Beginner Workout/Diet questions

[alexm44]

I've been doing a lot of reading in this forum but unfortunately, health and fitness material is very new to me and while trying to learn quickly, I am somewhat overwhelmed. Hopefully my post isn't too basic and you guys can help me get in shape for the new year. There are a lot of questions in this post but answer whatever you feel like. My goals are basically to look and feel better, and probably drop 15-20 more pounds. Here is some basic info:

I'm 20 years old and around 5'7, 175 right now. Around 3 months ago, I was around 190-195 and was very unhealthy, but I've started to work out a lot more and my diet is a lot better. I'm not very muscular at all but I've been going to the gym a couple times a week and I play tennis 2-3 times a week. I get drunk (10-12 drinks) 1 day/week on average. My problem with the gym is that I'll do like 30 mins of cardio and some basic weight stuff, but basically I have no plan and I feel like I should be making a lot more progress. I would love to have a basic weekly plan that I could follow instead of basically winging it every time I go to the gym. My biggest concerns are my belly, chest, and sides fwiw, although I would like to cover my whole body obviously.

Back in the fall, I was running 4 times a week; at first only a little over a mile per day but eventually I was up to over 2 miles per day. Now that it's winter and I cannot run outside, I've been doing 6 miles a day on a stationary bike, which is something like 25 or 30 mins. I'm not sure if that's enough. The reason I do this is, well, it's easy. I'm not a big treadmill guy, but I'm open to other cardio suggestions if you guys don't like the stationary bike. Is doing different types of cardio important? Does it matter that I am essentially only working my legs on the bike, and not the rest of my body?

On to my diet, which has definitely changed a lot recently. I have cereal and an apple or banana every morning, and my standard lunch is some kind of salad or ham/bologna sandwich. For dinner, I eat a decent amount of meat, fish, veggies, pasta etc. I feel like my dinners are somewhat balanced and I've found myself eating smaller portions as well. Is there anything I should be cutting out completely or limiting based on my goals? I drink nothing but water like 95% of the time, and my only snacks are fruit. I feel like I'm doing pretty well with this type of diet, but again, the results aren't really there. Is there anything I specific I should be eating to put on a little muscle but at the same time keep off fat?

Alright so thats a pretty good outline I think. The thing I'm most interested in is a solid weekly workout plan, so any links or advice for that or anything else I mentioned is greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask questions if I left out any important info. Thanks in advance.

alexm44.

The Fall 2007 issue of our DiscussFitness e-newsletter included an interview of Olympian Tommy Kono. In that article he outlined his basic weightlifting training program that he called the Kono Plan.

Check our the newsletter to learn more about this workout plan.

[alexm44]

Thanks, I skimmed that article and I will definitely try that out next time I hit the gym.

[LiftGirl]

You are making great progress so far. However, in order for progress to continue, there is one thing you're going to have to change. Getting drunk once a week is not the path to fitness; it is the path to liver failure. There is nothing wrong with 1-2 drinks a couple times a week, but getting drunk every week is just taking in tons of empty calories and hampering your performance in the gym, even if it doesn't seem like it. Remember alcohol is poisonous and needs to be taken only moderately.

Pierini's suggestion is a good one. Try it out and see what you think.

[westside24]

yea dude! drink to a buzz at most! 3-4 at most I never keep drinkin after a buzz, besides it really aint fun to be that f!!!ed up. and yea, when I start to lift wieghts, I had absolutely no idea, and no one to help me. for one, I didnt know there was a such thing as triceps and rear delts, and hams and quads and traps, I thought you could pretty much only train your biceps, chest and abs..... no joke..... so I signed up at a gym, realized right away theres 10 muscles groups basically that you can focus on, from there I just decided to pick one group a day, lets say my back, so I would go to all the back machines and do crazy ass retarded workouts that didnt make sense, but it was all for my back. then I start finding out, 3 sets of 20, or 3 sets of 8 or 4 sets of 8 or 6 sets of 6, whatever I wanted to try, I just kept trying and seeing what made me hurt even more, because hurt is a sign of hypertrophy(muscle growth) then I found out higher wieght with less reps is better for strength, and less weight (but still gotta keep it heavy as you possibly can) and higher reps are better for the bulker and bigger muscle look. then I realized it would be better to do only a few sets and a few exercises per body part, and maybe 2-3 body parts a day.....now ive found compound lifts are better all together, (not that I do only compounds like all you guys!) but see what im saying, you just gotta keep thinkin about it, keep readin, keep watching, you will learn, trust me, you will figure out the basics. as for wieght and food eaten, 175 sounds like a nice wieght, you just gota maybe keep the diet right in nuetral for now, see if you can make any gains lifting with the knowledge you gain, caz your diet might be perfect for you as of now. and if you feel like you need to adjust, then just keep track of what your doing and somthing or take somthing away!