Is there any physical benefit to an exercise where you basically sit in the air unsupported, sort of like a squat position, with your back straight, and see how long you can last before having to stand up? Right now I can last about 10 seconds before it feels like I will implode. This is a sketch I made of my stance sort of.

>>374535
the center of mass you have in that image baffles me as you should be falling over. i'm not sure how upright you are or anything of the sort.

in general, as with any martial arts horse-stance or held strength position, you work out some very important stability muscles all throughout your body. these are used in everything and are necessary for proper cross training and overall fitness.

going back to that particular position, i have no clue what you're targeting with that or how you're even upright. it seems to me that you're trying to do a wall sit without a wall. not the best way to do things.

i still hate that people are targeting body shaping over fitness. weight lifting is not typically a well balanced work out unless you're doing a lot of cardio lifting and more free weights. bicep curls, benching, squats, and machines are just feel good exercises for a lot of people. it's like saying "i want to lose weight through dieting so i'm only going to eat celery and cottage cheese." you'll hurt yourself in the long run, even if you think you're being awesome.

>>374536
I think I drew the legs way too narrowly close together, they are more spread out so it doesn't look as ridiculous, it's pretty much like this picture I found. It's not like the horse stances where the guy has his waist super low, otherwise I guess it's a horse stance.

In the last bit where you're discussing bodyshaping versus lifting I'm not sure which category you're putting my exercise in, just to be clear I'm not using weights and it's just bodyweight.

Anyway I really like the way I feel right, it feels like I let go of a lot of stress but my ultimate goal is to see if it improves some lower back strength.

Sometimes I also take turns with each arm punching vertically out while in stance and it feels like it really loosens my back.

>>374538
calisthenics is what you can sorta put this under since it's using your body's natural weight. i like weights, but they have their place.

that stance is a classic kung fu stance. i hate it for combat since it's low mobility and opens up the crotch to kicks, but it's really useful as an exercise for all the stuff i mentioned before like stability. When I used to do martial arts and soccer, the martial arts stances I practiced really allowed me to transfer a lot of power through my legs, hips, back, all the way through my body when needed.

That said, I cannot underscore how important it is to balance out an entire exercise regime.

Expect lots of shaking. Depending on the horse-stance and if you're doing something that won't hurt you by maintaining it (which you really should make sure before you continue), you can work up from a few minutes, to 10 minutes, to 15, to 30, to as long as an hour in that stance. As you start reaching your limit each time, you'll probably be a sweaty earthquake. Expect as much.

>>374539
Definitely lot of shaking going on, I feel no pain maintaining past just natural endurance issues so I think I have it pretty centered on that end. I will be basically extending the time like you said, except I think I am ridiculously weak because right now even a minute is too hard.

The 2013 Arnold Classic and Ms. International is coming soon to Greater Columbus Convention Center and Franklin County Veterans Memorial in Columbus, Ohio.

Ms. International will be held March 1, 2013. (women's bodybuilding)

Arnold Classic will be held March 2, 2013. (men's bodybuilding)

Who will be watching?

Can't wait to see Iris Kyle again on stage over her leg injury and couldn't compete last year. Oh course she will win first place but the real question is who will win second place?

>>374539
What is a complete excercise regimen? Can it be done with nothing but your own body?

>>374618
Depends on what you're training for.

>>374620
How about not dying young?

>>374633
if you just want to be more healthy, you will want to focus on cardio. doing that horse stance thing will help you with balance but it won't make your circulation any better.

go jogging.

>>374633
That's just as much about diet as it is fitness. Even if you're lean and can run for miles, you're not doing yourself any favors eating canned chili, you dig?
>>374634
Or take up swimming, or an intensive martial art like capoeira or muay thai.

>>374634
Why can't a person "workout" his or her face, to make it less ugly? I mean, most other body parts you can get more toned, or stronger, or lose fat from...why can't the ugly be sweated out?

>>374636
Muay Thai I would not recommend for long term health. There's lots of problems you can get with circulation from repeatedly bruising your shins.

