Is there any good work out routine that is listed on the net? I have no access to any weight equipments except for this pull up bar. Well I won't be having access to any weight equipments for a while so is there anything like I can do with my body?

How much do you weigh? If you weigh 200lbs, you have 200lbs of weights at your disposal. Pushups are a very good workout, particularly in their different forms. Running and other heavy cardio activities are also good for burning fat and revealing muscle.

Push ups
Inverted push ups
Pull ups
Chin ups
Crunches
Leg Lifts
Run Stairs
Dips

oh yea...if someone sits on top of you and you can only swirm around, whats the best thing to do to get out of that situation? I can zap him good with a tazer but... I'd get in trouble...

I am a HUGE fan of Calisthenics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calisthenics).

So basically, develop a workout routine tailored to your needs and desires consisting of pushups, crunches, pullups, and squats. Those are four easy exercises to do that can help you immensely.

Also: Switch it up. Don't just do regular push ups, do wide pushups, diamond pushups, one armed, knuckles, clappers, there are all sorts of pushups you can do, all of which do different things for you.

As for crunches: There's the standard fetus position, but on your back, (more of a Z position, really, with your knees up in the air) and then use your abs to pull yourself up and touch your elbows to your knees. Then try touching elbow to opposite knee. There are lots of other kinds too, just look them up.

Pull ups: You can do them over hand or underhand. They use different muscles, so practice both! You can do them with your hands close together or wide, you can try to pull your head infront of the bar instead of behind it, etc.

Squats: Less variety here, just make sure your form and posture is good. You can practice going into a squatting position, thighs parallel to the ground, and holding it as long as you can.

Use your imagination. Calisthenics is a wonderful thing. You don't need any big, expensive, fancy weights. Just your own body. (And a pull up bar. >.>)

Masturbation.

Only problem is, unless you're ambidextrous only one arm gets strong.

Work out routines are individual and usually provided by a trainer depending on what you want to improve.

"I wanna lose weight" doesn't just cut it.

But go ride a bike, fatty.

All of these you can do if you only have the pull up bar.

Won't help much though...you need to join a gym.

For Weight Loss:

Diet: The food you eat is always very important regardless of what kind of fitness routine you're engaging in. There are three ways overweight people need to correct their diet.

• Portion control. This is much less of an issue for overweight people than you might think, but I'm including it here for completeness. Everything is fine as long as you are eating a reasonable amount of it. Make sure you pay attention to the caloric contents of the food you eat. When a bottle of Coca-Cola says "110 Calories" they aren't talking about the whole bottle, they're talking about 250 mL. You'll even find this kind of thing on mini-sized bags of chips and small bottles of Coke. So be extra careful about this. You are not "cutting back" by eating a bag of chips that says "250 Calories" on it.
  
• The foods you eat. Try to avoid things with a lot of simple sugars in them: fructose, glucose, sucrose. I say 'try to' because it's not that huge of a deal to have a cookie once in a while. What's important to remember is what your body is doing with the foods you eat. Simple sugars can be metabolized much more quickly, so your body gets a sudden burst of energy. Mammals are excellent hoarders of chemical energy, so what you don't use ends up getting stored away in your fat cells. What you want to do is eat something that takes your body a long time to metabolize. The idea is that you'll be using up that energy as it comes in, so there's nothing extra to store. This, at the very least, will stop weight gain.
  Complex carbohydrates are the holy grail of weight loss. Gram per gram, they store about the same amount of energy (~4 Calories per gram), but this energy is stored in longer chains called polysaccharides. The body extracts the energy by "breaking" off one piece of the carbohydrate at a time. So eating a 200 gram bowl of white sugar is giving your body instant access to 800 Calories, while eating a 200 gram bowl of cornstarch is like eating 200 Calories an hour for 4 hours.
  Fat and protein are alright. Just bear in mind that fat is by far the most dense form of chemical energy available to organisms (9 Calories per gram!). If Coca-Cola is like jet fuel then butter is like Uranium.
  
