building your body for a costume

[EnderX]

I'm new and not looking to offend anyone. Former division 1 athlete, studied health at university. Currently a personal trainer. I feel like i have a good grasp on this subject.

1st things first. You CAN work out multiple times in a week. It is the reason why bodybuilders do workout splits. Some do chest/tri's on day1&5, back/bi's on day 2&6, and legs/shoulders/traps on day3&7 day off day 4&8 (or cardio) then repeat. Others do chest on day 1, shoulders on day 2, legs on day 3, arms on day 4, back on day 5, off, repeat

Diet is 75-80% of the battle. Carbs are good, but you must eat them at the apprpriate times. Pasta, bread, rice are NOT good carbs. There is no reason to eat them. They are wasted calories in your day. VEGETABLES are where you should get 100% of your carbs. The darker green the vegetable the better off you are. Fruits should be eaten carefully and as a small snack. The sugars from fruit can be easily converted to fat.

You should consume at least 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to gain muscle. Whey protein is the best and most easily digested. Eggs, turkey, fish, and chicken are some of the best sources of protein and most delicious.
important nioe ****** your body can manage about 30gms of protein/meal. The rest will be excreted*******

Supplements are good. Any whey protein is the hands down most best/ most proven supplement. Buying designer protein is silly. Get some generic brand for $30.00 and enjoy. Mix with water nit milk!!!!!! Jac3d/NO Xplode/ super pump are all good pre workout supps.

Remember proportions:
Your neck circumstance/ upper arm/ and calves should be equal
Your chest (around nips) is 1&1/2 circumference greater then the waist
Chest & shoulder circumference 2xs circumference of waist.

Good luck!

 

[SOTI]

I'm new and not looking to offend anyone. Former division 1 athlete, studied health at university. Currently a personal trainer. I feel like i have a good grasp on this subject.

1st things first. You CAN work out multiple times in a week. It is the reason why bodybuilders do workout splits. Some do chest/tri's on day1&5, back/bi's on day 2&6, and legs/shoulders/traps on day3&7 day off day 4&8 (or cardio) then repeat. Others do chest on day 1, shoulders on day 2, legs on day 3, arms on day 4, back on day 5, off, repeat

Diet is 75-80% of the battle. Carbs are good, but you must eat them at the apprpriate times. Pasta, bread, rice are NOT good carbs. There is no reason to eat them. They are wasted calories in your day. VEGETABLES are where you should get 100% of your carbs. The darker green the vegetable the better off you are. Fruits should be eaten carefully and as a small snack. The sugars from fruit can be easily converted to fat.

You should consume at least 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to gain muscle. Whey protein is the best and most easily digested. Eggs, turkey, fish, and chicken are some of the best sources of protein and most delicious.
important nioe ****** your body can manage about 30gms of protein/meal. The rest will be excreted*******

Supplements are good. Any whey protein is the hands down most best/ most proven supplement. Buying designer protein is silly. Get some generic brand for $30.00 and enjoy. Mix with water nit milk!!!!!! Jac3d/NO Xplode/ super pump are all good pre workout supps.

Remember proportions:
Your neck circumstance/ upper arm/ and calves should be equal
Your chest (around nips) is 1&1/2 circumference greater then the waist
Chest & shoulder circumference 2xs circumference of waist.

Good luck!

While I agree on the pasta and bread, again, rice should not be lumped into the same group as they are. Not doubting your credentials but my personal experience, as with those of roughly 1/3 of the worlds population, trumps them.

I agree with the rest of your post however. Different people and bodies respond to different situations and techniques. I get way more from crossfit(spelling?) training out in the real world than I do in a gym.

 

[darthgordon]

I agree with everything except the pasta, bread and rice comment. The reason is because there are whole grain versions of these. While I agree that the refined versions of these offer very little nutrition and empty calories, their whole grain counterparts offer more than the double the amount of fiber and protein; as well as more vitamins, minerals and good fats.

They've been shown to significantly reduce cholesterol and heart disease risk. It may also help reduce the risk of diabetes and lower blood pressure.

