Geek Fitness

Keeping a Food Log

2006-09-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel myself getting off track, and the solution to getting back on track with my weight loss goal is a simple one.

Keep a food log.

Keeping a food log is a great way to keep you over eating or your binge eating in check. Just because you are now excercising does not mean that you can go and eat whatever you want. I like to think of it as a way to keep myself honest.

If you feel yourself starting to get off track, keep a food log for a week, and make sure to include your beverages. Fruit juices, beer, and wine all have calories. Make sure to note the time and ammount that the food or beverage was consumed. The most important tip I can give you for keeping a food log is to make sure that you are honest with yourself.

Changing it up

2006-08-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

So if you have been at your current routine for a couple of months now, its about time that you changed things up a bit! You don't have to make a dramatic change to your workout routine, but you need to do something new.

The human body is very good at adapting to "routine" so you need to trick/shock your body. This can be as simple as changing from an elliptical trainer to the exercise bike for your cardio routine, or dropping one weight routine for another. If you do a routine of mostly weights try adding 20 - 30 minutes of cardio to the end of your routine.

Another change you can make is to add an evening walk to your day. Its a great way to relax and unwind, and its also free (don't worry, there is nothing on TV that you will miss). If you are going to go for a walk, chose a route that will take you at least 20-30 minutes and preferably something with a few small hills to make sure you get a bit of a workout.

Top 10 Most Effective Ab Exercises

2006-07-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

About.com has a great list of the top 10 Most Effective Ab exercises. The best part is, most of these you can do at home without any special equipment, including the number 1 most effective ab exercise, the Bicycle Exercise for Abs. It targets the rectus abdominis (think six pack).

Exercises You Can do at Home part 2

2006-07-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Exercises that you can do at home part 2

You have likely heard of pushups or you have had to do them in gym class at school. But did you know that you can change the focus muscle group by just changing the postion of your hands on the ground?

The normal method is to have your hands shoulder width apart, with your but in line with your legs and back (ie not sticking up). Lower your body to the ground with your arms and try to think about the muscles in your chest. Thinking of the muscle group you are trying to hit helps you keep your speed in check, and helps you keep proper technique.

The other method to do pushups is to put your hands side by side on the ground so that your arms form a "v" at the floor. This helps focus on your tricep muscles (opposite your biceps). Use the same technique and speed as you would for a normal pushup and think of your triceps.

Remember to breath properly when doing your pushups. Exhale when pushing up and breath on when lowering your self. Also, don't drop yourself when lowering and then jerk yourself backup, slow crontrolled movements are they key, just as if you were lifting weights.

Exercises that you can do at home part 1

2006-07-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few training exercises that you can do at home without additional equipment.

Crunches. Crunches will help define your midsection and give you more strength in your core. And you can do cruches anywhere you have room to lay on your back. You can raise both knees, and alternate one leg straight and one leg bent. A good starting routine that will leave your abs aching is as follows:

- 10 crunches with both knees bent.
- 10 crunches with left leg straight right leg bent.
- 10 crunches with right leg straight left leg bent.

To work the side of your abdomen, do the following:
laying on your back, put one leg straight, and one knee bent. Now lean that leg over the other one and keeping your back straight raise your upper body like you would while doing a crunch. Repeat 10 times and then switch legs.

Another ab exercise that I belive works well: While laying on your back, lift both legs straight in the air so that your body is at a 90 degree angle. Now lower one leg so that your heel is almost touching the ground while keeping the other leg straight up in the air. Bring the lowered leg back up and then lower the other leg. Repeat 10 times.

Part 2 will have upper body exercises.

Weightlifting tips

2006-07-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

When you start to lift weights there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. Technique is very important to get the proper results.

Breathing is important, when you lift the weight you want to breath out, and when you lower the weight you want to inhale.

Go slow, keep your back straight and think about the muscles that you want to work with the exercise that you are doing. This will keep you focused and keep you from trying to use other muscles to "assist". Focus is the key.

Lifting weights is important to loosing weight. The more muscle mass you have the more calories you will burn when you are not working out. Normally, I do about 40-45 minutes of weight lifting and then do about 20 minutes of cardio.

Cardio Tips

2006-07-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of your cardio. We are going to talk about the three most common pieces of cardio gear, the bike, treadmill and elliptical trainer.

The exercise bike is a great tool for helping you loose weight, and has great long term weight loss benifits because it helps to build lean muscle mass in your legs! When using the bike, adjust the seat so that one of your legs can extend strait down when the pedals are at the bottom of the rotation. When you select your program on the bike choose random or hill. Doing a manual or flat program will not get you results as fast. Random and hill have the benifits of being similar to real life terrain. I personally prefer random for this reason.

Using a treadmill is also good, and you don't even have to run! Good treadmills will let you set an incline, where the fron of the treadmill will lift up simulating walking up a hill. 30 minutes of this at a brisk pace is a good workout. You also want to choose an interval program that will vary the height and the speed. But pay attention to the display, you don't want to be watching TV and fall off.

The elliptical trainer is fairly new to the cardio world and is not as respected by personal trainers as the bike or treadmil. This is due in part to the elliptical trainer not simulating a real world enviroment. And thus considering it useless. I still think you can get a good workout from one. Set the elliptical to an random or hill program and go nuts.

