Hi, im thinking of working out and achieving a somewhat lean and strong body. With well defined muscles to boot. So i have a list of questions to ask because although i asked some body builders online about diet and body related questions im left a little suspicious of their reliability. They seem to misguiding me.
Anyway here are some things i would like to know, can anyone give me a “real” answer?
How much time does my muscle need to “recover”, considering I’m an average person that visits the gym on a regular basis and does 4 sets of exercises for a single body part once every week. Each set is about 8-10 reps of my maximum weight and i visit the gym 3-4 times a week to train every part of my body.
I get cramps on my calves “alot” and its only my calves. Am i lacking anything in my diet?
I have weird looking abs. The right side is higher than the left. Is there anything I can do to straighten them without injurying myself? Alot of body builders say its impossible because thats my natural body structure and there’s nothing i can do to improve it. really?!
I want to be able to jump higher. Yes my dream is to slam dunk at least once. Is there any gym exercise to boost my jumping skills?
Sometimes when i train i get tired and i rest for 10 mins before training again… Someone told me once my body cools down, there is no point is training anymore. Infact training more will result in smaller muscles. WTF?!
What is good for body recovery, i mean “really”. I hear all kinds of crap and im not sure what to believe anymore. Someone even told me to smoke a fag, but i think he was kidding albiet the seriousness.
Im taking weight gainers and i sometimes i have dairreah. Im told that i have hit my maximum absorbtion so im just passing out the extras… For real?! Should i cut back?
Another guy says training in the night is less effective. He didn’t explain why. Im expected to just take his word for it.
pls could someone cure my ignorance? i would really appreciate some concrete tips. Cecil save me!! argh…
Disclaimer: I’m not a professional trainer, bodybuilder or doctor, so don’t take this as gospel. I’m just an average joe who likes to hit the gym before work and is pleased with the results.
I try to do a two-day alternation, doing upper body one day, then legs the next, with back and abs every day. According to what my coaches told me in school, you should give your muscles at least 24 hours to recover, especially if you’re lifting to build bulk.
I can’t think of any dietary problem that would cause this, but there may be. I have heard that dehydration can cause muscle cramps, so maybe making sure you’re getting enough water as you work out might help. Do you do any jogging? I try to do at least a couple of kilometers after lifting, and it could help build more endurance in your calves.
No idea. You might want to talk to a trainer (or even an orthopedic specialist) to see if maybe there’s something you’re doing that’s causing this imbalance.
Stand with a barbell over your shoulders, as you would for doing squats, and raise yourself up on your toes. Try to do about 30 reps of these. If you’re using machines, then you can use the leg press machine for this one.
Sounds like BS to me. Letting your muscles get too cold might increase the chance of injury, but I don’t see how taking a rest break would otherwise hurt.
I don’t know of anything other than letting your muscles rest and eating nutritiously between workouts. Making sure you stay hydrated couldn’t hurt, either.
Could be. One of my old co-workers used to drink protein mixes every day when he was working out, and it gave him gas bad enough to stink out the whole office. I don’t know if it has anything to do with absorption limits, though.
I doubt it. If it is true, then the difference is probably small enough only to make a difference to a hardcore professional.
For full recovery, you’ll probably need about 3 days. That varies based on individual factors and how much damage you’ve done.
Water. Calves are high on the list of muscles that’ll cramp up if you’re not drinking enough.
Odds are you’re stuck with it. If you’re concerned, talk to a doctor.
Squats. Jumping height is mostly a function of leg strength.
10 minutes is a little longer than I’ve ever seen, but it’s not unusual to see rest periods of 4-5 minutes. You’re probably OK.
I’ll hit you up in more detail later.
A lot of weightgainers are sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I can see where that might cause you to have diarrhea.
Seriously, the absolute hardest part of bodybuilding is eating enough food to grow. There are a bunch of shortcuts out there, but none of them work really well. Eat real food, and you’ll get the results you want much faster.
btw, a decent protein powder does count as real food, but it shouldn’t be the staple of your diet.
There’ve been some studies that show this, but it’s not a really significant effect. As long as you’re making progress and sleeping OK, you should be fine.
I am not a professional. I have been lifting for more than twenty-five years, read very widely in the area of exercise physiology (everything from Weider’s BS to professional journals), and am not shy about giving my opinion. FWIW.
On average, you need about 36-48 hours between workouts for a body part to recover. Lower back takes longer, so if you are deadlifting or doing power cleans or something similar, twice a week is probably plenty.
I would expect that working every part once per week is not enough. I would recommend three days a week, working your whole body, and some kind of active rest (gentle walking or equivalent level of exertion) between workout days. 4 sets of 8 is a good basic routine.
Probably not. Try stretching your calves gently for 10-30 seconds at least an hour after working them. Stand on a stair with your heels off the edge and lower yourself almost to discomfort (almost) and hold that position.
Really. There is nothing you can do to change the shape of a muscle, which is genetically pre-determined. You can make muscles bigger, but you can neither spot-reduce fat, nor only work one part of a muscle. Sorry.
You can try plyometrics, but they are very hard on the knees.
The only exercise I would cautiously recommend is jumping squats. After you have built a base of strength with normal squats for at least six months, you take a sub-maximal weight, squat as normal, and then explode upwards and jump a little off the floor at the end. An inch or so is plenty. You need perfect form on every rep of every set. If it hurts, STOP.
