I want to tone up by body...need help from knowledgable(sp?) people

[frijolesmalos]

I got a exercise bike a couple days back at my local sports authority and am starting to use it to lose weight. My routine is 6 days out of the week I do 1 hour in the morning before eating anything and 1 hour at night before I go to sleep to help out the slow meta at night. So 2 hours in total a day with only a day in the week to rest, that should help me lose the weight. I want to lose it quickly but safely, you know just fast enough that it wont hurt me or kill me. Any suggestions or modifications to this weight loss routine?

Anyway, now the toning routine. I am going to buy a 45lb dumbell set at the local sports authothority as well. ITs pretty cheap at about 35 or 45$ I dont remember which one, but its cheap for me and I got to start lifting weights to tone up my body. I dont want to look skinny weak, I want to look nice and tone with definition on my chest and muscle, I am not looking for arnold big....but umm lets say usher tone or something..not to big, not to small, you know? Anyway, is that enough to tone my upper body and what kind of exercises can I do with that dumbbell set, how many different kinds? I really need help and would REALLY appreciate the help here. Thank you guys in advance.

 

[Jawz II]

depends on how you look now, if youre really fat, the bike is perfect, you get next to 0 impact on your joints and real good cardio vascular (sp?) as in burning calory

it sounds a bit too much with 2 hours every day, but if you can stick to it then fine
still 2 hours is alot.. id do it a bit more intense and maybe half an hour twice everyday

what you eat is very very important, if you eat a pizza you basicly ruin 1 weeks workout, protein after workout is very very important

stay away from sugar and fat and you should be set

if you want a nice body id suggest a gym, but yeah, you can get good arms , neck and chest with dumbells

if youre not gonna go to a gym, id recommend getting a bench and a barbell
love the bench and youll get a nice muscular man-boob chest in a few years

edit: i almost forgot, this is very very important, if youre gonna work with weights, for the love of god, dont do the newbie misstakes of 1. never warming up, 2. never stretching, 3. going for the biggest piece of metal they can find on day 1, so either they get injured or they have a near death experience and never go back!

 

[stormbind]

I'm aiming for man-boobs too *munches on chocolate-coated cream-filled pastry*

Just kidding. I am not kidding about what I'm munching on, it just won't influence my weight one bit *sigh*

I'll workout now and then gorge myself on seafood protein. This is also not untrue, and it will also not influence my weight one bit *sigh*

 

[Shaihulud]

I used to cycle 2 hour back and forth everyday to get to school, did it for a year, didn't loose any weight at all. Free weights are good for building muscles, I advise you to do use 10kg weights, sets of 10 repetition at a time, 10 sets a day, you can stretch the activities through the whole day. Check the internet for instructions, there are many ways of targetting your muscle group. Progressively increase the weight when you feel comfortable.

 

[Jawz II]

I'm aiming for man-boobs too *munches on chocolate-coated cream-filled pastry*

Just kidding. I am not kidding about what I'm munching on, it just won't influence my weight one bit *sigh*

I'll workout now and then gorge myself on seafood protein. This is also not untrue, and it will also not influence my weight one bit *sigh*

well what do you expect when you eat that stuff? youd be better off not eating candy and not working out!

keep it up and youll have your man-boobs in no time

 

[WildFire]

It seems no matter what I eat, it doesn't affect my size. I have an extremely high metabolism so nothing seems to stay (which is good considering I eat a lot)

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

im already fit and work out not to lose weight, but to gain muscle. i use alot of dumbells and barbells. to acually lose weight, id say running is the best thing.

 

[stormbind]

well what do you expect when you eat that stuff? youd be better off not eating candy and not working out!

keep it up and youll have your man-boobs in no time

Trust me, man boobs are not coming. My body seems to have an intolerance for absorbing fat.

90% of my diet is fish, pasta, and potatoes. That represents stacks of carbs and protein, but my body seems to have an intolerance for absorbing that too

 

[CruddyLeper]

Don't get depressed about slow weight loss - it's real quick to lose glycogen and water, but what you're aiming for is turning the fat into muscle. Not necessarily pure weight loss.

It's hard work, it's painful, but you do get the benefits - just expect it to be an ongoing struggle.

 

[stormbind]

It seems no matter what I eat, it doesn't affect my size. I have an extremely high metabolism so nothing seems to stay (which is good considering I eat a lot)

Actually, that is a common misconception.

Fat people have a higher metabolism: their bodies absorb more materials from consumed food in a shorter space of time, hence why they are fat!

Skinny people have a lower metabolism: their bodies do not absorb materials very quickly, hence why they are skinny!

 

[Jawz II]

Trust me, man boobs are not coming. My body seems to have an intolerance for absorbing fat.

90% of my diet is fish, pasta, and potatoes. That represents stacks of carbs and protein, but my body seems to have an intolerance for absorbing that too

i belive you

however stuff like choklad and fat also lowers testosteron production, so maybe thats why your workout dosent really work?

also a while ago i read an article about scientist in germany that had made an astonishing discovery, a smal percentage of humans are "immune" to excersize!

i think the numbers was something like 1.4 % or something like that, maybe youre one of those people?

 

[MarineCorps]

Skinny people have a lower metabolism: their bodies do not absorb materials very quickly, hence why they are skinny!

Yeah. I eat a lot of food. And I can't gain any weight. With all the food I eat I should be obease.

