General

@xreflecti0nx not gonna lie, I hate training legs although I know the importance of it. Favourite muscle group to train is probably chest paired up with triceps.

@wizlid Its based on personal preferences really. Due to the fact that they are powerlifting exercises, many such as myself prefer to use lower reps from 1-5 for strength. It is also common to see people do squats and DLs within the 6-12 rep range, usually for a warm-up or working set. There's also a routine that utilizes 20 rep squats for muscular endurance and changing it up so the slow twitch(type I) fibers can be targeted. So as the general thumb of rule, 1-5 for strength, 6-12 for hypertrophy, and 12+ for endurance and changing things up.. However, its not engraved in stone that 1-5 will only train strength and 12+ is for endurance. There is always some overlap between the 3.

@xreflecti0nx Exercise isn't mandatory for fat loss, but your diet definitely is. Body composition comes down to calories in vs calories out, and as long as you are eating a deficit you will lose weight. However, exercise is recommended to speed up the process and becoming more fit. When looking at it from a practical point of view, both is important but only diet is needed.

@Stevejr123 This is correct, in the sense that although low intensity exercises burn more calories(which result in fat) while the exercise is being preformed, postexercise fat oxidation and/or energy expenditure tends to be higher in high-intensity treatments.

Ergo, your metabolism is increased from HIIT thus making your total net calories burned throughout the day higher than low intensity. Alan Aragon explains it better than me, check out this article for further references:
http://www.alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html
I just gave you the general gist of calories being burned in comparison between the two.

@cbass50, IMO just training arms would look funny, but your perspectives are different from mine. For isolation arms, choose 2 exercises from my bicep section, 3 from triceps and 2 from forearms and do it twice a week. Same for core, with maybe more frequency and make sure to include twisting exercises as well.

If I were you, I would focus on building a better body overall and focusing on compound exercises. Bench press, bent over rows, pull ups, dips, squats, deadlifts, etc are all great exercises that would build an exceptional physique. There's no need for isolation exercises as a newbie, or even a novice lifter.

@rozhin in my opinion, newbies to lifting have potential to have a huge jumpstart in terms of gains and such, but I think a 3 inch increase in a summer would be too much to expect. Also, your stats matter as well. It would be easier to add 3 inches on someone who is 6'2 in comparison to someone who is 5'3. You will only increase so your muscles are in proportion to your body and structure. Also, training biceps everyday doesn't help it grow. IMO training it once a week with high volume or training it twice with less sets and higher intensity and eating a ton would be the best way to go. You only grow as much as your body lets you, so try it out.

@Stevejr123 My bad man, I didn't see your post. I remember you as one of the older people I've spoken to, I think around this time last year. How was your progression up to this point? HIIT is doing an exercise that requires high intensity/near maximum force, for a short duration of time. You will then have a short interval of rest at a moderate to slow pace, then pick up the intensity again.

facts about HIIT in comparison to moderate paced cardio:

-Cannot be kept up as long due to high intensity
-less time consuming
-more calories burnt(in a certain period of time)
-Requires more muscular strength along with endurance than long distance which requires more cardiovascular endurance
-Uses glycogen or energy stores quicker

It comes down to personal preference basically. Do whichever one you like, both are good for fitness overall and make it so it fits your schedule. Why not get the best of both worlds and do both?

@sidleyhatesyou Bulking is just eating a calorie surplus and gaining constant weight. It's not hard to do, just eating over maintenance. In my opinion, anyone who lifts weights to change their body for recreational purposes is a bodybuilder. This is the definition for it:"The practice of strengthening and enlarging the muscles of the body through exercise." Therefore, the skinny people you see are bodybuilders too. Just because they don't compete doesn't disqualify them from that group. Everyone has to start at a certain point, right? I'm my opinion, strength training and fitness is healthy overall, but competitive bodybuilding isn't, no matter if natural or on juice.

Stripping down to a low level of bodyfat and maintaining that is detrimental to your organs, along with maybe the use of HGH, tren, and other preformance enhancing drugs.

