I want to lose weight, and gain muscles, not physically powerful ones, but good looking ones. Or both:p But I don't have clue on what exercises or anything else I should do to obtain this. Any help would be nice.

Push ups, sit ups (crunches), squat thrusts, lift weights, jog, ride a bike...

STOP SITTING AROUND POSTING ON AN INTERNET FORUM AND GO OUTSIDE

kick a ball, ride a bike, jog, DO SOMETHING

:p

Jog and lift weights, that's all I do

Hey 7, I do go outside:p I just dont do much out there.

first, you must get rid of the weight, and then you should start bulking to develop the muscle.

cutting to lose weight is tricky. You have to lift weights and take in less calories at the same time. You have to lift b/c if you don't you will lose muscle mass along with the fat. Jogging short distances wil help you, but take it easy on cardio unless you want to specifically build endurance. Too much cardio will make you lose big time muscle mass. (this is why long-distance runners tend to be thin and sinewy and short-distance sprinters tend to look like they are carved from stone) The general rule is that



if calorie intake < calories burned, then that yields weight loss.



When you are cutting, avoid starchy white foods like rice (brown rice is ok) pasta, bread, potatoes, etc. like the plague. This stuff turns into fat unless you can burn it off right away, so don't eat it unless you plan to exercise right after the meal.

You need a core routine that works all the major muscle groups with a cardio rountine of some sort in the mix as well.

If you have access to a weight room, this'll work pretty well:

Bench Press: Chest

Military Press: Shoulders

Bicep Curl

Tricep Curl

Forearm Curl

Squat or Leg press: Quads

Toe Press: Calves

With the weights, you'll want to pick your starting weights and start with 3 sets, 8-12 reps per set. When you can easily do 10-12 reps, add weight and work you're way up. Do these every other day to allow the muscles to rebuild.

I've been doing the above routine since the beginning of summer and I've upped my bench (for reps) from around 120 pounds to 160 pounds. I've had really good incease for all of the above exercises. I've most a few pounds, and I'm a lot leaner.

If you don't have access to weights, you can do pushups to work the chest and shoulders, chin up and pull ups for the arms. Isometric strecthes can give you great leg work outs as can running up steep hills and walking hills on your toes.

You need a good ab workout in there too because a stong midsection makes the rest of the body work better

Crunches are great and you don't need any equipment. Lying on you back and doing leg lifts work the lower abs pretty well. 3 sets for both of those. I also have an ab wheel that I use afterwards to stretch everything out. I use that for a set time (3-4 minutes)

To round it all out and to get the best results, you need cardio as well, which is running, walking, playing soccer, basketball, whatever.

Finally, just changing your diet can make for a huge difference as well. When I started my workout routine, I cut out nearly all of the extra sugar and junk food, like sodas, chips, candy, etc. Replaced them with healthier alternatives. Also, if you want to gain muscle, you'll need to increase the protein in your diet. Lots of milk and meat.

Between the better diet and the exercise, I initially lost between 10 and 15 pounds. I've since added a few punds of muscle.

go get an xbox and dance dance revolution.

umm...drink water instead of soda, eat less bread, run, do like however many pushups you can do ever 2 hours.

Don't eat so much, especially not fried food. Eat more vegetables. Just don't drink soda.

Cook your own food. It's a good skill, it's fun, and it's healthy.

If you feel hungry but you're not going to eat a meal, grab a banana or some other fruit.

Find some physical activity that you enjoy (biking + nordic skiing + swimming for me). Do it to the point of exertion, so that you sweat, 2-4 times a week for several hours in total. Keep doing it.

If you're really serious, start keeping a logbook.

If you're even more serious, go talk to someone who really knows about these things, like in real-life. A phys-ed teacher, or someone from your local gym.

I say, tiberius, great day for squat thrusts!

I go rock climbing, lift weights in my room, and do sits ups and push ups, and eating lots of pasta to bukld muscle. I have no body fat, and have nice muscle.

yay for ruth

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lots of walking, 50 (in two sets of 25 reps) push-ups and situps each day, and maybe some other variations of simple exercises. and buy a set of weights, and when they become too easy to lift, just add more reps, they'll become harder =P

Arbitrary numbers arent a good place to start because everyone is at a different level physically, but they are a good goal to work towards. I've been following the training program to get in shape for the State Police Academy for the past few weeks, and its been working out pretty well for me.

General rule for starting out with pushups and situps:

Situps: See how many you can do in one minute. Divide this number in half, this is how many you should do in one rep. Do two reps each time you work out the first week, 3 reps the second week, and continue with 3 reps after the 3rd week but add 1-3 situps to each rep.

Pushups: See how many you can do in one continuous effort. Divide this number in half, again this is how many you should do in one rep. Follow the same guidelines for reps when working out as listed above for situps.

Stretching is also an important excersize that will help you get more physically fit. You can find some stretch excersizes here that are easy to do, and can be done in less than 5 minutes.

As for cardiovascular, I think its important. Jogging for a couple miles every morning or evening will help you get in better shape. Here is a good cardiovascular program that only requires about half an hour a day, 4 days a week.

