Look/feel good by summer?

[Reece]

I'll do whatever it takes to look/feel good by Summer. I have a membership to a local gym, I go run a mile, walk a couple, and lift a couple rounds of weights. I have a pullup bar at home. My main areas of interest are, in order, abs, pecs, and butt (don't recall the technical term). Can anybody give me some specific workouts, or just advice in general? Thanks.

[Leviatahon]

well for your pecks you can do wide push up, close push ups, military push ups, and diamond push ups. diamond push ups hurt at first but if you do them right that will stop

[Reece]

I'm guessing wide and close refer to arm movement. But what are military and diamond pushups?

[Leviatahon]

http://www.better-chest-workouts.com/push-ups.html

[Reece]

You're certainly right, diamond pushups do hurt. Thank you, I'll certainly remember to do all of these daily. Anything else?

[Leviatahon]

well theres one that i do for my abs but im not sure what its called. you lay on your stomach and raise up on your toes and forearms with your hands in a fist, and keep your back strait. try to stay in that pos for one minite or as long as you can (this also hurts)

[ninja9578]

butt (don't recall the technical term).. Glutes Up your milage. In order to look good, you have to bring your body fat down under 10%, and running is the only way to do that. It also tones your legs and butt.

[SkA_DaRk_Che]

Well Reece, the most important thing when it comes to getting in shape is consistency and persistence. You have to have a consistent weekly work out, and you must be persistent in your routine. If you are just working out chaotically without a weekly routine you will quickly fall out and your goal will not be met. This has been my experience with working out, I'm sure you are aware of this as well but i cannot put enough emphasis on this. This is perhaps the most important aspect of working out, without this, it becomes a futile endeavour destined for failer from the getgo. Therefore you must pay keen attention to your routine and catch yourself if you notice your will to persist waning. What happened with me is I estabilished a routine, but then I got distracted with other activities, and before i knew it i was working out less and less until i realized weeks had lapsed since my last work out. Regards, Soros

[Reece]

Thank you two very much! Ninja - I can go about 90 minutes on a treadmill by walking three minutes, running two, at about 3.2 and 6.2 miles an hour. Should I do that every day or two, as long as I can continue it?

[ninja9578]

5 days a week is best: rest, distance, short and fast, short and fast, rest, distance, long distance For me: distance is 6 miles at 7 minute mile pace short and fast is 3 miles at 5:30 mile pace long distance is 15 miles at 8 minute mile pace Probably cut the distance and speed down by 30% for you

[SkA_DaRk_Che]

5 days a week is best: rest, distance, short and fast, short and fast, rest, distance, long distance For me: distance is 6 miles at 7 minute mile pace short and fast is 3 miles at 5:30 mile pace long distance is 15 miles at 8 minute mile pace Probably cut the distance and speed down by 30% for you Hey. I don't want to derail this thread, but per session what distance do you think would be adequate for a beginner cross country skier? I know that it takes a different tole on the body than running and is therefore a very different beast in this sense, so i am having a hard time gadging what would be an acceptable amount. .eg. not too much not too little. The distances that i do are all over the place, and i want to estabilish some sort of rythmn to my excursions as they were. However i am uncertain as what would be appropiate. Regards, Soros

[Alric]

Make sure you work in some strength building exercises. Either lifting weights, or just doing things like pushups and squats, both which are really simple and easy to do. Also there high intensity interval training. Basically you sprint for as fast as you can for 30 seconds to a minute, then you jog for 2 minutes, then you repeat for 15-20 minutes or so. Shorter and more intense workouts, will get you in shape a lot quicker, than running for hours. As for losing weight, trying to lose it all by running is crazy. Its far more efficent to lose weight by doing strength workouts and running. The strength training will increase your muscle mass, and the more muscle you have the more fat you burn just sitting around doing nothing(even while sleeping).

[Reece]

Also there high intensity interval training. Basically you sprint for as fast as you can for 30 seconds to a minute, then you jog for 2 minutes, then you repeat for 15-20 minutes or so. I used to do 90 minutes of running two minutes, walking three minutes. Should I take that back up?

[Alric]

That might help you too, though I was talking about a more intense work out. If you can do it for 90 minutes, your not pushing yourself hard enough during the running part. It is also important to get some variety. Every couple of weeks you should change your workout a little, especially the strength building exercises. Even switching like the type of pushups you do can help. You get better results when mixing things around. If you always do the same thing, your body eventually adapts to doing that one exercises, and you no longer gain from it. At least as far as gaining muscle and getting stronger from it.