Best way to tone up on a budget?

Sash

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Sash

Soldato
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I think about 80%+ of people say they want to lose weight/tone up after New Year and Xmas.
I am basically looking to just tone up again after binging out on food, Guinness etc over the last year.
I used to pay for the gym at £50 each pop and then I decided that was just too much for how much I actually went.

Does anyone have any kind of exercise routines to tone up? I will probably be doing running and the usual sit up, push ups etc most of this is free to be honest. Looking to try and tone up within 2 months.

Any ideas?
 
lose weight : eat less calories than you use each day.
dont care how you do it, that is the basics.
 
When I last went through a fitness thing (which I SHOULD be doing now) I went for a 2ish mile run every day, did some basic dumbbell weights, the usual pullups, pressups, situps etc.. and cut out all **** in my diet. The run did more for me than all the other stuff in terms of weight loss.

If you can, run (jog). Where I live at the moment it's all tarmac/concrete, which I'm finding is raping my knees, so I'm going to have to switch to swimming (and I'm a poor swimmer) or join a gym.


FYI, Guinness isn't actually that 'bad' for you... 11 calories per ~30ml.
 
Thanks for all the comments so far.
I will actually be doing running etc.
I am looking for routines that people have used like meghatronic's post. :)

Edit: Thanks for the move, I didnt see the Sports board.
 
meghatronic said:
Where I live at the moment it's all tarmac/concrete, which I'm finding is raping my knees
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It should help if you get yourself to a proper running shop and have some shoes correctly fitted. You also might want to go to a podiatrist and get them to check your gait.

When you are running, get your knees up and concentrate on keeping your posture upright by squeezing your arse cheeks and pushing your pelvis forward (leaning forward when running is terrible for stitches and for your knees).

All of these should help your knees if you are feeling pain in them. I run 70km a week on tarmac and concrete without any problems and there isn't really any reason why you should have any either. People who say that running riuns your knees should see the 40, 50 and 60 year olds who go whizzing past me on a regular basis.

Fish oil and Glucosamine Sulphate are also pretty good cheap suppliments for helping all your joints.

If you are taking up running then see the sticky by Platypus at the top of the page but here are some beginner hints:

Burning calories is not about running flat out, it's about maintaining 70%-80% of your max heart rate for a long distance or time; speed is irrelevant. If you are between 70%-80% MHR then you should find it difficult to maintain a conversation but shouldn't be struggling for breath.

Start out aiming for a fairly small distance of about 3km. If you have to walk during this to recover then that is absolutely fine. Try running this twice a week.

Once you can do the 3km then you can increase your distance, but you shouldn't add any more than 10% to your weekly distance in any week.

Get some proper running shoes properly fitted by a professional running shop. Colour and make are unimportant, as long as they fit and support you correctly. They will probably be cheaper than you expect.
 
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Don't be like the rest of the people who have losing weight/building muscle as a new year resolution that's quickly forgotten after the months pass. You huv'ta stick to it.

Start off with cardio; brisk-walk/run (great for travelling 1/2mi), bike (better for 2mi+), skipping (great for indoors instead of paying loads for indoor treadmils, bikes, etc) and swimming (mostly do it on holiday)

Eat less crap sweets, sugar, excessive alcohol (straight spirits > red wine + sweet cider), fat too.

Buy some cheap dumbells. I might recommend getting them used as I bet loads of people will soon offload them 'cuz new year never resolution worked out for them.

Wouldn't bother with sit-ups, go for intense cruches. Pushups too. Do bicep curls.

Some good ways of getting bigger are squats, deadlifts, military presses, bench presses 'cuz you use a lot of weight and your very raped the next day but I must add that these can be unsafe unless you have spotters so it's a risk. Or use a small dumbell with plenty of weight.

Protein powder is good, usually cheap and good for after a workout probably a must if your a veg.

Some people do 3x (inc. abdominal) diff. muscle workouts 3x times a week and some people do 2x (inc. abdominal) diff. muscle workouts 5x times a week.

For chest, pushups, dumbell flys, dumbell presses -- all can be done on t'floor.

For triceps, french press, kickbacks, and the one where you lift a dumbell in the air from behind you.

For abs, crunches, some side ones too. Loads of others like reverse cruches.

For back, pullsups are probably the best here. Dumbell rows are good too.

For biceps, do curls, a lot of others too. (the biceps like being raped so I'd go heavy on 'em, start light still)

For legs, squats are good and lunges. Start with small weight as it's easy to overdo it and not be able to walk well the next day so be gentle to begin with also if you run/cycle time these two together.

I should mention the other three here. (squats, military presses, bench presses) but although these pwn, they can be dagerious without spotters, so maybe a gym-job.

