One thing I learned and heard from the beasts of the lifting world.

Abs are prepared in the gym and made in the kitchen.

Great thread going.

I have a few questions buddy.

Is cardio before a workout recommended? Ive just started to do HIIT training and not sure if it shouldnt be done before training.

Also, how much is to much protein shakes. Is one after workout, then one at night safe and good?

Thanks in advance, most appreciated.

by the way, anyone here lives in australia, nsw?

Cardio is recommended but do it AFTER your workout.
Start with just a quick warm up, do your work out and finish with 10-30min of cardio.
If you start with the cardio you burn out your energy and you can't work out as hard as you would want to, but after a workout you will usually have at least enough energy to burn some excess fat for a few minutes! And doing cardio after your workout means doing cardio after you already burned your glycogen resources (your primary energy) which means that anything you will burn after that will be stored fat.
There is one draw back, if you would workout really hard, say for an hour, and then doing cardio for another full hour without any food in between you will start burning muscles, and you don't want that!

Regarding protein shakes:
If you take the big name brand protein shakes they always contain a lot more than just protein, things like carbs and fat that will make you gain some unwanted weight.
I use pure soy protein powder (found it at trader joes) no extra chemicals, nothing but pure natural protein, it doesn't have a fancy name, it is cheaper and it works just as good, what you really need after a workout is a load of about 30g of protein and I foun this the best way to get it.
If you take pure protein, your body will only absorb a certain amount, the rest will be past as waste (number 2 in other words). This is why protein shakes may cause you to pass gas, not a very big deal though, it's not like some of the diet pills that gives you diarrhea lol
The best way to calculate how much protein you should eat per day is to take the same amount of grams of protein as your body weight in kg.
In other words, if you weigh 80kg, you should eat 80grams of protein per day.

So if your protein shake contains about 25g protein which is standard then two a day is no problem.

Hope this answers your questions!

_________________
.............
Slywalker

10 things I wish someone taught me about Pick Up 10-things-i-wish-someone-taught-me-vt53087.html

Great post! Much appreciated. Should shout you a protein shake sometime

Ah thanks for clearing up the cardio before or after workout scenario. How about if i eat some fruit and have a protein shake after the weights, then do HIIT. Will this be effective? This past few days Ive did HIIT then went on straight into weights, then afterwards eat some fruit and chicken/tuna sandwich.

Where abouts I live, all the shops sell the big name stuff so not much choice really. I got two tubs, WPI and WPC. WPI is for straight after training, and WPC for night time, would you recomend having one in the morning as well? The question about taking too much protein shakes is if its bad for the body, especially having one at 4 in the afternoon then one at night. One of my friends was a amatuer bodybuilder but had kidney problems from having too many shakes.

afd

That was a great post, copied and pasted onto a word document

Would you say NO explode works, and when do you take it?

haha actually NotePad because so many people ask me for my diet, exercises, and routine on bodybuilding.com's bodyspace...
I would definitely say NO-Xplode works. ive tried Superpump250, Shock Therapy, the Xyience pre-workout stuff, and NO-Shotgun. obviously, its very individualistic, but it has the best taste, best pumps, and doesnt give you the shits like Superpump250. Ive used it for the majority of my lifting.
the lable says take it like 45 minutes before workout, but i take it 5-10 minutes before i start to workout.

Whats the link to your bodyspace? Im always on bodybuilding.com and looking at everyones bodyspace cause it keeps me motivated

Could you please read my posts above and slywalkers and comment on them?

NO explode here I come

My friend told me to take it for two weeks, two weeks off etc to let the body rest

gotta challenege you on the drop the fat intake to 10-15% of total caloric intake statement, slywalker... once you drop below 20%, natural testosterone levels have been shown to decrease, and im sure you know that is counteractive in both building mass and burning fat... not to mention, libido.

Oh, and "Big Name" protein shakes dont necessarily have a lot of carbs and fat... Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey is like 1g F, 3g C, and 24g P per serving. I'd imagine ON is one of the top 3 reputable brands for protein. (i think its won top supplement of the year for like 4 years in a row on bodybuilding.com, too)
Again, this is incorrect. Beer bellies come mainly from the calories in alcohol. 7 cal/gram of alcohol is where the light beers with 4 carbs get their 100 calories... what the alcohol does is not only shut down testosterone production and cause dehydration, but it also starts the process of storing fat. it is split into two compounds: fat and acetate. the fat travels through the bloodstream around the body to be stored as fat. the acetate is taken into the bloodstream and used as the primary source of energy, and doesnt use carbs, fat, or protein for energy.
yeah, not really important in this situation, and in no way do i mean to call you out, Slywalker, just some of the stuff you've said seems a little 'off' imo.

i really only glanced through a couple of Slywalker's posts and found these small problems. ill do a better read through tomorrow, scorpio1.

Long and very biased posts from frmtx4chx gave me the need to clarify a few things, first of all thanks for the inputs, but please look at things from the big picture.
There isn't one truth to be healthy, fit and muscular, there are many different ways to achieve this, and if one trainer recomends one way and another trainer recommends a different path doesn't mean that any of them is wrong.
Anyone who wish to improve their body must also start at THEIR level, which means that most people will start at a different level.

To answer a few questions that came up in the latest posts.
One question that came up was should you drink a protein shake in the morning? NO, you should no, eat a balanced breakfast, with lots of carbs if you are working out a lot, SPAM are great, you need the energy in the morning to be able to carry out the long day.

