Fitness Checkin

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, it really depends one what kind of exercise you're doing. Powerlifting? Bodybuilding? General fitness? This wil determine what kinds of workouts you should do.

well for fitness i dont go out for workout . i am just trying to do some cardio exercises and these exercises are best for lossing weight and keeping our body fit . cardio exercises are like swimming , jogging , running and cycling .

[tomalak301]

Rojo and Rama,

Since we last talked, I've kind of improved my work out program and part of the reason for that was downloading the JEFIT app that was recommended on here. I think what I want to do is build muscle (And lose weight, but I'm 6'1" 190 ibs.) but here is the schedule I've been trying to follow:

Elliptical trainer 3 times a week (10 minutes of warm up at low resistance, and then finish after I lift for 25 minutes at resistance 10)

Mondays: Biceps, Chest
Wednesday: Abs, Butt, Back
Friday: Tris, chest, Legs
Saturday: Butt, Shoulders, and more Cardio

I do free weights, like Arm Curals (Mondays), work with an exercise ball with the abs (Leg pull ins and crunches, Wednesday), Bench Press and Leg Press (Friday), and stuff like that.

I still have a somewhat big gut, and I do try to do 5 sets of 25 crunches after every workout before going to the elliptical but are there things you would recommend as to how I can improve or is this a good start? Sometimes I work as a custodian as well so that's physical and I might not go to the gym that day or not because I get a lot of physical action at that job.

I've also downloaded an app that counts my calories and really forcing to make better food choices, like adding more fruits and veggies and green foods.

Thanks again for the advice.

[RoJoHen]

Getting rid of fat is all about keeping your heart rate up and burning more calories than you're taking in. You can do crunches 'til the cows come home, but you'll never get rid of that gut without burning your excess calories. Doing your elliptical is a great start.

How many sets of a particular exercise are you doing? Like on Monday, what exactly do you do for chest and biceps? Are you doing different types of exercises for each body part?

And why are you working your butt so much?

[tomalak301]

I do 3 sets of 12 repetitions each, with the third set being the hardest. And I to exercises that focus on the body parts worked on that day, such as the arm curls, Bench Press machine, stuff like that.

As for the butt, I really haven't worked out that part that much, and I'm thinking instead of doing the butt so much do another day of abs. Do need to touch the hamstrings and groin though.

[RoJoHen]

If you're already doing a day of abs, plus abs at the end of every workout, I can you right now you need to back off. Abs are like any other muscle and need time to recover. If you're doing abs every time you workout, you're probably doing too much.

I would also recommend doing additional exercises for each muscle group. Only 3 sets on a bench press machine isn't going to be terribly effective if you're trying to build muscle. Weight machines are okay for beginners, but free weights are going to be more effective in the long run. You should also throw in different exercises. If you're trying to stay relatively low-impact, pushups are a fantastic chest workout. You can do other things, like flat bench, incline bench, cable crossovers, dumbbell flies. If I were you, I would try and do at least 3 different exercises at 3-4 sets a piece for each body part.

To burn more calories, you can superset these workouts to keep your heart rate up and avoid too much rest time. Do a set of chest followed immediately by a set of arms and alternate back and forth until you finish 3-4 sets of each. Then rest a minute before moving on to the next set of exercises.


Above all, you need to keep your diet in mind. Your diet can make or break any workout routine.

[tomalak301]

So your saying I shouldn't be using the machines at all? That's something I did not know.

[RoJoHen]

Machines are okay, but they are very limiting. Free weights allow for wider range of motion and require you to use more muscles in order to stabilize your body. Machines do the stabilization for you, so you end up not having to work as hard.

[Maestro]

Been able to do a lot of swimming and play in the pool with my daughter and my nieces. Not any lap swimming, but some substantial pool play (try tossing 3 45 lb 4-8 year olds for an hour).

The biking has fallen by the wayside.

The good news, is, and it's because my daughter is enrolled in the basic class, I've kept up with the martial arts classes. Twice a week for 45 minutes. I'm still winded at the end of the calisthenics portion. I'm still soaking wet with sweat when they're done. I still hurt the next day. However, my recovery from being winded has gotten a lot better, and I only hurt for one day instead of more.

I've dropped 10 pounds this summer. Not as much as I wanted. But still, down 10.

My instructor told me yesterday that he plans to graduate me to the next belt at the end of this rotation in two weeks. Which is nice to hear that my fat ass had a pretty successful rotation. I wish I had the flexibility to do really parallel side-kicks, but I'm being patient.

With the summer special over, I signed a six month contract last night, so I will continue for the next two rotations. Hopefully by Christmas, I'll be an orange belt and down 10 more pounds.

[May]

Hi all! I'm new here and I wanted to ask if anyone here works out with kettlebell? I found this amazing sports few months ago and I haven't went to gym since. I use only 4-5 exercises and it affects to all major muscle groups. I can now use one size smaller clothes than I wore in June. I sincerely recommend kettlebell exercises

[RoJoHen]

I have always been intrigued by kettle bell workouts, but I've never actually done anything with them. I've heard they're awesome.

[May]

RoJoHen wrote:

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I have always been intrigued by kettle bell workouts, but I've never actually done anything with them. I've heard they're awesome.

You should try they are awesome and very(!) effective indeed

[Maestro]

We started fieldshows this week with my band. There is a hill between the backdoor to my band room and the football field. For the first time in 9 years of teaching at this school, I was able to jog up the hill every time this week without getting winded.

To top it off, at last night's game, to add a little excitement to things, I walked over to the student section and offered push-ups or jumping jacks. One smart ass shouted, "I'll bet you can't do 7!" Down I went. Our team racked up 41 points in the first half. I did push-ups after every score but the last. With only 34 seconds left on the game clock before my band performed at halftime, I opted for 41 jumping jacks. A student tried to keep up with me and stopped around 25.

104 push-ups last night, 41 jumping jacks, and my band still marched a helluva show.

Wasn't winded a bit. Got up this morning and went to karate class. Yeah, this fitness effort is working for a change!

[RAMA]

tomalak301 wrote:

---

Rojo and Rama,

Since we last talked, I've kind of improved my work out program and part of the reason for that was downloading the JEFIT app that was recommended on here. I think what I want to do is build muscle (And lose weight, but I'm 6'1" 190 ibs.) but here is the schedule I've been trying to follow:

Elliptical trainer 3 times a week (10 minutes of warm up at low resistance, and then finish after I lift for 25 minutes at resistance 10)

Mondays: Biceps, Chest
Wednesday: Abs, Butt, Back
Friday: Tris, chest, Legs
Saturday: Butt, Shoulders, and more Cardio

I do free weights, like Arm Curals (Mondays), work with an exercise ball with the abs (Leg pull ins and crunches, Wednesday), Bench Press and Leg Press (Friday), and stuff like that.

I still have a somewhat big gut, and I do try to do 5 sets of 25 crunches after every workout before going to the elliptical but are there things you would recommend as to how I can improve or is this a good start? Sometimes I work as a custodian as well so that's physical and I might not go to the gym that day or not because I get a lot of physical action at that job.

I've also downloaded an app that counts my calories and really forcing to make better food choices, like adding more fruits and veggies and green foods.

Thanks again for the advice.

Awesome! glad you found it useful!!

[Maestro]

So, just to add to the ante of this thread, I competed in the Southern Wisconsin Karate Open in the 18-34 forms division. Although I placed 3rd (of 3 in my division), I scored 8.7 8.7 8.4, with one of the 8.7s coming from Grandmaster Bob Likes. The first place winner scored 8.9 8.8 8.9.

I am pleased. Next year, I move to the old farts division. I hope to do better.