I'm a trained Fitness Instructor, any questions on exercise or simple nutrition? :)

[Roger&Me]

^You could do a little research yourself you know...

 

[knumb]

I'm 5'11 and about 200lbs. I've gained quite a bit over the last year, since I quit tobacco. I'm 22. I need to loose weight, but am not willing to eat whey powder or raw oats. I know I need to do cardio, from what I've been reading on here, but I'm not sure what cardio is exactly. I can't do jumping jacks or anything that is hard on the joints because I have bad arthritis. What do you suggest? My diet consists of eggs, lots of carbs, and quite a bit of vegetables. I'm currently trying to cut out all sweats/soda pop from my diet, (its hard because im a baker).

 

[Charlie Brown]

Im regularly doing squats and deadlifts and have found my hamstrings and quads are getting large..however my calves are not growing at the same speed...2 questions

1. Does squats and deadlifts target the calve muscle?
2. Apart from reverse leg curls (i hate these) what excercises can i do too build the calve muscles?

 

[Jert]

Thanks for all the great info Cpt. Caveman; you rock dude. I had a question for you : FRom your experience , have you found any one particular exercise that is best for developing abdominals?
I've been working out for a bit now, and Dammnit! I want a 6-pack to go with my 6-pack, and it hasn't yet developed. I'm a pretty skinny dude and I work out usually 3 out of 6 days, so I think it is feasible that I should be able to do it.
Right now I do about 50 situps and 20-25 lying-down-leg-raises per workout day.

So yeah, any exercise you recommend? ...Is doing two exercises best? One for lower abs, one for higher?

Thanks a gazallion Caveman.

 

[panty]

squats work the stabilizers in the calves, but not the main head, really.

reverse leg curls won't work your calves. do calf raises in the leg press machine, or in the smith machine (about the only thing a smith is good for in my opinion).

 

[Charlie Brown]

^^ calf raises are the ones where you lie on your stomach and bend your legs towards your butt ?

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

I'm 5'11 and about 200lbs. I've gained quite a bit over the last year, since I quit tobacco. I'm 22. I need to loose weight, but am not willing to eat whey powder or raw oats. I know I need to do cardio, from what I've been reading on here, but I'm not sure what cardio is exactly. I can't do jumping jacks or anything that is hard on the joints because I have bad arthritis. What do you suggest? My diet consists of eggs, lots of carbs, and quite a bit of vegetables. I'm currently trying to cut out all sweats/soda pop from my diet, (its hard because im a baker).

As said above, cardiovascular exercise is the type of exercise you would need to do to lose weight. Cardio exercise is where you are using a large part of your body for movement so that the body demands more oxygen. This causes your heart and breathing to speed up to deliver the oxygen needed to the muscles all over your body. When you ask the heart to speed up in exercise that is actually working out your hearts muscle. A healthy trained heart will need to pump less times a minute and will be less prone to heart disease later in life. Each single pump of the heart will shoot out a larger amount of blood compared to a heart that has not been exercised and the muscles aren't as strong. Good cardio fitness will even increase your immune system and make you less prone to a range of diseases. The reason cardio is great for losing weight is that it burns up a lot of energy in your body and uses fat as a fuel compared to weights which only uses glucose.

If you have bad arthritis (in the legs I'm guessing), any workout which has impace on your legs is bad. I would steer clear of running, jogging, aerobics, etc. Bike riding may be okay, you'll have to test it out for yourself. There is also a walking machine at most gyms called an elliptical which doesn't cause any impace on your joints. That could be an option if you enjoy it. I think the best idea would be to start regular swimming or aqua aerobics. Try a few and see which works for you. If in doubt, go to your doctor and ask for advice on what would be best for your particular arthritis condition.

Okay, my exercise recommendation:
- Try and exercise at about 3 times a week to start off.

- Try and do at least 20minutes of cardio in each session.

- Have a day to recover after your workout where the most you will do is walking.

