Alternate your cardio. Try to pick three different types and rotate them every few weeks. Or conversely, increase the difficulty in an organized way every week.

Upper body one day lower body another day is good. Try almost no rest between sets. Like ten seconds. It will keep your intensity higher.

Get your trainer to write you up three different work outs and rotate them every three weeks. That will give you a serious edge.

Does James put his knowledge into practice?
 

Hey, Mr. Fitness, let's see some results so that we judge the effectiveness of your advice.

I don't know about you all, but this is generally the fitness routine I follow; I've seen good results from it, but it all depends on the person.

I generally do one day of two days of upper body seperated by a day of lower body, then take a day or two of rest after three straight workout days. My workout schedule is generally this:

Day 1: Chest, shoulders and abs...maybe a bit of cardio, but not long
Day 2: Heavier cardio and lower body
Day 3: Arms (biceps and triceps), back and abs
Day 4 (and possibly 5): rest


I've gotten pretty good results; I eat quite a bit, although I largely stay away from junk food. I weigh around 174 with about 8% body fat. I steadily increase the amount of weight I use every time and mix up exercises a bit, although I'll confess many of the workouts I use are suggested by "Men's Health."

As I said it's worked for me (besides the sore knees), but it depends on the person.

Re: Does James put his knowledge into practice?
 

(James munches on his Nachos and takes a big swig of his Vodka and diet coke.)

Oh no my friend I am definitely in the do as I say not what I do category muahauahahhaha .. ..

But honestly i was in pretty good shape before I went through the windshield of my car. Since then I didn't train for a couple years and put on bodyfat.

I am still much more muscular than the average but I am about 7months pregnant also so I am not sure how impressive that is. :rolleyes:

I started training again again a couple weeks ago and dropped about 15 pounds basically doing what I have suggested to yall and still eating 4000-5000 calories a day divided into 6-8 meals and excercising about 30 minutes three times a week.

I see. Well, maybe one day when the moons align and all of gc get together you can show the lasses what you got...

as for me, i'm doing one muscle group a day everyday of the week...i've been trying to incorporate a little more cardio with an exercise after i finished my workouts as well as playing more sports in addition to weights...i'm 6'1, inbetween 180-185, unsure of body fat %

Are prohormones legal in Canada?

They can be fun to take.

I don't think so.

Do you still workout at Curves?

-Rudey

:confused:

is that a gay club in chicago?

Bumping up this thread since summer is basically here!


Does anyone know of any good exercises that work your hips? Or I guess you could call them love handles. I have an inch or so that I'd like to make disappear. I run pretty regularly, I do lots of abdominal work, and I eat pretty healthy. Nothing seems to work. Help. Please. :(

ITs just a factor of body fat sweetie. I think we chatted about this before. I would ask:

1. Do you eat every three hours and make sure you take protein each time?

2. Make sure you don't do a lot of excercises for the Obliques, it gives you muscular love handles.

3. Do you get a gallon of water a day?

4. Do you write down what you eat and drink, and what time you eat and drink them every day? Factoring in calories, protein etc?

Those are the simple keys. IF you are that close to where all you need to loe is a little hip fat then just getting a little stricter shoul do the trick.

But if you want a simple recomendation. Eat the same thing breakfst, lunch and dinner and make sure that meal is appropriate to your goals. That way you have a set menu which gives you almost absolute control.

Being even 5 percent off can be the difference between being flabby or ripped in a month.

Yes James, we have chatted about this before. ;) I was just hoping that by some miracle, someone actually knows of an exercise that makes this stubborn spot melt away. Thanks for your suggestions though. I'm in the process of making my meal plan over for the summertime to include the summer fruits and veggies. :cool:

Do 6 ounces of prime rib three times a day. And thats all.

Take 500mg of GLA an Essential Ftty Acid found in Borage oil or evening primrose.

Take 1500mg of DHA an EFA found in fish oil . .. make sure oyu get a pill that is 500mg of DHA per capsule, other wise you will be taking a lot of pills.

Take 1000mg of glutamine with each meal, it kills carb cravings.