>>374648
yep. high impact martial arts like Muay Thai actually shortens your athletic career due to the permanent damage you do to your body.

slowpoke, what are you doing? recommend things like combative thai chi or tae kwan do. even aikido messes up your leg joints in the long term.

>>374641
Actually muscle training usually masculines your face, doesn't necessarily make it look better though.

>>374633
Cardio like swimming and Jogging is fine enough for that, you can even pick up some definition that way.

>>374648
>>374650
I'm sorry, I didn't know the impacts were that serious, I just know it's strenuous as a motherfucker, in the sense of "oh god i haven't stopped moving at all in three hours i've burned like 3000 calories." u_u

>>374650
Is there a significant difference, excercise wise, between Tai Chi for combat and not?

>>374676
tai chi is shorthand for multiple styles of martial art including the many soft-style forms you see people practicing in parks. all of them fall under "internal martial arts" that are focused on cultivating the body's natural energy flow (whatever you think that means) as opposed to external styles that are about physical conditioning moreso.

>>374653
How come people get fat after high school? Why can't the ridiculously low bodyfat levels stay constant if desired? sick of turning into a potatobody.

>>374679
Stop eating too much and move more, then.

>>374679
base level metabolism drops in your 20s and consistently drops for the rest of your life.
it's up to you to maintain activity. you don't get strong and healthy without putting in the time and money anymore. first one's always free.

The reason why you start getting fatter when you become an adult is because your body doesn't need to grow anymore, it just needs to maintain. All those extra cheeseburgers you ate during in your youth were used to fuel puberty, and now they have no job to do, so you store it as fat just in case you need it someday (you won't).

Also people tend to become less active when they hit adulthood. In high school you probably walked more because you didn't have a car to drive, and you get forced into doing physical activity during gym class. Then you get a car and a desk job (or don't get either because you become a NEET instead) and you sit on your ever-growing ass all day.

>>374697
Well if you're a NEET there's a high probability you can use your parents' car so that's a bit inaccurate but yes. Also I doubt a long-term NEET would subject himself to an upright sitting position all day, it makes more sense to lay on the bed with an elevated pillow and a laptop leveled at eye level by the right tip of one foot as the leg is crossed and supported on the thigh of the other half raised leg.

Phew, I get a sweat just detailing that, must have been 5 calories burned right there, hey it's a start.

>that feel when you can't use the fitness or playground equipment in the nearby park to do pull-ups at night because the police chase you away
It's hardly the kind of thing that endangers myself or others. What the hell do they expect me to do, sprout glocks out of my arms and shoot at the ducks? My job lasts until after nightfall, and even if it didn't, winter is coming and the daylight hours are slowly dwindling. And I'm not about to buy this crap for my own use.

Since I don't want to die anymore, I think, I started doing some low impact cardio exercises for beginners. But I'm so fucking fat and out of shape, I can't even get 20 minutes of the intended 30 done without getting some massive muscle fever. So I'm not even at beginner level yet. This is gonna be long and painful.

So, I clearly don't really know what I'm doing, and I'd been doing a lot of bicep curls for a while and then stopped after hearing that it's best not to work through the sharp forearm pains I've been getting. I've heard this pain is a common complaint, so I gave my arms a break for a few weeks until the pain subsided as suggested.
Are there things I should be keeping in mind in order to avoid hurting my forearms again? Before, I had worked my way up to doing 30-40 sets of curls per sitting. Is that a good number, or should I adjust it?

>>384708
Are you only doing curls all the time? Because repeatedly straining the same muscles to the point of actual pain is not good.

>>384718
No, I work other muscle groups too, and I'm always sure to give my arms adequate recovery time before I work them again. This pain would surface regardless of this, and wasn't even due to muscle strain that I'm aware of. It feels more like bone pain, and it occurred in my forearms, not my biceps.
Again, I've heard that this is a common complaint for people starting out, and I took the suggested amount of time off before starting up again.
Would I be subjecting myself to this same kind of pain if I were to work myself up to the point I was at when I first left off? Is 30-40 sets a good number, or should I adjust it?

>>384720
Sounds like tendonitis to me. Occurs when you work a specific muscle group that is routinely neglected or is activated fairly often when it hadn't seen much use previously, like when a beginner would first start working out.

