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Fitness |OT3| BroScience, Protein Dysentery, XXL Calf Implants, and Squat Rack Hogs

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Parch

Member
Maxim726X said:
Interesting. I would like to listen to it (or read up on it, at least). Know the name of the radio station/show she was on?
I listened on Team 1260, the Krush Sports Performance Show (June 2nd). The podcasts are listed here but none of them for that show are working for me.

http://www.theteam1260.com/Episodes.aspx?PID=1838

There's a web page for the doctor. They call her the Queen of Arginine. I didn't see anything specific about supplements, but the article about Nutritional Genomics in Protein Research was some of the stuff she was talking about. There might be some other stuff there worth reading.

http://www.anndeweesallen.com/
 
Draft said:
Have you considered that 7 months of dedicated squatting put your legs in the position to feel balanced and explosive while running hills?
No doubt, I likely wouldn't be able to run hills at all right now if not for doing the squats. Just saying, if he's looking for an alternative leg exercise, that's an option.
 

MjFrancis

Member
rando14 said:
So you've been doing a certain high number of pullups a week, just whenever you get the chance? And that's helped your sets during your workouts?
I've added 2x10 sets every weekday morning and slow sets of 5 close-grip chins between every pressing movement. The idea is to get my body used to the movement though repetition. Greasing the gear, or something like that. That's in addition to my normal pull-up workload for the most part.

Jason's Ultimatum said:
I can already do pistol squats. I just haven't done them in awhile. I can also use my body weight to do different forms of lunges. As long as I can keep em in shape and maybe get them a little more defined, then I'll be happy. They're already a little defined, but I'd rather do that then risk any long term injuries.
Do you just want to avoid barbell squats then? What are you doing now for legs? Bodyweight movements will be helpful for overall strength and flexibility, but if you are looking to maintain rather than grow muscle I would hope that it could help with that as well. I've never relied on bodyweight exercises for strength or muscle growth in any one area, opting instead to use them as hearty assistance exercises. Is leg pressing after sets of pistols an option?

Draft said:
Glute ham raises. They're a killer no weight leg workout, especially if you do them right and keep your torso and legs straight.
Fucking this. Put this up with muscle-ups as one of those exercises that kicks dirt in my face and takes my lunch money every time I try to do them.
 
That along with muscle ups are exercises I've only seen on the internet. I don't think my gym even has the equipment to do a glute ham raise.
 

Draft

Member
parrotbeak said:
That along with muscle ups are exercises I've only seen on the internet. I don't think my gym even has the equipment to do a glute ham raise.
I guarantee it does, since you can do them on lat pull down machines, and every gym has a half dozen lat pull down machines.
 
Draft said:
Oh, I know another good one. Glute ham raises. They're a killer no weight leg workout, especially if you do them right and keep your torso and legs straight.

These are indeed awesome. The down side though, is the next day walking around like you have a stick up you ass.
 

Maxim726X

Member
Parch said:
I listened on Team 1260, the Krush Sports Performance Show (June 2nd). The podcasts are listed here but none of them for that show are working for me.

http://www.theteam1260.com/Episodes.aspx?PID=1838

There's a web page for the doctor. They call her the Queen of Arginine. I didn't see anything specific about supplements, but the article about Nutritional Genomics in Protein Research was some of the stuff she was talking about. There might be some other stuff there worth reading.

http://www.anndeweesallen.com/

Oh, her... You may want to do a Google search about her- She is accused of being a part of a MLM scheme (modern day pyramid) and no one can find her credentials anywhere. She actually peddles her own L-Arginine formula, which actually is the same stuff that's found in most pre-workout formulas. I could never find a single article she published, and even in her own bio she never says where she went to Medical School.

Shady... I'll look into it some more, there are some journals that specialize in testing OTC supplements and their efficacy (and safety)- I'll post the journal here when I can find it.
 

X-Frame

Member
Francis, are you doing weighted pull-ups as well?

I recall from when I was healthy and strong in college when I was doing 5 rep pull-ups/chins/hammers with 60+ pounds and yet when I would drop the weight and just rep them out for a burn set I would have no trouble doing 15+. I never trained with anymore than 5 reps.
 

