Weight loss - Weight bench or exercise bike?

[TheJackal]

An exercise bike will only work your legs and heart. You want something that works more of your body like a cross trainer or even a rowing machine. You dont say how overweight your are or how much you want to lose.
Just eat healthy low fat food, keep doing cardio type exercise and the weight will slowly fall off.
You do know the best way would be to get into some kind of regular sport like swimming, squash, badminton, football etc
Training is always so much easier and beneficial if you are doing it for a reason other than "looking good".

 

[Drake5]

An exercise bike will only work your legs and heart. You want something that works more of your body like a cross trainer or even a rowing machine. You dont say how overweight your are or how much you want to lose.
Just eat healthy low fat food, keep doing cardio type exercise and the weight will slowly fall off.
You do know the best way would be to get into some kind of regular sport like swimming, squash, badminton, football etc
Training is always so much easier and beneficial if you are doing it for a reason other than "looking good".

I'm quite over weight. 5FT 6 @ 13 stone 5. I have lost a little bit of weight since I started my routine 4 weeks ago or so and I have CERTAINLY noticed more muscle gains.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Skipping rope is a great idea. I'll get one of those on order now. How should I be doing it though? Every day? In what sort of routine? Just keep going until I can't go anymore or?

I don't fully understand the 2nd part of the stuff you linked but I will have a proper look into it.

Cheers

boxing routine, 3 minutes of fast and slow skipping (change it up), but really push yourself in the last 15 seconds of the "round", 1 minute rest, then do it again.

do this for as long as you can last, the first time you do it, i will be surprised if you can last 3 rounds tbh, there is a reason why boxer's still skip in this day and age, even though they can afford to plow millions into any home gym setup.

skipping imo, is one of the best cardio you can do, because it is basically free (£2 for a rope), the rope i linked to is the type you want, leather ones are a waste of money, it should last you 3-6 months depending on how often you do it (use masking tape on handles they are the first part to go), then buy another one when it is completely gone for another £2. rinse and repeat.

the tubes i linked to can be used to work any muscle in the body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyCtzAF8F0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdlA1YBsdnI

those are the first 2 i found, on a random search of youtube, might be better examples out there

 

[Psycho Sonny]

An exercise bike will only work your legs and heart. You want something that works more of your body like a cross trainer or even a rowing machine. You dont say how overweight your are or how much you want to lose.
Just eat healthy low fat food, keep doing cardio type exercise and the weight will slowly fall off.
You do know the best way would be to get into some kind of regular sport like swimming, squash, badminton, football etc
Training is always so much easier and beneficial if you are doing it for a reason other than "looking good".

his budget is £150 and:

cross trainer is minimum of £1.5K
rower is a minimum of £1K

he doesn't want to join a gym so i would say "sports" are out of the question too, as you need a membership, etc to a sports centre to play most if not all of them

diet is key though, more important than training will ever be when it comes to losing bodyfat.

 

[Jay794]

I'm quite over weight. 5FT 6 @ 13 stone 5

Quite overweight? I'm 5ft 6 and I weigh 16 lol

 

[Drake5]

boxing routine, 3 minutes of fast and slow skipping (change it up), but really push yourself in the last 15 seconds of the "round", 1 minute rest, then do it again.

do this for as long as you can last, the first time you do it, i will be surprised if you can last 3 rounds tbh, there is a reason why boxer's still skip in this day and age, even though they can afford to plow millions into any home gym setup.

skipping imo, is one of the best cardio you can do, because it is basically free (£2 for a rope), the rope i linked to is the type you want, leather ones are a waste of money, it should last you 3-6 months depending on how often you do it (use masking tape on handles they are the first part to go), then buy another one when it is completely gone for another £2. rinse and repeat.

the tubes i linked to can be used to work any muscle in the body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyCtzAF8F0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdlA1YBsdnI

those are the first 2 i found, on a random search of youtube, might be better examples out there

That sounds great, I will certainly give it a try! Should I be doing it every day?

