Get your ass in gear man! You're the reason this whole thing got started. Don't be another jonnyd. :lol:
i really didn't change anything major. just the order and amount of sets so far. I plan on looking around the internet and maybe around a bookstore or two for some more simple exercises for the night time weight session just to switch it up every now and then. i wanna try to keep the variety to avoid the body just getting used to it like you mentioned. Other than that what you have set up seems very solid.
Ahhh, very good! That's exactly what you want to do! Here's a resource for exercises. I subscribe to the newsletter, and I do one or two of her exercises once in a while. (She also describes a lot of the normal ones too.) http://exercise.about.com/
when the shows on TV suck (which is often), my workouts suffer. WTF am I supposed to watch now? The NBA finals are awful because the Cavs just can't compete. Mike Brown is an idiot.
Ive been drinkin mainly water with the occasional vitamin water. I also drink Glaceau Smart Water. BTW I'm sore and happy with progress using a short routine. I used to work out for 1-2 hours with weights and cardio...but got tired of keeping up with that program. Too much damn work.
Actually, the real problem with the Atkins diet is at the cellular level. The receptors that the cells use to draw nutrients from the bloodstream are actually made from carbohydrates. When you stop eating carbs, the first thing to go is those receptors, leading to the cells not getting the things they need.
Vitamin water? I never understood how people knocked soda and gatorade then went and drank vitamin water. Pure cranberry juice is great though. There' like 8g of sugar in 8oz (compare 24g-30g or more with most juices and sodas). Some people don't like the bitterness though so meh. Either way, screw vitamin water. When on Atkins you also have to watch out for icey sidewalks.
Nice job Alio, it seems you and I have been reading many of the same books lately. The "PACE" sort of workouts is quite the norm now a days and is very affective. There are a number of studies recently showing these "Hunter/Gatherer" workouts provide a much stronger heart than endurance work. I got into this stuff for health reasons so I may look at some of this research a bit differently than you. But teaching the heart to work out and get up to a high rate very quickly and also teaching it to return to rest very quickly is much more effective at preventing heart attacks than a small, streamlined endurance built heart like marathon runners. As for weight training I do mostly individual resistance type and body weight exercises. Good book on these types of exercises if you haven't seen in yet http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Yourself-Power-Ultimate-Transformation/dp/1932458018 I also love dips and pullups. These, along with pushups/squats will provide you an almost full body workout. Although I can do dips pretty well, pullups were always a challenge. I purchased this Golds Gym device to provide some assistance and it works like a charm. http://www.workoutwarehouse.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2_11151_10051_19401_-1_15022 For Cardio, I do the treadmill in an interval style; high incline/high speed, then no incline low speed, back and forth. Do a lot of sprints (my son loves beating Dad in these "races"). I also have started doing a lot of rope jumping which is a real good workout. Like you mentioned just change things up and keep it interesting. I am pretty much on board with your diet. I mentioned my disdain of sugar already in the other thread and mentioned a good book for those who want to learn more http://www.sugarshock.com/ What can I say, I love nuts and eat them every day :smile: . Fruits and vegetables are awesome and as someone else mentioned the less processed the foods the better. Still don't agree with your pasta being good unless it is a whole grain variety. Regular pasta is made with enriched flour which is the same crap which makes white bread. But again, it has to be something that works for you or you won't follow it. Everyone should tailor these programs to themselves to be most successful. A couple of other good books that describe many of the supplements that I take and also discusses diets and exercise plans are below. http://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Heart...8055137?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181575358&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Heart...8055137?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181575403&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/PACE-Rediscov...1666666-8055137?ie=UTF8&qid=1181575403&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Pressur...8055137?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181575501&sr=1-1 Thanks again Alio for putting this together, it is pretty amazing to me that we have come to many of the same conclusions researching on our own. Continued good luck to you and all the others who choose to take back their lives....
baamf, thanks. I'll have to check into some of the things you posted later on, after work. Thanks for sharing. I think we're both seeing the same angle though. When I first started, my immediate goal was to lose the belly fat, but the side effect was to be able to climb the 3 flights of stairs to get into my apartment. I was literally stopping on the second landing for a couple seconds to catch my breath. That's absolutely ridiculous for a 32 year old, IMO. The more I researched, the more I realized I needed to get in shape to live longer. I've got my third son coming within the next month. I want to see him and his brothers all grow up and get married. I want to take my grandkids out on Thanksgiving and throw around the pigskin. Being in good physical health is the only way to do that, and I wasn't going to make it following the road I was on. Pushups, squats, bicycle crunches, and dips are my favorite bodyweight exercises, in that order. The only muscles that somewhat get ignored with just those 4 exercises are the back, and even they get some slight use. I have to say though, I prefer weight training. Doing the dumbells is just more "fun" to me. I guess because I know that I'm more focused on particular muscle groups when doing those, as opposed to getting my whole body into my morning workout. I need to start getting outside for the sprints. That should be a lot of fun. The treadmill, interval style, is a great idea, but I'm not joining a gym. :wink: As for nuts, I can eat them all day. I never get tired of them, especially cashews! (Too bad pistachios are so expensive. Those are my absolute favorite.) You're right about pasta I guess. However, Barillia has come out with a better version, which actually tastes fairly close to the regular stuff. I grew up on macaroni though, so eliminating it from my diet is impossible. (Besides, Italians in Italy are thin. They must be doing something right! :wink It's cool that we're come across so much of the same information. It's nice to get some real backup too. Not that I'm trying to say I know everything. It's just nice that someone can verify that the things I've been writing aren't just me talking out of my ass. I'll echo your wish of good luck both to you, and to all the others who are trying to take control of their lives!
