quote CleavesF

Watching your diet is a great idea, I personally recommend trying to increase your fiber intake (dietary specifically) and water. Note that I didn't say fluids. No alcohol (you're illegal anyways), no more than 2 cups of milk (skim or 2%), no gatorate, no juice (fruit juice in any form is just sugar).

If you crave juice, eat fruit. Actually eat the fruit. I know it's hard to peel or wash etc... but I don't drink juice anymore. If you can't do the fresh fruits, do applesauce. Try to stay away from canned fruits in syrup which is once again... sugar.

quote CleavesF

Well, I just got a job as a cycling instructor and now I'm my university cycling team... so I can tell you what's the fastest way to get into shape: Cardio.

Cardio doesn't exactly build muscle mass, but that can be built later.

I personally think it's more important to build a cardiovascular base, and then from there you can do intense strength training to build your body up. The reason I believe cardiovascular base to be essential to any training regiment is the fact that increase lung and cardiac output allows you to workout for much longer periods of time which can allow you to do maximal muscle damage for maximum muscle mass growth (hypertrophy).

Since running is very hard on your knees, especially if you're overweight, heck, even if you're of normal weight... I suggest you do elliptical or biking as those are NON-WEIGHT bearing exercises. These will build your cardio base and you will drop fat incredibly fast if you keep your heart rate (HR) in the 170-175 range for your age group (this is an average, and you should check what your max HR is by testing yourself doing anerobic threshold or seeing your doctor).

Do cardio at least 5 times a week for an hour. Anything less is almost useless if you really want to lose fat. If you can do 6 or 7 days a week that would be perfect though.

Watching your diet is a great idea, I personally recommend trying to increase your fiber intake (dietary specifically) and water. Note that I didn't say fluids. No alcohol (you're illegal anyways), no more than 2 cups of milk (skim or 2%), no gatorate, no juice (fruit juice in any form is just sugar).

If you crave juice, eat fruit. Actually eat the fruit. I know it's hard to peel or wash etc... but I don't drink juice anymore. If you can't do the fresh fruits, do applesauce. Try to stay away from canned fruits in syrup which is once again... sugar.

Sugar is the enemy. It's actually better to consume fat than sugars.

People might kill me for saying this... but Trans-Fats shouldn't be a big issue for you if you don't eat much meat or meat based products. Trans-Fats affect your cholesterol and if you're almost vegetarian like me, they're better than saturated fats in that matter. If you do eat meat, keep them away. Try to eat lean meats like poultry or fish. Expensive, but that's why it's expensive.

Once you lose your first 5 lbs or so you won't be able to stop. Also try to workout right after waking up, since this will boost your metabolism your entire day.

Also make sure to eat after working out. A cliff bar or a bowl of cereal is excellent. Try to get a bit of protein in for muscle recovery and make sure to stretch properly.

If you need any more tips, I can help you, or I can ask my boss. She's written so many articles in so many books and magazines it's unbelievable.

quote Qoolflame

Nice pictures of legs....? I'm sure those legs were built from cardio alone (who cares about the rest of the body right) especially Kelly Liege.

quote Tumbles

How can you say weight training is hardly significant in training heart&lungs, and then expect cardio to have any kind of significant impact on weight training workouts?