Goals and Wishes

SHBoss1673

I disagree, just based off of my experience. Not that I have any exercise science training. I am soley going off of a program that has given me success, and what I have learned from Chalene Johnson. I have been religiously doing ChaLean Extreme, which is a program that focuses on heavier weights and less reps. So, for example: For the first 30 days of the program on biceps I was doing 10 pound weights and doing 12 reps (to failure- meaning I could NOT do one more rep). On the next 30 days the program has you do even HEAVIER weights and less reps. So, I was able to increase to 15 pound weights and do 8 reps to failure. Trust me...before when I would lift weights at the gym...I would only do 7.5pounds on biceps because I didn't want to "bulk up". But, I have done many of Chalene Johnson's workouts in the past and have been very impressed...so I did what she said. I have lost SO MANY inches all over my body. (she does everything you can pretty much think of). And even though I am lifting really heavy weights (for me) I am getting smaller and smaller, and REALLY toned. I have definition in my arms. It took me SO much longer to get to that point when I did smaller weights- and I never saw this kind of definition. I am a firm believer in the "heavier weight/ less reps" technique. There are requirements (must have correct form, slow technique, etc) but I haven't gained a pound, and I haven't gained ANY bulk. I have lost weight and lost several inches all over my body.

I do agree that everything is different for Abs....but as far as legs/arms/chest/etc.....what do you think Banks of the higher weight/less reps? Granted...you have to assume I am doing correct form, and my technique is slow. But, I've seen huge successes by going heavier and not being afriad that I will bulk up...because I haven't!!! From what I read from Chalene Johnson...women can't bulk up like men can because we don't have that much testosterone in our bodies. There are, of course, means of bulking up if a woman wanted....but in general we can't bulk up that much if we are lifting heavy, less reps, correct form, and slow technique....

p.s. I am obsessed with capitalizing words...haha.. think of it as me drawing the word out longer...rather than shouting..haha! I'd add more ooo's and ll's and everything but I didn't want to look like I was 15. so, I promise I'm not yelling..in online terms..haha!

well, there's a few things to take into account here, 1st is that women in general won't bulk up the way that men will, unless they are either taking steroids, are doing obscene amounts of weight and following almost unachievable routines, or have a hormone imbalance. Even natural female body builders won't show anywhere near the muscle mass that their male counterparts will, women just don't produce the testosterone needed to do this. And yeah, building muscle mass, whether that be in density or volume, will burn more fat just because muscle is active tissue, and requires calories even at rest.

So basically what I'm saying is that the concept of building mass vs toning is much more noticable in men than women, but it's still there. My statement was more to emphasize the concept of working to technical failure than to talk about rep amounts.

the other thing to remember is the concept of intramuscular fat, which is fat in and around muscle tissue. In scenario's where you work to failure (either via weight training or via some anaerobic HIIT type workout) it will be used first to resupply the muscle , which is nice if you have a lot of intramuscular fat, as that will "lean" you up pretty quickly. Although there's not really a ton of intramuscular fat on most people.

34at35

My goals have been the same since I began my weight loss journey on November 8, 2008.

1. Weigh what I weighed on my wedding day, February 1t, 1975. 174 lbs. I now have 7 lbs left to achieve that goal.

2. Be able to wear a pair of Levis corduroy jeans that I saved from then and wore on my honeymoon. They have special meaning for my wife and I. I am now able to wear those pants comfortably.

3. Be off all prescription medicines for blood pressure, high cholesterol/trigycerides, and my pre-diabetes blood sugar level. My doctor has been able to take me ALL of the those medicines. I now have readings in the normal range for all of them.

Anything else I achieve from here on is just extra benefits of losing the excess weight.

songbyrdsweet

Actually Banks, both obese and endurance athletes have comparable amounts of IMTGs, but they use them differently and the trigs themself cause an inflammatory response in the obese and not in the athletes. You won't see much IMTG use with explosive athletes because they don't utilize that energy system. You'll see more creatine and glycogen.

