Is she THE MAN?

[Drck]

I don't know about you, to me Marine means tough guy, some guy who undergoes very hard physical and mental training. Guy who is trained to win in close and intermediate combat, who has physical strength way above average, and who may not hesitate to take a life of his enemy. Guy who I would be afraid to stand up against, and I should be.

So I'm reading this article (link below), and I am asking ARE YOU KIDDING ME? More than half females in marines boot camp can't do minimum of three pull-ups. THREE pull-ups? The Marines had hoped to institute the pull-ups on the belief that pull-ups require the muscular strength necessary to perform common military tasks such as scaling a wall, climbing up a rope or lifting and carrying heavy munitions.

I would expect at least 20, depending on a weight of the person, any 180 pound man shouldn't have problems after several weeks of training. Women are usually lighter by 30% than men, so they should be able to do MORE. Not less.

Women simply shouldn't be allowed to be marines. Not because they are women but because they cannot physically match the strength of men. They just can't, they are not built for it.

This only shows the underlying problem in society, the nonsense of equality of genders, the fact that women are allowed to do jobs that only men can do. This shows you the work of feminists and weak men who allow such nonsense. It is not in the marines only, it is everywhere. The fact that this is happening now even in Marines should be alarming. IT IS A JOKE, the world is laughing at USA.

I used to do over 20 in a row when I was in my teens, with weight of some 170 pounds. If I remember, my record was 27. Nothing to brag about but good, my friend used to do 6 in a row with only one hand. Today I do easily 5x5 as maintenance, and I can do at least 10 in a row, with my weight of some 215-220 pounds. I'm not trained in combat like marines, but any woman who can't do at least 20 pull ups and who would try to stand up against me IS simply silly and cute.

Should I ask, how many pull ups you -THE MAN - can do? I'm kind of afraid, I just know that many of you are WEAK and have no desire to gain even average strength....

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01 ... llup-test/

 

[Marty]

Hey Drck,

Glad you raised the topic.

I can do 10 pull-ups. I weigh 170 lbs and am 6'0" tall (that's 77kg and 1.83m for the rest of the world).

I've been able to do 10 for a year or more. I usually to 2 or 3 sets of 8 for maintenance. I'd like to be able to increase that amount, though.

What would be your advice, Drck, for pushing that figure higher? (I'm just an ordinary civilian, never done any military training or anything.)

Thanks!

-Marty

 

[Drck]

Hey Marty,

Just to make it clear, I'm not a body builder, powerlifter, or any other muscle-man, nor do I have any desire to break some weird strength record, or look like Arnold.

But I used to exercised a lot, I did lots of martial arts and later on I added weight lifting. I loved it and I lived it. I actually started with pull ups, I got home after school, jumped on the rack and did as many pull ups as possible, till failure. 5 days a week, started with some 6-7, and one year later I did 27. I would NOT recommend that style.

I would strongly recommend series. Start low, let's say 5x5 (5 series with 5 repetitions each), just 3-4 times a week. If you can easily do 5x5 get a belt, keep adding couple of pounds to it until it gets too heavy. You'll get probably tired after couple of weeks, so change your style. Add more weight, decrease repetitions and increase number of series. Then drop all the weight and increase repetitions, simply keep variety. If you get tired of pull-ups at all, drop it for couple of weeks and do biceps curls. Then drop curls and go back to pull ups. In couple of months you'll easily double or triple your number of pull ups.

Another important thing is, exercise the opposite muscles, that is triceps. Bench press and over head (military) press are the best. Again, start with low weight, do each exercise 5x5, exercise only 3-4 times a week (e.g. Bench on Mondays and Fridays, squats and over head press in Wednesdays), keep adding weight SLOWLY. For example, if you can bench 180 start with only 90 pounds, and add weekly only 5-10 pounds) and every couple of weeks change number of repetition and series so you don't get tired. Take a month break if you need to, then go back to low weight. In no time you should be benching and squatting at least 220 using 5x5 style.

