Are there other recommended lower torso exercises I can try, besides the usual variations of crunches I’ve been doing for years? Hopefully something that’s weight-assisted?
OK, I hear from everyone that the proper way to work out is to lift first then do cardio.
But seriously, how terrible would it be to do my cardio first then lift? I usually do my cardio at home then lift. When I get home I don’t want to work out again.
Would it be all right to get the heart pumping then get swoll?
Another question for you fools who wear those slimmer belts…I see a bunch of people wear them, I wear one too. Is it ok to wash these things? I’m not sure if the material it’s made of will hold in the washing machine or should I wash by hand, a little help from anyone would be great.
Cardio before lifting is technically not really bad. One of the reasons against it would be because your lifting heavy, and that cardio can affect your performance lifting. Basically if cardio is going to offset how well you lift then do afterwards.
the cardio vs weight lifting thing depends on a few things
what are your goals, cutting? or bulking?
and how much cardio are we talking about?
if you are bulking and you do too much cardio at the start, obviously it could limit your performance with weights…
if you are cutting, it probably won’t matter as much since you would only be lifting at a maintenance level
its good to do a bit of cardio at the start though, nothing intense or too long…just gets the blood flowing
My goal is cutting.
And by cardio I mean ball-dripping sweat, almost-too-tired-to-move cardio. I’ve had pretty good results doing cardio first, but all the fucking “pros” tell me that’s the wrong way to go about things.
Also, any help on the slimmer belts?
Mullah: Its coming. Been slacking off a bit lately in terms of diet but I’m still hitting the weights pretty hard. Thought about running a cycle of Havoc or Jungle Warfare but haven’t decided if I wanna plunge into PH or not.
Had a kick ass shake this morning. ON Whey chocolate with Reduced fat milk, 1 banana, 1/2 cup of oats. Damn that shit was good.
Cardio that intense wouldn’t leave much energy for lifting. Can’t you do one in the morning and the other in the evening?
Hey guys, I have a real quick question for it. I’m not sure what category it would fall under haha.
I’ve been lifting on and off for a while, but I finally decided to go balls deep into the bulking. Right now, I’m 5’11" and ~155 lbs, just to give a little background.
My issue is this: when I lift, I know it is generally accepted to do 3 different exercises for per muscle group. But after my first exercise of 10 reps of 3 sets, that muscle group is absolutely spent. I can barely move on to the next exercise and there’s no way I can finish 2 more exercises on the same muscle group. Am I lifting too much on my first exercise or do I just need to push myself even more?
well if you’re bulking, you might as well up the sets and lower the reps… when i do this, i feel less fatigued yet still gaining good mass at the same time. make sure this exercise is your anchor. i.e. if you’re working out chest, do your typical flatbench press. The next workout doesnt need to be as heavy and you can try, say, butterflies/incline/widespread with dumbells or somethin and with the lower weight you can now do the higher reps.
On my bicep days i do lat pull, row, and a variation of curls. now the lat pull and row exercises don’t focus on biceps, but they still put in a little bit of work. I do my curls last, and by that time i’m not doing anywhere near my full potential. So i think you should be fine.
1 or 2 exercises is enough
do like 2 warmup sets, light weight 12-15 reps…then you should do 10, 8, 6 reps with an exercise
if you can do those reps with a weight then just increase the weight
do compound moves dont worry about isolations at your weight
more squats, deads and benches
You don’t need to do that much. Like Netology said, 2 exercises is enough. Rep/set schemes is up to your choosing.
I think you do need to push yourself more. I totally disagree with Netology.
When I do chest, for example, I would do something like this. Flat bench, Incline Bench, Incline Bells, Flies superset with pushups, Cable crossovers, and Weighted Dips. Then the next time I do chest, I’ll usually switch up the exercises.
This is just what I do. People on bodybuilding forums will say things like 2-3 exercises per body part, but I don’t know how they can get any kind of pump going or anything.
Whatever works for you though man.
Thanks for the advice, guys. I guess I’ll just have to try different things out and figure out what works.
