best upper body and ab workout routine

[frd150]

Whats worked best for you?

 

Ive been doing the body for life program and I personally am starting to see results. I know that I am a long way off from achieving my goal.

 

I would love to see what others are doing.

[IamASelfishSOB]

I swear by Body for Life. It absolutely works.

[Blackfrost]

BFL is a proven method, and works for anyone who is willing and dedicated to follow it properly.

[IamASelfishSOB]

BFL is a proven method, and works for anyone who is willing and dedicated to follow it properly.

 

My wife and I did Body for Life a few years ago. It worked better for me, but it worked for my wife as well. I had wonderful results. I followed the program to a tee and the program worked as advertised. Well, not exactly as advertised, the pictures in the front cover are a little ridiculous. I am convinced that resistance training is the key to losing weight.

 

I started a hybrid plan at the beginning of this year and lost 28 pounds from Feb to May. Now I eat whatever I want, but continue to exercise (three days aerobic and three days weights) and I've kept every pound off and I'm still gaining muscle mass.

 

You really don't need Body for Life, though. All it is is a sensible diet and exercise. Really just common sense. Utilizing the plan gives you structure. Once you figure it out, you pretty much realize what you need to do to get what you want.

 

I hope this isn't about a mid-life crisis, like it was for me.

[hotgurl]

with BFL do you bulk or or just tone? I want to tone my upper body and abs but not bulk up.

[IamASelfishSOB]

with BFL do you bulk or or just tone? I want to tone my upper body and abs but not bulk up.

 

It's really a toning thing for women. I am a firm believer that no woman really bulks up unless they are supplementing somehow. BFL won't do that. Like I said, sensible diet and adequate exercise. IMO, though, the resistance training is the key to it all.

[bish]

Whats worked best for you?

 

Ive been doing the body for life program and I personally am starting to see results. I know that I am a long way off from achieving my goal.

 

I would love to see what others are doing.

 

If I had to pick one upper body exercise, although knowing there shouldn't be only one, it would be the lat press. Holding on to two bars at your sides and pushing yourself into the air...like a downward bench press. this gets your triceps, lower chest, lats(for that V shape) shoulders and upper abs.

 

then it would be the combo ab crunch and reverse crunch where you bring your knees to your elbows....and do regular oblique crunches by laying on your side.

[Blackfrost]

You really don't need Body for Life, though. All it is is a sensible diet and exercise. Really just common sense. Utilizing the plan gives you structure. Once you figure it out, you pretty much realize what you need to do to get what you want.

 

That's exactly what I mean when I endorse that program. Most people don't know how to properly layout a fitness program that will give them results. The BFL plan is by no means a *new* fitness workout breakthrough: it's merely a simplified plan that allows you to understand and see the results you get from a beginning fitness program.

 

I personally went through 2 back to back 12 week challenges and the results were awesome - but - as I was working through these weeks, I began to see and understand where i might need more calories here, less calories there, additional rounds of abdominals, or more cardio then the required amount.

 

There is no *one* program that will suit every one, but I can definitely attest to BFL being a great way to start out with understanding fitness, and seeing some results.

 

Cheers to those who are going to give this a go, it's worth it!

[Trialbyfire]

Resistance training creates muscles that bulk up. Repetition tones you up.

[IamASelfishSOB]

That's exactly what I mean when I endorse that program. Most people don't know how to properly layout a fitness program that will give them results. The BFL plan is by no means a *new* fitness workout breakthrough: it's merely a simplified plan that allows you to understand and see the results you get from a beginning fitness program.

 

I personally went through 2 back to back 12 week challenges and the results were awesome - but - as I was working through these weeks, I began to see and understand where i might need more calories here, less calories there, additional rounds of abdominals, or more cardio then the required amount.

 

There is no *one* program that will suit every one, but I can definitely attest to BFL being a great way to start out with understanding fitness, and seeing some results.

 

Cheers to those who are going to give this a go, it's worth it!

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I did the 12 week challenge and just kept doing it. The transformation was remarkable. I suggest you take the pictures and everything. I did fall back into a period when I didn't exercise, though and really had to start from scratch, but knowing what I had to do, it worked like a charm again and I didn't follow it to the letter, but knew what I needed.

