The get fit, stay fit thread

[TheScarf]

Dominos 2 for Tuesday last night. #6PackFood

[yoda]

I haven't done any actual gym or fitness work since I came back down to Glasgow (other than some press-ups and planks every second day, I did try "divebombers" though and failed miserably) but I've got my gym card today. I've got free mornings every day of the week so that should encourage me to get to bed early and get up early for the gym.

My younger brother has set me the challenge of getting involved in a combat sport ( ) before next summer: he does boxing so trains religiously. I'm needing to put in a bit of effort on both the cardio and strength front. My cardio is shocking but I've started going for small jogs with a couple of hill sprints thrown in. I built a decent base for weight training over the summer, nothing impressive but I established what is good form and what isn't. I couldn't get into split workouts so just went for full body ones instead.

I have trouble sticking to any one thing but with the motivator of a younger brother winding me up I'll hopefully stick to this. My step-dad is also on the wind-up about how he can cycle 70/80 miles a day and I struggle to reach 20, so that's another motivator.

Edited October 17, 2012 by yoda

[Ron Aldo]

You'll put weight on from protein shakes, mate. Most of them have a really high calorie content.

Not really. A whey protein shake only has about 140 calories per serving. The one i'm using just now has 203 calories per serving. Its only really mass-gainers that are designed to put on weight as they have upwards of 500 calories per serving.

[TurbineTon]

Not really. A whey protein shake only has about 140 calories per serving. The one i'm using just now has 203 calories per serving. Its only really mass-gainers that are designed to put on weight as they have upwards of 500 calories per serving.

He doesn't need protein shakes for the type of workout he is planning on doing. Therefore, taking protein shakes is adding un-need calories.

[Greggy Wallace]

is creatine used only when bulking?

i've never used it but hear it gives you a bit of extra strength and better recovery?

[woodside]

is creatine used only when bulking?

i've never used it but hear it gives you a bit of extra strength and better recovery?

I used to use it but I honestly noticed no difference at all.

[Mak]

Going to try and get back to being more fit in the coming weeks and hopefully retain it. 6ft and about 90kg so not that bad but a bit overweight nonetheless. BMI is about 26.8 so I'd obviously like to get it below 25 to a normal weight for my height. I know BMI isn't a hugely accurate tool but it's a decent guide to start with.

Aiming to shed about a stone off to get me down to near 80kg. Play 5s 2 times a week and occasional use of exercise bike and rowing machine in my spare room but I'll need to start eating better and cut out the crap.

I've also never taken any supplements in my life i.e protein shakes, fat burners, etc. Worthwhile trying any of them for what I'm trying to achieve? I've always just associated those products with people trying to build muscle mass.

You're better off sorting out your diet first; shakes can be useful under certain circumstances, but only within the context of a balanced diet.

He doesn't need protein shakes for the type of workout he is planning on doing. Therefore, taking protein shakes is adding un-need calories.

No-one 'needs' protein shakes, regardless of what type of workout they're doing.

On topic, I've recently started including a bit more of an 'if it fits your macros' approach into my own nutrition and am finding that it's given me a much healthier attitude to food. Basically, IIFYM is the school of thought that regardless of what you might hear to the contrary, body composition is not directly affected by the 'quality' of foods eaten, so if the macronutrient composition of your diet's correct (ie you're hitting the right numbers of calories, protein, carbs and fat) and assuming the same training volume, your body composition won't be any different if you're getting your macros from chicken breast, brown rice and olive oil to what it will be if you're getting them from pizza and ice cream.

This doesn't mean that you just hit those numbers from junk food, of course; micronutrients are also vital (arguably more so) in terms most importantly of general health but also satiety, general energy levels and performance. So you ensure that most (80-90% is suggested) of your diet consists of whole foods, while filling your discretionary calories with whatever you enjoy. As well as allowing for a more normal social life, this gives you a much healthier attitude than arbitrarily restricting certain things you enjoy will; you eat a little of what you like, use your common sense and don't need to feel guilty or have blowout 'cheat days'.

Since I started this, body comp's actually improved and I'm basically just a much more pleasant person to be around.

Edit: as for creatine, it's one of only two supplements which is properly 'proven', the other being caffeine. It's been shown to improve performance in short duration, high intensity exercise (like lifting weights). Better performance = better gains. If you start using it you'll notice that you seem to gain a lot of weight quickly, but that's just because it makes you retain a lot of water.

Like anything else, you don't 'need' it in your diet even if it does help. I've never used it personally.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Mak

[JogaBonito]

I take whey protein shakes because I tend to work out really early and can't stomach food in the morning. Shame that they're crazy expensive nowadays.

Creatine is good. Dirt cheap and even if it doesn't work biologically, i'm sure there must be some placebo effect ..

[Thistle_do_nicely]

Out of curiousity; how much creatine is a good amount to take? I generally just have 1 teaspoonful mixed in with a glass of milk every day which, based on what I've read, is all you really need to see any benefit from it.