Toning is really a misnomer (an irritating one to me LOL). Tone actually refers to the quality of muscle contraction possible, or how many fibers are recruited in one contraction, maximal or submaximal. This increases as we become more trained, and is especially high in powerlifters who, while they may not have large amounts of muscle mass, have the neuromuscular faculties to recruit almost all of those fibers. Pound for pound, they're very strong.

Toning is MISused to mean increased muscle definition, which is a phenomenon that occurs independent of resistance training. We all have muscle mass, and we all can have visible definition if our body fat is low. It's easier to see if we have larger muscles due to hypertrophy from previous bulking sessions. But we aren't going to see hypertrophy at the same time as fat loss. So lifting for 'tone' has nothing to do with rep ranges unless we're discussing REAL tone, and then we need very low reps and very high weight.

Lifting to gain muscle mass has to result in lactic acid buildup to promote GH release, failure to ensure that we've recruited all the muscle fibers, and a caloric excess to make the contractile elements of the muscle thicker. This can happen in a man or a woman and be fully noticeable in either one.

SHBoss1673

Actually Banks, both obese and endurance athletes have comparable amounts of IMTGs, but they use them differently and the trigs themself cause an inflammatory response in the obese and not in the athletes. You won't see much IMTG use with explosive athletes because they don't utilize that energy system. You'll see more creatine and glycogen.

you're right, that's my bad, there's supposed to be a don't in there. Sometimes I don't double check what I write when I want to get it out there.

that line was supposed to read "which is fat in and around muscle tissue. In scenario's where you don't work to failure ..."

kicklikeaGIRL

I disagree, just based off of my experience. Not that I have any exercise science training. I am soley going off of a program that has given me success, and what I have learned from Chalene Johnson. I have been religiously doing ChaLean Extreme, which is a program that focuses on heavier weights and less reps. So, for example: For the first 30 days of the program on biceps I was doing 10 pound weights and doing 12 reps (to failure- meaning I could NOT do one more rep). On the next 30 days the program has you do even HEAVIER weights and less reps. So, I was able to increase to 15 pound weights and do 8 reps to failure. Trust me...before when I would lift weights at the gym...I would only do 7.5pounds on biceps because I didn't want to "bulk up". But, I have done many of Chalene Johnson's workouts in the past and have been very impressed...so I did what she said. I have lost SO MANY inches all over my body. (she does everything you can pretty much think of). And even though I am lifting really heavy weights (for me) I am getting smaller and smaller, and REALLY toned. I have definition in my arms. It took me SO much longer to get to that point when I did smaller weights- and I never saw this kind of definition. I am a firm believer in the "heavier weight/ less reps" technique. There are requirements (must have correct form, slow technique, etc) but I haven't gained a pound, and I haven't gained ANY bulk. I have lost weight and lost several inches all over my body.

I do agree that everything is different for Abs....but as far as legs/arms/chest/etc.....what do you think Banks of the higher weight/less reps? Granted...you have to assume I am doing correct form, and my technique is slow. But, I've seen huge successes by going heavier and not being afriad that I will bulk up...because I haven't!!! From what I read from Chalene Johnson...women can't bulk up like men can because we don't have that much testosterone in our bodies. There are, of course, means of bulking up if a woman wanted....but in general we can't bulk up that much if we are lifting heavy, less reps, correct form, and slow technique....

p.s. I am obsessed with capitalizing words...haha.. think of it as me drawing the word out longer...rather than shouting..haha! I'd add more ooo's and ll's and everything but I didn't want to look like I was 15. so, I promise I'm not yelling..in online terms..haha!

well, there's a few things to take into account here, 1st is that women in general won't bulk up the way that men will, unless they are either taking steroids, are doing obscene amounts of weight and following almost unachievable routines, or have a hormone imbalance. Even natural female body builders won't show anywhere near the muscle mass that their male counterparts will, women just don't produce the testosterone needed to do this. And yeah, building muscle mass, whether that be in density or volume, will burn more fat just because muscle is active tissue, and requires calories even at rest.

