I lift pretty seriously (plus swim, box and dance some), and I can tell you guys that working out means absolutely nothing if you're not dieting right.  That means cutting down on carbs (I quit booze and bread earlier this year), trans fats, eating lighter meals, and for gods sake don't pig out at night.

 

I always see people killing themselves on treadmills and ellipticals day in day out with no progress, and I just know that they're not eating right.  Again, without dieting, you're never going to get cut or see any substantial results.

 

Also, 6 days in the gym isn't counter productive if you're working on different muscle groups or doing different workouts all together.  I like to do something, really anything, at least once a day so that I'm sweating or getting a good heartbeat, and as long as you're isolating your muscles and changing up the workouts, 6 days is not overkill. 

6 days a week in the gym?! That's overkill. I don't workout in gyms anymore than 4x a week. It's counter-productive for me. Of course everyone is different though.

 

Not overkill when you have to keep up with the rest of the gym rats on the field of play.  Off the top of my head..... Day One - power legs (squats, dead lifts, calf raises, parachutes and other cardio); Day two - power upper body (power cleans, flat, incline, decline bench, pull-ups, rows, military press); Day three - heavy cardio and light legs (nautilis); Day four - Dumb bell workouts (all three benches, military, flies, upright rows, curls for the girls and tri's for the guys); Day five - burnout lower body (hills, lunges, leg presses, jump rope); Day six - burnout upper body - (Bench strips, 7's, nautilis); Day seven - REST

 

Keep in mind though that I preferred to keep my workouts to 1 hour.  I preferred 1 hour, six days a week to 2 hours, 3 days a week.

 

Sounds like a good routine. You must recover fast. I guess it's not overkill if you do a lot of cardio on some of those days. I just avoid cardio even though I shouldn't. I usually do a 3-4 day split. Only reason I do cardio SOMETIMES at gyms is because they have tvs. I never do typical push and pull exercises on the same day. It works better for me, for recovery. I'll do rows, curls, weighted pull-ups, stuff like that on one day. Then do bench press/military press/dips, flys, etc. on a different day. Then I do lower body and lower back - squats, deadlifts, lunges, on another day. Squats and deadlifts are so intense (I actually vomited once afterwards) that I don't do it on the same day as upper body stuff. Misc. stuff like shrugs or situps I'll work in on one of those days or sometimes do it on a 4th day. I'm paranoid about not letting my muscles get enough recovery time. Basically I just listen to my body and if it's still sore from being hammered a few days prior I'll wait another day before doing that muscle group.

 

I think situps/crunches are so overrated. If you do all the basic compound movement exercises (which most people don't realize works out like 60-80% of your body), your core is DEFINITELY going to be used. The reason humans have abdominal muscles period is to stabilize the body when you're lifting anything so they get used all the time.

You are probably working with too much weight on the squats and deadlifts.  It took a long time for me to get away from the "I want to impress everybody in the gym" attitude and focus more on quality lifting, not quantity.  Form is way more important than weight.

 

Also, forget about the situps/crunches and get a wheel.... get one with two wheels and no recoil.  As you get better at it, take one of the wheels off so that balancing yourself requires added effort.  Your core will never feel stronger/better.

 

TBideon, I agree with your overall point.... but I did recently read a study which said that late night snacks/carbs are not as bad as most people think and can actually do a bit of good.  I also don't believe in the "no-carb" lifestyle.  Your body needs carbs to run properly.  I would say that the most important thing is to eat regularly, in smaller doses, and not gorge yourself all at once..... Although I fully intend to break that rule tomorrow!

I know what you mean, but I use proper form. First time I had a gym membership I had a PT for a few sessions and I told him the only thing I really needed to know was proper form. I injured my upper back because of improper form when I was like 17, doing pull-ups and pull-downs wrong. It was a hard lesson to learn because I screwed by back up, was in pain and couldn't work out like I wanted to for a very long time. I usually do anywhere from 8-12 reps for any given exercise. I'm not at the gym to impress anybody there. If they can lift more weight, good for them.

 

Good call on the wheel. I forgot about that.

 

Yeah, that low carb stuff is non-sense. Your body needs carbs, protein and fat (good fat, of course) to function properly. It's just all about ratios. Saturated fat is probably the biggest culprit imo. If you ask me, people just don't eat enough natural whole foods and they eat too large of portions at one time, like you said.

If you guys are serious, try P90X. Best workout I have ever done in my life bar-none

I'm not saying to quit eating foods with carbohydrates.  It's just that you can get enough of them from healthy stuff like fruits, veggies, milk, and certain grains, yet I see a lot of people way overindulging on them, especially with booze, bread, noodles, and desserts. 

