AlexTheNextOne

Would something like this suffice? http://www.amazon.ca/Custom-Leathercraft-125L-Handyman-Gloves/dp/B0002YPZLI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421092848&sr=8-1&keywords=work+gloves

Well, after a bit of a hiatus due to injury and other personal issues, I have returned to the rebel base! Simply put, I'm looking for a good pair of outdoor gloves to be used for outdoor calisthenics. Calisthenics are to be my new focus, after a lot of soul searching. No more gyms for me. So here are some points I want to make to help with anyone's suggestions, and some requirements I need for the gloves, as well: - I live up in Canada, so when I want to do some outdoor calisthenics in Winter, like finding a public park and using a bar, it's gonna get cold. I need gloves that entirely cover my hands, unless there is a good reason why they should still have the fingertips showing, like a reason having to do with grip, etc. - Need to have good enough grip for said outdoor bar that I might use in a park - Money is tight, so I can't necessarily shell out an arm and a leg for gloves, unless the price is WELL worth it - Again, I live in Canada, so they need to be able to ship to Canada, if they're only online, though I'm sure this won't be a problem - Color of the gloves is not a concern, I guess, unless we're talking about a neon green/pink/orange combo Any suggestions on where I should be looking? Do I have to resort to buying something specialized, online? Thanks in advance!

Do you have any suggestions, considering what my gym has?

Ultimately, I do want to get strong, and I do want it to be through barbell training, but I have trouble with even the low end of the spectrum of dumbbells, so I feel like it would take me quite a while to really start to get strong. Seriously, I've never done hard labor or any amount of heavy lifting in my life.

About three weeks ago, my girlfriend and I decided to finally suck it up and get into shape, once and for all. Clean up our diet (something that I personally don't have to do much of, since I eat pretty well already, and have lost roughly 25 pounds as a result), get a gym membership, everything. No more excuses. We had heard from her brother about a gym nearby that had a price that absolutely could not be beat, so we jumped right in and signed up. It's considered a "beginner's" gym by many people (for anyone up in Canada, it's called Buzzfit), which is good for us, since we are definitely beginners when it comes to getting in shape. Now, in terms of my plan to get in shape, I want to soon develop a workout routine using Steve's "How to Build Your Own Workout Routine" article to be done on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with interval cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the BBWW circuit when I feel like it. Right now, I'm sticking to the BBWW routine three times a week, but I plan to change that. The thing that I have to deal with at the moment when it comes to this gym, however, is their lack of benches with the stands, and olympic barbells with adjustable weights for 100+ lbs. and up. Which means, I can't really do any deadlift training. Sure, they have dumbbells that go up to 80 lbs., but that will only take me so far. And the barbells they DO have are basic, not going higher than maybe 70 lbs., and they aren't adjustable, meaning they have two small racks of a bunch of barbells ranging from 30 up to 70 lbs. Now, considering I'm a complete beginner, and don't have much muscle strength and thus need to start from scratch, is this much of a problem for the moment? Would this gym be enough for me to at least get started, before I reach a point where I would have to find a place with an extensive free weights section? I would think that it would be a problem for me if I already was in "decent" shape, but I'm not. I'm 175 lbs. of NO muscle. Are there any alternative strength exercises to bench presses and deadlifts that I should consider (as a complete beginner) in the meantime, before I need to upgrade? There are a lot of exercises in Steve's article that I CAN still do, and will do, like squats, lunges, hip raises, push ups, incline dumbbell presses, pull ups and chin ups, dumbbell rows, planks, etc., but it's the HEAVY bench pressing and deadlifting that's the main issue.

I know I'm supposed to keep my buttocks and my core as tight as possible when doing the plank portion of the BBWW, but I find it so hard to actually do when I'm breathing so hard as I am, since the BBWW really gives me a run for my money. I can do it for about 30 seconds without much trouble (thinking of maybe increasing the time), but in terms of keeping the muscles tight, I feel like my heavy breathing is keeping me from reaping the real benefits of the plank. Any advice?

From what I've read, and I'm not claiming to have all the facts, it isn't the hummus that bothers me, but the canola oil, on a general level. The PUFAs from all those highly-refined, structurally-damaged-due-to-heat oils (with the exception of extra virgin olive, coconut oil, and avocado oil, of course) are the real killers, I think. And don't even get me started on good ol', unfit-for-human-consumption-in-my-opinion-lest-it-be-fermented-such-as-miso soybean oil.

I have done restrictive dieting in the past, like full-on Paleo, and while I was able to handle it, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I have learned enough from research and from personal experience that I do not want to restrict foods from my diet anymore. I loves my diary, especially cheese, and a bit of bread each day, too. I actually just came across IIFYM eating for the first time, and it really interests me. I think I want to give this a shot. Any authorities on the subject around here that could help me out? I eat pretty well on a regular basis anyways, so it's not like I'd be using this as some sort of excuse to stuff a whole pizza in my face and say "it's for my carb quota for the day". I don't drink soda, fruit juices, or sports drinks, don't eat chips or popcorn except for the rare occasion, like a movie, rarely eat chocolate bars or chocolate in general, and only eat some form of bread in the mornings usually to stabilize my blood sugar and cortisol levels after waking up. I don't do intermittent fasting, and I won't. I am currently going to the gym as well to get in shape, doing the Beginner Body Weight Workout here on NF, and Steve's brand of interval cardio on the off-days. So it's not like I'm ONLY going to do IIFYM to hit a caloric deficit, and expect wonders to come out of it without getting off my butt. Also, as a 28 year-old male with very little muscle strength, I weigh around 175 lbs., so if I've done my calculations properly, I'll need to hit roughly 2,100 calories per day for a (healthy) caloric deficit and begin to lose weight, with my macronutrient quotas being around 175 grams of protein, 70 grams of fat, and around 192.5 grams of carbohydrates per day. Calculations I used were times 1, 0.4, and 1.1, respectively. Are these calculations proper? And considering the low muscle strength, should those numbers actually be slightly lower?

I'm not sure, but from what I've gathered from others here, the bodyweight exercises pretty much cover it, although sometimes I do wonder about the biceps. Though I've been assured that the push ups and dumbbell rows take care of the biceps as well, just not at a rate as fast as the others, like the shoulders or leg muscles, which are apparently more important, anyways. I personally decided on doing the BBWW exercise Steve outlined on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the interval cardio Steve also wrote about, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Which is good, too, since it takes like 25 minutes at most, 'cause who wants to spend an hour or more doing cardio?

Wait, so you're saying every day, or did you mean to say "every other day"? Not trying to be a pest, I'm just trying to figure all this out.

Oh no, that's not what I'm implying. I'm not saying I can do the BBWW like it's nothing, I only mentioned "easy" when compared to his other routines, like the advanced workout, or weight training workouts. The BBWW certainly gives me a run for my money, still.

For example, I've just started doing the BBWW about a week ago, but Steve didn't specifically outline how often one should be doing these exercises. Since they're relatively "easy" to do, and don't require going to a gym necessarily, are they a set of exercises that are generally supposed to be done each day, like in the morning before work, for example?

I hadn't thought about that. Maybe I should drop the weights aside from the dumbbell rows until I get better at the routine in general.

So, aside from harder dumbbell rows, it's steady-as-she-goes, PaulG?