From sloth to strength

Stheno

New to this, so bear with me.

Having had a very active life (rugby, swimming, squash, lifeguarding and other sports) up to my late twenties, for the last ten years, I've done nothing much at all. I've tried joining gyms a few times, but hate the approach of use lots of machines, I like doing exercise that makes me feel like I've physically worked and can feel it

I took up sailing two months ago, joined a crew on a cruiser, and then got into dinghy sailing. Turns out I'm a feeble weakling, so much so that on one afternoon we were short of crew on the cruiser, I was banned from winching as I was so feeble, and jokingly said, "I need to start lifting weights", and whilst the crew are too polite to say oh yes you do, they did agree I need to get stronger.

I'm so feeble I recently tried to lift a 22 inch monitor in work and struggled. As I've never had to worry about weight, and had relatively sedentary jobs, I just didn't bother. A lot of work travel as well led to an unstable lifestyle in terms of commitment.

Anyway this past week, I've decided that sailing is for me 100% and I want to get fit and be as good as I can at it. I'm what's called a small sailor as I'm "light" so strength training that builds muscle will help.

Current stats:

5 foot 8
63.8kg

I've engaged with a personal trainer whom I found fantastic, and will be combining a programme of strength, swimming and sailing for the initial few weeks.

Today:

Fun sailing on my own in a dinghy.
Prepped the dinghy including getting the 5.8 metre mast in place along, launching and landing the boat off/up the slipway (total weight 61kg, was a bit chuffed as I can haul close to my bodyweight up a sleep slope)

Hour and a half of sailing, lot of squatting about, moving quickly, hauling on ropes etc

Feel good, thighs are doing the "What have you done to us"

Tomorrow: Potentially racing in the same boat. Also planning on picking up my new gym membership, doing some swimming, and at least some of my new programme.

My primary aims are:

1. Strength
2. Stability, I'm what's called super hypermobile, or double jointed in english, so I struggle with warm ups.
3. Weight gain, I'd like to eventually gain enough muscle to increase my weight.

One issue that I have is that I had an accident last October, and caused some long term damage to my left knee which has resulted in my not being allowed do anything which causes impact on my knee such as running, I was on crutches until March!

gymfreak

Great!

I'll be able to keep an eye on ya now.

Stheno

gymfreak wrote: »

Great!

I'll be able to keep an eye on ya now.

I'm not so sure about this :pac:

Stheno

Did very little this week, my knee was in bits the day after I posted the log above, so I rested all week. I've learned not to do anything if my knee acts up from past experience.

Went sailing last night and did fine, came in after an hour on the water as I was feeling it in my knee.

Out again tomorrow.

First day in the Gym: Monday after work, have everything ready to go, along with my programme.

I've noticed in the past week or so that all of the sailing has given me more muscle in my arms especially, I'm not bodybuilder like but I can see the difference in terms of sheer muscle definition.

UnholyGregor

I only read the aims about strength. And being 63kg is pretty shocking. So some pointers;
1) train regularily
2)eat a caloric surplus, or at least eat maintenance calories
IF you eat a controlled surplus youll slowly gain muscle mass, get stronger and look better.
If you eat at maintenance, you wont gain any real muscle, but will get stronger, and look leaner (read:noob gains)

Quick rundown of metabolism. Your body needs say, 3000 calories to maintain your current mass and activities every day. If you eat more than this, you will gain mass. If you eat less than this, you will lose mass. Without a caloric surplius you cannot make gains, your body simply cannot make muscle tissue without extra energy. Same goes for a defecit when cutting. calsurplus=gains. Cal defecit=loss

The nature of said mass gains or losses will depend on your training and the other macronutrients your consuming. ideally you want about 180-200g protein per day, and weight training a few days a week, to promote muscle.


alot of noobs seem to have what i call a "cardio complex". for some reason they think you cannot look good or be muscular without starting each workouyt on the threadmill or bike. This is a good sign that someone hasnt a clue what theyre doing, if theyre very skinny. Cardio is not needed at all for fat loss. All cardio does is burn calories, making it easier to maintain a caloric defecit (bad for gains, good for cutting) or bring you back to your cal goals if you eat too much.

If you do cardo for cardiac health, then thats grand, but pls dont think itll make you "shredded". its all about controlling your caloric intake.

Diet is 90% of bodybuilding. Its depressing when you see people in the gym everyday, making no gains, looking the same as when they started a year ago, because they dont understand nutrition.

3) look up a common routine online and follow it to the letter. Dont be one of those guys that go into the gym with no idea waht theyre going to do. And do one of each machine and then abs for 30mins.... Google "push/pull legs" or "3day split" or "ss"
. Theyre common for a reason. They work.
And lol @ you thinking sailing has given your arms muscle mass in a week. 2 or 3 months at least and sailing?? unless theres alot of repetive heavy lifting, involving the elbow joint....

read this for more info on nutrition. And use a something like this http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to find a rough guide for your tdee caloric needs. Aim for a 300-500 surplus for best gains.
Again, nutrition is 90% of bodybuilding. Its so ****ing important. If youre not eating right, save your membership money and dont waste your time in the gym

gymfreak

I'm just going to interject on this really quickly as I don't have time BUT I don't think that you realise that she is a 63kg female and certainly does not need 3000kcal a day to maintain her weight.

