2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

[mgoblue]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

All right, joined the YMCA gym and we're trying to go consistently!

I've been doing some cardio (treadmill or whatnot), I am out of running shape and want to get in somewhat decent running shape.

At the gym they have a ton of Life Fitness lifting machines (with a ton of workouts). Should I just try and go through them each time I work out, or start concentrating on certain things certain days? They also have free weights and dumbells (obviously), but I don't want to go hardcore on the free weights quite yet.

Anyone with some good basic help to start me off? I know it's not easy to just tell someone what to do, just trying to get myself more focused.

I'm 6'2, 193 lbs right now. I'm usually more around 180 I'd say, so I'm a little higher than I'd like to be. I do know that if I add muscle then i'll weigh more (and that's fine), but just an idea of what I'd like to try and get back down to.

Good or bad, when I gain weight it ends up in my stomach area. I'm a skinny guy who gets a bit of a gut, so I'd like to cut that out.

Thanks for the input and help! I will see at some point if I can talk to a trainer there just to get me a plan to go off of, plus my fiancee's cousin is a personal trainer in LA, so I can talk to him.

[Jonesy]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

All right, joined the YMCA gym and we're trying to go consistently!

I've been doing some cardio (treadmill or whatnot), I am out of running shape and want to get in somewhat decent running shape.

At the gym they have a ton of Life Fitness lifting machines (with a ton of workouts). Should I just try and go through them each time I work out, or start concentrating on certain things certain days? They also have free weights and dumbells (obviously), but I don't want to go hardcore on the free weights quite yet.

Anyone with some good basic help to start me off? I know it's not easy to just tell someone what to do, just trying to get myself more focused.

I'm 6'2, 193 lbs right now. I'm usually more around 180 I'd say, so I'm a little higher than I'd like to be. I do know that if I add muscle then i'll weigh more (and that's fine), but just an idea of what I'd like to try and get back down to.

Good or bad, when I gain weight it ends up in my stomach area. I'm a skinny guy who gets a bit of a gut, so I'd like to cut that out.

Thanks for the input and help! I will see at some point if I can talk to a trainer there just to get me a plan to go off of, plus my fiancee's cousin is a personal trainer in LA, so I can talk to him.

Nice work getting started!

Free weights will be better than machines 90% of the time imo so if you are a complete newb to weight lifting I'd just start out with a fairly short free weight, full body session 2-3 times per week for a few months. You could even just do it all with dumbells if you wanted and just do something like 2 or 3 sets of:

DB chest press
DB Overhead press
DB Row's
DB Squats
DB curls
DB tri kickbacks

Throw in a bit of ab / core work at the end and you are good to go.

The more I'm reading about cardio etc and the studies that come out about the effectiveness of HIIT I'm really start to believe in less is more and you should generally try to keep your cardio short and intense rather than long and moderate.

[AUChase]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Apparently Jack3ed, C4, etc. are all still on the shelf. It's just the military that finally banned it. I think the Navy had all ready banned it, a long time ago. They blame it on the rigorous training that takes place with the military and I don't intend to under estimate it, but there are a lot of guns doing 2-3 scoops and getting intense workouts, that aren't in the military.

I've still been off the pre workouts for over a month, but debating on buying some Assault for those slow days. I've also been on my "cutting" plan for close to a month. I've just been focusing on reps reps reps and not going up much on weight. I've actually been getting some comments, especially after this past weekend on the lake.

I'm going to get a bit more definition and then start going back up on weight, across the board. That may be where the Assault comes in to play

[ScoobySnax]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Yeah, about this...

[Feared]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

All right, joined the YMCA gym and we're trying to go consistently!

I've been doing some cardio (treadmill or whatnot), I am out of running shape and want to get in somewhat decent running shape.

At the gym they have a ton of Life Fitness lifting machines (with a ton of workouts). Should I just try and go through them each time I work out, or start concentrating on certain things certain days? They also have free weights and dumbells (obviously), but I don't want to go hardcore on the free weights quite yet.

Anyone with some good basic help to start me off? I know it's not easy to just tell someone what to do, just trying to get myself more focused.

I'm 6'2, 193 lbs right now. I'm usually more around 180 I'd say, so I'm a little higher than I'd like to be. I do know that if I add muscle then i'll weigh more (and that's fine), but just an idea of what I'd like to try and get back down to.

Good or bad, when I gain weight it ends up in my stomach area. I'm a skinny guy who gets a bit of a gut, so I'd like to cut that out.

Thanks for the input and help! I will see at some point if I can talk to a trainer there just to get me a plan to go off of, plus my fiancee's cousin is a personal trainer in LA, so I can talk to him.

I'll try to offer some advice, I'm no trainer but I was in your shoes about a year ago when I was a complete newbie to working out, I had no clue what to do.

Basically to start off don't get all overwhelmed thinking you need some advanced routine. Or thinking you need to hit every single piece of equipment in the gym, because you don't. Some of the most dedicated fitness freaks I know only do about 4-5 exercises, for 40 mins to an Hour. They just focus on doing them right. (it's all about Quality, over quantity when it comes to exercise IMO)

Jonesy gave a really solid outline, to get into a basic lifting routine. For starters I would go into each workout day with "target" groups you want to do. For instance maybe Monday you want to do Biceps and Chest. So do some exercises for those groups, take the next day off then maybe Wednesday you want to hit Triceps/Shoulders...take the next day off and Friday you do Legs. (Legs is a really exhausting muscle group to do so you probably want to have a separate workout day just for those) If you have an Hour to workout try to 40 mins of Weight lifting, and maybe 20 mins of Cardio... (running, jogging, treadmill, elliptical) either before or after your weight training... which ever is easier on your body.

