Coco

I think the problem isnt gaining weight... it is gaining it correctly. I mean, any of us can just sit down and eat a jar of peanut butter or a bag of cheetos. And we can all eat junk food all day, which wont fill you and will oviously make you gain a million pounds. However, as martial artists, we want to gain muscle weight, or weight that will benefit our overall strength and fitness. For this, I will have to disagree that it is easyer to lose weight than to gain it.

Okay... A little background info - im 16 years old, 5'9.Started working out in June of 2006, at a nearby gym. I used to go every single day, alternating muscle groups, 6 days a week. Used to drink 60g of protein (in shakes) a day. Starting weight was 150lbs. After 3 months of working out, oviously, I saw great results. However, by the 2nd month, I saw that I stopped improving a bit... by the 3th month, my muscles seem to be used to the exercises and so I reached a plateu. I tried different exercises, but nothing helped much. That's when I met this one guy. 6'0 , 170lbs RIPPED! he told me he didnt do weights, only puhshups and situps (he has a 8 pack), so I decided to give it a try. Also, might I add, Ive always wanted to see what the difference was between training with and witout protein shake. So I quit the gym AND the shakes. I started out doing sets of 20-25 pushups... about 10 sets. I alternated between pushups and pullups every other day. The results - Much better definition, better endurance, suprisingly, more strength, bigger muuscles (Im standing at about 158-160 now) and I am sore EVERY time I train, because since its body weight, i can push myself a biit further without damaging my body. I feel much stronger, faster, more fit and confident. In addition to this, I heard a myth that you can't gain weight if you run alot. FALSE! Ive gained 5 lbs in the past 3 weeks, and all this while running 5-7 miles 5 times a week. No shakes, no ammino acids, nothing, and i can eat whatever i want! I just thought i'd share my story for all of you, and maybe you guys can also start bodyweight exercises if you get stuck like I did.... Just remember, I could do 20 pushups and 3 chinups when i started. 3 weeks later, i can do 40 pushups and 20 chinups, more than alot of these big buff guys at the gym!

The only jiu jitsu ive learned so far (100% self tought) is gracie jiu jitsu. This isnt really a very "sport" style. However, in my search to finally start learning Jiu Jitsu with a real teacher, i foudn this place. They call their style "sport jiu jitsu". Do you guys have any experience with this , and if it can also apply to real life self defence as Gracie Jiu Jistu can?

Well I only started like a month ago but on leg press i got like 360... 10 reps

Well, make sure you drink TONS of water to be hydrated. Also make sure to eat bananas for potassium ( to avoid cramps and balance out the sodium ) and get a good amount of protein for your muscle.

Thanks 4 the link bro will look into it

I have all the gracie instructional videos. I would highly reccomend them if you are a begginer, otherwise, you prolly know everything that is in these videos.

Well I don't have books myself but I do own all 3 gracie dvd videos. Im guessing its around the same thing, but these are awesome if you are a begginer and have a partner. Make sure you follow the moves step by step though, the smallest thing can make a huge difference.

Definately no supplements. If you really care about your health, I think you should sacrifice your job and try to look for something better. Definately nothing you can do, and 8 hours is alot of time, if anything I would say you are getting more smoke intake than alot of the smokers themselves.

Well, if anything, you can always eat ice cream and pizza to get the weight back But make sure you are healthy first, we dont want you to have some weird disease!

Haha! I wouldn't reccomend streching on the shower, because 1) You might slip, 2) Most showers aren't big enough and 3) You'll prolly feel akward as you are completely naked! (Or at least I would). What you COULD do is take a hot shower to warm your body up, do what you gotta do, dry up and THEN, while your body is still warm (and you are not naked, or in danger of slipping anymore) stretch outside the shower

I havent done karate in a while... but if i remember correctly this was my routine on normal basis (not tournament routine) every day, i used to do all katas, and work on the last 2-3 katas i had learned for 20-30 mins. Then practice kicks, punches, etc. for 30 mins. Afterwards, go run 2 miles and do some pushups/situps/chinups for strength

I think they have mastered the art of KARATE, not the art of being fit... but then again bruce lee thought that to master the art of fighting (which is actually a pretty big part of karat) you had to be in top shape.