Parch

Member
Wow. Really?
That's why I'm extremely skeptical about anything I read on the internet. Especially when it involves unregulated product.
 

MjFrancis

Member
I've only been doing weighted pull-ups for a little while now, and I've been sticking to 5 or less reps as well. Usually +20 or +25 pounds. My most common scheme is doing sets of 3 with as little rest as necessary between sets until I hit 30 reps. I usually do weighted sets on one day and my endurance sets on another.
 

Maxim726X

Member
Parch said:
Wow. Really?
That's why I'm extremely skeptical about anything I read on the internet. Especially when it involves unregulated product.

Yeah, I could never find her credentials anywhere. Most doctors are easy to find, but her... No information at all. And if she was published in ANY medical journal it would come up when you enter her name.

There's a lengthy thread at rip-off report- Not exactly the best source in the world, but the fact that I can find no information about her at all makes it likely that something is off.
 

Akim

Banned
Age:23
Height:6'2
Weight:190
Goal: Look....better.
Current Training Schedule: m/w/f Modified Starting Strength
Current Training Equipment Available: Pretty much everything
Comments:


I'm kind of at a crossroad in my fitness right now. I started at 320 pounds and over the course of the last 10 months I worked my way down to 181 pounds. My problem is, I still look like complete shit at that weight. I still have a lot of fat, and that with the loose skin and my little muscle mass makes me look terrible. I didn't start lifting until about 3/4s into my weight loss, so I lost a fair amount of muscle.

About a month and a half ago, I decided to start a slow-ish bulk, because even though I had been lifting, my lifts did not increase and I just wasn't seeing results. My lifts have increased, but I've also gained fat eating 2500 calories a day. I know that's to be expected when bulking up, but it's really fucking with my mind. I already hate the way my body looks. Any time I look in the mirror I get depressed. I feel like I am just going backwards from where I want to be. On the other hand, some people were telling me I might look better if I put on some muscle. I'm not sure what to do.

I usually post in the weight loss thread, but I think this is more of a fitness thing rather than a weight loss thing. Also I see this thread getting bumped way more often....must be summer.
 

tapedeck

Do I win a prize for talking about my penis on the Internet???
ipukespiders said:
I'm unable to help, but I still have, after 3 weeks upper body rest, similar discomfort.
It was bothering me also from curls, so I dropped them.

Strangely enough, it really got sore doing some heavy benching, and it was in both arms.
Tendon, ligament, muscle, I don't know.
The rest has helped, and I've since started doing light weights, high reps, low volume - but it's still there.

Might not be the same pain you have.

One more thing, when I would wake up in the morning, both arms would also be a bit sore, as I world sleep with my arms in a bent position. That waking stiffness/pain has subsided.
Hmm, I actually only have the pain when doing curls...its pretty strange how specific it is. However I have the same problem you do when it comes to waking up with arm pain. I have this problem especially when I sleep on one side with my arm bent. In fact lately Ive been sleeping on my back just to avoid this. I have found that if I can manage to sleep the whole night on my back with my arms outstretched I never have pain in the morning..its just kinda hard to do that consistently unless you sleep against the wall or something.

rando14 said:
I think I know what feeling you're referring to. When I curl I feel some slight pulling right in the nook of my elbow, but I always thought that was just part of the lift.

Using this image, are you perhaps referring to pain near the top of your supinator?

http://www.projectswole.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/forearm-anatomy.jpg
Yes, looking at that diagram it IS the supinator muscle that is giving me pain. I can definately tell you it is NOT normal to have localized pain in that muscle while curling, Ive been lifting for years and just started having it after getting back in the gym after a few months off. My guess is it could be micro tears in the tendon? Im not sure what to do about it other than dramatically reducing my weight/reps (although even then there is still some pain). At first I was doing stretches for Tennis Elbow but that didnt seem to help much other than hurt a bit. Im starting to consider buying some kind of crazy muscle building NO2 or something to expedite the healing...I may even resort to going to GNC tomorrow and asking them but I doubt they know WTF they are talking about anyway.
 

