Are You Working Out? What's Your Favorite Type of Exercise?

[ice109]

I just started playing squash, anyone play it? I only played 7-8 times but I see improvements every day...it's amazing. I'm skipping today though because my muscles are sore.

ehh I've played racquetball and i don't really dig it, but that's cause i suck and end up just flailing the racket around mostly.

 

[JasonRox]

trust me getting "big" isn't a danger most people face. it takes an enormous amount of effort to get "big". and there is a point to being strong, the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns during rest. additionally muscular strength is very important as you age for things like balance and weight bearing exercises inhibit osteoperosis.

changing clothes size takes years.

I'm totally aware of that. Like I said, I used to be big and I was into building muscles.

If I start lifting weights, I will gain muscles and size even if I put little effort into it. Plus, I have a hard time lifting without lifting hard which means I'll get big again.

Another thing I mentionned is that I'm not small now either. I have maybe like 10% bodyfat when it was like 11% but since I stopped eating beef and pork I noticed that it went down a tiny little bit. You see my abs no problems. I have arms and a chest. My metabolism is insanely fast and have no worries about gaining weight. I eat healthy and probably healthier than those who actually lift and go to the gym regularly.

Honestly, I see no reason for I to lift weights. Doing push ups, crunches, wide grip pull ups and chin ups and other various bodyweight exercises is all I need.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

I lift weights 6 days a week and jog at least a kilometer everyday. I wish I could go back to playing football (soccer), but I've badly hurt my toe, otherwise I'd do that too, I was in the school football team as a defender.

 

[ice109]

snip

just out of curiosity what were your "stats" in your hayday and what are they now. standard bodyweight,bench, squat, deadlift will suffice

 

[JasonRox]

just out of curiosity what were your "stats" in your hayday and what are they now. standard bodyweight,bench, squat, deadlift will suffice

All I remember is my bench press because my brother and I were planning on powerlifting with the bench press as our specialty. I weighed in at like 157 pounds (5 foot 9 inches) and benched 240 pounds raw. I didn't want to train with a shirt until I hit like 275 raw while staying under 160 pounds. As for squats, I mostly did leg press instead of squats because I certainly did not want bad knees. I worked out in a "juice factory" for awhile and lots of them admitted to having knee problems. Of course, that's normally associated with bad form and such, but any stress on the knees, no matter how perfect, eventually will wear them down.

I don't really remember body measurements though.

I was definitely in shape. Of course 157 pounds sounds small, but I didn't look small. The weight was attributed to my small frame (hence why European style cuts look good on me). My brother once weighed in at 145 pounds and guys on the hockey team thought he weighed atleast 170 pounds. Definitely small frame.

My favourite exercises were Low Row's, Lat Pulldowns and Leg Extensions. I loved the back workouts and just loved how your legs get so pumped up. My least favourites and surprisingly were the Bench Press, anything with biceps and calves.

I can get measurements now I guess. I would say my biceps are 14 inches right now by the looks of it, which is fine.

My bench press now? I have no idea. My squat or deadlift? I don't know know. My weight is like 148 pounds now.

 

[moose]

I weighed in at like 157 pounds (5 foot 9 inches)

I weigh 157 and am 5' 9"...

 

[Beeza]

All I remember is my bench press because my brother and I were planning on powerlifting with the bench press as our specialty. I weighed in at like 157 pounds (5 foot 9 inches) and benched 240 pounds raw. I didn't want to train with a shirt until I hit like 275 raw while staying under 160 pounds. As for squats, I mostly did leg press instead of squats because I certainly did not want bad knees. I worked out in a "juice factory" for awhile and lots of them admitted to having knee problems. Of course, that's normally associated with bad form and such, but any stress on the knees, no matter how perfect, eventually will wear them down.

I don't really remember body measurements though.

I was definitely in shape. Of course 157 pounds sounds small, but I didn't look small. The weight was attributed to my small frame (hence why European style cuts look good on me). My brother once weighed in at 145 pounds and guys on the hockey team thought he weighed atleast 170 pounds. Definitely small frame.

My favourite exercises were Low Row's, Lat Pulldowns and Leg Extensions. I loved the back workouts and just loved how your legs get so pumped up. My least favourites and surprisingly were the Bench Press, anything with biceps and calves.

I can get measurements now I guess. I would say my biceps are 14 inches right now by the looks of it, which is fine.

My bench press now? I have no idea. My squat or deadlift? I don't know know. My weight is like 148 pounds now.

