Huge hit to the confidence today...

[afc_recovering]

So today was the first day of phys. ed and I was feeling like a giant getting changed with people saying stuff like holy sh!t how much do you bench and all those types of questions. Now let me point out that since I had PE last I weighed 125 lbs. and I now weigh about 165 and I like to think it's mostly muscle. Well today we did fitness testing. I was excited until I found that we were doing the 14 minute run. Most people (females included) expected me to be the fastest because I am muscular and have a shredded six-pack. When you add in that last year I got 100% each time because I used to go on runs every single morning and you've got high expectations.

Well as you've probably figgured out I have been on a bulking diet since I last ran. Check out the bulking forum 'absolutely no fvcking cardio' I believe it says. Well I followed that and I'm beginning to have doubts. I finished with the same marks as some fat kids, with many girls finishing ahead of me. Although noone really said anything, I was mortified. My football coach was disgusted (also PE teacher) and said I had better not been trying. The scary part was that I was trying. Now I've been timed and I'm significantly faster than I was last year but I've lost my stamina.

Not only am I worried about my football and hockey seasons, I'm worried about the overall health benefits. I mean sure I'm eating well, looking amazing and getting big, but wtf I can't even run 3km? I'm worried and seriously considering taking up extreme cardio to get back to the fitness level that I was able to achieve before..

Just a rant really,
Comments, Questions?

 

[spesmilitis]

ITs a trade off: bulking for cardio. I hear working out your core muscels helps.

Maybe kick up the intensity of your training.

 

[PeterNorthisawesome]

Damn I had that same experiance too when I gained about 10 pounds over the summer and didn't do any cardio. I was so out of shape I was cut from my basketball team! I was almost cut from baseball too which I made since freshmen... huge blow seeing your friends make the team.

So I decided that I would do a little cardio each day to keep in shape. You can still gain muslce/mass by lifting but you have to supplicate the calories you used up in cardio. Since you had a good bulk up cycle now you have to concentrate on becoming fit since ur an athlete. Football players get big during the off season and then trim down during the season. So if you want to be a good athlete I suggest you start running and gettin back to shape.

NOW MY TURN TO RANT! OMG F*CK I injured my wrist and now I can't do anything for a month so my gains over the summer will be GONE!

 

[ThreeStorms]

While appreciating Diesel's posts, I don't like the part where he says no f...ing cardio. Simply eat more carbs on cardio days and you won't loose muscle. I am running 1-2 times a week. Keep it relatively short (under 30 minutes) and intense. Keeps you healthy, fit and charges your energy.
Plus, it looks stupid when a really buffed up dude breathes like a steam train when climbing a few stairs.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Trying to gain size while doing no cardio is foolish: Diesel's guide pertains mostly to skinny f*ckers who can't put on weight to save their life. But for the rest of us, cardio is necessary to maintain/drop bodyfat while still getting bigger, maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system etc.

Also, weight gain, be it fat or muscle, usually corresponds with a hit in athletic perfomance. Dragging 40 extra lbs around regardless of their composition, is gonna be harder than not, y'know?

I actually did more cardio when I was trying to get bigger. It's essential.

 

[blinkwatt]

NOW MY TURN TO RANT! OMG F*CK I injured my wrist and now I can't do anything for a month so my gains over the summer will be GONE!

Now would be a good time to give machines a shot,just so you don't lose everything you worked hard for.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Peter - if you actually gained good solid muscle then a month shouldn't lose you much at all. If you were just getting a pump then yeah, you'll shrink. But a month is nothing if you paid your dues.

 

[afc_recovering]

Alright so today we did the second part of the fitness training and I felt a whole lot better. We did chin-ups (100% for me, part of my routine), bench press rolleyes: joke of a weight I had to do) then push-ups and sit-ups which I excelled at and finally we did 100m sprint. I was thinking wow, here comes the embarassment again. Especially because I was never much of a sprinter. Well to my delight, my newly acquired powerful leg muscles propelled me to the 3rd best time in my class of 90 (combined classes) behind 2 track stars. Thanks for the comments guys, I'm going to try to to work some cardio into my routine, but I'm definetly feeling a lot more confident.

EDIT: Haha, just for laughs I'd like to add in that for the bench press that you had to bench press 60% of your weight on a SMITH MACHINE. LMFAO I had to do 100lbs. on a machine... pretty sure I could've done about 50 reps... The best part was that some guys were complaining about the weight and one of the gym teachers agreed with them:crackup:

 

[djtdot]

Which cardio would burn more fat? Playing pretty intense basketball for around 30min or on the crosstrainer for the same time?

 

[Mctwist4]

Just out of curiosity, how tall are you afc recovering?

 

[Un-Aru]

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
Also, weight gain, be it fat or muscle, usually corresponds with a hit in athletic perfomance. Dragging 40 extra lbs around regardless of their composition, is gonna be harder than not, y'know?

