Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
It's monday everybody back on the grind! If you're trying to lose weight, and are looking for a change of pace, try circuit lifting instead of cardio. IMO, it's the most effective way to lose fat and gain some muscle. And gaining muscle is a very underrated part of losing weight.
My usual gym routine is both cardio and weights/ other (balls, etc).. buuuut I haven't been to the gym since November. It's been put off mostly because I was working overtime for so long, but I've been off of it for 3 weeks now... BONNIE, GO TO THE GYM. And it's 60 bucks/ months, so a lot of money going to waste right now. The time change is not going to help me get up in the AM either.
It's all about that first day. Once you start, you'll view that previous day as a waste if you don't stick with it. When I take breaks, I usually do something to get me interested again. I love to go to bodybuilding.com and try and new routine for a week or so and see how I like it. I always get bored doing cardio, so sometimes I just do core lifts with little weight and jump rope inbetween or something. Squats and Deadlifts are your best friend. They work every single muscle in your body. I'd recommend lifting for a few weeks more than you normally would to really accelerate the fat burning process once you start doing cardio again. But not those silly machines. Do some pull ups, push ups, squats, deadlifts, standing presses. Free weight circuit lifting is the fastest way to get on track. I love to do super sets also because it gets your blood pumping, and cuts down on your amount of time in the gym .
You won't catch me with free weights. For non-cardio, I use what I call the "quiet room" (2 circuits and mats with balls and such). It's away from machines and not too heavily used. I love it in there. There used to be a rack of free weights but they moved them out last summer. The big weight machines and free weights are in a scary area. It's 98% men and in direct view of all the cardio machines. No way I am going to that side of the room. I have some smaller weights at home that I do with videos every once in a while.
And where I see where you're coming from about building muscle- I know and understand all that- I highly disagree that it should be the first step. I think the first step is building a routine. Once you know you can get yourself to the gym on a regular basis, THEN you concentrate on what you're actually doing there.
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.
You won't catch me with free weights. For non-cardio, I use what I call the "quiet room" (2 circuits and mats with balls and such). It's away from machines and not too heavily used. I love it in there. There used to be a rack of free weights but they moved them out last summer. The big weight machines and free weights are in a scary area. It's 98% men and in direct view of all the cardio machines. No way I am going to that side of the room. I have some smaller weights at home that I do with videos every once in a while.
And where I see where you're coming from about building muscle- I know and understand all that- I highly disagree that it should be the first step. I think the first step is building a routine. Once you know you can get yourself to the gym on a regular basis, THEN you concentrate on what you're actually doing there.
Nothing wrong with working out with the men! I'll never understand a woman's fear of free weights and lifting in general. I agree you need to build a routine first, but from a totally physical point of view, lifting weights get's your muscles "hungry". A hungry muscle eat's way more fat than a full one. I think this might explain it better (link). There's no reason you can't start your routine any way that you want. Why not do it the most efficient way possible? I wouldn't let something as simple as fear of lifting near men deter me from my goals! There's a rediculous amount of science that goes into losing weight, and it works! The only reason I bring this up is because I know alot of girls who do countless hours of cardio every week, and I know a few girls who work half as hard and get twice the results. I just hate to see people wasting more time and energy than they need to!
My first step was to lose the weight w cardio and diet. I had people suggest i let the muscle help me lose weight, and i agree that is a potential mpath. But i just wanted the weight off as quickly as possible. My plan was to tear down the temple and then build it up. THere are lots of ways to get healthy. Some are even better than other, i am sure. As long as we aren't hurting ourselves i think we are doing some good. maybe not the most good but good all the same.
I agree w bonzai the very first baby step after deciding to do something is the routine. Just going and doing some exercise, cardio, weights, balls, whatever. Just dont hurt your self and build up some confidence.
BlackDynamite is right too that muscle mass is underrated as far as weight loss goes. Squates and deadlifts are very powerful but i dont know that i have the confidence to perform them right now. I am just getting into working out so i do what i know how to do and know i can do. i know there are more efficient ways of doing it but i don't want to hurt myself trying something i don't understand. I had this conversation with a 20 year old i work with just the other day.
Again, I know all the science behind it and like I said, I am not arguing that you need to build muscle to burn more fat. I simply was stating that going hardcore into weights right off of the bat is not for me.
And why not start off the "most efficient way possible?" Because I am comfortable with the cardio machines and that "quiet room." Trying to get myself back into my old routine won't be helped by throwing something scary (to me) into the mix. That will only deter me from going, no aid me.
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.
