Fitness
 

Are you the work out type who wants to be all ripped?
Is fitness for you just a "eye of the beholder", in your head thing?
Then again, do you even care?

Being the new fella here, I have this to start with cause I've been doing the work out thing for awhile. I want the ripped stomach, arms that are all tight, and the butt that is a magnet for my womans hands.
One of my goals is to do that cool kung fu thing where I can flip up off the ground on to my feet.
Suggestions, comments?.....

I work out to be healthy, but also to have a nice physique. I don't want to be monstrous huge though. I want to look lean but ripped. Since I am a competing martial artist, having smaller mass but great strength is helpful.

Yeah go here and buy this book.

http://www.rosstraining.com/infiniteintensity.html


As for me, I need to stay at a certain weight to keep fighting in my weight class. I need stamina, strength and flexibility, just about everything so I don't really care for an all ripped physique.

I do a bit of everything--powerlifting, olympic lifting, and bodybuilding. I want to be big, strong, balanced, and healthy. I love the feeling of cold steel in my hands and a few hundred pounds on my back. Actually, this does a pretty good job of summing it up. I like this one too. We tend to make fun of the guys who want to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Eat like Nicole Richie and you'll reach your goal in no time.

Yeah, basically what you make fun of, that's what I want to look like.

I want to be lean but low body fat percentage.

I went from 193 to 135 (I'm 5'6") over the past couple months using an elliptical machine and low calorie diet.

I could care less about huge muscles, I just want to be able to go to the beach and not be embarrassed about fat rolls. (Plus any of the complications that come with being overweight).

Yep! Going for definition over sheer size, as I don't have the genetics for lots of muscle mass. I love being able to take off my shirt and not feel embarassed, but I'm still not satisified with where I'm at now.

I'm a huge fan of bodyweight exercises. A mixture of that, a fair bit of running, and eating fat-free food is the ticket. That "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" fat-free 5 calorie spread is a savior. I can almost get that delicious butter flavor in my mashed potatoes and not screw with my fitness goals.

I lift weights regularly. I train to be in shape but I don't want to be a wuss like these guys above me. (<3 Jazzflight. Congrats on the weight loss)
While I also don't have the genes to be a very large individual, I've managed to become well built through years of exercize. I'm not at my peak right now because of school but I think I can get it back fairly easily.

I try to train with weights 3 times a week and do cardio twice a week. For weight training, I rely on the big barbell movements. Some bodyweight exercizes like wide grip chinups are great but nothing beats the hypertrophic benefits of power movements like military press and sumo style deadlifts.

My goal is both weight-loss and muscle development, hence sticking to the 8-12 reps during resistance training. Other days I just do muscle strength (6 reps max).

My circuit involves training the bigger muscle groups (arms, back, thighs, chest, etc) then some cardio on the side. And a low-calorie lifestyle--virtually substituting softdrinks/sodas for water and eating less and less outside. Figured also that a non-stop exercise routine at least for 15-30 minutes helps greatly.

My aim is about 5 days per week gym time. The downside is that there's not enough equipment for say, preacher curls or lateral pulls or so on, at least here in our gym anyway.

I work out because if I don't, I'd be 10 pounds heavier than I am now. My body is just the type where whatever I put in my mouth will find its way onto my stomach or thighs.

So, it's either not eat or work out and since I like food and don't like starving myself, I work out. Yeah I guess it makes me healthy and shit like that but I'd still rather sit on my ass eating chips in front of the tv than running like a hamster on a treadmill.

I run and muscle train, usually my back and abs. I also used to swim but the pool at my gym is really disgusting, so I stopped that after a while.

I sometimes work out by lifting cans of coke and doing sit-ups. I know it's not optimal workout, but I really don't want to get TOO big, and my bad genetics don't allow me to do exercises like squats and deadlifts anway. Not everyone can be like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. :/

Those links were priceless! I like the attitude you guys have here. I'm into the martial arts as well and it feels good to watch some kung-fu flick and say to myself "I could do that."

My girl isn't as pumped up as I am about a work out though. She cringes at the prospect of some pain. It wasn't always the case but I fear shes just did it to impress me when we first got together. Now its been a few years and shes starting to let herself go. Not that its all her fault but her attitude is different now.
Anybody here have some advice on how to inspire your woman without telling her shes uh, fat?
If not women how about you guys with homies who are just not as fired up as they used to be. What do you say?

I'm guessing you tried the gym so how about a weekly activity class, hopefully somewhere at your nearest community center (if there's one)?

Honestly I haven't tried a community center like the Y. Such a novel idea! Duh I should have thought of that one. Now the hard part, I gotta broach the subject.
See shes not totally lazy. We have an exercise bike in the basement that she gets on every once in a while. I think its because somewhere inside, the flame within hasn't gone out but its not really hot either.
We talk but when we go there she gets all mad and stuff. I know she doesn't like doing a work out with me cause she says "I'm a drill seargent".
Ooops my army experience comes out every once in a while.

If there are any ladies here, a little help PLEASE?

Personally I think if she doesn't like exercising and is "letting herself go", there's very little you can do about it without taking your relationship down will you.

