Fitness Goals and Overall Health III
 

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Old thread

http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=811000

Any suggestions on how to workout when I won't have access to weights for approximately 2 weeks?

So far I've decided on:
Body weight squats
Pull ups (won't have a pullup bar but you can do these anywhere...I've had to do them on football goal posts before)
Tricep dips using a chair
HIIT
Pilates (for the core)

Walking lunges and one legged squats are great for the lower body.

Burpees and Mountain climbers will work you cardiovascularly.

I'd also throw push-up variations in there for chest and tris. Regular, close grip, diamond grip and wide grip. Want to add more challenge, try elevating your feet on a stool or step or chair.

Get some more core exercises in there too. Ab crunches, oblique crunches and leg raises for abs. Supermen for lower back. Glute Kicks and Fire-Hydrants while on all 4's for the butt. And side leg raises for your abductors/adductors.

Oh my god, don't be intimidated. First thing to remember w/ free weights, is proper form. It's far more important to do exercises w/ proper form than it is to arbitrarily just bang reps out.

This is a pretty good guide for form. As well as a list of exercises enumerated for each muscle group (i.e. chest, shoulders, biceps, quads, etc)
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/

There's nothing wrong w/ machines either. Many opt for free weights because of the greater range of motion, as well as stabilizing muscles you build. Also, like Cid said, when your body gets used to the same machine or motion over and over again. After a certain amount of time, your muscles are no longer being challenged. Your body and mind know what to expect and are used to the exercise. Therefore, you always have to change things up and find a way to shock and force your body to work. More easily done w/ free weights than it is machines.

Also why these gimmicky work out things you see on tv, like the shake weight or the Navy SEAL push up, w/ some ripped dude demonstrating it in the commercials are hilarious and total BS. They didn't get like that holding the shake weight, sorry.

In fact, if I ever saw a guy in the gym w/ the shake weight, I don't think I'd be able to keep together for a full set. Nor would I enter the sauna w/ him in there. The ladies, well that would be different. I'll leave it there. ;) Maybe I should get one for the wife! :yo:

The motto of the shake weight should be: I lost fat w/ the shake weight, but lost all my dignity in the process.

I'm not totally disagreeing with you here, but the mistake you're making is not taking into account beginners, people who use less weight. Not every body is going in and trying to max out at 4 reps on a machine. As judging by the original person you quoted, he/she would seemingly fall under that class of exercisers.

Edit: www.fitocracy.com

Anybody else here on Fitocracy? It's basically a workout tracking community that let's you compete with yourself and others in various fitness areas. It's really cool. If nothing else, it's an awesome way to track your progress. Also has an incredibly knowledgeable user base too.

It's invite only as of now, but I have some invites. If interested, leave your email and I'll get you hooked up.

I'll try anything. I'll PM you my email address.

and OT leaks to fitness.

Started to workout Monday. Still feeling the lunges from today. I'm not overdoing it. I'm just out of shape. :laugh: Going to mix in weights too today or tomorrow.

And when I'm away this weekend, I'll do some swimming and walking.

I love how these threads are so informative. I learn a lot from the people who post.

Do you remember the "Ab Energizer" belt from about 10 years ago? You could put it around your tummy and little electrodes would shock your tummy and help build abs of steel!? People will believe anything if enough money is spent on advertising it.

Neely08 is right. You have to be careful with all the crappy gimmicky products on the market today. This doesn't just go for the shake weight, ab energizer or Ab Circle Pro either. It also includes fad diet plans like the Body Bi Vi 90 day challenge or any other piss poor diet that forces you to buy their shake products and restricts you to a single meal a day.

Problem is that people are always looking for the quick, easy and inexpensive fix. And truth be told, that just doesn't exist.

Getting fit, in shape, losing weight, etc., is a lifestyle change and not an instant fix a product can change over night.

- Practice eating healthy and in moderation on a daily basis.
- Get 30 to 60 minutes of regular cardio exercise/activity in every day.
- Add resistance training 2-3 times a week with weight you are comfortable with to build lean muscle.
- Stretch in the morning, before and after workouts to remain flexible an mobile at all joints.