- Start off easy and work your way to longer exercises with less breaks and once you're confident maybe try and fit in 4 sessions a week at 30-40mins without many breaks. If you haven't exercised in a while, it may pay to do say 1minute on, 1 minute off or 2 minutes on and 1 minute off. Just take it at your own pace.

Another tip as said above, try and do 30mins a day of walking on the days that you're not exercising or every day if you feel like it. Park your car further away from your work and walk for 15mins on the way to work for example. That is, if you're arthritis can take it.

With your diet, avoid any foods high in sugar and fat. Try to space out your meals as a big breakfast, snacks through-out the day and a dinner that does not contain any carbohydrates. Not many people do that with their dinner but it is a recommendation to slow down the metabolism at night. No alcohol with dinner either, that makes all of your dinner go straight to storage after the alcohol itself is taken in as energy.

You would be suprised how much drinking enough water can contribute to your weight loss. If you are not already, try and drink at least 2L of water a day and more as needed if you're exercising.

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

Im regularly doing squats and deadlifts and have found my hamstrings and quads are getting large..however my calves are not growing at the same speed...2 questions

1. Does squats and deadlifts target the calve muscle?
2. Apart from reverse leg curls (i hate these) what excercises can i do too build the calve muscles?

1. Squats and deadlifts do not target the calve muscle. It is used slightly but only as a muscle that keeps your legs stable. The calf is responsible for pushing your foot out straight.

2. Reverse leg curls do not work the calves, it works all of the muscles under your leg such as the hamstrings and glutes.

A good exercise to work on your calves is the calf-raise. You staind on a platform with the balls of your feet on the edge letting your heels and the rest of your foot to hang. Start at the lowest position and push up from the ball of your foot as far up as you can. Keep the back as straight as possible and try not to lock the knee as it puts more pressure on the joint if you'r using a heavy weight.

If you are aiming to build size you should be using a weight which lets you do about 10 reps. That is, youre too tired for an 11th. Also, try and do 2 sets each leg (or two sets if youre using both legs). If you're using weights try and do a warmup set with the weight being about 60-70% of your normal 10RM weight.

There are a number of ways to do the calf raise, you can just use a stair and do one leg at a time or if you go to a gym you can use both legs and have a weight to guage the workout.

If your training is for a sport I would recommend doing sport specific exercises and 15-20 reps when you do calf raises. If you really need the strength to push your foot out straight then definately go 10 reps.

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

Thanks for all the great info Cpt. Caveman; you rock dude. I had a question for you : FRom your experience , have you found any one particular exercise that is best for developing abdominals?
I've been working out for a bit now, and Dammnit! I want a 6-pack to go with my 6-pack, and it hasn't yet developed. I'm a pretty skinny dude and I work out usually 3 out of 6 days, so I think it is feasible that I should be able to do it.
Right now I do about 50 situps and 20-25 lying-down-leg-raises per workout day.

So yeah, any exercise you recommend? ...Is doing two exercises best? One for lower abs, one for higher?

Thanks a gazallion Caveman.

Hey jert!

My favourite exercise for the abs is the crunch sit-up. Lieing on you back hold your legs off the ground with each leg joint at a right angle. Cross your arms on your chest or put your hands by your ears and your elbows out if you trust yourself not to grab or swing to help the raise. Come up just a little so that you're shoulder blades are just off the ground, this is the starting position. Crunch up as far as you can pointing the chin towards the ceiling, don't pull your chin in to lift yourself up, you might get a sore neck. Also, keep the lower back glued to the ground.

You can do this exercise holding onto a weight behind your head or on your chest if you want to make it more challenging and reduce the reps you are able to do to about 20 or so.

Doing those two exercises that you are doing now will be good because the lying down leg raises work a couple of groups of muscles that are not worked by the sit-ups. If you wan't to save time however, I would concentrate on the sit-ups/crunch sit-ups and do the 2-3 sets to fatigue.

