Male, 20 years old, 6’5, 250 pounds, 25-30% bodyfat. My goal is to lose a ton of weight and get to single digit bodyfat before worrying about building muscle. I want to see my abs for the first time in my life. I have access to a barbell, power rack, adjustable bench, dumbbells, and some home workouts (p90x series, rushfit, Insanity).
What should I do exercise wise to accomplish my goal of losing a ton of fat? I was thinking of combining the home workout videos with a weight training plan considering they’re mostly cardio and lightweight circuit training but I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Or should I not worry about lifting at all and just use the videos to lose all of the weight? What would you guys do if you were in my position?
I’m really overwhelmed with indecision and would be extremely grateful if someone could help me figure out a specific plan to get to where I want to be. Thank you
Its not in the exersize its what you put in your mouth.
Swear you will never drink another carbonated drink.
Swear you will never eat another french fry
Swear pizza will never touch your lips again.
Thats a good start. Now drink tons of water and start jogging. You don’t lose fat buy lifting weights you need to burn tons of calories.
In anticipation of your abs coming out for the first time start doing 200 crunches everyday. Thata Arnold’s advice not mine. HaHa
First step is deciding to change. Next you need to cut out ALL FACTORY produced foods first. That will limit the worst stuff and should make a big change in and of itself.
Da fuq? More muscle = higher basal metabolic rate
Start body weight exercises and learning how to move, do some running or tracking or whatever, just be more active. after a couple months on a progressive body weight program start a simple barbell program like Starting Strength. You have a full out power rack setup, a barbell weights and everything? your a lucky kid! take advantage, get hard, be strong.
edit: this article is great and i refereed a lot of newbies to it over the years ( thanks Chris!) Teaching a Kid to Lift
How many calories are burned during bicep curls or shoulder shrugs.
Hopefully you get my point that is not how a fat man loses weight. A typical 90 minute workout with weights would burn between 350 to 600 calories. About 1 bigmac’s worth. Do you know how many calories it takes to lose 1 pound? 3500
As has been said, diet is the most important thing for losing weight. I think p90x would be a fine choice if you want to work out at home with dumb bells, but again your visual results will only be as good as your diet.
Also, don’t look for a quick fix or dramatic initial results. A mistake, IMO, would be to slash calories too low and/or try to follow a crazy workout regimen that will only lead to injury or burnout. Realize it took you a long time to get overweight, and that permanently changing that will take a realistic, long term approach.
Also, realize that the little things add up over time even if not dramatic or quick. Taking a daily 30 min walk, biking to work (if applicable), not having a second helping at dinner, etc…
You’re complaining about how few calories are burned during weight training and suggesting JOGGING as an alternative? He’s 6’5 250, do you know how strenuous jogging is on the joints? It burns just as few calories as weight training, except it barely helps you build muscle, and surprise - the more muscle you build, the more calories you burn.
OP- eat in a caloric deficit, choose a training program, walk for cardio. Don’t listen to this guy, please.
Lol, seriously? This cannot really be the crux of your argument?
Which is why diet is by far the main driver of weight loss. Exercise - and that’s all exercise from weightlifting to zumba - has been shown to only contribute as little as 5% to a person’s daily calorie expenditure.
Why? terrible advice, more muscle mean higher BMR (more calories burned in long run), you dont want to lose muscle in a super diet crunch for no reason. Muscle is what will make you look good.
“Cleaning up diet” can mean anything to anyone, cut out all food that came from a factory, its that simple.
Move more, your non exercise related calorie expenditures need to go up.
Get a little killer instinct and attack the plan you lay out.
Wow. Is that true? I’m not really questioning it, because experience would say it makes sense; it just seems crazy when you see a number that low written down.
You should be able to get down to 200lbs walking a few times per day for 10 minutes each and eating sensibly (eating well for 2-3 meals per day and not making a pig of yourself the others, reducing any desserts and calorie dense drinks)
Lift 3 days per week to retain muscle mass, get yourself into the habit of lofting and give you some “free” food.
When you hit 200, you then have lots of options in hitting a higher gear.
Are there any lifting programs you’d recommend? I’ve heard a ton of conflicting information about popular ones like Starting Strength, Stronglifts, Greyskull, etc.