Thanks!
Barrage Incoming:
How possible/impossible will it be for me to build more upper body muscle mass with no access to weights?
In short, yes, there are plenty of at home body weight exercises you can do at home to increase muscle density and tone.
I have this $100 POS:
And some push-up bars.
Allegedly, on the steepest incline and using all 4 resistance bands, the Weider POS is giving me 55% of my body weight + 50 lbs. I find it hard to believe that I was able to biceps curl 160 lbs, 80 lbs per arm, 23 times in a set. I ain't that ripped.
At any rate, I'm maxed out on the settings, losing weight is only going to make it worse, and I'm already at 20+ reps for curls, bench press (which is really more of an inclined press given your body angle I guess) and seated rows. Only pull-ups give me challenged. I do a set lying on my back with arms wide, and a set lying on my chest gripping the inner bars with my fists.
If I just keeping doing more reps am I just going to be burning calories and not increasing muscle mass???
I'm going to replace bench press with push-ups I think since push-ups using the push up bars and touching my chin to the carpet are actually challenging vs. the bench press on that thing. Is there anything I can do for my biceps short of spending $$$$ I don't have on dumbells??? Because sadly I can't do that. Also door frames are a no-go for those door frame pull-up bars.
Also, I was working out 2.5 times per week. On, off, off, On, off, off, On ... etc.
I was doing 5 exercises, 3 sets:
1. Curls
2. Bench Press
3. Close-Grip Pull-Ups
4. Seated Rows
5. Wide-Grip Pull-Ups
Honestly, I would not rely on that too much, you can use it conjuction with other things, but do not use it solely for gains. You can do pushups, wide and close grip. Wide grip will work shoulders and back as well as chest. Close hand, keeping your elbows in, will work tris and chest. You can do an incline push up on a counter or secure table, then prop your feet up on something and do a decline PU to work your lower pecs.
You can do tricep body dips from a coffee table or chair. Air squats, lunges, vertical jumps and long jumps all for leg developement. Grap a table chair and do some curls with, or find a piece of pipe and tape something heavy on each end (you can even do cinder blocks like Marky Mark from back in the day)!! If you can make some sort of pullup/chinup bar, that would be great for your back and bi's!! Shoulders might be a bit tougher, but you can work yourself up to doing handstand pushups. I highly recommend the Insanity program. It's all body weight, and you can do it from home. You can get it off ebay for about a 100 bucks.
And doing max reps each time, so that my reps decreased in the second and third sets as my muscles tired and I couldn't do as many.
Is this the right way to go, or should I go with a lesser number of reps at first and shoot for a number that I can sustain through all 3 sets?
To grow your muscles, the best way shown from studies is called periodization. W/O going into total detal of what that is, based upon the intensity of your particular workout based on weight, you should be close to failure on your last 1 or 2 reps for that particular set. But that all varies on what you are doing. Example, you may be doing a heavy w/o that is 75-80% of a 1 rep max and should reach failure b/t 3-4 reps. Or, you can be doing 50% and reach failure b/t 12-15 reps, just all depends on what you are doing. This week, I am working at 65% 1 rep max and reaching failure b/t 7-9 reps.
Would you recommend going to 3 set days a week instead of the on, off, off pattern giving me 2.5 on average?
Whatever your schedule allows, just do not work the same muscle group two days in a row.
Finally, nutrition. I am losing weight now and I want to lose FAST, so I've set a calorie deficit of ~800 to 1000lbs as max maximum daily allowance at 1600. I'm shooting for and have averaged so far a 1400 calorie average. My carbs are moderately low, averaging 60g per day and around 24g sugar. Haven't been checking but I'm sure my fiber is good. I get a good chunk of my carbs from fiber one bars, and I also take a citrucel pill every AM anyway.
While I'm eating so few calories, should I not work out as hard/much? Or keep doing what I was since it wasn't exactly extreme?
Simple math, burn more calories than you take in and you will lose weight. Cut down on the carbs and sugar, to really lose weight, you should limit yourself to 15-20g a day, unless it's a w/o day, then bump it up a few, but with complex carbs and good sources of fat for energy
What is your opinion on creatine for someone like me? I have these pills:
They allege no water-weight retention. Didn't seem to notice any when taking them and I seemed to recover really well. Should I keep popping them pre-workout or just forget them?
Seems counter productive, people take creatine to gain weight, you are trying to lose. If you want something for muscle recovery, get some glutamine
My post-workout recovery drink is MetRX low carb protein powder + almond milk. Good???
cut the milk, mix with water, but I would suggest getting Intek post WO, much better by design
Cliff Notes: I am poor and stuck at home with a child help me get sexy biceps and a decent looking chest and back for free.