any of y'all into working out?

[Devils'Advocate]

What city are you in? I would recommend getting a body composition test just so you know what your current state is and you can set goals from there. I'd recommend DEXA or BodPod.

Whether you are looking at fat loss or adding lean muscle, 80% of the work is in the kitchen, not the gym. My trainer recommended 1g of protein / pound that I weigh, so I'm at 180g per day. It's helped me add muscle mass AND has had the added benefit of making me feel full longer.

The fitness gurus here will have better advice on what to do IN THE GYM. I haven't the foggiest clue which is why I have a trainer. Only advice I would give is echo nik and say to move the cardio to AFTER the weight training. On Saturdays my gym would close at 2pm in the afternoon. I would show up at 12:30 and do 45 minutes of cardio and then have a 45 minute session with the trainer and then leave at closing time. My trainer said she would rather I come in at 1:15, do the weight training with her and offered to stay 45 minutes past close so I could do my cardio AFTER the weights. I never knew why, but I guess this is a good explanation:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek34.htm

[savemedrzaius]

I've been working out for 4 months, 3 times a week. I notice a difference but I don't think any one would notice. It's not huge. My arms and chest look stronger to me.

Should there be a huge difference in 4 months?

Basically for the last 7 years I have done very little exercise on a regular basis. When I go to the gym my routine is similar to the OP. I do almost every machine in there. The thing is I'm 183 cm, 70 kg but my core is really soft. I'm skinny-fat, so don't know if I should do cardio because my face already looks quite thin.

Any advice?

[SeeGeeWhy]

OP:

What do you eat and how much sleep do you get?

What was your neck injury and what was the procedure you had?

You're in alamaba, correct? Which city?

[Goodlad]

If you're relatively inexperienced at strength training I highly recommend buying "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe

http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Stren...rting+strength

It will give you very in-depth instructions on doing the basic strength exercises (squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, power clean) and also has several options for linear progression programming. It's a great way to quickly build strength and familiarity with the exercises. A lot of people when they first try to get into shape do too much right off the bat. You're better off sticking to a simple plan with exercises that incorporate multiple muscle groups.

As you start to plateau on the linear progression that would be when you want to start incorporating the supplementary exercises to address weaknesses. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

[undercoverbrother]

Hey OP, another thing I should add is drinking.

If you cut out high calorie drinks like beer and dark hard stuff.

Vodka and water/soda water is the best low calorie option.

The other thing is to drink water, lots and lots of water. When people start working out the confuse thirst for hunger.

You really need to drink a lot of water.

[BergyBoy]

I have found the body building website to be the best. I have tried a few of the workout plans off of them. So far Lee Labrada's 12 week plan has been my favorite, mostly because there is something going on everyday so it kind of keeps you in a groove to go. I am about 3 and a half weeks in and I have seen results, not major ones but enough for me to notice. You should just try picking your plan on here, but I highly suggest the one I am on.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/find-a-plan.html

[bc-chris]

i started doing p90x3 in may. i'm already down a little over 20lbs in just over 3 months

i love it becuz the workouts are only 30-35 minutes

the only real diet change i've made is more veggies and fewer carbs (i still eat carbs, i just try to watch my amount)

[Caged Great]

I've been beginning to get into the habit of working out. Before, I would only do it intermittently, but now I've been doing it every day. Nothing overly strenuous though because I don't want to hurt myself accidentally and forming the habit is actually the hard part for me, ramping it up isn't.

A good piece of advice that I have found that works in a lot of areas is that if you do an activity 40 days straight, it becomes natural and not "unusual". It's basically training your brain to accept that this is how it is now. It works really well with whatever it is that you're needing to address. You can really add quite a lot of good habits this way.

[PIMking]

I noticed since working out that I don't eat as much at ä sitting and the food I use to eat (junk) tastes awful.

I made a fruit salad today, grapes, oranges, apples, strawberries and plums. Made a lot of it so I can have multiple snacks and froze some for smoothies

[PIMking]

I strained my groin yesterday mowing the lawn so this sucks

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Hey OP, another thing I should add is drinking.

If you cut out high calorie drinks like beer and dark hard stuff.

Vodka and water/soda water is the best low calorie option.

The other thing is to drink water, lots and lots of water. When people start working out the confuse thirst for hunger.

You really need to drink a lot of water.

I've cut almost all my soda intake out. I've had one soda the last 2 days but went almost 4 days without a soda

[GreenLantern]

If you are like me and find water boring then skip the Kool-Aid and Crystal Light, grab one of these:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bo...er-bottle.html

Fill it up in the morning, throw in a scoop of this:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sv/xtend.html

That should be empty by mid day, fill it up again before you leave for the gym, add another scoop of Xtend and crush the weights. Empty before bed.

Spoiler!

[Tron_fdc]

A little long winded here, but this is my opinion. No, I'm not a trainer so take it all with a grain of salt.

