Fatbusting - Mickster's fat busting battle
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After a solid 3 weeks of eating, drinking, and sitting on my arse watching cricket (mostly at the same time) I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and get fit again. My aim is to drop the fat, tone up, and develop strength.<br />
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The biggest problem facing me with my Fatbusting will be motivation. I have started programmes like this in the past, only to give up after 3 months after suffering a minor injury and getting straight back into the bad stuff again. I intend to use this blog as a source of information and motivation, so any hints or tips you have will be very welcome. -
Ok in this post I will describe my current lifestyle on a typical work day. This should give you a pretty good idea of where there is room for improvement.<br />
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[b] Vitals [/b]<br />
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Age: 22<br />
Height: 179cm<br />
Weight: 87kg<br />
Smoker - No<br />
Alcohol - 1 beer a night. Many many more on weekends.<br />
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I work as a Java programmer in your typical 9-5 job. Therefore I spend much of my day sitting on my arse. Been doing so for over 3 years.<br />
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[b]A typical working day[/b]<br />
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7:45am - Wake up<br />
8:30am - Get to work (i.e. skip breakfast)<br />
9:00am - Large flat-white from the cafe<br />
12:00 - Lunch at the thai place. Generally red or green curry with steamed rice. Or something like a Pad Thai (I'd love not to give that up!)<br />
12:10pm - Eat at my desk<br />
3:00pm - Coffee #2<br />
4:30pm - Go home<br />
7:30pm - Dinner. Generally pretty healthy, such as a stir-fry, roast, or some kind of grilled meat with a couple of veggies.<br />
midnight - sleep<br />
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I typically don't eat much fast food such as maccas and KFC because of a few bad experiences. When I get takeaway its usually something like an Indian curry, Thai, or some other asian food.<br />
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[b]Fitness[/b]<br />
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I will update this tomorrow. Gym session is after work. -
[quote name='BartMan']<br />
get up at 7 and do something aerobic for a half hour - walk, run, bike, row...<br />
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Only 45 minutes sooner, but will kick start your day, so get your lazy arse out of bed!!<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Thats my current lazy bum routine. Give me a few days and I will have my new and improved!<br />
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I plan on getting up at around 6:30 from now on. I want to get a 20 minute run in, followed by a big breakfast. -
[quote name='NTA']<br />
87kg? Fark!<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Went to the gym for the first time in 2 years last night. Suprising how much strength I have lost in that time... At the very least it gives me some short term goals to go for.<br />
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I'll be signing up at the gym tonight. When I get my fitness assessment which includes a body fat reading, it will give you a better idea of why im so keen to get into shape. -
After about 5 days on the diet I am already feeling better during the days at work. So much so, that it has increased my productivity in volume of posts on the TSF forums.<br />
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I have my fitness assessment at my new gym tonight. The gym is great, it has only been up and running for about a year and all the equipment is the best money can buy, and the trainer to client ratio is much higher than any other gym I've been to.<br />
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As for my current exercise regime I have set up the following plan. Although after my assessment this might change a bit depending on whether he thinks im over-training or under-training.<br />
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            Gym     Cardio<br />
Sunday              45mins<br />
Monday      1h<br />
Tuesday     1h      30 mins at lunch<br />
Wednesday           30 mins at lunch<br />
Thursday     1h<br />
Friday       1h      30mins at lunch<br />
Saturday     day off<br />
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My typical daily meals consist of something like this.<br />
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7:30AM - Muslei with no milk and a protien shake<br />
9:30AM - 200g of no-fat yoghurt<br />
12:30PM - Chicken breast (marinated), brocolli 6/7 pieces, half a cup of brown rice (would probably eat this at 11:30 if I was goign to do cardio at around 1pm at work)<br />
2:30PM - Snack of almonds & protien shake<br />
5:00PM - I usually have a snack of a rice cracker with cottage cheese<br />
7:30PM - For dinner ill have a piece of meat (chicken usually) and lots of green veggies and no carbs.. so no potatoes or rice etc<br />
11:00PM - Protien shake before bed -
[quote name='Mickster']<br />
Went to the gym for the first time in 2 years last night. Suprising how much strength I have lost in that time... At the very least it gives me some short term goals to go for.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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True - but as long as they are the right ones. Core strength is what I'm aiming for this year - no point having guns the size of Jerry Collins if your back can't support it. What is the point of tricep extensions? Am I ever going to lift anything using just my triceps? <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' /> -
[quote name='NTA']<br />
[quote name='Mickster']<br />
Went to the gym for the first time in 2 years last night. Suprising how much strength I have lost in that time... At the very least it gives me some short term goals to go for.<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
True - but as long as they are the right ones. Core strength is what I'm aiming for this year - no point having guns the size of Jerry Collins if your back can't support it. What is the point of tricep extensions? Am I ever going to lift anything using just my triceps? <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' /><br />
[/quote]<br />
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Yeah core strength is one of my points to focus on. Currently most of my gym exercises consist of compound exercises with free weights. Even if im not doing things like situps im still feeling the burn in my abdominals and lower back (not lowerback pain, just from things like deadlifts and squats). -
[quote name='NTA']<br />
[quote name='Mickster']<br />
