Am I doing this right?

Stabshauptmann

Hi guys, if anyone could take 5mins to give this n00b some reassurance it would be appreciated :-)

I've lurked on this forum for a while now, and read the stickies. Muchos gratius!

Im a 22 male and I have two aims 1) to get a flatter stomach and chest, 2)Stamina for sport (basketball)

1)Stomach
So this time last year I knew nothing about fitness. Thanks to lurking on this board I knew my first step was diet. Second step was lose the fat via aerobic exercise. Third step is increase metabolism via anaerobic exercise. Last step is actually ab exercises - seemed counter-intuitive to me, glad to know better now.

My question is re: the anaerobic bit
What I've been doing in the gym is running a mile as fast as I can (so thats the aerobic / fat burning bit), use two different machines for the same muscle group for the anaerobic metabolism boosting bit (eg Monday use 2 different biceps machines, Wednesday use 2 different triceps machines), swim about 200m, 3-5 mins in the sauna, go home. Rinse repeat 3 times a week.

Im really not sure Im using the machines right. I was doing 3 sets of 12,10 and 8 with increasing weight but I read somewhere here that Id be better off doing 5 sets of 5 at the most I could handle; so thats what I started doing.

I've been doing this for about 3 months and havent shifted all that many inchs off the waist. My diet is now very healthy thanks to the threads here, do I probably do still eat a large quantity.

Am I doing it right?

(In addition to the above routine I do 20 situps in the morning and have recently started cycling to work 4 days a week)

squod

I guess what people will ask next is what are you eating and when.
And maybe an outline of your current fitness routine. Is it just
cardio machines, bicep curls and sit-ups?

rccaulfield

Cardio should be a sustained effort of 20-30 mins at least- Try steady state or preferably High intensity interval training. No use killin yourself for a few minutes then resting completely for fat loss! Thats a good motto for muscle building not burning fat!

Stabshauptmann

squod wrote: »

I guess what people will ask next is what are you eating and when.
And maybe an outline of your current fitness routine. Is it just
cardio machines, biceps curls and sit-ups?

Diet:
Breakfast = porridge + fruit
Lunch = Salad + 2 slices turkey
Dinner = chicken or salmon + brown rice and veg

If I get peckish I eat a piece of fruit (apple, banana, or orange)

Exercise is pretty much as descriped above. Stretch then 8-10 mins or so on threadmill, a few sets on 2 machines followed by swim; thats maybe 3 nights a week. The whole thing takes about an hour

I personally feel like thats not a lot of exercise, but I really am very strapped for time between work and study

Stabshauptmann

rccaulfield wrote: »

Cardio should be a sustained effort of 20-30 mins at least- Try steady state or preferably High intensity interval training. No use killin yourself for a few minutes then resting completely for fat loss! Thats a good motto for muscle building not burning fat!

Thanks, I'll take that on board

ANTIFA!

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

Diet:
Breakfast = porridge + fruit
Lunch = Salad + 2 slices turkey
Dinner = chicken or salmon + brown rice and veg

If I get peckish I eat a piece of fruit (apple, banana, or orange)

Exercise is pretty much as descriped above. Stretch then 8-10 mins or so on threadmill, a few sets on 2 machines followed by swim; thats maybe 3 nights a week. The whole thing takes about an hour

I personally feel like thats not a lot of exercise, but I really am very strapped for time between work and study

This sounds like your winging it a bit. In order to see results you have to have a clear and concise plan of what you will do in your workout. This includes reps, sets, rest between sets etc and weight.

You say you have an hour? Well you should be looking at a 40 minute weight session and then maby follow it up with a 15-20 minute swim. How much basketball do you play a week?

Stabshauptmann

ANTIFA! wrote: »

This sounds like your winging it a bit. In order to see results you have to have a clear and concise plan of what you will do in your workout. This includes reps, sets, rest between sets etc and weight.

At the moment I alternate between using machines that focus on the biceps and machines that focus on the intercepts.
I do 5 sets of 5 on each machine. I stretch at the start of the work out and rest for one min. between each set. I set the machine to 30kg for the biceps and 20kg for the triceps.

You say you have an hour? Well you should be looking at a 40 minute weight session and then maby follow it up with a 15-20 minute swim. How much basketball do you play a week?

Im not very confident with the free weights, dont really know what to do with them and am a bit paranoid Ill injure myself. I play basketball once a week for 2hrs. Are you sure that 40mins weights 20 swim is the correct balance for weight loss?

d'Oracle

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

focus on the intercepts.

The what now?

celestial

Mate, it sounds like your routine is pretty much just hit and miss, low-intensity, unstructured, unfocused - which (surprise surprise) is what your results have been to date.

Swimming, basketball, machine weights - all not great for fat loss.

Keep it simple and start doing basic things well - with focus, consistency and intensity. I recommend hitting basic, big-bang movements like the squat, deadlift, rows, with weights - find a trainer in your gym or elsewhere who can show you how to do these safely. Then get doing intense cardio of some description for 20-30 minutes each workout. If you have an hour I'd be doing approx 25-30 mins weights and the same with cardio, plus stretching.

Stabshauptmann

d'Oracle wrote: »

The what now?

lol. My mind was else where, supposed to be in work and all that!

Stabshauptmann

celestial wrote: »

Mate, it sounds like your routine is pretty much just hit and miss, low-intensity, unstructured, unfocused - which (surprise surprise) is what your results have been to date.

Swimming, basketball, machine weights - all not great for fat loss.

Keep it simple and start doing basic things well - with focus, consistency and intensity. I recommend hitting basic, big-bang movements like the squat, deadlift, rows, with weights - find a trainer in your gym or elsewhere who can show you how to do these safely. Then get doing intense cardio of some description for 20-30 minutes each workout. If you have an hour I'd be doing approx 25-30 mins weights and the same with cardio, plus stretching.

Yeah, I know that its hit and miss. I've no problem admitting that I dont know what Im doing.

There was a session with a trainer when I joined the gym. After the session he said he knew my strengths / weaknesses and what I should do. And he'd devise a plan and work me through it for 50eur a week. I decided to pass - 50eur a week is a lot of money to me

celestial

Stabshauptmann wrote: »

Yeah, I know that its hit and miss. I've no problem admitting that I dont know what Im doing.

There was a session with a trainer when I joined the gym. After the session he said he knew my strengths / weaknesses and what I should do. And he'd devise a plan and work me through it for 50eur a week. I decided to pass - 50eur a week is a lot of money to me

Hmm, well there should be trainers there who should be helping you for free (as part of your gym fee)....