Gym and shape.

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Ok, I have been attending it for 4 months already, like 1.5 to 2 hours per day - 5 days a week.

Doing like half cardio and half weightlifting.

Very new to this.

I am feeling healthier overall, more energetic and my dust allergy became way less frequent.


But I am not changing in shape, not even a bit, is that normal?

I am 58 kg , ~160 cm.

Last edited by The_Face_of_Boo on 13 Dec 2011, 5:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

How often are you going and what type of exercises are you doing?

^ Edited.

Doesn't look like you need to lose much more. Your diet is probably more important to look at, at this point.

I'm not an expert but their are two thing you may want to discuss with a trainer or your doctor if you want your body shape to change:

1. Your diet (If you're eating too much fat it may be covering new muscle. So you'll be stronger but look the same.)
2. How you're exercising (Are you doing one day of cardio than one day of weightlifting to give your muscles a day to rest?)

I think you have to do weightlifting to the point of failing to continue, if you know what I mean. I read that if weightlifting within ones comfort zone doesn't do much. See how and why muscles form as well.

This does work but it's more for people who have plateaued in their gains and are experienced lifters.

Boo, I meant to ask, what's your build like. Are you lean, can eat a lot but don't really gain weight?

Running 3-4K at least four times a week
Rowing four times a week, i usually do 2 K after the run, but sometimes I'll do 3.5K

Then I do 21 lifts. Which is where you lift only half way with the big long dumb bells (Bar bells I think they're called) so you lift half way up, then you lift it all the way up on your seventh rep, then let it drop half way down and lift back up again. Then do a full lift all the way from the top down and up again seven more times. That equals 21

Those are great. Same with these ab exercises where you lift one heavy thing with one arm, and one arm behind your back.

And once you feel a little sore. That's great man, just do lower weights and keep doing lower and lower untill you're just POOPED. You also want to rest every now and then too. I usually rest three days a week

I recommend you go a bit harder or heavier, less often. If you can work out 5 days straight for 2 hours, then you're likely not doing anything useful, other than maybe burning energy.

I'd also not do cardio and lifting in the same space of time. Try one or the other.

Last edited by Moog on 13 Dec 2011, 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Great advice, 21's put on sick muscle. If you want some more advice I'd suggest looking at a 3 day a week full body workout, if you've never lifted before or in awhile these are usually what a trainer will recommend as they work. If you're looking for size, don't do much cardio, 2 days a week, 30 minutes at a slightly above walking pace, that'll help keep fat off if you're bulking to put on size. Heavy weight, 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps. Also, milk, eggs, cottage cheese, meat and oatmeal are your best friends. This is just an idea but, you're 29, your test levels peaked at least 4 years ago and have been going down since, maybe even earlier if you were on meds as a teen/early 20's, so if you want to spend the money, try a test booster, I personally find awesome results with Animal Test, though it's expensive.

Just some ideas to consider. Even with lower test levels, someone who's never worked out regularly should put on mass quick, so either your not working out to the best mass building advantage, or it's your diet and not enough good carbs and protein. Good luck!

Wow, 22.5 BMI. I'd kill for that. Mine hovers at around 26.

It seems what you want is to get more muscular looking. If so, you gotta eat, more protein=more muscle. That's why whey protein exists in it's current form, it allows you to injest more protein without the "empty" calories of food. Whey protein is sorta controversial, not quite as much anymore, but you'd have to do some research and see if you want to take any proteins like that, in just powder form.

I think it's mostly your body type. Assuming you're at 22.5BMI without working out, either your diet is spectacular (which, if you live in Lebanon, it might just be compared to eating frozen pizzas everyday like your typical American diet) or you probably just aren't someone who gains weight very fast, you just got that sort of bodytype.

