I've tried reading the FAQs, and various other things on the internet, but man... this stuff is confusing. Here's my predicament.
I'm 20 years old, 5'7", and I weigh about 155 pounds. Also, I am out of shape. Definitely. I don't know if 155 is overweight, a good weight, or what, but the important thing is, I'm just so out of shape it hurts. I tried to bike into town the other day, and it damn near killed me, even sections that I thought should have been easy. This has got to stop.
I have some goals, and I was sort of hoping you guys could help me out, or at least give me some pointers. I'm living in a "retirement community" this summer while I'm off school, and it really sucks... but, there's a pool, and a weight room, it's got treadmills and benches and one of those machines that has like four different types of stations on them... look, I know nothing about this stuff, but I'll learn.
1) I want to lose this fat that I have. I always used to be a small kid with a fast metabolism, and I guess I thought I could coast on that. I was wrong. Clearly, I've got to do some cardio, right? Some running on the treadmill or something like that? And there's maybe something about a target heart rate? I am clueless here.
2) I wouldn't mind some abs. Or at least my stomach looking better. You don't need to grate cheese on them, but I don't want to look so damned flabby.
3) I used to be able to climb and lift myself up and just generally monkey around, you know? Basically, I just want to have absolutely no trouble lifting my own weight, being able to lump up, grab a ledge, and pull myself up it. Should I be doing chin-ups? Or is there a better way?
4) Finally, I need to get my endurance up. This is where the aforementioned bike ride comes in. Basically, my endurance is shot just to hell. One of my biggest problems is that I'm a chronic asthmatic... like, seriously bad. Inhalers four times a day, a pill morning and night, and my ventolin lots and lots. So, I basically just stopped even trying to get out and jog or bike or anything like that, and now I'm in this state. I don't want to be able to run a marathon or anything, but I do want to be able to play a solid game of capture the flag, or bike into town with no problems. I don't need to be an olympian, but I do want to be at least aproaching the "athletic" range. I mention Capture the Flag because they occasionally run games in Toronto where I live, and... well, I've always been fast. Really fast, able to outrun a lot of people. But one good sprint and I basically collapse. I want to be able to run around and play those sorts of games without the constant worry that my asthma is going to put me in the hospital. Should I be doing lots of running on the treadmill? Or swimming?
Just, basically, any tips you guys could give me would help. Try to go easy on me, because now that I realize this has become such a problem, I am going to work my ass off (as long as I don't die of an asthma attack first). There are just a lot of things that I don't know... should I work out every day? What heart rate am I trying to hit? If I'm going to swim for exercise, do I just do laps until I'm tired, or what? These are the things I'm clueless about.
Sorry for the mammoth post, and extra sorry if this is in the wrong place on the board.
I'm 20 years old, 5'7", and I weigh about 155 pounds. Also, I am out of shape. Definitely. I don't know if 155 is overweight, a good weight, or what, but the important thing is, I'm just so out of shape it hurts. I tried to bike into town the other day, and it damn near killed me, even sections that I thought should have been easy. This has got to stop.
I have some goals, and I was sort of hoping you guys could help me out, or at least give me some pointers. I'm living in a "retirement community" this summer while I'm off school, and it really sucks... but, there's a pool, and a weight room, it's got treadmills and benches and one of those machines that has like four different types of stations on them... look, I know nothing about this stuff, but I'll learn.
1) I want to lose this fat that I have. I always used to be a small kid with a fast metabolism, and I guess I thought I could coast on that. I was wrong. Clearly, I've got to do some cardio, right? Some running on the treadmill or something like that? And there's maybe something about a target heart rate? I am clueless here.
2) I wouldn't mind some abs. Or at least my stomach looking better. You don't need to grate cheese on them, but I don't want to look so damned flabby.
3) I used to be able to climb and lift myself up and just generally monkey around, you know? Basically, I just want to have absolutely no trouble lifting my own weight, being able to lump up, grab a ledge, and pull myself up it. Should I be doing chin-ups? Or is there a better way?
4) Finally, I need to get my endurance up. This is where the aforementioned bike ride comes in. Basically, my endurance is shot just to hell. One of my biggest problems is that I'm a chronic asthmatic... like, seriously bad. Inhalers four times a day, a pill morning and night, and my ventolin lots and lots. So, I basically just stopped even trying to get out and jog or bike or anything like that, and now I'm in this state. I don't want to be able to run a marathon or anything, but I do want to be able to play a solid game of capture the flag, or bike into town with no problems. I don't need to be an olympian, but I do want to be at least aproaching the "athletic" range. I mention Capture the Flag because they occasionally run games in Toronto where I live, and... well, I've always been fast. Really fast, able to outrun a lot of people. But one good sprint and I basically collapse. I want to be able to run around and play those sorts of games without the constant worry that my asthma is going to put me in the hospital. Should I be doing lots of running on the treadmill? Or swimming?
Just, basically, any tips you guys could give me would help. Try to go easy on me, because now that I realize this has become such a problem, I am going to work my ass off (as long as I don't die of an asthma attack first). There are just a lot of things that I don't know... should I work out every day? What heart rate am I trying to hit? If I'm going to swim for exercise, do I just do laps until I'm tired, or what? These are the things I'm clueless about.
Sorry for the mammoth post, and extra sorry if this is in the wrong place on the board.