Getting fit within two months?

Fart

Hey guys,

Im moving back over to the UK soon for College and I really really want to get back into football again. I haven't played for a team in over 10 years and I'm only 22 .

Anyways, I'm not really fat, just a tiny bit of excess weight. I weigh around 12 stone and am around 5'6"... my bones are fairly big I think.

Anyways, what can I do? I'll cut out sugars and stuff from my diet no problem. It's just that I'm an inactive guitar playing, computer gaming hippie.

I'm planning on jogging around the local park soon; with warm ups and warm downs of course. Should I pace myself as I am fairly unfit, i.e. I get out of breath fairly quickly when running but I could walk for miles and miles so I have great stamina for that.

I don't want to join a gym as it's too expensive for me at the moment but what can I do at home and for how long?

I just dont want to be out of breath so much when playing football (soccer).

Even if it doesn't take two months, it will be a gradual process.

I'm asking this as I seem to be getting too old to start football back up again, if ya get me.

Thanks guys.

ray jay

Couch to 5k is a decent running program that will improve your basic aerobic capacity. Since playing football is the goal, you'll should mix in some interval work to help with your recovery after bursts of effort, for example running hard for 30s followed by 30 or 60s of rest repeated 10 times.

discus

Take a look at some of Will Heffernans videos on www.informedperformance.com and check out what he has some of the footballers doing for conditioning work. There's some great drills there worth checking out.

d-sher

Fart wrote: »

I'm not really fat, just a tiny bit of excess weight. I weigh around 12 stone and am around 5'6"... my bones are fairly big I think.

Common misconception when people attribute weight to being big boned. In an adult, the skeleton only comprises around 14%-20% of the total body weight, and half of this weight is actually water so only 7% to 10% is actual bone.

Couch to 5k is a good idea but any kind of plan which incorporates alternating jogging and walking for set times or distances would be beneficial for you. Just vary times and distances based on your current fitness level i.e if you can walk for miles and miles just jump straight into week 3 or 4 of the Couch to 5k programme.

muboop1

Fart wrote: »

I'm planning on jogging around the local park soon; with warm ups and warm downs of course. Should I pace myself as I am fairly unfit, i.e. I get out of breath fairly quickly when running but I could walk for miles and miles so I have great stamina for that.

I don't want to join a gym as it's too expensive for me at the moment but what can I do at home and for how long?

I just dont want to be out of breath so much when playing football (soccer).

Even if it doesn't take two months, it will be a gradual process.

I'm asking this as I seem to be getting too old to start football back up again, if ya get me.

Thanks guys.

Main thing that stuck out at me... Start today! Why not like?

As for getting fit, have you a bike? Way I got fit again was run and walk program like the couch to 5k. And then on "rest days" I would cycle etc... I find I can cycle for miles with no bother so great way to increase my fitness. Whereas my running... I find that a little more dificult
Like others suggested you should also practive sprinting as this would be very helpful in soccer.

I do not know your build, but I'd say that at your height unless you are quite built you have a bit of excess weight. Get your diet right and get exercising and you will notice some serious changes.

What is your diet roughly?
How much time a week are you willing to devote to this "training"?

cc87

Your already making excuses for yourself.

Big-boned? Rubbish

No your not getting too old to start anything.

If you can only run for a short while, run until you have to stop, walk for a minute or 2 and then run again.

As for the couch to 5k program, its a great programme but it more than likely will not get you fit for playing soccer. If i was you i would concentrate more on intervals.

molard

i am going to try this couch to 5k program.being trying to get fit for years.wish me luck.

Fart

Cheers for the replies guys.

The couch to 5k thing looks good, I'm going to try that.

My diet is fairly standard for an Irishman I think. "Mammies" home made dinners, white bread (don't hurt me) sandwiches for lunch and the odd packet of crisps. I drink a lot of coffee and tea though. I'm a late night snacker too, so thats probably not too good.

January just gone I went on a complete health buzz, eliminating loads of bad food; ate a lot of salad, fish, and cut out stuff like pizzas and ready made foods. I also ate Wholegrain crackers (Ryvita) with honey instead of eating chocolate for a snack.

I found it easy and felt brilliant afterwards. I went off it as it was only an experiment but I'd do it again.

I'd like to do some training everyday, i.e. jogging in the morning with stretches and other exercises.

About cycling: When I was studying here in Ireland for 2 years, I used to cycle to my grannies first. It would take me 25 mins there and back. On the way down I had to go down a fairly big hill (Newtown Park) and on the way back was obviously upwards but in the same time as I pushed myself.

When I got to my grannies, I then had to walk another 25 - 30 mins there and back. I didn't really see any benefit at the time; must have been my diet.

