Getting fit with SwordsMaster

[Vladimir]

Well, how much are you eating before going to bed? It also depends on what you are eating.

Sleeping is almost the ideal way to burn fat. All the little movements you make when sleeping burn primarily fat for energy. Because of this, light cardio right after waking up, before breakfast, is the best for burning fat. Your body has lots of fat already in the bloodstream ready to use for energy.

What do you recommend? Usually it's two pieces/filets of chicken/fish or a piece of lamb (must have my mutton), a can of vegetables, a couple cups of (oh yes) Earl Grey tea, and a cup or yoghurt. Maybe some honey toast if I'm still hungry.

[SwordsMaster]

Wow, thats a lot of replies. Ok, in order.

2 Eggs
2 slices of cheese
ethier bagels or tortillas
Banna
OJ
Milk
Whey
Vitaman

Lunch

milk
gatorade
2 chicken sandwhices

Dinner

Big Bowl of Spagetti and Meatballs (or another good carb and meat)
PB sanich
Banna
Vitaman
Gatorade
Milk

I need to keep a good supply of calories for the absolute hell the foot ball coahces put us though

M-F 1 and half hours in 100 degree weather doing pushups running hitting eachother jumping rope all in full pads!1!

Then they make us come after school to lift I max the follwing

Bench: 240
Squat: 365
Power Clean: 205

Am I doing right?

First piece of advice: there is a "Spell check" button. You should use it.

Apart from that: If you are trying to cut on some fat you have to have a calorie deficit. That doesn't mean not eating, but you should end up, some 3-400 calories under your daily needs. So the obvious thing to do is cut out a bottle of gatorade and a sandwich ater the spaghetti (why would you do that anyway?) if "sanich" means sandwich...

And you probably don't need vitamin twice a day. If you take it in the morning, you shouldn't take it again, there are vitamions that are necessary in small amounts but are very nasty in large quantities (vitamin A for example), besides you will be getting vitamin from food also.

Also, for lunch, if there is any possibility you could swap both sandiches for a proper meal, do it. White bread in general has too much stuff in it you don't need, saturated fat being one of those things.

In the morning, if you already had 2 eggs and some cheese, you don't need the whey. There is only so much protein your body can methabolise at once. So I would take the whey after the workout (some half hour after, and eat a proper meal in another half hour or so. BTW, whey is best methabolised with milk), and make your milk low fat.

About an hour before bed,I would recommend an oatmeal and some cottage cheese, and you sure as hell dont need gatorade before you go to bed.

What do you recommend? Usually it's two pieces/filets of chicken/fish or a piece of lamb (must have my mutton), a can of vegetables, a couple cups of (oh yes) Earl Grey tea, and a cup or yoghurt. Maybe some honey toast if I'm still hungry.

As I said just above, my sleeping stack consist of oat porridge (with some honey, the flesh is weak ), low fat cottage cheese, and maybe some fruit like a banana or prunes, no apples. Tea will slow down your digestion, and technically is ok, but some people might find it has an effect similar to a coffee.

another question, if you build up muscle and then stop compleately for a few months will you lose all of the muscle or just some of it?

You stop what? Living? Then yes. It depends for how long you stop and if you are using that muscle in your life or not. You won't lose it if you use it. Its like maths. As long as you keep at it, you're ok, if you stop for a year you've forgotten everything you knew.

What is more important for burning fat, getting enough sleep or not eating before you sleep?

I don't think I've ever recommended not eating before going to bed. Quite the contrary.

Anyway, I know I promised an update, but I got an urgent request for a program to write, so it'll have to wait until the weekend.

BTW, one last thing: SFTS, my maximums are close to yours, only a few pounds difference, but I weight 179 lb. My sport is boxing though. But maybe you don't need all that bulk. Or did you weight yourself with the pads on? jk

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Well, you need weight if you are tackling people :p

How tall are you SwordsMaster?

[SwordsMaster]

Well, you need weight if you are tackling people :p

How tall are you SwordsMaster?

Well, I played rugby a few years ago. I'm 1.78m, which is 5'11 I think. You are right though, if SFTS is 6'6 then his weight is perfectly appropriate.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Well, I played rugby a few years ago. I'm 1.78m, which is 5'11 I think. You are right though, if SFTS is 6'6 then his weight is perfectly appropriate.