MrToughPants

Brian Burke punched my mom
MjFrancis said:
I've only been doing weighted pull-ups for a little while now, and I've been sticking to 5 or less reps as well. Usually +20 or +25 pounds. My most common scheme is doing sets of 3 with as little rest as necessary between sets until I hit 30 reps. I usually do weighted sets on one day and my endurance sets on another.

Do you do deadhang or kipping?
 

X-Frame

Member
MjFrancis said:
I've only been doing weighted pull-ups for a little while now, and I've been sticking to 5 or less reps as well. Usually +20 or +25 pounds. My most common scheme is doing sets of 3 with as little rest as necessary between sets until I hit 30 reps. I usually do weighted sets on one day and my endurance sets on another.

Gotcha.

I guess the difference is that I didn't train for reps or total volume. I started with 5 pounds around my waist for sets of 5, then 7.5, then 10, etc etc until I got up to around 60 before I got hurt again. I'm sure I could've kept going for a bit as well as I was always making good progress.

Really glad they are not hurting my shoulder now. However, today bodyweight dips didn't agree with me out of the blue. So the rest of today my shoulder has been sore. We'll see how it feels tomorrow, I may have over did it with pushing and supplemental exercises.
 

Parch

Member
Maxim726X said:
Yeah, I could never find her credentials anywhere. Most doctors are easy to find, but her... No information at all. And if she was published in ANY medical journal it would come up when you enter her name.

There's a lengthy thread at rip-off report- Not exactly the best source in the world, but the fact that I can find no information about her at all makes it likely that something is off.
Just a quick search and I found an article at Scientopia questioning her rep, so I sent an email to the radio station to pass on this info. They obviously didn't do any research on this "guest" because it sure seems like she's not what she claims to be.
 
parrotbeak said:
That along with muscle ups are exercises I've only seen on the internet. I don't think my gym even has the equipment to do a glute ham raise.
Let me introduce you to the MacGyver Glute-Ham Raise:

411784.1076882668499.pv72r.jpg

411785.1076882685851.pb7z2.jpg

411786.1076882702570.pi7gp.jpg

411787.1076882719503.pb7pf.jpg


Added this to my routine around Nov, it's become one of my favorite exercises.
 

low-G

Member
Akim said:
Age:23
Height:6'2
Weight:190
Goal: Look....better.
Current Training Schedule: m/w/f Modified Starting Strength
Current Training Equipment Available: Pretty much everything
Comments:


I'm kind of at a crossroad in my fitness right now. I started at 320 pounds and over the course of the last 10 months I worked my way down to 181 pounds. My problem is, I still look like complete shit at that weight. I still have a lot of fat, and that with the loose skin and my little muscle mass makes me look terrible. I didn't start lifting until about 3/4s into my weight loss, so I lost a fair amount of muscle.

About a month and a half ago, I decided to start a slow-ish bulk, because even though I had been lifting, my lifts did not increase and I just wasn't seeing results. My lifts have increased, but I've also gained fat eating 2500 calories a day. I know that's to be expected when bulking up, but it's really fucking with my mind. I already hate the way my body looks. Any time I look in the mirror I get depressed. I feel like I am just going backwards from where I want to be. On the other hand, some people were telling me I might look better if I put on some muscle. I'm not sure what to do.

I usually post in the weight loss thread, but I think this is more of a fitness thing rather than a weight loss thing. Also I see this thread getting bumped way more often....must be summer.

I'm super new to this stuff, sorry I can't really give you advice but I really would like to ask, did you lose the weight through dieting alone or did you exercise too? (I know you say you started weight lifting 3/4ths through, but did you do cardio in the mean time? How low calorie did you go when dieting?)
 

MjFrancis

Member
MrToughPants said:
Do you do deadhang or kipping?
Dead hang or bust. I will drop down as close to lock out as I can possibly get before my elbows are actually locked - so I'm down at least 95% of the way.

@X-Frame - I think I'm going to try for a 3-rep max on my next pull-up day. I'm curious as to where I'm at on this - I've done 45 for 1x3, but I've never specifically tried for a 3-rep max. Might be fun, and I need the volume anyways. I've heard that if you can do +66% of your bodyweight that you're ready for the true-one-arm pullup, but that would be just over 100 pounds for me. I don't suppose that I will get that heavy just yet.
 