Otherwise, everything else sounds spot on.

Personally I like Jack3d much better than NoXplode. NoXplode seems to cause a lot of gastrointestinal discomfort... almost to the point where I think they should call it "Xplode."

 

[Wicked]

I haven't started my weight training regimen yet to build some mass and tighten everything up, but I lost 67 lbs in the last year just by switching to diet soda. No extra exercise, no crazy diet, and I sit in front of a computer at work for a large part of the day. I couldn't believe doing something that minor could lead to such a huge loss. It really goes to show how bad that stuff is for you. I used to abhor coffee so I would drink soda for my caffeine fix. If that's something any of you do as well I'm living proof that switching to diet does make a huge difference.

This is me New Years Eve 2009

And again about 4 months ago

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

I agree with everything except the pasta, bread and rice comment. The reason is because there are whole grain versions of these. While I agree that the refined versions of these offer very little nutrition and empty calories, their whole grain counterparts offer more than the double the amount of fiber and protein; as well as more vitamins, minerals and good fats.

They've been shown to significantly reduce cholesterol and heart disease risk. It may also help reduce the risk of diabetes and lower blood pressure.

Otherwise, everything else sounds spot on.

Personally I like Jack3d much better than NoXplode. NoXplode seems to cause a lot of gastrointestinal discomfort... almost to the point where I think they should call it "Xplode."

Jack3d has to be the easiest one on the system to take for me. Made the mistake of taking a three scooper. Wow...2 is plenty.

As to the 30g of protein per meal thing, I have heard this number dropped around. I've also heard 50g as well. Then I hear it doesn't matter and the body will absorb it all. Here is a good write up that sorta debunks this whole thing, but it ties together with intermittent fasting. (Ugh, no fasting for me) So, the jury is still out on those numbers.

 

[EnderX]

@Wicked- good for you man. I did the switch from coke to diet coke to water....then immediately went back to Diet Coke. Sue me I love my caffeine.

@Qui- yea its probably a bunch of BS, but its a good guesstimate. I also heard that you lose a good portion of protein powder gets destroyed by stomach acids.


As far as the rice thing goes. I eat rice, but in super controlled amounts. I eat rice everyday with 2 chicken breasts immediately after my workout. Its suppose to spike insulin and help the protein get to the muscles easier and blah blah blah. I saw changes within two to threww weeks -it helps.

I say rice is bad (even in multigrain form) because you can easilly overeat it, and all the nutrients in rice you can easily get from vegetables. If any of you are in doubt please try cutting down all breads, rice, and pasta and replacing it with large servings of vegetables. When I did this at the end of last year i went from a well muscled 200lbs at 6'4 to a cut up 183 pounds. And who wants stinking rice when you can just eat fish anyways?

Also check out the Paleo diet. Sounds pretty neat.

 

[EnderX]

oh at @darth. A lot of people are looking to lose weight and build muscle. The fastest way to do this is cutting the carbs and ramping up the protein while being very concious of the amount of calories you are consuming.

Your meal with whole grain bread
A slice of whole grain bread is 70 calories, 1-3 grams of protein and about 15 grams of carbs... x 2 your looking at about 140 cals, at best 6gms of protein and 30gms of carbs, and thats before you even add meats....and you wont be filled up

Id rather do a salmon or chicken filet of some sort (~350 cals., 40-50gms of protein, 0 carbs)and 2 cups of broccoli (100 calories 24gms of carbs, 8 grams of protein). All of which can be purchased at walmart andput on my Forman grill

 

[Wicked]

@Ender - Ya I did the exact same thing. Tried to go to juice, water, even Crystal Light. Then I figured what the hell if I'm going to be drinking artificial sweetner either way I might as well just enjoy my Coke Zero.

I'm eyeballing P90X now to try and get into shape before Halloween, but I'm betting either way by next Con season I'll be pretty cut up.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Marc - Skalen Fel posted this article from T-Nation that has helped me a bit. I am not that clean as I eat dirty one day out of 7, but for the rest of it, I am all over it. This one little quote from the article should help anyone, as it has helped me.

