Weights Programme advice

Einhard

Hey,
I'm after losing a fair bit of weight over the past 8 weeks, through cardio sessions in the gym and watching what I eat. I have one month left on my gym membership, and would like to start focuing more on weights. I don't want to bulk up, but rather build some strength and imrpove overall tone. I also want to continue with the weight loss. I still have over 28lbs to go before I'm at a good weight for my height. Bearing all that in mind, and the fact that I'm an absolute novice when it comes to weights, is there any advice that people might have?

I have an appointment for an induction programme on Thursday, but I'd like to have some knowledge before I go in.

Thanks.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Einhard wrote: »

I don't want to bulk up, but rather build some strength and imrpove overall tone. .

Ah if only it was possible to accidentally bulk up . It was once described to me this way, if you want a sustainable diet and lifestyle, and like to eat like I do, you need a big engine to burn the fuel. Muscle pound for pound is more dense than fat so a more muscular you is a thinner, leaner you. With the benefit that you can eat a more food which will be burnt by the basal metabolism of the muscle. Of course if you don't use it you will loose it.

Its a harder route to go if your a scales watcher, as you might loose 1lb of fat and gain 0.5lb of muscle in a week leading you believe you are only a half lb lighter. Getting bodyfat measurements give you are more realistic assessment of your progress.

Start with a lot of single side exercises like split squats, lunges, single arm press etc....these build balanc, joint stabilitye and work your core. You are also less likely to injure yourself. Do multi-joint exercises, forget biceps curls etc until later on, work multiple muscles with squats, dead-lifts, press and pull up movements. Oh yeah, remember to do legs, they are by far the most important thing to train at the start.

colman1212

As a complete newbie to weights just get a program from the gym for starters and work away at it.
Focus on form and not how much weight you are lifting. You will not bulk up, weights make girls look great, toned as you say.
Weights will not hinder your weight loss, they will help it..

Einhard

Juliana Angry Watercolor wrote: »

Start with a lot of single side exercises like split squats, lunges, single arm press etc....these build balanc, joint stabilitye and work your core. You are also less likely to injure yourself. Do multi-joint exercises, forget biceps curls etc until later on, work multiple muscles with squats, dead-lifts, press and pull up movements. Oh yeah, remember to do legs, they are by far the most important thing to train at the start.

Thanks for the tips. Two things though- my leg muscles are pretty massive as it is. I worked them a lot when I was younger, and they've been carrying around a fair bit of weight these past few years; secondly, my knees are somewhat dodgy. Not anything major, but a bit niggly. In those circumstances, could I park the leg training for now?

Also, would you recommend protein bars or anything like that?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

training legs will train lower back and core and the size of the muscles will burn more fat per unit of effort than standing there swimming weights around with your arms. I had big legs when I started to train them, they are leaner and thinner now and much stronger.

You got to train legs, it's hard, and painful, but nothing will cut the weight like it. Your legs won't get bigger from training them intact the opposite.

Squeakers123

Weight training has been proved to be just as good if not better vehicle for weight loss so I would recommend it thoroughly for your next step. Any decent instructor can give you a program to get started, would myself recommend bodyweight squats, lunges to get you started and you can start adding weight once you get used to the movements, for the upper body lots of dumbell/upright rows and presses,/ lateral and frontal raises,tricep dips, etc to get started as for protein bars it all depends on how much protein you get into your diet but I personally don't see any harm in having a low calorie protein shake for recovery straight after training..

Pace2008

Resistance training is important in any weight-loss program, but I would not rely on the training itself to shift the pounds. It can't be stressed enough that diet is far and away the most important factor in weight loss. I wouldn't even advise you attempt to factor in the calories burned though weight sessions - there's certainly no harm in slightly overestimating your calories for the day when you're trying to shift some kilos. What weight training on a cut will do is help you maintain the muscle mass you already have. Diet determines your weight, resistance training (and genetic makeup) determines your body composition. When people say they want to lost weight, what they mean is that they want to lose fat. Attempting to cut without incorporating resistance training will cause you to lost muscle mass and you'll end up skinnyfat. The toned look you're going for involves having a low level of bodyfat with a moderate degree of muscularity. There's certainly no danger of you bulking up if you're eating a caloric deficit.

In short, diet (possible supplemented with cardio) will make you look good in clothes; weight training will make you look good naked.