And as regards sailing and her gaining strength...someone who is sedentary and then takes up a physically demanding sport like sailing is going to build strength initially. Of course any work she does in the gym is going to make the sport of sailing much easier but it doesn't mean to say that she hasn't got stronger already

UnholyGregor

haha my bad, i assumed it was a typical male. having been 63kg at my worst, I could identify with that....
but anyway the priciples still apply if your goals are to build muscle, you need a surplus. The calculator i linked is still accurate for women. Gaining weight is normally not something women liek to do though, as they have a very difficult time gaining muscle due to low testosterone. So i dont recommend the whole surplus "bulking" thing, as you will gain some fat alongside muscle, and i think youre just going for a lean look.

For women, the most common thing is to eat at maintenance or 200 or 300 cals below maintenance, around 1500 or 1600cals/day with weightlifting to gain strength and lost fat. I assume youre going for the "toned" look. Just stick to weights and dont waste your time with the yoga crap you see so many misguided people doing in gyms. Squats and deadlifts are now your best friends. This should give you that "athlethic" physique, if you do it right.
Try a programme like SS or something that focuses on compound lifts. And maybe throw in a bit of cardio if youre having difficulty maintaining a caloric defecit

Here, if you can ignore the blatant prejudices, this is a really informative poster thing i fopund on /fit
http://imgur.com/EM3dhEy

Stheno

UnholyGregor wrote: »

haha my bad, i assumed it was a typical male. having been 63kg at my worst, I could identify with that....
but anyway the priciples still apply if your goals are to build muscle, you need a surplus. The calculator i linked is still accurate for women. Gaining weight is normally not something women liek to do though, as they have a very difficult time gaining muscle due to low testosterone. So i dont recommend the whole surplus "bulking" thing, as you will gain some fat alongside muscle, and i think youre just going for a lean look.

For women, the most common thing is to eat at maintenance or 200 or 300 cals below maintenance, around 1500 or 1600cals/day with weightlifting to gain strength and lost fat. I assume youre going for the "toned" look. Just stick to weights and dont waste your time with the yoga crap you see so many misguided people doing in gyms. Squats and deadlifts are now your best friends. This should give you that "athlethic" physique, if you do it right.
Try a programme like SS or something that focuses on compound lifts. And maybe throw in a bit of cardio if youre having difficulty maintaining a caloric defecit

I am indeed female And it's not a week of sailing, I've been sailing since May and currently sail between 3 and five times a week, twice/three times on my own or with one other, and then twice a week on a cruiser. And I'm not jumping from one side of the cruiser to another all the time, at least 50% of the time I'm what I call core crew, involved in tacking/gybing, the rest of the time I'm on some other job. Lots of squatting involved in both types of sailing, and there is some effort for me in hauling in sails that do not want to come in due to wind, up to a full body stretch/extension bracing against something to maximise the torque against the sail for want of a better word. To give you an example, I will hurt more all over in terms of DOMS from a day of core crew sailing on the cruiser than I do after a session in the gym, we can be out there for a minimum of two hours, not including the work done to prep and tidy up before and after. I was out tonight on my own in a dinghy in winds gusting up to 20 knots per hour (approx. 24 mph), and as a beginner that was a big challenge for me in terms of speed of movement and sheer strength balancing the boat, dealing with capsizing and righting the boat, and the weight of the sail.

That's what has built up a small bit of muscle definition.

I'm not going for any particular look, I'd like to be stronger, that's my central goal, and gymfreak has built a program for me based on that. In terms of a "look" frankly I don't have a goal "look"

I've a diet thread here outlining my diet a few weeks ago and the changes I am making to it

Diet thread

As you can see from it, I'm on approx. 2250 cals per day at the moment, and am looking to improve my diet, at this point in time, I've no real interest in macros as I want to start eating better and I'll worry about macros in a couple of months. The improvements I'm looking to make seem to be ok, and tbh I'm happy with that as a first step. Your calculator tells me that based on my stats, and doing 3-5 hours of moderate exercise a week, I should be on 2162 cals a day to maintain weight and build muscle, given that I'd be doing probably twice that in "moderate" exercise, and then adding on the gym, I probably need to up it?

I'm very flexible, so am not doing any core cardio/yoga (can't stand yoga, it's bloody boring) and focussing on strength for now.

