So since there's a thread for everything else I figured why not start an exercise thread. Post articles and discussion about training, nutrition and anything in between. I'm doing sports science with a view to personal training/strength and conditioning coaching so if anyone has questions or anything I can help out. I'm sure there's other people with knowledge on the matter here too.

Just a disclaimer, while I have more knowledge than the average person I'm no professional so any advice I give you isn't to be taken as gospel :lol:

Edited by ual: 7/8/2012 01:00:58 PM

How would I best lose muscle mass in my legs? I've played baseball the last 16 years and never worked my legs in the gym, they've just gotten bigger through training. But now I'm playing a lot of squash and need to lighten up to play at the higher levels.

I've read that running is the best way to do this while cutting out all other leg workouts, especially cycling (which I love)?

What percentage body fat do track athletes (not marathon) have & can someone survive long term with such levels?

@marty - AFAIK you'd be best off cutting out all weight training using your legs while doing lots of cardio with a low resistance. Cycling is pretty much perfect. Not an expert on muscle loss though so take what I just said with a grain of salt.

@ozboy - not certain but I'd say probably ~8%. You can survive long term on these levels so long as your energy intake is high and you train a lot, like these guys do. Track athletes would eat a LOT of food, but since they'd more than likely train 3-4 times a day they burn it all off. Pretty sure a healthy "normal" body fat % is about 15% for men and %20 for women, but that's purely off memory. Not certain.

Join me on fitocracy

http://ftcy.me/QC6MWU

Starting my master trainer course this week - and I just tore a forearm flexor.

Ual, How best to recover from that injury and not lose all my progress so far?

I use RunKeeper for running (absolutely brilliant app - highly recommend!) & StrongLifts for weight training (but its pretty shit basic)

when i work out with my wife i tend to find i workout harder and she doesn't work as hard, she seems far less mobile than i am....do you think this has anything to do with her having her ankles behind her ears??????

Not much you can do really - maintain a high protein diet and let it recover. Plenty of rest. Don't try to push it because it'll only make it worse :( That's how I'd handle it.

How long ago did you do it? If it was recent (in the last day or 2) try icing it for 20 minutes every 2 hours for the next day or 2.

Been getting into crossfit the last few months, loving it never really hit the gym much before but can see a massive change.

Kettlebell training is the way to go for strength and conditioning.

after being a very-frequently trained football player my entire life i've had 6months out of the game due to buying a house & organising a wedding. my wedding is on the 23rd september. what's the best way (knowing i work 12 hour days 6 days a week, so don't have the most time on my hands) to turn my [what i see as] pot-belly back into a 6pack for the wedding/honeymoon, plus getting back to a decent fitness level to play roundball again next season (preseason starting in november)?

buy a 16-24kg kettlebell, use daily for 10-20 minutes doing interval training with 30 second rest periods and you'll be back in shape with decent cardio to get back to the match in 8 weeks give or take a few weeks.

Diet and cardio. I'm assuming that from what you're asking you want to lose weight and tone up, yes? If muscle toning is your target rather than muscle building I'd do something like:

Interval training cardio (cycling/running) - 30-40 minutes. Maintain a heart rate of 130-150, every 3-4 minutes doing a 20 second sprint, going as hard as possible. Do this 3-4 times a week.

On top of that, a simple abdominal routine of side-bends, crunches and planks (front and side) will tone up all your ab muscles. Don't forget your obliques are just as important as the rectus/transverse abdominis.

As for every other muscle, a combo of squats, pull-ups, dead lifts, dips and push-ups will strengthen and tone all of the major muscle groups. The squats will target the gluteal group and the hamstrings/quads, the push ups and dips will do your pectorals, the dead lifts will get your hamstrings and back and triceps and the pull-ups will hit your biceps and lats. Again, if you're trying to tone rather than build, do something like 4-5 sets of 20-30 reps on a light weight of each. Since you're not bulking up I'd resist isolation exercises like bicep curls and flies, and focus on just those compound exercises.

