Fiddleman

Another exercise I have found recently that helps with being limber for squats is called the dynamic squat. While holding two hand weights (say 10-20 lb), start with feet hip width apart. Staying light on your feet, jump legs apart into slightly less than a sumo squat width and squat with hands between feet to touch the ground. As you touch the ground, jump up back into starting position. That is one rep. Do 6 sets of 20 second AMRAP ( as many reps as possible). Remember to stay light on your feet and really put your butt back on the squat with back straight and chest out. This one is fun!!

Here are some snaps from this morning. As an aside, my MIL was commenting I look pretty good in a medium shirt. Said I had inverted t body shape ( hard to tell from these snaps) and I did not mention that body type to her ahead of time. As my muscles build, I anticipate I will be back in a large shirt. [ATTACH]15544[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]15545[/ATTACH]

Anyone else? Mark? Around? I am looking for some strategies that will help with leaning out and putting on muscle while eating like a Sleever. That is 7 x a day of 200-400 calories. As mentioned before, I eat high quality shakes and super paleo diet (simple lean Protein and green veggie). My TDEE is 2054. My weight likes to hang out at 180 for my 5'11" frame. I have +- 2 lb variation and I have definitely noticed the process working in the last 3 months. I just want it to work a little faster. I have even done a T program for 2 months which really helped with leaning out. I lift pretty heavy on the deadlift, squat and clean. Not very heavy, but trying to make progressive improvements every week. I am really getting good at lifting my own weight in body weight exercises.i am new at this working out to gain muscle thing, so any advice would help. I think I am doing well on my supplementation with regards to stacks.

Good point Joe. I do try and weigh at the same time under the same conditions to prevent inaccuracies from slipping in though. Again, good point about water affecting the scale fat % readings.

Amy - you might also switch up your exercises a bit. Try and mix up your courses and vary the intensity. If running 3 x a week, try: 1. Day 1: regular distance and pace 2. Day 2: HIIT - alternate between 1 min sprint and 1 minute jog. If sprint is too much, try just a faster pace to where it feels challenging in a cardiovascular way. Your breathing should be such you cannot talk to someone else in this interval and you are really pushing yourself, 3. Day 3. Timed- try and set a new personal best in time for a course that you are used to running. Alternatively, perhaps throw in some weight days or do some Jillian ripped days, etc. Muscle adaptation is one thing you have to be aware of: your body will get conditioned to an exercise if repeated over and over again. Muscle imbalance or confusion is always good whether that is through cardio or strength training. Good luck and keep up the good fight! The prize is worth it.

Okie dokie - not supported on my android. I am glad iPad access to social groups is now working. I rarely use VST from my laptop, maybe 3 x because I could not do what I needed to do on the iPad. I also do not like using the web app on my iPad because the experience is just not as good. Not a fault of the app designer because there are different user experiences between web app and mobile app.

That is the right attitude Amy! Good luck.

I have been a big time Water flavored since surgery for several reasons. Mostly, plain room temp water is too "hard" it does not settle right even now at 1 year. My tap water is actually pretty good as far as purity is concerned. I have a little home measurement device that gives me the readings. I do not have access to ice water for the amount of water I drink daily. Seriously, I drink like a race horse - 1-1.5 gallons daily. Even more then my dog which I thought was a champion water drinker. Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when drinking some fruit infused water on a garden tour with my wife. The water had sliced oranges, lime and cucumber. It was really refreshing and tasty. I now have to get in a habit of flavoring my water this way because it will save so much money over buying water enhancers every week. I know others have already mentioned this to me a while back, but I finally tried it and love the taste. Question remains if there are any calories from drinking water flavored this way and how long does it take for infusion to do its magic? I like a good amount of flavor and not just a hint.

Not sure about that, but interesting question. Hopefully Mark or some with this knowledge will chime in. I do know that more is jot always better when it comes to supplementation and one should be careful about toxicity if there is a potential for it. BCAA are just the building blocks of protein, so do not know if it is possible to have too much of it unless there are negative effects on the kidneys like eating too much protein without not enough water. Not sure. Again, need the supplementation gurus to chime in on this.

Yes, I have iPad access also. However, I am unable to access on my android phone and get the permission denied error.

I measure my fat percentage using a nifty WW scale I picked up from Bed bath and beyond. It gives a ton of useful information, but I just track weight and fat percentage. Do not really care about bone density that it tells me except that I am in normal range for my frame, which I am. The best part is that is scale is really accurate. It is within .1 or .2 from the scale readings that my WLS center uses.

