Toning My Body! Advice/Help needed.

[Elyia]

Hello!

I don't post here a lot but I need some advice and help about something, I'll start off with some background information about myself.

I'm 20 years old, living in the United Kingdom I'm a little over 5ft 8" and I weigh just under 9 and a half stone.
I was born with Renal kidney failure in both of my kidneys and I was on tablets till I was 8, I was then put onto the kidney transplant list and dialysis. Luckily, I was only on that for a short amount of time until a donor came up, I had the operation everything went perfectly! I put on weight due to the steroids and tablets I was taking but my parents didn't care because I had no appetite before my operation and I was severely underweight! Anyway, I gain a load of weight (at 14-16 I was up to 13, pushing 14 stone!) then from the age of 17 I drop to 9 stone through watching what I eat and little exercise, and I've been the same weight ever since.

I lost the weight so quickly it has left me with some loose skin, not lots just in a few places (Calves, small amount on my stomach, bum)

So my question is, what is the best way to go about toning up to get a little bit into shape? What exercises should I be doing? and what should I be eating?
I'm not unfit but I would just like to "tidy" myself up if you wish.

Thanks!


P.S - I don't really have a diet, I eat fast food a lot and I don't really exercise (I walk now and then and I play drums) also, if you need any other information just ask.

[Rennadrel]

Do the P90X program. If you are in moderate shape and don't suffer too many muscular issues, it's a fantastic program. I started P90X 17 days ago and feel great. I am a bit overweight, when I started though I was just over 235 pounds and am down to 230 now, but I have put on some muscle and started strengthening my body, which is the first step in fitness success. Once you have the strength, you can do more repetitions with your weights and exercises in order to tone your body. Even with muscular dystrophy, I am able to do it because I can conquer my muscle pain and back problems. It's lots of fun, doesn't take a lot of time every day and is easy to do at home, no overly expensive gym memberships or pills to get fit.

[Venziir]

Am I the only one who read "Touching My Body! Advice help needed! ?

[Elyia]

Do the P90X program. If you are in moderate shape and don't suffer too many muscular issues, it's a fantastic program. I started P90X 17 days ago and feel great. I am a bit overweight, when I started though I was just over 235 pounds and am down to 230 now, but I have put on some muscle and started strengthening my body, which is the first step in fitness success. Once you have the strength, you can do more repetitions with your weights and exercises in order to tone your body. Even with muscular dystrophy, I am able to do it because I can conquer my muscle pain and back problems. It's lots of fun, doesn't take a lot of time every day and is easy to do at home, no overly expensive gym memberships or pills to get fit.

Thanks! Can I get a link or some info on this program?

---------- Post added 2012-07-25 at 02:25 AM ----------

I googled the P90x program and I just get a list of exercises to do and not explaining how to do them, if I could get a link, website or video to the one you're using that'll be great

[Jekdin]

P90X is ok, but honestly if you want to tone its down to diet and high rep low weights.

I'm currently working on toning myself with things I do at home.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto..._3817369_n.jpg

This use to be me, 210 lbs

http://i.imgur.com/Y8czj.jpg

This is me now, 155 lbs.
(I Know lame gay pic is gay lame pic, but I was trying to show off my progress to a friend of mine )

Find your BMR, watch your diet and put in the hard work.


As for things to do, this is what I like to do and is all subject to personal preference for what I'm trying to tone.

2 Day work out split

Day A: Upper Body + Cardio

2 Sets (Do the list twice)

1 Min Walk 1 Min Run (Treadmill pref but biking or elliptical works)
Bench Press(Flat): 20 Reps
One Arm Dumbbell Row: 20 Reps
Standing Military Press: 20 Reps
Barbell Curl: 20 Reps
One Arm Dumbbell Kicks OR Over Head Dumbbell Pull: 20 Reps

Day B: Lower Body + Cardio

1 Min Walk 1 Min Run (Treadmill pref but biking or elliptical works)
Body weight Squats: 20-30 reps
Dumbbell Lunges: 20 Reps
Standing Dumbbell Calf Raises: 30-50 Reps
Crunches: 30-50
Cross Crunches Elbows to knees: 30-50

Anyway, I'm no professional but I've researched a lot and this works for me, and maybe it can help you so you don't have to waste money on a decent exercise video program.

Best of luck to you, if you need anymore info just inbox me.

[Deleted]

Just to get all the broscience out of the way. You can't specifically aim to tone your body, getting a cleaner look is all about fat/muscle ratio. Muscles can only grow in size or get smaller, theres nothing like toning a muscle by doing high rep counts as some might claim.

If you have an excess amount of skin, the best way to go about this would be working out and exercising. You'd want to do a workout aimed at increasing your muscle mass, by increasing your muscle mass your excess skin will need to cover more body mass. Exercising has also shown in several studies to 'tighten' up your skin.

