I was just wondering how to put-on some muscles without going to the
gym� The place is out of the question because waiting half and hour
for some sweaty middle-aged man to let me use a rust-dead machine AND
paying through the nose for this isn't exactly my idea of healthy
activity.

You're probably wondering why i'm interested all of a sudden
in coming out of this state of sedentarism, a state in which I've been in for the past 18
years. There's a good chance I'll get cough drafted cough cough next
year, thanks to an old communist law that our ever-loving benefactors
forgot to eliminate (because it's inefficient; what's the point in
having a large army full of bored demoralized physically unfit
conscripts? exhausting the enemy's ammo and then forcing him to
surrender?).

For instance push-ups. Are they any good?

There's plenty of stuff you can do without going to a gym, or even having access to a few free weights in your house.

-Pushups -- These are pretty basic, but great and probably my favorite. Try out this set. Do 1 pushup. Rest for 20 seconds. Do 2 pushups. Rest for 20 seconds. Do 3 pushups. Rest for 20 seconds. Keep doing that until you hit 12. Then rest for 40 seconds and then do 11 pushups. Rest for 20 seconds. Do 10 pushups. Rest for 20 seconds etc.... If that's too easy, make the pyramid bigger by stopping at 15 (or 20) instead of 12. If it's too hard, start decreasing once you hit 10 (or 8). Tailor it to fit your current strength and then gradually increase the difficulty.

For an added challenge (and to work your triceps) you can do the same set with diamond pushups. This is where you make a diamond with your hands, and do pushups like that. It's much harder than normal shoulder width apart hand placement.

-Another great excercise is dips. I can explain these if you don't know what they are. But basically they're great for triceps and shoulders. I do 30 seconds, rest for 15, do 30 seconds, rest for 15, and do another 30 seconds.

-You can do calf raises if you have stairs. Do 30 seconds right foot, 30 seconds left foot, 30 seconds right foot, 30 seconds left foot. Make sure to extend fully both up and down. Also, try holding yourself for half a second at the top of the calf raise, and feel yourself flex your valf.

-You can work your legs by either doing wall sits (try going for 2 minutes without stopping, then increase the time every few days) or jumps. With jumps, you want to keep your back straight, plant your hands behind your head, and jump up and down. Bend your legs to about a 100 degree angle when you land then spring back up as high as you can. When you land try to land gently, and then spring back up. Do 15 jumps every 30 seconds for 2 minutes.

-If you have access to a pullup bar in your house, do as many pullups as you can in 30 seconds (if you can only do a few, then just hold yourself with your chin above the bar until the 30 seconds is up. Rest for 30 seconds. Do another 30 seconds of pullups/bar hangs).

-Abwork. This is really important. Do Leg Lifts, Crunches, Bicycles, Planks, V-ups, Sit-Ups, Oblique crunches for 30 seconds each (no rest between excercises on these ones). If you need me to explain what some of these terms mean, I can.

Oh, in general, once you work out a specific muscle group (arms / legs) try to rest for a day. So, do an upper body workout Monday Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday etc... and then do a lower body workout Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Monday, Wedneday etc... Just alternate, giving your muscles an opportunity to rest and recover.

The only exception is abwork, which I do everyday. Alternate the ab excercises you do, but always work your abs.

Satchmo, as a longtime bodybuilder, do you see any problems with what I've suggested? I'm basing my suggestions on what I do for swimming and what I've done in the past.

I can tell you from personal experience. If you do not have something to turn into muscle, you will just end up a wiry skinny taunt person.

You need the proper proteins and foods to make muscle. Exercise alone will not make you bulky.

As far as exercise goes. You need to first decide how you want to look when you are finished.

Body building (which I discourage) is the process of taking tiny weights and lifting it thousands of times.

Weight lifting is maximum weight, with few reps.

Both give massively different results.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Oh additionally, I heard somewhere that the protein you eat 30 minutes after exercising goes almost directly to repair your muscles. Can anyone confirm this?

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Addicted to Morphine</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Oh additionally, I heard somewhere that the protein you eat 30 minutes after exercising goes almost directly to repair your muscles. Can anyone confirm this?</DIV></DIV>

Confirm? Not me but methinks its like that old wives tale about not swimming within 30 minutes of eating.

If I remember my biology, 30 minutes doesn't sound like enough time for digestion to commence let alone, go to any particular muscle. It seems to me that a muscle would be the last body part to know when you ate last.

