I know the causes, but man, they're too numerous to list here (don't get your hopes up either you sick puppy you, it's nothing like child abuse or lack of LEGO or anything astounding like that), bizarrely enough, in this physical fitness thread of all places, lack of exercise is one of the causes for sure.

And on that note, I'm off to vegetate at the local Tex-Mex place.

Hey man me too. Some nights I just can't stay asleep and it bothers me because I worry about not recovering enough. Especially when this occurs following a day of a hard workout.

I'm paranoid about not eating enough too. I have a fast metabolism and if I don't eat enough I'll burn off weight quick. Which I don't want to do.

Oddly enough, a lot of insomnia comes from diet. Honestly, avoid bread/rice/pasta/sweet potato and obviously chips/candy/chocolate/soda, etc within 4 hours of bedtime, and if you get hungry before bed, reach for some nuts as opposed to the aforementioned snacks, or even bodybuilder staples like cottage cheese or a protein shake... See if that helps.

Okay, fair enough. Well, as long as you can somehow get through the issues for some regular sleep, then you'll be on your way to feeling healthier.

As it was, I got 10 hours last night, which felt fantastic. I feel adequately rested - too bad I can't get this much every night!

Sorry - just saw this now (two weeks later...). I indeed feel already a rise in endurance and repititions regarding the push ups. From my 13x10 I switched to 8x20. The last two sets are always a major, major, major, major pain but as the Galaxy Ranger's theme song says: "No Guts - No Glory, No Pain - No Gain"

Ok, I got another question and I hope some of you may have opinions/answers on/to this:
is it of any use to split the training unit over the whole day. I know that a constant unit will be better but I wonder if I would also gain benefits (in strength as well as size growth) if I, say, do some sets of push ups in the morning, then in the afternoon again some sets and finally also some in the evening.
Or does my body notice the ending of some sets and says to himself "that's it for today"?

I would say your body notices when you use the most energy and saves itself for that time period, I dont think it would hurt to split it up cuz your body would learn to save, also splitting your meals up into smaller portions all throughout the day is good, instead of big ass meals split that shit up.

There's isn't really any need to break it up throughout the day. If you're going to train on a day, train once, and train hard! Train at a high enough intensity that you overload those muscles and then simply focus on recovery until your next session. Assuming you pushed yourself hard enough there's no reason at all to do it again later in a single day.

Sure - that is the best way, I know. The thing is that I often come home very late and after being around the whole day I just also have the need/wish to call it a day and put me on the sofa. However, there's always some minutes over the whole day when I could do sth.

very easy example:

getting up from bed in the morning, stretching a bit, doing 4x20 push up. Then getting fully clothed, breakfast etc, then again some push ups.
on a break at work later the day again doing some push-up for a few minutes and later in the afternoon doing so again. So I could have done numerous sets of push up divided over the whole day and still getting my place on the sofa...

(of course there are also days and weeks where time isn't the problem and I do regular, long sets of exercises).

I just want to know if these multiple short units even have an effect or if it's just wasted energy... ?

If your goal is to do more pushups, then doing many submaximal sets throughout the day works well for that. It's called greasing the groove.

Wow! Now I want to go buy some Jordans!

'm not fat nor thin, and a few weeks ago, I began to practice physical activity 6 times a week, I like to jump, jump 800 jumps usually 6 times a week, but I want to do other things like running and walking again, I will walk again tomorrow! And I have to take care of my health, I am having some chest pains and it scares me a lot so I'm very worried about my health. Somebody could give-me some tips ?

If you're worried about your health, you should probably see a doctor. Random people on the internet aren't a very good substitute.

Yes , are you right.. i don't wanna drink before i getting a better health too...

not to be of any medical help but chest pain could be a result from problems with your back and/or spine. At least I had that issue and after seeing a doc who set my bones right, the pain and pressure in my chest was gone.

i mean chances could be that due to going from no training to 6 times a week and doing such a large number of jumps your (sorry) untrained body could have reacted to a wrong move with a dislocation of your spine as such resulting in pain felt in your chest... Not every "back problem" is felt in the back (I speak out of self experienced pain)

Anyway - go to a doctor! Can't do wrong with that

@King_Hands:

Will this "greasing the groove" also do benefits for the muscles' size or is it "only" (which is of course very good to) for increasing the number of sets and repititions?

