Looking for Advice on Beginning Weightlifting (Absolute Be..

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Tom Nowalsky wrote:

> I am looking for some friendly advice for an absolute beginner who is
> interested in beginning strength training.
>
> First of all, I am 35 years old, male, moderately overweight,
>
> For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
> importantly, I would like to improve my health,

Does not compute. If you're moderately overweight, and want to lose weight
and improve your fitness, you don't want to begin strength training.
Rather, you need to do something that's primarily cardiovascular, that
will increase your energy output, to burn fat, and push your heart and
lungs to develop.

I'm not saying you can't also develop some strength, but it just doesn't
make sense for you to take up serious weightlifting if those are your
goals.

> I am hoping to find a convenient, fun, challenging form of exercise that
> I can hopefully keep up long-term. As a personal note, I tend to have a
> hard time picking up habits, but once I form them I tend to stick with
> them. I am hoping to make physical fitness a long-term habit.

Good for you; that's the only way to do it, really.

This is kind of obvious advice, but i think your best bet is to find a
sport you like, or at least can tolerate, and play it frequently and
regularly. It needs to be something where you really do push yourself;
low-intensity basketball isn't going to do it, as you've found. However,
that's not to say basketball is no good - you'd just have to increase the
intensity. Would that be possible? I guess you'd need to find a more
energetic group of people to play with. Football (what you might
misguidedly refer to as 'soccer') is also excellent for this, although
it's very much up to you to push yourself to move; i play occasionally,
and as a left back, i can pretty much stand around most of the time,
occasionally raising steam to charge down some hapless striker who comes
my way.

Also, unless you can play three times a week, it's not going to do it
alone; you either need to add another sport or two, to get in a large
enough volume of exercise, or do some individual stuff, like running,
cycling or swimming, on the days you're not playing sport. Personally, i
love cycling, so that's my cardio; everyone else i know seems to be mad
about running (it seems to be de rigeur for late-twentysomething
professionals in London, tragically; we even have these inter-regional
mass run contest things). As i'm sure you're aware, swimming is the best
form of exercise, but it's so bloody tiring!

Also, don't neglect the role of diet in this; you don't need to go mental,
or take up any sort of quack diet, but you do need to eat healthily, and
if you're serious about shifting fat, you need to have a below-maintenance
calorie intake. It doesn't need to be a big deficit - a pound of fat is
about 3500 calories, so being short 250 calories a day, about 10% of your
energy budget, will lead to you losing half a pound a week. I don't know
what your eating's like now, but if there's snacking going on, that's an
easy thing to cut - if you could remove a chocolate bar and a can of fizzy
pop from your daily intake, that's your 250 calories covered.

Mind-numbingly obvious advice, i know. Really, my point is that you don't
want to be doing weight training. Yes, you can do it in such a way that
you can burn calories, but it is simply not as effective as cardio. You
can race semis, but if you want to race, you're better off with a racing
car.

tom

--
3.141592666666 and then it's just all sixes for the other 298 digits. Then
after that there's just hieroglyphs of scary eyes.
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Tom Nowalsky writes:

> Hello Everybody:
>
> I am looking for some friendly advice for an absolute beginner who
> is interested in beginning strength training.

Unlike Tom I personally believe that the place to start for anyone
looking to get in shape is weight training. I ran between 6 and 10
miles a week consistently for years without any real visible change in
my body, and without losing more than a few pounds.

Once I started lifting weights I began to lose weight, and I felt far
more prepared for what the world had to throw at me. I also began to
improve my running times.

Personally I think that low intensity cardio is the biggest waste of
time in the entire exercise world. Lift weights, add some muscle, and
see how that makes you feel. If you find that you still get winded
don't start jogging, start doing barbell complexes, kettlebell
snatches, or high intensity intervals of some sort.

I still run on occasion just to make sure I still can, but I don't
waste a lot of my precious training time on low intensity hamstering.

> First of all, I am 35 years old, male, moderately overweight, and I
> have never lifted weights in my life. I occasionally play non-
> stressful sports like volleyball and basketball, but would not
> consider myself in even "average" shape. I am way below-average,
> and get winded climbing a flight of stairs.

The good news is that changing your level of fitness isn't as hard as
you'd think. In fact, after a while it becomes addicting.

> For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
> importantly, I would like to improve my health, which is currently
> suffering from my overweight condition. If I could improve my
> health, looks would be a secondary consideration.

I would suggest that your short term goal be to create an exercise
habit. Once you get to the point where exercise is a part of your
routine you have basically won the battle.

