Signing in

[e s p]

Thought I'd introduce myself - I'm Tim, recently shifted to Auckland, and very interested in getting involved in Body Building!  I'm a scrawny nerdy looking fella who has been trying to teach himself good habits after 25 solid years of sitting on his ass!  

I joined Les Mills in Dunedin at the end of 2012, prior to that the last sport or exercise I did was playing football at school, so it's been a while... I walked in with a can-do attitude but the Les Mills atmosphere, and self-conciousness took over and since then I've been floundering a bit.

Recently I made the decision to join the Airforce so that has give me the motivation to go to the gym regularly completing four weeks of the Airforice beginners training course.  This consisted of 5 days a week running between 20-30 mins on the treadmill, and basic body weight exercises like pressups, chin ups, squats, sit ups, and back arches.  I've had great success with this and have incorported some of the big lifts like deads, squats, bench press etc.

Nutrition has been a pretty nasty hurdle again with mixed results.  So far I have trained myself to make a weeks worth of lunches but still struggle with "cheating" and splitting my meals across the day.

 I'd love to connect with some other people on here who might be starting out, or with those who get a kick out of offering advice and support to people who are starting down the road they are already on.  I'd also like to find people who go to my gym who are interested in chatting!

Send me a PM or reply on here  

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hey man, welcome to GymNation you'll find there is a real nice family environment here once you get settled in here with a gold mine of advice to be had.

 

That's good what you're currently doing with your training. You are following through with consistent running but also incorporating the important big lifts. One thing you can do is to stop using the treadmil and start running the streets not just flats but routes with inclines as running for real is very different compared to treadmil and requires a different technique/mindset. To top up your fitness even more don't forget you can always cross train so running/cycling/swimming through the week instead of just running.

When you move on to road running, use the time you have now to get familiar to switching between the different forms used for running uphill and downhill (though kind of hard to find good slopes in Auckland) efficiently as when you move on to basic you'll find you really struggle with recovery if you don't have that technique down.

 

As you get closer to your basic, best thing you can do for nutrition is instead of focusing on quantity of food at home just focus on eating clean, getting in to habbit of drinking plenty of water and making sure you cut snacks right out of your day to day life. Eat 3 good meals in the day and make them all count. Also

[e s p]

Hey man thanks for the reply That's some sound advice - Consistency is definitely where I fall down  I read in your NZDF post that you had to leave after basic, can I ask what happened?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Hey man thanks for the reply That's some sound advice - Consistency is definitely where I fall down  I read in your NZDF post that you had to leave after basic, can I ask what happened?

 

yeah no prob. didn't really want to talk about it at the time but ended up putting it in to my training log figured how can i ever get helpful advice if i don't tell anyone whats wrong. will recover and be stronger/faster than before *yahoo*

 

FellowshipOfTheRon wrote:

What exactly did u do to your lower body? Looking forward to watching your progress

All sorts, physio says they are all linked somehow though due to a joint problem. joints swelled up haven't had this problem in ages (10+ yrs at which point it was kept in control with anti inflam tabs) then suddenly it came back.

Ended up with following problems (don't remember all the technical stuff physio said):  Swelling around knee, some ligament in knee injured, was getting mean cramps just in the left hamstring then when running one day it popped hard and became real shit to walk on with full pressure. Left leg in particular ended up shrinking a whole bunch which is my main concern but should catch up quick when doing weights again (or so I hope).

 

Most of this stuff has been getting better and will improve with easing back in to things now under professional supervision just was getting worse while i was in boot because you don't get the time to give it a rest.

[e s p]

Thanks for sharing bro - I mean I've had a knee injury before, while skiing, but it healed itself.  very very occasionally i'll get a bit of a twinge but it's nothing major.

 

If it interests you at all, I actually have a club foot - meaning i was born with my left foot twisted inwards which was corrected with surgery and special shoes between the age of 1 and 3

my left leg has noticeabley less definition than my right, and when running if you look really carefully you can see that my foot twists in slightly in the first part of my stride.  to be honest I always thought it was such a big deal but after training hard for the last 6 weeks it really hasn't caused any problems whatsoever.  I don't plan on mentioning it during my physical though lol

[Dinahlady]

Hi and welcom to the forum  

I agree with Fellowship with the meals - you don't need to worry about "6 meals a day". But just try and work around as many are convenient/realistic for you. You don't need to think about "eating less" but just try and make them big enough so you can last till the next meal thats convenience for you  

If you have good amount of good food to allow you to get stronger and faster your physique and weight should come into place aswell. It's hard to improve your running/pullups and avoid injury if you're trying to limit your food intake too much. 

