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[kevo_huevo]

quoted for the new page:

Nope. Here's the new one that expires at the end of June.

http://content.gnc.com/coupons/COUPON_MBRPrice_20798.pdf

You're welcome GAF.

And here's one SD got by playing with the numbers in the URL, as apparently this is auto-generated for their emails.

http://content.gnc.com/coupons/COUPON_MBRPrice_20805.pdf

Expires January '14.

anyone here in SoCal try using this coupon on quest bars? I've tried it at 2 different Orange County locations and the computer will override this coupon because there's apparently already deals on Quest bars (buy 3 get 1 free, or 25% off an entire box). I don't normally buy a whole box, I like to get like 10 at a time and mix up the flavors, and GNC doesn't sell the sampler pack.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Oh also, ever since I started at the gym with heavy weights I am so hungry...I ate a freaking bowl of raw chocolate chip cookie dough yesterday...shame on me :/

Yea, that's a hard thing to manage. When I come home from a workout, I am ravenous.

It's best to have things on hand that will prevent you from mowing down junk. My goto is a bag of spinach salad and some cooked chicken. Sprinkle a little shredded cheese on it and nuke it for 45 secs.

 

[Doodis]

The real problem here is that I only have a couple but they're in the middle of my back so my wife would have to cut them off. And I'm not sure if she'll be able to do it or not. Wondering if she'd have an easier time tying dental floss around them and leaving it there for a few days so they'd fall off on their own.

You don't tie the floss around it and leave it, you loop the floss around it and then yank hard to cut it off in one go. At least, that's what my wife does. She gets them frequently.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Yea, that's a hard thing to manage. When I come home from a workout, I am ravenous.

It's best to have things on hand that will prevent you from mowing down junk. My goto is a bag of spinach salad and some cooked chicken. Sprinkle a little shredded cheese on it and nuke it for 45 secs.

Tell me about it. I'm cooking eggs while still sweating. Getting protein powder on my skin. I need to take my time but I'm so hungry!

 

[ToxicAdam]

You don't tie the floss around it and leave it, you loop the floss around it and then yank hard to cut it off in one go. At least, that's what my wife does. She gets them frequently.

It's cleaner just to tie it off. You strangle the bloodflow and the clump just falls off in a few days. No pain, no blood.

 

[CrankyJay]

Leg/back update...seems to be getting better. I'd say I'm at about 70-80% better...the pain/stiffness has seemed to relocate itself to my shin muscle and right lower back when I sit.

It's a relief to sit again without being in complete pain.

Hopefully will be 100% by June 1.

 

[Doodis]

It's cleaner just to tie it off. You strangle the bloodflow and the clump just falls off in a few days. No pain, no blood.

No pain, no gain!

 

[Fonz72]

You may benefit from the starting strength website, which includes a forum that has several past and present military members. There's also a pretty good article about a senior officer's approach to the APFT, using strength-based methods.

http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/article/a_strength_based_approach_to_the_apft

Let us know if this helps!

Man, thanks so much for the link! Very, very good info for my situation! I showed the articles to a couple friends and they are seriously stuck in the classic "weight training is sooooo bad" mind set! Even with proven results they can't break it. I picked up the Kindle version of Starting Strength and I'm working my way through it now.

One problem I'm having is that I'm so stiff in the shoulders I can't get a squat bar in the right position without looking like I'm being crucified!

Starting measurments

6' tall
246lbs
18" neck
46" chest
16.5" bicep
27" thigh
16.5" calf
41" waist, I wear 38" pants with belt so maybe I measured wrong?
42" around belly button. This is the Army Height/Weight measuring spot

What are FitnessGAF's opinion of Pure Protein Bars?

 

[Host Samurai]

Dropping body fat % while maintaining the same weight, and they say you can't bulk and cut at the same time...pshhhhh.

HITT really works so much better. Been doing HITT for the past 2 months and its the best fat burner. Much better than steady state. It has also been helping my endurance when lifting. My cardio is now on another level

 

[Tash]

Dropping body fat % while maintaining the same weight, and they say you can't bulk and cut at the same time...pshhhhh.

HITT really works so much better. Been doing HITT for the past 2 months and its the best fat burner. Much better than steady state. It has also been helping my endurance when lifting. My cardio is now on another level

That is the reason I do both

 

[Petrie]

What are FitnessGAF's opinion of Pure Protein Bars?

I like the taste, but they have too much junk I don't want to be eating. Quest is all I bother with anymore.

