Fitness advice

Hipmonlee

Hipmonlee

Have a nice day
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Yeah last year, when I was in holland, I had a race along a beach with my brother, and I nearly passed out! It was then that I realised that I was horribly out of shape and that I desperately needed to start exercising again. So of course, with my trademark urgency I waited for a year and then decided I was being an idiot and needed to get started..

There is an annual Marathon in Auckland I was thinking about entering, but it is at the end of october and I dunno if I will be able to get in any sort of shape in time..

But yeah, this thread is for opinions, tips and pointers and stuff..

Have a nice day.
 
I work out, not a lot, but occasionally.

Rarely working out isn't helping me though, because, remember when you've just finished lunch and have the sudden urge to eat a grilled cheese sandwich, and drink some chocolate milk, like about 30 minutes after you've had lunch? Make a sacrifice and don't eat it. Eat it 3-4 hours later, because, you think you're hungry but you're really not. If you manage to distract yourself from eating, then you won't. My nutritionist says you don't even have to work out a lot, but you just have to go for light meals, instead of those huge ones.

On the working out side, I'll be joining a gym soon, it'll cover basic exercises, sauna, and stuff like that. In about a year, you can undo stuff you've did these past years, also according to my nutritionist. Get your hands on some money, not a lot, because the gym doesn't need to be great, and pay monthly to use it 2-4 times a week. It's really helping me out.
 
I started a new workout about 11 months ago with a plan to MAYBE lose some weight, but it was mostly to get back into the shape I was in when I was playing high school sports. I kept hard to my workouts and to my pleasant surprise I lost 35 pounds (Settled at around 180 pounds, a weight I am very happy with) and I am in the best shape of my life (well, im 19 years old, so I haven't had much time to be in the best shape of my "long" life, but hopefully I can maintain/keep improving).

The best thing is to start slow. I tried to start working out like I was at peak shape during my football season during high school and that just led to a huge crash and too many days of rest to recover from the physical exhaustion. (I tried to go from not working out at all to a full day of lifting and running 35 minutes in one day). If you are going to incorporate lifting AND running into your plan to get into shape I would split them the first month or so (Monday/Wednesday/Friday for running and Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday for lifting). When I split up 30 minutes for running/lifting on their respective day for the first month I had the energy to keep on going and workout daily.

The next tip is to recognize when you can upgrade your workout. If you never upgrade your workout you can't improve. I realized after a month of split time that I had some extra stamina and needed the extra nudge to help my body get into even better shape. I upgraded to running for 30 minutes Monday through Saturday and lifting Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. The first week was hell and I thought I almost tried to upgrade too much by running everyday. Though, the second week was much easier and I kept up with my workout until the end of another month and added a little more to it again (15 minute stair workouts with the running).

Lastly, don't give up on whatever workout you go with. You will probably feel like shit and want to take days off after starting a new workout or upgrading an old workout. As I mentioned before I felt like hell the first week after upgrading a workout. My whole body was sore and I was very tempted to take some extra days off to rest. I'm glad I didn't because I ran out the aches and pains and it started to feel good as my body readjusted to the increased workload. Always get enough water and if your not trying to lose weight adding some extra healthy calories to keep your energy up is good. If you are trying to lose weight and get into shape you will need to calorie count and try to consume 250-500 less than your burn each day (millions of sites to look up on how much you need to consume each day).

Good luck
 
Well, the best advice I can give you is to find a physical activity you like to do and do that for your exercise. Otherwise, you'll burn out pretty quickly. Earlier this year I went through a big running kick; I would run almost every day of the week and instead of feeling tired at the end of a long run I would somehow have more energy. Nowadays running feels like a chore, and I get my exercise by swimming a lot.

If you decide to run regularly, though, try intervals. Run for a bit and then walk for a minute or two to rest, then run some more. You won't get tired as fast, and you'll be able to run longer.
 
Well, my BMI is ~20 I think.. So if anything I should be putting on weight.. But like, I am really unfit!

I am not keen on paying for a gym or anything.. I am not concerned about motivation, I am good at doing things once I decide to do them.