Went to the gym for the first time in 2 years last night. Suprising how much strength I have lost in that time... At the very least it gives me some short term goals to go for.<br />
[/quote]<br />
<br />
True - but as long as they are the right ones. Core strength is what I'm aiming for this year - no point having guns the size of Jerry Collins if your back can't support it. What is the point of tricep extensions? Am I ever going to lift anything using just my triceps? <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' /><br />
[/quote]<br />
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I couldnt agree more with you there Nick. I took 6 months off from the gym because I was trying to lose some bulk for a running test, have just gone back but mainly for cardio and it cracks me up seeing guys my age (22) and younger in there who spend an hour doing, bicep curls, tricep ext, etc etc and then flexing in the mirror at the tiny bulge that is their bicep, but have 20kg of gut to lose or the rest of their body the size of a toothpick.<br />
I dont proffess to know alot about weight training but the personal trainers and body builders in there must cringe at the programs and routines these guys use. Ive found the best stuff I can do in a gym is shit using my own body weight as resistance, like press ups, dips, sit ups, chin ups and free weights that focus on core strength. As you say, theres no point in isolating some obscure muscle group that you will never use, at the expense of back and abs which are vital to everyday strength -
The ones recommended to me that I've found useful while at the gym:<br />
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Chinups and/or Pullups<br />
Dips<br />
Military press (dumbells or barbell)<br />
Deadlifts<br />
Squats<br />
Bench Press - free weights only and I prefer dumbells. I do bench mainly to get my strength up for pushups <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':rolleyes:' /><br />
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And lock up the abs while doing each.<br />
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The other stuff like situps and pressups you can do anywhere. the advantage of Pressups over bench is you're using your whole body. -
[quote name='Milk']<br />
What's the military press Nick?<br />
[/quote]<br />
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[img]http://www.exrx.net/AnimatedEx/DeltoidAnterior/BBMilitaryPress.gif[/img]<br />
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It can also be done sitting down on a smith machine. -
big tip, do your free weights excercises on an ab ball. If you rest it under your shoulders for fly and bench press you'll build your core stability as you work the other muscles.<br />
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Secondly, don't break your neck straight away to do every possible excercise as you won't stick to it, same to with the food situation. Just make sure you have a regular 45 minute - 1 hr routine that you can start with, maybe weights Monday, Wednesday & Friday and aerobic on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and do it at a regular time. Then once you're used to going to the gym add other bits around them. <br />
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Other advice, get into a routine of leaving the office at 4.30, going straight to the gym for an hour, then going home. Only add the early morning get ups once you start to love exercising. -
[quote name='Dodge']<br />
big tip, do your free weights excercises on an ab ball. If you rest it under your shoulders for fly and bench press you'll build your core stability as you work the other muscles.[/quote]Try to tense your lower abs when doing this, pull your belly button towards your spine, tuck your pelvis... -
[quote name='NTA']<br />
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The other stuff like situps and pressups you can do anywhere. the advantage of Pressups over bench is you're using your whole body.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Yep, basically any weights that mimic those said exercises are pretty damn good though.If you only use your body weight as resistance youll never gain too much muscle, only strength I guess.<br />
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Sorry to go off the topic of sorts, but how long does everyone spend in the gym? I find that after an hour I become tired and crazily unproductive so anything more than that seems wasteful, though my old flatmate used to spend 2 hours in the gym. He never seemed to get bigger though. -
[edit] I should add - it depends what you're at the gym for. If its muscle then beyond 45 minutes is a waste for most people. If its something else then maybe 2 hours is your thing. But if its something like cardio then go jogging or ride a bike and get the benefits of outdoor activity rather than air conditioning...[/edit]<br />
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45 minutes is what I usually aimed for. I read several studies years ago on the best time to go for and that seemed to be around it. Never go longer than an hour because lifting serious weights just fatigues you physically and mentally. I'd mix it up though - on days where I'd do big weights I'd increase my rest periods e.g. I'd do three short sets of leg press but max out the weight to 400kg in the last set. On a normal day I'd only max at 350kg but do more reps.<br />
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I hate hitting that 6 week period where your muscles kind of acclimatise and you have to think up new stuff, so its easier to mix it up right from day 1 I reckon, as long as you look at that 45 minute window as your upper barrier... -
Tend to spend around 70-80 mins, but that's inlcuding stuffing around and lots of stretching/core exercises. Was told by one trainer mate not to do more than 50, but then a better trainer mate said that's rubbish. You can always snack on a protein bar or something after about 45-50 if you like.
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Had my fitness assessment and my first personal training session this week and it was certianly pretty interesting.<br />
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From what I remember these were my results.<br />
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Weight 84kg (that one baffles me)<br />
22% bodyfat<br />
Fitness - not too bad<br />
Flexibility - really bad, especially hammy's<br />
Height - 178 cm (due to posture. should have another cm)<br />
Posture - Not too bad, but my right shoulder sits a bit higher than my left and my back is flat. So in my programme I have been told to focus on these things initially in my exercises to make sure everything is in balance.<br />
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Cant remember the rest, but they werent the most pertinant issues. I now have a 4-6 week program which goal is to get my body fitter and used to lifting weights with the correct form.
