Where do I go from here? Workout Suggestions - step 2 of starting my fitness journey as an overweight man.

[Atticus837]

Hi!

Long post incoming, but TL;DR: recommend me a workout program to do next, after starting with Baseline!

I'm Atticus. I'm 29, and have been overweight since I was about 10 years old. Over the years I've had many attempts at losing weight, my most recent being a 20kg weight loss (44lb.) a few years ago, that I put back on after losing my job and going through a rough patch during the pandemic. About a month ago, I hit my peak weight of 137kg, or just over 300 lbs. I now have two kids, a two year old boy and a little baby girl... and I have a new reason to get fit and healthy - not for me or my own body, but for them. I want to be able to run around with them for longer than 30 seconds at a time, kick a ball with them, get down on the floor with them without struggling to get back up, and be strong enough to still pick them up as they start to get older...

So I set myself a new goal - I don't care about being skinnier, I want to be fitter and healthier. Specifically, my first goal (of many!) is to do something I've always wanted to do but never done: I want to do monkey bars. See, by the time I was tall enough to reach them as a kid, I was too heavy and not strong enough to hold my own weight up. This means there are two ways to reach my goal: 1. Lose enough weight that I'm light enough to do monkey bars or 2. Get strong enough to do them despite my weight. In reality, I'll end up doing a bit of both and meeting in the middle. Then I'll find another goal to attempt and keep going until I'm the healthy Dad I want to be for my kids.

In just the last 30 days I've lost 4kg (9lb.) already, and I feel better... all by making a few small dietary changes (nothing drastic) and doing some daily exercise. I've been doing the Baseline Program, which was a great, low-impact way to start. I did most days on level 3, with the exception of a day or two where I was sick and allowed myself to take it a little easier, and I found this to be a decent challenge overall. I'm about to finish that, and I'm not quite sure where to go next... I looked at Square One and Foundation Light, and they seemed too easy... But Foundation introduces Squats and reverse lunges, and I'm not sure whether to push myself to try those or whether that's too much too soon.

I love the idea of RPG fitness (I'm a huge TTRPG nerd) but can't work out what to pick there. Zero Hero looks like it night be too easy now that I've done Baseline but I'm not sure. I tried to do age of pandora some years ago, and burned out after a few days. It was too much too quickly, although maybe now that I've warmed up with Baseline it's worth another shot?? I thought perhaps hero's journey with the heavy sword weapon might tie in nicely to my monkey bar goal, but the problem is I'd have to be able to do a pull up or chin up, which I certainly cannot. If I could, I wouldn't need to be working towards monkey bars!

I don't have any equipment, so I'm relying on bodyweight training alone. I'm willing to consider purchasing some items down the line.

Long story short, I'm finding it hard to tell what's actually suitable for my level, what will be easy and what will be hard, and I'm (rather foolishly) scared to start a program and then find that it's either too much for me or not enough. Any wisdom or guidance you can offer is greatly appreciated!

 

[gothic141]

Rule one food in the kitchen. Small changes towards healthier options and portion control, don't try to make perfect. As for training, any routine which you will be able to stick at, and be consistent. These are the key points.
Stay away from running until stronger.use the no equipment filter on the list then find one which strikes your fancy.

 

[Fremen]

Zero Hero

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Spellbound

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These two programs, since you like RPG programs, could be a good alternative.
And if there is some exercise that you can't do just modify it:

Modifications / Exercise Alternatives

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You can also reduce the reps and sets, basically this way you can do anything

 

[Sólveig]

You're a TTRPG nerd? Well, so am I, so let's break this down into the two roles in TTRPGs: the Player, and the Game Master. Judging by what I've read, you're right now at session zero.

First of all, congratulations on losing 4 kg in 30 days! Any victory, no matter how small, must be celebrated. I like the fact that you did most of Baseline at LVL III, which shows that you're willing to push yourself further than your capabilities. Now, let's talk about the roles that I've mentioned before.

As the Game Master, you should give yourself opportunities and challenges, This could mean creating or removing friction from habits in the form of small changes, as @gothic141 mentioned. A trick about portion size is to use a smaller plate to serve your food. Another trick for training is to always have your training gear ready. For instance, if you train first thing in the morning, have your gear ready the night before, and put the alarm clock right where your gear is, so that when you get up to shut the alarm off, you're already at your training gear. When I say gear I mean your clothes, your shoes, your water bottle, whatever you have that involves working out. Keep your changes in the kitchen and other habits going. Also, as a Game Master, you should also break your goals into smaller chunks. Losing 4 kg in 30 days is a good start, now you start aiming to lose 4 kg in two weeks, and so on. Don't get discouraged if you don't get a goal at some point though, plateaus are normal, plus having small attainable goals can build up to the good stuff. Let's say you want to do Hero's Journey with the Heavy Sword, well, that means building up to the Heavy Swords workouts, which if I recall correctly, involve a pull-up bar. There's some tutorials here in DAREBEE, as well as some challenges that can help you build up to your first pull-up. The beauty about the programs is that you don't need to do them once and be done with it, and Hero's Journey, being an RPG program, has some points in which you can take decisions. You can always choose a different weapon first to get an idea about what the program feels like, and once you're done with it, you can restart it and try out another weapon. Of course, as of right now, Hero's Journey might be overkill, so I'd say you should start with easier programs. Zero Hero is actually a good start. You might try Age of Pandora on another time because is not just you; it is too much, and Age of Pandora is a program that it is better when it is not done one chapter a day.

Which brings me to the Player side. What we're doing here is creating your character before you go into the long campaign that is your ultimate goal, which is a healthier lifestyle, and monkey bars. Here is pretty much a matter of execution and exploration. Baseline, Square One, and the Foundations are programs meant to get started, but once you're done with them you're kind of on your own. I always recommend Athena's Playbook after because it has a bit of everything, so you can try out everything and see which one you like the most or which one gets the most of your attention, but Spellbound is also a good program that is similar in nature, plus RPG. It even includes an optional rule that incorporates a 2D6 roll! If there's something that you're not able to do, don't worry, @Fremen already linked up that exercises can be modified to make them easier. You can always build up to them. Trust me, the sense of victory that you get when you do your first Push-up will always be better than when you reach to 10 Push-ups, 20 Push-ups, 50 Push-ups, or 100 Push-ups... it's always that first Push-up that feels the best. Also, as Fremen said it, you can also reduce the repetitions and the sets. Rules in TTRPGs are meant to be bend, and sometimes, broken, and DAREBEE is no exception. I mean, I am the one who compares DAREBEE to ICRPG whenever the opportunity arises, and this is one of them.