Exercise Advice

Hey I haven't seen a thread for this around, so I thought I would make a new one. Whether people continue it or not remains to be seen. I'll start with my questions:

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Well for the past 2 months I've been going to the gym so I can be less fat and lazy. What I want to do overall is lose the fat and replace it with muscle. I got my cousin (she is a personal trainer) to give me some tips, but I don't really want to bother her much more because she is a professional and she isn't charging me anything.

Arms: My arms are looking noticeably better, so I think that's working. Here's what I do for my arms in a trip to the gym.

4 sets of 10 reps on this machine, but I don't know what it's called. You like, sit down and face two handles, you grab each of them and pull them towards you, and you can adjust the weight. It kinda looks like this:

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4 sets of 10 reps on this kind of machine. I like, grab the handles at the top and do chin-up things. I know it works on my arms because I sure feel it.

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And then finally, I do 5 sets of 10 bicep curls with one of those long weights bar things.



Legs: My legs don't really have any physical change noticeable... They're still kinda big looking and still quite wide and squishy near the top of them and I don't like it =[ Here's what I do each session:

4 sets of 10 reps, both ways, on this thing:

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I do 4 sets of 10 where I push that bar UP with my legs, and then the same amount, but I adjust that bar so I'm pushing it DOWN with my legs (which I find significantly easier than pushing up). I hope you get what I mean... And the one at my gym has adjustable weight.

And then I do 4 sets of 10 reps on this thing:

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You like, sit down on it and push that thing with your legs...


Stomach / chest / whatever: This hasn't shown much difference either, which makes me sad =[ Sorry, Taylor.

I don't use any machines for this, because my cousin didn't show me any to use. I start by doing 4 sets of 10 stomach crunches, then I do the same thing again, except I get one of those swiss balls and hold it with straightened arms and lift it along with the rest of me. Then I do 4 sets of 10 reps where I get a medicine ball, lie down, put my legs in the air, do a stomach crunch, put the ball on my legs, do the same thing again but take it off. I do that 10 times each set, 4 sets. It hurts =[ Anyway, that's all I do.


I do all of this almost every day, but at least 4 times a week minimum. My question is am I doing enough? As I said, my arms are noticeably better, but the rest of me isn't. I'd especially like to flatten my stomach more and maybe get visible abs. Or, am I doing enough yet just haven't given it enough time? I've been going for about 2 months, but only been doing this routine for about 5-6 weeks? If I'm not doing enough, are there any other exercises you would recommend? If it involves a machine, could you please post a picture of it so I know if my gym has one? Thanks to anyone that may be able to help me, and are we allowed to ask about nutrition here?

I've been doing the same as you, but I'm further along it seems.
Basically you need a twofold approach to:
1) Lose fat
2) Build muscle

1) Losing fat comes from cardiovascular exercise. The best form of cardio you can do is at least 30mins of jogging. This is where you drop the fat, especially from your stomach area. It is possible to have great abs and still not have a washboard stomach due to the insulation fat. Unfortunately the stomach area is the last place to lose fat from your body. You also need to do at least 30mins, cause your body won't break it down until 20mins of cardio

2) Building muscle - just keep doing what your already doing. Thing to remember though, muscle building comes through repitition, not weight. So its better to do 20 reps of 5kg than 10 reps of 10kg (or whatever your doing). Once you build, you can add more weight.

Good luck!!!

Simple crunches do wonders for your stomach. The above is more important for losing fat though, while crunches will tone your muscle there more.

Well I guess I'm on the right track for that, then. Effectively I do 160 a day, if that's enough.

Thats plenty. But get your cardio happening. You can actually seem fatter if you start building decent abs and haven't started burning the fat away
But if you want to target your abs specifically, check out some of the ab workouts on youtube. Yeah, the people in them are douches but they do show you a good 10minute routine

Before I start that workout, I'll always do like 5 minutes on the treadmill (3 minutes power walking, 2 running, because I'm not a very good runner) or 5 minutes on a bike / rowing machine or something cardio. My cousin said it was good to get your heart rate up before weights stuff.

Yeah it is. But I've done a lot of reading and talked to quite a few people about the cardio side of things. Everyone pretty much agrees that you need 30mins minimum to really start burning the fat from your stomach. And it can take a while for the results to show.