Ripclawe said:
how did that happen? Just kept doing pullups? I can't do a pullup to save my life.

I already had a thin body. There's a machine at my gym that allows me to do pullups while allowing me the ability to alter the weight. So, I put it on 70lbs, and I'm only pulling 70lbs of my body. I did it today without any form of weight assistance, so I pulled up all 145lbs of my body. It took time, and I had to ease into it.
 
MickeyKnox said:
Let me introduce you to the MacGyver Glute-Ham Raise:

Added this to my routine around Nov, it's become one of my favorite exercises.
Cool, thanks! What is that board he is using to make the seat wider? I will have to check, but I'm pretty sure the lat pulldown machines at my gym have quite narrow seats. Maybe not as narrow as I'm remembering.

Will check this out. What's the best way to start for the first time? Just drop down, fail and roll to the floor? Lol.
 
does anyone know of any really good online calorie/meal counters? I dont really have the time or patience to be looking up how much calories are in every single thing I eat.
 
justin12140 said:
does anyone know of any really good online calorie/meal counters? I dont really have the time or patience to be looking up how much calories are in every single thing I eat.
I've been using myfitnesspal. Their database is decent.

But of course be wary of how they count burned calories in exercise. They only count the time of cardio, not weight training. Also the default diet they suggest for you isn't made for people who work out a lot. It's the typical high carb, low fat, low protein, if I recall correctly. But you can modify it however you want. It's fine for simply logging things.
 
parrotbeak said:
Cool, thanks! What is that board he is using to make the seat wider? I will have to check, but I'm pretty sure the lat pulldown machines at my gym have quite narrow seats. Maybe not as narrow as I'm remembering.

Will check this out. What's the best way to start for the first time? Just drop down, fail and roll to the floor? Lol.
It's not to make the seat wider as much as it is to cushion the pad, the way I do it is grab the cushion that you use for any kind of floor work and put it on the seat for the seated calf raise (just make sure to counter weight it with a couple pizzas.)

And as far as starting out, focus on doing a slow negative, try to keep your glutes tight and your back straight as you go down. The top part of the movement will use your glutes intensely then shift to your hamstrings as you angle down. As you get to parallel you won't be able to hold the contraction anymore so just put your hands out like you're doing a push up to stop yourself, then push off the floor hard while contracting your posterior chain.

As you progress you won't need to push off the floor with as much force.
 
MickeyKnox said:
It's not to make the seat wider as much as it is to cushion the pad, the way I do it is grab the cushion that you use for any kind of floor work and put it on the seat for the seated calf raise (just make sure to counter weight it with a couple pizzas.)

And as far as starting out, focus on doing a slow negative, try to keep your glutes tight and your back straight as you go down. The top part of the movement will use your glutes intensely then shift to your hamstrings as you angle down. As you get to parallel you won't be able to hold the contraction anymore so just put your hands out like you're doing a push up to stop yourself, then push off the floor hard while contracting your posterior chain.

As you progress you won't need to push off the floor with as much force.
Right on, thanks! Will try it on a weekend morning when the gym is empty. Not only so I don't look retarded but cuz I'll probably be blocking the aisle.

Ah, going to gyms pretty damn good. Gives you more motivation and you put in a lot more effort than working out solo.
Ya, working out with hot girls around definitely helps keep me motivated, especially when they are working out hard, although it's also distracting. I actually prefer it when the gym is empty. I think this means I am old.
 

dentoomw

Member
MickeyKnox said:
Let me introduce you to the MacGyver Glute-Ham Raise:

I find this easier to do on the floor using a barbell as a counterweight with my feet hooked underneath. This also helps in preventing me from overextending since I can't move past the floor. This is a seriously badass glute / ham exercise though, it's a little tough at first but I totally recommend anyone to try placing it in any leg routine.
 

ItAintEasyBeinCheesy

it's 4th of July in my asshole
parrotbeak said:
Right on, thanks! Will try it on a weekend morning when the gym is empty. Not only so I don't look retarded but cuz I'll probably be blocking the aisle.


