newbie question about fitness

"kiki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I am 28 years old and recently I start to go to gym. I don't have anybody
to consult with so it is a little chaotic.

My primary goal is to improve overall health and fitness. I am a computer
engineer and my work requires working on computers 14+ hours a day. This
eats my health a lot. And for very long time I have been feeling very
weak. Walking 1 mile will already make me tired. I have no muscles at all.
I easily feel tired doing anything. I had chronic bronchitis and chronic
dyspepsia/dyspepsy/indigestion also due to computer work only with no time
to relax. I think due to being under stress for long time, I have also a
little bit choronic fatigue and sleeping difficulty -- I cannot go to
sleep easily and tend to wake up early and very easily disturbed. My
eyesightness is poor and in study and work I don't concentrate myself very
well and easily fall asleep. My heart is also very faint and weak.
Whenever there is a flu or change of weather, I am easier getting sick
than most other people.

I am 1.75 meters tall and weigh 150 pound. I don't have other physical
problems other than the above problems...

So a few weeks ago I begin to worry about myself and my health condition.
I don't want to get "premature senility".

I started to go to gym following other people. My primary goal is to
imporve overall health and fitness. Secondary goal is to build at least
some mulscles to make myself stronger. I don't want to lose weight, in
fact I guess my weight is OK. But I do have some small belly on my stomach
and it is better to get rid of... but if I don't have enough time, leaving
them there should be not a problem.

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard
that they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve
overall health and fitness.

I plan to go to the gym twice a week (40 minutes each time, so far I only
know how to use those weights... there are running machines... but I don't
know how to use them and what should be criteria to meet for my
exercises...) and play tennis twice a week (1 hour each time) and go
hiking/moutain climbing once a week ( 3-5 miles mountainous road each
time).

My questions are:

1. Is this a good and most efficient plan to improve my overall health?
Can you suggest better plans?

2. What should I take as nuitution? I have meat and fish in my daily
dietry. I eat enough fruits since they are sweet. My problem is that I
don't eat enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just
eat salad from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store
of the safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies
intake. I also take Vitamins Centrum daily. I also plan to take Protein
Shake, etc. But there are so many choises and I got puzzled each time I
visit Walmart or the grocery store. Maybe a lot of them are overlapped.

3. Could you please suggest a good forum for consulting about all these
questions. since my goal is not quite body-building, I did not find a good
forum to consult other people yet. Please point me to some good online
resources. I also like to see online "nutrition" forums...

Thank you so much!

btw, I am male! thanks a lot

kiki said:

My primary goal is to improve overall health and fitness. I am a computer
engineer and my work requires working on computers 14+ hours a day. This
eats my health a lot. And for very long time I have been feeling very weak.
Walking 1 mile will already make me tired. I have no muscles at all. I
easily feel tired doing anything. I had chronic bronchitis and chronic
dyspepsia/dyspepsy/indigestion also due to computer work only with no time
to relax. I think due to being under stress for long time, I have also a
little bit choronic fatigue and sleeping difficulty -- I cannot go to sleep
easily and tend to wake up early and very easily disturbed. My eyesightness
is poor and in study and work I don't concentrate myself very well and
easily fall asleep. My heart is also very faint and weak. Whenever there is
a flu or change of weather, I am easier getting sick than most other people.

Wow. This looks like a case for getting some exercise and eating your
veggies.

So get some exercise and eat some veggies.

You want more advice than that? Start out slow at the gym. For cardio
work increase your activity by 10% a week - don't suddenly push yourself
too hard. If walking a mile is hard then walk 1000 meters three or four
times a week until it's easy, then go up to 1100 meters.

Don't lift to failure, have the weight under good control at all times.
Don't swing the weights. Read about lifts at www.ExRx.net, but mostly
what you need to do is get very close to heavy things and then pick them
up.

Repeat.

