gfxlonghorn

I am not even going to bother....*face palm*

Quite the conversation... haha I think it takes about 3-4 weeks to really get back into it. You really have to force your self to go when you take a long break like that, but your body will start released endorphins when you push your self hard which will make it very easy to form a habit, even if you are not 100% aware what is happening. Whatever you can do to get your self motivated... I mean, honestly, the only way I could get myself to the gym initially(and subsequently after breaks) was the prospect of impressing girls. It sounds pretty shallow, but it worked out great for me. If you make that goal a huge priority, than it will come a lot easier. I can definitely understand why you might be having problems getting yourself to go to the gym though. When I was working 10 hour days the summer after high school was over, there was no way I could have started going to the gym during that time. Granted, I had been going more than everyday before that summer, but had I not been, the prospect of doing anything additional would have been horrendous. If your worried about your house... Get a Roomba!

I don't believe they are as bad as you say they are. Not that I have ever done them after I heeded the warnings of everyone online, but even so, I know and have seen people who are training for years do this motion, and even the workout equipment diagrams have them on their machines as possible variations. It is most definitely an unnatural movement, but I don't think it is THAT damaging to your body, maybe over the course of decades, but what exercise isn't?

When I started getting stretch marks(for the opposite reason), I looked up stuff to get rid of it, and people recommend coco butter and just products that normally combat the pregnancy stretch marks . However, I used for a couple of months, and saw no difference really, They eventually become less noticeable, and I know skin tightens up some, but I think the most proactive thing, other than surgery, would be trying to fill your skin out with muscle.

What does your chest work out look like? I have made a lot of progress, but my chest isn't developing quite like I would have liked it to. It may be genetic, since the strength is there, but thought I would ask anyways.

In my experience, they definitely feel heavier, but when it comes do doing the actual exercises, there is no difference in the amount of reps.

From what I have read myself, most people support the full range of motion with the squat, and say it is actually beneficial to your knees. However, when you do ass to calve(or ass to grass) squats, you need to be careful that you are not doing too much weight. I have had that stabbing pain because I was doing too much weight. I think going parallel is a good starting point though. People advocate doing full range of motion squats, but doing so( with weight anyways) is probably not the best way to start out. Also they said that Smith machines are to be avoided. I agree with this completely, as the Smith Machines isolated my quads too much and weakened the hell out of my hamstrings. However, in her case, I don't think she can physically use a 45 pound bar yet doing squats. Until you reach that point, Smith Squats are better than no squats. I would say that make sure you keep your legs underneath you and no in front of you. Because you don't need to stabilize the bar, your body will find easier to put your legs in front of you because it is an easier motion, but don't.

You have to take those exercises you described that you do with a grain of salt. They mostly for people who have gotten to a point where they are doing a decent amount of weight. When you are only doing the motion(smith bar weighs like 25 pounds so its more of a rigid body to do squats against that a lot of added effort) and you are getting fatigued, focus on the easier version of it. I had to work my way to being able to even parallel squats. My hamstrings couldn't handle it for a long time, so I had to work out my hamstrings until they could.

For me, its about staying explosive with my movement. If you go too slow on squats, you will get stuck fairly easily. If you are a beginner to squatting, front squats aren't really necessary and maybe work on getting the reps and going parallel instead.

I don't think most people around here think these food you mentioned are healthy. Well I disagree with that, I mean I am a vegetarian, but I don't think those foods are unhealthy just because they are meat.

It's possible you have a gyno, but without the incorporation of free weights your chest won't reach its full potential. Care to post any picture, its pretty easy to tell if you have excess fatty tissue.

To be honest, it really does. The BMI chart is not a very good indicator of anything really, it doesn't take into account a person's bone structure, nor the distribution of the weight. I mean its ok for someone who hasn't lifted a weight in their life, and I guess it lets you set your goals, but beyond that it really isn't a good measure of the health of a person. As an example,too kind of point out the inherit problems of the BMI chart, I have a friend who has a little less muscle mass than me and looks at around the same as me, with the same height and good muscle distribution, but he weighs 160 with a bigger bone structure. I, on the other hand, have a smaller bone structure and a little bit stronger yet I only weigh 145. He would be considered overweight, but he is far from that.

20 pull up handicap.. your tied for first. Good luck getting those pullups down!

Now Kimbo Slice doesn't use them.. 1 on 1.. for the battle of the stupid ab belts.

The first one was taken from the ground angled up, so you can't see me going all the way up. This new one was taken from the back of course, but I decided to put the camera on my bike, so its 2 feet off the ground. If I recall, I think I was able to get 10-ish pull ups with a 45 lb plate. You might be able to beat me there since it is almost 1/3 of my body weight haha.