Gym training and diet

Right I have decided that I need to get back in the gym and really improve my fitness.

To that end i'm thinking other folk here must work out, so i need to figure a good work out program, which protein supplients to use also diet tips, i'm running out of ideas, one what to eat, whats is also good to eat when the cost of food is taken into account.

At the moment I'm around 10 stone or 68KG or 140lbs, don't want to lose any more weight really, may drop half stone when I do competive sports to knock some weight off.

I'm looking to drop the rest of the body fat ideally between 8-12%, improve cardio, build up muscle and also core stability espcially around lower back and hips(which I have problems with, they just hurt a lot sometimes)

So what are people doing to keep fit?

Originally Posted by Bluethunder

So what are people doing to keep fit?

Alternating hands when 'drinking' so that my biceps stay fairly equal?

Press ups and situps atm for me atm. I do about 100 pressups (2 sets of 50) a night and about 250 situps.

I eat normally dont take any supplements. I dont beleive in them, eat right and you dont need them. So plently of tuna and pasta should be good for when you work out.

Im 5'6" weight 143lbs about 65kg's and stocky build with about 12% fat.

[fizzwheel]

I wouldnt bother with protein supplments, the best way to achieve what you want is to eat the right food in the first place rather than topping up your diet with supplements.

I cycle, but thats because I enjoy it and I find the gym immensley boring. I like being out in the countryside. My diet when I was training for the big Sportive I did in may, was just plain unprocessed food, Chicken, wholegrain pasta, vegetables that kind of stuff. Stay away from processed stuff and ready meals and just try and eat a balanced diet. But dont deprive yourself of things you like otherwise you'll end up miserable IMHO.

Cant give specific advice for your situation as what I did was more tailored to cycling, but somebody will be along shortly that can.

Take up fencing. Probably one of the best workouts that you can do, gets you very fit very quickly.

Protein, vitamins and creatine are only really necessary if you want to put on decent muscle mass, otherwise a nice, healthy balanced diet should do the trick.

When I used to train regularly I used to consume 6500+ calories a day and it still wasn't enough cuz I had a supper fast motabolism. Just started the gym again last night and I think my calorie intake will be a lot lower as my motabolism has slowed quite a bit! (really need to do some cardio too!)

Go running, go swimming, go rowing.

Triathlon training.

There is nothing else out there that works all your muscles and fat stores.

Running is all lower body (obviously)

Swimming is mainly arms, back and chest.

Rowing is the full works workout.

Build up slowly doing each form of training on a rotation. Start with a days rest between each until you feel you can cope with 5 days in a row. Once you got that far build up each rotation gradually.

You'll end up super lean, muscular and fit as fiddle.

Eat healthy but don't be obsessive. If you concentrate more on the fitness, you'll find you can be easier on the food intake. You need all of the food groups to sustain the training so don't think about cutting anything out. Your body needs sugar and salt. You can get sugar from natural sources such as fruit so keep away from the sticky buns. You need a small amount of salt so don't forget to include it in your diet. Stay the hell away from crisps, for someone that is trying to get healthy and fit, they are Satan's food.

If when you start your training and it hurts, stop. (else you'll be crock like me at the moment). The good thing about these three training methods, if you pick up an injury, it is more than likely you can continue with at least one of them, so double up on the one you can until injury has passed.

I too need to get back to some kind of training as I have lost 1/2 stone, so the muscle is going and the fat is arriving! On the basis of some of the excellent advise already shown, I have never been able to balance training with eating.....how long after eating should you start training?

My post probably wont be very helpful but...

if you are planning on going to the gym then have a chat with the fitness instructor who can design a programme aimed at helping you achieve what you want. i.e. building muscle, dropping fat etc..

Ive got my own personal programme made up to increase my fitness and keep toned whilst minimising weight loss (because I reckon im slim enough..!). I also mix that with swimming for an all-over cardio workout.

As for dietry intake - a healthy and balanced diet should do the trick? Im not a fan of supplements, I dont believe they actually work

Maria

What do you want to improve your fitness for, a specific sport, a specific look, or just becauseyou do?

Without knowing what you want it's hard to say....