• H&R Moderators: VerbalTruist

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

eat more, work out 3-5 times a week. You'll gain weight fairly easily.

If you're eating 2000+ calories of good food a day (For the average person that's a lot more than you think it is), you will have no problem putting on a good 10-20 pounds before school starts back and if you run a mile a day and workout right, most if not all of it will be muscle.
 
Eat shit loads of food, but eat clean and low fat. So lean meats - fish like tuna, also chicken, turkey etc. Eat vegetables, fruit, wholegrain bread etc. Start a decent weight training program so it goes on as muscle not fat. Check out the diet 101 thread in the Steriods forum for nutrition basics.
 
Do as many sets of push ups until you can't do any more every other night and do lost of crunches or sit-ups or whatever.

My roommate makes sure to do 200 push ups spread throughout the day every day.
 
Listen to Skyline, he's right.

If you can't get a hold to any weights, listen to Heliospan. Pushups/situps will only take you so far. But for me, the endurance muscle they give you is more practical than the short burst strength weights give you.

The best program is to combine both of them.

I tried this a few times and got good results.

Mon- Chest/ Triceps (6 reps/3 sets per exercise)

Tues- Shoulders/ Biceps (same as mon)

Wed- Legs/Back (I personally do 20 rep squats. I'd only do one set because if you try more you're going to fall down when you walk down steps or you're lifting too lightly)

Thur- Chest/ Triceps (Endurance- 10/12/14 reps-3 sets per exercise)

Fri- Shoulders/ Biceps (same as Thur)


I'd advise you to start out with a low weight for eachday, you will be burned the fuck out if you can manage to follow that perfectly. I'd advise you to have someone spotting you. Most people end up getting stuck in one extreme, they can lift really heavy weights a few times, but they can't do pushups worth a damn. And some people can do pushups all day but can't lift heavy weights.

Find out what type of person you are. Me personally, I respond better to endurance lifting, I gain strength better that way. I could never lift high weights, but I could pump out low weights all day long.

You may be the type of guy that can pump out high weights all day long, but suck at endurance. Everyone is different.
 
workouts

I was in a weight training class at my school but i won't be in it agiain untill 2nd semester next year. I'm getting a membership at gold's gym though so I should be able to work out this summer. Good sugestions for workouts for getting back into a workout routine?
 
Why not just follow the workout routine you followed while in the class?

if you're out of shape just lower the weight and keep the same intensity until you can work back up to normal.
 
hey another skinny guy, im feeling better now. do the combination of weights and weightless exercises, like suggested above. also do lots of ab/core exercises bc that will make it easier and since your already skinny a 6 pack is easy to get.
 
yeah. im not necessarily "fat" or wide looking or what not. i've got kind of a beergut, so you can probably compare it to a snake that just ate a tire. i want to lose body fat...
sucks i cant afford a gym membership, so im mostly stuck to no weight or freeweight excercises
 
You're going to have to be really dedicated to actually get stronger. It's going to suck for the first few months, but the only way it's going to get better is for you to push and don't stop pushing until you meet your goals.

I'd say right now with your bodyweight, pushups and situps will easily make noticeable gains for you since you've never really worked out.

To be honest with you, My chest didn't start sticking out until I started doing pushups.

If you want a good program for your abs, I'd suggest the "8 minute abs" They show it on TV all of the time.

If you actually want to buy it you can go on google and type it up and find a website. Or if you're like me, you can find it on any p2p:p

Believe me, by the end of the 8 minutes your ass is kicked. And if you do that program for a month or more I guarentee your stomach will be a brick wall. If you want to make it harder, do the program, and before you go to sleep knock out 50-100 situps (you can do crunches, but for me, situps work me better)


To give you some inspiration, When I first decided to get in shape I was 230 pounds, Almost all fat. Within maybe 8-12 months I got myself down to 155. And from there I decided it was time for me to put on some muscle. Now I am up to about 173, and I'd say 90+ percent of that weight I gained is muscle.

