Want to get in shape for summer? Join in...

[Predator_05]

Haven't been to the gym in the past month. When I went, I used to go 3-4 times a week for , on an average, a 45 min workout. This included running for around 3 miles in 20 minutes, cycling with very high resistance for 15 minutes and then winding down with dumbbells and crunches. I play about 4-5 sets of tennis over the weekend and an hour or two of badminton/football over the weekdays. I'm 5'10 and weigh 72 kgs. Any positives/negatives Lurker/Dhondy/Predator?

Diet looks fine for the most part. You could add another meal and possibly eat more for lunch or dinner - double up on the sandwiches. I prefer stuffing my sandwiches with tuna and some turkey slices. Lose the pizza. I don't find salads to be filling, but if you do, that's alright. However - caeser salad dressing is crap. Use olive oil or something instead. If you can't, just eat the veggies/chicken without using the dressing. Get yourself a grill and roast some chicken breasts on it...easy protein. Your gym routine looks good, very active. If it works for you and you like the way you look and feel, keep it up. Ultimately, it all depends on what your personal goals are.

[Lurker]

Arey...yeh toh jyaada ho gaya .... do u think I can eat 5 meals a day ??!!! I'm currently on 2 a day :sad_smile:

Abbe hero dhyaan se baat sun. You are 6ft 2. Your average daily calorofic need would be atleast 3000 calories. Plus you are under 25, your metabolism is huge and you need to gain weight so lets say you need 3500 calories daily. Samjha meri baat? Now lets see how 3500 calories pan out. If you take 2 meals that should mean about 1750 calories per meal. 1 banana = 100 calories 1 orange = 100 calories cup of cooked rice = 300 calories glass of milk = 150 calories. If you eat 2 cup of rice(600 calories), 2 glass of milk(300 calories), 2 banana(200), 2 oranges (200) all of them together you still have 1300 calories only. And trust me you wont be able to eat that much. Issiliye kahta hoon ke eat more. Chal 5 nahin 3 se shuru karo. Try to have 3 meals in March, then 4 in April, 5 in May. Chalega?

my friend uses Coach's Formula Whey protein , is it any good ? Any other recommendations ?

Yes will do. Make sure you add a spoon of peanut butter/macademia butter/olive oil to get in healthy fats along with protein.

[Dirty_South]

Thnx fitness guru Will keep u updated :)

[Guest dada_rocks]

Kaisa Bihari hai re tu Cup se measure kar ke chawal khata hai.. :D

[Lurker]

Thnx fitness guru Will keep u updated :)

Bilkool lage raho. Good luck and dont hesitate to gimme a shout. Try to shoot for adding 2 kg per month. Stick with whey protein, milk/yogurt, and dry fruits(raw).

[kumble_rocks]

I want to give yoga a shot. Specially for flexibility. Lately I seem to be losing that. Any recommendation KR?

Yes , Depending upon your flexibility I would start with following asanas - 1. Cat pose or marjariasana - You can find more information here - Very good asana for the spine - http://www.movingintostillness.com/book/asana_guidelines.html#Cat%20Pose http://www.movingintostillness.com/book/images/cat4.jpg 2. Locust pose or Shalabhasana - Very good asana for the back and abdominal organs http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/yogapractice/thelocust.asp 3. Back pose or Bhujagasana - Very good for the back http://www.yogajournal.com/media- 4. Uttana Padasana - Good for digestion and lower back - http://ashtangayoga.info/asana-vinyasa/finishing-positions/07-Uttana-Padasana.html 5. Pavan Muktasana - Good for reducing abdominal fat and expulsion of gas !:D http://www.womenfitness.net/yoga_abdomen.htm 6. Finally you can also do surya namaskar 6 to 12 times a day - This is a series of 12 yoga sequence - http://www.santosha.com/asanas/suryanamaskar.html Some of the links are from different sources for your perusal. But I think you can start with these basic asanas and Surya namaskar . I do some pranayamam also - The easiest one is alternate breathing anuloma viloma. Extremely good for the heart and lungs . http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/pranayama/basic/viloma.asp

[Shehezaada]

Hey Lurker and co: I think this is such an amazing idea! I have no concept of fitness though, let me start with what i'm all about. My stats and vested interests: Age: 19 Weight: 153 lb Height: 5'9 I'm a cricketer and that's the main reason I want to get fitter. I also want my body to look good (ok guys i know i'm superficial!). I'm a batsmen, and I have no problem finding the ropes because I hit the ball hard. But I want to hit the ball harder, how do I achieve this through fitness? Do I work on the triceps, biceps, or a combo of other things? Second of all, I want to reach a height of 6 ft. How? Guys the reason I think this is such a good idea is because we can report to it every single day and keep motivating each other. Great stuff!