So basically what I'm saying is that the concept of building mass vs toning is much more noticable in men than women, but it's still there. My statement was more to emphasize the concept of working to technical failure than to talk about rep amounts.

the other thing to remember is the concept of intramuscular fat, which is fat in and around muscle tissue. In scenario's where you work to failure (either via weight training or via some anaerobic HIIT type workout) it will be used first to resupply the muscle , which is nice if you have a lot of intramuscular fat, as that will "lean" you up pretty quickly. Although there's not really a ton of intramuscular fat on most people.

Thanks! And...thanks for putting it in words us "non scientific" exercise people can understand!

kicklikeaGIRL

As promised...I will get back on topic and share my goals. First, I think MFP is an amazing resource for me to track my goals, progress and successes. And people on this website help encourage, support, give advice, and supplement my weight loss very effectively. For me personally, I love making "big" and "mini" goals. My big goals typically are every 10 pound maker. And my mini goals are usually every 5 pounds. So far I have reached one of my big goals...which was to be 160 before Christmas. (yahoo!) Once I reached this goal, I told myself that I wanted to lose another 20 pounds, but I wanted to reach those goals at a little slower pace than the first goal. The following are things I will set out to do in order to accomplish my goals:

1) Adjust my guidlines to how much I want to lose on MFP, which is 20 more pounds, to be 140.
2) Strength train 3 times a week (MWS)- and incorporate at LEAST 30 minutes of cardio before, work through my program and increase weights as instructed and as I can gain strength. I keep track of every weight I use for each exercise and how many reps I can do so I can track progress made.
3) Increase my endurance running- Run 3 days a week, with at least 2 of those times being a 5 mile run. This goal will serve two purposes...help lose weight as well as train for a 10K this summer! yippiie!!
4) Eat less processed foods, and gradually move to a cleaner-eating lifestyle. Eat out less.
5) Take my rest days as needed & listen to my body.
6) Save up and buy a HRM so that I can accurately track how many calories I am burning with each of my exercises.

Those are my general goals. I have a goal to lose 10 pounds by April 1st, which is just less than 3 pounds a month. For me, this is realistic. Once i reach that goal, my next is to lose the next 10 pounds (and the last 10 pounds) by July 31. After that, to maintain! I love goals, and what I love even more...is ACHIEVING them!! yahoo!!

CasperO

Wow,,, I haven’t thought about it in those kinds of terms for quite a while. I started out almost a year ago, and my goals were pretty clear. 200 pounds, and 34” waist jeans, that was it. As of today I have reached and exceeded my inches goal and got close to my weight goal. I made a decision a while back to not worry about the weight for a while, and to just concentrate on getting stronger and more fit. That’s gone pretty well. I’m now doing my arm curls and chest flies and several other exercises with 50 lbs, where I started with 25 or 30. I’m doing real pushups and situps and pullups and dips now.

So, all in all I'm pretty happy. Not satisfied, but happy. Now what?

So – goals from here. I want to continue eating what I’m eating with maybe just a bit more protein and continue gaining muscle mass and losing bodyfat. In the past 4 months I’ve been eating what should be a small deficit, but I’ve maintained weight. I’ve lost a couple inches off my waist, gained definition and strength and muscle mass. I want to continue that ‘til we get close to beach weather, then I’ll cut bodyfat and try to get to 10% and see what that looks like. It’s easier for me to cut in the summer, just more time for outdoor cardio. There’s just something about cold weather and short days that make you want to bulk up, so I’m gonna go with it and just build mass for the winter.

Goals:
48” chest (now 45”) – 16” biceps (now 14.5”) – maintain 34” waist – by St. Patty’s Day. May get a little heavier.
Cut weight to 200 even – cut waist to 32” – by my birthday July 7.
Sometime this summer, ride bicycle to work a day or 3. 53 mile round trip.

I do have a plan to get there, but this has gone on long enough. Let’s do it.