>>384927
I see, thank you.

Would you have any advice on overcoming this? Thing is, I've been working these muscles for a couple years now on a regular basis, increasing my workouts gradually.
I'm willing to consider taking more breaks, or decreasing the number of sets I do--I'd rather not though, as I don't feel anything the next day otherwise.

Also, I think I've sorta become psychologically addicted to the feeling of working my arms to the limit.

>>384927
i fucking hate tendinitis

Holy shit stretching your ankles/calves is the worst thing ever
Mine were apparently super tight (standard according to Slowpoke's Sister The Physical Therapist is 35 degrees of dorsiflexion, 10 degrees is the minimum to safely walk, I apparently had about 5 degrees) which made it hard to squat for obvious reasons, asked her to teach me how to stretch them and now my legs are trembling and I can barely walk and my calves are all tingly
On the plus side, a few more days of this and maybe I'll have some notable improvement!

I am incredibly inflexible it's a wonder I can make it through the day

>>384992
it gets better

My chest/shoulders are tight as fuck and have almost no flexibility/elasticity, makes weighted squats(still) really difficult as I can't actually draw my arms back far enough to hold the bar where it needs to be without bending my wrists, which uh, is a bad idea, I'm quite sure.
Likewise, for front squats, I can't bring my elbows far enough up and my hands far enough down at the same time.
Do any of you have any stretches to loosen me up there?
Also man like 90% of my problems come from being tight as fuck, this sucks.

Since my bike tires have started shredding along the rim and I can't afford new ones, I've been walking to work. And, at work, when I take breaks I now include some light arm lifts using wrist weights (2 lbs each, I think) when I go for my short walk. About four minutes per walk, and I'm doing some kind of lift that entire time.

Nothing great, but it's better than nothing at all. If I keep this up for a year I figure I might be able to bench 10 lbs. :3

>>385047
Don't bend your wrists when squatting or you will seriously fuck your arms up when you hit heavier weights. As for stretches:
http://stronglifts.com/squats-improve-shoulder-flexibility-how-to/
http://stronglifts.com/shoulders-dislocations/
were enough for me. I did both every day until I gained enough flexibility and now it's just part of my post workout stretching routine.

>>384930
You're doing 30-40 sets of how many reps? Anyway it still sounds like way, way too much. 3 sets of 10 reps is more than enough and if that doesn't make your arms feel the burn then you're either using too little weight or using too much weight with shitty form.

>>385047
... i'm not that low flexibility... so i'm not sure this will help you... but i use a towel, rope, or even a shirt to help me extend my stretches by wrapping my forearm/wrist of the arm i want to stretch with it and use the other side to help me slowly pull the towel/rope until i get a good stretch. it's really helpful for opening up my chest or extending my range of motion behind my back. maybe it'll help you?

>>385174
>3 sets of 10 reps is more than enough and if that doesn't make your arms feel the burn then you're either using too little weight or using too much weight with shitty form.
I felt it years ago, and can feel it nowadays if I were to take a long break from lifting.
Is 3 sets of 10 reps really enough? A lot of people seem to do 5-10 sets or so, at least. I don't get that pump in my muscles until I've done roughly that amount these days. I had been doing 3 sets for years, with no results, and the increase in sets seemed to help, albeit a small amount. I thing my form is good, as I'm pretty conscious about it, and the amount of weight I'm using is perfect.
I've also heard about my lack of gains potentially being genetic. Is that a thing?

Also, I was wondering if there are maybe any trainers on youtube anyone likes or would recommend?

>>385689
Yes this is a genetic thing. Your body stops you from growing muscle for obvious evolutionary reasons (limited access to food and over heating being major drawbacks to having excess muscle)

Most humans and mammals have certain genes (or combination of genes) that inhibit muscle growth after a certain point like the myostatin gene . If you have ever seen those picture of ripped cows this is a gene that is modified in them read about specifics here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Blue ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myostatin

So I seem to be on the right track, as I've increased my sets and decreased my reps using heavier weights so I'm able to get sore again, and committing to a consistent workout schedule. It's become apparent that I'm definitely going to need to increase my calorie intake though, and I also need to regulate my sleep better.
Also, what kinds of supplements are you guys taking? I'm taking creatine and your typical whey protein powders. Are there certain brands you'd recommend over others?

