Grimstonefire:
I spend quite a bit of time down the gym, as often as I can really. Pumping iron and the odd bit of cardio now and then. I try and run 5k a week, I was doing 10-15k about 6 months ago, plus swimming a lot, but I was losing far too much weight.
Anyone else here avid gym users?
Like many physical sports (etc) there’s a lot to learn, but more so with bodybuilding than many sports I think. So it would be interesting to share ideas.
As a talking point, I think to really be good at bodybuilding is around 30% genetics, 30% diet and 40% exercise.
Malorndk:
I used to be fairly active, but more as a supplement to me other sport and to strengthen my crooked spine. So the aesthetic was my third priority when I used the gym, and I went after a lean look more than bulking up some big manly muscles. My routine was therefore centered more around the diet to loose some excess pounds and combining my workout with quite a bit of cardio (primarily biking, quadripede and flips for cardio to not get bored to death).
To answer the talking point, I would probably put more % from genetics into diet. Diet is essential in growing muscles and reducing bodyfat. But again: It depends on what you want to achieve with your training.
Grimstonefire:
It does annoy me a little at the gym when I see bulky guys I know have hardly spent any time in the gym, but they’re naturally built bigger. I’m there doing weights half as heavy again and very slowly getting bigger.
Diet is so important. You learn a lot about food when you have gym goals.
A friend of mine saw some guy benching 250kg the other day with 3 spotters. He wasn’t huge just pure brute strength. Impressive.
MadHatter:
Was a gym nut, never benched, after I found out about kettlebell training I trained at home instead. Now I put all training into sancho, don’t care so much about weight as I’d rather keep my 230 pounds as a fighter than loose them, heavyweight pays off on the ground 
Abecedar:
I used to be one. but I did so much other stuff in between doing weights at the gym it was more of cross-training for strength.
Between playing squash and doing surf club all year round, touch footie most of the year and playing soccer in winter, I’d get in maybe 3 to 4 gym sessions a week. Oh and there was also martial arts.
plus some 5 to 10 k runs each week, a few 1k (average) swims and occasionally a 30 odd km bike ride. I was never a tri-athelete ( I consider them to be fanatics).
I did concentrate on “weights” one year but I bulked up too much and it affected my squash game, which honestly was all fitness as I’d maxed out my skill potential.
I never worried about diet, ate whatever and drank (too much) and never really had a goal other than to keep as fit as I could because I was having fun doing it. It sort of defined me for a long time.
GeofreyShank:
Once upon a time I did gym and crossfit. These days I have niether the time nor the money unfortunately. I do unfortunately have a naturally slender build though which means gaining muscle is nigh on impossible. I blame my grandfather I take after him.
Admiral:
No, but I do train various sports outside of the gym, including skiing, and keep reasonably fit. Plus some occassional carpentry work and other tasks of relatively heavy lifting. Never was able to grow much in the way of neither muscle nor fat, regardless of how hard I’ve been active or how much I’ve been eating. Diet goes down the drain here, so to speak. My metabolism is ravenous in that regard, to the extent that I probably would survive for only half as long as a normal human in case of starvation, and that’s an optimistic estimate. It’s inherited, though more extreme in my case than for any other family member.
My paternal grandpa used to be a sports fanatic deluxe, training by skiing, bicycling, running, swimming, weights and more, all year round. It kind of scared off his children from sporting outside of their childhood years, so it’s first with my generation that his grandchildren have picked up the torch to a lesser extent, and have started to participate in ski and bicycle races.
torn:
A lot of people i work with are really into body building, in fact one guys competes semi pro. I would get a photo but im not his facebook friend. He is massive.
A few other guys are really big, big they do the whole eating 10 chicken breasts every break time thing.
I used to be into it when i was younger and playing american football, but as i am now as a husband and father, i realise body image is way down on my list of priorities and i can draw self confidence from other sources.
Hunter:
I’ve never really been into weight lifting, but I love martial arts. Started out with Jeet Kune Do in my teens before eventually moving on to Thai boxing. Due to family and work commitments I haven’t done any training in over a year and I really miss it.
Miasma:
I’m not really a gym user but for general fitness (and to deal with an abundance of energy) I run between 5/6 miles three times a week and box at a club on bags and sparring with a partner.
Grimstonefire:
@Hunter
Always fancied Jeet Kune Do, more to do with being a Bruce Lee fan than any other reason, but I have read a few books on it.
I did a 10k last weekend in just under 52 mins, which for me was awesome considering I haven’t run over 6k at any point since august I think and only a few times since then at that.
Managed to badly pull a muscle in my foot the other day. Hasn’t really stopped me pumping iron but it’s a killer.
@Miasma
Been thinking lately of joining a boxing gym but purely for the style of training and missing out on the whole sparring thing.
Xander:
I’ve had fits and starts with the gym, never really could make it a routine. As I am now 31 (as of yesterday), I try to be careful about what I eat and try to make sure I don’t get too out of shape.
I’m losing some weight and building some walking stamina in anticipation for a small trip to Europe (Amsterdam, Germany, Iceland) at the end of the month.
As you say, Diet is everything! I’m currently following a nutritional ketogenic diet. Pretty fascinating stuff. I’ve tried it before for 2 months with some decent success. 
Miasma:
@Xander, how are you faring with that Diet? I tried a Ketogenic diet for a little while but had to come off of it due to medical reasons (Had a Hypoglycemic Episode) and also suffered from High Cholesterol while I was on it and for about 2 months afterwards. However since then I have switched to a mostly Vegetarian diet (fish twice a week, meat once a fortnight to stop me going insane) and feel so much better for it
Hunter:
Grimstonefire:
Jeet Kune Do is really cool and I used it to effectively defend myself quite a few times back in the day. The thing I liked about it is that it’s intended as a fluid martial art, with no set forms/patterns. Basically, strive for efficiency and use whatever might work in a street fight (so lots of targeting the eyes, throat, groin, shins and kneecaps). Funnily enough, although Bruce did a lot of high kicks in his movies, in JKD you’re encouraged to focus on low-to-mid kicks, as a missed head kick in a street fight can lead to a mouthful of tarmac. We also did a ton of trapping, grappling and ground fighting. It was really good fun.