Music nerd trying to achieve best body and brain levels!

[rabies_R_us]

I'm a slightly pudgy pianist with an office job so I do more than my fair share of sitting. I like checking things off and seeing that I've made progress so six week challenges are appealing to me. The next time I go clothes shopping, I really don't want to buy the next size up so here I am! Plus I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to be able to do pull ups!

[Lydieboo]

I'm a slightly pudgy pianist with an office job so I do more than my fair share of sitting. I like checking things off and seeing that I've made progress so six week challenges are appealing to me. The next time I go clothes shopping, I really don't want to buy the next size up so here I am! Plus I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to be able to do pull ups!

Welcome to the Rebellion, Rabies! Doing a pull-up is one of my ultimate goals, too. (Well, doing more than one, hopefully!)

If you want to get (and keep) inspired, make sure you're keeping up on the NF blog and trolling the message boards regularly. There's a lot of great information, and probably the best piece of advice you'll get is "you can't outrun your diet." I had never heard that before I found NF, but it's proven to be really true (and makes lots of sense). If your goal is weight loss, there is a whole section of the forums here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/forumdisplay.php?134-Weight-Loss

We've all been told that to lose weight we have to "eat less and move more," but there is a lot of information out there that challenges those ideas under the heading of "eat less crap and move more."

What kind of exercise are you wanting to get involved with?

[rabies_R_us]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm highly interested in losing body fat and gaining strength and some muscle - particularly with moves and routines that I can do at home since I'm not really into the gym scene. At the moment I have minimal equipment: free weights, stability ball, a doorway pull up bar, and a jump rope. I want to get a bar thingie so I can do dead lifts and other stuff, too. I want to lose inches, particularly in my waist/hips/thunder thighs and develop decent definition as far as my appreance goals go. For practical purposes, I'd like more strength and endurance so I can do more hiking, kayaking, and canoeing in the summer... and maybe bike to work a couple days a week once the roads are no longer under construction. I'll do pretty much anything that won't injure my arms (already been down that road, ugh!).

[Lydieboo]

Wow! You have way more equipment than I do! I'm currently doing the Beginner Bodyweight Workout at home and I own one (yes, one, not two) 10-pound weight. (Turns out it's not really heavy enough for my one-arm rows, but I'm working on addressing that.)

I'm very much the same way - I hate going to the gym because, even though I know the people who are staring at me are just trying to figure out what else I'm doing that they're not doing yet so they can try it, I hate the stares! The BBW has been AWESOME for me because I can get up at 5:30 and do 3 circuits, have a shower and go to work, without worrying about whether my butt looks big when I do squats or wobble when I'm lunging!

I'm also a big fan of the hiking, boating, biking (and now bouldering!) when I can. I always feel a little like a hampster or zombie when I'm running on a treadmill next to 30 other treadmills with 30 other zombies running on them. ;

That said, though, something I'm learning (that I hope will inspire you) is that trying new things can be a big kick in the pants. I'm a little on a bouldering swoon as I just did it for the first time in years on Monday and am totally geeking out on it. It was so fun to do something challenging that I hadn't done before, and after the first five minutes or so I forgot to be self-conscious because I was focusing on my next hand/foothold and trying to keep my arms from shaking!

Oh yeah - you do know you can do deal lifts with free weights, right? Not just bar bells.

[rabies_R_us]

I've never heard of bouldering! That might be something I'll have to try one of these days. One thing I really want to try one day is salsa dancing. If only my boyfriend lived closer I could drag him along with me.

I HATE treadmills. I know some people like them but I'm not one of them. It's so boring! I don't even like running on a track. If I do run, it's other on the street or on a trail and it's even better if I have a partner to shame me into pushing myself a bit more

I didn't think about doing dead lifts with free weights- I guess that makes sense! I'll have to get right on that and dig up the extra weight plates! I took a look at the BBW and it looks really good... I think I'll incorporate that into my routine right away! I'm not much of a morning person but I usually prefer to do my workouts in the morning so that I wake up and so that I don't have to try to talk myself into doing it after work. Plus, I'm less inclined to eat junk food if I've busted my butt already.

[Laureleye]

Hi Rabies. I've been doing the BBW now for about 20 weeks, and it's been a total success. I've lost some weight, but I'm much smaller than just the weight loss so I know I'm building some muscle here. Always a good thing, right? I do 3 days of strength training, alternating with 3 days of intervals. Intervals are killer, but you're done fast. For right now, I'd say you should look at the adventurer's guild - which is sort of general fitness. But look into all the guilds and join the one you hear calling your name; don't wait to get into better shape, they'll help you in your new guild. Welcome to the rebellion.

[rabies_R_us]

I'll definitely check out the guilds. What do you do for intervals?

[Laureleye]

I just do the treadmill or the sidewalk. Depending on the condition of my knees I go between a fast walk and a pretty good sprint or a very slow jog and a not so fast sprint. I usually do 6 or 7 intervals. I workout at home, so I don't have any cardio equipment except the treadmill. For my strength, I do a beginners body weight (BBW) 1/week, and the Recruit A&B each 1/week. The recruit workouts are in the rebel fitness guide; they require a bit more of a selection of dumbbells than the BBW. There is also an advanced body weight which you could move to & I'm pretty sure it would help you work towards your pullup.

I work in an office too and there are some things you can do to bump up your general activity level. I take the long way walking places in the office, walk to a co-worker's office instead of phoning/emailing, walk the long way to the coffee joint, walk a lap while I'm waiting for the train...I can generally get about 7,000 in that way.