Do super series to save time in fitness: Do 5 repetitions of bench, jump right after on rack and do 5 pull-ups. Rest couple of minutes. Repeat the same, 5 series total each, then do couple of squats with light weight and go home. 45 minutes at max, not a single minute more unless you are really motivated and have excess of energy.

NEVER go to total failure, if it is too heavy drop the last 1-2 repetitions. You'll do it NEXT time. Get plenty of REST, exercise 3-4 times a week only, 45-60 minutes per exercise day is more than enough. The trick is to go home from fitness not exhausted but RESTED. Go heavy, lift HEAVY weights and leave. Heavy means testosterone.

Depending on your motivation and goals, your definition of "heavy" may vary, but you should be benching at least 220, squatting 250, and dead-lifting 280. All 5x5 of course. This is not really "heavy" for guys who do it for years, but it is heavy in comparison to general public, average guy. You may find yourself going easily over 300 pounds with this style, and of course if you want to be a weight lifter, muscle guy or gain more strength, seek advice from pros.

DON'T do any isolation exercises and don't do treadmill. What a waste of time, leave those for gym rats. Do main exercises only: bench press, overhead press, squats, rows, and dead-lifts. Do pull-ups or biceps curls only as a supplements, when you feel you have extra energy. There are no better exercises than these, these are classic and unbeatable. Those are very DIFFICULT, they exercise muscles in the whole body, and that is why many men are avoiding them and rather seek much easier isolation exercises. Don't be like those men, they spent years in fitness with NO results. With this simple 5x5 style, you WILL beat most of these men easily within several months.

5x5 is the OPTIMAL to gain both strength and muscle mass, as well as testosterone level. Look it up online, it is simple and very effective. It's been around even before Arnold lifted his first weight.

DO NOT underestimate SQUATS. If nothing else, do squats to get the most of testosterone level possible, your quads are the biggest muscles in your body.

Why are you so fucking skinny? You can easily gain 30-40 pounds of muscle mass. You NEED more mass. Lift heavy and eat, you'll easily gain 30 pounds of pure muscle mass. Dominate and intimidate with your body, females like dominant male. Contrary to popular believe, many hot women actually go for a guy who has some mass, especially if it is not pure fat. If you have SOME muscles, decent weight and physical strength, YOU WILL automatically eliminate 80% of potential competition, esp. if you are tall. Trust me on that.

DON'T became pro in fitness. Too much of muscles is repulsive. Lifting 500 pounds while your veins are popping up all over your forehead and body IS repulsive. And I don't know who came up with "being ripped is popular", but that is repulsive too. I can't stand these skinnies in magazines. Fucking male models. Being ripped is being too skinny, you need SOME fat.

Muscle mass IS VISIBLE under cover of clothes, females can see right away that you CARE about your health. They SEE that you have discipline, persistence and motivation from miles away. They see that you have respect and physical dominance over other guys. They SMELL your testosterone. They cannot see that in ripped guys who spent hours sweating their skin off on a treadmill. If you step on a treadmill one more time, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Spending too much time in fitness means you have no life. 45 minutes per day, 3 days a week, heavy weights and that is it, get the fuck out of there, get a life, have a beer.

Don't forget to meditate, relax, stretch your muscles. 5-10 minutes per day is plenty, over time it will accumulate. You will be perceived as strong, dominant, yet relaxed man who is comfortable in his own skin. If you learn to smile gently and show pleasure in your eyes, she will simply melt in front of your eyes.

All the above is of course optimal to max your amount of testosterone. And you NEED testosterone to get females. You don't exercise for anyone else. You do it only for yourself, for your own health and your testosterone levels, not for show off or to impress anyone. If nothing else, you WILL be healthier, stronger, more fit, and your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar WILL drop. You simply can't go wrong with that...

 

[Marty]

Drck:

Thank you for an extremely helpful guide. I didn't have a chance to get back to you earlier, but last night I did chin-ups 5x5 for the first time... you're right it's an excellent structure for this exercise and no doubt all others too. I will have in mind what you say about squats and full-body exercises and find a gym where I can do it. At the moment I do strength exercises at home. Have you heard of cross-fit or do you think that's just for girls?

