Fitness And Nutrition General

This thread is basically for discussing workouts and dietary intake for people who are trying to or looking to getting into better shape or eating healthier in general.

Any and all questions regarding either of the two can be asked and hopefully answered here as well.

I'm still booking to put on some weight, but I don't know how many calories I should be looking to eat each day.

6'2 and about 175 lbs right now with a ridiculously high metabolism.

Any ideas?

Hmm, well do you work out at all? you just trying to put on weight in general or trying to get a little muscle mass along w/ the weight?

What's your current eating habit like, etc.

I assume you are after good looking weight? By that I mean not just extra weight around your gut lol.

Resistance training 3-5 times a week and protein shake twice a day (before and after workout or morning and mid day on non workout days) should do the trick, also make sure your not missing out on your main meals, maybe stack a bit more protein with your meals to add some more calories if you are unsure about your calorie intake.

Commit to that and come back in about 6 weeks to let us know how you get on :)

I haven't in a while, but I plan to change that in two or three weeks.

My eating habits are all over the place right now because my schedule isn't very consistent. I'm not sure what exactly I should be eating.

Edit - Any suggestions on good meals? Breakfast I usually try for an omelet and some whole grain toast with peanut butter. Lunch is usually nothing good for me :/ Dinner I usually eat a lot of chicken. Miscellaneous stuff inbetween.

Bloodbathboy would be the ideal candidate to help you out here tbh seeing as he competes in building muscles >_>

Sag has a pretty good start for you. As for your eating habits, just make sure you get all your meals in, even if they're not at the same time every day.

Skipping meals is def not something you want to do, provided you're trying to put on weight.

Keep things handy like in your car, quick to eat things such as canned tuna, salmon, or beans.

Also, this

My performance coach wants me to really work out my legs, mostly my calves and hamstrings. What are some basic things I can do for exercising these areas? I was recommended lunges, but are there any other options?

Incline or regular leg press and leg curls.

Edit: Lunges are ok if they are weighted lunges with dumbbells. As skarwind pointed out you should do a variety of exercises not just a select few.

If your trying to tone your legs. Go for about 10-12 reps/3+ sets/per different exercise. If your strictly going for mass/strength in the legs- I'd do no more than 5 reps/5 sets as heavy as you can lift.

Calf Raises (Can do these weighted) Go until you burn them out, it's the only way to get them ripped.

Dead lifts work a good portion of the legs.

Barefoot running (Start out slow though)

Hamstring Curls

Why no love for the quads though? I'd work out all of the legs.


Honestly my leg work outs change but you can't go wrong with the following

Squats
Dead Lifts
Calf Raises

Why not work on your whole body though honestly.

Edit about the barefoot running, it will build up your foot muscles, you will feel it in your calves and ham strings. Also it makes a huge difference when you do run in normal athletic shoes. Look into vibrams or fila skele-toes

Depends on if you're going for strength or endurance. Push yourself, yes, but focus on strength/endurance gains over simply promoting hypertrophy if we're talking about a proper exercise program. It's my understanding that going all the way to muscle failure is moreso a hypertrophy thing, since it tears into your muscles more and you thus re-grow more cells in their place but not necessarily as strong as they might be with a different program.

Well I'm mostly looking to build endurance, not mass. Sorry I didn't address that in the first post. It's for the purpose of doing a heavy dance routine while singing for performances; he put a lot of stress on me working on controlled breathing. Thanks for the tips so far though!

Do you run/walk alot at all? Just doing those activities uses calf muscles as well as dancing. It is tough to say if you need endurance or strength for dancing. I am imagining both? Dancing, and walking/running for extended periods of time should give you the endurance you need. The best way to get that endurance is to push past your limits and comfort zone. Each time you do it your threshold should improve, it takes time though.

Burn out/Drop Sets sets would be a good start though. 12-15 reps until failure should also give some good results. But obviously make sure you have rest days and eat right for the best results.

Who here takes BCAA supplements during their workouts? I'm currently taking Scivation Xtend but I keep hearing about USP Labs one?

I've looked on bodybuildingforums.com but There' a lot of sales reps there who just endorse their product.

I personally love Xtend but it's a bit pricey. The bodybuilding.com brand cost me about the same price but it came in 90 servings. Watermelon tastes the same as Xtend as well. BB.com blue raspberry isn't too terrible.

