Working out 101....Yeh help me.

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kyliesuebam
kyliesuebam Posts: 22 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I posted another topic about getting bashed for gaining weight, which in my case I mean muscle, I am thrilled with all of the great feedback and strength from everyone!

On a similar note, since I am thin and I have had trouble asking advice from many people, and i live in a small town. Hence no gym, no trainer to talk to.

I'm 5 feet and 105-108 lbs. I eat healthy, am mostly vegetarian, but consider my diet very healthy. I know I need to eat more calories but I feel like I just cant fit anything else in my stomach, but I am working on it....and yes i eat a lot of dense high calorie healthy foods. Peanut butter, avacados etc I have picky blood suagr so I try to avoid anything high calories high sugar like bolthouse smoothies.

I can do 30 jumping jacks, hold 3lbs weights out in front of me for MAYBE 1 minute and can do ONE real pushup and 5 modified pushups. I am trying to put on muscle because as you can see I am WEAK. I started Jillian Michaels 30 day shred but Im afraid im starting to lose weight and maybe its just too much. Please dont make fun of me, I know it's sad. I really want to tone up and put on some muscle to gain strength and stamina.

Anyone have a workout routine, suggestions, advice, anything?

Replies

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    well fat will come with weight gain- so just take your lumps and accept that :)

    I'd do what I could to start looking into weight training- progressive loading is the way to go.

    The most efficient/quick/readily accesible way is often the gym (squat rack/power cage/weights of all sizes) but you can do this with body weight as well.

    You are your own gym
    convict conditioning
    nerd fitnes

    all have some fabulous progressive loading programs


    Milk- if you can drink milk- great protein and calories. It's good stuff. that's the fastest best way to get it- other than ice cream and oreos' :D
  • kyliesuebam
    kyliesuebam Posts: 22 Member
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    "Progressive loading"...didn't even realize thats what it was called, i'll check it out. Unfortunately I don't drink milk and we use coconut milk here at our house. But I can have certain cheese and the occasional greek yogurt.
  • catsandtats
    catsandtats Posts: 29 Member
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    I second the advice above and the book recommendation for You Are Your Own Gym.

    I had a very similar starting place as you did and I do work with a trainer on occasion. The one piece of (surprising!) advice (well, in my case, instruction) I got from him was NOT to overdo it on the cardio and take ALL of the allotted time on my rest breaks between sets when I lift to basically minimize the chance of burning too many calories. I am like, not allowed on the treadmill for more than 20 mins...it's purely supplemental and doesn't form the basis of my training (which is lifting).
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    You may want to look online to see if anyone is selling used dumbbells or kettle bells. I know you live in a small town but it's worth a shot. If not, and your town has a sporting goods store, invest in a starter set-a few light ones in the 10 to 15 lb range and something heavier for squats and lunges.

    Edit:
    I started out underweight and weak when I took up lifting my junior year in high school. We all start somewhere and you'll make strength gains fairly rapidly as a beginner provided you nourish your body adequately.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    I would recommend something without heavy cardio (Jillian has a lot of cardio in her workouts). Because if you do more cardio, you will need to eat even more and if you are having a hard time getting enough food in now, this will just make it harder. Stick with the strength training.
  • shane_tac1
    shane_tac1 Posts: 35 Member
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    First you should figure out what equipment you can use.
    Hard to give someone a workout without knowing what they have access to. You don't have access to a gym by the sounds of it.
    Before worrying about how much weight you are moving you need to ensure you have your form down or you will be injured before you have really even begun as well so practice your form in the mirror and never compromise form for more weight.
    Hypertrophy (muscle growth) doesn't necessarily equal strength gain either.

    Anyway Jo already nailed it with progressive overload. That is the way to go. So basically just making sure you either increase the weight, or the reps if you cant go any heavier.
  • Squamation
    Squamation Posts: 522 Member
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    My favorite bodyweight website is http://ashotofadrenaline.net/ - it's completely free and has great video's and explanations for all of the exercises.

    I agree that you should look online at craigslist- check every few days so you don't miss a bargain.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
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    If you eat at your TDEE you won't gain weight. 30 day shred might be good I'd recommend Insanity of P90X.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    I'm doing Convict Conditioning and love it. You can kind of skip all the he-man, lord of the jungle crap and just move to the exercise descriptions.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    I wrote a bodyweight training guide geared toward someone in your exact situation:
    http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/

    Its meant for people starting at square 1, explaining all the ins outs and whatnots of strength training so that you at least know what you are doing. Its a bit of a long read (waaay to much to post on a forum). The principles apply to weights as well if you wish to go that way.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    I wrote a bodyweight training guide geared toward someone in your exact situation:
    http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/

    Its meant for people starting at square 1, explaining all the ins outs and whatnots of strength training so that you at least know what you are doing. Its a bit of a long read (waaay to much to post on a forum). The principles apply to weights as well if you wish to go that way.

    Aww. You believe in jumping jacks. That makes me feel so much less pathetic!
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    I wrote a bodyweight training guide geared toward someone in your exact situation:
    http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/

    Its meant for people starting at square 1, explaining all the ins outs and whatnots of strength training so that you at least know what you are doing. Its a bit of a long read (waaay to much to post on a forum). The principles apply to weights as well if you wish to go that way.

    Aww. You believe in jumping jacks. That makes me feel so much less pathetic!

    They have value in preparing your mind and body to be ready to do work. Doing a few jumping jacks is the most universal preworkout warmup ritual.

    I don't see much value in doing a lot of jumping jacks though.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    Options
    I wrote a bodyweight training guide geared toward someone in your exact situation:
    http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/

    Its meant for people starting at square 1, explaining all the ins outs and whatnots of strength training so that you at least know what you are doing. Its a bit of a long read (waaay to much to post on a forum). The principles apply to weights as well if you wish to go that way.

    Aww. You believe in jumping jacks. That makes me feel so much less pathetic!

    They have value in preparing your mind and body to be ready to do work. Doing a few jumping jacks is the most universal preworkout warmup ritual.

    I don't see much value in doing a lot of jumping jacks though.

    No. I don't do them AS exercise, just as a nice total body warm-up. I'm the only person I've ever seen do them (unless they're with a personal trainer).
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    No. I don't do them AS exercise, just as a nice total body warm-up. I'm the only person I've ever seen do them (unless they're with a personal trainer).

    heh- I still do butterfly jacks (learned off of body rock) really got my upper body more involved-or burpees- but mostly I do a KB swing or jump rope- but nope- you aren't the only one!!!

    I couldn't stand doing jumping jacks as an actual work out- just NOT all that.
  • lporter229
    lporter229 Posts: 4,907 Member
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    I agree that the JM workouts are geared more toward weight loss and might have more cardio than you want. However, the strength segments are not a bad starting place. Maybe you could skip through the cardio segments and do two levels of strength.
  • MagnumBurrito
    MagnumBurrito Posts: 1,070 Member
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    Since you have no gym, do bodyweight exercise circuits. Rotate between - push ups, pull ups, (goblet) squats, planks, lunges for 45 minutes. Like others have said, do them progressively - keep going more reps, less rest time, or a harder version of the exercise.

    Sprints for 15 minutes are another good workout that naturally increase your HGH levels. I like to do them on a grass field with cleats. You can really work on acceleration and the impact on your knees is next to nothing.

    If you can eat eggs, they are great for clean bulking. I'll eat up to 12 a day when I'm really trying to add weight.

    Whey protein is the king of muscle building of proteins. Try to make it 40% of your daily protein intake.

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