Fitness And Nutrition General

Not really; once upon a time. Got down to about 8.5% body fat in June, and that was running that obstacle course every day for the last 14 days in a row of that competition (in addition to my regular gym/biking)

I'm back up to double digits as of now.

I'm jealous of this so-called obstacle course thing. :o Pics? Do you just stroll up and bust out your Ninja Warrior skills for free?

Year old video, and I do it a lot differently now (faster pace, more intense/harder exercises at each station, more reps, etc.); but this is back from when I started.

Major differences worth pointing out is the log jump station I use the highest log there now, and I do it with a 10 lb dumbbell in each hand;

You'll see a 6 rep pattern on harder exercises and 11 on easier. These numbers are now 8 and

At the monkey bars, I do I go across and back across, and hit 16 pull ups in any combination (can be 2 at a time, sometimes it's all 16 to start, then cross and back over, etc. I switch it up)

I do muscle ups for the warm up and at the end of my runs

I really do need to make a v2 to do my current routine justice compared to this shitty video

The lowest BF I ever got was when I did Bikhram yoga. If the classes weren't so damn expensive in LA I'd do it in a snap!

Hey guys, I'm semi-new to the whole fitness etc thing. I have been working out on and off roughly for the past 8 months. I'm hoping I can get some tips/advice from you guys to improve my gains. Working out, diet, etc.

What are your goals?

Bad *** course, but man, I just watched that before starting my session tonight and I got so nauseous that I had to wait 90mins before trying to start again lol

I just want a prowler and a culdesac to run around with it.

hows the shoulder tiger?

Well I'd like to be really fit(Stating the obvious haha) and be able to lift/curl and manage a good amount of weight.

I'm roughly 130lbs right now and my goal weight is 150ish or so. (Would like to get that within the next year)

I gained ~40lb and a ton of strength in <1 year religiously following the basic Starting Strength template(130lb -> 172). This came with some chub but it all depends on how you choose to define "fit." Personally, if I see a dude with a chiseled 6pack, the first thing I think is "you need a cheeseburger." There are some fatty-but-badass olympians as well, so you need to better define what you mean by "fit."

It's important to absorb as much knowledge as you can when you're first beginning. I recommend reading up on some guides first to get a really solid understanding before asking people for advice, something like this. Books are great as well, but in terms of beginners I don't really know what's good out there to recommend. I love Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Day Bodybuilding but it's just going to get a newbie completely confused with the amount of knowledge in it.

edit: Just going through some of my bookmarks, these should help you out as well. You don't have to completely follow their supplementation advice, keep in mind a lot of these guys on bodybuilding.com are sponsored by supp companies.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mike-ohearn-power-bodybuilding-12-week-training-program.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size-training.html (highly recommend this program)

http://trainingdimensions.net/tdArticles/Reg%20Park.pdf

If I bike ~30min to the gym and ~30min back home would that count as my cardio? I bike much faster than most individuals(I usually pass other people biking in the street) I'd wager 11-15~mph, basically pedaling at maximum intensity(get to the gym with a soaked back and panting). Just wasn't sure since usually with cardio they say it has to be for >45min to be of any use. I'm trying to cut now btw @160 w/ 13% bf, wanna get down to about 9-10% BF.

Gonna find out today. Decided to just take an entire week off instead of pushing it.

It really depends. It's great for cardio for heart rate for sure if you're just looking for a healthy cardiovascular system. If you're looking to burn fat, it may be enough and may not just depends on your food intake and how much you need to burn off, etc.

This semester I'm doing about 150 miles a week (sadness, I had one semester that required me to do 200+); and I still need to go run Fossil Park a few times a week not to be a pig

Thanks for the tips guys! Right now my main goal is to gain some strength while defining my muscles as well. Long term would be to look half as good as Tiger (My role model for working out).

He's been helping me out as far as sets and what to exercise on each day.

