I thought I would put this post up for people who are looking for good tips on exercise or training programs. Anyone have any good resources for exercise and health links?

Ha, looks like I posted my thread about this at the same time as you. Like I said, I am a big fan of Power 90/P90X. While I am at it, I should mention that while P90X gets a lot of attention, it's actually designed for people who have already been working out for a while, so if you (like, until recently, me) have not been working out regularly, I would recommend starting with the more basic Power 90. I was able to put on a ton of muscle, lose a bit of weight, and get a lot more energy and strength with Power 90.

Years ago I had gained 30 lbs by going to the traditional body building program of heavy weights and lots of good quality food. Last year I had leaned down doing a combination of weights and running. This year I wanted to gain a bit of size and looked at a couple of options: cross fit and traditional body building (i.e. work out 5 days a week with a major muscle group each day). I tried cross fit for a bit but found the variability to be to difficult to plan for. I went back to the traditional body building and have had great results. Now mind you there are a lot of guys at my gym who are doing this program so I think there is a competitive side for me to push heavier. Either way the new program is working. I am putting on weight (mind you I have a nice gut right now) and will hopefully gain another 5-10 lbs in the next 2 months and then will lean down. When I lean down I will be switching my program.

How have people find cross fit? How about about Power 90? What is the biggest difference?

I recommend leangains.com + Starting Strength as long as you aren't intermediate by these standards. Those standards are pretty lenient BTW.

Of course it really depends on what kind of physique you want in the end.

Have you tried leangains.com or Starting Strength? How has the program been?

(04-08-2011 01:49 PM)arron.craig Wrote:  Have you tried leangains.com or Starting Strength? How has the program been?

I am doing leangains right now, I got a consultation from Martin over there. I'm overweight, following his plan I'm losing around 1kg every week and increasing my lifts.

Starting Strength increased my lifts from novice to somewhere in between intermediate and advanced within 3 months. My nutrition was pretty shitty so I gained fat as well.

Both SS and my plan from Martin involve no more than 3 sessions a week, usually not exceeding 1 hour each. Of course, I'm doing some cardio on non-lifting days currently as part of the fat loss program.

Beginner package would be:

Rapid Fat Loss & Flexible Dieting by Lyle Mcdonald (for diet principles & proper diet philosophy)

Starting Strength & Practical Programming by Mark Rippetoe (for proper weight training)

You can get most of the information by reading articles on the following great pages here:

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/S...ength_Wiki

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/

http://www.ampedtraining.com/

http://www.maxcondition.com/page.php?2

http://myorevolution.no (use a translator)

http://weightology.net/

http://anthonycolpo.com/


It's basically "Mark-like" no-BS science based information in the Fitness industry. There is a lot of overcomplicated crap out there (big parts of tnation for example, P90x or the crossfit cult). Not that those won't get results. But they tend to focus on useless and even dangerous stuff which only requires more effort and leads to far less than optimal results. It's still some work to get in shape, but it's worth it.

I´ve been doing Starting Strength for the last 2 Month and I really like it
As a Beginner you get muscels really fast and its also very motivating since you can add more weights almost every Workout

I would highly recommend kettlebells. WHY?:

1- It takes up hardly any time so you can spend quality time getting to know cute girls instead of being lame and hanging out in a gym
2 - You can do it at home with one kettlebell
3 - Stick to just perfecting the kettlebell two-handed swing. So to start no fancy techniques needed. Then you can do a whole bunch of other stuff, circuits etc.
4 - Its a great cardio and muscle building exercise.
5 - I spent £40 on a kettlebell and dont need to buy anything else. Fuck gym fees. Spend your money on PU products and getting a pair of decent grown-up shoes chicks will dig. ;-)
6 - Nothing makes you feel more like a man than throwing around a heavy cannonball then jumping in a cold shower caveman style! None of this poncing about in the gym metro-sexual shit.

Ive been doing it for 6 weeks now and Im totally addicted. I work out about 10 mins 3 times a week and do it before breakfast. Im building quite a bit of muscle and lost some belly fat in the process. I'll be He-Man by the summer. Also my shoulders sit further back and are stronger which Ive been told really improves my presence. :-D

Kettlebell swing vids:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u_nqSnM2...F9188F32CD

There is a relatively new workout program called Athlean-X. It is similar to P90x in that it is for people who want to be leaner and more athletic. The workouts are shorter than P90x and you don't have to watch DVDs. The workouts are on PDF files. It is also half the price of P90x. Here's a link for more info:
http://athleanx.com

Also, here's the link where it compares itself to P90x:

http://athleanx.com/athleanx-vs-p90x/

I've used Athlean-X for about 9 months and have lost about 30 lbs and gained a lot of upper body strength. Give it a look. Peace.