Training Regime

jojo75

Ok so I have started training with a view to loosing about 1½ – 2 stone. I am a 5ft 9½ inch male and 14 stone. Here is a copy of my schedule that I have been doing for the past 2 weeks.



Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday – cardio

• 5 mins rowing machine warm-up
• 15 mins stretching and core
• 20 mins treadmill
• 15 mins bike
• 20 mins abs and few free weights
• 10 mins cross trainer
• 5 mins stretching

Monday, Wednesday, Friday – Weights



I usually do 1 set of each exercise and each set consists of 15, 12, & 10 repetitions. Usually about 30 seconds between each reps and 1 – 1½ minutes between each exercise.

• Leg extension
• Leg curl
• Squats with barbell on shoulder
• Shoulder press
• Peck machine
• Lat pull down
• Ab crunch with swiss ball
• Ab crunch with machine
• Side bends
• Bench press
• Free weights

Has anyone any recommendation or tips on what I should be doing or am I doing the correct exercises? My diet is ok, I think!

• Breakfast – tea with brown bread, orange juice,
• Snack – tea at 11 am
• Lunch – either dinner of chicken/salmon/lasagne/whatever is on menu with potato and veg. Some days I just have soup and chicken Panini.
• Evening tea 9pm – usually a sandwich with cheese, coleslaw, ham, brown bread, etc.

I usually go the gym straight after work because I find if I go home first I get lazy and then don’t bother going at all; hence I don’t eat from dinner to 9pm. Im gonna put this in the training logs also.
Any help greatly appreciated

qt9ukbg60ivjrn

fair playing for setting a goal, and what you've set yourself in terms of work to do (and time dedicated) is impressive, its seems you've thought this out considerably

i don't know alot but i'm just wondering are the cardio days appropriate for your goals, you might be reaching a high intensity level but it might not be maintained for long enough with the constant changing in excercises, but as i said i'm not that knowledgable

i've read loads of stuff on this board and there are really helpful people and information so you won't be wanting for lack of advice

jojo75

Jairo Old-fashioned Granola wrote: »

fair playing for setting a goal, and what you've set yourself in terms of work to do (and time dedicated) is impressive, its seems you've thought this out considerably

i don't know alot but i'm just wondering are the cardio days appropriate for your goals, you might be reaching a high intensity level but it might not be maintained for long enough with the constant changing in excercises, but as i said i'm not that knowledgable

i've read loads of stuff on this board and there are really helpful people and information so you won't be wanting for lack of advice

Fair point mate and thanks. I felt it would be easier to start a training regime before christmas and keep to it during the holidays because its twice as hard to start after the turkey is eaten!

The reason I have chosen to do different cardio exercises is because I find I get bored running on the treadmill all the time. I am really training for football which would require different levels if intensity and different types of cardio. Gradually in a few weeks I will build it up and hopefully add 5 - 10 minutes to the exercises.

Anyone else any advice??

vibes23

I wouldnt eat a cheese and coleslaw sambo goin to bed.

Try cut out the eating no later then 8:30, for evening snack try a 3 egg omelette using only 1 yoke. with bit of ham.

your training looks good, on weight days try finish with a good 30mins of cardio after the weights.

jojo75

vibes23 wrote: »

I wouldnt eat a cheese and coleslaw sambo goin to bed.

Try cut out the eating no later then 8:30, for evening snack try a 3 egg omelette using only 1 yoke. with bit of ham.

your training looks good, on weight days try finish with a good 30mins of cardio after the weights.

I know what your saying about not eating the cheese and coleslaw sandwich before I go to bed but as I mentioned I go to the gym straight after work so dont get to eat anything from lunchtime (1.30pm) untill I come home from the gym at approx 9pm. So I usually am hungry at that stage.:p

Racing Flat

I won't advise on the diet or resistance training, but in relation to the 'cardio' you are spending a fair amount of time (45mins) on this but split into 3, with breaks in between getting from one piece of equipment to another and a long break between the bike and cross trainer with your sit-ups. Perhaps your intensity/heart rate drops too low during these breaks? I would imagine that building up to a continuous 45min session would be more beneficial, so that your heart rate is up for a continuous period.

