OK, I know the title sucks, but I couldn't think of anything else. Also, I apologize for the length and any stupid questions. I have been searching and reading in the forum a lot lately and decided it was time to post
Let me start off with some background on me and then my goals. History
I am 26 and got back into lifting about a month ago. I decided that the new year was too far away to wait for, so I started early. I have lifted off and on since I was about 19. This last break has been about 2 years (since I got married). Since them, I have climbed the scale up to 260 (well 259 when I started on 12/13/06). This was the breaking point. I almost weigh as much as my father (who is a VERY large man) and I have always said that I would not be that way, especially now that I am a father myself.
There is a difference between my father and I, though. He is very obviously obese. I, on the other hand, am usually only that way with my shirt off, i.e., I tell people my weight and they are in shock ( I carry it well, or so I am told ). If I can, I will try to post some pics. I still want to change my overall weight and fitness level though. So to make sure I did things right, I hired a trainer and worked with him for about a month (all I could afford, diapers are expensive). I have improved my form and am actually using, somewhat, the mind-muscle connection that I never even really used before. My ego took a hit, as I learned humility using lower weights, but I know I am doing them correctly and getting the most out of the exercises.
Goals OK, here are my current goals. By July 1st, I would like to be down to 230 (what I weighed when I graduated college). Also, it's not necessary, but I would like some definition and even, possibly, some muscle gains. My goal for a year from now is to be down to 215 and around 10-12% BF. The actual number is not necessarily set in stone. If I lose the weight (fat) but gain it back in muscle, that is fine by me, as long as I am healthier and have a lower bf%.
Current Stats Age: 26 Weight (as of this morning): 257
Height: 6'0" BF %: 25 ( according to the body fat handheld device my trainer had)
Currently, I am lifting on MWF and doing cardio on T,Th,Sa, sometimes Su.
My cardio consists of 60 minutes "brisk" walk on the treadmill.
My lifting routine is as follows (all are 3 sets for 15,12,8-10):
M - Back/Biceps
Back
Bent Barbell Row
One Arm Dumbell Row
Good Mornings Biceps Barbell Curl
Incline Dumbell Curl or Standing Dumbell Curl
Preacher's Curl
W - Legs
Squats
Leg Press
Hack Squat
Dumbell Lunges
Leg Curl
Seated Calf Raises
F - Chest/Shoulders Chest
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Decline Bench Press Shoulders
Barbell Shoulder Press/Standing DB Shoulder Press
Seated Shoulder Press
Arnold Press/Dumbell Lateral Raise
The trainer that set me up with this is a professional bodybuilder, so I would like to believe he knows what he is doing. How does this look to you guys? Is it in line with my current goals (fat loss)?
In just 1 month on this program, I have only lost 2 lbs, according to the scale at my gym. This is a little disconerting to me, as I have cleaned up my diet (to the annoyance of my wife, eating healthy is expensive). I know some of it may be water weight, but every other time I went back to the gym after time off, I lost at least 5-10 lbs in the first month.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could be doing better or am doing wrong? As I said earlier, the numbers don't matter as much as how I feel and look. While I do have more energy, I do not think I look much different than I did a month ago. I realize and appreciate that it takes time and dedication, but shouldn't I have seen more of an impact, even just from changing from a fast food diet to a clean(relatively) diet? Any help would this would be appreciated.
For fat loss you are best off using the most muscle mass possible every workout, which means full body. My recommendation is something that uses alternating sets or supersets and full body workouts with alot of big movements. You would do well looking into the Book New Rules Of Lifting, because the fat loss phases should be exactly what you are looking for.
Totally agree that NROL is the right choice and a much better lifting program than the bodypart split that you're currently doing.
Your nutrition plan will make the biggest difference in how much fat weight you lose. Take a look at Adam's Diet from the nutrition section and start reading up on John Berardi's Precision Nutrition. Those will get you on the right track. If you are not familiar with Berardi, read some of the articles on his website and consider buying The Metabolism Advantage. That book is inexpensive, as is NROL, and will give you a great overview of his nutrition concepts.
1. Get your nutrition in order (sounds like you have made good efforts here)
2. Resistance training should be geared toward as much metabolic disturbance as possible; generally think fully body, compound exercises and lots of work.
3. Drop traditional steady state aerobic sessions and move to shorter, interval training sessions 2-3 times a week (20mins each session should suffice)
4. Be consistent 90 percent of the time.
Lisa is bang on with her recommendations. Take a look a Mahler's log for an indepth look a the NROL fat loss program.
How do you walk to your car on Wednesday? Lisa and umass are right on, full body is the way to go.
Very slowly...Legs, for some odd reason, are my extremely strong point. After my sets of squats, I start out on the leg press at 180 currently, but I can do 15 reps on each 180 and 270 and then about 10-12 reps at 360. This has always been the case, my legs take no time at all to get back into it. Good thing I don't drive stick...
