Monday, Jun 13, 2005
I've been growing a beer belly of late, so it was time (according to everyone else I know), to join the gym again. Pretty much all of my friends, most of them who are fit, have gotten beer bellies from non-stop barbeques and golfing (as our main excercise) of late. So I decided to join the gym again (after a years absense), and man am I in pain.
That first workout just kills you. I can barely lift my arms up to the keyboard, and I drive like a granny with hands at 10 and 2 because otherwise they drop down. I have to go to work in a bit, that's going to be a pain, though luckily I'm in an office now, not like previous grocery store jobs.
Anyway, do you guys know of any ways to get over the initial pain and anguish so I can hit the gym again quick? I don't want to be knocked out for too long and lose my drive. I can't believe it hurts this much. I'm only doing light weights and cardio. Last time me and my buddy did strengh training, and we were hurting as bad as this, I figured I'd have a little discomfort. Oh well. Gotta go through the pain I guess.
Main targets out of the gym:
1)No pop. Just water. I can live with that
2)No food after six in the evening. This'll be hard, since I'm sometimes hungry when I get off at 9
3)Stick to subway for fast food. Sure, it isn't as healthy as a salad, but it's miles better than BK or Mcdonalds.
That first workout just kills you. I can barely lift my arms up to the keyboard, and I drive like a granny with hands at 10 and 2 because otherwise they drop down. I have to go to work in a bit, that's going to be a pain, though luckily I'm in an office now, not like previous grocery store jobs.
Anyway, do you guys know of any ways to get over the initial pain and anguish so I can hit the gym again quick? I don't want to be knocked out for too long and lose my drive. I can't believe it hurts this much. I'm only doing light weights and cardio. Last time me and my buddy did strengh training, and we were hurting as bad as this, I figured I'd have a little discomfort. Oh well. Gotta go through the pain I guess.
Main targets out of the gym:
1)No pop. Just water. I can live with that
2)No food after six in the evening. This'll be hard, since I'm sometimes hungry when I get off at 9
3)Stick to subway for fast food. Sure, it isn't as healthy as a salad, but it's miles better than BK or Mcdonalds.
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Posted Jun 13, 2005 7:34 pm PT
Advil. Lots and lots of Advil.
I lost a good chunk of my belly by doing some DDR 2-3 times a week. I also went through a dramatic diet change. My diet consists of a bowl of cereal in the morning, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and a Lean Cusine meal for dinner. I stopped eating fast food, sweets, and snacks.
So far I've lost over 20 pounds in a little over 2 months doing this. My diet before I started was quite bad, though. Still, I don't think you need to kill yourself. The DDR is great because it doesn't seem like work. It's fun. And the diet is definitely doable. It's just about eating less, basically. You do get hungry sometimes, but once you start losing weight, that provides you with an incentive to keep going. I've had so many people comment on how much better I look, and I'm getting a lot more looks from the ladies, which makes me want to keep at it.
I lost a good chunk of my belly by doing some DDR 2-3 times a week. I also went through a dramatic diet change. My diet consists of a bowl of cereal in the morning, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and a Lean Cusine meal for dinner. I stopped eating fast food, sweets, and snacks.
So far I've lost over 20 pounds in a little over 2 months doing this. My diet before I started was quite bad, though. Still, I don't think you need to kill yourself. The DDR is great because it doesn't seem like work. It's fun. And the diet is definitely doable. It's just about eating less, basically. You do get hungry sometimes, but once you start losing weight, that provides you with an incentive to keep going. I've had so many people comment on how much better I look, and I'm getting a lot more looks from the ladies, which makes me want to keep at it.
Posted Jun 13, 2005 8:16 pm PT
I lift regularly.
The pain you are experiencing is from tiny tears forming in the muscle. These tiny tears eventually heal and form scar tissue which is what makes the muscle bigger.
