alright. some of you have known my workout routines for a long time since im always asking, and getting great advice from alot of you here.

i have some belly fat that needs to go. i put it on this winter. its not that much, but my shoulders, chest and arms are so well built and lean / defined, that ANY stomache fat makes me feel like i look horrible. i got tested last week at @14 percent body fat. ive somehow managed to cut 4 pounds since then, and im down 10-12 pounds from 3 weeks ago, putting me at 199 pounds ( im 6'1" ) i was at 10percent last fall.

anyways... heres my idea-

besides my grappling / fighting practice 1-3 times a week, ive been hitting the treadmill after workouts at a speed of 7.5 for 10-15 minutes plus ually walking a while more. ive been forcing myself to do decline / side crunches / situps with 50 pound dumb bells, and then doing crunches on my back, 60-100 of them straight and side -to- side.

NO POP except for a few on the weekends. im not much for sugar or chips anyways so that doesnt matter. but ive decided to DRASTICALLY cut my carbohydrate intake. today i had a turkey sandwich for breakfast, but no carbs at all after that until i got home from the gym and even that was very minimal. my meals lately while working- turkey sandwiches ( only on one piece or bread ) 9-10 scrambled eggs a day, turkey meat plain, and tommorrow im adding chicken breast and cottage cheese to reduce bread intake. i drink nothing but water all day now. less potatoes and noodles.

i am almost doing the ATKINS diet, bot not being 100% strict on it. im taking in a ton of protien.

im changing my weightlifting FROM THIS:
sund+wednesday- Squats, calf extensions, bicep curls, abs, running
tuesday+thursday- bench press, military press, lat. pull downs, tricep extensions, shoulder shrugs

TO THIS-
sunday- bench press, lat pull downs, military press, tricep extensions, shoulder shrugs, abs, treadmill
tuesday- squats, calf extensions, abs, treadmill
thursday- bicep curls, abs, treadmill

i feel this way will break up the muscle groups and the week up better. ill try this for a couple months to decide how well it works.

does anyone have any advice / opinions to offer- i need fast results in a short time. thank you

 

Split into two groups per session, run a three day split routine, set the schedule at five days on - two off (sat-sun).

You can plot this on a calendar, and you will notice: MON-C/B, TUES-T/B/S, wed-LEG, THU-C/B, FRI-T/B/S
On the following monday you do: LEG, and so on. Each week, some of the groups have extra recovery time WHICH IS NECESSARY - and also changes up the rythm of exercize. NEVER keep it the same, change up. This is the principle of constant change!!! The body will adapt to the same regimen, you have GOT to keep it different in small ways.

And always (once a month) give yourself a "SHOW OFF" day. It builds confidence.

(Recommend:
Chest/Back
Bi's/Tri's & shoulders
Massive LEG day
-Throw in AB development constantly, but at a low level
If you damage them - it will mess you up for a long while, I KNOW


Ditch the atkins, it isn't the problem. It may in fact exacerbate it.

Watch fat intake, balance complex carb intake, stay away from simple carbos.

Be aware that you can only take in 35 grams of protein at a time, but if it is scheduled FOUR hours apart it will assimilate at the best rate for tissue regeneration.

(I used to set an alarm for two AM, pop up - down four egg whites, and go back to sleep)

You will do well...

The split routine above gives your recovery time its best chance for your body to restore you and grow bigger.

This is based on quite a few Wieder principles...


~Wolf

 

Greaywolf- since i eat smaller meals now, every 2-3 hours i feel i am spreading out my protien pretty well during the day.

i picked this new 3 day a week routine because ive been told so many times by the "big guys" that only workout each muscle group once a week... and it looks like it works for them. plus it seems to split up the week pretty well, because grappling / fighting training is mond, wed, thursday

 

I'm not big on weight lifting, but I know how to get not-fat. One suggestion... no caffeine. It's been rumored to cause weight gain around the middle because it acts as insulin in the body and releases cortisone into your body. Another suggestion. Try doing a bit more casual running/jogging/cycling/something on off days. It helps. Every little bit helps. Oh, and still another suggestion... Fat burning will take place after about 30 minutes of cardio. Obviously you aren't going for serious cardio I'm-gonna-run-a-marathon workouts, and from what you're doing and eating I'm sure you'll lose the weight, but I'm a big fan of running/cardio and try to get everyone to do it. But I've also known the crappy condition of decent abs... underneath that layer of fat. Good luck!

