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Hi there, this may be a really silly question, but I'm new to the workout routine so I'm looking for advice.
Our town recently built a community center with brand new workout equipment. I joined to lose some weight and to tone up. I'm a male, 5'10, 245. Since it is a community center, there are no personal trainers there so I'm kind of on my own trying to figure out how to do this the right way.
I alternate days - one day I do 20 minutes on the elliptical and lift, and the other days I just do 30 minutes on the elliptical. For weights I am only working the arms and abs (I'm fine with my legs so far). I use the various machines and am doing 2 sets of 10 reps. The weight is not too heavy, not too light - it's at the point where I'm getting to #8 on the second set I'm feeling it burn.
I just want to know if that is a sound routine, or if I should do more sets with less weight or vice versa.
Hope I gave enough information...thanks in advance!
Just for some general knowledge (I am sure you will get tons of advice on other aspects of working out here):
- Use bigger muscle groups to burn more fat. The legs, chest, and back are the biggest muscle groups in your body. Building those muscles will help your fat-loss, so don't neglect them.
- You can't "spot-burn" fat. Your body will metabolize fat however your genetic code tells it to. You may be satisfied with the proportion of your legs now, but if you are like most men, your legs and arms will lose fat first. Your decision to not work your legs may end up making you look like the typical gym rat - bulky arms, a big chest, and chicken legs.
- The general concept of "toning" is a misnomer. It is the combined process of losing fat and building muscle. Don't limit yourself to endless sets of light weights in the hopes that you won't get too bulky. Mix it up. Go heavy on some days (and by "heavy", I mean as heavy as you possibly can - safely of course).
- Diet plays a huge role in your ability to meet your goals. If you eat junk, you will likely not get the most benefit from your workouts. If you eat big (lots of protein) and healthy while working out heavy, you will get big. Eating sensibly while maintaining a regular workout routine will help you lose fat and build a leaner, more muscular body.
DO NOT neglect your legs. Like gumby mentioned, working your largest muscle groups are what is going to get you to shed fat the quickest. Don't worry about turning into Mr. Universe "accidentally", it simply isn't going to happen.
For a very solid and complete overall strength building workout, I would suggest Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program or the Westside for Skinny Bastards program. Both have been proven, over and over again, to work.
Thanks for the replies. As for the elliptical machine, as I said I'm overweight and for cardio it burns the most calories per given amount of time.
Per your comments, I'll work the leg machines into my routine. My questions, in gereral, are that I'm not doing something I'm not supposed to. Like I said generally on my second set of 10, I feel the burn in my muscles. But I'm so new to this I don't know if that's good or bad. I feel like I'm stopping when I should be stopping. My concern is that I don't want to go too easy on myself, or too hard and end up hurting something, if that makes sense.
And gumbyfly, I'm monitoring my diet. I went to livestrong and plugged in my info and it says that I should be at 1700 calories per day. I try to keep myself near that number. I've found that just by tracking what I'm eating, it helps me get through the day and make better choices. If I'm going out to lunch with a coworker, I look up the nutrition info, and I was surprised at what I was eating before and had no clue how much calories/fat/sodium, etc was in the meals I WAS eating.
I do feel better about myself now that I'm eating better and exercising, so that's helping me through.
Working legs isn't enough, you MUST also add chest and back... The previous post is right! If you don't know what to do about your back, just ask.
As for using the ellipticals, go right ahead. Pay no attention to the naysayers; as long as you are doing a form of cardio - and you aren't half-assing it - do whatever you like.
Really? How are you calculating this? Are there rowing machines at this community center?
The machine calculates this. I just saw a study on TV comparing the readouts on machines vs. actual calories burned and they were surprisingly accurate. I burn twice the calories on the elliptical than I do on the bike.
There are a few rowing machines, and I have been thinking about using those as my warm-up on lifting days.
Working legs isn't enough, you MUST also add chest and back...
Good luck, I suspect you will shed the weight.
No I said I would ADD legs to the routine, not just work legs. I'm already doing back and chest.
Thanks for the well wishes. I'm down 3 lbs already (started diet/workout on Sunday). I know that this won't be the pace at which all pounds come off, but it's encouraging to see some change!
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