muley69,
I grew up competing in soccer, baseball, football, tennis, swimming and did martial arts.
When push came to shove, in HS, I stuck with football and swam but also started throwing.
I played football in college.
After college, I boxed and fought full-contact martial arts.
ORIGINAL: muley69
I started playing semi-pro football this year, and I have been whipped into shape and but quick. I practice 3x week plus game on Saturday, lift upper body 2x week, lower body 1x per week, run sprints and agilty drills 2-3x/month. Really enjoy the weight lifting, also purchased an eliptical glider for post work out warm downs, my wife mainly uses that.
It is because of football that I am now in my predicament... I played at 6' 240 lbs and had decent wheels and loved demolishing linebackers. I have always be one of those guys that played through the pain and I played at a high level...
Once my college career was over, I was still in good shape and maintained roughly similar fitness until about 28 years of age. My weight started to slowly creep up but it wasn't that much of an issue.
Then the years of football started to catch up with me... in the period of the last 4 years... I had 2 knees cut... I had a shoulder cut... I had an ankle cut... then I sprained each of my ankles within 6 months of each other... By the time I was done with all of this cutting and spraining, I put on 50 pounds...
I still hunted alot... heck, I did an antelope hunt in a boot and crutches... but it drove me nuts... I was always aching and hurting...
Thankfully, I was in good health when I started. My colesterol was in the 160s and my BP was 110/70 even at my initial 300 pounds. My doctor had me retested and then proclaimed that I was "in the best shape he has ever seen a fat guy" and that I need to be "on-call" to retest to settle any wagers with his dr buddies.
CHARLIE BROWN,
In the last 5 weeks, I have dropped 22 pounds...
The secret for getting in shape and building muscle has never changed... Here are the 2 magic ingredients...
1) Diet
2) Hard work
CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE DOING ANY OF THE BELOW because the level of your kidney function will definitely effect what you can do on your diet in terms of supplementation and dietary intake. This is something that you should really determine with a nutrionist.
DIET
You need to monitor your diet and adjust it... be it down in calories... up in protein... eliminating carbs... increasing carbs... cutting fat... etc...
The key is writing your dietary consumption, at the time that you actually consume it, and then calculating your caloric intake... your calories from fat... your fat/carb/protein grams per each meal... the spacing of your meals... and the timing of your intake...
For me it was easy... I reduced my caloric intake and increased my water intake. My issue wasn't what I was eating, it was how much I was eating.
I have spread that over 3 meals and several snacks. The only difference (meals and snacks both include 1 protein severing) between my "meals" and my "snacks" is the inclusion of a fruit, veg and salad to lunch and dinner and the inclusion of a fruit to breakfast.
I try to keep my fat grams at under 25 grams, with no saturated fats being best, and my carbohydrates in the 50-60 gram range. The rest of my diet consists of PROTEIN either in the form of lean meats (fish, chicken & pork loin) or in the form of powders (whey isolate, egg, soy and cesin).
Also, I drink 150 ounces of water spread out through my day. I don't drink alcohol or caffiene so I didn't have to eliminate them. I eliminate all sodas, fruit juices and etc. Water, decaf ice tea and crystal light are it for beverages. However, only water counts towards my minimum intake of 160 ounces.
When you drink that much water, you need to supplement your diet with vitamins. I take 6 multi-vitamins a day and additionally dose C, Potasium, Calcium, B, A and essential fatty acids.
EXCERCISE
Somebody mentioned it earlier but the easiest way to burn fat and get into shape is to increase your lean muscle mass. The more lean muscle mass that you have, the higher your metabolism will be at rest.
I have a friend that is a pro body builder. He is 290lbs of pure muscle. The amount of food that he eats daily just to sustain his muscle mass is frightening.
If you increase your cardio, especially right when you wake up, before you eat/drink anything, you'll raise your metabolism even more.
Personally, I believe in 30 minutes of hell approach to cardio which is the following...
For the first five minutes, use it as a warm up period...
The next 30 minutes, do the maximum effort that you can sustain for 30 minutes be it walking, jogging or stairs...
For the last 5 minutes, do a cool down period. Walk comfortably until the 5 minutes is up.
Here is my day... Monday thru Friday...
6:00am = Wake up
6:10am - 6:15am = stretch
6:15am - 6:55am = cardio
7:15am = Pre-Workout Boost
[ul][*] Drink 8oz Water [*] BCAA Aminos[*] Glutamine (5g)[*] Carnitine (500mg)[/ul]
7:15am - 8:15am = workout @ gym
8:15am = Post-Workout Boost
[ul][*] Drink 8oz Water [*] BCAA Aminos[*] Carnitine (500mg)[/ul]
9:00am = Breakfast
[ul][*] Whey Isolate Protein Shake (100 cal/15 fat cal w/ 20 grams protein)[*] Glutamine (5g)[*] Strawberries, 1 Cup (50 cal/ 5 fat cal)
[*] Multi-vitamin (2)[*] Vitamin C (2000mg)[*] Vitamin E (1000mg)[*] Calcium (1200mg)[*] Essential Fatty Acids (2000mg Flax Oil Cap) [*] Potasium[*] Vitamin B Complex[*] Vitamin A[/ul]
9:00am - 11:00am = Drink 32oz of Water
11:00am = Morning Snack
[ul][*] Whey Isolate & Egg Protein Shake (98 cal/7 fat cal w/ 21 grams protein)[/ul]
11:00am - 1:00pm = Drink 32oz of Water
1:00pm = Lunch
[ul][*] Lean Meat, 4oz[*] Grilled Yellow Squash, 1 Cup[*] Salad, 2 cup[*] Salad Dressing, 2 T of non-fat low carb [*] Natrual Apple Sauce, 4oz[*] Crystal Light, 16oz
[*] Calcium (1200mg)[*] Multi-Vitamin (2)[*] Vitamin C (2000mg)[*] Carnitine (500mg)[*] Essential Fatty Acids (2000mg Flax Oil Cap)[/ul]
1:00pm-3:00pm = Drink 32oz of water
3:00pm = Afternoon Snack
[ul][*] Soy Protein Shake (117 cal/9 fat cal w/ 27 grams protein)[/ul]
3:00pm - 5:00pm = drink 32oz of Water
5:00pm = Early Evening Snack
[ul][*] Cottage Cheese Low Fat, 4oz[/ul]
5:00pm - 7:00pm = Drink 32oz of Water
7:00pm = Dinner
[ul][*] Lean Meat, 4oz[*] Grilled Asparagus, 1 Cup[*] Salad, 2 cups[*] Salad Dressing, 2 T of non-fat low carb [*] Blueberries, 4oz[*] Crystal Light, 16oz
[*] Calcium (1200mg)[*] Multi-Vitamin (2)[*] Carnitine (500mg)[/ul]
7:00pm - 9:00pm = Drink 16oz of Water
9:00pm = Late Evening Snack
[ul][*] Casein Protein Shake (120 cal/10 fat cal w/ 23 grams protein)[/ul]
9:00pm - 11:00pm = Drink 16oz of Water
11:00pm = SLEEP