The Workout Thread

What Josh said, and also don't forget the best rudimentary exercise: The Push Up. You can do lots of variations and it will help engage your core and improve your upper body strength as well as your form on the bench press. I don't really lift at all anymore and I'd say I've maintained a lot of my strength by doing push ups. Also, depending on how fast you do them/rest between sets, it will get your heart rate going for some good cardio. I think the key is to find what's comfortable for you and start slowly so you can develop the right form. Once you've got those two things down the gym is your oyster.

I could barely do five push ups before I started going to the gym and I sure as heck couldn't do a pull up. Resistance bands helped me get started. They might be for housewives and little girls, but they're cheap and more easily stored away than weights.

You can get one hell of a workout with resistance bands. No shame in the game.

Take a 30 minute walk every day, combined with simple, basic resistance exercises covering all the major muscle groups of your body. Start small, work your way up gradually.

Resistance bands are legit. How else do you think T.O. keeps his god-like physique? in before steroids/HGH

http://terrellowensworkout.org/

Okay—I'm going to try to see if I can't start getting more serious about losing some of the weight I've put on from working a desk job for too many years in a row. It's so hard for me to get motivated for all of this, but I really need to.

First steps:
* Try to get more regular exercise. I've been working from home for the past seven months, which has given me even more of a chance to not get up and do much. I've got a stationary bike that I'm going to start riding, and while I don't think it'll be enough to make a huge impact, right now I think it's better for me to at least do something to help brake the cycle of being so sedentary. I love going out and riding my bike, but I currently live in an area that I don't feel comfortable doing that in (too many busy streets), which really sucks.

* Eating better. I'm not hopeless when it comes to eating junk food, but it's too easy for me to fit into the "I'm busy, so I'll just go pick us up something" position, and I hate having the feeling of "fast food is fun, homemade food is boring!" I think one of the biggest issues currently is carbs. When I'm making food, I have trouble figuring out how to really beef up meals without turning to rice or pasta. Plus, white rice isn't going away anytime soon, due to being married to someone being from Japan.

Any suggestions for this? I try to use whole wheat pasta and brown rice as much as possible, but what are some other options people use to avoid so many carbs? Should I be focusing on fixing other things first?

* Cola. Ugh, one of my big vices. I don't drink disgusting amounts of it or anything, but even drinking diet, I know I just need to cut it out. I feel it when I try to get myself off of cola, and it's just been too easy for me to fall back into drinking it the times I've tried to cut it out. My low-level brush with drug addiction. *heh*

Stop drinking soda for a month or two and it'll taste like cough syrup. It's really gross. Drink tea or something. Water is baller-status. Get some Soylent for those lazy bastard meals. The rest of the time eat food. Eat beans (beefy as fuck), lentils, quinoa, and barley. Eat reasonable portions of chicken and fish. Eat seitan and tempeh. Marinate tofu and bake it. Learn to cook Indian food. Don't be Shidoshi Sweet-Tooth. Carbs aren't evil, you just need complex carbs. The key is being smart and making changes in your diet at a reasonable pace. Unless you are Kidnemo you're not gonna stick with a new lifestyle without a soft start.

Lift weights. More muscle = more calories burned just sitting around. You're not going to get too big, so shut up.

You should go out and walk around for the hell of it too. Bring your headphones and listen to a podcast or something. No need for power walking douchebaggery, just go out and move around for a bit. The Zombies Run app is fucking KILLER for this, btw. The story is well acted, and pretty good. You don't have to run (unless you turn on the chases) and it'll run for 30 minutes or 1 hour at a time. It alternates between story and your music. There are also supply missions where you listen to a bunch of supplemental material and pick up upgrade materials for your town/base/thing based on distance. It's fucking sweet, and I really recommend picking it up. I'll buy it for you as a belated xmas present if you'd like. You too, Berringer.

Soda Stream devices are good for having "bubbly" water to taper down the soda thing, just don't add any of the syrups, throw that stuff away.

A buddy of mine lost 30 lbs just from cutting soda out of his diet. Now he's obsessed with BJJ and staying fit. Once you get that healthy momentum it's hard to stop.

Mineral water can be a great alternative to soda. Unsweetened iced tea, mineral water, pomegranate juice, orange juice and coffee are what I generally drink.

Also just start eating salads. Go to Trader Joe's and get a different one each time, easy mode.