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Best Exercise to cut body fat/Gain Muscle


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Good luck. With the injury and the age, take it easy. Build slowly, a little better every workout and you’ll be a beast in no time. It’s the steps backward that hold you back, not progressing slowly.

 

It sounds like you are no stranger to the gym but get a trainer. Chances are you find out your form sucks in the worst way. Warm ups have come a long way, much more effective, no static stretches, etc.

 

Again, good luck and have fun!

 

 

I do want to get a trainer to help me with my form. I bet it sucks that's how I got injured. Just need to find a good one. Thanks

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Been dealing with shoulder pain for 4-5 months. Not really sure how I did it but I think doing heavy incline presses. Very limited in what I can do without causing pain in it. I can't do military press, even without weights. Flat bench dumbbells is manageable but no barbell stuff. Been trying to do more cardio. Have the muscle but can't diet lol.

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At 48, I have never been this lean while holding so much muscle.

 

I picked up this book called Eat Right 4 Your Type.

 

I don't really focus on calorie count as much as what I should and should not eat being a type O+ blood type. As soon as I replaced the food I shouldn't have eaten with recommended food types I would swear my skin thickness was cut in half. I took just a few months.

 

Now bear in mind, I still lift heavier weights and rarely miss a workout. Cardio has never been my friend growing up with asthma.

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Or, does a new fitness thread need to be created?

 

We can just use the money thread, since that was hijacked into a fitness thread. lol

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BUMP :D

 

Gym time for me in about 30 mins.

 

Tweaked my back squatting, going to try to squat again today.

 

Also, got some gym shoes. Been working out in running shoes.

 

Rebought a pair of jaybirds cause my sweat wrecked my last pair.

 

Doing Squats, bench, over head press, SLDL, barbell rows, curls, donkey calf raises.

 

My goal is to lose 7lbs/month. I want to lose about 60-80lbs. Currently 235lbs. Want to get back to my standard weight of 180lbs, but maybe 160-165lbs .

 

Just hit a milestone birthday, so I'm really thinking about my long term health, more than ever before.

 

I really haven't been in a gym consistently since 2011, since I screwed up my back. Anytime I try to lift, the pain comes back. So, I go on and off, but I'm going to try to make it more of a habit with actual goals.

 

I really miss the gym. The feeling of getting in shape, the social aspect of meeting people/hot girls.

 

Going to warm up really well, stretch, focus strong on core/form .

 

Wish me luck!

 

Sounds great :icon_thumleft: Be careful with stretching before a workout, as that can weaken the muscle making it more injury-prone. Not saying don't stretch, but it needs to be light stretching. Heavy extensive stretching should only come afterwards.

 

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At 48, I have never been this lean while holding so much muscle.

 

I picked up this book called Eat Right 4 Your Type.

 

I don't really focus on calorie count as much as what I should and should not eat being a type O+ blood type. As soon as I replaced the food I shouldn't have eaten with recommended food types I would swear my skin thickness was cut in half. I took just a few months.

 

Now bear in mind, I still lift heavier weights and rarely miss a workout. Cardio has never been my friend growing up with asthma.

 

Can you please provide a link to the book you’ve bought ?

 

I’d rather dig trenches with my bare hands then do cardio LOL so what you said above is like music to my ears.

 

How intense is your training regime?

 

 

 

 

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BUMP :D

 

 

My goal is to lose 7lbs/month. I want to lose about 60-80lbs. Currently 235lbs. Want to get back to my standard weight of 180lbs, but maybe 160-165lbs .

 

The feeling of getting in shape, the social aspect of meeting people/hot girls.

 

Going to warm up really well, stretch, focus strong on core/form .

 

Wish me luck!

Good targets, those will motivate you.

You can drop 200g / day.

Just exercise 6 days a week: monday gym, tuesday run, wednesday gym, thursday run, friday run, on weekends keep your eating pattern and clocktimes and do exercise like jogging or something else..

and eat your fast carbs on lunch in moderation (potato, pasta, rice) and almost no carbs or very slow ones after that... eat last meal of the day immediately after your training, nothing after that. For me it was at 6pm when I used this. You will feel hungry for first few nights. (after that you will get used to that xd)

 

BTW I am in same point and should do exact same.

