Workout Advice

[Temper Tantrum]

To all the people on the board with far much otivation and gym attendance then me. I used to be in pretty damn good shape and I've rejoined a gym, I was wondering what's the best sort of workout plan in terms of building muscle/losing fat? I really want to get back into shape. I also really wanna concentrate on building up my arm/stomach muscles. Currently I do hatha yoga on monday and wednesdays and do cardio (running for say 4 miles) and ab workouts on tuesday/thursday/saturday.

Is there any way I can be adjusting my diet as well? what sort of plans work best? I'm not looking to drastically transform my body, just tone, put on muscle and lose fat and be healthy again

Any info would be greatly appreciated. I know next to nothing about weightlifting or any sort of programs. My getting in shape was just running every day during the summer.

Thanks in advance,

~allie~

 

[Guest]

Cardio = Go to System then dance for 6 hours on Fridays & Saturdays

 

[mingster]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Galactic Phantom:
Cardio = Go to System then dance for 6 hours on Fridays & Saturdays</font>

While inhaling smoke.

 

[kennyboy]

How's the gym? Do they have free weights, machines, etc?

If you haven't been in a while(me too) I would suggest starting very slow. Too easy to get hurt if you go to hard at first.
Cardio 3x a week is a good start. Throw in some light weights with high reps in the beginning.
Once your body gets used to the change, you can very slowly increase the amount of weight and decrease the amount of reps.

I use both machines and free weights but prefer free weights for building muscle. Machines will tone but IMO don't work as well for building muscle mass or getting definition.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[pr0nstar]

1st off stop drinking like a lush.

If you're gonna worry about a diet,you better lose those Revs, Vodka Cranberry's, etc...

Booze has tons of bad calories in it.

Stick to a routine, work a different muscle group every 48hours...

And stick with it.

pr0nstar

 

[poker face]

WEll it sounds like you are getting plently of excercise as it is. I think maybe what you need to do is change your routine a little, by maybe adding some light weights at high reps to your upper body a couple of times a week. You will have to get on a proper routine which I can't really coach you on the tribe board.

With diet try lowering your Dairy and Carb intake. But donot get rid of it all together because it will shock your system and you donot want that. I would recomend maybe increasing your protien by either taking soy protien, or eating more Chicken or Tuna.

You sound like you are getting more then enough cardio, I think it is just a matter of adjusting your diet.

 

[Temper Tantrum]

^^ This coming from *you* Kenny?

And I don't really drink much when I'm at school, maybe one or two nights a week, if that.

kennyboy= They have both

~allie~

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

Diet is as simple as eating healthy. Eat lots of fruits and veggies, carbs and proteins, and try to avoid processed food and fatty food as much as possible.

For weightlifting it depends on how much time or how many days a week you want to devote to it. If you're just doing weights once or twice a week, try and do a bit of everything at once. Find a group of maybe 7 or 8 excercises that work all your major muscle groups and do 1 set of each, one after the other.

If you're going 3 or more times, you can spend each day focusing on a different muscle group.

But you can get away with doing an ab workout multiple days in a row whereas it's bad news to do it for most other muscle groups.

Most importantly, if you're staring out weightlifting and haven't done it in a long time, start out light. Otherwise you'll put yourself out for a week after the first workout. I've done this a couple of times and it can be a little painful. hehe...

Pete

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

kennyboy's got a good point about free weights. If you can avoid machines, do it. They're not *bad* for you, but you're not at all working on balance, just forcing your muscles to work in a fixed direction. Free weights work more of your muscle because there's more balance that has to go into it.

