Summer fitness?

[Zaia]

I prefer to waltz out on the beach with my bulbous beer gut hanging over my fish-net speedos! Did I mention that my back is a shag rug?

*swoons*

*vomits*

C'mon, I'm cute. Admit it.

[Beowulf]

I'm Asian, my goal is to GAIN weight

Same thing here, it's kinda bad when my GF weighs more than me, if only by a couple pounds.

*cough cough*

My girlfriend weighs more than a couple pounds more than I do...

[Zaia]

*cough cough*

My girlfriend weighs more than a couple pounds more than I do...

Who cares, as long as you're both happy?

[Darth Garden Gnome]

Weighing in at a ghastly 80lbs (supposedly, I should still ride in car-seats, if health class is true), and a amazing 5'1, I am living large. I bestrode the hallways like a collosus, brushing the commoners aside with my tremendous strength, and endurance.

Its true. I weigh less than the anorexic girls at my school. And don't get me wrong, I eat whenever I get hungry too. But you'd be surprised how long a Hobo sandwhich'll hold me.

That said, I'm not too worried about gaining weight. Truth be told my "exercises" (eh em...walking the dog...) have been enough to keep me in fit for the last dozen years, I'm confident they won't let me down anytime soon.

[Howedar]

6'0 or 6'1, 170some pounds. I run 35+ miles a week when I'm not injured like I am right now.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

5' 10" and ~235 pounds with a large body type. I plan to lose about 30 over the summer.

And if anyone has any advice that's unasked for, kindly fuck off.

[Alex Moon]

I'm outta shape, so I'm planning to hit the gym this summer.

[Larz]

I do manuel labor work during the summer (Automotive Service, Tirebusting, and Janitor all rolled into one for the past 4). I couldn't avoid getting a good work out if I wanted too.

I do this ontop of my usual exercise routine. At very least I sleep well.

[J]

Girls! Don't work out too much! Your boobs will shrink!!

Are you sure about that? Mine filled in quite nicely in university despite doing 4-5 hours of swim training and workouts every day.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I think that only happens when women do intense training for track and such. Their bodies start canibalising fat, so the breasts reduce in size.

At least I think that's what happens.

[seanrobertson]

I'm Asian, my goal is to GAIN weight

Same thing here, it's kinda bad when my GF weighs more than me, if only by a couple pounds. Problem is I can't gain weight unless I spend my life in the gym lifting weights all day, and I just don't have the dedication for that. I'd much rather be outside biking, rollerblading, running, and other such stuff instead of being inside a gym pumping iron.

Dude, more is not better when it comes to lifting.

On average, I spend about 45 min. in the gym, three times a week. I'm only 5'6", but I weigh 240. No fat, no drugs. Granted I've lifted for over 10 years, but as you get bigger, you actually require even less work, not more.

Lifting's the best thing you can do for yourself. Other than a sound diet, it's easily superior to most forms of cardio for sustained bodyfat loss/control. I could easily fix your problem and get you to the point at which you were bouncing your girlfriend off your pecs!

Well, okay, maybe not THAT far, but you'd be amazed what you could do with a little time. It'd entail much *harder* work, but it'd be over before you knew it.

[seanrobertson]

Girls! Don't work out too much! Your boobs will shrink!!

Nah, they'll keep their boobs so long as they don't lose a lot of bodyfat (Working out alone probably won't do that for women...a man packing on 20 lbs. of muscle will help him lean up a great deal if he doesn't consume far more kcal/daily. But it's a rare woman who can gain a significant amount of LBM. BM perhaps, but not *LBM*!

[seanrobertson]

Okay anyone else feels the need to lose some slack for the beach season?

I just joined the VV and according to them I have 7kg to lose.

Now at 172cm/82kg goal ~74kg

I love the beach but I abhor the heat. So I probably won't be bothering with the beach at all.

If I was, I'd probably want to lean up for a month or so beforehand--I'm in my offseason "don't give a shit about seeing six packs" mode this time of year--but I'd want to hit that 4 lbs. per inch ratio first. Probably will not happen but I'm going to give it a shot.

[aerius]

Thing is I have the thin distance cyclist/runner's build and I don't put on muscle mass very well, but the main problem is I'm just not motivated enough to do any kind of regular training schedule nowadays. I did do a strength and weight training program when I was in high school and managed to gain about 5 pounds over a period of 4 months of working out 3 times a week. Not much of a weight gain but I did get a lot stronger. I know it can be done, I'm just too much of a lazy bastard to care.

