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Mop or Hercules! Quickest most effiecient workout and diet?

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:26 pm
by Jay
I've been somewhat liberal with food and lax on working out lately. Gained 20 pounds in about 3 months time. I'm at 230 now. I plan on sticking with fresh foods (veggies, fruits, no soda nothing processed), and having fish be my main meat for a while. I will be working out 5 days a week about an hour and a half a day again and for the remaining 2 days in the week just jogging in the morning. All I want to do is slim down. I don't need to build mass or anything fancy. Just wanna kill the gut a bit. Suggestions? I wanna do this somewhat quickly cuz I have a wedding to go to in late Sept.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:30 pm
by Kramer
i am in the same boat you are, i am back to about 230-35 and have a hard time losing those first 10-15 pounds....

i find that swimming will work wonders, i grew up a swimmer, though if you didn't i would stick with long (45 mins at least) cardio workouts, not necessarily bustin a nut, but find out your heart rate zones and work it... and watch what you eat...

i have got to get back in the pool bad.

Re: Mop or Hercules! Quickest most effiecient workout and di

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:46 pm
by 10sun
Stretch, get your heart rate up, keep it up for 20 minutes, let your heart rate return to normal, repeat. You can bike, swim, whatever floats your boat.

You will want to put yourself into a daily calorie deficit. Eat less.

I eat 1/4 a cup of cottage cheese & 2 bananas for breakfast with a glass of low sodium V8. It gets me going & gives me great energy to start my day. (8am)

For lunch, I vary between picking up a gyro, making a sandwich, or getting some sushi, I drink water with it. (2pm)

For dinner, I cook around 6oz of meat, make a little bit of rice & veggies to go with it. I drink more v8. (9:30pm)

Throughout the day I usually drink about 12 oz of fruit juices & 24 oz of water.

I keep this diet throughout the week & do whatever I feel like on weekends.

I was at 178 on Sunday... I feel great.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:50 pm
by leah
losing weight sucks hehe good luck jay!!

my advice to you, though, is to not be so strictly regimented with your workout schedule--make sure you change things up once in a while!! if you don't, you'll find that you get bored really quickly and lose your desire to keep at it. i had that problem really badly a month or two ago, and it's hard to get back on the wagon once you fall off. just keep things varied and interesting--that way, you won't get bored and neither will your body (which also means said exercise will be more effective--never let your body get used to/comfortable with a routine!)

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:56 pm
by 10sun
Pickup an outdoor hobby, I <3 kayaking.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 3:58 pm
by leah
hoooo, i wish we had stuff like that to do around here. in the summertime, it's MISERABLE trying to do anything active outside unless it's early in the morning (no effing way hehe) or late at night. too high of heat, too high of humidity :( i finally got my stolen bike back, though, so i'm trying to do some biking. hurts my ass.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:02 pm
by Jay
leah wrote:hoooo, i wish we had stuff like that to do around here. in the summertime, it's MISERABLE trying to do anything active outside unless it's early in the morning (no effing way hehe) or late at night. too high of heat, too high of humidity :( i finally got my stolen bike back, though, so i'm trying to do some biking. hurts my ass.


I can definately think of other physical activities you can do that would hurt your ass.

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 4:23 pm
by Gaazy
Kayaking is one hell of a work out!

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:44 pm
by Harrison
Swimming is working great for me. I'm about to break the 200lb barrier again.

P.S. Fatty~

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:00 pm
by Mop
Full body work outs that last about a hour, 20 minutes of cardio followed by non stop lifting. IE

Deadlifts to push ups to weighted ball crunches to standing shoulder press. rest about 30 sec or so, repeat. 10 reps or so. You want to be going out enough that your HR is staying up the entire time and pushing your self weight wise to the point of feeling exahsted by the time you leave.

