Any fitness guys on here???

[Requested]

Totally agree with the running and going to the gym for weight loss. Mate it's mostly a
mental game so doing it at home is not really conducive. At the gym use
a good PT or someone who can write a good fat loss program for you.

Also push your dinner forward ie 6pm instead of 7:30pm and lay of the carbs especially after lunch.
Work hard! It will be the most rewarding experience in the long term.

Congratulations on identifying and accepting your problem, most people never even reach that.

 

[king_panther]

The meals & their timing is the hardest. When I'm on installations, you normally have to eat at the pub/club you're working at. I'd be lucky to be home before 8pm for 4 straight days & it's also early starts too.

Curious what the go is with no milk? Not even skim?

 

[ygoslo]

I'm feeling ya. I got to the point a little while ago where I was on the edge of not being able to wear size S shirts anymore so I decided I better get off my ass. I'm now exercising around 1 hour per day, generally brisk walking 30 mins at lunch time and 30 mins at night, but 3-4 times a week I'll head to the local school and play some basketball for 30 mins or so. Feeling a lot better after a month or so of doing that.

 

[twisted32]

One of the best forms of cardio that does revolve around interval training, and a team sport (to keep yourself motivated) I have used over the years is touch footy. I was a lot leaner when I included touch in my weekly routine. Add to that running, and not on the treadmill unless your body can't handle it. You work your drivers so much more running on the road, and it does not get as boring. Aim to work up to a 30-40 minute run (I think I should take my own advice and stop only running 5-6km, and get back to 8-10km). Well thats the cardio range, as for fat burning, a good 60-90 minute low intensity (120-120 hart rate) on the bike is always good.
Two big things in the weights room, do compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, heaves, bench press as you will invoke more muscle groups, including your core. Second is to use free weights, and if applicable dumbells in preference to barbells (exercise permitting) as once again you will invoke more muscle groups (get the idea?). Free weights you will lift less weight, but will get a much deeper burn (more muscle groups used), and a more natural motion will reduce injury risk.
Mix up the cardio, fat burn and weights with one day off a week. It is not easy, but you do feel so much better after a good training session.

 

[generalboozy]

hey brad
i understand the intimidation of bein around fit dudes, it sucks, but it also serves as motivation. but if it's any consolation i'm pretty out of shape at the moment, i'm in the same spot you are and have just started working out again this week. but i know what thats like. i hated goin to the gym when i was 92kg and watching people do pushups knowing i couldnt, watching people do chin ups, knowing i couldn't.....sucks aye!

oh and the milk thing? we are the only mammals on the planet that drinks milk after being weened on the tit when we're babies. i stopped drinking milk in 2005 and switched to soy and for 3 years i was NEVER sick. never had headaches, never had fever, never had more than a winter cough......we're not meant to drink it aye, it's full of hard to process fats (depending on your cultural background, some genetic makeups do better, like the scandinavians and eastern europeans and such) but yea.... try and avoid the milk. its no good. i still eat cheese cuz it's so damn hard to cut out, but CRAZY limited compared to what i used to eat. limit your intake on most dairy and you'll see quick gains in your fitness i reckon. i only have documentation within myself, but yea. try it cuz that's a cheap option

 

[king_panther]

You say you switched in 2005 to soy milk, for 3 years you were never sick. That takes us to 2008, so what happened after that???

Does soy have good calcium content?

It's not so much an intimidation thing, more of a depressing sight of comparison that will do wonders for my self esteem. I'm definately not going to go to a gym for the sake, but would need a personal trainer to help map out my path to getting back to where I want to be. The diet will be hard to control with the work I do, but I'm going to give it a shot at least. I've sat down with a doctor to guage where I'm at at the moment, & the sort of targets I should be trying to meet. He's being conservative & so am I, but hopefully once I start slowly getting back into it I can then begin ramping it up.
The ultimate objective is to be fit & lean again for when I make a return trip to Europe in 2012! I went firstly in 2002 & walked everywhere I stayed so I came back in really good condition. By the time I returned with Mel in 2005, I had put on a fair amount of weight & pushing her around in a wheelchair each day helped to a degree, but I don't want to go again until I've got back into a decent condition...

The doctor asked if I play videogames (not often) as he dismissed the Wii Fit as a bit of a fad, but good to track your progress with your BMI. However, he was saying that the new XBox Kinnect (sp?) is looking to be a good tool for physical workouts too in addition to other training.

 

[ygoslo]

I'm not really qualified to say much (even when I was playing junior rep basketball my fitness regime was 1-2 games per week and playing ball at lunch time at school) but IMO getting fit is all about strength and self awareness. Strength to push through when shit hurts, and self awareness to know beforehand all the bullshit excuses you're going to come up with when you really don't want to exercise. If you have enough self awareness to know your excuses are bullshit you'll be able to ignore them.