Why are you so fucking skinny?

I am "so fucking skinny" because I was overweight in my late twenties and early thirties (210 lbs, but not muscle like you, pure fat) and I corrected this two years ago by adopting a healthy diet and vigorous exercise regimen. At one point about a year ago I was down to 155 lbs but have since regained some weight, partly in muscle. My waist when I was fat was 38", I got it down to 29" at the minimum and now it is 31".

So I do cardio (usually running outdoors, 5 to 6 miles) because I never again want to put on fat or have a big waist. I do eat plenty: 3,000-3,500 calories a day with lots of lean protein like tuna, salmon, chicken breast, turkey breast, eggs, beans, nonfat yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese and some healthy fats like avocado, nuts etc. as well as plenty of fruit and vegetables. But you are absolutely right I need to put on more muscle.

What do you recommend for cardio? I like the fresh air so I try to do it outdoors where at all possible (running, rollerskating, ice-skating).

You are quite correct I need to build more testosterone. I think I feel the lack of it sometimes. I am sure that your weight exercise recommendations will achieve the desired result! Thank you.

-Marty

PS do you do push-ups? 5x5 would seem slack for this... what would you suggest, 5x10?

 

[Drck]

Glad it helps, you seem to be in good shape, keep it up.

CrossFit is good, most likely very good for weight loss, being ripped, overall physique and developing mental toughness. I've never done CrossFit, my style is focused more on strength, and I'm not much in favor of doing random exercises. It all depends what you want and like, what is your goal.

As far as cardio, I wouldn't pay much attention to it, it is just a propaganda, but physical movement is better than sitting home, doing nothing, and sipping sodas and eating chips. Park at the end of a parking lot when you go shopping, take steps in stead of elevators, go run in the park if you feel like it and that's is it. If you are healthy lift weights, maybe do 5-10 minutes of treadmill of eclipse it the fitness just to warm up.

You will burn more calories doing cardio (running, swimming, ...) while exercising, for example you may burn 500-600 calories in one hour while running. You won't burn that many calories instantaneously with weight lifting, you may burn say only 100 calories in one hour.

But this is not the full story. Once you stop running that is pretty much it, no more calories are burned. If you lift weights your body will still be "burning" calories even after you stop lifting. Depending on your exercise intensity, your body may be burning calories up to two even three days after. Your body will be using this energy (fat) to build and maintain muscles.

Over time the cumulative effect of weight lifting lasting just 1 hour may be much higher in consumption of stored calories than running for 1 hour nonstop. Say in 3 days after the exercise, your body burned total of 1000 calories with a total of 1 hour weight lifting, whereas it will burn 700 calories by running for total of 1 hour. Both exercised lasted 1 hour but weight lifting burned total of 300 calories more.

These numbers are not exact and they can't be. There is simply a huge difference in intensity and total work done, for example you bench 25 x 300 pounds in 15 minutes versus other guy benches 25 x 100 pounds in 45 minutes. That is a huge difference in intensity and work done, and thus difference in burned calories.

Once you have some muscles built, the muscles itself consume calories. 1 pound of muscle mass burns more calories at rest than 1 pound of fat. Some sources say that 1 pound of muscle can burn 6 calories per pound per day, others claim up to 50-100 calories per day. I think that 50-100 at rest is too much, the number is most likely smaller, but not as small as 6 calories. The fact is that you are much better off with 30 pounds of muscles than 30 pounds of fat, just common sense.

Another important thing to look at is hormones. When you run or doing other forms of cardio for longer period of time (45-60 minutes and longer) you prevalent hormone is cortisol. Cortisol is "stress" hormone, it breaks down muscles and proteins and use them for energy. Look at marathon runners, they run and run nonstop. They are thin, too skinny, light weight, they lost all their muscle mass and fat. They might have brittle bones or other problems.

