application essay essays

application essay essays Life is an adventure. When I was four years old I heard Yo-Yo Ma in Shanghai and immediately knew that was what I wanted to do with my life. I began private lessons and then enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory where I completed my schooling. Then, to fulfil my dream of being a fine cellist, I moved to Calgary, Canada and spent the next year studying English and cello at Mount Royal College. Since 2000, I have been attending North Park University in Chicago, under full scholarship, and have been studying cello with Professor Hans Jensen at Northwestern University. I am now a senior at North Park University and so am considering how best to pursue advanced musical studies as my dream is still to become a professional musician. I have been searching for an institution that would help make that dream a reality. Juilliard is, of course, a wonderful music school and attracts a very high calibre of students and instructors. I believe it would be a great experience to have the opportunity of being able to work with them. I just performed a student recital at North Park University with Midori and she strongly suggested that I should seek out opportunities to work with highly skilled musicians. As well, I am obviously attracted to the extraordinary depth and range of cultural institutions in New York City, including the New York Philharmonic, the world-renowned musicians who perform at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and both the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera Companies. I am sure that being exposed to all this would add depth and understanding to my development as a musician. Access to these and associated musical opportunities is of great value to any serious student of music. My studies under Prof. Jensen have helped a great deal with my musical development but I believe that I am at the stage where I can greatly benefit from a focused, conservatory-like music school. Also, I believe I would be particularly comfort...

Taylor and Nagel Both Represent Absurdity As A Function of Perspective †Theology Essay

Taylor and Nagel Both Represent Absurdity As A Function of Perspective – Theology Essay Free Online Research Papers Taylor and Nagel Both Represent Absurdity As A Function of Perspective Theology Essay Taylor describes the absurdity of life as represented my the myth of Sisyphus, condemned by the gods to eternally roll a rock up the mountain side only to have it roll back down just before it reaches the top. This endless, meaningless activity is his doom, and an ideal illustration of the absurdity of life. Taylor further analyses the situation of Sisyphus. Would the situation be less absurd were he to ever accomplish his task? No, it would not; for then he would be left in infinite boredom for all eternity. Would it be less absurd if he was attempting to accomplish some larger task such as building a temple? That would provide meaning, but if he finished then he would, in some respect, be left in the previous situation of boredom. He could avoid this by continuing to build temples, but does that not leave him in ultimately the same absurd situation? However, what if he enjoyed it? Then life would not be absurd to him, it would be a kind of paradise: to be allowed to do forever that which is the greatest desire of his heart to do. This is Taylor’s conclusion: a life is meaningful, and therefore not absurd to the creature, so long as the living being takes pleasure in the activity. Meaning can only be understood from within. Looked down upon from the outside, anything can be considered meaningless and absurd. It only comes from within, where the being has a purpose and desires to accomplish his task. Ultimately, that is where all meaning must lie. Nagel holds much the same view. He realizes that anything we do can in some way be regarded as absurd. Humans have a unique ability to view ourselves and our situation from an outside perspective. We can be spectators of our own lives. Yet it is precisely at that moment when we see our lives as absurd: when there is a conflict between the way we view our lives while living in them, *Actually his point is more that we dont view our lives while living them, we just live them. The contrast is between the seriousness with we take our life, and its objective meaninglessness and the way we view our lives when looking upon them from an outsider’s perspective. So long as we take our lives seriously, and avoid the spectator perspective, our lives seem full of meaning. But the moment we step outside of ourselves at look down on our lives from above, we become like the philosopher who steps outside himself and can therefore doubt whether he can really know anything at all. But just as the philosopher must assume that he does in fact know something in order to function or to carry on a discussion. In the same way, we must assume that there is in fact purpose to our existence in order to function in the universe. Nagel’s conclusion, therefore, is similar to Taylor’s. If nothing matters, then the very fact itself that nothing matters does not matter. And so, we can approach our lives with a sense of irony, and need give little attention to the spectator’s position, which does not in the least help us to enjoy or appreciate anything in our lives. Research Papers on Taylor and Nagel Both Represent Absurdity As A Function of Perspective - Theology EssayMind TravelEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementLifes What IfsCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionCapital PunishmentTrailblazing by Eric Anderson19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided Era