Also try the exercise called the plank. This will work all of your core stabilisation muscles. You lie in a sort of pushup position on your elbows with your palms touching each other and hold it until really tired. Its really important to keep your back as straight as an arrow and your pelvis rolled foreward, not back. If it rolls back it will create a curve in your lower back and a lot of pressure will go onto your spine. Don't do this if you get any pain or have any lower back problems.

The only other tip I can suggest if you're not getting results is to do 2-3 sets of each exercise to fatigue. Rather than doing a set amount such as 50, do a whole set until you can't really lift yourself anymore. Have a rest for about 1-2mins then do the next set. This overloads your muscles and forces them to adapt and grow.

The main thing that causes a six pack is actually not having much body fat. You said that you are skinny though so if you're already low in body fat then the exercises will be what will get you that six pack

Make sure you don't over-do the abs and not concentrate on the lower back as well, you may land yourself with a muscle imbalance and poor posture.

 

[Geez-A]

I have a question- which exercise is best to tone up the hips and thighs area? I have been doing a regular fast paced 1 hour walk and also a stair master- but want to know which is better to lose fat in that area rather than build up muscle (Dont want Serena Williams legs- just more tone).
Cheers!

 

[angel!na]

Hey!

Ok, im 22yrs old, 5'2 and weigh 65kg.

I want to lose 10kg so i can get down to 55kg. Problem is i cant seem to lose any weight. I've been going to the gym for the past 4-5years now usually 4-6x per week, although that's not consistent all the time but i'd say it is for the most part. My weights stayed pretty much constant all the way through, maybe getting down to 62kg at one stage.

My body doesnt look 10kg overweight, i'd say i have a good amount of muscle mass which contributes to my weight being over the normal ranges in the BMI for my height and age. I hold my weight mainly around my stomach/top of thighs/ass and my stomach is definitely the hardest past to lose weight from, especially from the sides.

I change my program around every 2 months or so but maybe you could give me some input into what i can do better to lose weight.

Heres the program im about to start-

Monday- 1hr weights class (full body) + swim. approx 20 laps and work my way up
Tuesday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row
Wednesday- 1hr weights class, + swim
Thursday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row
Friday- 50min bike class + 1/2 hr free weights.
Saturday- Day off
Sunday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row

I've been doing alot of cardio previously but thought i'd start back up with 3 days p/week of weights to try and speed up my metabolism to lose some weight.

A typical day of food looks like this:

Breakfast: bowl of musli w/soy milk & a banana
or a smoothie w/ soy milk, banana, strawberries, blueberries, & flaxseeds

Lunch: tuna w/ lots of salad

Dinner: chicken and vegies

Snacks: fruit, nuts.

Any advice?

 

[ebeneezer_geeza]

My Wife doesnt eat meat and will only eat fish once a week. She wont eat cheese. She has osteopenia so i am worried about her diet. I do all the cooking but she is very fussy when it comes to food.

Any ideas what sort of nutrition i should be providing for her?

 

[Skyline_GTR]

As I understand it, the problem with just using CV workouts to lose weight is that one loses weight in the form of both fat and muscle. Losing muscle isn't ideal and really one shouldn't think so much about losing weight, but about losing fat - and lowering ones body fat%.

This is what I'm doing with excellent results so far, goes against traditional thinking (got it from the forums at www.menshealth.co.uk, the mod there is a personal fitness instructor and recomends it) but I've been doing it for 4 weeks and have lost about 10lbs and gained a fair amount of muscle tone (didn't have much to start with though!). Would have lost even more if I cut down on my weekend binge drinking.

Height: 6'2" (187cm)

Start weight: 182lbs/13 stones/82.7kg
Current weight 171.5lbs/12.25 stones/78kg

Start BF%: 23% - don't know how accurate that is - it was done entering circumference measurments into the calculator at www.mybodycomp.com

Current BF% - dunno, going to re calculate this weekend.


