i understand that as your body gets used to a certain amount of cardio you need to do more to achieve the same results, but if im burning off 1000 calories a session then surely that goes toward fat loss? or is that calories-burned indicator on the cross-trainer just an approximation?

also ive noticed that on the cross-trainer my heart rate in the cardio range rather than the fat-burning range (if i reduce it to the fat burning level i feel like im barely doing anything), am i still reducing fat by doing it like this?

AA, you're not getting properly fat are you? do you mean just bulking up? what are you doing it for?

today is a good day:

i weighed-in at 168 and 12% body fat

i am aiming for 161, which will put me @ 8.5% body fat (on a lean body mass of +/- 134). my goal is pretty-much in sight. one month to go -- i think i can do it?

S.rose, this might have some answers (yes the title is stupid but there is good information within)

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Six-Pack-Abs

I will reply to yu0se later but 15.2% BODY FAT OMG. Average 1kg of muscle gained per month! Cannot wait to start cutting the shit through this whale blubber.

im changing my routine to doing 1000 calories / 1 hour of cardio 3 times a week, and ditching the weights. what effect will this have?

Increased cardio fitness and no change (and probably loss) in muscle size.

i understand that as your body gets used to a certain amount of cardio you need to do more to achieve the same results, but if im burning off 1000 calories a session then surely that goes toward fat loss? or is that calories-burned indicator on the cross-trainer just an approximation?

It's always an approximation.

also ive noticed that on the cross-trainer my heart rate in the cardio range rather than the fat-burning range (if i reduce it to the fat burning level i feel like im barely doing anything), am i still reducing fat by doing it like this?

Probably, just not as effectivly as you might.

AA, you're not getting properly fat are you? do you mean just bulking up?

Yep. Carbs convert to muscle, and without carbs I won't get very far in a great hurry.

Turns out my ongoing insomnia is caused by creatine. So I'm totally off it for the time being and possibly forever.

last time i'll do this, cauz fuck, it's annoying even to me:

march 2008:

weight: 176
body fat percentage: 22 (38.72 lbs)
lean body mass: 130 lbs

july 2008:

weight: 160
body fat percentage 12 (19.2 lbs)
lean body mass: 140 lbs

weekly average:

100 miles on bike and run about 20 miles.

http://thegrandnarrative.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/old-fat-jiggling-machine.jpg

Jesus remy, that's excellent.

disastrous year

My trainers are shit. They do my measurements and reliably LOSE them, so I've little idea how I've progressed this year; they promise me programmes and don't follow through (but not without a barrage of excuses); I've been trying to get one of them on the phone for paid PT sessions for two weeks and he just doesn't ever get back to me. Fuck. Them.

Meanwhile I'm withering away wicked-witch-out-of-Wizard-of-Oz style.

Back on the cardio. Didn't realise how cardiovascularly (?) unfit I am. Vague pedalling for a few minutes chucks my heart rate up to 130 bpm ffs.

your trainers sound awful. mine let me down on our very first appointment so i sacked them off - no point dealing with someone who has no pride in their work.

im having the problem (again!) where im feeling & looking too bulky, esp on my arms. i did a lot of weights initially because of the whole 'muscles constantly burn calories' thing but it has led to chunky arms and a broad chest. so now my plan is to completely stop doing all weights that develop my arms and chest and just do ab crunches and leg ones and mostly cardio. how long does it take for muscles to waste away? i won't be left with flappy weirdy skin will i?

what's the best way of keeping toned and lithe rather than building up muscle?

1. Walk in
2. Walk out and go to Hardees and have a Monster burger

You won't have flappy weirdy skin, unless you were quite large for quite a long time (q.v. The Biggest Loser).

Staying toned? Probably just stick to cardio. I really don't know, to be honest.

i have been cranking the heart rate lately: today i got to 183 bpm on the rowing machine and kept it there for a good ten minutes.

I was all ready to go for a run/cycle this morning and woke up with a cold.

183 is a bit risky, isn't it?

i've been working up to it. i like to go as heavy as i can for five or ten minutes once or twice / week. if i start to feel faint / dizzy, i back waaay down. but 185ish feels great, so far.

Wow, okay.

quoth my EMT manual:

"In the normal adult, the heartbeat may range from 50 to 180 beats/min, depending on the level of activity. [...] During vigorous activity, the heart rate may rise normally to as fast as 180 beats/min."

...in other words, i wouldn't worry about it.

Fair enough.

Anyone familiar with CrossFit? http://www.crossfit.com

cf http://www.gymjones.com and http://mtnathlete.com

...these sorts of programs are appealing to me, lately, but I've no experience with weights. But all my climbing buddies that have made the jump (from just climbing/running) have reported incredible results. I just need to figure out (a) how to do all the exercises and (b) where to fit such a program into my schedule.

been starting to use the erg when i go to the gym. awesome!

My new trainer is awesome.

My roommate gave me a 12-day pass to her gym that ended tonight.

This was my routine.

M: work late/no gym
T: yoga class
W: pilates class
Th: yoga class
F: rest
S: rest
Su: yoga class

If I arrive to class early I will ride the bike/do the elliptical/ or that thing that's sort of like a stairmaster. I played around with the weight machines at the beginning, but I didn't know what I was doing and got bored.

Does Pilates really work? I enjoy yoga much more, but the Wednesday pilates class fits in my schedule.