Linear progression routine- My progress in 10 weeks

I’m through the routine I’d started 10 weeks back. The gym’s available for a week more, but for once, I’m not going to go to gym even when I can. For the first time in the 20 months of working out in the gym, I feel the fatigue. In the first 2-3 months when I started working out in a gym, I used to go to the gym atleast 25 days a month and still had no worries to go the next day. But this routine, in the last 10 weeks, I’ve worked out only 3 days a week, or at max 4 days a week and I’m already giving up- mentally, not physically.

The difference has been in the way I’ve worked and progressed. For the first 18 months, all sessions have been more or less the same intense and the progress in terms of weight was never consistent. For 4 months during the semester, I’d keep working out throughout the week, lifting the same weight, for the same reps, giving up on the same weight. This time it has been different- In the last 10 weeks, I’ve increased the load consistently every week. On the bench press and military press, I’ve added 2.5kg every week and on the squat I’ve loaded an extra 5kg every week. I had to regularly drop reps, but still, more weight is always a pain in the a**.

The exercises I’ve focused on are Front squat, Back squat, Military press, Bench press, Pullups, Bar dips and Barbell rows- all compounds. I’ve added a couple of others- Pullthroughs(lower back and glutes), Lying triceps extensions(a.k.a skull crushers), Barbell curls and Calf raises. I was doing stiff leg deadlifts in the first 6 weeks, but dropped them when I started doing Olympic lifting. I’ll mention my last set on each day. The sets before the last set are also as significant as the last set, but the progress is visible through the last sets. In each session, all sets have roughly the same number of reps but the weight increases, so that the intensity is built through sets rather than having all sets at same intensity (light weight for too many reps and heavy weight for 2 reps is not a lot of change in intensity).

Exercise	1 rep max b4 week1	Last set on week 1	Last set on week 10
Back squat	110kg(half squat)	65kg, 10 reps	105kg, 3 reps
Front squat	105kg(with support)	65kg, 10 reps	105kg, 2 reps
Military press	57.5kg	35kg, 8 reps	60kg, 3 reps
Bench press	77.5kg	50kg, 8 reps	75kg, 4 reps
Barbell rows		40kg 8 reps	65kg, 6 reps
Lying triceps extensions	30kg, 4 reps	22.5kg, 8 reps	35kg, 5 reps

To a guy who has never been to the gym, the list may say I haven’t really improved. But a 5kg improvement in 10 weeks is really a great achievement for me, especially since my progress very often stalls. The best part is that these maxes have happened at the end of a hard 10-week routine, when I’ve really started to feel the fatigue and the last 2-3 weeks I had to motivate myself to go to the gym and lift, as opposed to my usual self that loves to go to the gym and lift some weights, even during quizzes and end sems. In the last 3 weeks, I’ve been squatting about 100kg (100,100, 105 in three weeks) 2 days a week and my max was around 100kg only. So the reason behind the loss in enthu is obvious. Every time I went to gym, I had to tell myself, “Dude, whatever happens, just don’t give up. You have to do these 4 reps if you want to lift the heavier weights”, and I had to tell this for squat, and then the last set of military press and then again the last set of pull-ups- three exercises with last sets at 100% intensity. So I had 8-10 sets per week with 100% intensity.

Hopefully, after a 2-week break I’m planning to take, my maxes will improve some 2.5kg further. The routine I’ve followed was based on a linear progression. Each week, I add a constant weight- 2.5kg for presses and 5kg for squat and barbell rows. And each week I reduce volume (reps). If I’d reduced volume in only the last set, hence reps in last set, in 6 weeks I’d drop from 8 reps to 3 reps. So I reduced overall volume in last 2 sets, not just the last set... I defined volume as product of weight and reps......

The progress goes like this for last 2 sets

Week ‘n’: 70kg 7reps, 85kg 6 reps : total volume 490+510=1000

Week ‘n+1’: 75kg  6 reps, 90kg 6 reps: total volume: 450+540=990

Week ‘n+2’: 80kg 6 reps, 95kg 5 reps: total volume: 480+475 = 955

And so on..............

Though my improvement in the max has been 5k or so, at weights around 85% of max, I’m real high on confidence. Earlier, I couldn’t squat more than 85kg for more than 3 reps and a spotter (catcher) was absolutely necessary. Now, I squat 90kg for 4 reps without a spotter and without a belt- the confidence showing.

Squatting without a belt is something I’ve started in the last 10 weeks. The lower back is worked properly when you squat and when you wear a belt, it somehow puts the lower back under lesser load. While a belt is required for safety, it doesn’t help in strengthening your lower back. My lower back has been really week (compared to the muscles around it) and there was pain when I squatted 80kg or more or when the deadlift was at 140kg or more. I’ve squatted without a belt right from week 1, from 65kg and I never used a belt after that. Now I squat 105ks without a belt and the lower back pain is not there anymore.

