New to gym (help if you can and have time)

[Packy]

Hi Folks,

I have recently started going to the gym. I started in Dec and I have settled a routine that works for me consists of Mon, Wed & Fri. Sometimes I get an extra day or 2 in but on those days I just run or do other gym cardio stuff.

I literally hadn't been inside a gym for 20 years until recently which is why I am well off on education.

I am 186cm tall and currently weigh 122kg.

I have made some good progress on strength, lost a bit of gut but very little (infact... zero) on weight.

I still eat too poorly. No so much that it is bad food but way too much. I've got willpower issues I am aware of that and trying but any guidance or ideas in that regard would be appreciated.

What I am really looking for is a regime that fits in with my Mon, Wed, Fri routine that will help me lose the tub as well as build muscle in the good areas.

I currently stick to the machine areas of the gym mainly because it's easy to see what it is for and how to do it properly. I mix my current workload up as I can but I feel I have stagnated. I find shoulders very easy but arms not so much. I am sure I have terrible technique so any links to exercises would be killer.

I will run 2-3 k on my off days that I manage to get up for.

Rather than tell you what I am doing, Please tell me what I SHOULD be doing if that is even possible.

Should I be putting more in to running and rowing or am I better off building muscle to lose the guts? I don't expect miracles but at the same time I know I need some guidance. I don't have the finances available to go down the PT route with 3 kids, mortgage blah blah so I am very appreciative of any help offered here.

Cheers

 

[Pete Cash]

right there is a lot going on here.

Your body is relearning how to lift things. Most of your gains at this point is from this. The human body is pretty fantastic and just relearning how to lift weights will get you a nice boost straight away. Hurruh

But lets get down to brass tacks. You have two choices at any give time once you are past the newb stage. Gain mass or lose mass. You cant do both. You can certainly lose fat and maintain A LOT of muscle and you can gain muscle and not put on too much fat but one goal requires eating at a deficit and the other eating at a surplus. When I was at uni i used to work out for hours a day but guess what i would still get plenty fat during a bulk phrase. I am fatter than i like to be atm so i am just focusing on eating less food. I keep my work outs pretty similar but i worry less about how much weight i am moving and just ensure i get through my sets and that kind of thing.

Maybe spend 3 months learning to lift properly. Making sure you eat well (but try and eat healthier) and then after that really focus on cutting your diet into a deficit. Normally I would say eat less straight away but its f**king difficult especially just starting out at the gym. I dont want you to burn out because you get to a point where your body is like uhh sir i need more energy.

It sounds like you want to lift to look good. YMMV here because everyone is different but for me personally a combination of high rep sets with low rep sets where i am tiring the muscles so that the last rep is very, very difficult (but possible) is pretty good. The internet is full of people who are like bruh 5*5 but its not great for muscle growth imo. You will get f**king strong doing something like that though.

There are about one million websites out there that will tell you how to do a lift

http://www.exrx.net/

for example.

Also anyone who makes money with their body (like guys on magazines, actors who get ripped really quickly) are all on steroids so you need to be realistic about how much muscle you can put on.

 

[Maroon4life]

If body recompisition is what your after (less fat & some toning/definition) then you should be putting more of your time into focusing on diet, get a professional to help you with that if need be, would only require 1 maybe 2 visits. Put simply if you aren't eating at an accurate deficit you won't see the benefits you would hope too.

A Monday/Wednesday/Friday split is optimal if that's what fits in with your lifestyle, look into compound exercises, you will be in and out after 45 minutes.

3x8 Military Press
3x8 Bench Press
3x8 Deadlift
3x8 Squat
Make a choice to do either Bent over Rows 8x3 or do pullups/assisted pullups.

 

[Packy]

Cheers guys. I am not too fussed about how I look to be honest. I am overweight so that is the immediate issue. I did some research before I posted here but I couldn't see plain answers or got conflicting answers.

I guess deep down the biggest issue is diet and I'll address that while keeping up the routine.

Thanks to both of you.

