Bench Press

[Love]

/facepalm did you seriously just implied that i said protein literally = calories .... no what I meant is that you saying YOU Farking NEED PROTEIN which translates into eat more of x to get protein and x will always have calories therefore you are basically promoting more calories. Let me revisit a point I made, telling some1 who knows little to nothing about diet that they need to eat more of anything, specially something that is heavy on calories like most protein containing foods are is retarded ( fruits and veggies do not apply couse they are ftw, eat all you want as they are mostly water and you will get bored eating them .... ).

ill continue my response later if i feel like it... bit late now and dont feel like typing much but do know i got plenty to say and you are clearly in the wrong...

[Toasty]

/facepalm did you seriously just implied that i said protein literally = calories .... no what I meant is that you saying YOU Farking NEED PROTEIN which translates into eat more of x to get protein and x will always have calories therefore you are basically promoting more calories. Let me revisit a point I made, telling some1 who knows little to nothing about diet that they need to eat more of anything, specially something that is heavy on calories like most protein containing foods are is retarded ( fruits and veggies do not apply couse they are ftw, eat all you want as they are mostly water and you will get bored eating them .... ).

ill continue my response later if i feel like it... bit late now and dont feel like typing much but do know i got plenty to say and you are clearly in the wrong...

I said i was struggling to understand anything you said.


Maybe you should explain yourself a bit further in the future. Its very hard to understand you..

[Jilbab]

All depends on how strong you are, i'm only 5'10 and i used to do 75kg without training

[pipigrande]

So, I weight 165 pounds and I am 5'11 tall. I guess lifting 30 pounds isn't good enough (even when I do 20 repetitions per set, and 10 sets in total).

Right now, I'm not a muscular guy, nor I'm trying to get muscular (like my muscles showing). I just want to get stronger bones and get a nice shape (nothing big). Basically a better looking body, but nothing extreme or like get 'ripped'.

I don't think I can do 100 pounds. I won't be able to lift it. Even 50 pounds sounds too much for me .

And I don't have a spotter. I live by myself.

thanks for all your input guys..

[EvGa]

Just do what you can, it's always better than nothing.

It takes time to build up your strength...just keep working out and you'll steadily get stronger and stronger.

[Ash]

Those are something that took me a while to figure on my own in body building
1-Less means more (to a certain point of course)
2-you can't gain pure muscles without bulking (bulk & cut in the same time)
3-1 year is the minimum time
4-you will NEVER EVER look like those male models unless you take a lot of protein shakes & roids
5-not every training routine works for every one . listen to your body . do trial & error method . try different routines , exercises , reps till you see what's best for your body.
6-muscles grows on your rest day (wear them out & they'll shrink)
7-EAT , REST & TRAIN those 3 are a must

[Squirt]

I've been trying to get started for a while now but I don't know what reps are >.> or any of that stuff.

I don't want to get super bulky, but I'm in track and I've noticed that my legs muscles have improved since I first began.
I don't want the rest of my body to look odd so I want to add some mass to my upper body.

Push ups. Every day. 3 sets of 20. 1 minute break. The Final Countdown should play in the background, no if's, and's, or but's.

So your telling me to do 20 consecutive push-ups, stop for 1 minute and start again?
3 times?

[Toasty]

I've been trying to get started for a while now but I don't know what reps are >.> or any of that stuff.

I don't want to get super bulky, but I'm in track and I've noticed that my legs muscles have improved since I first began.
I don't want the rest of my body to look odd so I want to add some mass to my upper body.

Push ups. Every day. 3 sets of 20. 1 minute break. The Final Countdown should play in the background, no if's, and's, or but's.

So your telling me to do 20 consecutive push-ups, stop for 1 minute and start again?
3 times?

Do as many as you can. Then take around 60-90 secs rest. Repeat.

If your just doing push-ups i'd probs go for around 5 sets.

[evilpeta]

http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/
http://www.askscooby.com/

[Majorharper]

Im 6'4'' 230lbs and i do 8 reps of 160lbs x 3 (30 - 1mins break between)

When my friend is with me i take it to about 190lbs with 4 reps -> 6 reps... (1m - 1m30sec)


=

[Toasty]

http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/

Oh yes, great website! I learnt a lot from there.

[BloodyBlade]

http://www.scoobysworkshop.com/
http://www.askscooby.com/

His voice may be annoying, and his pecs may looks like manboobs, but he knows what he is saying(except for the leg raise, I totally don't agree with him there) and he tries to help people out.

