Cuffy's spot on there.

During my spell in the Marines we exercised so much and so hard that we all lost weight to begin with. Even the biggest blokes were thinning out, then as training increases as does the appetitie.
We were encourage to eats chips with most meals to help build ourselves and gain weight again and replace this, that and the other. Then we all looked a bit more like Marines should.

However I left some years ago and found a pub on my home.................Some day I will actually make it all the way home. :oops: :oops: :oops:

I'm shocked, I say shocked, that nobody's done this yet:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...ke-4001494.jpg

Wow what a wealth of knowledge here! I just had one question; do you have to excercise your abs to lose beer gut? I am pretty slim, apart from have just started to see weight appear on my belly and under my chin, nowhere else!! I have started swimming, and I feel MUCH more cardio-vascularly fit, but the belly isn't really going anywhere, and my abs never ache afterwards, more my triceps and pec etc. So do you have to target the muscle next to the fat you want to get rid of??

Exercising your abs will do just that, but to lose the excess fat you need to do some general cardio work such as jogging, swimming, cycling (or gym equivalent) whilst keeping your heart rate low. try not to get out of breath (it may take a little to get to a good level if your not too fit already) i.e. you should be able to hold short sentence conversation. :shock: Just don't expect quick results. Quick fat reduction (NOT weight loss) can be unhealthy. Don't forget that muscle is heavier than fat so as you exercise and increase muscle whilst losing fat - you may well weigh more!! :shock:

If your heart rate is too high it takes longer to burn the fat. You cannot convert fat to muscle. You burn the fat off and grow muscle independently.

When you work your abs do crunches and pelvic tilts DO NOT do sit ups with your feet anchor - its v old hat and bad for blood pressure etc and very inefficient.

Have fun :lol:

"Have fun" lol

At the moment I kind of blitz around the pool. I wanted to get my heart pumping good and proper to get it working again, as I was completely unfit. I can now certainly do more lengths, and faster. I wanted to work on muscles, and cardio-vascular, and lose belly all at the some time? Is that impossible, or can you go not too far wrong my just swimming lots and hard and eating a healthy diet (my current plan).

Although it pains me to say it.....

Hovi5 is right


Probably in the form of a shake since you're having trouble with the quantity of solids you neeed to consume. 1 in the morning, 1 after training, 1 before bedtime.

There's always the option of a weight gain shake too. I'd also add some amino acids (Weider advanced formula building blocks perhaps).

Most importantly don't forget your water. The protein powder in your shakes settles very quickly into a nasty sticky goo... Make sure you drink plenty in the hour following consumption to ensure rapid absorbsion.

Other than that lift heavy, but lift safe.... and change your program every 6-8 weeks.

Oh please stop all this weight gain stuff - you don't need it. You will eat enough and if you train well you will put on weight, muscle is heavier than fat. Why is everyone obsessed with putting on excess protein weight (i.e fat)? :)

Do breast stroke and really concentrate on doing a good strong even leg kick, even do a sort of exaggerated one for a couple of strokes every length and you should start to feel it a little bit more in your abs. Not a substitute for situps, crunches, etc but a nice supplement.

As a little aside, something that really puzzles me when I watch other people swimming.
Why do a massive push off from the side ? its not a race so why do it ? in a 25m you've wasted half a length.

:wink: :D

Swimming is good but should never need to over exert yourself unless you are doing some competition practice. all exercise should be controlled. but yes you can do it all at the same time.

I have trained people to go into police, fire and military. the biggest problem here is that you are tending to deal with people who are already A1 fit (or close) but generally most outside of this arena are not so you cannot train the same way. They also have a tendency to just train for the selection test which is not a good way to get fit if starting from scratch. Military PTI's that leave the to civilian life tend to try and repeat their regimes when training others but like these people don't have the minimum fitness levels that the PTI's are used too hence people drop out PDQ.

Weight training (gym equipment or free weights) builds muscle but depending on how you train you can build large muscle or simply tone shape and strengthen or somewhere between. the more muscle you have the more energy you need hence if you keep your heart rate under control you will start to burn of body fat. Cardio-vascular will also strengthen muscle but predominantly as it suggests strengthens heart and lungs and in the process burns fat but you must keep your heart rate quite low.

If you are just about fitness and body fat reduction you can achieve it quite easily - but not overnight. Try rowing it gives the best all round, but don't try to win a race - pace it and always keep your back straight.

get a good heart rate monitor - Polar are good and you can get em for about £50 off the net. The instructions will tell you much the same as I have tried regarding your heart rate. :)

Whatever you do, if you have to rely on supplements, powders, protein drinks etc etc - you ain't training well and/or eating a good diet. IMHO :lol:

Not having a go T, as you seem to know your stuff a lot better than me (rank amateur), but doesn't the word "supplement" tell you something? ie. you don't rely on it but purely use it to supplement good diet, training regime etc?