Jogging and Muscle-building

[Chao.]

Since about last fall, i've been trying to make a habit out of running for about an hour every day to get in better shape. It's worked pretty well for me, and at the time I was taking a weightlifting class as well to bulk up a bit. Well, it turns out this semester I was removed from the class along with the others.(The teacher retired after 1st semester, no replacement, wtf?)

Anywho, i'm still jogging as much or even more so than I did before, but I don't really have free weights available to me right now - What kind of exercises are good for developing upper body? (Biceps/Abdomen), what kind are better for developing leg strength, besides running?

[megaman89]

arent u azn? give up

[Chao.]

arent u azn?

Nope.

[D1st0rt]

that would be dchao

[Jeenyuss]

.... chao isn't asian?

[Necromotic]

you wanna stick to your standard pushups with a mixup between them such as diamonds and wide arms and then freeweights or machines or combination of both. generally you goin for as many pushups as you can durin the first day of your trainin week so like 150-200 on day 1 then drop it down to 125/100/75/75/75 then start again at day 1 with 150-200

[Kim]

Learn Bak Mei

[MirrorriM]

Does your school allow weightlifting during lunch? My high school did that.

I only know work outs for water polo, but swimming with your head up, looking straight the whole time really works your shoulders and back/shoulder muscles. Of course push ups too.

For legs, eggbeating in the water (one leg moves in a circle counterclockwise and the other does the same clockwise, like an egg beater). Do this with hands out of water, elbows up, and hands up in the air. Do 1-2-5 mins...repeat. It helps to carry weight too like a gallon of water or something.

For land exercises, lunges are the thing to do. You take a large step and bend your kness, hands at your sides. Hard to explain but I'm sure you know what they are or can look it up :P Holding something heavy (around 10 lbs) helps too.

[Emaho]

When you run you should also try not to run the same length every time. If you do that the body adapts because it knows that you run a certain distance every day and set itself to low energy use. You can "trick" your body by running either running different distances and/or running like 2 days in a row, rest 1 day, run 1 day, rest 1 and then run 2 days after that.
If you want to increase your condition you should best way to do it is intervals. I find hills is the best place to do intervals. It's also one of the best way to get strong legs muscles.

What Necro said is not a good way to build muscles. You do not want to use the same muscle groups 2 days in a row when you work out, you should instead try to focus on shoulders and arms one day, the next day you use your back instead. And the next day after that the legs. This is so you always give your muscles time to rest (this is when they grow).

You can waste a lot of time on training if you don't eat proper food too. You want to eat much protein after workout.

My suggestion to you is to get a cheap workout bench and some weight. It's well worth the money!

[Rhino_haha]

Exercise is for women.

[SEAL]

Personally I'm into Muay Thai. It gives the things you seem to want, and more:
flexibility, balance, (minor) strength, endurance, technique. Why not tryout one time? To answer the Q directly and what we do with training is:

What kind of exercises are good for developing upper body? (Biceps/Abdomen)

just different kind of push ups (search internet)

what kind are better for developing leg strength, besides running?

I'm not sure how ya call it, but the "leg sit ups" work well. (You stand straight, from that position you bend down asif you were to shit on the street. Then go stand up again, etc. Do it in the way that your mussles keep tight all the time, so don't go up/down all the way. Best is to keep your hands up for extra weight..next to your chin).

Another one, put your toe's on a curb/ stairs (not the heel) and go up/ down.

Simplicity, no need for expensive tools =)
Hope this helps.


edit. rope jumping is good too.

[Zeebu]

ive never been the biggest fan of lifting weights, but if i do. freeweights are the way to go. they get you to strengthen more muscles than jsut a focused group on a machine by forcing you to make small adjustments to keep balance and form. with a decent set of nothing but dumbells and a bench, you can do a majority of upper body stuff

yeah, swimming alot will tone up some muscles you didnt know you had

pushups chinups crunches leg lifts and any other training are great for you.

difficult but fun to do if you can, do a handstand against a wall and lower/raise yourself. see how many reps of that you can do.

most things i know are meant to build core muscles and anything used for swimming.

[Nickname]

theres a shitload of things you can do without freeweights.