Hey guys

This thread is a call to BOTL that work out. I'm a 'gym rat' myself. My favorite muscle groups are back & shoulders.

I'm 46yrs young and still getting younger, hehe! How about you guys? Any of you into iron? I've been training for about 20 yrs(mostly on, some off). I still keep up with most of the young guys my weight. The others are on roids, hehe!

I'm smaller than I once was. I'm currently 178lbs. I've been as heavy as 194lbs(6%body fat)at my prime. I am currently on a full body circuit train routine.

9 exercises in three sets around the gym(27 sets). Squats, flat bench, lat pull downs, dumbbell shoulder presses, upright rows, tricep presses, leg extensions, curls, and hamstring curls. 3 times a week.

That is 9 different movements with only enough time between sets to get to my next exercise. This is a weight/cardio routine. You really never fully catch your breath. That keeps me very lean.

I do in order; squats, bench press, lat pull downs, shoulder presses, upright rows, tricep presses, leg extensions, bicep curls, and hamstring curls. 3 times a week. Abs and calves twice a week.

I take creatine and a good high protein/medium complex carb/low fat diet. I cook almost of all my own meals(and my wifes). What are you guys doing?

Mike

PS: I've just recently moved up to 315lbs @ 6 reps in my squats! That's 140lbs above my body weight. That's on this circuit train routine. I was at 275lbs(8-reps) about 6 weeks ago. This works! Got this book through mens health magazine. It's got great information.

Tranny, I'm just a "cigar smoking rat"!!!!!

My excercise is grabbing my lighter to torch another cigar. !!!!!! How you been my friend?

Uh......well.......so Tranny.....do you like movies about gladiators? Spend much time in the sauna?

Just razzing you. I'm a gym person as well. I try to put in a good 2-3 hours a day. I get nervous when I don't go....stressed.

Wow, I wished I would have the energy to workout. But lifting a Cigar with my left hand, and a Scotch glass with my right hand is about all the Exercize I get. I want to get up to the tall ice tea glass class, but it's hard.

Not really, I workout about an hour every morning at the gym down the street. I don't want to get Hulked up, I just try to stay in shape.

Very commendable Tranny!

I've been procrastinating because I only get 3- 5 hours of sleep per night. After work, I'm exhausted & barely squeeze in a cigar and the occasional drink.

However, I hope to be starting up a routine in the near future.

The room is already set-up with the bench, weights, stationery bike, "stepper", and a Health Rider- not to mention radio, tv, and Rick's mechanical bird.

Was a wrestler for 12+ years. While I've long since "retired" from that, I've always been in the gym 3-4 days per week. I go after work and find that it is an excellent way to clear my mind.

TrannyMk, you ever try to add hindu squats to your workout? Pretty good addition to the standard weighted squat. May not want to do both on the same day, though.

Mens Health is a good magazine. Havent had a subscription in a few years, though. My dad gets it, so I just read it when I'm over at the house visiting.

I have just gotten back into the gym thing. A great way for me to release work stresses. I am fortunate that I can get there over my lunch break.

I usually do cardio 3x a week and I will work my shoulders/back, chest and arms, and legs and abs on the other 3 days. I take 1 day off completely.

The nutrition is the hardest part for me to get down. I always seem to bings on crap food.

I chase my three year old around the house and yard. It keeps me at a steady 255. If I would ditch the beer in my hand, perhaps I would lose a little.

I am not going to mention my favorite muscle, but I try to get to the gym 4 or 5 times a week, do 30 minutes of aerobic on the body trak, then the pneumatic machines for back, shoulders, and arms.

i don't like lifting heavy things at work. i can't bring myself to go before or after work to lift heavy sh*t

I've been a gym rat off and on since High school. I weighed 155 when I joined the Navy, 165 when I left boot camp and maintained about 190 for years (my perfect weight).

Now i'm 212, but I haven't lifted weights in some time. I like doing triceps. Legs are my least favorite.

Oh no. Here we go. Without getting too specific...

Monday: Biceps/Chest (5x5)

Tuesday: Triceps/Upper Back (5x5)

Wednesday: Legs + deadlifts and squats (5x5)

Thursday: Biceps/Shoulders (5x5)

Friday: Triceps/Lower Back (5x5)

Saturday: Total Body - bench press, deadlifts, dips, squats, preacher curls, seated rows, military press (2x15)

Complex movements, mostly, with high weights on 5x5, and moderate weights on 2x15. I run 4 miles after each workout.

