Please Critique My Workout, Tips?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Hello everyone, I’ve been lurking around for a while, and finally decided to join!

My name is Ryan, I’m 6’2", about 238 pounds, and I’m tired of being fat. Now that i’ve got my fatty’s anonymous speech out of the way, here’s what i’ve been doing (please forgive me if I don’t know the correct name for a machine or exercise, i’m still learning):

Monday - 35 Minutes Cardio, Back workout (things like the back extension machine, and long rows)

Tuesday - Upper body training: Upper/Lower Arms, Shoulders, Pecs (Man boobs), Lats (Under arms right?)

Wednesday - 35 Minutes Cardio, abs, maybe back again, but lighter

Thursday - Lower body: Calfs, Quads, Glutes (Man buns), Thighs (Inner/outer)

Fri/Sat/Sun - Off

My food intake is normally the following each day (Keep It Simple Stupid!):

Breakfast - Eggs with cheese/chicken with water, or a whole grain cereal with fat free milk

Snack 1 - Some type of fruit: banana, apple, or a Kashi GoLean! bar

Lunch - Normally a healthy choice/lean cuisine microwaveable meal, but occasionally i’ll get a 6" wheat from subway (steak and cheese today!)

Snack 2 - A whole grain snack bar, like the Kashi Crunchy bars

(My workouts come in at this point, around 8:15pm)

Dinner - Eggs (almost always eggs), some form of meat (sausage, boneless pork chop slices, chicken), cheese, salsa, jalapenos

Before bed - Protein shake with fat free milk

I’m looking for any modifications or advice on this. I finally joined a gym this past Monday, Anytime Fitness, and I really enjoy it there.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks, and I hope you’ll comment on it!

–Ryan
PS - I’m still browsing the forums pretty actively trying to learn more.

2

Hi Ryan, welcome to T-Nation. Glad for you that you made the choice to build a better body and put your plan into action. I think at this point for most beginners, whether be it to lose fat or gain mass, what’s most important is the discipline to carry out your plan.

Continue reading up articles here as there is a wealth of info to be found. Today’s article by AC will be especially useful for you since fat loss is your goal.

You only stated the bodyparts that you are working on in your post. This ExRx.net : Exercise Directory should be useful for you in learning the exercises and their names.

Stay focused on your goal and stick around.
Good luck.

3

Welcome to T-Nation!

As far as your workout schedule is concerned, I think that you should research some more and refine it. It seems to be kind of haphazard and lacking in organization or defined purpose. There are plenty of great routines on this site that you can use to achieve your goals. Remember, that if you just lose fat without adding muscle, you will likely end up being what we call “skinny fat”.

It sounds like youve already gotten over the biggest hurdle beginners have, and thats over analyzation.

As far as your diet is concerned, you should be wary of “whole-grain cereals” because many of them are simply creatively packaged sugar coated corn flakes and arent good for you at all. I think the eggs and chicken is a much better breakfast, but if you dont have much time in the morning, you can always make a very solid shake in the blender…protein powder, milk, cottage cheese, oats, natural peanut butter, etc. I would also cut out the microwave dinners out of your diet. They are over processed crap, and most of them only have 300-400 calories in there, so its barely enough to constitute a meal, even on a weight loss diet, and the nutritional value is lacking severely. Focus on whole foods: veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean meats, nuts, milk, eggs, etc. Youll be fine.

It sounds like youve got your head on straight, do some research, refine your plan, and act upon it.

4

Thanks for your responses. I will definitely take everything both of you said into consideration, and try to better my plan.

I’ve been looking around, and I even look at the linked you posted Ipsum, but where can I find more compound exercises? I used the assisted dip machine this past Tuesday, and I felt like I obliterated my upper body (in a good way), and i’d like more of that.

5

How about this one - http://www.uwlax.edu/strengthcenter/videos/video_index.htm

I stole this link from Vroom’s Are you a Beginner II thread. The thread is stickied right here in the Beginners forum, lots of useful links inside.

6

It depends on how fast you want to change your body.

For most of my friends that have roughly 3 months I always suggest they change to 4-5 cardio workouts a week. 20 minutes if High Intensity, sprint, or maximum effort/medium effort interval training running, treadmill, ellipticals, stair/bleacher sprints, jumprope/100 yard strong pace intervals, etc.

Basically you want to break a sweat :slight_smile:

If you want a generic starter’s approach - try on a cycle/track/elliptical - whatever your cardio of choice is.

Going as fast/hard for 10 seconds - Then back to 50% of your maximum speed for 50 seconds. Do this for 5 minutes. If you are out of breathe and dying. Now generally I’d say 20-30 minutes of this 4-5 times a week shouldn’t be too hard for you.

Later on try 30 seconds maximum effort (90%-100%) then 60 seconds strong pace. Go back and forth for 20 minutes.

Then go 30 seconds hard/30 seconds strong pace.

Or just run 1-2 miles everyday :slight_smile:

It really depends on what you want to accomplish, how fast (what time frame), and through what type of training. There are lot’s of approaches that can be effective this early into your maturation process into living a healthy fit lifestyle.

There are a lot of good articles on upper body excercises here and a lot of the links already provided should get you along your way.

  • also make sure to include protein in every meal you eat as it is essential to muscle growth.