Fat and Over 40, Looking at GSLP, Seeking Advice

Training Over 35 Lifter
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Hi. Im planning on making my first real serious foray back into weight lifting since my early 20s. Most of my barbell experience came during my high school years. Around 20 or 21, I transitioned to more of a body building (high reps and supersets with lots isolation) routine for about a year before quitting. That was over 20 years ago. Since then, I’ve done some machine work here and there but mostly I’ve just gained a ton of weight.

A few months ago, my diet was completely out of control and my weight was up to 350 lbs. I decided to quit eating food with added sugars. After a month of no added sugars, I was still at 350 lbs.

Then I cut out refined grains and lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks weeks. After that, I had to reduce daily whole grain servings to about 3 per day in order to get the weight loss to continue.

My typical diet right now:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal cooked in 1 cup 2% milk with Splenda and a spoonful of peanut butter, 3 scrabbled eggs cooked in 1 soon of clarified butter, 2 cups green tea

Snack 1: can of sardines in oil and fruit

Lunch: Soup made from 1 cup chicken broth (full fat), 1 cup water, 1 cup chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice (cooked), 2 cups frozen stit fry veggies, a squirt of sriracha sauce, and a spoon of miso paste.

Snack 2: 1 oz nuts with fruit

Snack 3: cup of no sugar added Greek yogurt with more fruit

Dinner: similar to lunch but I’m toying with the idea of eating beans as my source of protein at dinner - for variety. Unsure if the extra carbs will get in my way or not.

My exercise right now:

I’ve been walking at least 1/2 hour daily for the past 3 weeks. I prefer to do it fasted, first thing in the morning.

As stated in my into on this post, I am ready to start a serious strength training program. I had a physical 2 weeks ago and am going to get an echocardiogram this coming Monday. Assuming this goes well, I hope to start working out next week.

Some info about me now:

Age: 42
Height: 5’10"
Weight: 335 lbs
Health Conditions: I take medicine for high blood pressure, but is is hanging out around 140/80 - 140/90; Diet controlled type 2 diabetes.

Any recommendations for diet or training? I’ve seen the fat loss template and certainly need to continue losing fat. I do want to continue walking at least 1/2 hour every single day, which is different from the program. I can add some hitt after my strength training sessions

Thanks.

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just saying hi. sorry, i can’t give advice on fat loss. training wise i could give some, but then, there are plenty guys here that can give even better, so lets see if they chime in first. otherwise i just might follow your log. good luck.

/br bonoboschimp

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I’m also considering some variation on 531. My main goals are to lose fat and get strong.

Additional info:

Because of my size, pullups or chinups are totally out of the question. Pushups, even knee pushups, hurt my shoulders.

I have always loved doing lat pullsowns. I suppose I could do them with a reverse grip of that would help fill the role of chinups until I’ve lost enough weight and gained enough strength to do real chinups.

One of my favorite accessory movements when I was younger were pullovers. They always felt real good to do. Unsure is they have any room as an accessory movement in a strength program.

As far as cardio goes, again - i would like to continue walking for 30+ minutes every morning. I could do other hiit type movements in the evenings - either after my strength workouts or on alternate days. I could run a mile of that wouldn’t be too detrimental to my strength gains.

Thanks.

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If you check out on the medical end. I would suggest slowly increase your frequency of your walking to daily. Also at some point get a general idea of your caloric intake.

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i do these once per 6 training sessions, love them too. according to several articles on t-nation stating that back in the day they were called the upper body squat. i do believe pullovers can be viewed as regression to other more advanced exercises such as abs roll out, which i also do once per every six workout but probably are too heavy for you atm.

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Thank you. I have actually been walking every day for the last 3.5 weeks. After about a week, I started feeling much more energetic. In the past, whenever this happens, I tend to replace walking with running and getting into training for a 5k or something even longer, getting burnt out, and then quitting cardio all together.

I feel that if I keep walking as my base, then regardless of whatever obstacles in my way - at least I’ll have my walking.

But I do want more. I just need to be smarter about it. The only time that I ever got burnt out on lifting weights, was when I tried to turn my sessions into some intense sports conditioning program. This never lasts more than a few months.

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My bad I misread you where up to daily walking

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Any recommendations regarding GSLP or 531 for my needs and previous experience?

I’m not a beginner but I expect that I could see some lp because I’ve not worked out seriously in a very very long time. Otoh, I really like the moral of the story about the tortoise and the hare.

Which variant would you choose and would it be ok to modify so I may continue walking every day in the am and then do additional cardio in the pm - either after strength training or on alternate days?

Thank you.

PS Would my questions be better served to be moved to the beginners section?

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Think you’d be better served by condensing your post(s) from the novel to a pamphlet. People are willing to help but not when presented with a wall of text.

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I hear this a lot. >.>

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How fricking awesome is it that Wendler offered to help you? Congratulations!

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I did some months of GSLP 8 or 9 years ago, after I stopped doing Crossfit but before I started doing 5/3/1. That would have made me 44 or 45 at that time, and while I enjoyed Greyskull, I had trouble recovering once the weight started getting heavier. I much prefer 5/3/1, although I expect if I’d been smarter at listening to my body back then, I might have had better luck with it. 5/3/1 has so much built-in flexibility, you can apply it to pretty much any goal with the right template.

It looks like you’re getting your diet in order, so the only other advice I would give is to keep up the walking, and once it starts getting too easy maybe get a weight vest or a rucksack to up the difficulty without beating your body up with running. Wendler also sings the praises of prowler work for conditioning, but I don’t know if that’s available to you. Good luck, work hard, and remember that muscle burns more calories than fat, so once you start packing it on your metabolism will really pick up.

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Thank you for the feedback. I ended up deciding on 531 and have since bumped my walking up to 50-60 minutes a day at Wendler’s recommendation. He also recommended that I start on rotating my 4 main lifts on a 3 day per week frequency. I’ve maxed out on bench and squat and am about to go do OHP. Deadlifts will be on Sunday and then I’ll start the actual program. He recommended that I do 5’s Pro and 5x FSL for the duration of this program while trying to cut weight.

I’m thinking that I’d like to add some hammer curls to my bench and ohp days and will probably start tonight.

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