  You'll want to eat fewer sugary foods and more complex carbohydrates. Fats and proteins are also very good (and necessary), and both of them take a long time to digest too. Eat meats, cheeses, vegetables (especially leafy ones) and grains. Milk and fruits are both healthy foods, but these two also contain simpler sugars so make sure you eat them in moderation. Soft drinks such as Coca-Cola are basically the human version of jet fuel: they have zero nutritional content and are entirely simple sugars (880 Calories per 2L bottle of Coca-Cola). If you want to lose weight you will need to stop drinking sugared pop.
  
  I would also recommend avoiding any heavily-processed foods. Pasta, especially, should be eaten as a side dish. Usually these contain complex carbohydrates, but the issue is the amount they contain. They're very dense foods and it can often be hard to tell how many calories you're getting when you're looking at a half cup of macaroni.
  
• You don't drink enough water. Everybody needs to drink more water. No, Diet Coke doesn't count. If tap water tastes gross to you, you can buy a cheap household water cooler for about $40 and pick up jugs of water at supermarkets. It's a worthwhile investment.
  
  Regarding diet soft drinks, the jury's still out on them. What we do know is that artificial sweeteners may possibly cause cancer in extreme quantities. They may also make you crave real sugar or more food (the sense of taste is the primary instinctive mechanism we use to gauge caloric intake). Diet Coke still contains salt and phosphoric acid, which may or may not be bad for you. If you have any doubts, avoid it. Most places will always have water or iced tea, but definitely avoid sugared beverages.
  
  Regarding alcoholic beverages: I'm not going to tell you to sacrifice your social life to lose weight. Arguably that would be defeating the purpose, but definitely keep in mind that beer contains a lot of complex carbohydrates in a very concentrated solution, and alcohol is also metabolized by the body (ethanol + alcohol dehydrogenase -> acetaldehyde; acetaldehyde + acetaldehyde dehydrogenase -> acetic acid) at a rate of about 163 Calories per US fluid ounce (pure. assuming my calculations are correct, but it's probably close). Girly drinks have less alcohol but generally a lot more sugar. So maybe your best bet would be designated driving. But it's up to you.

Exercise:
For weight loss you are concerned with how your body stores energy. The two things you need to concern yourself with are glycogen storage and fat storage.

Glycogen is stored in two places: a small amount is stored within the body's cells for rapid use, and a larger supply is stored in the liver for the body's general use. Your body holds about 2000 Calories of glycogen at a time.

Now, if you had to burn 2000 Calories to start losing weight it would be pretty tough. Fortunately your body's smart enough to release stored fat into your blood before it releases glycogen. Because brain cells can't metabolize fat, the liver likes to keep glycogen in reserve. Otherwise you'd die.

Also, muscle tissue isn't designed to release the glycogen in your tissue back into the bloodstream. Once the glycogen stored in a muscle is depleted it has to use the resources supplied to it by the blood: either liver glycogen or fats.

What this all means is that low-intensity cardiovascular exercise, such as hiking, slow jogging, speedwalking or biking, is the ticket. However keep in mind that if you exercise a muscle more it will store more energy so you will need to do more strenuous exercises.

The routine I would recommend is doing a 2 or 3 hour hike on uneven terrain every third day. If you don't live near the country, try choosing a walking route that will take you up hills and stairs. Hiking is also a good activity to do with a friend, but I wouldn't recommend you do it with more than 2 people otherwise pacing yourself becomes an issue.
I recommend trying to fit this exercise in before breakfast, but if you aren't able to do that then you should stick to a small meal of complex carb-rich foods such as unsweetened cereals, granola or oatmeal. Fatty or proteiny foods are okay too, but you need to eat much less of them. I'd recommend staying away from trail mix for this reason.

(Side note: If you lose weight and decide to keep hiking, trail mix and nuts are a godsend. It is a dense food, lightweight, easy to carry and snack on. Fat also releases more waste energy to heat during metabolization meaning it can help you keep warm on a cold day. Keep in mind for the future, but avoid it for now.)

