Just getting back in the gym after almost two years out of the game.
Just back from deployment, did what I could to stay healthy. and do some basics while overseas.
I have put some weight on about 10 pounds more than I need.
I also have a shoulder injury that has healed up well. I am worried about causing damage if I start to lift big again ( That is how the injury happened)I want to accomplish 2 goals here take off weight whigh I feel i’m on track to do with diet, and cardio 2 - 3 times a week
Been doing more core strength work outs. More importantly I realy want to get my ripped physique back.
Stats are as follows: 44 years old, 200lbs, 6’1", 36 waist, 46 chest, bicept 17", thighs 29", calf 19".
I am not interested in using steroids, I really can’t due to my job. Thanks for any helpful info.
i think you are right on as far as diet goes. Get your diet going and do your cardio. That 10 lbs will come off in no time. Start with circuit training. Get back in the flow of things. I used Ellington Darden’s book along with Men’s Health’s book, The Ab’s Diet to make great strides.
I went from 214-216 lbs down to 186 in about 4 months. I feel great minus the 30 lbs. You will get ripped and your muscle will start showing. Start slow with rehabing your shoulder. Take it like a baby. You’ll come back stronger. Be smart. Leave the heavy weights to the young 20 somethings.
Do what you can do. Good luck. Christian Thibaudeau has some great articles on here concerning getting ripped. Go for it!
Just take it easy and don’t try to get everything done overnight. Make sure your form is good. And remember that your body responds best to weights that increase over time; so don’t be too worried about going heavier as long as you don’t get all silly with it.
From being an ex-military I can tell you that by working on adding muscle mas to your lower body and eating correctly you can regain your ripped body in no time. You will need some structure in your routine as to make sure your shoulder is 100% stable.
The help I can give you is to tell you: now that you are back home really hammer the nutrition with two goals:
Detoxify your body
Find out any food allergies you have
Spend the next 3 months testing if your body is carb or fat sensitive, after focus on the types of carbs and the types of fats and from then move to the combinations that agree with you and your new lifestyle.
Also:
Drink plenty of green tea
Eat natural foods
Get as much rest as possible, try for more than you think is necessary.
Enjoy time with your wife and family.
Welcome aboard. Your weight and measurements sound good and you definitely have something to work with. Went through the shoulder rehab for several years. Didn’t hurt it lifting, though. You can come back from it.
Don’t want to highjack your thread but was wandering if sawadeekrob could expand on the “testing your body for carb or fat sensitivity”.
Let me echo the others and also say thanks for serving.
echo was what said, get your diet squared away. go slow with the weights and do rotator cuff (internal & external rotation) exercises before working out. I’m @ 5-6 months removed from a shoulder issue.
Thanks to everyone for all the awesome feed back. To answer a few questions I tore a rotator, Declined the surgery in an attempt to rehab on my own.
I feel good and so far the gym has treated me well. Starting on heavy in the cardio as I said. and i am doing a split circut training. Using light to mod. weight.
as for diet, I am into eating lots of high protein, salmon, lean beef, and chicken.
Lots if veggies, I never eat fried and I limit my processed, mostly all whole food, and grains.
I have no allergies to any foods. I did my best to keep in shape, flying 12 plus hrs on a rotating shift is draining. I felt like i could have slept a week when i got home.
Again thanks for all the advice, you guys are great!
Welcome home. Thank you for serving our country. CT’s OVT is a great program if you haven’t yet done it, although you’ll want to get back into it for awhile before going that intense. Good luck. 8)
As others said, thanks for risking your neck to keep us safe. Saw’s advice was spot on. What type of shoulder injury did/do you have?
I think that will help others help you out w/ lift options.
Just noticed the rotator post. I would just make sure you continue working the rotator cuff (I’m sure you used a bunch of rotator cuff exercises during your rehab), making it stronger to help stabilize the shoulder joint during your other lifts.
I’ll try this 5 X 5 workout. Can some one give a good example this type of work out. I seem to see a lot of variation of this work out. Ps. I have kept away from the big bar lifting, and used dumbells, I know a lot will have issue with that, when ever I use a bar with real heavy weight I feel it hard in my shoulder, It hurts like hell!
I would like to see something someone used and saw good results. Thanks!
Others may have a different opinion, but I’ll tell ya worked for me when I was starting a few years ago. I was as green as could be and did only compound movements 3 days a week for several months. Deads, Squats, Bench, and BB Rows, went from doing about 155 bench to 185 in just a few of months.
I had some shoulder issues also and the 2 best things I learned were when doing barbell bench press to not go down all the way to my chest but stop when elbows reached a 90 degree angle.
Also, once stopped barbell benching completely and only used incline dumbbell press for close to a year. Made great gains, shoulder pain went completely away and came back to barbell stronger than ever.
I am a good 5 X 5 work out plan. All seems to be going well. Question I have is do I keep up on the Cardio? I’ve had some say yes some say don’t the work out will rip off the pounds. any other thoughts?