I actually did more cardio when I was trying to get bigger. It's essential.

Totally agree WA, why do some aspiring athletes come on here, bulk up and wonder why their performance turns to sh*t? If you just want the LOOK, then no problem, this is something you don't have to worry about But if you want the PERFORMANCE, then you've gotta hit the roads, sprints, swimming, biking, whatever so that your body gradually adapts to the extra weight as you put it on. Not only does doing no cardio result in decreased cardio-vascular fitness levels, but extra weight causes changes in biomechanics which if not corrected usually leads to decreased performance.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? You do a hard-core bulking cycle with no cardio or sport skills work, cos that's how you're 'supposed' to do it. Your diet is good too so you don't put on much fat. You're looking sharp and feeling good about yourself. Then you decide I need to get into some fitness work, the season's coming up. 4 weeks later you're f*cked up with shin splints, back problems or knee trouble that you just can't shake.

The reason? The body is a finely tuned kinetic chain, and it doesn't like sudden change - but it will try and adapt itself to the stress you put it under, so the effort is less stressful next time. (bodybuilding 101 there) What some people don't realise is that the body does this on ALL levels, not just cellular. For any physical changes, the body adapts at a biomechanical level so it can cope with altered dynamics.

Take the calf muscle for example. You do weights, it gets stronger. Well as a muscle strengthens, it normally tightens as well. It pulls on the achilles tendon and which pulls the foot into a (very slightly) abnormal position. So now when your foot strikes the ground when you run, it is at a (very slight) angle. This puts the body in an unstable position that it doesn't like too much. The body adapts to this though. The calf tightens even more so as to help stabilise the ankle and absorb the shock. The cycle continues until you hit a critical point when the body says: "no way, no more, there is a problem here." And pain is the result.

 

[dirtysanchez]

Does this sound familiar to anyone? You do a hard-core bulking cycle with no cardio or sport skills work, cos that's how you're 'supposed' to do it. Your diet is good too so you don't put on much fat. You're looking sharp and feeling good about yourself. Then you decide I need to get into some fitness work, the season's coming up. 4 weeks later you're f*cked up with shin splints, back problems or knee trouble that you just can't shake.

That's pretty much the story of my sporting career in high school. Bulked up in year 10 for footy, put on quite a bit of muscle, but also some fat. Didn't do any sprint training, skills training or GPP work and the first training session was hell, not only did I struggle to keep up with the guys but also had shin splints big time, which demoralised me and pretty much kept me out of sport for the rest of high school Still working on rectifying the problem.

 

[afc_recovering]

Just out of curiosity, how tall are you afc recovering?



5'8

 

[VSTbeserk]

Its a tradeoff of putting on muscle. For me at least if i did cardio that would be counterproductive because lets say i have basketball practice for 1 hour...in that time span i would lose 3-5 pounds after i was done.

 

[bud_2005]

Your storty makes me even more amazed at 220-230 lbs. RBs like Jamal Lewis and Ladainain Tomlinson who outrun 190 lb. CBs in the NFL.

 

[mrRuckus]

Your storty makes me even more amazed at 220-230 lbs. RBs like Jamal Lewis and Ladainain Tomlinson who outrun 190 lb. CBs in the NFL.

A large part of speed is the fast twitch fibers you're born with in your legs. You can gain some speed by training but it's mostly genetic whether or not you have a crapload of them or not. more=faster

Willie Parker is 210 and that guy is faaaasssst (remember he set the super bowl record for longest run in february)

I'm personally really fast but don't have too much long distance endurance. I've been slapping on a ton of weight lately (162 to 193 in like 14 months) and a few people have asked if i've gotten any slower and i really don't know what to tell them. I don't feel like i have and i don't really run that often to really train it (except the bases and in the outfield for softball in the summer).

 

[Centaurion]

Whoever that said that you couldn't do cardio on a bulk needs to be taken out into to the bush and shot. You can do cardio whenever you feel like to, but remember to up your cals on that day.

 

[mrRuckus]

Whoever that said that you couldn't do cardio on a bulk needs to be taken out into to the bush and shot.

um

wtf is wrong with you?

 

[donjuanjovi]

You can do cardio while bulking but don't expect to see any killer results. Unless you're striving to win the boston marathon, I would stick to high intensity anaerobic exercises. Better than that wussy aerobic stuff my grandma does. Anyone can go for a jog, but when you're doing hill sprints and your body is yelling at you to stop, your legs are going to fall off, your lungs are about to burst, your pulse is 185 bpm and you're about to break down and cry like a little girl. Now that's a workout!

 

[wayword]

That's what is so lame about kids just trying to pack on beach muscles to impress girls. Not realizing that they are sacrificing performance in certain events by doing so. So ironic when people trade go for show...