Any one else bulking up/changing how they look for halloween?

[Doh2]

Well, I'm going to upgrade my '74 Leatherface this year, so if anything I need to add to my already too-big gut.

Actually, I'm trying to lose weight, Leatherface be damned.

PS Great Mr. Incredible costume. My dad wouldn't have been caught dead dressing up for Halloween, so points to you for being a cool dad to boot!

 

[Risu]

I started my routine yesterday for my Halloween costume, the Prince of Persia. I'm mostly skinny, but really out of shape and I have a bad back and posture. My workout targets my arms for the costume and my core to stabilize my back. Feeling pretty good about it so far, but was really stiff today. Not my first time getting into shape, though, so I'm pretty confident.

 

[Flasheart]

I work part-time as a personal trainer and I can tell you that there are no quick fixes. Unfortunately there's a lot of bad information out there so a lot of people get lost in the beginning. As well, a lot of people will post what worked (or what they think worked) for them personally but it would not work for someone else. There are a lot of factors to consider - what shape are you in now? What are you eating? What are your goals? What are your genetics? How much time can you put into this? What facilities and equipment do you have access to? All of these have to be taken into account. So when I see someone say "Just do this and you'll get (insert goal here)" I automatically discount it.

If you get information from an educated, reliable source which is put into a structured, progressive plan then you'll be a lot more likely to get to your goals. There are no easy answers. Will doing an hour of core work a day get you a six pack in two weeks? For most people the answer is no. Will eating more mean that you will add size? Likely the wrong kind of size (gut!) if you aren't eating the right things. Will doing weights give you bigger muscles? Surprisingly, the answer can be no if you aren't doing them properly, in the right order, or with the correct resistance for your goals.

Sorry to be a downer but I see a lot of people get discouraged not because they're doing anything wrong but because they were given bad or unrealistic advice. Most men can add a half pound of muscle a week if they're doing everything right. Get a good, structured progressive program designed for you personally and get good advice about what to eat and you can put on the size without the fat. Work those muscles twice a week to failure, and by that I mean real failure, not what you *think* failure is (there's a difference). Find out the proper order for exercises (don't exhaust smaller muscles first which will stop you from growing the big muscles) and change them every four weeks. Make sure you're resting properly and most importantly make sure you find out the proper form and technique. Not only will you lower the risk of injury but when you're using proper technique the gains you make will increase tremendously.

Okay, lecture over...

 

[Tylerdurden389]

Nice post Flashheart. I've been training for 14 years now and have worked as a personal trainer as well. The amount of lies you see spread in the media towards "quick muscle gains" through supplements or whatever just sickens me. But i digress. I'm unfortunately getting out of shape since I'm back in school and swamped with work. Sucks even more because I'm being the Ultimate Warrior for Halloween while my friend is Macho Man. We're going as "The Ultimate Maniacs" like Warrior and Savage did back in 1992. Looks like I'll be a thin, out of shape Warrior lol.

Then again, I'm also gonna be The Dude and my brother's gonna be Walter. So this Halloween won't be a total bust for me lol.

 

[SuperheroDIY]

Yeah I'm going to keep growing my hair and a soul patch, and that's about it.

Cuz I'm gonna be a stinkin' hipster! Like this:

 

[Kromanc]

I'm training for a cap america or thor for this halloween, need to put on some pound of pure muscle in me

 

[PizzyMan]

Growing out the beard better, dying it all for Capt Jack. And bulking up before May to be THOR

 

[DarkPassenger]

I stay in pretty good shape year round, but here is me in my Dexter costume for a "the hell of it" shoot. This Halloween I plan on being completely covered and going as Hobo Michael Myers from Rob Zombie's H2

 

[Madmartigan]

Getting back in Spidey shape for Halloween. Back on P90x for the last 2 months and down to 188 from 207. The muscle shading on my Spidey4fun suit is starting to look like I actually earned it again.

 

[Trekkie313]

Trying to grow a sizable beard for my Dude costume.

 

[Auryn]

We did it for DragonCon not Halloween but I guess it fits.
my boyfriend stopped shaving his beard about 3 months ago to get a good length going for his flaming C costume.
I lost 10 pounds (really wanted to lose 15-20) for cheetara, and I was blond for 2 months to get ready for it.
I actually plan to go back to my natural brunette hair tonight (I switch between brunette and red head).
I am planning on not cutting my hair until next year so I can have a real mord sith braid, not a store bought one. And if I decide to do Haldir I will go back to blonde again.
Oh and losing 10 more pounds so I will be comfortable being MordSith

 

[chicoperdido815]

I'm planning on losing a few pounds and growing my hair long enough to slick back to go as a 1950's inspired Joker.

 

[darthgordon]

I'm sawing off my leg to do Barbosa from Stranger Tides. To some this may seem extreme... but I think extreme would be to saw off both my legs because nobody will sell you one shoe. I mean, why should I pay for both if I'm only going to wear one? Maybe I'd better go with both.

