Weightlifting routines?

[poisenedrice]

This Sunday I almost got into an altercation with, you guessed it, a cracker after he called me a "fucking chink" on the road. My temper flared so badly I chased that gweilo scum like a psycho all the way to the grocery store and confronted him in front of his kids. If he didn't have a solid 40 lbs. on me I would have fought him but drove away and I'm still mad over that shit. But at least I got to tell him "you fucking cracker, suck my yellow dick" in hehe.

So I started hitting the gym regularly for the first time in almost three years to bulk up, and am wondering if there are any routines and diet plans to get built and develop cracker destroying strength quickly, like say 1-2 months? I figure as long as I'm in America these situations will continue to pop up when I least expect it, and I need the physical strength to beat some ass, I mean defend myself because my pride and temper refuses to let these YTs get away with this shit.

*looking at kimtae and kwak*

As a reference, I've just been doing light bench presses, bicep curls, french presses, flys, and bent over rows to get back into the groove. And I got back into swimming to build endurance.

Plus I've started consuming that weight gainer shit for my post workouts.

[theme]

As a reference, I've just been doing light bench presses, bicep curls, french presses, flys, and bent over rows to get back into the groove. And I got back into swimming to build endurance.



The only 2 excercises that does anything for you from there are the bench press and the bent over rows. Everything else is for vanity.

You should post up some stats like weight, height, and diet.

We can continue from there if you're serious about it.

[Synthetic]

it's probably more important to learn to control your anger before you go bulking up and creating situations which you'll only regret later.

[RebelAzn]

This Sunday I almost got into an altercation with, you guessed it, a cracker after he called me a "fucking chink" on the road. My temper flared so badly I chased that gweilo scum like a psycho all the way to the grocery store and confronted him in front of his kids. If he didn't have a solid 40 lbs. on me I would have fought him but drove away and I'm still mad over that shit. But at least I got to tell him "you fucking cracker, suck my yellow dick" in hehe.

So I started hitting the gym regularly for the first time in almost three years to bulk up, and am wondering if there are any routines and diet plans to get built and develop cracker destroying strength quickly, like say 1-2 months? I figure as long as I'm in America these situations will continue to pop up when I least expect it, and I need the physical strength to beat some ass, I mean defend myself because my pride and temper refuses to let these YTs get away with this shit.

*looking at kimtae and kwak*

As a reference, I've just been doing light bench presses, bicep curls, french presses, flys, and bent over rows to get back into the groove. And I got back into swimming to build endurance.

Plus I've started consuming that weight gainer shit for my post workouts.

If you gonna take it seriously, you got to put in the work. I used to lift a ton. I almost competed for Mr. Connecticut muscle building contest until I found out all the white boys I was competing with were all on steroids.

1-2 months would never work.

You need to do it 6 times a week. Two body parts a day and do the pyramid method. Each day you should spend like at least 1.5 hours in the gym. Professional bodybuilders spent 6 hours a day in the gym.

Also you need real diet. You need to eat 6 days a day with small meals. Don't eat just 3 meals a day.

It will take at least 3-6 months to see real results. Even if you take steroid, it will take at least 3 months to see huge gains. And no, I never went near steroids even though I can tell you plenty of stories on steroids from years training in the gym.

I would suggest you do some martial arts to gain some flexibility. You have to work all of your muscle (chest, back, biceps, triceps, leg, stomach etc.) instead of just 1 or 2. If you over train 1 area and not the others, you will get hurt big time.

Both my brother and I trained regularly when we were young. My little brother benched over 375 lbs when he was 175 lbs and I benched over 350 lbs at my peak. It will take a while to get there and it will not happen overnight in any means.

[minbo]

If you want to be able to whup most people in a fight, forget about becoming a super massive musclebound freak. Yes, get fit and muscular, but invest the time in learning some sort of martial art. If you want to get into fights with people and win pretty much all the time,forget about martial arts and working out beyond a basic competency and fitness level. Just carry a weapon, use it liberally before they have a chance to bring out their own weapon and be prepared to get hauled into jail for assault with a deadly weapon, assault with a tazer/cattle prod/bear spray, or outright killing your opponent.

You know what they say, don't carry a weapon unless you are prepared to use it. They also say you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

If this is just a catchy way on asking for weight lifting tips, then you need to specify what your current fitness level is, what your actual specific goals are (Mr Universe, athletic/fitness competition, gym rat physique), what resources (time, facilities, monetary investment) you have available and are willing to commit.

[RebelAzn]

Here is my routine I used to do. This is all from top of my head at this minute. Keep in mind you have change your routine a little very 3 weeks or so or your body gets used to it and it won't grow. Do 5 mins stretch before you work out or you will get hurt.

Pyramid means 5 sets for me. When I say max, I mean the maximum you can do for 8 reps when you are fresh.

- Set 1 - warm up
- set 2 - 70% of your max - 8 reps
- Set 2 - 80% of your max - 8 reps
- Set 3 - 90% of your max - 8 reps
- set 4 - 100% of your max - as many as you can
- set 5 - warm up weight - burn out reps. As many as you can until you can't do it anymore.

Do a pyramid set for each of the body parts and each exercise. Keep in mind I forgot all the official names for some of the exercises but I will try to explain as best as I can.

Day 1

- Chest

Flat bench press
Incline bench press
Decline bench press
Chest flies

- Triceps

Overhead tricep
Tricep pull downs
Lay on your back and do the tricep pull over.
Tricep pushdown
Tricep kickbacks


Day 2

- Back

Wide back pull ups
Wide back pull down
Mid back pull down
Lower back pull down

200 sit ups

- Biceps

Dumbbell curls
Individual bar arm curls

Day 3

- Shoulder

Behind the neck shoulder press with bar
Shoulder deltoid flies
Individual dumbbell shoulder press

- Leg

Squat
Hamstring exercise
Calf

Do at minimal 200 stomach sit ups each day to finalize your workout.

Day 4

Rest

Day 5-7 repeat day 1-3


Building beautiful muscle is 90% genetics. 50% of the workout is diet. You have to eat right. It means eat high protein diet like chicken breast without skin. Eat 6 times a day. When you can't eat, drink a weight gainer shake or protein shake. If you want to gain weight, use milk to mix with weight gainer.

If you have no idea what I am talking about above, I suggest you get a trainer. The proper right form to each exercise is very very important to prevent injury.

Of course, there is a lot more but this can get you started.

[RebelAzn]

And yes, if you are bigger and muscular, people will think twice before they fuck with you. If anything else, it will prevent losers coming up to you and pick on you. Also try to practice some martial arts. I used to do that a ton too and entered number of sparring competitions. If nothing else, it helps with self control so you don't get into any unnecessary fights. Also, it will build confidence knowing you know how to defend yourself. There are ways you can break someone's arm in less than 2 secs if you know what you are doing.

That being said, I am glad you spoke up against the racist asshole. He will probably think twice before he pick on someone else next time.

Also, I am glad you want to work out and improve yourself. More Asian men need to get their lazy asses into the gym more often. I see a lot more now but few that are really really serious. It takes a lot to maintain. When you get older, it is even harder. When you have a nice body, it will help with your overall demeanor and confidence.

[theme]

For someone who hasn't worked out in 3 years I suggest you don't follow RebelAzn's routine. You'll hurt yourself and if not your growth would be stunted by the sheer intensity of it all.

This is the site that I visit:http://www.wannabebigforums.com/

They educated me on nutrition, the importance of supplements, and helped me to tripple my bench in a very short amount of time. I frequent there alot.

Again, I can't stress enough how as a beginner you should avoid doing as many excercises as Rebel. That's overkill. You most likely will not see any results if you follow that routine.

[lopan]

Great tips on weightlifting, Rebel!

I can't comment on the bodybuilding at all, but i can say something about the martial art. My first reaction is to recommend something that will give you some self control and patience. Discipline. But, you're probably just looking to whup ass, and I guess that's alright too, for some people. In that case, if you want to learn how to fight quick without all the martial arts hocus pocus or bureacracy, i say learn boxing. Tried and true, western-style boxing. you'll learn to move, step, punch and knock someone out without having to learn katas or forms, or go through ridiculous belts and grades. Besides - most martial artists won't be able to fight effectively anyway in the beginning; but with boxing training, you can.