[MrFudge]

Noel Devine, RB for the WVU Mountaineers, benches 450lbs and he's 5'7 170.

[Squirt]

Ok I did what you guys said to do yesterday night,5 sets of 25 push ups. It got hard after the third set but i kept going. Now today my upper arms hurt, should i skip today and do them tomorrow or do 5 more sets today as well? Should I do this everyday or should I skip some?

[Toasty]

Ok I did what you guys said to do yesterday night,5 sets of 25 push ups. It got hard after the third set but i kept going. Now today my upper arms hurt, should i skip today and do them tomorrow or do 5 more sets today as well? Should I do this everyday or should I skip some?

Take at least 2 days a week break.

[Thomas42]

(not entirely related but I didn't want to open another thread)
If I work out, and feel soreness just on that day, but nothing next morning, can I work out that day too? Obviously I would still rest 2-3 days per week.

[BloodyBlade]

Those are something that took me a while to figure on my own in body building
1-Less means more (to a certain point of course)
2-you can't gain pure muscles without bulking (bulk & cut in the same time)
3-1 year is the minimum time
4-you will NEVER EVER look like those male models unless you take a lot of protein shakes & roids
5-not every training routine works for every one . listen to your body . do trial & error method . try different routines , exercises , reps till you see what's best for your body.
6-muscles grows on your rest day (wear them out & they'll shrink)
7-EAT , REST & TRAIN those 3 are a must

I don't agree with you there. You can get all your protein you need to be a model out of food. I'm talking about models now, and not bodybuilders.

I agree with your other points, especially the last one

[wootpops]

(not entirely related but I didn't want to open another thread)
If I work out, and feel soreness just on that day, but nothing next morning, can I work out that day too? Obviously I would still rest 2-3 days per week.

no.well yes just a different muscle group.

[BloodyBlade]

(not entirely related but I didn't want to open another thread)
If I work out, and feel soreness just on that day, but nothing next morning, can I work out that day too? Obviously I would still rest 2-3 days per week.

Depends on if you did compounds the last day, if you did them, I wouldn't train, I would atleast take 2-3 days rest between your workouts.

[ilililil]

That's a pretty nice barbell set you have there.
Here is some advice for body building:

Your going to have to focus on 3 main things.
1. Nutrition
2. Rest
3. Motivation and a well planed routine.

If you are truly serious about body building the first thing you need do is make sure your eating properly so that you gain plenty of carbs for energy, good fats for your body, plenty of amino acids, and most of all Protein to build mass and recovery from the torn muscle tissues.

You will need to eat at least 5 small, but decent portion meals a day if you need more that is fine keep them spread out every 2-3 hours.

Example:
Meal 1: 7:00am Oats and a Banana for fiber
Meal 2: 9:00am Snack/ Nuts and Berries
Meal 3: 11:00am Lunch Chicken breast and veggies (Note)If you decide to have anything w/ a large amount of carbs always eat it before 2pm!

Workout at noon: Always drink a protein shake before workout be sure to eat a Banana to give you that extra boost of energy. And then after your workout drink another protein shake to recover your muscles.

Meal 4: 3:pm Snack Nuts and Berries, or yogurt
Meal 5: 5:00pm Chicken, Fish, Lean beef, and veggies. (It is best to only do a snack after 6:00pm if you get hungry.)
Optional for best results: Drink a protein shake before you go to bed.

If you wake up in the middle of the night hungry then your sugar is low your not really hungry at all. Drink some crystal light w/e they are and it'll help the hunger cravings at night time.

You will need to measure the right amount of calories you need to take in daily search it on google. Your body need to have at least 80 grams of good fats daily and 2 grams of protein for every pound you weigh. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/calculators.htm


Be sure to give your body plenty of rest to recovery your muscles.
That means no staying up late playing sro! and you'll need a certain amount of rest for each muscle group I'll explain that soon.

You will need plenty of motivation! Think of a goal, or something that just really pisses you off. Normally getting angry is a great way to workout because your body tends to release a chemical near your kidneys called adrenaline. and makes you work harder! And always remember when your working out if you don't feel sore the next day then your not working out hard enough, or properly! Hence the saying "No pain no game!"

Last but not least you'll need a good workout routine.

How much weight should I use?
Well enough to do 8-10 reps per set no more than 10.
Do 3-4 sets depending on how well you adapt to it.

Routines:
Now there are 2 really good ways of doing this.