Quite overweight? I'm 5ft 6 and I weigh 16 lol

Well when I look in the mirror I certainly see someone who is quite overweight! Feels horrible.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

That sounds great, I will certainly give it a try! Should I be doing it every day?



Well when I look in the mirror I certainly see someone who is quite overweight! Feels horrible.

cardio you can do everyday, but i would slowly build it up, it also depends on how long your doing it for, if it's longer than 1 hour then i would say just do it every other day, but if its around half an hour or less than do it every day.

you can take day's off when your not up to it, but consistency will be key, it's best not to miss any session, especially at the start so you programme your mind into a routine.

skipping is brutal, the better you get at it, the faster you go, then you can add "special moves" double skip's, etc, where you jump higher and move your arms faster to get 2 rotations in 1 jump, these advanced moves will take time to master, those professional boxer's make them look easy on youtube but these guys in most cases have been skipping regularly since they were in nappies, that's what it takes to be a world class boxer, you need to have started from a very young age.

i would say do as many "rounds" as you can, until your dripping with sweat and can do no more, until you build up to 30 mins, then when you hit the 30 min mark, start going faster and doing more advanced moves, etc.

 

[TheJackal]

lol since when does a rower cost 1k min??
Maybe if you are rich and showing off.
But I do agree with skipping and he just needs to push himself with cardio work rather than concentrating on weights.
Personally I would add a proper stretching routine, which will add muscle tone and flexibility, reducing the chance of injury.

 

[Chris1712]

lol since when does a rower cost 1k min??
Maybe if you are rich and showing off.
But I do agree with skipping and he just needs to push himself with cardio work rather than concentrating on weights.
Personally I would add a proper stretching routine, which will add muscle tone and flexibility, reducing the chance of injury.

 

[Drake5]

cardio you can do everyday, but i would slowly build it up, it also depends on how long your doing it for, if it's longer than 1 hour then i would say just do it every other day, but if its around half an hour or less than do it every day.

you can take day's off when your not up to it, but consistency will be key, it's best not to miss any session, especially at the start so you programme your mind into a routine.

skipping is brutal, the better you get at it, the faster you go, then you can add "special moves" double skip's, etc, where you jump higher and move your arms faster to get 2 rotations in 1 jump, these advanced moves will take time to master, those professional boxer's make them look easy on youtube but these guys in most cases have been skipping regularly since they were in nappies, that's what it takes to be a world class boxer, you need to have started from a very young age.

i would say do as many "rounds" as you can, until your dripping with sweat and can do no more, until you build up to 30 mins, then when you hit the 30 min mark, start going faster and doing more advanced moves, etc.

Really appreciate the advice you've given me so far Sonny. Please could you see above my weight workout routine? You suggested this to me maybe 2 months ago, should I carry on doing the same exercises?

I look forward to getting stuck in with the skipping thing.

 

[Zefan]

Although I shared your reaction initially, I think this is one of the very few occasions where the use of that word is actually justified, albeit not what most people think of as "tone".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_tone

 

[icecold]

This is my current dumbwell workout plan.

Monday Leg (5 Sets Of Each)
beginner squats
lunges


Wednesday (Shoulder 3 sets of each at 15 reps)
overhead press
lat raises
front raises


Thursday Arms (3 sets of each at 15 reps)
some form of curl
some form of tricep exercise

Friday Chest (3 sets of 15 reps)
dumbell press (lying on floor)
press ups
dumbell fly (lying on floor)

Saturday Back (3 sets of 15 reps)
dumbell rows
dumbell deadlifts


Why is everyone so against getting an exercise bike...? It'll be the exact same as normal bike and will burn calories and be a good source for cardio exercise. I fail to see why I shouldn't get one.

What weights are you using for each exercise and what is the max available?

If you haven't got enough weight a lot of those exercises won't help with fat loss. They will have secondary benefits so I'm not saying don't do them.