[Vahz]

You should be able to use some supplements as well. I use the following:

1.) Green Tea extract
2.) GNC Men's multi-vitamin
3.) Creatine http://www.maxmuscle.com/shopmax/store.cfm?page=details.cfm&cartaction=none&thisrow=1&action=list&Product_ID=519&criteria=29
4.) Whey Protein
5.) Fish oil.

[RebelAzn]

Great tips on weightlifting, Rebel!

I can't comment on the bodybuilding at all, but i can say something about the martial art. My first reaction is to recommend something that will give you some self control and patience. Discipline. But, you're probably just looking to whup ass, and I guess that's alright too, for some people. In that case, if you want to learn how to fight quick without all the martial arts hocus pocus or bureacracy, i say learn boxing. Tried and true, western-style boxing. you'll learn to move, step, punch and knock someone out without having to learn katas or forms, or go through ridiculous belts and grades. Besides - most martial artists won't be able to fight effectively anyway in the beginning; but with boxing training, you can.

Lopan - I always found the best way to learn how to fight is full contact sparring. When I was younger, I would spar a lot before tournaments with my good friend who is now a martial arts instructor. Of course, lack of training in my older age has reduced my flexibility etc. That being said, full contact sparring is the best way. I remember always this surreal feeling whenever I see a guy I know at least multiple ways to take him down. It really gives you a lot of confidence.

Of course, back then if I ever get into real fights for lack of self control, I would have to go back to gym and be forced to spar with my master full contact for like 30 mins. It was no picnic and I used to get my ass whooped so I tried to avoid street fights. My master was so good that he can tell you where he gonna hit you ahead of the time and you still won't able to avoid it. He used to eat Tae Kwon Do guys at tournaments for lunch. He has so many trophies from tournament he could have filled a entire room. The best way to build balance is by sitting in the iron horse position for a long long time. All of your balance comes from the middle of your stomach.

[RebelAzn]

For someone who hasn't worked out in 3 years I suggest you don't follow RebelAzn's routine. You'll hurt yourself and if not your growth would be stunted by the sheer intensity of it all.

This is the site that I visit:http://www.wannabebigforums.com/

They educated me on nutrition, the importance of supplements, and helped me to tripple my bench in a very short amount of time. I frequent there alot.

Again, I can't stress enough how as a beginner you should avoid doing as many excercises as Rebel. That's overkill. You most likely will not see any results if you follow that routine.


My routine builds the entire body, not one part. If he is a beginner, he can start with light weights and do the routine. He does not have to go 225 lbs on the 1st day. You start with what you are comfortable with and go from there. There is no easy way around this, you either work certain areas of your body or you don't. There are many more exercises but these are the basic ones that will help him build the body to take on more exercises down the road.

One thing I forgot to mention is rest at most 1-2 mins between each set.

[RebelAzn]

Here is some inspiration to get you started:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z166/rliu001/musclemag.jpg

[theme]

My routine builds the entire body, not one part. If he is a beginner, he can start with light weights and do the routine. He does not have to go 225 lbs on the 1st day. You start with what you are comfortable with and go from there. There is no easy way around this, you either work certain areas of your body or you don't. There are many more exercises but these are the basic ones that will help him build the body to take on more exercises down the road.

One thing I forgot to mention is rest at most 1-2 mins between each set.

Most good routines build the entire body. But your routine dedicates 5 exercises to triceps. For what? Triceps contributes the least to how large your body actually grows and you're already hitting them indirectly through the various bench presses. If you posted that routine on any serious weight lifting sites they will tell you the exact same thing.

I'm only mentioning this because a routine like this would severely slow his progress. Taking into consideration that he hasn't lifted in years, the biggest favor he can do for himself is to focus on benchpress, squat, deadlifts, bbrows-and work everything else around that. 3 sets of 6 reps is all he needs per exercise.

In light of the type of information he is getting here I would just suggest he go to a real weight lifting site where there are experts that can correctly guide him if he wants to reap the maximum rewards for his time.

Oh, and training 6 times a week is considered over training. And who has the time? 3-4 times is fine.

AND the most irresponsible thing to give advice about is a behind the neck shoulder press with a bar. WHAT?? NEVER do any type of pressing movement behind the back because that is one of the most dangerous exercises due to the hazard of injuring your rotator cuffs. It's one of the most frequent injuries that's why it's heavily HEAVILY discouraged by weight lifters.

That's it. Poisenedrice, take your ass to a real bodybuilding site. Taking anyone's advice here will definitely lead to some mass injuries where you can bet the only ass you'll be kicking is your own.

[RebelAzn]

Most good routines build the entire body. But your routine dedicates 5 exercises to triceps. For what? Triceps contributes the least to how large your body actually grows and you're already hitting them indirectly through the various bench presses. If you posted that routine on any serious weight lifting sites they will tell you the exact same thing.

I'm only mentioning this because a routine like this would severely slow his progress. Taking into consideration that he hasn't lifted in years, the biggest favor he can do for himself is to focus on benchpress, squat, deadlifts, bbrows-and work everything else around that. 3 sets of 6 reps is all he needs per exercise.

In light of the type of information he is getting here I would just suggest he go to a real weight lifting site where there are experts that can correctly guide him if he wants to reap the maximum rewards for his time.

Oh, and training 6 times a week is considered over training. And who has the time? 3-4 times is fine.

How long have you been lifting? I been doing it for over 18 years. I think I have a clue what I am talking about based on my personal result. You can listen to whoever you want, but I merely shared with him what worked for me. As for 5 different tricep routines. Well let's just say I used those for burnout routines because it is not a huge muscle.

I have no idea what your experience is with working out. If you are such an expert, why don't you share some of your personal experience vs. being a prick and rag on everything when you don't know what the fuck you are talking about. If he wants to learn how to work out, he should go talk to a few guys who actually look like they got the result he is looking for. Everybody can develop their own routines and there is no one size fits all stuff here.

At end of the day, it is about your personal experience and not some stuff you read somewhere. I am not saying that will work for him, I am merely saying it worked for me. At least I gave him steps on exactly what to do vs. going to some site and read bunch of stuff that might confuse the crap out of him.

[theme]

How long have you been lifting? I been doing it for over 18 years. I think I have a clue what I am talking about based on my personal result. You can listen to whoever you want, but I merely shared with him what worked for me. As for 5 different tricep routines. Well let's just say I used those for burnout routines because it is not a huge muscle.

I have no idea what your experience is with work out If you are such an expert, why don't you share some of your personal experience vs. being a prick and rag on everything when you don't know what the fuck you are talking about. If he wants to learn how to work out, he should go talk to a few guys who actually look like they got the result he is looking for.

At end of the day, it is about your personal experience and not some stuff you read somewhere. I am not saying that will work for him, I am merely saying it worked for me. At least I gave him steps on exactly what to do vs. going to some site and read bunch of stuff that might confuse the crap out of him.

I'm an idiot but even I can understand the 'stuff' that are offerend on 'some site' so I doubt poisenedrice would have much trouble. All I'm saying is that advice you're giving is counterproduct as I have shown by your 6 day split routine and overkill on triceps and the behind the shoulder press exercise is unnecessary and very dangerous. Rotator cuff injuries, that is the joint around your shoulders, can be twisted with bad form or weight that is too heavy.

Anyway, he can do as he wants but the advice you're offering is dangerous and irresponsible.

