Any fitness freak frens wanna give some advice?
🧘Mental/Physical Health 🏋🏼♂️
I've been looking to lose some weight and get in better shape lately, but don't really have ready access to a gym because of life circumstances. Figured I'd throw this out there and ask for some advice about working out at home to lose weight with no equipment. I mean there's the obvious push ups, situps, etc. But I'm more looking for advice on how many sets/repetitions, how many days a week, etc. Obviously I plan on dieting a bit as well, but any advice or some kind of link/graphic showing a few basic workout plans would be appreciated.
I figure this post can help some others in the same situation as well given a lot of us want to get in better shape to prepare, but don't have access to the best facilities, and whatnot.
If you wanna loose weight, view exercise as supplemental.
Note 1: Try a Fast. If you cannot fast for more than 2 days (48 full hours), you lack the willpower to do anything else to reduce weight. Them's the facts. Once you know you can control your hunger, everything else comes easily. It's an easy win that means a lot. Your confidence after a successful 2-day fast will skyrocket.
Note 2: Remove bread and oil for a week. Look at all food you eat. If they have bread or oil in the ingredients, don't eat them for a week straight. You can count the first 2-day fast into that week. Bread is the number 1 weight gainer in Western Culture.
Note 3: Everything you eat during this period, by volume, should consist of at least 50% water. Focus on soups. My go-to at the moment is a spiced cabbage soup, but the smell of slow-boiled cabbage isn't for everyone. The enzymes in cabbage are nothing short of miraculous. I can post a recipe if you want. Other than that, just eat fresh vegetables and the juiciest meats you can find. Once you cut out bread, meeting the water concentration is easy.
Note 4: Introduce Exercise slowly. Once you get rid of carb-brain, your motor skills are gonna be sharp. Effectively, when you eat carbs and sugar your brain goes into hibernation mode. When you deprive yourself, you go into survival mode, and your body starts putting resources towards foraging. If your goal is to lose weight, not build muscle, then the exercises you do should only focus on one thing -- Motion. Just keep moving. There is no need to get your heartrate up. Simply don't stop moving. Walking is easy, but it only works the legs. Instead, do a bit of climbing. Go find a hill or pile of rocks and climb them. Don't wear yourself out doing it. Just move and use muscles you otherwise wouldn't on a day-to-day basis. Do exercises that only utilize your own body weight. If you can't lift yourself, be it push-ups or pull-ups, you have no reason to lift weights. Lifting weights strengthens muscles you have while push-ups and pull-ups and anything else that moves your own body's weight "unlocks" muscles. Ask yourself this: why do body builders look ripped while weight lifters look pudgy? It's because muscle definition and muscle strength are different things. Ripped people's muscles are often lumps of scar tissue, and have little bearing on how much they can actually lift. That's why a tiny dude like Bruce Lee could kick a 700lb punching bag and hit the ceiling with it.
Note 5: Don't look at the scale unless you're fasting, and only to make sure you don't go below a safe weight because you're dehydrated. Most weight you lose when exercising is water weight, not fat. Seeing that you're up 2 lbs today or down 2 lbs yesterday means nothing. Muscle has weight, and the more you exercise the more you'll seem to be gaining rather than losing the pounds. The only way to carve off the pounds is through deprivation. Exercise often hits diminishing returns and only serves to make you more hungry.
Note 6: If your goal IS to build muscle and get swole, know that starting skinny actually makes that harder. Muscle builds on fat. If you don't have any body fat to start with, you won't have any place for scar tissue to form and lock into place. Once again, look at Bruce Lee. He's ripped, but not swole. You want swole? Then pack on some pounds first and THEN work those muscles with strength training.
In summary:
Fastest way to lose weight = Intermittent Fasting - The best procedure is fast 2 days, eat 2 days, while you cut out bread for a week at a time. Always aim for 50% water in food by volume.
How to get fit = Moving - Just keep moving in new ways and activate muscle groups that have gone dormant. You can't build muscles your nervous system can't activate. You don't need weights, you just gotta move your weight.
