# Your workout routine



## civvy3840 (8 May 2005)

I was just wondering what you guys do for a workout or if you knew of any good ones. Mine sucks so I just got of it and am looking for a new one so if you guys could help out that would be great.


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## Zombie (8 May 2005)

Check this out:

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/30301.0.html


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## Gouki (8 May 2005)

Civy asking for our workouts wouldn't help you much because one size doesn't fit all. I'm working for a specific goal much like everyone else working out is working for one. My goal is probably not your goal, and my approach probably not your approach. There isn't just one workout you can do that will do everything for you.

IslandRhyno has a good workout there for beginners but whether or not it suits you is a different story .. it's a generic workout that should generally work for your average joe.

Can you be more specific with what you want to do?


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## canadianblue (8 May 2005)

Say what you'd like to improve on, or what your aiming for. Then I'm sure that alot of members will have genunine ideas for you to improve your workout routine.


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## civvy3840 (10 May 2005)

Well I was hoping to be able to improve on everything. But it is my upper body that needs the most work. I can easily do 300 pounds on the leg press at the gym. I have done the bench press and my max is 120 pounds. That's ok but I can only do 4-5 reps of those so I'm trying to focus on the upper body for now. Any suggestions would be great.


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## FredDaHead (10 May 2005)

civvy3840 said:
			
		

> Well I was hoping to be able to improve on everything. But it is my upper body that needs the most work. I can easily do 300 pounds on the leg press at the gym. I have done the bench press and my max is 120 pounds. That's ok but I can only do 4-5 reps of those so I'm trying to focus on the upper body for now. Any suggestions would be great.



Leg press strength doesn't translate into squat strength, or general strength. On the leg press I once had a 1RM of over 600, but on the squat it dropped to 2-300 (I don't remember exactly for the squat), so you should check it out. Also, for army-related fitness, you need to have endurance more than sheer strength.

The other guys can correct me on this, but almost every tip I've read on here shows this way.


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## civvy3840 (10 May 2005)

Frederik G said:
			
		

> Leg press strength doesn't translate into squat strength, or general strength. On the leg press I once had a 1RM of over 600, but on the squat it dropped to 2-300 (I don't remember exactly for the squat), so you should check it out. Also, for army-related fitness, you need to have endurance more than sheer strength.
> 
> The other guys can correct me on this, but almost every tip I've read on here shows this way.



I realize that in the army it isn't about sheer strength but I would like to be as strong as possible before going in, that will probably help me in the long run. as for the leg press thing I could do more than that but at my school the max weight is 300 ibs so I can't see how much I can actually do on it. I will try out the squats when I get in the gym next. I think I have pretty good endurance I can run for about 4-5 minutes as fast as I can before I start getting into problems, but I usaully just jog.


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## Gouki (10 May 2005)

Running as fast as you can for 4-5 minutes is in no way an indication of your endurance. All it is is a measure of your anaerobic, explosive sprinting ability. I too can run all out for that length of time, it doesn't mean anything for distance running.

You want to see how good endurance you have, run the 5k and time it.


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## civvy3840 (10 May 2005)

Steve said:
			
		

> Running as fast as you can for 4-5 minutes is in no way an indication of your endurance. All it is is a measure of your anaerobic, explosive sprinting ability. I too can run all out for that length of time, it doesn't mean anything for distance running.
> 
> You want to see how good endurance you have, run the 5k and time it.



I'll try on the weekend. Thanks for the advice.


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## Sh0rtbUs (10 May 2005)

Steve said:
			
		

> Running as fast as you can for 4-5 minutes is in no way an indication of your endurance. All it is is a measure of your anaerobic, explosive sprinting ability. I too can run all out for that length of time, it doesn't mean anything for distance running.
> 
> You want to see how good endurance you have, run the 5k and time it.



I've been told by some that one of the best ways to trim the fat and lose weight is focusing more on Anaerobic activity, rather than aerobic.

Whats your take on this? it makes sense to me... but i'm not exactly an expert in fitness.


