The Fitness Thread

[Jerry DB]

Re: The Fitness Thread

looking lean as fawk arch0wl. Nice work

[albaneenesk8r]

Re: The Fitness Thread

so that's what arch0wl looks like

[SCWolf]

Re: The Fitness Thread

The cut is finally over. 185 --> 140.

I cut really, really hard at first. In the first two months most of what I lost could be accounted for by glycogen/water loss. In December I did a beast mode run of about 15lb. Since December it's been about 4lb/month and in the final month, it was closer to 2lb/month.

The cut actually ended in mid to late April, but I kept going to see if I could lose any more body fat. I couldn't. It was especially frustrating to end the cut because I still have some stubborn love handle fat that's left over from when I was an obese kid.

I'm not kidding about "fat left over from childhood" by the way. I used to be the 2nd- or 3rd- fattest kid at my school, see:



And until now, this was the leanest I had ever been:



So some of that fat is still there. But I've been approaching diminishing returns on this cut.

The bulk I did prior to this was for about five months and I probably put on about 8lb of muscle, but I definitely lost a few pounds of muscle from cutting so hard. Probably about 3-4lb. It was a really dirty bulk; past attempts at bulking haven't been very effective because I didn't eat enough calories, so I went in excess to the detriment of what I'd have to do during the cut.

So anyway, I promised sexy arch0wl pics.



This one is mostly for abs and exaggerated lighting:



And one last thing. I dug up an old chat log, eight months ago, where I said:



I've had that picture in a "body inspiration" folder for quite some time. I first saw the picture when my girlfriend at the time had found it on a "hot guys" tumblr. I wasn't sure if I could ever look like that. I'm not sure how close I got, but I feel really accomplished either way:



Definitely the leanest I've ever been in my entire life.

I'm going to lean bulk next time. But more importantly, even a lean bulk is still a bulk.

This is how I feel right now: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3un4vf/

Looks like a successful cut dude, good job. You can easily put on a lot of lean mass if you just watch your calories, but I'm sure you know what you're doing.

Good luck!

[mnnicol]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Shoutout to WC for telling me about this thread

Also, been a while, Rubix. How's your workout coming along?

And here's me now at 203 lbs (92 kgs):

[Renevatia]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Damn o.o
How tall?

Shoutout to WC for telling me about this thread

Also, been a while, Rubix. How's your workout coming along?

And here's me now at 203 lbs (92 kgs):

[mnnicol]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Damn o.o
How tall?

6 ft (183 cm)

[Reach]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Wat. 203 lbs at that height and bf?

Years training? Goals? Any gear?


I finished cutting about a week ago. Back to the bulk life for the time being. Might throw a small cut into the middle of the summer somewhere to stay lean for now but otherwise 9 months of mass gain ahead.

[mnnicol]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Wat. 203 lbs at that height and bf?

Years training? Goals? Any gear?


I finished cutting about a week ago. Back to the bulk life for the time being. Might throw a small cut into the middle of the summer somewhere to stay lean for now but otherwise 9 months of mass gain ahead.

- Training: Nearing 3 years (taken only 6 or 7 months off during that time period)
- Goal: look like a sick kunt
- Gear: I'm Natty4Lyfe (srs)

Gym bathroom lighting is pretty epic and I combined that with Instagram, so cheating a bit. I'd put myself around 10-11% BF.

Starting up the reverse diet today. Will be adding 150 cals to every day of this week (2480 cals on rest days, 2820 cals on training days) and see how that goes. Maintenance is around 3300 cals, so should be able to drop a bit more BF while upping cals

[Reincarnate]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Haha good to see you around, mnnicol. Those pics are amazing. :O

Unfortunately I've totally fallen off the wagon and I don't work out now or count calories, etc. Weight's still between 220-230, 30%+ bf. Womp womp womp.

I got frustrated because I basically had no idea wtf I was doing in the gym. It doesn't matter what guides I read: I had/have no confidence or certainty in anything I select, and so eventually I give up.