[kimtae]

Great tips on weightlifting, Rebel!Horrible advice. Theme is right, that routine is a one way ticket to a physical therapist. But he's wrong about the bench and bentover rows being the only useful exercises. In fact, if I could only do two exercises they would be pull-ups and deadlifts but there are certainly a great variety of exercises that benefit you in many real-life applications.
Pyramid means 5 sets for me.
- Set 1 - warm up
- set 2 - 70% of your max - 8 reps
- Set 2 - 80% of your max - 8 reps
- Set 3 - 90% of your max - 8 reps
- set 4 - 100% of your max - as many as you can
- set 5 - warm up weight - burn out reps. As many as you can until you can't do it anymore.
Most people can do 8 reps of 70% of max but 8 reps of 90%?!!! I hope you have a good spotter and no joint issues. This is not the way to do pyramids. There are several different theories such as the old Soviet style or the popular University of Nebraska routine. There's a lot of them on the web. Most of them are reasonably similar, mine is an amalgamation of several different ones that I tinkered around with until I got one that seems to work best for me.
Set 1: Warm up with 60% of max 10 reps
Set 2: 70% of max at 8 reps
Set 3: 75% at 6 reps
Set 4: 80% at 4 reps
Set 5: 85% at 2 reps
Set 6: 90% at 1 rep
Set 7: 70% at 8 reps
Occassionally (maybe one workout out of four to six) I'll do pause reps between sets 6 and 7 for certainly exercises like the bench and the squat. On those days I do 70% of my max, I pause and hold tension at the bottom of the lift for a count of 1 full second, then spring up with as much sudden force as possible. Then I'll do the last set at 50-65% for 8 reps. This will make you stronger but not much bigger.
Now, I am not a powerlifter and I work mostly a bodybuilding routine. The above is strictly for power and I only do it twice a month or so.
If you really want to get some useful muscle, I suggest doing mostly a power routine and mixing in a bodybuilding routine once or twice a month.

If you want to get into fighting form fast, I suggest you take up boxing. You'll have a distinct advantage over most other people in as little as a month. There is no substitute for having a heavy bag to pound regularly. Also, keep in mind, 90% of the time if you throw the first shot you are going to win as long as you connect. And don't be afraid to throw that first shot, as long as you can make a fast getaway that is. The cop shop sucks.

[RebelAzn]

I'm an idiot but even I can understand the 'stuff' that are offerend on 'some site' so I doubt poisenedrice would have much trouble. All I'm saying is that advice you're giving is counterproduct as I have shown by your 6 day split routine and overkill on triceps and the behind the shoulder press exercise is unnecessary and very dangerous. Rotator cuff injuries, that is the joint around your shoulders, can be twisted with bad form or weight that is too heavy.

Anyway, he can do as he wants but the advice you're offering is dangerous and irresponsible.

Have you heard of military press? That's basically one of the variation of behind the neck shoulder press thats done standing up. It is one of the best exercises for building overall body balance. The key to muscle building is it has to be balanced through the entire body. I am not saying he has to lift heavy weights, but he can do light ones. It is a good exercise. As for being dangerous, anything to do with weight is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing or you are doing it with wrong forms. See my comments above about that. Forms are very very important.

As for the 6 day routine, go ask any professional bodybuilder and they will tell you that. Notice I combined certain body parts (chest/triceps) so you work similar muscles within the same group. Also, the routine above gives you 3 days in between exercise to rest and recuperate. 3 days is good enough healing for most muscles. When you work out, you are basically tearing down your muscles and let them heal back up again bigger and stronger.

He does not have to 5 tricep exercises. He can probably get away with 3. The other two can be change up for other days for triceps.

[RebelAzn]

Most people can do 8 reps of 70% of max but 8 reps of 90%?!!!

Perhaps I should have clarified that when I say 100% I mean the max you can do for 8 reps. That's what I mean by 100%. I always like to do 8s. While the decreasing rep of pyramid is popular for gaining muscle fast, but I am not sure it is any more effective than doing reps of 8 all the way to max. Anyway, I have varied my routine greatly over the years to try different things. You kind of have to adjust your body to see how it reacts to different exercises and how heavy you lift. Also, I don't believe in that arching your back to go max with someone spotting you cause that risks getting hurt. I think the fewest reps you should do is 4.

[theme]

Have you heard of military press? That's basically one of the variation of behind the neck shoulder press thats done standing up. It is one of the best exercises for building overall body balance. The key to muscle building is it has to be balanced through the entire body. I am not saying he has to lift heavy weights, but he can do light ones. It is a good exercise. As for being dangerous, anything to do with weight is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing or you are doing it with wrong forms. See my comments above about that. Forms are very very important.

You can do a military press from the front. It does NOT have to be from the back which is much more dangerous. And I agree that weight lifting can be dangerous in general, but if there is a propensity for a certain type of injury do you think it is smart to recommend it to someone who is for the most part 'new' to lifting? No. And Military presses are NOT necessary at all. You can build the same muscles with safer exercises and the differences are negligible.


As for the 6 day routine, go ask any professional bodybuilder and they will tell you that. Notice I spitted certain body parts (chest/triceps) so you work similar muscles within the same group. Also, the routine above gives you 3 days in between exercise to rest of recuperate. 3 days is good enough healing for most muscles. When you work out, you are basically tearing down your muscles and let them heal back up again bigger and stronger.

Uh...poisenedrice is NOT a professional bodybuilder or have I not gotten that through to your head? Heck, even people who have been lifting for years will tell you that 6 days is overkill. A 4 day split is the most I've ever heard a bodybuilder doing and for beginners an A-B split routine is the best choice with A being one set of exercises and B another set of exercises.

[RebelAzn]

No. And Military presses are NOT necessary at all. You can build the same muscles with safer exercises and the differences are negligible.


Ughh.. if you don't build balanced muscle throughout the entire body, you risk far more injuries. If you work on your chest only and don't work on your back, there is much greater chance to get hurt. Muscles have to develop in a balanced manner.


Uh...poisenedrice is NOT a professional bodybuilder or have I not gotten that through to your head? Heck, even people who have been lifting for years will tell you that 6 days is overkill. A 4 day split is the most I've ever heard a bodybuilder doing and for beginners an A-B split routine is the best choice with A being one set of exercises and B another set of exercises.


First of all, it is not a 6 day routine. It is a 3 day on, 1 day off and 3 day on and 1 day off. It is not 6 straight days of working out.

[theme]

Ughh.. if you don't build balanced muscle throughout the entire body, you risk far more injuries. If you work on your chest only and don't work on your back, there is much greater chance to get hurt. Muscles have to develop in a balanced manner.

Are you saying that behind the back presses with a bar are the only ways to work out the back? I certainly never alluded to that. I said any type of behind the back presses using freeweights will increase your chances of injuries to the rotator cuffs-Which are common. As a beginner, poisenedrice should stay away from any of these types of movements.


First of all, it is not a 6 day routine. It is a 3 day on, 1 day off and 3 day on and 1 day off. It is not 6 straight days of working out.

And second of all?

Either way, as someone who is coming back from 3 years absence, he should do an alternate day routine. 1 on, 1 off. That will give him enough rest to work intensely on his next day.

-----------------------------------------

And that's all I'm going to say on that. Do whatever you want poisenedrice. Good luck to you. But seriously, go to a professional weightlifting site for real advice on how to build your body with little risk to injuring yourself.

[kimtae]

Poisened, I'll get back to you when I have more time. In the menawhile, look up hypertrophy specific training (HST). It's an ideal way for beginners or those who have been out for a long time to get back into the swing of things. You can decide after two months if you want to stick with it or if you want to switch programs. If you decide to switch, let me know then, otherwise the HST routine is a very effective one that will protect you against injuries that often affect beginners.

[Pat the Great]

frankly, this thread is kind of stupid. you're asking for a weightlifting routine that will give you 'cracker destroying strength', but lifting - particularly with rebel's bodybuilding workout - won't let you destroy crackers. learning how to fight will. train boxing, jiu jitsu, muay thai, wrestling, mma, whatever. then lift for functional strength, not gym muscles.

i lift to supplement my bjj training about 3x a week. real simple stuff - 5 sets of 5 reps, day one and day five are bench/squat/bent rows days, and day three is a deadlift/squat/military press day.

honestly, don't come to the 44s for this kind of advice. hit up sherdog.com forums.

[Vahz]

Not sure if someone said this already but you won't see real results in 2 months, try 6 months to a year. Also, it depends on large you wish to get. If you're just looking for tone, a normal schedule could do that. If you wish to look like a guy on Men's Fitness, it's a complete lifestyle change.

