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Destiny, out of interest, what way to you have Tilapia? How do you cook it and what do you eat it with?
For the sides, I usually always prefer white rice, with some fruits and/or vegetables. Not always fresh, because I can't go to the store often enough to keep it fresh. That's one bad thing about produce. It craps out too often. Most does, anyway. Not all of it does.

Cooking it differs. I will first admit to the one unhealthy way I cook it, since I rarely ever do this. This is normally only done for specific events around here. At times, I do a huge seafood feast, and make every last thing, just about, that you'd find at Long John Silvers. With lobster and crab legs on the side. I only do this two times a year, normally. The only other way I cook it, is in the oven. I have tried different sprays and butters to keep it from being too dry, etc . . . and I prefer this high calcium, low fat butter I use. It's probably not the best choice, but then again, what the hell's in those cans!?! Anyway, from then on, I use numerous different seasonings, depending on what I'm in the mood for. I love garlic, but lemon pepper is also great. Speaking of seasonings, I will tell you that Mrs.Dash is one of the best choices out there, and she has several choices, from the shaker blends, packets, marinades, grinder blends, and table blends. Yes, I went to the website, to list those properly. My favorite for a long time, was the Fiesta Lime. Damn, that was good on it. There are 15 flavors, just in the shaker blends. Some are great for chili, some for spaghetti, etc . . . Ground turkey can always replace yor ground beef. Especially if the ground chuck, or better, is too pricey. When I make homemade spaghetti, I normally use it, and trust me, you cannot tell. Not the way I cook it. Which I making tomorrow.

So, how's that for an answer!?!

Mrs. Dash!



OK, I'm here in the middle of my ten miles. I've decided to up it to 20. We shall see if I have the time or not. Then again, it may just kill me. This week will be my testing week. If I disappear, I'm dead!

As for the shoulders, I have been studying a lot. Even the freakin' names of the muscles. The main muscles all over my body, that I want to work on. Anyway, I went back to Mike Chang, and he has thirteen videos on shoulder exercises. It's funny, but in my first selection here, he goes over the fact that a lot of us don't focus on all three points, when building our shoulders up. I'll give him that, but in the end, it was pretty apparent he was focusing his conversation on men. That, or it's suddenly no longer illegal for women to go topless. So, I chose this video first, simply because I truly believe he covers some important facts in it.



Out of the three exercises with weights, that he teaches in this video, I have only ever liked the first two. I don't have an opinion on the third exercise, just yet, as I have yet to ever try it.



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Hey Destiny, will have a look at that video when I can, things bit hectic at the minute. Thanks for the answer on tilapia, I usually have it with just butter then seasoned with black pepper and lemon but it is tough keeping it from going dry.

How did the 20 miles go?

Be back soon.
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As for your knee injury, there are still several things you could do to keep
in shape. If you want, you could share with us your main wishes, on what you
want for yourself. Like with me, my first goal is both losing 20 lbs, possibly a
pinch more, and focusing on my pour core. Just let us know.
I just want to lose some weight but be strong as well.
I'm trying to watch my diet now. I've cut down on sugar,barely eating anything with sugar in it and I'm trying to stick to high-protein,low-carb diet. The problem is, as soon as I cut down sugar or carbs, I start eating more fat, like snacking on nuts, putting butter in my porridge, all these little things just add up and I end up eating loads of fat.
As for excersicing, when I was healthy, I used to do leg day once a week,and I did pole fitness which worked my arms and core. So over the week, I tried to train all my body. I also tried to incorporate at least one day of cardio but I don't like it and I find it hard to do. I was planning to try some gym classes with my friend.
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Hey Destiny, will have a look at that video when I can, things bit hectic at the minute. Thanks for the answer on tilapia, I usually have it with just butter then seasoned with black pepper and lemon but it is tough keeping it from going dry.
That shouldn't be happening. I've not been big on pepper, but I'm not sure that would do it. I'll try some on it, the next time I fix it, which will be here in a pinch. One piece only, of course. You may just be cooking it too long. I've done that by accident, on two occasions, and it was dry.

How did the 20 miles go?
Easy enough, with enough time available. I've been sickly the past couple of days, so I've missed out. I hate when that happens.



Hey Destiny, will have a look at that video when I can, things bit hectic at the minute.
Get your ass back in here, before you erase all that hard work!

You need to stop farting around with famous people, and get pumped up!



the samoan lawyer's Avatar
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Get your ass back in here, before you erase all that hard work!