Why can we only see one side of the moon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why can we only see one side of the moon - Essay Example Similarly, the moon’s gravitational force affects oceans causing low and high tides, while the earth, which is bigger than the moon, causes low and high gravitational pull on it. Additionally, as the moon rotates around the earth in its orbit, the earth exerts a torque on the rotating system of the moon. This causes the moon’s speed along its own axis to slow down, eventually revealing only one side of the moon as it completes its rotation (Pandian). The moon is also viewed as though facing only one side of it on earth through a concept known as libration, which occurs because of the spherical nature of the moon. Libration is the irregular motion of the moon in its orbit computed longitudinally and latitudinally from a fixed geographical location on the moon’s surface (Coffey). The earth affects the moon through its elliptical orbit, a process called longitudinal libration. This implies that when the moon is nearer the earth in its orbit, the earth’s gravitational pull is stronger. This makes the moon move faster on its axis, but since the moon’s rotational speed is constant, it causes a lag or a pull effect (Coffey). This pull effect on the moon’s surface causes the earth to view an extra portion of the moon’s surface up to 59% of it. When the moon orbit is farther away from the earth, the earth’s gravitational force on it is weak, causing it to slow down, even though its rotational speed remains the same. This makes the moon â€Å"spin† away from the earth and, as a result, it becomes only 41% visible (Miles). In addition, we view one side of the moon surface because of latitudinal libration caused because the moon’s orbit is tilted 5 degrees towards the ecliptic. Therefore, during the moon’s rotations around the earth, half of it is on the higher side while the rest of the revolution is on the lower side. This causes an extra part of the moon to be

War Powers Resolution In Libyan Case Research Paper

War Powers Resolution In Libyan Case - Research Paper Example The Congress also has the power to affect the public opinion. Still, practice is different from theory. In practice, the US Congress has little power to influence the president’s decisions. Moreover, despite President Obama’s statements, the US actions in Libya constituted a war. Whether the US went to war against Libya is still a much contested issue. The administration never made any formal declaration. According to the Independent Civil Society Report (2011, p.19), the US engaged in an international armed conflict against Libya, together with other NATO member countries. Though divided on this topic, many members of Congress and experts viewed the US intervention in Libya as constituting a war. However, most experts still agreed that the US engagement in Libya did not fall under the War Powers Resolution and the Constitution. They referred to previous practice of interventions on behalf of the US presidents. The President did not act against the power and authority of the Congress. Most experts agreed that hostilities were present in Libya, but that the President’s actions were neither unconstitutional, nor in violation of the War Powers Resolution. The President circumvented Congress. Congress, on the other hand, was left quite powerless since the intervention was funded independently of the Congressional decisions. Thus, this paper will also depict how the President circumvented the War Powers Resolution. Statements by experts such as Ackerman, Hathaway and Fisher will be consulted to show how theoretically, President Obama violated the resolution. Spiro and Koh will be used, together with the Office of Legal Counsel to depict how practice has made President’s actions legal. Background of the Libyan Conflict Five years after a brutal crackdown on a public protest in Benghazi, the Libyan authorities witnessed their own demise. Every year since then, on 12 February Libyans commemorated the ‘Day of Rage’ (Amnesty International 2011, p.7). Fearing the spillover effects of neighboring revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, activists and writers were arrested prior to the demonstration. However, instead of preventing the disaster, the authorities infuriated the general population. Academics, commoners and businessmen all joined in their outcry for justice and end to an abusive, forty à ¢â‚¬â€œ year – old rule by Colonel al-Gaddafi (Amnesty International 2011, p.7). Protests spread from eastern Libya to the rest of the country and became violent. By the end of February, eastern Libya and parts of the Nafusa Mountain and Misratah were under the control of the opposition (Amnesty International 2011, p.7). By 19 or 20 February, armed conflict spread across the country (Independent Civil Society 2012, p.11). Shelling of the opposition – held cities and disappearances of journalists and intellectuals intensified

Case Study: Transferable Skills

