Bodybuilding Supplements and Programs » bodybuilding exercise program

Physical Education Question – Please HELP!?

Solid — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 23:55:54 +0000

Match each term with its definition.
A. a systematic program of exercises designed to increase an individuals ability to resist or exert force
B. the continued systematic increase of muscle workload by the addition of more weight or resistance
C. a competitive sport in which muscle size and shape are more important than strength
D. a competitive sport designed to build power and strength
E. use of weights to improve general fitness, health, and appearance

resistance training
progressive resistance
weight training
bodybuilding
weight lifting

A = RESISTANCE TRAINING
B = PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE
C = WEIGHT LIFTING
D = BODY BUILDING
E = WEIGHT LIFTING

Is it common while weight training for waist size to go up?

Solid — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 05:54:21 +0000

I’ve been doing a serious weight lifting routine since about February, my lifts have increased each time and its been going really well overall, I add about 5 lbs to all of my weighted exercises each time I work out, or reps for floor exercises. In a year since spring 09 my squat has gone from 60 lbs of added weight to 215 lbs. I do an altered 5 x 5 program (I do 3 x 5 and do rather heavier weights)

I once was rather fat, and wore a size 38 back in middleschool, I got down to 36ish in highschool and I had actually gotten down spring 09 to what I believe was a 35….as I could wear those size pants rather comfortably. Then I started my weight training. Now I just measured myself and it says its 38 again…should I not worry about this? I thought my bodyfat and all was going down… I’m 6’2, and I’ve been dying to get into the 34-32 range…

Here’s my bodyspace to see my progress for yourself…I think if I actually got into good shape/smaller size I’d be rather good looking again.

http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/maxometer/more.php?section=progresspics

I’m just confused. Is it not uncommon for a waist size to go up when doing hard weight training? I would like to get a good base of muscle, so do I just deal with this in the meantime and then do a cut? Just want to know I’m not failing at this….
Also the measurement of my "natural" waist ABOVE my belly button is a 36…it’s the area on top of my hips that is a 38…I do have wide hips for a guy imo…

When you’re gaining muscle it’s normal to gain fat along with it. So far, from the looks of things, you’re doing everything right.

You have two choices if your goal is to eventually get to a 34 waist.
1) Keep progressing as you are, but modify your diet so you cut the carbs and increase protein and fat, keeping the total number of calories the same. This could reduce your waistline as you get muscle, but it’s not easy. Worst case is your lifts stall and you start overtraining.
2) Once you hit a goal, say 315 for 3 sets of 5 reps in the squat or you finish linear progression, go on some sort of diet to maintain strength levels while cutting fat.

You might want to check out some of Lyle McDonald’s and Alan Aragon’s stuff. They’re pretty knowledgeable at this sort of thing and there’s no doubt that you’ll find exactly what to do if you poke around their sites long enough.

Chest training question for people that actually weight lift?

Solid — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:37:30 +0000

I was looking through "The New Encyclopedia for Modern Bodybuilding by arnold schwarzenegger and Billl Dobbins and on page 318 this is what Arnold recommends for developing maximum power, mass, and strength in the chest. The program is as follows:
1) Begin with Bench Presses. Do 20 reps the first set, then 10 reps. At this point, raise the weight so you go down immediately to 5 reps, 3 reps, and 1 rep.
2) Continue doing as many sets as you can (at least 5) with a weight that allows you only 1 or 2 reps.
3) Perfrom the last set with a lighter weight that allows you to go back up to high reps.
4) Go on Incline Presses and do them the same way. Afterward, follow the same program with Dumbbell Fly’s.

Arnold and friends did steroids. Steroids allow you to recover faster. Normally, you can train hard or train long. Not both. With steroids, you can.

Essentially, you would rest between the first 5 sets, but then you could do rest-pause between the rest, resting 10 seconds or so. I would say that Flyes would be best if you did them first because the bench press isn’t a chest exercise. It’s a front delt exercise. Think about it, your feet are on the ground, your back is arched a little, your pushing with your shoulders and your arms. Your chest doesn’t do much work at all. Do the Flyes first do exhaust the chest.

Even better, bring your feet up on the bench and bring the bar down to your neck or clavicle. If you have a spotter, use a suicide grip to take the stress off the forearms. That way the chest is almost completely isolated.

Arnold means do the whole routine, rest a couple minutes, and then continue. What is more effective for gaining mass is cutting down rest times before you raise the weight. For instance, do my neck press I told you about above with 100 pounds (it’ll be harder than you think), resting 30 seconds between sets. Then 20 the next time. Then 10. Then no rest. Then raise the weight. You make bigger mass gains that way. Gaining strength and mass at fast rates is hard to do simultaneously.