When you exercise less than 45 minutes, and use high intensity exercise with breaks in between (sprinting, weight lifting, ...) you prevalent hormone is testosterone. With help of other hormones it builds muscles and strength, it burns fat, and it lowers blood sugar and improves insulin resistance (for those who are diabetics). Classical example of testosterone (and other hormones) work is sprinters - they are quite muscular with very low body fat. They sprint only for a couple of seconds, they rest, and then the sprint again. Go sprint up to the hill if you can.

Interestingly, exercising longer than 45 minutes results in rapid drop of testosterone and release of stress hormones. That is why exercising longer than 45 minutes is not really much productive, your testosterone wants to build muscles while you cortisol wants to destroy them and use them as energy. You see many guys staying in fitness and torturing themselves for 1.5 hours, 5-6 times a week, with overall poor results. You can do much better by exercising less, 45 minutes at most, just 3 times a week. Lift HEAVY and your results will skyrocket. Even more efficient exercise is to lift 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening, that way the lasting effect of testosterone is much longer, while keeping your total time less than 45 mins.

Eat well, don't avoid red meat, eat it at least on days when you weight lift. Your body needs cholesterol and fat to build testosterone and muscles. It needs proteins, and eggs are good source as well. Avoid sophisticated diets, especially those that you have to pay for, it is just a propaganda. You don't need to pay anyone to loose weight. SAVE money by buying LESS food. Avoid those weight loss programs, most (95%) people who follow it will gain weight again, they end up being fatter than before. Use common sense, eat anything but in small amounts, if you want to loose weight cut calories and exercise.

 

[trashKENNUT]

Drck,

You cannot compare brother. If you tell me that Westerners can do more pull ups, i would argue that Asians and South Americans run a hell lot of faster than North America.

You really can't compare because there can be different conditions come to play

1)Westerners staple food is meat
2)Asians is rice
3)Daily food intake
4)Weather

Maybe this are excuses but it's matter of utilizing your own culture or maybe even dropping some of your culture habits to achieve your goals.

Zac

 

[Drck]

I'm not sure what you are referring to Zac. I'm talking about any man - black, white, Asian, European, American, Australian,... Any man can gain muscle mass and any man can do 20 pull ups. With proper training and proper food, you can bench 220 pounds, no matter whether you are 5 feet tall or 6'5". Our bodies and hormones are ready for physical strength, that is what makes us men.

I'm assuming that you are Asian. Look at legend Bruce Lee, he was Chinese. He did 50 pull ups - with ONE hand. I didn't believe it for years, but then I saw a guy who had some 180 pounds (Bruce Lee had about 130) who did 12 pull ups in a row with one hand. DAMN!

Women bodies are different. They have more estrogen than testosterone, they are not built for physical strength. Women are built for communication, socializing, reading body language, communicating clues, telling stories and so on. Average women is more skilled in "dating and seduction" then most men, and most average women could relatively easy beat most of us here on GC with PUA and seduction stuff. That is a fact, their brains is simply different than ours, their brain is built for this stuff - ours isn't.

Why is it this way? We would have to go back to our history. For hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions, men were hunters. We went to the wilderness for days. We had to be quiet for hours, otherwise we would be eaten, or wouldn't get any pray. We had to organize ourselves, use pure logic and suppress our fear and other emotions to catch a pray. We had to use physical strength, only the strongest and most fit survived. Women were sitting home, taking care of children, reading each other's body language, later on talking and talking, socializing all day long and so on. After hundreds of thousands of years, evolutionary changes had simply different impact on our bodies and brains. Man is more muscular, more physical and straight forward, while woman is more communicative and social, more indirect.

Now, you start mixing it all together, you have men who no longer use their physical strength and manliness, you have women who want to be equal in physical strength to strong men (marines) even if they can't do three simple pull ups and so on. But who is happy? Not so many are happy, women can't get real men, and men can't get real feminine women.

Dude, your physical strength, healthy and strong body and overall fitness is your big, if not your biggest weapon in seduction. It worked naturally for millions of years, and it is working now. There are no tricks in it, it should be your fundamental. Not for HER, for yourself...