I don't think it would be very good for size gains, because it's less about straining the muscles and more about the neural pathways or some shit like that.

Think I'm going to try that for a few weeks.

I'm not a fitness junkie, but I lift for about half an hour every day on my small basement setup - a bench with a thing for curls and a pulley thing for lats and triceps. I use Myofusion protein from Gaspari Nutrition.

I'm basically strength lifting, trying to gain weight and muscle mass. Im about 5' 10" and only 145 lbs, so I need to gain some mass before working on toning. This isn't really working though. After about 3 weeks of this, I've only put on a couple pounds. Any words of wisdom?

Also, what do you guys work out to? I usually find myself frequenting the Technical/Brutal death section of my ipod for workouts, but Vomitory can only go so far. I've found that stuff like Human Abstract really can get me pumped for a big bench or a final rep. Any bands/songs I need to know about?

The amount of weight you gain is entirely dependent on the amount you put in your mouth. If you want to gain weight, you must eat more. Also, you need to get access to some real weights. Join a gym or buy some better equipment so you can do squats and deadlifts.

Yep. You gotta eat big to be big.

I often tell my clients:

You're trying to build a skyscraper. You have awesome blueprints (workout program) and great construction workers (you and the effort you put in). If you don't supply yourself with great raw materials (nutrition), it doesn't matter what you do, you won't build a skyscraper. Use shitty raw materials and you'll build a shitty skyscraper. Use the bare minimum of raw materials and you'll build a little skyscraper. Now use great raw materials in abundance, and you'll get somewhere.

http://hundredpushups.com/

What constitutes great materials in abundance? I eat plenty of meat, carbs, and fruits/vegetables and have a pretty decent fat/protein intake. How do I change my diet to reflect my goals?

If you aren't gaining weight, it's probably the "in abundance" part you're having trouble with. Eat more.

Yep. My rule of thumb for males is this:

Eat 40 grams of protein every 2-3 hours. REGARDLESS of whether or not you are trying to gain muscle or lose fat. If you are trying to lose fat, eat less carbohydrates during the day and cut them out at least 5 hours before bed. If you are trying to gain muscle, eat 1.5-3 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight depending upon your bodytype.

Plain and simple - If you are eating that much protein and still not gaining weight, then you aren't eating enough carbohydrates.

Do any of you have any advice whatsoever to someone who is 5'7" and 120 pounds. I have only ran X-Country. I can say I am very tough. I'm often the punching bag of my friends, so I have an awesome pain tolerance. I really just want to bulk up. Any suggestions?

If you want to get big and strong, it doesn't get any better than Starting Strength. Be warned though, if you're going to do it, then do it properly, especially the eating.

http://startingstrength.com/articles/no ... ppetoe.pdf

Fuck, I have to run a 10k in a month and all I have run before is a 5k. Is it possible to train in a month to the point where I can just finish a 10k. I can do a 5k without much of a problem.

Did some high endurance shits yesterday for chest:

Inclined bench: 20 reps, with 70lb dumbbells
Inclined flies: 25 reps, 35 lb dumbbells
Flat bench: 20 reps, 80 lb dumbbells
Flat flies; 25 reps, 35 lb dumbbells
Declined bench: 25 reps, 135lb barbell
Declined flies: 20 reps, 30 lb dumbbells

Tossed a medicine ball (15lb) back and forth 20 times, then 10 pushups (3 sets)
While sitting, tossed the medicine ball using left then right obliques, 20 times each side, then 50 side crunches, each side.
While sitting, tossed the medicine ball while ballancing while the legs are held up in the air, each side of the obliques, 20 times. 2 sets of 50 crunches follow.

