CST Free Weight Exercises By Scott Sonnon

I am a 17 year old female and would like to know of a good routine for working out my abs. I don't want a six pack, I just want to be toned.

Please be detailed.

Simple. I just suggested this to someone else. Do this once a day and you'll really start to feel it: trust me.

8 Minute Abs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNqrkGnkUWc

Any exercise that requires you to grip onto a heavy weight and hold onto it will develop your forearms. Deadlifts, barbell and dumbbell rows, pullups/chinups, lat machine pulldowns, and all assorted bicep curls.

I personally like deadlifts for developing forearms because the exercise requires you to hold a lot of weight in your bare hands (without letting it drop). It takes a very strong grip (and likewise, very strong forearms) to do this without any assistance. You can get the same effect by holding onto heavy dumbbells (and holding them for as long as possible).

There are, of course, the standard hammer, wrist, and reverse curls, which are fine. I don't personally like them because I get enough forearm work from deadlifts and rows. But to each his own.

P.S. I would have someone qualified show you how to do these exercises before incorporating them into your routine. Esp. the deadlift, which is a very very serious exercise.

Waht do you mean dude? You have to do push ups and stuff just to build arm muscles. Theres no esay way out of this.

What is an effective weight lifting routine for building muscle? How many sets and repetitions per set should I be doing?

For example, if I am doing bench presses, should I do 12 repetitions and slightly increase the weight per set? Or should I use a larger increase the weight per set and do less repetitions?

If anyone could provide some tips or advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The trick is to stimulate the muscle to grow, but not pump up your metabolism and burn a lot of calories.

Lowering the weight slowly is supposed to be three times as effective. I've managed to change my arms for the first time in decades doing just a couple sets, increasing in weight, and slow lowering.

Too many reps, going light, can be a short cardio workout to your muscles, and they will not increase in size. You'll get strong, but not look it.

If I do too much exercise, just an intense hour, I can eat all day and not gain anything. So I now do less, can eat less, and gain.

I like to do about 30min of cardio before a 45min workout routine. Usually 2 muscle groups per day and 2-3 excersizes per part.

Go to this site and download their E-book, I'm sure it will help you!

I have had a pulled muscle in my back, under the shoulder for days now. I have been using Tiger Balm Pain Patches, which help but I can only use 3 a day.

Do you have any tips for me to help heal this muscle?

Massage and moist heat. They have those heat wraps that when you stretch them, they become hot. Only time will heal you, everything else just eases the pain. Take a couple of aspirin too.

What type of foods are good for building muscle?

Is milk any good? What about nuts?

Any good tips would be appreciated, if I do a google search it just comes up with loads of sites for protein shakes and creatine.

The main thing for gaining muscle is to be on a caloric surplus, i.e. eat more than you spend in a day. Most trainers advise around 500 extra calories. You can work it out by multiplying your weight in lbs by between 18-20. Thats how much you should aim to eat: lots. So I'm about 180 lbs, so need to eat between 3240 and 3600 calories depending on my activity levels. However, you need to be careful that your'e not going over that limit, or else you'll put on too much fat.

By the way, it's normal to put on a little fat on your mass gaining cycle. If you're not on a cloric surplus, wou won't grow as there'll be no enery/food to make the muscles.

Then you of course need to eat the right type of food to maximise muscle-gain and minimise fat gains. Lots of protein, good fats (Omega 3's and 6's- e.g. in eggs, fish oils, etc), and complex carbs (ones that release energy slowly, e.g. vegges, wholemeal bread, etc, not like chocolates).

To get the 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, I eat a lot of grilled chicken, tuna sandwiches, skimmed youghurts, etc. As you suggested milk is good protein as are eggs, but a lot of people like myself are lactose-intolerant, i.e. we can't drink too much or else we get tummy problems. But if you're ok with milk, one good and easy way to get lots of protein is to make your own shake. Get some skimmed milk, mix it with normal milk shake for flavour(e.g. ovaltine, or you can leave it out), then add some powdered skimmed milk powder ontop. By doing that you get loads of protein into one glass, and its real cheap.

However, you might want to buy the best protein form (if you can) which is whey. Proteins in milk are good, but they take a longer time to be released to your muscles. As for whey protein, it releases the quickest and so is ideal for post-workouts.

Main thing is to eat! I'm juust coming off a 5/6 week mass gain cycle, and have put on about 10 pounds (although sadly some of it is fat due to overeating). I'm planning to take the take the fat off next month or two, so will go on a calorie deficit (i.e. less calories than i put out).

I've tried explaining a lot in one answer, but its best to read up on the net! Hope I've helped!

I need to do some exercises to lose weight but i want to do some that wont give me any muscle weight.
Has anyone got any ideas please ??

NO, honey you need muscle! Gaining muscle is one of the best things you can do for physical fitness! Muscle looks better than fat… stop obsessing over the scales. What matters is how you look, not what you weigh. And muscle burns fat faster. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. See.

Thats why men burn fat off quicker than women, because naturally they have more muscle. Don't worry about getting big bulky muscles.. you won't unless you use steroids.

I've been doing well with my weight loss until now (lost 30 lbs…I have 90 more to go). I've been watching my diet and exercising regularly but I gained about 3-5 lbs in weight. Could it be muscle mass?

I'm now re-evaluating my diet (I try to stay within 1500 to 1800 calories per day) and Mom suggested that I get a recommendation from my DR to a dietician.

My dad thinks it could be a thyroid problem (I'm 25…not sure how I would have a thyroid problem at this age).

Any suggestions? This has been going on for two weeks. I thought I'd give it one more week before I called my DR. By the way, I exercise 5X a week, 99% of it by walking.

Muscles are more dense than fat, therefore for every ince of muscle (versus fat), you will have more weight. However, muscle is more socially accepted.

I do recommend seeing your doctor to make sure of any problems and to make sure you are getting enough minerals and vitamins in your diet.

With a high exercise (especially if you haven't been active in a while), muscle mass can be generated quickly.