Exercise! Love it or hate it, let's motivate each other to just DO IT!

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Old 07-01-2014, 01:03 PM   #1  
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Default Beginners Work Out Routine

Hi everyone,
I’m new to posting here, but have been reading the boards for a while. I’m looking for an exercise routine that is realistic, and will help me lose weight. I’m much better at the eating healthy part than the activity factor – but I realize I need to be doing both.

So for some background: I’m 25 years old and am fluctuating around 300 lbs. My body as a whole is a “problem area” – but I seem to hold weight most in my tummy and upper arms. I’d like something that works my whole body, but would like some extra work for these localized areas. I don’t have access to a gym membership at this point, and own no equipment at home. I have been walking between 2 to 3 miles a day (trying to make this a routine anyways!) – but I would like to find a routine I can do at home for the days that I’m unable to walk or to try and incorporate both.

I am willing to purchase a DVD and some small equipment, I just need some guidance as to what has worked for others or sounds appropriate for my circumstance. My concern is that so many workout routines are designed for “already in shape” people, whereas I’m obviously a beginner and need something a little easier.

Thanks for your help!
Liz
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Old 07-11-2014, 12:14 PM   #2  
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The unfortunate news is that you can't really target an area for fat reduction. This is going to come off the body as the body desires, we can't control it. So you won't be able to work specifically on getting extra weight off your tummy and arms...you can only do something like focus on increasing strength in these areas.

I think a good complement to your walking routine would be resistance/strength training. If you're interested in lifting heavy, I have followed New Rules of Weightlifting for Women and enjoyed the program. Two other programs I've heard a lot about are Stronglifts 5x5 and Starting Strength. These programs are all appropriate for beginners.

Don't let the "heavy" bit intimidate you. Heavy just means pushing yourself to your limit and increasing through time. Myself I know some of the routines I'm still only using about 5 lbs or 8 lbs dumbbells because that's my limit at the time.

I do not belong to a gym. I purchases the necessary equipment second-hand and the total investment was about $100 or so. I store it all under my bed except the stability ball, which I stick in my closet. I have modified some of the exercises to fit the equipment I have (for example, I don't have a squat rack or a cable machine). I also had to modify some to make them safer to perform without a spotter (e.g., bench presses are done with dumbbells rather than a barbell so I can't drop it on myself).

I recommend strength training because it is a good way to retain lean mass as you lose weight, helping the majority of your weight loss to be fat as opposed to a good deal of muscle. Also, for me, I feel much more confident in myself and better about my body since I started lifting weights, even though my weight hadn't changed much.
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Old 07-11-2014, 09:38 PM   #3  
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I've tried a lot of different things over the past 20 years and nothing stuck until I tried the group exercise at my gym. As you can probably guess from my name they're Les Mills classes and I absolutely love them even though they challenge me and turn me into a sweaty mess I know you aren't interested in the gym setting, but I thought I'd tell you my experience because you can get the same thing in a home version on DVD. One of the classes (BodyPump) is really super and I agree with the previous poster that some strength training is helpful to keep lean muscle while losing fat. The only issue is that one would need equipment. However, my favorite class is BodyCombat and you don't need any equipment at all to do that one. You can get gloves that will tighten your fists and "activate" more muscles in your shoulders during the workout, but the gloves are not necessary.

When I first started trying those classes (at a weight of about 280), what I liked most was that there are always options - lower impact to keep you from hurting knees and such. With Combat, the intensity is completely tailorable to your ability and you can up it as you get better/more comfortable with the movements.

That said, I'm sure there are a lot of similar home workout videos and there are A LOT of free online resources for workouts if that's an option for you. I've tried workouts at a free site called Fitness Blender. You can search the hundreds of workouts with filters such as length of workout, difficulty level, etc. Here's a link if you want to see if it's something you might be able to use: http://www.fitnessblender.com/v/full-length-workouts/

Good luck in finding what it is that holds your interest! It took me two decades, but now that I have I'm feeling better than I have in so so so so long

Laura
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Old 07-12-2014, 05:10 AM   #4  
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if you have treadmill at home then you can look into coach to 5K program.
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