work out advice needed

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 20:46

Right I joined the gym today after weeks of saying I will. I was wondering if people could give me advice on what to do … I know there is a body building sticky up the top but I would rather lose weight and tone up than bulk up to a huge beast. Right details about me:

I’m a girl, 6ft tall, about 11stone (size 14 if you understand girly sizes) and a bit squidgy ‘round the tummy bum and thigh area. Ideally I would like to go down one clothes size which I would guess is about a stone (2-4 inches one my stomach) and loose the weight around my thighs and the love handles.

I don’t want to have huge muscles but a bit of definition would be nice, plus I would love to build up arm strength and flatten the tummy. I haven’t really done any exercise in the past few years.

I am assuming cardio work would be suggested, advice on a routine would be great. Oh there is a swimming pool at the gym but seeing as I can only swim about 10 meters I think this will be a bit fruitless.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Alchemy · 7 Mar 2006 at 21:27

I'm not much help, but I recommend that you learn how to swim (if possible). It is very good cardio workout and very enjoyable, I use to find it very relaxing too.

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 21:39

I've always wanted to swim, I just feel like a muppet flapping around in the pool trying to stay afloat when all these 7 year olds zoom past me.

GordyR · 7 Mar 2006 at 21:55

Okay first of all to lose a little fat your main weapon is diet. You don't need to be overly strict or go an a fad diet or anything like that but you should take a look at the "cutting" section in the bodybuilding sticky for general diet advice. Just make sure you are eating frequently and healthily and add in some form of cardio training; running being the best.

Now on to the important stuff. Resistance training. For a good physique women need to lift weights pure and simple, just as a man does. Not only will it help you build a little lean mass, but it will help burn fat dramatically. Almost all female celebrities who have what are considered to be good bodies (Jessica Simpson, J.Lo, Halle Berry etc... etc...) lift weights. With squatting being the single most important exercise a woman can perform (or a man for that matter). Also nearly every professional model out there (aside from the high fashion ones whose job it is to be stick thin) also lift weights. I worked as a model for a while and every bikini/underwear model I met lifted weights religiously.

Most women fear getting chunky legs. It won't happen. If your legs are too big it is down to having too much fat, not too much muscle. Many women when they diet down to remove all their excess flab from their bums and bellies find that they look too skinny. This is simply because they don't have enough lean mass. Curves are far better when they are made up of muscle rather than fat. Anyway....

Contrary to popular belief, you will not suddenly get huge muscles if you start lifting weights. For starters growing a serious amount of muscle takes years of hard work and dedication. Secondly being a woman you just don't have the genetic makeup for it. You girls lack the required hormones needed to gain a serious amount of muscle. All the huge female bodybuilders you see use steroids.

Okay so first of all read this. It's a little link giving you ten reasons why women should lift weights.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/women/a/aa051601a.htm

Next check out this fantastic website.

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

It is probably the best introduction to resitance training for women I have ever found. It covers all aspects from diet to the exercises. Great stuff. Bookmark this bad boy and read it all thoroughly.

Lastly it is a common misconception that women should use light weights or train significantly differently from their male counterparts. Not true. Women should use weights that are heavy for them, just as a man would. You won't get anywhere throwing around the tiny pink dumbells that most personal trainers will have you use. I suggest you read through the bodybuilding sticky since all the concepts and advice will still apply to you as a woman.

So to sumarise, if you want nice shapely curves but without the flab, lift weights!

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:05

weights it is then! thanks for the advice, just going to look at those sites.

My diet is generally quite good, toast for breaky, roast chicken sandwich for lunch and then a healthy dinner in the evening (mum refuses to have crap food in the house).

I need to cut down on my sweeties and fizzy drinks which is what I'm starting tomorrow.

GordyR · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:14

loopylou said:
My diet is generally quite good, toast for breaky, roast chicken sandwich for lunch and then a healthy dinner in the evening (mum refuses to have crap food in the house).

With regards to your diet, the most important thing you can be doing is eating more frequently than the whole standard 3 meals a day thing. I won't go in to the reasons here as I have covered them so often already on these forums but basically by eating more frequently you will speed up your metabolism and thus burn more calories. Obviously your portion sizes will be smaller to compensate. You basically just cut up those three meals in to 5-6 smaller meals if at all possible.

loopylou said:
I need to cut down on my sweeties and fizzy drinks which is what I'm starting tomorrow.

Definately, you will see a marked improvement by doing that alone.

One thing I really should mention is that when you start resistance training you should ignore the scales and go by the mirror. Your aim is to decrease your bodyfat percentage, not just your overall weight. Many women when they first start lifting weights are horrified to see that they actually weigh more than when they first started, yet at the same time they look far better and their bodyfat has gone down. This is simply because muscle weighs far more than fat. So basically don't put to much emphasis on your weight, it really means very little.

oddjob62 · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:15

GordyR said:
Next check out this fantastic website.

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php

It is probably the best introduction to resitance training for women I have ever found. It covers all aspects from diet to the exercises. Great stuff. Bookmark this bad boy and read it all thoroughly.

mmmm Mistress Krista is a babe. Love that site. It's the first place i send any lass who gives me the "i don't want to lift weights because i don't want to look like a bodybuilder" line.

GordyR · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:19

oddjob62 said:
mmmm Mistress Krista is a babe. Love that site. It's the first place i send any lass who gives me the "i don't want to lift weights because i don't want to look like a bodybuilder" line.

Indeed mate, fantastic site!

I love this one particular quote she makes when she is debunking myths about squatting:

myth #4: squatting "bulks up" your legs and butt.

If you've been paying attention to anything on this site, you should know that this is crap and you should know why, so I won't even waste time on it. If you don't like the bulk on your ass, honey, try laying off the Twinkies, not the squats.

Classic... And oh so true.

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:24

GordyR said:
One thing I really should mention is that when you start resistance training you should ignore the scales and go by the mirror. Your aim is to decrease your bodyfat percentage, not just your overall weight. Many women when they first start lifting weights are horrified to see that they actually weigh more than when they first started, yet at the same time they look far better and their bodyfat has gone down. This is simply because muscle weighs far more than fat. So basically don't put to much emphasis on your weight, it really means very little.

Oh I know that, I used to play football at a high-ish standard (or a girl anyway, I competed in the FA and offered a place a county level before I left for university) and I weighed about the same as I do now but I was about 28"-30" round the tummy. I'm trying to base my weight on clothes sizes as I can tell the when I have lost the podge.

Mum threw out the scales when I turned 10 so I would never be obsessed over my weight. I haven't weighed myself in about two years. I thank her so much for that

kitten_caboodle · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:28

LoopyLou

1. You're a girl and you play(ed) football
2. You're 6 foot tall
For these things alone I like you

I'm 5'2 and used to play footy at school, and need to shape up - being little any amount of extra weight looks far worse on me than it does my taller friends. I've just embarked on my own training program yesterday - I do the race for life for cancer research each year so I will be following this thread with interest and taking up the advice

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:33

I'm planning on doing the race for life this year too.

I want to get fit again so in the summer I can start training for a new football team, I gave it up in the first year at university as drinking took a whole new pirority and then I lost my passion for the game. Since finishing university I have been watching Colchester united every week and I'm getting the feeling I want to play again.

When I gave up football I lost loads of weight as I kind of gave up eating too (crap food provided in the halls and we had no kitchen), I never want to be that skinny again. Being this tall it looked wrong, plus I lost the babs!

kitten_caboodle · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:37

loopylou said:
plus I lost the babs!

loopylou · 7 Mar 2006 at 22:39

kitten_caboodle said:

A similar face to my boyfriends when the DD's went to B/C.