Weights for football are going to be a lot higher for rugby though. You don't have the constant running in football so the emphasis is more on size than in rugby. I'm about your size proportionatly (6'2 215), I was actually going to do rugby this spring but got shin splints I was a good size for rugby team but the football players are all much thicker. Even at my school which is hardly athletic. 6 foot 226 is what you'd expect for a football player.

[Strike For The South]

Congrats Swordsmaster! your the 100th person to tell me to use the spell check Honestly though thanks Ill try to change some things

[SwordsMaster]

Congrats Swordsmaster! your the 100th person to tell me to use the spell check Honestly though thanks Ill try to change some things

You know what they say: Vox populi, vox dei. Maybe you should listen....

Weights for football are going to be a lot higher for rugby though. You don't have the constant running in football so the emphasis is more on size than in rugby. I'm about your size proportionatly (6'2 215), I was actually going to do rugby this spring but got shin splints I was a good size for rugby team but the football players are all much thicker. Even at my school which is hardly athletic. 6 foot 226 is what you'd expect for a football player.

Yeah, I noticed yankees just can't play rugby. They look big, they are fast, but they still lose. Then again there aren't that many american football teams in Europe.

[ah_dut]

Cottage Cheese is good for pre bedtime as it absorbs very slowly (it's casein.) for a post workout drink, chocolate milk is good, as is whey in milk or with some other carb source (say gatorade?)

Strike For The South...try eating more for lunch. Good to see a decent breakfast.

I don't pretend to understand football and I know you may not be overly interested in a weights program but try Joe DeFranco's Westside for skinny b********s
http://www.defrancostraining.com/art...s_westside.htm

[SwordsMaster]

Ok, sorry about the delay, my dear potential six-pack sporters, I've been injured, and Real Life in general was quite hectic.

Nuff complaining, let's get down to business.

So you mosey down to the gym. And there it is, the room full of fat, skinny, strong, weak, but most of all sweaty guys (or girls - the feminists have won this one -), and as you watch them manhandling weights of different sizes, shapes, colours and composition you wander what to do next. Here is the latest addition to SwordsMaster's training routines' family.

This program consist of mostly complex exercises, and the goal is both to build some muscle without spectacular results - something like 4 lbs a month until you reach your optimal shape, then it will get slower, and you'll have to shake it up -
; and to lose some weight.

So to start thigs off (and assuming you are warmed up):

10-8 min row. Get on the rower, set the reistance to 5, and the distance to 2000 m or yards. You MUST do the distance in under 10 min. The optimum is 7.30, but 8 min is a good goal.

After this, you set off jogging for 30 min or 3 miles trying to sprint for at least 10 % of the total distance (I do laps on a 1 mile circuit, with 2x100 m sprint on every lap).

Then you are finally ready to do some weights. There are 2 "setups" for convenience I call the MWF setup first, and then the TTh setup.

On MWF, you will:

Dips: 5 sets of 10. I like them supersetted with pullups for completeness
Pullups: 5 sets of 8, aiming at 5x10.

Bench press: If you can, do a loading (3 set) and then the heavy (3 set) stages: Mine are loading :3x6 for the loading stage, and 3x8 for the heavy one.

Superset the bench press with a prone row machine or set it up youself. with similar sets.

And that's it for the day. Go home ang get a nice meal.


On TTh you will:

Warm up:

Squats:
2x10 loading: progressively get lower and lower, with good posture.
3x8 heavy: start low, and stay low. A greater range of motion means more muscle being worked.

Clean-jerk: 2x6 loading. This is a complex exercise, get the form right before starting to put on heavy weight.
3x6 heavy. This exercise will work every muscle in yur body.

Lastly: Deadlifts: 3x6 loading
2x6 heavy. At this stage, your legs should be in bits, so keep good form.

After this, stretch your legs, and if you feel energetic, fill in with some ab work.

What I also like to do, is on Saturday, go to the swimming pool for an hour. You will feel completely refreshed on Monday.

Last thing: after 3 weeks of pushing the weight up, on week 3 drop it by about 20%. On week 4 your threshold will be much improved.

Enjoy. And use responsibly.

[Avicenna]

Great guide! I love this bit:

How about a bowl of cereal? You have to be an idiot if it takes more then 1 minute to prepare a bowl (NO COOKING INVOLVED).

[SwordsMaster]

How about a bowl of cereal? You have to be an idiot if it takes more then 1 minute to prepare a bowl (NO COOKING INVOLVED).