Start with that and go from there.

So here's my question, since you seem to be a dude who knows what he's talking about.

If I truly start by just going to the gym and doing 45 - 60 mins of cardio, that will help? And then once I get comfortable with that, adding in weights, etc and more time?

Okay, Kate, here's my personal and professional opinion on your question and how I would explain it to a client of mine.

1. For starters, ANY exercise is better than no exercise. So to answer your question, YES, going to the gym for your daily does of cardio exercise will totally help. Just make sure you are working up a good sweat and not just lolly-gagging on the elliptical. This type of exercise will help you burn some calories and improve the function of your heart and lungs. The treadmill and rower are my two personal favourites.

2. You want to add at least 1 day of weights to your weekly workout regimen as soon as possible. The benefit of resistance/weight training is HUGE when it comes to weight loss or toning up. Let me give you an analogy that makes this easier to understand. Lean muscle (which is the bi-product of weight training) is to the human body what kindling would be to a camp-fire. The more of it you put on, the faster and greater and hotter the fire will burn. Your fire inside of you is your metabolism. So if we add lean muscle through lifting some weights, you are going to burn off WAY MORE CALORIES in a much more time efficient manner. That means when you do your 45-60 mins of cardio daily you could be burning 500 calories instead of 300. This will help you lose weight faster or maintain weight easier. Know what I mean?

3. Get comfortable and into the habits of doing your cardio daily, 6 days a week with one rest day for the next 2-3 weeks. Then start adding one weight training session a week to your routine. In a month or two increase it to 2. Baby steps. =)

Does that help?

It helps a lot. I've always wondered what makes going to the gym "worth it". Like if you don't put in a few hours, you're wasting your time.

Look up plyometric cardio exercises.

See, for me, I LOVE bike riding out-doors, running trails, roller-blading, etc. So I personally wouldn't buy a gym membership just to do cardio as I can do that on my own two feet. But there are a lot of people who don't have that luxury timewise with work or maybe will feel more comfortable being stationary on a cardio machine. Whatever the case, if you are using your membership and getting 45-60 minutes of cardio exercise in a day, you are getting some of your moneys worth. Once you are ready to start exploring the weight section of the gym (whether it's machine of free-weight) you will be getting your full moneys worth and maximum benefit for optimal health!

Strength + Cardio + Flexibility + Healthy Eating = A Healthy and Happy Lifestyle!

I hate running. HATE IT. So doing that outside is pretty much out. I love rollerblading, but I don't live in an area where you can easily (and safely) do that so sadly my skates are hung up now.

I want something that I can get in, get out, and have a variety of choices. So the gym it is for me.

Nice post. If I can piggy back onto this a bit, I'd like to add that the routine doesn't really matter. There's a mantra among fitness types that "any non-stupid routine will work." What this basically means is although there are many differences between various types of programs, be it HIIT, Crossfit, MAX-OT, Starting Strength, etc. etc. etc., they all share one basic concept; hard work. If you bust your ass in the gym, you're going to see results. It doesn't matter if you're sticking solely to the cardio machines, free weights, or some mix of the two. If you're breaking a sweat and consistently beating your performance from the week or two (or in some cases 3-4) weeks prior, you're going to get stronger/fitter/happier.

It reminds of an article I read which basically talked about the idea of "working out" vs. "training." If you're a frequent gym goer, you'll understand this, and if you're new to the game, take heed: there's two types of people who go to gyms. Those who go to "work out," and those who go to train. Those who "work out" see benefits, there's no question. But those benefits take much longer to arrive, and often times these people end up quitting their routines because they're not seeing gains. Conversely, the people who go to the gym and "train" are the ones you see getting progressively stronger/thinner/fitter, and they're the ones who usually make a lifestyle change that works for them.

