The workout thread: personal training advice

[SamX]

Hello OTLanders,

Sitting around the computer all day can make you gain a little weight. Perhaps you want to change the way you look but you don't know how to start. I've created this thread to answer any questions you may have and also give advice on working out as well as nutrition.

A little background about myself:
- been actively working out and eating clean for 3 years
- I have a certificate in personal training

If you have any questions, or you just want to start working out regularly but don't know how to get into it, feel free to ask here. I can help you with a nutrition plan and workout regime. If you are asking me questions please include the following information:
- current shape (fit, little excess fat, lots of excess fat)
- current activity level (describe - do you excercise a lot?)
- goals you'd like to achieve

Hopefully this thread can help some people get in better shape. Motivate yourself TODAY. Not tomorrow. You'll love your life when you look good. Trust me.

 

[Xikini]

To be honest, I don't even have an excuse for my extra weight, except procrastination/laziness.

- current shape (fit, little excess fat, lots of excess fat)
-- Lot's of excess fat. Around 220 pounds currently. I was fit at 150-160.
- current activity level (describe - do you excercise a lot?)
-- Sloth. I work 5 days a week on a Computer. I go home and sit at a computer. Going grocery shopping is a hefty excursion, usually leaving my lower back quite strained.
- goals you'd like to achieve
-- Lose weight. Strengthen core muscles, most likely starting with lower back, as it's not even a joke anymore that it hurts after doing anything.
--- I have a bowflex, treadmill, chin-up bar, large blue exercise ball, ankle weights 5 pounds each (things that strap on), 12 pound medicine ball.

Please help me senpai.

Ps: Ask any questions you'd like to. I'm not shy. I know I have issues.
PM or here, is fine.

 

[SamX]

To be honest, I don't even have an excuse for my extra weight, except procrastination/laziness.

- current shape (fit, little excess fat, lots of excess fat)
-- Lot's of excess fat. Around 220 pounds currently. I was fit at 150-160.
- current activity level (describe - do you excercise a lot?)
-- Sloth. I work 5 days a week on a Computer. I go home and sit at a computer. Going grocery shopping is a hefty excursion, usually leaving my lower back quite strained.
- goals you'd like to achieve
-- Lose weight. Strengthen core muscles, most likely starting with lower back, as it's not even a joke anymore that it hurts after doing anything.
--- I have a bowflex, treadmill, chin-up bar, large blue exercise ball, ankle weights 5 pounds each (things that strap on), 12 pound medicine ball.

Please help me senpai.

Ps: Ask any questions you'd like to. I'm not shy. I know I have issues.
PM or here, is fine.

In the stage you're at I would recommend a full body workout every 2nd day. It is better if you can get access to a gym. Do lots of cardio. I usually do a half hour after my workout or try and go biking on off days.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=159678631
This is a good starting workout. Read the whole thread, learn how to progress yourself into higher weights. Remember to start with low weights. Don't push yourself too hard in the beginning, you need to leave room for your body to recover.

Your main way of weight loss will be with nutrition. The main thing you need to focus on is eating smaller portions. Do not snack. Don't eat deep fried foods and try to keep away from sugar. Don't stress too much about it, give yourself a cheat meal or two every once in a while. Stick to clean proteins (chicken, salmon, tuna). Eat small portions of carbohydrates with your meals (rice, sweet potatoes) and lots of vegetables to fill you up.

There are lots of sources out there where you need to calculate your macronutrients. Don't stress about this right now. You're new to working out. Just eat healthy, lift regularly and keep your portions smaller.

Good luck. Let me know if you have more questions.

 

[Xikini]

In the stage you're at I would recommend a full body workout every 2nd day. It is better if you can get access to a gym. Do lots of cardio. I usually do a half hour after my workout or try and go biking on off days.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=159678631
This is a good starting workout. Read the whole thread, learn how to progress yourself into higher weights. Remember to start with low weights. Don't push yourself too hard in the beginning, you need to leave room for your body to recover.

Your main way of weight loss will be with nutrition. The main thing you need to focus on is eating smaller portions. Do not snack. Don't eat deep fried foods and try to keep away from sugar. Don't stress too much about it, give yourself a cheat meal or two every once in a while. Stick to clean proteins (chicken, salmon, tuna). Eat small portions of carbohydrates with your meals (rice, sweet potatoes) and lots of vegetables to fill you up.

There are lots of sources out there where you need to calculate your macronutrients. Don't stress about this right now. You're new to working out. Just eat healthy, lift regularly and keep your portions smaller.

Good luck. Let me know if you have more questions.