That's what I've found anyway. But I guess that stuff applies to everything in life really.

 

[king_panther]

One of the best forms of cardio that does revolve around interval training, and a team sport (to keep yourself motivated) I have used over the years is touch footy.

Yea I used to play touch footy too up until I started working & lost the time. Runners-up in 4th Division & grand final winners in 2nd division the following year. First trophy I ever won lol (at age 19!).

 

[mchieff]

Mmmm, milk. I drink around 1-1.5L of milk a day.
I've never broke a bone and when i'm a skeleton i weigh 75kilo's.
Each to their own I say though i hear it about drinking a different mammals milk - the more you look into it the worse it gets too.
Seriously Brad start small, do some walking/running around your home (go the velo!) till you have a bit of cardio, you'll get the mental strength to believe in yourself out of doing it too.
Drop the chips out of your meals at the club, great start just with that, remember this to be a journey to a healthy life, not a snap change.
Then after time, move to planet fatness for $25 a month, start packing a healthy sandwich for lunch and do some road running as well.
Get into touch/tag - i play at wallsend and have played at speers point, hamilton north and the harness track behind energy australia stadium - its all around you man.
Oh and i guarantee life will try and fuck you over as soon as you start - its up to you to push through (be it a cold, family crisis, 80 hour week whatever - make the time during whatever that crisis is and force yourself to keep doing it)

 

[ygoslo]

The other thing that came to mind when I was shooting around just before is that you should try to find something you're passionate about that will also get you fit. I hate running, so it is a lot easier for me to motivate myself to get some exercise by going and having a solid 30-40 minute shootaround because I'm passionate about basketball.

It is almost like exercise by accident.

 

[Requested]

thats a good point in the sport as above. Hate running but love bball. I started at the gym and could do 1 chinup only, ashamed watching big units smash out heaps. Now at the 1.5 yr mark of training I can smash out 4 sets of 12 reps with an additional 10kg plate...for breakfast.

You must start somewhere, let it be today

 

[mookers]

I am not overweight at all, but I consider myself extremely unfit. I walk around the CBD occasionally, but that's just incidental stuff when I head to the train station or the shops at lunchtime.

I recently discovered something that you all might laugh at but is actually way more fun than I expected it to be.

Dance Dance Revolution lol

A guy at work here has it set up on his PC and he brought in some dance mats and we had a teambuilding session one afternoon. I have since ordered it for the Wii (plus some extra mats off ebay) so the kids and I can play it at home. It is a pretty serious workout believe it or not.

Cittris can vouch for this, if a recent facebook post is anything to go by.

 

[frozen]

+1 RE: DDR. I used to Love that. Even when i consider myself relatively 'fit' i cant manage more than a couple songs on hard without being very sweaty...

About not wanting to go to the gym - please dont take this the wrong way but you need to get past that. The gym is one of the best things you can do. It's a commitment to your health and future health. The fact you pay for it makes you more inclined to go, and seeing the other big buff guys around you make you aim to get there faster. I recently came across a picture of a guy who used to be skinnier than i was, admittedly he took roids to speed up the process but i believe i can get there naturally, even if it takes a year or so longer. Zyzz - google it. That's my aim, and seeing the people at the gym that look like that just push me harder to get there.

You may even find people with similar goals (almost guaranteed) that you can have a bit of friendly competition with - motivate eachother.

The most important part is less energy coming in than the energy you're burning - you need to eat up your stores. Luckily - because you 'have' those stores, you have the building blocks to create something underneath for when it all comes off, and it will.

 

[steveP]

I'm not really qualified to say much (even when I was playing junior rep basketball my fitness regime was 1-2 games per week and playing ball at lunch time at school) but IMO getting fit is all about strength and self awareness. Strength to push through when shit hurts, and self awareness to know beforehand all the bullshit excuses you're going to come up with when you really don't want to exercise. If you have enough self awareness to know your excuses are bullshit you'll be able to ignore them.

That's what I've found anyway. But I guess that stuff applies to everything in life really.

This is true. To get fit you actually need to be really stubborn. Grind it out most days without even thinking about it. Working out can be boring and repeatitive, but push through it if you want results.


I dont know about this 'not drinking milk' thing. Milk provides a lot of calcium and protein. To me skim milk tastes and mixes better than full cream milk. So that's an easy way to cut out a bit of fat, always buy skim milk.

