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[Lithium Flower]

I seriously doubt most people have the money for gyms, or to purchase personal equipment of that sort :/ I sure as heck don't. I wouldn't have a way to get to the nearest gym even if I DID.

[Gemini25]

Yeah that has always annoyed me when people are like "Go to the gym, get a personal trainer!" Um hello! No money?? I have like $200 to my name! Personal trainers are for like the super rich or the really obese who need extra coaching. I do nooot have the money for it.

Even when I'm making more money, I still don't see the need for a personal trainer. I am not a star and I do not need it, soon gyms will be free for me and I have free access to gym equipment now (although the time I have with it is very limited) but no matter what, why pay? lol.

[Lithium Flower]

I could understand if someone would like to meet with a personal trainer and get advise and tips, but for the general public? I don't really agree with it. How did we lose weight before gyms? Before weights and treadmills? It's not as if the world was inhabited by the obese.

We where active. We moved. We did hard work. We weren't eating McDonalds and Burger King every single day. Though you could argue that was because farmers could only afford and gather so much :P but I am assuming my point is clear and doesn't require that kind of dissection.

If someone has the time,money and desire for a personal trainer or gym membership then that's well and good. But it isn't required to lose weight and get fit and I wish that more resources where put out there for people like me who work out at home the 'old fashioned way'.

[belligerent]

I should point out that back in ye oulde tymey dayes, they also probably weren't as obsessed with having pencil-thin arms and legs.

I am skeptical that "all" gyms will be free if you're a policeperson or fireperson. There are probably places that will give you a discount, but that's not going to be the norm with pay facilities. I don't want to rain on your parade, but I wouldn't count on getting free access to all gyms.

And why wouldn't you want muscle if you're interested in doing a physical job like police work or firefighting? If I were a criminal, I would probably not be intimidated by a very thin policeperson with skinny arms and legs.

If you really want to lose weight, do more cardio. You could try HIIT since a lot of people seem to say it burns more calories than steady state jogging, and do it for longer than you are running currently. However, I would strongly advise against actively seeking to lose functional muscle.

[Lithium Flower]

When she was talking about free gyms I think she meant the fitness rooms that would be available at her place of work.

To be honest I have to agree, wouldn't you desire some muscle for a job in law enforcement? There would still be a certain degree of physical activity you'd require.

Though I really do think you look great as you are, I'd like to have the kind of arms you've got. Frankly that's the look I am going for with my weight training.


I am a bit puzzled, Rhazia you mentioned previously that squats where not a full body exercise but this here says otherwise?

In strength training, the squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the muscles of the thighs, hips and buttocks, quads (vastus lateralus medialis and intermedius), hamstrings, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body. Squats are considered a vital exercise for increasing the strength and size of the legs and buttocks, as well as developing core strength. Isometrically, the lower back, the upper back, the abdominals, the trunk muscles, the costal muscles, and the shoulders and arms are all essential to the exercise and thus are trained when squatting with proper form

-Mark Rippetoe

[Rhazia]

That's because weighted barbell back squats are full body because you need to stabilize the weight on your shoulders. I think I mentioned that. He also mentioned that it only really hypertrophies the low body. Body weight squats are very different and are not a whole body exercise. Sorry for the confusion.

and I'm sure that's what that quote is saying because it's from Rippetoe. He authored Starting Strength which is pretty much a must read for any beginning weightlifter, even if you decide not to follow the program. It'll give you great insight into the why, how, and how much of compound lifts.

Edit: lol just noticed that you linked to his wiki page. I guess that spiel about how awesome he is wasn't necessary. But yeah, I know who he is, and I definitely know he wasn't talking about body weight squats. haha

Here is what he said when asked his opinion on body weight programs via an ask me anything he did on Reddit's fitness board 4 months ago:

These programs are not training, they are exercise. Random activity produces results only for about 6 weeks. You may have noticed this. Correctly designed barbell training programs take advantage of the fact that barbells can be incrementally loaded and gradually made heavier, thus forcing the body to gradually become stronger at a rate that can be supported by each individual. If you only use your own bodyweight for the resistance, it severely limits your ability to tailor the resistance to meet your current level of adaptation, and to gradually increase that adaptation so as to improve ypour strength in a predictable, directable way.