Being large dissuades idiots from saying stupid shit while learning a martial art is more suitable for self defense.

[poisenedrice]

Poisened, I'll get back to you when I have more time. In the menawhile, look up hypertrophy specific training (HST). It's an ideal way for beginners or those who have been out for a long time to get back into the swing of things. You can decide after two months if you want to stick with it or if you want to switch programs. If you decide to switch, let me know then, otherwise the HST routine is a very effective one that will protect you against injuries that often affect beginners.

Will do, thanks for the heads up. And I'll def try to find a boxing club like you suggested.

And to everyone else, spare me the self-righteous condescension and lecturing.

[Vahz]

On a side note, I've notice alot more Asian guys attending gyms. I guess more and more of them are pissed off enough to do something.

[Synthetic]

hahaha...

or maybe they're not pissed off at all. maybe they just want to be healthy and look good for the ladies.

and not to sound "condescending", but i still think it's ridiculous to get huge and ripped based on the motivation of beating down white people. you don't have to be big and muscular to inflict damage. doesn't matter if you're a buck 50 or 250, getting punched in the nose hurts either way. lest we forget the story of david and goliath?

[poisenedrice]

hahaha...

or maybe they're not pissed off at all. maybe they just want to be healthy and look good for the ladies.

and not to sound "condescending", but i still think it's ridiculous to get huge and ripped based on the motivation of beating down white people. you don't have to be big and muscular to inflict damage. doesn't matter if you're a buck 50 or 250, getting punched in the nose hurts either way. lest we forget the story of david and goliath?

No offense, but you're reading into me way too much guy. Apparently saying getting "built" equates to being a bodybuilder, which is not my intent. I just want to get bigger than I currently am and get functional strength. But I guess that just means I have to use more precise, formal, model minority English here.

As much as I hate to bicker like a bitch, yes you were/are being condescending. I'll be very real right now in the hopes that a lurker who's gone through a situation similar to mine doesn't feel isolated. It's apparent that members on F44s like you haven't had to deal with too much blatant, in your face racism and confrontations - cool, good for you. Happy happy joy joy. Believe it or not, I actually understand why some of you are more mellow and feel kumbaya, and favor trying to extend an olive branch to whites by engaging them in a rational discourse and all that jazz.

But I'm one of "those" Asians who does get confrontational and loses his temper. I freely admit I actually have been going to therapy to work on my anger. Until Sunday, I honest-to-god thought I was making progress and reforming my hate filled ways. When you've had the misfortune to be targeted by crackers all your life with no real support group, one tends to be angry. God knows I've wrestled with feelings of helplessness, isolation, and extreme frustration because none of my family or Asian friends ever lifted a finger to stand up for me or Asians in general.

Real talk here, all I was ever told was to "ignore it, they're just ignorant", which seems to be the Asian American M.O. for dealing with racism. Somehow that was supposed to make me feel better every time some random ass YT tried to start shit. Well guess what, being told that shit never made me feel better, and it never enabled me to let go of my anger. Whether it's ultimately right or wrong, blowing up, being confrontational, and standing up for myself are the only things that have gotten results for me.

So whether my reasoning and motivation is fucking stupid or not, I really don't care for preaching about how fighting is doesn't solve anything, and getting bigger is retarded. I'm just a guy who's tired of feeling defenseless, tired of crackers trying to start shit without adverse repurcussions. I'm a chink just looking for *practical* answers to be able to cope with my lot in life.

Tell you what, when a cracker calls you a fucking chink in front of his ten year old kids and laughs with them, and you can honestly come here and tell me how you were able to be the bigger man and let that shit go, then I really will be more willing to listen to what you have to say. Until then, I'm more open to what kimtae and kwak have to say about how to beat the shit out of YTs.

[Vahz]

I hear that. Too many people these days like to be armchair generals.

If you don't mind me asking, where the hell do you live? You need to get the fuck out of dodge.

[RebelAzn]

Poisenedrice -

Tell you what. You are certainly not alone. I think it takes guts to share what you have to go through and I imagine it is not much different than other Asian kids who grew up in isolated communities. I shared in my other posts about facing racism since I had to deal with it too. It is almost like badge of honor to be an Asian American to get pick on when you are little. I got into several fights when I first came into the USA. My little brother broke a kid's nose in school. I had to live across two little racist kids who always like to fight in school and they were troublemakers, but they were scared of me and my brothers cause they know we would stand up to them and beat their asses back to where ever they came from. There were several incidents but I stood up and faced those fuckers straight on. Yes it is hard when you are alone and white people have like 500 of them, but some will respect you for standing up for yourself. However, once they find out you will call them out some of the pussies will back down. I have to tone myself down when I got older after couple dudes pulled a gun to my face cause they probably thought I was gonna beat them senseless, which I was probably going to do if I had the chance.

When you get bigger, those same fuckers will think twice before they fuck with you. I don't know how big you are but it does not hurt to improve your overall strength and know how to fight. Either that or you have to be a crazy fucker who is fearless. While I don't recommend you get into every fight, but I would pick your battle based on the situation. Pussies are the ones who like to pick on people half their size and many of those racists are pussies.

And yes there are some fuckers on this forum and all they do is criticize and judge. Those are the same fuckers who never share their own personal experience and they never offer any solution to improve the problem. They just bitch and criticize other people who actually acknowledges the issue.

And no, you have every right to say what you need to say. This is suppose to be an Asian American forum and you have to right to discuss with people who can relate to you.

And I agree with Vahz. Move your ass to a place more friendly to Asians like CA and get out of that shit hole where you live the first chance you get.

[poisenedrice]

Well, I saw my therapist today and I feel calm for the first time since Sunday. Man, I should buy her some a nice gift sometime.

But I'm still going to try and find a boxing club to join, hehe.

To answer your questions RebelAzn and Vahz, I live in Southeast Michigan. If you cats want to hook me up with a job in Rowland Heights or "Montree" Park or San Gabriel that would be awesome. I'm 5'11" and ~150 lbs. Unfortunately I inherited my father's skinny ass genes, but I think at my height getting to 160-165 lbs. would be a realistic goal for now.

[cattygurl]

Do a variety of things- cardio, weightlifting, martial arts training- they're all good. Don't forgt to stretch- yoga is great in developing flexibility and balance in one fell swoop. Pilates can help you really develop your core muscles. Yoga and pilates aren't just for women- although some guys consider them to be wussy.

Boxing gyms are great- you may also talk to a personal trainer in addition to that. Best references, IMHO, come from physical therapists. Talk to several different people until you find one that you think will work for you. Have them set up a routine and go a couple of sessions to make sure your form is good, then go at it on your own until you think you want to mix things up/change things up a bit. That way, you can afford good training without fucking up your bank account. If you hire a trainer- you're the boss. If you hire them to teach you weight training- then make sure they stick to that. Get your warm-up done before your session so you don't waste time warming up.

[RebelAzn]

QUOTE=poisenedrice;23379]
To answer your questions RebelAzn and Vahz, I live in Southeast Michigan. If you cats want to hook me up with a job in Rowland Heights or "Montree" Park or San Gabriel that would be awesome. I'm 5'11" and ~150 lbs. Unfortunately I inherited my father's skinny ass genes, but I think at my height getting to 160-165 lbs. would be a realistic goal for now.[/QUOTE]

I would start looking for a job in CA if I were you. Man you could gain some weight. I love to give 20 lbs off my body if I could since I am having a damn hard time losing some weight. I assume you must be very young now too. When you get older, your metabolism will slow down a lot. When I went to college as a freshman I was 135 lbs. After 4 years, I was at 185 lbs through weight training. Now I am just happy to be under 200.

Remember the best way to gain weight is eat a ton of small meals. At your weight, you can afford to eat a horse every day.

[zhangfei]

Equally as important as exercise is what you eat and how much of it you eat. Watch out your protein intake and calorie intake. I usually drink a protein shake after a workout.

[Vahz]

Southeast Mich? God, get out of there. Whatever job you have, I'm sure there are more options in a major city like LA, Seattle, or NYC.

