Regular Hobbit levelling up to Awesome in body weight workouts

[moomin]

I'm a regular Hobbit (currently measuring at 5'2 (158 cm), and at 27 years old I don't think I'll get taller anytime soon).

 

And by regular I mean really average. Weighing at 115 lbs (53 kg) with a BMI of 21.4 and body fat percentage of 26%. I'm smack right at the middle of average for my age, sex and ethnicity, I was told.

 

Reassuring right?

 

No. Like all you folks reading this, I don't want to be average, I want to be awesome! Hence I'm starting on my quest to awesomeness here, today.

 

At school, I'd been swimming 3-5 times a week in my school team, and playing badminton. In uni I'd branched out to outdoor stuff -- I hiked quite a lot, canoed and even completed a beginner course in climbing and karate. But then life intervened, I got really busy from both study/work and demanding relationships, and by now I've drifted away from my friends who still climb, canoe and hike. I'm probably too unfit to catch up with them and at any rate these are whole day activities that I can't invest my time in. So these activities, although fun, are out.

 

Now I mostly run for 30 minutes, 3 times a week in my "down" period to keep fit, but when I get busy, I abandon it. I'd be relatively free for one month and quite busy for the other (that's my procrastination problem for ya). I play badminton once a week with my boyfriend but it's more on having fun than playing tough. I swim occasionally.

 

I think I'm doing okay for an average person, but to be awesome, here are my goals:-

1. Gain upper body / core strength - be able to do a pull-up, then be able to handstand!

2. Lose fat and knock that 26% down to something like 20%. 

3. Continue with working out / running when I'm busy. Keep track of this using this forum / on paper.

 

I'm totally new to body weight work outs. I hope I can get to a certain level of fitness AND habit of working out before hitting a gym and committing to a membership.

I just did the four exercises for the angry birds yesterday, but I didn't do some of them properly so I'll go on and try them again tomorrow.  I'll probably be adopting a variation of the beginner's body weight workout for my first regular workout, but I'm still in the routine-setting stage.

 

I'll have a lot of questions while setting up so your support will be greatly appreciated!

[mevre]

hey moomin! i'm a hobbit too! [5'2 as well, 117lb, etc] sounds like you have some solid goals and a decent plan in place. though perhaps not as readily available as one might like, there will always be people here to lend support to those who seek it out. 
forming new habits is incredibly important, but i wonder about the waiting on a gym membership. you might not be this way, but i know that i am more motivated to use something i invested money in simply because i invested money in it. it's a fallacy to reason that way, but hey, if it gets you out the door and lifting/running/whatever, then it's an ok fallacy in my book. 
glad to have you on team NF! keep posting so we can get to know you and see where your journey takes you!

[moomin]

Hi mevre, nice to meet you!

Yeah, working out what routine to use is going to take some time. I think it's really important to be careful because I want it to be a long term habit change.

I know the gym thing doesn't sound very logical, but I figure that if I can't yet handle the bodyweight exercises that well, it may be more economical and convenient to start off the strength building at home and then go to the gym when I progress to where I really need the extra weight.

I'll definitely keep you posted on my struggles, sweat, tears and (I hope) progress!

[ReachingForTheStars]

Hey there!

 

Totally understand about the gym thing, but there are some measures you can take to make sure you get it at an appropriate time down the road!  Keep up with your workouts now and use a visual "cue" to tell your brain "I need to work out today, no excuses."  A weight by your alarm clock?  Post-it on your mirror?  Running shoes placed so that you basically have to trip over them to go about your morning routine?  Anything to cue yourself to get moving and build the habit.  Also, set a very specific goal for where you want to be to get to the gym, then reward yourself with the membership when you get there!  Not only is this a better alternative to rewarding yourself with food or rest, it'll be more of an incentive to keep progressing!  Yay, progress! xD

[moomin]

@ReachingForTheStars - Nice to meet you! Fabulous advice! I'll definitely put up some visual cues. My sneakers are now just outside my bedroom door. But I'll get one of those calendars for the month and stick it up my wall and mark out the days where I completed my workout. And I will set an alarm on my phone for working out. 

