Fitness & Martial Arts Thread

[Mini E]

Nah Im just curious if I can get away with eating a load of nuts for breakfast some days instead of porridge or something.

I think you'd need around 100g of nuts to get the same carbohydrate load as you'd get in a bowl of porridge (~20g). I think. The rest of the nutrients in nuts would probably be better for you than the porridge to be honest - but less filling?

[Hawky]

GVT pressups think I'm gonna puke my ring up

[Fatal Exception]

Can anyone link me up to a good GVT routine? I think it's about time I switched to something new and it seems to be the in thing at the moment.

[Hawky]

If you want to build strength FE then there is no point doing GVT, it will help a bit with your muscular endurance but is basically entirely about gaining muscle mass. It's been the thing for years in terms of the best way to gain mass, There is a story of Russian lifters in the 80's increasing an entire weight class during their off season without increasing body fat, not sure why they would want to do this mind when it barely improves your strength but that's another issue.

In terms of a routine you can use any you find online but the basic premise is the same; 10 sets of 10 reps performed correctly and reasonably slowly, one exercise per major muscle group. You obviously want to pick exercises that recruit the most muscle mass, and the weight you use should be around 60% of your 1RM, or I prefer to use the measure of a weight you can lift for 20 reps and still have something in the tank. I'm only doing it for chest at the moment but about this time last year I was doing it for all my upper body for about 9-10 weeks whilst eating at a significant calorific surplus and put on a lot of size. The routine I used then was to do one body part per session and throw in some assistance exercises as well, I wouldn't do the same exercise for one muscle group every week but would change it every few sessions depending on what area it was:

Chest - 2 weeks of dumbbell bench followed by one of incline dumbbell bench. Assistance exercise was dumbbell fly or pec fly machine 3x12.
Back - One week bent over row one week close grip lat pulldown, assistance exercise was 4x12 wide grip lat pulldown on bent over row week and 4x12 bent over row on close grip pulldown week.
Shoulders - Mostly seated dumbbell overhead press but did a couple of sessions of Arnold press too. Assistance exercises were side lateral raises and upright row/high pulls 4x12 superset.

I tried to do 60 seconds rest between each set but would find myself moving up to 90 seconds + by the last couple of sets. Might be wiser in hindsight to do what Pete suggested and have a longer break of 90 sec or 2 mins between every set.

That should give you a general idea of how I worked it, 3 sessions per week working on one muscle group each session. I would have done legs non GVT on a separate day had I not been injured and been able to train legs. Some routines suggest doing 2 muscle groups in one workout but for me it was too much, obviously you need to tailor it to find what works best for you but for me this was a good routine.

[Hawky]

Regarding the main lifts I know Pete does regular bench for his chest exercise but without a spotter I wouldn't trust myself doing barbell, much easier to dump the dumbbells if you get stuck during the last set. I would also have done barbell OHP instead of seated dumbbells but I couldn't with my knee injury so if you can then do that instead FE.

[gamerforever]

Joined the village gym nearby and have had a few workouts there - just a bit of cardio and machines to get started.

I have decided to take part in classes as often as i can to vary it up a bit. They have 'body combat' and 'body pump' classes. Maybe some yoga and tai chi in there too!

[BTB]

Quick questions about which type of yogurt is best to help lean muscle development

Low fat natural yogurt (per serving)
77kcal
1.5g Fat
1.0g Sat Fat
7g Protein
8.9g Sugars
0.19g Salt

Or

Greek Style Natural Yogurt (per serving)
120kcal
9.2g Fat
6.0g Sat Fat
4.1g Protein
5.1g Sugars
0.15g Salt

Basically unsure which is better/worse, having low fat but higher sugar, or lower sugar and higher fat. If it makes any difference I would probably eat this in the evening as a pudding with fruit or something similar.

[blackoutHERO]

Lower sugar higher fat. Have it on your rest days.

[BTB]

Interesting, I thought the other one would have been better.

Thanks, i'll try the Greek one when I next do a shop.

[Mini E]

Weight hovering around 80-81kg now. Going to stop the weekly weigh-ins and now working on a new training programme. Change is exciting

[Mini E]

Off to go and break myself with this new programme. From Monday until July/Aug, two gym sessions per day. Let's do dis.

[False]

Two per day? What?

[Rocsteady]

Off to go and break myself with this new programme. From Monday until July/Aug, two gym sessions per day. Let's do dis.

The strawberry float.

You following some Arnie roid program or something?

[Mini E]

Off to go and break myself with this new programme. From Monday until July/Aug, two gym sessions per day. Let's do dis.

The strawberry float.

You following some Arnie roid program or something?

I should add, two sessions per day is only Monday, Weds and Fri. Morning sessions (Mon/Weds/Fri) are HIIT and predominantly ab work. Evening sessions (Mon-Fri and occasional Sunday when poss) are a regular resistance programme with my 5k cardio. After 16 months of calorie control, I can now start slowly increasing calorie intake. Cutting has almost finished, toning can begin . FOOOOOD

[Mini E]

Oh my dear Lord. This is going to break me

[Corazon de Leon]

Down at 90kg now despite having eaten loads of stuff like chippies, a massive burger etc recently, if I could break an even 14 stone before I go to London in three weeks that'd be ideal. Soon I too will look as sexy as Minimum Effort.

Ironically, it will take maximum effort for this to be the case.

On a different note, my gym's been shut for refurbishment so I've found myself out running and doing circuit training as a necessity recently. Managed a 10k in 58.34(93 seconds off my full-fitness best) and my knee didn't collapse in on itself. All is right with the world, and I'm back at 2012 levels of all-time-high fitness.

[Mini E]

Not sure whether to take as compliment or think you're just using me as a means to an end for your evil punning ways...

[Corazon de Leon]

Not sure whether to take as compliment or think you're just using me as a means to an end for your evil punning ways...

A little from column A, a little from column B.

[Mini E]

Congratulations by the way on hitting 90kg! Now focus for 85 and work on toning at the same time and you'll look even more transformed by the time you get to 85

[Corazon de Leon]

Mate I'm a strawberry floating destroyer. Arms look strong, legs look strong, shoulders and neck look strong... beer belly's still there.