 

Many things work for different people, but the above is what made me look like a truck ten years ago.

Granted - i had a lot of free time, and was chasing a dream of massiveness as fast as I could go -

And all of this works different for diferent people....

It WAS a way to stress myself at the gym as hard as I could, and FEED myself (and my recovery) as quickly as I could.

I was once told I looked like I could bench a Buick...

The key is to listen to your OWN recovery cycle. What I told you about protien assimilation is true - measure what you eat.

How fast you heal, and how fast you GROW:
YOU have to guage that, and make the best choice....


~Wolf out...

PS: Theoretically (old standard) you can put five pounds of mass on your body per year. Look at five pounds of (for example) hamburger and image it averaged around your body...

I have heard of much greater and faster gains, but not substantiated.

You are a beef farmer - study to find what does the best to raise your crop!

 

D-Ranged2.5:

Trust me -

I have destroyed my share of bicycles...

 

de-ranged-

like i said... pop is pretty much out the door, and no coffee so caffiene isnt a problem.

as for running on my off-lifting days- those are pretty much my grappling / fighting practice days during the week, and thats a BRUTAL physical workout. but i will try to push for more casual running / jogging as you mentioned.

GREAYWOLF- i wish i could gain muscle as fast as the "genetically gifted" people can... so thats another reason i split it from a 4 day workout mixing body groups some of the nights, to a 3 day workout isolating body groups better. that will also give me an extra recovery day.

a bodybuilder has told me many times "sometimes LESS IS MORE" so ill try the three day split for a couple months. of course you all know i will keep you posted on results.

thanks again

 

The only thing I can say specifically is that you shouldn't be doing bench press and triceps on the same day.

Actually on closer look, I would do biceps with military press, abs, treadmill on Thurs;
bench press, lat pull downs, calf extensions, shoulder shrugs, abs, treadmill on Sun
and , squats, tricep extensions, abs, treadmill On Tues.

One of the things I learned is that it's not best to work a muscle like triceps on the same day that you do bench press because triceps is a support muscle for the bench press and you won't get full devotion (for lack of better word) from that muscle because it has been pre-fatigued by the other excercise. Nor should you go gung-ho on your triceps and then try to do your bench press... makes sense to me.



Other than that it looks good, one body part per week - nice for very intense workouts. If you're in a fat burning routine where you're using moderate or even light weights and quite high reps there shouldn't be a problem with working each body part more often.

I haven't really been on here much lately so I don't know your routine or goals so I can't really comment on that.

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the whole 'low carb' thing. A friend of mine must be a Gemini because he always has this dilemma where he wants to be bulking up but wants to be ripped and 2-4% body fat at the same time. I just want to slap him and draw him a picture. If you want to pack on pounds of muscle you need to eat a lot of food or somehow take in a lot of calories; moreso than even a normal appetite will allow without wanting to vomit several times a day. At least for me anyway, I had to take appetite enhancers to be able to eat the required amount daily to reach the goals I set out for myself. Even then I ended up with a lower bodyfat percentage than what I started with.

Anyway, the moral is; there's a different routine and diet for every different goal.

Midriff fat can be one of the toughest areas to burn off, I would pick up a bodybuilding magazine and look for tips on fat burning routined... might take a few issues to find what you want. I like MuscleMag International.

 

I put on 35 pounds in about 18 months with a total lower bodyfat percentage than what I started with. My bodyfat was so low that with my mouth closed you could see the outline of my teeth... it was kinda freaky actually...

I never used roids but I did do a lot of research and used a couple known methods to increase testosterone naturally. It was kind of cool cause I don't have a really deep voice but when I was doing this the floorboards would resonate when I talked. Maybe someone was spiking my gatorade.

I also used a lot of supplements (legal ones), ate a dozen eggs a day, drank 2 - 3 litres of milk a day, went through protien powder like it was going out of style, Ate 6 times a day, did the Cybergenics program, including the intense workouts. I can definitely substantiate gaining more than 5 pounds a year of lean mass. It aint so lean now; sorta fell of the horse when I gave myself a hernia (riding a bike of all things). I sorta started working out last year just kind of a hassle living where I'm at.