Is it literally just that it's high in protein which makes it useful or does it have something else in it that helps boost lean muscle mass?

[yoda]

Out of curiousity; how much creatine is a good amount to take? I generally just have 1 teaspoonful mixed in with a glass of milk every day which, based on what I've read, is all you really need to see any benefit from it.

Is it literally just that it's high in protein which makes it useful or does it have something else in it that helps boost lean muscle mass?

Creatine helps your muscles absorb water and other stuff which promotes protein synthesis. Or at least that's what I've been told.

[Mak]

Creatine combines with phosphorus in muscle cells to form phosphocreatine, which is a vital part of the ATP-PC (adenosine triphosphate-phosphocreatine, also known as phosphagen) energy system, which is what's mostly used by the body during short bursts of high intensity activity. ATP alone only allows you to maintain maximal intensity for about one second (literally)but higher levels of PC allow you to produce more ATP more quickly.

Creatine can be obtained from food sources such as fish, beef and pork but you'd need to be eating ridiculous amounts to get a performance boosting effect from it, which is why supplementation is useful. There are also several other useful effects, such as the promotion of protein manufacture/muscle hypertrophy and reducing muscle acidity. Most people overuse it, though, as quite small amounts can yield the same results as the large quantities usually taken. I believe that taking it along with quick release carbs is meant to be a good idea.

Basically, it's about the most peer-reviewed supplement out there and its benefits are beyond doubt if you're doing regular resistance training. This doesn't mean that you 'need' it or that it'll make up for a bad diet or poor training protocol. Most people want to be taking it straight away before they've even got a handle on the basics.

Edit: and the weight increase that it causes can be counterproductive if you're involved in a sport where the ratio of body weight and speed's important (eg running, swimming) or a weight class sport.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Mak

[Stuart]

I keep getting told different things, so I thought I'd come here and ask: If I do weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday will lose weight? or will I need to add in a couple of cardio days.

I know including cardio will make the results happen faster, but I prefer weights.

[Mak]

I keep getting told different things, so I thought I'd come here and ask: If I do weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday will lose weight? or will I need to add in a couple of cardio days.

I know including cardio will make the results happen faster, but I prefer weights.

You'll lose weight if you're in a caloric deficit. Read this.

[JogaBonito]

.

Great post!

Creatine monohydrate is great. Don't waste your money on the more expensive alternatives (i.e CEE, creatine gluconate etc..)

[dundeefc1783]

I keep getting told different things, so I thought I'd come here and ask: If I do weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday will lose weight? or will I need to add in a couple of cardio days.

I know including cardio will make the results happen faster, but I prefer weights.

Tbh a weight loss relies heavily on your diet.

High protien low fat is good.

And although weight is good for burning calories and keeping your metabolic rate high for extended periods meaning you continue to burn energy. However depending on the frequency and loads you are lifting you may well not lose much weight as your muscle mass will increase and as we all know muscle weighs more.

Depending on how much time you have to train depends on how to design your programme. If you can train 6 days a week then it's good to break down muscle groups and work them twice a week.

However if you can only train three times a week it may beneficial to try doing some barbell work eg squats, deadlifts, presses, and cleans.

And in regards to cardio there is a lot of theory that doing a burst of steady paced cardio for 20-30 minutes after resistance training is excellent for fat burning and keeping metabolic rate high.

Also doing weights before cardio should always be your intention. As the cardio before weights will effect your resistance training more than weights first will effect your cardio if that makes sense.

[Thistle_do_nicely]

I keep getting told different things, so I thought I'd come here and ask: If I do weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday will lose weight? or will I need to add in a couple of cardio days.

I know including cardio will make the results happen faster, but I prefer weights.

A caloric surplus without exercise (ie you eat more calories in a day than your body expends) = increase in mass, mostly fat

A caloric deficit without exercise (ie you eat fewer calories in a day than your body expends) = decrease in mass, but you'll lose muscle as well as fat

A caloric surplus with exercise = increase in lean muscle mass

A caloric deficit with exercise = decrease in mass but you will retain more muscle than fat Edit: I may be imagining this but I'm sure I've read that if you're a total beginner and doing resistance training, provided you're getting enough protein and increasing weight from exercise to exercise it is possible to operate at a deficit but still build muscle, at least for the first few weeks. Don't take my word for it though as I may very easilly be wrong!

Cardio alone won't help you build muscle; resistance training is more important in terms of your body composition, but cardio is still good for a whole bunch of reasons.

Saying all that; does anyone know a good way to calculate how many calories you burn during lifting? Is there a formula i.e. if you lift X amount of weight proportional to your own body Y amount of times you'll burn Z calories? Would help a bit in terms of figuring out how much I should be eating on lifting days.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Thistle_do_nicely

[dundeefc1783]

Saying all that; does anyone know a good way to calculate how many calories you burn during lifting? Is there a formula i.e. if you lift X amount of weight proportional to your own body Y amount of times you'll burn Z calories? Would help a bit in terms of figuring out how much I should be eating on lifting days.

