Physical Culture -- Bodybuilding

[Yeps]

Is anyone in here working on creating an ideal physique? It certainly has its Golden Era precedent (some might even say pinnacle.)

I am currently working on trying to build a more aesthetically pleasing physique. As y'all know from my pictures, I am skinny. Now I am looking to be lean but muscular. I figure it will improve my marketability as a performer.


Anyone else in here lifting weights? Tips, stories, inspiration, and all that jazz.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I'm interested in the Golden Era fitness or physical culture. It started like this. I was working on some health issues of my own and found there was a controversy. A lot of things like vitamins, exercise etc were disparaged by orthodox doctors and scientists. Meanwhile there were a lot of fitness buffs saying the opposite.

Who should you trust? I decided to look up the histories of some old time health nuts and see how they wound up. I found out they didn't necessarily live longer than other people, although they usually lived into their seventies, eighties or nineties. But I noticed they kept their physical and mental faculties up to the end. They never ended up in a wheelchair, or with Alzheimer's or dragging an oxygen bottle around nor did they drag out weary months and years in a nursing home or hospital bed.

Example, Charles Atlas (remember him?) stepped out of his beach house in New Jersey and went for a jog on the beach. When he got home he laid down for a nap before lunch and never woke up. He was 84.

My father died of cancer at 84 but I guarantee you, he wasn't jogging on the beach.

Jack LaLanne, who worked out every day without fail since 1928, died at the age of 96 last year. He enjoyed driving around in his Corvette, drinking good wine and winking at the pretty girls until just a month or so before he died.

He learned about health and fitness from a guy named Paul Bragg. Bragg died in a surfing accident in Hawaii at the age of 95. Let me repeat that. Dude died in a surfing accident at 95. Not quite as good as being shot by a jealous husband at 99 but not bad.

There are others like organic gardening pioneer J.I. Rodale who konked out while being interviewed by Dick Cavett at 72. Norman Walker who was over 100 when he died, likewise vegetarian Living the Good Life author Scott Nearing who died in his 100th year after a short illness.

The lesson I took away was that it pays to watch your health and diet, and the old timers are worth listening to. Some of the principles they discovered by trial and error, are now being confirmed by the latest scientific discoveries.

By the way there are things today that scare me, and scared the hell out of Jack LaLanne, like the use of steroids and drugs by body builders and athletes. He won the Mr. America trophy in 1947 as an all natural body builder. Today he would not stand a chance in big time competition.

If you are looking for a model to follow you could do a lot worse than LaLanne and his contemporaries.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

Joseph Pilates and his disciple Romana Kryzanowska also spring to mind...

 

[The Good]

I should be more serious about it, but twice a week on average, sometimes three or four, I do an hour's worth of workouts on that day, usually hiking and weightlifting. I sometimes check a bodybuilding forum for advice.

 

[Marshall]

I typically work out four days a week, using body weight exercises since I don't belong to a gym currently (hoping to fix that soon), and I don't have any weights or machines at home.

Mondays and Thursdays - pushups and dips.
Tuesdays - squats and calf raises.
Fridays - overhand and underhand pullups.

I've found that this schedule gives enough time for muscle recovery. I also keep my workouts pretty short (20-45 mins), but intense, which helps me avoid getting burned out.

While body weight exercises are great for getting lean and building some muscle, from what I understand you need to lift heavy if you really want to bulk up. Beyond the workout regiment, proper rest and nutrition are also extremely important.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Here is the world's shortest course on health and fitness:

Fresh fruit and vegetables have no calories. Eat all you want, you will lose weight and get healthy. Avoid carbs.

The easiest and cheapest way to fitness is the 5BX Plan, also known as the Canadian Air Force exercise program. A lot of people took it up in the early sixties, including Ian Fleming author of the James Bond novels and found it valuable. In recent years it had a vogue among computer geeks as an efficient body hack.

