My turn for a weightlifting/fitness thread

[SomethingClever]

Yeah, I know this has been done to death in OOT, but I have very specific goals and I'm looking for personalized recommendations. Just ignore if you're sick of these threads.

Background information

I'm 6'1" and about 180 pounds at the moment. I think my weight is about right, so I'm not looking to add any. My arms and legs are longer than average.

Weightlifting history

I was extremely skinny in high school, 6'1" 135 as a senior. I had ridiculous hops and could dunk a basketball. At some point in college, I started lifting weights and added muscle. I stopped lifting for a few years, then started again in 2002 or so and got decently strong. I think I weighed 170 or so and could bench 205 max.

Current physical condition

I play basketball at a high intensity at least once a week, sometimes more. For a while I was running miles on wednesday as inspired by Alobar in the OOT Run a Mile thread, and I got down to about 6:40. In high school I ran a 4:55 mile, lol. If I had to guess, I could do 8-10 pullups and bench about 180 max right now.

Goals

As stated, I don't want to gain any bulk. If I gain "weight" due to muscle gain, that's okay, but I'm just not looking to beef up. Here are my goals:

1. Lose "gut." I'm just looking a little soft in the gut these days. I have small love handles.

2. Increase hops. I was still dunking as recently as a year and a half ago. Then I sprained my ankle badly and haven't been able to get up since. The ankle is fine; now I need to get my hops back.

3. Get slightly more "ripped." I don't care about having a rock-hard six pack or anything, but I wouldn't mind having a little more definition in the torso and arms. My biceps are actually pretty solid, but my forearms are very skinny and I never developed my triceps as much as I should have.

Recommendations

So what do I do? What lifts, how often? How much weight? What should I eat? I figure to increase the hops I need to get some kind of pliometric program going. What do people recommend? What about cardio? Just play a lot more basketball, or am I going to have to hit the treadmill?

[guids]

Ive laid out plans a million times in this forum for people looking to bulk up, so Im not going to help you there, but I dont know if I have ever given out the secret to being able to improve your hops. Other than squatting heavy weight, the two best exercises:

1. Find out your max squat weight, get a spotter or two, put 1..33 to 1.5 X your max (if you can squat 300lbs, put 400lbs on the bar). Take the bar off the rack, and start the squat, but like 6 inches and hold it. Just sit there for 10 seconds, then have your spotters help you get the bar back on the rack.


2. In the squat rack, take a weight you can squat 20 times, ie a lighter weight. Squat down, ass to the grass, explode up, like your jumping (your feed should actually leave the ground a few inches. Regroup, repeat.

[SomethingClever]

The second exercise sounds very good, but should I really be squatting heavy weights if I want to improve my leaping ability?

Also, I'm not looking to bulk up. I'm already bulkier than I'd like. I just want to get little more ripped. Wouldn't that require different lifts and techniques?

[guids]

you dont squat it, you hold it statically, like 6 inches into the squat.

[miajag]

[ QUOTE ]

Also, I'm not looking to bulk up. I'm already bulkier than I'd like. I just want to get little more ripped. Wouldn't that require different lifts and techniques?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really an expert, but I think fat-burning/cardio/eating better is the way to do that, not more lifting.

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Also, I'm not looking to bulk up. I'm already bulkier than I'd like. I just want to get little more ripped. Wouldn't that require different lifts and techniques?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really an expert, but I think fat-burning/cardio/eating better is the way to do that, not more lifting.

[/ QUOTE ]

So you're saying I should stop eating a donut every morning with my coffee [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

Yeah, I figure I need to work on my diet a bit. Right now sugar is a pretty big weakness, and I eat a lot of fatty and salty foods. I avoid almost all processed foods, however.

I will never be able to stick to a super strict diet, so I need to be getting enough exercise to make up for it. I figure lifting should be a part of it (I haven't lifted AT ALL in a couple years).

[JayDoubleYou]

eat less carbs late in day
increase protein in diet but not overall calories.
also eating smaller meals and snacking more is better than 3 or 2 large meals for metabolism purposes
basketball is great cardio but you should prlly try and get cardio 3 times a week.
as far as lifting it all depends on what muscles you are trying get cut.
www.askmen.com has alot of good workout advi

[dknightx]

static holds = good
plyometrics = good

for losing your guy: swimming, running (but not too much)

[skunkworks]

SC,

Getting ripped (or shredded) is just a matter of losing some body fat. There are plenty of ways you can approach this.

As far as improving the hops, jump squats like guids described are good. I don't know about the static 6 inch squat thing -- I'm a bit skeptical. All I know is that the best way to have an exercise translate into sports performance is to have a similar type of movement and muscle recruitment involved in the exercise. Since jumping is a fast, explosive movement, you'd want a lift that is similarly explosive that uses the same muscles. Try power cleans.

Alternatively, you could get into the plyometrics thing with box jumps and whatever.

[Thremp]

SomethingClever,


The exercises guids describes is a isometric partial for squat (you can do these at all sorts of angles) and a jump squat. Moving into bands or chains would be good.

As for you... You are weak and skinny. Your legs are likely too small and very weak. Work on squatting >500 lbs. Report back.