Fighting the Colonel

[GemNoir]

Okay so, for those who haven't read, or aren't really interested in reading, my Intro thread -

My name is Gemma, I'm 20 years old and currently studying in my home country of England, UK, where I work as a Trainee Team Leader at KFC. This related to the title of this battle log in the sense that free food at work looks really good for a student's savings account and not so good when it's piling on at the middle.

This being said, this is the only junk food I eat. I tend to have three/four meals of KFC a week. I know that sounds so bad. But, every other time, I'm eating my veg and proper carbs like pasta and rice rather than potato and I eat a lot of fruit/drink a fair amount of fruit juice. My general understanding of my diet is that a) I want to cut down on that KFC, and I don't drink enough water. Mostly because I don't like it and have to have it with squash/cordial, and when I run out of it and forget to get more at the shop I go for ages without drinking water. In fact, I don't drink much at all.

I'm a non-smoker and I'm T-Total so I have those in my favour (yes I know that a little bit of alcohol every so often is good for the body. I don't care. I don't like it.)

As far as exercise goes I have a real issue with embarrassing myself or letting down a team in organised sport and solo practice tends to get tedious after a while.

I also don't have a lot of money so going to the gym would involve a lot of financial reshuffling and so I try and exercise at home where there are faaaar more distractions. If I end up on my PS2 or reading manga online instead of doing my degree work which, lets face it, is the important thing right now, how the hell is exercise supposed to win against the procrastination?!

So yeah, what I'm really looking for on here is some advice on a few things -

A) The cheapest way to a healthy diet.

I know this sounds kinda like I'm cheating but really I'm skint. University is expensive and I'm not entitled to government grants. I'm surviving on the bare minimum loan which basically covers my rent and then feeding myself comes straight from my pay. Which isn't very much as I can only work part time around university. So, yeah, I don't have much. So basically, I'm buying stuff that seems healthy enough to me - fruit, rice, pasta, veg, a little meat (that's not going to be the best quality as it's cheap-arse). But I'm not a health expert. So if anyone can let me know if I'm on the right track or if I should focus my money on different food areas I would be much appreciative.

Are pulses and nuts worth it?

I hate nuts and lentils and all of that. I don't know why, I just really hate eating them. However, if this is a cheap and particularly effective way of getting goodness into my system when embarking on exercise then I might consider swallowing them down. But I'm just wondering if the cost is worth the gain, or if these are more of an extra than a necessity.

C) Getting out of breath...?

I just had a look over Nerdfitness' Beginner's Body Weight exercise and I'm going to have a go at starting this. In the article Steve mentions Interval training. He also says that you should never do this if you're not used the exercise. So I was thinking of doing Beginner's Body Weight every other day for say a month and then starting to add Interval in between (please tell me if this is too much too quickly or just plain wrong). But when I had a look at Interval training I became unsure as to whether I would be able to do it properly. Usually, in any kind of running exercise my lungs give out before my body does. Yes my legs hurt and yes I feel a little like jelly but body wise I can keep going. But before I can get to the dripping with sweat stage, I'm forced to stop because I literally cannot get enough oxygen in my lungs and I'm gasping like I've just held my breath under water for an hour. Is there a correct breathing pattern when running or some kind of breathing exercises I can do to lengthen my breathing ability? Only I never feel like I'm getting the most out of the muscles in my legs and arms because the muscles in my chest won't let me. So I'd appreciate some advice on that.

D) How to keep yourself dedicated?

As I have mentioned distractions are an issue for me. I tend to think along the lines of - if I can get fitter at home where I'm not embarrassing myself or intimidated by team mates then, once fitter, I can join a team and be a little more comfortable in my abilities. So I have to conquer the home thing first. Are there any tricks people have picked up/learnt that has helped them to get their butt in gear when exercising at home?

E) What the hell are reps and sets?

I'm serious. Every single forum or website I go on to look for exercise talks about reps and sets. "15 reps for 5 sets, then 20 reps for 3 sets". I'm thinking - what is this, maths?! So yeah, I'm not stupid, I've kinda worked out that you do a certain number of say, pullups (your reps) in one set. Then you pause and do the same again. Right? But what I wanna know is, for a complete newbie what should I be aiming at here? What is "a lot" and what is "not much"?

I think that's about it for now but I will definitely keep this updated with progression and questions I have along the way...

[wildross]

Great intro and welcome!

reps = repetitions of an exercise

sets = groups of repetitions

Take pushups.

5 pushups = 5 reps.

3 groups of 5 pushups with a rest in between each group is 3 sets of 5 reps, which is often 3x5

You vary the intensity of the workout by changing

1) the weight you are using (except for body weight routines)

2) the number of reps

3) the length of rest between sets

4) the number of sets

[Morrigainz]

Re: getting out of breath, try running slower. When I first started running, I was in such poor cardiovascular health that I actually ran slower than I could walk - no fooling. A long time ago, I tried running with my super fit boyfriend, and I had the same problem...getting so out of breath that I would puke/turn pale/be gasping for breath after a mile. So...slow it down at first. Also make sure you are breathing deep from your diaphragm instead of shallowly. It's ok to breathe hard but try not to hyperventilate.

