Diet & Fitness Support Thread

[RAMA]

Nutrition is the key to success. You bust ass in the gym, but results won't be near as good if not supported by good nutrition.

RAMA - ballpark calorie-wise, where are you? How many grams of protein per day? Also, 265 lbs? Damn - how tall are you?

I'm not counting as closely as I have in the past, but I'd ballpark it at 4,800-5,000. I'm going to try a more accurate count this week. I take in 350 grams of protein! I'm using Vitamin Shoppe's 5 lb container of whey protein. I'm 6 feet even. Someone guessed today that I was 275 lbs. I was thinking that's a good thing! I've been working hard on getting my back up to par and it must be working..I was lifting something heavy with a friend yesterday and afterwards he said I had a rip in my shirt...I had burst the seem of my shirt while I was flexing my lats in the lifting.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

Started chest over on Mondays again. Instead of working up from 85 lb dumbbell incline presses to 120, I started at 90 skipped the 100s and went right to the 115s, and they felt light. Only problem now is that my gym's dumbbells only go up to 140 lbs...

RAMA

 

[RoJoHen]

I bought a lot of food at the store tonight, so I have no excuse to not be keeping up with my diet.

 

[TheSeeker]

Not much new to report on my end. I'm still trying to rehab my shoulder for what I am pretty sure is a rotator cuff problem. It really sucks because I was just starting to make some good strength gains and now I have to avoid heavy movements involving my shoulder.

My diet has been very good for the last few months. I have even gone so far as to avoid booze completely so my weight loss has been progressing slowly but steadily. I'm finally back in the 170s!

I'm leaving for a one week vacation in Bordeaux on Saturday though so I'm a little worried that I'll backslide a little. I think this time I'm just going to have to suck it up and exercise while on vacation. My goal is to be 170 lbs by Christmas so every bit of exercise will help.

 

[TJinLOCA]

I finally saw a doctor today about the pain in my right hip. The good news is that the x-rays didn't show anything awful, but he thinks it's likely that I tore the labrum (cartilage lining the hip joint socket) while doing some particularly deep deadlifts at the gym last month. I also apparently have a bit of arthritis in my left hip, which, weirdly enough, is not causing me any discomfort.

So now I have some new, shinier anti-inflammatory drugs, and a doctor's note so I don't have to do deadlifts anymore. Hopefully with 4-6 weeks of rest & drugs, it'll clear up ... if not, I'll go back in for an MRI to pinpoint the exact injury and plan further treatment.

I really have to watch my diet now to make sure I don't gain a ton of weight during a month of enforced inactivity. Sigh.

 

[TheSeeker]

^Get well soon!

 

[RAMA]

Major league back night last night...one arm dumbell rows, lat-pulldowns, hammer strength rows, full deadlifts, and barbell shrugs for traps. Sore already this morning.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

Shoulders tonight! Smith machine overhead presses: 1 set of 135 warm up, 5 work sets up to 315 lbs; side laterals: 4 sets: 35-40lbs; front raises(with barbell this time): 4 sets, 70lbs; reverse flyes: 3 sets, full stack plus 20 lb weights. Then I did cardio.

Quick cam snap:

RAMA

 

[TJinLOCA]

^Get well soon!

Thanks. So far the anti-inflammatory drugs have done a wonderful job of making me feel sick to my stomach. Oh well, at least I won't be gaining any weight if I keep this up ... I'll hardly be able to force myself to eat at all.

 

[RoJoHen]

Shoulders tonight! Smith machine overhead presses: 1 set of 135 warm up, 5 work sets up to 315 lbs; side laterals: 4 sets: 35-40lbs; front raises(with barbell this time): 4 sets, 70lbs; reverse flyes: 3 sets, full stack plus 20 lb weights. Then I did cardio.

Quick cam snap:

RAMA

You, sir, are much stronger than me.

I have nothing but shit workouts the last couple weeks on account of having a really bad cold, being sleepy, and not eating right.

Today I decided that needed to change, so I was at the gym for almost 2 hours and just completely rocked my entire upper body. Tomorrow I'm gonna do legs.

And then I'm going to spend the whole weekend stuffing my face and resting so that I can get back into a routine starting Monday.

 

[DarkHelmet]

TJ - that's not odd at all. Since you have an arthritic left hip, your body will unconsciously shut down (or minimize) the muscles and soft tissue around that joint to protect it, thus forcing your right side to compensate - especially during a squat/deadlift.

