Don’t listen to the muscle mass folks, they’ve been reading the min/max magazines for bodybuilders. If anything, it’s an indication of the rotten shape you were in, so keep going. Your body just woke up.
H.
Oh, I don’t know if it would be that hard if there weren’t so many outside influences … I just blame those PR guys for gaming companies. I mean, they’re constantly providing so many reasons for me to sit on my rear all day long. Of course, using a keyboard or game controller DOES burn calories!!! (like 1 per hour, but still …)
j/k ;-)
Oooh, oooh. So this is the fitness bragging thread?
I’ve lost 120 lbs in the last two years, and I’m going to run a 12k race on Sunday when I just ran the first mile in my entire life just last winter.
I win.
Back in 2004 I went from 245 lbs to 175 lbs over the course of 5 months.
I dropped soda from my diet, started eating 5-6 meals/snacks of 200-600 calories a day, and started playing racquetball. I also was walking for 1.5-2 hours a day.
The good news is that it’s almost 4 years later and I’m only at 185 lbs.
Sorry, didn’t mean for that to be a downer, more of a, “Good, now make sure you maintain it.”
As for Biggest Loser, i don’t want to derail–its just a personal pet peeve of mine.
Well, there are plenty of studies on how crash diets lower life expectancy. Usually it’s related to extremely low calorie diets though, not weight loss through massive exercise, which is probably not as bad.
The first post almost sounds like something from Cleve.
You’ll actually make crazy gains in the first three months of a fitness program. When you’re going from basically a sedentary lump to someone who’s modestly active - that small difference ends up being really noticable.
Bloomsday, no? How do they find that many people to run a 12K in Spokane? Sounds like a fun time, though. Have a good run!
Geoff
Aye.
They come from other places. I know - it’s weird! Why would anyone come to Spokane for a RACE? Or anything else?
Hmm.
I have, in fact, never broken a bone in my life. This despite having the better part of my hand wrapped (the wrong way) around a rooting cable. Unpleasant memory, that.
Indeed. Heavy squats are the single best exercise in the universe. Deadlifts are a close second.
Standard plug for strength coach Mark Rippetoe’s totally awesome and effective Starting Strength program (also at Amazon, or just read this thread, you cheap bastard).
Another vote/praise/whatever for squats and deadlifts. (of course, REAL squats, not the pansy half-ass ones that most people seem to do in the gym. Also, it’s a SQUAT rack. It’s not for bicep curls you water-puffed frat boy) Absolutely necessary for a proper exercise program.
I’d also echo whoever stated that gains/advancement is very noticeable early in a workout programs if at the start you are obese and sedentary. You’re going from nothing to activity and better eating and your body has to make some radical changes to keep up. It might be exciting now (and it is, props to you for making the effort, most people don’t) but the real test is in 4-5 months when you start to plateau and the changes aren’t coming as rapidly. The challenge is to stick with it even when you really can’t tell as much of a difference as you once could.
Congrats and good luck with your new lifestyle!
Yeah man. Squats, deadlifts, bench press. These are all known as “core” (or some other terminology) exercises, due to the fact that they require a variety of muscles working in unison. Also, evidently endocrine studies have shown some awesome endocrine activity propagated by these exercises (squats in particular) that promote a better workout in particular (so they and the other exercises are always recommended to be done first) and muscle development in general.
… and here I thought I was doing OK what with incline bench press, shoulder press, etc
To my everlasting shame, I can’t quite seem to get all the way down to parallel, even with no weight on the bar. I think it’s just poor flexibility on my part, especially my ankles. But I do try.
Testify.
If I could only go to the gym three times per week, here’s what I’d do on all three days:
- Deadlifts.
- Bench Press.
- Squats.
- Pull-ups.
In that order. If pull-ups pose a problem for you, don’t go on the assisted pull-up machine or waste your time with pull-downs. Try jumping pull-ups (get momentum from a jump and then try and use your muscles to pull yourself over the bar), or get a stool, start at a high position and then lower yourself down as slowly as you can. Do both exercises, alternating them on different days, and I guarantee that you will notice results in 4 weeks. I went from needing assistance while doing jumping pull-ups to being able to complete at least a single pull-up by myself, from a hanging start, in that time frame. And I had not attempted a pull-up since high school!
That’s it. Those exercises will hit every muscle in your body. Now some, like your abs, obliques, and neck, won’t be particularly stressed, but they will still get a solid work-out and will be stronger.
If you push yourself, especially if you aim for sets of 10-12 and keep breaks to 30-60 seconds, you will sweat and pant like you’d just kicked your own ass on a tough cardio day. Deadlifts and Squats in particular will chew up your energy reserves like there’s no tomorrow.
Take deadlifts for example: Feet, calves, shins, quads, hams, glutes, obliques, abs, lower back, upper back, traps, forearms, hands - all of those are hit hard by deadlifts. Now you may not feel a burn in any particular muscle, but by the time you’re done a set of 12 you will be exhausted and that’s because all those muscles are working to pull you up, keep you stable, and lower you. Moreover, your pecs, biceps, and triceps are also at work stabilizing you - particularly as the weight increases.
It is weird. Nonetheless, I thought seriously about making the trip over (from Seattle area) to be in such a giant event race. I ran the Vancouver Marathon one year (well, I did the half), and that seemed huge, but Bloomsday is like 3 times more people, and all doing the same event! In Spokane!
Well, maybe next year.
Geoff
Agree with the exercises, but disagree with the order. I’d say the order of importance is:
- Squats
- Pull-ups
- Deadlifts
- Bench Press
(Actually, I’d say deads should be number two, but since another lower-body movement is #1…)
The back movement works a lot more muscles than the bench press. The bench press is a compound movement, but it is the least compound of the exercises listed.
In fact, the Rippetoe program I alluded to before is a three-day, five-lift program where you alternate between the following:
“A” Day: Squat, Bench, Deadlift
“B” Day: Squat, Overhead Press, Pullups/Power Clean
In his gym, Rippetoe starts people with pullups and then switch to power cleans after they’ve developed some strength. Power cleans are an explosive movement that help develop power (rather than raw, slow strength). Here is a hot chick doing power cleans.
The forum variation I linked to above swaps barbell rows for pullups/cleans, which is an inferior switch IMO (and in Rippetoe’s).
Oh, that wasn’t order of importance, that was the order I’d do them in.
Though I still rank deadlifts above squats in terms of effectiveness.
Power cleans would break my hands. I already have difficulty with front squats, my wrists and/or fingers hurt for an hour after.