You just need to do a lot of little things which all add up:
- Dont snack during the day. Put the effort and money into a decent meal.
- Drink lots of water. Keep a water bottle with you all the time. Will also keep you full so you dont snack.
- Avoid buying your food. Pack a lunch for work. Something like tuna sandwiches or with rice are cheap and are full of protein.

 

[SiliconAngel]

My post here has some basic info on exercise which I'll try not to repeat.

Brad I know exactly what you mean about working out at home - it takes less time, is far more private, more sanitary and in the long run, far less expensive. The down side is, it takes a lot more self motivation and commitment - if you're going to the gym with some friends or you've paid for a PT, then you are far more likely to keep going. But then, if you spend 3 or $4k on your own equipment, just keep reminding yourself you have to get some benefit out of all that money

So what do you need? Well, you need free weights, no machines. If you use free weights you use a host of supporting muscles for every exercise, so you have greater strength, faster results and an overall fitter, healthier body. Machines can be used for isolation of specific muscles which is great if you're doing body building once you've already achieved 99% of your natural maximum body size, but quite pointless for the average Joe who is just trying to keep fit and healthy.

So if you need free weights, what do you need? I recommend at least a couple of sets (pairs) of collared dumbbells and a set of fixed dumbbells from 1 to 10kgs. The reason for all of these is because optimal routines include switching up and down between different weights, sometimes without any time to change plates over so it's easiest if you can just drop one set and pick up another. But if you're on a budget, getting a set of small weight plates and some collared dumbbells is the most economical. I also recommend some dumbbell racks so you can store them and get to them easily (you can pick up racks for as little as $20 if you shop around).

Obviously you're going to need a full compliment of weight plates and a barbell. Don't get olympic size weights and bar unless you're made of cash - they cost twice as much and at the end of the day you're just talking about heavy bits of metal - 50kg is 50kg, no matter how big the hole in the middle of the plate. I have plates going from 0.25kg up to 20kg - of some of the bigger ones like 10 and 20kg I only have a pair of each, but of some other common ones I have as many as 12 plates. The best way to work out what you'll need is to go to a gym for a few 'complimentary' or 'introductory' sessions so you can use some gear and work out what you'll need.

Once again, I also recommend a weight tree which will not only neatly store your plates, but also allows you easy (and fast) access to all your plates at once. If you have to stack them up on the floor, you will either take up half the room stacking them in separate piles, or stack them on top of each other, so you will have to keep restacking between sets as you change weights, instead of resting your muscles for that 90 second break.

Now, to use free weights effectively AND safely, you need a cage (often called a 'power cage'). This is basically a rectangular frame with a set of horizontal safety bars that you can lift up or down and lock in a specific position depending on the exercise you're doing, so if you achieve failure instead of having to drop the weight on the ground (or on yourself) you can rest it on the safety rails and climb out from under it. Training to failure is the most effective and efficient way to increase your muscle mass (which will increase your metabolism and thus help you lose weight faster) so it is definitely something you want to aim for, but you CANNOT train to failure without either a spotter or safety equipment. Otherwise you'll end up like that QLD kid who killed himself failing while bench pressing. This is my rack, so you can see what I'm talking about.

Obviously you're also going to need a good bench (again, here's mine) that is strong, comfortable and allows leg attachments. And yes, get the leg attachment

Finally, pull ups are an essential exercise for your back and shoulders, and after a couple of months of decline reverse crunches you'll find you need something more strenuous for core exercises, so a leg raise station becomes invaluable. I highly recommend a pull-up/leg raise station for this reason (again, as an example, mine here).

Running out of time today so I'll have to provide some exercise examples later, but just quickly a LOT of people get put off by the idea of certain exercises which they consider too difficult or even impossible. Pull ups are possibly the best example of this - even reasonably fit people who aren't used to them have difficulty doing more that one or two wide-grip pull ups (which is the one you should be doing). But they're actually quite easy to approach once you know how, and this applies to all exercises.

Extensive research has shown that you get twice as much benefit from concentrating on the eccentric motion during a weight lift than the concentric. For example, during a dumbbell curl, concentric is where you lift the weight, eccentric is where you lower it. With a pull up, concentric is where you lift your body weight off the ground, eccentric is where you're lowering yourself. When you lift any weight (unless you're doing a super set, which is meant to be fast) you should lift weights with a 1-3 tempo. That is, you lift the weight with a count of 1 (around 1 second, and breathe out sharply as you do so) and you lower the weight or return to the idle position with a count of one-two-three (and slowly breathe in throughout).

