HI,
my girl friend wants to lose some weight, right now she weights 195lbs, and has no real back ground in exercise or training, and sadly is a product of a lazy childhood , which makes it easy for her to find reasons not to exercise. I know if she got active doing anything she would start to burn calories, but i can make her all of the workouts in the world, but i have no real experiance in weight loss. I know you must use more calories than you consume but thats about it. My prior training experance is in powerlifting and training for basketball ( doing agilites and sprints oly power lifts). Could some one suggest a diet and workout routine for her. Ive been thinking about meltdown training , but wanted to get some educated opinions.
thanks for your time
will
p.s do those workouts in womens fitness magazine really produce results?
Will: Welcome to “The Forum!”
I would suggest that you DO NOT have your girlfriend jump into any intense, workout program. If so, she’ll fall into the trap of thousands of “beginning of the year, New Year’s Resolution-ist” who begin intensely and stop working out before they begin. Your girl friend needs to FIRST get introduced to the basic concept of simply becoming more active. My suggestions?
1)Simply walking and riding a bike. (Both things are great couple activities too!)
2)Have her increase her activities of daily living. Park at the far end of the parking lot while at work or shopping. Take the “long way” to get form point “A” to point “B”.Take her own groceries to and from the car. Take the stairs. Push and pull all doors open.(DON’T press those handicapped buttons!). Get up to turn the T.V. set on and off. Simple things that can go a long way for a previously sedentary person.
Will…you’ll simply have her “crash and burn” if you begin more intensely than this. Once she can do these simple things, THEN something more intense would certainly be in order.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
I bet if you just eliminated all the junk food and ice cream she at in a day she would lose fat. I bet if you added in just a little exercise at a time she would lose more fat. Yes, she will probably lose some muscle too.
Have her read “foods that make you look good nekid” and “The Winning Formula.” Get her on machines (Hack squats, leg ex/curls,leg ab/ad, presses, pulls, pullups) and have her do seven minutes at one half of her one rep max. After seven minutes at a 30 rep/min pace, rest. then get back on and set the weight at her one rep max and do ten repsnot stopping until she ddoes all ten.
Issue 199–How to Build a T-Vixen. Look it up and read it. It is very easy to follow. She may need more of a diet change than is offered there, but it’s a good place to start and she should see results pretty soon.Once she does, you can look into more in-depth and specific diets, always keeping in mind the fact that she needs to eat healthy. She also needs to incorporate some calorie-burning aerobics, or something like that–swimming, running, treadmills, whatever she likes to do. How about going on vigorous long walks together? I think the programs in ladies’ fitness mags are too fluffy to do much good, but even something is better than nothing.
Please avoid ‘Meltdown’ for a first timer, especially since she doesn’t seem really motivated. Yes, a woman can do all the same lifting routines as a man, but that much soreness will convince her that it isn’t worth it. Is there something you could do together, like biking or roller blading? If she has been inactive, you want to protect her joints.
As for diet, slow progressive changes are the best way to go. Yes, it will take longer, but a radical change often sets up for failure especially early on. I don't know what it is like now but even small changes will produce results.
**Note to other posters - every heavy person does NOT eat ice cream and twinkies.
I don’t read them “fitness” mags geared for women. I do just read Testosterone/T-Mag. However, that may be a wee bit hardcore for your girl. Them fitness mags are nice to look at, just lovely, but in no way do they deal with the “individual”. Like your girl, who’s an individual.
Since you girl has no athletic background or has never been physically active, may I suggest that you two find something that she will like that she can use as a jump start into a physically active lifestyle. I betcha the search for something she likes will in itself, help. Also do read "Foods that make you look good Nekkid". But remember, while it isn't a good idea to get her into a intense exercise program, it also isn't a good idea to completely change her eating habits. It'll have to be gradual.
Introduce her to the benefits of a physically active lifestyle combined with good old fashioned nutrition. Use yourself as a role-model/example and I guess, she can use them fitness mags' photos as a way to "inspire". I think right now, it's more mental - right? She'll whine/fight over this with you occasionally, but that's to be expected. But do read the articles mentioned in the previous posts! And have her travel onto the forum for some "boostin"!
I may get flamed for this, but personally, my girlfriend (who was active but started at about the same wt. as your gf) and I got started into more serious training and nutrition through Body-for-Life. It was a good way to get started eating 6 small, healthy meals, keeping a food log and training log, and tracking progress. You can’t do it forever (it will stagnate, plus the cult like atmosphere might drive you crazy like it did me), but it’s a good place to start. From BFL, I moved on to T-mag, and currently we’re both on the Don’t Diet program and she works out with me…she now loves intense workouts including deadlifts, sqats, etc. If I’d started her with those, she would have killed me, though…work up to it. ps: she’s lost about 40 pounds in a year (first 3/4 BFL, now Don’t Diet). My .02, flee.
You know there’s an urban legend that says it’s illegal to anally rape a 30lb cat (implying it’s legal to poke a 29lb cat)? I showed that law to one of my friends who wanted to lose weight. I told her that if she didn’t lose weight, I’d treat her like a 30lb cat
She’s now a yummy hardbody.
I just wanted to add my two pennies worth and say that I agree with flee. I know most people who read T-mag think that Body-for-Life sucks rocks and that Bill Phillips is a weenie. But it’s a good starting point for a beginner, especially one who doesn’t have a lot of fitness background. Your girlfriend WILL see results if she follows BFL. After she gets hooked on fitness, you can turn her onto T-mag and REAL workouts. But first you have to help her believe in herself and get into this lifestyle. Good luck and let us know how it goes.