You need to stop farting around with famous people, and get pumped up!
Hey Destiny, im done mixing with the stars although not trained since last Friday. Hoping i'll be good to go tomorrow morning though, just been feeling run down recently with getting up so early and not getting enough sleep. You ever take a break?

How you been getting on?



Oh yes, I took a break or three. My biggest news is that I've lost ten lbs. I want to lose more, though. Less fat, with more muscle.

I will be getting my chart ready by the weekend. Everything I want to work on, plus a way to keep track of my weights, how much I use for everything, how many reps plus sets, and how much time and miles I do with my cardio workouts. I think that's all.

Thank God for pain meds, or none of this would be possible!



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Oh yes, I took a break or three. My biggest news is that I've lost ten lbs. I want to lose more, though. Less fat, with more muscle.

I will be getting my chart ready by the weekend. Everything I want to work on, plus a way to keep track of my weights, how much I use for everything, how many reps plus sets, and how much time and miles I do with my cardio workouts. I think that's all.

Thank God for pain meds, or none of this would be possible!
Well done Destiny, thats great going!!
I have a chart that I bring with me, it really is such a big help.
Made it this morning and worked on chest. Good to be back.



Samoan, would you care to share with me what all you do for your arms? What exercises specifically do you do for each arm muscle? Which arm muscles do you work on? How often do you work each muscle? Also, do you mind sharing the number of reps per exercise, as well as how much weight is used? I suppose on a weekly basis. Maybe daily, but a lot of people don't work all muscles daily. They switch out. So however you do your sets is fine.

I know that some of this may be too personal, so no worries if you'd rather not share it all. You have to know you can out do me, it's been awhile since I've been into this stuff, because of my spine. However, you will give me a certain drive to improve and increase. It's a part of that obsession I have with strength and weights. Inspire me!



I'm sorry I haven't been reading along with this thread (I made the silly assumption it was geared toward muscles and things ), but Destiny informed me that weight loss counts!

On April 1 of this year I weighed 280 pounds. It was the heaviest I'd ever been and I decided to do something about it.

At first my wife and I walked a few times a week, mostly around the neighborhood with the little man in a stroller (never underestimate the muscle building of pushing a 40 pound man in a stroller!). I lost five pounds over the course of about three weeks. I thought that was too slow going.

I then read every Yahoo article about health trying to draw some sort of conclusion. I'm tired of all the stupid fad diets and trends. Everything from fat to gluten to sugar to trans fat to high fructose corn syrup to lord knows what else has been blamed for obesity. The best conclusion I could come to was "cut your calories."

I had my wife look up some low calorie foods (she wanted to lose weight too) and I did some, admittedly, minimal reading around for low calorie menu items. We started eating low calorie, and inadvertently, low fat stuff on April 27th. You can see my charted progress. You can also see a couple pictures in the Personal Pictures Thread.

Bottom line, so far, this has worked like crazy. I've lost 40 pounds total from the beginning weight (I know the pic says I was 274, but that was after I started actually trying to lose weight). I've not felt this good in a long time. I'm still far heavier than I want to be, but I'm already feeling like a different person. I have a tad more energy. I'm used to eating less food at a sitting. I still eat stuff I enjoy. I haven't had heartburn in longer than I can remember.

And, I'm nowhere near done yet. My grand goal is to get below 200 pounds (I'm about 6' 1", so any lighter and I might look funny), but anything below that would be fine. If anyone is having trouble losing weight, as I had for over a decade, trust me in knowing that you can do it. It's not easy, but it's possible and you'll feel wonderful after the pounds start to go.
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I forgot to add some stuff.

By my estimate, prior to the complete overhaul of my eating habits, I ate about 2500-3000 calories a day. I ate basically without care whatever I liked to eat. Fat, sugar, anything. Now, on a terrible, high calorie binge (like my sons graduation/birthday party last weekend) I'll eat less than 2000 in a day. I've tried to keep most days between 800-1500 calories. I know some of those low numbers aren't recommended for everyone, but I found that binge cutting calories worked out alright for me.

Also, it's not just calories. I eat way more fresh vegetables and fruit. In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten anything frozen other than some boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I froze myself. I rarely eat sugar or added sugar. I know certain fruits have sugar in them, but that's pretty much it. I eat very little milk fat as well. I have had very little cheese, no sour cream, etc.



That is amazing, bouncingbrick. Way to go. I love the chart, as well. I have got to get off my butt, and figure those babies out. Yoda sent me a link to a site where I could choose from several charts and such, but so far, this old woman just keeps a spiral and pen handy. I'm old!

