New and Distraught

[Duckie]

Hello everyone,

I'm a horseback rider and over the last year I took time off from school and work to do nothing but ride. I was fit and felt amazing. I rode however many horses every day plus the gym about 3 times a week.

Then it was time to face reality and go to university, and all of a sudden I lost my main source of exercise which were the horses. At first i was determined to keep up my fitness via the gym, but soon school work and the colds that circulate the dorm got to me and gym time became non-existant.

I try to eat relatively healthy but the cafeteria is pretty limited and like any university student alchohol often became a second dinner :P

Anyways, I was fairly content for a while because I was so busy with school i didin't really have time to think about weight, but I was laying on the floor the other day and went to get up, much to my horror those easy to do sit ups weren't so easy anymore.

Ever since then i've been really down, feeling horrible about my weight. I want that strength back but I really really hate the gym, which is why riding became a good substitute for me in teh first place. Now I don't have acess to a horse and i'm a bit panicked. how do I get back in to shape?

I guess what i'm getting at is that does anyone have any easy but entertaining (however entertaining exercise can be) things to try to get myself enthusiastic about exercise again? I went to the gym today but my lack of strength just made me feel worse rather than keen on getting fitter.

Keep in mind that they need to be fairly simple- I wasn't kidding about those hard situps.

Thanks guys!

[Duckie]

also a few more things. I realize that in terms of weight gain cutting out alchohol would be the most effective thing to do, but I don't want to spend my university years totally sober, so if the weight gain is going to happen than so be it. my issue is the lack of strength, i feel completly weak and useless. I've tried to find exercises online but I never know who to trust and all the websites seem terribly phoney, beautiful athletic people doing the exercises that are supposed to help us normal people look like them...strange.

I would love a personal trainer to help me work out a plan but like any starving student money is tight. of course if I cut out booze i would loose weight and have money for a trainer, but that's not going to happen :P

[Trusylver]

You don't have to give up your booze completely but you should cut it down to a minimum, a couple of drinks with friends once a week will help the budget, reduce your calories, reduce the amount of dehydration alcohol causes and improve recovery after exercise.

now the booze issue is out of the way

I assume from your post you have access to a gym, what else do you have access to ? home gym equipment ? Bands ? Ball ? Kids playground ? do you enjoy bodyweight exercises ? Do you enjoy any sports ? would you consider a group exercise class ?

No one is completely useless, my first sugestion would be to do some basic benchmark tests this will give you some starting numbers to compare your progress to, seeing progress is a great motivator. pushups, situps, bench press, wall sit, step up etc. most of these tests can be found here http://www.exrx.net/Testing.html and some strength standards are here http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLi...Standards.html

with a bit more info it will be easier to workout something that works and may even be enjoyable

[Duckie]

Thank you for the reply, it was very helpful your right, getting some basic numbers will help, I like to see things on paper so it will be easier for me to see the progress.

I do have acess to a gym, I live on campus so it's fairly well equiped, but thats about it. I would rather have home gym equipment because I find myself self-concious fumbling alongside the athletic kids but i'm not going to let that stop me from getting back to the fitness level I used to be at. I am not overweight (although perhaps a little more so now) but god gave me hips to bear children and not a body to run with. I always used to say that I had just enough padding so that when I fell off a horse it didin't hurt so much.

I really don't have time for sports teams, nor am I particularly interested. Next semester I'll join pilates again, its not a super calorie burner but I love the stretching (not very flexible) and they do alot of ab work (i'm talking about mat pilates)

Most of what i do is sans machines and doing exercises that involve no or very few free weights. I used to do alot more machine work because I found it safer, easier to keep my body stabalized then trying to swing around a free weight, but that's the one thing the gym on campus is lacking. There are not very many machines at all, just alot of cardio equipment and alot of free weights. I mean there are some, but I doubt they will factor in to my workout much anymore.

Thanks again for the info