New gym user

jockey#1

Looking for some opinions on a programme I was recently given when I joined my local gym.

5 Min Warms up (Bike or treadmill)

Lunge with 10kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)
Lat Pulldown 30kg (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - 7 mins on the treadmill 9k steady

Leg Curl 30kg (20 reps x 2 sets)
Tricep dip (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - 2500m rowing machine

Hammer curls with 6kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)
Double bench press with 6kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - Cross trainer 7 mins medium level

Finally I do some core work, sit ups etc.

BTW I am male, 29yo, 6ft 1in, 15st 10lbs. Basically my question is should I be aiming to lose weight or decrease my body fat? The above workout leaves me with pain in my upper right arm, would you all consider this to be a decent workout gfor the next 5 weeks given that my fitness level would be low Currently I am not happy with my body, mainly fat stomach, fat arms thighs. Developing a cleavage on my chin :eek:

I am also struggling with the food diet I was given, mainly due to boredom. Typical day would be as follows:

Breakfast - Bowl of fruit and fibre with low fat milk

Mid morning - Housmous and carrot sticks

Lunch - Chicken stirfry and wholegrain rice

Mid afternoon - Apple/Banana

Dinner - Steamed salmon and green veg

Is my diet ok and secondly anyone got any ideas for me to liven up stir fry recipes? Think I am overdosing on soy sauce and I have been advised to avoid cream based sauces.

Sorry for the long post, I just don't want all my efforts to be in vain :P

Jockey

P.S Anyone got any suggestions for people who try and intimidate you in the weights area by staring, laughing, smirking and speaking in their own language?! :P

EileenG

Looking at your weights, I was about to ask if you were a girl. Those weights are very light unless you are badly out of condition.

Personally, I'm not impressed with the program, there's a lot of arm and machine work. Lunges are a reasonable alternative to squats, but where's the alternative to deadlifts? And 6kg db bench press? My nine year old daughter does more than that.

20 reps is more normally given to women who are terrified of bulking up, and hope that endless reps will "tone" them. Ideally, you should be working in the 8-10 rep range for decent results.

As a newcomer, you can expect to gain muscle and lose fat for the first few months. After that, you'll have to pick a priority, but for now, you should be able to do both. At close to 16 stone, you probably have a fair bit of bodyfat, unless you are rugby player or used to a lot of heavy manual work.

If so, that diet is not a good one. Again, it reminds me of the way girls eat who think it's all about keeping fat low.

Fruit and Fiber has a surprizing amount of sugar in it. You'd be better with plain porridge, and better again with a two or three eggs.

Humous and carrots are fine.

Chicken stirfry is fine, go heavy on the fresh veg. Take it easy on the rice unless you are planning to hit the gym soon after.

Apple is not a bad snack, but I'd rather see raw nuts/seeds or even some cottage cheese.

Salmon and veg is good. Is there supper? What do you eat after the gym?

The whole thing seems very light on essential fats, since I'm guessing you don't eat salmon every day.

Open a free account with Fitday.com or any other nutrition website, and see what your food adds up to.

Lloyd Xmas

Hi OP,

The workout you've been given doesn't seem great to be honest.
I reckon it's maybe best if you focus on doing the following:

3 Sets of 6-8 Reps of exercises that target the largest muscle groups of the body.

For example, exercises such as squats, deadlifts, leg press, bench-press, decline press, incline press, pull-ups, lat-pull down, etc...
You can also use the free-weights for things like dumbell flys, military press.

The reason for targeting the larger muscle groups is due to the increased energy it takes to exercise such muscle, hence your burning more calories.
Try and lift as heavy as you can, that way you'll be getting the greatest return for your effort.

As regards the cardio, keep your treadmill speed in and around the 8-10kph mark so that your in the fat-burning mode.
(If you go to high on your heart-rate, you'll be heading into the cardio-training mode, and you'll be using muscle as energy - Not ideal, as the less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism)

Basically, what i'm trying to say is :rolleyes: - give the weights in the format above a shot, then focus on doing your cardio at a slowish pace for longer periods.

