Please get in shape!

[fishoutawater]

Eat Less, Exercise More.

Does it matter so much what exercise regiment you do? Not really, as long as you're exercising.

In a nutshell, Pants is correct, but there's a lot of tricks to be learned. And without a doubt, http://www.crossfit.com/ is by far the best place to get all the information I've found. There are fitness pros there like olympic gymnastic coaches, olympic weightlifting coaches, scientists., etc. It's the real deal. No magic pills, lotions or gizmos. No magic, just common sense solutions based on scientific fact.
Most of the posters there have found the Zone diet to be the most effective diet. Lot's to be learned about that, and can be learned on the Crossfit message board.
There's a lot of emphasis placed on core strength as well as cardio endurance. No vain body building stuff there, but if you look at todays picture of the two young ladies, you can see that the program works quite well as far as improving one's looks as well as conditioning.
You'll start by just doing a scaled back version of whatever the day's Workout Of the Day is (see WOD), and record your results. Over time, you'll cycle back around to the same workout, record those results and compare them with the first time you did it. You'll literally watch yourself improve exponentially. It's the fastest and most effective way there is.
Just look around the site, register and start asking questions.

And Couta, we some members from the UK there as well, and Australia, Greece, lots of places.

 

[couta0938]

Looks good. I find the easiest way to build up fitness it to simply get into a routine. My own morning routine is as follows:
Before breakfast, do 1 x 25 Press-Ups (arms tucked in)
1 x 25 Sit-Ups
1 x Max Pull-Ups
Repeat this three times, preferably with no rest in between exercises in sets. Should take a little over ten minutes - it's important to do the reps quite slowly as you'll build up a lot more stamina and muscle endurance that way - but you probably know that already.

Personally my training is more geared up to the endurance side of things. I'm not big on heavy weights and only do two hours power weight training a week. Mid-Weight, High repetition is my thing if I have to do weights, but I prefer climbing, kayaking, cross-country running and tabbing (best form of fitness i've ever come across - stick a huge bergen on your pack and get yourself up and down some big hills!). The best way to get and stay fit is to just lead an active lifestyle. Cycle to work instead of taking the car. Take up a new hobby. Anything that gets you off your arse really! You don't need to turn into a phys freak, just an hour over the course of a day can do you a world of good.

 

[fishoutawater]

Couta, you already know what it takes, and you have a great general fitness regimen there.
To better understand Crossfit though, download their free journal issue:
http://www.crossfit.com/cf-download/CFJ-trial.pdf
And go to the exercises link and take a look at the many different exercises we do. We try to avoid the word "routine". For me, if I do the same exact workout day in, day out, it becomes stale, and I can't improve. Crossfit solves that.

The basic philosophy is constant change to invoke constant growth for exceptional performance levels at anything, anywhere at any time.

Plus, I'm kinda the same way as you as far as lifting heavy weights. Most of the workouts include moderate weights at high reps. Some days we'll do 1 rep maxes, but that's actually quite rare. Your workout is basically a Crossfit workout already by doing the exercises and repeating them three times. We call them rounds. Many times we do a workout in rounds, for time. Minimal rest, or none at all. Just blast through them.
Some of the workouts are "benchmark" workouts, and they are appropriately named after girls because they're so mean. We might do Helen, Fran, Linda, Lynne, etc. for time. They're called benchmark workouts because they stay the same, and are used to measure and compare with past performances.
You'll fit right in Couta.

 

[DivePartner1]

Note in the article I linked ... according to the BMI, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal is obese ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

The CDC’s Body Mass Index declares that a BMI of 25 or more means you are overweight and 30 or more you are “obese.”

This means that at 6 feet and 200 pounds, Brad Pitt is “overweight.” So is George Clooney Matt Damon, basketball star LeBron James, baseball great Alex Rodriques and swimmer Gary Hall, Jr.

Shaquille O’Neal would be “obese” according to the CDC.

We’re all unhealthy. Let’s leave the diving to emaciated CDC staffers.

 

[Double_D]

Time for a refill on that popcorn, Doc. Maybe with extra butter and salt this time, willya?

 

[ScubaBabe22]

Time for a refill on that popcorn, Doc. Maybe with extra butter and salt this time, willya?

yeah but those guys are soooo cute!

 

[Randy43068]

<Kickin' my feet up on the table, sitting close to the popcorn>

 

[Spratman]

However, in the military, the only thing that they focused on was that 197 number. At 220lbs, I was 20% body fat. I ran with the fast group during physical training. Everyone couldn't believe I was on the over-weight program. But a bunch of skinny wankers wrote the rules...

Jack

B.M.I's are a waste of time - keep them to glossy womens lifestyle magazines. They don't differentiate between body fat and muscle mass - and are therefore a poor indication of physical condition.

A lot of people here seem to be justifying being obese (and i'm talking about having excessive body fat here, not the results of a B.M.I). There is no justification in being obese at all - it isn't big (well, technically it is) and it isn't clever. Granted it is your choice on how you lead your lifestyle, but please don't try to justify it on here to make yourself feel better - on forums such as this everybody has the potential to influence somebody. It has been medically proven to have a lot of bearing on serious health issues such as heart disease - there is no getting away from this.

Much kudos and respect to everyone on here who has made the effort and beat themselves back into shape as fishoutawater has detailed in his above post. It takes a lot of guts (must stop these bad puns!) and motivation to achieve this, but it's something everyone can do.

Come on all you Divers, fight the flab... Better get a refill on that popcorn!
Andy

 

[Scuba_Dooba_NJ]

Okay, I will share my exercise program with you:
WDDDWV: Washing down Ding Dongs with Vodka. Hey, it's exercise...do you know how hard it is to stuff ding dongs in your mouth AND heft that bottle up to your mouth at the same time???

And the great thing about this exercise program is, every time others find out about my exercise equiptment they are more than willing to help lug my gear if I just share my equipment. See?? Win Win

:rofl:

 

[Mlody11]

1 small problem.... the cdc states that the BMI is a overly general overview of what your weight should be. If you are over with your BMI and under with the bodyfat percentage you are still considered healthy. Body fat percentage is what determines if you are healthy or not

Males : 5-10% - Athlete 10-20% Normal 20-25% overweight 30% + Obese
Females : 12%- 18% Athlete 18% - 28% Normal 28 - 35% overweight 35%+ Obese