Also definitely make sure you are taking Off days, where you don't lift after each "Work Out" day. So you are giving your body the proper time to recover... if you have a particularly grueling work out you might need to take an extra day or so Off. It's your body, so you have to be the judge.


Regarding your little "gut" problem, definitely look into your Diet. Are you still eating a lot of processed foods, with refined sugars, grains in them? If you want to gain muscle definition, but lose excess layers of fat and "Lean" out... you really need to cut out the Sodas, Salty Chips/Snacks, Fast Foods, Refined White Grains/Breads, and Trans Fats. Those are definitely hard to give up, but when you do you'll definitely notice how quickly those empty calories added up, because those foods are mainly empty calories with almost no nutritional value which cause the highest percentage of unwanted weight gain.

By the way man, All the luck to you with your fitness goals. I was in your position, and it's definitely a lifestyle change that you have to make. If you have any more questions, I will try my best to help the best that I can!

[Jonesy]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Yeah, about this...

^^^I'm confused

Jack3d got officially banned by the Government here in Australia a few weeks ago. I have a full tub of it sitting there and its going to suck if I use it and love it then can never buy it again. First world problems I know but still.

I've heard people raving about Craze a fair bit lately but have never tried it:

[ScoobySnax]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

It was just a comment about me falling of the wagon as far as fitness goes.

[Feared]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I'm satisfied with MP Assault for now... it doesn't give you the Crazy "OMG hyped up bouncing off walls" type feel...

but I really like it's Profile with the added BCAA's and Glutamine (that other PWOs lack) So I really feel that it does more for me, after my workout ends. It gives me solid sustained focus, that feels healthy.. and not jittery like I sometimes felt with Jack3d.

Unless something gets absolutely amazing reviews, that I feel can give me all that Assault does + more. I'll stick with it.

[AUChase]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I haven't seen it out, in my gym's store in a few days, but I stopped by GNC in the mall and they still had it and C4 on the shelf.

I asked the lady at the counter and she explained the whole deal to me. I have a buddy who's in the Navy who told me, after he found out I was using it, that they weren't allowed to consume it anymore. That was a few months ago. If I had to guess, It won't be long until it's off the shelves, here... It's really awesome stuff, some people just over use it and do a lot of harm to their CNS.

The cool thing is, my gym actually sells single scoops of almost all of the pre workouts that are available for only 50 cents. It's a good way to try something new, without having to buy it.

[Feared]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I haven't seen it out, in my gym's store in a few days, but I stopped by GNC in the mall and they still had it and C4 on the shelf.

I asked the lady at the counter and she explained the whole deal to me. I have a buddy who's in the Navy who told me, after he found out I was using it, that they weren't allowed to consume it anymore. That was a few months ago. If I had to guess, It won't be long until it's off the shelves, here... It's really awesome stuff, some people just over use it and do a lot of harm to their CNS.

.

I think the biggest issue I see guys doing with PWOs is they become too dependent on them, and don't cycle them out. They start using them every workout day, so of course their bodies adjust to it, and start building a tolerance to it.

Then they wonder why they aren't getting the same effect they were when they first started using them, so they start adding scoops from 2... to 3... to 4...etc. That's when it starts getting unhealthy.

IMO Pre-workouts shouldn't be used for every workout, just the most intensive ones, or days you lack energy, (Just my opinion but you shouldn't go over 1 full dosage, of any PWO for atleast 3 days)

Let that stuff cycle out of your body, then go at it again, and when you use up a tub... try going a week without something. Or switch it up to another PWO where you dont' need to exceed recommended dosage.

[Jonesy]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

The cool thing is, my gym actually sells single scoops of almost all of the pre workouts that are available for only 50 cents. It's a good way to try something new, without having to buy it.

That's a great idea! I've never been to a gym that did that, very cool.

[l3ulvl]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

OK so I began trying to lose weight at around 250 (i couldn't stomach weighing myself anymore at 245, so I'm only guessing at the 250 as a high mark), I was able to drop all the way to 208 about 2 years ago, with the goal being to get below 200 and then work from there. Well, after hitting 208 I stopped trying, and ballooned back up to 237. I've been doing really well these past 8 months or so and today I weighed in at.... 201. I'm so close to seeing a 1 as the first digit I'm all giddy about it lol. Hell, watching the scale balance itself when I get on and seeing the swing measurement of 199 was enough to crack a grin.

[bh446066]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Nice work getting started!

The more I'm reading about cardio etc and the studies that come out about the effectiveness of HIIT I'm really start to believe in less is more and you should generally try to keep your cardio short and intense rather than long and moderate.

Bingo......

[mgoblue]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

Thanks for the input guys! We've been watching our diets (though with her mom in town we eat out way too much right now, thankfully she's gone on Saturday lol).

Sounds like I have a good strategy and I'll just try and work on a different area each workout. I'll keep it simple and just try and get quality work in.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: 2012 FITNESS CHALLENGE

I begin my rest week, I can't believe I'm already going into the last phase of P90X.

I'm right around 137-138 right now, but in better shape obviously since I started weeks ago.