Depends how often you go to the gym really. 60 minutes of biking minimum 3 times a week is a good start, ideally 5-6x a week would be great if you can build up to there. Your cardiovascular endurance won't build up overnight though so keep in mind to start slow and add more time week after week. If you try for too much too soon you'll feel worn out and defeated (a lot of people end up quitting all together because of this).

Not sure where you read that >45 minute thing, but if it's based on low and slow cardio and staying in the "fat burning zone" then don't bother listening to it. It's what I call an old wives tale of training. You can do 20 minutes HIIT and it'll benefit you more than jogging on a treadmill for 60.

No matter how hard you workout, or which routine you follow, or how the planets are aligned, if your diet isn't right, you will get nowhere.

My thoughts exactly. I will admit my diet is very very poor. I honestly have no idea about carbs, etc. I know that I need a bunch of protein and that's about it.

Check out the guide I posted for you earlier, should break it all down for you.

http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html#part3

If you do buy protein from trueprotein (now truenutrition) like in that guide, which I highly recommend, use coupon code KYG1026 for 5% off! :)

Well I bike 7 miles a day to school and 7 miles back, as well as 3miles extra 3x to and from martial arts which is basically a 1hour cardio sesh too. I was just wondering if I bike 45min to and from the gym, would that count as my 'cardio' for the day or should i do extra cardio at the gym.

Also I have a few questions:

I'm currently 160lbs 5'7. I'm not ripped but I'm fit; @13% body fat. I want to drop like 2-3% more body fat and hopefully drop to like 140-145lbs. I basically just eat at maintenance ~2000-2200cal/day and my weight has been pretty stable. I lift 3x a week(3day split) and bike to and from school/MA/Gym probably 50m/week) I've never did a bulk/cut phase but I figured I'd lose some of this body fat first before I start the 'bulk' phase, just to see if I have the discipline for it(I don't have a trainer so I'm trusting the internetz).

1) I took a nutrition class at my university and they said eating anything over 50g of protein per day is a waste because the human body cannot absorb much over 50. The textbooks and instructor proport that even Olympain athletes' bodies only absorb maybe 60-75g and any protein above that is just excreted. On the other hand many body building sites say you should eat 1g/pound of body weight.

2) If the 1g/lb of bodyweight is true, how can I consume 150g of protein per day while keeping a 500cal deficit? All of those protein shakes give like 20-30g of protein at the expense of like 200cals

3) Any tips to sate my hunger while I'm cutting? This is the first time I've ever 'cut' and even 1/2 cup oatmeal, banana, bottle of water and 2 egg whites, I'm hungry again in like 30min.

4) How detrimental is it to not eat anything after lifting? It takes me a 30-45min bike ride to get home after lifting so sometimes I can't eat any protein between then. How much of an impact on my gains does this make?

5) What's a good idea of how much weight I should be benching for my height/weight? I only do chest 1x per week( i cant afford the time to gym 5-6x a week because of my masters degree and working). When I do Chest I do 1x 45lb plate on each side, so I guess that's 130-140lbs or so. I can usually do 8 reps, 3x each or so but anymore weight usually is hard without a spotter. It also doesn't help if I've done any other chest exercises before I bench like cable crossovers/flys or overhead plate presses.

I would count that as cardio. If you've already cooled down by the time you get to the weight room though, I'd take an extra 5mins to warm up again.

1) Debunked. http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/is-there-a-limit-to-how-much-protein-the-body-can-use-in-a-single-meal/

2) You would be surprised how easy it is to get an adequate amount of protein per day while still maintaining low calories. Every 1g of protein = 4 calories, so technically speaking if you wanna get 150g a day you can do it in as little as 600 calories of pure protein, the rest will come from carbs and fats.

3) Stimulants such as caffeine help suppress appetite, a black cup of coffee when you're starting to feel hungry will help. Your breakfast doesn't sound like it has enough protein either, try 3 egg whites with 3 whole eggs.

