Fitness

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.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Terminus

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.

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.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Alice

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.

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.

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