Is my weights/diet plan okay?

TheBigUnit

Hi all,
I'm a long time reader first time poster. I'm very overweight at about 21 stone 3lb. I was over 22 stone. I hit the gym a few weeks ago and I have gradually got my diet sorted with lots of fruit, veg, protein, etc.

Breakfast: Porridge with nuts seeds & fruit & coffee

Morning snack: bowl of fruit salad or a slice of brown bread with light butter & tea.

Lunch: Chicken salad or chicken/fish & veg

Afternoon snack/pre gym: Muesli bar and/or fruit

Dinner/Post gym: Chicken/Fish & veg or Salad.


I'm doing 2 or 3 full body workouts each week, usually 2. I have started doing 2 or 3 40 minute cardio sessions also. Mainly bike, treadmill, crosstrainer and rowing machine.

My weights program is the following;
12 reps x 3 sets.

Leg curl
Shoulder press
Leg extension
Pec deck
Leg Press
Seated row
Lunges with small dumbell
Dumbell Bench press
Hammer Curls
Abs
Back extension

My gym only has dumbels, no barbels.

I'm mainly looking to lose weight but I am adopting the approach of building muscle to aid fat loss. I have definitely built muscle in all areas and I have dropped around 10 or 11lb in the last month.

Is this work out okay? Do I need to change any exercises?

Also, do I need to be taking a protein shake and can anyone recommend a particular type or brand.

Are there any other supplements I should consider?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

BU

podge57

for diet, i would say less carbs, more protein and good fat - your current diet isnt really maximising fat loss

or at least keep carbs to breakfast, pre and post workout

for the morning snack, i would just have nuts, or boiled eggs or something

as for weights, nothing wrong with full body routines, but you are only doing isolation exercises / machines

you should be hitting the compounds - deadlifts / bench / squats / cleans - its not ideal having db's only, but it can be done - heres some good db exercises:

Chest

- flat bench dumbbell press
- incline bench dumbbell press
- decline bench dumbbell press
- dumbbell flyes (flat/incline/decline bench)

Back

- deadlifts
- single arm bent over rows
- double arm bent over rows
- lying row

Biceps

- standing dumbbell curls
- seated dumbbell curls
- incline dumbbell curls
- preacher curls (if you have a preacher curl bench)
- concentration curls
- hammer curls

Triceps

- single arm overhead tricep extensions (can also be done with both arms)
- dumbbell skull crushers (flat, incline or decline bench)
- tricep kickbacks

Shoulders

- seated dumbbell press (can also be done standing)
- arnold press
- front raises
- lateral raises
- shrugs

Legs

- squats
- lunges (or split squats)
- stiff legged deadlifts (or RDLs)
- calf raises

TheBigUnit

Thanks Podge,
I started on nearly all machine weights but I have introduced lunges, hammer curls and dumbel bench press. I'll look into squats and deads. I also use a medicine ball on the back extension.
As for cardio, I am trying to do 2 or 3 40 minute sessions. Should I do cardio after my weights or on different days? I find I can only do about 20 minutes after my full body weights workout.

As for diet, I always thought porridge was the best. Should I be changing that to eggs or add a protein shake?
I eat a fair bit of fruit, should I reduce?

Bog Butter

Hello again. I like BigUnit am currently in the process of losing weight; the following is my routine:

• Warm-up

- 5 minutes on cross trainer
- Stretch upper body – back of upper arms, shoulders and chest


• Lat-Pull Down – 12 reps * 3 sets

• Pec Dec – 12 reps * 3 sets


• Squats – 25 reps * 3 sets

• Lunges – 25 reps * 3 sets


• Frontal raise – 12 * 3

• Lateral raise – 12 * 3

• Upright row – 12 * 3

• Shoulder press – 12 *3


• Leg extension – 12 reps * 3


• Press-ups

• Ab-curls

• Back extensions


Should I introduce some of the other above mentioned exercises?

floggg

TheBigUnit wrote: »

As for diet, I always thought porridge was the best. Should I be changing that to eggs or add a protein shake?
I eat a fair bit of fruit, should I reduce?

To be honest, i think you're diet is pretty good. Porridge is good in the morning - sets you up for the day, and it will keep you from getting hungry and snacking throughout. Carbs are generally ok in the mornings and afternoon, but avoid in the evenings.

I started out this time last year in a somewhat similar position, and found that i still managed to drop a lot of weight with a diet that was similar to that (even eating a little bit more)! Just watch portion size - cutting back to smaller portions more regularly was the single biggest change i made.

I would also suggest eating a bit more pre-work out. You need some slow releasing carbs before a work out, particularly when doing weights. As long as you don't go overboard, you should burn it off easily.