Diet: approx 1600 calories per day (edit: except on saturdays when it goes up through alcohol), with an approx split of 250g carbs, 85g protein, 33g fat.

Training: weights 3 times a week, full body workout, takes about 40 mins.

No regular CV work at this stage, although the weights session is intense enough to get my heart pounding and sweat pouring.

Now the reasoning behind doing weights and not regular CV is that not only does muscle use a lot more maintenance calories than fat (so helping the all important calorie deficit), the body's top priority when muscles are put under progressive resistance is to preserve and build muscle - hence all the weight loss will be focused on fat - and not fat and muscle. I suppose I could introduce CV work as well (will do in a couple of months when the fat's off), but I don't want to overtrain at the begining and also I'd have to consume more calories to have the energy. It's much easier just not to eat them in the first place, then to go running several times a week to burn them off.

As the captain says, drinking plenty of water is good, especially ice-cold - the body then needs to burn extra calories to maintain the correct temperature.

Also, if possible, splitting your meals into 6 small ones as opposed to 3 larger ones helps keep your metabolic rate up. e.g 6*300kcal is better than 3*600kcal.

 

[angel!na]

My Wife doesnt eat meat and will only eat fish once a week. She wont eat cheese. She has osteopenia so i am worried about her diet. I do all the cooking but she is very fussy when it comes to food.

Any ideas what sort of nutrition i should be providing for her?

Does your wife like soy products?

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

I have a question- which exercise is best to tone up the hips and thighs area? I have been doing a regular fast paced 1 hour walk and also a stair master- but want to know which is better to lose fat in that area rather than build up muscle (Dont want Serena Williams legs- just more tone).
Cheers!

Ey Geeza!

If all you are doing is walking you don't really have to worry about your leg muscles getting bigger, walking is not a muscle building exercise. To tone up you actually need to loose weight from eating well and doing your walks every day or very regularly. Working out your legs does not make you loose weight around your legs unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

Your body has fat stores all over the body and each has a minimum amount of fat that it will hold so as you are loosing weight you might realise that you'v lost a lot of weight around your upper body and your shoulders look a lot thinner but the lower body will still look like theres more work to be done.

The optimum way to loose weight is to eat healthy meals low in sugar and fat, do not overeat and do regular exercise. It sounds like you're on the right track! A fast pace walk every day will do very well but I would suggest doing some more intensive cardiovascular exercise as well like running, swimming, cycling, jogging, etc. 2-3 times a week as well. It burns more calories and has all sorts of other health benefits on top of fast walking.

Just keep at it, don't check the scales every week because weight loss is a gradual process and be happy that you're on your way to being where you want to be

For more weight loss tips I've done a few posts in this thread so it might be worth a look.

Hope it all goes well

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

Hey!

Ok, im 22yrs old, 5'2 and weigh 65kg.

I want to lose 10kg so i can get down to 55kg. Problem is i cant seem to lose any weight. I've been going to the gym for the past 4-5years now usually 4-6x per week, although that's not consistent all the time but i'd say it is for the most part. My weights stayed pretty much constant all the way through, maybe getting down to 62kg at one stage.

My body doesnt look 10kg overweight, i'd say i have a good amount of muscle mass which contributes to my weight being over the normal ranges in the BMI for my height and age. I hold my weight mainly around my stomach/top of thighs/ass and my stomach is definitely the hardest past to lose weight from, especially from the sides.

I change my program around every 2 months or so but maybe you could give me some input into what i can do better to lose weight.

Heres the program im about to start-

Monday- 1hr weights class (full body) + swim. approx 20 laps and work my way up
Tuesday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row
Wednesday- 1hr weights class, + swim
Thursday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row
Friday- 50min bike class + 1/2 hr free weights.
Saturday- Day off
Sunday- 7km jog (40min) + 20min walk, + 30min stairs, + 15min row

I've been doing alot of cardio previously but thought i'd start back up with 3 days p/week of weights to try and speed up my metabolism to lose some weight.