 

[Maroon4life]

Remember the fitness industry doesn't care about your results they just want to sell you the end result and the more complicated the more expensive. Unless your planning on getting involved in competitive bodybuilding or competitive powerlifting, the simplest approach is always the best for someone who just wants to look 'healthy'. The simple 5 exercises I listed above are the bread and butter of building a solid muscular foundation, if you are unsure about how to eat at a deficit (90% of losing fat) you should definitely contact a dietician/sports nutritionist to help tailor a family friendly diet that's simple and focuses on basic principles of everyday eating.

 

[Mogsheen Jadwat]

You're better off walking 10k than running 2-3kg with your weight, the stress it will put on your joints will be enormous.

Get up early in the morning and walk minimum 5k, every morning, over a hilly course. Itll help kickstart your metabolism and help with burning of energy.

 

[Maroon4life]

Also add, don't be intimidated about using the squat rack for your workout, a common mistake for new people is to use about 15 different isolation machines they were advised to use from the 18 year old gym instructor who weighs 70kg wringing wet.

YouTube Mark Rippetoe <insert exercise here> he is an American strength coach highly regarded in the powerlifting community & has a simple guide for all the above exercises. Start light and go from there.

 

[Packy]

Thanks again folks.

I don't actually have too much issue with running and I certainly don't push beyond what I feel is normal with any motion or joint.

Unfortunately I can't really do too much in the way of Military Press type things due to dislocating shoulder issues. I'm also cautious of squats with the bar for the same reason.

I am owed a PT session from joining so I might ask them to show me options around my issues.

 

[Iafeta]

Good stuff Packy, I was very much in your boat a couple of years ago, and certainly now I'm not a genius on the stuff, and my situation was a bit different - I was a pencil with a big gut. I was fortunate and got into a boot camp at work, but really, I think most of it was dieting...

Things I learned food wise to lose weight...

Lots of water
Got to drop the sugary drinks
Get rid of desserts and fast food
Green tea can make a bit of a difference
One piece of advice I got given was to look at total fat per 100 grams and total sugars per 100 grams, if it was less than 10 grams per 100 grams on each it could be a regular part of the diet. There are some fats that are very good for you though because they help with cholesterol (omega 3's from fish, and the likes of olive oil and avocado I hear are good). My understanding of sugar is the body struggles to cut through it so it stores it.

Exercise wise, the things I learned for losing weight/toning...

High Impact training.. HIIT is what I did.
Boxing I found was great.
Maintaining an optimum heart rate. You want to get a good sweat up, and you want to keep active.

If you look to put muscle on, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, good routine. Because it gives you muscles a chance to repair and recover in between. Muscles don't grow at the gym. They grow away from the gym. Isolation exercises are fine, but I found the biggest gains in the traditional three - Squat, Deadlift, Chest Press. You are using more muscles. To squat effectively you use many muscles, calves, thighs, glutes, abs, back, traps (I could be wrong but thats how it feels for me). Deadlift is lower back, but you build strength in your triceps, shoulders, and you have to engage your core to stabilise, and you will get gains in your thighs too because they help in the lifting motion.

Cardio, I try to mix it up. Boxing was great because it toned the arms as well. Another one I loved was sprinting with someone holding you back with resistance bands. You don't have to be at the gym to do good cardio either. Stair running is a good exercise. But I will usually vary it up to trick the body. The body is an extremely well refined piece of kit, it can try to repel pain by becoming resistant to different types of exercise if its consistently the same. Or if you work the same muscles over and over. Rowing FWIW, very good exercise. Very tough to do it at at a high tempo, but if you can manage it it will build up your lats, thighs, arms, as well as cut fat. It is also a great exercise to build up your cardio capacity.

The other thing I found the body was good at was being resistant to losing fat. If you put in a massive effort, and after 4-5 weeks find you are hitting a plateau, the advice I got was that your body essentially thinks you are trying to kill it off, so for a period it will store fat as a survival method. If you go through this period, just keep going, and change it up slightly to confuse your bodies survival instincts. Eventually you will carve it off.

