Are the Maxim workouts any good?

B

BilltheAnt

0
Hi, I would like some advice.

I have been doing the following workout for two months now:

HTML: 
http://www.maximmag.co.uk/fitness/workouts/6670/fat_loss.html

I use a 28lb dumbell for each exercise (except the Two Point Raise, I use a 10lb weight for that, otherwise I can't do any more than 10 reps).

My stats are:

Age: 18
Weight: 74kg
Height: 175cm
BMI: 22%

And they were almost exactly the same when I started the exercise, I have seen no results.

So about two weeks ago I started doing Cardio during the two days when I don't workout.

I use the stationary bike and I pedal for 30 mins (this is because I heard that once you pedal for 45 minutes or longer you begin to burn more muscle than fat). During my Cardio workout I move at around 100rpm (35-37km/h) my heart rate fluctuates between 120 and 140. The calorie monitor on the bike usually reads around 410-425 calories burnt (but I hear these counters are unreliable).

I have seen no results so far after this addition to my routine, and I was hoping that someone could please suggest improvements that I could make.

My primary goal is fat loss, ideally I would like to lose a sizeable chunk of fat in the next 10 weeks (as much as possible really).

A typical diet in a day for me would be:

Breakfast: Kellogs Special K cereal + milk (about 250 kcal)
Lunch: Tuna sandwich + sometimes a little salad cream mixed with the tuna (about 300 kcal)
Dinner: Kellogs Special K cereal + milk (about 250 kcal)
Snack: Apple (about 50-70 kcal)
Teatime meal: Spaghetti Bolognese (about 150 kcal) OR Chicken Soup (about 100 kcal) + 2 slices of bread (about 200 kcal)


Total: 1150-1220 kcal

I keep a food diary everyday to watch that I don't eat any chocolate or junk food.

So if anyone could offer improvements to my exercise plan or diet I would be extremely grateful, thank you.
 
dont go lower than 1500 calories per day. eat 5-6 times a day

(I dont think ur eating enough , ur body might think its dieing! and keepin all that gooey fat , for storage. Eat around 1600-2000 per day. Believe me , ull be burning those calories off! ) U have to have food in ur system for all the workouts and all the cardios .

Start doing Hiit cardio 2-3 times a week. ( bike riding, jogging, jump, rope, etc) thatll shed some pounds :)

HIIT
The easiest way that I tell people to do it is to start off at a good pace for 5 minutes. Then take up the intensity on the machine and go as hard and as fast as you possibly can for a minute and then bring it back down for a minute or two — however long it takes for you to recover enough to do it again. ANY cardio machine will work — I like the treadmill and the elliptical trainer the best. around a total of 30 mins. (warmup/hiit/cool down)(seems to work pretty well to shed fat. 2-3 times a week, with 2-3 times a week of weightraining.)(also, if u cant go at 100% for a mintue, work ur way up, 15 secs, then rest,....etc)


Start weight training 3 times a week. Split routine

Mon - chest/triceps ) u can find sample workouts all over this site )
Wed - Biceps/back
friday-Shoulders/legs

cardio on the off days , sundays off

u should be loosing 1 - 2 pounds per week. Anymore than that, ur not eating enough, and any less than that ur eatting too much, just got find the right balance.

Eat high protein / low fat foods. ( turkey, chicken, lean meats, yogurts, tuna, fishes, eggs , eggwhites, protein bars, protein shakes, whole wheat bread. etc) 1 gram of protein - per body pound at least

discipline is the name of the game! no cheat meals , no half-assing! Good luck to u sir

ps (concentrate on compound movements on ur workouts,

chest - Flat bench press
Shoulders - over head press
legs- squats
back/biceps - dead lifts, chin ups

(not etched in stone, just a sample workout) nevermind the weight and reps done in the videos, just to show the form)

