My body is terrible, and I wanna dance!

[marona]

Unfortunately I have spent the last 11 years of my 19 years at the computer. My body and physics are so lowsy as can be, and I eat terribly unhealthy. (Okay overestimation, I don't care much for what I eat, but maybe it's more so-so. It's rare that I drink coke and eat McDonalds, but I'm eating a lot of white bread, (1 in the morning, 1 for lunch - sometimes skipping lunch altogether) and instead I am drinking cocoa. I can barely do a handstand, and just running 100 metres makes my heart pound harder and have me stumble on my words. Yes it's that bad. Appearance-wise I am pretty happy with my body though, and one of my fears in building muscles is that it will make my stomach more abs-ish, and I wouldn't really like that. I want it to look skinny and healthy (and surprisingly enough, it does look so most of the time, especially when I skip lunch) without having too visible muscles.

 

In my gym classes at school we had several tests, and I did my very best in most of these tests, and still I was far under the scale of how bad one's condition could possibly be. I couldn't really find any motivation to start practising anything, but I have finally found it... However not only am I at ground 0.

 

I went to my first dancing lesson and I had slept like 16 hours of that day and almost not eaten anything (and definetely not anything healthy) I had to stop a short while before the others, take a lot more breaks and all that it was embarrasing (though my teacher was really nice and uplifting). My body has since that day (friday last week) been sore til now, that's 4 DAYS, like all my arm muscles felt painful to just stretch out the tinyest bit (it has finally worn off mostly, I can still feel it has been there, but it doesn't hurt. I think it's what's called "DOMS" not sure though) not only that - during the program I felt like I was almost about to BLACK OUT! Like everything became flickering, and my breath was the only thing I could hear.

 

I decided not to give up and have signed up for some "stretching" classes that should provide more flexibility to once body and help me becoming a better dancer. This is for now a waiting game until they have space for me, and even if they do I am slightly scared that I'll never be able to keep up... I've looked on youtube for some home excersises. My problem for now is that I have no clue whatsoever how to get started correctly. I've been so afraid of practising anything, I remember when I was 9 I was really good at doing the splits - until someone told me if I kept on doing it without an instructor - and somehow unfortunately would do it incorrectly - I could get some very painful muscle ruptures. Looking through the internet and youtube videos for guides, mostly everyone wrote that doing exercises incorrectly could lead me to have major pains in whatever part I'm trying to excersise. My pain threshold isn't anything to brag about either. Basically I suck in every single physical category you could ever think of...

 

This "training" thing is a whole new world to me, and I'm scared as I have no clue what to do to improve my body the correct way. Would buying protein bars help at all? Also I've considered joining the Fitness classes as well which focuses on physical strength - but I'm so scared that I am setting myself up for failure whatever I try to put myself into.

 

So I'm literally in the worst physical shape you could possibly think of.

I am scared of home-practise as I have none who can check if my positions are correct and I won't "break" any parts of my body...

I am not sure if I should have chosen physical strength before the flexibility training or not...

Can I ever train myself up to a decent shape so I can start the actual dancing program, and (as I expect this is possible) how can I gain results the most healthy, best, and most efficient way? Will I have to change my diet, or will persistent training be enough?

I'm sorry I know I must sound horribly stupid... I hope someone can shed light on these topics for me anyway...

[GinNJuice]

Stick with it. Once you're in an exercise routine that soreness will only last a day or so, if that. If you suck physically, as bad as you say you do, then you will probably see some pretty sharp improvements, fairly quickly. Don't worry about looking stupid or taking extra breaks. Most people will probably be supportive of you for wanting to improve. Make sure to push yourself, but not too hard, you don't want to get injured.

[Kendahke]

Get on youtube and look for and watch a video called "Wheat Belly".

 

Also, look up videos by Dr. Eric Berg.

 

That bread has about as much sugar in it as table sugar. It's crazy. Anything made with flour (white, wheat, etc.) should be avoided. No bread, no pasta.

 

Most people are duped into believing it's a calorie/fat issue when it's not: it's a sugar issue. Sugar is the enemy--because it forces the body to burn sugar instead of fat. Any amount of sugar consumed puts the body out of fat burning for 3 days. Sugar consumption stresses out the pancreas, causing it to produce more insulin to combat the sugar--and that's the cycle being set up for type 2 diabetes.

 

Stretching is a very good idea.

 

The best exercise for anyone to do who is in lousy shape is 40 minutes of walking 3-5 times/week. It will help to get your endurance up, help you to sleep better at night (it's during the deep delta wave sleep that the growth hormone is released which handles fat burning) and you can already do that. Eventually, you will work up the stamina to be able to do the dancing--which is a great way of getting in shape.

 

Everyone who is in great shape started out in not so great shape at one point in time. At least you're aware and you're doing something about it, which puts you ahead of the curve.

[DancingFool]

As already mentioned, start walking daily. It will help with getting fit faster and will help ease away the soreness. Beyond that, it's all about perseverance. Yes, if you are not fit, you will be sore and then it will go away and next time things will be just a little bit easier and so on. You just have to keep going.

 

As for not eating, that will cause you big problems. You need to start caring about what you eat and train your body to eat regular meals throughout the day. If you don't eat all day or just eat some junk and then go work out, your body has no fuel to work with. So not surprising that you are feeling like you might black out. Same goes for how long it takes you to recover. It's not about just eating, but about nutrition. What most people don't understand is that someone who is overweight can also be horribly malnourished. Four days to recover would indicate not just that you are out of shape, but that you have no real nutrition in your meals. You might not want to work out the wrong way, but there is nothing stopping you from learning how to cook quick, healthy meals with fresh ingredients that give you the nutrition you need. Also, please do yourself a huge favor and stay away from processed food, energy drinks, etc. They are a lot like eating chaff - it will fill you up, but your body is actually starving.