Dimo’s Ultimate Health and Fitness guide - Hi, i'm Dimo

UPDATES

Added pics / vids to each of the exercises
Added Free weights vs Machine weights
Added Importance of rest (overtraining)

*Coming soon*
Endurance training

INTRODUCTION

So I have been meaning to do this for a while since I get dozens of PMs a week about various workout related topics. This guide should be used as only that “A GUIDE”. I do not take responsibility if you go out and try to squat 400lb and die. So please use common sense at all times.

Please note that fitness requires time and commitment. If you expect miracles within days please stop reading now and go back to maple, if you are actually willing to put in the hard yards I am more than happy to help you get results. So lets get started. Remember that I will be keeping things as simple as possible.

DIET - What should I eat?

I thought I would start with this as a lot of people neglect this. What you eat is one of the most important aspects of fitness, be it for weight loss or muscle gain. The healthier you eat the better results you will see. Please note the importance of protein as they are absolutely essential to human life, not just elite sportsmen and women and bodybuilders as many people think! Their function is in the growth and repair of tissue and a key ingredient to every person’s physical wellbeing.

I thought I would divide this into weight loss and muscle gain sections.

Weight loss

This is pretty simple, weight loss happens when you burn more calories than you intake. To help your metabolism it is suggested that you eat 6 smaller meals a day instead of the traditional 3 meals. First of all say goodbye to junk food and soda. They no longer exist in the world of weight loss. Also juice should be limited due to its high sugar content. Your meals should mainly contain high protein, low carb and minimal fat. Pretty much lean meat and salad are your friends. Meats such as chicken and fish are perfect.

Muscle/size gain

When you are looking to put on bulk you must do the opposite of what I stated before, you must eat more calories then you burn. This does not mean to go out and eat 10 big macs a week, you still have to eat healthy, just a lot more of it. Again 6 meals are your friend, however you want to add lots more carbs and protein to meals. Throughout all this you must keep in mind that muscle requires both protein and carbs to grow. Again lean meats are the best option for protein, while things like pasta and rice are your main carb sources. So lift hard, eat like a horse and you shall see size gains. It must be noted that you will gain muscle and fat, that’s where cutting comes in. After you reach a desired size, switch to the weight loss diet to lose all the extra fat you gained.

Protein shakes

Straight after a workout you need a quick digesting protein source (as well as some carbs). Lifting weights tears muscle, in order to repair and become bigger they need a protein source. The best way to get this is though a protein shakes, specifically Whey protein. My suggestion is to get ON 100% Whey. I get best results if I take the protein as son as possible after a workout (within 30min) and eat 1 hour later.

EXERCISING - Go hard or go home

Ok and now onto the fun stuff., exercise. Before I go on I think I will start with two very common myths.

1) Spot reduction

You can not, I repeat, you can not lose fat from a specific part of your body by exercising that body part alone. Fat is burned from all over your body based mainly on genetics. If you want to lose fat just do cardio and eat right

2) High repetition, low weight exercises tones your body

No, no, no and no. Tone is a combination of muscle size and low bf %. You increase muscle size by lifting heave and you tone by eating right and doing cardio exercises.

Ok, now that that’s over with lets start

Cardiovascular exercises

Cardio is the best way to improve fat loss. It involves any sustainable activity that utilizes oxygen (ergo the burning of fat) for a primary source of fuel. It pretty much involves you getting off your arse and moving. Running, cycling swimming and a multitude of sports are all cardio exercises.

The best time for cardio exercises is on an empty stomach in the morning and post weights workout.

A new form of cardio called HIIT (high intensity interval training) is also good, especially for keeping muscle size. It involves cycles of rest and high intensity cardio. Pretty much you do cycles of 30sec sprinting followed by 30/60 second walking for 15 to 20 min.

Weights

Ok this is the big boys section, weights, its what separates us from….um….those that don’t do weight I guess

Ok lets start with the basics, every person reacts differently to weights. Through trial and error you have to workout whats best for you. However to consensus is “TO GET BIG YOU LIFT BIG.” This does not mean you have to rush out, pick up the biggest weight you see and try to curl it. Everyone has to start somewhere, start low and work your way up. When I first started I could barely do 80lb bench, I am currently doing sets of over 231lb.

The important part is that you keep lifting heavier. Each time (or every 2nd time) try to either do a heavier weight or do a few more reps. Its best to keep a record of your lifts to remind you what weights you should be doing.

Most people do 4 sets per exercise, 1 warm up and 3 max weight sets (.e.g. Set 1 = 30%, Set 2 = 100% Set 3 = 100% and set 4 = 100%). This again is not set in stone, some people find it more effective to build up to a max set (e.g. Set 1 = 30%, Set 2 = 50% Set 3 = 75% and set 4 = 100%). Also the consensus is to do between 5 and 10 reps per set to fail. Meaning apart from the warm up you must physically not be able to do more than 10 reps (but do a minimum of 5).

So once you can do an exercise for 10+ reps its time to increase the weight.

Compound exercises - a must for every bodybuilder

Compound exercises make up the core of your routine. These lifts (such as bench, squats and deadlifts) use multiple joints and stimulate the most muscle growth so make sure you do them.

Bodypart Splits – Which muscles should I work together?

For those starting off a good split is as follows

Push = Chest, triceps and shoulders
Pull = Back and biceps
Legs

After you get more advance you can split it up differently depending on what you want to work on (like doing one body part per day, which is what I am doing now). One thing to remember is that variety is the key, your body will get used to exercises hence you must change your routine ever 3-4 months.

SAMPLE ROUTINE

This is a pretty solid beginners routine

The cycle is 1 day on 1 day off

*****Chest/Shoulders/Triceps*****
incline db or barbell chest press link link
flat db or barbell chest press link link
weighted dips link
db shoulder press link
side laterals link
rope pushdown link

Wednesday *****Back/biceps*****
Deadlifts link
bodyweight pullups link
bent over rows link
front pulldown narrow *Like chinups but on a pulldown machine*
preacher machine or db/barbell link
hammer curl db link

Friday *****Legs*****
leg extensions link
squat link
leg curl link
db stiff legged or walking lunges link

***Abdominal exercises are done every 2nd visit.*****
Crunches link
Hanging leg raises link
The plank link
Decline twisting situps link
Bicycle crunches link

Machines vs Free Weights

I use both machines and free weights in my training, I find that a mixture of the two gives incredible gains . I’m going to simplify things and just give you the pro’s and con’s of each.

Machine Pro’s

* allows to isolate muscle groups better than free weights in most cases
* allows to lift heavier
* less risk of injuries

Machine Con’s

* Not much variation
* Forced movement which does not allow for different planes of movement
* Cant work on weakness, wont make a difference if one arm/hand is stronger than the other

Free Weight Pro’s

* Enhanced motor skills, uses stabalising muscles
* Allows for compound exercises
* Slight variation in angles or rotation can challenge you

Free weight Con’s

* You will need to learn correct form
* can get injured more easily (from incorrect form)
* Heavier weights will require someone to spot you

Rest / Overtraining

Ok so simply put muscle growth = small muscle tearing + repairing . So rest is just as important as actually working out. This is the reason why you split up your routine into different muscle groups which allows you to rest certain muscles while working out others. Hence training too hard is actually counter productive. The topic I widely debated and there isn’t really a rule of thumb, you just have to see how your body reacts to training. As a guide I would not work out your major muscle groups more than once a week. Also to start off I would do a 1 day on 1 day off delio, you can do cardio in your days off if you want.

Getting proper sleep helps recovery, so does a good diet as well as taking whey protein supplements.

TO BE CONTINUED