Bodybuilding Forums

I've come to believe that diet is the biggest factor in being healthy. If you could increase the amount of whole vegetables and meat you eat, you will see a difference in the way you look and feel.

Chris31 wrote:When i am by myself i seem to think i am not doing enough, How do i know how many reps to do, How much weight to lift? How do i know i am pushing myself to the max?

I struggle with this myself. Keeping a log during my workouts have helped tremendously. I can now compete w/ myself. I strive to do better with each set. It's a good feeling to look at my sheet and see the gains that I've made from week to week. But even if I don't make gains, I'm sure that I'm pushing myself with each rep.

redgiki wrote:Also, download Mark's free e-book, "Total Anabolism", available at http://www.musclehack.com/ . This will give you some of the understanding you lack for how to put on muscle while reducing body fat.

--Matt B.

This is probably the best starting point for you. Check out the ebook and do some reading on Mark's site. He's got plenty of how-to articles and videos to answers many of the questions that you have.

vrsandersjr wrote:I've come to believe that diet is the biggest factor in being healthy. If you could increase the amount of whole vegetables and meat you eat, you will see a difference in the way you look and feel.

We're trying to work around the fact that chewing much is really hurting him right now. That's why I was trying to encourage the peanut butter, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. as good ways to increase the protein.

Chris, do you think you could try some of the Greek yogurt for breakfast with some thawed frozen blueberries stirred in? They'll be pretty mushy, they're fairly low carb if you get the unsweetened kind, and they will give you a vitamin and antioxidant boost that you're not getting now since you're not eating vegetables.

Can you think of any vegetables at all that would be possible for you to eat, like maybe vegetable soup even?

I downloaded that book. I have read a little bit of it, I need to read some more of it. On thing that worries me is i am thinking of buying another weight set. In the book it talks about lifting to forget the exact teminoligy, Positive fail maybe? When you just cant seem to lift the weight one more time with a spoter. Well i dont think i can do that. I can only imagine bench pressing and not being able to lift that barbell off me. It doesnt sound to pleasent with as heavy as it would be + the fact that when you reach that point it will be just imposible to lift.

I will try the yogert thing, I used to eat yogert years back, so its nothing that i think taste nasty or anything. As far as vegtibles, I pretty much like them all. Ate some sqaush last night. I just cooked it till it melted in my mouth lol. Most vegtibles are eatble. They are all fairly soft after i get done cooking them. I dont see a problem with starting to eat more of them. To tell you the truth i prety much prefer them over meat. lol Strange to hear some one say i guess, But they were always best part of the meals.

I do have a question about workin out with weights. How do you know how much weight to lift? Do you toss on their whatever feels comfortable and start lifting? Say you toss on so much weight you can only lift 6 times? That cant be right huh? Do you start with a certain amount of weight that you can lift a certain amount of times, then increese it as you go tring to lift it more times? Not sure how that works.

Thanx again for all yalls help. I apreciate the fact that their are people out there that dont mind helping people.

Ah, then start trying to get in a couple of cups of vegetables a day! Don't count corn, potatoes or carrots. Or beans/peas, really. Those are really grains/starch/sugar. Squashes are nice, as are leafy things, peppers, mushrooms, a little onion, asparagus, artichokes... Agghhhh... now I'm drooling!

Don't worry about positive failure at the moment. Just do what you can with what you have and while you're doing that, read through the e-book. Things will clear up as you read it over again.

Start with a weight you know you can lift, and try to do a set of 8-12. If it was too easy, add more weight until your next set. If it was too hard, take some off. Within a few workouts you'll find the weight that is challenging for you but not impossible. Then you start working up to finishing sets of 12 at that weight, and then you can think about adding the next increment of weight.

Don't worry about doing this all perfectly. Whatever you do will be an improvement, as long as you don't let your super-competitive spirit force you into doing something you're not ready for and you injure yourself. Nobody was ever harmed for going slowly in the beginning. Once you've established the ability to listen to your body, then you will be able to push the envelope a little and start thinking about the most efficient gains. Patience, grasshopper!

marochka_raduga wrote: Patience, grasshopper!

That is a virtue i never had. lol Need to learn it though. I will start eating the vegtibles and other things you have mentioned. Biggest think in my town is a wallmart and it isnt even a supper wallmart. lol I will order that whey off th web in a couple days. Kinda living check to check at the moment. been off work for two days cuz an abscess. Not to good to be out in the heat sweeting down with one of them.

