Need some basic help with exercise

Ashfield

I play 5 a side twice a week, Do 100 sit ups every night
Go for a 3 mile jog at the weekend, (will increase this next week)
Now i have dumbells at home but no bench or machines,
I just want to lose some of my belly and tone it up,
And use my dumbells to build up my arms, they are far thinner in proportion to the rest of my body, im not fat but they are very thin.
What kind of simple dumbell exercises should i do to compliment what i want? Should i take supplements to help build up weight/muscle on my arms?
Thanks lads

entropi

I'll get in here first and say that yes, 5-a side and jogging are decent ways of losing weight, and lifting weights is definately a good way to replace fat with muscle, but the thing you must do first in order to shift weight from your stomach is adjust your diet, even post your typical daily food/drink intake here so there is a start to the process.

Doing 100 sit-ups every night don't mean jack if you don't have proper nutrition to back up all the exercise you do. And for suggestions to arm exercises, have a look on ExRx under the exercises menu.

Ashfield

thanks for the reply,
as regard my typical daily diet:
8.00 cereal - weetabix
11.00 tea and toast/scone
1.00 small dinner in work - 1 slice of meat, potato and some veg
3.00 fruit
6.30 dinner - usual meat, spuds and veg or casserole, meatballs etc - nothing too bad like burgers or pizzas etc
9.30 maybe a late cereal,
might have a half a twix sometime during the day

Im sure there might be room for improvement above but nothing major i hope!

Should i take supplements to aid building up weight and/or muscle on arms?

thanks

mack1

Replace the weetabix with porridge.
Drop toast/scone from break
Drop the potato from lunch
Drop the potato from dinner unless it's a night you are playing football
Drop the cereal before bed
Drop the twix (have 1 every second week if you like)

Instead eat higher protein, lower carb snacks, replace with lots of veg for lunch and dinner, replace with protein based snacks during the day, eggs, tuna, chicken, nuts etc etc.

Ashfield

Thanks for the advice,
ill give that a go, ill certainly introduce some of those ideas into my diet but due to the food availability in the canteen in work im limited,
must try bring food to work,
last question now: are supplements as good as they say?

rgiller

If you want a break from sit ups, I've been doing a set of core exercises over the past 8 weeks or so that burn more calories that crunches and hit all the abdominal muscles (as well as arms, legs and back to some extent). They go like this:

1. Alt push up: do a push up and at the top of the motion, shift your weight onto your left arm and move your right hand from the floor to your right hip while keeping the arm straight. Hold for a second and two and put it back, then repeat on your left side. Do 20 of these (10 right and 10 left). You can do this while holding light dumb bells for better workout

2. Dumbbell lunges: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and hold a light dumb bell in each hand (~5kg). Raise right hand straight above your head and lunge forward with right foot until knee joint is at a right angle. Stand back up and repeat on other side. Do 20 (10 right, 10 left).

3. Single arm deadlift: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and heavy weight (>10kg, depends on your strength) between feet. Squat down and grab the weight with your right hand. Keeping back straight and head up, stand up straight using the strength of your quads, hold for a second, lower to ground. Do 5 reps (without releasing the weight). Change to left hand for 5 reps. Do further 5 reps on each side (20 altogether).

4. Woodcutting: Grab a single light weight (~5kg) by both hands and hold next to right ear. Bring weight down to just above left knee in quick but controlled motion, while rotating your torso slightly to left. Repeat 10 times and then switch to other side.

5. Single arm standing row: Legs shoulder width apart, heavy weight nextto right foot. Bend knees slightly and lower your upper body until your back is parallel with the floor (back straight). Grab the weight and lift it to your right hip, using your bicep's strength. Hold and lower again. Do 10 times on each side.


Phew! Lot of typing. These are a great set and make a welcome break from situps. Shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.

aye

mack1 wrote: »

Replace the weetabix with porridge.
Drop toast/scone from break
Drop the potato from lunch
Drop the potato from dinner unless it's a night you are playing football
Drop the cereal before bed
Drop the twix (have 1 every second week if you like)

Instead eat higher protein, lower carb snacks, replace with lots of veg for lunch and dinner, replace with protein based snacks during the day, eggs, tuna, chicken, nuts etc etc.

you'll have to eat some carbs in all fairness. dropping all carbs will mean his body will use the protein for energy.

OP you could prob eat a small dinner for dinner also. so same portion as you have for lunch. definately have some carbs before football, as mack1 said.
the twix aint gonna kill ya, but either will not having it.
cereal before bed, could replace it with some protein source, cottege cheese before bed is popular.

mack1

aye wrote: »

you'll have to eat some carbs in all fairness. dropping all carbs will mean his body will use the protein for energy.

OP you could prob eat a small dinner for dinner also. so same portion as you have for lunch. definately have some carbs before football, as mack1 said.
the twix aint gonna kill ya, but either will not having it.
cereal before bed, could replace it with some protein source, cottege cheese before bed is popular.

