Wanna get in shape? Options

[Existentialist]

My goal is to build some upper body strength, but I'm pretty sure that is damn near impossible. I fit the stereotype of "weak girl" exactly and can't even do a pushup! But, as much as I would like to have some strength, I am not motivated enough to do much outside of strength training.

I don't want/need to lose weight so your plan isn't for me, but it is very interesting and I look forward to following this thread! Maybe I will pick up some tips that will help me

I understand the lack of desire to lose weight since you're already a normal weight. This is actually good news for you since it makes changing your diet much easier. Gaining strength is possible for anyone, although it is true that women can't become as strong as men and can't improve strength as quickly as men. However, you can do it.

Since you can't even do a pushup, start with only body weight resistance exercises. Start with pushups. Every day, try doing it. Hold form at the top with your back straight until you can't do it anymore. Then lie flat on the ground and trying pushing yourself up. Even if you're not getting off the ground, try as hard as you possibly can to do it. Trust me, after a few days or weeks of this, you'll be doing pushups. Then just increase the number and so on. Pull ups and chin ups are even better!

[Existentialist]

Below is my routine for anyone to follow.

Please remember that for the diet, I have designed the portions for myself and I require 3,200 calories per day to maintain weight. Unless you are very tall like me, the diet below probably entails overeating. Please adjust the portions according to your caloric requirements. Also note that all meals are prepared using either no heat or only a pan on a stove. For the meals using a pan on a stove, use only a zero calorie cooking spray. Also, MM refers to muscle milk powder. You can substitute 2 tablespoons of low fat peanut butter or 2 cups of cooked broccoli for this. You must drink a minimum of 80oz of water daily and preferably as cold as possible. Other approved drinks include unsweetened iced tea, black coffee, an occasional zero carb energy drink and up to 8oz of skim milk per day. Please avoid soda at all costs, even diet.

For the weight training and HIIT, please note that when listed as AxB, A is the number of sets and B is the number of reps in each set. Use whatever weight necessary to do all the reps but with great difficulty on the last one. Try to make your last set the heaviest weight. Also try to lift and do HIIT between meals 3 and 4. Always use proper form and always do HIIT AFTER lifting. For the HIIT, a 30/30 means 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as you can, followed by 30 seconds of a brisk walk, alternating between the two.

Monday:
Meal 1: 3 eggs fried, 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna fish (canned in water)
Meal 3: 1lb. chicken (white meat, boneless), 1 scoop MM
Meal 4: 1 grapefruit, 1 scoop MM
Meal 5: 1/2lb chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: Chest/Arms – bench 5x5, lat pull downs 3x5, curls 3x7, heavier curls 3x3, incline dumbbell press 5x5, shrugs 3x5, pull ups til failure
HIIT: Yes – 5 30/30s

Tuesday:
Meal 1: 3 eggs fried, 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna (canned in water)
Meal 3: ½ pound chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 4: ½ pound chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 5: 1 scoop MM
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: OFF
HIIT: OFF

Wednesday:
Meal 1: 3 eggs fried, 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna (canned in water)
Meal 3: 1lb. chicken (white meat, boneless), 1 scoop MM
Meal 4: 1 grapefruit, 1 scoop MM
Meal 5: 1/2lb chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: Legs/Core – squats 5x5, deadlift 5x5, leg press 3x5, lunges 3x5, calf raises 3x10
HIIT: Yes –7 30/30s

Thursday:
Meal 1: 1 cup cooked oats, 3 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna (canned in water)
Meal 3: ½ pound chicken (white meat, boneless), 1 cup cooked oats, 1 scoop MM
Meal 4: 1 cup cooked oats, 1 scoop MM
Meal 5: 1 grapefruit, 1 scoop MM
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: Chest/Arms – bench 5x5, curls 3x7, tricep extensions 5x5, seated rows 3x5, military press 3x5, shrugs 3x5, chinups til failure
HIIT: OFF

Friday:
Meal 1: 3 eggs fried, 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna (canned in water)
Meal 3: ½ pound chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 4: ½ pound chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 5: 1 scoop MM
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: OFF
HIIT: YES 5 30/30s

