Summer Fitness

[Mey]

Ok, I’m a lazy bastard and i sit on my arse all day, I’m fat and have man boobs. I have 2 months to get into a regular routine and no limited on the amount of exercise I can do during the day/night (no college woohooo)

Your Challenge, Get me fit again! What should i do to start with, and how do i do it?

I can afford to pay for Gyms, but would rather use the surroundings around me.. Swimming is also sort of out of the question for the most (I have epilepsy.)

 

[Vladamir]

If you can go to a gym, then do. I've found that paying is motivating enough to go

Are you looking to just cardio all the excess away?

Also: Diet is key. You want less calories in and more out. So throw out the pies and fried chicken.

 

[Mey]

What does Cardio mean? lol - fitness noobie!

I've never really worried about my appearance, i find that i get by with my charm / personality, but i'm fed up of not being able to get clothes i like because they don't fit right or hang wrongly etc..

So I guess no more beer for awhile.

Ideally i want to work on my upper body and legs so i can get back into freestyle bmx.

 

[- English -]

basically he means active fitness - cardio vascular - running etc

 

[Mey]

Right, i guess Cardio would be good for the building up stamnia and leg muscles ye'?

 

[- English -]

it builds up endurance (means you can run longer... increases vo2 max (max amount of oxegen uptake in 1min) blabla)

to build muscle endurance you need to do light amount of weights for a long time. Weights may seem light but do them about 100 times then your arms will feel the pain!! - 1/2max iirc

to build strength do 3/4 iirc your max for about 10 times, 3 sets

ohye, your max is what you feel comfortable in lifting 1 rep

 

[Darksword]

id recomend 3 cardio sessions, 2 weights sessions or body weight exercises a week.

Start the cardio light, dont go sprinting about, go for brisk walks, get a skipping rope and work with that.

Start the weight sessions as working on form and finding out your strength etc for the first month.

If your in bad shape you may just want to start with body weight exercises and stick with those for 2-3 months then move over to the gym.

CHANGE YOUR DIET! thats the big thing.

 

[Mey]

Right.. Should i bother taking up kickboxing/marital arts of some form, or is that personal preference?

 

[Fana]

Start by going for a few long walks, say 1h a day at least every other day for 1-2 weeks. Then start joging (low intensity running) every other day for about 30min, or mix with long walks, for another 1-2 weeks. Then start running every other day (higher intensity than joging) for 20-30min, mixed with joging. Then start upping the time/distance you run - after a couple weeks you should have no problems running 10km. It might not feel like it when you start out your training but you will improve fast if you are diciplined (and dicipline includes not overdoing it either - there is no point for an untrained person to force themselves to run faster or longer than they really should just to spend several days in pain and unable to excersice).

 

[Darksword]

Right.. Should i bother taking up kickboxing/marital arts of some form, or is that personal preference?

yes, yes, and further more, yes.

Great motivation aswell as forcing you to push yourself. Its fun and you will learn alot so go for it.

 

[Adlatus Hellbringer]

I work for a kinetika gym (as a sales manager) in the uk (not sure where ur from mey). When u buy a membership from a kinetika gym u get a fitness package called either face 2 face or kinetika journey. It gives u 5 personal training sessions and a fitness plan set to what u want to achieve(if ur in the uk buy this membership it reallt does rock and u will see results ;P). In my experience i would say join a gym and do the following:

For a 40 min gym session (all u need to do 3 times a week):

15 mins cardio (on x-trainer/rower/runner/bike)
25 mins of resistance training (imo chest press/leg press/therra crunch/lat pull down sum free weights maybe)

Once u reach 16 repetitions in a given resistance exercise raise the weight of that next time u come to the gym. With the cardio try and play around with ur heart rate (i would recomend buying a heart rate monitor) by increasing the speed/resistance/incline for a min then decreasing it again for a min.

If u can manage it try to go studio cycling once a week. Most gyms run it for an hour long. Its great fun and the music is usually very good. This is a brilliant fat burn session and u can cycle up to 20miles doing it a burn 800 calories.

Whatever u do tho do not neglect ur resistance training as this will tone up ur muscles and boost ur metobolic rate. On average u will burn calories over a 48 hour period after doing resistance training. If u do this 3 times a week u will b burning calories for the majority of the week.

Sort ur diet out aswell U can do this by eating a breakfast with lots of roughage (like weetabix) have a mid morning snack of fruit. Have a healthy light lunch. Have a mid aftenroon snack and then a nice healthy dinner. This will feed ur metabolism and keep u going

Hope this helps u m8,


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Remember dont kill urself its all about progression start slow and work up to higher weights etc

 

[Fana]

Right.. Should i bother taking up kickboxing/marital arts of some form, or is that personal preference?