1: full body workout:
You work your whole body in a total of 3 days Mon, Wed, and Fri.
This focuses on Chest, shoulder, arms, legs, back, and abdominals all in the same day.
Be sure to always stretch and warm up before lifting weights and use proper form. warmup as in jumping jacks or jog in place for 3-5 min.s

When your done lifting weight immediately go to cardio I suggest you look into HIT interval training. How it's done: 5 min jog/ brisk walk then 10 min.s of interval so it'll be 1 min walk; 1 min sprint; 1 min walk; 1 min sprint for a total of 10 mins all together then another 5 min jog/brisk walk. It sucks ass, but works!

Or you can try the easier approach to weight lifting.
Workout each muscle group on separate days.
Mon:chest Tues:back Wed:abs Thur:legs Fri: arms Sat: off Sun Off
Then Interval.

You will need to perform cardio every single day! optional to take sundays off.

I'll add some workouts later on that concentrate on each muscle group. To tired to type atm.

One last thing never perform cardio before lifting weights your body will be fatigued so badly by the time you get to lifting heavy weights you'll be out of energy. If this happens your body starts breaking down your body taps into your sugar glucose and breaks down muscle tissue turning it into energy. Resulting in no mass gain and your basically working out to just lose weight.

Hope this helps.


@Squirt
For abs you'll need to perform cardio daily. HIT interval is the best, but jogging 20mins a day does just as good.

Workouts for you:
Crunches upper abs
Situps lower abs
Pullups works your core and arms and back
Chinups works your arms the most.
pushups work your core and triceps
Boxes for abdominals: get a chair jump on and off without stopping for 30-60 seconds then rest 30 seconds. Don't over do it to the point your dizzy and can injure your self.
Burpies google it!
Mountain climbers in the pushup position
bicycle kicks
oblique crunches
squats if you have a backpack you can add weight by adding books.
planks
etc...

[pipigrande]

...

I appreciate the advice!!! Is doing cardio a most? I also got a treadmill at home, so I can use that. How long and speed should I be running (if I have to do cardio, why?).

Also, as of now I only want to focus on chest, shoulders and biceps.

Must I eat many small meals? I tend to eat 3 meals for the day. Lunch + Dinner are big meals. Breakfast usually is a milk + cereal. Sometimes Oak Meal.

Are you suppose to sweat a lot when bench pressing? I bench press in the basement. It's winter season and the heater is set to 20 degrees. And I feel I'm not sweating much,

[Toasty]

...

I appreciate the advice!!! Is doing cardio a most? I also got a treadmill at home, so I can use that. How long and speed should I be running (if I have to do cardio, why?).

Also, as of now I only want to focus on chest, shoulders and biceps.

Must I eat many small meals? I tend to eat 3 meals for the day. Lunch + Dinner are big meals. Breakfast usually is a milk + cereal. Sometimes Oak Meal.

Are you suppose to sweat a lot when bench pressing? I bench press in the basement. It's winter season and the heater is set to 20 degrees. And I feel I'm not sweating much,

Cardio isnt a must. It depends what you want from your workouts.. Fitness / losing weight / staying healthy = cardio. Building muscle.. cardio doesnt matter. Cardio.. spend around 20 minutes, keep your heartrate high.

3 meals isn't as good as 6 meals. 6 meals keeps your body working better. You sound like you dont eat much, if thats all you have for breakfast, and only have 2 other meals. 6 meals helps you to eat more.

Sweating doesnt matter. I dont sweat when doing weights.

[pipigrande]

...

I appreciate the advice!!! Is doing cardio a most? I also got a treadmill at home, so I can use that. How long and speed should I be running (if I have to do cardio, why?).

Also, as of now I only want to focus on chest, shoulders and biceps.

Must I eat many small meals? I tend to eat 3 meals for the day. Lunch + Dinner are big meals. Breakfast usually is a milk + cereal. Sometimes Oak Meal.

Are you suppose to sweat a lot when bench pressing? I bench press in the basement. It's winter season and the heater is set to 20 degrees. And I feel I'm not sweating much,

Cardio isnt a must. It depends what you want from your workouts.. Fitness / losing weight / staying healthy = cardio. Building muscle.. cardio doesnt matter. Cardio.. spend around 20 minutes, keep your heartrate high.

3 meals isn't as good as 6 meals. 6 meals keeps your body working better. You sound like you dont eat much, if thats all you have for breakfast, and only have 2 other meals. 6 meals helps you to eat more.

Sweating doesnt matter. I dont sweat when doing weights.

