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gunslinger_burrito wrote:OR you could pack the main part of your lunch and use the $8 to add to it.

This is what I would do, provided you have the time at home to make it.

We were doing cartwheels in gymnastics today. It turns out I can still do one-arm cartwheels, no problem! I used to do them in martial arts something like 8 years ago. It must be at least that long since I've done one. Surprised myself.

Progress pic of the front.

UGH! lol. I hate the way I feel but I love the way I look.

Sometimes I feel great, other times I'm drained. It's a toss up. Pizza and feel like shit or eat healthy and still feel like shit. LOL. I need to sleep more.

Where's the sexy ab pic? I don't know what the bodybuilding pose is called.....

I'm learning that I need to get my sleep schedule nailed down. These energy crashes every mid-afternoon are stupid. And on the note of "health and wellness," I need to adjust my lifestyle somewhat drastically. All the commuting to work and being in traffic all the damn time is starting to wreak havoc on my moods.

I want:
-less driving, like a LOT less driving
-either an extra source of income at not much higher workload (I'm thinking of selling art somehow...) or to figure out how to save more money
-on the last note, I'd kind of like to figure out how I can better economize my food costs. I wish I had a place for a garden, but I'm in a studio apartment.

Hahah. You're talking about the front abdominal/thigh isolation. This is me just showing progress. Not an actual pose. Although it's close to a side chest pose.

I want what you want. LOL. Let me know how you get it and I'll follow suit.

ILF fuzz and fitness commune?

Has anyone tried fasting for general recovery? I' going to try it out and see if it helps work out all the little aches and twinges I have here and there, but I'd kind of like some testimonials, or some links to good articles and/or research.

Also tendon problems may be striking again, only in my inner elbow. It turns out that legless rope climbs are brutal on that part of the arm. Some day I'm going to wise up and approach new, difficult exercises with more caution.
But for the time being, I'm taking a few days off of any pulling exercises, icing and heating the damn thing, blah blah blah. Hopefully it's not very injured and will spring back sooner than later.

Fasting for recovery??? No. I've never heard of such a thing. Surely that's a fad of some kind. You body needs nutrients to effectively work. So I'd never ever do that. In fact I'm against fasting for any reason. I need food.

Now there are probably certain types of foods that cause inflammation.

Did you ever go to a doctor? If not, you seem as though your trying to self diagnose which is not going to work dude. You need to go if you haven't. You probably have tendinitis. But it could be something worse.

Just a thought. You live in Colorado. Smoke some weed before you work out. I know that sounds silly, but why the fuck not try it. Perhaps it's just what you need. I wouldn't go nuts, maybe just a tiny amount to see if it helps the pain and perhaps your muscles relax.

OR some cannabis oil on your joints. I've heard very good things about it. It's supposed to help a lot.

I only mention it because of you being in Colorado. Plus weed is a fucking plant. Our Government is stupid.

Yeah I've used weed. It helps a bit with pain. This elbow issue is completely unrelated to the one I'd been complaining about. I think the rope climbs were just too intense for that joint. I didn't have any pain in this spot until right after the rope climbs, so I think I just need to heal it and then work into them a bit slower. Maybe do some static holds for at least a few weeks, if not more.

About the fasting: I just did a Google search so im taking this with a grain of salt, as well as some light experimentation. What I'd read about fasting is that once your stomach is empty your body can go about fixing more stuff than processing food. Also, when you eat your body releases insulin, which basically does the opposite of growth hormone, right? So the thinking (and maybe studies, I don't remember off the top of my head) goes that if you're not eating, then there's no insulin being released, so your body can release a lot more growth hormone. It does seem weirdly counterintuitive though, because it seeeems like you'd want nutrients for the growth hormone to work with. Then again, I haven't exactly gone to school for this sort of thing, sooo

I'm gonna try a few simple 12 hour fasts (mostly while I'm sleeping) during recovery days and see how I feel. You're not supposed to do it excessively from what I read. Maybe once a week.

So I'm hitting the point now that I sometimes hit where I'll lift as much weight as I can lift, as much as I can - really working out as hard as possible, like until I can barely even stand - and then like an hour later I feel like I haven't worked out at all, not getting sore or anything. And at this point my progress more or less halts. I get stronger, but make little to no visible gains.

