Lads I'm very confused

Deranged96

Right, I'm basically just after a bitta guidance, y'know?
A few weeks ago I had one of those glorious "I'ma get my sh1t togther" moments, and decided to become fit, maybe gain a bitta muscle, shake up the oul diet and so on.

Had about two good weeks I'd say, jogged a little, increased manual labour preformed (i'm hoping dragging and tearing amounts to the equivalent of a weights workout) and eat grand.

then I googled and it changed everything!
All this stuff came at me about cutting and bulking, the misconception that muscle can be gained while weight is lost, the backstabbing former friends that were brown bread and spuds, the uselessness of cardio, the God that is protein.

I had a vague idea of a lot of that stuff, but I thought all you need to do is more exercise and good food and all the rest was just for the pros.

So like, i don't know which way to turn now. Is cardio that awful? I can't afford proper weights atm and tight schedules or plans wouldn't do with me at the moment.

Oh I'm 18, 6"2, 14.75st, my lower stomach is decidedly blubber, everywhere else seems OK.

Any body wanna direct me?
Thanks for reading!

Oryx

Nothing wrong with cardio, doing it will make you able to do more cardio. It wont make you look ripped, though.

So you have to decide what you want from this new leaf youre turning. Do you want increased fitness? Do you want to be able to run? Or lift heavier things? Or just look better?

More exercise and good food is very vague. And most people get the good food thing pretty wrong anyway. List your activities, diet and aims, and let the folks here advise.

LuckyLloyd

If your lower stomach is the issue, then diet is the cure.

Diet:

Learn to cook.

Meat
Fish
Eggs
Vegtables
Some fruit, some nuts
Butter, Good quality oil, full fat dairy
Some spuds and rice depending on your activity levels

Cut down / cut out sugar, bread, cereals, fast food, non water beverages

Exercise:

You're 18 which means you have boundless potential. Find something you genuinely enjoy and get doing it multiple times a week.

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

The depth within what I've said above is endless, and the debate around nuances and details goes on forever. But those are the basics. Read the stickied threads at the top of the forum. Good luck.

seamus

Forget any diet regime that suggests you eat only X and none of Y. Or ones that say high fat or high protein or high carbs or low fat or low protein or low carbs.

They're all fad diets advocated by people for whom those diets work.....for them.

To lose weight, eat less calories than you burn. Exercise will help burn additional calories, but the primary great thing about exercise is that it makes you better at exercising. Lifting will make you able to lift more. Running will make you able to run more. You can do both, neither are better than the other nor mutually exclusive.

Mink

All the stuff about diet and exercise on the net is confusing, you're right. Generally eating healthily and exercising is correct, it doesn't have to be more complicated than that.

I think everyone here would agree that, for the most part, eating healthily would be a good bit of veg, protein, fruit, healthy fats and go easy on the carbs. Drink lots of water and cut down (or out) processed and packaged stuff.

Is there a sport you would like to get into? A local team you could join? Ya know, for the social aspect of it and also the pressure to train so you perform well.

I'm doing the 30 day shred which is on YouTube. It's a 20 min workout with strength, abs and cardio. I don't even have weights, I just use two bottles with a litre of water in each. So it's not costing me anything. Just might be a good spring board for you to build up strength and tone.

Go for your jogs as well and look into couch 2 5k programme. Again won't cost you anything other than if you want to download the app for it which is a couple euro and make sure you have some runners with good support.

Don't get into fads, they are a slippery road to disappointment and health problems. Do something you can maintain in the long run.

LCD

Refreshing to ready such good advice, eat a good balanced diet & do exercise. I remember once listening to a swimming coach saying the best sessions were something like 50*100m with 10sec's rest. Problem was he couldn't sell that, it was too boring. So to justify what he charged clients he had to repackage this & add a load of jargon to make it sound exotic & add the buzz words "stressing of different training zones".

Doug Cartel

Deranged96 wrote: »

Is cardio that awful?

Cardio is great for your heart and lungs, and trust me, you want a good heart and lungs. Even if all you care about is appearance, it's the business, because nothing looks worse than being in a heap after a fairly minor bit of exertion.

Deranged96

Thanks guys!
I'll look into all suggested above, then set out some goals and in the meantime plough on with jogs
Cheers

Alf Veedersane

Just keep it simple and work within your means.

Food is simple. The least amount of processing the better.

Good luck with it all

Bawnmore

Deranged96 wrote: »

I can't afford proper weights atm and tight schedules or plans wouldn't do with me at the moment.

Lookup bodyweight routines too maybe. Can be done anywhere and with minimal equipment.

Mr. Incognito

I was the same as you.

Hadn't a clue. Found cardio too boring and weights too scary.

I would recommend trying to get a base level of fitness. For me the target was five miles. If you can run five miles to me you are fit.

The definition of fit is running three times a week for 20 minutes without stopping. I think that's an admiral goal.

You can bulk up, but that will happen naturally as you get older and you need to be incredibly disciplined in your early 20s when you may have other priorities. I would say find something in the way of cardio that works for you be it running, cycling, rowing, swimming, soccer, outdoor jogging. Something you actually enjoy.

For weights I found that I got the greatest results from 5X5 reps at about 80% of my max weight. It's rather simplistic but its a good way to start and you will see mega gains at the start.

I work, a lot so I try and mix cardio and weights into the same routine. Generally run for around twenty minutes and would do my weights set.

The most important thing starting out is not to try and do too much. You will crash and burn. Go every second day. If its only for fifteen minutes, that's cool, but get in the habit of going.

It's when you start seeing results you start getting addicted. Just my 2 cents.

Happy training.