Dally

kiki said:

My primary goal is to improve overall health and fitness. I am a computer
engineer and my work requires working on computers 14+ hours a day. This
eats my health a lot. And for very long time I have been feeling very weak.
Walking 1 mile will already make me tired. I have no muscles at all. I
easily feel tired doing anything. I had chronic bronchitis and chronic
dyspepsia/dyspepsy/indigestion also due to computer work only with no time
to relax. I think due to being under stress for long time, I have also a
little bit choronic fatigue and sleeping difficulty -- I cannot go to sleep
easily and tend to wake up early and very easily disturbed. My eyesightness
is poor and in study and work I don't concentrate myself very well and
easily fall asleep. My heart is also very faint and weak. Whenever there is
a flu or change of weather, I am easier getting sick than most other people.

Wow. This looks like a case for getting some exercise and eating your
veggies.

So get some exercise and eat some veggies.

You want more advice than that? Start out slow at the gym. For cardio
work increase your activity by 10% a week - don't suddenly push yourself
too hard. If walking a mile is hard then walk 1000 meters three or four
times a week until it's easy, then go up to 1100 meters.

Don't lift to failure, have the weight under good control at all times.
Don't swing the weights. Read about lifts at www.ExRx.net, but mostly
what you need to do is get very close to heavy things and then pick them
up.

Repeat.

Dally

kiki said:

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard that
they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve overall
health and fitness.

The apparent complexity is confusing -- but the bottom line is, just hit each
major muscle group.

Chest/triceps: barbell bench press
Shoulders/triceps: dumbell shoulder press
Back: pulldowns
Quads/glutes: leg press or squat

Deadlifts are also a great exercise, but dangerous if you don't perform them
correctly.

Good description of different exercises here:

http://www.exrx.net

Quoted message said:

I plan to go to the gym twice a week (40 minutes each time, so far I only
know how to use those weights... there are running machines... but I don't
know how to use them and what should be criteria to meet for my
exercises...)

Run at a comfortable pace for about 30 minutes. You'll be surprised by how
quickly you get tired. You should feel like you could go another 30 minutes
at the end of the run, so go slowly so that you're not sucking wind.

Quoted message said:

and play tennis twice a week (1 hour each time) and go
hiking/moutain climbing once a week ( 3-5 miles mountainous road each time).

My questions are:

1. Is this a good and most efficient plan to improve my overall health? Can
you suggest better plans?

It's a perfectly decent plan, but not terribly efficient -- for example, hiking
takes a lot of time for the amount of exercise you get. You should be able to
run 3-5 miles on hilly terrain in less than an hour.

Quoted message said:

2. What should I take as nuitution? I have meat and fish in my daily dietry.
I eat enough fruits since they are sweet. My problem is that I don't eat
enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just eat salad
from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store of the
safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies intake. I also
take Vitamins Centrum daily. I also plan to take Protein Shake, etc. But
there are so many choises and I got puzzled each time I visit Walmart or the
grocery store. Maybe a lot of them are overlapped.

There are lots of different protein powders. Just get a cheap one that is
around 80% protein by weight. Good brands are Prolab and Optimum Nutrition.

Quoted message said:

3. Could you please suggest a good forum for consulting about all these
questions.

This one will do fine.

Quoted message said:

since my goal is not quite body-building, I did not find a good

Not everyone here is a body builder. I'm a distance runner. We also have a
rower here, and a number of powerlifters.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

kiki said:

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard that
they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve overall
health and fitness.

The apparent complexity is confusing -- but the bottom line is, just hit each
major muscle group.

Chest/triceps: barbell bench press
Shoulders/triceps: dumbell shoulder press
Back: pulldowns
Quads/glutes: leg press or squat

Deadlifts are also a great exercise, but dangerous if you don't perform them
correctly.

Good description of different exercises here:

http://www.exrx.net

Quoted message said:

I plan to go to the gym twice a week (40 minutes each time, so far I only
know how to use those weights... there are running machines... but I don't
know how to use them and what should be criteria to meet for my
exercises...)

