Starting Exerise At 19

justbringit89

Ok 19 years old and only starting to exercise to lose weight. I have a Cross Trainer in My Room. i want to mainly use this at first to get into exercise. Could anyone tell me a good Routine for starting off.

E.g. 20 Minutes a day , 4 days a week, for 4 weeks
35 minutes a day , 4 days a week for next 6 weeks etc etc,


I know its a bit lame but im only starting off and have no car to go to the gym and live 2 far away to walk it. Cheers

EileenG

Alternate cross trainer with walking (good fast pace, enough to work up a sweat) and with body weight exercises like press-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups etc.

Vary your workouts. Some days, do longer sessions on the cross trainer, maybe while watching tv. Other days, try doing one minute flat out sprints, absolutely as hard as you can, with slower recovery periods of 60-90 seconds. Do ten of those (this is called HIIT) and you should be pretty knackered.

At least three times a week, make sure you get your rate rate up to around 80-85% of max for 20 minutes. In practice, this is the pace where you can get out a few words at a time, but can't hold a conversation or sing.

Pen1987

how overweight are you? Do you only want to lose weight or you you want to 'shape up' and get good shape... i.e. gain some muscle aswell... How much effort are you prepared to put into it? Do you have a time you want to lose the weight by or anything?

justbringit89

Thanks for comments.. very, im 14 stone at 5.7.. so yes, want to lose weight mainly . Have no particular time 2 lose it by . Really Want to do this . I will be joining a gym in october i Think when i go back to NUIG.

IrishKnight

I'm almost in the same boat as the OP. I have a good BMI but my middle is a but chubby. I just want to shape up a bit, nothing to much. I've started running to build up my stamina but would appreciate some advice. Thanks

Pen1987

I'd say 30 minutes cardio, on your cross trainer before breakfast each morning, and the same before bed. Both would be to speed up metabolism. Find the max number of push ups you can do and try do that twice a day... I think that would see you losing weight pretty quick and gaining some muscle before you get to the gym but other posters might want to add to that.

strawberryfield

Completely agree with pen1987...just don't know how to use the qoutey button yoke... I was really into hockey untill my I slipped some disc's in my back. All the girls on my team we're pretty stick thin before our events so our fitness yoke would work as weight loss too. Right so, I'm thinking I'm qualified enough to offer advice, even though I'm a girl. Who plays hockey.

Emm...ok.
Before you're morning and night sessions, jog on the spot for about 5 minutes. You don't want to strain any muscles cause that be so demoralising when you've finally decided to get going. Just a nice and slow pace to get loosie goosie. Do it watching adds, brushing teeth.

Then start on the cross trainer like Pen1987 said. At the start, you wont make the half hour mark. I'll be a little fecker and say go for 10 minutes on week one, 15 week two, 25 week three and 30 week four. For me it was most important that the goals were completely achievable. I'm actually pretty lazy. Keeping a little record sheet helps, nothing fancy just a little yoke that makes you feel like you're makining progress on days when ya feel a little sluggish

Right that'll mean you'll be losing weight.

But...you need to tone or gain muscle as you loose fat. Avoids sagging skin and makes ya feel nicer too.When you find yourself watching tv, listening to music, etc. do press up's like Pen1987 said. You'll be needing a strong core too so do sit ups if you can bare to. Weights are secondary really, if you get into it you can get all that stuff. Just start off small.

Oh and drink water.

Cool, best of luck....:)

justbringit89

Jes Lads Even that bit of Advice is great to hear. How many days a week to do this exercise. To Be realistic, if i was told everyday (which i have tried 2 do be4) i do well for a week or two and it eventually stops alltogether.

My diet isnt too good. I dont think im over eating just having the wrong foods. For Breakfast I would usually have tea and toast. For snacks , maybe Weight watcher yougurts or cream crackers. dinner could be oven cooked chicken, Few chips to keep the chicken company. I know Quite Awful, But i was in the habbit of Chinese every week but starting last week , stopped that.

unreggd

Post up your full diet

it'll play a big part in shiftin fat

justbringit89

Ok Unregged, Brace Yourself.

Breakfast
1. 2 Slices of Toast with Low Fat Butter & A Cup of Tea, Followed by a Weight Watchers Yogurt.
Or
1. A bowl of Cherios wih low fat milk Followed by a Weight Watchers Yogurt.

