Toning arms and stomach??

kitty_dillon1@h

Hi
I'm 5 ft tall and weigh 8 stone. Am happy with my weight but really want to get toned arms and stomach (and legs if it's not too much extra work!!!)
I won't join a gym because the ones I've looked at are very expensive and I know after a while I'd get fed up and stop going. I really don't like exercising (i'm very lazy) but I recently gave up smoking and really don't want to put on weight and as I am happy with my weight now so I'd like to maintain it.
My diet is pretty good lately and I bought dumbbells with 3 different weights (2 x 1kg, 2 x 3kg and 2 x 5kg) so can anyone give me any other tips that I can do a few evenings a week without joining a gym to get this toned body i desire!!!!

Naos

Honest answer: Those weights won't do much for you at all and your lack of motivation is going to severly hinder you from obtaining this toned body you desire.

kitty_dillon1@h

right well am thanks for that!

Naos

Basically what I'm getting at is if you want to tone your arms and stomach then you will have to put the effort in.

Your post reads like you want the easy way out - you want this ideal body but don't want to put the work in and unfortunetly, it just doesn't work like that.

Blazer

I think Naos think's you're a bloke


For a girl these weights are grand for toning.
You should be able to download exercises from a few sites or else someone else on here could give you a few pointers.
Pointless me giving you some as I see loads of girls doing the basic weights but maybe only 1 or 2 doing the free weights.

Mr. Incognito

can anyone give me any other tips that I can do a few evenings a week without joining a gym to get this toned body i desire!!!!

Yes, start living in the real world.

You are happy with your weight because youth and a youthfull metabolism and probably your cigarette addiction kept your weight down by slowly poisoning your blood oxygen levels so that the muscle could not grow effectively.

If you want to get toned, you need three things, diet, exercise and will. The first two are important but the third is the hardest. you have to make yourself go for that run in the rain. Make yourself have an apple instead of a cookie.

Things take time. You need to put the time, aye and the work in. There is no easy way out here. If there was the whole world would be swanning around with 6 packs.

Blazer

jesus guys,...get off your high horses and try helping her out..not criticising her.
And she said a toned body..you don't need to go to a gym for that.
Hold on kitty..eventually someone is going to post some good advice.

MagicMarker

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

jesus guys,...get off your high horses and try helping her out..not criticising her.
And she said a toned body..you don't need to go to a gym for that.
Hold on kitty..eventually someone is going to post some good advice.

To be fair, she says she doesn't want to go to the gym, she hates exercising and will eventually stop.

She's not going to get a toned body thinking like that.

aye

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

I think Naos think's you're a bloke


For a girl these weights are grand for toning.

No they are probably too light, Naos is right.
You need to lift weights where by 10 reps is difficult, the weight you have might be heavy enough for bicep curls maybe, but i'd say you can go heavier on rows, presses, squats, lunges etc.

This will help build muscle and increase your metabolism, which will aid fat loss, and give you the "tone" you are looking for.
You wont build big muscle as you dont have enough testosterone to do so.

You could try some bodyweight exercises too OP.
press ups, lunges, bulgarian split squats, plank (abs), squat jumps, power lunges etc.

If you dont want to join a gym, try going to pay as you go classes to get motivation.

Set out a workout timetable and make sure you stick to it.

Read this thread, its quite similar.

Oryx

Hi Kitty. I get where the guys were on the weights... they are very light. So use the 5kg ones, youll get used to them, I promise. Try things like lunges and squats with them, also if you can learn get ups* using a weight, that targets the sides of your core (tummy). If youre doing sit ups* make sure you dont pull on or hurt your neck, there are plenty of different ones you can do. Try to do maybe 3 sets of at least 10 of each exercise to start with, and do more reps as you improve. Pushups and chin ups are good for your arms, kneel to do the push ups at first if theyre tricky.

All this takes work, theres no way around that. Set yourself a fixed time on set days of the week when you are going to do this. Saying 'maybe tonight' wont work as youll tend to put it off till the next day, and end up never doing it regularly. Be tough on yourself for the first few weeks, and youll find it will develop into a habit that gets easier to stick to.


*youtube can be good for checking out how to do stuff, but look at a few to make sure your getting ones that show good form. Also if youre looking for specific exercises or want advice on one youve found, check it out with the folks here.

kevpants

You are a bad person.



Sorry, got caught up in the tone of this thread.

Way to go guys, recommend to the girl who admits to not being that motivated that lifting heavy sets of 10 and busting your ass are the answer. God why isn't everyone as awesome as US!

OP what would you stick to in your opinion? If you are only willing to put in a small amount of time every now and again you have to fill it with the most effective thing you can find.