Right now (I’ll use biceps as my example), I do 1 set of 12 with lighter weights for warm up. Then I use my regular lifting weight and get to 10 pretty easy. Next set, I get to 10 but it’s pretty tough. And then third set, I don’t even get to 10.
I’ll rest a little bit, and I’ll do another exercise on biceps with the regular weight and this time, I can barely finish 1 set of 10 before I can’t lift at all. Do I just push myself harder at this point and try to finish 2 more sets? Or do I call it a day for that muscle and move on?
…you do know that that magical “pump” is not an indication of anything other than blood is flowing into those muscles, right? You should never base a quality of a session on how much “pump” you feel.
I’ve said it far too many times, unless you’re a 230+ POUND BODYBUILDER, there’s no reason to do more than 2 exercises per body part, and no reason to eat these astronomical amount of protein per lb. of bodyweight.
Well I didn’t mean, that I do more than 2 exercises for a pump. I just don’t see how doing 2 exercises can comprise of a whole workout for that muscle group. If I did Chest/Tris I’d be done in like 30 minutes if that were the case.
Like I said, do what you gotta do, everyones different. I just need more exercises in my routine because I would still feel like I have alot of gas left in the tank after only 2.
Also, I’m not a 230+ lbs bodybuilder. But I’m not there to do a quick workout and leave. I’m there to WORK.
You can have a quick & hard workout. Here’s a perfect example.
http://www.defrancotraining.com/articles/archive/articles_training-economy.htm
With the proper choice of exercises, sets, reps, and manipulating tempo, voila! He created an intense program that doesn’t take too much time to perform.
I would go for around 2 exercises for the main muscle groups, and 1 exercise for the accessory muscles…
I think that training the same muscle group many times is redundant, and inefficient… just train them hard that once
I’m not saying you can’t. I just prefer more exercises.
Somebody asked me where the hell I’ve been so I thought I’d drop in…here goes.
Are you doing ab exercises for looks or because you need core strength/stability? IMO abs are made in teh kitchen. Planks and their variants are good for core strength and stability if you are looking for the latter. If you are doing your compound, freeweighted exercises then you shouldn’t need a whole lot of direct abdominal work to see improvement.
You know…when I first started working out…I wanted to lose weight quickly and I ran a mile sometimes before and after I worked out and I had good results. But from what I’ve read and heard from others the two activities should be seperated by several hours if you decide to do them both in the same day. The reasoning behind it is that certain catabolic hormones begin to rise after prolonged periods of strenuous activity. You might try both and see what you like more. You might try killin a shake somewhere in there tho.
Ever done a full blown cycle of AAS? They really aren’t as bad as the media would have you believe…and are sometimes cheaper than the shit at the supps store…and the results are amazing. The old wives tale that you lose all your gains as soon as you stop is not true. You might gain like 15-20 pounds and lose 5 tops as long as u keep on keepin on.
Bulking is more a function of diet believe it or not. Start writing stuff down and see if you’re making progress with your current regimen and start adding calories to your diet. If you stagnate but you are certain that you are eating more than enough…then it might be time for a change…either more work or a different way of doing things.
“everything works, but nothing works forever.”
Maybe he likes the pump. To arnold it was like getting off. I’m done telling people how they should work out honestly. I’ve seen people do the “wrong” things and get amazing results…I’ve seen people do shit right and get snail like results.
If you get results and enjoy the way you work out…then run with it. Any workout where you leave the gym feelin better than when u walked in is a success IMO.
What’s up everybody. I’m still training professionally…finally managing a studio. Hope u guys are all still doing well. I’ve just been teetering around 200lbs myself…put on a bit of fat…just working out when I can and enjoying eating whatever I want haha. Bout to get serious again and see how lean I can get.
“Feels like I’m cumming all the time, everywhere” or something like that. Man I hate seeing that Arnold clip.
Good to see you post again. :tup: Are you still doing strength training? Or gonna focus more on cutting now? Eating what you enjoy is what I’ve done the last month. Luckily, I haven’t seen any horrible results, but I’m gonna try eating cleaner more starting Monday.