 

well, i think it sounded to most like i was COMPLETLY cutting carbs... not so, as im typing right now ive got some homemade lasagna sitting next to me... i just wanted to cut some of them cause i really felt i was taking in WAY too many... example- 5-6 sandwhiches a day, thats ALOT of bread, about a 1/2 pound of potatoes, 1/2 pound of noodles and 1/2 gallon of milk EACH DAY and im only 200-205 pounds. and thats only 1/2 of the food i eat everyday.

tonight i hit the treadmill for 30 minutes, 14 minutes walking at a speed of 4.0 and the rest of the 16 running at 7.5-8.5 speed.

my dedication was really tested today at work when the boss's wife brought in donuts. yep... i walked past that table 30 times today and they had some that i use to love 3 years ago... thinking " i could just eat half of one" but i didnt even do that. i feel if i plan on having a 6-pack of abs this summer.... ive got to be as disciplined as possible.

ill be doing the treadmill 30 minutes everytime i can go on my non-lifting nights and hopefully sometimes on the weekends.

tommorrow is a lifting night, ill probably do squats, and ill do 10-15 minutes of running after that, plus crunches.

Furball- i wish i could put on 35 pounds in 18 months and being leaner than when i started..... your lucky. i guess i dont have the right genetics

 

Well, I never would have thought that I had the genetics for that either; I'd say it was more the right combination of training style, supplements and FOOD. I'll let you in on a couple of the things that I believe had a significant influence on my results.

I started every workout with some very heavy stiff-leg-dead-lifts. The theory is; the way your body works is if it can do something easily, there's no need for it to change and if it has difficulty with a lift it will do something about it to correct the situation - meaning it will introduce testosterone into the system to help with the situation. I would do three or four warm up sets and then another three sets with a maximum weight that I could not physically lift more than 8 times being sure to fail on the last rep, and if I could do more than 8 reps the weight went up on the next set. Doing this with a large muscle group like legs or back will have a greater effect than a smaller one.

Tan at least 3 times a week on workout days, before workout. Tanning is, in theory, supposed to increase testosterone production. Naturally it would be outside... spring time, nature starts things brewing, has to get the hormones flowing. I think we've all heard the phrase 'spring fever' - spring time = more natural sunlight.... come to your own conclusions. The Cybergenics program even recommended the same. I tanned at a salon.

My training of every muscle was all pretty much the same as what I described earlier with the deadlifts - maximum weight after warm up, keep reps under 8 and probably most important - failure - to stimulate growth. A couple exceptions to the < 8 reps... Triceps can be stubborn so it's good to change it up with them once in a while; Lats, I liked 12 - 15 reps before failure but probably an equal split somewhere between 8 - 15.
Remember to change it up once in a while especially if you think you've hit a plateau.

Take measurements frequently; before every workout is probably good, this is a good indicator of progress and can be inspiring when you see the actual gains you are making.

I'd say the two most important supplements I took were cyanocobalamin - great for increasing appetite; and colostrum - saves protien from being catabolized before it gets assimilated.

I was by no means rich so a lot of the protien shakes I drank were homemade with skim milk, peanut butter, a couple spoons of jam, a banana, and 1/2 - 3/4 cup of milk powder for extrra protien.

Also you need to take in at least 30 grams of protien within 45 minutes of working out and get 8 hours of sleep every night.

You probably already know this but if you want big pipes work your triceps double what you do your biceps.

While your body can only assimilate about 30 grams of protien per meal, you should actually be taking in a fair bit more because a lot of it gets destroyed before it can be assimilated.

Good luck.

 

what are "stiff-leg-dead-lifts?"

 

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/...gDeadlift.html

 

Not sure where you live fordtough but what about adding a swimming routine to your workout? I know that's tough to do during cold months unless you go to a YMCA or something. I have a friend here that swims 3 times a week...they are up to swimming 2 mile at a time now....and he's in great shape.
Just a thought.

 

BuiltTough250 - As I am sure you are very aware from all the opinions here, workouts will vary significantly from person to person. I have spent the better part of 20 years weight training and am by know means an expert, but I have formulated many opinions and at times had those opinions blown away by seeing others results.

That being said, I recently started a new workout program that a friend of mine turned me on to, and I have recommended it to several people recently, so far all with good results.
It is a 10 phase program (approximately a year, obviously you don't have to do every phase but it is designed for a specific result) and is outlined on men's health.com. The jist of it, is that it is a total body workout 3 days a week, which works each muscle group in combo exercises. If you are interested in trying it you can download everything for free. Go to the website and search for the Iron Manual.

My guess is some will bash it because it is somewhat non-traditional but if you are looking to gain muscle and cut your body fat it may be just what you are looking for.