Eliminate caffeine.

Take 2 grams of liquid creatine on weight training days.

Change your workout completely . . now.

By Legendary Abs II from healthforlife.com

Isn't creatine REALLY bad for your liver and other organs? Mr. ZTAngel had been taking it for a while until he read a study on it in one of his Medical journals that talked about the damaging effects of creatine.

What's the most effective device for 12 oz. curls?

What foods have the most fiber in them?

So is alcohol, tobacco and many other things. Shit, stress is bad for your entire well being. Its all about sacrificing to get what you want.

Do you mean what "device", as in dumbells or curling bar, or what excercise? Personally, I like 50lb dumbells as opposed to the curling bar. They, dumbells, help get all the muscles. Its kind of like wanting to build up your chest. You can tell a HUGE difference when you take two dumbells and do a dumbell press as opposed to doing the bench press. The problem is once you get to a certain point you need more and more weight and then and only then would the bench press/culring bar be more usefull as opposed ot the dumbells.

Okay, I recently have gained 5 lbs. But they somehow -instead of going to my butt, thighs, stomach - went to my chest! :D Now I'm super happy about my chest size....but I'm worried about losing weight and losing them too. I would love to lose 10lbs....but that is going to be the first thing that goes, isn't it????


Edited to say: Sorry if this was already talked about. But this is a long thread.....

this is a toughie
 

here's a challenge for ya ;)

I'm a pretty unique situation:

last summer I was diagnosed w/ a mild case of Crohns disease -- an auto-immune intestinal thing -- but basically I now cant eat things that are hard to digest (ex: popcorn, corn, nuts, most raw veggies, things w/ lots of seeds, fruit w/ skin is bad, etc)

so basically I'm on a carb/protein diet lol.. low on the veggies... my fav veggies used to be raw broccoli, corn, potatos cooked in every possible way, peas, etc... but i cant have corn or raw brocc anymore :( and salad gives me a stomachache unless its in very small quantities.

i try to eat some fruit (raspberris, grapes, strawberries, etc) but the skins and seeds in large amounts prob isnt good for me :-\

I used to be in pretty good shape (I played varsity badminton for 4 years) but after spending a month in the hospital last summer I basically lost most of my muscle tone... and 20 lbs on my 115ish frame

right now im back to ~ 113 (I'm 5'4") which is about right but hardly any of it is muscle... (basically w/ crohns im never going to get FAT persay.. but I'm one of those people who is thin and looks alright but is not in good shape and doesnt really have much muscle) I really dont want to lose weight (I wouldnt mind gaining up to another 5lbs if it was muscle) but I want to get TONED and I want to get at least some muscle back...

what would you go about doing?

I work in NYC and walk like 10-15 blocks each way every day but I'm pretty lazy... I've done the treadmill (4mph for 30 min) once since ive been home, walked a decent amt (random places w/ friends) and tried to do some weight training but I'm not really sure what I'm doing.. and the highest free weights we have are 4lbs... I was thinkin about buying 8 lbs weights....

what advice do you have?

ps. I dont drink soda bc the bubbles mess w/ my stomach and I drink a lot of water.. and lemonade..

Dear James, :)

My friend decided to join my gym so that she would have me to motivate and train her. She has never worked out once in her life. She's a couch potato. Lucky for her, she has a good metabolism. :) While working on abdominals yesterday, I noticed she was having a really hard time with sit ups/crunches. She was trying to lift with her shoulders and kept moving her chin since her abs weren't strong enough to do a crunch. (I literally had to hold her chin and shoulders straight while she was crunching so that she wouldn't hurt her neck...she could only do maybe about 5) She tried the weighted ab machines and was ok with it. The problem is that those machines cause a bulky look which isn't so hot on a girl. I figured that hip flexor (leg lifts) exercises would be best but I only know 2 different kind of exercises. Plus, isn't that for lower abs only? Any recommendations on what to do? I guess I'll get her to do leg lifts until her abs are strong enough to do regular sit ups.

I'm trying to get back in shape.