My first step was to lose the weight w cardio and diet. I had people suggest i let the muscle help me lose weight, and i agree that is a potential mpath. But i just wanted the weight off as quickly as possible. My plan was to tear down the temple and then build it up. THere are lots of ways to get healthy. Some are even better than other, i am sure. As long as we aren't hurting ourselves i think we are doing some good. maybe not the most good but good all the same.
I agree w bonzai the very first baby step after deciding to do something is the routine. Just going and doing some exercise, cardio, weights, balls, whatever. Just dont hurt your self and build up some confidence.
BlackDynamite is right too that muscle mass is underrated as far as weight loss goes. Squates and deadlifts are very powerful but i dont know that i have the confidence to perform them right now. I am just getting into working out so i do what i know how to do and know i can do. i know there are more efficient ways of doing it but i don't want to hurt myself trying something i don't understand. I had this conversation with a 20 year old i work with just the other day.
stay stong my friends.
The confidence factor with deadlifts and squats is a big deal! If you don't do it right, you can put yourself in harms way. Fortunately, when doing circuit training the weight is so low that it really allows you to get a feel for it. As scary as they can seem, you'd be surprised how naturall they come. We squat every day before we sit down. We deadlift anytime we pick something up off of the ground. Doing it with 20 or 30 pounds really helps you stay in control, but also allows you to feel that burn in your legs and arse. You can even start doing them without weight. The only way to get comfortable with it though, is to do it. As long as you start with small weight and a little bit of knowledge, you're good to go. There are alot of quality videos on youtube displaying proper form as well! Don't let fear keep you guys from achieving your Roo goals!!
Again, I know all the science behind it and like I said, I am not arguing that you need to build muscle to burn more fat. I simply was stating that going hardcore into weights right off of the bat is not for me.
And why not start off the "most efficient way possible?" Because I am comfortable with the cardio machines and that "quiet room." Trying to get myself back into my old routine won't be helped by throwing something scary (to me) into the mix. That will only deter me from going, no aid me.
Whatever helps you improve yourself! Just for the record though, I wasn't suggesting going harcore into the weights haha. Just using weights in a way that also implements cardio principals. The way I live my life, I'm ALWAYS wanting to try something new and break out of my comfort zones, so it's easy for me to forget that some people have a completely different idea of what comfortable is! So I'm sorry if it seems like I'm trying to force you or anything. I'm simply trying to motivate the select few that need that push to stay interested!
"If you remain in your comfort zone you will not go any further."
"If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness."
My week off left me a whole pound heavier, probably from the lack of water, and I was SO happy to get back to lifting today! Cranked out 5x5 bench press with 70lbs, bent rows and standing rows with 70lbs, RDL's with 80lbs, and an ever impressive (for me, at least) 100lb back squats! Free weights give me confidence and joy that I have never felt before when it came to exercise. I have slacked on my cardio a bit, and tomorrow the treadmill and I have a 3 mile date that I am hoping to cover in 45 minutes or less, but I am incredibly slow and get bored easily when I jog. Here's to hoping I can get over the mental hump!
My week off left me a whole pound heavier, probably from the lack of water, and I was SO happy to get back to lifting today! Cranked out 5x5 bench press with 70lbs, bent rows and standing rows with 70lbs, RDL's with 80lbs, and an ever impressive (for me, at least) 100lb back squats! Free weights give me confidence and joy that I have never felt before when it came to exercise. I have slacked on my cardio a bit, and tomorrow the treadmill and I have a 3 mile date that I am hoping to cover in 45 minutes or less, but I am incredibly slow and get bored easily when I jog. Here's to hoping I can get over the mental hump!
I'm officially hardcore plateaued. My body LOVES this weight...sadly I disagree! Can't really clean up my diet any more, so ramping up the circuits to 3x a week and going to start intermittent fasting next week. We shall see...
Some easy things(depending on your schedule) are fasted low impact cardio(first thing in the morning on an empty stomach) and carb cutoffs. No carbs 3 or so hours within bed time. The carb cutoffs are a pretty basic diet principle, imo, so that may be something you are already doing. Green tea extract would be a good cheap supplement. Mayhaps your diet needs dirty'ed up. I like to incorporate one cheat day a week once in a good diet rhythm. BD brings up excellent points about free weights, but I think the biggest advantage is that free weights allow you a full range of movement. Machines operate on a fixed plane, which is not natural to our body's mechanics. Because of this I think free weights can benefit overall health much more. It is certainly an intimidating realm to enter, though. If you are squatting or dead lifting half the people in there will look at your like you're crazy, regardless of whether you're a man or woman. I don't remember the last time I did power cleans without catching 20 questioning glances, or have seen anyone else doing them. Diet is 80% of it, exercise is 19%, and supplementation is 1%. A supplement will rarely be the deciding factor.