SHBoss1673

Wow,,, I haven’t thought about it in those kinds of terms for quite a while. I started out almost a year ago, and my goals were pretty clear. 200 pounds, and 34” waist jeans, that was it. As of today I have reached and exceeded my inches goal and got close to my weight goal. I made a decision a while back to not worry about the weight for a while, and to just concentrate on getting stronger and more fit. That’s gone pretty well. I’m now doing my arm curls and chest flies and several other exercises with 50 lbs, where I started with 25 or 30. I’m doing real pushups and situps and pullups and dips now.

So, all in all I'm pretty happy. Not satisfied, but happy. Now what?

So – goals from here. I want to continue eating what I’m eating with maybe just a bit more protein and continue gaining muscle mass and losing bodyfat. In the past 4 months I’ve been eating what should be a small deficit, but I’ve maintained weight. I’ve lost a couple inches off my waist, gained definition and strength and muscle mass. I want to continue that ‘til we get close to beach weather, then I’ll cut bodyfat and try to get to 10% and see what that looks like. It’s easier for me to cut in the summer, just more time for outdoor cardio. There’s just something about cold weather and short days that make you want to bulk up, so I’m gonna go with it and just build mass for the winter.

Goals:
48” chest (now 45”) – 16” biceps (now 14.5”) – maintain 34” waist – by St. Patty’s Day. May get a little heavier.
Cut weight to 200 even – cut waist to 32” – by my birthday July 7.
Sometime this summer, ride bicycle to work a day or 3. 53 mile round trip.

I do have a plan to get there, but this has gone on long enough. Let’s do it.

LOL, C you got me all revved up to hear your strategy, then you teased us. I'm curious, what's the program?

cmriverside

Steve, I'm adding this to "Links" ...great discussion everyone.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/new/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again?page=53

CasperO

LOL, C you got me all revved up to hear your strategy, then you teased us. I'm curious, what's the program?

First off - the foundation of everything else, 30 minutes of elliptical or bicycling just about every morning. Gotta get the cardio, I like having a resting pulse in the 50's, I think it's good for me. I also like the 400 exercise calories. I'm on 1,800 cals a day, which just ain't enough - but 2,200 is plenty if you cook intelligently.

3 days a week - in the afternoon or evening, I do a good heavy 2 set weights routine that's always evolving,,, adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing exercises as I feel like it. I generally combine this with some circuit training - so I do my first set of weights, then do a Jillian Michaels DVD, then do the second set of weights. I chase this with a protein shake, which I believe helps. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but I think it does and that's what counts. :laugh:

The other 3 days a week I grab some good exercise some other way. Just do the Jillian DVD, but I try to bring it a little harder, or get in a good long hard bike ride. I skip the protein after that one.


Weights routine right now,,, let's see.

Pullups to failure - currently 5/6
Dips to failure - currently 12/13
Lat raises to failure - currently 12/13
Dumb rows w/50 lbs, to failure - currently 15ish.
Shrugs w/50 lbs, to failure - currently 20ish
Dumb curls w/50 lbs, to failure - currently 5/6
Close grip bench presses w/100 lbs (tricep concentration), to failure - currently 12/13
Dumb flies w/50 lbs, to failure - currently 15/18
Dumb clean & press w/20 lbs - currently 20
Seated concentration curl w/20 lb dumb, - currently 20ish.
Dumb lunges w/2-50lb dumbs, to failure - currently 20ish.
Calf raises w/2-50lb dumbs, to failure - currently 20ish.
Dumb clean & presses w/2-20lb dumbs, to failure - currently 20ish.

That's it - go through that twice, chase with a protein shake. Yes, I know, a lot of upper body and not much leg work. I'm pretty satisfied with my legs, and the DVD's keep 'em tight. My thighs are lean and about 22" with good musculature, so it's Ok. I'm a mirror queen (:blushing: ) and I'll know if I start looking too out of balance.

cmriverside

Ok. I'm a mirror queen ( ) and I'll know if I start looking too out of balance.

I U for saying that. That is my best ally.....that and how the clothes fit.

toots99

Bumping to save and read later.

cmriverside

read it do it. :flowerforyou: