Fitness Thread

A thread for those who are training, getting fitter, starting a new diet, or whatever it may be. Feel free to post up your aims, your stats, pictures, tips or advice.

'Sticking at it' is often a problem, perhaps a few posts in the right direction can help.

I'm at 12st 11lb and I'm 5'10" and, while not in bad shape, aiming to get not just bigger, but a lot more defined. Definition has never been a strong point for me when I've had muscle mass. There's always been some, but never enough for my liking, so here goes.

I'll be at the gym 5-6 days a week, focusing on all-over muscle gain, and concentrating on the stepper and intense sprints on the running machine for healthy fat loss.

A good fat loss tip if you're doing weights: do your weights first, then go to cardio. A lot of people hit the bike or the treadmill, and then do the weights, but you're far better off doing it the other way around. For maximum fat burning, hit the larger muscle groups, such as the back and legs.

I am 5'5.5 and currently 9 stone 7 which is the heaviest I have ever been. I am not happy with this. Ideally, I'd like to tone up and get back to the 8 stone 7 to 9 stone 2 which I was for ages. If not, then the maximum weight I'd like to be is 9 stone 2.

So, this thread will hopefully keep me to my exercise regime. I am going to swim at least once a week, do badminton once a week and circuits when uni starts up again.

Alice I thought you were 5'7 same as me? Oh and I'm 10.4 at the minute, I'd like to be 9.5 but I accept this will never happen because despite going swimming once a week, and starting pilates, I am just far too lazy and I just love cake far too much.

/me leaves this thread

I'm a little shorter than you, definitely shorter than 5'7 as my dad is that and I'm not as tall as him!

Something I haven't trained a lot in recent times is my neck; so I'm going to make sure I give it at least one 20 minute session each week. It's an area you have to be careful with, but it makes me laugh when some of the 'bodybuilders' I know didn't even realise they could workout their neck. For a lot of the exercises, you don't even need any plates, you can just use your hands to apply resistance.

How would you exercise your neck with plates?

I have funny mental images of you tying dinnerware to your neck and swinging it, though I know that's not what you mean.

There's a type of machine you can use that works the neck, and you stack the plates at the bottom of that. It basically consists of resting your head on the pad and then pushing against the resistance.

One of the guys I know who does Taekwondo would balance on his head while he is strapped with weights; and do rotations and different movements while pretty much upside down. Quite dangerous really, but he has a neck like a Bull-Mastiff.

At gymnastics, we could do things like necksprings- well, they were on the syllabus and you'd need a strong neck for that, but they got banned by our teacher as they were too dangerous.

Hmm. I'm 5'11 and 66kg. BMI Calculator says I'm ideal weight, and I'm actually pretty happy how I am, but I guess I want to be fitter to feel more healthy in myself. I'd also like to tone up my stomach, at one point I had a 6 pack almost which was a bit weird but I'd love to have some definition there again, especially since because of how I stand my stomach sticks out, if it was more defined that would help it look less silly. I also want to improve my posture. No idea how to do either of these things, suggestions welcome.

When I move out I will be cooking for myself and will hopefully eat better. I also intend to start swimming once I'm back at Uni, so I can get myself into a routine.

Shade under 6ft and although I don't look bad for it, currently weighing in at 15st exactly. I'm built more like a rugby player, than looking like a fat c*nt - the only problem is I don't have their endurance. The heaviest I've ever been is 17stone 4, a few months back and I must admit, it was starting to really notice then.

So I've shaved of 32 pounds already in the last couple months, with hardly any effort, but it's not enough. I calculate I'm anywhere between 15-35 pounds overweight still, because I don't actually know how much of me is muscle and how much is crap. The target weight is between 12-13 stone but I'm not a*sed that much about what the scales say and will be going solely on my fitness levels and what I see when I look in the mirror.

With weighing yourself, sometimes your weight will level off for a while, or you might gain a pound or two of muscle and think your gaining weight, get disheartened and quit. Non of that sh*t for me, it's a simple lifestyle change and I'm sure I'll be able to notice the difference anyway. Might weigh once a week or fortnight, just to keep tabs, but aye. The target for getting the weight off is Christmas at a round 2 pounds a week, but once I'm happy with my weight it won't make much difference exactly what the scales tell me.

Quote: Lemony_Zester

At gymnastics, we could do things like necksprings- well, they were on the syllabus and you'd need a strong neck for that, but they got banned by our teacher as they were too dangerous.

What's a neckspring?! Sounds ominous

Make an effort to stand upright, and not looking at the floor, but looking at eye level? It might work.
In the olden days, they used to do that walking thing balancing books on your head, which I suppose would work as it's keeping your head and back upright and would train you into doing so, but personally I'd feel a right tw*t doing that.

It's just, because of my illness, it's so much more comfortable to slouch and I'm finding my shoulders are forward a lot and my back isn't straight which is making them hurt. I think if I sat better or walked better I may have less pain. I actually think I'm gonna see about Physio when I see my Consultant, come to think of it, it's hard to get advice from 'normal' people because they can do things I can't

Would a corset help, or a corsetted top? They stop you slouching.

In singing, we're taught to stand as if someone is pulling a string at the top-back of your head, so you're stood upright. This also helps breathing too, not that that's relevant, but it's useful.

Quote: Dissimulation

Shade under 6ft and although I don't look bad for it, currently weighing in at 15st exactly. I'm built more like a rugby player, than looking like a fat c*nt - the only problem is I don't have their endurance. The heaviest I've ever been is 17stone 4, a few months back and I must admit, it was starting to really notice then.

So I've shaved of 32 pounds already in the last couple months, with hardly any effort, but it's not enough. I calculate I'm anywhere between 15-35 pounds overweight still, because I don't actually know how much of me is muscle and how much is crap. The target weight is between 12-13 stone but I'm not a*sed that much about what the scales say and will be going solely on my fitness levels and what I see when I look in the mirror.

With weighing yourself, sometimes your weight will level off for a while, or you might gain a pound or two of muscle and think your gaining weight, get disheartened and quit. Non of that sh*t for me, it's a simple lifestyle change and I'm sure I'll be able to notice the difference anyway. Might weigh once a week or fortnight, just to keep tabs, but aye. The target for getting the weight off is Christmas at a round 2 pounds a week, but once I'm happy with my weight it won't make much difference exactly what the scales tell me.

I've no doubts that you'll nail it. The progress you've made already is superb.