I need to go through this thread, and see if I brought my diet list over here. You truly nailed it. The diet is very important. You would be amazed at how fast one can reach that 800 to 1,500 calorie limit you set for yourself. One slice of pizza, and your done for the day. Too many toppings or extra cheese, and you've gone over your limit. It's insane. Unless one is a diabetic, I don't see a problem with natural sugars. Fruits are good for us. Of course, so are vegetables. As we all know, staying active is very important. The more we move, the more we burn. Also, if you ever decide to get into weights at all, our muscles burn off fat. You will see an increase in your weight, but you'll just need to remember that a handful of muscle weighs more than a handful of fat. It also looks better.

Not to bug you, Yoda, but how are things going for you? You mentioned possibly getting into weights. It's tough to schedule in a busy life, that is for sure, but once you get it going, you get hooked.

We are getting a swimming pool set up this weekend. It'll only be around five foot deep, but I'm a tiny thing, at five foot five, so it'll be nice for some water therapy. My spine will appreciate it.



As easy as it is to hit those low calorie counts, it's also incredibly easy to stay under if you avoid all the terrible things. For dinner earlier this week I ate half a boneless/skinless chicken breast and two helpings of steamed broccoli with a pinch of seasoned salt. That entire dinner was less than 500 calories. I could have had 3 slices of pizza and still stayed under 1500.

Of course, not everyone is into veggies. :P

EDIT: The chart is from an iPhone app. I used My Fitness Pal to count calories and track my weight. I'm not counting the calories anymore because I have an idea of how I need to eat, but it's nice for weight tracking.



My diet is on the 2nd page of this thread. You will see that it has had a lot of the skinless boneless chicken breast and steamed veges. I also love fish, which I found out later, is very high in protein. I also have to have calcium for my bones, and potassium for my heart, liver, and kidneys. Me and my poor health.



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Hey Destiny, sorry not been about much. For arms I have quite a lot of exercises that I would do as I like to mix them up a lot as it can get quite boring doing the same each time. I do a lot of different types of bicep curls, sometimes with a 20kgs barbell again mixing between a really wide grip and a close grip. Other curls i like are concentration curls (really just depends on how I feel when I get round to this, maybe 14 kgs or so. But my favourite curls are either an incline dumbell curl (just with open grip hanging by your sides and lifting right up to your chin, whilst sitting on an incline bench) or a standing cable curl although you will need the machine for that, again depends on weight but usually around 16kgs again. Hammer curls and Zottman curls are great. I do quite a lot of negatives just using the back of a seat although its best with someone to spot you with this. I always try and go slow on the return and keep full control over each movement.

For triceps I would almost always do skullcrushers with an EZ bar, making sure that the technique is near perfect. Also kickbacks with dumbells I find work well on a lower weight of dumbell. At the minute im into a lot of super-sets, with my favourite using the cable machine again. I would start by doing 10 diamond shaped pressups (just a press up with your hands together forming a diamond shape on the ground) then do 12 tricep pulldowns with the rope cable up high then lastly 12 overhead rope extensions. This is an absolute killer set and leaves your triceps screaming.

I uaually do 10-12 reps and 4 sets although depends on the amount of time I have. I also try to fit in chin ups into as many sessions as possible, not long ago I could barely do 1 proper full chin up but within under a year I can do around 25 or so.

Thats all I can really remember at the minute as im kinda rushed in work but will try anf get back to ya if left much out, which I probably have



Ok here I am Destiny! I survived my first outing yo the gym, which was just basically being shown what all the machines do. It's a lot to take in, but I'm going again on Wednesday when they're going to make me a programme. My problem is that the arthritis is getting pretty bad in one of my knees and I feel it coming in the other so I've got to be careful. At the same time tho I've got to keep it moving so that's why I've joined really, just to keep a level of fitness . It's a brand new centre with an Olympic sized swimming pool which is great cos swimming afterwards really helps



Not to bug you, Yoda, but how are things going for you? You mentioned possibly getting into weights. It's tough to schedule in a busy life, that is for sure, but once you get it going, you get hooked.
Sorry, I haven't been popping into the diet/exercise threads as much so I didn't see this until now.

It's going fine. I held off on weightlifting while I was trying to hit weight loss goals, and I still haven't hit all of them (5-6 more pounds gets me to 50 even), but I decided to go ahead and lift a little anyway.

