today I have eaten 10 or so beers, 1 200ml bottle of vodka w grapefruit juice, 2 glasses of wine, 1 italian sausage, and 1 huge order of phad thai. Sunday is my day of "rest" and also my "cheat" day. I will never have six pack abs because of sundays.

Tomorrow night after work I will do arms and light cardio, Tues chest and shoulders and light cardio, wed basketball, thurs league basketball, fri rest, sat flag football, sunday eat like an american.

Warning: Potentially harsh response upcoming

Working just chest, arms and shoulders, especially two days in a row, is not good, especially considering you only lift twice a week.

Any advice, or constructive criticism is definitely welcome. Wish I had a workout partner, or personal trainer, but I don't.

I should mention that I throw in yoga from time to time, and do ab work at home just about daily. I'm sure I do A LOT of things wrong, but i go hard at least. :D

The problem is that it's impossible to work your chest without also working your arms. So, you're essentially working your arms two days in a row.

Personally, I would move to a full-body workout twice a week. Move your rest day to Tuesday, and lift on Monday and Friday. Focus on compound lifts and you can do a lot of work in those two days.

For example, you could pick one of these routines:

http://www.exrx.net/Workouts/Workout1LTA.html

Do sets of 4x6 or 5x5 on Monday. Start with a 12-15 rep warmup with 50% of the weight of your max lift. Then, do 4 sets of 6 reps, or 5 of 5, with gradually increasing weight so that the last set is the hardest and heaviest. Rest about 2 minutes in between sets. Then on Friday, you can do 3x8 or 2x12. If you really want to speed it up, you can alternate two exercises to give your muscles more rest. For instance, I do these alternations:

Flat bench, then move immediately to bent over row. Rest 2 minutes. Repeat.
Decline bench, then move immediately to pullups. Rest 2 minutes. Repeat.
Dips, then move immediately to lateral raises. Rest 30 seconds. Repeat.

Doing that, you give the muscle groups a lot of recovery time because you're not using the same sets of muscles twice in a row, but you're still doing work. Makes the workout quicker and more compact.

Just a suggestion.

Thank you very much for the suggestion, and I will take it into consideration.

For right now, I am using Fri(I guess Sun is a rest day too actually) as my rest day because I am generally so beat up by Fri, that I need to take Aleve just to get through my game on Sat morn. And I am NOT a pill popper at all, usually just tough it out.

But lately everything has been hurting. knees especially, but also whatever else gets knocked up during basketball, and soreness in my muscles from lifting. By the time Sunday comes I am a mess.

Yeah, getting old is a bitch lol

I'm only 28, but I know what you're talking about. There's a definite difference between now and 10 years ago.

A full-body workout, though, should help you feel less sore. If your legs/knees are sore, improving their strength will definitely help. For instance, weighted lunges really help develop the muscles that stabilize the knees, which should definitely help them hurt less. Stronger stabilizers = less pressure on the knee itself.

That's also why I suggested having a rest day after your heavy lifting day on Monday. Friday is a much lighter day, but should still be "intense." Should be more cardio-intense than muscle-intense, though. At least, that's how it is for me. I can do 2 sets of 12, with me barely being able to push up the weight for those last few reps in the 2nd set (on every exercise), but it doesn't really hit me in terms of soreness like a heavy lifting day will. Those high-rep days are good, though, for building muscle, even though they use less weight.

Generally, heavy weight + low reps = increased strength. Lighter weight (not too light, though) + high reps = increased muscle growth.

LMAO, I turn 28 on the 15th! :( I shouldn't be feeling like this, but so many yrs of various sports and hard living have taken their toll. I don't even bounce back from a hangover like I used to. I am an old man. crap.

Also, I usually do the lighter weights, and more reps. What I'm going for is being in better shape than the people I play sports against, and that means running, and jumping, and fast athletic movements, as well as strength to hold my own against larger opponents.

But also I like to look good naked, and ideally would like to have what I call a "fighter's body".

Well, the body is all diet, my friend. I like low reps with heavy weight, though. Makes the muscles hard and compact, as well as adding strength, which is what you want when playing amateur sports. It's especially helpful to do the heavy weights with low reps and shorter rest intervals. IMO, that's the best way to do it. I wasn't always strong, but with the leagues and sports I play, I can physically dominate against much bigger guys, even though I only weigh 180 (5'11"). Core strength is really the key there. My core is pretty ridiculously strong, but it took a good 2 years of constant work to get it there.