Run at a comfortable pace for about 30 minutes. You'll be surprised by how
quickly you get tired. You should feel like you could go another 30 minutes
at the end of the run, so go slowly so that you're not sucking wind.

Quoted message said:

and play tennis twice a week (1 hour each time) and go
hiking/moutain climbing once a week ( 3-5 miles mountainous road each time).

My questions are:

1. Is this a good and most efficient plan to improve my overall health? Can
you suggest better plans?

It's a perfectly decent plan, but not terribly efficient -- for example, hiking
takes a lot of time for the amount of exercise you get. You should be able to
run 3-5 miles on hilly terrain in less than an hour.

Quoted message said:

2. What should I take as nuitution? I have meat and fish in my daily dietry.
I eat enough fruits since they are sweet. My problem is that I don't eat
enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just eat salad
from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store of the
safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies intake. I also
take Vitamins Centrum daily. I also plan to take Protein Shake, etc. But
there are so many choises and I got puzzled each time I visit Walmart or the
grocery store. Maybe a lot of them are overlapped.

There are lots of different protein powders. Just get a cheap one that is
around 80% protein by weight. Good brands are Prolab and Optimum Nutrition.

Quoted message said:

3. Could you please suggest a good forum for consulting about all these
questions.

This one will do fine.

Quoted message said:

since my goal is not quite body-building, I did not find a good

Not everyone here is a body builder. I'm a distance runner. We also have a
rower here, and a number of powerlifters.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

kiki said:

"kiki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I am 28 years old and recently I start to go to gym. I don't have anybody
to consult with so it is a little chaotic.

[...]
btw, I am male! thanks a lot

I recognize you from posts with questions on self-study to stat/math
groups. I was impressed by your determination. I think you have good
chances to succeed with a fitness program. Stick to basic compound
exercises, whole body workouts, do it regularly but don't overtrain,
and don't neglect aerobics. Like with self-study efforts, the key
might be to find a way to like the process instead of worrying about
results.

kiki said:

My problem is that I don't eat
enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just eat salad
from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store of the
safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies intake.

Solving this to begin with is easy! Go to Safeway and look in the
frozen foods section. You'll find a whole area with bags of frozen
vegetables. Pick a couple of mixed veggie combinations that look
interesting to you. When you want to eat them, put a cup of the frozen
veggies into a bowl, and microwave for two to three minutes. As you
eat, pay attention to which veggies you like and which ones you don't
care for, and use that to guide your selection the next time.

Eventually, you may want to move on to fresh vegetables. But you could
probably eat healthily the rest of your life just by microwaving frozen
ones.

Stop with all the math Kiki.
I'm serious, less math more vegtables....

kiki said:

Hi all,

I am 28 years old and recently I start to go to gym. I don't have anybody to
consult with so it is a little chaotic.

My primary goal is to improve overall health and fitness. I am a computer
engineer and my work requires working on computers 14+ hours a day. This
eats my health a lot. And for very long time I have been feeling very weak.
Walking 1 mile will already make me tired. I have no muscles at all. I
easily feel tired doing anything. I had chronic bronchitis and chronic
dyspepsia/dyspepsy/indigestion also due to computer work only with no time
to relax. I think due to being under stress for long time, I have also a
little bit choronic fatigue and sleeping difficulty -- I cannot go to sleep
easily and tend to wake up early and very easily disturbed. My eyesightness
is poor and in study and work I don't concentrate myself very well and
easily fall asleep. My heart is also very faint and weak. Whenever there is
a flu or change of weather, I am easier getting sick than most other people.

I am 1.75 meters tall and weigh 150 pound. I don't have other physical
problems other than the above problems...

So a few weeks ago I begin to worry about myself and my health condition. I
don't want to get "premature senility".

