Lifting weights, cardio, nutrition. This is a place for questions and general discussion

What's the deal with protein. They're always trying to sell me on their "special" protein, because this shit dissolves faster into your bloodstream, or secretly makes your cock bigger. I don't know, but there's always some hazy reason they give as the reason their protein is the best out there. Why can't I just buy that shit at walmart. Or Costco 

LOL

There used to be all of this stuff left over after processing raw milk.  It wasn't thrown away but it had little commerical value.  Someone saw that it was very high in protein.  Fast forward few steps later and you have protein powder being marketed as a must have post-workout supplement. 

That question is funny coming from a man with a marketing background.  None of that shit matters.  There may be slight differences between something like whey and something like a casein or a whey-casein mix, or a milk protein isolate, but over the long run those differences will account for 1/99th of a fuckall.  If someone wants to spend their money on protein supps because they think it makes a difference, I'm not going to try to talk them out of it. 

That being said, all that matters is total protein intake over time.  And your required total protein intake will depend on your mass, your goal, your training, your life circumstances, and your carb intake.  The more carbs, the less protein you need and vice versa. 

As far as the timing of protein intake relative to working out, it takes 6-8 hours for mixed meal (protein, carbs, fat) to be fully digested.  So, for example, if you ate a full serving of chicken, potatoes, and salad for lunch at noon, the earliest you would need to think about more protein is 6pm.  And that's if you didn't have a snack or something before working out. 

I don't have a marketing background. I just have a skill in it. I would honestly hate the idea of being thought of as having a marketing background. 

That's like a guy with a marketing background coming into the community and getting good and becoming a dating coach. I wonder what his take on game would be. Not mine, that's for sure. 

Ok you gave a really good case for protein supplements being mostly bunk. The part where you you said even with all their "differences" they try to market, all the so-called benefits add up to about a 1/99th of the overall effectiveness of protein in general. Pretty powerful statement 

Ok let me ask you. How do I get rid of my muffintop. Is it my late night eating? I'm at the last damn inch before getting ripped abs and I just can't quite seem to get there. 

its so cute the stuff you choose to respond to like this

I don't have anything against protein powder and from time to time will buy some to supplement my protein intake if I feel like its a good idea.  If mentally it makes you feel better, then that's cool.  If you are eating lean protein--chicken, lean red meat, game, etc--with your meals then there's no reason to supplement with powder. 

I think you look adorable with your muffin top. 

The last damn inch is always the most challenging and most guys don't have the patience to get there.  Different people hold fat in different places as determined by some hormones, one of them called LPL.  For a majority of guys the last places to go will be the lurve handles and fupa.  Guys will get all pissed off because their arms, legs, and chest are ripped but not their abs.  Unless you are naturally lean, losing this last inch will require disciplined eating or drugs or both. 

If you want to go the disciplined eating route, then get a scale and measuring cups.  Weigh and measure your food.  Ask for the calorie guidelines when you get your happy meal at micky d's.  There are all sorts of tools with which to set your daily calorie needs.  Set protein, add in some fats, and then use the rest for carbs.  There are free calorie counting programs like myfitnesspal.com or calorieking which make this much quicker. 

There is also the possibility of eating primarily whole foods with little or no processing (Lean proteins, fruit, vegetables, whole grains, etc.) and then just "listening" to your body.  The original article is in norweigan, but plug the URL (http://myrevolution.no/s/health-fitness-concept-kosthold/) into google translate and you'll get a good idea of what he's talking about. 

Then there's drugs.  If you want to go this route its completely up to you to do your own research and learn about the very real risks.  These range from an ECA stack to clen to hgh to steroids to cabergoline to insulin to DNP.  The last two on the list will kill you if you take too much.  I'm not recommending the drug route, but its a real option for a guy who has done his research and has a good source.  I don't know any sources and am not a good resource for drug info because I have never used them--besides an ECA stack but that's legal (ephedrine used to be). 

My problem is I just love to fucking eat. I mean, right now I want to go hit my fridge, break it open and eat everything inside. I'm fucking ravenous. 5 in the morning 

"No food ever tastes as good as abs feel."  -- Descartes

Wow. That's a cheap fucking trick. Shit I wish it was true 

There's no reason why you aren't enough to have abs.  You don't need them for any particular reason other than vanity or wearing tight pants.  Given your background and shit, I know you will have abs if you decide to have abs.  Its up to you to make a Robinsonian decision and cut off the other possibilities and commit to the outcome. 

thoughts on creatine anyone? just picked up some of that micronized shit, dirt cheap

Its one of the few supps that works.  Glad you got the micronized, cause the other ones don't do anything special and cost more.  I know there is info about "loading" it and stuff.  It doesn't really matter, but if you want take a few extra scoops post workout with carbs and that'll do. 

http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrition-Creatine-Powder-300g/dp/B002DYIZEE/

So that'll work? 