 

[MThanded]

Probably going to try carb nite starting this week. I lost a decent amount of weight doing low carb until I hit a plateau a few years back and calorie deficits haven't ever worked for me.

Are these the proper steps

-10 day less than 30g of carbs a day
-On the 10th day evening carb refeed focusing on rice,grains etc not fruit
-7 days low carb
-rinse repeat

I have one question though. Is the 30g of carb with or without fiber subtraction? Also am I fine doing Greyskull on this?

Help would be appreciated.

- First you start with a 10 day "reorientation period". Basically ULC with 30g maximum usable carbs. The lower the better though.

- Then on the 10th day you get to keep your first CN. Start around 6pm. It has to last several hours (~6hrs) and more than one or two meals, but 8 hrs is the maximum I think. I'm not sure if shorter works as well. Keep your carbs high-GI, so white rice and white potatoes, pizza etc. None of that full grain, low glycemic crap. I think you can gorge a bit on CN because it's only once a week. Pointdexter even said that he had better results when he just ate everything he could. Anyway you need quite a substancial insulin spike and anabolic boost from the carbs so it's no time to be a pussy about it. Just eat.

- First half of the CN should be kept relatively low-ish fat if possible. So save the pizzas and other "crap" to the second half of the feed. And don't drink alcohol, it will fuck everything up.

- Also eat all of your veggies in the morning and afternoon, so you can just focus on carbs and protein in the evening. You don't want to have a bunch of broccoli filling you up and slowing your ingestion when you should be stuffing your face with baked potatoes and pizza.

- After your first CN you should have one once every week. No sooner than on the 5th night after your previous CN though. And you must have one once a week otherwise the diet won't work. Skipping a CN just brings negative results since the whole point is to boost your fat burning hormones and metabolism. So you should have a CN every 5-7 days.

- The other 6 days of the week you need to be ULC, so max. 30g carbs. The lower the better but still eat your green veggies.

- CN doesn't need to be on the day you work out but it can help. Kiefer suggests that if you are for example weaker on the bench press, then it makes sense to have the CN on the day you bench so it gets a boost. Though if you are a noobie I'm not sure it matters.

For more info:
http://www.youtube.com/user/DHKiefer
http://athlete.io/

Anyway we talked about Carb Nite and Carb Back Loading quite extensively few weeks ago. You can probably find them if you just search this thread with "Carb Nite" or "CN".

And the reason why CN should work pretty well:

Thanks.

 

[Vio-Lence]

i'd avoid that wealthy biceps thread. no good can come from posting there.

 

[Fonz72]

I like the taste, but they have too much junk I don't want to be eating. Quest is all I bother with anymore.

Holy crap! I compared labels, bad idea. LOL! Still Quest are more than twice as expensive.....

 

[jdavid459]

What is the verdict on sodium? I'm trying to lose fat and I was looking at some stuff in my house (soup/beans) and both have crazy amounts of sodium ...like half your days intake. Is this really bad? Something to avoid?

 

[MThanded]

What is the verdict on sodium? I'm trying to lose fat and I was looking at some stuff in my house (soup/beans) and both have crazy amounts of sodium ...like half your days intake. Is this really bad? Something to avoid?

If you eat too much sodium and you are low on your water intake you will bloat to no end.

I know personally I try to make most if not all of my food myself so I can monitor my sodium intake.

 

[andycapps]

It's cleaner just to tie it off. You strangle the bloodflow and the clump just falls off in a few days. No pain, no blood.

I think I'll go this route.

 

[Kyaw]

I think I like decline bench more than all the other benches.
Been getting pretty good progress so far.

#teamdecline

 

[sphinx]

perhaps my favorite old school Bodybuilder, German Jusup Wilkosz

dat badass Zeus beard

 

[FallingEdge]

I think I like decline bench more than all the other benches.
Been getting pretty good progress so far.

#teamdecline

Chalk another one for the bad guys.

 

[Zozobra]

Hey guys,

I'm preparing to return to proper training in the next month or so and I think I'm gonna go with SS, but I had a few questions:

The main idea seems to be constant progression and maybe I missed where he talked about it in the book, but is the idea that you just keep going and adding weight until you run out of weights or something? I mean, at which point would you move on from SS to something like 5/3/1? Would you wait until stalling out consistently in SS and then change programs?

Also, using the squat as an example, it sounds as though for my body I'd probably want to be going up by 10 pound increments each workout. When I stall out on a weight, is it correct that I make sure I can complete all work sets at that weight first and then only go up by say 5 pound increments going forward?