Pete

 

[Jimi James]

A steady routine of killer sex is really good on the hips.
Peace,
Jimi James

 

[djcheezwhiz]

speak with a trainer at the gym...

that being said the toughest part of getting into a gym routine, is well getting into a routine of going...keep a log of your workout & try to go in with a good idea of what you are working on...

for example if you want to work out for 3 days a week, split up the 3 days into different body parts...

ie day 1 chest
day 2 arms & shoulders
day 3 back & legs

try to do some cardio each visit...be it treadmill, bike, eliptical trainer etc...set a target for time (ie 10 minutes) & then build it up each visit ... 12 minutes, 14 minutes...

set yourself objectives, (you have some written out already), read a little about how to accomplish your goals...most gyms have a great library of information on everything from workouts to diets...(or ask deep or chris)

jc

 

[kennyboy]

If the gym has both you should probably mix it up.
As mentioned, find 7 or 8 machines and do them as a circuit.
There are some exercises that I always do with free weights. Curls and squats just work better for me when I use real weight.
The best thing to do is to try a variety of exercises and see what works best for you. Every person responds differently.
You may want to consider looking for a good supplement or even a meal replacement. Gets you the calories you need but in a much healthier form.

Good Luck.

 

[stir-fry]

for lifting weights i can tell you my plan, and lots of people follow the same type of plan.

basically i work out 4 days a week, and i never work the same body part more than once a week. except for calves and abs, they can be worked every other day.

you said you want to focus on your arms and abs, that's good, but don't neglect the rest of your body. All of your muscles support your bone structure and neglecting any of them could lead to posture problems at the least.

i go to the gym on monday, tuesday, wednesday i take off, then back for thursday and friday.

i work every body part in those 4 days.
ie,
monday = chest only
tuesday = back and legs
thursday = biceps and triceps
friday = shoulders

this gives each of those muscle groups lots of time to recover before they get worked again. (muscles grow through a repetitive cycle of destroying and rebuild)

Also, only working one body part makes for a quick weight-lifting session, and leaves me lots of time for cardio. (i usually do 30 minutes every time i'm in the gym, on either the bike, treadmill, stair machine, or cross country trainer)

When I do the weight lifting exercises i usually follow the following routine.

Do about 4 movements per body part.
Do 3 - 4 sets for each of these movements
Do 8 - 10 Repetitions per set.

The first set of the day, i usually take a really light weight to get my muscles used to the upcoming activity, and then i progressively build up to my maximum in the last set for the exercise. I try not to over do it however, keeping in mind that I still have 3 other movements that are going to concentrate on the same body part. I don't want to over do the first movement and not leave myself strength to get through the rest of the movements.
As you get towards the end of your workout, you can begin to push yourself a little so that you get the maximum benefit for that muscle group.
I also tend to have anywhere from 6 to 10 movements for the same body part, and even though i only do 4, i try and do 4 different ones every time i work that group. That way, you never give your body time to get used to the workout and so that helps you get maximum benefits to your muscles.


Some people don't have time to get into the gym that often, and so they prefer to work multiple muscle groups per session. I don't have a routine set out for this, but what I have heard as a strategy for this type of workout is to start with the movements that work the muscles closer to your spine, and then work out from there.
ie, if you do chest and triceps in the same day, do chest first, and then move on to triceps.


I think i'll stop blabbing now.


ps, dont' listen to what pr0nstar said about working the same muscle every 48 hours, at the least you should give them 3 days to rest.

 

[416]

Consider cutting meat (yeah, that includes fish and poultry) out of your diet.

It's probably the easiest way to keep your fat intake down.

I'd recommend eating a good amount of carbs, concentrate on cardio/fat burning (with a little free weight and sit-up action in there).

I guess I ride a bike or run for about 30 to 40 mins, mess with weights for about 15 mins and do about 100 sit-ups, 3 or 4 times a week. I went from 215ish (christmas fat) to 200 during this past month.

Once you get your bady fat % to something you're cool with, lift more weights, eat more protein and do a little less cardio/fat burn.

 

[stir-fry]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 416:
It's probably the easiest way to keep your fat intake down.
</font>

i'm not a guru, but i do know that cutting fat intake is NOT a very smart approach to losing weight.
your body needs fat in your cells to survive.