I can confirm that, eating before bed makes the most difference. Be it turned to fat, or muscle. If I were you, I would sleep on my repairs.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Wow, those diamond push-ups are great! I did a set of 10 just now and it feels as if I made 30 normal ones in a row. :biggrin:

I can tell you from personal experience. If you do not have
something to turn into muscle, you will just end up a wiry skinny taunt
person.

That felt like being shotgunned in the face because it that pretty much describes my condition.

I did not gain mass until long after I turned 18.

From then on I still tended toward slender but I had a massive chest cause I tended to work mainly on the upper body.

Until I turned about 35 and mid-age started creeping in I stayed slim. I am now pushing 200lbs. all the time. I can still lift much but tend to wind quickly due to my sedentary job.

You need to find a GNC store, or its equivalent and get some mass builder.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Andrei, don't lose heart. It's still possible for you to get much stronger. Maybe you wont put on 20 pounds, but you'll notice some more size and definitely more strength.

<span style="color: white;">It's a misconception that the bigger you are the better. Just eat healthy and excercise a lot. And by excercise I don't mean lift weights, aerobic workouts are much more effective and healthy than straining your muscles as much as you can.

Food:
Natural stuff, not McDonalds or synthetic protein shakes or whatever. Fish is very good for you, make it a staple of your diet and you won't regret it. Eat lots and lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, cut down on wheat bread and if at all possible limit your intake of red meat to once a week or so. Drink lots of water, like 4-6 full glasses a day, and don't drink too much milk, soda or coffee. Stay away from preservatives like sodium nitrites. Don't over-eat just to cram as much protein as possible down your gullet, eat three meals a day</span><span style="color: white;"> (or even four smaller ones)</span><span style="color: white;">, don't eat too fast, and once you're full stop eating. Try to eat a balanced breakfast every day, key word being "balanced," it will give you more energy throughout the day, and you'll be able to concentrate better. Make all your meals balanced if you can, balance is the key to health. I'm losing track now because I'm just typing things as I think of them.

Weights:
Don't. You might not be able to look like a body builder without lifting weights, but the human body wasn't really meant to have that much muscle. You can bulk up some by doing pushups, lunges, swimming, running, etc., and your body will look more natural and healthy than if you get ripped/buff lifting weights.

Pushups:
Pushups are the closest thing to weights I would recommend. Do different kinds too, like diamonds, pushups with your arms wide apart, keeping your elbows in, pointing your hands toward eachother. If you're dead-set on bulking up you can do lots of pushups, just as long as your elbows don't start to hurt a lot. Also try doing a set of pushups followed by a set or sit-ups/crunches, followed by more pushups, etc, until you're worn out.

Running:
Try not to run on pavement too much, as the impact is bad on your knees and shins. Also If your city is polluted try to get as far away as possible to run, smog is bad for your lungs.

Swimming:
is very good for you. If you have a pool near by go and swim a few days a week, the more the better. It improves flexibility, strength, cardiovascular health. And don't forget to bring a towel :smile: (sorry I couldn't resist)

Stretching:
Yes, the poor forgotten stretch... I'd go as far as to say it's the second most important thing on this list, the first being the diet. Trust me, if you start doing stretches every morning you'll feel 400000000% better in a week (well, maybe not that much, but still). Stretch before and after you excercise too, it'll give you healthy, happy muscles.

</span><span style="color: white;">Like I said, balance is the key to health, balance your excercise so that your whole body gets stronger, not just your pecs and biceps. I'd recommend starting to eat better as soon as possible, since thats one of the most important factors in health.

And GNC is quackery.</span>
<span style="color: white;">
-Naklajat
</span>

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o

My dad made me chop wood today , it's perfect for me ^_________^. and it's fun too

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.else /me ~kill you
www.arclan.net

Baron von Snickers said:
<SPAN style="COLOR: white">It's a misconception that the bigger you are the better. </SPAN>

Its also a misconception that the meek will inherit the earth too but when you are getting stomped, its nice to know that a bit of mass will give you an edge. :rolleyes:

I know a few healthy people, who will probably not live any longer than unhealthy ones so...

Anyway.. Be careful about your views on others misconceptions, unless your girlfriend has her period, then tell everyone.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Play drums... Get an electric kit so its silent. The bass drum and hi hat help build muscles in the legs, and arm muscle is built up through rolls and shizzle. Your chest and back etc all get worked out from the movements between.