 

[trashKENNUT]

Drck,

Dude, your physical strength, healthy and strong body and overall fitness is your big, if not your biggest weapon in seduction. It worked naturally for millions of years, and it is working now. There are no tricks in it, it should be your fundamental. Not for HER, for yourself...

YOu have the traditional perspective where Men must be muscular, strength. Kind of like in wrestling, in the WWE, if you not "Big", we not looking for you. That kind of stuff. Nothing wrong with that.

but anyway let's get to your point. HOw many pull ups i can do? or rather the question i actually noted and understand is "How ambitious do you want to be in your bodybuilding?" I mean that's where you heading, how i see it. You noted that everybody is WEAK and have no desire to gain an average STRENGTH. But well my view is rather what you want to achieve? Bodybuilding aside, i know guys you called "WEAK" who get girls hotter than guys who have too much muscle, and i know guys who are not so physically gifted but have a really beautiful girlfriend.

My answer that i gave was about bodybuilding, technical points, rather. A lot of guys like you and me compare each other, how many pull ups we can do and all those crap, and at the end of the day, injured ourselves.

Here's a quote from Terry Crews "Start where you are!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH6s8dAYkQE)

and my point to you now is people no longer fight with swords or in your case here, as you want to note "muscles". People just take a gun and shoot you. Maybe that women who can't do pull ups in the Marines are weak, but they might have the knowledge and skills in combat that you don't have. This is where people fail to see.

This is my view, You not wrong at all.

Zac

 

[Marty]

Drck:

Thanks for all your help. You have inspired me to get back into sprint training. I was doing it (interspersed with "normal" running on other days) up until last summer but slacked off recently.

I think one change I will make is to do the sprints longer, less "sprint" and more short-distance, but still pushing as fast as I can and with the rests. Before I was running around 200 meters, around 10 times, flat out the fastest I could possibly manage—that absolutely killed me. I might try 800 meters, obviously less fast but still timing myself, still with several repeats (maybe 6-8?) and see how it goes. A kind of compromise between cardio and sprint training proper.

I noticed before when I was doing sprint training that it was great for muscles of abdomen, thighs, shoulders and chest (exactly the ones you mentioned, in fact).

In spite of being a little "skinny" I was pleased when my (female) cousin visited after Christmas, I was wearing a tight-fitting T-shirt as it is warm inside my house, and she remarked, twice, on how muscular I look. Not just slim, muscular, she actually emphasized it (as well as pull-ups and push-ups I had been doing resistance band exercises). She is 18 months younger, although not particularly pretty she is a very sexual creature even now when married and her comments have always been very helpful for me. She often compliments me on the way I dress, smell etc. and sometimes says I look "hot", "sexy" and so forth on a particular day, which is a morale booster as well as helping me to understand what works and what doesn't.

-Marty

 

[Drck]

Good for you Marty, happy running

As far as push ups, I would also suggest to add some weight. The best is bench press but if you don't have access you don't have access.

 

[Marty]

Drck:

I did 8 × 202 meters sprints Sunday (the track is non-metric, obviously)—each one in under 40 seconds, which is okay for my age I think (38). I can still feel muscle fatigue all over my body.

It's not a lot of distance in total compared with what I'm accustomed to, but you wouldn't believe how tough it is on the muscles. Afterward I felt the same as following a full workout.

I can sense that testosterone increase already!

-Marty

 

[Drck]

Man, I was never a runner so I can't say. When I started 5x5, it was only to lose some weight. My goal was to bench press 220 pounds in 1 year. I really started light, with some 90 pounds, I did as they suggest: Monday bench, rows, squats. Wednesday deadlift, overhead, squats. Then Friday I repeated Monday, and following Monday I repeated Wednesday, and so on. Later on I added biceps curls, pull ups and dips. Each exercise day I added 5 pounds to bench, squats and deadlift.

