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Training Bodybuilding
81

[quote]chris paul wrote:
Foods are fried in oil. Usually unhealthy oils. Non stick spray will work well to help you saute the veggies. Where are you that the veggies are so expensive, and supplements are cheap? I hear most people outside of the US complain about the cost of supplements.
[/quote]
I’m in Iceland. Not a big agricultural country. Supplements aren’t actually that expensive here, they’re about the same or less than in France, depending on the supp.

I usually fry my veg out of extra virgin olive oil.

82

[quote]nanobyte wrote:

Call me arcane, but I somehow feel wary about increasing my calorie intake to accelerate fat loss.
[/quote]

You may have been reading this site for a year and a half (twice as long as I have, BTW), but that statement right there shows that you either haven’t been reading carefully or don’t really intend to follow through.

Fuck the lighting, dude… unless you’re on stage competing for points, lighting isn’t going to make a guy who’s in shape look out-of-shape or vice-versa.

Listen, I’m really not trying to rip on you for the sake of boosting myself. But, I am going to echo others’ sentiments about making excuses and dedication/motivation. “Putting the cart before the horse” was another great quote.

Excuses are just that. I have a regular full-time job, side jobs whenever I can get them, a wife and 3 kids. I used to always complain that I had no time. Guess what, once I decided to start lifting I found the time anyway, and you can too.

A friend of mine has just started down the path to fitness and I’ll tell you the same thing I told him:

Once you start treating the lifestyle as a chore, you’ll start making excuses. Once you start making excuses, it’s over… you’ve already given up.

Excuses are for the weak of mind. I have more respect for the stringbean who can only bench 100lbs but gets his ass in the gym every day because he wants to be better than I have for the guy who is just genetically bigger but finds “reasons” he can’t get to the gym.

Bob

83

[quote]nanobyte wrote:
because I’m afraid I’m afraid of failure, and have no spotter.
[/quote]

No spotter? What about your training partner? You know, the one who’s been “spotting” you in this thread?

Don’t guess. Try/do.

[quote]
One legged ones would be a stretch outside my league probably.

Sissy squats too.[/quote]

Why’s that? I see scrawny women and newbies doing one-legged squats all the time.

Bob

84

Listen thred starter, good job not smokeing, great idea to start lifting, and don’t let any one discourage you and call you anything usually those who say the most are just getting attention and don’t usually look at themselves. My advice to you is to get and stay serious if you are going to train hard it is not a every once and a while thing it is every day, maybe not lifting but stay focused cheating once and a while is ok but not all the time. I didn’t see any creatine in your list of suppliments you may want to pick some up… Also since you are getting back or just starting push hard eveyrthing will hurt at first so make it hurt. Don’t give up when it hurts or you get tired giving up will takeyou back to you old habbits. But good luck and in the words of Mike C “Don’t be a bitch”

85

[quote]sob440 wrote:
Listen thred starter, good job not smokeing, great idea to start lifting, and don’t let any one discourage you and call you anything usually those who say the most are just getting attention and don’t usually look at themselves. My advice to you is to get and stay serious if you are going to train hard it is not a every once and a while thing it is every day, maybe not lifting but stay focused cheating once and a while is ok but not all the time. I didn’t see any creatine in your list of suppliments you may want to pick some up… Also since you are getting back or just starting push hard eveyrthing will hurt at first so make it hurt. Don’t give up when it hurts or you get tired giving up will takeyou back to you old habbits. But good luck and in the words of Mike C “Don’t be a bitch”[/quote]

Well, it seems like everyone has been saying about the samething you are to him. I don’t think anyone was failing to look at themselves, but rather have put in the work to be able to offer real advice.

D

86

I take creatine in my post workout, around 5grams.

87

nanobyte,
It looks like you have the same problem I did (and oddly enough, many others in technology related jobs. I’m also a software engineer). It looks like you are probably very good at reading and learning things. Gaining new knowledge and pulling something, no matter how small, out of every article, post, book, etc… you find is one of your strong points. The problem looks to be that you’re focusing too hard on the details and missing the big picture.

Take the supps for example, most of the stuff you’re taking is neither necessary nor important. Yes, supplements have their place. No, I’m not against them, I take a few myself. But they don’t replace real food, consistency, hard work, etc… Same thing with the workouts. Don’t worry so much about the details, just find something heavy, pick it up, put it down, repeat (ok, so a few more details than that, but that’s the general gist of it).

Here’s some general advice, keep a food log and training log. If not forever, at least for a week or two. After those first couple of weeks, sit down and read through everything, are you consistent in your diet (calorically speaking, and look at p/f/c but no more specific than that)? Then look at your training log. Do your workouts have any sort of structure to them or is it just a mishmash of “what you felt like doing that day”? If it’s the latter then you’ll probably notice that the exercises you’re doing most often are the ones you’re already fairly comfortable at (i.e. not squats). Fix that, make up plan for your workouts, either use one of the beginner programs on here or just throw one together yourself. Even a shitty program will give you results if you do it consistently and with enough effort.