What the others have said. I would go with Metabolism Advantage first, since it has more nutrition advice and follow that with New Rules of Lifting. You can probably pick up both for under $40.
__________________
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."
I have legs tomorrow. Do you think I could drop the lunges off of there and still have a decent workout? I would imagine so, considering what I am doing currently. By the time I get to lunges, my legs are rubber. Would I lose much by getting rid of them, at least until I settle on a possible new program? Or should I keep with what the trainer has me doing? Let me know your thoughts, thanks.
I have legs tomorrow. Do you think I could drop the lunges off of there and still have a decent workout? I would imagine so, considering what I am doing currently. By the time I get to lunges, my legs are rubber. Would I lose much by getting rid of them, at least until I settle on a possible new program? Or should I keep with what the trainer has me doing? Let me know your thoughts, thanks.
No offense to the trainer, they could be a very knowledgable bodybuilder, but if you have the time head to Barnes and Noble and pick up New Rules, because that program is not good. That said I'd drop the leg press and keep lunges.
Or Do this for tomorrow and then pick a routine
A:1 Squat 3*8
A:2 Standing Dumbell Shoulder Press 3*8
B:1 Romainian Deadlift 3*8
B:2 2 point dumbbell Row3*8
C:1 Push Up 2*15
C:2 Walking Lunges 2*12
Superset same letters, and then rest 60-90 seconds and repeat.
I just pulled this out of my ass, and it's not a complete program, but it'll work until you find something.
The trainer that set me up with this is a professional bodybuilder, so I would like to believe he knows what he is doing.
As far as gaining mass with the use of anabolics, I'm sure he does, but it doesn't sound like he knows much else. That program for someone with your goals is crap, no offense. Heed everyone's advice they've given you.
And for god's sake, stop doing leg presses!
__________________
I do not workout. I TRAIN.
I do not eat. I FEED.
I do not sleep. I RECHARGE.
My greatest fear in this life is the fear of being ordinary.
too many isolated exercises....most likely your rest periods and pace can also be pushed harder as well. Diet will account for about 80% of this equation (fat loss).
__________________
Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS,
HCC (Hartman-Cosgrove Certified)
Director of Speed, Strength & Conditioning
College of the Canyons, CA http://www.canyons.edu/departments/pe/strength
"NO CHAMPION HAS EVER ACHIEVED HIS OR HER GOAL WITHOUT SHOWING MORE DEDICATION THAN THE NEXT PERSON; MAKING MORE SACRIFICES THAN THE NEXT PERSON; WORKING HARDER, TRAINING, AND CONDITIONING HIM / HERSELF MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON; ENJOYING HIS / HER FINAL GOAL MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON"
4. Leg press. The leg press is used to target the quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus maximus. The potential danger in this exercise is seen when you, in an attempt to get a greater range of motion, bring the knees in close to the chest on the lowering phase. This, in turn, rounds the lumbar spine and because of the heavy weights typically used, the pressure acting on the spinal discs increases greatly. The high compression forces can cause disc rupture or other low back injury.
The problem is compounded greatly the more the spine in the lumbar area flexes, i.e., the closer the knees come to the chest. In this knee-to-chest position the compression forces act on only a very small portion of the discs instead of the entire disc as when the spine is kept neutral.
To ensure safety in this exercise, it is important that the thighs be brought back only until there is approximately a right angle in the knee joint. The closer the knees get to the chest, the smaller the knee angle and the greater the stress in both the knees and lower back.
W - Legs
Squats
Leg Press
Hack Squat
Dumbell Lunges
Leg Curl
Seated Calf Raises
For tomorrow, I'd suggest that you drop the leg press, and maybe even the calf raises (they're just redundant), and do the rest. Take a look at the logs of people doing the NROL workouts. Read through the NROL forum a bit. Go by a bookstore and take a look at the book and see what you think. If you decide to buy it, you'll be on your way to faster progress.
Welcome aboard! I would like to second some of the fine recommendations, here.
1. have a look at new rules of lifting (there is a sub forum for it as well)
2. be careful with the leg presses. (I would go as far to say as LOSE the leg presses)
3. YOu do a lot of isolation execises whicah are "old school bodybuilding", try and concentrate on FULL body or multijoint exerciose where you get more "bang for your buck" This is even more applicable to fat loss.
4. Buy New Rules of lifting... or did I say that already
Anyway, good luck and welcome to the boards
__________________
Peter
After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend…
No one has suggested this yet but if you like this trainer, print out this thread and show it to him. He may be capable of designing a better routine for you if you give him a chance.
In any case the books suggested would be worthwhile reading just for your own education, even if you don't follow the programs in them.
I would just like to say Thanks for all the good information so far and not treating me disrespectfully, as has happened on other message boards. Thanks for making me feel welcome here, I appreciate it.
