Gym And Supplement Discussion

[-FIGJAM-]

anyone know a good gym near Prestons/Casula in NSW???

Current GYM is over populated and the equipment is mostly poor quality and not enough of. Last night I was at the gym for what felt like forever because we couldnt get the machines and benches that we needed. Wating 5-10min for every exercise is never good.

Cheers for your help.

*Edit due to listing of business name...

Edited March 28, 2012 by -FIGJAM-

[dezz]

Wouldn't bother with stretches...

[No Crust Racing]

Why's that Dezz? big part of my physio when I did the inner elbow/forearm was stretching and I would say it helped noticeable to have better ROM through the joint.

[TM7GTR]

anyone know a good gym near Prestons/Casula in NSW???

Current GYM is over populated and the equipment is mostly poor quality and not enough of. Last night I was at the gym for what felt like forever because we couldnt get the machines and benches that we needed. Wating 5-10min for every exercise is never good.

Cheers for your help.

*Edit due to listing of business name...

solution, stop using machines for a while...

[-FIGJAM-]

im talking having to weight for free weights and benches. The whole package

[No Crust Racing]

Dezz: Still interested as to why you think stretches aren't a good idea? Is this something your physio/whoever is helping you recover told you?

I've been stretching these past few days and icing a little, did a light session on Wednesday, avoided curls, dropped weights on everything to less than 1/5th of previous totals and pulled up well enough.

Can hold my arm out in front palm down and rotate to palm up now without immense discomfort so it's improving.

[God_speed]

I'd just read something on this the other day, there's so much conflicting info about stretching though it's not funny.

What I read which made some sense though is that if you're lifting weights, stretching before a workout has little benefit and actually pushing the muscles to the extremeties of their ROM before training can actually negatively impact on how much you can lift, and maybe even make those muscles less stable during the exercise. It's more important to perform warm up sets with low weight before getting into the work sets, to get the blood flowing in the muscles to be used.

After training, it's apparently okay to do some subtle active stretching (using your own muscles to produce equal and opposing forces), and not so much passive stretching (using a wall or a partner / PT to stretch your muscles to or slightly beyond ROM).

This obviously applies to weight lifting specifically and not so much sprinting / running where that may call for different warm up / stretch technique.

[No Crust Racing]

I'm talking about stretching as a way of recovering from this elbow/forearm issue, and it appears to be working OK - with other things - my theory being the gentle movement encourages blood flow to the area which is a good thing, plus I'm not very flexible so I think stretching is a good thing for me as it stops my tendons etc being too tight and not being able to carry a wright through a given ROM. I know I had less injuries during weights back when I still did martial arts and regularly stretched and could palm the ground etc

As for warm up, I probably don't do enough, as I just do 5 or so mins of passive stretching, jogging, arm rotating etc to loosen up.

[God_speed]

Sorry mate, I missed the earlier post about your injury.

I need to stretch out the tendons and muscles in my forearms a lot as they get overloaded from leg work (gripping handles for leg extensions etc) and back work (rows and pulldowns) - sounds similar to what you're saying, they're too tight - and it's put a cap on how much I've been able to lift and as well as how often, too many times now.

[TTT]

you only really find out how important it is to stretch and warm up and foam roll as you get older..

ask me how I know..

[No Crust Racing]

I certainly feel old enough, I'll be 30 in July...

[Birds]

I'd just read something on this the other day, there's so much conflicting info about stretching though it's not funny.

What I read which made some sense though is that if you're lifting weights, stretching before a workout has little benefit and actually pushing the muscles to the extremeties of their ROM before training can actually negatively impact on how much you can lift, and maybe even make those muscles less stable during the exercise. It's more important to perform warm up sets with low weight before getting into the work sets, to get the blood flowing in the muscles to be used.

After training, it's apparently okay to do some subtle active stretching (using your own muscles to produce equal and opposing forces), and not so much passive stretching (using a wall or a partner / PT to stretch your muscles to or slightly beyond ROM).

This obviously applies to weight lifting specifically and not so much sprinting / running where that may call for different warm up / stretch technique.

Yeah it's all over the place, like most things in health and fitness...debatable and conflicting research/opinions everywhere. I'll add my bit here, where I say that, for me, stretching and ROM movements before a workout is about testing for soft tissue problems that you may not be aware of in your resting state. Most important, if you subscribe to this logic, is stretching prior to chest or shoulder exercise. It's arguable that you can do this testing with light weights, but I'd prefer to do it with no weight at all and take the soft tissue further than the range of motions I'll be using just to be sure. Your joints also respond differently to differing weights and pressures exerted, so that tangled tendon or elbow joint in need of a crack may not present itself until you take it to the limits of ROM or put some heavy weight on it.

More important than any side of the debate about stretching is good technique, and you're much safer with a slow and steady motion that you are more in control of, than bursting your way through it locking joints and all.

[Birds]

P.S. any recommendations (doesn't have to be health and fitness) you 30+ year olds have for me in my last 4 years of being young, lol?

[No Crust Racing]

I won't clog up this thread, will RAPE your inbox with so much spam instead.

Edited my post to be more accurate.

Edited March 30, 2012 by ActionDan

[TTT]

Birds - it's not much different.

just takes longer.

I have a base group movements I do before certain exercises to better manage my aches.

Shoulder dislocates

Hip mobility

Foam roll lower back, butt, ITB and quads (focusing on around the knees)

Calf stretch

achilles stretch

then I sit in the squat position for 60 seconds.

then do a few no weight goblet squats.

