Bodybuilding Forums

I've considered getting a couple big tires to throw and flip around in the yard. I've seen a bunch of UFC guys doing it and it looked like an interesting way to get some exercise.

More power to you Chris. I don't think I could do it every day as a job.

Yeah, I think if he gets his food stabilized at an adequate intake he's gonna turn out to be a beast, with no gym time required!

Gidday, In your position, I would buy a large, wide necked thermos, the type with the large screw on lid (easy to clean). Every day I would make a mix of at least half a dozen eggs, milk, and at least a couple of table spoons of cream, and some ice cubes. Just shake it up until mixed. Or you could add berries and mix it with a hand blender. Then the idea is to have it with you, so that you can sip it throughout the day between meals... every hour is best. That means you have a constant trickle of easily digestable proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. It creates an ideal anabolic/thriving environment. Vitamin B (water soluble) throughout the day, in that form (eggs), is especially excellent for well being, repair. As well I would take 3 grams of vitamin C spread out through the day. I did that with about a dozen eggs (around 20 eggs total daily, plus steaks, fish, cheese, butter, etc) and used half cream, half milk, for well over 10 years. At present, I eat around 10 eggs a day, sometimes 14 or so, depending on how much activity I am doing. I put on heaps of muscle, and my health was/is awesome. I'm 53 now. Most people are wrongly terrified of eggs, and fat. I'm supposed to be dead 50 times over. Instead, people think I'm much, much younger than my age, and an athlete. I laugh to myself when I hear about chucking the yokes out. Big mistake, all that beneficial goodness, and the key to the white's usability down the drain.
Refined and too many carbs for minimum nutrients are the big problem. And mutated fats. The modern, contemporary carb foods bear little resemblance to what we are designed to eat. Neither do the fats most people eat. They've all been radically, radically modified. Humans never had anything like them for most of the time we've existed.
Anyway, thats the blunt reality of what I've found from experience. I learned it from a guy named Rheo Blair, who had amasing results with muscle growth, recovery, and healing/well being. Other guys who experimented with it found the same thing.
I know what it sounds like, I learned about it in the midst of the cholesterol terror era, and was very sceptical. But, the guy had amasing results, so, I gave it a try. My health and vitality literally exploded. Before that I was eating organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat, etc etc. Rheo Blair was the first to advocate regular smaller feedings, 12 daily if a real hardgainer. I built up from around 100lbs at 6' to 225 lbs at 6', whilst playing national level sport and maintaining a huge training and activity load. it used to absolutely dumbfound people, and I trained with many top athletes and coaches. Honestly, people would ask me what my secret was, even how I got so lean, and when I told them about the diet... hilarious. The only fruit and vegetables I had were green tipped bananas (floating in bowls of cream), and the odd sweet potato. Maybe an apple or orange here and there, and a few nuts and grains (buckwheat, oats), but pretty rare.
It taught me so much. There I was with absolutely irrefutable results. One top, visiting American coach described me as pound for pound one of the hardest, strongest athletes he'd seen, and then absolutely, utterly freaked on hearing my diet. I used to love getting blood tests, and then asking the dumbfounded experts and doctors for their explanation. I used to train regularly at the leading 'Sports Science' facilities, and watch the 'Sport's Scientists' endlessly struggle with the facts before them. It taught me that there is always much amasing stuff to learn, from amasing people, and the power of an open mind.
Anyway, that's what I'd do in your situation.

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLib ... H0803d.pdf

I have put on 8lb in last 2 weeks just hoping it isn't fat. lol
I do have a question though. I rolled a car years back like 9 times with out a seatbelt. I messed up my back and neck. I take soma muscle relazers every now and then for my muscle spasms and what not. Will those hinder what I am tring to do?