 

 

 

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I’d rather dig trenches with my bare hands then do cardio LOL so what you said above is like music to my ears.

Digging trenches is good cardio. ;)

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Can you please provide a link to the book you’ve bought ?

 

I’d rather dig trenches with my bare hands then do cardio LOL so what you said above is like music to my ears.

 

How intense is your training regime?

 

 

My training session is no more that 45 min on the weight floor. I have used pyramid sets as long as I can remember. Each exercise is around 6 sets. 1-2 of 20 reps, 1 of 12, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 1 (max lift) then back to original warm up weight for a burn out. That's not rigid, just approx. rep ranges

 

Each body group gets 5-6 exercises. Each body group is only exercised 1 per week.

 

Mon chest/tris, Tue lats/bis Wed off, Thur shoulders, Fri legs and a little bicep at the end

 

I am 6 ft tall, 215 lbs, 18" arms 35 in waist, mild 6pack and I never starve myself. If I want an entire pizza on the weekend, I have a cheat day.

 

I can still bench 3 plates and squat 4 at 48 years old without any pharmaceuticals.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Right-Your-Type-Revi...ght+4+your+type

 

at_car_show.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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Looking good. Benching 315 at 48 yrs is no small feat. Ever try intermittent fasting? Just wondering.

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Fasting made me look good while starving,but felt horrible.

My skin really thickened up when I started eating again. 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

 

When I used to compete in armature body building shows 10 years ago ( I was not very good LOL), I would do more of an Atkins diet to shred as much as I could. I could usually drop 15lbs in 6 weeks

 

 

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My training session is no more that 45 min on the weight floor. I have used pyramid sets as long as I can remember. Each exercise is around 6 sets. 1-2 of 20 reps, 1 of 12, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 1 (max lift) then back to original warm up weight for a burn out. That's not rigid, just approx. rep ranges

 

Each body group gets 5-6 exercises. Each body group is only exercised 1 per week.

 

Mon chest/tris, Tue lats/bis Wed off, Thur shoulders, Fri legs and a little bicep at the end

 

I am 6 ft tall, 215 lbs, 18" arms 35 in waist, mild 6pack and I never starve myself. If I want an entire pizza on the weekend, I have a cheat day.

 

I can still bench 3 plates and squat 4 at 48 years old without any pharmaceuticals.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Right-Your-Type-Revi...ght+4+your+type

 

Thank you for the info and the link to the book :turboalex:

 

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Why not do lipo Fortis? If you have no time and hate cardio that is.

 

chip go see a doc, you might have done long term/perma dmg. i started feeling pain in the shoulder in 2010 or so, doing heavy upright rows... first symptoms like yours. guess what its 2018 and i still feel it when doing bench/dips/military and i dont like doing bench because of that, and that sucks. I'm assuming you have $ to go see a doc now so do it. There was a guy Tim Ferriss worked with that fixed rotator cuffs through stretching, I'd love to find his name.

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Why not do lipo Fortis? If you have no time and hate cardio that is.

 

chip go see a doc, you might have done long term/perma dmg. i started feeling pain in the shoulder in 2010 or so, doing heavy upright rows... first symptoms like yours. guess what its 2018 and i still feel it when doing bench/dips/military and i dont like doing bench because of that, and that sucks. I'm assuming you have $ to go see a doc now so do it. There was a guy Tim Ferriss worked with that fixed rotator cuffs through stretching, I'd love to find his name.

 

I did an MRI and January and they found all sorts of crap. I was feeling impingement when I benched and a lot of pain doing shoulder presses, and it started hurting when I would reach back to hold the door for someone or to try to smack my kids in the backseat of the car (kidding). MRI result was a full thickness tear in the shoulder, a smaller tear at the bicep anchor, mild interstitial tears. I never would have done the MRI if it hadnt been for a friend having gone through similar "reaching back" pain and having had his own MRI and surgery on it.

 

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There’s no one rule for all but if you are over 35, don’t do anything that puts your elbows behind your back. So be careful on your form on rows and pull ups. Don’t lower the bar too far on bench.

