Matt's Online Journal

[Hannster30]

Alright I am still new to this and still need lots of advice on what to do with where I want to go.

Basically when I work out I hit the bike at 10 mins for a warm up and then lift for reps mainly 10 reps x 3 sets of about every machine. Keep in mind I am doing all machines. I run about 2 times a week in between 1.5- 3 miles. I know I need to pick up on the cardio end of my work outs to loose weight but I still don't know what is the right work out for me. I am 19 years old weigh 172ish and I am about 5'9.

My diet changes about everyday, I don't have set in stone diet, but I generally don't eat unhealthy foods. I like just about any type of food except not a huge fan of Tuna fish, but if you all recommend I eat it.....I will. Please help. Thanks.

[bodyshop20]

try eating any meat and only meat for 1 month you will lose fat and gain muscle.
No limit on meat in take throughout the day along with eggs fish and strawberies

[Hannster30]

thanks for the help I will for sure give this a try, also I'm assuming they should be lean cut meats?

[.V.]

Nothing wrong with machines. I don't care for them, but this winter I'll be using them a lot because I'm getting too old now to be out in my metal building gym with my free weights and my hands frozen to the bar.

Machines I'd reccomend the most - leg press, glute/ham raise (leg curls if you don't have access to a ghr), low cable row, some kind of bench press and overhead press. If you want to use the curl and tricep extension machines...do those too. For abs - the cable crunch is hard to beat.

Doing a full body workout 3x a week is plenty, there is really no need to do it more often. If your goal is fat loss, high intensity cardio for 15-20 minutes 2-5 times a week AFTER WEIGHTS ON LIFTING DAYS is fine. Or, you can just do your cardio first thing in the am BEFORE eating breakfast to directly burn fat. If you are doing empty stomach cardio - do a lower intensity for 30 minutes to 1 hour each morning.

Here is a sample suggestion:
Workout: M, W, F
Leg press
Glute Ham raise
some kind of machine equivalent of deadlift (real deads are best)
Row
Bench Press
Overhead press
Curls
Tricep pushdowns or extensions.

Sets x reps: 2x8-10 should be fine for now. Or even 1x10-12 would be sufficient.

Cardio:
1 hour bike ride, 30 minute run, or 1 hour walk first thing in AM before eating.

Diet: there are a couple of ways you can go, and these are just estimates - you will have to tweak to find what works best for you.

Way 1: (standard, most ppl do it and it does work). For your height and weight go with approximately 1800 calories. 45% carbs, 35% protein, 20% fat. Avoid sauces, dressings, and condiments unless they are low fat.

Way 2: (definitely not standard and is much like bodyshop suggested). Same 1800 cals/day. 60% fat, 35% protein, 5% carbs. Eat lots of real meat and green vegetables. That means steaks, bugers, tuna (with mayo) is OK but not necessary, dark meat chicken like thighs and wings...avoid sauces, dressings, and condiments unless they are low sugar and full fat. In my simple, uneducated opinion, way 2 works best for all but elite bodybuilders or hardcore endurance athletes. Note...this way does allow 24-36 hours of cheating on weekends - this means on Sat and Sun, you may carb load - or eat what you want. For cutting purposes and if you don't have one specifically planned for your body (very time consuming...start with 24 hours and tweak based on results.

Either way, open yourself a free FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal account or one at a similar site to track what you eat.

[Hannster30]

Sorry that I have posted anything about my workouts, or eating. I'm searching for a way to become more consistant. I also have to apologize for not including a lot of information about my life.

For starters I work about 35 hours delivering sub sandwiches for a shop called Jimmy John's. It's good money for being in college, but the temptations of eating arise at work all the time which is agrivating. I took some advice from Perini(sp?) and decided to drive around with baby carrots in my car which has helped significantly. I work from about 9/10-4, 5-6 days a week.

Along with this I take 18 hours in college which is quite a heavy load for anyone. So keeping up with eating properly and excerising regularly became hard, but I am determined to stick with it. Thanks to liftgirl and V's advice I have been able to precook food, along with know what I should be eating.

Basically I have been eating Tuna, Chicken, Salad, Broccoli, Mushrooms, Carrots, FF Cottage Cheese, Occasional Lean Ground Beef, Bananas, and other types of random fruit. My carbs mainly come in the morning from Oatmeal. So I don't exactly have a set route on "diet," but I figure with eating good foods, I will see some progress.

For the work out section I have been battling with quiting smoking, which has been tough but I think I might have done it. So I have been running about 6 miles a day at a pretty good pace. I have only been lifting about 2 days a week recently because I was sick for like 2 weeks straight and had very little motivation to go to the gym. I think I have made some progress recently, but I am about to go on a run and then hit the gym a little later to see what weight I am, and get my bf% hopefully.

I know this is very broad, and I am still one of the newbies. I have been reading daily on here just feel akward posting or something. I hope you all didn't think I was quitter or anything I am just trying to get into the habit of this lifestyle, and am finding it hard with my schedule. I'll try to get better about everything and keep everything updated. Thanks for listening.

[Hannster30]

sorry for the work 9/10-4 is at night so 9pm to 4am.

[Hannster30]

Saturday November 3rd, 2007

30 Pull Ups
3x6 at 135 Bench Press
3x8 at 130,130,110 Rows?
3x8 at 110 Machine Bicep Curls
3x10 at 140 Pec Fly?
3x10 with 2 40lb dumbells overhead press?
3x10 at 60 Abdominal Crunch
3x10 at 70 on each side pulling toward chest don't know the name

Totals 1547 50 169
117 Cals Fat Carbs Prot

[Hannster30]

Sunday November 4th, 2007


Ran 3.5 miles at 6:55 pace, and hat basically a cheat day to eat. I was with family most of the day, and it was kind of a pre- thanksgiving get together.

Totals 2290 79 27 380

EEEk.

That's a good run in my department.

[Hannster30]

yea, it basically has been the only cardio type work out I have been doing.

[Hannster30]

Monday November 5th, 2007

Ran 2.65 miles at 6:50 pace, was a bit hurried on time to get in cardio, since the gym was so overloaded I just ran outside.

Lifts today were upperbody simply because I went right when everyone was getting out of work and it was so overloaded on pretty much every leg lift and I needed to get in a quick lift.

3x8 Bicep curls machine at 110
3x10 70 on each side overhead press machine
3x10 pec fly at 180
3x10 lat pull down varying between 110-120
3x6-8 sitting bench at 210(machine)
3x10 sitting row at 70

Totals 1907 56 223 149

Not terrible but not great by any means, still working to adjust my diet.

[Hannster30]

Tuesday November 6th, 2007

So I got off work at 4:30am and fell asleep around 7:30am and somehow slept until 12:15am. No work out today, and I just feel super lazy.

Totals
326 13 11 41

Wasn't even awake long enough to eat anything at all.