Due to some imbalances in muscles i've been working a split the last month to try and even some out and im sick of it. I can't do it they are the most boring work outs in the world I am going back to the full body - feel like you can pass out right after when you leave

Typical work out would be for 3 x a week for the weights

20 minutes at about 70 % max HR of cardio

For Sunday / tues and fri what I plan on to see how I feel is:
Deadlifts, Hindu push ups, leg swings, Knee high hips movement ( they have a machine that is nice, helps my flexability ) x 4 30 sec rest

Bent over row (elbows out) , incline Press (Dumbells ) 1 leg squats, Weighted ball crunch x 4 30 sec rest

incline row ( elbows tight to body ), Standing military press, Leg extensions, Hamstring curls x3 30 sec rest

Squated lat pull down ( not the typical lat machine ) Plyo ball tosses on bench , shoulder extensions, backwards walking lunges. x 3

Tri pull down (Palm up), Curl with rope, Not sure probably a broom toe touch for some flexability. and a reverse fly.

Tri pull down (light palms down) to a incline french press ( power movement light ) to hammer curl or standing cable curl.

finish off with a 10 min cool down on the cycle and im gtg.

week after I am going to add in some fly, Clean and press or power cleans, and more med ball work

On cardio days it will probably be hiit based. stairs or something outside while its nice. if you are at 24 hour fitness ill come work with ya chief.

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:43 pm
by Tae-Bo
id be rich if i knew the most efficient work out and diet

Re: Mop or Hercules! Quickest most effiecient workout and di

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:55 pm
by Diekan
Jay wrote:I've been somewhat liberal with food and lax on working out lately. Gained 20 pounds in about 3 months time. I'm at 230 now. I plan on sticking with fresh foods (veggies, fruits, no soda nothing processed), and having fish be my main meat for a while. I will be working out 5 days a week about an hour and a half a day again and for the remaining 2 days in the week just jogging in the morning. All I want to do is slim down. I don't need to build mass or anything fancy. Just wanna kill the gut a bit. Suggestions? I wanna do this somewhat quickly cuz I have a wedding to go to in late Sept.


If you're wanting to lose weight then the last thing you need to do is lift weights. YES - muscles burn more calories, but that's not what you're trying to do.

By the look of your routine - I think you're over training. No reason to work out seven days a week. You must have rest.

The key for you is cardio - lots and lots of cardio.

If you're serious about losing the pounds - then do this:

1. Drink plenty of fluids (water).
2. Don't worry about lifting weights and focus on cardio work outs.
3. Instead of lifting for an hour and half a day - try doing cardio for that hour and a half.

Start out small and build your stamina up. Maybe shoot for 2 miles, then 3 then 4 and so forth.

Seriously - don't worry about the weights - all your going to do is slow down the weight loss process (because muscle is heavier than fat) and you're going to burn yourself out before you see the results you want.

Diet + Water + Cardio = a slim Jay.

You could try two cardio sessions a day. 30 minutes in the morning and then 30 minutes again at night.

Once you've lost the weight - then you can start working on muscle sculpting and toning if that's what you want.

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:18 pm
by Mop
couple things,

the reason you lift weights while loosing weight is the main reason of all of them,

Lifting weights burns more calories for a longer period of time than Cardio does. Weight lifting boosts your metabolism for upwards of 48 hours
Cardio boosts your metabolism upwards for 3 hours.
Along with that, 40 min of *HIGH INTENSITY* weights after 20 in of cardio will burn more FAT than 40 min of running. I said fat, not calories, they are 2 different things we are talking about. *Disclaimer* UNless you are running with in a 55- 60% Max HR for that entire time, which with out some serious training, runners do not do. It takes years to run at a decent pace and train your HR to stay that low. If I can find it there is an excellent article written by a friend of mine on the subject while training for the next Brit Triathalon Team.

Proper circut weight lifting can actually sit your hr at the max fat burning zone for a very long period of time. - Burning more fat that a jog would -

That is why you lift weights while doing cardio. - this is the first and foremost reason.

As for lots and lots of cardio, that is a myth. if you do cardio correctly you can do it for long or short periods depending on what you like.

a 30 min ( 5 w/u 20 hiit 5 coo down ) will do more for you, than a hour long session on the elptical at a 65% hr. If you like like cardio sessions, then by all means go for it, but once you hit that 25 min mark, your HR should never go above 65% of it's max to create optimum fat burning.

Longer sessions turn into burning more MUSCLE than FAT, as it is easier to break down, hence why I perfer to do a HIIT method. the easiest way to think about it, compare a sprinters body with a Long distance runners. They train the same amount of time per day, Yet their body types are completly different.

