New to lifting

D

davenport80

0
Hello I am new to lifting and I want to make sure I am doing this right. I am taking advantage of my employers gym. I am looking to get stronger in the arms chest and shoulders area, and I want to lose my belly and get stronger abs. As of right now all I have is a little bit of a beer belly.Those well are at least my goals. My routine is this

Wed- weighted crunch 3 reps 20 each
Incline crunch 3 reps of 20
dumb bell side bends 3 reps of 15 each side
Also after every set of reps I do about 10-15 pushups

Thursday- mostly using the weight machine for chest and shoulders presses different variations and every week I try to increase weight by 10pds. Same about 3 reps of about 6 or 7. Also after every rep I go to the dumb bells and use those to work the biceps and also use for the tris. I am at about 35 pds now

Friday - RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, I do about two miles on the treadmill

Saturday - Same as Wed
Sunday - Same as Thursday
Monday - Running or Yoga
Tuesday- I try to get out and do some sport like golf or basketball

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Food Intake

About every day I eat about 5 times a day
meal 1. Usually an egg or two or I heard from a friend it is better to have crabs so I started having about a cup of pasta and some tomato sauce
meal 2. Some fruit either a banana or an apple
meal 3. Usually a sandwich (two pieces of ham or turkey), romaine lettuce, mustard, tomato, wheat bread
meal 4. Carrots or some other veggie
meal 5. eggs again 2 or three
After every workout I usually have a protein shake

My major concern is that I want to be able to do this, but I sit at a desk all day I really don't get the chance to move around that much while at work so I don't want to increase my food intake to much.

Any ideas suggestions about my food and routine to help me achieve my goals is much appreciated.
 
Well first tip is that i would use free weights instead of the machine as this way u develop otherwise inactive muscles through balancing the weight.
i wouldnt have a day of pure ab work as you dont need to do that much on it. Push ups are good, try it with your shoulder press and maybe some thing like dips, maybe chest flys or shoulder raises.
Then on thursday do your bicep curls, and do some back and leg exercises, seems you have none. So try doing some squats or something(get staff at the gym to make sure your technique is right as it can be dangerous). Also recomend bent over rows or seated rows for your back.
2 miles on the treadmills good but i find it gets boring so i would recomend going for a 2 mile run outside, much more satisfying imo.
 
A few things I've noticed....

1) Your workout doesn't seem very diverse. Through whatever means, you really should work all the major muscles in your body. Most of us on this forum will also agree that compound exercises (i.e. exercises involving two or more joints) are better; your body works as a whole, and it's generally better if it gets exercised as such.

2) I may reccomend more frequent cardio. I hate running but I do it, and the more cardio you get, the faster you'll loose your weight (generally speaking, of course).

3) Not nearly enough diversity in your meals. You should try and eat some lean, non-processed meats. Chicken, tuna, and lean cuts of beef are all great choices, and they taste hella good too.

4) It doesn't seem like you're getting enough calories in your diet. That's right, you're getting too few. Unless I'm not being careful in my guesswork on adding that up, you need more of an intake. If you don't eat enough while trying to loose weight, you'll either loose it very quickly and gain it right back, or you can cause some permanent damage to your body and metabolism. Try using a calorie counter, such as the free ones available at fitday.com. It will help you figure out how much you need to eat of what.

5) Just keep at it. Simply by attending the gym and asking for help, you've taken the first step that many others won't. Best of luck!

Edit:
davenport80 said:
meal 1. Usually an egg or two or I heard from a friend it is better to have crabs so I started having about a cup of pasta and some tomato sauce
Click to expand...
Sea food for breakfast?!? Oh man, sounds delicious! =P
 
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Nothing wrong with seafood for breakfast!

lol I have mackeral fillets in tomato sauce for breakfast!
And a multivitamin
And a fish oil capsule
And a pop tart
And then sometimes a protein shake for added calories protein etc.
 
The first thing that I would do, rather than go straight to weights is get a good base built up with push ups, crunches, pull ups and other body weight exercises.

Here is what I do to prep for weights. For around a month, I do the following Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

3 sets of 15 hindu pushups

3 sets of 15 normal pushups

3 sets of 15 ab wheel (Sit ups if you want)

3 sets of 10 pullups

2 mile run.

That will get you plenty of endurance and you will have a solid base for weights.
 
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