How to get fit(ter) in 18 days....?

Topper Harvey

Any tips/ideas would be extremely welcome, it's for a one-off gig with prob about 80% commitment (@ least I'm honest!).

Honestly, any short-term (non-gym) routines would be much appreciated.

shooterMac

Any cardio excersise will give you a noticable raise in fitness after 18 days.

As a sit down worker, I was piling on the pounds, 5'9 almost 14 stone.
I did little to no excersise at all.
Used to be fit in my youth, hitting 39 soon.

I started cycling to work and playing soccar/raquetball and I know it has worked for me in a short period of time.

1st attemps were abysmal, I was out of breath after 1-5 minutes ^ ^.
After 20 I thought I would die

On week 2 it was a good bit better, I think the everyday cycling was the real help.

On the 3rd week I was playing soccar and running pretty good and more importantly recovering from sprints very fast, wasn't really out of breath playing raquetball at all. I was shocked how far I'd come just by introducing a 3 mile daily cycle to work.

The soccar and r-ball are just once a week things, they help but I'm guessing the cycling helped more.

So I'm thinking if you walked to work/cycled at a brisk pace you'd notice similar gains. I cycle like I'm being chased! Remember with cardio you get out what you put in!

I've also lost a stone in a little over a month, through changing my eating habits + exercise. Which is my main motivation, but my fitness levels are up by a crazy amount.

Hope my story helps.

thebiggestjim

run for 40 mins every single day for 18 days. Can't go wrong.

TanG411

shooterMac wrote: »

Any cardio excersise will give you a noticable raise in fitness after 18 days.

As a sit down worker, I was piling on the pounds, 5'9 almost 14 stone.
I did little to no excersise at all.
Used to be fit in my youth, hitting 39 soon.

I started cycling to work and playing soccar/raquetball and I know it has worked for me in a short period of time.

1st attemps were abysmal, I was out of breath after 1-5 minutes ^ ^.
After 20 I thought I would die

On week 2 it was a good bit better, I think the everyday cycling was the real help.

On the 3rd week I was playing soccar and running pretty good and more importantly recovering from sprints very fast, wasn't really out of breath playing raquetball at all. I was shocked how far I'd come just by introducing a 3 mile daily cycle to work.

The soccar and r-ball are just once a week things, they help but I'm guessing the cycling helped more.

So I'm thinking if you walked to work/cycled at a brisk pace you'd notice similar gains. I cycle like I'm being chased! Remember with cardio you get out what you put in!

I've also lost a stone in a little over a month, through changing my eating habits + exercise. Which is my main motivation, but my fitness levels are up by a crazy amount.

Hope my story helps.

I think you've given me a motivation :pac:

I'm also 5' 9 and close to 14 stone yet you've lost a stone in just over a month. Maybe it is possible. I find it difficult because I also lose my breath after 10 minutes!

I think I'll give cycling a go like you said!

Blazer

You'll also need to change your diet.
No point in doing cardio if you're not going to change what you eat as you'll lose only a few lbs and that's it.

siobhan.murphy

try running up stairs a couple of times a day or even skipping

shooterMac

"You'll also need to change your diet.
No point in doing cardio if you're not going to change what you eat as you'll lose only a few lbs and that's it."

I couldn't agree more. I did change my eating habits also, introduced more filler material (lots of greens) instead of a big plate of carbs.

I cut out the junk and fizzy drinks. No fruit juice either.

Lunch is a turkey role with lettus/onions..no butter, mayo etc.

Don't starve yourself (slows metabilism).

Don't punish yourself for any overeating on the weekends, I usually slip a bit on saturday/sunday.

Buy a scales and weigh yourself when you're feeling light to boost confidance.

Once you see a difference on the scales you'll get more motivation to keep at it.

I'm was 12st 9 pounds at last weigh-in, although after I got drunk this weekend and ate a bucket of KFC I'm afraid to weigh myself lol.
Not going to feel bad about the occasional break-out!!

Some old clothes fit me again which is great.

Topper Harvey

Thanks for all the advice/tips; I've basically taken bits & pieces from all the posts. Current update is;

Fitness:
20 min run in the morning
45 min workout in the evening (stretching, sit-ups, crunches, windmills, star-jumps, strides, curls, etc…
20 min cycle in the evening
Soccer once a week
15km cycle once a week

Diet:
Breakfast - cereal, oj,
Mid-Morning - banana
Lunch - wrap/brown bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato, low-fat milk
Mid-Afternoon - apple
Dinner – meat, veg & pots

Beer – on HOLD !

On day 6 now (but didn’t do a tap on Saturday), try to stretch out as much as possible but legs are still hanging off me. I’m sure it’ll get easier next week……….won’t it ????

corkcomp

Topper Harvey wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice/tips; I've basically taken bits & pieces from all the posts. Current update is;

Fitness:
20 min run in the morning
45 min workout in the evening (stretching, sit-ups, crunches, windmills, star-jumps, strides, curls, etc…
20 min cycle in the evening
Soccer once a week
15km cycle once a week

Diet:
Breakfast - cereal, oj,
Mid-Morning - banana
Lunch - wrap/brown bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato, low-fat milk
Mid-Afternoon - apple
Dinner – meat, veg & pots

Beer – on HOLD !

On day 6 now (but didn’t do a tap on Saturday), try to stretch out as much as possible but legs are still hanging off me. I’m sure it’ll get easier next week……….won’t it ????

hey, diet not bad but a few tweaks would make it a LOT better - make sure cereal is porridge, muesli or weetabix, have piece of fruit instead of juice .. make sure lunch has a lot of salad and lean meat or fish and keep potato within reason at dinner - e.g. one baked potato and LOTS of veg ...

shooterMac

Careful there soldier!!
You appear to be doing a lot of exercise.
I'd not do so much that you get totally turned off the idea. Indeed cut it down to light/heavy every 2nd day and take the weekends off mate you've earned them.