That stuff will help a bit, but I'm going to suggest you go see a doctor and get your IgG, IgM, B12/Folate, Vitamin D, CBC and a Chem panel done.
Holy shit, you guys are awesome. I did two days of tabatas and each day kicked my ass. I figure I'll just alternate between the two days until I've done a week, and then add an exercise each day for every subsequent week. Day 1- Squats, push ups, jumping jacks, sprinting in place Day 2- Squats, dips, planks, jumps (I basically just jump up as many times as I can in the twenty seconds) That adds up to 16 minutes of work out, and I'm beat after it every time. Next week, I'll bump it up to 20 minutes, week after that will be 24, and so on. Does this sound like a quality plan?
Something that I might take on in your situation is the 100 burpee challenge. When you wake up in the morning, do one burpee pushup. The following day, do two, until 100. If you really aren't feeling it some mornings, take a morning off, but try not to skip more than one, or if you absolutely need to, two per week. For form, check out this video: The one thing I do differently is adding a small jump as you're coming up, in lieu of just standing up.
I agree with your comment on making sure technique is always pristine. However, I kind of disagree with your comment on getting burned out. In principle, its correct. However, most people will never train hard enough to worry about overtraining unless they are undereating and sleeping for their amount of training, but even then it is unlikely in my opinion. And even then, they can avoid the problem by just skipping a day once in a while when they feel particularly beat up.
I want to get into better shape, and I have specific goals in mind, but I have no idea how to start. Here's what I want to attain: -I want to lose about 20-25 pounds, which would put in in the 180 range. -I want to work on my upper body size & strength. I have ridiculously skinny arms and not much on my chest, so I want to bulk them up a bit so my upper body is better porportioned with my lower body. I know at first I'll need someone to keep me motivated and on task because I'll have a hard time keeping at it until I start to see results. I'm seriously considering joining an LA Fitness / Lifetime type club, but I don't know if that'd be the best thing for me. Any and all advice will be appreciated.
Mike's Beginner Program It's the cure-all for "I want to get in better shape but not sure how to" syndrome. Don't question it, just do it. Mike Gill wrote it up on the old TMMB forum and dozens of people said it worked exactly as he predicted.
That's good, and it leads into my next issue: I'm concerned that even if I get on a good program I won't have the discipline to stick with it, especially early on before I start to see results. It's why I'm kind of interested in a personal trainer or something like that to keep me motivated. Anyone have any experience with trainers?
I worked with a trainer and while I'm sure my experience isn't universal, it was the best decision of my life. Up to that point, I couldn't stick to a program and for every 20 pounds lost, I'd pack on 30 in the next couple months. Working with the trainer, I lost 55 pounds in about 5 months while sticking to a decent, not great diet and going out on a fairly regular basis. Thanks to that, I'm now able to stick to a program on my own and I feel like a completely different person. I can't recommend a trainer highly enough.
Trainers are like every other profession: there are some really shitty ones out there and there are a few that actually know what they're doing. Personally, most of the ones I've watched training clients are horrible. (Usually in an L.A. Fitness or 24 Hour, etc). They have them on weight machines and let their clients do exercises with really poor technique and form. Here, many of these trainers get weekend certifications at Cooper Clinic. People hear Cooper mentioned and they automatically trust the trainer. But, it doesn't mean much. On the flip side, I have two acquaintances here that run their own gym. They only train privates or small groups at a time, and they are awesome. If I had the money I'd train with them in a heartbeat. I think having someone to hold you accountable for making it to your workouts and not half-assing them is great. Obviously, most people push themselves a lot harder if they have a workout partner or someone riding their ass. But, I'd do some research and talk to people before I decided on trainer. Look at their credentials and research them to find out what they're really worth.
I've never tried a trainer but for me what kept my interest, particularly with a structured program like MBP was keeping track of my goals and weights in a log (I had a notebook or printed off spreadsheet keeping an online journal never did much for me). Ive also never had good luck trying to train with a partner. Both times I have theyre schedules never worked with mine and they were more willing to give up than I was. The first made it to the gym ONE day, the second started flaking the first week and gave up after 3 weeks.
Certifications don't mean shit. I know plenty of certified trainers that couldn't tell you what periodization is or the difference between myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and just stand there while they have their clients do cookie cutter routines without any semblance of programming or progression. They're simply cheerleaders with a few letters behind their name. Some of the best trainers around have no certifications. If all you're looking for is someone to keep you motivated and on task, find an experienced lifting partner and ask to tag along. If they don't keep you motivated, you may need to hire a trainer. Sometimes, a monetary obligation is the only thing that really motivates people.
This. I knew (and still know) nothing about lifting. What to do, proper form, how many reps, how many sets, when to rest, nothing. One of my coworkers is jacked and works out pretty much pretty every single day. I said, "Hey, I want to start lifting but I have no idea how." He said "Come at three and we'll get started." And we did. It's freaking awesome. He spots, yells at me when I do half-ass reps, makes sure I have good technique, and guides me through pretty much everything. Aside from being unable to lift anything heavier than a towel, I'm loving life right now. And all I have to do is show up.
