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Fitness |OT9|...You looked better before

Tuorom

Neo Member
Hey FitGAF. Was wondering if you guys could help me out here a bit..

I have a small gym in the building I work at, and I've started going on my lunch break to work out. My lunch break is an hour total, and I need to make sure I have time to actually eat my lunch, so my workout can't be longer than 30-40 minutes. Does anyone have a bit of a layout of what I can do to make efficient use of 30-40 minutes in the gym?

I want to focus mainly on upper body because I play volleyball almost every night and don't want my legs to be too wiped out for it.
also my thighs are thick as fuck
In terms of my overall goal, for the most part, I'm looking for tone and maybe a bit of size.
Brief body history: I had an ACL reconstruction on my knee done a year ago, but it doesn't really affect my ability to work out or exercise.
Sorry if none of this makes sense, but thanks in advance if anyone is able to lead me in the right direction!

https://www.t-nation.com/training/the-best-damn-workout-plan-for-natural-lifters

Do the programming from there, it doesn't take long. Choose like 3 or 4 exercises and you should be out in like 30 mins. Do push/pull days, Mon Tues Thurs Fri.
So you could do like:
Bench 135x6x2
Bench 185x6, rest 15s, 185x4, rest 15s, 185x2, done -> next exercise
 

KillerBEA

Member
Recommended exercises for ham strings and calfs?
Romanian Deadlifts and Leg Curls for hamstrings.

Use a Leg Press, Hack Squat machine, or Smith Machine for Calf Presses/Raises as those are a safer way to load up weight. Do those for standard 10 - 20 reps.

Fore Seated variations if your gym has the machine for it , go for 20+ reps.

Hey FitGAF. Was wondering if you guys could help me out here a bit..

I have a small gym in the building I work at, and I've started going on my lunch break to work out. My lunch break is an hour total, and I need to make sure I have time to actually eat my lunch, so my workout can't be longer than 30-40 minutes. Does anyone have a bit of a layout of what I can do to make efficient use of 30-40 minutes in the gym?

I want to focus mainly on upper body because I play volleyball almost every night and don't want my legs to be too wiped out for it.
also my thighs are thick as fuck
In terms of my overall goal, for the most part, I'm looking for tone and maybe a bit of size.
Brief body history: I had an ACL reconstruction on my knee done a year ago, but it doesn't really affect my ability to work out or exercise.
Sorry if none of this makes sense, but thanks in advance if anyone is able to lead me in the right direction!

Check out Brian Alsruhe's programming templates.
 

Cooter

Lacks the power of instantaneous movement
The worst thing by far about slacking at the gym these past months is how much my pull ups have declined. It's sad how weak I've gotten on this exercise.
 
Lol. Thanks?

Kinda defeats the purpose of a "community" thread but ok. glad to see you're doing your part and contributing :D

Community threads are great for refining via assistance, not doing all your work for you. You've been pointed in the right direction, now it's time to learn.

You want some help on specifics after you've done some reading, then people will be glad to help.

(Also, the OP is chock full of useful info)

Unrelated - Knee didn't seem to affect deadlifts tonight, though felt quite uncomfortable for OHP. Hopefully it'll be better rather than worse tomorrow.
 
GAF I did this my first HIIT solo it was a beginner one, 30/30 format HIIT/rest.
Sprint - squats - knee to hand - Crawling press ups - and supposedly star jumps for 20 mins

But because of being so loud and neighbors where sleeping had to skip star jumps but to make up I did up to 25 mins off everything else in a pool of my own sweat but feel great

Also Squats are the fucking Devil lol

Is the best place to ask about nutrition and diets?
 

Szu

Member
The worst thing by far about slacking at the gym these past months is how much my pull ups have declined. It's sad how weak I've gotten on this exercise.

You could say that the bar has been lowered for this exercise.

YEEEEAAAHHHH!!!!
 
Community threads are great for refining via assistance, not doing all your work for you. You've been pointed in the right direction, now it's time to learn.

You want some help on specifics after you've done some reading, then people will be glad to help.

(Also, the OP is chock full of useful info)

.
Read OP. Nothing about quick 30-40 minute upper body workouts.
Wasn't asking for specifics. Was just asking to be pointed in the right direction. Ie. even mentioning muscle groups or providing me with a link like the one above would have sufficed.

Your one-worded "Google" shit-post has no place in a community thread. Sorry.
If every community thread on this forum just told other posters to Google shit, then there'd be no point in these threads existing. Common sense, buddy. Don't shit-post towards posters asking for help in a community thread.
 
I already pointed you in the right direction. You decided it was too much effort to do anything with what you were given.

Had you come back with "I've looked into that but couldn't really find anything helpful" it would be another story. But apparently you were too lazy to even look.

You're off to a good start on this fitness thing!

Is the best place to ask about nutrition and diets?

There was a nutrition thread, but it almost never gets any posts... so yeah, here's your best bet.
 
I already pointed you in the right direction. You decided it was too much effort to do anything with what you were given.