Anyone else have this issue? What do you do to move past it?

Change volume, do controlled negatives, introduce something new.


Lots of ways. What specifically are you doing? Can you give me a quick run down of sets, reps..etc. ?

I have been doing a modified full body routine 6 days a week. One muscle group is the primary focus, while I do a light workout for the rest.

In the every day stuff is a number of bodyweight exercises which I do 5 sets of and increase the reps by 5 every week - squats, pushups, dips, etc. Right now it's at 40 reps per set. With that is a combination exercise using light weights of front raise into overhead, down to side, pausing for 5 seconds each at front, overhead and side positions before lowering. I do those until failure, and reverse the order every day. It's like these 3 put together:


And then I hit one muscle group with heavier weights at 12+ reps a set for 3-5 sets each, in 2-3 different exercises. In the last sets I just go to failure. If it didn't seem like enough I add on some extra sets or do more pushups and squats.

Anything with weights I do at the 5x5 pace - 5 seconds up 5 seconds down. Except for the one with the raises which has an extra like 15 seconds per rep.

And a little bit of light cardio at a different time during the day.

pretty much everyday for 2 months > i eat Greek yogurt with a Banana in it. sometimes some berries too.
Bike Ride at least once a day.
small amount of weights.
more stretching.. i may .. actually buy a mat to stretch on the floor with??

i just do some curls and stuff with dumbbells.
i want to build some mo upper body arm/chest strength .. do i have to get a bench press?

jfrey wrote:I have been doing a modified full body routine 6 days a week. One muscle group is the primary focus, while I do a light workout for the rest.

In the every day stuff is a number of bodyweight exercises which I do 5 sets of and increase the reps by 5 every week - squats, pushups, dips, etc. Right now it's at 40 reps per set. With that is a combination exercise using light weights of front raise into overhead, down to side, pausing for 5 seconds each at front, overhead and side positions before lowering. I do those until failure, and reverse the order every day. It's like these 3 put together:

NSFW: show

And then I hit one muscle group with heavier weights at 12+ reps a set for 3-5 sets each, in 2-3 different exercises. In the last sets I just go to failure. If it didn't seem like enough I add on some extra sets or do more pushups and squats.

Anything with weights I do at the 5x5 pace - 5 seconds up 5 seconds down. Except for the one with the raises which has an extra like 15 seconds per rep.

And a little bit of light cardio at a different time during the day.

jwar probably has a more in depth answer for you, but here's my two cents: Stop training to failure so often. I'm unsure what you mean by 5 sets of 40 of squats, pushups, dips, etc.... but that sounds like a TON of volume, especially if it's six days a week. It's pretty straightforward that if you want gains you have to allow your body to recover enough that it can supercompensate for the stresses you put on it. Plus, knowing that the body will adapt to what you throw at it, the volume you're doing is probably telling it to keep your mass down so it can do all those reps. Add to that the fact that if you don't feel tired enough you're doing more stuff at the end of your workouts. Muscle is costly in terms of energy expenditure.

I'm the same way when it comes to exercise. If I don't feel like I gave my all every time I feel like I'm not going to progress. It's hard for people like me (and maybe you? ) to accept that I have to rest enough in order to make progress.

For example, when I started doing ring dips last year, I could barely do 3 at a time. But I did 3x3 maybe three to four days a week (not much volume there...) and then next week 3x4 wasn't much. But I wasn't doing 3x3 every day. Due to some shoulder issues I laid off of them a bit, so now I just do 3x5s. I really want to add reps to my headstand/handstand pushups though Shit's hard.

jfrey wrote:I have been doing a modified full body routine 6 days a week. One muscle group is the primary focus, while I do a light workout for the rest.

In the every day stuff is a number of bodyweight exercises which I do 5 sets of and increase the reps by 5 every week - squats, pushups, dips, etc. Right now it's at 40 reps per set. With that is a combination exercise using light weights of front raise into overhead, down to side, pausing for 5 seconds each at front, overhead and side positions before lowering. I do those until failure, and reverse the order every day. It's like these 3 put together:

NSFW: show

And then I hit one muscle group with heavier weights at 12+ reps a set for 3-5 sets each, in 2-3 different exercises. In the last sets I just go to failure. If it didn't seem like enough I add on some extra sets or do more pushups and squats.

