[nvldvr]

Originally Posted by Piyadassi

Thanks. The name of the book please.



Thanks.



Thanks a lot. Will surely look forward to interacting with you. But be warned you will be meeting an old man.

As long as you are interested in knowing about the power rack, i'll be willing to help.

Cheers.

[alpha1]

The book is called Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRoberts. Google for it, you may chance upon the PDF version. It actually lays down how you must think for yourself and setup a way of determining cause and effect and hence evolving your own workout methodology instead of blindly following an ABC program or XYZ program without testing and measuring the effect/results.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by harry10

Starting gym again on 1st September after a gap of 1.5 years. Excitement level is too high.
First goal is to shed off all the extra weight I have gained. My birthday is on 24th so I am thinking of doing a 3 week schedule with primary goal of losing as much weight and fat as I can. Any suggestions for diet and what kinda schedule I should make? I am a pure Vegetarian. Will start taking whey protein after a couple of months.

Will be doing 6 days workout per week.
Thanks.

Since you have left and coming back , this time try to incorporate functional fitness at-least 1 or 2 days in a week. If there is a group or a group class for functional fitness in your gym that will be best.

Functional fitness means it mimics the movements required in day to day tasks.

Main advantage is that once you are used to these exercises you can continue your regimen even if you are away on travel or due to some other reason.

Be warned it is not easy a proper 45-60 minutes functional fitness workout should sore your muscles next day , Point is that it exercises the muscle groups which normal weight training and cardio does not take care off. Best is to take up FF before the rest day.

If you are on your own check youtube videos , Focus on exercises such as burpees , squat and jump , spot running , wood chopping etc.

[Samurai]

And functional fitness can be done well into you old age.

For example, check this guy out. It is clear he is no body builder. But his strength is apparent. I have still have 19 years to become like him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ulCWZoMEuE

[fine69]

For a swimmer with absolutely no other explicit upper body workout, would it be possible to gain muscle mass (upper body) with swimming only as a workout? Assuming the diet I take does include whey protein in the morning and after a swimming session along with other meals that are generally high in protein.

Having gone through a terrible shoulder injury I'm left with no option but to only do swimming as a workout. I have a lean physique except for a slight paunch.

I modify my swimming session to include squats and underwater leg exercises so my legs burn after the workout but I can't do much for the upperbody except for what freestyle swimming does to it. So my shoulders get a workout and so does my back but absolutely no significant effort goes in to biceps & chest.

If it helps, my current fitness level is that I can do 50 meters freestyle at one go and then I have to take a break for a few mins before starting again.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Even recently - I exercised ~12-15 hours every month, all of it fairly intense functional exercises, and lost ZERO over four months when my diet was sort of decent as well.

What exactly did you do? Type of exercise, sets and reps.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Samurai

What exactly did you do? Type of exercise, sets and reps.

Functional exercises is the only word that junta used.
5 min warm up stretches - quads, glutes, ankle, arms, neck etc etc.

Then everyday a different body part.
10/15/20 reps of say taking dumb bells from shoulder height to above head.
10/15/20 reps of say taking weightlifting bar(?) from shoulder height to above head.
Then run up and down a flight of stairs.
Then a circle of the park (~200m) jogging.
Then in another set, you repeat the above movement but with the weights behind my back, another set with these movements from waist to shoulder level etc etc.

or you include an element of running sideways between some cones between the dumbbell and the weightlifting bar.

Another day we do more cardio - running side ways / backwards followed by push ups, push ups with feet balanced on exercise ball, sit ups etc etc followed by stretches to cool down.

of course it may be a cinch for fit guys, but I would be really tired at the end of 1.5 hours of this -again its in a group so I was almost always the laggard.

I was certain not to eat a special meal following the exercise to ensure a calorie deficit. But it didnt work.

Now I'm being much more focused on my diet and have dropped an inch (one belt notch) from the waist consistently in the last week (will be sure of weight loss if it stays that way). I have stopped these exercises and the only exercise I'm doing is cycling on the weekend (which is FAR less strenous). I may throw in a day of exercise on machines (leg curls / Leg press / Leg extension / lat pull down/ Seated row / Bar press / Pec dec) are AFAIk the activities I can see as possible on the hotel gym machines.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Then everyday a different body part.
10/15/20 reps of say taking dumb bells from shoulder height to above head.
10/15/20 reps of say taking weightlifting bar(?) from shoulder height to above head.
Then run up and down a flight of stairs.
Then a circle of the park (~200m) jogging.
Then in another set, you repeat the above movement but with the weights behind my back, another set with these movements from waist to shoulder level etc etc.

These sound too low intensity to make any difference to your weight. I could be wrong, hard to say for sure without seeing in person.

Sprinting is way better than jogging. Brisk walk is way better than regular walking. It is the intensity component that makes the difference. That is why domestic workers don't develop muscles, while farm/construction workers do.

Get into body weight calisthenics, it is intense enough for your purpose. Initially period is tough, but it gets better after that. For example, I couldn't do a single chin-up in April (out of practice since 20 years), now I can do 3-4 with major effort.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Samurai

These sound too low intensity to make any difference to your weight. I could be wrong, hard to say for sure without seeing in person.