A typical day of food looks like this:

Breakfast: bowl of musli w/soy milk & a banana
or a smoothie w/ soy milk, banana, strawberries, blueberries, & flaxseeds

Lunch: tuna w/ lots of salad

Dinner: chicken and vegies

Snacks: fruit, nuts.

Any advice?

I honestly can't find anything wrong with your exercise and eating because that is exactly the sort of program that will help loose weight. You're exercising almost every day which is great and you're not eating food high in sugar or fat. Thats a perfect regieme. As long as you're not eating snacks high in sugar or fat around those meals or drinking alcohol with meals then I can't see anything wrong. Maybe try and have a good breakfast, healthy snacks through-out the day instead of a big lunch and then your normal dinner. That will make sure that any food eaten will go to good use for energy and you won't get as tired in the afternoon hopefully.

Also, I would suggest getting a body fat percentage test done to give you a bit of an idea where you are at and get it done again after a month or two to watch for progress. With that amount of exercise for 4-5 years, even 1 year, would lower your body fat percentage. Maybe the percentage is actually quite low and you're down to minimum levels of fat stores? Most gyms will have a scale that will give you a lower body body fat percentage test or hopefully they will know how to use those pinch test calipers.

Try and drink at least 2L of water a day if you don't already, increase it as needed with you're exercising as well. Water plays a major role in fat metabolism and if you don't drink it often you'll actually be retaining water.

Can I ask, do you look cut and toned? Because if you do, then you are at an optimum athletic condition and loosing any more weight might get a bit tricky.

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

My Wife doesnt eat meat and will only eat fish once a week. She wont eat cheese. She has osteopenia so i am worried about her diet. I do all the cooking but she is very fussy when it comes to food.

Any ideas what sort of nutrition i should be providing for her?

g'day ebeneezer!

A vegetarian diet is very common and you can go without meat and be fully nourished.

Make sure she eats a normal diet minus the meat, so lots of vegetables, fruit, fibre, grains (breakfast cereals usually contain a good amount of these if you buy the right ones), a wide range of nuts for vitamins and minerals and carbohydrates for energy (bread, pasta, rice etc.).

A diet like this is about as healthy and nourishing as it gets.

Women loose a lot of iron through menstruation so it may be an idea to suggest to her to take iron tablets daily. You can get them from any good chemist, ask the chemist which would be best for your wife. Some sources of iron are: fortified breakfast cereals, wheat bran, cocoa powder, sesame seeds, pumpin seeds, wheat germ, parsley, dried peaches, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts, egg yolk, lime pickle, pine nuts, blackcurrents, cous cous, dried apricots, raisins, boiled lentils, tofu, hazelnuts, almonds, soya beans, walnuts. There are many others but these are to list a few. If you wife gets iron defficient her blood will stop carrying oxygen as easily and she will get very tired. For a lot of women that eat well the only way to keep their iron level normal is to take the iron supplement (Edit: This is to replace the iron that you would normally get from meats).

For protein, lentils contain quite a large amount of it. There are a lot of vegetables that contail protein however and its not cruicial but just something worth having every now and then.

Mushrooms are good for vegetarians as well for their vitamin B content which they miss from meats.

Hope I was of some help

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

As I understand it, the problem with just using CV workouts to lose weight is that one loses weight in the form of both fat and muscle. Losing muscle isn't ideal and really one shouldn't think so much about losing weight, but about losing fat - and lowering ones body fat%.

This is what I'm doing with excellent results so far, goes against traditional thinking (got it from the forums at www.menshealth.co.uk, the mod there is a personal fitness instructor and recomends it) but I've been doing it for 4 weeks and have lost about 10lbs and gained a fair amount of muscle tone (didn't have much to start with though!). Would have lost even more if I cut down on my weekend binge drinking.

