Long distance running is definitely bad for your entire body. Besides making you catabolic, it also stresses the heart for extended periods of time without rest or fluctuation. Long distance could be anything over a mile in length. The human body is NOT designed to run long distances, but rather to walk them. Marathon runners have the highest risk for problems, as 26 miles is a tremendously long distance. When was the last time you saw a flock of bodybuilders running a marathon? Lean mass is the enemy of long distance running.

I recommend sprinting and swimming for cardio. If you still want to train for long distance, let me know.

What do you know about supplementing with agmatine and citrulline ? From what I've researched they both seem to be a byproduct of arginine, if that's true wouldn't it just be best to supplementwith arginine? I'm not too good with the science but its been bugging me. I mean, if they're both byproducts of arginine breakdown then I assume taking arginine would have the same effect would it not? Sorry for any typos on on my phone. Looking forward to your response!

This post was edited by ElCubanito on Nov 28 2012 10:37am

Technically speaking, taking Agmatine and Citrulline malate will yield better vasodialation and overall better pumps than arginine by itself. The reason for this is because during the breakdown process, the arginine is made to be much less potent - thus requiring much more arginine to achieve the same as taking equal doses of agmatine and citruline.

Ah, i see. Thanks for clearing that up Are there any specific supplements of the sort you'd recommend? I've heard good things about HemaVol

hello im having a little trouble with lower back pain when i do classic cross country skiing. I started taking the sport serious last year and exhibited the same pain but not as much as i do now as i did not do the activity as intense. It seems to take effect when i stick with the steady classic technique(when i kick my legs back and fourth in a straight line). it has to be like that for a steady time without switching to another technique so say about a constant flat terrain of a few minutes. If the terrain is constantly changing, i will not have to steadily use the classic technique as going up hills is different or slow gradual declines where i can double pole. These will not cause the pain and will actually help make it go away if i do them enough. Also taking a 5-10 second rest without activity will immediately make it go away(even faster if i stretch by touching toes and twisting torso from side to side) but as you may know i cant really do that often as im training endurance.

I would like to say my lower back is a nice and young and healthy, as my mom, being a nurse, taught me to take proper care of it at a young age (i never ever have/had my back rounded picking up any weight, also try to make sure i have good posture everywhere etc). I also have perfect form(started with it immediately when i started lifting) on dead lifts and squats, from vids shows zero rounding plus back always feels great after it's just the stupid skiing. Now to the part as to why my lower back may not be perfectly healthy. I had a skiing accident many years ago, when i was roughly 10 or 11 i think. I was doing some alpine skiing and someone cut me off and i hit a pretty big bump off to the side, caught air, turned 180 and back directly slammed into a tree. Wind knocked out of me for awhile. Had problem with my lower back for the next couple years but it seemed to finally fully disappear with rest.

Now im 18 and idk if that incident is possibly screwing me up now, as i was pretty sedentary for a few years so it had a lot of time to heal. Sorry for long post but i wanted to give as much info as i can to you. Interested in any advice on what i can do/what i should do. The pain can be pretty strong if i keep at it and i know pain is never a good thing so im worried i might be screwing my back up.
I haven't tried doing some nice stretching of the back before i start so maybe that can help. I know it's something to do with the kicking of my legs back and fourth, ive tried to do longer strides and shorter ones but didnt really notice a difference, same with keeping an upright posture as opposed to a more diagonal one. My core is not exactly weak (can see 6 abs when flexed) so im kinda worried on what i can do to fix this problem since also taking a break and resting wont doing anything, had the last 6 years to do that. i really want to get in my training for a 55km race i have later in the season and can just ignore the pain but i dont think that's a good idea.

i only ever get the lower pack pain from doing the specific classic ski technique, and no where else doing anything. and it happens regardless of how tired/ long ive been skiing.

This post was edited by nitrojsp on Nov 28 2012 09:07pm

Also im looking at getting a weight gainer as cross country skiing uses up a lot of calories + im a hardgainer to begin with.
I dont know much about them. Is there anything specific to look for? Can the body really absorb all that nutrients at once? Do any of them contain hidden stuff that might interfere/make me sick with my meds i take for a chronic illness? (methotrexate and remicade). Can always ask my doctor about that last one.

I honestly think I tore it when I was adjusting plates on the barbell as the weights have been shifted due to deadlifting. To do so, I grabbed the barbell on one side with 3 plates loaded with my left arm. After doing so, I felt uncomfortable in my left shoulder. Now whenever, I shoulder press, I can't bring myself to generate the force needed to propel the weight upwards as I'm normally able to

First of all- thanks for this thread. Your guidance is amazing! Thanks for offering your help.

On chest day I am doing dumbell flys. My left shoulder makes a crack sound with no pain during each rep. My spotter can hear it. Its a very high pitched crack. Am I not distributing the resistance properly? I tried a few different feel and it continued. There no pain at all now but im sure this is not good for long term.

On shoulder day, I feel a different shoulder crack doing arnold presses. On the way down, even with no weight, I can hear a deeper pitched (more of a lower back cracking sound) crack. Sometimes its multiple crackles in one rep.

Side note: I have a horrendous neck back both upper and lower, two painful knees, the inside part of my elbow hurts like I over threw a baseball when I do sitting machine pec flys... Is it yoga that I need or incredible amounts of fish oil? I cant live like this I stretch before I workout but this seems like joints. Im only 24

Any advice to specific areas or body as a whole would be incredible. Thanks for anything. Your advice is priceless.

This post was edited by Stealth on Nov 28 2012 11:14pm

in the plan 3-on-1-off routine how many sets/exercises would be ideal

I prefer taking pure supplements only - IE: just the basics and no added BS.

Smartpowders makes pure powders so you can create your own supplement basically - alternatively you can get NOW! products such as NOW! Agmatine and NOW! Citrulline and combine it with NOW! Arginine + Ornithine