Greek, from Illinois (Whaaaat?!)

[thegreekboy]

Hey guys, my name's Steve and I live here in the south suburbs of Chicago. I'm a junior in High School and about 6'0 200lbs. Not sure where I stand bodyfat wise but my goals in fitness are really general.

1. Stop being able to jiggle my legs, (kind of) arms, and stomach.

2. Be able to run 2 miles without stopping.

I've actually been doing the bodyweight routine (with proper warm ups and stretching) for about a week and a half now, not seeing much in the realm of results, but sticking to it.

I mostly really need running tips. I have asthma (not too bad but still) and from my observations an incredibly low lung capacity. I literally cannot run 50 yards without being completely winded, and by run I actually mean jog.

P.S. Oh, and my favorite games include Ace Combat 5, the original Sly Cooper, and anything Bethesda. I'm currently playing a little (and I stress little) bit of skyrim and in about a week I'll be dropping a grand that I made from my part-time job and building a new computer!

[BarefootDawsy]

Great yo have you! You've come to the right place. There's nothing wrong with being only able to run 50 yards. I was in the same boat a couple of years ago too.

If you want to start running, the best way is to start with walking interspersed with jogging. Give yourself 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Walk 5 minutes, jog slowly for 30 seconds, repeat until time's up. Each time you go out, either walk less/run more or jog faster. Keep track of your progress.

Wow sorry about the dump (I'm waiting for a bus). Feel free to post any running questions you have in the Scouts forum or PM me if you like.

Welcome to the rebellion!

[thegreekboy]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do that tomorrow. Also, it's perfectly fine to post a block of text. The more info the better

Also, how is it that I get the little ranger sig?

[Jeyung]

I've actually been doing the bodyweight routine (with proper warm ups and stretching) for about a week and a half now, not seeing much in the realm of results, but sticking to it.

10ish days isn't very long but you should have felt something, i.e. do another push up or two kind of thing. So I'll ask what are doing for a bodyweight routine and how often? And what are you eating?

Without knowing anything, I'll start with my default get more sleep 8-10 hours (your a teenager so you've that excuse as well) And don't work out everyday. Ok your turn for more info.

Cheers, J.

[thegreekboy]

(usual)

Breakfast: Yogurt with fruit and/or 2 hard boiled eggs, a half cup black coffee with sugar

Lunch: A sandwich, chips, a piece of fruit and water.

Snack: Fruit smoothie after workout (Made with fresh fruit and yogurt) (I figure maybe it has something good in it)

Dinner: Some sort of meat with veggies. Sometimes pasta. Not fully paleo most of the time

I don't really have much control over lunch or dinner to be honest. I don't exactly buy the food.

Bodyweight Routine:

20 squats

10 push ups/inverted rows (I mix it up)

15 dumbell rows

45s Plank

30 Jumping Jacks

times 3, every day. (Guess I'll do it every other day, with a light jog on my off days, thoughts?)

[Jeyung]

I get not being in control of the food selection, try and trim down on the carbs and bumb up the protein where you can avoid low fat fake food as much as you can. Your young enough that your bady can put up with a lot of bad food, but I wouldn't seek it out or anything.

As far as the work out, drop that back to 3 times a weeks do both pushups and inverted rows, don't skip a movement. Go for form rather than speed. Not sure if your doing that round robin, I.E. all of those I one shot then repeat or doing each movement in 3 sets then moving on to the next movement. If you want to reach your running goal sooner drop this back to twice a week and do the workout Barefootdawsy gave you more often. Give yourself a full day off from all strength training, go for a walk of your distance running goal and slowly increase that each day off a bit, nothing to crazy, it's a rest day after all.

If your doing the 3 sets of each movement then moving on, give yourself 60-90 sec rest between each set. After a week take 10 sec off the rest time and repeat that till your down to 20-30 seconds of rest. Do that time for a week, then pump up the volume of each set and go back to the 60-90 sec rest period. When your at the 25 per set range you can either keep going up to like 50 or something or just add more sets either way works.

If your doing round robin I would give your self 3 to 5 minute of rest between each round, drop that by 20 seconds each weak till your down to a minute rest, then add volume to each movements and bump your rest time back up to the 3 to 5 min range again. With the round robin the same logic on adding volume or more rounds applies.

Start with the longer times, if you feel like your fully recovered to bang out the next set drop down to the lower time. And lastly get some sleep.

J.

Forgot on Planks my feeling is 120sec is a good frist level goal for general fitness. So adjust your times accordingly.

[thegreekboy]

Is a "rest" just sitting around or should I do some sort of specific light exercise during that time?

Also yes, I am doing round robin.

Also, thanks a ton for the info! I'll get started planning my workouts right away!

[Jeyung]

Rest = not doing any strenuous activity and getting lots of sleep.

Walking around the mall is fine, doing hill climbs is not.

Mowing the lawn is fine, pulling cars with a rope is not.

Cleaning the house is fine, moving every piece of furniture in a single day for a spring cleaning is not.

Watching TV, trolling the Internet, playing video games is fine, just don't avoid sleep.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I"m asthmatic myself and also working up to a 2 mile run. What has been working for me is getting in 2 miles a day for six days regardless of how fast I'm doing it. I've been increasing the running amount a little each day. Some days its only a yard or two but as long as I do a litle better each day it doesn't mattter what size the increase is, as long as there is an increase. I'm up to about 20% run 80% walk after 4.5 weeks. I have noticed my lungs opening up a little bit. Also, as I lose weight the athsma is less severe. If you have allergies, try taking an over the counter 24 hour non drowsy allergy pill if you can, I use generic Zyrtec (always get generic), that will control the athsma. If you have to, use a rescue inhaler before your workout. Since you are doing strength training 3x week, may I suggest that three other days out of the week you put in two miles. Start with a small but consistent amount of run then increase a litle each day.

Also, I have found Accupuncture to be very helpful in treating the symptoms of athsma, both in reducing the amount of attacks and in opening up my lungs. In my experience, the lung opening is not permanent and you have to go back every six months to a year, but the results were amazing and almost instant for me.

Good luck

[Samunwal]

Consitency - working out regularly - is really important. Steve has a good article on building habits on the main blog (the one with the mouse on the treadmill). The other, as Jeyung said, is make sure your form is right. It's frustrating, but you'll probably struggle along for a bit at what seems like a low number you just can't get to go up, but if you're a junior in high school and just starting to work out, you got a lot of years of inactivity to make up for and you won't do that in two weeks. I promise, though, keep at it and you will.

For increasing reps, once you've got your form right, try adding just one or two more of whatever to the first set of ten. In other words, do 12 pushups first round instead of 10, then try to still do 10 for the other 2 sets. When you can do that consistently, add a couple to the next set and so on. Works for the dumbell rows same way- lift a couple of pounds more the first set, then add more to the 2nd and 3rd set in a week or so. Planks- add 10 seconds to the first, then the next week to the second, and so on. Work this in with what Jeyung wrote on timing and rest. (and do you see how this mirrors Footdawsy's spot-on running advice?)

One last thing- don't be in too much of a hurry to push things along. You need to not only build your muscles, but your ligaments, tendons, and bones- the support structure that allows your muscles to move you and the weights. They take a little longer to strengthen than the muscles, but it's worth the wait. Push too fast, you injure yourself and then set yourself back. Be patient, stick with it, work to improve a little bit very time you work out, and before you know it you'll be cranking out plenty of pushups and people will be having picnics on your back while you hold a plank for days (okay, that last may be hyperbole, but I think I just got myself all excited about working out again).

[thegreekboy]

Thanks for the tips guys! I'm really psyched about going through with this and loving all the good info!