Working towards a Superhero Phyisque

[Sketkh]

Hey guys, I'm new, found this site via stumbleupon and really enjoy that this community exists. Right now I'm gearing up to shoot a pitch pilot this fall in NY for a webseries I've written.

Loose loglin, it's about a Superhero who meets his writer.

as an actor, it's a vehicle to help me create more work for myself, but since it's the lead (the hero), I'm need of a little work phyiscally.

This past year has been good for me, I've moved into a place on my own, I work often as a freelance Carpenter for Film and Theatres, so I'm often running around NYC in general.

Now Here's my stats

as of this post

weight: 197.6lbs

height: 5'11"

Age: 26

Body Fat: 23.4

Water Weight: 55.9

BMI: 27.6

Now my goals aren't to gain too much mass or bulk, I really just want to Tone and Sculpt, think more Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, than Ryan Reynolds in Blade 3.

As of last month, I began prepping, started with a Tim Ferris suggestion to have water and whey protein 30mins within waking up.

Then I started a five meal approach based on the Beachbody nutritional book, loosely tracking my caloric intake, in order to loose weight, it should be 2500, to maintain for me, 3000, not sure which is more conducive to help with my goals. I read a little on the peleo plan and it sounds real insightful.

Now here comes the odd part, with my crazy schedule, gyms are hard to commit to regularly, mind you I'm still an actor who auditions. So I've begun yoga training, under the Rodeny Yee video series every day since June 1st.

I know it's a video, but it's all I've got and can really afford as I budget this.

This week, I'm planning to start the Insanity workout, but again, it's a lot of cardio, it's the only video series I have so will it help me reach my goals of tone and sculpt?

Free weight wise, all I own are two 15lb dumbells as well as a set of pilates bands. I'm kinda looking for bodywieght centered plans and routines to help me out as my schedule is crazy.

if there are better plans out there that could sub for what I'm trying to do with my limitations, all insight is welcome.

Any guidance and help towards meeting my goal this fall would be great.

Thanks again in advance,

-Sketkh

[Knightwatch]

I'd pick up an IronGym doorway pullup bar, and do pullups. A lot of pullups. When you can bang out a lot of pullups in a set, wear a weighted backpack.

Same thing with pushups and squats. Aim for a hundred good, solid pushups and squats a day. Doesn't have to be all at once, mind you. You can break them up throughout the day.

A good book to look into is Pavel Tsatsouline's The Naked Warrior.

Also, although i know what you're talking about, goal-wise, when you say that you want to sculpt and tone, understand that there's no such animal. It's not just semantics, as it really does influence the way you look at training. You can look toned, but your muscles can only be stronger or weaker. What we see as a sculpted physique is usually low bodyfat, which will mostly be influenced by diet.

So, focus on cleaning up your diet however you can, and on getting stronger, by whatever means are available to you.

Best of luck! Looking forward to hearing more about your web series!

[Guest Carjack]

Now my goals aren't to gain too much mass or bulk, I really just want to Tone and Sculpt, think more Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, than Ryan Reynolds in Blade 3.

Shoulders, pecs, traps and abs.

Handstand push ups, (one arm) push ups, pull ups, deadlifts, dragon flags.

[Sketkh]

Thank Kinghtwatch, all of that was really insightful and helpful, I was going to invest in a pull up bar, the recommendation solidified that.

The Naked Warrior is on my pull list as well now and your advice on how to approach my "sculpt and tone" attitude put it in perspective. Any advice on a diet to help aid in this, I'm doing beach body, Peleo sounds interesting as well.

I'll look into those workouts, Carjack, an suggestions on reps and sets for those, as well as frequency?

[Guest Carjack]

I looked over the trailer to Green Lantern to see the build you were talking about. Ryan Reynolds is actually a bit beefy in some scenes. His build is upper body centric since those are the muscles you see most on camera.