 

[Packy]

Thanks mate. More good stuff to consider.

 

[Cletus]

Just on the diet side I think it's important to increase your fibre intake. Things like zuccini, eggplant pretty much any veggies are great as they are filling and low energy. I find when I'm on a weight loss diet it's hard to sleep at night if I'm hungry so I try to have a fairly large meal that is mostly veggies plus some lean protein and low energy carbs e.g. corn.

Seeing a dietician would be good although you should be able to get a fair idea of what to do just by finding the kilojoule ratings of food and working out your daily intake. I also don't like dieting all week, I don't really have cheat days just 'normal' days so I don't get demoralised by it. As Iafeta said get rid of the sugary drinks including fruit juice.

 

[Pete Cash]

I think fibre will be the next big thing in diet so good call. It is very filling and keeps the old systems working in the body.

Here is a lazy meal I make sometimes after I have been to the gym.

1/3 a cup of greek yoghurt (as low sugar as i can find.)
1/3 a cup of oats
Egg whites (i vary how much I put in depending on diet needs). Its relatively expensive compared to just buying eggs and separating them myself but coles sells pasteurised egg whites in a carton. This means I can just basically drink them straight if i wanted to and there is little risk of salmonella

This is the foundation and then just add whatever flavour i want (normally a banana). Maybe some protein powder if i am feeling saucy and i throw that into a blender and a delicious smoothy.

Its a good way of just getting a good serve of fibre into me.

 

[TheFrog]

Get a notebook and write down everything you eat/drink and add up the calories (there are plenty of websites). Try to get below 2200 or even 2000 per day. You should lose at least 1kg a week if you're working out as well.

 

[nöyd]

Top tips in this thread, credit to the OP for kicking it off.

 

[Cletus]

I think fibre will be the next big thing in diet so good call. It is very filling and keeps the old systems working in the body.

Here is a lazy meal I make sometimes after I have been to the gym.

1/3 a cup of greek yoghurt (as low sugar as i can find.)
1/3 a cup of oats
Egg whites (i vary how much I put in depending on diet needs). Its relatively expensive compared to just buying eggs and separating them myself but coles sells pasteurised egg whites in a carton. This means I can just basically drink them straight if i wanted to and there is little risk of salmonella

This is the foundation and then just add whatever flavour i want (normally a banana). Maybe some protein powder if i am feeling saucy and i throw that into a blender and a delicious smoothy.

Its a good way of just getting a good serve of fibre into me.

Yeah I think fibre is very important to staying healthy. It feeds the microbes in your lower intestine, and there is a link between obesity and unhealthy gut microbiome. Whether obesity is a by product of a low fibre diet or that obese people tend to eat low fibre highly processed food I'm not sure, but there are definitely benefits from eating mostly unprocessed food and lots of fruit and veggies.

Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW:
Obesity was once rare, but the last few decades have seen a rapid expansion of the proportion of obese individuals worldwide. Recent work has shown obesity to be associated with a shift in the representation of the dominant phyla of bacteria in the gut, both in humans and animal models. This review summarizes the latest research into the association between microbial ecology and host adiposity, and the mechanisms by which microbes in the gut may mediate host metabolism in the context of obesity.
RECENT FINDINGS:
Studies of the effect of excess body fat on the abundances of different bacteria taxa in the gut generally show alterations in the gastrointestinal microbiota, and changes during weight loss. The gastrointestinal microbiota have been shown to impact insulin resistance, inflammation, and adiposity via interactions with epithelial and endocrine cells.
SUMMARY:
Large-scale alterations of the gut microbiota and its microbiome (gene content) are associated with obesity and are responsive to weight loss. Gut microbes can impact host metabolism via signaling pathways in the gut, with effects on inflammation, insulin resistance, and deposition of energy in fat stores. Restoration of the gut microbiota to a healthy state may ameliorate the conditions associated with obesity and help maintain a healthy weight.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19901833