And you should do the weights before the cardio. You're weight training is far more effective if done before hand, whereas the weight training shouldn't unduly impact on the cardio.

Also, at this stage, i don't think you need to worry about protein shakes. If weight loss is your priority,rather than strength, you should be fine without them.

malman wrote: »

Hello again. I like BigUnit am currently in the process of losing weight; the following is my routine:

• Warm-up

- 5 minutes on cross trainer
- Stretch upper body – back of upper arms, shoulders and chest


• Lat-Pull Down – 12 reps * 3 sets

• Pec Dec – 12 reps * 3 sets


• Squats – 25 reps * 3 sets

• Lunges – 25 reps * 3 sets


• Frontal raise – 12 * 3

• Lateral raise – 12 * 3

• Upright row – 12 * 3

• Shoulder press – 12 *3


• Leg extension – 12 reps * 3


• Press-ups

• Ab-curls

• Back extensions


Should I introduce some of the other above mentioned exercises?

You're overdoing it if anything. You're already doing 12 different exercises x 3 sets, including 75 squats and then 75 lunges in one night. I found that one set of 20 wiped me out. If you're doing that much, i would imagine you're either doing it wrong, or are using ridicuslously light weights.

I think the general advice is to do between 25 - 35 sets in total any night at most, and i think above 30 is a bit much in my book. But i'll leave other more qualified/experienced people to comment further.

aye

malman wrote: »

Hello again. I like BigUnit am currently in the process of losing weight; the following is my routine:

• Warm-up

- 5 minutes on cross trainer
- Stretch upper body – back of upper arms, shoulders and chest


• Lat-Pull Down – 12 reps * 3 sets

• Pec Dec – 12 reps * 3 sets


• Squats – 25 reps * 3 sets

• Lunges – 25 reps * 3 sets


• Frontal raise – 12 * 3

• Lateral raise – 12 * 3

• Upright row – 12 * 3

• Shoulder press – 12 *3


• Leg extension – 12 reps * 3


• Press-ups

• Ab-curls

• Back extensions


Should I introduce some of the other above mentioned exercises?

drop the pec dec, do a bench press.
Add a barbell row for you back.

why all the shoulder exercises? is there a reason?

you do 3 exercises for your mid shoulders, and only one for lats?
lats are the opposing muscle group to your medial deltoids, side shoulders, so you need to work in a bit more balance.

if you are doing upright row for your upper traps, replace them with heavy dumbbell shrugs.

if you do a frontal raise, please do a reverse fly to work the opposinig muscle group, the rear deltoids.

squats and lunges work the quads predominately, tho the hamstrings are involved, and leg extensions are quads muscle too. you should add in a stiff legged deadlift.

drop the leg extension, do stiff legged deadlifts.

is there a reason you do 25 reps on the squat and lunges?


why not keep it simple with compund lifts.

bench press
barbell row
db shoulder press
lat pulldown
squat
SL deadlift
db shrug

ab curl
back extension

these will work more muscle than the isolation movements you have above, and spike your metabolism.

3sets x 8-10 reps.

If you want to do more reps on the squat and Deadlift, keep it at 15 reps.

abs till failure, if the rep range is high, do v-ups, or medicine ball sit ups.

Bog Butter

Thanks for the replies. There was no particular reason why I was doing all of those shoulder exercises. It is just that is what I was shown. With regards the lunges - I'm actually only able to do about 50 or so in total and i'm using a 4kg weight.

So if I stick to what aye said would that be sufficiant? My primary aim is to burn fat on the belly (i'm 5' 10'' and weigh 16.5 stone).

aye

malman wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. There was no particular reason why I was doing all of those shoulder exercises. It is just that is what I was shown.

By who?

malman wrote: »

With regards the lunges - I'm actually only able to do about 50 or so in total and i'm using a 4kg weight.

why do you want to do so many reps?

malman wrote: »

So if I stick to what aye said would that be sufficiant? My primary aim is to burn fat on the belly (i'm 5' 10'' and weigh 16.5 stone).

add in cardio on non weight days, if you can try doing interval training.

superset the exercises.
so bench press, straight into a barbell row then rest. and repeat.
do this for each set of exercises, i.e. bench press and bb row, shoulder press and lat pulldown, sqaut and sl deadlift (if you can manage it).
this will increase the intensity.

make sure to do warm up sets before lifting the weights, and that the weights you lift for the work sets arent easy.

Bog Butter

I started doing cardio (at the start of the year) and its only now that i'm getting into the exercises. I'm doing running, spinning and swimming.

I actually started some interval training today on the treadmill. I done 2/3 minutes at 9.5 kpm per hour and then 1 minute at 12 - 12.5 kpm and so on for 30 minutes . Is that the idea? Should I spend an equal amount time on weights and cardio?

For the record I much prefer cardio.