Never worked out

[Erika]

As you will find in the last two threads I have posted, I am new...

I just filled out an application for the Academy, and if I get it, it probably wont be until next year. So, I need to start working out... NOW! I have never really worked out before, at least never on a regular basis. I am a writer, so I know I have discipline in me... somewhere!
I am 4'11'' maybe 5' and 125lbs... ok I gained 10 lbs because I took a semester off from school to move, and now stay at home with my daughter. So I need to cut out fat foods, and I know that the weight watchers diet helped my mom lose over 100 lbs, so I will start that.

The questions I have, are what should I be doing on a regular basis, or on a weekly basis. What do I use to time my miles, I don't have anyone to help me work out? Should I run every day, or two, three or four times a week? I know I need to work on sit-ups and push-ups too, I will try and do those everyday as well... is there anything else??

-Erika

[koreancopiniraq]

Erika,

Hello there! I am a Police officer from Pennsylvania. I have about 12 years in Law Enforcement and I will try and help you out as much as I can.

One of the biggest obstacles that females sometimes face when entering a Police Academy is their lack of overall strength ( Upper and lower) especially the upper. I would recommend starting off slowly and then building up.

What you could do is the following.

a) start walking around a track ( football) size at a steady pace. Do this 4x's around. For a week. 3x's a week.

b) 2nd week--build up to 6 laps around.
c) 3rd week--u should be able to run the 4 laps around.
d) 4th week--u should be able to run 6 laps around.

keep in mind-- a average runner can run 4 to 6 laps around 8 to 13 minutes.
that is also not taking in consideration age and weight.

also--try to get to a gym and do light weights and reps. get a trainer.
drink lots of water. cut out caffeine, eats lots of tuna, chicken.

I was in the Marine Corps and one of their proved training methods for fatbodies was 3 normals meals--no snacks, no milk, no caffeine, lots of water, lots of physical training.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[lax854]

As you will find in the last two threads I have posted, I am new...

I just filled out an application for the Academy, and if I get it, it probably wont be until next year. So, I need to start working out... NOW! I have never really worked out before, at least never on a regular basis. I am a writer, so I know I have discipline in me... somewhere!
I am 4'11'' maybe 5' and 125lbs... ok I gained 10 lbs because I took a semester off from school to move, and now stay at home with my daughter. So I need to cut out fat foods, and I know that the weight watchers diet helped my mom lose over 100 lbs, so I will start that.

The questions I have, are what should I be doing on a regular basis, or on a weekly basis. What do I use to time my miles, I don't have anyone to help me work out? Should I run every day, or two, three or four times a week? I know I need to work on sit-ups and push-ups too, I will try and do those everyday as well... is there anything else??

-Erika

hey erika im also in the process for acouple of departments and i have been a personal trainer for three years throughout high school and into college. Starting a workout schedule is grueling at first and takes time and patience. Especially since you are very interested in the law enforcement field, it is important to build up a cardio and weight training workout. For all my clients, I have noticed that the must weight loss and muscle is gained by starting with 3 days a week and gradually increasing to 4 within a couple of weeks. Now, there is no correct way to workout, meaning a person who does lower body one day and upper body the next day isnt doing it wrong compared to someone who workouts lets say monday-chest wed- arms friday- legs sunday shoulders/back....it really all depends on your time schedule and that is how i create my clients workout shcedules,....to begin i would recommend getting comfortable doing a warm up....then doing maybe an upper body workout....and then run for a period of 12-15 minutes increasing that slowly each week. then maybe two days later, come in and do lower body and run after that workout. I know this is alot of information and is reallly confusing at times, but i could sit here for hours and still not get all the information out there. Private message me if you want further explanation and good luck!

[Erika]

Thank you both for your information.
And Lax, I think I have plenty of info for the moment, and just need to focus on getting a rutine for this week, then gradually add to next week. I will send you a private message if I need some help in the future.. haha, I probably will!
Thanks for the help

[madsnax]

Run..

Situps..

Pushups..

Run... Run... Run... Run... Run...

I should take my own advice.

[Jynkxxie]

Erika, your best bet is to start doing a lot of reading. We can offer advice all day long, but we all come from moderate to highly active backgrounds. And those backgrounds have been built over many years and tailored to our needs and wants.

I would first find out what your needs are, where exactly you are, and then find out how to get there. I not trying to be discouraging, but there is so much out there to learn about fitness, and only a fraction of it can be had here.

Go to the bookstore, see what you can find, or better yet, google.

[manahmanah]

This is what works for me. When I have not run in a while and I start running again, I run for time instead of distance. I'll drive out to a trail, turn on my ipod, and start the timer. I'll run for 15 minutes, then turn around and run back. I keep track of where I am at the 15 minute mark and every time I run try to make it further by that time limit. the reason I don't like to run on a treadmill or on a track is because it's too easy to quit. If you're on a treadmill you can get lazy and hit the stop button and quit. On a track, it's easy to just stop running and walk back to your car. If your run for 15 minutes away from your car or house, you still have to run, or at least walk all the way back to your car. I usually run every other day, sometimes I'll run for a few days in a row without a break, but that's up to you and how you feel.

What I do is one day I may run up a hill, the next I'll just run flat terrain, and at least 2-3 times a month I'll do sprints. When you go to the police academy you'll be doing all of this (providing there's hills in your area.) Anyhow, I hope that helped a little. Like I said, it works for me, and when you change it up like that it helps keep you from getting bored with the same routine.

