I have been weight training for about a year and eight monthes now. When I started I was, 20 years old, 6 feet tall, 172lbs, and I looked completely out of shape. I had absolutely no chest, a small gut, love handles, just a very poor physique in general. I started my first workouts, by doing cardio for 40 minutes a day, six days a week. I would walk for 10 minutes, on a treadmill, and then I would run for 10 minutes, then walk for ten, minutes, etc... all the way up to 40 minutes. While doing this, I was on a very strict, high protein, low fat diet. I probably wasn't eating more than 2000 calories a day. (I wasn't counting) While doing this I was doing body building weight training (Heavy weights), usually in sets of 3, and the reps went 10, 8, 6, typically. Doing this, I managed to drop my weight to 155lbs. I lost most of the fat that I wanted to lose. After that, I completely stopped doing cardio, and focused on weight training. I managed to get myself back up to 170lbs just lifting weights, and eating a high protein, high calorie diet. I now have the muscle that I desire, and I am happy with my size and my level of fitness now. But now I have a problem that I can't seem to fix. Although, I am muscular now, I cannot seem to get tone, or "cut" I have started doing HIET training on a rowing machine. I have been doing this for about twelve weeks now, and I have seen no difference in appearence, or weight. I have not changed my diet. I fear that if I change my calorie/protein intake, that I will lose the muscle that I have worked so hard to obtain. My question, is what do I do, to get those veins in my biceps. What I I do, to get that six pack to stick out? I want my skin to look paper thin, but no matter what I do, I cannot seem make any progress to this goal. I know I am doing my weight training right. That I consider myself an expert on. Maybe it's my cardio, or my diet. I don't know. Any advise would be a lifesaver at this point. I need to obtain this goal by next summer. It's a necessity.
Getting "Cut"
- Thread starter Smoke420
- Start date
I believe in a previous post you mentioned that you had a rapid metabolism. You should be able to get cut then with less cardio than the average person. Try 2 sessions a week, interval training of course. How long are you going? Go for at least 20 minutes. I ***ume your training is now very varied, in order to subject your muscles to continously new stimuli. The longer you train, the more difficult it is to get results, as your body adapts faster and faster. Choose free weights as much as possible, and I suggest you play around with sets and reps frequently, even though you have achieved the muscle m*** you desire.
As for diet, eat a well-balanced diet, choose smaller portions of carbs without eliminating them altogether (and choose whole wheat rather than enriched).
Hope you get your goal!
As for diet, eat a well-balanced diet, choose smaller portions of carbs without eliminating them altogether (and choose whole wheat rather than enriched).
Hope you get your goal!
In another thread you said you could do 10 reps with 135 lbs in the bench press at a body weight of 170 lbs. That is not very good. A young healthy male after a period of regular training should be able to do at least:
Bench Perss - body weight (170 lbs in your case) for 12 reps (approximately the equivalent of 50 pushups?)
Pullups 20 reps or bent row - body weight for 12 reps
Full Squat - body weight for 20 reps
Deadlift - Body weight for 20 reps
I would recommend you increase the reps on your weight workouts to the 12-15 range, if you are looking to get more definition. Do 4-6 six sets (not counting warmups) per body part with 60 seconds rest between sets, 2-3 three times per week. Use a weight that you can just barely do 12 reps with and try to do 15. Try to add weight on each exercise every week, unless doing so does not allow you to do at least 12 reps.
Bench Perss - body weight (170 lbs in your case) for 12 reps (approximately the equivalent of 50 pushups?)
Pullups 20 reps or bent row - body weight for 12 reps
Full Squat - body weight for 20 reps
Deadlift - Body weight for 20 reps
I would recommend you increase the reps on your weight workouts to the 12-15 range, if you are looking to get more definition. Do 4-6 six sets (not counting warmups) per body part with 60 seconds rest between sets, 2-3 three times per week. Use a weight that you can just barely do 12 reps with and try to do 15. Try to add weight on each exercise every week, unless doing so does not allow you to do at least 12 reps.
dswithers said:
Its up to him how many reps he does really depending on his weight hieght ect and how much muscle he wants for i9nstance a runner wouldnt want to be over bulky were as a body builders aim is to become muscle bounde
dswithers said:
Ok, here's the story. Before I started weight training, I had basically NO chest. Zero, zip, nada. I remember I started my bench press with 95lbs with 10 reps. I would do three of these. If I had a spotter I would add 5-10lbs with each set. None the less, I was WEAK. Now after 1 year and 8 monthes of bench pressing once a week, I am now up to 135lbs with 10 reps. I know it's not up to your "specs" or whatever, but you'd have to admit, that my progress has been pretty good. I actually have pecs now, something that before I started working out, I never had. Your making me feel like I'm not any good at this, when in fact, working out rules my life.