 

[poker face]

$16 why would you say raise the carbs and lower the protien?

You need protien to build muscle and a adequate amount of carbs is good because carbs can spike you G.I. which will make you crave more carbs.

I would say if you are going to take in carbs try taking in whole wheat breads, pasta, and rice.

If you really want to be crazy about it try taking Hydroxycut, that shit really works.

 

[janiecakes]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 416:
Consider cutting meat (yeah, that includes fish and poultry) out of your diet.

It's probably the easiest way to keep your fat intake down.
</font>

unless you deep fry every vegetable in sight eh jer?

 

[416]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by stir-fry:
i'm not a guru, but i do know that cutting fat intake is NOT a very smart approach to losing weight.
your body needs fat in your cells to survive.</font>

For sure. But check a source's (say, Health Canada) daily recommended fat intake. Then try (it's really to hard to do for non-psychos) to monitor your daily intake.

Wouldn't you agree that North American's eat way too much fat in general?

 

[416]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by poker face:
$16 why would you say raise the carbs and lower the protien?
</font>

I didn't dude. Cutting meat doesn't mean cutting protien. I've been Lacto-Ovo-Veggie for 10 years. Your body will tell you when it wants protein and you'll find a way to get it.

The bonus of being a veggie and getting that protein is that it's usually found in special veggie food... that same food usually contains no fat.

 

[Subsonic Chronic]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 416:
Consider cutting meat (yeah, that includes fish and poultry) out of your diet.
</font>

But seafood has a lot of benefits for a diet. I'd say unless your fat intake is already high, you can easily get away with eating more fish and poultry for the protein benefit.
But then again... I've never studied this stuff so I might be talkin out of my ass.

Pete

 

[stir-fry]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 416:
For sure. But check a source's (say, Health Canada) daily recommended fat intake. Then try (it's really to hard to do for non-psychos) to monitor your daily intake.

Wouldn't you agree that North American's eat way too much fat in general?</font>

i agree with you dood.
north americans do eat way too much fat and way too much red meat.

i just didn't want someone reading your post and thinking that the magical answer was to cut out fats completely.
decreasing the intake of them is very important, but your body needs a small percentage of them everyday in order to avoid using up your muscle content as fuel.

i have actually been considering cutting out red meat from my diet, but since i still live at home and rely on my parents to cook meals, it would be a very tough approach to take at this point in my life.

 

[kennyboy]

If you want to build muscle, protein is a requirement.
Rule of thumb is 1 1/2 - 2grams for every pound of body weight. One of the best ways to get the protein you need is from skinless chicken or turkey. And fish, which has some fatty oils but they are the good kind.
I would never suggest cutting meat out of your diet unless you are going the vegan route.
And yes, your body does need some fats. It just depends on what kind. Just like anything else, there are good and bad.

 

[416]

Ya, I don't really wanna get into a whole veggitarianism discussion. Those usually get a bit messy. I usually just tell people that I do it cause I think it makes me look cool when they ask. har har.

But I will say that it's an easy way to get your fat intake down.

Like I said earlier, I've been at it for a decade and it's done nothing but good for me, and a couple days at the gym isn't going to get your body to cannabalise it's own muscle mass (which I think I remember reading was a myth, but don't quote me on that). Anywho, I used to skate about 10 hours a day (until about 2 years ago) and have never had any health problems (excluding broken bones... har har).

Anywho. Too sum up. A couple quick and easy steps to being as fabulous as 416:

Fat = Bad.
Exercise = Good.
Protein = Good.
Carbs = Good.
Jane = Skank.

 

[janiecakes]

416 = blond poo

 

[Sassy]

I just started going back to the gym on Tuesday. I did a kick boxing class yesterday and I am doing a spinning class today at lunch. I think the key to working out is to have variation so you don't get bored. One day work on cardio and the next work on muscle strengthening/building and stretching.