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Originally Posted by severrin  I'm afraid of squats, like I have a mental block of something. I can never do them because I'm unsure of my balance. like I'm afraid I'll get stuck and not be able to come back up, so I don't go far enough down. How can I get over it? |
Squats: Just use the bar, no weights on it for awhile. Get used to the form, with slow controlled lowering, controlled stop at the bottom, and pushing straight up from your legs (think like you're pushing your feet through the floor as hard as you can). Maybe watch some videos of people from this forum doing squats, I know Layne's (str8flexd) got some good videos of Front Squats -- or head to YouTube and watch a bunch. Watch the form though, as some people on there may not have great form. There's tons of resources to look at the correct form for any exercise online, just look around.
A good one to get you started would be grab a pair of dumbbells you can press over your head. Now raise them to pressing position at your shoulders, drop to a full squat, bring yourself immediately up from the squat and into the shoulder press. Smooth controlled movements the whole way.
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As with the diet comments above, you need to get rid of those Monsters and Gatorade. Loaded with sugar, which unless you're downing them after an intense workout are going to stay with you for awhile -- which is what we're working against here.
The monsters are 100cal per 8oz (16g of sugar and 350mg of sodium). Basic Gatorades are 50 cal per 8oz (14g of sugar and 110mg of sodium).
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Creatine -- great to add into your diet. Follow the directions, usually with a orange juice or cranberry juice or the like is good.
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Grab a water first thing in the morning. Not sure if your tap water is great or not, but I tend to pick up flat upon flat of bottled water here ($5 for 32 500ml bottles) as they are more convenient and easy to grab on the run. You may want to grab a couple liter water bottle and take that and have it with you at work if you're able to.
This will help to hydrate your body as you just spent all night burning water off and your body is going to be dehydrated. This will get your body functioning, kicking in your metabolism, loosening joints, aiding digestion, etc.
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What time of day do you plan on doing your workouts?
If you're planning for after work or on off days, I'm putting in the below as a wake-up to your days. This isn't your actual workout! Just a warm-up.
Recommendation:
+ Wake up, drink 500ml of water.
+ Stretch and do a light cardio workout.
+ Jog on the spot kicking your knees high for 4 minutes.
+ Jog on the spot keeping your knees down, lifting feet behind you for 4 minutes.
+ Jumping jacks, about 30 or so.
+ Stretch out your shoulders, legs and back. Slow controlled stretches -- don't make things crack and pop (your back in particular).
+ Do a few wide-arm pushups followed by some tricep pushups -- enough to warm up your muscles
+ Drink another 500ml of water.
+ Grab a quick shower, and some breakfast (in that order).
Give your body 15 - 30 minutes to absorb the water, as it can dilute your digestive enzymes in your stomach and inhibit digestion if you eat immediately after drinking a lot of water.
Head to work! The above shouldn't be enough to tire you out, just enough to get blood pumping and maybe break a light sweat. You need energy for your work day.
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We are at opposite ends of the spectrum -- I am an Ecto/Meso body type. I'm slender as hell, and it's hard to put on weight.
The similarity, regardless of body type though, is that we both need to eat a lot of meals through the day to balance our metabolism and keep our energy levels up.
Plan your lunches to fit into 3 small meals (assuming you have 2 x 15 minute and 1 x 30 minute break).
I prepare large batches of Stirfrys, Wild Rice, and Chicken Breasts weekly. Basic stirfry which I often eat on my shorter breaks is strips of lean beef, and green beans. I add a lot of rice to fill in the calories I need. You won't need as much of the rice, as you want to create a slight calorie deficit. Think, enough beef to cover the palm of your hand, enough beans to cover your entire hand, and 1/2 cup or so of rice. Another 500ml of water at the end of your break.
Lunch I would go with 2 chicken breasts, a salad (no creamy dressing, get a vinaigrette dressing made with Olive Oil), and a piece of fruit. Another 500ml of water with your food / at end of break.
Your last break, have another light meal. Some granola bars (not sugar or chocolate coated or the like), a piece of fruit and some more water.
Do another light (10 minute) cardio workout when you get home and take a quick 5 minute shower if you need to. If you can bike, walk or jog to work, all the better. Any added cardio will aid you in your goals.
Ideally you would like to look at 40 - 80 minutes of walking each day until you reach your weight loss goal, and then change your focus to building muscle at that time.
It is physiologically impossible to effectively gain size (muscle) and lose fat at the same time!
Meaning, to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit ( -500 calories or so) and to put on lean muscle mass you need to eat more calories ( +500 calories or so).
All of us here have two goals:
1) Lose fat (cutting); dropping our Body Fat % to a level we are comfortable with, and by doing so dropping unwanted pounds.
2) Gain muscle mass (bulking); raising our protein and carb intakes, and focusing our workouts to target specific muscles for size and endurance gains while monitoring our Body Fat levels.
You will get your best results in both categories if you focus on one at a time.
What can happen for you though is while you are working on losing weight you can build some base muscles, and get your body used to meeting the correct form you need for heavier weights once you've reached a lower healthy weight you're happy with and can then focus on gaining muscle mass.
You WILL build muscle when you move any amount of weight -- and those muscles will burn calories, so workout with that bench and the free weights by all means, just keep the weight to something you can do 10 - 12 repetitions with and 4 - 5 sets to focus on burning calories and building lean muscles right now.
Any questions just ask, I'm checking this thread a few times a day at this point. For now -- sleep for me, work starts in 7 hours -- good thing it's my "Friday" tomorrow.
+ Shiver