I'm officially hardcore plateaued. My body LOVES this weight...sadly I disagree! Can't really clean up my diet any more, so ramping up the circuits to 3x a week and going to start intermittent fasting next week. We shall see...
Some easy things(depending on your schedule) are fasted low impact cardio(first thing in the morning on an empty stomach) and carb cutoffs. No carbs 3 or so hours within bed time. The carb cutoffs are a pretty basic diet principle, imo, so that may be something you are already doing. Green tea extract would be a good cheap supplement. Mayhaps your diet needs dirty'ed up. I like to incorporate one cheat day a week once in a good diet rhythm. BD brings up excellent points about free weights, but I think the biggest advantage is that free weights allow you a full range of movement. Machines operate on a fixed plane, which is not natural to our body's mechanics. Because of this I think free weights can benefit overall health much more. It is certainly an intimidating realm to enter, though. If you are squatting or dead lifting half the people in there will look at your like you're crazy, regardless of whether you're a man or woman. I don't remember the last time I did power cleans without catching 20 questioning glances, or have seen anyone else doing them. Diet is 80% of it, exercise is 19%, and supplementation is 1%. A supplement will rarely be the deciding factor.
I know, man...squatting, deadlifting, and to a lesser degree benching are the three compound lifts that anyone who's weight training should do (on separate days), but it seems like you never see anyone actually squatting or deadlifting. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen people doing bicep curls in the squat rack. Drives me nuts to have to wait on some guy to superset his biceps from like five different angles before I can actually get in and use the rack for its intended purpose.
Mayhaps your diet needs dirty'ed up. I like to incorporate one cheat day a week once in a good diet rhythm.
I 100% agree. If anyone one else had mentioned a plateau, that is the first thing I would have mentioned. Shocking your body is good for your overall weight loss (and it's good for your sanity). I watched what I ate from October through June last year, steadily losing EVERY week. And I cheated 1-2 a week with both booze and not great food. But it worked! Most weeks I lost more than a pound.
The only reason why I didn't mention it for mizvalentine is because I know a lot of what is cut out is actually allergy related. She would never have a cheat pizza day once a week
"I don't like Jordan on pizza" hehe
Diet is 80% of it, exercise is 19%, and supplementation is 1%. A supplement will rarely be the deciding factor.
Yup, I didn't add exercise (though my lifestyle is relatively active) til March of last year, but I lost the majority of the weight before that. Another reason why I am not too worried about the weight room right now. If anyone wants to come to West Hartford and coach my through the weight room, be my guest!
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.
I have a friend who just bece a personal trainer (bonus!). His advice for me when I feel I've hit my plateau, is to add up the calories I currently consume for a week. I've been going hard core lately because I'm just starting, so I'll say 11,900 (1700 a day) Then for the next week or two, while staying within the 11900 calories a week, go way high one day, then low the next. It takes a lit of will power to stay under 1200 calories a day, eat like a pig the next, then go back to 1200 the next. But after a week, your back to melting fat away. I guess body builders use the same tactics for building muscle.
In other news, I'm down to 149lbs from 155lbs 8 days ago, and I may have only logged 2 hours total on the elliptical or treadmill. It's been a busy enough week I haven't had time. My biggest battle is wanting to snack to make up for not smoking. So far I'm winning tho !!
Some easy things(depending on your schedule) are fasted low impact cardio(first thing in the morning on an empty stomach) and carb cutoffs. No carbs 3 or so hours within bed time. The carb cutoffs are a pretty basic diet principle, imo, so that may be something you are already doing. Green tea extract would be a good cheap supplement. Mayhaps your diet needs dirty'ed up. I like to incorporate one cheat day a week once in a good diet rhythm. BD brings up excellent points about free weights, but I think the biggest advantage is that free weights allow you a full range of movement. Machines operate on a fixed plane, which is not natural to our body's mechanics. Because of this I think free weights can benefit overall health much more. It is certainly an intimidating realm to enter, though. If you are squatting or dead lifting half the people in there will look at your like you're crazy, regardless of whether you're a man or woman. I don't remember the last time I did power cleans without catching 20 questioning glances, or have seen anyone else doing them. Diet is 80% of it, exercise is 19%, and supplementation is 1%. A supplement will rarely be the deciding factor.