Right now my friend and I are doing endurance training. We're trying to get to 20 reps of each, but if we feel we CAN get more than 20 reps, we shoot for 25. It usually means it's time to move up weight, so you'll be lifting to the best of your abilities. I probably should have grabbed some protein right after I was done, but I was out. Now I have some muscle soreness, but nothing too bad.
.
Tip: Chocolate milk and bananas are great for muscle soreness.

reviving this thread now

So, after some months of both home-training & swimming (see my earlier posts here in this thread) I got my problems in the upper back a bit reduced
but still they happened to me every 4-5 weeks.
Ok, about six weeks ago when I again went to my orthopedist for a treatment he finally subscribed me training units in a nearby vital-center. It's
not "just a gym" but offers many different health courses and supervised weight training (free weights and machines). I have to pay a minor amount of money
but the big rest is covered by the health insurance.
For five weeks now I have this training plan two times a week and it works really, really good making me feel stable and painfree like never felt before for years.

(on mondays and wednesdays)
30 minutes endurance/cardieo (bike, stepper, jogging, whatever)
35 minutes sports rehab and spinal exercises
45 minutes weight training for the complete body with a special mark on my back and generally upper torso

This weight training is not so much on building up mass but mainly foucsed on building up muscles which I seem to haven't used for a long time
and as such stabilizing my posture etc. Honestly, I wouldn't mind (in fact I would love) to get also bigger arms faster and do heavier weights but
I guess doing the important exercises correctly makes more sense for me than doing what-not weights resulting in new pain
Anyway -it's great and the "bigger arms" will come just slower. Totally ok as long as my back's fine

fridays I do my home exercises (crunches, some dumbbell stuff, push ups) for 40 minutes or so
swimming is now on saturdays and I do my 1500 metres with breast- and back swimming

Seems like I finally found the perfect method for me to keep my back's pain at bay *happy-happy-joy-joy*

Good work sir! Glad to hear you're improving. I've cut down from almost 350 down to 326. I weighted 326 for a while now, but I'm losing a lot of weight and gaining a lot of my old muscle back. Been doing a lot of high weight/ low rep, I may switch back to endurance soon to shape and tone the new raw bulky muscle that I have acquired. Feel great, wearing clothes I haven’t even been able to look at in years, and the ladies are starting to notice too!

Thanks & cheers

Have to admit that through all the home training before and now in the health/vital studio my muscles surely have grown but
while I'm pretty pleased with my shoulders and breast getting wider/bigger, my arms could (to me) need some more size. But ok,
time and constant training will do their best, I think. Not to forget my diet of much, much chicken and lowfat curd/quark.
(btw - just for completition: I'm 7.28 inch tall and weighing 187 lbs, that is if I correctly converted 185 cm and 85 kg)

I know that heavy weighst with low reps are best suited for size increase but in the studio the physiotherapists rely on "medium" weights with
20 reps (two sets each exercise) to get my "back where it should be". And at the moment all that matters is - painfree, so I will go on
that way for the next time and speak with them in a few weeks to maybe also put an emphasis also on actual muscular size growth, too. SOme
kind of best way for both benefits. We'll see...

This isn't right. Avoid sugar but carbohydrates lead to insulin production which can make you sleepy. Protein on the other hand should make you more awake.

I've felt this in practice. I used to eat cereal for breakfast and shortly afterwards felt like going back to bed. Since I've started eating boiled eggs only, I've had heaps more energy and feel more awake.

For a while now I've been getting back in shape using the Insanity cardios after an year of inactivity. I feel like I can now hit the weights at the gym starting tomarrow using the Max-OT system. 6-9 Sets of 4-6 Reps. I bought a case of Animal Pak Universal supplements to help with those extra nutrients which my normal food intake will not provide during this serious weight training program. I also got myself a case of Glucosamine/Chondroitin for joint pain I may experience on my left knee due to a skating accident I had when I was a kid. One thing has me concerned though.

