I want to grow.

[vanillamountain]

Hi everyone! I love this site. Right now, I'm trying to lose a little weight, and [hopefully] firm up a little bit. Currently, I am 5'8", 155 pounds, and have a 32 inch waist. I'm a little leery of getting too "musclebound," however, because I love to run. So I do what I can. Any advice, anyone?

[Mdlftr]

I saw your post and had to suppress a smile.
Believe it or not, most people don't have the problem of getting "too Big". This is because most people aren't necessarily genetically programmed to look like Art Atwood or Mike Matarazzo.

To answer your question directly, if you want to work out, keep a few things in mind.
1. There's working out, which can be a series of exercises designed to promote your overall physical health and well being, with emphasis on cardiovascular and physical conditioning.
2. Weightlifting - which can be a sport, wherein you try to lift higher and higher amounts of weight, in certain specific lifts, such as: clean and jerk, overhead press, bench press, squat
3. Bodybuilding, which I think is what most people here are interested in. This emphasizes muscle size, shape and proportion. The goal is to develop your muscles so they are esthetically at a certain standard (e.g. "Bob Paris" or " "D on Youngblood" sleek and refined, versus big and ripped)

You need to decide what your goal is, then do some research on what will help you achieve what you want.

Any qs, feel free to follow up.

[brent]

OK, OK now I know after the title of this post you are all thinking, "But Brent, it's so easy to cofuse you! ..." But seriously, how can anyone be leery of getting too "musclebound,"???

MMMmmmm Musclebound.

I wouldn't worry, the more my muscles grow, the more useful they are. Just today I went jogging through a local park, and most of the people were staring at my muscles! Now that's useful! Or were they staring, thinking, "What's that fat, white dude doing, running in public? He looks like he's about to go into cardiac failure." Whatever, but muscles grow so slowly, you'll know before you get too musclebound, and it is nice to have some meat on the old bones...

[Mdlftr]

Ya know, Brent, you're not the only one who's confused! [Just ask me about the return key! <g>]

But seriously, I think when people talk about being too musclebound, what they are talking about is someone who is bulky and has limited flexibility in their muscles. They lumber rather than glide.

The answer to that is to make sure you stretch (carefully and correctly!) during and after a workout.
The cool thing about stretching is that it helps with the tightness and soreness, AND it helps prime your muscles for further growth! What you end up with is a "big man" who can move smoothly. And we all want to be big!

Later, dudes..

[brent]

Mdlftr>>> I was half way being silly in my last post, but you make a very good point. I have been so concerned about bulking, I haven't paid nearly enough attention to stretching. I agree that not stretching is why many big, hot, muscled men lack grace. I will start stretching more, and I suggest that vanillamountain should do the same. I know that it isn't the size that causes problems, its the lack of flexability. Thank you for reminding me of this extrewamly important point.

As for the 'return' key, it is in the same place, on a Mac keyboard, as the main 'enter' key on a PC keyboard. Both keyboards will have an 'enter' key in the same place, on the number side however. In most Mac applications, the return and enter keys serve the same purpose, and are interchangable. If you use an application that is so specialized it differenciates between the two, then you would already know the diffrence. I used to know of some, but I can't remember any right now. Really old Macs (mid 1980's) will only have the return key, since Apple thought they had to make very small keyboards to accomadate that new-fangled mouse! The return key has been a constant on Apple keyboard since 1977, before the IBM PC with its enter key ever came out, and it comes from the old caridge-return key on type writers. I hope I didn't bore you, but I do tend to have collected a bit of technology trivia over the years...

[Mdlftr]

Brent,
Thanks for the history lesson about Macs v PCs. I was joking about the return key because I have a portable computer that has a very sensitive keyboard. When I type quickly, it tends to jump around, throwing in returns where I don't want them, etc. I understand that I can change some settings to make the keypad less sensitive--I just haven't gotten around to it.

Re: stretching and all that: another good reason to stretch, besides the increased ease of movement, is that it allows you to get a fuller development of the muscle because you're moving it through the full range of motion. For example, if you've ever done a bicep exercise called "sevens".

You start in the standing position with an e-z curl bar in both hands. Your hands should be facing out as you rest the bar on your thighs. You curl the bar from your thighs up to a 90 degree angle with your arms. Keep your elbows tucked into your sides. Your forearms will be straight out in front of you. You lower the bar to your thighs, smoothly, and then back up to where your forearms are level in front of you. Do this seven times.

On what would be the end of the seventh rep, instead of lowering the bar back to your thighs, hold it in front of you with your arms level. Starting from that new position, curl the bar up towards your shoulders, (really crunching the bicep) and then lower the bar back to the level position with your arms. Do this seven times.

At the end of that seventh rep, lower the bar all the way back to your thighs, then curl it all the way back up to your shoulders. Do this seven times. When you are done, your arms will be FRIED!

What you've done is use both limited and full range of motion to really hit your arms. You get the blood pumping fun of half reps, then you finish it off with full range of motion to really stretch and hit the biceps! IT's really a good biceps workout! Hint: don't use a lot of weight the first time you do this. You want good form, and you want to be able to move your arms the next day! <grin>

Try it and see how it works for you!

Keep lifting!

Mdlftr

[brent]

I love sevens, but I've always called them 21s. Same thing: Seven little bicep curls, done in 3 diffrent ranges of motion = 21 total reps. No matter what you call them, they make your arms explode with growth. I can definately see how a good range of motion helps you out w/ that. I am more intriged,is where you said, "AND it helps prime your muscles for further growth!" I've heard that before, and I guess it makes sence. Is that because you are getting more blood into that bodypart? The range of motion thing, I totally agree with. I want to get big, but not be stiff. I am increasing my stretching by a lot because of this thread, and it feels good.
I also don't want to be permanately bent over when I hit my 80s, like a lot of my grandparent's friends. I hear this is because these people never streched in their 30s-70s, and that their ligament stiffened up. Do you know if there is a shread of truth to that? Anyways, I think stretching is a good practice for all stages of life.


Also, I'm not into a Mac v. PC thing, or any this v. that thing. I hate competition. I do like trivia, and technology however. I use Linux, Mac, and Windows (alphabetical order) interchangably. Also, I know what you are saying about laptop keyboards: My Java instructor has a sweet new IBM thinkPad, he uses for his PowerPoint presentations. The problem is they put the function key to the left of the Cntrl key. Obviously this lead to some prety funny moments untill he got used to the Cnrtl key not being the one all the way over to the Left!

[Mdlftr]

Brent,
Yes, stretching does a body good! ( like Milk, and a whole host of other things!)

Re: bent over in your 80's. Lack of Stretching can be a partial reason for being bent over.

Another BIG reason is bone loss. Older people, especially women, are prone to osteoporosis, which is bone loss. Loss of bone in your spine causes compression, pain, loss of mobility and decreased strength.

A good answer to all of that is exercise, especially weight-bearing exercises. Weightlifting has been shown to have beneficial effects in all populations, including older people (>60) who showed increased bone density, and greater strength after even a very mild regimine of weightlifting.

So, the next time you go to the gym, better step aside sonny, and let Gramma or Grampa work in on the equipment! --Or they'll kick your sorry a--! (Grin)

[brent]

Good points. I'm off to stretch & have a glass of milk now, unless my refrigerator has frozen it again...