To get a good workout out of martial arts you really should have some basic conditioning beforhand. I recomend only cardio work for a couple months before doing anything else tbh, then you can move in to gym training or martial arts etc with a good basic fitness to stand on and will get alot more out of it

 

[Eek]

If you want to lose weight, running is simply the best fat burning exercise you can do. You can run anywhere (as in, you don't have to sign up to a gym) but often it's quite easy to make excuses for not running in the "real world" - it's too cold, it's too hot, I'm tired, I've gotta do this or that. It's physically easier to drag yourself to the gym than it is to start running as soon as you get out of your front door.

Some points to remember - like the guy above said, you need to create a 'calorie deficit' if you want to lose weight. That means you need to sort out your diet (snacking is by far the most common thing which makes for weight gain, and which can be relatively easily cut out with some willpower). But anyway, they say for about every 10 minutes you run you will burn roughly 100 calories depending on your body weight (the heavier you are, the harder it is to carry yourself, if you see what I mean), the speed of your running, etc. Which means if you got for a 30 minute run one day, you've already burnt 300 calories, which doesn't sound like much, but if you do that three times a week, and cut down your calorie intake, you will lose weight.

Anyway, if you decide to run, you should set yourself some goals. Go out for a jog the first time, no pressure - just do what you can. I mean, not two steps and give up - no pain, no gain, as they say. But don't go mad, is my point. Anyway, if you try and improve on that every week by a certain amount (not too much, experts don't really recommend upping your mileage by more than 10% a week - but obviously that's not as crucial when you are running very short distances at first.) So, go on to the post office, instead of stopping on the corner.

Another great thing to do is sign up for a 'race'. There are loads of varying distances, depending on where you live. Starting at 5K (or maybe shorter) and heading all the way up to marathon and beyond (26 miles+). But signing up for a race is great motivation, and gives you a real feeling of achievement when you complete them. Take a look at www.runnersworld.co.uk for some good general running advice or races to sign up for (they are UK only, though, so not sure if that helps!)

Anyway, good luck. I hope that makes sense, it's a bit early for typing

 

[Mey]

Oki guys cheers!

My hope from this is that i can improve my lifestyle, boast my motivation and gain some more confidence (which should hold well for when i go for jobs etc..)

Hopefully if i start doing some exercise i won't have to lie in my bed for 2-3 hours waiting to fall asleep.. insomnia for the win ey'.

Cheers for the help people, if you got any more advice keep it coming, i really do appreciate it .

 

[Mikah75]

martial arts is a good combo i think, mixed with a gym, determines you to be better.. one of my closest friends, black belt tai kwon do, he's fucking beef so strong, cant knock people out by them punching him in the stomach, doesnt even move.. amazing stuff
he's been accepted by the Royal Marines, leaves in july; only 18 years old
has incredible stamina, strength etc

if you do this, you must be self motivated and want it... or it will never happen, you'll just get bored and put it off and go eugh cba today.

 

[Darksword]

To get a good workout out of martial arts you really should have some basic conditioning beforhand. I recomend only cardio work for a couple months before doing anything else tbh, then you can move in to gym training or martial arts etc with a good basic fitness to stand on and will get alot more out of it

pffft i see people with crap cardio come into our gym all the time, and they are gaining a hell of a lot out of training. You automatically get pushed by training with other people, and you learn techniques, and its easier to stay motivated.

Good cardio base is a good thing but you can build a cardio base. Remember also that alot of cardio becomes based around a single aspect, because you have good cardio running for 20 miles doesnt mean you can fight for 5 minutes etc.

 

[Darksword]

martial arts is a good combo i think, mixed with a gym, determines you to be better.. one of my closest friends, black belt tai kwon do, he's fucking beef so strong, cant knock people out by them punching him in the stomach, doesnt even move.. amazing stuff
he's been accepted by the Royal Marines, leaves in july; only 18 years old
has incredible stamina, strength etc

if you do this, you must be self motivated and want it... or it will never happen, you'll just get bored and put it off and go eugh cba today.

huh? :S he can knock people out by them punching him in the stomach, or he cant be knocked out by people punching him in the stomach? I want to test this. Am i allowed a liver shot?

 

[Mikah75]

huh? :S he can knock people out by them punching him in the stomach, or he cant be knocked out by people punching him in the stomach? I want to test this. Am i allowed a liver shot?

its all about 'chi' or the mind or some crap
most of the expert tai kwon do stuff is revolved around pressure points, and overpowering your opponents, but after that its about accessing these points causing them to black out and feint... many learn how to stand there and ive seen it with my own eyes at seminars etc... they stand there still and someone punches them in the stomach, and the opponent will just fall on the floor its amazing

 

[Mey]

haha sweet!

