Damn man, even 165-170 for your height is pretty slim.

 

I should keep track of my calories better. I try my best to not over eat or snack on bad food, but I'd like to now how I'm doing so that I could improve it. I should try to find some nutrition plan like the P90x or something and follow that for a while. I probably don't need more than 2000 Calories for what I'm trying to do.

 

I'm 5'9" and Im at 175 and still feel skinny. But I am good with 175 actually will cut down to 170. I'm cutting carbs out of the diet and will pick up my protein calorie intake along with a little bit more fatty foods. This will force my body to use my fat as energy instead of me feeding it carbs to store up, only to later turn into fat that I dont need.

Eat calories for energy but be smart about it and try to get more protein in your diet and try to cut back on the processed foods and things high in sugar.

 

You should still eat some good carbs. When I make sandwiches and such I only use whole wheat or whole grain bread. I've switched over to whole wheat pasta as well. Just gotta be aware of how much you're eating. I'm 5'10" and about 165lbs. My family always says I'm skinny, but I'm pretty good where I'm at. I have no need to bulk up, but I want lean muscle.

 

I was really into working out last year, and ended up going 9 months drinking only water (I still ate stuff, lol) but as far as liquids go... I gave up everything but water, and that really help cut down on calories. I've also heard that the thirst and hunger reflex in the brain or whatever, are triggered at the same time... so if you feel hungry, it sometimes just might be that your thirsty. But my main thing was eating 5-6 small healthy meals a day, to speed up my metabolism.

 

What do you guys think about supplements and fat burners? I take half a multivitamin everyday, sometimes the other half in the afternoon, I also take Fish oil. I've been considering a meal replacement shake, and some kind of Fat burner.

Edit: On what Shadow_Stang was saying about drinking water; I drink quite a bit of water a day, at least the typical 8 glasses a day. I will drink diet soda sometimes, I avoid regular soda, haven't had any in at least a month. I have a cup of coffee about twice a week in the morning. My failure as far a liquid goes is beer. I don't drink any "light" beers, most regular beer is around 130-170 Calories per drink, factor in several of thoes when I drink which may be once in a week or two.

 

I probably wouldn't dabble in fat burner pills or anything like that. Look into Shakeology. Just google it. But it's a pretty good meal replacement shake.

 

Only things I take is N.O. Xplode before workouts, and a protein shake afterwards. I've heard of Shakeology also and have been meaning to look into it.

 

I take a multi-vitamin and protein. A good replacement for breakfast is carnation breakfast essentials.

One thing to be careful with supplements or even using multiple vitamins, drink a LOT of water or other things to keep yourself hydrated. Kidney stones are bad news

 

Breakfast isn't my problem, I like to eat fruit and good stuff in the morning. I'd like to skip dinner though. My girlfriend usually doesn't get dinner ready till 6:30 or 7:00 and that's just too late for me to want to eat the largest meal of the day. How much is too much water (if there is a such thing)? When I drink a lot of water I'm pissing every fifteen minutes.

 

You can actually DIE from drinking too much water lol...but you have to drink a ton of it. I think it was last summer when I heard a story about a radio show having a water drinking contest and a girl died from it. But, I mean, that was only because she drank so much in a short amount of time.

 

Yeah, too much water will cause an ion imbalance in the body. Too much water outside of cells will cause sodium to be pulled out, and sodium has some pretty important roles in the body. Water could be pushed into the cell and cause them to burst, but that's unlikely. It all has to do with hypotonic/ hypertonic and concentation gradient you learned about in highschool, but I've got a niffty biology degree that helps. Any reasonable person would know they were drinking too much water in that situation. Most peoples' diets are so high in sodium anyway. But, is there a general idea of how much water is good to drink per hour or before or after a workout?

 

I'm not sure how much water is bad. But like I said, I went almost 10 months drinking only water (and eating healthy). I would just drink it whenever i ate, felt thirsty, or was working out. I ran and did cardio a lot, so I'm sure I used every bit of it. Cutting out pespsi, coke, and all the other crap really makes a difference. I didn'y even use protien skakes until like the 8th month or so. (noXplode and cellmass)

 

I was able to get my hands on all of the P90x DVDs and nutrition plan. I'm going to read over everything today and decide if I want to get serious and do 90 days of it. People have some pretty damn good results from what you can find on the interwebs.

