Recently vowed to get in better shape, any tips?

[Chicostick]

So a couple weeks ago I decided to stop being lazy and start exercising and watching what I eat. I had realized my diet contained a little to much food, and way to much ice cream

So this is a rough outline of what I've been doing, I was wondering if there is anything I could do different. Right now my main goal is to lose my body fat, while I have been strength training to build muscle I am not all that focused on bulking up. I just want to lose the man boobs that have been plaguing me for years. I figure the strength training will help increase my metabolism to make losing that fat a little easier.

Typically I work out at least an hour a day. For my warm up I have the either walk or light jog to the fitness center on campus, which is about a 15 minute walk at a fast pace. Then I start off with some stretching and a half-mile jog around the track for a warm up (October is cold in Maine ). Then I move into my weight/strength stuff.

Mondays and Thursdays I do Back and Biceps. I do standing curls, delt raises, preacher curls, lat-pull down and some seated rows on the machines they have. I also do Hyperextensions and some dead-lifts.

Tuesdays and Fridays I work on Chest, abs, and triceps. I do a free-weight bench, skullcrushers, close grip bench, an upright bench machine, crunches, an ab machine, and flys.

In addition, after I get done the strength stuff I do around minutes of cardio. This is either some cycling, rowing machine, or jogging. My jogging is pretty poor, my endurance is getting steadily better but maintaining a consistent jog for a long period of time is still a little out of my reach. My asthma doesn't really agree with it much either

Unfortunately my eating habits still are a little shaky. My schedule makes eating at consistent times rough. I'm thinking about moving into an eat every 3 hours schedule, but I'm not sure how feasible this is, as half of the time I'd be sitting in class and I have hardly any breaks between classes a lot of the time. That, and our meal plans are based on "meals" and not funds, and mine is really only designed around 2 meals a day from the campus areas. And I can't take food out of most of the dining areas, as it's considered "stealing." Plus, I'm not really sure what I should eat, and how much.

Any tips would be appreciated. I know my outline is a little rough, but I figured I'd have a few things I could do differently. So far what I'm doing has seemed to be working, I've already shed a few pounds of fat and gained some muscle in the process, but I was just seeing if I could optimize my routine to lose this gut as fast as possible

[Nath]

Congratulations on getting started! That's the tricky part.

Your program has some good exercises, and some things that might need further thought:

• You've got a lot of redundant exercises in there. There's no need to do multiple exercises targeting the same group on one day. Just do 3-5 short sets of one exercise. Variety is sometimes nice, but if you've got enough energy to do two similar exercises within one workout, you should probably be lifting more weight.
• Why no leg work (apart from the deadlifts)? For strength training (or muscle building, for that matter), legs are far more important than biceps etc. Besides, compound leg exercises tend to work the whole body.
• Speaking of which, why all that arm work? There are two reasons I can think of to isolate your arms: (a) they are the limiting factors in your other lifts, (b) cosmetic reasons. Do either of these apply? If not, your arms probably get enough work from your other exercises.

Other exercises you could consider: squats, chin-ups, dips (no need if you're benching), overhead press (extra important if you're benching), reverse crunches.

As for food: I don't think it's disastrous if you can only eat two sit-down meals a day. Keep some breakfast food handy, and some nuts and fruit to snack on between meals. Protein is good; sugary crap is not. That's probably enough to start with; you can continue to improve your diet once you have made these adjustments.

[Chicostick]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll definitely have to try adding more weight and doing less variety. And I've been trying to work more leg stuff in, it shouldn't take to much effort to add some leg stuff once I get rid of the redundant exercises.

I'm not sure why I have so much arm work in there, it's not really for cosmetic reasons. I think it just seems like I do a lot from the list, when it's really a smaller part of my work out?

[Victoria Maddison]

Typically I work out at least an hour a day

This seems excessive, why no rest days?

I figure the strength training will help increase my metabolism to make losing that fat a little easier.

It's mostly heavy compound exercises that target large slabs of muscle mass such as the squat, deadlift, clean, snatch, etc. that have this effect.

[A]fter I get done [with] the strength stuff I do around [x?] minutes of cardio. This is either some cycling, rowing machine, or jogging. My jogging is pretty poor, my endurance is getting steadily better but maintaining a consistent jog for a long period of time is still a little out of my reach. My asthma doesn't really agree with it much either

If you're game you could set the rower for Tabata intervals (8 x 20 seconds max effort work 10 seconds rest) which would greatly increase your metabolism, aerobic and anaerobic capacity. But I don't know how your asthma would handle it, and it would take a toll on your recovery between workouts.

