No clue on what I’m doing

[Jnetty99]

Little background, I’m 6 feet tall and I been on a diet for a while and I have gone down from 200lbs to 179lbs. I didn’t really look overweight when I was 200lbs but still I had a belly. With my new weight I’m now in the normal BMI weight range for my height. I have seen lots of improvement in my belly section but not a lot in my chest section. My goal is to stay below the overweight range and also hopefully tone up but I don’t want to become skinny.

To my problem: I go to the gym but have no clue on what I’m doing, I do cardio on certain days and then other days I lift weights or I do a mix of cardio and weights, but I’m sure I’m doing the workout totally wrong and probably exercising the same muscle over and over again and its causing overtraining from what I have read. How can I find a proper balance workout for me? Are there any websites that could help find out what workouts I should do? Or a book? And how to properly do them? Unfortunately I do not have the money to pay for a personal trainer.
Currently I go to the gym 3-4 days week; Tuesdays I also play beach volleyball in a league. I really would like to reduce my chest fat and make it look for toned but I know there is no such thing as “spot reducing” and people recommend I keep loosing weight but I don’t see myself being 160-170lbs, that’s just to skinny for me.

If someone could share some advice, I would appreciate it.

[Isabeau]

Hi there! Personally, I believe that it's best to combine aerobic acitivity and weight training and some stretching/toning exercises thrown in for good measure. I've gone from a total couch potato to an exercise junkie since I started this woe. I really like the Body for Life exercise program.

http://www.bodyforlife.com/exercise/index.asp

Obviously I don't follow their diet regime, but I do their exercise program. I do weight training three days a week, alternating upper and lower body muscle groups. I do cardio exercises three times a week alternating with the weights. (I'm running, cycling and swimming) On my rest day, I do some yoga, pilates or stabilization ball stuff.

The nice thing about the Fit for Life web page is that there is lots of great free things you can download. Schedules, journals etc. The weight training is shown in little videos or drawings. I found it easy to follow.

Anyways, I think it's a great place to start...and it's free!

[Jnetty99]

Awesome thanks Isabeau, that looks very informative...

do you do the 6 day work out like the recommend?

[Isabeau]

Yup, three days cardio, three days weights and on my rest day I do some stretching/toning stuff.

[californiacasey]

Trainer

Since you are more in a maintenance mode now and not a weight loss mode (Congratulations!). My suggestion would be to get a trainer. All gyms have them. Even if you may not and probably don’t agree with the eating part of their plan, they can give you a great workout program. They will tell you how and what and how much to work out, give you tips to make your workout more effective and train you on proper form. Even if you can only afford, or only want a few sessions, it sounds like that would be ideal for you.
Good luck!
:icondance

[Jnetty99]

Re: Trainer

Since you are more in a maintenance mode now and not a weight loss mode (Congratulations!). My suggestion would be to get a trainer. All gyms have them. Even if you may not and probably don’t agree with the eating part of their plan, they can give you a great workout program. They will tell you how and what and how much to work out, give you tips to make your workout more effective and train you on proper form. Even if you can only afford, or only want a few sessions, it sounds like that would be ideal for you.
Good luck!
:icondance

$$$ can't afford a trainer.

[spirittalker]

My suggestion is to hit the weights. keep up the cardio but hit the weights. When you lift make sure you have enough weight to do say 3 sets of 6-10 reps. If you can do more reps then you need more weight. The idea is to lift until the muscle fails or rather you cannot lift anymore. Make sure you are using the equiptment properly and that you have good form. You may not be able to pay for a trainer to work with you every week but perhaps one session together can get you started towards your goals.


Don't worry right now about losing or gaining weight. The fat will work itself out as you work on building muscle.

[Jnetty99]

Yup, three days cardio, three days weights and on my rest day I do some stretching/toning stuff.

Could you explain to me some stuff.

You don't do all those 30 work outs in one day right, i see it says pick two workouts from each group.. and pick one of the two and follow the repetitions that they recommend? how about the other workout?

if you do two of the workouts for lets say the chest on monday, do you do two different ones on wednesday or do you stick to the sameones?

How long does it take you to do the workout?

[Isabeau]

On Body for Life, you alternate upper and lower body workouts on alternating days. So for example, I did lower body weights on Monday, upper body today and I'll do lower body on Friday. Then upper on Monday, lower Wednesday, upper Friday...lower Monday etc etc.

My understanding is you pick one exercise for muscle group. For example, there are five muscle groups on the upper body workout. Chest, shoulder, back, biceps and triceps. Pick one weight training exercise for your chest (I did flys today), one for your shoulder (I did lat pulldowns), one for your back (I did seated rows), biceps (I did curls) and triceps (I did tricep pushdowns). It takes about an hour for upper body. Lower body is a bit shorter as there are four muscle groups. I actually add some hip flexions, or leg abductors but that's just me. I would recommend not doing the same exercise all the time for the muscle groups. Mix it up every once in a while.

Hope that helps.

[Jnetty99]

On Body for Life, you alternate upper and lower body workouts on alternating days. So for example, I did lower body weights on Monday, upper body today and I'll do lower body on Friday. Then upper on Monday, lower Wednesday, upper Friday...lower Monday etc etc.

My understanding is you pick one exercise for muscle group. For example, there are five muscle groups on the upper body workout. Chest, shoulder, back, biceps and triceps. Pick one weight training exercise for your chest (I did flys today), one for your shoulder (I did lat pulldowns), one for your back (I did seated rows), biceps (I did curls) and triceps (I did tricep pushdowns). It takes about an hour for upper body. Lower body is a bit shorter as there are four muscle groups. I actually add some hip flexions, or leg abductors but that's just me. I would recommend not doing the same exercise all the time for the muscle groups. Mix it up every once in a while.

Hope that helps.

Well this has me confused

# Perform two exercises for each major muscle group of the upper body.
# Select one exercise and conduct five sets with it, starting with a set of 12 reps, then increasing the weight and doing 10 reps, adding more weight and doing 8 reps, adding more weight for 6 reps. Then reduce the weight and do 12 reps. Immediately perform another set of 12 reps for that muscle group using the second selected exercise.

I think i'll start monday since this week already started. going to get a small notepad to keep track of it, i'm excited.

[Isabeau]

Yeah, that confused me too, but that's what I do. Do follow the 12-10-8-6-24 reps though, increasing the weight with each. Good luck! I love it. I lost 15.5 inches the first six weeks, running for my cardio (at that time I started the Couch to 5K running program the same time I started Body for Life).

Have fun!

[Jnetty99]

I started

So Saturday I did a small upper body workout just to get the feel for it and this monday i started the real deal and i'm keeping a log and everything.

Monday i did the Upper body.
Dumbbell Bench Press
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
Seated Dumbbell Press
Hammer Curls
Lying Triceps Presses
And i picked a second exercise for each group but i still dont know whats the deal with that so i did about two to three repetions for each.

Tuesday played Beach volleyball and counted that as my cardio.
Today wednesday lower body.. oh that was rough Barbell Squats are killer, never had done those before.

Anyways just wanted to update on my progress.