With a cardio program, you need to keep changing it up. You can do this by adding a minute to your time everyday or add another level of difficulty (resistance) every week or so.

Getting into a routine

2006-07-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Getting into a routine is one of the first things that you should do once you start working out at a Gym. Depending on your goals, you will want to mix weight trainig with cardio. Weight training builds muscle, and the more lean mass you have, the faster you will burn Fat! Cardio will also help melt the fat away as well. Remember, you want to keep your heart rate up for 20-30 mins.

Try to make sure that you are going to your new gym a minimum of Three times a week. Ideally, you really should be going every second day. I personally go at least three times a week, but that is because I have come up with a very diverse program for my self. (more about this at a later date).

After about the first 12 weeks you will want to mix up your routine. Doing this will help shock your body, since it can adapt quite well. This is often referred to as the plateu, where your results will start to stabilize. After the first 12 weeks, start mixing up your routine at least every 8 weeks. (assuming 3-4 gym visits per week).

Remember, if you can't feel it the next day, you are not working hard enough.

Choosing the Right Gym

2006-07-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some tips that should help you pick a Gym that is right for you. Choosing a Gym for your weight loss goals is a very individual decision and should be made with some thought.

First of all you need to to choose a gym that you are going to feel comfortable going to. Most fitness health oriented gyms are going to fit this bill. There are also gyms that cater to body builders, I would stay away from these.

Next you want to make sure that you pick a gym that is near your home or work. Your gym should also have hours that are convienient for you. The trick here is to make sure that there are no execuses that you can use to avoid going.

When you join a gym let them know that you are new and what your fitness goals are. This will help them get you started.

Have fun, and try to find exercises that you enjoy. Do not feel intimidated or embaresed, remember a lot of people are at the gym for the same reasons that you are.

Starting an exercise routine

2006-07-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

To start out, you don't need to goto a gym (not that you shouldn't, but it may not be right for everybody right away).

You can start exercising by going for a half hour walk every day. Ideally, you want varrying terrain to keep it challenging. You should also walk at a brisk pace. The secret to this is that any physical activity that raises your heart rate for 20-30 minutes will help you meet your weight loss goals.

You can also make changes at work, start taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Its also faster than taking the elevator sometimes.

Once you start exercising resist the urge to step on a scale every day. Your weight can fluctuate quite a bit in one day. Weigh yourself every 1-2 weeks to see if you are still on track. Weight loss of about 1 pound a week is very good.

Next we are going to talk about joining a gym.

Better Food Choices

2006-07-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Eating right dosn't take a lot of effort, and I find tastes better than eating junk.

Again, none of these changes are earth shattering, but can make a world of difference.

Cut out. The junk! This one is obvious but let me explain why. Junk food such as chips and candy is nothing but carbohydrates, which normally are used slowly in the body to make energy. But if you are not active then you end up storing most of this energy as fat.

Most people eat out of boredom, or as a periphial task while working on the computer or watching TV.

Adding fiber to your diet will help dramatically, most people do not get their daily recommemded fiber. Like William Shatner says "make fiber your friend".

Make sure that all of your meals are whole foods, ie: boneless skinless chicken breasts, whole wheat breads, whole vegtables, etc.

Beverage Changes

2006-07-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

These are going to be some of the harder steps for some people. We are going to try and break some beverage bad habbits.

First off we need to eliminate soft drinks! Each can of Coke is nearly a cup of sugar, and that all gets turned into fat if you are just a desk jockey. The caffene also acts as a diruetic robbing your body of much needed water. Start by cutting back to one can of soda per day.

Soda/pop/cola etc. Rarely quenches a thirst. You really need to drink your 8 glasses of water a day, plus one glass for every 25 lbs over weight. Replacing pop with water will keep you more alert and give you more energy. Drinking water also helps keep your metabolisim up so you can burn fat.

I start my day with a glass of water when I get up. Which does more to keep me awake then starting the morning with a cup of coffee. When I do have a cup of coffee I make sure that I also have some water because coffee can help dehydrate you.

Remember, water is the best and most healthy of all drinks. I lost a lot of weight by removing sugar drinks from my routine! And it has helped keep off the 60lbs or so that I have lost so far.

Next post we are going to talk about food.

First Steps...

2006-07-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so your here which hopefully means that you want to get into shape. The first steps are the hardest, but are essential foundation steps needed to meet your goal. Which brings us to step one.

Goal Setting.
An often overlooked aspect of loosing weight is goal setting. It is important to your success to set a goal. Something along the lines of I want to loose 12lbs in the next 12 weeks. Be sure to keep your goals realistic, setting a goal such as "I want to loose 50lbs this month". You will not be successful, and you will only be setting your self up for failure.

Next time we are going to start making changes. Think about your goals!

Welcome

2006-07-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Geek Fitness. On this site I will be talking about the methods that I have lost weight as a Geek and kept it off for the last three years now. Its easy and I will show you how to do it without major changes to your lifestyle. Changing a few things that you eat, and a bit of exercise.

Keep checking back as I add more in the comming weeks