There is a report that recently came out stating that Vitamin E could potentially lead to Prostrate Cancer, especially for people who are not naturally deficient in it or take excessive amounts. The study is I believe the only one of its kind so there's not much to compare it to. The Animal Pak does contain Vitamin E (d alpha Tocopherylacetate), and was wondering if anybody else is taking it or something similar and also what do you think of the study. I don't know if I should hold off on the supplements.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/ ... VE20111011

http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2134187

Down to 326?? Who are you, The Mountain That Rides or something?

That's awesome, man. I know what that's like.



The whole 'eat-a-carb before bedtime to avoid insomnia' theory comes from the thinking that the tryptophan in carbohydrate-rich foods will stimulate serotonin secretion, making you feel relaxed and sleepy. My issue with this thinking is that compared to the relatively small amount of tryptophan found in these foods, there is a lot of carbohydrate needing to be taken in. It's not the insulin production that makes you sleepy, it's the drop in blood sugar after insulin has done its job. The drowsiness one feels shortly after a sudden drop in blood sugar isn't a good state to fall asleep for the night to, in my opinion.

Really though, it comes down to personal differences. Everyone responds differently to foods, and it's best to experiment with one's diet to find out what works best, like you did with your breakfast. That said, I and some of my family and friends that I've mentioned this to have found that eating a good piece of meat and a healthy serving of salad and garden veggies for dinner, and then having a small handful of nuts if hungry, was good for falling asleep faster and, I think importantly, staying asleep throughout the night; and since a lot people are eating a bunch of carbohydrates at dinner and before bed anyway, I figured it was worth it for the guy to try out... gobbling on some nuts.

Hahaha, no, I was not in A Song of Fire and Ice. I'm just a massive human being, man. I'm exactly two meters tall and I have a huge bone structure. Doctors have told me that my skeleton alone weighs somewhere around 77kg, which is a lot for some bones. My bones are also very thick, and wide. IF anyone in this thread has ever seen me on facebook or something, they know.

so, I could need some advice regarding nutrition, esp. protein stuff:

What kind of protein source should I use after training? I know (meaning: I read ) that it's best to use a fast
resorbing protein and not a slow-resorb. source like products with" milk protein". Those slow resorb stuff is better taken before sleeping (I read).

I don't want to use any supplement stuff - just a protein source from "actual food/drinks".

Normally I gulp down a big dose lowfat buttermilk after trainingbut it has a) only 20 grams protein and b) is milk protein and not resorbed that good.

So, what's best eaten or drunk directly after training for your protein household?

There's always chocolate milk, bananas, greek yogourt, beans chic peas, eggs, chicken, I could go one. There's tons of stuff.
here's a handy chart!

Why no suppliments? Whey protien powder is where it's at!

I'd avoid milk (especially chocolate), banana, beans (other than maybe green) since they're not very good sources of protein in comparison to how much carbs they contain. I eat a lot of cottage cheese and quark cheese (both contain zero fat and low amounts of carbohydrates), but better effects with less hassle you'll get with protein powders.

Chocolate milk and bananas are on the lower side, but they have other things helpful for muscle building/recovery. and cottage cheese definitely has fat in it.

Yes, what they both have in them is a lot of sugar. The protein content of especially bananas is negligible. Oh sure, it's more than in a lot of other fruits, but that's really not saying much since they have practically zero. The sugar carbs help a lot in recovery yeah, but it's definitely not a good source of protein. Chocolate milk... Well, I have no idea how the chocolate flavor is gotten into chocolate milk in America, but here it's got about three or four times the amount of sugar than regular milk so I'd avoid that if you're trying to get fit. Unless you're really careful about your intake and have calculated that amount of extra carbs and energy in. It depends on the cottage cheese, but the varieties sold in here vary between 0% and 2% which is pretty much a negligible amount, so yeah, some of them don't have fat in them, when it's made from skim milk. I make my own with that so unless it somehow magically appears from out of thin air, I'm pretty sure there's no fat in it.