How to get swole = Fat is Future Muscle - You can't sculpt into clay if you don't have a lump of clay to sculpt. You gotta put on pounds if you wanna put on muscle. If your arms are skinny, they're gonna stay skinny even if you lift a ton of weights. Even if you do build that muscle up for volume, it's all just gonna be useless scar tissue that's built up upon itself and has gone rigid at the core -- all show and no blow.
Hope this helps.
I think this sleepy fella has some good stuff here.
Some things that I would like to add/change:
Fasting: Don't start out dry fasting or water fasting. Snake Juice is what I would suggest. Water alone will deplete you of electrolytes and make your fast miserable.
Water=2L / 67.6 oz Potassium chloride =1 tsp (No Salt) Sodium Bicarbonate = 1 tsp (Baking Soda) Sodium chloride = 1/2 tsp (Himalayan Pink Salt) Magnesium Sulphate = 1/2 tsp (Food Grade Epsom Salts)
I think the best fasting plan is 72 hour fasts with a 1 day refeed. Depending on how much weight you need to lose. Part of getting into shape is not just losing weight but healing your body. 72 hours is about the magic number for maximizing autophagy.
Food: Limiting carbs is key. Staying in ketosis should be a lifestyle choice. Food quality is important as well. Overeating often stems from a lack of nutritional value in foods. People are always hungry because they lack nutrients they aren't getting from pizza and chips. Grass fed beef and high quality eggs are a great start.
Exercise: Depending on your starting point, don't over do it. The best simple and low equipment exercises in my opinion are:
Farmer/briefcase carry - Don't go for high weight, go for moderate weight and maximum distance. These exercises work nearly every muscle and greatly improve grip strength.
Static hanging - Just hang from a bar or tree limb. Work your way up to longer times, but start with short intervals. Progress with lifting your knees.
Squatting - Not squats, just squat. Like a lot of asians sit. Maintaining that position is great.
Balance - Stand on one leg as long as you can. Easy to do even while watching tv. Works a lot of small twitch muscles throughout the body.
If you like people yelling at you, Cole Robinson's Snake Diet youtube channel has a lot of great information about fasting.
The Bioneer youtube channel has great exercise advice that is mostly minimal equipment.
Off subject, but.. 10/10 Best name
Can you please post a recipe for spiced cabbage soup? I LOVE soups. I have my crock pot going almost 24/7.
Okay.
Crock Pot, you got.
So, you get a cabbage, cut it up how you please. I just cut it one way at half an inch per division, then turn it and cut it again. I don't core mine completely because I like the chunky bit in the middle.
Toss that into the crockpot. There's your base.
Then, just chuck in the following:
Spices, added to taste:
Then fill up to the cabbage line with water, slap on the lid, and let her go for about 3 hours or until the cabbage is tender.
Stinks up the house, but once you associate it with the taste it's totally worth it.
What I described can fill about around a 2-gallon tupperware container of soup. It'll last you a week if you're fasting. The juice/broth alone is fantastic, and is a good hunger-stopper if you're fasting. Just a small cup and you're good.
Edit: Oh, and red-pepper flakes if you want it to pack a punch.
Thanks for sharing u/sleepydude
Love me some good soup! Outside of perhaps a freshly dug potato, nothing warms the Eastern Euro soul like a good cabbage centered soup!
Oh, and kudos on your looking glass post yesterday! I worked a double and was too tired to comment on it but I saved it to share/bring up pertinent info points with some IRL frens when the discussion arises.
Sounds amazing! I'm going to try making it tomorrow. Thank you!
Ever have solyanka or borscht? Very good cabbage centered soups!
Solyanka recipe. Feel free to substitute meats. E.g don't like ham? Use chicken!
Borscht recipe. Again, you can play around with ingredients somewhat if desired. Both of these soups are considered like "gumbo" or chili in the Baltics. Sort of a "throw whatever ya got into the soup, just dont skimp on the tomato dille, and beets" lol.
That Borscht recipe looks delicious
Well I'd be lying if I said I don't want to get swole (who doesn't), but my main goal right now is mainly weight loss. 245 lbs at 6'0 isn't the healthiest. I'm also not the most muscular, not exactly a weakling, but not as fit as I should be. So I suppose you could say my main goal at the moment is to lose the belly/squishy arm fat, and put on some more muscle.