In other news, I benched 225 lbs yesterday. I've been working out just about everyday at the fitness center at my apartment complex but have been considering a gym membership. A 24/7 Fitness is within walking distance from my place, and a Ten Fitness is about two miles away. I need to go and try each of them out but I imagine Ten fitness will win out becuase I have some friends that go there and it's only $10/month. I wish I could bench 225 when I was in Powerlifting in highschool. I think 185 lbs was my max back in my glory days, 475 lbs in squat and around 300 lbs on deadlift. I weighed 145 pounds back then also though.

 

When you review the videos and workouts your going to say **** me running. 50-55 minutes of awesomeness. With crossfit I do about 40 minutes but its not designed to get you ripped like P90 is. You were a strong 145lber! When I was 21 at 145 I was pushing a 265 bench and 315 squat and 285 deadlift. Very lopsided because had a bad workout routine. Now, I'm at 175 lbs and still havent hit 1000 pounds in those 3 lifts...I gave up on weightlifting and went to crossfit workouts instead.

I got a new one rep max the other day with my power clean at 175lbs. I never did a max squat but I was pushing 10 reps of 315. Power cleans, jerks and snatches are probably the hardest lifts I have ever attempted.

 

I think sticking to the nutrition plan is what will be my weak point. I need to throw out my bad stuf and just go stock up on what is outlined in the plan so that's all I will have to eat. 265 on bench at 145lbs sounds crazy to me, that's a lot. I'm not really trying to build muscle, but if I stick to a good weight lifting routine, I'd be surprised if I ever get above 250 lbs max on bench, it's just not my stong suit. My bench always sucked but I made up for it with my tree trunk legs. I hardly ever work out legs now days other than running, but when I do I still work out with 425lbs (8 reps) on squat.

 

Its easier to stick to a nutrition plan if you (lie you said) throw out your junk food. It forces you to make actual food if that is all you let yourself buy.

 

Yeah, I was working hard and had a partner who was just as motivated to do work. But 265 was nuts! Will probably never get back up there.

The nuitrition plan is the key to getting ripped. This is why I never did P90...My illegal download didnt have it in PDF.

 

I started p90x a few weeks ago and now on day 17 and seeing great results. Along with a strict diet and taking jack3d before workouts and whey protein shakes I have lost a few lbs and am no lie able so see new lean muscle which is mind blowing for 17 days. With this in mind I am a naturally lean guy at 135lb at 5'10''. I have taken before pictures and I am taking pictures through out the 90 days to show a time lapse of my progress. Its good **** tho in my opinion. You just need to push yourself to your limit and then some and not give in to junk food cravings which is my hardest part. I just can't wait for my finished results and then i'm going to make one of those cheesy youtube videos but with the team america montage song lmao

 

Mine did> I made my buddy a DVD with all the workout videos on it too.


Congrats on the results. LOL, I was trying to decide if I wanted to take before pictures. I have so-far decdided that I'm not. The girlfriend and I made a shopping list for the nutrition plan and we're going to the supplement shop right up the road to look for a good shake mix. I really want some Shakeology stuff, look tasty with all its fruit ingredents. I love Naked juice that you can get at some stores, around here at least. They are expensive at about $5 each. I used to get them for the price of a cup of water at college becuase I was friends with the guy working the register.

 

Not sure if you're interested in a pre-workout drink but ive found N.O. Explode very helpful.

 

I've tried the n.o. Shotgun but omg tasted like doodoo lol

 

What exactly does a pre workout drink or supplement do? I'm guessing it gives you more energy to lift or exercise? Anything other than that?

I went to the Nurti-Shop up the street today and picked up a 2lb can of MyoFusion protein shake mix, **** tastes SO good. I got strawberry and it it like strawberry milk or better. I also picked up a selection of protein bars to try and stocked up on a crap load of fruits and healthy stuff. I'll probably lose five pounds at my open track event next weekend just from sweating in the car if it stays warm.

I also completed my first P90X video this afternoon. I randomly did Kenpo X, it was a pretty good workout. I've been running around 5.5 miles in 30 minutes on the elliptical lately and work up a good sweat doing that. I was pouring sweat by the middle of the video. I need to get a pull-up bar and some weights and I think I'll be good to go for the rest of the videos.

