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Getting fit/in-shape
- Thread starter Krul
- Start date
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f6/wulftk/n50801386_30685736_5292.jpg
Not trying to be a showoff with my picture, just showing what I look like so you know my diet and exercise regiment works.
To keep it short and sweet, here's a few pointers:
1) Cardio can (and should) be done every day. If you have access to a pool, use it, as swimming is EXCELLENT cardio and easy on the joints. If you can't go to a pool, jogging works. Try to stay on grass/soft ground when you jog, only run on pavement when you HAVE to as this is hard on the knees.
2) When lifting, give the muscles you work out at least 48 hours to recover, especially when you're first starting out. If it feels wrong, don't keep lifting. You actually move in a NEGATIVE direction if you work your muscles before they've rested (commonly referred to as Overtraining). My personal schedule looks like this:
~Mondays and Thursdays I work biceps, triceps, and chest
~Tuesdays and Fridays I work abs, back, and shoulders
~Wednesdays and Saturdays are legs
~Sundays I do not work out at all. Regardless of working different muscles each day you should give your whole body at least 1 day of full rest per week. If you're lifting ALOT of weight, have more days.
3) Make sure when you work out muscles that come in twos (ie biceps, triceps) that you lift equal weight on each side. This keeps your muscles in tune so one doesn't become more developed than the other
4) Working out is not about how long you do it, but how HARD. Intensity is key, so work hard when you work out. You should be sweating a fair amount. Spending 3 hours at the gym does you no good if you barely break a sweat
5) Enjoy yourself. Working out should not be done for other people. Working out should be for personal health and happiness. The natural high from adrenaline and exercise is very refreshing. Anyone who works out regularly will tell you that they feel energized after a workout, not tired.
6) Be committed. Once you get past that first week or two of soreness, workouts will begin to feel good. You'll be feeling that rush that I mentioned in number 5.
Follow these tips and you will be on your way :)
Not trying to be a showoff with my picture, just showing what I look like so you know my diet and exercise regiment works.
To keep it short and sweet, here's a few pointers:
1) Cardio can (and should) be done every day. If you have access to a pool, use it, as swimming is EXCELLENT cardio and easy on the joints. If you can't go to a pool, jogging works. Try to stay on grass/soft ground when you jog, only run on pavement when you HAVE to as this is hard on the knees.
2) When lifting, give the muscles you work out at least 48 hours to recover, especially when you're first starting out. If it feels wrong, don't keep lifting. You actually move in a NEGATIVE direction if you work your muscles before they've rested (commonly referred to as Overtraining). My personal schedule looks like this:
~Mondays and Thursdays I work biceps, triceps, and chest
~Tuesdays and Fridays I work abs, back, and shoulders
~Wednesdays and Saturdays are legs
~Sundays I do not work out at all. Regardless of working different muscles each day you should give your whole body at least 1 day of full rest per week. If you're lifting ALOT of weight, have more days.
3) Make sure when you work out muscles that come in twos (ie biceps, triceps) that you lift equal weight on each side. This keeps your muscles in tune so one doesn't become more developed than the other
4) Working out is not about how long you do it, but how HARD. Intensity is key, so work hard when you work out. You should be sweating a fair amount. Spending 3 hours at the gym does you no good if you barely break a sweat
5) Enjoy yourself. Working out should not be done for other people. Working out should be for personal health and happiness. The natural high from adrenaline and exercise is very refreshing. Anyone who works out regularly will tell you that they feel energized after a workout, not tired.
6) Be committed. Once you get past that first week or two of soreness, workouts will begin to feel good. You'll be feeling that rush that I mentioned in number 5.
Follow these tips and you will be on your way :)
Don't listen to this man. If you're at the point where you're "mostly fat" as you say you are, then you'll want to lean out a bit before you actually start lifting. You can't just turn fat into muscle - it doesn't work that way. I would suggest running like others have suggested, and possibly getting a gym membership (most gyms give you an instructor for the first week or so to help you learn how to use all the equipment; even if they don't you can still ask employees, the any instructor you do get will help you find a workout that will work for you at your current physical state, whatever that may be).
