[webnek]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

In general > Am I aiming for a calorie excess only on days of or the day after heavy weights or overal, based on several days of weights training?

Immediately after strength training is a great opportunity to consume the calories you've just burned. Something like a smoothie because it's so quick to digest. Your body will uptake that consumption for immediate repair.

If you've properly worked to failure the next day you should be sore. Your muscles are still repairing and adapting so it's still important to consume excess calories albeit with a focus on proteins that can be broken down into amino acids to repair and build new muscle fibers.

All of this is predicated by the intensity of your training. If you're doing something like training to failure then you can eat 18-24 calories per pound of body weight. It seems and feels unnatural at first but it works and eating a daily excess is mandatory for muscle mass and strength development.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[webnek]

Good resource for women and weight training particularly myth #7:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hugo46.htm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[possiBri]

Saw this today on Lifehacker... pretty damn cool resource (I think the site was overloaded, but should be back up tomorrow)

http://neilarey.com/workouts.html

[huesos]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

In general > Am I aiming for a calorie excess only on days of or the day after heavy weights or overal, based on several days of weights training?

I do it the day of.

[TheOffspring]

You might try the Dorian Yates approach that's documented in his free "blood and guts" training videos. Google for it you'll find it on bodybuilding.com.

The basic approach goes like this.

1 working set of bicep exercise of 10-12 reps. You should only have to use moderate effort to execute this set. Rest sixty seconds.

1 more working set, as above.

1 failure set. Jump weight up such that you fail around the 8th rep. You'll need to keep records to zero in on the right weight from session to session. I use jefit pro it's available on android and iPhone. Rest sixty seconds and move on to next bicep exercise, repeating the above method.

This approach is very effective because you're not hitting your anaerobic threshold during the first two sets. You're merely warming up the muscles and increasing blood flow in preparation for the failure set. This failure set maximizes muscle fiber damage but risk of injury can be reduced because you're not hitting cold muscles. It also allows you to fail properly before gassing out.

I have used this approach and it works really well. Your anaerobic threshold increases with this method too. When I started working out I needed at least 60 seconds rest, now I require little to no rest in between sets.

Nutrition is more than 50% of the process. This is where being a math nerd helps so you can calculate roughly how many calories you require to maintain, bulk or cut and further what your carb / protein / fat ratios should be. But to get started, and to keep it simple, drink a recovery shake immediately after working out. If it's a 24 set day and I am in a building phase then I drink a 500-600 calorie gainer shake after the routine. Your muscles are so dry at this point that much of the calories in that shake are immediately taken up by the damaged muscles.

With a blood and guts style four day split at the right intensity but only about four hours a week I can add about one pound of muscle every week. When I started and after I dropped down to 167 from a squishy (heh) 198, I switched gears and dialed up to about 4500 delicious calories every day and added 20 pounds of muscle in about 16 weeks. Which wasn't bad for a forty year old lol.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I just wanna say thanks again! Trained my biceps a few days ago and for the first time in months i actually had some good sore muscles! I've applied the same philosophy to chest day, today, and again i can just feel it's working great. I did 1 set of 10, 60 sec break. Then another set of 10 with a 60 sec break. Then increased the weight by a few Kg's and struggled to a set of 8. After that a second exercise with the same technique. It saves a lot of time too, just pumping trough exercises so fast.

About nutrition, i normally eat a tuna mix (Full can of tuna, mayonnaise, pickles and an onion) right after my workouts. Which is about 600+ calories and 40 grams of protein. I'm not sure if this is enough but we'll see. Hehe.

Thanks!

[webnek]

I just wanna say thanks again! Trained my biceps a few days ago and for the first time in months i actually had some good sore muscles! I've applied the same philosophy to chest day, today, and again i can just feel it's working great. I did 1 set of 10, 60 sec break. Then another set of 10 with a 60 sec break. Then increased the weight by a few Kg's and struggled to a set of 8. After that a second exercise with the same technique. It saves a lot of time too, just pumping trough exercises so fast.

About nutrition, i normally eat a tuna mix (Full can of tuna, mayonnaise, pickles and an onion) right after my workouts. Which is about 600+ calories and 40 grams of protein. I'm not sure if this is enough but we'll see. Hehe.

Thanks!

The pain tells you you're making progress :) Switch up the routine if you stop feeling it the next couple days even if you're training to failure. The pros call it muscle confusion lol.

However even in that Dorian Yates video series he recommends switching to a lower intensity routine for a month after two months of failure training to allow your nervous system to heal. I'm planning for three months of bulking and one month of cutting so during cutting I'll be letting up a little.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[Children Of The Bad Revolution]

Is it always bad to eat under 1200 calories?

[Red Panda]

Is it always bad to eat under 1200 calories?

You have to calculate your requirements according to your body build and physical activity level. Generally most people require much more than 1200 but I don't think there's a true limit that applies to everyone equally. Whether it's bad for you to eat a diet of <1200 kcals can be determined from looking at your usual body weight, muscle mass and body fat %,other health indicators and if the diet is balanced and nutritious. For example, if you are very short and thin, without much muscle mass and without exercising, it's not unlikely that you'll need ~1200 kcal or less to get by, but the lack of exercise is an important factor for health so if you begin exercising you'll need more energy.
It would help if you elaborate more on why you ask that or be more specific...

[Children Of The Bad Revolution]

I meant for a diet, to eat around that every day for weight loss. And I only exercise about once or twice a week so I wouldn't need that many calories right?

[Red Panda]

I meant for a diet, to eat around that every day for weight loss. And I only exercise about once or twice a week so I wouldn't need that many calories right?

An easy way to know how many calories to eat is to calculate your needs with a calculator (like this) then subtract ~500 kcal which is a good amount for noticeable weight loss but not extreme (around 2-3 kg/month). This way the chances of malnutrition are less, just make sure you eat enough vegetables, fruit and protein. I'd suggest you find a way to eat that can be sustained for life, because if you do a crash diet and then start eating normally, you will very likely gain weight again.