how many reps/sets in this situation...

Rossin

background- my brother has a brain injury, his weight has got out of hand completely (5ft 10' ,17 1/2 stone). So he agreed to come to the gym with me 4 days a week. This has been going well, he's really enjoying it still a month later, so now im hoping to tweek what we are doing to make it more effective for him to lose weight...

before anyone mentions diet, due to his disability and the fact that I cant be with him all the time its almost impossible to fix his diet, we just try to encourage him to eat better as much as we can(its frickin impossible)

we have a 2 day split.

day 1, chest and arms, we bench press, 4-5 sets of ten reps. then we do a few other chest and arm exercises, using supersets sometimes cause that seems to really make him work. all are done 3 sets 10 reps

day 2 back and shoulders. various exercises for both again supersets where we can, all 3 sets 10 reps

at the end of either day we'll either do our legs on the machines or go to a spinning class

we cant squat, deadlift etc, nothing anyway complicated for him

What i'm wondering is should we be doing more reps/sets to try burn more calories, or should we stick with what we're doing which will hopefully build muscle and in turn burn more calories in the long run as he'll have more muscle

his arms are pretty big, 3 times mine, but i can lift heavier, although not for long i reckon

Mellor

Rossin wrote: »

before anyone mentions diet, due to his disability and the fact that I cant be with him all the time its almost impossible to fix his diet, we just try to encourage him to eat better as much as we can(its frickin impossible)

He put on the weight because of his diet, not because of not going to the gym. By all means keep going and the gym can help. But diet is important. Maybe use the new love for the gym as a motivator to eat a bit better.

Rossin

Well that's what i'm hoping, the more he gets into it hopefully the diet will continue to improve. The thing is, he is addicted to the likes of coke/chocolate and its very hard for him to stop due to his brain injury, he wouldn't have the common sense or willpower to help resist the constant craving for it. He is improving though and the gym is helping a lot, not just with his diet/physique but everything really, it keeps him happy so that's good enough reason to keep it up alone!

since he has started he's replaced large dairy milk bars with choc rice cakes and coke with diet coke, least its a start

I think ill see if i can get him to cut out the rice cakes now altogether. one step at a time. this is most certainly a marathon and not a sprint job

Hanley

Rossin wrote: »

I think ill see if i can get him to cut out the rice cakes now altogether. one step at a time. this is most certainly a marathon and not a sprint job

100% this

Maybe look at trail mix w/ dark chocolate, or juts small amount of dark chocolate on its own as the next step.

Diet coke isn't the worst in the world. It's far from optimal, but considering what COULD be going on, well...

Rossin

Thanks Mellor,Hanley. Point taken on diet, I will keep on his case about it.

regards the gym work,is there any point in changing the sets/reps or does it not matter all that much?

3x10 for everything?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

Your commitment to your brother is touching,

You could try highly intensity triple drop set or other high volume training with 8-10 rep set but only seconds rest between them. Generally not big weight but there is a cardio element to it that can only help.

vard

Best of luck to you both.

I would personally recommend finding something that's guaranteed to be sustainable, rather than a strict and rigid X Y Z routine.

For your brothers goals reps don't matter all that much - so long as he keeps at it.

Do try add some cardio if possible. It doesn't have to be too intense; start small and build from there. If you can get to the stage where it's just the done thing, maybe even something he enjoys, he'll be more likely to stick at it and results should come slowly but surely.

As was already pointed out, he didn't get fat by not going to the gym, but even if he doesn't change his diet there should at least be some improvement through introducing exercise. It might help towards filling hours within the day when he would otherwise be eating.

If he can address his diet and identify why he eats as he does insure you can work towards a solution there.

Rossin

We go spinning twice a week which he enjoys even though it murders him. To be honest I think he'll keep it up as long as I do because he enjoys the company and social side of it more than anything. Then I'm hoping it'll eventually click as it does and he'll be mad to go even when I'm not around.

I'm making a list of healthier snacks for him tomorrow.

I went through all this with my youngest brother last year and it was a great success, he went from 18 stone to...im not sure, but he looks proper buff!(benches 110/120kg) I'm just sorry i didn't bring this fella as well. ah well,here we go again

Thanks for the help