[Gemini25]

Well I'm not saying I DONT want to tone and do strength training, I just don't want to bulk up. I want to slim down those limbs, while tone.

I won't be a police officer for a little while, I need to start of smaller like in the city jail or as a duty officer (front desk) to get my foot in the door, then move onto that/FBI and eventually a detective etc.

I doubt I could pass the physical requirements it takes to be a fire fighter, I can't picture myself doing it, it was just a thought because they have tons of openings.

[Lithium Flower]

Originally Posted by Gemini25

Well I'm not saying I DONT want to tone and do strength training, I just don't want to bulk up. I want to slim down those limbs, while tone.
.

As far as thinning the arms, what I've learned has been to cut down on the calories you consume and do exercises that help to lose body weight as a whole.


@Rhazia
Thank you! I was a bit confused at first because I thought you where saying that squats where not necessary for work outs, or that they did not contribute to them. I do regular squats as well as weighted side lunges and should do more weighted standing squats. However I only own hand weights and I haven't figured out quite how to use them in a standing squat.

[Gemini25]

Squats don't make you bulk up right? I only do them with 3 lb weights. Lunges with none.

[Lithium Flower]

I was under the belief that squats build endurance in the legs, as well as..er...'tightening' the muscles in your legs, your badonkadonk and up your lower tummy. As you can clearly see my work out vocabulary is stocked full of appropriate phrases and describing words. If you where say,a using 30lb barbell on your back I would expect that yes, you would bulk up. Without weights, or minimal weights, it is my impression that squats simply help your endurance and work to firm the muscles in that general chunk of the body.

I started doing side lunges with weights after doing a cardio work out video with the woman from Biggest Loser that likes to yell at people a lot. The weights are for your arms, not your legs. But considering your not looking to build more muscle it seem's like you wouldn't want to use weights as it is.

Triceps dips seem to be a popular way to slim down the upper arms without using weights.

[32spartan11]

Originally Posted by Gemini25

Squats don't make you bulk up right? I only do them with 3 lb weights. Lunges with none.

My degree is in criminal justice. I also plan to work in the law enforcement field. Hopefully the info I give you will help you out. While my degree is in CJ I took classes and have studied many aspects of fitness as well.

You seem to be very interested in the exacts so I'm going to give as much info to you as possible. Since I don't know what you already know about fitness/nutrition I'm going to go with the basics and build from there. I'm considering you want to lose weight as you have asked if your routine will help you slim down your legs.

to lose weight/body mass one must be in a caloric deficit from their daily needed energy expenditure. To gain weight the opposite. There are different methods to figure out your daily needs in calories. Many online calculators use the Harris-Benedict equation. It's usually better to calculate it yourself as you can manipulate the numbers better. I personally can't attest to the accuracy of the formulas because I've never counted calories to that extent. But it is the most commonly used formula and I have used it as a rough estimate with success.

I'm seeing "slim down" and "tone" thrown around in this forum. If you truly want to keep track of results start taking body measurements with a measuring tape, as well as keeping track of your body fat percentage. Those are the best way to track bodily changes. Also weighing yourself once a week at the same exact time everyday is a good way to track fluctuations in weight. Day to day is too often as just from the amount of water we intake can change our body weight. I usually recommend people to weight themselves in the morning just when they wake up. If you don't have to worry about privacy, weighing yourself in your birthday suit is the best way for accurate results, as trying to remember what you wore last time can be a pain.

It's great you diet is pretty clean. I usually recommend people to keep a food journal for two weeks and figure out their average daily calories and subtracting 500 from that. You can be eating healthy foods and still be in-taking too many calories to not slim down. Keeping a food journal accomplishes two things helps you understand how many calories food sources are and how many you normally eat.