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

Myrk- said:
Play drums... Get an electric kit so its silent. The bass drum and hi hat help build muscles in the legs, and arm muscle is built up through rolls and shizzle. Your chest and back etc all get worked out from the movements between.

Actually, anything that gets the heart rate up is good, as long as its not fear or something like that of course.

I'll tell you another easy way to build yourself up. Carry lots of weight around. Wear heavy clothes (if the weather will allow), and boots. If you can find a surplus store, get a backpack and fill it with sand.

If you do it daily, in about a month you'll notice a big change when you take all that crap off.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

If you've been sedentary for the last 18 years, like von snickers and orph say, you probably need aerobic exercise more than anything else. Biking, running, hiking etc. Maybe some core too (abs, back) since you use your core for pretty much everything.

I'd say in order of importance:
1) Diet
2) Aerobic exercise
3) Core
4) Pushups/Pullups/Chinups

Lifting weights in the gym will make you look ripped, but it doesn't help as much with gaining functional strength.

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http://maze5.net

sweat at least once a day.

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i eat paint

Do something active but make sure its something you enjoy. Forcing yourself to run when you hate running wont work well. But, if you love soccer and you can get a game going with some friends you wont mind running so much :smile:

Orpheus said:
If you can find a surplus store, get a backpack and fill it with sand.

Given how much crap I generally carry around in my backpack every day, and how unfit I am, I dont think thats such a good idea. It will probably f**k up your posture like it did mine.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

I can honestly say that I am a healthy, muscular guy. But i was not always this way.

My last year in Highschool, I weighed 145lbs and I was thin and looked good. After my forst 2 years of college I weighed about 189lbs. I carried the weight well, but I really noteiced, even if lots of ppl didn't. So I started my own diet and excercize plan. I'll tell you what I did that led to me weighing 162lbs and having a hot bod. lol.

• Eat a lot of fruit during the day (apples, bananas, grapes, citrus) and dried fruit is good too.
• DO lift weights. Small amounts are just as good as large. You just get about 20lb hang-weights and do curls and bench-presses. there are LOTS of other excercises you can do with these.
• I stopped eating unclean foods; pork, shellfish, ostrich (lol), etc.. and I feel healthier.
• I know you don't need to lose weight, but I did by NOT FREAKIN EATING SO MUCH!
• never take the elevator.
• don't drink soda

that stuff helped me lose almost 30lbs. and I have about 10-15 lbs of muscle put on to look like THIS!

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I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I like to keep a balance. I'll skate/snowboard for an hour or two
or three each day, then play computer for that same amount of time. :biggrin:

looks like charles manson on steroids... //runs really fast for old man :heee:

Doc B... :dodgy:

as far as aerobic exorcises swimming has been proven to be one of the
best as it induces no impact stress such as running and by switching
strokes you can work all of the muscles in your body

also as nickle said... eat good and i say take ur vitamins too

Swimmings my sport of choice. I love it.

I train mostly freestyle, but when I want to get my heartrate up, I do some butterfly or IM. Guaranteed to make you sleep well at night. :smile:

I forgot about swimmin' which burns like 900 Calories per hour. Laughing also burns a bunch.

K. Thus far we've added the following

• Swim
• Laugh
• Call me "charles manson on steroids" and run a lot. :biggrin:

---

I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com

I was just wondering how to put-on some muscles without going to the
gym� The place is out of the question because waiting half and hour
for some sweaty middle-aged man to let me use a rust-dead machine AND
paying through the nose for this isn't exactly my idea of healthy
activity.

You're probably wondering why i'm interested all of a sudden
in coming out of this state of sedentarism, a state in which I've been in for the past 18
years. There's a good chance I'll get cough drafted cough cough next
year, thanks to an old communist law that our ever-loving benefactors
forgot to eliminate (because it's inefficient; what's the point in
having a large army full of bored demoralized physically unfit
conscripts? exhausting the enemy's ammo and then forcing him to
surrender?).

For instance push-ups. Are they any good?

Same s**te in here. Except that we have never been a communistic
coutry. I did my time last year. Now I'm a reserve machinegunner.

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

For someone already active in drumming, what exercises/diet plans would you advise for someone who wants to build up thier reactive quick muscles?

Basically trying to get my arms (with back muscles mainly) and legs built up so I can last longer playing drums. Deltoids are an important muscle for my drumming and guitaring just so you guys know (the arm where it connects to your body and creates your shoulder) :razz:

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-