Warning: I’ve been squatting for 20 months and my form is pretty good, hence I can squat without a belt and not worry about my lower back bending. Beginners must not squat without a belt.

So, to conclude

This system of linear progression on weights, trading volume for intensity, really works. Any guy who has more than 1 year in gym can try this. The only negative with the routine has been the weight gain. I’ve gained about 2kg in the 10 weeks, weighing 66.5kg right now, with quite some fat in it. I do Olympic lifting and have to stay in my weight class, which is under 62kg. Hence the weight gain has been a problem. But the feeling after you squat/press at your max intensity is really worth all the pain and I’d recommend this to all guys who have stalled or hit a plateau. If your routine is boring or if you’re not progressing, the only way forward is to keep loading weight till you can lift no more.

On the weight increase, it’s because of this- when you keep doing close to 100% intense, you need a lot of energy and have to go on a high carb diet. Because of the intensity, your body needs a lot of time to recover hence cardio is not advisable, at max you can do some slow jogging and that’s all. So, with a high carb diet, and no cardio, and as in my case, low protein content in diet, you’re bound to put on weight.

I’d love to see junta comment on the routine/ progress, esp my teammates.

GYM101- Intro to working out. Part 7: Diet- proteins

First thing I guess I need to mention here, the biggest myth surrounding diet required to cut or burn fat:

Eating far less than what you usually eat would not help you lose fat.  Eating a lot more than what you normally eat would not give you muscle. The quality of the food is really important
If you want muscle, you need to eat a lot of proteins. If you are on a high-protein diet, you need to workout in the gym to make your body use those proteins. Excess proteins in your diet can give you stones in the kidneys.


That was only a word of caution. In India, you can't just eat loads of protein. Our common foods don't have a lot of protein, so you don't need to be scared.

I guess most of you know how a camel can survive in a desert. It's body knows the water supply is limited, hence whenever it finds water, it stores it up and uses it efficiently. Your brain controls the hormone system that guides how the fat/protein/carbohydrates in your body have to be used. You keep eating regularly, your body knows you're going to get your next meal pretty soon. If you do not eat regularly, or if you eat very less, you're body isn't really happy with it. First thing it does is it stores a lot of food as fat, so that if you don't get a meal when your glucose is used up, the fat may be burnt. Second, your metabolism- energy creation from food and the use of this energy, gets slowed down since you don't have enough supplies to go fast- YOUR BODY KNOWS IT ALL.

When people lose weight by eating less, they're losing proteins (hence muscle) and bone mass (and fat to a little extent) and are also slowing down their metabolism rates. This is not good for health or for losing weight. The first thing you want to do to lose fat is to increase your metabolic rates so that you keep using up a lot of food energy and you also convert fat into blood glucose at a higher rate. The reason why some people are really lean(/thin) despite eating a lot is their metabolic rates are high- this is a genetic thing. But you can control it. If you hit the gym and do some nice heavy workouts, you increase your metabolic rates.
Increasing metabolic rates help in losing fat, but only to some extent. This works only on newbies whose metabolism is slow. But for guys who have been working out for a long time and who have a fast metabolism, the only way to lose fat is by cardio and not through drugs or diet pills or crappy products or sauna belts and baths, and definitely not by not eating anything.

The best way to lose fat is to control your diet and do cardio. How to do effective aerobic exercise, I've already mentioned in a previous post. Here I'll tell about the diet.

When you are cutting(i.e. losing fat), you need to eat less than you do normally. But that doesn't mean half of what you eat. Say you consume 3000 calories of energy per day, reduce it to 2,700 or 2,600- that's all, not 1500 or 1000.
Some people want instant fat loss. If you're losing fat at a rate higher than half kg per week, you're doing some serious damage to your muscles and bones. An obese guy or a guy with too much of fat may lose at the rate of even 1.5kg per week. But guys who are not too fat cannot lose more than half kg per week. Do Not lose fat very quickly. What you want to do is increase the amount of proteins and reduce the overall consumption- hence still not allowing the muscles to break down, but forcing the body to use its fat reserves.

A diet that has 25% proteins for beginners is a good thing. That is, if your food has 100g carbohydrates, 40g fat, then you need about 45g of protein. While this is one way to monitor your diet, another way is to go by your body weight. For a healthy non-athletic individual, the protein intake must be about 1.5g per kg of body weight. i.e., if your body weight is 70kg, and you don't play any sport and are not very active, you need about 105g of protein per day. For athletic people, 2g of protein per kg of body weight is required, i.e. 140g per day for a 70kg guy. For body builders and weightlifters who are trying to gain weight (i.e. muscle), you need about 2.5g of protein per kg of body weight, making it 175g for the same 70kg guy.

To go by percentages is better than to go by grams of protein per kg of body weight. 15% of proteins in the entire diet(mostly proteins+carbohydrates+fat, all foods have a lot of water, don't add that) is decent for an average guy. For bodybuilders and weightlifters, 25% is good, 30% even better if you're planning to bulk. 20% is a minimum.

