For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[Elesirdur]

Second question is for the runners out there, especially the ones who started from being, well, not runners. How long does it take to build up respiratory endurance? I can walk for days and not miss a beat, and run without my legs feeling at all tired - but after a few blocks, I feel like my throat and lungs have been scorched with some awful chemical. And for some reason once this happens, I get this pain in my lower jaw, kind of in the wisdom tooth area on both sides.

At any point, does actual physical exhaustion and respiratory exhaustion balance out? Is it better to increase endurance by reaching the point of "fuck, it hurts to breathe", or by pushing that limit and trying to run anyway and maybe dying in the gutter?

And does the jaw thing make any sense? I don't have cavities or impacted wisdom teeth or anything like that, for the record, but running makes me feel like I got punched in the jaw for some reason.

On the point about respiratory endurance, it does take time but if you stick with it you will get there. If you are just starting out running, even if you do other cardio sports like cycling, use a good plan to get you started. The "Couch to 5k" program (just Google it) is very popular and works very well. The entire point of it is to train your body to get used to running. The end goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes straight, but starts off with intervals of running and walking. This helps build up both the muscle endurance for the running action, but also the respiratory endurance.

In my experience the two biggest hurdles in starting to run were running for more than 5 minutes, and then going over the 15 minute mark without stopping. As I've been returning to running lately I still find that until I'm out for 5-15 minutes, I feel like crap. Once you pass those milestones, it gets much more enjoyable.

As for the jaw thing, try to relax more. Keep the neck, shoulders, and arms lose. Again, it'll take a while to get into a rhythm that feels good, but I'm sure you'll find it.

PS: One last thing, as you learn to run, try to keep your strides short so your footfalls are landing roughly under your centre of gravity. I'm a tall guy too (6'3") and I had to take a running form clinic to break me out of taking long, loping strides. Shorter, more frequent strides are much more energy efficient than big, long bounding ones as well as being much easier on joints (less chance to heel-strike). The trainer I had said try to take about 90 strides in a minute. Easiest way to see how many strides you take is to count the number of times your left (right) foot hits in a 30s period, then double.

[Xerlic]

Hey /bg/fit. I noticed my pants have been getting tight. I've been weighing myself for the past few weeks and noticed that I've gained about 10 lbs plus my pants have been getting tight. So, it's back to eating nothing but salads and grilled chicken for the next few weeks. I've done this before (used to weight 240 lbs and got down to 180 for my wedding) so I know all about counting calories, drinking tons of water, and PROTEIN so I'm good on the dietary end.

I also used to run, but I want to try lifting as a way to burn calories since I own a pair of Bowflex dumbbells and a bench. My plan is to workout every other day alternating torso/core and arms/legs doing ABAB etc. Here is my workout plan:

A:
Bench press - 3 sets
Bent over rows - 3 sets
Straight leg deadlifts - 3 sets
Decline situps - 3 sets

B:
Squats - 3 sets
Calf Raises - 3 sets
Overhead Press - 3 sets
Bicep Curls - 3 sets
Tricep extensions - 3 sets

Any critiques/changes? I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and each workout takes me about 30 minutes to complete. I just want to make sure that I'm doing enough with each workout. Thanks.

[Cream Soda]

[SephYuyX]

So I am in a bit of a quandary I suppose.


After not lifting for about a month, I'm back three weeks in to it again, but have some concerns.

Noticeably (obviously) I regressed quite a bit, from anywhere between 5~20lb depending on the workout/exercise/set (whats the word for this?) I'm doing.

For example, my lolsquats were 90lb (not incl bar) but slowly increasing even though I wasn't really noticing the burn/tearing, but when I got back I did 70 to just be safe, and while I could do it, I was getting some nice muscle breaking going on. Doing 5x5.

Is it normal for dropping that much weight in that amount of time away from the gym? Is it normal for the muscle to tear that much at a lower weight, even though it wasn't tearing at a higher rate previously? (I guess the same question just in a different way of asking).

The first week back was a lot of burn, the second week back just a little, so I tried something new the third week.


So this has me thinking now. Am I going about this wrong?
Should I not be doing 5x5 with the max weight I can so I'm just barely making it? I wasn't getting any real burn doing this, but I was slowly increasing.
Should I lower the amount of weight slightly so that I do 3x5 and 2xfail? I tried this last week and I got some really good burn from it.
Something else?

Is muscle tearing at any weight good? If the whole "lower weight / high reps" for tone, and "higher weight / low reps" for muscle is true.. how does that work? How does one gain muscle if it's not being torn down?

But yeah, any insight?
Should I go for heavy burn by doing reps until I cant anymore? Or just stick with doing the most I can to barely finish without any real burn?

[myreality]

If you have not done any exercise for month, then yes what you are experiencing is normal. Strangely enough not many people do not understand that you do NOT actually lose the muscle, that would be atrophy. A person would in fact deflate in a way, almost like a balloon, the muscle is still there but the body is trying to be as efficient as possible by not using the unneeded muscle tissue. That's why people who have not been to the gym in a long time can bounce back to where they were very quickly (referred to as muscle cell memory). Depending on what you were doing or lack there of your muscle mass will start to decrease in roughly 2 weeks of no exercise. Not only that but its not like you lost the muscle, it is just that they are not used to the exertion anymore and will take a little time (Month or two) and exercise to bring them back up to speed.

