Hey Everyone

[RamblingRocketScientist]

Hi my name is Andrew and I'm new here (thus the post in this section of the forums).  I came across this site when a friend of mine mentioned the Paleo diet to me.  I spent some time wandering around the site and I've really enjoyed what I've read so far.  I've always been in o.k. shape so to speak, but I've never been happy with that. Any time I tried to change that and work towards getting in better shape the people that I call my "friends and family" would belittle me and whatever I was attempting to do.  Things like "oh you only ran a mile today, that's pitiful" and similar comments were common.  I usually won't make it beyond two days of attempting to work out before I end up quitting because I can't handle the criticism.

I really want to change that.  I have found two friends that are supportive, or at least they do their best to be supportive.  However our schedules don't match up very well and whenever I attempt to work out with them they leave me in the dust.

 

Here's my goals, as extremely vague as they are.  I want to improve my overall fitness.  By that I mean get some endurance and actually be able to go for a run, and get some strength and some muscle definition.  I want to trim my body, yet put on weight in muscle mass.  I'm currently 5'4" 125lbs.  I'd prefer to be around 140 or so, but because I actually have some muscle.

 

Any suggestions on where to start, what to do, etc. would be appreciated.

[Katariana]

Hi there! Welcome!

 

As far as putting on weight & muscle...Im not really an expert on that, but there's a lot of info in the Warrior's thread and the powerlifting one. I really thinking doing some barbell work (deadlifts/squats) helps you put on weight & muscle the fastest as far as exercises go. However, that's the icing on the cake , the majority of it is what you eat. I eat Paleo, and you get a lot of protein that way, so it seems like a good way to put on muscle. However, you'd have to be eating a ton of (healthy) calories if you're naturally thin to get your body to put on weight. I'd suggest doing some research on that, but then just going for it.

 

That's the one thing Ive learned most about working out and eating right, is that you do hear a lot of differing opinions, but at the end of the day, no one (not even yourself sometimes) knows what will work for you. So you just kind of have to give it a shot, see how it goes, and then adjust from there.

 

If you get it wrong, it's not the end of the world, life's an adventure, and you just learned something about yourself along the way. So..do some research, decide what you wanna try (as far as lifting or eating goes - like a certain amount of calories or protein, and a certain workout plan) stick to it and see if it works. 

 

As far as "endurance" most of the time that comes from cardio - although you can improve your endurance with weight lifting as well. You say you wanna be able to go for a run - is it because you like running? If not, I'd say find some type of cardio you enjoy and do that instead.  The best advice I ever got was "Do more of what you love". So..if you find out maybe you like kickboxing more than running, just do that instead. Healthiness is also about happiness. 

 

I know it can be hard to be discouraged by the people around you. But we're here for you. And at the end of the day when you're in super awesome shape, you'll just end up proving all of those people wrong.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome to the rebellion. I'd encourage you to get more specific with your goals. For example, you have a weight goal you'd like to get up to, that's specific.  For a run, define what a "run" is, eg. how far and how fast?   Also, you may want to look into the rebel strength guide and look at some of Steve's post, he had the same issues you described.

 

Good luck!

[RamblingRocketScientist]

We have something here at Tech called the pile mile.  It's a route around campus that is 3.14 miles long.  I'd love to be able to just go run a pi mile at a casual pace and just enjoy rather than feeling like I'm going to die a mile in.  I've never been a fan of running, but that's always been because I've never been able to run long distances.  For now the diet thing is going to be really hard.  The dining halls rarely have anything majorly healthy (sometimes they don't even have anything edible looking).  A buddy of mine and I are going to attempt to eat completely Paleo for the last month of the semester (so April).

Weightlifting for me is somewhat hard, I can't even do stuff with the bar.  I think I'm going to try to start doing the Angry Birds workout a bit.  It seems reasonable for me, and it has a nice progression to it.