Chest training question for people that actually weight lift?

Solid — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:00:22 +0000

So I have a couple questions about interpreting this program and chest training itself. Does he mean not to rest at all between all of these sets. Does he mean to do them right after each other or work in another body part then do your other chest exercise the same way? Lastly, does chest training such as this actually work well because after that hour that you spend doing this your chest wont get hit for the rest of the workout. Any thoughts, opinions, or personal experience would be extremely appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read and listen!

i believe you should rest before going to the incline and then again before he fly’s to give your arms a rest… eventually you can probably go straight thru, but it’s best to pace yourself and catch your breath. i’ve never done this particular workout, but you will feel it in your chest the next day for sure if not later on that day… the way muscle builds up is by it getting torn down and growing back bigger and stronger

Home Exercise Program – Level 1

Solid — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 13:18:01 +0000

Home exercise program that can be done by everyone.

~Bench Press – Chest, shoulders and triceps
~Triceps Extensions – triceps
~Shoulder Press – shoulders and triceps
~One Arm Rows – back and biceps
~Dumbbell Curls – biceps
~Squats – thighs, hamstrings and glutes (butt)
~Kneeling Kickbacks – hamstrings and butt
~Lying Bridges – hamstrings and butt
~Crunches – abs

Duration : 0:2:20

Home chest workout: dumbbell fly exercise

Solid — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:47:28 +0000

Video clip showing proper form of the dumbbell fly exercise for pecs. Most people focus on bench press for chest but I have found that for me the fly movements have provided the most muscle growth. This is a great home exercise! Here I am doing it on a bench but I actually prefer to do it flat on the floor to limit my range of motion and protect the shoulders. Using a bench you should have a spotter but on the floor you can easily work out alone.

As with any dumbbell exercise, form is key if you want to maximize your muscle building efforts and minimize the chance of injury. Don’t use too much weight, if you can’t do the exercise slowly then you need to go lighter. Count aloud “one onethousand, two onethousand, three onethousand” on the way up and the way down, if you cant do this on this exercise then you are using too much weight. The reason this exercise method maximizes your muscle growth is because it confines the motion to the muscle you are trying to work out, if your body squirms, swings, and kicks, all you are doing is taking the focus away from the muscle you are trying to exercise.

Anyone can be healthier, have more energy, sleep better, and feel better about themselves through bodybuilding. Bodybuilding doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time, gyms are great but home workouts can save you time and money. A cheap dumbbell set from a garage sale or walmart is all it takes to get started with your home workouts.

For more information on home workouts, please see my free website (no advertising either):

http://fitness.scoobysworkshop.com

Limitation of Liability: Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program! I am not a medical professional. It is your responsibility to critically evaluate this information and with the help of your physician decide if it is appropriate for you.
copyright 2006-2009 scoobysworkshop.com LLC

Duration : 0:0:53

Technorati Tags: bodybuilder, bodybuilding, chest, dumbbell, exercise, flex, fly, pec, pecs

How’s this for P90X diet/cutting?

Solid — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:12:26 +0000

I’m a tad impatient and am still awaiting a response in a diff forum.

I just wanted to run by you what I eat usually and ask how it is relative to what I’m trying to do, which is improving upon my swimmer’s body. I used to swim regularly(1mi ~30mins). Haven’t gotten back into the pool in a while but I’m currently doing P90X right now. I’m a total beginner when it comes to training so I decided it was best for me to pick up a program that was ready-to-go. I’ve modified it slightly to suit my needs. Anyhow, here’s my diet:

I eat no more than 1 plate of food a meal(usually a bowl because I eat rice).

This is the norm:
Breakfast:
-1 glass of water
-1 cup of Kashi cereal with what I assume to be an equal amount of 1% milk
-2 eggs with rice/bread
-1 serving of fruit

Lunch:
-Glass of Water
-The bowl equivalent of a 12" plate. I eat 1 cup of white(216 Cal/cup), long grain rice with some thing that is either seafood, lean chicken/pork/beaf, or veggie-soup
-1 slice whole grain bread
-handful of nuts when I can
-1 serving of fruit

Dinner:
-Same as lunch but more likely to be with fish

Before Bed:
- portion of cheese and bread with milk for muscle

-Veggies usually are spinach, broccoli, or romaine lettuce that I eat plain to avoid dressing but man, spinach plain is terrible.
I’m very much on eating healthy(mainly for longevity).
Things to note:
-I’ve been having trouble controlling portions recently, I’ll usually eat another 1/4 bowl
-I’ve been replacing half of my WHITE rice with whole wheat bread. So 2 slices of bread, and 1 cup.
-I tried eating brown rice but it doesn’t taste the best. Recently I bought a bag and am trying to slowly integrate it into my meals.
-I tried eating smaller meals more frequently but that did not go well. I have trouble with eating until I’m satiated.
-I drink 3/4 gallon of water a day.