Yeah it's a very different thing to calculate because there are so many variables.

Sure there are more sites out there but this one gives a range of expenditures for various activities.

http://www.nutribase.com/exercala.htm

[Mak]

High protien low fat is good.

This is absolutely horrendous advice. You need dietary fat for any number of reasons, most importantly hormone production (yeah, let's all lose weight and not be able to get it up) and the absorption of fat soluble nutrients. That's without even starting to go into the variety of health benefits associated with the 'healthy' fats which should make up the majority of your intake, notably those found in oily fish.

Eating dietary fat does not make you gain bodyfat. Eating at a caloric surplus does.

A caloric surplus without exercise (ie you eat more calories in a day than your body expends) = increase in mass, mostly fat

A caloric deficit without exercise (ie you eat fewer calories in a day than your body expends) = decrease in mass, but you'll lose muscle as well as fat

A caloric surplus with exercise = increase in lean muscle mass

A caloric deficit with exercise = decrease in mass but you will retain more muscle than fat Edit: I may be imagining this but I'm sure I've read that if you're a total beginner and doing resistance training, provided you're getting enough protein and increasing weight from exercise to exercise it is possible to operate at a deficit but still build muscle, at least for the first few weeks. Don't take my word for it though as I may very easilly be wrong!

Cardio alone won't help you build muscle; resistance training is more important in terms of your body composition, but cardio is still good for a whole bunch of reasons.

Saying all that; does anyone know a good way to calculate how many calories you burn during lifting? Is there a formula i.e. if you lift X amount of weight proportional to your own body Y amount of times you'll burn Z calories? Would help a bit in terms of figuring out how much I should be eating on lifting days.

Mainly reasonable advice here, although what I'd also say is that regardless of exercise a little fat will be gained along with muscle while eating at a surplus. How much will depend largely on the size of the surplus, as well as to an extent on the macronutrient composition of the diet. Also, a caloric deficit with exercise will once again only give the desired results if the remaining intake has the correct macronutrient composition (basically get enough protein and fat, then try to make up the rest of your calories through carbs and fat to taste). You're right about the 'noob gains' phase, although for most people it's short lived.

Calculating how many calories you burn while lifting is a largely pointless exercise; it's more worthwhile to calculate how many you burn in an average day. For most people, how they spend the rest of their day is actually more relevant than the work they're doing in the gym.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Mak

[Drooper]

As noted earlier in this thread, I bought one of those pull-up bars (as opposed to a push-up bra, which I used to require) a few weeks ago. The thing that fits above a door frame.

FFS, I struggled to do more than 4 at a time when I first got the thing, but it is amazing how sticking at it quickly develops the upper body strength. I can now rattle off a dozen without too much difficulty (phnarr....), and generally use it 2 or 3 times a day. I appreciate that doesn't sound too impressive, but the improvement is significant.

In other news, I found I wasn't getting out on the bike as often as I should this year - probably bottling it due to shite weather, if I'm being honest - so the weight was starting to go back on. After watching that programme about fasting a few months back, I adopted a hybrid approach, and have cut out about 800 - 1000 calories 3 or 4 days each week (sometimes as often as every week day). I do this by skipping breakfast and lunch, which is easy enough to do when I'm at work, but isn't happening at the weekend or when I'm on leave.

I've heard/read a great deal of conflicting information on skipping meals in this way, and the benefits/drawbacks. I've certainly lost at least half a stone in the last wee while, and have kept if off with no difficulty. I've also got used to not eating when I'm at work, and don't feel any the worse for it - at least, I don't think I do. I've recently read that skipping meals in this way leads your body to store instead of burn calories as it goes into starvation mode. That sounds a bit dramatic to me, though, when you're only abstaining from eating for 24 hours at most (ie - from one dinner-time to the next). The contrary position is that your body reverts to 'go mode' when it isn't having to digest food, and this can give you more energy, and also that the body's cells move into repair mode when it detects that it might require a wee boost to weather the famine as it were.

I'm pretty sure this fasting malarky wouldn't work it you were exercising hard as you need calories and carbs etc., but it might be a decent option during enforced periods of rest (injuries etc.), or when finding time to exercise is difficult. I'm not recommending this, by the way, as I don't know the science, but thought I'd share it.

[Stuart]

What I've been doing is eating a diet of:

Breakfast: Brown toast with either egg or fish OR Porridge

Snack: Protein shake OR some fruit OR Seafood sticks

Lunch: Chicken/Fish with Baked Potato/Wrap

Snack: Same as before

Dinner: Meat and Green Veg OR a wrap with chicken or fish with the green veg in it too.

Snack: Fruit and natural yoghurt.

I'm doing this along with a weightlifting programme, but was thinking about doing the weight programme along with Insanity on cardio days (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) with a cheat meal on the Saturday too.

Thanks for all the advice so far