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## Island Ryhno (10 May 2005)

Leg presses and squats are totally different strenght concepts, as an example I leg press 1500lbs but I can only squat around 400lbs. (those are large weight numbers, please don't try to match those, that's not ego, just a safety thing) Civvy, you shouldn't ignore your leg muscles, if you want to be fit and strong you have to exercise those muscles as well. The largest muscles in the body are in the Legs and Back and those are the parts that often get ignored. As far as increasing your bench press goes, you have to get stronger all around, not just the chest, many people make that mistake. A bench press involves your shoulders and triceps quite a bit as well. Try this to boost your bench, Add Tricep Bench dips and Tricep pushdowns, also add a military press and side raises to your routine. A stronger set of shoulders and Triceps will help with your bench press. (As a word of caution, you shouldn't always try for your one press max, try it once a month) Also about the muscular endurance thing, that's been ongoing forever, a strong muscle is an enduring muscle. In short, do what works for you, but the old lite weight high reps for endurance and heavy weight low rep for strenght does work. Hope this helps!


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## Island Ryhno (10 May 2005)

IRT interval training, it is a good way to increase your speed and distance, here is an article on such. Source is http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/conintrn.htm an excellent site for info BTW.


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## Zombie (10 May 2005)

Steve said:
			
		

> You want to see how good endurance you have, run the 5k and time it.



What are some times you guys can do 5k in?


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## Docherty (10 May 2005)

I would reccomend the Navy SEALs workout, I'm doing it right now and it's awesome! Oh BTW leg presses aren't good for your knees so be very careful.


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## Sh0rtbUs (10 May 2005)

Docherty said:
			
		

> I would reccomend the Navy SEALs workout, I'm doing it right now and it's awesome! Oh BTW leg presses aren't good for your knees so be very careful.



there are a surprising amount of exercises that can be hard on joints. It was recommended to me by my physiotherapist to ensure when doing exercises envolving joints, give them plenty of rest time between exercise periods. if you dont, you can actually begin to tear things that shouldnt be tearing, and wear out the joint. Arthritis is a big factor.I know my fathers knees are totally shot and absolutely filled with Arthritis from his military days.


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## Gouki (11 May 2005)

shortbus: yes it's very good for fat burning. By pushing so hard for an interval then dropping to a very low speed back and forth your body won't get time to adapt and it gets "tricked" into switching immediately to burning fat stores because it believes it needs the energy output from adipose cells. When I lost my 40 lbs over the last 4 months, I used high intensity interval training as my only form of cardio.

zombie: I'm aiming for 5km in 22-23 min, which (to me and from what I have observed) seems to be an average time


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## nawk (11 May 2005)

Sh0rtbUs said:
			
		

> I've been told by some that one of the best ways to trim the fat and lose weight is focusing more on Anaerobic activity, rather than aerobic.
> 
> Whats your take on this? it makes sense to me... but i'm not exactly an expert in fitness.



If your goal is to lose weight, your best bet is to focus on AEROBIC activity not ANAEROBIC activity.  Anaerobic activity is high intensity which uses carbohydrates (more specifically glucose) for energy.  Performing lower intensity aerobic activity for longer durations will utilize your body to burn fat.  Fat can not be burned fast enough for anaerobic activity.  Ideally to burn fat you want to exercise so you're heart rate is between 50-70% of your max heart rate.  Anaerobic activity literally means 'without oxygen'.  Your body can only sustain this for a couple of minutes at most.  My suggestion is to work on both aerobic and anaerobic fitness.


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## Gouki (11 May 2005)

Yes .. yes we know that. However if you want to lose fat you can do aerobic sure but if you have a good base of fitness and want to lose it fast I'd recommend doing ANAEROBIC, specifically the high intensity interval training I mentioned earlier.

I lost 40 lbs doing HIIT as my only cardio, no joke.

Not only that, so did this guy:

www.johnstonefitness.com

And here is his program where he makes frequent use of HIIT:

http://www.johnstonefitness.com/php/training.php  (edit: it doesn't bring you there for some reason, click on his Training Info link to see it)

So for the record, fat can be burned fast enough through anaerobic activity. It just depends on how you do it and HIIT is the best way. You can do 20 minutes of regular aerobics, after which your body switches to fat stores, or spend 20 minutes burning fat the entire time with HIIT, your choice.


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## BDG.CalgHighrs (11 May 2005)

Zombie said:
			
		

> What are some times you guys can do 5k in?



I usualy run 10K, 1.6k (mile) or 2.4k (1.5 mile).

Based on my times for those distances my 5k is probably between 17 and 19 minutes (according to this chart anyway)

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/runpred.htm

You should judge yourself based on how much you  improve rather than how fast you are compared to other people, though.