4) Huge, if there is ever a single moment where nutrition is most important it's post-workout. The ideal window is within 30-60 minutes, you want to be driving nutrients into your muscles ASAP. Keep a blender bottle in your gym bag and fill it with 2 scoops of protein powder and have some form of sugar like candy on hand. Before you leave the gym, just fill up your bottle with water, shake, drink, and go. If you get home within 30-45mins though that isn't really that bad, but I'd still do what I do and bring your shaker cup to the gym. Buy this if you don't already own one, you'll never have a chunky protein shake without the use of a blender again.

5) All depends on the individual really, but a great primary goal to set for yourself is to bench your own body weight for reps. Once you reach that, keep going. Do your compound exercises first before you start isolating muscles, ie bench press should come before flys and barbell rows should come before dumbbell curls.

to dive further into #2, you can pick up an essential amino acid product. Usually a serving is 5-10gr of EAAs, so you are "essentially" (get it? huh? huh?) getting 5-10 grams of protein without the caloric content.

If I'm cutting, should I still drink a shake/candy after a workout? Doesn't candy give you a sugar crash?

I've actually kkind of steered away from eating whole eggs for the past 5 years, if anything I'll eat 1 whole egg and mix it with several egg whites but there's so many conflicting scientific journal articles about the cholesterol in eggs. Some say it's bad cholesterol, others say it's good cholesterol. I wouldn't be surprised if egg companies are funding the latter research either ;)
But in any case, remember I'm trying to cut and since I believe I use ~2,000 calories a day, I want to deficit by 500. I'm also guessing biking for 45min each way burns ~200ish calories so I can therefore eat 400 more and then by that logic?


Any good recommendations? I want something of fair quality but I don't want to pay $30 for like 8 servings if I'm going to be using this stuff for several weeks. Also I don't get these complicated mixes of Whey and Casein etc. Can you give me an example of a decent quality pure protein powder? I dont care about taste tbh I'll just mix with skim milk and chug it with my nose closed(I can't stand mixing protein with water, it needs to be mixed with milk for me lol)

Also I thought caffeine does the opposite of suppress appetite? It's a stimulant so shouldn't it hasten your metabolism and make you want to eat more?

When I google it I get mixed statements about coffee and appetite.

Stimulants make your nervous system go in to the sympathetic mode or active mode. This reduces blood flow to the digestive system(among other things) and allows your body to use it for other things, like running the *** away from a predator or any other physically exerting task. These various changes tend to reduce urges for food because your body knows it isn't time for eating.

Depressants make your nervous system go in to the parasympathetic mode. Or rest mode. With more activity focused on digestion and related tasks because your muscles aren't demanding so much.

Truenutrition.com > search for team skip > pick flavor > enter coupon KYG1026 at checkout > wait > shake, drink, get muscles.

You need to replenish your blood sugar levels post-workout, so yes you do need to have sugar. I'm not suggesting down a whole bag of candy post-workout either lol, literally like a handful of candy or a tablespoon of honey will suffice. There's no sugar crash from this.

What the other guy above me already said about caffeine. Also don't believe the *** about eggs, it's the kind of crap your mom will tell you to stay away from cause she saw it on Dr. Oz. Whole eggs are fine, everything in moderation.

I think you are grossly underestimating how many calories a day you actually burn. You sound like you have a very active lifestyle by biking everywhere you go. 45 minutes of biking at a pretty decent speed would be something more like 500 calories burned. Not to mention weightlifting also increases your heart rate and burns calories. If I had to guess, I'm going to say your maintenance level is probably something more like 2700-2800 a day.

For protein powders basically the difference is slow-digesting and fast-digesting. Whey protein is a fast-digesting protein, something you ideally want to have post-workout mixed with water. Casein is dairy based and a slow-digesting protein, something you'd have as a meal replacement mixed with milk or before bed to prevent your body from going into a catabolic state. I have always liked this Whey protein for cutting, decent grams of protein per serving and fairly low calorie.

Hope that helped clear some stuff up for you.

Whey is dairy derived too.