5BX testimonials

http://blog.fadingfrommemory.info/post/2006/10/17/5BX

 

[Yeps]

Since I started this thread, I should probably actually say something about my workout. I lift weights five times a week.
M-Chest
T-Back
W- Arms (they were my weak point in my lifts, hence the isolation)
T-Chest
F-Back
Weekend rest.
Along with that, I tap dance twice a week for well over an hour, which is some of the toughest activity I know of. Most of the time there is a body weight and ab workout attached to the dancing.

Doing this, along with eating right. I have managed to gain ten pounds in the last two months, lose and inch of my waist (didn't know there was an inch to lose) and put two on my chest.

 

[Undertow]

Monday - Bench (3x12), seated military press (3x10), cable-cross (3x30)
Tuesday - Cable-cross (3x30), pull down cables; i.e. triceps (3x10)
Wednesday - Barbell curl (3x12), Iso-Hammer curls (3x10), Lie-down twist curls (3x10)
Friday - Cable-cross (3x30), Incline bench (3x10)

I run four flights of stairs twice a day, five days a week. My legs are, and have always been, insanely strong and I've been quite fortunate that I don't have to lift with them. I can lift 720 on a seated leg press any time of day, any day of the week without warming up or practicing. If I have one mutant power, it's totally my legs. So I've cut squats and leg presses out of my routine.

TIP: If you're a thinner guy, you probably want to build bulkier muscles (as opposed to leaner muscles). Do low-rep, high-set work outs with heavy weights; i.e. 5 sets of 5 reps with weights you can only just manage. Be sure to cut down on carbs and greatly increase animal fats and animal proteins. NEVER take ibuprofen because along with the anti-inflammatory properties, it reduces your muscle gain. You want to tear those muscles which causes them to rebuild bigger and more complex.

If you're already a bigger guy and want to do leaner muscles, you reverse the above. So for me, I will do many reps as fast as I can with lighter weight. I'm trying quickly exhaust my muscles and make them grow longer, leaner and more efficient.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Yeps dancers seem to be healthy and long lived. Some examples, Mary Tyler Moore, George Burns, George Raft and James Cagney all broke into show business as dancers. I'm sure you know of others.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I am aware that for some, the only exercise they include in their daily routine is exercising their wrists, shooting down a snip or two of bubbly. However, even within the factors of my having some recent heart issues and other medical concerns, (no details), it is very important to be active, exercises are good and diet (what you eat and how you eat) is also very important. Before my heart attack, I was very active at work and actually in good condition, but your heart can be in a condition that does not match your outer condition, (if that makes sense to you). Even some world class athletes have died during a game, skaters, ball players, etc, from cardiac issues. For the most part, we all eat a bad menu of foods that have little to offer the body other than some fuel and fat. A healthy diet, supplements, and exercise can not only do so much for a person's entire body and health, but also the individual's mental balance.

I currently have to eat healthier than I ever have, get more rest, and when I am more able to, I will be in the pool doing laps, walking, some workouts etc. But it will be a few months before I do go back to work or do much more than allow my body to heal.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Is anyone in here working on creating an ideal physique? It certainly has its Golden Era precedent (some might even say pinnacle.)

I am currently working on trying to build a more aesthetically pleasing physique. As y'all know from my pictures, I am skinny. Now I am looking to be lean but muscular. I figure it will improve my marketability as a performer.


Anyone else in here lifting weights? Tips, stories, inspiration, and all that jazz.

I can say, the person you have pictured here is a bit extreme, and not everyone finds that "lean" a look as attractive as someone that has some muscle form and tone, and is healthy.

I think it is good for anyone to desire to be in shape, (i.e., you don't have to use a rope as suspenders to keep your pants up), but for me, I would not desire to be as unshapely as the body builder in this picture. Looks like a candy bar someone squeezed in the middle, (just my opinion).