Some basic protein sources:
Note: This is about only proteins. There are a lot of other minerals and vitamins the body needs. Things like fruits and milk don't have great protein content, but must be included in your diet.

1. Eggs
The best source is the egg white. An average egg weighs about 35g, and the egg white can provide you 3-3.5g of pure protein. The egg yolk(yellow) contains about 3g of protein, but has a lot of cholesterol in it. 1 egg yolk a day may not do a lot of harm though. Considering all the vitamins present in the yolk, it's not really bad if you restrict it to 1 egg yolk a day. But egg whites, you can eat even 8-10 a day. Don't eat raw eggs. Boil them.

2. Meat
It is known to everyone that meat has a lot of proteins. I personally cannot afford chicken/fish/mutton everyday. So to put it in my diet is out of the question. Different kinds of meat have different amounts of protein. If you're rich enough, go for it. But anyways, it's always good to stay a veggie, especially when we're talking about diet, not partying. Why kill a poor animal or bird to put on a 100g of muscle?

3. Soya chunks/ Meal maker
Some people call it soya beans too, though it's not the right name. Soya chunks, made out of the thing left after soya oil is extracted, have a lot of protein- about 2/3rds of their weight. 500g of soya chunks have about 330g of protein. Some say it has estrogen( a female hormone) in it which is not good for weightlifters. Scientific study shows no such effects. The plant hormone is different from the estrogen present in women. This said, never take too much of anything. Soya chunks being very cheap, people may depend on them completely.

4. Milk
Though famous to be having a lot of protein, it has low protein content. 100g of milk has only 3g of protein. There are significant amounts of fat. If you can go on eggs and soya chunks, it's good. For non-weightlifters, milk is pretty good, but for weightlifters who want to control their fat, take the first two. Milk is not a good source for protein, but for all the vitamins and the calcium in it, milk is a compulsory food item to be included in your diet.

5. Roti or pulka
Heard from a lot of people that rotis and pulkas have a lot of proteins. Though I'm not sure about the exact content, I'd prefer them to rice.

6. Rice
I've looked up in wikipedia and found that 100g of rice has about 7g of protein- more than protein content in milk. While this is true, rice has a lot of carbs and fat. In a country where rice is a staple food, it's good to know the amount of protein you're getting from it.

7. Fruits
Most fruits are poor in protein content. Fruits are for health, not muscle. Fruits, by definition, have lots of sugars, i.e. carbohydrates. They are very rich in vitamins and minerals and these are necessary to maintain your metabolism and help in recovery from injury and muscle tear. You cannot lose fat or gain muscle by going a fruit diet. You need proteins. Same applies to vegetables. Not a lot of vegetables are really rich in proteins. They're for carbs and vitamins.

8. Boost, complan, horlicks, protinex,etc....
None of them have a real high amount of protein. protinex has some, but not concentrated, it's mixed with carbs and fat and vitamins. If you want a proper diet, I suggest go on eggs and milk and soy and rice, and occassionally, if your sentiments permit, on meat.

Having outlined the basic sources of food, we'll talk about quantity. If you're just an average guy, eating average quantities of food, not just thulping whatever you can, you can go by the "grams of protein per kg of bodyweight" thingy. But if you're a bodybuilder or a weightlifter or an athlete cutting fat, or gaining mass, you need to go by percentages.
Keep a journal, write down about everything you eat- the amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fat. 25-30% protein, 45-50% carbohydrates and 25-30% fat is pretty good.


I haven't talked anything about supplements. This is for two reasons
1. The body absorbs most amounts of protein from natural sources than from supplements. Egg proteins are the proteins most absorbed by the body.
2. They're too expensive. A normal whey protein costs around 4,000 for 5 pounds or so, and it lasts for 2-3 weeks. So you're spending more than Rs.1,000 per week on protein powder. Spend it on eggs and you have a lot of proteins.
In developed countries, especially in the west, protein powder is compulsory for weightlifters. In India though, I don't see a lot of people consuming this. I have never had any protein powder yet- reason being I'm not rich enough to afford it. Maybe when I get a nice job and have a huge pay, I'll try them out :D . Indian food has a lot of stuff already mixed-rice, veggies, dal, spices, etc.... Other countries have specific foods- butter, bread, oats, corn, etc... and their consumption is very specific. Hence, protein powders are quite natural.

One supplement that is recommended is vitamins. Multi-vitamin tablets every once in a while is good for weightlifters, especially if you're working out hard. Revital is one famous tablet. For all athletes, when training at their peak, multi-vitamin tablets are must- they increase your ability to recover from fatigue and injuries and maintain metabolic rates.