P.S. For all of you Pullup Challenged types, you only need to learn to kip the bar, and then use the pullups for negatives.... http://joshsgarage.typepad.com/articles/2006/04/what_is_a_kippi.html In fact most lifting should be done in a 1-4 style. One count up (power and explosion, and 3 or 4 count down. You might also want to stop by t-mag.com, and search some of the articles. Alio, when I was 35 I was just like you described. My first son was born, and just holding this infant, and going to Church, was wearing me out. Now, years later, I look back and cant believe I was ever in that shape.
Vitamin Water is indeed just Gatorade with vitamins added.. and maybe a little fruit juice. They both have 50 cals per serving. Gatorade uses a glucose-fructose syrup to sweeten their drinks. A Fun Fact I just read: "In 2007, Gatorade reformulated their bottled drinks to use high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener." VW uses something called crystalline fructose. The fructose crystallizes from... you guessed it.. corn syrup.
Can't get to the site from work, but I'll check it out later. Thanks for the link! Yeah, when you realize that you're allowing your body to feel 10-15 years older than it actually is, and you look at your kids knowing someday they'll make you proud, but you might not be there, it's time to change. So are you a success story? Share it man! I think it's great when people like ollie and baamf, and now you post that they've got their bodies into better shape. It's positive reinforcement for the guys who are trying to get that jump start.
Interesting. I didn't realize Gatorade used that crap. I don't drink the stuff anymore, haven't for years. I've had VW once, last summer, since it was a free giveaway, but it wasn't anything special, so I stick with the regular H2O. It's amazing how many products contain that crap. I find myself looking at the vast majority of labels lately, so I see it everywhere. A place where you'll see it that you wouldn't expect it? In pre-mixed salad dressing. I've gone to mixing olive oil with balsamic vinegar, with those seasoning packets. (Not that the packets are filled with great stuff either, but the bottled dressing is just one big artery clogging mess.) That's horrible for people who are eating salads, thinking they're doing their bodies good. That's the main reason I wrote so much about food products into this. I hope that people will start to read the back labels of the products they consume. It's amazing just how much crap is pumped into our bodies, with the vast majority of the population none-the-wiser. Thanks for the info!
Well, long story short, after I got married at 30, I didnt work out, ate like a pig, and drank way too much beer. I was a fat unfit bastard. over 38 waist at 5'8, about 200 lbs none of it good. So when my son was born, I had that epiphany that one warm day in church, and started working out. Ever since then, my physical conditioning has been amazing, but my diet always sucked. So my physique was not what it should have been. Now, due to various circumstances I havent been in the gym since December, but my diet is finally really in order. Before last winter, I used to go to the gym every morning at 6, run 5 miles in under 40 minutes, then lift. I was up to benching (Immediately off of the treadmill) sets of 275 x 3, 265 x5, 245 x , down to 225 x10. My deadlift was stuck at 375. Even today, I can go into the gym, and get out 5 x 225 cold... Now I'm around 205 or so, but in the right places mostly.Though my goal is to take the BF % down to get to 195 and keep my waist about 33", even if it costs a little muscle. Even today, I can go into the gym, and get out 5 x 225 cold... I am working out at home, probably till next month when I'll start going to the gym in the AM before work.
Alio- Excellent post. Its a little on the long side, but you have some valuable advice in there, i think the best is your dieting stategy, which i think is very disciplined but yet attainable. I disagree with you on several points, mainly your dis-like of what you call "traditional cardio". My program includes quite a large amount of traditional cardio. I jog 2-3 times a week in accordance with my weight training program (when i lift legs, i tend to be sore). I am not skinny like a runner (5-10, 175). I was skinny when I started my fitness obsession about 3 years ago. I do middle-distance running 4-5 miles max, for 30-45 minutes. In my mind, I believe the traditional cardio helps me build true strength. For example, my strength is quite good for a person my size and weight: I can squat 225, bench 185-195 and do 20 pull ups in three sets of 7. My body is not bloated, and being rather short, I don't have a "stumpy" appearance. My further advice to anyone looking into starting a weightlifting regiment is legs. LEGS LEGS LEGS. Squats are the best exercise anyone can do. When you lift legs and core muscles, your entire body gets stronger... in the same way lifting triceps improves your bench press--- but only for your entire body. but overall, i admire your program and knowledge my friend.
Thanks Alio - now you gave me another obsession - reading labels on everything from salad dressings, vitamin water to ketchup.
That's awesome man. That's a great weight set you're able to do. I'm actually in the process of sending my stationary bike over to my mother's for her to use on her physical therapy, and my wife cleared me to get a weight bench when it's gone. I'm dying for a weight bench, since I really want to get into barbell workouts. Dumbells will only get you so far. Glad to see you're taking care of yourself man. Like I was saying, when it comes time to look down at your child, and face the decision of whether to be there when they grow up or not, it's a real eye-opener. I just hope the younger guys around here take the lesson early, and get themselves into a position where they never need to make the decision. (You know you could just do bodyweight exercises in the meantime before you get back to the gym. No need to wait when you can do them in your living room!)
I don't have a dislike of cardio. I just think it's unnecessary for the program I am in, and was outlining for those like me. Keep in mind, my program is built for 2 purposes: 1) To get rid of as much body fat in as little time as possible. 2) To start getting healthy overall. This program was never intended for raw strength or stamina. (Though there's no evidence one way or the other whether this program hinders or helps those things.) You are SPOT ON about the legs. Squats are the BEST exercise of ALL. They truly help out across the body. Like you said, the core muscles are the ones to get at for the quickest results. Doing supersets is another way to get those types of results. When you work out the various muscles groups simultaneously, you get better results overall. I'm going to be introducing the supersets to my routine within the next couple weeks. Thanks for the compliments man! And congrats on being in shape yourself!