Back to the gym this morning.

Cappachino flavored Syntrax protein shake.... this flavor sux.... I am glad I ordered a sampler to try all the different flavors.

Heavy lifting today. Had a protein shake of 1 tsp olive oil, 2 scoops ON Vanilla Casein protein, 1c strawberries, 1c of blackberries.

About to have a 5 oz steak for a snack.

I think my cutting diet is finally paying off. Seeing the results makes it easier to stick with stupid low calories.

Just snapped some pics. Ignore the dirty mirror. My powerdrill toothbrush likes to spray toothpaste on it while I'm brushing.

Not flexed...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...lock99/2-1.jpg

Yeah, I'm a small guy. 5'11", 180.

Hopefully, come March, I will throw one up myself.....

I wish I would have taken before pictures, because I can tell I am making a difference, but I bet the stark contrast would have been more reinforcement.

Hey tiny!! lol...Im just joking with you.

Wow..You look great man. I like the abs. your abs really standout. Any tips you can offer? How did you manage to get abdominal muscles to standout like that? Is it mainly dieting? Or better off what was your workout regiman like for abs?

*The reason Im asking is because a six pack for me has been my biggest struggle. I think its because I an endomorph thats why.

An hour of cardio this morning. I didn't get up when my alarm went off, so I went late. I did 56 minutes on the eliptical and then the five minute cool down. According to the machine, I burned 700 calories.... So, I had a Big Mac on the way home....

Actually, I had a protein shake and my daugher had their holiday celebration luncheon at school. Who knew such fattening foods such as gravy, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cupcakes could taste SOOOO bad. I picked at it. Probably 300 calories in the 10 bites I took. Luckily, it was bad enough that I don't have an appetite for anything else.

Trying to get my endurance up because I want to run a 5K this summer, and a marathon in 2011. I ran two miles last week and it nearly killed me. Well....after the first mile, I wanted to kill myself. Running sucks. I just want to do it so that I can say I have done it. I wish I enjoyed it as much as I enjoy going to the gym.

Anyways, checking in to keep myself accountable. Back, Biceps, rotator cuff is tonight.

Thanks.

It's mainly diet, but I do have a pretty intense core regimen. I do this core stuff AFTER I lift. Don't do it before you lift, or your lifting will suffer.

Mondays:

Reverse crunches - 3x15
Form is key here. Hands to the side of your head, head off the ground. Start with knees bent 90 degrees and keep them that way. Don't allow your legs to go past perpendicular to the floor after you first crunch your lower body toward your head. Head stays still. If you let your legs go lower than 90 degrees, you're using more hip flexor than core.

After one set of the reverse crunches, move immediately to:
Reverse twisting crunch - 3x12 (6 per side)
Same basic principle, but twist to each side.

Rest 30 seconds in between

In-Outs - 3x15
Keep your upper body close to 70 degrees while you extend your legs all the way forward and crunch them in.

After a set of in-outs, move immediately to

Bicycles - 3x15
then
Reverse Bicycles - 3x15

Rest 30 seconds in between

Crunches on a swiss ball - 3x15
Make sure you put your hands to the side of your head, and don't flex your spine. Pick a spot on the ceiling and focus on it. Pretend like someone is pulling you straight up from the middle of your sternum. This should give you a big crunch in your upper abs.

Rest 15 seconds in between swiss ball crunch sets

Reverse crunches on swiss ball - 3x15
Reverse twisting crunches on swiss ball - 3x12 (6 per side)

Rest 1 minute in between (these are harder)

Cable woodchop - 3x15 each side
Make sure you twist through your core, keeping your arms locked

Reverse cable woodchop - 3x15 each side

Tuesday:

Mountain Climbers on a swiss ball - 3x20 (10 per side), 30 seconds rest in between
The slower you go, the better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V2stE2_3yE

Swiss ball rolls - 3x15
Slower = better. Roll out, then pull back in slowly.

Swiss ball crunches - 3x15 (15 seconds rest in between)

Side plank with weighted cable row - 3x15 (15 each side, 30 seconds rest in between)

Cable crunches - 3x20
Go slooooooooooow with lots of weight. Hold for 5 seconds at the bottom. Put knees on a Bosu ball for even more work.

Wednesday:

Planks - 3x120 seconds

Thursday:

Rest!

Friday:

Repeat Monday

Saturday:

Repeat Tuesday

Sunday:

Rest!