I didn't say drop all carbs at all, porridge for breakfast, lots of veg with lunch and dinner.

Ashfield

Thanks lads,
Dont want to sound ignorant but ive a rubbish knowledge of food nutrition,
What i mean is that at the moment when someone says carbs, protein etc is goes over my head,
Ill have to look them up to know what is what
Sound

mack1

Good idea - start here!

prodigal_son

Sit ups are pretty poor exercise to build stomach muscle.

less fat = higher definition stomach.

To loose fat, Work out the big muscle groups, by doing things like squats. You dont need to use weights, just do squats up and down, it will raise your heart rate, When your heart rate gets high, half your energy comes directly from fat, because you are working bigger muscles than your stomach muscles, they will eat more energy, and more fat.

Cycling is a good way to loose fat, cycle at a constant pace, fast enough to be able to talk without becoming too breathless, and keep that pace for maybe half an hour.

Replace snack foods with raw vegetables/fruit, I find carrots quite nice.

Then cut some calories out for the duration of the losing weight period, maybe 200 - 300 a night.

Keep some carbs in your diet, carbs are essential to the process of using fat as energy. If you cut too many carbs out of your diet, you will put the weight back on after you return to a normal diet/exercise routine.

If you want to get bigger arms, eat some protein, and do weights, Building muscle is different than losing weight, you want to push the muscle group to failure with a high enough weight. You then want to rest until you feel grand, and then do the same, do weights until you can not lift them anymore, the second time you wont be able to do so many repetitions.

When the fat falls low enough, your stomach muscles will become defined.

If you want to make them bigger, dont bother with situps, instead go to a gym, go to a lat pull down machine, Its the one with a bar hanging on a wire above your head. Usually you use your arms to pull the bar up and down.

But instead pick a lighter weight, use your arms to pull the bar down to your forehead, and then curl your stomach to pull the weight down and up.

Do leg lifts for your lower stomach muscles, if you want them to be huge, add weights to your ankles.

If you do decide to bulk up your stomach, you will have to add protein shakes to your diet, and work out your whole body, as you dont want one muscle group being bigger than the rest.

I would just get my fat low enough to have a defined stomach and not bother bulking it up personally.

meriwether

Ive been on a diet/exercise regime (in the loosest possible sense) since January.
I lost about half a stone up until March, but then put it on again.
Anyhow, Ive gone back to basics - any feedback appreciated:

Todays diet:

Porridge with half a banana and honey to taste
Yoghurt
Orange

Lunch there: Chicken salad - homemade, onion/tomatoe/cheese. Helmans Mayo to taste - prob the only bad thing?

Later - a satsuma and yoghurt

Dinner tonight: Pork stirfry, chowmein sauce, carrotts and Broccolli, rice (homemade, sauce out of jar though).

Going for a run about approx 1.25 miles tonoght, and 30 odd sit-ups.

Im horridly unfit, and have an enormous appetite - do you guys know any effective exercises I should do at this stage, and things I can nibble on to keep hunger at bay?

Jimmy Bottlehead

meriwether wrote: »

Ive been on a diet/exercise regime (in the loosest possible sense) since January.
I lost about half a stone up until March, but then put it on again.
Anyhow, Ive gone back to basics - any feedback appreciated:

Todays diet:

Porridge with half a banana and honey to taste
Yoghurt
Orange

Lunch there: Chicken salad - homemade, onion/tomatoe/cheese. Helmans Mayo to taste - prob the only bad thing?

Later - a satsuma and yoghurt

Dinner tonight: Pork stirfry, chowmein sauce, carrotts and Broccolli, rice (homemade, sauce out of jar though).

Going for a run about approx 1.25 miles tonoght, and 30 odd sit-ups.

Im horridly unfit, and have an enormous appetite - do you guys know any effective exercises I should do at this stage, and things I can nibble on to keep hunger at bay?

Nuts are a great choice, as would be a whey shake.

Ashfield

So much good advice and help, sound
i reckon i need to tone the belly more than lose loads of fat (im hoping anyway!!)
my main priority is building my my arms, forearms are terribly thin, ive done weights in gyms before and built up strength but never built up size, this is why im edging towards supplements but they do seem expensive, admittedly ive only had a quick look in the argos book!!

#Smokey#

drop the argos book immediately. plenty of protein is what is needed here. and shop around if you are going to buy supplements argos doesnt sell the best stuff youd be better off buyin a tub from your gym instead

mack1

Ashfield wrote: »

So much good advice and help, sound
i reckon i need to tone the belly more than lose loads of fat (im hoping anyway!!)

There is no such thing as toning a belly, that is fat around your stomach, to lose it you must lose fat - that simple. They say six packs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym for a reason.

And supps aren't going to build your arms - like with any other muscle, train them, eat, then rest them and they will grow - that'll get you 95% of the way there, supps will only get you that last 5% - they're not a short cut.