Next time, don't go so deep, either. Any physio or physical therapist will tell you that there is a 10-15 degree strength carryover in terms of range of motion. Example: say you go down 75 degrees - your muscles will get trained up to 85 or 90 degrees. Save your body.

 

[RAMA]

Shoulders tonight! Smith machine overhead presses: 1 set of 135 warm up, 5 work sets up to 315 lbs; side laterals: 4 sets: 35-40lbs; front raises(with barbell this time): 4 sets, 70lbs; reverse flyes: 3 sets, full stack plus 20 lb weights. Then I did cardio.

Quick cam snap:



RAMA

You, sir, are much stronger than me.

I have nothing but shit workouts the last couple weeks on account of having a really bad cold, being sleepy, and not eating right.

Today I decided that needed to change, so I was at the gym for almost 2 hours and just completely rocked my entire upper body. Tomorrow I'm gonna do legs.

And then I'm going to spend the whole weekend stuffing my face and resting so that I can get back into a routine starting Monday.

Colds suck they really take the life out of you. I often avoid the gym during the worst of it.

 

[TJinLOCA]

TJ - that's not odd at all. Since you have an arthritic left hip, your body will unconsciously shut down (or minimize) the muscles and soft tissue around that joint to protect it, thus forcing your right side to compensate - especially during a squat/deadlift.

That thought occurred to me ... I just thought it was weird that I never felt any pain in my left hip at all. But after the doctor mentioned it, I realized that I actually do have quite a bit less range of motion in that hip, which means you're probably right about my right side compensating.

Next time, don't go so deep, either. Any physio or physical therapist will tell you that there is a 10-15 degree strength carryover in terms of range of motion. Example: say you go down 75 degrees - your muscles will get trained up to 85 or 90 degrees. Save your body.

That's pretty much what the doctor said. Actually, his comment was more like "Is there some compelling reason that you feel the need to do deep deadlifts, at your age?" He recommended nothing past 90 degrees from now on.

Meanwhile, the search for an anti-inflammatory that won't a) give me heartburn and nausea or b) kill me from an allergic reaction (Celebrex, apparently, is not good if you can't take sulfa drugs) continues.

 

[RAMA]

Chest workout: flat barbell bench press; warm up: 225lbs, 5 work sets at 325-375 pounds, 6-8 reps; dumbbell incline press: warm up: 90lbs, 4 work sets at 100-120 pounds, 10 reps each; incline dumbbell flyes: 4 work sets, 90-105 lbs, 10 reps; pec deck: 4 work sets, full stack, 10-12 reps.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Had a great shoulder workout tonight.

After a thorough warm-up.

4 sets:
Smith Machine Shoulder Press - 185 lbs: 8 reps

4 Super-Sets:
Barbell front raise - 60 lbs: 10 reps
Bent over dumb-bell reverse flies - 17.5 lbs: 12 reps
Shrugs w/ dumb-bells: 100lbs (each) 15 reps

4 Sets:
Lateral raises - straight arm - with dumb-bells - 20 lbs: 10 reps

 

[RAMA]

I sneaked in a quick 6th day bicep workout for 45 minutes this afternoon: I switched from straight bar curls to bent bar: warm up: 1 set of 15 reps at 70lbs. 2 sets of 12 reps at 140 lbs, 2 of 10 reps at 150 and 1 of 125lbs. Dumbbell curls: 1 warm up: 45 lbs. 2 sets at 55lbs 2 of 8 reps at 65 and 2 of 50. Machine preacher curls: 4 sets 120lbs. Sunday, plenty of rest and recovery.

RAMA

 

[RoJoHen]

Not bad. I usually do arms if I have an extra day too.


I think I'm going to try to cut out most of my supplements for a while. I've stopped noticing results, and more often than not they just give me a stomach ache. Plus I should be spending that money on solid food anyway.

 

[RevDMV]

Nice work RAMA

I'm back in the gym after a bout with the flu. Working now to get in ski season shape. Lots of swimming and biking, looking for good hoping type exercise to facilitate the muscles used in turning.

 

[RoJoHen]

Jump rope?

 

[RAMA]

Not bad. I usually do arms if I have an extra day too.


I think I'm going to try to cut out most of my supplements for a while. I've stopped noticing results, and more often than not they just give me a stomach ache. Plus I should be spending that money on solid food anyway.

Hmmm well if you get a stomach ache then you should definitely find out what's wrong. What were you taking?

RAMA