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## Gouki (11 May 2005)

17 and 19 minutes .. If I had those times I'd be totally set ............. bastard.


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## civvy3840 (11 May 2005)

Docherty said:
			
		

> I would reccomend the Navy SEALs workout, I'm doing it right now and it's awesome! Oh BTW leg presses aren't good for your knees so be very careful.



I have the web site for the Navy SEALS work out but I wasn't sure if it would be to great because It seemed to only focus on your abs and pushups but I'll give it a shot.

Island Rhyno 1500 pounds is a crazy amount there is no way I'd be able to that I'd end up pulling something. I wasn't planning on ignoring my legs... It's just that my upper body needs much more work then my lower body, but if people have anything that involves legs and stuff then I'll gladly give'er a shot.


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## BDG.CalgHighrs (11 May 2005)

Steve said:
			
		

> 17 and 19 minutes .. If I had those times I'd be totally set ............. bastard.



And If I could bench more than 190 and I'd be set...Being a skinny bastard has some advantages, but you pay for it elsewhere.


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## civvy3840 (11 May 2005)

Pte. Gaisford said:
			
		

> And If I could bench more than 190 and I'd be set...Being a skinny ******* has some advantages, but you pay for it elsewhere.



I am also skinny


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## Island Ryhno (11 May 2005)

Sorry civvy, I thought you said 150lbs, but it's 120lbs. :-[ My bad, however it doesn't matter, the principles I gave you still apply, even if your only benching 50lbs! I also posted a full body workout in the previously mentioned thread above, that will do you all over, now give'r  8)


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## Gouki (11 May 2005)

Hey Civvy, try out Rhyno's routine it looks pretty solid, here's the lin in case you missed it: http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/30301.0.html

He includes barbell squats .. why is that important especially for your upper body? Because squats foremost tax the overall body structure and the core, so there's a benefit. Something else which ties into that is that when you squat, you release more than a usual amount of growth hormone. The reason is because of how it taxes the entire body when doing heavy squats and because since the quads are such a large muscle, more is excreted. With your blood flowing, every muscle gets a dose. I think the same goes for barbell chest press as well but squats more so. Everyone should do squats for this reason alone.

But that all said, Rhynos routine contains it, but I wanted to point out that little tidbit. It should help you grow more when you do the rest of his workouts..

And like CJCM says in that topic, most of your training is supporting your training. If you weight train and don't eat - you won't grow, that simple. Weight training tears down your muscles, I hate it when people think they are making them bigger doing it, they are fooled by the feeling of the pump and the burn by the lactic acid. If you weight train and do not eat properly, you will get weaker! So make sure you eat your fair share of carbs and protein, and by fair share I mean eat a ton if you're wanting to bulk up. Don't eat junk/empty calories. And if you can afford it, supplement your diet with something like NL2 or a similar weight gainer.


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## Island Ryhno (11 May 2005)

Geez I have the dunce hat on today, first civvy I thought you said in your original post that you were having trouble getting your bench over 150lbs, so that's what I went on rambling about, then I say your post about my leg press and again I thought you were referring to my stating your bench press was 150lbs. So I have read the post's and I apologize for the dummy reply.   It's been a long day ok.  ;D


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## BDG.CalgHighrs (11 May 2005)

I highly recomend clean's (first part of the clean and jerk) and power cleans as a whole body work out. They're really good for explosive (fast twitch) strength. Also try doing front squats as well as the regular kind. The balance changes and you feel it in some different muscles. Both take some getting used to so even if you are pretty strong, start light if you haven't done them before.

I like this site. They have some good exercises, and routines for free. http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html

Also this is a good workout for those times when theri isn't a gym to be found http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler57.htm


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## civvy3840 (11 May 2005)

Island Rhyno today I was bench pressing 135 so I should be at 150 in a couple months... I'll probably start with your workout that you posted. By the way what's a military press?

Pte. Gaisford  Thanks for the links I'll look into them both some more when I get more time.


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## Island Ryhno (11 May 2005)

http://www.bodyforlife.com/exercise/video.asp That link will give you video clips of the exercises, the military press is the seated dumbbell press!  8)


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## spenco (12 May 2005)

Docherty said:
			
		

> Oh BTW leg presses aren't good for your knees so be very careful.



Yeah I screwed my left knee doing them and now it cracks every time I lock it, I found out later never to lock your knees while doing them.


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