For BG fitness fanatics, a question..

[Meat]

I am totally wet for squats/deadlifts

i bet you are lol

people have this expectation of healthy being only steamed veges and bland chicken. and it's far from he case. For example my breakfast is 99% of the times

6 eggwhites
4 strips of turkey bacon
pb and j sandwich
1\2 cup mix berries or mango

pretty darn tasty if i say so myself.

[Moss]

when you guys do "5x5" are you increasing the weight each set? and are you doing the amount of weight that you can barely do 5 reps, or just enough to tire you out after 5 sets?

[Atreides]

on a lot of the beginner programs they have you increase the weight every time you lift (or every week) but keep it the same every set. If you're increasing the weight in a somewhat linear fashion you're going to struggle to complete 5 sets at the same weight, forget about increasing it for each set lol

my new veggie obsession is grilled peppers, which are really flavorful and go well with chicken. Grilled vidalia onions or grilled leeks are an extremely easy way to add some flavor too, and extremely healthy.

[Atreides]

So today's experiment is to make basmati rice the way my mom used to make it, although she used to make white basmati and I just bought a huge container of brown texmati (pretty sure you can't get brown indian basmati). I think the ingredients are: rice, chicken boullion, onion, and a small amount of butter (she used to use a lot lol). Unfortunately I don't have a rice cooker, but I don't mind simmering for 45 mins since it smells so good.

I also picked up some purple sticky rice at whole foods, as well as some whole wheat couscous. I think the purple stuff was $2.49 a lb, and the whole wheat couscous was $1.99, so not too bad at all considering how much high quality imported white rice will run you. Whole foods bulk beans/grains are actually quite reasonably priced, including organics, as nothing costs much more than 1 dollar per lb.

I also bought some millet, which goes really well with rice/quinoa and is a whole grain as well.

Yay carbs

edit: nutrition on Millet, in case anyone cares: 1 cup has 200 calories, 2g fat, 41g carbs, 6g protein. Lots of protein for a grain, like quinoa I guess (8g/cup).

[Moss]

on a lot of the beginner programs they have you increase the weight every time you lift (or every week) but keep it the same every set. If you're increasing the weight in a somewhat linear fashion you're going to struggle to complete 5 sets at the same weight, forget about increasing it for each set lol

Could you restate that second sentence? I can't figure out what you mean.

Right now I'm doing 4 sets to failure with a burnout set and superset after. So a few days ago on flat bench I did 6/115, 6/125, 3/135, 2/145(you are supposed to aim for a weight that has you doing 6-8, 4-6, 2-4, and 1-2 reps going to failure). So if I was doing 5x5 would I do 125 for each set and then try to increase to maybe 135 the next week?

[Atreides]

yea, on a 5x5 you'd be doing say... 125 for all 5 sets, then 130 the next time you lift (chances are if you're eating enough you'll be able to add weight every time you lift-- 2-3x per week, not once every week).

and my point was that adding 10-15 lbs to your squat every week (actually, you can probably get away with adding 10 lbs per session to the lower body lifts to start if your form/diet is good for the first 3 or so weeks of training, so 20-30 lbs per week to start) will eventually become very difficult, especially in the last reps of your last set. If you were lifting an increasing amount of weight with each set that would make it even harder.

[Moss]

Ok that makes sense.

Spoiler: show

I posted this a few pages back, this is the workout I am currently doing. What do you think of it, Atreides?

[Atreides]

it doesnt seem that terrible, but it seems like something that's more for intermediate lifters. Someone who's a relative novice should probably be squatting more often than 1x per week, with most beginner lifting programs having you do it 2 or 3 out of the 3 days you lift.

I'm also not a fan of doing bench and shoulders on the same day, I know my rotator cuff and forearms would get tired and it would limit my ability to progress in whichever the second lift was. I saw a huge amount of growth in my shoulders (like 5" or 6" in just 6 months) on a plan that had them split into alternating days, even with my difficulty developing upper body strength.