As far as like weights go, I have like a 5kg weight that I think must belong to one of my brothers, but I dont know when or why I took possesion of it.. Anyway the point is I probably wont be doing a lot of that..

Have a nice day.
 
Fine something fun to do, which also keeps you in shape. Jogging helps me clear my thoughts, and is also good excercise. My dad surfs, which is a workout in itself sometimes. Sports are good, swimming laps too. If you're really out of shape and cant do any of that, just try walking a couple miles a day, and keep a stopwatch to record times if you want. And bring an iPod!
 
I know it's not very helpful, but I find the best thing to do is eat healthy and jog.

I don't like going over specific dietary regiments, but I think we generally know what's bad for us, so just avoid that. Eat fish, chicken, vegetables, pasta, drink milk, water, fruit/vegetable juice (preferably unsweetened), and jog, man. Jogging is the best exercise for getting in shape. It's extremely low impact, you can go at your own pace, and yeah.

I also like working with my body-weight. Lifting weights is good, but you're a lot more likely to injure yourself curling dumbbells than you are doing situps or crunches. Oh, also, fucking jump roping. That's a great workout.

Work on cardio, everything stems from cardio.
 
Well, I'm an all out fitness freak and a marathon runner too, so I'd be happy to help if I can.

In training for a first marathon (over 26 miles!), it's as much about cardio endurance as it is muscular endurance so be sure to work on both. In my first marathon, I found that I wasn't running out of breath, but my legs felt like they were gonna freaking explode.

Going straight into a jogging regime would sound good on paper, but if your as unfit as you say, the chances are that you're only gonna get a few miles then think to yourself "Fuck this, I'm going home." Try to build up some cardio first by doing shorter jogs or a cardio weight regime (see below). I would definately reccomend hill running, as when your body adjusts to that, running on flat ground is fucking easy.

The 5kilo weights should be a great help too, as at such a low resistance they would be great for developing cardio. What I used to do at 5kg was something like...

30 curls
30 revolutions of skipping
30 tricep raises
30 revolutions of skipping
30 shoulder raises
30 revolutions of skipping

Then I just repeated or threw in different exercises such as upright rows or side raises or whatever. Ooh, protip. If you dont' have skipping ropes just lay summit on the floor. I use a barbell but I guess anything like that could do (broomstick?). Hold the weights in your hands and keep jumping back and forth over it. That's a great workout and the added weight from the dumbells means that after a few months of it, you'll be able to jump over skyscrapers.

If you have any running clubs in your area, give them a shout too. The best way to get good at running, is obviously, by running.
 
Course, I'm still young enough not to really be bothered enough, but I have an awesome chin up bar in my room, so whenever I feel like it I do ~15 of them. I ride up and down (on my push bike >.>) a big hill at least once a week (to get to friend's houses), and occasionally I run 2km on my parent's running machiney thing.
 
Try going for a jog, memorizing or writing down how far and/or how long you made it then try to improve it repeatedly each time. Swimming can also work but I always get hungry after swimming which doesn't help. Also what Basics said, good food is good mood.

Yeah last year, when I was in holland, I had a race along a beach with my brother, and I nearly passed out!
Click to expand...

And they say our beaches are small...
 
Getting into shape is not nearly as hard as you'd think; its more mental then anything. I've lost 30 lbs before by justing changing eating habits; no lifting or anything. Basically I cuts out breads, soda, and junk food and went with a shitload of fruit and water.

If you wanna doa marathon then obviously your gonna have to do something a lot worse then eating fruit: running. A good routine for slimming down that I'm doing now is ciruit training with conditioning on off days.

Basically you have to keep your metabolism burning high, and the only way to really do that is to exercise. If you can't run right away then walk your ass off. And don't be put down the first time you try to exercise; its guarunteed to be your worst. But it gets better.

This is acctually something I'm into myself right now, so if you need any help with coming up with a routine then send me a PM.
 
I reckon, if you feel like eating, you don't. You feel like chewing. So grab some sugar-free gum and chew. As for exercise, half an hour of touch football at school is alright for me. I stretch my legs. As for arms, I bash pillows. Yeah. I need to buy some weights, like, 5 kilo ones or something, like Lee said.
 