Every day I pay attention to my nutrition and fitness in order to keep building muscle. My goal is to Not only get strong, but also to have a lean, well proportioned athletic physique. I had really good definition on Saturday this week and then by this morning my fat percentage is up .1%, weight is down 1.5 pound and definition has gone down. What is up with that? Is my body going all catabolic on me? One change I made on Friday was to switch my evening shake from GNC refeed ( hate the taste, but good results) back to ON casein ( love the taste and still get good results for leaning out). I am new to the muscle gaining / cutting exercise and am trying to learn along the way. In the 2 months, I have cut 10 pounds and dropped fat percentage 6%. From 2 weeks ago, I dropped 2% and 5 lbs. really got me motivated to keep "showing up" every day in my effort. I took Saturday and Sunday as rest days after great week of body weight workouts and heavy lifting t-th) . I eat every couple hours a solid meal of 200-400 calories, either strict Paleo of lean meat and veggie or Protein shake. Calories end up being between 1800-2000. I do take creatine monohydrate before and after working out (total - 20 g). I sleep enough at night. Is two consecutive days off on the weekend too much? Is the creatine giving me the appearance of muscle growth, but is really just creatine Water infused muscles? Should I switch from creatine monohydrate to creatine hydrochloride exclusive and where do you find it in powder form? Thanks for advice! I am learning in this process of putting muscle on so need help solving this problem.

Maybe you are just going through a ripple in the post op progress. Not every day can be mountain tops. Sometimes there will be valleys to go through. It is pretty normal. The initial motivation and excitement of something new always begins to wane after it becomes routine. Or perhaps you are feeling like the experience now is not matching what you envisioned in your head for a while before surgery. Now is the time to double down and remember why you are doing it. There could be several reasons. Showing up is probably the most important step a person can take even when they do not "feel like it." Once you show up, warm up and start exercising, it gets better and you will be reminded why you like to exercise. Hope you feel better about running for your next run. Imagine the joy you will have when you graduate from the c25k program. You will have extra motivation ammunition in your pocket for the next challenge.

I've not had fusion 7 before but I like the protein matrix and BCAA listed on the ingredients list. Actually, the ingredients look a lot like synth 6, my current general protein powder of choice. If you like the flavor, consistency, etc, then it looks like a winner. See if you can order a sample or perhaps try an RTD before investing in a big tub for 50+ dollars. Let us know what you think.

Stay calm and carry on. You made the right choice.

Thanks for posting Chimera!

I do not know about you, but I am constantly working on my squat form. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. There are so many little details to consider to execute the perfect deep squat, many of which I am working on. Here is a super resource that I found this morning: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/squat_like_you_mean_it_tips_for_a_deeper_squat I am going to spend some time reading the free articles. I find them very good.

Per nectar comment, have you tried the sweet line? They have double cookie, chocolate truffle, vanilla bean and more. I think you might like them. I did not not like the fruity flavors much, especially the fuzzy navel.

There are different variations of planks. Doing them on the elbows is fine, but then the 2nd and 3rd exercises above cannot be done. Perhaps think of 2 and 3 as push up variations.

I think Amy is responding from perspective of new post op, as in less than 1 month post op. Her advice is sound if you consider that perspective. You and I are much further out and said advice would not help people like us. For the record, I usually slam my 10 oz water-based Protein shakes in 5-10 seconds. Makes no difference in how fast or slow that I drink them. Back to your original question... From my research and talking to different people about recovery shakes after workouts, men and women of average frame size can consume 40 g and 30 g, respectively, without having to worry about the body converting excess to stored fat. These are considered optimal thresholds to maximize uptake by your body. Your body can process about this amount of protein over 2-3 hours of time. It is bet to be aware of this in order to maximize results from time spent working out. If you play the fitness and nutrition game right, you can be in and out of your workout in 20-40 minutes with warmup and cool down, yet still make incredible gains in fat reduction, strength and lean muscle growth, Consuming an extra 10 g above those limits is questionable. Definitely more then that could either be a waste of money or lead to weight gain ( in a bad way). It is ideal to drink your recovery shake within 20 minutes of working out, but sometimes you can extend the window of opportunity with certain pre workout supplementation. It is questionable if pre work out claims of extending this window are true or not, but you are welcome to try. There are many pre workout drinks on the shelf. I like c4 and hyde, but have not tried jack3d yet. Maybe i will try original jack3d in the future (original formula) before they are gone from the shelves (darn FDA), but am already on another fat burner for cutting fat, so need to be careful. You can also consider taking creatine before and after a workout to help with getting nutrients to your muscles for repair. In the recovery shake, I mix the creatine powder of 10 g directly into the Blender Bottle. I have noted really good results from the use of creatine monohydrate after increasing the dose to 10 g (thanks again mark). Anecdotally, I always take 40 g of synth 6 after a workout for recovery shake. I also try and take 40 g whenever drinking a shake different from the recovery shake. My real food meals tend to be at noon and at 6 pm ( lunch and dinner, respectively). All my other meals (6am - Muscle milk whey, 9am - isopure, 3 pm - isopure, 9 pm - ON casein) tend to be shake or maybe Protein Bar. On m,w,f i have extra synth 6 shake at 10:30am (follows workout). On t, thur, i have extra synth 6 shake at 5 pm ( follows workout). Works well for me. You will want to put together your own plan based upon fitness levels and goals.

Yup - they are challenging exercises, yet extremely simple in execution. They really activate your core strength. I struggled at them too a few months ago. They key is to keep working at it whenever you get the chance. No matter how fit you are, there is always room for improvement and that philosophy will keep you motivated over time.

Agree, it was the super early part that was bugging me. Up at 3 am and ready for the day after going to sleep at 9:30pm. My ideal time for getting up is 5-5:30 am.