How do you keep fit?

[Trogdor]

I remember a few months back, one of the girls here made a thread on what supliments we take. I figured, "let's go into more detail on our heath," and ask this to you all.

How do you keep fit? What workouts and excercises ( to the ones who do keep fit,that is ) you do to keep healthy, fit and strong?

Myself, I work out at the gym most of the weekdays:

monday: Boot camp workout. It's lots of stuff like pushups, shoulder press with dumbells, step climbing, using bands and so on, with no rest times and it goes for an hour.

tuesday: Ab class for 30 minutes, followed by 90 minutes to 2 hours of weight lifting for my chest and triceps ( the back of your arms ). Right now I can bench 180 for 1 rep max, though I need a partner to spot me, so I can train safely, in case somethng goes wrong. Plus a spotter helps by helping you force out an extra repetition or two.

Wensday: Palettes for an hour. It's like yoga, stretching, core training and all that. Looks easy, but it can get hard.

Thursday: Training back and biceps in the weight room for 90 minutes to two hours. I also sometimes do dead lifting, and my heaviest so far is 270 pounds for 1 or 2 times, though deadlifting taxes the body alot, so I am taking a lil break from deadlifting for a short time.

Friday: Legs and shoulders in the weight room for 90 minutes to 2 hours. I can squat 150-160 right now and I can press 130 pounds over my head.

Saturday and Sunday I try to do some cardio and, if I feel energetic, some ab work via one of my ab videos.

My training goals is more of a body building. I want to get bigger, stronger and leaner. So I am taking my weight gaining slowly because while I wanna get big......I don't want to gain fat desposits on me either....i seen some guys get big and strong, but get a barrel shaped middle, and in body building, one wants to get a big upper body, small middle and big lower.....pretty much get shaped like an X.

Now my own progress is as such. I been training for a lil over a year. Not big yet, but in good shape. I used ot be like 170 pounds and strong till 2000 wen i got REAL sick and lost alot of weight.....it feels good to get back to being my old self again, though I got more work ahead of me before that. And I got me pics of Arnold over the 15+ years he was in body building. I compared myself to him after his first year of training and him and myself are pretty much close....though my abs are a bit better than his back then. :mrgreen: I am still a long way from my overall training goal, but it's good that I appear to be going in the right direction, from seeing pictures of Arnold from his youth.

I am Pretty much like this at the moment, like this dude Arnold was similer after his first year. Though I weigh a lil more than this guy in the article :). http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/dshuttleworth.htm


Though right now, I gotta find me a partner, my previous partner/spotter had to leave when going on a new contruction job, so I been on my own, and it's not easy, nor safe to trian heavy when you got no one to watch your back. Also, one big time wish of mine, since i was a little kid was to compete in body building, and to be able to just be up there among those dudes is something I gotta do. I even plan to do a picture of myself as Conan once I get to my goals. This is one of those missions in life that each person has, and this is mine.

It also feels great to be strong again, after 5 years of being weak and sick from that illness. 8)


So, how do you folks keep fit and so on? :-D

[kalina]

Here's something funny... I used to look like tha guy in the article! And I weighed more, too. I started out as a "98 pound weakling"... actually 118 in my case up until I was 21. I started graduate school at 21 (working on my second Master's degree... don't ask). Anyway, I was sick and tired of looking like a little nerd twerp, so I used the same motivation I use in my studies to better my body. I went to the gym 3-4 times a week, ate a lot more each day, took multivitamins, arginine, ornithine, carnitine, protein shakes, and gatorade during workouts. No steroids. In about a year, I peaked at 150 pounds of solid muscle. In another year, I went up to 155.

But this just wasn't me. It was impossible to keep the weight on and very hard to maintain the muscle. I really was overcompensating by working out so much. Satisfied with the fact that I had achieved my goals in bodybuilding, I just closed the book on all of it one day and my weight gradually went back down. I'll never be 118 again (I looked famished at that weight), but 132 to 135 isn't bad at my height.

If you study all of my pictures, you can still see remnants of my bodybuilding days. My body is, for the most part, pretty well-toned and the only things I really do are walk around a lot and situps. Occasionally, when I'm feeling up to it, I'll sprint for no apparent reason other than to prove that I still can. My bodyfat is around 13.9%, which I know is pitiful for a once-bodybuilder who was 5% to 6%, but - hey - I'm a girl, so it's fine ;)

I bought a Nintendo Wii for Christmas for myself. I swear my right arm has been getting a good workout every day because of it.