The most important thing is to stick with your program once you start it. A week of not excersizing can actually set you back 2 weeks or more of what you've already accomplished.

YES!

Pasta is all carbs. That translates into the energy you need you cardio, noy building muslce. Increasing protein will help you build muscle much more effictively

Spend some time with me on the track and I'll have you as thin as I.

300 get-backs *cackles*

The protein discussion is very contraversial these days, but you should be getting no less than 15-20% of your weight in grams of protein, daily. Many bodybuilders actually strive for 100%, although many doctors don't advise this.

Just remember that excess (what your body doesn't use) sugar is converted to fat and is stored in fat cells, excess fat is converted to cholestoral and/or fat cells, and excess protein is converted to amino acids, some of which is used to build protein stores and the rest are converted to fats and sugars.

Personally, I stick to the 15-20% advice that many experts give (you'll be able to build plenty of muscle). If you are thin and trying to gain weight and muscle mass, this would be fine, but if you're overweight and wanting to lose weight and build muscle, too much protein can be a bad thing. In theory, you could burn off all of it, but the average person isn't going to burn off that much, unless you're training for the olympics. In other words, unless you're planning to get VERY serious, you don't need that much protein (the average American tends to eat too much protein as it is).

As far as exercising goes...

Do you enjoy hiking? I hike about 10 miles a week and would highly recommend it. If you aren't in to nature, you could always do some fast-walking or light jogging on the roads around your house. You could also get yourself a good bike or a jump rope. If you get bored easily, try getting an iPod.

You can build muscle with virtually any exercise, and I see nothing wrong with those that were recommended above. I'd highly recommend free-weights.

Buy lots of sweatshirts and workout pants. Put them all on at once and go running outside when it's 90 degrees.

Protien and Carbs have the same calorie per gram, the only difference is that you kidneys have to work harder to process them. This is why the Atkins diet is sketchy in the log run.

Basically there is one way to lose weight, and that is to have your calorie usage to be less than your intake. There is any number of ways to do this.

no, that's actually quite dangerous from what I've heard. You will lose too much water.

That's if you do it for long periods of time. I wore 2 layers of clothes for wrestling practice, worked off about 5 or 6 lbs every practice and ran and lifted my arse off. Got down from 208 to 188 in a month and a half. As long as you do the running for less than an hour, you'll be fine. Trust me. I was able to run 4 miles before I got winded, fastest guy on the team for a while and felt great. Also, for a diet, chicken breasts are your friends. Get some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and eat those every so often. Switch to a diet pop or even better, drop it all together. Get some Crystal light (like Kool-aid, but you don't add sugar). And just eat your meals in smaller portions. if you have spagetti(sp), eat a cup of that and a table spoon of sauce. After a while, that will start filling you up. Stay away from fried things and and breaded things. Hamburger for instance, if you want it with a bun, you only get one. No bun, you can have two patties.

To lose weight, differs from person to person. Some people can eat their guts out with fatty foods, and still lose weight. While others can eat healthy, have one chocolate bar, and put on a pound or two (figuratively speaking).

If you want to lose weight, do this:

Depending on how heavy you are, start off at a slow pace. First thing to know is, NEVER OVERWORK YOURSELF. This causes more damage than help, and is the number 1 rule in EVERYTHING workout related... Jogging, sports, lifting weights, etc.

Run, every day. At least 20 to 30 minutes of cardio. This is all the cardio you actually need. Your other cardio exercises you do in your daily routine's.

Try when you run, to have a goal of running at least a mile to a mile and a half, this is well within a good range for weight loss.

Your diet is the most important aside from cardio exercise. Healthy food's. Cut out most, if not, all your sugar's, since you get natural sugar's in healthy foods such as apple's, orange's, etc.

If you want to bulk up FAST muscle wise, I suggest my workout plan...

(WORK OUT OPPOSITES, ALWAYS.. Don't go into the gym and work out every single muscle group in one day, this is worthless and will take an exceptionaly long time to see strong results)

Working out opposite's, is simple. All it means is if you work out your chest, you work out your back in the same day. You work out your bicep's, you work out your triceps. The incorrect way is when you work out your biceps, then back, then chest, etc.


Day 1
Biceps and Triceps

Try to do at least 3 or 4 different exercises for each group, biceps and triceps. 12 rep's each set, 3 repetitions of each set as well.

It helps too, if you throw in a "power" set at the end. A power set is where you do a particular exercise at your max weight, complete that set and as soon as you're done, grab some weights that are slightly smaller in weight, and do another set.

I.e Bicep Curls - 3 set's, +1 power set.
Power set = 40 pounds, 12 reps
35 Pounds, 10 reps
25 pounds, 10 reps
15 pounds, 10 reps

By now your arms will be shot. This totally works out your muscles. Do a power set at the end of each exercise for each group when you choose to do them... Like chest, biceps and triceps.

Day 2
Biceps and Triceps again.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a straight 24 hours for your muscles to retain their full capacity and repair themselve's. You can "shock" your muscles, which helps them to grow faster.

However, this is the max you should do. Meaning that 2 days straight of each group is all you should do, if you don't want to tear your muscle's that is.

