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jtp

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About jtp

  • Birthday 09/16/1987

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  1. I'm totally open to taking in more protein per day if it's appropriate. My understanding was that if your body doesn't have anything to use the protein on it just goes straight through your system without affecting any body functions. I've also heard that over 100g of protein, no matter what your body weight is, is just a kind of overkill and you body wouldn't use it anyway. This brings up another interesting point about body building: it's hard to discern the apocryphal from scientific conclusions. Are you suggesting that based on personal experience xveganjoshx?
  2. Yep, I've heard of the 1g per pound of bodyweight rule but, keep in mind, I'm only doing benchpressing right now. In two weeks I'll have a full fledged gym membership and will be able to do full body exercises. Don't you think over 40g of protein is an overkill since I'm only working one muscle group?
  3. I'm not a coach or body training expert by any means but there should be a lot of things you can do at home without a lot of expensive weights. I don't know of any body builders who've got huge on yoga, but that's definitely something you could do at home inexpensively. Here is a free yoga podcast you can watch: http://www.yogamazing.com Supposedly Chaz, the guy who does YogaAmazing, got his muscle from Yoga. I think he may be unlike us though and naturally kinda muscular. One of the other posters on this thread linked me to this guy's videos on YouTube. He's a great coach who just records the videos for the fun of it. All of his videos have the "you can do this cheaply" theme. http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961 I recommend watching a lot of videos on YouTube and just educating yourself about at-home physical training. You're definitely not the only person wondering about it.
  4. Okay, just another silly update because I want to tell someone/something about this. I think I've had my first tangible, substantive "small win" in my weight training. Like I mentioned before, I could only bench 2.9 sets of 70lbs after a 40 lbs warmup set. After maintaining good nutrition and letting my muscles convalesce for a few days, I was able to go in and do three FULL good-formed sets of 70 lbs. Since I still had energy, I upped the weight to 80 lbs and did THREE MORE full good-formed sets of 80 lbs. I missed on my ninth rep of my fourth set at 80 lbs (seventh overall set). I could probably have done three sets of 90 lbs. That definitely feels like progress. I went from barely being able to do three sets of 70 lbs to doing three sets easily followed by three sets of more resistance, and then some! Although this may not be totally accurate since I just got out of the gym, I noticed my muscles (esp. my triceps) were bigger than normal. I measured them and compared them to my measurements from a few weeks ago and they've grown by 0.5" in girth. I'll take that with a grain of salt for now and do a measurement again in a few days when they have time to heal more. Right now they feel pretty expended. In the past, not seeing any progress like that was extremely discouraging. This is finally a tiny win I've been waiting for.
  5. Just a tiny update. In that video you linked chewybaws about proper cardio, the guy explicitly says sprinting is definitely not good cardio. My previous 2:3:3:2 treadmill routine would definitely be considered sprinting. See, this is what I mean by me not knowing anything about proper procedure. I went in today and was able to do 10 good minutes on the treadmill with about 8.5 minutes running at speed setting 6.5 (down from 8.5 on my sprints). This was much easier on my body and I didn't burn nearly as much energy as my sprinting. I'm going to stay in the 6.5 speed setting range from now on and try to do 20 minutes of 6.5 straight for a warmup.
  6. I don't keep a calorie-for-calorie count but I do try to watch my grams of protein. I try to have 40g or more of protein per day which I think is adequate considering I'm not doing full body exercises yet. Right now I usually have 3 meals a day and a snack, each meal probably about 1.5-2x the size of the smaller meals most body builders eat every day. The snack is usually an almond butter and jelly sandwich on whole gain complete protein locally made bread. I realize this is sub-par and am trying to get more meals in each day. When I move back to San Francisco I'll start full body exercises (with a personal trainer) and really focus on the nutrition. How effective do you find pasta to be for energy? During my vegetarian years I went through a phase when I ate virtually nothing but pasta and, I have to say, it completely burned me out on it. I've had the same dried pasta and unopened pasta sauce sitting in my cupboard for probably 7 months -- I just never make it anymore. Also, do you try to double up on olive oil when you cook? Do you care about healthy fats like olive oil or do you just focus on calories?