This is just BS. Paul Anderson, the strongest man who ever lived, used to rest twenty or thirty minutes between squat sets. You may want to consider active rest between sets (walking around instead of sitting down to recover) but this will not affect muscle growth. You will not get aerobic benefit if you rest until your heart rate returns to normal, but circuit training is the only form of weight training that will give aerobic benefits, so no worries.
Rest and fluids, mostly water, is good for body recovery. Nothing else works, and there is not much that can be done to speed up recovery (apart from anabolic steroids, which can affect nitrogen metabolism). I recommend that you do not use steroids.
Yes, you should cut back. Most supplements are a waste of money anyway. Overloading on protein does not improve muscle growth, especially since you are simply digesting the proteins for calories, which is an inefficient way to metabolize.
Eat a normally healthy diet. Take a generic multi-vitamin supplement if you feel you must. An extra glass of skim milk, or a cup or so of skimmed yogurt, will supply all the protein you need for muscle-building.
Supplements are a scam. You don’t need them. Usually all you are doing is vitamin-fortifying your urine.
It depends on you. Any schedule that you can stick to consistently enough to benefit from is a good schedule. If training at night fits into the rest of your schedule of work/school/family/whatever, go for it.
The secret to successful weight training is “short, intense bouts of near-maximal exertion, followed by completely adequate rest periods”. Resist the temptation to add “shaping” exercises or assistance work. Go to the gym, hit it hard, and then go home.
Set realistic and measurable goals, and re-evaluate periodically to see if you are reaching those goals. If it doesn’t work, don’t do it.
And believe half of what you see, a tenth of what you read, and nothing of what you hear. Even over the Internet.
Re. Muscle cramps: 1. Drink water BEFORE and during your workout. You may also want to try a sports drink (Gatorade) because a deficiency in electrolytes (potassium, magnesium, calcium) will also contribute to cramping 3. Stretch (a wall stretch is good)
Re. Time for recovery: Too much is better than too little. I remember when I use to work out intensely, my biggest gains were when I had to skip a workout or two for some reason.
You’ll need power movements for jumping. Like Shodan says, you’ll need a decent strength base and perfect form. Before jumping squats, which might be a bit much, at least try doing fast explosive movements during the positive movement (standing up).
Well thanks alot for the advice, but i still have a few more questions if you’d bare with me.
Will smoking affect muscle growth tremendously? Or is it ignorable.
And i have a contreversy going on among my friends, some say carbo is the fastest way to build mass and some say protein. which isit? both?
I’ve also heard a term called hard gainers. Its suppose to mean that some people have difficulty growing no matter what they take or how much they train. Is this true?
It’ll fuck up your heart and lungs for damn sure. There are so many good reasons to stop smoking, so why would you worry about its impact on muscle growth?
Protein is the key, but carbs are important too. And you should eat fat as well.
Most people who have trouble gaining aren’t eating enough to support muscle growth.
How much time does my muscle need to “recover”, considering I’m an average person that visits the gym on a regular basis and does 4 sets of exercises for a single body part once every week. Each set is about 8-10 reps of my maximum weight and i visit the gym 3-4 times a week to train every part of my body.
depending on intenisty of your workout about 3 - 5 days.
I get cramps on my calves “alot” and its only my calves. Am i lacking anything in my diet?
i dont lack anything in my diet and i get cramps in most of my muscles after working out.
I have weird looking abs. The right side is higher than the left. Is there anything I can do to straighten them without injurying myself? Alot of body builders say its impossible because thats my natural body structure and there’s nothing i can do to improve it. really?!
many professional bodybuilders also have weird abs like you.
I want to be able to jump higher. Yes my dream is to slam dunk at least once. Is there any gym exercise to boost my jumping skills?
you would need to work on your speed, not just strength there. bodybuilding exercises do not work on speed.
Sometimes when i train i get tired and i rest for 10 mins before training again… Someone told me once my body cools down, there is no point is training anymore. Infact training more will result in smaller muscles. WTF?!
sounds like bullshit. but there is no reason you should stop and rest for 10 minutes either, thats kinda stupid, nobody does that.
What is good for body recovery, i mean “really”. I hear all kinds of crap and im not sure what to believe anymore. Someone even told me to smoke a fag, but i think he was kidding albiet the seriousness.
eat and sleep. a carb+protein drink post workout could help. but more importantly eat 6 - 7 meals a day and each meal should have at least 30 grams protein.
Im taking weight gainers and i sometimes i have dairreah. Im told that i have hit my maximum absorbtion so im just passing out the extras… For real?! Should i cut back?
fuck weight gainers. they have simple sugars. the only time you should take simple sugars is immediately post workout. a weight gainer shake post-workout is a good idea, but don’t use it at any other time.
Another guy says training in the night is less effective. He didn’t explain why. Im expected to just take his word for it.
doesn’t matter. train whenever you have more energy.
as for diarrhea from weight gainer, well you may get a little nauseous from the simple sugars in it, or you may have stomach problems from the lactose in whey protein.
are you lactose intolerant ?
if so you might need to either use Egg protein or whey ISOLATE ones such as ISOPURE which have much less lactose than regular whey protein.
really?!