Well, as I recall when I was very young, I was thin, but around 4th grade i started gaining weight, and I've been a little flabby around the edges since then. This year I've gotten a bit taller, but there are still a few pounds of fat on my chest and my thighs. I'm in my early teens, and am 130lbs at 5'9. I've tried eating healthy and exercising on an eliptical machine 40 minutes a day for a while, but didn't lose a pound. The past week or 2, I've been trying to eat less, but still to no success. My older brother, who is 16, is a body builder, and my parents are also very fit. This means I can have access to 3 different exercising machines (no tredmill though), freeweights, and other equipment. At this point, I'm not really flabby enough to really be considered fat, but I haven't seen my 6-pack as long as I can remember, and if anyone could give me a diet/exercise plan to lose these pounds in the next couple months, I'd be extremely appreciative.
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Losing the last couple pounds
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Your muscles might need some toning, but there's no way in hell that you're fatty or you need to lose weight if you're 5'9" and 130 lbs. If you're serious, then you have a body image issue. If you were any thinner, you'd be a stick figure.It's still a good idea to get into shape and put on some muscle, and it's nice that you have exercise equipment available at home. There are a bunch of threads on working out (HelmsmaN, RobBob, and some other folks have lots of good information). If they don't stop this thread, shoot them a Private Message.You need to eat properly, and enough, if you want to build muscle.
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no, it's not really a self image problem... There is literally about an inch or so of fat over my stomach and on the sides. Part of it could definetly be muscle toning, due to the fact that I'm not the most upper-body strong person, but there definetly is a problem with fat, although not really extreme.
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I wouldn't worry about losing any weight, because you are by no means overweight. I'm 6'00", 155 lbs, and I've been trying to put on about 5 lbs more. You don't need to lose weight to get in better shape - you may even gain weight if you're not very heavy. Most of all just eat healthy, incorporating all food groups in your diet and eating good foods, not junk food. Be sure that you're not starving yourself of carbs or protein if you're going to exercise.What kind of workouts are you interested in doing? A simple and well rounded workout might be to go on the elliptical for 15 min, then go over to the weights and equipment a few times a week. Once or twice a week you may want to go for 40 mins on the elliptical with short intervals of high difficulty.A few questions that might give helpful answer. What kind of equipment do you have available to you? What are your goals / what kind of workouts do you want to do? Are there any school teams you'd be interested in joining?
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Well, in response to your first question, I'd like a workout that can help lose those last few pounds while building upper-body strength and abs/chest muscles. I'm not really trying to become a body builder, and in fact part of the reason I'm doing this is I'd like to join the swim team come spring time. I have access to an eliptocal machine, two bike machines - one low on the ground, one high, 5 lb, 8 lb, 10 lb, 15 lb, 20 lb, and 30 lb freeweights, an exercise ball, and two machines I can't really name - one is like two poles with a bar on top and some other stuff and is used for chinups and other workouts, and the other is a big machine with a bench and bar(for benching), a kind of thing you can use to lift weight with your legs, or pull up with your hands, and a pulley system where you pull downwards on a handle or bar attached to a wire that pulls up weights, along with I believe around 300 lbs of assorted weights to use on this machine. Hope I was specific enough for you :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
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In reply to:I'd like to join the swim team come spring time.Woo, another swimmer Here's a previous thread where about training for the swim season.http://www.afraidtoask.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=fitness&Number=246946&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1I've been doing circuit training, and it's been good for me. You move from workout to workout with little or no rest, incorporating both cardio and high resistance weights in different places. Try getting out to the pool at least a couple times a month and really focus on doing long efficient kicks and stokes.Are you familiar with all of your equipment and the workouts that can be done on them? I'd particularily recommend focusing on the core muscles, the glutes/hams, and the shoulders, but overall you should be trying to do a workout for your whole body. Your exercise ball is great for doing ab workouts. Try finding a site with a list of exercises that can be done for abs (links to various sites on this forum), particularily with an exercise ball. Be sure that you're doing enough intense cardio because that's a major part of swimming - your bikes and elliptical are great for cardio. Try doing short bursts at high resistance, for 30s-1m, then take it easy for a couple minutes. This can be done for about 10 min and is great for both legs and cardio.Don't worry about losing weight, that small layer of fat you may have around your stomach and lack of tone will improve. Just try to get in better overall shape and you will notice results. Be sure not to be impatient, there's no quick fix that works well.Btw, do you know what strokes you plan on swimming? I'm primarily a freestyler and backstroker.
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well this is a little late, but I was thinking of doing front and back strokes. What kind of exercises would you recommend for building these muscles? I know which areas to focus on, just not what exercises to do.