Had you come back with "I've looked into that but couldn't really find anything helpful" it would be another story. But apparently you were too lazy to even look.

You're off to a good start on this fitness thing!

I had absolutely no idea what "upper body compound movements followed by antagonist supersets." meant. I'm not a regular in this thread, so how would I know what something like that means? That's not pointing me in the right direction at all. Didn't know you needed to be some kind of expert before posting in here. lmao. Again, kinda defeats the purpose of a community thread if it's not open to questions from people who may not know as much.

Do you think I would come into this thread BEFORE trying to look into this myself? LMAO. Dude, you make no sense. I came in here to see if there was information on here that I couldn't find on your best friend Google. No need to be an ass, so stop being one for no reason. I was just asking for some guidance, not an unprovoked passive aggressive attitude.
 

BumRush

Member
I had absolutely no idea what "upper body compound movements followed by antagonist supersets." meant. I'm not a regular in this thread, so how would I know what something like that means? That's not pointing me in the right direction at all. Didn't know you needed to be some kind of expert before posting in here. lmao. Again, kinda defeats the purpose of a community thread if it's not open to questions from people who may not know as much.

Do you think I would come into this thread BEFORE trying to look into this myself? LMAO. Dude, you make no sense. I came in here to see if there was information on here that I couldn't find on your best friend Google. No need to be an ass, so stop being one for no reason. I was just asking for some guidance, not an unprovoked passive aggressive attitude.

To be fair to psycho (who has been one of the most helpful people in this thread for 6-7 years now) he gave you a really solid answer. Googling compound movements and antagonist supersets will give you a ton of great reading on weight schemes, etc, so it's a great thing to do regardless.

I'm sure he meant no harm by it.
 
To be fair to psycho (who has been one of the most helpful people in this thread for 6-7 years now) he gave you a really solid answer. Googling compound movements and antagonist supersets will give you a ton of great reading on weight schemes, etc, so it's a great thing to do regardless.

I'm sure he meant no harm by it.

I just feel like giving a one-word answer to someone who's newer to stuff like this is dismissive and unwelcoming. Call him as helpful as you want, but I'm not impressed with an attitude like that, and I think I have a leg to stand on with that.
 

mdsfx

Member
471.gif
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Fucked up both my hamstrings lifting too much on a squat than I should have (185lbs @ 5 reps 2 sets)
 
How many sets of squats do you guys do a week?

I do a back squat day and a front squat day.

Back squat day this week:
5 sets of warmups
Set of 8
Set of 6
Set of 5
Set of 4
Set of 3 (all these getting heavier)
Set of 20 (big drop in weight here)
Set of 20

Front squat day this week:
5 sets of warmups
8 sets of 3 reps, all same weight

Followed by 3 sets of 8, Romanian Deadlifts

I do so many warm-ups because I'll be 42 in 2 months.
 

KillerBEA

Member
How many sets of squats do you guys do a week?


5 Working Sets of Back Squats, anywhere from sets of 1 - 10 depending on the phase of training. Currently doing sets of 8
3 Working Sets of Front Squats, anywhere from 3 - 10 depending on the phase of training. During doing sets of 10.
 

RSP

Member
Guys, question about body fat percentage: I've been using a digital scale that also tells me body fat %. I know it's probably unreliable, but for the first couple of months of losing weight, i've always seen a steady decline of body fat % as well.

Since about two months, the percentage has been jumping up and down a LOT (moving between 25% and 33%). I've always weighed at the same time, without any clothes on.

What could be causing the fluctuations? I'm using a Fitbit Aria btw.
 
Fucked up both my hamstrings lifting too much on a squat than I should have (185lbs @ 5 reps 2 sets)

You know, it's odd... sometimes I really feel squats in my hamstrings (even at light weights), and other times, I can be pushing PRs and can't feel my hamstrings at all.

What could be causing the fluctuations? I'm using a Fitbit Aria btw.

Sounds broken to me. I've seen a swing of a couple of percentage points between days, but nothing like that. That said, the tech is highly inaccurate, so I wouldn't pay to much attention to it anyway.
 
My gym is down next week, and it’s fucking with me mentally. I’m not sure whether I should take a week off or get a trial membership for the gym down the road.

I know a week off won’t kill me, but mentally it’s gonna fuck me over.

Ugh

#gymlifeproblems
 
My gym is down next week, and it’s fucking with me mentally. I’m not sure whether I should take a week off or get a trial membership for the gym down the road.

I know a week off won’t kill me, but mentally it’s gonna fuck me over.

Ugh

#gymlifeproblems

I'm taking a week off for the first time in over a year next week.
 

mdsfx

Member
I'm taking a week off for the first time in over a year next week.
I'm on a two-week taper to prepare for a race. Not only am I not swimming or cycling, and doing very little running, but I'm not lifting at all. Having this many days off feels weird and I'm slowly but steadily gaining weight. I feel like a bum.
 