 

And never do dips. My neighbor is the team shoulder specialist for an MLB team and they fine players if they catch them doing dips. These are young, healthy super heroes and they don’t want them doing dips for fear of shoulder damage. I love dips but my shoulders have been much better since adhering to these rules.

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My training session is no more that 45 min on the weight floor. I have used pyramid sets as long as I can remember. Each exercise is around 6 sets. 1-2 of 20 reps, 1 of 12, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 1 (max lift) then back to original warm up weight for a burn out. That's not rigid, just approx. rep ranges

 

Each body group gets 5-6 exercises. Each body group is only exercised 1 per week.

 

Mon chest/tris, Tue lats/bis Wed off, Thur shoulders, Fri legs and a little bicep at the end

 

I am 6 ft tall, 215 lbs, 18" arms 35 in waist, mild 6pack and I never starve myself. If I want an entire pizza on the weekend, I have a cheat day.

 

I can still bench 3 plates and squat 4 at 48 years old without any pharmaceuticals.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Right-Your-Type-Revi...ght+4+your+type

 

at_car_show.jpg

 

When you say squat four plates, you mean two on each side, right? :-)’

 

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When you say squat four plates, you mean two on each side, right? :-)

 

That picture does make my legs look thin LOL...

 

My Fridays alternate between dead lift and squat. My 405 squat is only for 2-3 reps at the top of my pyramid.

315 is 6-8

225 is 12-15

135 is my warm up for 25

Ever rep of my squat is at least 90 degrees.

 

If my dead lift day is on fire, I can pull up 455 for a single.

 

All these heavier lifts are done with a belt and knee wraps.

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My workouts consist of heavy compound lifts with some accessory work. It has done wonders for physique. I’ve been training intensely for the past 6 years. I’m 26 currently.

 

Example of chest day:

Flat Bench:

Warm up 2 sets at 50% working weight 12 reps, 1 set, 4 reps at 75%, 1 rep 90% working weight.

2 sets of 2-3 at 90% 1 rep max

3 sets 4-6 reps at 80% 1 RM

 

Incline bench:

3 sets of 4-6 at 80% 1RM

 

Dumbbells incline:

3 sets of 8 at 75-80%

 

Then I’ll also include arms and abs. I do a total of bout 45 reps per major muscle group.

 

Heavy lifting is key. I don’t mean stupid heavy lifting with bad form or ego lifting. Progressive overload over long periods with adequate nutrition is the secret.

 

I usually walk around about 185-190 at 10% BF I am 6’ and wear a 32 waist but they are usually lose lol. When I was training heavy I maxed 315 on flat bench, 280 incline, deadlifted 485, squatted 405 and standing military pressed 195

 

I’ve toned down the intensity a bit lately as my priorities have changed with a new business but I still hit the gym at least 3 days a week.

 

Love lifting and talking about it

 

The simplest way to lose weight is get an idea of where your maintenance calories are: this will take some discipline eating a set # of calories for 7 days. Track your weight each day, then you can start to adjust downward by 300-500 calories to start primarily from carbs. Track for another 7-14 days and take the average. You should see a downward trend. Once you get to your goal weight or look then slowly start increasing calories again by 150-200 per week. Your body is primed for fat storage as your metabolism will be lower after dieting for a long period, so definitely do not start binge eating lol. You can gain the fat back very fast (ask me how I know).

 

For adding mass I recommend the same approach except to add 100-200 calorie surplus every 10-14 days. No reason to really every go over 700 over maintenance unless you are an extreme athlete. The goal is to gain as much muscle as possible without adding fat. A lot of people make the mistake of dirty bulking and get fat too fast before their body can take advantage of the nutrition. Insulin sensitivity tends to be best around 8-12% in males and significantly decreases past 18%. So ideally you should always stay under that for optimal performance.

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Why not do lipo Fortis? If you have no time and hate cardio that is.

 

chip go see a doc, you might have done long term/perma dmg. i started feeling pain in the shoulder in 2010 or so, doing heavy upright rows... first symptoms like yours. guess what its 2018 and i still feel it when doing bench/dips/military and i dont like doing bench because of that, and that sucks. I'm assuming you have $ to go see a doc now so do it. There was a guy Tim Ferriss worked with that fixed rotator cuffs through stretching, I'd love to find his name.

