personal trainer, waste of time/money?

[E30Kaiser]

How old are you? 120 pounds does not sound like a healthy weight if you older than 15ish.

He is 5'4, so I wouldn't say that is morbidly skinny for that height. I am almost a foot taller and until recently was around 139, but now I am up to 155. I am the same age as him. A lot of heavy weights is good, I haven't done any dead lifts or anything like that so I can't comment on how productive that is, but my workout routine has worked out decent, with me getting a lot stronger. Sadly as a college student I can't afford enough food to get the most out of my workouts, so I haven't seen huge gains but it is going steadily with increases in how much i can bench and leg press.

[joshuaaa]

my suggestion is dont waste any money on shakes and protein powders and all that crap. the majority of those dont get used by your body. get a set of dumbells that can have weights changed on them. and try to find a bench that you can adjust for incline and decline. then you can pretty much do any workout needed for most of your body off that.

a personal trainer doesnt really do awhole lot for you unless your too lazy to search for workout routines on google. and if you arent willing to do that i doubt youll stick to a routine with a pt very long anyways.

good luck with your goals man. dont forget to get cardio in. muscle strength is wasted without the endurance to use it.

[drumad]

my suggestion is dont waste any money on shakes and protein powders and all that crap.

yes yes yes.

plus you sound like you need to work on your legs as squats/deadlifts release the most growth hormone.

want to train hardcore? I'll say again, look into cross fit

http://www.crossfit.com/

the WODs are killer

[F34R]

I am 6'7'' 240lbs and I am German and American Indian. God blessed me with being a monster. I don't workout too much though, I work construction, so that is more than enough. I can bench 350lbs and curl 125.

But my buddy that is small wanted to get bigger, he ate lots of carbs then built on it at the gym. He is much bigger now too, you can also.

Curling, push ups, pull ups. When you bench, start out small and add a little bit more as you go. It is better to not push yourself over the edge with just 8-10 heavy benches then do 50 with less. You will get a better workout in the end. Pull ups can be one of the best for you in the upper body section. You can also work your core while you do them too. Just lift your legs out straight while you lift, the burn is 5 fold.

But in the end this is how it works, Fat+working out= bulk

[drumad]

Dammit. I want to relive my glory days of high school football. Asian guy, 6'2", 260, defensive end. LMAO. Eff, listen here, all you fucks in high school enjoy it now bc you'll be old sooner than you know.

[bataangpinoy]

jeez man i thought i was big for an asian guy

5'11 220 d-tackle(i am still really fast and strong)

[F34R]

Dammit. I want to relive my glory days of high school football. Asian guy, 6'2", 260, defensive end. LMAO. Eff, listen here, all you fucks in high school enjoy it now bc you'll be old sooner than you know.

1+ Time goes by too fast.

[joshuaaa]

i just love how people compare fitness to how much they can bench press haha.

but crossfit is definately a great system to go with.

[Wh33lhop]

my suggestion is dont waste any money on shakes and protein powders and all that crap. the majority of those dont get used by your body.

Oh really.

[CreamE30]

well I have a bag of 100% whey protein mix that I've started using again today. According to what you guys are telling me, I should drink about 3 shakes a day to get the proper protein. I'm going to start with one a day and see how well I do with that for starters. Think this would be an alright thing to do?

[Wh33lhop]

Like we've said, don't rely on protein shakes plus your regular diet. You need to change your entire diet, protein shakes should just be a supplement.

[87e30]

I'm ~5' 10" ish and ~145lbs aka really skinny. I may be 5' 11" and 140 some days.

I've never had the desire to get bigger until reading this thread. damn it.

[CreamE30]

Like we've said, don't rely on protein shakes plus your regular diet. You need to change your entire diet, protein shakes should just be a supplement.

Right. I'm to understand that chicken and rice are good starters as well as eggs right?

[der affe]

no protein powder??? Yea OK THERE Lil' Fella.

you increasing your protein with one shake a day is fine. i like to increase my protein intake with actual clean/good food, then make up the difference with whey protein. i get more benifits from that then pure protein shakes. i have been doing since i was 19 and i am 38 now so i can put down the food i need to and make up the difference with shakes.

you will feel better and more satisified by filling up with real food than with shakes. give that a shot first.

[Wh33lhop]

Right. I'm to understand that chicken and rice are good starters as well as eggs right?

Yep, not typical white steamed (sticky) rice though; brown rice will do you good. Chicken and turkey are great. Eggs are great. Nonfat yogurt/cottage cheese are both good. I get vanilla lowfat/nonfat yogurt from Trader Joes for like $2.50 per quart, stuff is awesome.

I generally try and time a protein shake to act quickly after my workouts. Whey protein is great as it digests quickly (30 minutes to an hour typical digestion time), egg protein generally takes about 2 hours. Stuff you get from eating meat typically takes about 4ish hours to digest, and casein protein (mostly found in milk and dairy) takes longest at about 5-7 hours. Soy protein is somewhere in the middle, I can't remember. Basically, you want to have protein available to your body throughout as much of the day as you can, and some extra whey after or before a workout is never a bad thing. But in general, eating healthy food will be better for you than drinking a shake, and will go further towards muscle growth if they both have equal protein content. It just won't be as fast-acting.