ExInferus

Member
Are there 3-days/week full body programs out there that mostly(not exclusively) consist of compound exercises but are in the 8-12 rep range? I mostly just came across PPL splits or 5x5 or 5-3-1 workouts.
Low rep workouts and splits are no fun to me at all anymore which is why I'm looking for something with higher reps. Any thoughts?
 
I'm on a two-week taper to prepare for a race. Not only am I not swimming or cycling, and doing very little running, but I'm not lifting at all. Having this many days off feels weird and I'm slowly but steadily gaining weight. I feel like a bum.

I know you’re doing it to prepare for a race, but damn, two weeks would kill me haha.

Haven’t taken a week off in over a year and a half. Not sure I’m going to next week either. *eyes trial membership at Dynamic Gym* 😬
 

lenovox1

Member
I know you’re doing it to prepare for a race, but damn, two weeks would kill me haha.

Haven’t taken a week off in over a year and a half. Not sure I’m going to next week either. *eyes trial membership at Dynamic Gym* 😬

Even ballet dancers take a couple of weeks off a year. You'll come out of the other end stronger, especially if you focus on self-recovery.
 

BumRush

Member
Anyone have any experience / recommendations for a weighted vest? Wife and I walk with the kids A LOT and I figured it might be a good way to burn a few more cals...
 

lenovox1

Member
Anyone have any experience / recommendations for a weighted vest? Wife and I walk with the kids A LOT and I figured it might be a good way to burn a few more cals...

As a possible alternative while you search, you can put sandbags in a backpack you already own and might be carrying if it's sturdy enough. Or those GoRuck weighted plates if said backpack has a 15 inch laptop compartment.
 

BumRush

Member
As a possible alternative while you search, you can put sandbags in a backpack you already own and might be carrying if it's sturdy enough. Or those GoRuck weighted plates if said backpack has a 15 inch laptop compartment.

Any back discomfort with this method?
 
I'm on a two-week taper to prepare for a race. Not only am I not swimming or cycling, and doing very little running, but I'm not lifting at all. Having this many days off feels weird and I'm slowly but steadily gaining weight. I feel like a bum.

That doesn't sound like a taper, it sounds more like a break.

Every taper I've done had me doing significantly less volume, but still keeping the intensity.
 

Tuorom

Neo Member
Are there 3-days/week full body programs out there that mostly(not exclusively) consist of compound exercises but are in the 8-12 rep range? I mostly just came across PPL splits or 5x5 or 5-3-1 workouts.
Low rep workouts and splits are no fun to me at all anymore which is why I'm looking for something with higher reps. Any thoughts?

You seem to be familiar with workouts, so why don't you just create your own?

If you wanna do high reps, why don't you try german volume? :)
 

RSP

Member
Sounds broken to me. I've seen a swing of a couple of percentage points between days, but nothing like that. That said, the tech is highly inaccurate, so I wouldn't pay to much attention to it anyway.

Ouch, that sucks. I've only been using it for a couple of months. Maybe I should return it. Weight is still accurate though, so It's not a huge issue.
 

mdsfx

Member
That doesn't sound like a taper, it sounds more like a break.

Every taper I've done had me doing significantly less volume, but still keeping the intensity.
Still running 3 times per week. Swam and cycled last week, but dropped those for race week. Still that's 3ish days off this week with my workout days being much lighter. Its the actual Hal Higdon training plan.

Edit: I guess I said "very little running." To clarify, I'm running just as often with much less mileage.
 

Boss X

Banned
My gym is down next week, and it’s fucking with me mentally. I’m not sure whether I should take a week off or get a trial membership for the gym down the road.

I know a week off won’t kill me, but mentally it’s gonna fuck me over.

Ugh

#gymlifeproblems
That's why i built a home gym.
 
if youre going to a gym with hex plates you know the struggles doing deadlifts. i'm surprise no one thought of this.

https://www.hexbumper.com/
a solution to hex plates. he has a $15K kickstarter. there's videos with people testing it out.

This is kind've neat. I know I've struggled with hex plates / deadlifts in the past, might've been useful. Now I don't do deadlifts plus most gyms now have round plates / lifting platforms anyway... still a cool idea though!
 

ExInferus

Member
You seem to be familiar with workouts, so why don't you just create your own?

If you wanna do high reps, why don't you try german volume? :)

Sounds interesting even though it's a split program. Sadly it's a 5-day-routine. I can only go 3 times a week the gym.
 

BumRush

Member
Back to back cardio and lifting days for the first time in 2-ish months. I'm out of shape fitfam, really fucking out of shape.
 
To make you guys feel a bit better; my cardio really isn't where it should be either...

...and in 8 days I have a 24hr+ endurance MTB race. I'm genuinely scared. lol
 

BumRush

Member
To make you guys feel a bit better; my cardio really isn't where it should be either...

...and in 8 days I have a 24hr+ endurance MTB race. I'm genuinely scared. lol

You forgot the decimal between the 2 and the 4...2.4 hours, while long, is well within your grasp!
 
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