I’m almost 20, stand at 6’1", weight 173ish and do my best to strength train 5x/week. Planning to start swimming 3+ times a week again.

I’ve just learned about counting Macros and was wondering if there was a simpler way to ensure I’m eating sufficient macros without having to calculate everything. I’ve read several times that "eyeballing" food doesn’t work.

I calculated my BMR to be 1900 Cal and my Daily caloric needs to be at 3000 Cal(moderate exercise 5x/week) – 3000 is probably an over estimation. I did one previously at bodybuilding.com and it yielded 1900 for my BMR and 2700 for my Daily.

Any feedback is appreciated. I know "cals in vs cals out" is most important. I do want to make sure I get my macronutrients but have a proper deficit in caloric intake.
Thanks for the help.

that is a good diet! just stay motivated!

Who wants to build six packs abs?

Solid — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 04:52:09 +0000

I have been receiving a lot of e-mail lately about diet. In the past, I was never concerned about what I ate. I just went to the gym, trained hard, and that was the extent of my routine. Not until recently did I realize the power diet has over the way your body looks and performs. I believe that diet is at least 75% of the fitness equation. In this article, I’m going to describe in detail what I have learned about diet during my 12-week transition period.
When to Eat and How Often
This might sound strange, but you have to eat more often to lose fat and gain muscle. During my transition period, I never ate less than 6 meals a day.
Try to eat every 2 to 3 hours.
Do not eat complex carbohydrates after 6:00 p.m. or four to five hours before going to bed.
Try to eat one gram of protein per pound of lean body mass on lifting days and .8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass on non-lifting days.
Never eat more than 70 grams of protein in one meal.
Carbohydrates
When I think of carbohydrates, I think of energy. Carbohydrates supply our bodies with the energy it needs to make it through a workout. Without an adequate supply of carbohydrates, the body goes into carbohydrate deprivation. This is called a state of ketosis (meaning our body is using protein as energy). This is not a good state to be in for long because it will rob the body of muscle tissue in an effort to create energy. On the other hand, if too many carbohydrates are consumed, they convert into stored fat. The idea is to consume just enough carbohydrates to make it through our workouts with sufficient energy. I have broken down carbohydrates into these three categories:
Simple carbs: These are sugars, or quick energy. They are absorbed very quickly into the body. Ex. Anything with sugar, also fruit
Complex carbs: This is where you get long-term energy for the day. These are long chained carbohydrates that brake down slower, giving us energy over a prolonged period of time. Ex. Oatmeal, potatoes, pasta, rice, breads
Fibrous carbs: These are things like vegetables. I think of them as roughage in order to stay regular. Make sure you include them in you later meals when you can’t eat complex carbs. They are also a good source of vitamins. Ex. Leafy vegetables like lettuce.
Protein
Proteins are the building blocks of our muscles. Without a sufficient amount of protein in our diet, our muscles will not have the raw materials that they need to build up, or even hang on to what is already there.
Net protein utilization: Not all protein is created equal. Different foods are absorbed more than others. For example, egg white protein is absorbed at 88%. That means we get about 9 eggs to our muscles. On the other hand, chicken breast are absorbed at 68%, meaning we get about 7 breasts to our muscles. It is imported to eat a wide verity of protein foods though; no one protein source has all the amino acids we need.
Whey protein (100%): the best source of Whey Protein is from protein supplements. It is also absorbed very fast by the body, so it is best to take this when your body needs amino acids quickly: like right after a workout or when you first get up in the morning.
Egg whites (88%)
Fish (78%)
Chicken breast (78%)
Soy protein: My one bit of advice would be to try and stay away from soy protein. It is not absorbed very well by the body.
Fats
We normally think of fats as being bad. The fact is certain fats are essential to building muscle and carrying out various functions of the body. There are 2 fat types we need to be concerned about:
Saturated fats: these are the bad fats. Avoid these fats as much as possible. You will find these types of fats mostly in meats
Unsaturated fats: these are the good fats. They are a good energy source and help us build muscle. You can find from plant oils. Peanuts are also a good source.
Water
Do not under estimate the importance of water! If you are looking to get lean, water will be your best friend. Drink as much as you can and as often as you can. Also, it is very important to drink lots of water when you’re eating large amounts of protein to clean urea from the system.
Vitamins & minerals
As resistance training athletes, we have a greater need for vitamins & minerals. When we workout and bring blood to our muscles it is important that our blood is full of those essential vitamins & minerals if we want to grow.
Supplements
Supplements are just that, meaning they are used to supplement your diet, not replace it. Don’t ever think of it that way.
Hierarchy of supplements:
I developed this hierarchy of supplements based on what I thought were the most important and also by price.