Don't drink soda, diet soda, coffee and the like. Drink water, Eat cottage cheese before bed, it helps the body fight off starvation longer than most foods out there. Yes it's somewhat disgusting but it's great for you. dont eat anything with High Fructose corn syrup in the first 4 ingredients. *this happens alot in so called healthy wheat bread* Get SLEEP. it's important for true.

70% of what you will see will be diet related for loosing weight. Don't eat junk food and eat healthy mix it up with some cardio, some weights, some sex and you are gtg.


-Srs if you happen to be in SF i'll come up and train you in your gym.

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:37 pm
by Jazendar
Jay I know you want to lose those 30 pounds or whatnot, but there is a point when you can overwork your body. Not only that, but JUMPING directly into 5 days a week, and hour and 1/2 a day is going to burn you at both ends of the candle, and you're more likely to skip if you do that. I would suggest working your way up to an hour in a half, even if you do go 5 days a week.

That said, a 5 day workout to burn fat faster while maintaining a "cut" look is lots and LOTS of reps. Do 4 sets of each workout (5 different workouts for each body part you want to workout, high reps meaning 10-15-20)

This is the isolation workout set equalling 20, that does not include running or abs.

A 5 day might include the following like i've posted before:

Monday-Chest-Incline Bench, Decline Bench, Flat Bench, Flys, Close Grip
Tuesday-Back-Seated Row, One-Armed Row, Back Extensions, and two others are interchangeable with the numerous other back exercizes, take your pick.
Wednesday-Legs-Squats, Leg Press, etc etc.
Thursday-Off, take a day of rest after squats as your legs, if done correctly, should be burning.
Friday-Shoulders-Same as back as far as seated row goes, but use the two bars that are parallel to the ground, Shrugs, etc etc.
Saturday-Triceps/Biceps-That is all of your hammer curls, seated etc etc. All in all, saturday is the day you should have about 7 different workout's, so around 28 sets in all of 10-15/20 reps each set.

Make sure you're not spending more than 1 minute TOPS inbetween sets t also allow for maximum muscle control. If you confuse your muscles too much by letting them settle down a little, they go into overdrive and eventually shut down quicker by turning the on/off switch too much.

By doing this workout, because it is so many sets and so many reps, you will be quite sore for the first week especially and will likely want to skip a couple days. I'd say do this workout but narrow everything to two sets of each workout and then see how you feel the next day. Ease your muscles into it.

Make sure within 30 minutes of your workout you eat a protein bar or some fast dissolving carbs, and then a protein shake. You can buy whey protein at your local GNC for like 30 bucks. Very effective stuff and will give you the motivation as far as the strain and pain in your muscles to keep you going.

Furthermore, after you get done with your sets, for cardio if you go swimming, it helps relax your muscles and put them in a vegetative state in which they'll basically calm themselves down easier than just sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips.

Also, buy a bunch of like 15 oz shots of cottage cheese or whatever they are, 2% milk fat. They've got 28 grams of protein in each one, and take about 10 minutes to eat. You may not like the taste, but it's not bad at all compared to most of the shit out there and it is extremely good for your body, and your muscles.

May seem like a bit of rambling with a lack of consideration for organizing it, but i'm on my way out, good luck and hope this helps.

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:14 am
by Kramer
Jay I know you want to lose those 30 pounds or whatnot, but there is a point when you can overwork your body. Not only that, but JUMPING directly into 5 days a week, and hour and 1/2 a day is going to burn you at both ends of the candle, and you're more likely to skip if you do that. I would suggest working your way up to an hour in a half, even if you do go 5 days a week.


good words. having experienced severe muscle crampsand burnout after i leapt blindly into swimming 30-40 minutes hard and working out 4-5 days a week, took like 3 months and then i just crashed, it was the physical and psychological stress that the workouts added to my already potentially hectic day-to-day schedule.....

i am following that advice after starting again this morning from a 6 week hiatus while looking for and buying a first house.

take it easy in the beginning and you will be well-prepared to continue strong long-term.

