Welcome one and all to The Federation of Fitness; an informative and community-like thread for anyone to visit and post in as they please.

This is:

• A healthy environment for learning, teaching, getting motivated, creating goals & challenges for ourselves and others, sharing results, and having a little community on VGC for the fitness minded and those who want to get into it.
• Any kind of physical activity counts, so you may post it here. (Except obvious ones like brushing your teeth. No, that does not count as physical activity). Talk about food is also encouraged. If it contributes to your well-being, it is encouraged.
• Questions about any aspect of fitness are welcome. If you are comparing different supplement brands, looking for a good and fun activity to partake in, or wanting to start getting fit but are hesitant for any reason; feel free to ask your questions here. I want to create a community where everyone is on equal footing and can help eachother out.

This is not:

• A place to bully, harass or downplay others. Much like the rest of the forums, if you are looking to put people down you will quickly find out that this is not the place for you. 

Notes:

• I do not in any way shape or form claim to be an expert on fitness. I do not know everything there is to know, which was part of the motivation for creating this thread. If I suggest to one user that they increase their calorie intake, I do not recommend that you read it and think you should too based on my word alone. Not even the user I am advising should be 100% sure with what I say, seeing as I am not an expert and it is merely a suggestion. Everyone is different! None of us are spotting each other in the gym, or see each other on a weekly basis, so please refrain from being cocksure about what another user should be doing. That being said, feedback is welcome, and everyone is encouraged to lend their opinion when a question is asked. I just want to make it clear that while I know what is right for me, I do not know what is right for Joe Smith.

So what's in store, doc?

I'm going to make everyone take their fanboy anger and funnel it into some exercise

So I guess that's all there is to it! I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of community we can get going! See ya out and about!

Questions? Look below. If yours is not listed then ask away!

*Note* The info below is not the be-all-end-all of fitness info. Second opinions are recommended.

Q: Why am I not seeing results?

A: One of the largest reasons that people stop going to the gym is that they are not seeing results. First things first: muscle growth is incremental (you won't become the hulk in 2 weeks) and you will not notice it yourself, since by looking at yourself in the mirror everyday you will grow used to the microscopic daily changes. Someone who does not see you everyday though will notice a difference. You yourself should be noticing differences in strength, energy level, and mood. I promise you 100% that by exercising you are becoming a better person, even if you do not notice it. If that doesn't satisfy your question remember to eat healthier and get plenty of sleep. I CANNOT REPEAT MYSELF ENOUGH WHEN IT COMES TO DIET AND SLEEP!!!!

Q: What is better; walking or running?

A: If you are training for a specific running event, obviously you want to be running. In turns of fat/calorie burning: If you operate within the light exercise zone (105-120 heart BPM) you will proportionately burn more calories from fat and need less time to recover. If you are running, your metabolism will be stimulated to burn fat quicker, but you will tire quickly and have a respectable recovery time. It's all up to what you want to accomplish, honestly.

Q: How long should I rest after workouts (lifting weights, bodyweight etc)?

A: This depends on how conditioned your body already is. If you are an avid fit-person, you can train as often as you see fit. If you are just getting into exercise however, it is recommended to do full body workouts to get your body used to the stress, followed by rest periods of 48 hours.

Q: What is the best diet to follow?

A: NONE! Diets plain suck, man. They are temporary and shitty. If you want to eat healthy it is pretty simple; consult a food guide and eat your recommended dosage of each food group (more or less depending on what you are trying to do with your weight) while avoiding excessive consumption of oily foods and refined sugars. You can create your own food plan quite easily. IMPORTANT: Once you have balanced your eating and found out what your body requires, THEN you can consider restrictive eating programs if you so wish. FOR ANOTHER OPINION ON DIETS, YOU CAN READ AIELYN'S INFORMATIVE  POST HERE.

Q: Will I gain weight after I stop working out?

A: If you continue to consume the same calories that you were while working out, your body fat will increase. What happens when you stop lifting and you reduce your food intake accordingly, is your muscles will lose bulk, but your fat percentage will remain the same.

Q: How important is sleep?

A: Extremely important! Fitness isn't just working out; you need to eat right and get plenty of sleep if you want the best results you can get.

Q: I'm completely lost! What is the right weighlifting program for me?

A: First of all, what are you trying to accomplish? Are you trying to lose weight? Add muscle? Bulk up or lean up? Get a six pack, or maybe some big biceps? I'd suggest writing down what your goals are first before trying to pick a workout. Once that is accomplished, I would recommend checking out this website (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbmaintrain.htm) or speaking to a personal trainer to pinpoint what exact exercises to do.

Q: What's the deal with supplements? Pre-Workout, Whey Protein, Creatine, wtf?