Do you reckon something like a workout DVD would bore you quickly? Regular walking? Would you be willing to be given 5 exercises you can do at home and concentrate on getting better at them?

kitty_dillon1@h

You are happy with your weight because youth and a youthfull metabolism.......

well I'm 26 which I don't class as very young (and a girl) and to be honest I did work at getting my weight down to 8 stone from 9 stone by doing an exercise class one night a week and having a good diet,i just get bored easily doing the same exercise over and over as alot of people do.

Your post reads like you want the easy way out - you want this ideal body but don't want to put the work in and unfortunetly, it just doesn't work like that.

I am up for work every morning at 6:30 am and not home until around the same time every evening so I'm normally pretty tried and being realistic I have no intention of going hell for leather for hours every evening! There's no point in me saying I will do that when I know I won't.
I don't expect results over night though, I'm not being naive about it.
I'm the happiest I've been with my body in a long time so it's not a major issue for me but I just thought if I did some form of toning exercises 3 or 4 nights a week for 30 minutes that I would see results over time. Maybe I was wrong and that wouldn't be enough I don't know.

You should be able to download exercises from a few sites

Thanks I'll try this

aye

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

I just thought if I did some form of toning exercises 3 or 4 nights a week for 30 minutes that I would see results over time. Maybe I was wrong and that wouldn't be enough I don't know.

Can be done, try have a circuit of bodyweight exercises.

press ups
forward lunges
shoulder press (with the dumbbells)
squat jumps
hip bridge
bent over row (with dumbbells)
ab crunch
plank

try that 3 times, resting 90 seconds between each circuit.
do each exercise for 30 secs or 15 reps at the start, rest 10 seconds, if its too easy make it 45 secs and lower the rest between circuits to 60 secs.

kitty_dillon1@h

You are a bad person

was kind of starting to feel like I was there for a minute!!

Maybe ye took me up wrong with the toned body bit. I don't expect to get toned from head to foot overnight like!!! I just want to try to tone up a bit because I worked on losing weight and that's how I got to 8 stone so I'd like to do some toning now.

I kind of thought the weights might not be heavy enough, should have got heavier ones but I wasn't sure.
I'm just trying to be realistic with the exercising. Walking I would do because friends are interested too and we intend to build up to running. I reckon 3 or 4 nights a week of some exercise would be grand because I wouldn't get bored when it's not every evening. I have a fitness DVD so i could do that aswell.

Can be done, try have a circuit of bodyweight exercises.

Cool thanks aye I'll try them!!That was all i was looking for!:D

kitty_dillon1@h

thanks for all the replies, I know I sound like a right lazy b***h which i don't deny but I'm hoping I'll get into the exercising!

aye

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

w getting my weight down to 8 stone from 9 stone by doing an exercise class one night a week and having a good diet,i just get bored easily doing the same exercise over and over as alot of people do.

Who wouldn't.

If your interesed Kitty I teach circuit classes in Kilmacud and Templeogue.
Feel free to PM me for details.

kitty_dillon1@h

thanks aye, I'm in tipperary though but I'll have a look around my area for circuit classes,thanks!

Naos

Mathew Reilly wrote: »

I think Naos think's you're a bloke


For a girl these weights are grand for toning

Nope, I figured from the post & name it was a woman.

Those weights would be too light for toning, as mentioned she wouldn't have the testosterone to to build massive muscles if she was to lift "big" weights.

kevpants wrote: »

You are a bad person.

Sorry, got caught up in the tone of this thread.

Way to go guys, recommend to the girl who admits to not being that motivated that lifting heavy sets of 10 and busting your ass are the answer. God why isn't everyone as awesome as US!

Wasn't trying to berate her, merely pointing out the weights would be too light and that going into lifting with an attitude like I'm too lazy was not a healthy mindset.

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

well I'm 26 which I don't class as very young (and a girl) and to be honest I did work at getting my weight down to 8 stone from 9 stone by doing an exercise class one night a week and having a good diet,i just get bored easily doing the same exercise over and over as alot of people do.


I am up for work every morning at 6:30 am and not home until around the same time every evening so I'm normally pretty tried and being realistic I have no intention of going hell for leather for hours every evening! There's no point in me saying I will do that when I know I won't.
I don't expect results over night though, I'm not being naive about it.
I'm the happiest I've been with my body in a long time so it's not a major issue for me but I just thought if I did some form of toning exercises 3 or 4 nights a week for 30 minutes that I would see results over time. Maybe I was wrong and that wouldn't be enough I don't know.