Try to do more physical activities together, like hiking or tag football on weekends with friends, or just even going for a walk around the block. Until you tell her how you feel about her lack of exercising, you can only sneak it in when she's not suspecting.

I've never been one to go for big muscles, mostly because it would take a great deal to make my muscles grow like that and my metabolism work that way. I'm naturally very lean (6'2", 155lbs), and all I do to maintain it is make sure I walk to school and eat fairly healthy. I'd love to go to a gym, but am unwilling to spend the money, so my exercise is relegated to situps and pushups year-round, and running three mornings a week when there's no ice on the ground (ie in Utah, April to October).

If I can get this done: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

I'll be pretty happy with myself... running 5k now would bloody kill me... but if I could do it thrice a week - holy moley I'll be well on track to good health :)

I think running multiple 5ks now in one week would probably kill me, too, but it isn't too hard to work up to. When I was in high school I did cross country and we worked up to an average of about 6 miles a day (obviously sometimes more, sometimes less). Even the slightly- to fairly-overweight people were able to work into it. It was tough for them, I'm sure, but they did it. Just takes time and dedication. Can't give up on it for a week or you'll be back where you started.

Whatever you do, don't constantly drop what you believe to be subtle hints. I'd suggest talking to her openly and honestly about how you feel. Maybe if you can somehow make her understand how important fitness is to you, she'll get back into it. You could approach it from the angle of being able to spend more time doing things (working out) together if you think that would work better, but I see nothing wrong with simply telling her that you were more attracted to her physically when she was working out. Whatever you do, though, don't tell her she's getting fat. Unless your goal is to never be able to sleep with her again.

I agree.

I feel that a person has to decide for themselves that they want to lose weight. Otherwise:

1. They won't stick with the program.
2. They'll get depressed.
3. They'll hate whoever told them they needed to lose weight.

This is just based on my experience, where I simply decided to lose weight by myself, with no prodding by anyone else. In fact, my family kept saying "oh, but you weren't fat" but I was clearly overweight by BMI standards.

Sometimes, it just needs to happen out of the blue.

Losing 60 pounds in "the past couple months" is disgustingly unhealthy. What did you do starve yourself compeletly?

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/5...mpless1.th.jpg

I normally (before the diet) ate about 3000+ calories a day, just randomly snacking on candy and cake all the time, eating large amounts of fast food every day.

Starting from late May until early September, I changed my routine to:

1. 30-45 minutes of elliptical machine running.
2. 1200-1500 calories of food. Vegetables, high protein, no snacks.
3. Some very basic dumbbell lifting, starting from 5 pounds (I had no upper body strength, seriously), to 10, then 15, and now 20.
4. Vitamins everyday. One a Day Men's Health, Super Omega 3, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C.
5. Lots of water. I'm talking tons.

Lost about 3 pounds a week, felt great. Lost the man boobs, ass, and almost all of my stomach (still have a very little leftover skin on the lower stomach).

Got checked out by a doctor on Oct 30th, everything was fine.

As you can see, after I reached 145, I stopped the exercise routine and just kept a low calorie diet (1500-2000), and still was able to lose another 10 pounds over the course of a few months.

It was the fact that I was on summer break that I was able to dedicate so much free time to such a drastic change. Trust me, if you want to simply lose weight, that's the way to do it. As long as the 1500 calories are nutritional and not just junk food, you can stay healthy.

When I get a gym pass, I go to the gymm three times a week and it usually involves running 1 mile, biking for 15 minutes and then working out on the muscles for 25 minutes. But, when I get busy with school and stuff, I tend to be lazier to go to the gym.... but now my friend wants to play squash again, so I will have to get another gym pass.

Just some friendly advice: pick one or the other. You need a caloric surplus to build muscle and a caloric deficit to lose fat. So after the first few months of "newbie gains" you're going to have to do one at a time. You can get stronger (basically by improving the efficiency of your nervous system) without eating more than maintenance calories, but you're not going to get bigger. Even with no equipment, you should be able to do push-ups, pull-ups, and squats/lunges. If you have a barbell or a set of DBs up to, say, 100 lbs you can do damn near any exercise worth doing.

I try to work out as often as possible. I tend to work on 1-3 different body parts/day, such as biceps and shoulders on one day, plus I run for about 10 minutes before starting my workout. In addition, I play Ping-pong for an hour before running and about an hour after finishing. My only downside is that while being at University, I don't have a lot of food to eat because Im not a good cook and the fridge I have is pretty small, but I tend to eat as much as I can manage.

Anyway, my suggestions is that you should push yourself to your limits and eat as much as you can. I realized that after working out for about 1 1/2 years, my appetite has greatly increased, so be prepared to eat much more.

i really wish i could be more fit. i always try diets && stuff but i'm too lazy to stay on them lol

Let me get this straight. You laugh at Brad Pitt's Fight Club body? Dude, he is laughing at you all the way to the sack where Angelina Jolie is happily awaiting him. That body type is about a million times more appealing than the huge, muscley, overly built look, and is probably more healthy since someone with that body type probably does WAY more cardio exercises and eats a more balanced diet than a bodybuilder.

