years ago. recently, though, my oldest step son ( 28 ) asked me to train him. the first thing i started him on was the basics. the major power movements, like bench press with dumbbells, rows, squats and crunches. then, as he put weight on, we started targeting the workouts.

monday: chest, upper back
tuesday: biceps, triceps, forearms, shoulders ( triple supersets ) and pull downs
wednesday: off
thursday: leg press, hamstring extensions (or good mornings, when he wanted to vary) and calf work
friday: lower back, abs
saturday: off
sunday: repeat monday

so the schedule rotates and you're never working the same muscle group the same day every week. work with 80% of your maximum lift for the exercise. form is more important than how much weight you are using. if you are using bad form, back the weight down 10-20 pounds.

no supplements. he gained ten pounds of muscle last year. if you want to know what ten pounds of muscle is, buy a one pound steak and set it on the counter in front of you. now, picture that multiplied ten times. he probably won't see such significant gains this year, as i just got him started a little over 18 months ago.

you grow quickly in the beginning, then it tapers off. if you hit a plateau, where you gain nothing for months in a row, that means you are overtraining and you need to take a week or two off. remember that your muscles grow when you are resting, not when you are working. you provide the stimulus to grow when you work out, but if you don't get enough rest you will fall into the overtrained category again fairly quickly. you won't gain anything, get frustrated and quit.

if you stick with it, and you have good genetics, there is no reason why you can't hit 250-300 pounds all-natural. understand, though, that that kind of weight takes years to put on. unless you want to look like a gelatinous cube. that's easy. ;)

get plenty of rest. sleep at least 8 full hours a night.

it's all in the diet. if your diet is good, then you don't have to rely on the miracle-workout-in-a-bottle.

i work out at 24/7 fitness. i know the owners so i get great tips all the time.
mon-chest,abs
tues-legs,cardio
wed-back,abs
thurs-arms,shoulders,cardio
fri-drinkin in a bar
sat-cardio and more drinkin
sun-a day of rest
plenty of dieting, water, and protein snacks/shakes. it works for me. though i just worked out for the first time in 98 days because license was suspended. can't wait to be sore.

I'm going back soon now that the addition to the house has passed inspection and only little things left to do. Retro Fitness $19/month FTW!

I have weights in my house but been slacking off lately. Hard to get back into it.

Have trained a good part of the last 15 years, wish i had the time to go back but i want to pick up a Ls1 in the next few mths and my nights are spent at lowes part time for right now.

Retro fitness is shady, there's a ball and chain attached to that "$19" contract lol

if you are just getting back into it after a while off, there is no reason to go balls-to-the-wall. you're muscles will remember, but you need to ease back into it. don't rush, listen to your body. if you can't move, then you overdid it. slight soreness is ok.

I go to Olympus on rt.23 six days a week.
Mon. Chest/back
Tues- shoulders/arms
Weds- Legs
Thrus- Basketball
Fri- Arms
Sat- Chest/lower back
Sun- Shoulders
While I know it looks like I'm overtraining, I'm young, heal fast, and I'm used to working hard.

With a different muscle group every day you should be OK.

Re; Going to the Gym
 

I work out out 5 Days a week at Golds Gym in Paramus New Jersey. I like Golds and been a member for 10 years now.

I am an early person and go at 5AM on weekdays. Mainly weight training and cadio. Just want to keep in shape and build tone.

Rob

I started working out in December 2006. I started off with 22% body fat. 16 months later, I'm down to 6.1% body fat. I've sculpted my body up doing weight lifting and attending several classes that include Pilates, Yoga, Spinning, Kick Boxing, and Boot Camp. I must be in the gym at least 2 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I take no supplements and eat no processed foods. I use the George Foreman Grille to cook my lean pork chops, chicken breasts, and steaks from Sam's. The only protein bar I take is 100% organic. In between meals, I'm snacking on at least one serving of fruit or vegetable at least once an hour and I only get my whole grain requirements from all-natural, old-fashion Quaker Oats. No sugar added.

i'm sorry to be callin you out but pork is garbage especially if you are weight training and trying to build muscle. pork in general, in my opinion, is no good.

If he is truly at 6.1% then I'd say he knows what he's doing.

Most pork parts have a high fat content compared to lean fish, steak, or chicken breast, but there is a part that's almost equally as lean (with equivalent protein) and, per pound, is less expensive than any of the other meats I just mentioned. Sam's sells a package of boneless pork loins that has a very thin layer of fat on their edges that can easily be trimmed off after cooking. Not to mention, lean pork loin tastes very good with a variety of condiments such as ketchup, barbeque sauce, and roast sauce. For money-saving reasons, I usually eat the more expensive chicken breast with a serving of lean, boneless pork loin.