> I am hoping to find a convenient, fun, challenging form of exercise
> that I can hopefully keep up long-term. As a personal note, I tend
> to have a hard time picking up habits, but once I form them I tend
> to stick with them. I am hoping to make physical fitness a
> long-term habit.

That's it precisely.

> If anyone has any kind of tips for a total beginner who is serious
> about improving his health, I would really appreciate hearing from
> you. Thanks in advance!

The important thing is to start right away. So go get yourself an
adjustable dumbbell handle and some weight. Don't spend a lot of
money on the darn thing because chances are really good that once you
get serious you'll find that you purchased the wrong thing. WalMart
has what you need.

The next step is to get instructions on how to do the following
exercises with a dumbbell:

Overhead press
Bent over row
Goblet squat
Curl
One arm floor press
One leg deadlift

And the final step is to take your dumbbell and simply do 5-10 reps of
each exercise for 2-3 sets at least three times a week. Make sure you
write down what you did and how you felt. After 6 weeks or so take a
look at your progress (or possibly lack of progress) and try and mix
things up so that you keep progressing.

I would go into further detail, but right now all you really need is a
basic plan and some consistency. Once exercise becomes a part of your
life there are plenty of people here with a wide array of training
styles and experience. The first step is to get something heavy and
get used to moving it around on a regular basis.

Jason
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Thanks. It will certainly work....

Weight Loss : http://www.healthopts.com
 >> Stay informed about: Looking for Advice on Beginning Weightlifting (Absolute Be.. 

Tom Anderson wrote:
> Tom Nowalsky wrote:
> > I am looking for some friendly advice for an absolute beginner who is
> > interested in beginning strength training.
>
> > First of all, I am 35 years old, male, moderately overweight,
>
> > For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
> > importantly, I would like to improve my health,
>
> Does not compute. If you're moderately overweight, and want to lose weight
> and improve your fitness, you don't want to begin strength training.
> Rather, you need to do something that's primarily cardiovascular, that
> will increase your energy output, to burn fat, and push your heart and
> lungs to develop.
[...]

> tom

Tom (Anderson), if what Zinczenko (and anyone else without an orange-
covered book to hawk) offers is correct, the OP would gain muscle by
strength training which would then burn calories 24/7 versus
somethingsomething. See also http://www.absdiet.com/

Tom (OP), to avoid snacking and/or eating 'unconsciously' you may want
to set up a menu or plan exactly what you're meals will be for the
day. Six small meals versus two big meals each day will keep your
metabolism revving, too.

> 3.141592666666 and then it's just all sixes for the other 298 digits. Then
> after that there's just hieroglyphs of scary eyes.

Anderson, thank you for always providing these gems.

--
Curt
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wrote:
> Thanks. It will certainly work....
>
> Weight Loss :http://www.SNIP!!!

Would it kill you to include a portion of what you're replying to?

Thanks! It will certainly work, too....

--
Curt
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"Tom Nowalsky" schreef:

> For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
> importantly, I would like to improve my health, which is currently
> suffering from my overweight condition. If I could improve my health,
> looks would be a secondary consideration.

Try to work out every day.

Alternate aerobics with a whole body weight program. Do low sets for
moderate reps.

Go on a low carb/high protein/moderate fat diet and use thermogenics.

--
Pete
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On Wed, 20 Jun 2007, Curt wrote:

> Tom Anderson wrote:
>> Tom Nowalsky wrote:
>>> I am looking for some friendly advice for an absolute beginner who is
>>> interested in beginning strength training.
>>>
>>> First of all, I am 35 years old, male, moderately overweight,
>>>
>>> For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
>>> importantly, I would like to improve my health,
>>
>> Does not compute. If you're moderately overweight, and want to lose
>> weight and improve your fitness, you don't want to begin strength
>> training. Rather, you need to do something that's primarily
>> cardiovascular, that will increase your energy output, to burn fat, and
>> push your heart and lungs to develop.
>
> Tom (Anderson), if what Zinczenko (and anyone else without an orange-
> covered book to hawk) offers is correct, the OP would gain muscle by
> strength training which would then burn calories 24/7 versus
> somethingsomething.

It isn't.

