Obese guy - trying to get sorted - workout opinions

The_Bullman

I'm a 5' 10" 230 pound guy who is trying to get my weight sorted out.

I'm currently doing my best to get to the gym 3 times a week to do the following routine. I say doing my best because work has been a bitch for the last few weeks with me not being able to get enough time off to go to the gym(I'm talking about longer than 12 hour days here - it's not a pathetic excuse)


15 reps on each with enough weight so that I'm finding it tough enough to do the last one. In some cases I can't do the last one or two.

20 mins warm up - 10 mins bike 6 minutes on a bike like thingy for shoulders - 1000m rowing machine

1. Squat/Bench Press/Reverse Crunch
2. Leg Curl/Side Lateral/Knee Tucks

5 mins cv - usually threadmill

3. Lunges/Fly Machine/Sit ups
4. Leg Extension/Lat pulldown/(white) ab machine

5. mins cv - usually cross trainer

5. Leg press/Seated Row/(red) ab machine
6. Shoulder press/Bicep curl/Knee raises

5 mins cv = usually rowing machine(another 1000m)

Each exercise 1.- 6. is repeated after a minute break to catch my breath. If one of the machine's is occupied I'll switch to another of the same type that's available. e.g if the while ab machine I'll switch to the red, or knee raises.


Doing the above while sorta watching what I'm eating(less burgers and chips) I've lost just over half a stone- I used to be 17 stone 4 pounds I'm wondering if you guys have any idea if I'm doing the right exercises and in the right way.

My goals are too lose the obvious fat that I'm carrying, but at the same time I'd like to increase my stamina and muscle mass. Are these goals possible?


Idea's, suggestions guys

[Edit]forgot to mention that the above workout usually takes about 2 hours. Is that normal? Am I going too slow through it?

Shrimp

Your doing very well, to have a regular workout is brilliant. Good job.

Though what I will say is, a lot of your workouts are muscle based. Basically, they are building muscle, as opposed to loosing weight.

There are 3 kinda of workouts.

Cardio = Heart.
Muscular = Building up.
Weight Loss = Self Explanitary.

All of which will make a perfect workout, but what you ave to do is find the correct ratio to suit you.

What I would recommend, the ratios of time to spend in each area:

Cardio : 2 (30 Mins)
Muscle: 1 (15 mins)
Wiegh : 3 (45 mins)

Swimming is brilliant for all 3. One of the best exercises in my book. Also the rowing machine is great for all 3.

you judge how much time you want to do, but try do a 1 and a half hour work out.

BrianD3

IMO you are spending too much time doing the wrong type of weight training, you are doing too many exercises, you're spending too much time doing isolation work, you are doing too many reps and not enough sets (my understanding of your post is you're only doing 1 set per exercise)

Concentrate on these four exercises only.
-squat
-bench press
-lat pulldowns moving to chin ups if/when you can manage them
-start doing deadlifts

Do around 8-10 reps per set and be *really* careful with form.

And use the time you save to do longer cardio workouts.

The_Bullman

Thanks for the input so far guys


Just to clarify. I'm doing 2 sets of each exercise. For example, I'll squat, bench press then reverse crunch. I'll take a break for a minute then do all 3 again, before moving on to the next set of exercises

Transform

Nutrition nutrition nutrition !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eat less and good food e.g. what are you having for bfast lunch and dinner?

Do you drink soft drinks or juices?

Its all about consistency - i just got finished a session with a client this morning and retested her body fat (i test every 4 weeks) it has gone from 26.5% to 20.2% in 5 months.

Slow and steady progress with the emphasis on the basics

The_Bullman

Breakfast is usually a bowel of porridge. 10 o'clock tea would usually mean a sandwich(sometimes a breakfast sandwich ) Lunch would either be another sandwich or a roll, but for the last month I've had a carvary lunch. If I'm going to the gym that evening I'll usually have another sandwich around 6pm then hit the gym at about 7:30 and I hardly eat after that. If I'm not in the gym I'll have some chicken or steak and spuds when I get home.

I don't drink soft drinks, and apart from a glass or two of orange juice in the morning I don't take juices either. I usualy drink over 2 litres of water a day. Depending on how tough work is that day.

I probably should cut down on the bar or two of chocolate I have every day. And cut down on the beer too...

Shrimp

The_Bullman wrote:

I probably should cut down on the bar or two of chocolate I have every day. And cut down on the beer too...

Thats whats doing it for ya.. completly cut out the bars, and you will see a dramatic decrease in body fat.. and the beer.

copacetic

sounds like you have started off on the right track and the main thing is to keep at it, i.e doing something at the gym 3/4 times a week will gradually lose the weight for you.

