Anyone here work out?
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Used to own a gym where we had the opportunity to hang out with and be coached by some world class coaches, athletes, doctor's, business and self help geniuses.
Happy to help if you have any specific questions.
Everything works. Some stuff only works for short periods of times or to look a certain way or to just get you started. It all has merit, even the Susan Sommers shit.
Happy to help if you have any specific questions.
Everything works. Some stuff only works for short periods of times or to look a certain way or to just get you started. It all has merit, even the Susan Sommers shit.
We moved for my wife's career and I got a new job too. My stress level and anxiety became and issue for me. I started working out a little. I started with push ups and swats with no weights. (2 sets of 25 each before work and then again in the evening). I also started drinking protein shakes and fruit for breakfast. When I stress.....it's hard to eat. So I eat what I want and try to get some calories in. I'm 6'2" and range from 188-195lbs.
I'm about 2.5-3 months into it. For the past two weeks, I'm up to 200+ push ups and 140 swats with 50lbs of weight each day (half in the am and half in the pm). My back hasn't felt this good in over a decade.
Having momentum helps keep this train going. I take one day off a week. Waist down to a 33/34 from a 36 and I'm around 190-193lbs. We don't eat as much fast food anymore.
I take a gland supplement for stress (supplement adrenal gland to help "refill" from stress dumps of adrenaline). My anxiety is better and I attribute it to many factors (including better strategies and such for work) but working out helps my confidence and I think that plays a big factor in my overall perception of myself and such.
Two days ago.....saw a bench press with 155lbs. So I did a set. Put it up 23 times. Not bad for a 42 year old dad body and push ups.
I'm about 2.5-3 months into it. For the past two weeks, I'm up to 200+ push ups and 140 swats with 50lbs of weight each day (half in the am and half in the pm). My back hasn't felt this good in over a decade.
Having momentum helps keep this train going. I take one day off a week. Waist down to a 33/34 from a 36 and I'm around 190-193lbs. We don't eat as much fast food anymore.
I take a gland supplement for stress (supplement adrenal gland to help "refill" from stress dumps of adrenaline). My anxiety is better and I attribute it to many factors (including better strategies and such for work) but working out helps my confidence and I think that plays a big factor in my overall perception of myself and such.
Two days ago.....saw a bench press with 155lbs. So I did a set. Put it up 23 times. Not bad for a 42 year old dad body and push ups.
Was talking to a good friend of mine in law enforcement who stays in pretty good shape, and he recommended protein shakes before you work out, or in the morning and amino acids after the workout. I have noticed I have kind of long recovery times when I go extra hard on a workout and he said amino acids are key for that.
Thoughts, recommendations? I'm still gaining at a decent clip but my appetite has stayed down so I'm thinking adding some protein into the mix at least would help me run a little more efficient.
Thoughts, recommendations? I'm still gaining at a decent clip but my appetite has stayed down so I'm thinking adding some protein into the mix at least would help me run a little more efficient.
YMMV, but I'd recommend trying some Casein protein before bed. You recover when you sleep, and you are typically on an empty stomach during that time. Casein digests slowly and gives you a steady feed of protein for longer than your typical whey. If you are taking a while to recover at your age, I'd start there. Protein shakes before a workout have never done much for me other than make me want to puke haha. I eat a big meal 1-2 hours before working out, and a big meal almost immediately after. IMO your 3 most important meals are: 1) breakfast (can't get going on an empty stomach) 2) pre workout (need fuel to lift) 3) post workout (replenish and begin recovery).
For what it's worth, I'm not big on supplementation. I take a multi-vitamin, pre-workout, and Casein protein shake before bed. Occasionally I'll throw in a post workout whey protein shake if I know I won't be able to eat for a while.
The need to supplement is strictly based on personal needs. If you are eating adequate protein for your goals then there is no need to supplement with protein. Getting protein from whole food is much healthier but there are certainly benefits to supplementing. Mainly the benefits are cost, convenience, and speed of uptake (protein is already broken down and easily digestible as opposed to your body needing to break down a piece of chicken or beef both through the mechanical and chemical digestive process).
So now let's go back and answer the most important question in this discussion... How much protein do we need? .8grams of protein per lb of bodyweight is the answer. If you like easier math, round up to 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight .There is no need for any more protein than 1g per lb. In bodybuilding and sports world we used to think that we needed more but it turns out we were wrong.
