If you don't already know, I dorm in college so trying to eat healthy is a little harder than living at home. I just want to show you guys what I eat at school normally.
It is two pieces of grilled chicken breasts with a little bit of olive oil and a wee-bit of Parmesan cheese. I also usually get a side of vegetables depending what they are serving that day. Today it happens to be Chinese Bok Choy with tofu. Mhmm.. soy protein. Unfortunately, the cook makes the chicken really dry here. If only I can cook my own chicken..
Man, what a pump! I only had 45 minutes today before my gym closed to get my leg workout in. My gym normally closes at 7 PM on Saturday but I thought it was Friday. I've been losing track of what day it is since everyday for me has been SSDD since winter break started. Anyways, I forgot how great it felt to finish your leg workout wearing a sweat drenched shirt while trying to catch your breath and the pain of having to walk up and down stairs afterwards.
Here was my workout routine:
Warmed up for about 10 minutes. This consisted of stretching, stretching and more stretching. I did a little bit of bodyweight squats to get the blood flowing. I suggest to warm up before lifting, especially when lifting heavy. With a leg workout you can do what I did or you can simply hop onto a stationary bike and pedal for about 10 minutes.
Exercise # 1: SQUATS!
Yes. I capitalized and bolded the word squats because it is an exercise that I cannot stress enough. Trying to put on mass? Squat. Trying to drop overall body fat? Squat. Trying to increase your vertical? Squat. Trying to strengthen your core? Squat. You want to know the cure for cancer? Squat. Okay, maybe not. But you get the point.
One thing I want to input is that don't be afraid to squat heavy. All those rumors you heard aren't true. "Oh, squatting can stunt your growth! Don't do it!" False. Next time you hear someone saying that please ask them where the hell did you come up with that? Do you have evidence to back that up? Okay, here is a little anatomy 101. There are three parts to a bone, the epiphysis, diaphysis and metaphysis. The epiphyses are at the ends of the bone while the diaphysis is the middle part. The metaphysis is between the two. The growth happens because of ossification (solidification of the bone) of the growth plates that are located in the metaphysis. With that said, squatting WILL NOT stunt your growth or damage your growth plates. The only thing that would prevent you from growing is not eating.
Exercise # 2: Leg press.
This gets tiring especially after heavy squatting. Push through it and push yourself to your limit. After the last set of my leg presses, I could barely walk or stand without my legs quivering like a little bitch and that is a good thing. "Never settle for less than your best!" Its a corny line but abide by it and use it as your workout motto.
One thing I want to say is that remember to push through with your heels for both your leg presses and your squats for the correct form.
Exercise # 3: Circuit between hamstring curls, leg extensions and calf raises.
Since I was pressed for time, I had to make my last few exercises into a circuit with no rest in between each machine. Basically I was supersetting all three exercises. One thing I do realize and I'm not afraid to admit is that I have small calves. I do not have chicken legs nor am I anywhere close to that but my calves just don't seem up to par with the rest of my legs. I know for a fact that I should next time do more calf exercises. I just didn't have time, sadly.
This concludes my workout.
Need more advice with leg workouts? Hanh and Frank, youtubers, have great workout videos that pertain to working out your legs.
I normally eat sources of carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables in a meal. The amount of carbohydrates vary for me depending on whether if I am bulking or cutting. Its very important to remember that when you are cutting to eat less carbohydrates and when you are bulking you eat more carbohydrates. Also, the amount of protein you should eat if you are planning to lose weight or gain muscle mass is about 0.8-1 gram per lb of your body weight. And as for vegetables, the more the merrier.
I decided to actually take a picture of a meal that I have made today since I haven't really posted any meals yet on my blog.
This is a typical meal for me. As you can see there are carbohydrates, protein and vegetables. This meal was very simple to make but I can truthfully say that it wasn't all that tasty; it was still good but not the best. The greens are spinach that I bought frozen from Stop and Shop. Simple way to prepare it is to microwave it for 2 minutes. Next to it is brown fried rice. I did not use soy sauce or any type of condiment to prepare it. It is simply brown rice, eggs, onions and a little bit of salt and pepper. The protein is 95% lean ground beef that I formed into a patty and simply heat in a pan until it was properly cooked. This meal didn't take me any more than 10 minutes to prepare (the rice was left over from last night). I always make sure that when I make my brown rice that I make extra since I can conveniently use it the next day. This is my typical meal that I eat about 4-5 times a day not including my protein supplement. If you include protein I have 6-8 meals a day.
Meals can become monotonous when you're trying to keep a clean diet but if you stick with it along with proper daily exercises, results will show. I guarantee it.