I just take 'roids...smoke them, in fact. And I'm happy w/ the results...:mrgreen:
Nah, I'm just waiting for the dayum Anytime Fitness 24 hr gym to open in my town. Was supposed to be this month, now pushed back to next month. I'm a night person, so I wanna be in there like 2 AM. In the mean time I've been doing a lot of walking at work. I get a lot of free time, so I just roam around and walk up and down the stairs. My legs are like tree trunks now, n' I'm getting paid to do it. :) I also have a crunch bench at my house collecting dust, so I'm gonna see if I can bring that to work to play on. And I also watch a lot of wrestling...:rofl:

I had been going strong again for about almost a year at Golds in Hamilton, then I destroyed my shoulder and it was just extreme pain when I did anything with that shoulder. I took some time off to heal, and figure out if I needed surgery (which I do of course) After a few months it healed and I got back into it at the Champion Gym in Bordentown. did another 5 months and threw out my other shoulder and eventually back to the first one now. It has been a few weeks, tomorrow I will be back since it has been feeling better. Probably going to bite the bullet and get the surgery this summer.

not calling :bs: just yet, but how were you tested? in a water tank? electrically? or with calipers?

the only true test is in a water tank because electric testing would mean you'd need to be fully hydrated and unless you are drinking in excess of 2 gallons of water a day, which you don't mention as part of your diet, i doubt you are. the caliper method is not precise enough to pinpoint 1/2 percentiles, so i am guessing that wasn't it either. since we are talking about 6.5 % body fat percentage, your water intake would be limited, as well.

losing that amount of bodyfat in a 16 month period is not healthy. it means far more than trimming fat from your meats and working out and doing cardio. it is hard core training. it means boiling your meat, not grilling it on GFG. it means watching every single thing in your diet and not munching on fruit between meals. it is near impossible to trim that much fat from your body without a very strict diet, and using diuretics. this is the type of training bodybulders go through (ask me how i know) to prepare for shows. it's not easy and usually the person undergoing such training is not a chipper little birdy, but a moody bastard who hates the world (ask me how i know). usually your caloric intake is way lower than normal, and most meals and replacements leave you hungry (ask me how i know).

so, tell us, how were you tested?

I need to get my butt back to the gym. I am so out of shape its embarrasing. I spent the day Sat detailing my car by Sat night and till today I am still in pain from being sore. How stupid is that lol.

I currently exercise 5 days a week, and about 1.5 hours each day. I'm now at 175lbs (i was 210 last april).
mon, wed, and fri, are run days averaging between 3 and 7 miles long.
Tues and thur are muscle failure days, which is where we work our upper body, abs and legs until you just cant do anymore.
Then on random days we play a sport or run up and down snow piles and low crawl aand roll around in the snow... some good ole snow PT.
As for my diet, i havent really changed a thing, just cut back a lil..., fast food, pizza, soda, all the good stuff still.

With us, they kinda keep us away from really building muscle mass, just keeping/making us tone instead. Eventually i will go to the gym here, since its free, lol, and start working my arms and chest. Thatll probably be when i reach my goal weight of 165.

and i think its funny when me at my age, and probably in the best shape of my life now, i can easily outrun others who are 10 years younger than me in the 2 mile by over 2 minutes... thats sad for them.

I'm now 35.....I got out of the Marines in '02 at the age of 30......

I think that now I'm more overall 'fit' than when I was in....I'm stronger, put on real muscle mass, and surprisingly - since I HATE running, am down to 3 miles in 26:30 as of the other day. My times just get quicker as I go....guess its because I have a 'bigger picture' in mind now than I did years ago. I just wish my buddy who was almost a gym rat decided to take me in there and set me up back then instead of when I did a couple years ago.

Well, we all know what hindsight is like....

And of course, all the aches and pains with old age :nod:

Those impedance scales are easy to fake, by the way. Even the ones with an "athletic" setting can be duped by excess body water.

FYI - The ones at LA Fitness....I can take mine 'normal' and then on 'athletic' and drop 2% body fat with no other changes....you take one where you're standing vs holding and it'll usually show even less...so yes, there's ways to make them say what you want.

And not to sound ghey....but if you post up a pic....you can prove your 6% ;)
I don't think we'd be able to argue that too much (unless it just isn't you...:rofl:)

Ladies....don't get all worked up if it is him....:lol:
(you too billy ;))

I got my body fat measured three times--when I first started working out in December 2006, then in October 2007, and finally in March 31, 2008. I had a different fitness trainer measure me each time. The first two used the body fat calipers and the last one used a sonar machine. The first result was around 22% in December 2006, the second result in October 2007 was 9%, and the last result was the 6.1% in 3/31/08.

For about the first 9 months of working out, I really didn't watch what I ate. I still ate the regular junk food and I didn't watch my caloric intake. I used vitamin and protein supplements. I worked out at least 5 days a week. Each day, I would lift for about an hour and then do cardio for about an hour. I didn't take any fitness classes during this time.

During the last 7 months, I increased my fitness time from 5 days a week to 7 days a week, 2 hours per day. I started attending a variety of 1 hour fitness classes (to break up the day-to-day workout monotony) while still lifting at least an hour per day. I stopped the vitamin and protein supplementation and replaced them only with natural, unprocessed foods. I've also been following proper food combining to get the most nutrients out of my food.

If you want documented proof, I can probably provide them. The gym probably still has a file on me that includes my initial body fat number. I can also get verbal confirmation from the last two fitness trainers that measured my body fat.

LOL

That's funny. I will not go as far as showing off my body as an internet picture, because I wouldn't even go to the beach to show it off. Even while working out at the gym, I wear modest, relax-fitting athletic shorts and t-shirts. No muscle tee or tight under-armors. Plus, there are enough young dudes out there who tastelessly show off their bodies in those adultfriendfinder web sites. The farthest I go to showing off my body is staring at myself for ten minutes in front of the quiet gym locker room's bathroom mirror right after a long workout and right before I put on my modest, relax-fit street shirt.

damon z...not saying your not 6%, but if you are thats just not healthy to stay like that, thats comp. status. Usually takes diuretics and an INSANE DIET that only a true seasoned bodybuilder can handle. Im thinking the machine that was used to test your bf% was off.