Just want to make sure I'm approaching this properly right from the beginning.

In terms of nutrition, I was looking at those Quest bars everyone seems to love, but they seem to have a lot of carbs, don't they? I know they've got a ton of fiber, but I've got a friend who is pretty nutrition-savvy and he said that the net carb thing is a myth.

I just need to find something like a good bar that can serve as a desert of sorts, but I'm wary of high carbs if I'm going to be eating these things every day.

 

[Cooter]

i'd avoid that wealthy biceps thread. no good can come from posting there.

Are you talking about the physical strength and conservatism thread? Yeah, stay away. I had a guy already tell me how he is disappointed in me and how he used to respect (maybe not the exact word) me from FitGAF discussion. Guess he no longer does. Haha!

 

[crpav]

Don't know what to think of my body. Maybe I need a long rest period, have bad genes and/or my body is breaking down at my age. I am so sore and tired for days after working out or major activity. I play softball and my quads, hamstrings and hips have been sore since. Even though it's softball, I play like I am trying to get called up to the majors and put it all on the line. Not as easy as it once was now that I am 34. I foam rolled and massaged them the past few days and still hurt. I guess riding bike Wednesday wasn't the best option but I just can't tell myself to not workout. My right shoulder is also a little sore as well as obliques on the right side and a few other areas.. Do I suck it up and do my workout tonight or take off? I am doing a 3 day routine where I lift Monday, Wednesday and Friday and doing a strength routine. Today I plan to do bench, military press, back row and legs.

I hate my muffin top genetics. I could eat a carrot and still gain weight.

 

[BoosterDuck]

When I was dropping weight all the sweet-ass cookie manufacturers made new flavors of cookies. I mean did you see this shit?!

Those cookies taste like garbage. Too much cream makes it too sweet and doesn't go well with milk.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Those cookies taste like garbage. Too much cream makes it too sweet and doesn't go well with milk.

I agree, they're like little cakes. But that shit was NEW!

double stuf is still the perfect medium ground.

 

[SeanR1221]

I agree, they're like little cakes. But that shit was NEW!

double stuf is still the perfect medium ground.

I use double stuffed when I make slutty brownies (a layer of cookie dough, a layer of
Oreos and a brownie batter poured on top, then you bake it all together.

 

[Mayyhem]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

 

[abuC]

I think I like decline bench more than all the other benches.
Been getting pretty good progress so far.

#teamdecline

Chalk another one for the bad guys.

We out chea!

#teamdecline all day everyday.

I don't even warmup on flat BB bench anymore, only time I touch the flat bench is to do heavy dumbbells. I need my bench at an angle now.

 

[Zoe]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

You can do it on those machines as well. You just want to work hard enough to elevate your heart rate.

 

[kevo_huevo]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

do you live near a school? i go to the elementary school across the street from me. they have a soccer field and the playground has dip bars, and pullup bars at three different heights (muscle-up practice!). i go there sometimes on the weekends with a medicine ball me and just go to work.

you don't really need to do HIIT in a gym, in fact it's probably better to do it outdoors, weather permitting. you can probably find a sloped street and do hill sprints, or an open field at a park in your community.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

y'all are making me want to incorporate HIIT with my SS.

Shitttttt.

 

[MThanded]

I dun goofed. Smith machine. Not going to say much more because after reading online I now know the errors of my ways.... I'm an idiot.

Now I understand why increasing the weight crushed my lower back.

Live and learn... I deserve a slap.

 

[abuC]

y'all are making me want to incorporate HIIT with my SS.

Shitttttt.

Do it.

I gained a few pounds the last couple weeks, but my waist actually got smaller.

 

[abuC]

I dun goofed. Smith machine. Not going to say much more because after reading online I now know the errors of my ways....

Drop the story, don't leave us hanging.


Just to make you feel comfortable, I dropped a bar on my ribs with a weight that I normally can do 20+ reps with, and I needed help getting it off because I was doing close grip and my wrists were basically pinned to my chest/ribs.

 

[MThanded]

Drop the story, don't leave us hanging.


Just to make you feel comfortable, I dropped a bar on my ribs with a weight that I normally can do 20+ reps with, and I needed help getting it off because I was doing close grip and my wrists were basically pinned to my chest/ribs.

Because i'm a newbie I was doing smith machine deads along with my incline and standard benches. I already had a lower back injury and I definitely reaggravated it earlier this week.