I know, man...squatting, deadlifting, and to a lesser degree benching are the three compound lifts that anyone who's weight training should do (on separate days), but it seems like you never see anyone actually squatting or deadlifting. I can't even tell you how many times I've seen people doing bicep curls in the squat rack. Drives me nuts to have to wait on some guy to superset his biceps from like five different angles before I can actually get in and use the rack for its intended purpose.
We're on the same page! What I'm calling "circuits" is actually high intensity intervals... I do some combination of deads, squats, lunges, bench press, overhead presses, one-armed rows, tricep extensions, swiss ball squats (I have no ACLs so these are actually really helpful for me to get a deep ROM on my squats...even though everybody looks at me like I'm nuts!), and planks. 4-5 compound movements per workout, 3 sets of each, with a set of 20 kettlebell swings in between, new movement starts every 120 seconds. I use kettlebells for everything because I don't have an olympic bar at home (someday!) and I got sick of dudes giving me 'advice' at the gym. Even though I was one of the few with decent form in the place... but I digress. I miss lifting heavy, but the KBs give me a good mix of cardio and weight training in a small apartment, I think.
For the diet... I honestly think I might have been eating too much fruit and not enough protein. I don't seem to lose weight except at sub-50g/day carb levels. I've been eating a lot of berries and in particular dried fruit in my salads. Finally started tracking my macros in FitDay again and was shocked to see I'm in the upper 90s-lower 100s for total carbs/day because of that. Seems a likely culprit! Going to try doubling my protein and see where that gets me...
Reminds me of the best advice I ever got: "You can't outrun your fork!!"
Mayhaps your diet needs dirty'ed up. I like to incorporate one cheat day a week once in a good diet rhythm.
I 100% agree. If anyone one else had mentioned a plateau, that is the first thing I would have mentioned. Shocking your body is good for your overall weight loss (and it's good for your sanity). I watched what I ate from October through June last year, steadily losing EVERY week. And I cheated 1-2 a week with both booze and not great food. But it worked! Most weeks I lost more than a pound.
The only reason why I didn't mention it for mizvalentine is because I know a lot of what is cut out is actually allergy related. She would never have a cheat pizza day once a week
"I don't like Jordan on pizza" hehe
Pizza and tequila are the only two things that ever made me mean! My cheat days are on the weekend...and its mostly just alcohol! But I probably dirty things up enough with that... I think I drank all the ciders in Pennsylvania on Sunday...
Post by ziggyandthemonkeys on Mar 12, 2013 12:34:01 GMT -5
Some people definitely respond better to low carb diets. For a friend of mine's prep for a bodybuilding show we tried super low carbs(under 50g), and high fats. Eating mostly cheese and meat, spending carbs on veggies, we were able to get him pretty much into show shape just with this diet. The craziest part is that we never actually took the calories terribly low, so he was able to maintain intensity in his workouts. A lot of bodybuilders do get into carb cycling, which is a giant pita. This was a great simple diet that I think can work for carb sensitive people. Mizvalentine, it sounds like you have your shit together anyways, though. Just try a lot of different little tweaks to your diet and see what works. When was the last time you took a week or two off from the gym? Every 8-12 weeks I like to take a week or two off from lifting. Also, if your numbers are progressing in the weight room, who cares what the scale says. You're making progress, you can see it in the numbers.
There is a fine line between getting ones body healthy and maintaining mental health in the process. People can get so caught up in being healthy losing weight/bulking up that it is no longer healthy mentally or eventually physically.
For me, I got to be overweight and then focused on how much I weigh. I would weigh myself multiple times a day, which isn't emotionally healthy. I would push for 90 minute cardio sessions 5 times a week which seems like a lot now. I've got myself under control now I hope, but I find it is important to that in mind,
Stay strong everyone and keep it up. Sexy roo here we come.
Last Edit: Mar 12, 2013 15:24:20 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
Some people definitely respond better to low carb diets. For a friend of mine's prep for a bodybuilding show we tried super low carbs(under 50g), and high fats. Eating mostly cheese and meat, spending carbs on veggies, we were able to get him pretty much into show shape just with this diet. The craziest part is that we never actually took the calories terribly low, so he was able to maintain intensity in his workouts. A lot of bodybuilders do get into carb cycling, which is a giant pita. This was a great simple diet that I think can work for carb sensitive people. Mizvalentine, it sounds like you have your shiz together anyways, though. Just try a lot of different little tweaks to your diet and see what works. When was the last time you took a week or two off from the gym? Every 8-12 weeks I like to take a week or two off from lifting. Also, if your numbers are progressing in the weight room, who cares what the scale says. You're making progress, you can see it in the numbers.
