I will be going on a vacation in about a month and a half and I would like to be able to walk around without a shirt and not be embarrassed. I don’t look to bad right now, maybe just a little flabby and I have no chest whatsoever. I want to know what I need to do in order to firm up the upper-body.
Short time = stick to the power moves
- bench press (reps 8-12, 4-5 sets, twice every week)
- shoulder presses (ditto)
- standing barbell curls (ditto)
Diet. Multiply body weight by 12 = calories to consume per day, so cut that number back by 500 cals per day.
This is big time basic advice!
It could be involved getting deeper. Get a free workout at a local gym and check out some charts or advice.
Google: upper body workout
When doing upper body weight excercises(or any weight training), go for 12 or more reps. More reps and less weight = muscle tone, and more weight- less reps = muscle size. Cardio workout is definetly a good idea also, and cutting fat in your diet will help. When Philster says “stick to power moves”, i think he is refering to compound muscle excercise which means working two groups at the same time; example: chest + triceps with bench press, or shoulders + triceps with military press, also- dont forget back and biceps.
To tone muscles and considering your short time period, it might be a good idea to workout 3 times a week instead of 2.
I personally think running combined with simple crunches and push ups will do the trick and keep you away from the gym. 1 1/2 months is not enough time to get buff, as I am sure you know, but with an hour a day as many days a week as possible should work (min. 3 days per week, max 6). Run as much as you can during the work out (min 1 mile), do a pyramid crunches and push ups depending on your level. Example:
Week 1
Run 1 mile
20 push ups, 20 crunches, 15 push ups, 15 crunches, 10 push ups, 10 crunches, 5 push ups, 5 crunches.
Repeat throughout week.
Week 2
Run 1 1/2 miles
25 push ups, 25 crunches, 20…you get the point.
Stretch before and after for at least 15 minutes per stretching session. So, workout 1 hr, stretching 30 minutes.
Diet is simple, cut out all breads, rice, etc, and drink nothing but water and gatorade (cut out all sodas, beer, etc). Also, try to eat semi healthy and take natural supplements if necessary (vitamin packs).
And if you like it after going to the beach, keep it up. Either way, I have seen this work many times.
Lance
What can I eat? I am not very good at this and can not think of many things that do not have breads or cereals involved.
What is the difference between a crunch and a sit-up?
Eat regular foods, just watch stuff that is high in fat. They say stay away from white foods (not including meats, white meats are great!). It is up to you. TUNA is great. All you can eat salads, minus the nasty fatty dressings. Go with a fat free. But do not starve yourself.
Crunches aren’t as bad for your back as sit-ups. With crunches, you can put your legs in the air a little, and you can also do more reps, so they work great.
If you decide to work out with some weights, definitely go for more reps less weight (not easy weight, just enough to get 10-12 reps before failure with good form). I like Lance’s plan, but to augment his plan you’ll want to work in some days at the gym, 2-3 maybe with a day of rest between each gym day (still do the running and pushups and stuff, it will help build endurance). I’d say do the workouts labeled under “powerful pecs” and also some of the tricep work that I’ll link to (do 2 different excercises each week.) Ok, here’s the links you’ll need.
"Powerful Pecs": http://www.mensfitness.com/mens/superfeat/061102/powerful_pecs.html
Cyclic Triceps Program: http://www.mensfitness.com/mens/also/030703/bigger_tris.html
Just stick to it and you’ll definitely see results. Don’t forget to eat your protein, fruits, and veggies. Taking vitamins could help, but eating well is much better. You need the fiber you get from good food to help pass fat through your system faster as well. I suggest a good bran cereal. Happy crapping, and good luck!
Oh, and what Lance is talking about is staying away from carbs. You need some, but not nearly as much as you probably eat. Breads, rice, cereal (excluding the aforementioned bran) and bread-like foods should be largely off limits. Otherwise I think Lance has a great routine for you. Good luck.
Depends on how hard you are willing to work, and how large you are. The best way to get in shape in the shortest amount of time would be to go to your local school and ask to join the wrestling team’s workout. Even if you cannot participate in the one-on-one practice, the first 3 weeks of wrestling practice will make you lose at least 10 pounds and gain it back in muscle. In our practices we sweated at least 3 pounds off each DAY.
Only a 2 hour practice each day and you will be in the best shape you will ever be in unless you join the SEALs. Truly, army boot camp does not compair.
On the other hand, you probably don’t want to be sore for the 2 weeks required. 
I am still confused as to what I can and should eat. Can you please give, or point me to a place where I can find, numerous examples?
I was about to go out and get a double decker taco from Taco Bell, is that OK?