Case Study: Transferable Skills How was I before the Core Business Skills module? The Core Business skills is a module that explores a number of quality tools that will help us to look at our core skills in the business field and identify areas where we could improve. At the beginning of this module, I used to leave my life as normal with few skills that I have learned from my parents, for example the Communication skills and Team working skills, but even it was not enough to communicate or to work with whomever. Communication skills and team working skills are the closest skills; team working can not occur if there is no communication. Since our childhood, our parents push us to get in touch with people of our ages. At beginning, it is never easy seeing the quarrels that happen with our friends in the youngest ages while playing together, but these skills get developed in growing older. I also had an experience of team working during few years when I used to play football in a club, and as we know this sport is not played individually, but in a team, and I had learned a lot during this experience. It is sure that we learn a lot from our parents and the activities in our childhood, but studying complements the path our parents put us on to build our future in order to get the objective of having a good life later on. I have also learned during my past years some important skills that our module covers, such as Numeracy skills and Information Skills. However, they were not as important as we studied during this semester. Numeracy skills are taught in increasing levels since the youngest ages, starting from the primary school until we get our degree at the university, but before, it was just numbers and relations that I learned and that dont stand for anything real. On what concerns the information skills, I have learned a few about it during the high school and I increased my level on it during the foundation year I have done last year at the university. Other skills that are closer to the communication skills which are the effective learning skills, and they are also close to the personal and career development skills as well. The effective learning skills are the ones I learned trough some experiences, but for what concerns the personal and career development skills I did know nothing about them until I discovered them during this module. What this module has changed on my life? Regarding the six transferable skills that I have learned during this module, I notice that I have made a big improvement on these skills that help me now to be more efficient on getting my objectives either on my personal or professional life. Since more than one year ago, I work and I study simultaneously, and things that I learned during this module brought me to a higher level that I was not expecting from myself. I will introduce my job in few words and describe how what I got from the Core Business Skills module changed the way I was doing it. So, I work as Electronic Dance Music producer with many professional record labels worldwide, and this started just by passion at the beginning until I have been discovered by one of the most famous deejays in South America, and then I had a proposal to sign my song on his own record label located in Buenos Aires in Argentina, here was my first professional experience and I was afraid of getting ripped off because I did not know how to deal with the contract and I did not even negotiate it. However, I kept balancing between what I study and my work and I acquired more experiences practicing what I study on my professional life. Edwin H. Friedman said about communication that The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursuing them. Even the choices words lose their power when they are used to overpower. Attitudes are the real figures of speech. (1) So, the communication skills are very important on my daily work, now due to what I learned, I started knowing how to negotiate my contracts with the other record labels for each song I make, and this fact contributes on making more profit and also to advertise my artwork and letting people buy what I make. This course also helped me to learn how to make formal letters to communicate with the record labels and producers worldwide as well as this will serve me later on my professional life as future manager. Now as Im still a student I do use it only on my music affaire and my personal life with my family and friends. Also I would mention that as a student and future manager, I highly improved my skills on making presentations in front of the audience. On what concerns the effective learning skills on my personal and professional life, now I can know what I should improve on my life, on my studies or on my musical skills. Before, on my studies, I was kind of lost when the exams were approaching, it usually happened to me to be confused on what to prioritize and what to leave for the last, but now I got this level of knowing prioritizing the most important things after identifying them. Same thing on my life out of studies and on my professional life as well, now I can identify on what I could improve to make better songs in the future, I can manage myself to improve my personal and my student life to get best results, and eventually, now I know what I want to be, what I want to be later on, and how to get my goal. On my professional life, I also use the skills I learned about the team working knowing that my job consists on composing and producing songs, sign them on record labels then advertising them as much as possible to get profit out of them, even if advertising is the main work of the record labels. Also, it plays a vital role on my personal life. As I said at the beginning, team working is taught by our parents and our society at the first before starting classes, but whatever is the level that we get from these lasts, the school teaches us more about them. We work in teams at home, we play sport in teams and also at the school and the university we work for some projects given for our studies in teams or either preparing for our exams we mostly work in teams. TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. Working in teams is essential on the business life, either