Starting a workout

[Willie5566]

I want some feedback about my workout plan. First some info about me. I want to lose weight and keep muscle. Weight loss is the top priority.

I want a workout that will challenge me and include some vareity. I am a little limited, since between school, family and working full-time. I will need to workout at home mostly. My home gym consists of: elipticle machine, dumbell's, barbell, bench and swiss ball. On Thursday I go to my school rec center to work out.

Here is what I am thinking:

Mon-Run 2-3 miles

Tues-Bi's, Chest, Tri's (Too much?)

Wed-Anaerobic workout-1 mile run, 6 x 600's 30 sec. rest, plyometrics

Thurs-Back and Shoulders (I think back will be tough to do at home, so I put here so I can do it at the rec center.
Fri-Run 2-3 miles.

Sat-Off

Sun-Burpees 3 sets of 12, Heavy bag work-3 rounds 30 sec. each punchouts, 2 x 1 min rounds (I might have to work up to this. I have not hit the bag in a while.)

This would give me 6 days toworkout. If I feel my body needs an extra day to recover, I would probably eliminate Monday's run. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

[.V.]

Just watch that you progress evenly. The bodyweight work is mostly legs so I won't say drop it and add weighted leg work. But if you notice yourself getting a better shaped upper body and chicken legs, switch to a weighted leg day.

You are getting cardio 3x a week, which is fine. But with only one rest day, you may end up dropping a cardio day. I'd say Wed, to have rest between your weight sessions. However, we each have to experiment and find out what works best for us.

[tim_mcf]

It looks pretty good to me. If fat-loss is your main priority, days like your Wednesday and Sunday will be of greater benefit than your Monday and Friday. I would look at other anaerobic workouts, too, rather than doing the same thing every week. Tabata intervals, Fartlek work, integrated circuits with weights and running or rowing, and so forth. Check rosstraining.com and crossfit.com. It would be interesting to see what exercises you are intending to use for your weight training days; major compound lifts and olympic lifts would be greatly preferable to isolation work.

[Willie5566]

a welch-I will keep an eye on it. I like your idea about Wednesday. Honestly I will probably float my second day off. There is bound to be times the kids are sick or I have extra school work, etc.

tim- Sunday's workout comes from rosstraining.com as does the anaerobic workout. I will look to change it up ever 3-4 weeks. As for lifting, I do favor isolation lifts. I am open to suggestions. What lifts do you like?

[sdzuniga]

i think your work out plan is great get started and stay with it good luckand remember to eat right your friend saul

[tim_mcf]

bench, overhead press, bent over row, pullup, deadlift, squat, snatch, clean & jerk

Everything you really need right there.

I hope you have some training under your belt already, otherwise it seems to me that your training plan is too ambitious.

As a runner, I naturally zeroed in on your anaerobic training and think your recovery time for your 600 meter repeats is a little short. This assumes that you are doing the 600 meters at your maximum effort.

Why don't you log your training in the Online Journal section so others here can chime in and give you words of encouragement and training suggestions. I, for one, will read your posts and be privately cheering for you.

Have a great weekend!

[etothepii]

Originally Posted by tim_mcf

bench, overhead press, bent over row, pullup, deadlift, squat, snatch, clean & jerk

Everything you really need right there.

I don't do the snatch and clean and jerk, but I do the first 6 lifts, plus dips as staples of my weight training, and I have had what I believe to be great progress. I also like what Pierini said in his first post about the various workouts.

[tim_mcf]

Yeah, I thought about the dips too, after I posted earlier. Even better, do muscle-ups; you've got your pullups and dips taken care of in one movement that way. Of course, I can't do them, but I'm working on it...

[Willie5566]

[quote=pierini]I hope you have some training under your belt already, otherwise it seems to me that your training plan is too ambitious.

As a runner, I naturally zeroed in on your anaerobic training and think your recovery time for your 600 meter repeats is a little short. This assumes that you are doing the 600 meters at your maximum effort.

Why don't you log your training in the Online Journal section so others here can chime in and give you words of encouragement and training suggestions. I, for one, will read your posts and be privately cheering for you.

Have a great weekend![/quote
Serious training? Not like some of the things I have seen on here. I have always been into sports and have lifted weights on and off since I was 12. I have a lot of work to get back into shape.