Trust me, I eat a lot. Lol, my cereal + milk is a big plate. And so is my lunch and dinner.

I'm glad to hear that you are not sweating either when doing weights. I thought I was doing it wrong.

[vietxboy911]

didnt read much of the rabble, but

you should be able to do your body weight and your good ( doesnt mean stop there, its just a milestone )

[Xyzzzy]

Push-ups are a good start.

How many per day?

Like do as many as I can consecutively then wait 5 minutes and do it again like 5 times or something?

sets of 20.
do as many sets as you can

Good idea is when you wake up and when you go to bed and whenever you're bored

Its a lot harder than you think but you'll get ripped fast

For abs without workout equipment try doing planks and leg lifts

For great upper body research some swimming drylands and do as much as you can daily.

Within two weeks your lats biceps and pecs will be getting bigger

[Squirt]

Ok so yesterday I skipped and I did them again today, I could only do about 3 1/2 sets of sets though.
Iwas wondering if I should start doing sit ups.
How will they help me? How many sets should I do of them?

[vietxboy911]

oh yeah, i forgot to mention that you shouldnt just bench.
you dont want to end up looking like a gorilla
try other things like cleaning, squating, deadlifting, nosebreakers, etc. for an all around good shape ( youtube it )

[Toasty]

Ok so yesterday I skipped and I did them again today, I could only do about 3 1/2 sets of sets though.
Iwas wondering if I should start doing sit ups.
How will they help me? How many sets should I do of them?

Yes.
Do crunches though. Crunches and pushups are good together as they'll give you a strong core. Its pretty much as good as you can get if your only going to go for two exercises.

Their the same as pushups.

Do as many as you can each set. Do 3-5 sets. I disagree with people saying do a set amount of 20 per set, as your not using a weight and pushups / crunches are completely different for everyone. Keep going until you cant do anymore on each set and i'm sure you'll get more out of it.

[Dystopia]

I didn't read most of the posts that were written, so I'm sorry if this has been posted before.

It depends on what your going for, I'm not going into complete detail but you have two options you can bulk or cut. Bulking is to add mass, mostly power endurance isn't really equated here. If you want to bulk you should be aiming for 6-8 reps of the MAXIMUM weight you can lift, if you feel like you can more increase weights and maintain the 6-8 reps. If you want to cut, you will adding definition to your muscle + a small amount of mass, this accounts for strength and endurance and is generally better if you just want to get strong for a certain sport or just in general, probably run around 16-20 reps and sets of 3 with 30-45 second breaks, again as much as you can lift under those conditions. I recommend you alternate between the two, I divide my year in half for a cut/bulk phase, this honestly gives the best results imo but its assloads of commitment. I started working out around two years ago, I am almost 17 around 155lbs and 5'8" ish and can bench 205*8 for 3 reps, but I started at 25's which is 95lbs (assuming your bar is the standard 45lbs) so where your at now is solid. Just remember to stay motivated and committed and you'll see results in a matter of months!

Good Luck

[pipigrande]

I didn't read most of the posts that were written, so I'm sorry if this has been posted before.

It depends on what your going for, I'm not going into complete detail but you have two options you can bulk or cut. Bulking is to add mass, mostly power endurance isn't really equated here. If you want to bulk you should be aiming for 6-8 reps of the MAXIMUM weight you can lift, if you feel like you can more increase weights and maintain the 6-8 reps. If you want to cut, you will adding definition to your muscle + a small amount of mass, this accounts for strength and endurance and is generally better if you just want to get strong for a certain sport or just in general, probably run around 16-20 reps and sets of 3 with 30-45 second breaks, again as much as you can lift under those conditions. I recommend you alternate between the two, I divide my year in half for a cut/bulk phase, this honestly gives the best results imo but its assloads of commitment. I started working out around two years ago, I am almost 17 around 155lbs and 5'8" ish and can bench 205*8 for 3 reps, but I started at 25's which is 95lbs (assuming your bar is the standard 45lbs) so where your at now is solid. Just remember to stay motivated and committed and you'll see results in a matter of months!

Good Luck

Excellent post.

I exactly want to cut to get definition for a sport (badminton). I don't wanna bulk just to look good (well, that comes with it, so I take it ).

I don't to add a lot of muscle, since it will just slow my movement down. However I do wanna get very good in shape to be agile enough and get power, without comprimising speed.

Thank you very much for your post! And others too. Been working out every other day. I'm not really getting sore... which probably means I can add more weight! (I guess so?).