However I have to say you seem to be eating an awful lot. Maybe you should try a food diary for a few days and see what it all adds up to but it sounds like you are packing in 4-5000 calories a day which is a fair bit. You are basically having 2 dinners and 2 lunches (on the days when not at gym) + chocolate etc. You are prob burning off only 6-700 calories at the gym and could be cutting out one of your sandwiches to save this much every day (depending whats in them)

All in all keep it up but it sounds like your diet is the main issue, you don't get so heavy without a bad diet. However I would say take it in stages, don't try too much at once. Maybe pick a week and try to cut out the mid morning sandwich an have an energy bar or a banana and an apple. Then try a week where even if you are having a cavery, get the healthhiest option (maybe whatever they have with rice rather than the roast).

You want to gradually wean yourself off so much food rather than try giving up loads at once as that will backfire.

Best of luck with it all, take small steps and don't relapse...

DAEDULUS

Shrimp wrote:

There are 3 kinda of workouts.

Cardio = Heart.
Muscular = Building up.
Weight Loss = Self Explanitary.

People do cardio for weight loss...they are not differnet workouts

Shrimp

DAEDULUS wrote:

People do cardio for weight loss...they are not differnet workouts

I know I know, but i was just breaking it down...

pwd

I would really agree with briand3 about the changes to your workouts.

The best exercise for getting rid of fat is low intensity cardio performed for long periods. The best time of the day for training to get rid of fat is early morning. Weight training is also very beneficial for getting rid of fat.

If possible I would suggest walking as much as possible and to walk any journeys that are possible to walk.

**Emo!!**

you seem to eat a lot of carbohydrate.in fact everything you eat is nearly carbohydrate. Wihle there is nothing wrong with eating it if you are going to burn it off in exercise you should try to eat a bit more fruit.Especially on the days you are not working out.Wel done so far though!.

poobum

The_Bullman wrote:

Breakfast is usually a bowel of porridge. 10 o'clock tea would usually mean a sandwich(sometimes a breakfast sandwich ) Lunch would either be another sandwich or a roll, but for the last month I've had a carvary lunch. If I'm going to the gym that evening I'll usually have another sandwich around 6pm then hit the gym at about 7:30 and I hardly eat after that. If I'm not in the gym I'll have some chicken or steak and spuds when I get home.

I don't drink soft drinks, and apart from a glass or two of orange juice in the morning I don't take juices either. I usualy drink over 2 litres of water a day. Depending on how tough work is that day.

I probably should cut down on the bar or two of chocolate I have every day. And cut down on the beer too...

you have alot of sandwichs...is this white or brown bread? if white swich to brown! million times better for you!

Ajnag

What are you working at?
Cos that looks like the diet someone in construction usually has, If your in a job that has little of no physical work then your diet really is overkill.

Changing your 10oclock meal to some fruit would be a good start, and maybe instead of carvery go for soup/sandwich/salad for lunch.

Im not sure what would be appropriate for the evening, but maybe someone here could advise you on protein.
Protein(on the gym nights) and a small evening meal(every night) perhaps?

Implement the changes at your own rate and dont look on it as a diet but a new way of doing things better.

Handy rule of thumb is to avoid processed foods(and take away) and try to prepare your own when possible. And you should think about supplements as well such as multivitimin/minerals and fish oils.

The_Bullman

I do work in construction. Right now I'm working at steel fabrication and erection. So I'm on my feet for a minimum of 8 hours a day with a fair bit of heavy lifting. Some days I'd be working for eleven or twelve hours.

Oh, I did switch to brown bread a while back

Ajnag

Considering the work, fair play for getting to the gym.

Going veggie has worked for me in the past, but Im not sure if it would suit your situation. But other then that, cutting out all oils and processed foods definately will work in your favour. Getting a bike for journeys round town would help as well, but being in dublin Im not sure if this would be safe

Try and eat more fish avoiding fryed fish where possible, and for your evening meals you could try cooking things such as currys where one large pot would last you 2 or 3 days. Herbs and spices are a great way of making healthy food tasty. Someone here mentioned cooking in "troughs[sp?]" where on a sunday you could cook and freeze your food for the following week. A G foreman grill would be good for cooking your meats and fish as well.

In any case as well, you should get into cooking and preparing your own, Ironic as it is the better you can cook, the better you can control your own diet. This is one of my favourites: http://www.recipezaar.com/23027
Just use barely enough butter to keep the onions from sticking to the pan and your away with it from there, use greek yogurt and pickle to garnish. You could add spinach at the end as well to thicken it. And theres no need for rice as suggested at the end, on its own its filling enough.

