Fitness/weight/bodyshape goals

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

after reading Toadstool's last post, I have to say, now I'm motivated to do the splits as well. I have no idea how long this will take, but it's definitely worth adding to my list.

Good luck! If you need any tips, send me a message. I've done some reading on flexibility

[Austin1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Austin1]

Kickinthemebs, what type of split are you doing? You said you were working out 5 days a week, what muscles do you work each day of the week? I found going for a walk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is prob. one of the best ways of cardio exercises along with HIT training and circuit training. Your diet sounds good. High protein, high fat, and low carb is the best diet for cutting. Make sure you're counting your macronutrients as well. That is key to losing fat. Continue to focus on your strength training this will help you keep the muscle you have while losing fat. If your strength starts to go down you'll know you're losing muscle. There's no point in cutting weight and losing all your muscle along with fat. It's normal to lose some muscle when cutting but the goal is to keep as much of it as possible. You stated that you don't do high reps. I'd start doing them after your strength training. After you do your low reps do high reps 10 -12. Even power lifters use high volume for strength. Use the progressive overload method try to add 2.5lbs to your lifts each week. Some weeks you might feel weaker and more depleted then you felt before. This is because your body isn't used to being in a caloric deficit which is completely normal. That's why taking a deload week is necessary. Your goals are definitely attainable. I'd say if you work hard you might be where you want before September. Good luck.

''Successful people do what they have to do regardless of what they feel.''

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Stand up
arch back
descend into bridge
hold for a couple of seconds
come back up into starting position

Ah different bridge.

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

Ah different bridge.

Well? What did you think?

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

Wrestlers bridge.

[kickinthemebs Senior Member Member of the Month Feb 2014 Find all posts View Profile Close kickinthemebs]

Cool thanks for the help mate. Okay, will try to pin down what we do in the gym here:

Monday
1. Bench-press: 70 kg x 8 reps warm-up, 3 sets of 105 kg (1-3 reps), 1 set of 90 kg (rep out).
2. Incline Bench-press: 3 sets x 70/80 kg (8 reps).
3. Pull-ups and push-ups supersets to failure x 3 sets.

Tuesday
HIIT Training (we call it "the 500" for short). This routine is performed as fast as we can with little to no rest breaks in-between exercises. I am gradually getting fitter and fitter with this routine and have been able to perform 3 sets of this routine so far. 1 set looks like:
10 pull-ups
20 goblet squats - 20kg
20 ballistic push-ups side-to-side on a small box
15 ballistic push-ups side-to-side on a small box
10 squat and press with 12 kg dumbbells
5 squat and press with 12 kg dumbbells
10 dumbbell rows with both arms - 30 kg dumbbells
10 squat jumps
10 dumbbell rows with both arms - 30 kg dumbbells
20 rapid ab crunches
*Faint afterwards

Wednesday
1. Dumbbell shoulder press - 30 kg warm-up (8-10), 36kg (8-10), 40 kg x 3 sets (6-8 reps), 30 kg (rep out)
2. Pull-ups and push-ups supersets to failure x 3 sets.

Thursday
1. SQUATS (all in the 6-8 rep range): 80 kg, 100 kg, 120 kg, 140 kg x 3 sets, 120 kg, 100 kg, 80 kg. (Pyramid sets).
2. Pull-ups and push-ups supersets to failure x 3 sets.

Friday
1. Bench-press: 70 kg x 8 reps warm-up, 3 sets of 105 kg (1-3 reps), 1 set of 90 kg (rep out).
2. Dumbbell incline press: 38 kg dumbbells x 3 sets (8-12 reps)
3. Decline dumbbell press: 34 kg dumbbells x 3 sets (8-12 reps)
4. Pull-ups and push-ups supersets to failure x 3 sets.

**With the above routine, those are our current lifting weights and reps, we try to increase most of the weights ever couple of weeks, depending on the ease of exercises and so forth. This pattern seems to work for us best, as most of us have a lot of strength-training experience between us and we have finely tuned our workout over the years to fit everything we want.

Kickinthemebs, what type of split are you doing? You said you were working out 5 days a week, what muscles do you work each day of the week? I found going for a walk first thing in the morning on an empty stomach is prob. one of the best ways of cardio exercises along with HIT training and circuit training. Your diet sounds good. High protein, high fat, and low carb is the best diet for cutting. Make sure you're counting your macronutrients as well. That is key to losing fat. Continue to focus on your strength training this will help you keep the muscle you have while losing fat. If your strength starts to go down you'll know you're losing muscle. There's no point in cutting weight and losing all your muscle along with fat. It's normal to lose some muscle when cutting but the goal is to keep as much of it as possible. You stated that you don't do high reps. I'd start doing them after your strength training. After you do your low reps do high reps 10 -12. Even power lifters use high volume for strength. Use the progressive overload method try to add 2.5lbs to your lifts each week. Some weeks you might feel weaker and more depleted then you felt before. This is because your body isn't used to being in a caloric deficit which is completely normal. That's why taking a deload week is necessary. Your goals are definitely attainable. I'd say if you work hard you might be where you want before September. Good luck.