Monday- chest/ triceps

chest - flat bench press -
inclined press - YouTube -
flies -

triceps - kickbacks -
skullcrusher - YouTube -
Dips - YouTube - Tricep Dips

wed- biceps/back

biceps - standing ezcurl YouTube -
hammers - YouTube - Hammer Curls
preacher curl - YouTube -

back - bent over row -
chin up - YouTube -
dead lift - YouTube -

friday - shoulders / leggies

shoulders - over head press -
lateral raise - YouTube -
rear delt - YouTube -
(can use ez bar too , for rear delt)

leggies - squat
quad raise -
calf raises -
hammies -






3 sets of each workout / 8 - 10 reps, with a weight that challenges you, while also maintaining good form


cardio and diet should be ur main focus tho


Sample meal - around 300 cals per meal, try to get at least 30 grams of protein in each meal.
sample - 1 whole egg, egg whites, 2 whole wheat toasts . skim milk

sorry im all over the place with my thoughts, :)

hope some of that shpeal will help ya
 
Last edited:
mike79 said:
Each week since ur calories are gonna be down 3500 ( from 500 calories less each day) u should be loosing 1 - 2 pounds per week. Anymore than that, ur not eating enough, and any less than that ur eatting too much, just got find the right balance.
Click to expand...

Didn't you say he should be eating more calories since he doesn't even eat 1500 yet?

BTW good job gathering up all those links, they're very helpful. Thanks
 
ya i forgot to edit that part out , i had answered someone elses question, that was very similar to this post, so instead of typin it again, i just copied stuff from other posts , saves time :)

but asfar as that goes, in this case he aint eating enough. But either way, should be able to loose 1-2 pounds a week. anymore than, not enough food, anyless than that , too much food,
 
Mike, why did you suggest a 1x/week body part split as your recommendation, as well as that particular selection of exercises?
 
somewhere in that shpeal, its recommended to concentrate on the compound exercises,
u rather recommend full body workout 3 times a week?

recommended that because alot of ppls have sucess with a weight training routine such as that. And those exercises are suffiecient , especially when u might have a lack of machines, or not a part of a gym. His primary goal is to loose fat, I think with weight trainin and cardio, fat will be lost.
 
Last edited:
Hey thanks for the replies

So does that mean the weight exercise in the link I posted is no good.

Say if I do 2 cycles, 3 times a week. Or would that not work?

Thanks again, I'll make sure I eat a little more.
 
you need to eat more, eat more often too. not going below 1500 cals is ok, but i would stay WAY over 1500 cals if i were you.

full body 3 times a week is a good way to do weights, lots of pros and cons, but for a regular person, not on drugs, not a pro BBer, full body routines is the best bet.
 
Karky said:
you need to eat more, eat more often too. not going below 1500 cals is ok, but i would stay WAY over 1500 cals if i were you.

full body 3 times a week is a good way to do weights, lots of pros and cons, but for a regular person, not on drugs, not a pro BBer, full body routines is the best bet.
Click to expand...

Since I've been suggested to do FBW instead of splits and am doing so atm. Could you let me know about these cons, since I haven't heard about any until just now.
 
well the cons have always amazed me too :p All methods have cons, FBW, you train frequently, if you dont watch volume you could overtrain. (alot of people tend to do something like max efforts every day)


full body is your best bet.

If you really want to get into the whole full body vs split debate. Check this out: alot of experts debate about it. Its long, there are sevral articles.
Testosterone Nation - The Training Split Roundtable
 
Karky said:
well the cons have always amazed me too :p All methods have cons, FBW, you train frequently, if you dont watch volume you could overtrain. (alot of people tend to do something like max efforts every day)


full body is your best bet.

If you really want to get into the whole full body vs split debate. Check this out: alot of experts debate about it. Its long, there are sevral articles.
Testosterone Nation - The Training Split Roundtable
Click to expand...

I love a good read. Thanks for the article! and about the training frequently thing. I do fbw about 4 times a week. is this too "frequent?" well its kind of a push/pull split full body.
 
Id have to see it. FBW 4 times a week is hard to pull off, and you should have atleast a year of training below your belt. FBW 4 times a week is something im trying to pull off myself, and its not easy. You have to manage fatigue, vary rep ranges. You cant do heavy lifting FBW 4 times a week
 
Thanks for the advice.

So, would the Maxim routine (I posted the link to in my first post) count as a full body workout?

Only I haven't seen much in the way of results, but I assume that is because I wasn't eating enough.

The reason I'm asking is, I find it difficult to plan workout routines, and the Maxim workout is pretty user-friendly.