[edooo]

Just gym 2-3 days a week and try eat right, and keep my hands of the snacks and candy, lol.

[deepblue]

Cycling. Of course now that it's cold out, I'm going stir-crazy.

[Ecstatic]

Deepblue, I hear you. My regimen (hardly regular enough to be called that) includes cycling, kayaking, hiking, walking, and (when winter cooperates) cross-country skiing. In the summer I try to alternate cycling and kayaking every other day as they work two opposite major muscle groups and are both good cardio workouts: in cycling, the legs do the most work, while the arms and shoulders are more in isometric mode, working but rather still and using muscle opposition for balance, steering, etc. And in kayaking it's the opposite, with the upper body doing most of the work (arms, shoulders--done right, you should use the whole upper torso for paddling, but with a bad low back, that's not an option for me, though to a lesser degree it does help strengthen the low back), while the legs are in isometric mode pressing against the sides of the kayak for balance and control.

Walking and its more aggressive cousin, hiking, are great all-over exercises. Most of the year I try to walk at least a mile a day. Running isn't an option for me due to the impact on my back, but that's why I love x-c skiing, which is "running on all fours"--but the weather here in southern New England rarely cooperates. So it's too cold to cycle or kayak (ice kayaking?!), but no snow or bad snow for skiing. Bleech.

Gyms just don't do it for me, nor exercise machines. I want to be outdoors enjoying myself!

[robin]

I got one word for you: BO-FLEX.

[Sonia]

I got to the gym not for the weight machines but for the treadmill and this new machine thats just like skiing. I notice it makes stress easier to deal with when your body is in good shape. I'm impressed with the people in this thread. Fitness is a lifestyle change and it is very important in maintaining good health.

[deadparrot]

2 years ago, I weighed 320 pounds...and was very sick. I changed my ways and started going to the gym. When i'm in a routine (schedule gets in the way now and then), I go every morning at 6:30. I alternate from cardio to weights. cardio is 25-30 minutes on the tread mill and weights are about 40 minutes.

[kramtime]

Wow, Deadparrot. simply amazing. Good for you. Despite smoking and drinking, I'm in pretty good shape. 46 yrs old, 6'3" 168 lbs. Every morning---2 sets abdominal twist- 150 reps. followed by 3 sets of military bench presses. I use only 75 lbs but do 150 reps in each set. inbetween each of those sets I do 75 reverse crunches for the abs. After that I jog 2 to 3 miles depending on how rushed I am. This workout takes about 40 minutes. This year I worked out 352 days, I only miss beacause of inclement weather or illness.

[deadparrot]

wow Kram. Good routine. I used to be that dedicated. I'm getting back into it. about another 30-50 lbs to go.

[Texxx]

I change my routine about every 3 or 4 months.
right now I run in the mornings twice a week for 3 miles, split my other workouts into two a days...back and chest and then biceps and triceps. shoulders get their own day. I finish out the week with a long run- usually about 10 miles.
current bench max - 365
all time max was at 385
all time squat - 450
deadlift - 505

I don't care about my diet so you won't ever hear me make claims about body building.

the only way to get like arnold is to take steroids and have the genetics from hell. no one in pro body building has ever had his chest to waist ratio. trodor - you are deluding yourself if you think you are in his league or will ever be if that is your weight and strength. set your sigts lower or look to the light weight guys...not the heavy weights.
what is your chest measurement?

[flombago]

I'm impressed with everyone's dedication. Yes, it's all about diet and exercise. And self-discipline. I think it helps a lot to find exercises you really enjoy. I envy the folks who actually like running, swimming or weight-lifting because I find them boring, but I have forced myself into a regimen of visiting the gym 3 times a week and working through a sequence of exercises, starting with running and then doing various machines and free weights. I wish I could find something more fun to do. I used to love basketball and although I was never a div-1 prospect I was an "ok" player at the YMCA/rec-league level. In my 20's and 30's I played about 8 hours a week and that kept me in shape. But its a young man's game (I'm 46) and I'm too slow now. I tried tennis for awhile but couldn't find anyone on my low level to play regularly. Hence my current solo routine.

[Craig]

Have a hard time comitting to the gym but it do alot of other activities.

Rollerblading
Cycling
Occasional jogging
Mountain biking
ice skating (Love the speed skating oval)
ice hockey
stretching and yoga
push ups and crunches
Skiing