 

[Darius Alucard]

^ :lol

I wish I could take the time to get into better shape for my costumes this year, but I'll be looking pretty much the same as other pics I've posted over the last few years.

That's not such a bad thing. I'm not that skinny, but I'm a little underweight for my height and build and unfortunately have less muscle than I'd prefer (now I'm just over 6'1" at 185 lbs - I used to be 198 lbs and look much skinnier).
But my little beer gut won't be very noticeable with a utility belt holding it up for my comic style Batman. Like I said... it'll pretty much look the same as last time. Also... my forearms/wrists, fingers, and calves/ankles, have almost always been thinner than most guys I've come across that were my size.

Spare time has been hard to come by so there hasn't been much of it for regular extra exercise (ie: working out) since my daughter was born a few years ago.

I used to exercise very often when I was younger so I know that the only things that will make any noticeable differences for me in this short amount of time are diet adjustments, push ups, sit ups, and better time management for resting and routine.

 

[BleuKnight]

I've slowly been loosing weight. I'm now down below 190 lbs. I have been making several costumes for D23 EXPO and DragonCon.

I'll start posting them as soon as I get all of the photos up from the events. Ideally, I'd like to be 10 lbs. less by Halloween. So far I'm going to do a Necromonger at one event, and might be working on a RoboCop as well.

 

[Rdmaul]

I am late to this thread but I am bulking/toning up for my Wolverine costume. I started my journey a month ago at 5' 11" 232 lbs and I am currently at 219 lbs. I would like to lose 10-15 more lbs while toning up a touch more. This 10-15 miles everyday on the Bike are murdering me BUT its totally worth it to look more like Logan.

 

[Risu]

As a follow up to my last post and sort of in response to Flasheart's post about knowing what you're doing:

A friend of mine is a personal trainer and he's outlined my routine. It's 3 days a week with some minor core work in between. Basically, I do a large number of core exercises first, I threw my back out a little over a year ago and now I'm at the point where the chiropractor can't really do anything more for me, I just have to get into better shape to keep it from happening again. Unfortunately, I haven't stayed active since I hurt myself and my whole lower back is now completely worthless. My immediate priority is fixing that. After those exercises I move on to a series of upper body exercises for the costume goal. Just did my second day today and despite the pain on the off days I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I'm in such **** poor shape that I can already feel some improvement.

 

[BleuKnight]

I just lost 4 lbs. by walking around DragonCon. It's nice that everything is connected by the skybridges... but also made me keep moving. I must have visited at least three to four hotels everyday plus the Peachtree Center for meals. Then, Saturday night I walked to the Atlanta Aquarium. I just hope I can continue to keep losing over the next 6-8 weeks.

 

[Looch]

Nothing worse than getting to round to fit into your costume! Coming out of Spider-man in costume, some guy behind me said to his friend, "Man, Spider-man's really let himself go!" Making a muscle suit is easy, but very warm. Look up Daniel Craig's workout routine for Casino Royale, it's very helpful!

 

[Flasheart]

Looch,

I posted a little bit of info on page 2 of this thread if you want some advice.

Regarding the "Daniel Craig workout" I would advise people against looking that up. First of all, there are several routines that all claim to be THE "Daniel Craig workout" and none of the ones I've seen are from him or any of his trainers. The ones I've seen are uniformly poorly conceived and thought out and would not get you into the type of shape that he was in. Even if there was a "Daniel Craig workout" (and he would go through several in the four months of training prior to shooting a film as you have to change your routine often or your muscles stop responding) there are a couple of things to consider.

Firstly, you would have to be in exactly the same shape as Daniel Craig was WHEN HE STARTED to get into the same shape as him by using the same routine. But that's only if you have EXACTLY THE SAME GENETICS as him and are eating exactly the same meals at exactly the same frequency. Let's say that you run into Daniel Craig and he writes down a detailed overview of his routine and meal plan, and you're in roughly the same shape as he was when he started that routine. If you don't have the same genetics as him then your body won't respond in the same way. Maybe it's as simple as your shoulders take more work to grow than your triceps - you would have to modify the workout appropriately. Or maybe your lower back has a slight weakness - not enough to even notice in every day life, but enough that your progression will be slower in all the exercises where you use your lower back for stability.

Interestingly I had an aquaintance ask me to look up a video claiming to be the workout Craig used prior to filming Casino Royale. Even setting aside all of the above, the routine was useless and the "trainer" didn't know the correct name for one exercise and said that another worked a completely different muscle than the one it did! With the internet anyone can post anything and claim to be an expert.

I always advise people to get a routine designed specifically for them, their body, and their goals from a *certified* trainer. The differences someone would see from that compared to doing a routine from a magazine or a Youtube video are tremendous.