Re: staying dedicated, set a concrete goal. It's easier to stay motivated when you have something specific you are shooting for.

Re: reps and sets, yes you have the right idea. Find a program you can stick with and it will tell you what reps and sets you can do, if you're not confident enough to set your own program. I haven't read the Beginner Bodyweight program but I imagine Steve has something cooked up for you...

Re: nuts and seeds and eating healthy...I will let someone more experienced with diet answer this one.

Good luck. Try not to get overwhelmed by all the information out there.

[aj_rock]

A) Doesn't KFC have grilled chicken as an option? That would be a start...

If you don't like 'em, don't force yourself to eat them. The variety of good food is such that you can probably pick things you already like and just eat them more often.

C) MirGSS got it.

D) A lot of the home exercisers around here follow Convict Condition. Look it up for a variety of bodyweight exercise progressions.

E) You got it right for the most part, as did ross. If you follow a program, they'll give recommendations for rep, set, and rest numbers. Another not-oft used variable is length of set. Performing ten push-ups as quickly as possible is not the same as doing them agonizingly slowly, and indeed a lot of people punch reps out much faster than they should.

Good luck! And welcome aboard

[Rosie]

Ditto to what mirGSS said about breathing - I'm asthmatic and had to start off super slow with my running and got frustrated at getting so out of breath and cutting my runs short. Instead just focus on breathing right and not going so fast you're getting so out of breath that you cant recover quickly. Once you've developed good strong lungs, you'll be able up the ante with your speed and distance.

Oh and as for dedication and you can borrow my mantra if you want - "you wont regret doing it, but you will regret not doing it"

[GemNoir]

Wow thanks for all the advice!

Unfortunately aj_rock, KFC over here have just stopped doing the Brazer (grilled chicken) and we now do a similar thing that's covered in BBQ stuffs. Which makes it a lot less on the good side lol.

Run slower. So simple! I do have a feeling I might go at a snails pace though so maybe I should try and find some secluded running paths for me to just merrily plod along lol.

And I shall definitely look out for that Convict Condition. I'm googling it now. That sounds interesting, thanks!

And thanks for the big welcome everyone!

[Morrigainz]

Scrape the bbq off! Or something. Good luck!

[GemNoir]

Lol!! I can just see myself at work with a spork trying to get the BBQ marinade off the top of the chicken. My work colleagues would laugh their arses off lol!! But thanks!

I think I'm going to start off with Steve's Beginner's Body Weight routine. Then when I feel I have that down I'm gonna use the Angry Birds routine instructions to up the ante on the exercises of the BBW routine. As for what happens then, I'm going to leave it to how I feel. I always find that if I make too many plans I feel under pressure to get it done and I don't want to do that.

I'm really behind in work atm so I'm going to dedicate tomorrow to getting all my stuff in order and start up on the BBW Thursday. I'm going to go for every other day.

So here we go! Lol.

[Pat G]

Good job on getting started GemNoir.

For goals, Get your vision, or what you want to achieve. and then break it down into small small steps.

[JackieBoy]

You mentioned PS2 - How about this little trick: Every time I die in a vid because I did something stupid, or I screamed that the game cheated (yeah how often does that happen?) I drop down & do a quick set of push ups (I started with 5 & am now up to 25, over the course of a couple hours of play time that's quite a few push ups). You can sub out squats, lunges, floor sweepers - whatever you want - You've got yourself a handy little work out WHILE you're distracted.

[GemNoir]

OMG JackieBoy I totally love that!!

That wouldn't work on the Final Fantasy I'm currently playing because *brushes knuckles against shirt with no hint of modesty* I kinda rock at it. And it's near impossible to die on FF if you're careful with your potions.

But I am about to start on Prince of Persia Sands of Time for the first time ever and I can see myself falling off of walls to my death a lot. I'm loving that idea and will totally use it!!

And I have my goal Pat G thanks! I want to, in a few years cycle all over Japan. I just googled it and it's 1594 miles from the far south to the far north (which is what I wanna do). So I'm gonna need to be in waaaaay better shape than I am now to be able to do that. Just not sure how to break it up goal wise... :S

[GemNoir]

Okay I have a question!

I'm starting out on BBW routine. I'm doing a day on, day off kinda thing. I had a go at just one go through the routine yesterday to see how long it took, how much time I need to dedicate to it on my on days etc. And embarrassingly enough I'm kinda achy today. Specifically in the front of my thighs. I think the lunges killed them lol.

So my question is - if your muscles are feeling achy and tight on your off day should you stretch them out? Or should this be a day of complete rest until you exercise again tomorrow? Cause I've tried to exercise before and overdone it big time, exercising every day and almost did in my hamstrings so I wanted to check before I started pulling anything.

[aj_rock]

You should endeavor to stretch every day, if possible, at least for a few minutes. Do a short warm up, and just right into some static stretches. If its an exercise day, do dynamic stretches instead. Think stretching a rubber band and holding it as static, and bouncing the rubber band as dynamic.

[GemNoir]

Whoa you should bounce while stretching? I always thought that was a big No-No and that you'll pull muscles.