My main cardio has always been running, I've never even tried anything else. BUT I just broke my foot in 3 places (cast should come off Monday) so I won't be able to run right away.

I need a cardio exercise that doesn't involve pushing off the ball of the foot. Any ideas?

What about the bike??

Or swimming? I've heard Aqua Aerobics kick your butt for cardio but it's pretty low impact.

the bike makes me think of bike shorts and the kind of guy that does the kind of sweating that necessitates a mop under the bike afterwards.

That's a good idea though as long as I used the heel for the push down instead of the middle of the foot. GOOD THINKING. Ten points.

Oh. I should add that I'm a low-level gov't employee so the only gym I have access to (and can afford) is the one on base. That one doesn't have a pool or cool classes or anything, it's more geared for the military guys and agents to keep in shape. Lots of treadmills from what I understand. Which does not help me.

Of course I can still do stuff at home, but like I said my primary exercise at home has always been running.

Yeah, swimming is a great for cardio too.

Is there a local community centre nearby. If there is and they have a pool, often they'll have classes like aqua fit or they'll have distance swim. Community centres usually offer these programs free of charge or for very little, I'd say no more that $5. The community centre near my house has distance swim for $2.

Basically you want to know what she can do for her upper abs? Something that wont hurt her?

Yeah. A crunchless upper-ab work out.

Try high intensity interval training using a bike.

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

the upshot is that you do 30 seconds at a normal pace, and then 30 secs like you are being chased by a serial killer that wants to eat you.

Supposedly 20 minutes of sprint work a week like that is worth 5-6 hours of normal cardio.

You can also swim.

In some advanced gyms they have like a reverse bike where you move pedals with your arms. ITs a bitch but it works.

Legendary abs may have the best ab workout and its based on like 6 minutes 3 days a week.

You can buy it at www.healthforlife.com .

Here is a website that kind of pirates it:
http://www.timbomb.net/ab/ab.faq.html

If I see another site I'll post it.

It sounds like your friend is trying to come up to high . . people have a different range of motion. You really don't havce to crunch up that high to get the effect. You can also have her to do quarter sit-ups also but I thinkt he real problem is that she is coming off the ground too high.

Ok I have a question. Ever since I was diagnosed with Acid Reflux Disease my doctor has told me that I should be eating 5 smaller meals a day instead of 3 big meals because of my stomach problems. I also have heard that eating smaller more frequent meals will help you lose weight. My question is what kind of meals do you eat? Do you eat until you are full or what? If anyone else eats like this if you could give me some examples of what kinds of meals you eat that would be great. Thanks

My friend eats like this. she usually snacks like every 3 hours. But they're snacks and not meals. So she might have a pice of toast with some butter or peanut butter or jam in the morning and then 3 hours later have a small apple and then 3 hours later she might have half a snadwhich, and then 3 hours later a few crackers and some cheese or maybe a small salad

I mostly eat like this too. I have a protein shake with frozen blueberries for breakfast. Maybe some nuts or fruit around 10:30. Leftovers or a small sandwich for lunch. More fruit and/or nuts/seeds or a Luna bar around 3:30-4. Then a regular dinner. Just eat enough to not be hungry again for another couple of hours and keep your energy up but not enough that you're stuffed.

This sounds like it would be very hard for me to do. I am a very picky eater and I don't eat stuff like nuts and berries, peanut butter....stuff you have suggested. I don't know what I should do. Oh well

I am thinking about buying a treadmill, a row machine , or an elliptical trainer. Which one would be the best if I am looking to do low-impact cardio? What brand is a good brand to buy?
________
SHOWER TUBES

You'll usually get a better workout on a treadmill...the elliptical would be easier as far as impact goes though.


Cybex usually has pretty good stuff.

We have a Concept 2 Erg. I like the erg more than a treadmill. I have never used an elliptical machine so I can't compare.

I think you are more likely to do the Eliptical or treadmill regularly versus the rowing machine.

As ksigkid kid said, the eliptical is less impact.

James, about how much protein should I have daily? I've read that it is important with weight loss and lean muscle yet I don't know how much I need.

Thanks baby!