I did not mean to imply that you are not making good progress, just that if you want to improve definition you may do better by concentrating on higher reps and sets and more frequent weight workouts than from cardio. Done properly each set of a weight workout should leave you breathless and have a very similar effect as HEIT training on your favorite cardioexercise. As an added benefit any gain in muscle m*** increases your base motabolism rate and helps to burn fat, reducing your overall body fat level, which results in better definition.
dswithers said:
Ok, I'm willing to try your technique out. So what your saying is that I should do more reps. Say 12-15 per set, right? So should I lower the weight that I'm lifting. I was always taught to lift the heaviest weight I possibly can. So lets say that while doing a military press I lift a 45lb dumbell in each hand 10 times. If I wanted to lift for 15 reps, would it be advisable to drop the weight to say around 35lbs in each hand?
You should start with a weight you can do 15 reps with. Then add whatever the smallest increment of weight you can each workout until you can't do at least 12 reps any more. Then back off one increment and do sets of 12-15, for a workout or 2 and then try to increase the weight again. The important thing is that you are doing at least 12 reps per set and the last rep you do on each set is all you can possibly do. In that respect you are still lifting as much weight as you can, just for 12 or more reps.
High reps are good, but not all the time. Sometimes lower reps can induce more hypertrophy than high reps in a lesser amount of time. Since my thread I have been playing around with my rep amounts. I have never, and will probably never stick to one rep combination, but I've found that I make more gains with the 4-8 rep range, usually 6 being my best. Yes, you have made some incredible progress. But, I really cannot see why you do not have that definition though if you have such a racing metabolism. But, it could be that you are overdoing it on your cardio workouts. This is just a thought, but look at the body of a sprinter versus the body of a long distance runner. The long distance runner does not look nearly as defined as the sprinter. Recent scientific studies have linked short bursts of a duration lasting about 15 seconds followed by a 30-60 second rest period to more fat loss, without the loss of much muscle. It's called HIIT cardio training. It's worked very well for me. All I'm saying is that by doing too much cardio you could be eating away that fat, but also at the same time eating away a lot of the muscle that you are trying to put on. That may be why you are not perfoming so well in your weightlifting. Just a thought...
scott
scott
I have been doing that HIET cardio training on a rowing machine. But I think I'm gonna stop, or at least cut it down to just a couple times a week. I was doing it 5-6 times a week, and I found myself losing weight really rapidly. I went from 172lbs, down to 160 in a week and a half. So I layed off the cardio for about a week, and now I'm back up to 170. I started doing my high rep workout today. I did 3 sets of 15 on the military press, along with the other 5 lifts I'm doing for shoulders right now. I'm gonna stick with it for 6 weeks, doing cardo on friday and saturday. And I'm gonna see if this makes any difference in definition. Thanks for all the advise guys.
Just my opinion -
I have never heard of the HIIT program before, but I can tell you that doing something similar to that has been working great for me. Since I started lifting seriously 4 years ago, I have seen incredible gains with this basic structure:
set 1 - 10 reps
set 2 - 8 reps
set 3 - 5-6 reps
set 4 - 7-9 reps
(the last set is just to make sure you tire out the muscle; set 3 is the heaviest set; and sets 1 and 2 are the 'warm-up' sets that get you prepared both mentally and physically for set 3).
- I take 1 minute breaks for movements where I use both arms or legs at the same time, and I take 40 second breaks when I am doing movements that require one arm or leg at a time.
Since summer 2000, I have gone from 117 lbs. @ 2% bodyfat to 158 @ 3% bodyfat. I have always used this structure and will continue to use it because I think its the only way to build up real strength and endurance.
-Good luck
Tim
I have never heard of the HIIT program before, but I can tell you that doing something similar to that has been working great for me. Since I started lifting seriously 4 years ago, I have seen incredible gains with this basic structure:
set 1 - 10 reps
set 2 - 8 reps
set 3 - 5-6 reps
set 4 - 7-9 reps
(the last set is just to make sure you tire out the muscle; set 3 is the heaviest set; and sets 1 and 2 are the 'warm-up' sets that get you prepared both mentally and physically for set 3).
- I take 1 minute breaks for movements where I use both arms or legs at the same time, and I take 40 second breaks when I am doing movements that require one arm or leg at a time.
Since summer 2000, I have gone from 117 lbs. @ 2% bodyfat to 158 @ 3% bodyfat. I have always used this structure and will continue to use it because I think its the only way to build up real strength and endurance.
-Good luck
Tim
umpalumpa perhaps?
That is great gains - but I have to ask how you are measuring your body fat % because those numbers look low. Even professional body builders do good to get below 5% and then they only stay there for a week or two for the show before going back up to the 6 to 7 % range. I'm not doubting that those are your results, but I wonder how accurate it is.
hey, sorry for getting off the subject but i just registered on this thing and i can't figure out how to start my own thread. i have a similar question though. I'm a female 5 ft 110 lbs and i want to maintain my weight but get lean and tone up. maybe lose some inches. i just got a membership at a gym but have no idea what to do, i also need to fix up my diet, any suggestions? once again i didnt mean to interrupt your thread. i probably need a womens forum or something right?