I'll end this with a note on steroids. 
Steroids are like hormones, or things that stimulate release of hormones. They increase the activity of your muscles. Testosterone is a male hormone that is responsible for a lot of muscular activity. Drug freaks take testosterone- it increases your endurance. You can workout for a long time and you can go heavy than normal. But the effect of this on your natural systems is really bad- in the long run, your natural testosterone production tends to go down as you depend more and more on artificial sources. End result- you don't do good in bed. Your muscles get weak, your voice sounds like a lady's. There are "some" female atheletes who take testosterone in order to work harder- they end up looking/sounding like guys.

I don't want to talk too much about them, just stay natural and you'll be happy you did. All the supplements you should ever need are multi-vitamin tablets, that too when you're going too damn heavy.

Just a small note- If any of you know watch WWE, you must be knowing Chris Benoit, the short muscular guy. He was a drug freak, used to live on steroids. He died with mental disorder- killed himsielf, his kid and his wife. DO NOT GO FOR DRUGS. (No offence intended against Benoit's fans, just some facts. If you don't believe me, search in Wikipedia. The drugs are the reason why WWE stopped using his name after he died)

http://www.newsteroid.com/blog/?tag=boy-bodybuilders

From a comment made by a teammate, Sandeep Gautam (a.k.a Moot)

"Short note on steroids-
All they'll do is push your body further from what you were genetically designed.....It came to me as a surprise/shock what a huge number of models and local athletes take'em....but then again there are natural guys...roids supress natural hormone production...i.e. you'll end up loosing most of the muscle you gained after quiting the juice.....and to make matters worse you won't be able to build back up even to your natural limits since your systems are permanently hampered......so take'em only if you plan to live on'em for the rest of your life...and can cope with the side effects including...acnes, GH gut(your stomach, lungs and stuff are also muscle, they will respond to 'roids the same way muscles do...), baldness, rage, man-boobs(aromatization of roids is highly possible, roids->aromatize->estrogen)....so make your decisions carefully people...!!!"

Some nice quotes...

When I started this blog, I didn't know it was going to turn into a proper weightlifting blog. I have only two things going in life (apart from acads, obviously)- weightlifting, and a project called VTOL. The latter, I don't really have much to talk about. So I keep posting weightlifting stuff..... Now, I have posted a lot of stuff I know and I don't really find anything new, so putting some quotes....

My favorite one first....

"Yo Adrian, We did it....." (You won't get it if you aren't a fan of Rocky Balboa :P )


What the 'weak' guy thinks-
" I just go to the gym, and the smell of the iron makes my muscles grow big. I don't even have to lift weights"



And the big, strong guys-
"Shut up and lift. You didn't come here to 'socialize' "


"I came, I saw, I hit 'em right there in the jaw"


"People often say motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing- that's why we recommend it daily"


"Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is"


"Crawl before you walk, walk before you run.."


"If you are not a pro, don't train like one"



"Courage is not the absence of fear...but the judgement that something else is more important than fear"


"A champion is someone who goes so far they can't go another inch—and then they go that inch"


"Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage and confidence in the doing"


"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
  

"The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is
always two hundred pounds."


"No pain- No gain"


"Strength doesn't come from winning, it comes from your struggles to win. When you take the pain and do not surrender- that's strength"





From Rocky series:


 "Without some damn war to fight, then the warrior may as well be dead, Stallion!"


"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you!"
"It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!"


"Your best friend is a guy named Frankie Fear.
You see,fear is a fighter's best friend.It ain't nothin' to be ashamed of.
You see, fear keeps you sharp. It keepsyou awake. It makes you wanna survive.
But the thing is,you gotta learn how to control it.
Cos fear is like this fireand it's burning deep inside.
Now, if you control it, Tommy,it's gonna make you hot.
But, you see,if this thing here controls you,
it's gonna burn you and everythin'else around you up. That's right."


"The only kind of respect that matters is self-respect"

 
"Fighters fight"


 "You got everything money can buy, except what it can't. Its Pride. Pride is what got your ass out here, and losing is what brought ya back. But people like you, they need to be tested. They need a challenge."



"There aint nothin' over till it's over"



"maybe I can't win. Maybe the only thing I can do is just take everything he's got. But to beat me, he's going to have to kill me. And to kill me, he's gonna have to have the heart to stand in front of me. And to do that, he's got to be willing to die himself. I don't know if he's ready to do that. I don't know."

" I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change."

" Going in one more round when you don't think you can - that's what makes all the difference in your life. "

To end this one...

. 

The Invictus:

"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

The man in the arena:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
 or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

  

My current routine

I post this now coz my last two workout sessions have been the most cruel I've ever had, and it's only going to get worse for the next 4 weeks. It would be nice if the readers appreciate what it takes to build some serious muscle, strength and character- I've seen guys in the gym who do the same weight for months, without any real improvement and they keep looking into the mirror to check if they've put on some muscle.... Just to give a feel of the weight, my 1 rep max for front squat was 105kg (with probably 1-2kg of support from another guy). That was the extreme, usually I used to squat 90-95kg for 1 or at max 2 reps. Today, I squatted 95kg for 5 reps. I'd have loved to know I've squatted so much, but I actually planned to do 6 reps, but gave up on the 6th one- got really frustrated after I gave up on the last rep. And by my workout routine, next monday I'm supposed to be squatting 100kg for 5 reps and the monday after that, 105kg for 4 reps...