 

As for a specific goal for which I reach to get a gym membership? Hmm. I will need more research on weight training / bodyweight work out to figure that out... Unless you already know and can enlighten me ;-)

 

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Sooo. I just had my first full beginner bodyweight work out. Here it is:

 

27/11/13 

Cardio / warm up: 30 min bike (Totally out of breath, tired myself out with this one unexpectedly)

 

Beginner bodyweight: (3 circuits demarcated by semicolons, rest for 1 minute in between)

Squats:                       20; 20; 20.

Inc push up:               10; 10; 10. (*Incline push up on desk)

Lunges (bil):                20; 20; 20. (*Regular lunges, bilaterally)

Single arm rows (bil): 10; 10; 10.

Elbow planks (s):        30; 30; 49.

 

Comment: (I really need to get the forms right)

1. Squats: Great! I finally did them the new way, LOW. They weren't so hard for me, though definitely harder than the ones I did before. I'm pretty sure I did them right. Yayy.
2. Incline push ups: BAD!! Two problems:- One, Elbows go sideways involuntarily. How do I fix this? Two, I don't know whether I have gone down low enough, and as I result, I half-assed it. Arghhh. Anyway good ways to prevent that? I guess more practice would do it.
3. Lunges: Good, I can feel my posture improving throughout the three sets. There was some crepitus in my knees during the first set and my knees felt a bit strange. But in the third set I felt less stress on my knees. Must keep an eye on the posture next time as well. Quite tiring for 20 each leg! (Strange since I did well on the squats)
4. Single arm rows: Okay... My suitcase isn't heavy enough I feel. I need to add more books in it. And it's too big. It keeps on hitting the floor. Hmm. Maybe I really do need to buy a weight. Oh well... Over the weekend maybe.
5. Elbow planks: They're alright.
6. Jumping jacks: I haven't added them. I'll try them next time.

Overall comment: I'm still in my setting up stage. I'm doing my lower body and core bits fine, but I really have to work on the upper body!! I'll try them out again. Maybe on Friday.

And the beginner bodyweight circuit is much better than the angry birds for me, so I'll be sticking to this, at least for now.

 

(Just realized I should better set up a battle log instead. But I'm too lazy to copy all this, so I'll do it next time  )

[kumamon]

Whoa it's pretty impressive

Good luck and keep going!

 

btw i love Moomin! and other characters in the series lol

[moomin]

Hey kumamon, kumamon is cool too! Though my favorite thing from kumamoto has got to be its ramen. Mmmmm. (Not paleo? Come on...)

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I actually just checked in to say that 29/11/13 was supposed to be gym day (following mwf schedule), but as I was preparing for my exam earlier today and went for a small celebratory dinner afterwards (woohoo)... I didn't have time to do it today.

I WILL definitely do it the first thing I get up in the morning in 8 hours. The last work out was good. Loved the mild post workout muscle fatigue, felt like I was doing GOOD.

I will be back!

[ReachingForTheStars]

Incline push ups: BAD!! Two problems:- One, Elbows go sideways involuntarily. How do I fix this? Two, I don't know whether I have gone down low enough, and as I result, I half-assed it. Arghhh. Anyway good ways to prevent that? I guess more practice would do it.

 

Go lower than you think.  Like chest nearly hitting whatever you're inclining on low.  Try going up higher if you're not quite getting there.  Honestly, I'm still working on a lot of form issues.  Some just sort of work themselves out as you get stronger.  Like once I really started focusing on engaging my core in nearly every exercise, my push-ups just started to "feel right" and then I could really get down all the way and really felt my arms working instead of my whole body sort of struggling to stay up.  So yeah, core and form.

 

Not sure about the elbows.  Maybe you need to change the position of your hands? :/

 

As for a specific goal for which I reach to get a gym membership? Hmm. I will need more research on weight training / bodyweight work out to figure that out... Unless you already know and can enlighten me ;-)

 

Depends on you?  Since you're looking to build the habit before you do it, maybe say once you workout for a whole month three times a week and only miss once or twice, then get the membership?  Something like that.

[moomin]

Go lower than you think. 

...

Like once I really started focusing on engaging my core in nearly every exercise, my push-ups just started to "feel right" and then I could really get down all the way and really felt my arms working instead of my whole body sort of struggling to stay up.  So yeah, core and form.

 

Yeah! That worked out better when I tried it the second time with my core engaged!! I will continue to work on that, think my muscles are still adapting.

 

... Then my planks became way harder, with my core being tired right from the beginning.

 

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I have a battle log! Please read it here.