After the battle, I ice lower back, knees and elbows

[Vik]

Hey guys,

Need to loose some weight.

Basically, 180cm, ~100kg

Muscular build, but let myself go for the past year.

Planning on taking Oxyelite Pro after a month of training. Aiming for a whole lot of cardio and some weight training as well.

Need some help on some supplements, such as what's a good meal replacement protein shake that I could take?

Also what else should i get into to help the weight loss. Excercises? Open for suggestions. Trained for 2 years when i was 17/18. Then stopped, but that training was all built around building mass.

Weight aim would be 85kg for now. Some help surrounding diets would help as well, built around chicken. Can't eat Beef or Pork due to religious purposes.

Cheers,

Vik.

[some_cs_student]

<cut>

Planning on taking Oxyelite Pro after a month of training. Aiming for a whole lot of cardio and some weight training as well.

Need some help on some supplements, such as what's a good meal replacement protein shake that I could take?

Also what else should i get into to help the weight loss. Excercises? Open for suggestions. Trained for 2 years when i was 17/18. Then stopped, but that training was all built around building mass.

Weight aim would be 85kg for now. Some help surrounding diets would help as well, built around chicken. Can't eat Beef or Pork due to religious purposes.

<cut>

So I have a few questions, and I don't mean to come across as rude but I'll get straight to the point.

Why are you looking at supplements without posting any information on your current diet?

What is your current diet?

Why are you planning to do lots of cardio? And what type of cardio?

Why the 85kg aim? That's pretty low for your height if you do plan on having some level of muscle.

[Vik]

I thank you for your direct response

Current diet is up n go morning

Lunch, peice of grilled chicken with sweet potato

Dinner rice and tuna

Snack during the day banana or an apple

No soft drinks, water only.

No caffeine.

I was told my a friend that cardio is a great way to shred fat, hence the aim for cardio, but don't know how well I will fair with being a smoker

85 was just a number I threw there because these days I've become a lot more body conscious and it's clouding my judgement. Hence the help needed.

Type of cardio, don't know what types there are but begin with a good 3 km jog / 100m sprints. Then followed by weight training, 4 times a week, 1 day breaks in the middle.

Supplements, because it's all I hear about these days. That's the straight and honest truth.

Cheers,

Vik

[some_cs_student]

I thank you for your direct response

Current diet is up n go morning

Lunch, peice of grilled chicken with sweet potato

Dinner rice and tuna

Snack during the day banana or an apple

No soft drinks, water only.

No caffeine.

<cut>

Lunch is good. Breakfast is likely full of sugar, and there are better things than wheat.

Breakfast you would be better with oatmeal + protein shake.

Or egg & bacon and some kind of carb to go with it.

Dinner is ok, you may want to cut down on the processed carbs like rice and switch to more vegetables to make it better.

Snacks are fine.

No caffiene isn't strictly required, but the no soft drink thing is a good idea!

I was told my a friend that cardio is a great way to shred fat, hence the aim for cardio, but don't know how well I will fair with being a smoker

85 was just a number I threw there because these days I've become a lot more body conscious and it's clouding my judgement. Hence the help needed.

Type of cardio, don't know what types there are but begin with a good 3 km jog / 100m sprints. Then followed by weight training, 4 times a week, 1 day breaks in the middle.

Supplements, because it's all I hear about these days. That's the straight and honest truth.

I'm sure I'll start an argument with many on this forum, but the cardio argument to shred fat is fundamentally flawed if your talking about steady state cardio. In other words jogging.

And since your an endmorph it definitely won't help you get lean.

A short jog won't do you any harm, but if you work your way towards longer distances, your body will shred muscle to become lighter and more efficient at running. This will decrease your basic metabolic rate, and therefore you have to eat less or you will put more fat on.

The only supplement I use is protein powder, that's the only one I recommend. Creatine apparently works, I don't really use it.

Beyond that, if it has a major effects its banned in the lifting world, caffiene was banned at one point, it has an effect on your metabolism & lifting ability. A lot of supplements contain a lot of caffiene.

I believe that you should be doing cardio, but in terms of HIIT & tabata. So things like sprinting are great for you.

You don't have to do long workouts, short workouts are fine as long as they are intense.

The reason I questioned the weight is in regard to weight loss vs fat loss, the look in the mirror is probably more important than the scales:

http://blog.metaboliceffect.com/2012/03/10/weight-loss-or-fat-loss-which-would-you-rather-have/

Also take a look at articlesl like:

http://blog.metaboliceffect.com/2010/06/14/the-carbohydrate-tipping-point/

I'd strongly recommend you subscribe to metabolic effect on facebook/twitter if you use it, or at least their blog, they provide a huge amount of useful information.

I also like the PTC frankston newsletters, a different style or writing and a slightly different approach to health and fitness but there are similarities there.

Anyway, that's probably enough information for you, good luck!

Also, its much more important to have a good diet than good training. You cannot out train a bad diet.

Speaking of training, I'm a fan of complex movements, heavy weights, but I'll leave that upto you.

[TM7GTR]

Steady state cardio and HIIT will both shred fat, as long as the cardio is minimal effort (fat burning zone - specific heart rate to aim for) for long durations, but neither will work very well unless you smash some weights in the same session to spike your metabolism. In terms of what way to train, it doesn't really matter. Strength training, hypertrophy, and endurance training will all get you shredded as long as you follow a caloric deficient diet (cut out carbs as much as possible). Smash down some steamed spinach and tuna for dinner instead of rice... the carbs from the sweet potato should be enough to get you through your daily exercise whilst cutting body fat. Good luck.