@frijolesmalos: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...=sr_1_18/102-4767047-7235368?v=glance&s=books

 

[Fifty]

I got a exercise bike a couple days back at my local sports authority and am starting to use it to lose weight. My routine is 6 days out of the week I do 1 hour in the morning before eating anything and 1 hour at night before I go to sleep to help out the slow meta at night. So 2 hours in total a day with only a day in the week to rest, that should help me lose the weight. I want to lose it quickly but safely, you know just fast enough that it wont hurt me or kill me. Any suggestions or modifications to this weight loss routine?

Anyway, now the toning routine. I am going to buy a 45lb dumbell set at the local sports authothority as well. ITs pretty cheap at about 35 or 45$ I dont remember which one, but its cheap for me and I got to start lifting weights to tone up my body. I dont want to look skinny weak, I want to look nice and tone with definition on my chest and muscle, I am not looking for arnold big....but umm lets say usher tone or something..not to big, not to small, you know? Anyway, is that enough to tone my upper body and what kind of exercises can I do with that dumbbell set, how many different kinds? I really need help and would REALLY appreciate the help here. Thank you guys in advance.

Your weightloss routine isn't too great. What you want to aim for is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. There is something called the Tabata method, similar to high intensity interval training. The basic premise is that short, intense workouts are far superior to extended (and time consuming!) easy workouts. Instead of 2hrs straight at a fairly mediocre pace, try this. It may sound easy, but do it correctly and strictly and I guarentee you'll be EXTREMELY tired when you get done. This isn't one of those little "exercise 30secs a day and lose weight!" types of things, this has actual evidence to back it up and those who know weightloss know that high intensity training is infinitely superior! Besides, doing those long bike runs will eat away at your muscles. A short intense training session will actually help to develop muscles, and muscles increase metabolism and burn more fat. Ok so here it is...

"Guerilla" workout.... takes 12mins total from warmup to cooldown.

Minutes 1-4:
Warmup at about 50% of whatever your max effort would be.

Minutes 5-8:
Sprint for 20secs, then rest for 10secs, repeat

Minutes 9-12:
Cooldown at about 50% of whatever your max effort would be.

Be careful doing this at first because it is REALLY intense, more than its description would lead you to believe. However, once you start doing it I guarentee you will find it works way better than any sort of lengthy schedule.

i'll read your strength training stuff and offer tips for that later

 

[OrpheusPrime]

Hmm, looks like the basics have been covered before I arrived.

Assuming you are serious enough to join a gym or get a free-weight set at home you can see results much faster and with muscle tone to boot.

The workout that I reccomend to friends that want to start 'getting in shape' who are currently couch potatoes (not saying You are but, just that this is an entry level workout schedule).

Week:
Day1
- Chest Press - 3 sets of 10 (low weight)

- Fly - 3 sets of 10 (low weight)

- Dips - 3 sets of however many you can manage

+Cardio+ Bike, Run, whatever..

*To be continued* (Back to work )

 

[YNCS]

to acually lose weight, id say running is the best thing.

Swimming is also good for losing weight. It's easier on the joints and your upper body gets a workout.

 

[stormbind]

@Jaws, I do not actually eat much chocolate - I do not buy it - it just happens that I had some today. Also, I rarely have cream or pastry because my stomach cannot take greasy stuff.

Because of that, I always figured it was lack of fats in my diet which were presenting difficulties

I have never suggested exercise does not work! It just does not work as quickly as I would like it to. It is my conclusion that I'm an alien designed for a world with much higher gravitational forces

 

[FriendlyFire]

Yeah. I eat a lot of food. And I can't gain any weight. With all the food I eat I should be obease.

Obese ?

Dont worry the US marines will sort you out.
(Ah ha Someone is going to have to resort to Canniblism )

 

[Strider]

My hint for the toning is Protein.

It's been mentioned several times before, but I'm going to stress myself on it. Get Protein in your system before AND after you workout. I usually drink a Boost High Protein before and after a workout, but there fairly high in calories also. Sense your trying to lose weight, I wouldn't recommend them.

Protein helps building and maintaining muscle mass. It's also a pretty good energy source.

@MarineCorps - Don't worry, I take in well over 4000 calories a day. I don't weigh much more than 140 (If I even weigh that). I eat about double the amount of the average person, and 1000 calories more than the average person my age.

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

Swimming is also good for losing weight. It's easier on the joints and your upper body gets a workout

it also works almost all the muscles in your body... but unless you have an indoor swimming pool you cant swim all your long.

 

[Fifty]

Your strength workout should revolve around the big three:
squat, bench, and deadlift. These are all compound exercises that work more than one muscle group.

Since you are looking to get toned, you will want to do what is called hypertrophy specific training (HST). This is a good overview of the principles involved in HST. I suggest you join a gym, by the way.


If you can't join a gym, and you are limited to dumbells, then just apply HST principles to whatever sort of exercises you decide to do... make sure you have both "push" exercise (like a chest press), and "pull" exercises (like pullups). I know you just want to do this to look good in the upper body, but do some squats, as the quadriceps are huge muscles and any increase in their mass will help your weight-loss efforts immensely.

As far as abs go, you gotta realize that 6-packs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. Gotta eat right. increase protein consumption, stay away from sugar, eat a ton of veggies, stay away from all non-wholegrain breads. Drink lots of water, etc.