@muffinwhore -I'll assume you're drinking enough water?

I drink a lot of water. I mix it with Crystal Lite too

sure

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sport/justcreatine.html

creatine is creatine, personally I find this to be one of the best deals out there. Thats creapure, its high quality shit.

Archangel you definitely have been following the right nutrition experts! Alan, Lyle and Martin are my favourite experts in the field. I've read all of their stuff and am strongly influenced by their approach. My buddy Sol has a really awesome website called examine.com that reviews all of the different supplements. It's great place to find out the unbiased information on a supplement you are curious about taking. I'm not a big supplement guy but I can spend hours on that site. There's some pretty fascinating stuff on there. 

I'll also ask, Archangel, do you have any experience with nootropics? They are definitely starting to emerge into the picture. Oh and awesome job on the double bodyweight deadlift. 

For those bulking, drink this:

2 scoops whey
2 cups oats
2 tbsp coconut oil

1100 cals, 84 grams protein

The coconut oil elevates testosterone.

The oats provide long lasting energy.

Cool. Just be careful of going overboard with surplus cals. Natural lifters can only gain around 0.5 lbs of muscle per week. Anything above an average daily surplus of 300 cals tends to result in fat gain. 

No experience with nootropics.  Its going to be better for you over the long run to develop solid sleep, rest, and eating habits.  I personally believe that sleep and diet will, over the long run, produce better results than nootropics. 

I've been fucking around with Vinpocetine and I'm seeing results.

What do you guys think of Lyle McDonald's Rapid Fat Loss Handbook? 

And wtf is wrong with the Quote functionality. *facepalm*

Jumping into this thread, been really inconsistent with lifting, getting back into it.  I'm 6 ft 2, 193, pretty lanky skinny fat.  Trying to figure out if I should bulk or cut.   I want to get ripped up and see my abs, but also don't want to get like a skinny bitch, want to get bigger. So some kind of a mix between a cut and bulk. Want to look really good going into the school year got a lot of time this summer.

What's up with all these diets and shit,  any diet plans/easy meals to make that I could follow. Been looking into leangains..

Here's my lifting profile to show where I'm at:

This is my baseline, I remain around here lifting every couple months.

7 - BW pull ups

Bench - 165x8

Military Press - 8x85

Squat - 260x10

Deadlift 225x8 - tweaked my back

Its an excellent way to lose fat fast, but its only for the short term.  Its basically a protein sparing modified fast with some tweaks to it and a how to lift on it.  The diet is protein + greens and some refeeds.

I like IF-style as an eating pattern because I like feeling full and like the convenience of only 2 meals.  Also, Martin likes the reverse pyramid training to go along with it.  He has an RPT template on his blog, and that kind of set/rep scheme is good for someone trying to lose fat. 

I've heard it's more optimal to stack choline with vinpocetine. Choline is suppossed to recharge the neurotransmitters or some shit.  Then again, if you eat eggs, you're already getting in some choline. 

RFL is fine for people who are higher in body fat, 16%+. But even Lyle Mcdonald agrees that he isn't a fan of very low calorie, crash style diets. He pretty much just wrote the book because he figured people would do them so he decided to present a less retarted way of crash dieting. For fat loss, active individuals probably have no need to go below 11-12 calories per pound of bodyweight. That should place them in a nice 20-30% calorie deficit, 90% of the time. Protein set at 1g per pound of goal bodyweight (higher if preferred), fat at 25 or 30% of total calories (support optimal testosterone, encourage fullness and make meals tastier) and carbs making up the rest. Once you've set the macros you can take a flexible approach to hitting your macros, healthy natural food making up 80% of your intake and whatever the fuck you want for the rest. 

Hm I didn't realize the vinpocetine/choline link. Though I did just get some choline in. But yes I eat eggs in my bacon jalapeno ranch salads I make. 

Missed 395 today but got 390. 

395 what?

Dear Sirs,

In the gymnasium's olympic weight room I hand loaded three-hundred and fifty pounds of iron onto a forty-five pound steel bar.  I removed my tennis shoes and, in my stocking feet, stepped up to the bar such that it was over the mid-line of my feet.  I then gripped the bar with a shoulder-width "mixed" grip and attempted to lift it from a dead stop off of the floor.  After elevating the bar approximately six inches off the floor, alas, I could move it no further.  After having a sip of some water and waiting for approximately a five minute rest interval, I loaded three-hundred and forty-five pounds of iron onto the forty-five pound bar.  Using the same setup as last time I was able to complete this lift to the "lockout" position. 

