Moobs to Men's Health?

Matamoros

I suppose I could/should or will get a bit of stick for that thread title but out of shape fat lads like me need to have a dream. I have had moobs since before they had a name and now having been a member of a gym for years and only going sporadically, the shame of it has gotten too much, so here I go.

Being 44 and having the upper body strength of an anorexic little girl, I have to start off gradually, trying to avoid injury and not kill my motivation by doing too much too early which I did last year by getting good improvements in a few weeks but giving up due to tiredness and thinking that I'd cracked it. Complacency.

I'm doing cardio and resistance every other day, the cardio consists of stationary bike and treadmill both for 20 mins. approx ensuring to keep my heart rate below 144 b.p.m.. I'm following a resistance training program by James Orvis called " Weight training workouts that work " which was recommended here some time ago.

My goal is to be as fit as I can be and not to be ashamed of how my body looks, simple as that. I was always a tubby kid and in a way I have just accepted being this way for years apart from being a racing cyclist for a few years in my 20's, I have always enjoyed good health and it's only now that seeing some people around me whose health is failing them makes me realise how important health and fitness is.

Also, I need to thank the Boards members who post their knowledge on here which I have found to be very helpful as a longtime lurker.

Matamoros

This morning my routine consisted of 2 sets of 15 of the following,

Dumbbell bench press 8kg
Lat pulldown 20kg (this was too light though)
Leg press 40kg
Dumbbell pullovers 8kg
Barbell curl 15kg
Dumbbell shoulder press 8kg
also some crunches and I had some time left before I had to get to work, so I did 2 sets of Dumbbell squats 12.5kg and bicep curls 10kg, that was because I was enjoying myself so much, I wanted to go on for a bit.

One question, why are my arms shaking so much while doing the exercises on such light weights, is it that the connective tissue is not used to the strain or is it just longtime unused muscle? Cheers.

TommyKnocker

Hi There

Congratulations on your decision to get fit. Going by your stated goals a lot of your battle will be won or lost in the kitchen.

So what is your diet like?

For instance 20 minutes on the threadmill say running at 10 min/mile pace would burn around 200 calories give or take. Simply having a yorkie or similar chocolate bar will wipe out those lost calories and you will be abck at square one.

So make sure you have a reasonably clean diet to go with you exercise program. If you want, post your diest up here on in the mail forum nad some of the more knowlegeable guys may be able to point out thing you can tweak to help you get the results you want.

Best of luck,

M

Matamoros

For the past while, I have been slowly cleaning up my diet, so now I don't eat as much rubbish as before, I nearly always have some small biscuit or bar each day which is a big drop from the my past habits.

Morning before gym
An orange and banana,

After gym, protein shake

10 a.m. tuna and chicken sandwich or half roll

lunch, brown rice, chicken, lentils and veg mix with a little curry sauce for taste.

4p.m. same as morning break

Mostly chicken and brown bread as I'm not too hungry coming home and am going to bed around 10/10.30 for a 5.30 start the following morning.

Matamoros

I'd been meaning to take a proper look at my diet, after you mentioned it, I looked at some of the stuff that I ate most days and my calorie count for having a random biscuit with a cup of tea added up to 400 calories for yesterday alone.

Today's workout is limited to 1 hour of 5 a side tonight.

Matamoros

If I'm going to do this seriously, I am going back to one of the habits that was used when I was a racing cyclist, that is, to keep and analyse the record of each session, having said that, I am going to treat this early phase as base laying for the first month as I need to reinforce the habits of exercise and good nutrition.

Sat. 22.8 Workout time 9.15 - 10.30

Rowing machine warm up 9.45 min
Crunches 2 sets of 15
Bicep curls 2 x 15 @ 10kg,
Lat pulldown 2 @30kg,
Pullover 2 x 15 @ 12.5kg,
Dumb. squat 2 x 15 @ 12.5kg,
Shoulder press 2 x 15 @ 10kg,
Leg press 2 x 15 @ 40kg,
Treadmill warm down post previous nights football, 10 mins @ 7km avg.

Diet wise was good most of the day but fell apart a bit late on. No excuses though.

