Help with a fitness program

ohm-ed

Hey fitness posters,

I am 27 years of age, a full time student and also work part time to support myself while in college. I must admit I have bad eating habits such as eating allot of junk food, fast food and eating late at night. I don't drink much anymore, maybe once every 2 weeks where I would consume around 8 pints of cider.

I have tried to have a better diet and either found it hard to know if it was doing me any good ( well it was better that what I used to eat) or I found it hard to follow due to spending most of my time working or studying. I felt like the diet was taking up too much time and while in college when u need to grab something quick would be a packet sandwich or a hot dinner which I had no idea on how much calories I was intaking.
so quickly I would give up feeling like I have failed because I lost track.

Same goes with exercise, I tried going to the gym getting workout plans from the Internet and just trying out stuff on my own. this also did not work because in my head I did not know if the diet was working well with the exercise or was the workout plan doing me any good.

I really cant afford to spend money on a fitness instructor and really need a program to stick to so in my head i know its gonna work if I stick at it. as you know the Internet is full of knowledge and can be great but when it comes to fitness and health there is quite allot of info and its hard to tell which information will help.

I am male and my hight is 5ft 8 , my weight is 204.0lb / 14.6 stone and bmi is 30.1.

I would love to loose at least a stone but turn the rest of fat to muscle. I am not asking for a six pack or anything like that I just want to be fit again.

I would love if someone could help me out with a program or even point me in the right direction i would be so gratefull! If any more info is needed please ask.

Thanks:D

corkcomp

ohm-ed wrote: »

Hey fitness posters,

I am 27 years of age, a full time student and also work part time to support myself while in college. I must admit I have bad eating habits such as eating allot of junk food, fast food and eating late at night. I don't drink much anymore, maybe once every 2 weeks where I would consume around 8 pints of cider.

I have tried to have a better diet and either found it hard to know if it was doing me any good ( well it was better that what I used to eat) or I found it hard to follow due to spending most of my time working or studying. I felt like the diet was taking up too much time and while in college when u need to grab something quick would be a packet sandwich or a hot dinner which I had no idea on how much calories I was intaking.
so quickly I would give up feeling like I have failed because I lost track.

Same goes with exercise, I tried going to the gym getting workout plans from the Internet and just trying out stuff on my own. this also did not work because in my head I did not know if the diet was working well with the exercise or was the workout plan doing me any good.

I really cant afford to spend money on a fitness instructor and really need a program to stick to so in my head i know its gonna work if I stick at it. as you know the Internet is full of knowledge and can be great but when it comes to fitness and health there is quite allot of info and its hard to tell which information will help.

I am male and my hight is 5ft 8 , my weight is 204.0lb / 14.6 stone and bmi is 30.1.

I would love to loose at least a stone but turn the rest of fat to muscle. I am not asking for a six pack or anything like that I just want to be fit again.

I would love if someone could help me out with a program or even point me in the right direction i would be so gratefull! If any more info is needed please ask.

Thanks:D

hi, do you have a gym membership at present?

can you post a full days typical diet, because this is where the problem lies, most likely

Transform

getting the diet right is not that hard - be more prepared and you are NOT that busy that you can afford not to get it right.

On a very basic level - do cardio, do weights (even body weight to begin with), stretch more and sort your diet out.

Everyone is busy but you either eat crap and feel crap or eat well and have more energy - its up to you.

kingofcastle

Transform, I couldn't agree with you more, OP you are the captain of your own ship, steer it in the correct direction.

ItzJey

A quick beginner workout that will burn fat and build muscle:

Routine A:
 Bench Press (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Shoulder Press (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Bent –over Rows (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 EZ Bar Curls (2 sets x 5 Reps)

Routine B:
 Squats (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Deadlifts (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Calf Raises (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Traps (2 sets x 5 Reps)

Monday: Routine A
Tuesday: REST
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: REST
Friday: Routine A
Saturday: REST
Sunday: REST

Do 15 min warm up before and 30 mins Cardio after

As for diet try to cut out the junk food if possible..
If your busy in college/work prepare some sandwiches the night before and bring them with you to college with some fruit...
Protein bars are another great way to eat if your stuck for time quick and filling, but try to get as many good healthy whole meals a day as possible and of course try to have a good breakfast every morning...
And one last thing try to cut the alcohol consumption down more if possible... I've heard (not 100% sure if true) that every 8 ounces of cider containes 100+ empty calories... not good for progress..

