Can I get fit by doing nothing else but burpees?

[SeanH]

Originally Posted by CrazyJew

Wait what? Raisin toast is not bad... and steak is not a small amount of protein. either.

When it's all you had all day it is. He's right. That diet is all bullshit carbs, and it'll make you a smaller version of skinnyfat (and that's if you don't cheat every day). If you want definition and aren't going to do any real exercise you better up the protein to spare what muscle you have.

 

[CrazyJ]

I ran two miles this morning. Legs are ******* aching after 7 hours of waitering on foot and doing two miles the morning after. My diet was better today, too. My fiancee left for Orlando for three days for part of her job, so we went out for breakfast together one last time before she left. Had a turkey, spinach, mushroom, and feta cheese omelette made with egg whites, as well as a dry english muffin and some slices of tomato at First Watch.

This afternoon I had a strawberry yogurt and a roll (6 pieces) of salmon/crab sushi. I'll probably avoid eating at the restaurant now, and come back home and make some sauteed chicken again.

And no beer, no soda, no juice, no weed, just good ol water.

 

[akatsuki]

I think cycling is the easiest way to strip - but the most time consuming. Mostly cause you can maintain a constant 600+ cal burn for hours and watch TV or something while doing it.

Running is okay, but I never drop weight doing it unless I am putting in serious mileage (5-10 miles at a time 3-4 times a week). I actually lose weight doing short high-intensity workouts - but they are nothing to start with.

If you are short on time - run 3-5 miles 3-5 times a week, and do burpees (with good form) once a week and maybe throw in a couple of pull-ups if you can (there are plenty of pull-up progressions to get you there). That will get you on the right path I think and also give you a bit of muscle tone without getting huge or anything.

For burpees - make sure you do them right - bend down and shoot your legs out, do the push-up properly and to the ground, jump both your legs back in and shoot up from the crouch. A lot of people, as they get tired, start stepping their legs back and fail to shoot up from the crouch which is the key squat-like aspect of the workout. If you really care - find a hanging target to clap at overhead that is high enough you actually have to jump to get it. As you get tired, switch over to just doing jumping squats and push-ups in small sets to push past any failure in burpees and build up.

Diet - I usually follow Rob Wolff's recs - but I am currently eating like crap to gain a bit of weight to try and put on some muscle - I hate it though - I feel sluggish and like crap all the time.

 

[Prada_Ferragamo]

Originally Posted by CrazyJew

I ran two miles this morning. Legs are ******* aching after 7 hours of waitering on foot and doing two miles the morning after. My diet was better today, too. My fiancee left for Orlando for three days for part of her job, so we went out for breakfast together one last time before she left. Had a turkey, spinach, mushroom, and feta cheese omelette made with egg whites, as well as a dry english muffin and some slices of tomato at First Watch.

This afternoon I had a strawberry yogurt and a roll (6 pieces) of salmon/crab sushi. I'll probably avoid eating at the restaurant now, and come back home and make some sauteed chicken again.

And no beer, no soda, no juice, no weed, just good ol water.

Not too bad. Make sure you check the fat content and the sugar content on the yogurts. A lot of the cheap brands yogurts use high fructose corn syrup as the sweetener.

 

[Transcendental]

honestly i think running consistantly 30 minutes a day will do just fine. As long as you watch what you eat, you will lose weight. Doing weight training with low weights (since you aren't that strong) will help you as well, don't worry about others looking down at you as long as you aren't douchey in the gym, worry about technique and your training plan

When I was about your weight I lost like 30 pounds just eating better and increasing my exercise to as much as possible, but now I've decided I want to bulk and in the past couple of years I've gained about 60 back and my bench/squat/clean has gone through the roof. So just make sure you know what you want.

 

[wmmk]

My solution to every noob fitness thread lately has been suggesting rowing. Obviously, rowing in a boat is fun (maybe your uni/college has a club team to join?), but if that's too time-consuming or too much of a commitment, use the erg at the gym. It's ridiculously good cardio, and well develop your muscles better than running and biking (yes, biking's good for your quads, but it doesn't work the core, back, or arms in the same way rowing does).

 

[CrazyJ]

Thanks for all the pointers guys!

Just got home from another seven hour shift and I'm again ridiculously beat. It's probably a combination of cutting my calorie intake by about 75% as well as having taken two weeks off of work just previously, and then the run this morning. I was too tired to even cook some chicken... just ate a bag of grapes instead.

Also, tonight I realized that cutting my calories so severely, and not being the most knowledgeable yet about eating healthy, I'm probably getting no where near enough vitamins. So I bought a bottle of Centrium to keep my body up to pace.

When I go back to class on Tuesday, I'll hit up the gym to do some rows and pull-ups, and maybe do another two miles on Monday. I can't fit anything in tomorrow, and I need the energy anyway... probably doing at least ten hours at the restaurant. Can't wait. :|

 

[bbaquiran]

is this the new connemara?