Science supports .8g of protein per lb of LEAN BODY MASS (not total body mass) to be optimal for building lean muscle mass. The study was performed and the figure was arrived at by moving too standard deviation from the findings. Basically it's like DNA. There's a 99.9% chance that you are the father...or that this number will be adequate for your beeds.
By ingesting .8g or 1g per lb of body mass you are insuring that you have more than an adequate supply of protein in your body to build or maintain as much muscle mass as your heart desires.
TLDR: 1) Shoot for .8g to 1g of protein per lb of body mass. If you weigh 200lbs eat 160g of protein. If the rest of your macros/calories are where they need to be, you will gain muscle mass.
2) Eat your protein in real food first then supplement for whatever you can't eat as real food.
3) Whey protein post workout for ultra fast absorption and a highly insulingenic effect (which you want post workout to drive protein and glucose to the muscle cells that have just been worked). Casein or egg white protein for slower digestion like curbing your appetite (meal replacement) or before bed (periods of fasting).
Serious question, are "swats" different than "squats"? Idk what those are since you use it twice in your post, so I'm thinking it's a thing.
Poor spelling on my part.
Down a total of 45lbs now. Still gaining muscle. Waist size is down to a 34. I'm wearing slim fit shirts for the first time in my life and it's empowering. I'm currently 193lbs, at 6'1. Most of whats left to lose is just some residual stomach fat, love handles and probably drop some more around my thighs. My legs have much better definition and my chest/shoulders are coming along nicely. My knee (replaced ACL) feels so much better having lost the weight and pressure on it.
so my next question...
Getting rid of that last pesky bit of fat on my stomach, whats the best way to go about that? And my arms have more muscle now for sure when I flex but there's some residual flab, is there anything i can do to more or less target that?
so my next question...
Getting rid of that last pesky bit of fat on my stomach, whats the best way to go about that? And my arms have more muscle now for sure when I flex but there's some residual flab, is there anything i can do to more or less target that?
Diet, diet, diet.. the last bit of fat is always the most troublesome. When I have really tried to cut down and stay lean, I cut my calories back to maintenance and do 30 min fasted cardio 3 mornings per week. That does the trick for me, YMMV.
I'm 6'1" as well, but more than 15 years older than you. Before I started competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I hit 205. Through diet and generic gym cardio I got back down to 190-ish. I'll tell you now, the 10 pounds you need to lose to get from where you are to where you think you will look good is 90% done in the kitchen. It's nearly all diet. The last 10% is core strength and growing the muscles to "replace" the fat. You won't technically replace it, but if you just burn off all the fat there, you'll just be skinny. It's weird, but you'll look better at 12% body fat and muscle underneath and weigh 185 than if you are 175 and have 8% body fat. I hit 165 when I cut for a tournament. Low body fat, low water, and not enough muscle made me look like a PoW. lol
Yeah my frame is just too broad to ever look good "skinny" I think and I wouldn't want to be super thin anyhow I kind of like being a bigger guy and kind of a bruiser when it comes to sports, I am really loving the increased athleticism I'm experiencing though. I figured you guys would say diet and that's where I've slacked off a bit recently so that just reaffirms my need to get back on the wagon. I've been back on this week I just gotta keep it up. 188 would be nice because it's a total of 50lbs lost and it's down to 180s which is legit where I was in middle school.
Dear god, 180's in middle school. I didn't weigh 180 until I was 30 years old. I played basketball, but for some reason I got talked into wrestling in 8th grade. I "cut" (meaning I skipped lunch and took a big shit) 5 pounds to wrestle at 89 pounds at the district tournament. I was 5'7" and 110 as a sophomore playing quarterback on the JV team. I went to Air Force basic training and hit 6'1", but July/August heat in San Antonio and all the workouts made me drop down to 137 pounds. I was technically UNDER the weight minimum for my height and could have actually been discharged for basically being not strong enough to do anything for the military. lol
I hit 6' partway through 7th grade and I was just a tall fat kid. I actually worked out a decent amount in high school and played sports but could never gain muscle on my upper body so I just looked disproportionate which is why I gave up on it for a while. I hit 200 probably sophomore year.