Some guys say you shouldn't be scared of the weight. I'm just too scared of the weight. Yesterday, I was thinking of the 6 reps of 95kg squat I have to be doing today and it gave me the shivers, even thinking about that left me puffing and panting. When my 1 rep max is 105 and I'm doing 95 for 5, it's obvious the fear is there....

From Rocky (Rocky 5):

"Rocky: Hey, who's your best friend back in Orlando?

Tommy: Ah that's ahh, that's Oklahoma

Rocky: Well well yeh

Tommy: Umm, Erik Elder

Rocky: No no no no no no, no, your best friend is a guy named Frankie Fear. You see Fear is a fighters best friend you know, it aint nothin to be ashamed of, you see Fear keeps you sharp, it keeps you awake you know what I mean it makes you want to survive, you know what I mean. But the thing is you gotta learn how to control it alright, cause Fear is like this fire alright, and it's burning deep inside, now if you control it Tommy, it's gonna make you hot! Or if you see if this thing here controls you... it's going to burn you and everything around you up. Thats right."

You want to put on muscle, you want to get stronger, you want to feel the pain.. you gotta lift weights you're scared of.

Now to the routine I've been talking about..

This routine is strictly not for guys who have just got started. I consider myself to be an 'advanced beginner', I've already lived for almost 2 years in the gym... Guys who have started only a couple months back shouldn't be trying to push very hard. 

This is how the routine works.... The original routine, I've modified it to fit to my needs.
The routine is planned for 15 weeks. The last set of each exercise is described:
You start with 60 % of your 1 rep max for each exercise. You start with 8-10 reps in the first week and you workout for 3, or at max 4 days a week. Each week, you increase approximately 4 % of your  1 rep max (when you started out). You regularly keep dropping the number of reps. At the end of 15 weeks, you should be doing 3 reps at about 110-115% of your 1 rep max (when started). 
My 1RM back squat was 110kg when I started, and I aim for 3 reps of 125kg at the end of 11 weeks (The routine is for 15 weeks, I've dropped it to 11. That's why I'm just getting raped in all my sessions). I increase 5kg for my last set in successive session.

The basic funda is to trade volume for intenisty. Say you do 60kg squat for 8 reps on day 1. Let's measure volume as the product, i.e. 60*8= 480. Next session, you increase weight to 65kg and do only 7 reps (this is definitely more intense than 8 reps of 65, if your max is around 90-100kg). Now the volume is 455kg, less than 480kg. 
The last set- last week I did 7 reps of 90kg and today I was supposed to do 6 of 95kg.

You do 3-4 sets for each exercise and only 4-5 exercises per session. All sets have the same number of reps, with weight increasing. This is to keep the intensity increasing. 12 reps of 50kg and another set with 8 reps of 65kg are kind of equally intensive, so you go for only 8 reps of 50kg and then 8 reps of 65kg to make sure you're increasing intensity between sets. 
My sets today
Front squat(1 rep max 105kgwhen started) : 40kg 7 reps, 60kg 6 reps, 80kg 6 reps, 95kg 6 reps (gave up on the 6th one)
Military press(1RM=60kg)  : 20* 6, 30 * 6, 45* 6 , 55* 6 (gave up on the 6th one)
Stiff leg deadlift                    : 60* 7, 85*6, 100*6

I'm working on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Last set weights for this week:

Monday:
Front squat(  last set: 95*6, +5kg every session)
Stiff leg deadlift( last set: 100*6, +5kg every session)
Military press( 55*6, +2.5 every week)
Calf raise (85 *11, +5 every session)

Wednesday:
Pullups (4 sets of 5,6,7,9 reps)
Bent over Barbell row (last set 50*6, +2.5 every session)
Bench press( 75*5, +2.5 every session)
Bar dips ( 3 sets of 7, 8, 11 reps )
Lying triceps extensions (2 sets, last set 30*8)
Barbell curls( 2 sets, last set 32.5*10)

Friday:
Back squat (100*5, +5 every session)
Military press (57.5*5, +2.5 every week)
Snatch pulls
Pull throughs (This one really f**ks you up. look at youtube for video and try this one. Not for beginners)

Full rest on Saturday and Sunday, planning to go on cardio on Tuesday and Thursday.

If some 'real' weightlifters are reading this, would love to see some comments.

Warning: Guys who cannot even squat weight equal to their body weight shouldn't even think of trying something like this.