Strength Training / Bodybuilding:

Diet: There isn't really a whole lot to say here. Strength trainers and bodybuilders will use up a ton of energy. Complex carbohydrates are important, keeping yourself well-hydrated is paramount. A common misconception is that you need a large amount of protein: this is false. Studies have concluded this. Considering the fact that the American diet already contains many times more protein than you actually need to survive, taking protein supplements in addition to a normal diet is nothing short of excess. All of it will end up being metabolized and converted into urea, so you might as well be eating a bag of sugar for the good it will do you.

Save your money and stick to eating lots and drinking lots of water.

Exercise: I'm always reluctant to post any information on the internet about this, because weight training is something that varies wildly from person to person and it gets to be a kind of macho thing where people insist that the way they do it is the only way to do it.

If you are aiming for bulk, what you want to do is constantly increase the amount of weight you're lifting. If you can do too many reps it means you aren't using enough weight. As you get stronger your muscles will recover faster, meaning you should also be able to do an increasing number of sets.

Cardiovascular Exercise:

I'm sorta :downs: about this so I'll stick to what I know.

Diet: When you're doing a large amount of cardiovascular exercise your body starts to increase your red blood count so your blood can carry enough oxygen. Hopefully your existing dietary iron is sufficient, but you should be eating extra protein. Lots and lots of protein. Unlike weight training, extra protein helps here.

In addition to that, once you start to run low on liver glycogen you'll 'hit the wall'. Simple sugars are good while running because they can very rapidly replenish your glycogen stores.

I also can't understate the importance of rehydration.

Sports drinks like Gatorade are specifically formulated for both glycogen replenishment as well as rehydration without altering your electrolyte balance. It is worth mentioning, however, that not all sports drinks are made equally. I'll have to leave objective reviews to people who actually run. I don't.

Exercise: Hahahahaha like I'm going to touch this.

o rly?

How can you say that pullups don't help? You do them often enough, they help plenty. All of my strength has come from Calisthenics style workouts. Sure, I'm no body builder, but I don't think he wants to be either.

You don't need a gym to stay fit or to get stronger. You just need dedication.

Trap one of their arms against your chest and thrust upward with your hips, and toward the side of the arm you are trapping. If you do it right you'll roll over and then you'll be in their guard. Why do you ask random questions like that?

However if you do it wrong you risk an unwanted pregnancy

Take up wrestling or judo some day and you'll have a whole repertoire of tricks to pull. My increasingly larger younger brother keeps testing to see if he can push me around everytime I get back from uni. Last time he tried to pin me on the floor I showed him how an ankle lock works

if someone sits on top of me, i do a push up.

Oh, i guess if they're on your back and you can benchpress 200-300lbs, that works. Unfortunately, I am very weak and must use devious tricks to not get my *** handed to me.

I can't bench that much, but for some reason I can lift a lot of weight on my back, never really figured out why.

Devious like a knife in the face? Sounds good.

If they're trying to hurt you, and you have an arm free, and they're sitting on your chest..

Well... They're sitting on your chest. That means certain... areas... are vulnerable to attack..

Grab on, twist, and squeeze until they're jelly.

... thats gay.

Needs to pay with blood, not jelly.

That's true man. Props to you. I feel more encouraged now.

I know a professional bodybuilder who I do believe would disagree.

It's unhealthy and not recommended by any health group to do pull ups continuously throughout your workout week. You need to shuffle things up, and to do that, you need equipment. If you don't shuffle up your work-outs, it will provide several problems: for one, your muscles will not have enough time to recover. Secondly, you will start overdeveloping one portion of your body. This is bad both for looks and strength.

Anyways!

The gym provides everything you need:

1.) A spot.
2.) Equipment.
3.) Different workouts.
4.) Women.

Staying at home with a pull up bar doing the same routine over and over is unhealthy.



Not to be an *** or anything, and I say this with the outmost respect, and I still encourage you to be...encouraged....but you came here asking for our help. happydud is cool for giving advice in which all you need is a pull-up bar. I'm giving you advice in which you can't have a healthy routine with a pull-up bar. You're ignorant on the matter and wouldn't know if it's true or not. So I don't find your "that's true" part credible.



