Workout tips/advice?

[Coppanuva]

So, I finally decided I need to start working out, but I have no idea HOW to do it best. I have (in my house):
Treadmill,
Weights (little barbells and the big kind that go on the giant steel rod)
and this giant metal monstrosity that has the bars you can weigh down for pulling down, and some other stuff (I'll take a picture if people might know better from that).

Can anyone offer advice on how to workout the best? If it helps, I'm trying to lose stomach fat and have stronger arms. Other than those activities I own a bike and can go to a pool to do laps in when it gets warmer.


Also, I figure I'll need some good music to workout to, can anyone suggest good genres (preferably either classic rock or vocal-less) to work out to?

[Surf314]

I can tell you all I know:

-Rotate workouts, give at least a day between working the same area
-Cardio is probably the most important, this can be done every day
-Shoot for 4 times a week
-Try and find something you enjoy so you don't get bored and want to quit
-If you want to lift weights try and work up a routine that you can live with, make sure you work all the muscle groups you can and that you aren't taking longer than you are willing to commit in a day. Then match up the exercises to that.

[Geoff]

get rid of fat before gaining muscle


swim 2 miles every day, do 20 pushups and situps when you find yourself not doing anything

[Luinbariel]

Pilates is cheap, and all you really need is a pillow or something. It doesn't take long and it's an all-over workout you can do on the floor.


I tried the pilates for dummies video at first, that was kind of nice. It's got a lot of good instruction on how to do it without hurting yourself, which I think is important. To get the most out of your workout instead of just going through the motions.

[beep beep diglett]

macho tf2

seriously dont do like an hour of exercise once a day its not as effective as an hour spread out over an entire day

also if you can dont drive anywhere just walk (hard if you dont live in a city)

[A. Crow]

get rid of fat before gaining muscle


swim 2 miles every day, do 20 pushups and situps when you find yourself not doing anything

Ah, Geoff, swim team has done alot for you.

You won't do as much good on the weights (or you'll hurt yourself) till you have slimmed and trained up the rest of your body first.  Swimming, running- CARDIO, start there.  Don't worry about doing an hour in one block.  Smoke yourself periodically throughout the day.  The weight of your body and resistance in it is all you need for the time being to accomplish this.  You're looking to pump up that metabolism, which will take several weeks of concerted effort, so you can start hitting the weights and slamming protein (if you want to be a tool). 

I suggest you set triggers throughout your day to make you push.  After every meal (seriously, if you do it before hand you're going to be too busy thinking about getting to eat to do things effectively, and afterward you get to learn some control from not throwing up,  I got this one from OCS), do a quick quarter mile, then enough pushups and situps to make things burn.  Or, everytime you get a text, you owe 10.  Every break in class, 20 pushups and 15 4 count flutter kicks, and the like.  And go plays some sports.

[Geoff]

[quote author=jeff link=topic=4342.msg141718#msg141718 date=1268772556]
get rid of fat before gaining muscle


swim 2 miles every day, do 20 pushups and situps when you find yourself not doing anything

Ah, Geoff, swim team has done alot for you.

You won't do as much good on the weights (or you'll hurt yourself) till you have slimmed and trained up the rest of your body first.  Swimming, running- CARDIO, start there.  Don't worry about doing an hour in one block.  Smoke yourself periodically throughout the day.  The weight of your body and resistance in it is all you need for the time being to accomplish this.  You're looking to pump up that metabolism, which will take several weeks of concerted effort, so you can start hitting the weights and slamming protein (if you want to be a tool). 

I suggest you set triggers throughout your day to make you push.  After every meal (seriously, if you do it before hand you're going to be too busy thinking about getting to eat to do things effectively, and afterward you get to learn some control from not throwing up,  I got this one from OCS), do a quick quarter mile, then enough pushups and situps to make things burn.  Or, everytime you get a text, you owe 10.  Every break in class, 20 pushups and 15 4 count flutter kicks, and the like.  And go plays some sports.
[/quote]


muscle under fat will make you look fatter

[Tragic Hero]

Reps.  Lots of Reps.

