Northcott, some help, por favor?

[Glass]

How many times a week would you suggest working out/what would you suggest? In general terms, I just want a leaner, healthier look, and I'd like to get my arms bigger. A flat stomach, decently muscled, and that sort of thing. Right now, I'm 5'7", 5'8", and weigh roughly 210, 215(I say roughly because I don't have a scale in my apartment, but last time I was at my girlfriend's place, I weighed myself and weighed around 220, but I'm sure that I'm down a few pounds at least from eating healthier and the push-up/sit-up routine of the past few weeks), and ideally, I'd like to be down to 170, 180 when I hit my target.

Any suggestions, advice, guidelines, etc. are greatly appreciated, man.

[Northcott]

We should really start making these threads generalized in title. :) I'm starting to feel a bit self-conscious about this. I'm only too glad to share what knowledge I have on the subject, but there's other folks around here with some fantastic input and ideas as well, and it would be a shame to leave such ideas unsaid because somebody felt they were excluded.

Not to single you out, man. I just wanted to mention it.


Leaner, healthier, bigger arms, flat stomach, athletic look. Got it. My first questions are:

1) What resources do you have available in terms of access to equipment, and places to exercise (gym, track, park, etc)?

2) What's your diet currently like? How often do you eat in a given day? What kinds of foods are you putting back?

3) Do you have any injuries or medical conditions that should be considered and/or require a doctor's advice before engaging in strenuous activity?

[Glass]

1) Right now, I don't have a gym; I can join one around end of September/early October with my budget, which coincides with the opening of the new Boston Sports Club a few blocks from my house, actually. For right now, I've got the parks nearby to run in, and my own apartment to exercise in.

2) I try to eat well; sometimes closing my store up necessitates that I don't eat until I get home around 9:45, 10 o'clock, but when I'm at home, I try to eat as well as I can, sticking to lean beef & chicken for meat, lasagna with wheat pasta, low-fat ricotta, and the like at home, and salads and sandwiches when I'm at work. I eat about 3 times a day; some toast with an egg in the morning, lunch around 2 or so, and then dinner between 6 and 10 pm, depending on the schedule.

3) No medical conditions to speak of, really. I carry a bit of tension in my shoulders, but I guess that's normal, I've had boxer's fractures in both hands, and my knees ache and pop sometimes, but nothing serious enough to send me to the doctor.

[Northcott]

1) Right now, I don't have a gym; I can join one around end of September/early October with my budget, which coincides with the opening of the new Boston Sports Club a few blocks from my house, actually. For right now, I've got the parks nearby to run in, and my own apartment to exercise in.

With that in mind, I'd say focus on what you have and use it to best advantage. Continue doing push-ups, and give them some variety: hands spread wide, hands in tight, feet elevated, clapping push-ups, etc. If you have a place that allows you to do chin-ups, start on those. Do core-strengthening exercises like what I suggested to Morbidity; plans, bridges, vacuums, crunches, etc. Lastly, for the legs, look to bodyweight squats and sprinting as your friends.

2) I try to eat well; sometimes closing my store up necessitates that I don't eat until I get home around 9:45, 10 o'clock, but when I'm at home, I try to eat as well as I can, sticking to lean beef & chicken for meat, lasagna with wheat pasta, low-fat ricotta, and the like at home, and salads and sandwiches when I'm at work. I eat about 3 times a day; some toast with an egg in the morning, lunch around 2 or so, and then dinner between 6 and 10 pm, depending on the schedule.

If you're looking to drop bodyfat, avoid high-carb meals after noon. Stick to thingsl like grilled meat and veggies, with some olive oil and spices (as an example). Also make sure to eat more often. This may mean bringing snacking food to work. Make sure to get something in your body before bed -- cottage cheese is often ideal for this purpose. High protein, slow to digest.

Eat a bigger breakfast as well. Toast and one egg? Your body's just been fasting for X hours. It will run off this as the base for the rest of your day. Make sure you're well-fed at breakfast.

3) No medical conditions to speak of, really. I carry a bit of tension in my shoulders, but I guess that's normal, I've had boxer's fractures in both hands, and my knees ache and pop sometimes, but nothing serious enough to send me to the doctor.

Keep an eye on the knees when you start to do squats and/or deadlifts, then.

[Glass]

With that in mind, I'd say focus on what you have and use it to best advantage. Continue doing push-ups, and give them some variety: hands spread wide, hands in tight, feet elevated, clapping push-ups, etc. If you have a place that allows you to do chin-ups, start on those. Do core-strengthening exercises like what I suggested to Morbidity; plans, bridges, vacuums, crunches, etc. Lastly, for the legs, look to bodyweight squats and sprinting as your friends.

Sadly, no place to do chin-ups, because my landlord won't let me install a chin-up bar into one of the doorways(I've already asked about that). But I'll look up bridges, vacuums, plans, etc.(I already know crunches, who doesn't?) and start working on those. I did a sprint down my block a few minutes ago, coming back from the laundromat; I'm officially dead.