 

By the way, I also fully endorse a Bowflex. It was truly the only way that I could assure that I worked out in the mornings. It's a quality piece of home exercise equipment and reasonably priced. I get the same results from it as the gym. I also believe that working out in the morning is key as well (at least for me).

[frd150]

Thanks everyone.

 

Im following most of the BFL plan but I have to be realistic because my schedual makes it tough to follow the diet to a "T".

 

Ive cut the needless fat,soda(pop),fast food and overall empty calories out of my diet. Funny thing is is after a while you have no cravings for that stuff,in fact it all now seems kinda gross.

 

I will have to agree that the pics. in the book are a little far fetched. Im on week four and I can already see a change in my body as well as endurance. Its enough to keep me motivated.

 

The book definitly gives you something to work off of.

[Trialbyfire]

frd, one thing that people seem to make the mistake of is to either use the wrong training on problem parts of their body or just plain train on the portions that don't need it.

 

For example, some women, not that you're a woman, have larger lower halfs of their body where they have wide hips and big thighs. More pear shape. In this situation, the last thing you want to do is resistance training on your lower half, like crank up the exercise cycle to a higher resistance. What you should be doing is to lower the resistance right down to nothing but work out for longer periods of time, to create the longer, leaner, toned muscles.

[IamASelfishSOB]

Thanks everyone.

 

Im following most of the BFL plan but I have to be realistic because my schedual makes it tough to follow the diet to a "T".

 

Ive cut the needless fat,soda(pop),fast food and overall empty calories out of my diet. Funny thing is is after a while you have no cravings for that stuff,in fact it all now seems kinda gross.

 

I will have to agree that the pics. in the book are a little far fetched. Im on week four and I can already see a change in my body as well as endurance. Its enough to keep me motivated.

 

The book definitly gives you something to work off of.

 

As far as the diet goes, I seldom get 6 meals in. I eat breakfast every day. I go to lunch at about 11:30. I take a protien shake every day for a snack in the afternoon. Supper at night and then a light snack before bed.

 

A good idea for a snack. Go to Jack Links website and buy some beef snacks. Very low-fat, high protien and hardly any carbohydrates. Here's a link.

 

http://www.linksnacks.com/

 

Not all of this stuff is good for you, though. Remember I said the BEEF STEAKs. The jerky is ok too, but harder to control how much you eat.

[frd150]

Thanks selfish.(oxymoron)?

 

My routine is a follows

 

1. Breakfast-plain oat meal, cottage cheese,fruit, eggbeaters,veggie sausage

 

2.mid morning- protien shake, kashi bar(they are good)

 

3. Lunch

 

4. midafternoon- finish off the protien shake about 8 oz

 

5. go to the gym

 

6.dinner something well balanced lo fat. There are alot of things that you can make tast good.

 

7. small protien shake before bed.

 

Alot of water in between and this all happens if something does not screw up my routine.

 

Thanks for the tip on jacklinks. I never woulda thought of it. It might be a nice change.

[frd150]

frd, one thing that people seem to make the mistake of is to either use the wrong training on problem parts of their body or just plain train on the portions that don't need it.

 

I needed help all the way around. Always have. I played Baseball all the way through college and I always had to work a bit harder than the next guy on al parts of my body.

 

I slacked and it went away so I am hoping for the muscle memory thing to kick in.

 

So far so good. I just try and balance things out.

 

My back and shoulders develope first so I need to keep an eye on them. I do not want to look like a cartoon character.

[Star Gazer]

frd, one thing that people seem to make the mistake of is to either use the wrong training on problem parts of their body or just plain train on the portions that don't need it.

 

For example, some women, not that you're a woman, have larger lower halfs of their body where they have wide hips and big thighs. More pear shape. In this situation, the last thing you want to do is resistance training on your lower half, like crank up the exercise cycle to a higher resistance. What you should be doing is to lower the resistance right down to nothing but work out for longer periods of time, to create the longer, leaner, toned muscles.

 

I really have to disagree with this.

[Pyro]

Whats worked best for you?

 

Ive been doing the body for life program and I personally am starting to see results. I know that I am a long way off from achieving my goal.

 

I would love to see what others are doing.

