Stig_Admin said:

If your goal is just to lose weight focus on cardio, like jogging or riding a bike. That's going to start showing results way faster than weight-training. Also eat a lot of protein and very few carbs.

Join a gym, working out in your own place makes it stink. Seriously, that's a thing, the room you use gets all musty and gross. If you're self-conscious join a 24/7 gym and go at like 2am, when it's dead inside.

If you've got the money hire a trainer, gyms usually employ some. If they're good they'll keep you too busy to be bored, which is the big pitfall with working out.

I kind of expected this answer, i was kind of bullshitting. I just want to gain muscle and relieve stress :)

Yes i like what your saying @ugly_carsonova

sex is excellent cardio
get some pussies wet, brother

Whatever form of exercise you choose I would highly recommend a training partner. By myself I'll always find an excuse to not workout on schedule or rest unnecessarily. Instead of buying a gym membership we use a few old dumbbells and figure out a routine on the spot.

Stig_Admin said:

Join a gym, working out in your own place makes it stink. Seriously, that's a thing, the room you use gets all musty and gross. If you're self-conscious join a 24/7 gym and go at like 2am, when it's dead inside.

I used to be really self-conscious when I had a gym membership. I trained for weeks to "feel" strong enough before entering the gym...

Many salient points here. You need diet and exercise to achieve your goal.

1.) Move more: pick something you like that is fun. Walking while listening to podcasts, riding a bike, weights, martial arts, whatever you like that is fun and makes you move. Even walking is fine, just do something more than you are now and be safe.

2.) Eat less garbage. Nothing "white" - flour, sugar, etc. Eat lots of beans, veggies, and some meat. Try to avoid fruit. Give yourself one cheat day a week to pig the fuck the out and keep yourself sane.

3.) Try to measure your progress, get some calipers to measure your bodyfat percentage as a scale can sometimes be misleading.

reddit.com/r/fitness is a great resource. The 4 hour body is a great book too. FWIW lifting weights via the starting strength program, running, and martial arts have all been great for me. Lost 100 lbs over the years and I'm the laziest person ever. If I can do it, so can you. Good luck brother.

P90X is a great program. It works and it's easy to follow -> play this video on day 1, this video on day 2, etc.

Get a pull up bar, it's used in a lot of the workouts. And consider getting square dumbells so you can use them as push up handles as well. http://www.target.com/p/Reebok-Square-Dumbbells-Black-25-lbs/-/A-12733003#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton


Also Bodylastics has superior exercise bands that you can use instead of dumb bells. Very high quality and break resistant. http://www.bodylastics.com/

I'm not self-conscious at the gym i'm just too poor to go to the gym

Skanking is a dance style that really works you into a sweat, and it's really fun too. Might as well be exercise :P

shikoku said:

If you just want to gain muscle hit the free weights. Dumbells, barbell or kettlebells. Pure (kick)boxing won't gain you any muscle. (I'm not sure how serious you were about the punching bag.) Join a gym or buy a couple dumbells. Easiest way to get in good shape is to make sure you have some weights in your home. Download a few fitness programs (P90/Rushfit) and mix them up with a good stretching routine (If you're the more spiritual type you could call it 'yoga'). That way you can get in good shape without any complex devices except your body, a floor and optionally a couple dumbells.

Herschel Walker doesn't do weights at all. All bodyweight exercises. He's been quoted to say that the only thing you need to get in shape is a floor. And he looks like this at nearly 50:

herschel walker is a fucking liar ...ive been a strength and conditioning coach for years and there is no way you develope those muscles by doing pushups..... to believe him would be naive....its like those super models that say they dont workout and eat what ever they want.....

Clearly Herschel is a beast, but a big part of it is just a combination of genetics, bone structure and low bodyfat. I think he is probably doing full callisthenics to achieve that physique. There is no doubt in my mind that many can achieve that with the proper lifestyle and a strong regiment of bodyweight exercise. "Pushups" are probably just an exaggeration.

Personally, I prefer to focus on practical strength, overall health, and my general level of athleticism.

