Here is what I’m working with here people Medical retired Marine (asthma) only heat bothers me so no 110 degree days for me. Well i use to be in shape and in the USMC i got out and got chubby but now i have caught it and trying to get a handle on things. i know that 1 of my problems that got me to 205 was me just eating all the time and huge portions at a time. i have since stopped that and started incorporating water in my diet. Before i would never drink water just kool-aid and juice crap. I would eat fast food every day and i mean a number 5 with a extra sandwich on the side!
I joined the YMCA and i go every morning besides Saturday and Sunday here is kinda what i do and plus i cleaned up the diet big time!I’ve been going to the Y for about a month religiously since the 5th of April and I’m down to 193 so the photos you see below are the true before pics on the 5th of march i will post my 1 month progress.
My current workout for upper and lower split
Kinda running with this
I was reading this and i think i’m going for #3 Fat lost by Chad Waterbury but the reps is he saying shoot for 24-50 each time you lie on the bench or make the sets = that amount like now with me doing the 3X8 thats 24 is that good in this case
Upper- Tuesday,Friday
Straight leg Dead lifts-3x8
dumbbell lunges- 5 steps out turn around and repeat -3X
Pull through s 3x8 ( i need a replacement exercise i fell dumb doing these)
Glute ham raises-3x8
Squat (smith machine) 3x8
MTN climbers 3 count 30
Wednesday -off maybe some cardio
lower-Monday,Thursday
db presses flat 3x8
bent barbell row-3x8
db seated mil press-3x8
lat pull downs 3x8
triceps push downs with ropes on pulley 3x8
21’s (curls)
i raise the weight every week and the last set each time so say if i do db flat bench i do 50 ,50 60 if i can get my 3rd set which is usually more weight up 8 times the next time i do upper i will go 50,60,60 and if that goes great i will start off the next week with all 60’s. i see that I’m getting the results i want and I’m getting stronger but my weight lost has stopped i was 205 and now I’m 194.
I started on April 5th i do 15-30 minutes of cardio before each workout and i have Wednesdays off. i take protein 1 scoop after workouts with 1% milk i tried water twice last week and barfed both times i take 1 glutimine pill in the am before work out and one at night before bed.
If you’re program is giving you the results you want, then there isn’t much of a reason to stop doing what’s working. Initial weight loss is quick, and you will lose a lot in a short amount of time, but after that you will slow down to 1-2 lbs / week.
Track your diet and calculate the amount of calories you should be eating each day. If your body is adapting, that’s a sign to change. However, it could also just be that your weight isn’t changing because of muscle development.
I’m sure some of the more informed members of this forum will be able to chime in with a lot more specific information.
Ho-Rah Devil,
Hey I am/was in the same boat as you. There is a lot of good people here who can give you a hand if you are ready willing to take control of yourself.
Good Luck and Semper Fi!
a couple rest days in the week never hurt anybody. I would say that if you want to add more cardio, do some in a 2nd workout of the day. In other words, keep a couple rest days and double up cardio/lifting on one of them. I would suggest Friday.
You’ve got a simple, straightforward training program that looks well balanced. I don’t get to say that a lot, so I just thought I’d let you know. You balanced all the movement planes on your Upper body day with isolation stuff at the end = great. You’ve got good exercise selection for your lower body days, except smith machine squats. I hate those. But you can keep them in for now. You’ve got unilateral work with the lunges, and that’s great. And you’ve got posterior chain work galore. Good job.
You know what got you fat, and you stopped doing it. Pretty simple. It really is that simple for the most part. You’d be totally surprised at how many calories all that juice and kool-aid amounts to.
That’s the thing I love about you military types. Once you know what to do and how to do it, it’s a simple matter for you to execute it because there’s not generally a whole lot of excuse making or whining. Makes the whole process much easier.
Suggestions:
Keep this program for another month (2 months total) then switch exercises around and substitute some. Maybe instead of doing deadlifts first you do squats first (real free squats).
you may want to make each training session use different exercises if you get bored easily. Do the same upper/lower split now, just change exercises for variety’s sake
What I mean is this:
Currently you do
db presses flat 3x8
bent barbell row-3x8
db seated mil press-3x8
lat pull downs 3x8
triceps push downs with ropes on pulley 3x8
21’s (curls)
2x a week. Why not keep this for Monday’s workout and do different exercises for Thurs, following the same pattern…
barbell incline or decline bench
1 arm dumbbell bent row (prop yourself up w/a bench)
barbell push press
chins
skullcrushers or some other tricep ex.
cable curls
Same pattern, just different movements. Variety is the spice of life. I would consider this after May 5th, when you’ve been on this for a month. Stick to it now, change it for your 5th week. If you are content doing what you’re currently doing though, don’t change though—it’s not broke yet.
Also, after 2 months total on this program, I would consider changing up your rep range. Don’t need to now, but probably by the end of May you will. In that case, one day each Upper/Lower should be lower reps and heavier weight (5-6 per set), and one should be higher reps (10-12). Variety = progress.
TO the above post, I’d think a barbell flat and an incline DB would be the best combination. I would also do normal barbell squats instead of in a smith. I’d also add a calf lift.
barbell squat
leg press
lunges
calve raise
leg extensions
glute raises
pull throughs( i feel weird doing these)
today was upper
i did flat dumbbell (i use db’s because my workout partners sucks)
upright rows
lat pull downs
seated rows (towards chest)
standing easy bar curls
tricep pull downs with the ropes
incline bench
Good for you. Ok—kick out the leg extensions–they are inferior for your goals right now. Do calf raises last in the session. Do lunges before leg press. Pull-throughs get you weird looks, but I do them anyway. Done wonders for my squat and deadlift. I’ve found the more weird looks I get the better my progress seems to be. The sheeple will never understand anyway.
Upper body–db work is fine, it’s great. Don’t worry about it. Keep it in there. Your incline bench should be earlier in the workout (like 1st, 2nd or 3rd). To be very honest, the first routine you posted in your original post was a better upper body day. This can work though.
Rule of thumb–you should never need more than 6 exercises in a training session. Not counting abs or conditioning work of course.
Rule of thumb #2–Do free-weight stuff and big compound movements first in a training session. Hardest stuff goes when you have the most energy.
Your first program you posted was great. This program can work too though.
i just changed it up really after finding various sites on the net but T-Nation seems to be the largest and it has users that give advise that will actually post pics of there selves.
Do my pics actually look like i made progress at all?
Hard to say. But really what it comes down to is following the numbers. Scale says you’re down 12 lbs, you’re making progress. You probably won’t notice a large change in 1 month or so. Post pics in 3 months of hard work and you can see something different. Don’t get discouraged so fast. You didn’t get fat in only 4 weeks, so why should you expect to get to fighting shape in only 4-8 weeks?
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
To be honest, I don’t know that a calf lift is very “bang for the buck” when it comes to fat loss. Bbing, sure absolutely.[/quote]
fair enough. But more people bitch about their tiny calves in my experience. I’ve genetically got reletvely large calves, and tiny ass forarms. my dad is the same way.
[quote] big1day wrote:
is it bad that i do about 30 minutes of intense cardio before i weight lift? [/quote]
Yes.
Do cardio after your weight lifting. Your body can do cardio at any time, but you need all the energy your body naturally has to offer for moving weight.
[quote] big1day wrote:
also my rep range is it ok i do pretty heavy 3X8 last set i go up in weight and sometimes only get 6,7 [/quote]
Yes, although I’d personally like keeping the weight the same for all three sets. It’s just easier to record in my log later that day.