Any Exercise Tips for a Beginner?

[slinkerwink]

Yesterday, I went to the gym to exercise. First, I did about twenty situps, twenty pushups, and used the ellipsis machine for about fifteen minutes, and hit the weights. I used a five pound weight for each arm, and did about fifteen reps.

Then I went back to the twenty situps because I really want to work on my belly. It's a little too round for me, and I would like for it to be a little flatter and stronger too. Also, I'm focused on my arms because I want them to be bigger and stronger.

Those are my areas to physically focus on: the abs and arms. I'm 120 pounds, and I used to be about 100 pounds. I'm only looking to lose about ten pounds because on my small 5'1 frame, they're a little too much for me.

I would appreciate any exercise tips or diet tips on how to bulk up my arms as well as get good stomach abs.

One question: Is it a good idea to exercise four times a week, then three times a week, then four times a week, and three times a week? I'm thinking of it as a cycle.

[veteran_for_peace]

1. Streach

Don't forget tho streach

[slinkerwink]

2. you mean to stretch?

Of course I stretch and warm my muscles up beforehand :-)

[liontamer]

4. stretching afterwards is better

The cool down is also an essential part of a workout
And doing stretches throughout the day is helpful, especially in preventing soreness.

[slinkerwink]

6. I didn't know you had to stretch after the workout.

I thought it was before the workout.

[redqueen]

18. Oh yes

Doing a cool down is just as important as a warm up.

[SidDithers]

19. Stretching your muscles when they're warm is better for them...

too many injuries happen when cold muscles are stretched improperly.

My advice is to go slow, and find a form of exercise that you enjoy doing, rather than one that feels like a chore.

Good luck!

Sid

[veteran_for_peace]

31. Yeah that too!!!

:yourock:

[liontamer]

3. cycling sounds good

But expect to be sore.

[slinkerwink]

5. I actually am sore today, but I'm going back to the gym tonight

and then take the day off tomorrow from exercising. Then exercise on Thursday and Friday. Next week, I'll only exercise on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After that week, it'll be Mon-Tuesday, skip Wednesday, then Thurs-Friday.

[prolesunited]

35. Actually, you should be resting a day in between

Or working different muscle groups on consecutive days. As you work out, you're in a way damaging the muscles. They need a day of rest to heal for maximum benefit.

You can do cardio (cycling, jogging, walking) every day, but you need to rest a day on the weight training. For example, do lower body on Thursday and upper body on Friday.

[judge_smales]

7. Don't expect excercize to flatten your stomach

it doesn't work that way. It will harden the muscles below the accumulated fat, but only dieting will remove that fat.

[slinkerwink]

10. I'm also on a calorie restriction diet

and I eat in smaller portions---no second helpings, and no dessert.

[mrboba1]

14. make sure you get enough protein

otherwise your muscles won't have enough support from your food to stay with you

[slinkerwink]

17. Yeah, I always add more chicken or beef to my plate

especially for dinner.

[redqueen]

22. NO, not dieting... aerobic exercise! n/t

[Droopy]

8. Droopy's exercise tip

You can now drink more beer because you are exercising and working it off.

[Lisa0825]

9. It depends.....

If you are a beginner, you may need more recovery time than others, so goby how you feel. Are you very sore and stiff a day or two after a workout? if so, then 3-4 days a week may be good for now. I work out with weights 4-5 days a week and do cardio 5-6 days a week. As far as getting good abs goes, the best thing you can do is cardio, cardio, cardio. If you tone up those abs, and have a layer of fat on them, you won't see a thing. So, do your abs along with the rest of your body, but be sure to get enough cardio to burn fat.

Here is a cool link for exericses for different body parts: http://exrx.net/Lists/WtFemale.html


Also, having a good clean diet is very important. By clean, Imean, cut out all junk, replace simple carbs with complex carbs (whole grains, and eat lost of fruits and veggies and lean proteins. There is lots of great info on the web. Healthboards.com has a pretty active group for exercise and for weight loss.

[slinkerwink]

11. thanks for the info!

I'm checking that site out.

[SidDithers]

25. And lots of water too!..

great advice about cardio and diet above, but drinking lots, and i mean LOTS of water through the day makes a big difference in how well you exercise.

Sid

[mrboba1]

12. I would suggest starting slowly.

The worst thing you can do is make yourself too sore at first and then stop because it hurts. I would start by going E.O. Day and see how sore you are. THe 2nd day is usually worse for soreness.

If you ease into it, your body adjusts better and you will not be dreading it when it is the day to go.

Crunches (and the modifications) are the best for strong ab muscles, but unless you have a really low body fat %age, you won't actually see them. I have about 14% body fat (as a man) and you can see the upper ab muscles only.

