Male Pattern Fitness: FanPosts

TRX Fitness

JW316 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:15:06 -0000

Anyone tried or had any success with the TRX Fitness Anywhere (see fitnessanywhere.com) program? In the interest of having an option during travel...and something to vary my routines, I'm thinking about giving it a run, but I'm curious to see/hear about other's experiences.

$200 seems a little steep for some straps...but the exercises seem pretty legit. Let me know your thoughts if you've given it a try...

Thanks.

Need Help Losing Weight

Benji5203 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:39:57 -0000

I could really use some help on losing weight for football season. i'am 16 years old and im trying to get in shape for the up coming football season. I will be entering my junior year in high school and i want to play DT. im about 6'0 and weight about 325. We start on 8/12/08 and i would like to get in the 290's by then. I need to buil dmore stanmia for the long runs we do but this will be difficult because i'm a asmatic. If any1 can give me a workout plan, i am willing to listen,learn, and follow it.

muscle makeup?

Ripped_Dude — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:24:18 -0000

ne1 tried the abs in a box for men kit from It Cosmetics (www.itcosmetics.com)? interested in getting it to get me a little mroe symmetry. would like to hear from someone who's tested it first if possible.

i compete in bodybuilding competitions and pride myself on my muscle definition, but it hink it could be more perfect. i know. lame to where makeup on body, but if it will help me win then i'm over it.

Which NRoL program for me?

Lovedaygt — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:06:56 -0000

Lou,

I don't really fit into any of the different types of guys that you listed in your New Rules of Lifting. (This is a great read, by the way.) I'll give you a little info about myself and perhaps this will help.

I am in route sales which means I am quite active throughout my workday. I typically work 48-52 hours per week. My workday consists of loading and unloading product on the route truck as well as merchandising the product in my accounts.

I am a 37 year old male. I am 5' 10" and weigh 180 lbs. My body fat is 10%. I would like to gain some muscle and keep my body fat in the 8-10% range. I don't necessarily want to get super huge, but I would like to add about 10 lbs of muscle. I have good muscle definition now and would prefer not to lose what I have in that area.

I've lifted off and on for 10 years now, but I've consistently lifted for 18 months now. I only became consistently strict with my nutrition at the end of March. I did the Making the Cut program by Jillian Michaels and lost 19 pounds in 22 days and got ripped. I've maintained the definition, but I don't seem to have added much muscle mass since then. The last program I did was last month's Men's Health monthly program which is a total body giant set type of workout. I lift on MWF, and I do intervals similar to the one in New Rules on T,Th, and S.

I am currently in week one of the the Break-In Program.

Thanks,

Help gaining muscle and weight

hinduplaya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:40:54 -0000

Hi, I'm new to this, but I was wondering if you guys wwould help me in reaching my goal. Right now, I am currently 122, but I wouldl ike to reach 140 by the end of August.

This is what my current meals look like:

Breakfast : bowl of cereal/milk

lunch: 2PB&J Sandwiches / chips

snack: after rw orkout protien shake

dinner: some indian food or basically anything

Now for my workout, I am currently starting to do 3 sets of 10 for wach muscle gtoup for 3 different exercises.

DAY 1 - Shoulders/Backs

Day2- Triceps/Legs

Day3-Chest/Biceps

Day4- Abs/Rest

Now, I currently use thiss system -- http://img.nextag.com/image/Marcy-Diamond-Elite-MD1559/1/000/005/620/378/562037848.jpg

I also have a few dumbells. The problem is I don't know what exercises I should do with each region. Could you guys help me out if you guys know specific exercises??

Also, I want to know what you guys think is the best way for me to eadch 140.

Thanks!!

Welcome to the new Male Pattern Fitness and SB Nation

clockwerks — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:35:20 -0000

Hey Male Pattern Fitness,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Male Pattern Fitness from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Male Pattern Fitness and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Male Pattern Fitness now has all the basic information about the sports and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of sports material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

How important are supersets?

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:31:21 -0000

I've just started doing fat loss II, and run into a problem- i can only use my gym at the busy times, which can make doing supersets difficult- invariably, by the time i've moved from one station to another & back again, someone else is using the equipment, meaning i've got to wait a while for them to finish & then set up for me again, so i can spend 2 or 3 minutes more than the normal rest time between each set.

is it worthwhile doing the supersets under these conditions, or am i better off doing each excercise's 3 sets at once then moving on?