Hope this helps and good luck!

Jobquiries

ItzJey wrote: »

A quick beginner workout that will burn fat and build muscle:

Routine A:
 Bench Press (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Shoulder Press (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Bent –over Rows (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 EZ Bar Curls (2 sets x 5 Reps)

Routine B:
 Squats (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Deadlifts (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Calf Raises (2 sets x 5 Reps)
 Traps (2 sets x 5 Reps)

Monday: Routine A
Tuesday: REST
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: REST
Friday: Routine A
Saturday: REST
Sunday: REST

Do 15 min warm up before and 30 mins Cardio after

As for diet try to cut out the junk food if possible..
If your busy in college/work prepare some sandwiches the night before and bring them with you to college with some fruit...
Protein bars are another great way to eat if your stuck for time quick and filling, but try to get as many good healthy whole meals a day as possible and of course try to have a good breakfast every morning...
And one last thing try to cut the alcohol consumption down more if possible... I've heard (not 100% sure if true) that every 8 ounces of cider containes 100+ empty calories... not good for progress..

Hope this helps and good luck!

Hey thanks for that begginer workout routine. What would you do say after 4 weeks of this? What other weights would you move on to and how would increase weight and reps/sets?

Also what weight for begginers? The heaviest amount you can lift properly?

ItzJey

Do a weight you can controll and get a full range of movement with but it should be heavy enough so that you struggle on the last rep..
When you can complete each set easy increase the weight 10-15%..

Do the routine for 6-8 weeks then you can change it depending on the direction you want to go (bulking, fat loss ect...)

davieleo

definately don't lift the heaviest weight you can. you should be able to do two sets of between 8 and 10 and still feel like you could go and do more. if you are going to life a heavy weight than it would be completely strength training you would be doing and that wouldn't help with the weight. sounds like you just want to lose weight and tone up so cardio and light weight/high reps will do this with the stretching before and after.

the food thing, eating unhealthy, you can easily change to a healthy diet. in all shops now they sell fruit and healthy stuf. and if the one you go to doesn't then when you are not busy then prepare a healthy lunch for the next few days and keep it in the fridge ready to just take it with you when you go. the post a few posts before was right, if you really want to change your diet then you just do it. sometimes it easy to take the easy way and just have whatever they serve. after about 3 weeks the new routine that you do becomes habit so stick with it for 3 weeks and see what happens
good luck

corkcomp

davieleo wrote: »

definately don't lift the heaviest weight you can. you should be able to do two sets of between 8 and 10 and still feel like you could go and do more. if you are going to life a heavy weight than it would be completely strength training you would be doing and that wouldn't help with the weight. sounds like you just want to lose weight and tone up so cardio and light weight/high reps will do this with the stretching before and after.

thats one of the most common myths spouted around the net. if you can do 10 reps of a weight and feel like you could "go and do more" then the weight IS too light. your aim needs to be max calorie burn and a body that looks good after weight loss. dont get me wrong, i am a big fan of cardio but if you are going to do weights, do them right

davieleo

yes, if you are doing power/strength training to build muscle mass then you should go to your max but if you're doing resistance training to tone up and lose weight then you should not go to your max rep., especially if you are starting off. why do you think they say on a fitness assessment do 3 set of 12 reps, why wouldn't they then say just do as much as you can do????

corkcomp

davieleo wrote: »

yes, if you are doing power/strength training to build muscle mass then you should go to your max but if you're doing resistance training to tone up and lose weight then you should not go to your max rep., especially if you are starting off. why do you think they say on a fitness assessment do 3 set of 12 reps, why wouldn't they then say just do as much as you can do????