If you're looking to drop bodyfat, avoid high-carb meals after noon. Stick to thingsl like grilled meat and veggies, with some olive oil and spices (as an example). Also make sure to eat more often. This may mean bringing snacking food to work. Make sure to get something in your body before bed -- cottage cheese is often ideal for this purpose. High protein, slow to digest.

Eat a bigger breakfast as well. Toast and one egg? Your body's just been fasting for X hours. It will run off this as the base for the rest of your day. Make sure you're well-fed at breakfast.

Snacking at work shouldn't be a problem, my boss does it all the time, so I'll probably just start bringing stuff with me to work and sticking to salads and stuff when I have to eat a meal at work. I'll eat a bigger breakfast, too. Any suggestions for snacking foods(aside from the obvious fruits & veggies)? Is celery & peanut butter a good choice?

Keep an eye on the knees when you start to do squats and/or deadlifts, then.

Yeah, I'll be keeping an eye on them, I don't feel like screwing my knee up permanently(it's a constant in all men on my dad's side; we all screw up our knees and we all think we're indestructible). Thanks again for the advice, man.

[Northcott]

Sadly, no place to do chin-ups, because my landlord won't let me install a chin-up bar into one of the doorways(I've already asked about that). But I'll look up bridges, vacuums, plans, etc.(I already know crunches, who doesn't?) and start working on those. I did a sprint down my block a few minutes ago, coming back from the laundromat; I'm officially dead.

No monkeybars or such at the park(s) near your place? 40 yard dash, rest one minute, do one set of chin-ups, rest one minute... another 40 yard dash. Wash, rinse, repeat. You'll want to curl up after 5 or six sets. Or better yet: Dash/rest/chins/rest/push-ups/rest/dash... etc.

Snacking at work shouldn't be a problem, my boss does it all the time, so I'll probably just start bringing stuff with me to work and sticking to salads and stuff when I have to eat a meal at work. I'll eat a bigger breakfast, too. Any suggestions for snacking foods(aside from the obvious fruits & veggies)? Is celery & peanut butter a good choice?

Aim for portable foods. Salads are always easy. Personally, I love chicken Ceasar. Nuts (unseasoned) are great. Milk's always a good source of protein. Tupperware rules.

Yeah, I'll be keeping an eye on them, I don't feel like screwing my knee up permanently(it's a constant in all men on my dad's side; we all screw up our knees and we all think we're indestructible). Thanks again for the advice, man.

Not a problem. And I know what you mean with the knees. Slapshot from the hatch marks to the left knee when I was a goaltender (I dropped and it missed the padding), and torqued the right knee in martial arts. Fucker now cricks and cracks whenever I go below parallel in squats, and gets achy if I go much above 200 lbs for reps in close-stance squats. I can get away with much more if I take a wide/sumo stance.

[Glass]

No monkeybars or such at the park(s) near your place? 40 yard dash, rest one minute, do one set of chin-ups, rest one minute... another 40 yard dash. Wash, rinse, repeat. You'll want to curl up after 5 or six sets. Or better yet: Dash/rest/chins/rest/push-ups/rest/dash... etc.

There aren't, but there are a couple of trees with limbs that look thick enough to support my weight, so I might give that a try.

Aim for portable foods. Salads are always easy. Personally, I love chicken Ceasar. Nuts (unseasoned) are great. Milk's always a good source of protein. Tupperware rules.

Agree with you, chicken Caesar's the bomb. I've been meaning to pack my lunch anyway(the only hold-up is we don't have a minifridge at work, there's no room for it). I'm sure I can grab some milk at one of the store's nearby.

Not a problem. And I know what you mean with the knees. Slapshot from the hatch marks to the left knee when I was a goaltender (I dropped and it missed the padding), and torqued the right knee in martial arts. Fucker now cricks and cracks whenever I go below parallel in squats, and gets achy if I go much above 200 lbs for reps in close-stance squats. I can get away with much more if I take a wide/sumo stance.

Well ouch, that sounds like it'd hurt like hell. I can't remember anything specific that was really bad I've done to mine(although I've been kicked in the legs several times and taken some bad spills down stairs before), I think it's just a case of hard use with mine.

[Northcott]

Agree with you, chicken Caesar's the bomb. I've been meaning to pack my lunch anyway(the only hold-up is we don't have a minifridge at work, there's no room for it). I'm sure I can grab some milk at one of the store's nearby.

Insulated lunch bags are cheap. For added insurance, an icepack or coldpack thrown in will help keep food chilled even further.

[Glass]

Good point. I think I have one of each of those floating around somewhere that I completely forgot about(it got tossed in with my stuff by an ex and I'm sure not returning it to her). You provide solutions, man. Thanks again.