Gimme more Lou!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:41:47 -0000

I am on Stage 3 of the New Rules for Women workout. I love this plan and am doing great. My body really started to respond with fat loss when I hit Stage 2, as opposed to Stage 1 where I mostly maintained my body fat percentage while building some serious girl-muscle. Now, in Stage 3, I feel like I am unwrapping a present. As the fat melts away (and it really is just melting away now) I get to see the sexy, toned muscles I have worked so hard for! Thank you Lou for your hilarious and easy to assimilate info and thank you Alwyn for your kick@ss workouts. I love you guys and I want more!

Lou, when are you going to launch a full-service interactive website for us? In my weight training fairytale land I imagine a website with your smug mug on the front page where I can go to log in my workouts and track my progress, find great eating plans, read motivational stories, get recommendations, read blogs and success stories, find product and supplement reviews, view pictures and talk to other people like me! I know that these sites exist for other programs that incorporate calorie cutting and cardio to achieve weight-loss, but as all of us Lou-fans know, building muscle while cutting calories is not possible. So those other sites out there just don't do it for me. There are other people out there too who would pay to play! So how `bout it?!

Cheers!

Weight lifting for women

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:05:14 -0000

Hey Lou,

I am on stage 2 in your book and I am really excited about what I'm starting to see. I'm looking forward to taking on the other stages. Afternoon workouts really help me feel accomplished and relaxed at the end of the day, which helps minimize stress caused by the thesis writing.

I have one question, though I know its early yet, but what do you recommend for maintenance? What do you recommend for the NEXT six months?

Pre Workout Meals?

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:22:42 -0000

I have faithfully followed the "New Rules of Lifting" for over a year now----I have successfully cycled through all routines and believe have assimilated the teachings of the book into a much healthier lifestyle.
I usually workout at 5 am----waking up that early has not been a problem for me but eating something that early has been a challenge.
I "force" myself to have a protein shake and a spoonful of peanut butter before my workout. After my workout I have another protein shake and then I go to work. The rest of my meals thru the day are small and balanced.
I have found a couple other authors suggesting fasting before working out----what are your thoughts on the importance of pre-workout meals? Is it advisable to skip that meal? The two or three times I've skipped it, I have felt better prepared to hit the gym.
The New Rules Lifter

Is the Smith Machine really so bad?

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:50:15 -0000

I think the all around condemnation of the Smith Machine by so many of the up-to-date trainers on the web is just a bit overwrought. Can we re-examine this much maligned beast? #1 argument against the Smith Machine-It does not require your muscles to stabilize the load. Well this is true, just as it is for all weight lifting machines, some of which are considered to have some value. As long as the lifter is aware of this, so what? #2 argument against the Smith Machine-It moves the weight in a vertical path putting unnatural forces on the lifters joints. After all, the barbell does not follow a straight line when you do a squat.This contention bugs me. It assumes that the body follows a curved path upwards in a squat in favor of the joints being used. I get stuck on this for 2 reasons: 1. I don't think that the curve upwards in a squat has as much to do with the set of joints in use as it does with a shifting center of gravity. The BB is on a curving path because the center of gravity is on a curving path. 2. In a practice where a reference is cited for just about every contention made I don't see any reference to any studies on Smith Machines. Do people get injured in Smith Machines? Of course! They also get injured in power racks and in free standing exercises. So really, is the universal condemnation warranted?
(By the way, I work out in a little corporate gym full of Cybex machines, no barbells at all, plenty of dumbbells and a Smith Machine. I use the Smith in 3 exercises out of 20+ that I do in a 4 workout rotation.Mostly I don't use the Cybex machines.)And I also have one unrelated question. Are you coming over to Columbus for the Arnold Fitness Expo?

Another newbie

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:12:40 -0000

Must be a trend....

So I did Break-in set B tonight and ran into two problems. Tried the deadlift with 25 lbs on each end (thought it'd be idiotic to start with 45s right off) and the bar was so low to the floor, I couldn't reach it without bending my shoulders forward. A flexibility problem that will work out over time? Or should I use some alternative to the deadlift?

And in the Stupid Gym Tricks category, there's nothing in the place that's the right height for a step-up. Everything's either 6 inches high or about knee height. What's a good alt exercise?

That said, set A was terrific. NROL seems to be what I've been looking for.

first workout

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:30:04 -0000

Today I went and did breakin A whoweeee!! I used a bare olympic bar for squats and got both sets. I stayed with the bare bar for the static lunge and I only got 10 on the 2nd set, couldnt get back up. As I worked the rest of the workout (I hit the reps) a pretty good headach developed. This is my first time lifting so Im not sure whats happening or why. Has this happened to anyone else? Im gonna get this and any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Old Time Theories

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:13:11 -0000

I've been wondering about this for a few days now.

Perry Raider and Vince Gironda (and many others) believed that breathing squats with heavy weights were the key to stimulating the metabolism. Raider is reputed to have gained over 100 lbs in one year doing just squats and pull overs. Gironda recommended 20 rep breathing squats to fire up a slow metabolism.