To apply this to something difficult like pull ups, get yourself a chair or roll your bench up under the pull up bar and stand so your chin is level with the bar, with your arms in the concentric (closed) position, and the object your standing on is far enough away so it's not immediately below the bar. Then step off the chair / bench and try to lower yourself gently to the ground to a count of three. Then step back up and repeat. Do this for as many reps as you are able (probably only two or three the first time). Do not worry or become disheartened at your initial inability to perform this exercise well - if you repeat this every time you do a back workout (should only be once a week) you will find your strength and ability improving with every session, even if it's only by a single lift (or lowering, as it will be to start with). After a month or so you should be able to do at least one pull up under your own strength. After three months you'll probably be able to do several sets of varying reps, as both your strength will increase several fold over this time while your overall weight will decrease significantly (hence your power-to-weight ratio will increase dramatically). If your body fat has reduced significantly over this period, you'll also notice your torso taking on a distinctly triangular shape - your lats will respond extremely quickly to this exercise, so be prepared to be impressed

Finally, in terms of getting rid of that stomach fat, reducing fat is all about overall body fat percentage. Yes, you most definitely need core strength exercises as part of your exercise regimen. However never confuse that with 'spot fat reduction' which is a myth - you can't do sit ups to reduce stomach fat specifically. Yes it will definitely increase your abdominal muscle strength. But the only way to shift the fat is to burn fat from your whole body, and that means three things - increasing your metabolic rate, decreasing your body's storage of fat (by reducing carbohydrate uptake, both simple and complex, and eating an overall well balanced and timed diet) and performing regular cardio exercise. Increasing your overall muscle mass will have a direct effect on your metabolic rate, so getting stronger and more muscular is extremely beneficial for overall fitness (as well as positive personal body image), but cardio is where you will do the majority of your fat burning.

As mentioned by Tim earlier in the thread, the most efficient and effective exercise form for weight loss (or indeed general fitness) is HIIT training. However, I definitely don't recommend running, because it causes substantial and permanent joint and spine damage because every single step is a jarring impact to your whole body. For that reason I only recommend riding and swimming for ongoing, regular exercise as they are both completely non-impact exercises. I find riding to be far more controllable and easier to hit targets than swimming, so I prefer that, but some people hate riding so swimming may be better for them. Either get on a real bike or an indoor exercise bike, do a couple of minutes of warmup (at a pace that's brisk, but you feel you could keep up for half an hour or so easily) then increase the bike's resistance (or your speed, if you're outside) for 60 seconds, then increase it again, and a third time, so you should be pretty much at the edge of what you feel your body can do at the end of five minutes. Then drop back to your original resistance setting for another two minutes, and repeat. Make sure you give yourself at least two minutes of warm-down at the end of 20 minutes. Do this on your non-weight training days (four days a week) which is only an hour and 20 minutes a week, but you will see really massive results if done correctly - your weight will start dropping off you.

Anyway, now late for work so must fly. Hope this has been informative

EDIT: Not sure what I was thinking, but I actually have two pairs (4x) of 15, 20 and 30kg plates, four pairs of 10 and 5kg and 6 pairs of 2.5, 1 and 0.5kg plates. That gives me the flexibility to have a range of weights on the bar, dumbbells and leg machine all at once and I can add and subtract in quick, useful stages throughout my sets.

 

[king_panther]

Thanks for the huge post.

What do you guys recommend for a suitable warmup & warmdone routine?

I've never been flexible. Even when I was super skinny I could never touch my toes or anything like that.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Get hold of a copy of Stretching Scientifically. Yes, it's old, yes it's unbelievably cheesy and even a bit homo-erotic, but that was the 80's... The warmup stretches are perfect, and the rest of the stretches can be used as a warmdown and you'll find your flexibility improving at a remarkable rate. Using these techniques you'll be touching your toes within two or three weeks, and within a couple of months you'll be able to press your palms flat against the floor! The only addition I can make to it is to avoid the 'head rolling' warmup - your neck muscles should only ever be stretched and exercised in a linear manner (single direction at a time).

It's actually vital that you actively try to increase your flexibility with resistance (weight) training, otherwise you will actually reduce your range of motion as your muscle fibres thicken. With the right stretching regimen however you will increase your flexibility at the same time as gaining strength and muscle mass.

 

[frozen]

If this thead isnt motivating everyone to get back into fitness, i dont know what will

 

[-T8-]

+ 1 for brown rice and tuna.. so good

Find out what works for you Brad
swimming and rowing are killer for both muscle growth and cardio

 

[jet150]

Too many posts to read but heres mine,

Your diet is the main thing, 6 small HEALTHY meals a day. Lots of veggies, red meat, fish, nuts and try cut carbs after 4-5pm
Cardio, ok so you don't want to go to a gym walk, run, jog or ride.

If your a beer drinker that has to go to and none of that low carb beer bull shit.