[Tyger Durden]

When all fails, and you don't have time for fee-based Gyms or expensive weight-lifting equipment or space for it, simple push-ups and sit-ups will do. Do them every other day until you feel a "burn" and start cramping.

I'm not sure if Bruce Lee lifted weights at all. Someone please correct me I'm wrong though.

Personally, I would get a heavy-bag (at least 50 lbs) before i purchased a bench press. Nothing beats the feel of contact...and you start working towards getting a much sought-after "boxer's physique". I would take that over the WWE physique anyday. Punch and kick the bag.

If you're going to get weights, a curling bar may be all you need if you do the rest above. It can work out several muscle groups (forearm curls/biceps/triceps/militaries/etc) and doesn't take up much space.

Curling bar/push-ups/sit-ups/bag-work/stretching/running. Very spartan, but it keeps things simple in a complicated world.

[Vahz]

Not sure what a curling bar is but another good piece of equipment that you can get for cheap is a chin-up bar. Lots of exercises and you use your whole body weight.

Towel pull-ups are amazing at working 4 muscle groups at once; shoulders, triceps, biceps, forearms, and lats.

[kwak76]

it is one thing to look big and strong and another thing being an actually tuff mofo.

Looks are decieving. I seen some of the toughest mofo who look like they get sand kicked in the face where as some muscle bound freak gas out in just 10 seconds.

Pretty much kimtae and rebelazn has good advice so I'm not going to add anything.

Just keep it simple. If your starting out I recommend lifting 3 days a week with a full body routine.
Stick to the basic..squat, dead lift , bench and I have to add clean and press.
you could also do pull- ups and dips to work your upper body as will.

Start out with 5 sets of 5 reps and gradaully add the weight as the week goes by. Eventually you may have to do a split routine where you do a different body part but i rather have you keep it simple since you are starting out.

on your days off from the weight room I recommend taking up some mma or boxing.
To be honest if you want to know how to fight you have to train like a fighter.
Weight training is just one aspect of a fighter routine but sparring and practicing the tech. is the key.

I recommend western boxing, muay thai, or some sort of wrestling if you could find a school.

Eat big and healthy so you could gain the weight.

word of advice though..I think you mentioned you live in Detroit or somewhere around there.. no matter how much you could bench if someone pulls a gun on you it wouldn't matter..
if you live in a very white area just to be safe I would arm myself..

[Vahz]

Learning Muay Thai is questionable.

My cousin has been taking it for a long time and you need to be in great shape to even start training. Also, if you work in a corporate workplace, this martial art is even less forgiving as you will show up covered in bruises.

If you really do want to go through with it and want to find a good trainer, if there are children or women present, leave. You won't get real training there.

[Vahz]

I think I have a problem that most women want to have.

Been noticing that as I work out, I've been losing weight. Quickly. At the beginning of May, I was 159 pounds but nearing the end, I'm almost 154. Coupled with eating somewhat healthy, I think weight lifting and running has caused me to lose weight or I'm not eating enough. Keep in mind that this is bad as I'm trying to bulk up more, not get more cut.

Currently, my diet has been:

Morning: Egg whites + Taylor Ham (least fatty of the breakfast meats) on whole wheat toast.

Snack: Banana or apple

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with some fruit

Dinner: Usually grilled chicken with some veggies and white rice.

Snack: Strawberries.

I also drink nothing but water. At least 8 big glasses a day.

Should I start eating the same food except bigger portions or be less picky about the foods I eat (such as ones with more fat and carbs)?

[RebelAzn]

I think I have a problem that most women want to have.

Been noticing that as I work out, I've been losing weight. Quickly. At the beginning of May, I was 159 pounds but nearing the end, I'm almost 154. Coupled with eating somewhat healthy, I think weight lifting and running has caused me to lose weight or I'm not eating enough. Keep in mind that this is bad as I'm trying to bulk up more, not get more cut.

Currently, my diet has been:

Morning: Egg whites + Taylor Ham (least fatty of the breakfast meats) on whole wheat toast.

Snack: Banana or apple

Lunch: Turkey sandwich with some fruit

Dinner: Usually grilled chicken with some veggies and white rice.

Snack: Strawberries.

I also drink nothing but water. At least 8 big glasses a day.

Should I start eating the same food except bigger portions or be less picky about the foods I eat (such as ones with more fat and carbs)?

You should eat more meat and drink some weight gain shakes. I think your calorie intake is a little low and you are eating really low fat food. How old are you? When you get older, sometimes your metabolism can slow down a lot. I wish I got your problem. I am trying hard to drop some pounds to go to 185.

[Vahz]

I think I should be a little more liberal with my food and not watch what I'm eating so closely. I was also thinking about those weight gain shakes as well.

I'm currently 28, 5'7" and 154 pounds.

I'm trying to get the build like Edward Norton in American History X where he put on 35 pounds of muscle.

[theme]

I think I should be a little more liberal with my food and not watch what I'm eating so closely. I was also thinking about those weight gain shakes as well.

I'm currently 28, 5'7" and 154 pounds.

I'm trying to get the build like Edward Norton in American History X where he put on 35 pounds of muscle.

Ed probably ate 600-1000 more calories of his average daily intake and worked out acouple of hours a day. Then cut 5-6 months afterwards to hold onto that muscle.

There's no way that with your diet you'll be able to do that much, and that is why you are losing weight. You're not eating enough. Eating until you are full is not enough. Eating until you feel like vomiting is about enough.

[little mixed girl]

i have a friend that's pretty big (muscular).
he's completely cut alcohol out of his life, he's never smoked, he doesn't have a strict diet but he does eat well and cooks most of his foods.
i think he's in the gym everyday for 1 or 2 hrs.

last summer he started drinking creatin(sp) to get even more muscle mass.
but with that stuff...i guess you can bulk up fast, but it's worthless if you don't follow their instructions.

running, leg lifts, all that aerobic stuff...that's what gives you muscle.

[Synthetic]

No offense, but you're reading into me way too much guy. Apparently saying getting "built" equates to being a bodybuilder, which is not my intent. I just want to get bigger than I currently am and get functional strength. But I guess that just means I have to use more precise, formal, model minority English here.

As much as I hate to bicker like a bitch, yes you were/are being condescending. I'll be very real right now in the hopes that a lurker who's gone through a situation similar to mine doesn't feel isolated. It's apparent that members on F44s like you haven't had to deal with too much blatant, in your face racism and confrontations - cool, good for you. Happy happy joy joy. Believe it or not, I actually understand why some of you are more mellow and feel kumbaya, and favor trying to extend an olive branch to whites by engaging them in a rational discourse and all that jazz.

But I'm one of "those" Asians who does get confrontational and loses his temper. I freely admit I actually have been going to therapy to work on my anger. Until Sunday, I honest-to-god thought I was making progress and reforming my hate filled ways. When you've had the misfortune to be targeted by crackers all your life with no real support group, one tends to be angry. God knows I've wrestled with feelings of helplessness, isolation, and extreme frustration because none of my family or Asian friends ever lifted a finger to stand up for me or Asians in general.

Real talk here, all I was ever told was to "ignore it, they're just ignorant", which seems to be the Asian American M.O. for dealing with racism. Somehow that was supposed to make me feel better every time some random ass YT tried to start shit. Well guess what, being told that shit never made me feel better, and it never enabled me to let go of my anger. Whether it's ultimately right or wrong, blowing up, being confrontational, and standing up for myself are the only things that have gotten results for me.

So whether my reasoning and motivation is fucking stupid or not, I really don't care for preaching about how fighting is doesn't solve anything, and getting bigger is retarded. I'm just a guy who's tired of feeling defenseless, tired of crackers trying to start shit without adverse repurcussions. I'm a chink just looking for *practical* answers to be able to cope with my lot in life.

