For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[Meat]

Go to a gnc or a fitness store and buy some rtd's and try em out before you commit to a 5 or 7lb tub. make sure you can stomach it before u buy it

[Atreides]

Bodybuilding.com usually has the best prices, $42.95 for a 5lb tub of ON whey.

They have a bundle deal I mentioned earlier with 5lb whey, 2lb casein, and 90 opti-men (ON's multi-vitamin, a great one) for $68.98, which is a great deal.

also you can buy a box of 18 flavor packets (18 servings of Optimum Nutrition's whey, 1 each of 18 different flavors) for $18.99 to get a feel of which flavor you like. Their chocolate/vanilla are quite good, as are nearly all their flavors I've tried.

as a general rule you never want to shop at GNC as their prices are about 2x-3x what they should be.

[sephir]

I usually use Hammer Whey simply because its tasteless and I can mix it with anything and not know that its there. I love mixing it with gels or even putting into a blender to make a smoothie.

But I'm not quite sure how well it is suited to body building, as everyone I know who uses it aims for strength rather than bulk.

[Atreides]

that has absolutely nothing to do with the type of whey you drink

nutrition on it looks pretty solid however, but it's uh... $37.95 for 1.37 lbs which is pretty obscene

[Meat]

protein = protein

[sephir]

I'm not talking about different types of Whey, I'm referring to the Carb to protein to fat ratio. Different mixes aim for different things. I know some whey protein powders that are specifically geared towards promoting recovery while others aim purely for bulk.

[Headspace]

All there was here was GNC and their shit tasted terrible and was expensive. There's a new Vitamin Shoppe now so I'll check that out.

[Atreides]

to a certain extent it really doesn't matter what you're drinking after your workout, it should probably be mostly protein because you need to eat a lot of it in a day, but other than that there's really no set ratio of protein/carbs/fat you need-- in fact there have been studies showing milk and even chocolate milk function just as well as whey.

From Alan Aragorn:

Pre, During, & Postworkout Nutrition
Hierarchy of Importance

When speaking of nutrition for improving body composition or training performance, it's crucial to realize there's an underlying hierarchy of importance. At the top of the hierarchy is total amount of the macronutrients by the end of the day. Distantly below that is the precise timing of those nutrients. With very few exceptions, athletes and active individuals eat multiple times per day. Thus, the majority of their day is spent in the postprandial (fed) rather than a post-absorptive (fasted) state. The vast majority of nutrient timing studies have been done on overnight-fasted subjects put through glycogen depletion protocols, which obviously limits the applicability of the outcomes. Pre-exercise (and/or during-exercise) nutrient intake often has a lingering carry-over effect into the post-exercise period. Throughout the day, there's a constant overlap of meal digestion & nutrient absorption. For this reason, the effectiveness of nutrient timing does not require a high degree of precision.

The Primary Laws of Nutrient Timing

* The First Law of Nutrient Timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

Unless you are an advanced or competition bodybuilder you will probably never have to worry about having to drink an expensive whey over a relatively cheap one. It really doesn't matter what you get, as long as it's not some crap whey loaded with sugar or with a crappy macronutrient ratio that makes it tough to hit your daily targets.

[Kiro]

protein = protein

^

[Shojin]

yeah if you can find a good deal on a protein that tastes good, get that. I usually use Optimum nutrition but recently there was a deal for 2 x 5lb jars of Dymatize for $45, so i jumped in on that deal. Stuff tastes pretty good too. Only thing that could be a problem for some people is that it is sweetened with sucralose (splenda).

Spoiler: show

http://www.dymatize.com/clientupload...Choc-Facts.jpg

this is the one i'm using right now, the other tub i got is cookies and cream flavor.

[Atreides]

actually most of them are sweetened with Sucralose these days (if they are sweetened/flavored that is), although some of them are starting to use Stevia. ON has a line of natural wheys/caseins that are sweetened with honey powder/stevia, although at this point I'm used to the sucralose so I don't even taste an aftertaste, especially with ON.

[Palpatine]

Help BG! My ultimate summer goal was to be able to see my abs by the time school started up in August. I'm 5'7" and was 163lbs. My calves/quads and arms/chest/shoulders are well toned, but I've still got stomach and saddlebags!