Tried getting a gym membership but quit after a couple months because I couldn't get past the feelings of self-consciousness (that and too many staff members there tried to sell me stuff all the time whenever I'd ask a question, and it got annoying). Squats were also the death of me. Hours of practice wasted: No matter what I tried I absolutely could not get the form right. Even with the bar alone (no extra weight) I couldn't pump out 8 reps, and yet it'd cripple my quads with absurd DOMS for four days straight.

I'd like to get back into it but my in-house gym is limited (shoulder incline bench, bicep curl, tricep pushdown, low row, lat pulldown, leg extension, leg curl, dumbbells), and I have absolutely no clue what a good workout routine would be for me. Any recs?

[Poison-]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Haha good to see you around, mnnicol. Those pics are amazing. :O

Unfortunately I've totally fallen off the wagon and I don't work out now or count calories, etc. Weight's still between 220-230, 30%+ bf. Womp womp womp.

I got frustrated because I basically had no idea wtf I was doing in the gym. It doesn't matter what guides I read: I had/have no confidence or certainty in anything I select, and so eventually I give up.

Tried getting a gym membership but quit after a couple months because I couldn't get past the feelings of self-consciousness (that and too many staff members there tried to sell me stuff all the time whenever I'd ask a question, and it got annoying). Squats were also the death of me. Hours of practice wasted: No matter what I tried I absolutely could not get the form right. Even with the bar alone (no extra weight) I couldn't pump out 8 reps, and yet it'd cripple my quads with absurd DOMS for four days straight.

I'd like to get back into it but my in-house gym is limited (shoulder incline bench, bicep curl, tricep pushdown, low row, lat pulldown, leg extension, leg curl, dumbbells), and I have absolutely no clue what a good workout routine would be for me. Any recs?

Do something like Insanity or P90X to build some stregth before going to the gym?

[Reincarnate]

Re: The Fitness Thread

I considered stuff like P90X but there's no room in my NYC apartment (I'd have to move the couch and coffee table, which requires moving the dining table and a few lamps... it's not a trivial process, and even then the resulting space isn't truly the 8 by 8 minimum, further complicated by the fact that I'm a tall guy). It'd also require a fair deal of equipment. I considered, at one point, watching it on a laptop down in the gym or something but I'm wayyyy too self-conscious for that and would never follow through.

I mostly just want a workout routine I can follow in a braindead manner. Trying to be realistic about things: The only way I'm ever going to work out on a consistent basis without getting discouraged or embarrassed is using the in-house gym.

Show up to gym, do A, B, C, X, Y, Z, leave. Repeat on days P, Q, R, etc. Just need to know what to fill in the blanks with based on my body type and current level of fitness.

[mnnicol]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Edit: Fuaaaaark! Didn't realize my post would be so long....inb4 tl;dr

Haha good to see you around, mnnicol. Those pics are amazing. :O

Unfortunately I've totally fallen off the wagon and I don't work out now or count calories, etc. Weight's still between 220-230, 30%+ bf. Womp womp womp.

I got frustrated because I basically had no idea wtf I was doing in the gym. It doesn't matter what guides I read: I had/have no confidence or certainty in anything I select, and so eventually I give up.

Tried getting a gym membership but quit after a couple months because I couldn't get past the feelings of self-consciousness (that and too many staff members there tried to sell me stuff all the time whenever I'd ask a question, and it got annoying). Squats were also the death of me. Hours of practice wasted: No matter what I tried I absolutely could not get the form right. Even with the bar alone (no extra weight) I couldn't pump out 8 reps, and yet it'd cripple my quads with absurd DOMS for four days straight.

I'd like to get back into it but my in-house gym is limited (shoulder incline bench, bicep curl, tricep pushdown, low row, lat pulldown, leg extension, leg curl, dumbbells), and I have absolutely no clue what a good workout routine would be for me. Any recs?