I've been completely down the rabbit hole on diet for the last couple years, so I can almost certainly assist if you'd like to learn anything.
Background: I'm 33 years old 5'11 and over the last 10 years ive been as light as 165, and as heavy as 280. Tried "Calories in Calories out" and just running a caloric deficit, vegan, with and without deficit, low carb high protein (dumb), keto (low carb, high fat), and now carnivore. I fell off the keto train because at 30 years old, I still couldn't say no to my mom on thanksgiving, and fell back into the old cycle.
I'm JUST now starting carnivore, so I can't report anything on that yet, and still don't know if I would even think about telling someone else to try it. The science still isn't there, so everything is anecdotal, which can be pretty sketchy.
Keto however, that was pretty easy to stick to, and on that combined with exercise, I went from my heaviest, at 280, down to 175 in about 14 months. It also allowed me to drink in low quantities, so I didn't have to miss out on my social time. Workout days (lifting) were tough, so before I went to the gym I would have some whole grain pasta or a microwaved sweet potato. Those were my only "cheats" outside of alcohol. I found that I didnt get tired of zucchini, so that made an appearance nearly every day, with asparagus and brussels sprouts filling in for other meals. Id just buy the frozen steamer bags (or in the case of zucchini, a giant frozen bag) and pop them in the microwave.
Had Ribeye and NY Strip 2-3 times a week, Salmon 2-3 times a week, and Chicken thighs cubed and tossed in ghee and either hot sauce or lemmon pepper seasoning for the protein part.
If i felt like having a snack, I'd make bacon.
Work outs were weights 3 times a week, cycling 3 times a week, and a constant rotation of High Intensity Interval Training at least twice a week.
I started the diet with pre-diabetic markers that corrected themselves, high blood pressure, and low-hdl/high-ldl levels, which is where the diet stuff all came from. After it was all said and done, my HDL levels had come up and I had high LDL still, but a secondary blood test showed that the types of LDL weren't predictors of heart problems, so I stayed off BP and Cholesterol meds.
Not saying Keto 100% works for everyone, but it worked for me. Felt better than I had in YEARS, my mind felt faster, I got less distracted, and it got me out of the typical health danger zones.
I also love how the fluctuation in the graph below is from Nov-Jan. I gotta figure out holidays apparently.
Background: I'm 33 years old 5'11 and over the last 10 years ive been as light as 165, and as heavy as 280. Tried "Calories in Calories out" and just running a caloric deficit, vegan, with and without deficit, low carb high protein (dumb), keto (low carb, high fat), and now carnivore. I fell off the keto train because at 30 years old, I still couldn't say no to my mom on thanksgiving, and fell back into the old cycle.
I'm JUST now starting carnivore, so I can't report anything on that yet, and still don't know if I would even think about telling someone else to try it. The science still isn't there, so everything is anecdotal, which can be pretty sketchy.
Keto however, that was pretty easy to stick to, and on that combined with exercise, I went from my heaviest, at 280, down to 175 in about 14 months. It also allowed me to drink in low quantities, so I didn't have to miss out on my social time. Workout days (lifting) were tough, so before I went to the gym I would have some whole grain pasta or a microwaved sweet potato. Those were my only "cheats" outside of alcohol. I found that I didnt get tired of zucchini, so that made an appearance nearly every day, with asparagus and brussels sprouts filling in for other meals. Id just buy the frozen steamer bags (or in the case of zucchini, a giant frozen bag) and pop them in the microwave.
Had Ribeye and NY Strip 2-3 times a week, Salmon 2-3 times a week, and Chicken thighs cubed and tossed in ghee and either hot sauce or lemmon pepper seasoning for the protein part.
If i felt like having a snack, I'd make bacon.
Work outs were weights 3 times a week, cycling 3 times a week, and a constant rotation of High Intensity Interval Training at least twice a week.
I started the diet with pre-diabetic markers that corrected themselves, high blood pressure, and low-hdl/high-ldl levels, which is where the diet stuff all came from. After it was all said and done, my HDL levels had come up and I had high LDL still, but a secondary blood test showed that the types of LDL weren't predictors of heart problems, so I stayed off BP and Cholesterol meds.