As has been mentioned, diet is the most important thing here. Feel free to post up what you're currently eating so we can take a look.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

lol since when does a rower cost 1k min??
Maybe if you are rich and showing off.
But I do agree with skipping and he just needs to push himself with cardio work rather than concentrating on weights.
Personally I would add a proper stretching routine, which will add muscle tone and flexibility, reducing the chance of injury.

if you want an crappy argos rower for £100 go ahead mate, but im sure everyone on here will agree, the only rowers worth getting are tunturi or concept 2.

and concept 2 start at £1k for their oldest model brand new and go up to £1.4K for a base spec brand new model.

for a fully kitted out brand new model your talking £2K.

i know what im talking about, look at the official home gym building thread.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Really appreciate the advice you've given me so far Sonny. Please could you see above my weight workout routine? You suggested this to me maybe 2 months ago, should I carry on doing the same exercises?

I look forward to getting stuck in with the skipping thing.

sticking to them isn't going to hurt, but diet is key for fat loss, you cannot out run or out lift a bad diet.

im in a similar position myself, i have let myself go for over 2 months now and piled on unwanted fat. not trained in 2 months either.

i know myself though, as soon as it hits February, i will shift the fat and sculpt some more muscle, ive been exceptionally busy and had a lot on recently, its now minus temperatures in scotland and my gym cannot be used at night or early morning. also been snowing for the past 2 weeks.

i used to box and our routine was to go for a 30 minute run/jog, then skip for 30 minutes, then bag work for 15 mins, then pad work for 30 mins then sparring for 15 mins.

it was a brutal 2 hours, you hated every minute of it when you were doing it, but enjoyed it after.

like icecold says post your diet up, add in a skipping routine and continue lifting, those bands i suggested are really good and cheaper than buying weights (they weigh nothing and can be taken with you anywhere, so you should look into them as a possibility).

also depends how much energy and spare time you have, IF is good if you want to keep things simple, rather than carb/calorie counting.

 

[lrlcr]

i know what im talking about, look at the official home gym building thread.

That's completely irrelevant, however; as a rowing coach I completely agree with the rest of your post

 

[Drake5]

I'm not doing anything heavy at all but then again I don't have much strength lol.

The weight set I have is 20kg but I'm doing NOWHERE near that fully yet... Most exercises I only use 5KG on each dumbbell, I know it's hardly anything but to be honest I have DEFINITELY noticed a difference in muscle definition. Especially my shoulders/traps/bi's. That's something I am certain of.

My diet isn't spot on perfect, probably to many carbs but I have cut out all junk food and other crap.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I'm not doing anything heavy at all but then again I don't have much strength lol.

The weight set I have is 20kg but I'm doing NOWHERE near that fully yet... Most exercises I only use 5KG on each dumbbell, I know it's hardly anything but to be honest I have DEFINITELY noticed a difference in muscle definition. Especially my shoulders/traps/bi's. That's something I am certain of.

My diet isn't spot on perfect, probably to many carbs but I have cut out all junk food and other crap.

you are what you eat, diet is going to be key for bodyfat loss, keep a food diary over the next week if you can, then post it up for use to dissect, that will be the best way to reach your goal imo.

theres no point you busing your behind skipping, if your going to continue eating rubbish, your basically just undoing all your good work.

also 5kg dumbells is nothing, you need to be upping the weight every session.

 

[Drake5]

you are what you eat, diet is going to be key for bodyfat loss, keep a food diary over the next week if you can, then post it up for use to dissect, that will be the best way to reach your goal imo.

theres no point you busing your behind skipping, if your going to continue eating rubbish, your basically just undoing all your good work.

also 5kg dumbells is nothing, you need to be upping the weight every session.

But sometimes with weights heavier than that I struggle to do 15 reps, doesn't that mean it'd do NOTHING at all for me? I will keep a food log of everything I eat over the next week and post it up here. Don't be to harsh on me though! Constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

[cheets64]

tbh I think a thread should be made, no doubt people will be in here on 31st Dec 1st Jan with threads like this.

Change your lifestyle, change yourself. Is my motto.

 

[Drake5]

Could someone clarify this - If I'm doing weights and I step up the weight but really struggling with pushing out 15 reps what am I supposed to do? Just do as many as I can and hope I improve as I go on?