 

Walmart has the pull up bar for 20bux. I love the chest and back in terms of muscle wise but cardio try plyo x, it's way more intense than kempo. Also yoga blows *****. I hate it super repetative and boring. But when i did the head stand I felt like Jason Segel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sa1s...eature=related funny ****

 

From what I read about P90. You will be on little to no carbs in phase 1 of training. So you will probably need a pre-workout supplement to hold you over because your energy levels will drop. I just went through this when I was giving this Targeted Ketosis Diet (TKD) a try. I have no energy right now and I eat about 30g of carbs about 1 hr before I hit the gym for my workout. I'm trying to find ways to get rid of the stubborn stomach fat! I think I just need to do more ab work but that **** sucks!

Good luck on the 90 days man.

Oh, fruits are bad for right now. Veggies would be the better choice to go with...low in carbs but high in fiber so you can **** out all of that extra protein you will be eating.

 

Hey no one diss Yoga X, that workout is hard as ****, probably the hardest thing p90x makes you do.

 

I gave actual running a second chance. I ran quarter mile sprints and then walked a bit for about two miles. Still don't like it, but it's not as difficult as it used to be. I will stick to the elliptical machine. I haven't been doing P90X religiously, but rather supplementing my current exercise schedule with it. The problem is I need to get a set of weights or resistance bands. Weights are expensive as hell I have come to find out. I will probably get some bands since they are cheaper and take up less space. I am dropping about a pound a week or so without being super strict on my diet. I have seen some improvement in muscle definition, so that is pretty good.

 

I put this up on another board yesterday. I forgot to bump this thread.

So I read this book "Starting Strength" cover to cover a few times and it has really simplified and explained every detail that involves lifting a barbell properly. Also goes into a little bit of physiology as well. I am very new to "Olympic lifts" and I needed all the help I could get since forums are pretty useless for reliable information. The book explains 5 lifts; Squat, deadlift, power clean, bench press and press. The writer uses 65 pages to explain the squat, 65 friggin pages, this is the sort of detail someone like me needed. Originally the book was written for coaches but the 2nd edition is great for all types of lifters. I was squating 315lbs, not heavy, but that **** was heavy for me. After I read the book and using basic methods (medicine ball) I found that I wasnt breaking parallel. My hips werent dipping below my knees. Now, my squat is down to 200lbs, LOL. An inch cost me 115lbs but I was only robbing myself of strength by not going 'deep', no homo, with the squat. That was just the squat...My bench I stayed away from becuase it burned up my shoulders but after reading I ended up finding my sweet spot and gaining confidence in getting the bar to bounch off my chest. Previously my bench was all wrong and I had to start over with that as well. Havent found out what is heavy for me yet only at 165lbs doing 5x5x5 method. Power cleans elude me but I'm working at it and this is the real reason why I bought this book. I wanted a break down from a professional strength coach to explain the lift.

Once I get my cardio to where I am comfortable with I will start a strength only workout and go heavy with these 5 lifts during the week for 8-10 weeks. I made a goal to lift 1000lbs before I left Iraq in October 2011. I think I can make. My money maker will be the deadlift and squat. My bench press sucks. Dont think you all care but this is all I have to do out here in the desert.

I recommend this book to everyone. I used my 20 dollar amazon gift card but it is totally worth its price tag if you are into lifting. Now, I see all these massive types lifting in the gym all wrong, rounded backs, lifting from toes ETC.


Been on the crossfit wagon for 2 months now. Got my kipping pull ups down. Can knock out 25 before my grip starts to go. I can only do 13-14 regular pull ups so the kipping is cheating but good for the whole body.

 

Hell yeah. Eat lots of lean meats veggies and fruits. Will help with muscle growth and recovery.

 

Great post on proper lifting! I'll have to see if I can get my hands on one of thoes books. I know I probably don't lift as properly as I should. When I was in powerlifting in highschool, they had us lifting to a certain form to a "T". For squat, they would watch to see if we went parallel, or had a little stool that we had to put or butt on and then lift up. We had to freaking squat weight from a sitting postion, my 415 squat was legit, haha. For bench press, I don't lower the bar all the way to my chest. I normally take it to where my elbows are right past my back, or the bar is three inches from my chest.

Good luck in Iraq, seems like all my friends that are going back and forth over there have become Mr. Olympia canidates.