On the contrary, there's new studies showing that the human body can only process a certain amount of proteins in a certain amount of time. I'm ignorant on the issue and won't defend it, just saying that I heard it somewhere. I think it was actually from Yoshi

[quote=Avenger, happydud's dedication part, and Jon'C]Stuff[/quote]

I strongly agree with all of these guys on this topic, and encourage you to follow what they say.

Yes. As I mentioned, I don't like posting information about bodybuilding because it's a topic a lot of guys get macho about.

Apart from the fact that your body can't physically utilize protein at the rates these athletes consume them - that is, it takes a certain set amount of time simply to build muscle tissue - the flagrant excess is unquestionable.

Let's review two points in support of this statement.

First, actual professional bodybuilders - which I'm sure your friend is - recommend an intake of around 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. That would be 0.44 lbs for a 200 pound man.

The recommended daily intake of protein for a person who has a 2000 Calorie diet is 50 g. Since you'd probably be pretty heavy and you'd be bodybuilding, I'd guess that your diet is in the area of 3800 Calories - quite normal for a 200 pound bodybuilder, if not a bit low. Dieticians (professional dieticians :P) would recommend 95 g of protein for this person.

So a professional bodybuilder is eating roughly twice what the recommended daily intake of protein is. You know what? I can live with that. And here's why:

I eat 10 oz steaks. I eat whole chicken breasts. I eat big macs, classic triples with cheese and I eat pizza. I drink milk. I eat a metric ****ton of protein. Most Americans do. I would estimate that I eat about twice as much protein as a professional bodybuilder recommends for professional bodybuilding. I would need to be insane to supplement my protein intake further.

Secondly, the majority of bodybuilders who use supplements are not supplementing themselves correctly. Even if their diets did call for extra protein, the majority of people are using whey protein powder instead of the proper balanced mix. To add insult to injury, whey protein is basically worthless when it comes to generating muscle tissue. From what I hear casein helps, but what you really want is glutamine. Glutamine is available as both supplements, but your body is capable of synthesizing as much as it needs.

Thirdly, - and this is not a bash on your friend, who I have never met and probably never will - but the majority of bodybuilders who talk about the subject, and write about the subject, have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. They post completely fabricated information that, in most cases, can actually seriously harm the people who are reading their articles.

Here's a quick example I found while I was looking up some extra information about the subject: (Note: I had to retype this information manually. The author was so confident about the accuracy of his statements that he disabled highlighting and copying with Javascript)


According to this particular bodybuilder, eating protein makes you lose weight because eating protein takes energy. Huzzah, he has singlehandedly disproven the existence of obligate carnivores.

Obviously it's silly to pay attention to everything you read online. You know what? I encourage people to ignore what I'm saying. Go out, look it up, find out for yourself. Talk to the "mainstream dieticians". Find out why the daily recommended intake values are set where they are. Sit down with a pad of paper and a calculator and figure out what you eat in an average day. I would wager that you, and every single other person on this forum, is well on their way to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight if not in significant excess.

And don't listen to professional bodybuilders. Good lord. Listening to a professional bodybuilder about how to improve your body is like asking an emo kid why you shouldn't commit suicide.

You really have a thing for putting words in other people's mouths. The guy you quoted did not state that eating 20oz steaks will make you lose weight.

A typical recommended daily intake of protein for your average American, you say..but does your average American work out regularly?

Call me what you like, but I'd take nutrition advice from my friend before any source online -- he's been doing this for years, and he's familiar with what works and what doesn't. He is always trying new stuff, though...and he'll test it in his workout routine before he recommends it to others. But hey - like you said, you don't know him. If you were at the last national wheelchair bodybuilding championship, you would've seen him take 2nd place.

Your last comment is BS. Professional bodybuilders obviously have succeeded in something. Any emo you ever talk to hasn't succeeded at suicide.

He said that eating protein results in a net Caloric loss. So yes, as an immediate consequence eating a 20 oz steak would result in weight loss.

No, which is why the recommended daily intake of protein is as low as it is.