This might just be a personal issue, but I've never found vegetables, (with the exception of potatoes), to be filling at all.
I can easily eat a large salad bowl's worth of vegetables( garden salad type vegetables, carrots/lettuce/cucumber/tomato/spinach/green&yellow beans), and typically will start to feel full at that point.
Is there a specific variety of vegetables I should be choosing to fill myself up with?
I'm still reading through the links you've provided, and then through the links they've provided.
I'll most likely need to look up what each of these exercises are and how to perform them. While skimming through I didn't see any explanation of the exercises themselves.
Not really important as the main point of the thread is the exercise routine itself, which is much appreciated.

Besides overall nutrition, I do have one further question regarding the exercise routines in general.
They keep talking about plateauing, and how to get around plateau's.
If you get to your goal, should/can you stay at a plateau, or will this slowly become an issue?
Even in my mind I kind of see this as a lazy approach, and have a hard time typing it, because I know you should always stretch for new heights..
I think what I'm wondering is how do you stop striving to become better, and instead transfer to maintaining what you've already achieved?

"If this is your very first time working out then I advise you start with 50% of what you think you can handle."
My favourite quote from the link so far.

I think the hardest part of doing this is the lifestyle change.
But being fat sucks for so many reasons.
Adding 2 hours of work a day to my 0 hours of work should not be a difficult decision.

Btw, thank you.

 

[SamX]

This might just be a personal issue, but I've never found vegetables, (with the exception of potatoes), to be filling at all.
I can easily eat a large salad bowl's worth of vegetables( garden salad type vegetables, carrots/lettuce/cucumber/tomato/spinach/green&yellow beans), and typically will start to feel full at that point.
Is there a specific variety of vegetables I should be choosing to fill myself up with?
I'm still reading through the links you've provided, and then through the links they've provided.
I'll most likely need to look up what each of these exercises are and how to perform them. While skimming through I didn't see any explanation of the exercises themselves.
Not really important as the main point of the thread is the exercise routine itself, which is much appreciated.

Besides overall nutrition, I do have one further question regarding the exercise routines in general.
They keep talking about plateauing, and how to get around plateau's.
If you get to your goal, should/can you stay at a plateau, or will this slowly become an issue?
Even in my mind I kind of see this as a lazy approach, and have a hard time typing it, because I know you should always stretch for new heights..
I think what I'm wondering is how do you stop striving to become better, and instead transfer to maintaining what you've already achieved?

"If this is your very first time working out then I advise you start with 50% of what you think you can handle."
My favourite quote from the link so far.

I think the hardest part of doing this is the lifestyle change.
But being fat sucks for so many reasons.
Adding 2 hours of work a day to my 0 hours of work should not be a difficult decision.

Btw, thank you.

Eat whichever vegetables you like the most. You need to learn to feel "hungry". I'm not saying you need to feel starved. It'll feel bad at first, but you'll get used to the feeling. You really need to teach yourself to resist temptations on snacks.

Go to bodybuilding.com - they have tons of very thorough guides on how to do these excercises. Do it carefully at first with just the bar to get used to the movements (especially squats and deadlifts - you can really injure yourself doing these excercises if done incorrectly).

Don't worry about plateaus right now. You won't hit it for a long time. Basically you'll start lifting - I think the goal is to increase each excercise by 5lbs a workout (off memory, check the thread). When you start to not progress after 3 workouts in a row it might be time to either change your routine up or adjust your diet. But don't worry you'll be looking good and have better knowledge by the time that happens!

Really to maintain you'll just need to keep working out and eating healthy. You'll always make progress while doing this. If you don't increase weights anymore you won't make as much progress and you may just maintain but trust me you'll get bored and want to progress more in the future

Just hit the gym as soon as you can!! After two weeks of going hard it'll just become habit and the motivation will get much easier!!

 

[Xikini]

Eat whichever vegetables you like the most. You need to learn to feel "hungry". I'm not saying you need to feel starved. It'll feel bad at first, but you'll get used to the feeling. You really need to teach yourself to resist temptations on snacks.

Go to bodybuilding.com - they have tons of very thorough guides on how to do these excercises. Do it carefully at first with just the bar to get used to the movements (especially squats and deadlifts - you can really injure yourself doing these excercises if done incorrectly).

Don't worry about plateaus right now. You won't hit it for a long time. Basically you'll start lifting - I think the goal is to increase each excercise by 5lbs a workout (off memory, check the thread). When you start to not progress after 3 workouts in a row it might be time to either change your routine up or adjust your diet. But don't worry you'll be looking good and have better knowledge by the time that happens!

