Beginers Help!

Hey so i'm a beginer to all of this. I don't want to be MEGA buff but i would like to be a bit muscley

Ok so ive started off by doing crunches and press-ups (not proper ones but using my knees so its easier. Once i can do proper ones ok ill start with them.)

Being 15 the only gym i can use in my area is only open on a saturday. Saturday being my day to go out with friends chill and rush homework that ive had for a month heh.

I don't have any equipment but a cruncher ('borrowed' from mom) and one of those electronic things that goes around your waist. I know the elctronic thing wont get me where i want to go so im going to have to work for it!

This is where you come in. I sure there have been many countless posts about this but i need to know some exercises that i can do without having to buy equipment. ( i might buy some dumbells for christmas but thats a long way away)

Im planing to mainly work on: Toro, Pecs, shoulders and basically above the waist.

Thanks!
Joe

Hate to break this to you, but you are going to need some equipment. Either a gym membership or a decent home set up. For home you will need a dumbbell set or a barbell set (or both) and a bench. You would be able to do most exercises with that kind of a set up.

You wont get far in building muscle mass by doing body weight exercises only. Bodybuilding is a sport and the weights are a necessary tool for this sport. No one goes onto a skiing message board and asks if they can take up the sport without buying a set of skis and poles. Yet people come on a BBing board all the time and think they can make gains without weights or a gym membership.

Sorry to sound snarky, I guess I'm just in a mood.

Do a search and you will find lots of ideas for good beginner programs, and great advice on what kind of routine you can do at home with minimum equiment.

If you can only hit the gym once a week, then do it. A good full body routine will only take 60-90 mins and its better than nothing.

By the way, welcome to DB. Hope you stick around, there is lots to learn here!

Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?

OK. Maybe i didnt put this clear enough. I dont want to be BUFF i dont want rippling muscles. All i want is a way to fight some flab and tone it up abit.

I know you cant ski without skiis but i was hoping then maybe there was a way to tone up without having to buy equipment. Seeing that you dont think there is maybe i will buy myself a set of dumbells. Just wondering though how could i use dumbells to tone around my waist?

Thanks
Joe

OK, first things first. You will not get rid of any flab with weights. You cannot spot reduce. You will not reduce fat in your belly by doing crunches. The way to burn fat is to use more calories than you take in, so your body goes to its fat stores to sustain your activities for the day. One way to create this caloric deficit is to reduce the calories you eat in a day. But the problem with reducing calories too much is that you go into a starvation mode, where your metaboism will decrease, your body will end up taking muscle for its energy instead of fat, less muscle means a lower metabolism, enter vicious cycle.

The other way to acheive this is to add cardio to burn those extra calories. A lot of us that are here to loose fat will reduce calories by around 20%, add high intensity cardio a couple times a week and continue to lift heavy. By lifting heavy, you are telling your body that this muscle is important and not to use that for energy, rather use the fat.

And unless you are gentically gifted and/or eating a ton of food, you will not get big, bulky and ripped just by lifting some heavy weights.

Here are some links for you:

Calculate your Caloric Needs

More on calories and ratios

A basic training program

Home DB routine

Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?

GO JENN!!!!!!!!

She's hit that one out of the park, ladies and gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!


Paul

A friend helps you move, a true friend helps you move bodies.

Long live the Queen of DB!
Mr. Mop, welcome to DB-
Take it from someone who did nothing but body weight exercises for a long time- (I was in the army for three years) They won't get you the body you want. I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're looking for, and most of the work you want to do is definitely related to cardio and proper nutrition. You say you want to "tone up"- The thing is, there are no real toning exercises- There are muscle building exercises, like lifting, and there are fat loss exercises, like running. Cardio, and a proper diet, will get rid of the fat that hides your muscles- Once you have a low enough percentage of fat on your body, you'll have what people refer to as a "toned" physique. If you take Jenn's advice and get your nutrition and cardio going right, and then decide that you want more muscle, you can always switch to a muscle building diet- It is different from a fat loss one- And add some weightlifting when you get the equipment. The types of exercises you're talking about- Pushups, situps, etc- Really don't build much muscle at all, they just improve your muscular endurance in those areas.
Edit- I almost forgot to give you a hard time about only wanting to work your upper body- If you're at all serious about any type of exercise, you have to treat every muscle as an equal. I know you're not looking at lifting heavy weights just now, so injury isn't as much of a concern- But how silly does someone look when they have a nice, well defined upper body and their legs look like they belong on someone else?

Lol yeah your right there i do need to work on my legs aswell but not as much. I dont think i have that much fat on my legs... so i have a bit like everyone else but hopefully running might help that.

I've been thinking and im going to talk to my PE (Physical Education for those americans or Gym class) about starting an after school training sesion. We have some equip at school that dosent get used in the evenings.

Ive been thinking. I think i understand what your saying. I dont want muscle building... yet. I want mainly cardio which is things like running and things that make you sweat alot by moving. Does swimming count in that?