It's a good thing, the pain, because it means that you are exerting your muscles to a point where they will grow. As far as weights go, it's all about the sets and reps. Your goal should be to do three sets of fifteen reps. If you can't do that, you're lifting too much. If it's way too easy, you need to increase the weights.
Also, it's recommended to do cardio and weights on separate days. Exercise is aerobic whereas weight lifting is anaerobic and the two can counteract each other's gains if you're not careful.
You've got the diet thing nailed though. Also, you may want to pick up some creatine, glutamine and whey protein supplements to take on your workout days. Make a whey protein shake about an hour or two before your workout. Then eat the glutamine after. You also want an abundance of protein in your diet. Protein is what builds muscle. Carbs are for energy. The tricky part is that carbs convert to fat if unused, so you should only take in as many carbs as necessary, and there's definitely a good carb and a bad carb. Excess protein gets flushed away by the body without turning to fat. I would load up those Subway sandwiches with double meat. Cut the mayo, cheese is okay but not in excess.
Keep up on the exercises. Your body is like a steam engine; once it builds up momentum, the pounds will fly off. Also, there's not much use in working your abs at this point. Chances are your abs are fine, you just need to trim the belly away to get a good look at them.
Now go out there and kick some ass, Minda! You'll feel like real life dual wielding in no time.
EDIT: Oh, and don't work out when your muscles are still screaming. The muscle needs to heal before being torched again. What most lifters do is work different parts of the body while another is healing. For example, do your arms and chest on Monday, then lower body on Tuesday. Maybe aerobic on Wednesday, and by Thursday your arms should be up to snuff. It's also important to vary the excercises themselves. Like doing bench presses and lat pulldowns on one upper boday day, then doing pushups and supersets (overhead press alternating between front and back) the next day. And music! As loud and hard as you can take it. It helps, trust me.
And by all means avoid the vanilla protein shake mix. It redefines nasty! The chocolate is fairly palatable.
EDIT EDIT: And for aerobic, go for brisk walking over running. Don't worry, you don't have to look like those lame power walkers you see from time to time, just a nice, steady pace. The only thing running will get you that walking won't is bad knees and joints.
The pain you are experiencing is from tiny tears forming in the muscle. These tiny tears eventually heal and form scar tissue which is what makes the muscle bigger.
It's a good thing, the pain, because it means that you are exerting your muscles to a point where they will grow. As far as weights go, it's all about the sets and reps. Your goal should be to do three sets of fifteen reps. If you can't do that, you're lifting too much. If it's way too easy, you need to increase the weights.
Also, it's recommended to do cardio and weights on separate days. Exercise is aerobic whereas weight lifting is anaerobic and the two can counteract each other's gains if you're not careful.
You've got the diet thing nailed though. Also, you may want to pick up some creatine, glutamine and whey protein supplements to take on your workout days. Make a whey protein shake about an hour or two before your workout. Then eat the glutamine after. You also want an abundance of protein in your diet. Protein is what builds muscle. Carbs are for energy. The tricky part is that carbs convert to fat if unused, so you should only take in as many carbs as necessary, and there's definitely a good carb and a bad carb. Excess protein gets flushed away by the body without turning to fat. I would load up those Subway sandwiches with double meat. Cut the mayo, cheese is okay but not in excess.
Keep up on the exercises. Your body is like a steam engine; once it builds up momentum, the pounds will fly off. Also, there's not much use in working your abs at this point. Chances are your abs are fine, you just need to trim the belly away to get a good look at them.
Now go out there and kick some ass, Minda! You'll feel like real life dual wielding in no time.
EDIT: Oh, and don't work out when your muscles are still screaming. The muscle needs to heal before being torched again. What most lifters do is work different parts of the body while another is healing. For example, do your arms and chest on Monday, then lower body on Tuesday. Maybe aerobic on Wednesday, and by Thursday your arms should be up to snuff. It's also important to vary the excercises themselves. Like doing bench presses and lat pulldowns on one upper boday day, then doing pushups and supersets (overhead press alternating between front and back) the next day. And music! As loud and hard as you can take it. It helps, trust me.
