Posts by keepliftin66

that's a pretty good routine.  a few things i might suggest is that you go ahead and add another forearms workout on monday.  the forearms heal quickly and since you do legs on tuesday they get a whole day of rest.  also with your chest i would also add some decline presses, bar or dumbell really won't matter.  on back days i would throw in some standard deadlift, anytime you can do deadlifts the better.  maybe a little more cardio.  besides that just make sure you're getting enough protein and rest and you should be good.

it really just sounds like your abs contracting, just muscles cramping or flexing.  it may also be your first wall that you hit.  i would just try to get through the pain if that doesn't work, i would take a breather and then try again to see if you can build up and get past it.  if you feel like there might be something wrong you may want to see your physician.  i wouldn't worry too much though just sounds like something you can work with and get past.

the worst gym etiquette where i workout is the teenagers not re-racking the weights.  it is perfectly acceptable in my opinion to ask to join in with somebody, but you also shouldn't be offended if they say no.  courtesy usually will go a long way but no doubt there are some jerks out there.  it may be something where if he's setting up machines and not using them you may want to speak to a manager or owner about that person hogging machines that is if a conversation with the person doesn't work. 

as far as the other question goes, it really all depends on whether it's an injury or pain you're dealing with.  i'll lift through pain but i'll rest an injury.  if it's pain just don't work that muscle for a day or two until it heals.  if it's an injury you either want to rest it or if it's bad enough see your physician.  depending on these factors should show if you can proceed with weightlifting and cardio instead of cardio alone.  i feel weight lifting is more important just because of it's long term benefits compared to cardio's short term.  cardio is a definite  but you shouldn't miss weightlifting if you're able to do it.

i have a protein drink as soon as i wake up, your body needs it because your body is fasting while you're asleep.  my protein shake routine is 36grams when i wake, 24 before i lift, 48grams after i lift and 36grams of casein before i go to bed.  ofcourse i'm also 325 pounds, so you won't need as much.  basically what i'm saying is definitely in the morning, optional before workout, necessary after workout and optional before bed.

nice dude, i looked up the north coast protein and saw where it was sweetened with stevia.  i've been cooking with that for about a year now.

Original Post by johnnypenso:

You can do both at the same time, but the muscle you gain will be less than if you ate excess calories to fuel the muscle growth.  Working out with weights will build muscle when you have a caloric deficit, just not nearly as quickly as it would if you lost the weight first, then increased your proteins to build more muscle, while lifting heavy weights.    The best plan I think is to lose the excess body fat you have now through a combination of cardio and weight training and caloric deficit, then when you hit your desired body fat%, begin to really build the muscle by adding calories to your diet from all sources, but especially high quality proteins for building muscle.   While losing the weight you will still be building muscle, and building the endurance and muscle structure needed to begin lifting the heavier weights later on. 

 my words exactly, nice.

I will definitely have to try the pb2, i really appreciate that, awesome!  Honestly if you're looking for one of the best proteins out there it's Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard Whey, it's a whey protein isolate which helps ingest the protein to your muscles faster and more efficiently, think of whey protein with an ultra filtered process just to get the good stuff.  It also has several grams of bcaa's and glutamine, the amino acids you need for your body to help recover after strenuous activity.  It was the one that I mentioned earlier that's only 120 calories for one scoop and that has 24 grams of protein in it.  To the person that posted it earlier, your body breaks down proteins better when it's from food but after working out you need that hit of protein fast and whey or soy protein shakes are the best way to do that.  After I workout there's no way I could eat a fried egg on toast, that could just be me.  Also the average egg only contains about 7 grams of protein along with 70 calories on average, where with most shakes you get 24g for 120calories.  You made a good point about protein better broke down when it's in food but I would definitely recommend the protein shake after working out.  Muscle milk can be very good as well but if you're looking to cut calories, it just has too many for me.

are you doing any kind of weight training to help lean muscle show through?  if not, i would suggest weight training, everybody has their trouble spots. 

Original Post by morganbclaw:

I always do, it helps with muscle recovery.  I eat 6x a day so this is one of my mini meals.  I usually just do 1 scoop of whey, water, ice, and 1/2 a banana... its not even 200 cals and tons of protein.  Sometimes I add 2tbs of PB2 in there for another 50 cals.

 do you mean 2 tbs of peanut butter and if so what kind of peanut butter is only 50 calories.  i'm a peanut butter fiend but all of them have so many calories i can hardly ever have it.

evidently is does mean grass fed, that's what the ORGANIC FORAGE is.  the cattle must be allowed to graze freely on organic pastures.  the organic forage is allowed to be collected and carried to the animals as well. 

• All organically raised animals must have access to the outdoors, including access to pasture for ruminants. They may be temporarily confined only for reasons of health, safety, the animal’s stage of production or to protect soil or water quality.

we're all making good points and seem to all be right but it's getting off point.  i just noticed that you said that you're training for a competition, another reason they may be leaving chicken off the list is that most times chicken can be packaged with a high amount of saline solution raising the overall sodium level higher than most beefs.

i say it's okay to be smug, whatever makes you feel good about yourself.  there should be no shame in feeling pride about how well you're doing, we all make our own decisions and shouldn't feel guilty that others don't take appropriate actions to become healthier.  i say enjoy any satisfaction you can get, dieting is hard enough without the guilt.

chicken breat is the ultimate protein BUT  red meat has many other positives than chicken.  red meat better if organic has dha(omega 3) and cla both fatty acids that actually help you lose weight along with jont pain etc, it also has plenty of iron.

i've never really heard about 25-30 reps, that seems extremely high.  if you're going to be doing several exercises for one muscle group at a time i would shoot for 8-12 reps.

basketball or flag football, both involve a lot of running and work with hand and feet coordination. 

cardio is for fat burning now but i would also suggest weightlifting for the long term affect it would have for your weight loss/maintenance.  usually with cardio i wouldn't suggest anything more than an hour, usually after the 60-90 minutes of cardio you actually begin to burn up muscle.  also for a cardio routine i would suggest high intensity interval training.  walk/jog/run and repeat, this will burn fat the fastest and it keeps your body from going into a rut.  hope this helps, judging by your name you from the carolinas?  tarheel right here.