Help To Improve My Fitness And Short Distance Running?

H

hunter

0
hi, i'm 14 years old (15 in October) i am 5' 8" with a slim build and i weigh 136lbs. i would like help with my fitness and short distance running. i don't really do much training at all, although i do press ups, and upper and lower ab exercises. but i don't really know what i'm doing. so could you suggest an appropriate workout for me that will improve my overall fitness, but particularly my 400m running (and i would also like to improve my sprinting). i don't have access to a gym, and ATM i don't have any equipment, but i'm going to get some soon, but i don't really know what equipment would be necessary for me to start with. so any suggestions for equipment (that doesn't cost loads)?

cheers:)
 
dumbbells are always a good place to start. Get some with spin locks so you can increase the weight as you get stronger and vary the weight for different lifts.

p.s. your abs are one muscle, it isn't split into upper and lower and you can't train it in isolated parts
 
cheers, which dumbbells would you suggest? i don't really know what weight to start with and how much to use them and how often? sorry for being such a newbie:cheeky:.

i realise that the abs are one muscle, but i read on the internet that there are different exercises that target the upper or lower abs. :confused:
 
hunter said:
cheers, which dumbbells would you suggest? i don't really know what weight to start with and how much to use them and how often? sorry for being such a newbie:cheeky:.

i realise that the abs are one muscle, but i read on the internet that there are different exercises that target the upper or lower abs. :confused:
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Any that have spinlocks and plates so you can adjust them. The weight you should use is dictated by what you can lift and nothing else. If you are pressing them overhead then you'll just need to keep adjusting th eweight until you find out what you find challenging for the rep range you choose. So if it's 10 rep sets then whatever leaves your muscles tired and understrain after 10 reps.

I'm posting this link to show an example of spinlock DB's, not suggesting you should buy from this site . If you're UK based which is likely given the time of your posting then a good place to look would be larger Tesco stores. I saw some in there that looked pretty good quality and they sold all the cast iron plates individually so you can keep adding as you go along without huge expense every time you buy. Unfortunately most UK sports stores are now just clothes shops for chavs and don't stock weight training equipment.

With the abs thing, you can read a lot of **** on the internet. Most exercises that are promoted as 'lower ab exercises' are actually working your hip flexors more than your abs, so things like leg raises, the hip flexors attach under your abs and cause that localised 'burning' in the lower ab area and people mistake that for a sign that it's just working the lower region of your rectus abdominis (abs).

that's not to say leg raises don't work your abs or aren't a good exercise, just that they don't give the intense focus on the lower area of your abs like it feels like they do.
 
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i'm in the UK so i'll have a look in tesco. the one in St Stevens seems to have loads of stuff in it so i'll look there. i just tryed lifting this big bit of metal in the garage (which i weighed and it is 8kg) and i could do 10 reps of that easy, so should i be looking for heavier weights than that?
 
You should try doing plyometric exercises. leaping, bounding, short sprints, box jumps, mountain climbers etc. Make up a circuit. For example, run 200m - do an exercise for 30 seconds - run 200 m; repeat...

This will help with body strength and 400 m speed. You should talk to your coach assuming you're on a track team, they will have great circuit workouts I bet.
 
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