Losing weight at home...

Hello,


I wish to lose weight (mainly get more agile) before I start any MA. I want to lose weight in the long run but it is my agility and flexibility I wish to improve before starting. My problem is that I don't want to go to a gym, the whole situation is very intimidating. The only gym close to me is full of these hyper-fit body-builders that make the whole process arduous. I was going to take up swimming but a) I don't know how to swim b) I have stretch marks because of losing weight and gaining it quite rapidly (I'm also tall which really didn't help) and I am really self-conscious.

It is for these reasons that I'd like to lose weight at home so I would like any and all tips for losing weight at home (except for nutritional tips since I am going to post a thread in the relevant section for that specifically since I don't like a lot of food).

Thank-you for any help you guys can offer.

 

Apart from diet - just move more
any activity more than you're doing now will lead to weight loss
i enjoy walking with my girlfriend as well as MA classes

Meetup.com has loads of walking groups on their site that'll help you be more active

Although i realise that its really intimidating, many of the hyperfit people are really approachable and will provide better information and support than those on this site

I used to be really nervous but once i started making conversation they invited me to train with them and i got a lot closer to my goal with people to back me up and encourage me when i felt like i was in a rut

 

There was one guy who was helpful, all of the rest are stereotypical "jock" types. It's worth noting that even the guy who was helpful stays quiet when any of the others are there. The time he gave me a few tips was when we were the only ones in the weight lifting section.

 

I can relate a bit. I am still over weight, but still slimming down. Find a good MA gym that is big on sparring , and join it. Most every person you meet will be supportive and helpful without judging you. They all have their own issues and many started at the same place as you.

Share your location and I am sure some one on here will be able to point you to the right place.

If you must do.this at home first thing to do is get your diet in check. Next would be to WALK every where.

 

What he said.

 

You will find this is not the norm in most places. Keep looking. You will find the right place. Supportive people are always a big plus. We all here at map have your back

 

I have been working on my diet for a while but as I said, I am a fussy eater so it has been difficult so I am hoping some advice from these forums help me improve it further. I do walk everywhere (I've always been like that though) but I've made an effort to do little things like always taking the stairs etc. (even in one of the buildings at university where I'm on the top floor for a lecture 4 times a week, 12 flights of stairs).

I hoped that was the case but it is the only gym near me (I don't drive). Thank-you for saying that, that is really appreciated.

 

if you share your location then it might help in finding you something close by (outdoor fitness classes, private gyms etc)

 

Firstly hi there and welcome. Diet is pretty key here but there plenty of other things you can do aswell. Walking everywhere is a great first step and shouldn't be hard to implement. If you have access to an exercise bike then start off slowly using that for maybe 20 mins a few times a week, anything that can gradually increase your heart rate whilst avoiding too much impact on your joints.

I would encourage you to go to classes sooner rather than later, as others have already said you will probably be supprised how friendly and accepting they will be and how beneficial they can be for weight loss.

Also gyms shouldn't be too intimidating, everyone in them is there because they want to improve something about them selves. Some guys have more work to do than others but everyone can improve some aspect of their fitness or physique. Some of the 'jock' guys are probably not as bad as they seem.

 

Just join a martial arts class. None of this 'I want to improve on x,y,z before I start'. It's a nonsense excuse. Nothing gets you fitter for a martial art than doing that martial art.

 

Pretty much this, except without the "excuse nonse etc" part.

The great thing about sports and martial arts is that you get exersize and it's not the primary thought. Getting fit for the sake of being fit is (to me) boring, tedious and difficult. Pick a hobby that looks like you need to train and then do it. Training at home requires self motivation, which is the most difficult to maintain. Encouragement from others is the best way IME.

Good luck! What martial art are you interested in?

 

It is an excuse a tremendous number of people use, but yeah, I'm snippy because I had a bad randori session earlier, I'll try again.

I know it's intimidating walking into a class, especially when you're afraid you're going to be the most overweight, the least flexible and the least agile person in the room. But even if all those things are true, walking into the class is the best way to deal with those problems.

If you persist with the idea that you'll wait until you're a bit more flexible and a bit more agile, it wont matter, because when you walk into that class, you'll still be the most inexperienced and you'll probably still be the least flexible and the least agile in the room, because whatever limited training you do before joining the class probably wont transfer over to the martial art anyway. You might be able to touch your toes, but that probably wont make that much difference to how high you can kick, because you haven't trained the muscles in your core, your hips and your legs to actually move your leg to your limit of flexibility anyway.

So in summation: join the class now. Everyone sucks when they start, no one is going to laugh at you for being a terrible beginner. All beginners are terrible, even the flexible ones.

