ASnyder: Introduction

[asnyder]

Well, my name is Abigail Snyder and I'm a 22 year old college student trying to get into the best shape I've ever been in...and stay there! I've been reading the Nerd Fitness blog for a couple of months, though I don't have the cash to afford the Fitness Guide yet. I'm 5'11", 180 lbs, and looking to drop to 170 lbs-ish. Primarily, I want to drop body fat and increase muscle. And endurance. My major goals for the year are to run a sprint triathlon and to see/get a six pack.

I just completed a 45 day workout plan emphasizing body weight exercises and introductory cardio (run/bike/swim). I modified that into a month-long combination of endurance-building for the run/bike/swim and continued body weight exercises, plus lots of ab/back workouts. [ATTACH]My Workout Plan_MAR 13[/ATTACH] I also play volleyball 3-5 days a week just for fun, and ride horses, also just for fun (but it is a workout).

So yeah, that's where I'm at and what I'm doing. For now. I'm open to suggestions, and open to learning, as I'm pretty new to working out in general. Especially when it comes to weights. The bicep/tricep work I do is just with free weights---but I have access to all the barbells and weights you could ever want, if I only knew how to use them correctly.

WorkoutPlan_1Mar.pdf

[Brometheus]

Welcome to the rebellion

Since you have access to weights, you might check out starting strength. There's an book, and a wiki! Pretty informative on where to start and what to do...

[Plex]

Howdy ASynder and Welcome to the Rebellion.

What distances do you consider a sprint for each event?

Also, are you dressage, eventing, or show jumping?

[asnyder]

The Tri I'm looking at has a 500 m swim, 5k run, and 10-15 mile bike ride. Because I don't currently show much, I just jump for the fun of it. I don't really know dressage very well, but cross country and show jumping are both awesome.

[Alethea]

Welcome! You have a great active lifestyle already, which is awesome to see. I have YET to ride a horse (did ride a mule up a mountain once, though!), and I REALLY want to.

It's great that you're working out regularly every day. Thats a great foundation to build to some really cool things. Do you WANt to start lifting heavy with weights, or would you rather get into some of the fancy advanced body-weight stuff like one-legged squats? Where do you see yourself in a year (or 2, or 5)?

My suggestions for your workout plan?
1. Drop the bicep tricep stuff. I assume you're just doing curls and extensions? That's fancy iscolation nonsense that's only useful for body builders trying to look good. Do dips (can use chairs, if you're at home), pushups, pullups and other compound exercises so your body gets strong as a unit.
2. Take a quarter of your crunches, and do hanging leg lifts off your pullup bar instead.
3. Take another quarter of your crunches, and investigate some pilates movements for variety. Straight-legged laying leg raises work your abs in a whole different way, for instance.
4. Honestly? That's too much abs. You probably already HAVE a sixpack, you just need to cut the fat a bit to see it.
5. Find something very heavy that you can barely lift. Then lift it every second day. Lift it and put it down 5 times for 5 sets (deadlift), or pick it up and carry it around while you walk (farmer's walk). Functional strength is awesome.

[spezzy]

Hi,

Welcome to the rebellion!

Looking at your workout plan now...

Not sure where to really start, so lets start here, so I fully understand what you're actually doing

When you say:

3 reps:

Plank 1:00+

Walk/Run/Bike 3:00

Squats 10

Pushups 10

is that 10 reps of bw sqats, or 3 reps of 10 Squats?

or are you just doing the plank 3 times?

(Same with 5 reps: Bicep 10, does that mean 5 reps of bicep curls at 10lbs?)

[asnyder]

Wow! Thanks so much for the suggestions! Like I said, I'm pretty new to all this, so any advice helps! I'll definitely try to incorporate your ideas over the next few weeks.

What I've been doing is 3 repetitions of the entire set - so 3 1:00 planks, 3 sets of 10 pushups, 3 sets of 10 squats, and 3 sets of biking/running. The days with the biceps/triceps is kind of messed up. I meant to put 3 sets of 10 reps for each of those, but since Alethea has suggested I change that portion of my workout...

I attempted benchpressing without a machine today, as well as squats with weights. Probably not perfect form, or even at my limit as far as weight goes, but its a start.

How do you guys build endurance running? I can sprint fine, and love doing it in sports like Ultimate Frisbee, basketball, soccer, etc., but when I go to run any distance, I feel like I'm going to die. By distance I mean 4+ miles. The farthest I've ever run is 4 miles, and that was just last week...out of sheer willpower.

Thanks again for all the advice!

[spezzy]

ok so first.

you have entire days devoted to abs.

i know, i know, you said your final goal is a six pack. but you already have one, its just under fat. no matter how many hours you spend doing crunches, you will not see abs unless you reduce your body fat percentage. (And... I mean, by all means, if you have time to do all of that, go ahead and do it... but it won't get you that 6 pack any faster)

I can't help out with the triathalon stuff, as I detest running and never bike.

but, for the weights:

drop the bicep/tricep stuff.

For weighted exercises you can start off with Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, Press, Rows.

Lift heavier weight, less reps. 5x5 is a good place to start.

Bodyweight movements I'd do pushups, pullups, dips, and squats.

For abs, do planks and hanging leg lifts.

And Yoga.

great job bench pressing without a machine machines = bad news. freeweights ftw!

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is a great book.

http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/Starting_Strength_Wiki

And a lot of people here do the Stronglifts:

http://stronglifts.com/

[asnyder]

Hey, thanks! I actually just found the Stronglifts stuff tonight and downloaded it. It looks pretty sweet. I think I'm going to add that to my workout and drop some of the ab stuff like you said.

[Plex]

For learning to run long distances:

Use running as an active rest between your weight sets.

Like, do some exercises or a circuit then run a mile.

Repeat so you run 4 or 5 miles a day. Or split it up so its at the start and end of your workouts.

The trick is just to do it.

Or maybe take up running outside if you treadmill?

[Alethea]

Holy, Spezzy. YOU suggested yoga and I did not?

My world is ending.

Good luck to you Abigail! You definitely have the will, you just need to polish your ways a bit and I know you're going to rock hard.