I see many recommend the P90X program, while its a decent program at most i wouldn't recommend it since theres a lot of better alternatives. You'd probrably want to lift heavy weights too.

So what i would recommend is doing a fullbody workout 3-4 times a week, this requires you have weights or get into a gym. The fullbody workout could look like this for example:

Squat
Deadlift
Calf presses
Benchpress
Military Press
Wide Grip Pulldowns
Cable Rows
1-2 ab exercises. (Ab Crunches, Hanging leg raises for example)

Don't buy into high rep workout, it doesn't do much except for your endurance. Try to do 4 sets of 6-8 reps. Stomach exercises maybe go up to 12, if you find that too easy then add weight. Doing 30-40 Ab crunches is totally useless unless you it makes you feel awesome to do that many, but you'd probrably feel more awesome with a well build stomach so keep it under 12.

Anyway, if your serious then get a proper diet, building muscle requires lots of protein (1.5 gram per kg lean body mass), eat plenty of healthy fats (nuts for example). Give yourself small goals, if you aim for perfection at start itll be long untill you see results and your motivation will be lost. I don't know if your happy about your current weight or want to loss more. You cant build muscle while losing weight. You need to eat plenty to build your muscle (being in a calorie surplas). Learn the basics and do some research and hopefully you'll get results.

[TidesOfBlood]

I'm going to put here a workout plan. I'm going to leave the diet out because after reading your background about having surgery and stuff like that I think it's best that you see a nutritionist. If I were to give you a diet plan I do not know whether or not it will be safe for someone like you who got out of surgery,etc. But like as mentioned before in this thread, eat around 1.25g of protein per bodyweight. Digest around 3g's of carbs (simple and complex) per bodyweight.

Here is the the 4 week intro plan to body building.

Message me if you finish this and want stage 2 or are already into bodybuilding.

Here you go!

Four Week Intro workout plan. For those who want to start lifting and have had no prior experience or want to start fresh.

Do this on: Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Rest time: 2 minutes first set. Then decrease by ten seconds after each set.
Warmups: Two really light sets before starting your actual sets.

10 min on stationary bike

3x15 crunches

3x15 hyperextensions (Don't hold any weight)

For these next workouts, the first set will always be a warm-up set.Meaning you should go light on the first set.

4x15 squats

4x15 flat bench

4x15 pull ups OR lat pull downs

4x15 bent-over rows

4x12 seated military presses

4x15 barbell curls

[Sussex]

You guys really shouldnt tell someone whos new to lifting to start doing deadlifts and squats and bent over rows. Deadlifts/Squats are something you do when youve built up enough strenght....and even pro's get bent over rows form wrong (thats why so many people use a T-bar row instead of doing actual bent over rows with...so a noob will mess up their back badly trying that.

You can't just goto the gym and dive right into deadlifting/squating as a newbie lol. No one has the core strength to do those 2 lifts PROPERLY straight away, you build upto that point. But be my guest and do them off the bat and wonder why your joints/back is killing you and you quit the gym because of it.

[Jekdin]

You guys really shouldnt tell someone whos new to lifting to start doing deadlifts and squats and bent over rows. Deadlifts/Squats are something you do when youve built up enough strenght....and even pro's get bent over rows form wrong (thats why so many people use a T-bar row instead of doing actual bent over rows with...so a noob will mess up their back badly trying that.

You can't just goto the gym and dive right into deadlifting/squating as a newbie lol. No one has the core strength to do those 2 lifts PROPERLY straight away, you build upto that point. But be my guest and do them off the bat and wonder why your joints/back is killing you and you quit the gym because of it.

Body weight squats help get that, you do know, that its just squatting no weights at all, just your body.

[Deleted]

You guys really shouldnt tell someone whos new to lifting to start doing deadlifts and squats and bent over rows. Deadlifts/Squats are something you do when youve built up enough strenght....and even pro's get bent over rows form wrong (thats why so many people use a T-bar row instead of doing actual bent over rows with...so a noob will mess up their back badly trying that.

You can't just goto the gym and dive right into deadlifting/squating as a newbie lol. No one has the core strength to do those 2 lifts PROPERLY straight away, you build upto that point. But be my guest and do them off the bat and wonder why your joints/back is killing you and you quit the gym because of it.

So instead of practicing on a exercise you would rather recommend that the person gets underdeveloped legs and back? Yea seems legit.

Theres only one way to learn doing the exercise, and thats by doing it. You won't automaticly after 1 year of working out all of a sudden have the perfect technique for doing deadlifts or squats. I would say they are some of the most important exercises to get right from the start. All too often do i see people who lifted for a long time, finally trying to get started with deadlifts and then bust their back because they refuse to use proper weight, probrably because they think "why should i deadlift less than i curl".