My current program as a beginner is focussed on stability, strength and core as follows:

Workout a:

ITW x 5
Band pull aparts x 10
Bird Dog x 10

All of the above x three times

Bodyweight squats 3 x5
Goblet squats 3x5 with a 5kg goblet
DB Bench press 3 x 5 with 10kg
Barbell Row 3x5x10kg

Plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between
Side plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between

Workout b:
ITW x 5
Band pull aparts x 10
Bird Dog x 10

Bodyweight squats 3 x5
Goblet squats 3x5 with a 5kg goblet
Dumbell lunges: 3x5x5kg
Standing Dumbell press: 3x5@5kg
DB Row: 3x5x7.5kg

Plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between
Side plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between

I've added in the swimming as I've always swum, and enjoy it.

I've not done any swimming though

Tuesday I did workout a, went out sailing for approx an hour tonight, came in due to the wind strength, and will be going for workout b tomorrow. I enjoyed the first workout in the gym too Felt fine after it too, wrecked this evening after sailing, have lovely DOMS in my thighs

Sailing Friday, Saturday and Sunday, gym also on Saturday, rest day Monday

UnholyGregor

2200 calories is alot for a girl. A lot. Im surpized. I really hope youre doing a ****load of exercise, and actually creating a defectit in calories, and not just compensating the cals burnt in exersice with extra food. No defecit=no fatloss.

And if youre having rest days, youll need to taped your cals down accordingly

Stheno

Went to the gym, and forgot to bring my exercise plan (don't know it yet) so did a repeat of workout a, with some extras as I was trying to remember off the top of my head.

ITW x 10
Band pull aparts x 10
Bird Dog x 10 (each leg)

All of the above x three times

Bodyweight squats 3 x10
Goblet squats 3x5 with a 5kg goblet
DB Bench press 3 x 10 with 10kg
Barbell Row 3x10x10kg

Plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between
Side plank: 3x3 30 secs rest between

I like the gym I'm in, it's not too busy, and everyone in the weights area leaves each other alone. Because I'd no plan with me I did twice the amount of bodyweight squats, DB bench presses, and barbell rows as I forgot I've to five and not ten at a time. I was wondering at the end of the DB bench presses why my arms felt a little wobbly!

Stheno

1.5 hours dinghy sailing this evening, lightish wind but heavy enough to involve a bit of work.

Fun

Stheno

Actually, I'm sitting here now comparing how I feel after a "normal" Friday nights sailing to how I felt today

Today, I feel much looser, no cramps/DOMS, normally my "bad" knee would be quite tight, is it possible that the gym workout I did earlier today is loosening me up for sailing? When I was sailing I was much easier moving about than normal as well.

Only difference is that I've never gone and done a workout in the gym a few hours beforehand, were my muscles in (for want of a better word) a happier place? In that they'd had a good warmup a few hours before?

Stheno

2 hours cruiser racing today, lots of work to be done as there were only three of us as opposed to four or five.

Seem to be getting fitter, didn't stagger off the boat all stiff as I usually do.

Was a fantastic day out with the glorious weather

Stheno

ITW x 5 x3
Band Pull Aparts x 10 x3
Bird Dog x 10 x3


Bodyweight Squats 3 x 5
Goblet Squats 2 x 5 @5kg
Dumbbell Lunges 3 x 5 each side x 5kg
Standing Dumbbell Press 3 x 5 x 5kg
3 Point Dumbbell Row 3x5x10kg
Plank 3 x 30sec with 30sec rest
Side Plank 3 x 30 sec each side with 30 sec rest

Stheno

2 hours cruiser racing tonight, decent wind with a fair few turns.

Had a great time, no major problems during, tried a new technique when tacking of standing\squatting when pulling on the sail. Worked a treat (much faster).

But dear god, two hours later, my hamstrings and quads are in bits :rolleyes: they feel like they are burning up!

Onwards to tomorrow, next step in my programme, upping weights a little, then another 1.5 hours sailing.

Started a food log at myfitnesspal also to keep a track of what I eat and see the breakdown.

doctorwhogirl

Feel free to add me on Myfitnesspal Stheno! I've the same username!

Love having other boardsies and girls that lift!

Stheno

Couldn't move with the cramps in my legs yesterday, spent half the afternoon in work sitting as opposed to standing which I normally do!

hit the gym today


ITW x 5
Band pull aparts x 10
Bird Dog x 10

All of the above x three times

Bodyweight squats 3 x5
Goblet squats 8x5 with a 5kg goblet
DB Bench press 3 x 5 with 5 kg
Barbell Row 3x8x10kg

Plank: 3x40 secs 30 secs rest between
Side plank: 3x40 secs 30 secs rest between

I'm getting better at the squats, and used to watching myself in the mirror to check what I'm doing

Stheno

Two hours sailing today, usually a bit more, but thunder/lightning and rain put a stop to it

heavy enough winds, finished, and had the most awful pain in my backside, unusual, but was doing different stuff today, so I guess I was working the glutes a bit more than usual.

Stheno

Five - six hours sailing today as crew on a catamaran, an hour and a bit Wednesday.

Not been to the gym at all, due to today/tomorrow and trying to figure out a schedule that works with my work commitments.

In a competition this weekend, so another four hours min tomorrow on the boat.

Stopped sailing at six, the DOMs have just now eased off