Just make sure your getting highest quality food you can with the best macro-nutrients. If your getting highest quality food you can, you shouldn't have to stuff yourself. Try to make 5-6 meals a day if you need it to fit all of the food into your day.

You probably can, but its not really worth it. You could be spending that energy on other things. Keep in mind, your core muscles like abs, get worked out all the time, even when your doing other movements, your abs are involved. I would stick to 2-3 times a week. If you just want to do some warmups at the beginning of your workout, say 20-30 situps, that should be fine. But I wouldn't do 200 ab reps everday.

It may help, but this is one of those things that depends on the person. It does nothing at all for me in the way of strength gains. I gained weight, but just retained water. I know, a lot of people will say it can't make you retain water, but it did for me. And a lot of it. The only way to know is to try it out. But in all honesty, I would just stick to good protien, carb and fats... and that alone should get you where you want to be.

The best thing you can do is get your upper back into shape. Try to get the V-taper. I would suggest starting off with wide grip pulldowns. Make sure your form is good, pull down constant and slowly touch your chest, then slowly return, but do not let your arms fully extend... you want to keep constant tension on your back. Seat rows or bent-over rows would be my next choice. Also, do not forget pullups. Try to go wide grip pullups. Another good one that not many people do is straight arm pulldowns. You basically stand in front of the lat pulldown machine like your going to workout your tri's, but you keep your arms straight, and pull the bar from directly in front of you, down to your waist. Slightly lean forward while doing this. Go with a moderate weight that you can easily get 15 or so reps with, and only rest 30 seconds between sets. This is a light weight workout, so you want to keep the pace up. Oh, and if you do this excersice correctly, you will see what I am talking about with your abs getting a workout with other excersices... this one kills the abs too by trying to keep your body in position. Another great warmup for back is lower back extensions. Its where you lay on the ab machine, but lay face down, lower your body and pick it back up. You do this weighted once your lower back is stronger. Also, compound shoulder excercises like military press, seated dumbell press, and upright rows, all work your upper back and traps as well.

great sources of protien. Other than eggs you have to eat a lot of them. The other thing I didnt see was steak and lean pork. Awesome sources of high protien. Unless theres a reason you don't eat those.

Having said all of this. I still get the sense you may be pushing it a little too often. YOu want to work out abs everyday, so I get the sense your management of time may still need to be tweaked a bit. I also get the feeling abs are your favorite thing. All of us have certain gentics that give us something that builds easy and looks good, so we concentrate on that muscle group. If you have good abs, I'd suggest not even doing them and build up other parts of your body. Your abs will still be there and won't need as much work as the rest of your body. Just something to keep in mind.

 

hahaha damn you read me like a book. thanks justa, your help is always fantastic.

 

For me creatine and glutamine have worked/still work the best for me.

Not to take anything away from what justasquid has said, but you're going to need to be careful if you are going to let up on the pulldowns slowly. A majority of people pull with their biceps and if you let up slow you may strain the biceps. They, as a group, are much much weaker than the back, obviously.

Also, as far as form and tempo go, check your ego at the door if you're trying to lift seriously. So many people go in their trying to stimulate their ego and show off instead of trying to stimulate their muscles and their training sucks. Slow deliberate movements with full contraction and stretch will yield the best results. You may not be putting up huge numbers but who cares? As long as YOU have a good workout thats all that matters.

And please, no matter what, NEVER release on the negative and let the weight flop. Ex, the negative of the flat bench movement is lowering the weight, do not drop it and bounce off your chest, slow and tap. Sometimes for bench I do a 4 count down and a 2 up and it hurts like some **** with not much weight.

Basically don't let the weight jerk you around, the more stationary your body can be the better.

 

^very true. I call that "active lowering". I've seen SO many people bounce, and it makes me cry. Plus, after doing them the right way for some time, I feel like a bounce would be less effective.

Also, calves and abs can be worked every day. However, they harder you hit them, the more rest time you need. If you're trying to build your ab muscles, I'd say a day of rest, and if you have a light day, hit them hard the next. (Just abs)

As far as the posture, justasquid is right, work on the back. That will pull your body "upright". The back for me is something that feels like it's never improving, until I'm able to lift more a week later. So don't be discourage if the same happens to you.

Anyone have opinions on the "side to side, front to back" pullups?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Geer31sko&NR=1
That's what I'm referring too, I've also added in a front to back motion to make it harder. However, instead of doing them all at once, I separate them with a regular pull up in between.

Short of goodmornings and squats, what do you guys recommend for my lower back? I can't really stand to do deadlifts anymore, I'm not a fan of bar bite (And don't tell me I'm doing them wrong, I know I'm not)

 

Idk! i work chest and triceps; back and biceps; quads,hamstrings,calves,lowerback; shoulders, traps

monday chest tricep
tue leg
wed back bi
thur shoulder trap
friday rest
sat cardio
sun STARCRAFT

(schedual not set) i just give atleast 3 days for each group to rest.

I strength train and work on endurance in alternations. For example one group strength train and the next time i do it i work on endurance.