Since you have no gym, heavy weights or knowledge of exercise physiology (yet), you'll have to get that using heavy bodyweight training.

Sets and reps are simple. Do as many sets as you like with submaximal reps and weight but don't go to failure all the time. Add more reps and weight over time. Use short rests of maybe 1 minute if you're building muscle and trying to get strong, or just knock a few reps out every half hour if you're just learning the move and increasing max repetitions.

You can take the example of this site, train three times a week (to give your muscles time to recover) and apply the philosophy to other exercises:

http://hundredpushups.com/

I did something like this with lots of handstand push ups on the first page of my workout log and it did a number on my shoulders and traps.

Here are push up variations to try:

Do them with your body straight as a plank, all the way up and down, elbows in (for most variations). Shoulder width or wider hand spread to target pecs. Narrow grip to target triceps more.

To do one arm push ups, spread a leg out to the side for balance and work up to it by doing them from your knees at first. After you get kneeling one arm push ups down, get on your feet, start at the top and lower yourself to the bottom and you'll be very close to a full one arm push up.

Pull ups: You need biceps and lats, and it's hard to not find a place to do pull ups.

Dragon flag:

Do all kinds of leg raises and planks until you can work up to these. You want your abs to be thick and square like a strongman, not tiny and V shaped like a Jersey Shore wanker. You can do dragon flags on the floor if you have a weight to hold onto with your hands overhead. Abs can be worked pretty often.

Deadlift:

Can't be worked very often. Usually performed once or twice a week all out. Pick something heavy up with good deadlift form, or get a keg full of sand and pick it up as you hold it against your body. Works back and legs without giving you pro bodybuilder legs.

Pistol squat:

I can't do this yet because it takes hamstring flexibility, but you'll want to stretch out like mad and start doing these too if you want good legs without lifting weights.

To bulk up:

Eat more calories and protein.

To cut fat and see more muscle definition:

Eat less, eat paleo/low-carb/ketogenic or just do that Insanity workout.

Might want to start a workout log or challenge thread to keep yourself accountable and log progress.

[Josh_C]

Now here comes the odd part, with my crazy schedule, gyms are hard to commit to regularly, mind you I'm still an actor who auditions. So I've begun yoga training, under the Rodeny Yee video series every day since June 1st.

I know it's a video, but it's all I've got and can really afford as I budget this.

This week, I'm planning to start the Insanity workout, but again, it's a lot of cardio, it's the only video series I have so will it help me reach my goals of tone and sculpt?

This is similar to where I was last year around this time. Insanity will kick your ass. I went from 193 to 186 last summer doing Insanity. The only problem is that it is incredibly tough on your knees. Nobody's form is perfect (or at least mine wasn't!) and inevitable you are going to have a few bad jumps here or there. By the last week of the 8 week program I was completely phoning it in. But I had never looked so toned in my life. Unfortunately I don't have any data on BF percentage because I didn't have anything to measure it with at the time.

I think you'll find that results appear FAST with Insanity. Especially if you are eating right. But for long term results, and based on what I've seen on the NF boards, proper strength training has a longer lasting effect.

[Sketkh]

Thank you for that advice, Jcamson, I noticed that with insanity as well, my problem is I have no gym access or much in the way for equpment, hopefully with a pull up bar, and some bodyweight exercises I can manage this goal, I could always just sub jump squats in INsanity for deeper squats, as well as lunge jumps and so on and so forth. Just focus more on the move and not so much on the jump, but thank you for the personal experience, I needed that help.

[Sketkh]

Thank you carjack for that detailed breakdown, It will come in real handy, as I approach my new routine in the following week. I saw the hundredpushs site before, but damned me if I didn't think to apply the philosophy to other exercises, brilliant.

[Sketkh]

Thanks for the help guys, what is good to check out on the forum, what's fun?

[Dantes]

The Strength Guild (Soon, I'm working on it)

[Sketkh]

what's the strength guild?