Regarding the training itself, a good program should include:

Pushing movements
Pulling movements
Legs

worked in both vertical and horizontal planes.

Examples of the above:

Vertical Push: overhead press
Horizontal push: bench press
Vertical pull: pull-up or lat pulldown (with the latter being the more likely for someone who's overweight}
Horizontal pull: Rows


Compound movements with free weights should be the bread and butter of your program. Dumbbells and barbells are both fine. Plenty of bodyweight movements - push ups, inverted rows etc - are good too.

Post up the program you're given on Thursday and we'll see if it's any good.

Also, would you recommend protein bars or anything like that?

I wouldn't recommend them, not because there's anything particularly wrong with them but because they tend to be very expenseive for what you're getting. A more cost-efficient option would be some whey protein powder. Online vendors like Myprotein tend to sell it cheapest. There's nothing magic about protein bars or shakes, any more than there is about a chicken fillet or a pint of milk, they're just a cheap, convenient way to meet your daiy protein requirement - 1g per pound of bodyweight is a guideline often given.

Juliana Angry Watercolor wrote: »

You got to train legs, it's hard, and painful, but nothing will cut the weight like it. Your legs won't get bigger from training them intact the opposite.

It's advisable to include legs in any good training program, but in the case of someone who has knee issue I think it's a good idea to get the go ahead from a physio first before placing a load on joints that have been stressed from carrying around excess weight for a prolonged period of time.

Einhard

Thanks for all the advice. I had the instructor in the gym design a programme for me today. He listed 10 exercises, three for biceps and back, three for triceps and chest, three for abs, and one for the shoulder. Tried them all, and it went well. However, he said I should do the biceps one day, triceps the next. I'd rather do them all the same day though, rather than splitting them like that. Is that a good approach? I don't want to damage myself or anything. I did the whole regime and not feeling any adverse effects.

Chancer3001

whether you do them same day or different days wont make that much of a difference.

reason he split them is to avoid your arms getting too tired. if you CAn do them fine on the same day then go for it.

Id do less "abs" work until your body fat is down. Otherwise its a total waste of time.

Also, youve got nothing for legs? GOT TO DO LEGS!!

Marcus95

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Id do less "abs" work until your body fat is down. Otherwise its a total waste of time.

How would it be q total waste of time when his core not 'abs' are the stabilizers of every physical movement? Plus the more muscle he has the higher his metabolism?

Pace2008

Einhard wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice. I had the instructor in the gym design a programme for me today. He listed 10 exercises, three for biceps and back, three for triceps and chest, three for abs, and one for the shoulder. Tried them all, and it went well. However, he said I should do the biceps one day, triceps the next. I'd rather do them all the same day though, rather than splitting them like that. Is that a good approach? I don't want to damage myself or anything. I did the whole regime and not feeling any adverse effects.

What you've been given is a bodypart split, a kind of routine popular with bodybuilders*. To be honest, I'd have considered it to be more of an intermediate thing but I'll freely admit I don't have much knowledge in that particular area so don't take my word on it. The idea is to work synergistic muscle groups on different days, so you'd have, say, Chest and Triceps Monday, Back and Biceps Wednesday, and legs and shoulders Friday.

I'd advise you keep it split as your trainer's suggested. You're only starting off now so the weights are light and you're not taxing your body too much, but as you progress, lumping everything together on the same day will become too taxing on your system. And progression is key here; you should be attempting to increase the workload whenever you can, whether by adding weight or moving up within a given rep range.

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Id do less "abs" work until your body fat is down. Otherwise its a total waste of time.

Totally disagree here, in fact, I'd say "more abs" is generally a decent heuristic when it comes to weight training. Why would you wait till your bodyfat is low to start training them? It's not as if they don't exist till you can see them, they'll still be there under a layer of fat and will become visible sooner if they've undergone hypertrophy.

*Again, don't let this put you off, you're not going to bulk up significantly on a cut, and you're not going to look like a bodybuilder without steroids

Chancer3001

"when his core not 'abs' are the stabilizers of every physical movement"

First off, big difference between core and abs.

Id recommend core work yeah, but not spending the same time on "abs" as hes gonna be spending on Chest AND Tricep!

A lot of your compound lifts will be working out your core anyways, so for a beginner, theres not a huge need to spend time on abs specific training.