Remeber breath too, if you grunt or whatever that's okay too 'cuz you are still breating. Go slow with proper form a bicep workout isn't a leg and back one. :)

BENCHMARK too, take pics, measure up and overtime (every xx month) check to see progress.
 
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Tony Williams said:
Don't be like the rest of the people who have losing weight/building muscle as a new year resolution that's quickly forgotten after the months pass. You huv'ta stick to it.

Start off with cardio; brisk-walk/run (great for travelling 1/2mi), bike (better for 2mi+), skipping (great for indoors instead of paying loads for indoor treadmils, bikes, etc) and swimming (mostly do it on holiday)

Eat less crap sweets, sugar, excessive alcohol (straight spirits > red wine + sweet cider), fat too.

Buy some cheap dumbells. I might recommend getting them used as I bet loads of people will soon offload them 'cuz new year never resolution worked out for them.

Wouldn't bother with sit-ups, go for intense cruches. Pushups too. Do bicep curls.

Some good ways of getting bigger are squats, deadlifts, military presses, bench presses 'cuz you use a lot of weight and your very raped the next day but I must add that these can be unsafe unless you have spotters so it's a risk. Or use a small dumbell with plenty of weight.

Protein powder is good, usually cheap and good for after a workout probably a must if your a veg.
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I was thinking about Dumbells actually. Whats a decent weight for being able to do fast reps with single arms?
 
I've just bought a punchbag & mitts for £25 (although the wall bracket I bought was £35)

quality looks ok and will do me to get the heart rate up other than the jogging and cycling I already do
 
dont do bicep curls :/
such a pointless exercise.

spend the money on a chinning / pull up bar instead, will be better for your biceps and will actually give you a decent exercise to do.

no need for protein powder if you arent going to actually need it, which given your posts, you dont.
 
just fyi, in terms of burning off calories/toning, resistance based training will do that a lot quicker in terms of time vs impact than running - however cardio training is never ever a bad thing (but it is something I avoid far too much). Swimming would be better as it is partially resistance training, and also improves anaerobic fitness.

In terms of cheap resistance training, several options that I use,
1. invest in a set of free weights/bench etc (or find a mate who has same - this is even better coz then you have a workout buddy/spotter)
2. exercise ball/chin up bar - press ups and situps/crunches can benefit from the exercise ball, chin up bar is good for overhand (biceps) and underhand (lats) pull ups, as well as leg raises while hanging (abs - killer!)
3.Pressups/chinups etc using whatever is available - put your feet up on a chair to increase the 'weight' of the press up, go to a park and use the monkey bars for chin ups

Finally, wrt questions like: "Whats a decent weight for being able to do fast reps with single arms?" - kinda hard to answer, but in terms of toning up rather than bulking up, you probably want to be able to 10-12 reps, 2 or 3 sets fairly comfortably. I usually strength train on free weights doing between 3 and 5 reps, for 5 sets, but if I'm using gym machines I go for a bit more balanced, aim to do 12 on first set and fail between 8-12 on second.
 
Probably alittle too advanced but I'd buy this and give it a go. It'll kick your ass.

2z75078.jpg


Also, Billy Blanks will motivate the hell out of you.

Actually, I'd suggest trying an easier Billy Blank workout then try the boot camp when you feel ready.

Tae-Bo Ripped is a good one to start off with.

10ydgdd.jpg


No gym membership required. :)
 
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DreadNiK said:
Finally, wrt questions like: "Whats a decent weight for being able to do fast reps with single arms?" - kinda hard to answer, but in terms of toning up rather than bulking up, you probably want to be able to 10-12 reps, 2 or 3 sets fairly comfortably. I usually strength train on free weights doing between 3 and 5 reps, for 5 sets, but if I'm using gym machines I go for a bit more balanced, aim to do 12 on first set and fail between 8-12 on second.
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Yeah after I typed the question I realised it made me look stupid lol.

I actually meant for toning up and not bulking up what would be better for shorter reps. (4-8)

For toning, short reps of a heavier weight > long reps lighter weight?


Edit: I did Karate for 7 years from age 7 -> 14. But havent done that for a while and I didnt really start the fitness workouts in the class until I was blackbelt.
 
When you say "toning up" do you mean lose bodyfat? There is no toning up. You have to lose bodyfat to create that toned look.
 
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Robert1986 said:
When you say "toning" do you mean lose bodyfat? Toning is just a myth.
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Pretty much, but people know what I mean by toning (working on muscles), if I said lose bodyfat it sounds like I want to lose weight, which I am not as worried about.
 
Sash said:
Pretty much, but people know what I mean by toning (working on muscles), if I said lose bodyfat it sounds like I want to lose weight, which I am not as worried about.
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Your first post makes it out that you want to lose bodyfat after binging over xmas.

Whats your bodyweight and height?
 
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