Trying to get fitter and lose the weight

pcmonkey

Full Member
Hi all

I guess I need to post in the section but I'm really trying to find what exercise people find best. I'm attempting to get fitter and lose some of the unwanted weight. ChristieK might be able to help looking though some of the other posts ChristieK seems to be a fitness freak .

Basically I play baseball for a team, always training at least one a week. I did recently lose about 2 1/2 stone because I started riding to work which was about an hour and half of exercise a day. But now I'm back at the head office which is to far to ride to about 80miles round trip. I'm finding that I'm putting weight back on mainly because it doesn’t seem I have enough time to exercise due to leaving early and getting home late.

Now that my life story is out of the way down to business. I'm trying to find the best way to lose weight via exercise. I got up at 5.30 and went for a run this morning that nearly killed me and I hope to do the same tomorrow but because its been so long since I did any distance running I'm finding it very hard. I didn’t stop today but had to slow down like 3 times and barely did a mile. I'm already changing my diet and looking at possibly going on to some sort of diet scheme if this doesn’t work.

Well anyway I've typed enough already any suggestions would be helpful.

Cheers and look forward to the replies.


 
What exercise do you like doing? Ideally you should do a bit of cardio, a bit of resistance, and a bit of flexibility, although anything that gets you moving is good.

The most effective exercise is always going to be something you enjoy, particularly if you are short of time, because you'll find the time to do it if you love it. If you hate it and find it a chore, there's much less of an incentive to keep going.

You also need to look at when you can fit it in. You leave early and get home late. How early/how late? What do you usually do in the evenings after you get home?
 
Running, my bugbear...heh! Just build up your stamina and endurance slowly...rest when you need at first, because your body soon has a build up of lactic acid...the higher your threshold the further you will be able to run...run for a few minutes at a time, then walk, run again, then walk...build it up slowly...over the week you will find you have improved a little, in fact you will be surprised how quickly you might improve over 7 days...it's getting those lungs to work properly too, breathe and relax...

Running is a good way to burn calories...also just press ups, pull ups, star jumps (you know the military routine) can all be done without the need for equipment, and in one week if you build up just pressup numbers your arms, shoulders and back will be getting stronger...I find pressups better than any free weights!

That's all I can think of just now, best of luck and keep at it...hopefully you will soon enjoy the exercise and will miss it when you HAVE to rest...heh!
 
Hi Kate thanks for the reply.

Basically I'm up no later then 6am on the road for no later then 7am and back 7pm depending on traffic. Trying to fit in family life,social life etc is a night mare and after work I normally find I'm tired but that could be a fitness thing i guess.

If I'm honest I can stay I dont enjoy exercise to a point. I enjoy sports and seeing the results of training etc but baseball in the uk has a very small following so its impossible other then training sessions to play baseball or train in baseball other then the weekend. Mainly because most of the guys all work and dont train week nights and really you need others to train with as its a team sport.

I want to run so that I can see my results improving but I dont like running if i'm honest. I love short distance running but long distance jsut kills me lol.

Main reason I was asking if there was anything that was suggest as a good exercise etc or something I hadnt tried before.

Ill happly continue you with my running for the time being but some times wish I had more time or didnt feel tired all the time lol.

Cheers
 
Cheers nexangelus

Yeah I also hate running, trying it out to improve my baseball game a bit but I'm fast for my weight over short distances but I guess this has a massive impact when trying to run long distances. I guess there isnt a suggested Miltary work out somewhere I could follow?

What I'm trying to avoid is letting my weight go back up. I got down to 15st 12 and was well happy with my self since then the weight just seems to be coming back on. I'm changing my diet but exercise seems to be the only thing that has ever worked for me but sticking to it is where I fall over everytime it seems.

Cheers
 
Hi there, pcmonkey! Baseball, huh? I'm American (live in UK) so am very familiar with skills needed for that...short distance, explosive speed is important, also strength and flexibility. I think if you look at those 3 aspects of fitness that apply to your sport, they will work for your general fitness and weight loss as well.

nex is absolutely right; start out running, walking, running, as slow as you need. You might want to look online (I think Runner's magazine has an online site) to see about how to start with intervals and short distance sprints (where you would run very fast like running from base to base and then jog for a bit, etc). If you have some dumbells at home, or even an exercise band, you can work on some strength, plus you need to ensure you're stretching as well (so you can stretch out and catch those line drives at second base!).

Do you have breaks at work, like a lunch break? Is there something you could maybe do at lunchtime? What about your diet, what are you eating? Do you drink beer (empty carbs, imvho!)?
 
Baseball, huh? I'm American (live in UK)

I prefer watching baseball to football (we call it soccer back home), but I daren't say it in front of most English dudes...ha! I also like rugger more...anyway just a side-track there for a mo sorry...
 
Hi ChristieK

short distance, explosive speed is something I'm not bad at the moment I know I could improve on this and want to so I might start jogging more over long distance and then every 1/4 go into a explosive run for 40metres ruturning back to a jog. MORE LIKE A CRAWL :D.

I play first base so dont have to do as much field as 2B,SS and 3B. I do also DH alot for our other team or did last season.

Only problem is work dont have a shower I could start going for a run at work but I would have to a wash in the work basin :sigh:.

I'm trying to stop my drinking at home at the moment it seems every night I end up have minium of like 4 ciders. Well not every night but 5 or 7 in a week I would say. Last night I popped out with a friend I havent seen in months and had 4 drinks. I didnt have dinner but thats just as bad no eating to make up for cider...

