Gym And Supplement Discussion

[vspecIInur]

I don't go by "feeling sore the next day theory" only because your body adapts eventually. Changing things up once every 4-6 weeks helps. I find once in a while to start smashing some drop sets and super sets whilst maintaining heavy weight really pushes your limits.

I noticed that training your legs really hard makes you stronger overall. I've been hitting my legs twice a week for quite a while now and have improved dramatically.

[Trozzle]

Just because you feel like your body is good to go for more, doesn't necessarily mean you are

[Trozzle]

I don't go by "feeling sore the next day theory" only because your body adapts eventually. Changing things up once every 4-6 weeks helps. I find once in a while to start smashing some drop sets and super sets whilst maintaining heavy weight really pushes your limits.

I noticed that training your legs really hard makes you stronger overall. I've been hitting my legs twice a week for quite a while now and have improved dramatically.

What he said.

I felt overall REALLY GOOD and stronger (be it placebo or whatever) while I was smashing the shit out of my legs twice a week. Now since I haven't done deadlifts for well over a month and squats/leg press for almost as long, I feel much weaker and generally smaller.

Hate not being able to do legs.

[Manuel Kasko]

Hate legs lol. but friends dont let friends skip leg day.

Right now I am mixing it up with drop sets during my current workout.

I will post up my current workout today but am unsure of the actual names of the workout.

Using an all in one machine that has a few different things.

[-FIGJAM-]

being in lots of pain isnt always a good thing, it can be a real sign of over training.

try increasing the weight (obviously) or change the tempo in which you lift.

[Dani Boi]

Dan you need to figure out what your goals are, cutting out carbs while trying to build muscle is not going to work very well for you. If you're bulking, carbs will be making up most of your calorie intake.

Creatine is a cheap supplement, and is backed by science unlike 90% of the other supplements.

[Manuel Kasko]

Calling out Mitch:

I hurt my back yesterday and its about the 3rd time.

Right now it feels a little better after having a long hot shower and putting some cream on it.

But other times it has taken 4-5 days to heal.

The spot I hurt is on my left side right behind my lung/heart and it wraps around to under my left peck.

It hurts a fair bit when taking large breaths.

Ideas?

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Have any of you guys used Nutrex Lipo 6x (Australian boring formula)? I have heard really good reviews, but unfortunately from the American product, which contains yohimbe.

I work a desk job, so it's hard to keep moving about all day. I just want to slim down for summer. My diet isn't the best, but it's pretty decent too. I do however walk 25 minutes each way to work every morning, so 50 minutes of walking daily.

7am: WPI shake with 400mL of skim milk

9am: a banana

9:30am: 2x vitaweats & light peanut butter, mixed nuts

10:30am: a can of tuna with 2x vitaweats OR 2x hard boiled eggs

12:30pm: steam vege with steam chicken breast (usually, and except Fridays & weekends)

3pm: 2x vitaweats and peanut butter and some mixed nuts

5pm: a can of tuna with 2x vitaweats

7pm: dinner, usually exactly the same as lunch

8:30pm: gym

10pm: WPI shake with 400mL of skim milk

11:30pm: casein shake with water

I would like some constructive criticism, and hopefully no keyboard warriors.

Thanks guys!

Edited August 30, 2012 by johnnilicte

[Manuel Kasko]

Dan you need to figure out what your goals are, cutting out carbs while trying to build muscle is not going to work very well for you. If you're bulking, carbs will be making up most of your calorie intake.

Creatine is a cheap supplement, and is backed by science unlike 90% of the other supplements.

I am to worried about bulking because I do not want to lose motivation down the track and end up just being big.

So what I have currently been doing it eating high protein foods, cutting down on carbs but its not a huge thing I aim for.

Then just doing weights and a little bit of cardio 5 times a week.

[Mitcho_7]

Calling out Mitch:

I hurt my back yesterday and its about the 3rd time.

Right now it feels a little better after having a long hot shower and putting some cream on it.

But other times it has taken 4-5 days to heal.

The spot I hurt is on my left side right behind my lung/heart and it wraps around to under my left peck.

It hurts a fair bit when taking large breaths.

Ideas?

Its basically impossible to e diagnose this sorta stuff man , but it Sounds like it could be a rib/intercostal issue.

Any noticeable bulges/ raised areas near your sternum or right next to your spine on the injured side?

How's your rotation through the thoracic spine? Compare one side to the other.

Is the pain on breaths in or out?

If you keep re-injuring it, check your form/ breathing while lifting perhaps?