Lunch
Boild Rice (uncle Bens) with Currys Sauce Powder.
0r
Weight Watchers Chicken Currys

Dinner
Oven Cooked Big Als Chicken Breast or Chicken Strips & Side of McCains Oven Chips

Snacks
Cream Crackers
Tai Bites
WW Yogurts
Tayo Lites

I drink alot of water which could be a very small sliverlining to thsi disaster of a diet.

I know it is the worst diet you prob seen but old habits have caught up on me. i am a very fussy eater but dont mind having a diet where im eating the same foods everyday

aye

justbringit89 wrote: »

Ok 19 years old and only starting to exercise to lose weight. I have a Cross Trainer in My Room.

Pen1987 wrote: »

I'd say 30 minutes cardio, on your cross trainer before breakfast each morning, and the same before bed. Both would be to speed up metabolism. Find the max number of push ups you can do and try do that twice a day... I think that would see you losing weight pretty quick and gaining some muscle before you get to the gym but other posters might want to add to that.

the OP is a complete beginner, doing press ups twice a day will not give the OPS muscle time to rebuild.
also low intensity cardio does not significantly speed up your metabolism.

gaining muscle to lose fat is correct, but as a beginner the OP might find it difficult to do weight bearing exercises everday.

personally OP i think you should break it up. do the crosstrainer on cardio days, mixing it up as suggested, and then the next day do the bodyweight exercises that were suggested.

you could do a circuit such as
press ups
prisoner squats
skipping
lunges
plank
tuck jumps

aiming for 15 reps on each and repeat it 3 to 4 times. for the plank do a 30 to 40 second hold. for skipping do around 30 to 40 seconds.

over time you can increase the reps/time or increase the amount of circuit you do.

tuck jumps are anaerobic (explosive), and will increase your metabolism.


hope this helps

justbringit89

aye wrote: »

the OP is a complete beginner, doing press ups twice a day will not give the OPS muscle time to rebuild.
also low intensity cardio does not significantly speed up your metabolism.

gaining muscle to lose fat is correct, but as a beginner the OP might find it difficult to do weight bearing exercises everday.

personally OP i think you should break it up. do the crosstrainer on cardio days, mixing it up as suggested, and then the next day do the bodyweight exercises that were suggested.

you could do a circuit such as
press ups
prisoner squats
skipping
lunges
plank
tuck jumps

aiming for 15 reps on each and repeat it 3 to 4 times. for the plank do a 30 to 40 second hold. for skipping do around 30 to 40 seconds.

over time you can increase the reps/time or increase the amount of circuit you do.

tuck jumps are anaerobic (explosive), and will increase your metabolism.


hope this helps

I am very helpful for the feedback but i dont have a clue of some of the stuff your saying. What is Cardio??

I knows is may be asking alot but could you giv me a plan. e.g day 1: 10 pressups, 10 mintes on the crosstrainer etc etc

also what are prison squats,planks ad tuck jumps???

Cheers but as i said im illetirate to alot of this exercise terms!

aye

justbringit89 wrote: »

I am very helpful for the feedback but i dont have a clue of some of the stuff your saying. What is Cardio??

I knows is may be asking alot but could you giv me a plan. e.g day 1: 10 pressups, 10 mintes on the crosstrainer etc etc

also what are prison squats,planks ad tuck jumps???

Cheers but as i said im illetirate to alot of this exercise terms!

ok cardio is the aerobic activity you are doing on the crosstrainer.
jogging, swimming etc are tyopes of cardio training.

anaerobic activity is like sprints, where you are pushing all out, and you arent getting oxygen in, which is why people breadth heavy after it, cos they need to replenish the oxygen.

anaerobic is also a type of cardio activity but it is high intensity.


ok the idea for the circuit is you do 15 press ups, then 15 prisoner squats, then 30 to 40 seconds skipping (aerobic, if you dont have a rope just do jumping jacks), then 15 lunges, then 30 to 40 seconds plank hold, and then 15 tuck jumps (anaerobic).

rest for a 1 to 2 minutes, then repeat 2 or 3 more times.

the idea would be that the rest time between each circuit is shorter as the days go on.

The exercises:

prisoner squat: http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=fitness&category=muscle.building&topic=total.body&conitem=42fabf0015059010VgnVCM200000cee793cd____

lunges (without dumbbells): http://exercise.about.com/od/exerciseworkouts/ss/bestbuttexercis_3.htm

plank: http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abexercises_10.htm

tuck jumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrdMYjy8P6M


Metabolism is the amount of calories your body needs for maintenance. Muscle requires more calories than fat, so people with lean muscle tissue have a higher metabolism.


