Ya Tai!!!

[Shibo]

Woohoo! I hope I spelled the subject of this thread right. But anyway, here I sit after my monday morning weigh-in... For the first time since.. God, sometime probably pre 6th grade or earlier, I'm not overweight. =) 165 pounds! I'm still not in shape, but I'm at least within the proper weight range for my height. Whee! =) I've lost 34 pounds now. So now I have to keep my other promise which was that once I got to 167 or below I'd start exercising daily.. Guess I'd better start, ne? I'm gonna walk an hour per night, which should work out to between 4 and 5 miles.. Our condo has a walking path which is exactly a mile long, so I'll do that. I start tai chi next tues as well. Guess it's time to get fit, ne? I'm gonna enjoy today, I'm proud of myself!

[Batz Kage]

I hate you

I'm over weight, & to lazy to change this.

But, congradz any how.

[Steve_the_Talking_Pie]

Congrats man. That is something to be very proud about. Maybe you should treat yourself to more anime and break that silly won't buy any anime for a while promise.

Seriously though, that's excellent. My suggestion, I believe you have a PS2 though I'm not sure. Buy DDR with a couple of Dance Pads. I've gotten some of my best exercises from a 2 hour DDR work out. Even if you aren't good, it's still fun and you'll be moving around.

I'd suggest buying some small free weights. Dumbbells are excellent for toning your arms. There are so many different exercises. Also simple squats with no weight, can really tone your thighs. Likewise sit ups work great when you do a lot of aerobic exercise to lose that extra weight.

As it is, I'm heading to the gym. Maybe you can send me your eating plan.

[Lonely_monkey21]

Good job, I'd give you a high five, but I doubt you could get it.

Every summer I try to lose wieght seeing as my family vacation is in 3 weeks I guess I better start. Over the last 2 summers I've managed to lose over 60 lbs. I now need to lose like 5lbs. or so to be at my goal of 115. So back to my diet, it sucks I can't eat the good stuff. But i guess when you dance 4 times a week, and your eating good it all works out. As long as it's not like last summr, and I get looking like I'm anorexic.

[kakomu]

Geez Shib...you weigh less than me...but look nothing like I do

I reccomend you do pushups and situps when you work out. When doing pushups, be sure to place your arms correctly, and go down till you touch the ground with any part of your body. When doing situps, start with Situps, NOT crunches. When doing situps, plant your feet underneath something heavy and firm (Couch, Bed, Dumbells etc) and go all the way up till you either are restricted by your body (stomach) or your arms touch your knees. After you do as many situps as you can (not when you're tired, but when you can' lift yourself up any further), move on to Crunches. With this, lay on your back, with your feel and legs above you, and lift your upper body as high as you can. With situps, you'll probably be able to hit 20-30, with crunches, you should initially aim for 50 (take small breaks to let your stomach rest when it starts to clench, but no longer than 1 minute).

Do this for about 2-3 sets per night. DO NOT PASS THIS OFF AS UNNECESSARY. If you really are serious about a healthy body, please do this. Also, after you do your walking for a few weeks, I reccomend Jogging (however, you can pare than down to 30 minutes, since 30 minutes of Jogging is far more beneficial than 1 hour of walking).

I'd reccomend Free Weights, but you already told me you don't want anything to do with that.

[Steve_the_Talking_Pie]

Are you big into lifting, Kakomu? Can you give me some better exercises to work on my chest?

[kakomu]

Yea, I've been lifting for the last 5-7 years, and had free range in gyms the past 3.

For your Chest, there are a few Excercises that work well.

Benching (obviously). There are 3 forms though. Incline, Decline and straight back. Incline is with head above the feet, it works the upper pecks, the Decline is with the head below the legs, it works the lower pecks, and stright works the center area. They are all EQUALLY important. I can't stress that enough. Second, weight isn't everything. It's a factor, but then so is repitition. I reccomend a Burn out once a week. A Burnout is where you take a smaller weight, and you pump it as much as possible. As for regular sets. I reccomend you choose a base weight that you can bench AT LEAST 10 times. Lifting 185 lbs once isn't impressive. When I was in my best shape, I would only do 2 sets of 10, and I would do 155 lbs on a regular basis (45+10 on both sides).

