Witness the Fitness
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on May 13, 2015, 7:20 p.m. by Epochalyptik
A thread about lifting, eating, running, or whatever else you do to get or stay in shape.
Share your accomplishments, strategies, tips, and questions. Set a new PR that you want to share? Go ahead! Got a favorite protein shake? Give up the recipe! Want to figure out how to get off the couch? Ask away!
The link's not working for me. What's the title of the video? I'll just search it.
June 11, 2015 1:30 p.m.
June 12, 2015 1:12 p.m.
Yeah man, he's such a monster. Pure dedication right there, and it's such a simple little tip but makes all the difference.
June 12, 2015 7:58 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
I'll have to watch that today. Maybe while cooking.
Speaking of, what are your opinions on counting calories, counting macros, eating whatever as long as it's clean, etc.?
I've been trying to keep track of my macros and total cals with FitDay, but I'm not very diligent about it.
June 13, 2015 10:30 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #7
I guess I should mention that I often like to cook different meals with several ingredients (because I like dietary variation), which makes counting everything much more time-consuming. I guess what I'm looking for is a convincing reason to actually tabulate everything that justifies the inconvenience.
June 13, 2015 10:38 a.m.
I've found those kinds of apps useful at first. But once you're used to cooking that way, you can usually forego the app and still stay pretty close.
June 13, 2015 10:57 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
I've been cooking clean for a while (admittedly, I've allowed myself a score too many cheat days). The real reason I started tracking macros was to get an idea of where I actually stood nutritionally (I didn't really have a concept of nutritional balance).
But that's pretty much how I feel about it now.
June 13, 2015 11:02 a.m.
I used to be a head chef before I started into Power Engineering (I cooked for about 7 years as a profession) and I love variety in my cooking.
And as long as I'm cooking it i'll eat it guilt free because I cook very clean. I never count the food I eat, I just know that I can't eat enough right now, I want to gain weight and put on size and right now I'm floating around 195 at 6'1.
and I eat constantly... or so I thought.
But if you're looking to cut weight then obviously you want to keep track of what your taking in. But if you're cooking clean and getting a daily workout in than I see zero reason to keep track of your macros.
Unless something makes you feel like shit or your having a reaction to something and you want to pinpoint what it is, then I see no reason to worry about intake.
June 13, 2015 11:23 a.m.
Well rounded nutrition comes down to just a few things: skinless chicken breast, oily fish, nuts/seeds (sunflower kernels are my favorite, very nutrient dense), Greek yogurt, and low GI green vegetables. If you stick to some variation of that combined with a good vitamin supplement and/or vitamin and mineral enhanced protein powder, you'll be solid. For added awesome, drink a lot of matcha green tea for the antioxidants and theanine.
Believe it or not, fruits are optional. You can get everything your body needs from vegetables and avoid the insulin spikes from fruit. If you eat seeds, leafy greens, and drink tea regularly, you'll have more antioxidants in your system than you'll ever need.
June 13, 2015 11:25 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #13
My normal workdays for the past couple weeks have been a 14-oz kale/banana smoothie in the morning with a multivitamin and three scrambled eggs, four cups of green tea, Greek yogurt (2-3 cups), cottage cheese, almonds or pistachios, and then something+chicken breast. Protein shakes as appropriate.
It's actually an enjoyable routine, but I do love me some variety.
June 13, 2015 12:22 p.m.
That's damn near ideal if you could find a way to squeeze a salmon filet in once or twice a week. The benefit of chicken and eggs are how versatile they are. You can eat them every day for a week and never eat them the same way. Since I Atkins, I love to butter poach my chicken. So good.
June 13, 2015 12:52 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #15
I typically butterfly mine, pound it, and pan-roast it with some oil and herbs.
Today was cooking day. Made some kale, bean, and sausage soup; turkey chili; and salsa. Probably going to make some baked turkey meatballs tomorrow.
I need to get into cooking fish. Maybe I'll start with some baked tilapia or something.
June 13, 2015 3:37 p.m.
If you're gonna go white, go cod. It's almost impossible to mess up. Tilapia tastes a little like dirt if you don't spice the hell out of it. Salmon is my personal favorite. Spray the top of the filet with Pam so the seasoning sticks, garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne, black pepper, and parsley. Bake it for 20-25 minutes. Done.
June 13, 2015 8:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #17
Does anything seem inadvisable about this schedule?
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Arms | Legs | - | Chest, Triceps | Back, Biceps | - | Chest |
The only thing I'm not really sure about is the chest into arms. Not sure how much stress that's going to put on my triceps. I think it's better than the other way around, though. Triceps failure on a kickback is a lot more manageable than it would be on a bench press.
I should probably stop skipping leg days.
June 14, 2015 4:40 p.m. Edited.
I don't like chest into back. I do the other way around.
June 14, 2015 4:42 p.m.