Finally, if you’ve been reading this site for a year and a half you should have expected Prof X to pop in and do exactly what he did. His very first post, before the bitching and arguing started, said this

It may have been preceded by a slightly caustic interpretation of/reaction to your original post, but that’s probably the best advice you’ll ever get on this site. Take it.

Anyway, good luck with the training and diet, it’s not easy but it’s worth it.
Peace,
m0dd3r

88

Thanks for the advice guys.

Today is gym day.

Started the day with 2 sandwiches (tuna salad and beef), and a kind of dairy product similar to yoghurt. Also a glass of water. Around 600kcal. Supplements I took were the multivit, omega-3, and CLA.

Ate 2 small apples and drank a glass of orange juice as a snack during the morning. Also had tea.

For lunch I had to elbow my way at the office and take 4 of the food trays they dish out here while the kitchen’s being done. 4 because they’re ridiculously small, containing 3 slices of roast beef each, about a pound of potatoes, a bit of tasteless salad, and some chocolate roll).

I ate the meat, a bit of the potatoes, and the salad. Gave the rolls to some of the slim people at the office, to even the scales.

After lunch I’ve had another 2 apples, drank some tea, and about 2 liters of water, plus a glass of OJ.

For tonight I think I’ll go for the squats for sure. Think I’ll start with deadlifts however, since I’m aiming at focusing on them. Then it’s the bradford press, some pulley work for the pecs, pronated ez curls, bent-over rows, and pullups (well, in my case lowerings).

I’ll throw in some other exercises as well and then hit the sauna.

One thing I’d like to get you guys to opinion on. I do the rack-pulls on the Smith machine, because it’s a lonely machine that few seem to touch. And so it’s usually free.

Am I simply copping-out by doing that, or may I be injuring myself in the process? I had read that squatting in the Smith machine increased risk of back injuries, so I’ve never done that, but I haven’t read any about squat racks (or half deads) were dangerous in that aswell.

I suppose it doesn’t really matter and best case scenario I’m missing out on some stabilization effort. I should just besiege that power rack.

89

[quote]nanobyte wrote:
Today is gym day.[/quote]

make everyday gym day

90

[quote]nanobyte wrote:
B-Mac13 wrote:
Something’s wrong. You can deadlift 187 and t-bar row 132…

What do you mean?[/quote]

You should be deadlifting more than that.

Keep at it. Progress will come.

91

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
You should be deadlifting more than that.

Keep at it. Progress will come. [/quote]

I’m increasing my deadlifts in 11 lb intervals.

For instance, today I did 198lbs.

92

[quote]moneyman7 wrote:
make everyday gym day
[/quote]

Oh? Anyone else concur? Cause in the first 2 weeks I was hitting the gym daily, and someone told me 3-4 times per week would be better as the body needs time to heal.

93

So, anyway. Dragged that ass to the gym.

Started with 198lb deadlifts and proceeded to do squats. Decided to start with 165lbs.

I was a bit shaky, but somehow making it through the first rep led me to believe I could do the others. There was no way I would have failed as there were girls on the premises.

Anyhow, I’m not sure I’m going low enough. I don’t think the thyes go quite parallel to the floor, though I won’t know until I have someone observe me.

Other shit I did was 5x5 100lb bent over rows, 5x10 66lb pronate curls, and then a routine with the pulleys where I do 7 reps pushing them forward, 7 at 45 degrees, and 7 down. Changing positions for each motion, 1 leg forward during the forward motion, feet together and slightly bent during decline, and then bent over with back parallel to the floor and chin up for the downward motion. I did that with 2x66lb today.

Aside from the benchpress that’s the best exercise I’ve found for my pecs.

Then I did 3x7 132lb (2x66lb) X-rows.

Post workout I drank my creatine crap, and had a double whey drink. Then I dragged my ass home and cooked some chicken breasts in curry sauce with rice and some koleslaw (sp?)

Err. Also boiled some mixed veg and soaked them with garlic infused olive oil.

94

[quote]nanobyte wrote:
So, anyway. Dragged that ass to the gym.

Started with 198lb deadlifts and proceeded to do squats. Decided to start with 165lbs.

I was a bit shaky, but somehow making it through the first rep led me to believe I could do the others. There was no way I would have failed as there were girls on the premises.

Anyhow, I’m not sure I’m going low enough. I don’t think the thyes go quite parallel to the floor, though I won’t know until I have someone observe me.