GYM101- Intro to working out. Part 6: Exercises

There are two basic types of exercises- Compound exercises and Isolation exercises. As the names suggest, compound exercises work a group of muscles while isolations have a very specific target. The barbell or dumbbell curl (one where you bend your elbow with weight in  your hand) is a famous isolation exercise. Squats, deadlifts are compound exercises.

Without worrying about the details, take for granted that compound exercises are a lot more important than isolations- compound exercises give more strength and muscle gain and burn fat better than isolations. There is a bigger advantage, you feel a lot more pumped after a compound exercise than after an isolation. Bodybuilders need isolations since they have to have proper definition of each muscle. For strength training or other power sports, you don't need isolations in your routine. Nonetheless, it's good to go for isolations once in a while, only to make sure none of your muscles are weak.

A beginner doesn't have to worry about isolations and can starting working isolated muscles after some 2-3 months.

Basic compound exercises (Most important exercises first)

Squat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawBY5p29fQ)

Deadlift ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8jgCFXYTU )

Bench press ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMq1rTaErMc )

Pullups ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQa7iV9sE_w&feature=related )

Military press ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAXPJ3PfdyY&feature=related )

Bent over barbell rows ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgKzGzOqiVo )

The biggest guys you see in youtube videos are those who had done a lot of squats and deadlifts...
I feel that they are "THE EXERCISES" and anyone who wants to do some serious strength training have to be good at these.
These compound exercises are the core exercises that have to be included in your workout routine at all times, never neglect any of them. If you have all of them, you can probably forget about every other exercise. Do 4-8 sets of each of these every week and you know you are going to put on some mass- provided you do them with proper intensity, allow sufficient time for recovery and have a nice diet.


As I've mentioned in my earlier posts, a beginner first needs to set his body up before starting with the weights. 2-3 weeks with body weight exercises and you can start with the above stuff.

Routines:
A good routine to include all above exercises may look like this-
Work three days a week- Monday , Wednesday, Friday.  2 days of cardio and 2 days of rest.

Monday:
Squat
Deadlift
Bent over barbell rows


Wednesday:

Bench press
Pullups
Military press

Friday
Light Squat
Light pullups or barbell rows
Light bench press or military press

Alternately, train 4 days a week, with 1-2 days of cardio and rest on the rest of the days

Day 1: Lower body (Monday)
Squat
Deadlift
Barbell rows

Day 2: Upper body (Tuesday)
Bench press
Pullups
Military press

Day 3: same as day 1, lighter (Thursday)
Day 4: same as day 2, lighter(Friday)


Sets and reps:

Each exercise has to be done for 3 sets, with 10-12 reps each. Start with very low weights and focus on form. Form is the most important thing, weight can wait. Take about 1-3 minutes of rest between sets. Usually, you take just enough rest to be ready for the next set, not hours.

"Less is more"
You don't need to spend  2 hours in the gym- a nice 30-40 min workout is the best thing to do. Three compound exercises a day with 3-4 sets each is a lot better than a 2 hour workout with 10 isolations of 5 sets each. When you work intense with the 9 sets and then take a lot of time for recovery, you make a lot of progress.

Form is most important. Weight can wait.
If you start with lighter weights and focus on form and gradually increase the weight, before you even know yourself, you're already going very hard on the body. One major problem with beginners is they start too heavy, and have to compromise with their form. Stick to low weights, focus on form, load progressively. At the end of an year, you'd be lifting a lot more than others who do with arbit form.

In the last 2 years I have worked out in a gym, I have seen just too many guys (the exceptions may be 5 at most) do barbell curls (for biceps) with improper form- everyone loads the rod with a lot of weight and keeps swinging his body to lift that weight. End result- he ends up using his back and shoulders for a workout that is supposed to work his biceps ( and hence no improvement in the biceps) and the weight he uses is probably too light to affect the back or the shoulders.

Before and after....
Before you start working out in a gym, you need to prepare your body for that. Do some jogging for about 10-20 min to pump up your heart beat and blood circulation. Stretch your body- this would allow your muscles to work at their best.
After you're done, another 5 minutes of stretching and some slow jogging for 5-10 minutes is compulsory... Though these are not very appealing, they really help in the long run, especially the stretching part- avoids cramps, relaxes the muscle, helps in recovery. And a little warm up through jogging helps in muscle movements...

GYM101- Intro to working out. Part 5: Workout Routines

Why do I need a workout routine??
The answer is quite simple, it's good to be organized. You know what you have been doing previously and you can plan your next sessions. But these are all smaller reasons, the biggest advantage is, you can monitor your progress.
If you just go to the gym and start pulling whatever weight you find, it's still a load on the muscle. But only when you progressively increase the load on the muscle, you start making gains, you start gaining strength and muscle.

Why should I progress? Can't I make life easier and stick to the same weight?