Been cutting for just over 3 months now, so it's been a long time coming! Think I made it just in time for beach season

Anyway, my suggestions:

First and foremost, if your primary goal is weight loss, counting calories is a must. It can seem a bit tedious at first, but after a while, you really do get used to it and it's not that difficult. Assuming you have a smartphone, you can download apps like MyFitnessPal, which make counting calories/tracking macros very easy

I can't really help you regarding squat form as I'm not there in person with you, but try checking out the low-bar squat. Chances are, you're doing high-bar (the bar rests on your traps), which I found to be very uncomfortable, too. With low-bar squat, you have the bar set just behind your rear delts and you should be able to reach at least parallel.

As for routines, I'm currently running Layne Norton's PHAT, which is fairly high volume (which I love!)

PHAT - http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-f...ated-2011.html

If you're short on time, Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 (there are quite a few different variations, but I personally like the "Big But Boring" or the "Triumvirate" layout) is another well respected routine.

5/3/1 - http://www.strstd.com/

(Just plug in your stats and hit "Calculate 5/3/1 routine")

This last one is relatively new (don't know if any of you guys follow IceCreamFitness on Youtube), but this is aimed towards beginners (whereas 5/3/1 and PHAT are both intermediate/advance). The guy can come across as a bit of a dick in his videos, but I think he's knowledgeable and am planning on having my brother pick up this routine when I get him in the gym starting next week.

ICF 5x5 - http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=148036063

You can go to this site to figure out what your caloric goal should be for your rest/training days:

http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

In short, it really doesn't matter which routine you decide to follow. The main thing is to 1) be consistent in your dieting/training and 2) track your calories!

Also, if you feel there is too much volume, feel free to knock off an exercise or a set from several exercises

If anything's unclear, hit me up on FB

[Choofers]

Re: The Fitness Thread

I don't even know if I'll have time to exercise at school but should I lose weight just by biking 10 miles a day for 5 months?

[Reach]

Re: The Fitness Thread

Haha good to see you around, mnnicol. Those pics are amazing. :O

Unfortunately I've totally fallen off the wagon and I don't work out now or count calories, etc. Weight's still between 220-230, 30%+ bf. Womp womp womp.

I got frustrated because I basically had no idea wtf I was doing in the gym. It doesn't matter what guides I read: I had/have no confidence or certainty in anything I select, and so eventually I give up.

Tried getting a gym membership but quit after a couple months because I couldn't get past the feelings of self-consciousness (that and too many staff members there tried to sell me stuff all the time whenever I'd ask a question, and it got annoying). Squats were also the death of me. Hours of practice wasted: No matter what I tried I absolutely could not get the form right. Even with the bar alone (no extra weight) I couldn't pump out 8 reps, and yet it'd cripple my quads with absurd DOMS for four days straight.

I'd like to get back into it but my in-house gym is limited (shoulder incline bench, bicep curl, tricep pushdown, low row, lat pulldown, leg extension, leg curl, dumbbells), and I have absolutely no clue what a good workout routine would be for me. Any recs?

Consistency matters 100x more than knowing what you're doing.

I tried saying this so many times but - squats don't matter. Nothing really matters. The key is picking something you can do consistently and to keep doing it while making some changes to your diet.

You've just listed a bunch of exercises. Why don't you pick the ones you like, do them 3x a week and make some changes to your diet. And this time, no quitting

I mean, if you want to look like mnnicol, well, you can do all of the stuff we're doing but

If you just want to lose weight it's mostly consistency and exercise and diet.

don't know if any of you guys follow IceCreamFitness on Youtube

He's great

Got a good chuckle out of his more recent video on mr. biolayne and his obvious use of supplementary supplements

For the record, you already have a pretty sick physique :P Just finished a cut myself, got incredibly lean. Only sitting at around 170.5 right now though.

[Snowcrafta]

Re: The Fitness Thread