What Moxie said. Also Giftofself you have to realize that picture is taken after 14 minutes of hard fighting, under bright spotlights and he´s flexing at the same time. And he doesn´t just do ´push-ups´ he claims to do a variety of bodyweight exercises but at an almost Mike Tyson in the 80s-esque amount of reps per set. We've already seen it works. I have no doubt he just does bodyweight exercises.

shikoku said:

What Moxie said. Also Giftofself you have to realize that picture is taken after 14 minutes of hard fighting, under bright spotlights and he´s flexing at the same time. And he doesn´t just do ´push-ups´ he claims to do a variety of bodyweight exercises but at an almost Mike Tyson in the 80s-esque amount of reps per set. We've already seen it works. I have no doubt he just does bodyweight exercises.

no doubt huh?....thats a bold statement considering he talks about his weight training in his 1989 book and in 2008 it came out that he has DID a multiple personality disorder... im not trying to get into an argument but before i go around making bold statements like "i have no doubt" i would just do a little internet research....

After neglecting my body during college, I started exercising upon graduation. Several years of strength training showed up and down results only because I would exercise alone in my own place - I don't care about the smell since I never noticed it. The problem was without somebody else there to push me to take it to the next level, I plateaued over and over again, going in 3 month cycles. Started listening to JRE about a year ago and joined a BJJ gym. Now from all the aerobics I'm the smallest I've ever been since highschool, it's awesome!

I bought an adjustable dumbbell kit, curling 25s kicks my ass for 3 sets of 10

lstenla1 said:

i borrowed this book of a friend a year ago...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solitary-Fitness-Charles-Bronson/dp/1844543099/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331076247&sr=8-1

its a prison workout, so all you need is a towel and a chair to work out. Mostly working muscles against each other...

even as little as 10 minutes in the morning showed signs of progress for me over a period of a week

plus it's got a few interesting sections where you may be tempted to follow his advice
such as pulling a piece of string through one nostril and out the other, to really give your nose a clean, and stop you getting colds.......or giving yourself a homemade enema......

That sounds amazing.

its pretty cheap. You could try the old fashioned way and buy it ;).

I'd be tempted myself if it didn't take so fucking long to ship anything here

lift weights, run, ride a bike...but remember if ur diet isn't in check, u r not gonna maximize ur gains. What u eat is just as important (if not more important) as whatever fitness routine u r doing.

Goodluck on this quest!

The quickest way to change the look of your physique and increase your strength is to do resistance training, i.e, using weights, be it body weight or external weights.
Effective resistance training works more than one muscle, don't do your biceps alone, your biceps work with your back. Your triceps work with your chest, etc.

Do all these:
Push-up variations, pull-up variations, squat variations, military press, bent over rows, deadlifts.

Don't do these:
Front raise, lateral raise (shoulder isolations), bicep curls, tricep kick-back/ push-downs, dips.

Focus on squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, military presses and push-up variations.These will get you in shape and strong all over.

Diet:

The best thing I think anyone can do is look at food as fuel. After 8 years of dieting, training and studying I have come to the conclusion that most humans are in optimum health on an all fruit and vegetable diet. Our vitamin and mineral needs can only be met naturally with this diet.
This diet changed my life, and you'll need a blender and lots and lots of fruit and leafy greens, prepare to be shredded and very healthy. You are looking at at least 3000 calories of sweet fruit and around a pound of fresh green leaves a day for a man, there's around 100 in one banana.

Great talk from Douglas Graham here, highly recommended

Why no bicep curls and tri kicks?

I eat only fruit for breakfast. Helped me take many pounds off. I eat bananas throughout the day, every day, sprinkled with cinnamon.

I took a long hiatus from working out a few years ago, and spent the time drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and eating fast food. When I started trying to get back into shape I realized how far I'd fallen. Kettlebell swings were the best thing to help me get back into the habit of working out, and it's a good compound exercise as well.

For a guy, 40lbs should be enough to do 3 sets of 25 reps.

After you've developed a habit of working out, then you can move on to other things.

@kulashaker Isolation exercises are good for building size and specific muscle strength, but the body moves as a unit. For overall muscle development and fitness purposes, compound exercises are the best.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with working out to look better. Do curls and triceps kick backs all you want if you want to have better biceps or triceps.

I've taken on a diet i heard described as an upside-down pyramid.

I eat the most calories of the day for breakfast, then smaller meals throughout the day.

NOT this
also NOT this
certainly NOT this.

Maybe, the point is i don't listen very well, but the diet has been working out for me because at the end of the day i'm so sick of eating i often don't eat dinner and certainly don't snack after dinner. i have no idea if i'm gaining or losing weight.

One of my favorite ways to work out on the cheap is watching youtube yoga videos. HolmTV has a great video with an effective yoga routine that has totally got my arms and legs strong:



Bonus: soothing voice over and relaxing california coastline scenery. Good luck.