Ahhh the blessing of a small frame. Even when I was competing a few years ago and weighed about 175, my waist was still 33inches.

Although having a big frame has its' advantages -- as I carry around 240 quite well in the winter time when I am the human garbage disposal. My blood pressure doesn't like it though

 

[JasonRox]

My waist is 30 inches!

When I worked out it was probably like 31 or something.

 

[moose]

My waist is 30 inches!

When I worked out it was probably like 31 or something.

Haha, my waist is between 30 and 31 inches.

 

[moe darklight]

I'm ridiculously skinny. No matter how much I eat (and I'm constantly hungry and eating) or how much I work out.

I work out 3 days a week for 40 mins. (bys/back - legs/abs - pec) just to get up to skinny with some sort of visible muscle mass; if I don't I'm a skeleton.

I'm guessing some sort of muscle situation runs in my family. My grampa is also very skinny, and we both have the same kind of clumsiness (we kind of walk weird and are very clumsy)

 

[Astronuc]

a pulled calf muscle that won't go away.

Maybe deep tissue massage might help, and stretching gently while massaging. Also contrasting - alternating ice and heating pad may help. I did that to recover from a pulled hamstring and it worked.

I've started a little running again and some light weights.

From Jason's description - we're about the same size. I have about a 31 waist, which I've had since 10th grade and now weight about 74 kilos, which is about what I was 35 years ago.

I will probably get a new road bike as well and start riding more regularly.

 

[ice109]

snip

im impressed, honestly i was expecting something laughable. people who know anything about strength training don't usually shy away from more muscle.

 

[JasonRox]

im impressed, honestly i was expecting something laughable. people who know anything about strength training don't usually shy away from more muscle.

I know what you mean, but I've got to the point where I know it's not realistic to keep up. Like you said, it ain't easy.

 

[gravenewworld]

i don't really lift heavy weight to build a lot of muscle any more either. if i lifted a lot I would look really stupid on my body frame (5'6" 156 lbs). I am already built like a smaller version of a NFL running back naturally (wish I was a bit taller, then I would have definitely played football), I just lift to keep muscle tone. I run to stay in shape.

If you are short and have tons of muscle from lifting it looks stupid. Plus carrying around all that extra weight on a small frame, even if it is muscle, probably isn't good for your joints and bones. The funniest thing to see at the gime though is the huge dudes who have ripped upper bodies and extremely skinny chicken legs. Hilarious.

 

[Astronuc]

There is also Jason's old thread -

Working Out and Supplements
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=71976


When I was in high school I rode a bike, ran long distance (3-5 mi), ran sprints, played soccer on the weekends, and lifted weights.

During early years of university, I ran and lifted weights, and played soccer seasonally.

Then middle years of univeristy - when wasn't in school, I did iron work, 8-10 hrs/day, lifted weights and ran long distance.

My peak weight was about 80-82 kgs, but my fat content was a few%.

Now walk at lunch time and run in the morning or evening, and do light weights.

 

[chroot]

I ride my bike around 50-100 miles per week, and lift weights a couple days a week.

- Warren

 

[JasonRox]

I ride my bike around 50-100 miles per week, and lift weights a couple days a week.

- Warren

That's a lot of riding!

 

[ice109]

That's a lot of riding!

ehh not really

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I play on two coed soccer teams for cardio and then lift weights twice a week. That's enough for me!

 

[chroot]

That's a lot of riding!

Not really. I usually ride the bike back and forth to work two days a week, and it's about 32 miles round-trip. Then I generally add another long bike ride on Saturday or Sunday (40-80 miles), and it's pretty easy for me to hit 100 miles a week. The last time I fell under 50 miles per week was back in March of '06, when it rained 28 days in a row here.

- Warren

 

[JasonRox]

I think it's a lot.

 

[chroot]

I think it's a lot.

Actually, it's kinda funny. I get really irritable and cabin-feverish when I don't ride at least every couple of days. I'm sure it's psychological, but I feel like crap.

- Warren

 

[moe darklight]

by the way, does muscle growth occur only (or mostly) during sleep?

I always read on websites about strength training about the importance of sleeping ... would there be a big difference in the growth of muscle for a person who sleeps 6 hours a day as opposed to one who sleeps 8 or 9?

 

[Cyrus]

Moe, for you, you have to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, vomit, eat the vomit, eat, eat, eat, vomit again, eat that too, eat, eat, take a dump, and eat to make up for that lost dump.