 

[nbouscal]

Honestly it sounds like you're really, really uneducated about a lot of this stuff. There's a very simple solution to that. Go pay for a personal trainer. In the scheme of things it's not that expensive, and you're not going to have success without knowing what you're doing. From your posts it sounds like you're throwing darts blindfolded as to what "eating healthy" is and how you should be exercising. You need to be eating 5-6 meals a day at roughly BMR-500 Kcals, following a solid cardio program that keeps you at your THR, doing resistance training to prevent muscle loss (lean muscle is your body's fat-burning machinery, losing it is counteractive to your goals), and taking appropriate vitamins and nutrients. Becoming healthy requires education and planning, a few sessions with a good personal trainer will take care of that for you.

Edit: Something else I forgot to mention: you've mentioned a few times how you have no energy and are exhausted all the time. Getting healthy will fix that problem. If what you're currently trying is causing you to be more exhausted and have less energy, that's a very clear sign that you're doing it wrong. Exercise and proper nutrition is the most surefire way to increase your energy that there is.


PS: First post hi guys.

 

[Gradstudent78]

Originally Posted by nbouscal

Honestly it sounds like you're really, really uneducated about a lot of this stuff. There's a very simple solution to that. Go pay for a personal trainer. In the scheme of things it's not that expensive, and you're not going to have success without knowing what you're doing. From your posts it sounds like you're throwing darts blindfolded as to what "eating healthy" is and how you should be exercising. You need to be eating 5-6 meals a day at roughly BMR-500 Kcals, following a solid cardio program that keeps you at your THR, doing resistance training to prevent muscle loss (lean muscle is your body's fat-burning machinery, losing it is counteractive to your goals), and taking appropriate vitamins and nutrients. Becoming healthy requires education and planning, a few sessions with a good personal trainer will take care of that for you.


That's probably lower then he needs to be going

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Originally Posted by bbaquiran

is this the new connemara?

I wouldn't go that far. This guy actually exercises.

 

[nbouscal]

Originally Posted by Gradstudent78

That's probably lower then he needs to be going

You could very well be right. I'm just taking a stab at it based on the information I have available here (relatively inactive, smokes weed, etc), another reason that a trainer would be able to provide more accurate recommendations. From the sound of things, OP, you spend plenty of money every month on beer and weed, both of which make you less healthy overall. Time to start spending money on something that will make you more healthy instead.

 

[Matt]

Originally Posted by nbouscal

There's a very simple solution to that. Go pay for a personal trainer.
so wait...a guy starts a thread saying 'I can't afford the gym', and your recommendation is 'in that case, hire a personal trainer' I think this thread has been pretty hard on the guy...so let me give my no bullshit approach to getting in shape without spending any money. 1. run up stairs 2. do burpees 3. don't eat crap. 4. actually do it, instead of using 'i asked the internet and it confused me' as an excuse to not do it. Don't overcomplicate part 3. You know what crap is. Don't eat it. Don't drink it either. You put all that together, and with no further effort, you will be in better shape than you were when you started this thread, no doubt.

 

[nbouscal]

You're 100% right Matt, doing anything well help him be in better shape. I strongly doubt that approach will help him lose thirty pounds, and I'm confident that it won't help him maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. I've worked in the fitness industry and have learned that 'I can't afford the gym' typically just means 'I can't be bothered to go to the gym.' It's pretty clear that that's the case here based on a few things: the guy already has a free gym membership and doesn't use it; he eats out frequently (albeit at 50% off); he drinks beer frequently; he smokes weed frequently. It doesn't take a finance genius to figure out how to streamline that budget. My apologies if I come off a little strong on the personal trainer thing, I've just seen this exact scenario so many times and in my experience there is a very strong correlation between getting a trainer and permanent fat loss. All just my two cents though, he'll live his life the way he wants to and it's pretty doubtful anything I say will change that

 

[CrazyJ]

So I've dieted pretty well over the last three weeks I think. It wasn't super rigid- there were 3 or 4 nights we went out to eat, but I steer clear of rich foods even then. I've been eating around 1000 calories per day, a lot of english muffins, carrots, broccoli and feta cheese omelettes.

Pleased to say I've lost ten pounds. I really did not expect that much to melt off in such a short period of time, and that's even without exercise, either (though I still do plan to start, I'm just waiting for some runners to come in the mail).

I think the main thing that was attacking my weight was eating at my job. It was easy, cheap, tasty, and just plain tempting... steak five times a week, can't get better than that. But in truth, everything there is ridiculously unhealthy. Even the "healthnut" steaks that are not lathered in butter are still showered with seasoning. When I realized this, I did think back to when I started this job, and that I only weighed about 155lbs, thus gaining 15lb since I started working at the steakhouse.

I'm gonna keep going at this strong, start running next week, and keep on aiming for 140lbs. Maybe do some burpees on the way.