I shouldn't worry, even if it is fat. There may be an adjustment period, but gaining a little fat is no excuse for abandoning a more nutritious diet!
The muscle relaxers should be fine. My DH had to take them at one point too while he was training for Highland games and got a bad spasm in his neck. Make sure you're not doing anything physically to aggravate the condition (don't overwork one side-- I know I can't say for you to lay off physical labor, for heaven's sake!) and get extra sleep when you have to take one, because your body's telling you it needs some time to repair.

I'm glad you checked in; I was wondering how you were doing!

Chris31 wrote:I have put on 8lb in last 2 weeks just hoping it isn't fat. lol
I do have a question though. I rolled a car years back like 9 times with out a seatbelt. I messed up my back and neck. I take soma muscle relazers every now and then for my muscle spasms and what not. Will those hinder what I am tring to do?

Hey

I had a spine injury in September last year (broke a vertebra) and was out of the gym for 6 months. My physio gave me some good exercises to do which help lengthen the muscles in the back: stretching twice a day is a great start. I also did some pilates classes which may or may not interest you: I got excellent results from those but they're not for everyone that's for sure. Pilates really, really sorted my back out and I highly recommend it. When it came to going back to the gym I took it really easy for 6 weeks, doing just a few sets of light weights. The idea behind this was to test the strength of my back VERY gently, because if you load up a barbell with a ton of weight and discover it's not as strong as you think you can end up with a life-long injury! So my advice is take it slow, and even small, gradual improvements week on week will add up to big improvements over 6 weeks. If you're ok after 6 weeks then you can get onto the heavy stuff.

After the 6 weeks I started doing hyperextensions for my back (see YouTube for demo videos) first with no weight, and now I use approx. 10kg. Better to start with no weight. The idea is you strengthen the spinal erector muscles in your back which help stabilise your core for all other lifts (and even helps your general posture). Thanks to 'Uplift' on this forum for passing on that advice to me, incidentally - it has worked a treat I also did plenty of abs work, as they are the other key part of your core. Doing both back and abs will really help stabilise any previous injury you have. I also now am doing squats and deadlifts again, and am getting back to previous strength, after only 8 weeks of "post injury all-clear" training. So basically treat your back with respect, take it slow, and those small gradual improvements will add up to giving you a really solid back.

...all of this said, this in NO WAY beats the advice of a qualified doctor. Nobody on this forum will be able to give you specific advice for a specific injury because nobody has met you in person, so bear that in mind.

Good luck, hope it goes well for you!

Thanx for the advice. Yea everything at work i do i try to put the least amount of straign on my back as posible. Nothing is broken thank God. But every disk in my neck and lower back are bulging pretty bad. Left legs on the outside is completley numb. and i get spasm in my shoulder blades. I was just worried about that if it would hinder my progress or not. I push myself to the limits of what i can handle everyday. I hate feeling like I am not doing the best I can.

I can all ready see a huge dif. In my arms. My arms haven't gotten any bigger i dont think. But It looks like my shoulders are rounding out, and my bicipt, tricept, and forarms are just getting toned as can be. I cant even pinch any fat on them. There doesn't seem to be any.

I need to get a weight bench because what is bothering me besisides needing to loose a couple pounds is that i need some pecs. to go along with my arms. I can then hopefully start building more and more muscle ontop of that..

I have a question that I dont know if any of you can answer or not. The past 2 or 3 days at work i have been spasm'ing up extreemly bad. You have no clue. It has mostly just been in my fingers. If i go to pick something up they draw up. I have to use my other hand to pull them back out straight because i can't straighten them out. This goes on for hours and hours. Someone told me I was getting to dehidrated. I drink the hell out of water all day long though. My neighbor who was a body builder told me to get gatorade that it was my potasium getting low that was causing it.
Any imput on this to help try to correct would be greatly apreciated. It is almost cripling.
Again thank you all for being so supportive, and helping me get through this and all. I don't think that i could have kept going this long without someone to talk to about this and keep me encouraged about it.

Keep working at it, sounds like you're on the way already!