I got really into it because I fell the strength. I used to do more series because I couldn't resist, i.g. 7-8 series with 5-6 repetitions, but 5x5 was a baseline. It took me some 3 months in stead of 1 year to bench 220, not 1x but 5x5. I got so much energy that I even started to exercise 4x week.

But it is not really about how much you lift or how much muscles you have. It is about the testosterone surge, my body literally started craving it. Before that I used to eat similar diet like you. Then I went back to beef, even ribs occasionally, and eggs. When I eat fatty food (ribs) I literally feel after exercise how my body is burning fat. Like a fuel. Cholesterol is also needed for creation of testosterone. It is a huge difference, you can't compare chicken or tuna to beef. Combine fatty food with heavier weights, rest plenty and you get so horny you wouldn't believe it. Wanna fuck everything that moves.

I didn't loose weight, I ate a lot and I gained. I must have gained like 20 pounds of muscles in 3 months, I got 6 pack, my skin around abdomen got thinner (1/2 inch?), I feel much stronger, shirts I used to wear are small on me. My blood pressure was always good, but it dropped by 10 points, each systolic and diastolic. My heart rate dropped by 20 points (all good). My labs were always good so I can't say the difference, and I believe that my sugar dropped as well. After a couple of months I hit plateau, I was tired and exhausted, hurt my pectorals, so I decided to keep the weight stable or increase only minimum. Everything should be done moderately.

Like I said, I have no desire to beat any records or achieve anything. My body just have the craving for testosterone, for more weights, so currently I'm focusing only on deadlift while keeping the rest the same or even going lighter.
I'm even thinking buying my own weight set, do one day deadlift for 15 minutes and second days squats, 4-5 times a week, and that is it.

 

[Marty]

Drck:

I am officially a weakling... I joined a club and started a weights program just as you suggested. I'm doing everything 5×5 like you said. I'm feeling good about it, but this is all I can manage for the moment:

• Bench 60 lb 5×5
• Pull-ups 5×5 (this is the easiest for me as I'm so light)
• Military 30 lb 5×5
• Squats 140 lb 5×5

Don't laugh. I did this Sunday and repeated today. It takes about 45 minutes like you said (I alternated them in super-series). I can press much more on the machines (benching around 110 lb 5×5), but this was all I could manage on the free weights.

I will look to add 5 lb per week until I get nearer the numbers you recommended

-Marty

 

[Mr.Rob]

I didn't read the whole thread as there is a lot of info piled here and I don't know what it is you actually want out of your workout's Marty. But... where are the bicep/tricep moves at. Yeah you'll target them in both pull ups and bench press but it will take a lot longer before you get super sexy arms (which women seem to like on me... that is the few women that get privileged with me not fucking up the seduction before feeling them lol). I'd make a separate day to do some arm moves if that's something you want.. ie. skullcrushers and traditional bicep curls or something.

But like I said just skimming maybe you just want to get the blood moving and release some endorphins in which more power to ya!

-Rob

 

[Marty]

Hey Rob, good point. Actually I've got relatively well-defined biceps after doing pull-ups most days for a year or so, and resistance band training has helped with triceps, but I could definitely use more mass.

Actually this is to some extent correct:

maybe you just want to get the blood moving and release some endorphins in which more power to ya!

What I was looking for in large part was this:

All the above is of course optimal to max your amount of testosterone. And you NEED testosterone to get females.

Combine fatty food with heavier weights, rest plenty and you get so horny you wouldn't believe it. Wanna fuck everything that moves.

Do main exercises only: bench press, overhead press, squats, rows, and dead-lifts. Do pull-ups or biceps curls only as a supplements, when you feel you have extra energy. There are no better exercises than these, these are classic and unbeatable. Those are very DIFFICULT, they exercise muscles in the whole body, and that is why many men are avoiding them and rather seek much easier isolation exercises. Don't be like those men, they spent years in fitness with NO results. With this simple 5x5 style, you WILL beat most of these men easily within several months.

5x5 is the OPTIMAL to gain both strength and muscle mass, as well as testosterone level.