I'm not really sure what I should eat, and how much

Meat, vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar. Eat as much as you need to maintain your body weight minus 500 kcal/day or so for 1 lb/week weight loss.

Any tips would be appreciated

I'd get rid of these:

1. Standing curls
2. Delt raises
3. Preacher curls
4. Seated rows
5. Hyperextensions
6. Skullcrushers
7. Close grip bench
8. Upright bench machine
9. Ab machine
10. Flys

And add stick with these:

1. Squat
2. Bench press
3. Deadlift
4. Power clean
5. Press
6. Chin-ups / Pull-ups / Lat pull downs

If you're going to lift 4 days a week I recommend an upper body/lower body split with a core of squat, bench press and deadlift. Although you'd get more work done if you trained your whole body 3x a week instead.

If I were you I'd do something like this:
Monday ....... Weight lifting, cardio/metcon
Tuesday ...... Rest
Wednesday .. Weight lifting, cardio/metcon
Thursday ..... Rest
Friday ......... Weight lifting, cardio/metcon
Saturday ...... Rest
Sunday ........ Rest

[caje]

I'd get rid of these:

1. Standing curls
2. Delt raises
3. Preacher curls
4. Seated rows
5. Hyperextensions
6. Skullcrushers
7. Close grip bench
8. Upright bench machine
9. Ab machine
10. Flys

And add stick with these:

1. Squat
2. Bench press
3. Deadlift
4. Power clean
5. Press
6. Chin-ups / Pull-ups / Lat pull downs

This times a million. Plus do Dips and maybe some snatches.

VERY IMPORTANT: find someone to show you the correct technique.

Your Daily split is really up to you and how fast your body can repair.

If you want to work out 5 days a week you could split it
Deadlift
Military Press
Squat
Dips/bench press
Clean/Snatch

EDIT: Forgot about food

Things to aim for: Try to eat things that can be separated on a macro level (You could pull the ingredients apart by hand), this doesn't include seasonings. This will mean a lot of meat, nuts, seeds, beans, fruit, veggies, eggs and yogurt (find ones with very few ingredients).

Things to avoid like the plague carried by someone with swine-flu : processed sugars, things made primary out of gelatin, chips baked carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, etc.) While these aren't particularly heinous people tend to WAY over-eat them.

[Chicostick]

Well I've taken the advice as best as possible with what I have, and I have to say I've definitely been having some results.

I decided to go with a three day a week schedule, I recently started a new job that limits my time, so this actually worked out pretty well. I've been doing mostly the exercises you guys recommended, with a few supplementary ones thrown in occasionally if I have the energy/time.

My deadlift has been getting better, at first my form was pretty shaky, but I've managed to get it down after doing it for awhile. I still don't like them all that much, but mostly because it's a pain to actually get access to the one area in the gym where I can do them If It's ever just to busy, I try and work the same muscles but individually on the machines. It's not the same but it's the best I can do.

Squats are easier, as on the bar I use it has a stop you can set (it's one of those fixed position doohickys), so I can make sure I don't go past 90 degrees, and I don't have to worry about getting into a bad position. But again just getting access to the damn thing can be a pain, depending on the time of day.

Another thing I've been trying out is a "pyramid" sort of weight system, where I start out with a lower weight and high reps, then over the course of the workout increase the weight and lower the reps, so during the last set I'm doing more than I would normally do or even be setting a new personal best. So far I've noticed a great increase in my strength using this method, in only a few weeks I've moved up ten or twenty pounds on most of my exercises. I know that down the road this will be less effective, but for now I'm getting decent enough results to make me want to stick with it.

I've also been doing some of the Tabata intervals on the rowing machine on days when my breathing is clearer. I've noticed a good increase in my stamina, the other day I jogged the entire distance to the rec center at a quick pace, and when I got there still had enough energy to do another half mile on the track. Really at this point the only thing that holds me back that much is my ability to breathe, even if I run for a mile or two I'm not physically tired, I just can't get the breath I need. It's not that I'm out of breath from the exertion either, it's more like my chest tightens right up, which is a real pain in the butt when I'm trying to get some cardio in.

Food wise I haven't really changed a super lot. I have been trying to get more protein in my diet, as I didn't have that much before hand. Mostly I've been having things like beans, tofu or hummus, and I snack on sunflower seeds if I get hungry (but not to much). I've also almost cut junk food out altogether. I still have dessert maybe once a week, but instead of the large amounts I used to have it's more along the lines of a single cookie or a piece of chocolate, or a chocolate milk.