I mean... have you been weightlifting seriously for 5+ years? Why not do something like stronglifts 5x5 or starting strength? No need to be doing 10 different exercise when you go to the gym if you can get just as much benefit from doing 3-5 and just increasing the weight every single time you lift.

edit: btw this rice is amazing, fuck brown rice, it's brown basmati for me from now on lol
edit edit: anyone have any experience with this rice cooker? http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-NS-W...6377695&sr=1-8

[Meat]

my new veggie obsession is grilled peppers, which are really flavorful and go well with chicken. Grilled vidalia onions or grilled leeks are an extremely easy way to add some flavor too, and extremely healthy.

kindly gtfo of my head
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...00612-1911.jpg

[Atreides]

yum

by my calculations 3/4 cup of this basmati, even with the small amount of butter, is around the same amount of calories (150-175) I would be eating if I had 4oz of grilled sweet potato fries with olive oil (what I normally eat), so I will definitely be eating it tonight. As much as I love japanese yams I have had sweet potato almost every night for nearly a year, so I should maybe mix things up a little lol.

I made the mistake of cooking the peppers last time with my bare hands, which caused my fingers MASSIVE pain and inflammation for hours and even after repeated washing I could hardly take my contacts out without crying 6 hours later. Inhaling the fumes from the spicy peppers grilling also gave me a sore throat the next day, haha.

Sooo... I have a new batch to cook but I'm not going near them until I head over to the pharmacy for some latex gloves.

Anyone have any good/simple couscous recipes?

[Meat]

i do an Israeli style couscous. I cook it in cup of chicken stock. season with salt, pepper, turmeric, don't over turmeric Then i fold in some crasins and toasted almonds(slivered), drizzle some evoo. bing bang boom

[Atreides]

sounds exactly like what Im looking for, ooo

Do you just bring the couscous and stock to a boil then let it simmer for 45 mins or so?

edit: here's my dinner

Spoiler: show

http://i45.tinypic.com/r9onqe.jpg

4 oz. Korean bulgoki-style grilled chicken with grilled vidalia onions
Mixed spicy/sweet grilled peppers
1 cup roasted Brussels sprouts
3/4 cup brown basmati rice with onion/butter

by my estimation only around 500 calories or so, whee. The bulgoki marinade came out pretty good, although I like it a lot better on beef. I miss eating skirt steak 3 nights a week, can't wait to start bulking again.

[Ryany]

If people are looking for good protein prices, my local Sam's Club has 5 pound EAS Whey for $27.48. I'm guessing most other clubs would be around that too. I think it is 23g/2g/1g protein/fat/carbs per serving, so it is almost pure.

Even though I sound like a spokesperson for them, they also carry 1 pound bags of beef jerky for $9.88 at my local club. It is a great source of protein for something that is a snack with I believe around 225g protein per bag. (and no I don't eat an entire bag at once / it's in resealable bag)

I'll also back up some of the people on here preaching deadlifts some more. Take a look at your average deadlifter and then take a look at your average person on the abductor machine (or almost any machine that has a free weight of the same thing). There's a reason they are different.

[Atreides]

beef jerky is a fantastic snack, as long as you don't have problems with blood pressure/hypertension since it's kinda high in sodium. Just make sure you drink a lot of water with it to flush it from your system.

Supposedly it's an old modeling trick actually, the day before a shoot models only eat beef jerky and drink ice water (which actually burns calories).

edit: btw Slim jims are not beef jerky. If your beef jerky makes your hands greasy, you need to find a different one. Pemmican brand is pretty good.

[Caiyuo]

For supplement & protein, I usually shop around between vitacost.com, allstarhealth.com, bodybuilding.com and check what Vitamin Shoppe has because their in-store prices can sometimes be cheaper than what you'd get online if you aren't getting free shipping.

Fitrx.com can be competitive too, but I usually only use them when they have their ON Whey 5lb. 2-pack deal for $66 shipped which they do occasionally. Otherwise if I'm buying everything I need at once I'll use All-Star Health because they use flat-price $5.95 shipping on entire orders or one of the other places I listed if they have a promotion for free shipping after a certain amount is spent.

[Tristam]

I love how this is now the cooking thread, you guys should write a cookbook lol.

Any endurance types out there that do yoga? I've read lots of triathletes do it, especially pilates (sp?).

edit: lolnvm, see it was brought up a number of pages ago. I fail at searching.

[Meat]

we all eat just about the same food, and it gets boring and repetitive really really fast. sometimes even the smallest change can make it bearable again.

[tyven]

just eat nothing but chipotle

[Weiing]

Well, since being healthy and fit is like 80% diet... I just assumed we were all foodies at heart? I LOVE FOOD. :D

However, a BG cookbook would be interesting?!

Edit: Meals you can make in between Kings windows!

[Headspace]

I need to learn to cook. I just eat a lot of sandwiches.