Exercise. Do you do it at all? What's your daily regime?

[Lotusguy]

Used to ride mountain bike every weekend but it’s a three hour commitment with driving to the trail head and back so I started slacking when I got too busy with family.

Previous owner of my house left an elliptical behind that I have been using every day since this April. It broke last week so I took the excuse to step up my home gym game by purchasing the Concept 2 model D mentioned above and I’m having a refurbished Precor EFX883 delivered in a couple of weeks. My workout discipline is much better when I can just walk to my workout room and my Apple Watch is definitely helping with motivation.

[TheMonk]

I'm now working out 4 to 5 times a week, trying to get back into shape. Used to run, lift weights and do some boxing and KB, now getting back to the weights but not so much the running or the boxing - at least yet.

[Stump89]

I'm in the process of trying to lose about 40lbs. Down 25 in a little over a month. No carb diet, except beer lol. Doing 100 push ups per day to start, plus cardio.

[KnightsAnole]

Yep I jump on my recumbent for 5 mins and lift for an hour or so 4 times a week. Been religious about it for the past 2 months and it’s amazing the results I can already see. 100% change in diet too. No soda, (I love Coca Cola) high protein- low carb. I’m nearly 50 and feel great. I think you get to an age where you finally realize, ‘well it’s all downhill from here unless I do something about it’...

[BrightonCorgi]

15 hours ago, Stump89 said:

I'm in the process of trying to lose about 40lbs. Down 25 in a little over a month. No carb diet, except beer lol. Doing 100 push ups per day to start, plus cardio.

Do you do the push up's in sets of 20?

[Stump89]

13 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Do you do the push up's in sets of 20?

Started out with that, then had to drop down to 10 or 15 the first week from being sore. This is week 3 and I'm up to 45 in 1 set. Obviously its not good to just keep working the same muscle groups that often, but I figure it's helping get me back into a normal fitness routine. 

[Wertman]

How about a rower?  Anyone use a concept 2 or does orange theory?

[dominattorney]

On 8/15/2018 at 4:37 PM, MoeFOH said:

I need to shed some kilos. I've been in a good paddock for far too long. And at the moment my exercise regime consists of 1x sit-up. I sit up in bed in the morning, lay down again at night. 

I hate gyms. Who's got any hints, tips, pointers, to a regime that's easy to stick to long-term and provides results? 

Cheers,

Moe. 

As many have said, join a gym and force yourself to go there.  You could obviously come up with a calisthenics program that you can do at home, or buy a P90x or some other type of tape that you can do at home.  The issue with this is, if you're not already inclined to work out and enjoy physical activity, you won't stick with it.  You don't have skin in the game.  If you join a gym, for the love of god, don't join a cheap one.  There are some that are terrible, like Planet Fitness, but will offer you 10 bucks a month.  While that appears financially attractive, it's not worth the feeling of being a dear in headlights at a new facility.  Then there are the 200 a month chic places.  You don't necessarily need to spend that much to get your money's worth, but something  between 50 and 100 a month is an appropriate amount to spend on a gym.  After all, it's an investment in yourself.  Better yet if you join for a year and sign a contract, you'll feel more inclined to use what you paid for. 

Now that that's out of the way, there is the question of what you should actually do at the gym.  I am of the mind that free weight based strength training is the best workout regimen any person can subscribe to.  There are plenty of programs out there--an easy enough place to start would be Mark Rippetoe's starting strength protocol, in which you will squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press with a plate loaded barbell at the onset, before gradually adding more exercises in as you become more advanced.  I started out with something like this, as did many people I know and still lift with, some years ago.  It works off the principle of progressive overload.  you do sets of 5 and start with a light weight, focusing on your form (there are plenty of videos online regarding safe and proper form for these exercises, but if you are a true beginner, you will be best served by having a competent trainer teach you how to do them.  There are  only a few exercises so this too should not be a significant financial investment.  Also, the better trainers are at the 50-100 a month gyms, so another strike against the cheap places). 

You add a small, but appreciable, amount of weight each day you do the program, until you max out, which should take anywhere from 6-9 months, after which you will notice you are significantly stronger, and most likely, less corpuscular than when you started the program.  Usually by that point, you don't need to be told to go to the gym anymore--the exhiliration of strength training becomes its own reward.  For me, it was after about a year of a simple linear progression program that I fell in love with the sport of olympic weightlifting, and started my journey all over again.  There is always something new to learn and new challenges to over come, and the more one engages in resistance training, the stronger, leaner, fitter, and harder to kill they become.  My 70 year old father goblet squats a heavy dumbbell for reps, and he credits this in large part to having overcome stiffness in his back and posterior chain.  If you have any questions and can't answer them with an online search, I'm happy to discuss anything with you further in a PM.

Good luck on your fitness journey.

[Lotusguy]

How about a rower?  Anyone use a concept 2 or does orange theory?

I bought the Concept 2 model D on amazon last week and have been using it almost daily (on a business trip now). It works more muscles than a treadmill or elliptical - I really like that about it. Got a blister on my heel from not wearing socks initially and I have to wear gloves but otherwise, A-ok! Much cheaper than buying a good elliptical.

[El Hoze]

I’m also a Concept 2 guy. I find it a great challenge and it works alot muscles as Lotusguy said, especially the back/core which will improve your posture and make you feel/look alot better. I’m a huge believer in doing a bunch of different workouts/motions and the erg is absolutely a great activity to work in. I’ve trained for several marathons, and an Ironman so running for me, while still my primary cardio activity, doesn’t quite kick my butt like an erg machine or doing other motions. 

[VRATJV07]

I have been doing CrossFit for about the last 6-7 years.  I grew up playing a lot of sports.  I also play football (soccer) during the fall, winter and spring indoors one day a week.

I also agree that eating a healthy diet is important.  I am not on any specific diet, but I stay away from fast food, processed foods and sugar.

[cigarsandcoffee]

I have doing Crossfit for a couple of months. A doctor once said, “If you want to lose weight, stop putting food in your mouth.” Who knew it was so simple.

[Puros Y Vino]

On XMas 2014 my wife subtly gave me a hint by gifting me a Paleo diet book.  Come Jan 2015 I started on that diet faithfully and by July 2015 I was down 35lbs just by following the diet, no workouts.  Overall I lost about 50lbs and got as low as 209 (from 275). At 209 I ended up losing muscle mass and started weight training.  I'm around 234lbs now with a lot more muscle mass and a bit leaner (always room to lose some more body fat though).  I workout 2 - 3 times a week from an hour to two depending on what I'm concentrating on.  I'm about 70% on the Paleo diet.  I'm Italian, I gotta have pasta sometime.   A healthy diet is definitely a larger factor than exercise IMO.