[Dani Boi]

I am to worried about bulking because I do not want to lose motivation down the track and end up just being big.

So what I have currently been doing it eating high protein foods, cutting down on carbs but its not a huge thing I aim for.

Then just doing weights and a little bit of cardio 5 times a week.

I wouldn't worry to much about losing motivation, when you're packing on the size you should be able to keep going.

[Manuel Kasko]

No lumps that I can see from looking in the mirror and feeling for it.

I couldnt find any bruisers or anything either.

If I spin my upper body to the left it hurts a little.

The pain is on the breath in.

I might have to back the weight a little off on my bicep curls.

This could have been caused by the breathing and possible bad posture when lifting to heavy weights

[markos]

if it hurts when you breathe, youve pulled a muscle

4gms of protein per kg of bw is what I recommend my clients to eat

You guys could get by with 1gm/kg, especially the guy who trains on a machine

your workouts will determine how much you need, most recreational lifters dont need to supplement their protein intake, wasting their money, better off buying milk

[TM7GTR]

I was going to try lifting weights 2x daily to wear myself out more.

Right now I am finding that I do get tired while lifting and I currently am increasing my weight nearly each month.

But the next day my body doesnt feel like its been pushed.

I remember back when I first started waking up and my arms killing me and I saw that as a good thing.

Instead of working out 2x per day, try increasing the number of exercises or sets in each workout.

If you're anything like me, you can take really high volume training without feeling like crap the next day.

Don't judge performance by muscular soreness because our muscles adapt to the loads placed upon them (you aren't getting sore because you body is used to this kind of abuse). Your arms used to be sore because lifting weights was a shock for them.

IMO, it's time to up your volume, or to change your program around, because it seems to me you are starting to hit a plateau.

Hypertrophy training is the only type of training that constantly leaves me sore, but this is only when I train with high volume workouts (fully depleting muscular glycogen stores)

I judge training intensity by mental fatigue, e.g. If I wake up super tired, I know i've taxed the hell out of my Central Nervous System (CNS) and i'll usually take a rest day.

Pushing too hard for too long makes me wake up feeling like I have a slight head-cold, and this tells me that my body isn't recovering enough --> this will lead to a drop in performance eventually --> loss of motivation

Put simply, listen to your body in terms of general well-being, not how sore your muscles are

[TM7GTR]

Have any of you guys used Nutrex Lipo 6x (Australian boring formula)? I have heard really good reviews, but unfortunately from the American product, which contains yohimbe. I work a desk job, so it's hard to keep moving about all day. I just want to slim down for summer. My diet isn't the best, but it's pretty decent too. I do however walk 25 minutes each way to work every morning, so 50 minutes of walking daily. 7am: WPI shake with 400mL of skim milk 9am: a banana 9:30am: 2x vitaweats & light peanut butter, mixed nuts 10:30am: a can of tuna with 2x vitaweats OR 2x hard boiled eggs 12:30pm: steam vege with steam chicken breast (usually, and except Fridays & weekends) 3pm: 2x vitaweats and peanut butter and some mixed nuts 5pm: a can of tuna with 2x vitaweats 7pm: dinner, usually exactly the same as lunch 8:30pm: gym 10pm: WPI shake with 400mL of skim milk 11:30pm: casein shake with water I would like some constructive criticism, and hopefully no keyboard warriors. Thanks guys!

Considering no one has added any input, I'll take a stab.

To be brutally honest I don't trust fat burners. Whether they work or not, I don't like the idea of playing around with your metabolism artificially... not to mention i sweat like hell without even being on a fat burner haha.

In regards to your diet, you should download an app called MyFitnessPal (if you have any iphone/android device) as this allows you to enter your daily diet in, and it breaks down your diet into macronutrients. In doing this, you'll be able to see your daily intakes of Protein, Carbs, Fats, and sodium most importantly. Until you do this no one should be giving you advice on your diet as they really don't know what you need less/more of. It will also help us find a suitable 2-300 calorie deficit.

Also, what's your weekend diet like? Even 2 days of average eating will slow down your goal of fat loss.

You eat quite well, so fat loss could come down to many factors like lowering carbs a bit, eating slightly less protein, increasing intake of healthy fats -> diet related

OR

It could be that you aren't training in a way to maximise the fat loss potential of your diet.