I'm going to give you a couple ways to look at this. I've done a ton of training from olympic style sprint training to distance running over the last 25 years with a number of pro coaches at different levels/sports, and it's all different. It totally depends on what you're trying to achieve. My opinion is based on my experience, nothing more.

There are 2 ways I look at this. Looking fit, and actually being fit. The best advice I ever got was from a guy I trained with that also trained olympic sprinters. Get the body fit first. The pleasing aesthetics are a natural byproduct.

The fittest I ever looked was when I was swimming 1/2 mile 3 days a week, running 4k twice a week, and doing heavy weights in the gym a few times a week. Typical workouts were chest/tri, back/bicep, shoulder/calf, and a heavy leg day. You probably see the average gym goer doing exactly that.

The fittest my body has ever been was when I was doing 4 days of cardio (30 minutes per), one day of INTENSE interval training (when I say intense I mean to the point of vomiting) and 3 days of heavy olympic lifting. Heavy as in one rep lifts (squat, snatch, and cleans). The interval training was 30 seconds of MAX effort, 30 seconds rest. 2 rounds of 15 minutes, with a 5 minute rest between. The theory was your body can't handle more than one day a week of intense interval training, but can handle the cardio and the olmpic lift exertion. I was insanely fit throughout my entire body when I was doing this, and running a 4.5 second 40yd dash. It was tough to keep up with though, and required serious commitment. No booze, no garbage food. Not because you put on weight, but because you couldn't fuel properly, and you wouldn't make it through the strength or interval session. The trainers knew right away if you went on a weekend bender, and would berate you for it all week. It sucked.

Right now I'm a crossfit junkie, but even that has drawbacks. It's high intensity training for sure, but it is a LOT of metabolic conditioning with high output and short rest periods. I don't find that you get the same aerobic conditioning that I like, so I supplement it with a 4k run once or twice a week. I'm also a bit of a meathead and like to do bench press, so I do that once in a while as well. I also do arm curls, because I'm "that guy", but whatever. I notice the increase in measured performance with my cross training, and crossfit is great for recording those gains.

Find what works for you. Like someone mentioned, diet is the most important component, and it really is. Unless you train 6hrs a day you can't eat whatever you want because you work out. Try to keep it varied here too. There's a reason the ex overweight guy turned marathon runner still looks flabby......he doesn't condition the anaerobic system or do strength training (or he runs 40k and eats 4 big macs). Muscles provide strength, and you won't build muscles without weight training in some form. You also won't "lean out" without cardio sessions, so don't go lifting low rep heavy weights while neglecting your cardiovascular system.

Anyways, that's what works for me. I'm sure people will disagree, and I'm sure there are other theories out there, but at 39 years old I've followed that type of routine and managed to stay pretty fit my entire life. I've never done a crash diet, never done steroids, and never cheated. Just maintained a modest workout with a decent diet, and I'm pretty happy with my overall well being.

[-TC-]

Originally Posted by saillias

The best thing to ever happen to my diet/fitness was finding Intermittent Fasting and a good program for it.

http://rippedbody.jp/

You want evidence it works you can look at his client photos here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68068051@N07/

I'm experimenting with this right now....

[-TC-]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

If you want to lose the spare tire, I think the best thing to do is drop the long cardio sessions, ...

there's lots of data that supports the belief that long cardio sessions do essentially nothing, as your body adapts most quickly to that type of effort.

instead cardio should be done in bursts, like in HIIT.

fat loss comes from dieting, intermittent fasting, drinking enough water, sleep and building lean muscle mass.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by -TC-

there's lots of data that supports the belief that long cardio sessions do essentially nothing, as your body adapts most quickly to that type of effort.

instead cardio should be done in bursts, like in HIIT.

fat loss comes from dieting, intermittent fasting, drinking enough water, sleep and building lean muscle mass.

Except that I lost 160 pounds from endurance cardio, including swimming and running. "Essentially nothing" has changed my life.

I'm not downplaying HIIT and I am doing weight training. I'm just stating that nothing is so black and white in the fitness/health game.

[AcGold]

Long distance training loses its fat burning quality around 13% body fat in my experiences. Once you get that low interval training works exponentially better. I'm sure if you were near 300 pounds hours of cardio would help as it would be such high energy expenditure

[Devils'Advocate]

Well, yeah, after being 350 pounds, getting to 15% was a dream come true. I have no intention of competing in a body building competition. I'm satisfied just being healthy enough to do the things I want in life.

[badradio]

Originally Posted by -TC-

fat loss comes from dieting, intermittent fasting, drinking enough water, sleep and building lean muscle mass.

First I read you're supposed to eat every 3 hours to boost your metabolism, now intermittent fasting seems to be a thing now... So much conflicting info...

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by badradio

First I read you're supposed to eat every 3 hours to boost your metabolism, now intermittent fasting seems to be a thing now... So much conflicting info...

Yup. Welcome to the world of health and fitness. Everybody knows everything and nobody knows anything.