right, then it's a strong wtf.

No, 46 weeks is likely how many weeks i'll workout next year. Just thrown in there to help working out figures. Will be doing SS until no more gains then moving to 5 3 1.

I picked up my Olympic bar and weights at Sports Authority. I think the set was on sale for about $255. I actually really like the bar, especially the knurling. I picked up a couple extra 45s, and overall I am very happy with my purchase. However, I want to get more into O-lifting, and even just having bumper plates would be awesome for SS stuff. Here are my questions:

Can I just add bumper plates onto my bar and drop them? I heard that some bars will bend if they aren't right type if you drop them.

Here is a set I found on amazon: Bumper Plates: $500 Is this a good deal and worth getting? It's 331 pounds.

Also, Say I have rubber 45s on, can I add smaller iron plates, too? Like if I decided to just order rubber 45s.


Thanks

You should be able to throw the weight down with pretty much any olympic bar, should not be a problem at all unless it's a SUPER low quality bar. And yes you can add iron plates as long as you have a 45lb bumper player(or something like a 35lb bumper and 5lb iron)

So is that set a good deal and worth it, u think?

As far as the bowflex commercial goes I would say 100%. I would say 80% of fitness models are on the juice in the supplement industry/workout equipment. NO WAY THEY GOT AT BIG AS THEY DID USING THE PRODUCT THEY ENDORSE. Not one fitness model uses a bowflex, PERIOD!!! I recently say a documentary on steroids called Bigger, Strong, Faster(or in a different order). They had a 15 minute segment with a fitness model who basically says that all fitness models are juicing and almost all supplements are crap. They even did an interview with a photographer who showed the cameras how he makes before/after photos IN THE SAME DAY using a program like photoshop.

Well it's not just doing small meals, it's doing them with healthy stuff too. From what I've read it seems like low carb is the way to go. I'm not sure if I'm interested in starting a log, but here's what I did yesterday:

11am (woke up at 10:30) - whole grain bagel with peanut butter, banana, skim milk (~12oz)

1:30pm - half sandwich with whole grain bread, ~3-4oz turkey, 1 slice cheese, mustard + apple, water

2:30pm - workout (below)

3:30pm - whey protein shake

6:30pm - grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, water

8pm - went to friend's to watch MNF, ate nothing, drank probably about 100oz of water

11:30pm - banana

As for my workout I considered doing starting strength and still may in the near future, but given that it's Christmastime I'm not sure it's the best time to fully commit yet, especially since my roommate warned that it really requires excellent sleep/diet habits daily to work (not that I'm not trying to do this but tougher during Xmas). Anyway, I did this instead:

warmed up shooting hoops for a few (love the gym here)

DB bench 3x8
DB bent-over row 3x8
leg extension 3x8
lying leg curl 3x8
DB shoulder press 3x8
BB curl 2x10
tricep extension 2x10

then did HIIT on an elliptical, jog 60 seconds sprint 30 seconds, repeated 4 times, will do 5 next time

cooled down by shooting hoops for a few more mins

I felt great yesterday after my workout, better than I have in a while. I'm going to the gym just to shoot hoops for a bit today then tomorrow I'm going to do another weight/HIIT day.

When I drink liquor my preferred drink is Crown and Diet Coke. However I do drink a lot of Bud Light too.

Yeah, I drank probably about 150oz yesterday. Going to try to keep this up.

Yeah but my diet is already better than most of them yet I'm in worse shape, hence my frustration.

meh, gonna have to trust me on this I guess, that said I posted the first day workout (weight part) that he told me to do above, love to hear thoughts on it

Well I value my social life in college a lot, and I don't want it to suffer. Realistically I probably drink about 2.5 times a week and not always heavily, which I think is average to below average for a college student with a social life of any sort. Like I said I'm willing to bend on pretty much anything else, but I just can't cut this out.

I will try to shift to liquor more though, but hopefully this won't lead to more hangover unproductivity. I think pizza 3x a week would be nasty but I guess I do have 3 simililarly bad meals a week, def going to try to cut this out.

^ That diet isn't really optimal^
Here's a few pointers and areas your diet could use some help. hope this helps you out

11am- Where's the protein. You might wanna try something like 1 cup rolled oats(oatmeal) with 1 scoop of whey mixed in and 3 whole eggs. you can throw in whole grain toast if your ok with that many carbs or lower the oats and add 1 slice of bread

1:30- If your trying to lose fat and keep muscle it's prob best to eat carbs at breakfast, PWO and PPWO. If you are not sensitive to carbs you can re evaluate

3:30- add a quality carb source

8:30- I think you know where this is going

11:30- Should be a lean protein source

Those look nice, though I don't know if you really need all that. Remember that it's $170 shipping+handling, so $670 for that set is really not all that good.

CRAIGSLIST!!!!!!
I just got a full olympic 300 lb/wbar set WITH dumbells(the ones you load weights on and spin the clip on to hold the weight) 150lb of weights and an EZ bar for 150$

It's unlikely that he'll find bumper plates on Craigslist. I know because I've been looking for seven months.

LOL I thought the same thing but it's still something to think about

It's not very good.

Leg extensions, leg curls, bicep curls tricep extensions are all but useless for a beginner.

The DB bench, rows and presses are ok, but not optimal. If you are doing these, why not use a barbell and work on linear progression.

Keep in mind that one of the most important parts of a lifting program is progression. What is your progression plan using these lifts? Also, sets and reps? Are you just going to do those same exercises everyday?

I'm no expert, but I think the more experienced guys here will agree with my comments wrt your workout.

Don't be shy to start a log on here, you will likely get good advice and it wont get lost in this thread.

So a good program with bad sleep/diet won't work but a bad program with bad sleep/diet will? Stop listening to your roommate and start listening to people who know what they are talking about.

Even if you don't do a full starting strength load, it's definitely useful to get some practice with the lifts and learning good form.

Stinger, read the first 5 pages of Starting Strength 2nd ed. here. This is what got me super motivated to workout and on the right track, maybe it'll work for you too.

Stinger,

Awful. I can understand waiting to follow SS until the new year, but you should know that the aforementioned diet and workout plan is terribad.

not gonna tell you how good or bad low carb is stinger, personally i don't like it, but you should put all your food into fitday.com for a week or two. really gives you a handle on which macronutrients certain foods have. bagels, sandwiches (bread), and potatos all have huge amounts of carbs.

33/33/33 - 40/40/20ish protein/carb/fat breakdown is what you want. once you learn what foods contain what, it's pretty easy and probably not much different from what you're eating.

i'm 2 weeks into SS. i have some protein powder stuff that i got from a friend from when i was doing 'bro' exercises. it's running out.

should i get more or just drink a ton of milk? if anyone has a link to some good stuff that would be appreciated, i just want minimum hassle (i.e. add straight to milk and shake).

If you're getting enough protein from the rest of your diet, don't bother.

I think protein powder is useful for those on diets or maintenance as a cheap and easy way to get quality protein. If you're trying to gain weight, just drink a lot of milk. You'll get enough protein.

what's up with the attitude? believe it or not some people who don't frequent this forum actually do know their ****

Yeah, but your roommate isn't one of them (I didn't even read your poast.)

It's not a "plan" it's an example of what I did on one day. If it's so terribad how about being constructive and telling me what I can do better instead?

Ok yeah I think I'm done posting here.

Stinger, snitch00 pretty much covered the critique.

I think you're on the right track so far, go ahead and start a log thread. We'd prefer this thread be more of a Q and A format. If you're posting workouts and looking for more specific advice starting your own thread will work better.