Metalscyther, you don't even give any weight percentages. Stating that your workout is the only one that works and that anybody else's sucks already shows that you have no idea what you're really talking about. Not only do you not explain how any of those exercises work (yes, even pull-ups have a correct technique that maximises their effectiveness), but doing only those exercises will imbalance the muscle structure in your body. You want to make sure to work yourself evenly; otherwise you may end up with a huge chest and chicken legs or a hunched back because you only work your front.
So generally with lifting, you'll want to superset (aka twoset: work opposing muscle groups in tandem with each other), like switching off between a set of bench and a set of upright rows. You don't even need to look up what muscles you're working out or anything; it should be pretty obvious just feeling how you move your arm up and down that by moving weight one way you work one muscle group (biceps for example), and by moving it another way you work the opposing muscle group (triceps for example). You can do similar workouts in a row (like squatting every workout), but I've found that it's better to just have a different day for each type of workout (ex: upper body on Monday, lower body on Wednesday, core/other on Friday, and then rest during the weekend).
That also brings up an important point: rest is very important for muscle growth. Without it, you won't get stronger as fast as you'd like, and you'll more than likely end up hurting yourself in the long run.
But yeah, I would just go along with what the others have said here; I'm just clearing up a couple of things for you ;).
I was in the same position as you when I was younger. I looked relatively lean, but when I looked down at my belly when I was changing shirts and I'd think "where the hell did that come from?". This was in middle school, and I found myself playing way too many video games, and my self-restraint was way too low to voluntarily work out and play less video games, so what I'd do is have my mom take away my Nintendo 64 and not let me watch TV for two days in a row and allow me to do that every three days, so I'd get bored and call friends or ride my bike or something. It was very embarassing to admit to her, but I was glad I did it because I'm no longer self-conscious about my weight, and haven't been for ten years. I've since gotten into a regular workout routine.
Of course, you're probably older than I was, so you probably don't need to have parental intervention. Just allow yourself one day of TV/video games/computer for every three days, then use the rest to get some fresh air and excercise. It's also good to have a sport you can play with just one or two friends (unlike, say, baseball, or soccer), like tennis, so excercise isn't a monotonous thing you come to dread.
I'm not an expert on the subject, but I would recommend doing something other than running for your cardio workout. Running is killer on your joints, and it tires you out quickly, so if you're running on a treadmill or something it's very easy to just give up and take breaks. Biking ten miles burns about the same amount of calories as running one mile, and is less exhausting. Take this advice with a grain of salt, though.
Of course, you're probably older than I was, so you probably don't need to have parental intervention. Just allow yourself one day of TV/video games/computer for every three days, then use the rest to get some fresh air and excercise. It's also good to have a sport you can play with just one or two friends (unlike, say, baseball, or soccer), like tennis, so excercise isn't a monotonous thing you come to dread.
I'm not an expert on the subject, but I would recommend doing something other than running for your cardio workout. Running is killer on your joints, and it tires you out quickly, so if you're running on a treadmill or something it's very easy to just give up and take breaks. Biking ten miles burns about the same amount of calories as running one mile, and is less exhausting. Take this advice with a grain of salt, though.
Remember that you have to do CAS hours, as well. Just think of all exercise that you need to do as the Action portion of your hours, as an extension of IB.
WaterBomb's post was especially good but there has been some fucking horrible advice in this thread.
