I did 20 situps last Tuesday and had an intense exploding pain in my intestines moments later. That's my routine apparently. I do a couple of exercises and then I die.
Working out, works for you?
- Thread starter BreezeRuehls
- Start date
Sounds like a decent work out breeze. I'd say the main thing about working out is setting goals - are you doing it for fun or for some specific fitness objective ? If the latter get some good, informed guidance on your routines. You can waste so much time in the gym/exercising, and can even do damage to your chances of reaching the objective otherwise.
If the former - best reason to work out imo - I always advise people not to take on too much starting out. If you suddenly jump into a six day a week regime, coupled with making radical dietary changes you'll probably find it hard to maintain - and if you fall off the wagon by missing a couple of days/blowing the diet, you may well quit on everything.
For cardio work, 20 - 30 minutes high intensity daily is perfect. If you're trying to tone up, you should get a specific programme from the gym advisor type. Diet is everything either way.
I personally do regular cardio, and I hit the weights for a couple of months at a time every couple of months. I've been doing it long enough now - former rugby player - to know how to keep everything going and it seems to work well for me.
If the former - best reason to work out imo - I always advise people not to take on too much starting out. If you suddenly jump into a six day a week regime, coupled with making radical dietary changes you'll probably find it hard to maintain - and if you fall off the wagon by missing a couple of days/blowing the diet, you may well quit on everything.
For cardio work, 20 - 30 minutes high intensity daily is perfect. If you're trying to tone up, you should get a specific programme from the gym advisor type. Diet is everything either way.
I personally do regular cardio, and I hit the weights for a couple of months at a time every couple of months. I've been doing it long enough now - former rugby player - to know how to keep everything going and it seems to work well for me.
That's the problem with me... my parents actually have a decent amount of exercise machines in the basement collecting dust. They even put the pool table in storage to set it all up. :thumbsdown: I have the drive and motivation to work out... I just don't know how to setup a routine and I don't have the money to go to a gym or see a personal trainer and get a routine set up. I've looked into it on the internet, but I've read so many conflicting opinions I don't know who to believe. So, I'm doomed to be a skinny little 6'2" 160lb nothing until I figure out a good muscle building routine.
What you want to be doing are press-ups (and reverse press-ups), squats, shoulder and chest presses and lots and lots of stuff that works your middle third or 'core' - sit-ups and the like. A chin-up bar is one of the single best pieces of equipment you can get. Basically major muscle groups. Its rare to find that a home set-up has useful weight training machines - better to work with some free weights.
The only thing is that anytime you are working with a serious weight (one you find tough to complete a set with - its all relative) you are at risk of injury if you don't know what you're doing. Even if lifting light stuff you can injure yourself with bad technique over time.
You are definitely better off to get some tuition when starting out though. Its hard to learn good techniques over the internet.
And again...its all about what and how much and when you're eating - this you can definitely research online. If you don't get this right you are basically wasting your time.
Most gyms do a free consultation/initial work up to try and suck you in to membership - abuse this by going to a few local places, and take it from there. You could also sign up to a fitness web site and post up looking for a training buddy to guide you - most people who are into training really like helping others get going.
The thing about all the stuff on the internet that conflicts is that a lot of it is pretty accurate but you have to find a coherent set of routines & techniqus. It doesn't work taking a little bit of this guys advice with a little bit of this girls.
But the basics are to use exercises that work the major muscle groups, work out a routine that rests your muscles because that's when they grow (simple way to start out is do upper body/lower body on alternate days - you can get more refined as you progress), start at a level that you find it tough to do say three sets of 10 repetitions and increase the weight week on week, and eat well. Also some times you suck and can't train well lol this is a sign you are tired - rest.
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Yeah... the diet part is confusing to me. I don't mind eating healthy, but I know for muscle building there are certain target numbers to go for along with your routine... and that's about as much of it as I understand.