What i was thinking was you would do the crosstrainer one day then the circuit the next.
so monday, wednesday, friday crosstrainer
and tuesday, thursday, saturday circuit.


as said use the crosstrainer and mix it up, one day do 30 mins at a steady intensity, then the next do interval training, where you go at a low intensity for a min, then go all out for 30 seconds, then back to a low intensity for a minute and repeat. do about maybe 15 minutes of the interval training, more if you can.

justbringit89

Cheers Mate , This Is Will Help Alot. when you say do the stuff per day , would you say for example on a monday 30 minutes on the crosstrainer once a day or twice a day???
how much weight would you say i should be losing per week/month if i stick to the program??

aye

justbringit89 wrote: »

Cheers Mate , This Is Will Help Alot. when you say do the stuff per day , would you say for example on a monday 30 minutes on the crosstrainer once a day or twice a day???
how much weight would you say i should be losing per week/month if i stick to the program??

crosstrainer once or twice is up to you really.
at least once tho.

well if you want to lose fat, i think you need to look at your diet.
read the stickies on diet, yours seems to contain a lot of processed foods, drop the big als stuff, and the oven chips. buy some non processed chicken and cook it yourself.
try eat some protein in the morning also.

you need to drop around 2 calories per pound of bodyweight per day.
its prob around 400 to 500 calories per day.
but thats not hard, once you start eating better food you'll be doing that without actually eating less, and with the added exercise which will increase you daily calorie expenditure and the circuit will help increase your metabolism.
in fact you should try and eat 5 to 6 times a day, making sure to have healthy snacks between breakfast, lunch and dinner.

you shouldn't be losing more than around 2lbs on the scale a week, if its more its likey that alot is water loss, or even some muscle loss.


just keep training and eat smart.

pick one day a week, sunday usually, where its your cheat day. so you can have those oven chips.
cheat day isnt gorge day, its simply allowing you indulge in something you are cutting back on to keep you sane.
so dont spend your cheat day eating bad every meal.

r3nu4l

Fair play to you justbringit89. I can answer some questions in general terms.

Losing weight is a combination of your diet and exercise. If you only do the exercise and keep eating like you are right now...you will lose weight but very, very slowly and as soon as you stop exercising you'll put it all back on again.

Likewise, having a great diet will help you lose weight but exercise will speed it up. Therefore to answer the question of how long and how much you need to consider these factors.

Others can advise you far better than me when it comes to diet but I think you know yourself that chips (even oven chips) are not the best option and should be eliminated or kept only as a treat every now and then

Introduce some variety into your diet. Read the diet and nutrition stickies in this forum and visit the Diet and Nutrition forum for more advice.

justbringit89

What About having the Weight Watchers Chicken Currys?? Im workin nearly every day so i could bring in a ww chicken curry into work and hav it on my lunch??

also for snacks is there any crisps or bars which are maybe low fat. Its just i know if if i go cold turkey having no things like this it wont last. at least if im having e.g Treble Crunch (any low fat crisps) as a snack i can eventually fase it out.

Also would it be ok to have Aromat ( Type of Seasoning) on the chicken???
Also would Breaded chicken be ok???

Pen1987

OP... are you sure you understand all that was posted for the circuit excercise? is any of it confusing you... because I know from personal experience if I am even slightly unsure of what excercise I'm doing I will get disheartened thinking 'why am I bothering, I'm not even doing it right... all this effort... blah blah blah' and stop it pretty quick... thats why I posted a very very simply guideline to begin with. TBH I had to click the link to see what a prisoner squat was myself... (its just a no-weight squat I now know! )

Losing weight can be over complicated VERY easily. Its basically eat-less, eat-smart, move more.



OR if you want to over complicate it...

EL+ES+m^2 = -Xkg

Eat leass + Eat smart + move more = Amount of weight lost.

aye

justbringit89 wrote: »

What About having the Weight Watchers Chicken Currys?? Im workin nearly every day so i could bring in a ww chicken curry into work and hav it on my lunch??

also for snacks is there any crisps or bars which are maybe low fat. Its just i know if if i go cold turkey having no things like this it wont last. at least if im having e.g Treble Crunch (any low fat crisps) as a snack i can eventually fase it out.