I have had a friend or two along my course of life that was into serious body building comps when I lived in California. One could not ride a bike, swim, was as uncoordinated as all get out, due to what he had "sculpted" his body shape. His diet was not really healthy either, designed only for the body to have muscle, but no real nutritional value to it. Most serious body builders have a main objective, to avoid all or anything with fat in it, reduce all body fat and only build muscle, to make their skin suck in all over so it can show case their muscle form. That does not make a person "medically" healthy, nor really "fit".

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Here is the world's shortest course on health and fitness:

Fresh fruit and vegetables have no calories. Eat all you want, you will lose weight and get healthy. Avoid carbs.

The easiest and cheapest way to fitness is the 5BX Plan, also known as the Canadian Air Force exercise program. A lot of people took it up in the early sixties, including Ian Fleming author of the James Bond novels and found it valuable. In recent years it had a vogue among computer geeks as an efficient body hack.

5BX testimonials

http://blog.fadingfrommemory.info/post/2006/10/17/5BX

In my opinion, this is right on the money.

 

[Yeps]

I can say, the person you have pictured here is a bit extreme, and not everyone finds that "lean" a look as attractive as someone that has some muscle form and tone, and is healthy.

I think it is good for anyone to desire to be in shape, (i.e., you don't have to use a rope as suspenders to keep your pants up), but for me, I would not desire to be as unshapely as the body builder in this picture. Looks like a candy bar someone squeezed in the middle, (just my opinion).

I just put the picture of Steve Reeves up because he is considered to have the ideal proportions (Although there is a reason he played Hercules so many times), and he is from the golden era. Bodybuilders now don't look nearly this symmetrical/proportional.

I have had a friend or two along my course of life that was into serious body building comps when I lived in California. One could not ride a bike, swim, was as uncoordinated as all get out, due to what he had "sculpted" his body shape. His diet was not really healthy either, designed only for the body to have muscle, but no real nutritional value to it. Most serious body builders have a main objective, to avoid all or anything with fat in it, reduce all body fat and only build muscle, to make their skin suck in all over so it can show case their muscle form. That does not make a person "medically" healthy, nor really "fit".

There is no doubt that bodybuilding can be unhealthy, even without steroid abuse. The extreme cycles of weight gain and weight loss are brutal, I am sure. However, doing it naturally and not quite going to those extremes is very healthy.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

I think that is strong enough and a good golden era figure to aim for.

I used to the gym only twice a week. Because I finished the university and moved to another city I got lazy the last 1/2 year. i have to catch up now and lose some weight.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

A lady's take on this: I'm 53-1/2yo. I've had a YMCA membership since 1994. I do free weights myself, and what I see from the guys in in the weight room, younger and older- is that they go too far. Too much, too overdone. A gent may think that looks really great, but coming from a lady's perspective- UGH! Not attractive. Being overbuilt is not appealing to a gal. Really. Let me repeat that. Really. Being fit and healthy is. So is not being obsessed and fanatical about it. Some of the guys there look like they don't have much of a life outside of spending all their free time working out, and maybe- they don't.

Find a fitness role model that has your body type. You need to be realistic, and practical. I think the tap dancing as exercise you are doing is fantastic. Have you thought of swimming?? Could be good for your long, lean body type. I'm a many years lap swimmer, and I love being in the water all year round. My Y has an outdoor pool. My Pilates teacher at the Y is tall and slender, he used to teach yoga there too. Both are great for core strength and flexibility. But you need to find things that are fun and challenging to you, and gets you excited to be doing it- every day.

My best input I can share here about is to tell you of someone I know directly who is not just talking the talk, but indeed is walking the walk. Every day. The fittest guy I've met, not the most built up, not the most muscular- but the healthiest and fittest. I've known him since Nov. 2010. He has a few stress pounds on him that he is actively working to lose, but he knows he'll get there. And this guy has the most beautiful pecs (but not overdone) and shoulders I've ever seen. Its my bf Tom.

My bf is 55 -1/2yo, and according to his older (and far heavier) brother, still weighs and looks like he was built as a teenager. He decided as a teen of 15, to have a goal of getting fit and being in shape, and his fitness role model that he chose for himself at the time was Robert Conrad of the show "Wild Wild West" in the 1970s. But my Tom is about 2-1/2" taller. He's still built like this! This pic of Robert Conrad is from a series he did after "WWW", but you get the idea.

