I’m Mark and i am looking to start a serious beginners program and have no idea where to start.
My Goal is to get my body into shape so that i can take up some of the physical stuff i used to do before accident, things like Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking and Martial Arts. I am not looking to get massive nor i am i looking at body building, i just want to get a lot stronger, loose the belly fat i have and it would be sweet to get well toned and defined for the misses haha :)(Krav Maga, Muay Thai).
I Guess my starting point is I am naturally skinny, about 5` 9", 69 Kilos, almost 43 years of age and very weak due to recent injuries and recovery times.
If i have any restrictions its time to go-to gym and cost of gym.
I have a pull up bar, push-up hand bars, dumb bells, skipping rope, sit-up thing to put under door and i am used to eating relatively well however i plan to use you guys advice on diet also.
SO i would really appreciate it if you guys could point me to a program and dietary advice to get the results i am after.
Thanks for any help and/or advice, its deeply appreciated.
If that’s all the equipment you have access to then some kind of circuit where you go through a bunch of exercises would work to get the ole heart and lungs working.
5 rounds of that would be a good start. Could do some rope skips before/after. The number of reps you can do per exercise will be determined by your current level of fitness. Depending on how heavy your dumbbells are you might want to use two held in the top position of a clean (google dumbbell clean if you’re not sure what I mean). Higher rep sets of squats are great for conditioning.
Hope this helps even though im no expert.
the 3 main areas you need to focus on are
Mind set
Set yourself goals try and be specific and to the point. you stated certain activities you want to get back into it, you wanted to loose bodyfat, how much, maybe have a number in mind and slowly work towards that.
look towards the after picture of yourself, take a before pic, then every 4-6 weeks take another pic so you can see the improvements you make.
Diet
the key is to have a balance of protein, carb and fats in your diet.
spread your meals out every 3 hours
For protein go with eggs, chicken, fish, whey protein, lean beef, greek yoghurt
for carbs go with oats, sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa
for fats go with nuts, avocado, salmon
add in veggies like green beans, peppers, broccoli, spinach
add in fruits such as blueberries, bananas, apples
Exercise
if you can get a bench that’s great the list of dumbbell exercises are endless
look online for exercises to target certain muscle groups
maybe split your muscle groups up on different days or do a full body workout 2-3 times a week. there both good choices my preference a full body workout gives you more of a cardiovascular workout so you burn more calories.
just remember the results will show you how much effort you really put in
Consider looking into a book called “Average Joes guide to Old School strength and fat loss”. It’s a pretty no nonsense approach that sounds like it suits your situation quite well.
Some solid advice here already. The thing with doing just bodyweight stuff, is it can get kind of boring fast. Since you are looking for just general conditioning and strength gains, without a lot of specifics, as long as you are putting in some effort, you will probably see some results. For ideas on bodyweight circuits, google crossfit bodyweight WOD and you will find numerous examples of workouts to do.
[quote]soundmagus wrote:
My Goal is to get my body into shape so that i can take up some of the physical stuff i used to do before accident[/quote]
What was your accident and injury? Are you fully healed and cleared for regular, intense exercise or do you have any restrictions/stuff you can’t do?
There are some very good programs that “only” have two or three days of training, but you’ve got to be on point the rest of the time with your diet and be super-focused when you do train.
This is a great article from Dan John with realistic and practical advice for getting everything in order:
What kind of dumbbells do you have? How heavy?
At your current size, even though you talked about wanting to drop some belly fat, I don’t think a 100% serious cut is in order. Just getting a consistent training routine in place and cleaning up your nutrition with the basics should help you get into shape as you focus on building strength and muscle.