There are a few other excercises. Military presses. You take two dumbells. The prone position has your upper arms straight out left and right, the lower arms are resting on your biceps with the weights above you, you then proceed to lift the dumbells up until your arms are straight and the weights touch. This will work your shoulders and upper pecks. You can perform this sitting or standing, but if you don't have a support, do this standing. You can perform this excercise in any incline, but it will start working the same muscles as a bench press as you get in lower inclines.

Butterflies. You lay down on the bench. With the dumbells above you, lower the weights down in an arc until your arms are straight left and right. Be sure your elboys bend (you don't want them to brek). When I do this, I tend to go as low as I can until I feel the stress on the peck right by the shoulders. This works the outside of the peck, and the muscles underneath your arms.

Front and Lateral Raises. You stand straight up (I reccomend finding a building support or wall and leaning against that with your feet against the wall) lift the dumbells straight forward with your arms straight (elbows bent slightly of course, but not too much). Those are the Front raises. The Lateral raises are the same except you lift to the side. For these raises, you will want to stop when you're arms are parallel to the ground.

the raises work your shoulders more than your Chest (but you want large Shoulders with a big chest). A note on lifting weight. DO NOT EXCEED A SENSIBLE WEIGHT. I've seen all too many people work out with bad form because they try to lift too much (or possibly the other way around). To put it sensibly, you get more out of a work out with good form than with bad because A) Good Form will work the designated muscles correctly B) will stave off injury. As for sensible (and ultimately appropriate) weights, start SMALL. Do not enter an excercise and start with 40 lbs. Even if you THINK you can do it, start off small. So what if you do one set with only 15 lbs, at least you know you can do the excercise with that weight, and just increase the amount of reps in that set. The best weight to work with is the weight that makes you tired after 10 SUCCESSFUL reps. Not almost reps or 8-9, but 10. I say this because lifting 100 lbs once doesn't work you out (it strains and hurts you). And ultimately, when working out, no other part of your body should move beyond the ones I tell you. Your back should almost NEVER move when doing anything beyond back excercises. Any sort of press pull down pull up, etc requires a straight and stiff back. Do not be spastic when excercising. If you have to make a spastic move to lift something beyond an initial lift (to get the dumbell in place and even then you shouldn't strain your self to do so), then the weight you are using is too heavy. Don't have an inflated ego when lifting. There is always someone bigger and stronger than you, so don't try to act like hot shit.

That's my spiel. It doesn't matter if you think working the wrong way works for you, it's bad in a long run. use your head when lifting.

[Steve_the_Talking_Pie]

Thanks a lot man. I do bench (as well as incline/decline). When I bench, the bar goes down slow, and then you push it up fast. I had to take a break from lifting because of school but I'm getting back into it. Right now, I'm comfortable at benching 145 (used to be 185).

I use a combination of free weights and some machines. My friend goes complete free weights but he doesn't have good form. I keep telling him that Machines are always nice, and they can be great to tone and work other muscle groups.

I hate lifting sometimes. Some bastard was making fun of me for curling with 25's. He was using 35's. The whole time, he was rocking back and using his back. He wasn't even doing anything. If I wanted to do that, I could do it with 45's.

Tomorrow is the real bitch. I'm doing my squats. *ALWAYS USE A WEIGHT LIFTING BELT FOR THIS. MY FRIEND REFUSES TO*


Thanks for taking the time to write everything out.

[kakomu]

I never really used a belt for squats, I think my form is good enough not to warrant one, because neither my back hurts afterwards, nor does the belt make me feel any better/worse.

[sanosuke]

workin out sucks! i smoke and walk to school everyday, that keeps me slim and in shape.

[kakoi_sugoi_yama]

Nice.

[Ka-Talliya]

That is great Shibo!! How tall are you?

[Shibo]

I'm 5' 10". =) Umm, I don't think smoking keeps you in shape, Sano. Last I heard it has the opposite effect.

[Lonely_monkey21]

Well, it can increase his hormones and give him man boobs, but hey, that's the funny part.

[Ka-Talliya]

Lonely Monkey , just when I think I've heard it all, you go and make me smile. Man boobs...hehe.

I used to work out 6 to 7 days a week for four and half years. Then I joined the military...Had Baby...got married. All things that trigger weight gain. I'm not back to where I was yet, but I'm working on it.

I should probably at least start walking again.