Kind regards,

Archangel

You pussy what were you doing wearing shoes they wear in tennis. 

I got you beat by 5kgs friend, Max deadlift for me is 358lbs. It's a pissing contest ;)

It's all about headspace when lifting big. Mike O'Hearn here - along with CT Fletcher helped me develop that "rip the bar off the floor" mentality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7Y-zXkPQVQ

What's everyones Lifts for the big three like? Personally I don't do singles, but for sets of 3 mine are - at my weight of 158lbs:

Deadlift: 358lbs

Squat: 286lbs

Bench: 202lbs

He said 390. You said 358. His is more 

@Kris solid man, p4p you got me.  my shoulder is fubar'd so anything over 185 on the bench and cracking popping pain results.  i post my numbers for me because lifting is yet another process in life, and being strong comes in handy

do you really have to lift heavy?

at this point i just go to gym for maintenance and health reasons - not necessarily to get stronger, but things may change when i hit 30.

@Gogo

You don't have to do anything.  I enjoy the process of battling against own weakness and pushing the iron, the temporary pain, and the benefits from being stronger.  You do what you want for your reasons.  Plenty of dudes have incredible levels of fitness and great bodies and they've never done a traditional weight training program.  Some people love and get great results from crossfit, and then there are guys like ross enamit.  Its up to you.  The quote below from Henry Rollins really resonates with me personally:

Couldn't agree with you more on being strong and it coming in handy mate. Not trying to brag here really, just some friendly banter. Funny thing is I'm still short of where I want to be, I'm just not satisfied with my lifts. My goal is to bench 225lb, Deadlift 400lbs and Squat 350lbs. It's all about just pushing it mentally and making the gradual progress. 

As far as your injury; I feel for you on the shoulder pain bro, last october I had some shoulder issues

Here's what i did to correct it (and improve my bench by 25lbs):

No upper body workouts for a couple weeks, saw a physio who mobilised the joint and really worked magic, but if you don't wanna fork over some money I got the notes on what he did. My injury was a left shoulder inpingement. So I did the following

1. Stretch the traps out. Grab some heavy dumbells as if you were shrugging and do one rep up just to activate them then let the weight do the work, pulling your shoulders down. Make sure you're standing tall, chest up. Form, posture is everything.

2. Stretch the Biceps out

3. Work on Thoracic Mobility (upper spine)

4. Stretch the pecs

Check these videos out too, they have some great stretches for  warming up and getting your body in optimal posture for throwing the weight around:

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/the-rotator-cuff-unlocking-th...

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/hacking-the-deep-squat

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/sparing-the-shoulders

I also worked on hip mobility too, often an injury is the cause of a certain body part over working to compensate for a lack of synergy within the neuromuscular system. I recommend everyone do this one anyway, as far as fucking goes. It rocks for power fucking in the squating position hehe. I can literally bring my hips - from a standing posting to balls on the floor in one fluid motion. Beautful.

Anyway, hope that helps.

@gogo

Depends on your goals, look into calisthenics if you don't wanna lift. 

@Kris thanks.  yeah i saw a chiro this winter who did 8000hrs of post-grad work at the olympic training facility in colorado springs, and he also lifts.  he gave me some exercises to minimize long-term issues, but i tore my acromioclavicular joint so my clavicle is not attached to my shoulder blade at the top.  there are two other ligaments, but its not worth it to me. 

Fuck. 

I'm super overweight and 23 years old. 

Awesome motivation to see guys so into this shit. 

I'm most curious about how you guys seem to ENJOY it so much that you actively want to do it all the time and think about it and read about it. That's what I've found works best for sustained engagement. 

When I was 16 I started lifting weights because I was 130lbs at 6ft tall and got told I was "too skinny" all the time.  My church youth group leader had a group membership to an old-school iron gym in the basement of a local supermarket, and he took me with him twice a week.  I wasn't consitent with it because I started working and got a girlfriend a few months later, but the experience planted the seed. 

Halfway through college I started lifting again because I was 150lbs and skinny fat.  I found a friend who wanted to bro-out with me in the weight room and I made the physical journey from 150 down to 140lbs and from 140 up to 185.  Back then my primary motivation was mos def "looking good naked."  We did lots of curls for the girls. 

Then I went on to get fat and angry, and lifting became my therapy.  I sought out quality info because there is so much bullshit out there.  I found Alan Aragon on bodybuilding.com and through him Lyle and later Martin.  I spent lots of time posting on there asking and answering questions.  I later met Alan in person at a conference and he encouraged me to pursue fitness as a career.  After that I started volunteering in the college weight room and studying for the CSCS. 

