   Working Out
  If you have about one hour free, three days a week, what would you guys suggest one does work-out wise?I''m one of those scrawny geeks, I want to get some muscle, maybe some shoulders, chest?  I''ve never done this sort of thing before..... 
  If you want to gain muscle ... protien ... eat it. Body can process about 40g at a time. The rest is just flushed out.To gain mass fast, eat about 1.3g per lbs that you are right now. I LOVE doing shoulders. They are a good illusion of size. I do shrugs till I cant stand it and as heavy as I can. For deltoids I try to use various isolated exercises. Chest - do standard include /decline / flat presses. Also cross overs are good. Arms - what chick doesnt like a good set of arms? I cant think of any. well maybe that O''donell chick. Do all free weights. Bench press bars just dont do the job that free weights do. thats my quick 2 min speach ... but diet will make ALL the difference. If your not eating right ... then why the hell would you work out?;  I''d recomend consulting the staff at your local gym.  They''ll have someone who can show you how everything works, and be able to work out a program for you. ;  You are a scrawny geek.  Accept it.  If you try to gain a lot of muscle you will find it difficult and you will probably look funny.  Just do a lot of reps with free weights at a low weight to get muscle tone.  It will look a lot better on you and will be a lot less frustrating.  I am the opposet of you.  I am 1.85m 100kg and I can put on muscle very easily.  On the flip side for the life of me I can''t get washboard abs or a lot of definition.  My natrual level of body fat seems to prevent it.   "... we should have such an empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the creation ..."Thomas Jefferson ;quote:Original post by Rob Loach  If you have about one hour free, three days a week, what would you guys suggest one does work-out wise?I''m one of those scrawny geeks, I want to get some muscle, maybe some shoulders, chest?  I''ve never done this sort of thing before.....   Devise your split based on your free time. Currently I work out on a 5 day split with a day of rest. My routine..Chest & BackBiceps & TricepsLegs, absChest & ShouldersRestOf course, I vary it every 2-3 weeks, which is essential for keeping your muscles confused.If you''re truely concerned with gaining muscle mass, but haven''t worked out before, I''d suggest starting with basic full-body workouts for a month or so to prep yourself up. A general rule of thumb: low reps, high poundage builds mass and power. High reps, low weight builds endurance and strength.Deltoids are notorious for being able to take a beating, so if you''re interested in rounding out your shoulders, there''s quite a few things you can do. There are three heads to your deltoids and you should try and work all three in your workout. I''d suggest lateral barbell raises, lateral raises to the side with a dumbbell, shoulder presses, and barbell shrugs. Go heavy on shrugs. I generally do 2-3 sets with three 45lb plates on each side, then finish with only one plate on each end.. and I hold the final rep for 60 seconds.. your shoulders will be blasted and feel incredible. Finish it off with bent-over cable raises, low weight (you probably won''t be able to do more than 20 lbs anyway), and about 15-20 reps for a nice carve.Chest? You can simultaneously bulk up and stay toned by varying your exercises up. Always start with a bench press (and always warm up). I generally pyramid my bench presses and do about 4 sets. Then, depending on the day, I''ll either move to incline & decline bench, or jump to varied inclined dumbbell presses. You can generally do more weight on a decline bench, so try and finish with an added 15-20 lbs. After that (again, depending on which "chest day" it is), I''ll either jump to decline dumbbell flyes, or cable crossovers, which shred details your chest quite nicely. So there you have your basic free weight movements for adding mass, and isolation exercises for hitting detail.I can go on and on with more advice if you''d like.   shortcurves.com | /josh;  Maybe try martial arts, though having only 1 hour sorta limits that. Kung-fu in particular, or any art that emphasizes upper body over legs, can help to build up some lean muscle in the shoulders and chest. It won''t make you bulky--you need weight training for that--but it will make you strong and give you good form and tone if you work diligently at it. If you are scrawny by nature, you might have a hard time building huge mass (my brother has been trying for 8 years, working hard, for no result). Martial arts emphasizes suppleness and speed coupled with strength, so excess mass just gets in the way anyway.   GolemBlender--The Gimp--Python--Lua--SDLNethack--Crawl--ADOM--Angband--Dungeondweller;quote:Original post by Rob Loach  I want to get some muscle, maybe some shoulders, chest?It''s very important to exercise all parts of your body, not just the ones chicks look at.Some people can get really strong but still look skinny.  Since you have the scrawny body type, this might be you.  I hope not.   ___________________________________________________________Proceeding on a brutal rampage is the obvious choice.Where to find the intensity  (Updated Jan 23, 2004) ;quote:Original post by GKW  ...to get muscle tone.  A litte off topic, but what the hell is muscle tone?? ;  Muscle Tonus:The state of activity or tension of a muscle beyond that related to its physical properties, that is, its active resistance to stretch. In skeletal muscle, tonus is dependent upon efferent innervation.Basically if your muscles are ''tone'' then you always look like you are partially flexing.   "... we should have such an empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the creation ..."Thomas Jefferson ;quote:Original post by amish1234  Some people can get really strong but still look skinny.  Since you have the scrawny body type, this might be you.  I hope not.I don''t care how strong I am, I just want to not look scrawny. 