Whatever you end up deciding to do:  lifting weights, pushups, crunches, etc, make sure you emphasise reps over total amount of weights or work.  Lifting more will get you stronger but doing more reps will get you definition.  So like some people mentioned, it would be best to do a lot of sets of things throughout the day instead of just doing a couple of sets with a lot of weight

[Coppanuva]

Would it hurt to mix up the ideas? Like do some days running, some swimming? Or maybe do some days where I focus on upper body stretches/exercises and then others where it's more of leg-based?

[Geoff]

Idk, it's just a good idea to hit up cardio first which is like running, swimming, anything that gets you breathing hard and sweaty.

[Squishy3]

Would it hurt to mix up the ideas? Like do some days running, some swimming? Or maybe do some days where I focus on upper body stretches/exercises and then others where it's more of leg-based?

Mixing it up is always good. When I work out it's either 3-5 days a week, and like every 2 weeks I do an isolated workout set for two days out of the week for upper body and lower body respectively. Which is typically shoulders, biceps and tris for upper body, and calfs and hamstrings for lower body. And then normal is just chest and tris, back and biceps, and legs and abs and nothing extra involving your legs since it is probably the most devastating day.

And if you want to really get serious, protein and creatine are your best bet if you want to heal fast. The reason why is because you can take it directly after your workout and it's digested in 15 minutes and healing your muscles already. And I can't stress this enough: EAT, EAT, AND EAT. Otherwise you won't get anywhere if you want to put on size.

For protein I recommend: http://www.dpsnutrition.net/get_item_bs114.htm (This is the best site to get it from as it's probably the cheapest price for it you'll find, they also have a 2 lb version as well if you want to get that)

it's a good price and mixes really well with just about anything. I have it with water and it tastes great.

For creatine I would recommend: Six Star Muscle Fruit Punch, you can get this at your local Wal-Mart somewhere in the Pharmacy section can't remember exactly where it is. It's only $18 if I remember right. It mixes great with the Syntha 6 strawberry with water.

For taking protein shakes, (You always want to be having the creatine with this) take one in the morning after the day you've worked out and one before you go to bed the same day. You can also eat like a peanut butter sandwich with it and it'll digest slower so that it's working all night. And then after you workout you take a protein shake as well with the creatine. Basically you want to be taking two protein shakes a day. (3 if you're working out that day)

And then for mixing it I suggest this shaker bottle as it mixes it the best. It's like a blender because it has a metal wisk inside the bottle that breaks up the protein and creatine the best. http://www.dpsnutrition.net/get_item_bn010.htm

Also, you don't NEED to start with running or anything. Especially if you are already fit. The only thing I can suggest is if you start doing weights right away: Get a workout partner to help you and spot you. It is quite daunting at first, especially if you've never lifted weights before. Start light. Always. Get a good warmup before you move onto heavier weight. Do not have an ego and lift heavier weight than you think you can. You'll just end up hurting yourself. If you go to a public gym, don't give a shit about what other people think about you. The other thing I can suggest is: Do not take long breaks, keep your rotation going fast.

