Weight training thread

[bladder23]

So I have been on my program for a few months now and:

1) How often should I go to the bench press?

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?

Thanks!

 

[IceBergSLiM]

1 or 2 per week max same for any body part

high protein and high carb if your are trying to gain wait. Rice, pototos, pasta, chicken, fish steak buy the bucketfull. Junk food doesnt really help here.

You should allow 48 hours in between training muscle groups.

chin ups do work the biceps but especially your back and lats.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: bladder23
So I have been on my program for a few months now and:

1) How often should I go to the bench press?

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?

Thanks!

1. It depends what type of routine you are following. Some like to train low-intensity, high volume. This allows you to hit the same muscle groups more frequently. I personally prefer a high-intensity, low volume approach, and only do each movement once per week.

2. See this link:

link

3. Yes, see #1 - you can become overtrained (read: no progress or even regression) if you train the same muscle groups too hard and/or too frequently

4. They hit them indirectly

5. see the board in my sig for lots of good info

 

[Vic]

3) It's not the lifting that builds muscle, it's the rest in-between. This is pretty much my #1 rule for fitness. Figuring out your own personal optimal time periods for resting in between exercises is just as crucial as your workout routine and diet IMO. If you overtrain, you will get weaker. If you undertrain, you won't reach your goals.

 

[edro]

1) How often should I go to the bench press?
Once a week.

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?
Fatigue.

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?
Yes, but more of a back exercise.

 

[TheNinja]

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

As long as its not junk food anything he gets will help.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

I'd like to see the labs on somebody that is taking in 350 grams a day. That is some serious stress on your kidneys.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

Umm, 350-400 grams of protein is easy. My protein comes mainly from 9-10 scoops of whey and a couple lbs. of chicken. Granted this is all spread out over the course of an entire day, divided among 7 meals, but still, it's not that hard.

The biggest issue a beginner might have is getting used to the increased food intake, be it carbs, protein, or fat. Going from <2000 calories per day to 3500+ can make anyone feel about to explode until they get used to eating that much.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: bladder23
So I have been on my program for a few months now and:

1) How often should I go to the bench press?

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?

Thanks!

1. It depends what type of routine you are following. Some like to train low-intensity, high volume. This allows you to hit the same muscle groups more frequently. I personally prefer a high-intensity, low volume approach, and only do each movement once per week.

2. See this link:

link

3. Yes, see #1 - you can become overtrained (read: no progress or even regression) if you train the same muscle groups too hard and/or too frequently

4. They hit them indirectly

5. see the board in my sig for lots of good info

:thumbsup:

listen to what he says.

when i started lifting in college i hugely overtrained for like 2-3 years. i was doing each muscle group 2 times a week, going to the gym 6 days out of 7 days a week. granted i was cut as a mofo and lean as hell, i was still tiny. i weighed like 150lbs w/an 8 pack at 5'11 but i was tiny. i was stuck at the same weight (both my weight and what i was lifting) for along time.

then i learned i was overtaining, and started doing each muscle group once a week.

now like probably 4 years later from when i was doing stuff the wrong way, even taking breaks between lifting, and was off for about 4 months when I broke my ankle, i am over 200lbs and benching close to double what I was doing back then.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

I'd like to see the labs on somebody that is taking in 350 grams a day. That is some serious stress on your kidneys.

Seriously. I recall watching a documentary about bodybuilders, and they followed the daily activities of this one competition bodybuilder and he said he went through a 2 lb. container of 100% protein every 3 days. I was like :Q and that's like 300 grams per day.

 

[sash1]

1) How often should I go to the bench press?
--once per week, also maxing out every week = bad idea/pointless

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
--lotta protein, lotta food, eat like 5+ meals per day. good food, no sugars

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?
--yes

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?
--close-grip chin-ups hit biceps pretty well, but it's mostly a lat exercise, good compound though

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

I'd like to see the labs on somebody that is taking in 350 grams a day. That is some serious stress on your kidneys.

This is another common myth. If your kidneys are healthy to begin with and you are drinking plenty of water, there is nothing wrong with a high protein intake. I'll probably be getting bloodwork done within the next couple of months anyway - I'll be sure to come back here and post the results.