My entire family has been working to lose a lot of weight. My brother has been doing what you have done at the gym essentially. However, to really lose weight you need to start running long distances, at least 1-2miles. My brother loses no weight from gym workouts but sees dramatic changes once he started running. He has lost about 60 pounds this summer so far.

Yeah it is. But I've done a lot of reading and talked to quite a few people about the cardio side of things. Everyone pretty much agrees that you need 30mins minimum to really start burning the fat from your stomach. And it can take a while for the results to show.

Really now?

In addition to what others have said- Your diet is EXTREMELY important to losing fat. Diet can also accelerate muscle growth.
I dunno if you are working out everyday- but if you do work one half of your body on day A and the other half on day B. Except your core- work that everyday!
....

And as for your arms- find something that specifically works your Triceps- People often forget about them and they are the muscle that allows you to become a Triceratops some day.
Kick backs work very well.


As for this whole losing weight thing- I Do tons of ab work. I have loads of ab muscles- I also have about 3 inches of fat over it too. Pretty much all my body fat is on my torso- I don't get enough cardio and and i don't have a good diet. And I fucking like it that way.

Rdal, you can't lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. You have to pick one. Gaining muscle entails eating a lot of protein in the form of meat and eggs, so you'll gain fat along with muscle. After you gain the muscle, you do cardio to drop the fat. If you're going for weight loss, you need something totally different -- you need to take in less calories than you're burning so the weight goes away. Pick one of htese, do it, and once you're done with that go to the other. That's the only way to get really good results.

It's not so much wanting to lose weight, I guess that was a bad choice of words, because these exercises have made me put on about 3kg so far. Instead of saying lose weight, I should have said slim down.

And guys, I'm a fitness noob, so I don't know the proper terms for things =[ I have no idea where my triceps are...

It's not so much wanting to lose weight, I guess that was a bad choice of words, because these exercises have made me put on about 3kg so far. Instead of saying lose weight, I should have said slim down.

And guys, I'm a fitness noob, so I don't know the proper terms for things =[ I have no idea where my triceps are...

Oh, I'm pretty sure this machine said it works triceps

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But I'll check tomorrow.

Oh, I'm pretty sure this machine said it works triceps

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But I'll check tomorrow.

You can do multiple exercises on that. If you're doing dips on them, then you're training your triceps. There are probably other exercises on that machine that trains your triceps as secondary muscle group.

Really now?

Yes really.
http://www.ironmagazine.com/article324.html

The HIIT group performed 25-30 minutes of continuous exercise at 70% of maximal heart rate reserve and they also progressively added 35 long and short interval training sessions over a period of 15 weeks. Short work intervals started at 10 then 15 bouts of 15 seconds, increasing to 30 seconds. Long intervals started at 5 bouts of 60 seconds, increasing to 90 seconds. Intensity and duration were progressively increased over the 15 week period.

That is from the original study on HIIT. 30mins jogging would be at 70% heart rate.

Cardio burns fat while exercising whereas weight burns fat after. I find a mixed routine works best. Also, I am not a fan of going to the gym. I generally do bodyweight exercises including push up, chin up/pull up.

IMO, for beginners, you should work on biking. It's probably the best and safest form of exercise. Just hop onto an exercise bike and work your way through. If I am to buy any exercise machine, it'd be a stationary bike, mainly for interval trainings.

My goal is to be able to do 1 handed chin/pull up and handstand push up.

Rdal, you can't lose weight and gain muscle at the same time. You have to pick one.

Absolutely not true. You can always alternate between cardio and resistance (Which is what I do); it's been working for me for a while.

Also, doing crunches works on your core and ab muscles, but doesn't necessarily burn stomach fat. Burning calories or reducing your caloric intake will burn fat everywhere, no matter how you do it. Your stomach is the last place where your fat goes away. So, lifting weights and cardio work your muscles AND burn fat, only with one doing something better than the other.

You should just continue what you're doing now, but don't stress over using machines. Also, muscle; eat a lot of protein. A LOT of protein. <_< I always have at least 100% (62g) of the RDA of protein a day, but usually it's always around 90g.