Anyone have a couple good exercises to improve rotator cuff strength? My lifts have been improving and weight I'm lifting is getting higher, but I always manage to tweak my rotator cuff pretty good once or twice a year. I basically have to scale back my exercises for 2-3 weeks and lose a good month of progress. I know its a stabilizer muscle, but for some reason it hasn't been progressing as my shoulders and chest progress.
I used to have serious rotator cuff injuries and this is the exercise that got me back on track: picture (The exercise I'm referring to is the one on the left—but, use a dumbbell instead of the cable.) Go very light, like 2.5 lbs, and do 4x10 or something with your warmup. Focus on meticulous form (no torquing the elbow). I did this before every workout for like 6 months with a 2.5 lbs dumbbell, felt a great improvement in shoulder health, eventually started doing 5 lbs dumbbell, and then stopped when my shoulders felt better. EDIT: Keep in mind that it might be scapula stabilization issues rather than strictly rotator cuff. Google for scapula stability exercises and see if that helps, it almost certainly well whether or not that is the primary source of your shoulder problems.
So I dug up this post I made from a roughly a year and a half ago, just wanted to give an update to people who want some motivation. After I made this post, I didn't do anything about weightlifting for about another 9 months. I was just too lazy along with my hardest workload in college. I finally started lifting, and it was a brief venture into the field, then I stopped again. This summer I told myself I was going to stick to a plan, so I found one online and have been going to the gym for the last 4 months. Within this time I have put on 10 pounds of muscle, and can feel my self-esteem rising when I look at my body. I am now 6'3'', 165 instead of 155. I plan on getting in the 175-180 range and staying there. http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224 is the workout plan I have been following, and it is solid. I am squatting 185 x6, benching 135 x5 (I started at 135 x6 and 85 x8, respectively) while reaching other milestones in the other categories. The only thing I do not do is the deadlift / power clean, since I didn't have anyone to teach me the proper form and I didn't trust myself to get it right from the beginning. I plan on introducing them when my friend gets back from his internship this summer around mid-august, since he's been lifting since middle school and swears he knows the form. I have started adding in additional exercises, such as bicep specific ones and dips. I hope to start weighted pull ups and dips soon. (Probably when I start deadlift+powerclean.) Just wanted to let you guys know that you can do it...I never pictured myself being able to benchpress 135, and now I can actually go in and be proud of what I'm doing in the gym. The first few weeks suck, like really suck, like fuck it I'm going to stop suck...but when the weeks start blurring together and you notice yourself getting stronger it is a great feeling. Outside of that, I was wondering what you guys do to target triceps. I hate using the triceps machines, which is what I do now, and am hoping to find a decent DB exercise that works. EDIT: instead of the power clean and dead lift I've been doing rows and lat pull downs. If anyone was interested.
Triceps: skullcrushers close-grip bench pressdowns (with the rope or v-bar attachments) EXRX directory has a ton of exercises to select from.
DUDEBRAH! If you aren't dedicating at least two thirds of your workout to skull crushers you WILL NOT got he arm pump that drop ladies panties.... I have yet to see the eventual come around, that most everything has happen once it's been torn to shreds on the internet, for muscle targeted work outs. I really went nowhere when I did them with out any sort of work out plan or structure. I saw my best working with compound lifts on MBP or 5x5. Yet still the jack offs at the gym would be 10 times as ripped doing nothing but skull crushers and 80 different bicep lifts. I think it's all juicing...
Do pushups to help work on your triceps, in addition to the other stuff lifted. Regular, narrow, and especially DIAMOND pushups, or any other fun variations you can think of. Emphasis on diamond, though. To perform diamond pushups, your hands should be underneath your chest with your thumb and second fingers spread far apart, hands touching in a diamond shape. Lower your body without letting anything but your arms move. Don't let your hips sag down, stay off the knees, and keep your form solid for every rep.
BROSEPH! He's already doing a lot of compound lifts. He just wanted some tricep-specific exercises so I gave him a few. I'm not telling him to stop benching/squatting/OHP in favor of skullcrushers, but if he wants to hit the tri's after doing bench/dips/etc then those are some exercises he could do. And yeah, I blame the juicing too, although it may be my lack of dedication to diet that's keeping me from being ripped...
As someone with a major weak spot in my triceps and with a history of rotator cuff problems - I do barbell tricep extensions, although I'd never heard them referred to as skull crushers before. I'd be the first to laugh at someone moving from Preacher Curl to to Tricep Extension to Smith Machine quarter squats inbetween bulk up shakes and oral steroids. But since my triceps are the point that fails first - putting some additional work into them just makes sense - and for my own personal experience - seems to lead to more time efficient gains than just ignoring that failure point and trying to continue on without managing it.