Tell you what, when a cracker calls you a fucking chink in front of his ten year old kids and laughs with them, and you can honestly come here and tell me how you were able to be the bigger man and let that shit go, then I really will be more willing to listen to what you have to say. Until then, I'm more open to what kimtae and kwak have to say about how to beat the shit out of YTs.

you mind if i pick and choose some stuff out of here and make it a signature? i mean, there's some classic stuff in here.

i love when people assume to know stuff about others based on their difference of opinion. because i don't believe in kicking the shit out of everyone who makes a racial remark about me, i must must must live in a very white community who loves asian people hence, i love them. it's like a house slave relationship!

the reason i don't believe in fighting is because fighting only hurts the other person until the bruise or broken bone goes away. it's not the kinda pain you can inflict when you completely make them feel like an ass...you know, that pain where they walk to their car, just fuckin' heated over what you said, and what makes them the most angry is knowing they aren't going to do anything about it. the same pain which makes you angry at them, you need to inflict on them. that's the kinda pain that they lose sleep over...the kinda pain which makes their kids lose respect for them.

beating up some dude in front of his kids is only gonna lead to three options.

1.) you're gonna get beat up, and they'll continue their mockery
2.) you're gonna beat him up, and then his kids will carry on the racism
3.) you're gonna beat him up, but nothing is gonna change.

it's like walking past a dude and his girl. and the dude says something about you...you could confront him and take your chances, or you could say something completely flagrant about his girlfriend and laugh about it as you walk away....what do you think is gonna piss him off more?

same thing with the dad and the kids, man. instead of fighting the dad, why don't you just insult him on how fuckin ugly his wife must be given how ugly his kids are?...and then laugh about it....

gotta aim for where it really matters.

[atlasien]

Ah, the violence question. I'm very much in the middle. The one thing that worked for me, when getting non-stop ching-chonged, was violence. It scared a lot of the kids and made them less blatant.

I believe that when someone gets in your space and uses racist language against you, that's also violence. You should be able to defend yourself. However, I also don't believe in physically assaulting people. Plus, 99% of the time in the adult world, it's totally counterproductive. Assault charges, lawsuits, hospital bills, criminal records are the real-life results.

Physical training to increase physical confidence is great. But anger management therapy sounds great too. You have to pick your emotional battles. You are not responsible for responding to all the racism in the world. You have to be strategic. You want to get to that emotional point where you can volunteer to respond to racism in instances where you can win, and back away and not take responsibility when you obviously can't win.

Also, you need to have a realistic standard. One example I love is Steven Seagal in On Deadly Ground where he beats a racist guy up in a bar fight, which immediately cause him to renounce his evil Eskimo-hating ways. Far-fetched, but a lot of victims of racism get into an all-or-nothing mode. Most of the time you are not going to win, or change anyone's mind, or kick someone's ass. Settle for something smaller, in between IGNORE and ANNIHILATE settings, like simply registering disapproval or offense, or saying "you're a racist" and walking away.

[cattygurl]

Lack of endurance can be a motherfucker. Don't be neglecting your cardio. I do agree with getting some kind of training in boxing, martial arts- or even those mixed martial arts (there's lotsa mixed martial arts gym popping up everywhere).

As for functional upper body strength, nothing really beats pull-ups and push-ups. Don't forget to include them (and all their glorious variations) into your workout (be careful if you have wrist/shoulder joint issues).

My NASM and ACE certification has long lapsed, but I've still retained some knowledge.

Be sure to warm up before every weightlifting session with a quick (5-10 min) of moderate cardio. Period. this is not an option.

I do highly yoga for people that are seriously pumping weight. Yoga builds muscle in different ways than standard iron pumping, increases a sense of balance (which helps you tremendously in every single way), encourages flexibility (ditto) and I think it's a great complement to a serious physical fitness program that many folks ignore (the flexibility/balance factor).

[cattygurl]

Vahz, you need to eat more quality calories to gain muscle. You have a decent diet but you're not eating enough. Eat more healthy stuff. You don't have to eat more meat per se, but be conscious of getting protein with every meal, and chug down a couple of protein shakes during the day. Look for ones that don't have a lot of sugar, artificial colors, flavors, or artificial sweeteners. I've actually found decent whey protein drinks @ Trader Joe's of all places for a lot less. I'm not a low or no-carb person, I do believe in getting high quality carbs and eliminating junk carbs. You can throw in a serving or two of more whole-wheat grains. Continue to keep fat below 30% of your daily caloric intake. A good source of protein and good fats are nuts- toss in a few handfuls a day to your diet. Almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts as these nuts contain less than 4g of saturated fats per 50g. Seeds such as flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds may offer the same heart health benefits. I love macadamais but they're too fatty, although they will also make a good occasional snack for peeps like you.

Also, how much cardio are you doing? You may want to ramp down your cardio and ramp up your weight workout.

Ed was on a pretty damn fierce diet when he was training for AHX.

[Vahz]

Thanks, Catty.

7 egg-whites
2 egg yolk
2 cups oatmeal
Multivitamin
Fishoil

4 oz. Tuna fish 147

1 protein shake with milk

8 oz. Chicken Breast
2 cups white rice

2 cups oatmeal

1 protein shake with milk

protein shake with juice mixed with dextrose

7oz. Chicken Breast
1 cup white rice

6oz. Sirloin Steak
1 cup spinach


1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 Cassein Protein Shake

[cattygurl]

My only recommendation would be to sub white rice for brown rice or some type of whole grain. Again, I highly recommend snacking on nuts in your case. also, up your intake of veggies. You want at least 5 servings of fruit/veggies a day. I aim for 8 myself. It's a good habit to snack every hour, even it it's just a handful/bite of something-anything. also, be sure to eat within the first 30 minutes of waking up to help get your metabolism going.

Also, I don't know how much cardio you're doing, but ramp up you intensity and ramp down your time, esp by doing intervals. 30 min is enough for most days if your cardio is @ moderate-high intensity. You may want to throw in 1 long cardio session (moderate intensity) to help build endurance, but once or twice a week tops is enough.

also, you may want to lift before your cardio. do a quick warmup, hit the weights, and then finish off with cardio. you want to save your effort for your weight sessions in your case, rather than blowing it off doing cardio first, then trying to hit the weights with the limited energy you have.

[kimtae]

Definitely not getting enough fruits and veggies. You can add a banana to your protein shakes and throw in some broccoli as well as add some other stuff to your snacks. You definitely run a risk of potassium depletion. Also use skim milk, the fat in whole milk isn't good for you.

[Vahz]

Thanks for the tips.

I could post my workout routine for the whole week if anyone is interested in looking.

[Vahz]

Sorry if this is too long.

Monday: Chest / ABS Sets Repetitions
push-ups 50

incline dumbbell press 1 15

incline dumbbell flies 1 15

incline dumbbell press 1 10

incline dumbbell flies 1 10

incline dumbbell press 1 6

incline dumbbell flies 1 6

dumbbell bench press 1 15

dumbbell flies (laying flat) 1 15

dumbbell bench press 1 10

dumbbell flies (laying flat) 1 10

dumbbell bench press 1 8

dumbbell flies (laying flat) 1 8

decline push-ups (close grip) 2 8

crunches 1 25

leg raises 1 25

crunches 1 20

leg raises 1 20

crunches 1 15

leg raises 1 15

Tuesday: Side and Front Shoulders / Upper Traps
shoulder press (first set medium weight) 4 20/15/12/8

side lateral raises 1 15

upright rows 1 15

side lateral raises 1 12

upright rows 1 12

side lateral raises 1 10

upright rows 1 10

side lateral raises 1 8

upright rows 1 8

front raises 1 15

sutfd 1 5

front raises 1 10

sutfd 1 5

front raises 1 8

side shrugs 4 25/15/10/8

front shrugs 4 25/15/10/8

back shrugs 4 25/15/10/8

Wednesday: Arms
dumbbell curls (medium weight) 1 25

bench dips (slowly / squeeze!) 1 25

concentration curls 3 10_8_6

concentration curls X-reps 1 10

dumbbell curls 3 10_8_6

hammer curls 3 10_8_6

inwarded hammer curls 2 10_8

skull crushers 1 10

one arm triceps extensions 1 10

skull crushers 1 8

one arm triceps extensions 1 8

skull crushers 1 12

one arm triceps extensions 1 12

overhand curls 3 10_8_6

laying 2 arms triceps extensions 2 10_8

bench dips (squeeze for 5 seconds) 1 10

Thursday: Legs / ABS

warm up for 15 minutes on bicycle

calf raises (easy weight) 1 30

calf raises X-reps (easy weight) 1 15

calf raises (medium weight) 1 25

calf raises X-reps (medium weight) 1 25

calf raises (heavy weight) 1 20

calf raises X-reps (heavy weight) 1 20

dumbbell squats 4 15_10_10_8

stiff-legged deadlifts 3 15_10_10

semi-stiff-legged deadlifts 4 15_10_10_8

lunges 3 25-25-20

crunches 1 25

leg raises 1 25

crunches 1 20

leg raises 1 20

crunches 1 15

leg raises 1 15


Friday: Back / Rear Delts / Forearms
bent over dumbbell rows (medium weight) 1 25

reverse flies (medium weight) 1 15

bent over dumbbell rows 4 15_10_10_8

dumbell pull-in 5 15_10_10_8_8

reverse flies 4 15_12_10_15

palms down wrist curls 30

palms up wrist curls 30

[theme]