Matamoros

My Sister is a qualified personal trainer and made me aware of the need to build up some core stability and strength which until then I hadn't even heard of, I wonder if even today's cyclists do much core work given their traditional caution regarding resistance work.

Today, I did 40 mins. of Pilates which although not as much fun as resistance work, is I hope, going to be valuable to me considering that I have been prone to back strains for years.

Matamoros

Did 22 mins. bike and 23 mins. treadmill, felt good in the morning but knackered in the afternoon, just getting used to the early start I suppose, well worth it though.

My arms are still a bit stiff since Saturday's workout after me doing a decent amount of stretching, can anyone shed some light on what works for them regarding stiffness, I don't get this at all from the cardio.

Matamoros

Due to circumstances outside my control, my training was interrupted a bit this week, I did the correct amount of sessions but in a disorganised way and my diet has been quite bad. I am definitely making progress though especially on the cardio front, watch out Friday night 5 a side!

Matamoros

Having a few days off work this week, I thought that I'd ramble down to the gym later than usual only to find that a few others had the same idea. I wanted to do resistance today but there were so many people doing the same that I decided to learn a bit more about the mechanical contraptions down the back which I had studious avoided so far rather than look like a fool trying to see how they work or god forbid that I had to ask someone. All went well until I sat down on a machine designed to do your lower back and after sitting there for a couple of minutes trying to work it out a chap told me how to use the machine and gave me a few pointers on form and sets, thanks Patrick.

Matamoros

Today I went back to strictly doing my program, as I am off for a few days I noticed myself doing a few free weights in the evening after my morning workout which I suppose I shouldn't do as I have read that rest is very important. I'm loving the resistance work and feel myself getting a little bit stronger and although I am happy with the progress so far, I am itching to get a bit stronger still.

Do any of you guys have specific goals on what you want to achieve if it's not directly related to a sport? Any advice on your own take on fitness goal setting would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Matamoros

Polish Caitriona who lives in my house came home and asked me to go for a run as her friend had let her down, I went and although I hate jogging and normally do HRM based training, we had a good run, total time 40 minutes, average heart rate 147, max 178.

brentaz

Hi Dude,

Good blog and im sure its going to spring me into action any day soon, keep up the good work....would it be an idea to log your weight or is that not productive.

bc

Matamoros

From what I've learned, it seems that trying to measure your body fat % is a better way of assessing your progress. When you do resistance training for example, you will add weight in the form of muscle, if you use the scales as a way of charting your progress, how annoyed will you be when you may have gained weight on the scales? I am as of today, 88.1kg which is up .9kg in two weeks although the waistband on my trousers are saying something else, so I'm hoping that tells me that I have more muscle and less fat than before!

Cheers, Eamonn.

Matamoros

After doing two sessions yesterday, resistance and a later informal cardio session, I thought that today I would take it easy and just do my regular cardio split of bike/treadmill @ 150 beats max which I do until I have reached approximately 300kcals energy used up. As I've said before, I have a tendency to rush headlong into things especially fitness, one of my goals is to practice self control and not do too much too soon.For example, I took my old free weights out of the shed two days ago and having placed them near my PC, I found myself doing a few quick sets in between reading stuff on the 'net etc. So today they are going to sit there and my slightly stiff shoulder will rest.

Matamoros

Still alternating with the cardio/resistance days and now can just about go a few kilos heavier than last week, my main goal of becoming a regular exerciser is a bit nearer. Irish Caitriona asked to go out for a run and even though she is quite a strong runner, she hasn't been out for a few weeks, so out I went for my second session of the day, only 2 miles done in 25 minutes and now I feel good but tired. This is a big change from the tiredness that I used to feel by just coming home and watching the telly while scoffing various cakes and biscuits. Having said that, there is a cheeky piece of apple tart waiting for me downstairs, I think after today's exertions I deserve it.

brentaz

Looks like your still on track and id say if you keep the steady pace you will succeed.....just writing this while watching Ireland Vs S.Africa... anyway i will start my sessions after next week....Cannonball this weekend so to much enjoyment here to train.good luck.