So it is possible to get in shape. You just have to be dedicated. Don't stop until you meet your goals, Then continue doing what you're doing in order to maintain yourself.
 
Whoa. my ass is pretty muched kicked allready. I attempted about 100 pushups spaced throughout 8:00 - 1:00, along with situps, sidebends... and a few squats ontop of some stacked phonebooks. Im worn out today, but i'm probably going to do it again tomorrow.

I've never really been motivated to do anything, so once i start seeing results then i'll make it more of a habit.
8 minute abs... *Goes off to limewire*
 
hahaha I got it on limewire too =D

If today was your first day you will be worn out. After a while you'll be able to do 200 a day. It just takes a little time.
 
A little time being a few months =D
what did you search for to find it? I havent been able to get anything. just some crappy porn about people jizzing on stomaches... er...yeah.
 
hahahahaha

I went to the Video section and typed in the title "8 minute abs"

I just checked....if you type that in you will get what you want. right now it's picking up 178 hits with a t3 connection. Its 91,662 KB

It's a pretty good routine, of course after a while it becomes fairly easy, so you can up the intensity if need be.
 
hmm, thanks. what about adding squats?

ive heard standing on top of a stack of phonebooks or something, then doing squats regularly is good for the calves
 
I know when we do pushups with the Army they suggest seeing how many you can do in 1 minute. proper pushups with your chest hitting the floor (actually it's only supposed to break parallel, but it's hard to tell what parallel is when you're doing them alone, so I just touch the floor)

well, when we started I was only doing 25 pushups at one time. and by the end of that I was burnt. I would do 25 a day for a week and up it 5 each week. 30 at a time, then 35, etc.

Both ways work for what you're trying to achieve, but I found when I would do 100-200 spread throught the day I had trouble doing that may of them in a row.

But for you, you don't need to be worried about how many you can do in a row, since you only want to do them to get you in shape.

A trick I would always do to help me with pushups was to knock out 20-25 of them each hour I was awake.
 
25 pushups/crunches per hour? Sounds like a good idea. I may try it tomorrow. It gets addicting, actually.

I haven't even craved a cigarrette since yesterday. Interesting
 
I find that the best way to keep dedicated to a work out is to have some type of physical event for which you're training. It keeps you more focused than does just working out to look good.

Start training for a 5k or a 10k or a mini triathalon. Do 30-60 minutes of cardio and then weight training. If you want optimal results...do it everyday if you can. Also, don't forget to mix up your workout so that you don't get bored. Plus, if you're constantly doing different types of exercises rather than the same ones, your body responds better.

For example, don't just ride a bike for your cardio everyday. Ride a bike one day, elliptical trainer the next, treadmill the next...etc. Don't just work your pecs by doing bench presses...do different style push-ups as well.

You might also look to see if your gym offers any trainers who are skilled in training plyometrics. Some of the greatest athletes in our history trained using plyometrics.
 
sorry I didn't answer your question last night...


About the squats, if you're doing them unweighted I find it's harder to keep your balance than when you have a bar on your back.

So I personally do wall squats. You have your back against the wall and go down until you reach parallel in the squat (legs form a 90 degree angle)

For calves I just do calve raises. If you can balance on the phone book, put the front of your foot on the phone book with the back part of it hanging off. Then push up with your calves until the back of your foot is in the air. Your calve should tighten up, thats when you know you're doing it right.

I can't really explain it too well. If you don't understand that I can find a picture of it for you.

I personally do them weighted (dumbells in my hands) but if you don't have any, you can just do them until you get tired.


About doing pushups and situps every hour: You can try it, It usually starts to get hard after you do them for a few hours (the pushups), so I just go down to maybe 10-15 or however many I can do.

If you have the time, knock out 20/25 pushups then roll over and do 25 (you may be able to start with more than 25) crunches.

It may take 2 minutes at the most.

Did you ever find that video?
 
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