This is what I have been doing the past two weeks:

M: Maxim workout (2 cycles, 2-3 min rest between cycles)
T: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
W: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
T: Maxim workout (2 cycles, 2-3 min rest between cycles)
F: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
S: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
S: Maxim workout (2 cycles, 2-3 min rest between cycles)

M: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
T: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
W: Maxim workout (2 cycles, 2-3 min rest between cycles)
T: Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
F:Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)
S:Maxim workout (2 cycles, 2-3 min rest between cycles)
S:Cardio 30 mins (120-140 heart rate)

The interval of 2 days of cardio, makes it so I do the Maxim workout on different days each week.
 
AZN_Dave said:
Since I've been suggested to do FBW instead of splits and am doing so atm. Could you let me know about these cons, since I haven't heard about any until just now.
Click to expand...

The Pros of Total Body Training

• More frequency may be better for increased neuromuscular coordination — this is one crucial component of strength, a big benefit. Practice makes perfect and generally you get a better practice effect by doing it shorter and more often then just one long session.

• You're relatively "fresh" for each exercise since you hit one area of the body and move on, so there's not much of an accumulated specific fatigue effect.

• It's easier to incorporate total body exercises like the Olympic lifts, gymnastics moves, and strongman stuff into this type of routine.

• Essentially all fitness professionals agree that total body is ideal for beginners.

• TBT may better prepare an athlete to handle total body fatigue (as in a game) than split training.

• As Waterbury has pointed out, TBT hits a higher percentage of the total motor units in the body per day than a split plan.

• Because you're working your whole body, TBT may be better at burning calories and promoting fat loss.

• TBT is good for recovery from an injury or a layoff because by default the intensity is reduced so you'll get more out of it practicing more often.

• If you miss a workout or two for the week, you still provided some training stimulus to your whole body instead of neglecting it for that week.

• Having a greater frequency can help prevent undertraining.

• It's easy to implement supersets (antagonistic sets) which save time.

• Easy total body days are harder than easy split days (i.e. total body vs. arms).

• You don't get the deep soreness from a TBT routine that you do from a split routine.

• You can get a good overall workout in only three days a week.

• Personal opinion — I've found that it seems easier to do a hard TBT session without a partner than a hard split program without a partner.
 
Karky said:
Id have to see it. FBW 4 times a week is hard to pull off, and you should have atleast a year of training below your belt. FBW 4 times a week is something im trying to pull off myself, and its not easy. You have to manage fatigue, vary rep ranges. You cant do heavy lifting FBW 4 times a week
Click to expand...

I've got two years. But, since you're trying to do it yourself and its not easy, I'm thinking I probably won't be able to do it, or I'm not doing heavy enough.

Anyway, I got this from another thread, IT isn't really FBW its a push pull split but it was better than my body part split I was told.

Day 1
Deadlift
Bentover Rows
Pullups
Situps

Day 2
Parallel Squat
Chest Press (dumbbells if I have no spotter, otherwise Bench press)
Dips
Situps

Day3 Break

Repeat, replace parallel squat with box squat, switch those back and forward.
I was wondering about switching up dead lift with SLDL but I figured not.
 
mike79 said:
somewhere in that shpeal, its recommended to concentrate on the compound exercises,
u rather recommend full body workout 3 times a week?

recommended that because alot of ppls have sucess with a weight training routine such as that. And those exercises are suffiecient , especially when u might have a lack of machines, or not a part of a gym. His primary goal is to loose fat, I think with weight trainin and cardio, fat will be lost.
Click to expand...

Buzz and Karky beat me to it, and pretty thoroughly too...since i have nothing terribly important to add, I'll just post this nice link to a video of kittens:

Thank you.
 
bipennate said:
Buzz and Karky beat me to it, and pretty thoroughly too...since i have nothing terribly important to add, I'll just post this nice link to a video of kittens:

Thank you.
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHA, absolutely the best post and video I've seen in a while. Man, that was great, highlight of my day so far
 
Could someone please answer my question.

Is this a good Full Body Workout?

HTML: 
http://www.maximmag.co.uk/fitness/workouts/6670/fat_loss.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top