1. Proper diet: Without proper diet you are just wasting money on supplements. Start here! Do not think that supplements are going to do it for you alone.
2. Multi-vitamin & mineral: It is very important to have all your vitamins & minerals when resistance training. Most of us are lacking in some areas, make it a priority to make this your first supplement.
3. Protein powder: It is usually very hard to get all the protein you need from real foods. Powders make it much easier. Also, these powders are absorbed fast by the body making them ideal after workouts or before and after sleep.
4. Creatine: This is great for harder workouts. It also makes you muscles hang on to water, giving them a better environment to grow.
5. L-glutamine: This is an important amino acid in muscle recovery
6. Branch chained amino acid: These are great before and after workouts along with L-glutamine because it gives your muscles all the amino acids it needs to repair and grow.
7. ZMA: This helps you release more growth hormone while you sleep, increasing your size and strength.
8. Thermogenic: These really help in the fat loss process. They also help you hang on to more muscle while dieting due to the fact you can eat more.
9. Meal replacement: Although very expensive, meal replacements make it much more convenient to get some of your meals in. Also, you can get in more meals than if you were to eat only real foods.
"The golden hour"
Remember "The golden hour" because it will make things so much easier for you. "The golden hour" is a window of opportunity we have to get everything we have depleted in our body back in a short amount of time. Think of your muscles as a gas tank: When you workout, you use gas for energy or in this case glucose. After a workout, our muscles are in a unique state. They are able to fill back up very quickly leaving you full for the next workout. If you wait to long, your muscles don’t fill back up as easily and the carbs you eat are more likely to be stored as fat. Doing this will also let you take advantage of insulin’s muscle building effects from the simple carbs you have ingested. You want to ingest 50-75 grams of simple carbs right after a workout. Also, this is when you want to take your protein shake because it will absorb quickly and supply your muscles with the amino acids that they need.
Insulin
This is a very complicated subject, but all we need to know is that insulin can help us build muscle or can make us fat depending on the timing. Insulin is released by the pancreas in response to elevated blood sugar levels. We can achieve a high blood sugar level by ingesting simple carbs. Like "the golden hour" we have a window of opportunity to take advantage of the muscle building effects of the insulin without getting fat. We have about 4 or 5 hours after we workout to take advantage of insulin. If we take in too many simple carbs out of this window, we are very likely to store fat.
Cheat day
The theory behind the cheat days is you take one day every 2 weeks to eat anything you want and actually get leaner. It might sound crazy, but it worked for me. When you eat low carbs for a time for body begins to think it is not getting all the food it needs (because your not storing any fat) and begins to slow down your metabolism. When you bombard your body with food on that one day, it tricks your body into thinking it has all it needs and speeds your metabolism back up. I can tell you from experience, every day after a cheat day I felt leaner and looked better.
Ketosis
This is when your body uses protein for energy. This happens when we have too few carbs in the body or when we over train. I went into the state of ketosis for only the last week of my 12-week transition for a couple of reasons: (1) I wanted all of my muscles to shrink down so when I carbed back up, my skin would be tighter. (2) When you go into ketosis it seems to bring the water out from under the skin. Don’t go into this state to loose fat. Without carbs your body can not burn fat effectively. You will loose weight rather quickly, but only because you don’t have as much glycogen in the muscle. Also, you are simply loosing water. Remember that proteins are the building blocks for muscle and that means they are fair game for energy when in the state of ketosis. I would not recommend going into this state unless you are trying to get into a super ripped state for a short amount of time, like for a bodybuilding contest.
Here are some tips:

Keep A Training Journal
Detail and record your workout routines and poundages. Each week refer to them and select a few lifts on which to increase the weight. A log will provide a good indication of your training progress and of which exercises are working for you.

This allows you to eliminate lifts that are not producing results.

Eat Several Small Meals A Day
Eating this way insures you are providing your body with adequate nutritional support. Frequent small meals provide a consistent supply of nutrients for the most efficient muscle growth. Many diets provide inadequate, below maintenance levels of calories and nutrition. This results in catabolism of muscle tissue.

Eat Protein
Try to eat at least 1 gram of protein per lean pound of body weight daily. This is critical for people engaging in high-intensity resistance exercise because they need increased amounts of protein to support muscle growth. This goal can be easily met by supplementing the diet with amino acids or protein. Eat right, and treat your body with respect. Proper exercise will not counteract bad eating habits and poor eating patterns.