^^^Good luck, I have 10 pounders on each leg right now. It took me 2 weeks before I could even walk straight, let alone walk down stiars, and that was just with the starting weight of 6 pounds on each leg. Though I have to say, theres been a definite improvement on my leg muscles. I can actually flex my quads, sorta. It's such a morale booster. My calves were always good though, what with me being hispanic.

Anywho, this has all been said before but repitition is good. For starters, stop having three big meals a day, if you do. It's why most of Americans are fat, we have too many big meals. Instead, have many small meals spread throughout the day, consisting of a little of each food group. This keeps your metabolism from slowing down, so that you can burn the food off quicker. I also recommend only eating fruits on an empty stomach, such as when you have your first meal. If you eat fruit and you already have food in there, the fruit will start to rot before it can be digested. Also, try healthier alternatives to foods. You should always drink fat-free or skim milk, they're the same thing in terms of fat content. Try eating more beans and nuts instead of meat, as meat can contain alot of fat. Beans and nuts are also as good as meat for protien. Peanut butter is good, but it also has alot of calories, so make it more of a treat/once a day thing. To avoid hunger pains, make sure you eat a few amounts of sugars followed up by protien, as protien takes longer to process. Dark, greeny vegetables are your friend. Bread as a whole is kinda iffy. Great source of carbs but white bread is just bread thats been bleached. This makes it insanely unhealthy. Instead, try to eat whole-grain/wheat. After your body gets used to the new diet, you'll find yourself getting full quicker and you'll be hungry less often, as you'll be getting all the nutrients you need in smaller portions.

As for exercise, considering you want a marathon, you should first work on losing some body fat and gaining some leg muscle. Swimming laps is a great way to do both at once. Other than that, running is pretty much the way to go. Doing squats willl help to build up muscle. I also suggest to start doing sit-ups/crunches and at putting at least a little bit off effort into your arms. This should increase your upperbody strength, vital for having good overall health. Once you've lost enough fat/built up enough muscle, I suggest working on conditioning your body and improving your endurance. Cardio is perfect for accomplishing both of these. Once you feel you've reached the level you were hoping for, I'd begin practicing to run the length of the marathon, if you haven't already. Yeah it's alot of work, and alot of times the pain and sacrifice will make you question if it's really worth it. There have been times where I couldn't bend my arms for two days because the strain was just too much. But in the end, you will fill a sense of accomplishment knowing that you did what you set out to do. And that feeling is better than anything in the world. Plus, hot chicks never go for fat dudes, unless they have like personality or some shit, so there's motivation right there.
 
The only advice I can give is: walk. Walking is one of the best exercises one can do. Walk laps around your block, then increase the number of laps as the weeks pass by. Try to do that at 5 or a.m., when the air is less poluted(here at least). Also, this marathon is like tomorrow so I wouldn't push yourself so much.
 
Really, this all depends on your current status of fitness and what level you're willing to start out at. For newer runners on our team (cross country runs 5 kilometers which is 3.1 miles), they usually start out at a fairly low mileage. After that, every week you're going to have to want to add about 5 miles to the weekly mileage. Those who are just starting usually start off at about 18-24 miles a week (2-3 a day). Eventually, you'll work your way up to the higher miles a week. It all just takes time.

Just starting out, you're going to want to run at a comfortable speed pace. Something that isn't all out but you shouldn't be able to really talk to someone else with the pace you're carrying. Later, you'll add speed runs and short distance repeats in the weeks before a race to gain more speed instead of endurance.

If you're shooting for running a 5k, this is what our coach has us doing:

Miles/Wk Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
20 2 3 3 4 2 3 3
25 3 4 3 5 4 3 3
30 3 4 4 6 4 3 6
35 4 5 5 7 5 3 6
40 4 6 6 7 6 4 7
45 5 7 6 8 6 5 7
50 6 8 6 8 7 6 8
55 6 8 7 8 8 7 10
Sorry the chart came out weird. I can't format it correctly in the post.

On this, you'll want to start out at 20 and stay there for probably two weeks since you're just starting out. After that, you should move up to the next level every week.

