How to get buff?

[Defiance]

Hi Lauxa,

Your progress is excellent! Congratulations on your success!

I was a very fit athlete who fell into depression and weight gain during a bad divorce. I weighed 155 pounds when I made up my mind to do something about it. Eight months and 30 pounds later I took second place in the Miss Tennesse Fitness and Figure Competition! And now at (almost) 40, I am in the best shape of my life.

I love kickboxing. It will give you great cardio and build muscle too, since the moves are so dynamic. I am big into weights and post my workouts on my blog at Defiant Health!. Resistance training is the key to a toned, fit body. But diet is 90% of the game.

Good luck and blessings to you!

Christy

[Lauxa]

Ah Christy, I'm just not ready to tackle diet right now! I'll probably try again to go raw for Lent (tried last year and made it 20-something days...)

As for kickboxing, my neighbor has a kickboxing studio in her house, but I'd feel way too self-conscious to take one of her classes. I think I'd enjoy it though, I have some pent-up aggression sometimes and think some martial arts moves might help take the edge off. Do you have any DVD's you would recommend?

[wayne60618]

A couple of things you may consider if you're working out at home:

Exercise bands. something like these EXERCISE BANDS - Total Body Exercise Resistance Band workout system
Either dumbells or kettlebells.
Between the exercise bands and the dumbells kettlebells, you will have a lot of variety. Your 5 pound weight aren't going to do a whole lot for you as you won't get enough resistance.

You can check out rosstraining.com for some other great exercise ideas.

You should also bear in mind that getting tone is also the result of your diet. If you don't eat to achieve your objective, then only exercising may leave you a little disappointed in your results.

[Defiance]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

As for kickboxing, my neighbor has a kickboxing studio in her house, but I'd feel way too self-conscious to take one of her classes. I think I'd enjoy it though, I have some pent-up aggression sometimes and think some martial arts moves might help take the edge off. Do you have any DVD's you would recommend?

Hi Lauxa,

I guess the Billy Blanks Tae Bo DVD's would be good. I have never used any DVD's so I am not sure. If you try it, you will be hooked, especially if you have the pent up aggression! Notice, I discovered kickboxing right after my divorce so you can imagine the target I was aiming for in the mirror!

Seriously, it is a great stress reliever and helps build and maintain muscle mass, plus it's awesome ab work. All that punching really works your core. And you can learn some nice self-defense moves if the class isn't just the cardio kickboxing. Please don't feel self-conscious. There's no judge or competition. Just concentrate on learning proper form at first, to protect your knees and back, and work your way up.

Good luck! (And do try to work at least a little on diet! )

Christy

[Lauxa]

I fell off the wagon last week, so to speak. Only one (upper body) workout all week. But I am back at it this week, did lower body yesterday and upper body today. Knowing I had this thread to post my progress was a big motivator.

So... starting over on 30 days.

[{aspiring_to_clarity}]

It's all good. Don't beat yourself up, just keep on going from wherever you are.

I'm rooting for you!

[DerekH]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

I realized recently that something I have always wanted is a toned buff physique, and I want some more info on how difficult it is to acquire. I especially want well-defined arms and shoulders, and to a lesser extent abs and glutes. I would like to focus on getting toned vs. aerobic conditioning, but I feel I will also need to increase my stretching work because I am quite tight.

I don't want to join a gym both because of the expense and hassle. I don't mind acquiring some equipment, but I also want to be careful not to bring in unneeded clutter.

Here's my current "exercise" equipment: 1 geodesic dome, 1 pair of roller blades, a unicycle, 3 1 lb juggling balls, 1 flight of stairs, 1 DDR game, 1 mini trampoline, and I think some 5 lb free weights. Also a nice large area for working out to an exercise video or some such.

So I'd like any opinions on what exercise equipment/videos I should buy or links to programs I could follow to achieve these goals. Also any estimates of what kind of daily/weekly time commitment I need to make would be highly appreciated.

And if anybody (especially you ladies) has gone from flab to fab, I'd love to hear your stories for inspiration!

Diet diet diet!

3-4 hours of cardio per week, 3 weight training sessions and spend the rest of time making food geared towards losing weight

[Nasir]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

Oh my God, those exercises are way too advanced! "Clapping handstand pushups" LOL!

That's because those are the advanced exercises. He shows you how to build up to those.

[Lauxa]

Hm.... Well, I've been slacking off again. I've been on vacation and the days are kind of running together. Plus I don't have my chin-up bar here. Excuses, excuses. I've been riding my "bike" a bit and doing some erratic exercise, but not with enough focus.

But I just found something really inspiring:
From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks

SO, I'm going to rework my regimen. Only 2 full-body workouts per week, 4-7 exercises, one set each to muscle failure. Starting with legs first, like Nasir recommended.