Ya I can relate to this. I shoot for 60% protein, 15% Carbs, 15% good fats for the first month or two, but after my metabolism is raging and I need to up my calorie intake i'll add some more to the carbs. I use mynetdiary.com works pretty great since on phones, CPU, tablets etc easy to update and supports barcode scanning, recipe input, etc
Some people definitely respond better to low carb diets. For a friend of mine's prep for a bodybuilding show we tried super low carbs(under 50g), and high fats. Eating mostly cheese and meat, spending carbs on veggies, we were able to get him pretty much into show shape just with this diet. The craziest part is that we never actually took the calories terribly low, so he was able to maintain intensity in his workouts. A lot of bodybuilders do get into carb cycling, which is a giant pita. This was a great simple diet that I think can work for carb sensitive people. Mizvalentine, it sounds like you have your shiz together anyways, though. Just try a lot of different little tweaks to your diet and see what works. When was the last time you took a week or two off from the gym? Every 8-12 weeks I like to take a week or two off from lifting. Also, if your numbers are progressing in the weight room, who cares what the scale says. You're making progress, you can see it in the numbers.
The description of your friend's training diet and results give me hope! Carb cycling IS a pain and honestly its never made me do anything but gain water weight. My SO says I look fine as-is (because he's awesome, heh) even though I'm 20lbs into the overweight category for my height still. I'm sure some of that is muscle mass, and I am progressing in terms of my workouts, but I just feel like my BF% is still too high for my liking. I'm IF'ing today and have been doing good on carbs this week... all under 50g/day total, 20g net. I do think my protein is low... I was running about 60% fat, 20% carbs, 20% protein... trying for more like 40/40/20 to see if that works. I'm spilling ketones again which is good. Hoping this will jumpstart the old furnace...
I'm officially hardcore plateaued. My body LOVES this weight...sadly I disagree! Can't really clean up my diet any more, so ramping up the circuits to 3x a week and going to start intermittent fasting next week. We shall see...
My body also seems to like to be around a certain weight - 138 lbs - which is about 10 lbs more than where my clothes fit!! I can't even get to my elliptical with all my moving boxes so this week was lost, sigh Doing everything we can to get organized and unpacked so hopefully Monday, I really can get back on my game. I have been burning lots of calories with moving boxes etc. though!!
Keep it up people 90 days till bonnaroo. I hope everyone had a great workout today! I wanted to skip today something fierce but I crushed it all the same. No rest for the wicked.
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.
Yeah...not to dissuade people who are trying to tone up/lose fat/etc., but I agree that haircuts and clothes can work wonders for body image and appearance.
As a lifelong cardio enthusiast I often used to wear larger clothes than necessary because I had this idea that I was "too thin" and needed to camouflage it. Which: I'm 5'11 and 160 at ~ 10% body fat, so you be the judge. But when I started wearing medium t-shirts instead of XLs, suddenly I started getting all these compliments from people wondering if I'd been working out. And I had...my whole life…but I'd been hiding it away.
And I'm sure we've all seen the person who looks twice as obese as he/she should because of the Spandex...
Post by alenamarie on Mar 14, 2013 13:07:56 GMT -5
I just started going to the gym last week, guys. 'Roo isn't my ultimate motivation for getting in shape, but it does give me a short term goal to work towards. I have a hard time making myself work out if I don't have my super motivated, health nut best friend to drag me to the gym, so on the days that she isn't free you guys are going to have to be my super motivated, health nut best friends, mmkay?
Yeah...not to dissuade people who are trying to tone up/lose fat/etc., but I agree that haircuts and clothes can work wonders for body image and appearance.
As a lifelong cardio enthusiast I often used to wear larger clothes than necessary because I had this idea that I was "too thin" and needed to camouflage it. Which: I'm 5'11 and 160 at ~ 10% body fat, so you be the judge. But when I started wearing medium t-shirts instead of XLs, suddenly I started getting all these compliments from people wondering if I'd been working out. And I had...my whole life…but I'd been hiding it away.
And I'm sure we've all seen the person who looks twice as obese as he/she should because of the Spandex...
I was thinking more of the general confidence that it gave me (I certainly have been getting more looks! I haven't worn my hair down and straight in like two months!), but you're totally right. Nothing is worse than not dressing for your size. Accept your size big or small and wear what flatters you.
Welcome back Bonz, but I do not find it strange that your presence being requested in the Orgy thread and then you showing up, like it was the quacking Bonzai Bat Signal.