Also, only double up on body parts you really want to improve. If you think chest needs to really shape-up, then you'll need to stick with double chest for a long time. I wouldn't change it for some months because then you'll see good results as opposed to switching what you double up on. I usually do double arms not because I need to but because I like it. I would do double legs but I have knee problems as is and one day a week is good enough.
June 14, 2015 4:44 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #20
I could swap my Wednesday with Thursday and my Saturday with Monday.
I would do double chest and double arms because I think those two have a long way to go. They're also my favorite days (fortunately); I'm not a fan of back and leg days. I'm not as worried about my legs, and my back is in a good enough state that I can comfortably favor other groups.
June 14, 2015 4:47 p.m. Edited.
You're better off moving something to do with arms right after legs and then shifting stuff accordingly so you can have a day off before you get back to arms day.
June 14, 2015 4:49 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #22
That's basically what it would be.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Arms | Chest | - | Back, Biceps | Chest, Triceps | - | Legs |
That gives me two days between any days on the same group. The only downside is that arms are now immediately before chest. I'm not sure how that'll work out.
June 14, 2015 4:54 p.m.
It's not gonna work well at all. Your tricep movements are gonna be really tense on chest day. Switch legs and arms so you have a rest day for your triceps.
June 14, 2015 4:57 p.m.
Yea, it's good. You probably should have a day for shoulders though.
June 14, 2015 5:23 p.m.
Got any cardio stuff in there? Or is this purely for dem gains?
June 14, 2015 6:09 p.m.
Unless you're bodybuilding competitively, completely skipping cardio isn't a great idea. Even 20 minutes of HIIT twice a week will help keep your cardiovascular system strong. A stronger, more efficient heart and a greater resistance to lactic acid means more oxygen and less pain/cramps when it comes time to hit those heavy sets. You don't need to do it every day like a runner, but I wouldn't skip it entirely either.
Read this for a general idea of why HIIT is amazing for bodybuilding. It boosts testosterone production as well as the insulin process responsible for delivering sugar to your muscles to repair and grow them. There's some deeper science too about increased levels of cellular regeneration and a cell nuclei surplus which has bodybuilding benefits as well, but I kind of glaze over when stuff gets that scientific.
Seriously though, if any of you guys are serious about getting really big and strong, not to mention shredded, HIIT is the way to go - sprints, burpees with a tuck jump, tabata rounds of just about anything (heavy bag is my favorite), all kinds of good stuff.
June 15, 2015 11:39 a.m.
NoPantsParade says... #30
I love doing HIIT. I ran cross country for four years and have been running competitively since 7th grade, which gives me a better base to start from. I do HIIT twice a week. On Wednesdays, or whenever the instructor is doing her class, I sprint for one minute, jog for 30 seconds until I reach the YMCA where I do their athletic conditioning group exercise class. Because the instructor is pretty ripped, she pushes us pretty hard, so it's another 55 minutes of HIIT. I then go upstairs to do core for about 20 to 30 minutes, then do HIIT on the way home, sprinting for one minute, jogging for 30 seconds. The next available cardio day, I drive over to the nearby trail. There I do mile intervals. I start with a two minute warm up. Then for the first mile I run about a 5:30-5:45, then the second mile I run slower at about 7:00, then the third mile at 6:00 to 6:15. Then the last 200 meters, since I'm doing a 5k, I just empty the tank. Afterwards, I drive to my neighborhood gym and do core there for 20 to 30 minutes. I could do my miles faster, but cross country practices daily pushed me over the edge, letting me hit 5:10 or so.
I've seen results from starting HIIT in January, and I haven't looked back. I haven't had any issues with my gains or whatever disappearing. I'm starting to see veins along my lower abdomen and running up and down my obliques to my serratus anterior. It's quite nice.
June 15, 2015 12:09 p.m.
Yup, you won't see your gains diminish like you do with regular cardio (which has actually been proven to LOWER testosterone levels and GLUT4 transportation). HIIT is hard as me after the Bethesda E3 press conference (really hard), but it's totally worth it. I'd never leave it out of a strength training regimen.
June 15, 2015 12:13 p.m.
Along these same lines, I was reading some stuff recently about how using a recumbent bike specifically for HIIT yields the best results for lifters. The reason being is that, on top of all the stuff I mentioned above, high intensity bursts on a recumbent bike really stress your glutes and quads which actually triggers some of the same effects you want when your goal is hypertrophy - specifically, a large release of growth hormone.
So, to sum up, don't skip cardio. Just replace it with HIIT. 20 minutes: low resistance warm-up, 30 seconds all out burst with high resistance, 60-90 seconds ultra slow recovery pace, repeat for 20 minutes, low resistance cooldown.
Something a read that trainers recommend is actually doing on and off weeks for strength training. Do your lifts one week, then your HIIT the next. Or lift for two weeks, HIIT for one.
June 15, 2015 2:48 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #33
I've been having a terrible time staying motivated recently. A few weeks ago I was able to push past shitty sets by going harder on other movements or throwing in a quick super. Now, I get pretty tilted when I have a shitty movement. I have a much harder time continuing my workout and I've quit early a few times.
