Seeking help, lots of questions...

J

Jimmy9120

0
Hello!
First off i'd just like to say that I am young (17) and a male. I'm telling you that because most of the help I read online is for adults, and as we all know, we teenagers eat and require a lot more food and such then a fully grown adult. Now that i've gotten that out of the way...

I do have some good equipment, at least i think i do. I have an older Bowflex Home Gym, and a running thing (not a treadmil, it has two bars you put your feet on and run. Theres adjustable resistance and programs to use.) I used them both for about 3 months. I used the program called "general conditioning" for the Boxflex, and ran for 20 minutes with a program that increased the resistance until 10 minutes, holded it, then slowly lowered the resistance until the 20 minute mark. It seemed to be working great, i lost more than 10 pounds! But now it seems to have stopped working (and so have i unfortunately).

My eating habits SUCK! I managed to stay away from most of the junk foods for a couple months, but come Christmas, that all fell apart. But i really don't know what to eat besides stuff that has protein in it. And also, i don't know when to eat... I'm usually always hungry unfortunately.

My drinking habits also suck. Not alcohol of course, but i mean things like water. I simply just don't drink much. I know i need to (i think) but hate the taste of city water and don't have the money to buy water bottles everyday.

Last but not least, i do manage to have a "Breakfast" protein shake every weekday morning. Also at some point during the day i eat a protein bar, yum =).

Well, where should i get started? I'm pretty much looking to get toned up and in really good shape while i'm still young and its the easiest (before life actually starts for me). I'm willing to change almost everything of my life style for better health.

-Thanks for listening to my essay! Don't worry, i still have lots of questions to come. =p
 
Go to and read all of Lyle's articles on training and nutrition.

Can you convince your parents to take you to a play it again sports or Academy and buy some free weights?
 
You should not worry about being hungry all the time - You SHOULD eat all the time, just the right stuff.
What are you goals? If its simply to 'get in shape' choose an activity you like an do it frequently with the upmost intensity. Mix cardio and weights and its as simple as that
 
nails said:
You should not worry about being hungry all the time - You SHOULD eat all the time, just the right stuff.
What are you goals? If its simply to 'get in shape' choose an activity you like an do it frequently with the upmost intensity. Mix cardio and weights and its as simple as that
Click to expand...

Wow, its that simple? Great! But so I understand... Mix carido and weights, plus a great diet right? Right now i'm trying to keep track of everything i eat and how much calories too. Plus what i burn off.
 
Jimmy, just read Lyle's articles on nutrition over at and you'll get a lot of understanding on how you need to structure things. You'll learn more from reading those articles than a few posts here.

I would pick up a 300 pd Olympic (not standard) barbell set with Olympic bar. Academy has them for around $180. I'm not sure how much room you have to put equipment in but see if your parents or you (if you're working) can spring for an all-in-one bench/squat combo.

Something like this would be fine

If it's too much, look for something like this

and get a chain belt that you can attach the plates to for weighted dips. This is also nice because you can do chin ups/pull ups

With the barbell set, you can do hack squats, zercher squats, deadlifts, Olympic lifts, rows, military press, etc

As far as getting in shape, check out . In particular, if you're looking for some added strength, check out He has a 3 day strength and conditioning program that he does. The other few days you can supplement with the WODs (workouts of the day) from crossfit.com

Now if you can get both the power tower, the barbell set, and the bench/squat combo you're very well set for awhile and then you might look into Westside for Skinny Bastards III (easily googleable).

Now, if you don't want to purchase equipment, it can be really easy to join a local gym.
 
Alright cool, thanks for the help. But, i know i won't be able for a fact to buy any of those things =( at least not for awhile. I'll check into a local gym, but i doubt it because they all suck.

I have a question about lifting weights. Should i be barely able to do the 15 reps in each set, or should the reps be somewhat of a challenge without pushing my muscles to the limits. (I do 15 reps, and 2 sets)
 
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