The bad news is that it will take along time to achieve what you want, but thats why you should look at this not as dieting but a change in lifestyle. Dont over do things, and sin on occasion but dont put yourself in a position where you just get so pissed off you just give up on doing anything at all. I paid dearly myself for that one before.

Maybe going to the gym in the morning on an empty stomach and taking a protein shake after would help, but there are others here far better qualifyed to advise you on this then me. In any case considering your job, maintaining healthy eating will in itself help considerably, but also keep an eye on the size of your portions.

AARRRGH

Congrats! Sounds like you are doing great.

I think the key here is to be patient, the results will come, and to stay motivated.

Good luck.

BrianD3

The_Bullman wrote:

I do work in construction. Right now I'm working at steel fabrication and erection. So I'm on my feet for a minimum of 8 hours a day with a fair bit of heavy lifting. Some days I'd be working for eleven or twelve hours.

You might be in better shape than your weight of 230 pounds would suggest. A lot of guys whose work involves heavy lifting are carrying a fair amount of muscle mass. You're still probably overweight and too fat but you mightn't have as much fat to lose as you think. Have you had a % bodyfat test done?

Chucky the tree

as brian has suggested you should use the get your bf %. Or at least measure your waist and see if your losing it there. Using the weighing scales mightnt be the best. Since your aiming to build muscle mass and loss weight you might not lose a huge amount on the scales but you could be using alot of the fat.

Transform

I totally disagree - use the weight scales ONCE per week and only when you have dropped a significant amount of weight get a fat test.

I have personally tested hundreds of clients in great shape and in terrible shape. Those that need to drop a fair amount of weight should stick to the weight scales as a body fat test using calipers is very inaccurate when the skinfolds are quite large.

Toooooooooooooo many sandwitches!!! Fruit for snacks and be honest with the AMOUNT you are eating i.e. do you really need to eat as much or have you just conditioned yourself to eating these amounts?

HashSlinging

ever get a food Allergy test done, you might be eating to much wheat.

Enii

Good on you for trying to lose weight. Your quality of life will really improve and you will also gain many more years of life in the long run.

Your diet probably needs to be looked at. As you work in the construction industry you are probably quite physical so you can easily burn calories. However, you still seem to be eating alot. You could try the regime below.

Breakfast: Porridge, Small glass of Juice

Morning Tea: Banana, Apple, Water or Tea/Coffee with no milk or sugar

Lunch: Salad with small piece of Chicken (no mayonaise or coleslaw of oily dressings)

Dinner: Meat, Vegetables, Small Baked Potatoe

Snacks: Fruit, Water

Cut out all full fat foods and substitute with low fat - eg. margarine, milk, etc.

Swop the sugary drinks with diet versions.

The chocolate should be removed from your diet but if you can't resist have one biscuit or a mini (snack size) bar.

For the moment you should not be eating anything form the Chiper, Chinese or MacDonalds.

Try and get as much exercise as possible on top of your gym work. That means getting off the bus a few stops earlier or cycling to work or the shops etc. Leaving the car at home for small trips and walking instead.

If you follow all the above tips you should see a drastic difference in your weight and you will be a much healthier person over all (i.e. not a heart attack waiting to happen or a fututure diabetic.)

Good Luck!

The_Bullman

Ok a slight update on my progress.

Since I've started working out I've lost a stone weight. That's in little over a month. At most a month and a half. I was too afraid to look at the scales when I started out so I only got weighted for the first time about 3 weeks into my training.

I got my bodyfat percentage done today. It's 22% whatever that means. The guy in the gym wants me down to 15% this year. Is that a realistic aim? Oh, and what does the bodyfat % mean really.

In other news ( to give people an idea of my fitness level ) I rowed 2000m tonight in 7.34.9. That was after a 5 minute warm up on the bike. I followed this with a workout. Not the full list from above as I didn't have time but about 3/4 of it.

My diet is slowly improving. No chocolate today. Damn you to hell for taking it away from me!! I have already been eating bread on sliced brown. And my sandwiches contain only a few slices of ham and some low low spread. tbh, I don't know if it's possible for me to cut down on the sandwiches too much. Surely 4 slices of bread isn't too much in a day is it?

One last question for now. Is it unusual for me to have a crap nights sleep after a gym night? Normally I sleep very soundly with no interuptions, but the last few times I've finished in the gym at 9:30pm I've had a poor nights sleep. Waking up a few times-nightmares. Is that normal? Any idea's of a cure?

oq4v3ht0u76kf2

Mate, I'm in almost the exact same situation as you.

