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So right now I'm 6 feet tall and I weight 193 pounds and I really want to start working out. Right now my goals are to weight 170 pounds and be able to do 50 pushups in a row and 75 crunches in a row.
Currently, I'm doing cardio on an elliptical machine 3 times a week for 40 minutes and I'm burning ~550 calories per session. Also, I have cut out deserts from my diet such as cookies and cake, and have replaced them with small portions of dried fruit, nuts, and 100 calorie bags of popcorn. Just by doing this I have lost 1.5 pounds in 10 days which I feel is a great start.
The problem I'm having right now is that I want to gain a respectable amount of muscle (I don't want to be completely body builder ripped, but I don't want to be a stick either) but I'm not able to go to the gym 6 days a week, only the three I am currently doing now. After doing some reading I think I am able to do a basic body weight strength workout at home doing exercises like pushups and crunches. However, I have a couple questions that I was hoping somebody on TL could help me with.
What exercises should I do for a basic full body workout? I have 1 pound to 5 pound dumbbells but those are pretty small amounts of weight, also I don't have something I can do pullups on.
How do I make sure I am not creating any muscle imbalances? I'm mostly concerned about balancing the muscles used in pushups and the lower back muscles so that I do not increase my chances of injury.
Also, any tips about working out are welcome!
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Home workouts that i do are. Pushups, there are many kinds. if you want to work biceps with them, put your hand in a fist and have the fingers side point toward the outside, so the side with your head. There are also a lot of ab workouts too. I stick to leg raises, reverse crunches, and crunches/situps. If you have a medicine ball you can also do ab workouts with that too. That pretty much covers your upperbody.
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There are a lot of exercises you can do that require no machines at all. A lot are holds, where you simply assume a position and hold it for as long as you can, these tighten muscles and can give you a toned look. Either way, in my own experience, it's hard to try gaining muscle while losing weight.
There is a book called, "Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness by Ross Enamait" who is a boxer. I downloaded it and it's essentially a guide for getting into shape while spending little money and not using machines. Lot's of variations of pushups, sit-ups, crunches, holds, squats and things like that. I don't find it to be as effective as using machines, but it's something.
Also if you can get your hands on some adjustable dumbbells that would be good. There are a lot of things you can do with them that can give an entire upper body workout, and you work lower body with squats, holds, and old fashioned running.
Good luck.
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To start with weight training, I'd recommend a basic routine of lifting three times per week, exercising each body part once per week. So, for example, what I do is:
Monday: Chest/Shoulders/Biceps Wednesday: Back/Triceps/Abs Friday: Legs
To start with do maybe two exercises for each group and 3-5 sets of each exercise. As you get more advanced you can mix up the exercises, work in supersets or dropsets and do other things to ensure your muscles continue to strengthen and don't just adapt to the training.
As for the cardio, I'd recommend focusing on intensity (getting your heart rate up) rather than purely calories. Getting your heart rate up is great for your heart and lung capacity, and it will save you time since you'll tire much faster.
It sounds like you're off to a great start!
Edit: I should say I'd really recommend doing weight training at a gym (sounds like you're already going 3x for the elliptical) rather than at home--it just tends to be much easier/effective in my experience.
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find or make something to do pullups on
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On September 28 2009 08:03 travis wrote: find or make something to do pullups on That assumes you can even do pullups (I can't )
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I never told him to do pullups on it
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the first mistake you made was posting on teamliquid.net
make an account on bodybuilding.com and find the appropriate forum and read the stickies
You should probably do Rippetoes which is the most popular beginner program
Also you cannot gain muscle and lose weight at the same time, this will probably be explained in the stickies. Decide what you want to do and stick with that (Cut or Bulk).
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how was that a mistake? as though everyone here knows absolutely nothing, and he should forgo a community he is part of for a more elite one, just because he "wants to start working out". he didn't say he wants to become a bodybuilder, he said he wants to start working out.
why are people so pretentious
also, he said he doesn't have equipment, so your suggestion for him to go to bodybuilding.com and "do rippetoes" is really silly
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On September 28 2009 12:33 travis wrote: how was that a mistake? as though everyone here knows absolutely nothing, and he should forgo a community he is part of for a more elite one, just because he "wants to start working out". he didn't say he wants to become a bodybuilder, he said he wants to start working out.
why are people so pretentious
also, he said he doesn't have equipment, so your suggestion for him to go to bodybuilding.com and "do rippetoes" is really silly
I'm not being pretentious, just being honest. I see one of these threads every week and don't respond usually when I should so the OP doesn't end up following bad advice.
The point isn't that everyone here doesn't know anything, it's that MOST people here don't know anything and the threads I've read in the past most people don't know much of anything either but that doesn't stop them from spreading bad advice. That's not to say everyone on bb.com knows what they're talking about but in general you will get much more helpful advice there. You don't need to be a bodybuilder to post on bodybuilding.com, 99% of their userbase aren't interested in bodybuilding.
He said he wants to go to the gym 3 times a week also from what I read.
I'm just trying to help the guy because he said he wants to "gain a respectable amount of muscle" and home workouts are not going to do this as well as the gym (as ingenol pointed out).
Similarly if there's a poker thread I imagine you would direct them to twoplustwo.com instead of them getting advice from Non-rekrul players that play at microstakes.
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Come over to the tl.net fitness initiative thread, there are some very helpful and caring people in there.
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I JUST SIGNED UP FOR CLUB BOXING AND IM GONNA DIE
THAT IS ALL
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