Don't think that because you can't see them, they are not strong. Mine are rock hard, they are just under a small layer of fat. The only way to lose the fat on the stomach area is to burn the body's fat away - you can't really target certain areas so well.

HTH.

Bob

[slinkerwink]

15. How do you burn the body's fat away to see the abs?

[mrboba1]

20. it's actually calories & burning more than you consume

you burn more calories than you take in, but you also need to have enough protein to support your body's muscle content. Without enough protein, your weight loss will be about 1/4 muscle and 3/4 fat.

(Soy & whey products are high protein low fat)

[Lisa0825]

23. by eating right and lots and lots of cardio...

also by weight training your whole body... the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism rate will be, and the easier it will be to burn fat.

[mrboba1]

24. yes. exactly. n/t

[redqueen]

27. Burn more calories - aerobic exercise

You can do aerobics, jazzercize, kickboxing, cycling, running... anything that gets your heart rate up. A minimum of 30 minutes a day at least 3 days per week is good.

[Poiuyt]

13. Congratulations on your decision

Commitment is usually the hardest part.

As far as loosing weight around your belly, be aware that you cannot spot reduce. Keep going with the elliptical trainer and your diet and it will eventually come down. Work your way up gradually, 15 minutes is a good start. Try to work up to 30-45 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Your idea of a hard week, easy week is a good one. There are more advanced workouts once you get to that point, but they probably aren't really necessary. You will make rapid increase in your fitness when you are starting out.

I would recommend a total body weight training workout three times a week. Work on all body parts and you will raise your metabolism so you will burn more calories at rest.

There are a lot of good sites on the web that can give you specifics on what to do. If you need more help, I'd be happy to help.

(I used to coach track and cross country)

[redqueen]

16. Vary your situps for best results on abs

One variation is to bend your legs at the knee, then fold one leg and put the ankle over the other knee. Put your hands behind your head, and then do situps as normal. When you're ready, try lifting your foot off the floor when you do the sit up.

Side situps are great, too. Lie down on your side with both knees bent, and pull your upper shoulder up and then towards your hip. Then do some by pulling the elbow that's on the floor up towards the knee that's on top (as if ike you're twisting your torso to sit up with your shoulders parallel to the floor, as you would normally). This one works really well on your obliques.

Another good one is to lie down on your back, put your hands down next to your hips, and point your toes at the ceiling, keeping your knees slightly bent. Then squeeze your abs really hard so that your hips are pulled off of the floor. Hold for a few seconds, breathing out, then release while breathing in, then repeat. Also, in this same position, put your hands up behind your head and squeeze your abs to pull your head and shoulders off the floor slightly as if you were doing situps.

I don't feel comfortable recommending any arms stuff because I think I made mine too big, so... better ask someone else. :)

[slinkerwink]

21. I want my arms to be too big, lol

I don't want the "slim, and slender" female arms. I want good muscle up there to impress the girls ;-)

[Commendatori]

26. Building your arms: do 21s, hammer curls, tricep curls.

I tried a lot of arm exercises, 21s are the best.

** Take a BARBELL weight you're comfortable with to start, even if it's just the barbell alone, and stand holding it arms down, palms out, like you would for a standard curl.

Do seven reps just bringing your forearms parallel to the floor.

Do seven from the parallel position to your chest.

Then do seven "normal" reps. Make sure not to sway, and NEVER let your arms relax when they're in the down position - they need to remain tensed throughout the whole exercise.

** Also, never forget to do hammer curls with dumbells. Instead of doing reps with palm up, do them with palm to the side, as if you were holding jugs of milk. There's a muscle under the biceps that will make the biceps grow faster if you do these curls.

** Finally, WORK YOUR TRICEPS. People often concentrate on biceps when trying to bulk arms, but the tricep is two thirds of your upper arm. The bigger your triceps, the bigger your arms, and the more defined your biceps will look.

Remember proper breathing, and do a little bit of cardio before doing these exercises.

** Last piece of advice: when working your biceps, stretch them first. A good way to do that is to hold your arms out to your sides and turn your thumbs down forward, as if you were pouring out coffee mugs. If you do it right, you'll feel it immediately, and this will be very conducive to bicep growth.

Good luck.

[redqueen]

29. I also did the 21s with the palm down

A good one for triceps (which you may have seen in ads) is to bend over, with your upper arm held in line with your torso, with your palm in the hammer curl position, lift your hand up behind you, making your arm straight.

Also, while bent over, I would lift both arms straight outwards, like a butterfly, and do the same thing with both arms going straight back (up in line with my torso). And the same thing again lying on my back, both arms up over the head till parallel with the floor then back up (but don't touch the floor or your arms will relax), then out to the sides and back up.