Also, ALWAYS stretch. If you don't, this can lead to injuries. a good overall body strength stretch is you sit down on the floor leaning on your flat elbows and knees. You lift your leg up, and pretend like you're peeing on a fire hydrant and stretch it as far back as you can without hurting yourself. You do the same thing with the arm that is opposite of the leg you are stretching out of, except you're just stretching it forward and not outwards like you are your leg. Do this for as long as you can and then switch to the other side for about 3-4 reps. Also contrary to what Tragic said, reps aren't everything. You can lift very light weight for lots of rep, but you can also lift the same or lower amount of weight for very slow reps and it will do the same amount of work for less reps. Yes, lots of reps is good too, but you always want to switch it up. The point of mixing it up is so your body doesn't get used to one routine and only develop that set of muscles. Doing it slower or faster or differently will build different muscles and make you look better overall. Hell, I don't even work out to look good, it's just a bonus. I do it because it's probably the best stress relief ever. It raises your self esteem and lets you use up all the stress you've felt that day. Just look up different workouts online for all the body parts, print it out if you need to, or ask around for advice at the gym you're going to. Switch it up, keep it fresh. It's the best way. Also, the reason I suggest working every body part is because it lets no part be any stronger than the other and you don't want your arms to be bigger than the rest of your body because it will just look wrong. Take it slow and work at your own pace. Don't let anyone else hurry you along.

[KorJax]

Bah working out would seem so much more appealing if I wasn't either at school all day or working at target (which is exhausting in of itself) all day. Though with crow's tips and such I really have no excuses, maybe except on days I work at target. Since I'll be pushing/walking/pulling/hauling for 8 hours constantly, working out before work would make me want to kill myself during and especially after (where all I do when I get home is want to lay down and DIE).

Okay so I'm exaggerating a bit, it's not as strenuous as backpacking/mountain hiking or anything, but still plenty tiring in of itself.

[zaneyard]

personally what i do is crunches, leg raises, and pushups every day or so.
once it gets nice out i want to go out running again

like previously said, cardio is prolly the most important
go jogging every day for a mile or so.

[Ianki]

get a gym membership, find a friend.  You'll keep each other honest, and push each other to keep up the appearance of not being weak.

[zaneyard]

get a gym membership, find a friend.  You'll keep each other honest, and push each other to keep up the appearance of not being weak.

Honestly what pushes me to do exercise daily or semi-daily isn't a friend, but the fact that i feel progressively more depressed if i don't...

[Squishy3]

Cardio isn't as important if you're already fit or not extremely overweight. If you do a lot you will be burning more calories than you'll be intaking, thus causing your body to eat your muscle up to give you energy. So if you want to get mo bigger you got to keep everything in check. I've barely done any cardio (Didn't even do any when I started) and I'm about 140-150 lbs. of pure muscle. (6% body fat) I started at 5 lbs for nearly everything and worked my way up from there, and even when I come back from taking a month break I can do the same weight or close to it. I mean, if you have a high body count, some cardio is fine but don't overdo it. I suggest if you are going to do it make sure you're on a treadmill or have some way to keep track of the calories you're losing so you can make it back with healthy foods. Anything you lose during cardio will be fat, and you want to turn the calories you ingest after into good weight and not bad weight.

Regarding Zane's latest post: Workout IS the best stress relief/anti-depressant, because you can pour all of your stress from the day into it.

[zaneyard]

well there's a difference between getting ripped and getting in shape.

as far as music goes anything you enjoy that's particularly fast paced

[Coppanuva]

Cardio isn't as important if you're already fit or not extremely overweight. If you do a lot you will be burning more calories than you'll be intaking, thus causing your body to eat your muscle up to give you energy.

Hmm... I'm not exactly sure where I fit on that. I'm like 190lbs, but I'm also 6'1", which from most BMI scales is on the higher end of healthy, so I'm not sure.

[CaffeinePowered]

Cardio -> Weight Training -> Day Off

Repeat forever, varying what kind of cardio or weight training you are doing

[Surf314]

In my case I hated working out so I just tried a bunch of things until I found something I liked and that was Rock Climbing and then Kung Fu for a while (I quit because I now work during all the classes). But you won't keep up with it unless you either enjoy it or you have a friend pushing you. Cardio > All for getting healthy and fit, weight training helps you look good and some other benefits but cardio is the most important for overall health. My dad is almost 60 and still surfs almost every single weekend and when he is not surfing he is swimming to stay in shape for surfing. If you find a sport that you love that much you will always be in shape (as long as you don't start eating crap all the time).