If you are on a high protein diet and eat too few carbs or if you simply consume crazy amounts of protein you are in the risk zone for a disease called SPAM, SPAM starts wit smelly breath and smelly urine, later on it accumulates to liver problems and may even cause heart disease.
The cure for the early stages of SPAM is eating carbs, mainly whole grain. if you are eating less than 130g of carbs you are immidiately in the danger zone for SPAM.
Again, I gave the advice of eating same number of protein as your body weight in kgs. Example: If you weigh 75kg you should eat 75g of protein.
But please note that this is if you wish to grow muscle, if you are happy with where you are you can cut down a bit on your proteins, but don't go lower than 10% of your total diet.
And about protein shakes, no they don't all contain fat and carbs, I never said that.
But, the truth is some of them do, and some of them contain unwanted chemicals, the best way to get the protein you need is simply to eat healthy foods rich in protein, but if you don't want that I personally recommend the pure soy protein since you don't have to be a scientist to understand what you are drinking. And also it is a lot cheaper.

And about carbs late at night. Fat that you eat accumualte in your body as fat, while carbs that you eat are stored as glycogen, glycogen is stored energy that will be used for fule before fat will. Glycogen that is not used will be converted to fat and stored in your adipose tissue, and will appear as flubber under your skin.
Personally I eat plenty of carbs each day, but after 8pm I usually don't eat any, because carbs are fule and you don't need them for sleeping, protein can be beneficial before sleeping since it will rebuild your muscles during rest.
And Yes of course beer contain a majority of calories from alcohol, it says so right on the can, my point was simply that it also contains huge amounts of energy that we never use. We can't, most of all we drink beer late at night and go to bed afterwards, also as you know alcohol will slow you down and don't ever try to workout after 10 beers it is not a good idea.

When i comes to cutting fat from your diet, most nutrition advisors and dietists recommend a dail fat intake of 15-25% of your total calorie intake, depending on what you wish to achieve.
I have throughout my career been very successful in helping my clients get a desirable six pack, and the way I have done this is to cut the saturated fat completely and in the first month or two of their new workout program I drop all fat in their diet to about 15%, but after that they should go back to about 20-25%. If you want fast results you have to kick start your diet, kick starting the workout is fairly dangerous to joints and bones and should be done with care. However, you should always eat safe and avoid deficiencies which is why should absolutely not cut your fat completely.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you get advice from someone else is that YOU are different from everyone else, if there was one workout method that worked for everyone the tabloids wouldn't have anything to write about.
So keep this in mind, every advice you follow is experimental, no matter how many people have done it before.
Take this advice from someone who tried every method there is, my clients have questions about different workouts and the best way for me to find answers is to actually do it. Always take what you read in books with a grain of salt.

There are however a few truths to keep in mind, anabolic steroids are bad, food is good, working out is better than not working out, and the best advice I can give you is keep a log of what you do, write down what works for you and keep track of your previous workouts.
One day you look yourself in the mirror and you think "damn I'm Sexy!" when this day comes you want to know how you got there!

And again frmtx4chx, keep your mind open, if you enter the world of fitness do it with an open mind, there is no handbook about your body, and if if there was everyone would have a different one.
There isn't one successful diet and exercise method there are thousands.
This isn't a forum for exercise and diet, it is a forum for picking up women, I simply offered my help to aid guys to look better in their persuit of beautiful women.

_________________
.............
Slywalker

10 things I wish someone taught me about Pick Up 10-things-i-wish-someone-taught-me-vt53087.html

Hey, I did not have time to read whole topic so I decided to post you one question (simple one though)

I am in pretty good shape, I got good abs, back, arm and leg muscles. But I have one problem, I have a bit fat (not much) and little love handles around my stomach.

When I "flex" my abs I can see my 6-pack, but still that little fat is disturbing me.

What is the easiest and the fastest way to get rid off that?

Age: Turning 17
Height: ~180-182cm
Weight: -+ ~65kg

I have hobby where I need to run a lot, training 3 times per week.

like i said Sly, i didnt mean to call you out or be biased in what i said. i agree with the majority of what you said, but i was just pointing out a few discrepancies with what you wrote because scorpio1 asked me to.
i realize this is a forum for picking up women and that is the reason why im a member. im giving my help to help those less informed increase their self confidence by achieving their physical goals as well...

Reply to Waewae
Hi, I'm glad you posted your age here, that changes the situation a lot, a person in your age doesn't need and shouldn't diet, especially not if you are already in good shape.

If you were older I would have suggested a speed reduction of fat to lose it quickly and then start working hard but since you are so young this won't be necessary.
When you are really young say 6-12 years old your metabolism is amazing, you can eat whatever without gaining weight. But after puberty as you get older your metabolism starts slowing down, it could be that this is whats happening to you.
You simply have to be a little more careful with what you eat.
I'm not saying you have to start counting calories, but start thinking about how your daily diet look.

Eat five smaller meals per day insetad of just one big one, this will make your metabolism faster.
Choose white meat before red meat. Choose liquid fats instead of solid fats.
Start every day with drinking 16oz (500ml) of cold water before breakfast, this will also kickstart yout metabolism.

I know you asked for the fastest way but by doing it this way instead you can still workout as you are used to and you don't have to go through any disgusting diet plans.
Visit mypyramid.gov to organize a healthy meal plan for yourself, it is fast and effective.

If you keep this up and don't soak yourself in junk food I'm sure that you will have washboard abs real soon!
I hope this answers your question, if you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

_________________
.............
Slywalker

10 things I wish someone taught me about Pick Up 10-things-i-wish-someone-taught-me-vt53087.html

frmtx4chx and slywalker, I didnt mean to start a arguement or anything, my apologies

I meant to say to frmtx4chx to read my questions and slywalkers comments and to add anything more.

Slywalker, would you say drinking cold water before breakfast is effective and not just a myth? Thanks for the tip nice and easy to do!