He didn't say they're making fun of Brad Pitt's body. They're making fun of guys who dream of looking like him and think that Pitt is some kind of superhuman, while in reality it's much easier to have a body like his (just lots of cardio, a bit of weightlifting and more-or-less proper nutrition) than to have a more muscular body. Of course Pitt looks good in Fight Club, but that's because he's handsome in general, and also largely because of the camera angles and lighting, and the superconfident way he carried himself. Actually though, he was really pretty skinny. A picture of training for Fight Club:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5675/mfi072fiu5.jpg

A lot of fifteen-year-olds have larger legs than that, you know?

I used to work out every morning for at least twenty minutes, but I have become quite lazy and currently, I think I make my exercises every second day, which is still better than two years ago when I didn't do any workout at all. I want to stay healthy and I don't want to look like John Candy, but I also think that some people are too serious about working out, like they spend two or three hours in the gym each day. Of course it looks great if you have a sixpack and sure you will have more luck with the girlz (well at least with those who don't have much in their head) but don't waste your life trying to become someone who doesn't think of anything else than his body.

I work out for the sake of exercise and to get stronger. I could give a shit what I look like, but as a result I look pretty alright. I see people constantly setting goals at the gym based on vanity and they usually end up a complete failure. If you're there to look good and nothing more, you better have a ton of will power because it's a long process and depression will set in pretty quick if you don't set yourself some intermediate goals.

LMAO. Bodybuilders are some of the biggest health nuts around. Someone with the Brad Pitt Fight Club body type isn't necessarily eating healthily, but he's damn sure not eating enough. In the long run, people who maintain a hypocaloric diet will tend to have a greater lifespan (basically because their organs aren't processing as much). It's sort of like undervolting a computer processor. Personally I'd rather up the voltage and overclock mine, even if it dies on me sooner. With all the exercise I do and healthy things I eat, I'm still living longer than 99% of the population anyway. The steady-state cardio that most people do is crap. Resistance and interval training are king unless you actually want the muscle mass of a thirteen-year-old girl.

Brad Pitt in Fight Club was about as appealing as Christian Bale in The Machinist. I'd rather look like Bale in Batman. Most bodybuilders don't want to look like Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler. They want the physique of Eugene Sandow or Stan McQuay. I'm sorry if masculinity offends you. I'm well aware that the trend in women's tastes is toward the emo wimps and metrosexuals. They're naturally bi-curious, so if they can get you all to look and act more like them, they're going to do it. I, for one, will not sit around waiting for the death of man.

Ahh, here we go...

Well, it was kinda hard for him to look good when he was costarring with Ed Norton... :D

I don't see the point in working out so much myself. Sure, it gets you healthy, sure you live longer but... It just doesn't seem worth it to me. I feel healthy enough with just doing the very rare workout I do, although I'm fairly limited in what I can do because I've managed to inherit godawful back and hip problems. I suppose I'm still young though, I may feel different about it in a few years -shrugs-

I use to exercise allot when I was doing martial arts but when my dojo closed down I started to slack off allot more :$ my new years resolution is to start going to the gym when I come back down south in the summer.

I think I'm a little bit nervous about exercise. I walk everywhere I can, but apart from that I don't exercise much. I had a friend who seemed to have good intentions at heart when it came to being fit and then he just became very ill. I suppose it's sort of put a crimp on myself becoming fit, but I'm not that bothered about it anyway.

I've got around to working out just about everyday since October. Since being out of school, I've been less active. I used to go ball or something many nights. Now my regiment exists really just to keep me from feeling lazy, and maybe "get big." It's been working, since I got the question from my doctor's appointment last week: "have you been working out?" Hehe. =p

Each day, I do a bunch of stretches and workouts I did back from my martial art elementary school days, condensed into about 10-15 minutes. At work and/or at home, I do some upper body stuff, which includes 3 sets of 15-30 reps of 10 different upper body exercises. And then I do 100 or more each of abs stuff (legs lifts, sit-ups, etc), depending on if I have time or not. I don't do much for my legs though these days, but they're still okay since I still do a lot of walking, and really that's all I used back in school: soccer, basketball, DDR... ya.

I wanna stay in shape. I'm a martial artist, I try to lift weights and run when I can... (and play Wii Sports, lol!!! j/k). I also am very particular about eating specific foods. I'm the kind of person thats reading the back of food products for Nutrition Facts... so yeah, I'm a little bit nutty when it comes to health, although, I sometimes will go a day and just not care when something bad is going down, like having stress or just daily life drama. :)

I think youre right. I did the open honest thing and she respects my position but she's going to do it her way with some diet book. Eat this and that with a little walking or biking & poof youre a whole new person says the book.
I said I think the book is another one of those diet scams & I will believe it when I see it.
Honestly I feel we have grown apart in this respect and like I told her I miss the days when we did walk together and worked out. I really enjoyed it.
Now we have been together for awhile and I guess the real person has finally come out. Well I love her and her stubborn side is what attracted me to her in the first place. I will keep up my efforts and when she finally comes around I will be ready.