chaos.

Well just toning up really. I'm not over weight, I'm 12 st and about 6ft so to look at I look quite slim, but it's mostly flab!

I just want to get fit and turn the fat into muscle.

Can you health critics suggest a workout that fits the requirements..?
'tis muchly appreciated.

yoza

Its not possible to turn fat into muscle.

Or turn muscle into fat.........

Hope this helps.

chaos.

Nope that doesnt help a bit.

I think I'll just sprint through the forrest, that will get anyone fit.

rogp

I'm not sure one sprint will do it Chaos.

I'm 6'1" and I weigh 4.5 stone more than you!(and no, its not all fat)

Maybe you should be looking at bulking up (muscularly) as well as getting fit?

yoza

Here is the answer, use this advice ASAP.

Go to you local gym with two friends, (if you have two friends).

Walk over to the free weights area of the gym, and put an olympic bar on the bar rests of the flat bench.

Load the bar with 8 x 25 kilo discs, the red ones, thats four on each end.

Position your friends one on each side of the bar.

Take your position on the bench, grip securely, take a deep breath.

Ask your friends to pass you the bar, then release.

Enjoy.











Later (or maybe not) Yoza

chaos.

I was carrying a 20kg bag of plaster the other day and had to lug it a fair distance, and from carrying that extra 20kg I could feel me knees grinding and my back felt pretty naffed! I don't know how those really big people can stand up!

ozzy

Jog 3 times per week or do some other form of CV exercise (ride a bike, row, run, whatever you want to do). The point is you must want to do it, so chose something you're going to enjoy - take up a sport and do it 3 times per week, for example.

Some will say you get fit to play a sport, but that's bo!!ocks unless you want to be competitive. Take an unfit person and get them playing Badminton or Squash regulalrly and it'll soon whip them into shape (or kill them )

If you want to tone-up or build muscle, do some basic circuit training - press-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc.. Do that on alternate days to your CV work. twice or 3 times per week is enough.

You want to do CV work for at least 30/45mins. 1hr+ is even better, but take it slowly and work up to those times over weeks/months.

Stick with the basics and that'll easily get you fit, increase your strength and muscle mass as well as keeping you fat free and toned (as long as you put in the effort).

It's worked for the Military for hundreds of years and without the need for any fancy gym equipment or weights.

Stefan

BexTait

Ride a bike everywhere and go swimming on a regular basis. And if you are cycling places, then it won't matter that you haven't passed your driving test yet

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Keep off the ****,

Oh and stop smoking cigarettes as well.

chaos.

I dont smoke!
Look if a *** jumped on your back, you'd beat him off wouldn't you?
Well I wouldn't, I'd just gauge his eyes out

yoza

Ive heard of a few strange sexual manoevers from our homosexual community, but never 'gauge his eyes out'.
What does that involve?
Your really warped, do you know that.

milo

sounds more like a warm-up to me

john_s

iTrader: (1)

What about the other arm?

John.

messiah

Try this one with dumbells and a barbell.

create a routine of exercises that work the torso, then the upper body then the lower body.

Do 1 set of 15 reps on each exercise and keep a note of how many reps you did and the weight.

leave a day between doing it again.

the next time you do it, if you managed 15, go up a weight for that exercise - if you didnt manage 10, drop down a weight.

and thats about it - simple eh? it was developed by a bloke who trains australian triathletes, so it's aimed at impoving strength rather than muscle mass. What I do is keep a score - multiply the reps by the weight for each exercise and add them all up at the end, so the next time you do it, you should get an indication of how much stronger you are than you did previously. My own scores increased by around 25-30% in the first 2 weeks. It only takes a short time to do and you do it at home so no gym fees!

milo

had you been leaving a week before doing it again, to allow your body to properly recover, your strength probably would have increased 50-60% in the first 2 weeks

i definitely do advocate what you're saying about one set to total failure though

Franx

Take a bike instead of the car.....er..bus
That's really quite effective. Or take up running, then go to the gym & do weights. Low weight/high reps at first, to build up yr strength, then increase weight, & lower the No. of reps.
There you go

messiah

FAO milo.

I've just been doing what the magazine said (mens health) although I have noticed that when I've forgot to do the routine on a given day, and so have had 2 days rest, there usually is a bigger jump up in scores - which I might do from now on.

I've not been doing too much at the moment, as I've been pretty inactive for months so I've been limiting the exercise's I do (coupled with that my dumbells have now had it) so I'll be adding more in the next few weeks (poss sit ups/crunches).

You've just reminded me actually - need a pump for my moutain bike!

Incidentally to all those planning on getting fit through running / cycling - don't do the usual "I did 10 miles today" routine (apparently it's the worse thing you can do) - start off by having a set route - then try and beat your previous time, when you can't get it down anymore - then increase the difference.