Really to maintain you'll just need to keep working out and eating healthy. You'll always make progress while doing this. If you don't increase weights anymore you won't make as much progress and you may just maintain but trust me you'll get bored and want to progress more in the future

Just hit the gym as soon as you can!! After two weeks of going hard it'll just become habit and the motivation will get much easier!!

Well that just hit me smack in the head. haha
That might be harder then going to the gym.
Might be hard to believe, but I actually don't 'snack', I just eat really large meals.
Probably going to pm you so I don't bump the thread to infinity.

 

[LordVissie]

Probably going to pm you so I don't bump the thread to infinity.

Nono, go on here

I was fit at 150-160.

Idk how it is in your country but in holland 150 pounds is for a man pretty damn light :s

 

[xKrazyx]

You take preworkout?

 

[DestinationSer]

I started to work out week and half ago, cut out all soda and most of the unhealthy food. I've gone down 14 lb in the last week and half

 

[Xikini]

Nono, go on here

Idk how it is in your country but in holland 150 pounds is for a man pretty damn light :s

To be fair, it's been quite a few years since then, and I was very small in stature back then.
I've filled out more, and not just in my gut. (24 almost 25 atm.)
My shoulders are about 1.5-2 inches broader, and I'm about 2-3 inches taller I'd estimate. (Around 20-21)
Before then I was sitting at 115 pounds (I did not mistype.), and no matter how much or little I'd eat I couldn't gain or lose a pound. (Around 15 years old)

 

[Fantasy Mage]

 

[Heon]

To be fair, it's been quite a few years since then, and I was very small in stature back then.
I've filled out more, and not just in my gut. (24 almost 25 atm.)
My shoulders are about 1.5-2 inches broader, and I'm about 2-3 inches taller I'd estimate. (Around 20-21)
Before then I was sitting at 115 pounds (I did not mistype.), and no matter how much or little I'd eat I couldn't gain or lose a pound. (Around 15 years old)

How tall are you?

 

[SamX]

You take preworkout?

Rarely. If I've had a long day at work I might take a scoop to help out.

I started to work out week and half ago, cut out all soda and most of the unhealthy food. I've gone down 14 lb in the last week and half

Good work. Keep doing what you're doing. However you should try and lose 2-3 pounds per week at most to minimize muscle loss.

 

[Xikini]

How tall are you?

I think 5' 10" maybe 11"

 

[DestinationSer]

Rarely. If I've had a long day at work I might take a scoop to help out.


Good work. Keep doing what you're doing. However you should try and lose 2-3 pounds per week at most to minimize muscle loss.

No worries, im not starving myself hehe. Mostly just losing fat x'D
Im slightly overweight for my height so from the recommendation from my doctor Im trying to hit the normal weight for my height.

I do 25 minutes in the morning (sometimes before i eat, and sometimes after) on one of those bicycle machine thingies that I recently bought to train my feet and also to lose weight quickly.
Then couple hours before I go to bed I do 10 minutes on the bicycle for my metabolism to kick in and start working properly.

I recently also ordered kettlebells (https://www.komplett.no/product/852...ngsutstyr/kettlebells/abilica-kettlebell-8-kg)

 

[LordVissie]

I think 5' 10" maybe 11"

For people who wanna know: That's 178 cm.

 

[SamX]

No worries, im not starving myself hehe. Mostly just losing fat x'D
Im slightly overweight for my height so from the recommendation from my doctor Im trying to hit the normal weight for my height.

I do 25 minutes in the morning (sometimes before i eat, and sometimes after) on one of those bicycle machine thingies that I recently bought to train my feet and also to lose weight quickly.
Then couple hours before I go to bed I do 10 minutes on the bicycle for my metabolism to kick in and start working properly.

I recently also ordered kettlebells (https://www.komplett.no/product/852...ngsutstyr/kettlebells/abilica-kettlebell-8-kg)

Good work! I recommend an elliptical (those stair moving things) as they burn the most calories (for me anyway). Also if you can hit a gym and do some workouts you'll convert a lot of fat into muscle which will help you in the long run!

 

[xKrazyx]

@Xikini
@Raxon
Im a big believer that muscles are built in the Kitchen more than the gym.

 

[SamX]

@Xikini
@Raxon
Im a big believer that muscles are built in the Kitchen more than the gym.

Absolutely. Muscle is 80% diet and 20% workout routine.

 

[Xikini]

@Xikini
@Raxon
Im a big believer that muscles are built in the Kitchen more than the gym.

Yes, my diet is fairly poor.
Once I get up and running here, I'll probably set-up a forum thread with my progress.
I'm not as beautiful as @Damon , But I'll probably post some pictures of myself every month or so.
Don't wish me luck. I don't need luck for this adventure.