Diet is the most important factor though. Losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Eliminate all processed foods, sugar, soft drinks etc. Make sure you have plenty of fibre and don't reject carbs and fats altogether - just make sure you don't go overboard. Have no more than 2 slices of bread a day, use skim milk, limit egg intake and for protein eat things like tuna, chicken, salmon and kangaroo (they're all low in fat and super high in protein). Another important thing to know is when to eat. Rather than eating a big breakfast, lunch and dinner with small snacks in between you should have 5-6 medium sized meals (one every 3 or so hours). Each meal should be approximately 1500kj. If you keep up this level of exercise though, each meal could be up to 2000kj. The amount of cardio you do will affect how much energy you can take in. If you do 3-4 days at the gym I'd stick to between 8000-9500kj a day.


Sorry for the wall, if you've got any more questions regarding what I just said (or anything else) just post them and I'll try to answer for you.

Edited by ual: 7/8/2012 04:46:38 PM

i've never fully understood what to do with a kettlebell - in a 10-20mins interval training what do i do with it?

You can do plenty of simple stuff that'll shred you if you go hard enough. Push-up to lift super-sets, upright rows, delt raises. You can do anything with them, really.

Starting with simple single or 2 handed swing will work your core, quads and arms as well as build your grip strength.

i like to do 2 minute intervals of single hands left then right, squats going right down to the floor and then clean and jerks left and right.

i also use my kettlebell to do push-ups and then i do 2 minutes of regular crunches and leg sweeps as well to round out a session this works the core, arms and gluts to such an extent you cant help but become a warrior.

It's worth while looking in to the 300 workout for a massive body scalpting, but this needs a very focused diet.

Yep. I'll never forget this borderline obese bird at the gym. After 12 months on the treadmill/bike she was about as fat as when she first started :lol: :lol: :lol:

Ritual miseducation is not a reason to laugh at someone.

Use to play a lot of sports when I was growing up but ever since I finished year 12, I haven't done to much. Blew the cobwebs out on Sunday, had a really good run. Still a little sore in the legs. But It's been tough lately to find time due to Uni but I'm going to try and get really fit again.

Denial is though :lol: :lol: :lol:

burpees and lots of them, can never do enough burpees

hey guys, like ual I am also in the fitness industry as a qualified personal trainer with kettlebell and boxing qualifications.
I am willing to assist anyone in any programming or workout selections if they need/want it.
Completely up to you, just thought i would make the offer.

I have a member that has just had a knee scrape, has bicep tendonitis and has had wrist surgery 6 times for RSI & Carpal Tunnel.

What program should I get her on to incrementally increase her knee/back/posture strength.

pilates or yoga one would think.

For the back/posture, doing planks/bridges while keeping the back tight as possible would help.

I gym it around 3-4 times a week, every time I go I do cardio for 30 mins and do resistance training (never like doing weights, just not my thing) Started protein shakes 2 months ago and have put on 8kg, my goal is just to bulk up but not to go overboard with it

On a diet, only been to the gym about 4 times since I started a few months ago. Might sound crappy, but i have a big backyard, so have just been jogging that each day for about 30mins. Usually not long after I wake up. Before my greyhounds went to a trainer, they were handy as they needed walking so I could easily add 1-2 hrs walking to my daily exercise.

For the jogging it's always a good idea to change the track you run every now and then so your body doesn't get used to running that path exclusively. Sounds stupid but changing the path you take when you run does help.

Not really. I think its more important to run different lengths and paces. I run the same course all the time which basically runs a loop through centennial park. Sometimes I'll run one lap fast, other times do 3 laps slowly. Your body gets used to distance and the pace you run. In essence you can run on a treadmill everyday as long as you change things up. I'm only considering changing my track so I can find a good hill run to do once a week (city2surf reminded me how bad my hill runs have gotten).

Also important to keep things basic when you start out. Just get into the routine of getting out there and exercising. If you try and vary your track within the first few months you're probably only going to make things more difficult to get into it. And really, until you're at the point where you can be running fairly hard for AT LEAST an hour I'd say there isn't really a need to be mixing things up at all, because clearly your body hasn't gotten used to it.