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:14 pm
by Jay
Mop wrote:couple things,

the reason you lift weights while loosing weight is the main reason of all of them,

Lifting weights burns more calories for a longer period of time than Cardio does. Weight lifting boosts your metabolism for upwards of 48 hours
Cardio boosts your metabolism upwards for 3 hours.
Along with that, 40 min of *HIGH INTENSITY* weights after 20 in of cardio will burn more FAT than 40 min of running. I said fat, not calories, they are 2 different things we are talking about. *Disclaimer* UNless you are running with in a 55- 60% Max HR for that entire time, which with out some serious training, runners do not do. It takes years to run at a decent pace and train your HR to stay that low. If I can find it there is an excellent article written by a friend of mine on the subject while training for the next Brit Triathalon Team.

Proper circut weight lifting can actually sit your hr at the max fat burning zone for a very long period of time. - Burning more fat that a jog would -

That is why you lift weights while doing cardio. - this is the first and foremost reason.

As for lots and lots of cardio, that is a myth. if you do cardio correctly you can do it for long or short periods depending on what you like.

a 30 min ( 5 w/u 20 hiit 5 coo down ) will do more for you, than a hour long session on the elptical at a 65% hr. If you like like cardio sessions, then by all means go for it, but once you hit that 25 min mark, your HR should never go above 65% of it's max to create optimum fat burning.

Longer sessions turn into burning more MUSCLE than FAT, as it is easier to break down, hence why I perfer to do a HIIT method. the easiest way to think about it, compare a sprinters body with a Long distance runners. They train the same amount of time per day, Yet their body types are completly different.

Don't drink soda, diet soda, coffee and the like. Drink water, Eat cottage cheese before bed, it helps the body fight off starvation longer than most foods out there. Yes it's somewhat disgusting but it's great for you. dont eat anything with High Fructose corn syrup in the first 4 ingredients. *this happens alot in so called healthy wheat bread* Get SLEEP. it's important for true.

70% of what you will see will be diet related for loosing weight. Don't eat junk food and eat healthy mix it up with some cardio, some weights, some sex and you are gtg.


-Srs if you happen to be in SF i'll come up and train you in your gym.


What does cottage cheese go with? That shit tastes horrible. Also, would I be eating cottage cheese for bfast, lunch and dinner?

Also Mop, not sure what FAT vs. Calories means, but I'm trying to slim down essentially. I'm used to a 5 day workout but lately due to slacking it's been more like a 2-3 day workout so jumping into 5 again isn't difficult.

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:09 pm
by Mop
well i would just eat cottage cheese with fruit before bed. yogurt works well too.

Ok, well when burning a calorie - it will vary on where it is burned from. In a high intensity work out for a long period of time ( jogging ) your body will burn the calories from muscle ( because it is easier to break down than fat cells.) in a longer work out with lower intensity ( weights, hiit, incline walking, elpticals) you will burn a higher % of calories from fat than Muscle.



Fat burned from over all calories is > when working at a lower intensity with intervals over a longer period to allow your body to burn the fat. *yes there are exceptions but they require years of training to get too*

IE: If you jogged for a hour and burned 700 calories and 30% of that was from fat. you burned 210 calories directly from fat sources. *jogging usually puts someone at 25 - 30% of fat burned from total calories.

If you walked for an hour at an incline or hiked ( ect ) and burned 500 calories but 60% was from fat you burned 300 calories directly from fat.

Re: Mop or Hercules! Quickest most effiecient workout and di

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:40 pm
by Narrock
Jay wrote:I've been somewhat liberal with food and lax on working out lately. Gained 20 pounds in about 3 months time. I'm at 230 now. I plan on sticking with fresh foods (veggies, fruits, no soda nothing processed), and having fish be my main meat for a while. I will be working out 5 days a week about an hour and a half a day again and for the remaining 2 days in the week just jogging in the morning. All I want to do is slim down. I don't need to build mass or anything fancy. Just wanna kill the gut a bit. Suggestions? I wanna do this somewhat quickly cuz I have a wedding to go to in late Sept.


You're a fat fuck.

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:56 am
by Jazendar
The 2% cottage cheese isn't all that bad to be perfectly honest, and this sound rather uncomfortable, it really isn't: Each spoon of cottage cheese (after mixed up ofcourse so it's not so clumpy) place at the back of your tongue and swollow. It feels the exact same way as eating because it's already a little degraded due to mixing it while in the cup. Not only that but you do not taste it and it goes down easy. I usually have a bottle of water with me or something to drink when eating it. Chasing it down can help.