And by all means avoid the vanilla protein shake mix. It redefines nasty! The chocolate is fairly palatable.
EDIT EDIT: And for aerobic, go for brisk walking over running. Don't worry, you don't have to look like those lame power walkers you see from time to time, just a nice, steady pace. The only thing running will get you that walking won't is bad knees and joints.
Posted Jun 13, 2005 8:33 pm PT
Whoa, awesome replies, guys. Ah, so it was 15 reps x 3, Shame-us, I was trying to reach 10. I do crank the music on my ipod mini, which I got a few days ago. I wanted to post about it, but my image hoster isn't letting me sign in.
Nothing better than sitting in a row behind a hottie and having Pantera's 'five minutes alone' come on (not a fan, but man they get you going). People in the gym could probably see me bouncing my head back and fourth to the music.
If there's one incentive to keep going, it's the hotties in the gym man. Holy Jee-bus, they're everywhere in that building.
As for the diet, I will try and find some good protein shakes. I really do hate the chalky taste, but I'll get used to it.
I didn't know about the cardio/weights conflicting problem. I'll probably do Cardio on Mondays, and weights on Wednesday/Thursday, with hockey on Tuesdays. Still, I usually warm up on the treadmill though.
Is it a bad thing that I don't sweat much? I mean, I see some guys just soaking in there, but I'll work out for like an hour and a half, and I may have a few drips on my forehead. I've never been a big sweater..wondering if that impacts how much I lose in weight...
Nothing better than sitting in a row behind a hottie and having Pantera's 'five minutes alone' come on (not a fan, but man they get you going). People in the gym could probably see me bouncing my head back and fourth to the music.
If there's one incentive to keep going, it's the hotties in the gym man. Holy Jee-bus, they're everywhere in that building.
As for the diet, I will try and find some good protein shakes. I really do hate the chalky taste, but I'll get used to it.
I didn't know about the cardio/weights conflicting problem. I'll probably do Cardio on Mondays, and weights on Wednesday/Thursday, with hockey on Tuesdays. Still, I usually warm up on the treadmill though.
Is it a bad thing that I don't sweat much? I mean, I see some guys just soaking in there, but I'll work out for like an hour and a half, and I may have a few drips on my forehead. I've never been a big sweater..wondering if that impacts how much I lose in weight...
Posted Jun 14, 2005 1:04 am PT
As far as aerobic is concerned, the sweat is important. Or maybe not.
What you're looking for is called your target heart rate. This is how many beats your heart does a minute while exercising. It's important to get this number up high enough otherwise you aren't utilizing the time to its full potential.
There's a method for finding your target heart rate, but I can't remember it- dammit!
You should be able to find it online or in a bookstore.
And yes, the girls are a definite incentive and a constant motivator.
Oh yeah, and it might be good to have a BMI (Body Mass Index) done. One of the instructors at the gym probably has one. They come in one of two shapes. One looks like a boomerang with metal handles. You hold the metal handles and it sends a low-grade current through your body and detects what your body fat percentage is and such. There's reference materials for figuring out what your ideal BMI is, age and height being the most important factors I think. There's also the old fashioned BMI test, which is basically a set of calipers that the instructors pinches on certain points of the body to get the reading.
What you're looking for is called your target heart rate. This is how many beats your heart does a minute while exercising. It's important to get this number up high enough otherwise you aren't utilizing the time to its full potential.
There's a method for finding your target heart rate, but I can't remember it- dammit!
You should be able to find it online or in a bookstore.
And yes, the girls are a definite incentive and a constant motivator.
