did some grappling this morning for the first time in 8 months or so. mounts, escaping the mount, takedowns, stopping the takedown, etc. all while trying to put on various submissions.

3x 3 min rounds, 3 min break, than 3x 3 min rounds (had a group of 6 of us with 3 mats today) before a final 3x 3 min round. it reminded me that no matter how good you think your cardio is, grappling will test you to the utmost.

glad i have tomorrow off to rest as every body part from my ankles up to my chin is extremely sore - i expect tomorrow to be much worse.

I used to work out regularly. 4 times a week, every week. I went to school at the time, and I usually just went to work out straight after school. This kept me motivated, but then the summer came, and I finished school. I'm the sort of person that really needs a reason to get up in the morning, otherwise I'll just sleep till I wake up. And I can sleep forever, like 10-15 hours easily. I know, it's stupid as hell, and honestly it's annoying as fuck. I didn't really pack on any weight or a lot of muscle when I worked out either, which was also pretty demotivating. I did increase my strength a lot though, but it didn't show as much.

However, lately I've been considering getting back into working out. I need more income though, working out is expensive as hell if you wanna do it properly. Shakes, proper diet, gym membership are extremely expensive, at least where I live. I also want to start biking, so I need to buy a bicycle aswell.

I'm around 1.85m and weigh about 80kg atm. Not a bad weight for my heigth, but that doesn't necessarily equal a good body. Not working out at all, and generally having a shitty life style has cost me my flat stomach.

My goals would be getting rid of my stomach fat, not necessarily getting a six-pack, because god knows how hard that is, especially if you're not skinny. I'll probably focus on my arms a lot, training my biceps and triceps. I'm not a big fan of bicep workouts, but I love working on the triceps, and the pec workout you get in the process is a huge bonus.

Has anyone got some good tips regarding a good, but fairly cheap diet? I'm gonna focus a lot on getting enough protein, and a healthy dose of carbs. I'm definitely going to get a protein shake, and maybe a weight gain shake aswell, for the healthy carbs. I'm considering creatine aswell, it's not expensive at all in powder form, and apparently very effective. I'd also welcome a good excercise plan. If, or when I start working out again, the muscles below the waist isn't a huge concern. If I start riding a bicycle a lot, that's enough practice anyway combined with a good amount of protein.

And Musick, I wasn't just spouting off bs/misinformation. for some people it does work wonders, but those people are, in most cases already skinny. It's not a good idea for people with a lot of excess body fat to take it because of the water storage. I'm saying it from research/ personal expirience

Well yea, endurance/strength. I want usefulness, not something to going showing off.

Finally started exercising again. Went to the gym two days ago and decided I needed to up the weights because I was kind of on a plateau. I went from 25 pounds to 30 on the bicep curls, and increased the weight on a few other exercises too. I went snowboarding for a long time yesterday, which I think is the best exercise because it is so fun it doesn't even feel like exercise.

2 30 pound dumbells or 30 pounds on a curling bar?

@snakehead. I'm in no way an expert but what I do know is that you get strength (not bigger size!) by many reps with little weights. If you want to get bigger muscles you need to too heavy weights with less reps. In your case maybe instead of doing 50x3lbs, do 20x6lbs or better 10x15lbs (see what I mean?)

I, too, have some questions to the more prof. guys around:
just a thing about the "diet issue": regardless what I've done physically (swimming, running or some weight stuff) after the training i just crave for carbs, mostly in form of something sugarstuff like chocolate or whatever. I don't always eat them then but I the hunger for them is very strong. Is there some way to avoid this?
It just feels like my body tells me to "fill him up with carbs" after training. I know proteins would be much better but even if I eat, say, tuna and/or yoghurt/quark/curd in big amounts, I'm still being told "C'mon give me some sweets". Any ideas what to do?

Another thing. I started swimming about half a year ago as my doc told me it will be good for my back with which I had some painful issues in the past (f..ing office job). It surely works and I'm nearly painfree since then. However I still like to do some weight exercises but always tell me not to put up too much weight because I'm afraid a too heavy load will cause pain again. but in that way my muscles won't get any bigger. Any ideas for this, too?

@snakehead. I'm in no way an expert but what I do know is that you get strength (not bigger size!) by many reps with little weights. If you want to get bigger muscles you need to too heavy weights with less reps. In your case maybe instead of doing 50x3lbs, do 20x6lbs or better 10x15lbs (see what I mean?)

I've never really done any working out (other than the ridiculous assessments we were subjected to in PE class), and I'm thinking of trying it a bit. I'm 20, 5'6, and about 120 pounds; I'm a real thin guy. I don't plan on getting extremely buff and I probably won't have time to go to a gym due to college, but I'd like to give my flabby arms a little muscle.
I've been doing 50 bicep curls with 3 pound dumbells daily. I don't know if that will do much, but I'd appreciate any input.