Workout for weightloss

Penn

Hey, I was wondering if you could have a look at my normal gym routine to see if there's any areas I can improve on. I'm currently trying to lose about 4 stone over the next 6 months or so, having already lost 16lbs

Basically, I go to the gym 4 times a week for an hour, Tuesday and Thursday after work, then Saturday and Sunday morning. I might start doing an hour and a half on Saturday and Sundays though. But my routine is usually:

10mins rowing machine
3x15 25kg reps on Chest Press
10mins Crosstrainer
3x15 25kg reps on Lat Machine
5mins excercise bike
3x15 25kg reps on leg lift (not sure of the actual name for it)
10mins cross trainer

Obviously, I know diet is vital to losing weight, but in terms of just my workout, is there anything I should be doing that I'm not?

EileenG

Are you male or female?

For a beginner female, those are reasonable lifts. If you are male, you should be lifting a lot more.

Basically, I'd suggest you abandon the machines and start using free weights. Try squat, deadlift, bench press, pull-up, bentover rows, and go from there. Pick a weight that makes you struggle to finish ten reps.

--SmItHy--

EileenG wrote: »

Are you male or female?

For a beginner female, those are reasonable lifts. If you are male, you should be lifting a lot more.

Basically, I'd suggest you abandon the machines and start using free weights. Try squat, deadlift, bench press, pull-up, bentover rows, and go from there. Pick a weight that makes you struggle to finish ten reps.

I agree, the more muscle mass you gain the quicker your metabolism will be and the more fat you will burn!
Try running in the morning before you eat! it works!!

xmcp

--SmItHy-- wrote: »

I agree, the more muscle mass you gain the quicker your metabolism will be and the more fat you will burn!
Try running in the morning before you eat! it works!!

Completely disregard this advice, it's 100% incorrect.

Maintain a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance, eat 1g of protein per lb of lean mass and lift as heavy as you can. This will lose roughly 1 or 2 lbs a week with as little muscle as possible. Repeat until you've lost enough fat.

--SmItHy--

xmcp wrote: »

Completely disregard this advice, it's 100% incorrect.

Maintain a 500 calorie deficit from your maintenance, eat 1g of protein per lb of lean mass and lift as heavy as you can. This will lose roughly 1 or 2 lbs a week with as little muscle as possible. Repeat until you've lost enough fat.

Our bodies were designed with a survival mechanism just in case there is a time of famine. Because of this mechanism, it is easier for the body to store fat. If we go on any calorie deficit diet or some type of starvation diet you can forget about increasing your metabolism because our body's metabolism decreases in order to conserve energy. In this mode, it is much easier for the body to store what we eat as body fat and burn energy from muscle tissue. Since muscle tissue burns a higher amount of calories, the less we have the lower our metabolism will be.

Taken from http://www.tbfinc.com/metabolism.htm

xmcp

sigh... whatever

Penn

EileenG wrote: »

Are you male or female?

For a beginner female, those are reasonable lifts. If you are male, you should be lifting a lot more.

Basically, I'd suggest you abandon the machines and start using free weights. Try squat, deadlift, bench press, pull-up, bentover rows, and go from there. Pick a weight that makes you struggle to finish ten reps.

Male. Or at least, I felt like one before I read that

When I started out I was lifting heavier (3x10 35/40kg) but one of the gym trainers told me that for losing weight, it was better to do more reps of a lower weight. Although perhaps I did drop down the weight a bit too much.

Would the free weights be that much more beneficial than the machines? I just find it easier using the machines because there's always less using them (small gym)

EileenG

Ah, bad trainer then. If I could get hold of all those "light reps to burn fat" people, I'd knock their heads together. Lift heavy, you have to push your muscles out of their comfort zone to make progress.

40kg for a novice man is a much more respectable weight to be using. I'd go back to that.

Free weights really are better. They force you to use lots of smaller muscles as stabilisers, so you have to work harder and burn more fat!. Also because they are free, you are using the natural range of motion, so you are less likely to get injured. Of course, if you are getting near failure, make sure you have a spotter or safety cage to prevent accidents.

You can do just about anything with a pair of dumbbells if necessary, but there's usually a barbell free as well.