Also would it be ok to have Aromat ( Type of Seasoning) on the chicken???
Also would Breaded chicken be ok???

i'm not sure about the ww chicken curry, i'm sure its prob got its preservatives in it. why not cook some chciken the night before and bring it in a lunch box with some rice or something.
or eat ryvita with tuna as some people do.

i do thik that the ww point system is a good idea, and coupled with the exercise might make the dieting easier.

eh no, low fat bars and crisps usually have something extra to maintain the flavour. they are full of saturated fat.
try nuts, almonds, they have lots of good fats.
fruit/vegtables

if you want to slowly take yourself off the crisps thats ok i suppose, but its not like giving up cigarettes, they can easily be replaced with something better and more satisfying. it shouldnt take more than a few days for them to be gone.


seasoning on the chicken, course everyone needs some flavour.

breaded chicken? are you adding the breaded yourself, or talking about stuff you buy in a package.
when i say cooking the chicken, i mean buying chicken fillets and cooking them, not processed packaged chicken you know.

basically just dont buy the crisps and bars in your shopping, they arent available prob solved.


i hope the stuff i said wasnt too complicated, i did try to explain it. yes a prisoner squat is slightly unheard of, but the link explains it.

justbringit89

what would you recommand having for snacks??
Popcorn?Cream Crackers?

on a side note, is red bull bad to drink when trying to lose weight. not alot but maybe 3 cans a week???

aye

any red bull is bad to drink.
it full of sugar.
a bottle of lucozade contains 17 tea spoons of sugar, i would say red bull has more.

fizzy drinks contain sugar, mostly.
check the ingredients on these things. the ingredients are written out in order of contents, so if sugar comes first, it means the product contains mostly sugar.



why do you want red bull anyway,it just spikes your blood sugar giving you a rush which then crashes and sends you into tiredness.
eat some fruit, be a better option.

cream crackers are grand.
popcorn isnt the best thing, but its better than crisps and stuff, its still got loads of salt.

stay away from the red bull. drink tea if you need caffeine.

seriosuly read through the stickies, wealth of information there.

Pen1987

OP... low fat is usually a relevant term... low in fat compared to other similar product. Also 0% fat doesnt mean it wont make you gain weight, it just means there is no pure fat content but there may be other ingredients which could cause you to maintain wieght or cause functions in the body which could you leave you craving higher calorie food etc... others could tell you more on this kind of thing, or even tell me I'm wrong... I'm 99% sure of this though.

You dont want to drink red bull or any other high sugar food/drinks because the spike in blood sugar will eventually cause a low in blood sugar and leave you with certain cravings and/or cause your body to expect certain foods in the future which could cause it to maintain weight. Its kind of like when somebody is used to eating regular amounts their body is used to consuming these amounts, like routine, then they suddenly stop eating as much and begin eating VERY little then their body goes into starvation mode and begins to store as much fat as it possibly can from the foods it is getting instead of burning normal amounts of fat because there has been a shock to the system and the body must adapt to survive ( - the winter, fat need to keep warm etc etc... evolutionary stuff), so they may see their weight stay the same as it was when they were eating regular amounts even after eating much less for a week or more... Give your body what it needs not what it wants and you should get the best results.

On the topic of evolution and ****... they didnt have McCains home-fries, breaded chicken strips made from blended chicken, coke or ice-cream in cave man times. G'em has a rule, if its in a packet thats got more than five ingredients on the side, its not worth your while eating it.

justbringit89

ok thats great help, but ya know the fat free marshmellows, How do they work? as in are ok to have or full of sugur?

Al_Fernz

I would hazard a guess and say they are full of sugar.

If you are unsure of something like that have a look at the nutritional label.

Pen1987

As far as I am aware they did not have marshmallows in cave-man times.

NotMe

Pen1987 wrote: »

As far as I am aware they did not have marshmallows in cave-man times.

Good thing we don't live in cave-man times then isn't it? :pac:

EileenG

Dissolve about two packet of plain gelatin in a very small amount of hot water. You may have to nuke it for a few seconds to get it to dissolve.
Add some sweetener and flavouring. Rose water is nice.
Allow to cool.
Whisk two egg whites until just starting to get stiff and fluffy.
Drizzle in the gelatin mixture, while continuing to whisk.
Pour it all into a flat plastic container and chill.

That's it. Almost pure protein.