I didnt go for a run this morning either alarm went off at 5.30 and the snooze button was repeated hit with me rolling back under the nice covers.

I think once I stop the drinking maybe get it down to having drinks once a week or something I'll notice the weight just drop off. But I feel like I'm already losing motorvation HELP :break_diet:
 
hey PC are you aiming to build up your stamina or perhaps try some resistance training?

Skipping as lame as it sounds is wonderful just like jogging you could try doing this for 10 mins in the morning and again in the evening along with sit ups/push ups and squats to tone and build strength. Overall you would be doing about 35 mins and over the week this would be 2.5 hours just on week days, you might do the running on the Sat and rest on Sun??

Bren
X
 
I've not drunk in 4 weeks now and it definitely helps my weight drop off.
Dont beat yourself up about not doing the run this morning.

Bren
X
 
Hi Bren and thanks for the support.

resistance training sounds interesting and would help my stamia improve. I mean overall I want to become fitter losing the weight as a by product.

Cheers I did feel bad about not going for a run but was so tired. How did you find coming off the drink. As bad as it sounds I'm finding it really hard for some reason.
 
Running is going to be your best bet as a fast calorie burner, certainly! It's not a good idea to try to do it every day if you haven't done it for a while, though - just take care.

One thing that I do, and I have my clients do, is short circuits of around 20-25 minutes. I do two, sometimes three a day. If I'm feeling motivated and I have plenty of time, I'll do them back to back. If I'm short of time, I split them up. Each circuit has resistance stuff as well as cardio, so I will do various different things like jumping jacks, running on the spot, squats with an upright row (using dumbbells), lunges with bicep curls, boxing, stepping, pressups, plank, tricep dips, half supermans (on my toes!) and so on. By doing that you can work really hard on each exercise because you only do it for 30-60 seconds and then you move on to something different. Your body is constantly moving and you can really push yourself, because you know you only have to keep going for 20 minutes so you can work harder than you would do if you were going to keep going for an hour.

As for military-style training (some of what I do isn't too far off it, actually):

Top Military Workouts - Military.com Military Fitness Center

Go wild! :)
 
Hi Kate thanks for the link

I cut this out of the navy seal section lol
One of the best workouts to assist increasing your scores in the PT and run is the following:
- 100 pull-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of pull-ups
- 200 pushups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of push-ups
- 300 sit-ups in as few sets as possible Run 1/4 mile in 90 seconds in between sets of sit-ups
This is a tough workout that can take 30-60 minutes to complete - if you can complete it.

I couldnt do this in 2 hours lol. Well I couldnt do it at all.

I think if I'm honest I cant do much this weekend as I have a game saturday and training sunday so that will be enough.

I think I'm going to start fully on monday. New week new start and all that.

This will give me time to get rid of all the crap out of the cupboard and plan what I'm going to diet etc for the rest of the week. I'm going to start going for a run in the lunch break every day and maybe a run every other evening or morning.

Is it best to tone/loose weight at the same time or loose weight and then work on tonning once I've got to my goal wieght. I love love to have no fat and a nice six pack to rest a well earned beer on :D
 
Looks like you're getting plenty of helpful advice, pcmonkey! I think you might want to look at your eating, maybe keep a food diary for a few days to see what you're eating, how much, and when. You mentioned you liked drinking cider, I googled a link to calorie content for cider and found that you can have between about 200 and 500 :eek: calories in a pint of cider. YIKES!!! You may be using up some of your calories that way, so maybe you would want to think about that?
 
Holy monkey balls batman thats a lot of cals if its in the 500 range. Yeah I'm really trying to stop drinking my biggest weakness I think. The food diary is a cracking Idea Ill do that now for the next couple of days. Like I said monday I want to not have abit of bad food or touch a drink. Think it will be impossible this weekend thanks to my plans thats why its best I start a refresh on Monday and work day by day. Hopefully gaining some support along the way...... I need it.

Thanks for all the advice support and help your all amazing and making me feel like I CAN DO THIS.
 
What might help, pcmonkey, I went to a fitness retreat in November, and we spent a few hours with a nutritionist. One thing she said is that her rule is generally an 80/20 rule, and I live by this now. 80% of the time, be very attentive to your diet, watch your portions, be creative but be good to yourself. 20% of the time you can loosen up a bit. NOT a license to splurge a lot and eat tons of pizza, fries and beer, lol, but use the 20% for when you want to go out to dinner with friends, etc.

The food diary still helps me. If I"m not sure how my food is going, I still take a couple of days and get real serious about writing everything down that goes into my mouth (including coffee, etc) including the portions, and it gives me a good perspective on where I need to concentrate. So I bet this will help you to get a grip on what you're eating and to see where you can adjust your diet to meet your goals!

Most importantly, think positive, keep your goals in mind! Why not print out a photo of a terrific baseball player you really admire and stick a photo of your head on the body and stick it on your fridge? :D
 
HAHA I can see alot of cans of beer having the photo edited picture placed on the cider cans..... hehe. Yeh the 80/20 thing would honestly be about the way I would have to live at the moment I'm a social person so normal have some sort of party,dinner or event to attend.
 
Great just confirmed I have got shin splits after one run..... I've rested my legs no more exercise but I have my first big game saturday. Cant believe I have got shin splits after my first run. I've had them before and prayed it was just my legs being abit painful after the run but its for sure. I hear the only thing you can do is rest anything else I can do. I'm not allowing my self to miss the game so ill be taping my legs to give some support..... what a way to start. :(
 
Yeah riding a bike is fine. But its hurting to walk at the moment. Ill just have to do some low impact training maybe cross trainer or something
 
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