-Marty

 

[Pato]

Just wanna throw out some things I've learned or that I've known about lifting, don't know what's been said exactly cause I've just briefly read through.

If you do an exercise (such as bench press, bicep curls, etc), make sure you do the opposite muscle afterwards (so rows, tricep extensions, etc). It doesn't necessarily have to be right afterwards, but make sure you work both muscle groups equally (not in weight necessarily, but in sets and reps). You don't want your chest to be jacked but have your back be unworked, or great biceps with bad triceps.

I think this should be relatively obvious and already well-known, but you shouldn't be working the same muscle groups back to back days. This is because when you lift, you're actually tearing the muscle fibers in your muscles. The muscles are then healing when you aren't lifting, and they grow back bigger, leaner, and stronger. So you should usually put at least a day in between lifts of a certain muscle group. If you don't, you would be tearing the same muscles over and over, which can lead to injury and/or delayed results. If you don't get to the gym enough, you could always do a full body workout one day, and either rest or do some cardio the next day. And don't forget to do some core exercises a couple times a week. On another note, eating protein after your workouts can help, so I'd recommend having a protein bar, some nuts, or even a meal with plenty of protein afterwards.

I also find that low reps and high weight is better for straight up muscular strength (so being able to lift a certain amount), whereas high reps and low weight is better for muscle tone and muscular endurance. So it depends on whether you actually want to get stronger (while not necessarily getting as toned) or you just want to look stronger and more well built than you were before (while not necessarily getting as strong). You'll still see gains in both areas either way, but one may be better than the other for your desired goals. Another thing that helps is just making your workouts more intense, so doing more reps in a less amount of time, or doing one exercise and going straight to another right after without a break in between (called "supersetting").

I realized this could be put on the new lifestyles board in the fitness section (maybe this whole thread as well), but I figured I'd throw some stuff out onto here. Now I'm not a fitness expert and I am pretty young, but I am pretty knowledgeable in this kind of area. Hoped I helped out a bit. Any questions, just let me know.

-Pato

 

[Drck]

The above (described as 5x5) are simple exercises focused on main muscle groups. Squats and military press (while standing) pretty much work every muscle in the body, including abdomen. Biceps/curls and triceps/bench work arms and upper body.

Isolated exercises and various machines shouldn't be used, for reason that they exclude auxiliary muscles. More muscles equals more strength, and more calories burned.

Don't make weight lifting easy, make it difficult. That is the whole reason why exercise at first place - you want to develop physical strength, and also increase threshold of pain and laziness. You want to develop persistency, focus and mental toughness. Refuse machines, refuse doing easy things, and refuse any help, at least while exercising. Learn to rely only on yourself, learn to be independent, learn to be tough, learn to be alone and be alone.

The trend today is that everyone wants to do everything easy, including weight lifting, and have "good feelings" about it. They go to fitness and they talk, they discuss exercises in stead of doing them. They can't lift free weights, they need machines and help. Don't be like everyone, work hard, workout like a man and not like a pussy. There is nothing "nice" about lifting weights, it is a hard work that requires lots of effort. Exercise hard, be tough, and if you want to develop good feelings - and you should - practice meditation and relaxation.

Develop winner attitude. Each time you go to exercise you beat some of your old personal record. Last time you lifted 100 pounds, and before that 95. Today 105. Last time you did 25 repetitions (5x5) with 105. Today you did 27 (5x5 + 2) with 105. You beat old personal record, you win, you are a winner. Go home and make sure that you feel like a winner. At least for couple of minutes. Make winner attitude part of weight lifting.

Eventually you will get tired of 5x5, and that is ok. Experience with different systems, take a break, go do martial arts in stead, then come back to it. The whole idea is to get physically and mentally strong in relatively short period of time. 5x5 is simple and great, all you need is to exercise 45 minutes 3-4 times a week with "heavy" weights. Start light and keep adding little bit of weight every week, you'll see the results in a couple of months.

Don't just lift weights, exercise your mind at the same time!