A great session on the TM would be 15mins comfortable (70-80% max heart rate), 20mins hard (80-90% max heart rate), 15mins comfortable (70-80% max heart rate), building up gradually to this. The hard bit in the middle is referred to as a temp run and improves your lactate threshold, which will really help with your fitness.

jan_kowalski

1,5-2 stone to drop is not much, so you can achieve it quite easily I think even if not sticking very hard with regime once you do some excercise regularly...
But if you take it bit more seriously or you want to start to get your body into top shape, then you have to change few bits.

Tea with brown bread? What is this, it's worth nothing.
You need to have good breakfast to boost up your energy and build muscles not fat in the end of the day, so I'd recommend musli, boiled eggs, ham, some vegs if possible like tomatoe and cucumber, little cheese, little spread, on top of that you can have low fat yoghurt and some fruits. Instead of tea try to have just water, unless you are dying for coffee/tea then OK go for it, but not to often and take sweatener instead of sugar.

Lunch - stay away from greasy sauces, paninins, etc. Fish is good, chicken breast, etc. with loads of vegs or rice as well.
I'd try stay away from potatoes as much as you can. Make sure you have some fruit as well if you feeling still hungry get yourself youghurt or smoothie shake or natural juice (not sweetened crap from Aldi). Make sure you drink plenty of still water. 0,5 l bottle a minimum, preferably 1l.

Dinner - I would not take colesaw, cheese. Try to finish off last meal around 6-7, 8 the latest. 9 is too late in my opinion, as your body metabolism slows down hell lot at this time and will not burn anything but produce into fat instead. Get some fish, light salad (no mayo or ketchups!) etc.

Your training looks OK as for the beginning, but it all depends what you want to achieve...

I'd say you want to go too hard and too often - 6 times a week is not giving your body and muscles enough time to regenerate and rebuild and you might end up just more tired and with no good effects at all.

I'd personally change to 3 max 4 training sessions per week and combine them - each session some lifting and cardio I can't really see a point splitting them up.

Also the number of series and repetitions depends a lot what you want to achieve. You are burning fats, then make sure you do good cardio before lifting, then do 2-3 series on each and lift using small weights (you should be able to lift them up with not too much hassle) but bigger number of repetitions say 12-15. If you put on too much weight on, well, this mainly builds up mass and this is not what you really want at this stage.

You know, the book could be written on all bits and pieces involved in training, so this is only rough idea for you. Speak to your gym professional trainer to ask details if you are ever unsure.

jojo75

Racing Flat wrote: »

I won't advise on the diet or resistance training, but in relation to the 'cardio' you are spending a fair amount of time (45mins) on this but split into 3, with breaks in between getting from one piece of equipment to another and a long break between the bike and cross trainer with your sit-ups. Perhaps your intensity/heart rate drops too low during these breaks? I would imagine that building up to a continuous 45min session would be more beneficial, so that your heart rate is up for a continuous period.

Thanks for the advice. I see what you mean about the cardio, it probably would be better to do the cross trainer after the bike and keep the heart rate up, then finish off on with my core muscles. That would be 45mins cardio. Obviously I will work up hopefully in the next few weeks/months.

Racing Flat wrote: »

A great session on the TM would be 15mins comfortable (70-80% max heart rate), 20mins hard (80-90% max heart rate), 15mins comfortable (70-80% max heart rate), building up gradually to this. The hard bit in the middle is referred to as a temp run and improves your lactate threshold, which will really help with your fitness.

I find running for a long time on the treadmill quite boring and I lose interest and get lazy so I dont think that session on the TM would be for me. That is the reason for varying the exercises, it keeps me interested and moves different muscles.

Racing Flat

jojo75 wrote: »

it probably would be better to do the cross trainer after the bike and keep the heart rate up, then finish off on with my core muscles. That would be 45mins cardio.

I find running for a long time on the treadmill quite boring and I lose interest and get lazy so I dont think that session on the TM would be for me. That is the reason for varying the exercises, it keeps me interested and moves different muscles.

Fair enough if you wish to do all 3, but i'd move pretty sharply from one to the next.

Lots of people say they find running for a long time boring. I used to think the same. I now think that in my case this was because I was not fit enough, so when I was running, because I was not fit enough I was out of breath and as a result of the discomfort I could not focus on anything else other than the running and the fact that it was difficult. Now that I am fitter I can think about other things when running, as if I was walking, so time passes more quickly.

