[Lordgrunty11]

I'm 17, 6 feet tall and 167 lbs. I don't know my max, but I have been able to do 8 reps of 165 on a seated bench press (with cables) and 8 reps of 135 on normal bench press (never had a spotter, so i didn't want to get in trouble). I don't want to get crazy, but I want abs, pecs, and big biceps and to be a lot stronger.

I go to the gym mon through thursday for 2 hours after school. I try and eat peanuts and a peanutbutter and jelly sandwitch at school and sometimes i'll have a nice amount of chicken or meat for dinner. But it's hard to eat a lot of protein with not being home from 8am to 6pm (no car yet). I may be able to get some protein powder.

Can someone give me some tips? Any tricks for this eating, how much I should eat? What i should eat? Exercises? Routines? I'll take whatever help I can get.

[sinwha321]

Mate, as a fellow high school-goer I can sympathise. It's pretty hard to get in some decent quality food while you're at school, but I try to get some good food in me as much as I can:
Try to eat well whenever you can- that means when your at home, do make use of it: be self-sufficient and learn how to cook, take time to prepare some decent school snacks at home,

My personal favourites are:
oat meal, chicken, rice, eggs (try to eat only whites though, some tell me that yolks are high in fats/ cholesterol) occasional steaks are nice too.

[Cindy Liu]

# Do Crunches. Lie on the floor (with or without a mat) and cross your arms in front of your chest. Bend your knees up as far as they go. Do not place both hands behind your head. Placing both hands behind your head can cause lower back problems in the long run as it places unnecessary stress on that part of your body from pulling on your head and neck. Another alternative is to cross your arms in front of your chest and lightly place your finger tips behind your ears, without pulling on your neck. Now raise your shoulders (upper torso) towards your knees, using strictly your abdominal muscles. It is very important not to lift your entire back off the floor, as this can cause back strain, and the extended movement does not help you develop six pack abs any faster. The most important part of the crunch is the initial flexing of your abs as you lift your shoulders off the floor. As soon as you begin lifting off the floor exhale through your mouth, ending with a gasp once your shoulders are off the floor. Then pause for a second once you are at the top of the crunch and exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your abs. The proper breathing and flexing make all the difference. Now lower back down slowly and controlled while inhaling through your nose, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Do not let your head touch the ground and repeat.
#
2
Do Sit Ups. Lie on the floor, feet on the floor, knees up and fingers placed behind your ears or hands crossed on your chest. Sit all the way up, lifting your lower back off the floor along with your shoulder blades.Lower yourself down. Repeat. Once this becomes relatively easy for you (i.e. you can do a quite a bit with ease) start adding more challenges. Find an incline bench or do these with an exercise ball. Once you "graduate" from that, do weighted sit ups. Hold a weight on your chest while you do these. As these become easier, hold heavier and heavier weights.
#
3
Do Leg Lifts. Lift your feet off the ground while doing the sit ups by alternating each leg in the air. Bicycling, pretending to pedal while sitting up. Alternating knee touches. If your hands are behind your head, bring your left knee up to touch your right elbow and then your right knee to the left elbow.
#
4
Do Leg Lifts. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands at your sides. Lift your legs straight up (not bending your knees at all) until they're at a 90 degree angle (or close). Lower your legs and repeat without letting your legs touch the floor. For more challenge there is equipment at most gyms that will allow you to raise yourself up using your arms as support and dangle your legs. You can perform leg lifts there too. If you're using this piece of equipment, you can make it easier by just raising your knees to your chest. It's more difficult to raise your legs to a horizontal position with your legs straight. This helps firm up the lower abdomen. If you're truly a monster, try doing leg lifts with a medicine ball hanging from your feet. Or hang from a pull up bar and raise your legs in front of you all the way up to the bar.
#
5
Do Jackknife Sit Ups. Lie down flat on the floor. Place your hands on the ground to your sides for balance; you can pick them up as you get used to the movement. Simultaneously raise your knees and torso so that your knees and face meet on an imaginary line extending from your pelvis to the ceiling. You should be able to kiss your knees at the top of the motion. Your legs will naturally fold bringing your feet towards your hips, much like a jackknife. Lie back down (i.e. "spread out") and repeat. Place a weight between your feet when you think you can handle it.
#
6
Do V-ups. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands on the floor but this time extended out over your head. Simultaneously raise legs and torso. Don't bend your knees! What kind of V would it be if you bend your knees? Reach with your hands toward the raised feet. Touch your feet if possible (will require some flexibility). Relax, return to starting position and repeat. Add weight between feet to match your taste.
#
7
Static Hold and Side Statics. Put your body into the push-up position but with your elbows on the floor, and your whole body flat. This position is known as the static hold position and it trains your core (including your abs) to hold the body in place which is the real purpose of your abs. Hold this position for as long as possible. Beginners should be aiming to start off with at least 45 seconds, while seasoned ab workers are known to achieve over 5 minute static holds. To perform the side static hold, roll onto one side of your body and lift into the same position as before, but this time only one arm will be on the ground with the other arm pointed straight up the air and your non weight bearing leg resting on your bottom leg. Once again, hold this for as long as possible.
#
8
Train Your Oblique Muscles. It's not as important to work on your oblique muscles at first, but eventually you'll want to start working these too. These are the muscles to either side of your stomach. There are multiple ways to do this and anything that includes twisting your torso against a resistance counts. There are twisting machines at gyms, you can twist while you do sit-ups, you can do side bends, you can twist side to side with a medicine ball in hand, etc. Be aware though, that many beginners tend to have weak obliques compared to their abs (it simply isn't used as much in daily life) so go easy on the sides at first.
#
9
Now that you've made up your mind about a washboard mid-section, be Creative! Find new ways to crunch, bend and twist in your daily life. Some possibilities include:

*
Use a stability ball. Do your crunches on the ball to introduce instability to your workout, which will improve your balance too. There are also lots of core exercises that can be done with a stability ball.You can also use a small bubble used for physical therapy.
* Duck and twist during your daily routine. Reach with your left hand to things on your right and vice versa. If you feel like turning around to face something, see if you can do it with keeping your hips in place and twisting at the waist (warning: awkward when talking to other people, use only against inanimate objects). While walking or standing, pretend that something is coming toward you and you have to duck to get out of the way. Do this as often as you are comfortable or at times when it won't look weird. You can bend forward from the hips or, if you're really into it, bend at the knees too and really "sink" out of the way. Caution: If you have lower back problems, you could injure yourself.
* Incorporate Sprints into your regular workout routine. Any higher-impact running works the abs, but intense sprinting derives power specifically from the lower abs.

#
10
Do the Scientific Best Abs Exercise Researchers at the San Diego State University, found that there are certain abs exercises that triggers most muscular activity. The winner was the "bicycle maneuver":

* Lie on the floor; make sure your lower back is pressed on the ground.
* Take your hands behind your ears. Then bring up your knees at a 45 degree angle.
* Start doing a bicycle pedaling motion. Touch your elbow with the opposite knee (right elbow with left knee and so on, alternating)
* Breathe in a relaxed and even manner throughout the exercise.

[idontwanabefat]

You should check out this blog I came across it is one of the most resourceful blogs I have seen as far as specifying your goals. fatlosingblog.com , Hoppefully it helps!

[buswax]

Have you tried combining this with a fat loss meal plan?

Try it. It works.