[The13ig13adWolf]

I am 4'11'' maybe 5' and 125lbs... ok I gained 10 lbs because I took a semester off from school to move, and now stay at home with my daughter. So I need to cut out fat foods, and I know that the weight watchers diet helped my mom lose over 100 lbs, so I will start that.

what are you eating on a daily basis in a nutshell? how much? how often?

The questions I have, are what should I be doing on a regular basis, or on a weekly basis. What do I use to time my miles, I don't have anyone to help me work out? Should I run every day, or two, three or four times a week? I know I need to work on sit-ups and push-ups too, I will try and do those everyday as well... is there anything else??

do you have a gym membership? it's ok if you don't have anyone to train with, it's not necessary. push ups and sit ups are important, yes. however...both with get stronger with weight training (ie: lifting heavy -- about 1-2 reps shy of failure on any given exercise). i'm not a fan of lighter weight/higher reps. if you want to gain strength, you'll need to lift a bit heavier. you can make A TON of progress in a year and be knocking out push ups, sit ups AND pull ups way before then. would you be able to get to the gym 3 days throughout the week?

starting with a full body workout 3 days a week would be great for you. one compound exercise per each large muscle group (compound exercises work across multiple joints. an example of a compound exercise would be full squats which work hamstrings, quads, abs, calves and your entire posterior chain). so, when i say one compound per muscle group i mean 1 for chest, shoulders, back (verticle and horizontal), legs and that's it. no need to go to the gym and do 12 exercises with 132 reps. overtraining is just as bad if not worse than undertraining.

running everyday to start isn't a good idea. running everyday ever IMO isn't a good idea but avid runners will argue that so to each their own. you want to preserve muscle and you won't do that with execessive running. 3 days a week is plenty to start. interval training such as sprints will help with your overall cardiovascular endurance but where you start will depend on your comfort level. you don't wanna run yourself into the ground straight from the getgo.

sorry if any of this sounds confusing. just wanted to throw in my .02 (the short version, lol ;) :cool

[Erika]

Oh no, it made sense. Thank you for your 2 cents. I agree with not running every day, but that is only because I hate it and am so out of shape. Plus I just don't have the time to run every day.

Luckily I do have a membership to the gym. My family and I signed up for it not too long ago so my daughter could go to the pool. I was on the swim team growing up and remember how great a work out it is, but I would like to lose some weight and tone up before I even think about getting into a bathing suit to do some laps again.

My problem mostly is, I don't know how to use most of the weight benches at the gym. But, no need to explain.. there is a great post on here that I will have to take some time and look at, or even print it to bring with me to the gym.

Thank you for your advice. It is great to hear how different everybody works out, and soon enough I will have my own routine all worked out. Thank you.

[Oscarsjava]

Most gyms have personal trainers who can help you out if you've never weight trained before. It's very easy to hurt yourself on the machines or free weights if you use them incorrectly, so it's best to have a walkthrough with someone who knows what they're doing. And don't get discouraged if you can only put up a small amount of weight - the more you work at it, the stonger you will get. And if law enforcement is really what you want to do, you'll do whatever it takes to get ready for the academy. Feel free to ask more questions here if you need any help!

[lax854]

Most gyms have personal trainers who can help you out if you've never weight trained before. It's very easy to hurt yourself on the machines or free weights if you use them incorrectly, so it's best to have a walkthrough with someone who knows what they're doing. And don't get discouraged if you can only put up a small amount of weight - the more you work at it, the stonger you will get. And if law enforcement is really what you want to do, you'll do whatever it takes to get ready for the academy. Feel free to ask more questions here if you need any help!

yeah i definitely agree with oscar on this one. Telling you from a trainers perspective, theres alot of machines and free weights in a gym that if done improperly, could seriously hurt you. Although a trainer is a nice thing to have, if you dont have the money it can be very hard to budget in. So my advice as a trainer and someone who works out constantly, do the research on the internet, and also observe exercises that other trainers are doing with their clients and ask them about it. Theyll surely help you out!

[The13ig13adWolf]

careful if you're going to hire a trainer. most of them suck (my apologies for generalizing). IMO you're better off here:

http://www.bsu.edu/webapps2/strengthlab/home.htm
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html
http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/strength/...h_training.htm
http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/...ideo_index.htm

[jhf4083]

Anyone else personally not reccomend doing sit ups very often?

I used to do sit ups every night, trying to get used to them and increase the number I could do in a minute for PAT tests one day. However, I always had lower back pain from the sit ups. So, I changed to every other day, but still had pain. Right now, I do sit ups only once a week, but have started weight training. I've had better results with the new routine than I did with the old one, and I no longer have any lower back pain.

Just curious if anyone had similar experiences.

[Oscarsjava]

Well, I haven't had that very problem, but for a while I'd had a bad back - so I was urged to strengthen my back by stretching and doing "good mornings". Now I don't have any problems...but it took time. You just have to work at it, and try not to hurt yourself - it takes a LONG time for your back to heal...and if you hurt an ab muscle, doing a sit up will be agony.

[james13f]

Anyone else personally not reccomend doing sit ups very often?

I used to do sit ups every night, trying to get used to them and increase the number I could do in a minute for PAT tests one day. However, I always had lower back pain from the sit ups. So, I changed to every other day, but still had pain. Right now, I do sit ups only once a week, but have started weight training. I've had better results with the new routine than I did with the old one, and I no longer have any lower back pain.

Just curious if anyone had similar experiences.

Switch to crunches, supine bicycle, flutter kicks. I've heard of people having back issues in reference to sit-ups...there are a lot more ways to work your abdominal muscles than just straight sit-ups.

Make sure that you are properly stretching your back before and after the workout, as well.