Supplements: Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey, Metacort, Yohimbine HCl, Advant Labs Sesathin, Black Star Labs GO!, ephedra (yeah!) and an insane energy stack comprised of GXR, Heat and Power Jolt. Yes, I am a chemstry experiment.

I'm a 12 oz curl man myself.

what andy and redneck said.

Used to be. Spent 5 days a week in the gym when I was in the Army. No time now 4 kids.

chest was always my favorite. if you can't bench 350+ keep trying.

My training regimen was very similar to Tranny's for many years. I still try and hit the gym six days a week. When I can't get to the gym, I exercise at home where I have free weights, a Schwinn Airdyne, a Pilates machine, and a piston based weight training machine. At age fifty, I vowed to reduce the weight training and refocus on flexibility and cardio. Regretfully, I've had a difficult time changing the regimen and still lift heavy. At 60, I still bench press 210 lbs. on a regular basis, 40 pounds over my current body weight. It's 105 lbs. less than I benched in my early thirties. Aging isn't fun. I always used 50 lb. weights for bicep curls, but have had to drop down to 40s, and some days, 35s. My favorite exercise was always "flys" with 40 lb. weights. Now, I'm paying the price for those flys. The ligaments that run from my rotator cuffs to my pectorals are scarred, frequently causing extreme chest pain. I used to do heavy squats; now I have chronic sacro-iliac dysfunction as a result of them. I did latismus pull downs for years with the bar coming down to the back of my neck...the result: minor fractures of the C1 and C2. Fortunately, people are being taught to pull down to the chest now, not the back of the neck. This was an avoidable injury! I often dead lifted with an alternating hand grip, now I have L4, L5 herniated discs.

I also took creatine, DHEA, and brewer's yeast. It really increased muscle mass, but once you're off it, the muscle rapidly reduces in size.

In all honesty, I think if I had to do it over again, I'd only use low weights with increased repetitions and no dietary supplements, particulary the DHEA. My cardio is good. My knees can't handle running, so I set the treadmill at 4.5 mph and go 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how I feel or I'll ride the Airdyne and keep the rpms at 55 to 60.

I recently had a cardiac stress test. I was told that for my age 6 to 12 minutes would give an accurate reading. I went 22 minutes before petering out.

My goal, in the coming year, is to move my entire exercise regimen to yoga. I've taken two classes in the past few weeks and am amazed at how much better I feel the day after class. I also want to drop my weight to a very slim 155 lbs; what I weighed for a few years after I was discharged from the army in 1969.

Definitely a gym freak here, althought that sort of comes with the job description. I've used this last year as an opportunity to work hard on improving my fitness, and I usually spend an hour to two each day in the gym. Of course, there really isn't much else to do here besides work out and smoke cigars, so I use what time I have available as best I can.

I'll try to keep this as simple as possible but forgive me if I go a little overboard, I am a personal trainer and bodybuilder.

First off I'm a little over 6 feet tall and right now weigh around 248 lbs with 10% body fat. I've been as high as 273 lbs. This is my and my lifting partner's routine.

Monday: Chest-flat bench, incline bench and some sort of flyes, either dbell or cable, flat or incline.

Tuesday: Legs-Squats, leg press, hack squats, leg extensions, lying hamstring curls, stiff legged deadlifts and single leg standing hamstring curls.

Wednesday: Arms: Biceps- Barbell curls, dbell curls(either sitting upright or inclined), reverse barbell curls or hammer curls. Triceps- close grip bench press, dips, two hand dbell raise behind head, pushdowns, dbell kickbacks.

Thursday; off

Friday: Shoulders- Military press(either barbell or dbells), upright rows, leaning side dbell laterals, incline reverse flys for rear delts.

Saturday: Back- Deadlifts, bent rows, chin-ups, front pulldowns, seated low cable rows, 1 arm dbell rows to waist.

Sunday:off

Abs and calves are done 3 times per week with a variety of different exercises.

Compound movements get at least 4-5 sets with lower reps, 6-10, always to failure though.

Single group movements get 3-4 sets with slightly higher reps, 10-15, still always to failure.

Cardio is rarely done, just don't need it with the workouts we do.

Nutriton is kept at a premuim. High protein, medium carbs and medium to low fat. Supplements include vitamins, protein powder, creatine, ephedra, and protein bars for snacks.