I've been on and off for the last few years since I decided not to pursue it as a career, but I always go back to lifting.  Its still a therapy and weekly practice.  I make it about me and the weights, and nothing else matters when I'm under the bar.  I know you love pushing yourself and meeting your own standards, and this is one way I do that. 

Same as Archangel for me.

I was around 130 lbs at 5'10 and I was just like 'fuck this I'm not gonna live like this anymore', I saw other dudes with physiques and was like, 'I can have that'. I think the fact I've had a lot of serious medical problems growing up, helped give me the leverage to take action.

My motivation ultimately was wanting to be better, and I wasn't gonna stop until I got what I wanted. I was at a period where I didn't have a lot of control and stability in my life and was looking for something to discipline myself and work toward goals, pushing myself harder,improving in little increments, with more weight, faster. That was like 18 months ago, I will probably do this till I die now. It's just a normal part of my physiology to hit the gym now. 

Tony Robbins talks about the psycology between people that take massive action and others that don't. It's entirely specific to each individuals experience on life and what beliefs they hold and how everything is structured; for example someone who thinks they can't do it deep down, will take action. But Ultimately they will fail, because they will eventually cross resistance - just like everybody does - and rationalize the temporary setback or failure as 'See I told you I couldn't do it'. Where as the optimist will fail, recalibrate etc etc. Eventually getting it right, feeding into their belief, 'See I knew I could do it'.

You just need to find the leverage inside you to do something. The same way you've taken massive action in the game BG. Just find that Archimedes lever and you're set.

I'm pretty baked right now, hopefully this makes sense to you.

What did you mean by this? Not sure what your suggesting.

Yeah, Manwhore any protein powder is fine. You would probably prefer a whey isolate as they have lower fat and carb content. Any reputable brand will do. A casein is good but expensive and not needed. It releases amino acids into your blood stream slowly over time instead of a quick boost like whey. Other than that hydrolyzed is pre-digested and hits your blood stream the fastest but comes with a real hefty price tag. Whey is fine.

Any creatine will do. Just get the cheapest one. Some have other additives. Just get creatine. No loading phase needed as most directions will suggest. Just take 5/g a day, any time. Its a well proven supplement that increases power, brain cognitivity, recovery and a host of other benefits for lifitng, cardio and generally health/well being. I like mixing it in with tea, it dissolves well it hot water. You don't get that gritty taste

This is good man. Skinny fucks have to eat a shit ton on top of a shit load. I prefer what precisicion nutrition brands a "super shake." One veggie, one fruit, nuts/seeds, protein source, liquid all blended into one shake. So your shake is good but throw in some spinach in there, and a fruit. It'll taste better and have more nutritents. The one I usually make is a handful of spinach, two scoops of vanilla whey, some oats, frozen strawberries, a banana, and sometimes chia seeds/flax. If your having trouble getting HIGH QUALITY food into your system drink 1-3 of these bad boys a day.

Sometimes true but kind of a fallacy. Beginners and skinny folk and often put on slabs of muscle quickly because they are so damn far from their genetic potential that the second they lift with proper form and start eating more than bread and butter they explode. Also athletes have been known to put on around 20 pounds in a month when looking to move up a weight class with minimal body fat increases.

Leangains is cool. Intermittent fasting has a lot of useful applications. For someone like you google - scrawny to brawny. Heres what you need to eat every day. http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/bigger Notice how the workout section is few small rules and thats it? Diet man, go crush some balanced meals, lift heavy and worry about getting "ripped abs" later.

Your lifts seem a bit off too... Your press is lagging behind your bench and deads behind your squats. Its easier to cheat on bench and squat moreso than the other two, no cheating going on.. Is there? If you tweaked your back, drop the weight and progressively increase every week until your dead lift is high. Your posterior chain will def need work if your squating that heavy with scrict form. Whatever you have to do get that back fixed.

No. It depends on your goals. I do HIGHLY suggest always progessing though. Your body is high adaptive to the point where if you progress from not being able to run a mile to being able to run five and continue running 5 miles without increasing any other factors your body would only be slightly more taxed than sitting on the couch and masturbating. So make use of your time in the gym. If your happy with strength and size you do not have to lift heavy. I do however suggest decreasing rest times, increasing reps, increasing weight, stepping up cardio (time, incline, distance). There are a million factors but you should always be improving in the gym no matter your goals.

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I love this guy, this video in particular has loads of good stuff on nutrition

@icewhine thanks for jumping in.  don't confuse the manwhore.  just tell him to get some whey protein and be done with it

^ Thanks

Yeah I bought the creatine off bb.com I started taking it today. Nootropics have been on full blast for awhile now. Now all I need to work on is hair implants. 

Just wear a hot girl like a crown. if you want hair, make her grow the vagina out and comb it to the sides