Over the years, Tom said he had done a phase with some running, but it later became too hard on his knees, and skiing later became became too hard on the joints. So those fitness activities were eventually axed. One thing he has stayed with since he was 14yo is karate. He still works out twice a week for an hour plus with a karate partner for exercise, stamina, and keeping those mental faculties sharp. Hasn't worked out at a gym or weight trained since high school days. He bikes occasionally, in an area with hills, and we go social ballroom dancing and take dance classes together at least 2-3 times a week. His dancing role model is Fred Astaire- and I'm his Ginger Rogers! He put in a pool at his second house and when the weather is warm enough, he's in it every day each time he's up there.

He is very careful about his diet; meat proteins, eggs, walnuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, lots of green veggies, fish, 2% milk, apple and orange juice, not alot of pasta or carbs. Careful on which fruit he eats too. No caffeine for the last several months. Rarely drinks. Never smoked. He eats protein bread (Ezekeial -sp? brand). He packs in his lunch for work. Very rarely eats out, prefers to cook. When he was previously married, his ex did all the cooking. After they divorced, he discovered cooking and loves it! He has a large garden that he grows his own fruit and veg. Just took out three mature cypress trees at the front of his house and replaced them with two orange trees and a tangelo tree. He showed me a web site that tells some 140+ things why one should give up white sugar. He traded honey for sugar in his favorite cookie recipe. Recently with wanting to drop a few pounds, he hasn't been baking the honey cookies.

Almost his entire working career he has been physically active in his job. He continually works on his house and his garden. Added a second story (done all by himself- he still has a contractor's lisence) on his primary house almost twenty years ago, built a deck and a garden on his second house seven years ago, and started pouring the concrete for posts just last Sunday for a new back fence on the main house. Digging out very old juniper bushes in the front yard to make room for a new garden.

Here we are at a historic dance we attended in October 2011:

One way or another, this man maintains an active, moving lifestyle- every day. Tom says he works hard SO he can play hard. He has a young at heart attitude. He says he's never bored. He has the stamina of a young man. Um, let me rephrase that- he has the stamina and virility of a young man WITH the skills set and staying power of an older man. YEAH! He says he wants to live to 100. He'll probably get there. We'll probably be teaching social ballroom dance together at the Senior Assisted Living place we end up at someday! The other residents will know to automatically turn down their hearing aids in the evening...and in the mornings too

 

[AmateisGal]

Being overbuilt is not appealing to a gal. Really. Let me repeat that. Really. Being fit and healthy is. So is not being obsessed and fanatical about it.

Have to agree with this. Some guys get insanely over-toned to where they don't even look like a human being. That's not attractive (at least not to me). In my husband's fitness magazines, I've looked at some of those body builders and it completely turns me off.

I think chanteuseCarey has it right - being fit and healthy for your body type is the best.

 

[nihil]

Fresh fruit and vegetables have no calories. Eat all you want, you will lose weight and get healthy.

I'm sorry say, but that is absolutely not true at all.

Quick example: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/2427



I do like the 5BX plan on the other hand

 

[chanteuseCarey]

Randolph Scott is too skinny, can't go wrong with Cary Grant's shape here...Nice quads and pecs, Cary.

I think that is strong enough and a good golden era figure to aim for.

I used to the gym only twice a week. Because I finished the university and moved to another city I got lazy the last 1/2 year. i have to catch up now and lose some weight.

 

[AntonAAK]

A lot of people took it up in the early sixties, including Ian Fleming author of the James Bond novels and found it valuable.

Who died at 56.

 

[AmateisGal]

It's all about balance. I lost 30 pounds by exercising regularly, cutting out refined pastas and bread, and watching my portions. I allowed myself one cheat meal a week, and I eat dark chocolate every day. If I really want to eat something, I eat it.