Kitty, first of all - Apologies if you felt my posts were attacking you, this was not my intention.

From your initial post I did not expect you to be ip for exercising 30 mins, 3 - 4 times a week. Fair play on loss of a stone

oeb

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

I am up for work every morning at 6:30 am and not home until around the same time every evening so I'm normally pretty tried and being realistic I have no intention of going hell for leather for hours every evening! There's no point in me saying I will do that when I know I won't.

A few differences, I am male, and 28, but I am also very recently after quitting smoking. I decided to try the gym, at the moment I swim for 30-45 min every night, and I do light weight training 4 or 5 days as well. (My program takes approx 35 or 40 min). I am actually finding that I have more energy. I am also up at 6.30 every morning, and now I wake up without needing to hit the sleep button (I used to hit it 5 or 6 times before), and I am less tired in the evenings. This is partially due to the exercise, and partially due to diet I think.

It's not as bad as you think it will be.

kitty_dillon1@h

No hassle Naos, can you reccommend what weights I should use then?
I can change the ones I got and get heavier ones just not sure how heavy they should be!!

Naos

I wouldn't know enough to start recommending I'm afraid, would just know some of the basics

Hopefully someone like Malteaser or Gem will come along, both female posters in here who know their weight lifting well!

aye

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

No hassle Naos, can you reccommend what weights I should use then?
I can change the ones I got and get heavier ones just not sure how heavy they should be!!

Read the thread i linked earlier, there is a link in it to a set of adjustable weights.

It depends on your individual strength level really.

g'em

kitty_dillon1@h wrote: »

I'm 5 ft tall and weigh 8 stone. Am happy with my weight but really want to get toned arms and stomach (and legs if it's not too much extra work!!!)
I won't join a gym because the ones I've looked at are very expensive and I know after a while I'd get fed up and stop going. I really don't like exercising (i'm very lazy) but I recently gave up smoking and really don't want to put on weight and as I am happy with my weight now so I'd like to maintain it.

If I went into a University and said "I want to get clever but I don't like reading and I don't want to put much effort into it" I'd more than likely get laughed off-campus. I'm sure you can see how your OP may have come across as a little... well, inappropriately worded given the forum

You'll only put on weight when you stop smoking if you eat more, which a lot of people do to keep their hands busy or to replace the mechanism of putting something in their mouth. Keep an eye on your diet and if needed snack on carrot/ celery sticks, grapes or even chew ice cubes to curb cravings and keep you occupied.

With regard to 'toning' that'll come down to a bit of resistance training and good diet. You get shapely arms from having very little fat on them and having a decent amount of lean muscle mass under the surface.

1kg, 2kg and 3kg weights are pants frankly - you carry more than that every time you go shopping. My concern though would be that you'll get bored with weights quickly too - unless you have a training partner it can be quite isolating and if you're not good at self-motivation it can be easy for the 3-4 weekly session to become 1-2 to not really wanting to bother at all.

But if you are willing there's plenty you can do, and starting with the basics is as good a place as any. Dips and push-ups will help work your triceps (where your bingo wings are found) and curls will help with your biceps; overhead presses will shape your shoulders; lunges and squats (even bodyweight ones) will shape up your bum.

The trick is to keep the intensity high (very short rest periods, you should really work up a sweat in the 30 minute session) and that way you'll see results fast.

Actually this:

aye wrote:

Can be done, try have a circuit of bodyweight exercises.

press ups
forward lunges
shoulder press (with the dumbbells)
squat jumps
hip bridge
bent over row (with dumbbells)
ab crunch
plank

try that 3 times, resting 90 seconds between each circuit.
do each exercise for 30 secs or 15 reps at the start, rest 10 seconds, if its too easy make it 45 secs and lower the rest between circuits to 60 secs.

... is perfect.

If you don't know what any of these exercises are go to a site like exrx and see can you find out - for self-motivation and all that

kitty_dillon1@h

I am actually finding that I have more energy. I am also up at 6.30 every morning, and now I wake up without needing to hit the sleep button (I used to hit it 5 or 6 times before), and I am less tired in the evenings.

Yeah i know people say you get more energy from exercising,I would like to have more energy!! I have to drag myself out of the bed in the morning.

Read the thread i linked earlier

Was looking at that thread so I'm gong to change the weights for heavier ones, thanks aye.

Hi Gem,yeah i probably didn't word my post great!!
Am off the cigs a month and haven't noticed any increase in appetite which i'm delighted about. Gave them up a few years ago and put on over a stone,i just ate everything i wanted so i'm determined not to make that mistake again!!
Hoping to go on holidays in September with friends so my goal is to be more toned by then!