Plus anothing thing. Is it worth doing a session a week or lots of small ones doing sit ups press ups and the like? I have to say im quite enjoying it hehe. Just remembered something i read today. I need to do things like that and lifting weights in order to stop my body going into starvation mode and eating muscle.. is that right?

I dont really have a way to do on a proper nutritional diet (being only 15 and living with family i could do breakfast healthy lunch and healthy snacks but i couldn't really do dinner too well. Anyway i suppose some is better than nothing.

Ive been having ideas about what i could do for the Cardio work. Running seems to be the obvious option for me. Living half a minute away from a park i could take my dog for a nice run each day but for how long would i need to run for to get the full extent of a work out in able to get a nice steady reduction of fat.

Sorry this has been so long lol thanks all of you!

Joe.

PS worked out my Body Fat and its no where near what some of yours are.. drum roll.... 20% yeah i gues i need to work on it!

EDIT! oh yeah im such a dumbass Jenny was the one who said that lol

Lol yeah your right there i do need to work on my legs aswell but not as much. I dont think i have that much fat on my legs... so i have a bit like everyone else but hopefully running might help that.

That's what JennG was talking about when she said there was no such thing as spot reduction, Mr.Mop- Exercising your legs won't get rid of fat on your legs. Exercising your abs won't get rid of the fat on your stomach. When you do any exercise for a particular body part, all you're doing is working the muscle- Fat is only effected by burning calories. Sure, running burns calories, and in turn burns fat- But not just from your legs. When your body uses fat as fuel, it takes the fat from wherever it likes- Not the place you're exercising. You could do thousands of situps and still have a gut, but be losing fat in your legs, arms, etc. You can't target an area for fat loss, it's an all over type of thing.
When it comes to how often you should work out, most of us around here work each muscle group just once a week- But we're using weights, so our bodies need more rest. I'd recommend you do your exercises two or three times a week, since they're not as demanding- Don't do them everyday, since your muscles still need the chance to heal and rest for you to get the best possible results. As far as the starvation mode comment, I wouldn't say it's completely accurate- If you deprive your body of the calories it needs, then it'll go into starvation mode. If you don't use your muscles, your body might use some muscle mass as fuel, since it feels they're not needed.

so in that case when doing cardio i need to combine it with some push ups, sit ups, crunches and anything else i can do without using equipment before i actually get the equip?

Yes and no- Sure, do all of those things- Except the situps, I'll explain why in a sec- But don't do it all in one big marathon training session. Keep your cardio workout away from the other stuff, for example. Trying to do too much in a short period of time will make you tired, and by the time you get around to doing your last exercises, you won't have much energy left for them. Whenever you're going to work out, make sure that you're ready for it- Plenty of energy and focus. If you go for a run, then do a bunch of pushups, by the time you get to the crunches, you'll be too wiped to give your abs the attention they deserve. Maybe you'll be able to do twenty or thirty crunches after all that, and that might not sound too bad to you- But if you had gone into your ab workout well rested and ready, you could probably do a lot more than that.
Now, on to the situps- That particular motion uses a lot of hip muscles to complete, and only a portion of it works the abs. Crunches are by far the superior ab exercise, and a much better use of your time. The hip muscles get plenty of exercise when you do other movements- Such as squats, deadlifts, etc- I know you don't have the equipment, but it would be a very good idea to at least do some deep squats with no weight, or improvise some light weights like I mentioned in your other post.

Ok i see where you going with this. Crunches it is. You know the hip muscle what part of the hip are you talking about here? Are you talking about in the front lover torso below the abs?

No, the hip flexors- They're more on the sides of the hip, I believe.

First of all, if you want to get defined and loss fat you are basically going to have to lower your body fat levels. To obtain this you must do some sort of cardio at least 3 days per week at 30 minute intervals and go on a moderate diet. If you want a nice diet plan, I can give you one if you really need it.

get rid of the flab.. with cardio, such as running.. joggin.. do this 4-5 days a week for 30 min and you shall be fine. and to tone your torso, crunches... sit ups... , for ur shoulders and chest... push up... or .. u can stand in front of a walll and puch ur self against it.. like a standing push ups.. that burns if u do enoughh of them. and another for your shoulders.. stand up and stick your arms to your side and make circles slowly ... and go clock wise.. and counter clock wise.. do this untill u can do it any more.. 3 times a night. you will get toned. Quick. all this helps.. trust me.. oh and i forgot.. dont eat crap. candy, chips.. anything that you think taste really good .. dont eat a lot of it.. or just none at all.. what you eat is a big part of whether or not you will lose flab or not.. about 80% of toning is what you eat!!

To tell you all the truth..
before i've gotten my dumbbells and a gym membership, I would lift anything liftable in my house.
i would take two of those orange juice jugs and fill it up with water then i start lifting that stuff hahahha seriously!
i used my laundery basket's handles as a barbell too. i'd fill the basket with a bunch of stuff and started lifting that too
i also used grape juice jugs to do arm extensions.
sounds crazy but i did.
I heard in the army, while away on training in some remote place. take the rain forest for instant. the only weights they had to lift were big tree branches.
Gottause your imagination man!