Avoid Distractions
Have conversations before and after workouts if you like, but once the workout begins, become self-centered, serious and selfish with time.

Vary Your Program
You must become your own exercise scientist. After a period of time, muscles become conditioned to the same routine and exercises–in other words they become immune to the workout. Gains become null. This can be overcome by periodically varying the order, exercises, and muscle groups. Keeping new angles and new exercises incorporated into your routine causes "muscle confusion" which forces muscles to break down more easily.

Increase Your Weight
Only by increasing the weight as often as possible will you provide muscles with the stimulus to protect themselves from future assaults by building up more muscle mass. This is the single most important fact for increasing muscle size and strength.

Train Hard, Not Long
Cut back on the amount of lifting you do and raise your intensity level. High-intensity muscular contractions are an absolute requirement for stimulating rapid, large-scale increases in muscular size and strength. Muscles respond to stimulus. Completing an arbitrarily chosen set of reps will not make muscle grow. You must take the last rep to failure–this is the most productive lift. Keep workouts relatively short. Overtraining in the quest for size can halt progress. Overtraining is a common and often fatal mistake made by novice and intermediate bodybuilders. Heavy lifting should not exceed much more than 30 minutes.

Train For A Complete Physique
It is great to develop exceptional muscle mass and tone, but it is a sorry state of affairs when there is so much body fat on your frame that the muscles you have worked for so hard don’t even show. Add some aerobic training to your routine. Twenty minutes of aerobics daily is usually plenty. Calculate your aerobic heart rate by taking 220 minus your age and multiplying that by 70%.

Focus On The Muscle Group You Are Working
By concentrating on a specific muscle, you will automatically isolate it more. Do not rely heavily on machines. Free weights are more efficient for muscle growth.

Breath Corectly
Proper breathing is very important. Breathing supplies oxygen to the muscle cells, which is necessary for muscle contraction, and helps deliver energy and build the muscle. Exhale when you lift the weight. Inhale when you lower it.

Concentrate On The Negative
Most of the damage, and thus gains, in muscularity is caused during the negative (eccentric) portion of the lift. It is more important for growth to control the weight when lowering it than when pressing it upwards (concentric/positive). Concentrate on the negative portion of the lift. That is, lower the weight more slowly than you press it up.

Maintain Constant Resitance
A lift should be preformed with constant tension. Pressure should remain constant on the muscle group you are training throughout the exercise. May times this can be avoided by not locking out the joint in a effort to rest momentarily.

Full Range Of Motion
People make serious mistakes by not completing a full range of motion in their lifts. They either miss the top or bottom range.

Focus On Form, Not Weight
While you should always train as heavily as possible and increase the weight as often as you can, you must also perform the exercises using good form. Heaving a lot of weight can make you feel macho, but improper form will keep you from developing the best physique.

Achieve Peak Contraction
This is a training principle that turns the average "rep" into a growth-producing blitz. Rather than merely moving the weight up and down, you should actively squeeze it hard for a second at the peak of contraction.

Rest Is Critical
Allow at least 72 hours of rest before training the same muscle group. Some people may need more recovery time. Very few can get by with less.

mmm.interesting stuff..;)

Read the paragraph below. The sentences are numbered to help you answer the question.?

Solid — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:32:29 +0000

(1) Some people exercise because they want to look good to the opposite sex. (2) Some
people exercise because theyre concerned about their health. (3) Other people exercise so
they can compete in bodybuilding contests. (4) Still other people are addicted to exercise
because they like how it makes them feel. (5) But, lets face it, when it comes to good health,
why a person exercises is not as important as staying with a regular exercise program.
Choose the number of the sentence which best identifies the main idea in the paragraph.
A. 2 C. 4
B. 3 D. 5

I would go with D.

Can anyone give me some advice about how much cardio I should do?

Solid — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:37:49 +0000

I am 27 year old, male on a weight training program with the main purpose of building muscle and strength.

Over the past month I put on 5.5 pounds of weight and I know that a large proportion of it is muscle and water as my body fat has decreased.

The problem is I have a bit of fat around my belly that won’t seem to shift. I have done lots of ab exercises and I believe that I have a six pack hiding underneath that fat.

But how do I get rid of that fat? I don’t want to eat a lot less as I still want to put on muscle and I don’t want to do too much cardio which will eat away at the muscle as well as the fat.

I have read bodybuilding.com and there is so much conflicting advice. It seems like a lot of people have this issue.

Does anyone have any conclusive advice or something that has worked for them?

30 mins cardio 3 times a week should do the trick