Are you serious? A guy comes onto a forum saying he feels fat and you tell him to eat 6 meals a day? Ugh, I'm not even going to say anything else because you should be able to work out why that is retarded by yourself.Ike said:
I personally wouldn't reccomend weighing yourself everyday at the start of a regime. Results aren't instant...nothing kills your motivation more than working your arse off one day only to weigh yourself and see you haven't lost any weight. Every week, yes. Everyday, no.mintyfresh7 said:
I'd reccomend the opposite. Once a decent level of cardio is established then you'll get much more out of weightlifting as you'll be able to train much harder without fucking yourself. Nobody wants to be like those dudes at the gym who do one set of bench press then have a 15 minute break before their next set. Besides that, judging from everything Krul has said, it seems as though he'd benefit from cardio training 100 times more than he would from a bodybuilding programme.metalscyther said:
For everyone saying walking will get you in shape, it all depends what kind of shape you want to be in. First of all, walking slow, jogging slow, swimming slow, doing anything slow will do less than you think for you(this is comming from a friend thats a personal trainer and has a degree in this area). I agree with BAM UR DEAD here. If you want to lose the fat and get lean, you need to work the areas of your body you want to lose weight in. Running is a great way, and jogging is an okay way. Set about a relatively small distance, and run sprints. Now, you might not be able to do this right away, if ur as out of shape as you say you are, so do a few back and forth and then do sit ups and pushups in between sprints. Do this for about 20 minutes or so everyday, and in no time you will be in basketball shape (thats similar to what they do in preseason). this means lean, faster, stronger, healthier. Its a sacrifice, and hard to do, but it pays off big time. I dont do this, I lift weights, but I did when I played basketball. I pretty much do everything now for my travel team for baseball does team workouts where we sprint, lift, and various drills to improve speed, strength and timing. You get so in shape over a few weeks ud be amazed how hard work pays off.
one more thing: SET GOALSS! i dont think anyone has reinforced my point from the first post. you need to set goals: It will make you want to strive for sucess.
one more thing: SET GOALSS! i dont think anyone has reinforced my point from the first post. you need to set goals: It will make you want to strive for sucess.
random google search: http://blog.worldvillage.com/health/plan_minimeals_to_boost_metabolism.html
That link takes me to some site that promotes eating six "mini-meals" a day. Examples of a mini-meal include half a sandwich or a frozen yoghurt.
The poster I quoted did not reccomend six of these measly mini-meals, he reccomended six MEALS. Don't put words into his mouth to defend him.
The poster I quoted did not reccomend six of these measly mini-meals, he reccomended six MEALS. Don't put words into his mouth to defend him.
If you can get an after-school/part-time job that forces you to move around a lot and do heavy lifting, you can get paid for getting fit. You don't have to buy a gym membership and you are always motivated - because if you don't do it, you will lose your job. It pretty much rules!
Haha, ok
Why should he cut when he has no muscle to cut down to? If an untrained person follows that regimen for 4 weeks and eats like a horse, I GUARANTEE you will put on some muscle mass. If you cut down now you're just going to look even more like a twig
look, you can suggest all of this "upper body" and "ab" day bullshit all you want, but if you're trying to build some basic strength, ie. "getting fit/in-shape", you're wasting your god damn time if you aren't squatting and dead lifting every time you go to the gym(three times a week).
seriously, you want my advice on the most basic level? if you're trying to get big, eat a lot of food and squat. if you're going to the gym with the "oh i just want to tone my abs or do some pussy steady state cardio on the treadmill" attitude then you're a fucking pussy and you should honestly not bother getting out of bed that morning
go to any fucking fitness site and they're going to repeat what I just said, with maybe some numbers beside it
not trying to get big? get big first by eating food and squatting, and then cut down to whatever weight you want to be at
oh, and i'm pretty sure googling "squat" or "deadlift" will answer your questions on how to do those exercises
Why should he cut when he has no muscle to cut down to? If an untrained person follows that regimen for 4 weeks and eats like a horse, I GUARANTEE you will put on some muscle mass. If you cut down now you're just going to look even more like a twig
look, you can suggest all of this "upper body" and "ab" day bullshit all you want, but if you're trying to build some basic strength, ie. "getting fit/in-shape", you're wasting your god damn time if you aren't squatting and dead lifting every time you go to the gym(three times a week).
seriously, you want my advice on the most basic level? if you're trying to get big, eat a lot of food and squat. if you're going to the gym with the "oh i just want to tone my abs or do some pussy steady state cardio on the treadmill" attitude then you're a fucking pussy and you should honestly not bother getting out of bed that morning
go to any fucking fitness site and they're going to repeat what I just said, with maybe some numbers beside it
not trying to get big? get big first by eating food and squatting, and then cut down to whatever weight you want to be at
oh, and i'm pretty sure googling "squat" or "deadlift" will answer your questions on how to do those exercises
I dunno man, you seem to be in such a hurry to prove that you're some kind of bodybuilding expert that you neglected to read anything that Krul said. He has expressed no real interest to pile on muscle mass...in the OP itself he mentioned running and using an exercise bike. Getting fit does not neccesarily equate to gaining muscle mass.