I never once recommended that you eat the daily recommended minimum intake of protein. In fact, what I specifically stated in my original post was that further supplementation above and beyond the average American diet is unnecessary. Please read what I am posting before trying to argue against it.

Eating extra protein is not going to have an overt, negative impact on a weight training routine, similar to how eating too much food will never make you feel more hungry.

What I am suggesting would probably never be a popular strategy for a professional athlete because the only possible advantage would be a minor monetary gain.

If I had the time and money I would be interested in conducting a scientific study on the beneficial impact of OTC protein supplements. In lieu of that, I will instead state that nobody asking for fitness advice on Massassi would ever see any benefits from using them.

I also note that you chose not to comment on my argument about incorrect supplements. Does your friend use a lot of whey powder?

Please find where I suggested you ask an emo kid for advice on how to commit suicide.

My argument is that bodybuilding is self-mutilation. I understand (and participate in) strength training and I can appreciate people who want to lift weights to look better, but I don't understand the people who go for body "sculpting". Certainly not the insane people who inflate muscles by injecting oils into them.

I use whey isolate -- I'm not sure what he uses, but it does work. I do know he uses a product called 'Extend' in combination with other stuff. He's quite a dedicated fellow..you should meet him sometime. Paralyzed from the bottom of his ribcage down, and he's still doing what he loves. All natural, btw...no steroids, injections, etc. Due to his disability, he also may be taking different supplements than most people would..I'm not sure on that, though.


I believe you are misinterpreting his statement. But hey -- I don't claim to be a professional myself.

Extreme bodybuilding may be a form of self-mutilation -- I agree. However, you won't find steroids, surgury or injections at the gym I go to -- just guys (and girls) working hard to improve themselves.

I have seen someone slamming protein and the results first-hand. ~15lb gain in a couple of weeks. Muscle, yes. Fat, yes. However, fat can be burnt off, leaving the muscle behind. Now is your average gym attendee going to see this much of a difference? Probably not -- but the correct combination of training & diet can work wonders. I was given a verbal guarantee that I'd put on 20lb in 2-3mo time if I would follow the diet and workout plan I was given..unfortunately I can't seem to make myself disciplined enough to eat that much food. Hopefully eventually I will.

Perhaps the bodybuilding you're thinking of and the bodybuilding I'm thinking of are two different things? If you're ever in northern New England, I invite you to stop by the gym here..you'd probably enjoy it.

Fat doesn't magically transmorgify into muscle, vice versa, etc.

Of course. That's why, just like with machines, you vary your workout day to day. Work arms one day, abs the next, legs the next, etc.

Just because you don't have machines to resist against you, doesn't mean you can't vary your workout...

Transmorgify? Ahaha..have to remember that.

What the hell doesn't Jon know?

My eye color.

Extra protein has done good things for me, particularily in a weight gainer I use called N Large. It includes protein, carbs, glutamine, and loads of other things to facilitate muscle growth. Pretty much the only time I've noticed any gains have been when I've increased my protein intake, and I was already taking in a fair bit to start with.

I don't have a lot of scientific facts to back this up, and I'm not going to look for any, because it's dinner time . All I can say is that upping my protein intake considerably has helped me gain a lot of muscle mass fast, and I would recommend it to any Massassian who wishes to do the same.

Protein shakes are commonly made up of whey and sugar. The minority of shakes contain proteins that actually can be processed. I use an amino-acid blend protein shake, as I'm a vegetarian and a weight lifter...I need it.

Of course it's hella expensive.

I'm no dietician, but I do know to gain muscel mass you need to eat at least a 2,500 calorie diet, the typical person should be eating 2000. Americans eat anywhere from 2,000-3,000 a day. Those who run for about 15-20 minutes a day and weight lift are the ones that gain the most muscle. Protein shakes are a boost to the net gain of protein to muscle mass conversion, however a human body can only process a certain amount of protein in a given amount of time.

This is why eating small meals slowly with a nice carbohydrate/protein ratio is essential, as well as vitamins absorbed from natural sources.