Luthorcrow

Are you doing 30 repetitions in one set? If so you are doing way too many repetitions in one set. Anything about 15 repetitions provides very little strength benefits. You would be better off doing 2 sets of 15 reps or 3 sets of 10 reps. You will need to use more weight use do less reps per set and take about a 45-60…

Great job! You look amazing.

@Babydollnikki I would but then the Walmart crowd would start throwing stones at me. But yes, all your food should always be organic, locally grown or your own garden whenever possible. The benefits of increased nutrients and lack negative byproducts like hormones, pesticides and diseases is unquestionable. That said, even…

Encouraging someone to continue eating a dangerously low volume of food is just unconscionable. First off vitamins are not a healthy way to get your nutrients. They are at best an attempt to fill the gaps missed in your diet. But the fact is the best way to get your vitamins and other nutrients is from healthy food…

First off no one is insulting anyone. I talking in general terms if you took as directed at you personally, I am sorry. After reading your reply I really think we are talking past each other. I agree that many cable and pulley machines have a place and use in strength training. I tried to make that clear in my post. I am…

I am sorry but if a trainer advised me to use a nautilus style machine that would be indicator to get a new trainer. Obviously there some good machines such as the cable pull stations etc. but these tend to work more like a free weight in that they do not force a single path of movement or isolate a small muscle group. The…

I can't say I have an answer because when my wife decided she want to lose weight it was any easy choice for me to support her by joining her. One because I have a lot less weight to loss, two because I have been athletic often in my life and had eaten clean before but also because I wanted to support her. The habits she…

Completely agree. In fact whether you hire a trainer or not you should read this book before first. It will give you a good knowledge basis. Keep in mind that probably most of what you have seen people do in the gym with strength training is just wrong. An good example are the people here telling you to just work your…

Another thing to consider about grapes is that for a fruit they are very low in fiber and very high in simple, fast burning sugar. Great for a recovery fruit after working out but because they so high in sugar should be in smaller quantities than other more fibrous, macro nutrient rich fruits.

Get a jump rope. You can do it indoors and done right it will burn more calories than jogging and put less strain on your joints. Not mention it is cheap and portable.

We need stick for this topic because it comes up every week. The short answer is no, the fat burning zone is outdated and is a misleadingly named. You should always shot for your best performance goals and never try to stay in any mythical fat burning zone. You will burn many more calories and improve you health by an X…

As as been stated above gaining muscle requires eating more than your daily BMR. It is actually hard to gain muscles and even beginners during the explosion phase are lucky to put a 1lb in a week. If you really want to know you could get a digital scale that does body fat percentages. You just need to make sure to use it…

The best thing you can do for your diet is make water you drink of choice and drink as little of anything else, even if it has no calories. Drinks with calories are really easy way to blow your diet and diet drinks will keep your taste buds trained to sweeteners that are sweeter than sugar and much sweeter than fruits…

The fruits and vegetables you have been eating not the issue. Looking at your diary it looks like you are mainly eating them with dinner. What you might want to cut are the crackers. Your best bet is keeping eating the vegetables and fruit but mixing in more lean meats, greens and longer burning complex carbos like wild…

I have sweet tooth as well. I think you best strategy is to reset your sweetness expectations. What does that mean? You have to cut out diet foods, artificial sweeteners, and anything with any kind of added sugar or sweetener. It does not matter whether any of these processed foods have calories from sugar or not. The…

Whether the science being quoted in this thread is right or not, I think it misses a much bigger point. Being satiated matters more than pretty much another factor on keeping you on a program. How would you rather spend the day, hungry most of the day and load up at dinner, or be satiated throughout the day? My own…

Yes, it can be. There two main reasons to use protein powder. 1) Post workout recovery. A protein shake is fast, easily absorbed protein along with fruit drank right after your workout will help speed up muscle recovery. 2) It can help increase the amount of protein in your diet. Particular at breakfast which can sometimes…

I would make your rest just rest days. You do not need to do cardio on those days and you may actually be defeating yourself by doing it. Also, as long as you are lifting at least 3 times a week you are not getting any real heart/health benefits by doing the extra work. Also, unless you a juicing, I would drop the small…

Actually there is advantage to eating your big meal after your workout. Whether it is strength training or aerobics (as long as you are getting your heart rate up to at least 150+) your MBR stays elevated for the next one to two hours. So if you can hold dinner to afterwards you will actually burn more of those calories…

I went back seven days in your food journal and could only find one meal that had vegetables. You clearly have a sweet tooth. So do I but have managed it with fruit. I think the first thing you should do is cut as much of the processed foods out of your diet as you can, up your green vegetable content and eat more lean…

Ditto. Ezekiel has best bang for the buck and is low in calories and most of those are long burning carbos for bread.

I think before we suggest a snack what are you usually eating at dinner? You might avoid the munches if you focus on foods that take longer to digest which will up your satiation and may prevent you from wanting the snack. Can you give us an example?

LOL, as everyone said you have a great ratio. Hell that is the perfect ratio to be a video vixen. Someone get 50 Cent on the line. ;) @kell_riley It's the ratio that matters more than anything. It sounds like you actually want your hips to be bigger to achieve that hourglass look (.7 or lower). The biggest bang for your…

No, I am saying that you would have to be exercising at 80%-90% of your maximum heart rate to be in the anaerobic zone. As a 27 year old 150-160 HR is probably no where near 80%-90%. Right now you are just getting a good sweat and unless you well outside the normal range (lower) you are hitting a good rate. What I am also…

No. The "fat burning zone" is misunderstood. You are better off staying in the athletic zone. Your goal should always be performance the rest comes with it. Trust me, you are burning a lot more calories putting in a real effort than trying to stay in the supposed fat burning zone while reading People Magazine and listening…

No. There is a lot of none sense regarding heart rate. The only really issue if you are pushing too close to your maximum heart rate. It doesn't sound like that is case from your post. You should calculate what you 70%-80% range which I would bet you are within with what you are doing. Checkout this URL:…

1) Your cell phone should be off and locked in your locker. It's rude to talk on your phone in the gym and because every phone has a camera/video camera seeing a cell phone in the gym is a liability. If you can't shut it off for your workout don't go to the gym. 2) Carry a small towel and wipe down the bench/machine when…

A lot of bike shops also sell used bikes so look for one that does both and has a good rep for bike repairs. It sounds like a "hybrid"or dual sport bike is what you want. A normal mountain bike is really too heavy and slow for street/city riding. Hybrids are designed to blend elements of a road bike with a mountain bike to…

Well, anyone doing bicep curls is wasting their time and energy to start with but I agree form should come first and heavier weights as you master it. But keep in mind that should not mean slow either. The normal pace is 2-3 down/return and 1 second lift/pull. Also, cheating sometimes has uses to get over humps. Let's be…

Another option after the elliptical is jumping rope. Unlike running in shoes there is very little strain on your joints and your in a position that you body is acting like a shock absorber. It also is one of the better aerobic exercises. You should also consider weight lifting. It helps you strengthen your joint and if you…