Well anyways, I'll do this, I know I will. I'm heading down to Dunnes today to get myself a pair of tracksuit bottoms to job in .

Cheers guys.

muboop1

What did you mean you didnt see any benefit at the time? Were you judging yourself on your waist line, weight or fitness or what?

Post a Typical daily diet ie.

Breakfast:
Toast,

11:00
Apple

Lunch
Salad

etc...

Or whatever. And be honest about it. include rough size portions if you can. No fooling yourself, like big bones or whatever... Thats just something overweight people say (cartman??)!

The couch to 5k will not be enough btw... Personally I would see it as a base line. As in, build up to 5k for the simple purpose of having a general level of fitness. After this, you should train for interval sprinting or fast running. for example, 10x100m sprints with 30 sec break between etc...

You will likely get the most from the interval training if you have some base line to build from!

You'd be best off including the likes of sit-ups, push-ups, jumping squats and dips for general fitness levels.

Fart

muboop1 wrote: »

What did you mean you didnt see any benefit at the time? Were you judging yourself on your waist line, weight or fitness or what?

Post a Typical daily diet ie.

Breakfast:
Toast,

11:00
Apple

Lunch
Salad

etc...

Or whatever. And be honest about it. include rough size portions if you can. No fooling yourself, like big bones or whatever... Thats just something overweight people say (cartman??)!

The couch to 5k will not be enough btw... Personally I would see it as a base line. As in, build up to 5k for the simple purpose of having a general level of fitness. After this, you should train for interval sprinting or fast running. for example, 10x100m sprints with 30 sec break between etc...

You will likely get the most from the interval training if you have some base line to build from!

You'd be best off including the likes of sit-ups, push-ups, jumping squats and dips for general fitness levels.

I didnt see myself getting fitter when cycling. Maybe I just didnt notice it.

I mostly skip breakfast; which is most likely a bad thing.

For lunch I could have a ham sandwich with cheese and white bread. If not, sometimes I can sneak in a cheeky rasher sandwich.

Dinner is usually stir frys, cottage pies, potatoes, sometimes liver. I don't usually go for big servings as I cant really eat that much.

At night time I may have a crisp sandwich or a rasher sandwich.

I'm not trying to fool myself with the big bones issue; I wasn't sure if it was fact or fiction but I am at least a stone to a stone and a half heavier than I look. Must be all the hair.

I've tried sit-ups, crunches etc. and enjoyed them but just hope I'm doing them right.

Edit: I've got fairly big thighs, i.e. compared to my mates who are older and somewhat bigger than me. But from my perspective, their thighs are very skinny and sometimes I think to myself that it's quite abnormal for them to have such skinny legs. So maybe I'm overacting with my legs.

Cheers.

cc87

Why did you only go onto a better diet as an "experiment"??

Surely since you said yourself you liked the results of this experiment, the logical thing would be to stick as close to the diet as possible not just drop it and go back to your old ways??

It kinda sounds like you know exactly what you are doing wrong and you know what you should be doing but waiting for someone to tell you some kind of miracle exercise that will improve your fitness without you having to make any changes.

Eat breakfast, healthier lunches and dinners. Quit snacking on rubbish.

You are not big boned or have a load of hair. You are not over working your legs, since you aren't doing anything. Judging by the way you are talking, you didnt see any difference when you were cycling because you werent pushing yourself hard enough

muboop1

I'm on my phone so ant be writing that much cos takes ages!!!

Eat breakfast, personaly I have an omlette! 3 egg whites, sprinkle of grated cheese and a slice of ham. Some onion or pepper if handy. Delicious and healthy, and most importantly to me, takes 5 min to make.

Cut the White bread.

Do you drink water? Try drink about 2 litres of it a day.

Big legs? Muscly or fat? Serious question btw. I honestly doubt it can be very muscly if you are not working out unless you walk a severe amount? It could just be one of those places you gain weight! Arse and legs r main places I gain, everyone is different!

Get back to walking, cycling and running. Start doing sit ups and push ups. I suggest looking at the 100 push-up challenge program and the 200 sit up program. Takes approx six weeks assuming you apply yourself properly. Start doing jumping squats. They will increase your explosive strength(can't remember if this is correct term) which should help your sprinting and hence football. Also start doing dips!

If you work hard in 6 weeks you should realistically be finished your couch to 5k program, able to do 100 push ups, 200 sit ups alot of jumping squats(100min) and a good bit of dips. you will now have a decent base fitness! Keep up this training and start doing interval sprints and you'll have decent level fitness for football. but more importantly, you will feel better and be 1000 times more healthy!

Make sure to have a clean diet (see the stickies for in depth advice) and drink loads of water and get adequate sleep