Oh yeah, and it might be good to have a BMI (Body Mass Index) done. One of the instructors at the gym probably has one. They come in one of two shapes. One looks like a boomerang with metal handles. You hold the metal handles and it sends a low-grade current through your body and detects what your body fat percentage is and such. There's reference materials for figuring out what your ideal BMI is, age and height being the most important factors I think. There's also the old fashioned BMI test, which is basically a set of calipers that the instructors pinches on certain points of the body to get the reading.
Posted Jun 14, 2005 2:22 am PT
I actually have the method for finding your target heart rate in my health notebook at school. I have a phys.ed exam on Wednesday so i'm bringing the book home so i'll remember to post what it is.
Posted Jun 14, 2005 2:38 am PT
Target Heart Rate = 220-age. So mine would be 203.
Posted Jun 15, 2005 8:10 pm PT
Mine would be 198. Thanks for the info Gamer.
Posted Jun 16, 2005 2:20 am PT
no food after 6? impossible! no one can live like that!
Late night sushi restaurants around the globe would go out of business.
Late night sushi restaurants around the globe would go out of business.
Posted Jun 16, 2005 10:06 pm PT
most of the information you have received so far has been innacurate, if not downright wrong
first of all, scar tissue is a terribly BAD thing. what shame us said is not only wrong, but dangerous. you want to build up your endurance when lifting weights, not slack off and the work really hard all of a sudden. Although the scar tissue right now is only causing you temporary pain, it can and most likely will cause you problems later on in life if you contine to work your self to the point where the pain is unberable. think about it, tearing your muscles sounds bad doesnt it? well it is, you dont want that to happen at all. you should build up to strenous workouts, going from 2 reps to 3 reps to 4 reps, and then raising the weight. But you should never do a weight that you can not do more then one rep on, that is what causes you the pain your experience. football coaches and other sport coaches encourage you to do this because the short term benifits are more noticeable, but when your like 50 and you cant lift your arms cuz you **** them up so bad right now, dont blame me. just work longer with less weight, it will hurt less, and it will still help you
Also, your eating plan is pretty off too, the no food after 6 thing is very bad for you. If you wish to loose weight the most effective way is to give up your regular 3 meal schedule. instead try for eating 6 meals a day, all with healthy food such as vegetables and fruits, even meat if you want. Just try to stay away from extremely processed foods such as white bread, chips, etc. in between those meals you will loose even more weight if you snack constantly. this helps to keep your insulin levels down, thereby insuring that you dont overeat when it comes to be meal time.
anyway thats my advice. Also do a **** of exercise (running, sports) not just wieght lifting. its the only way to truely loose the flab
first of all, scar tissue is a terribly BAD thing. what shame us said is not only wrong, but dangerous. you want to build up your endurance when lifting weights, not slack off and the work really hard all of a sudden. Although the scar tissue right now is only causing you temporary pain, it can and most likely will cause you problems later on in life if you contine to work your self to the point where the pain is unberable. think about it, tearing your muscles sounds bad doesnt it? well it is, you dont want that to happen at all. you should build up to strenous workouts, going from 2 reps to 3 reps to 4 reps, and then raising the weight. But you should never do a weight that you can not do more then one rep on, that is what causes you the pain your experience. football coaches and other sport coaches encourage you to do this because the short term benifits are more noticeable, but when your like 50 and you cant lift your arms cuz you **** them up so bad right now, dont blame me. just work longer with less weight, it will hurt less, and it will still help you
Also, your eating plan is pretty off too, the no food after 6 thing is very bad for you. If you wish to loose weight the most effective way is to give up your regular 3 meal schedule. instead try for eating 6 meals a day, all with healthy food such as vegetables and fruits, even meat if you want. Just try to stay away from extremely processed foods such as white bread, chips, etc. in between those meals you will loose even more weight if you snack constantly. this helps to keep your insulin levels down, thereby insuring that you dont overeat when it comes to be meal time.
anyway thats my advice. Also do a **** of exercise (running, sports) not just wieght lifting. its the only way to truely loose the flab
Posted Nov 4, 2005 12:34 pm PT
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