Manstein's Muscle Thread

[Valentin the II]

How's that going for you?

Not bad, developed some muscle on my arms and got into slightly better shape.
Probably lost some pounds to.
Unfortunately my testosterone deficiency and slow metabolism are making things harder.

[Erich von Manstein]

Unfortunately my testosterone deficiency and slow metabolism are making things harder.

The bad news is that the two of those are most likely interrelated (there's a reason that your metabolism peaks during the same period in your life that your testosterone levels happen to be raging). The good news is that you only have to work on improving the one in order to have a positive impact on both. I'd suggest incorporating compound lifts/olympic-style lifts into your workouts. You'll be hitting your largest muscle groups simultaneously, resulting in increased testosterone production.

On a related note, but for everyone, I found an excellent tutorial on performing Olympic-style lifts. Most coaches would recommend hiring a trainer to teach you the proper form but, if you're dirt poor like me, that isn't really an option. So get your minds out of the gutter and click the link to learn more:

The Beautiful Snatch

[Banned]

Testosterone plays a big role in both males and females. Most of you must be wondering why I said females, but it's true that even females have it in very low amounts. The difference is observable outside. We know that most females don't have good muscles and power to knock the males down. This is mostly because of testosterone. It's responsible for increase in the mass of muscles and their strength in laborious activities. It's also responsible for bone strength and density. This is in addition to its primary function which we're all aware of. See this article if you want to increase the level of testosterone in your body.

[Erich von Manstein]

See this article if you want to increase the level of testosterone in your body.

I would be very wary of utilizing any of the methods mentioned in the article, other than those involving consumption of certain foods. Why? A few reasons. First of all, using a cream or a patch is simply a less-efficient method of artificially increasing your testosterone levels than injecting steroids or HGH straight into your muscles. This causes a few problems. Artificially raising your testosterone levels has been linked to an increased risk of cancer in addition to testicular atrophy (the latter alone is enough to dissuade me from evern juicing). While creams and patches carry a lesser risk of these side-effects than juicing, this is because they aren't as potent.

The second reason I am very wary of artificially boosting testosterone levels has already been addressed in part by Annaeus. He mentioned that women also have testosterone levels, albeit to a much lesser extent than men. This is true, along with the converse: men have estrogen levels, albeit to a much lesser extent than women. When you artificially increase your testosterone levels, however, your body attempts to automatically compensate by - you guessed it - increasing your estrogen levels. Remember your gym teacher telling you in high school that male steroid-users frequently experience breast development, decreased sperm count, testicular atrophying and a higher voice pitch? An increase in estrogen levels is the culprit - juicer's bodies literally start turning them into women. Modern juicers compensate for this by taking nifty estrogen-blockers, doubling the cost of their "stack" (i.e., the total number of chemicals that they are injecting simultaneously) and messing with their hormonal levels in yet another way without any scientific guidance. Needless to say, unless you're suffering from a muscular degenerative disease or something similar, you're better off avoiding the synthetic testosterone boosters.

That being said, there are numerous methods of naturally increasing your testosterone levels without spooking your body into starting you down the path to female puberty. Diet is the main component. For more information, check out the Men's Health TNT Diet or the Testosterone Nation website (although the latter does sometimes advertise supplements that could be illegal in your country, so stick to the articles). As I've said elsewhere, compound and Olympic lifts are another great method of increasing your natural testosterone level. There is some anecdotal evidence that creatine contributes to this as well, although I have yet to see any studies that back this up.

In other news, I finally got around to starting the Miscellaneous Tips section. Feel free to check it out.

[Valentin the II]

Considering what you said, I'v devised a new regime for miself:

Set1:
-Bent over press
-Squat
-Chest press
-Hip extension

Set2:
-Lunge
-Shoulder press
-Good morning

Set3:
-Situps
-Calf raise
-Push-ups

All with 2 dumbbells 12kg eatch (for a start), starting with 12 repeates, 15 next weak and then uping the weights.
Repeat eatch set 3 times with 1.5 min break betwin eatch repeat (except the last one where I dont rest).
What do you think? Is it any good?

[Mathias]

I thought I'd try out a slightly modified form of Ripptoe's.

Work-out A:
Squat 3x5
Bench 3x5
Deadlift 1x5
Dips
Abs exercises

Workout B:
Squat 3x5
Standing press 3x5
Rows 3x5
Pull-ups
Abs exercises.

I work out three times a week:

week 1: A-B-A
Week 2: B-A-B
And so on.

[Erich von Manstein]

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond, mates. I'm in the middle of finals and my presence here will be sporadic until May 18 as a result.

What do you think? Is it any good?

It depends on a few things. What is your primary goal at this point? Your supersets are incredibly intense, which is great if you're trying to lose a lot of weight. If you're trying to put on muscle, on the other hand, you'll want to change things up a bit.

Same with your reps. If you're trying to lose a lot of weight, 12-15 reps per set is ideal. Otherwise, you'll want to switch things up a bit. Let me know what your overarching goal is I can tell you whether your current workout is appropriate or not.

I thought I'd try out a slightly modified form of Ripptoe's.

Now that is a muscle/strength building workout right there! Low reps and nothing but compound exercises...I approve. One small question, however: how frequently do you change it up? I ask because you're going with the basic compounds which, while they are beneficial for a few weeks, will cease to help you after a well. I'd suggest switching your base exercises up every few workouts: for instance, switching between incline and normal bench, as well as dumbbell and barbell bench; switching between deadlifts and squats (they work the same muscles) and replacing the deadlifts in your workout with Romanian deadlifts (these, on the other hand, work your hips).