working for our own or others companies, these skills consist mainly on sharing tasks and ideas in a project work, and th is technique is more efficient than working alone. Numeracy skills stand for budgeting, numeracy functions and computations, dates and time, parenting and health related numeracy. These skills on budgeting or money management and banking serve to count money, make change, calculate services charges, save money and invest it too, and these are generally skills that our module covers adding to the numeracy functions and computations skills that we learned in the past from the primary school until the high school. Dates and time skills are used to some basic things in life as using a calendar, fill in time sheets or writing the date as well as the parenting and health related numeracy skills to read directions and dosage on medicines bottles, read thermometers or to understand a report card. All these numeracy skills are important and very useful on whomevers daily life for either managers, farmers or whatever we can be. During this module I leaned the most of the important numeracy skills for business management field, and this regardi ng the decision threes to analyze and get the best solution to do not make loss on business and take the best decision. The information skills are vital for all the successful professionals. These skills help us to become more efficient. Here are some techniques that help us to develop our information skills. The first one is how to take notes effectively, and this is a good tool to record and organize the information, the second one is to fully absorb the written information to assimilate and understand the written information quickly and effectively. Reading strategies is also a technique to read faster by thinking what to read, while the technique of keeping the information fresh in our minds helps to keep what we learned alive in our minds. There is also a technique which is learning in a way that suits us and this will not only help us on developing the ways we can learn, but we will be able to make what we do so the others can learn efficiently from us. Making learning an enjoyable experience is for me the best way to learn efficiently because if we love what we do we get good results, and this is what is helping me a lot on my music producer career, even all the results that I got from my productions I still dont consider this as a job but just as my main passion and I keep learning day after day. Same thing on my studies, there are some topics that I enjoy and I can be successful on them, but once I dont love one topic, I know that I will have problems within it. The personal and career development skills are the ones I really enjoyed during this module. These skills are mainly keys for everyones life. To know our own strengths that we already have and we might build on, our weaknesses that we could reduce or otherwise work around, our opportunities that are related to our chances and that we can exploit better than the others, or even our threads that we need to be aware of them and to avoid them is a simple analysis that allows us to know who really we are and to avoid stress. I also learned how to manage my time and the basic ideas of control in this module, and all these skills have changed my personal and professional life and help me to gain more confidence on myself and to keep improving on my life in general. What should I develop again on my transferable skills? All the skills that I got from the Core Business Skills module are not skills related only to the business field, but to our life in general and help to improve the way we are living it. Bill Clinton, the forty second U.S President (1993-2001) said: Today, many companies are reporting that their number one constraint on growth is the inability to hire workers with the necessary skills. (2) From what Bill Clinton said, companies have a lack of workers with the necessary skills, and they do their best to overcome this problem, but people with the necessary skills are not enough to satisfy every companys need. To participate on the growth of our society, we should all have some basic skills which when we develop them, we get a higher level of confidence and abilities. Personally, even the improvement that I have done during this module, I still have to improve all the skills to get my personal objective. We know that the sky is the limit for what concerns learning the skills, and we can improve them more and more day after day. My skills on communication are not enough, because if I start communicating with professional people I could not be at the same level as them, but with the practice and time I can develop my skills and reach the level required by the professional world. Also, I still have many problems when it comes to the numeracy skills on business; the decision tree for example seems to me easy, I can get the tree, but not the calculation, I usually get lost on applying the relations and calculating numbers. The information skills, and the personal and career development skills, I think we can develop them more within the next modules and experiences. I got a lot of benefits from this module, it has changed my life, now I see things in a professional way and this is the best way to reach out the objectives that we set on our life. Now that I learned also these skills I set new goals to my life and I will try to achieve them all, or at least the majority. People with goals mostly succeed because they already know where they are going. I also believe in Willis Reeds quote that says: Go for the moon. If you dont get it, you will still be heading for a star.