Theres nothing wrong with decent big meals of rice/pasta/potatoes and chicken/beef/meat with veggies. You don't have to go all "chicken salad and protein shake" to get in shape! The main thing is consistency so being realistic with meals and amounts of food to keep you going so your consistently plugging the good stuff several times per day. 

Nothing wrong with one or two cheats a week either  

Good luck with training for the airforce !!

[e s p]

Hi and welcom to the forum

I agree with Fellowship with the meals - you don't need to worry about "6 meals a day". But just try and work around as many are convenient/realistic for you. You don't need to think about "eating less" but just try and make them big enough so you can last till the next meal thats convenience for you

If you have good amount of good food to allow you to get stronger and faster your physique and weight should come into place aswell. It's hard to improve your running/pullups and avoid injury if you're trying to limit your food intake too much. 

Theres nothing wrong with decent big meals of rice/pasta/potatoes and chicken/beef/meat with veggies. You don't have to go all "chicken salad and protein shake" to get in shape! The main thing is consistency so being realistic with meals and amounts of food to keep you going so your consistently plugging the good stuff several times per day. 

Nothing wrong with one or two cheats a week either

Good luck with training for the airforce !!

Hi Dinah, thanks for the welcome! My diet pretty much consists of lots of broccoli, chicken, brown rice, and eggs.  thats pretty much it!  i've not found a solid formula for breakfast yet though

[Phedder]

 

Hi and welcom to the forum

I agree with Fellowship with the meals - you don't need to worry about "6 meals a day". But just try and work around as many are convenient/realistic for you. You don't need to think about "eating less" but just try and make them big enough so you can last till the next meal thats convenience for you

If you have good amount of good food to allow you to get stronger and faster your physique and weight should come into place aswell. It's hard to improve your running/pullups and avoid injury if you're trying to limit your food intake too much. 

Theres nothing wrong with decent big meals of rice/pasta/potatoes and chicken/beef/meat with veggies. You don't have to go all "chicken salad and protein shake" to get in shape! The main thing is consistency so being realistic with meals and amounts of food to keep you going so your consistently plugging the good stuff several times per day. 

Nothing wrong with one or two cheats a week either

Good luck with training for the airforce !!

Hi Dinah, thanks for the welcome! My diet pretty much consists of lots of broccoli, chicken, brown rice, and eggs.  thats pretty much it!  i've not found a solid formula for breakfast yet though

I'd change that. We thrive on variation, we're able to eat so many different foods to ensure we can get enough of everything the body needs to function optimally. Will those foods cover the bases? Mostly,but they won't give you the variety your body needs to function at it's best. Include some red meat at least once a week, and oily fish at least once a week as well. More veges, even if they're the frozen stirfry mixes would help, fruit for some of your carb intake, potatoes/kumara/pasta as well. Some mixed nuts and seeds, unless you're allergic. I think everyone should eat more nuts and seeds, so packed with nutrients and great for snacks between meals to keep you going if you need it. 

[e s p]

 

Hi and welcom to the forum

I agree with Fellowship with the meals - you don't need to worry about "6 meals a day". But just try and work around as many are convenient/realistic for you. You don't need to think about "eating less" but just try and make them big enough so you can last till the next meal thats convenience for you

If you have good amount of good food to allow you to get stronger and faster your physique and weight should come into place aswell. It's hard to improve your running/pullups and avoid injury if you're trying to limit your food intake too much. 

Theres nothing wrong with decent big meals of rice/pasta/potatoes and chicken/beef/meat with veggies. You don't have to go all "chicken salad and protein shake" to get in shape! The main thing is consistency so being realistic with meals and amounts of food to keep you going so your consistently plugging the good stuff several times per day. 

Nothing wrong with one or two cheats a week either

Good luck with training for the airforce !!

Hi Dinah, thanks for the welcome! My diet pretty much consists of lots of broccoli, chicken, brown rice, and eggs.  thats pretty much it!  i've not found a solid formula for breakfast yet though

I'd change that. We thrive on variation, we're able to eat so many different foods to ensure we can get enough of everything the body needs to function optimally. Will those foods cover the bases? Mostly,but they won't give you the variety your body needs to function at it's best. Include some red meat at least once a week, and oily fish at least once a week as well. More veges, even if they're the frozen stirfry mixes would help, fruit for some of your carb intake, potatoes/kumara/pasta as well. Some mixed nuts and seeds, unless you're allergic. I think everyone should eat more nuts and seeds, so packed with nutrients and great for snacks between meals to keep you going if you need it. 

Thanks Phedder, I've taken that advice and applied to it my meal making - Do you have any suggestions about timing on carb intake?  I've had a couple of conversations with some people who think it's best in the morning or post workout.  I'm a meat and three veg sort of guy so not eating rice, potatoes, or pasta in the evening is a struggle!