[Vympel]

I go to the gym at least 3 times a week as it is, and it's autumn going into winter over here. I need to put ON weight. I'm a little over 170cm and only weigh like ... 63-5kg?

[seanrobertson]

I go to the gym at least 3 times a week as it is, and it's autumn going into winter over here. I need to put ON weight. I'm a little over 170cm and only weigh like ... 63-5kg?

No worries...

What does your routine look like? Diet's important, too, of course, but so long as we're eating enough, diet's secondary to getting all of your training variables in order.

They are, in short: volume (amount of work), intensity (how much effort you put into an individual set) and frequency (how often you train, as in each bodypart *and* the body as a whole).

Volume and frequency are given the most fanfare; e.g., "I do 20 sets for chest," or "I work out every day of the week." But those two are secondary to intensity, which I define as training to momentary muscular "failure"--the point at which you can't complete another rep in spite of maximum effort to do so.

Fewer sets of high intensity are far more productive than doing lots of submaximal sets, as in 1 set with 300 lbs. for 10 very hard reps vs. 100 sets with 10 lbs. x 10 easy reps. This is evident in the builds we see among sprinters, who do very hard work in a short period of time and generally at least have strong-looking legs, vs. that of distance runners, who do thousands of "reps" but are usually skinny as rails.

Once the intensity is in order, volume falls into place naturally...most simply cannot do many sets at maximum. Let's say you do a set of squats with your 10 rep max. But instead of stopping at 10, you simply breathe at the top, knees locked, until you think you can squeeze out another. You'd rest a bit more, get another rep, and so on, until you've gotten a near impossible 20 reps.

If someone could duplicate that, they're a robot. Doing anything beyond that would be a waste of time. (One truly hard set, for every bodypart, is all that's truly needed IMO, though it's a bit extreme for those without a couple years' lifting experience.)

And then, with intensity and volume in place, comes training frequency. Obviously, if you can train each bodypart every day of the year and gain reps or weight each time, you'll progress faster than if you only did the same workout 50 times a year.

But chances are good most people would do best to only drill a bodypart that hard maybe twice a week; and even then, to prevent CNS exhaustion, you'd want to use different exercises for that bodypart in the second workout.

That's the key: find a frequency at which you can train a bodypart and make nice strength gains. The lower your training volume, the higher the potential frequency can be, within your abilities to recover (no more than twice a week for most, and oftentimes less depending on the routine).

That's greatly oversimplified, complicated as I already made it sound!, but playing with those three variables can help you construct a productive routine. There are lots of important derivatives--exercise selection, rep ranges, for example--but those won't do a person any good if they're doing too much work, too often, not hard enough.

[Ghost Rider]

I work out regularly(and mostly Katas with my swords and forms I know of)

I walk virtually everywhere...

[Vympel]

No worries...

What does your routine look like?

30 mins cardio, then say 40 mins of weights (usually 3 sets of 10 on the equipment on my program- this is my second), then finish off with abs, then go home.

I was on a general fitness program for the first one- that ran from december to beginning of march- my fitness index (can't remember the unit of measurement) went from high-average/low-good to high-good/low excellent, so that was pretty good, but now I'm focusing on toning/muscle coz I'm too damn thin. Quite a big change from four years ago, when I was really overweight.

Unfortuantely, that was during holidays so I got to go a lot more than I do now- luckily I have 3 weeks off now so that'll be perfect to get me back into the groove of going nearly every day (program's set up so that I don't overwork my muscles- i.e. lat pulldowns on one day, leg extension on the other, that sort of thing)

Diet's important, too, of course, but so long as we're eating enough, diet's secondary to getting all of your training variables in order.

I don't eat as much as I should- I skip breakfast too often

They are, in short: volume (amount of work), intensity (how much effort you put into an individual set) and frequency (how often you train, as in each bodypart *and* the body as a whole).

Volume and frequency are given the most fanfare; e.g., "I do 20 sets for chest," or "I work out every day of the week." But those two are secondary to intensity, which I define as training to momentary muscular "failure"--the point at which you can't complete another rep in spite of maximum effort to do so.

Fewer sets of high intensity are far more productive than doing lots of submaximal sets, as in 1 set with 300 lbs. for 10 very hard reps vs. 100 sets with 10 lbs. x 10 easy reps. This is evident in the builds we see among sprinters, who do very hard work in a short period of time and generally at least have strong-looking legs, vs. that of distance runners, who do thousands of "reps" but are usually skinny as rails.