''Successful people do what they have to do regardless of what they feel.''

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

Wrestlers bridge.

Wow man, you're a fountain of information. Thank you, youtube. smh

[WIItard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WIItard]

405 lbs squat? Wow, well done, and I thought I was making progress haha.

I am actually the opposite, trying to not let my legs get any bigger than what they are, because I can't fit into most of my jeans' legs as it is. Ever have that problem? They don't design jeans for squatters!

I never had a problem and I got up to about 450 on squats at one time. I've always had a problem (not really a problem) with my legs being very strong yet skinny. Some how I just get dense muscle on my legs. Right now I'm doing squats at 135 lbs and reping it out to try and build mass. 5 sets, 15 reps.

[WIItard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WIItard]

Got one for you Toadstool. Try to do this, impressive looking in the gym. LOL.
Do a pull up, rotate your legs up and straight out parallel to the floor while holding the pull up. Whole body is now parallel to the floor. If you can do that, next step is to start a wave going from your chest going all the way down to your toes. Make sense??? ~~~~~

[Toadstool Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toadstool]

Got one for you Toadstool. Try to do this, impressive looking in the gym. LOL.
Do a pull up, rotate your legs up and straight out parallel to the floor while holding the pull up. Whole body is now parallel to the floor. If you can do that, next step is to start a wave going from your chest going all the way down to your toes. Make sense??? ~~~~~

Do you have a video?

[camaro Senior Member Member of the month June 2013 Find all posts View Profile Close camaro]

Is he talking about a plank when he says parallel to the ground? As in plank but arms on the bar?

[camaro Senior Member Member of the month June 2013 Find all posts View Profile Close camaro]

I think girls can do the stand to stand more easily than guys for some reason.

[Austin1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Austin1]

I think what he's talking about is a front lever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Comh-e4MaI

[GoingForGold Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GoingForGold]

I hope to increase overall fitness with a focus on both upper body strength/form and lower body/core/cardio endurance/form/strength. Form is muscle memory relating to coordinated movements like punches, kicks, jumps and lifts with weights.

I currently put 230lb on a balance-supported bar and bench it once all the way down(90 degree elbows) and up. I want to be able to do 270lb. I can do a comparable weight with worse form on a free bar, but the gym I use most frequently doesn't have free bars.

I also want to be able to jump higher by a couple inches at least. This will be the same as getting my knuckle to the ceiling which I can currently get my fingertip to..

I plan to gain about 5 lbs in this period which will take me to 175lb at 5'9". That will make my benching goal easier and my jumping goal harder.

I will also keep running my 2 miles faster during this time, biking back and forth from school, and hiking faster to mountain peaks to continue improving my cardiovascular ability. I hope to run my 2 miles about 30 seconds faster from my current pace which I think is around 13 minutes, but I use my place in a song on a playlist that I run to every time to track my progress, so I'm not sure.

Why this goal? I believe in overall fitness for the continuance of a healthy, pain-free life; long past my current age of 23.

When do you hope to achieve it by? Same as you, September.

What is your experience/is your goal realistic? I has similar progress last summer; so yes, quite realistic if I don't experience diminishing returns.

Do you think you will achieve it? Yes, but if I don't, no biggie. I may have more pertinent goals this summer coming up. Like school and growing stuff(like my dick).

Any obstacles that you will have to overcome to stop you reaching these goals? Pretty much outlined in the above answer. Not so sure right now, wish I had better foresight.

And if so, how are you planning to achieve these goals? By recognizing that I will have more energy to fuel my other goals by being vigilant in this one.

What will you diet be like? I will copy and paste my grocery list from last summer. Yours looks great, by the way. Maybe some more fruit. You have no fruit on your list
Salmon - Eggs - Milk - Ground Beef - Pork Sausage - Chicken
Citrus - Plums - Cantaloupe - Bananas - Avocado - Carrots
Peppers(hot, etc.) - Tomatillos - Spinach - Lettuce - Onions
Olives - Cheese - Sandwich Cuts - Bread - Crackers - Popcorn
Black&Red Beans - Mixed Nuts - Sunflower Seeds -Grain(Quinoa?)
Funyuns - Tortilla Chips - Beer
I have plenty of oatmeal, tuna, rice and pasta as well as tomatoes, tomato sauce, salsa, chili beans, garlic and ginger.
Plenty of condiments and spices and oil/butter and vinegar too

What will your fitness regime be like? Pretty much answered in the background.

Will you take supplement? Just sunshine and mountain air.

[kickinthemebs Senior Member Member of the Month Feb 2014 Find all posts View Profile Close kickinthemebs]

Do you do really deep squat-jumps? I have noticed even in two or three weeks of doing them as part of that HIIT routine, I can jump WAY higher than what I used to be able to do. Really get some great height with them. Your diet looks great too, very clean

I also want to be able to jump higher by a couple inches at least. This will be the same as getting my knuckle to the ceiling which I can currently get my fingertip to..