Its not like the exercises are much harder than other compound exercises, alot of people bench wrong, does pulldowns wrong, heck something as a simple pushup causes wrist issue for people cause they been doing it wrong.

"No one has the core strength to do those 2 lifts PROPERLY straight away"

That's why you start with a proper weight, don't tell me that a deadlifting like 25kg's requires more core strength than a regular untrained person has.

[Jekdin]

I'm a big fan of, I don't care!



I'll put 10-50 lbs on the bar and just work on form and technique until I'm 100% sure I have that down before I even think of adding weight, what do I care what someone else things if I'm not doing 100's of lbs.



I started out with Body Squats to get use to going up and down then 50 to get use to it with a bar etc etc.

[Iamanerd]

Just to get all the broscience out of the way. You can't specifically aim to tone your body, getting a cleaner look is all about fat/muscle ratio. Muscles can only grow in size or get smaller, theres nothing like toning a muscle by doing high rep counts as some might claim.

If you have an excess amount of skin, the best way to go about this would be working out and exercising. You'd want to do a workout aimed at increasing your muscle mass, by increasing your muscle mass your excess skin will need to cover more body mass. Exercising has also shown in several studies to 'tighten' up your skin.

I see many recommend the P90X program, while its a decent program at most i wouldn't recommend it since theres a lot of better alternatives. You'd probrably want to lift heavy weights too.

So what i would recommend is doing a fullbody workout 3-4 times a week, this requires you have weights or get into a gym. The fullbody workout could look like this for example:

Squat
Deadlift
Calf presses
Benchpress
Military Press
Wide Grip Pulldowns
Cable Rows
1-2 ab exercises. (Ab Crunches, Hanging leg raises for example)

Don't buy into high rep workout, it doesn't do much except for your endurance. Try to do 4 sets of 6-8 reps. Stomach exercises maybe go up to 12, if you find that too easy then add weight. Doing 30-40 Ab crunches is totally useless unless you it makes you feel awesome to do that many, but you'd probrably feel more awesome with a well build stomach so keep it under 12.

Anyway, if your serious then get a proper diet, building muscle requires lots of protein (1.5 gram per kg lean body mass), eat plenty of healthy fats (nuts for example). Give yourself small goals, if you aim for perfection at start itll be long untill you see results and your motivation will be lost. I don't know if your happy about your current weight or want to loss more. You cant build muscle while losing weight. You need to eat plenty to build your muscle (being in a calorie surplas). Learn the basics and do some research and hopefully you'll get results.

Honestly this guy has it right on the money . If I didn't have a back and hip problem due to a birth defect I would be doing deadlifts and squats but I have to work around it by doing different techniques that I learned from a trainer who specializes with people who have back problems etc.

[bmps]

The one thing that concerns me are your kidneys. I would get in touch with a GP/dietician/whatever and tell them exactly what you plan to do. Don't withhold information, be sure to ask them about the exercises, the sort of strain they could put on your body and whether you can or can't take supplements. When people start working out, one of the first things they do is buy protein powder and go nuts. However, when the protein intake is too high, your kidneys will suffer. And for you, that would not be a good thing. One of my friends was born with only one kidney, and he cannot take protein supplements because it would put too much strain on his remaining kidney. Of course, if you have already done that and they have given you the all-clear, then disregard what I just typed lol.

Other than that, just follow Labze's advice. The routine he has given you is great for starting out. It is balanced and safe (with proper form and spotting). Don't be afraid to ask a gym instructor to help you with the squats and deadlifts.

[Sirguygrand]

...Stomach exercises maybe go up to 12, if you find that too easy then add weight. Doing 30-40 Ab crunches is totally useless unless you it makes you feel awesome to do that many...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotat...&v=kpkIbtINmFk

This male model begs to differ :P

[anyaka21]

Honestly, if you are just into getting toned, I'd go for body weight workouts.

You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises by Mark Lauren is an excellent book. And yeah, I'd in about a half hour of cardio into the mix as well.

[Epiphanes]

I'm going to put here a workout plan. I'm going to leave the diet out because after reading your background about having surgery and stuff like that I think it's best that you see a nutritionist. If I were to give you a diet plan I do not know whether or not it will be safe for someone like you who got out of surgery,etc. But like as mentioned before in this thread, eat around 1.25g of protein per bodyweight. Digest around 3g's of carbs (simple and complex) per bodyweight.

Here is the the 4 week intro plan to body building.

Message me if you finish this and want stage 2 or are already into bodybuilding.

Here you go!

Four Week Intro workout plan. For those who want to start lifting and have had no prior experience or want to start fresh.

Do this on: Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Rest time: 2 minutes first set. Then decrease by ten seconds after each set.
Warmups: Two really light sets before starting your actual sets.

