First off, there are only 3 possible goals related to fitness. They include:
increasing muscle
decreasing fat
increasing performance (running faster/longer, lifting more weight, ect)
It is impossible to shrink fat in just one part of your body Ie you can't "tone" your arms or stomach. You can only lose fat everwhere or nowhere. You can however, gain muscle in just one spot. Losing fat can be done relatively fast, however gaining muscle takes a long ass time, and ladies, you are never going to get "big and bulky," especially without steriods, so go out and lift.
If you want to achieve any of these three goals, you need to exercise and eat right. Both are required if you want to make real progress.
Diet
Ideally you want to be eating “clean" meaning things that are good for you and your body can use to make muscle (chicken breast with no skin instead of pizza, cutting out refined sugars/gross carb stuff, etc ). Also it is very important to drink plenty of water throughout the day, forget the sodas.
Next figure your maintence calories:
Go to
body fat calculator and figure up you body fat percentage (ignore the rest for now).
[RMR (Resting metabolic rate) X Activity Factor] + Thermic Effect of Food= Maintenance Calorie Intake
{[10 x (LBM in lbs) + 500] X Activity Factor} + (TEF)
Where RMR = 10 x (LBM in lbs) + 500
And Activity Factors =
1.2-1.3 for Very Light (bed rest)
1.5-1.6 for Light (office work/watching TV)
1.6-1.7 for Moderate (some activity during day)
1.9-2.1 for Heavy (labor type work)
TEF (thermic effect of food)= 10-15% X RMR
so 150 lbs of lean body mass for a moderately active person = [10 x 150 + 500] X 1.6 + .10(10 x 150 + 500) = 3400 calories
If you are cutting you should intake about .85 X your maintence calories or 2890 in the example above.
Your protien intake should be around 1.5 grams per lb of lean body mass. For the above example this would be 225g per day.
You protien and calories for the day should be split into 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. Each meal should have some protein.
To key to getting your diet fixed, is preparation. If you have lots of good food sitting around and no shitty food, you’ll be less likely to eat shitty food.
Routines
First off, doing heavy free weight compound movements (
Squats Deadlifts and
more deadlifts) will do more for you than almost anything else, regardless of your goals. This includes
you women! Try to avoid the machines (cables not included) they restrict your movement and do not allow you to work your stabilizers. Weak stabilizers = more injuries. Free weights are your friend. Just doing curls and bench isn't going to do it either.
You want a basic split routine of 3-5 days using different body parts each day. Trying to do a full body routine generally leads to overtraining.
animated gifs of proper form You can go here and look up each exercise to see what they are how how to do them.
Quick reference for more animated gifs
Abs: working your abs isn’t going to make your gut go away. You can only shrink fat all over your body, not in just one place. Here is some ab info though
ab work more ab work
Cutting (losing fat)
Are you fat?
To lose fat (hence get the fat off your abs so you can see them) you must bring in less calories than you are using in a day. If you are cutting you should intake about .85 X your maintenance calories or 2890 in the example above.
Generally it is advised that you Cut no more than 500 calories below your maintenance level. If you try to starve yourself you will make it harder to lose weight.
John Berardi - The Winning Formula Part 2
HIIT
If you are in shape, most people here would recommend you do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) where you work out at high intensities for short intervals (who would have imagined?) This technique burns a much more fat then slow cardio.
http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp
Interval training may increase cardiovascular endurence more than medium intensity slowmo cardio
study
Keto (atkins, southbeach, etc)
If you are extremely obese or you are in a hurry to loose weight keto may be for you. In keto you cut our carbs and as a result burn a higher percentage of fat for energy. Most of us will generally advise you to try a targeted ketogenic diet or one where you periodically load up on carbs, as opposed to pure atkin’s style. Many people also have a lot of success with just cutting out simple carbs (sugar) and keeping overall carbs to a reasonable level, without going into ketosis (100-150g of carbs/day).
Some of the mistakes people make on keto include not getting enough fat, not getting enough calories, and eating to much protein. It is not necissary to do keto to lose weight. If you start eating clean and bring the overall carbs down to a reasonable level, you will do fine, it will just take longer. Also be carefull on keto and limit high intensity work.
Fat And Calorie Calculator - eHow.com
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forum...p?s=&forumid=61
www.low-carb.org/faq
If you are skinny/fat bulk first then cut. It will be easier.
Working out at home
It's best to just suck it up and go to the gym, but if you can't:
body weight exercises more body weight exercise
Again stay away from machines if possible (bowflex).
You can also put together an excellent gym at home for very little money. All you really need is a good adjustable bench (decline and incline) and some dumbells which can all be had for < $200. When you get more money you can add on a standard 300lb barbell set for < $150 and a rack/cage for ~$250. Play it again sports usually has pretty good deals and they will negotiate. Garage sales are a great place to find equipment especially in August at college towns.
Nutrition Facts, tracking your diet
Go to
fitday and keep track of what you eat (note, the fitday numbers are often way off, so it’s best to put in the nutrition info yourself). This info will be helpful if you aren't getting the results you want and need advice. At
nutrition data you can get nutrition data.
If you do want supplements go here
www.1fast400.com
www.blackstarlabs.com
www.dpsnutrition.net
www.beyond-a-century.com
www.netrition.com/
GNC is overpriced. The stuff you get at the supermarket will probably taste like ass and be over priced as well.
If you search around you will get a feel for what brands most people use, so you don't buy something that tastes like ass and doesn't work.
Given that, chocolate Optimum whey is the favorite around here for the money (10lbs at a time).
If your lactose intolerant try lactaide or dairy ease 2% instead of milk. Stay away from soy and soy milk