But if you don't like the running, you could do the same session on either of the other 2 machines, or you could do 15mins easy on the TM, 20mins hard on the bike, 15mins easy on the cross-trainer or any other combination.

aye

jojo75 wrote: »

[/LIST]Monday, Wednesday, Friday – Weights



I usually do 1 set of each exercise and each set consists of 15, 12, & 10 repetitions. Usually about 30 seconds between each reps and 1 – 1½ minutes between each exercise.

• Leg extension
• Leg curl
• Squats with barbell on shoulder
• Shoulder press
• Peck machine
• Lat pull down
• Ab crunch with swiss ball
• Ab crunch with machine
• Side bends
• Bench press
• Free weights

Has anyone any recommendation or tips on what I should be doing or am I doing the correct exercises? My diet is ok, I think!

• Breakfast – tea with brown bread, orange juice,
• Snack – tea at 11 am
• Lunch – either dinner of chicken/salmon/lasagne/whatever is on menu with potato and veg. Some days I just have soup and chicken Panini.
• Evening tea 9pm – usually a sandwich with cheese, coleslaw, ham, brown bread, etc.

I usually go the gym straight after work because I find if I go home first I get lazy and then don’t bother going at all; hence I don’t eat from dinner to 9pm. Im gonna put this in the training logs also.
Any help greatly appreciated

What does "free weights" constitute? what exercises are you doing in the free weights?

do dunmbbell lunges instead of leg extensions
do stiff legged deadlifts instead of leg curls.
drop the peck dec machine, it isnt good for your shoulder joint. do a dumbell or cable fly instead.
you should add some sort of row exercise in there, machine row or dumbbell bent over row.
all the ab exercises arent going to get you that flat stomach. time would be better spent doing more sets of your full body exercises, such as deadlift, squat.


not eating between 1 and 9 is a bad bad idea.
you need to be eating small every 3 - 4 hours to keep your metabolism up. is you dont eat for those 8 hours, you are slowing it down and the body is storing fat in case of starvation.
your snacks should consist of some form of food, fruit for instance, not just tea.
each meal should consist of protein, carbs, and some fats.
you could do better for lunch by cooking it the night before, and bringing it in with you.

jan_kowalski wrote: »

Dinner - I would not take colesaw, cheese. Try to finish off last meal around 6-7, 8 the latest. 9 is too late in my opinion, as your body metabolism slows down hell lot at this time and will not burn anything but produce into fat instead. Get some fish, light salad (no mayo or ketchups!) etc.

The amount of calories taken in per day is more important here.
Also as the OP is in the gym til 9, her metablosim is raised when she is having dinner, so there is no issue having the meal at 9.

vibes23

jan_kowalski wrote: »

Also the number of series and repetitions depends a lot what you want to achieve. You are burning fats, then make sure you do good cardio before lifting, then do 2-3 series on each and lift using small weights

Would it not be better to do weights llike a good circuit working legs, chest, back all at once then AFTER do a cardio workout.

Weights burns way more calories then cardio so if you do the high intensity training 1st and cardio 2nd the cardio will target the fat stores direct.

I think its better to do high intensity stuff 1st

My opinon of course!

jan_kowalski

vibes23 wrote: »

Would it not be better to do weights llike a good circuit working legs, chest, back all at once then AFTER do a cardio workout.

Weights burns way more calories then cardio so if you do the high intensity training 1st and cardio 2nd the cardio will target the fat stores direct.

I think its better to do high intensity stuff 1st

My opinon of course!

You ask 5 professionals and will get 5 opinions on that
It's really up to indyvidual person and his preferences.
Ideally you would do cardio warmup then do lifts and at the end some cardio again just to sweat shi** out of you

To be honest there is little difference, unless you are super professional athlete who count every single calorie he eats and measures his body fat 3 times a day...

vibes23

Good point

jan_kowalski

aye wrote: »

The amount of calories taken in per day is more important here.
Also as the OP is in the gym til 9, her metablosim is raised when she is having dinner, so there is no issue having the meal at 9.

Well, I'd partially agree but would still stand at opinion to finish off mulching before 8. Ideally would be having some light feed before gym and getting some protein shake, maybe banana etc. as final meal after.

Also having 3 meals per day is not ideal, ideally you would get 5-6 meals.
More often but smaller portions.
This forces body to burn fat more efficiently and when you eat like 2-3 times a day then your body tends to accumulate, store fat - 'just in case', kind of defense mechanism to keep fat in.