I was doing it sporadically (I would just plain old forget at first), but now I've got little reminders set and I did it three times this past week. Nothing huge; some light bench presses, leg extensions, very light dead lifts (but done over and over), and wrist curls. I did this on consecutive days, even, because I wasn't going too hard at it yet and just really wanted to get into the habit, though I know if I ramp up a bit I'll have to start alternating.

Definitely noticed some added definition in the legs. But yeah, it's still really early for me. But this is going to become a bigger deal once I hit that big weight loss goal, and particularly in the winter when softball ends and I won't be walking the dog as much.

The men in my family have a lot of natural strength, so I feel pretty good about this going forward.



skullcrushers with an EZ bar
That doesn't really sound like weight lifting, now does it!?!

Thanks for the list. Some of these are new to me, and I will try them out.

I usually do 10-12 reps and 4 sets although depends on the amount of time I have. I also try to fit in chin ups into as many sessions as possible, not long ago I could barely do 1 proper full chin up but within under a year I can do around 25 or so.
I believe in 4 sets, 3 times a day. Nowadays, I seem to prefer Bicep Curls, Hammer Curls, and Tricep Dips, before anything else. It's fun trying new things, though.

With the curls, I like to push way past the 8-12 rule. With the dips, it's best for me to keep it in the 8-12 reps. I will post my exacts in the next few days. I never did start a chart of any kind.

Way to go, on the chin ups. That's a very exciting part of weight lifting/body building. Watching the numbers grow.

Ok here I am Destiny! I survived my first outing yo the gym, which was just basically being shown what all the machines do. It's a lot to take in, but I'm going again on Wednesday when they're going to make me a programme. My problem is that the arthritis is getting pretty bad in one of my knees and I feel it coming in the other so I've got to be careful. At the same time tho I've got to keep it moving so that's why I've joined really, just to keep a level of fitness . It's a brand new centre with an Olympic sized swimming pool which is great cos swimming afterwards really helps
I am so happy you joined this, and I hope that by now, it's all been working out nicely for you. I hate that I've been away from the thread for a while, but I have been working out, and I now have a pool. I totally agree with you about the arthritic, which I have in the most of my body. It's all in the genes! I have it pretty bad down my spine. Big surprise there, huh?!? I also have bone spurs on my spine. Both of my knees are real bad. The pool is a great place for working out/therapy. I love it.

How's it been going, at the gym? Then again, how's it been going?

Sorry, I haven't been popping into the diet/exercise threads as much . . .
Ditto, but that's going to stop.

I held off on weightlifting while I was trying to hit weight loss goals, and I still haven't hit all of them (5-6 more pounds gets me to 50 even), but I decided to go ahead and lift a little anyway.

I was doing it sporadically (I would just plain old forget at first), but now I've got little reminders set and I did it three times this past week. Nothing huge; some light bench presses, leg extensions, very light dead lifts (but done over and over), and wrist curls. I did this on consecutive days, even, because I wasn't going too hard at it yet and just really wanted to get into the habit, though I know if I ramp up a bit I'll have to start alternating.
It's best to start slow, anyway. Seeing certain changes, can give us the needed drive to work harder.

Not to sound hypocritical, because I felt weird posting mine, but will we/the board be seeing a new photo of you anytime in the near future?

Definitely noticed some added definition in the legs. But yeah, it's still really early for me. But this is going to become a bigger deal once I hit that big weight loss goal, and particularly in the winter when softball ends and I won't be walking the dog as much.
Don't forget that you will see a weight increase, the more you workout, but it's all good. Well, unless you sneak a chocolate cake. One handful of muscle weighs a lot more than one handful of fat, and as we all know, muscle burns fat.

The men in my family have a lot of natural strength, so I feel pretty good about this going forward.
I'm pretty sure I get mine from my father. I remember enough about him, to know that he was one hell of a strong man. Mother said I got my strength, and my "don't take bleep off of anyone" attitude from him. That woman worried from my high school years on, that I would one day be arrested. I'm happy to say, it never happened, and the threat of the police being called on me, only happened three times. I'm such a good girl.

Now that I understand the laws a lot better.



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Looking forward to hearing how the weightlifting goes Yoda, make sure you keep us posted.
You too Christine, let us know.
Destiny, do you do Skullcrushers? How's it all been going for you?

Not been as much these days myself, averaging every other day which although is still a decent amount, it's a step down from what it was, so progression is a little slower. But at least getting the pup out is getting the cardio in, plus I'm back playing football now too. Trying to fit as much in as I can before the new arrival in September.