  7. We're talking about various half-assed attempts in the past of me going to the gym and having an awful diet. I never saw results in the past but now my nutrition is much better and my general education is much better now too. I still have a ways to go on diet though. What do you mean by "nutrition plan"? I've been watching the wonderfully cheesy YouTube coach you linked me to and he mentioned that, at my weight, I should be having about 23g of protein and 350 cal per meal multiplied by 6 meals per day. Is that what you meant or something more specific? That's really interesting actually. I'm definitely going to pay more attention to my meals and try to make bigger batches. Just need to find a non-stick wok big enough now. (it's 2am out here in California, I better get some sleep. )
  8. Hey chewybaws, Thanks for the suggestions and poking me about my progress! I move in less than two weeks. In the meantime I've been going to the gym about 4-5 times a week and doing mostly cardio and and upper body. I didn't realize just how bad my cardio situation really was. One of my New Year's resolutions was to really hit the gym hard. I ended up doing mostly cardio on an arc running contraption and made amazing progress. When I started, I could only do 10 minutes of running at 160+ strides/minute and that was pushing it. I then went back the next day, and did 10 again. The next day I did 20, then 20 again the next day. The day after that I did 30 and the day after that I did 45. All in the course of just one week, really. It was a huge win for my determination and I felt great for making measurable progress. I did 45 minutes 5-7 times a week for several weeks and then tried to apply my self-confidence to another running machine in my apartment gym. I got on another bigger, fancier arc running contraption and could only do 5 minutes or so on it when I had been doing 45 on the other machine! I thought something was wrong so I went back and did the original machine for a few more days. Then I tried out a treadmill. That was another disaster. I couldn't even do 5 minutes of running at a similar pace on a treadmill. How the hell could I go from 45 minutes on one running machine to not even 5 on the other???? I realized that the machine I had been on was a very contrived exercise that didn't really work much of anything and that I really had no idea what I was doing in a gym when it came to proper procedure. At that point my confidence pretty much crashed and I stopped going to the gym altogether for several months. Per ralst's suggestion I got Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe and have been reading it. I surprisingly like reading about the technical details of weight lifting. I've been going back to the gym and starting all over from the beginning, this time using a treadmill for cardio and doing almost only upper body strength. My current treadmill workout is 2:3:3:2 -- two minutes of fast walking (speed setting 3.5), three minutes of fast running (8.5), three minutes of walking again (3.5) and then 2 minutes of fast running. I monitor my heart rate studiously each time and it kinda scares me. Two minutes of fast running will get my heart rate above 190 bpm (to the point where I definitely couldn't have a conversation with someone). By the end of the 3 minute break, my heart rate will be between 160-170 and I push it again to 190 in the first few seconds of the last 2 minute intense running session. Judging by my experience watching people run in gyms on treadmills, 10 minutes of speed setting 8.5 shouldn't get me to the point where I can't talk to someone. Yet 2 minutes on the treadmill does that to me! I'm going to keep doing the treadmill until I can do 10 minutes of nonstop intense running and use that as my warmup for the rest of this year at least. Another confidence crasher in the past has been working out and seeing 0 results. This time around, since I'm focusing only on upper body, I'm essentially trying to generate results as quickly as possible just so I can get a boost of confidence. I'm using this pre-move time to learn the limits of my upper body so I can take that to my personal trainer at the new gym. I started doing 3 sets of benchpresses with 4 reps each with the most weight I could muster: 110 lbs. After watching a video online, I decided to do 12 reps / 3 sets / 70 lbs. Lately I've usually missed on the 10th or 11th rep on the last set. 70 lbs benchpressing sounds pretty pathetic but just look at my picture! Anyway, I've been enjoying the minor results I've seen so far and the treadmill I think is a good way for me to get better at sports (which I've been playing more of) and a relatively easy way of measuring progress (like I did with the first arc running machine). I'm still keeping at it! Expect more from me on this forum after I move.
  9. Thanks so much for the comments, guys! That definitely helps me out a lot. I think I'm going to start out with only a little bit of cardio and, as I get to learn how my body grows and reacts to exercise and food, try mixing in more and more cardio. I remember a friend of mine in college who got huge and still did 90 intense minutes on the treadmill before every workout. If I could manage that, it'd be everyone I could hope for.
