Working Out...Time Of Day/Motivation

[Fletch]

I would totally workout like a boss if I was rich and didn't have a 9-5.

LIKE A BOSS! Hilarious!

 

[CATCH17]

How much cardio do you do, and do you do it before or after lifting?

I do Cardio after I lift.

Usually for about 10-15 minutes. Sometimes I don't even do it.

I make sure im in a calorie deficit and that determines my weight loss more than cardio or lifting.

So if im lifting weights my body is burning a lot of calories anyways so the cardio just isn't as important.

 

[Stryker44]

Is it natural for your weight to fluctuate within a 10 lb range each week?

 

[Future]

Is it natural for your weight to fluctuate within a 10 lb range each week?

Depends.

If I eat/drink all weekend, I can go up 7/8 pounds from Friday night to Monday morning easily. Its probably mostly just water weight.

 

[Future]

I do Cardio after I lift.
Usually for about 10-15 minutes. Sometimes I don't even do it.

So if im lifting weights my body is burning a lot of calories anyways so the cardio just isn't as important.

I'm the same way, only I do cardio before. 15-20 min on the bike...use it as a warm up more than anything lol

I think I find cardio to be more valuable than you though, I just don't do much of it b/c a) I'm lazy and b) i play a lot of lacrosse and bball for cardio

 

[Stryker44]

How bout muscle soreness? When extremely sore is that a sign a rest day is needed?

 

[Tawney88]

I only do cardio. I run 5-7 days a week. I'm in my 40's and am 164lbs at 6'1. I hate lifting.

 

[Nova]

How bout muscle soreness? When extremely sore is that a sign a rest day is needed?

When your muscles are extremely sore, give them a break. Muscles need time to recover and grow.

 

[Stryker44]

Can anybody do a handstand pushup or have tips for learning? Trying to develop this skill.

 

[Tabascocat]

Grab this guy, he is sure to help with work-outs!

 

[RastaRocket]

I'm usually in the gym at 10 or 11 pm... Hooray for job seeking!

I enjoy it because it's the same 10 or 11 people there every night and I never have to wait on anything.

 

[RastaRocket]

I try to hit each body part twice a week.

Monday - Chest and Shoulder

Tuesday - legs and back

Wednedays off

Thursday start my workout with shoulders and then do chest

Friday Legs & back

The reason for hitting it twice a week is because protein sysnthesis (what makes you grow) is at it's highest for 48 hours after your workout.

As far as my exact routine I just make sure I do a compound movment with something heavy enough that I can only do it 8 to 12 times for 3 or 4 sets and then I follow it up with some isolation movements.



I can give you examples but it would be better if I just told you to go to youtube and type in "hodgetwins" and then Chest and shoulders routine or leg and back routine.

Mark Lobliner also has some good videos too. Just type in Lobliner back day, leg day, chest day, or shoulder day.


Youtube has an excellent fitness community and you can learn so much there.

Just my opinion, but you should do legs by themselves; it's too big of a muscle group to do with something else, especially back. Are you doing squats and dead lifts on the same day?

I do...

Chest/Triceps
Back/Biceps
Legs
Shoulders (sometimes throw shoulders on another day or add cardio)
Ride my bike

 

[RastaRocket]

How bout muscle soreness? When extremely sore is that a sign a rest day is needed?

Depends what is sore. If your legs are sore (like mine are right now), then do some upper body. I'm doing Chest/Triceps tonight. Basically, you can work out whatever isn't sore and you'll be fine. If your whole body is sore, which can happen a lot when first getting into a routine, then you should take a rest day.

 

[CATCH17]

Just my opinion, but you should do legs by themselves; it's too big of a muscle group to do with something else, especially back. Are you doing squats and dead lifts on the same day?

I do...

Chest/Triceps
Back/Biceps
Legs
Shoulders (sometimes throw shoulders on another day or add cardio)
Ride my bike

I agree with you but I only do 3 MAYBE 4 lifts with my legs and I don't do deadlifts because my gym has a terrible setup for it and I have a bulging disc as well so it's just not worth it.

I substitute the deadlift with a good mornings machine (like a reverse crunch) with a 25 pound weight.

So usually I just squat for 4 sets, then do 4 sets of ham curls and 4 sets of quad extensions. Oh and some calf raises.

Then I do about 4 backs lifts as well.


My legs are naturally big too so it's not like I have to do a whole lot for them.

 

[Nova]

Time of day: Mornings

I workout at 6:00am on weekdays for about an hour and 15ish, waking up at about 5:30 each morning. I don't trust myself to come home at 6:30 in the evening and go to the gym when Netflix is so tantalizing.

I usually get to sleep before 10:00pm on work days, so I'm getting almost a full 8 hours. I don't feel tired at all as the day goes on. Really the hardest part is just getting out of bed.

Motivation:
So to help with that, when I wake up, I gulp down a whey protein shake and eat either 2 apples or 2 oranges or one of each. That wakes me up pretty quickly. And furthermore, after I developed it into a solid routine (after about 2 weeks) I have a hard time sleeping through that small meal, so that's even more motivation.