Not saying Keto 100% works for everyone, but it worked for me. Felt better than I had in YEARS, my mind felt faster, I got less distracted, and it got me out of the typical health danger zones.
I also love how the fluctuation in the graph below is from Nov-Jan. I gotta figure out holidays apparently.
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I'll eat a carnivore diet frequently when I'm at work. The opportunity to fill up a plate with FREE chicken, steak, pulled pork, brisket, pork chops, etc. is just to appealing. I'd say 40% of my meals are carnivore, 40% are meat and veggies, and 20% are "unhealthy" by those standards. but they're still minimal deep fried foods and always less than 800 calorie meals.
Body fat is lost through a cumulative effort. Fat cannot be targeted in specific areas. We refer to this as fat cannot be "spot reduced" like many who say, I just want to lose some weight in my stomach or thighs/butt.
Use a website like https://tdeecalculator.net that has a total daily energy expenditure calculator. Find your maintenance calories and start by eating those calories for 2 weeks. Weight yourself 2x per week, in the morning, naked, after you've gone the bathroom. If weight loss has occurred, continue to maintain these calories until weight loss stops.
If your weight maintained or increased, drop calories by 200-300 and maintain for 2 weeks. Keep going through this process of holding your calories steady and evaluating the changes in your body after 2 weeks.
This is how you lose weight and keep it off.
You can't manage what you don't measure. There's no need to count calories all your life but nearly everyone should really count calories at some point in their life to get a better understanding of what they are putting in their body and to learn how to properly fuel themselves.
I wish I could double like this post.
One of the crazy things I just figured out was a lie I'd been telling myself for the last year. Since the kiddo, I've just constantly said "I dont have time to cook" and dropped pretty much all of my "disposable" income into food delivery or ready made food. Since I started making a conscious effort to cut back on carbs, uber eats went out the window, and now I find myself cooking without really any thought.
This morning I got up, had my protein shake, waited an hour, grabbed a monster, still felt hungry, made some eggs in like 3 minutes, made one more for the kid's breakfast, and then started my work day. At lunch I've got some taco meat already, so just need to mix with some sour cream, cheese and hot sauce. And dinner, I have marrow bones in the fridge along with a ribeye. Pop the ribeye in the sous vide bath right after im done working, when it's done, pop the bones in the oven and start searing the meat. Thats a full day of food.
It sounds like effort but for some reason, I have plenty of energy at the end of the day now, and my body just naturally goes and starts cooking. It's this crazy cycle of "I need to be following my diet to cook" and "I need to cook to follow my diet". It was a bunch of sardines and summer sausage before I got my ass in the kitchen again. Thankfully I've broken the cycle, but it was a bitch to realize I was lying to myself in the first place.
Say what you want about giving kids a "screen" at young age, but it'll buy you 30 minutes to do your cooking without having to worry about someone burning their fingers.
This morning I got up, had my protein shake, waited an hour, grabbed a monster, still felt hungry, made some eggs in like 3 minutes, made one more for the kid's breakfast, and then started my work day. At lunch I've got some taco meat already, so just need to mix with some sour cream, cheese and hot sauce. And dinner, I have marrow bones in the fridge along with a ribeye. Pop the ribeye in the sous vide bath right after im done working, when it's done, pop the bones in the oven and start searing the meat. Thats a full day of food.
It sounds like effort but for some reason, I have plenty of energy at the end of the day now, and my body just naturally goes and starts cooking. It's this crazy cycle of "I need to be following my diet to cook" and "I need to cook to follow my diet". It was a bunch of sardines and summer sausage before I got my ass in the kitchen again. Thankfully I've broken the cycle, but it was a bitch to realize I was lying to myself in the first place.
Say what you want about giving kids a "screen" at young age, but it'll buy you 30 minutes to do your cooking without having to worry about someone burning their fingers.
People don't realize it's just a math equation. They also won't admit that you have to actually put in effort to track stuff. I've known women in the past who say, "I don't eat anything all day. All I do is drink a bottle of wine for dinner." And then they don't understand why they don't have energy and never lose weight.
This is one thing that drives me crazy with people I mentor. They say, "i don't have time to fix resume/apply for job/interview/etc." Then I see them posting on social media going to movies, nice dinners, etc. Everybody has priorities. You just have to get to a breaking point where you really care enough about what you want to gain so you make a change.