 

I know that I got considerably more cut when I cut out breads, alcohol, desserts, and to a lesser degree noodles.  Of course I'll occasionally break that fast but only as a rare luxury or reward.

 

I've heard mixed things about late night eating.  I guess it comes down to your metabolism and what you're specifically eating at night.  For me, I feel a little bloated and fat after having a large meal at night - it's easy to gorge when you're half asleep and starving - and so I try just to stay in bed or at least eat stuff like cottage cheese in limited amounts

 

 

 

I'm not saying to quit eating foods with carbohydrates. It's just that you can get enough of them from healthy stuff like fruits, veggies, milk, and certain grains, yet I see a lot of people way overindulging on them, especially with booze, bread, noodles, and desserts.

 

I know that I got considerably more cut when I cut out breads, alcohol, desserts, and to a lesser degree noodles. Of course I'll occasionally break that fast but only as a rare luxury or reward.

 

I've heard mixed things about late night eating. I guess it comes down to your metabolism and what you're specifically eating at night. For me, I feel a little bloated and fat after having a large meal at night - it's easy to gorge when you're half asleep and starving - and so I try just to stay in bed or at least eat stuff like cottage cheese in limited amounts

 

But that would mean giving up mashed potatoes with noodles, and that's a midwestern farm-country staple!

But that would mean giving up mashed potatoes with noodles, and that's a midwestern farm-country staple!

 

(insert picture of Bruno)

 

Carbocide!

 

Wow. That's like buttering your Bacon ala Homer Simpson....

 

On a colder note, looks like today is the first ice/snow run of the season here in NEO..

 

EDIT: I just eneter my stats into a BMI calculator. I am officially not obese by .3 points. Yay for me. I jiggled the number a bit to see at what weight I would not be overweight, it said 173 lb. Not happening, last time I was that weight involved dehydrating myself so I could make weight for wrestling senior year of highschool. I was rocking a BF % of about 7%.

Thank God I was born with skinny genes!

I can almost picture you coming out of the womb with skinny jeans...  and a european carry-all, of course

Hehe.

I can almost picture you coming out of the womb with skinny jeans...  and a european carry-all, of course

 

Oh...no..no..no.  MTS doesn't wear skinny jeans.  They should be banned!

I do Wii fit and use a website that generates routines for me. I used to run all the time, but since I had a balance disorder in 2009 its been incredibly hard to get back into a workout routine. I can barely walk on a treadmill without feeling like falling over. I am trying to lose 4 inches and 15-17 lbs total, but my goal is about 2-4 lbs a month.

 

If anyone has some good cardio recommendations that don't involve lots of head movement I will gladly take them. Currently I do yoga and walk on a treadmill 2-3x a week. I got really weak when my balance went out of whack because I could not exercise anymore...it made me dizzy and sick.

 

Most of my weight gain over the past year has been from carbs. When I was dizzy all I could eat was plain pasta, bread, yogurt and rice. So yeah, it messed me up good.

 

Speaking of mashed potatoes and noodles...having that piled up together with beef tips and gravy is like comfort food x 1000 to me. I probably gained 2 lbs from just thinking about eating it.

I do Wii fit and use a website that generates routines for me. I used to run all the time, but since I had a balance disorder in 2009 its been incredibly hard to get back into a workout routine. I can barely walk on a treadmill without feeling like falling over. I am trying to lose 4 inches and 15-17 lbs total, but my goal is about 2-4 lbs a month.

 

If anyone has some good cardio recommendations that don't involve lots of head movement I will gladly take them. Currently I do yoga and walk on a treadmill 2-3x a week. I got really weak when my balance went out of whack because I could not exercise anymore...it made me dizzy and sick.

 

Most of my weight gain over the past year has been from carbs. When I was dizzy all I could eat was plain pasta, bread, yogurt and rice. So yeah, it messed me up good.

 

Speaking of mashed potatoes and noodles...having that piled up together with beef tips and gravy is like comfort food x 1000 to me. I probably gained 2 lbs from just thinking about eating it.

 

Can you handle a jumprope.  It helps with balance and coordination and may be overall helpful.

 

Can you handle a jumprope. It helps with balance and coordination and may be overall helpful.

 

I haven't tried one yet, most of my PT at the balance clinic was walking over obstacles and balance ball stuff. My hand eye coordination had to be taught all over again. Thanks for the suggestion, I will give that a try. I didn't even think of that.

Anyone on this forum doing Crossfit?  If so, have you had any injuries?

 

I started 6 months ago and it really works for me.  I'm over 50 and had never really gone to a gym before.  I'm starting to feel toned for the first time in my life. 

 

I need to be in a class setting for a hard workout.  I'm too tempted to quit or go easy if I am alone in a weight room.