[Dhondy]

Are there any Indians in the world below 5'9"?

[Dhondy]

Hey Lurker and co: I am 19. Second of all, I want to reach a height of 6 ft. How?

It's a bit late, but Observer can help. Some strategically placed bone grafts in the right places, and presto, you gain 3 inches. The alternative is a brain graft. It makes you think you are taller. I specialise in that. My private clinic number is available under my profile.

[Lurker]

I'm a cricketer and that's the main reason I want to get fitter. I also want my body to look good (ok guys i know i'm superficial!). I'm a batsmen, and I have no problem finding the ropes because I hit the ball hard. But I want to hit the ball harder, how do I achieve this through fitness? Do I work on the triceps, biceps, or a combo of other things?

Shehzaada, I wont be able to help you much with the height thingy but yes we can certainly work on getting you stronger. To hit the ball harder the strength would basically have to come from your shoulder & back and then transport thru your arms finally into your wrist. So the key muscle group are back, shoulders, arms, wrist here. You dont need to do anything extra special(unless you want to buff up more than you want to succeed as a batsman). I can design a sample routine for you that you can follow, apart from a bit of tip on your diet. You may have to give me some information as to how you can work out(access to gym or do you have some weights at home), plus if you can spend a bit on supplements(protein powder). And yes it would be superb if you could keep us updated regularly. That is the way I am also looking at it. If we have enough people we can sort of maintain a log to see how things are working out, and if a person is stuck help him with the issue. xxx

[suraj]

First up, this thread is NOT for you if you: 1) Beleive staying in shape is only for meterosexual male and slutty females. 2) Would much rather prefer to wear three piece suits, or full length salwar suit/saree in summer. Not because you like it but because it hides those extra baggage. 3) Keep pushing the agenda of getting in shape for next year. If you seriously beleive in any of those I humbly suggest this thread is not for you. However if you have made it past those points first up give yourself a pat on your back. YOU realize you have work to do and lets use this forum to better ourself. I mean surely there has to be more to life(and ICF) than discussing SRT/Kumble 24*7 or wonder why Bal Thackeray is a loony. None of those issues affect our daily lives but our health surely does. Today is 12th Feb. If we make a target of June 1st as deadline that means a total of 109 days till start of summer. That is a solid 15+ plus weeks. This is also a time when most festivities - Dusshera, Diwali, New Years, Christmas etc has become history and needless to say we all have packed some pounds. So before the summer arrives and out comes the top and muscle t-shirt lets inspire each other, and ourselves, and get to our best health. We have a bunch of certified gym rats - Gator, Predator, yours truly. Then we have people with enough knowledge who are not as regular(Varun). Plus we have people who have a very active lifestyle - Dhondy & Shwetabh. Lets pool in our resources and work to better ourselves. If we have enough participation I would even make this a competition with awards for 1-2-3. And even those who do not win will be winners in the sense their health would be better, and so would their self-confidence and life overall. So dont wait. If you have wanted to lose weight, chisel your body, add extra pounds your effort starts right here. Join in one and all. Cheers!

Its not summer for us here in Northeast USA:sad_smile: and its not going to be for a while:((

[Lurker]

Its not summer for us here in Northeast USA:sad_smile: and its not going to be for a while:((

Which is why I said June 1st as the date summer would be there and why we have 109 days to go. I am sure June 1st would be summer time in NorthEast as well Suraj. :D

[liddu]

gud thread lurker.......

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

Nice thread with some really good inputs by Lurker. The previous fitness thread was a cracker. For the last 3 years I have been religiously following a fitness regime of jogging & and gymming (each of them thrice a week for 45 mins to 1 hour) with Sundays reserved for Cricket, Football and TT. However, about 4 months ago I over-exerted myself by playing football and badminton for more than 4 hours at a stretch & since then whenever I've tried to jog, this terrible ache in my shin bones makes me stop. My doctor asked me to give it a months rest and change my jogging shoes. she also prescribed some calcium tablets but they didnt really help. I tried brisk walking a couple of times, but it doesnt make me feel anywhere as good as jogging. As a result I've put on 3 kilos since then. I intend to join Yoga classes next month. Want to see how good it is.

