Help with getting fit! :D

Dr_Teeth

Hello everyone, I've decided to start getting proper exercise for the first time in years and I have lots of questions.

First a bit about me:

When I was younger I was very fit from swimming galas and life guard training but when I started in university doing Computer Science that all went out the window. I'm almost 30 now and after 4 years of college and 8 years of work with computers I'm completely unfit and unhappy with my appearance.

I'm about 5'11" and about 13 stone so I'm not hugely overweight (I hope) but it's all flab and no muscle boo! I get out of breath running for a bus or on stairways and it's just depressing.

Also I'm not very flexible at all - last year I went Snowboarding and I pulled a muscle in my stomach which hurt really bad for a week! I also wasn't able to get back on the snowboard easily when I fell in deep snow (you need to have lots of strength/bendiness in your middle to do it apparently).

So the idea is to get fit and strong and flexible (and look good) over the next 6 months so that my next Snowboarding trip in March '07 is all fun and no pain.

I've done a bit of lurking on this forum over the last week and I think the thing to do is to come up with a daily plan/diet sort of thing and see what you guys think, and ask questions. My diet is pretty good already I think (otherwise I'd probably be the size of a whale from lack of exercise hehe!) but I'll note that down too.

Ze plan:

I'd like to fit some sort of exercise into my weekdays only, at the weekends usually travel to meet family/go out with friends/take driving lessons/sleep etc.

Monday - Friday:

07.00 - 08.00 Get up and exercise in my apartment (I really can't see myself going to a Gym or Pool etc. at that hour of the morning, but I really would like to do *something* at this time, to get a routine going).

08.00 - 08.30 Breakfast (usually brown toast with egg, or porridge, or shredded wheat, with fruit juice, banana and supplements).

08.30 - 09.00 Get ready for work.

09.00 - 09.30 Walk to work.

09.30 - 13.00 Work (with glasses of water or tea).

13.00 - 14.00 Take a walk and have lunch (usually brown bread sandwich or wrap, fruit, water).

14.00 - 18.00 Work (with glasses of water).

18.00 - 19.00 Walk home, do shopping, relax at home.

19.00 - 20.00/21.00 Exercise (this could be one or two hours, and could be anything - maybe Gym, maybe swimming, maybe running.. or perhaps martial arts classes or pilates/yoga/tai-chi.. I really don't know).

20.00/21.00 - 23.00 Dinner (I like indian/chinese/japanese/italian dishes - at the moment I cook 50% and eat supermarket ready-meals 50%, I need to improve here I guess) followed by Relaxing/TV/Computer.

23.00 - 07.00 Sleep

Ok.. my current weekday looks just like what I've described above except instead of the morning exercises I am in bed, and instead of the evening exercises I'm in front of the TV or playing computer games.

Questions:

What should I do for morning exercises at home? Ideally I'd like to do roughly the same exercises, or at least, the same types of exercises each morning so it becomes a routine thing that I can do almost on auto-pilot.

What equipment, if any, would I need?

Should I eat something immediately before I start or just wait until afterwards when I usually have breakfast?

For evening exercises how should I structure my week? Should I train different body parts each day? or only exercise 3 times a week? (like mon/wed/fri with rest on tue/thur), or going swimming only on tue/thur? etc.

I've read some comments here about drinking protein shakes and eating lots of small meals etc.. do I need to think about that or is that only for building big muscles after I get fit?

I've also read about the timing of when/what you eat vs when you exercise and how that affects whether your body stores fat or burns fat but I don't really understand it! Could some explain or post some links on the subject?

Whew, ok that was a long post. Let me know what you guys think!

Cheers,
Teeth.

Odysseus

Hi mate, I won't comment on the diet as there are better people here than me around this. What are you thinking of doing in the morning, would a morning run be suitable? If you do start running strat off with about 15-20 mins first, take it gently, and warm up first. Make sure you get a good pair of trainers, you could also try some skipping. Generally I don't eat for an hour before training, but people differ. Also I think a MA class might be a good idea to help you get fit and stay motivated, well it works for me inanyway. I would suggest that you start of with three times a week, and you can build it up from there. Remember a march of a thousand miles starts with the first step. Best of luck with it mate.

Dr_Teeth

Cheers! I dunno if I could face winter mornings running around the streets of Dublin, but there's a swimming pool near my apartment - ESB Sportsco - which looks pretty nice. I'm going to check it out today.

Teeth.

Jumpy

Dr_Teeth wrote:

I've read some comments here about drinking protein shakes and eating lots of small meals etc.. do I need to think about that or is that only for building big muscles after I get fit?

I've also read about the timing of when/what you eat vs when you exercise and how that affects whether your body stores fat or burns fat but I don't really understand it! Could some explain or post some links on the subject?



Cheers,
Teeth.

I still have a lot to learn, this I will prove by asking stupid questions here over the next few weeks.
However. What I have picked up is two important things.

1) Small meals regularly beats Large meals three times a day.

2) Dont eat fats and carbs in the same meal. Carbs affect insulin which will then store your fats.

g'em

Jumpy wrote:

1) Small meals regularly beats Large meals three times a day.

yup, small emals keeps your metabolism ticking over nicely and helps you control your appetite. Do't worry too much about protein shakes if you don't lift. They're not magic powder or anything, they're literally just an additional way to incease teh amount of protein in your diet which needs to be high to build muscle.

Jumpy wrote:

2) Dont eat fats and carbs in the same meal. Carbs affect insulin which will then store your fats.

meh, don't get too bogged down with macronutrient timing. Eat fats and carbs together, and clea up your diete ebfore you worry about the intricacies like this. But having ssaid that, try and eat starchy carbs (pasta, bread, rice, oats) earlier rather than later.

Dr_Teeth

Ok I'll try that! So what kind of foods would you recommend for my evening meal then, after exercise?

Teeth.