But thanks, I will stretch every day then.

[aj_rock]

Anyone who takes the analogies seriously will be subjected to darwinism at it's finest

[GemNoir]

Um... Okay I'm not an unintelligent person but you've lost me. Am I bouncing or not bouncing? Lol. Seriously what do you mean by dynamic stretches as opposed to normal ones. I'm a fitness n00b, go easy on me :-P

[GemNoir]

So I just did my first go through exercise wise. I noticed in a lot of other workout logs that people list what they do. I can't imagine people are particularly interested in how out of breathe I can become so quickly but here's the BBW routine I'm following:-

3-5 minutes of warm up inc. jumping jacks and knees up running/jogging on the spot.

followed by-

20 body weight squats

10 push ups (on knees)

30 walking lunges (15 to each leg)

40 dumbbell rows (1.5kg dumbbell. 20 to each arm)

20 second plank

30 jumping jacks

x1. You're supposed to do this routine as many times as you can. Once is my all lol. I hope to be able to go through it twice after a while. As soon as I feel that I can do it, I will.

5-10 minutes stretching

I kinda feel like jelly now and the tops of my thighs (quadriceps right?) are sore/achy when I make them hold weight, so I'm walking a little bit like the flowerpot men. I'll let you know how I feel in the morning.

Please feel free to comment if and when I do anything wrong/if I can improve anything. Or even if I do anything particularly right as that would be nice to know lol.

I'm not going to be posting anything about my diet here because I'm still eating what I normally do only less KFC starting today (tomorrow's first day back at work since deciding this). I hope to go onto a proper diet once I've got exercise into my routine. Doing all at once usually makes me fail because I'm trying to incorporate too many new things. Once diet is a big thing I'll list that too. For now, it's not so unhealthy that I feel the desperate need to change it. I'm just trying to cut back on a few things. Like the fact that I had no chocolate today!! Yay!! Chocolate is my vice. My one and only. And boy was I tempted. But I didn't. I had a healthy sandwich and orange juice for lunch - whoop go me! Sorry... little victories

[Morrigainz]

Hey, great job! If your quads are jelly-esque today, you'll probably be sore tomorrow The sign of progress! Sometimes taking the first step is the hardest...and you've already done that.

Also, I HATE high knees. Hate hate hate. I would rather run for an hour than do 60s of high knees. Which probably means I should do more of them.

I know what you mean about the one thing at a time...sometimes doing everything at once can get WAY too overwhelming.

Re: your lunch, I would just urge caution on the orange juice. Tends to have a lot of sugar.

But YAY!!!! Fantastic start

[GemNoir]

Hey thanks MirGSS!!

Today I'm really really good actually. My body definitely feels like it's been used but it's not sore at all! I hope this means that I just did good stretching rather than that I didn't do enough lol. I feel less sore than I did on my little practice go the other day Today is my rest day and I'm going to do some stretching tonight only, then I'm doing the routine again tomorrow.

Today's challenge is to NOT EAT KFC lol.

EDIT: My shoulders feel a little tight. What are some good shoulder stretches, as I can stretch my arms but don't know any good ones for the shoulders... :S

[Morrigainz]

Just wait until tomorrow....

Or how about this: if you DO eat KFC, pick off the breading?

As far as shoulder exercises, check out MobilityWOD. I bet he has something there for shoulders.

[bigm141414]

EDIT: My shoulders feel a little tight. What are some good shoulder stretches, as I can stretch my arms but don't know any good ones for the shoulders... :S

MWOD for sure has some awesome sholder stuff. My suggestion:

1) Acquire lacrosse ball

2) Place lacrosse ball on floor under achy bits

3) Roll around a bit.

4) Cry

5) ????

6) Profit! I mean feel great!

[Morrigainz]

Ahahahahaha....yep.

[GemNoir]

Lol! I'll consider both of them, thanks for the advice guys! Lol.

Today is my off day so I don't have much to report. Eaten pretty good which is a nice bonus:

6:30am - half pint of water to wake up.

11:00am - natural yoghurt and fruit smoothie (not the innocent ones - some made on campus which are really good and much bigger) and a banana.

2:00pm - feeling peckish so picked up a little duo pack of babybels lol. Haven't had them in years!

And in a few hours I'm gonna have dinner consisting of chicken bits and roasted peppers and rice.

And yeah, my thighs are feeling a leeeettle more tender right about now. Sitting down and going down the stairs is a little owey lol. I'll stretch out tonight and then am back on exercise tomorrow night

PS: 2nd day in a row without chocolate! Go me! Obviously the day is not over now but I am in my house, not leaving again till tomorrow morning and am away from distraction and purchase. So I won't be having any. I should start a countdown maybe lol.

[Morrigainz]

Right!! My two big challenges are alcohol and chocolate

[GemNoir]

Ah see, I'm T-Total so no alcohol for me. Or smoking. Or drugs. Lol. It's just chocolate. Though biscuits and crisps do run a close second. Specifically the plan kinda biscuits like digestive and rich tea and monster munch crisps Yummy... And now I'm just exciting my cravings so I'm going to stop lol.