What to do on rainy days / more weight or more reps?

sheep_dog

This will be a multi question thread so I don't spam up the forum.

First: a tad little bit of background

In highschool I played for 3 different hockey teams, and I was a goalie. I was on the ice at least once a day for 45 minutes and burnt calories out the wazoo. Because of this, I never had to watch what I ate. Also since I was a goalie I never really lifted weights, but mostly did Yoga type things for flexibility.

After highschool, I started college. I'm paying for my own college so I couldn't afford to also pay for hockey (ice hockey is VERY expensive). within my freshmen year, I gained about 15-20 lbs. I started feeling like **** (no energy, went to play hockey a few times and learned I had no wind, etc.). Also had people commenting on my little gut I had started to gain. Now in my sophomore year I decided to do something about it before it got out of control.

I started my fitness pal, eating aprox 1280 calories a day and I've been riding my bike about 7-10 miles a day for cardio. I've lost about 14 lbs so far (back down to 160.4). So here is where the questions come in:

I REALLY got to love bicycling. I feel like I can burn a lot of calories, enjoy the outdoors, and have fun. I absolutely hate running. Now that the weather is changing, it's getting cold and rainy and I find myself missing bike rides up to 3 times a week. I don't want to slip off my good pace right now, so what should I do to make up for my cardio inside? Like I said, I HATE running, so I don't really want to do a treadmill/indoor track (I do have access to a large gym at my university).

Perhaps an elliptical? Insanity cardio DVD? (also, i noticed insanity isn't in the cardio set of workouts, if I should use that, how should I record it? Any suggestions appreciated!

Question 2: Now that I've lost 14 lbs, I am only about 5 lbs away from my weigh goal. When I hit that I feel like I've gotten rid of a decent amount of fat, and I'd like to now tone up (I will start going to the gym). I want lean trim muscle that looks good. I see pictures of friends after highschool that go to the gym all the time and live on protein whey powder. In my opinion, they look TERRIBLE. They are huge and bulky and have no necks. I want muscle and to be trim, but not look like a huge bouncer at a Miami club.

I'm terrified that the above will happen to me, so how do I develop a body more like Ryan Reynold and less like Hulk Hogan? A friend told me the following:

Lower weight, higher rep = Lean Hard muscle
Higher weight, Lower rep = Big bulky muscle

Is this true? Thanks for any help/suggestions, and I'm open to read anything related to the above topics. I'm willing to put in the work (and plenty of it) but I don't want to work for the wrong results!! Thanks

edit!: and last question: I have been using an ab lounge sport every other night or so, doing 5 sets of 15 reps (75 sit ups). I haven't really seen a difference. But I'm kind of scared, because I'm starting to hear that it develops abs, but more like a keg of abs, and not a lean 6 pack like I want. Is this true, or is the ab lounge safe to use? Thanks!

Yogi_Carl

Sounds like you could try body resistance exercises each set to failure and look at Yoga - seriously - get a good teacher of Yoga and you will have that lean muscular body, great core strength and amazing health. go for it!

sheep_dog

Sounds like you could try body resistance exercises each set to failure and look at Yoga - seriously - get a good teacher of Yoga and you will have that lean muscular body, great core strength and amazing health. go for it!

not quite sure what body resistance is, but if it's like using your own body (like in insanity) it isn't quite for me :x..

I'm really weird where I like to see numeric progress in everything. For example, myfitnesspal worked so well for me because I could SEE how many calories I was taking in. SEE how many calories I would lose riding my bike. SEE the weight drop on the scale. and I like to do things in reps so I can record and SEE how many I did/can do now.

In about 5 lbs I'll switch from recording my weight, to recording my Body fat, since I'll probably gain weight as I gain muscle. But my goal will then be to gain lean muscle and get my body fat percentage down.

So I think i'm looking for more of a gym workout that I can record in myfitnesspal, but I just have to know what to do. (i'll get specific exercises, but I'm still stumped on the reps vs weight question).

Thanks for your reply though!

LorinaLynn

Lift heavy. If you start to lose your neck, ease back. It won't happen overnight.

And eat more. You're a young man. Your metabolism is at it's peak. You don't need to eat like a bird.

As for weather, wear layers. I've been running in the rain lately. It feels wonderful.

Hendrix7

I see pictures of friends after highschool that go to the gym all the time and live on protein whey powder. In my opinion, they look TERRIBLE. They are huge and bulky and have no necks. I want muscle and to be trim, but not look like a huge bouncer at a Miami club.

I'm terrified that the above will happen to me, so how do I develop a body more like Ryan Reynold and less like Hulk Hogan? A friend told me the following:

IT wont happen. Building serious muscle mass takes years and the intention to build that amount of muscle mass in the first place, correct diet and quite possibly from the type of physiques you are talking about........some hormonal assistance.

never in history has someone lifted a few weights and ended up looking like a bodybuilder by accident. Just doesn't happen.

People who want to get a just a bit bigger and people who want to get huge should training in essentially the same way. One person just stops and maintains before the other.

Lower weight, higher rep = Lean Hard muscle
Higher weight, Lower rep = Big bulky muscle

Nope.

Stick to the 'standard' hypertrophy rep range, 8-12 reps.

sheep_dog

I see pictures of friends after highschool that go to the gym all the time and live on protein whey powder. In my opinion, they look TERRIBLE. They are huge and bulky and have no necks. I want muscle and to be trim, but not look like a huge bouncer at a Miami club.

I'm terrified that the above will happen to me, so how do I develop a body more like Ryan Reynold and less like Hulk Hogan? A friend told me the following:

IT wont happen. Building serious muscle mass takes years and the intention to build that amount of muscle mass in the first place, correct diet and quite possibly from the type of physiques you are talking about........some hormonal assistance.

never in history has someone lifted a few weights and ended up looking like a bodybuilder by accident. Just doesn't happen.

People who want to get a just a bit bigger and people who want to get huge should training in essentially the same way. One person just stops and maintains before the other.

Lower weight, higher rep = Lean Hard muscle
Higher weight, Lower rep = Big bulky muscle

Nope.

Stick to the 'standard' hypertrophy rep range, 8-12 reps.

ok thanks! I guess I'll just talk to some free personal trainers at my universities gym, and so what your saying is when I get to look how I want to, then to talk to them again about maintaining?

and also I've heard that I need to get a decent amount of muscle and to also make sure I have a low (but safe) body fat percentage which helps muscles look better instead of bigger. true?

quick edit: and, have any information on the ab lounge question? Because I've actually read a few different reviews that said they got abs, but not what they wanted. They got more like a strong ab keg then defined ab muscles (6 pack, or 4 pack depending on body type). Was this just their fault when it comes to body fat percentage? am I in the clear to use the ab lounge? Thanks!

and also, still hoping someone can suggest some rainy day cardio workouts . I burn about 310 calories in a half an hour of biking, so I'd like something about the same ratio as that.

DavPul

Lift heavy. If you start to lose your neck, ease back. It won't happen overnight.

And eat more. You're a young man. Your metabolism is at it's peak. You don't need to eat like a bird.

As for weather, wear layers. I've been running in the rain lately. It feels wonderful.

All ^^^^^^ right here. Plus ditch that ab lounger time wasting thing.

And next time DO spam up the forums with mutliple posts. Long, mutli question posts like this are difficult for a no-neck guy like myself to slog thru

lunglady

If you love cycling, why not use the indoor cycle at the gym? Just curious....

Determinednoob

Lower weight, higher rep = Lean Hard muscle
Higher weight, Lower rep = Big bulky muscle

Is this true?

No.