any fitness tips?

[reecejwilson]

Hey hey 

With lock-down and all, I've really been inspired to think about fitness and wellbeing (for once), for years I've always dreamed of having this toned, somewhat muscular body with solid abs. I've never really gym'd properly, whenever I go I only end up using the treadmill & rowing machine because I just don't know how to use the other equipment and I have such anxiety  like I'm using it wrong or people are staring , so i've just not bothered  . I'm pretty skinny, but that's about it. I feel like I hate my body, I'd love it more if I were in this desired shape. It's hard to explain.

My diet is pretty great, but I'm vegetarian. I eat loads of pulses, vegetables and I make smoothies whenever I have fruit - my go to is 2 bananas, a spoonful of peanut butter, soya milk & honey. But I'd love to know more. I'd love to learn how to incorporate whey powder into my daily diet and know more about what foods to eat. 

I wanna get ripped and I feel that it's the right time to get stay committed. Any other exhalers that are experienced in working out/muscle building be able to share some tips + advice? 

 

[Jordan Miller]

2 minutes ago, reecejwilson said:

my go to is 2 bananas, a spoonful of peanut butter, soya milk & honey.

This sounds more like a dessert  

I would incorporate more veggies into your smoothies and ditch the bananas, peanut butter and honey unless you're burning a lot of energy. 

I just finished a workout and am having a smoothie made of:

• handful of ice cubes
• frozen baby spinach
• two frozen strawberries
• 1 scoop whey isolate protein powder
• 1 scoop of creatine
• unsweetened almond milk
• handful of chia seeds
• 1/3 cup of oats

I love that you want to dial your nutrition in more! I am actually working with someone right now on upping my diet game more. 

[reecejwilson]

Just now, JordanMiller said:

This sounds more like a dessert  

I thought I was being super healthy with this  it did taste a bit like a milkshake, so I had my doubts. I've added chia seeds in recently too...so there's that  

Once lock-down is over I'm going to look into finding a really good personal trainer. I feel so ready to commit to this! I'm sick of having that skinny appearance, it could be worse I guess  I saw your instagram and I was like, okok I need to get my head in the GAME!  I know it's not gonna be easy, but It's about time. did you find it hard at the beginning? Like, whenever I try using the equipment I always find myself using the 1 bar starting at 42 KG. It just sucks because I know I capable of doing wayyyy better. 

Thanks for the smoothie tip and thanks for inspiring me!!! 

[Jordan Miller]

4 minutes ago, reecejwilson said:

I thought I was being super healthy with this  it did taste a bit like a milkshake, so I had my doubts. I've added chia seeds in recently too...so there's that  

Once lock-down is over I'm going to look into finding a really good personal trainer. I feel so ready to commit to this! I'm sick of having that skinny appearance, it could be worse I guess  I saw your instagram and I was like, okok I need to get my head in the GAME!  I know it's not gonna be easy, but It's about time. did you find it hard at the beginning? Like, whenever I try using the equipment I always find myself using the 1 bar starting at 42 KG. It just sucks because I know I capable of doing wayyyy better. 

Thanks for the smoothie tip and thanks for inspiring me!!! 

My advice is... don't wait ~until this is over~. No time like the present! Start now. There's an infinite amount of at-home workouts on IG. I've been doing those as well as what my CrossFit gym programs. 

Also don't beat yourself up about 1 bar, 2 bar, etc. Focus on one step at a time here and now versus what you think you should be doing or could be doing. Be nice to your mind and body and they will be nice back

[reecejwilson]

4 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

There's an infinite amount of at-home workouts on IG

I know, Sam Asghari has a few. I follow Bully Juice's workouts, they are pretty good!  I tried that whole 100 push up/100 sit up a day challenge, but I couldn't get past 20  again, it's all about time and improvement eh  do you think 5 minute plank everyday would be effective?

4 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

Focus on one step at a time here and now versus what you think you should be doing or could be doing.