When you lift a weight that's quite heavy for your body, or if you go on really high reps, your muscle is in a situation it has never been in before and it needs to grow to bear that load. If you provide enough calories and proteins, it will grow. When muscle grows, you get stronger. The load that previously felt heavy wouldn't feel as heavy and you need a heavier load to stimulate the muscle. You need to keep increasing progressively to give the muscle a reason to get bigger.
This is an accepted theory for gaining mass and strength. For more info, refer to this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy

Any routine should
1. Have sufficient volume and intensity
2. Should not be too heavy
3. Should allow sufficient time for recovery
4. Most importantly, should reflect your goal

Most routines are 3-4 days a week routines. A most general routine would have 3 days of workout in the gym- three different muscle groups on three days, or a full body workout with varying intensity on three days. Some have 4 days a week- Four different muscle groups a day or the whole body is split into upper and lower and both are worked 2 days each. Most routines include 2 days of cardio and 2 days of rest for recovery.
A lot of routines have been in use for a long time, each backed by its own theory. Each has its own advantages and supporters. You'd find them on the net and I'm not posting any now, will probably post them later. A lot of lifters/builders make up their own routines to suit their needs, but that is when they reach a stage when they know what they're body says.

"...............Crawl before you walk, Walk before you run....."


A lot of guys copy some routine from the net and try to work it out from day 1. That's the worst thing you can ever do.
When you're not a pro, don't train like one.
A beginner needs to first set his body up before he can start working out like the others in the gym. Before you lift heavy weights, you need to lift the lighter ones, and before you lift any weight, your body must be ready to take it.
In most gyms, beginners are advised to start off with leverage machines (or simply machines, as opposed to free weights- barbells and dumbells). Leverage machines and free weights act on your muscle at a particular angle, and they always tempt you to try heavier weights. If your muscle is not ready, it's not a good idea to start working it. A better option is to do some body weight exercises- exercises where you only use your body weight as a load.


Pushups, Pullups, Free hand squats and Crunches- Some basic bodyweight exercises, but nonetheless, very important. It's always a good idea to start off with these before you start working out in the gym. 

25 pushups, 5 pullups, 30 Free hand squats and 15 crunches should be a decent target for a beginner to achieve before starting with some weights.

In case you don't know the above exercises, check these links
http://www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Push-Up
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/
http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-pull-ups-and-chin-ups-with-proper-technique/
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Exercises/Crunches.htm

If you don't like crunches, go for leg raise (lying leg raise)
http://www.better-exercise-fitness-for-life.com/leg-raises.html


For a beginner, 3 days of the above exercises and 3 days of cardio should be good, since you need to cut down on your fat. Lower the fat, better the gains. I practiced karate for a couple of months in my 6th and 7th classes and then for some months in 9th and in my 11th and 12th classes, I was regularly doing some jogging and pushups and pullups and occasionally some legraises too. I believe I was already ready to get started in a gym when I thought of going to a gym because of that karate practice I did, but nonetheless, it'd have been great to start it this way. 
You know the exercises, now your routine should be like this-
Do cardio on Tuesday, thursday, saturday ( I've already written about this in part 4), 500 minutes of sprint followed by some jogging or swimming or cycling or anything else
Do bodyweight exercises on Monday, Wednesday, Friday- 3 sets for each exercise. First set, take it easy, do very few reps. Say you cannot do more than 6 pushups. Do only 4 in the first and second sets. Aim for 5 reps in the third set and push for more reps after you're done with 5. Do the same number for two days and on the third day add more reps to each set. Keep progressing till you reach the number of reps you've targeted.


After you reach the targets I've mentioned, it'd be good to get started in a gym.

P.S: You'll find a lot of advertisements on various sites talking about machines and pills and all.. Don't trust them. Post any query as a comment and I'll try to answer them.


Good luck

GYM101- Intro to working out. Part 4: Fat Loss and Cardio

No fooling around, straight into the topic..
Your body has a lot of water in it and also a lot of fat stored. There are a lot of stuff like belts, steam baths, pills,... All of them are supposed to reduce body weight. What they actually do is, they reduce the water content in your body and hence fake a loss of body weight. Water content is really necessary and it is not good to reduce body weight by losing water.

Best tips for fat loss:

1. Control your diet.
2. Workout
If you want the best, there are really only two things. There are other minor tips, like drinking a lot of water and all.....

1. Control your diet. I don't think I need to speak a lot about this, you've been hearing this since you were a kid. Eat little, more often. Eating light in intervals of 3 hours or so is really good. The traditional 3-times-a-day is really not good if you want to loose body fat. When you eat up a lot, only three times a day, your body has to store all the energy you ate, and most of it is stored as fat. Genetics come into play and the amount of food stored into fat depends on the person. Similarly, the efficiency with which you convert fat into glucose for conversion into energy also differs.
The best thing to do is to eat more protein food and cut down on calories and to eat as often as you can. If you don't enough, your body would probably fear it may not get food later and ends up storing more food than required.

