Exercise tips for a new whole 30 convert

[Biglew71]

I'm looking for advice on what type of exercise routine (non gym) would be good to start in conjunction with my Whole 30. I am 33 years old, 6 ' 1", and weigh 350. While there was a time when I was in good shape, I have not worked out in a while. I am still pretty strong and have moderate to low cardio fitness. My weight makes body weight exercises a challenge...can't do pullups, perpendicular inverted rows, not many pushups, etc. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[djoyce]

Hey

Not too long ago I was fairly sedentary. I was 307 Lbs and wearing 50" pants. I was concerned about my health and fitness and I was 39. In a weekend, I made a conscious decision to get moving and make some changes. Weight was less important to me than being able to move and be active / healthy.

I started pretty modestly with some weights at the gym, walking and a cycle of Cardio and resistance training every other day with one rest day a week. I committed to do it every morning (because lunches get busy and it is too easy to find an excuse in the evening) and decided to give it my all when working out (no reason to do a 1/2 a$$ effort if you are there anyways). Of course, nutrition is 80% of the effort. Nobody can work off a bad diet!

I progressed to doing 2 half marathons, a mini-triathlon and I am currently doing P90X and Insanity. As always, be smart, work just outside your comfort zone and consistency is key. You need to find something you love to do and make a commitment. There is nothing worse that daily drudgery to "get the workout done".

I am now 41 and I have developed a culture / habit of exercise. It is part of my day. Once this happens, a daily dose of intensity is all you need. I don't want to paint the picture that I am a male underwear model or anything because I am still a big guy with lots to lose... but I am making progress and living much more active now that I was two years ago.

Hope this helps. I really like the BeachBody home workouts - www. beachbody.com. They are not for everyone but being a big guy, it can be tough going to a gym and sweating, learning in front of other gym rats. Home routines do allow you to workout with your shirt off (when hot) without 50 comments a week on form, suggestions, etc. As a nice side effect, working out at home helped to get my kids more interested in being active and living more healthy. A big win-win.

To workout at home, you need to be very disciplined. TV, Internet and other distractions (lazyboy) can easily get in the way. Consistency is key!

Cheers

DJ

[Tom Denham]

I really like the body weight exercises described in Convict Conditioning - http://www.amazon.com/Convict-Conditioning-Weakness-Survival-Strength/dp/0938045768/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346189784&sr=1-1&keywords=convict+conditioning.

The book gives 10 steps for 6 exercises - pushups, squats, pullups, etc. The first steps are easy. For example, you start pushups with wall pushups. You don't have to manage all your weight with wall pushups, but you can get a serious arm, chest, and lat workout doing them. I made myself sore doing too many at first. You may never finish all 10 steps because the 10th step for pushups is doing one-arm pushups. Many enthusiasts spend years working through the steps. The cool thing is that you can get a good, all around workout on whatever step you can handle.

[JimS]

I second Convict Conditioning. You don't have to do pushups, pullups and other movements as prescribed. There are ways to scale every major movement pattern. More than anything else, the biggest key with exercise is finding something that resonates with you and keeps you interested. Consistent, good effort a few times per week over the course of a couple years, when combined with solid nutrition will yield amazing results.

[jhmomi]

The Mark's Daily Apple site has some nice videos that show the progression through levels of varying difficulty for push-ups. There are also videos for squats, overhead press, planks and pull-ups.

At the beginning of the year I couldn't even do ONE good push-up, but I did 45 on my 45th birthday.

My current goal is to do one unassisted pull-up by the end of the year...

Good Luck with your exercise program!!!

Push-ups:

http://www.marksdail.../#axzz24tMyfrbc

Pull-ups:

http://www.marksdail.../#axzz24tMyfrbc

[Tom Mitchell]

Just start somewhere. Stat's 6'2" March 2012 - 250lb now 200lb. I was a lot like you I thought I was strong but really I could not do more than 5 pushups and could hardly even with jumping do a single pullup/chinup. So I was not as strong as I thought.

This is what I have done that is working for me. I walk an hour at lunch (almost 4 miles). During that walk I stop about every 1/2 mile and do a body weight exercise (for me that was 8 stops). So say Monday I do pushups, I started from my knees or elevated on a park bench. Each time I go to near max or stop when form starts to get bad. Tuesday I would do squats, Wednesday park bench dips, Thursday pushups again and Friday lunges. Ok I do get some strange looks. But who cares. If I was near a park with monkey bars I would reverse pullups (jump up and let self down slow). Still can not do a pullup or chinup. But I have seen great improvement. Yesterday I was able to do 30 regular pushups at my first stop and ended up doing 160 total. I mixed them a by doing some regualar, some elevated and some with feet higher than hands. Squats have always been easy for me so doing 200 to 250 during that hours is common. Lunges are harder and form fails faster.

What I noticed. I have pec's, that is so cool never had those before. Well I did have man boobs .

Even with all that said eating is what had to change. Before this months Whole30 I used Intermittent Fasting and eating Paleo to lose a lot of the weight. The walking at lunch was great since it kill my appetite and could skip lunch even if I had skipped breakfast.

Like I said start somewhere and GOOD LUCK.

[Derval]

Some great advice & intresting reading here!

[Fergatron]

If you want to train at home, you can gather some pretty good tools cheaply. Hit up some websites and see if you can grab some cheap kettle bells or dumbbells. These would really work for starting off getting in shape. You can make alot of stuff too! try filling a basketball with sand to a weight, and using it as a med ball..you can throw it, clean it, press it, slam it, endless movements.

Get to gallon jugs, and introduce them to your push up and press up workouts, farmers walks, deadlifts, cleans, swings! hold them by your side and do step ups onto a platform. Again you can do so much.

fill a wheelbarrow and do weighted walks with it.

Get a huge stone and do some strongman stuff too!

Though just take it easy and enjoy it, it'll take time but it'll be worth it

[Laura B]

Hi Biglew71! Welcome to the Whole 9 community. Just get moving, no matter what that is. Don't take shortcuts (elevator, parking close, etc) and stay positive!

Good luck

[Biglew71]

Wow! Thanks to everyone for the great advice! I will be exploring the videos, books, and suggestions over the weekend. I have been caught up in finding the "right" routine...best advice given..." have fun" and "get moving". I am ready to go on the attack! I'd also like to give a special thanks to those of you who answered both of my forum questions.

[Aberrantatavia]

Get moving in some way is key, it doesn't matter what it is... I started taking the stairs at work, which is the 4th floor and 12 sets of stairs. I'm still huffing when I get to the top, but I keep doing it. Usually with a big back pack on and a bag of food for the day. Once you start moving, you will want to keep moving. walking for the sake of walking isn't as motivating sometimes as walking because you need to get somewhere. Walk to the store or drive into the town where you will be shopping and then walk from place to place. 5 minutes 6 times a day is still 30 minutes of movement a day....