I didn't care for the USP labs taste D:

I'm a big guy so that Xtend goes quick for me.

Looks like they dont have the 90 serving BB.com brand aminos. They do have 90 servings of amino energy for $20 though.

Optimum Essential AmiN.O. Energy, 65 Servings looks like the second best choice for $35

It usually lasts me a month and half tops cause i do the 3 scoops per workout.

Yah it worked good definitely reduced my muscle soreness. Well there's this one place that sells Xtend for 27 bucks but its a bit far from my house. GNC across the street sells USP labs one for 25 bucks. Was just trying to avoid driving far for 1 item.

I'm really surprised the USP labs one isnt liked by more people a lot of people rave about the USP Labs Jack3d.

I'm not huge on preworkouts, I mean I won't refuse a sample. But it's only creatine+ caffiene+ argine which are cheap on their own. Best thing I ever did was collect samples for a month. Mix them with creatine/ some gatoraid.

I take Grenade as far as energy goes.

1-3 Dim had some lame side effects though (which was in jack3d and oxy Elite) some people complained of stim ***. They couldn't get it up lol.

For humans under 3-7 maybe under normal earth gravity. Like his training impossible... LOl

I have Quads and Calves like SSJ2 *Vegeta :o

Oh yah I've heard from a lot of guys about the Jack3d and male performance.. Well I know Jack3d has a dopamine stimulant in it. Thats the only reason I continue taking it. Keeps my gains semi-lean.

I tried Oxyelite Pro + Jack3d when I was cutting. I was like a cracked out all day

Oh the pick me up from it was great. It just gave me jitters pretty bad. Grenade isn't bad, plus it's jitter free honestly.

Serving Size 1 capsule
Servings Per Container: 100
GRENADE® Thermo Detonator Proprietary Blend 775 mg*
Green Tea Extract
(80% polyphenols, 45% epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin), *
Bitter Orange Extract
(synephrine, octopamine, N-methyltyramine, tyramine, hordenine) *
Caffeine Anhydrous
(1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) *
Grapefruit Seed Extract
(6,7- dihydroxybergamottin) *
Capsicum Annuum
(capsaicin) (fruit) *
Evodiamine
(evodia fructus extract) *
Yohimbe Bark Extract
(yohimbine) *
Raspberry Ketones
[4-(4-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-one] *
Phenylalanine
(2-amino-3-phenylpropanoic acid), *
Cocoa Bean Extract
(methylxanthines, flavanols) *
-pheneythylamine HCl
(B-PEA) *
Coleus Forskohlii
(forskolin) (root) *
Yerba Mate Leaf
(caffeine, theobromine and theophylline) *
DMAE
(dimethylaminoethanol) *

The bottle is totally bad *** too. (it's a grenade, marketing eh?)

I want the prework out just because it comes in a 50 cal ammo can.

I am on grendade now- its great actually. I think i got immune to Jack3d. It doesn't have that sour-tartness of Jack3d

On a side note DO NOT BUY the muscle max BCAA. Mixes horribly and tastes so fkn rank. I could barely swallow it at the gym.

Inc Necro! I'm looking for feedback on a good way to get started again.I used to workout for about 18 months but nothing super hardcore.I dropped 2-3 stone and started building a bit of muscle (I was always the skinny built guy with 0 muscle) I gave up that in june to build my new desktop and couldnt afford gym membership + pc parts.I used to do mostly isolation workouts rather than compound,5 days a week.Would always start with a small bit of light cardio to get the body warmed up.My diet was *** terrible,so thats likely why I didnt get any major boost in the way I was hoping for.This time round I'm gonna do it right.Eat properly all the time and work out properly all the time.Was also told maybe I was overworking my muscles and burning it all off,because I've a high metabolism and was working out for up to 2 hours per session.I've been told and read a million different things,but am looking for info from actual people who have had gains they were looking for.Any info on a good place to start?

Quick vitals round up.

6'0,slim build except for a small belly that has come back since I stopped working out,180lbs.Body fat is a bit high,not sure on exact % or BMI number.

Anything I missed,fell free to ask.

Any and all help is greatly appriciated!