My Fitness Pal is a great app that can help track caloric intake, its free and can be used on any ipod touch, iphone or android device. Don't have one of those? It's free online as well. Combine this with the Harris-Benedict equation to get a handle on exactly how much calories you should be taking in a day to meet your goals. If you believe your in-taking less calories than you need to maintain your body weight and your still not dropping inches or weight check your food portions. Many people over eat with out even knowing because their portions are bigger than they think. So try out the food journal and see if your actually in taking only 1500 calories. If that is the case and your not seeing the desired results you may need to play around with your macro-nutrients to fine tune your nutrition, as well as how your in-taking your calories. Spreading them out into smaller meals keeps blood sugar and energy levels constant through out the day resulting in your body storing less fat.

As other have stated before there is no way to "spot train", or trying to remove fat by doing exercise that target that area. Any training that has told you otherwise was misinformed themselves. You can target specific muscle groups though, or selectively not target them resulting in muscle hypertrophy and muscle size loss.

As for working out some info about weight lifting/resistance training. When performing exercises you should choose a weight that will only allow you to do the amount of desired reps. For example if you want to do 15 reps choose a weight in which the 16th repetition you wouldn't be able to complete with proper form.

This information is directly form the national strength and condition association.
1-3 reps are usually to build power with break of 2-5 minutes,
3-7 reps to build strength w/ break of 2-5 min,
8-12 reps (sometimes 15 reps depending on exercise) is good for muscle hypertrophy or gain w/ breaks of 1.5-2 minutes
13 reps or more for muscle endurance with breaks of 1.5 or less.

Originally Posted by Gemini25

Squats don't make you bulk up right? I only do them with 3 lb weights. Lunges with none.

So to answer your question it depends on how challenging body weighted lunges are for you. Some people believe that doing 15-20 reps on leg exercises help bulk up and have said that it helps them. I personally don't as I follow what the NSACA says. But the rep range truly doesn't matter in regard to building muscle size if your not in-taking extra calories than needed. Which if your only eating 1500 calories chances are your in-taking enough to maintain your body weight if that.

Hopefully that helps!

[Gemini25]

Thanks Spartan, that was a lot of great information!! Lithium flower, in a brief summary, what are tricep dips?

[Fairypiranha]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

The idea that cardio is the only thing that will make you lose weight is not entirely true. Understand that when your body has more muscle on it it burns calories faster.
Cardio is very very good when you can mix it up, but if you do the same run on the same track every time you aren't likely to be getting any further results because your body is used to it.
So you need to do some weight exercises if only to allow yourself to burn more calories while not exercising. This might seem silly but it has been proven and can help your process along.

As for the problem of the gym, I happen to know of about 45 workouts that you can do without a gym, but instead include using house hold items, body weight, or various other objects. If you'd like some of those you should go to pinterest^ and look at the fitness section. Trust me on all accounts that you will find several workouts to help you.

Otherwise you've might just have hit a plateau, I would try changing up your cardio, adding in some weight training, and drinking more water*, because all three of these can ultimately help.

*side note: don't drink too much water or it will wash out all of your electrolytes and exaughst you. ^And if you need an invite I'm happy to give one, because pinterest is my own personal trainer :P

[ne0ven0m]

Originally Posted by Gemini25

Thanks Spartan, that was a lot of great information!! Lithium flower, in a brief summary, what are tricep dips?

http://youtu.be/0326dy_-CzM

Spartan did a wonderful job. I'm not sure why this notion of "afraid to bulk up" still exists. I'm a 28 year old guy who's been lifting for about half my life, and because I just don't eat that much, I haven't gotten "bulky." Those bodybuilders or pro athletes you see consume several thousand calories just to maintain that kind of size.

Another point I want to make is that regardless of whatever exercise format you chose (weights, running, sports), the whole point is to push yourself out of a comfort zone. You have to break a sweat, breath heavy, feel a burn. Otherwise your body isn't going to change and adapt to those physical demands.

[Lithium Flower]

Ne0 said it very well.

The kind of super muscular look your afraid of is something people work actively to achieve. A body builder or pro wrestler eats like it's going out of style, they have to just to maintain that kind of lifestyle and body. You can still use weights, but cut out calories where you know your adding them and keep pushing harder.

Boyfriend jokingly says that if I don't feel like your going to die by the end of the work out, your not working out hard enough. Though he's exaggerating, clearly :P the idea is the same.