I am an obese male with time constraints who is looking to lose weight. In the past, when working out, my routines have always taken about an hour. I know that I will not stick with a workout that long and am looking to pare down my workout to something that I can stick with.
Am I better off, using a full body workout and only doing one set of each exercise, focusing on the major muscles and doing more sets, or alternating between the two during each workout?
If I am making a mistake here, please pardon my ignorance. I am hoping to become a beginner and my only knwledge of routiones come from The Mens Health Home Workout Bible. I plan on doing a dumbell routine.
How long are you workouts gonna be? If they're longer than 12 minutes, you can definately do more than one set and hit all your major body parts!
I would absolutely recommend total body workouts, 3 days a week.
Use only compound lifts, start with maybe, 3 sets of 8. Allow 60 seconds rest between each set and each excercise.
When you work your back with compound lifts, you're also working your biceps. When you work your chest, you also work your triceps. A sample routine:
Workout 1:
A) Dumbell deadlift
B) Dumbell Bench Press
C) Dumbell Lunges
D) Dumbell Pull overs (however, if you have somewhere that you can do pullups/chinups, that would be better!)
Workout 2:
A) Dumbell Squats
B) Bent-over Dumbell Row
C) Dumbell Stiff-leg deadlift
D) Dumbell Shoulder Press
Alternate every other day between these two. That will work your whole body and should take around 25 or 30 minutes.
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Tigereye, I breezed through that page, it seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong) that the workout(s) on that page are really, really incomplete. There seems to be a lot of gapin holes and body parts that just don't receive adequate work. Am I missing something?
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In reference to the routine Shark posted. Don't be afraid to use the assisted pull up machine if you can't do pullups/chinups unassisted. That's how I started, and before long, you will be on your own.
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You're definately right! I didn't even think of that. I couldn't do pullups or chinups until i had been lifting for quite a while.
Since Raphy said he'll be doing an all dumbell routine, I'm assuming he won't have access to machines (though we all know what happens when you assume!). If you do have access to machines, Raphy, I think that's a great suggestion. Personally though, I prefer the lat pulldown machine, as I've noticed people have a tendancy to cheat on the assisted pullup machine.
If you're working out at home or where they don't have machines, try the dumbell pull overs. You lie on your back, arms straight (or just slightly bent) and straight above your head. (they should form a straight line with your body), with a dumbell in each hand. You then pull your arms over , so that you end up with your arms forming a parallel angle to your body.
you can find a video on exrx.net if you need one.
Good luck dude!
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Tigereye, I breezed through that page, it seems to me (correct me if I'm wrong) that the workout(s) on that page are really, really incomplete. There seems to be a lot of gapin holes and body parts that just don't receive adequate work. Am I missing something?
Could you be more specific? What are the gaping holes? What body parts recieve inadequate work?
Tues/Fri--Dips + chins supersetted-20min. (there are many combinations to do this way)"
In the first example, while the traps and lats are worked through cleans, its not the same as doing rows and pullups/chinups. The Press may work the tris and chest a little, but the chest receives no horizontal work.
In the second example, deadlifts are primarily glutes and hams. Dips work the triceps and chest, and chin ups work the biceps and lats (and traps). There is no direct quad work. There is no vertical pushing. There is no horizontal pulling.
While simple routines can be very effective, the ones presented here do not cover all of the basic bases.
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sharkbait,
I think people get caught up in trying to work every muscle from every angle. Your body is a unit. A clean and press works virtually every muscle in your body. Deadlifts work your entire lower body plus alot of your upper body. Alot of this worrying about including every move is an effect of the bodybuilder's mindset. My feelings about strength training are reflected in Dan John's excellent newsletter "Get Up". They are:
1.The body is one piece
2.There are three types of strength training
* Putting weight overhead
* Picking it off the ground
* Carrying it for time or distance
3.All training is complementary
"tigereye,
I tend to agree with you on this one. Hit the major muscles, use compound lifts and the body takes care of the rest."
Mahler, While I definately agree with hitting the major muscles and using compound lifts, I think that by not including an equal number of vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling excercises, you're missing something. Pullups and Rows don't work the lats and traps the same way. Deadlifts and cleans most certainly don't give the back the same quality of direct work as rows and pullups/chinups do.
While simplicity in a routine is something i always strive for, it is still important to work your muscles in the 6 major categories. While I don't think its neccessary to do 3 different types of bench press, I think its neccessary to include both a horizontal push (benching) with a vertical push (shoulder press).
Just my 2 cents. [img]smile.gif[/img]
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