If you can keep that up for 1 month I would be impressed Vahz.

[kimtae]

Yuo're doing way too much and many of the exercises you do are not for bulking but for toning. You're burning too many calories and not maximizing your lifts. Sometimes less is more. You said you wanted to bulk, right? Go to a bodybuilding website and download a hypertrophy specific workout. If that schedule is too hard to maintain then go with a standard split and focus on the right exercises in the proper amounts.
From your list it seems it would take 90 min to get through your chest day. I keep all my workouts to 45 min. After 45 min, your workout becomes catabolic (provided you're hitting it hard enough) and you're basically working against yourself. It's not the number of exercises or number of sets, it's the intensity to each rep that will count. If you llok at boybuiding magazines, you'll see some of these guys are in the gym 2 or more hours a day. That's called drugs. We're not, presumably, amped up on steroids and HGH so a two hour workout over time wuld just result in muscle burnout and overtraining.
Your shoulder day, leg, shoulder, and back day routines are weak. You should add barbell squats, military press and/or dumbbell press and/or push press, and pullups to your routine and ditch the overkill on the lunges. Lunges are hard to do heavy weights so I just use them as a warmup and a cool down. Some other stuff could use tweaking as well. You would do better to reduce the number of tricep exercises and try adding a french press instead. I also would not recommend doing a semi-stiff deadlift. If you're gong to do a bent leg deadlift then go all the way.
Make sure you allow proper rest time between workouts. For instance, you do bench on Mon which will affect your front delts and then you do shoulders the very next day (provided you're doing the presses), then you follow up those two hard tricep hitting days with an arm day where you're hitting your triceps for the third day in a row. You can consolidate your triceps workout into one of the press days and separate those two instead.

[Vahz]

I've been keeping that schedule for a good month now and have been seeing good gains. Also, I only rest about 10 seconds between sets.

So far, I haven't lost any weight but more and more muscles are bulging out all over the place. I'll keep going for 1-2 more months to see what happens.

Also, the guy who helped me set this up is a ISSA certified personal trainer from bodybuilding.com

Thanks for the tips though. Will keep them in mind.

[theme]

I've been keeping that schedule for a good month now and have been seeing good gains. Also, I only rest about 10 seconds between sets.

So far, I haven't lost any weight but more and more muscles are bulging out all over the place. I'll keep going for 1-2 more months to see what happens.

Also, the guy who helped me set this up is a ISSA certified personal trainer from bodybuilding.com

Thanks for the tips though. Will keep them in mind.

Consider me impressed Vahz. I personally don't think your routine is the best path towards putting on mass but if it's working for you by all means keep on doing it.

[Vahz]

I mean, you guys could very well be correct in that I'm not gaining mass in the most *efficient* way possible so I'm always open to suggestions.

Currently, unless stated, all those exercises have me using as much weight as I can handle while also doing the exercises correctly. For example, if I had to do 12 reps, I use weight heavy enough where I can barely do 13.

The goal is to completely fatigue the muscle from all angles.

I'm always looking for more tips.

Also, Kimtae, I already do alot of the exercises you stated but I used a different name. Additionally, alot of the exercises I'm doing seem to perform the same function such as the side lateral raises and military press.

[theme]

Here's an example of what you can achieve on the other routine I was talking about. I got this off the forum that I usually visit just today.


Hi everybody. Ever since I found WBB.com, I have been working out, and eating strictly for a year. Using "search functions", I followed what you guys said (compound movements, deadlift, squat etc.) and I managed to gain about 50 lbs. of muscle in 12 months (from 95 lbs to 145 lbs)
So, as for now, my stats are 5'5" and 145 lbs.

The reason I made this thread is, because I finally decided to man up by stop lurking around and ask what areas I need to improve on. My goal is to gain about 30~40lbs. of muscle. Any constructive criticisms are welcome.

Pictures:

Before
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/faithless517/Before.jpg

After
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d16/faithless517/FrontRelaxed.jpg

I'm not saying that you will look like this but it's something to think about. I don't think on your rountine that you can achieve these kinds of results.

EDIT: Ironically, I would rather look like the before picture.

EDIT: What's funny, also, is that he blacked out his face in the first picture but not in the second.

[kimtae]

Vahz, you are probably gaining a lot of muscle quickly now because you haven't worked out in a while. First time gains come regardless of what you do. After two months though, you'll need to change up. The guy who designed your program probably did it for you as a beginner. I doubt he'd give you the same routine if you had already been at it a while.
Once you start to really get into growth you'll need more than ten seconds between sets. I take a minute because benching 225lbs for a set of eight leaves me exhausted for at least thrity seconds. You need time to recover to get in a good second working set. Once you get into stronger shape and start lifting heavier, trust me, you'll absolutely need that longer rest time.
Also consider this, you're not working out to your maximum muscular potential if you've only been at it a month, especially on the heavier compound lifts. It takes a month to two months for you to connect the neural pathways that allow you to strain your muscles to their maximum. Ever go to a park and throw a baseball really hard after not having done it for months? Many people who do will get a "stinger". An intense pain in the arm that some mistake for a sore muscle. It's actually the nerve in your arm being damaged from the sudden use. Your trainer buddy might be trying to make sure you don't do the weight lifting equivalent of this which is why he didn't recommend military press but instead told you to do lateral flies. But in the end, you'll never get the same benefit as if you do the military press because as a compound exercise, the press works more muscles in a larger range of motion and at greater poundages. Stick with your routine for another month and then start switching out to heavier compound lifts.

[kimtae]

Vahz, in response to yor PM, I would say you're doing too many exercises and too many reps. YOu also need to organize your days better so you don't have two days in a row working on similar muscle groups. Look at my schedule in the other thread. If you can get to the gym on Sat, I would recommend you follow my split. If not then you can reorganize like this:
Mon - Chest, Triceps
Tue - Back, Biceps
Wed - Abs
Thu - Legs
Fri - Shoulders, Abs
You're also doing a lot of dumbbell work. You need to get on bar and work the heavier lifts at lower reps.
Try to keep the reps at 8-12.
Work in the 70-75% of max range. How do you calculate your max? Well, you can obviously just stack on more and more weight until you hit failure but this is dangerous without a good spotter. I recommend this calculator instead http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html
Keep the total number of sets per body part to less than 15 at the most. On my chest day, other than warmups, I'm only doing 6-8 sets (3 bench, 2 incline, 2 dumbbell on average). For my upper back I do 11-13 total working sets. If you lift heavy and with high intensity and good form then you will have stressed the muscles enough and any more will only hamper growth.

[Vahz]

I would like to go to a gym but since I currently live in the subarbs, the nearest gym is kinda far away and I only really have an hour these days to work out.

Thus, I purchased those Selecttech dumbbells from Bowflex.

Sucks because, like you said, some exercises are kinda useless and must be done with machines like the tricep pulldown. I've been doing tricep kickbacks at about 18 pounds at 10 reps each and my muscle isn't really feeling the strain but rather my elbows are.

