Crackers
August 10th, 2010, 06:18 AM
In all seriousness I thought this thread would be excellent to help modacitizens who want to get in shape or who just have questions about anything athletically involved. This (hopefully) will be a great way to encourage people to have some fun and be active.
BENEFEITS
The benefeits of working out are numerous and obvious, but a quick recap of the most basic ones is a good reminder that humans NEED exercise.
- Exercising releasing endorphins which drastically imprve mood and self confidence
- Exercising can increase over health (no shit) but can also help relieve symptons of diseases. (Insulin promotes fat storage. I exercise and my body stays stable.)
- Working out will help create proper sleeping habits, helping you become more alert and quick thinking when you are awake.
- Helps you get out of the house.
To be honest, this thread was created by me after reviewing myself in the mirror while washing my face.
About a year ago I was 5'6 and weighed a 150 pounds, which is by no means extrordinarily fat, but I had been pretty lumpy. I decided to set myself a workout to look better to increase my confidence and to stick to it until I got results. I saw the results today, and as I reviewed upon this past year I realized I was a completely different person because of it. I am now 5'8 and I weigh 139 pounds, and while that is light almost none of it is fat.
Physically yes I had changed, but I had also changed emotionally in both my confidence and my self image. I was happier then I had been in a long while and I had gone from shy to simply interacting amazingly with people. My grades have improved and I also just in general I feel GOOD. It is in all views kind of like a drug that lasts all day.
Here I was a year ago from today:
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7320/l3020ea618d964a0e9bfea5.jpg
Here I am as of today.Yes I have butterfly wallpaper. I put it up myself. I share my bathroom with 2 sisters so I have to deal with it.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9742/img0485kx.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/IMG_0488.jpg
It is not much, but I am proud of what I have acomplished.
So here I am now, sitting here with a better life then I had before and I am encouraging you to work out. This can range from simple games with friends to competetive games all the way back to lazy jogging. Most people dislike exercise for things such as sweat and the burn you get when exercising, I find it is more of them not finding the thing that they enjoy.
FINDING THE PROPER ACTIVITY
I for one have never been good at sports until this year. I tired the following sports and absolutely sucked at them, I had a horrible time and I hated working out.
- football
- wrestling
- baseball
- Karate
- Track
- Cross country
After all these sports I hated, I never lost hope and stumbled upon the perfect one for me; swimming.
I absolutely enjoyed swimming and because of that enjoyment I loved working out and with it skill. Anyone can be good at a sport, it just takes you having the ability to enjoy it or not. There are hundreds of sports out there, and I encourage you to try as many as possible until you find the right one for you. Hell, you can even invent your own sport, as long as you are exercising it doesn't really matter.
Working out takes enjoyment, and with that enjoyment comes the intiative to stay with this sport and persevere, but if you do persevere the rewards (look at the pictures above) are we worth it. Both physically and mentally.
EXCERCISES
Now then, here are the workout sets I alternate through the week:
Swimming day:
-warm up- 10 fifty yard freestyle strokes (20 second rest)
- Freestyle kick set- With a flutter board (mini wake board) freestyle kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-Dolphin kick set- With flutter board dolphin kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-Back stroke kick set- Without flutter board back stroke freestyle kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-cool down arm workout- 10 fifty yard freestyle and butterfly stroke arms only (15 second rest)
Running day:
-60 second sprint
-jog 60 seconds
-repeat until you reach 20 minutes
Crunches, etc (daily with all work outs):
- 50 leg raises: Lie flat on ground. Hands behind head, use them to lift head to look horizontally down body. Lift legs up 6 inches off the ground then bend knees and bring them up even with your hips. Lower knees and straighten legs and bring back to 6 inches position. Repeat.
- 40 crunches
- 40 Knees to elbows: Legs raised with knees bent, put hands behind your head. Lift shoulders and use elbows to alternate touching opposite knee with elbow.
This is my workout tailored to my needs. Anyone may use this, but I suggest doing something lighter if you are more out of shape. A rule in exercising is always better to be safe then sorry. If you are not sure if you can attempt a workout, start out smaller and build your way up. I started out for example with the stomach workout all at 15. I have more then doubled my workout since then.
Diet
Diet is a very important part of exercising because obviously you are only as good as the food you ingest. Also eating the proper amount and the proper proportion of food is essential to any kind of improvement, regardless of how good you work out unless its 4 hours or more a day.
Diets are simply goals to improve performance or look and they vary as follows:
- Diets can watch calories, you simply burn more calories then you take in. This kind of diet will make you lose fat, but also some muscle.
- Diets can avoid certain foods and accentuate others. This can be used to avoid bad fats* or to enhance your protein intake.
*(A common misconception is all fat is bad. The human body needs certain fats to survive and so as an athlete I can tell you it is unwise to avoid all kinds of fat.)
My diet is relatively simple:
- Avoid red meat. Red meat has lower protein counts then white meat and has more of the bad fats in it.
- Eat plenty of White meat (above reasons)
- Up your fiber intake. Fiber will slow down insulin production, a protein that encourages fat storage. This can be a double edged sword as insulin is also what gives you energy. Generally eating a couple of fruits will make your insulin slow enough not to store fat and allow you to burn it off as energy quickly and effectively.
- Up your vitamin C intake. Vitamin C helps tremendously in burning fat.
- Eat in servings that can fit into both of your hands cupped, 5 of these a day. The human metabolism in its natural state calls for small regular meals placed over time into the body.
As you can see, I am very passionate about my sport and I wish to reach out to other people who find exercising is not for them and encourage them to try new things.
You can post your work out sets and diets too, and answer questions about any sports that you are involved in. I will also be happy to answer any questions about my above sport and workout too.