I started to go to gym following other people. My primary goal is to imporve
overall health and fitness. Secondary goal is to build at least some
mulscles to make myself stronger. I don't want to lose weight, in fact I
guess my weight is OK. But I do have some small belly on my stomach and it
is better to get rid of... but if I don't have enough time, leaving them
there should be not a problem.

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard that
they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve overall
health and fitness.

Learn this one exercise perfectly:
http://danjohn.org/overhead.html

Practice it the whole 40 minutes twice a week. Start with the lightest bar you
can find. Sit deep, between your legs, with a flat back and your head up and
your knees out and your heels down.

Quoted message said:

I plan to go to the gym twice a week (40 minutes each time, so far I only
know how to use those weights... there are running machines... but I don't
know how to use them and what should be criteria to meet for my
exercises...) and play tennis twice a week (1 hour each time) and go
hiking/moutain climbing once a week ( 3-5 miles mountainous road each time).

My questions are:

1. Is this a good and most efficient plan to improve my overall health? Can
you suggest better plans?

Ignore the machines at your gym. Just learn and practice the overhead squat.

Tennis might be a risky and unproductive activity until you get into better
shape. Replace your two hours of tennis with two hours of walking, for a while.
When you can walk comfortably for an hour, start inserting one minute jogs,
walking between jog intervals until you're comfortable and breathing easy. When
an hour is 30 1/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to 2 minute jogs. When an hour is
20 2/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to 3 minute jogs. When an hour is 15 3/1
jog/walk intervals, switch to 4 minute jogs. When an hour is 12 4/1 jog/walk
intervals, switch to... tennis.

Quoted message said:

2. What should I take as nuitution? I have meat and fish in my daily dietry.
I eat enough fruits since they are sweet. My problem is that I don't eat
enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just eat salad
from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store of the
safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies intake. I also
take Vitamins Centrum daily. I also plan to take Protein Shake, etc. But
there are so many choises and I got puzzled each time I visit Walmart or the
grocery store. Maybe a lot of them are overlapped.

3. Could you please suggest a good forum for consulting about all these
questions. since my goal is not quite body-building, I did not find a good
forum to consult other people yet. Please point me to some good online
resources. I also like to see online "nutrition" forums...

Thank you so much!

mct546 said:

Stop with all the math Kiki.
I'm serious, less math more vegtables....

I like them vegebles. But your gots to excisesize there head man.

Nah F that! Stop reading books Kiki. Total waste of time. No women will
ever care that A sq + B sq = C sq

"DZ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kiki said:

"kiki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I am 28 years old and recently I start to go to gym. I don't have
anybody
to consult with so it is a little chaotic.

[...]
btw, I am male! thanks a lot

I recognize you from posts with questions on self-study to stat/math
groups. I was impressed by your determination. I think you have good
chances to succeed with a fitness program. Stick to basic compound
exercises, whole body workouts, do it regularly but don't overtrain,
and don't neglect aerobics. Like with self-study efforts, the key
might be to find a way to like the process instead of worrying about
results.

The world is small. that's great@! Nice meeting you here too!

Yeah, I want to do exercise so I can have more energy doing math!

The situation is worsen because I actually need to computer programming
daily to make a living while self-study math... Had it been all math no
computer, my health will in fact better. I saw mathematicians have a better
health than those computer engineers...

"Donovan Rebbechi" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kiki said:

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard
that
they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve overall
health and fitness.

The apparent complexity is confusing -- but the bottom line is, just hit
each
major muscle group.

Chest/triceps: barbell bench press
Shoulders/triceps: dumbell shoulder press
Back: pulldowns
Quads/glutes: leg press or squat

Deadlifts are also a great exercise, but dangerous if you don't perform
them
correctly.

Good description of different exercises here:

http://www.exrx.net

Quoted message said:

I plan to go to the gym twice a week (40 minutes each time, so far I only
know how to use those weights... there are running machines... but I
don't
know how to use them and what should be criteria to meet for my
exercises...)

