I'm new to this. Help me out?

D

DAKs

0
First, I'm a teenage girl, 5'6, 155 pounds. I'd like lose some weight, but mostly I'd like to be stronger and more fit.
Although I'm not horribly obese or anything, I am out of shape and chubby.
And I have no idea what to do to get in shape. I mean, I've tried looking up workout plans and things like that, but they confuse me. Not only that, but I don't have much equipment on hand, or access to a gym. I have some weights (ranging from 1-15 pounds, plus some larger ones (25-30ish?) buried somewhere in the basement), an exercise ball thing, a pull-up bar, and about a million "The Firm" videos from the 90's (which I have a feeling aren't going to be very useful?). I have an exercise bike as well.
Does anyone have any ideas on what plans could work? Or just advice?
Oh, and any tips to keep me motivated? I lose interest in exercise fast, and have a hard time sticking to it.
 
Welcome to the forum!

The main thing for you, as a teenager, is to be active every day, or almost every day. Try do do some form of strength training 3 days per week, spacing out theses workouts so that you're not doing them 2 days in a row. And try to do some type of cardiovascular exercise almost every day (walking, jogging, cyclig, swimming, etc).

For some exercise ideas, try looking here: Free Exercises, Exercise Instructions, Custom Workout, Personalized Workout, Ab Exercises, Abdominal Exercises, Training Programs. You shoudl be able to put together a routine using the equipment that you have at home. Try to cover the major muscle groups - somewhere between 8-12 exercises per workout often is good. Focus on compound exercises like squats, lunges, chest presses, rowing, overhead presses, etc.

As for keeping motivated, do you have a friend or family member that you could workout with?
 
hey,

a great workout for getting your self a quick boost of cardio you can do anywhere with no equipment so theirs no excuses you could do this at school/coll with your friends at home even while watching/listening to music or a TV show.

!st exercise - jumping jacks (or whatever you like to call them)

2nd exercise - press ups

3rd - sit ups

and finally burpees and sometime you can add a twist to push your self by adding a jump when you have completed each burpee.

do 20 of each exercise for 5 sets and try to push your self to the limit every exercise and every set and when you feel that you are finding just one of the exercises easy then add more sets or add jogging/running before.

also remember to have fun with exercise the moment you find it boring you will give up and go back to how you are now.

so remember if your not moving and sweating your not exercising :)

hope that will help you,

Grant
 
djbombsquad said:
A 3 day spit would be perfect for a girl your age. I would do upper body, lower body than abs.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with this at all... Is there any research out there that you're looking at that is saying that there's a benefit for teenagers to work each muscle group only once per week? Unless she's able to work out 6 days per week...
 
DAKs said:
First, I'm a teenage girl, 5'6, 155 pounds. I'd like lose some weight, but mostly I'd like to be stronger and more fit.
Although I'm not horribly obese or anything, I am out of shape and chubby.
And I have no idea what to do to get in shape. I mean, I've tried looking up workout plans and things like that, but they confuse me. Not only that, but I don't have much equipment on hand, or access to a gym. I have some weights (ranging from 1-15 pounds, plus some larger ones (25-30ish?) buried somewhere in the basement), an exercise ball thing, a pull-up bar, and about a million "The Firm" videos from the 90's (which I have a feeling aren't going to be very useful?). I have an exercise bike as well.
Does anyone have any ideas on what plans could work? Or just advice?
Oh, and any tips to keep me motivated? I lose interest in exercise fast, and have a hard time sticking to it.
Click to expand...

As a beginner, aim to do 2-3 resistance workouts. Do a total body workout and not a split routine. You are new, so when you are first starting out, your body will respond much, much more. Take advantage of it by doing a whole body routine. When beginning out, have a day of resistance training and take a rest day. You can decrease the amount of rest days as your body begins to 'adapt' to your new workout routine and hence will take less time to recover the longer you continue to workout. Also, it doesn't matter if you workout a certain body part more than once a week. If you are fueling your body well, take enough rest then you are good to go, but only you can tell.

You may experience some muscle soreness but this should not stop you from working out and pushing through. Nothing wrong with fighting through DOMS. Soreness will get better as you get used to the exercises/routine.

Look up body weight exercises, dumbbell exercises and beginner pull up routines. Someone above mentioned burpees. I would not recommend a beginner to do burpees. Lift heavy with good form. Concentrate on compound exercises. Cardio wise, you have a bike and you can run outside. Start slow, build up your fitness bit by bit. Once you are comfortable, you can progress to more advanced cardio workouts like HIIT.
 
Hiya,

HyungJun has some good advice for the training part but I want to add something that seems to be key for you. You said you quickly lose interest in training, hopefully you will stick with whatever you do long enough that your results will inspire more but in case that doesn't happen, I suggest either recruiting a friend or two to work out with and/or join a group activity. I used to be a member of a running group and witnessed people who I knew personally that not only didn't like running but also didn't like exercise and for whatever reason, they tried the group and got hooked. When someone else is relying on you its a lot hard to skip or give up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top