Other shit I did was 5x5 100lb bent over rows, 5x10 66lb pronate curls, and then a routine with the pulleys where I do 7 reps pushing them forward, 7 at 45 degrees, and 7 down. Changing positions for each motion, 1 leg forward during the forward motion, feet together and slightly bent during decline, and then bent over with back parallel to the floor and chin up for the downward motion. I did that with 2x66lb today.

Aside from the benchpress that’s the best exercise I’ve found for my pecs.

Then I did 3x7 132lb (2x66lb) X-rows.

Post workout I drank my creatine crap, and had a double whey drink. Then I dragged my ass home and cooked some chicken breasts in curry sauce with rice and some koleslaw (sp?)

Err. Also boiled some mixed veg and soaked them with garlic infused olive oil.[/quote]

I don’t know man, I’m not trying to be negative just give you an honest critique. Your whole approach to this undertaking seems to be a bit lackadaisical.

You even use negative language to describe what you are doing are taking. And, barely finding the gumption to finish your squats.

You posted a photo of what you would like to become, well let me tell you brother, it’s going to take a lot more fire, guts, and determination, then “I took my creatine crap and mustered through my squats,”.

If you are serious about take the advice you have given here and get busy you don’t have to give a play by play of every workout if you don’t give up just check in every once in awhile and show is your pics in a year to two or don’t… the choice is yours.

D

95

[quote]Dedicated wrote:
You even use negative language to describe what you are doing are taking. And, barely finding the gumption to finish your squats.
[/quote]
Sorry, I was just damn tired when I wrote that

[quote]
If you are serious about take the advice you have given here and get busy you don’t have to give a play by play of every workout if you don’t give up just check in every once in awhile and show is your pics in a year to two or don’t… the choice is yours.

D[/quote]
Didn’t plan to. Just didn’t want anyone to think I was giving up yet.

I’ll probably work my ass off and post another pic in about a month or two.

96

Your either very lucky or unlucky that you have one of the most knowlegble person here chopping at your ass. Though I do not know Proffessor X personally or inpesonally, or at all for that matter, I have gained a lot of knowledge reading his comments through out T-Nation.

So lets see how this coin lands, heads or tails.

Good luck.

97

[quote]jbodzin wrote:
Your either very lucky or unlucky that you have one of the most knowlegble person here chopping at your ass. Though I do not know Proffessor X personally or inpesonally, or at all for that matter, I have gained a lot of knowledge reading his comments through out T-Nation.

So lets see how this coin lands, heads or tails.

Good luck.[/quote]

You could be the most knowledgable person in the world, but if all your advice comes in the form of slyly disparaging exclamations and intentional misinterpretations, then chances are noone will take your advice.

Given the gap between the internet and bodybuilding, I’m in no way more likely to take heed to someone who has posted here over 10000 times (8 per day mind you) than someone who’s posted 30 times.

Anyway, I have nothing against him. Just wanted to stop this turning into a flamefest before I actually got some weigh-ins on what to do.

Keep-at-its given in the form of “you’re stupid for reading about what to do when you should have been doing it”, without knowing a person’s background is just self-agrandizing bullshit and frankly I’m amazed noone else picked up on that.

98

I’ve never really gained anything from X’s posts except a growing distaste for the animosity with which he treats other people… honestly, hero worship is one thing, but to blindly praise someone that makes a point of harassing and belittling every beginner?

99

if you want to look like mariusz, utimately you will have to learn to criticize yourself and whip yourself harder than anyone else ever could.
you should be glad to have people like professor x whipping you/exposing your weakness. you should seek this sort of critcism. and if people don’t give it to you, find someone who will. how else will you ever be able to finally push yourself ?

btw knock off the excuses on the squats. you don’t need to ask someone to stare @ your ass. you hit the bottom. that’s how you know when you’re deep enough.

100

[quote]nanobyte wrote:

Kruiser wrote:
Oh, LEARN HOW TO SQUAT! Even if you need to use a broomstick.

Oh, I know how to squat. Atleast, as far as I know. I focus on keeping my back in a good position, my feet perpendicular to my shoulders and my heels nailed to the ground. I go quite low, but I don’t go into a joint lock with my knees.

But I usually just squat 110lbs for 6-7 rep sets. It’s not quite enough to fire my quads for some reason. I just don’t feel confident loading up stuff on a rack and squatting it, because I’m afraid I’m afraid of failure, and have no spotter.

I have been practicing my front squats, and find them quite a bit more difficult. Not sure if that’s normal or not.

I guess DB squats could be a route.

One legged ones would be a stretch outside my league probably.

Sissy squats too.[/quote]

if you have a squat rack or power rack you shouldnt be nervous about squating. if you hit the bottom you wont get hurt if its set right. you gotta just suck it up and get some confidence and get under the bar