strenghtening the body with exercise

225 g of low fat cottage cheese has 28g of protein, 160 calories and only 6g of carbs and 2g of fat.

 

 

I've been up all night at work and need some sleep now, but I'll come back later with a diet outline and excercise plan for increasing size and strength, since people seem interested.

 

 

If your main goal is weight loss instead, cardio will burn most fat if done before breakfast, and if you want to do weights as well, or keep doing them, then instead of the 2-3 minute rests between sets, reduce your rest to a minute. You may have to use slightly less weight to complete the same number of reps, but since fat loss and not muscle building is the aim, this is irrelevant. However, if you find you are losing a lot of strength or feeling overly tired and run down then you are probably overtraining and burning a lot of muscle along with the fat, which will reduce your strength and leave you looking and feeling washed out, not toned. And don't forget to keep well hydrated. Drink plenty of water, but keep taking it in regularly, a few mouthfuls, rather than infrequent large volumes.

 

Eating the same amount but having 6 meals a day instead of three will also help lose fat, and don't skip breakfast, either. Have a meal with protein (eggs are excellent and quick) and complex, slow burning carbs in, like wholmeal bread. Having a good breakfast will get your metabolism going again and get the body out of starvation mode that it will be in after fasting for several hours. When the body doesn't eat for a while, it doesn't burn fat but stores it, and burns muscle instead, for preference, as well as slowing down the metabolism. Eating a sensible breakfast ensures this doesn't happen.

 

 

But everyone is different. Doing a single set of a good excercise worked for me (and many others) starting out, but not everyone respinds the same way. You might find you need to be aiming for 10-12 reps, and/or doing 2 sets of each excercise. A weight that is just heavy enough to allow you to complete 8 reps is a good weight because it's towards the strength (rather than hypertrophy) end on the normal range (6-15 reps) but not so heavy you are likely to risk injuring yourself, which is why I suggest it, but you have to monitor your own progress and listen to your body to see what works. I've never found high reps and low weight work, but some people respond better to this. And because the body adapts, sometimes you have to do more than just add weight, you have to change the way you train. I'm not trying to sound confusing, it's just something you learn from talking to other bodybuilders. It's not one size fits all.

 

After this beginner phase, as I say, you'll need to do more excercises and more sets, and so you'll want to split the workout up. I generally find that 40 mins to 1hr is about the length after which exaustion makes continuing a session worthless. If you're too tired to properly work the muscles, you're wasting your time and energy if you're wanting to get bigger.

 

My own split is:

 

Monday (legs)

Squats 4x8

Extensions 3x10

Curls 3x12

 

Tuesday (Shoulders)

Shrugs 3x10

Upright rows 3x8

Military press 2x8 then 2x12 (alternatively I'll do Arnold presses, sometimes)

Lateral raises 3x10

Bent over laterals 3x10

 

Wed (arms)

EZbar curls 4x8

Inc DB curls 3x10 (getting a really good stretch, using a fairly light weight but until the muscle screams in agony)

Lying tricep extensions 3x10

Narrow bench 3x10

Seated 2 Arm DB ext (3x12)

 

Thurs (Cardio/Abs) (if I have manged to get any sleep after the wed nightshift)

 

Fri (Chest)

Flat Bench 3x10

Incline Bench 3x10

DB Press (either flat or incline) 3x12

Flyes (3x10)

Pullovers (3x12) (some people would call this a back excercise, but I do it on chest day)

 

Sat (back)

Deadlifts 5x5

Bent Over rows 3x10

T-Bar rows 3x10

1 Arm rows 3x10-12

 

Sun (rest day)

 

I find that hitting each muscle group once a week (going to failure, or as close as I can) gives me good results. Mostly this is based on the recuperation abilities of the individual. Getting the right amount of rest (enough to recover and grow, not too much that the muscle isn't worked enough) is something every individual has to work out for themselves - there are as many different training splits and routines as there are people that train.

 

 

The same does go for diet to a certain extent. The basic rules are as I've said - a calorific surplus in order to add mass, keep protein intake high (about 1g/lb bodyweight) and try to keep away from sugary carbs, except right after a workout. Fat intake wants to be kept in check, but more often than not the thing that controls how much fat you put on along with muscle (hopefully!) is carbs, what sort and how much. If you feel you are putting on more fat than you'd like, try cutting carbs before anything else, from the last couple of meals of the day. But it's all about the bathroom scales and the mirror, really. Keep a diary of your weight, see if you are gaining or maintaining each week, and if you have a means of getting an accurate check on your bodyfat/lean muscle percentages, by all means keep track of them, otherwise the mirror is probably your best guide. You'll see when your muscles are looking and feeling fuller and harder, or if there's too much appearing round the waist or under the pecs.

 

Be realistic, don't expect to turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jay Cutler overnight, but do expect to see results, in the way you look and your strength levels in workouts.  If your strength actually drops, you need to eat more or rest more, or both, in all likelihood.

 

Anyway... good luck. Train hard, eat well, rest properly. Good luck.

 

Yes, skinny guys can get big. Some of the top bodybuilders started as skinny runts and started going to the gym because they were sick of being skinny runts. So, in principle, yes, though ultimately genetics will determine how big you can get, even if you train, eat and rest correctly.

 

 

I have no idea what you mean by 'pulling' yourself up during a push up. It's a push. Imagine you're standing up against a wall, with your toes touching the wall. Your nose is almost against the wall, and your palms flat against the wall, slightly more than shoulder width apart. Your elbows will be bent at about 90 degrees. All you need to do to move your face away from the wall is extend your arms. Now, instead of being upright standing against a wall, do it horizontally on the floor. Your triceps do part of the work, straightening your arms and the rest comes from the muscles of your chest and the front part of your shoulders which contract and pull your arms out in front of you. To lower yourself back down, the opposite muscles (in your biceps and back) work.

abit of topic but any idea on the best way to improve general stamina??

 

No, the skull is a bone. There are no excercises that will increase the size of your skull. On the other hand, increasing your brainpower might be something worth looking into...