But let's face it, having 3-4 sessions at the gym a week you can even have a mars bar a day and you will loose weight unless your metabolism is terribly bad...

All those advices are for professional athletes really or if you want to achieve max. effects in min. time... no point killing yourself like that :pac:

I lost over 3 stone couple months ago and I was eating some chocolate every second day (of course, not 3 at once!).

For me 70% of success was good exercise and 30% diet.

jojo75

Guys thanks for all your advice. Some good points and tips. I think I would rather concentrate on cardio one night and weights the next night. I feel it would take alot of time to combine both in the one session, could be wrong though. Is it a bad idea to work on each on consecutive nights?

In relation to the diet aspect the it probably aint logical for me to make dinner the night before. I work in an office most of the day and I like to get out for an hour at least for lunch every day otherwise I would be driven mad! :mad:

I will try work some fruit in between lunch and the gym to keep up my metabolism but if I eat too much I tend to get a stitch. Thanks again guys. Hopefully the pounds start coming off now!

vibes23

Doing cardio 1 night and weights the next is fine, depending on weights your lifting you may wana take 2 nights off from the weights. Give you good repair time.

Why dont you get up earlier and train in the morning. Thats what i do. I leave my house at 6:20 in gym for about 7:00 gives me a good hour to train and in work for 9. So when i finish work at 5:30 i can go home get nice dinner into me be finished eating for 8:30

bed for 10:30. tough first few days but you get used to it. plus you feel great after work out. fresh for the day

vibes23

jan_kowalski wrote: »

I lost over 3 stone couple months ago and I was eating some chocolate every second day (of course, not 3 at once!).

For me 70% of success was good exercise and 30% diet.

Share the wealth give us a detailed note on how you did it, what you did and how long it took you. Im tryin 2 loose 3 stone myself so i like hearing success stories

Plus im extremely jealous !!!!!

for me its more 70% diet 30% exercise :eek:

jan_kowalski

vibes23 wrote: »

Share the wealth give us a detailed note on how you did it, what you did and how long it took you. Im tryin 2 loose 3 stone myself so i like hearing success stories

Plus im extremely jealous !!!!!

for me its more 70% diet 30% exercise :eek:

Well, I could point it out like that:
1. Remember everyone is different, I know fella who can eat literally 5 chocolates a day and he is skinny as rake, nothing is gonna make him put on weight really and on the other hand there are people who turn fat like blown-up balloons after couple biscuits a day - you have to know your body to start with and find right balance for you.

2. I trained (and still do) 3-4 times a week, each session approx. 90 mins.
Each training session was combined cardio and weights. Roughly started off with 20 mins run at average speed 10-12 mph and variable incline, then approx 60 mins various liftings (arms, shoulders, chest, etc. - standard stuff) and this was followed by 10 min bicycle or cross trainer and 3-4 series of sit-ups. Key thing was to keep body at quite high heart-rate around 120 all the time and do not pause for too long - at the end of training I was completely b*ll**d and this is what you need too. You have to be sweating big time - that means your training is really effective.

3. It took me approx. 8 months to loose over 3 stone and I didn't break my neck though. I used to eat quite normally, I just significantly reduced sweets, greasy stuff, chinese, alcohol and completely quit crap like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza... I drank loads of still water. First it rinses your body out of stored crap and second it helps fight hunger. I'm quite big fella and used to eat like horse to keep me going, so not a chance I could survive through day on 2 slices of brown bread and yoghurt :-) So I still ate quite much, but just tried to eat lesser than before anyway. Water helped me to fill up my stomach which helped in turn to reduce hunger. Water also 'oils' all your joints etc. - this is best stuff to drink, far better than any juices full of sugar, never mind crap like Coke.

4. There is no point taking up severe diets.
Usually what happens is you are loosing couple pounds quickly (and most of it it's water not real fat) only to put back on weight even quicker only few months later. Getting slim and fit is not 6 months job and then hooray back to KFC. It's about changing your life style and keeping up to it.

