My name is Trevor and I've become a fan of the local brewery. Unfortunately my overindulgence with the Amber Ale has caused me to gain weight. I've gained 17 pounds since this time last year. This is not helped by the fact that I've become addicted to the World of Warcraft and sit in front of the computer for 5 or 6 hours nightly.
My goals are to limit the consumption of alcohol, watch my caloric intake, and start to ride a bike to work and back once the weather starts to cooperate (Colorado). Gradually I'll work in some weight lifting if my financial situation allows. I'm not particularly interested in becoming overly muscular but I understand that gaining muscle tissue helps you burn more calories even when you are at rest. I could get onboard with that.
drink wine or spirits
wine is 500cals a bottle
beer belly's are usually water retention
im not gonan lie, weight training is **** awesome
makes you feel man like, increases metabolism and burns calories while you do it
i suggest you get into the gym 4 times a week, do back legs shoulders and chest
(dont even bother with arms if you're starting, they will get worked out on all the other exercises)
pick four exercises with each
try and stick to barbell and dumbells (as they emply stabalising muscles, machine are ****, end of.)
always start light, spend the first 2 weeks getting your form correct
exrx.net << for exercises
remember, Never skip out a muscle group
my mate benches 90 kg but only rows 75 - 80 kg and has postural problems now
for ever muscle you work out, on another day you should be working out the opposite muscles
i can post a routine some time if you wish
Ya dude I read your situation although it's a bit late now I have to say your situation was my situation a year ago. I was addicted to world of warcraft and I drank alot of beer (First year of uni) so eventually I developed a beer belly.
After experimenting/procrastinating for half a year I finally understood the key to losing weight. From what I understand from a male's perspective you don't lose weight, what you lose is fat. You will definitely gain alot of weight but it's all muscle. So just like what 321123 said you HAVE to do every part of your muscle group because there is no such thing as spotting and you will find that it is the most efficient way of gaining muscle/losing weight.
The first problem you will encounter is trying to figure out the routines for each muscle group, I was intimidated at first when I realized that I had to do 4-5 routines for each muscle group to see any real growth but you will get use to that. Stick to 3 at first for each muscle group.
Alright so basically first thing you do is learn routines, learn how much weight you can do 10 reps for each set for 3 sets. And make sure your not ruining your form while your doing it because you have to be able to do the complete motion of the exercise to benefit from it.
I set chest and legs for Monday, Shoulders and Back for Tuesday, chest and legs for Monday, Shoulders and Back for Thursday, Biceps and Triceps for Friday, and then I rest for Saturday and Sunday. For each day I will also incorporate 30 minutes of ab workout (4-5 routines) and 10 mins of jogging then 5mins of sprinting it off at the end. (If you can do more on running then be my guest)
Reason why I chose to do shoulders, back, and legs twice is because those are your BIGGEST muscle groups, you could probably skip the biceps and triceps and you will still see results within a month. I saw my chest coming out in 3 weeks after doing benchpress, it's such a huge difference between doing push ups and doing benchpresses.
I hope you find this helpful as I have been grinding for almost a year through the trial's and errors of the RL gym instance lol peace out.
I'm going to give you the best advice of your life....whether you will take it or not....
Walk away from WoW.
I leveled four toons to max, endgame Naxx raiding....got a divorce, gained 85 pounds....
Walk away and don't look back. It will save your life.
I would love to see or get a web site that has some proper beginners - intermidiate routines. I am joining a gym soon and have founf allot of routines on the web, but most seem beyond my capabilities at present.
Most gyms will have personal trainers...its worth spending the money to get an introductory training session. You can sit down with them, discuss your goals and history, and they'll help you set up a workout that is tailored to your experience level and goals.
I work out at Gold's here in Tallahassee, and they give you 2 free PT sessions for joining.
That way, you can get familiar with that gym's equipment and get a personalized training plan.
When I saw a WoW player, I just had to reply...
I am 223 lbs, 5'11", 37y/o. I was 238 a couple of weeks ago and amazingly I walked out of WoW as part of my whole new routine to lose weight and be a little more active.
I don't drink beer but I have a small beer belly (Go figure). I just wanted to confirm jdw03n about walking from WoW. To me it set in motion a whole bunch of changes including being more active at home (Mind you I am pretty sedentary). I miss all my friends from WoW as I played since the creation up until a couple of months ago when (thanks to the economy) I decided to cut some expenses (best thing I ever done). I now play regular solo games and I can press the pause key and attend to anything instead of being stuck raiding for hours with little breaks.
All this has helped me focus on me and what I am doing with my life. Instead of raiding and feeding my belly, I now clean up the house and feed my belly (that was just an example). I like my eating habits so instead fo going all crazy diet food and exercise, I just decided to cut my portions to reflect my lifestyle.
So in a nutshell, I hope you can attain your goals and if you can consider replacing the WoW hobby for another one that might help you be more mindful of your health. Just an opinion.
Good Luck on your goals and I hope you can achieve it!
If you're low on funds but still want to exercise (and especially if you're a beginner), there are plenty of ways to do resistance training without spending a ton of money on weights or gym memberships.
Doing proper push-ups can require more exertion than one assumes, because many people just don't do them correctly. I started by going here: http://bruins.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=39007
which is a series of videos from the strength & conditioning coach of the Boston Bruins. It's all free, and if you're sitting at your computer for 6 hours at a crack with an Internet connection, use that time more productively to learn about proper push-ups instead! :)
Cardio can be accomplished with jogging at a decent pace (about 4 mph to start, then gradually increase your distance) several times per week.
A sedentary lifestyle requires more commitment to physical activity in order to lose weight, gain muscle, and generally tone up. I work an office job myself and since my background is in IT, I'm on the computer at home several hours a day as well, so I have to kick it up several notches to combat that lack of movement during the day.
Good luck!
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