I’d say anything with the word “double-decker” in it’s name is a hands off food. Basically you can eat anything you want though, just don’t eat a lot of fatty foods or breads, and try to eat a lot of protein (meats). As long as you’re running your diet isn’t going to slow you down too much. Here’s some tricks I use: 1. Eat a large meal at breakfast, medium at lunch, and a pretty small meal at dinner. 2. Get up earlier in the morning and go to bed earlier as well. 3. If you feel hungry between mealtimes, do not eat anything, drink water. If you’re about to die, eat some rasins. 4. Skip a meal if you aren’t hungry, particularly dinner. It’s good to go to bed a little bit hungry and get used to that feeling. 5. Don’t miss a day of training and don’t neglect your running. It may be the most important part, because your fat will hide any underlying muscle you might develop or even already have. Good luck.
You can skip on the Taco Bell for now until you are done at the beach. Avg daily meal COULD be something like this:
Breakfast:
2 eggs (not everyday) or egg whites (unlimited), turkey bacon, wheat toast, orange juice
Lunch:
All the tuna you want (no mayo)
Dinner:
Huge Salad, fat free dressing, could put grilled chicken on it.
Unless you are simply overweight, you don’t have to be to strict on the diet. Watch your fat intake, cut out fast food, and just think. If you know it isn’t healthy, don’t eat it. You know that the bag of chips is bad for you. You know Coke doesn’t leave your body with all it went in with. Most of it is just common sense.
Lance brought up a good point I forgot to mention: Caffine is bad. Very bad. It can actually stop you from getting the full benefit of deep sleep if taken up to 6 hours before going to bed. This means you don’t heal your muscles up as fast, which means more soreness and less ability to break down muscle again. Stay away from caffine.
Eating lots of fresh veggies and fruits (in their raw state when you can) at the start of the meal is great. They fill you up and are low in calories, plus just good for all other reasons. Also, try to eat a bit of “mediteranean” foods each day: avacados, olives, oily nuts. They have the “good” kind of fat that you need.
Also, don’t try to loose more than a pound or so a week, not healthy for you, and you might rebound and gain it back fast as your body thinks it needs to redesign for a famine and then change how it handles incoming food when you go back to eating like you did before this.
Finally, you can get fast results in the first few months of weight training, just make sure you use good form (e.g., trainer to help start you off). Bad form will make you waste a lot of effort. It is amazing how a slight adjustment to form by an observer can make the exercise hit your muscles so differently.
Lance is right: stick to the basics. Jog, pushups, crunches (get trained if you don’t know what they are). I would add to that dips and chin ups. If the gym has a “Graviton” or other weight assisted device for dips and chin ups, try to do three sets of eight of each dip-chinup-dip-chinup-dip-chinup. Doing dips for the first time without assistance can be bad, you can also do dips at home with feet on a chair edge and your hands behind you, palms down on another chair edge, you legs flat out in front and torso up: left torso up and down towards the floor. Again, many websites will show you pictures of these. Stick to the basics: gym or not.
Can’t say I agree with old man whithers advice on going hungry…this is BAD. Instead, get used to small portions. A rule of thumb is that a portion should be the size of your palm. Looks small, huh? Well, Americans have gotten used to super-sized portions. So, when the portions are smaller, you each a snack between lunch and dinner and between dinner and bed. Snack here means an apple or orange with some nuts, or small container of yogurt.
Can’t say I agree with old man whithers advice on going hungry…this is BAD. Instead, get used to small portions. A rule of thumb is that a portion should be the size of your palm. Looks small, huh? Well, we have gotten used to super-sized portions. So, when the portions are smaller, you eat a snack between lunch and dinner and between dinner and bed. Snack here means an apple or orange with some nuts, or small container of yogurt. You should never go hungry, it can backfire.
I believe he is only giving himself a month and a half.
Sorry to bump up this old thread, as I said in a previous post, I just got my computer back after a couple of weeks being in the shop.
Is diet soda, and/or caffiene free diet soda all right?
I agree with Philster’s advice early in the thread: the compound, power movements give you the most efficient resistance training workout. While building more muscle will generally help you to reduce your bodyfat, if you really want to lose that flab more quickly you need to add an hour of some sort of cardio to your routine.
My experience with diet soda (with the exception of Diet Rite, which is as far as I know the only diet soda that does not use aspartame) is that it retards weight loss efforts. Switch to water or try to find Diet Rite and you’ll likely see better results, in my opinion. In particular, when I was on a low-carb diet I found that products with aspartame in them would tend to put the brakes on weight loss for me. Look for products with Splenda, Sucralose, Stevia, etc.