Just tried my first pre-workout supplement.
Is it normal for it to make me feel this terrible?
I never drink coffee or anything--I seem to have a very low tolerance for stimulants.

So I'm trying this Yoli diet system stuff again. Make shakes, take pills, tiny meals.

Last time I was only on it for two weeks, and it seemed to do something because a co-worker commented on my losing weight (IIRC, though, I lost maybe 5 lbs; I think it was more about burning fat and maybe gaining a bit of muscle from biking I was doing at the time.) But I didn't have money to continue at the time so I stopped. Now my mom sells the stuff and she gets free boxes once a month, or something, and she's going to send them to me so I can be on it for a few months to see if I can really shed some pounds.

Which is nice, because there's no way in fuck I could afford this stuff on my own. Also I had some Arby's today and my body did not handle it too well; haven't had it in a while, so I don't know if this is the diet taking effect or just a normal reaction to it.

Still delicious.

So what kinds of post-workout shakes do you guys recommend?
I'm still new to supplements. I'm doing whey protein powders mixed with peanut butter and milk. I've heard that milk might not be a good idea though, as it takes longer to digest. Is there a good fluid you'd suggest?

>>389813
milk is fine in my experience. i'm happy enough with just water as my main fluid for my protein shakes.

>>389813
what ferrous said. the casein protein in milk is slower to digest but that won't really make a difference unless casein is literally your only protein source, at which point i'd suggest getting it in pre-workout instead. but since you're using whey, you're fine. milk is usually used to up the calorie count, or because you don't like the taste of water shakes.
as long as you don't ignore that milk has calories (unless you're not watching those i guess, but you should be) you'll be ok.

So what I'm doing at the moment is exercising opposite muscle groups in the same workout session. For example, I'll do a set of bicep-curls, then immediately follow with a set of skull-crushers, then biceps again, then triceps again, etc. until I'm done.

Would you guys recommend this? This is something that's been suggested to me, but I've also been receiving some conflicting information on whether or not it's a good idea.

>>390229
i'm just gonna go ahead and say that as far as workout routines go, there will always be "conflicting information"
someone will ALWAYS know a better way, or think that your way is inefficient, or whatever. unless your new information is like
Breaking News: Working Biceps And Triceps In Same Session Directly Linked To Having Hella Fucked Up Joints (With 7 Legitimate Medical Journal Sources)
then it's whatever. if it's just "nooo there's totally a more efficient way" then who gives a shit, as long as what you're doing works for you.
A strongman whose videos I used to watch had a video where he said something like
"A lot of people email me, saying '[x] said that your program wasn't as efficient as theirs for whatever reason, what do you think?' And so I'm gonna go ahead and answer all those here. What do I think about that? Okay. Do their program then. But stick to it. In fact, fuck my program, if you're new to lifting and indecisive, and keep jumping around between programs, I want all of you to just kinda close your eyes and pick one at random, and stick with it for a full year. As long as it's healthy and covers your bases, choose it and stay with it, because the program itself doesn't matter a quarter as much as your consistency does, and if you're always flip-flopping around, you're not getting nearly as good a workout as you should be."

tl;dr if it works for you and you're getting a balanced workout and it isn't proven to fuck you up in the long run, stick to it

>>369788
>go for some goddamn walks and hike around town
"But Anon, why do you need to walk out of direct line of site of the house for more than five minutes? I get scared!"

As of right now the only thing I'm taking is protein powder.
I'm looking to start taking creatine.
I currently take my protein shake post workout, in addition to mornings and evenings. Should I take both creatine and my shake post workout, one after the other? Or would creatine just be a suitable replacement for my post workout protein?

Also, what kind of supplements do you guys take? I'm not taking any pre-workout supplements as I tend to react very poorly to stimulants.

So fucking glad winter has ended and I can finally return to jogging outside. I never fully acclimated to machines and sometimes using the indoor track at a gym has felt...stupid, for lack of a better word. I've always been alone while doing that.