http://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Body-Fat ... avy-Method

It's not 100% accurate but it does the trick.

The proper way, but harder to do (access to equipment being the reason) is

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tes ... rwater.htm

Top Fat Burning Foods (courtesy of Muscle and Fitness magazine)

Brown rice - digests slowly and keeps inslin levels low.

Coffee - the caffeine raises metabolic rate and also augments strength and so is good pre-work out as it allows you to lift more.

Grapefruit - the chemicals that cause the acidity also help in weight loss. There was some truth in the faddy "grapefrut diet"

Green Tea - the active ingrediant is epigallocatechin gallante that increases metabolism. Green tea is also a powerful antioxidant and speeds muscle repair.

Salmon - contains omega 3 fatty acids that increase metabolic rate. The wild salmon is better (if you can afford it).

I am now leg pressing 175 k, more than twice my body weight. Aiming for 200 by year end (60 reps in sets of 10).

As I said in a past post my goal for sep-dec of this year is to get from 80kg to 70kg by xmas, so far I'm down to 76kg.
But there's something somewhat strange about what has happened to my body unknown to my self and that's how weak iv got, so far only able to bench 40kg compared to 100kg for reps 12years ago. Now I know you lose strength by not training, but to be able only to bench 40kg after a month back training is surprising.
Which brings me to this question, for anyone training and its about sport supplements, are there any tried and tested ones you can recomend as being of value,for energy/drive/focus,strength and recovery

I have a question.

Basically I dont have too much time for exercise, only really in the morning and the evening when i get home from work/ uni. I wondered if there was some simple techniques i could use that would improve any part of my fitness even if its over a long period of time.

At the moment i normally do 100 sit ups and some press ups after i wake up and before i go to sleep. Does that even make a difference? Fitness seems a little too mundane for me, even though i know it's important.

Thanks, Gatsu.

The obvious candidate is whey protein which is low calorie and high protein that is quickly absorbed. I have taking this a few months ago to speed up the muscle building process. I take one shake in the morning and one 30 mins after work out. The powder also contains BCCA's that help in growth. I also eat cottage cheese at night as this provides casein that gets the body through the night. I am also going to start taking creatine pre work out to enable greater lifting.

It is important to eat about 60/90 minutes before work out.

From what you say it looks like you are not taking in enough calories to sustain the excercise and so are losing weight but also losing strengh. It is not easy getting the balance right but as a guide I probably get through 3500/4000 calories a day, every day. I eat huge amounts of chicken for protein - at least half a chicken a day.

The sit ups will not make a huge difference as your body will adjust to routine exercise. You can make the sit ups and press ups more sophisticated by using an exercise ball (swiss ball) or doing sit ups with weights. What about running or cycling. Another simple technique is whenever you see a flight of stairs, bound up them 2 at a time.

I know that one person here talked about martial arts. I have been taking Tae kwon do for about 2 years. My much younger brother (in his teens) just became a black belt. Martial arts is not only about learning how to protect yourself, it teaches you to push yourself mentally as well. My brother was very shy a few years ago and is very sensitive he was being bullied a lot as school and would come home every day crying. Now that he is a black belt he has learned to be a leader not a follower. Most of the kids at school know he is a black belt and the bulling has stopped, he comes home happy most days. I credit T.K.D for his new found confidence level.

You get a feeling of pride as you move up the ranks. A lot of people came there very quit and shy people but now they all tell stories of how they take those good feeling of pride and confidence out side to work and their personal lives If you join a club you are joining a family that will push you and support you. Its also a great way to meet very nice people and sooo much fun.

Gatsu what areas would you like to improve, muscular fitness, raw strength-aerobic fitness/ect.
How long can you spend training per day ,if you have any questions at all, ill try and ans as best I can, for years ago I did a lot of training. Its just my knowledge of modern day sports supplements is well below par.
Thanks epicbleedinfailure for the supplements advice, I guess its time I started taking something to help things along.

another well worded summary by New Hope

alright, I've got an actual question. With HIIT, is it possible to incorporate stairs into it? My issue is that living in a city it's hard to find places where I can sprint uninterpreted for 30 seconds. Stairways would perhaps allow me to exert more effort while going more slowly, and there are a couple near me. If HIIT isn't possible, would there be a better way to utilize either of these two stairways;



the first picture looks clearly superior, but my car is broken so harder to get to. I can walk to the second picture, though that one is more crowded and has that annoying path in the middle which could mean plowing somebody over as they pass by. I walked by it today and saw some chick working out. Sounds good but damn it, the last thing I need when I'm figuring this shit is fitness chix watching me. Maybe when I know what I'm doing

(side note - I don't know about anybody else but chix in fitness clothing, working out and being all sweaty turns me on more than most pornos. Another motivation to get into this stuff, I guess. )

either way, I'm going to look for some accessible, open places to run, but am wondering if I should be looking for more stairwells also. In general I want to find anything that improves fitness without joining a gym as I'm cheap, socially anxious, lazy, and hate those kinds of sterile environments. I'd be throwing my money away as I'd never go, but I love being outdoors, so I'm looking at this route. I want to find things I'm going to actually do. I'll wait until I'm dead serious before going the gym route.

Yes, stairs will actually be more intense, so you might have to adjust.

Do a little more time on the slower/easier intervals

- Walk slowly up/down the steps for 2-3 minutes
- Jog up/down for 1 minute
- Go hard and fast for 30 seconds.


You can always find a small strip of a place to run back and fourth on... some people feel stupid doing this, but that's just a mental roadblock to overcome.

As someone said earlier, your body will get used to this routine and eventually it will be useless. You need to change it up. here are a few examples of @home workouts you can do to mix it up.

- Bodyweight lunges
- Lunges while holding garbage bags filled with water (or paint cans, or backpacks with stuff in them)
- Bodyweight squats / squats while holding some kind of household weight.
- Deadlift your couch/bed with stuff on it
- Find something to do chinups (or assisted chinups) on.
- You can curl garbage bags filled with water, or paint cans.
- You can find something quite heavy and do shoulder shrugs (such as a television set, concrete slab, desk/table with stuff on it

There are more, but I'm too tired to think of more. Google has lots, key is to mix it all up. Keep your body confused. Diet is the most overlooked part of fitness by average people. Most people just don't wanna worry about food at all - but it's probably THE most essential part of shaping your body. (not getting you in good shape necessarily. I know some pudgy-fat guys who can outrun me because they do tonnes of cardio but eat like shit.)

Yeah I was not a confidant person before taking my combat classes. Now I am. (in general at least)

Interesting thread. If I started working out now three times a week and followed a diet, how long do you think it would take a skinny guy like me to see some results (i.e. growing enough muscle to get female attention)? I've tried working out in the past, but I've always given it up after a couple of months, without any noticeable improvements in my body.

IMO if you were to train hard and smart for say 6 months, you'd be pretty darned pleased with the results Edison.
the first step is to get really motivated-focus on all the benefit's- and then comment 100% to the task ahead, pay the price. next get informed about bast practices-google, books, advice from people you know,online forums etc. your maybe what they call a "hard-gainer" somewhat slow to make desired gains, if so not to worry any as there's ways to "overcome" this.
Its late now but IL post some more tomorrow.