Height: 6'2" (187cm)

Start weight: 182lbs/13 stones/82.7kg
Current weight 171.5lbs/12.25 stones/78kg

Start BF%: 23% - don't know how accurate that is - it was done entering circumference measurments into the calculator at www.mybodycomp.com

Current BF% - dunno, going to re calculate this weekend.


Diet: approx 1600 calories per day (edit: except on saturdays when it goes up through alcohol), with an approx split of 250g carbs, 85g protein, 33g fat.

Training: weights 3 times a week, full body workout, takes about 40 mins.

No regular CV work at this stage, although the weights session is intense enough to get my heart pounding and sweat pouring.

Now the reasoning behind doing weights and not regular CV is that not only does muscle use a lot more maintenance calories than fat (so helping the all important calorie deficit), the body's top priority when muscles are put under progressive resistance is to preserve and build muscle - hence all the weight loss will be focused on fat - and not fat and muscle. I suppose I could introduce CV work as well (will do in a couple of months when the fat's off), but I don't want to overtrain at the begining and also I'd have to consume more calories to have the energy. It's much easier just not to eat them in the first place, then to go running several times a week to burn them off.

As the captain says, drinking plenty of water is good, especially ice-cold - the body then needs to burn extra calories to maintain the correct temperature.

Also, if possible, splitting your meals into 6 small ones as opposed to 3 larger ones helps keep your metabolic rate up. e.g 6*300kcal is better than 3*600kcal.

That sounds good if it works for you! My personal preferance is regular cardiovascular exercise and a normal healthy amount of eating to gradually loose weight because cardiovascular workouts target fat as a fuel source and are great at burning the calories that you eat, but if thats working for you then thats great!

If you're cutting down your calories to loose weight, I would just make sure that you're still eating a lot of fruit, vegetables and nuts so that you're still getting all of the vitamins and nutrients that you need.

 

[womanthatrolls]

So recently i lost alot of weight...im not sure how, i guess i just moved more and ate less but never really concentrated on exercising, untill now.

I've started working out at least 6 days a week with programs including cardio, weight traning and stretching (example- yoga, kickboxing twice a week and body flex twice a week and the rest simple cardio on the treadmill,3 mile run or such) I've also cut out ALL soda and tea in my diet and have only drank water for the past 6 months. My eating habbits are normal and hardly ever excessive.

So heres my problem, i got on the scale yesterday and i've gained 5 pounds i the past 2 weeks...What the hell is up with that?!?!?!?!

 

[Cpt.Caveman]

So recently i lost alot of weight...im not sure how, i guess i just moved more and ate less but never really concentrated on exercising, untill now.

I've started working out at least 6 days a week with programs including cardio, weight traning and stretching (example- yoga, kickboxing twice a week and body flex twice a week and the rest simple cardio on the treadmill,3 mile run or such) I've also cut out ALL soda and tea in my diet and have only drank water for the past 6 months. My eating habbits are normal and hardly ever excessive.

So heres my problem, i got on the scale yesterday and i've gained 5 pounds i the past 2 weeks...What the hell is up with that?!?!?!?!

I would guess that you've built muscle! Nice work, your training is working!

Don't freak about looking big from doing weights, if you ever think that you've put too much muscle on you can always stop training in weights. You loose muscle reasonable quickly if you don't do any training.

Go to your gym and ask them to do a body fat percentage test. Once you know what it is you can go back after a month or two and get it tested again to see how you're going

Just to make sure, don't eat any foods high in sugar or fat, try not to drink alcohol with dinner. You're definately on your way to toning up, not only by loosing body fat but also by gaining muscle. If you don't already, try and drink at least 2L of water a day and more with exercise. Another thing is to eat a good breakfast and snacks through the day as needed instead of a big lunch and a normal dinner. This helps a lot with energy as well as weight loss.

Good luck!