Anything with weights I do at the 5x5 pace - 5 seconds up 5 seconds down. Except for the one with the raises which has an extra like 15 seconds per rep.

And a little bit of light cardio at a different time during the day.

OK! So first suggestion is to do a split routine. Do chest Monday, back Tuesday...etc. You don't have to do it in that order, but whatever you please. But instead of doing the light body work afterwards, skip it and do calves every other day and abs every other day.

Ok fuck it. I'm just going to write you a sample program here.

With the controlled negatives. Keep in mind you need to be able to control the weight. So don't go so super heavy you can't handle it. It's not about failure. It's about shocking the muscles. That's what causes growth and progression.

Monday:

Legs:

4 sets
Leg Extensions (3 second negative)-10-12 reps

4 working sets
Leg Press (2 second negative)-2 warm up sets of 10-12 then 12, 10, 10, 8

3 sets
Walking Weighted Lunges- 12-15 reps

6 sets
Lying Hamstring Curls (3 second negative)-15-20 reps

3 sets
Stiff Legged Deadlifts-8,8,6 (go as heavy as you can without destroying your form. If your form goes to shit, back the weight down. Also do NOT lock your knees.)

Tuesday:

Chest:

4 sets
High Incline Dumbbell Chest Press (4 second negative)-10-12 reps
(move the seat up to about a 30 degree angle. So just elevate the seat, but make sure to focus on your chest and not shoulders)

3 sets
Chest Fly Machine (3 second negative)-12-15 reps

4 sets
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press (3 second negative)-8-10 reps

4 sets
Mid Incline Dumbbell Flyes (3 second negative)-10-12 reps

4 sets

Dumbbell Pullover (3 second negative. Stop when you feel the stretch in your pec minor and pull the weight back to starting position. This exercise is to stretch the pecs)-10-12 reps
(back on a bench)

Wednesday-Rest day. Just chill. Do normal stuff, but avoid lifting.

Thursday Back:

4 sets
Angled Lat Pulldowns (3 second negative)-12-15 reps
(for this you want to put a slight arch in your low back and lean your upper back and shoulders back while pulling the weight down. Keep in mind though that your hips should stay in the same position. It's not a cheater pull, it's angled to hit the bottom of the lat. When you are bring the weight back up, let your lats stretch with it and move your body forward in almost a swooping motion, God I hope this make sense. It's very hard to articulate on the internet. haha)

4 sets
Seated Cable Rows (3 second negative)-8-12 reps
(when coming forward, allow the top part of your back to come forward a bit to stretch your lats. Then pull the weight back and pull it down between your legs, or as low as you can).

3 sets

Reverse Wide Grip (as wide as you can) Lat Pulldowns (3 second negative)- 12-15 reps

4 sets

T-bar rows-8-12 reps

3 sets

Straight arm lat pulldown (this is to stretch the lats)-10-12 reps

Friday Shoulders:

4 sets
Rear Fly Machine (3 second negative)-20,15,12, 10

4 sets
Seated dumbbell shoulder press (2 second negative)-8-10 reps

3 sets

Lateral Dumbbell Raises-15-20 reps

4 sets

Upright Rows (varying grip. Close, midway, and wide)-12-15

3 sets

Barbell Shrugs-10-12

2 sets Behind the back Barbell Shrugs-15-20
(these can be tricky. It's best to get a lighter weighted bar and pull it above your butt, then allow your traps to do all the work. Literally just shrugging over and over).


Saturday or Sunday (chose you own off day for this) arms:

4 sets
Triceps Rope Pulldowns (3 second negative)-12-15

3 sets
Bent Bar Pushdowns-8-12 reps

4 sets
Incline Barbell Skull Crushers (3 second negative)-8-12
(use a fixed weight barbell if available. If not, just be smart about your weight. You don't want it literally crushing your skull. )

4 Sets

Standing Barbell Curls (3 second negative)-8-10

3 sets

Incline Dumbbell Curls (3 second negative)-10-12

4 sets

Single Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curls (3 second Negative)-12-15 reps

3 sets

Hammer Curls (this is to get a good ass pump)-15-20


Alternate abs and calves every other day. Do 200 reps of abs of your choice and 4 sets of calf raises of your choice.


Do this routine for 6 weeks.


Ok. That's it.