Ryot's 10-Week Fitness Log

Hey 2+2,

About me/Backround;
When I was much younger (10yo) I was quite active and healthy. My parents divorced and I was forced to live with my mum, who was overweight and had bad nutritional habits. I am now 19, 5’10, 179lbs or 81.5kg, low muscle mass. I left school 2 years ago and have been working in the finance industry where I am largely physically inactive all day and sit at my desk.

Since leaving school my body has suffered, I took up smoking towards the end of last year and am trying to cut/quit now.

At the start of the year I was working out 3-4 times per week and playing basketball or tennis every weekend. I was doing well sitting around 80kg’s, and I dropped a pant size. Basically I had my birthday hurt my ankle and had to stop training for a while, at this point I totally lost my motivation and stopped going to the gym/eating well. Lately I have almost been actively trying to sabotage my own diet.
Earlier this year I bought a subscription to a magazine called men’s health and I saw a recent article about losing 10kg’s in 10 weeks type thing it listed the routine which I have posted below. I am going to start this next week (Mon the 15th OCT) and will try my hardest. Whilst I know my body isn’t as bad as some others out there and my friends tell me I’m not fat, I’m not proud of it and I feel it’s killing my self-esteem.

I have gotten this way especially of late from drinking excessively 2-3 times per week. When I drink I usually get fast food and I’m usually having 12-15 beers in the night. I will limit myself to one night per week where I will have more than 4 drinks in an effort to curb this. I know I would probably fail should I try and cut it out altogether and I don’t want to de-motivate myself

Program
Weeks 1-4
Monday: Resistance Training
Warm-up: 5-10 min jog
step-ups: 2x30
Push-ups: 3x10-15
Rope Rows: 3x10-15
Upright Row + Press: 2x10-15
Seated Dips: 2x10-20
Russian Twists(knees bent): 3x20-30

Tuesday: Fartlek
Cycle: 40 min w' 1 hill or sprint every 5 min

Wednesday: Boxing
This was not in the program but was instead listed as a rest day but my work pays for me to take an hour off in the afternoon to box with my trainer. Do some light push ups and abs work as well as sprints with this too.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to alter the program? To make up for this

Thursday: Resitance training
Same as Monday

Friday:
Light Jog and Stretches: 5m
Sprint: 5-10s, walk for 1m, sprint againg repeat 15 times
Light Jog and Stretches: 5m

Saturday:Rest

Sunday:Free Hit Day
Usually this will be 1hr of Basketball or Tennis

I'll post 5-10 later but I'm at work now and not a lot of time.

Goals;
By the end of this 10 week course I want;
- Some basic muscle definition
- Increase fitness
- Quit smoking
- Increase attractiveness/stamina with ladies
- Just general hold my own in a group of fit/athletic people.

Pics:
I'll post more at 5 and 10 weeks hopefully I will be sexy.




Cliffnotes: I don't like my body/fitness level and want to change.

Wish me luck.

[Northern]

Avoid any of the routines posted in those magazines they are not practical and are more often than not written by JOURNALISTS and not fitness experts. I read the routine you posted but honestly it started to hurt my head, I couldn;t understand what it accomplishes.

What you need to do no matter your goals is start hitting the weights. An increase in muscle mass will help burn more calories and will allow you to fill out your frame a little more too. Incorporate some cardio into your routine, boxing is an excellent idea. Clean up your diet, start eating breakfast, eat more samller meals in a day (depending but 6 or more)cut out soft drinks and unhealthy snacking.

If you want the goals you posted then look into a GOOD routine and not one used to sell magazines. Try Mark Rippertoes Starting Strength it would be great for you. It's a total body workout thats simple 3 times a week and on alternating days do some cardio.

I don't know about 10 weeks but you'll see a change in your body but theres no quick fix.

[Wolfram]

[ QUOTE ]
Earlier this year I bought a subscription to a magazine called men’s health and I saw a recent article about losing 10kg’s in 10 weeks type thing it listed

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a bad way to approach your situation. You can't just "do a program", get fit, and then stay that way while reverting back to your old ways. The only way you can get in shape and stay that way is to make it a part of your lifestyle, and no 10-week program will ever be a part of your lifestyle.

Plus this program looks boring and not designed to give you the maximum muscle gain, and like Northern said, it's designed by a journalist.