Conservation of energy, its as simple as that. My friend takes protein shakes to help build mass...ok, let's think about that for a second, shall we? Mass in - mass out = mass gain. So, do you really think having a drink with two scoops of powder is going to make you magically gain 5 lbs in a month?

If so, you must be eating sludge, because if and only if you eat 5 lbs of the powder will you gain 5 lbs of mass (ignoring all else). You just can't gain 'extra' mass because your drinking muscle milk.

For you to gain weight, you would literally have to eat a small snack or meal every hour. I have a fast metabolism like you do, so I can melt away the weight just sitting here typing this. I also road cycle, which burns calories like no ones business. So either I can road bike (which is advantageous for me because I am thin and have long legs), or I have to not road bike and eat eat eat and go to the gym. Cant do both, it won't work.

Id eat things like bananas, oat meal, eggs, bread, pasta, tuna <-(that an easy way to eat lots of protein. Just open the can and eat it {while trying not to barf, the **** gets disgusting after 3 days in a row}), nutragrain bars, yogurt.

Trust me, after day 3 or 4, you get sickkkkkkkkk of eating non stop.

But, unlike Jason, we never have to worry about getting a beer gut. So, I just relax and have a beer and play poker with my friends, and ride my bike on the weekends when I feel like exercising. My BP is 110/70, so I am just fine.

 

[mattmns]

I recently started working out again (about two months ago). I have been doing weight stuff 2-3 times a week, and cardio stuff 3-4 times a week. Like most of you, I wonder about keeping it up during school, but I don't think 3-4 hours a week is too bad (we'll see what I say when the semester starts).

 

[ice109]

by the way, does muscle growth occur only (or mostly) during sleep?

I always read on websites about strength training about the importance of sleeping ... would there be a big difference in the growth of muscle for a person who sleeps 6 hours a day as opposed to one who sleeps 8 or 9?

i doubt the veracity of that honestly. it definitely happens always but the question is whether it happens more efficiently at night. initially i was think that maybe because you're not burning many calories doing other stuff they can go to muscle repair where as during the day you're doing stuff so only the excess goes to muscle repair. but at night you only have the nutrients from your last meal available and those get burned through quickly. it probably averages out to being equal. i don't get an enormous amount of sleep and I've been getting stronger for the past 2 months but I'm just one case.

 

[FrogPad]

i doubt the veracity of that honestly. it definitely happens always but the question is whether it happens more efficiently at night. initially i was think that maybe because you're not burning many calories doing other stuff they can go to muscle repair where as during the day you're doing stuff so only the excess goes to muscle repair. but at night you only have the nutrients from your last meal available and those get burned through quickly. it probably averages out to being equal. i don't get an enormous amount of sleep and I've been getting stronger for the past 2 months but I'm just one case.

Top weightlifters sleep A LOT. They basically, EAT, lift, EAT, lift, EAT, SLEEP, EAT (that means wakeup and eat), SLEEP, .. repeat. If you want a source, check out Arnold's book.

 

[moe darklight]

Moe, for you, you have to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, vomit, eat the vomit, eat, eat, eat, vomit again, eat that too, eat, eat, take a dump, and eat to make up for that lost dump.

wow, that's a pretty strict regimen. does it have to be in that exact order? could I eat, eat, vomit, eat, take a dump, eat the vomit?

yea we seem to be the same body type. so maybe what I need is to have a higher intake of protein, I don't really get a lot of it in my diet, I mostly eat fruits and vegetables. and meat only once a day. I'll start eating more meat and see if it works

 

[moe darklight]

Top weightlifters sleep A LOT. They basically, EAT, lift, EAT, lift, EAT, SLEEP, EAT (that means wakeup and eat), SLEEP, .. repeat. If you want a source, check out Arnold's book.

yea that's why I ask. I want to know if this is because muscle growth actually increases substantially during sleep, or if it's just an urban legend (maybe arnold would be just as big if he slept 7 hours a day, and just doesn't know it ).

I'm not looking to get huge, I just want to get to the point where I can no longer use a cheerio as an armband.

 

[ice109]

Top weightlifters sleep A LOT. They basically, EAT, lift, EAT, lift, EAT, SLEEP, EAT (that means wakeup and eat), SLEEP, .. repeat. If you want a source, check out Arnold's book.

that's because they're reluctant to burn calories, not because something magical happens at night.