Nasir, after looking at that site I really really want to be able to do a handstand. My brother-in-law is a gymnast and recommended starting out with my back to a wall, then putting my hands on the ground in front of me and walking my feet up the wall, and finally walking my hands back. I am too weak to get more than 3 feet from the wall! I guess I will just get as close as I can and then hold it as long as I can, unless you have a better suggestion?

[Nasir]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

Nasir, after looking at that site I really really want to be able to do a handstand. My brother-in-law is a gymnast and recommended starting out with my back to a wall, then putting my hands on the ground in front of me and walking my feet up the wall, and finally walking my hands back. I am too weak to get more than 3 feet from the wall! I guess I will just get as close as I can and then hold it as long as I can, unless you have a better suggestion?

The wall is a good idea. Here are some of my methods.

You can kick up to a hand stand (in a space clear of objects). Start with your feet together, hands above your head. Step forward with whatever leg you feel comfortable, lockout your arms, swing your hands down on the floor (both hands pointed forward), straighten your back leg, and push off with your front leg (gently, so you don't flip onto your back). Center your shoulders over your hands, and then find your point of balance.

You can also have someone spot you by holding your legs (with or without a kick up). This will be very useful, because you'll have time to gain your balance, & learn the proper mechanics of maintaining a balanced posture.

If you have a jump rope, it a good thing to have by your bed when you wake up in the morning. If you do about 100 jumps you will be clear headed, and ready to start your day or exercise. Drink lots of water.

[gingerbaker]

I cannot recommend stumptuous.com enough as an amzing source of weight training info for women...and simultaneously hilarious to boot! She JUST (as in today!) redesigned the site so it may be a bit wonky for a few days, but there are some great articles - including working out without weights full of ideas similar to the milk jug one - that are sooo worth reading.

[redman]

i suggest you to buy a pair of dumbbell and start a routine specially for dumbbell, which you can easily do at your home, check out forum.bodybuilding.com for some kick ass routines. six pack abs

[Lauxa]

Progress update! I'm so excited because I did 4!! pullups today (with a little jump, but still!)

When I first started I couldn't even do one, and this is the first time in my life I've ever done 4. Coincidence that it comes right after I started my raw food detox for Lent?

Also 7 (real) pushups, another record!

A'ight Christy, I'm thinking there might be something to this diet thing...

[Honeywith4bees]

How is the detox working for you? What day are you on? I was looking at their website and all the testimonials turned me off, made me think there was some kind of trick too it. Can you give me your feelings about it?

Oh and great job on the pull ups!!

(I'm working my way up to 10, can only do 9 at the moment!)

[Lauxa]

I'm on day 3 now. It's a very simple plan. Start with 1 day of water fasting, then 6 days of raw as follows: monomeal fruit for breakfast, GS for lunch, salad for dinner. You can snack on other fruit and veggies in the day if you get hungry, but nothing after about 6:30 pm. No fat, no salt. You also get daily support emails to encourage you.

The goals are to tune back in to your body's natural hunger, break the pattern of any food addictions, reacquaint your taste buds with simple foods, and pass a lot of roughage through your digestive tract. Many people use this short cleanse to kick-start some more lasting dietary change.

The water fast was tough for me, I found it difficult to focus during the day. Walking the dog made me feel weak and light-headed.

Yesterday was my first eating day, and it went all right. I am generally pretty active on Thursday evenings (juggle club) and my salad didn't really sustain me for that... I was feeling very empty and a bit weak by 8:30 or so... but it's only for 7 days.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

I realized recently that something I have always wanted is a toned buff physique, and I want some more info on how difficult it is to acquire. I especially want well-defined arms and shoulders, and to a lesser extent abs and glutes. I would like to focus on getting toned vs. aerobic conditioning, but I feel I will also need to increase my stretching work because I am quite tight.

I don't want to join a gym both because of the expense and hassle. I don't mind acquiring some equipment, but I also want to be careful not to bring in unneeded clutter.

Here's my current "exercise" equipment: 1 geodesic dome, 1 pair of roller blades, a unicycle, 3 1 lb juggling balls, 1 flight of stairs, 1 DDR game, 1 mini trampoline, and I think some 5 lb free weights. Also a nice large area for working out to an exercise video or some such.

So I'd like any opinions on what exercise equipment/videos I should buy or links to programs I could follow to achieve these goals. Also any estimates of what kind of daily/weekly time commitment I need to make would be highly appreciated.

And if anybody (especially you ladies) has gone from flab to fab, I'd love to hear your stories for inspiration!

I picked up the P90X system for working out at home and I'm loving it. Builds strength, cardio and flexibility and works on getting you to look "buff".

Might be something to look into.