Death of a Salesman Idealism and Truth Essay

?Idealism describes the belief or pursuit of a perfect vision often based upon unrealistic principles. This pursuit is often contrasted and opposed by truth. The truth and reality in an individual’s life is what enables this person to remain grounded and down to earth. An individual must set themselves high expectations in order to be their best, but they must also acknowledge the fact that everything they desire is not achievable. The imbalance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life can have calamitous effects. It is significant in an individual’s life because it can lead to the deterioration of an individual’s sanity, destruction of family relationships and ultimately death. This is exemplified in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, by Willy Loman. Willy spends his whole life pursuing the American Dream. This pursuit leaves him in debt and lacking less than a sliver of sanity. This man lacks the capacity to face the truth; the reality of his situation. The negative effect that his dream has on his family and life is simply overlooked and ignored. As Willy’s life swerves out of control, he tumbles deeper into the abyss of his idealism, to a point of no return. The inability for an individual to achieve a single-minded dream can lead to the deterioration of their sanity. In Willy’s case, he has spent his whole life pursuing the American Dream; a dream that is impossible to achieve. His inability to cope with the failure of his life at first simply causes him to feel lost, but eventually causes him to go insane. Ironically enough this man, so set on having the perfect life, has an affair with a secretary of one of the buyer. This is simply a financial transaction of gifts for sex and access to the buyers. Willy does this to escape the truth of his life, and in the process completely contradicts his goals. In an attempt to protect himself from the reality of his life, he goes into self-protection mode. His own mind morphs his memories to achieve and establish his desires. Willy’s constant flashbacks lay the groundwork to support that he is becoming senile and that his idealistic tendencies caused him to lose the ability to recognize reality from illusion. Willy is a very insecure individual, and he tries to make himself look better by lying to himself and his family. In his world of delusion, Willy is a hugely successful man. He disguises his profound anxiety and self-doubt with extreme arrogance. Biff nails it on the head when he points out the fact that Willy â€Å"had all the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong. † The overpowering pursuit of idealism over truth can lead an individual to lack the ability to cope with reality. Willy has a lot of potential, but he also has a whopping case of self-deception paired with misguided life goals. He has based his whole life on supporting others and does not know how to live any other way. The effect of lacking a manly figure during his youthful development is substantial effect in how Willy raises his own sons. In Willy’s pursuit of the American Dream, he clearly instills in his sons that being well-liked is more important than character. By emphasizing likability as being the most desirable quality for success he places a higher premium on outward projection over inner strength of character. He simply passes on these unrealistic qualities to his sons. â€Å"I never in my life told him anything but decent things. † Willy’s memories reveal that the values with which he raised his sons has made Biff comes to consider himself exceptional and entitled to whatever he wants regardless of how hard he works or whether it harms others. Biff’s perfect illusion is shattered when he discovers that his father is having an affair and he feels hateful and confused about his father’s actions. His excessive pursuit of idealism shatters Willy’s relationship with his son; this is something that he does not have the ability to repair. Willy’s pursuit of idealism in his life was extremely unrealistic and eventually prevented him from having the ability to see the truth in life. He spent his whole life trying to provide for his family. He wanted the life of a salesman. To be well-liked and have a massive funeral when he dies. The reality is that he spent his whole life pursuing unrealistic dreams based on negative personal values. Willy himself points out that he’s â€Å"worth more dead than alive. † It’s quite tragic that Willy believes he has to kill himself to feel that he is worth something to his family. The reality of the situation is that his death is in vain. The Loman’s only had one more payment left on the house, and don’t actually need the money anymore. But in his blinded illusion, Willy cannot see through or cope with his failure. This causes him to believe that he is worth nothing more alive and kills himself to enable his family to collect his life insurance money. The unevenness of idealism and truth in an individual’s life can lead to the loss of sanity, deterioration of relationships and even death. By having a good balanced of idealism and truth, there is a greater potential that an individual will discover contentment in life. While pursuing an ideal, an individual may be confronted with truth that must be recognized, and if ignored will have cataclysmic effect. Idealism provides a good source of motivation to strive for excellence and truth reminds us that we are all flawed. Together, with an appropriate balance of both, you have the tools to live a life happy.