If you follow this format for even two months (approx 3x weekly), you'll notice a serious difference to yourself.

Diet wise; just eat what you know to be healthy, porridge oats, brown rice, plenty of veg, plenty of white meat, bit of red meat, wholemeal bread.
You can throw in an oul chocolate muffin even if you fancy it a couple of times a week.
Your also best to seriously limit the carbs after 6pm - that way, your not hitting the sack full of energy with no where to use it, unless.....;)

Beer is the worst p*ss when it comes to staying in shape, physically and mentally. If you slap a limit on the beer big-style, you'll be well on your way to what you want.

PS: If you have a sweet tooth and don't fancy the chocolate muffins, you could invest a few quid in a protein shake.
Just for example, Maximuscle Promax is high protein, low carb, low fat, and tastes good. You can throw it into a bowl of oats and it tastes damn good. Breaks the monotony of an apple! As its low carb, it'll be a nice tasty snack for ya after the 6pm carb watershed!

Best of luck with it anyway, hope this helps!

Brian?

jockey#1 wrote: »

Looking for some opinions on a programme I was recently given when I joined my local gym.

5 Min Warms up (Bike or treadmill)

Lunge with 10kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)
Lat Pulldown 30kg (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - 7 mins on the treadmill 9k steady

Leg Curl 30kg (20 reps x 2 sets)
Tricep dip (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - 2500m rowing machine

Hammer curls with 6kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)
Double bench press with 6kg dumbells (20 reps x 2 sets)

Interval - Cross trainer 7 mins medium level

That program is not great, the reps are too high and the weights are too low, it is a start though. When you say you were given it recently, how recently? Are you starting from doing nothing to doing this? If you are doing this program for more than 4 weeks get it changed ASAP.

You need to move towards doing more free weights and compound lifts. Tell your trainer in the gym this is what you want to do, ask them to teach you to squat and deadlift. Most trainers in gyms will happily throw you cookie cutter programs with use mainly machines as it makes their life easier so you are going to need to push them.

jockey#1 wrote: »

P.S Anyone got any suggestions for people who try and intimidate you in the weights area by staring, laughing, smirking and speaking in their own language?! :P

Yes, ignore them. There is every chance they're not talking about you. I've always found in the gym that the bigger the guy, the more polite and helpful they are. Never be intimidated by the big guys, they're the first ones who'll offer you help and advice.

jockey#1

Thanks for all your replies so far.

I know the weights I am doing are light but I have never done weights before and I have worked in an office the last six years so no manual labour everyday except for moving my mouse around and going to the printer!

I do think the reps are too much really so I will say this to the instructor. The programme is only for four weeks then I have another review and I am now on my third week. Would like to move on to bench press etc but maybe it would be no hard to just strenghten my arms for the next week or so.

Cheers

Jockey

EileenG

Just for interest, is your trainer a girl? That strikes me as a very girly workout and diet.

Say you want to grow some serious muscle, and want a workout based on deadlifts, squats and bench press.

jockey#1

No the trainer is a guy (From Kerry!). Well I was given a food plan as to what to eat.

Well I don't want to be a body builder or anything like that, just want to tone up lose the beer belly etc but I see what you are saying.

EileenG

Being a bodybuilder doesn't happen by accident. You don't get a workout plan with some squats, and suddenly turn into Arnold. It takes years of hard work and careful eating to get bodybuilder results. But over the years, bodybuilders have learned stuff about what programs get results, which is why you'll see them doing 6-10 reps with blood heavy weights, not messing about with 20 reps of 6kg.

Shorter sets of full body exercises with much heavier weights is a much better use of your gym time, and will see you burn more fat and get more definition than waving those little dumbbells around for hours.

Mellor

Post up your diet plan you were given. The routine isn't great, so the diet plan might not be either. (ie full of brown bread, brown rice, smoothies etc)