Saturday (can switch with Sunday):
Meal 1: 3 scoops MM OR 3 fried eggs and 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 1 scoop MM
Meal 3: OFF
Meal 4: 1 scoop MM
Meal 5: OFF
Meal 6: cheat meal, eat whatever you want but keep simple carbs under 50g OR keep overall calories under 2,000
Weights: OFF
HIIT: OFF

Sunday (can switch with Saturday):
Meal 1: 3 eggs fried, 4 strips bacon
Meal 2: 9 oz tuna (canned in water)
Meal 3: 1lb. chicken (white meat, boneless), 1 scoop MM
Meal 4: 1 grapefruit, 1 scoop MM
Meal 5: 1/2lb chicken (white meat, boneless)
Meal 6: 2 cups cooked broccoli or cauliflower or spinach
Weights: Legs/Core – squats 5x5, deadlift 5x5, leg press 3x5, lunges 3x5, weighted sit ups til failure
HIIT: Yes –7 30/30s

Trust me, my friends, if you are within reasonable shape right now, and follow this at least 90% of the time for the next 4 months, you will be in way better shape than you probably might believe. You don't want to find out by seeing my pictures..find out by seeing yourself in the mirror! Join me!

This post has been edited by Existentialist: Dec 29 2010, 1:45 am

[Pokey]

Thats a pretty tight ship you run with that diet Ex, but it looks doable. I imagine the first week or 2 training your body to accept this is the hardest. I remember the 3 weeks I tried doing the low carb stuff before my body was going balistic believing itself to be under fed.
I'm only about 5"11/6ft so as you mentioned I'll have to adjust my sizes down, but I don't really have the time for a 6 meal a day diet as far as preperations and such go. Do you think jiggling it around to a 3 meal a day diet is doable, especially given our size differences?
What I used to eat for lunch in the 3 weeks I did this before were just the little packets of sliced meat like turkey, ham or chicken that you could get from the supermarkets. They were low carb and lean, tasted pretty good etc ... I struggled a bit with just how bland it was but still.
The tuna would normally be a good one to have at lunch because it's quick and easy but that stuff and salmon and all those sorts of fish make me want to chuck, never been able to eat that stuff, so I think thats out.

With the muscle milk powder, is that low carb? I'd assume most milk/dairy stuff is out because of the carbs ... i can do without most milk, the only thing I would like to still have would be cups of hot tea, I usually have maybe 3-4 a day but the milk is just a dash of milk. You think that is still ok?

Are variations to your diet advisable, for example instead of fried egg making it a scrambled egg or poached? Just to give a little variety..

With your HIIT, I came across this, http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml , i've heard a few people say it's a good place to start for those who aren't used to straight up hard cardio whether it be fitness or joint problems (or both like myself).

[Merica]

Here is the best way to become fitter and slightly bigger. First, continue with your splits of triceps/chest and back/biceps if that routine works for you. However, you really need to work out your lower body as much as your upper body. I would add an entire lower body day to your regimen, or at least add squats to your upper body days. Also, make sure you are using excellent form, don't do more than 5 reps per set, and use a weight that makes it a struggle to do the last rep.

Second, I would eliminate the 10 minute run and replace it with HIIT after your weight training. A prolonged run fosters the development of slow twitch muscle fibers, which are great for being a long distance runner but unfortunately are not bulky muscle fibers. The bulky muscle fibers are fast twitch fibers, which develop by training in short bursts of high intensity exercise. Follow my HIIT routine below and you'll not only get a better cardio workout than the prolonged run, but bulkier leg and core muscles too.

Finally, as for the food, you don't need any protein shakes but you should prepare most of the meals yourself. I'm a little puzzled as to how you are poor and tight but apparently eat a lot of meals out. Just about all the food I describe below in my routine requires just a pan and a stove and anyone can figure that out. Adapt it however you need.. good luck!

I'll make sure I add in some lower body stuff too. Generally the lowest I go is the glutes, which I think get worked on one or two of the machines I go on. As for the run, okay, HIIT sounds good. Would vastly, vastly prefer to do it on the running machine in the gym though, if possible. In that controlled environment I find I can zone in better, whereas outside with a million distractions and different conditions/temps/environments.... I just can't zone in.