Both of you have good plans so far, all things considered.

[Valentin the II]

It depends on a few things. What is your primary goal at this point? Your supersets are incredibly intense, which is great if you're trying to lose a lot of weight. If you're trying to put on muscle, on the other hand, you'll want to change things up a bit.

Same with your reps. If you're trying to lose a lot of weight, 12-15 reps per set is ideal. Otherwise, you'll want to switch things up a bit. Let me know what your overarching goal is I can tell you whether your current workout is appropriate or not.

I was trying to create a good compound regime.
I want to both lose fat and gain muscle simoltaniously, without focusing on one of them.
Any advice?

[Gary88]

as manstein isn't here i might intervene and then he can correct everything i say. as he already said for weight loss your workout is pretty good but for muscle building its quite intense.

basically the simple rule is that muscle building wants high weight low rep where as weight loss and endurance activity requires lots of reps with low weight. as you want to do both simultaneously you might want to lower the number of reps you do, say 6-8 rather than 12. i would keep with the same weight though because if you increase each week then you are going to work towards a good weight anyway.


as for me i just bought a sit up bench, only cost 20 quid and i'm rather pleaed with it, on a related note i only used it on wednesday and my abs are still ing killing me, i hope its worth it. god damnit i want a six pack.

[Erich von Manstein]

Gary, as usual, is spot on. The only caveat I would make is that there is a fair amount of recent research indicating that hypertrophy (muscle growth) is best achieved by utilizing medium weights with medium reps. Of course, if you increase your strength you're probably going to see some size gains, so the two aren't exactly distinct from one another. In review:

Weight loss: high # of reps with low weights (i.e., 3 sets of 12-15 reps)
Hypertrophy: medium # of reps with medium weights (i.e., 4 sets of 6-8 reps)
Strength gain: low # of reps with high weights (i.e., 6 sets of 3-5 reps)

There are quite a few other factors as well, but those are the biggest other than caloric intake (excess will result in hypertrophy, deficit will result in fat loss). As I've mentioned elsewhere, utilizing compound lifts (those utilizing multiple muscle groups) will spur muscle growth and fat loss; utilizing supersets (back-to-back lifts with no rest in between) will do the same. Finally, consider incorporation some supplements into your diet. If you have the money, virtually all of the supplements I list are useful; if you're on a limited budget like most of us are, consider investing in creatine and protein whey. The research on both of these goes back more than a decade and they're relatively cheap compared to the others I list (particularly creatine - $30 will get you a 6-month supply if you cycle 8 weeks on/4 weeks off). Also, make sure you incorporate a PWO (post-workout shake) into your diet; I believe I've listed some guidelines above. This will help ensure that your muscles are getting the protein they need when they need it, spurring hypertrophy.

[Eskali]

Manstein what is a Heave test, eg. Heave Test (overgrasp/undergrasp/alternate -12 pass) I have seen this term a lot but i do not now what it is.
-Thanks

[Erich von Manstein]

Manstein what is a Heave test, eg. Heave Test (overgrasp/undergrasp/alternate -12 pass) I have seen this term a lot but i do not now what it is.
-Thanks

I'm afraid I've never heard of a "heave test" before and a cursory Google search only reveals soil tests and the like. Where have you seen it mentioned?

[Eskali]

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...?t=757&page=80
http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/ar...hp/t-4831.html
60 Pushups
100 Situps
10 Heaves
2.4km Run (Patrol Order 7kg/ Runners) 11.30 min
Run-Jump-Dodge test (Patrol order) 50 sec
Swim 400m (DPCU & Runners) 18 min
Tread water 2 min
15km Endurance march (21kg Pack, 7kg Webbing, rifle) 2hrs 20 min
Could be an Aussie thing...

[Erich von Manstein]

The term "heave" appears to be UK/Aussie slang for pullups and chinups, according to an Aussie over at T-Nation. Overhand would be a pullup and underhand would be a chinup.

[Eskali]

The term "heave" appears to be UK/Aussie slang for pullups and chinups, according to an Aussie over at T-Nation. Overhand would be a pullup and underhand would be a chinup.

Thanks

[ZorboZ]

Ok, to make it short, i have a visible sixpack, although the upper ones look a bit cripples, theyre triangles :O
yeah, and now i wanted to ask, how do i get the 4th doublepack,
the two lowest ones, nearest to my... genitalia.
I already know that the abdominal muscle is one muscle, but i want an exercise which lets me train the bottom pair most effective.
I hope you guys got me..

[Banned]

Maybe this thread should be pinned for folks. I find it annoying to search for it every time I need to consult it for one or the other thing. Right, moderators?

[Noble Savage]

Good idea , done

Noble Savage

[jankren]

Does regular 30-60 minutes daily jogging alone can help to develop decent abdominal muscle? Im not talking about 6-packs stomach or crap like that. Just flat belly with a little muscle. So is it possible?

[dwringer]

Eh, I only got to page 4 of this thread, but I want to weigh in on stretching - doing a thorough stretching routine before and after lifting will accomplish two things (well, at least two). One, it will increase blood flow throughout your body, not just for the workout, but all the time. You will feel mentally sharper, healthier, and certainly more flexible, all tangible benefits. Second, and more importantly, it will prevent you from getting extraordinarily sore and/or injured from doing high weight, low rep sets.

Seriously , try one day doing 3 sets of 3 curls with as much weight as you can handle for this, without stretching. Then a couple or 3 days later try it again, while doing an extensive set of stretches for your arms and shoulders. You can't tell me that your arms didn't feel like they were gonna cramp up and die the first time, as opposed to feeling like they got a good workout the second time.

At least, this is in my experience.