10 min on stationary bike

3x15 crunches

3x15 hyperextensions (Don't hold any weight)

For these next workouts, the first set will always be a warm-up set.Meaning you should go light on the first set.

4x15 squats

4x15 flat bench

4x15 pull ups OR lat pull downs

4x15 bent-over rows

4x12 seated military presses

4x15 barbell curls

As not to be too condescending since he tailored it to a beginner, I'll add this on to that set of exercises:

What you just stated has already set anyone up for failure... and not the good kind of failure (muscle); as in not going to work (anywhere near as well) failure. Your routine is filled with nothing but pacing. "So.. I should find a weight that I can do 15 reps with." Way too open ended.

DECLINE BENCH PRESS (either with dumbbells or barbell) is THE best pec exercise there is. Period. Also, don't aim for "x" amount of sets and "x" amount of reps. Do 1-2 warmup sets with moderate weight that allows you to perform the exercises with moderate strain but with relative ease (which is what he implied); ie., you aren't going to failure but you're warming up the muscles you're fixing to pound out. After your 1-2 warmup set(s), go heavy. Reps should be between 6 and 10 for most exercises and should lead to ultimate muscle failure. Notice that I gave you a RANGE in lieu of a specific number. If you went to light or to heavy it doesn't matter; in the end you want to go to muscle failure, period.

It's BEST to workout with a partner; someone who can spot you and aid you in going to failure on the negatives (ie. going down on a bench press is the negative where you need to slowly control and release contraction, "at rest" is neutral or between the contraction and negative, going up is the positive where you need to really explode or where you contract the muscle).

Here's the bottom line: If you don't have a spotter and don't have access to weights or equipment pull-ups, chin-ups (there's a difference), push-ups, and running is all you really need to smoke your body.

[Deleted]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotat...&v=kpkIbtINmFk

This male model begs to differ :P

Yea.. Don't just follow advice from that guy blindly. He does have some videos worth watching, this is not one of them.

As not to be too condescending since he tailored it to a beginner, I'll add this on to that set of exercises:

What you just stated has already set anyone up for failure... and not the good kind of failure (muscle); as in not going to work (anywhere near as well) failure. Your routine is filled with nothing but pacing. "So.. I should find a weight that I can do 15 reps with." Way too open ended.

DECLINE BENCH PRESS (either with dumbbells or barbell) is THE best pec exercise there is. Period. Also, don't aim for "x" amount of sets and "x" amount of reps. Do 1-2 warmup sets with moderate weight that allows you to perform the exercises with moderate strain but with relative ease (which is what he implied); ie., you aren't going to failure but you're warming up the muscles you're fixing to pound out. After your 1-2 warmup set(s), go heavy. Reps should be between 6 and 10 for most exercises and should lead to ultimate muscle failure. Notice that I gave you a RANGE in lieu of a specific number. If you went to light or to heavy it doesn't matter; in the end you want to go to muscle failure, period.

It's BEST to workout with a partner; someone who can spot you and aid you in going to failure on the negatives (ie. going down on a bench press is the negative where you need to slowly control and release contraction, "at rest" is neutral or between the contraction and negative, going up is the positive where you need to really explode or where you contract the muscle).

Here's the bottom line: If you don't have a spotter and don't have access to weights or equipment pull-ups, chin-ups (there's a difference), push-ups, and running is all you really need to smoke your body.

Sorry to say but that is terrible advice.

Saying he shouldn't aim for x amount of reps and sets is bad advice. A key part of working out is progression, without progression you would stall and lose motivation. Without a specific target, it would be easy to just go lazy a few days, and maybe give it too much other days. Have a specific set number and rep target helps to keep the workout linear and makes sure your total workload stay in line with the rest, it also gives a good idea of when you need to raise your weight.

Recommending failure training in each workout is by far the worst advice i've seen for a long time, especially to a person in his condition/experience. Failure training puts a lot of stress on the Central Nerve System (CNS). If one keeps going for failure, you would increase your chances for not only overtraining your body by alot, but you would also by a big chance end up being able to lift lower and lower weight.

Failure training is recommended in periods, maybe a month where you use it in a failure specific tailored workout with periodization. But recommending it as a basic workout will leave him exhausted and with hardly any gains.

I'm not saying that you can't hit failure during normal workouts, but you shouldn't aim for it.

[Ninjabic]

Putting yourself in a caloric deficit is key to losing weight. The question is what is your maintenance? Find that out and eat 100-300cals below that. All trial and error. Lots of adjustments.

[Hoticehunter]

If there's one thing I seem to have learned about weight lifting is that everyone has their own routine they swear by and everyone else is an idiot and will get nowhere for not listening to them.

[Deleted]

P.S - I don't really have a diet, I eat fast food a lot and I don't really exercise (I walk now and then and I play drums) also, if you need any other information just ask.

And thats the first thing you need to fix. Your diet.