If you have so much confidence in your "fucking fitness classes" then try walking into one and asking what course of exercise you would reccomend for somebody who wants to get fit/in-shape and "pretty much sits around all day on a mixture of television, Xbox, Guitar Hero and my computer." I guarantee they'll reccomend cardio-training which is why I brought into question the fact that you said in no uncertain terms; "fuck cardio."
If you have so much confidence in your "fucking fitness classes" then try walking into one and asking what course of exercise you would reccomend for somebody who wants to get fit/in-shape and "pretty much sits around all day on a mixture of television, Xbox, Guitar Hero and my computer." I guarantee they'll reccomend cardio-training which is why I brought into question the fact that you said in no uncertain terms; "fuck cardio."
Ugh, I overated you obviously because that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
Did you read the OP at all?
Less arguing, more listening to my post please.
Here's an odd suggestion: Deliver pizza. That's right, I said deliver pizza. Before you go wtf, let me point out to you that pizza drivers get ALOT of exercise in the form of walking and carrying heavy stuff at the same time. I delivered pizza for five years, and it helped me stay in shape while I was in school and not working out as much. There's an idea to compliment Doctor Heartbreak's "after school job" idea.
Here's an odd suggestion: Deliver pizza. That's right, I said deliver pizza. Before you go wtf, let me point out to you that pizza drivers get ALOT of exercise in the form of walking and carrying heavy stuff at the same time. I delivered pizza for five years, and it helped me stay in shape while I was in school and not working out as much. There's an idea to compliment Doctor Heartbreak's "after school job" idea.
Except you made it sound like he should just take anything off the shelves that says "fat-free" when in reality he should not do that.
Also I love your philosophy MetalScyther. Get big or don't bother getting fit at all, fucking pussies. /sarcasm
To the OP: I don't think anyone needs to tell you this, but don't listen to MetalScyther.
Okay, I'll tell you the first thing to do: ignore all advice you've gotten here and hire a professional fitness instructor. One that will have you take off your shirt and look at your figure and give you a specific training regimen built to suit your needs, as well as a diet/nutrition schedule. I did this back in May and in one month I was down 4% body fat and had increased maxes in all my weight-lifting. Nowadays I'm fucking streamlined, and it only cost me 3 sessions at $33 each.
If you don't feel like going that route... 4-6 small meals a day is great because it keeps your metabolism going all day and throughout the night. Each meal should have some of these three groups: lean protein (chicken, fish, turkey NOTHING SALTY LIKE HAM), complex carbs (brown rice, yams, oatmeal) and vegetables (I prefer broccoli and cauliflower myself).
You said you're not looking to get jacked, and I can appreciate that because that's never been my goal either. But you MUST weight train; building lean muscle burns calories just by having it on your body, so don't lift for weight, lift for reps. (Example: instead of benching 175 4 times, bench 135 12 times.) Cardio is great, burns calories and fat, but once you stop doing it that shit comes right back. Lean muscle, man, lean muscle.
Workout like this: 10-minute cardio warmup, followed with 35-40 minutes weights, then 15 minutes cardio. I won't make this longer by mentioning all the exercises, but if you want that info PM me.
If you don't feel like going that route... 4-6 small meals a day is great because it keeps your metabolism going all day and throughout the night. Each meal should have some of these three groups: lean protein (chicken, fish, turkey NOTHING SALTY LIKE HAM), complex carbs (brown rice, yams, oatmeal) and vegetables (I prefer broccoli and cauliflower myself).