However, there's one thing that we can hold almost as a universal truth of body transformation: the fatter you are, the fewer carbs you should take in. This goes both for the quantity and frequency of the carb ingestion.

 

[Sea Monkey]

The costume ready body. Sadly the one thing you can't buy off the shelf.

 

[Jaedena]

The one thing that everyone should keep in mind is that we're all individuals. What works for one person may not work for someone else. Frustratingly, I haven't found what exactly works for me, but generally I do know that junk food, excessive carbs and the grand evil - refined sugar - are all bad and should be avoided.

Just hit a speed bump in getting trimmer for D*C; hit with a nasty summer cold. I know some people say working out while sick is ok, others say not.

Personally, I'm going with not, and I'll say why. A) I don't want to spread my germs around the gym and make others sick. B) I want to rest and give my body the best chance it has to fight the virus.

Thoughts?

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

Personally, I got hit with a sore throat and a bit of a head cold a few weeks back. I powered on through it...and slept...a lot. Some folks may disagree, but I am wiping down everything when I am done with it anyway.

 

[darkknight1979]

Wow, you guys on here know a lot about props and costumes etc but your training and nutrition knowledge leaves a lot to be desired :lol

 

[jeffreygullett]

I"ve been doing Power90 for about a month now. It's the precursor to P90X as I knew I was not in good enough shape to jump in with it. One of my "goals" for it was to be in better shape and lose my gut for my Iron Man costume.

So far, it's going well. I've lost about 4.5 pounds and several inches off my waist. Been using Whey and cretine post workout along with a multivitamin.

But I think one the best things I've done is cut soda completely from my diet. As much as I love an ice cold Coke (the real kind, Mexican Coke in a bottle), I can already tell it's done a lot of good. And I love unsweetened iced tea and fizzy water just as much.

 

[Powerhouse70]

Im doing 75 ab crunches a day using an ab roller to get ready for my Amazing Spiderman costume for NYCC.

 

[nitrox]

I still need to finish my P90X program, and by finish I mean start and by start I mean get out of bed...... In fact I'm hungry, I'm gonna grab a burger and get some sleep.

 

[SupernaturalFan]

This is a cool thread guys, keep at the results!

I've been training full-time since the beginning of the year, not to fill out a suit but for all the other reasons. I recenlty finished a personal training course, late last year and decided to start building up muscle weight for some much needed added credibility as a trainer.

I started weight training in early Feb, as a late new years resolution and have been training 5 times a week for 2 hours since. At the beginning of the year I weighed in at 70kg and 6'2" tall. So far I have stacked on 17 kg, or 40 odd lbs, currently weighing in at 87kg. I'm aiming for a goal weight of at least 100kg by the end of the year. Train hard and keep setting your goals!

 

[brimst0ne13]

I'm 300lbs at 5'11" but retain a pretty solid structure. My build holds thefat mainly in my thighs butt and stomach (got a spare tire) and im planning on getting p90x and adhering to the nutrition program as well. My diet consists of fast food and microwave noodles mostly since i do 12 hr shifts at the Jail so this radical change should produce radical changes. I'm planning on documenting this change over the first 90 days and hopefully if successful, i'll continue the p90x program.

The hardest part will obviously be the diet portion since here in america, diet = whatever weight loss drink they advertise on tv and normal food is fast food.

what im hoping for is fat loss and muscle toning, not particularly muscle gain. Some gain is expected, but not the main goal.

 

[GF]

You should consume at least 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to gain muscle.

I don't quite understand, I'm 165 lbs, does that mean I need to consume 247.5 grams ( 1.5 x 165lbs) of protein on workout day?

GFollano

 

[Egon]

I've been training seriously for about a year. I had an injury 4 years ago and having been working through it.

I went from 5 feet 11 inches and 155 pounds, to about 190 pounds because I couldn't really move around much, then started to exercise.

I've dropped to 178 lbs. I do a basic split with as many compound exercises I can do. That and just trying to move around a lot.

I can post progress pics if you guys want?