@emberdeathninja The shakeweight claims to tone up your arms, chest, and whole upper body, and also build strength and muscle. One, spot reduction is impossible. You have to lose fat overall to "tone" and increase definition. They can argue that it doesn't spot reduct, but burns alot of calories. The small range of motion and muscle groups used only allow you to burn about 30-50 calories in around 4-6 minutes.
It can also cause harmful side effects such as: nausea, impaired vision, hyperventilation, and disorders such as White Finger Disease (Raynaud's Syndrome), Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome, & Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Here's a link that further describes it: http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/does_the_shake_weight_work/

All in all, the shakeweight is useless and if you feel like wasting money I'll give you my address and phone number

Lol glad to see someone has a interest in fitness

I knew all this and more (talking about you're thread about you're plan etc) about working out and what you're
body needs, I don't think people realized what you have to do to actually achieve bulking etc...

Something that really really really really really bugs me.. I hate when I see kids 120-150 saying they are
body builders and they are just skin and bones ugh..
There is a huge difference between bulking up and being healthy and being a body builder XD

Your info's great, keep up the good work.

A few ideas I thought of so far:

-How to get abs

-section for the ladies; myths of getting too bulky

-best routine for strength/size

-what supplements should I use

-meal frequency

-calories in vs out

-body recomposition

-weight gain/weight loss

-home workouts

etc

@Caelestys multivitamins are pretty much useless, and studies have shown that they may even create hazards towards our bodies. There would be no need for one if you're eating healthy with plenty of vitamin/mineral rich foods.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39616169/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/time-kick-multivitamin-habit-studies-suggest/

[quote=wizlid]Just going to fire some questions:
Is it a problem if we cannot do as many reps by the end of our workout? i.e. Not being able to do as many db reps after pull-ups and rows. Will that affect muscle growth etc.?
Whey shakes are recommended right after workouts. If we plan to do cardio post strength training , should we take it before or after cardio? Or does it not matter?

Is it a good sign if our muscles are sore after a workout? What about more than day after a workout?
How long before we see progress?[/quote]
Due to fatigue, there is no way you'll be able to work at the intensity at the end of the workout in comparison to the beginning. As long as you're increasing in weight/reps from workout to workout and is progressing, its fine. As for the whey shakes, its based on personal preference. I would take it after because it might make you queasy if you drink it before running. Bottom line is, meal frequency will have little to no effect on body composition and muscle gain. What should be focused on is hitting your goal macronutrients and calories for the day.
Delayed onset muscle soreness is nothing other than the buffering of fermented lactic acid build up in your body. You shouldn't dictate a good workout by how sore you are, because DOMS doesn't equal creating micro-tears in your muscles that would stimulate growth. When your muscles are not used to doing a certain taste, i.e. a new workout routine, usually the soreness will be worse, but once again, its not a good way to gauge an effective workout or not. Don't buy into that muscle confusion mumbo jumbo crap, progressive overload and keeping track of increase in weight is way better than hopping from exercise to exercise every workout.

As for your progress question, it varies on the person pal. You should take progress pictures, which can help you determine whether you're happy with your progress or not. However, rather than comparing month to month, look over a period of 6 months as change within the duration of a month is minimal. Think of it this way, if a person had good genetics, and near perfect training and diet the most he could gain is .25-.5lb of muscle in a week. This is usually not the average person however, so I'd say a gain of 1-2lb per month (not lean muscle tissue weight, but overall) is the goal you should aim for.

[quote=wizlid]Just going to fire some questions:
Is it a problem if we cannot do as many reps by the end of our workout? i.e. Not being able to do as many db reps after pull-ups and rows. Will that affect muscle growth etc.?
Whey shakes are recommended right after workouts. If we plan to do cardio post strength training , should we take it before or after cardio? Or does it not matter?
Is it a good sign if our muscles are sore after a workout? What about more than day after a workout?
How long before we see progress?[/quote]

Hi, it's not a big problem if you can't do as many reps as you did before in your first set, but if you seem to be doing this quite often then you either need to decrease the weight.

Hmm unless you are going to do HIIT training then I recommend drinking after, but if you are going to do light cardio then it doesn't really matter if you drink it before or after.

You should add a section about circuit workouts, because they are great for building muscles, building endurance, and getting leaner. Also, circuit workouts are less time consuming.

@fredthefot

thanks, I'll be getting to that in a sec.

Nice guide!
Your "Jay Cutler" picture under Forearms doesn't work.

@standknight If they have experience and knowledge, your results should be similar to a celebrities if the follow factors above. Also, the statistics are exaggerated to another world. Unless they didn't eat, there's no way they could lose 42lbs in 3 weeks.