I'm thinking more about my Live action roleplay now but, If im going to do a marital art i'd like to get some use out of the techniques i learn (weapons fighting etc..) so any got any advice on which martials arts would be best for fighting with weapons (swords/staffs/daggers) etc..

 

[Job]

From my experience exercise is a total waste of time for losing weight, unless you do it everyday without noticing like as part of your job or something.

It's so difficult to keep up and actually burns up very few calories for an awful lot of effort, cycling 15 miles uses 1 KitKat.

You are much better off not putting them in yourself in the first place, 600 calories a day max, basically you are going to be fookin starvin for 3 months and get used to it, I lost 4 pounds a week by that method without an ounce of exercise.

Remember though 600 calories is like 2 marsbars all day

 

[Darksword]

its all about 'chi' or the mind or some crap
most of the expert tai kwon do stuff is revolved around pressure points, and overpowering your opponents, but after that its about accessing these points causing them to black out and feint... many learn how to stand there and ive seen it with my own eyes at seminars etc... they stand there still and someone punches them in the stomach, and the opponent will just fall on the floor its amazing

oh right yeh, i've also seen videos of people knocking people out by standing 2 metres behind them and throwing a punch in the air. ITS BULLSHIT!

This whole chi thing takes far too long and wouldnt be effective in combat. And apparantly you have to believe in it to get knocked out. Theres a video of a dojo in america, some fat guy claiming he can knock anyone down, then a real fighter, stephan bonnar comes along and he tries it on him and completely fails, trys it on the camera man and fails. He claims you have to believe in it. Dont focus on this at all. Tai Chi, in the real form has its merits, as does TKD, but anything that claims too much on chi is ridiculas. Go learn real martial arts that dont require your opponent to believe in some mystical powers.

Tae means "to kick or destroy with the foot"; Kwon means "fist"; and Do means "way" or "art". Hence, Taekwondo is loosely translated as "the art of hand and foot" or "the way of the foot and the fist."

TKD is not based on pressure points or throws etc, infact modern day WTF TKD (world taekwon-do federation TKD) is based almost solely around kciking, the kicks are snap kicks and you kick to the head for the most points in competition. Punching to the head is forebidden as is kicking to the legs. Its great exercises and a great base for martial arts but it is not a effective martial art on its own. Dont believe me? Kickboxing is based around taekwon do and boxing - good combination. But kickboxers neglected the low kicks, thai fighters come along and low kick you 4-5 times and your fucked, they werent conditioned enough so they changed their art a bit.

TKD is great exercises, awesome infact, and a decent martial art but alot of it is fake, make sure its a real class and not a mcdojo.

Oh and id more than happily demonstrate that i can hit your friend and not get knocked out if he wants to test it properly.

 

[Darksword]

From my experience exercise is a total waste of time for losing weight, unless you do it everyday without noticing like as part of your job or something.

It's so difficult to keep up and actually burns up very few calories for an awful lot of effort, cycling 15 miles uses 1 KitKat.

You are much better off not putting them in yourself in the first place, 600 calories a day max, basically you are going to be fookin starvin for 3 months and get used to it, I lost 4 pounds a week by that method without an ounce of exercise.

Remember though 600 calories is like 2 marsbars all day

Diet diet diet.

 

[- English -]

exercise as much as you play daoc and you would be mr motivator

 

[Mikah75]

oh right yeh, i've also seen videos of people knocking people out by standing 2 metres behind them and throwing a punch in the air. ITS BULLSHIT!

This whole chi thing takes far too long and wouldnt be effective in combat. And apparantly you have to believe in it to get knocked out. Theres a video of a dojo in america, some fat guy claiming he can knock anyone down, then a real fighter, stephan bonnar comes along and he tries it on him and completely fails, trys it on the camera man and fails. He claims you have to believe in it. Dont focus on this at all. Tai Chi, in the real form has its merits, as does TKD, but anything that claims too much on chi is ridiculas. Go learn real martial arts that dont require your opponent to believe in some mystical powers.

Tae means "to kick or destroy with the foot"; Kwon means "fist"; and Do means "way" or "art". Hence, Taekwondo is loosely translated as "the art of hand and foot" or "the way of the foot and the fist."

TKD is not based on pressure points or throws etc, infact modern day WTF TKD (world taekwon-do federation TKD) is based almost solely around kciking, the kicks are snap kicks and you kick to the head for the most points in competition. Punching to the head is forebidden as is kicking to the legs. Its great exercises and a great base for martial arts but it is not a effective martial art on its own. Dont believe me? Kickboxing is based around taekwon do and boxing - good combination. But kickboxers neglected the low kicks, thai fighters come along and low kick you 4-5 times and your fucked, they werent conditioned enough so they changed their art a bit.

