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WorkoutNewbie · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:33 am Post subject: Soldier in NEED!! Please Help

OK. So I'm only 20 and the best shape of my life was when I went to Basic Training for the Army last year. I have always been a little on the "thicker" side, but I can't further my career if I don't meet the standards. I had a small issue with emotionally eating, but that is long gone.

Now that I'm done with the intro, my body fat is at a whopping 38% and I need to get down to at most 30%. MY goal is way beyond that. At 172lbs/ 5'4" , I feel like I really let myself go and I need a little support to get me there. I don't even know how to start, or what to target, or even what exercises will get me there.

Here's the catch. I am currently in Iraq and I work a rediculous amount of hours Sad

I don't have access to many healthy foods. Salads, (simple green salads at best) and fruit, and a "healthy bar" which i often question.

Any ideas at all will help.. Any advice, any support.. It will all make a difference. Thank you!

indigobunting · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:37 am Post subject:

Welcome! That's a tough situation for sure, but not at all impossible. To lose some fat you need to take in fewer calories than you are burning. It helps when the food choices are the best, but even if they aren't the best, you can still lose fat. Eat small portions of food as often as you can. Try not to let yourself get to the point where you are super hungry, but also never fill yourself really full. Keep the last meal of the day light, low in carsb if possible. Just throw in whatever extra execise you can. I don't know what it is you are actually doig, whether up working physically or sitting. Adding in even an extra 10 minutes of activity here and there may not seem like a lot, but in the long run it adds up. Make your workouts that you can sqeeze in really count. Try things like supersets and circuits and high intensity intervals.

Sarah

Anne-Marie · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:53 am Post subject:

I'm in a similar physical condition and have made a lot of progress through eating a lot more veggies and less carbs/protein (takes more volume to feel full though!) and eating several times per day. I also am generally active with low-impact steady state cardio (cycling, walking) as part of my lifestyle, and added I running a couple of times per week. To continue to progress I am going to add some resistance training.

WorkoutNewbie · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:33 pm Post subject:

Thanks Sarah. All those things you said to do are very much in fact possible. As far as eating habits go, I can definitely follow your advice. I currently work as a helicopter mechanic, so I am on my feet, climbing and such, nearly all day.

I don't, however, know what exercises (aside from situps and pushups) I can do in my room without weights. There is a gym here, but (as my username states) I was never a workout buff. I just recently started reading this mag, and seeing how these women looked made me realize that my goal is not very far. I am very excited to start doing something, just not sure what. I have no idea about supersets and circuits.. I do know about HIIT, only because we use it alot in the Army.

Thank you too Anne-Marie. I have been eating lots of veggies already so I guess i'm on the right track. (Hate to say I dont really trust the meat here). I have already lost 20 lbs since I've been here though. Partly because at 145 degrees, I sweat like crazy just working on the birds. But mostly because my eating habits have changed drastically.

So as far as training goes, if I can get to a gym, what can I start doing? How much cardio should I start with? My biggest problem areas are my thighs and my back.. Inner thighs are the killer! We dont have a machine for it in this gym. What are other exercises for that?

guitargrl325 · Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:20 pm Post subject:

can you not use some of the workouts/exercises you used in boot? my hubby was in the USMC and he said they did body weight exercises 99% of the time, with the occasional use of kettlebells.

If not, you can always do jump squats, jump lunges, wall squats, pushups, chair dips, 1 legged deadlift squats, skater squats...these are all done BW only. also check out sites like monkeybargym.com and crossfit.com....do you have access to a pull up bar? you can put a chair under it and do modified pull ups. Burpees, squat thrusts, plank runs, prison cell pushups(very similar to a burpee).

One thing you can do is intervals of weights/cardio. for example, jump squats, followed by jumping jacks or running in place, followed by pushups, then another round of jacks or jumping rope, then pullups, ect. This is kind of like monkeybargym type stuff.

Also you can just type in bodyweight workouts into google and there's a plethora of info.

For the inner thighs, those machines are garbage. your inner thighs are teeny little bands of muscle. getting them stronger won't make your thighs leaner. inner thighs are a fat problem. that being said, there are compound leg movements that you can do that i feel give my inner thighs a bit more work. for me, the curtsey lunge is it. it not only works glutes, hams and quads, but i really feel it in my inner thighs. It's exactly as it sounds. But you can look all these exercises up on the internet.

There are about 100 different variations of pushups that work different parts of your upper body. Pike pushups work shoulders. Diamond pushups work triceps. Side tri rises work, you guessed it...triceps!

As for abs, there are probably 100s of different workouts you can do beyond situps without needing any weights or a gym. Scour the internet, there's TONS of stuff on there.

Tintri · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject:

Thank you for serving.

Tintri · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:00 pm Post subject:

Do you have access to a DVD player?
If you have access to one and an open space at the gym or something, maybe you and a few like minded people could get together a do a workout DVD together. You could be each others support. Or you could do it on your own. A lot of them don't require much in the way of equipment - I'm sure some of the ladies here could recommend some good ones that are light on equipment needs.

WorkoutNewbie · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 4:55 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all the ideas guitar girl.. You are abslolutely right, in basic we did alot of bw exercises. Except i don't remember most of them. But you're right, i'm going to look up the exercises on the internet and see how that works.. I'm also going to see if I can find the Basic workout routine.. my biggest motivation was not getting yelled to pieces by the drill sgts, but i have a bigger motivation now (promotion) and that will get me through.

Thank you Tintri. Some of the grls here are doing the p90x, but they all go at a certain scheduled time the gym has it for. I work past that time, but nonetheless, i got my hands on the ab workout and will be taking a look at it tomorrow when I get home from work.

I really appreciate al the input, ladies. I will keep everyone updated with what i'm doing, and if any improvements need to be made i'm open for constructive criticism. =)

bobbilaplante · Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:31 am Post subject:

you could incorporate things that you have in your enviornment as well: things like rock throwing(obviously heavy rocks..)log rolling( or whatever will roll) running on the spot for 1 minute then drop and do push ups in between, high knee kicks alternate with crunches, this will keep your heart rate up( we did stuff like this for kickboxing!) it will tire you out quick!!