5. If you do similar way like me above and you are still not getting effects then most likely it's something weird in you. Maybe you have extra ordinary slow metabolism or you need specialized diet as there is some stuff makes you bloated and you are not aware of it. In that case you will have to consult professional nutritionist who can do your health check and assess the needfull. In extreme cases you might get medication, but this is really rare, 95% people don't need that.
Good Luck M8

madmik

your diet sounds way off to be honest

massive 8 hour gap between lunch at the next meal is not optimal

fasting that long will only encourage your body to store fat when it finally gets a meal

saying that ur diet looks quite empty of calories

you are eating basically 2 light meals per day and they are 9 hours apart

im actually surprised you can maintain a 14 stone weight on just that diet

corkcomp

jan_kowalski wrote: »

Well, I could point it out like that:
1. Remember everyone is different, I know fella who can eat literally 5 chocolates a day and he is skinny as rake, nothing is gonna make him put on weight really and on the other hand there are people who turn fat like blown-up balloons after couple biscuits a day - you have to know your body to start with and find right balance for you.

2. I trained (and still do) 3-4 times a week, each session approx. 90 mins.
Each training session was combined cardio and weights. Roughly started off with 20 mins run at average speed 10-12 mph and variable incline, then approx 60 mins various liftings (arms, shoulders, chest, etc. - standard stuff) and this was followed by 10 min bicycle or cross trainer and 3-4 series of sit-ups. Key thing was to keep body at quite high heart-rate around 120 all the time and do not pause for too long - at the end of training I was completely b*ll**d and this is what you need too. You have to be sweating big time - that means your training is really effective.

3. It took me approx. 8 months to loose over 3 stone and I didn't break my neck though. I used to eat quite normally, I just significantly reduced sweets, greasy stuff, chinese, alcohol and completely quit crap like McDonalds, KFC, Pizza... I drank loads of still water. First it rinses your body out of stored crap and second it helps fight hunger. I'm quite big fella and used to eat like horse to keep me going, so not a chance I could survive through day on 2 slices of brown bread and yoghurt :-) So I still ate quite much, but just tried to eat lesser than before anyway. Water helped me to fill up my stomach which helped in turn to reduce hunger. Water also 'oils' all your joints etc. - this is best stuff to drink, far better than any juices full of sugar, never mind crap like Coke.

4. There is no point taking up severe diets.
Usually what happens is you are loosing couple pounds quickly (and most of it it's water not real fat) only to put back on weight even quicker only few months later. Getting slim and fit is not 6 months job and then hooray back to KFC. It's about changing your life style and keeping up to it.

5. If you do similar way like me above and you are still not getting effects then most likely it's something weird in you. Maybe you have extra ordinary slow metabolism or you need specialized diet as there is some stuff makes you bloated and you are not aware of it. In that case you will have to consult professional nutritionist who can do your health check and assess the needfull. In extreme cases you might get medication, but this is really rare, 95% people don't need that.
Good Luck M8

some good advice there TBH .. Dont starve yourself and make sure to work hard in the gym .. none of this 10 mins on bike and 10 mins on cross trainer and then done! many people can loose weight without making any drastic changes, even cutting out processed foods and take aways can make a huge difference

jojo75

vibes23 wrote: »

Doing cardio 1 night and weights the next is fine, depending on weights your lifting you may wana take 2 nights off from the weights. Give you good repair time.

Why dont you get up earlier and train in the morning. Thats what i do. I leave my house at 6:20 in gym for about 7:00 gives me a good hour to train and in work for 9. So when i finish work at 5:30 i can go home get nice dinner into me be finished eating for 8:30

bed for 10:30. tough first few days but you get used to it. plus you feel great after work out. fresh for the day

Yea I have thought about this option but only for a second though!
But now that I am serious about loosing weight and getting fit I think this is the way to go. Just gonna take some getting used to though.

jojo75

madmik wrote: »

your diet sounds way off to be honest

massive 8 hour gap between lunch at the next meal is not optimal

fasting that long will only encourage your body to store fat when it finally gets a meal

saying that ur diet looks quite empty of calories

you are eating basically 2 light meals per day and they are 9 hours apart

im actually surprised you can maintain a 14 stone weight on just that diet

Yea so am I! But yea I know my eating is not ideal which is why I am either gonna go to the gym before work or just go later in the evening so I have time for evening tea after work.

On another note I am gonna try work some museli or eggs into my breakfast. But I always thought eggs would put on weight???

Anyone know any good protein shakes?

BossArky

Eat protein from natural sources before hitting the protein shakes.

If you use protein shakes to patch up your diet now, you are just avoiding the main problem --> a crap diet

Protein --> tuna / eggs / chicken / almonds