A: Think of supplements as DLC for your workout game. You don't need them to get fit (and in fact eating right replaces 90% of the supplements out there) but some supplements do help you get more out of your workout. For instance, pre-workout will give you high energy and higher muscle-pumps, and Creatine will add water weight to your muscle. IMPORTANT: The majority of supplements on the market are useless and 95% filler, and filled with big names they don't need in order to give you a placebo effect. The worst offenders are cheap protein powders. Most of the things they say they do can be acheived by altering your diet. Creatine for example becomes useless after 6 weeks, which is why you should use it in 6 week increments if you so wish. If you do want to use supplements, MAKE SURE YOU RESEARCH WHAT YOU ARE BUYING!

Q: Leg workouts suck! Do I have to do them?

A: YES! Legs are very important (second most next to core, I'd say). Your lower body contains the largest muscles in your body so make them useful! You wouldn't build a house from the top down, would you?

Q: ROM? Form? What do those words mean?

A: I am glad you asked. When you add an exercise to your weightlifting routine, these two things are what you should consider before really trying to push yourself with that exercise. ROM - or range of motion - is the fancy acronym that describes the full movement of the exercise, which you need to follow through on to see accurate and preferable results. For example, squatting to a 90 degree bent-knee angle. Form on the other hand is the correct position of your body in reference to the weight you are lifting. This is important for accurate results and for injury prevention. Incorrect form can be catastrophic. Not getting full range of motion will limit your muscle gain, and incorrect form can sideline you immediately or in the future. The consequences may be small - such as incorrect bench press form building up your anterior deltoids more than your pectorals - or they can be big - a disc in your back going out of place from bad deadlift form, for example. It's important to nail the correct form before increasing weight too much. Having a gym buddy to help spot you on heavier lifts can help guarantee that you have the full ROM and correct form when going heavy on a lift. Although it is not necessary to have a spotter I would personally recommend it for those heavy lifts.

Helpful Links:

• Lots of workout programs
• Canada's Food Guide
• Arnold Motivates a Demoralized Gym-Goer

Set Goals for Yourself, Show Your Results, and Challenge Other Users!

ReimTime: 3 plate bench press, 500lb deadlift and 475lb squat. 

Pietoast: Do pushups and squats during loading screens. (Reim's note: Play Sonic 06 for maximum gains)

PostOfficeBuddy: Long term goal is to run a marathon

Cantaim: Run a half-marathon

Shikamaru: Lose 40 more pounds and put on 20-30 pounds of muscle

Protendo: Increase bicep mass

Iceland: Reach 200 lbs (lose 80-85 lbs in 2016)

BasilZero: Reach 200 lbs 

Mysticwolf: "Do more lifting"

Slade: Get ripped like Noble

Spurge: Get fit like ARnold

Maverick: Improve squat and deadlift

Nymeria: Improve my dead lift, clean, jerk, front squat, back squat, and press weights and just continue healthy life style.

Amp316: I hope to eventually work my way up to 500 of each and 200 pull ups. Basically, I work out like I'm in prison.

Green Sky: Goal for the year is to lose weight, building strength and muscle. 

CheshireCat: Get back to that lifting lifestyle

Slarvax: regain athletic form AKA Super Saiyan mode

Augen: "Get to where I want to be"

Wc4Life: Pistol squat

LipeJJ: "Get healthier and prettier"

Pavolink: Get dat six pack

RCTJunkie: Build some muscle

Mr No: Reach 150 lbs (lose 25lbs)

Noble: Get weight back down to 175lbs

Padib: Run twice a week

Pictures, videos, inspiration to share? Post them to help contribute!

Nymeria executing a great squat

Augen showing some superhuman ability

Reim being a tool as usual

Curl-6 living up to his name with a progress pic

Remember to do squats and push ups during loading screens.

Q: can I smoke during my warm up?

And here's my first motivational picture:

                                                           Eat more protein to increase your polygon mass

Welcome aboard! Thanks for the content, it shall be added.

A: What do you do for a warm up? I think it would be more a question of inconvenience than anything else if you were to run around while trying to smoke. I don't hink it's too good of an idea XD

Cool! I was actually planning to start a workout routine for the summer to get back into shape and build some muscle. My question is what are some good workout routines for your upper body, specifically the chest muscles?

I signed up at a gym in December but i haven't gone too much. Also, when i work, i end up walking 12 miles some nights. 6 Miles minimum though.

Are you trying to bulk up or develop lean muscle (this determines weight and rep count)? What will you have access to? Assuming you have access to almost anything, and since you want to specifically target chest muscles, might I recommend dumbbell bench press (incline and flat), dumbbell or cable flyes, pushups, triceps pulldowns, and dips to target your chest muscles. Try doing some research on these to find out what you like, and find others to increase variation. After that it's up to you whether or not you want to do full body every second day, or have specific days to target specific muscle groups (chest/tri day, back/bi day, leg day etc).

This is a great thread! I am so out of shape, I have no idea how I'm not fat. I need to stick to a constant schedule.