It could well be dehydration, you should be drinking 3-4 litres per day ideally (just under a gallon if my conversion maths is correct) but maybe more if it's hot and humid where you live. Bananas are a good source of potassium too, you could blend (or mash with a fork) 1 or 2 of them in milk and get an awesome smoothie from that. But they are also sugary, so bear in mind the carbs in them, I wouldn't eat a whole bunch a day! Though to be honest your job sounds very physical and I doubt you need to be so strict because you're burning calories all day. Milk is also a good source of protein: 30g per litre.

If I were you I'd take a multi-vitamin every morning which should contain some potassium. There are hundreds of brands, to be honest the best ones I've come across are own-brand from supermarkets and drug store chains which are cheaper than the branded ones. They are generally made by only a few companies anyway, and just given different labels. So get a multi-vitamin with iron, would be my choice. Ideally with 200-1000mg of vitamin C too, and obviously the potassium.

If you keep getting those symptoms though go see a doc, just in case it's something else.

Chris31 wrote:Thanx for the advice. Yea everything at work i do i try to put the least amount of straign on my back as posible. Nothing is broken thank God. But every disk in my neck and lower back are bulging pretty bad. Left legs on the outside is completley numb. and i get spasm in my shoulder blades. I was just worried about that if it would hinder my progress or not. I push myself to the limits of what i can handle everyday. I hate feeling like I am not doing the best I can.

You can definitely make your back stronger by gradually working on strengthening the spinal erector muscles at the base of your spine. In fact even if you don't have access to a gym you could probably do some hyperextensions if you get creative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UHdhLApW58

This video shows that you don't need a gym to do them, but having someone (or something) to hold your legs down is essential. In this video he starts off with the correct form, but then he twists from side to side: I wouldn't advise this twisting motion for your back: just straight up and down is fine. In time you can hold some weight over your chest when you do them: if you don't have weight disks or dumbells you could use a big bottle filled with liquid or a rucksack filled with books, whatever really.

This next video shows hyperextensions being done with a stability ball. If you don't have one you don't really need one to be honest, you could get creative and use whatever you do have that let's you get into the right position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XODSo3zFYA

If you do 3-6 sets of these say 2 or 3 times a week, in 4-6 weeks you will notice a real difference in your back. Just pay attention to form, and make sure it's all controlled movements, not all jerky. As long as you are doing it under control the muscle will get really strong.

richard-a wrote:If I were you I'd take a multi-vitamin every morning which should contain some potassium.

Unfortunately, here in the US, the FDA has basically hamstrung any over-the-counter supplements from providing meaningful amounts of potassium, because if you took too much, you could end up with acute heart problems. The maximum allowed per serving is 99 mg. For comparison, the recommended daily intake is about 4500-5000 mg. So you have to get it from food; there's no choice.

richard-a wrote:Milk is also a good source of protein: 30g per litre.

I disagree that milk is a good source of protein. It is a convenient source sometimes, sure, but when you consider that Greek yogurt and egg white have about 4 times as much protein per liter there's really no contest. So you get to eat real food, for more protein and fewer carbs. (But you should eat the yolks too if you're not having to watch your calorie intake so closely- like I should be!)

richard-a wrote:Bananas are a good source of potassium too...

Not really. Calorie for calorie, bananas are not as good a source of potassium as spinach, swiss chard, crimini mushrooms, broccoli, cantaloupe, papaya, beets, lima beans, baked cod or halibut, and many more. Moreover, cramps could be just as easily caused by a magnesium or calcium deficiency. Cramps can mean an electrolytic imbalance of any electrolyte, so if he's drinking tons of plain water and sweating like a hog while he's at work (very easy to believe), he really could need an electrolyte replacement. If you don't like the ones with sugar because you're minimizing carbs, there is one I use called Electro-mix and it's made by a company called Alacer. The same company makes Emergen-C.

I completely agree with you, however, that these symptoms should be checked by a doctor if they continue!