[Broken Parachute]

Originally Posted by Split2nd

Pushups/situps are pretty useless to be honest, unless you're doing it with weights. Situps are really inefficient, you're using a lot of your back instead of focusing on your abs. That's why crunches are so much better, they focus on your abs doing the work. Getting a six-pack is all in your diet/bodyfat though... situps aren't going to make your abs more visible. Doing 100+ situps is rather pointless, all it's doing is conditioning your body; like weak cardio. Pushups without weights isn't really going to get you anywhere.

Once you start going to the gym, regarding the split, most people have a chest/triceps day, back/biceps day, and legs/shoulders day, because the three major areas of muscles are chest/back/legs, while triceps/biceps/shoulders are minor muscles. Try to avoid doing an "arms" day, devoting a whole day to two minor muscle groups is bad.

With your diet, you must must eliminate sodas, period. So much useless sugar, especially if you drink a lot of it. And don't "slowly" break away from it, just eliminate it. If you just slowly try to get rid of it, you're never going to quit. Unless you drink it in the morning to wake you up or something, it's not like you're going to have major negative side effects like coffee or smoking. Cutting out the junkfood and soda is huge... but you can still snack on shit throughout the day, like someone already mentioned, make PB&J, but MAKE SURE that you get the NATURAL peanut butter, the normal Skippy and shit is loaded with sugar and other bad stuff. Get natural peanut butter and jelly have a couple PB&Js when you're hungry. At school, I usually have that, chicken breast strips (Foster Farms ones are so good, it's just a little pack you can pick up at the grocery store), a gainer shake, and a granola bar or something in between breakfast and lunch.

Make sure not to do cardio immediately after lifting, too.

I'd recommend going to some weightlifting forums and just read and learn... they're a goldmine for info.

Oh, and like someone said, just always keep a waterbottle on you and sip at it all day. Don't chug it, just sip it. If you feel thirsty, you're already something like 20% dehydrated. What I do is just bring a gallon jug to school and keep it in my locker, and fill up my waterbottle in between classes.

So basically don't do any pushups and do crunches?

Soda is the biggest thing. I'm gonna have to get rid of it totally. I usually have a 20 oz. bottle at lunch at school, then like a can or something with my dinner. I really have to cut it out. As far as junk food, surprisingly I don't eat it. I don't eat my own birthday cake, that's how much I despise cake and junkfood. I get all my fat from soda and overeating.

My dad owns a hot dog truck, so he constantly has water on his truck and brings like 3 or 4 cases home a week. So I'll have a lot of water.

What's the stance on Gatorade? When you work out..good or bad? Too much sugar?

Originally Posted by imirish06

i'll lay out a massive amount of info on diet/weight training and everything else for anyone who wants it..
i just want to finish watching the game first :D

I actually thought of you when I made this because I saw the pictures of how much weight you lost and muscle you gained. haha Whatever you're doing is amazing.

Originally Posted by LeftWideOpen

i was a 3 sport athlete in high school and was in great shape. i never lifted much and i never found it necessary, as long as you run/jog/walk a lot. i think thats the simplest way to get in shape. it depends what you are going for though ..i was never looking to bulk up in regards to my upper body because i was more focused on strengthening my legs and staying lean, because I pitched.

but since i've come to college ive put on about 20 pounds in two years. I'm 5'11 and I've gone from 165 pounds to about 185-190 because I've really just gotten lazy and I drink too much. I also think the fact that I've become highly dependent on coffee to keep me focused on school has been detrimental to my health.

i've tried a few diets and have come to the conclusion that none of them are really necessary unless you feel like you need that kind of structure to stay committed. south beach is probably the healthiest way to go though and i think there's a general consensus among health experts that agree.

i actually have a question though, for those of you who may know it ..what are the detrimental effects of coffee in regards to a healthy diet? i know that it obviously dehydrates you, but could that be negated by consuming large amounts of water throughout the day, or are there more negatives associated with it?

Isn't the South Beach diet the unhealthy one? Or is that the Atkins diet?

[Clarett'sGreyGoose]

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

So basically don't do any pushups and do crunches?

Soda is the biggest thing. I'm gonna have to get rid of it totally. I usually have a 20 oz. bottle at lunch at school, then like a can or something with my dinner. I really have to cut it out. As far as junk food, surprisingly I don't eat it. I don't eat my own birthday cake, that's how much I despise cake and junkfood. I get all my fat from soda and overeating.

My dad owns a hot dog truck, so he constantly has water on his truck and brings like 3 or 4 cases home a week. So I'll have a lot of water.

What's the stance on Gatorade? When you work out..good or bad? Too much sugar?


I actually thought of you when I made this because I saw the pictures of how much weight you lost and muscle you gained. haha Whatever you're doing is amazing.


Isn't the South Beach diet the unhealthy one? Or is that the Atkins diet?

Atkins is unhealthy.

Gatorade is good when you sweat ALOT. Just because you're working out doesn't mean you need the extra sugar in Gatorade. If it's 90 degrees and humid, and you're sweating balls, have some Gatorade....but I tend to mix my Gatorade about 60-40 with water to lower the sugar content.