If you want to see some articles and the cited research supporting my claim, here is a quick link:

link

The study is cited in the article, although I don't have time to dig it up on PubMed right now.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: edro

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.
High Protein, Low Fat. 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, 20% Fat

I would normally agree but imo it does depend on your goals. If you are trying to gain and you need like 3500 calories in a day, it's nearly impossible to get 350grams of protein. I tend add a little more good fats like olive oil and such, maybe nuts and fish oils.

maybe 30/40/30

I'd like to see the labs on somebody that is taking in 350 grams a day. That is some serious stress on your kidneys.

This is another common myth. If your kidneys are healthy to begin with and you are drinking plenty of water, there is nothing wrong with a high protein intake. I'll probably be getting bloodwork done within the next couple of months anyway - I'll be sure to come back here and post the results.

If you want to see some articles and the cited research supporting my claim, here is a quick link:

link

The study is cited in the article, although I don't have time to dig it up on PubMed right now.

I'm still skeptical about the long term affect, and just about any nephrologist out there would freak out if they knew somebody was putting that much protein willingly through their system.

If are lifting for some form of vanity or personal goals of mass/strenght, then fine. But don't call it healthy.

Moderation is a wonderful thing. We weren't made to force feed ourselves 2x-3x our daily calories and 3x-5x our RDA of protein.

 

[BigPoppa]

Read/ask questions on the forums Special K has listed in his sig. Also check out www.t-nation.com. Read the articles, they have all of them archived, basically any question you have could probably be answered there. But don't just jump into some flavor of the month program. They like to mention Biotest's products pretty often, but its pretty easily glossed over. (Not that their products are bad. I take Flameout(fish oil) and ZMA daily.)

If you're a beginning/intermediate lifter like I am, I pretty strongly recommend looking up Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength routine. Heavy compounds are a favorite of mine now.

 

[bladder23]

Is this routine any good at all?

Part 1

Part 2

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: bladder23
Is this routine any good at all?

Part 1

Part 2

Yes.

 

[IGBT]

..I don't lift weights but run with weights. I use IronWear heavy hands. It's a 6 lb pair..3 pounds each that straps to your hands. 6 lb doesn't sound like much but 3 miles into a 5 mile run you'll feel like your doing an upper body work out. It also greatly increases the effort required to complete your run. It's a way of increasing effort without doing more miles.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: IGBT
..I don't lift weights but run with weights. I use IronWear heavy hands. It's a 6 lb pair..3 pounds each that straps to your hands. 6 lb doesn't sound like much but 3 miles into a 5 mile run you'll feel like your doing an upper body work out. It also greatly increases the effort required to complete you run. It's a way of increasing effort without doing more miles.

Sounds like it would be rough on your joints and back. I use to power walk with the same amount of hand weights but I found running on an Eliptical at a moderate setting was more efficient plus easier on the back and joints. I still do when I'm not around a gym but that's rare.

 

[IGBT]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: IGBT
..I don't lift weights but run with weights. I use IronWear heavy hands. It's a 6 lb pair..3 pounds each that straps to your hands. 6 lb doesn't sound like much but 3 miles into a 5 mile run you'll feel like your doing an upper body work out. It also greatly increases the effort required to complete you run. It's a way of increasing effort without doing more miles.

Sounds like it would be rough on your joints and back. I use to power walk with the same amount of hand weights but I found running on an Eliptical at a moderate setting was more efficient plus easier on the back and joints. I still do when I'm not around a gym but that's rare.

..I added the Heavy Hands about a year ago and so far no probs. I run 3 times a week aprox 5 miles each run. And on the off days I use a magnetic resistance rower. After a year wit the weights I notice upper body development I didn't have before. And my running pace is slower due to the weights. The weights make me pace my self better so I can finish the run. Running with weights is not a new idea. Old time boxers use to do it with weighted boxing gloves when the did their road work. It's not for everybody but my intent was to increase effort without adding miles. Makes for a vigorous sweat out.

 

[Britboy]

1) How often should I go to the bench press?

Once a week

2) what kind of food should I be eating? Right now i am eating everything almost everything in sight to gain weight.

Plenty of protein, complex carbs, fruit and veg, lots of water, plus MRP and protein shakes if you want

3) Are there negative consequences of training the same muscles for consecutive days?

Yes, it is pointless and will hinder your progress

4) Are chin-ups a good bicep exercise?

Yes, excellent