[Lurker]

^^ Pain killer, since you already go to the gym why not use some other cardio machines? My personal favorite is Elliptical trainer, also called cross-trainer. I dont jog so much since jogging tends to make me lose muscle from my legs. Elliptical trainer is great in burning calories and also it doesnt hurt your knees since you dont land on your feet. Plus since you have been jogging for a while, 3 years, this would change your routine and shock your body.

[The Outsider]

Haven't read the entire thread, but though I am generally pretty fit(have put on some extra pounds over the past few months), have never been into counting stuff like calories etc. Just try to keep things simple by playing squash as regularly as I can and generally being outdoors during the day on my free days doing whatever suits the mood - biking, water sports, or just a casual stroll in the city. The fact that I am not too fond of oily and greasy food anyways makes things easier to keep the calorie intake low without making too much effort.

[Ram]

With respect to the Yoga, how safe is it, to learn Yoga through non-conventional sources ? ie , through books and videos on the internet ? I know that Yoga is a combination of body postures and breathing control, so, potentially, could things go wrong if did it the wrong way ? KR, are you aware of any videos on the net that are good ways to start ? I found plenty of videos on Yoga on youtube/google videos, but am a bit confused on which one to start with. On a general note, the way I try to envisage my well-being is to divide it into three parts - Physical well-being, mental-well being, spiritual well-being. Physical well being - The general health of the body, the fitness part of it. Physical fitness is important for any of us to carry out any day to day activity, be it travel to work, or clean the house or even, go out on a hike. We couldnt possibly be huffing and puffing all along, as we do our work, or have fun.Physical well-being can be attained through a combination of healthy eating habits, regular exercise and a hygienic lifestyle. Mental Well being - I think most of us dont give importance to this aspect. If any of you havent noticed already, just think for a while now and you will realize that our mental faculties ( ie, intelligence, memory, quick thinking) seem to be on the wane as we grow older and we just accept it as a natural progression of the human body. I beg to disagree, I have seen 24 year old students who are pathetically dumb and cant even remember their phone numbers and I have 70 year old emeritus professors think like flash and remember massive amounts of information. I think this has got a lot to do with how we train our mind. Like how we tend to forget a language if we havent spoken it for a while, or dont seem to be able to ski as well this time coz it was a while since we skied, I believe the more we use our brain, the better it gets. As teenagers, we on a terrific "brain work-load" as i would call it, having to remember lots of things ( like formulas, history,geography), and had to think a lot ( assignments, exams). But as we grew older, that work-load reduced drastically and therefore, our brain went out of practice, which is why, it now seems as though we arent as intelligent as we once were and are not able to remember as many things as we once did. The solution for this, obviously, is to keep giving your brain such tough mental exercises for it to stay sharp and quick. I would recommend people try to solve tough logical puzzles once in a while/ do Sudoku everyday, or have hobbies that require high powers of concentration ( like painting and do memory exercises like trying to take a 200 word para and try to memorize it in 5 mins or try to remember phone numbers etc The benefits can be massive, both in life and work. Not only will we become much more nimble on our feet, we will be able to remember more things, for longer. We wont be absent minded, we will be able plan/forecast better. Spiritual well-being - This aspect is very important to build your patience/temper control/ have a stress-free life. Pranayama, meditation and Yoga are some of the well known methods to achieve this. I am of the opinion that just going to gym and working out, staying lean and fit isnt the ultimate aim of "fitness". Fitness must mean everything - Mind, body, spirit. Even if one of the three isnt where it should be, now matter how hard we work to keep up one of the three, the unhealthy member will always keep affecting the other.

[coffee_rules]

I am 5'10" and weigh about 200 lbs. I am about 20-25 lbs overweight. I don't look though. I have been trying to lose the extra weight for almost 5-6 years. I had reached 190 and then regained everything on one visit to India for a month. My problem is when I get sick/flu, I lose the exercise routine and it's hard to get back on the gym. Binge eating is another problem. This setting target thingy will probably work. I have consulted a dietician, have a diet plan, but difficult to follow as at home I am a veggie. Eat meat at work. Got to get on the treadmill in the basement everyday. With manging kids and pressure at work makes it diffcult.

[Ram]

Pardon me If i am sounding a bit rude, but that just sounds like a load of excuses to me. P.S - If you are 5'10, You need to around 155-165 lbs

[apocalypse]

I dont know what your Dietician told you but you may drop cheese from your diet. That will take 10 pounds in 2 months. Also try reducing rice in your diet.