Sprinting is way better than jogging. Brisk walk is way better than regular walking. It is the intensity component that makes the difference. That is why domestic workers don't develop muscles, while farm/construction workers do.

btw, the intensity was fairly high - it may not be tabata level but it was really tiring. My guess would be around 11-14 on this scale: http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/.../exertion.html

Completely agree on your logic. IMHO exercise without enough intensity does not result in appreciable weight loss-that is what I was discussing with that OP. Exercise isnt a magic bullet unless done properly - which very few people do.

Which brings me to your suggestion - would you know any trainer recommendations for calisthenics in Chennai?

I may just add some yoga to supplement the cycling - a yoga trainer friend just emailed times when I can learn from them. I would much rather do a less beneficial activity under excellent supervision than to try doing something myself with little knowledge.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Functional exercises is the only word that junta used.
5 min warm up stretches - quads, glutes, ankle, arms, neck etc etc.

May be add 20 minutes of Cardio on treadmill / Elliptical trainer before you go for weights everyday alternate between treadmill and elliptical exercise..

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Then everyday a different body part.
10/15/20 reps of say taking dumb bells from shoulder height to above head.
10/15/20 reps of say taking weightlifting bar(?) from shoulder height to above head.

What is the weight of dumbbell and barbell. I can not be very definitive here, but given your height weight and profile of exercising of many months you should be using approx 7.5Kg for warm-up sets and then 10 and 12.5 Kg. Please avoid those plastic dumbells of 2 - 5 kg they may be good for
petite person with small frame but would hardly make any difference to a large male with enough muscles.

If you have good muscle strength go to 15Kg any thing less is simply not enough.

Same goes for barbells.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I can see as possible on the hotel gym machines.

YouTube search burpees

Without machines you can do Jumping jacks ( 30 - 50 ) followed by
20 burpees followed by 10 pushups do this in 3 to 5 sets.

Actual functional training is multiple such combinations for 45 mts to 60 mts.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by alpha1

The book is called Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRoberts. Google for it, you may chance upon the PDF version.

Found it. It's available at this link:

http://www.ironmagazine.com/ebooks/B...nd-Edition.pdf

Thanks.

Cheers,
Vikram

[jesse_916]

Hi all. I work out at home. Have a flat bench and enough weights to do most things. Its a spare room so space is adequate. I have a hard time gaining weight so that makes me an ectomorph. I feel I have plateaued now and would like to join a gym if they have a package which assures results and is goal based. Most gyms are just busy selling memberships these days. Not sure if results based packages are even available here.

Would love to know if someone has had good results with a particular gym / trainer with complete handholding as regards workouts, diet plan to be followed etc.

[nareshov]

Questions to the bodyweight fitness practitioners (esp. at home):
- what equipment have you got?
I'm considering ordering this: http://www.healthkart.com/sv/magic-h...Key=VRNT-56516 --
- any reviews on this? Is the pricing okay?
- Is there a more bare-bones (and cheaper) version such as this locally available: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y2SUU4/ ?
- will this work for now (to start with): http://www.ebay.in/itm/IRON-GYM-DOOR...5a913c1&_uhb=1 ?

I've been doing full-body strength-training routines in gyms for the past year with two or three workouts per week. Due to changes in lifestyle (marriage, commute, not training for competition, etc.) I plan on embarking into this: http://i.imgur.com/heFEfT3.png -- comments?

Thanks in advance.

[jesse_916]

Originally Posted by nareshov

Questions to the bodyweight fitness practitioners (esp. at home):
- what equipment have you got?
I'm considering ordering this: http://www.healthkart.com/sv/magic-h...Key=VRNT-56516 --
- any reviews on this? Is the pricing okay?
- Is there a more bare-bones (and cheaper) version such as this locally available: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y2SUU4/ ?
- will this work for now (to start with): http://www.ebay.in/itm/IRON-GYM-DOOR...5a913c1&_uhb=1 ?

I've been doing full-body strength-training routines in gyms for the past year with two or three workouts per week. Due to changes in lifestyle (marriage, commute, not training for competition, etc.) I plan on embarking into this: http://i.imgur.com/heFEfT3.png -- comments?

Thanks in advance.

Hi. I have a small home gym for the last 10+ years. The healthkart home gym seems way too expensive for what it offers which is basically free hand exercises such as pull ups, dips, tricep kickbacks etc.

Instead contact your local fitness store and buy a flat bench with pulley's incorporated. I have something like this which allows me to have a flat, incline or decline bench, pulley for back exercises, leg extensions, triceps pushdowns etc. which also has handles for doing dips for triceps. I also ordered a bar for doing pull ups which I have installed in the passageway. This is more than sufficient and will not use up much space as well.

All the best!!

[Traveller Nayak]

I am considering buying a Fitness Band for myself and I have absolutely no insight on these bands.

I am not a fitness freak. The best that I do is walk. But I will be keen to know the calories burnt throughout the day. Some also have a heart rate monitor.

Any guidance/views around how to go about selecting one will be of help!