Edit: I also got a proper workout and eating program that I'm gonna watch and get up to date with between now and when I start and see how I can get the best results.Seems to be critically acclaimed (I know,I know,they always are) but it seems to be a good choice.Its from SixPackShortcuts.com I didnt pay for it but as far as I know its the full package

Muscle confusion is one of the best ways to go for building up. It takes time (there is no fast way, period), but it works.

The idea is pretty simple... just change your weights and reps every week. My basic 3 week routine is Heavy - Low reps (4-6), Medium weight - Mid reps (8-12), light weight - High reps (15-20). And then I repeat starting at a higher weight then last time. Unfortunately I'm maxed out on leg machines at my apartment's work out room (they only go to 205), so I'm going to need to join a real gym pretty soon.

Don't be shy about protein either. Bar or shakes, whatever floats your boat, I do a combination of both. I wouldn't really recommend Muscle Milk (it's cheap and it shows) go with Optimum Nutrition (start out with a basic whey for a few weeks and then maybe bump up to a blend... I use Pro formula as my blend, $60 for a 4.4 lb on amazon). As for bars, read the labels and stay far as *** away as you can from "Sugar Alcohols," I recommend Quest Bar (specifically the chocolate brownie, 20g protein and only 3 net carbs).

And eat... a lot, good things of course. It sounds weird, but it helps you tone. For example I burn a little upward of 3,000 calories a day, so I'm eating all the time. Don't be super worried about caloric intake, and just listen to your body.

Another big thing is don't work out too much. Your body needs to rest, I would say no more then 3 or 4 times a week on strength training, 5 a week on cardio. All you really need is a good 30 minute workout. And doing a little cardio before weights is a good idea, I normally do a mile at a decent pace (not flat out running, but not just walking fast) and then start my weights.

Might look into P90X after you have built up a little endurance, I have seen some amazing things from guys who do that. And Crossfit is pretty cool too.

I actually use Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein,usually have it after every workout,sometimes the following morning too if it was a real intense workout and I feel my body hasnt fully recovered to a level I'm happy with.

Have looked into P90X a small bit while I was still working out but forgot about it.Will try compare it to the one I got now and see which seems like it might fit me best.

As far as food goes,from the little bit I have read and the info I've got from people/sources (and one friend who is pretty big into his healthy eating) it looks like I'll be eating grilled turkey breast,boiled brown rice,carrots and brocolli 3-5 times a day (once I figure out how my body's metabolism handles it) in smal;-ish portions (I'm given to understand the average meal size for that kinda eating habit is 1.5x the size of your fist or so)

And yeah like I said before I was told that I could be over working and just burning muscle after too long,because I usually spent 2 hours in the gym (10 mins on cardio warmup) and about 1:30-1:50 on the weights.

One question also,while I havent fully looked into it (even though I plan on at a later date,before I start),I've heard mixed things about protein powders in general.I've read on a proper high protein diet (like I listed above) that protein powders wouldnt be needed,even directly after working out,since you'll be eating a protein rich meal very shortly after anyways.Now given my basic understanding of how the body,workouts and protein is involved in the breakdown/repair process,is it wise to skip the post workout shake?

There is a really easy way to tell if you need it.

You know that burning feeling you get the next day after a workout? That isn't a bad feeling, but you should never be stiff or overly sore. If you're feeling that way, do a protein shake after workout (before as well if you feel the need, I never do).

(Got side tracked by a 2 year old nephew sorry)

I vaguely remember the feeling for a while when I first started working out,then it mostly disappeared because the post-workout shake took care of most of the recovery side of it,except for some tougher days.Its been a few months and will have been 6 months when I start up again since when I stopped.So there's obviously a returning curve which I can decide how/what I need when the time comes.

Thanks for the tips and advice,its all part of the long road ahead @_@

And no worries about having to deal with family :P

I'm reading my book anyways :D

Quiz, there is roughly a 20 minute window post workout where your body will take up nutrients at an accelerated rate, called the 'glycogen rebound effect'. To put it in simple terms, when your are exercising your body makes it a priority to fuel the muscles that are working so anything you eat for energy will be broken down and sent straight to the working muscles. When you stop exercising, it takes your body a little while to realise it's no longer exercising and to begin regulating sugars and nutrients more steadily again. It's this window of time that it's most beneficial for you to take on a post workout snack or shake as because the body is still in a state of adaptation and fast metabolism, any sugars or proteins you consume in this time window will be much more beneficial as they are still being rapidly metabolised and distributed to your muscles.