aroundhky

Oh, I'm pretty much finished with my weight loss, other than about a pound or so a month now. But a few months after surgery I was progressing toward looking like that as most of my muscle had left me there for a while.

As long as I don't end up looking like Daniel Tosh (Tosh.O), I'll be happy.

My gas doesn't have any problem coming out and has never had problems exiting my body. Thus, it doesn't bother me at all. Key word there is ME. But I have heard quite a few people with it staying in there and causing discomfort, so I feel very fortunate.

Hate to hear that. Yeah, there's no sense in doing this stuff (exercise) if it shuts down your personal life or lessens your quality of life. The banana and shake afterwards is a very good start to recovery, I often do that myself. I'm a little baffled. Maybe you can lessen the intensity a little for a while until your body adjusts some? But the other end is, you don't want zero intensity either as just going through the motions really will not do your body any good. I wish you the best!

I normally like the soreness, but don't care for that delayed stuff. Or the kind that is so debilitating that I cannot potty without acting like a total paraplegic. Yeah, with my advancing age, it's a 3-4 pronged approach for me as well. Maybe it's just me, but when I started taking in more carbs with my protein afterwards, I seemed to recover a little faster that way as well.

I'm thinking this is the link that you saw. I saw it too, probably a month or two ago. http://www.nerdfitne...-do-them-right/ I'll often take off my sneakers when doing squats because years ago I had the same problem. With squats, usually you'll want to lean back on your heals and push through them instead of the balls or front of your feet. This is especially true with deadlifts if you do that lift. Gaining proper muscle balance will help with your form. So taking off my sneakers really helped me lean back into my squats. Also, varying your stances can help, but when I go heavy, I get a little wider stance. You have a good approach though, get that form/technique down, be patient with it and later you can eventually add weight. Good luck!

I wouldn't be worried about it either. It's just water and I've noticed when I stop taking it, I'll lose 3-6 pounds (water) in a week or two. It's fairly inexpensive and I think the benefits outweigh the water gain.....after all, it's not fat gain and a little water retention is temporary. I've got to give that CrossFit a try one day. That's a good goal, just keep in mind, as far as muscle goes, some parts take a really long time to develop. I think everyone is different, but for me, my back development takes a REALLY REALLY long time to get it where I want. But other parts, like shoulders, are easy for me and they are more responsive. Good luck bud!

I'm still experimenting with the creatine, so I don't have a ton of experience, but "Mark!" has a good bit of info about it. As for GNC, I wouldn't say that 100% of their stuff is crap, but maybe more like 90%. I think, with my limited experience with them, it's all about the bottom line and selling any and all products to all people, even if most of the products are not beneficial. I understand they want to make a profit, but I really don't think they have ANY concern for their customer's best interest......I mean 0%, which seems pretty obvious when spending time with the store reps, at least with the one's I've met. I went there twice in a month probably a year ago and haven't been back since and will never go back. I just need to feel that the people there know what they are talking about and be up front with me, not like a car salesman. If I get the feeling someone is just trying to push something on me to get commission, well I naturally feel that they don't give a rip about me. Just my 2 cents.......

And you still shouldn't...................

They (the chicas) still find their way to this room.............some of them just can't help themselves.

I rarely exercise in a fasted state, with the emphasis on "fasted". Unless it's walking in the morning, which I may do once a week. But I do like lifting on an empty stomach, with emphasis on "empty". As in I don't like to eat within an hour or two before my workout. Usually I lift at lunch around 12:30 ish, so I'll have at least a protein drink mid-morning (10 ish), if not some oatmeal or something along those lines. That way I still have some recent nutrition in me, but my stomach is for the most part empty, but I'm far from a fasted state (body completely void of ingested nutrition) at that point. I've found that works for me and may not be for everyone. I used to down a small to medium sized low/no fat meal about an hour before my workouts, but noticed I usually felt lethargic, slow and distracted during my workouts, perhaps because my body was still digesting that recent small meal. So when I switched to working out on an empty stomach (meaning recently emptied or nearly empty), it felt different at first, but I immediately had better more productive workouts and made better strides in strength and muscle gain. In the end, I say it's all about individual trial and error, be in tuned with your body and see what works best for you,

I do take the monohydrate and have been thinking of going to something else. On the Kre-Alkalyn, do you have to take it with a sugary drink? That's one of the hangups I have with monohydrate.....I now try to avoid the sugary drinks as much as possible and I'm wondering what is recommended to take with the kre-alkalyn? Thanks!