Run at a comfortable pace for about 30 minutes. You'll be surprised by how
quickly you get tired. You should feel like you could go another 30
minutes
at the end of the run, so go slowly so that you're not sucking wind.

Shall I stop whenever I feel tired? I get tired after only 3 minutes of
running... maybe I should not stop at the first instance that I feel tired
.... I should do 30 minutes...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and play tennis twice a week (1 hour each time) and go
hiking/moutain climbing once a week ( 3-5 miles mountainous road each
time).

My questions are:

1. Is this a good and most efficient plan to improve my overall health?
Can
you suggest better plans?

It's a perfectly decent plan, but not terribly efficient -- for example,
hiking
takes a lot of time for the amount of exercise you get. You should be able
to
run 3-5 miles on hilly terrain in less than an hour.

Yeah, I agree, not that efficient. Currently I can only walk on the hills.
There are some gradient that prevents from running... I can walk 3 miles in
one hour on our local hills. But I will try running + walking on the hills
next time. Maybe I should get rid of the tennis part, although it is a good
sports... but not efficient. Maybe I should hiking twice a week on the
hills?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. What should I take as nuitution? I have meat and fish in my daily
dietry.
I eat enough fruits since they are sweet. My problem is that I don't eat
enough vegetables. I don't know how to cook veggies. So I just eat salad
from safeway. But I can only eat half a dish from the Deli store of the
safeway for one meal. So I think I don't have enough veggies intake. I
also
take Vitamins Centrum daily. I also plan to take Protein Shake, etc. But
there are so many choises and I got puzzled each time I visit Walmart or
the
grocery store. Maybe a lot of them are overlapped.

There are lots of different protein powders. Just get a cheap one that is
around 80% protein by weight. Good brands are Prolab and Optimum
Nutrition.

Could Protein Shakes + Centrum + Fiber pills be a complete and good
combination for nuitrition solutions while I still have regular meal (but
can be lighter after eating these supplmements...) , and I also am lack of
veggie intakes(I tried those Deli frozen veggies in safeway, I can only eat
one dish one day, if I don't force myself too much)...? Any good
recommendations?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

since my goal is not quite body-building, I did not find a good

Not everyone here is a body builder. I'm a distance runner. We also have a
rower here, and a number of powerlifters.

Thanks a lot! I don't need build big muscles. I want to improve overall
health. But people say that a little bit muscles help improve overall
health. So they are not conflict...

Thanks a lot for this information reply... I will digest what you pointed me
to carefully!

"Olivia C. Williamson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kiki said:

My problem is that I don't eat enough vegetables. I don't know how to
cook veggies. So I just eat salad from safeway. But I can only eat half a
dish from the Deli store of the safeway for one meal. So I think I don't
have enough veggies intake.

Solving this to begin with is easy! Go to Safeway and look in the frozen
foods section. You'll find a whole area with bags of frozen vegetables.
Pick a couple of mixed veggie combinations that look interesting to you.
When you want to eat them, put a cup of the frozen veggies into a bowl,
and microwave for two to three minutes. As you eat, pay attention to
which veggies you like and which ones you don't care for, and use that to
guide your selection the next time.

Eventually, you may want to move on to fresh vegetables. But you could
probably eat healthily the rest of your life just by microwaving frozen
ones.

Good suggestions! Thanks a lot!

I tried those Deli frozen veggies in safeway, I can only eat
one dish one day, if I don't force myself too much ...? Maybe eventually I
have to force myself eat more... I don't have time to cook... Any good
recommendations?

"mct546" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Stop with all the math Kiki.
I'm serious, less math more vegtables....

I think it should be:

less computers, more math(exercise brain), more vegetables... :=)

"T" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

kiki said:

Hi all,

I am 28 years old and recently I start to go to gym. I don't have anybody
to consult with so it is a little chaotic.

