Getting Bigger and Cardio

[jaye]

I am currently in the process of enlarging my chests, shoulders.

I also want to do cardio in the morning (jogging, jump roping) to get better abs.

Are these two conterproductive?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Pook]

if you want to gain mass, cardio is considered a sin.

Right now, I am cutting up (which is very very difficult). You can try to enlarge your body while cutting, but it is very hard.

If you just want to enlarge your shoulders and chest, one thing I found that helped was swimming. Swimming broadened my shoulders and pumped my chest (sometimes I thought I had boobs, haha).

 

[KmZDon]

Originally posted by Pook
if you want to gain mass, cardio is considered a sin.

Right now, I am cutting up (which is very very difficult). You can try to enlarge your body while cutting, but it is very hard.

If you just want to enlarge your shoulders and chest, one thing I found that helped was swimming. Swimming broadened my shoulders and pumped my chest (sometimes I thought I had boobs, haha).

Pook, got a picture of yourself?

 

[jaye]

Thanks Pook.

I am not looking to become much bigger, just get bigger/more muscular around the chest and shoulder areas.

I do Cardio to get better abs. I've read various articles and posts, and they deal with one thing or the other.

What would you suggest?

Thanks

 

[Pook]

I'm currently trying to get abs myself. I can see my abs but I'm still trying to get rid of that stubborn fat around the stomach area. So take this with a grain of salt:

You need to do two things to get abs:

1) Lower your body fat- And this is by A LOT. Your bodyfat needs to be around 7% I believe for the abs to appear.

Cardio and all is fine and good for removing fat, but the big thing is going to be the diet. Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. (And I just ate some Girl Scout cookies! Doh!)

2) Ab muscles have to be built up (like any other muscle). Slow weighted crunches on an incline really seems to target the abs (unlike any silly machine). I do a 4:3:4 time wise (4 seconds to rise, 3 seconds to press and hold the crun, and 4 seconds to go back down. You'll get more out of crunches by doing them SLOW rather than rapid.) I try to do four sets till failure when I'm at the gym (which is three times a week).

Three ab workouts I do is:

Normal crunch- I put one end of the roman chair at the gym on an elevated plane, so it is even more incline. You just hold a weight plate on your chest and go up. However, I'm at the point where the biggest weight plate (45 lbs) is too light (and too wide). So I surprised all the macho guys in the free weights room by bringing in a fluffy pillow (!). I got an EZ bar of 50, 60, etc., wrapped my pillow around it, stuck it on my chest and went at it. It's the ultimate abs workout.

Twist crunch- Do like four sets of as many as you can do. It is like the normal crunch but when you come to the top, you twist your upper body completely to one side. On the next set, twist the other way.

Backward crunch- Lie on a flat bench or something and curl your knees to your head. This will seem weird, of course. You are basically crunching your abs from the other way.

The abs are not like your biceps. Abs are more like an accordian that must be 'tightened' properly (which is why you'll get more doing it smooth and slow).

But the biggest thing you can do to get abs is going to be with the diet. Even if you have ab muscles, no one will see it if you still have higher body fat levels.

KMZdon

Once I get a digital camera, I'll put my picture up.

 

[KmZDon]

Originally posted by Pook
Once I get a digital camera, I'll put my picture up.

That's a promise my friend.

 

[Infinity]

Originally posted by KmZDon
That's a promise my friend.

Are you going to put your pic up, Pook?

 

[madgame]

You dont need to be at around 7% for your abs to appear. If you are at 7% ure abs will look rock-hard
But of course its true that your ab muscles have to be built up and that your bf percentage is the most important thing if u want your abs to shine.

If I was you Id try to pack on some muscle by going for "mass" (get a proper workout and eat enough protein (and calories) though! read up what u have to do and do it properly) nd then when ure satisfied with your chest/shoulders (tho I would do a full body work out) which shouldnt take too long if u dont wanna pack on a lot of mass, cut down and go for the abs..oh and work out your abs too.

 

[Dictatorsaurus]

I spent years trying to figure out the best way to have those solid ripped abs and still be able to eat well to gain muscle mass.

I was only able to achieve that when I started boxing two years ago. Boxing changed my who perspective and introduced me to something called "interval training".

I noticed that I lost alot of muscle when I used to spend long hours running and doing cardio. Instead, I started doing sprints which helped increase my explosiveness for boxing and burn fat as the same time.

