Noob Stuff, Holla.

[ziah]

Hello, all!

I'm (obviously) a new member. A few deets about myself before I hop into spiel....

5'3"-5'4"-ish F, 128 Lbs., 24 (coming up on 25 faster than I'd like to admit). Ran in high school, then had a baby at 18, completely lost will to live, and let myself get horribly out of shape in the sense that I've continued eating as if I have the super high metabolism I had in teens and resolutely ignoring how hard it is for me to run a mile. I've worked an office job for the past 5 years, and it slowly but surely did a number on me, as I'm sure many of you can understand. To top it all off, I periodically struggle with some depression issues, nothing really super severe, but enough to throw me into that place of wanting to sleep all the time and just generally feeling rather shite about myself. I'd attempted to get into a normal work-out routine a few times during college, but it never stuck mainly because I've always looked slim and equated slimness with health. Obviously not the case, but it took me awhile to realize it!

So, I had this "ho ho holy shit" moment over holiday when I hopped on a scale (something I've always avoided doing) and the number staring back at me was 128. Last time I remember weighing that much was when I was 8 months pregnant! Luckily, I'd just signed up for some affordable health insurance (thanks, Obama!) and included in insurance program was a gym reimbursement scheme where I'd get membership fees refunded if I went 50 times in 6 months.

Getting down to it now (finally, you think) I've been hitting the gym every other day and restricting to a 1200 calorie/day diet. Drinking an average of ~48 ounces of water per day, absolutely no soda, energy drinks, iced coffees (*sob*) or alcoholic beverages, natch.

An average day of food looks like this: 1/2 C oatmeal with some raisins, 1 tsp. brown sugar, and a tiny bit of butter with a banana or apple for breakfast (plus multivitamin and 12 ounces of water), whole wheat bagel with 2 T cream cheese and carrot sticks/hummus for lunch, and whatever the is laying around for dinner - usually some sort of protein mixed with pasta or in a soup with salad on the side and a piece of fruit for desert (or no desert at all).

Gym is usually a mile on the elliptical to get heart rate up (sadly, a mile takes me around 11 minutes to complete), average heart rate for this tends to be in the 160's. Then, I do whatever I'm focusing on for the day - arms, legs, core and back, whatever. Right now I'm using machines only as I'm trying to build up strength (which is next to nothing), and I'm executing some whimpy squats and planks throughout the day at work as a break from sitting on the computer. lifting is basically 3 sets of 10 reps at whatever weight I can feasibly handle. On the first set I get through the maximum amount of weight I can handle (around 50-70 pounds for arms and back/abs and up to 90 pounds for legs) and then I taper off to a slightly more manageable weight for the rest of the sets. After whatever weight I did, I go back and do cardio for up to half an hour, then finish off with some stretches to try and limber myself up.

Thoughts on this? Any input and ideas for how to maximize the effectiveness of workout would be greatly appreciated

yes, I know free weights are the way to go but I'm so damn intimidated by them, plus paranoid that form is going to suck and I'll end up hurting somewhat sensitive back. goal is to be doing free weights by the time I've been at the gym for 6 months, but for now I'm on the machines.

Oh, I should mention OTHER goals: Lose fat, gain muscle, would really like to flatten stomach.

[Boss Man]

Hi Ziah, good to speak with you.

Firstly I'd say you need to be eating more than you do. Sedentary females need 1,800 calories a day and another 200-300 a day for exercise is a good idea and currently you're only eating 66.66% of the sedentary requirement, so you'll struggle to do what you're needing to do however I can make some useful suggestions for you.

An average day of food looks like this: 1/2 C oatmeal with some raisins, 1 tsp. brown sugar, and a tiny bit of butter with a banana or apple for breakfast (plus multivitamin and 12 ounces of water)

(I would increase the protein content her from things like chicken, ham, turkey, beef or eggs.)

(I would add another meal in here between breakfast and lunch. You've got plenty of options here like microwave baked beans, rice and soup dishes, vegetables including pineapple, celery sticks and carrot, fruits including tomato and cucumber, nuts, peanuts, oat granolas, bread, sandwiches, ham, turkey, beef and pork from a packet, boiled eggs, low sugar yoghurt, flax seeds and wheat thins.

Some of these are partial snacks which can be combined and some are full ones, which you should be able to work out for yourself )

whole wheat bagel with 2 T cream cheese and carrot sticks/hummus for lunch

(I'd include more protein here from aforementioned sources, or include some of the snack options like nuts, or flax seeds for example and then about half way between lunch and dinner have another snack.)

for dinner - usually some sort of protein mixed with pasta or in a soup with salad on the side and a piece of fruit for desert (or no desert at all).