Did your message get cut off? Cool stuff tho

I used to do this with a partner... Very good stretch, almost like a split but make sure you warm up a bit before this or you mite get hurt. Take care.

Personally, i think you are letting your muscles recouperate for too long. Instead of increasing the number of overal repetitions, as you said you did for several months, you should start slowly DECREASING the rest time between sets and doing more reps per set. I'm confident you will get bettter gains this way.

Kicks are taught. In the little jiu jitsu experience I have, I can tell you that kicks are a decent way to distract an oponent and keep him at a distance. However, if your opponent knows jiu jitsu, I wouldnt even try and kick because most likely ill end up in a clinch and being taken down. So kicks ARE tought, but if you use them against someone who knows BJJ, youre dead

Well, i usually sleep less than 6 hours and im 90% sure i dont get as many carbs as i should... i just noticed that i have the same strength and everything, but my body just feels lazyer lol

Well, for the past say month and a half, ive been hitting the gym. Everyday, i would wake up early and go at it for an hour, giving it my max - draining out my energy. However, for the past week and a half, all that energy has mysteriously disapared! Ive been waking up very tired every day, and i dont feel like working out, but ive still been forcing myself to. When i force myself to work out now though, i cant do as many reps or as many weights... this is a bummer since for the past month and a half, all ive gained is strength, size and endurance... somehow how all that energy that i had and gave it every day is gone and i dont know where!!! For a while i thought it might be overtraining... so i took 3 days off... but still now i wake up very tired, very lazy, dont feel liked oing anything and my body is getting slightly more fat now.. WHATS GOIN ONN!!!

Videos are awesome! I downloaded some BJJ videos, learned the material with a training partner, and now me and my friend can take down most BJJ fighters we encounter! The reason for this is that many times, the sensei in a dojo has bad technique himself, or sometimes he doesnt spend much 1 on 1 time with you to correct you. On the videos, we have watched, rewatch and watched again every technique and practiced them extensively. Me and my friend practiced these for hours on end, and it shows in our fighting alot!

both, of course! I weight 155lbs atm. Goal is 170, which means I want to gain weight but of course i dont want it to be show off muscles, i want them to be functioning MA muscles!

I know there are different types of routines. Like, some people work out different muscles every day, some people take wednesday and weekends off and train 4 times a week, etc. Im looking specifically for a strategy in which i could alternate 2 workouts throuought 6 days. No cardio, since I alredy run 3-5miles a day after each workout. I am not a begginer, I have alredy built endurance, I just want to take it to the next level.

Hey guys, i've asked the question to alot of friends and everyone had a different answer, and reasons for it. I wanna know what you guys think. Okay, basically, for the past 2 months or so, ive been doing an A/B type of training, where you alternate muscles worked. Now, this has been great, the results are amazing - however, I have recently started asking myself if there is a way in which I could get bigger gains. Like, for example, I was doing all upper body one day, and all lower body the next. However, since there are more upper body muscles, i would spend an hour and a half at the gym one day and 30 mins the next XD and the upper body day, after an hour, my performance would decrease, so the muscles I trained last got a lighter work out. So, my question is, What would be the best way to do an A/B routine (A = mon, wed, fri, B = tue, thur, sat) so that I can use my muscles to my maximum possible ability? These are the muscles I train (I do exercises/machines that isolate these) = Biceps, Triceps, Lats, Upper Back, Lower Back, Obliques, Lower abs, Middle/Upper abs, Shoulders, Quadriceps, Calfs and Hamstrings. Im trying to find a way so i can train say, half the muscles one day and half the other, but doing is as efficiently as possible, and i dont know which muscles it would be most advantageous to train on the same day. Any help would be apreciated Thanks in advance!

I definately want to work my lower back. How to you execute good mornings? What are other exercises and how to perform them?

Next time dont try to be the cool guy, and use both hands, please Take a week off, but I would work out my legs and abs while im away so i dont get out of shape. Maybe you can even run. Just dont puch, or do pushups or anything, and when you do come back, take it easy on the arm for 2 or 3 more weeks till you really know its fully healed and back to normal. It might feel cured after only 1 week but if you punch hard enough the pain could come back.