Looking to improve my health and strength

[greatman05]

Hello. I've recently become more concerned about nutrition and keeping my body healthy. One of these concerns is my body weight. I had become sick and lost about 10 lbs. in a month; this kind of weight loss is considered unhealthy I believe, and lowered my weight from 128 lbs. to 118 lbs. At my height of 5'8", this made me underweight and I felt the effects of it considerably. I am now around 125 lbs. after a week and a half of eating more, and I want to gain more weight so that I don't fall back into being underweight.

I'm currently taking a course in nutrition at my college; this is one of the main things that got me interested in making sure I'm taking care of myself properly. So, I've been eating more and trying to be conscious of the amount of calories I'm eating (to ensure I'm not at a calorie deficit) and what is in what I'm eating, but I'm having trouble coming up with a decent meal plan that's interesting and also provides me with the necessary nutrients and calorie intake so I consistently gain weight. What do you guys suggest? I have eggs, milk, meats (chicken, pork, beef and sausage), muffins, oatmeal, trail mix, cereal, chips, white rice, canned green beans, canned soup, applesauce, cheese, chips and bread.

I'm also trying to include some sort of strength training regimen, with more of an emphasis on muscle strength than size. I have resistance bands in my apartment and access to a gym on my college campus. What sort of exercises could I do that would hit the most muscle groups for a complete exercise routine with consistent strength gains (both with resistance bands and at the gym; It's more convenient for me and less intimidating to exercise in my home)? I used to bike before my bike got stolen, and I walk often since I have to catch the bus. I've heard that weight training with an emphasis on strength requires one to not exercise the muscle to failure (common in Olympic lifters and power lifters). Is this true?

 

[Goldfish]

I wouldn't say that not going to failure is a requirement, but it's generally better to focus on succeeding, not failing. A set taken to failure is harder to recover from, has an increased risk of technique going out the window (which in turn teaches bad habits that could hinder further strength gains, create muscle imbalances, and increase risk of injury), and can be a real motivation destroyer. These are all potentially counter-productive, but I wouldn't say that you should never, ever go to failure while training for strength.

Unfortunately, the resistance bands won't be of too much direct benefit in getting stronger. They can have their place (eg in assistance work such as rotator cuff exercises), and some strength athletes use specially designed thick, tough resistance bands, wrap them around their barbells and train like that, but the light resistance bands that most people would be likely to get at home just don't have that much pull on them, and once you get even a little bit strong, you'll probably take the toughest band in your collection and find that it feels like nothing for most exercises.

In the gym, you should be focused on deep knee bends (squats), pulls from the floor (deadlifts, olympic lifts), pulls from above (chin ups, pull downs), presses (bench, overhead, dips), and possibly weighted carries (farmers walks, walking with a heavy backpack) and split-stance exercises (step ups, lunges, split squats).

If you go into the young athlete development section here, in the stickies is a basic beginner's program I've written that may benefit you. Some other popular, useful beginner's programs that use a similar structure are StrongLigts 5x5 and Ripettoe's Starting Strength. They're very simple programs, just 3 exercises per day including one deep knee bend, one press and one pull, but don't let the simplicity fool you. StrongLifts aims to have the beginner start squatting just the empty barbell (which should feel pretty light to most people once they've got decent form on the lift) and have them squat 225lb 12 weeks later...and the general concensus from most people I've talked to is that Starting Strength is the better of the two programs. My program in the stickies uses less aggressive progression than either of those two popular programs, but it also takes into account more cardiovascular training/conditioning, sports training etc outside of the gym.

 

[Highland79]

Hey, congratulations on finally taking control of your own fitness! It sounds like you are really on the right track and committed, so nice work.

My best recommendation is to start by studying an actual fitness training program rather than just looking for particular exercises to do. A program that combines nutrition, supplements, and weight training is a coordinated, consolidated solution that will give you all-around results and teach you a LOT in the process.

Take your pick of the programs, but many of them have GREAT meal plans. Six Pack Shortcuts, P90x, Intensity, Fitness Made Simple, and others. They all use similar techniques and give good results. Some of them are free (and available in this forum), and some of them cost a few bucks, but there's nothing bad about trying out one or more of them. In fact, I have a blog dedicated to doing just that. Whatever it is, your nutrition plan should include major cutbacks on carbs and fat from the normal American diet, and a boost in protein. I like to say "think like a caveman." Our bodies are evolutionarily designed for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which to me means you're eating many smaller meals a day consisting largely of proteins and vegetables.

Anyway, regarding weight training: I actually disagree that resistance bands are useless; I still use mine frequently, but just move to the heavier ones (and making them stretch harder), and see great results. "Real weights," of course, are essential and probably more effective for most programs, though. Lifting to failure definitely has its uses here and there, but you're right that you shouldn't be going to failure in every set. See a good program and its recommendations for more info.

Anyway, congratulations again and good luck!