My schedule is as follows: (I've been doing the weight-lifting for 6 months now, but the diet is brand new)

Tuesday:
20-30 minutes of basketball
1-1.5 hours of raquetball OR 2 miles run (depending on douchebag friend showing up)
Squats
Calf raisers
Lunges / Flutter Kicks 45 seconds each
Invisible Chair / Jump Rope 45 seconds each
3 sets decline situps

Thursday:
20-30 minutes of basketball
1-1.5 hours of raquetball OR 2 miles run
Bench press
Curls
Lat pulldowns
Triceps
3 sets decline situps
Misc. stomach stuff

Sunday:
Total body weight workout for about 2 hours

I'll run 2-3 other days a week in addition to those 3 days at the gym. Also, starting 2 weeks ago I changed up my diet. I'm eating 3-4 times a day with very small portions (a drastic change from my eating habits for the past 20 years) I've gone from 163 > 156 so far, but my stomach still looks the same.

Should I continue this and expect improvements, or any changes you would add? Remember, my only goal is to see my abs. My weight doesn't concern me at all. Thanks

[Shojin]

If you're trying to get rid of body fat then just keep burning it off, eventually it'll burn off the stomach fat. You can't target fat loss in a specific area, just keep burning it off and eventually the area you want to lose fat in, will. At least that is what I have been told. (unless you cheat and get lipo lol)

[jonastheed]

In order to actually see abs, you have to have a REALLY low body fat percentage. Like Shojin said, you just have to keep working it off. Weight lifting in addition to cardio is great because its a huge boost to your metabolism.

[Kiro]

<10% BF to see abs.

[Palpatine]

Where should I go to get BF% tested? I haven't had that done since freshman year in college when I was actually in shape and around 8%!

[Atreides]

call around to orthopedists I guess, although it's kinda a waste of money unless you're a professional athlete. Are your abs clearly visible with a completely flat stomach? Then you're not under 10%. Just keep dieting and you'll get there. You don't need to shell out the money for precise testing when you can easily see your own stomach and figure out if it looks the way you want it to. Take pictures of your stomach every week if you want a good way to track your progress.

Not to sound like a dick but if your only goal is to get your abs to show again, and you've been weightlifting for 6 months and only dieting for 2 weeks, then for the most part you've been wasting time for 5.5 months. Dieiting is significantly more important than anything you could do at the gym, if you really want to speed things along just make sure you know exactly what you're putting into your body.

[Weiing]

I'd have to echo Atreides... Why were you not focusing on your diet (what you eat) since the beginning? Abs are made in the kitchen.

If doing sit-ups make you feel better, but it won't do anything to make your abs show faster. Like others have also said, fat will eventually shed from wherever your body wants to. Can't target reduce, yadda yadda...

Keep what you're doing and...where are them deadlifts? :D

[Palpatine]

I, like 98% of the population, enjoy eating too much to worry about diet! I didn't really have a goal when I started working out originally, but now I do. I'll keep at it for sure.

Although I don't read a lot of the posts, I glance quite a bit at this thread. What's everybody's hard-on for deadlifts all about?

[Weiing]

I, like 98% of the population, enjoy eating too much to worry about diet! I didn't really have a goal when I started working out originally, but now I do. I'll keep at it for sure.

Although I don't read a lot of the posts, I glance quite a bit at this thread. What's everybody's hard-on for deadlifts all about?

I enjoy food tons, too. Diet doesn't mean you have to restrict what you eat, but rather, just be more conscious of it. All about moderation. Being too rigid is a setup for failure by returning to "old ways". I enjoy my chocolate and ice cream and occasional pizza as I please, but these "fun" foods make up 10-20% of my diet, while I eat whole foods 80-90% of the time. I think if there was no sort of wiggle room, I'd go crazy.

And deadlifts, like squats, are just awesome basic, compound movements that work so much of your body... It also helps to stabilize your core. I did 5x5 squats and deadlifts (both of which I increased in weight!!) yesterday and my core/abs were so sore, I wanted to cry. I am totally wet for squats/deadlifts... Can't live without'em.