 

Lots of bench pressing, jogging, ab crunches, and watching what I eat/drink.

[Trialbyfire]

I really have to disagree with this.

No problems with disagreeing with me but could you state what you would recommend then?

[johan]

I would think that having lots of sex would make a difference. I would think that. For sure.

[AriaIncognito]

I've known several people that have done BFL and really liked it. It's definitely one of the better diets as it's more focused on changing your overall lifestyle than making you become a calorie counter per se such as weight watchers or jenny craig.

 

What I'd like to know is, how do you get yourself to drink a lot of water? Personally, I can't stand it. I drink it at times, I dont drink 64 ounces a day. heck I dont drink 64 ounces of everything total let alone of water. I dont drink a lot by nature I guess. Have always been this way.

 

That being said, how do you keep yourself from choosing the sodas or the juices over the water? I find that since the water has no taste, it does nothing for me. Maybe it's a mental thing, I'm certainly a foodie. I like it to have a good taste, else what's the point.

 

frd it definitely seems like you're going about it the right way though, kudos for your progress thus far.

[Darkzen]

Any exercise regiment works, if you put the effort into it. I say do whatever makes you comfortable as long as you stick with it.

 

Many people confuse being fit/healthy with being toned. You can be fit and healthy, but if you carry a little extra body fat you won't be tone. You need to watch your diet and work out if you want to be toned. If you just work out, you may or may not be toned. If you just diet, you may not be fit/healthy or toned.

 

Personally, I lift weights (my old college football off-season program) to add muscle mass (which in turn increases my metabolism), then I switch to a cardiovascular program to cut body fat. Doing just enough lifting to maintain my mass.

 

My off-season program isn't for the faint of heart, but you add a lot of mass in a short period of time. It's basically a circuit program that focuses on the major muscle groups (chest, back, shoulders, legs), you hit all the minor muscle groups as a side effect. It's great for building a solid base to start sculpting from. My problem is I usually get that base and then slack off before sculpting, having to start all over again a few months later =p

[Darkzen]

I really have to disagree with this.

 

I'm going to have to disagree also.

 

Long and lean muscle comes from good stretching and good range of motion exercises. Reps and resistance has very little to do with muscle shape, merely muscle size/density. High resistance/low rep focuses on building mass (i.e. bigger muscle groups, big muscles). Low resistance/high rep focuses on muscle endurance (i.e. dense muscle fibers, hard muscles). Although, if you have a high percentage of body fat... no one will be able to tell what shape your muscles are.

 

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

[frd150]

I've known several people that have done BFL and really liked it. It's definitely one of the better diets as it's more focused on changing your overall lifestyle than making you become a calorie counter per se such as weight watchers or jenny craig.

 

What I'd like to know is, how do you get yourself to drink a lot of water? Personally, I can't stand it. I drink it at times, I dont drink 64 ounces a day. heck I dont drink 64 ounces of everything total let alone of water. I dont drink a lot by nature I guess. Have always been this way.

 

That being said, how do you keep yourself from choosing the sodas or the juices over the water? I find that since the water has no taste, it does nothing for me. Maybe it's a mental thing, I'm certainly a foodie. I like it to have a good taste, else what's the point.

 

frd it definitely seems like you're going about it the right way though, kudos for your progress thus far.

 

Thanks Aria.

 

On the water thing, yeah I was like you. The wierd thing was if I drank water alone with a meal i would get a nautious feeling in my stomach. I needed something with substance so to speak.

 

Now i am so used to water that its all I drink. I have broken my dependancy to Dr.pepper:p.

[frd150]

Darkzen,

 

All that can be confuzing. Im pretty lean now. Id like to put on some size but at the same time I want to be toned. Im pretty active so I have no desire to be all huge.

 

Cake and eat it to?

 

I just started looking at some of the articles on bodybuilding .com

[Darkzen]

Darkzen,

 

All that can be confuzing. Im pretty lean now. Id like to put on some size but at the same time I want to be toned. Im pretty active so I have no desire to be all huge.

 

Cake and eat it to?

 

I just started looking at some of the articles on bodybuilding .com

 

I wasn't saying to get huge. Merely explaining the general concepts of training. As well as tossing out my own regiment, for reference. =)