I'd include another snack about 2-3 hours after your dinner to keep your calories topped up.

Gym is usually a mile on the elliptical to get heart rate up (sadly, a mile takes me around 11 minutes to complete), average heart rate for this tends to be in the 160's. Then, I do whatever I'm focusing on for the day - arms, legs, core and back, whatever. Right now I'm using machines only as I'm trying to build up strength (which is next to nothing), and I'm executing some whimpy squats and planks throughout the day at work as a break from sitting on the computer. lifting is basically 3 sets of 10 reps at whatever weight I can feasibly handle. On the first set I get through the maximum amount of weight I can handle (around 50-70 pounds for arms and back/abs and up to 90 pounds for legs) and then I taper off to a slightly more manageable weight for the rest of the sets. After whatever weight I did, I go back and do cardio for up to half an hour, then finish off with some stretches to try and limber myself up.

I wouldn't be too worried about free weights, honestly you'll be fine mixing some free weight in with the machine stuff.

Just get a member of staff to spot you on your first set to check for technique and / or use a mirror to check for techniuqe, then when you know you can do it, you'll be fine on your own.

I'd recommend something like this, based on your 3 sets of 10, which is a 4 day lifting split..

Split 1: Legs / Biceps / Triceps

Squats, 3 sets 10 reps

Lunges, 3 sets 10 reps

Calf raises, 3 sets 10 reps

E-Z bar curls, 2 sets 10 reps

Tricep pressdowns, 2 sets 10 reps

Planks, 30-45 seconds

You're getting secondary stimulus on biceps and triceps from press and row movements in the other split, so no need to do 3 sets on them I feel, hence only 2.


Split 2: Back / Chest / Shoulders

Deadlifts, 3 sets 10 reps

Bench press, 3 sets 10 reps

Cable Rows, 3 sets 10 reps

Shrugs, 3 sets 10 reps

I'd include a 5 minute walk on a treadmill to warm up and then 20 minutes of exercise bike to get a bit of cardio and cool down and do this every weight session.

As for your schedule you could do this on a weekly basis.

Day 1. 40 minutes Treadmil, Elliptical or Exercise bike

Day 2. Split 1 + cardio

Day 3. Split 2 + cardio

Day 4 Day off

Day 5. Split 1 + cardio

Day 6. Split 2 + cardio

Day 7. Day off

Most importantly, try to remember the bigger picture, which is you're doing this for your inner health, not primarily for how you look on the outside and also remember that it is your right as a female to be strong if you want to be, so ignore all the rubbish you might hear about looking manly or staying on the treadmill where you belong, as that's all rubbish and just be proud of yourself for these choices, because it's not about who you used to be, who you could become and I'm proud of you for doing positive things with your life, trying to be strong and making more of the person you are and this site will support you as much as we think we can when you want us to, so keep us updated and GOOD LUCK

[ziah]

Wow, thank you so much for your input. I've been really lost as to scheduling, days off, how much to do and when, etc. This is extraordinarily helpful, I really appreciate the level of detail you went into. I was worried about calorie intake, too, I want to lose weight but I also don't want to get malnourished and I've been hungry a lot with the whole 1200 cal/days.

I have four free training sessions left, I'm definitely going to ask a staff member to help me out with form on squats and lunges. I tried the planks earlier when I went to the gym and shockingly I was able to do 3 for 45 seconds! The last one was a bit of a struggle, but I kept it together, so that was a nice surprise

Thanks again, I'll be printing this out and hopefully will have a nice update with progress in a few weeks or so

[Boss Man]

Do keep us updated when you can, as we always like to know how people get on and whatever else you need, please just ask, because we will try what we can to help .

[toddhicks209]

Get more calories. I've heard that we're supposed to consume 2000 to 3000 calories a day. Also, it's important to get an adequate amount of protein to help your muscles grow strong.

[ziah]

Thanks, I've already been upping calories. I'm up at around 1500 now but I'll probably up it some more as I get into the swing of things. And, I'm already on that protein grind, ordered up some Whey Protein today because intake has been low and right now there's no other feasible way for me to add it in other than a protein shake.

Also, Boss Man, can I just say WOW? I did the first split on Friday, and legs STILL haven't recovered.

[Boss Man]

That's cool Ziah, I'm really proud of you for pushing yourself like this, I really am and I'm sure you're going to reap the benefits when you keep at it.

The soreness, is just DOMS, (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), which usually occurs within 24 hours of a workout. It happens to some but not all people and sometimes not in all the places worked when it does, but in time you may find the sensation lessens.