2. Working out: When you workout, you use the glucose present in your body. If there isn't enough glucose, you look for other sources- protein and fat. It would definitely be a disaster for your muscle growth if you end up using protein whenever you need extra energy.
When you have consumed all blood glucose, fat and protein have to be converted into glucose. When you do heavy exercises in gym for a long time, you've run out of glucose and you need to produce more, at a quick rate. Hence, you end up burning both fat and protein.Hence, it is advised not to work for too long in the gym.

Some people have a natural tendancy to convert their fat into glucose whenever needed, these guys are slim, obviously. Others have to increase the rate of this conversion. Cardio is one good way to do this. Cardio refers to exercises like jogging, walking, swimming, high rep pushups or actually anything that pumps your heart and increases blood circulation.
To know more about how these work and how actually fat is burnt when you do some exercise, read this page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise

If you don't want all the details, here's what you should/shouldn't do:
1. Eat less, more often. Take light food in intervals of  2-3 hours. Avoid oily foods and junk, take more proteins. 
2. Workout regularly. If you don't want to gain extra fat and want to slowly lose fat, you may go for High intensity workouts- heavy workouts ( heavy is a relative term and its meaning changes from person to person) and do a little jogging or cycling or swimming twice a week or so. Never workout on an empty stomach.
              If you want to lose a lot of fat, you need to do a lot of jogging or cycling or swimming. Swimming is the best. Eat very little before you start. Do very high intensity for a while, if you're planning jogging, do a 500m sprint (or something like a lot of pushups or a lot of very light bench presses. lot= 30-50 reps) and then get to normal pace jogging for 20-30 minutes. For better results, vary the intensity. First, a 500m sprint, as before, then 5 min of slow jogging and a little quick for the next 5 min, 5 min slow again, 5 min faster and so on for say 30 minutes.
Lose all that fat before you start working out in the gym. If you workout with all the fat on, most of what you gain from the workout will be fat and not muscle.

Why cardio? Why lose fat?
Most important reason, good for health. Another I've already mentioned, you can't gain a lot of muscle if you have a lot of fat on you. If you do a lot of cardio, your anaeroboic capacity increases, i.e. you can use more energy than you previously did. You start recovering quicker. The rate at which you burn fat also increases. The most appealing, you look better.

Would abs exercises like crunches help in losing fat?
A biiiig NO. When it comes to fat loss, their contribution is similar to any other exercise. When you work your abs, you strengthen the abs muscle, not reduce the fat there. The abs are very important since they support your body in a variety of movements.  Actually, if you work your abs very often, abs grow. If you didn't lose your fat, your tummy would look bigger since your abs have grown.

How do I get a 6-pack? What abs exercises?
Abs workout has very little to do with 'getting' a 6 pack. Everyone has this muscle group called abs. To make them visible, you should lose all the fat above it. Abs workouts help in building more muscle. Even if you have great abs, if you don't burn the fat that covers them, no one can see those marvelous abs. If you don't have a lot of fat, you can make your abs visible through them by building your abs. But the best way to get a 6-pack is to lose all that fat. Once you've lost all the fat, the size of your abs becomes important. You should know that abs are really important muscles that support many movements. Having strong abs helps in all sports.

Why is it so difficult to get a 6-pack?
The lower abdomen is the first place where fat is stored. So, that's the last place where you burn fat. It means, if you want to lose fat over your abs, you need to lose fat everywhere else in your body. So it is a very long process to build a 6-pack, not some overnight thingy as advertised by some programs or products. As already mentinoed, the other alternative is there- losing water, which is not a good thing to do. 

I want to lose fat and build muscle.
You can't do both at the same time. You have to do one or the other. Bodybuilders have two phases in their training- a bulking phase where they put on body mass and a diet phase where they lose the fat. If building muscle and losing fat at the same time was possible, they would have a single phase.When you're building muscle, you have to go on a few extra calories and that would put on some fat unless you are extremely careful with your diet and your workout.

I want to convert my fat into muscle.
Not possible. You build muscle from protein, not fat.

I want to lose fat at a particular part of my body.
Fat loss is not an isolated phenomenon. You cannot lose fat at one particular part of the body, it occurs through out. But as I mentioned, fat is stored more easily at some places than others and it is harder to lose fat from those places.

Other tips for fat loss: (I haven't attached an explanation)
1. Drink a lot of water.
2. Sleep properly, with proper ventilation.
3. Take deep and long breaths- breath to your stomach, not lungs
4. Again, control your diet- cut down on oily stuff, eat more proteins. For Indians, avoid rice, eat more rotis or pulkas. Eat your vegetables. Try to eat a lot of fruits. It'd be great if you have fruits for dinner.


Nothing else like belts or baths or pills can work. Refer to the wiki link I've posted. Here it is again
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerobic_exercise
It talks of biological facts.
Don't think to lose fat the easier way and get tempted to try arbit things that are no good. It's always good to sweat it out.

Good Luck