fitness programme

colm911

Anybody any good sites for a fitness programme concentrating on everything from general fitness to upper body strength.
Thanks

LuckyLloyd

What equipment do you have at your disposal? Do you access to a well equipped gym or will you be limited to bodyweight exercises at home and running?

colm911

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

What equipment do you have at your disposal? Do you access to a well equipped gym or will you be limited to bodyweight exercises at home and running?

Fully equipped gym I've just joined. Was thinking 15 mins warm up, 20 mins running, 20 mins cycling, 20 minutes weights and a swim afterwards.

LuckyLloyd

Well, as a beginner to regular training you'll be in the enviable position that anything is likely to offer you initial results once it's done regularly and with a reasonable intensity.

Here's a suggestion totally off the top of my head:

A

Barbell Squat 3 x 5
Barbell Bench Press 3 x 5
Barbell Row 3 x 5

4 x 500m max effort row with a 1 : 1 work to rest ratio between sets

Sit Ups 2 x max effort
Plank 1 x max time you can hold

B

Distance run. Something like 5k for time or 30 minutes for distance travelled. Gradually improve time or distance

Core Work:

Sit Ups
Plank variations
Back lifts
Glute Bridges

Few lengths of the pool with some different strokes practiced (i.e. not everything breast stroke if you can swim well)

C

Barbell Squat 3 x 5
Barbell Overhead Press 3 x 5
Pull Ups 3 x max effort (do band assisted or jumping negatives to get you started here in the likely event you can't do one)

Interval training on a bike - minute on and 30 seconds off for 20 minutes maybe...

=================

- Do the above every second day

- A and C not to take more than an hour down the gym. B a little longer with the swim thrown in. Avoid any plan that requires heroic 2 hour sessions down the gym. It won't be sustainable over time

- Eat well and sleep lots

- Warmups and stretching to be a big part at the start of each session and include stuff like:

Foam rolling
Scap Slides
Scap Pushups
Scap rows
Dynamic hip activation stretches
Glute / Hamstring stretching

- 3 x 5 meaning 3 sets of five reps work. So, let's say you go down on day one and get under an empty bar for bench press and press it five times. Then add two 5kgs plates and press them five times. Then add two 2.5kgs plates. Let's say this feels heavy. Stop and do 3 x 5. Then next time down, do 3 x 5 @ 37.5kgs following warm ups of 5 @ bar; 5 @ 25kgs; 3 @ 30kgs and 3 @ 35kgs

- Go to Youtube and type in the name of exercises you intend to attempt for demo vids if you're unsure

But really, as a beginner to regular training (and by the way, I'm assuming you're roughly a beginner on the basis of your recent army physical thread - apologies if I'm wrong on that) there are a million things that you would benefit from. Just make sure that:

- whatever your plan is doesn't involve much more than an hour down the gym. It seems lazy now, but you want something reasonable that can be stuck too long term. Volume and consistency are key
- that you don't plan on being a hero and going two times a day. It isn't realistic
- that you eat better and sleep more
- that cardio is not aimless and non intense. Interval work is a great way to build up basic fitness
- if you want to do weights you do compound lifts with a barbell. Bicep dumbell curls and tricep kickbacks are going to be a relatively inefficient use of your time

Best of luck whichever way you go.

colm911

Thanks very much for the tips, I found it hard to find information on the internet without tryin to turn me into an orange painted body builder lol. Yeah the recent army post is relevant. Any tips on food, bear in mind I only weigh 71 kilos. Bulking up wouldn't go astray. Thanks

LuckyLloyd

colm911 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the tips, I found it hard to find information on the internet without tryin to turn me into an orange painted body builder lol. Yeah the recent army post is relevant. Any tips on food, bear in mind I only weigh 71 kilos. Bulking up wouldn't go astray. Thanks

Write out everything (everything!!) you eat and drink over a couple of normal days. Now think about each meal in terms of protein, carbs and healthy fats. I'd bet the ratio is stacked massively in favour of carbs. Then in terms of proteins and carbs further think of how diverse sources of each are. Eating your green leafy veg? Eating too much bread? Mixing up red and white meats? Drinking much water?

Some very simple pointers:

- sugar is everywhere and really, really bad for you
- "low fat" generally = crap sugar filled ****e
- fat doesn't make you fat (nuts, olive oil, non processed cheese are all good and simple sources)
- milk is a great way to go if you'd like to gain some weight. A couple of litres a day really add up the calories and weight gain / loss is about calories over / under your maintenance level at the most basic level. The higher your starting weight and level of activity the higher your maintenance level
- breakfast cereals = really bad breakfast option. Eggs, bacon, porridge much better

There's good information in the forum stickies in this section. Just beware well worn food and exercise myths! And don't get paralysed by too much info either. Start doing some regular training; start making some positive diet changes and start shooting for an extra hour a night. Won't all be perfect at once. You can learn and adjust as you go.