Happy exercising Modacity!!!
BENEFEITS
The benefeits of working out are numerous and obvious, but a quick recap of the most basic ones is a good reminder that humans NEED exercise.
- Exercising releasing endorphins which drastically imprve mood and self confidence
- Exercising can increase over health (no shit) but can also help relieve symptons of diseases. (Insulin promotes fat storage. I exercise and my body stays stable.)
- Working out will help create proper sleeping habits, helping you become more alert and quick thinking when you are awake.
- Helps you get out of the house.
To be honest, this thread was created by me after reviewing myself in the mirror while washing my face.
About a year ago I was 5'6 and weighed a 150 pounds, which is by no means extrordinarily fat, but I had been pretty lumpy. I decided to set myself a workout to look better to increase my confidence and to stick to it until I got results. I saw the results today, and as I reviewed upon this past year I realized I was a completely different person because of it. I am now 5'8 and I weigh 139 pounds, and while that is light almost none of it is fat.
Physically yes I had changed, but I had also changed emotionally in both my confidence and my self image. I was happier then I had been in a long while and I had gone from shy to simply interacting amazingly with people. My grades have improved and I also just in general I feel GOOD. It is in all views kind of like a drug that lasts all day.
Here I was a year ago from today:
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7320/l3020ea618d964a0e9bfea5.jpg
Here I am as of today.Yes I have butterfly wallpaper. I put it up myself. I share my bathroom with 2 sisters so I have to deal with it.
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9742/img0485kx.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn229/1chains1/IMG_0488.jpg
It is not much, but I am proud of what I have acomplished.
So here I am now, sitting here with a better life then I had before and I am encouraging you to work out. This can range from simple games with friends to competetive games all the way back to lazy jogging. Most people dislike exercise for things such as sweat and the burn you get when exercising, I find it is more of them not finding the thing that they enjoy.
FINDING THE PROPER ACTIVITY
I for one have never been good at sports until this year. I tired the following sports and absolutely sucked at them, I had a horrible time and I hated working out.
- football
- wrestling
- baseball
- Karate
- Track
- Cross country
After all these sports I hated, I never lost hope and stumbled upon the perfect one for me; swimming.
I absolutely enjoyed swimming and because of that enjoyment I loved working out and with it skill. Anyone can be good at a sport, it just takes you having the ability to enjoy it or not. There are hundreds of sports out there, and I encourage you to try as many as possible until you find the right one for you. Hell, you can even invent your own sport, as long as you are exercising it doesn't really matter.
Working out takes enjoyment, and with that enjoyment comes the intiative to stay with this sport and persevere, but if you do persevere the rewards (look at the pictures above) are we worth it. Both physically and mentally.
EXCERCISES
Now then, here are the workout sets I alternate through the week:
Swimming day:
-warm up- 10 fifty yard freestyle strokes (20 second rest)
- Freestyle kick set- With a flutter board (mini wake board) freestyle kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-Dolphin kick set- With flutter board dolphin kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-Back stroke kick set- Without flutter board back stroke freestyle kick 20 twenty-five yard laps (10 second rests)
5 minute rest
-cool down arm workout- 10 fifty yard freestyle and butterfly stroke arms only (15 second rest)
Running day:
-60 second sprint
-jog 60 seconds
-repeat until you reach 20 minutes
Crunches, etc (daily with all work outs):
- 50 leg raises: Lie flat on ground. Hands behind head, use them to lift head to look horizontally down body. Lift legs up 6 inches off the ground then bend knees and bring them up even with your hips. Lower knees and straighten legs and bring back to 6 inches position. Repeat.
- 40 crunches
- 40 Knees to elbows: Legs raised with knees bent, put hands behind your head. Lift shoulders and use elbows to alternate touching opposite knee with elbow.
This is my workout tailored to my needs. Anyone may use this, but I suggest doing something lighter if you are more out of shape. A rule in exercising is always better to be safe then sorry. If you are not sure if you can attempt a workout, start out smaller and build your way up. I started out for example with the stomach workout all at 15. I have more then doubled my workout since then.
Diet
Diet is a very important part of exercising because obviously you are only as good as the food you ingest. Also eating the proper amount and the proper proportion of food is essential to any kind of improvement, regardless of how good you work out unless its 4 hours or more a day.
Diets are simply goals to improve performance or look and they vary as follows:
- Diets can watch calories, you simply burn more calories then you take in. This kind of diet will make you lose fat, but also some muscle.
- Diets can avoid certain foods and accentuate others. This can be used to avoid bad fats* or to enhance your protein intake.
*(A common misconception is all fat is bad. The human body needs certain fats to survive and so as an athlete I can tell you it is unwise to avoid all kinds of fat.)
My diet is relatively simple:
- Avoid red meat. Red meat has lower protein counts then white meat and has more of the bad fats in it.
- Eat plenty of White meat (above reasons)
- Up your fiber intake. Fiber will slow down insulin production, a protein that encourages fat storage. This can be a double edged sword as insulin is also what gives you energy. Generally eating a couple of fruits will make your insulin slow enough not to store fat and allow you to burn it off as energy quickly and effectively.
- Up your vitamin C intake. Vitamin C helps tremendously in burning fat.
- Eat in servings that can fit into both of your hands cupped, 5 of these a day. The human metabolism in its natural state calls for small regular meals placed over time into the body.
As you can see, I am very passionate about my sport and I wish to reach out to other people who find exercising is not for them and encourage them to try new things.
You can post your work out sets and diets too, and answer questions about any sports that you are involved in. I will also be happy to answer any questions about my above sport and workout too.
Happy exercising Modacity!!!