Another good one is to put your arm straight up, then move your palm down over your head, keeping your upper arm pointed straight up, then lift your palm back up till your arm is straight again.

[frylock]

36. isn't it better to work triceps before working biceps..

to provide a platform for the biceps?

[Emboldened Chimp]

39. Hmm, not sure about that...

I alternate sets, one tricep, one bicep, until I've done three each.

[Commendatori]

43. I work them on alternate days, as I do with

back and chest. My arm workouts used to be bis / tris / forearms in one day, and the results weren't so hot. My current workout is actually bringing results and has been doing so for some time.

Then again, some people swear by doing it that way, and swear my way doesn't work for them. Different body types, different metabolisms...after basics (stretching, posture, breathing) there is no automatic "this way is better" that I know of - gpros like Ferrigno and Gaspari can't even agree about whether cardio is a good idea before a workout.

[Emboldened Chimp]

28. Don't isolate--work all your muscles

Lift weights for everything: arms, legs, back, shoulders, chest and abs. Have a fitness trainer at your gym show you different machines for a full body workout. There's nothing worse than being unproportional.

As for cardio, do at least 30 mins. per session. Your body tends to burn more carbohydrates than fat the first 20 mins. Also, I would highly recommend taking amino acids before your cardio to protect muscle tissue.

[redqueen]

32. Yes a sports drink fortified with aminos is good to drink beforehand.

[Emboldened Chimp]

34. I go straight for the pure stuff...

I have liquid amino acids that I put into a small amount of water. It's highly-concentrated, hardcore stuff--not for the squeamish.

[Gothic Sponge]

30. I read a while back (i forget where) it's best to do

your anaerobic exercises first (weight training) before you do any aerobic exercises. The cycle of 4 and 3 is good. Make sure you drink lots of water.

[Lisa0825]

33. yes, weights first. That is what my trainer says.... but warm up

for 5-10 minutes before weights. I do 5 minutes on the treadmill, then about 45 minutes on weights, and then walk/jog about 3-4 miles. Last night I finally jogged 3 miles without a break, and I was SO happy! I felt like I'd brought home the gold!:-)

[Lisa0825]

37. If you are REALLY serious about getting in shape....

buy Tom Venuto's book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle." www.burnthefat.com

It covers motivation, macro-nutrient proportions, weight training, etc. I have seen most of the info here and there in other sources, but he does a great job of compiling it into one resource. I am not going strictly by his plan yet, but I have made several adaptations so far, and will continue to add bits to my current plan.

[flvegan]

38. Diet/exercise...you'll need to get under 14% bodyfat to "show" those abs

Arms: work bis and tris in the same workout, 2x per week.

Crunch 'n cardio, eat right and eat often to keep the metabolism up.

Good luck!

[Taverner]

40. Used to be a personal trainer...ask me anything!

In terms of fat burn, it's good to get a heart rate monitor and sustain 60% of your max HR for 20-40 minutes 4 times a week.

If you want to build your arms, try doing three curl excersizes (dumbell curls, reverse curls and hammer curls) at 12 reps/3 sets each. Then do some tricep excersizes - dumbell kickbacks, rope pull down and dips also 12 reps/3 sets each.

As for abs - do those every day, just do as many until you cant do anymore. Situps themselves can be bad for your back - do crunches instead.

As for diet, eliminate *white* carbs such as white bread, white rice, etc and replace them with *brown* carbs (brown rice, whole grain bread, etc.) - just check to make sure they have a good amount of fiber. Eat lean meat, and eat good fats ( you need fat - just the right kind. Avacados, Salmon, Nuts and Soy all have good fat.)

Also be sure to eat or have some source of protein and carbs right after you work out. Sugar is OK then.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

[slinkerwink]

41. I'll definitely do that!

First of all, can you explain what each curl exercize is for the biceps and triceps?

[Taverner]

42. A basic curl is...

Where you take a dumbell, stand up straight or sit, but have your arm fully down, then lift the weight up, not moving your elbow. If you need to move your elbow out to lift it, the weight is too much.

You can also do variations called 'preachers curls' where you rest your arms on an angled stand and do them. This concentrates the weight solely on the bicep, and is a bit harder.

For tricep, the pull down is where you have like a rope suspended on a pulley, and you stand straight, and with each end of the rope in each hand, pull the rope down, and apart when it reaches the end.

The kickback is where you are bent over on a bench, one knee on the bench, the other bent but standing, your back straight out - and you hold a dumbell in one hand (usually the side where the knee is supported by the bench) and lift it out so that it is parallel with your back.

[VelmaD]

44. I can vouch for Tav as an internet trainer

:-)

He's been a huge help in motivating me and giving me advice over the last year or so. And I'm down to 148 from 275. :)