All Pro Workout Faq

BASIC POINTS THAT PEOPLE KEEP MISSING: The program uses STIFF LEG DEAD LIFTS! It does not use dead lifts! There are TWO warm-up sets and TWO work sets making FOUR sets per exercise in total! You will start with EIGHT reps of your ten rep max weight! Not ten. This program splits gains between strength and size. You increase the reps every week, you do not increase the weights until completing a 5 week cycle. STARTING WEIGHT What weight should I start with? The correct starting weight is about a 10 rep max (75% of your 1 rep maximum).If that happens to be 150 pounds then the first set would be 35 pounds and the second set would be 75 pounds. Then 2 work sets at 150 pounds. WHEN IN DOUBT START LIGHT! Do I use the same weight for every exercise? NO! Each exercise will be different. REPLACEMENT EXERCISES (These should ONLY to be used if an injury prevents you doing one of the recommended ones! ) Squat: You can sub leg presses or dumbbell squats but they suck compared to what barbell squat s can do. Doing squats even with a very low weight is preferable to any other exercise. Bench Press: ?Overhead Press: Tricep press and standing rows. SLDL: Weighted hyper extensions and hamstring curls. . GENERAL WORKOUT QUESTIONS I’m very weak. Would it be wise to build some strength before doing this program? Nope. This program was designed with YOU in mind. Does this program optimise strength gains? This program will split the gains between size and strength. For more strength or if you’re training for power for a sport I'd use Bill Starr's 5Ãâ€"5. Do I do all 7 exercises every day or split them up into 3 days? You do all 7 exercises 3 times per weekCan I change the order of the exercises? The first four exercises should be done in the order I listed them. Do all of the squats then all of the bench presses and so forth. I didn't put it together to be supersetted or run in a circuit. I could have but then it wouldn't be a ‘SIMPLE' beginners program. If I'm sti ll sore, do I need to wait another day to work out? No, in fact after the medium work out you'll feel better and after the light work out you'll feel better still. Can an increase the number of reps if I get the desired number rather than wait until the next week? No!The reason for the â€Å"easy† weeks will become apparent when you repeat the cycle. It has a built in deload. By increasing the reps sooner you will stall sooner. That means your gains will be cut short because you'll have to deload to get out of it. Can I use regular deadlifts instead of stiff-leg deadlifts? DO NOT USE REGULAR DEAD LIFTS WITH THIS PROGRAM! The combination of heavy dead lifts and heavy squats in the same work out is a recipe for disaster. The stiff leg dead lifts are there to work lower back and ham strings with 1 exercise rather than splitting them up and adding more volume to the work out.How long should I take between sets? You need to rest for a minute and a half between the work sets. It ta kes about 3 minutes for ATP levels to be restored to 100%. In about 2 minutes they're at about 90%. This program is using a combination of ATP and glycogen as a fuel source that's why I choose the 1:30 rest. My usual routine is to do my first warm up set, change the weight and rest 30 seconds. I'll do my second warm up set, change the weight and rest 1 minute. Do the first work set and for this program rest a minute and a half. Can I add other exercises in at the end of my workout?Try the workout as it is first. Give it a chance. But you may add ONE set of pull overs or stiff armed pull downs or pull ups/chin ups. Follow the rep scheme and the heavy, medium, light set up. If that seems to be working well after a 5 week cycle then add the second set. Why can’t I just do 3 heavy workouts in a week instead of heavy, medium and light? Without the heavy, medium, light set-up you will peak out sooner and stall sooner. Google dual factor programming and you'll understand better. Suf fice it to say that with insufficient rest and recovery the program