Ya, working out with hot girls around definitely helps keep me motivated, especially when they are working out hard, although it's also distracting. I actually prefer it when the gym is empty. I think this means I am old.

I go at about 7pm, theres some hotties in there but all the dudes look like WWE wrestlers.... :( just gotta suck it up and do ma reps.
 

Natural

Member
parrotbeak said:
I actually prefer it when the gym is empty. I think this means I am old.
Same, means I can use all the equipment I need without having to wait for some joker to finish with it.
 

MjFrancis

Member
I like a mostly-empty gym as well, since it increases the likelihood that both the squat rack and the power rack will be available. Since there's usually a dozen or so people in the entire warehouse-sized facility, that's usually not a problem. Even when it has been really busy, it's the exercise cycles and treadmills that get hit most of all.
 
Welp, I guess now is as good as any to take my week off. While doing some work at the house yesterday I accidentally stabbed my hand with a knife. It's nothing too bad. But it is bad enough that I can't tighten up on my left hand right now (it's stiff and sore) and I for damn sure can't do something that requires strong grip like deadlift or pullups. Fuck it. It's been more than 8 weeks and I wanted to do the 1 week off, 8 weeks on deal. Still sucks.
 

Natural

Member
Poindexter said:
Welp, I guess now is as good as any to take my week off. While doing some work at the house yesterday I accidentally stabbed my hand with a knife. It's nothing too bad. But it is bad enough that I can't tighten up on my left hand right now (it's stiff and sore) and I for damn sure can't do something that requires strong grip like deadlift or pullups. Fuck it. It's been more than 8 weeks and I wanted to do the 1 week off, 8 weeks on deal. Still sucks.

Funny you should say that, just last night my friend was telling me that if you take a week off from the gym every 6/8 weeks it aids with your recovery. I'm not sure if there's any truth in what he said but having a week off can't be bad either way anyway, recharges the batteries and all..
 

ShaneB

Member
Latest pics from a couple days have made me realize I'm one skinny fucker considering how tall I am. Love the progress I've made over the past while and how much fat I've trimmed off, but it's time to bulk up.

2jfd4ia.jpg
 

MjFrancis

Member
I don't break from exercise completely, instead I take a week to deload and I lower my weight and volume of exercises. I am taking a week off from 5/3/1 that's just going to be bodyweight exercises; it will serves as a nice deload week so long as I don't overdo it, lol.

Best of luck Poindexter. Hopefully a week does the trick.

reilo said:
Thanks again reilo. I've been using broomstick exercise #23 every weekday morning since.
 
MjFrancis said:
I don't break from exercise completely, instead I take a week to deload and I lower my weight and volume of exercises. I am taking a week off from 5/3/1 that's just going to be bodyweight exercises; it will serves as a nice deload week so long as I don't overdo it, lol.

Best of luck Poindexter. Hopefully a week does the trick.
Thanks man. And see that's my problem with a deload week. I can't lift light. I end up ramping it back up or doing more reps than usual so in the end I'm just as exhausted and the week didn't really feel like a rest. So I figure a week of cardio (running, speed bag) should be a nice change of pace. I've only done one rest week before and I actually gained size and my lifts went up when I went back.

Natural said:
Funny you should say that, just last night my friend was telling me that if you take a week off from the gym every 6/8 weeks it aids with your recovery. I'm not sure if there's any truth in what he said but having a week off can't be bad either way anyway, recharges the batteries and all..
It depends on the individual. See the above part of my post. You definitely should have a designated deload week or rest week as it will help in your overall performance, but how you wanna do it is completely up to you. I take the entire week off. Because if I can't lift heavy, I don't really wanna lift at all. Give it a try. You'll probably come back stronger. I wasn't a believer at first but I broke a plateau on bench last time I took a break.
 

MjFrancis

Member
There is no solid consensus, though shorter rest periods are preferred for muscular endurance and hypertrophy and longer rest periods are useful for strength. Think 60 seconds, maybe less on the low end and five minutes or more for max effort strength sets. Hell, there's people that take zero rest between sets in a circuit.
 