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I am max 2 kg over my ideal weight lipo is the last thing on my mind.

 

I set this challenge for myself out of boredom more than anything else.

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There’s no one rule for all but if you are over 35, don’t do anything that puts your elbows behind your back. So be careful on your form on rows and pull ups. Don’t lower the bar too far on bench.

 

And never do dips. My neighbor is the team shoulder specialist for an MLB team and they fine players if they catch them doing dips. These are young, healthy super heroes and they don’t want them doing dips for fear of shoulder damage. I love dips but my shoulders have been much better since adhering to these rules.

 

Didn't know that, good to keep in mind. Everyone's body is different and what can hurt one person's body may not do anything to another's. For example, some people take up running and then their knees are soon injured. Whereas other people start running marathons in their 20s and still are into their 70s with no problems. Some people do heavy barbell squats no problem, others it injures their hips over time.

 

One thing I have found with the shoulders to also be careful of is with pullups with your palms facing forward and military presses. With the pullups, the shoulder and rotator cuff may undergo excessive strain due to the way the pulling motion occurs and you could injure something. After having done this myself, I switched to doing pullups with the palms facing each other. I figure I can always add a little weight if I feel the biceps are contributing more than I want, and occasionally will do one set of regular pullups.

 

Regarding the military press, a few things on that:

 

1) Don't necessarily lower the bar where it goes all the way down to your sternum. That is perfect form, and you can do it here and there, but over time, it can overstrain the shoulders. It is safer to just bring it down to your chin.

 

2) Don't try to keep your body 100% completely straight when pushing the bar overhead, because for many people (maybe most?), it is impossible to literally press a bar overhead without bending the upper-back at least a little, at least not without putting the shoulders under a LOT of strain. Now obviously, if you are turning it into a standing bench press, that is bad, but a slight bend is okay.

 

3) Be careful with overhead presses with the elbows flared out 90 degrees

 

One thing that really can injure people badly over time is yoga. Everyone thinks of yoga as being the epitome of health but it has come out that quite a few famous yoga instructors have had to have hip replacements. Some of the stretches also can cause damage to the spine and glands and nerves in the region.

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My training session is no more that 45 min on the weight floor. I have used pyramid sets as long as I can remember. Each exercise is around 6 sets. 1-2 of 20 reps, 1 of 12, 1 of 8, 1 of 4, 1 of 1 (max lift) then back to original warm up weight for a burn out. That's not rigid, just approx. rep ranges

 

Each body group gets 5-6 exercises. Each body group is only exercised 1 per week.

 

Mon chest/tris, Tue lats/bis Wed off, Thur shoulders, Fri legs and a little bicep at the end

 

I am 6 ft tall, 215 lbs, 18" arms 35 in waist, mild 6pack and I never starve myself. If I want an entire pizza on the weekend, I have a cheat day.

 

I can still bench 3 plates and squat 4 at 48 years old without any pharmaceuticals.

 

Keep it up, George Hackenschmidt was able to squat 400 lbs into his 60s I believe. He was benching 150 lbs at 95 I think too.

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For adding mass I recommend the same approach except to add 100-200 calorie surplus every 10-14 days. No reason to really every go over 700 over maintenance unless you are an extreme athlete. The goal is to gain as much muscle as possible without adding fat. A lot of people make the mistake of dirty bulking and get fat too fast before their body can take advantage of the nutrition. Insulin sensitivity tends to be best around 8-12% in males and significantly decreases past 18%. So ideally you should always stay under that for optimal performance.

 

I went about 300 or so calories over my caloric maintenance level and was eating very cleanly when bulking. One thing that constantly amazed me was how I would put my body through the absolute ringer lifting-wise, then eating a ton of healthy food, sometimes almost force-feeding myself, but yet, then I'd wake up the next day feeling like a million bucks. I was increasing by about a pound a week. My abs were mildly visible when I first started and remained so while bulking, so I knew my fat was increasing at the same rate as the muscle, so my bodyfat percentage was mostly remaining the same.

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