Part of that is the lack of mind-muscle connection. Apart from improving that, the only way around this seems to be manning up.
June 18, 2015 6:29 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #34
I find it easier for me to workout when there are other people around. If there's no one around, I just durdle and take a longer time to workout at my neighborhood gym. But when there are other people, I actually workout because deep down in the abyss of my mind I think they're judging me for sitting there (even though they're not, hopefully, because that'd be weird if they were). So I just remember that. But you workout at home, don't you?
June 18, 2015 6:35 p.m. Edited.
Epochalyptik says... #35
I do work out at home for the time being. I also feel like I would push myself harder if I had a spotter. Having someone correct my form would also help (although I don't think I have bad form).
Currently, I clip half of the weight and let the other half hang outside of the clip so I can bail if I have to. Not optimal, but it beats a crushed windpipe.
June 18, 2015 6:37 p.m. Edited.
NoPantsParade says... #36
Personally, I don't like working out with others since I'd get distracted, barring group exercise classes since you can go your own pace and whatnot. Do you know anyone that's interested in getting swoll with you? Perhaps Craigslist, but we'll leave that as your last resort. I'd actually love to hear about your responses to the ad should you try that. Anyways, have you tried adding any variation? I find variation helps keep things interesting.
June 18, 2015 6:53 p.m.
It may be cliche, but Nike's slogan exists for a reason. Sometimes ya just gotta nut up and get it done. Fitness is measurable, provable superiority. You want to be better than everyone else, you have to put in the work.
June 18, 2015 10:42 p.m.
Here's something to get your motivation in perspective Epochalyptik. Plain language come to jesus style talk about fitness with a dude that got his leg shot off. He's got several videos on YT, but this one is funny.
If he can do it, you can do it.
June 19, 2015 6:14 p.m.
Core is feeling really sore today. Yesterday I did four sets of 15 leg raises (using the thing that you hold yourself up on) and then switched between a bunch of sets of crunches using a 45-pound weight and the shit that you use the 45-pound weight to go up and down on the side and then ended with a few 90-second planks. I apologize for not knowing the technical terms and giving horrible descriptions.
June 20, 2015 3:17 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #41
I think I can solve most of my motivation problem by building a more complete regimen. Thus far, I've kind of been throwing together workouts based on what movements I think of next. Sometimes I'll plan it out ahead. But I think having it pre-planned and not stopping until I've achieved every set will help keep my ass in the room.
Different topic: Leg days blow. Did anyone else have trouble doing multiple movements per workout when they started doing leg days? I opened with squats (two warmup sets with an empty bar and +20 lbs. for 20 reps, then three working sets) and my legs were pretty chewed after that. I wanted to keep going, but I couldn't actually bend my legs any appreciable distance without them collapsing. Which kinda sucked because I wanted to at least do some split squats or something to close.
Maybe I should follow squats with stiff-legged deads?
Edit @ bigguy99: You can find the names of the most common gym equipment here. The top quarter of the page is all bars and weights, but the rest is benches and machines.
June 20, 2015 6:30 p.m. Edited.
You just gotta build up to legs. Keep at it. Allow ample time to recover and you'll get there.
June 20, 2015 7:08 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #43
I got the okay on another protein supplement, guyz. My mom was wrong about the acne thing. Any suggestions on flavor? I'm looking at Gold Standard Whey again. I got chocolate last time, so I wanna spice things up a bit. I think Epoch said vanilla is bad, no? Someone said it was.
Also, who wears gloves when lifting? I think the calluses make lifting more fun and exciting.
And I'm watching Food, Inc. Good stuff.
June 20, 2015 8:30 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #44
I hate wearing gloves. I will live with my callouses lol
June 20, 2015 8:37 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #45
In general, vanilla protein powder seems to be good only if you intend to incorporate it into food. If you don't, it ends up tasting more like watery baking soda than you'd prefer.
I use gloves partly so I don't mangle my hands and partly for the support. My bars don't have the best knurling, and I don't feel like making my weight room look like I just did blow.
June 20, 2015 8:39 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #46
Hm. I was thinking about caramel for some reason.
Not too many people use gloves at my gyms from what I've seen. But the stability makes sense.
June 20, 2015 8:44 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #48
I'm not the biggest fan of caramel, but it could be good.
I actually bought another tub of vanilla for the express purpose of making overnight oats and protein pancakes. It's an unintrusive flavor, so it works for more dishes than, say, chocolate.
June 20, 2015 8:51 p.m.
Vanilla protein powder is amazing with milk. It tastes like something you could've gotten at Burger King years ago but its effect is the exact opposite.
June 20, 2015 9:44 p.m.
NoPantsParade says... #50
Dank. I guess I'll be getting vanilla after I get paid on Tuesday.
Caligula says... #1
Yeah, wide grip and close grip will affect tris/chest. But this is just a different technique all together. Just gotta watch the video and Mike explains it really well.
June 11, 2015 1 p.m.