And mop is right, yogurt helps too, I usually have 2 yogurts (6g of protein each) and my energy drink before I go to the gym. Then at the gym I have 3-5 bottles of water depending on the workout. Then once i'm home, within thirty minutes of working out your muscles are demanding.

It's kind of hard to explain, but i'll try.

Within thirty minutes after your workout, eat a fast dissolving carb, something quick and easy, Protein bar, something. Then after that a protein shake. Basically what happens is your muscles are pheening so much for a nurture, that by eating the Protein bar (Fast dissolving carb), and then drinking a protein shake or whatnot, the ACP in the Protein Shake will catch a ride with the Protein bar into your bloodstream, giving it a fast track to your muscles which will then help hasten the process in which your muscles retrieve the necessary protein.

As i've stated before, you can get burnt out really quickly, which you said you've been cutting down to 2-3 days a week. Many people skip, most of the time it's being sore vs not being sore. If you give your muscles what they need, np there~

15-20 minutes after the shake, eat the cottage cheese and 1 more yogurt. 15-20 after that, eat something healthy but filling. By now, the protein is processed into your blood stream to the point where food will digest properly in the places you need it to.


Basically what happens is when you eat a fatty food or drink soda, it travels in your bloodstream for a short time and then creates more fat. Protein and such fast tracks it's way to your muscles but soothes them in a way that does not let other foods override.

Kind of hard to explain...I'll try to cliffnote:

Protein travels directly into the bloodstream and muscles, providing a celestial to your muscles, while your stomache and digestive system are ready to go to work on the food you'd eat 20 minutes after your cottage cheese.

A lot of rambling again - i'm sure, so little time to leave~

Lots and lots of reps will shed the pounds sir! As mop said, walking a long distance will burn more than running a short distance, it works the same way in the gym.

Heavy weights short reps to get strong, light weights lots of reps to get cut.

I do a 6 week workout to confuse my muscles to get the better of both sides.

Weeks:
1-10reps-8-6-4
2-10-10-10-10
3-8-8-8-8-8
4-6-6-6-6
5-4-4-4-4
6-burnouts, 30 seconds in between each set, 10-8-6-6

That way on week one youre building reps to begin with and muscle mass, then changing it to strictly reps the second week, and working your way down to muscle mass. Then burnouts which are highly effective, then back again.

Gobble gobble.

edit:And cottage cheese is so high in protein and not one of my favorite foods, so I usually only have to eat it right around my workouts, and once a day on my days off. But yes, essentially 7 days a week, twice a day on your days that you workout.

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:08 am
by leah
seriously you guys are such weenies for having issues with cottage cheese lol . . . it's soooo yummy!

when i was doing atkins (yeah yeah, shut up) i practically lived on cottage cheese and i still love it. now that i'm focusing more on low-fat, low-calorie stuff, though, i don't eat it very often. more as a treat when i'm at ruby tuesday's hitting up the salad bar (which, my RT salad bar plates are pathetic hehe . . . pretty much entirely made up of baby spinach greens, grape tomatoes, grapes, and a drizzle of low-fat ranch . . . SO GOOD THOUGH . . . i always get made fun of for my salad plates when i'm there with friends hehe)

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:27 am
by Tae-Bo
hurff gurff fffff

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:29 am
by Tae-Bo
i wish i could help but the crazy shit i do now isnt really applicable to other ppl and i forgot what its like to not be crazy

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:47 am
by Tae-Bo
Jazendar wrote:Heavy weights short reps to get strong, light weights lots of reps to get cut.


whats the deal with this retarded ass myth

stop reading muscle magazines

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:52 am
by Jazendar
I switched to the boiled egg diet about 2 months ago. Trying out this product called Nano Vapor at the moment too. What're you on Duck?

Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:55 am
by Jazendar
Tis not a myth sir, it's not like it's 100% one way or the other, but there is a difference. There's a reason 6 months of a body builders year is spent with peanut butter jelly sandwiches and chicken with heavy weight, and the second half of the year leaning up and lots of reps.