Basically what it comes down to is this: proper nutrition + an intense workout routine = results. How you choose to design yours is entirely up to you. Want to lose weight? Curb your caloric intake to ~500 calories below your maintenance (an easier way to figure this out is to multiple your bodyweight by 10-12 -- shoot for this # of calories per day and you'll lose around 1-2 lbs per week) and hit the treadmill/elliptical/bike/weights. Not fit enough to run a mile yet? That's okay, run as hard as you can for as long as you can until you're tired. Then, run some more. As the old saying goes, "no pain, no gain."

Whew, I rambled a bit there, but I hope that's insightful to some here.

Thanks for all the tips, guys!

I've lost 16 lbs so far by just changing what (and how much) I was eating. I feel like that momentum is going to start to slow down soon (in fact I think it already has), so I want to get into the gym to kickstart myself again.

I don't want to do some crazy workout that will have me swearing off the gym forever -- I have a friend that's a personal trainer and I had her work out with me once...after that I hated her and couldn't walk for 4 days.

I want to get in, get comfortable, and start to establish a routine for myself. THEN I want to kick it up even further and hopefully keep the scale going down.

Oh for sure, you want to find something you're comfortable with and don't feel like a lunatic doing. I understand, and that makes perfect sense. Like CID said, baby steps.

FWIW, my girlfriend does Zumba and says it's pretty awesome, and she usually is pretty exhausted after a round of that. Could be something you'd be interested in.

Running is something I became used to out of necessity, then began to like over time. Burns a ton of calories, and you can do it almost anywhere.

Blading, as long as you're putting out (taking long hard strides, crossing your skates over, etc), and not "oh look! a butterfly!", can work great. How far is Arlington center from you? There's a bike path that goes from there, all the way to Bedford, it's awesome and well maintained. At least one famous Bruin and his brother used to skate there. Also, there's the Charles. I used to skate there a lot, too. Didn't want to mention the Charles w/ all the infuriating construction on 93. But, you can cut through Somerville. I used to park near the Museum of Science, and skate over from there.

One thing w/ gyms, make sure you get the most out of it. Make sure they have a pool, too.

Great post. And I agree, it really is all about finding a way to exercise that you enjoy and are going to be able to stick with.

To touch on your calorie comment, I do something very similar with my clients when we start them off.

Basically we look at their daily caloric intake and we find a way to reduce it by 500 calories. In addition to their reduced caloric intake we make sure they are getting a calorie burn of at least 500 cals per day from exercise. (This is exactly what they do in the television show The Biggest Loser only to a much greater extreme)

Examples:

500 calories of nutrients - equals roughly 2.5-3 full glasses of 2% milk

500 calories of exercise - equals roughly 45-60 minutes of moderate intensity on a given cardio machine

By doing this you will be 1,000 calories less than your body is previously use to each day. 3,500 calories = roughly 1 pound of body weight. Therefor over 7 days with this formula you will be burning 7,000 calories or roughly 2lbs of bodyweight lost.

It's fun to play with this. Start by making sure you cut out 500 calories from your daily diet. It's easier than you think. And then add 500 calories burned off through exercise and you should be losing a couple lbs per week.

Spot on. I'm sure you're familiar with this concept CID, but for those who want to take the science-y aspect of it a step further, use this tool:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Input your numbers and voila, you'll have a target to shoot for.

Great post, there's just no getting around that.

I would start a complete beginner on bodyweight and freeweights before anything. It has nothing to do with the weight on the machine but the angle at which it locks you in at. It takes all the stress of the weight and puts it right on the joint. Not a good idea at all.

Anything is worth it. You dont have to be killing yourself in the gym for hours on end. Get in do what you came to do and get out.

One thing I always recommend is have a plan and have it written down when you enter the gym. I used to go and say ok I am gonna do chest today and there was alot of standing around thinking of where to go next. Once I wrote it down I cut my gym time down big time.

So my piece of advice is get a training log and start planning out what your exercise for the day is gonna be and record it. You will be able to be more efficient with your training and also will have a record of your hard work.

Funny enough, I always tell people to follow this exact same rule when going grocery shopping! Make a list, put all your healthy choices on it, go in, get what you need and get out before cruel and evil temptation sinks in and has you buying pastries and junk. ;)