Onto food... where did I say I eat a lot of meals out? I'm looking at your diet plan and as great as I think it looks from a healthy point of view, I don't think I can even attempt to follow that. Apart from 6 meals a day being a little too much to get in with any kind of regular structure, chicken and bacon is about the only thing I'd usually have off that list. Not that I'm against eating the rest, but eating only that stuff... I don't think I could do it. I'm not committed enough to have something like that as my diet plan.

Perhaps this is a big problem... I don't know. Maybe my desires are unreasonable, but I'd also only like to go to the gym 3 days a week. It'd fit into my uni schedule much better that way. And I wouldn't like to have to do running (which I'm assuming you're imagining outside of the gym) on a day without the gym.

Hhhmmm.... if I can't do a great diet plan like that, is there any point behind me doing stuff at the gym?

Apologies for being difficult. I really appreciate your help, sir.

[Existentialist]

Do you think jiggling it around to a 3 meal a day diet is doable, especially given our size differences? What I used to eat for lunch in the 3 weeks I did this before were just the little packets of sliced meat like turkey, ham or chicken that you could get from the supermarkets. They were low carb and lean, tasted pretty good etc ... I struggled a bit with just how bland it was but still.The tuna would normally be a good one to have at lunch because it's quick and easy but that stuff and salmon and all those sorts of fish make me want to chuck, never been able to eat that stuff, so I think thats out.

With the muscle milk powder, is that low carb? I'd assume most milk/dairy stuff is out because of the carbs ... i can do without most milk, the only thing I would like to still have would be cups of hot tea, I usually have maybe 3-4 a day but the milk is just a dash of milk. You think that is still ok?

Are variations to your diet advisable, for example instead of fried egg making it a scrambled egg or poached? Just to give a little variety..

With your HIIT, I came across this, http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml , i've heard a few people say it's a good place to start for those who aren't used to straight up hard cardio whether it be fitness or joint problems (or both like myself).

I think 3 meals instead of 6 is fine if that's what your schedule requires, but keep in mind that a few of the "meals" are really what most people would consider snacks. The Muscle Milk I'd recommend you switch with either a small quantity of almonds or a small amount of peanut butter, neither of which requires any preparation and is mobile. What you're eating is most important, followed by how often and when, but it's important to never stuff yourself at any meal except maybe the cheat meal.

The Muscle Milk powder is fairly low carb. All my containers of it are back at home (I'm on holiday now at parents' place) but I think it's around 10-11g per scoop. The name is actually misleading because it really isn't dairy at all, you just mix it with water and it really does taste like a milkshake. Hot tea and a little milk is certainly fine. Strict carb counting really isn't necessary with this plan, just a rough ballpark and keeping within a low limit on certain days.

Variations on the diet are encouraged. Taking the enjoyment out of food is a real drag. Have the 3 eggs however you want them, substitute fish or beef or even pork for chicken, substitute a salad with no carb dressing for the broccoli, whatever you wanna do, just make sure the carb and calorie count at each meal is approximately the same as in my schedule, and that all carbs come from good, complex sources such as oats, brown rice or sweet potatoes and occasionally maybe something like a glass of milk.

I think the workout plan you listed is good. I just glimpsed at it briefly but it seems to have the same general idea of cycling higher intensity and lower intensity cardio which is all you need to do. How intense either of those are is up to you. The point is just to do some cardio but changing the pace so as to trigger more fast twitch fiber growth as opposed to slow twitch growth.

[Existentialist]

I'll make sure I add in some lower body stuff too. Generally the lowest I go is the glutes, which I think get worked on one or two of the machines I go on. As for the run, okay, HIIT sounds good. Would vastly, vastly prefer to do it on the running machine in the gym though, if possible. In that controlled environment I find I can zone in better, whereas outside with a million distractions and different conditions/temps/environments.... I just can't zone in.

Onto food... where did I say I eat a lot of meals out? I'm looking at your diet plan and as great as I think it looks from a healthy point of view, I don't think I can even attempt to follow that. Apart from 6 meals a day being a little too much to get in with any kind of regular structure, chicken and bacon is about the only thing I'd usually have off that list. Not that I'm against eating the rest, but eating only that stuff... I don't think I could do it. I'm not committed enough to have something like that as my diet plan.