We've been over this before here - resting muscle does burn more energy,
but a tiny amount. 80% of your basal metabolic rate is the work done by
your organs, so even if you increased your muscle mass by 50%, you'd only
increase your BMR by 10%. To put another number on it, let me pluck from a
review on the matter [1] the value of 13 kcal/kg.day - add 10 kg of muscle
and you're only burning another 130 kcal a day.

tom

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&...mToSear

--
Gotta treat 'em mean to make 'em scream.
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Tom Anderson writes:

> On Wed, 20 Jun 2007, Curt wrote:
>
>> Tom Anderson wrote:
>>> Tom Nowalsky wrote:
>>>> I am looking for some friendly advice for an absolute beginner who is
>>>> interested in beginning strength training.
>>>>
>>>> First of all, I am 35 years old, male, moderately overweight,
>>>>
>>>> For my goals, I guess I would like to lose a lot of weight, but most
>>>> importantly, I would like to improve my health,
>>>
>>> Does not compute. If you're moderately overweight, and want to lose
>>> weight and improve your fitness, you don't want to begin strength
>>> training. Rather, you need to do something that's primarily
>>> cardiovascular, that will increase your energy output, to burn fat,
>>> and push your heart and lungs to develop.
>>
>> Tom (Anderson), if what Zinczenko (and anyone else without an
>> orange- covered book to hawk) offers is correct, the OP would gain
>> muscle by strength training which would then burn calories 24/7
>> versus somethingsomething.
>
> It isn't.
>
> We've been over this before here - resting muscle does burn more
> energy, but a tiny amount. 80% of your basal metabolic rate is the
> work done by your organs, so even if you increased your muscle mass by
> 50%, you'd only increase your BMR by 10%. To put another number on it,
> let me pluck from a review on the matter [1] the value of 13
> kcal/kg.day - add 10 kg of muscle and you're only burning another 130
> kcal a day.
>
> tom

We've also gone over how few calories 30 minutes of low intensity
cardio burns. It is likewise a pitiful number.

I would agree that increasing your BMI through the addition of more
muscle mass doesn't make that big of a difference, especially when you
first start adding lean mass. However, I *disagree* that standard low
level cardio is the answer to weight loss, as it also tends to be
ridiculously ineffectual.

If you are looking to change your body composition you need to lift
weights and do some sort of high intensity training (which probably
also should include weights). Barbell complexes are good, Tabata
intervals are good, etc.

Jason
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 >> Stay informed about: Looking for Advice on Beginning Weightlifting (Absolute Be.. 

DZ wrote:
> Curt wrote:
> > Six small meals versus two big meals each day will keep your
> > metabolism revving, too.
>
> More frequent eating does not rev up the metabolic rate. <snip>

Facts schmacts!

> In addition, there is good evidence that intermittent fasting is
> healthier, or even life-extending.

I do own at least one book that recommends fewer meals as the route to
a longer life. Something about mice fed frequently versus mice fed
once a day and how the overfed mice became old while the more meagerly
fed mice had shiny coats and were active, energetic, youthful.

B-b-but wh-where does that leave Zinczenko! For the love of God, man!

--
Curt
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Tom Anderson wrote:
> Curt wrote:
[...]

> > <snip> the OP would gain muscle by strength training which would
> > then burn calories 24/7 versus somethingsomething.
[...]

> We've been over this before here - resting muscle does burn more energy,
> but a tiny amount. <snip> let me pluck from a review on the matter [1]
> the value of 13 kcal/kg.day - add 10 kg of muscle and you're only burning
> another 130 kcal a day.

Seeeeee? One-HUNDRED-and-thirty kcals! THERE's an entire HALF of a
candy bar you wouldn't otherwise be able to eat, Tom. And totally
guilt-free, too.

> tom
>
> [1]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView...

Feh! PubMed. Poot! One of those pop fitness websites, eh?

--
Curt
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Jason Earl wrote:
[...]

> <snip> how few calories 30 minutes of low intensity cardio burns.
> It is likewise a pitiful number.
>
> <snip> I *disagree* that standard low level cardio is the answer
> to weight loss, as it also tends to be ridiculously ineffectual. <snip>

You'll have to smack me withe PubMed stick on that assertion. Certain
people gain fat more easily than others. It seems obvious that certain
people also lose fat easier than others. I ran on the cross country
team for four years. An enjoyable activity, but one that amounted to
"low intensity cardio" for the most part - definitely not sprints. If
not effective at weight loss, it absolutely seemed effective at
preventing weight gain. Otoh, that could've been youthful metabolism.
I was 150 to 155 then and am 175 now, so...

--
Curt
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Cohen wrote:
> "Curt" wrote
[...]

> > I was 150 to 155 then and am 175 now, so...
>
> Fat slob!
>
> KING! Bite the fat slob!!
>
> David

No, no, no. I'm on the list of non-approved pet foods. Sorry.

(My middle name is gluten-from-China. You may want to recommend that
KING simply kick me in the shin instead. But even that may prove
dangerous to your beloved pet. BEWARE!)

--
Curt
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