Great guide! I love this bit:

As true now as when it was written.

[Avicenna]

Haha, did someone actually think that you needed to cook cereal?

[SwordsMaster]

Haha, did someone actually think that you needed to cook cereal?

I hope not. It was just making a point to encourage proper breakfast.

[Avicenna]

But is just one shake actually enough for breakfast?

[SwordsMaster]

But is just one shake actually enough for breakfast?

If it has all the right nutrients, then yes. I used to have a pint of shake for breakfast for some 6-7 months. Will probably go back to that, when I finish my exams and start training properly again.

[naut]

I've got a question, and this seemed the apropriate place to post it:

Anyone know any good knee stretches, my knees give me trouble, and with the soccer season aproaching I have to make sure I don't damage my knees

Thanks

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Well you don't stretch your knee. You stretch the hamstrings and quads. If one is more flexible than the other then you will have knee problems. I think you can tell which you need to stretch by where the pain is when you have problems, but I can't remember.

You can't go to wrong with stretching quads and hams, do hip flexors and calves as well.

[SwordsMaster]

You should stretch either way even if you are not injured.

[mercian billman]

I don't want to take away anything from Sword Master's excellent thread, but I just thought I'd throw in my workout routine, basicaly it's a variation of the Bigger, Faster, Stronger program, which I used in High School and most American High School athletes are probably familiar with. It's a basic M/W/F program which emphasises Bench Press, Deadlifts, and Squats, each of these are worked once a week allowing plenty of time for recovery;

Monday
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Dumbbell Bench Press
Weighted Dips

Wednesday
Dead lift
Straight Legged Dead lift
Good Mornings
Bent Over Rows


Friday
Squat
Leg Press
Lunges
Calve Raises

All of these excercises (with a few exceptions which will be mentioned later are done with 3-5 working sets and 3-5 repitions per set. The purpose of the routine is to build strength that can be carried over into sports such as football, wrestling, basketball etc, the total program also includes a lot of conditioning work, and plyometrics which I don't do because I don't have the workout guides for them. I still do conditioning work, which I will mention in another post.

The lifts that aren't done with 3-5 repitions per set are Dumbbell Bench Press, Straight Legged Dead Lift, Good Mornings, Lunges and Calve Raises. These workouts are done with higher repitions between 8-12 a piece with moderate weight. It's especially important to do Wednesdays workout with light weights if you've never lifted before or if you've never executed those lifts. They primarily work the lower back and it's especially important to take caution when working with your back. Also a lot of people don't do dips and may find it dificult to do them with weight, if that is the case; work yourself up to being able to do 3 sets of 10 repitions with your own bodyweight. Squats also deserve special mention, it's important to not go further than parallel and the first few times you do them your legs will cramp up; make sure to stretch between each set and understand that the feeling is normal. Your legs should be in pain after doing a hard squat workout.

[The Stranger]

I'm asking for advice about which trainings i could do at home (without buying equipment) to increase my chest and arm muscles.

[Kääpäkorven Konsuli]

I'm asking for advice about which trainings i could do at home (without buying equipment) to increase my chest and arm muscles.

It is practically impossible to get you muscles bigger without weights, but you can get muscle strength for example doing pushups.

[Duke Malcolm]

Crunches, methinks. A healthy bout of crunches of a morning.

[The Stranger]

you can get abs by doing situps. well i could buy weights but i dont want to buy any machines, i hate them

[drone]

Dips work well, if you can find a place to do them. 2 high chairs or a gap between kitchen countertops.

[The Stranger]

im not familiar with that term. is that lifting your self up?

[drone]

This exercise:
http://www.pfc-fitness.com/index.cfm...Home%20Fitness
(not an advertisement, best I could find on short notice)

[Kääpäkorven Konsuli]

you can get abs by doing situps. well i could buy weights but i dont want to buy any machines, i hate them

Stay away from machines! Many of them are completely useless. Weights and of course a place to lift them is all I have needed. And if you start exercising, exercise whole body. It would be fun to just train arms, but it has nasty side effects.

[Avicenna]

Would you end up looking like a gorilla?

Anyhow, weights are the simple thing to do, if you want something easily done.

[Kääpäkorven Konsuli]

Exactly.

[Beirut]

The Stranger's thread is now merged with Swordmaster's excellent fitness thread.