Free Online Personal Trainer Q & A

This is the right place. =)

That is a HUGE jump from where you are now!  

But….

Let’s see if we have a solution.

The good news is that because you just started working out your going to see large jumps in your strength quickly at first.  Then closer to your goal you may plateau a bit and we’ll have to figure out how to have you get over that hump one more time, which sometimes means taking a break.  Go too hard too fast and you stop your chances of reaching the goal.  Slow and steady will win this race.

One of the neatest things that can help is a bit of a Russian approach.  It’s hard to explain but the idea is that you do 1 or 2 reps every hour through out the day.  It would look like this.

Bench press 20 pounds at noon 2 reps.  Again at 1p, again at 3p, again at 5p, one more time at 6p.  Technically you pressed 10 reps of 20lbs.  Who cares over how much time it was?.

Next day you can push it to 25lbs.  Same interval.

Next day 1 rep 30lbs.  Same intervals.

Next day 20, next day 25, next day 30.

That’s one week (6days)

The next week try to push each one up by 5 or 10 lbs.  

This is somewhat confusing but is used often with very heavy and difficult maneuvers like pull ups or even dips.  If you comprehend what I’m saying and want to give it a whirl, message me back and we’ll go deeper.

Of all of the methods to achieve the weight goal you’re looking for, given your time-constraint and any other external factors, this seems to be the best option to me.

Let me know!  I rarely use this method for anyone else other than me but it’s serious business.

Hey.  Thanks for asking.  I hear, that is quite slender.  Suggestions on a meal plan are going to depend on what you’re able to eat.  Are you a vegetarian, do you eat processed foods, are you ok with supplements,  etc.  Off of the top of my head I would add a ‘weight gain’ supplement of chocolate powder which is quite simply, a ton of calories from whey, sugar, fat, and a few complex carbs.  That can add 1500 more calories to your daily intake.  You can also do what Schwarzeneger did which is add a few more Steaks to your day.  

The main thing, however, is that once you these calories, your body needs to know what to do with them.  What that means is that your work-out routine should add quite a bit of heavier lifting, stereotypically lower reps and higher weight helps.  That will ensure a different type of muscle-rebuilding that those additional calories can go towards instead of simply making you fatter and heavier =)

Let me know if we’re headed in the direction of what you’re comfortable with.  A large part of this is mentality change and making sure that you can start something that you’re comfortable with.

Use dumbells. 

Or kettlebells.

Don’t use a bar so you don’t have the option to favor one side.

That should work =)

So you want to target an area?  Targeting is basically impossible according to the latest theories etc.  Your genetics determine where the fat is going to come from or go to win you lose or gain weight.  How do we address this?  Hmm.  We can try to redistribute some of the weight a bit.  Keep your current weight but begin a different training routine.  Adding muscle will help you to continue to burn fat and not look bulky so don’t worry about that.  

The suggestion is that if you properly train with some kettlebells, pay attention to what your body is doing and what it’s looking like as it changes, even after the first week or two, and then continue or try something else.  

What we’re doing is building muscles in different areas to pull ‘on the skin’ to shape you differently but keep your current weight and the areas you generally want to leave alone. 

Example.  Swimmers have different physics than soccer players.  Example, when I needed to change my shape to appear as if I had a different background for an acting role, I just changed my routine and the body shape adjusts.

ONLY SLIGHTLY however but enough where it’s a big deal to you.

You were built how you were built and I can already tell without even seeing you, that a shift like this would make a difference if you put proper effort into it and kept up with it.

I’m so sorry to hear about your accident.  

Regarding what you can do.  It seems that if you were to do exercises that were more stationary that could break a sweat and give you some muscle that could keep burning fat for you.

A yoga or kung fu horse stance would build up your thighs and help you to break a sweat if you do it correctly and not change elevation.

Front planks would build up your abs and chest and arms and not require elevation changes as well.  

Walking up hill slowly is also great because you can be careful with your ankle but control your pace and work up a sweat. 

Let me know if you understand and agree with the thought process and I can continue to build on this.

Great.  Main thing to focus on is your eating and not eating processed food. After your workout and before bed a good amount of protein from fish is great and vegetables would be great.  You can also have a bit of brown rice with it but it’s not necessary.  Drink a lot of water before and during.  I wouldn’t worry about what to eat before hand if you can make it through your workout.  Let me know what you think.  This is a hard core approach.  This is what I would do if I were trying to lose a stubborn pouch.

Somehow I’m just getting this so I’m sorry for the late reply but I’m seeing this for the first time yesterday.

I like the alternating running and walking on the treadmill at first.  That’s great.

Try to use dumbbells instead of machines for your chest work if you can. Requires more stabilizing muscles and therefore more calories burned etc.

Increase your weight and you can still do 10-15 reps.

They say to keep the reps high and weight low but you really should bump up the weight a smidge.  It takes a TON of work for a woman to put on ‘too much’ muscle which is usually the fear so I wouldn’t worry about that. Add some muscle and feed it by using a smidge heavier weights and then they’ll burn the calories for you instead of the treadmill etc.  

Lat pull good but if you can do 30 it’s too light.

Stepper machine is good.

Abs good.

Best workout for abs is eating properly so keep that in mind.

Do this 3-4 times a week and watch your eating and you’ll see results.

Focus more on the dumbbells than the treadmills etc. though.