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winsecure · 09-09-2004, 07:52 PM

Your program boils down to: 20 min cardio workout + lots of crunches.

In short, there's a lot better options out there for getting the results that you're working for. For the cardio, focus on slow & steady and build your time up to 30 min's or so. Do cardio 3 times a week... If you want to throw in other types of cardio (swimming, biking, etc) you can do more than that, but I wouldn't suggest running more than 3-4 times a week otherwise there's a good chance of injury. Knees, ankles, feet all take a pounding (literally) from running and you need to make sure not to overdo it.

Repeat after me: "There is no such thing as spot reduction". Situps won't help to reduce fat around the midsection. If anything, doing solely abwork can have the opposite results: adding muscle underneath the fat, so your midsection looks bigger. Adding a weight-lifting routine to the cardio will help tons, but work out all muscle groups, not just the abs. I'm not saying don't do abs at all, because working them out will improve the muscle tone which will help to flatten the gut, just don't do ab-only stuff routines.

For eating, there's a lot of resources out there. My suggestion would be to eat sensibly... stay away from really fatty stuff, but you don't have to go completely vegetarian. Serving size is everything. Rather than having "3 square meals a day", have 5-6 smaller sized meals. That will keep your metabolism high, will keep you from being hungry, and you won't feel like you're starving yourself. Add in a good one-a-day multivitamin and maybe some fiber supplements and you should be on track.

There's a lot of great programs out there that will get into very detailed specifics, but the above should give you a good start on figuring out what works for you.

Good luck... You've already done the hardest thing which is deciding you want to make a lifestyle change and starting to execute on it. Bottom line is you need to figure out what type of program you like because you won't stick with something you hate. Do some reading on excercise in conjunction with nutrition and find something that appeals to you. One of my personal favorites is Body for Life (bodyforlife.com).

09-09-2004, 07:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
winsecure Tilted	Your program boils down to: 20 min cardio workout + lots of crunches. In short, there's a lot better options out there for getting the results that you're working for. For the cardio, focus on slow & steady and build your time up to 30 min's or so. Do cardio 3 times a week... If you want to throw in other types of cardio (swimming, biking, etc) you can do more than that, but I wouldn't suggest running more than 3-4 times a week otherwise there's a good chance of injury. Knees, ankles, feet all take a pounding (literally) from running and you need to make sure not to overdo it. Repeat after me: "There is no such thing as spot reduction". Situps won't help to reduce fat around the midsection. If anything, doing solely abwork can have the opposite results: adding muscle underneath the fat, so your midsection looks bigger. Adding a weight-lifting routine to the cardio will help tons, but work out all muscle groups, not just the abs. I'm not saying don't do abs at all, because working them out will improve the muscle tone which will help to flatten the gut, just don't do ab-only stuff routines. For eating, there's a lot of resources out there. My suggestion would be to eat sensibly... stay away from really fatty stuff, but you don't have to go completely vegetarian. Serving size is everything. Rather than having "3 square meals a day", have 5-6 smaller sized meals. That will keep your metabolism high, will keep you from being hungry, and you won't feel like you're starving yourself. Add in a good one-a-day multivitamin and maybe some fiber supplements and you should be on track. There's a lot of great programs out there that will get into very detailed specifics, but the above should give you a good start on figuring out what works for you. Good luck... You've already done the hardest thing which is deciding you want to make a lifestyle change and starting to execute on it. Bottom line is you need to figure out what type of program you like because you won't stick with something you hate. Do some reading on excercise in conjunction with nutrition and find something that appeals to you. One of my personal favorites is Body for Life (bodyforlife.com).