Help me tone up.

[MizuRyu]

Squat, bench press, press and angled lat pulls are the necessary evils for overall strength. They work the largest group of muslces and tax your body the most, therefor ensuring uniform overall growth. Elbows_and_knees has it: Cores are ESSENTIAL.

[ebff]

The simplest way is to do 1.5 hours of intensive swimming every other day. Results in a month! And you don't even need to work out. If you're good do 2 hours a day but that's tougher. Watch out it's knackering. The advantage being with swimming you train every muscle + cardio so everything will be toned up by the end. That's what I found with my training anyway.

As for foods... if you do enough, you'll try and eat as much as possible regardless of what it is

My rowers friends always have the equivalent of three full meals every time I have lunch with them...

[DJmma]

ebff, i agree. Im on the swimming and water polo team at school, and it is a great work out! now im not recommending swimming competitivly, it is more than a good work out then. my coach swims us to complete exsaustion almost every day. Ive had some bad experiences with swimming, throwing up etc...but swimming is great for getting/staying in shape. I swim 3 hours a day atleast. joining the swim team was one of the best things ive ever done. it whipped me into shape. so yes, anyone who wants a good workout, swim. its rewarding.

[Sohan]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[elbows_and_knees]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

depends on the goal - if you are after continued strength and mass, weights are the only way to go. for muscle endurance, no, you don't need to touch a weight. Bodyweight exercises and MA are sufficient.

[TigerDude]

I dunno... call me old fashioned, but I don't like either of the workouts you guys posted - there are way too many isolation movements involved. This is not conducive to building "functional" muscle. you want compound movements, like the bench press, squats, deadlifts and cleans. Isolation exercises are more body building oriented - they have different goals than the average ma. for ma training, compound is the way to go.

But he said he wanted to look good. That would be body-builder type goals.

3 sets of 8-12 is usual for hypertrophy (building muscles). Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. You should be just able to get the last rep of the last set done.

[Hogosha]

I dunno... call me old fashioned, but I don't like either of the workouts you guys posted - there are way too many isolation movements involved. This is not conducive to building "functional" muscle. you want compound movements, like the bench press, squats, deadlifts and cleans. Isolation exercises are more body building oriented - they have different goals than the average ma. for ma training, compound is the way to go.

But he said he wanted to look good. That would be body-builder type goals.

3 sets of 8-12 is usual for hypertrophy (building muscles). Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. You should be just able to get the last rep of the last set done.

Eww, I don't want to look like those body builders, just in good shape.

Thanks for all your help guys.

[Sohan]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

depends on the goal - if you are after continued strength and mass, weights are the only way to go. for muscle endurance, no, you don't need to touch a weight. Bodyweight exercises and MA are sufficient.

Only way to go? I'm sorry, but that's not an accurate statement.

Actually, I swam competitively all through high school and college and managed to develop some good muscle mass and strength without hitting the weights much during the season. I had a 44-45 inch chest and benched 300 with regular swim workouts and pushups. Take a good look at a experienced swimmer's physique sometimes and you'll see what I mean. I'm not referring to a plodding lap swimmer, but rather someone who does interval sets using varying intensities of work.

I have competed in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and swimming and have experienced respectable muscle and strength gains with each. Obviously weights are the most efficient solution, but it is a fact that a proper swim workout can certainly build strength and muscle size while developing muscle endurance as well.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[DJmma]

I dunno... call me old fashioned, but I don't like either of the workouts you guys posted - there are way too many isolation movements involved. This is not conducive to building "functional" muscle. you want compound movements, like the bench press, squats, deadlifts and cleans. Isolation exercises are more body building oriented - they have different goals than the average ma. for ma training, compound is the way to go.

But he said he wanted to look good. That would be body-builder type goals.

3 sets of 8-12 is usual for hypertrophy (building muscles). Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. You should be just able to get the last rep of the last set done.

Eww, I don't want to look like those body builders, just in good shape.

Thanks for all your help guys.

well you wont. its not easy to get the way they do. But doing the kind of exercises they do will make you look better. there is a difference between training for size and training for strength.

[Aodhan]

I dunno... call me old fashioned, but I don't like either of the workouts you guys posted - there are way too many isolation movements involved. This is not conducive to building "functional" muscle. you want compound movements, like the bench press, squats, deadlifts and cleans. Isolation exercises are more body building oriented - they have different goals than the average ma. for ma training, compound is the way to go.

But he said he wanted to look good. That would be body-builder type goals.

3 sets of 8-12 is usual for hypertrophy (building muscles). Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. You should be just able to get the last rep of the last set done.

Eww, I don't want to look like those body builders, just in good shape.

Thanks for all your help guys.

You won't. Competitive bodybuilders are in the gym 4-7 hours a day, and eating up to 10,000 calories a day depending on where they are in their yearly cycle.

3 sets of 8-12 will give you mild bulking effects. The higher weight and less reps you do, the more you will build bulk. The lower the weight, and higher reps, you will start de-emphasizing bulk and emphasizing endurance. Middle ground is best for most MA's.

Additionally, what they said is correct. Bodybuilding is an isolation type of training. Compound movements (squats, etc) are best. Also, for all your presses, use dumbbells. That way you incorporate a whole host of muscles to stabilize the weight as you do it, rather than relying on the bar to do it for you.

Pullups can be done for biceps or lats depending on how you turn your hands. Dips for tricpes/chest, dumbbell flyes, squats, lunges, clean and jerk, shrugs, situps, back extensions. Those basic exercises should give you a nice overall workout, give you some of the shape you are working for, and build core strength nicely.

Aodhan