 

When I first took up MA, the only class available at that time of day (my kids were taking youth boxing and I needed something during that time slot) was Muay Thai. Muay Thai is not considered a "beginner's" class, generally speaking and to make matters worse ( or more interesting, depending on one's view ) the class was comprised mostly of very fit, experienced students who had already competed at some level in Brazilian Jiujitsu, western boxing, etc., and were eager to round their skill-set with MT.

I was already in my mid 40's, still smoked and had for far longer than I'd like to think about and I'd not been physically active in years.

After a few brief minutes of standard bag-work - jab/cross, right low kick, switch - I was literally gasping for air and was sweating so profusely they had to have one of the blokes who cleans and sanitises the BJJ mats after hours to follow me around as I moved from station to station mopping up the sweat that would puddle around me.

Despite the competition-oriented class, and my woefully inadequate kicks due to very bad conditioning, I never felt there was a air of snobbery at all, everyone was either quite friendly or so focused on what they were doing, they'd not noticed an earth-quake. Sometimes all I could do was lie on the mats heaving after the bag-work and calisthenics were over - mind you, it was just a warm up for the class.

I felt I was under a great load of pressure. The pressure warn't coming from the other students - it was coming from myself. It warn't other's ego's I had to deal with, it was my own. I didn't fancy my ill conditioning being on display. It was embarrassing.

I was focused on the wrong thing and was old enough to know better. No one else besides myself, the mat-sanitiser and the instructor - who would walk over near my bag station and say, to no one in particular "breathe, breathe", was paying any attention to my ill conditioning.

We aren't that important, you know, lol.

I made the mistake that you're making. I said to myself that what I needed to do was get in better condition so that I could then concentrate on proper form, the mechanics of punching and MT kicks. A few months of intensive work at home and I"d come back right as rain...

Bollocks.

Didn't happen. I didn't return a couple months later in better condition to withstand the rigours of Muay Thai training despite attempting my own HIIT, semi-daily running, working out with weights, etc.,.

Why? Because there is nothing out there that I could do on my own that would prepare me for the rigours of MT than doing MT.

The same goes for you.

You will not, you cannot - push yourself past the limits of what you think you are capable of the way an instructor in a class will. Not even remotely close. You'll always hold back.

"Wait, let me get comfortable with what I doing before we move on to harder stuff..." - nahh...it doesn't work that way.

You will not progress past the level you are at if you are comfortable - guaranteed. You must dispense once and for all, with any notion of being comfortable. Learn to hate 'comfort'. 'Comfort' is your enemy. Learn to embrace physical stress and misery. They are your true friends.

So have I talked you out of this nonsense about conditioning yourself in the comfort of your home? I hope so

Now go find the best MA school with the best intructor in your area - whatever that MA happens to be that is taught there and sign up.

Whether its Greco-Roman wrestling or Five and One-Half Deadly Feet Kung Fu that will be your chosen martial art.

See, here at MAP, we take all the guess work out of it for you.

 

So, if I can some this up Belltoller, you're saying "starting out is the hard part and will suck. Embrace the 'suck' and push on." :

 

don't wait to start working out. watch what you eat. i'm keeping it simple.

 

So much respect for you big brother ;3

 

Its you - Unreal and Southpaw, as well, that we're liftin' our glasses to.

You're puttin' it to work and making it look fun.

Nice. The mental picture forming is...is just... isn't what I originally had in mind, lol.



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I am trying heart and soul to lose my weight from home. I think that it would be much better if I went to the gymnessium for losing my weight. but that is not possible for me. As a result, now I am trying it in my home by maintaining diets and exercising.

 

My dad had a saying " don't ask for help if you don't want it. " I assume that you have a valid reason for not being able to make it to a gym.

When I look back at all the reasons why I stopped training 20 years ago and became obese, all I see were my own excuses and boundaries. I said a lot of the same things you have said.

Asking for help is not the same thing as helping your self. You may not be able to make it to the gym, but I bet if you truly wanted to you could.

 

Thanks for all the tips. The jock guys are that bad, there has been several complaints about them (well one subgroup in particular but about them all generally) but it is a small gym and they are the main source of income for them, it seems like they don't want to take the risk that enough people will come to replace them if they crack down on them.

Well Chadderz, I am not sure I was going to post a thread here but I read the sticky that said you shouldn't. I've been looking at the different martial arts taught in my area trying to decide but no luck yet.

I will definitely join a class as soon as I can and not worry about getting fit BEFORE I start, during does seem like the best idea. I promise it wasn't me making excuses though guys, I read an article that said that doing things wrong in the beginning of learning a martial art can seriously set you back so I am just trying to make sure I am ready for the classes and that I know enough that I am not going in totally blind so I can recognise if the teacher isn't on the level etc. (I know more about this thanks to this forum).