So I am thinking about a program based on these ideas. (I just need to find those old Iron Man magazines from the 70's first!)

What is your take on these old ideas?

Quick question ( more to follow )

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:01:08 -0000

Hi Lou, Im a 49 yr old male and new to the gym. I just finished reading NROL and am anxious to get started. In break-in workout the instructions call for superset with full rest then it says 60 second rest after each exercise. So do I do the two sets of lunges then rest? One more while I got your ear,workout a is Mon and b is Thur? Thanks for a great read cant wait to see results.

Supplements

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:51:16 -0000

I noticed in NROL there is little discussion about supplements. Do you have a particular stance on the use of supplements? I have used a variety of them (i.e. NaNo Vapor, Anator, Leukic), including protein shakes for much of last year. After reading NROL, I can see value in additional intake of protein, but wonder if other supplements are a waste of money. Would you say my calorie intake is more important than using aforementioned supplements in an effort to build muscle. Are these products of any use if my diet is flawed?

The Contract Diet

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:29:06 -0000

I am not original. I catch things moving through the ether and keep them or let them go. The Contract Diet is something I caught here at MPF.

A lonely sentence on a Tuesday caught my eye and led me to the story of some Yale professors who were signing contracts guaranteeing that they would pay up if they did not reach the goal stipulated in the contract.

I was off and running.

While the dons intend to put their idea on the web and make something out of it (stickK.com) I didn't see any reason to wait on them. I have a friend at work who needed this, and he needed it right now!

I am motivated by the group effort and wither away in the lonely pursuit of perfection. My friend gets moving with a less complicated reason.

Money.

He loved the idea.

After some discussion we decided to do it one contract at a time. Our first contract requires us to eat an Apple and have a non-caloric drink each weekday at break. It doesn't say you can't have anything else, but if you don't have the Apple and the drink you have to pay the other guy $5.

Our second contract requires a salad at lunch with a small can of cubed Pineapples substituting for the dressing. $6 for noncompliance.

We are working on our next contract now, putting together a complete fitness plan for the year.

And we are adding a member to our little group effort.

Substitute for cable seated row

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 20:24:40 -0000

Workout A of Hypertrophy I program (in NROL) includes cable seated row exercise. My home gym does not have any cable attachments, so I am unable to perform this specific exercise. What would you suggest as a substitute? Would any of the other rowing exercises (i.e. Barbell bent-over row) in the book suffice? How about an inverted row using barbell in a Smith machine?

New Rules of Lifting For Women

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:10:56 -0000

Hi Lou,

I know this is your "male pattern fitness" blog, but I just wanted to let you know what a fantastic job you did on the new book (New Rules of Lifting for Women). I finished reading it from cover to back this weekend and it covers much of my own training philosophies. I will certainly recommend this book to many of my female clients and am probably going to get the NROL book to see the difference and to recommend it for my male clients since the writing is different and more enjoyable for a male to read. :) I am so glad I was a part of what already has started to create a lot of buzz in the female lifting world, and what I'm sure will be a "breakthrough" as you say, for the general population. Thank-you so much for your kind acknowledgements and I wish you good luck as the book ratings continue to climb!

Thanks again and great job!

Michelle

Book of Muscle / NROL/

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:20:52 -0000

Hello Lou

I am 49 years old, been very active for over 2 year, and currently train in Muay Thai once week and go the gym 3 times a week adding either a 4 min Tabata or a 10 mins HIIT after the gym workout.

I have first come across a proper way to work out ever since reading Cosgrove's the "Inside the Muscle Lab" article in Men's Health in May/June 06. This article and subsequent (almost religious) reading of Men's Health have transformed the way I worked out and ate (a number of your articles were instrumental) ... What a waste have the prior years been!!!

Eventually debated to first either follow the workouts in NROL or Book of Muscle but decided to start with the later. I am currently in the last week of the beginner programme and the change is amazing ... I feel and look at 10-15 years younger and am looking forward to the intermediate stage.

My current dilemma is should I pick another routine for 10 weeks or so before starting the intermediate stage of the Book of Muscle. The current ones I am considering are Cosgrove's after-burn or secrets of martial arts conditioning or Chad Waterbury's 10/10 transformation or a number of stages from NROL. The main reason is as happy as I am with the changes I still want to burn more fat but do not want to lose the muscle that worked so hard to develop. I would love to know your thoughts.

I am a regular reader of your column and thanks to you discovered Andrew Hefrman's excellent blog.

Thank you for your excellent work in Men's Health, TAP, NROL, Book of Muscle , blog and for the changes that it inspired in me.