Currently weighing about 103kg (16.2 stone) and been working out for about a month. I've been working using the following workout and it's done me well:

15 minutes rowing (@ lvl 5) - aim to reach 3.5km per session.
18 minutes cycling (@ lvl 10) - aim to reach 10km per session.
25 minutes cross-trainer (@ lvl 3) - aim to reach 3.5km per session.
25 minutes treadmill (@ lvl 7 - 11) - iam to reach 3.5km per session.

So I'm hitting roughly 21.5km per session and doing almost exactly 90 minutes of cardio. I'm keeping my heartbeat at around 160 throughout the workout which according to the graphs on the machines is actually more of a cardio training level than a fat burning level but I'm happy with what I've been doing.

I do the cardio workout about 4 times a week, sometimes 5. Then I also do 3 or 4 weights sessions per week - an all over weights workout alternating machines between upper and lower body and doing hi-intensity/low-rep and low-intensity/hi-rep on different days.

I'm having trouble with my diet too, trying to keep away from the damned chippers and Burger Kings although I'm not too bad for the chocolate. You can do it though man! We can do it!

shoegirl

The_Bullman wrote:

15 reps on each with enough weight so that I'm finding it tough enough to do the last one. In some cases I can't do the last one or two.

15 reps is way to many. Increase your weights and reduce the reps to about 8-10 (you know you're lifting heavy enough if the last few reps are hard to complete). I do 3 sets of 10 then when that gets easy up the weight but start out on just 8 reps per set as usually its too difficult to get the last 2 reps. You'll get better results if you lift heavier weights but more reps.

zAbbo

How you getting on with this Bullman,

In regards to sleep, i've found the best nights sleep after the gym. I try not to go late, but a few times i've been leaving at 10pm, home, bed, sleeping like a baby.

Dropping a stone in a month is amazing, and hopefully giving you good gains to keep at it.

I'm a fair bit heavier than you, and getting good gains is giving me motivation, Gym work is only half the battle, the rest is changing the eating habits of a life time.

Keep it up, and let us know how its going

The_Bullman

I'm still battling on.

I'm quite nervous about changing my routine at the moment because even though people here think it's all wrong - I'm still feeling the effects.

Actually I feel the same about my diet. Surely if I was eating too much then I wouldn't be able to loose weight. Or have I got this wrong. The way I thought it worked was that you would only lose weight if the calories you use up are less than what you take in through food. Now I realise that I could stand to change my diet - but surely it isn't as bad as some of you were making it out to be.

bazH - you're heavier than me? Since when? Last time I seen you you looked to be a healthy enough weight. Anyway keep up the good work in the gym. Which one are you in? I hear that JJB has taken a load of clients from the other gyms around town. Suits me in my one as there's less people taking up the machines

zAbbo

I peaked at 18.5 stone back in may, weighed in today at 17.2. (22 years old / 5.9")

The gym is half the battle, and i've been a git by having a few lapses in both gym work and eating.

The gains you are seeing are probably from not doing any workouts, to doing 3+ a week, of course you'll lose weight. But its important not to get caught up on weight, as you'll be putting on some nice muscle as well(muscle weighs more than fat)

What happened to me in the first month, was that i dropped around 2 pounds a week in weight, but my diet was a mess. so as i was loosing weight, my metabolism dropped accordinly. I binged and put some weight back on.(a month wasted as i saw it)

So now im trying the eat 6 times a day, difficult to fit in around work, but do-able. Portion control, im finding im not needing a big dinner if i've had something a few hours earlier.

Joined Felda(just before the fairways), and its deadly, have heard reports back from JJB about waiting for machines(not all machines have lcd's!!!)
Guess i've just become acustomed to the quality at felda.

JJB may have a less desireable cliental too I've paid 500 for 13months, so its good for me price wise too.

My routine is fairly similar to yours, and i know from reading other forums that its not the 'best' but I'm sticking with it until my next assesment.

Keep going strong, what works for others may not work for you, personally i'd rather workout with what im comfortable with, afterall I've only been going to the gym for around 2 months.

zAbbo

The_Bullman wrote:

Surely if I was eating too much then I wouldn't be able to loose weight. Or have I got this wrong. The way I thought it worked was that you would only lose weight if the calories you use up are less than what you take in through food.

To drop weight based on calories, you would need to consistently eat below your maintenace calorie amount.

eg. If your maintenace calories were 3000 and you eat 2500 a day, thats 3500 calories less a week (or 1lb of body fat).

I give up trying to use this method, mainly because one calorie doesn't equal one calorie(whats better a 230calorie mars bar or a 230calorie salad?)

You'd need some advise on what your maintenace calories are, as everyone is different, e.g I sit behind a desk all day, you are active at work.

In short, I'm following a eat healthy / get exercise plan