Thanks man  I understand what you're saying. Like imagine myself in 6 months or 1 year, it's getting me really hyped! 

Do you think it's worth ordering a dumbell set on Amazon? 

[Roxxy]

I do crunches when I wake up. It's nothing special but it's what I do to atleast maintain my body because I wear crop tops a lot. 

[theannehedonia]

Exercise. 

[Urbanney]

During normal, non-pandemic times, I do a PPL lifting routine at the gym, which is Push-Pull-Legs. One day is the exercises and muscle groups that require a pushing movement (Chest, triceps, shoulders), second day is exercises and muscle groups that require you to pull (biceps and back), and last day is legs and abs. So for push day, you would do bench press, military press, tricep extensions, etc. For pull day, you would do deadlifts, curls, pull-ups, etc. For leg/ab day, you would do squats, leg press, calf raises, crunches, etc. 

This website has a list of useful bodyweight or minimal equipment exercises for the PPL routine at home with instructions in proper form, which I’ve been using to try to replace my gym exercises with similar movements at home. There’s a lot of content that will be useful on /r/fitness (look for their wiki page) and /r/bodyweightfitness. I can list out my own routine if you want, but I’m not expert and I can’t guarantee that it’s the most optimal for beginners. I just know it’s been the most optimal for my own self. 

Since you say you’re skinny and want to gain muscle, you’ll want to focus on eating more calories than your body uses to stay at the same weight and eating a lot of protein. You won’t be able to gain muscle without these 2 things. Your body can’t create new mass without having a surplus of calories and enough protein. The most “sure” way to do this is to find the amount of calories your body uses to stay at your current weight (TDEE), add 500 calories or less to that number (clean bulk) or over 500 calories to that number (dirty bulk), and then track your foods in MyFitnessPal to make sure that you’re getting enough calories. Clean bulk is recommended for health and it’s easier. For protein, the general rule of thumb is to eat about 1g of protein per body weight pound that you have. 

If you don’t want to go through the hassle of tracking your foods, you can just do your best to make sure that you’re eating enough and eating a lot of protein while working out, but you won’t have a way of knowing for sure that you’re getting what you need to build muscle.

For getting abs, the focus is really on being lean. Abs are “made in the kitchen” aka through your diet and calorie count. A bulk will actually go against this generally, as you usually can’t get leaner while also building muscle. Getting leaner requires you to consume less calories while gaining muscle requires you to consume more calories. You would probably want to bulk and consume more calories first, then “cut” by cutting calories once you have the muscles you want but still consuming around the same amount of protein to keep your muscles.

You can expect to see changes probably within 6 weeks at the absolute earliest (slight changes), and slightly more noticeable changes within a few months, but building muscle is a long process. You will need the discipline to just take things day-by-day and getting yourself to workout most days of the week.

Also, no one cares about what you’re doing at the gym unless you’re doing something completely outrageous or dangerous, which I doubt you are.

[Charlotte_the_Harlot]

You should try to search some clips on youtube, there'a a lot of good and useful information.
Currently I'm working on my body too (but I'm female), few years ago I was very active and fit, but didn't have much muscles, I wasn't so aware how to work out properly.
From what I know now, if you want to gain muscle mass, you have to combine excersises with eating more 
It would be the best if you would eat more protein (it's harder when you're a vegan, but you can buy protein sumplements), you need to eat more overall. You won't gain any muscles if you'll excercise a lot while being on caloric deficit (caloric deficit is when you eat less calories than you body needs). Your muscles need to be nourished if you want them to grow. 
 

[reecejwilson]

19 hours ago, Urbanney said:

Also, no one cares about what you’re doing at the gym unless you’re doing something completely outrageous or dangerous, which I doubt you are.

Thank's SO much for your advice Urbanney, I'll definitely take everything on board. It really means a lot!!!   

[conceptuel]

how can't y'all eat (drink?) those smoothies though  makes me want to throw up tbh