Also remember that muscle fibers don't just jump back in the game, your muscle endurance is probably shit right now and doing 5X5 so soon after such a long break might be a bit much. Lower the weight increase the reps (the usual 3x12) work on form if that is an issue and see if you can do a full workout with a 3x12 set up. Once your comfortable with this then try going back to the heavy 5x5 routine. Low set high reps should be using 30% of your 1 rep max, where in high reps low sets should be using 90% of your 1 rep max for that body part.

Muscle training (as i am sure you know) at lower weight and high reps will increase muscle mass/muscle tone/ endurance. Heavy weights will increase size and strength. Although they will do the same thing in the long run (Increase gain/size in muscle), just one will build muscle bigger and faster, the other will build lean muscle and kind of fill in the empty spaces and harden your body.

Read up on this, should help you out a little bit.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/athl...g-training.htm

Other information in here but main focus should be this.

Sport Specific Movements/Isolation Work


Finally, the last difference between athletic workouts and bodybuilding workouts will be the primary focus for the workout and exercise selection decisions.

In most cases, a bodybuilder attempting to build up as much mass and strength as possible will be focusing on compound movements. They may do some isolation work, but it will be more limited since those exercises simply don't allow you to lift as heavy as you could be and don't stimulate as many muscle fibers.
With athletic training though, you will want the exercises you're performing in the gym to mimic movements that you execute in the sport, so there may be a need for isolated or sport-specific exercises instead.

This could be standard isolate exercises such as triceps extensions, cable curls, leg extensions, and so on if greater strength is needed within those single muscle groups, or it could be alternative exercises that incorporate a plyometric aspect to them or use bands, cables or weighted vests.


Many high performance sports training coaches have a wide library of exercises they use with the athletes they train, so if you are looking to reach a high level in your sport, you may want to consider a trainer who is specialized within this specific sport industry.
So be sure you keep these points in mind as you go about designing your workout training program. The differences at times can be hard to notice, but they will have an impact on the types of results you get from the training. Below you'll find two workouts to illustrate this further.

[richardd]

this song always makes my squat feel 30 lbs lighter

[Teryu]

Weird question, but with intermittent fasting, is it ok to eat food that has 0 calories even when it's outside of my eating window? I recently found out that pickles have 0 calories in them and that I have a ton of them around. :X

[Osede]

they still have few calories, probably < 50 each. As long as the total intake does not exceed your daily/weekly target, I see nothing wrong with it. It may also help you temporarily fill your stomach so that you won't feel to eat alots when you get to the window

[Gustave]

First Vibrams accident in 2+ years of use. I've got my mileage up around 5 miles a run without calf pain. Today I was about half way through the trails and kicked a root going up a hill. My middle three toes still fucking hurt.

So I have new workout partner, a labrador retreiver, that I run with. Best workout partner ever. Once he was on the pattern of going running through the bike trails a few times a week he started letting me know every day it's time to run! I'm trying to find a 5k to run with him. We've ran a couple low twenties with him on leash and mid run creek break to cool down. The only downside is I'm conditioning a high energy dog to have more stamina.

[SephYuyX]

Terribleness that happens when you dont lift for 2 months.

*Weight doesnt include bar.

[Jefe]

Kinda messy. Have you tried something like 5x5?

[Gustave]

How many reps are you doing?

[SephYuyX]

Was doing 5x5 with the above.
But now doing 3x5 then 2xfail.

[Xno Kappa]

Been power-lifting and trying to put on muscle mass for the last three months so I'll get straight to the point, stretch marks? Never really gave a fuck about them before but now I'm just kinda curious on how to get rid of them.

[AidenCarby]

Hard to get rid of them, I know some of ya'll niggas juice out there. Gonna get stretch marks when you build muscle faster than you should. But, moisturize, some of the body builders I knew used to swear by neosporin or w/e for them.

http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/s...nder-your-skin

[Omnipotent]

CS and Rkenshin, what you nigs deadlifting?

[Cream Soda]

185 lol. All I can do w/o irritating my back. Been hit by 3 cars, etc. Only exercise that it has a major effect on. Can squat and do everything else fine

[AidenCarby]

Have you tried sumo stance? or is the whole motion of bending over(pause) and back up an issue for you?

[RKenshin]

I'm at about the same as CS; I usually do a 5x8-10 set at 185lbs, sometimes more depending.

I haven't pushed my squats/deadlifts as far as I probably could, but my legs have always been way ahead of my upper body... though I think I'm finally at the point where I'm pretty well-balanced. But I still play soccer, and try to avoid spending half the week limping around lol.

[Omnipotent]

I'm in the same boat as far as injuries. My back has always been a problem for me, but as of recent I have been deadlifting more that my back feels better. Managed to get 275 out 5x and 225 out 10x today with really no problems at all. I believe I can get 295 out 2-3x as well, just wondering where I stand.