Chest/Tri workouts
Bench press3x
incline 2x
decline 2x
dumbell flys 2x
incline flys 2x
fly machine 2x

tricep
tri extension 2x
push downs 2x
push down w/ roap 2x
one arm push down 2x
kick backs 3x
dips 3x25,20,15 increasing the weight

back/bi
Pull ups
lat machine
one arm pull
pull overss
and others but i dont know the name

Biceps
21's bar curls
spider curls
and other unnamed curls

im to lazy to write the rest i can go into further detail if you want me to.

 

Pain is only weakness leaving the body. Do your deadlifts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKzHQL0WbAk
this is good, just use the machine that is similar to this. Also hold a weight like a 25 or 45 whatever you can do. put a hurting on your hamster strings to

 

I gained 50 lbs in 6 months, I am also 6 feet tall (145-195). Diet is the most important thing. If you want to gain weight then you need to eat like you are 10-20 lbs heavier than you are (no more than that or it will turn to fat). If you weigh 140 then find out how many calories someone who weighs 150 should be eating everyday. Eat that amount spread out over 7 meals a day. Your body only uses so much protien in one sitting so you want to constantly give it protien all day long. You need to balance protein and carbs. I would eat 1:2 ratio of protein to carbs (chicken and rice is the best meal). You only really need to drink protein shakes after you work out, drink them with fast acting (simple) carbs with the 1:2 ratio. Eat just protein (meat)and vegatables for the last meal before workout. And keep the carbs low before bed time. Also keep hydrated it keeps nutrients flowing to your muscles.

As for working out. It really depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to be lean and have dense hard muscles with better endurance then do more reps with less weight. If you want to look like the Governator and be more powerful with less endurance then do more weight and less reps. I like to be right in between, I like to use a "pyramid scheme" lol, where if I were doing pushups I would do five sets like this...10-20-30-20-10 if I were lifting wieghts I would go up and down in weight. But it is always good to suprise your muscles with new routines and exercises. This keeps progresss moving.

Sleep is also important. Your muscles repair more during REM sleep than at any other time. Get at least 8 hours a night.

I hope that helps some! I know I left a lot out.

 

bro, obviously rocket sauce is active in the gym, has a great deal of knowledge in pysical fitness, and all around knows what he's talking about, any thing i could add has alrady been said, im 6'4, 330, very active in the gym, 5 times a week, sometimes 6, protein, lots of it, 100 plus grams a day, be it shake's(gold standard has 50 plus grams per scoop), and 6 meals proportioned accordingly, plus supplement's, screw steriods, that is junk, try a good no2 booster such as jack3d, great stuff, a good vitamin to supply all your needed nutrients( animal pack, men's one a day)and a mass gainer, with kreakic, creatin, whey, and dedication... if you have a facebook page, search robert rob ferguson, he's my roomate, plus the personal trainer at my gym, and he is a hard gainer, but he's huge, all natural, and shredded, search cody hanson, thats me, and any tips or pointers we can send your way we will gladly do so

 

I know exactly what you mean, I cringe every time I see someone lock their knees on the leg press especially when they're at the top and let it fall with locked knees.


As far as "side to side" as shown in the video, it looks hard as **** and obviously it will help with your overall fitness. Now, how much it will help depends on your goals.

Not sure what "bar bite" is but if you mean your calluses hurting like a b**** right after ya thats normal. My hands are almost completely white after doing a heavy set and my fingers in general sometimes hurt but for me its a small price to pay what deadlifts produce.


One of the most important things I have learned that very few people realize is that the body is and EXTREMELY adaptable machine. You sit around all day and you metabolism will plummet and if you are very active and eat frequently it will be very fast. So as far as working out, NO 2 WORKOUTS SHOULD EVER BE THE SAME, within a reasonable amount of time, say 2 months. Changing the order of the exercises, sets, reps per exercise will all help overall. Your body will adapt to a routine and thus will put forth less and less effort to do the same amount of work, which is why you increase the weight from week to week or as necessary.

+1 on a good multivitamin. I take Animal Pak and love it, it makes a huge difference for my workouts

 

Workout Update:

I am still trucking along folks. Doing a 5 day split.

Just the basic back and bi, chest and tri, shoulders and traps, legs, and rest routine. At first it was tough to get used to but now I love going to the gym as it has become a sanctuary if you will.

Since, I've been pretty much skin and bones, I can already see the improvements and results of the workouts. My back is straighter and my whole body feels firmer and more defined. Really boosts my motivation.

I learned so much from you guys (especially rocket and justa) and also from people I meet at the gym. Everyone seems to want to help the skinny guy out =P

Recently, a person gave me a book on a bodbuilder named Steve Reeves. I hell for sure aint gay but damn this guy looks HOT. I know I cannot have a body like this guy but I would like to be proportionate and cut like him. His power drink/shake is really tasty as well:

14 ounces of OJ
1 tablespoon of gelatin
1 tablespoon of honey
1 banana
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of high protein powder





This guy is not big by modern standards but it is the body type I would like to have most. The body just looks good on him and nothing looks too overdone (imo). Any of you guys know this guy?

So different than this guy who looks like he is about to pop.

but to each their own!



I want to post before and after pictures of myself but I think I will wait until there are BIG changes before I do. Keep rooting for me!