Yep - you want to get a whole ton of protein in basically, and enough carbs to be very active. Basic rule - carbs before exercise - somewhere between an hour and two or three hours before hand. You will find out yourself what your best time to eat is - and no more than one hour, ideally within a half hour of lifting weights you get a whole load of protein in as that's what your body uses to build muscle after you do the work in the gym.
Good carb sources for working out - pasta, baked potatoes, wholemeal rice, oats in any form, most fruit & fruit juices. Avoid too much white bread.
Good protein sources - tuna (my favourite), cheese/low fat dairy products, egg whites, salmon, chicken, lean red meat and the often ignored nuts.
Otherwise, just eat generally healthy as regards what you team up what that kind of stuff, and break out and go crazy too lol - that's part of the whole point of exercising, so you can eat the bad stuff every now and then and not worry.
The great thing about muscle building is that if you increase muscle mass your whole metabolic rate increases - you burn more calories just walking around/being awake than you use to because you have more muscle - so you don't really need to worry so much about your gut/backside lol especially for men.
That's basically why people who just deny themselves food often end up with scrawny arms & leg, gaunt face, and still have a gut or a fat caboose. Their muscle mass decreases, metabolic rate goes down and they have to eat less and less just to keep the weight off. If you're going to exercise you need to most likely eat more than before you started.
Good carb sources for working out - pasta, baked potatoes, wholemeal rice, oats in any form, most fruit & fruit juices. Avoid too much white bread.
Good protein sources - tuna (my favourite), cheese/low fat dairy products, egg whites, salmon, chicken, lean red meat and the often ignored nuts.
Otherwise, just eat generally healthy as regards what you team up what that kind of stuff, and break out and go crazy too lol - that's part of the whole point of exercising, so you can eat the bad stuff every now and then and not worry.
The great thing about muscle building is that if you increase muscle mass your whole metabolic rate increases - you burn more calories just walking around/being awake than you use to because you have more muscle - so you don't really need to worry so much about your gut/backside lol especially for men.
That's basically why people who just deny themselves food often end up with scrawny arms & leg, gaunt face, and still have a gut or a fat caboose. Their muscle mass decreases, metabolic rate goes down and they have to eat less and less just to keep the weight off. If you're going to exercise you need to most likely eat more than before you started.
Thanks for all the tips, man. It definitely pointed me in a good direction to start in. The part I am worried about is the last thing you mentioned. I'm already pretty lean (6'2" and barely 160lbs.) and I'm worried about getting skinnier before I start gaining any weight from new muscle. Yet, I'm thinking it just will have to happen as its part of the process.
No prob man I hope I'm helping to tip you over the brink 
If you start working out - and eating right - I guarantee you won't lose weight from your starting weight - you'll be putting it on.
If you were seriously overweight, you could expect to make dramatic losses really quickly in the first few weeks, but not from where you are starting from.
I'd say 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day is a reasonable level for a guy working out, depending on the guy. You will find out yourself if you have put enough fuel in the tank or need to eat more pre-exercise. And as regards proteins, if you are working out 3 or 4 times a week you would find it tough to eat enough protein to gain weight as fat - that's why body builders cram in those creatine drinks and protein shakes - it all goes to build muscle.
If you start working out - and eating right - I guarantee you won't lose weight from your starting weight - you'll be putting it on.
If you were seriously overweight, you could expect to make dramatic losses really quickly in the first few weeks, but not from where you are starting from.
I'd say 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day is a reasonable level for a guy working out, depending on the guy. You will find out yourself if you have put enough fuel in the tank or need to eat more pre-exercise. And as regards proteins, if you are working out 3 or 4 times a week you would find it tough to eat enough protein to gain weight as fat - that's why body builders cram in those creatine drinks and protein shakes - it all goes to build muscle.
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No prob man I hope I'm helping to tip you over the brink
If you start working out - and eating right - I guarantee you won't lose weight from your starting weight - you'll be putting it on.
That's definitely re-assuring to hear.
I'm assuming for a guy like me starting out mild that creatine stuff and protein shakes are probably a waste of money and time, am I right? Or is it a good substitute if say I don't have time to cook up a lot of healthy food with protein?