Meier

Member
I find that when I drink more water, I just end up peeing a TON which is kind of embarassing but also seems counter-intuitive. Are there still positive side effects if you're just passing it all along as waste? Is it mostly beneficial since you're simply not getting calories when you drink it?
 

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
MjFrancis said:
Thanks again reilo. I've been using broomstick exercise #23 every weekday morning since.
Don't thank me, I wasn't the one that found the link! I can't even remember who shared that exercise on here in the first place.

So, after six days without going to the gym (or doing any exercises) because I had been caught up moving, I will be going again tonight.

I'm a couple of sessions away from loading up my squats up to my body weight, so once I hit that, it'll be exciting because then I get to make new goals.
 

dentoomw

Member
GashPrex said:
whats the consensus on time in between sets for weight lifting?

The maximum I feel anyone should rest though is 3 minutes, but I would only do that if pushing close to my 1RP and with low rep ranges (6-8). IMO it's best to keep rest periods under a minute, as you do tend to burn more fat and build more endurance and lactic acid tolerance.


Meier said:
I find that when I drink more water, I just end up peeing a TON which is kind of embarassing but also seems counter-intuitive. Are there still positive side effects if you're just passing it all along as waste? Is it mostly beneficial since you're simply not getting calories when you drink it?

Keeping hydrated is more a general well-being thing, but basically it's to avoid dehydration. This is moreso important when your physically exerting yourself since you lose quite a bit of water through sweat.
 
Do you just want to avoid barbell squats then? What are you doing now for legs? Bodyweight movements will be helpful for overall strength and flexibility, but if you are looking to maintain rather than grow muscle I would hope that it could help with that as well. I've never relied on bodyweight exercises for strength or muscle growth in any one area, opting instead to use them as hearty assistance exercises. Is leg pressing after sets of pistols an option?

I already said I have problems with my left knee. I'm 6'1 and have a short torso and long legs. I do these machine squat (not smith) , leg presses, and leg curls. I can feel it sometimes slightly above my knee cap. Maybe doing freeweight squats will actually help instead hurt. =\
 
Is turkey at parity with chicken as far as lean white meat goes? The place I usually go for lunch has tastier turkey than chicken, which is dry more often than not.


My cut is going well. Had two people just yesterday say I looked more trim. Later in the day I weighed myself - actually gained a pound. Haven't lost any strength yet either. Goal is to get body fat in the single digits (9%), down from 12%.
 

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
parrotbeak said:
Ya, working out with hot girls around definitely helps keep me motivated, especially when they are working out hard, although it's also distracting. I actually prefer it when the gym is empty. I think this means I am old.
I'm 24 and I'd prefer an empty gym.

The most distracting though is when some "bros" in their mid-30s come in and start yapping the entire time like they were back at a frathouse.
 

MjFrancis

Member
@Relio - I'll hope that the person who introduced that movement into this thread stands up, then, because I'm finding some value from it. It's not often than random crap from the internet gets introduced into my routine, even if it is such a modest contribution.

Jason's Ultimatum said:
I already said I have problems with my left knee. I do these machine squat (not smith) , leg presses, and leg curls. I can feel it sometimes slightly above my knee cap. Maybe doing freeweight squats will actually help instead hurt. =\
I remember your knee, I just wasn't sure if you wanted to avoid barbell squats or every weighted leg exercise. Bodyweight squats should be easy on the knees, provided you ease into them, but I am less certain about the pistols. They stress my entire body more or less, and I could see how that could aggravate knee pain.
 

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
MjFrancis said:
@Relio - I'll hope that the person who introduced that movement into this thread stands up, then, because I'm finding some value from it. It's not often than random crap from the internet gets introduced into my routine, even if it is such a modest contribution.
Here we go:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=28200371&postcount=167

Thanks Enco!

Looks like parrotbreak, Mr Snrub, and X-Frame all talked about it, which lead to the link. Thanks fellas. It's a great, easy, yet effective exercise.

I've also been doing this after my workouts:

http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-shoulder-flexibility-how-to/
 
I tried to do those should dislocations and almost ripped my arms out the socket lol. I have short thick arms that aren't really flexible at all.
 
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