So far, like you said, I think I have been growing a decent amount of mass because I'm not losing weight but I'm starting to see alot of bulges.

Also, is there a good way to calculate body fat% or how much muscle weight one has gained?

[inferno]

Hey, interesting thread. How did I miss this?

Most good routines build the entire body. But your routine dedicates 5 exercises to triceps. For what? Triceps contributes the least to how large your body actually grows and you're already hitting them indirectly through the various bench presses. If you posted that routine on any serious weight lifting sites they will tell you the exact same thing.

I'm only mentioning this because a routine like this would severely slow his progress. Taking into consideration that he hasn't lifted in years, the biggest favor he can do for himself is to focus on benchpress, squat, deadlifts, bbrows-and work everything else around that. 3 sets of 6 reps is all he needs per exercise.

In light of the type of information he is getting here I would just suggest he go to a real weight lifting site where there are experts that can correctly guide him if he wants to reap the maximum rewards for his time.

Oh, and training 6 times a week is considered over training. And who has the time? 3-4 times is fine.

AND the most irresponsible thing to give advice about is a behind the neck shoulder press with a bar. WHAT?? NEVER do any type of pressing movement behind the back because that is one of the most dangerous exercises due to the hazard of injuring your rotator cuffs. It's one of the most frequent injuries that's why it's heavily HEAVILY discouraged by weight lifters.

That's it. Poisenedrice, take your ass to a real bodybuilding site. Taking anyone's advice here will definitely lead to some mass injuries where you can bet the only ass you'll be kicking is your own.

^I would say that this is probably the most useful post in the entire thread. theme knows what he is talking about. Training 6 days a week is overkill. It is the routine that is propagated in popular bodybuilding mags by genetically supergifted bodybuilders who use performance enhancing drugs. Most people are hardgainers and would save themselves a lot of frustration by basing their routines around the 3 compound exercises; squat (below parallel), deadlift, and bench press. 3 days a week is sufficient; actual growth occurs during the off days.

Furthermore, theme is right on the money about the military press behind the neck. Other exercises that are risky include the lat pulldown behind the neck, dumbell flyes, and the peck deck. The latter is also known as the "shoulder wreck".

Apart from the lat pulldown to the front, other cable exercises are pretty useless if you are serious about puttin on muscle mass. Especially if you are a hardgainer like most people.

[Heli]

I try to keep my weightlifting simple and fast...

60 push ups in sets of 30 three times a day
60 crunches in two sets of 30 two times a day
12 pull ups in sets of 4

Done mainly to maintain metabolic rate and conditioning.
During the week I run 12 miles MWF and swim 1.5 hours TT. I stick to bodyweight exercises mainly because I get enough risk of injuries from running and swimming as it is :(

[kimtae]

I try to keep my weightlifting simple and fast...

60 push ups in sets of 30 three times a day
60 crunches in two sets of 30 two times a day
12 pull ups in sets of 4

Done mainly to maintain metabolic rate and conditioning.
During the week I run 12 miles MWF and swim 1.5 hours TT. I stick to bodyweight exercises mainly because I get enough risk of injuries from running and swimming as it is :(

Not to pick nits but you're not "weightlifting" per se. Other than the pullups you're doing aerobic exercises.

[Heli]

Not to pick nits but you're not "weightlifting" per se. Other than the pullups you're doing aerobic exercises.

Pushups and crunches don't count as weightlifting?

[minbo]

Sit ups, push up, chin up, pull ups, dips, roman chair, leg lifts, etc. are usually considered calethetics, not weight lifting or weight training. They are good exercises and can build a pretty good body.

[kimtae]

Pushups and crunches don't count as weightlifting?

Further to Minbo's post, the high reps make them aerobic in nature. My wrestling coach used to discourage pushups as he said it would make us weak. This applies only to people who are already pretty strong and doing strength conditioning and is not in any way meant to turn couch potatoes off from doing some face plants, marine corps style.

[Heli]

Further to Minbo's post, the high reps make them aerobic in nature. My wrestling coach used to discourage pushups as he said it would make us weak.

Can you explain a bit more about what you mean? Weak in what sense?

[kimtae]

Can you explain a bit more about what you mean? Weak in what sense?

Keep in mind we were all highly conditioned athletes. We practiced 3 hours a day with about 90 minutes involving high intensity grappling (corners: 4 guys where each one must wrestle the other three in succession for 6 minutes regardless of being pinned or not, just get back up and start again), rope climbing or sprints and the other 90 minutes in warm-ups, practicing techniques, and one on one challenges. Then we would head to the weight room for 30 min of power lifting. The whole idea was to build bodies that equally balanced endurance and power and speed. Pushups were detrimental to us because we were all at peak conditioning.
As an example, at the end of the year, we would have a charity event to raise money. One of the things we would do was to have people sponsor us for pushups in a 10 min time limit. A penny a push up. I broke my ankle one year and hadn't worked out for two weeks but was still able to do 300 pushups (one every two seconds). There were guys that could 500 in that time period. For us to get to a point where pushups were of any benefit to us, we would have been undoing all of the benefits of the power lifting by working at a very high aerobic rate.
Eventually, you get to a point where pushups fail to have any strength building value and become an aerobic exercise. Aerobics burn fat, carbs and, yes, muscle if you do enough. If you're already a well conditioned person who is doing strength training, pushups are only good as a warmup or if you do explosive pushups, but even this becomes fairly unhelpful after a certain level (I prefer pause reps on the benchpress), or if you're doing Hindu pushups or butterflies for joint maintenance.
If you are a raw beginner, pushups will undoubtedly make you stronger, but once you get to being able to do 35-50 in a set, your dong an aerobic exercise.

[Heli]

The whole idea was to build bodies that equally balanced endurance and power and speed.

That is what I am going for with my routine. I still want to gradually increase my aerobic capacity so I can increase my miles from 12 to a full 26 but what changes would you suggest to increase power and speed while maintaining the endurance portion?

[kimtae]

That is what I am going for with my routine. I still want to gradually increase my aerobic capacity so I can increase my miles from 12 to a full 26 but what changes would you suggest to increase power and speed while maintaining the endurance portion?

Run sprints twice a week. Sprints will actually increase your aerobic capacity as well. Other than that, keep doing the pushups but add and explosive element to them. If you're trying to be a marathoner it's going to be tough to do any real power exercises. Wrestlers only have to go full bore for 6 min, two at a time. You need to be able to go at 70% for 2 hours plus. Hard to build power and speed into a body with that kind of physical need but the sprints will definitely help. I would suggest 10 sprints of 100m prior to a long distance run but I'd check on some runners' forums first.

[Heli]

Run sprints twice a week. Sprints will actually increase your aerobic capacity as well. Other than that, keep doing the pushups but add and explosive element to them. If you're trying to be a marathoner it's going to be tough to do any real power exercises. Wrestlers only have to go full bore for 6 min, two at a time. You need to be able to go at 70% for 2 hours plus. Hard to build power and speed into a body with that kind of physical need but the sprints will definitely help. I would suggest 10 sprints of 100m prior to a long distance run but I'd check on some runners' forums first.

I will try it out and see what happens. Thanks for the advice.

[maogirl]

One of the things we would do was to have people sponsor us for pushups in a 10 min time limit. A penny a push up. I broke my ankle one year and hadn't worked out for two weeks but was still able to do 300 pushups (one every two seconds). There were guys that could 500 in that time period.

DANG

i can only do 4 pushups military style. 6 if i don't smoke at the same time.

[kimtae]

DANG

i can only do 4 pushups military style. 6 if i don't smoke at the same time.
That smoke getting in your eyes can be a bitch.

[maogirl]

not to mention accidentally swallowing the cigarette

[Heli]

That is the cost of attempting to look bad ass.

[maogirl]

the vain don't complain

[zhaogao]

Finally went to the gym after 9 months of complacency. I had smoker's cough the whole time. The gym use to be my sanctuary... my second home. Man, what the hell happened? Oh yeah, depression, alcohol, cigarettes, and substance abuse.