will stall.I couldn't squeeze out all of my reps for curls on the last week. Does that mean I have to keep the weight for every exercise the same for my next cycle? No! Add weight to every exercise that you pass. In the above exercise, everything would move forward but the curls. How long should I keep doing this work out? Simply keep going until you stop progressing with it. Do I need to do the warm-ups? You need the warm up sets for squats, bench press, military press and bent over rows. Warm ups for the other three are recommended but can be cut to save time.CARDIO AND ABS How much cardio should I do? With a 3 times per week full body program you won’t need more than 2 hours of cardio total for the week. If you want to bulk then do much less. Break it up however you want but don't do it before weight training. Do it on off days or after weight training. When should I do cardio? Do it on off days or after w eight training. What sort of cardio should I do? I use HIIT. High intensity interval training. That's just a series of all out sprints and mobility drills. I use a 40 minute, 30 minute and 20 minute set up.The problem with slow cardio is that you are encouraging the fast and medium fibres that you are weight training to convert to a slower type. It can be vary frustrating if that happens. What ab work should I do? It's a matter of what kind of equipment you have and what you respond to. Pull overs, pull downs and knee ups work for me. Crunches, even weighted crunches weren't as effective for me. Typically I use 1 set of 10-20 reps. In other words I use a periodized set up for them also. So starting from work out 1, 10, work out 2, 15, work out 3, 20. Add weight if I can get them all.Usually just 5 pounds. Or repeat the cycle if I can't get them all. Some people need more volume then what I use but I would start with 1 set and do them last or on off days. USING DUMBELLS Can you use d umbbells instead? If you have adjustable dumbbells so that you can get the correct weight then that's fine. The only problem with dumb bells happens when you can't adjust the weight or when you don't have 1 1/4 pound plates. Except for squats. Dumbbells won’t work well with squats because your grip will give out when you progress to heavier weights. Can I do seated shoulder press instead?If possible you should do it standing. In the case of a low ceiling or your gym not allowing it then doing it seated is fine. DIET AND SUPPLEMENTS What supplements should I use? Don't waste a small fortune on magic beans. Get a good diet plan set up and add fish oil, multi mineral/ multi vitamin, creatine and a simple, basic protein powder. Start with simple basic stuff and add things as you go being careful to keep track of what's working for you and what isn't. Should I use protein shakes? Protein shakes are a quick, convenient source of nutrition and you know exactly what you're getting.Th ey are NOT required but I would highly recommend using them post work out. 40 grams of protein and 40 grams of carbs within an hour of completing the work out. Is this routine suitable for cutting? Yes! It works well on a cut because it's self correcting. If you lose too much strength during the cut the worst that happens is that you have to repeat the cycle a time or 2 with the same weight. How much should I eat? This depends on your goals. Total calories: To gain weight: multiply body weight in lbs by 20 To maintain weight: body weight x 15 To lose weight: body weight x 10E. g. if you weigh 200lbs you should aim for 3000 calories per day to maintain that weight. 40% protein, 40% carbohydrate, 20% fat Will this routine work at all for someone training a number of years? It isn't that it won’t work at all†¦ because it will. But the rate of progression would have to be slowed down. After a while you won’t be able to increase by 10% every 5 weeks. At the very least you'd have to reduce that to 5% and drop it to twice per week with 2 heavy work outs. Your recovery doesn't improve as fast as your ability to do damage.