Please Critique and Offer Suggestions

[Pitbull]

Listed below is my current workout. My goals are to drop body fat in search of my muscle structure. I figure by working the large muscle groups multiple times per week, that will aid my cardio in burning fat. Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Current workout:


Monday:

Chest/Back (supersets) .....
Bench Press ..... 3x10
Seated Rows......3x10

Incline Bench.....3x10
Lat Pulldown.....3x10-12

Flys..........3x10
Some sort of close grip nautilus machine where I pull the weights to my chest .....3x10

-- 30 min. HIIT


Wednesday:

Quads/Hams (supersets).....
Back Squats.....3x10
Hamstring Curls.....3x15

Lunges.....3x10

Leg Extension....3x10
Hamstring Curls.....3x10

Calf raises......3x10


- 30 min. HIIT


Friday:

Repeat Monday

[Bill Hartman]

Your basic structure is good.

A few tweaks. Don't put your energy system training on the same day as strength training.

Substitute a bend (RDL, good morning, hyperextension, reverse hyper, etc.) for one of your hamstring curls. It trains the hip related function of the hammies.

The real key to your "fat burning" will be your eating plan. Get that right and you can screw up your workouts quite a bit [img]smile.gif[/img] and still drop fat.

Keep tabs on fatigue levels after each workout and the end of the week. You may need to alter frequency if it becomes mentally or physically taxing. You mental status, perceived effort, weight records, etc. will tell you a lot in that regard.

Manage fatigue, don't seek it.

Bill

[Pitbull]

Thanks for the advice Bill. I appreciate your knowledge. I'm not familiar with some of the excercises you mentioned like, good mornings, hyperextension, or reverse hyper. Also, what is energy system training?

As far as my eating goes. I'm eating a lot of salads for lunch and trying to eat pretty balanced overall. I usually make sure that there is some chicken or some protein source on the salad though. I just ordered some Myoplex shakes that have good levels of protein and carbs in them. My main goal is to eat balanced and not get sucked into fad diets.

[Bill Hartman]

You should be able to search the net for exercise descriptions. Try www.exrx.net or search on this forum for some links to video exercise demos.

Energy system training would include your HIIT sessions. Think non-strength training exercise.

Key ingredients in your eating program:

1. Adequate calories
2. Adequate frequency
3. Adequate protein
4. Adequate health fats
5. Eat real food
6. Eat enough carbs to restore energy after workouts.

Bill

[Pitbull]

So you're saying don't cardio on the same days that I do weight training basically? Okay. So if I'm looking for optimal fat loss should I do more weight training or more cardio?

I've always heard that it's best to eat 5 to 6 small meals a day for optimal metabolizm but its very difficult to fix all those meals. Any meal suggestions. What constitutes a meal?

[joshman]

One tip: Fix one big meal (600-700 cals) and then split it into two smaller meals.

I eat:
8:00am - one cup of scrambled eggs + apple
10:00am - one cup of scrambled eggs + fruit
12:30pm - half of: burrito with two chicken breasts, lots of veggies)
3:00pm - the other half of the burrito.
5:30pm - pre workout shake
7:30pm - post workout shake
9:00pm - a 400 calories dinner with lean meat.

[Pitbull]

Joshman, does that eating plan seem to be working for you? Have you noticed the weight coming off or staying off with that plan?

[gregl515]

The leg extensions really will not do much for you. If you are trying to rev up your calorie burning how about some step ups on leg day? You might also want to try emphasizing leg day over upper body day while you are trying to burn calories. In other words, two leg days to each upper body day.

[Pitbull]

That sounds about right to me. Seeing as how it's larger muscle group, it'd burn more calories right.