[FondestMemory]

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

So basically don't do any pushups and do crunches?

don't buy that. you can do crunches and pushups. but saying pushups aren't useful is silly. and i wouldn't suggest using weights with pushups or crunches. you don't need weights.

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

Isn't the South Beach diet the unhealthy one? Or is that the Atkins diet?

no, south beach is good. atkins is absolutely horrible. south beach isn't too bad either, cause there's a lot of good food involved with it. programs like that are hard to follow though. take a lot of discipline.

[Broken Parachute]

Originally Posted by PlaysWithFire

Atkins is unhealthy.

Gatorade is good when you sweat ALOT. Just because you're working out doesn't mean you need the extra sugar in Gatorade. If it's 90 degrees and humid, and you're sweating balls, have some Gatorade....but I tend to mix my Gatorade about 60-40 with water to lower the sugar content.

Yeah, today I played football. It was 85 out and I was sweating so much. I had a big gatorade. I usually drink water when it's hot out anyway, but not enough.

[FondestMemory]

also, about gatorade, it's nice for the electrolytes. but there are other alternatives that accomplish the same thing but with less sugar and calories.

powerade makes some good stuff for that.

[Broken Parachute]

Originally Posted by FondestMemory

don't buy that. you can do crunches and pushups. but saying pushups aren't useful is silly. and i wouldn't suggest using weights with pushups or crunches. you don't need weights.

no, south beach is good. atkins is absolutely horrible. south beach isn't too bad either, cause there's a lot of good food involved with it. programs like that are hard to follow though. take a lot of discipline.

I did weight watchers when I lost the 25 pounds.

[LeftWideOpen]

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

Isn't the South Beach diet the unhealthy one? Or is that the Atkins diet?

South Beach is way better for your heart then Atkins is. South Beach bans some unhealthy fats that Atkins doesn't. Basically, it boils down to this ..

for the first two weeks, you can't have any sugars, fruits, pasta, potatoes, bread, rice, etc. You can do 2 servings of low fat dairy (skim milk, yogurt, etc.). After the 1st two weeks, you can have carbs like pasta from time to time and things like fruit are safe.

its a good diet because it includes all the major food groups and promotes whole grains, lean proteins and vegetables. No diet is perfect though ....but I think South Beach is definitely one of the healthier ones.

[FondestMemory]

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

I did weight watchers when I lost the 25 pounds.

then i say give south beach a try.

diets like that are nice, but like i said, not everybody's disciplined enough. if you've done it before though, go for it.

[LeftWideOpen]

Originally Posted by Broken Parachute

I did weight watchers when I lost the 25 pounds.

weight watchers can be useful if you plan everything out ...but its easy to get caught eating unhealthy foods and eating irregularly because of the # of points you waste on junk. i think its a really dangerous diet unless you are careful about how you divide up your points.

[LeftWideOpen]

for the record, i did south beach for the 1st, two week phase and dropped 12 pounds in 14 days (mostly all water weight). but, being a college student, i find it hard to keep from drinking my ass off and i ended up putting most of the weight back on.

[Broken Parachute]

Originally Posted by FondestMemory

then i say give south beach a try.

diets like that are nice, but like i said, not everybody's disciplined enough. if you've done it before though, go for it.

Originally Posted by LeftWideOpen

weight watchers can be useful if you plan everything out ...but its easy to get caught eating unhealthy foods and eating irregularly because of the # of points you waste on junk. i think its a really dangerous diet unless you are careful about how you divide up your points.

I'm gonna read up on the South Beach diet and try it out. What have I got to lose but weight?

[soimpossible787]

I would say one of the best things to do is to weigh yourself every day at a consistent time because watching your weight decrease is a HUGE motivator, and you can see if you start to slip and gain weight as well. I started to do this in January when I realized that I gained weight after my first semester at school (shocker) and so far I've gotten back to my original weight and even lost a couple extra pounds in the process.

Otherwise, lots of cardio and weight training is, of course, key.

[LeftWideOpen]

yeah, i'd recommend weighing yourself at the beginning of the day because you tend to weigh the least at that time and its a nice little self esteem boost.

avoid weighing yourself frequently (as in 2-3 times a day or more) because that's a sign of impatience and you'll probably wind up discouraging yourself and quitting. i speak from experience, haha.

[FondestMemory]

i'm from the thought process that weighing yourself is overrated.

honestly, you shouldn't be doing this for a number. you should be doing it to make yourself feel better and be happier with your appearance.

if you go a week and feel and look much better, you should feel ecstatic. but if you're caught up in a number, you may let that get you down. or lose motivation because you feel you're not losing enough pounds to warrant the amount of work you're doing.

that's just me though. i'm not saying never step on a scale. but doing it once a week gives you just as much proof what progress you're making than doing it every day does.

it's about your body, not about a number.

[Broken Parachute]

I see all three of your points. I dunno, I guess I would only weight myself once a day or so. I don't wanna lose confidence.