Perhaps this is a big problem... I don't know. Maybe my desires are unreasonable, but I'd also only like to go to the gym 3 days a week. It'd fit into my uni schedule much better that way. And I wouldn't like to have to do running (which I'm assuming you're imagining outside of the gym) on a day without the gym.

Hhhmmm.... if I can't do a great diet plan like that, is there any point behind me doing stuff at the gym?

Apologies for being difficult. I really appreciate your help, sir.

Yeah no worries man, you're the sane one here. Remember I'm forced to be sober for the next 4 months so this is a good healthy distraction for me. It's intense for that reason! If you're going to the gym 3 days a week, I'd try to space them out so that you're never going on consecutive days, and alternate upper and lower body such that you do 2 of upper one week followed by 2 of lower the next.

As for the HIIT, it's fine to do that in the gym and it's also fine to do the same day as the weight training, but do this after the weight training. HIIT is hard as hell if done properly, but nothing tops weight lifting if you're doing it properly and that's why you should lift first.

Finally, the diet. Yeah, it blows. I'm not looking forward to it for the food, but I'm looking forward to the challenge just on a personal level. A simpler way to do it would be to say eat whatever you want on any given day, within these simpler guidelines: 4 day cycles of higher carb (less than 200g for the day), no carb (under 20g for the day) and 2 of lower carb (20-50g for both days) and repeat continuously. Try to space out your food intake as evenly as possible across the day such that you're almost continuously nibbling on stuff, and the biggest key of all is making sure just about all your carbs come from the approved sources of oats, brown rice or sweet potatoes. Remember also that following this diet exactly I believe will lead to a model type body. So, aim for the moon and even if you miss you're still in the stars? What a cliche but I guess it applies...

[Merica]

Hey Ex, thanks for understanding, and for the further advice.

I like the idea of 2 upper one week, then 2 lower the next week. Will have to devise some new workouts, though. Does an upper day for you consist of triceps, biceps, back and chest/shoulders, then? Just wondering how I can alternate it like you suggest on my current workout of split upper days.

Also, I'll always HIIT after weights. Do the treadmills have settings to switch pace so quick, though?

And as for the food, I think I'm gonna have to do some carb research cause I've no idea what kind of days I'm looking at on those limits. Would the days run in order like you've listed them? So it's the higher day, then none, then two mids, then higher again?

Cheers dude!

[Existentialist]

Update: I'm going to officially start a little bit early, on Tuesday the 4th. If nobody else is doing the progress monitoring thing, I'll provide a text update once a week and picture update once a month.

If you're interested in following the diet exactly, I've changed the diet to replace all grapefruits with 1 cup of cottage cheese. Take note!

[Pokey]

I'm also going to be starting on the 4th. But I think my diet will have to still be a little different to whats posted as we talked about. Not just because of only really having the time for 3 meals and changing a few of the things. For example peanut butter is out because I can't eat that stuff or any nuts. And im also a fussy eater and cant do the tuna/salmon/cottage cheese ... that's just me being a little bitch though, i'll find suitable substitutes.

I did find a little recepie book in the house of all these low carb meals, some actually look quite substantial and contain anywhere between 5-10carbs for the whole meal .. which when you look at the picture seems almost insane but still. So I might give those a try for some dinners to mix things up a bit.

Is there any good quick way to be able to see what sort of things contain simple carbs compared to the complex ones? Just from my understanding, simple carbs are much easier to work off so if you have something with a higher carb count then making sure they're at least simple carbs is the right thing to do?

As an example here what I have planned for Tuesday:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs and 3 strips of bacon
Lunch: Packaged lunch meat - chicken/turkey/ham
Dinner: ½ pound chicken, mixed vegies broccoli, carrot, peas, corn. Possible mayo dip.

If my calculations are right then that should be around 20g carbs for the day. Throw in a couple of cups of tea and the rest i'll be drinking is water. Corn and Peas seem to have a slightly higher carb count than carrots and broccolli but seeing as they'll be mixed together it won't be an overload of one type of veg. Peas for example seem to come in at 11g carbs per cup, and it certainly won't be close to a cup of peas when everything else is thrown in.