Basically, my current goal is to just get healthier and more fit. It'd be nice to look like Captain America, but I can live without it for the moment. Less squishy arms/legs and a flat stomach are my main goal. I just want to get in better shape as a man and be healthier for myself, my family, and God (Body is the Temple of Christ and whatnot).
So I'd appreciate any advice towards that goal since you seem to have the most detailed response so far.
Really, it's mostly just what I posted.
Fast to lose weight, as described.
If you got flabby arms and want to reduce volume, don't focus on strength, focus on moving the flab. Just keep swinging those meat flaps until they go numb. Avoid exercises that cause aches in the limbs.
Pulling and pushing exercises are what you wanna focus on, in my opinion. I'm no expert, I just know too much.
Go out and find something heavy. Tie a rope or chain around it and start dragging. Just keep dragging, using different stances and approaches. Sometimes with one arm, other times with two arms. When you get bored of that, find a fridge or something on wheels and just start pushing it. Hell, put your car in neutral and push the thing up and down your driveway if you want.
Pushing/pulling bug stuff will target large muscles of the entire arm, squishing and compressing it in huge motions, in ways lifting weights can't get you. Doing this will stretch the muscles in your arms and get them nice and tender. Once they are tender, bloodflow will re-establish itself and then they can actually start turning into muscle.
Finally, you gotta focus on breathing if you're gonna be doing these toning exercises. I suggest the Wim Hoff method, where you effectively hyperventilate in order to expand your body's cellular storage of oxygen. The more storage space you open up, the less you have to breath during the activity, and the faster lean muscle will develop instead of just scar.
https://youtu.be/tybOi4hjZFQ?t=2
Get used to doing that BEFORE an exercise. You'll be amazed to learn you probably can hold your breath for ~3 minutes after a week of doing this breathing exercise once a day.
Finally, if you wanna be able to work on shock absorption in the arms, put on some gloves, get some rebar or other heavy rod of metal, and start smacking a tree or wood pole with it. This will make tiny micro-fractures in your bones which will heal back stronger. This will also help tenderize your arm fat and increase bloodflow. This exercise is not for everyone, and neighbors will think you've gone mad. It does help for stress reduction, though...
As far as belly-fat goes, I wish I had a good answer on that...
Typically, for men, there is a layer of fat under the muscle. You can actually have a pot-belly and a 6-pack at the same time, I kid you not. Women often have the opposite, where the muscle tone forms behind the belly fat, which is why they rarely can muster a 6-pack unless they have 0% body fat.
Really, fasting is the best bet on the tummy fat and love handles. The more crunches you do might just increase scarring which doesn't provide for bloodflow, and therefore you're just sealing off the tub instead of getting rid of it. Honestly, if you wanna target belly fat, do suspension and hanging exercises to tenderize the midriff. Jump on a jungle gym at the playground or anything that puts your arms under the full gravity of your weight. The more you squish the belly, the more you open up avenues for blood flow. Then the fast takes care of the rest, as your body taps into your fat reserves. Yoga and any other types of low-effort stretches might be good for that too.
Thanks for the advice. I'm not really prioritizing getting abs or anything at the moment, I just want a flat stomach, even if it's still kind of squishy to the touch. But overall I'm getting a pretty general idea of where to start here, and I'm thankful and grateful for that.
I suppose if you want to quantify my current goal, I wanna get down to 190 lbs, get more fit (more muscle on the limbs), and drop the belly/love handles for a flatter, if still squishy, figure. The abs and swole limbs (Captain America figure) can come later. I'm taking this in stages, and stage one in my head is just getting healthier so I FEEL better, if you get what I'm saying?
The bare minimum you gotta do for that goal is to stop eating bread. 190 is my "normal" weight at ~5'11" and to maintain it I just gotta stop eating bread.
But, getting down to 190lbs DOES NOT MEAN you got rid of your belly fat. Belly fat is the last thing to go. If you're like me, your ass will be flat as a cutting board before your belly fat evaporates.
Start moving that midriff to re-establish bloodflow. Stretch the hell out of it like trying to massage day-old gum into being pliable again.
The number on the scale will never show in your belly. Knowing that will preserve your sanity.
Good advice.