You could include a 5 minute treadmill walk and / or some stretching post-workout to try and relieve it a bit, but that's up to you.

If you need any advice about protein powders, just let us know, but good work and keep on pushing and regarding the calories, definitely get those up obviously and the quicker the better .

These things take a bit of time to understand, but you'll get there, just keep believing .

[ziah]

Thanks for the encouraging words! The DOMS is a bit difficult (especially the burning from the lunges) but it's just something I need to get through in order to get where I'm going, so it's okay

I do have a weird question though. I don't have the chest strength to complete a bench press even just with the bar, so I substituted chest flies on the chest fly machine. I experienced a really weird sensation on left side, at the top of pecs, like muscles were grinding or crunching together weirdly. It hurt, not a stabbing pain, but a really indescribable, but tolerable pain while it made this audible (to me) crunching noise. Just on the left side, not the right. I lightened the weight, checked form, etc., but it persisted and it was so strange that it entirely put me off of doing anymore work on the machine for that night. Any thoughts on that? Has anyone experienced it?

[Boss Man]

Swap barbell benching for dumbbell benching, then the machine problem can be eliminated, as if you were using a pec deck which it sounds like you were, you might have been using the wrong setting. The grips could have been too far back possibly, but dumbbell benching would suit you better, as barbell benching is okay for females, but as females have an obvious genetic difference in their chests that can influence how you bench with a bar, but with dumbbells this concern is pretty much eliminated.

Remember that a bar will .almost certainly load bear in the middle, so using dumbbells that are exactly half the barbell weight could cause you to struggle, because then exactly half the barbell weight is used in each arm, whereas with a bar it probably isn't, so use dumbbells that individually weigh around 80% - 90% of the barbell weight.

I realised this years ago, when I found E-Z Bar curls with double the curl weight were a little easier and I could increase them slightly, but therefore the opposite applies as I just discussed.

You'll also be able to get the dumbbells down a little lower than a barbell, but you'll only need to get your arms down to parallel not lower, if you couldn't do that with the barbell.

As for the DOMS, it should lessen over time possibly to the point where you won't feel it again.

[ziah]

This has all been so informative and great! I'm definitely feeling better about routine and leaving the gym feeling like I got stuff done. Also, I've discovered muscles I didn't even know existed thanks to the DOMS, it's cool.

I'm up to around 1500 cals per day lately, but I have some questions about diet.

Breakfast still = oatmeal with whole milk, raisins, an apple or banana, a tsp. of sugar, and butter, or an egg with a whole wheat toasted bagel.

Mid-morning snack is a string cheese with pita chips or nuts, lunch is a portion of chicken breast and brown rice. Mid afternoon, a protein bar, dinner is the same as it was before (aka, whatever I end up making - usually a soup or pasta of some sort with a protein source, veggie - either raw carrots and peppers or boiled frozen corn/peas. Occasionally steamed broccoli). Any desert is minimal and either home-made or very carefully portion-controlled. sweet tooth has definitely reduced, if a craving strikes I'll drink a glass of water first, then go for a small amount of very dark chocolate or an apple.

I feel like I should be eating more vegetables, though. The thing is, I do shopping on a weekly basis because that helps me to stay within budget. Can you recommend some veggies that could conceivably keep throughout the week but also have a good nutritional punch?

[Boss Man]

Hey Ziah, good to talk to you again and CONGRATS on the continued hard work, you're doing great .

Well if you want vegetables that last a good while then potatoes are a good one as you can boil, mash or bake them and you could go for sweet or red, but white are okay in moderation and onions should be pretty sturdy. Also as pineapple has no seeds in it it's a vegetable and they have pretty hardy exteriors, so they should be good and Bromelain in pineapple is also a protease, or a protein digesting enzyme to give it its proper description, so that is potentially useful in helping to digest some of your food.

Garlic usually lasts quite a while and is good for healthy content like Allicin, as would parsley and parsley is a good source of vit B and iron.

If you're interested in knowing, peppers contain seeds, so they're fruits. Corn is a grain and peas are legumes.

This won't make any difference to how you use them, but I thought you might be interested to know what they really are as opposed to considering them as vegetables .

As for other options, Mushrooms are not vegetables, but you might want to think about them if you don't already as they have a very good protein and carb ratio, approximately 50/50 for the small button ones I believe.

Cauliflowers are pretty hardy ones too and can usually boil or steam the florets.

Good to hear from you again and keep us updated and remember you ARE worth it and you CAN do it .