Once the intensity is in order, volume falls into place naturally...most simply cannot do many sets at maximum. Let's say you do a set of squats with your 10 rep max. But instead of stopping at 10, you simply breathe at the top, knees locked, until you think you can squeeze out another. You'd rest a bit more, get another rep, and so on, until you've gotten a near impossible 20 reps.

If someone could duplicate that, they're a robot. Doing anything beyond that would be a waste of time. (One truly hard set, for every bodypart, is all that's truly needed IMO, though it's a bit extreme for those without a couple years' lifting experience.)

And then, with intensity and volume in place, comes training frequency. Obviously, if you can train each bodypart every day of the year and gain reps or weight each time, you'll progress faster than if you only did the same workout 50 times a year.

But chances are good most people would do best to only drill a bodypart that hard maybe twice a week; and even then, to prevent CNS exhaustion, you'd want to use different exercises for that bodypart in the second workout.

That's the key: find a frequency at which you can train a bodypart and make nice strength gains. The lower your training volume, the higher the potential frequency can be, within your abilities to recover (no more than twice a week for most, and oftentimes less depending on the routine).

That's greatly oversimplified, complicated as I already made it sound!, but playing with those three variables can help you construct a productive routine. There are lots of important derivatives--exercise selection, rep ranges, for example--but those won't do a person any good if they're doing too much work, too often, not hard enough.

Shit man- thanks for the info!

The guy in charge of my program at the gym is constantly upping the amount of weights I do to keep it difficult- sometimes I literally can't go any further- I have trouble turning the wheel when I'm driving home

[Cyborg Stan]

I'm around 5'6-7" (~170 cm) and 200 lbs (~91 kg). I'm not exactly in the best of shape, but I do have a larger than average frame and a dense body type, so I suspect if I was in shape I'd actually be heavier than this. Ideally I should probably work on my stamina and upper body strength. Would also help to keep my mood swings in balance, I think.

[InnerBrat]

I've just joined a new gym, because:

a) The college gym is closeing for rebfurbishment, and I graduate in 2 months anyway,

b) Now coursework is mostly done, I have more free time

But I have good self confidence and body image, so I'm not worried abut acvtually changing anything about me.

I don't wear bikinis anyway 'cause I'm paranoid about skin cancer.

[His Divine Shadow]

I know I eat alot and I'm quite big(6'2" - 188cm and I weigh 90kg), recently I've started to bicycle, maybe 4-5 times a week, sometimes more, usually around 4-8km every day.
This is on one of those stationary things, not a real bike, that way I can easily go many many times longer, because you don't pedal all the time.

I'm hoping to tone my body in general for the summer.

I also do some weight lifting.

[Batman]

I weigh 80 kilos at 180cm (and to hades with the imperial system). Weight is okay but the distribution leaves something to be desired .
I may be in shape but it's definitely not the right one for a fit human male

That being said, any sportive activity I may undertake will be purely recreational.
You don't like the shape I'm in, you do something about it

EDITed for formating

[aerius]

I just weighed myself today, talk about being a tall skinny bastard.

Height: 178cm (5'10")
Weight: 67kg (147.5 lbs)
Resting Heart rate: 63/min (getting out of shape damnit!)

This is about as much as I'll ever weigh, I usually drop a kilogram or 2 during the summer when I start biking more and stop going to the gym. See, in the winter I skate and play hockey and go to the gym once or twice a week to try and keep in shape, but in the summer I bike almost every day and don't go to the gym at all. Which is why I'm a bit heavier and stronger in the winter but in much better shape in the summer. I sometimes feel bummed that my GF has me beat in everything, endurance, strength, flexibility, speed, everything, but then I remember that she's a national level athlete while I'm just an average guy so I don't feel bad about it or anything.

[aphexmonster]

arghh... the metric system @_@ .... hrmm... lets see, carry the one ....

[CRUCIBLE]

I am in the German Army as Paratrooper.

Besides our 15km run every morning and our 35km mule walk every friday, we do the usual stuff...run here, run there, crawl through dirt you know.
And because i am a masochist , i am practicing Traditional Kung Fu since about 9 years.

Height: 172cm
Weight: 78kg
BFI: 5.6%
Heart/Rest: 49-50/min

If i would do anything more i would have to get rid of my GF to get some time. And i guess that wont happen.