Matamoros

Did a cardio day today, 300 cals. of bike/run in the gym which was quite easy and then the same 2 mile run around Clonee, this time we did it in 24.05 which is 55 seconds faster than last time.

After doing the opening week of my program for two weeks, the book that I'm following is talking about doing different types of exercises with new concepts like split days and drop sets etc. Tonight will be spent reading and planning. I must admit that I am absolutely loving this lifestyle change.

Matamoros

Friday footie got canceled so I thought that I'd go to the gym and be there nearly on my own as it was a few years ago when I was in Westpoint, no such luck though, lots of people training resistance so I did a little cardio and some machines to blow off some steam after a crap day at work.

Matamoros

I know that I'm getting into something when I consider last night's workout and today's efforts as a bit of a failure. I went to the gym this morning to do some resistance work and I just didn't know where my head was at, so after a while I jacked and went home, when I got there I went out for a run of about 20 minutes not including warm up and warm down. Later on, I looked at what I had recorded from my resistance workout only to see that I had done a decent bit of work. This is a long way from my previous way of life, I'm happy to say.

Today's lessons for me to remember, keeping records is vital, rest is very important and be patient.

Matamoros

After the last couple of disappointing workouts, I hit the target bang on today. I had clear in my mind what I wanted to do and executed well. I was fairly disgusted with my efforts the days before and I just felt the need to put it right. I am out for dinner with friends tonight so I'll rest tomorrow morning and do a half hour run tomorrow evening.

On the stats front, I now weigh 87.7kg with a body fat % of approximately 25, a long way from my worst of 32% which I was at 2 years ago.

Matamoros

What's the point of training yourself if you go and sabotage your efforts by having indiscipline in other areas? So for the first month I have trained well enough and more or less hit my goal of becoming a regular exerciser again, the next goal for me is to tighten up the other parts of my fitness plan, the ones that I haven't been committed enough to follow through on. The areas of diet, stretching and core conditioning have been let slide a bit and the next phase of training should be to fully incorporate these essential elements.

This evening I did about 40 minutes running, I did this on concrete and found it hard going, back to the lovely treadmill for me on Wednesday, my knees are thanking me already.

Matamoros

The thing that I had been so careful about came back to haunt me this morning and looking at my routine and preparation pre-gym, I can only guess at how it occurred.

My lower back started to hurt me after this sequence of exercises.

Warm up on rowing machine: 9 mins. total including slow warm up of 2 mins. and a warm down of 1 min. Intensity in the middle about 60%.

Crunches/sit ups, two sets of 15 each,

Shoulder press machine 1 set of 15 @ 20kg then started to notice the pain and decided to quit straight away.

At home now resting and icing.

Matamoros

After doing my back in last Friday, I haven't been able to train and it's only being as immobile as this makes me appreciate what I had. I had made a good amount of progress toward my goal but now with time to evaluate my program, my casual attitude to my preparation, thinking that I could get away with not stretching and warming up properly played a part in this injury. When I reviewed the role of hydration, I realised that even this may have played a part in my downfall. I went to work to this week and to get out of the car outside there the first day was comical and painful but I persevered and am feeling better today, still a bit stiff. I might play in the Friday 5 a side in goal tomorrow night.

Matamoros

I played an easy 5 a side tonight and suffered no reaction at all so far, I can still feel a small bit of stiffness in my back but I am nearly there as far as recovery goes. Happy days.

brentaz

It was a shame about you injury set back but its good to see your back at it again, i will be returning to the football myself Friday two weeks or else i will start a blog called moobs and gut to morbid obesity.

Matamoros

In total, I have been recovering for two weeks, using the time to read up on anything that will protect my from further injury and I'm looking to get back to the gym tomorrow morning, I'm just going to do some light cardio for three sessions this week and start again with my resistance program next week.

Matamoros

After nearly a month out with a back injury, I am back at the gym but taking it way easy with a good warm up routine beforehand. I'm looking froward to getting back to the level that I was a few weeks ago, I made some great progress strength wise and also aerobically but I just got too ambitious too early. Older and wiser now though. A good aspect of being injured and then recovering fairly easily is the feeling of happiness at having a fully working body.