Still fat, need muscle

[Calogero]

Originally Posted by JustinDetail

By "pyraminding" the below example might make sense (closer to how Accumulator explained it, where you warm up, go heavy, then back off a bit).

Incline Barbell Press (I don't do flat, inclines work the pecs better for me).
135x12-14
185x10
205x6 (just to feel the weight)
225x10 (first work set)
265x5
(sometimes I drop back to 225 for another set, before the burnout set)
185xfailure (typically 17-20 reps to "burnout" the muscle and start the pump I shoot for)

Pyramiding is an excellent way to ignite growth for your muscles.

It constantly keeps them guessing and under different amounts of stress.

Those are the keys right there.

My pyramiding is probably more like JustinDetail's as it goes from light to heavy.

Chest Press ** is warmup

45 x 12 - 15 ***
95 - 10-12 ***
135 - 10 - 12
165 - 10
185 - 10 - 12
205 - 8-10

[JustinDetail]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Oh, and I just found out that EAS has discontinued the Tropical Variety flavor of Myoplex that I like before my pre-breakfast dog walks (on the days I don't do cardio) I'm stocking up from the places that still have it in stock but that stuff *does* have a shelf-life.

I too liked that tropical flavor. Recently, I ordered 200 (yes, that reads two hundred hehe) packs of vanilla myoplex meal replacement packs from dpsnutrition.com They have amazing prices on EAS products. The deal was 50 packs for $69.99, and $20 off when you spend over $125 on EAS products and another $5 off any DPS order over $100. So I paid $115 per 100 packs! Crazy to get such a quality meal replacement for just over a buck a pack. I've been ordering from DPS for 8 years now...as you can tell, I highly recommend them.

[Accumulator]

Heh heh, we must have about eight threads going on the same basic topics Thin guys want to bulk up, heavy guys want to slim down, and everybody wants more muscle.

xmx250- For delts I like doing behind-the-neck presses, which get a bad rap these days. Oddly enough they don't hurt my (previously injured) shoulders Guess you should be careful doing them as so many people claim they cause injuries.

I also do laterals, but I start doing those standing straight up and then I gradually bent over to stress the rear delts. IMO with all the benchpressing people do these days it's not uncommon for people to overdevelop their front delts relative to the side and rear ones. That's the reason I don't to any military or Arnold presses; I don't need the anterior delt work. Keep an eye on how things go for you and adjust to get the results you want.

Problem I see is that most people don't do that exercise (or any other ) strictly enough; they use too much momentum/body english so they can stroke their ego by using heavy weights.

If you do good heavy back work, your shoulders will also grow.

Remember that your lats are the biggest muscles in your upper body and that anything that helps support your spine is good. If you ever see an old guy who can still do weighted (or one-arm) chins, you'll notice that he has great posture for his age

Calogero- Yeah, I agree about the separate arm work being less necessary than people think. I once quit training biceps for over two months and nobody but me noticed anything (and I was probably imagining any difference).

JustinDetail- Heh heh, I only do inclines too, haven't done any flat benches/flies since forever.

200 packets Heh heh, that's quite a few even by my standards I'll have to check out dpsnutrition.com and see if they have anything I like.

And you're not blowing smoke about most of the "advice" people give/get about this stuff! I've quit reading bodybuilding magazines and I never hit related websites; I enjoy discussing such stuff here but I too know exactly what works for me and my wife (decade in, decade out) and had I listened to much "advice" we never woulda gotten anywhere.

[Calogero]

I use only the EAS protein. But I'm running out and switching back to IsoFlex.

People want these huge arms and just constantly work out their arms.

People it doesn't work that way. LESS = MORE.

My fiance and I got in this whole thing with about how many times I work my arms and I was saying barely and she was like "so you're telling me, you don't work your arms as much as your chest etc..." It took me forever to explain this to her and get her to believe that no I don't not.

[duke727]

Crossfit.com

[Dave1]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

Remember that it took a while to get fat so it'll take a while to get lean. Think long-term

Excellent advice......

People start going to the gym to get in shape and they see a guy here or a woman there that look great and say, "I want to look like he does"......

The first thing that they need to realize is that that person has probably been working out for many years. You can't get that kind of body from a diet book, you have to earn it thru hard work in the gym.....

Set short term goals and change them as you progress, looking to get better each year......

[Calogero]

hey Justinindetail, what do you eat for post workout carbs.

Currently I'm using Waxy Maize Starch. It taste good and digests easy.

But looking to change it up a bit.

[hockeyplaya13]

Alright, so stemming from the other thread, how many reps of the stiff deadlifts should I do? This is after I do squats. Thx.

[JustinDetail]

Originally Posted by Calogero

hey Justinindetail, what do you eat for post workout carbs.

Currently I'm using Waxy Maize Starch. It taste good and digests easy.

But looking to change it up a bit.

I eat 2 bananas and use Muscle Tech Nitro Tech currently (not keen on the taste, but it seems to adsorb rapidly, which is the whole point post workout). I do 2 scoops of the protein, so 40 grams of protein and the 2 avg sized bananas are about 30-40 grams of carbs each.

Back in college when I was bulking, I'd have 2 cups of grape juice mixed with 2 scoops of strawberry Designer Whey protein. Haha, that worked very well.

[JustinDetail]

Originally Posted by hockeyplaya13

Alright, so stemming from the other thread, how many reps of the stiff deadlifts should I do? This is after I do squats. Thx.

Stiff legged deads are great, I would recommend anywhere from 8-12 reps per set, 2 warmup sets, then 2-3 working sets.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by JustinDetail

Stiff legged deads are great, I would recommend anywhere from 8-12 reps per set, 2 warmup sets, then 2-3 working sets.

I find it sorta funny, but I get good (if slightly different) results from low/med/hi reps on these Also, varying your leg position (narrow/med/wide) can hit different parts of the hamstrings. SO...I guess I'd recommend that you do 2 sets of the standard 8-12 reps varying your leg postion from fairly narrow on the first set to wide on the second. If you've gone good and low on your squats (and hit those hard enough), that oughta be sufficient and if your hams don't get sore you can always do more next time. Or you can add leg curls (to emphasize the peak/contracted position) and/or Good Mornings, which are good for the lower back as well as the hamstrings.

But don't overdo it...as I keep posting, sometimes I don't do *anything* except squats and calf/lower leg work and I still get my hamstrings and glutes painfully sore.

FWIW, I don't bother warming up for hamstring/calf/etc. work. By the time I finish my squats my whole lower body is ready for work sets, but that's just me and if in doubt do those warmup sets (just don't make 'em tough to where they end up being half-@$$ed work sets ).

[hockeyplaya13]

Awesome, thanks. I'll try the varying leg positions as well. And yea, I do a set of squats with just the bar as a warm up (20 reps), and then I make sure my legs are good and stretched out (about 10 min worth). I don't do warmup sets after that for the other exercises.