You said you're not looking to get jacked, and I can appreciate that because that's never been my goal either. But you MUST weight train; building lean muscle burns calories just by having it on your body, so don't lift for weight, lift for reps. (Example: instead of benching 175 4 times, bench 135 12 times.) Cardio is great, burns calories and fat, but once you stop doing it that shit comes right back. Lean muscle, man, lean muscle.
Workout like this: 10-minute cardio warmup, followed with 35-40 minutes weights, then 15 minutes cardio. I won't make this longer by mentioning all the exercises, but if you want that info PM me.
Hey, you do occassionally get some worthwhile advice out of these threads; last time a thread like this popped up you reccomended brown rice and I've been eating the shit ever since.DM said:
But yeah, it would be awesome if you could speak to a professional or at least read around some respectable sites. When I first started training I was way too much of a chickenshit to even consider seeing a personal fitness trainer but sometimes I wish I did...would be interesting to see how far I would have gotten if I actually knew what I was doing rather than the lonely trial-and-error route that I ended up taking. Consider it.
argh
ok, do what you want man, but if you try to cut fat in your current shape, you're going to look like an empty garbage bag
no fitness trainer would tell you to cut before you have sufficient muscle mass unless you were OVERWEIGHT
you aren't that overweight, you just have a couple or fifteen extra pounds. eat food and squat for a couple months before you start cutting
i'm not trying to be some "body building expert", i'm giving you the same advice that any website dedicated to building muscle is going to tell you on the internet
and i'm sorry, i know i'm not as smart as you guys, but jogging or even moderate running isn't going to burn fat that well
want to burn fat? wake up in the morning and do HIIT before you eat. google it.
for the record, i'm not some "body building expert", but i do exercise nearly every day of the week, have 213 lbs as of this morning of at least reasonably lean meat on me, and while i don't claim to have "4%" bodyfat(which is a lie), i look pretty good
unless you have substantial muscle mass, have a STRICT diet, are exercising hard 5 times a week, and have good genetics you're probably not going to get below 10% body fat
4% is absolute bull shit
again, sorry for the rant, but seriously, all you need to do is eat food and squat. it's pretty much that simple. i've been training for 3 years or so, and the first two years all I did was that pussy upper body and ab bullshit and I still looked like a fucking twig. a year of squatting, dead lifting, and power cleaning? I'm SOOOO much more athletic, feel better, in much better shape, and can actually hold my own on the basketball court now
ok, do what you want man, but if you try to cut fat in your current shape, you're going to look like an empty garbage bag
no fitness trainer would tell you to cut before you have sufficient muscle mass unless you were OVERWEIGHT
you aren't that overweight, you just have a couple or fifteen extra pounds. eat food and squat for a couple months before you start cutting
i'm not trying to be some "body building expert", i'm giving you the same advice that any website dedicated to building muscle is going to tell you on the internet
and i'm sorry, i know i'm not as smart as you guys, but jogging or even moderate running isn't going to burn fat that well
want to burn fat? wake up in the morning and do HIIT before you eat. google it.
for the record, i'm not some "body building expert", but i do exercise nearly every day of the week, have 213 lbs as of this morning of at least reasonably lean meat on me, and while i don't claim to have "4%" bodyfat(which is a lie), i look pretty good
unless you have substantial muscle mass, have a STRICT diet, are exercising hard 5 times a week, and have good genetics you're probably not going to get below 10% body fat
4% is absolute bull shit
again, sorry for the rant, but seriously, all you need to do is eat food and squat. it's pretty much that simple. i've been training for 3 years or so, and the first two years all I did was that pussy upper body and ab bullshit and I still looked like a fucking twig. a year of squatting, dead lifting, and power cleaning? I'm SOOOO much more athletic, feel better, in much better shape, and can actually hold my own on the basketball court now
What I do is do a set of pushups whenever I get up from the computer. Or every other commercial break when I watch TV. I alternate between pushups and squats with no weights. it works pretty well
He said that he had lost 4% body fat ._.