Also, I'm on an 1 week on 1 week off schedule with Cellucor C4 that has me wide awake in about 5 minutes. It has a lot of different stuff in it seems like they mostly market it as Creatine Nitrate. It has a slightly higher concentration of caffeine than a normal 20oz coffee, but it's in a 6 oz serving so it's not a ton at one time. If you need severe help waking up, focusing, and having energy for a really good workout in the morning, that stuff is great.

 

[Jenky]

Time of day: Mornings

I workout at 6:00am on weekdays for about an hour and 15ish, waking up at about 5:30 each morning. I don't trust myself to come home at 6:30 in the evening and go to the gym when Netflix is so tantalizing.

I usually get to sleep before 10:00pm on work days, so I'm getting almost a full 8 hours. I don't feel tired at all as the day goes on. Really the hardest part is just getting out of bed.

Motivation:
So to help with that, when I wake up, I gulp down a whey protein shake and eat either 2 apples or 2 oranges or one of each. That wakes me up pretty quickly. And furthermore, after I developed it into a solid routine (after about 2 weeks) I have a hard time sleeping through that small meal, so that's even more motivation.

Also, I'm on an 1 week on 1 week off schedule with Cellucor C4 that has me wide awake in about 5 minutes. It has a lot of different stuff in it seems like they mostly market it as Creatine Nitrate. It has a slightly higher concentration of caffeine than a normal 20oz coffee, but it's in a 6 oz serving so it's not a ton at one time. If you need severe help waking up, focusing, and having energy for a really good workout in the morning, that stuff is great.

I take c4 too, cause it's safe with proven ingredients. It's a little underdosed and on the expensive side, but there are sites that give you a good deal on 60 servings. I've seen it go as low as $29.99 for 60 servings.

 

[Lonestar94]

Interesting, I was under the impression that all the zoners here were armchair commando's that ate chips and drank beer all day.

 

[Lonestar94]

If anyone is interested in my routine, here it is:

Monday / Wednesday / Friday: 3x max Pushups, Pull ups, Chin ups
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday: 30 Min. Cardio (Alternate running, walking) and 3x max crunches.

If anyone has a better solution for core than crunches let me know, cause i heard they are bad for your back.

 

[Jenky]

If anyone is interested in my routine, here it is:

Monday / Wednesday / Friday: 3x max Pushups, Pull ups, Chin ups
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday: 30 Min. Cardio (Alternate running, walking) and 3x max crunches.

If anyone has a better solution for core than crunches let me know, cause i heard they are bad for your back.

Crunches are good as long as your lower back doesn't leave the ground. Other than that, you're doing a situp. The LOWERBACK is key in every exercise.

But you can also do leg raises, windshield wipers, jackknife crunches, russian twists, etc.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

I've gotten into it all pretty hard. Bodybuilding.com has been my go to website.
Clear goals on my intake, and workout, and am now supplementing as well.

Intake goal:
2600 Calories (about a 15% calorie deficit)

Macro-nutrients:
200g Protein
100g Fat
200g Carbs

Leaves me at around 2200 calories, so I go a bit heavier in one or the other depending on the day, leaves some breathing room. But those are supposed to be my minimum requirements daily.
Eating a lot of chicken, whole grain rice, avocado's, stuff of that nature. I eat red meat here and there throughout the week. I've actually been finding it hard to hit 2600 calories while eating healthier foods. It's a lot easier when you order pizza/eat out a couple times a week.

Supplements:
Whey Protein powder (3 times daily on workout days, 2 times on non workout)
Creatine 5g daily
Opti Multi Vitamin 2 a day
Omega 3 2 a day
Flax seed oil 2 a day
Pre-Workout supplement by Musclepharm.

I will eventually add Casein once I start putting on more muscle.

I work out early in the morning.. but for me it's near the end of my day. I sleep 10am-6pm and work out at about 6am, so a few hours before bed.

Wednesday: Chest/Triceps/Calves
Thursday: Back/Biceps/Abs
Friday: Off
Saturday: Shoulders/Traps/Calves
Sunday: Legs/Abs
Mon/Tue: Off

Currently working with weekly micro-cycles.
Week 1: 12-15 reps. I do a Pause-Break after my final rep of every set. I stop for about 15 seconds, then go again to muscle failure (Generally 3-4 more reps)
Week 2: 9-11 reps with increased weight. I do a Pause-Break on all final sets.
Week 3: 6-8 reps with increased weight. I do a Drop-Set after my very last set of each exercise. I immediately drop the weight by about 25% and go again until muscle failure
Week 4: 3-5 reps with increased weight. I do a Drop-Set after my very last set of each exercise.

I then basically repeat the month this way.

I start every workout with a 5 minute warm up jog on treadmill at 6mph, and end them the same way (except leg day, no post workout jog..). I do my sets at a steady pace, keep myself breathing deep and sweating.
I do leg day last because it's hard enough just sitting/standing after leg day, I don't want to have to walk around a gym and move weights etc while my legs are still recovering, so I do them right before my 2 days off.


I spent the last 6 months getting used to going to the gym, and learning all I could about eating right. Now I have officially started my real routines/diet/supplementation. I will be weighing myself once a week, as well as taking front/side photo's and taking my measurements. I will report back here with some before/after if all goes according to plan.