The BCAAs are brached chain amino acids that help prevent muscle breakdown during calorie deficits and/or very intense workouts. I think they are supposed to preserve the muscle by encouraging your body to use other types of energy (like fat) during exercise instead of using muscle as energy, or at least reduce the use of muscle for energy. They are in most Protein shakes, but if you don't want to down a whole shake and want to save some calories, just taking about 5 grams or so of just the BCAAs will still help preserve muscle mass with very few calories. That's more the "bro-science" explanation but it goes something like that............. I'll have to check into this Catalyst.....I've never heard of it.

I often like to workout on an empty stomach, but for some people (maybe most), that doesn't work for them. A Protein shake a half hour or hour before your workout can't hurt, unless you notice that it negatively affects your workout or your stomach doesn't tolerate it for some reason. But I just seem to be a little on edge if I am working out on an empty stomach and I'm able to have a more intense workout and my focus is a little better. After a workout I'll have a Protein Shake, wait about 15 mins and eat half a banana. Then my next actual meal, I'll make sure to have a lean protein (turkey or chicken) with a few complex carbs (broccoli, quinoa, carrots, unsweetened oats, etc). Everyone is different and their body's often react differently, but normally you'll want to at least get some lean protein in you within an hour after workout. On days I workout/lift I'll try to make sure I get plenty of lean protein and a few complex carbs for the first couple of meals after a workout. On days I don't workout (usually Sundays), I'll cut back the carbs and add in a few healthy fats.

I second that! But I'm aware that it's probably just a guy's perspective. By torn bicep scars are my favorite ones to talk about.... I like watching a person's face when I tell them about how it happened and ripped completely off the bone. Check out the inside of my forearms. One is a little more faded than the other since it was further back (10+ years ago).

I stopped seeing my scars when my stomach/chest hair grew back. Being the fairer sex, I'm guessing you are at a disadvantage here. I've heard and read that Vitamin E helps. When looking closer, I really noticed that mine had pretty much faded by 1 year post op. I'm sure there are other factors such as age, skin tone, size of scars, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about it and recommend that you go forward with that two piece plan for the summer.

Could be part environmental (those physical things that you are doing), and genetics. Anyone else in your family on either side have the same thing with their delts? Is it just one arm, or both? Maybe you need to switch it sometimes. Sorry, that probably is more of a joke for a guy........but I couldn't help myself. Seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's actually fairly impressive.

Dude............. :ph34r:

I take the NOW Sports Creatine when I take it. If you do a member search for "Mark!" (I think that's the correct name), he can tell you a lot about the supplement, benefits and how to take it. He seems pretty knowledgeable on the subject and can probably answer some specifics for you. Good luck!

I've heard of Animal Pak, but I'll have to be honest, I'm not completely sure what it is. But I do take creatine for a few months at a time. On days I lift, I take it right after my workout. On days I don't lift, I take it first thing in the morning. I can't tell that creatine helps me tremendously, but I think it probably does maybe help me get about an extra rep each set, and it's fairly inexpensive, so it's worth it to me. That's about the only extra thing I take in addition to what most of the other sleevers take.

Sounds like some issues that may need to be voiced to an objective professional.

Did you set off the "Lunk Alarm" like I did? It's probably a really good gym for some people depending on their goals and how they exercise.....but it's just not for me. Been there, tried that.