I've lost around 15 pounds and gained some muscle. My man-boobs are slowly turning into pectorals for once. And where before I struggled to get off more than ten push-ups without a lot of effort, I can now do twenty while hardly exerting myself.

Thanks for all the advice! While I haven't been able to follow all the suggestions, what I have done is working well.

[Victoria Maddison]

If It's ever just to busy, I try and work the same muscles but individually on the machines. It's not the same but it's the best I can do.

There is no machine substitute for the deadlift, you're wasting your time.

Squats are easier, as on the bar I use it has a stop you can set (it's one of those fixed position doohickys), so I can make sure I don't go past 90 degrees, and I don't have to worry about getting into a bad position.

I don't understand, does this mean you're doing smith machine squats? Because those aren't real squats.

Another thing I've been trying out is a "pyramid" sort of weight system, where I start out with a lower weight and high reps, then over the course of the workout increase the weight and lower the reps, so during the last set I'm doing more than I would normally do or even be setting a new personal best. So far I've noticed a great increase in my strength using this method, in only a few weeks I've moved up ten or twenty pounds on most of my exercises. I know that down the road this will be less effective, but for now I'm getting decent enough results to make me want to stick with it.

It's less effective right now. Do the math, you could be squatting heavy 3x a week, adding 5 lbs/workout, in a few weeks (I assume you mean 2-3) that would be an increase of 30-45 lbs, which is 50% to 350% faster strength increases than you're getting with pyramiding...

[Nath]

If It's ever just to busy, I try and work the same muscles but individually on the machines. It's not the same but it's the best I can do.

Out of curiosity, what exercises do you do on machines? I can't think of any machine exercise that approximates a deadlift.

[Chicostick]

Well I solved the deadlift problem, I found that if I go late enough at night there's hardly anyone there so I can snag a spot to do them. I thought doing some crappy machine that worked lower back and some leg press machine could be a temporary substitute if I couldn't do them. Sort of instead of all at once, each at a different time. You don't have to tell me they're inferior, trust me, I already know

As for the squats, I think "machine" was definitely the wrong word. It's more of a large squat rack type dealy, and I set the bars in the right location so I won't go to low. Plus there's a mirror, so I don't have problems. Not sure why I called it machine.... I think I wrote that post at like 2 am while stalling for an essay

It's less effective right now. Do the math, you could be squatting heavy 3x a week, adding 5 lbs/workout, in a few weeks (I assume you mean 2-3) that would be an increase of 30-45 lbs, which is 50% to 350% faster strength increases than you're getting with pyramiding...

As for this, each time I do a workout I add progressively more weight at the end of the cycle. I could be doing more high intensity stuff and really push maxes every time I work out, but I honestly am not worried about increasing strength super quickly. Mass/strength building was never my initial goal, I just wanted to lose some weight while gaining a bit of strength. If I wanted strictly mass or strength building, I'd cut out the cardio work as that would just interfere with it. The "pyramiding" is definitely not the fastest way to gain strength, but it works well enough and I like it enough to keep on going with that. If at some point strength gain becomes a priority I'll switch to a more high intensity workout with heavy lifts more often. Sure I could be doing better, but at this point I'm happy with what I'm doing so I don't really care.

[Victoria Maddison]

As for the squats, I think "machine" was definitely the wrong word. It's more of a large squat rack type dealy, and I set the bars in the right location so I won't go to low. Plus there's a mirror, so I don't have problems.

I assume you mean a power rack, that's good. Although you shouldn't be squatting in front of a mirror, it'll mess up your form and give a false perception of depth. It was the "not going past 90 degrees" bit of your last post that confused me because I'm not sure what 90 degrees has to do with squatting.

The "pyramiding" is definitely not the fastest way to gain strength, but it works well enough and I like it enough to keep on going with that. If at some point strength gain becomes a priority I'll switch to a more high intensity workout with heavy lifts more often. Sure I could be doing better, but at this point I'm happy with what I'm doing so I don't really care.

Do as you please, but the benefits of pushing your squat and deadlift up extend beyond strength and mass.

[poohat]

Going too low on squats isnt a problem, the problem is not going low enough. As long as youre going past parallel youre fine, its not like going down as far as possible is bad for you.

Does the squat rack youre talking about have a detachable bar? (ie a bar which isnt attached to anything, that you could take out the machine and carry somewhere else if you wanted to). If not, then its a smith machine.

[Chicostick]

Yeah it's not a smith machine, it's a rack. I figured out that if you go late enough at night on certain days there will usually be a rack open, so I've just adjusted my schedule a bit.