it looks like you have been reading too many text books, doing three sets of 12 reps should mean you are struggling by rep 12 - so you adjust the weight to achieve this. for max fat burning, lift pretty close to failure, if you advocate doing huge numbers of light weights, you wont get the same results

ragg

davieleo wrote: »

why do you think they say on a fitness assessment do 3 set of 12 reps, why wouldn't they then say just do as much as you can do????

because people like being told exactly what to do?
Because the people doing the accessing, don't actually know what they are talking about?
Because successful dieters, train to build muscle mass, in the hope they wont lose any?

You need to hit the weights hard and heavy while dieting

davieleo

This years **** fitness instructor manual in front of me. Overweight clients should do resistance training to maintain muscle mass while following a weight loss program. hitting the weights hard and heavy will build muscle mass and in a beginner, which he is, will more then likely do himself an injury. start by warming up, getting your 1 REP max (as much as you can lift keeping correct technique) and start off 2 set x 15 reps with a weight of 60 % of 1 rep max until you lose the weight you want. the 2 x 15 is only a starting point for a beginer until he knows what he is capable of or can move on from being a beginner. then when you lose the weight you want. then you should be able to change the rest to muscle as you want. you can change to doing something like 10 x 50% 1rm, 8 x 60%, 6 x70%, 4 x 80%, 2 x 90% and back again, this should build your muscle mass.
i'm not just taking it from the net and it's not just any text book, it's what i'm studying at the moment. it's all for beginner weight loss and beginner resistance work.
this is all straight from this years **** manual. fair enough, i am not even half way through the course.

because people like being told exactly what to do? because beginners need to be told what to do
Because the people doing the accessing, don't actually know what they are talking about? so you have met all the people in ireland that do the accessing
Because successful dieters, train to build muscle mass, in the hope they wont lose any? yes, 1 pound of muscle takes up less space than 1 pound of fat.

corkcomp

davieleo wrote: »

This years **** fitness instructor manual in front of me. Overweight clients should do resistance training to maintain muscle mass while following a weight loss program. hitting the weights hard and heavy will build muscle mass and in a beginner, which he is, will more then likely do himself an injury. start by warming up, getting your 1 REP max (as much as you can lift keeping correct technique) and start off 2 set x 15 reps with a weight of 60 % of 1 rep max until you lose the weight you want. the 2 x 15 is only a starting point for a beginer until he knows what he is capable of or can move on from being a beginner. then when you lose the weight you want. then you should be able to change the rest to muscle as you want. you can change to doing something like 10 x 50% 1rm, 8 x 60%, 6 x70%, 4 x 80%, 2 x 90% and back again, this should build your muscle mass.
i'm not just taking it from the net and it's not just any text book, it's what i'm studying at the moment. it's all for beginner weight loss and beginner resistance work.
this is all straight from this years **** manual. fair enough, i am not even half way through the course.

because people like being told exactly what to do? because beginners need to be told what to do
Because the people doing the accessing, don't actually know what they are talking about? so you have met all the people in ireland that do the accessing
Because successful dieters, train to build muscle mass, in the hope they wont lose any? yes, 1 pound of muscle takes up less space than 1 pound of fat.

anybody doing their assessing out of a book probably fits the description mentioned by ragg. it makes sense (To me anyway) that you should be putting yourself under pressure when lifting, and not just faffing about. slightly O/T but any fitness assesment ive had done or seen being done was fairly crap and full of miss-information TBH, and ive had far better results following my own program.

Transform

corkcomp wrote: »

anybody doing their assessing out of a book probably fits the description mentioned by ragg. it makes sense (To me anyway) that you should be putting yourself under pressure when lifting, and not just faffing about. slightly O/T but any fitness assesment ive had done or seen being done was fairly crap and full of miss-information TBH, and ive had far better results following my own program.

agreed - overall just work hard (cardio and weights), warm up and stretch lots and eat right