After reading online I realize this was stupid. First of all never do smith machine deads. Second of all it's a really good way to put a lot more force on your lower back. It's my fault. Had I been doing real DLs I probably would have been fine.

My back seems to be doing ok now. I could have prevented this ahead of time if I was doing things correctly. I need to hang out in this thread more instead of winging it.

 

[abuC]

Because i'm a newbie I was doing smith machine deads along with my incline and standard benches. I already had a lower back injury and I definitely reaggravated it earlier this week.

After reading online I realize this was stupid. First of all never do smith machine deads. Second of all it's a really good way to put a lot more force on your lower back. It's my fault. Had I been doing real DLs I probably would have been fine.

My back seems to be doing ok now. I could have prevented this ahead of time if I was doing things correctly. I need to hang out in this thread more instead of winging it.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, I see people who've been working out for years using the Smith for deads. At least you learned early on it's not the best thing to do.

I been working out for a while and still make mistakes or bonehead decisions, it happens.

 

[MThanded]

That's nothing to be ashamed of, I see people who've been working out for years using the Smith for deads. At least you learned early on it's not the best thing to do.

I been working out for a while and still make mistakes or bonehead decisions, it happens.

I just feel pretty stupid.

 

[Host Samurai]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

I do it on the elliptical. Something like this

1 min intense, 1 min steady. Keep switching every other minute. Some days I do 30 second intervals as well. I try to do it for 30min and the last 10/15 minutes I cool off with steady state if I have the time to spare.

 

[Host Samurai]

I think I like decline bench more than all the other benches.
Been getting pretty good progress so far.

#teamdecline

+1 for #teamdecline

 

[abuC]

I just feel pretty stupid.

We all been there, no big deal broski.

I once sat down in the lateral shoulder raise machine the wrong way lol.

 

[chrisisawesome]

Liking that GNC customer service. I bought the cinnamon roll quest bars which were pretty lousy. Was able to go back and exchange them for a box of the PB&J!

 

[MThanded]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

You can do it fine on cardio equipment. Some people say it is preferable.

I do elliptical 1 minute on 1 minute off(20 minutes worth). Use an app on my phone that will play a sound in my headphones on interval switches.

 

[SeanR1221]

We all make mistakes, MT. I was holding the barbell wrong on deads and rows for a year, giving myself some really bad calluses.

 

[Petrie]

395x1 on my Deads today while continuing my cut, down to 175lbs.

Next cycle I attack 4 plates. I feel like a beast!

Can't wait.

 

[goober]

I see that the GNC membership is free if you spend 10$ online. Is it possible to do this at a store?

 

[Darren870]

How and where exactly do you guys do your HIIT training? I have no idea how to go about incorporating it into my routine. My gym has all the standard cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, step-climber, etc) but no running track.

I do treadmill usually. Sometimes elliptical as its easier. 1 min on 1 min off. Some really nice treadmills have the option, mine doesn't tough so it can be a pain.

Or I'll do a crossfit type workout, simple lifts with speed. Not dead lifts or snatches or anything crazy with a bar, but I will do burpees, jump rope, standing squats etc all for time. I try to do this once a week and its a nice burn keeps my stamina up.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

I see that the GNC membership is free if you spend 10$ online. Is it possible to do this at a store?

I did, but who knows how much of that was lying by the bros behind the counter.

They already know me by name. Shameful.

 

[Zoe]

I do treadmill usually. Sometimes elliptical as its easier. 1 min on 1 min off. Some really nice treadmills have the option, mine doesn't tough so it can be a pain.

I've found that even when machines have interval options, their intervals tend to be too long.

 

[Chittagong]

395x1 on my Deads today while continuing my cut, down to 175lbs.

Next cycle I attack 4 plates. I feel like a beast!

Can't wait.

4 plates? Goddam. I will be at three plates in a couple of weeks. What's your cut like?

 

[despire]

Probably going to try carb nite starting this week. I lost a decent amount of weight doing low carb until I hit a plateau a few years back and calorie deficits haven't ever worked for me.

Are these the proper steps

-10 day less than 30g of carbs a day
-On the 10th day evening carb refeed focusing on rice,grains etc not fruit
-7 days low carb
-rinse repeat

I have one question though. Is the 30g of carb with or without fiber subtraction? Also am I fine doing Greyskull on this?

Help would be appreciated.


Thanks.

Sounds about right. The 30g of carbs is usable carbs AFAIK but remember that it's the absolute limit.

Greyskull should work.