Katana

Sounds more like foreplay..

ozzy

I usually focus on time, rather than pure distance. I try to get at least 45min-1hr of running into my schedule and sometimes that can be a 5-mile run or up to 9-10 miles if I'm feeling really good. A lot depends on your diet (especially energy levels).

The key to any fitness routine is gradual progression. Your body adapts very easily to set routines, so you have to shock it into change. In your example a set routine will get you fit (up to a point), but then your body adapts and you hit a plateau.

The problem I have with set routes is your body gets used to running it. It knows when it's being worked hard by the same old hill or can ease up with a nice downhill section. Stick to a fixed route to judge your fitness progression and try to beat previous best times, but I would suggest (for actual fitness training) you should focus on time and perceived effort (ideally monitored with a heart rate monitor) and try to vary routes. Not only does it avoid your body getting used to certain conditions, but it makes the runs much more enjoyable. Remember, a huge amount of fitness (or should it be performance) is mental. if you can stimulate the mind and enjoy the pain you're putting yourself through, you'll find it so much easier.

I'm not saying run a different route each day, but find a few variations and build these into a schedule. As you get fitter, it's beneficial to do certain training techniques such as Intervals, Fartlek training or hill reps. This doesn't have to be something fixed around a running track or one single hill. You could just as easily do some hill work by finding a nice hilly route. Rather than slowing down on the hills, give it 110% on the uphill sections and use the descents for recovery.

The key is progression and constantly pushing yourself. If you stick to this principle you'll get fitter no matter if it's running, cycling, swimming, etc..

Stefan

prana

I studied personaly training and was also crazy into sports in my younger years. I was down to 7% bodyfat and now about 10%.

If you are serious about losing weight and getting fit,

then wake up half hour earlier, and do aerobic exercises prior to your breakfast.

Cycling, running or 15-25 rep to failure weights etc are good.

Never ever skip breakfast.

Gain muscular mass, but don't confuse it with glycogen storage. When you are warmed up, weights at 3-6 reps (or less) to failure is good. Always allow time to supercompensate, such as one day on, 3 days on when doing power on any muscle group. Concentrate on balancing.

Stretch, stretch and more stretch.

Don't go to bed with a full stomach.

I don't want to go in more detail as everyone has their opinion on what to do, and I am aware there are a few body builders here too so I shuddup now.

Cupramax

Carrying on this subject as I'm on a bit of a mission on fat loss myself does anyone have any opinions on how accurate the latest CV machines are with calorie usage?

The gym I use has just been refitted and has the latest Cybex computerised machines. I've been using the Arc trainer on a fat burn setting for 60 minutes 4 times a week and it recons I'm burning approx 900 cals per session. I'm 35, 6ft and 12.5 stone ish BTW if thats any help.

ozzy

Hmm. Everyones metabolism is different and the rate they burn calories varies with it. The CV machines base your calorie usage on your age, weight and heart rate (some may include your height also).

It's not very accurate but it's a decent ball park if your Mr Average.

To tone down to a decent level you need to watch everything you eat and cut out all cr@p laden with sugar.

Stefan

Cupramax

Yeah, that seems to be my downfall. I've cut out all the usuall junk like takeaways, beer, crisps, cake etc etc but find a lot of the low fat low cal stuff in the shops is carb/sugar ridden to the hilt. I've lost a stone so far since xmas but have plateau'd for the last 3 weeks and seem to have run into a brick wall. Still got some way to go before I've got rid of the spare tyre....

wwp8

i am interested in getting fit, and was excited to read this thread,

it is good stuff but it gets me tired sweaty too,

you know what maybe one day i might do one of those stuff.

milo

so dont eat the low fat stuff from the shops

it's produced for the people who wrongly believe that "eating fat makes you fat", and they replace much of the good fats in the food with simple sugars for taste, when eating the fat would have been far better for you in the first place.

you also have to remember that a lot of packaged foods have hidden sugars, even tho it doesn't say so on the packet (do the maths each time to see if calories balance.. they often don't).

milo

this is the problem - invariably the magazines are not accurate.

they're marketing magazines used for selling products, so dont take them to be scientific journals

messiah

I never do mate, thought I'd give it a try as you're improvement is measured on what weights you can actually shift rather than looking in the mirror and trying to fathom out whether your biceps are bigger today.

That routine gives me more of a sense that I'm improving - and given that I'm using it as part of a training programme, it lets me see how much stronger I'm getting.

I agree with though - don't take everything as gospel, take all info with a pinch of salt - I'm intending to try other programmes in the future if I feel I've reached a plateau.