Thanx again so much for your help. Dont think i wouldve ever got back into this and tring to better my health and whatnot with out your advice.

I've been to some small town WalMarts here in Texas before (eerily comforting to find one when there's nothing else at all to be had!), so I wouldn't count them out without looking around first. A lot of guys here get stuff from their local Wally World, so you might want to shop around and maybe ask in the pharmacy aisle (or at the counter if they have a pharmacy) if they have some protein powder (try to get one without sugar). You can probably get something to try for not too much money if you get a small container, that way you don't waste money investing in something you don't like or that makes you feel yucky (whey protein concentrate instead of whey protein ISOLATE sometimes has that effect).

I'm so curious about what your job is that you're so active. In my head, you're like a beer delivery driver or maybe a furniture mover. I sit at a desk in the basement all day. Everything has its downsides, though. It's so sedentary that I have to purposely spend hours in the gym every week just to get enough exercise, and because there are no windows, I even have to have a special light at my desk to ensure I get enough Vitamin D and help control seasonal depression.

Sorry to hear that you're off work right now, but you need to avoid making it worse, I'm sure! Hope you feel better soon. It's great to put a face to the name. I am glad that you came here and are taking steps to a healthier you.

lol i work at Recycle/Tire shop. We deal with thousands of pounds of recycle. We have fork lifts and all, But the couple hundred pounds need to be carried to the back of the shop and poured into the 2k-4k boxes. On the tire side we deal with lol 12inch rims to 22 inch crome rims. To hundred pound tractor tires. RV tires and whatnot. It is non stop all day long running from the back to fron of that shop carrying things. Constantly dead lifting the tractor tires off the ground to stand them up. Carrying cans of copper brass tires and whatnot. Holding them out to my sides and whatnot. Can really feel my stablizer muscles working.
lol Befroe we got the fork lifts. We would set a ramp on the back of the flat bed truck. Get a little running start and push 50 gallon drums up on it. Used to EVERYTHING manualy. We have upgraded a ton since then, But it is still a hell of a work out through out the day.
Trust me i wish i was beer truck driver or furniture mover. lol Those jobs would be soooooooo much less demanding than this one. lol

If you are not used to protien intake. Does going from prety none to having alot mess your bady? I felt kind of weird yesterday. Wasnt bad or anything, Just kind of weird. lol

Chris31 wrote:If you are not used to protien intake. Does going from prety none to having alot mess your bady? I felt kind of weird yesterday. Wasnt bad or anything, Just kind of weird. lol

Take a week or two to ramp it up. Also, you need to increase your fluid intake. Any time you make a major change like this it pays to do it gradually. It took me a month to get off caffeine.

Your job sounds like what my husband and our best friend do for "fun". They have a bunch of tractor tires that they drag on harnesses, pull on ropes, flip end over end and so forth. And my husband is a smallish guy who basically has a desk job and still has to eat way more than you've been eating. I just feel so much sympathy for you right now... Your poor body's got to be in shock from all that you demand of it on so little fuel! I'm betting that you're going to feel a lot less run-down once you start feeding your body a little better. You'll probably put on muscle too, but if it was me, that would be secondary to experiencing a dramatic increase in overall health.

Yea i hope it does. When i was around 20 i was able to pick up the back end of my truck off the ground. I dont know what has happened to me now. I just feel alot weaker than i used to be, But then again i was with a couple friends that said i couldnt do it too. Didnt really think about it just did it. lol I was eating good home cooked meals 3 or 4 times a day too though. Maybe that had a little something to do with it.

They have the iron rim on them and everything? Or do they just flip the tires by themself? Whats really fun is when these old guys bring in the tractor tires with water in them, As if the rim and tire isnt heavy enough, They wanna add water to it at 8 or so pounds a gallon. Forget what it weighs a gallon, But it dang sure isnt light added with the rest of it. lol

No, just the tires themselves. I can't remember how much the big one weighs, but it didn't quite fit in the bed of a big Dodge truck. They judo throw them too, so I'm thinking if they still had the rims that would hurt a lot!

I keep aquaria at my house, so yes, water weighs 8 pounds per gallon, I am certain. That's really kind of inconsiderate of them to bring them to you full of water!