Like I said up above I am a personal trainer and if anyone has any questions about any aspect of training feel free to ask and I'd love to help. trainerchad at hotmail dot com

trainerchad wrote: "Cardio is rarely done, just don't need it with the workouts we do."

"Supplements include vitamins, protein powder, creatine, ephedra, and protein bars for snacks."

Your statement that cardio isn't needed requires clarification. For body building, intense circuit muscular training, raises the pulse and respiration, however, long term, for cardiovascular health for the non-body builder, cardio is absolutely vital.

Endorsing creatine monohydrate and anything which includes ephedra is a dangerous position to take. There's no doubt that creatine supplementation, when taken in appropriate dosages, prescribed by a certified nutritionist may assist in building muscle mass, but there are also dangers. In 2001, the French FDA found a clear correlation between the taking of high dose creatine and cancer. Correct dosage, determined by a registered, certified nutritionist or sports physician is imperative, if one is to take creatine.

Ephedra, is often designated as ma huang. Its principal active ingredient is ephedrine, which the FDA, within the last couple of years, ordered taken off the market in dietary products because of a highly increased risk of heart attack, anxiety, mood change, and nausea. Anyone who uses any product with ephedra is exhibiting extremely risky behavior. The reality is that many people are looking for that quick shape-up and ephedra causes increased pulse rate, which causes an increased caloric burn when the body, particularly the coronary system, should be at rest.

Yes I should have clarified my lack of cardiovascular exercise better. I don't do cardio, never have in the past and never will in the future. Now I'm not bashing cardio workouts at all, far from it. I'm saying with the way my workout partner and I do our routines we don't feel it's beneficial to our goals. It's just that not many people have the drive to work out at the level we do. It has been proven that your metabolism is increased for several hours after doing cardio workouts. It has also been proven that metabolism stays much higher and longer, over 24 hours, after a hard intense weight training session. Also not everyone is nearly as strict when it comes to our eating habits.

I often hear the argument, "but what about the benefits my heart and respiratory system get from cardio?" Trust me, if you did the kind of workouts that we do, you wouldn't have to ask. It's pretty obvious that our heart and lungs are working pretty darn hard.

Let it be stated that I am not recommending this type of workout for everyone. It all depends on your own personal goals. For me, I like being a big guy and lifting a ton of weight. It's the best rush possible for me. Others are happy to be what general society deems to be "in shape" and do light weight training and cardio.

Now regarding the supplementation issue. First off Steve, why in the hell are you taking creatine at the age of 60? I'm not saying that to be mean. It means I'm impressed that you are obviously that into working out that you cared enough to use it. Bravo on your part. I have something to shoot for!

Secondly I'm not gonna go by any research that the French did. Period. I've read thousands of other articles that have never shown creatine to be that dangerous. Obviously if you take too much of anything it's not gonna be good for you. If you are going to use creatine, talk to a nutritionist or get a good quality mag like MD and read some of the articles relating to creatine use. Long term creatine use is a waste anyway. It should be cycled on and off like most reputable manufacturers recommend. You are never going to get huge on taking creatine alone. It is just an aid to assist you in lifting more weight in your workouts.

Now on to the ever-touchy subject of ephedrine. In case you haven't heard a federal judge just overturned the ban on it saying there wasn't sufficient evidence that ephedrine alone caused all the problems with the sports players that was headlining all the sports pages a year or so ago. Like I just said up above, if you take too much of anything it's not going to be good for you. These people that had adverse reactions to it all had some sort of pre-existing condition. Heart problems, obesity etc. They should never have been taking it in the first place. Read the bottle people! Take some responsibility for your actions. Yes, if you are thinking about taking ephedrine go see your doctor first. Make sure you don't have any pre-existing conditions to worry about. Tell your doctor what you plan on doing. That's what they are there for. Taking ephedrine as the manufacturer says and under a doctors care is a very effective aid in working out. Yes it helps to burn fat although it is not a "miracle drug" by any means. Most people in the "iron game" use it as a stimulant, such as caffeine, and also to improve their focus, which taking ephedrine in normal doses has been shown to do.

In summary, I'm not saying that everyone who wants to lift weights and workout should follow my advice and the routine I do to work out. It's just what I do and it works for me exceptionally well. I am never going to tell anyone to use any specific supplements. If you ask I'll give you my opinion, but it's just that, my opinion from my experience.

i would work out... but its too much like exercise.

wes