Nutrition wise, you know what's healthy and what has alot of carbs. However, you want complex carbohydrates after workouts. This is very important. While things like fruit snacks, candy, and other processes foods provide alot of carbs, they are simple carbs, which your body simply processes and craves more of. Complex carbs are the best you can have. Whole grain pastas, breads, and cereals; vegetables, and oats are a good source of complex carbs.

Another important nutrition thing to remember is that you want to generally try to get some carbs and protein after every workout. The carbs will restore used energy and the protein will repair muscle damage from the workout. I like to have yogurt or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as my post run meal. Try to avoid food for the two hours before your workout though if you don't want an upset stomach. Eventually, you'll figure out your own body's needs.

This site should provide you with some good tips if you really want to run that marathon though. If you do, remember, it's more of a mental race than anything else, especially after mile 20.
 
Just build it up. Run for as long as you can the first day. The second day, which doesn't have to be the very next day, try to push for another 15 seconds. Then just add 15 seconds every day you run, and before you know it, you'll be able to run longer. Also, don't sprint. Jog. Doing lots of jumping jacks also helps you build up your cardiovascular endurance.
 
FiveKRunner said:
Miles/Wk Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
20 2 3 3 4 2 3 3
25 3 4 3 5 4 3 3
30 3 4 4 6 4 3 6
35 4 5 5 7 5 3 6
40 4 6 6 7 6 4 7
45 5 7 6 8 6 5 7
50 6 8 6 8 7 6 8
55 6 8 7 8 8 7 10
Sorry the chart came out weird. I can't format it correctly in the post.

On this, you'll want to start out at 20 and stay there for probably two weeks since you're just starting out. After that, you should move up to the next level every week.
Click to expand...

That's A LOT of running for someone who is just starting out. Plus, running everyday really takes a toll on someone's body. A rest day should defitnetly be implemented so his body/mind can take a break from running.

I recommend just running around 10-15 miles a week, spread over 4-5 days, just so you can get acclamated to running both mentally and physically. Afterwards, something like 5krunner's training schedule is a good base for one to get into decent running shape. I'd take off a mile or 2 from and leave Saturday for rest, though.
 
well looks like you're getting a lot of advice. If you're training to do a marathon really you should run about 3-4 miles a day for 4 days in a week. You should have one day of rest and 2 days with either fast runs, running up hills, or just a plain old workout kind of thing...that's not my area though...
 
Get an mp3 and listen to your favorite music while your jogging or something. I'm not really in shape anymore, but I train my brute power by sit-ups and stuff like that.

If you don't wanna get fat, there is one important rule. Only eat when you're hungry. And if you're one of those lucky people like me, you can eat as much as you want without getting fat.

You must at least train 2 times a week, or it won't help. that's all my advice.
 
I don't know if it will help but iirc oatmeal can give you a lot of energy and it keeps you full a long time, so you will eat less, plus you can have it for breakfast before you excerise for the energy, for a snack in the afternoon, or at night so you eat again during the night.
 
Eat grains in the morning and protein at night.

Exercise every day, for at least an hour. Take a break on the weekends, but stick to your diet. If you don't exercise every day, you wont make any progress, you'll only stay where you are.

If your going to run a marathon, then you should do sprints to build up your mental stamina. A smart training regiment would be jog for a mile, then do like 5 400 meter dashes with 30 seconds to a minute between each one, and then jog another mile.

Mental stamina is very important for long distance running. I can run way longer than my brother who is like 20 pounds lighter than me, only because I had wrestling for two years, and we had to do a lot of mental training and mental toughness exercises, so pain no longer bothers me.
 
TVboyCanti you're wrong, you don't need to work out to lose weight, if you eat properly and stick to a diet regimen, then your body will burn calories on its own without you having to work out, because you won't be adding any extra calories to your system, except the ones necessary.
 
Eating grains or any other good source of carbohydrates in the morning is fine, then you should sprint as far as far as your limit will take you, and try to go farther every day. It should only take you a week or so to get into good shape, but I suggest running every single day until your marathon. Get good sources of protein as well to have the capacity to run the next day, also vitamin B6 drinks help alot for me when I need to get in shape, gives you a big energy boost without a burnout.
 
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