Don't laugh at me but I really like the elliptical machine. I do about 30 mins (roughly 4-5 miles) per day. I like it a lot more than the treadmill. I need to get back on weights, but first I need to drop about 15 pounds and build up some more endurance.

I didn't take advantage of all that free gym equipment in college like I should have.

I like to enhance my workouts with some HGH. It's really made a difference-- it's given me that extra oomph that I'd been missing all these years. Just add water.

j/k.

HGH can cause Cancer. And heart problems.

Sounds like a miricle cure. I think in short doses for small time frames to help heal an injury it might be ok. But what happens when you come off it?

Tits!

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by wsdm:

I've put on 19 pounds of mostly muscle since June 1. I'm not sure what your weight goals are (gain, lose, stay same) but most people do too many isolation exercises (bicep curls, leg curls) and not enough compound lifts. Compound lifts get far more muscle fibers activated. The best are probably bench pressing, squatting, and deadlifting. (Not sure if you can do the latter two because of your knee, though. I assume you can do dips and pull ups though, which are good.) My view is that most people don't eat nearly enough protein either. Most experts recommend about 1.5 grams per pound of body weight per day if you're active. I eat closer to 2 grams per pound daily. Drink a lot of water, esp. if you're eating a lot of protein. There's no substitute for doing a lot of reading!

[Edited by - wsdm on 09-07-2006 9:08 PM]

19 pounds of muscle in 3 months is pretty impressive.

I agree that the big boys are important bench, squats, deadlifts. You still should do the isolations but with the mentality of trying to get gains on the big boys.

When you said knee problems I figured you were talking to me. But dude I did lay it out for you as far as my routine. All the things you mentioned are in my routine. Washing the protein down with a little absolute?

Sorry, I missed the part about you doing squats and deads. With the isos, I guess it depends on what stage you're at and what your goals are. I already have good muscle definition. I just want to add a lot more muscle mass throughout my body. So bicep curls, tricep extensions, etc. won't do nearly as much for my goals as compound lifts.

Nalod, everyone loves tits.

I guess what's important is what people are training for. I was in an nyurban bball league this summer, and damn it, I suddenly lost all of my endurance and basketball skill. I turned into a tired plodder for the first 7 games of the season--- good for a 3 minute session of tough d, but too tired to dribble the ball up the floor.

I'm trying to see if this is just part of the human aging process. I turned 32 this summer, right around the time when the pros start to lose something.

I never claimed to have refined basketball skills, but the drop-off since last summer was incredible.

So... in order to try to re-gain some of my athleticism, I joined the gym again after a 6 year break. :) I had been doing my own circuit routine using free weights @ home based on the Men's Health Abs Diet book & workouts from various fitness magazines--- I looked in decent enough shape, but I lost the stamina for any sort of athletic activity.

Most of my effort is regaining my cardio-stamina. In early July, I was huffing and puffing and wheezing to finish a 5k on the treadmill (in 40 minutes). My weight was around 162ish, give or take 2lbs (I'm 5'7ish).

I wasn't seeing much in the way of results initially, so I started on a modified South Beach Diet (still allowed to have drinks from time to time!)-- Diet's a huge part of jump-starting fitness results, in my opinion. My weight dropped pretty quickly to the mid-high 150s, where I've been maintaining.

Over the past 2 weeks, I was able to get under 27 minutes.

I think it's very reasonable goal to bring that number to under 24 minutes, especially on a treadmill.

Overall, my goals are:
1) keep up with the young guys in these leagues & maintain high effort over "starter" minutes
2) regain some level of hops w/o fear of getting calf cramps (back in high school, I could occassionally grab the rim... so 30+" vertical-- now I'm afraid to get off the ground)
3) regain some level of shooting touch
4) get those abs
5) be able to do an outdoor 5k in under 24 minutes

[Edited by - technomaster on 09-08-2006 4:20 PM]