My primary goal is to improve overall health and fitness. I am a computer
engineer and my work requires working on computers 14+ hours a day. This
eats my health a lot. And for very long time I have been feeling very
weak. Walking 1 mile will already make me tired. I have no muscles at
all. I easily feel tired doing anything. I had chronic bronchitis and
chronic dyspepsia/dyspepsy/indigestion also due to computer work only
with no time to relax. I think due to being under stress for long time, I
have also a little bit choronic fatigue and sleeping difficulty -- I
cannot go to sleep easily and tend to wake up early and very easily
disturbed. My eyesightness is poor and in study and work I don't
concentrate myself very well and easily fall asleep. My heart is also
very faint and weak. Whenever there is a flu or change of weather, I am
easier getting sick than most other people.

I am 1.75 meters tall and weigh 150 pound. I don't have other physical
problems other than the above problems...

So a few weeks ago I begin to worry about myself and my health condition.
I don't want to get "premature senility".

I started to go to gym following other people. My primary goal is to
imporve overall health and fitness. Secondary goal is to build at least
some mulscles to make myself stronger. I don't want to lose weight, in
fact I guess my weight is OK. But I do have some small belly on my
stomach and it is better to get rid of... but if I don't have enough
time, leaving them there should be not a problem.

There are so many devices in the gym and I really feel puzzled. I heard
that they train different muscles. But my primary goal is to improve
overall health and fitness.

Learn this one exercise perfectly:
http://danjohn.org/overhead.html

This looks dangerous if I do it incorrectly... :=) What is the goal of this
exercise? Looks like sports.

Quoted message said:

Ignore the machines at your gym. Just learn and practice the overhead
squat.

Tennis might be a risky and unproductive activity until you get into
better shape.

Why? You think jogging is more efficient than tennis in terms improving
overall health? Why don't I stick with jogging all the time then, why switch
to tennis later?

Quoted message said:

Replace your two hours of tennis with two hours of walking, for a while.
When you can walk comfortably for an hour, start inserting one minute
jogs, walking between jog intervals until you're comfortable and breathing
easy. When an hour is 30 1/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to 2 minute jogs.
When an hour is 20 2/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to 3 minute jogs. When
an hour is 15 3/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to 4 minute jogs. When an
hour is 12 4/1 jog/walk intervals, switch to... tennis.

Sounds like a good plan! I will digest what you've said!

Thanks a lot!

mct546 said:

Nah F that! Stop reading books Kiki. Total waste of time. No women
will ever care that A sq + B sq = C sq

I wouldn't be too interested myself in those that won't care.

kiki said:

Quoted message said:

Run at a comfortable pace for about 30 minutes. You'll be surprised by how
quickly you get tired. You should feel like you could go another 30
minutes
at the end of the run, so go slowly so that you're not sucking wind.

Shall I stop whenever I feel tired?

No. Run slower so that you don't get tired.

Quoted message said:

I get tired after only 3 minutes of running...

What pace are you running at ? If you are running faster than 5mph, then slow
down until you're running at 5mph, or you don't get tired any more.

Quoted message said:

Yeah, I agree, not that efficient. Currently I can only walk on the hills.
There are some gradient that prevents from running... I can walk 3 miles in
one hour on our local hills. But I will try running + walking on the hills
next time. Maybe I should get rid of the tennis part, although it is a good
sports... but not efficient. Maybe I should hiking twice a week on the
hills?

If you like.

Quoted message said:

Could Protein Shakes + Centrum + Fiber pills be a complete and good
combination for nuitrition solutions while I still have regular meal (but
can be lighter after eating these supplmements...) , and I also am lack of

It's a good start anyway.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Hell Yeah! Now you are talking!

😄

kiki said:

"mct546" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Stop with all the math Kiki.
I'm serious, less math more vegtables....

I think it should be:

less computers, more math(exercise brain), more vegetables... :=)