[quote=ShotFailed]@standknight can you please elaborate on what an "average" american diet is please? That's sort of a vague word, because I'm not sure whether to interpret that as the stereotypical McDonalds and Donuts or a typical dinner for an American family. I think one of the main reasons why people [B]SHOULDN'T[/b] follow Celebrity diets is because it isn't as clear-cut and simple as they say it would be. Most have some of the best trainers, dietitians, and doctors to help them prepare for their roll, and it's definitely not as simple as a meal plan.

It would be way easier for the celebrities, because they have hired professionals to gauge their progress for them and tell them what they need to do. Also, do not think this is a short term thing. Chances are they've been preparing for the role months or even years before the shooting of the film, so its not a short term thing. This can be related to the diets of a fitness enthusiast, or someone who has knowledge on this certain topic.

However, hollywood diets such as the grapefruit died, [I]water diet,[/i], and others help lose weight, but the composition of the weight is most likely not the results you'd want. When on the water diet, of curse taking in 0 calories a day would help you lose weight, but I bet you only a small cut of that will be fat. Once you start eating again, the weight will bounce back up.

All in all, there should be no reason to follow a celebrity diet if you know the basic concepts of losing weight. (with exceptions of course such as contest prep.)

@wizlid The main reason for this is because HIIT uses a bigger portion of glycogen in comparison to low intensity, much like weight lifting. It has properties of anaerobic training, thus using glucose as a source of energy rather than oxygen. This doesn't mean that it's not a good form of exercise for cardiovascular endurance, but the fact that you can't keep it at a high intensity limits the "endurance" portion of the exercise. Both are fine for cardio, along with fat loss and anything else that would matter. It just comes down to personal preferences.[/quote]

Average fit American who has knowledge of proper eating habits but wants to see more results because of what they've seen from Celebrity transformations

@standknight can you please elaborate on what an "average" american diet is please? That's sort of a vague word, because I'm not sure whether to interpret that as the stereotypical McDonalds and Donuts or a typical dinner for an American family. I think one of the main reasons why people [B]SHOULDN'T[/b] follow Celebrity diets is because it isn't as clear-cut and simple as they say it would be. Most have some of the best trainers, dietitians, and doctors to help them prepare for their roll, and it's definitely not as simple as a meal plan.

It would be way easier for the celebrities, because they have hired professionals to gauge their progress for them and tell them what they need to do. Also, do not think this is a short term thing. Chances are they've been preparing for the role months or even years before the shooting of the film, so its not a short term thing. This can be related to the diets of a fitness enthusiast, or someone who has knowledge on this certain topic.

However, hollywood diets such as the grapefruit died, [I]water diet,[/i], and others help lose weight, but the composition of the weight is most likely not the results you'd want. When on the water diet, of curse taking in 0 calories a day would help you lose weight, but I bet you only a small cut of that will be fat. Once you start eating again, the weight will bounce back up.

All in all, there should be no reason to follow a celebrity diet if you know the basic concepts of losing weight. (with exceptions of course such as contest prep.)

@wizlid The main reason for this is because HIIT uses a bigger portion of glycogen in comparison to low intensity, much like weight lifting. It has properties of anaerobic training, thus using glucose as a source of energy rather than oxygen. This doesn't mean that it's not a good form of exercise for cardiovascular endurance, but the fact that you can't keep it at a high intensity limits the "endurance" portion of the exercise. Both are fine for cardio, along with fat loss and anything else that would matter. It just comes down to personal preferences.

Can you explain the myth people should not copy Celebrity diets/workouts because Celebrity workouts are never long term if they're working out for such major roles like superhero movies (ex -The Dark Knight, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Captain America, etc.)? One good way would be to research the differences in their diets and workouts and then compare/contrast from that of an average American's diet/workout

@wizlid I think it was mentioned on page 11 or something, but it was in detail as it was not a sticky so it went over my post count. I'll be looking to fix that up this summer. Personally, I do cardio to improve my cardiovascular endurance, rather than body composition. Although it burns calories which may help with cutting, IMO there is a greater approach such as eating less or through other options. The only reason I say this is because personally I hate cardio, but I do it on a frequent throughout the year.

A common myth is that low intensity cardio will burn more fat in comparison to HIIT, but this is an interesting read by Alan Aragon that proves otherwise.
http://www.alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html

As for before or after, it is recommended for post workout because the glycogen stores should be saved for strength training.

Nicely done man! It looks great.