Day 3
Chest and Back

Day 4
Chest and Back


As well, each day, if you have time... Do some abdominal exercises. The key most people miss here is RESISTANCE. A lot of people think that simple crunches will do the trick, but this will only strengthen your abdominal muscles. To build the muscles, (make them pop out, 6 pack style), you need to add resistance.

There's many ways to do this, like putting a weight behind your head while you do a crunch....But the best way I find is my way:

Sit in an inclined chair, like one you'd see people doing common bicep or chest exercises on with free weight's. Attach a rope or something you can grip behind your back to one of the Universal machine's.

You should be able to sit in the chair, with the attached cable behind your head, gripping it with your hand's. All you do, is a crunch in the chair forwards, SLOWLY. And as you do the crunch, KEEP YOUR ABS FLEXED. The entire time. 3 set's of these at 12 reps each, and your abs will be shot. I guarantee it.

Another key to building muscle fast, is to use free weight's. Do not use the universal machines, as these are designed for toning more than building. They do work, however provide much slower results as they help you throughout your exercises.

I can provide more tips as well.

Working out the same muscle groups without a recovery day will slow your progress quite a bit, especially if you're doing your so called power sets. The rest day ais needed for the muscle to rebuild. If you're going to lift every day, you need zone work outs that don't overlap muscle groups being worked.

No. Power set's only after each exercise is completely finished... Not after every single repetition is done.

And no, you can work out your muscle's two days straight, then allow the 24 hour period of resting time. It builds your muscles faster, makes them stronger, and doesn't harm them in any way unless you overdo it. It's called "shocking" your muscles. And it works, because I've used the method.

I'd just like to add something that I forgot to mention for those overweight folks (any folks, actually), who are thinking about jogging. Don't stop when you get tired of jogging. Once you have jogged to the point where you are out of breath and your muscles are starting to bother you, go into fast-walking, or even regular walking to catch your breath. Most people tend to have problems with their breathing when they start jogging, and even with stomach cramps. My advice for that is to read a few articles on yoga breathing. I've been taking yoga since January and the breathing techniques carry directly over to jogging. Your ins and outs should be on mathematical intervals. It's easy to do this, if you make a 'breathing beat' that correlates to the rate/sound of your footsteps.

I found that a good way of losing weight is to get into college without a job and loan.

That'd be healthy

Yeah, actually, they say that when you run or jog for long period's of time, and you reach your time limit, and you just simply stop instead of lower your speed gradually, it's bad for you or your heart. I dunno how valid this is, but I just remember vaguely reading it somewhere not too long ago..

Never do the same exercises the day right after. That is the number 1 do not do. I don't care what anyone says.....90% of the articles you read on the internet and athletic/personal trainers will tell you do not do that.

Also, after you have lost your weight and look to increase muscle masss, you must watch how much cardio you do. cardio can hinder muslce growth.

Bodybuilders use shocking techniques to get their muscles larger. Meaning they workout the same muscle groups every 2 days. Day's 1 and 2 are the same, like biceps and triceps. Day's 3 and 4 are the same, like Chest and Back. Day's 5 and 6 can be back to biceps and triceps. It works, trust me. I do it, and have watched many many people, including professional bodybuilders in my gym, do it and recommend the technique to other people.

It's a common myth among people that if you work out one muscle group, you NEED to have 24 hours before you work out the same muslce group again. This is not true. You need the 24 hours yes, but you can work out the same muscle group's in a 2 day cycle. After that, you will need the 24 hours. It's generally accepted now that you need this rest immediately after working out, but many people don't know that it's a misperception.

Shocking your muscles isn't a common thing, because of this generally accepted statement. There are also hundreds of ways to shock your muscles, like power set's, etc. Pretty much everyone that works out knows, your muscles only grow when you sleep.

I bet most people think that simple bicep curls are enough to work out your biceps.. But this isnt true. To do a PROPER bicep curl, you have to do it slow as you go up, and slow as you go back down. And you have to go to the point where your fist holding the bar touches your chest. Most people only do it half way, and relatively quick.

You'd get better results if you did the two work outs, one to build strength and one to build mass, in the same day then give the rest day

My problem is.. how to stay motivated? I'm not overweight, in fact I'm really skinny, but I want to build muscle. Every time I tell myself that I'm going to, I work out for a couple days, then just stop. How do you force yourself to keep going?

There's really no way to "force" yourself into going every day. You have to build up a routine, and get into that routine. The only way to really force yourself into going, is to...force yourself. Maybe if you bought a membership, that might motivate you to go, that way you wont have wasted your mmoney. My gym membership is free, so I don't have to worry about that :p

Or you can try arranging a driver every day, that way they can force you to go, if you don't want to. But if you truly don't want to go, then you shouldn't really force yourself. That could cause injury, since you won't be in the right mentality.



You get the same results... Because it strengthen's your muscles as well as builds them. But it all depends on the person, whether or not they're black or white, what their family background is like (a heavier family would be more prone to harder workouts to gain results), etc.

Two work outs in one day + 1 rest day = better results than if you do the workouts on successive days

...

We can sit here and argue this until the thread gets closed from it, you have your opinion and I have mine.

Join a football or cross country team.