My friend who is doing a similar diet also showed me a great low carb way of making chocolate mouse ... can't remember exactly off the top of my head, I'll have to ask him again but it involved whipped ricotta cheese, vanilla essence, cocoa powder, some artificial sugar and a little water mixed together (i think thats all the ingreadients). When I tried it you'd be easily forgiven for thinking it was an actual chocolate mouse and he says it does wonders for the odd sugar craving without being a pest for the diet.

This post has been edited by Pokey: Jan 2 2011, 1:45 am

[Existentialist]

That sample diet looks great but only for a low carb day. If your goal is purely to lose weight, eating like that every day will accomplish that goal the best. However, you'll lose significant muscle mass, too, if you don't cycle in days that include higher carb counts (up to 150g/day) like I show in my schedule. You want all of those carbs to be complex, so oats, sweet potatoes, and brown rice are some of the preferred sources. The "fake" sugars are a mystery to me. By the numbers, yes that is fine, but I don't know. Sometimes numbers don't tell the whole story! I won't be eating any.

That's it for now! I'm starting tomorrow on the 5th because I have had a harder time getting back into the daily grind than I expected. I'll answer any questions in the meantime, but on Sunday, February 6 I will post my first picture update. Here we go!

[Nobody Knows]

Sure looks promising! Quite a challenge to get shredded and get stronger at the same time.

Unfortunately, I don't have much time to do much training at all these days, but your program sure sounds awesome.

Best of luck, hope it works!

[VoodooLady]

With your HIIT, I came across this, http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml , i've heard a few people say it's a good place to start for those who aren't used to straight up hard cardio whether it be fitness or joint problems (or both like myself).

Pokey, the C25K plan is great for beginners and builds success- i did it last summer and ran my first 5k in November.. i was slow as fucky molasses but i didnt care.

if you are interested in giving it a go, i highly recommend the C25k app for the itouch/iphone (i think they have one for droid phones too). upload your playlist and go- it tells you when to run and when to walk and you dont have to worry about monitoring the time for the intervals. i lost almost 8lbs last summer doing this, without any real conscious changes to my diet..

[VoodooLady]

That sample diet looks great but only for a low carb day. If your goal is purely to lose weight, eating like that every day will accomplish that goal the best. However, you'll lose significant muscle mass, too, if you don't cycle in days that include higher carb counts (up to 150g/day) like I show in my schedule. You want all of those carbs to be complex, so oats, sweet potatoes, and brown rice are some of the preferred sources. The "fake" sugars are a mystery to me. By the numbers, yes that is fine, but I don't know. Sometimes numbers don't tell the whole story! I won't be eating any.

great pancake recipe w/oats-- throw 1/2 cup oats in blender/food processor, and coarsely chop, throw in 1 egg and 1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheeses and mix.. then cook em up.. they are yummy- i usually eat this with fresh blueberries and some nonfat plain greek yogurt (Fage) for some more protein..

[Existentialist]

Update: Week 1 is complete. I had a little bit of a setback because I had to take a two day trip for an interview, and sticking to this diet on the road is impossible. Especially when the interviewers are paying for all your meals and you are obligated to eat where they take you!

However, I'm still going strong and learning a lot. You can plan it out all you want but you have to do it to really understand what's happening. So far, I think I'm on track but it's too early to tell. I have already become significantly stronger and the difference is I'm eating like a horse. You have to eat a shitload of food! Anyone else keeping up?

[Pokey]

I've had a delayed start, a few parties and work functions away and such like you mentioned has delayed it so im not in full swing yet. however its starting on monday .. I've already stopped buying a whole bunch of stuff in my last weekly shop .. ie no soft drink, no white bread etc.. just stocking the house with all the stuff i can use when the diet starts.
bit of a cop out excuse but yeah .. also a date on saturday night at a nice restaurant, so i thought i'd put it off for that.

you mentioned that you've been eating a shit load .. the diet ive come up with seems like i will hardly be having much to eat through a day so im anticipating some major hunger battles early on until i get used to it/my stomach shrinks, that wont be fun!