You can do intervals as follows: jogg for a about 5 minutes to warm up your legs. Sprint as fast as you can for 3 mins then walk for 1 min. Repeat 3 or 4 times.

Doing this 2 or 3 times a week will produce great results. Good luck.

 

[Heizen]

Pook it is NOT 7%! Definatly not. 7% is a DANGEROUSLY low body fat, and that is the limit wrestlers have to BF percentage (because they are known to cutweight like crazy to get in a lower class) Around 13 or 15 will be just fine

Now alot of people beleive high reps get abs. This is somewhat right, but not if you want them fast. If you want them fast, you work them like any other muscle when you want to gain mass, with weights. This, along with doing burnouts an get some great abs fast; I got mine in around 3 months doing alternating every night: Burnout; weight, burnout, weight.

I have pretty good abs, and I have 8% BF (from running track and having a blazin fast metabolism) and do 3 sets of 14 reps at 45 lbs. My ultimate goal for the end of the summer is 60 lbs at 3X20 by the end of the summer. How many reps are you doing pook?

And make sure to work your obliques, those make a huge difference in you abs.

And Dictatorsaurus, the workout you referred to is called 'ins and outs'

 

[semag]

7% is a DANGEROUSLY low body fat

Nah, that's not dangerous. Your immune system might start being a little less but I doubt it. 7% is not required for abs to show, about 11% is, and < 10% is considered "cut." 7% would be ripped, and 5-6% would be shredded.

I've never heard of "ins and outs" the name, but I've always heard of that workout referred to as HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), not to be confused with HIT.

 

[Heizen]

I guess that would be the catigory that the workout would be in, but I was always told they were ins and outs, and we did them on a standard running track. I guess its in the same vein as indian runs, where you have a line of people jogging and the person in the back sprints to the front and so on for long distances.

I would consider 7% to be dangerously low. A regular male who doesnt work out that often but isnt fat should be around 20ish, 15 you can start to see abs, and 10 to like 7 is pretty lean.

The only time I have ever known someone being that low in body fat were a few swimmer I know, who are around 5-6% (and girls, by the way) amd that includes some guys with bigger pecs then girls boobs in this school

Is being ripped always in terms of BF% though? Because I know some skinny people that are around 8% and do nothing and dont have abs and some around 14% that do. I always thought of being ripped as having alot of muscle, not a low BF. Then again I am now a heavy weight lifter so I guess I wouldnt be expected to know all of the terms.

 

[MrFitness880]

It is pretty counter productive to try to gain mass and lose mass at the same time.

look at it this way, you want to gain in the shoulders and chest (i wont even ask why you limit it to those two) so you say, add 500 cals to the diet. you need to take in more calories than maintenance to grow (obviously)

But if you want to lose weight, you have to remove say 500 calories from your diet. well you're right back to square 1.

It can be done, but just not very effectively.

as far as body fat goes, you can start seeing abs (if you're not carrying a lot of water) at right around 10%

your abs will look very nice at 7% but that is not dangerous at all

13-15 - you're reallly not seein abs

20% is really pretty high

5-6% on women, that might be erring on dangerously low if that number is accurate

you can be ripped without much muscle - but it doesnt look good until you'r built and ripped (=Jacked!)

 

[semag]

Originally posted by Heizen
I guess that would be the catigory that the workout would be in, but I was always told they were ins and outs, and we did them on a standard running track. I guess its in the same vein as indian runs, where you have a line of people jogging and the person in the back sprints to the front and so on for long distances.

I would consider 7% to be dangerously low. A regular male who doesnt work out that often but isnt fat should be around 20ish, 15 you can start to see abs, and 10 to like 7 is pretty lean.

The only time I have ever known someone being that low in body fat were a few swimmer I know, who are around 5-6% (and girls, by the way) amd that includes some guys with bigger pecs then girls boobs in this school

Is being ripped always in terms of BF% though? Because I know some skinny people that are around 8% and do nothing and dont have abs and some around 14% that do. I always thought of being ripped as having alot of muscle, not a low BF. Then again I am now a heavy weight lifter so I guess I wouldnt be expected to know all of the terms.

yeah

I think your numbers are a bit off. You're typical thought of an "average" guy is prolly 13-15% rather than 10%, so take about 5% off all your numbers.

girls are gonna be typically higher than guys, and they hit dangerous bodyfat levels at like 7 or 6%.

Skinny guys with no abs have body fat covering their abs and less muscle.

less muscle = less body weight = less amount of body fat necessary to raise body fat % = body fat of ~ 12 - 15%