I will look for those books today and see if I can get them at my local bookstore during lunch. For today, I dropped the leg press out of my leg day but did everything else. Walking feels a little easier today and I did slightly better with my lunges. I think my squat form may have been off some, as my lower back hurt until I did the leg curls, where I got to lay down. After the first set of them, my lower back felt fine.
For anyone who cares, here is what I did:
Squats - 100/15 110/15 120/12
Hack Squat - 90/12 70/12 50/10
Lunges - 10/12 10/12 10/10
Leg Curls - 40/12 40/10 40/8
Calf Raises - 110/15 120/12 125/12
I did pause towards the end of each set of Hack Squats to rest for about 3-5 seconds before getting the last two.
Also, on a side note, I weighed in again at 257 and did the body fat device that my gym has (I have calipers, but have not researched how to use them yet). I had 3 seperate readings and they were all different by almost 1%. This didn't give me much faith in that reading. He also said that 2lbs in a month is good and that maybe I could get up to 3 lbs. Now, I know the optimal is 1-2lbs a week, meaning 4-8lbs a month. I am nowhere near that, so, while I appreciate how he helped me focus on the mind-muscle connection and form, I don't think he kept in line w/ my goals for fat loss very well, either that, or he is not too sure about fat loss, except as it deals w/ competition maybe. There are 2 other guys that lift at the same time as me that are former clients of his and they don't look like they have made much progress in the fat loss department either. Oh well, live and learn I guess...
Weight/fat loss is going to be more contingent on your diet than your weight training. The weight training will help to preserve your muscle mass when you're in a caloric deficit. You haven't really given much details about what you have been eating. Do you keep a food log? Many use Fitday to track their diets. It can open your eyes as to what is really going down the pie-hole.
__________________
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."
You got some great advice up there. If you're serious about taking off the weight, you should follow it.
* Forget the steady state cardio and do intervals.
* Drop the split routines and go with total body workouts.
* Get rid of the isolation movements - leg and bicep curls, calf raises, etc.
* Concentrate on exercises where a machine is not supporting you.
* Nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.
You may be thinking that you'll lose even less weight if you reduce your lifting volume and cardio time but you'd be wrong. As mentioned earlier, definitely check out New Rules Of Lifting by Schuler and Cosgrove, and/or Turbulene Training by Craig Balantyne. One that I haven't seen mentioned above is Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn, which is another good choice. Any of those programs, if followed correctly, will kick your butt and get you results.
OK, below I will outline my nutrition for most days. I am definitely eating SOO much better than before and even better than when I used to lift before. Please let me know if I am on the right track still. Thanks
Lunch (meal 3) 1:00 PM
- salad w/ chicken & fat free dressing of some sort or chicken + some sort of veggie
- always fruit here, usually clementine orange
Meal 4 3:30 PM
- varies right now, usually veggies of some sort or protein bar
Dinner (meal 5) 5:30 PM
- Big differences here - either whatever my wife makes for dinner, usually chicken or beef based or salad from WaWa ( I am in school for my MBA, I have class every T and Th night ) + apple slices w/ PB
Meal 6 9:30 PM
- 2 Scoops of UltraPeptide w/ 16 oz milk
I get about 6.5 - 7 hours of sleep. It is not possible each night to get 8 hours, based on the time I have to workout during, unfortunately. However, I seem to work better with about 7 hours of sleep. Anytime I sleep more than 8 hours, I am groggy all day long.
If you want to stick with your trainer and meet your goals make sure that he knows what your goals are. If he is a decent trainer he should be able to assist you in setting up a program to meet your goals or assist you in using one of the programs suggested here to maximize your efforts in reaching them.
__________________ -50# by 4/1/10 2 down 48 to go.
I apologize if I did not make this clearer, I do not work with the trainer anymore. I bought a 10-pack of sessions with him. I cannot afford to purchase anymore. But since I lift at the Y, he is there everyday that I am and at the same time, so I do see him and talk to him every now and then.
I am no expert, but am someone who recently went from 213 with a prominent belly to 185 and a flat stomach doing a full body lifting routine with some cardio on the side (and a homemade, very simple program at that, not as good as the pre-made routines you are directed to above) I can provide some "anecdotal" support for the foregoing advice. Ditch the isolation exercises and the excessive number of exercises and try a full body workout. If you do that you cannot help but lose weight, as long as your diet is in check. My diet was (and is) not that "clean" but I still got results.
1. Buy either New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove or Muscle Revolution by Chad Waterbury. (I have them both and they are the cornerstone of my training now)
2. Read the material.
3. Realize that most trainers at the local gym dont know shit about what really works for a guy with a job, family, kids etc etc etc.
4. Listen to the advice from the great people on this forum who know what makes a life long lifter healthy.
5. Keep asking questions.
__________________
Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.
Weight lifting for fat loss...
I would just like to say Thanks for all the good information so far and not treating me disrespectfully, as has happened on other message boards. Thanks for making me feel welcome here, I appreciate it.
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