Do Starting Strength (it's in the faq). It is designed to be super simple and super effective for building core muscle on a novice. All the exercises are free weights (good) and exercise the maximum amount of muscle groups at once (even better). It's also surprisingly fun and satisfying to do this kind of lifting vs the girly magazine stuff.

Then you need to clean up your diet. The key to weight loss is proper diet. The key to muscle gain is proper diet. Exercise is a much smaller factor (though it is needed).

Eat multiple meals over the day, starting with a good breakfast. Try to get at least 33% of your energy from protein and the rest split between carbs and fat (use www.fitday.com if you wanna keep track). Focus on good fat and good carbs. Stay away from almost all fast food, chips, candy, deserts, sugary soda and fruit juice (yes, fruit juice is not good for you).
Designate one day a week as your indulgence day, and eat all the junk you want on that day, but eat clean on the other days.

And most importantly, cut down on the alchohol and cigarettes. Alchohol is chock full of empty calories, promotes munchies and snacking and lowers your metabolism (why do you think athletes in training abstain for months at a time). 15 small cans of beer = 2250 calories which is almost your daily energy requirement.

And cigarettes kill you. It's that simple. Plus they'll wreck havoc on your pulminary and cardio fitness and give you a limp dick (decreased blood flow).

By the way, I don't necessarily recommend that you do this all at once. You'll be more likely to get overwhelmed and give up. Start out by exercising regularly (3 days a week Starting Strength, 1-2 days a week boxing/basketball/tennis would be good), then cut out the cigs and decrease alcohol, then fix your diet.

In my experience it's much easier to eat healthy once you're exercising regularly. Your body knows what it needs and it will tell you.

[Northern]

[ QUOTE ]

In my experience it's much easier to eat healthy once you're exercising regularly. Your body knows what it needs and it will tell you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good advice but about the cheat day, don't over do it. The cheat day is mroe for a person with a strict diet not someone trying to clean up their diet. Have that day to eat some pasta, snacks or something similar but don't shovel everything that you shouldn't eat in all at once. Moderation is key and part of the purpose of a cheat day (or meal) is to keep your sanity as it's difficult to stay with a solid completely planned and measured diet.

The part I quoted is great advice as a when working out you'll feel hungry and know that you should eat. It will be easier this way to eat more meals in the day rather than just jumping to 6-8 at once. It's simple your burning energy and therefore need to take more in.

Thanks guys for the comments,

Basically I find it hard to get motivated for this stuff, I leave home at 7:00am in the morning and get home about 6:30pm + at night. So I thought committing to a 10 week program would have been good.

The diet's probably going to be the hardest thing especially grog being in the industry I'm in. Went to the gym last night I didn't exactly so what it did. Just some light cardio and weights/pushups/abs. Am going again tonight, I have a friend trying to give me a hand which is good.

Edit: Tonight I'm probably going to do;
- 2km row
- 20m cross trainer (simulated hills 1m on 1m off)
- 20 m cycle

[calmB4storm]

1. Bench instead of push-ups.
2. Deadlift instead of rowing.
3. ...
4. ...
.
.
.
x. [censored] just read the FAQ.

[Northern]

[ QUOTE ]
[censored] just read the FAQ.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. OP if your going with a friend, great it should help with knowledge and motivation, jsut don't take his opinion as the only bit of info. Read the FAQ's there are some great programs in there and you should pick one as they are simple to follow and have proven results.

It will be a challenge in getting your diet better but you will not see nealry the results of training if you follow a better diet. You work behind a desk correct? If so its a lot easeir for you to eat better than others, you have access to a firdge, microwave, even a chair, I've had to eat my meals cold while on the jobsite.

I probably go out for lunch with different companies 3-4 times per week.

I am unsure of how 'drinking culture' is in other countries but in Australia, you are basically looked down upon and not trusted if you can't have a few beers when your out.

I've seen very hardworking, excellent at their jobs not advance how they deserve simply cos they won't go out and have a social drink. It is literally massive part of work here going out on a thurs fri nite with work.

I have switched to low carb beer (Pure Blonde and Super Dry),

Yes I work from a desk but it doesn't necissarily mean that it would be easier for me to eat healthy.

Also when I'm rarely picking up the tab for going out to a restraunt where as eating cold food from home, I guess you can see the fight.