Edited August 30, 2012 by TM7GTR

[Mitcho_7]

if it hurts when you breathe, youve pulled a muscle

4gms of protein per kg of bw is what I recommend my clients to eat

You guys could get by with 1gm/kg, especially the guy who trains on a machine

your workouts will determine how much you need, most recreational lifters dont need to supplement their protein intake, wasting their money, better off buying milk

There's quite a bit of research that shows low fat milk by itself is a good post exercise drink.

[Manuel Kasko]

Jus downloaded my fitness pal and was amazed it had the soup I just had haha!

Loving this app so far

[Manuel Kasko]

Spent the last 10min playing around with this app and holy wow its got so much info!

Going to tell my gf to download it now because she is struggling with weight.

Thanks

[Birds]

I wouldn't necessarily call experimenting with supps a shortcut.

Everybody needs to try different stuff out and find out what works for them and what's a waste of money. Sure research and education come into it, but there's plenty of conflicting papers on the effectiveness of different things and the best way to take them.

It seems like you are suggesting to not take anything at all, which is a little odd.

I have definently seen better progress since taking protein. And I'm of the opinion that if I can get better results by taking something pre/post session, without jeopardizing my general (aka steroids) then why not?

Did this person actively come up to you and ask you about what he should be taking and how he should be lifting? I have no problem with that if he did, but it really annoys me when people at gyms who think that because they have been doing it a while they are suddenly god of everything weight training related and can go around parroting there opinions to everyone that'll listen. It especially annoys me if they aren't even big. (Some skinny runt at the gym the other day came up and told me I was doing something wrong. It really rubbed me the wrong way considering I was at least twice as big, which is saying something of his size.)

Not saying you are one of these people at all and I'm all for hearing your opinions and experiences with different things, as you make quite a few informative posts. However, my interpretation of some of the posts you make in this section,is that you tend to get on your high horse a bit.

Experimenting with a variety of supps when you're a newbie is most definitely a shortcut; it is someone trying to build as much muscle as possible in the shortest time and take the (perceived) easiest way to get there short of using roids. When there are so many newbie gains to be made without ridiculous supplementation to break through plateaus, it's a waste of money and your pocket ace come the time you actually need it. The body isn't even using most of the shit they take! And how can they be certain of it working / not working when newbs fluctuate so much with their performance...

Yes he asked me how much creatine he should be taking and if it was worth it for him. That's all he was taking, no protein! I put him onto a mass gainer that'll give him plenty of energy or workouts and protein for recovery / muscle building, that's all he needs.

I don't project my opinions specifically onto anyone who hasn't asked for them...if you read my posts carefully they are actually just general statements not aimed at anyone unless they've directly asked my advice, or unless something is bleedingly obvious / widely accepted in the weightlifting community (deadlifting with an arch for example). It is gym, everyone is an expert and "most people do it this way...you should do it this way" is probably the most spoken line at a gym...I try my best to avoid coming across like that so am sorry if it appears that way.

[Mitcho_7]

Experimenting with a variety of supps when you're a newbie is most definitely a shortcut; it is someone trying to build as much muscle as possible in the shortest time and take the (perceived) easiest way to get there short of using roids. When there are so many newbie gains to be made without ridiculous supplementation to break through plateaus, it's a waste of money and your pocket ace come the time you actually need it. The body isn't even using most of the shit they take! And how can they be certain of it working / not working when newbs fluctuate so much with their performance...

Yes he asked me how much creatine he should be taking and if it was worth it for him. That's all he was taking, no protein! I put him onto a mass gainer that'll give him plenty of energy or workouts and protein for recovery / muscle building, that's all he needs.

I don't project my opinion specifically onto anyone who hasn't asked for them...if you read my posts carefully they are actually just general statements not aimed at anyone unless they've directly asked my advice, or unless something is bleedingly obvious / widely accepted in the weightlifting community (deadlifting with an arch for example).

All good man.

I think you're right about taking the creatine and other pre workout gear is a waste of time initially.

All those things are probably more beneficial once you try to up your intensity/volume after you hit that first plateau. It can have its place once you are a but more experienced.

It's completely different when people are asking for your advice in the gym or on here in regards to supps or form etc. It just rubs me the wrong way when someone goes out of there way to tell you what your doing is wrong or whatever. Especially when it is clearly working better for you the way you are doing it in comparison to the results they are showing.

I'm not the sort of person that would tell someone they are taking the wrong stuff or doing an exercise wrong, especially if they didn't ask for my advice.

But that doesn't mean I'm not open to advice from people that are really experienced and clearly know what they are doing.

Edited August 30, 2012 by Mitcho_7