  10. I've seen a lot of people suggesting relatively little cardio while training for maximum muscle. I'm a total lightweight now getting started with physical fitness and care very deeply about the health of my heart -- both my father and grandfather died of heart attacks. What are the downsides to intense cardio while trying to maximize muscle gain and what would you all recommend as the best cardio (for heart, not general muscular reasons) to do while strength training? - Jay
  11. Yeah, that's what I meant. I realize it's not fat. I remember facetiously comparing abs with a bodybuilder friend in Texas in a mirror and when we both bent over, I had that and he didn't. It was just a little surprising that someone could get rid of that so now, I figure I might as well try. Okay, that "one year" timeframe really helps a lot, actually. I have no perspective of how body weight translates into appearances since I've weighed about the same since I started consciously thinking about how much someone weighs. When people say "I lost twenty pounds" or "He is 50 pounds overweight" I am never able to build a mental image of what that even kinda looks like. Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll definitely read it. I'm a book reading kind of guy anyway. That's one thing I don't have yet: a gym membership. I'm moving early July so I've held off buying one until after the move. I think July may be the more official starting time of this project. The gym at my apartment is pretty measly. Okay, this is a big question I have for the fellow vegans here. Since I've switched to veganism, I've cooked most of my meals myself -- an exciting departure from eating nothing but quick, prepared foods before. At the moment, though, I spend a lot of my day just making food and I can't imagine 2-3x more in a day. Do you all make your own food and, if so, do you just do it in bulk? Sorry, like I said I'm really new to this. I had to google "basic compound movements" so I get that now but what do you mean by "volume" in this case? A few more questions: I care a lot of heart health since my father and grandfather both died of a heart attack. Right now my cardio is amazingly bad. Should I focus on cardio in my workout a lot? How does that affect my meal preparation, ability to gain weight, or other aspects of my daily routine? I used to be able to do 45 minutes at +160 strides/minute constant on a kind of running machine but when I jumped on the treadmill, I couldn't do 10 minutes at that same pace. Is a treadmill the de facto best thing for concentrated cardio exercise? Should I worry about stretch marks as I gain weight? Is this section the best place to put this thread? Should I ask an admin to move it? Thanks so much for the pointers so far guys!
  12. Hi everyone! I'm a 21 y/o from the San Francisco Bay Area trying to gain some muscle mass for once in my life. Though it's a kind of long and seemingly incredulous story, I've been an ardent vegetarian since before kindergarten and was the only vegetarian I knew growing up. Neither of my parents nor my sister were ever vegetarians. When I was very young, I conciously remember asking my mother where a piece of steak came from and, when she said cows, I realized it was both cruel and that I had a choice not to eat it. My mom was respectful of my wish to not eat it and, as I grew up, I found my rationale further vindicated. A few months ago, I took the rationale to its logical conclusion: strict veganism. Growing up vegetarian (in Texas, no less!) by a mother who knew nothing about nutrition or cooking for vegetarians, I feel I probably didn't get some of the essentials to a building a normal physique and have been stuck being very skinny. As a young teenager it was mostly normal looking but as I got older and went through high school, and college, it became obvious I was stuck with the painfully skinny looking physique of a 14 year boy. Here I am today: http://i40.tinypic.com/2n1stgh.jpg http://i44.tinypic.com/2w3c12q.jpg http://i39.tinypic.com/2i0svwk.jpg http://i41.tinypic.com/a9tj10.jpg http://i41.tinypic.com/21opic1.jpg Details: 21 y/o 5'10" 130 lbs. (I put the last picture in because, despite being skinny, that extra skin really annoys me. I'm going to work to get rid of that. ) I'm very new to the concepts in the body building space and, as I get started, realize it'd be extremely helpful if there were people who understood my situation and could give me quick pointers on what to do. The FDA and CDC say (link) that someone of my characteristics should weigh about 30 lbs more (160 lbs). Do you all think this is the case? I seriously can't even imagine what 30 lbs extra would look like on me. Based on stories and experiences from other people with which you all are familiar, would it be a good goal to gain those 30 lbs in mostly muscle? What is a reasonable time frame that dedicated people are usually able to accomplish that in? For such an involved project, how do they educate themselves on how to do it? Does anyone know of similar stories I could read about? I figure my case is pretty typical in the "vegan bodybuilding" space. Sorry for the newbish questions -- like I said I'm very new to all of this. I'd greatly appreciate any guidance or suggestions you could give.
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