What should my rest time for 600 meter repeats be? I think you are right. If my math is correct a 600 is just short of a half mile. That will require a bit more than 30 seconds to recover. Let me know what you think would be more reasonable.

I might try the online journal. It is becomming a time issue. There isn't enough of it in the day. I already have to track my food on fitday.com so this would be just another thing I would have to log everyday. I will see what I can do. The help early on would certainly be good.

Thanks for your input.

[.V.]

willie, you'll just have to start small and work up until you find your limits. Then work to expand them.

Consistancy is the key to continued success. Inconsistancy will cause you to lose ground. I just did a sprint triathlon in May. I haven't done any cardio since. 1 mile of mixed 100 yard runs/100 yard walks is too much for me at this point. I'm down to walking to re-acclimate to cardio.

Consider something similar. Make a lifting plan that you can acutally handle, make a cardio plan you can live with...then improve from there.

Assuming you have enough running under your belt that you don't injure yourself with sprinting, I'd recommend the Sprint 8 workout protocol promoted by Phil Campbell in his book "Ready, Set, Go".

Warm-up of course and make sure your hams, quads and calves are good and loose. The Sprint 8 consists of 8 rounds of 30 second sprints with 120 seconds of walking recovery between rounds.

I do all my sprints at maximum effort although Campbell's protocol is a progressive increase to maximum effort.

This workout takes a mere 20 minutes and is very grueling. I do this workout once a week and do my sprints on a hill for a fixed distance that is about 130 meters in length. Hills are safer in my opinion, but if you don't have access to hills, a track will suffice but be careful with the sprinting as many a hamstring has been pulled doing sprints.

I guarantee you will lose weight if you do this workout twice a week along with the other training that you say you are doing, provided your eating behavior is consistent with your weight loss goals.

Please share your experience with this workout if you decide to do it, and don't be surprised if your long-last friend named "Pukie" pays you a visit after you've done this workout.

[sdzuniga]

i am 36yrs and train 5 days a week i think anyone my age can do it and if any one cares for a work out program i maybe can help with that

[Willie5566]

Some feedback from the first week on my new program. First I will review the plan I am using:

Mon-Run 2-3 miles

Tues-Bi's, Chest, Tri's

Wed-Anaerobic workout-1 mile run, 6 x 600's 30 sec. rest, plyometrics

Thurs-Back and Shoulders (I think back will be tough to do at home, so I put here so I can do it at the rec center.
Fri-Run 2-3 miles.

Sat-Off

Sun-Burpees 3 sets of 12, Heavy bag work-3 rounds 30 sec. each punchouts, 2 x 1 min rounds (I might have to work up to this. I have not hit the bag in a while.)


The only thing I did not do is the 6 x 600 repeats. I ended up with an extra day off.

Everything I have planned I like a lot. My Sunday workout is probably my favorite. The burpees kill me as does the speed punchouts. The whole workout takes about 30 minutes. The 30 minutes is intense.

I am thinking about trading my 2-3 mile runs for my elliptical machine. My legs in terms of definition and strength seemed to be light years ahead of my upper body. I think the elliptical will help tone my upper body as well as give my legs a good workout. I do think I will lose a little bit from my upperbody lifts, but think I will ultimately gain more in using the elliptical.

My chest, bi and tri day was good. My arms really a workout. It was good though.

Overall this seems like a plan I will stick with for a while. I can see me adding another round of speed punchouts and a round of heavy bag skill work within a week or so. I will also switch to my elliptical machine, but will run on occasion so I am still in the practice.

I am kind of worried about the repeats. They sound very difficult. The throwing up part doesn't sound all that appealing. We'll see how it goes.

That is the latest for now. Thanks to everyone for all of your replies.

[LiftGirl]

Originally Posted by Willie5566

I am thinking about trading my 2-3 mile runs for my elliptical machine. My legs in terms of definition and strength seemed to be light years ahead of my upper body. I think the elliptical will help tone my upper body as well as give my legs a good workout. I do think I will lose a little bit from my upperbody lifts, but think I will ultimately gain more in using the elliptical.

Feel free to substitute the elliptical for the running if you want. Just be aware that definition comes from low bodyfat and strength comes from lifting heavy things. The elliptical is not going to give you more definition or strength than running.