Cardio Advice for a Gym Newbie!

Jack Bauer999

Hi Everyone

This is my first post on this forum,
I’ve been reading through the various fitness tips and stuff for a while now.
About a month ago I finally took the plunge and quit smoking. This left me with bundles of energy so i joined my local gym.
I’m wonder could some of the wise folk out there give me some direction in my quest.

I’m Male, 27 years old,
5 ,11,
76 kg
bodyfat?!? (not really sure how to calculate that)

The only real problem i have with my body is my chest and stomach area, now don’t get me wrong I would not say im fat or anything, more like flabby around the chest and small bit of a pot belly i.e. there's a layer of fat around that whole area that i just want to get rid of.

Bear in mind I’m only started back at the gym and before when i smoked i didn’t really do any exercise,
so please don’t slate me!! but my current program is basically just
- 15 mins on the exercise bike (distance around 8km)
- 16-18 mins run on the treadmill (distance 3km )
- 20 - 30 crunches/sit ups
i been doing this 4 -5 days a week for the last couple of weeks.

Basically im only doing cardio at the moment,

My diet is also not great, but i think i can work on that myself with
the info on this forum.

So can anyone tell me what in the gym i need to use to get the best results around this area of the body? or should i just improve my diet and keep working on the current cardio program in doing?
Any other info you think would help would be much appreciated

Thanks

copacetic

i'm sure others will have plenty of advice, but you do need to work out your diet and increase the amount of time you are on the bike and treadmill. You have a good start there, but if you can build up to 30-45 mins on each 4 times a week and a couple of weights sessions you will see results quickly.

Jack Bauer999

daveym wrote:

i'm sure others will have plenty of advice, but you do need to work out your diet and increase the amount of time you are on the bike and treadmill. You have a good start there, but if you can build up to 30-45 mins on each 4 times a week and a couple of weights sessions you will see results quickly.

cheers dave, just wanted to make sure im heading in the right direction,
dont want to end up spending a few months going to the gym without any results and then losing interest!!

hunnymonster

Some people find having a goal a great motivator to keep working hard? Have you any interest in being able to lift a certain amount? Maybe to run a marathon this year?.... Works for some, not for others.


Who is it has in their signiture somthing along the lines of "IF YOU'RE NOT IMPROVING YOU ARE GOING BACKWARDS" It's very true. Don't get caught in the trap of doing the same thing day in day out.

Jack Bauer999

i woulnt be very interested in being able to lift a lot to be honest, but i did actually think about running a half marathon. that could be a good motovation alright. cheers

dave i took your advice last night and extended my run to 40 mins and suprisingly enought it wasnt too bad!!

copacetic

nice one, you could easily do a half this year if you wanted to. The one in the build up to the marathon is in sep. the key is consistency and to get a balance between always pushing yourself and not getting injured or over trained.

So for instance you might do 2x40 mins this week along with 2 normal ones, 3x40 next week, 4x40 the next week, then step it back to 2x40 the following week. Once you can handle 4 runs at 40 mins a go I'd move onto 5/6 days training. 3 easy runs of 30-40 mins, 1 longer run and one speed run (hill work, tempo run or intervals).

From there you build up your long run week on week, say in a sequence like 6,7,8,9,7,10,11,12,10 etc. The longer runs get you used to time on your feet and are what make a big diff to the longer races, once you have done a few 10 mile runs, a 10k feels much easier...