So, there is this guy that creates hilarious youtube videos whose username is ice1cube. He does parodies, gives dating advice, started doing starcraft 2 commentary and also post workout videos while giving tips and advice. He has great knowledge about working out. Recently, he introduced a gym buddy/good friend of his in one of his videos. I thought ice1cube, we'll call him Frank from now on because that is his real name, was pretty built but his friend hanh was even bigger. He has his own youtube channel as well and gives out great advice too.
Just finished my first semester as a senior at Stony Brook. Tough semester but I managed to pull off a 3.52 GPA. Now its time to get back onto my gym grind.
My gym routine is now:
Day 1 - Chest/Triceps
Day 2 - Back/Biceps
Day 3 - Legs/Shoulders
I find that this way I get to maximize my workout getting in my major lifts twice a week rather than once a week.
Also, I am offering advice if anyone wants tips. Contact me at cjyan@hotmail.com.
I've been busy with school. Senior year of college and I am taking 18 credits. Sucks. I am still working out and eating properly although I do not have time to update my blog. Mammalian Physiology and Anatomy is killing me. For the past couple days I have been studying 10+ hours every day. I only have time to go to classes, gym, eat and sleep. No time for posting, except for this silly rant. Ok. Back to studying now. See ya!
So yesterday I was caught up with errands and forgot to post on my blog about my exercise routine. Right now I will post yesterday's workout and tonight I will post today's workout (which I haven't done yet).
Yesterday's workout was my back day. Its probably one of my favorite workout routines since it includes my favorite compound movement exercise, the dead lift. I will now run through what I have done:
Exercise 1: The Almighty Dead Lift 135x10, 225x8, 315x6, 365x4
This is my favorite exercise, as mentioned above. Its a compound movement, meaning it hits multiple muscle groups at once. This exercise might sound easy, but trust me, if you do not have the correct form, I recommend you to not do them or else you might risk injuring your back. Start with light weight and practice your form before going any heavier.
This youtube video demonstrates the conventional dead lift form:
Anyways, my first set, which I consider my warm up, was only with 135 lbs. This weight is something I can do very very easily but I stay in control, focusing on form rather than pulling the weight and dropping it rapidly without control mindlessly. After my warm up set I added another 45 lb plate to each side, bringing the total weight to 225 lbs. I pulled 8 reps with it, although I can do more but I would rather save my energy for the heavier sets. After 225 lbs, I threw on 315 lbs. This is where it gets hard for me. I pulled it 6 times. I probably could have hit 10 reps but I did not want to go to failure. After that I put on another 25 lbs. on each side bringing the weight to 365 lbs total. I pulled it 4 times. I probably could have gone to about 8 reps, but again I did not want to go to failure. I will save going to failure some other day when I feel like pulling a PR (personal record). By the way, there are many sides to whether training to failure is good every time you workout. This debate has been going on for a while even amongst personal trainers and professional bodybuilders. What do you guys think?
Exercise 2: Pull Ups 1x10, 1x8, 1x6, 1x4
Pull ups. Nothing fancy. First set was relatively easy but then as I progressed, it got harder and harder. The first 2 sets I didn't do dead hangs. The last two sets, I did. Maybe I should try doing dead hangs for all 4 sets next time.
For those that do not know what dead hang pull ups are, watch this video:
There is another type of pull up that looks beastly that I wish I can do, but I do not have the upper body strength to do them yet. The pull up looks like as if you were to do a normal looking pull up and from there you spring above the pull up bar and perform a dip. I do not know the real name of the exercise; maybe one of my readers can inform me?
This was really really tough. I was already tired from doing the previous two exercises and after this superset, I was extremely fatigued. With cable machine rows, I normally start off with 100 lbs. and work my way up to 170 lbs. This time, I didn't even go anywhere close to 170 lbs. I started with 100 lbs and ended up only going to 140 lbs. With cable machine pull downs I also did a lot less. I probably can normally start off with 100 lbs and go up to 160 lbs. This time I started with 100 lbs and only went to 120 lbs. On the last set, I couldn't even do 120 lbs. so I had to drop the weight back down to 100 lbs with the pull downs.
For those that do not know what rows or pull downs are, here are some videos:
This is the Cable Machine Back Row.
This is the Cable Machine Pull Down.
That sums up my workout routine. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Also, I normally do not superset my rows and pull downs. Heck, I don't even normally do pull downs since I believe its almost the same thing as a pull up, essentially. I replace my cable machine rows with bent over rows next time and substitute the pull downs with something else as well. Let me know what your back workout routines look like. And another question, how much do you guys dead lift? Comment below and include your age and weight.