Basically, you probably should look more into lifting if you wanna get like, ripped or whatever. What happens with some people, if they start when they're fat, and then lose weight, they'll have muscles under the fat and then look cool after losing weight. Like especially leg muscles, get any guy who's like 300 pounds on a leg press, and he'll likely beat you just because he naturally has to hold up more than double your weight everyday he walks anywhere, so if he manages to lose bodyfat, he'll have really muscular legs and lower body in general under his fat. So, yeah, if you wanna look more ripped and whatever, concentrate more on weights.

As far as weights, libraries of books are written about the subject. I like compound lifts, as your muscles will look more natural and they'll have more real life application, I like freeweights better than machines, too, for the most part. As far as specific sports you can get into with weightlifting, there's more or less 3. Bodybuilding, which is lifting with the aim of sculpting a body you think looks nice, competitions are judged by looks, not by weight lifted. Powerlifting, which concentrates on 3 lifts, the deadlift, squat, and bench press, and the maximum numbers lifted in each lift are what you win or lose a competition over, powerlifting isn't about how you look at all. Olympic weightlifting, 2 lifts in Olympic weightlifting now, snatch and clean and jerk. Both of those determine basically how good you are at getting the bar from the ground to above your head in a quick amount of time. Olympic weightlifting isn't terribly popular here in US, but I got no idea about Lebanon. I personally think Olympic lifting is the coolest of all 3, but I suck at it. Olympic weightlifters are BEASTS, like 180 pound guys putting over 400 pounds over their heads... But, look into those and see what you'd like to integrate into what you do for whatever your goals are.

Really, it seems like you might just be what's called a "hard gainer." http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articl ... morph.html If you're an ectomorph, then don't really worry yourself too much.

Im with Knives here. Look into the Olympic Lifts, and Gymnastics if you want to be shredded and powerful.

Yes, I eat like a cow lol, my meals are usually 50-50 meat-veggies but all in reasonable quantities (like 1 plate per lunch), and I do eat stuff like chocolate and cakes each while. I've always struggled to gain weight but I don't want to become fat after 30 as well (I knew people who were always lean before 30 but became fat after it.)

I'd hazard a guess that due to you're eating and not gaining your ecto, but your weight and height tell me you're ecto-meso. Like knives said, you're a hard gainer. If you're looking for size, lots and lots of eating, protein as much as you can and full body 3 days split, with the Olympic lifts Knives mentioned included. You want to be doing almost completely compound exercises, so free weights and no machines. Drop the cardio too, or only do 15 minutes or so, hardgainer+cardio=bad idea if you're try to bulk up your muscles. Truthfully you might gain a little fat,but a lot of it will be muscle, and since you've got some ecto in you, you can cut the fat up pretty quickly.

Read up on training for hardgainers, as well as diet (Though yours sounds very good already) and go from there, it'll take time, but with the right training and diet you'll see results.

Isn't the Olympic weightlifting makes one shorter? I 've avoided it because I assumed so.

I mean, hey.... It's not like I have extra height to sacrifice. Lose more, and I lose a bit more and I become literally a midget.

My diet is mostly typical Mediterranean because...well....our cuisine is Mediterranean (check out 'Mediterranean diet').



Ok, so concentrating more on free weightlifting than machines and more weightlifting than cardio.

Well, Im 6'6" (1.99M) and Ive been doing it for 16 years, so its doubtful...

Its just that stocky people tend to excel in it as a SPORT, so it just seems that way when you watch the Competitions. You can still get GREAT benefits from it if you're lanky, you just probably wont put up top tier numbers, so we wont see any Beanpoles in the olympics... Just like basketball dosent MAKE you tall, but it seems like it might because of all the lanky ppl that stick around to the sports top level.

But do it for the benifits, not to "win" at putting up the best numbers. Only compete with yourself. And hey, if you only deadlift five lbs, and you're healthy, then thats the important thing. Not competing with some genetic freak, remember theres weight classes for a reason.

Physiques of Powerlifters:

[img][800:510]http://www.medicine-in-motion.com/images/powerlifter.jpg[/img]



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW2fd7PeKR0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

but like I said couple that with functional gymnastics training and you're on your way to Addonis mode.