TKD is great exercises, awesome infact, and a decent martial art but alot of it is fake, make sure its a real class and not a mcdojo.

Oh and id more than happily demonstrate that i can hit your friend and not get knocked out if he wants to test it properly.

got to see it to believe it, doesnt work on all, but most people
and yes its all of the above too, but much of it is pressure points, 5 elements also
very agile, with fists and his kicks are incredible
pretty hypocritical to say "Go learn real martial arts that dont require your opponent to believe in some mystical powers." when you just explained how it is indeed a variety.. TKD doesnt require your opponent to belive in chi... its just another technique and method they learn to focus.

 

[Adlatus Hellbringer]

haha sweet!

I'm thinking more about my Live action roleplay now but, If im going to do a marital art i'd like to get some use out of the techniques i learn (weapons fighting etc..) so any got any advice on which martials arts would be best for fighting with weapons (swords/staffs/daggers) etc..

Kendo is for swords i believe.

 

[Darksword]

got to see it to believe it, doesnt work on all, but most people
and yes its all of the above too, but much of it is pressure points, 5 elements also
very agile, with fists and his kicks are incredible
pretty hypocritical to say "Go learn real martial arts that dont require your opponent to believe in some mystical powers." when you just explained how it is indeed a variety.. TKD doesnt require your opponent to belive in chi... its just another technique and method they learn to focus.

? but it does require your opponent to believe in it.

I agree TKD kicks look very good, and some have amazing power behind them, but in a fight they just wouldnt work, they take a lot of setting up, a 540 degree spinning heel hook will hurt and knock almost anyone out, but landing one is a completely different matter. They are easier to land in TKD competitions, put them in a fight situation and you are left with something completely different. The basics of TKD ofcourse are the simple front kick, side kicks, roundhouse and crescent kicks and a few other kicks, which all transcend over well to fighting due to simplicity and maximum impact, but then you get all this spinning stuff that is just too complicated and are often hit or miss completely, leaving you vulnerable etc.

If you choose to learn TKD id stress in a ITF TKD school (Internation TKD federation) as they do have punches to the head etc and do focus more on power opposed to point scoring in competition.

Im not claiming TKD is useless, but i am saying that alot of TKD has become distorted now, largely due to the olympics i believe. I am claiming that this whole emphasise on chi etc is nothing more than exercise, unless you do REAL tai chi the martial art not the exercise.

Im not trying to turn this into an argument but such claims are ludicrous, why havent such masters of chi entered no holds barred competition etc? Or fight a gracie in their open mat challenges? Or send representatives to a MMA event? Howcome the only demonstration of their powers is just that, a seminar or some glass eating or walking on pins etc.

I guess its just a matter of agreeing to disagree tho <Shrug>

 

[Darzil]

haha sweet!

I'm thinking more about my Live action roleplay now but, If im going to do a marital art i'd like to get some use out of the techniques i learn (weapons fighting etc..) so any got any advice on which martials arts would be best for fighting with weapons (swords/staffs/daggers) etc..

I found the most useful for me for LRP Sword was Sabre fencing, and when practicing I contrentrated on parries most. The stance is good for LRP, and it uses slashing, rather than the thrusting of Epee and Foil.

Kendo isn't as useful as it seems, as many of the moves are designed around real combat, not safe combat.

Darzil

 

[Gamah]

If you can go to a gym, then do. I've found that paying is motivating enough to go

Are you looking to just cardio all the excess away?

Also: Diet is key. You want less calories in and more out. So throw out the pies and fried chicken.

Give pies

 

[Mikah75]

it isnt just seminars, theres regular competitions, mainly around London.. cant really claim its inferiority as i dont believe you to be a TKD expert, its not purely kicks and pressure points

for you're opponent to collapse on the floor from pressing a pressure point does not require him to believe in chi :/ or to be kicked in the face..
chi is not purely what you think either, many techniques, such as focussing the mind to be calm etc

knock out techniques are obviously very dangerous, why chance the risk, when other skills can be shown.. have to place them in recovery positions etc

 

[Darksword]

I found the most useful for me for LRP Sword was Sabre fencing, and when practicing I contrentrated on parries most. The stance is good for LRP, and it uses slashing, rather than the thrusting of Epee and Foil.

Kendo isn't as useful as it seems, as many of the moves are designed around real combat, not safe combat.

Darzil

Im not too informed on the individual styles but id agree that fencing is probably the best for you. I do know that sabre uses slashing like darzil said, and foil uses more "stabbing" (you need to hit their armor to score a point by pushing the end of your sword into them which has a metal detector stuff). So id stay away from foil.

its all 1h tho and doesnt work with shields so.